This was the last episode in an excellent 3-part series and was entitled Protecting Primates although, really, it wasn’t mostly about protecting primates and it was about quite a lot of things.
If one wanted to be critical of the programme one would say that it was a bit bitty – and lacked a narrative arc (that’s quite a trendy thing to say, I gather). But the fact was, for me at any rate, that although it was bitty, all the bits were very very good and so I didn’t mind at all that we leapt around a bit. It was actually quite refreshing.
There was quite a lot about people who care for primates and who study them or conserve them. Russ Mittermeier is a distinguished conservationist and scientist but it was just fun to see film of him seeing his 79th species of primate in the world – he is also a primate twitcher who has now got the set!
I liked the insight into Chimpanzee gestures as part of their communication toolkit and the studies of Long-tailed Macaques and Common Marmosets. Indeed every bit was interesting, but the most moving for me was going back to the Virunga Mountain Gorillas and learning more about the people who protect and quite literally guard them.
This series has been a lot more interestng than I thought it would be – another three episodes would have been good! It’s well worth watching on iPlayer.
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