People of the forest

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Summary

"People of the forest': This program studies the family of Fifi, a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in Tanzania, over a 20-year period, examining a variety of chimp behaviors. Fifi's mother, Flo, exhib...

"People of the forest': This program studies the family of Fifi, a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in Tanzania, over a 20-year period, examining a variety of chimp behaviors. Fifi's mother, Flo, exhibits patience as a mother of four. Parenting behaviors include nursing, carrying infant, and rejecting weaning son. Other behaviors include self and social play, displays, grooming, feeding, nest building, rain posture and rain dancing display, tool use (fishing for termites with a grass stem), and fighting. Chimpanzees encounter baboons, fighting and killing one time and playing another. Many references are made to the hierarchical structure of the chimp community. Polio strikes the chimpanzees, paralyzing some and killing others. An infant killed by polio is carried for days by its mother. Narrated by Donald Sutherland. -- "Return to the forest": This bonus feature follows the work of Stella Brewer-Marsden in Gambia and her effort to rehabilitate orphaned chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Working on the Abuko Nature Reserve founded by her father, Stella has over 60 chimps from all over the world that she hopes to reintroduce to the wild. While on the reserve, Stella and her team help the chimps engage in socially positive behavior and play, encourage proper feeding habits, and teach the chimps how to react in potentially dangerous situations. Once rehabilitated, Stella releases the chimps into the forest on islands in the Gambia River, where she can monitor their behavior and protect them from poachers.

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