Mountain Gorilla

[Pretty Boy]

Did anyone else watch this 3 part documentary on the BBC?

Absolutely brilliant and, IMO, the best TV show this year so far. A great insight into the lives of these animals and the dedicated workers trying desperately to save the species from extinction(there are only 700 left in the wild).

It totally mystifies me why anyone would want to pay money to kill one of these creatures or would buy goods knowing that a poacher has killed one of these animals to produce it.

If you missed it then i strongly recommend watching it on the Iplayer, great viewing although be prepared for a few upsetting scenes especially the graphic images of the gorillas murdered by poachers.

[barcahibs]

Did anyone else watch this 3 part documentary on the BBC?

Absolutely brilliant and, IMO, the best TV show this year so far. A great insight into the lives of these animals and the dedicated workers trying desperately to save the species from extinction(there are only 700 left in the wild).

It totally mystifies me why anyone would want to pay money to kill one of these creatures or would buy goods knowing that a poacher has killed one of these animals to produce it.

If you missed it then i strongly recommend watching it on the Iplayer, great viewing although be prepared for a few upsetting scenes especially the graphic images of the gorillas murdered by poachers.

Didn't see it, can't believe I missed it! Will look out for it on the iplayer thanks for the heads up.

On a related topic the BBC had an article on chimps in Guinea - Chimps outwit human hunters (http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8962000/8962747.stm) - which have actually learned to deactivate snares set by hunters to catch them and now actively go out looking for these traps so they can destroy them.

They've realised that the dangerous part is the wire and by staying clear of it they can smash the wooden parts of the trap in safety.

The scientists studying the behaviour believe that these chimps actually sat and studied the traps analysing how to safely deactivate them, rather than just using a brute force trial and error approach - which would have been very dangerous to the chimp doing the experimenting.

Of course no doubt the hunters will be just as ingenious and change their methods. I've got mixed feelings on the issue, I hate the idea but I can't condemn people from a poor country setting snares and exploiting wildlife when we did - and are still doing - the exact the same thing here.
I guess the same applies to those killing gorillas, though I despair of those in developed countries who are buying the products.