CM Magazine: Chimpanzees of Uganda. (Champions of the Wild Series).

________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 17 . . . . April 28, 2000

Chimpanzees of Uganda. (Champions of the Wild Series).

Andrew Gardner (Director). Christian Bruyere (Producer). Michael Chechik (Executive Producer).
Montreal, PQ: National Film Board of Canada, 1998.
25 min., 30 sec., VHS, $39.95.
Order Number: C9198 149.

Subject Headings:
Chapman, Colin.
Wildlife conservation-Uganda.
Chimpanzees-Uganda.
Kibale Forest Reserve (Uganda).

Grades 3 and up / Ages 8 and up.
Review by Luella Sumner.

**** /4

excerpt:

In Uganda's Kibale National Park, the trees are dripping with monkeys. The park has one of the highest concentrations of primates on the planet. And primatologist Colin Chapman has spent a decade here getting to know them.

The video and narration centre on chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys and black and white colobus monkeys, with mention also of red-tailed monkeys, out of the thirteen species that live in Kibale. The camera follows the different troops around their daily routine, eating, playing, fighting, grooming and sleeping. The narration is smooth, easy to listen to, and presents a lot of facts in an interesting manner. When Idi Amin was in power, his soldiers, and then the invading soldiers, slaughtered wildlife indiscriminately, and burned and logged the countryside.

The chimpanzees are an endangered species as their habitat disappears, and the red-tailed monkeys which live and forage high in the canopy are especially hard hit by the cutting of the high trees. When the high trees are cut, the clearing quickly fills in with low shrubbery which is of no use to the chimpanzees and the red-tailed monkeys, but the colobus monkeys are making a comeback as they eat the shrubbery's leaves. Also hunting of the colobus has decreased.

The social behavior of the chimpanzees is examined and compared to students in high school. The "girls" form groups by themselves because the "boys" are too noisy and rough. The "boys" form tight knit groups with buddies who fight and wrestle together. The adults keep an eye on everyone, and the leader, the alpha male, enforces discipline through violence and aggression.

The inside of the cover of this interesting and informative video gives teachers some suggestions for study questions.

Highly Recommended.

Luella Sumner is the librarian at the Red Rock Public Library in Red Rock, ON.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - April 28, 2000.