Walking with the Great Apes

This documentary mainly focuses on how human actions serve to promote the conservation of the great apes rather than concentrating on analyzing each primate’s behavior. There are many scenes that directly demonstrate how human actions adversely affected the survival of the great apes. People cruelly poached them and took their habitats in order to increase farming areas. As a result, the number of great apes severely decreased. Some scenes such as an illegal market where people sell and buy poached apes, or where humans have burnt ape habitats to cultivate land dramatize the negative results of selfish human behaviors.

However, this documentary demonstrates not only the result of human actions but also human efforts to preserve the great apes. For example, in the Congo, rangers always try to protect gorillas in the mountain from poachers. Moreover, some villages make an effort to preserve the great apes instead of increasing cultivating areas and utilize the preserved habitats as a place of education. They not only preserve the great apes, but also encourage children to experience coexistence with nature (the great apes).

By showing these examples, this documentary successfully makes the audience realize the bad results from human actions and the importance of preserving the great apes. I personally liked the way that Carroll shows the interconnection between human beings and the great apes. I strongly recommend you watch this documentary.