Fifi's Boys - A Story of Wild Chimpanzees
(1996)
Returning to Tanzania's Gombe National Park in 1996, animal researcher, conservationist and award-winning ethologist Dr Jane Goodall explores how the chimpanzees of her famous 1960s studies have matured.
Stunning cinematography from the award-winning filmmaker Hugo van Lawick provides a captivating glimpse into the life of Fifi, the only one of Goodall's original subjects still alive. Examining her development and that of her extensive family, intimate photography provides an incredible insight into these endangered great apes, bringing to light their diverse personalities and entertaining character traits.
Goodall gives a highly personal account of Fifi's life, since their first encounter Fifi has expanded her family, originally with just one infant she has now created a powerful family dynasty based around her and her six offspring. The fifty minute film abounds with drama and intrigue - her two eldest sons are locked in a battle for dominance, their displays of aggression overshadowing day to day life in the chimp community.
Examining the chimpanzee's highly organised social structure the programme is an impressive study of animal behaviour, showing these expressive primates as they fish for termites, conduct territorial patrols and supervise their young.
As logging continues to reduce their restricted habitat, Fifi's Boys: A Story of Wild Chimpanzees offers a touching and poignant glimpse into the private and ever-shrinking world of man's closest living relative.
Hugo van Lawick
