The Lawrence Jacobsen Library
DVD 0067 2008 The gorilla king

DVD 0067 2008 The gorilla king
Nature [DVD; col.; 54 min.: 2008]

Using archival footage and interviews, this DVD presents the story of Titus, the silverback leader of one of the original mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) groups followed by Dian Fossey. Shows gorilla group behavior, nursing, play, fighting, play fighting, foraging, vocalizations and adolescent male behavior. Discusses and shows group formation and succession, the role of sexual behavior in dominance, and poaching. Because Titus's life has been followed since his birth, researchers were able to track his rise to dominance from his position as an orphan in the original Beetsme group, through membership in a bachelor group, and eventually through the overthrow of Beetsme. Archival footage includes the death of Digit and Uncle Bert at the hands of poachers, and film of Flossie, Titus's mother, carrying her dead infant for two days. Narrated by F. Murray Abraham.