Galdikas was one of three women, including
Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, handpicked to study the great
apes by legendary paleontologist Louis Leakey. They were dubbed
“Leakey’s Angels” and the biography examines
Gadikas’ relationship with Leakey, Goodall and Fossey.
Viewers will see the primitive conditions, which confronted
Galdikas and her first husband when they went to live in the
rain forest. Within a few years, she gave birth to a son Binty,
who was raised among the orangutans and dubbed “the
child of the rain forest”. Galdikas candidly talks about
the difficult choices she has had to make, including her agonizing
decision to remain in the rain forest when her marriage ended
and her son Binty followed her ex-husband to Canada.
Galdikas stayed on to continue her work that included rehabilitating
ex-captive orangutans and battling the illegal ape trade and
the loggers who are destroying Borneo’s once abundant
rain forests. She eventually remarried a former hunter of
the native Dayak tribe and raised two more children in this
extraordinary setting.
The documentary includes interviews with Jane Goodall and
Galdikas’ ex-husband Rod Brindamour as well as footage
of her husband Pak Bo Hap and her children. She is seen on
the Johnny Carson show, receiving the Order of Canada, teaching
at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and at her
home away from home in Vancouver.
Original Air Date - November 15, 1996
Links
Biruté
Galdikas (Science.ca)
Orangutan
Foundation International
Zoo
Check Canada
(Note: CBC does not endorse the content of external sites)
|
