#mountain-gorillas

#mountain-gorillas

The clip, filmed in 1978 for the landmark BBC series Life on Earth: A Natural History, demonstrates what has become Attenborough's trademark over his 70-year career: the communication of new, surprising and complex phenomena by showing rather than telling. There's no lecture here - just curiosity, mischief and arresting visual impact.

Along the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC lies the Virunga national park the home of mountain gorillas. Back in 1970s there were only a few hundred of these gorillas left. Yet today the community is thriving with more than 1,000. Patrick Greenfield, the Guardian's biodiversity reporter, headed up into the Virunga mountains, guided by wildlife vets, to find out how they achieved this rare and extraordinary conservation success.

The study highlights that while strong social relationships can benefit female gorillas' health, they may increase illness risk in males due to energy expenditure.