DM1ST DM1ST 10 DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 20.02.2019 mirror.co.uk WEDNESDAY 20.02.2019 DAILY MIRROR 11 40 YEARS AFTER TV LANDMARK WE RRETURN TO MEET RWANDA’S APES Face to face with

the descendants LIFE ON EARTH 1979 of the gorillas Poppy, left, watches Pablo playing with Attenborough Attenborough helped to save

MAGICAL THRIVING Poppy’s daughter Ururabo, 22, and her Mirror’s Emily with Ian Redmond from extinction sons, Nkurunziza, five, and Imena, 11 EXCLUSIVE camera, mischie- endangered, it is an feet as trophies, and stole their babies Poppy, Puck and Tuck, the female plate-sized hand, as if he’s doing yoga. hands and feet hacked off by for structured tourist visits government’s decision last year to BY EMILY RETTER Senior vous Poppy extraordinary to sell. Ian says: “First, Sir David gorillas in Attenborough’s film, have It is hard to believe anyone could poachers. Ian says: “Two days was created. In 1986, full-time expand the forest, adding almost 4,000 Feature Writer in Rwanda untied the natu- conservation demolished the King Kong myth by 26 children, 17 grandchildren, and one knowingly hurt these serene beings, later that’s how I found him. veterinary care was established hectares to its current 16,000. Pictures: ANDY COMMINS ralist’s boots. success story, in being so clearly accepted by the great-grandchild between them. who share 98% of human DNA. When Sir David arrived, we and today Gorilla Doctors I’m assured residents farming there In April, it large part thanks gorillas. He turned people’s opinions Our aim was to meet some of the As Sir David said: “There is more were angry and grieving.” operate in the forest, which also will be re-homed, and given new fter clambering over fossilised will be 40 years to Sir David. of them around. youngest starlet Poppy’s brood. spans neighbouring Uganda and means to earn a better living. lava flows at 9,000ft, we duck meaning and mutual understanding Six months after he left, a male since the film, We have come “He never expected to get this close, Until last year, she was a regular face in exchanging a glance with a gorilla and female were shot dead, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, This must happen but, ultimately, into vegetation, my guide in Sir David’s to Rwanda’s but they took to him, although he in the forest, at the age of 42 the last of checking for life-threatening wounds forest expansion is for everyone’s sake. slashing his machete through than any other animal I know.” their baby, Kweli, who also appeared A Life on Earth Volcanoes certainly didn’t expect the bunch alive. Then she After a little fearfully catching in the documentary, was left an and diseases. The huge amount of carbon dioxide tendrils that grip your legs like lassoes. series, was National Park in Pablo to sit on him. went missing, thought to orphan. He later died. Prosper says: “Some don’t see which forests absorb is crucial to Finally, we see them – a family of Agahebuzo’s knowing brown eyes, the GRANDSON screened on the the Virunga moun- “There was even a have died from natural same colour as my own, I understand. Ian says: “He lost the will to live.” tourism as a form of conservation, but battling climate change. gorillas descended from those David BBC to an tains to retrace his moment, when the lens Sir David causes. As we watch, her it is low-intensity, kept to one visit a But in the 1970s, they were prey. Just Chief warden Prosper Agahebuzo, grandson of Tuck Just before we crawl back through Attenborough made famous in 1979. audience who knew steps, and try to under- was being changed, daughter Ururabo’s family day, for an hour only. It is working.” the undergrowth, the trackers spy a never before Sir David arrived, a male chris- Uwingeli says the recognise the gorillas as a treasure in Our hearts hammering in a silence more about gorillas stand his achievement when Poppy’s sister, begin to move about. Despite their familiarity with newborn baby almost hidden in its tened Digit was speared to death, his authorities needed to order to protect them. After Sir David only broken by the buzzing of insects, from King Kong and find descendants Puck, took hold of his expected to Imena’s awesome human faces, there is no doubt that mother’s arms, its umbilical cord still CUTE The wide-eyed baby gorilla finished filming, he and the crew were we watch the Rwanda mountain than wildlife of the cheeky gorillas head and peered right hands, fingers like the gorillas are wild. attached, fur still wet. We are advised get so close shot at and strip-searched as they gorillas as they sit stock still, looming shows. Previously, not even the he met. We are here with biologist Ian at his face. bananas, encircle crack- not to approach, but silently celebrate. made their way down the mountain, We encounter Poppy’s daughter from lush vegetation like sculptures. presenter himself had ever met one in Redmond, 64, who, in the 1970s, “When you’re with a but they ling shoots as Ururabo feeding her baby and the surprise Ian says: “David has never been This is Ururabo, 22, with her sons, the flesh, let alone filmed them. worked in this dense jungle as a family of resting gorillas strides gracefully through the army suspicious they were trying took to him to highlight poaching. elicits a hissing roar which forces us back, but he would be blown away to Nkurunziza, five, and Imena, 11, and When his encounter with the 22-year-old assistant to primatologist there is no fear. That’s the butterflies with her all to crouch into submissive poses. see what we have seen.” When they realised they had in her strong arms daughter Wang gorillas was broadcast, the creatures Dian Fossey, who had studied these what people saw and IAN REDMOND BIOLOGIST baby on her back. Direct poaching has ceased in ■ To learn more and to help protect Wang Uburumbuke, with a bootbrush were precariously rare, numbering groups, giving them each names. they loved them. Later, crawling on our simply highlighted the beauty of these incredible creatures, their Rwanda and Uganda. But in the polit- the gorillas, visit Ape Alliance: Action head of fuzz, aged just one. under 250 in the world and predicted Ian, who held the microphone as “Afterwards, he used knees through goose ically unstable DRC, gorillas are harder for Apes at 4apes.com. his reputation to raise money and get grass and wild celery, we find silver- attitude changed. Ururabo is the daughter of Poppy, to be extinct by the end of the century. the gorillas gently teased Sir David like to protect and apes are still poached. [email protected] a brother, says the film “helped change organisations involved.” back Agahebuzo, the strapping, Prosper says: “Attenborough’s who was just 18 months old when she But there are now more than 1,004, The latest positive phase in the @emily_retter was filmed as she watched her pal making mountain gorillas the only ape the fate of a species”. The family tree of those gorillas is 12-year-old grandson of Tuck. message changed minds. We feel gorilla’s protection is the Rwandan VOICE OF THE MIRROR: PAGE 8 Pablo playfully sit on an astonished on the planet, bar humans, rising in The gorillas were targeted by now long. A census carried out exclu- As he sinks back for a snooze, he grateful to him.” Later that year, the first habituated gorilla group David Attenborough. Later, off number. Although they are still poachers, who cut off their hands and sively for the Mirror reveals sisters raises his leg and clutches it with his CURIOSITY Ian Redmond with young Poppy in 1978 HOPEFUL Warden Prosper TOMORROW: WAR AGAINST POACHERS