GORILLAS AND RHINOS AND SHREWS, OH MY!Byline: Bob Thomas Associated Press Just when you thought you'd seen everything possible in the way of television nature shows, along comes National Geographic's ``Heart of Africa Heart of Africa is an adventure game for the Commodore 64 and unofficial sequel to The Seven Cities of Gold. Created by Ozark Softscape and published by Electronic Arts in 1985, it casts the player as an adventurer searching for the Lost Tomb of Pharaoh Ahnk Ahnk in Africa .'' The documentary's three hourlong segments air July 15-17 on PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, , a presentation of the network, National Geographic Television, Survival Anglia and WETA WETA Western Tanager (bird species Piranga ludoviciana) WETA Wingnut Entertainment Technical Allusions WETA Website of Excellence in Tourism Award WETA Waikato Environment for Text Analysis WETA Washington Educational Television Authority , Washington, D.C. The first hour, ``Fire and Ice,'' depicts eruption of volcanoes, mating rituals of antelope, and rare mountain gorillas. The second, ``Jewel of the Rift,'' is an underwater look at the strange creatures that inhabit Lake Tanganyika, the deepest lake in the world. And ``Forest Primeval'' is a journey into the seldom-visited wilderness of eastern Zaire, with such beasties as pottos, pangolins and rhinoceros rhinoceros, massive hoofed mammal of Africa, India, and SE Asia, characterized by a snout with one or two horns. The rhinoceros family, along with the horse and tapir families, forms the order of odd-toed hoofed mammals. vipers. Three Britons are responsible for the photography - veteran Alan Root and the husband-and-wife team of Victoria Stone and Mark Deeble. The producer and writer of ``Heart of Africa,'' Cathy McDonnell, said the show differs greatly from other African adventures. ``Zaire has long been closed to filmmakers because of the chaotic political situation, but Alan Root decided to try to shoot there,'' she explained. ``It turned out to be as difficult as everyone had expected, but he has come up with some remarkable footage. ``He was in a rain forest filming animals, some of which had literally never been seen alive before, not even by biologists. There is a beautiful sequence of the fishing genet. That animal had been known by skins and skulls - it had never been studied alive before. ``Mark Deeble and Vickie Stone are a young couple who studied under Alan's tutelage. They made the Tanganyika film along the shores of Tanzania. They spent several years there and really portray a remarkable evolutionary story.'' McDonnell cited the show's ``amazing wealth of curious and whimsical creatures.'' Among them: Forest elephants - ``very shy, very difficult to find.'' Congo peacock - ``probably the hardest bird to see in the wild.'' Otter shrew shrew, common name for the small, insectivorous mammals of the family Soricidae, related to the moles. Shrews include the smallest mammals; the smallest shrews are under 2 in. (5.1 cm) long, excluding the tail, and the largest are about 6 in. (15 cm) long. - ``which is neither an otter nor a shrew but an insectivore insectivore (ĭnsĕk`təvōr'), term broadly given to any insect-eating animal or plant. More specifically, the term refers to mammals of the order Insectivora (see Chordata), including the shrew, mole, hedgehog, tenrec, and solenodon. of its own family.'' Cichlid cichlid (sĭk`lĭd), common name for members of the family Cichlidae, several hundred species of spiny-finned freshwater fishes of moderate or small size, native to Africa, S Asia, Mexico, and Central and South America. - a Lake Tanganyika fish that has evolved into more than 200 species from the size of an arm's length to a thumbnail. Like many of today's nature films of Africa, ``Heart of Africa'' carries the warning of danger from man's depredations. ``The third film, `Forest Primeval,' speaks of it because of the poaching poaching: see cooking. of elephants,'' McDonnell said from her home and office on New York's Long Island. ``That area (in Zaire) is one of the last great wildernesses of the world. It's just beginning to see things like poaching. Heart of Africa When: 8 p.m. July 15, 16 and 17 Network: KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology Producer/writer: Cathy O'Donnell CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Cover--Color) National Geographic offers a look atpreviously unseen wildlife in `Heart of Africa.' |
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