Alright, this is my last BBC Natural World episode, so no more David Attenborough and nature at least for the time being. The documentary episode follows the journey and life of Echo, an African elephant and the matriarch of a family of elephants. Using older footage taken in the ’80s as flashbacks to her earlier life, we get a very intimate and fascinating look at what we discover is a very special elephant.
Echo, named so because of the echo on the tracking device researchers put on her collar many years ago, has been through a lot. She’s given birth over 5 times and one of the baby elephants has trouble walking for three days. As David Attenborough explains through his as usual fantastic narration, other elephant mothers would have left their young to die while they went in search for food and water. But Echo stays with her child, urging him to stand on his legs, and when he does, you can’t help but hold your breath as it looks like he’s about to do it. Great cinematography and story.
However, Echo is dying. After her natural death, a new leader needs to take over. Will the lessons she taught her children and her grandchildren be enough to help them survive one of the worst droughts in area’s history?
More than anything, the episode is and feels like a biography of the legacy of this special, intelligent elephant. Her death impacts not only her family but the researchers who had spent decades studying, observing, and befriending the animal, and reminds us of humans’ roots to the Earth.
Echo, largest elephant, with Enid, one of her daughters, and her newborn struggling to walk
aaron's random musings 