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ECHO AND OTHER ELEPHANTS

BBC Warner / 362 minutes / Region 1 NTSC / released April 2008

Cynthia Moss has dedicated over 30 years of her life to following one particular herd of African elephants led by the wise, 60 year old Echo. This quite gorgeous 2 disc set brings together three documentaries, all narrated by Sir David Attenborough, with 5 more Elephant themed BBC Wildlife docos.

Living in Kenya's Amboseli's National Park, Echo, her offspring and releatives live out their lives in a surprisingly domestic fashion despite the battles over mating and horror of horrors - death at the hands of a hunter. Mostly though Echo has to deal, like any mother, with her mischievous kids and the problems of keeping her herd in check.

The first of these docos, Echo of the Elephants, is from 1993 and so affecting was Moss's glimpse into this world that three years later the film- makers were able to return to the reserve to look at some of the new arrivals to the herd and then 2002 saw the airing of The Final Chapter, although with a 13 part series in the works for Animal Planet it looks like Echo could be around for some time yet, her youngest child is now 2 and a Half and there has been some talk that she might be pregnant again, although Cynthia herself believes this to be unlikely.

This BBC Warner release is doubly special though, not just for the three Echo tales but for the fact that it also includes 5 other docos that track Elephants across Africa.

A beautiful release, not to be missed.

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