India: Nature's Wonderland

India has diverse, extreme landscapes inhabited by many endangered animals that are found nowhere else on earth. Hosted by wildlife expert Liz Bonnin, actress Freida Pinto, and mountaineer Jon Gupta, this PBS-aired BBC documentary looks at Indian tigers, Asiatic lions, and rhinos, as well as smaller mammals and birds, in locales ranging from the towering mountains in the north to the extreme southern tip of the subcontinent. Viewers will see Hoolock gibbons—rare primates who can "sing" and swing through tree canopies at a speed of 35 miles per hour—and Indian elephants who travel well-worn paths through forest fragments and tea plantations, coexisting in a watchful truce with humans. Throughout India, humans and wildlife have forged a collaboration, notably in one city that lays out grain in its square for great migrating masses of cranes, who come every day to feed. The number of tigers has been built back up in over 40 tiger preserves, and they are celebrated in colorful "tiger dances" each harvest season (respect for animals is a key feature in Indian mythology and religion). The documentary also illustrates how the runoff from the Himalayan mountains supplies fresh water for man and animals, flowing into the river Ganges, which is central to Indian ritual and worship. Poaching remains a problem, but the film presents an overall optimistic view of Indian wildlife survival. Combining little known facts (rhinos are surprisingly thin-skinned) with interesting sights (such as elephants providing transportation for everyday needs), this appealing nature documentary is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)