Have you ever wondered if animals are looking at humans and wondering what in the heck we’re doing? Enough humans have looked at animals and wondered the same thing, right? While Athena, a large, 50-year old elephant that looks over her herd, makes the decision to leave the watering hole that helps to maintain the herd, it’s enough to think that many a human will be sitting in their seat and going ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ while wondering just how the elephants continually make their way from one watering hole to another without suffering any major losses to their already small community. The simplest answer of course is that Athena and the other adult elephants in the herd are there to protect the young ones, but another explanation would be that it’s nature and as a rule it’s something that’s been happening for longer than people have been making documentaries. That’s the joy about wild animals, they tend to know what to do since it’s buried in their genetic code more often than not and no matter how hard things get, they follow the instincts and the lessons imparted to them by generations that have handed this same information down in various ways.
There are a great number of dangers in the African wilderness, not the least of which are the simple dangers of hunger and thirst. If there’s no water and no food then many animals will search for miles for anything that can sustain them, and for Athena and her herd this can be a perilous trip no matter where they go. The younger elephants are prime targets for predators since they can’t defend themselves as easily, and predators follow the food source as well. It’s a hard and harsh way to live, but it’s something that’s been happening for much longer than humanity has been watching. This is the rule of the world, the strong know how to survive and, if there’s enough compassion, can help those that can’t help themselves. Athena and her herd are highly protective of their young members and as anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of elephants might be able to tell you, it’s not wise to enrage a tusker like Athena as no matter how old they are they can tend to be insanely aggressive and protective all at once if anyone or anything approaches those in her care, or her, with anything less than neutral or good intent.
As Ben Pearson of SlashFilm has already said AppleTV will be using this as one of their biggest draws when it’s time for the streaming network to fully reveal what it has to offer, but until then it will be debuting in a theatrical release to let people see the majesty that is on display. While a lot of people are bound to say that it’s something that’s beautiful, wonderful, and a true testament to the wonderment of the wild and its many alluring sights, in a big way it still seems like one species attempting to glorify another for doing what comes natural. That seems cynical, I know, and it’s kind of meant to since as much as human beings like to look at nature and exclaim over what they see as beautiful, glorious, and a real look at what exists in nature that’s been all but forgotten by humanity, it’s another day for the animals that are being filmed. It’d be funnier to think that filming had to be disrupted now and again if Athena or any of the other elephants actually took umbrage at the film crews being so close. But it would almost seem as though they’ve grown used to the disturbance and will only get unruly if the crew did anything untoward that they didn’t like.
It’s hard to deny that the sight of these magnificent creatures is anything but inspiring, but in truth if we knew what they were thinking from one moment to another we might find out that they’re wondering just why these silly, hairless beings are bothering to flit around with their silly machines when they’re simply doing what it takes to survive. In a way it’s almost like following a human being around their average day and trying to see how they survive from one situation to another, though many would likely state that it’s not the same. They’re right in fact, it’s not the same at all since humans have learned how to distance themselves from the world in a big way over the years and don’t always have to survive in the same manner as Athena and her herd do. Calling this amazing and captivating however is, in some ways, kind of ridiculous since it’s a look at one herd out of the many that have come before that are doing the same things that their forebears did.
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