Tonight's TV
Bad girls
Natural World, Naabi: A Hyena Princess (BBC2, 8pm); Child Genius (C4, 9pm)
LACKING the sultry style of the
lion, the raw speed of the cheetah
or the grace of the giraffe, the
hyena is perhaps one of the
African plains' most overlooked
animals. The block-jawed, hunchbacked
and mangy-coated beasts are a
charmless bunch who tend not to attract the
limelight of their more glamorous counterparts.
Put it this way, if a family of hyenas turned
up to your safari party you'd no doubt tell
them where to go. Aggressive, giggling pack
animals don't go down well at parties, and no
matter how many lads there are, it is unlikely
there would be any takers for these
females.
The lion, on the other hand, would no doubt
walk confidently through the front door,
cheesecake in hand, and proceed to charm all
the guests.
So the BBC seeks to redress the
balance with its documentary,
Natural World, Naabi: A
Hyena Princess.
The film follows a
family of hyena
royalty through
their day-to-day
battle with the
lions.
Naabi, the clan's new princess, begins life
promisingly for a hyena because, moments
after birth, the short-tempered pup sets about
savaging her kid sister to secure her place at
the prime teat. But life soon
becomes a steep learning curve for the youngster,
as her family immediately set about annoying
their neighbours, the lions.
We've all had an annoying neighbour, perhaps
because they make too much noise, park
in your space, or get too familiar with your
girlfriend (or was that just me?). But when
you see the hyenas and lions competing for
food it puts it all in perspective.
When the rain arrives on the plains and the
grasslands burst back into life, the wildebeast
inevitably flock in their thousands (a simple,
fickle bunch, the wildebeast). And where the
wildebeast is, the hyena is never far behind.
They sit, like an expectant family, while the
females of the wildebeast herd give birth.
Then, unlike an expectant family (at least
you would hope), they pounce on the babies
and munch them down in seconds. Welcome
to Planet Earth, baby wildebeast.
Karma catches up with the hyenas, however,
because after her mother is mauled by
the lions, Naabi loses her privileged place in
the clan and becomes an outcast.
The destitute youngster sulks for a few
weeks, picking up the scraps from the jackals,
while watching the other hyenas gorging
on the plentiful wildebeast.
It becomes an emotional journey, as
Naabi learns the hard way about life on
the plains. Emotional, that is, until you
remember that these pot-bellied dogs
would have no qualms about tearing
you limb from limb.
Naabi is forced to suck dried blood
from rotting bones, but sometimes televised
nature imposes a little too much
personality onto these animals. To see the
slobbering, blood-thirsty hyenas closing in
the baby wildebeast should be dramatic
enough, without the syrupy commentary.
BUT I would rather take my chance with
a pack of hyenas than spend anytime
with the subjects of C4's Child Genius.
The programme follows four 13-year-olds trying
to balance their academic talents amidst
the onset of adolescence.
In their place, as a 13-year-old, if my parents
railroaded me into writing a novel or
composing a piece of classical music, as is the
case with the teens featured in this documentary,
they would be facing a torrent of
teenage rebellion.
But the children in this documentary are
so oppressed by the expectations thrust upon
them that it becomes painful watching them
wrestling with their emotions.
One of the boys, Dante, is at any one point
just a millisecond away from exploding into
a hormonal rage. And he's not the only one,
because despite my teenage years being well
behind me, watching this programme conjured
up feelings of unwarranted anger that
I haven't felt since my mum bought me a pair
of cycling shorts for my 15th birthday.
It's not the fault of the child geniuses, but
the parents are so unbearably pushy that it
becomes painful viewing at times.
11:17am Wednesday 23rd April 2008
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