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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Ginger Mauney

Aired May 11, 2003 - 10:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Mothering in nature, whether it's in the city or out in the wild, is one of the hardest jobs on earth. The National Geographic Channel looks at the complex relationships between mothers and children in the wild. In the documentary "Born Wild," filmmaker Ginger Mauney witnessed the dangers of raising offspring in Namibia's wild.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GINGER MAUNEY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER: Watering holes are a place of life in a really dry environment like Atasha (ph). But they're also a place of great danger because predators hunt there. And particularly where young wild life because they may be not as fast as the adults and they're not as savvy at pick up clues. So they'll stumble more readily than the adults and particularly, lions tend to hone in on young at the water holes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's a fascinating special and Ginger Mauney is with us now on this Mother's Day from Richmond, Virginia.

Good to see you, junior -- Ginger.

MAUNEY: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: Well, you are a filmmaker who has studied the wild for so long, but what was it about this particular project that really hit close home to you to be witness to and do you mean the relationship between mother and child in the wild?

MAUNEY: I'm also a mom. My son just turned five years old and he's spent his entire life out in the Bush. So, he's faced a lot of the same threats that these animals have.

WHITFIELD: And how have you seen the similarities or perhaps did you -- you know you've been witness to the relationship between the wild animal's relationships between mother and child. And then, here you game became a parent five years ago in that very setting. Do you feel like you've learned from the animals that you witnessed and had been documenting over the years?

MAUNEY: Absolutely. You learn a lot of patience as a wild life filmmaker and that's something very valuable as a mother. And you also learn you can protect your child and encourage independence at the same time. WHITFIELD: Did you notice that -- or did you try to draw comparisons at the you know, the challenges are obviously worlds apart, but there are a lot of similarity, too. And in some of the clips that we're going to be showing here, you notice that among the elephant family, which is very familiar -- familial that these mothers or the larger animals would indeed, go great lengths at to which to protect the very vulnerable and the very young.

MAUNEY: Absolutely. Particularly with elephants because they're such a social animal and they're a female bonded group so everyone in that group is related in some way. And I come from a big family with lots of sisters and lots of aunts that looked after me as I grew up and they're not going to sacrifice one of their own. They'll do anything in their formidable power to protect each other.

WHITFIELD: Say, for example, with the baboon, something you witnessed that shocked even you, given that you've been exposed to these animals and the behavior. In the baboon, you know, species, it really is survival of the fittest and you witnessed that there were mothers who were actually kidnapped the babies of other mothers.

MAUNEY: This was probably nature's most dysfunctional family, this troop of baboons that we lived with. They lived under such extreme environmental conditions that it's forced them to take extreme measures just to become a mother. They kept losing their babies to various environmental factors and the desire to be a mother was so strong that they started kidnapping babies of lower ranking females. And they got away with it because rank is so strictly enforced within primate society.

WHITFIELD: It's heartbreaking stuff, but fascinating too and so revealing and so raw. And Ginger Mauney, thanks very much for joining us on this Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to you.

MAUNEY: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we can watch this special tomorrow on National Geograp -- later on today, I'm sorry, on National Geographic.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 11, 2003 - 10:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Mothering in nature, whether it's in the city or out in the wild, is one of the hardest jobs on earth. The National Geographic Channel looks at the complex relationships between mothers and children in the wild. In the documentary "Born Wild," filmmaker Ginger Mauney witnessed the dangers of raising offspring in Namibia's wild.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GINGER MAUNEY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER: Watering holes are a place of life in a really dry environment like Atasha (ph). But they're also a place of great danger because predators hunt there. And particularly where young wild life because they may be not as fast as the adults and they're not as savvy at pick up clues. So they'll stumble more readily than the adults and particularly, lions tend to hone in on young at the water holes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's a fascinating special and Ginger Mauney is with us now on this Mother's Day from Richmond, Virginia.

Good to see you, junior -- Ginger.

MAUNEY: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: Well, you are a filmmaker who has studied the wild for so long, but what was it about this particular project that really hit close home to you to be witness to and do you mean the relationship between mother and child in the wild?

MAUNEY: I'm also a mom. My son just turned five years old and he's spent his entire life out in the Bush. So, he's faced a lot of the same threats that these animals have.

WHITFIELD: And how have you seen the similarities or perhaps did you -- you know you've been witness to the relationship between the wild animal's relationships between mother and child. And then, here you game became a parent five years ago in that very setting. Do you feel like you've learned from the animals that you witnessed and had been documenting over the years?

MAUNEY: Absolutely. You learn a lot of patience as a wild life filmmaker and that's something very valuable as a mother. And you also learn you can protect your child and encourage independence at the same time. WHITFIELD: Did you notice that -- or did you try to draw comparisons at the you know, the challenges are obviously worlds apart, but there are a lot of similarity, too. And in some of the clips that we're going to be showing here, you notice that among the elephant family, which is very familiar -- familial that these mothers or the larger animals would indeed, go great lengths at to which to protect the very vulnerable and the very young.

MAUNEY: Absolutely. Particularly with elephants because they're such a social animal and they're a female bonded group so everyone in that group is related in some way. And I come from a big family with lots of sisters and lots of aunts that looked after me as I grew up and they're not going to sacrifice one of their own. They'll do anything in their formidable power to protect each other.

WHITFIELD: Say, for example, with the baboon, something you witnessed that shocked even you, given that you've been exposed to these animals and the behavior. In the baboon, you know, species, it really is survival of the fittest and you witnessed that there were mothers who were actually kidnapped the babies of other mothers.

MAUNEY: This was probably nature's most dysfunctional family, this troop of baboons that we lived with. They lived under such extreme environmental conditions that it's forced them to take extreme measures just to become a mother. They kept losing their babies to various environmental factors and the desire to be a mother was so strong that they started kidnapping babies of lower ranking females. And they got away with it because rank is so strictly enforced within primate society.

WHITFIELD: It's heartbreaking stuff, but fascinating too and so revealing and so raw. And Ginger Mauney, thanks very much for joining us on this Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to you.

MAUNEY: Thank you. It's my pleasure.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we can watch this special tomorrow on National Geograp -- later on today, I'm sorry, on National Geographic.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com