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In a lifetime of natural
history filmmaking
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I've seen many odd animals,
but few odder than these
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00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,200
proboscis monkeys in Borneo.
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00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,360
I first saw them 50 years ago.
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ARCHIVE: 'Late one evening,
we had a great stroke of luck.'
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00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,000
'For a troupe of the extraordinary
long nosed proboscis monkey
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'had come down to the river
bank to feed.'
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'When I started filming
such creatures,
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'it was quite easy to show viewers
animals that hitherto had only
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'been seen in the wild by
intrepid explorers.'
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00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,520
'As the years passed,
one way and another, we got better
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00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:47,720
'and better shots and in the
process, I had some memorable
encounters.'
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00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,000
Boo!
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00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,240
This is a very
intelligent animal.
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00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,160
And top of the menu right now
is salmon.
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00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,400
SNARLING
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I think that was pretty clear!
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00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,120
I've been lucky enough to live
through what might be
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00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,480
considered the golden
age of natural history filmmaking.
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00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,880
Almost every year it seemed we found
some new way of revealing
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00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,520
new things about the natural world.
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'In the 1950s, much of the wildlife
of the planet was still unfilmed,
even unknown.
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00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:50,360
'And in the following 60 years,
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00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:54,840
'a succession of technical
innovations enabled us to reveal
more
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00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,000
'and more of the natural
world in increasing detail.'
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00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:23,080
This is the first natural history
film I ever saw - in 1934,
when I was eight.
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And I thought it was wonderful.
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Ladies and gentlemen.
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Let me put you out of your
misery at once.
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You're not going to see me
for long, although I am inviting
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you to come on this trip with me,
you will only see me occasionally.
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00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:48,440
The man in the pith helmet is
Cherry Kearton, one of the first
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00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,800
people to try and capture
the lives of wild animals on film.
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00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,000
There are five million penguins
on this island, which are called
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the jackass penguins.
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00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,320
I'm always polite to animals,
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00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:07,360
and as I intend to stay with
the penguins for several months,
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00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:09,520
I am naturally adopting my most
friendly manner.
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00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,440
Kearton travelled around the world
filming wild animals that
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00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:16,480
had never been filmed before.
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00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,360
His approach was hardly scientific,
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00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,520
but nonetheless he was
very entertaining.
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00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,120
His sister, a typical flapper,
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00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:30,440
not content with being one of
the fair sex, wants to join
the air sex
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00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,520
But resigns herself to just a
flip here, a flap there,
46
00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:38,320
and a flop in between.
47
00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:46,720
For all its obvious flaws, his films
captured my childish imagination
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00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:52,920
and made me dream of travelling to
far-off places to film wild animals.
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00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,720
And this is one of the very cameras
Cherry Kearton used.
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It's enclosed in a wooden box.
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00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:10,160
It was driven by hand
and used 35mm film.
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This distance across.
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00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,320
Within a few years, it was
superseded by improved models like
this one,
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00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,280
which had a metal box
and it worked by clockwork
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00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:24,520
and it had a variety of lenses.
56
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,640
But it still used hefty 35mm film.
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00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:33,040
Happily however, there were smaller
versions available.
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00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:36,000
A camera like this.
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00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:40,000
This used 16mm film which was
only half the size
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and it was powered by clockwork.
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00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:48,360
But unfortunately the BBC
thought cameras like
this were unprofessional.
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And there was a huge row as to
whether or not I could be allowed
to take it.
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00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,800
But in the end I did,
and it was with this I set off
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00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,160
to ramble around the jungles of the
world looking for unfilmed animals.
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00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,520
My first natural history series,
Zoo Quest,
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00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,240
recorded the progress of animal
collecting expeditions
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00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,560
arranged with the London Zoo
and brought to the screen,
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00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,040
places and animals that had
never before been seen on
television,
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00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:21,920
or in the cinema, come to that.
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00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:28,080
One targeted the largest
lizard in the world which
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lived on the small Indonesian
island of Komodo.
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00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,680
Few people had heard of it
and Indonesia no-one seemed sure
where the island was.
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00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,760
Eventually, we set off with a
fisherman who said that he did,
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00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,600
but after a couple of days at sea,
I had my doubts.
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00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,480
I said to the captain, "You have
been to Komodo before, haven't you?"
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And he said, "Baloom."
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00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,360
And I didn't know what baloom meant.
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So I had to go and find my
Indonesian dictionary and looked
it up
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00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:58,960
and it said, "Not yet."
80
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,200
So, it was clear
he didn't know the way.
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00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,920
After a week at sea and having
survived encounters with coral reefs
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00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,760
and whirlpools, we arrived
at what I thought must be Komodo.
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00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,080
And I remember wading
ashore across a coral lagoon
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00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:22,440
and finding a tiny little village
and saying, "Excuse me,
is this Komodo?"
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00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:23,800
HE CHUCKLES
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00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,840
And they, "Komodo". So it was OK.
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00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:33,320
The locals recommended
we should use a dead goat as bait.
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00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:37,160
Once in the bush we began to build
a trap using materials
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gathered from nearby,
as I recorded in my journal.
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00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,440
This was the dragon trap
with a little bait in there.
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00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,600
When the dragon, if he went
in the front end, trod on there,
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it pulled it down which then pulled
the ring down which released the
rod,
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00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,560
which then pulled down, because
of the lump of rock on the bottom.
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So, clunk, down it would go.
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00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,360
And now, all we had to do was
to wait.
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00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,520
There was a rustle in the bush
and there was the dragon.
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00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,880
Our first sight of this
magnificent monster.
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00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,600
To my surprise, we were looking at
the trap and I heard a noise
behind me.
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00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,000
I turned round
and there was the dragon.
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00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,880
That was taken at that
particular moment.
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00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:33,480
Looking at me straight in the eye
from only about a couple of
yards away.
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We looked at each other and I
thought, at least I might take
your photograph.
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00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,760
So that was the photograph
I took of him.
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00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:46,360
Then, he rather wearily heaved
himself up and strolled round us
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00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,200
and went down into the dry riverbed
where we'd made the trap.
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And down came the door.
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00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:02,720
Hastily we piled boulders on the
door so he couldn't lift it up.
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00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,160
We'd got him.
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00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,120
Those early films seem pretty
ordinarily these days,
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00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:09,920
but they were nonetheless popular
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00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,080
because what ever we showed was new
to most of our viewers.
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00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:24,440
So, in the 1950s we were taking
cameras like this
all over the world.
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00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:29,200
And then, an Austrian biologist
and filmmaker decided to try
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00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,480
and take it under water.
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00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,800
His name was Hans Hass,
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00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,480
and he developed his own special
housing to do that.
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00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,000
Hans and his wife Lotte
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00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,200
were the first to bring the wonders
of life under the sea to television.
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00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,800
And their programs were all
the more sensational
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00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,600
because few people at that time
had scuba dived.
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00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,640
Take care, down there are sharks.
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00:09:57,640 --> 00:09:59,520
We are right on the reef's edge.
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00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,960
In the '50s, sharks
had a terrible reputation.
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00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:08,960
They were the killers of the sea.
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00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:14,680
Anybody in water alongside a shark
was clearly courting certain death.
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00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,240
Here were Hans and Lotte swimming
alongside them.
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00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,200
The nation was astounded.
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00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,520
The sequence certainly had shock
value, but perhaps it was also
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00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,240
the first step in changing
our perceptions of sharks.
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00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,240
And like all television, it was
still shown in black and white.
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00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:46,880
So, during the Zoo Quest series
I had to describe an animal's
colour in words.
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00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,160
This one was among the most
brilliantly coloured of all
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chameleons in the world.
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00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:57,280
His eyeballs are bright, rust-red
and his body and legs striped
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00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,600
and blotched with a vivid green.
136
00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,760
But, television was changing fast.
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00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:12,640
In the 1960s, the BBC was given
a second television network
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00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,440
operating on a higher technical
standard with the specific
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00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,480
job of introducing colour
television.
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00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,240
And in 1965, I was
put in charge of it with an office
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00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,880
here in the
Television Centre in London.
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00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:33,040
To demonstrate colour
on television could be both accurate
and not garish,
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00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,880
I commissioned a series about
the history of art.
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00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,560
It was called Civilisation.
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00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,200
I'm standing in the Sistine Chapel
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00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,160
and above my head is
one of the greatest works of man,
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00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,680
Michelangelo's ceiling.
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00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,720
It was presented by Kenneth Clarke
and became a great success.
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00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,880
So we followed it with other series
on a similar scale about science,
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00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:58,840
economics and the history
of America.
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00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,480
But I knew the most dazzlingly
colourful series would be
one about wildlife.
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00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,200
After eight years in administration,
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00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:14,520
I decided I wanted to go back
to making programs.
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00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:19,720
And I put up a suggestion we should
make 13 one-hour programmes
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00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:24,040
in colour tracing the whole history
of life on Earth.
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00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,240
Thanks to the development of
jet air travel,
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we were able to film in 30 countries
around the globe.
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00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,040
And as I traced the history of life
on the planet, I could appear
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00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:44,840
to move from one continent to
another in the space of a single
sequence.
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00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,680
The South American
rainforests are the richest
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00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,600
and varied assemblage
of life in the world.
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00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,080
These limestones in Morocco...
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00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,720
Macaques live in many parts of
Japan.
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00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,080
WHINING
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00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:04,240
Life On Earth was
shown in 100 different countries
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00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,200
and seen by perhaps as many as
500 million people.
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00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,600
Natural history television was now
a global phenomenon,
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00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,680
revealing our wonderful
world in colour to all.
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00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,520
During the series,
we made full use of both colour
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00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,760
and scuba gear to help show the
underwater world as never before.
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00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:32,560
I even tried to follow Hans Hass'
lead exploring the underwater world.
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00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:40,320
One of the problems with underwater
films was you cannot talk
underwater.
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00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,280
Most of the time if you have a
breathing apparatus on your back,
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00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:45,880
you have something in your mouth.
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00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,960
But Alistair, one of my producer
colleagues, was very keen we should
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00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:54,240
try and introduce the presenter
talking to camera underwater.
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00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,960
There was a wonderful new invention
called the bubble helmet
and this is it.
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00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,760
You can put a microphone in one
side of it.
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00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,280
So, we went down to the swimming
pool in the hotel where we
were staying
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00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,360
and this was screwed on my head.
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00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:13,080
It took a long time to screw
it down tight to make it watertight.
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00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,960
I put it on like this.
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00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:21,040
I waded it into the water
and I hadn't gone more than
a foot underwater,
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00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,880
When suddenly, water started
bubbling in, very alarming.
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00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,560
It was rising around you
and I was going to drown.
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00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:30,440
How long would it take to
get this off?
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00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,920
So I came out in a hurry.
There was a fault, I said.
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00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:39,200
"Nonsense," said Alistair, "give
it to me." He put it on
his shoulders.
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00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:43,240
And I, with some pleasure screwed
it down quite tight
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00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,600
and he waded into the pool.
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00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,920
And he came out even quicker
than me with water
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00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,760
and he was gesticulating
to get it off.
193
00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,080
And I finally took it off and
he said, "There's a fault."
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00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:56,600
I said, "Yes, there is".
195
00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,840
So I happily left the helmet behind
and reverted to my old mask
196
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,720
and scuba gear when it came
to my next underwater assignment -
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00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:12,520
to reveal the extraordinary social
behaviour and intelligence
of dolphins.
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00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,000
They are full of curiosity,
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00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,960
they play with odd things they find,
such as twigs,
200
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,560
and swimming among them leaves you
in no doubt
201
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,600
that they are highly intelligent.
202
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,800
CONSTANT CLICKS AND SQUEAKS
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00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:28,120
They will even mimic you as you spin
or hang in the water.
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00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,320
Until the 1980s, you could only
shoot 10 minutes of film under water
205
00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,040
before you had to come back
to the surface,
206
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,560
open the underwater housing,
take out the camera,
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00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:51,920
put in a new roll of film.
208
00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,800
But then video cameras
solved that problem.
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00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,080
Videotapes ran for 30 minutes.
210
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:01,800
And now, at last, we had the chance
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00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:04,560
of properly recording
animal behaviour underwater.
212
00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,360
In addition, video cameras
were far more sensitive,
213
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,400
so we could record at much lower
light levels,
214
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,600
making artificial lights
unnecessary.
215
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,160
It was a huge breakthrough
for underwater filming,
216
00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,720
and crucial to the success
of The Blue Planet series.
217
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:29,240
Now it was possible to record
for the first time marlin hunting.
218
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,880
The seas and oceans were full
of animals
219
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,760
whose extraordinary behaviour,
up till now, no one had ever seen.
220
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,760
And the shots just got better
and better.
221
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,600
Cameramen could now stay underwater
long enough
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00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:05,720
to capture every moment
of the action,
223
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,280
and be in the right place
at the right time
224
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,480
for the most dramatic events.
225
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,560
So now we can capture previously
unseen animal behaviour
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00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,200
throughout the seas of the world.
227
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:49,320
On land it had, until now, been
impossible to film animals
228
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,120
behaving naturally at night,
when most mammals are active.
229
00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,000
All we could do was shine
a spotlight on them
230
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,680
and film them as they ran away.
231
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,960
And it was the same problem wherever
animals lived in darkness.
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00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:16,920
Caves are fascinating places,
but difficult places to work in.
233
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:22,680
When I first came here to this one
in Gomantong in Borneo back in 1972,
234
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,520
we had to bring
a lot of lights with us
235
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,240
in order to film the many
millions of birds and bats
236
00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,400
that live in here.
237
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,120
And the droppings of all those
creatures
238
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,920
make the cave wreak of ammonia.
239
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,120
HE INHALES
240
00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:54,240
The smell brings it all back to me.
241
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,840
When I was here 40 years ago,
242
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,400
the director said,
"There's a pile of droppings
243
00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,880
at the far end of the cave
244
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:05,400
that goes right up to the roof."
245
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,120
"Why don't you climb up to the top?"
246
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:12,160
And when I got to the top
he shouted, "Say something!"
247
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:13,880
So I tried.
248
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:25,800
And...what it is is...these bats...
packed tight on the roof here.
249
00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,280
They're flying now all around
my head.
250
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,440
This cave,
this particular part of it,
251
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,840
Oohh! ..makes... (COUGHS)
252
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,800
This ammonia is really
quite, quite choking.
253
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,520
..makes a very perfect place
for a home.
254
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,160
HIGH-PITCHED CHATTERING
255
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:48,640
One of the really astounding things
is that this immense number of bats
256
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,160
flying round here in a panic -
257
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,720
not one is colliding with the other.
258
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:59,080
Nor, indeed, am I in any danger
whatsoever of being hit by them.
259
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,800
And then the director said, "Cut!",
the camera stopped,
260
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,480
the lights went out,
261
00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,920
and a bat flew straight in my face.
262
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,480
So perhaps their much praised
echo location
263
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,760
is not quite as perfect
as people say.
264
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:22,160
The film cameras we used then needed
normal white light, like these.
265
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,800
But the problem with that is that
they disturb animals
266
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,000
accustomed to living in the dark.
267
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,600
But then the security industry
developed a new type of camera
268
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:39,000
like this one, which uses infrared
light and doesn't need these lights,
269
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,720
but nonetheless can see in the dark,
as you can see -
270
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,960
I turn off one,
I turn off the other...
271
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:52,160
..and now, even though
it's pitch dark, you can see me.
272
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,080
Most animals, like us,
can't see infrared.
273
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,000
And that meant that
with these cameras,
274
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:02,200
we could now watch them behave
perfectly normally in the dark.
275
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,720
And that revealed some
extraordinary behaviour.
276
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,200
And also led to one or two pretty
uncomfortable moments.
277
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,120
Lions are mostly active at night,
278
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:19,680
and seldom roar during the day.
279
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:28,000
We tried to persuade them to do so
with the help of scientists,
280
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,080
by playing back the roar of a
strange lion to a resident pride.
281
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:36,840
LION ROARS
282
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:41,760
ROARS MORE LOUDLY
283
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,680
ROARS
284
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,080
Even that didn't work.
285
00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:57,440
But 12 years later, I set off in
an open-sided Land Rover with
286
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,800
the latest infrared technology
to try again.
287
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,400
As usual, they were sleeping.
288
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,800
I would have to wait for darkness.
289
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,280
INSECTS CHIRP
290
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,800
GROWL/ROAR
291
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:14,080
We drive up.
292
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,240
I go on one side,
the camera goes on the other.
293
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,400
And the lion starts roaring.
294
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,920
But the problem is,
I can't see where it is.
295
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,520
I can't even see
where the camera is.
296
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,560
"Cue", says the producer.
297
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,480
So I start trying to say my piece.
298
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:33,840
Trying not to be too frightened
of this lion
299
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,080
which is somewhere in the blackness,
and, as far as I can make out,
300
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:40,840
within a couple of yards of me
and no side on the Land Rover.
301
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,080
And I then had to do my piece
to camera looking around,
302
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,000
seeing where on earth
the camera was.
303
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,320
And now in the darkness there are
a number of them roaring...
304
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,400
just around here.
305
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:59,320
There are two, I know, within
three or four yards of where I am,
306
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:04,680
and a third,
perhaps 20 yards over there.
307
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:09,160
Though it's difficult to tell
because it's pitch black.
308
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,040
REPEATED SHORT ROARS
309
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:17,040
Those are not aggressive roars,
they are communication roars,
310
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,480
but they are quite enough
to chill the blood
311
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,800
in the blackness of the night.
312
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,240
SHORT ROARS CONTINUE
313
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,960
A few years later, similar technology
made it possible to film
314
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,040
one of the most extraordinary
hunting sequences ever recorded,
315
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:46,080
using whole batteries of infrared
lights mounted on vehicles.
316
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,080
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
317
00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:03,960
A solitary lion stands no chance,
318
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,760
but the whole pride is here.
319
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:11,440
There are 30 of them,
320
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,800
and they are specialist
elephant hunters.
321
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,000
THUNDERCLAPS
322
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,480
This remarkable behaviour could not
have been filmed in any other way,
323
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,320
and it proved conclusively what many
others had doubted -
324
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:51,480
that a big pride of lions can indeed
bring down and kill
325
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,640
an animal as big as an elephant.
326
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,720
Other cameras were developed that
worked simply by concentrating
327
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,040
what little light comes
from the stars and moon.
328
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,960
And we used such a starlight camera
to record an encounter I had
329
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,240
with a wonderful New Zealand
nocturnal bird,
330
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,080
the kiwi.
331
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,400
We heard of a place where kiwis
came out of the bush
332
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:18,800
and walked along the beach
333
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,520
looking for sandhoppers.
334
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,960
Now they find their way by smell,
335
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,800
so I thought,
how can I conceal myself?
336
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:33,360
So I lay on the tideline where
all the rotting seaweed was lying.
337
00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:35,120
And I just lay on it.
338
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:39,840
And this little...enchanting little
creature came slowly along,
339
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,000
probing its beak into the sand.
340
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,840
Phwff! Blowing out the sand.
Coming closer. Phwff!
341
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,760
'Probing sand with your nostrils
is all very well,
342
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,080
'but it does clog them up.
343
00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,760
'So you need to blow them
clear every now and then.'
344
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,520
'It's sense of smell is so acute,
345
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,240
'it can pick out the largest
juiciest hoppers deep in the sand
346
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,040
'without even seeing them.'
347
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,520
Our starlight camera can see much
better than I can.
348
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,840
'I need a torch to see this
extraordinary creature properly.
349
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,040
'But he doesn't seem to mind.'
350
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,240
OCEAN CRASHES NEARBY
351
00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:36,600
He comes right up to me
because his eyes are very small.
352
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,920
Poor eyesight is putting it mildly.
353
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,600
But he can smell, but he didn't.
354
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,520
Because the seaweed was even
stronger smelling than me.
355
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,160
There are other ways of filming
in the dark -
356
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,440
by using thermal cameras
like this one.
357
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:03,480
Up above me there are a lot of bats.
358
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,240
And the camera shows them
as different colours.
359
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:13,720
The yellow lights here are bats
that have just flown in
360
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,360
and are still
warm from their exertion.
361
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,800
as well as revealing where animals
are,
362
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:25,600
the thermal cameras can also
reveal something of the condition
they are in.
363
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,200
For example, my face now,
because I'm rather hot,
364
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,800
is likely to be an orange colour.
365
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:39,520
Where I am cooler it will be red,
and this probably, is verging
on blue.
366
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:46,040
But if I take a bottle of cold
water, that's likely to be black.
367
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,440
Ahhh! Very good, too.
368
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,440
Thermal cameras also proved useful
in the Galapagos,
369
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:58,840
to demonstrate some
370
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:03,000
of the remarkable physiological
adaptations of reptiles.
371
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,560
Once they are thoroughly warmed up,
372
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,160
marine iguanas can maintain their
body temperature
373
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,480
just about as constantly as I can.
374
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,120
And what's more,
at about the same level,
375
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:21,440
or indeed, slightly higher
- around 37 degrees centigrade.
376
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:26,160
But when they go into the cold sea
to feed on submerged seaweed,
377
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,720
their temperature falls
very rapidly.
378
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,040
A recently emerged iguana is black.
It's chilled to the bone.
379
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,800
Now they need heat in order to be
able to digest that meal of seaweed,
380
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,200
and they get that by spread-eagling
themselves
381
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:50,920
on these black,
hot, sun-baked rocks.
382
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,240
So, thermal cameras reveal
just how skilled
383
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:06,000
reptiles are at harnessing
the power of the sun.
384
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,920
One of the things we discovered
when starting work
385
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,200
on the Trials of Life
386
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,160
was a new lens which enabled you to
have an object close to the camera -
387
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:22,280
a small little creature, perhaps -
388
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:27,760
and yet have all the distance to
the far horizon in complete focus.
389
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:32,840
So I would be able to walk up from
the distance to something close
to camera,
390
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:34,960
all the time being in focus.
391
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,080
It's not always easy to
decide in these partnerships,
392
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,240
which is exploiting which.
393
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,520
The balance of advantage
is often very delicate.
394
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,320
Take for example these ants
in Australia.
395
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,080
They are extremely ferocious,
396
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:51,280
and normally they will
397
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:52,800
rip apart any caterpillar.
398
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:54,880
But see
how they're treating this one.
399
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,880
When we first saw that
shot in the viewing theatre...
400
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:03,760
We all went down to the canteen for
a cup of tea and talked about it,
401
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,760
and I heard someone next to me,
who'd just joined the team
402
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:14,800
talking to her friend, and she said,
"Fantastic stuff they've got
in Australia. Amazing!
403
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,200
"But I would never want to
go there myself,
404
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,800
"because they have caterpillars
there that are two feet long!"
405
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:26,320
So, sometimes with all our optical
tricks, we can get too clever.
406
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,240
BIRDSONG
407
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:35,360
Never the less, insects filmed
in close-up are truly fascinating.
408
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,000
These are tree ants in Borneo,
409
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,800
and they have a wonderful
way of making their nests.
410
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,560
I first tried to film
how they did so,
411
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,320
when I was here in Borneo
back in the '50s.
412
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:54,880
'Then we noticed this group
413
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,640
'with their jaws locked tight
in the lower leaf,
414
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,440
'and their hind legs attached
to the upper leaf.
415
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,520
'The colony is constructing
a new nest.
416
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,320
'And these patient workers
417
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,920
'are holding two leaves
of the future nest in position,
418
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:13,400
'so that other members
419
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,000
'can fasten them together
420
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,520
'to form the outer wall
of their new home.'
421
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,480
To get those shots,
we had to tear apart the nest to get
422
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,080
the ants to work out in the open.
423
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:29,760
These days we can do
better than that.
424
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:34,080
This is an optical probe that
I can make mover forwards or
425
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,120
backwards
and even...from side to side.
426
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:43,280
And so with that,
you can go into the nest
427
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,320
and get shots of the ants behaving
totally naturally.
428
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:56,400
That is a stranger in the nest.
429
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,960
That is a little bug which
they are attacking.
430
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,320
It was technical developments
like these that allowed us
431
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:11,000
eventually to enter
the world of the insect.
432
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,960
A motorised jib arm enables
filmmakers to suspend a camera above
433
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,880
a column of aggressive driver ants
and watch the organised way
434
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,560
they hunt through the forest.
435
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,640
Workers carry the colony's larvae.
436
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,720
Ferocious soldiers link legs to form
a defensive roof and walls,
437
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,800
enclosing the column.
438
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,720
Were the camera or cameraman
to accidentally touch
439
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,520
just one of these soldiers,
they would all immediately attack.
440
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,440
But they're blind,
441
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:46,520
and they can't see the camera
hanging just centimetres above them.
442
00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:02,280
So we can track along with them
as the army takes its prey
443
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,960
back to the bivouac where
the queen is waiting.
444
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,040
Wildlife film-making can take
a lot of patience.
445
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,720
Cameramen may have to spend hours
and hours,
446
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:20,040
if not days and weeks,
to film one particular action.
447
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,000
But that can be helped using modern
security technology.
448
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,920
And we used such technology to get
a shot of something
449
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,280
that as far as I know, had never
been filmed before in the wild.
450
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:41,080
Rattlesnakes hunting.
451
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,240
Scientists working in New York State
had implanted radio transmitters in
452
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,560
a group of rattlesnakes so that each
could be found by using an aerial.
453
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:54,640
There he is.
454
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,640
The camera crew placed remotely
controlled cameras
455
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,880
and infrared lights next
to a snake lying in ambush.
456
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,280
The cameras were attached to motion
detectors that would turn them on
457
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,760
if anything moved in their
field of vision.
458
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,840
The following night
I checked the replay.
459
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,120
There's a mouse.
460
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:31,560
It's pitch dark and the mouse
clearly has no idea the snake
is there.
461
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,320
Bu the snake is well
aware of the mouse.
462
00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:42,720
He's worked out that that is the
path along which the mice run.
463
00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:49,480
Oh, my goodness!
464
00:34:55,720 --> 00:34:58,200
That's a dead mouse, all right.
465
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:04,480
So it was that technology designed
to keep burglars out of our homes,
466
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:10,520
enabled us to record the
rattlesnake's hunting strategy
in the wild.
467
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,760
Another revelatory film technique
involves playing with time -
468
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,800
slowing down the action.
469
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,000
Cameramen have long down that,
470
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,040
simply by increasing the number
of images taken per second.
471
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,240
Kestrels are known as wind-hoverers,
472
00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:36,040
because of their apparent ability
to hang motionless in the air.
473
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,480
And slow motion photography
enables us to see details
474
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,280
of their flying technique that we
can't see with the naked eye.
475
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:49,640
By filming this trained bird,
with this special camera,
476
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,160
we can slow down the motion
and see exactly how they do it.
477
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,880
It's flying at the same speed
as the oncoming wind, and the air
478
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,240
flowing over its wings provides just
enough lift top keep it airborne.
479
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,400
By flying as slowly as this,
they risk stalling,
480
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,600
because the windflow over the wing
doesn't provide enough lift.
481
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,320
Slowing down the action by ten
times, we can see how the
482
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:21,800
kestrel extends the finger-like
projection on the leading edge
of its wing
483
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:27,560
and spreads its tail-feathers
to generate more lift.
484
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,320
Commercial airliners do
the same thing
485
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,920
when they adjust their wing flaps
to slow them down for landing.
486
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:42,440
If a kestrel is to see its prey
successfully while hovering,
487
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,720
it has to keep its head
perfectly still,
488
00:36:44,720 --> 00:36:49,000
not easy when the wind is constantly
trying to blow you off position.
489
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:50,480
But in slow motion,
490
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:55,920
you can see how the kestrel responds
immediately to changes in the wind.
491
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,240
Constantly adjusting
the set of its wings
492
00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:02,600
and allowing it's neck
to stretch and contract.
493
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,560
So that while its body
is constantly moving,
494
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:12,320
its eyes stay fixed
and can spot the slightest movement
on the ground below.
495
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,000
One of my favourite
slow-motion moments
496
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:25,120
was when I was able to fool a
lovesick hoverfly with a peashooter.
497
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,960
It might seem
that he's absolutely motionless,
498
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:38,440
but, in fact, he's having to make
continual changes to adjust
for slight currents in the air.
499
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,560
It's an amazing piece of acrobatics,
500
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:47,480
far better than anything that
we could do in a helicopter.
501
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:52,040
And it's all done in order
to impress the female
502
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:58,120
to show her that he is superb
at holding his territory.
503
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,840
With his superb eyesight,
he's ready to spot anything
504
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:08,240
that might whiz by him at high
speed that could be a female.
505
00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:13,400
And I might just be able to fool
him with a peashooter.
506
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:25,440
By watching his response
slowed down by about 50 times,
507
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:31,120
it's clear that the male is indeed
so hyped up that he will pursue
any fast-moving object
508
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,080
that comes near him in the hope
that it might be a female.
509
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:39,480
Those poor males
must have been exhausted by the time
I'd finished with them.
510
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:47,600
By combining the best macro-lenses
with digital slow-motion cameras,
511
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:54,880
we were able to reveal
the extreme athletic prowess
of some even tinier creatures.
512
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:05,840
These springtails, as they're name
suggests, have a rather novel way of
jumping.
513
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,160
They have a tiny two-pronged lever
beneath their abdomen.
514
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:19,800
One small flick from it can
catapult them six inches, some 15
centimetres, into the air.
515
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:29,920
It's the equivalent of a human being
jumping over the Eiffel Tower.
516
00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:37,440
So with slow-motion cameras,
517
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:44,920
we can watch actions and distinguish
details that are impossible to see
with the naked eye.
518
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:19,080
At the other end of the scale,
we can manipulate time to speed up
excessive slow action.
519
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,000
This is a time-lapse studio
520
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,800
where you can control lights
and cameras very precisely.
521
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,640
A film camera
shoots 25 frames per second,
522
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:33,960
but if you modify one so that it
only shoots one frame per second
523
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,440
and then show the film
at normal speed,
524
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,400
well, then, you increase the speed
of action by 25m times.
525
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:46,040
And as the sophistication
of time-lapse photography
has increased,
526
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:52,480
so we've been able to show that
plants can be as competitive
and aggressive as many an animal.
527
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:06,400
And it was the mastery of time-lapse
that allowed us to make a series
called The Private Life of Plants.
528
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,200
Condense three months
into 20 seconds,
529
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:24,800
and the desolation of winter quickly
warms into the riot of spring.
530
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,320
Speed a week into a minute,
and you can sense the urgency
531
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:38,160
with which the ground-living plants
race to unfurl their flowers.
532
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:55,200
Of all the woodland plants,
the humble bramble
is one of the most aggressive.
533
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,280
It waves its shoots agitatedly
from side to side
534
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,240
as if feeling
for the best way forward.
535
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:12,320
The invading stem's
backward-pointing spines
536
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:17,640
give it the grip it needs
to climb almost anything
that stands in its way.
537
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:20,600
It can advance as much as seven
centimetres in a day.
538
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:31,720
Now digital cameras allow us
to see how a shot is developing
while we are still taking it,
539
00:42:31,720 --> 00:42:37,360
instead of having to wait till it
was finished as we used to
have to do with film cameras.
540
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:41,440
And we can also use computers
attached to small motors
541
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:46,040
to move a camera
in-between exposed frames,
542
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:51,760
so that the camera can, in fact,
travel alongside the plant.
543
00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:17,480
Using this new technology,
it became possible to condense
the arrival of spring in a woodland
544
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:18,600
into a few seconds.
545
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,080
But the wonderful thing about
wildlife film making
546
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,880
is that no matter how much you've
seen and filmed,
547
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,320
there's always going to be something
to surprise you.
548
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:41,720
I remember back in 1994,
549
00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:47,760
we were filming nepenthes rajah, the
largest pitcher plant in the world,
550
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,840
growing up
in the mountains of Borneo.
551
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:56,040
And I made an assumption
about how it obtained
its nitrogen fertiliser.
552
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:02,800
I guess this one...
553
00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:08,560
contains...
two or three pints of liquid.
554
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:14,600
It's so big that it catches not just
insects but even small rodents.
555
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:20,520
And one was recorded that has in it
the body of a drowned rat.
556
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,680
So if ever there was a carnivore
among plants, this is it.
557
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:26,880
But I was wrong.
558
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:32,880
In 2010, scientists discovered that
the plant gets its nitrogen
559
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:35,240
in a quite different way.
560
00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:41,520
And we couldn't resist going back
to see of we could find out
what the truth was.
561
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:46,120
Mount Kinabalu in Sabah is home
to many rajah pitcher plants.
562
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:50,880
BUZZING
They certainly seem
to attract insects.
563
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,800
that fall into their bowls
just as other pitchers do,
564
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:56,280
but they also have larger visitors.
565
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,520
A tree shrew.
566
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:07,200
It's licking
the underside of the lid
567
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:13,200
where the pitcher secretes nectar
with which it lures visitors.
568
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:16,280
But even though its backside is
hanging over the bowl,
569
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:20,640
it doesn't seem to be in any danger
of falling in and drowning.
570
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:24,040
So what's going on?
571
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:25,080
It leaves a clue.
572
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:26,120
A dropping.
573
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,320
So the pitcher
is a tree shrew toilet.
574
00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:38,440
The tree shrew feeds
by licking the secretions
from the pitcher plant's lid
575
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:45,320
and the pitcher plant
gets its fertiliser by collecting
the tree shrew's droppings.
576
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:51,240
Wildlife cameramen are always
trying to film
577
00:45:51,240 --> 00:45:55,640
some piece of animal behaviour
that no-one has ever see before.
578
00:45:55,640 --> 00:46:00,560
And aerial photography
enable then to do just that.
579
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:09,960
In the early days, we occasionally
managed to get up in a small plane
to get a shot of the landscape.
580
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:16,680
But the plane vibrated so much
that you couldn't use long lenses
to get close-ups of animals
581
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:20,240
and if you went low the roar
of the engine frightened them.
582
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,880
So we tried
other forms of aerial transport.
583
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:35,680
Balloons were a little quieter, but
they took you where the wind blew
them, not where you wanted to go.
584
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:39,200
And getting steady shots
was still difficult.
585
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:49,560
It wasn't until the invention
of a kind of mount
586
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:55,080
that could hold the camera almost
miraculously free of vibration
587
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:58,120
that it was possible to use
the long lenses necessary
588
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:02,560
in order to film animals
from a height and they didn't
even know you were there.
589
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:10,880
It's almost impossible to follow
a wild dog hunt at ground level
590
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:14,800
through the treacherous swamplands
of the Okavango Delta in Africa.
591
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,160
But the Planet Earth series
used a helicopter
592
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:23,640
with a new stabilising mount that
kept the camera vibration-free
593
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:31,000
and you could get close-ups from
so high up that the animals below
didn't know you were there.
594
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,920
There they go.
They're racing. They're racing.
595
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:37,640
Four dogs all spread out.
596
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:39,680
Tighten up a much as you can.
597
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,880
By inter-cutting aerial shots
and shots from the ground,
598
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:46,080
we could show how the dogs
worked as a team,
599
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:51,160
with fresh animals joining the hunt
to harry their prey
and cut off its escape.
600
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,040
This new perspective
gives us the big picture,
601
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:01,280
helping us to understand behaviour
we could only see fragments
of before.
602
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:11,080
Stay with him. He's almost got him!
603
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,320
They're heading towards the water.
604
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:24,040
Ooh!
The croc's gonna get the impala.
605
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:36,280
So now we have the techniques
to film almost anything on land
or in the sea or in the air.
606
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:42,440
But to get pictures of animals
that lived in the past,
you have to recreate life.
607
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:46,400
In the early days, our attempts
were pretty crude.
608
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:53,320
We used solid models of extinct
fish placed in swamps to show the
arrival of amphibians on land.
609
00:48:53,320 --> 00:49:01,400
We moved on to line drawings
of dinosaurs and I even appeared
alongside one.
610
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:06,960
It's easy to imagine some 12 foot
species of peragasaurus
like Dimetrodon
611
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:11,320
lying basking on the rocks
in the early morning sun.
612
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:16,920
And then we began to animate
the drawings, but not very
realistically.
613
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:21,640
It would take the advent of
computer animation to make them
move like real animals.
614
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:28,640
We wanted to use these new computer
techniques to bring to life a moa,
615
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:33,040
the giant, extinct
ostrich-like bird on New Zealand.
616
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:38,360
First of all,
I had to walk into a woodland glade
617
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:40,560
holding a moa bone.
618
00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:44,400
Then what would happen would be that
619
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,640
that bone would be suspended,
I would take my hands away,
620
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:50,800
and all the rest of the bones
and the skeleton
would appear from nowhere
621
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,240
and materialise
to form the complete skeleton.
622
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:56,040
So I had to walk in,
hold the bone,
623
00:49:56,040 --> 00:50:00,080
then take my hands away
and let it drop, which seemed
a silly thing to do.
624
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,680
But electronic trickery
made it stay there
625
00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,960
and then added the rest of the bones
of the moa's skeleton.
626
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:11,760
It had just three toes.
627
00:50:13,200 --> 00:50:18,960
Its pelvis and its spine lead up
to an extraordinarily long neck.
628
00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:27,880
This bird stood over six feet,
two metres tall.
629
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,280
But then we wanted it
to walk away.
630
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:36,320
And so what the computer expert
got us to do was to imagine
where it was going to stand
631
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:39,720
and then conceal
ourselves in the vegetation,
632
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:44,040
each of us holding a bit of
fishing line attached to a branch.
633
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:48,360
And with our computer expert
conducting us as though he was
conducting an orchestra,
634
00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:52,440
the moa came in,
this branch was brushed away,
635
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,840
and then it reached up and pecked
another leaf and the leaf moved
636
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,360
and then it moved away
and the bushes moved.
637
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,280
It was really quite convincing.
638
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:06,280
The first human settlers
on these islands
639
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:09,480
saw these giants alive
and called them moas.
640
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:16,240
Among them were the tallest birds
that ever existed, that weighed
over 200 kilos, 400 pounds.
641
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:24,160
So now we could recreate extinct
creatures whenever we liked,
642
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:27,400
in their entire full-colour,
animated glory.
643
00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:43,280
A succession of technological
advances has certainly changed the
way we make natural history films.
644
00:51:47,240 --> 00:51:49,680
These days,
with every year that passes,
645
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:53,040
we seem to get
more and more equipment.
646
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:56,560
Longer lenses,
more electronic bits of kit.
647
00:51:56,560 --> 00:52:01,560
But in the end, often the most
memorable shot comes
648
00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:05,640
from just one camera and one person
649
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,880
with a deep understanding
of the natural world.
650
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:14,560
To film a wild snow leopard
651
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:19,200
was once the ultimate challenge
for a wildlife cameraman.
652
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,040
Doug Allen went to the Himalayas
653
00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:31,120
to attempt to do what so many
cameramen before him
654
00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:33,200
had tried but failed.
655
00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:37,200
I guess this is where
you could say it really starts.
656
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:40,640
We're up here
in snow leopard country.
657
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:46,240
You look around and anywhere and at
any time, you might just see it.
658
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:52,080
These are big, big mountains and
there are not many snow leopards.
659
00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:57,280
Nevertheless, Doug took to his hide
and waited.
660
00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:01,320
HE SIGHS
661
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,360
This is tedious stuff.
662
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:05,840
Not a sign.
663
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:15,920
If you got just a little bit
of a hint, a wee bit of a sighting
now and again,
664
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:18,080
your spirits would be lifted.
665
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:23,400
But right now, I'd swap a little
bit of this animal's charisma
666
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:25,960
for a little bit more visibility.
667
00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:30,960
And things didn't improve,
even after two weeks.
668
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,080
Yeah, of course, it's boring.
669
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:34,880
It's as boring as hell.
670
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:49,560
After seven weeks of patiently
sitting and watching
671
00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:53,520
these distant shots
are all Doug managed to film.
672
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:55,720
So he had to return home
empty-handed.
673
00:53:58,520 --> 00:54:05,280
The following winter cameraman
Mark Smith took up the challenge and
tried a different location
674
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:07,440
this time in Pakistan.
675
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:13,880
We've just got a lot of snow and
we'll be able to track snow leopard.
676
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:19,920
So we'll have a lot better chances
of filming it. It's just fantastic.
677
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:25,760
After that promising start,
things didn't go so well for Mark.
678
00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:31,080
He and the crew spent a fruitless
month trudging through the snow.
679
00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:38,760
Mark spent all Christmas
in the mountains with no sign
of a snow leopard.
680
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:42,360
But it was a much happier New Year.
681
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:49,280
Just... We just got a report
that there's a snow leopard
up on the ridge.
682
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:51,720
And we were too low
where we were before,
683
00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:55,640
so we're just trying to get some
height to get a better view of it.
684
00:54:55,640 --> 00:55:00,240
Finally, Mark was rewarded
with his first ever glimpse.
685
00:55:00,240 --> 00:55:02,120
I looked up onto the ridge
686
00:55:02,120 --> 00:55:05,240
and I could see
this leopard-shaped rock,
687
00:55:05,240 --> 00:55:08,120
which I'd seen
a million times before.
688
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:13,840
And I looked through binoculars
and it was a leopard just sat there.
689
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:16,640
It was perched
just on the top of a rock
690
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:19,280
and it looked down at us
and sat down
691
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:21,880
in a sort of sphinx-like posture.
692
00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:26,200
A few days later,
Mark's patience paid off.
693
00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:33,920
There was not jut an adult female,
but with her a one-year-old cub.
694
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:49,680
Overall,
Mark spent eight months in Pakistan.
695
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:57,120
And his dedication enabled him
to document the most intimate
moments of a snow leopard's life.
696
00:56:00,760 --> 00:56:04,000
Including a hunt.
697
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:10,440
Silently she positions herself
above her prey.
698
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:43,760
BLEATING
699
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:49,360
SCREECHES
700
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:03,880
The revelations brought by wildlife
films today
701
00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:08,720
were beyond my imagination
when I set out 60 years ago.
702
00:57:20,880 --> 00:57:25,760
They have transformed not only
our understanding
of the natural world,
703
00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:28,720
but our attitudes towards it.
704
00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:41,720
There have been a lot of changes
in the way that we've filmed
the natural world
705
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:43,520
during the last 50-60 years,
706
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:47,840
but there's also been a great change
in the way we understand that world
707
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:52,000
and that's what I'll be looking at
in the next programme.
708
00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,040
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
64773
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