Page 89 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02
P. 89
REVIEWS BROADCAST
Q&A WILD over a 20-year
burger requires
Chris Watts STREAM timeframe; one
600 gallons
THE LATEST ON iPLAYER, of water to
Which animal
NETFLIX AND BEYOND produce). Finally,
was hardest to
Elephants are if you missed
work with? in peril from
I worked with If the festive season has left poachers. it when it aired
the cheetah, you feeling the need to slow on Boxing Day,
brown bear, down, this new series from make sure you
chimp and meerkats. They all BBC Four allows you to do resolutions is to eat less meat, catch Snow Bear (BBC iPlayer,
had different challenges. The exactly that. Turtle, Eagle, strengthen your resolve with until 25 January) a one-hour
meerkats were particularly Cheetah: A Slow Odyssey the 2014 film Cowspiracy: special narrated by Kate
tricky as they kept running (BBC iPlayer, until 26 January), The Sustainability Secret Winslet that follows a polar
w
down holes when I was made to complement Animals (Netflix), a feature-length bear family (below) travelling
s
ollowing
from their den in Svalbard to
trying to attach their devices. With Cameras (left), enables documentary following from their den in Svalbard to
you to experience the natural film-maker Kip Andersen as the pack ice of the North Pole.
world in real time through he investigates tthe impact of
How did you ensure the
the eyes of a cheetah on the large-scale animmal agriculture,
cameras didn't cause stress?
We did lots of research into African savannah, a green unearthing somme eye-opening
comfort and stability. We turtle cruising the reefs statistics along tthe way
even made it possible for of Indonesia and a white- (livestock coverss 45 per
Kimbang the chimp to put tailed eagle (above) on the cent of Earth’s ttotal land;
his own camera on! wing over the west coast of methane is 25––100
r
Scotland. On the subject times more harmful
of New Year, if one of your than carbon diooxide
What was the most
rewarding footage?
The meerkats. Researchers in
the Kalahari study them all
Spells of mild weather MONSTER
day, but have no idea about
bring hedgehogs out
their first weeks. So getting and about during FOSSILS
shots of the newborns was hibernation. Attenborough and
very special.
the Sea Dragon
ONLINE BBC iPlayer
What was most dramatic?
The hunting cheetahs. I put the Following the success of
camera on the individual’s head Attenborough and the Giant
as this is the most stable area Dinosaur, Sir David is back
of its body when it’s sprinting. in the land of palaeontology,
The housing moulds to its head investigating the remarkable
and the camera has a stabilised chance discovery of a huge
sensor, so the shots are ichthyosaur found on the
incredibly smooth. Jurassic Coast. This predatory
dinosaur-dolphin is thought to
be a completely new species,
Do the cameras differ much
Sir David: Robin Cox/BBC; polar bears: Roie Galitz/ John Downer Productions/BBC;
sea eagle: Mark Medcalf/Shutterstock/BBC; hedgehog: Paul Hobson/NPL/Getty
from animal to animal? FEELING THE CHILL and potentially the biggest
Yes. The larger the animal, Winterwatch found in the UK. Attenborough
the heavier the battery it can TV BBC TWO Due to air 29 January–1 February follows scientists as this super-
carry, so the longer the run fossil is excavated, scanned
time. But we always had a It’s that time – to curl up and enjoy the best of Britain’s winter and replicated, uncovering the
trade-off between quality and wildlife from the warmth and comfort of your sofa. HQ for secrets of this ocean predator
run time. The meerkats, for this year’s seasonal spectacular is Sherborne Park Estate in and the world in which it lived.
instance, could only carry Gloucester, and wild treats in store include cranes and other
25g, so we went for the best winter waders at West Sedgemoor on the Somerset Levels; a snow
camera and smallest battery diary of the Cairngorms as temperatures plummet around these
– great footage but only two famous Highland peaks; new research on grey seal behaviour (see
hours’ run time. In contrast, p36); hedgehogs stalking dark urban streets for a home; red deer
the bear’s camera could last and a trio of kingfishers squabbling over hunting territory – and
for four days. not your average leafy riverbank, but the seaweedy surroundings
of Ramsgate Harbour, on the East coast. “Winter is the hardest
h
CHRIS WATTS is camera designer time of year for British wildlife – Winterwatch has this dramatic Sir David studies
a super-fossil.
on Animals with Cameras. season covered,” says series producer Chris Howard.
February 2018 BBC Wildlife 89
