Page 84 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #06

Patrick freedives
alongside a sperm whale
– the largest toothed
whale – for Big Beasts.

TV

CHOICE

Meeting the giants of planet Earth

Biologist Patrick Aryee travels the world to track down the largest of them all.

Big Beasts: Last of the Giants Americas to Africa to Australasia, the list of example, is revealing that male Angolan
TV Sky 1 Three parts starting 13 June the large is accompanied by back-to-basics giraffes travel up to 1,000km a year in
accounts of how size affects behavioural search of food and females, which is why
It’s usually Earth’s biggest and most biology: great whites, for instance, are able they are faring comparatively well in
charismatic creatures that capture our to hunt energy-rich seals in the chilly waters Namibia’s vast open deserts; sperm whales
imaginations. In his fourth natural-history off South Africa because their bulky bodies play an important role in mitigating climate
outing for Sky, biologist Patrick Aryee conserve more heat; giant pandas have change because their nitrogen-rich faeces
presents a whistle-stop tour of the giants of evolved huge heads (and thus appropriately nourishes plant plankton at the ocean
the natural world – and what their super size huge bodies) to accommodate the jawbone surface, which in turn locks in carbon
means for survival. required to deliver a bamboo-crunching bite. dioxide as it photosynthesises.
“I wanted to investigate why humans are Along the way, we learn not only of the big “Large animals take a long time to grow
so taken aback by large beasts from history that and reproduce, and have evolved to thrive in
animals, and what makes IF CONDITIONS no longer walk, slither large spaces,” says Patrick. “They occupy their
us so in awe of them,” says or swim among us (such niche wonderfully, but if conditions change
Patrick. “This series is a ` CHANGE as the excitingly named quickly or become compromised – from
celebration of our biggest OR BECOME Titanoboa, a relative of ocean plastic to climate change – they are
species, looking at how the green anaconda; first to go. We are living through a period of
they have adapted to their COMPROMISED, and Megalodon, a shark unrivalled change, and we want to remind
habitats, how they fit into LARGE ANIMALS three times larger than viewers that we must preserve ecosystems.
Ofspring Films the environment and what a great white), but also I hope this series allows people not only to
the future holds for them.” ARE FIRST TO GO.”
some nice new science.
marvel at our planet, but also to understand it
Jumping from the
a little more.” Sarah McPherson
DNA research, for
84 BBC Wildlife June 2018