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The images on display here are, quite simply, astonishing. Last week we saw flying fish, a seal surviving an attack by a group of orcas and a frog climbing a tree with one of its many tadpoles on its back. After that stunning opening, this week didn’t disappoint.
One of the many survival techniques on show was a frog who curls up so tight it effectively makes itself into a rubber ball, so it can tumble down a rocky hillside without injury, thus escaping a predatory spider. There was also an inspired slow-motion shot of a frog jumping out of the water and extending its tongue to catch a hovering insect, but missing by a few millimetres. Extendable tongues seemed to be the order of the day in this episode, focussing as it did on reptiles and amphibians. There were several shots captured of a panther chameleon’s tongue shooting out and latching onto some very surprised insects, making a tasty lunch.
Two of the animals had extraordinary solutions for dealing with the problems of water in their surroundings. One tiny gecko, smaller than a beetle, had hydrophobic skin on which water drops balanced without being absorbed; its skin also allowed it to practically stand on water. This miraculous life skill can also be found, only in a more spectacular fashion, in the magnificently named ‘Jesus Christ lizard’. This creature can literally walk on water, as it pushes its foot down with such force that it never sinks far enough into the water to become submerged.
Despite the fact that we don’t see Attenborough out in the field in front of the camera anymore, his narration provides the perfect commentary to these scenes. His voice can be both comforting and exciting, increasing the tension in hunt sequences, such as a Komodo dragon taking down a water buffalo.
This kind of hunt has never been filmed before, and was both astounding and brutal. A water buffalo is bitten by a Komodo dragon, despite being ten times its size, and the venom in the bite slowly kills it over the course of a week. During this time the Komodo dragon, now joined by others, stays close to the buffalo waiting for its demise; they certainly aren’t subtle. In the closing ten minutes, now apparently standard for nature documentaries, we are shown how the images are captured, and we saw the physical and emotional toll this took on the crew who set out to film this hunt. The dedication to their cause, hiking every day to the site and observing the buffalo, sitting still for hours on end waiting for something to happen, showed not only great patience but an intense love for nature. When seeing this, one realises just how close the cameraman has to be to get these shots, and how risky his job is.
Other astonishing camerawork included thermal imaging of snakes in the Canadian winter, and a breathtaking underwater shot of waves crashing on the shore above. Despite the wealth of information available to us, and the new and varying ways of obtaining it, Attenborough’s documentaries still remain the most exciting, informative and lovingly produced outlet for observing nature in the comfort of our own homes. Even if you aren’t into wildlife, you cannot fail to be amazed by this.
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