As soon as a wild beast dies, lions will feed on its carcass for a week or more. Soon after, other scavengers will come for their share: vultures, marabou storks, and hyenas will all come to feed. Over a period of five months, using the latest techniques of macro and aerial photography, this film will follow the life and death of wild beasts, to reveal the world of the scavengers in the plains of Tanzania and Kenya.This extraordinary film features the largest wildebeest migration of the XXst century : a drought following an extreme El nino pushed all the beasts toward the green plains of Kenya. Some very unique material has been gathered during this epic shoot;like the unforgetable footage of hippos removing wilderbeest carcasses from the Mara river’s oxbows or several young zebras caught in the dangerous river flow.
Subjects: Life Science
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Face to Face With the Polar Bear
SUMMARY: In a remote fjord in Spitzberg, filmmaker Jerome Bouvier spent a year following the incredible destiny of a polar bear family in a rapidly changing environment. The result is a universal and dramatic tale of survival. Casting brother and sister twin cubs, this tale focuses on their education and reveals their individual characters: while the warning period, the animals need to fend for themselves and adapt what they’ve leant to the ever-warmer summers. While the female tries in vain to hunt walruses, her brother successfully hunts for seals resting on drifting icebergs. Reducing her diet to easy-to-catch eider eggs and kelp, the she-bear can’t sustain the energy requirements of her immense body. Growing thinner as rapidly as the glaciers, she fasts and finally meets a fatal end. Fortunately, her skilled brother reaches sexual maturity and migrates north to adapt to the changing conditions. CONTEXT: To film this intimate portrait of white giants, filmmaker Jerome Bouvier has circled around Spitzberg for a year with skidoos, buggies or sailing boats. He endured continuous blinding daylight in these viciously cold areas, with temperatures as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius and winds up to 30 miles per hour. The polar bear is the largest land carnivore and has the reputation of being the only animal that actively hunts humans. Polar bears are the most likely species to kill humans for food, as they assume anything they encounter is potential prey. Nevertheless, not much choice is given to the filmmaker: Jerome Bouvier and his guides had to venture into the intimacy of these starving giants, relying only on sounds and visual displays to scare off the ever-inquisitive beasts.
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The Tick and the Bird
Once upon a time, there was a flea who lived buried deep in the feathers of a Laysan Albatross. Together, they travelled across the tormented oceans of the Pacific Ocean landing only on very rare ocasions. Until one day… the albatross chooses to land on Midway an island 3000km off any land coast, to mate and start a family. Taking advantage of the physical closeness of this bird couple, the flea seizes the opportunity to explore the feathers of the female, from where she will witness the hatching of an egg. Then, the flea quickly prefers to jump onto the soft duvet of the young bird, not yet able to fly. In the nest, the young albatross discovers all the dangers which surround him, such as the penguins who come and steal food left by his parents. This provides an excellent opportunity for the flea, who decides to discover new feathers – the first of many to come. The flea will, from here on, share the same life style of the petrels, royal penguins, both adult and juvenile. In its little air bubble, the flea is protected from the pressure of the water whenever its hosts go for a dip in order to hunt for krill or anchovies. To keep a safe guard over its territory, the flea will confront tics and other lice who will have, like itself, colonised the fur of their hosts. This documentary, based on scientific research and fact, unites harmoniously the natural habits of these birds, who will be filmed by our team during 4 months in Hawaii, and digital images of the flea created through computer graphics.
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Animals Like Us
How similar are animals to humans? At firts glance, we don’t have much in common. Forget the pressure of religion, culture and society. Dismantle old beliefs and face the truth. Mankind is no longer a seperate product in the evolution of species. After 5 years of filming, this evergreen series reveals how animals did it first. 11 x 52 min.
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Canadian Geographic Presents
From the internationally acclaimed strand of geography-based documentaries, Summerhill Entertainment presents twenty six exciting hours that explore the rich and diverse natural world.
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Just the Facts Series – Prehistoric Man
The Prehistoric Man 3-part series takes viewers face-to-face with fascinating ancient creatures who looked something like apes but walked upright. We learn how they lived in their foraging societies, what their life may have been like, how they fashioned tools out of stone, wood and bone, and how scientists determine the age of the fossils that give us windows to their world. Moreover, we examine patterns that developed, which give us insight into human adaptation and evolution.