Sir David Attenborough’s new wildlife series Mammals has revealed the surprising moment an African leopard hunts a group of baboons in a forest in total darkness.
In the first images of its kind in the world, a huge female leopard is seen prowling around and preparing to hunt.
As the sun sets, the camera switches to night vision for the rest of the episode and is able to make out the yellow baboons as white specks in the pitch black, replicating the big cat’s excellent eyesight in the dark.
The prey, sitting 65 feet above the forest floor, completely ignores the agile predator as it begins to climb the tall trees in search of food.
Lacking the leopard’s night vision, baboons rely on their excellent hearing to alert them to threats in the dark.
Sir David Attenborough’s new wildlife series Mammals has revealed the shocking moment an African leopard hunts a group of baboons in a forest in total darkness.
In the first images of its kind in the world, a huge female leopard is seen prowling around and preparing to hunt.
As the sun sets, the camera switches to night vision for the rest of the episode and is able to make out the yellow baboons as white specks in the pitch black, replicating the big cat’s excellent eyesight in the dark.
The prey, sitting 65 feet above the forest floor, completely ignores the agile predator as it begins to climb the tall trees in search of food.
When the big cat steps heavily on a branch while trying to climb towards the forest canopy, the baboons quickly make each other aware of the danger and try to get to safety.
The scene appears in the opening episode of Attenborough’s new series which focuses on mammals around the world and how they are adapting to a world that is changing rapidly due to human influence.
When the big cat steps heavily on a branch while trying to climb towards the forest canopy, the baboons quickly become aware of the danger and try to get to safety.
The scene appears in the opening episode of Attenborough’s new series which focuses on mammals around the world and how they are adapting to a world that is changing rapidly due to human influence.
The first program is filmed completely in the dark and airs on Easter Sunday on BBC one at 7pm.
Naturalists spent five years analyzing how mammals coped with habitat changes ahead of the new series of six documentaries.
Previewing the show in a BBC interview, executive producer Roger Webb said that one of his favorite moments throughout the series is one that has been marred by decades of human conflict.
Webb refers to the bravery shown by the wolves in being able to occupy the Golan Heights, which is considered Syrian territory held under Israeli occupation, except by Israel and the United States.
Despite being one of the most disputed territories in the world for more than 70 years, wolves are still found in the area.
Speaking about filming in the area, Webb said: “The story of the wolf who has adapted to life in the minefields of the Golan Heights is a good one.
“What I love about this is the tenacity of the wolf to move into an area that we can no longer enter because, unfortunately, we have ruined it in a very tragic way.
Webb praised the work of wildlife photographer Itamar Yairi, who observed the Golan wolves up close for almost two years and managed to capture some extraordinary images along the way.
‘Behind that story is an incredible human being, Itamar Yairi. He is a true hero. “It is people like Itamar who opened the door to these incredible stories and allowed us to later document them and bring them to the screen.”
The producer also shared a fascinating discovery about new chimpanzee behavior.
The executive producer of David Attenborough’s new series Mammals (pictured) has revealed his personal highlight of the documentary is tainted for a sad reason.
Speaking about filming in the area, Roger said: “The story of the wolf who has adapted to life in the minefields of the Golan Heights is a good one.”
Naturalists spent five years analyzing how mammals coped with habitat changes ahead of the new series of six documentaries.
He said the crew was able to discover that the animals could sniff out honey from underground, but that only the alpha male seemed to have figured out how to do it.
This involved him forcing a stick underground as a means of mining or fishing bees for honey-dripping honeycombs.
The rest of the troop is confused by his antics, but when they tried to find the honey, the alpha male of the group had finished it all himself.