Wildlife Specials

Elephants: Spy in the Herd (1x14)

: 20, 2003

Elephants: Spy In The Herd provides the most intimate portrayal of the everyday life of an elephant herd. Narrated by David Attenborough and filmed over a year, throughout the program the elephant herd exhibits many human similarities: their life span, social structure, wisdom of age and emotional bonds. The idea of using "character-cameras" is developed even further and the spy-cams help unravel the elephants' intimate story. Three different types of cameras were created: "Dungcam", "Poopcam" and "Plopcam"! By using radical techniques, the disguised cameras capture each dramatic moment of elephant life from extraordinary proximity. Witness two males clashing over territory, the birth and slow development of a calf and jealous rivalries between herd members. A real sense of these animals' incredible flexibility and intimacy is shown as they bathe in mineral salts, mud and dust, while their astonishing sensory perceptions are also revealed. The "Dungcams" also interact with the herd in a remarkable way. Dung is important in elephants' lives - so inevitably they are at times interested in the cameras themselves - especially as each one is laced with real elephant dung. With the cameras rolling, the elephants interact with the cameras, kicking them like footballs and going so far as to pick them up and filmthemselves.