A new TV programme sets new standards in filmmaking, say its makers, by using spy technology to infiltrate the private lives of animals. The show, called Animal Camera, makes of innovative camera, sound, tracking and surveillance technology. Series highlights include footage from tiny miniature cameras to birds and a sequence that solves the mystery of what baboons do at night.
In the first programme, a miniature camera takes viewers on board a golden eagle as it through the air. The eagle sequence was filmed using a miniature camera just 25 grams. The was adapted for the series from a type of cameras used in mobile phones. The camera was attached to a special lightweight harness. Scientists also tracked a bumblebee using a tiny radar on the insect, to find out how they navigate.
The filmmakers were able to spy on baboons in a cave where they at night. "The baboons were able to carry with their business completely unaware that we were watching them," said series producer Peter Bassett. "There was only one entrance to the cave that was like a manhole and after that there was a drop," Andrew Murray, producer on Animal Camera told BBC News Online. The crew ventured into the claustrophobic cave during the day to it with infrared cameras that could capture the baboons as they moved around in the darkness. "We were able to notice that they use grunts to find out their family members were, to keep together," said Mr Bassett.
The programme makers also out to capture the fastest events in the animal world using ultra-slow-motion cameras.
The contenders included a salamander that extends tongue faster than a blink of an eye, a mantis shrimp that uses fast karate chops to smash its prey and trap-jaw ants that snap their jaws faster than the eye can see.
High-speed film cameras used to be for this task, but the electronic speeds of high-speed video cameras used in the series are superior said Mr Murray. With film, cameramen also had to anticipate when the animal was going to perform the action, which meant part of the action might be missed. With high-speed video, the camera is always capturing images and will record footage from four seconds to the cameraman hitting the record button.
One major challenge in the second programme was staking out a jungle on Barro Colorado island in Panama. Multi-flash cameras were used to catch bats in the act of hunting and ultrasound microphones to listen in on their sounds, which are not audible to human .