A unique look at the lives of some of Africa's greatest cats, including cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals and lions.
The story of the hurdles overcome by Owen Newman & Amanda Barrett, as they set out 14yrs ago to film cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals and lions.
The story of the hurdles overcome by Owen Newman & Amanda Barrett, as they set out 14yrs ago to film cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals and lions.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00Oh, oh, what do you feel?
00:25Not, not yet. Hold on.
00:28I've got her.
00:30Being as close to a leopard as this is all in a day's work for these two filmmakers.
00:42They've spent the last 14 years trying to capture unique moments with five of Africa's greatest cats.
00:50It's been an exceptional undertaking with all sorts of hurdles to overcome.
01:14Some of the cats had been written off as impossible to film.
01:27So what could Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett achieve with such tricky but charismatic creatures as these?
01:34Africa is a spectacular continent with herds of wildebeest so big that they defy description.
01:52And for lovers of big cats, this stunning landscape is unbeatable.
01:59Here is the highest density and the greatest variety of cats anywhere in the world.
02:0514 years ago, at the start of Amanda's and Owen's ambitious project, they set out to document the life of a cheetah.
02:14Their base was Kenya's Masai Mara.
02:17Until we started filming, we'd no idea that the fastest animals on land had so many problems.
02:27They're sleek and streamlined, so they're not as powerful as other animals.
02:31That means scavengers make a beeline for them when they've got a kill.
02:47Jackals are irritating, but hyenas are far worse.
02:51There's nothing a cheetah can do.
02:53They don't risk getting bitten by jaws as powerful as these.
03:01Cheetahs have another problem.
03:05There's only a couple of thousand left in the whole of East Africa.
03:08And as more land is lost to agriculture, their population just keeps dropping.
03:13The last thing we wanted to do was to make life more difficult for them.
03:17So, for instance, we didn't want to ruin their hunts by disturbing the antelope.
03:22But I have to try and get the most exciting shots I can,
03:26and that means filming the animals running straight at the camera.
03:28It's tricky because I've got to leave the stalking cheetah and go so far away
03:33that all I can see is the antelope.
03:37When the cheetah suddenly hurtles into view,
03:40I've got a split second to find it in my lens and start filming.
03:51Filming at normal speed showed how fast the cheetahs were running, but not much else.
03:57How could film reveal more about this wonderful animal?
04:07Owen decided to go big to shoot huge close-ups and slow motion.
04:14Combination was fresh and exciting.
04:18Poetry in motion.
04:19The footage also revealed the superb running skills of both animals.
04:27The gazelle's sharp, pointed hooves help it change direction in a heartbeat.
04:33The cheetah can only keep up by using its tail like a rudder.
04:37It's also helped by having claws that don't retract.
04:45The only cat to wear permanently spiked running shoes.
04:56Owen didn't have many chances to film such a spectacular hunt.
05:00Gazelles out-manoeuvre cheetahs more often than not.
05:03So when the cheetahs were on top form, he had to make the most of it.
05:11Hunts, however, were not the only dramatic cheetah behaviour that the two of them filmed.
05:18This is how some males set about wearing a female.
05:21And it helps if they go around in pairs.
05:24It looks tough, but aggression is often part of normal cheetah courtship.
05:30These males are holding a female hostage.
05:33And if they're the right ones, and all goes well, she just might conceive.
05:39And that's it for the males.
05:41Afterwards, the cubs are the responsibility of the female alone.
05:49We've filmed cheetah families often enough to see that it's a long, hard job.
05:53The cubs need something like 18 or 20 months of practice
05:57before they're even ready to try and look after themselves.
06:06I've probably filmed 20 different cheetahs over the years,
06:09and as long-distance runners, two or three stand head and shoulders above the rest.
06:23Even if you had all the time in the world,
06:37the chance to film something like this happens only once in a while.
06:41Even if you had all the time in the world,
06:49the chance to film something like this happens only once in a lifetime.
06:54Now, imagine trying to film something like this,
06:59but with a cat that's far harder to find and at night.
07:03Now, imagine trying to film something like this,
07:08but with a cat that's far harder to find and at night.
07:13That's the challenge with filming leopards.
07:17Amanda and Owen travelled to one of the premier places in Africa to find them,
07:22Zambia's South Luangwa National Park.
07:25When they finally spotted their first leopard,
07:28it wasn't doing much at all.
07:30However, as the sun started to sink,
07:32the cat started to sink,
07:33the cat started to find them,
07:35Zambia's South Luangwa National Park.
07:37When they finally spotted their first leopard,
07:39it wasn't doing much at all.
07:55However, as the sun started to sink,
07:58the cat set off to hunt.
08:09This is what they had come here to film,
08:11and it was something that had never been done before.
08:14The problem had always been that conventional cameras needed lots of light,
08:30and these dazzle antelope.
08:33Mesmerised like this, they're sitting targets,
08:37and that gives leopards an unfair advantage.
08:45Owen and Amanda wanted to film natural behaviour.
08:50They had a trick up their sleeve.
08:52A brand new video camera that was so sensitive,
08:55it could record in little more than moonlight.
08:58and almost at once,
08:59they started to film behaviour that had never been seen before.
09:03Like us, baboons can't see well at night,
09:16so they go to bed in the tallest of trees.
09:21But even up there, they aren't safe.
09:38Leopards were one of the main predators of our ancestors five million years ago.
09:42And as we filmed this scene, we could see why.
09:47For baboons like early humans, there's just nowhere to hide.
09:51The cats rely on that first element of surprise,
10:11and this one had blown it.
10:14It wasn't long before Owen and Amanda realised
10:18that their new camera still left a lot to be desired.
10:22They needed to be able to film leopards in the pitch dark.
10:25And to do this,
10:26they had to come up with a completely different system.
10:30They combined the latest security camera
10:33with infrared lights
10:35that were invisible to everything
10:37but the camera and night vision goggles.
10:43One leopard couldn't wait to get into the film.
10:45He was so relaxed with the new equipment
10:48that he even jumped onto the car.
10:57So we set off,
10:58with high hopes to boldly go where no film crew had gone before.
11:02Using infrared light is weird and wonderful.
11:09We have to keep reminding ourselves
11:11that none of the animals can see as much as us.
11:13Instead, they rely on their ears.
11:16The tiniest sound sings out at night,
11:37so the antelopes settle in the longest and driest of grasses,
11:41and they're listening out for the slightest rustle.
11:47Leopards really have their work cut out,
11:49trying to silently creep up on them.
11:51They may creep up on them.
11:52But it's easy to do and see if she cares,
11:53keep keeping themات
11:58Let them be perfect.
12:00And then they seeadoras
12:09And then they saw our room
12:10with more délable fences,
12:11and 0..
12:12Then they were riding on them.
12:13office
12:17Straight away, the new technology was helping them capture startling images.
12:34The leopards were stalking right out in the open, relying on the darkness to mask their movements.
12:41This is one of the most memorable moments I've ever seen captured on camera.
12:47I was amazed at how close leopards have to get to their prey before they could even try
13:01to pounce.
13:02I remember filming one female that took two hours to stalk just ten metres.
13:11And then suddenly it was all over.
13:30The antelope only needed to catch the faintest whiff of her scent.
13:35But even though they knew she was there, it's obvious that they still couldn't see her.
13:47And just when Owen and Ramander thought they were starting to really understand leopards,
13:52one of their favourites, Kumi, proved them wrong.
13:57Her behaviour showed that leopards really do deserve their reputation for being the smartest
14:03and most adaptable of all the big cats.
14:07It all began one night, when Kumi came across a tempting, but tricky proposition.
14:16The herd of antelope was bigger than normal, and with so many ears on red alert, there was
14:21no way she could try and creep up on them.
14:26Instead of keeping quiet, she stamped her paw deliberately.
14:36The antelope was shocked.
14:38The group splintered and broke up.
14:41She ran around madly, trying to take advantage of all this confusion.
14:55Without the new technology, dedication, and a streak of stubborn determination,
15:15Amanda and Owen would never have been able to unlock the secrets of the leopard's very special world.
15:25But the next cat, the serval, tested this determination even more.
15:37No one else had ever tried to film them.
15:44Owen was only given a month to prove it could be done, and he headed back to Tanzania.
15:50The first three weeks were a disaster.
15:51I only caught glimpses of really timid servals.
15:52I travelled miles and kept on searching, but it all seemed hopeless.
15:53The first three weeks were a disaster.
15:54I only caught glimpses of really timid servals.
15:57I travelled miles and kept on searching, but it all seemed hopeless.
15:59long grass in the blink of an eye the first three weeks were a disaster i only caught glimpses of
16:09really timid servals i traveled miles and kept on searching but it all seemed hopeless
16:21with only three days left owen decided to head for the ngorongoro crater
16:27and it was here almost straight away that his luck turned
16:34this is my very first shot of a serval i was really pleased to find one after all this time
16:41especially one that was so relaxed within two days he was coming right up to me
16:47i don't know why he was more confident than the others but it was lucky for me
17:00he was busy hunting rodents but wasn't having much success
17:03after all this effort i thought he really deserved his meal of rat
17:23the servals generally catch rodents and birds but once or twice people had seen them
17:45pouncing on gazelle fawns
17:59the gazelle was old and wise enough not to take any chances
18:09and she still wasn't satisfied
18:27i don't know who was more shocked me or the serval but i was really pleased that he seemed okay
18:33thanks to this serval's efforts in front of the camera the film was given the go ahead
18:40but when owen arrived back in the ngorogoro crater to continue the young serval was nowhere to be found
18:48this time to owen's sheer amazement he found another serval after two days it was an adult female and as
18:56as luck would have it she was also very approachable she was full of confidence and had bags of personality
19:06i soon found out that nothing fazed her
19:12certainly not side-striped jackals
19:22and even better she'd got a family
19:44the kittens were only about a month old and still quite small
19:48their size meant that the family's movements would be relatively restricted
19:52and with a cat that's notoriously hard to find that was just what i wanted
19:59film started rolling through the camera far better footage than he'd ever imagined possible at the beginning
20:06of the time
20:11ten days later strangers appeared out of the blue their ab dimmed stalks that migrate up and down africa
20:19on the hunt for beetles and other insects
20:23to the serval they must have seemed like manna from heaven
20:36she went straight after them leaving the kittens on their own
20:41i didn't think she stood a chance there was just so much open ground between them
20:56i had never seen anything like this before it was incredible
21:24in the distance owen had noticed that the kittens weren't alone anymore
21:37it was turning out to be a busy day
21:39the kittens were fully engrossed in catching insects
21:48were they blind or were they growing up to be as bold as their mother
22:00i'd never seen an elephant chase a kitten before
22:12my filming day wasn't over yet the female serval was still stalking those stalks
22:24i thought cheetahs moved fast but she was like quicksilver
22:43and then just as i thought that was enough excitement for the day something completely unexpected turned up
22:56another serval
23:08another serval
23:16i think it was probably an adolescent from a previous litter
23:20suddenly servals were everywhere
23:37the older female wasn't going to give up her kill without a fight
23:52the youngster didn't stand a chance
24:09i think it was a little bit of a fight
24:13despite the odds against him
24:15owen had been able to spend enough time with servals
24:18to film as much fascinating behavior as he had with their bigger relatives
24:23but could they now take this even further
24:25and document the secret life of another small cat
24:29that was even less well known
24:30the calico
24:39amanda and owen had only seen one once in ten years
24:49they're only active at night so it was back to chasing their tails in the dark once again
24:55some said they were mad even to try
24:57their previous experience with leopards and servals however had given them confidence
25:05only time would tell if it was misplaced
25:12maybe we had been overconfident we knew the technology worked
25:16but after two months we still hadn't even glimpsed a caracal
25:23we searched hundreds of acres of bush and it was tough
25:27so
25:42searching for a caracal was worse than that proverbial needle in the haystack
25:49and then suddenly when we've practically given up hope the hair right in front of us was the cat of our dreams
25:57the caracal
25:59luckily for them the individual they found was exceptionally confident owen and amanda were soon busy filming
26:07and that night the caracal's attention was focused on spring hairs
26:12they're nocturnal little creatures only emerging from their burrows well after dark so unlike the baboons
26:19or us their night vision is excellent
26:24in order to remain undetected by them the caracal had to use the lie of the land to keep hidden
26:30it was another of those extraordinary scenes
26:42as the minutes passed i was getting more and more tense
26:47my worry was that if she suddenly ran i wouldn't be able to keep her in the frame
26:53when she did run it was just so fast it's pitch dark out there so if i lost her with the camera
26:59i wouldn't have been able to find her again in time
27:19it's probably one of the hardest and luckiest bits of footage i've ever taken
27:27so
27:33we'd had one stroke of luck already and here was another she had got three young kittens as well
27:46after a night or two of filming them the family ignored us completely
27:57so
28:04in the end i think our success or failure is all down to luck
28:08and it helps having enough time to strike lucky
28:11because however experienced or skilled we might be we've got to find the right individual
28:16the superstar of the animal world this family was perfect they were so approachable and the kittens
28:25spent a lot of time playing we were able to film much more than we'd ever been able to with the serval family
28:31these were the most enthusiastic jumpers of all the cats but we still had no idea of just how athletic caracals could be
28:41the catalyst was a white stalk roosting in the middle of a pond it couldn't see her
28:56and it panicked at the sound of her footfalls
29:06the cat heard it land about 300 yards away
29:09and she went straight there
29:21she had to get closer and like a leopard stalking antelope she had to be really really quiet
29:35the leap must have been 10 feet high she'd even overtaken serbals in the jumping stakes
29:49the leap must have been 10 feet high she'd even overtaken serbals in the jumping stakes
30:01what an amazing little cat
30:19none of us had any time to relax all too soon we could hear the sound of something coming
30:36it was too far away to see what it was but it sounded alarmingly big and the kittens weren't taking any chances
30:49we didn't know what was happening we couldn't see the stalk or kittens anymore
31:05it was the worst thing hyenas
31:11cheetahs leopards and even lionesses far bigger cats than caracals run from an
31:17intimidating group of hyenas like this
31:25but the catacole had no choice but to try and stand her ground the lives of the kittens depended on her
31:43the skirmish went on for a very tense 20 minutes and all that time we felt helpless
31:52the hyenas could find the kittens and there'd be nothing that we could do
32:04then the hyenas found the stalk
32:05a meal like this would have lasted the catacole family two days
32:15the hyenas tore it to bits and ate it in just two minutes but then for some reason
32:20they just shot off they probably never realized the kittens were there
32:35it was such a relief to see them all together again
32:53we followed mother anxiously as she moved the kittens over a mile away from the hyenas
32:58to safety it turned out to be the last time we saw the family
33:05the kittens were growing up fast and ranging further afield
33:09and they just slipped out of our lives as quickly as they'd come in
33:20and they just slipped out of our lives as quickly as we saw the catacole
33:24and the catacole and the catacole and the catacole and the catacole
33:25and the catacole and the catacole and the catacole and the catacole
33:28trying to film an animal for the first time is a very exciting challenge for any filmmaker
33:33but how do you get sensational footage of an animal that everyone thinks they already know
33:38this was the problem owen and amanda faced when they turned their attention to lions
33:53the cat that for many people is synonymous with africa
34:09drama such as this was exciting to film but their interest lay in revealing that there was much
34:15more to lions than just being read in tooth and claw
34:18they wanted to show the complex family ties that bind the pride together
34:35for this they had to get right inside a pride they decided to focus on the tokitok pride in the
34:44ungoragora crater the serengeti lion project had kept records on every lion there so all the
34:50territories and relationships were known the tokitok females had handed the territory down from mother
34:57to daughter for three generations but the two males were newcomers having fought and overthrown the
35:06previous male coalition a mere 10 months before
35:09when we started filming the pride we noticed something strange going on this female wasn't
35:19accepted by the other three she hung around ghost-like on the edge of the tokitok range
35:24the success of the pride rested on the shoulders of just three lionesses
35:35that's not really enough to secure a prize future they needed to raise more female cubs
35:41the park authorities weren't able to give owen and amanda permission to film at night
35:51that's the time when lions are usually most active and this handicap made them feel a little
35:57more nervous than usual at the start of the film
36:17the tokitok pride did us proud from the beginning
36:21and as we filmed their hunts we were able to show the subtleties of their personalities
36:27big animals like buffalo needed them working as a team
36:46the oldest female usually took the lead
36:57big animals we filmed her risking life and limb many times
37:11big animals
37:13big animals
37:15big animals
37:17big animals
37:21big animals
37:23big animals
37:25big animals
37:27the youngest lioness was still very nervous
37:36the combined weight of all of them was needed to bring down this the largest of their prey
37:46hunting buffalo was dangerous but an even greater problem lay just on the doorstep
37:55big animals
37:56it was the monkey pride
38:13the more we filmed the tokitoks the more we realize that a pride is like a dynasty
38:18its power rises and falls over many years
38:23our hope was that this pride was on the way up
38:29where did the outcast lioness fit in
38:32the youngest lioness
38:32the youngest lioness didn't really like her at all
38:55the youngest lioness didn't like her at all
38:58maybe all this aggression was because the outcasts have got a shady past only time would tell
39:28now that owen and amanda had worked with this pride for four months the tokytocks had become part of
39:51their lives and maybe it was easier to empathize with them because unlike all the other cats lion
39:58society is all about family relationships we were filming a lion soap opera but not having a script
40:09we had no idea of what was going to happen next one evening when we had to stop filming we noticed
40:17the outcast was close by watching the cubs with a peculiar intensity it looked as though the females
40:25were about to leave their cubs and go hunting we never saw the cubs again the next morning we filmed
40:44the tokytock mothers calling for them as the hours passed we began to suspect that the cubs were dead
40:55the outcast was the only possible culprit and as though to confirm our suspicions there was no sign
41:02of her for the first time in days no one had ever recorded such behavior before but it would certainly
41:11explain why the youngest female was so hostile maybe the outcast had once tried to kill her
41:18for the tokytocks things were about to get much worse a week later they found one of the males badly
41:30wounded with the four lions from the next door pride hot on his heels although the two tokytocks had been
41:40heavily outnumbered it was obvious from the look of the others that the pair had put up a brave fight
41:45it was gang warfare lion style
41:58his brother had probably been killed for the first time in his life this male was on his own and his injuries
42:06were fatal we found it heartbreaking to film our pride falling apart
42:18the three lionesses were in trouble but even so they continued to hunt together and once again their
42:31characters came to the fore in the most spectacular way the youngest lioness was doing her best she was more
42:42confident with zebra than buffalo
43:12is
43:24here
43:26says
43:31two
43:31now
43:38now
43:39All three were hot on the zebra's heels, but it was again the oldest lioness that was
44:05the most determined.
44:09So, let's go.
44:39I had never been so close to such dramatic action.
44:48The zebra was caught just a few yards away from me.
44:54Now that the cubs and males had been killed, we knew that the future for the Toki Tok Pride
45:00was bleak.
45:01A few days later, we found the oldest female still searching for her cubs.
45:07It was three weeks after they'd been killed.
45:15This sense of loss was as close to grief as anything we'd ever seen in the cat world.
45:25We watched her with sinking hearts.
45:27We knew she was 16, too old to be able to conceive again.
45:37One day soon afterwards, the two of them saw hyenas looking at something hidden in the
45:46grass.
45:47The Toki Tok Pride had lost their best and oldest hunter.
46:03Now, the pride was down to two, and this meant catching food was extra risky.
46:09And if you're a lion, the unwritten rules say that you don't hunt buffalo alone.
46:15Owen's footage shows why, in the most powerful way I can imagine.
46:27I don't know.
46:57The twenty-year-old Tokidok dynasty was coming to an end in front of our eyes.
47:10The last two lionesses were living on borrowed time.
47:15There was no way they'd be able to stand up to the far stronger Mungi pride that was waiting
47:21in the wings.
47:27Their neighbours were eager to expand their territory and raise their cubs in the lands
47:37where the Tokidok pride had once flourished.
47:43It was tough, watching the new pride taking over from the lions we'd grown to know and
47:50love.
47:53Such a strong emotional pull had been entirely unexpected.
47:58But if Owen and Amanda hadn't got to know the Tokidok lions as individuals, they would
48:04never have been able to explore the real-life drama in a film that captured the imagination
48:09of millions.
48:12As a result of this film, and the others, people all across the world have been able
48:17to appreciate cats as never before.
48:21For filmmakers who care deeply about such magnificent animals, pictures like these are worth a thousand
48:28words.
48:38Leaving behind the hot dust next on BBC Two for a wild dive beneath the Channel Islands, followed
48:43in 10 minutes by Life at Meerkat Manor.