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Seven Worlds One Planet (1 Viewer)

Euan Buchan

The Edinburgh Birdwatcher
Supporter
Scotland
Did anyone watch this yet another programme by Sir David Attenborough last night? Was really good if you missed it it's on IPlayer.
 
The thing I found really strange was the footage of the grey-headed albatross. There were lengthy scenes showing the parent and chick bonding. And yet, we're told that the parent doesn't recognise the chick if it's not in the nest.

Are there any papers on this? Are we making assumptions here about what these birds do and do not know? Presumably studies would show that the parents don't feed young outside the nest, but does this actually mean they don't recognise them?

It was quite something seeing a humpback whale alongside a fin whale - the former looked puny in comparison, although I wondered if that could also have been a young humpback so looked smaller than an adult may look?
 
The scenes of a viper catching a migrant Spotted Flycatcher in the desert were amazing. And that lucky Red Backed Shrike! What a fantastic adaptation of the snake's tail tip - I genuinely thought it looked and moved like a fat spider.
 
Did anyone else notice that the snake caught the Spotted Flycatcher, but when it was shown eating it, it was something else, perhaps a bunting or sparrow with pink legs, rusty brown wings with pale cream edges. Or are we not supposed to notice continuity errors because 'it's an Attenborough'?
On the whole I was rather disappointed with the Asia episode, snake aside, it's all a bit formulaic: Walrus on rock, Polar bear hungry but unable to catch them, Walrus falls, Polar bear feeds. Monkeys cold, fight breaks out amongst rivals (but filmed in too much close-up to really appreciate what's going on), fight ends, monkeys re-group and get warm. Aside from some 'never before' filmed species much of it is repetition of almost every other natural history programme these days. When there's so much un-filmed wildlife in Asia do we really need Oran-gutans again?!
 
Did anyone else notice that the snake caught the Spotted Flycatcher, but when it was shown eating it, it was something else, perhaps a bunting or sparrow with pink legs, rusty brown wings with pale cream edges. Or are we not supposed to notice continuity errors because 'it's an Attenborough'?
On the whole I was rather disappointed with the Asia episode, snake aside, it's all a bit formulaic: Walrus on rock, Polar bear hungry but unable to catch them, Walrus falls, Polar bear feeds. Monkeys cold, fight breaks out amongst rivals (but filmed in too much close-up to really appreciate what's going on), fight ends, monkeys re-group and get warm. Aside from some 'never before' filmed species much of it is repetition of almost every other natural history programme these days. When there's so much un-filmed wildlife in Asia do we really need Oran-gutans again?!

It is very welcome that this series is doing much more to address the pressing issues of climate change and environment damage. The section of the programme on Orangutans highlighted acutely the problems caused by extensive plantations of palm oil (and even directed consumers to what they could do to purchase products from more ethical and sustainable palm oil plantations). In this way, it would seem that the mission of the programme is not simply to give us pictures of un-filmed wildlife, but to add its voice to the required ‘wake-up call’ about the damage being done to the Earth.

Stewart
 
The German version will run from November 24 at the television broadcaster ZDF (7:30 pm). But I fear that it will be somewhat shortened similar to Planet Earth II in the past year. And next year there will be a Cinema and Music event in eight German cities with the The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Dirk Steffens as host.
 
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The series apparently has inaccuracies: blaming walrus deaths to climate change, although similar events occurred long ago. Besides, footage from two places was combined into one.

https://business.financialpost.com/...alruses-its-another-tragedy-porn-climate-hoax
https://polarbearscience.com/2019/0...ause-of-climate-change-is-contrived-nonsense/
Why are you posting links to climate change denial sources? Note that Susan Crockford, the author of the first article, is the woman behind polarbearscience.com; this website was set up solely to discredit climate science. See: Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy
 
You can post a similar link from a different source, if you want to.

BBC was long ago spotted artificially combining scenes into narratives impossible in the wild. In different high-profile TV shows, too. On this forum, too.

Walruses resting on dry ground, and the phenomenon that some climb slopes and fall to their death if there is a cliff on another side, have been observed for decades. I saw the photos in National Geographic decades ago, long before everything was about global warming. I hope 'National Geographic' is still kosher enough about climate change for you?
 
I've noticed with this series there seems to be a tendency for same or very similar species to be covered across episodes.

We have yet again Polar Bears, which has been covered in countless previous wildlife programs, in two episodes. Granted they are filmed doing things not previously filmed before, such as the North American episode where they were hunting Beluga.

And then there's the female Brown Bear with cubs that climb into a tree when a male bear appears in the Europe episode and then there's a female Black Bear with cubs that climb a tree when a male appears in the North America episode.

Surely with a continent the size of North America other species could have been selected so we didn't get bear over load in the series.

I personally feel this has been one of the weaker David Attenborough wildlife programs from recent years.
 
Could somebody help making a list of filming locations or places where these things can be seen?

Episode 1.
Walrus & polar bears - Kozhevnikova Cape & Ryrkaypiy, Chukotka, Russia
Brown bears & geysers - Kronotsky Nature Reserve, kamchatka, Russia
Golden snub-nosed monkeys - Shennongjia National Park, China (habituated GSNMs can be seen also in e.g. Dapingyu)
Spider-tailed viper - X, Iran
Agamid lizards - X, India
Habituated orangutans - X, Borneo (habituated orangutans can be seen at several places in Borneo)
Captive sumatran rhino - presumably Tabin, Borneo, not open to the public

This way BBC can directly help nature. A popular film can boost ecotourism and help saving neglected reserves. Which is obvious since the classic film Serengeti cannot die. Even if the magic of the BBC film diminishes slightly. ;)
 
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