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For some, David Attenborough is the one and only voice of nature documentaries. So, fans of his calm, informed delivery were delighted to hear that the 97-year-old returns to narrate the new series “Our Planet II.”
Series producer Huw Cordey explains why the legendary naturalist is a key ingredient of the show.
“Obviously he’s got massive integrity and he’s the voice of nature, but, you know, just the way his emotion and his delivery just adds so much to every program. And I’ve been very, very lucky to work with him on natural history films for 25 years. But I think what’s almost frightening is that at the age of 96, he doesn’t seem to have got any worse at it. I mean, you know, the level of skill and delivery is as good as it ever was.”
The four new episodes concentrate on animals and insects that have to travel in order to survive. One of these is the locust, whose journey across Kenya was captured using a small, unobtrusive drone called the DJI Mavic which can stay in the air for 45 minutes at a time.
Cordey says it was hard to find the locust swarm in the first place as their location was very remote and the group moves very fast. However, one of the hardest animals to locate on the new show was the Christmas Island crabs.
“We filmed that on two consecutive years. The first year we didn’t see a single crab. Can you imagine it?” he says.
“So we gave it another go. And that was an all-female camera team. And they were on Christmas Island on Christmas Day when that event happened. I mean, how much serendipity can you get?”
Environmental issues feature on the show as discarded plastic is shown on a very remote island where albatross chicks hatch and look for food.
“If you’ve got that much plastic in your stomach, you know, the end result is that a lot of them die,” explains Cordey. “It’s very, very sad and sobering.”
“Our Planet II” was released on Netflix on June 14.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.