The extraordinary endurance hunting of grey wolves has been recorded by BBC filmmakers in Alberta, Canada. Cameramen battled howling winds and sub-zero temperatures to film the dramatic chase as wolves closed in on their American bison prey. The sequence features in the landmark BBC One series Frozen Planet. Director Chadden Hunter and his team scoured Wood Buffalo National Park, an area the size of Denmark, to find the predators and prey in action. Taking on a herd of bison, with males weighing in at up to a tonne, is a high-risk strategy for the wolves. But with temperatures reaching -50 degrees and with winds of up to 100mph, conditions drive extreme behaviour. \"This was the coldest overall shoot on all of Frozen Planet,\" Hunter told BBC Nature. In this clip, cameraman Jeff Turner\'s nerve is tested by a herd of bison. \"The electronics on the cameras would freeze up, the lenses would grow sheets of hoar-frost and batteries would die in seconds. \"We tried heating the cameras but the plastic cables to the battery packs snapped like bread sticks and the plastic covers broke apart like poppadoms. \"We resorted to \'ancient\' technology and strapped tin cases containing sticks of burning coal into the insulated blanket covering the camera.\" Both bison and wolves are wary of humans so a combination of techniques was used to capture the hunt in full. Aerial cameraman Michael Kelem, more accustomed to filming Hollywood car chases, had to acclimatise to the weather quickly. Operating the camera on board the helicopter required fine motor control: impossible in down gloves but excruciating without them. \"The helicopter obviously became our secret weapon for filming the hunt but it was some serious old-fashioned bushcraft that got us the ground shots to complete the sequence,\" said Mr Hunter. Native Canadian Jeff Turner was stationed on the ground where he was able to film the climax of a second hunt. Turner describes watching a lone wolf battle with a bison for over an hour as \"powerful\". \"The struggles that we\'d had with the cold... felt insignificant compared with these animals that were struggling for their very lives,\" he said.
GMT 09:59 2017 Saturday ,09 December
Militias, poachers wreak havoc on central Africa's wildlifeGMT 15:16 2017 Thursday ,30 November
Norway to put up fence to stop reindeer slaughterGMT 10:06 2017 Wednesday ,18 October
Human remains found in large Australian crocGMT 12:44 2017 Monday ,16 October
India man-eating tiger dies after being electrocutedGMT 15:16 2017 Sunday ,08 October
White tiger cubs maul keeper to death in IndiaGMT 11:56 2017 Saturday ,07 October
From poacher to ranger: saving China's Siberian tigersGMT 09:37 2017 Wednesday ,27 September
Wildlife groups accused of funding abuses against Pygmies in AfricaGMT 18:57 2017 Tuesday ,26 September
Japan kills 177 whales in Pacific campaign: governmentMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©