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ANIMALS WITH CAMERAS, A NATURE MINISERIES: Season 1

Gordon Buchanan and one of the three 'camera-cheetahs,' Namibia. A cheetah's head keeps very still when they run so it is the most stable place to put a camera. The camera harness were made of soft, flexible neoprene for maximum comfort. They were fastened on with Velcro so the cheetahs could easily remove them but, in practice, they ignored them once they were on.
Courtesy of © Gordon Buchanan
Gordon Buchanan and one of the three 'camera-cheetahs,' Namibia. A cheetah's head keeps very still when they run so it is the most stable place to put a camera. The camera harness were made of soft, flexible neoprene for maximum comfort. They were fastened on with Velcro so the cheetahs could easily remove them but, in practice, they ignored them once they were on.

Sunday, June 16, 2024 from 8 - 11 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with KPBS Passport!

—Never-Before-Seen Animal Behavior Revealed—

Go where no human cameraman can go and witness a new perspective of the animal kingdom in ANIMALS WITH CAMERAS, A NATURE MINISERIES. The three-part series journeys into animals’ worlds using custom, state-of-the-art cameras worn by the animals themselves. Capturing never-before-seen behavior, these animal cinematographers help expand human understanding of their habitats and solve mysteries that have eluded scientists until now. Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan (NATURE “Snowbound: Animals Of Winter”) and a team of pioneering animal behaviorists join forces to explore stories of animal lives “told” by the animals themselves.

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Inside Look | Animals with Cameras

The cameras are custom-built by camera design expert Chris Watts to fit on the animals unobtrusively and to be easily removed at a later point. From this unique vantage point, experience the secret lives of nine different animal species. Sprint across the savanna with a cheetah, plunge into the ocean with a seal and swing through the trees with a chimpanzee.

Tour the Treetops from a Chimp's Point of View

“The chance to capture elusive moments, like a penguin’s underwater hunting habits or a meerkat family’s sleeping rituals in their underground burrow, was an extraordinary experience I never thought I would be privy to,” said Buchanan. “Thanks to the special cameras, we were able to answer some tough questions that scientists have always wondered about: why do devil rays migrate every summer? What personality of dog is most effective in protecting a herd of sheep from wolves? Why is there an overpopulation of brown bears in Turkey, when they are endangered elsewhere?”

Orphan chimp, Kimbang, closely inspects her on-board camera and harness. The harness was made from a car tire and fastened on with Velcro so Kimbang could easily remove it if she wanted to.
Courtesy of © Gordon Buchanan
Orphan chimp, Kimbang, closely inspects her on-board camera and harness. The harness was made from a car tire and fastened on with Velcro so Kimbang could easily remove it if she wanted to.

“Never before have we seen such high-quality footage directly from the animal’s point of view,” said NATURE Executive Producer Fred Kaufman. “This miniseries greatly expands our comprehension of animal behavior and this camera technology opens up new possibilities for discovering so much more.”

A Magellanic penguin setting off to sea with its miniature camera at the Cabo dos Bahias colony in Argentina. The penguins spend up to three days at sea on foraging trips. Scientists placed the camera on board just before departure and removed it immediately after return.
Courtesy of Ester de Roij / © BBC
A Magellanic penguin setting off to sea with its miniature camera at the Cabo dos Bahias colony in Argentina. The penguins spend up to three days at sea on foraging trips. Scientists placed the camera on board just before departure and removed it immediately after return.

The one-of-a-kind sequences captured by the animals include several on-camera firsts:

  • The cameras allowed for newborn meerkats to be shown in their burrow for the first time ever, as meerkat pups don’t emerge from the burrow until they reach three weeks of age.
  • In the Atlantic Ocean, an unborn devil ray is shown kicking inside its mother’s stomach — a phenomenon never before captured on film.
Gordon Buchanan waits to deploy a "Tow-cam" on a devil ray, near the Azores. The camera was designed to be towed behind the ray and was encased in a foam housing so it would float to the surface after detaching (after a few hours).
Courtesy of © Gordon Buchanan
Gordon Buchanan waits to deploy a "Tow-cam" on a devil ray, near the Azores. The camera was designed to be towed behind the ray and was encased in a foam housing so it would float to the surface after detaching (after a few hours).

EPISODE GUIDE:

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The miniseries visits eight countries and features three different species per episode.

Episode 1 encore Sunday, June 16 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 - Witness the secret lives of animals as never before, as this three-part series uncovers truly unprecedented behavior. See a side of the animal kingdom where human cameramen can’t go when animals become the cinematographers.

ANIMALS WITH CAMERAS | Episode 1: Preview

Episode 2 encore Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 - See how the cameras capture young cheetahs learning to hunt in Namibia, reveal how fur seals on an Australian island evade the great white sharks offshore, and help solve a conflict between South African farmers and Chacma baboons.

NATURE: Animals with Cameras | Episode 2

Episode 3 encore Sunday, June 16 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2 - Deep-dive with Chilean devil rays in the Azores, track brown bears’ diets in Turkey and follow dogs protecting flocks of sheep from gray wolves in southern France.

ANIMALS WITH CAMERAS | Episode 3: Preview

Watch On Your Schedule: This series premiered in 2018 and is currently available to stream on demand with KPBS Passport, video streaming for members supporting KPBS at $60 or more yearly, using your computer, smartphone, tablet, Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire or Chromecast. Learn how to activate your benefit now.

Listen To NATURE Podcasts: The InsideNATURE podcast picks up where the NATURE program leaves off. We speak to filmmakers behind some of NATURE’s greatest films, track down updates on animal characters from past episodes, and go beyond the headlines to talk with experts on the frontline of wildlife research and conservation.

Listen Now: Wildlife Filmmaker Gordon Buchanan On "Animals with Cameras"

A camera-cheetah setting out to hunt. The cameras had internal stabilization and were able to film in slow-motion, enabling the crew to capture the hunt from on-board in great detail.
Courtesy of © BBC
A camera-cheetah setting out to hunt. The cameras had internal stabilization and were able to film in slow-motion, enabling the crew to capture the hunt from on-board in great detail.

Join The Conversation: NATURE is on Facebook, Instagram, #NaturePBS #AnimalsWithCamerasPBS

You can follow @gordonjbuchanan on Twitter

Credits: A BBC Studios production for PBS and BBC with THIRTEEN Productions LLC. For NATURE, Fred Kaufman is executive producer. Bill Murphy is series producer. For BBC, Tim Martin is executive producer and Dan Rees is series producer.