But when the male gets infuriated or frustrated by the other bird not getting impressed he starts stamping. It’s a stamping display which is slightly comical, it has to be said, but it’s also extraordinarily powerful too, because the ostrich is a very powerful animal. Martin Colbeck who has filmed in Africa since as long as I can remember, he is a devotee of African natural history and so he knew perfectly well that there was another element of ostrich display which had never been filmed. And, well I was of course only half right. The male comes along and opens his wings and then sways his head from side to side and ruffles and roll. I thought I knew about the display of ostrich, which is very dramatic. © Wayhu Susanto/Silverback Films/BBC Can you tell us about your experience seeing and filming ostrich? But if you know what you’re doing and you have good luck, the results are sensational.Ī male Argus pheasant waits for a female to arrive at his meticulously prepared court in the jungles of Western Borneo. My experience of camera traps is very limited but such as I know they are simply infuriating, because the bird comes along, it’s just about to do its thing and then it takes two steps to the right and all you see is the side of their feather, of their wing.
So the answer is, which I never had the opportunity to do, is to place camera traps, not just one but six or seven and have the skill to decide where to put them, and also how to focus them.
I remember saying when I first heard about this series “Oh I hope you’ll be going for the Argus pheasant”.Īlthough you know where the bird is, because they have the dancing grounds so you know where they display, the problem is if you sit nearby they simply don’t come. So I thought I would spend my broadcasting life without ever having filmed the Argus pheasant, it’s beyond question one of the most dramatic bird displays ever. Every time I went to Borneo I’d say, right we’ll do the Argus pheasant, and every time we failed. I’ve been trying to film the Argus pheasant for ever. You have a history with the Argus pheasant, can you tell us a little about it? What can be more impressive than the display of the Argus pheasant? It is just astounding. You can see that’s what it’s designed for, it doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination to put yourself in the position of those birds and be impressed beyond bounds and beyond speech. The equipment animals have for their mating displays, the feathers, all the paraphernalia, it can be very dramatic.īut certainly the most exciting and thrilling things in a bird’s life, for example, is their display. Animals set out to impress one another when they start courtship and mating and my goodness how impressive they can be, so it makes for a wonderful sight. © Danny Martindale/WireImage/Getty Why do a series on mating behaviours?īecause it shows the natural world at its most spectacular. Sir David Attenborough at the opening of Woodberry Wetlands in London, in 2016. Who will be narrating/presenting The Mating Game? Produced by the renowned Silverback Films company, which has previously A Perfect Planet for the BBC and Our Planet and Dancing with Birds for Netflix, this is an enthralling glimpse into the variety of mating wildlife spectacles on our beautiful planet.
But there are some less well-known species featured too. We meet some familiar faces of natural history documentaries but with new and thrilling footage, from singing humpback whales in Hawaii to chimpanzees in Uganda. This series explores how species tackle nature’s ultimate quest – the pursuit for a partner. Yet for a few, the odds of success are overwhelmingly against them, so these have adopted the most extraordinary mating strategies of all. Against All OddsĪll life is driven by the need to breed.
And the cycle of freshwater is the trigger for spectacular mating rituals and fierce competition. Freshwater: Timing Is Everythingįreshwater is often the stage on which millions of animals gather to find a mate. When animals in these crowded forests want to mate, the challenge is how to stand out from the crowd. Jungles are home to 80% of all species but they cover just 2% of the planet. The Ocean is where life first experimented with the Mating Game, and over time this has led to some of the most ingenious mating strategies of all! 3.