Take
a walk in a Wild New World
大象传媒
TWO from Thursday 3 October, 9.00pm
Long
before skyscrapers towered above Manhattan and theme parks sprawled
across Florida, the American landscape was dominated by a wholly
different kind of attraction.
Where
now celebrity is king, long ago mammoths ruled the Hollywood Hills.
And
bustling Denver Airport is situated on what was once a vast grazing
ground for Ice Age wildlife聟
大象传媒
TWO's Wild New World is a detective story that takes clues
from the present to unlock the secrets of prehistoric North America.
Using
the latest scientific research, filming techniques and computer-generated
imagery (CGI), it recreates a time 13,000 years ago when people
first entered this vast, unexplored new world where great Ice Age
animals roamed the land.
As
nearly half the continent was buried deep beneath ice sheets, the
new settlers encountered a North America that was very different
to that we see today.
Beyond
the reach of the ice, though, the land had a diversity and richness
of life to rival that of the plains of East Africa.
Viewers
of this epic series discover that these first North Americans lived
side-by-side with sabre-toothed cats, elephant-like mammoths and
mastodons, giant short-faced bears, tree-sized ground sloths and
heavily armoured glyptodonts.
There
are also some familiar faces, such as the musk ox, cougar and bison,
that have survived the test of time.
Long-extinct
animals are brought back to life and come face-to-face with the
modern-day animals they once shared this land with.
Lions
encounter woolly mammoths, a jaguar attacks a bone-plated glyptodont,
and a sabre-toothed cat comes off somewhat worse for wear following
a confrontation with a humble skunk.
Families
of woolly mammoths brave the blizzards of the north, and giant ground
sloths browse the tree tops in the tropical south.
Sabre-toothed
cats hunt camels and Columbian mammoths do battle with their enormous
tusks.
For
the first time, viewers experience North America just as it was
seen by the first people there, shedding new light on the country
we see today.
"It
is incredible to think that just a few hundred generations ago,
people met these almost mythical animals," said Miles Barton,
Series Producer.
The
大象传媒 MediArc team, based at the Natural History Unit in Bristol,
is responsible for bringing the extinct creatures back to life,
animating them alongside live modern-day animals and recreating
stunning prehistoric landscapes.
Working
closely with the production team and using the latest scientific
knowledge, their expertise plays a key role in building an authentic
picture of Ice Age North America.
Viewers
can find out more about the science behind the programme at .
Find
out how these creatures were brought back to life and what evidence
was used to recreate them.
Join
the debate on why so many of them became extinct and explore the
Wildfacts database for details on their biology and habits.
At
the Nature Messageboards users can also discuss the various theories
about North America's first ancestors - just who were these sophisticated
people and where did they come from?
A 大象传媒
book also called Wild New World, published by 大象传媒 Worldwide on Thursday
19 September, accompanies the series.
Wild
New World is a 大象传媒 Natural History Unit/Discovery/大象传媒 Worldwide
production for 大象传媒 TWO. The series producer is Miles Barton.
Programme synopses
|
