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From Pole to Pole
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In the biggest series the 大象传媒's Natural History Unit has ever done, 大象传媒 ONE celebrates our amazing planet in all its glory, using the latest technology to track great migrations, capture split second actions, and get amazing footage of wildlife in their natural habitats, no matter whether this is a mountain top, the most remote parts of the desert, or the dark depths of the forest floor.
From Pole to Pole introduces the ultimate portrait of our planet by looking at our planet as a whole and considering the key factors that have shaped its natural history. Without freshwater there is no life on the land, while the sun dominates the lives of all animals and plants on Earth and defines their habitats.
The most enchanting illustration of the sun's hold on life takes place in the Arctic spring. A mother polar bear emerges from her winter den followed by two tiny cubs. She has just two weeks to prepare them for a perilous journey across the frozen sea before it melts and they become stranded. During this critical period, Planet Earth captures the most intimate and complete picture of polar bear life ever filmed.
The tilt of the earth's orbit to the sun dictates all our lives, creating the seasons which in turn trigger the greatest spectacles on our earth, the mass migration of animals.
Planet Earth uses aerial technology to follow a million caribou as they trek across the Arctic wastes, pursued by wolves as they go.
In the Kalahari Desert, an epic trek is undertaken by hundreds of elephants as they attempt to reach the Okavango Swamps.
In the oceans, Planet Earth slows down the leap of a great white shark as it captures a seal. One second of high octane action is slowed down forty times to reveal for the first time the power and technique of the oceans' master predator.
Using the latest technology, together with unrivalled access and experience, the 大象传媒 brings you a portrait of your planet as you've never seen it before.
Producer - Mark Linfield
The Thrill of the Chase - Filming Wild Dogs - Okavango Delta, Botswana
It was still dark when the helicopter took off and we were full of anticipation. This was the final morning of our 13 day aerial shoot to film African wild dogs hunting in the Okavango Delta.
The crew had struggled to get footage of these animals on the ground, and it was easy to see why. Tourist brochures describe the Okavango as the 'world's largest inland river delta'. Quite simply it was a swamp, and as the dogs chased prey from one island to the next, the ground team flailed in their wake, their vehicles getting stuck in fetid mud or aardvark holes.
Such obstacles aside, the vehicles simply weren't fast enough and dog backsides disappearing into the distance were all they could see.
With the ground team struggling, responsibility had firmly shifted to the aerial crew and we were starting to feel the pressure!
As we approached the dogs' den the fuel gauge indicated we only had three hours left to film a hunt. Cameraman Michael Kelem was in the backseat and had used a helicopter-mounted high definition camera to find the dogs moving through the scrub below - something that would have been impossible with the naked eye.
As the sun climbed the dogs raced through the scrub attempting to flush out impala antelope, their favourite prey.
So far the impala had got the better of them. The dogs were running out of steam and we were running out of time.
We only had 30 minutes of fuel remaining and were starting to come to terms with a failed mission.
Then, out of the blue, an impala bolted through the scrub with a dog in hot pursuit. Other impala scattered and dogs broke in all directions. A whole herd had been resting in the shade of a tree, hidden from our aerial viewpoint.
The first dog chased its impala towards a lake. Michael was on it in a flash. A spectacular hunt ended with the impala leaping into the lake. The rest of the pack arrived at the bank and started circling the swimming prey waiting for it to reach dry ground.
In the meantime another dog had killed just behind us in the wood.
As we turned the helicopter round with just enough fuel to get back, I found myself wondering why so many wildlife shoots succeeded at the last possible minute. In my 15 years of wildlife filming it has happened to me more often than not - but that was the closest shave yet.
Mark Linfield
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