Awaiting the Planet Earth DVD Set

Episode 8 of the Planet Earth DVD series takes the viewer deep into the jungles and rainforests. Jungles and rainforests occupy only 3% of the Earth’s land but are home to over half of the world’s species. In New Guinea, almost 40 different birds of paradise avoid conflict by living on different parts of the island. The elaborate courtship displays of the birds of paradise are shown.

At the top of the dense forest canopy, sunlight is in high demand. With each death of a tree a race by sapplings is triggered to fill the vacant space. For jungle creatures, figs are a popular food. As many as 44 different types of birds and monkeys have been observed feeding in a single fig tree.

Planet Earth explores the sounds of the jungle that are heard throughout the day, from the early morning calls of orangutans to the nocturnal cacophony of courting tree frogs. The Planet Earth DVD series illustrates the importance of fungi to the rainforest by showing them fruiting. Footage of a parasite called cordyceps is included.

The symbiotic relationship between carnivorous pitcher plants and red crab spiders is discussed. In the Congo, roaming forest elephants are show reaching a clearing to feed on essential clay minerals within the mud. Chipanzees are one of the few jungle animals that are able to move through both the forest floor and the canopy in search of food. In Uganda, members of a 150-string community of primates mount an attack into a neighboring territory in order to gain control of it.

The scenery in the Planet Earth DVD series is awe inspiring. The series was shot in over 200 different locations, in 62 different countries. The pictures below are not from the film, but they demonstrate some of the areas and wildlife that can be seen in the series.

Alpamayo in the Peruvian Andes. Image license: Public Domain.

Angel Falls. Image license: GNU Free Documentation License.

Antartica. Image license: Public Domain.

Tepui. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Rocky Mountains. Image license: Public Domain.

Mount Everest. Image license: Public Domain.

Matterhorn. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Mandarin Duck. Image license: Public Domain.

Lechuguilla Cave. Image license: Creative Commons Share Alike.

Humpback Whale. Image license: Creative Commons Share Alike.

Great White Shark. Image license: Creative Commons Share Alike.

Grand Canyon. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Bottlenose Dolphin. Image license: Public Domain.

Baltoro Glacier. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Atacama Desert. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Artic Fox. Image license: GNU Free Documentation.

Step out onto the Savanna, steppe, tundra and prairie as episode seven of the Planet Earth DVD series looks at the resilience of grasses in treeless ecosystems. The vast grasslands on earth contain the largest concentrations of animal life. In outer Mongolia, a herd of gazelle is shown fleeing a bush fire and are forced to graze in other areas. Fortunately, grass can repair itself rapidly and the burned area soon recovers from the fire damage.

Out on the Artic tundra, millions of migratory snow geese arrive to breed. Their young are heavily preyed on by the local Artic foxes. Meanwhile, time-lapse photography is used to depict the movement of a caribou herd as a young calf is killed by a wolf. South of the Artic, on the North American prairies, bison engage in the ritual of determining who is the dominant male.

Far away on a Tibetan plateau, the highest plains in the world are home to the yak and wild ass, even though there is little grass that grows. The most numerous resident on the Tibetan plateau is the pika who is hunted by the Tibetan fox. Far away in tropical regions of India, tall grasses act as a hiding place for small and large creatures alike. The tiny pygmy hog is seen in this environment.

The final sequence of Episode 7 of the Planet Earth DVD series depicts the African savannah with elephants that are forced to share a watering hole with a pride of thirty lions. Insufficient water necessitates the uneasy alliance between the lions and the elephants with the lions eventually gaining the upper hand as their hunger drives them to take down one of the giant elephants.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The sixth installment to the Planet Earth DVD series examines the Artic and Antartica. Antartica is unique in that it contains 90% of the world’s ice and stays deserted until the spring when warmer weather brings visitors to its water to harvest food. Nunataks become home to snow petrels which are preyed on by South Polar skuas. In the summer months, Planet Earth shows a pod of humpback whales hunting for krill by creating a spiralling net of bubbles in the Antartic waters.

When winter comes to Antartica the journey to their breeding grounds 100 miles away begins for emperor penguins. Their eggs are watched over by the males huddled into large groups to endure the extreme cold while the females return to the ocean.

On the other tip of the globe, the Artic is home to musk oxen which are hunted by Artic foxes and wolves. A female polar bear is shown with her two cubs as they journey across the ice in search of food. Planet Earth illustrates the stark reality of Earth’s future by showing the effects global warming is having as the sun melts the Artic ice. A male polar bear falls victim this problem as he is unable to find firm footing anywhere and has to resort to swimming. Desperately in need of food, the male polar bear attacks a colony of walrus repeatedly. The herd of walrus are successful in defeating their foe and seriously injure the polar bear in the process. He will later die.

Meanwhile, back in Antartica the eggs of the emperor penguins finally hatch. Under the watchful eye of the male emperor penguins a new generation begins life in the blistering cold.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Episode 5 of the Planet Earth DVD series features the deserts, a harsh environment that covers one third of all the Earth. One such harsh desert environment is found in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. In the Gobi Desert, temperature extremes like no other are found ranging from -40 degrees celcius to +50 degrees celcius. The Gobi Desert is home to the Bactrian camel, which has to eat snow to maintain its fluid level, being careful not to eat more than 10 litres a day which could be fatal.

In Africa, the Sahara desert is the size of the USA with dust storms that are large enough to completely engulf Great Britain. These dust cause many creatures to have to bury themselves in the sand, while others, such as the dromedary, weather out the storm on the surface. The dust storms are also responsible for massive erosion. Planet Earth demonstrates the erosion power of the dust storms by showing the effect they have had on rocky outcrops in Egypt’s White Desert.

Sand dunes, a common sight in a desert environment, are found all throughout the Earth’s deserts. The biggest dunes are found in Nambia, towering to a height of over 300 metres. Other deserts feature in the Planet Earth DVD series include the Atacama in Chile, the Sonoran in Arizona and the Australian outback. Planet Earth shows animals such as elephants, lions (hunting oryx), red kangaroos (which moisten their forelegs with saliva to keep cool), nocturnal fennec foxes, acrobatic flat lizards feeding on black flies, and dueling Nubian ibex.

The final sequence in Episode 5 of the Planet Earth DVD series shows one of natures most fearsome spectacles: a billion-strong plague of desert locusts destroying all vegetation in its path. The extras on the DVD also explain how the hunt for the elusive Bactrian camels required a two-month trek in Mongolia.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Episode 4 of the Planet Earth DVD series explores the Earth’s caves and tunnels; the “final frontier” of our world. The Earth’s biggest cave, the Cave of Swallows in Mexico, with a depth of 400 meters, is featured in this episode. Also featured is Deer Cave in Borneo, inhabited by three million wrinkle-lipped bats which live on the cave’s ceiling. The bats deposit guano onto an enormous mound on the floor of the cave. The mound is 100 meters high and is blanketed with feeding cockroaches.

Planet Earth also offers a glimpse of other cave life, including a number of subterranean, eyeless creatures, such as the Texan cave salamander and a species of crab. The episode closes with beautiful footage of the Lechuguilla Cave which was only recently discovered. Footage of Lechuguilla Cave includes the ornate gypsum crystal formations, carved by sulphuric acid, found within the cave.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The 3rd installment in the Planet Earth series describes the diverse courses taken by rivers and the species that live within them. Though only 3% of the world’s water is fresh, all life ultimately depends on it. The journey of episode 3 begins with a tropical downpour onto Venezuela’s Tepui mountains, with the water culminating into streams. Hundreds of miles later, the streams form a rapidly flowing river. To illustrate the beauty of rapids, Planet Earth episode 3 showcases Angel Falls, the world’s highest free-flowing waterfall. The water of Angel Falls drops nearly 1000 meters and is mostly blown away before ever reaching the bottom.

Flowing water causes natural erosion, illustrated in Planet Earth with images of the majestic beauty of the Grand Canyon, created by the Colorado River over the course of 5 million years. Across the globe, in Japan, water is home to the biggest amphibian, the giant salamander, which can grow to two meters in length. Also at home in the water, salmon embark on the largest freshwater migration, enduring the treachery of the river and hunted by grizzle bears.

Also featured are smooth-coated otters, repelling mugger crocodiles as they swim. Closely related to the mugger crocodile, nile crocodiles are shown ambushing wildebeest as they attempt to cross the Mara River. Roseate spoonbills are numerous in the Pantanal and are prey to spectacled cairman. Also shown are cichlids, piranhas in a feeding frenzy, river dolphins and swimming crab-eating macaques.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The Planet Earth DVD series is set to be released to the North American market on April 24, 2007. Amazon is already making the title available for pre-order on their website. The DVD collection, which features all 11 episodes and bonus features includes 90 extra minutes of footage that was not shown when the series was aired on the discovery channel.

The series is available in High Definition, Blue Ray and standard DVD formats.

The second episode of the Planet Earth DVD set focuses on the Earth’s many mountains. Extensive aerial photography was used by the show’s creators to explore all the main ranges. Ethiopia’s Erta Ale, the longest erupting volcano (for over 100 years) in the world is among the mountains shown. Nearby in the highlands, geladas, the only primate whose diet consists almost entirely of grass, are shown inhabiting the slopes nearly 3 miles up. The most numerous of their kind, the Geladas troop numbers 800 members. Contrasted with the numbers of Geladas is the critically endangered Walia Ibex, which lives alongside them. Both the Geladas and the Ibex must be on a constant lookout for the predatory Ethiopian wolves which share the area.

Far away in the Andes, which have the most volatile weather on earth, Guanacos are shown enduring a flash blizzard, a plight shared by a group of puma. Filming the normally solitary Puma in a group was one of the large accomplishments of the Planet Earth series. Once again changing locations, the Alpine summit of the Matterhorn is shown, to sheer in many places to allow snow to cover its flanks.

Also seen in episode 2 of the Planet Earth series is footage of grizzly cubs emerging from their den for the first time in the Rocky Mountains. Meanwhile in the Himalayan range, footage is shown of rutting Markhor, a rare snow leopard and golden eagles hunting migrating Demoiselle Cranes.

East of the Himilayan range, the first ever footage of a newborn giant panda is shown as it is cradled by its mother. A creature of minuscule proportions when compared to the 43 mile long expanse of the Baltoro glacier in Pakistan.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

The first episode of the Planet Earth documentary series illustrates a journey around the globe and reveals the effect of gradual climatic change on the planet Earth. Emporer penguins are filmed enduring four months of darkness, without food, in temperatures as low as -70 degrees celcius during an Antartica winter. Meanwhile, and at the opposite end of the Earth in the Artic, polar bear cubs make their first steps into a world plagued with rapidly thawing ice. Also shown is the 2000 mile migration, the longest land migration of any animal, of three million caribou which are dramatically hunted by wolves. One of the prized sequences in the Planet Earth series shows the wolves in full pursuit of a caribou.

Crossing to the eastern forests of Russia, Planet Earth features footage of the world’s rarest cat, the Amur Leopard. With a population of just 40 individuals, the sequence of the Amur Leopard underlines the harsh realities brought upon wildlife populations when their habitats are destroyed. Commenting on the sequence, narrator David Attenborough says that it “symbolizes the fragility of our natural heritage”.

Also featured in the first episode, Planet Earth provides footage of the jungles of the tropics which cover 3% of planet Earth’s surface, yet are home to 50% of its animals. Such percentages depict the importance of preserving Earth’s tropical forests. Meanwhile, in the seas, the one-second strike of a great white shark is shown in slow motion as it ambushes a seal.

Other species shown in the first episode include New Guinea’s birds of paradise, elephants swimming in Africa and the earth’s entire population (300,000) of baikal teal flocking. Another gem of the Planet Earth series, a sequence made possible by the team’s utilization of a powerful “heli-gimbal” camera, African hunting dogs are shown in the efficient pursuit of impala.

Post adapted from Wikipedia. Content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Planet Earth is a BBC nature documentary series co-produced with the Discovery Channel. Filmed in high-definition format, it has been described as “the definitive look at the diversity of our planet”. Planet Earth is a huge achievement in documentary filming, and through its imagery, promotes care for and respect of our planet Earth. Narrator David Attenborough has called the series “a celebration of our planet”.

The series was made over the course of four years by Produce Alastair Fothergill and his team, who are also responsible for the 2001 documentary titled “The Blue Planet”. With the exception of the first, each of the eleven episodes focuses on one of Earth’s natural habitats and showcases the animal and plant life found there. Several animals and locations featured in the Planet Earth series have never been filmed before. Never before filmed animal behavior includes: wolves chasing caribou observed from above, snow leopards pursuing markhor in the Himalayas; grizzly bear cubs leaving their den for the first time, crab eating macaques that swim underwater and over a hundred sailfish hunting in a group.

Each episode of the series has a running time of approximately 8 minutes. A five-disc DVD box set of the complete series was released in the UK on November 27, 2006. Three publications were also released by BBC books to accompany the DVD series.

Source: Wikepedia. Post content licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.