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my screaming ‘COME ON’ at the camera.<br />
Funnily enough with that one I really want<br />
the iguana to escape! That’s so funny,<br />
with me saying I root for the predators.<br />
That is one of the most magnificent<br />
scenes I have ever seen, not least<br />
because of this almost inconceivable<br />
situation, with all these snakes coming<br />
out of the crevasses of the volcanic<br />
rocks, but how it was shot! You can not<br />
underestimate how difficult it is to make<br />
that sequence work. The smoothness<br />
of how the camera works was absolute<br />
perfection. So not only is it a celebration<br />
of the magnificent wildlife we share the<br />
planet with, it’s a celebration of these<br />
incredibly talented film makers, who<br />
sit there for days and days to get the<br />
magical shots that will affect us to our<br />
very core. It’s just wonderful.<br />
Am I right in hearing that you went a<br />
kilometre underwater in the Galapagos?<br />
Yes! We were on this research vessel for<br />
two weeks, joining all these scientists<br />
at the tops of their fields who were<br />
investigating different aspects of these<br />
islands and how to better protect them.<br />
At one point we got into this submersible<br />
and went down to a thousand meters, to<br />
a part of the Galapagos that nobody had<br />
ever been to before, so I truly felt like an<br />
astronaut of Earth’s inner space, rather<br />
than its outer. Everything I pointed to the<br />
scientists would say ‘Yep. New species...<br />
Yep, don’t what that is, never seen one<br />
of those before’. So we were discovering<br />
new life at those depths. It was the most<br />
incredible experience.<br />
It must be dark down there?<br />
It’s pitch black, so you have these types<br />
of sharks down there called Chimaera,<br />
who do have these big, bulbous eyes.<br />
There’s no iris, it’s just this big, white<br />
circle of an eye, which is supposed<br />
to help it absorb any smidgen of light<br />
that there might be down there, and it’s<br />
just a surprisingly colourful place in the<br />
crevasses of all the rocks. Galapagos<br />
are all volcanic islands, so what we<br />
were doing is following the flanks of the<br />
volcano all the way down to the depths.<br />
We were down there for seven hours and<br />
it passed by like we were down there for<br />
an hour, time sort of stands still down<br />
there. It was a thrilling experience.<br />
I was watching you recently talking<br />
about the African jungle, and you spoke<br />
about chimpanzees, and how much<br />
they fight. You showed how much the<br />
alpha male will fight to protect what is<br />
his, and it is a bit sinister!<br />
They’re not the only species that have<br />
to fiercely protect their place in the<br />
hierarchy. The males often are exhausted<br />
having to protect their females from<br />
usurpers to the throne as such, but<br />
chimpanzees in particular can be very<br />
violent and because we are so closely<br />
related to them I suppose it shouldn’t<br />
be a surprise that they all have different<br />
personalities, and sometimes you just<br />
get a really nasty character. At the end<br />
"it’s a celebration of these incredibly<br />
talented film makers, who sit there for<br />
days and days to get the magical shots<br />
that will affect us to our very core"<br />
of the day you can argue that the nastier<br />
the male, the more successful he will be<br />
because it all boils down to him and his<br />
offspring and protecting his gene pool.<br />
I suppose it’s like when male lions get<br />
rid of any cubs that aren’t their own<br />
There is infanticide in many species. It’s<br />
all about making sure you have as many<br />
offspring as possible, so if you kill a<br />
female's offspring then you can mate with<br />
her straight away.<br />
Are there parts of the world or<br />
creatures that you would like to visit/<br />
see for the first time?<br />
Yes. Snow leopards. I need to see a<br />
snow leopard. And part of it is because<br />
it is so difficult to see them now. They<br />
are extremely elusive and live in an<br />
extremely inhospitable part of the planet.<br />
They’re probably the most elusive cat,<br />
so that’s the dream. I will fall crying if I<br />
ever see one in the wild. They are the<br />
most glorious animals. Actually, it was<br />
on Planet Earth II, and again it is a scene<br />
that I’ve watched about three times and<br />
it always brings me to tears; the first<br />
time I heard the vocalisation of a snow<br />
leopard. I had never heard that before.<br />
And the fact that because our technology<br />
is improving, Planet Earth II was able to<br />
capture this glorious snow leopard at the<br />
top of this mountain that was vocalising.<br />
It brings me to tears every time I hear it,<br />
it’s the most glorious sound in the world.<br />
Are they as endangered as other<br />
leopards and big cats?<br />
Yes. I mean, the Amur leopard is the<br />
most endangered cat, but all big cats are<br />
facing extinction. They are all incredibly<br />
threatened and their populations are<br />
dwindling.<br />
We’ve spoken about the man-made<br />
situation with plastic. But is there<br />
anything else in the natural world that<br />
you have seen that has shocked you?<br />
In terms of the natural world, I think it<br />
is all magnificent. I really do. Even with<br />
something that might look to us to be<br />
violent, or a little bit uncomfortable<br />
to watch, I think that the more we<br />
understand how animals live and all of<br />
their adaptations that have allowed them<br />
to find solutions to all of their problems in<br />
order to survive - the more I understand<br />
it, the more I am in awe of it and the more<br />
it makes me humble and very small in<br />
comparison. So I find it all too wondrous<br />
to ever think that something is too much<br />
or too shocking.<br />
The dates for Planet Earth II Live in<br />
Concert are as follows:<br />
Thursday 6 <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff<br />
Friday 27 <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
Manchester Arena, Manchester<br />
Saturday 28 <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
First Direct Arena , Leeds<br />
Sunday 29 <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
O2 Arena (matinee), London<br />
Sunday 29 <strong>Mar</strong>ch<br />
O2 Arena (evening), London<br />
Wednesday 1 April<br />
3Arena, Dublin<br />
Friday 3 April<br />
Resort World Arena Birmingham<br />
Saturday 4 April<br />
SSE Hydro Arena, Glasgow<br />
Tickets are available from<br />
www.planetearth2live.uk.<br />
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