West Dorset Living Feb - Mar 2020

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