The BBC has shared on YouTube some behind-the-scenes looks at its “Frozen Planet” series, including episodes on three big cats.
Snow leopards
This was done up on the Tibetan Plateau, and to show just how rugged that environment is, check out what it did to the photographers’ faces (personal shaving decisions aside) over the month-plus that they spent waiting for the cat!
- A winning photo in 2023.
- Article: “What does it take to photograph a snow leopard?” (Same photographer as above but published months before he won that award.)
- It’s not just pretty pictures, as this abstract shows.
Amur (Siberian) leopards and tigers
The cold air in Land of the Leopard Park wasn’t kind to these photographers, either, but at the end they got some gorgeous footage.
As for scat collecting, yes, it’s gross, but they are right about its importance — that’s how researchers discovered recently that some Pallas cats call Mount Everest home!
- WCS Russia: Amur leopard
- The Siberian Tiger Project
- Guess who won a 2020 wildlife photography award!
Some lagniappe:
Meanwhile, in the Caucasus (part 1):
Was that a unicorn?
Part 2:
More information from the worlds of science and travel.
Featured image: Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh/Shutterstock
Flight To Wonder 