Edmond Dantès
Dantès the White
Preview by David Attenborogh
TrailerIt is usually a mistake to go back, but I have now returned three times to the Galápagos Islands since my first visit in 1978 and each time the excitement has been undiminished. On my latest trip, indeed, it has been heightened, for I have had the opportunity not only to film the islands in a new medium but as we disclosed earlier this week to film an entirely new species.
It was here, of course, on these volcanic, Pacific Ocean islands 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, that Darwin conceived his theory of the mechanism of evolution. Its a place populated by extraordinary and beautiful creatures, some of which are found nowhere else on the planet.
Take the marine iguana, for example: this lizard fetched up here from South America and, in order to find enough food to survive, has had to adapt so that it cannot only swim but also dive to the bottom of the sea. The Galápagos is full of such dramas, and it is also full of very charismatic animals which, because theyre unafraid of humans, you can approach very closely. Thats what makes the islands as rewarding for the tourist as they are for the scientist.
At the preview screening for our series, I was asked whether there should be a cap on the number of tourists and, indeed, whether they should be admitted to the Galápagos at all. My view is that if it werent for the receipts from ecotourism, and the incentive those give for conservation, the islands would already be almost devoid of wildlife.
There should, of course, be controls, though what should be the optimum number of visitors is a difficult calculation to make. Since tourists are a source of income, and a very good one, there will always be pressure to increase their numbers. But there comes a point when the wildlife and the environment begin to suffer, and the tourists destroy the very thing that attracted them in the first place. At the moment, I would have thought, the authorities have got the balance about right.
There will always be criticism, there will always be problems. But what a disaster it would be if the islands were closed off. Scientists mustnt be too arrogant: the world doesnt entirely belong to them. The scientists must be given the chance to do their research, but the public at the same time must be allowed to see the Galápagos and to understand the processes of evolution. Wise administration of ecotourism can allow both those things to flourish.
I had already been involved in several 3D projects for Sky [including Flying Monsters, the first 3D programme to win a Bafta] when my producer, Anthony Geffen, mentioned the possibility of putting the technology to the test in the Galápagos. I jumped at the chance: I knew the islands would be a natural for 3D. And so they have proved.
Why 3D? I was asked several times in the run-up to the screening of our series. What does it add to wildlife filming, and particularly to filming in the Galápagos? Well, it enables us to provide a more informative picture; to enhance the quiddity, the essence, of the animal were filming, whether thats a Sally lightfoot crab, skipping across a pool of water, or a waved albatross, engaged in a dance of courtship that at one point looks like duelling.
Ive been working in television since the days of smeary 405-line pictures in black and white. All the developments we have made since have had to do with improving the quantity and quality of the information using that word in a computer sense that we can put in front of the viewer. 3D is the culmination of those developments.
The heightened reality, which is very dramatic, doesnt suit everything; its of no benefit, for instance, in describing a distant mountain range. But when you see an animal close up in 3D, you suddenly become aware of aspects of it that you just cant see in 2D. When you watch a spider weave a web, for example, you can see the distances involved, you can see relationships between different points; you gain a much better understanding of the intricacy and complexity of the whole operation.
We have made three programmes, dealing in turn with the explosive origin of the islands (powerfully conveyed in computer-generated imagery), the driving forces behind evolutionary innovations, and the latest developments in science and research. We were shooting for about six months; during that time we were reminded constantly of the species-transforming power of the Galápagos, and also of how much is there that we have yet to discover, let alone try to explain.
In our second episode, which will be screened this evening, we report on a puzzle concerning the behaviour of the whale shark the biggest fish on the planet off the northernmost islands of Wolf and Darwin. Female whale sharks are spotted there throughout the year, but in considerably greater numbers between June and November, corresponding with the garua, or dry season, when the Humboldt and Cromwell currents are most intense. The whale sharks are not feeding, and they do not appear to be pupping, as no juveniles have been recorded. So what brings them there? A project in which they are being fitted with satellite tags has begun to try to answer that question.
In the same programme, we hear of recent findings concerning the marine iguana. This lizard, whose powers of adaptability we already thought remarkable, has demonstrated a scarcely believable talent: it can shrink its bones when times are hard and regrow them when food becomes plentiful again.
During the warm oceanic phase known as El Niño, sea surface temperatures in the Galápagos rise from an average of 18C to a maximum of 32C. The green and red algae on which the iguanas graze disappear and are replaced by brown algae that they find hard to digest. The iguanas respond by shrinking their body length by up to 20 per cent a figure that cant be explained by decreases in cartilage and connective tissue. The iguana, it seems, literally digests its own bones. Smaller size makes for more nimble foraging and also enables the cold-blooded lizard to warm itself more quickly in the sun. When La Niña conditions return, and food is more abundant, the iguanas put on length as well as weight.
We knew of those findings before we arrived in the Galápagos. But it wasnt until we were there that we learnt of the discovery by an Italian team, in the far north on Wolf Island, of a previously unrecorded land iguana. Its colour was most striking initially, the great pink blotches on its skin, but what was extraordinary about it was that its whole head and crest were a different shape from those of the yellow land iguana, suggesting that it was not simply a variant but an entirely new species, and a major one at that.
Getting close to it, as with every other species we filmed, was essential, because a 3D camera does not have a zoom lens. It also takes four people to carry one, and half an hour to set it up, and the danger was that our new acquaintance would bolt for the bush. So we got the iguana in a clearing, and I gently put my hands on it until all was ready, and then I eased them off and very softly began my piece to camera. Then whoosh the iguana was away, right across the mirror at the bottom of a £500,000 camera.
Had the mirror got scratched, we would have been in serious trouble. There was nowhere we could readily secure another and our film-making possibilities would have been wrecked. So while our meeting with that iguana was a privilege, it could also have been catastrophic.
Another privilege was to meet the most celebrated inhabitant of the islands, the giant tortoise who had become known, through his failure to find a mate, as Lonesome George. George had caught the worlds imagination because he was the last known individual of a subspecies, the Pinta Island tortoise, and was therefore arguably the rarest animal in the world.
Im particularly grateful to the Galápagos authorities for letting us into his sanctuary, for he was an old gentleman I know how that feels and one to be treated with care and deference. We were allowed in for about 30 minutes in the early morning so that we didnt get in the way of the viewing public and rightly so who had come a long way to see him. We found him underneath a bush, asleep.
The temptation, of course, was to knock on his shell and ask if anyone was in, but that wasnt allowed, so we just sat alongside him until eventually he stuck his head out and looked me straight in the eye. I delivered my words, and then old Lonesome pushed off, creaking a bit. I think it was a fortnight later that he died in his sleep.
Galapgos 3D: David Attenborough talks about Lonesome George
Galapagos 3D a precedent setting 3D documentary?
Episode One
Airing: The first episode of Galapagos 3D, Origin, will be screened tonight (January 1, 2013) at 7pm on Sky 3D and simultaneously in 2D on Sky1 HD.The broadcaster explores the Galapagos, a collection of volcanic islands in the Pacific known for its extraordinary wildlife. More than 150 years after Charles Darwin formulated his ground-breaking theory of evolution on the remote archipelago, Attenborough explains how life on the islands has continued to evolve in biological isolation, examining how the ever-changing volcanic landscape has given birth to species and sub-species that exist nowhere else in the world. He begins by revealing how Galapagos rose from the ocean four million years ago.
The second episode of Galapagos 3D, Adaptation, will be screened on Saturday January 5 at 7pm.
The third and final episode, Evolution, can be seen at the same time on the following Saturday (January 12).
