The thing with wildlife documentaries is that you can’t get too close to the animals for fear of losing a limb. Another reason is because you want the animals to act as naturally as possible, and a lens poking out from behind the bushes can raise some red flags that they’re not alone. Special cameras cleverly disguised as rocks, eggs and fellow penguins made this documentary about penguins possible.
In this video, wildlife producer John Downer demonstrates how he and his team were able to record such amazing footage of our tuxedoed friends:
They had 10 cameras strewn all over the colony at any one time. Were the penguins fooled? Camera operator Geoff Bell says yes.
“They befriended them, and we were able to get much, much closer to the action, really.”
I think it’s interesting how the female penguins would become attached to these robotic penguins while their mates were away, and then the mates would get jealous once they came back. Very relatable behavior.
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Fantastic video, very interesting.