Sneak peek of rare animals featured in Sir David Attenborough's new BBC series Asia
Filmed over four years, the series – called Asia – delivers never-before-seen footage of rare animals, with Sir David Attenborough providing commentary for the footage on his 88th birthday
Sir David Attenborough’s latest co-stars are ready for their close-ups as the veteran BBC presenter explores Asia.
Filmed over four years, the series – called Asia – delivers never-before-seen footage of rare animals. One of the rarest is a Gobi bear, one of just 32 left in the world, filmed searching for water in Mongolia.
In Sri Lanka, the camera crew tried 50 times to get a shot of an elephant reaching into a bus looking for food. And in Nepal, state-of-the-art drones allowed the team to capture footage of tigers mating and hunting.
Sir David, who joined the BBC in 1952, even did voiceovers for Asia on his 98th birthday. Series producer Matthew Wright recalled: “We said ‘happy birthday’. He was business-like. He said, ‘Let’s move on. What are we doing next?’”
Producer Mark Wheeler added: “He’s pretty remarkable. The British public look to him as a real authentic voice. He’s as enthusiastic as ever.”
- Asia will begin on BBC1 on Sunday, with all episodes on iPlayer.
1 of 10 Snout AND about
Sunda pangolin forages for food in Singapore
(Image:BBC Studios / Jak Wonderley / Wild Wonders of China / naturepl.com)2 of 10 Tiger temps
Three Bengal tiger siblings filmed from a drone in western Nepal. They spend daylight hours hiding in the long elephant grass, which helps them keep cool from the intense heat in the months before the monsoon
(Image:BBC/BBC Studios/Henry Lin)3 of 10 A real rarity
The Javan green magpie, one of the rarest birds in the world
(Image:BBC Studios)4 of 10 Long c-range
Demoiselle cranes gather in the village of Khichan, India. Each winter they migrate thousands of miles to get here
(Image:BBC Studios)
5 of 10 EAR I COME
A long-eared jerboa tracks prey in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia
(Image:BBC Studios / Kevin Flay)6 of 10 Puppy love
A newborn Baikal seal pokes its head above the ice in frozen Lake Baikal, Russia
(Image:BBC Studios/Henry M. Mix)7 of 10 GOBI ONE
One of just 32 Gobi bears still alive searches for water in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia – marking the first time the critically endangered species has ever been captured by television cameras
(Image:BBC Studios / Joe Riis)
8 of 10 Stealthy
The Pallas’s cat stalks its prey on Mongolia’s Eurasian Steppe
(Image:BBC Studios / Uuganbayar Ganbold)9 of 10 Snacks are in the trunk
In Sri Lanka a bus driver greets an elephant, one of a group of bulls well-known for stopping traffic to demand food
(Image:BBC Studios / Justine Evans)10 of 10 ( Image:BBC Studios/Anatoly Kochnev)