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6 months of continuous shooting around the clock

tracking africa's big cats' survival story in real time

september 5, 2024, beijing – bbc’s new documentary “big cats” has been broadcast on cctv fengyun (cctv world geography, cctv cctv cultural boutique), iqiyi, bilibili, tencent video and youku since september 1. the documentary series consists of 6 episodes, each 60 minutes long, co-produced by bbc studios natural history department and the public broadcasting service of the united states. it brings together many elite filming technicians to go to the magnificent okavango delta in botswana, and records and tracks the thrilling survival battles of various african big cats around the clock, non-stop and targeted for 6 consecutive months, showing the audience the real and primitive life of wild animals in all aspects.

big cats unleashed chronicles the dramatic lives of big cats such as lions, leopards and cheetahs in botswana's okavango delta. the world's largest land delta, the okavango delta is a combination of swamps and seasonal floodplains, with extremely rich biodiversity, and is often described as "one of africa's last wildernesses." the filming of the film spanned africa's extreme dry and wet seasons. the crew experienced extreme drought and the largest and most destructive wildfire in nearly a decade, which not only disrupted the behavior of the big cats that the crew originally planned to film, but also brought more challenges to the filming. but thanks to the photographers' arduous rotation shooting method and the breakthroughs made in night photography technology in recent years, the crew surprisingly succeeded in capturing the changes that the big cats have made in response to these extreme climates. when the fires wiped out all the scent marks left by the dominant male lions, intruders began to break into the pride’s territory; without the cover of vegetation to ambush prey, the leopard sudum (meaning “tortoise”) climbed up a tree and demonstrated the famous stunt of the okavango delta leopards: leaping from a tree and attacking an impala. at the same time, the bare ground provided convenience for the cheetahs, allowing the female cheetah pobe (meaning “dimple”) to use her speed advantage to effectively pursue prey on the plains burned by wildfires. this change in environment was full of inspiration, allowing the crew to see incredible big cat behavior and taking the story in a different direction.

different from other wildlife documentaries, big cats is not about capturing animal behavior at a certain moment, but about recording the daily life of these cats in real time. the biggest challenge for the filming team is to adapt to the pace of life of cats. the kudum lion group is one of the largest lion groups in africa. they can sleep for 12 hours straight, then quickly leave and start patrolling their territory. it only takes a moment for a cheetah to accelerate from completely still to 100 kilometers, which requires extremely high endurance, reaction speed and filming skills of the crew.

during the filming, a total of 39 lions were counted in the kudum pride, and the number is still increasing. the lion group is led by two muscular and brave male lions, madumo (meaning "roaring") and "big toe". in 2022, the kudum pride had only one cub. by 2023, the number of cubs of madumo and "big toe" increased significantly. this year, the lioness gave birth to 16 cubs. in order for this huge family to survive and reproduce in the extreme living conditions in africa, the two leaders have a clear division of labor and work together. as the planner of the hunting operation, madumo, with his rich practical experience, commanded his brother "big toe" and the lion group to hunt, and when necessary, madumo would stand up and protect the safety of the entire lion group with his strong strength.

viannet tjengut, the film's wildlife photographer, said: "the most fascinating thing about shooting lion prides is their complex and delicate emotional structure, the emotional bond between lionesses and cubs, and the close interaction between family members. big cats tend to live alone, so these characteristics of lion prides are even more unique and extremely precious." in the kudum lion pride, the real core members are actually the "lioness mother group", led by two 10-year-old lionesses - magogo (meaning "old woman") and makosi (meaning "mother's strength"), and a 6-year-old lioness nosi (meaning "lone walker"). magogo may be one of the oldest lionesses in the kudum lion pride. she is experienced and very smart, and has successful experience in raising cubs before. she is the mother of the oldest cub matata (meaning "trouble"), and matata may become the future leader of the male lion pride. magogo has a very close relationship with makogosi and nosi, and the three lionesses form a close-knit team, raising their cubs of similar age together.

in the vast kudum pride territory, two other big cats live in hiding: the female cheetah popey and her 2-year-old daughter nilo. popey's territory overlaps with that of the kudum pride, and she has lived with the kudum pride for many years. popey is very good at hiding her tracks and always manages to cleverly avoid the kudum pride. but popey is not timid. she is smart and experienced, and has successfully raised at least one female cub to adulthood. there are many lions in the kudum area, and it is really admirable that she can raise a cub to adulthood.

the secretive okavango delta is also home to a group of elegant hunters - leopards. in the photographer's lens, the 5-year-old aerial hunter sudum looks elegant and mysterious. it does not reject the crew's long-term close tracking and observation of it, and even often goes to the crew's camp and leisurely passes by at night. it is a beautiful female leopard. although it is not big in size, it is strong and brave. in the northeast of sudum's territory, there lives another leopard named bontesau (meaning "dark individual"). although the two families are neighbors, their relationship is very tense! the photographer was fortunate to capture the scene of the two cheetahs fighting. bontesau won the fight, and sudum could only return to his territory in disgrace. fortunately, he was not injured.

tom jarvis, producer of big cats, said: "the okavango delta is a paradise for wildlife and a place where big cats thrive, which is unique in africa and even the world. globally, the number of lions, leopards and cheetahs is declining due to habitat loss, conflict between humans and wildlife, and poaching. these three species are listed as vulnerable species on the iucn red list of threatened species. currently, there are only about 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild. in some parts of africa, the number of lions has decreased by 60%. the documentary series big cats hopes to establish a real connection between humans and big cats and inspire human interest and enthusiasm for protecting wildlife."