Penguins - Spy in the Huddle

The last part to the BBC documentary series 'Pengiuns - Spy in the huddle' was on this week. This creative program uses undercover spycams in the form of penguins, rocks and ice to film up close the true characters of penguins. I love watching wildlife documentaries, and this series definitely showed a new insight to these fascinating creatures. The technology behind the penguin cams was incredible, and all the colonies accepted them as one of their own. This enabled the team to film some never before seen characteristics of the penguins.

Producer John Downer said that he had never got so close to any subject for such a long period of time. Thata there was so much detail that you cannot watch without being moved.

"Throughout all the filming, penguin cams became part of the penguins lives. They have witnessed countless events that have never been seen before. And even became part of the huddle. But being accepted also provoked jealousy, and things didn't always go to plan. And even though none of them got eaten in the process, a couple did manage to get caught up in some penguin love triangles." 

It was very amusing to watch the rockhopper penguin 'flirt' with the spycam, and then to have its jealous mate beating it up! The Rockhoppers also like to take a ride on the rockcam, and many penguins tried to adopt the egg cams!

You can see a clip of the series below and watch all three episodes on BBC iplayer.

http://jdp.co.uk/programmes/penguins-spy-in-the-huddle