“Secrets of the Penguins,” a three-part documentary executive produced by James Cameron, is set to release this weekend, and according to the famed filmmaker, it takes observations of the charismatic birds “to another level.”
The documentary, made by National Geographic, is hosted by wildlife filmmaker Bertie Gregory and narrated by Blake Lively.
The series presents a number of never-before-seen moments, including one teased in a viral clip of emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) chicks hurling themselves from a 50-foot (15 meters) cliff into the Southern Ocean.
“I don’t think they wanted to be doing that, but that’s how it worked out for them,” Cameron told Live Science during a Thursday (April 17) roundtable interview. “They took a wrong turn somewhere along the coast and wound up having to base jump to get their first swim.”
Related: Meet ‘small diver’: One of the tiniest penguins ever discovered
Capturing the series’ footage was a monumental, globe-spanning undertaking involving over 70 scientists and filmmakers on a two-year trip. The stops along the way include the beaches of Cape Town, South Africa; the Galápagos Islands; Namibia’s desert caves; and a 274-day stint on Antarctica’s bitterly cold Ekström Ice Shelf, which is home to a colony of 20,000 emperor penguins.
It’s not just penguins’ remarkable hardiness that fascinates Cameron, but the social inventiveness needed to survive in such an inhospitable habitat. Another new behavior documented by the series shows a mated pair of emperor penguins moving an egg-sized chunk of ice between them in an apparent rehearsal for the real thing. (If eggs and young chicks leave the warmth of their parents’ brood pouches for more than one or two minutes, they will die.)
“They didn’t get an egg that season or it died, and so now they’re doing training behavior to improve their odds,” Cameron said. “Are we seeing what works strategically over millions of years for these guys to have adapted to being there on the ice?”
For many of the flightless, coastal birds, this resilience is being pushed to its breaking point. More than half of the 18 penguin species are endangered or vulnerable to extinction. The situation is especially bleak in Antarctica, where quickening climate change is melting the sea ice upon which emperor penguins and Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) live and outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu virus decimate flocks.
This places penguins, in spite of their apparent remoteness, on the front lines of two global existential threats. If current trends continue, up to 70% of emperor penguin colonies could disappear by 2050, with the species being doomed to extinction by 2100 — making it even more important to document them now.
“You can’t study penguins without bumping up against climate change,” Cameron said. But he added that “we try not to be too Cassandra about all that.”
The goal of the series is to give a new generation of viewers a sense of wonder at nature, Cameron added
“And if we respect nature and we respect its wisdom about how these animals have learned to adapt and survive, maybe that will influence our behavior when push comes to shove,” Cameron said. “I’d like to think that’s the case.”
As for the love of nature, what’s Cameron’s favorite penguin?
“The rock hoppers are great with their amazing hairstyles, but I’m fond of the emperors only because I’ve observed them personally,” he said. “I was underwater with them, saw them rocketing around, saw their huddling behavior at 40 [degrees Celsius] below [freezing]. I guess I’m just drawn to the ones that I know.”
“Secrets of the Penguins” premieres April 20 at 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT on National Geographic. All episodes stream April 21 on Disney+ and Hulu. Disney Channel will also air the first episode on Earth Day, April 22, at 8 p.m. EDT.
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