Attenborough's Dynasties crew broke no.1 rule of not intervening to save penguins
The second episode of David Attenborough's Dynasties took us to Antartica and a colony of Emperor penguins. We followed the adult penguins and their chicks as they fought to survive winter in one of the most brutal locations on Earth.
When a particularly dangerous situation presented itself, the film crew were so affected by what they witnessed that they were spurred to act, breaking the rule they normally keep of not interfering with nature, however upsetting.
After a huge storm hit, some of the penguin mothers, cradling their chicks on top of their feet, became trapped in an icy ravine as temperatures dropped to -50C. Several chicks had already frozen to death and the future of the others was uncertain as their mothers tried to scale the incline without dropping them.
The crew were visibly shaken by what they were witnessing.
"I know it's natural, but it's bloody hard to watch," one of the cameramen said through tears. "There are birds down there with chicks."
David Attenborough is known for his strict rules on intervening, preferring to let nature take its course. But, when the crew returned two days later to find the situation had worsened, they made the rare decision to dig a ramp in the ice so the birds had a better chance of survival.
Attenborough explained their decision, saying: "It's very rare for the film crew to intervene. But they realise that they might be able to save at least some of these birds, simply by digging a few steps in the ice."
And they were right – as they began packing up to leave, the penguins began to use the ramp to climb out of the gully and return to the colony.
"We opted to intervene passively," director Will Lawson told viewers.
"Once we'd dug that little ramp, which took very little time, we left it to the birds. We were elated when they decided to use it.
"There's no rule book in those situations. You can only respond to the facts that are right there in front of you."
He added that the crew's decision to help was "unanimous".
"What was unique with this was that the only other animal there was us - nothing else would directly benefit from this," he said.
"I'm sure some people will have an opinion in the other direction but in my heart of hearts I think we made the right decision."
Producer Mike Gunton told a press conference ahead of the show's launch that he backed the crew's decision.
"We have a rule that interfering is a very dangerous thing to do. But these penguins were going to die through a freak act of nature if nothing happened," Gunton said.
"How would this conversation be going if you said you saw them there and did nothing? I think you have to do it."
Attenborough later told reporters that he had once witnessed a young elephant calf dying of the thirst but did not act.
"All you're doing is prolonging the death. So, you make things infinitely worse. Tragedy is part of life and you have to show it. You can't have sunshine throughout your life," he said.
"To have done anything else would only make matters worse and distort the truth."
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