Nighttime Animals

VHS cover

Nighttime Animals is the third episode of the first season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry being unable to sleep and so staying up to encounter nocturnal animals. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 30th April 1996.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Nighttime Animals.

The narrator finds that Henry is in bed but unable to sleep, even though he has been out surfing with his cousin Rex all day. The narrator tells Henry about nocturnal, or nighttime animals, also getting him to count springhares instead of sheep as a way of falling asleep. When this doesn’t work, Henry thinks he may be becoming a nocturnal animal. The narrator explains that at the end of the day, when the diurnal or daytime animals go to sleep, a whole set of nocturnal animals wake up. The first nocturnal animal they meet are flying foxes, which Henry first thinks are vampires, and then worries that they feed on lizards, before he is told that they are fruit-eating bats.

#### First cartoon

* Four Lizards are settling down in bed when a loud noise frightens them. They try to go to sleep again but the sound wakes them again. Three of the Lizards gather gardening tools as weapons and head out with the fourth Lizard to find the source of the noise. Another loud noise makes the three weapon-bearing Lizards run and hide behind the bed, but they come back out after the lead Lizard berates them. They walk until they find Elephant, sleeping on his back and snoring. The relieved Lizards head back to bed, but the lead Lizard, still disturbed by the noise, runs back and ties Elephant’s trunk in a knot.

Henry tries to experience what being a nighttime animal is like, and the narrator turns out the lights. When the lights come on again Henry encounters owls, which have great night vision. The switching off of the lights is repeated, with kinkajous then appearing and finally rats. Henry doesn’t like the rats, nor does he like the dark as he finds it and the creatures living in it scary. The narrator points out that while many nocturnal animals look strange, it is just how they have evolved to get around in the dark. They then meet the aardwolf which, despite its name and being related to the hyena, is actually a timid animal that feeds on termites.

#### Second cartoon

* Mole is riding his scooter down a road at night with the headlamp on. He comes up behind Gorilla walking in the road, and after trying to overtake him, turns up the headlamp. Gorilla is annoyed by this and tries to block out the light, but Mole unscrews the light, flips it up into the air and traps Gorilla in the beam of light before he rides away on his scooter.

Henry asks the narrator why moths always bump into lightbulbs, with the narrator telling him that bright lights dazzle and confuse nighttime animals such as moths which are more used to the soft light of the moon. Bats are able to navigate in the dark without light, as they can use sonar. Bushbabies use their amazing eyesight to spot insect prey and to judge distances when leaping between branches, while the Northern spotted owl uses its amazing eyes and ears to pinpoint mice.

#### Third cartoon

* Bat turns on a light-switch to reveal that Elephant is hanging from the branch next to him. Bat points down at the ground before turning the light out again. Elephant falls down and Bat turns the light on again to reveal Elephant crumpled on the floor. Bat narrows his eyes and turns the light off again.

The narrator reminds Henry to do his Special Report, this time about the wisdom of the owl. Henry uses the poem ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ to make the point that owls are not smart at all. The narrator informs Henry that, for once, he is right. There is actually no proof that owls are clever, and many other birds are much more intelligent. However, owls don’t really need great intelligence as they are already very successful nighttime birds. The narrator talks to Henry about how animals come out at night to forage for food. Raccoons look for garbage, pouched rats gather fruit in their cheek pouches to carry home, and the serval cat is shown hunting for gerbils. Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards. The bronze medal goes to the tarsier and the silver medal to the kinkajou. But the Golden Gecko Award is given to the greater bushbaby, which is like the little bushbaby but, in Henry’s words, greater. They are specialists at living in trees, feed on a mixture of insects and plant food and are beautifully adapted for nocturnal life.

#### Fourth cartoon

* Tiger is walking around with a flaming torch and being followed by floating eyes. The alarmed Tiger finds out they are from Fish and that he is underwater – he drops the torch and swims up to the surface.

Many animals court by moonlight. Henry, looking through a telescope, sees a constellation of a female lizard that blows kisses at him. But the image then cuts to one of the moon, which really does have a strong effect on animals. On one night a year, palolo worms in the Pacific rise from the ocean depths to spawn, where they are collected and eaten by people in Samoa. Frogs are another nighttime courter, with each species having its own distinctive call. When rain softens the ground in Africa, winged termites emerge to mate. The blizzard of termites attracts predators, such as an African bullfrog, a bushbaby and a bat-eared fox. Henry is then shown hanging out with a bat and nearly falling asleep; the narrator tells Henry to admit that he is now starting to get tired.

#### Fifth cartoon

* Bat flies in and turns off the lights, before he starts flying around and singing to himself. It then cuts to daytime, when Bat is uncomfortable with the bright sunlight. Parrot lands on a nearby branch and offers Bat a pair of sunglasses. Bat flies off singing to himself but, unable to see, he crashes into a tree. Parrot looks on sadly as Bat drifts down to the ground.

Henry has finally come around to the idea of being nocturnal, as you can have a midnight snack every night. But the nighttime animals have to finish their snacks before dawn. A lesser bushbaby is shown gathering its two babies before an eagle owl can find them. Various nocturnal animals are shown going to sleep while Henry starts yawning, exhausted by the night’s activities. Eventually, Henry says he prefers being a daytime animal, as he doesn’t want to be bothered by bats and would hate to miss breakfast. Henry tucks himself back into bed and the narrator wishes him sweet dreams, telling him to be awake before sundown or else spend another sleepless night with amazing nighttime animals.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Springhare, *Pedetes sp*.
* Barn owl, *Tyto alba*
* Eurasian eagle owl, *Bubo bubo*
* Kinkajou, *Potos flavus*
* Brown rat, *Rattus norvegicus*
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*
* Northern raccoon, *Procyon lotor*
* House mouse, *Mus musculus*
* Western jackdaw, *Coloeus monedula*
* Cougar, *Puma concolor*
* Pancake tortoise, *Malacochersus tornieri*
* European green toad, *Bufotes viridis*
* Asian small-clawed otter, *Aonyx cinereus*
* Monarch butterfly, *Danaus plexippus*
* Meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*

### Stock footage

* Hippopotamus, *Hippopotamus amphibius*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Namaqua chameleon, *Chamaeleo namaquensis*
* Barn owl, *Tyto alba*
* Southern springhare, *Pedetes capensis*
* African spotted eagle owl, *Bubo africanus*
* Zorilla, *Ictonyx striatus*
* Grey-headed flying fox, *Pteropus poliocephalus*
* Brown rat, *Rattus norvegicus*
* Tarantula, Theraphosidae
* Hammer-headed bat, *Hypsignathus monstrosus*
* Common vampire bat, *Desmodus rotundus*
* Aardwolf, *Proteles cristatus*
* Brown long-eared bat, *Plecotus auritus*
* Southern lesser bushbaby, *Galago moholi*
* Locust, Acrididae
* Tiara giant stick insect, *Bactrododema tiaratum*
* Darkling beetle, Tenebrionidae
* Northern spotted owl, *Strix occidentalis caurina*
* White-footed mouse, *Peromyscus leucopus*
* Bengal eagle owl, *Bubo bengalensis*
* Long-eared owl, *Asio otus*
* Tawny owl, *Strix aluco*
* Great grey owl, *Strix nebulosa*
* Verreaux’s eagle owl, *Ketupa lactea*
* Gambian giant pouched rat, *Cricetomys gambianus*
* Serval, *Leptailurus serval*
* African gerbil, *Tatera sp*.
* Sulawesi tarsier, *Tarsius tarsier*
* Brown greater bushbaby, *Otolemur crassicaudatus*
* Palolo worm, *Palola viridis*
* Red-eyed tree frog, *Agalychnis callidryas*
* Hourglass tree frog, *Dendropsophus ebraccatus*
* African mound-building termite, *Macrotermes sp*.
* African bullfrog, *Pyxicephalus adspersus*
* Bat-eared fox, *Otocyon megalotis*
* Caracal, *Caracal caracal*
* African golden wolf, *Canis lupaster*
* Cape ground squirrel, *Xerus inauris*

## Credits

* Writer - Roger Stennett
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Music - David Poore
* Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer - Kate Beldon
* Researcher - Liz Lewin
* Production Secretary - Cristina Hughes
* Production Team - Dominic Weston, Karen Steele, Susan Hubble and Tessa Nelson
* Camera - Jonathan Noad and Mike Kamei
* Animation - Varga Studio Ltd
	+ Animation Director - Igor Lazin
	+ Animation Co-Ordinator - Krisztina Varga
* 3-D Animation - Ricochet 4 and Henry Lutman
* Titles Post-Production - Sue Land
* Sound Editor - James Pursey
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Editors
	+ Offline - Colette Hodges
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Special thanks to:
	+ Doug Zwick
	+ Nancy Kemp
* Producer - Rob Harvey

## Home media releases

The VHS for Nighttime Animals was released on either 18th November or 16th December 1996. The cover shows Henry wearing his sleeping cap, and he is accompanied by a brown long-eared bat eating a moth, a greater bushbaby and a Eurasian eagle owl.

The spine of the VHS has a photograph of a Belgian hare (a breed of domestic rabbit), while the back cover has a photograph of a serval.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

**Which bat sleeps in a tent? What creatures wake up for their day when you go to bed?**

When Henry can’t get to sleep, he discovers a hidden world of AMAZING NIGHTTIME ANIMALS, from the cute bushbaby to the wide-eyed owl.

**Cartoon Characters**: \* Eagles • Tyrannosaurus • Rattlesnake • Tiger • Squirrel • Lizards • Elephant • Bat • Fish • Camel • Gorilla • Caveman • Mole • Bear • Stickman • Chicks • Hen • Rooster • Owl • Chameleon • Tortoise • Crocodile • Frog and Toad •
• Parrot • Porcupine • Mouse • Whale • Rhinoceros • Beavers • Snail • Rabbit • Dog • Skunk • Spider • Octopus • Vulture • Woodpecker • Flea • Dung Beetle • Butterfly • Gibbon • Fly • Mosquito • Bee • Beetles • Crab • Pigeon • Carnivorous Plant • Lamb

**Voice Actors**: Eric Meyers • Tom Clarke-Hill
**Season One**: Tropical Birds • Animal Disguises • **Nighttime Animals** • Animal Appetites • Animal Survivors • Animal Senses • Animal Weapons • Animal Builders • Armoured Animals • Mini-Beasts • Animal Babies • Poisonous Animals • Animal Journeys
**Season Two**: Birds of Prey • Desert Animals (Amazing Animals) • Scary Animals • Animal Records • Animal Colors • Animal Mothers • Animal Pets • Seashore Animals • Animal Families • Endangered Animals • An Animal Year • Prehistoric Animals • Monkeys and Apes
**Season Three**: Animal Hunters • Animal Talk • Slimy Animals • Rainforest Animals • Animal Acrobats • Underwater Animals • Animal Neighbors • Giant Animals - Creepy Crawly Animals • Farm Animals (Amazing Animals) • Animal Changes • Extinct Animals • Animal Eggs
**Season Four**: Around the World • Polar Animals • Clever Animals • Underground Animals • Animal Helpers • Woodland Animals (Amazing Animals) • Mountain Animals • Backyard Animals • Tiny Animals • Animal Partners • Scaly Animals • River Animals • Animal Flight