Backyard Animals

VHS cover

Backyard Animals is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry being a private investigator that is trying to find the backyard bandit and learning about urban animals. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 1st June 1999.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Backyard Animals.

Henry has taken a job as a private eye, called Henry Hardboiled, and is sitting in his office waiting for a case. The narrator asks Henry about his hat, which he says helps to cover his private eye. Henry gets a call about the backyard bandit, and heads out in his car to the scene. The narrator warns Henry he is being tailed; Henry tries to take evasive action but crashes his car. He finds himself in someone’s backyard, with rats crawling among the bins. He then finds the crime – a statue in the backyard has been stolen. The narrator tells Henry he has got his work cut out finding the bandit, as backyards are full of animals. These include wild animals that have either been attracted by humans or come with no extra encouragement, and animals that have been put into gardens as pets.

#### First cartoon

* Gorilla skips along and tries to catch Butterfly in a net but misses on two occasions. Now annoyed, Gorilla scoops up the entire bush that Butterfly is sat on, showing the three Lizards that were playing the background classical music. The Lizards sidle off-screen and Butterfly comes in and lands on Gorilla’s head, making Gorilla smile.

Henry is feeding in all of the gathered evidence into his computer to identify the bandit. The evidence, including feathers, wool, slime, antlers and a radio antenna, make a strange bird-like creature with the head of a tree frog and the beak of a toucan. Henry reasons that with so many animals living alongside people, there must be some unusual suspects among them. The narrator agrees, showing Henry that in Africa, people have to worry about cobras stopping by to visit. First, a snouted cobra is shown at a farm trying unsuccessfully to catch chickens, with a spitting cobra then shown entering a house. It encounters a girl and frightens her away.

#### Second cartoon

* Tiger, wearing a turban, plays a flute at a basket which Rattlesnake is sleeping in. The annoyed snake leaves. To attract him back, Tiger paints a female snake on his tail. It works too well because when Rattlesnake returns and sees the painted tail, he becomes besotted with it and tries to kiss it. Tiger, frightened by Rattlesnake’s fangs, runs away and leaves a confused Rattlesnake behind.

Henry continues to try and track down the bandit. He now gets the idea to go to the park and disguise himself as a statue. It works too well, and he ends up covered in pigeons. Henry tries to shake them off, but his plinth topples over. The narrator shows Henry how, even in the biggest cities, there are animals. Hong Kong is home to black kites, which soar among the buildings and build nests on them as if they were cliffs, as well as macaques. The narrator now reminds Henry of his news report on storks. Henry’s report says that storks have broadened their baby-delivering service to also include food deliveries and going down chimneys to deliver presents for Santa. The narrator tells Henry that he has got his facts all wrong. While storks do hang around chimneys in parts of Europe, they nest on top of them rather than go down them. The nests on rooftops are considered lucky by some people, but others don’t like having to clear their fireplaces of fallen twigs. Some stork nests are passed down over generations and can be over 400 years old. Henry goes back on the road again, pulling into a motel to spend the night. He and the narrator decide to split up and see if they can find the bandit. Around the back of the motel, Henry encounters alley cats scavenging for food around the bins. The narrator tells Henry that many animals have learned that human garbage is a ready source of food. Baboons at a game lodge in Africa are shown heading to the nearby dump to scavenge for food, alongside marabou storks and warthogs. The guaranteed food source allows these baboons to grow larger and live longer than their fully wild relatives.

#### Third cartoon

* A female Rhinoceros dusts the mirrors in her shop before walking off. Gibbon sees the mirrors and checks them out. The first mirror makes him look too tall and skinny, the second too short and round but the third is a perfect mirror image. Gibbon puts on sunglasses and kisses his reflection, but the reflection reacts with disgust and the mirror shatters. The furious Rhinoceros comes back and Gibbon flees.

The next day, Henry decides to recharge his batteries with pie and a ‘cup of joe’, unaware that this is coffee, which Henry hates. A magpie appears and steals Henry’s fork. Henry gives chase, sure he has now found the backyard bandit. While they pursue the magpie, footage is shown of just how effective these birds are at thievery, with magpies shown stealing cream from a bottle on a doorstep, stealing a ring from inside a house and taking a golf ball, thinking it was an egg. Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards. The bronze medal goes to the black kite and the silver medal to the baboon. The Golden Gecko Award is given to the pigeon. They have proved useful to humans as a source of food and messengers as well as being lots of fun to feed. Some people find pigeons annoying, while their cousins the doves have become symbols of peace and love. Pigeons have many natural enemies, but they breed so quickly (producing up to ten babies a year) that their populations remain high.

#### Fourth cartoon

* Crocodile is sat on a bench eating peanuts. The ones he drops are eaten by Pigeons. He hatches a plan, throwing peanuts to draw the Pigeons’ attention, before placing the rest of the bag on his tongue. The Pigeons all fly into his mouth. They flap around inside his mouth, and Crocodile spits them out, dropping the rest of the peanuts in the process.

Henry finds the hollow tree that serves as the magpie’s hideout and goes in to investigate. He finds a pile of loot, including Henry’s fork and the stolen statue, the Maltese Lizard. Henry plans to keep the statue for himself, but when the police arrive, they arrest Henry instead. Henry claims to have been framed – quite literally, as he is trapped inside a picture frame. Henry bemoans what hanging around with backyard animals got him.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Brown rat, *Rattus norvegicus*
* Rock dove, *Columba livia*
* Eurasian magpie, *Pica pica*
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*

### Stock footage

* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*
* European brown common frog, *Rana temporaria*
* Common goldfish, *Carassius auratus*
* Garden snail, *Cornu asperum*
* Seven-spot ladybird, *Coccinella septempunctata*
* Hoverfly, *Syrphidae*
* Monarch butterfly, *Danaus plexippus*
* Eurasian magpie, *Pica pica*
* Common starling, *Sturnus vulgaris*
* Common woodpigeon, *Columba palumbus*
* Ring-necked pheasant, *Phasianus colchicus*
* Eurasian collared dove, *Streptopelia decaocto*
* Rock dove, *Columba livia*
* Common rook, *Corvus frugilegus*
* European blackbird, *Turdus merula*
* Red fox, *Vulpes vulpes*
* Snouted cobra, *Naja annulifera*
* Domestic chicken, *Gallus domesticus*
* Domestic goat, *Capra hircus*
* Mozambique spitting cobra, *Naja mossambica*
* Black kite, *Milvus migrans*
* Rhesus macaque, *Macaca mulatta*
* Pale-throated three-toed sloth, *Bradypus tridactylus*
* Komodo dragon, *Varanus komodoensis*
* White stork, *Ciconia ciconia*
* Yellow baboon, *Papio cynocephalus*
* Olive baboon, *Papio anubis*
* Marabou stork, *Leptoptilos crumenifer*
* Common warthog, *Phacochoerus africanus*
* Domestic dog, *Canis familiaris*
* European herring gull, *Larus argentatus*

## Credits

* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Writer - Paul Dawson
* Music - David Poore
* Studio Art Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer Director - Kate Finding
* Graphic Design Assistant - Chris Wreford
* Production Co-ordinator - Janelle Backes
* Production Secretary - Mandy Vaughan
* Computer Animation - Ricochet 4, Henry Lutman (director), Daniel Pearson and Matt McKinney
* Cel Animation - A for Animation, Mark Taylor (director)
* Sound Post-Production - Films @ 59
* Editors
	+ Offline - David Warner
	+ Graphics - Tony Almond and Sue Land
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles

## Home media releases

The VHS for Amazing Backyard Animals was released in 2000. The cover shows Henry wearing his private detective hat, and he is accompanied by a domestic cat, a pair of white storks on a nest and a garden snail.

The back cover of the VHS has a photograph of a Hamadryas baboon.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

Why do you never seem to see baby pigeons? What kite never gets stuck in a tree?

**“WAIT TILL WE FIND THAT BANDIT…”**

Hard-boiled Henry, private eye, is building up a profile of all the AMAZING BACKYARD ANIMALS, from prowling alley cats to venom-spitting cobras. But tracking down unusual suspects isn’t as easy as he thinks.

A second version of the VHS cover, from a UK season four VHS trailer, has a different set of animals that comprise a jumping cat, a rabbit and a duckling. Henry is replaced with the picture of him on a ladder, from the cover of Animal Neighbors.

**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