Mammal

VHS cover

*Mammal* is the fourth episode of the second season of Eyewitness. The topic of this episode concerns the diversity of mammals, showing the different ways they survive. The episode aired on 6th May 1996.

*Mammal* is based on a book that was first published in 1988, and has been republished in 1997 and 2004.

## Episode

### Introductory sequence

A human athlete runs into shot and does the high jump. Mid-way through his jump, he transforms into a CGI dolphin that splashes into water – at this stage a young chimpanzee runs into at the back of the shot before fading out. The water droplet forms into the shape of a wet dog, that walks off-screen and leaves the white background. The title sequence then begins.

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Mammal.

Mammals, which come in an enormous range of shapes and sizes and have colonised every habitat on Earth, include humans among them. We have a strong bond with our furred cousins, with native American stories telling of ancestors who could assume either form. All mammals, no matter what they end up as, start life as a fertilised egg in their mother’s womb.

Six different fertilised mammal eggs are shown beginning their development, with no clue as yet to what they could be. Although they are a mixed bunch, mammals all share certain characteristics. They tend to be furry and are all warm-blooded. What really sets them apart is that mammals feed their young on milk, produced by the mammary glands which the mammals get their name from. Most mammals grow inside their mother’s bodies rather than in an egg. Their mother’s milk helps vulnerable newborn mammals to quickly develop. A mammal can also be identified by its skull – unlike other vertebrates, mammals have a single lower jawbone.

The first mammals were small shrew-like creatures that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Their flexibility allowed them to survive when the dinosaurs died out; they began to diversify into an amazing range of forms. Among the prehistoric mammals that evolved were the huge giraffid (Sivatherium), the giant ground sloth, the Uintatherium and the woolly mammoth – today, the only surviving members of the group of mammals that contained the mammoths are the African and Asian elephants.

The developing mammals soon show their differences. The first mammals to go from conception to birth of the six eggs are the mice – they race through this process in three weeks. Mice are born without their fur but it soon grows through. Rodents are the most numerous of all mammal groups. Fur is the mammal’s crowning glory – polar bears have a double layer to keep warm in arctic conditions. Sheep’s wool keeps warm air in and cold air out but in summer need shearing to avoid overheating. Man has always had his eye on the sheep’s coat, such as the story of Jason and the Argonauts seeking the golden fleece. Some fur can be used to send messages, like the black-and-white fur of the skunk. Porcupines and hedgehogs have hair transformed into quills or spines to deter predators. The hedgehog grows its spines soon after birth. Mammals like the arctic fox use their coats as camouflage, while otters has waterproof surface hairs to keep the fur underneath dry. The only mammal that has fur insufficient to meet its needs are humans – the naked ape. As a result, humans often steal the fur of other animals.

At six weeks old, the young mice are ready to leave the nest while the second mammal, the cat, has only just given birth. Milk is one of the mammal’s greatest successes, providing a perfectly balanced liquid meal. Suckling comes naturally to every mammal. The human taste for milk lasts long after breastfeeding finishes. Then, we satisfy our tastes with cream, butter, yogurt and cheese. In one myth, two brothers called Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf and later went on to found the city of Rome. Perhaps because of their close infant relationships, many mammals remain social for their entire lives. Social mammals include meerkats and bats, which gather in huge colonies.

Other mammals are less keen on company. Cats have a small family while a wallaby, the third fertilised egg, has only a single offspring. Marsupials are mammals with a difference, essentially being born twice. At five weeks old, the young marsupial is born and climbs into its mother’s pouch, where it settles in for another nine months. Marsupials are highly diverse and can be found living in many places. When Captain Cook first discovered Australia, it was the powerful hop of the kangaroo that caught the explorer’s eye. A kangaroo can move faster than a racing cyclist and keep going for hours. The piston action of each hop forces air in and out of the lungs. Kangaroos are strange enough by mythical mammals are even odder, blurring the boundary between human and animal. Mythical mammals include the mermaid and the centaur. The real-life platypus is another mixed-up mammal. It has a beak, has venom and lays eggs but because it suckles its young, it is still a mammal.

But perhaps the strangest mammal of all is the fourth fertilised egg, the human. We are born after a nine-month pregnancy and cannot stand up for a year. Other young mammals, more vulnerable to predators, need to find their feet more quickly. For the human child, infancy is about using the senses to learn. Sight is our most important sense, with humans able to perceive a million shades of colour where most other mammals see the world in black and white. Other mammals use different senses – mole rats and giant anteaters sniff out their food, camels can sense faraway rainclouds and bats use their hearing, coupled with echolocation, to hunt in darkest night. Bats are the only land animals that echolocate, are the only mammals that can truly fly and make up a quarter of all mammal species. Only one mammal shares the bat’s navigation abilities, but its environment is very different.

After ten months in the womb the fifth fertilised egg, the dolphin, is born. Dolphins are not fish, so still need to breathe air and like other mammals they like to play. Because dolphins live in groups of up to a thousand individuals, they communicate with a constant chatter of clicks, chirps and whistles. Mammal communication comes in many forms, with rabbits thumping their hind legs and flashing their white tails when danger threatens. Tail-flashing is also used by antelopes. Gorillas beat their chests to communicate, but all mammals have their own ways of communicating. Humpback whales repeat a song, used both to deter rivals and attract mates, for hours at a time. Each whale has a unique song, and the appeal is universal – a recording of whale song was sent on the Voyager space probe as a message from Earth. Humpback whales have a voracious appetite for tiny creatures like plankton, which they catch using a spiralling net of bubbles. Seafaring mammals can find themselves in very icy water. Instead of fur, fat is used as an insulator by seals. Although blubber makes them cumbersome on land, all seals must come ashore to breed.

After twenty-two months since the six mammal eggs were fertilised, there have been ten generations of mice, two families of cats and the human child is reaching her second birthday. And the last egg, that of the elephant, has finally progressed to birth. Length of pregnancy is often related to body size, so elephants have the longest gestation period of any land mammal. An elephant calf continues to take milk until it is three or four years old, while it learns to control its trunk. Unlike most mammals, elephants never stop growing so the biggest animal in a herd is also probably the oldest. In the Jungle Book, the elephant Hathi is upholder of the jungle law while Shere Khan the tiger is the lawbreaker. In Indian legend tigers were created to teach humans a lesson in humility through fear. Once people were more respectful, the tigers would stop killing them.

We may not have learnt this particular lesson, but there is an enduring fascination for the mammal family to which we belong. It is easy to see why mammals are so appealing – we have an effect on the world out of all proportion to our numbers and in sophistication, intelligence, flexibility and variety we simply cannot be beaten.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Chimpanzee, *Pan troglodytes*
* Domestic dog, *Canis familiaris*
* African bush elephant, *Loxodonta africana*
* Common shrew, *Sorex araneus*
* Tiger, *Panthera tigris*
* European rabbit, *Oryctolagus cuniculus*
* Plains zebra, *Equus quagga*
* Red-necked wallaby, *Notamacropus rufogriseus*
* Asian small-clawed otter, *Aonyx cinereus*
* Indian flying fox, *Pteropus medius*
* Egyptian fruit bat, *Rousettus aegyptiacus*
* Domestic pig, *Sus domesticus*
* Zorilla, *Ictonyx striatus*
* Crested porcupine, *Hystrix cristata*
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*
* Domestic sheep, *Ovis aries*
* Greater galago, *Otolemur sp*.
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* House mouse, *Mus musculus*
* West European hedgehog, *Erinaceus europaeus*
* Arctic fox, *Vulpes lagopus*
* Grey wolf, *Canis lupus*
* Domestic horse, *Equus ferus caballus*
* Asian elephant, *Elephas maximus*
* Mongolian gerbil, *Meriones unguiculatus*
* Dromedary camel, *Camelus dromedarius*

### Stock footage

* American bison, *Bison bison*
* Common raccoon, *Procyon lotor*
* Red kangaroo, *Osphranter rufus*
* Common bottlenose dolphin, *Tursiops truncatus*
* Humpback whale, *Megaptera novaeangliae*
* Indian flying fox, *Pteropus medius*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* House mouse, *Mus musculus*
* Asian elephant, *Elephas maximus*
* Giant panda, *Ailuropoda melanoleuca*
* Dromedary camel, *Camelus dromedarius*
* Arctic fox, *Vulpes lagopus*
* Northern elephant seal, *Mirounga angustirostris*
* Domestic horse, *Equus ferus caballus*
* Plains zebra, *Equus quagga*
* African bush elephant, *Loxodonta africana*
* Polar bear, *Ursus maritimus*
* Striped skunk, *Mephitis mephitis*
* Domestic dog, *Canis familiaris*
* West European hedgehog, *Erinaceus europaeus*
* American black bear, *Ursus americanus*
* Brown bear, *Ursus arctos*
* Harp seal, *Pagophilus groenlandicus*
* Domestic pig, *Sus domesticus*
* Saiga antelope, *Saiga tatarica*
* Mountain gorilla, *Gorilla beringei beringei*
* Domestic yak, *Bos grunniens*
* Grey wolf, *Canis lupus*
* Meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*
* Black-backed jackal, *Lupulella mesomelas*
* Mexican free-tailed bat, *Tadarida brasiliensis*
* Eastern grey kangaroo, *Macropus giganteus*
* Bare-tailed woolly opossum, *Caluromys philander*
* Platypus, *Ornithorhynchus anatinus*
* Long-nosed potoroo, *Potorous tridactylus*
* Koala, *Phascolarctos cinereus*
* Impala, *Aepyceros melampus*
* Blue wildebeest, *Connochaetes taurinus*
* Blind mole-rat, *Nannospalax ehrenbergi*
* Giant anteater, *Myrmecophaga tridactyla*
* Brown long-eared bat, *Plecotus auritus*
* Poplar hawkmoth, *Laothoe populi*
* Leschenault's fruit bat, *Rousettus leschenaultii*
* Wrinkle-lipped bat, *Chaerephon plicatus*
* Atlantic spotted dolphin, *Stenella frontalis*
* European rabbit, *Oryctolagus cuniculus*
* Red howler monkey, *Alouatta seniculus*
* Siamang, *Symphalangus syndactylus*
* Vervet monkey, *Chlorocebus pygerythrus*
* Long-tailed marmot, *Marmota caudata*
* California sea lion, *Zalophus californianus*
* Narwhal, *Monodon monoceros*
* Harbour seal, *Phoca vitulina*
* Baikal seal, *Pusa sibirica*
* Western cattle egret, *Bubulcus ibis*

## Stock footage sources

* Three of Eadweard Muybridge's works
	+ Buffalo Running (1883)
	+ Raccoon Running (1887)
	+ Running Man (1887)
* The Jungle Book (1942) - Mowgli and wolves
* Life on Earth
	+ The Rise of the Mammals (1979) - Platypus, woolly opossum, koala, potoroo, red kangaroo, kangaroo joey birth, grey kangaroo, newborn wildebeest, suckling piglets and harp seal
	+ Life in the Trees (1979) - Red howler monkey
* Wildlife on One
	+ The Great Hedgehog Mystery (1982) - Hedgehogs with young
	+ Meerkats United (1987) – Meerkats digging and spotting a black-backed jackal
	+ Trivial Pursuit - The Natural Mystery of Play (1988) - Impala
	+ Blubber Lovers (1989) – Northern elephant seal
	+ The Haunted Huntress (1991) - Suckling cheetah
	+ Wildlife on One - When the Fish Come In (1992) - Harbour seals, feeding humpback whales
	+ Flying Foresters (1992) - Indian flying fox, Egyptian fruit bats, Mexican free-tailed bats
* Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean (1985) – Polar bear mother and cubs emerging from den
* The Trials of Life: Growing Up (1990) – Saiga antelope, Mexican free-tailed bats, African elephant calf
* Realms of the Russian Bear (1992)
	+ The Celestial Mountains - Yak calf suckling, long-tailed marmot
	+ Siberia: The Frozen Forest - Baikal seals
	+ Born of Fire - Brown bear running and splashing in river
* Natural World: Echo of the Elephants (1993) - Elephant calf suckling, huge bull elephant, elephants eating dung, elephant knocking down tree

## Credits

* Director - Jerry Foulkes
* Writer - Ben Steiner
* Music- Guy Dagul
* Graphics Director - Dean Stockton
* Graphics Design - Stan Peplinski
* Camera - Sean Bobbitt and Matthew Poynter
* Set Design - John Brace and Mark Dadswell
* Production Co-ordinator - Nicola Melluish
* Production Assistants - Tilly Colaco and Quin Jessop
* Researcher - Sue Hartridge Gray
* Archive Researchers - Zimena Percival, Philippa Graves and Anuschka de Rohan
* Graphics - Simon Kilroe, Kim Aldis and Kate Hood
* Editors
	+ Offline - Sabrina Burnard
	+ Online - Richard Wilding
* Dubbing Mixer - Steve Cookman

## Making this programme

The making-of documentary focuses mainly on making the centaur. For the horse part, a shire horse that delivers beer to London pubs is brought into the studio and filmed. The actor who plays the human part is given a shire-brown tan and beard. The actor poses for his part. Then, the horse’s head and neck are removed and replaced with the human upper half in the computer, an effect which can take days of combining, blending and cleaning up. The same actor who pays the centaur also represented the caveman, with his axe made of cardboard. For the live animals, getting them comfortable under the studio lights was the most important thing for a successful take. The mother cat was a professional, but a bit anxious with her kittens – after being given some privacy, they all performed beautifully.

## Errors and Corrections

* The extinct mammal *Uintatherium* is mentioned as being an early rhinoceros that lived with early humans, but it was not a rhinoceros nor a contemporary of humans.

## Home media releases

As well as being released on VHS, Mammal was also released as part of the DVD release in the USA.

Mammal America-release DVD cover

**Writing staff**: Anne MacLeod • Ben Southwell • Ben Steiner • Brian Meehl • David Hanson • David Stafford • David Helton • George Bloom • Lynette Singer • Mike Tomlinson • Paul Thomas • Stan Cullimore
**Directors**: Gavin Maxwell • Justine Kershaw • David Hutt • Andrew Jackson • Justin Hardy • Ludo Graham • Jerry Foulkes • Derek Hall • Sanjida O'Connell • Caius Julyan • Bonni Cohen • Leanne Pooley • Edwina Vardey • Alexandra Beazley • Sam Hodgkin • Karen Walsh • Jack Weber • Richard Simkin • Alex Hearle • Brian Cummins • Ben Southwell
**Composers**: Guy Michelmore (season one) • Guy Dagul (seasons two and three)

**Season One**: Cat • Fish • Horse • Dog • Jungle • Bird • Amphibian • Insect • Shark • Elephant • Reptile • Dinosaur • Skeleton
**Season Two**: Desert • Tree • Ape • **Mammal** • Butterfly and Moth • Volcano • Rock and Mineral • Seashore • Pond and River • Weather • Arctic and Antarctic • Prehistoric Life • Shell
**Season Three**: Flight • Bear • Sight • Island • Survival • Mountain • Monster • Human Machine - Plant • Ocean • Planets • Life • Natural Disasters