Jungle Animals

Jungle Animals is one of the ten direct-to-video programmes produced by Dorling Kindersley Vision as part of the See How They Grow series. It was one of the later five programmes, released on VHS on 19th November 1995. This programme looks at the life-cycles of four animals from tropical and rainforest habitats.

## Sections

Click here for the full transcript of Jungle Animals.

### Scorpion

The programme opens by showing a pregnant scorpion searching for, and eventually finding, a safe place to have her babies. A brief interlude shows a tree frog and a tree boa bickering. The mother scorpion is then shown carrying fifteen young babies on her back; at this age they are white. After eight weeks, one of the baby scorpions is shown next to his mother and is larger and more colourful than before. Finally, the young scorpion is shown when it is two years old and fully grown. The scorpion gets into an argument with the tree boa, before finding and going into the hollow log that he was born in.

### Alligator

The second part begins by introducing the mother alligator, who leaves the water and goes into the jungle to find a place to lay her eggs. A lemur watches as she finds a good spot and lays her clutch. After two months, the eggs start to hatch and one of the young heads to the water. A macaw encounters the baby later; it has grown and has bright colours. The young alligator is shown again after two years – he still has the stripes from when he was younger and is shown camouflaged in the water. Finally, the alligator is shown as an adult, meeting with his mother again.

### Snail

The third part opens by looking at the small creatures of the jungle such as frogs, scorpions and ants, before looking at the land snail. One is shown surrounded by the eggs it has just laid. After two to three months, the eggs hatch into tiny translucent snails. As they crawl off to find food, one ends up on his mother’s back and another is run over by an adult snail. The snail is shown growing and as it grows, its shell grows with it. Finally, the snail is shown at five years old and fully grown; it encounters other animals such as a millipede and scorpion before setting off to find something to eat.

### Tiger

The final part begins by looking at a tigress who has recently had two cubs; she is feeling protective so a curious lemur leaves her alone. The cubs grow on a diet of their mother’s milk; the mother is shown looking after herself. After two months, the cubs are steadier on their feet, darker in colour and more aggressive, and spend their time trying to terrify the lemur. Finally, the two cubs are shown when they are one year old and nearly fully grown. One of the cubs goes to visit his brother, but the brother is tired and does not want to get up, so the first tiger goes off by himself.

## Species list, in order of appearance

### Filmed in studio:

The section each species appears in are bracketed:

* Imperial scorpion, *Pandinus imperator* (Scorpion, Snail)
* Amazon tree boa, *Corallus hortulana* (Scorpion)
* White’s tree frog, *Ranoidea caerulea* (Scorpion, Snail)
* Cranwell’s horned frog, *Ceratophrys cranwelli* (Scorpion)
* American alligator, *Alligator mississippiensis* (Alligator)
* Black-and-white ruffed lemur, *Varecia variegata* (Alligator, Tiger)
* Blue-and-yellow macaw, *Ara ararauna* (Alligator, Tiger)
* Leaf-cutting ant, *Atta cephalotes* (Snail)
* East African giant land snail, *Lissachatina fulica* (Snail)
* Giant tiger land snail, *Achatina achatina* (Snail)
* African giant millipede, *Archispirostreptus gigas* (Snail)
* Tiger, *Panthera tigris* (Tiger)

## Credits

* Special thanks to:
	+ The Natural History Museum
	+ Marwell Zoo
	+ Jerry Cole Reptiles
* Narrator - Johnny Morris
* Script - Sally-Anne Gordon
* Researcher - Clara Jollands
* Lighting Camera - Andrew Smith and Tom Gordon
* Music - Luis Gordon
* On-Line Editor - Matt Boney
* Animation Sequences - Ealing Animation
* Production Assistant - James Ward
* Producer and Director - Tom Gordon

## Appearances in other DK Vision media

A clip of the mother scorpion carrying her young babies on her back was used in the episode Animal Babies of Amazing Animals season one.

Clips of the alligator, giant millipede, ruffed lemur and tigers were used as video clips in the Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Nature 1.0 (unrelated to the Eyewitness television series).

## Home media releases

The UK VHS release of Jungle Animals shows a laying tiger cub at the bottom of the cover, with a Nile crocodile laying directly behind it. An imperial scorpion with young riding on its back is on top-left and a giant land snail is on the top-right of the cover. On either sides of the title are palm leaves. Above the 'See How They Grow' logo is an artwork showing a scorpion and a tiger among jungle vegetation, while an alligator and another scorpion within jungle vegetation is the artwork at the bottom of the cover.

In the Sony Wonder VHS release, the animals photos are identical to the UK cover and all in the same positions. The palm leaves on either side of the title are missing, as is the bottom artwork (the artwork above the title remains the same).

Jungle Animals has also been released in multi-episode formats. In the USA, Jungle Animals was part of a Volume Two release that also combined Desert Animals, Wild Animals and Sea Animals.