Desert

VHS cover

*Desert* is the first episode of the second season of Eyewitness. The topic of the episode is about the deserts, its wildlife and how humans have survived these landscapes. The episode aired on 15th April 1996.

*Desert* is based on a book title that was first published in 1994, and has been republished in 2000.

## Episode

### Introductory sequence

An area of sand dunes is shown with a distant palm tree-lined oasis; the heat haze begins to shimmer and the trees disappear in a mirage. The screen then fades to white.

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Desert.

The introduction of the episode shows that, while desolate, all deserts are home to life. It describes how, in Arabic lore, the desert was created by Allah to offer him a place to walk in peace. Deserts are dry places, but all life needs water. The opening states that the greatest challenge for desert life is finding water where it seemingly doesn't exist.

The second section looks at a desert creation myth, where a turkey burned a tropical paradise to the ground after being teased for its voice.

The third section defines the desert, being a place with less than 25 centimetres of rain a year. It shows how this aridity came about because of mountain rain shadows. It also looks at how the desert expands and shrinks with the changing climate - at one stage around 10,000 years ago, the Sahara was home to elephants and rhinos. It finally looks at the desert extremes that come when night falls.

The fourth section looks at the ultimate desert survivor and largest desert animal, the camel (introducing the hero of the episode). It shows appearances of camels throughout history and outlines a story of the prophet Muhammad's favourite camel Al-Qaswa.

The fifth section looks at cold deserts that occur away from the equator. Here temperatures can be very low in winter, and life must be able to adapt to both heat and cold. The thick woollen coats of alpacas and vicunas are mentioned. An advantage in cold deserts is that rainfall goes further, meaning more food for grazing animals.

The next section looks at some of those desert grazers, primarily antelopes, and their adaptations for desert survival such as their efficient kidneys. Those animals that don't survive are eaten by scavenging birds such as eagles and vultures, which are venerated by desert cultures. The relationship between the Zuni tribe and the eagle is explored, as ceremonies are performed with eagle feathers to ask for rain.

In such hot areas, rain quickly evaporates. The seasons are less defined and heat is intense all year-round. Here, larger mammals cannot survive and smaller plants and animals need special adaptations, including the radiating ears of jackrabbits and the protective hairs of some cacti.

The next section takes a closer look at the camel, the only large mammal of hot deserts. It looks at their role as a beast of burden, including one of Rudyard Kipling's Just-So-Stories that explains how the camel came to get its hump. It also examines the many adaptations that camels have for desert survival, including the energy-storing hump, protective fur coat, semi-transparent eyelids, broad feet and long legs. Behavioural and physiological tricks used by the camel to survive include the ability to eat any vegetation, tolerating temperature swings and drinking rates that would kill other mammals and huddling together to remain cool. Camel dung is so dry it can be used to fuel campfires.

The next section looks at the occasions it does rain in a hot desert, including the threats of flash floods and their effect on carving out the landscape. Ayer's Rock has been carved by water, and an aboriginal myth states that a large serpent dwells in one of the rock's waterholes, forming a rainbow in the sky when it is angered.

Continuing on from the rain itself, the next section looks at how plants and animals take advantage of rain showers. Plants like the Welwitschia and various cacti have effective roots for sucking up water, with the saguaro cactus being so full of water that it will explode if struck by lightning. Tumbleweeds are a rootless plant that rolls around and absorbs moisture as it goes. Dormant plants awaken when the rain comes, including the Rose of Jericho, symbolic of the resurrection. An African legend tells of how a frog survived his house being burned down by his friend the gazelle, only emerging from the burnt wreckage with the rains. This has an element of truth, as frogs and other aquatic animals remain underground until rain arrives, before they emerge to feed and breed in the puddles.

The next section looks at the most challenging deserts, such as the Sahara and Arabian desert, with part of the latter known as the Empty Quarter. This all changes at night, when nocturnal creatures emerge to feed when it is cooler. This section also looks at the challenges that faced the early pioneers who crossed Death Valley in 1849.

Wayfinding in the desert is difficult due to a lack of landmarks. Human travellers navigate using the sun and the stars, while birds can manage with their senses. Desert ants take a reading of the direction of the sun, so they can head straight for home after a foraging trip.

The survival features of smaller creatures are explored. Insects have waxy moisture-retaining skins, rodents are more efficient with their water and rattlesnakes avoid wasting water on hissing with their rattles. Another venomous desert animal, the scorpion, is looked at. Their association with evil in ancient Egypt is noted, with the god Set said to take the form of a scorpion to carry out murders.

The effects of the desert winds are shown. These winds can form dust devils, which in Arabia are named after the magical beings called genies. Storm-force desert winds, laden with sand, can batter everything in their path and carve out beautiful scenery from the rocks.

Sand dunes move constantly and can travel great distances in storms. Despite being able to engulf anything in its path, sand is seen as clean and pure and can be used in ritual washing by desert Muslims. Sand also preserves dead bodies, as the ancient Egyptians learned. When they used more elaborate tombs the bodies rotted, so they turned to mummification instead.

Life on hot sand requires special approaches. Many animals keep their contact with the hot sand to a minimum. Some do this by burying themselves, with adaptations such as bullet-shaped heads and reduced legs helping them swim under the surface of the sand.

The penultimate section first looks at the phenomenon known as mirages that occur in deserts. There are however oases and springs in deserts. Sand shifting over underground water reservoirs can produce a musical resonance, resulting in singing deserts. Growing alongside oases are date palms, a long-lived and adaptable plant used as a staple of the diet of desert travellers. Without oases, desert journeys are impossible and they are also vital to camels.

While camels are adapted to hot deserts, they need help from their human partners. The camels and their nomadic herders are a team, with neither able to survive in the desert without the other. The episode closes by looking at how deserts are expanding. The Earth is currently in a warming period. However, deserts have always grown and shrunk with climate change and some scientists predict that rainfall may increase with rising temperatures. It may get warmer but it will also get wetter, and water means life.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Laggar falcon, *Falco jugger*
* Stimson’s python, *Antaresia stimsoni*
* Mongolian gerbil, *Meriones unguiculatus*
* Large-clawed scorpion, *Scorpio maurus*
* Dromedary camel, *Camelus dromedarius*
* Imperial scorpion, *Pandinus imperator*
* Domestic turkey, *Meleagris gallopavo*
* African common toad, *Sclerophrys regularis*

### Stock footage

* Dromedary camel, *Camelus dromedarius*
* Peringuey’s adder, *Bitis peringueyi*
* Darkling beetle, Tenebrionidae
* Namaqua chameleon, *Chamaeleo namaquensis*
* Whistling kite, *Haliastur sphenurus*
* African bush elephant, *Loxodonta africana*
* White rhinoceros, *Ceratotherium simum*
* Alpaca, *Lama pacos*
* Vicuna, *Lama vicugna*
* Meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*
* Springbok, *Antidorcas marsupialis*
* Addax, *Addax nasomaculatus*
* Gemsbok, *Oryx gazella*
* Goitered gazelle, *Gazella subgutturosa*
* Steppe eagle, *Aquila nipalensis*
* Turkey vulture, *Cathartes aura*
* Black-tailed jackrabbit, *Lepus californicus*
* Adelie penguin, *Pygoscelis adeliae*
* Domestic horse, *Equus ferus caballus*
* Eurasian griffon vulture, *Gyps fulvus*
* Dingo, *Canis familiaris dingo*
* Southern rock agama lizard, *Agama atra*
* Harris’s hawk, *Parabuteo unicinctus*
* Desert cottontail, *Sylvilagus audubonii*
* Water-holding frog, *Ranoidea platycephala*
* Fairy shrimp, Anostraca
* Kowari, *Dasyuroides byrnei*
* Long-eared hedgehog, *Hemiechinus auritus*
* Desert woodrat, *Neotoma lepida*
* Saw-scaled viper, *Echis sp*.
* Little owl, *Athene noctua*
* Bat-eared fox, *Otocyon megalotis*
* Etruscan shrew, *Suncus etruscus*
* Frog-eyed gecko, *Teratoscincus scincus*
* Rock dove, *Columba livia*
* Saharan silver ant, *Cataglyphis bombycina*
* Fog-basking beetle, *Onymacris unguicularis*
* Mongolian gerbil, *Meriones unguiculatus*
* Western diamondback rattlesnake, *Crotalus atrox*
* Common yellow scorpion, *Buthus occitanus*
* Praying mantis, Mantodea
* Colorado Desert fringe-toed lizard, *Uma notata*
* Shovel-snouted lizard, *Meroles anchietae*
* Black-footed ferret, *Mustela nigripes*
* Caracal, *Caracal caracal*
* Plains zebra, *Equus quagga*
* Anna’s hummingbird, *Calypte anna*

## Stock footage sources

Life on Earth: The Rise of the Mammals (1979) – Kowari

Land of the Eagle – Living on the Edge (1991) – Harris’s hawk

Natural World:

* A Wilderness like Eden (1987) – Etruscan shrew
* The Great Karoo – A Secret Africa (1991) – Rock agama lizard

Realms of the Russian Bear: The Red Desert (1992) - Dromedary camel, long-eared hedgehog, little owl, frog-eyed gecko, saw-scaled viper

## Credits

* Director - Andrew Jackson
* Producer - Richard Thomson
* Writers - ???
* 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 - Kate Bartlett
* Archive Researchers - Rebecca Cody, Philippa Graves and Anuschka de Rohan
* Graphics - Simon Kilroe, Kim Aldis and Kate Hood
* Editors
	+ Offline - Nick Scullard
	+ Online - Richard Wilding
* Dubbing Mixer - Steve Cookman
* Music Engineer - Roger King

## Making this programme

To film the Desert programme, it seemed sensible to use the ship of the desert as the main star. The camel, a seasoned veteran of the film business, soon settles in on set. Over the course of the season, the crew dealt with many animals, from a chimpanzee to a cockroach, but the camel was by far the largest and hungriest. After her breakfast, a wide-angled lens was mounted to get frame-filling shots of the camel in action. The director rehearses the shots with the crew and the camera is mounted on a long jib. With a cracking crew and a cooperative camel, the shots are completed one after another. Until someone brings a sandwich on set and the camel demands a piece. After a break, everyone gets back to work and the camel completes her shoot early. The lightning-struck cactus was filmed using a shrunk-down foam and carpet replica with a tiny explosive charge inside. The shot was filmed with a high-speed camera, which ironically slows down the footage. Only two cactus models were made, so fingers were crossed for success. Luckily, take one was a winner and the footage could be sent to graphics for the full effect to be made.

## Errors and Corrections

The programme states that tumbleweed gain water they need from rolling across the desert surface - but as tumbleweed are largely dead plants, they do not require water to survive.

## Further information

* Guy Dagul's music for the episode is in the style of arabian music.

## Home media releases

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

Desert 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