‘Planet Earth: Best of the Hunt’ Recap

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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While nature is something, we all admire and adore on a regular basis, since it features so much beauty and so much diversity, we can never forget that the world is a tough place and survival matters more than anything else in the wild. Which means that some of the beauty we admire, turns into sorrow and sadness since there are predators that might hunt that cute chipmunk, we fed our lunch to. And while no one likes to think about that part of nature, it’s important we acknowledge it, because this is part of the world we inhabit and understanding both the good and the bad of our ecosystem can be a humbling experience, one that reminds us how lucky we are to live in a stable environment where raw survival isn’t necessity, and last night BBC America did a phenomenal job of getting those points across by way of the documentary, Planet Earth: Best of the Hunt.
 
Now this particular documentary took us all around the world to see how various predators find their prey and while this show definitely took the time to teach us how stealth is supremely important to the hunt, since predators out there have to use it on a regular basis to bring down their prey, what truly impressed me about this particular show, was the sheer fact that it really took the time to focus on the more unique aspects of survival in the wild. For example, I was unaware of how hard some species have to work to get a meal, and how teamwork is paramount to making that happen, and seeing wild dogs work together to eat was truly impressive and somewhat heartbreaking in its own right, but that all spoke to the struggle that these animals must go through, in order to see another day. Yet, while that was fascinating to learn in its own right, this series had more rare scenarios involving survival to show us.
 
Take for example the Hot Rod Ant, a species of insect that live beneath the Namib desert, a place where one would think that ants that tiny wouldn’t be able to survive with the heat that surrounds them on a daily basis. But these little guys, use the cool of the ground to thrive and they stand high enough above the sand to not bake in the heat, and they move with such swiftness that they’re able to avoid heatstroke. And we were also privy to learn more about how tough life is in the tropics, where lizards and insects alike must learn how to remain as still as possible or potentially become food and it was fascinating to see how intense the daily struggle is beneath the leaves, as was learning about how much ingenuity goes into their daily hunts. But while everything we’ve discussed so far was powerful and fascinating, there are two key elements from this story that still have me in awe.
 
Because I was captivated by the Darwin bark spider, a species of arachnid that is teeny in its own right but can spin twenty-five meters worth of web with minimal efforts. In fact, this little spider is so versatile in its work, that it also doesn’t need much down time to start spinning again, because there are obstacles that sometimes prevent the web from being finished, forcing this tiny being to start from scratch. Plus, there was also the Harpy eagle, a bird of prey so large and so well armed with powerful talons that they can outright hunt monkey and sloths, and do so with impunity and this was just, flabbergasting because I hadn’t a clue that there were birds out there that could pull off such a feat, but this eagle can do it with minimal fuss and really, both of these vignettes were fine examples of the power of evolution and quite frankly the power of nature since it always finds a way to get what it needs.
 
Yet, we’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to this documentary, since it also took the time to show us how animals survive in the arctic, where sometimes food is scarce, and it was wild to see how far a polar bear will go to get its calorie count up for the long winter and how some birds and fish and whales feed in the ocean and really, when all is said and done, I suppose the best way to describe this particular documentary would be to call it, epic. Because there was just so much to learn here, and so many incredible moments of harrowing survival that it did indeed accomplish the goals that I made mention of earlier. Because this really was quite the humbling viewing experience and well, kudos to BBC America once again for providing us all with a fascinating slice of our world, one that definitely gives us pause and, truly, I cannot wait to see what other wonders ‘Wild Summer’ has in store for us in the weeks to come. 

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