How does this video do at reaching the mark for daily dose of adorableness?
The clip is from a new PBS series, entitled Earth: A New Wild, and is the first episode in which the host, Dr. M. Sanjayan, heads to China to discover a phenomenon that is occurring. He is introduced to the process of ‘rewilding’ for the purpose of returning the adorable creatures back to their original habitat. This involves humans dressing up in panda suits and also requires high-tech equipment. During the episode, Sanjayan “witnesses a historic moment-the first female panda in history [goes] back into the wild.”
Baby panda from Earth: The New Wild series, image via PBS
Sanjayan shared the wonder of the experience and of the process with Mashable.
“Here’s this animal that’s almost cartoonish — that has these Facebook pages and birthday parties and you know, iconic cartoonish — it doesn’t even look like a real animal. Yet the Chinese have now cracked the code on how to breed them. And actually how to take a captive-born animal and put it back in the wild, which is really the holy grail of re-wilding.”
Earth: A New Wild is a series that takes a look at humankind’s relationship to the planet’s most fascinating and wild places, as well as the spectacular species that inhabit them. As PBS communicates, the series “is hosted by Dr. M. Sanjayan, leading conservation scientist, who takes viewers on a stunning visual journey to explore how humans are inextricably woven into every aspect of the planet’s natural systems.”
The series is produced by National Geographic Studios in association with Passion Planet and involves 45 shoots within 29 different countries, featuring footage from some of the most incredible locales on the planet. The species of animals that get the spotlight range from giant pandas to African lions, humpback whales, and Arctic reindeer.
As Sanjayan concludes, the purpose of the series is to “reveal that co-habitations with animals can work — and be mutually beneficial.” Although the series is much like others that have been created before it, Earth: A New Wild goes one step further by bringing a more realistic circumstance to light, that being the one where humans are fully involved and present in the shots and interactions with the animals. PBS summarizes this aspect.
“Earth: A New Wild uses advanced filming techniques to provide visuals as stunning as the best natural history programs. Distinguishing itself from nearly all other nature films, however, the series turns the cameras around, showing the world as it really is — with humans in the picture.”
Dr. Sanjayan interacting with the magnificent animal, image via PBS
As Mashable recounts, there were many other more negative stories that the film crew could have focused on while stationed in China, such as “pollution that is pervasive across the country,” yet “they chose to highlight the pandas because they wanted to do something people wouldn’t expect.”
Expected or not, “adorable” would be the more exact description for the episode. Get a look at the entire first episode when the series kicks off on February 4 at 9/8c on PBS.
[Featured image via Reuters]
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