Planet Earth II Producer Witnessed The Massive Death Of 150,000 Antelopes While Filming

First Posted: Nov 30, 2016 04:10 AM EST
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The Planet Earth is a nature documentary produced by BBC. It covers a lot of animals. However, the producer revealed that as they were filming the second sequel or the Planet Earth II, they have witnessed the massive death of 150,000 antelopes in just 3 days' time.

In the upcoming Grasslands episode of the Planet Earth II, the team was filming the Saiga antelope in the remote region of Kazakhstan. In the episode, they track down the animals of the world's plains. The team searched for days to locate the antelopes until the crew found the calving herds and witnessed thousands of antelopes giving birth, according to Mirror.

However, the producer of the Grasslands episode, Chadden Hunter, said that "When we were out there on the calving grounds, with hundreds of thousands of females all giving birth at the same time. A very ­virulent disease swept through the population and killed around 150,000 of them in a matter of three days."

After seeing the massive death, Hunter thought that he witnessed an extinction of species, as the animals started to die. He added that "At the time we thought we were watching the greatest natural catastrophe that I'd ever heard of. We watched 150,000 of these magnificent animals die in front of us," a report by Mail Online said.

Meanwhile, given the massive death, the Saiga antelope does not face extinction. Hunter mentioned that "We've since heard that the last few mothers and babies we filmed have survived. It was a potent reminder of how fragile yet resilient nature can be."

In line with this, the episode will air on Sunday night. It also features the dramatic footage of the Cape buffalo face to face against the pride of lions. Also, other scenes would let the viewers see how smart the bee-eater birds use the herds of elephants to help them find their next meal. 

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