April 2009 Archives

Expedition Grizzly Premieres Sunday, May 3 2009 at 9p

I am a Floridian--plain and simple. I really don't like cold weather. The built-in alarm clock in my head goes off at 3:57AM, three minutes before Casey's alarm. It is May 9, 2008. I poke my head out from the sleeping bag where Casey, Tom and Rick are snoring in concert. It's cold, maybe just zero degrees and through the frosted cabin window I can see in the bright moonlight it's snowing hard. I try to stay quiet as I step into my flip-flops. Yeah, that's right--flip-flops. I caught the flip-flop bug from the rest of our team. Casey, Tom and Rick wear flip-flops even when it's freezing cold. It must be a Northern thing I mutter to myself as I trudge through a foot of deep snow to the generator, hidden behind the cabin under a blue plastic tarp. One pull of the cord and the Honda sputters to life. I slip slide back to the cabin to make a hearty breakfast of bison sausage and free-range eggs for the team. Casey has already started a fire in the woodstove. My toes appreciate his gesture.

On the production of Expedition Grizzly featuring Casey Anderson I'm the crazy old uncle (Executive Producer) that Casey and Thomas Winston (a Grizzly Creek Films, LLC partner) never had. Our journey began when I invited Tom to help me with a grizzly bear education film I was hired to produce for the Draper Museum of Natural History at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. On May 5, 2007, Cinco de Mayo, we met at the museum with the Founding Curator, Charles Preston to discuss the project.

As we left Cody the wind started to howl and the snow began falling. On any saner May 5th I'd be barefoot and standing on the poling platform of a flats skiff looking for tarpon in the Gulf of Mexico. I knew I'd lost my mind. To be working where it was snowing in May.

Click here to continue reading Band of Grizzly Brothers...

***In filming the upcoming special, Waking the Baby Mammoth, a member of the sound crew took the time to chronicle his travels and oberservations as he and a team of scientests treked across the frozen tundra of Siberia.***

Waking the Baby Mammoth Premieres Sunday, April 26 2009 at 9p

Location: Salekhard/Moscow Sunday 18 May 2008
Big departure for Russia. Night flight to Moscow, and then to Salekhard, Siberia. We're excited at the prospect of meeting the Nenets, the cold, the snow ... the white desert ... We're all ready and intent on living out an extraordinary adventure. After a long flight, we finally arrive at the Salekhard airport , where we're met by Pierre, Andreï and Kirill. Preparation phase, last meal, last cozy bed, last comfort before the experience of the tundra.

Tomorrow, we leave by helicopter for the adventure of an encounter with the Nenets and unraveling the story of the discovery of Lyuba, our baby mammoth.

Location: Salekhard Monday 19 May 2008
Finally, the big departure is near. Before meeting up with our helicopter, we've got to move our luggage and equipment from the truck to the hovercraft, back to a truck and then the helicopter. Moving around isn't always easy in this region. At this time of year, the river is beginning to melt, making travel like this that much more complicated.

With a deafening racket, the Russian MI 8 helicopter takes off, for a three hour flight above the snowy tundra as far as the eye can see. From time to time, a herd of reindeer looks at us with vacant stares. Finally, we arrive at our destination. It's an enormous shock. We're at the end of the world in the middle of nowhere. Nothing as far as the eye can see except white, reindeer, and the chum - the tent where the Nenets live. It's a kind of teepee covered with reindeer pelts. Yuri Khudi, our Nenets host, and his familly greet us in the middle of this great white desert. The introductions and first exchanges are made, thanks to our interpreters Andreï and Kirill. The temperature is below zero, but the wind - very violent - gives it a glacial feel. We are invited to sit around a table for our first meal. On the menu : raw reindeer meet with onion, salt, mustard and bread. Drink : vodka and tea.

Location: Tundra Tuesday 20 May 2008
First night spent in the vast isolation of the tundra. Horrible night. A violent wind is whipping through the camp. We set up our makeshift tent where we'll store all of our equipment. But because there isn't enough room for all of us in the chum, five of us go to camp out there, settled in between the equipment cases. In the middle of the night, we think the tent is going to collapse at any moment. For lack of metal stakes, the wood we'd found on site and used as improvised tent stakes begins to fall piece by piece and the canvas is on the verge of ripping wide open. Under these conditions, it's really difficult to sleep. Freezing cold night. Morning comes at last but, alas, the storm is still raging. Not only is life difficult under these circumstances but we can't film even the easiest shot. In the afternoon, Pierre tries to brave the weather but we can't stand the cold for more than 30 minutes. The only alternative is to wait and really get to know about the life of our hosts. Everyone is freezing and the night is definitely going to be cold and difficult, but that's the way it is - we're in Siberia.

NGC: How were the particular research facilities (Jikei University and Saint Petersburg Zoological Institute) chosen?

Dan Fisher: These decisions were all made based on prior collaborative relationships that had been worked out for earlier projects. Dr. Naoki Suzuki of Jikei University had worked with us on two previous mammoth discoveries. The Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is the home institution of Dr. Alexei Tikhonov, one of Russia's premier mammoth researchers and a central member of our collaboration.

NGC: What types of procedures were conducted, and what information was learned at each facility?

Dan Fisher: At Jikei University, the CT scan showed that Lyuba was internally intact, as far as can be resolved using this method. We also saw X-ray-opaque material that we suspected was sediment, in her mouth, throat, part of her trunk and trachea, suggesting she could have died of asphyxiation after falling into mud. In Saint Petersburg, an endoscopic examination allowed visual evaluation of parts of Lyuba's interior and provided some tissue samples. More substantive results, however, came from the investigative surgery, during which we removed one of her milk tusks and the premolars from the left side of her mouth, samples of the sediment in her mouth and throat, samples of intestinal tissue and intestinal contents, and additional tissue samples. These samples are being analyzed in separate laboratories in a number of countries and have provided definitive indications of Lyuba's age, season of death, diet, condition at the time of death and additional aspects of her anatomy and physiology.

NGC: Why is the study of mammoths important? What can they tell us about the ice age?

Dan Fisher: Mammoths were the largest and most widespread of the many animals that went extinct near the end of the last ice age. Determining the cause of their extinction would thus be a big step toward understanding why terrestrial faunas changed so radically at this time. In addition, tusks provide a record of local climate and climate change during the life of each mammoth, making them a valuable source of environmental information. We still have much to learn about climate change and how organisms respond to it, but the primacy of these issues in our own time should make us eager for any new perspective we can gain from earth history.

***In filming the newest season of Locked Up Abroad, the RAW TV production team recorded their experiences in a production diary. Below is an excerpt from what it was like filming tonight's episode, Locked Up Abroad: Iraq.***


Thursday 26th March 2009
I've just arrived in Tunisia, and we are heading straight to a casting session in Tunis with our local production company, Sindbad. Very excited, we need to cast a charismatic "Mubashir" a madman, and 2 torturers, should be interesting

Today we are heading south to view SFX and prop weapons, before heading off to our locations Touzer and Nafta. Matt meets Naseem, the Tunisian SFX guy. They are like to boys in a toy shop, and Matt whips out a copy of Apocalypse now for a references! Our Tunisian producer's face drops "Rebecca, we don't have the budget for this"!!

Friday 27th March 2009
Our first day of filming goes well. We just about manage to shoot every scene before the sun sets. So far so good.

Saturday 28th March 2009
Our day starts well, until well until the afternoon when disaster strikes. We are filming in an open courtyard when it starts to rain! Not only is this a problem but in the script it is supposed to be very hot and sunny!

Sunday 29th March 2009
Due to the rain from the night before, by lunchtime we are seriously behind, how can we catch up? The director Matt Catling, myself and our wonderful Tunisian 1st AD discuss the situation over lunch. Our solution, to work 14 hours, gruelling!!

**Daniel C. Fisher completed undergraduate and graduate work in Geological Sciences at Harvard University (PhD, 1975) and was appointed in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Rochester. In 1979, he moved to the University of Michigan's Department of Geological Sciences and Museum of Paleontology, where he is now the Claude W. Hibbard Collegiate Professor and Curator of Paleontology. Shortly after arriving in Ann Arbor, Fisher was called to several local sites where remains of mastodons had turned up during excavation of farm ponds. While still involved in work on North American material, he has recently expanded his research to include woolly mammoths in northern Siberia. Although remote in every sense from the Great Lakes region mastodons that originally attracted his interest, an arctic perspective is adding new insights to our understanding of proboscidean paleobiology and late Pleistocene extinction.**

NGC: When did you know you wanted to study paleontology? What drew you to mammoths in particular?

Dan Fisher: I began studying paleontology in high school, thanks to a dedicated and enthusiastic biology teacher. I didn't begin with an interest in mammoths but started working on them after coming to teach in Michigan, where many mammoths and mastodons have been found. What attracted me most about these animals was the prospect that the structure and composition of their tusks could provide clues about their ecology and extinction.

NGC: At what point were you informed about Lyuba's discovery, and how did you get involved with the research team?

Dan Fisher: I heard about Lyuba about two weeks after she was found, shortly after mammoth expert Bernard Buigues learned of her. I have collaborated with him and Dr. Alexei Tikhonov on mammoth research for about a decade, so we were already in close contact.

NGC: What is it like to work with a creature that walked the earth over 40,000 years ago?

Dan Fisher: Relative to the age of fossils that most paleontologists study, 40,000 years is not so old. But anything that comes from a time this remote can't help but affect your perspective on life today. You realize that for all the differences between life then and now, the really important things have not changed much. This frees you to focus on some of the bigger questions about our world and life in it.

NGC: How many other mammoths have been discovered, and what makes this mammoth different?

Dan Fisher: If we're talking about moderately complete mammoths with some preservation of soft tissues, the number would be around a couple dozen specimens. But tens of thousands of specimens have been found with just teeth and bones remaining. What makes Lyuba different from any of these is the quality and completeness of her preservation. Though she is not large, no other specimen preserves this much of the original anatomy. That makes her a remarkable scientific resource.

NGC: Where did you travel with Lyuba?

Dan Fisher: I first traveled to examine Lyuba in Salekhard, Russia -- near where she was found -- at the museum that is now her long-term home. I next met up with her in Tokyo, where the CT scanning was done, and later in Saint Petersburg, where we did the investigative surgery and removal of samples for analysis elsewhere.

NGC: What was most interesting to you about your trip to Siberia and meeting the Nenets reindeer herders?

Dan Fisher: It's hard to pick just one thing, but I did find the craftsmanship exemplified in the Nenets' wooden sleds especially impressive. It was just one instance of their ingenuity and care applied to the complex problems of mobility and survival in a harsh landscape. As something of a woodworker myself, I never tired of studying their form and function.

NGC: Can you tell us how Lyuba was found, and when she was turned over to scientists?

Dan Fisher: A short version of the story is that Lyuba was found by two of Yuri Khudi's sons, Edik and Kostia, as they were collecting firewood along the Yuribei River. They didn't disturb her, but told their father, who came to see her for himself the next day. He still didn't pick her up, but decided to consult with a close friend and eventually to report her to local authorities. There was a brief interval when she was brought in from the tundra by another Nenets. And a rapid investigation was required to locate her and follow up on Yuri Khudi's intention to turn her over to a local natural history museum. But soon after he made his decision, she was in the care of museum scientists.

On Wednesday April 22 National Geographic will join the rest of the world to celebrate Earth Day. It is a time of year the the voice of the environmentally conscious is at its loudest. Its a time to a talk about the state of the planet, energy innovation and what all of us in the mainstream can do to help curb climate change.

As part of the environmentally conscious, the National Geographic Channel, inconjunction with National Geographic Society and Preserve Our Planet will present a number of programs and events around the globe that will showcase Earth Day 2009.

Here are just a few that I am looking forward to checking out...

2008 was the year of Earth innovation. During State of the Planet 2009, the National Geographic Channel profiles the progress we have made in innovation and also reminds us that there is still much work to do. The program begins at 8p et/pt.

Being held in Rome's Piazza del Popolo and airing live on Nat Geo Music Channel and online, Nat Geo Music will be streaming live Ben Harper and the Relentless 7's Earth Day concert. For more on this event go to Natgeomusic.net.

Got a Green idea? Submit your proposal to National Geographic's Green Effect innitiative for the chance to win an award of $20,000.

Finally, over the past couple of years, more and more Eco-Capitalists have built businessess around environmental friendly products and services. Terracycle, or as the channel has dubbed them Garbage Moguls, have been part of this movement. At 10p on Earth Day, Nat Geo profiles this company and their eco-friendly partners. Check it out, its sure to entertain.

Couple of weeks ago I passed along a clip for Kingdom of the Blue Whale, which hopefully you all enjoyed. Today's preview comes from Sunday's Great White Odyssey.

As we all do, scientists marvel at he sight of Great White Sharks. That is where a special shark by the name of Nicole comes in. Nicole is a tagged Great White that scientists have been studying and tracking. However scientists begin to see behavior that questions conclusions that scientists have already thought to be true. Click below to see what I am talking about...

For more information check out the Great White Odyssey's official site, which includes a fascinating interactive of the biological features of the specie.

DogTown: New Hope premieres Friday April 10 2009

I never cease to be amazed by the patience of the trainers here at DogTown. Just when I think we've filmed the most challenging dogs, along comes Scruffy - small, sweet, and maddeningly stubborn. Luckily for Scruffy, he's been paired up with uber-patient trainer Michelle Besmehn. I've never seen a dog with a problem quite like Scruffy's. He simply refuses to go anyplace new. The poor dog was rescued from Hurricane Katrina, which is likely at the root of his problems. But even knowing that, as I watch Michelle work with him, I still can't quite muster up the patience she has. Michelle tries everything - treats, reassurance, praise, food -- to encourage Scruffy to do seemingly the simplest of things: walk through a door, into a new room, or the backseat of a car. But this dog won't budge.

As our crew waits, burning through camera tapes and batteries, for something -- anything -- to happen, I'll admit, I want to say to the dog, "It's just a car! Go inside and eat the gourmet dog food already!" But I don't. Because Michelle is there, the picture of patience and calm, showing Scruffy she's willing to wait. She may be training Scruffy, but she's teaching me a thing or two, as well.

Sometimes, the things DogTown does to help dogs can be downright funny. Take, for example, this endearing beagle our crew has been following named Jasmine. She snorts and snores. She drags her behind, and urinates unexpectedly. This may not be the dog you envision taking home, but Adoption Manager Kristi Littrell didn't think twice about it. Today, we filmed Kristi taking Jasmine on a sleepover. Kristi wanted to get a better sense of Jasmine's incontinence, so she could be upfront with potential families. But Kristi also didn't want to spend the night mopping up Jasmine's accidents. Her solution? Doggy diapers. Who knew such a thing even existed? Little Jasmine was a good sport, bravely donning her new paw-print underpants in front of the cameras. And Kristi's other dogs were kind enough not to stare. Diapers may not be the most stylish solution, but if they help Jasmine finally find a loving home, I bet she'll be more than willing to wear them.

***In filming the newest season of Locked Up Abroad, the RAW TV production team recorded their experiences in a production diary. Below is an excerpt from what it was like filming Locked Up Abroad: Puerto Vallarta.***


Thursday January 22, 2009 More scenes on the beach and in the local village. Everything went well and the choice we made to film here, in a remote but beautiful spot seems to be a good one. Jake describes Puerto Vallarta in the late 1970s as "paradise", but now its one of the biggest resorts in Mexico, attracting two million visitors a year, and filming scenes like this there would have been very difficult.
At the end of the day, just as the light is fading, we film scenes of Jake running through the central square. We manage to recruit near enough the whole village as extras to gawp at him as he sprints through the crowd, and get fantastic shots of kids running away and women staring as he passes by. A great way to end the day.

Friday January 23, 2009
Things were clearly going too well - today disaster struck. Mid-morning the camera develops a fault and we have to halt the shoot - we send everyone for an early lunch while the cameraman calls London and gets instructions for stripping down the camera and cleaning it. After about an hour it becomes apparent that the problem is not going to be sorted out so easily and so we race back to the hotel to pick up the back-up camera - a much smaller, simpler model. The crew continue shooting, while the fixer and I try to source another camera. We call all the contacts we have, but the only comparable camera we can finds is in Mexico City and can't get to us until tomorrow evening. I call London and break the bad news, it's Friday night there and everyone is in the pub! We agree that we will have to rest the crew for a day, wait for the new camera to arrive, and then continue the shoot. It's an expensive decision, but the only real option.

Saturday January 24, 2009
Whilst most of the team rest, the fixer and I spend an anxious day waiting for the camera - it eventually arrives at 11pm after several delayed and cancelled flights. Meanwhile, we rearrange all the locations and cast for the next five days shoot, moving everything back one day. This is where we pay for our remote location, as there is no cell-phone coverage, the hotel only has one phone line and the internet access is intermittent. We discover that if you drive about two miles along the beach in a beach buggy there is suddenly full strength cell phone signal - a beautiful but rather inconvenient office.

As Stacy and I said we would Tuesday night, below are some of the extra interviews we took at the Guantanmo DC Panel event. Three are from the people responsible for producing the film and three are from people directly related to activities at Guantanamo. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Also be sure to check out the premiere of Inside Guantanamo on Sunday at 8p e/p.

Master Sergeant Jones talks about his experiences at Guantanamo and his responsibilities keeping his colleagues and detainees safe.