BBC Two joins wolf pack with new NHU series, Snow Wolf Family & Me
Gordon Buchanan is set to get closer than ever before to a wild wolf pack for a brand-new Natural History Unit series for BBC Two. The Snow Wolf Family & Me will explore the lives and habits of arctic wolves, revealing the family secrets of one of our most feared predators.
Published: 3 June 2014
The wolf is the ultimate emblem of the wild; no other animal exerts such a powerful influence in our imaginations. The Arctic is ultimate wilderness. I want to explore the wolf’s true life in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Presented by wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan, this series will give us an incredible insight into wolf family life as he attempts to be accepted by a wild wolf pack.
Gordon’s wolf family live near the North Pole in one of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth. This is the only place in the world where wolves are naïve to man and have no fear, allowing Gordon an unparalleled opportunity to form bonds with a wild wolf family, revealing the remarkable story of their relationships.
Gordon Buchanan says: "The wolf is the ultimate emblem of the wild; no other animal exerts such a powerful influence in our imaginations. The Arctic is ultimate wilderness. I want to explore the wolf’s true life in one of the harshest environments on the planet."
Filmed over two seasons, this 2x60-minute series will see Gordon beginning his adventure in one of the most remote places on the planet - the weather station of Eureka on Canada’s Ellesmere Island. Here, he’ll begin his search of a wolf den and its pack. His mission: to gain the trust of the wolf pack and follow their new born pups as they struggle to survive in one of the most forbidding places on Earth.
Establishing yourself in the pecking order begins inside the den. Gordon will use a remote miniature vehicle with camera to film the pups inside their lair. For the first time, scientists will monitor the health and behaviour of wild wolf pups and delve into the unseen world of the wolf den.
Gordon will witness the pups emerging from their den to see the Arctic for the first time, and watch them play and discover their exhilarating new world. He’ll see them roam further from the den, getting closer each day. As his named pups grow, he’ll watch them mature into fearless wolves and he’ll even go hunting with his new family. But as this series will show, the high Arctic is a dangerous world for pups and human alike.
As the series continues, Gordon will form a bond with each pack member and follow their emotional story; his intimacy with the wild wolves will be unprecedented and deliver a remarkable new understanding of an iconic predator we have feared for thousands of years.
The wildlife captured throughout filming expands beyond the wolf family from the snow wolf’s arch-enemy the deadly muskox, to the all-seeing and all-knowing snowy owl, arctic fox and funny arctic hares and lemmings.
This is the third series, after the very popular Bear Family & Me and Polar Bear Family & Me.
Production Credits:
Snow Wolf Family & Me was commissioned by Kim Shillinglaw in her previous role of Head of Commissioning of Science and Natural History.
The series is co-production between the BBC’s Natural History Unit and Animal Planet USA.
The executive producer is Tim Martin, and the series producer is Ted Oakes.
DS
