National Geographic: Wild Passions

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"Wild Passions"

It's not a nine-to-five job.

It's not about forgetting about your

work when you get home from the office

Only on three occasions have

venomous snakes actually gotten me.

The thing that can go wrong

is if we mis...

It's not really work, is it?

Yeah.

It's just a way of life

. A way of life for us.

When I get to see something

that nobody's ever seen before,

that's a thrill that I don't think

I'll ever get over.

It's getting that image in a way that

it's never been captured before.

It's like gambling. You go out and

you never know what you're gonna get.

And more than likely,

you're not gonna get anything.

But the payoff is that

we live in paradise.

And we have a life

that nobody else has.

They're images that enchant.

Through them, we're face to face

with creatures we've never imagined...

witnesses to the stark drama

of struggles for survival

voyeurs of nature's most hidden moments

What does it take to

capture those images?

Who stalked that lion?

Confronted that cobra?

Swam with that shark?

You're about to meet some of

the world's most talented filmmakers.

On any given day, they're at work on

wildlife films for National Geographic.

You'll learn what they do, how they do it,

and what it takes to

bring back unforgettable images.

I think a lot of people

think it's a dream job.

In many ways, it is, I suppose.

But it's a helluva lot of hard work.

It used to be much harder.

The first wildlife filmmakers were

true adventurers.

The wilderness was wilder then,

and conditions were much more primitive

Filmmakers often developed

their own film in the bush.

And transportation was more often

four-legged than four-wheeled.

Early pioneers even had to

invent their own equipment.

Those intrepid explorers

brought back images that were a

revelation to the public.

People had never seen moving pictures

of animals in the wild.

The footage was hard-earned,

but it was guaranteed to keep

audiences amazed and enthralled.

Today, dependable cameras,

hi-tech gear,

and all kinds of vehicles

make the job easier.

But the challenge has gotten tougher.

The public sees incredible things

on film every day.

In fact, they want to

see more incredible things.

So we in the business are actually

pushing the pinnacle of perfection

higher and higher and higher.

We're competing against ourselves.

We're making it more difficult for

ourselves to come out with new things.

And when you're doing film work

there's a certain amount

of pressure to get the shot.

And you tend to do things that push

the envelope a little bit.

Sometimes, you can push

a little too hard.

For the first test of

National Geographic's Crittercam,

the camera was attached

to the fin of a shark.

But the shark swam off prematurely,

and things took a horrific turn.

A fisherman tried to help

by hooking the shark.

He didn't realize that cameraman

Nick Caloyianis was just ten feet away

But the shark did.

Wanna keep pressure

on these points, now.

A little more pressure.

Up over here. Up over here.

The shark tore open Nick's hand,

and bit his leg to the bone.

Nick was medevaced out and went

through nine operations in 21 days.

It took him three and half months

to recover.

And then he returned to work

on another film about sharks.

Accidents do happen.

It certainly wasn't the shark's fault.

I would never blame the shark

for what happened to me.

Nick's attitude isn't unusual.

In fact, most wildlife filmmakers

don't think it's dangerous work.

I don't think it's dangerous work.

I think it's certainly not dangerous

work if you're considering the animal.

We've gotta remember that snakes

are on the defensive all the time.

They're not an offensive animal

who's gonna attack you.

You would think there'd be things down

there that are constantly stinging

and biting,

but surprisingly, that's not the case.

Press them harder, though, and they'll

admit to their share of close calls.

I lost a finger to a puff adder,

first of all,

in handling that for photography.

Very nearly lost my life.

I got spit in the eye

by a spitting cobra.

And then, no, actually I got bit by a

coral snake, and the coral snake died.

I fell out of the tree

in Guyana 55 feet.

I was bitten by the insect that gave me

I was caught up in a war in Rwanda.

I've been charged by elephants

and hung up with microphone cables

and couldn't get away.

Oh, I dunno, you have to be careful.

Some years later, I was bitten

in the backside by a leopard.

I'd jumped down off a cliff and

I landed right in front of it,

and it came out and got me in the butt

I got out of the car.

The cubs were playing to the one side,

and the female,

the mother was lying on the other side

I started walking towards them

with the camera,

and the next thing,

the mother just came at me.

She actually stopped

probably five meters away,

growling and hissing

and then moved off.

I got in the car.

The other thing was African bees.

We were attacked by African bees

to the point where

we thought we were going to die.

All of us were stung 40, 50, 60 times

in the head and the face.

A couple of years after that,

I was filming underwater

in this crystal clear spring in January 8th, 2001

Two males started a fight.

In the confusion, one of the male

hippos charged and got me by the leg.

Shook me around like

a rag doll for awhile.

I had a hole through my leg big enough

to stick a coke bottle through.

But danger doesn't deter

the best wildlife filmmakers.

They'll go to incredible lengths

or heights to get the shot.

That's what Neil Rettig is famous for.

Here, he's climbing 150 feet up

to film the world's most powerful bird

of prey the harpy eagle.

It has a wingspan

of more than six feet,

and talons the size of bear claws.

The harpy will attack any intruder

that gets too close to its nest

including a precariously

perched cameraman.

The first time an eagle flew at me,

I was scared to death.

The problem is if you're climbing up,

and you don't know where they are,

you have to look in a 360 degree

radius around to try to spot

when they're coming,

because if you didn't see 'em,

they'd definitely hit you.

They're incredibly powerful.

If you weren't roped in, they could

knock you right off the limb.

leatherjacket that was totally shredded by the end of it

It was just like a big hole

in the back, you know.

How do you end up in a spot like this

warding off attacking eagles?

Like most filmmakers,

Neil's been following this path

from his earliest days.

I grew up in an area that had

a lot of wildlife.

My parents were very supportive.

I would collect turtles,

and salamanders, and snakes, and so forth.

And I really had an interest

in birds of prey especially.

Today, when he's not on the road,

Neil spends every spare moment

raising hawks on his Wisconsin farm.

You're a good boy.

I got into falconry in

the late '60s and early '70s.

Birds of prey are just so free

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