Big Cat Diary
Encyclopedia
Big Cat Diary, also known as Big Cat Week or Big Cat Live, is a long-running nature documentary
series on BBC
television which follows the lives of African big cat
s in Kenya
's Maasai Mara. The first series, broadcast on BBC One
in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by Keith Scholey
, who would go on to become Head of the BBC's Natural History Unit
. Eight further series have followed, most recently Big Cat Live, a live broadcast from the Mara in 2008.
The original presenters, Jonathan Scott
and Simon King
, were joined by Saba Douglas-Hamilton
from 2002 onwards. Kate Silverton
and Jackson Looseyia
were added to the presenting team for Big Cat Live.
in Tanzania
, but when this proved too expensive, they switched to Kenya. Filming is timed to coincide with the arrival of the annual wildebeest
migration in the Mara, which is when the most predators gather to take advantage of abundant prey.
Each series has followed the daily lives of a lion
pride, a cheetah
family and a leopard
family. The crew, which can number up to 60 people, use specially modified 4WD vehicles to travel around the Mara, tracking, spotting and filming the cats. The presenters also travel in the vehicles, addressing the camera as the action unfolds in front of them. They use names and develop personalities for particular cats to draw the audience into a relationship with them, creating empathy for the characters. The similarity to soap opera
s has led to Big Cat Diary being called "the original wildlife soap opera". Notwithstanding the popularity of the show, this technique has drawn criticism from some quarters for trivialising and sanitising the natural world.
Originally intended to be a one-off series, Big Cat Diary proved so popular that a further eight series have been broadcast to date, plus occasional specials. Recent series have drawn audiences of over 7 million viewers to BBC One, and spawned a number of other programmes using the same 'Wildlife Diary' format, including Elephant Diaries (2005–2008), Chimp Week (2006), Big Bear Week (2006) and Orangutan Diary (2007–2009). For the first few series, the episodes were broadcast weekly, but since 2004, they have been shown on consecutive nights over the course of a single week. The 2004, 2005 and 2006 series were called Big Cat Week. Since 2005, the Big Cat Diary website has carried additional video footage from the field and in 2006, a spin-off series called Big Cat Uncut was broadcast on BBC Three
immediately after the BBC One episodes.
On 5 October 2008, the series returned to British television screens as Big Cat Live, the BBC Natural History Unit's most ambitious live international broadcast. Host Kate Silverton and local Maasai guide Jackson Looseyia joined regular presenters King and Scott for two weeks of nightly live programmes on BBC One. Additional broadcast content included Little Big Cat on CBeebies
and Big Cat Raw, a webcast hosted on BBC Online. An update programme with highlights was shown at Christmas 2008.
The BBC have yet to announce whether the series will be recommissioned.
They have been one of the most successful groups to be filmed for Big Cat Diary. The longest-standing member of the pride to be featured on the show was Khali, who was eight years old when Big Cat Diary started in 1996. As of 19 January 2010, the surviving cubs of the 1998 buffalo attack are now the oldest lionesses in the pride. These are White-Eye and the Blonde sisters, Bibi and Lispy (Bibi was kicked out of the pride in 2003 and was featured on the first series of Big Cat Week as she struggled to raise her two cubs without the support of the pride, though she was later accepted back into the main marsh pride). There are also the Three Graces, Joy, Charm and Beauty, three young females who have broken away from the main pride and formed a "satellite pride". The pride has had a succession of male leaders, including Blondie, Scruffy, Scar, Simba and Notch. The current joint leaders of the pride are two males known as Romeo and Claude. Jackson Looseyia reported in a blog entry that Red had died.
This pride has only appeared in the more recent series. The main lions in this pride are Cheza and Sala. These two are young cubs that are growing up together despite having different parents. They were one of the main features of the 2005 series. As adults, they have since joined forces with another young lion from the Ridge pride and have taken over a nearby pride. Another former member of this pride was Solo, the only survivor of a litter consisting of 3 or 4 cubs. He left his pride well before the arrival of Cheza and Sala to team up with one of his older cousins to take over a pride.
The focus of the 2007 series was Tamu, a lone lioness with four cubs fathered by Notch of the Marsh Pride. Tamu was a social outcast and had to hunt and raise her cubs alone without the benefits of both pride protection and help rearing her four cubs. Alone, she faced daily hostility from both Marsh Pride lionesses, male subadults, and most deadly adult male rogue lions roaming marsh territory. Her biggest test occurred when a solitary rogue male invaded her den in order to kill her cubs, which forces females into early esterus so that the rogue male can then mate and impregnate her with his own offspring. This attack, though defended by Tamu left one cub fatally injured and the rest scattered amongst the bush. Tamu was only able to collect two cubs immediately following the aftermath ( one being the injured cub who ultimately died), escaping with them to a distant new den space, forcing her to abandon the remaining two cubs without knowing their fate or location. Tamu, once establishing a new den site for the one injured and one healthy cub, then persisted in her instinct to find her lost two cubs, and was forced to leave the two survivors at the new site to return to the site of the attack and search for the missing. After multiple searches over the next two and a half days, Tamu's searching was successful, and the missing two cubs were reunited with the other sole surviving sibling to the new den site where the fourth deceased cub ultimately perished. lion attack, one of which died after a deadly wound was inflicted and the audience watched as Tamu and the cubs investigated, licked, and acknowledged the death of their sibling. After a day Tamu made the decision to move her young canto the heart of marsh territory to den area most frequented by the rest of the pride, in spite of the danger proposed in such close proximity to the Marsh Pride lionesses who ultimately attempted to oust Tamu and her cubs in attempted attacks upon her. The rationale for this decision is that although she is endangered by this decision, her cubs would be spared by Notch, the pride male who fathered the cubs.
In the first series, the show followed first-time mother Kidogo and her adventures trying to protect her two 12-week-old cubs. While most cheetahs focus their hunting during the day, Kidogo was noted for waking up and hunting late in the day. In one of Big Cat Diarys few episodes filmed at night, Kidogo and cubs are watched as they come dangerously close to hunting lions. One of the most dramatic events in this series was when one of the cubs got its leg caught in a tree for several agonizing minutes. She eventually freed herself with no apparent damage to the limb.
Fundi was also part of the first series and continued for many years onwards. Fundi hunted regularly in thick acacia
trees to keep her two adolescent cubs well-fed, unusual for cheetahs who usually hunt on open plains. Fundi means "craftsman" in Swahili. Just after Simon noticed that the male cub was limping, the crew lost Fundi and cubs for a while.
Amber was first seen as mother to three small cheetah cubs, one later named Kike . She had a distinctive notch in her right ear. Amber was one of the first cheetahs to jump onto the jeeps and use them as vantage points to spot danger or prey. She was last seen and filmed in 1999.
Kimbia was the territorial male cheetah in 2000.
Amber's daughter Kike returned in the first Big Cat Week in 2004. Discovered at Rhino Ridge, Kike was mother to three small cubs. This was Kike's fourth litter, but she hadn't previously raised even a single cub successfully. Like her mother Amber had done, Kike used the jeeps as vantage points to watch for danger or prey and even occasionally as toilets. The three cubs went on to appear in the 2005 Big Cat Week. In an October 2008 webcast for Big Cat Live, Jonathan Scott explained that given Kike's age and the fact that she had not been spotted recently, she had probably died. He confirmed that her three cubs have survived and that her daughter Itchy has raised cubs of her own.
Honey first featured on Big Cat Diary in 2002, where she was struggling to raise three young cubs, even to the point of seeing off a male lion to keep them safe. For 2006's Big Cat Week, viewers were introduced to her young cub, Toto, a Swahili
word meaning "little one". Honey was not credited on screen as Toto's mother because this was not known until after the series was filmed. When he was first filmed, it was estimated that Toto was only 6–8 weeks old, making him the youngest cheetah cub ever to be filmed on Big Cat Diary. Keeping Toto alive seemed to be a constant battle for his mother: he survived close encounters with baboon
s, lion
s, and other dangers. It is estimated that only 25% of cheetah cubs make it to maturity.
In the final episode of the series, Toto went missing overnight after a storm, and was not found. It was reported a few days later that Honey was found living alone. Nobody knows what exactly happened, but Toto had not survived. The end credits that year consisted entirely of footage of Toto.
Honey returned in the 2007–2008 series. When filming began, she had four cubs, but one, a female, was soon lost in a lion attack. The cub was last seen alive feasting when Jonathan Scott noted that Honey was being risky by letting her cubs feed for so long. The cub was found the next day by Honey, dead, in a thicket of grass.
In February 2007, nearly an entire year before her final appearance on screen, Honey was killed after a vet accidentally shot her in the wrong place with a tranquilising dart. The dart did not go into the muscle but hit her in the stomach near her kidneys. Oblivious to his mistake, the vet went on to treat Honey's cub while she was left out in the scorching afternoon sun.
In April 2008, Honey's three remaining cubs, all males, were still doing well. After her death, the Mara Conservancy
had to provide food for them for several months. However, they were now fully grown and capable of hunting together and have become self-sufficient. It is believed they have even taken down an adult topi
. They have also been seen hunting zebra, a risky prey species for cheetah due to their kicking hooves.
In October 2008, the three now fully grown sons of Honey were filmed during Big Cat Live. They had all formed a strong bond and are actively seeking to mate with females. Unfortunately, this led to them having a confrontation with Shakira and her cubs.
In 2006's Big Cat Week, Jonathan Scott (while following the story of Honey and Toto) introduced viewers to Duma and her mother (later named Shakira). In a special Big Cat Diary broadcast after the series, Scott told the story of Duma in more detail, revealing the moment she left her mother to become independent.
For Big Cat Live in 2008, Scott again followed the story of Shakira. This time however, Shakira had five baby cubs. Two cubs died during the series (possibly killed by hyena
s). So far, the three remaining cubs, all of which are female, have survived. The cubs have been called Moja, Mbili and Tatu, meaning "one", "two" and "three" in Swahili.
Big Cat Diary only followed one leopard family through each generation. This family started with Half-Tail, one of the most famous big cats who appeared on the show for quite a few years. She was named Half-Tail after a clash with baboons or lions in which she lost half her tail. She is the only leopard in the show who was not shown killing any large prey on screen. Half-Tail only ever managed to raise three cubs. Beauty and Shadow were her daughters and were both featured in the series. She also raised a male cub called Mang'aa. Half-Tail had her sixth and final litter of cubs in 1998 but was sadly killed when she attacked the livestock. As her cubs were too young to fend for themselves they died shortly afterwards. Shadow was to be the next leopard they followed and she went on to have a cub herself called Safi, who was rather shy of the cameras. When the show returned in 2004, a new family was chosen ending the line. Shadow was filmed briefly for Big Cat Week series three (broadcast in 2006), however the footage was not shown during that series. The footage would later air in a special documentary.
Bella and her son Chui appeared on the show together for three years. They first appeared in 2004, when Bella was mum to two small three month old cubs, Chui and his sister. Months after filming ended, Chui's sister vanished. It later became clear she was dead, probably killed by lions. In 2005, the public and crew said goodbye to Chui and saw what should have been the final shots of them together, as he would leave Bella's side and protection sometime after filming. In October 2006, it was announced on their website that Chui had now been chased away by the resident male and Bella was now mating again. Chui has now been reported to have moved to a new territory downriver, where he was seen mating with a new female in Bella's adjacent territory. In Big Cat Live, viewers were introduced to Olive. Olive is Bella's daughter from 2001, before Chui was born. Olive has three cubs, one male, eight-month-old Kali and two females, Ayah and Binti, independent from their mother. Bella, Olive, Ayah, Binti and Kali were nicknamed the "Jackson Five" after new presenter Jackson Looseyia, who was following their progress. The names Olive, Kali, Binti and Ayah were given these leopards by Paul Kirui, veteran safari guide and a spotter for the leopard filming crew since 2006. The "Jackson Five" is intriguing because three generations of the normally solitary cats are living together.
On 2 September 2009, Looseyia posted on his blog a picture of Olive carrying a cub in her mouth. She has a new litter of cubs. Looseyia stated it would appear to be two cubs. Kali has been chased away by Olive. Bella has since died.
s run by the David Sheldrick
Wildlife Trust. Michaela Strachan
and Jonathan Scott presented both series, which were broadcast in 2005 and 2008.
were aired; the first was shown in April 2007. It was filmed at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
and showed the lives of rescued orangutans. A second series was shown in 2009, consisting of six one-hour shows. Both series were presented by Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard
.
in Alaska
, Saba Douglas-Hamilton observed polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba
and Jeff Turner tracked American black bear
s in British Columbia
. They were all situated in different parts of Canada. Big Bear Week was broadcast in the summer of 2006 on BBC One, soon after the third series of Big Cat Week.
s in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania
. It was narrated by Jonathan Scott and broadcast in January 2006.
DVD are the 2004, 2005 and 2006 series of Big Cat Week (packaged as series 1 to 3, with series 1 and 2 being packaged together), the 2007 series of Big Cat Diary (packaged as series 4 of Big Cat Week) and highlights from Big Cat Live (packaged as Big Cat Special). There is also a trilogy of books written by Jonathan and Angela Scott, with each focusing on the stories concerning the lions, cheetahs and leopards of the 'Big Cat Diary' format of the show.
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
series on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television which follows the lives of African big cat
Big cat
The term big cat – which is not a biological classification – is used informally to distinguish the larger felid species from smaller ones. One definition of "big cat" includes the four members of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. Members of this genus are the only cats able...
s in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
's Maasai Mara. The first series, broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by Keith Scholey
Keith Scholey
Keith Scholey is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is currently directing the feature film African Cats for Disneynature, in partnership with Alastair Fothergill...
, who would go on to become Head of the BBC's Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
. Eight further series have followed, most recently Big Cat Live, a live broadcast from the Mara in 2008.
The original presenters, Jonathan Scott
Jonathan Scott (zoologist)
Jonathan Scott is an English zoologist and wildlife photographer specializing in African wildlife. He spends much of his time in the Masai Mara National Game Reserve in southwest Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania.He and his wife Angie, who is also a wildlife photographer,...
and Simon King
Simon King (television)
Simon Henry King OBE is a British television presenter and cameraman, specialising in nature documentaries.King has been working in the field of natural history film making for over 30 years...
, were joined by Saba Douglas-Hamilton
Saba Douglas-Hamilton
Saba Iassa Douglas-Hamilton is a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and television presenter.-Early life:Born on a farm near Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, she is the daughter of zoologist, Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Oria Douglas-Hamilton née Rocco. Saba means "seven" in Swahili...
from 2002 onwards. Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton is an English journalist, currently employed by the BBC.- Early life and education :Silverton was born in Essex, England, the daughter of English parents; Terry Silverton, a black-cab driver turned registered hypnotherapist and Patricia Silverton, who now heads her daughter's...
and Jackson Looseyia
Jackson Looseyia
Jackson Looseyia is a Kenyan hunter and presenter on the BBC show Big Cat Live. He maintains a blog documenting his guide and documentary work. He contributed to the grasslands episode of the BBC production Human Planet, leading the crew to film Dorobo people stealing meat from...
were added to the presenting team for Big Cat Live.
Background
The BBC Natural History Unit originally wanted to film in the Serengeti National ParkSerengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one and a half million white bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra...
in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, but when this proved too expensive, they switched to Kenya. Filming is timed to coincide with the arrival of the annual wildebeest
Wildebeest
The wildebeest , also called the gnu is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved mammal...
migration in the Mara, which is when the most predators gather to take advantage of abundant prey.
Each series has followed the daily lives of a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
pride, a cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
family and a leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
family. The crew, which can number up to 60 people, use specially modified 4WD vehicles to travel around the Mara, tracking, spotting and filming the cats. The presenters also travel in the vehicles, addressing the camera as the action unfolds in front of them. They use names and develop personalities for particular cats to draw the audience into a relationship with them, creating empathy for the characters. The similarity to soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s has led to Big Cat Diary being called "the original wildlife soap opera". Notwithstanding the popularity of the show, this technique has drawn criticism from some quarters for trivialising and sanitising the natural world.
Originally intended to be a one-off series, Big Cat Diary proved so popular that a further eight series have been broadcast to date, plus occasional specials. Recent series have drawn audiences of over 7 million viewers to BBC One, and spawned a number of other programmes using the same 'Wildlife Diary' format, including Elephant Diaries (2005–2008), Chimp Week (2006), Big Bear Week (2006) and Orangutan Diary (2007–2009). For the first few series, the episodes were broadcast weekly, but since 2004, they have been shown on consecutive nights over the course of a single week. The 2004, 2005 and 2006 series were called Big Cat Week. Since 2005, the Big Cat Diary website has carried additional video footage from the field and in 2006, a spin-off series called Big Cat Uncut was broadcast on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
immediately after the BBC One episodes.
On 5 October 2008, the series returned to British television screens as Big Cat Live, the BBC Natural History Unit's most ambitious live international broadcast. Host Kate Silverton and local Maasai guide Jackson Looseyia joined regular presenters King and Scott for two weeks of nightly live programmes on BBC One. Additional broadcast content included Little Big Cat on CBeebies
CBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
and Big Cat Raw, a webcast hosted on BBC Online. An update programme with highlights was shown at Christmas 2008.
The BBC have yet to announce whether the series will be recommissioned.
The lion prides
- The Marsh Pride
They have been one of the most successful groups to be filmed for Big Cat Diary. The longest-standing member of the pride to be featured on the show was Khali, who was eight years old when Big Cat Diary started in 1996. As of 19 January 2010, the surviving cubs of the 1998 buffalo attack are now the oldest lionesses in the pride. These are White-Eye and the Blonde sisters, Bibi and Lispy (Bibi was kicked out of the pride in 2003 and was featured on the first series of Big Cat Week as she struggled to raise her two cubs without the support of the pride, though she was later accepted back into the main marsh pride). There are also the Three Graces, Joy, Charm and Beauty, three young females who have broken away from the main pride and formed a "satellite pride". The pride has had a succession of male leaders, including Blondie, Scruffy, Scar, Simba and Notch. The current joint leaders of the pride are two males known as Romeo and Claude. Jackson Looseyia reported in a blog entry that Red had died.
- The Ridge Pride
This pride has only appeared in the more recent series. The main lions in this pride are Cheza and Sala. These two are young cubs that are growing up together despite having different parents. They were one of the main features of the 2005 series. As adults, they have since joined forces with another young lion from the Ridge pride and have taken over a nearby pride. Another former member of this pride was Solo, the only survivor of a litter consisting of 3 or 4 cubs. He left his pride well before the arrival of Cheza and Sala to team up with one of his older cousins to take over a pride.
- Tamu and her four cubs
The focus of the 2007 series was Tamu, a lone lioness with four cubs fathered by Notch of the Marsh Pride. Tamu was a social outcast and had to hunt and raise her cubs alone without the benefits of both pride protection and help rearing her four cubs. Alone, she faced daily hostility from both Marsh Pride lionesses, male subadults, and most deadly adult male rogue lions roaming marsh territory. Her biggest test occurred when a solitary rogue male invaded her den in order to kill her cubs, which forces females into early esterus so that the rogue male can then mate and impregnate her with his own offspring. This attack, though defended by Tamu left one cub fatally injured and the rest scattered amongst the bush. Tamu was only able to collect two cubs immediately following the aftermath ( one being the injured cub who ultimately died), escaping with them to a distant new den space, forcing her to abandon the remaining two cubs without knowing their fate or location. Tamu, once establishing a new den site for the one injured and one healthy cub, then persisted in her instinct to find her lost two cubs, and was forced to leave the two survivors at the new site to return to the site of the attack and search for the missing. After multiple searches over the next two and a half days, Tamu's searching was successful, and the missing two cubs were reunited with the other sole surviving sibling to the new den site where the fourth deceased cub ultimately perished. lion attack, one of which died after a deadly wound was inflicted and the audience watched as Tamu and the cubs investigated, licked, and acknowledged the death of their sibling. After a day Tamu made the decision to move her young canto the heart of marsh territory to den area most frequented by the rest of the pride, in spite of the danger proposed in such close proximity to the Marsh Pride lionesses who ultimately attempted to oust Tamu and her cubs in attempted attacks upon her. The rationale for this decision is that although she is endangered by this decision, her cubs would be spared by Notch, the pride male who fathered the cubs.
Cheetahs
- Kidogo and cubs
In the first series, the show followed first-time mother Kidogo and her adventures trying to protect her two 12-week-old cubs. While most cheetahs focus their hunting during the day, Kidogo was noted for waking up and hunting late in the day. In one of Big Cat Diarys few episodes filmed at night, Kidogo and cubs are watched as they come dangerously close to hunting lions. One of the most dramatic events in this series was when one of the cubs got its leg caught in a tree for several agonizing minutes. She eventually freed herself with no apparent damage to the limb.
- Fundi and cubs
Fundi was also part of the first series and continued for many years onwards. Fundi hunted regularly in thick acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
trees to keep her two adolescent cubs well-fed, unusual for cheetahs who usually hunt on open plains. Fundi means "craftsman" in Swahili. Just after Simon noticed that the male cub was limping, the crew lost Fundi and cubs for a while.
- Amber (sometimes known as Queen)
Amber was first seen as mother to three small cheetah cubs, one later named Kike . She had a distinctive notch in her right ear. Amber was one of the first cheetahs to jump onto the jeeps and use them as vantage points to spot danger or prey. She was last seen and filmed in 1999.
- Kimbia
Kimbia was the territorial male cheetah in 2000.
- Kike and her three cubs
Amber's daughter Kike returned in the first Big Cat Week in 2004. Discovered at Rhino Ridge, Kike was mother to three small cubs. This was Kike's fourth litter, but she hadn't previously raised even a single cub successfully. Like her mother Amber had done, Kike used the jeeps as vantage points to watch for danger or prey and even occasionally as toilets. The three cubs went on to appear in the 2005 Big Cat Week. In an October 2008 webcast for Big Cat Live, Jonathan Scott explained that given Kike's age and the fact that she had not been spotted recently, she had probably died. He confirmed that her three cubs have survived and that her daughter Itchy has raised cubs of her own.
- Honey and her cubs, including Toto
Honey first featured on Big Cat Diary in 2002, where she was struggling to raise three young cubs, even to the point of seeing off a male lion to keep them safe. For 2006's Big Cat Week, viewers were introduced to her young cub, Toto, a Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
word meaning "little one". Honey was not credited on screen as Toto's mother because this was not known until after the series was filmed. When he was first filmed, it was estimated that Toto was only 6–8 weeks old, making him the youngest cheetah cub ever to be filmed on Big Cat Diary. Keeping Toto alive seemed to be a constant battle for his mother: he survived close encounters with baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, and other dangers. It is estimated that only 25% of cheetah cubs make it to maturity.
In the final episode of the series, Toto went missing overnight after a storm, and was not found. It was reported a few days later that Honey was found living alone. Nobody knows what exactly happened, but Toto had not survived. The end credits that year consisted entirely of footage of Toto.
Honey returned in the 2007–2008 series. When filming began, she had four cubs, but one, a female, was soon lost in a lion attack. The cub was last seen alive feasting when Jonathan Scott noted that Honey was being risky by letting her cubs feed for so long. The cub was found the next day by Honey, dead, in a thicket of grass.
In February 2007, nearly an entire year before her final appearance on screen, Honey was killed after a vet accidentally shot her in the wrong place with a tranquilising dart. The dart did not go into the muscle but hit her in the stomach near her kidneys. Oblivious to his mistake, the vet went on to treat Honey's cub while she was left out in the scorching afternoon sun.
In April 2008, Honey's three remaining cubs, all males, were still doing well. After her death, the Mara Conservancy
Mara Conservancy
The Mara Conservancy manages the Mara Triangle, which is the northwestern part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.- History of Mara Conservancy :...
had to provide food for them for several months. However, they were now fully grown and capable of hunting together and have become self-sufficient. It is believed they have even taken down an adult topi
Topi
The Tsessebe , is one of five subspecies in the binomial class D. lunatus. The other subspecies include Korrigum , Tiang , Coastal Topi , and Topi . Tesessebe are found primarily in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa...
. They have also been seen hunting zebra, a risky prey species for cheetah due to their kicking hooves.
In October 2008, the three now fully grown sons of Honey were filmed during Big Cat Live. They had all formed a strong bond and are actively seeking to mate with females. Unfortunately, this led to them having a confrontation with Shakira and her cubs.
- Shakira and her cubs
In 2006's Big Cat Week, Jonathan Scott (while following the story of Honey and Toto) introduced viewers to Duma and her mother (later named Shakira). In a special Big Cat Diary broadcast after the series, Scott told the story of Duma in more detail, revealing the moment she left her mother to become independent.
For Big Cat Live in 2008, Scott again followed the story of Shakira. This time however, Shakira had five baby cubs. Two cubs died during the series (possibly killed by hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
s). So far, the three remaining cubs, all of which are female, have survived. The cubs have been called Moja, Mbili and Tatu, meaning "one", "two" and "three" in Swahili.
The leopards
- Half-Tail and Shadow
Big Cat Diary only followed one leopard family through each generation. This family started with Half-Tail, one of the most famous big cats who appeared on the show for quite a few years. She was named Half-Tail after a clash with baboons or lions in which she lost half her tail. She is the only leopard in the show who was not shown killing any large prey on screen. Half-Tail only ever managed to raise three cubs. Beauty and Shadow were her daughters and were both featured in the series. She also raised a male cub called Mang'aa. Half-Tail had her sixth and final litter of cubs in 1998 but was sadly killed when she attacked the livestock. As her cubs were too young to fend for themselves they died shortly afterwards. Shadow was to be the next leopard they followed and she went on to have a cub herself called Safi, who was rather shy of the cameras. When the show returned in 2004, a new family was chosen ending the line. Shadow was filmed briefly for Big Cat Week series three (broadcast in 2006), however the footage was not shown during that series. The footage would later air in a special documentary.
- Bella and family
Bella and her son Chui appeared on the show together for three years. They first appeared in 2004, when Bella was mum to two small three month old cubs, Chui and his sister. Months after filming ended, Chui's sister vanished. It later became clear she was dead, probably killed by lions. In 2005, the public and crew said goodbye to Chui and saw what should have been the final shots of them together, as he would leave Bella's side and protection sometime after filming. In October 2006, it was announced on their website that Chui had now been chased away by the resident male and Bella was now mating again. Chui has now been reported to have moved to a new territory downriver, where he was seen mating with a new female in Bella's adjacent territory. In Big Cat Live, viewers were introduced to Olive. Olive is Bella's daughter from 2001, before Chui was born. Olive has three cubs, one male, eight-month-old Kali and two females, Ayah and Binti, independent from their mother. Bella, Olive, Ayah, Binti and Kali were nicknamed the "Jackson Five" after new presenter Jackson Looseyia, who was following their progress. The names Olive, Kali, Binti and Ayah were given these leopards by Paul Kirui, veteran safari guide and a spotter for the leopard filming crew since 2006. The "Jackson Five" is intriguing because three generations of the normally solitary cats are living together.
On 2 September 2009, Looseyia posted on his blog a picture of Olive carrying a cub in her mouth. She has a new litter of cubs. Looseyia stated it would appear to be two cubs. Kali has been chased away by Olive. Bella has since died.
International broadcasters
- Canada - Animal Planet
- United States - Animal PlanetAnimal PlanetAnimal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
- Portugal - SIC
- Mexico - Canal 40
- TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
- TRT 1TRT 1TRT 1 is the first Turkish national television station. It launched on January 31 , 1968.-Introduction:TRT 1, the first television channel in Turkey, started their test transmissions on January 31, 1968, and commenced full national broadcasts in December 1971. It was the only channel in Turkey... - Australia - Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, Ten Network - Sweden - Animal Planet
- Japan - Animal Planet
- Taiwan - Animal Planet
- Estonia - Eesti TelevisioonEesti TelevisioonEesti Televisioon is the national public television station of Estonia. It made its first broadcast on 19 July 1955.The bulk of ETV's funding comes from government grant-in-aid, around 15% of which is in turn funded by the fees paid by Estonian commercial broadcasters in return for their...
- France - France 5France 5France 5 is a public television network in France, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring educational programming, the channel's motto is la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir...
- Belgium - Eén
Related series
The BBC Natural History Unit has used the diary format popularised by Big Cat Diary for a number of related series. They include:Elephant Diaries
Elephant Diaries went behind the scenes at a sanctuary for orphaned African bush elephantAfrican Bush Elephant
The African Bush Elephant or African Savanna Elephant is the larger of the two species of African elephant. Both it and the African Forest Elephant have usually been classified as a single species, known simply as the African Elephant...
s run by the David Sheldrick
David Sheldrick
Major David Leslie William Sheldrick, MBE was a Kenyan farmer and park warden, in memorium to whom the eponymous was created.-Early years:...
Wildlife Trust. Michaela Strachan
Michaela Strachan
Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan is an English television presenter.-Personal life:Strachan attended Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, a Christian Science school. Later, while at college, she briefly held jobs as an Avon lady and as a kissogram...
and Jonathan Scott presented both series, which were broadcast in 2005 and 2008.
Orangutan Diary
Two series of Orangutan DiaryOrangutan diary
Orangutan Diary is a nature documentary series on the BBC, which follows the lives of Bornean Orangutans in the care of Lone Drøscher Nielsen, a member of the Borneo Orangutan Survival foundation. The program tries to detail the threat that the orangutans face in day to day life...
were aired; the first was shown in April 2007. It was filmed at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Borneo Orangutan Survival
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is an Indonesian non-profit NGO founded by Dr Willie Smits in 1991 and dedicated to the conservation of the endangered Bornean Orangutan and its habitat through the involvement of local people...
and showed the lives of rescued orangutans. A second series was shown in 2009, consisting of six one-hour shows. Both series were presented by Michaela Strachan and Steve Leonard
Steve Leonard
Stephen "Steve" Leonard is a British veterinarian and television personality.-Early life:Leonard's family moved to Cheshire, from Northern Ireland, when he was six weeks old....
.
Big Bear Week
Presenters followed the three species of bear native to North America for this one-off series. Jonathan Scott followed brown bearsBrown Bears
The Brown Bears is a name shared by all sports teams at Brown University, a university located in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share the name, competing in 37 National...
in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, Saba Douglas-Hamilton observed polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" that has helped its growing tourism industry.-History:A variety of nomadic...
and Jeff Turner tracked American black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
s in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. They were all situated in different parts of Canada. Big Bear Week was broadcast in the summer of 2006 on BBC One, soon after the third series of Big Cat Week.
Chimp Week
Filmed over eight years, Chimp Week followed the lives of two family groups of chimpanzeeChimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. It was narrated by Jonathan Scott and broadcast in January 2006.
Merchandise
Currently available on Region 2DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD are the 2004, 2005 and 2006 series of Big Cat Week (packaged as series 1 to 3, with series 1 and 2 being packaged together), the 2007 series of Big Cat Diary (packaged as series 4 of Big Cat Week) and highlights from Big Cat Live (packaged as Big Cat Special). There is also a trilogy of books written by Jonathan and Angela Scott, with each focusing on the stories concerning the lions, cheetahs and leopards of the 'Big Cat Diary' format of the show.
External links
- Big Cat Live at BBC Online
- Orangutan Diary at BBC Online
- Elephant Diaries at BBC Online
- Chimp Week at BBC Online
- Big Cat Live cameraman's blog
- The Mara Conservancy Blog: The Mara Triangle
- Relive some of Jonathan Scott's best Big Cat moments on BBC Nature