Elephant: Life After Death, The

Synopsis

Elephants can live for 70 years. But what happens when one of these magnificent beasts dies in the wild and a five-tonne adult elephant is transformed into six million calories worth of fat, meat and guts, feeding a whole new cycle of life? This documentary gives scientists the chance to watch close up, day and night, as animals from leopards, hyenas and vultures to flies and beetles take just days to reduce the largest land animal on earth to bare bones.

Biologist Simon Watt leads a team of experts watching the events unfold in Tsavo West National Park in Kenya. They follow the action using remote cameras and night vision equipment under the supervision of animal behaviour expert Warren Samuels. The elephant, a young adult male, had to be put down by a vet after being mortally wounded by ivory poachers. But his remains will provide a feast for the local ecosystem and a new source of research. Raptor expert Simon Thomsett is keen to study the behaviour of local vultures, whose increasing timidity could mark a shift in the food chain. Meanwhile big cat expert Alayne Cotterill is treated to the incredibly rare sight of leopards feeding on the elephant and insect expert Dino Martins marvels as flies and maggots swarm across the body and attract other predators in their turn.

The eye-opening documentary is a unique insight into a natural spectacle that reveals how life has adapted to reap the bounty of death. (95 minutes)

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2011

Year of production

2011

Notes

Broadcast on Channel 4 on 16/2/2011

Documentation

Additional information including an interview with biologist Simon Watt are available on the website http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-elephant-life-after-death

Subjects

Biology

Keywords

ecosystems; predatory animals; wildlife; carnivores

Online availability

URI

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-elephant-life-after-death/4od

Price

free

Delivery

Streamed

Credits

Contributor

Simon Watt

Sponsor

Name

Channel 4

Distributor

Name

4OD

Web

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od External site opens in new window