Age of Big Cats
We can’t get enough of big cats, and there’s no shortage of series looking at the behaviour of the world’s most charismatic felines. Offering a whole new slant on this well-pawed genre is Age of Big Cats, available via CuriosityStream, an online hub of science and nature documentaries.
Using a blend of new footage (including an evocative and heart-stopping snow leopard hunt in part one) and CGI animation, this three-parter unravels the ascent of all seven big cats, looking at the physical traits, hunting adaptations and geographical factors that allowed them to survive alongside – and eventually outlive – the larger and more ferocious sabretooths that dominated the Pleistocene two million years ago. We learn how cheetahs developed speed, why snow leopards retreated into the mountains and how jaguars made it to the “ends of the Earth”.
“Modern big cats represent some of the most spectacular creatures of this or any era in our planet’s history, but today are in danger of disappearing,” says director Martin Dohrn. “We hope that by telling their stories in the most compelling way possible, we can increase the appreciation of these amazing animals.”