Taking a walk on the wild side

From Patagonia’s frozen Andes, to the plains of Zambia, and sprawling grasslands in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, the captivating and compelling Dynasties returns to provide new insights into the secret lives of some of the planet’s most charismatic animals.

The second series features surprising, dramatic, and heartwarming stories with iconic favourites, the elephant and the cheetah, as well as two unsung heroes of the animal kingdom – the puma and the hyena. We’ll see newborns being introduced to their families for the very first time – which can be a time of tension or of celebration – youngsters learning how to survive independently, rivals vying for the top spot, and mothers risking everything to protect their families. “The challenges that our Each episode of Dynasties II

characters face are specific to (Sunday, BBC1, 8pm) tells the

the exact situations they find story of an animal family, led by themselves in, and the solutions an individual, and Series they come up with often depend Producer Simon Blakeney as much on the circumstances explains why he thinks it is and experiences which that important to create a natural individual has gone through.” history series from this With so many animal species perspective. piquing our interest, it must be He says: “We often tend to look difficult for the programme at animals in general terms – makers to decide which one to what is ‘normal’ for a species – focus on. but what working on Dynasties Executive Producer Mike Gunton has shown us is that the reality explains how they came to their for individual animals is often far decision. from ‘normal’. “It is crucial that people can relate to the species that we follow,” he says,

“The groups we look for are often those that are facing a particular set of circumstances that means they will have to work especially hard to overcome adversity.” We begin in the wild and remote highlands of Patagonia, where a solitary mother puma named Rupestre battles to raise four cubs – her biggest litter yet. The family face extreme elemental forces, from driving white-out blizzards to 100mph winds.

To feed her cubs, Rupestre must grapple with giants – guanaco – but at nearly three times her size, one kick from the camelids could be fatal.

Big cats A mother puma battles to raise her cubs.