Equator From The Air

Scottish wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan makes an epic roundthe- world journey to investigate the pressures on some of Earth’s richest and most spectacular habitats, from a new vantage point.

He wants to discover how aerial technology is transforming the work of conservationists fighting to protect the equator’s dazzlingly varied wildlife, and meet scientists searching for new ways to defend this beautiful belt around the planet, for the sake of the animals and people who live there.

Over four episodes and using helicopters, light aircraft, drones and satellite sensing, Buchanan shows how researchers can spot illegal gold mines, track crop- raiding elephants and count inaccessible populations of everything from orangutans to baby scalloped hammerhead sharks. Tomorrow, BBC2, 8pm