Episode 1
Documentary. Lucy Cooke is a zoologist and animal explorer on a worldwide quest to crack the animal code. Lucy finds out how animals communicate in their own social groups.
Lucy Cooke is a zoologist and animal explorer on a worldwide quest to crack the animal code. Lucy meets up with the scientists across the planet who are breaking new ground in the study of animal communication. In programme one Lucy finds out how animals communicate in their own social groups and looks at one-on-one communication with creatures that are looking for the perfect mate.
First stop for Lucy is Uganda in East Africa, where she meets a clan of banded mongooses and quickly learns just how chatty and social these little animals are. Lucy learns that there is a lot of information contained in one tiny mongoose squeak - not only do they issue each other with instructions, they constantly update each other on who they are and what they're doing. It's social networking, mongoose-style.
Next, Lucy meets a pod of hippos and listens in on their underwater chat. By playing a recording of a stranger hippo across the Nile she encourages submerged hippos to come up and say hello. Staying in Africa, Lucy joins a groundbreaking research project studying chimp communication, treks through the rainforest and observes groups of chimps to see first-hand how important body language is to their interaction.
Lucy then swaps Africa for a meadow in Massachusetts where she sees how North American fireflies attract their mates using the language of light. In a Panama swamp Lucy meets the tungara frog and discovers how female frogs match the voice they fancy to the right frog. Last but not least, Lucy is introduced to a jumping spider who performs a courtship dance just for her. She listens in to his secret love song and learns just how important seismic communication is to tiny animals.
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Clips
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Decoding the banded mongooseβs calls
Duration: 00:44
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A chimpanzee dictionary
Duration: 00:41
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Chatting up fireflies
Duration: 01:34
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Scent of the mongoose
Duration: 01:07
Music Played
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The Heavy
How You Like Me Now?
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Kate Nash
Foundations
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Lily Allen
Not Fair
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Lana Del Rey
Born To Die
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The Sabres of Paradise
Smokebelch II
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Lana Del Rey
Video Games
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Brian Eno
Signals
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Arctic Monkeys
Do Me A Favour
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Gorillaz
Feel Good Inc
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Bruno Mars
The Lazy Song
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Passenger
Let Her Go
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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ
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Blur
Country House
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Amy Macdonald
Poison Prince
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The xx
Intro
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The xx
VCR
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The Heavy
Cause For Alarm
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Lucy Cooke |
Executive Producer | Cate Hall |
Director | Kim Maddever |
Broadcasts
- Wed 16 Jul 2014 20:00
- Wed 6 Aug 2014 09:00
- Sun 19 Oct 2014 15:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One except Wales & Wales HD
- Sat 13 Oct 2018 10:00
Meet the experts
Find out more about the experts and the animals they talk to!
Lucy's blog post: βI had to hide in the van with a net on my head between shotsβ
Read the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Love TV Blog for some awkward, and profound, moments from filming.