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MUMBAI:
Have you ever heard of reptiles that wander entire oceans, mammals
that traverse continents and birds that almost never come to earth?
Animal Planet presents the action-packed missions from the animal
kingdom with animal expert Steve Leonard on a drive to find out
about some of the toughest missions that animals undertake in 'Mission
Impossible'.
 For
us traveling enormous distances is nothing, we let the plane take
the strain. We take a trip to Australia and fly 20,000 miles and
then come back. Yet some exceptional animals can match these sorts
of unbelievable distances with natural power. Sharing his experience
in the programme, Steve Leonard said in the programme, "this
show gives you a clear insight about which animals are the hardest,
which go the furthest, the longest and the most extreme. Here even
I am also on a mission to explore some of the impossible yet possible
missions for few species set by themselves".
Steve highlights the extreme challenges and fascinating mystery
attached to each species that he follows while making of this programme.
Some of which are -
- 12
millions sockeye salmon fish are heading for home from all over
the north-pacific ocean. With unbelievable accuracy they are returning
back to the individual rivers with their breeding hats on and
the only thing they can think about is reaching their spawning
ground. The target is over 700 miles inland from where they are
now and with ospreys, bears, fisherman, everyone waiting for a
piece of action, the salmon needs every ounce of energy and unbelievable
determination. All the way upriver they change into spectacular
mating display colours and finally on reaching the target, while
the females lay eggs, the male fertilizes them. But at the end
of their mission, it is really hard to digest the fact that, the
exhausted fish goes literally belly up and of the millions of
fish that start the journey every single one of them will die.
- Sea
turtle numbers are tumbling all around the world. The Loggerhead,
one of the biggest turtle is certainly the furthest traveled of
them all. By checking the tags and analyzing the DNA of Loggerheads
researchers have discovered something almost unbelievable. Loggerhead
turtles born in Australia have turned up on the other side of
the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, 7,000 miles away.
Some turtles even swim right across the Pacific Ocean, which is
one-third the way around the world. After reaching the target,
the Loggerhead gets even more extreme and decides to come all
the way back home. In this programme, Steve gets hold of a turtle
in Australia and says that, it might have swum to California and
back. Imagine the sort of navigational accuracy they have to swim
a round trip of 15,000 miles and hit the same beach they have
started 30 years earlier.
- On
his mission to find similar exciting animal adventures, Steve
then arrives on the Gold coast, Australia, Southern ocean where
he meets the legendary Albatross. These birds have got 11-foot
wingspans and people write poems about them. Albatross get 98
percent of the energy for flight from the wind. They don't really
need the land at all, but if there iss anywhere the wandering
albatross calls home is then it's the Bird Island, South Georgia.
The tiny island is the home for about 2,000 wandering albatross
as they appear every year to nest. But one fact about albatross
is, they have got to be the most faithful animals in the whole
world. One they finish nesting they separate and fly around the
oceans of the world for up to two lonely years before they rendezvous
again on this tiny island as if they would never been apart.
- Now
Steve finally travels to Willow, Alaska to understand what makes
the Husky the ultimate endurance machine when someone got to ride
with them. He finds that these dogs are capable of running four
full marathons every day for ten days in a row. Huskies just don't
stop for anything they do everything on the move, even snatching
a drink. They are super fit athletes with hearts and lungs bigger
than a wolf. Steve says, they don't even stop when it's dark,
the extreme cold keeps them cool and they actually run faster
in the night. At distances over ten miles the Alaskan Husky is
the fastest runner on the planet. There is nothing alive than
can beat the Alaskan Husky in terms of speed and endurance. Strange
mixture really, soft as butter, but hard as nails.
To
catch up with similar kind of daring adventures by animal experts,
watch Animal Planet Personalities series, airing every Wednesday
at 10pm only on Animal Planet.
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