BBC Studios filmed their extraordinary series on the secret lives of animals all over the world, including the Dolomites in Italy. Access to film in the carefully protected nature reserves in Trentino, Alto Adige and Veneto is difficult to get, even if you’re the world-famous BBC! So, Fabio and Marinella were asked to prepare all the film permit paperwork and submissions to the various agencies that safeguard this beautiful region, and to coordinate the logistics of filming. The result is streaming on Apple TV+.
The BBC Natural HIstory Unit is respected all over the planet for their unbeatable natural history filming and the skills of their camera people. Expert natural history DOPs travelled to the Dolomites to film ballooning spiders for this episode.
The spiders are tiny but have an extraordinary ability – they have been found to fly upto 5 km above ground and distances as far as 3,200 km! And these are the babies! Scientists know that they do it by spinning a silk thread that gets swept up by the mountain wind, much like a balloon. And it seems that it’s the youngsters that do it at times of overpopulation when they risk being eaten by their parents and siblings. They particularly like the Campanula flowers that grow abundantly on these mountains.
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