Following on from the series Shark, Big Cats and Primates, the BBC have created a new series called Dogs in the Wild which will be looking at wild canid species. The first episode will air on BBC One on Wednesday 28th December, at 8pm. The three episodes, and some of the canids that will be appearing in them, are: Meet the Family - More of an overview of the dog family, including the arctic wolf, fennec fox, dhole and maned wolf. Secrets of Success - Canid survival strategies, showcased by black-backed jackals, African wild dogs and grey foxes. Defending Wild Dogs - Wild canid conservation, including African wild dogs and Darwin's foxes. There is also information about the series in the latest edition of the BBC Wildlife magazine; it also mentions Tibetan foxes and dingoes appearing in episode one. The website about the series can be seen here: BBC One - Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family
The first episode of Dogs in the Wild aired last night, but the entire series has been put up on the BBC iPlayer - I have scanned through the three episodes just to note down what the major species in each episode are, and will watch each episode in full as it airs. Each episode, as is normal in these series, has eight major segments (although other species of wild dogs do appear briefly between and within these segments): Meet the Family 1. Tibetan fox 2. Dhole 3. Arctic wolf 4. Bat-eared fox 5. Maned wolf 6. Fennec fox 7. Dingo 8. Red fox This episode also includes footage of black-backed jackal, Himalayan, Mexican and Eurasian wolf, bush dog, hoary and Darwin's foxes and culpeo. Secrets of Success 1. Black-backed jackal 2. Arctic fox 3. Swift fox 4. African wild dog 5. Hoary fox (referred to as the small-toothed dog in the series) 6. Ethiopian wolf 7. Grey fox 8. Tanuki Defending Wild Dogs 1. African wild dog 2. Maned wolf 3. Swift fox 4. Japanese wolf (looking at Hiroshi Yagi's attempts to confirm their survival) 5. Golden jackal 6. Grey wolf 7. Darwin's fox 8. Red wolf
Thanks for the heads up here, otherwise I probably wouldn't have known! We watched the first episode last night, and for me personally, I thought it was extremely interesting. We then also watched the first 2 episodes of the Big Cat version, which is still on iPlayer. Very informative. Definitely worth the watch.
My Thoughts on Episode 1 When I first saw the trailer for this miniseries, my first thoughts related to the dhole segment. Now many on here know my feelings towards a certain organization on them (whose name I shall not mention for my sanity). And that, along with how others will talk about them when teaching about them made me try not to get my hopes up. But at the same time, some media representation was better than none. Upon watching the episode on the PBS video app, I found myself cheering in my chest and overall really satisfied with the episode itself, and rather pleased with the dhole segment. Because after a while, a documentary talked about dholes as real animals rather than invincible beasts. In fact, instead of making scientifically unverified stuff the main focus, they choose to put a large focus on their vocal repertoire and social nature. In short, it was a really good segment in my opinion. And as for the other segments, I thought they did a good job presenting the animals and explaining some of their adaptations for adapting to their environments.
