All language subtitles for Attenboroughs Life in Colour 1of2 Seeing in Colour 1080p BBC EN

The natural world is
full of colours...

..colours that attract attention...

..colours that blend beautifully
with their background...

..and colours that create
extraordinary displays.

There are few animals more
brilliantly coloured than

these scarlet macaws.

Animals can use colour for all
kinds of different reasons,

and some have colours that
we ourselves can't even see.

But with new cameras, some developed
especially for this series,

we can reveal a world that has
long been hidden from our eyes...

..a world of colours that
only some animals can see.

Secret communication channels
for the most private of messages,

and colours so bold and brilliant
they dazzle our senses.

Whether to win a mate...

..or beat a rival...

..to warn off an enemy...

..or to hide from one...

..we will reveal extraordinary
stories about life in colour.

The rocky hills of Southern India.

The stage is set for
a performance of one

of the most spectacular
dances in the natural world.

PEACOCKS CALL

Peacocks are gathering.

This, surely, is one of the most
glamorous of all sights in nature.

150 shimmering eyespots,

carried on tail feathers
that are six feet long.

So how did such glories evolve?

It seems it's all
down to the female.

HE CALLS

The brighter a male's colours
and the greater the number of

his feathery eyespots, the more
attractive she will find him.

But colours and plumes
like these come at a cost.

The immense tail makes
flying difficult -

the males are literally
weighed down by their feathers.

Yet the colours they carry
are clearly very important to them.

So why and how has colour
taken on such value?

To understand that, we have to
think back to when it all began.

700 million years ago,
our planet was far less colourful.

But the first animals, it seems,

had eyes that were unable to
distinguish colours anyway.

Gradually, however, this changed.

I am in Costa Rica...

..a good place to see how
valuable colour can be.

This toucan likes fruit,
and its ability to choose ripe

fruit from unripe depends on colour
because the ripe ones are black.

And this capacity of choosing
between different colours was

a very important stage in the
evolution of colour vision.

Birds, close relatives of dinosaurs,
appeared before mammals.

The first mammals, as far as we
can tell, were mostly nocturnal.

Colours are not easily
distinguishable at night,

so why evolve the ability
to detect them?

So it seems that the first mammals
themselves were not very colourful.

And this is still
largely true today.

Most are shades of
black and white...

..or brown.

But there are exceptions.

And one of the most dramatic
lives in the forests of Gabon

in West Africa.

These monkeys are mandrills -
a kind of baboon.

They live in large troops.

Most are females and youngsters,
both of which are brown.

But the males are different.

They, when they're young, have very
plain faces with naked muzzles.

As they grow,
their faces begin to change.

Testosterone begins to flow
through their veins.

When they're about six years old,
they leave the troop

and start to fend for themselves.

As they become sexually mature,
colour appears in their faces...

..and what colour!

Mandrill males are the biggest
of all monkeys...

..weighing over 30 kilos -

enormously, frighteningly powerful.

And their colours say so.

SCREECHING

HISSING

It is not only his face
which is coloured.

So is his rump.

Both are fearless declarations
of his health and strength.

And this male is more than happy
to prove just how strong he is...

..should any male dare
to challenge him.

Not surprisingly, mandrill eyes are
particularly sensitive to colour.

And it's the brightness of their
colours which signals their status.

SCREECHING

There are four males in this troop,

and they're constantly
flexing their muscles

and displaying their colours to
establish who is the strongest.

And not all disputes
are settled peacefully.

They emphasise their
ferocity by gestures

such as grinding their teeth.

If that doesn't work, the
highest-ranking male will fight...

..and the others know it.

It's better to let
colour do the talking.

HE COUGHS

Mandrills see the world
much as we do

and have three kinds of
colour-sensitive cells.

But another group of animals
has colour vision that's far

superior to that of
any mammal - birds.

Their ability varies
from group to group,

but you can judge how good
they are from the colours

they use to signal to one another.

Hummingbirds have
excellent colour vision...

..because that enables them
to spot brightly-coloured flowers

which contains the nectar
on which they feed.

So this artificial feeder
is a big success -

brightly coloured down here,

and containing sugar solution,
artificial nectar, up there.

But hummingbirds also
use their ability to see

colour in a different way -
to attract a mate.

Most species
live in South America, where

there are flowers of some
sort all year round.

A few, however,
have spread northwards

into the deserts of
the American Southwest.

In this vastness,
it's hard to get noticed...

..especially if you are a small
hummingbird looking for a mate.

But this male Costa's hummingbird
uses his colours to send

a secret message.

Out in the open, flashy colours
can attract unwanted attention,

so he keeps them
hidden most of the time.

A slight turn of the head, however,

provides a tantalising
glimpse of what he has to offer.

He's spotted a female.

She's feeding.

Hummingbirds live fast lives
and need plenty of fuel.

So, if he is to attract
her attention,

he needs something eye-catching.

Time to reveal his colours!

Erecting the iridescent
feathers on his neck,

he positions himself
to catch the sunlight.

Seen at just the right angle,
his colours are dazzling.

Aerobatics like these
take a lot of energy,

so his performance can give her
clues about his health and fitness.

Every second she takes to decide
burns up his energy reserves...

..so he can only hover for so long.

At last, his colours
have persuaded her.

Displaying your colours
is easy out in the open.

Birds which live in dark forests,
however,

have to work harder to get noticed.

The rainforests of New Guinea.

Here, the trees stand 100 feet tall,

with their crowns forming
a near continuous canopy.

But here and there, there's
a small gap through which

a shaft of light illuminates
a patch on the forest floor...

..a stage for one of
the most versatile

dancers in the natural world...

..a bird of paradise.

There are over 30 different species.

This one, understandably,

is called the magnificent
bird of paradise.

A male.

Before starting his show,
he clears his stage.

The bare brown earth will make
his colours stand out better.

He takes particular care
to remove anything green.

That colour will be the main
feature of his display,

and he doesn't want any competition.

Satisfied at last.

A sapling in the centre will
serve as his dancing pole.

His costume must be immaculate.

Plumes like these need
careful attention.

Time to summon the audience.

HE CHIRPS

HE CHIRPS

The first to appear
are all young males.

They won't develop their colours
until they're seven years old.

They have come to watch
and to learn.

HE CHIRPS

At last, a female.

She looks much like a
young male to our eyes...

..but he can clearly
tell the difference.

She will judge him
by his performance

and the brightness of his feathers.

She does that from
directly above him.

He puffs up his feathers and swings
round to show her his colours.

For years, naturalists only watched
his performance from ground level.

But the female does so from above.

And from there, his brilliant
green colours stand out

vividly against the
brown of the ground.

A pair of bare, quivering quills
sprouting from his tail

add to the excitement.

This is one of the most complex
of all courtship dances, and we're

still unaware of the details
that she may regard as critical.

The prize-giving, however,
is unmistakable.

The colour vision of birds
is mostly excellent.

But that of many insects
is almost as good.

Butterflies.

They too have evolved an astonishing
variety of colours and patterns.

The wings are covered by tiny
scales like tiles on a roof,

and it's they that produce
some of the colours.

Some have pigments.

Others reflect light to produce
a shimmering iridescence with

colours that change according to the
angle from which they are viewed.

But some butterflies use colours
that are invisible to our eyes.

The glorious colours of an
English meadow in bloom is

a delight to the eyes of many of us.

But their purpose is
not to appeal to us -

it's to attract insects,
such as butterflies and bees.

Most of these plants
depend on insects to pollinate them,

and they use their bright colours
in order to attract insects.

But to understand
what an insect sees,

we have to be able to see it
through their eyes and from

their perspective, and happily
we've got a camera that enables us

to do just that.

This camera set-up lets us look at

that flower in two different ways.

This camera is an ultraviolet camera

because it has a filter there that

only lets through ultraviolet light.

But at the same time, this filter

also reflects normal light,

and that comes into this camera,
and that shows what we can see.

So I can compare the two very
easily. That's what we can see...

..and that's what the insect sees.

Flowers have evolved these
ultraviolet markings

for the benefit of insects,
such as butterflies.

This particular one lives in the
rainforests of eastern Australia.

It's a blue moon butterfly - a male.

You might not think that it's the
most colourful you've ever seen

but, with our ultraviolet camera,
his wings take on a magical look.

The brighter his patches,

the more attractive
he is to females.

But ultraviolet markings
like these can also

be seen by the blue moon's
main predators.

Birds can see them just as clearly.

So flying around with a bright
signal like that on your wings

could be dangerous.

For a male, however,
it's worth living dangerously.

If he can mate with one or two
females in his short lifetime,

his colours will
have been a success.

But he has competition.

He will have to defend his territory
if he is to secure a mate.

Butterfly wings are fragile,
so physical combat is to be avoided.

Disputes instead are settled
with aerial displays.

Time to show her his colours.

In her eyes, he's simply dazzling.

Ultraviolet colours are part of the
spectrum that insects can see...

..and we cannot.

Recent discoveries have revealed
that some animals can also

see a characteristic
of light that we cannot detect.

Sunlight contains rays that vibrate
in many different planes.

In polarised light,
they vibrate in only one.

Light may become polarised

when reflected off a shiny
surface, such as water.

Unlike us, some animals
can see polarised light,

and they can exploit
it in many ways.

One creature that does so

lives on these vast mudflats
in northern Australia.

These eyes - on stalks -
belong to a male fiddler crab.

And they can see in a way
that we cannot.

As the tide goes out,
the crabs emerge from their burrows.

His giant claw is too large
to be used in feeding.

Instead, he uses it to attract
the attention of females...

..by waving it with vigour!

The crabs can see objects that are
close to them reasonably well...

..but their long-distance
eyesight is not so good.

Polarised light can help
solve the problem.

Viewed with a new specialist
camera, the mudflats,

which reflect polarised
light, are bright...

..while the unpolarised crabs appear
darker against their background.

This striking contrast also makes
the large claw more obvious.

The big claw is also used
by the male to defend his burrow.

Not everyone heeds the warning.

Battle over.

But there are more dangerous
enemies to face -

aerial predators.

The quicker they can spot them,
the better

and, once again,
polarised light helps them to do so.

With the coast clear,
a male re-emerges from his burrow.

At last, a female.

With the tide on the turn,
he must work fast to win her over.

And close up,
his colours come into play.

The brightness of his blue back
could be the deciding factor.

She may not look willing,

but the pushing and shoving are
all part of the mating ritual.

One last shove and she's in...

..just in time.

On land, colour is used
in a multitude of different ways.

The same is true in the sea,
but there,

colour works in a very
different way.

This is Australia's
Great Barrier Reef,

and its shallow waters
are full of vivid colour.

The inhabitants of the reef
exploit it to the full,

with unparalleled
and dazzling effect.

The orange-red stripes
of the harlequin tuskfish

make it very conspicuous.

But as light filters
down through the water,

more and more of its wavelengths
are absorbed...

..and red is the first to disappear.

So, as the harlequin
swims downwards,

his brilliantly coloured red body
looks duller and duller.

Different colours are absorbed
at different rates in the sea,

but some can still be
seen at greater depths.

Yellow and blue travel farthest,

so it's these that many fish down
here use to signal their identity.

Most fish near the surface
have good colour vision,

but some of the smaller species
can also see ultraviolet colours.

To us, these yellow damselfish
all look very similar.

But using our ultraviolet camera
here in controlled conditions,

we can see that many fish
have different patterns

that are normally
invisible to our eyes.

And suddenly, it becomes clear that

these two individuals are
in fact different species.

This lemon damselfish
has distinctive spots

on its gill covers.

And this, an Ambon damsel,

has bright reflecting ultraviolet
patches all across the body.

It's a code invisible to us

that allows these fish to
recognise each other...

..without attracting the attention
of large predators,

which can't see in the
ultraviolet range.

And it's on the seabed
that you can find

one of the most colourful
sea creatures of all...

..the peacock mantis shrimp.

This strange-looking
creature's ancestry

can be traced back
400 million years...

..and it has one of the most
versatile kinds of eyes in the whole

of the animal kingdom.

It can rotate its two huge eyes
independently of each other

and in almost any direction.

We have three kinds of colour
receptors, but the mantis shrimp

has 12, each with
a direct link to the brain,

so it can perceive colour faster
than any other animal.

And it can also detect
the difference between polarised

and unpolarised light.

But unlike fiddler crabs,
part of its body,

like these paddle-shaped scales,
reflect polarised light...

..and may be used to signal
to potential mates.

The tail is also highly polarised
and used to plug its burrow

and send a message to
warn off potential rivals.

And by combining
all its visual abilities,

the mantis shrimp has become one of
the most skilful of all predators.

It also packs a powerful punch
from club-like mouth parts...

..which it uses with great accuracy.

These clubs deliver the fastest
punch in the animal kingdom,

which we recorded slowed down
and under controlled conditions.

Whether underwater or on land,
colour can be extremely useful.

And the colours an animal
develops can sometimes be

influenced by where it
lives and what it eats.

The Atacama Desert in South America.

There are six different
species of flamingos in the world,

and they all prefer to
breed in those most

hostile of environments -
salt flats and soda lakes.

We think of flamingos as being
characteristically pink,

but their feathers when they
first appear are in fact white.

Their colour comes from their food.

The salty waters in which they feed
are rich in algae and shrimps,

both of which contain red
pigments called carotenoids.

These, over time, accumulate
in their feathers and give them

their bright colour.

These youngsters were
born last year.

They still have their first
greyish-white plumage.

It takes time before the
pigments become visible.

Five years will pass before they
become as pink as their parents.

But it's not only the juveniles
which are white.

This adult female raised
a chick last year,

and the effort of doing so
has drained her of colour.

She put all her surplus food
and energy into producing an egg

and then feeding her chick.

So she will need time to build up
the body reserves needed to

regrow pink feathers and breed.

For those that are old
enough and physically fit,

it's time to find a mate.

Only the pink birds take
part in these courtship dances.

Their colour is an indication
that they're fit and strong.

As they march through the water,

each bird tries to stand
out from the crowd...

..and the brightest will be
the first to secure a partner.

The white female can play no
part in this year's display.

She will need to eat
as much as she can

if she is to restore her colour.

Maybe next year she will be
able to rejoin the dance.

Flamingos depend on their pink
colour to attract a partner

and breed.

But there is one tiny animal in
the Central American rainforests

that uses colour not only

to attract, but to repel.

This little frog uses
colour as a warning.

Its skin is full of glands

which produce a deadly poison,

so its colour is

a very clear message -

eat me and you'll regret it!

You need a vivid message like
this if you are a small,

soft-skinned, bite-sized mouthful
living in a dark, dense forest.

The rainforest can be a scary place.

There are hungry animals everywhere.

For many,
it's best to keep a low profile.

But this little frog doesn't.

It's a strawberry poison-dart frog,

and it's not much bigger
than your fingernail...

..and yet he is one of the
deadliest creatures here.

His bright skin secretes a toxin.

In the mouth of a predator,
it can cause respiratory failure,

convulsions and death.

Predators recognise his colour
as a sign of danger and avoid him.

Such frogs also live on a group
of islands just off Panama

called Bocas del Toro.

Living in isolation,

frogs on each island evolved
their own distinctive colours.

There is a different
one on each island.

And yet they're all
the same species.

They're different because the diet
on some islands makes some

more poisonous than others.

And the more poison a frog has,
the more brightly coloured it is.

On Solarte Island,
a red male is busy calling.

HE CROAKS

This is his patch,
and he's looking for a female.

He should be popular.

Females prefer bright, shiny skin,
which is a sign of fitness.

His colour is also an indication
to other males of his strength.

He spots an intruder.

He's about the same size,
but he's a paler colour.

And he doesn't challenge
the brighter frog.

But this one is a different matter.

He is a contender.

Nothing for it but to fight it out.

That did it -
he won't be back for a while.

And the reward...

..a new mate.

For these tiny frogs, colour is
central to all aspects of their

lives - for protection, to dominate
rivals and to find a partner.

For them, life is colour.

When I started
working in television in the 1950s,

all broadcasts were in black
and white, and conveying animal

colour took a leap of the
imagination on the viewer's part.

Well, those are only some of the
birds of paradise we brought back,

and there's one more
I'd like to show you -

the king bird of paradise.

Its feathers are brilliant red,
except for its white underparts.

When colour TV arrived almost
20 years later, we were suddenly

able to show some of the wonderful
colours of the natural world.

Since then, electronic cameras
have made extraordinary technical

advances into high definition
and even ultra-high definition.

But we've always known that
there's another world of colour -

one that only some animals can see.

In these programmes, new camera
technology has provided

a window into these hitherto
invisible worlds...

..and one of these is that
revealed by polarised light.

It plays a crucial role
in the lives of many animals,

including these small fiddler
crabs in Darwin, Australia.

We worked with a team
of scientists to develop a unique

and pioneering camera system
to reveal this hidden world.

100% here.

The camera detects
areas of polarisation,

such as the light that passes
through polarising sunglasses.

Put it to 100% here.

It then combines vertical
and horizontal polarisation

to show the contrast between
polarised and unpolarised light.

With this new camera, the team
hope to find out how fiddler crabs

use polarised light to signal
to each other.

But this camera had been
developed in sterile, controlled

conditions, and these fiddler crabs
live in one of the least sterile

environments on Earth -
Australia's tropical mudflats.

Quite a challenge for the cameraman,
Mark Lamble.

That mudflat - it's just a really
extreme environment to work.

Blazing sun overhead, really high
humidity and almost no airflow.

The camera needed to be

half-buried in mud to get
a fiddler crab's eye view.

Whether the camera would work here,
no-one could be sure.

I'm slightly worried.

Hopefully, we are not going to miss
that special moment

as the camera is not going to work,
but I think we'll be OK.

Good luck. Thank you.

Once in position, Mark settled
down for an uncomfortable wait.

If the crabs detect
the slightest movement,

they disappear into their burrows...

..again...

..and again.

I have to be really still
or they will not come out at all.

I'd love to be able to have
an umbrella over me,

so anything higher than me

is just not tolerated by the fiddler
crabs, they just won't come up.

But amazingly, the camera survived
the heat, the humidity

and the caustic brine, and
eventually Mark was able to capture,

for the first time, a fiddler crab's
world in polarised light.

Light reflected from the crabs'
bodies is unpolarised,

so they look dark.

This makes them
stand out against the mudflats,

from which the reflected
light is polarised.

They can see things that
we can only imagine.

When you look up and you see a bird
fly over, it's a white bird against

a white sky whereas, when they look
up, it's just this total silhouette

with the polarisation, and they can
see birds coming from miles away,

and often I'm filming and
they'll all bolt down their holes,

and I'll wonder why they've done it,

and it's just because
they've spotted

a bird way earlier than I would
have been able to see it.

So polarised light helps the crabs
pick out distant potential

mates, rivals and predators more
quickly against their bright,

polarised background.
And for Victor,

it was the first time he had seen
the camera he had developed in

the lab revealing the world in the
way these tiny creatures see it.

It's amazing footage you've
captured, Mark. It's really amazing.

You really put the system
to its limits today.

But there was one even bigger
challenge for the camera -

one that lay farther out to sea.

Underwater, only crustaceans,
cephalopods

and a few fish are known to be able
to see and react to polarised light.

But there is one animal here
that exploits this ability

in a really complex way -
the peacock mantis shrimp.

It's not only able to detect
polarisation, but has patches

on its body that reflect light
in a polarised form,

and it uses them to signal
to others of their own kind

in ways that we cannot normally see.

Professor Justin Marshall
of Queensland University has

adapted the polarising camera
to work underwater.

So here we go, Rory.

This is the camera that's
going to show us polarisation.

Rory McGuinness,
the team's underwater cameraman,

arrives to see the latest
version of the camera.

So you've obviously done
a lot of work to get

this into an underwater housing?

Yep, that's right.

So you can see in here there's
a computer that runs the camera.

There's quite a lot of engineering
going on in there.

Taking the camera for its first test
underwater was a tense moment.

Computers and salt water
don't usually mix well.

Having found a suitable spot,

it was time for the camera's
first critical test.

A leak could be disastrous...

..but all is well.

Now they need a mantis shrimp.

Looks like a promising area, Justin.

It looks perfect, Rory.

So we're looking for a hole
with coral around it.

Hey, look!
Is that a mantis shrimp hole?

The hole's resident soon appeared.

It was time for the camera
to show what it could do.

As the shrimp turns, the polarised
camera shows that its tail

has a shimmering fringe -
invisible in normal light.

Look at that. That's extraordinary!

Life in polarised light.

And this is the first time...

..we've been able to do this
with this very special camera.

The light on the ocean
floor is unpolarised.

So, in complete reverse
to the fiddler crabs,

the mantis shrimps use
polarisation to stand out

against the unpolarised background.

Special pigments polarise the light
reflected from parts of their body,

allowing them to signal to deter
intruders and attract mates.

This camera has revealed to us a
first glimpse into a world of light

that we're only beginning to be
aware of, let alone understand.

In the next episode,
the story of Life In Colour

continues where the
stakes are even higher

and colour is the key to survival.

We discover how animals use
colour to hide from predators

and from their prey.