If you're looking for a video to watch while munching your
sandwiches at lunchtime, why not head over to Channel Four to
watch a live
feed of a maggoty hippo being devoured?
Hippo: The Wild Feast is being touted as "the
most comprehensive illustration ever of nature's food-chain in
action" and has seen live footage streamed from Zambia's Luangwa
Valley showing various beasties as they tuck into the
dead hippo. Visitors so far have included crocodiles and
The production team bought the Hippo carcass after the animal
was shot by Zambian wildlife authorities at the request of
villagers. It had been entering their village looking for food; and
therefore could have become dangerous. The carcass has been placed
by a section of the Luangwa River where it will provide one and
half to two million calories of food for hundreds, if not
thousands, of organisms.
The area has been set up with fixed-camera rigs, motion
detectors, infra-red cameras, laser thermometers, digital microscopes and
electronic tracking systems -- including micro-transmitters. The
latter will be attached to insects including beetles and
dragonflies as they feed; and if they themselves are eaten
animals, these predators will also be tracked while the
transmitters remain in their stomachs.
Transmitters are also to be attached to the vultures that have
already been visiting the hippos; and live data from these
transponders are to be charted. This will include the speed they
travel, distance travelled and the altitude that they reach.
On the carcass itself, an entomologist is deploying a laser
thermometer and digital microscope to capture close-ups of the
different insects, maggots and microbes.
Cameramen have been following larger predators and are plotting
the locations of their dens to get a sense of their
As well as watching the live feed, viewers can tune in for
two-minute live updates from the location presented by Mark
twitter feed; and watch the final 90 minute programme, which
will be aired on 7 November at 9pm.