Let me get nostalgic for a moment: One of my favorite movies when I was a child was Scamper the Penguin. In it, two adventurous young penguins named Scamper and Snowflake let their curiosity get the best of them and get separated from their flock. They face dangers from killer whales, leopard seals, and even poachers. The ending is bittersweet, but so too can be the lives of real penguins.
In NatGeo’s new series, Secrets of the Penguins, filmmakers uncover never-before-seen aspects of penguin life. The three-episode series provides an up-close look at the lives of different penguin species and their fight to survive on a planet being rapidly affected by climate change.
Executive produced by James Cameron and narrated by Blake Lively, the show takes viewers on an extraordinary look at these flightless birds. While popular in pop culture – see: Scamper – they are often less appreciated than other, more flashy animals. However, in this series, they get their due.
Over the course of two years, NatGeo explorer Bertie Gregory led a team of over 70 scientists and crew members through treacherous terrain in Antarctica, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Namibia, and South Africa to fully capture all aspects of the lives of various penguin species.
One of my favorite scenes from the second episode involves an underwater camera following a group of Galapagos penguins outsmarting a herd of pelicans for some food. They zip through the water and lead the fish into shallow water where they have the advantage; it’s hard to truly explain how fast and how clever they are in getting exactly what they want.
The show also went viral, even before its premiere: when NatGeo announced the series, they offered a sneak peek at what viewers could expect. In the teaser, which now has over 8 million views, they noted that emperor penguin chicks march to the ocean, with most taking their first plunge into water about two feet below the ice. But, in footage never captured before now, filmmakers captured hundreds of emperor penguins waddling over to an Antarctic cliff 50 feet above the ocean. One brave soul jumps, hitting the water unscathed. In fact, it looks like he’s having fun. Soon, more chicks follow his lead – some even flapping their wings on their way down – and hit the water, swimming happily together in the ocean.
Because this is NatGeo, viewers can also expect vibrant, unprecedented footage and cutting-edge technology. The filmmakers endured dangerous conditions, including temperatures well below 50 below zero, to immerse viewers in what life is like for the penguins. But while the crew froze, they showed and explained how some penguins huddle together during bad snowstorms to create temperatures of over 90 degrees.
With Earth Day right around the corner on April 22, Secrets of the Penguins is the perfect kickoff. As the show notes, climate change is real and affects us all, not just penguins. Let the lessons they teach about strength, resilience, smarts, and community be an example to us all.
Secrets of the Penguins premieres April 20 on National Geographic. It streams the next day on Hulu and Disney+.
