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Playful Creatures

Episode 1 of 2

Documentary revealing secrets behind pets' behaviour - why hamsters run in a wheel, how dogs pick up pack rules and how kittens learn to be solitary hunters.

The team behind Penguins - Spy in the Huddle reveal the incredible secrets of your pets' behaviour in ways never seen before.

As astonishing photography explores the wild side of our playful pets, find out why hamsters love to run in a wheel, how dogs pick up the rules of the pack and how kittens learn to be solitary hunters. Featuring incredible views of plunge-diving dogs, babysitting cats, acrobatic hamsters and a playful cat outwitted by his prey - you'll never look at your favourite companions in quite the same way again. The latest science also reveals why budgies talk, how a cat scales a vertical wall with the help of a special claw, why hamsters stuff their faces with more food than they can eat and the real meaning behind a rabbit's hop.

Our pets are also given a chance to explore their wild side as we join the free-roaming pet dogs of Cusco, Peru, pet rabbits living in a natural warren and the wild-living inhabitants of Cat Island, Japan. A range of innovative techniques such as moving x-rays, thermal imagery, minicam-carrying dogs and revelatory slow-motion photography shows why our pets play and how their true wild nature is just a whisker away.

1 hour

Last on

Sat 6 Jan 2018 11:00

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Credits

Role Contributor
Series Producer Philip Dalton
Director John Downer
Production Company John Downer Productions Ltd

Broadcasts

TV Blog: The loveable hamster who found a forever home

Producer Philip Dalton talks about how his own pets feature in the documentary.