EXTINCT

05 December, 2006 by The_Boss

ITV1 Saturday 9 December 2006 7:30pm to 8:30pm

ITV has joined forces with WWF - the world’s leading conservation organisation - for Extinct which aims to raise awareness about species that may die out in the next century unless something is done to protect them.

The animals featured in the programme are the Bengal tiger, mountain gorilla, giant panda, Asian elephant, polar bear, orang-utan, leatherback turtle and hyacinth macaw.

SIR TREVOR MCDONALD is joined by ZOE BALL to present the prime time show live across a week, with reports from around the globe and studio guests.
ITV’s cameras follow each personality as they set off to experience for themselves the frontline struggle for the animals’ survival.

Viewers will play an important part in the live interactive television event, being produced by Endemol's recently launched factual arm Cheetah Television, by ringing in to pledge their support for the animals.
Half of the money raised will go to projects dedicated to protecting the endangered animal with the most votes, while the other half will be distributed amongst projects that support the other species.

All of the proceeds of the calls (minus the administrative costs) will go to projects helping the species featured in the series.
A separate pledge line will also be in operation (run by the charity WWF) with proceeds going to fund WWF projects around the world.

In an effort to ensure that Extinct is ‘carbon neutral’, ITV has committed funds towards carbon reduction schemes to offset the effects of carbon dioxide emitted during production.

On five consecutive days, Zoe Ball will also present daytime show Extinct: The Quiz on ITV1. During the week, eight family teams will pit their knowledge of animals against each other.


Extinct personality / animal pairings

ANNEKA RICE - Polar bears, Svalbard islands, the Arctic
DAVID SUCHET – Giant pandas, China
MICHAEL PORTILLO - Hyacinth macaw, Brazil
SADIE FROST – Orang-utan, Borneo
GRAEME LE SAUX - Mountain gorillas, Rwanda
MIRANDA RICHARDSON – Asian elephant, India
DERMOT O’LEARY – Leatherback turtles, Costa Rica
ANNEKA RICE - Polar Bears, Svalbard islands, the Arctic
PAULINE COLLINS - Bengal tigers, Nepal

http://extinct.itv.com
http://www.extinct.wwf.org.uk

Zoe Ball says: “A lot of animals are in such a dire situation at the moment. We’re destroying the rainforests and the polar ice caps are melting so it is a good time to start doing something about it. My son comes home from school and he tells me about what I need to be doing to help save the planet!

“I’m staying in the studio, so I’m very jealous that Anneka got to see the polar bears and David Suchet spent time with the pandas. To see any of these creatures in the wild is such a special gift - they are very lucky.”

Zoe says she does her best to be kind to the environment: “We use energy saving light bulbs and we’ve got a compost bin so all our foodstuff goes in there. We recycle like lunatics and we’ve been trying to buy vegetables and stuff from the local greengrocers and not from supermarkets so you don’t get loads of packaging.

“We haven’t quite got to the solar panel on the roof and we haven’t quite got to the compost toilet yet but I have been going round the house turning everything off standby. I didn’t know until recently that leaving mobile chargers plugged in used loads of energy, so now they’ve all got to be unplugged.”

She thinks that Extinct will help increase awareness of the plight of animals teetering on the edge of extinction.

“I think that people’s hearts will be touched by these stories. These are animals that have been around a lot longer than us and it’s right that having destroyed their habitat, we are now trying to help them. It would be tragic if they were gone forever – they are some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.”

Sir Trevor McDonald adds: “The damage being done by man to the Earth and its habitats is becoming clearer and clearer to see. Every day there seems to be more and more compelling evidence that our actions are altering the delicate balance of the planet. Animals are often in the front line of these changes and it is our duty to try to understand how to ease the damage we are doing and keep species alive.

“WWF works with endangered animals not only to protect them but also because they represent some of the most important habitats on earth. From forest to sea, fresh water to the Arctic, the future of these animals is bound up with the future of the planet and mankind as a whole. I am delighted that ITV has joined with the WWF to explore these issues and, with the viewers’ help, make a real difference.”


David Suchet on his encounter with the giant pandas…

Poirot star David Suchet describes the first time he saw a giant panda as one of the most amazing experiences of his life.

The actor says that his trip to see the pandas was very moving and something he will always remember.

He says: “I’m a great nature lover. I love animals, I have always loved animals. And I always get terribly upset, like all of us do, when any animal is in danger of becoming extinct.

“And my favourite is the panda, the great symbol of China. People love the panda. And there’s a paradox here. One could almost say the people’s favourite, and yet it’s because of the people that the panda is in danger of becoming extinct.”

“The first time I ever saw a giant panda was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I just couldn’t believe how charming and gentle these creatures are.

“But at the same time, I found it rather disturbing when I realised that this animal that’s been on this planet for over one million years, is struggling so very hard to survive. There are so very few giant pandas left in the wild but thankfully, it’s not too late for us humans, or even you and I, to take positive action to stop them from becoming extinct.”

He explains: “Giant pandas have roamed the mountains of China for more than a million years, but they could be extinct in the next hundred. Pandas need bamboo forests to survive, but these are disappearing at an alarming rate. So are the pandas. “

Part of the trip involved visiting China’s top panda research centre, Wolong, where he got to see a panda for the very first time.

But it was the baby pandas who stole David’s heart.

“Nothing could prepare me for just how cute the one year olds would be. Those claws are actually quite sharp. It was a little frightening in a way, but it was also lovely, because they were holding me, they just wanted food. It’s such a basic instinct…I’m welling up here. Very moving.”

“I feel so extraordinarily lucky to see these cubs, it’s taken Wolong 10 years to find out how to keep them alive in captivity. Born blind at a mere one thousandth of their mother’s body weight, they’re extremely vulnerable...So putting it quite simply, if this problem isn’t solved, the panda that we know today as the giant panda could become extinct.”


Anneka Rice on her Arctic adventure…

Anneka Rice describes her helicopter trip to see the polar bears in the Arctic as the flight of her life.

The action girl, who has spent her TV career jumping in and out of helicopters on both Challenge Anneka and Treasure Hunt, couldn’t help but be impressed by the dramatic journey she undertook and the magnificent polar bears she got up close and personal with.

Anneka says: “It was an amazing sight. I have to say, this was the flight of my life.”

The TV presenter braved bitterly cold conditions of -15˚c on the trip, visiting a glacier to see exactly how much damage humans have done to the polar bears’ kingdom.

She says: “Polar bears need the cold. They simply can’t survive without ice. They mainly hunt seals and they’re only able to catch them when the seas are frozen. They bash through the ice with incredible strength to drag their prey from its den. Or they wait motionless for hours by a breathing hole for their victims to come up for air.

“But global warming means the ice sheets are melting earlier and forming later each year. The bears’ hunting season is becoming ever shorter. They’re having to go nearly six months without food. But if the hunting season becomes too short, the bears will die.”

She adds: “I was astonished to hear that satellite images show that since the 1980s, an area of ice 10 times the size of the UK has disappeared. “

Anneka describes the experience as life changing.

“It was a sort of life changing experience because I can see so clearly now the plight of the polar bears. They really can only hunt on sea ice. And now I’ve seen the sea ice and how it’s diminishing, you can see that it’s a real crisis. You can’t just say to a polar bear ‘look, be more versatile with your diet. Try a reindeer.’ That’s not how it works. I’ve never seen animals before that I want to just reach out and say ‘I’m sorry that the human race is responsible for putting you in this position in the first place.’ “


About the animals…

Asian elephant

In the last 30 years, more than half the world’s elephant population has been wiped out. The Asian elephant is now extremely rare and only 30,000 survive in the wild.

This is due to massive human population growth. The growing need for agricultural land and housing in India has led to the felling of more and more trees which in turn has led to the destruction of the elephants’ habitat. The destruction of their forest homes has also removed their main food source.

The hungry elephants wander into villages and fields in search of food, causing the residents to defend themselves and their property by attacking the elephants.

Miranda Richardson will visit an orphan elephant rescue centre in India, where injured and orphaned elephants are nursed back to health and released back into the wild.

In order to help prevent the conflict between elephants and humans, domesticated working elephants called Kunkis herd the wild elephants back into the forest when they approach villages.

Viewers’ money will help fund a Kunki programme in which people are trained to work with the elephants and will also help fund a joint project with the WWF which will set up ‘elephant corridors’ in the forests, directing them away from human settlements.

• The Asian elephant is the largest animal that lives on land and is about 100 times the size of a human.

• They can grow up to 13 feet and weigh as much as a school bus.

• Asian elephants share their habitat with a fifth of the world’s human population.


Bengal tiger

It is estimated that there are only 4,000 Bengal tigers left in the wild, and with the entire tiger population having decreased by more than 90% over the last century, and several subspecies of tiger having vanished altogether, the species is teetering on the brink of extinction.

Tiger populations have taken a sharp decline as a result of the illegal poaching trade. Tiger body parts are widely used in traditional Asian medicines and can fetch thousands of pounds.

Also, a human population increase and the unsustainable exploitation of forest resources have led to the destruction and fragmentation of the tigers’ habitat. As the human population swells, large areas of forest are being cleared to make way for housing and agriculture.

Pauline Collins visits Nepal to try and get a glimpse of these increasingly rare creatures, joining an anti-poaching patrol and going on safari to spot them in the wild.

Viewers’ money will be used to fund a number of new initiatives in Nepal, including the establishment of new community-based anti-poaching operations plus, if funds permit, the construction of a state-of-the-art wildlife forensics lab to help combat the illegal trade of tiger parts.

• The tiger is the largest member of the wild cat family.

• There are twice as many tigers in captivity in the US than there are anywhere in the wild.

• Tigers are being hunted to extinction for their skins and their body parts, which are used in traditional Asian medicine.


Giant panda

There are thought to be less than 1,600 pandas left in the wild, making them one of the most seriously endangered species in the world.

China’s booming population is leading to the rapid destruction of the bamboo forests which are cleared to make way for roads and agricultural land, forcing the pandas to live in isolated pockets of forest.

This means that not only is the pandas’ main food source becoming more and more depleted, but also that they cannot move around to find new supplies as the bamboo forests die off naturally. The divided forests also mean that the pandas are forced to inbreed, leading to an increased risk of genetic mutation.

David Suchet will visit the Wolong Research Centre in China to see baby pandas being raised. Their work is essential in increasing the numbers of pandas as well as mixing the gene pool so that inbreeding can be avoided.

Viewers’ money will help reconnect fragmented areas of bamboo forest so that the pandas have a better chance of survival and will also fund work within local communities to reduce the pressures on the forests.

• Pandas were once carnivores, but have evolved to become herbivores and their diet consists almost exclusively of bamboo.

• During an average day, a panda will spend 14 hours eating and will consume up to 40 pounds of bamboo.

• The pandas were once common in several far Eastern countries, but now they can only be found in the mountains of South-western China.


Mountain gorilla

Man is the only threat to the existence of the 700 or so mountain gorillas that survive today.
This tiny population that lives in an area that spans Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo - three of Africa’s most populous countries - are more vulnerable than ever.

There are a number of threats to their fragile existence. Around 90% of the population surrounding the forest are subsistence farmers and due to war and poverty are extremely reliant upon the forest. This inevitably leads to significant disturbance of the gorilla habitat.

Gorillas are so similar to humans that they share many of the same diseases but their fragile immune systems often cannot cope. In the '60s and '70s, gorillas were poached for sale to foreigners as trophies and the hunting of mountain gorillas by unscrupulous dealers remains a very real threat. Gorillas are also caught by mistake by poachers who are trying to catch bush meat to eat.

Graeme Le Saux will meet the gorillas face to face and learn how to read the body language of these fantastically complex animals.

Money raised will go towards educating locals about the importance of protecting their immediate environment and building water towers so that people no longer need to enter the forest to collect their water.

It will also fund the continued work by rangers and park staff to protect the gorillas from harm and the essential work of vets in treating injured gorillas.

• They cannot survive in captivity, making it essential to protect the wild populations.

• Gorillas share 98% of human DNA, making them one of our closest relations.

• Male gorillas can grow up to six feet tall and some have been recorded as weighing between 30 - 40 stone!

• Gorillas are predominantly vegetarian and rarely need to drink as their diet is rich in succulent herbs.


Hyacinth macaw

Hyacinth macaws are among the most endangered birds on the planet. Fifty years ago there were more than 100,000 in the wild but now there are thought to be between 4-6,000. There are 17 species of macaw but it is already considered too late to save two of them.

The depleted population is due in part to the pet trade, with at least 10,000 birds being taken from the wild and domesticated as pets in the 1980s. The birds still fetch thousands of pounds on the black market.

The destruction of the birds’ habitat has also played a large part in their decreasing numbers, with many farmers in Brazil destroying the birds’ territory to make way for agricultural land.

Michael Portillo will be visiting the Pantanal wetlands in a bid to see these majestic creatures. He will travel across the tree canopy in a hot air balloon, lowering the basket into the trees to get as close as possible to the nests of the macaws.

Viewers’ money will be used to fund the Hyacinth Macaw Project, helping them continue with their life-saving work, which includes incubating chicks and then reintroducing them into the wild. The money will also be used to help preserve the Pantanal wetlands - a unique area essential to the survival of this and many other species.

• Hyacinth macaws are the largest parrots in the world, with a wingspan of five feet.

• Hyacinth populations have been decimated by the pet trade and a bird can still fetch around £13,000 on the black market.

• Hyacinths only make nests in one kind of tree, making them particularly vulnerable to human activity.


Leatherback turtle

More than 95% of Pacific leatherbacks have disappeared in the last 20 years.

Globally, turtles are under threat from the fishing trade, with over 50,000 marine turtles being accidentally captured by long lines every year. Leatherback turtle eggs are considered to be aphrodisiacs in some parts of the world and adult turtles are often killed for their meat.

Pollution is also causing problems for the turtles, as their diet consists primarily of jellyfish and they often eat plastic bags by mistake, with fatal consequences.

Dermot O’Leary will be visiting Costa Rica where he’ll see the turtles come ashore to nest and lay eggs.

Viewers’ money will go towards replacing traditional fishing hooks with hooks that the turtles cannot swallow as well as helping to fund beach patrols in order to protect the turtles’ nests.


• The leatherback turtle is the largest turtle in the world and can grow up to nine feet long.

• The oldest leatherback turtle bones to have been discovered date back more than 100 million years. This means that the leatherback turtle survived the extinction of the dinosaurs. But now it faces the same fate.

• Fewer than 2,000 females can be found today in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

• The biggest leatherback on record weighed a colossal 916kg.

• Leatherbacks lay an average of 80 fertilised eggs the size of billiard balls per nest.


Orang-utan

In the last 100 years 80% of the orang-utan population has been wiped out. Their numbers have plummeted from 300,000 to less than 60,000, making them the fastest declining great ape. Some experts predict that they could be extinct in the next 30 years.

Deforestation is the major threat facing orang-utans. Large areas of the Borneo rainforest are being cut down for the timber trade and Borneo currently supplies half of all the tropical timber to the rest of the world.

The palm oil trade is proving devastating to orang-utan populations as the rainforest is cut down to make room for enormous palm oil plantations. Palm oil is in huge demand as it is a cheap food substitute used by supermarkets in a wide range of products.

Sadie Frost will be visiting the Orang-utan Foundation in Borneo. Many baby orang-utans have become orphans after the destruction of the rainforest and the foundation works to teach them how to climb trees and eventually, to rehabilitate them. Sadie will help release one of the orang-utans back into the wild.

Viewers’ money will help the WWF to try and protect the orang-utan’s territory. The only way to ensure the long-term survival of the species is to protect their habitat. WWF is working on one of their biggest ever projects - Heart Of Borneo - a scheme that will link up an area of rainforest bigger than Wales between Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and the money will help to fund this.

• In the last 100 years, 80% of the orang-utan population has been wiped out.

• Their numbers have plummeted from 300,000 to less than 60,000 in the last 100 years making them the fastest declining great ape.

• Orang-utans only have 3 - 4 offspring in their lifetimes, meaning that they cannot reproduce fast enough to sustain losses to the population.

• Deforestation is primarily responsible for the decline in orang-utan numbers.


Polar bear

The Arctic is warming up at two to three times the speed of the rest of the planet due to global warming. Polar bears are set to suffer as they depend on the sea ice to hunt. Scientists predict a 30% decline in the population in the next 35-50 years.

The major threat facing the polar bear is global warming and with average temperatures in the region set to rise by 4-7˚C by the end of the century, the future of the species is uncertain. The rising temperatures mean that the sea ice is melting earlier every year and so the polar bears have less time in which to hunt seals, their main food source.

As the sea ice melts, the way is opening up for oil exploration. This will disturb the habitat even further and increase the danger of leaks and spills, which will have a knock-on effect on the health of the polar bears.

Anneka Rice will be travelling to the Arctic to see firsthand the important conservation work of the Norwegian Polar Institute. Anneka will get to watch the health checks and fit the bears with radio collars. This means sedating the bears so that she can get up close to them.

Viewers’ money will go towards the Norwegian Polar Institute’s important research, helping to get a realistic idea of how soon the species is dying out and the factors most affecting it.

Polar bears need the summer sea ice to hunt, but scientists estimate that this could disappear entirely by 2080.

Global warming is causing the sea ice to melt and average temperatures in the Arctic are set to rise by 4-7˚C by the end of the century.

This means that polar bears could be extinct within 100 years.