On the 11th February this year BBC 1 broadcasted the first episode of a series called “Penguins – Spy in the Huddle” – a brand new documentary showing penguins “as they have never been seen before”. It focuses on three species of penguins all over the world (Emperor, Rockhopper and Humboldt penguins in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and the Atacama Desert respectively).
 Underwater PenguinCam |
 EggCam |
 SnowCam |
 SnowballCam |
The amazing thing about this series is the way it was filmed; over the course of a year, Wildlife producer John Downer and his crew used 50 ‘spy cameras’ to capture the emotions and hardships of the penguins, from watching them swimming underwater and protecting their young to a look at the first steps of an infant Emperor penguin. These penguins have an unbelievable emotional range of jealousy, grief and extraordinary understanding and empathy and as Downer said, “you cannot watch without being moved by how much penguins are driven by the same instincts to mate and protect their young as we are.”
These covert cameras were camoflaged in numerous different ways and, of 17 different models, our own favourites included the “SnowballCam” which could be rolled around by the penguins themselves, the “EggCam” which was picked up by a Caracara bird and filmed an amazing ariel view of the whole penguin colony (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0157lqm), before being dropped back down to Earth, and best of all, the life-size “PenguinCam” which could swim underwater at depths of up to 10 metres and move around on the ice with the colonies.
If you want to get some covert ‘spy cameras’ but need something a little less conspicuous than a lifesize penguin or hunk of snow then have a look at our range of covert cameras. Although some penguins do look like they are dressed in smart suits permanently, they rarely wear ties, something which cannot be said for much of the male population. So, if you do need to film anything subtly, our Tie Spy Camera may be perfect for the job.
