As someone studying animals in cities, I often feel need to justify why it is essential that we understand how organisms utilize and evolve within urban habitat. People may think that I study urban environments because I’m lazy or can’t handle real fieldwork, but the truth is that we know very little about how animal and plant populations survive and evolve in cities. Like many readers here, I am a huge fan of the Planet Earth series. I own the DVD set of the first series and was obsessed with the incredible photography and storytelling. I was thrilled when BBC announced it was doing a second series, and elated when I realized it would include an entire episode about cities. Planet Earth II was here to highlight what we do know, and remind viewers that cities are full of animals that live alongside us in this entirely new habitat. In the United States, Planet Earth II is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon as well as on BBC.
The episode starts by weaving through the Gardens by the Bay, a 250 acre nature preserve in Singapore which is lit up in a rainbow of neon colors. As we slowly move through the forest of ‘supertrees,’ David Attenborough narrates, “In the last 6,000 years, the surface of our planet has undergone sudden change. A new habitat has appeared entirely designed and constructed by one species for its own purpose.” Attenborough goes on to explain that while this landscape may seem alien to animal life, some have come to embrace the city life.
Those familiar with Planet Earth know that each episode consists of a series of vignettes which each tell a story about a species. In the episode about cities, the first story drops us on the middle of a rooftop in Jodhpur, India where we see langurs bounding from rooftop to rooftop in a high-speed chase. Attenborough explains that urban areas might be the best langur territory in the world, because they are filled with rich feeding grounds; people in Jodhpur associate langurs with the Hindu god Hanuman, thus revering them and placing daily food outside for the langurs to feast upon. This consistent source of food has led to a baby boom, and urban langurs give birth to 2 times as many offspring than their forest counterparts.
Next, we’re taken to New York City where a peregrine falcon sits atop a spire. We learn how pigeons and skyscrapers have made NYC a fantastic habitat for this raptor. The episode even states that peregrine falcons reach their highest density in NYC*. Then, we head to Mumbai where we see a stunning shot of a leopard walking through the frame with an apartment building in the background. Next, we travel to a winter-time Rome where the heat island effect means starlings feed in the countryside during the day and return to the warmth of the city in the evening. We continue to bounce around the world, traveling to Northern Australia to learn about urban Great Bowerbirds; Toronto, Canada to watch raccoons emerge from a chimney; Jaipur, India to watch a troop of Rhesus macaques commute alongside humans; Hara, Ethiopia, where spotted hyena clans battle over access to the waste left by the meat market; and multiple other cities where we hear story after story about how animals have come to utilize urban resources.
As expected, this Planet Earth installment contains stunning cinematography and storytelling, even if the anthropomorphism is heavy at times. If you’re a biologist interested in urban wildlife, then I highly recommend watching this episode to learn about the variety of ways in which urban animals are adapting to city life. And if you want to test yourself on urban wildlife, BBC has set up a quiz just for that.
*I have been looking for the published literature to back this up but haven’t found it. Please let me know if you know which study is being cited here.
