What's especially exciting about this sequence is that it features the same pod of whales that the BBC filmed on the original Frozen Planet, according to an interview with Executive Producer Mark Brownlow [1]: "the team found the same pod, identifying them from photos that showed their markings and scars. 'The guides worked on previous sightings, some of which dated back years. It was a real cat-and-mouse game,' says Mark. 'It was remarkable to find this one pod in thousands of miles of ocean."
In that series too, they were filmed employing the "wave-washing" technique on helpless Weddell seals, but this is the first time that the entire array of hunting strategies used by the pod, including breaking up larger ice floes, driving pieces out to open water etc. has been put to screen and also the first time this behaviour has been filmed from directly above the action using drones. [Link 1]
3
Pallas's cat
Otocolobus manul manul
LC
Sukhbaatar Province, Mongolia
This is the first time I've seen a Pallas's cat in an Attenborough doc! They did feature in BBC's 2018 documentary "Big Cats" [1], but that was narrated by actor Bertie Carvel. [Link 1]
3
Brandt's vole
Lasiopodomys brandtii
LC
Sukhbaatar Province, Mongolia
This is a Brandt's vole according to the Frozen Planet II media pack [1]. [Link 1]
3
Mongolian gerbil
Meriones unguiculatus
LC
Sukhbaatar Province, Mongolia
This is a Mongolian gerbil according to the Frozen Planet II media pack [1]. [Link 1]
4
Siberian tiger
Panthera tigris tigris
EN
Durminskoye Reserve, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia
Pretty much every shot of the tigers in this sequence feature a different individual (based on differences in stripe patterning) - it's great to see how many animals the filmmakers were able to find. It's hard to say which shots were filmed in the Land of the Leopard National Park and which in the Durminskoye Reserve, though the Frozen Planet II media pack [1] makes it clear both locations were used in this episode. A herd of Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) is also seen fleeing a tiger as it walks into the area of forest where they were grazing. [Link 1]
4
Ussuri boar
Sus scrofa ussuricus
LC
Durminskoye Reserve, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia
4
Ussuri black bear
Ursus thibetanus ussuricus
VU
Durminskoye Reserve, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia
At 27:00, an Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus) is shown scratching against a tree that a tiger later comes to sniff and rest at. The narration misidentifies this animal as a black bear, but the Asian black bear (which shows up in the shots that follow) is distinguished by its white V-shaped chest mark, which the brown bear initially on screen lacks completely.