Snakes are not animals that most people associate with the concept of parental care, so the BBC pulled off a coup in Africa in January when it broadcast footage of a female rock python protecting her newly hatched offspring. There was a brief allusionin the film to how this sequence was shot, but in interviews to mark the beginning of the series and on the Africa website, the BBC was more forthcoming: the python had been captured on farmland in Uganda and was taken to a snake sanctuary, where it laid the eggs. The crew constructed an artificial burrow for the prospective mother, so that they could film the babies hatching and the unusual 'aftercare' in so-called 'controlled conditions'. A short clip, posted on the Africa website, shows cameraman Rob Drewett explaining why this was necessary. "We were never going to get real behaviour if the animal was stressed," Drewett said. "The welfare of animals is important, and filming in a controlled environment allowed us to protect her."
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