Nature documentaries often reveal beautiful moments our limited vision cannot see, and that’s even more true for Life in Color with David Attenborough, a new three-part series premiering today on Netflix. Below Collider has an exclusive clip to the miniseries for this Earth Day, which helps to illustrate how Life in Color will use camera technology created specifically for this series to reveal colors invisible to the human eye.
In the clip, the use of an ultraviolet camera shows the hidden scale patterns on fishes that, to us, look practically the same, even though they reveal that the fish are actually from different species. The short clip illustrates perfectly what we can expect from the show, which developed special tools to amaze the audience with the colors that are invisible to human eyes but vital to animal interactions. The clip is also narrated by the soothing voice of David Attenborough, the natural historian known for his work on BBC’s Life collection.
Each episode of Life in Color revolves around a unique relation between colors and animal behavior. “Seeing Color” is all about color as part of communication, used by animals to attract attention, win a mate or even fight enemies, by creating messages we are incapable of perceiving by the naked eye. “Hiding in Color,” the second episode, explores the relation between color and camouflage, highlighting how animals evolved and adapted their defense mechanics by using colors in unique ways. Finally, “Chasing Color” is a behind-the-scenes episode that shows how scientists and crew members united to create the needed camera technology while doing extensive research about how colors are central to different ecosystems.
In order to illustrate how animals see in a different way than humans, the crew had to develop new systems to record and reveal images using ultraviolet light and polarized light, two types of lightwaves usually beyond human discernment. This creates never-seen images of dozens of animal species, capable of showing us how little we still know about the world we live in.
Life in Color with David Attenborough is available today on Netflix. Watch the exclusive clip for the series right here.