An older man with white hair wearing a blue shirt leans forward, observing an ant navigating through a pile of soil or mulch. Green trees stand in the background, emphasizing the outdoor setting.
Close-up of a brown and black ant climbing on a rock. The ant's antennae are extended, and its legs are gripping the rough surface. In the blurred background, hints of green foliage add a touch of nature to the scene.
An elderly man in a green jacket stands beside a large anthill, watching as industrious ants carry on their tasks, surrounded by the lush forest. The area is dense with trees and vegetation, creating a serene and natural outdoor setting.

Attenborough’s Ant Mountain

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 50 min·Completed

'Attenborough’s Ant Mountain' follows two wood ant cities in the Swiss Jura: one peaceful super-colony and a warring single mound, exploring ant behavior in stunning 4K.

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Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Science
Duration
1 × 50 min
Definition
4K
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

The alpine mountains of the Swiss Jura set the stage for a natural drama – the epic tale of two cities. On the surface, they appear almost identical – but over the course of a year, these cities will experience dramatically different fortunes.

Like any city, they’re made up of social networks and transport infrastructures, to keep the inhabitants informed and fed. But unlike our urban jungles, these cities are made and run by wood ants…

The story is told, almost like a medieval saga: David Attenborough is our guide through the mysterious realm of ants, presenting a cast of queens and workers, scouts and soldiers with all their amazing stories.

On one hand, there is a gigantic super-city with more than a thousand nest mounds. This ant metropolis functions thanks to cooperation – and by avoiding conflicts between the members of different mounds. As a result, this colony has grown into one of the largest animal societies on Earth, with a population as high as 1.2 billions. It has become a city of peace.

On the other hand, we see a single mound city that’s always at war with other single cities nearby. Tens of thousands of ants are killed each year in these intense conflicts. Their fierce and dramatic battles highlight a fundamental difference between the single nest ants and the peaceful ants in the super-colony.

The existence of these very different cities of the same species of wood ants so close together puzzles scientists. It challenges what they thought they knew about ants.

’Attenborough’s Ant Mountain’ sheds light on the mysterious origins of these extraordinary cities. Over the course of a year, we experience an ant’s eye view of the unbelievable drama, tenderness and aggression of life in the colonies. We meet a cast of wood ant characters that lead us into their secret lives. We delve into the remarkable mechanisms that have evolved within the super-colony and challenge theories about the evolutionary social behaviour of ants.

Filming ants has always been a challenge, but renowned producer and inventive cameraman Martin Dohrn is used to shooting things that are hard to get. For this production he used ‘Frankencam’, a unique modular camera system with high sensitivity and resolution that Dohrn has developed himself. ‘Frankencam’ allowed him to film ants from a completely different point of view.

4K-capable endoscopes and miniature 4K lens systems let us dive deep into the cities of ’Ant Mountain’, to reveal behaviour that hasn’t been seen before. From dramatic interactions between individual ants, to sweeping moves across battle scenes and supply lines, this film promises to put the viewer into the thick of the action like never before.

Team

Written and produced by Martin Dohrn
Directed by Joe Loncraine
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer
Production Companies A Terra Mater Factual Studios production in association with BBC and ABC Australia produced by Ammonite Ltd.

Awards & Recognitions

New York, USA New York Festivals Gold World Medal: Best Camerawork 2019
New York, USA New York Festivals Gold World Medal: Best Host 2019
New York, USA New York Festivals Silver World Medal: Nature & Wildlife 2019
Jackson Hole, USA Jackson Wild Media Awards Nomination: Best Writing Film 2019
New Delhi, India WIFF - Woodpecker International Film Festival Best Film Award: Environment 2018
Cannes, France Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards Gold Dolphin: Nature, Environment, Ecology 2018
Gödöllö, Hungary International Nature Film Festival Silver Award: Nature Films 2018
Chicago, USA US International Film & Video Festival Gold Camera: Cinematography 2018
London, United Kingdom Grierson Awards Nomination: Best Natural History Documentary 2018
Ménigoute, France Festival International du Film Ornithologique de Ménigoute Nomination 2018
Graz, Austria Mountainfilm Graz Nomination 2018
Rotterdam, Netherlands Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam Nomination 2018
Boston, USA Jackson Hole Science Media Awards Nomination: Science of Life 2018
Boston, USA Jackson Hole Science Media Awards Nomination: Science Ambassador 2018
Boston, USA Jackson Hole Science Media Awards Nomination: Writing 2018
Bristol, United Kingdom Wildscreen Panda Awards Nomination: Cine - Large Budget 2018
Namur, Belgium Festival International Nature Namur Nomination 2018
Italy Stambecco d'Oro Gran Paradiso International Nature Film Festival Nomination 2018
France Deauville Green Awards Finalist: Preservation of the Biodiversity 2018
Montana, USA IWFF - International Wildlife Film Festival Nomination: Environmental 2018
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