Apart from the 23 million human beings in Taiwan, did you know that 70 kinds of mammals are also inhabiting Taiwan island, such as Formosan leaf nose bats, Formosan clouded leopards, ferret badgers, flying squirrels, Formosan serows and civets?
Typhoon Island (台灣生態探索), the first documentary film to discover the ecology of Taiwan, provides vivid images of these rare species.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PTS
The film marks the first co-production among four public TV channels -- the BBC, German WDR, Austrian ORF and Taiwan Public Television Services (公視, PTS). And it is the first English-speaking film introducing the animals of Taiwan to the world. The documentary will be premiered on PTS channel, prime time. on Sept. 6. The Austrian premiere will be Sept. 28 on ORF and Britain's premiere is scheduled some time in October.
In a sense, Typhoon Island resembles a Discovery-channel film, but with an extra focus on the unique landscape and ecology of Taiwan. The shots in the film portray the island's beauty and largely reveal how so many intriguing animals have survived Taiwan's violent winds of change.
Naturally, animals are the lead characters and the main perspective of the film. Human beings take the minor roles. In fact, the only long sequences about human beings in the film are those about Aboriginal tribes and their relations with mountain animals.
As a mountainous island with steep gorges, Taiwan has become a haven for a variety of wildlife from highland animals, such as bears, monkeys and anteaters, to tropical plants and insects.
Regularly buffeted by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, animals in Taiwan must find shelter and ways of survival in spite of natural disasters and human invasions.
The film crew has taken some vivid pictures that were previously unseen, such as tree frogs mating and laying eggs inside a bamboo tube, Taiwan macaques playing and finding shelters in lotus ponds and the hunting habits of pangolins.
In the last 20 years, though, new hope for many creatures has arisen as a fifth of the island has received some protection. Tens of thousands of migrant raptors, and hundreds of thousands of butterflies now visit protected sanctuaries. Captive-bred Formosan landlocked salmon and sika deer have been released to replenish wild populations.
Scientists have recently discovered a number of previous unknown species in the mountains, including a weasel, a mole and several kinds of bats, along with countless smaller creatures. The Formosan clouded leopard, though, has not been seen for the last 10 years. The fate of this beautiful big cat remains shrouded in mystery. It may have gone forever, but many believe it's still lurking in Taiwan's remote forests. With Formosan macaques and other prey species now recovering, this elusive big cat may yet return to its former haunts and show its face once more.
One-and-half-years ago, London-based producer Nicholas Upton was amazed by the landscape of Taiwan and proposed to produce an documentary about Taiwan. It took the crew five months to shoot, going around Yushan, Kenting and Taroko national parks. During filming, the crew also survived three typhoons, two earthquakes and a SARS outbreak.
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