The long-awaited reboot of the original "Planet Earth" has finally arrived: BBC America's "Planet Earth II" just premiered in the US.
The massive production crew traveled to 40 countries for 117 shoots, utilizing new technology like drones and low-light 4K cameras to capture animal behaviors.
But nature is unpredictable — and in the quest for up-close, immersive footage, those crews had to endure some hair-raising encounters with animals and weather. INSIDER spoke with the some of the show's producers to learn more about what happened behind the scenes.
Here's a look at each producer's most harrowing experiences in the wild.
The crew camped out in penguin poop.
The series kicks off with the "Islands" episode, produced by Dr. Elizabeth White. White and her crew traveled to the remote Zavodovski Island to film the world's largest penguin colony.
"Many remote island animals are quite naive," White told INSIDER. "They have not evolved in close contact with humans and are often unafraid of them."
That was quite true of the penguins, who frequently waddled over to inspect the crew's campsite and relieve themselves all over the tents and camera gear.
Penguin poop wasn't the only obstacle the crew faced — here's the terrifying journey they endured just to reach the island in the first place.
A Komodo dragon hid inside a bathroom.
Komodo dragons grow as long as ten feet — and they're known to attack humans. Luckily, the "Islands" crew only had one close encounter with the giant reptiles.
"One night [the crew] came back to the rangers station, where they were storing some gear, and found a dragon in the bathroom!" White said. "The team had to tempt it out of the bathroom using a bit of old meat but the dragon left a 'calling card' (a huge dragon dropping) in the middle of the floor!"
"Blood sucker" bugs dropped out of the trees and snuck into the crew's clothes during production of the "Mountains" episode.
"There was this horrible bug called a chupasangra, or 'blood sucker,'" producer Justin Anderson told INSIDER. "They would drop out of the trees onto the floor and sneak into our clothing to hide out until we were asleep. We tried to keep a look out for them but I woke up one day to find one in my tent and when I squashed it, it was full of blood. I'm not squeamish around any animals but these characters were pretty squirm-inducing to be around."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider