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S21 Ep13

Leopards of Yala

Premiere: 4/20/2003

Mysteries and surprises abound in the nocturnal world of Leopards of Yala.

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Mysteries and surprises abound in the nocturnal world of Leopards of Yala.

For more than a century, Yala National Park in Sri Lanka has been one of Asia’s most celebrated wildlife preserves, a lush windswept tropical forest rich in rare aquatic birds and abundant with ferocious predators, such as crocodiles and sloth bears. But only in very recent years has Yala’s big cat distinction been brought to light: It contains one of the world’s largest concentrations of leopards. NATURE takes viewers deep into the jungle habitat of these elusive animals, in Leopards of Yala.

Over a period of six years, Jehan Kumara, a businessman from Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo, and Dr. Ravi Samarasinha, a physician from the local countryside, devoted their spare time to tracking leopards in Yala. In the course of their work, they are joined by Scottish cameraman Gordon Buchanan, attracted to Yala by the lure of finding the only big cat he had never captured on film.

Production Credits

Television Credits

Producer
MIKE BIRKHEAD

Photography
GORDON BUCHANAN

Programme Consultants
JEHAN KUMARA
RAVI SAMARASINHA

Offline Editor
NIGEL BUCK

Dubbing Editor
PAUL CLARK

Dubbing Mixer
CHRIS DOMAILLE

Online Editor
TIM BOLT

Music
DAVID POORE

Written by
MIKE BIRKHEAD
CHERYL THOMAS

Field Assistant
KG

Location Manager
TOBY SINCLAIR

Production Manager
CAROLYN NAYLOR

The producer wishes to thank:
Sri Lanka High Commission, London
The Government of Sri Lanka — Ministry of Foreign Affairs (A.P.A. Gunasekara, Director)
Department of Wildlife Conservation (Tissa Abeysekara, Chairman)
The National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka
Ceylon Tourist Board
Yala National Park
Lalith Weeratunga
Rukshan Jayawardene
Hemtours
Ashan de Zoysa
W.M.P. Jayatissa

For the BBC

Production Executive
CHRISTINA HAMILTON

Series Editor
MIKE GUNTON

For NATURE

Series Editor
JANET HESS

Supervising Producer
JANICE YOUNG

Producers
PATTY JACOBSON
JILL CLARKE
SUSANE LEE

Associate Producer
GIANNA SAVOIE

Production Assistant
IRENE TEJARATCHI

Production Secretary
AUSTIN RIPLEY

Manager
EILEEN FRAHER

Production Manager
JULIE SCHAPIRO THORMAN

Online Editor
BARRY GLINER

Sound Mixer
ED CAMPBELL

Series Producer
BILL MURPHY

Executive in Charge
WILLIAM GRANT

Executive Producer
FRED KAUFMAN

A Mike Birkhead Associates Production for Thirteen/WNET New York and BBC

This program was produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, which is solely responsible for its content.

Web Credits

Producer
RONNIE GODEANU

Art Director
SABINA DALEY

Designers
LENNY DROZNER
KAREN MATTSON
RADIK SHVARTS

Pagebuilding
BRIAN SANTALONE

Writer
DAVID MALAKOFF

Production Artist
RUIYAN XU

Production Assistance
PETER TIERNEY

Technical Director
BRIAN LEE

Content Consultant
SUSANE LEE

About the Writer

David Malakoff is a journalist covering research discoveries and the politics of science for SCIENCE MAGAZINE in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in a wide range of venues, including THE ECONOMIST, THE WASHINGTON POST, and ABCNews.com.

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Dan Goldman, Executive Director, thirteen.org. Bob Adleman, Business Manager.

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