The diving weta
One of our first assignments was to capture a little known species of tusked weta. Wetas are an ancient lineage of insects related to crickets, which in New Zealand take the place of rodents. Our expert local guide, the very same man who discovered the insect just a few years ago, led us up a tangled gully to find these riverbank specialists. Before long, our eyes had ‘tuned in’ (as we say in the business) and we spotted them… True to form, as soon as we approached, the wetas would perform just as we’d hoped…. They leapt headlong into the icy stream below, scrambled for an anchor and hauled themselves down.
They leapt headlong into the icy stream below, scrambled for an anchor and hauled themselves down.
All of this was clearly visible through New Zealand’s crystal clear water. Remarkably, the weta would then stay there, motionless except for the twitch of their abdomen, for up to 10 minutes! Before finally re-emerging to check that the coast was clear. They’d clamber back up the bank to reclaim their territory. It was this amazing survival trick which is what we were hoping to film.
We carefully captured one of the larger males to film our sequence in the safety of controlled conditions where we could ensure the wellbeing of the remarkable weta. For a few short days, he grew very tame and slightly fat on a never-ending supply of carrot, before we returned him to exactly the same spot where we found him… little could his neighbours know, he was a now film-star!
