It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. What a great idea on iHeart Radio. Welcome
to Maria's MutS and Stuff with me today. I'm very excited. He is
an explorer, he's a field biologist, he's a conservationist, and he's the
host of Giants. It's Dan O'Neill. See that was the proper introduction.
Thank you very much for having me. Absolutely so. Giants it's a five
part series that's coming out May eighteenth on Curiosity Stream. And first of all,
tell me how did this all? How did it all begin? Like,
how did you get connected with doing this for your Curiosity Stream? Did
they approach you? You approach them? Explain the whole process to me.
Well, so I'm in a research broologist for about ten years um and that
sort of conditioned into the film. Was doing some digital projects and mostly most
of my work is expeditions. UM. And then hilariously, it was actually
quite an interesting meat cute for the company that created the series for Curiosity Stream.
Off Defense. I was presenting an award at the British Documentary Awards,
the Award for Natural History Film, and it went to my octopus teacher.
If you've seen it, the incredible Oscar winning film about a man's relationship with
an octopus, and I gave it to Andrew Zicking, who then collective the
award came and met me and him and I got to talking over a glass
of why outside the award and that was sort of the beginning of the relationship
that created me joining Giants. Wow. That's amazing. That's that's I mean,
that's almost it's like a Hollywood story, you know what I mean,
Like it's just one of those it is, but it's like one of those
random things that happened, but like meant to be. That's so cool.
Absolutely, I mean he was like, I like, you, Dan,
We'll we'll stay in touch. I'll be in touch, and you know people
say that and you're like, oh all right, and then he absolutely he
texted me, Wow, that's the coolest. I love it. That Wow.
So okay. So that's that's like a very very cool, amazing beginning.
So then was Giants your idea or his idea or both? So it
was an amalgamation of a lot of people's ideas and then the sort of creation
of it and the and the deciding of which prehistoric animals to look at,
which modern day counterparts to look at was all the incredible team at Curiosity Stream
and collaborated with Off the Fence. I was some small interductions from me.
Okay, wow, that's really cool though. I mean, you know,
it's just it's amazing to me how things just happened to be. But it's
just one of those things. It's just it's just meant to be, you
know. So yeah, I mean it was every kid's dreams. Yes,
I mean Giants. It's a it's a series about um prehistoric animals, the
biggest prehistoric animals that have ever lived, and then going on an expedition SIRK
and navigating the world to find their modern day giant counterpart. And when I
was a kid, my first dream before becoming a biologist, to be a
paleontologist. Oh, it's like a childhood dream come true. It's true.
Well, you know they always say do what you love and love what you
do, and it's really really true for you in so many ways. And
I was going to say, because I watched two of the episodes and uh,
you could see that you being part of it, like you're the real
deal and you're you're really like enjoying it. So much, thanks so much.
I honestly was. It was the best adventure of my life. I'm
sure. I'm so sure. Okay, So I don't want to tell I
don't want to give everything away because I want my audience to watch the series.
But just so they know the five part series, it's elephants, lions,
sharks, anacondas, and crocodiles. So hair raising moment with everything single
one. Yes, Okay, So I'll tell you I watched elephants. I
really love elephants. I watched elephants, and I watched sharks and sharks.
Let's talk a little bit about sharks. Because you were out on the water
often when you were a child, you said, correct, yeah, so
yeah. My dad was a physicist and never really had the opportunity to leave
a very small office. There was never really big adventures. But my parents
are quite a lot older than everybody else's and my dad eventually decided he wanted
to go on a big adventure and he took me and my brother sailing one
of history and we got to experience so many incredible locations. So I've had
a couple of little encounters with sharks off the side of boats, but nothing
quite like what we did us for Neptune Islands for giants. Oh my goodness.
And I have to tell you when you went into the cage and you
went out, I was like, Okay, he's brave. I mean,
it's interesting. So people will tell you that those sharks are you know,
great white sharks aren't out to get you, but in that particular time of
year, in that particular location, they absolutely would have been. It was
popping season and all the seals throughout there learning to swim, which is a
time for great whites, and so the people we were at so we were
like, we would never get in this water without being completely protected. And
you, I mean, I won't give too much away, but you see
something that happens when we're in there that really lets you know that's probably true.
Yes, well it's true, and that's why well, yeah, that's
why I don't want to give it away too, but that's why when I
saw that, I'm like, oh, he is really brave. That's great
that you did that. Okay, well I will watch that too. So
of the five of this series, and I know you're going to tell me
no, but do you have a favorite? You're right time. I'm going
to say everything one of those things. So it's so hard to say because
I know every episode, and it's just one thing I really loved about doing
this project was every episode we were going into it blind. You know,
we didn't know exactly how we were going to find this pieces where we were
going to find it, and so each each mission is completely different from another
one, and you really feel that when you watched the episode, and I
felt it, you know, while searching these animals and studied them on location.
But I would I think Elephants was the first one we did right,
and I've never seen an African bull elephant in the wild before, and I
definitely hadn't seen, you know, one of the last twenty to thirty super
tuskers left in the world, the elephants with these giant, great, big
tusks, And when seeing one of those, yeah, that was absolutely I
mean it was I think that was a life changing experience. It would be
for anybody seeing an animal. I'm sure. I'm sure I had to be,
like, it takes your breath away. I mean I felt that watching
you watch see that, you know what I mean, I was like,
oh my god, you're just it's breathtaking because they're so ginormous, like it's
hard to imagine it. And you do a very great job of explaining the
enormity of their size, because I mean, for those of us who see
it in a textbook or something, you know, but you actually have the
way you were describing it, I'm sure it's life changing. Yeah, and
then yeah, and then bringing their extinct counterparts back to that and seeing that
afterwards, just how big these animals used to be, right, I mean,
it's incredible that the what I mean, the one episode that I think
is where you really feel that is the Anacondas, because lots of my work
has been in South America and I've seen anacondas a few times, but I
mean the ones that we were looking for are truly massive. But the Titanabo
are the biggest snake that ever existed. They only know about it from finding
spinal vertebrae of this snake. That it was a fifty foot long giant snake
that squeezed and soiled animals as big as dinosaurs. And when you think that
those creatures used to live, I mean, it's just that's kind of a
whole world of magic. Yeah, it's basically the back from Harry Potter right
where I was gonna say, it's like it's it's like beyond our brains because
you're like, oh, it's like a cartoon or you know, like a
science fiction movie. It doesn't feel like it could be possible. But it
was. Yeah, completely absolutely terrifying, very very cool, very cool.
So about how long did each episode take to shoot it and get all your
information? I mean, I'm sure it differed for all of them. Um,
I mean, like when did you start shooting everything? So we started
shooting last year in a sort of the beginning of summer time, okay,
and the we'd we'd go on month long shoots to do two episodes. So
we were in Australia for just for just a little bit over a month,
um, and then in Africa for a month and traveling through Botswana, Kenya
and South Africa, and then we went over for a couple of weeks in
Brazil right at the end with nice to end in Brazil as well, play
somewhere familiar with Right, I'm just gonna say it, since you're so familiar,
that's so that's that's excellent. I mean, it's probably kind of an
obvious thing that these ginormous creatures roam the earth and due to mankind, due
to nature, they're not with us anymore or they right, species have become
smaller, which is interesting because because humans have done the opposite. I think
when you think back and said we've I feel like humans have gotten larger over
the years. But the animal world, right, No, seriously, I
mean you think of going to the theater and the seats, you know,
for a theater that was built one hundred years ago, and the seats are
much smaller. Yeah, yeah, but that's another whole thing. But so
yeah, human wise, I mean that's larging to do with you know,
nutrition and things. Yeah, that really has stunted people's good. But animals
wise, I mean people think that that we've lost size in the animal kingdom.
But the biggest animal that's ever lived on the planet is still alive today.
That the blue whales. That's the biggest animal that has ever existed anywhere
on the planet. But I think it is a really interesting conversation about it
because we're currently you know, there have been five major mass extinctions in the
past, and we're currently going through the sixth mass extinction. Is the first
time an extinction has been caused by just one species, and that's us.
But it's also this incredible zone that we're entering where just one species is capable
of saving the planet as well. You know, that's a lot of potential
damage, but a lot of responsibility. And I think it's really interesting looking
back at these species because you can see through through geological time what's happened,
and a lot of those changes is related to climate change. You know,
the edibility of food and prey items changes, and these very big animals that
need large amounts of grass tweaks in terms of the elephants, and huge prey
items to eat in terms of lions or the crop or the other predators.
We're looking at that in real time now. So the decisions that we make
will impact the world, and it's interesting being able to do it in such
an entertaining way, to showcase it in a way that I think we'll inspire
people. I think so too. No, I think so too, because
you're right, I mean, we caused it, but we can fix it.
And it's really very important, you know, for generations and for us,
but for generations to come as well. Absolutely, Yeah, I think
it's another thing as well, Like, it's great looking back at the fossil
record because we see all these animals alive today, but some ninety nine point
nine percent of species that have ever existed are are gone, are gone,
and there's this tiny fraction alive today and that's completely natural, but it is.
Yeah, it's very cool just how similar these animals are, Like the
crocodiles. The largest crocodile that's ever existed, Sarcasucus, is barely different at
all from any crocodile alive today. Very similar for the snake in terms of
their body formation, only the sides is different. So it's really cool how
evolution kind of keeps these traits right right, right, No, it is.
It's fascinating. I mean it's fascinating. It's fascinating for a civilian like
me and for the audience because this isn't our expertise like it is for you,
but it's I'm sure it's far more fascinating for you because you actually get
it, if that makes sense. Yeah, I mean what I love most.
I think a lot of the time people are afraid to show that they're
learning, and for me, I hope that you can see it camera a
lot of this new experiences for me. You know, I'd never been up
close to a wild elephant before or even seen an African line in the wild,
So I was a kid in a candy store, honestly, I mean
it was it was absolutely amazing. Oh. Most of my work, I've
i said, has been in cats in completely different parts of the world.
So seeing them that was yeah. Oh no, you could definitely your excitement
definitely came through loud and clear and sincerely. It wasn't like you were acting,
you know what I mean, Like it was sincere. You could tell
that you were really excited and just like, oh my goodness. Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of that comes as well. I mean, like one
thing that I yeah, I'm not sure if you know about this, but
it's the first time an LGBT persons fronted a nature documentary anywhere on any platform,
from major network, from major network. So I think for me,
there was I had this feeling of when I was a kid that there wasn't
that possible for me to do it because there wasn't anyone out there. There
was a bit like me, I think there's something I really feel when I'm
there because it's just so it's so special for me to be able to be
living that dream that I think is something a lot of young Quick kids want
but haven't necessarily thought were possible for them. So I'm really happy to be
able to show that. And I think there's I think there's a slight comedy
and a difference about LGBT people on camera, and I think I watch it
back and I'm like, yeah, I can definitely see it right right right,
No, it's excellent. I'm so happy that you did this series.
So now I know this isn't even out yet, and I don't mean to
say is there more, but I will assume there will be more sins of
this of the series we are hoping, so I mean, I can't wait
to people to watch it, but I mean we're talking about it. There's
so many more animals, for so many places to go, and yeah,
we have everything cross that we will be able to go out in these adventures
again and bring more of these incredible animals back to life. Yeah for sure.
And oh and I also want to ask you too, because let's talk
to the audience about this um and I saw it an elephants. The technology
with the camera that you had that even the people who you were showing it
to who are like are at the sanctuary, like that they can approximate a
height or a weight, but with this camera that you had, it was
able to Like I thought that was really cool and you can explain it technically
much better than me. Yeah, I mean so like job Slash and Daniel
there the rangers from Big Life who were who I basically studied it looking after,
but also studying the elephants that we brought along a camera, so it's
really simple set up. It's a DSLR camera, which meant a lot of
people have just to take photographs, and then connected this bar at the bottom
with two laser pens at a fixed width, and we were able to use
an equation developed by scientists to take a boat of an elephant to get its
side on and use those two laser dots as a scale to estimate a number
of different things about the elephant, which is really really cool being able to
bring that to those people And another thing that I love about wildlife documentaries when
they worked properly bringing stuff to you know, local communities and being able to
work with them. So that's like something that we can bring along that's a
bit tacky, like a a camera tack can then help the communities and leave
something lasting. Is really really cool and ipose on that actually one thing we
should mention so off the fence the team. When we got back, we
created a fundraiser because we spoke to an amazing woman called Maria who had lost
the use of her legs because she'd had a run in with an elephant right
right, who crushed sex. And one of the things I'm most proud of
about the whole series is that we raised money for Maria. Oh wow,
we did, and now she's having all of the afterca and the surgery so
that she can walk again. Oh that's amazing. That's and it's just so
cool. And that was completely run by off and that that's just such a
testament to what a great company of the Vents are that they took so much
time and energy and also part funded it themselves. So yeah, I'm really
proud to work with them. Oh I love hearing mad because Yeah, I
was touched by her because she had a fear even though she appreciated the elephants
and she kind of she lived amongst them, and yeah, oh that's Oh,
that's so great. That must make it makes me feel so good.
I'm sure how that makes you feel. Oh that's wonderful. Imagine how she
feels. Imagine getting that news. Yeah, yeah, oh my god,
that's great. Love this, this is Dan. I love talking to you.
I swear this is so cool. So okay, all right, So
it's Giants and it's on Curiosity Stream and it is debuting on premiering on May
eighteenth, So that's pretty exciting. I cannot wait. I know, I
know, well, I can't wait to watch more of this, and I
really do appreciate you talking to me about it, and good luck, I
will. I would love to talk to you because I know there will be
more coming out when you do those and good luck with this. Is there
going to be a big premiere party or a big premiere screening of it?
That may well be. Yeah, No, we're all so exposing. Can't
wait first come out. Yeah, and to get out more bunches. Thanks
so much. It's great looking to you too, Thanks so much, Dan
O'Neill. Giants premiering May eighteenth on Curiosity Stream. Keep having a great time
and keep doing all this wonderful work that you're doing, because you're educating the
world and we need you. We really do. Thank you so much.
Has never been a greator operator, and this seal later for the Gator