BBC's Hidden Kingdoms: 'dramatised' nature - in pictures

Two years in the making, Hidden Kingdoms uses blue-screen technology and ground-breaking camera techniques to re-create the lives of tiny creatures and show the world from their point of view. A sengi (elephant shrew) compares noses with a real elephant in the African savannah in this composite image Photograph: Karl Ammann/Getty Images/BBC

Executive producer Mike Gunton said the programme was 'dramatised natural history' designed to 'show the way these animals see the world' along the lines of film A Bug's Life. A sengi (elephant shrew) investigates a swallowtail butterfly on its trail Photograph: BBC NHU

Cameraman Jonathan Jones uses a special filming set built on location in Kenya to give the audience an elephant shrew's unique low angle view of the African savannah Photograph: BBC/Simon Bell

A sengi (elephant shrew) is chased down its trail by a savannah monitor lizard in this composite image. In another scene, following hours of painstaking filming of tiny African sengi shrews, the reflection of a savannah fire in one creature's eyes was emphasised Photograph: BBC NHU

A collared lizard chases a zebra-tailed lizard in America's Sonoran Desert Photograph: BBC

Cameraman Jonathan Jones uses a straight-scope lens to film a tree snake Photograph: BBC/Katrina Bartlam

A grasshopper mouse flees from a Harris hawk in Arizona's Sonoran Desert in this composite image Photograph: BBC

A lion takes an interest in a giant ball of dung created by a male dung beetle to attract a mate in this composite image Photograph: Alastair MacEwen/BBC

Cameraman Mark Payne-Gill uses a high-speed camera to film a mouse eye view of a hunting Harris Hawk, as it flies over a purpose-built set in the Arizona desert Photograph: BBC/Skylar Sherbrooke

A grasshopper mouse stands defiantly in its territory in Arizona's Sonoran Desert in this composite image
Photograph: Randall Babb/BBC

A chipmunk and owl are juxtaposed in this composite image Photograph: BBC