{alltv} National Geographic's 'Great Migrations' moves in a big way

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From millions of red crabs marching from forest to ocean, to tens of thousands of zebras following the African rains, there's always something moving about on National Geographic Channel's Great Migrations.

The seven-part series (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET/PT), part of the largest cross-platform initiative in National Geographic Society history, gives viewers an up-close, HD look at the drama of animal migrations across the continents and the oceans.

A main purpose of the series is to raise awareness of what is taking place on the planet.

"When folks turn off the television at night and put their head on the pillow, they'll realize, 'Even tonight as I sleep, this planet is churning with movement. The seas, plains and skies are alive with animals on life-or-death journeys,' " senior producer David Hamlin says. "Perhaps the next morning, when they wake up and see a flock of birds fly overhead ... they'll say, 'I'm rooting for you guys!' "

The Migrations team traveled 420,000 miles over 2½ years tracking dozens of species, including Botswana zebras, Mali elephants, flying foxes and army ants. Cinematographers swam near great white sharks, nearly got trapped by ice floes while tracking walruses in the Arctic, and took other risks trying to film all sorts of species and their migratory habits. (None of the cinematographers was hurt.)

Bob Poole, a cinematographer who was trapped in a sandstorm in the African desert while searching for Mali elephants, says filming is more than just a job.

"I really don't think you can do that unless you have that passion," he says. "If you took, for example, Mali, we're looking at 125 degrees in the shade, hot wind blowing on you, sand and dust. ... It's definitely not for everybody."

Poole tried to get as close as possible to the skittish elephants, who could have attacked if they caught his scent or heard him.

"You have to decide when it's time to pull back. Sometimes, you're in the middle of a great shot and you don't want to break it and, meanwhile, elephants move a lot faster than they look like they are. So, suddenly, they can be in your midst," he says.

The project recorded rare footage, such as an elephant herd that cradled the remains of a young elephant who didn't survive the searing African desert. "I think we documented for the first time outside of East Africa an elephant's funeral, which is an incredible ritual only humans and elephants seem to share. (It) is heartbreaking," Hamlin says.

High-tech tags attached to Monarch butterflies, a first-time project, and elephant seals provided useful scientific data, along with a look at species in the wild.

"It was amazing to get the elephant seal stuff back," says Rory Wilson, the project's lead scientific consultant. "You know what they look like. They're great big blobs. These same animals that just lie around and snort, when they get into the open ocean, are the most amazing ballerinas. They're surging up and down at high speeds, at ridiculous depths, doing the most incredible things, back flips and victory rolls. Then they come back and present you the Jekyll-and-Hyde thing.

"To get that message out to people, that there are animals on the move the whole time on this planet, in such striking images, is a really impressive job."