Austrian pubcaster ORF will coproduce a pair of wildlife films with factual specialist Earth Touch.
These are 50-minute one-offs Monster Frog and Black Mamba – Kiss of Death.
The former will look at the strangest frogs from around the modern world, including western Africa’s Goliath, while investigating the existence of Beelzebufo, a 70 million-year-old Devil toad that weighed around six kilograms.
Black Mamba will follow snake expert Simon Keyes as he recalls instances of human/mamba interaction, while high-tech cameras capture the deadly reptiles in their natural habitats.
“Black Mamba and Monster Frog will combine amazement, suspense, a touch of humour and the occasional shiver – a great combination for our Universum audience at home, and for our regional broadcaster clients,” said Andrew Solomon, head of ORF’s Univesum doc strand.