All mammals are linked by a common beginning: a pregnancy.
The Asian elephant fetus (depicted here) is unique for its 22-month gestation period, the longest pregnancy of all mammals.
In its upcoming television feature In the Womb: Animals, National Geographic shows how three different mammals begin their lives inside the womb. The two-hour program, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. PST on the National Geographic Channel, charts the fetal development of an elephant, dog and dolphin with the use of high-tech ultrasound imagery hardly seen outside a zoologist's office, along with use of models and visual effects techniques.
To create the program, scientists used advanced ultrasound technology, called 4D (for four dimensions), to capture three-dimensional images of the animals inside the womb. Unlike traditional ultrasound, the 4D images depict the length, width and depth of the fetus in multiple real-time shots over a period of time. The effect is that of a motion picture, hence "4D."
To cast a realistic portrait of the animals in utero, the program's visual effects artists developed models of the animals, first in clay then in silicone, based on the ultrasound imagery. The gallery's six images are silicone models of the animals derived from what zoologists and scientists might see in the ultrasound imagery.
Photo by Pioneer Productions
