Jack Ashby

So it's kind of a mammal-watching dream here.

A sloth bear, right.

I have, but it's one of the most frustrating encounters I've ever experienced because all I could see was the pinpricks of its eyes.

We could hear it feeding on fruit.

We could hear it snuffling around.

And in the very, very limits of our torch beam, we just got this reflection back of eyes and we were whisked away by our guide.

Why is that?

because they are probably one of the most dangerous mammals on Earth.

Their claws are maybe 10 centimetres long for smashing into ant hills and termite mounds, and they are very vicious.

And so when we're walking around at night and stumble across a feeding sloth bear, we don't want to get too close.

But they're so adorable.

That's what Balu from the Jungle Book is based on, sloth bear.

Yeah, they'll just take your face off.

How did you get to see one?

Snow leopards had been, after platypuses and echidnas and wombats had kind of...

I managed to see them and see them regularly.

Snow leopards were at the top of the list, but never realistically thought it was possible.

But then one day, um, a friend again, Toby Nolan, who he's a, he works with, um, natural history filmmaker.

He said, I've got it.

I've got the place and I've got the hookup where we can go, which is Spiti Valley in, in India.