The series was first conceived by Claudia Lloyd, head of animation at the London-based Tiger Aspect Productions, while travelling through Africa. The first three episodes premiered on the BBC website in early February 2010. The distribution rights have been bought by Entertainment Rights (which in 2009 merged with Classic Media, then in 2012 it was acquired by DreamWorks Animation and renamed into DreamWorks Classics, and ultimately became the property of Universal Television in 2016).