Age of Humankind • 2024 • episode "S1E5" • Fateful Planet

58:54

Sophie looks at one skill in particular that seems to give humans an advantage over all other animals - our superior talent for language. She explores what language really is, and how close other animals come to having it. She considers the world of primates and the theory that some apes may communicate through sign language, and reveals how, even in the womb, humans start to practise making the mouth movements needed for speech. But language isn't just a power to combine words. Professor Scott explores how we convey information through the tone of voice, our accents and the pace and pitch of our speech. But in a world when we regularly talk to computers, she also shows why scientists need to develop machines that can understand the subtleties of our speech. Finally, she looks at language in this digital age and explores the role that emojis play.

S1E3 • Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Language of Life • 2017 • Nature

52:58

Uncover the variety of activity, both human and natural, that occurs on the slopes of active volcanoes. Take a terrifying descent into the crater of one of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes alive today. James Naughton narrates.

PBS Nature • 2019 • Nature

48:37

We look at the ways in which plants have adapted to survive in the harshest climates on Earth. Whether in the driest, hottest deserts or the coldest Arctic wastes, plants have come up with some ingenious ways of surviving, including eating animals and actually caring for their offspring.

S1E6 • Private Life of Plants • 1995 • Nature

57:52

The ways in which wild animals have adapted to survive in human population centres, from cobras in India hunting in houses, to macaques in Bali stealing mobile phones to barter with temple staff in return for food. Rhinos walk through the streets of Sauraha, Nepal, while in Australia, tawny frogmouths find streetlights useful in catching prey, but have to avoid being eaten by household cats.

S1E7 • Planet Earth III • 2023 • Nature

58:30

Africa's largest herd of elephants and a fearless pride of young lions come face to face in an epic fight for survival. Rarely do their worlds collide, until now. This is no chance conflict; nature has played its part. Drought has weakened the elephants, and the lions are desperately hungry. The dawn of the giant killers has arrived.

Natural World • 2014 • Nature

45:04

The Great Butterfly Hunt tells the story of incredible journeys. The first is that of the remarkable Monarch migration, which is the longest insect migration on Earth, is. The second story is that of Fred Urquhart, the determined Canadian scientist who spent 40 years trying to discover exactly where the butterflies mysteriously disappeared when they flew south for the winter. The Great Butterfly Hunt is a beautiful and colourful one-hour program that combines the spectacular visuals from Flight of the Butterflies with the production’s behind-the-scenes look at how such films get made. On Thursday, January 2, when many Canadians will be groaning about the long grey winter ahead, The Great Butterfly Hunt will remind audiences of the promise of spring. And, at a time when the monarch population is in rapid decline, viewers will have an opportunity to watch one of Nature’s most dramatic feats unfold.

S53E10 • The Nature of Things • 2014 • Nature