Antarctica • 2011 • episode "Part 7" • The Magic of The Big Blue

46:40

In the first episode and for the first time ever, the programme compares the humble moggy with their big cat cousins, gaining surprising insights into the entire cat family. In Africa, lion whisperer Kevin Richardson proves how similar domestic pets are to the fearsome big cats and why there's more to feline communication than meets the eye. In the thick jungles of South East Asia, the series discovers which sabre-tooth wild cat has given tabbies their gravity defying climbing skills and in Namibia, shows how a strange looking cat called a caracal has given them the ability to jump over three metres and catch birds in flight, inspiring the phrase "put the cat amongst the pigeons". To truly understand the world’s most beloved purring pets, there needs to be an understanding of their wild relatives.

1/3 • The Story of Cats • 2016 • Nature

48:03

Nine miles off the coast of Oman, a zebra shark scans the ocean floor for crustaceans, while a menacing giant stingray floats by. Soon, night becomes day and new killers emerge, from toxic scorpion fish to crown-of-thorns starfish, both bringing coral devastation. Dive among these deadly marine carnivores.

1/5 • Arabian Seas • 2018 • Nature

33:04

Decades ago, Monterey Bay National Sanctuary was on the brink of ecological disaster. Today, it is a lush world of sandy sea floors and twisting seaweed jungles. Explore the home of 525 species of fish and 34 species of marine mammal, including the only species of sea lion with a growing population.

3/5 • Ocean Parks • 2015 • Nature

29:18

The third episode looks at the last generation of killer dinosaurs - carnivores that took killing to a new level. By the end of the cretaceous period - 75 millions years ago - these gigantic and specialised hunter-killers had spread throughout the globe. In the southern continents it was the powerful and muscular abelisaurids that reigned supreme but it was the famous tyrannosaurids (or tyrant dinosaurs) that dominated in the north. Whilst the northern daspletosaurus hunted in gangs, using its highly developed smell and hearing to take down opponents like the horned rhino-sized beast, chasmosaurus, in the Southern hemisphere the small-skulled majungasaurus reigned. And though the sharp toothed majungasaurus was an efficient killer of the much smaller feathered rahonavis that did not stop it from occasionally turning cannibal and hunting its own.

3/6 • Planet Dinosaur • 2011 • Nature

41:47

Slip through millennia-old caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. These spooky, labyrinth-like places were considered magical as early as the Mayan era. Plus you can hitch a ride with sucker fish, dodge gigantic ocean devil fish and be entranced by the dance of a majestic 6-metre long manta ray.

Part 6 • The Magic of The Big Blue • 2011 • Nature

49:10

The focus turns to the mastery of flight, from the science of gravity to the ability of birds to cover extremely long distances.

S1E2 • The Life of Birds • 1998 • Nature