Deserts are getting even hotter, drier and bigger, yet a host of remarkable animals still survive in the harshest of conditions, including cunning hyenas, pint-sized meerkats and sand-dwelling spiders.
In the grasslands, animals endure freezes, fires, floods, and droughts; bull elephants clash in mating battles; cheetahs and gazelles engage in a predator-and-prey dance in the Kenyan savanna; bison battle a blizzard while being pursued by wolves.
2019 • Nature
There are 200 million insects for each of us. They are the most successful animal group ever. Their key is an armoured covering that takes on almost any shape. Darwin's stag beetle fights in the tree tops with huge curved jaws. The camera flies with millions of monarch butterflies which migrate 2000 miles, navigating by the sun. Super slow motion shows a bombardier beetle firing boiling liquid at enemies through a rotating nozzle. A honey bee army stings a raiding bear into submission. Grass cutter ants march like a Roman army, harvesting grass they cannot actually eat. They cultivate a fungus that breaks the grass down for them. Their giant colony is the closest thing in nature to the complexity of a human city.
With every step towards the summit of the mighty Drakensberg, new species of exotic animals showcase the attributes that enable them to endure their harsh mountain home. Meet the sungazer, the intriguingly named suicide lizard, and other reptiles that inhabit South Africa's high-altitude terrain.
1/6 • Extreme Africa • 2017 • Nature
The annual Serengeti wildebeest migration is a journey so fraught with peril, it's a wonder they set off at all. For wildlife expert Jean du Plessis, it's a unique chance to see how a new generation of calves, born just months ago, will fare among the predatorial lions and crocodiles that await them.
2/5 • Nomads of the Serengeti • 2018 • Nature
This instalment looks at the ways in which plants procreate. Examining how plants use brightly coloured flowers and sweet scents to lure animals to them so they can spread their seeds to other flowers.
3/6 • Private Life of Plants • 1995 • Nature
North Atlantic bowhead whales have the largest mouths of any living creature and can live up to 200 years. In fact, some still carry harpoon fragments from a century ago. Join two intrepid Inuit tribesmen as they venture into the harsh Arctic region known as Ninginganiq to witness a gathering of these mysterious and awe-inspiring giants.
5/8 • Arctic Secrets • 2015 • Nature
Left to their own devices, birds have reached almost all ends of the Earth - still, humans can do many things to help their feathered friends.
S1E10 • The Life of Birds • 1998 • Nature
