Extrasensory Perception • episode "1/6" • Supernatural: The Unseen Powers of Animals

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.

3/3 • Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: The Language of Life • 2017 • Nature

43:58

Pouring out of Lake Victoria, the Nile bursts into life, growing vast with sandy banks and mighty rapids. Under the scorching sun, elephant herds leave the savannah to drink and bathe in the river.

2/3 • Wild Nile • 2014 • Nature

58:08

Grasslands cover one quarter of all land and support the vast gatherings of wildlife, but to survive here animals must endure the most hostile seasonal changes on the planet. From Asia's bizarre-looking Saiga antelope to the giant anteaters of Brazil, grassland animals have adapted in extraordinary ways to cope with these extremes. In the flooded Okavango, lions take on formidable buffalo in epic battles, on the savannah bee-eaters take advantage of elephants to help catch insects and, on the freezing northern tundra, caribou embark on great migrations shadowed by hungry Arctic wolves.

5/6 • Planet Earth II • 2016 • Nature

57:07

Andrew Scott narrates a special programme which celebrates winter and explores how animals and plants rise to the challenges it brings. With their world encased in snow and ice, animals must find the most inventive ways to survive and even benefit from the cold. Caribou become ice road travellers as it gets slippery underfoot, stoats make their own fur bedding, and snow monkeys find a warm bath. Emperor penguins are built for the cold weather, but even they must find their own tricks to endure the world's most savage winter.

3/4 • Earth's Seasonal Secrets • 2016 • Nature

47:59

Discover how the colossal fury of water and ice have shaped and moulded Europe over thousands of years.

1/3 • Birth of Europe • 2011 • Nature

49:11

Laying eggs and keeping nests are two things that keep birds grounded.

S1E8 • The Life of Birds • 1998 • Nature