In episode three, Fortey looks at the Ice Age. 2.8 million years ago - triggered by slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun and shifts in its ocean currents - the world began to cool. Within a few thousand years much of the planet was shrouded in a dense cloak of ice that would come and go until only 10,000 years ago. We call this age of ice - the Pleistocene Age - and it transformed the hierarchy of nature. This is the story of how a few specialist species that evolved to live in the biting cold survived into the present day.
Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.
Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?
BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v
ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116
With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.
It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct and there have been times when life's hold on Earth has been so precarious it seems it hangs on by a thread. This series focuses on the survivors - the old-timers - whose biographies stretch back millions of years and who show how it is possible to survive a mass extinction event which wipes out nearly all of its neighbours. The Natural History Museum's Professor Richard Fortey discovers what allows the very few to carry on going - perhaps not for ever, but certainly far beyond the life expectancy of normal species. What makes a survivor when all around drop like flies? In this episode Professor Fortey focuses on a series of cataclysms over a million year period, 250 million years ago
2012 • Nature
Professor Fortey travels across the globe to find the survivors of the most dramatic of these obstacles - the mass extinction events. In episode two, Fortey focuses on the 'KT boundary'. 65 million years ago, a 10 km diameter asteroid collided with the Earth and saw the end of the long reign of the dinosaurs. He investigates the lucky breaks and evolutionary adaptations that allowed some species to survive the disastrous end of the Cretaceous Age when these giants did not
2012 • Nature
In episode three, Fortey looks at the Ice Age. 2.8 million years ago - triggered by slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun and shifts in its ocean currents - the world began to cool. Within a few thousand years much of the planet was shrouded in a dense cloak of ice that would come and go until only 10,000 years ago. We call this age of ice - the Pleistocene Age - and it transformed the hierarchy of nature. This is the story of how a few specialist species that evolved to live in the biting cold survived into the present day.
2012 • Nature
Journey from the lava ramparts to its fiery heart, we'll discover how this place became one of the most important areas of biodiversity in the world
S1E4 • Eden Untamed Planet • 2021 • Nature
For nearly 4 billion years, the continents of Earth were a lifeless wasteland. But beneath the sea, our planet was teeming with life. Many strange creatures evolved, from eel-like conodonts to voracious cephalopods, until nearly all life was wiped out in our planet’s first mass extinction.
S1E1 • Ancient Oceans • 2019 • Nature
In Tokyo, there are unapproachable "lost islands" where unspoiled environs cradle rich wildlife. Sofugan is a 100-meter-high solitary rock pillar standing in the ocean 650km south of the capital city's center. Remote and difficult to access, it had never been explored in detail. A group of scientists and engineers set out on a two-year survey. This program records their journey, along with the creatures they discover - from unusual species amongst the rugged rocks to mysterious marine life in the surrounding deep sea.
2019 • Nature
Evolution is often considered a complex and controversial topic but it's actually a very simple concept to understand. Watch this short animation to see how evolution works.
Concludes with a look at the work of people striving to protect Asia's endangered wildlife, and what routes conservation could take in the future. In Japan, scientists take pregnant sharks, killed accidentally in fishing nets, and rescue their unborn young in an incubating system that simulates a womb. The programme also visits a village that used to be a hotbed of poaching and is now a centre for bird tourism.
While all life began in the oceans, human beings now rely on technology to navigate the seven seas - left to our own devices; we're like the proverbial fish out of water. Only the other way around.
S1E8 • Animal Super Senses • 2020 • Nature