How all animal architects aim to keep both the elements and intruders at bay through features that include defensive moats.
For animals, there is no greater challenge than surviving the vulnerable first years of life. This episode demonstrates that nature's solutions are as varied as those in human society.
1990 • Nature
The search for food in the animal world. With leaves defended by poisons and seeds clad in thorns, animals fight back in very innovative ways.
1990 • Nature
Life-and-death duels are fought daily in the wild: an orchid turns out to be a predator, killer whales ambush sea lions and chimps pursue colobus monkeys.
1990 • Nature
How animals ranging from albatrosses to ants can navigate themselves over long distances.
1990 • Nature
How all animal architects aim to keep both the elements and intruders at bay through features that include defensive moats.
1990 • Nature
Examining some of the weird relationships that develop between species, from birds that relieve clients of hangers-on to hermit crabs that enlist stinging anemones to repel octopuses.
1990 • Nature
From vampire bats to baboons, Sir David Attenborough investigates the importance of recognising friends and respecting the power of rivals throughout the animal kingdom.
1990 • Nature
From the love songs of fish to the flashes of millions of tiny beetles, Sir David Attenborough examines methods of communication used by animals.
1990 • Nature
A look at the many and varied ways in which animals procreate in order to ensure that their genes are passed on to the next generation.
1990 • Nature
The inside of a termite mound proved especially challenging for Attenborough: it was so cramped that he could only face in one direction. He therefore had to slowly crawl backwards out of shot when performing re-takes.
1990 • Nature
In Taiji, Japan, local fishermen hide a gruesome secret: the capture and slaughter of dolphins. Activist Ric O'Barry, who trained dolphins for the "Flipper" TV series, joins forces with filmmaker Louis Psihoyos and the Ocean Preservation Society to expose the brutal practice, risking life and limb in the process.
2009 • Nature
World-leading dinosaur expert Susie Maidment is in the museum basement trying to piece together the skeleton of the first Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. It's a priceless specimen but somehow the bones have got muddled up with another dinosaur and it's up to Susie to work out if any of the bits are missing. The experts inspect Guy the gorilla, who was a London Zoo favourite for decades and now sits fully preserved in his own glass case, and the museum launches an ambitious project to capture a sample of every living bug in the UK today.
S1E3 • Natural History Museum: World of Wonder • 2021 • Nature
It may take two to make a baby - but not necessarily two to bring it up. So what makes a parent decide to stay or go? Especially if that parent is a dad. From the California mouse mother who has to kickstart her partner's paternal instincts, to Adelie penguin parents who can't leave their eggs alone for five minutes; from cheetah mums practicing promiscuity to keep the dads on side, to flamingo parents both producing milk for their young. We see just how far these incredible parents go in order to protect and nurture as many offspring as possible through to adulthood.
2/3 • Animal Super Parents • 2015 • 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
There is plenty of food in the Pacific Ocean, but it is the challenge of finding that food that drives all life in the Pacific. In the voracious Pacific we meet a destructive army of mouths, a killer with a hundred mouths and the biggest mouth in the ocean.
3/5 • Big Pacific • 2017 • Nature
For spotted hyenas, Luangwa Valley is full of threats, including predatory lions, furtive leopards, and even resentful relatives. Meet Spotty, the youngest daughter of an alpha female hyena. She's the heir apparent to the powerful Chimbwe clan, but she'll need to assert herself if she's to assume her rightful place as matriarch-in-waiting. Will she survive to adulthood and take on the throne?
S2E6 • Africa's Hunters • 2018 • Nature