An exploration of Australia’s mesmerising wildlife and how they have adapted to survive in the human environment, including a dancing peacock spider in a suburban garden.
Often referred to as the gray ghost or ghost of the mountains, this animal's rarity and elusiveness was legendary. In the past, it was known as the ounce, but today we've settled on the name snow leopard.
2/7 • The Secret Lives of Big Cats • 2019 • Nature
There is no greater test for life than winter, as temperatures plummet to 70 below and winds reach 200kph. Darkness and ice extend across the polar regions and only a few remarkable survivors gamble on remaining. We join a female polar bear trekking into the Arctic mountains to give birth as the first blizzards arrive. Out on the frozen ocean, the entire world's population of spectacled eider ducks brave the winter in a giant ice hole kept open by ferocious currents. Arctic forests transform into a wonderland of frost and snow - the scene of a desperate and bloody battle between wolf and bison, but also where a remarkable alliance between raven and wolverine is made. Beneath the snow lies a magical world of winter survivors. Here tiny voles dodge the clutches of the great grey owl, but cannot escape the ultimate under-show predator - the least weasel. Midwinter and a male polar bear wanders alone across the dark, empty icescape. Below the snow, polar bear cubs begin life in an icy den while fantastical auroras light the night skies above. In Antarctica, we join male emperor penguins in their darkest hour, battling to protect precious eggs from fierce polar storms. Weddell seals escape to a hidden world of jewel-coloured corals and alien-looking creatures but frozen devastation follows as sinister ice stalactites reach down with deadly effect.
5/7 • Frozen Planet • 2011 • Nature
Picture the last two hundred years without the publication of Darwin's "On The Origin of Species" -- how might the scientific conversation have developed? What were the influences in Victorian England during Darwin's youth, and how tenuous was his opportunity for sailing on the Beagle's voyage?
S1E13 • Butterfly Effect • 2016 • Nature
India is a vast land of seasonal extremes. Monsoon rains flood the land and make it green but once they are gone, heat and drought builds. It is a challenge for the animals but it also fosters an amazing variety of landscapes filled with diverse life. From semi-aquatic rhinos to desert lions, India's dynamic lands are full of surprises. It also attracts spectacular visitors from afar like the huge flocks of demoiselle cranes.
Part 1 • Hidden India • 2016 • Nature
The penultimate instalment investigates the primates, whose defining characteristics are forward-facing eyes for judging distance, and gripping hands with which to grasp branches, manipulate food and groom one another. The programme begins in Madagascar, home to the lemurs, of which there are some 20 different types. Two examples are the sifaka, which is a specialised jumper, and the indri, which has a well-developed voice. Away from Madagascar, the only lemur relatives to have survived are nocturnal, such as the bushbaby, the potto and the loris. The others were supplanted by the monkeys and a primitive species that still exists is the smallest, the marmoset. However, Attenborough selects the squirrel monkey as being typical of the group. Howler monkeys demonstrate why they are so named their chorus is said to the loudest of any mammal and their prehensile tails illustrate their agility.
12/13 • Life on Earth • 1979 • Nature
The first jaguar scientists struggled to go anywhere near their subjects. But times have changed. There are now a couple of places in the world where seeing a wild jaguar is a possibility rather than a dream.
6/7 • The Secret Lives of Big Cats • 2019 • Nature
