Jungles • 2019 • episode "S1E4" • Hostile Planet

48:40

A look at the survival techniques of creatures that endure the harsh conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic.

S1E4 • Blue Planet I • 2001 • Nature

58:53

For 10,000 years or more, humans created new plant varieties for food by trial and error and a touch of serendipity. Then 150 years ago, a new era began. Pioneer botanists unlocked the patterns found in different types of plants and opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics. They discovered what controlled the random colours of snapdragon petals and the strange colours found in wild maize. This was vital information. Some botanists even gave their lives to protect their collection of seeds. American wheat farmer Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel peace prize after he bred a new strain of wheat that lifted millions of people around the world out of starvation. Today, botanists believe advances in plant genetics hold the key to feeding the world's growing population.

S1E3 • Botany: A Blooming History • 2011 • Nature

96:03

The Mediterranean. Because people have been traveling there for thousands of years, it is believed to be without secrets. And yet, far below its surface, lie vast unexplored territories, luxurious gardens worthy of the finest tropical coral reefs. These natural wonders are inaccessible to the traditional diver, in a twilight zone, between 60 and 120 m, where there’s less than 1% of sunlight. If diving at such depths is always a challenge, staying there is a fantasy, a utopia that becomes reality in Planet Mediterranean. In the tradition of Commander Cousteau and his houses under the sea, the team of diver-photographer Laurent Ballesta is undertaking a new world-record-setting mission in complete freedom and without time limit.

2020 • Nature

49:00

Emus are unique: Native only to Australia, they're the second largest bird in the world and can trace their lineage back to the dinosaurs. When males incubate their eggs, they don't eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom until the job is done. Follow the fascinating life of this flightless bird as it stubbornly defies the odds by doing things its own way.

S1E2 • Wild Birds of Australia • 2018 • Nature

21:48

Watching the fascinating display of leafcutter ants at the Natural History Museum in London is one of my favourite ways to while away a few hours, but David Attenborough is operating on a much grander scale here in the last in the series. In Argentina he observes some cousins of the leafcutters who are part of a community so vast it spans an entire continent. It’s one of the mandible-dropping facts in a look at one of the key inventions of arthropods: colonies. From termites and honey bees to the leafcutters, it seems that if you want to get ahead, you move to the big city.

6 • Micro Monsters with David Attenborough • 2013 • Nature

48:45

Plants amazingly dominate this green world by employing poisons, recruiting defensive armies, feeding off the dead and using animals for pollination and seed dispersal. For predators this world presents exceptional challenges, not only in finding prey in such a tangled place, but in how to deal with the toxins that so many animals and plants are laced with.

S1E5 • Wild Africa • 2001 • Nature