Mexico Part II • 2019 • Undiscovered Worlds with Steve Backshall

57:59

Jungles are home to 80% of all species but they cover just 2% of the planet. When animals in these crowded forests want to mate, the challenge is how to stand out from the crowd.

S1E3 • The Mating Game • 2021 • Nature

58:01

With a million species at risk of extinction, Sir David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, threatening food and water security, undermining our ability to control our climate and even putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases. Extinction is now happening up to 100 times faster than the natural evolutionary rate, but the issue is about more than the loss of individual species. Everything in the natural world is connected in networks that support the whole of life on earth, including us, and we are losing many of the benefits that nature provides to us. The loss of insects is threatening the pollination of crops, while the loss of biodiversity in the soil also threatens plants growth. Plants underpin many of the things that we need, and yet one in four is now threatened with extinction. Last year, a UN report identified the key drivers of biodiversity loss, including overfishing, climate change and pollution. But the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss is the destruction of natural habitats. Seventy-five per cent of Earth's land surface (where not covered by ice) has been changed by humans, much of it for agriculture, and as consumers we may unwittingly be contributing towards the loss of species through what we buy in the supermarket. Our destructive relationship with the natural world isn’t just putting the ecosystems that we rely on at risk. Human activities like the trade in animals and the destruction of habitats drive the emergence of diseases. Disease ecologists believe that if we continue on this pathway, this year’s pandemic will not be a one-off event.

2020 • Nature

73:54

Travel the the globe to experience the vital connection between humans, animals, and our planet through stunning, rarely before seen footage which exposes the effects that deforestation have had on endangered species.

2022 • Nature

14:12

The Cretaceous was the golden age on ancient Earth. Magnificent and terrifying dinosaurs like Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus ruled the land. But they were all wiped out in an instant by one of the most powerful impacts our Earth has ever endured -- a collision with an asteroid!

S1E3 • Ancient Earth • 2017 • Nature

54:21

This programme surveys mammal herbivores and their predators. The herbivores began to populate the forests when the dinosaurs disappeared, and many took to gathering food at night. To prepare for winter, some store it in vast quantities, some hibernate and others make do as best they can. However, the carnivores joined them, and when a drying climate triggered the spread of grass, they followed their prey out on to the plains. Grass is not easily digestible and most animals that eat it have to regurgitate it and chew the cud. Out in the open, the leaf-eaters had to develop means of protection.

11/13 • Life on Earth • 1979 • Nature

50:31

Left to fend for themselves until they find their footing, baby sea turtles, elephant seal pups, pumas and crabs bravely trek towards adolescence.

S2E3 • Our Planet • 2023 • Nature