Mother's Darlings • 2016 • episode "S1E2" • Baby Animals

Category: Nature

For many animals, from lemurs to hummingbirds, the maternal bond is one of the strongest forces in nature. Not only do mothers carry their young everywhere, feed them, and help teach them essential life skills, they're also their primary source of comfort and security.

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Baby Animals • 2016 • 13 episodes •

Mini Giants

Gorillas, rhinos, and elephants, three of nature's largest animals, deliver enormous babies. But the immense size of these newborns stands in stark contrast to their vulnerability. Everything from feeding to protection against predators to learning essential life skills falls on one devoted parent: their mothers.

2016 • Nature

Mother's Darlings

Mother's Darlings

For many animals, from lemurs to hummingbirds, the maternal bond is one of the strongest forces in nature. Not only do mothers carry their young everywhere, feed them, and help teach them essential life skills, they're also their primary source of comfort and security.

2016 • Nature

The More the Merrier

The More the Merrier

Some species need to be part of a group to survive--more so when they're in their infancy and taking their first, uncertain steps into the world. Join in the rough-and-tumble lives of black bear cubs, playful meerkat pups, and adorable fur seals.

2016 • Nature

Survival Lessons

Survival Lessons

When you're a baby zebra, muskox, or pronghorn, there is no shortage of predators eyeing you as their next meal. From learning defensive herding to early sprinting skills, these vulnerable newborns hit the ground running with keen survival instincts.

2016 • Nature

Little Hunters

They might be young and vulnerable, but every second of these baby animals' lives is a training ground, preparing them for their destiny as an elite predator. Watch as young lions, coyotes, cheetahs, and foxes engage in the kind of play that prepares them for life at the top of the food chain.

2016 • Nature

Family Ties

Despite being born with survival instincts, some baby animals need extra help to thrive in their environment. Watch as hamadryas baboons, gentoo penguins, emperor tamarins, and capybaras all work as a family to help raise the next generation.

2016 • Nature

Raising Babies

Meet Hope, an orphaned baby moose being raised by a goat. Nearby, watch three unruly baby raccoons cause havoc between meal times. These are some of the adorable inhabitants of Park Omega, Quebec--a place where threatened animals get a second chance.

2016 • Nature

Surrogate Families

Surrogate Families

Losing a parent in the wild can be deadly for young animals, but these orphans got lucky when conservationists stepped in. Meet clouded leopard cub sisters taken in by the Nashville Zoo, a baby wombat raised in an artificial pouch at Tasmania's Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, and more.

2016 • Nature

Herd Mentality

For many animals, group living offers protection, better food, and more social opportunities. For their young, it's a valuable education. From flamboyant flamingo mating dances, to elephant calves growing up under the watchful eye of the group matriarch, peer into some of nature's most tight-knit social groups.

2016 • Nature

Endangered Species

Endangered Species

For many endangered baby animals, the right zoo can mean hope for the entire species. Watch an endangered red panda cub get a warm welcome at Cornwall's Newquay Zoo, a rare baby macaque receive care from parents and keepers alike at the Dudley Zoological Gardens, and more.

2016 • Nature

Joined at the Hip

Joined at the Hip

To say some baby animals are dependent on their parents is an understatement. At Caversham Wildlife Park in Australia, a koala joey can always be found clinging to its mom's body, and Asian small-clawed otter pups share a lifetime family bond. Enjoy a heart-warming look at mother-baby animal relationships.

2016 • Nature

Offbeat Adaptations

Offbeat Adaptations

What's appealing about a nosy tapir with an appetite for its own poop? How about a baby gelada that crawls awkwardly on its behind? The adaptations these baby animals employ may seem strange, but they're vital to their growth and survival. Join us as we cozy up to some of nature's most peculiar young ones.

2016 • Nature

Primate Families

Primate Families

From crowned lemurs to Bornean orangutans, the higher we move up the primate family tree, the closer their behavior mimics our own-especially when it comes to family and raising young. Peer into the astonishing adaptations that highlight the lengths primates will go to preserve and build family bonds.

2016 • Nature

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Residents

The world's cities are growing at a faster rate than any other habitat on the planet. And while most of us imagine them to be concrete jungles devoid of nature, for animals of all shapes and sizes they are just a new habitat filled with new and surprising opportunity. With similar needs to humans, these wild animals face similar challenges, and like us, if they play their cards right, they can find everything they need in the city. With the natural world shrinking, and our urban centres continuing to grow, adapting to life in the city has never been more important. This first episode examines what it takes for these wild residents to thrive in the newest and fastest changing habitat on the planet. From smooth-coated otters at home in Singapore and huge colonies of megabats in Adelaide to reticulated pythons living on the streets of Bangkok, experience our cities through fresh eyes - the eyes of the animals that live in them, and discover a wilder side to a world we think we know.

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Snows of Kilimanjaro

Snows of Kilimanjaro

Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain and volcano in the world. Join wildlife expert Jean du Plessis as he makes the perilous summit climb through its five vastly different climates to understand how quickly its famed glaciers are melting.

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A Year in the Wild

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Over one dramatic year, film crews cope with extreme weather, hungry predators, stormy seas, high altitudes and baking sun as they capture the story of life in one of the wildest places on Earth.

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What Is Life? Is Death Real?

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So what is the difference between you and a rock? This seems like an easy, even stupid question. But even the smartest people on earth have no idea where to draw the line between living and dead things.