Part 4 • 2021 • episode "S1E4" • Natural History Museum: World of Wonder

59:06

Stephen and Mark set out to discover how the lugubrious Amazonian manatee, a freshwater mammal, has survived the last two decades.

S1E1 • Last Chance to See • 2009 • Nature

58:09

Australia, a land cast adrift at the time of the dinosaurs. Isolated for millions of years, the weird and wonderful animals marooned here are like nowhere else on Earth. In its jungles a cassowary - one of the most dangerous birds in the world – stands six feet tall. Inland, kangaroos and wombats brave snowstorms and gum tree forests are filled with never-before-seen predators. In its red desert heart, reptiles drink through their skin and huge flocks of wild budgerigars swirl in search of water. On secret islands Tasmanian devils roam and offshore, thousands of sharks gather for a rare event.

S1E4 • Seven Worlds, One Planet • 2019 • Nature

28:14

Cheetahs are not your standard big cats, they differ from the others in many ways. First, cheetahs are daytime hunters with eyesight optimized for open landscape and distant prey. Second, They're possibly the fastest land animals that have ever lived.

S1E7 • The Secret Lives of Big Cats • 2019 • Nature

58:14

The series concludes by showcasing the work of scientists studying climate change to discover how exactly the environment is changing and its impact for all life on Earth. Glaciologist Alun Hubbard investigates Greenland's melting glaciers from within, while astronaut Jessica Meir describes witnessing forest fires across Europe from the international space station, and reflects on how changing weather patterns are interconnected.

S1E6 • Frozen Planet II narrated by Sir David Attenborough • 2022 • Nature

58:40

Life and Death explores the impact of Darwin’s ideas on our understanding of the meaning of extinction and the interconnections between all life on earth and the environment. Darwin learned many lessons from the giant fossils of extinct animals he found in Argentina and Chile. He eventually revealed to us the unpalatable truth that the logical conclusion to evolution is not perfection but extinction. The extinction of one species creates an environmental niche for new species to fill. Darwin’s theory also gives us vital knowledge we can use to help prolong the existence of our species by respecting the interconnections between all elements of the natural world and the environment. It’s a story in which Darwin’s ideas are taken up with great enthusiasm by his followers throughout the 20th century. But humanity misses one opportunity after another to acknowledge and reduce its destructive impact on the planet. As a result we have set in motion the sixth mass extinction of life on earth. And we are running out of time to do something about it by preserving ecological "hotspots" like certain rainforests which are some of the most productive cradles of evolution. This programme is a warning, but also a celebration, of the knowledge Charles Darwin gave us in his theory of evolution. It confirms that Darwin’s theory continues to inform our understanding of ourselves, our planet and the intricate interconnections between all life on earth.

S1E3 • Darwin's Dangerous Idea • 2009 • Nature

57:47

Enter the world of the lizard: from the chameleons, masters of the arboreal life to geckos tapping a code to plant-hopper insects and baby pygmy blue-tongued skinks huddling in their burrows long after birth. In the deserts are found some of the most bizarre lizards: baby Bushveld lizards mimicking acid-squirting beetles; the well-armoured and bizarrely spiky; thorny devils and the lizard kings - the Australian monitors - fast, intelligent and efficient hunters.

S1E3 • Life in Cold Blood • 2008 • Nature