Shifting Sands • 2013 • episode "3/3" • Wild Arabia

50:58

During summer, the Atlantic coast of the northeastern United States attracts huge amounts of fish and wildlife. Particularly interesting are the basking sharks, the world’s second-largest fish, and the leatherback sea turtles, which weigh one ton and are the world’s largest reptile.

6/6 • Wildlife • 2017 • Nature

48:03

The Luangwa Valley in Zambia experiences one of the toughest dry seasons imaginable. Seven months with no rain and spiralling temperatures. And with this year’s El Nino conditions the drought is threatening to be even more intense than usual.

1/3 • The Big Dry • 2017 • Nature

54:27

This episode details the relationship between flowers and insects. There are some one million classified species of insect, and two or three times as many that are yet to be labelled. Around 300 million years ago, plants began to enlist insects to help with their reproduction, and they did so with flowers. Although the magnolia, for instance, contains male and female cells, pollination from another plant is preferable as it ensures greater variation and thus evolution. Flowers advertise themselves by either scent or display. Some evolved to produce sweet-smelling nectar and in turn, several insects developed their mouth parts into feeding tubes in order to reach it.

4/13 • Life on Earth • 1979 • Nature

48:01

At the southern tip of Africa, where two oceans collide, the flat-topped Table Mountain stands guard over a diverse metropolis of cultures and people. Take flight over the Western Cape and discover the breathtaking wonder of this province from above.

4/6 • Aerial Africa • 2017 • Nature

58:34

The second episode of Andrew Marr's exploration of Darwin explores the impact of Darwin’s ideas on society and politics. Darwin’s first port of call on the Beagle was Salvador in Brazil – then a major port for the international slave trade. His experience there confirmed his enlightenment views of liberty and progress and his hatred of slavery. But his theory of evolution that began to take root on that epic voyage would describe a world of conflict, ruthless competition and struggle. It would be taken up and abused by some of the most reactionary movements of the late-19th and 20th centuries. The phrase “survival of the fittest” would help propel Darwin’s theory as a scientific justification for eugenics, enforced sterilisation and genocide. But after the Second World War, Darwin’s theory finds redemption in the United Nations statement on race which confirms Darwin’s long-held view that all humans are members of the same race and deserving of equal treatment. This is further reinforced in the extraordinary work of a small Jewish community in New York who used DNA testing and a voluntary and anonymous form of selective breeding to eliminate a debilitating disease from the Jewish community. DNA testing is the final frontier of Darwin’s Dangerous idea. But the lessons from history suggest that the new choices we face about what to do with the knowledge Darwin has given us when combined with genetics and DNA testing remains a major social and political challenge.

2/3 • Darwin's Dangerous Idea • 2009 • Nature

44:54

Wetland Animals dives into the swamps, rivers and flood plains of Florida's Everglades, Botswana's Okavango Delta, Kakadu National Park in Australia, the Amazon and more. Meet deadly crocodiles, alligators and piranhas, wading elephants, hippopotamus and flamingo, and unlikely swimmers such as the manatee and platypus.

2/6 • World's Greatest Animal Encounters • 2020 • Nature