Spring is late this year, and when it finally arrives, the race is on to find a mate and start a family. Black bears and beavers in the west, wood frogs in the south and 20,000 gannets in the east all have one thing on their minds.
Follow the adventures of the filmmakers behind "Big Pacific". This "Making Of" special explores the highlights and challenges of wildlife filmmaking.
5/5 • Big Pacific • 2017 • Nature
The riverbeds that carve their way through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park offer a tantalizing promise of life, as well as a fierce test of survival. Explore the hidden lifelines that create a fragile link for the creatures that inhabit this unwelcoming wilderness.
5/9 • Great Parks of Africa • 2017 • Nature
No two islands in the Galapagos are the same. The imperceptible drift of a continental plate keeps each island biologically isolated. David Attenborough explores this evolutionary crucible, encountering tortoises that weigh up to half a tonne, finches that use tools and lizards that communicate using press-ups; for Darwin, this was all evidence for his theory of evolution. We see the final footage of the world famous tortoise fondly known as Lonesome George, the last survivor of his species. David Attenborough was the last person to have ever filmed with him. Darwin’s famous visit had a downside – the arrival of man. David investigates the impact we’ve had in these islands, as our influence is a double-edged sword. We’ve disrupted the natural balance but he also believes Darwin would be thrilled with the advances we have made in science. We’re also now uncovering evidence that evolution is more rapid than Darwin could ever have imagined. Whatever wonders the Galapagos Islands hold today, they are only a hint of what awaits them in the future.
3/4 • Galapagos with David Attenborough • 2010 • Nature
Bat populations are plummeting from a seemingly unstoppable fungal infection. Meanwhile, northern flying squirrels are being crowded out by their southern cousins. Learn about the life-or-death challenges faced by key wildlife in two of the Great Lakes region's most delicate ecosystems.
7/8 • Great Lakes Wild • 2017 • Nature
A fascinating look at the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that has never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially-designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The ants instantly begin to forage, farm, mine and build. Within weeks, the colony has established everything from nurseries to gardens to graveyards. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. This unique project reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.
2013 • Nature
Focuses on our skin, our armpits, belly buttons.We are not alone. We are home to a trillion cells that are not our own, but are very much the making of us. Both on us and inside us live bacteria, viruses, protozoans, fungi, worms, lice and mites that we carry throughout our lives. To say that we are in a minority in our own body is an understatement. Our ‘private wildlife’ keeps us healthy, sometimes makes us ill and even changes our behavior.
1/2 • Life on Us • 2014 • Nature
