Talking to Strangers • 1990 • episode "10/12" • Trials of Life

58:58

Luminous beings, creatures with their own internal light, enchant and astonish us. Anyone who has seen a firefly or a glow-worm cannot help but fall under their spell. The sea at night sparkles as millions of luminous plankton reveal the shapes of dolphins in a truly magical light show. But why do animals produce living light? For centuries we could only marvel at the beauty and the mystery, but now for the first time we can begin to reveal the amazing truth about living lights. It has taken three crucial technological breakthroughs. Firstly, colour cameras have improved dramatically; they are now over 4,000 times more sensitive than a decade ago. The cameras are so sensitive they are revealing startling discoveries that until now we could not see. Secondly, scientists have entered the unknown world of the boundless deep open ocean with the help of a new generation of submersibles and robots. Thirdly, Ammonite Films have invented and built a series of unique cameras that can capture the faintest ephemeral glow of luminous life. By combining these three innovations, this film shows creatures and behaviours never seen before. Sir David Attenborough is our guide as we venture into a new hitherto unseen world. Bioluminescence is everywhere: in the soil, on the land and throughout the oceans. Join Sir David Attenborough and a team of the world's leading scientists and deep sea explorers on a quest to reveal the secrets of living lights.

2016 • Nature

57:57

This film explores why it pays to work as a team as it reveals some of the most captivating and awe-inspiring group parenting stories from the animal world. For most group-living species, living together means dividing the labour. From elephants taking part in hostage negotiations for their babies to banded mongoose all giving birth on the same day, female lions forming a sisterhood to see off interloping males and musk oxen rallying together to defend their calves from hungry wolves... it's truly amazing what some animal parents are prepared to do for the next generation!

3/3 • Animal Super Parents • 2015 • Nature

58:36

In the vast South Atlantic, huge pods of dolphins, massive penguin colonies and the largest gathering of marine mammals on earth pack chains of extraordinary islands, created by powerful volcanic forces far below them. Nutrient-rich upwellings create profusions of life in some areas, whilst extreme isolation and abyssal depths host a world of bizarre creatures in others.

2/3 • Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth • 2015 • Nature

59:13

The world's biggest beasts have always captured the imagination. But whilst being big can have its advantages, it also comes with sizeable challenges. Take the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, whose huge appetite means it must take on prey ten times its weight, or the tallest animal of them all - the giraffe - who, with such a long neck, must control immense blood pressure. Nature's biggest beasts must go to extraordinary lengths to thrive. These are their epic survival stories!

Natural World • 2018 • Nature

59:09

Documentary series delving into a rarely seen South American wilderness, home to surprising creatures who survive in environments that range from the mighty Andes Mountains to Cape Horn. Part 3: Life on the Edge This is the story of an awe-inspiring coastline, 4000 miles long. From the cold, fearsome waters of Cape Horn, where brave rockhopper penguins overcome huge challenges to raise their young, to the far north, with huge elephant seals battling for position in the heat of the desert. Orcas ram-raid the beaches, grabbing seal pups to feed their young. People too gather the sea's bounty, but these shores are not for the faint-hearted.

3/3 • Patagonia: Earths Secret Paradise • 2015 • Nature

48:27

How animals ranging from albatrosses to ants can navigate themselves over long distances.

5/12 • Trials of Life • 1990 • Nature