The Northern Forests • 1984 • episode "3/12" The Living Planet

Category: Nature

Begins in northern Norway, 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Here, there is only just enough light for the pine trees to survive, but it is extremely cold during the winter. Pine cone seeds provide one of the few foods available at this time of year, and large herbivores such as the moose must also rely on their fat reserves.

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The Living Planet • 1984 • 12 episodes •

The Building of the Earth

Visits the world's deepest valley: the Kali Gandaki river in the Himalayas. Its temperatures range from those of the tropics in its lower reaches to that of the poles higher up. It therefore shows how creatures become adapted to living in certain environments.

1984 • Nature

The Frozen World

Describes the inhospitable habitats of snow and ice. Mount Rainier in America is an example of such a place: there is no vegetation, therefore no herbivores and thus no carnivores. However, beneath its frosty surface, algae grow and some insects, such as ladybirds visit the slopes. Africa’s mountains are permanently snow-covered, and beneath peaks such as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, there are communities of plants and animals.

1984 • Nature

The Northern Forests

Begins in northern Norway, 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Here, there is only just enough light for the pine trees to survive, but it is extremely cold during the winter. Pine cone seeds provide one of the few foods available at this time of year, and large herbivores such as the moose must also rely on their fat reserves.

1984 • Nature

Jungle

Ascends a kapok in the South American tropical rainforest to observe "the greatest proliferation of life that you can find anywhere on the surface of the Earth. There are two main causes for this: warmth and wetness. As this climate is constant, there are no seasons, so trees vary greatly in their flowering cycles.

1984 • Nature

Seas of Grass

Explores the grasses which are present all over the world. Grass sustains huge numbers of creatures the world over, particularly in the African grasslands, where huge numbers of savannah animals have made their homes.

1984 • Nature

The Baking Deserts

Starts in the Sahara, where the highest land temperatures have been recorded. Rock paintings depict creatures such as giraffes and antelopes, suggesting that at one point there was enough vegetation to support them.

1984 • Nature

The Sky Above

Starts in NASA's gravity research aircraft to illustrate the effect of weightlessness. There are surprisingly many plants whose seeds are, in effect, lighter than air.

1984 • Nature

Sweet Fresh Water

Attenborough describes the course the Amazon, starting high up in the Andes of Peru, whose streams flow into the great river. Young rivers are by nature vigorous and dangerous: they flow fast and form rapids, thick with mud and sediment.

1984 • Nature

The Margins of the Land

Details coastal environments and the effect of tides, of which the highest can be found in the Bay of Fundy in North America. In places, erosion is causing the land to retreat, while in others — such as the tropics — the expansion of mangroves causes it to advance.

1984 • Nature

Worlds Apart

Investigates remote islands and their inhabitants. Some islands are tips of volcanoes; others are coral atolls. Those that colonise them transform into new species with comparative speed.

1984 • Nature

The Open Ocean

Attenborough goes underwater to observe the ocean's life forms and comment on them at first hand.

1984 • Nature

New Worlds

Surveys those environments that have been created by and for humans.

1984 • Nature

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Frozen Worlds

Beginning in Antarctica, Emperor Penguin chicks are abandoned by their parents as spring begins and must find their way across the treacherous sea ice to the rich waters of the Southern Ocean. In the Himalayas, the world's fluffiest cat hunts for gerbils and voles, while in the boreal forests circling North America, Europe and Asia, a Siberian tiger is on the lookout for black bears.

S1E1Frozen Planet II narrated by Sir David Attenborough • 2022 • Nature

Episode 2

The secret lives of the world’s most mysterious cats are brought to light by advances in remote and low-light filming technology. In South Africa, we follow the nocturnal pursuits of the tiny black-footed cat that stakes its claim to the title of the world's deadliest, and in remotest Mongolia we reveal the rarely seen Pallas's cat, at home with her kittens - she hunts by looking like a rock. Finally, in South Africa, we uncover the secret of the serval that thrives amongst the futuristic landscape of Africa's biggest industrial complex. These are remarkable cats, with surprising lives in extraordinary places.

S1E2Big Cats • 2018 • Nature

Wild Antarctica

Antarctica is the most remote and pristine wilderness on the planet. , It is a timeless and harsh land like no other. Night here can last three months and in the peak of summer the sun never sets. To understand how life can exist in this continent of snow and icebergs you must spend a year there. You discover that despite being the least habitable place on Earth, life abounds in Antarctica. Megafauna such as humpback whales and orca, massive seals and stately penguins all take the brutal conditions head on and thrive in this year on ice.

2017 • Nature

Mountains

This episode looks at Africa's mountain ranges. From the giant mole rats of the Ethiopian Highlands to the Barbary Macaque monkeys of the Atlas Mountains, this episode gives a fascinating look at the mountains of Africa and the animals that inhabit them.

S1E1Wild Africa • 2001 • Nature

Taste & Smell

We examine how things taste, and how vital scent is from the animal perspective. But their sense of smell will also detect the scent of odorants carried through the air. In mammals, taste receptor cells are scattered over the tongue but how they work underwater, well, it's a whole other world.

S1E4Animal Super Senses • 2020 • Nature

The Deep

David Attenborough narrates a natural history of the oceans to uncover the strange, otherworldly creatures living in the depths of the ocean.

S1E2Blue Planet I • 2001 • Nature