Wild Extremes • 2016 • episode "Part 2" • New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands

Category: Nature

The most extreme and wild parts of New Zealand are in the South Island, which lie towards Antarctica, in the path of the tempestuous 'roaring forties'. This is home to some of the most rapidly rising mountains in the world, the Southern Alps. From hyper-intelligent parrots to sinister snails with teeth and magical constellations of glow-worms, this is the story of New Zealand's wildest places and its most resilient pioneers, all of whom must embrace radical solutions to survive.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

New Zealand: Earth's Mythical Islands • 2016 • 3 episodes •

Cast Adrift

Isolated since the time of the dinosaurs, New Zealand's wildlife has been left to its own devices, with surprising consequences. Its ancient forests are still stalked by predators from the Jurassic era. It's also one of the most geologically active countries on earth. From Kiwis with their giant eggs, to forest-dwelling penguins and helicopter-riding sheep dogs, meet the astonishing creatures and resilient people who must rise to the challenges of their beautiful, dramatic and demanding home.

2016 • Nature

Wild Extremes

The most extreme and wild parts of New Zealand are in the South Island, which lie towards Antarctica, in the path of the tempestuous 'roaring forties'. This is home to some of the most rapidly rising mountains in the world, the Southern Alps. From hyper-intelligent parrots to sinister snails with teeth and magical constellations of glow-worms, this is the story of New Zealand's wildest places and its most resilient pioneers, all of whom must embrace radical solutions to survive.

2016 • Nature

New Arrivals

New Zealand was one of the last land masses to be found and settled by people. Lush and fertile, almost everything brought here flourishes, often with surprising consequences. Told through the experiences of its native species - in particular, a charismatic and peculiar giant, flightless parrot - this is the moving story of the changing fortunes of New Zealand's wildlife since humans first arrived.

2016 • Nature

You might also like

Desert Worlds

Desert plants spend decades in suspended animation waiting for rain, or they travel to find it. They survive using weapons, camouflage and surprising alliances with animals.

S1E4 • The Green Planet • 2022 • Nature

Cold

From ice-covered seas to snow-capped mountains, mammals have conquered the cold, living in the harshest places on earth thanks to their remarkable intelligence and adaptations. The programme features polar bears on the Arctic islands of Svalbard, arctic foxes in Canada's Hudson Bay, and snow leopards in the lofty mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China.

S1E4 • Mammals with David Attenborough • 2024 • Nature

Lords of the Air

Lords of the Air

This programme focuses on birds. The feather is key to everything that is crucial about a bird: it is both its aerofoil and its insulator. The earliest feathers were found on a fossilised Archaeopteryx skeleton in Bavaria. However, it had claws on its wings and there is only one species alive today that does so: the hoatzin, whose chicks possess them for about a week or so. Nevertheless, it serves to illustrate the probable movement of its ancestor. It may have taken to the trees to avoid predators, and over time, its bony, reptilian tail was replaced by feathers and its heavy jaw evolved into a keratin beak.

8/13 • Life on Earth • 1979 • Nature

Isle Royale

On an island in the world's largest freshwater lake, a single, isolated population of moose battle for survival against a pack of wolves. Find out how this delicate ecosystem in the midst of Lake Superior reveals invaluable scientific information on the dynamics of predator-prey relationships.

S1E1 • Great Lakes Wild • 2017 • Nature

Predator

The broadcaster continues his bug-eyed view of the world of creepy-crawlies, revealing how predators defuse the defences of their prey. Highlights include the cockroach wasp, busy preparing a tasty - and very live - treat for its young, the whirligig beetle, which employs a water-based radar system, and the jumping Portia spider, which feeds on other arachnids.

2 • Micro Monsters with David Attenborough • 2013 • Nature

Mountains

A journey from the low grasslands, where pumas roam, to the towering peaks of the Patagonian Andes, where only the toughest people and animals can survive.

S1E3 • Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World • 2022 • Nature