Seasons & episodes

The effect on the natural world of a nuclear war, reporting on reseacrh in America, Russia and Britain which suggests that for thirty years the world has had the capacity to cause `a nuclear winter'. A Natural World special transmitted in 1984.

Filmed in Nepal, Ethiopia and China investigates how the misuse of land and not drought lies at the root of famines in Ethiopia and elsewhere. The programme reveals how government policy and international trade conspire to cause starvation.

Burkino Faso, the edge of the Sahel in west Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It has been gripped by drought since 1968, yet simple techniques are helping to conserve their rainfall. In the western USA, massive and expensive irrigation schemes are bringing a harvest of subsidised yet unsaleable crops.

No episode summary available yet.

In this fascinating new three-part documentary, viewers can look inside animals to see what makes them tick. Fusing exciting computer animation, thermal imaging and compelling science, Animals: The Inside Story puts creatures under the microscope to expose the hidden mechanisms that drive their actions. Part 2, New Lives, unravels the mysteries of animal reproduction from courtship and mating through to the creation of new life. The virtual world of the elephant womb allows us to see a baby elephant develop over 22 months. Emperor penguins produce eggs in the harshest climate on earth. Go inside this life support capsule and see how the shell is made and the chick grows. Metamorphosis is one of nature's miracles. From the inside, watch a total transformation as a land-based caterpillar becomes a graceful aerial athlete.

Extreme Lives, the final episode of Animals: The Inside Story, explores the limits of animal endurance. A polar bear uses its thick fur coat to turn light into heat and survive the Arctic cold. Hibernation is one way to endure winter but the rare Vancouver Island Marmot is on a knife-edge between life and death. Wood frogs enter a state of suspended animation, freezing 65% of their bodies to stay alive. The camel survives extremes of desert heat with amazing blood cells and a nose designed to conserve every drop of moisture.

No episode summary available yet.

No episode summary available yet.

No episode summary available yet.

No episode summary available yet.

No episode summary available yet.

No episode summary available yet.

Follows the great land migration in Africa, one of the seven wonders of the natural world. Wildebeests, numbering in the millions, run for their lives on a-mile trek to find food and water, battling predators along the way.

Impalas move with the great migration on the Serengeti plains of Africa. A new fawn is on his way, but so is danger for the herds.

On an African river in the Serengeti, a mother crocodile defends her babies against predators in the sky and on the ground. Discover the secret way that crocodiles have survived for millions of years.

The animal kingdom in the Serengeti is in constant competition for resources. The essence of competition is for the hunt and those who can't cut it are left behind.

Two mother cheetahs, able to reach top speeds of nearly 70 miles per hour, are in a race to protect and feed their new cubs. Predators close in on the families, who must work to prevail on the Serengeti Plains of Africa.

Known to be aggressive and dangerous, hippos are also fiercely protective of their young. Watch as mother hippos in Africa risk everything to keep their newly born calves away from predators, both in and out of the water.

A newborn wildebeest befriends a fierce lioness, and a rare meeting between two river monsters, a hippopotamus and a Nile crocodile.

The wildlife of the Danube delta in the Black Sea, especially the white pelicans.

There are only two seasons in the Serengeti, dry and wet. As the long dry season ends, the clouds begin to darken as the rain signals new life on the Serengeti Plains.

The wildebeest path on their endless migration is impeded several times by rivers. The waterways have certain dangers that can can result in death for the wildebeest, mainly the Nile crocodile.

The programme is about bumble bees in the forests of New England. We follow a queen bumble bee as she emerges from hibernation to find a suitable nest site and establish a colony from the eggs she has carried over the winter. She duels with a rival queen. Honey bees, bee mites and wax moths also feature in her life story.

Documentary which tells the story of some of the discoveries made by Indian ornitholigist Salim Ali