Seasons & episodes

A look at the biggest river system on the planet, the Amazon, which rises as a small stream high in the Andes and ends over 6,000 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. Holding a fifth of the Earth's river water, the Amazon floods an area larger than England and supports an unbeatable array of wildlife. The Amazon Basin is home to thousands of types of fish, including air-breathing species and the deadly piranha.

Robert Lindsay narrates a documentary which focuses on the plight of the rhino, a notoriously feisty and well-armoured animal that is both revered and feared by humans. Hunted for its horn to the verge of extinction in the last century, this programme looks at whether the rhino is capable of staging a comeback

S21 · E1Meerkats: Part of the Team 2002-10-13＋

Documentary following a family of meerkats living in Tswalu National Park in South Africa. The ultimate team players, meerkats survive in harsh conditions by looking out for each other and constantly scanning the horizon for predators such as cobras, cheetah and martial eagles.

S21 · E2Danger in Tiger Paradise 2002-10-20＋

Valmik Thapar returns to Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan to witness the progress of Machli, a tigress he has followed for four years. It's been a while since he last saw her and she now has two cubs, but with their father gone, presumed dead, she faces a new challenge - protecting her offspring from the males that are trying to establish themselves in the area

S21 · E3Falklands: Flying Devils 2002-10-27＋

Film makers Jane Watson and Mark Smith observe a colony of aggressive caracaras, rare birds of prey on a stormy island in the South Atlantic.

A tense and spectacular drama unfolds as thousands of zebras, wildebeest and gazelles take on hungry crocodiles and lions at the Mara River in Africa.

The wildlife of the Pacific Coast. Offshore are whales, seals and sharks, on land, grizzlies, and in the air bald eagles. All wait to catch some of the many fish attempting to reach their spawning grounds.

S21 · E6My Halcyon River 2002-11-24＋

An idyllic British river: misty dawns, dancing mayflies, lazy trout and fluffy chicks paddling under the watchful gaze of their parents. "My Halcyon River" is an intimate portrait of a secret world where otters hunt on the midnight current, mink lie in wait to ambush unwary victims and gleaming kingfishers pierce the water to spear their prey. These dramas, both mortal and touching are revealed through the eyes of a man who has loved the river since he was a boy, cameraman Charlie Hamilton-James.

Documentary about predator ants. While big predators bask in their own spotlight, tiny assassins are lurking in the shadows, waiting to attack. The driver ants of Africa can devour a horse in one day, while the jack jumper ant of Tasmania can kill a man with a single sting.

Canadian wildlife film-makers Jeff and Sue Turner's documentary about the cougar, one of North America's fiercest predators. Jeff and Sue were unaware that they lived among cougars until a family dog was killed on the doorstep of their home. Very little is known or understood about these carnivores, so the Turners devoted an entire winter to tracking and catching these elusive creatures on film.

S21 · E9Cats Under the Serengeti Stars 2003-01-01＋

Cameras capture the events of a night on the African plains, revealing the fascinating lives of nocturnal creatures from hunting caracals to the complexities of hyena politics.

S21 · E10Wild Women of Viramba 2003-01-15＋

Almost every day for the past 25 years, the Viramba troop of yellow baboons have been accompanied by scientists in one of the most extensive primate research projects ever conducted. Researcher Holly Carroll has come to understand the troop, which is controlled by its female members. She discovered that they had established a strict hierarchy in order to keep daily life running smoothly. Interestingly, female offspring automatically inherit their mother's rank. Research into the lives of these 'wild women' of Viramba shows that living in a group can work if all members cooperate. Life in Mikumi National Park is certainly not easy but their inherited hierarchy means there is little need for these baboons to fight.

Documentary about the Africanised honey bee, a notorious killer bee that has spread across the world causing devastation in the natural world. Is there any way of taming this lethal force of nature?

S21 · E12Highgrove: A Prince's Legacy 2003-01-26＋

David Attenborough narrates this documentary charting a year in the running of Highgrove, home to the Prince of Wales, who takes an active part in the management of the organic garden and estate. Prince Charles is seen monitoring the garden's upkeep, working on the land, planting a new woodland area for the spring and hedge-laying in winter

S21 · E13Flying Home 2003-02-02＋

A look at Operation Migration, a major project aimed at introducing rare whooping cranes back into the eastern USA by rearing chicks in captivity and then sending them out into the wild.

S21 · E14The Elephant, The Emperor and Butterfly Tree 2003-03-02＋

A startling look at the two most destructive animals in South Africa and how their habits are a story of life, death and cooperation. The elephant, the Emperor Moth and the Mopane tree form the backbone of life on the African plains. This delicate ecological triangle determines the livelihood of all the other creatures in its system. The Mopane tree is under attack from rampaging elephants, but even more damaging is the Mopane worm, the caterpillar of the beautiful Emperor Moth. They gather in hoards and strip the trees of their leaves in minutes. But the worms are food for a host of animals - even humans - and the trees are home to a number of unpleasant creatures. What holds the delicate balance in check?

No episode summary available yet.

S22 · E1Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs 2003-10-12＋

Last year, while excavating a 5,000 year old temple buried by Egyptian sands, archaeologist Edda Bresciani unearthed a sacred chamber - with an unexpected secret.There in the center of the room, gleamed an iridescent pool of emerald water. And right next to it, in a small depression hewn into the floor - thirty perfectly preserved crocodile eggs. Nearby were mummified adults. "The temple was a nursery for sacred crocodiles," she says incredulously. "They emerged from the eggs, to be reared in the pool before being sacrificed and mummified. I'd found a temple to Sebek - the crocodileheaded deity." Despite their revered status in ancient Egypt, the crocodiles in the river Nile were all hunted out by the 1800s, and the Pharaoh's crocodiles were lost forever. Or so it was thought.Then there came mysterious sightings of crocodiles emerging from strange places in north Africa away from the Egyptian Nile. Are these the long lost ancestors of the Pharaoh's crocodiles - alive and well?

S22 · E2Elephant Cave 2003-10-19＋

Beneath the forested flanks of an extinct volcano lies a cave with a mysterious secret. Kitum Cave on the slopes of Mt Elgon in Kenya is the only place on earth where elephants regularly venture deep underground. Driven by cravings for salt, these elephants are forced to make the dangerous venture into the cave. Humans have been drawn to Kitum Cave over thousand of years, originally to harvest salt, but more recently to slaughter elephants, leading to local rangers Daniel and Mike being assigned to protect the survivors

S22 · E3White Shark/Red Triangle 2003-10-31＋

Each year, in the late summer, a region known as the Red Triangle bustles with marine mammal activity. Lying between San Francisco and Monterey, the Red Triangle includes beaches where elephant seals go to molt, and offshore sites where great whites feed on unwary prey. When not prowling the Red Triangle, great white sharks search the kelp forest for sea lions, or roam the open ocean. Their migration is predictable. Each year they turn up at the same place at the same time, occasionally crossing paths with humans who still swim and surf in these dangerous waters.

S22 · E4Tigers of the Emerald Forest 2003-11-16＋

Huge male tigers are the focus of this film, Dedicated scientist Raghu Chundawat and his partner Joanna Van Gruisen have been studying them for the last eight years and reveals the unique secrets of the tigers of the Emerald Forest.

No episode summary available yet.

S22 · E6Five Owl Farm 2003-12-07＋

This is the story of a remarkable place - a Yorkshire farm where all five British owls live side by side.

S22 · E7The Monkey Prince Air date unannounced＋

The Mountain Troop is the most powerful in the kingdom, and it lives in the best location. That is where Bobo is born. From the moment of his birth, Bobo is at the very pinnacle of troop hierarchy and is treated like a prince. But a territorial war between two rival troops changes his life forever. Once his princely status comes to an abrupt end, he has little choice but to find a new home. Somewhere between fact and fiction, The Monkey Prince delves into the destiny of a remarkable monkey and reveals the private lives of two rival troops by showing their territorial wars and their interaction with human and natural worlds.