Though much of the natural world is discovered and understood, a few great mysteries remain. Consider the eel: snakelike, slimy, with a row of jagged teeth. Aside from these fearsome qualities, we know little about its life - where it goes, what it does and how it dies. Hailed by poets as the "siren of the North Sea" and "love's arrow on earth," this shadowy creature has fascinated researchers for centuries. Now James Prosek, artist, writer and eminent naturalist, takes on the mystery of the eel, shedding light on the animal and the strange behavior it inspires in those who seek to know it. -from the PBS Store website
Ants are builders of extraordinary and complex societies. The program takes viewers inside a million strong ant colony, housed in a specially constructed glass nest, that shows the inner workings of this most mysterious society, in a way never seen before. The latest filming techniques reveal in vivid detail the behaviour of individual ants, from queens to workers and soldiers, while radio frequency identification tagging builds up a unique picture of how they achieve such feats.
Thieving macaques using psychology to pull off scams. Delinquent cockatoos vandalizing urban residences. Swaggering peacocks lying about their sexual exploits. These are nature's greatest rebels, succeeding by breaking all the rules. Despite how it appears on the surface, researchers are discovering the complex and fascinating science behind why these animals behave the way they do.
A look at some of the planet's great gatherings, creatures that come together in inconceivable numbers, sometimes in millions, billions, and even trillions. Some gather to breed, migrate, for protection, or simply to keep warm. But in the process, a kind of super-organism is created in which individual intelligence is superseded by a collective consciousness that shares information and moves with a single purpose for the benefit of all.
Alongside the fastest, strongest, smartest animals are nature's misfits, odd, bizarre and unlikely creatures that seem ill-equipped for survival. Somehow they manage to cling to life and in some cases even thrive. Revealing some surprising details about how evolution really works, demonstrating that all animals are remarkably well-adapted to their chosen way of life.
The grizzly bear and the wolf are the two dominant predators of Yellowstone Park, who contend with each other for control of the food supply.
The sky is a challenging place to live, but extraordinary animals do something we only dream of ¿́¿ take to the air. Some spend their lives airborne, others only visit, but they all have one thing in common: they only survive by taking to the skies. This three-part series reveals the incredible adaptations that explain how these animals have mastered the sky and why they all need it to survive.
The Blue Planet: Seas of Life reveals the sea and its communities at their most fearsome and alluring.
Over the course of a year, it follows those who live in one of the most extraordinary places on the planet, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, where man meets wild and nature calls the shots. It's high stakes and high drama across our greatest marine wilderness.
Life on Fire: Volcanos offers a close-up look at volcanoes and the effects on the environment around them. From the depths of the abyss to the high-altitude snow-capped peaks, the series paints a detailed picture of the struggles and amazing adaptation required by animals and plants to survive around volcanoes.
Looks at the history and current research in eclipse science as the first total solar eclipse to traverse the U.S. mainland in ninety-nine years is observed.
Take a global tour in four themed episodes, answering the simplest questions about the complex forces that shape our planet. Why is water blue? How can a shape defy gravity? Why do bees make hexagonal honeycombs? And how do these things affect our own lives? Discover what lies beneath Earth's startling beauty as we reveal the secrets of our cosmos and the natural forces that govern everything within it.
Earth's Natural Wonders are parts of the natural world that nature has carved on an almost unbelievable scale, from vast mountain ranges to impenetrable rainforests and dazzling tropical islands, where nature is visible at its most primal, most powerful, and most extraordinarily beautiful. For human beings, survival within these wonders can pose extraordinary challenges.
Explores the most extraordinary places on the planet and how their environments shape the lives of those who live there. From Mount Everest's Khumbu Icefall to the Amazon to the Grand Canyon, visit six continents to learn how these natural wonders evolved and hear the rarely told stories about the challenges their inhabitants face.
Experience the incredible rebirth of an African wilderness through the eyes of American-born, African-raised cameraman Bob Poole. He spends two years living in the million-acre paradise of Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, joining scientists and conservationists in the battle to restore the fabric of life in the park after a long civil war in one of the most ambitious wilderness restoration projects ever attempted.