Unlock the mysteries of wild pandas whose counterparts in captivity are known for their gentle image. Journey through the steep Qinling Mountains with filmmakers, scientists and rangers to witness pandas’ startling courtship and aggressive behaviors.

Meet the people rescuing and caring for the animal survivors of Australia’s devastating bushfires. Iconic species like koalas, kangaroos and wombats face a series of hurdles to recover from their trauma.

Monkey see, monkey do. From baboons facing down leopards, to lemurs exploiting a jungle pharmacy or rhesus macaques charming their way to an easy life, discover the survival strategies used by primates, often in the most unexpected places.

Family is everything for primates. They have the most complex social lives of any animal group on the planet. Meet devoted monkeys’ uncles, playmate apes and tender troops.

More than half of the world’s primates are under threat. Meet the scientists making groundbreaking discoveries to safeguard their future.

Get an intimate look at the wildlife of Lapland, a region in northern Finland, the fabled home of Santa Claus and actual home of reindeer, great gray owls, wolverines, eagles, wolves, musk oxen, brown bears and more.

In Europe’s highest mountain range, discover how Eurasian lynx, griffon vultures, ibex, marmots and more face extreme seasonal fluctuations, from volatile thunderstorms and landslides of summer to avalanches and frozen temperatures of winter. In Part One of the miniseries “The Alps”, enjoy the Alps in spring and summertime as newborn animals grow up to face the coming brutal winter.

In the second and final part of NATURE’s miniseries “The Alps,” experience the hostile and bitter cold ecosystems of the Alps, shaped by snow blizzards and avalanches.

Travel to the ice mountains of Chile to discover the secrets of the puma, the area’s biggest and most elusive predator. Discover how this mountain lion survives and follow the dramatic fate of a puma mother and her cubs. Narrated by Uma Thurman.

Roam the Wild West frontier land of the Rio Grande’s Big Bend alongside its iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions.

Follow the story of a leopard mother as she raises her cubs near the Luangwa River, facing a constant battle to hunt successfully, defend her territory and protect her cubs against enemies.

Learn surprising facts about the sharks that call the warm waters near Hawaii’s islands their home. Meet the Whitetip reef shark, Whale shark, Tiger shark and more.

An ecologist tracks the lesser long-nosed bat’s epic migration across Mexico, braving hurricanes, snakes and seas of cockroaches, in order to save the species and the tequila plants they pollinate.

A look at at various octopuses and the scientist that are trying to learn more about them.

Travel back in time, from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools, with a pioneering group of scientists who make surprising discoveries that transform human understanding of nature and ecology. Based on a book of the same name, The Serengeti Rules had its theatrical premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and has won awards at the 2018 Wildscreen Panda Awards and Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.

An ambitious new natural history format following a film crew on a mission into the most biodiverse region of the Amazon rainforest. Meet some amazing creatures, from howler monkeys to pumas, as the wild secrets of the jungle are revealed.

Paradise presents the landscape and wildlife of the Upper Okavango River. A lioness severely injured by a buffalo is left for dead by her pride. Now handicapped, she has to survive in the swamp alone, hunting to feed her little cubs.

Limbo presents the landscape and wildlife of the "Middle World," the delta of the Okavango River. A hyena and a warthog family share neighboring dens, helping each other by keeping an eye on threatening predators such as lions and leopards.

Inferno presents the landscape and wildlife of the Lower Okavango River. The landscape is baked dry by the scorching sun, and large herds of zebra and wildebeest migrate to the dry plains in search of precious salt that these animals need.

Discover the ingenious strategies that nature’s biggest beasts employ to conquer their environments, from the Komodo dragon with a deadly bite to the tallest giraffe to the bird-eating Armored ground cricket. These are their epic survival stories.

Follow the adventures of bears across the globe, from grizzlies to pandas to sloth bears, as they draw on their brains, brawn and unique adaptations to survive. Find out what it really takes to be a bear in today’s ever-changing world.

A filmmaker investigates his traumatic encounter with a 30-ton humpback whale that breached and just missed landing on him while he was kayaking. What he discovers raises far bigger questions about humans’ relationship with whales and their future.

Go beneath the surface and meet Africa’s river giants, the hippos. Discover an unexpected side of these aquatic mammals that can’t even swim as hippos protect their families, face their enemies and suffer in a drought. Narrated by David Attenborough.

Florida's wildlife is under threats from nature, such as hurricanes and fire, human development and invasive species.

An intimate look into the weasel family which includes the adventures of a first-time weasel mom, a tiny orphan weasel and the fearless honey badger.

An exploration of how changing international relationships may affect Cuba and Cuba's vast natural resources and unique species.

There are more than 100 types of rabbits and hares. Despite their extraordinary ability to reproduce, wild rabbits are in danger of being eradicated. This show separates the facts from the stereotypes.

The spy creatures investigate the wildlife that thrives in the tropics. They infiltrate a hippo pod, a nursery of red flying foxes, a gorilla sanctuary and the secret world of pygmy forest elephants.

Travel to the Northern Hemisphere, where the spy creatures learn how animals move, feed and fight. A spy hummingbird films millions of butterflies, and a spy squirrel winds up in a battle. A spy beaver observes other beavers building dams.

Explore the islands of the South Pacific with creatures like the spy koala, who captures breeding behavior in Australia, or the spy crab, who joins an army of red crabs on their march to the sea to deposit their eggs.

From penguin chicks to elephant seals and wolf cubs to polar bears, the spy creatures meet and observe the hardiest and most charismatic animals in the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

Uncover the secret lives of big cats who thrive in all four corners of the globe, from the solitary snow leopard to the nimble rusty-spotted cat, seen through the latest camera technology and science.

Discover how cats have conquered the world, thriving in almost every landscape on Earth, from the wetlands of Asia to Africa's oldest desert, to the shores of California and the tropical beaches of Costa Rica.

Scientists are studying cats in greater detail than ever before. New approaches and technologies help uncover some of the cats’ most intimate secrets, including the cheetah’s remarkable gymnastic abilities and why lions are able to hunt so cooperatively.

Discover the extraordinary abilities of squirrels, from the brainy fox squirrel, to the acrobatic gray squirrel, to the problem-solving ground squirrel. Follow a guide to the squirrel’s success along with an orphan red squirrel called Billy.

Follow the unforgettable journey of a close-knit family of wild dogs in Zimbabwe and witness rarely seen behavior, from tender moments with newborn pups, to the thrills of hunting wildebeest, to close encounters with their greatest enemy - the lion.

Witness the incredible journey of newborn polar bear cubs as they leave the safety of their den for the first time. Bravely led by their mother, the cubs must make the perilous 400-mile Arctic trek to the sea to feed. Narrated by Kate Winslet.

Join Sir David Attenborough as he pieces together the remarkable discovery of the Ichthyosaur, a fearsome fish lizard that lived during the age of dinosaurs.

The relationship between man and his noble steed is almost as old as civilization itself, allowing our species to explore, conquer and flourish side by side with the horse. NATURE traces this revolutionizing partnership with anthropologist Niobe Thompson in this two-part series.

Discover how humans have partnered with the horse throughout the centuries, creating more than 350 breeds found all around the world.

Experience the natural world through the eyes of the Vikings. From the killer whales of the North Sea to the volcanic mounts of Iceland, see the deep history and cultural respect the Vikings had with the land and sea. Ewan McGregor narrates.

Uncover the variety of activity, both human and natural, that occurs on the slopes of active volcanoes. Take a terrifying descent into the crater of one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes alive today. James Naughton narrates.

How is an egg made? Why are they the shape they are? And perhaps most importantly, why lay an egg at all? Step by step as the egg hatches, host David Attenborough reveals the wonder behind these incredible miracles of nature.

Broadcast over three consecutive days from iconic locations across North America – varied ecosystems ranging from the Rockies to the Everglades, from inner-city parks to remote wilderness preserves - this special live event celebrates spring as a time of renewed energy and awakening in the natural world.

Breeding and the greening of the landscape are tied to another major spectacle of spring: the mass movements of animals as they take advantage of spring’s bounty. Meet the scientists who track the journeys of animals such as butterflies, birds, bison and bats over vast distances, from winter refuge to spring nesting grounds.

Learn how plants and animals depend on each other to survive. See first-hand how climate change can break those connections, altering the timing of weather and plant growth, and disrupting the delicate relationships between plants and pollinators such as moths, bees and butterflies.

A moving story of how an orphaned baby elephant beat the odds.

Discover the red fox, an intelligent and adaptable canid that is thriving in cities and pushing northward into the territory of its arctic cousins.

Filmmaker Charlie Hamilton James follows the story of three, curious river otter orphans in Wisconsin and visits otters all over the globe. Join Charlie as he uncovers the secrets to the otter’s survival with innovative experiments, cameras and CGI.

Helen Macdonald’s best-selling book H Is for Hawk told the saga of a grieving daughter who found healing in training a goshawk. Now she digs deeper into the world of these raptors by following a family in the wild and raising a goshawk of her own.

For nearly two years in the forested hills of Zimbabwe, wildlife cameraman Kim Wolhuter shadowed a wild cheetah family on foot, to reveal in intimate detail the cubs’ remarkable journey to adulthood and their mother’s dedication in raising them.

Great things come in small packages. This film tells the epic survival stories of the world’s smallest animals, from a tiny sengi, the “cheetah” of the shrew world, to a small shark that walks on land. For these animals, size does not matter.

At the very northern edge of North America is Ellesmere Island, where the unforgiving Arctic winds tear through the tundra, dipping temperatures to 40 below zero. Running through this shifting sea of snow and ice is one of the most hardened predators on the planet, the White Wolf.

The astonishing collar-camera footage reveals newborn Kalahari Meerkats below ground for the first time, unveils the hunting skills of Magellanic penguins in Argentina, and follows the treetop progress of an orphaned chimpanzee in Cameroon.

The cameras capture young cheetahs learning to hunt in Namibia, reveal how fur seals off an Australian island evade the great white sharks offshore, and help solve a conflict between South African farmers and chacma baboons.

Deep-dive with Chilean devil rays in the Azores, track brown bears’ diets in Turkey, and follow dogs protecting flocks of sheep from gray wolves in Southern France.

Follow the story of Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhinoceros. His journey as the last of his kind is given a glimmer of hope from scientists and animal experts who turn to technology to save the Northern White Rhino before it dies out forever.

Explore the astounding abilities of butterflies – deceptive camouflage, chemical weaponry, and fantastic flight. Look beyond their bright colors and fragile beauty as you follow them on one of the greatest migrations on Earth.

Meet the animals who will steal, cheat and fight to get food, including kleptomaniac crabs, thieving macaques, con artist spiders, tricky tigers and cannibalistic lizards.

Some animals will do whatever it takes to survive. Cockatoos turn to vandalism, boxer crabs hold anemones hostage, sloths become filthy, puff adders have an ‘invisibility cloak’ to hide themselves, and chimps use violence to stay in power.

Getting ahead in the mating game requires some astonishing behavior –from promiscuous prairie dogs to manakin pick-up artists, kidnapping macaques and hyenas with a bad case of sibling rivalry.

Join conservationist Maria Diekmann in the crusade to save pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world. Learn more about these scaly yet endearing mammals whose basic biology remains a mystery, hampering conservation efforts.

With high speed camerawork and breakthrough new science, we enter the fast-paced world of hummingbirds as never before. Speed is their middle name. Their lives are moving faster than the eye can see. They possess natural born super powers that enable them to fly backwards, upside-down, and float in mid-air. And for the first time, we see them mate, lay eggs, fight, and raise families in intimate detail. They are great athletes, tender mothers, brave in combat, and up for any challenge. They are Super Hummingbirds, the smallest and most brilliant birds on earth.

Vianet D'jenguet has lived half of his life in Europe, yet his heart still lies in his homeland, his Congo. As a successful wildlife cameraman, D'jenguet is returning to his roots to reveal the beauty and majesty of his country and its people. During his journey, D'jenguet explores a vibrant "African Eden" - a Congo complete with chimps, gorillas, weaver birds, Colobus monkeys, swamp antelopes, forest elephants and buffalo - and a jungle tribe who still reveres his great-grandfather. D'jenguet shines a spotlight on his beloved homeland and discovers an even deeper connection with this place than he ever imagined.

Everyone loves giraffes, but what do we really know about them? Dr. Julian Fennessy has spent the last 20 years of his life studying giraffes. Now he's starting to reveal their secrets- the most important being that they are disappearing. The giraffe population in Africa is down by 40 percent in just two decades. In collaboration with a determined Ugandan Wildlife Authority team, Fennessy wants to round up 20 of the world's rarest giraffes to get them to safety through the wild heart of Uganda, which means embarking on a special voyage across the mighty Nile River. The stakes are high in this urgent and daring mission against poachers affiliated with organized crime, but if successful, the reward will be a brighter future for an animal we have somehow overlooked.

Cats are among the most feared and revered creatures on the planet. Their power, strength, and enigmatic nature have fascinated us for centuries. They are one of the most studied mammals in the world yet only now is their real identity being understood - from their incredible hunting abilities, to their unique physiology and remarkable behaviors. With nearly 40 different species, thriving in almost any environment, the cat is one of the most successful predators since the dinosaurs. Using the latest camera technology and working with leading scientists, we are able to tell the story like never before. Join Nature in this epic two-part event as we journey across the globe tracking down the origins of these diverse creatures. Take an in-depth look at what makes the family of felines unique and the evolutionary tricks and adaptions that truly make a cat, a cat. In Part 1, discover how the first cats arose in the forests of Asia, how they spread across the continent and later came to conquer Africa. We reveal how cats evolved with an in-depth look at lions, servals, caracals, cheetahs, tigers, fishing and sand cats.

Cats are among the most feared and revered creatures on the planet. Their power, strength, and enigmatic nature have fascinated us for centuries. They are one of the most studied mammals in the world yet only now is their real identity being understood - from their incredible hunting abilities, to their unique physiology and remarkable behaviors. With nearly 40 different species, thriving in almost any environment, the cat is one of the most successful predators since the dinosaurs. Using the latest camera technology and working with leading scientists, we are able to tell the story like never before. Join Nature in this epic two-part event as we journey across the globe tracking down the origins of these diverse creatures. Take an in-depth look at what makes the family of felines unique and the evolutionary tricks and adaptions that truly make a cat, a cat. In Part 2, Track the story of cats into the Americas, from battles with their age-old rivals, the dog family, to the rise of domestic cats. Meet the mighty jaguar, the urban mountain lion, the curious ocelot, the Canada lynx, the nimble margay, the Siamese cat and the Sphynx.

The coldest and snowiest places on earth, such as the Arctic Circle or Antarctica, pose a challenge to human visitors. But what about the year-round animal population? How do they cope for many months with life in these frozen wonderlands where temperatures can plummet to as low as minus 50 degrees? Find out how these creature adapt to their surroundings or employ clever tactics to survive.

Spy Creatures explore the rarely seen emotions of animals, revealing if they are as strong and complex as our own. Join the “spycams” as they are accepted into a wild dog pack, witness elephant love, and are mourned by a troop of monkeys.

Spy Creatures infiltrate the world of animal intelligence, ingenuity, and creativity. Watch our spies disguised as animals observe a gray squirrel stealing Spy Nut, a sea otter cracking open a meal, and an orangutan washing with soap.

Spy Creatures and their new wild friends rely on each other to look out for predators. A Spy Meerkat babysits meerkat pups while a Spy Cobra pretends to attack the mob. Spy Crocs witness a convenient partnership between real crocodiles and birds.

Spy Creatures infiltrate the underground world of animal mischief, crime, and retribution. Spy Monkey is caught between crossfires as real monkeys fight over beach bar alcohol. Spy Egret is also a waterhole victim when elephants throw mud everywhere.

The final episode explains how the concept of the Spy Creatures evolved at John Downer Productions from the original Bouldercam to the Penguincams that inspired the next-generation “spycams” featured in this series. It shows the painstaking work that goes into building the lifelike models and how the team deploys and operates the robotic cameras on location all over the world.

The Sierra Nevada, a mountain range running about 400 miles along the eastern side of California and stretches into Nevada, is home to three national parks: Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite. This is a land of giants, whether speaking of trees soaring to nearly 300 feet, or massive stone monoliths far taller than any skyscraper. But the force that has given rise to the earth's largest living trees and carved out the iconic natural landmarks of the Sierras is water. The role that water has played in the creation and evolution of Yosemite Valley cannot be overstated - feeding its numerous wild rivers and countless waterfalls, and making life in this stone wilderness possible. The second force, crucial to the Giant sequoias' ability to reproduce, is fire. It is the delicate balance of these two elements, water and fire, that is vital to the continued existence of the wildlife and trees that inhabit the Sierras. Despite the recent heavy rains and snowfall, scientists are finding that water is scarcer and the threat of fire is more likely as the area continues to experience rising temperatures upsetting that important balance. Geologists, ecologists, researchers and adventurers investigate how the changing climate is affecting one of America's greatest wildernesses.

Viva Puerto Rico follows the work of three conservationists and the ways in which each is trying to restore populations of the island’s most endangered species: the Puerto Rican Amazon parrot, Leatherback turtle, and manatee.

Deep in the heart of the Brazilian wetlands, the mysterious and secretive Giant armadillo digs a new burrow every other night. Once this termite-eater moves on, it leaves behind one of the hottest plots of real estate in the tropical Pantanal for 80 species of diverse and ever-changing animal clientele.

Austria’s Kalkalpen National Park is the largest tract of wilderness in the Alps, but it wasn’t always that way. The park was once the site of major logging and mining operations, but those activities ceased more than two decades ago. Three years in the making, Forest of the Lynx chronicles life in this remote wilderness and the complex partnerships among plants, insects, animals and trees.

In this two-part series, join John Downer Productions, producers of "EARTHflight" and "PENGUINS: Spy in the Huddle", for a front row seat into an in-depth look into the lives of dolphins. The series incorporates unique footage from 13 ingenious “spy” cameras including animatronic squid, a robotic turtle and even a dolphin “double agent”.

In South Carolina, a pod of bottlenose dolphins has taken teamwork to a whole new level. As a group, they corral entire shoals of fish onto the shore and then devour as many as they can. Stranding is a serious hazard for dolphins, but this pod has mastered the technique.

Part 1 of 2. The Season 34 premiere focuses on the work of human caretakers of orphaned baby animals. At Australia's Cape Otway Conservation Centre, the staff cares for a baby koala found along a road. It's weak and underweight, and should be spending its first six months inside its mother's pouch; the staff gives it a teddy bear to hold for comfort. At a sanctuary in Costa Rica, meanwhile, primatologist Sam Trull cares for six baby orphan sloths, including one that has pneumonia.

Growing up in the wild is hard enough on young animals when they have parents to rely on for protection and guidance, but what happens when they lose their parents? How do they survive? Over the past few years, great strides have been made in understanding how to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned wildlife.

It may seem strange that among the more than 10,000 bird species in the world today is a group that literally cannot fly or sing, and whose wings are more fluff than feather. These are the ratites: the ostrich, emu, rhea, kiwi and cassowary. How and why these birds abandoned flight has puzzled scientists since Darwin’s time, but DNA and dedicated research are helping to solve these mysteries.

Wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert take an intimate look at one of the world’s most intelligent and sensitive animals.

Mini-cameras, moving x-rays and night vision cameras capture the wild behavior of parakeets, hamsters, cats, rabbits and Peruvian dogs.

Moving x-rays, ultraviolet light and doggycams show how pets experience their world through hidden channels of communication.

Staying Alive offers stories about unusual survival techniques. Cuttlefish, for example, elude their many predators with a kind of invisibility cloak. Other ruses revealed include: why burrowing owls, who live underground, mimic the sounds of rattlesnakes; how imitation may not just be the sincerest form of flattery, it can also save your life; and what deception the regal horned lizard employs as a last resort to keep a menacing coachwhip snake at bay.

Exploring the duplicitous ways in which animals try to secure their next meal. Singled out is the devious drongo, a South African bird. In winter, he has to rely on grubs and insects that live underground, but other animals are far better equipped to dig them up, so the drongo devises a con. He serves as lookout while vulnerable social weaver birds are on the ground digging up food. Among other segments: the orchid mantis, which attracts insects by mimicking a flower and why it is even more successful than the real thing; how killer whales use sound to manipulate the behavior of herring to their advantage; and how and why gray squirrels practice sleight of hand to protect the nuts they’ve gathered to get them through the winter.

Sex, Lies & Dirty Tricks explores sneaky mating techniques. For example, a lusty low-ranking male in a mob of red kangaroos considers possible plan A and plan B options when only the alpha male has the right to mate with the females in the group. A male marsh harrier’s solution to avoid conflict with a dominant resident male during breeding season is to grow feathers that make him look like female. He fools the resident male, but is able to woo a real female and settle down to raise a family. The final hour also exposes the dark ways brood parasites avoid parental duties, and how their chicks go even further to get the full attention of their foster parents. It’s a tough world out there, so it’s not surprising that crafty animals turn to disguise, illusion, duplicity and mimicry to beat the odds and live another day.

Exploring the world of moose in the Canadian Rockies, focusing on a calf's first year of life.

Paleontologists bring the largest dinosaur ever discovered to virtual life.

The incredible journey of one vulnerable and charismatic Emperor penguin chick.

Reunions between wild animals and their caregivers reveal whether interspecies bonds can stand the test of time.

As India’s population booms, her legendary wildlife has been squeezed almost out of existence. But the commitment of the Indian people to preserve their wildlife is surprising – leading even to bringing back what has been lost. Against a backdrop of teak forest, farmland and villages, this film explores the extraordinary story of Asia’s last lions and their recovery from near extinction. From a mere 20 individuals a century ago, they now number over 400. But the lions have outgrown their sanctuary and spilled out into the surrounding countryside and villages. Yet here a unique relationship has developed between lions and people, revealing a story not of continual conflict as we might expect, but one of survival and tolerance.

It won’t come as any surprise that survival is the number one goal in the animal kingdom. But to ensure success on a continual basis, many creatures have opted to form alliances rather than go it alone. There are all kinds of partnerships to fulfill different needs, but as this film explains, these relationships are not only between animals of the same species. What is really astonishing is that completely unrelated species also form unlikely collaborations to succeed in the wild. Nature’s Perfect Partners travels around the world to profile an array of such animals who have joined forces.

Follow a veterinarian, zoologist and their team through a year at ARCAS, a rescue center deep in the Guatemalan jungle.

A collection of animals that differ from the normal evolutionary adaptations from the mainstream biome is presented in this fast-paced and very engaging offering. They examine in a rapid-fire manner the special niches these strange and wonderful creatures have carved out for themselves in order to survive in what would initially seem to be very unlikely ways for sometimes millions of years.

Sloths, once largely ignored, have become a hot topic of scientific researchers. Sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers are also springing up, as development often displaces these gentle creatures. Filmed in Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia, this is a story of friendship between a journalist and the sloth she named Velcro and a network of people working to learn more about sloths in order to protect them.

A shift of power is taking place at the top of the world. The Arctic is undergoing a dramatic change, and with this change one iconic Arctic hunter may soon have to give way to another as solid ice turns to open sea. The polar bear, once king of the North, needs ice to stalk its prey. Killer whales, or orca, on the other hand, are unable to hunt in an ocean locked in ice.

France is known for its delicious food and wines, great art and architecture and celebrated culture of all kinds. But there’s another side to this popular destination that is not as visible, its wild side. Deep in the French countryside, it is possible for the adventurous to spot brown bears, wild boar, griffon vultures or wolves.

Every summer, thousands of gentoo penguins surround a post office on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Cameras, X-rays and ultramicroscopes reveal details about the life of owls, including how they hunt, how their vision and hearing work and how they fly so quietly.

To truly understand the complexity of a wild orangutan society and the skills the orangutans have learned from their mothers in the wild, Ecologist Chris Morgan travels to a remote patch of forest also in Northern Sumatra, a peat swamp forest known as Suaq Balimbing. Working with a team of experienced researchers, he becomes completely immersed in this unique social band of wild orangs who use tools, share food, forage together, and create their own distinct culture.

Exploring how birds carefully select their materials, and craft their homes for the all-important tasks of protecting their eggs and raising their young.

Animated blueprints and tiny cameras chart the building plans and progress of beavers, tortoises, hummingbirds and woodrats, examining layouts and cross sections as they evaluate the technical specs of their structures.

Some animals find that living in the midst of huge colonies of their own kind is sometimes a matter of necessity and sometimes the most secure and rewarding housing arrangement.

This is the story of a family of the recently discovered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys living in the Himalayas.

Young animals all around the world attempt to hone their survival skills as they prepare to leave home.

The greater sage-grouse adapts to life in a sea of sagebrush, a landscape spanning 11 states in the American West, which is home to more than 170 species of birds and mammals.

This is the story of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's 501st attempt to save an orphan otter. From her discovery as a stranded newborn pup crying on the beach through her rehabilitation in secret roof tanks atop the Aquarium, we follow as Otter 501 learns how to dive, hunt, eat, and fend for herself in the wild, where survival is a long shot at best.

Examining the ways animals attract mates. Included: the feminine wiles of a young gorilla; the search for a partner among a thousand flamingos; the "open" relationships of blue-footed boobies; and the soap opera-like entanglements of gibbons.

A look at the difficulties of raising parrots. The intelligent birds have a life span of 80-90 years, which means they often live longer than their owners—when their owners don't give them up after a few years, that is. They also form strong bonds with caregivers, which can result in odd behavior if a caregiver leaves for an extended period of time, as Liz and Russ Hartman learned: their bird became so upset while Russ was away on a business trip that it plucked all the feathers from its chest.

The coywolf, a mixture of western coyote and eastern wolf, is a remarkable new hybrid carnivore that is taking over territories once roamed by wolves and slipping unnoticed into our cities. Its appearance is very recent — within the last 90 years — in evolutionary terms, a blip in time. Beginning in Canada but by no means ending there, the story of how it came to be is an extraordinary tale of how quickly adaptation and evolution can occur, especially when humans interfere. Tag along as scientists study this new top predator, tracking it from the wilderness of Ontario’s Algonquin Park, through parking lots, alleys and backyards in Toronto all the way to the streets of New York City.

There is an unusual looking monkey called the crested black macaque that is endemic to rainforests in Indonesia, which includes the island of Sulawesi. These striking black primates, sporting punk hairstyles and copper-colored eyes, first caught the attention and won the heart of wildlife cameraman and biologist Colin Stafford-Johnson 25 years ago. But since then, their numbers have dropped by almost 90 percent, so the filmmaker returns to the island to discover why and how he could help.

“Honey badger is bad ass.” Those words and corresponding video became a YouTube sensation with 51 million hits. This relentless little creature is one of the most fearless animals in the world, renowned for its ability to confront grown lions, castrate charging buffalo, and shrug off the toxic defenses of stinging bees, scorpions, and snakes. Little is known about its behavior in the wild or why it is so aggressive. Our film will follow three badger specialists in South Africa who take on these masters of mayhem in ways that must be seen to be believed.

The Shannon is Ireland’s greatest geographical landmark and the longest river. It is both a barrier and highway – a silver ribbon holding back the rugged landscapes of the west from the gentler plains to the east. On its journey south, the Shannon passes through a huge palette of rural landscapes, where on little-known backwaters, Ireland’s wild animals and plants still thrive as almost nowhere else. For a year, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson lives on the river — camping on its banks, exploring its countless tributaries in a traditional canoe, following the river from dawn to dusk through the four seasons, on a quest to film the natural history of the Shannon as it has never been seen or heard or experienced before.

The animals of the world may increasingly need our help with big issues like preserving habitat or species conservation. But sometimes individual animals need our help as well. Left disabled without fins, flippers, beaks or tails because of disease, accidents or even human cruelty, these unfortunate creatures need what amounts to a miracle if they are to survive.

Joe Hutto’s idea of research is anything but normal, dedicating seven years of his life to becoming a wild mule deer. The herd would ordinarily run from any human but, incredibly, these keenly intelligent animals come to regard this stranger as one of their own. Accepted by the matriarch, he walks among them, is even groomed by them, and can lie with a pregnant doe talking to its unborn fawns. As he crosses the species divide Joe is tapping into a new understanding about these elusive animals, literally entering a deer society. The captivating joy he feels for his new family is nothing short of infectious, but this human predator also learns to see the world from the point of view of prey – and it’s an experience that will ultimately rock him to his very core; sharing their world so personally finally takes a toll that sends him back to his own kind.

In the frigid valleys of Japan’s Shiga Highlands, a troop of snow monkeys make their way and raise their families in a complex society of rank and privilege where each knows their place. Their leader is still new to the job and something of a solitary grouch. But one little monkey, innocently unaware of his own lowly social rank, reaches out to this lonely leader, forming a bond with him that manages over time to warm his less than sunny disposition. It is a rare and remarkable gesture that alters both their lives. Changing seasons bring new babies to care for, a profusion of insects and blossoms to eat, family disagreements to squabble over and tragedies to overcome. Mating season brings competition for females as the days grow shorter and colder in a rush toward winter. But with their now confident leader to guide them and their families to shelter and care for them, this troop of snow monkeys is ready to face the world.

A growing number of scientists, conservationists and grass-roots environmentalists have come to regard beavers as overlooked tools when it comes to reversing the disastrous effects of global warming and world-wide water shortages. Once valued for their fur or hunted as pests, these industrious rodents are seen in a new light through the eyes of this novel assembly of beaver enthusiasts and “employers” who reveal the ways in which the presence of beavers can transform and revive landscapes. Using their skills as natural builders and brilliant hydro-engineers, beavers are being recruited to accomplish everything from finding water in a bone-dry desert to recharging water tables and coaxing life back into damaged lands.

A look at some of the planet’s great gatherings, creatures that come together in inconceivable numbers – sometimes in millions, billions, and even trillions. Included are bats and bees, locust and ants, monarch butterflies in Mexico, 17-year cicada hatches, grunion in the Sea of Cortez and carp in the Mississippi River, sardine runs off the coast of South Africa, super flocks of parakeets in the Australian Outback, mayflies on the 4th of July, and even penguins and wildebeest. Some gather to breed or to migrate, some for protection, some simply to keep warm in the cold. 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. Check out swarm intelligence, essentially a living embodiment of social media in the natural world.

Sir David Attenborough hosts an exploration of the weird and wonderful world of frogs. Firsthand stories, the latest science and cutting-edge technology are used to demonstrate the wide variety of frog anatomy, appearance and behavior.

Conservation ecologist Chris Morgan embarks on a challenge that will fulfill a lifelong dream — to find and film a Siberian tiger living wild and free in Russia’s far eastern forests. To help him, Morgan turns to Korean cameraman Sooyong Park, the first individual ever to film Siberian tigers in the wild.

Filmmakers take us deep into the snowy owl’s tundra home on the North Slope of Alaska to observe the daily struggles involved in raising a family of helpless owlets until they’re able to fly.

Love apparently knows no boundaries in the animal kingdom. Despite the odds, there are countless stories of the most unlikely cross-species relationships imaginable. Instincts gone awry? NATURE investigates why animals form these special bonds and what these relationships suggest about the nature of animal emotions.

Masters of the water and air, they have conquered the globe. From deft dabblers to great divers, these are one of the Animal Kingdom's ultimate athletes. Take a fascinating look at one of our most familiar birds.

Attenborough revisits key places and events in his career and shows how a succession of technical innovations in filmmaking led to remarkable revelations about our planet and the creatures that inhabit it.

Attenborough shares his memories of the scientists and the breakthroughs that helped shape his own career in translating these discoveries into film.

Attenborough reflects on the dramatic impact that we have had on the natural world during his lifetime.

Wildlife filmmaker Jeff Turner captures how wolves and buffalo live together in what seems like a forgotten corner of the world.

When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and sedentary lives. What Plants Talk About teaches us all that plants are smarter and much more interactive than we thought!

Eels can be found all over the globe, in fresh and salt water ecosystems alike. But today, risk of over-fishing and the presence of dams and other obstacles that prevent eels from reaching their oceanic spawning grounds pose new threats to an animal that once roamed the planet alongside the dinosaurs. Artist, writer, and naturalist James Prosek explores the mysterious world of the eel.

For 450 years, Lipizzaner stallions have been performing for audiences in Austria's capital. The stallions go through extensive training at the Spanish Riding School, where they learn to perform acrobatic feats and synchronized movements known as high classical dressage.

Just a century ago, there were less than a million deer in North America. Today, there are nearly 30 million. The Private Life of Deer looks at how these wild deer interact with one another, and how they adapt to living in a suburban environment.

Great Zebra Exodus explores parenthood and the fragility of young life—from zebras to lapwings to meerkats. It’s a tale of loyalty and sacrifice, of home and exile, of death and new life, set against the backdrop of one of Africa’s most surreal landscapes.

What happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how does wildlife deal with the world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled? Radioactive Wolves examines the state of wildlife populations in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone, an area that, to this day, remains too radioactive for human habitation.

Some of the most amazing, creative, and innovative structures on earth are not man-made.

Harpy eagles are the most powerful birds of prey in the world. Standing three feet tall, with a six-foot wingspan and talons the size of bear claws, these birds are the heavyweight hunters of the South American rainforest. Enter their secret world.

After a local farmer left a bowl of eggs on Joe Hutto’s front porch, his life was forever changed. Based on his true story, My Life as a Turkey chronicles Hutto’s remarkable and moving experience of raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood.

In the past 50 years, the kangaroo population around Canberra, Australia’s capital city, has exploded from a few hundred to tens of thousands. Following the stories of several urban kangaroos, this film reveals how these marsupials manage to survive the city, and documents the ongoing debate on how best to manage them.

Alaska’s Admiralty Island is home to the largest concentration of bears in the world. At half the size of Yellowstone National Park, it manages to sustain four times as many grizzlies. The native Tlingít people call this island “Kootznoowoo,” which means “Fortress of the Bears.”

Following a family of urban raccoons over the course of six months, and using high-definition cameras and intensive GPS tracking systems, “Raccoon Nation” reveals new insights about a species that is far more elusive and wily than most people ever imagined, and more destructive.

Whales and dolphins conjure a deep sense of wonder in us that’s hard to explain. From the Arctic to the Amazon, this groundbreaking three-part series goes on a global expedition with world-renowned underwater cameramen, Doug Allen (Planet Earth) and Didier Noirot (Jacques Cousteau’s cameraman), as they capture spellbinding footage of these marine mammals. Ocean Giants looks at how cetaceans hunt, mate, and communicate, and follows scientists as they strive to uncover new insights about these animals. The first hour, Giant Lives, enters the world of the great whales. In the Arctic, giant bowhead whales survive the freezing cold wrapped in fifty tons of insulating blubber two-feet thick, making them the fattest animals on the planet. But the biggest animal on the planet is the blue whale. Measuring a hundred feet long, and weighing in at 200 tons, it is double the size of the largest dinosaur.

Whales and dolphins conjure a deep sense of wonder in us that’s hard to explain. From the Arctic to the Amazon, this groundbreaking three-part series goes on a global expedition with world-renowned underwater cameramen, Doug Allen (Planet Earth) and Didier Noirot (Jacques Cousteau’s cameraman), as they capture spellbinding footage of these marine mammals. Ocean Giants looks at how cetaceans hunt, mate, and communicate, and follows scientists as they strive to uncover new insights about these animals. The second hour, Deep Thinkers, explores the cognitive and emotional lives of dolphins and whales. Like us, cetaceans have special brain cells, spindle cells, that are associated with communication, emotion, and heightened social sensitivity. These cells were once thought to be unique to us, but research is now showing that whales and dolphins may have up to three times more spindle cells than humans.

Whales and dolphins conjure a deep sense of wonder in us that’s hard to explain. From the Arctic to the Amazon, this groundbreaking three-part series goes on a global expedition with world-renowned underwater cameramen, Doug Allen (Planet Earth) and Didier Noirot (Jacques Cousteau’s cameraman), as they capture spellbinding footage of these marine mammals. Ocean Giants looks at how cetaceans hunt, mate, and communicate, and follows scientists as they strive to uncover new insights about these animals. Marine mammals’ extrasensory perceptions and communication skills are the focus of Voices of the Sea, the final hour of the series. Whales and dolphins depend on sound to function in their ocean home. They use ultrasound to see inside other creatures, clicks and whistles to speak, and echolocation to navigate and hunt in the pitch-black depths.

Deep in the heart of Idaho lies the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, part of the largest roadless area left in the lower 48 states. At 2.5 million acres, it is larger than Yellowstone. River of No Return tells the story of a couple that took on the wilderness and all its challenges.

White lions are among the rarest and most treasured animals in the world. Rarer still is their survival in the wild. Follow NATURE as it tracks two white lion cubs as they struggle to survive the dangers they are faced with in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

Explore the day-to-day dramas of an extended family of koalas, seen through the eyes of the scientists studying their every move and vocalization.

Cuba may have been restricted politically and economically for the past 50 years, but its borders have remained open to wildlife for which Cuba’s undeveloped islands are an irresistible draw. While many islands in the Caribbean have poisoned or paved over their ecological riches on land and in the sea in pursuit of a growing tourist industry, Cuba’s wild landscapes have remained virtually untouched, creating a safe haven for rare and intriguing indigenous animals, as well as for hundreds of species of migrating birds and marine creatures. Coral reefs have benefited, too. Independent research has shown that Cuba’s corals are doing much better than others both in the Caribbean and around the world.

Echo, Africa’s most famous elephant, was the subject of many films and the matriarch of perhaps the most studied wild elephant herd in the world. In May of 2009, she died of natural causes. This film is a look back at this remarkable animal through extraordinary footage and interviews with the researchers that cared for and studied Echo and her family.

Although cultures around the world may regard the crow as a scavenger, bad omen, or simply a nuisance, this bad reputation might overshadow what could be regarded as the crow’s most striking characteristic – its intelligence. New research indicates that crows are among the brightest animals in the world. NATURE’s A Murder of Crows brings you these so-called feathered apes, as you have never seen them before.

As recently as the 1980’s, Iraq’s Mesopotamian Marshes were reminiscent of the Garden of Eden – indeed, many biblical scholars believe they are one and the same. Fed by the combined waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, this enormous marshland of over 6,000 square miles dominated southern Iraq. For more than 7,000 years, these wetlands provided a bountiful home for both wildlife and humans. A large population of indigenous people, the Ma’dan Tribes known as Marsh Arabs, had thrived there for centuries. But in the 1990’s, due to political conflict, Saddam Hussein attempted to eradicate them – not through systematic extermination, but by destroying the marshes on which they depended for survival. Massive canals were dug, diverting river water away from the wetlands and towards the Persian Gulf. Huge embankments were built to prevent water from entering the marshes. What had been a green paradise twice the size of the Everglades shrank to less than 10% of its original size. Most of it was transformed into a parched, lifeless desert. The wildlife and the people were forced to leave.

Wolverines are among the most elusive creatures on the planet. They seek out the toughest terrain – the most rugged, remote and fiercely raw – and they’ve always been scarce to begin with.

Leopards may be smaller than lions and slower than cheetahs, but it is believed there are roughly ten times more of them than lions, tigers and cheetahs combined. How have they achieved this? The key to their success is their cunning, stealth, and adaptability. From South Africa to Sri Lanka, leopards live secretly, clinging to the shadows.

In 1960, a book written about raising an orphaned lion cub named Elsa and then releasing her back into the wild became a worldwide bestseller and a Hollywood hit. But this retelling of Elsa’s story reshapes the story told fifty years ago, as it really happened and with no fairy tale ending.

On the island of New Guinea in the South Pacific lives the most striking and diverse group of birds on the planet. Local biologists and conservationists, Miriam Supuma and Paul Igag, go into the island’s dense forests in their quest to document the mating behaviors of several exceptional and elusive birds of paradise.

Examining the diversity of Himalayan habitats and wildlife, including snow leopards, red pandas, Asiatic black bears, musk deer, snub-nosed monkeys, Tibetan foxes and high-flying birds. Included: how eagles and wolves rely on teamwork to survive; how the blood of bar-headed geese has a special hemoglobin that enables them to fly in the thin air of the Himalayas. Also: the mountains' valleys, which are home to rain forests that conjure Shangri-La.

Wildlife filmmaker Colin Stafford-Johnson tracks the trek of Broken Tail, a 2-year-old tiger that disappeared from Ranthambore National Park, a tiger reserve in India, and was killed by a train 100 miles away. Their horseback journey takes them across Rajasthan, where they witness how India's historical and contemporary cultures are linked to tigers; introduces them to a poacher; and takes them to Ramgarh sanctuary, a former hunting lodge. They also share favorite memories of Broken Tail.

The Australian pelican is built for long-distance travel. With a light skeleton and a wingspan of over eight feet, it can be airborne all day and deep into the night. But what exactly triggers their journey? How do they find their way? NATURE looks for answers to questions researchers are only now beginning to unravel.

In February 2009, conditions were ripe for wildfires in the state of Victoria in southeast Australia. Relentless heat waves, seemingly endless drought, and arid winds sweeping in from the outback had left the countryside tinder dry and braced for the worst. Then, on Saturday, February 7, Victoria went up in flames; and raging fires engulfed everything in their path. By the time the fires subsided, 173 people had lost their lives, over one million acres of mountain ash forest had been destroyed, and countless animals had perished. The overwhelming firestorm was one of the worst in the country’s history, and came to be known as Black Saturday. Survivors of the Firestorm follows the phoenix-like story of Victoria’s wildlife, the fall and rise of the great mountain ash forests and all that dwell within them, and the extraordinary capacity of a damaged natural world to bounce back.

This film investigates the collapse of Pacific salmon populations and the desperate efforts to save them: Our once great runs of salmon are now conceived in laboratories, raised in tanks, driven in trucks, and farmed in pens. In its exposure of a wildly creative, hopelessly complex, and stunningly expensive approach to managing salmon, the film reveals one of the most ambitious plans ever conceived for taking the reins of the planet.

Chris Morgan sets up camp at a remote spot in the heart of Alaskan wilderness, alongside the largest concentration of grizzlies in the world. It is June in the Alaska Peninsula. The sun sets well into night and bears are taking advantage of the long days to feed, mate, and raise new cubs. Morgan tracks their progress as they feast on the riches of the season and re-establish the complex hierarchal social dynamics of bear society. Along the way, he experiences close encounters with bears, observing brutal battles among males during mating season as well as tender moments between a grizzly mom and her cubs.

Chris Morgan explores the world of black bears caught in the crossroads of urban development in Anchorage and the wilderness. This is a new normal for bears and for their human neighbors. Some bears are so comfortable living in urban surroundings that their primary habitat is a golf course. In residential areas, bears frequently raid garbage bins and birdfeeders for easy snacks. But these behaviors are less than ideal for bears and residents alike. Morgan heads north out of Anchorage to Denali National Park, where the mountains loom over treeless plains and bears get by on a diet of thousands of berries a day. The grizzlies share the enormous park with foxes, wolves and moose — and with one intrepid bear biologist and his team. Morgan continues his journey north on a bone-shaking, 610-mile motorcycle journey from Denali to Prudhoe Bay along the only Alaskan highway to reach the Arctic. Prudhoe Bay, a once pristine area at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, has been changed forever by the oil industry.

Chris Morgan travels to the far north of Alaska, the tiny North Slope town of Kaktovik. It’s early November and winter is coming on. But each year, the polar bears struggle for extended periods on dwindling fat reserves, waiting for the opportunity to hunt on sea ice that takes longer to freeze. In early spring, Morgan joins local hunters in Barrow, the northernmost city in Alaska, as they go out on their own hunts, facing some of the same challenges as the bears. In late spring, Morgan travels to the North Slope of the Brooks Range, where countless thousands of caribou cover the ground for miles. The grizzlies are waiting for them, as they have for thousands of years.

The epic story of a wild stallion continues with the third installment of the Cloud series.

Across the animal kingdom, some of the most essential lessons -- and the most extreme challenges -- occur in the first moments of life.

The black mamba is Africa’s deadliest snake. In Swaziland, snake handler Thea Litschka-Koen and her husband, Clifton, endeavor to change attitudes and save lives.

A baby humpback enters the world and joins the 3,000 or more whales that congregate in the waters off Hawaii each winter. This is the story of her first year of life.

These tiny marvels dazzle and delight bird watchers all over the world, and NATURE reveals their stunning abilities as they have never been seen before.

The wilds of Yellowstone National Park are a world of predators, scavengers and opportunists. In this vast and complex kingdom, two dominant predators reign supreme: the grizzly bear and the wolf. Size and power square off against speed and teamwork, as mighty grizzly bears contend with powerful packs of wolves for control of the food supply. Though these two fearsome hunters would normally rule their ranges uncontested, in Yellowstone they must share resources, or face starvation.

The Balkan Peninsula is notorious for being one of the great battlegrounds of history. And yet, it possesses another side unknown to many, where ancient forests and vast wetlands harbor pristine wilderness, and sheer cliff walls and desolate plateaus preserve a seemingly unchanged past. Indeed the Balkan Peninsula is home to a variety of regions that border on mythical. In Croatia’s Kopacki Rit Wetlands, land mines keep people away, but enable native wildlife to thrive. Further south, Montenegro’s Tara River carves through Europe’s longest and deepest canyon, and neighboring forests provide refuge to rare animals such as the Balkan Lynx. To the east, millions of birds flock to the Danube Delta to feast on swarms of mosquitoes. And at the west of the Balkans is Skadar Lake, a remarkable landscape of peaks and water.

The Everglades’ watery oasis has been invaded by giants. Florida’s Everglades National Park has become a dumping ground for a variety of non-native species, including what may be tens of thousands of Burmese pythons. Follow scientists and snake hunters as they study the problem and try to find solutions to the growing crisis.

They are the scenes of some of the largest concentrations of predators and prey on the planet – the vast tracts of grassland and savannah found on every continent but Antarctica. Yet survival in this kind of open, horizontal world is far from easy, with few places to hide, a scarcity of vegetation, drought, fire and the threat of attack by some of the world’s fastest and most powerful hunters. From Africa’s Serengeti to California’s grasslands, some of nature’s most dramatic moments are caught, examined and “fractured” into their unique parts … within creatures great and small … to reveal the amazing abilities that give each animal the instinct, intelligence and brute prowess to survive. From elaborate impact sequences that spin around animals caught in a “frozen moment” to animations that go inside their bodies – a unique view of animals’ amazing biomechanics is revealed.

Teeming with creatures in every shape and form, the jungle is the most diverse habitat on the planet and home to nearly half of the world’s plant and animal species. Rising hundreds of feet from the dark depths of the tropical forest floor, through layers of twisting branch and canopy full of life – this vertical landscape pushes the limits of animal engineering. The jungle’s layers are peeled back to dissect more amazing moments of impact. Stealth and ambush reign in the jungle and survival depends on highly tuned senses and ingenious defenses. From ninja ants to flying snakes, cameras dive underwater, sail through trees and penetrate fur, feathers, skin and bone to reveal the science of some amazing animal engineering hidden deep in the jungle.

On a remote Arctic island, a breeding pair of gyrfalcons and a pack of Arctic wolves struggle to raise their young as nine months of snow and ice melt away.

Just how smart are monkeys? Their curiosity leads them to try new things, but it’s their culture that teaches them much of what they know.

Following their protection as an endangered species, bald eagles have come roaring back. But even in the best of times, life in the wild is a surprisingly tough struggle.

In 1893, a bounty hunter named Ernest Thompson Seton journeyed to the untamed canyons of New Mexico on a mission to kill a dangerous outlaw: a wolf named Lobo.

Follow Rom Whitaker as he journeys around the world, reimagining the lines between fact and fantasy, in search of the fabled dragons' contemporary counterparts.

We find them in the evening digging through our garbage, hiding under our houses, or walking through our yards, streets, and parks. Skunks seem perfectly adapted to life around us. But we are less comfortable around them, for fear of their potent spray. As we expand our urban areas, many skunks find themselves increasingly unwelcome neighbors. It seems everyone has their own skunk story. But what do we really know about these infamous black and white creatures?

In South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains, one animal’s perseverance makes it the ultimate survivor: the eland, the largest member of the antelope family.

Some people are cat people, some are dog people. But regardless of which camp they fall into, most people are simply crazy about their pets. The connections people form with their cats and dogs are often the longest, strongest relationships in their lives. They are our soul mates, our best friends, sometimes even our surrogate children. What makes these creatures such key members of our families?

Kilauea continually molds Hawaii’s Big Island. Creating new land, shaping ancient forests and carving tunnels through the earth, the volcano fascinates a dedicated group of scientists and filmmakers who follow its every action. Using innovative new imaging technologies to map the magma chamber, following the lava’s heat along its journey underground, and listening to the constant noises of its movements, geologists map the shifting liquid earth as they work to understand its awesome force.

More than a third of all amphibians have already been lost, and more are disappearing every day. A fungus called chytrid has been identified as the major culprit.

Around the globe, unique and fascinating species face extinction. Follow the plight of these creatures and the dedicated conservationists who fight for them.

Returning home to the Isle of Mull after 15 years abroad, Gordon Buchanan was happy for the chance to take a new look at his native land, through his camera lens.

The world's largest waterfall, Victoria Falls, is explored through the eyes of a 74-year-old fisherman who's lived near the 350-foot wonder, located on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, for all of his life. During the rainy season (November to April), much of the wildlife that depend on the river for subsistence dissipate into the savanna. The rest of the year, however, it attracts baboons, eagles, elephants, hippos, kingfishers and quelea finches, among other creatures.

The Season 26 opener probes colony collapse disorder---the dramatic loss of honeybees in North America and Europe. The honeybee is responsible (via pollination) for one of every three bites of food people eat. Included: long-term ramifications; possible causes.

Discover the epic history of the Druids, one of more than a dozen gray wolf packs now occupying the 2.2 million acres of Yellowstone National Park.

Documentarian Simon King raises two orphaned cheetah cubs in Kenya's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. He's seen bottle-feeding them and---to prepare them for the wild--- teaching the pair to hunt. King narrates.

Nature's ugliest creatures are spotlighted, including the dung beetle, elephant-seal bull, ghost-faced bat, Indian stork, naked mole rat, needle-toothed viperfish, proboscis monkey, star-nosed mole, tapeworm, vulture and warthog. Included: how their looks and attributes contribute to their survival.

Dr. Philip Stander, a Namibian carnivore expert, investigates the resurgent lion population in the Namib Desert. Included: the uniqueness of the big cats; and their biggest challenge---residents who see them as threats to livestock.

An exploration of Australia's diverse parrot population, including the fig parrot, the golden-shouldered parrot and the palm cockatoo. The overview examines their mating rituals and fight for survival, and details the damage the birds can do to farmers' crops.

The link between the horseshoe crab, which has remained the same for some 350 million years, and the red-knot shorebird, is explored. The horseshoe crab's spawning grounds, the Delaware Bay, are an important feeding ground for the red knots on their way from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic. Included: how biologists connected a drop in the red-knot population to a similar decrease in the crabs. Also: how horseshoe-crab blood is used to test human medicines.

An examination of what the future may hold for polar bears, which evolved from grizzlies during the last ice age, due to the dramatic changes in their Arctic habitat. The documentary also details how grizzlies are expanding their territory northward, encroaching upon the polar bears' domain. Included: a polar bear giving birth; grizzly and polar-bear mothers teaching their cubs to hunt.

In the animal world females often call the shots. But their decisions may be surprising. In an effort to understand the mating game, NATURE follows biologist Chadden Hunter, PhD, through the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia, as he observes a troop of geladas, close cousins of baboons. He found that in gelada society females make all the decisions about mating, even though males are twice their size. The males are evaluated on everything from body heat to baby sitting skills. And once selected, no male gelada can ever rest on his laurels. Another male is always auditioning for his job. You’ll also see female barn swallows that choose a male by the color of his chest and encounter a robotic sage grouse that is helping researchers learn about this species’ elaborate courtship displays.

Apparently, there is nothing a male will not do for the right to mate with a female — dance, sing, fight, change body colors, illuminate, even agree to be eaten alive. There is often a surplus of males, and they are instinctively driven to compete in order to pass their genes to the next generation. But it takes two to tango. Now, scientists are learning to what extremes males will go in order to find that dance partner.

A fascinating profile of a 33-year-old silverback named Titus, the leader of a gorilla clan in the mountainous region between Rwanda and Congo who faces a challenge for supremacy from his second-in-command, Kuryama. Archival footage and the observations of researchers fill in his backstory, including how, as a young adult, he engaged in secret liaisons with females behind the back of pack leader Beetsme, then led a rare bloodless coup against Beetsme.

Marine biologist-filmmaker Rick Rosenthal documents billfish (marlins, sailfish and swordfish), whose numbers have dwindled over the past 50 years from overfishing. Included: off Mexico's Contoy Island, he finds thousands of sailfish feasting on sardines; and along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, he swims with a "grander" (a marlin over 1000 pounds).

From the moment he is born, a red deer calf faces a life-long struggle to survive in his new home — the mountain wilderness of the Austrian Alps. NATURE reveals a breathtaking view into the world of a red deer calf as he struggles to survive in Prince of the Alps.

In 1959, the United States Air Force captured dozens of baby chimpanzees in Africa, transporting them to Alamogordo, New Mexico where they and their offspring were enlisted into in the space program. NATURE's "Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History" explores the lives of these chimpanzees who were forced to endure a grueling life as the ultimate human stand-ins.

Brave the extreme conditions of Earth's southernmost continent for a close-up look at the varied penguins of the Antarctic.

NATURE presents a breathtaking look at wintertime deep within Yellowstone, America's first national park.

Lynn Sherr hosts a collection of clips highlighting memorable moments from the program's first 25 years. Also: a tribute to the series' creator and host George Page, who died in 2006. Included: hatchling sea turtles on a Caribbean beach; barnacle goslings in the Arctic; a wildebeest defending her calf from wild dogs on the Serengeti; crocodiles attacking gazelles; chimpanzees saved from medical testing; a reunion of two elephants after 25 years apart.

With NATURE’S Rhinoceros, wildlife filmmaker Nigel Marven brings you face-to-face with the world’s five species of rhino, each struggling, with varying degrees of success, for their continued survival. For some rhinos, the future may rely on breeding programs, such as at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, where Sumatran rhinoceros Emi is now nearing the end of her third successful pregnancy, having already given birth to Andalas and Suci, the only two Sumatran rhinos ever to be born in captivity.

More than 15 years ago, Martyn Colbeck began to document the lives of African elephants. He has grown close to elephant matriarch, Echo, and her close-knit family.

Conservationist Rom Whitaker searches for the last of the supersize crocodiles among the titans of the croc world: Nile crocodiles, saltwater crocodiles, and gharials.

With glaciers marking its tip, active volcanoes running along its spine, snow-capped peaks rising high above its range, both wet and dry tropical rainforests within its interior, and desert, lowland savanna and alpine tundra in between, the Andes is an extraordinary world of diverse terrain, extreme temperatures and multifarious wildlife.

The longest chain of mountains on the planet lies along the western edge of South America like an immense dragon - its tail falling into the freezing Antarctic Ocean, its head breathing fire 5,000 miles north. The Andes, home to the highest points outside the Himalayas, are remarkable not only for their volcanoes and their jagged peaks, the spines of the dragon's back; the niches they shelter are a world of extremes and hidden secrets. NATURE journeys the length of the Andes, passing through deserts and cloud forests, across glaciers and fjords, encountering the amazing creatures that call these habitats home: penguins and hummingbirds, pumas and flamingos, a deer only 12 inches tall, a tree-dwelling bear and much more.

Along her 9,000-mile voyage to nest, our loggerhead tour guide encounters hammerhead sharks, deep ocean tempests, and fishing nets.

Exploring how the domestication of dogs might have taken place, including the theory of biologist Raymond Coppinger that it was the animals themselves — and human trash — that inspired the transformation. The genetic analysis of Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden has placed the origins of domesticated dogs — and those of the first dog — in East Asia.

This episode details the explosion of the basic working dog types into the roughly 400 breeds known today; explores concerns about today’s competitive breeding and its effect on dogs’ health and well-being; and outlines dogs’ potential role in medical care for human beings.

The world of sharks is explored off the coast of southern Africa. Included: basking sharks; blue sharks; great white sharks; sand tiger sharks; short-fin mako sharks; and tiger sharks.

The Serengeti, in northern Tanzania, teems with big predators. But none compare to the lion. The Serengeti sustains one of the biggest lion populations in Africa: approximately 3,500 lions in 300 prides. But this pride, residing in the central Serengeti, is an exception. 22 lions in all: they are a Super Pride. Few lion prides reach Super Pride status. This phenomenon requires the right conditions. Plentiful prey and strong pride males are key to its success. But keeping cubs alive to maturity is the Super Pride's ultimate goal. Sometimes the greatest threats to a lion cub's life come from other lions…

On the southeast coast of Australia, the town of Eden nestles along the shores of Twofold Bay. It was once a center of Australia’s thriving whaling industry, in part because it lies along the migration path of baleen whales swimming northward from the Antarctic. But residents say Eden’s whalers got some unusual help — from orcas, or killer whales, that patrolled offshore.

In interviews with scientists and eyewitnesses, NATURE probes the evidence that some animals may have senses that allow them to predict impending natural disasters long before we can.

Rescue missions to save animals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Included: a dog that spent days on a rooftop is saved; four dolphins that were washed out to sea from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., are rescued by a NOAA crew. Also: the evacuation of 19 penguins, two sea otters, a sea turtle and sea dragons from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans.

Underwater cameraman Bob Cranston explores the remarkable world of marine creatures called cephalopods, which include squids, cuttlefish, octopi, and nautili.

Anthony LaPaglia narrates this look at life in one of the world's most inhospitable places, Death Valley. Included: Devil's Hole pupfish, which live in waters deep beneath the desert's surface and whose numbers are dwindling; kangaroo rats; black-tailed jackrabbits; and bighorn sheep, which have a nine-stage digestive system that enables them to eat even the harshest of desert plants; and the desert tortoise, which eats enough food for a year---and mates---during just two weeks each spring.

For more than 20 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has entertained, educated, and fascinated its nearly 2 million annual visitors with pioneering displays of realistic undersea environments. Now NATURE gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s leading centers for marine research and conservation — a marvel of engineering and biology that, literally, captures Oceans in Glass.

Underdogs tells the poignant story of two misfit dogs whose lives were turned around by people who saw their potential for greatness.

Join spider expert Martin Nicholas, a mild-mannered water treatment engineer by day, as he tours the world in search of some of the most amazing arachnids.

"Animals Behaving Worse," the sequel to "Animals Behaving Badly," explores the clever and often amusing ways in which animals must behave in order to survive the increasing presence of humans.

A troop of chacma baboons in Zimbabwe is taken over by and forced to adjust to a new male "king." A pair of twins, along with every other young baboon in the troop, is in danger because the king must kill the females' offspring before he can mate with them.

Patricia Clarkson narrates this look at the relationship between the sycamore fig tree and the tiny fig wasp, which is so small it could fly through the eye of a needle. The trees, which flourish in Kenya, produce fruit that provides nourishment to more wildlife than any other tree in Africa, but without the pollination the wasp provides, that might not occur. The documentary also examines other creatures that make the trees their homes, including gray hornbills (one of Africa's largest birds).

Africa's lion population appears to be declining at an alarming rate. NATURE's THE VANISHING LIONS searches for explanations and solutions to the troubling trend. Across Africa, the King of Beasts is in trouble. In the late 20th century, wildlife preserves were created to curtail safari hunting, but the African lion population continues to decline. Their numbers have dwindled from 100,000 in the early 1990s to no more than 30,000 and as few as 16,000 today. What could be endangering the King of Beasts?

They are among the most reliable witnesses to a crime — expert in their testimony and bulletproof in their account. Yet they never utter a single word. They are the animals, plants, and insects that are being recruited by a special breed of forensic scientists to solve the most seemingly impenetrable of crimes.

The big cats of Africa have always been favored subjects of wildlife filmmakers. But as little as 15 years ago, no one had captured the unforgettable image of a leopard in its ghostly nocturnal stalk. Viewers had never seen intimate portrayals of the sleek and elusive serval, or witnessed the nighttime romps of the beautiful black-eared caracal. The team of Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett filled those gaps with a series of spectacular breakthrough films in the 1990s. Among the first to apply infrared light and night vision goggles to wildlife studies, they combined technology with intrepid determination and a strong dose of luck, illuminating the cats we hardly knew, and giving us fresh insights into those we only thought we knew, such as lions and cheetahs.

Rarely seen aspects of shark behavior highlight this extraordinary view of undersea life, including an organized feeding frenzy with other predators that help herd their prey; night hunting in packs; and their violent courtship ritual. Also: the red-lipped batfish, which “walks” on the ocean floor via modified fins.

Yellowstone's restored grizzly-bear population and its conflicts with humans are examined, with food the force driving the bears, which have been protected as endangered species for 30 years. That's now challenged by lawmakers, while ecological changes threaten bears' food sources. Chris Cooper narrates.

“Violent Hawaii” offers a panorama of nature in action, including volcanoes; humpback whales; tsunamis; and big-wave surfers and the lifeguards who rescue them at a beach nicknamed “Jaws.” James Naughton narrates.

Most big cats do their best to remain hidden from human eyes, but none are quite as adept at this as the snow leopard. These cats lead largely solitary lives, populating the Himalayas at altitudes that offer only about half the oxygen to which humans are accustomed. So when wildlife filmmakers Hugh Miles and Mitchell Kelly set out to film this animal they knew they were in for a challenge.

“Cuba: Wild Island of the Caribbean” explores the country's diverse animal life, much of it found nowhere else. Included: the Cuban crocodile, which can leap as high as seven feet.

Orphaned orangutans, their parents killed for their value as 'exotic' animals, face a struggle to survive in the jungles of Borneo. The researchers of Camp Leakey rescue the young and try to help the species hang on.

For nearly 40 years an albino gorilla named Snowflake was adored by people around the world. NATURE’s Snowflake: The White Gorilla tells the story of this remarkable animal, from his loving upbringing by humans to his eventual death from skin cancer in 2003. It also tracks the revolutionary changes in our understanding of how best to care for gorillas that have taken place during Snowflake’s lifetime.

Scientists have discovered that natural poisons and venoms contain chemicals that can be used to create drugs for treating everything from chronic pain to cancer.

The first of three “Deep Jungle” shows, with high-tech innovations capturing views of rain-forest life big and small. Included: the elusive Sumatran tiger; flying lizards and snakes in Borneo; a bird that moonwalks as part of its courtship ritual; a moth that feeds with a 12-inch tongue. John Hannah narrates.

In the Amazon — the world’s largest rainforest — trees fight to the death for water and sunlight. Giant spiders as big as dinner plates take shelter in underground lairs. Buzzing bees and scurrying mammals help hold together an amazing web of life that centers on the Brazil nut tree. One of the world’s largest rivers carries floodwaters that turn forests into massive lakes.

What jungles reveal about humanity, through studies of primates and ruins of ancient civilizations in Guatemala and Cambodia, and why those cultures collapsed. Cameras capture monkeys using tools to open nuts, and chimps are seen in a coordinated hunt for one of their own.

Nearly three decades ago, filmmaker Hardy Jones became fascinated by wild dolphins. Even though many said it couldn’t be done, he set out to film these sleek sea mammals in the open ocean. Along the way, he became closely involved with his subjects and came to appreciate dolphins as highly intelligent creatures worthy of careful protection. Eventually, Jones turned his camera into a tool for conservation. He filmed dramatic dolphin hunts, and the documentary footage made headlines and sparked international protests. Jones also discovered the effects of chemical pollution on dolphins and orcas, the largest species of dolphin. He came to realize that threats to these marine mammals were threats to the ocean itself, and to us all.

A chronicle of hippopotamus life along the banks of Zambia's Luangwa River includes footage of males fighting over territory; females protecting their young; the hippo's importance to river ecology; and societal rituals involving the head male of the pod. Mark Hamill narrates.

Animal life in the Kalahari Desert, where rainy and dry seasons direct the inhabitants, including zebras; wildebeests; elephants; finches; bullfrogs; and flamingos, whose chicks must walk nearly 100 miles when fertile feeding areas dry up. Christopher Plummer narrates.

Detailing the ecosystem of the Kalahari Desert as the Okavango River overflows, transforming a saltpan in to an oasis. Included: fish eagles in aerial combat for airspace over best fishing areas; the sitatunga antelope with ski-like hoofs. Christopher Plummer narrates.

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.

In 1995, while filming wild horses in the mountains of Montana, Ginger Kathrens discovered a striking, almost pure white colt just hours after his birth.

Wilderness is elusive in Britain, but in the Highlands of Scotland, the sacred dance between predator and prey is still played out against a rugged and unforgiving landscape. Gliding above this wild land is Britain's most magnificent predator -- the golden eagle.

This episode of Nature, narrated by Stockard Channing, provides us with a fascinating look into the many steps of evaluating a diamond and preparing it for public sale. Miners dredge the earth, dealers fret over valuation exams to probe the minutest details of the stones, and finally the would-be owners gasp in awe. Diamonds are their own glorious world. Get a look at how they go from mining to necklace--with plenty of human drama along the way. You may never look at jewelry the same way again.

Everyone loves macaws. Playful, intelligent, beautiful, they are the stars of parrot parks and zoos, and the cherished pets of devoted owners around the world. All of which makes them prime targets for poachers, who can make enormous profits from illegal sales of the birds. Thousands are smuggled from the wild each year, and many die in the process. In the forests of South America, several species of macaw are severely endangered. But there is hope on the horizon. Dr. Charlie Munn, a wealthy American who is also a leading ornithologist and world expert on parrots, has begun a campaign to promote eco-tourism as a means of saving the birds. Employing former poachers as conservationists, and providing locals with the means to start and maintain a trade in tourism instead of smuggling, he’s betting that instead of buying birds, their fans will pay to see them in the wild.

About 8,000 years ago, the relationship between cows and man began with the revolutionary advent of domestication in Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and Africa. Discover how cows have altered human life, human biology, and the geography of the world.

NATURE's "Ireland" explores the richly textured natural world of the Emerald Isle, from its diverse wildlife to its craggy mountains and fog-shrouded coastlines.

To help ensure the survival of endangered whooping cranes, Operation Migration maintains an artificial breeding program that prepares chicks for adulthood.

“Land of the Falling Lakes” looks at Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, an ancient forest of stunning beauty and waterways continuously evolving from limestone formations. Included: the brown bear, one of which intrudes on a wolf pack's meal of wild boar; and the olm, a subterranean creature without eyes which navigates and hunts via bioelectrical senses.

Follow the adventures of Pale Male, a daring red-tailed hawk who manages to thrive in the urban world of New York City.

Lynn Sherr, the award-winning correspondent for ABC TV’s 20/20 newsmagazine, went to Africa for the first time in 1973 and fell in love — with giraffes. “They were a dazzling, unexpected revelation: gawky, graceful anomalies; cool, gentle giants dressed in golden, stained-glass coats. And when they ran, they seemed to float. I was hooked.” Journey to Kenya and South Africa, and to an American zoo that is the giraffe breeding capital of the Western Hemisphere, for a revealing look at this powerful, captivating creature when Ms. Sherr hosts Tall Blondes.

“Bet Yer Blue Boons” is one of the most agile and intelligent cutting horses in the world, a true champion. “Rio,” a spectacular polo pony, is a gifted athlete able to sprint at 30 miles per hour, then stop suddenly and turn on a dime. “Chamont” has the natural talent and physique of a great dressage horse, but also at times a timorous personality that puts a question mark on his future success. Each of these remarkable animals shares an astonishing trait: the ability to implicitly trust, and perform complex tasks in tandem with, a human partner working toward a common goal. This teaming of horse and rider is arguably the most sophisticated and intriguing example of human-animal cooperation. NATURE explores and illuminates this absorbing phenomenon in Horse and Rider.

Dive to the Abyss showcases a group of marine biologists as they explore three different underwater environments.

A filmmaker goes in search of the scary and fascinating creatures that feed on blood in NATURE's BLOODY SUCKERS.

Hunted almost to extinction over the past three centuries, cougars are making a comeback today, with some 30,000 living in the wilds of North and South America. But still they face uncertain prospects, as human encroachment continues to shrink their natural habitats. Doggedly tracking these magnificent animals, once known as the “king cat,” filmmaker Ron Shade provides an incisive look at their prospects for survival in Trail of the Cougar.

On the surface, it's the bleakest of lands, with ferocious winds, flightless birds, and enough ice to flood half the planet's population if it were to melt. But below that frozen mass, a fantastic environment of indescribable beauty teems with life. NATURE takes viewers into the world that is "Under Antarctic Ice."

A four-part series on “The Reptiles” begins with “Alligators and Crocodiles.” Included: their sensory systems and intelligence; courtship and mating signals; importance to ecosystems; their evolving relationship with humans; and their roles in the food chain that vary with their locations, including Australia; India; Florida; and Venezuela. Howard McGillin narrates.

A look at snakes. Included: their evolution and movement; how venom works; hunting methods and prey's defenses; venom collectors and experiences with bites; snake charmers; close-ups of mouths and fangs; and the largest, the Anaconda, found in Venezuela. Howard McGillin narrates.

Observing turtles and tortoises, the shelled animals that have been on Earth more than 200 million years. Included: problems they face in the modern world. Howard McGillin narrates.

Focusing on several of the over 4000 types of lizards, including the Komodo dragon; sea-feeding marine iguanas; chameleons; venemous gila monsters; and geckos, who defy gravity by walking upside down. Also: a visit with Henry Lizard Lover, a photographer who lives with 37 lizards whom he treats like humans.

Animals are a formidable presence in the Bible, which makes reference to more than a hundred species, some metaphorically and others literally. But many of those creatures are gone from the Holy Land today, or on the verge of extinction there.

For more than a century, Yala National Park in Sri Lanka has been one of Asia’s most celebrated wildlife preserves, a lush windswept tropical forest rich in rare aquatic birds and abundant with ferocious predators, such as crocodiles and sloth bears. But only in very recent years has Yala’s big cat distinction been brought to light: It contains one of the world’s largest concentrations of leopards. NATURE takes viewers deep into the jungle habitat of these elusive animals, in Leopards of Yala.

The Steller’s sea lions that populate the Alaskan coastline are powerful, playful, and sometimes rowdy creatures who bump and jostle each other on land but acquire a sublime gracefulness in the water. They are also the subject of a strange and tragic mystery: Steller’s sea lions are rapidly disappearing from one of the last great wildlife strongholds of the world, and no one knows why.

Thousands of tons of war wreckage sank into the fabled lagoons of the South Pacific islands during the naval and air battles of World War II. But instead of devastating the region’s underwater ecology, the detritus of human conflict turned into artificial reefs, upon which fantastic mini-ecosystems took shape. NATURE gives viewers a new perspective on wildlife in the South Pacific when its cameras board the WAR WRECKS OF THE CORAL SEAS.

Just like the mighty herds of wildebeest, the people who make their homes on Africa's great Serengeti plains are constantly on the move. This episode focuses on two women searching for their spiritual identity. Alice Wangui, a Nairobi hair salon owner, takes a trip to her native Kikuyu village so that her child will be born with a sense of community. On the savanna proper, Flora Salonik lives in an isolated farming hamlet, and struggles with the decision of whether or not to return to her own roots: the bustling metropolis of Arusha, Tanzania.

For centuries, the Tuareg people have braved the brutal Sahara to trade in salt, a precious cargo once worth its weight in gold. In this episode of AFRICA, Adam Ilius,salt production a young boy of nine, crosses hundreds of miles of desolate and dangerous desert on his first trans-Saharan salt caravan. After months of traveling, will Adam make it to Bilma, Niger to sell the caravan's salt for necessary food and clothing? Or will the shifting sands of the desert spell disaster for this tenacious group?

Deep in the central African rainforest, a struggle for survival rages. This episode takes a close look at how booming overseas markets for rainforest trees threaten the existence of two groups of Africans. Cameroon's Baka people, a traditional rainforest group, have lived in harmony with the forest for centuries, but now the sound of electric saws deafens the daily music of birds and monkeys. monkey, video link In Accra, the capital of Ghana, Annan Cedi, a coffin maker, needs these precious rainforest woods to construct fantasy coffins for international clients. Will the Baka be able to protect their ancient way of life and with it, an invaluable eco-system? And will Annan be able to maintain his business?

Isolated by mountains, Ethiopia is a center of spirituality. Here, faith is a driving force in the lives of many. This episode explores the depths of Ethiopia's religious beliefs. In the holy highland town of Lalibela, young Kibkab Wodemariam studies each day in hopes of becoming a priest. In the hills above Lalibela, Abba Defar labors at bringing to life his vision of a cathedral hewn from mountain rock. Will Kibkab Wodemariam be rewarded for his studies with the honor of participating in the annual procession for the holy day of Timkat? And will Abba Defar ever complete his mammoth symbol of faith in the Ethiopian highlands?

In the Sahel, the semi-arid border between the Sahara and the savanna, people mark the passage of time with ceremony and tradition. As the hot sun beats down on the Niger River delta, the annual Fulani cattle drive is underway. Young Errou Sisse must leave his girlfriend and travel hundreds of miles across parched earth with his family's cattle in search of adequate grazing land. As he travels through the desolate landscape, he and his fellow herders must survive on milk, and what little they can trade in the widely scattered villages of the Sahel. Meanwhile, another young man is hoping to mark an important passage of his own. In a cliffside Dogon village in Mali, Atime Dogolo Saye awaits the sacred dama ceremony to honor the spirits of the dead. Without participating in the dama, Atime will forever remain a boy, denied the right to raise a family of his own. Will these two young men be successful in their journeys? And will they find love when they reach journey's end.

Water is the lifeblood of Africa. It can create famine or fortune. In this episode, two families are hoping for fortune. Charles Tinkewimeru has been working the waters of Uganda's Lake Victoria for several years, building a good business selling fresh fish and dried minnows. But catches are steadily declining and Charles must come up with a new trade. Meanwhile, further inland in Uganda, the Ngwatima family has planted its annual rice crop. But the rains are late this year. A good crop depends on water, and now the Ngwatima must battle the elements in the hope of keeping their crop alive until relief comes from the skies. Will water bring fortune to these families, or will the shifting clouds spell disaster?

Surrounded by gleaming aquamarine waters and fine white sand, Zanzibar looks like a tropical paradise. But life here is not easy. No one knows that better than Issa Simai, who spends his days, spear in hand, in the warm Indian Ocean trying to catch enough octopus or lobster to make a living. Issa is also a member of The Leopards, Zanzibar's most successful soccer team. This season, they have won their way to a playoff on the mainland, Tanzania, in Dar es Salaam. But before the Leopards even reach the field, they face a daunting obstacle: paying for the trip. Will the Leopards make enough to hire a boat to the mainland? And even more challenging, will they ace the playoff and return home to the cheers of their Zanzibar fans?

The site of a large geological deposit of mineral wealth, South Africa has prospered from a history of mining, with the lion's share of riches going to white workers and owners. South Africa's system of apartheid has since been abolished, and blacks are claiming more of the skilled jobs in the gold mines. In the last episode of the series, two women attempt to reach their goals of better job opportunities. Africa, Pt. 8: Southern Treasures looks at Xoliswa Vanda and Putswa Tekane as they try to work in an industry that may be on the decline.

Filmed in the mountains of Montana, this poignant, engrossing chronicle focuses on an extraordinary stallion, whose life has been recorded since his birth in the wild in 1995 by Emmy-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.

An incisive look at the breeding, behavior, and training of humankind's best friend, including useful pointers on how to avoid mistakes when selecting a puppy.

The escalating battle for space on this planet between people and wild animals has grown increasingly one-sided, as humanity asserts its domination. But a few intrepid species are successfully challenging, harassing, and even exploiting us on our own turf.

Long recognized as one of the most intelligent birds, the raven also has a less than savory image as a scavenger that does not discriminate between humans and animals. NATURE’s Ravens explores how these all-black creatures acquired their dual and contradictory images — as birds of both life and death.

On January 28, 1998, a monster weather system slammed into Oahu’s north shore. The Coast Guard called a Condition Black — all access to the water denied. It was every surfer’s dream and nightmare combined, playing and replaying on a seemingly endless loop, as colossal waves up to 40 feet high surged over the beaches of Oahu in a monstrous, unstoppable procession. The stunning footage, some recorded on IMAX film, the stories of the surfers, and the storm itself form the breathtaking core of Condition Black.

Journey with Meg Ryan to the jungles of Thailand in search of the white elephant, a rare creature coveted by royalty -- and threatened by extinction.

From the Caribbean, the documentary hopscotches to various points on the globe to show viewers a diverse array of animals that make music.

They box and wrestle, kick with authority, and cover large patches of ground with powerful leaps. In fact, the red kangaroos of Australia’s Outback are among the finest athletes of the animal world. And that’s just as well, since the Outback presents one of the most challenging environments on the planet.

Follow Ewan Mcgregor as he travels to a remote Canadian outpost on Hudson Bay, where he investigates the annual invasion of hungry polar bears.

Julia Roberts, one of the most famous and beautiful American actresses of today, lives among the nomads of Mongolia and discovers their relationship with the horse.

A new age of ocean exploration is lifting the veil of mystery shrouding a creature of legend -- the octopus.

Discover amazing birds -- from hummingbirds and peregrine falcons to parrots and barn owls -- on NATURE's "Extraordinary Birds."

The enigmatic subjects of NATURE: The Urban Elephant, Asian elephants are losing territory to the inevitable process of deforestation. Industrialization all over Asia has hurt the mahouts, or elephant drivers, so that the trained elephants and their riders are being driven into major cities such as Bangkok to earn a meager living receiving donations and food from curious tourists.

Life on the savannah of southern Tanzania is a study in contrast between rainy and dry seasons. When water is abundant, the wildebeest at the rivers provide food for the lion population, while the buffalo graze contentedly on the succulent grasses in the hills. The two great adversaries -- lion and buffalo -- can keep their distance.

Each October, the remote Canadian town of Churchill in Manitoba plays host to some very unusual guests. More than a thousand hungry polar bears gather there to await the refreezing of Hudson Bay and then move out on the ice in pursuit of their traditional winter diet of seal. The world's largest land carnivore, polar bears can be very dangerous for humans as well as sea creatures -- but for tiny Churchill, they also are a tourist-dollar bonanza.

THE FOUR BILLION YEAR WAR explains how both conflict and cooperation have helped shape the species that today populate our world. And it profiles the winners and losers in this epic evolutionary contest — from the massive dinosaurs who disappeared long ago to the humble bacteria that have survived for billions of years virtually unchanged.

Gene Swapping Variety is indeed the spice of life. That is the message of THE MATING GAME, Part 2 of NATURE’s six-part TRIUMPH OF LIFE series. It takes a passionate look at the evolution of sex, which allows a species to pass its genes along from generation to generation.

For billions of years, life on Earth has been engaged in its own ETERNAL ARMS RACE, the subject of Part 3 of NATURE’s TRIUMPH OF LIFE. As predators became better hunters, their prey also evolved better defenses.

Life may be a contest in which only the fittest individuals survive, but cooperation has also played a key role in evolution. WINNING TEAMS takes a close look at the alliances that animals have forged — with others of their own kind and very different organisms — in a bid to stay alive. In fact, teamwork occurs everywhere, from flocks of birds and herds of wildebeest to colonies of ants and termites.

Hearts, eyes, flippers and wings — evolution has forged many remarkable body structures. But none is more amazing than the brain, that bundle of nerve cells that allows us to sense our surroundings, sort out information, and make decisions. Indeed, the great importance of BRAIN POWER to evolution is the subject of this week’s installment of NATURE’s TRIUMPH OF LIFE series.

This sixth installment focuses on the mass extinctions that have occurred over time. Though attention is paid to the factors that probably led to the demise of the dinosaurs, far more time is devoted to examining a wide variety of land and sea creatures that are continuing to fight off extinction. Climate changes, the birth of more highly evolved life forms, and changes in ocean currents are just a few of the factors that can play a major role in determining which species will prevail. Scientists and historians share their thoughts about which of today's species are most likely to remain triumphant over the coming millennia.

Who can resist the magnetic allure of a baby? The presence of little ones of any species invariably generates instant attention and concern from onlookers. In fact, it seems that both humans and animals are hard-wired to find youngsters adorable. The practical and essential reasons why the very young have an ability to play on our heart strings are explored in Baby Tales.

The birth and survival of a panda cub signals hope for the world's most cherished endangered animals, in NATURE's The Panda Baby.

The saga of one South African fur seal's adventures and adversities as he matures into a massive bull is captured on GOLDEN SEALS OF THE SKELETON COAST. The saga starts with the male pup's birth along the barren, windswept Skeleton Coast in West Africa. By the time he takes his first breaths, he's already facing danger -- in the form of jackals invading the seal colony.

When animals are the subject, most people associate Australia with lovable koalas and leaping kangaroos. But an even more distinctive aspect of Australian wildlife is its abundance of animals -- from snakes and spiders to a host of marine life forms and at least one mammal -- that use venom to defend themselves, attack prey, and in some cases help digest food.

Documentary that explores Antarctica's weather phenomena, its rugged and adaptable wildlife and the powerful dynamics of its ever-changing icecap. Part 1 discusses the effects of the katabatic -- the relentless wind that sweeps over the Antarctic landscape, often at speeds of more than 100 mile per hour, re-sculpting the topography of the continent and affecting the climate of the entire southern hemisphere.

Part 2 investigates the icebergs, million-ton islands of ice that have broken free of glacial cliffs to become floating platforms of life. Despite the harshness of the environment, diverse eco-systems thrive. The principal wildlife includes crabeater seals and leopard seals, Adelie and emperor penguins, Minke whales, krill, snow petrals and algae.

Though their glory days may be in the past, these hoofed creatures continue to enthrall us, as the NATURE program HORSES demonstrates in sparkling detail. From the steppes of Mongolia, where children race at breakneck speeds perched on stallions ten times their size, to the fields of Georgia, where people confined to wheelchairs find new freedom in the saddle, HORSES highlights the many roles played by this multi-talented beast of burden. There are also rare glimpses of the world’s most endangered horse, and an inside look at the art of the horse whisperers, the trainers who through their gentle touch can transform a wild bucking bronco into a stately show horse.

Ironically, the powerful, dedicated canines profiled in Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic are little more than mutts. They are mixed-breed huskies that have endurance.

Human lives have been influenced by animals in matters that reach far beyond the food chain. In surprising ways, animals help teach, heal, and strengthen people -- in body, mind, and spirit.

Birds may have a reputation for being less than geniuses, but researchers are discovering that some are remarkably smart. Some birds have the capacity to recognize, count, or name different objects. Ravens, for instance, have the ability to solve difficult puzzles, such as untangling a knotted string to free up a tasty treat or figuring out how to steal fish by hauling in an angler’s untended line. And, as shown in the first part of NATURE’s Inside the Animal Mind, crows on the remote Pacific island of New Caledonia have learned a skill that people once thought only primates could master: the use of tools. The birds use long, specially chosen twigs to spear the plump grubs that hide deep beneath the bark of rotting logs.

Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love, hate — emotions play a pivotal role in our lives. But do they loom large in an animal’s world as well? Part Two of NATURE’s Inside the Animal Mind explores that question in fascinating detail.

As you read this, you are probably aware of reading this. Indeed, you can also imagine yourself reading this — a sort of picture within a picture in your mind’s eye. But do animals share this kind of consciousness? That is the question asked by Part Three of NATURE’s Inside the Animal Mind. The program ponders just what consciousness is — and which animals might share this trait with people.

Cheetahs in a Hot Spot takes viewers to Namibia, one of the world’s richest cheetah habitats, for a remarkable look at these graceful hunters. It follows six gangly young cheetahs as they come of age in the desert wilderness of Etosha National Park, where they learn the essential hunting and social skills that will enable them to rear families of their own. But the documentary also captures the sobering challenges that other cheetahs face on nearby livestock ranches, where farmers routinely trap and kill the cats to reduce attacks on their herds. And the NATURE special profiles the courageous work of cheetah rescuer Lise Hanssen, who is creating alternatives to the deadly rivalry between rancher and predator.

NATURE’s Showdown at Grizzly River tells the story of one bold little bear’s coming of age at the falls. It follows an 18-month old cub named Toughie as she spends her last few months with her mother, learning to pluck salmon from the fierce current, eat nutritious marsh grasses and, most importantly, how to behave around other bears. Besides tangling with cubs her own size, Toughie also learns how to deal with the towering adult males that threaten her young life, but may one day father her own cubs.

NATURE takes you an a whirlwind tour of the animal kingdom as we explore the World-Famous San Diego Zoo and Animal Park. Every animal has a story…and so does the staff at the San Diego Zoo. NATURE’s presentation of Animal Attractions: Amazing Tales from the San Diego Zoo invites you to look through the eyes of those who work behind the scenes, making sure every animal is properly cared and provided for.

No flowering plant has captured the attention of humans, or stirred their passions, in quite the way that orchids have.

NATURE follows the world's most dauntless creatures in their epic migrations in "Earth Navigators."

Many animals have a special ability to transform themselves, for the sake of survival, reproduction, or both.

According to legend, Spanish explorers believed that a fountain of eternal youth bubbled up to the surface somewhere in the place we know today as Florida. In a poetic way, they were right.

From the sea horse that mates in an hypnotic underwater ballet to the rodent who copulates until he literally drops dead, THE NATURE OF SEX spans the globe to illustrate how an astonishing diversity of life forms find their mates and conceive, raise, and protect their offspring.

The polar bear rules the north. To the hardy native people who settled the harsh lands of the Arctic, the powerful hunter with the ghostly white coat is known as the “lonely roamer.” But most of us know the huge mammal as the polar bear. And the story of how the world’s largest land predator prospers in one of Earth’s harshest environments is the subject of the NATURE program Great White Bear.

NATURE lifts part of the veil of mystery shrouding some fascinating — and often fearsome — creatures in The Secret World of Sharks and Rays. Sharks and their biological cousins, the rays, are among the highest-profile denizens of the deep, thanks to the popularity of books and films that have cast them in leading roles — as antagonist, not protagonist.

The NATURE program American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation tells the sad story of how the buffalo nation was destroyed nearly a century ago by greed and uncontrolled hunting — and how a few visionaries are working today to rebuild the once-great bison herds. It offers a remarkable portrait of America’s last significant wild bison herd, made up of a few thousand animals living within Montana’s Yellowstone National Park. And it highlights the efforts of Native American leaders dedicated to bringing back the animal that once gave life to their tribes. “Buffalo have to be there for our culture to exist,” says Fred DuBray, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe who appears in American Buffalo. “As we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our people back to health.”

"India: Land of the Tiger" begins a six-part journey, led by wildlife expert Valmik Thapar, through the land of Kipling's "Jungle Book." "The Tiger's Domain" opens the series, and tracks tigers, Asiatic lions, monkeys, jackals, sloth bears and cobras. Also: a ceremonial snake festival.

Part 2 of "India: Land of the Tiger" follows the sacred waters of the Ganges River, whose grasslands are home to rhino, wild buffalo, elephants, tigers and a cacophony of birds. Also explored: the mangrove-rich Sunderbans Delta, where the tiger is worshipped as a god.

Part 3 of "India: Land of the Tiger" explores the vast expanses of unknown seas, from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. Included: elephants swimming from island to island; whale sharks; coral reefs; convict fish; and the voracious Bombay duck.

Part 4 of "India: Land of the Tiger" travels to the harsh northwest "Desert Kingdom," home to stately black bucks, Indian gazelles, wild ass, lynx-like caracal, monkeys that live among the people, and vultures that feed on carcasses of dead livestock.

Part 5 of "India: Land of the Tiger" journeys to the inhospitable peaks of the Himalayas. These icy citadels are "Mountains of the Gods" that support a rich variety of life, such as snow leopards, blue sheep, brown bears, red pandas and flamboyant pheasants.

"India: Land of the Tiger" concludes with a journey into the subcontinent's lush "Monsoon Forests" for a look at their inhabitants: rare tigers and elephants, primates such as the hoolock gibbon, the milgiri langur, the lion-tailed macaque, giant hornbills.

NATURE's John Denver: Let This Be A Voice explores the American West with the late singer and conservationist.

"Serengeti Stories: The Work of Hugo van Lawick" follows the famed wildlife filmmaker and includes clips of his masterpiece, "People of the Forest," about chimpanzees and their social relationships. Also: clips of "Wild Dogs of Africa" (1972), a heroic story of survival.

"Iceland: Fire and Ice" is a "wonderland of eternal opposites," where glaciers sit on top of volcanoes. In this land of ice there are no trees, but it is home to Arctic foxes, a large bird population and twice as many sheep as people. Included: footage of ice caves.

Once the home of a notorious Soviet prison camp, the isolated peninsula of Kamchatka remains a haven for one of Earth's last giants, the grizzly bear.

Cats command our attention and our devotion. These fascinating creatures have been perplexing people for thousands of years.

How does such a seemingly passive life form accomplish the complex task of reproduction?

Profiling the 28-year-old lowland gorilla Koko, who communicates by sign language with her mentor, Francine Patterson. Koko, who understands English, has “a good sense of humor,” says Patterson, and “a strong sense of self.” She's also seen painting and watching TV, and playing with male gorillas Michael and Ndume at Patterson's Gorilla Foundation in Northern California.

TOOTHWALKERS presents extremely rare under-the-ice footage that reveals a complex and potentially dangerous side to this huge and often mysterious mammal.

An unforgettable view. To see the Grand Canyon for the first time is an experience few people will forget. The canyon vista — with its incomprehensible size, deep color, and rich display of rock layers — is unmatched by any natural display on Earth. But while the rock formations may seem arid and lifeless, the Grand Canyon is home to an astounding variety of creatures. In its mile-deep plunge, the Grand Canyon’s terrain ranges from conifer forest to desert, with river niches in between.

The birth of a baby gorilla, the flight to freedom of a California condor, and a panda's attempt at seduction are among the stories from the San Diego Zoo. Included: a black rhino's birth; the construction of a polar-bear habitat; preparing zoo meals.

Studying elephants' ability to adapt to varied environments. Included: researchers probe the myth of the pygmy elephant of the rain forest, and follow forest elephants that live in small family units in central Africa.

Examining efforts to save orangutans from extinction at a rehabilitation center in Borneo, where the apes are later released into the wild. Also: footage of an orangutan birth; a study in which apes learn communication with humans.

Exploring otters as they frolic at Yellowstone Lake, a powerhouse of geothermal activity, where the warmth beneath the rocks sustains life, even in winter. Also seen: bald eagles performing an airborne bonding ritual.

Filmmakers explore a region of the Brazilian rain forest to find three species of marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world. There, they find a fourth species previously known only to the Satare Maues Indians, who believe marmosets are reincarnations of their own children.

Exploring aquatic life along the Pacific coast of British Columbia, where colorful undersea creatures live in the pounding surf. Included: a palm tree-shaped sea anemone seen doing a sensual “dance.”

"The Secret Garden" probes the "suburban jungle" of bugs, slugs, birds, snakes and wildlife that inhabit backyard gardens. Included: mating snails that "touch each other with shameless abandon"; a beetle with a taste for tadpoles; weeds that vie for space and light.

Part 1 of "Forces of the Wild," a five-part miniseries, explores the birth of the planet Earth, from the formation of the atmosphere and water to the miracle of life. Also: volcanoes and lava forms in Hawaii, and undersea volcanic zones near Iceland.

Part 2 of "Forces of the Wild" examines wind and water, two forces that shape the Earth and are each "a recipe for paradise---and for disaster." Footage includes tropical rain forests and deserts, including Death Valley (Cal.).

"Forces of the Wild" Part 3 documents the influence of the sun and the moon on life. Included: the prehistoric Stonehenge megaliths; gravity's effects on the moon and the earth; myths surrounding the seasons.

Part 4 of "Forces of the Wild" offers a grim warning against mankind's efforts to change elemental forces that shape the planet and transform nature to suit the modern world. Included: the effects of pollution and the weather pattern known as El Niño.

"Forces of the Wild" concludes with a look at the work of photographers who shot stunning images of Hawaii's Kilauea eruptions, and of geese migration. Also: interviews with pilots and scientists of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

Extraordinary footage of eagles illustrates species of fish eagles and forest eagles, including Southeast Asian white-bellied eagles, seen in daredevil aerial combat and diving for deadly sea snakes; the golden eagle, a “flying masterpiece”; the classic bald eagle.

Exploring a man-made jungle teeming with life---wildlife, that is---amid a forest of skyscrapers in New York City. Included: red-tailed hawks; nesting parrots at Brooklyn College; and subway rats, raccoons and cockroaches.

In the NATURE program SPERM WHALES: THE REAL MOBY DICK, the efforts of Jonathan Gordon and other researchers to study the whales' physicality, modes of communication, and social interactions contribute to our understanding of the underwater world.

Charting the declining fortunes of a pride of "Crater Lions" that lives in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater. Included: lion attacks on buffaloes; a young cub's encounter with jackals; efforts to repopulate the pride; wildebeests, elephants

Delving into the mysteries of the colorful monkeys called mandrills, as a troupe of the creatures are followed through the West African rainforests. Included: the travails of a lead male fighting off a rival; the females' role as group leaders; hammerhead bats and river martins.

Exploring pigs, described by host George Page as “the world's most cosmopolitan characters,” with a focus on their adaptability to a variety of environments. Included: pigs as pets; hunters stalking a “bearded” pig in Borneo.

Following a family of elephants in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. Included: the family's matriarch giving birth, rescuing her kidnapped daughter and chasing away hyenas. Also: male and female mating rituals.

Observing wild buffaloes and gray wolves in the Canadian wilderness. Jeff and Sue Turner spent two years filming the ritual battles between these ancient adversaries in Wood Buffalo National Park, where the drama unfolds in the subarctic winter.

Profiling the mahouts of southern India, who are skilled in the art of training wild elephants. Included: a journey north to stop herds of marauding elephants that are destroying villagers' crops and taking lives.

Deep in the thorn forests of Madagascar live troops of ring-tailed lemurs, the most beautiful and most social of Madagascar’s extraordinary primates. Our story follows five baby lemurs as they try to make their way in the world. In an intimate portrait never before filmed, we learn of their high times, their sufferings, and the special bonds that hold their unique society together.

Tales of canine loyalty to humans, including segments illustrating how dogs detect people buried by avalanches, enhance the lives of prison inmates and offer "therapy" for seriously ill youngsters. Also: the use of dogs to assist people with disabilities; dog scouts and couriers.

Profiling the bowerbird, an ingenious "architect" of the Australian rain forest that builds elaborate bowers of sticks to attract a female. Footage also includes the spiny echidna, which feasts on termite mounds; a bright blue crayfish; and carnivorous dingoes.

The four-part "Spirits of the Jaguar" explores the human and natural histories of Central America and the Caribbean. Part 1 focuses on the region's animal and plant life, and its volcanic origins some 150 million years ago. Included: iguanas; crocodiles; fossilized tree sap that offers a record of ancient island life.

Part 2 of "Spirits of the Jaguar" explores the "Forests of the Maya," where 1200 years ago an extraordinary civilization emerged in the Central American jungles. Included: Mayan ruins; exotic animals like the jaguar that permeated Mayan folklore; underground rivers and caves.

Part 3 of “Spirits of the Jaguar” recounts the evolution of the Taino civilization. The Taino were the first inhabitants of the Caribbean some 2000 years ago, and their way of life was destroyed with the arrival of European explorers. The hour examines marine life that provided food for the Amerindians.

"Spirits of the Jaguar" concludes with the story of the Aztec empire, which in the 1500s stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific in what is now Mexico. Footage includes scenes of hawks that once inspired Aztec myths, and ruins of pyramids and temples.

"Jaguar: Year of the Cat" follows the predator in its native rain forests of Belize. Included: a pair stalk turtles, peccaries and armadillos; scenes of the habits of their animal neighbors, including toucans and ocelots.

NATURE takes you into the depths of the ocean to discover the most remarkable life still undiscovered on our planet that will certainly be found in the sea.

Considering the similarities between simian and human intelligence. Included: a chimpanzee demonstrating a sense of self, as he recognizes his own reflection; how certain chimps can use tools; a chimp species that has recreational sex.

Travel to "The World of Penguins” to discover the great variety of these aquatic birds.

Exploring the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, formed when Asia and Australia separated, which combines elements of both continents. Included: crested black macaques; a reticulated python; the babirusa ("pig-deer"); red-knobbed hornbills; fruit bats.

Following the "Hunters of the Sea Wind," predators that stalk a Pacific current for the thousands of fish it carries. Included: dolphins; yellowfin tuna; blue marlins; lantern fish; and sailfish. Also: tuna fishermen releasing dolphins from their nets.

A look at parrots, birds with a playful nature and remarkable mimicry skills that have endeared them to pet owners worldwide. Included: the largest parrot species, the hyacinth macaw; scarlet macaws, white cockatoos and monk parakeets.

"Alien Empire," a three-part exploration of the world of insects, begins with survival methods used by many species. Included: how exoskeletons provide protection and can be used offensively; unusual reproductive habits of mayflies and wasps.

Part 2 of "Alien Empire" delves into the violence and communal living that are at the core of insect life. Included: cockroach and butterfly eating techniques; highly effective termite killers called "assassin bugs."

"Alien Empire" concludes with a look at how insects have spread and how humans have tried to combat that expansion. Included: crickets that have adapted to climatic extremes; the threat posed by gypsy-moth caterpillars.

Jane Goodall introduces a program that charts a "sweeping family saga" as it plays out among chimps in Tanzania's Gombe National Park. Observed: how the younger offspring try to capture their mother's attention.

A look at snakes, sea creatures and plants that employ venom, either as a defense mechanism or as a way to disable prey. Included: king and Siamese cobras; scorpions; rattlesnakes; and the Australian blue-ringed octopus.

Exploring the wildlife and terrain in the wilderness of Australia's Kakadu National Park, where years are divided between droughts and monsoons. Included: Gouldian finches, sulphur-crested cockatoos, magpie geese, dingoes and wallabies

Tracing the monsoon season when India receives most of its rain. Included: how the rains avert droughts on most of the subcontinent, but also cause massive flooding. Observed: gharial crocodiles; weaverbirds; Indian elephants; one-horned rhinos; langurs.

Following Anthony Hopkins to Tanzania to study lions. Included: an encounter with Masai warriors; the lioness's role in the hunt; footage of zebras and wildebeests.

This installment of PBS's multi-award winning Nature series delves into the life and history of the highly endangered giant panda. Nature: Pandas of the Sleeping Dragon studies the habits and habitats of the giant panda throughout China's Sleeping Dragon Mountains.

"Warts and All" follows three generations of a wart-hog family over the course of a year. Observed: attacks by hyenas, leopards and flamingos; how wart-hog males fend for themselves from an early age.

The first programme in a five part series that combines wildlife footage with drama and documentary in exploring the fundamental relationship between man and nature across the Pacific Ocean. Explores the islands of Tahiti and Marquesas, which were settled some 2000 years ago by Polynesian seafarers.

Following the flamingo as it searches for places to feed and breed in East Africa's Great Rift Valley. Observed: flamingos feeding on algae, dancing and attempting to escape predators.

Following the work of forensic experts who use plants, insects and animals to help solve police cases. Included: how seeds on a blanket placed a rape suspect at a crime scene; how fly eggs helped police identify a serial killer.

Bob Hoskins travels through Sumatra, India and Nepal to learn about wild tigers.

Following a rare ghost bear, a black bear with all-white fur, as it hones survival skills on an island off the western coast of Canada. Included: salmon migration; preparations for hibernation; black gray wolves; killer whales.

Following a herd of Thomson's gazelles, a species that uses swift, “life-saving legs” to survive attacks by predators on Africa's Serengeti Plains. Included: their flight from cheetahs (their “greatest enemy”), jackals and hyenas; how “Tommies” travel in herds.

"New Guinea: Island Invaders" explores the island, located north of Australia in the East Indies. Examined: the land bridge which enabled animals from Australia to cross over to New Guinea. Also: the marine crocodile

"New Guinea: Other Worlds" explores the island's remote interior, home to the bird of paradise, which natives believe to have spiritual powers. Also: how gold prospectors came to the interior and were surprised to encounter people exclusively using stone-age tools.

Timothy Dalton searches for wolf habitats in North America to learn more about the animal

The history of llamas, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos in South America.

The two-hundred-foot walls of ice in Glacier Bay overwhelm the senses, but they also surround the most beautiful sights Alaska has to offer — the Northern Lights, the roaming grizzly bears, and the humpback whales. The glacier itself is also creating new life — it has retreated some 70 miles up the bay, wiping the ecological slate clean, allowing new plants and animals to start again from scratch.

This program looks at the varied ways in which life reproduces. Whether a species has one sex, two sexes, both at once or none at all, the urge to procreate is there.

Explores the various influences on mating and courtship, from the sun, the moon and the change of seasons, to the specific behaviors within species.

Explores the selection process among different species for choosing a mate, whether it’s for life or just for the day.

An investigation into the origins of human sexuality and sexual roles.

A look at the reproduction process from conception to birth of a wide variety of animals.

A look at the parental process of all sorts of earth’s creatures.

"Nature's Great African Moments" features clips from episodes focusing on the continent and its abundant wildlife. Included: wildebeests, zebras, lions, giraffes and flamingos.

"Anima Mundi" offers images of the natural world set to music; "Before It's Too Late" examines zoos' efforts to preserve endangered species. Included: attempts to restore near-extinct mammals to mainland Australia.

A study of the goshawk, a bird of prey that has been restored to the Scottish woodlands after being pushed to the brink of extinction. Included: the goshawk's courtship ritual; how chicks learn to fly.

"A Sea Otter Story---Warm Hearts & Cold Water" examines a California aquarium's efforts to raise an otter and teach it necessary survival skills. Also: the impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill on Alaskan otters.

"Toadskin Spell" examines frogs and toads and how the qualities of their skin help them survive extreme climates. Included: toad-derived poisons, medicines and hallucinogens.

This miniseries starts off by exploring the abundance of wildlife around the Volga Delta in Russia’s Astrakhan region.

An exploration of the wildlife of the Russian Arctic, and in particular Wrangle Island, featuring polar bears, musk oxen, Ross’s Gulls, reindeer, foxes, walruses, and the Red-breasted Goose.

A focus on the wildlife of the Central Asian deserts.

Between China and Central Asia is the Tian Shan mountain range, home to Marco Polo sheep, white-clawed bears, snow leopards, yaks, and the ibex.

A look at the wildlife in the huge Siberia forest reveals bears, elk, wolves, and musk deer among many other creatures in this frozen expanse.

This last program in the miniseries explores Kamchatka Peninsula where the Russian Arctic meets Southeast Asia. Home to perhaps the highest concentration of volcanoes in the world, this remote region is teeming with life both on land and in the sea, from the Amur Tiger to the Giant Pacific Octopus.

Fish, bats, birds, whales, giant squids, sharks, dolphins, sea lions and more flourish in and around the Sea of Cortez.

The African Blackwood is prized the world over for its wood in the making of musical instruments. Nature takes you on a journey through the history of this “tree of music” and into modern day efforts in Tanzania to save this ever dwindling resource.

Get right inside the hives of bees and wasps to see the inner workings of these complex societies.

A look at two separate families of arctic foxes. One living in the frozen, barren tundra of northern Russia, the other living in the slightly more comfortable surroundings of the Norwegian coastline.

A study of cheetah behavior follows a mother and her cubs on the Serengeti plains.

A gorilla orphanage and a proposed forest reserve may save the lowland gorilla.

As its numbers increase and its natural range diminishes, the coyote moves into populated regions like Los Angeles.

In Kenya’s Amboseli National Park is a family of elephants led by its matriarch Echo. Elephant expert Cynthia Moss, takes us up-close and inside the lives of these magnificent animals.

Raccoon and beaver lifestyles in the Canadian wilderness.

Exploration of Puget Sound's ecosystem.

This program features the Kogi tribe who live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Columbia. They are pre-Columbian peoples, and consider themselves as the elder brothers of humankind. They insist that it is the modern world, the younger brothers, who are destroying the harmony of life on earth.

Vietnam's wildlife is reappearing after the great losses suffered during the war.

Simon King films a lioness and her pride during winter on Africa's Serengeti plain.

A look at the environmental crisis on Madagascar and new conservation efforts being made.

This first episode in the miniseries explores the European discovery and settlement of the New World. Two views are presented, that of the colonists struggles to survive in their new and unfamiliar setting, as well as the Native Americans success within the same environment.

A look at the colonization of Canada and the fur trade.

A focus on the prospect of gold in the new world, and the Spanish exploration of Florida in search of that alluring metal.

An exploration of the Great Plains of North American from the Lewis and Clark expedition through to the present day.

A focus on the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park.

A look at life in the Sonoran Desert.

Exploring the people and wildlife of Alaska.

This last episode in the miniseries looks at the landscape and wildlife of California.

This program follows a herd of zebras along their yearly migration route through the African plains.

Follows the yearly migration of the caribou of Alaska and the Yukon Territory in an effort to find suitable birthing grounds, all will trying to avoid wolves and other predators.

India's remote Ladakh region in the Himalaya Mountains, home to the snow leopard and other rare wildlife.

Chimpanzees and other primates survive on Tiwai, an Upper Guinea island where witchcraft and taboos still exist.

Roger Tory Peterson's fight to save America's birds and their habitats.

The life cycle of a female northern elephant seal is documented.

Explores the lives of dolphins all around the world, and the scientists who are trying to communicate with them.

Loggers and conservationists have conflicting plans for ancient forests of redwoods, Douglas firs, hemlocks and Sitka spruce trees along the Northern Pacific rim.

Sharks, rays, squids and blue whales live in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.

Three species of monkeys, the muriqui, the golden lion tamarin and the buffy-headed marmoset struggle for survival in Brazil's coastal Atlantic Forest.

A look at how Norway and Sweden are affected by eight months of winter.

A look at the Swedish archipelago and Norway's fjords.

Africa's spotted hyena is a matriarch dominated, efficient predator.

Sight and sound are experienced through animal eyes and ears.

Enhanced olfactory sensitivity; unique animal senses.

Internal clocks guide life rhythms of eating, sleeping, mating, hibernation, birth and death.

This program travels to the island of Cayo Santiago off Puerto Rico to study the behavioral patterns of a colony of feral Rhesus Macaques.

Rangers at Denali National Park in Alaska train hikers for planned encounters with grizzlies; Alaskan grizzly bears are seen salmon fishing at Brooks Falls.

Penguins, maras, guanacos, sea lions and killer whales highlight this portrait of Patagonia.

In light of the Persian Gulf War and the recent oil spills, PBS airs an update of the 1984 episode of Nature, Treasures of the Gulf, that focused on the effects of the Iran-Iraq war on the fragile ecology of the Persian Gulf.

The beauty of the African plains and the effects of tourism on the area.

Filmmaker Simon Trevor, a former game warden, records the decimation of African elephants.

The natural and human history of the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Life within a close-knit golden jackal family on the plains of Lemuta in Africa.

Biologist Lynn Rogers follows the black bear out of hibernation and into the Minnesota woods.

The relationship within a wild dog pack on Africa's Serengeti Plains.

A profile of the albatross examines its traits and habitats, as well as the mysteries and myths surrounding it.

A polecat winters at a working farm in Wales, along with scavenging foxes, rats and birds.

Grizzlies, wolves and cougars roam Montana's rugged, pristine Glacier National Park.

The area's evolutionary roots opens this look at the African valley.

The wildlife that lives on the Great Rift's ash plains.

Examines the Red Sea, the island of Madagascar and East Africa.

Soft coral, sponges, tubeworms, anemones and giant cod adapt to life in Antarctica's subzero waters.

Profiles the wildlife living within the British crown colony of Hong Kong

An exploration of the Caledonian forest in Scotland, Britain's largest remaining area of ancient woodland.

A portrait of the endangered mountain gorilla in equatorial Africa.

A look at the maneating tigers of the Sundarbans delta in India.

Resource management in Italy's alpine Gran Paradiso National Park has consequences beyond the parks boundaries.

Scientists study sandhill cranes on Nebraskan plains, Alaskan and Siberian coasts and in the Northwest Territories.

The forests and waters of Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, may one day renew the country's depleted landscape.

A look at how Europe's birds of prey have adapted.

The relationship between working sheepdogs and flocks of sheep. Selective breeding yields a sheepdog with outstanding abilities to tend the creature other canines prey upon.

Tracing the course of the Colorado River.

Thousands of years of human settlement provide the backdrop by which to discover the wildlife of Ireland.

The fur trade continues to threaten the South American otter with extinction, despite its status as an endangered species.

Profiles the Haida Indians who live on British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Island.

An exploration of the environmental impact of man's attempts to halt the erosion of Presque Isle beaches.

The effect of the 1988 fire on the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park.

A natural history of the snake includes its significance to man as a symbol of fertility, immortality and death.

An exploration of the Spanish Pyrenees mountains and the bearded "bonebreaker" vulture that lives in this harsh environment.

Explores Spain's Extremadura, an oak forest and wilderness plain, home to griffin vultures, imperial eagles, genets and other animals native to Africa.

Former Vietnam medic Doug Peacock lives as a firewatcher and conservationist in Montana's Glacier National Park.

Examines marsupials and others animals which have evolved because of Australia's isolation from the rest of the world.

Modern Australians want to recapture the Aborigines ability to live harmoniously with indigenous plants and animals.

The different types of owls and the characteristics which make them ideal birds of prey.

Wildlife artist Bruce Pearson sketches the various bird species found in the arid lands of Western Africa's Mali, through which the River Niger flows.

Explores the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Vancouver, B.C.

Explores the variety of local environments found around waterfalls in Africa, South and North America.

Profiles of the Kalahari Desert's gray meerkat or mongoose, and a Kenyan colony of bee-eater birds.

The Adelie penguin is observed at the Cape Bird nesting site on Antarctica's Ross Island.

Examines the role computers play in managing the Everglades and whether this vital freshwater marsh will survive the effects of diking, draining and development.

Unique animals and plants flourish atop mist-shrouded Venezuelan plateaus thousands of feet above the surrounding jungle.

Scientists study birds of prey, creatures historically admired and hated, as indicators of environmental damage.

Wildlife flourishes around the manmade lake conservationists denounced 30 years ago at its creation.

Wildlife flourishes in Nevada's desert landscape because of one narrow river covering less than 1% of the land.

Attempts to protect the unique animals and plants of Brazil threatened by development of the Amazon jungle.

The lemur, an agile nocturnal primate of Madagascar, so-named because of its secretive habits and haunting cries.

The process of wildlife filmmaking as chronicled by a crew during their three-year study of the Galapagos Islands.

The tremendous difference in animal lifestyle and in landscape during East Africa's dry season and its wet season.

The hammerhead stork, believed by East African tribesmen to have the power to call lightning from the sky.

Scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft seek to uncover the mystery of volcanoes by studying them on location as they erupt.

International endeavors to protect the endangered Indian tiger are highlighted by scenes of a mother raising her cubs in the wild.

Unusual wildlife inhabitants, beautiful terrain and natural wonders grace the Pacific islands comprising New Zealand.

U.S. scientist Dan Janzen uses innovative conservation plans to create a national park amid a tropical forest.

Echoing hoots and trills, bandit masks, feathered tufts and orange noses distinguish African forest monkeys called quenons.

Close-up film captures birds in-flight; tiny hummingbirds draw nectar while hovering above flowers.

A Hawaiian island evolves from underwater volcano to snow-capped mountain and finally to coral atoll.

Diverse wildlife inhabits a vast delta created by earthquakes near the Okavango River.

Creatures of the air, trees and water brave the five-month floods through the Okavango delta.

People of Botswana must balance wildlife protection with preservation of their precious water source.

A five-year retrospective includes clips from The Flight of the Condor, Leopard: A Darkness in the Grass, Kingdom of the Ice Bear, Cats, The Gooneys of Midway, and Yellowstone in Winter, with animals hunting, courting, rearing young and adapting to their environment.

The Asian elephant is shown to be a creature of both great strength and intelligence.

After two years in the Pacific, the sockeye salmon battles rapids returning to its birthplace to spawn.

Ranchers and scientists practice conservationism in Venezuelan and Colombian grasslands to protect native animals.

Naturalist Tom Williams studies England's Avon River and the fish and fowl it supports.

A growing African population threatens elephant survival by farming its foraging land and hunting the beast for ivory.

An exploration of the coral reefs of the Malay Triangle made up of the Philippines, Malaysia and New Guinea.

Examines how the plants and animals of Alaska’s Alyeska wilderness have adapted to the regions harsh climate.

An examination of the plants and animals that make their home in a shallow lagoon found on the Western coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.

This exploration of the Galapagos Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean West of Ecuador, examines theories explaining the arrival of wildlife to the archipelago.

Marine iguanas, cormorants, green turtles, sea lions, and sperm whales are among the animals that thrive in the cold waters surrounding the equatorially located Galapagos Islands.

A look at the Galapagos Islands’ many birds, include the waved albatross, blue-footed booby, frigate bird and the ground finch; also, man’s relationship with the islands’ changing environment.

A look at how the Pantanal's wildlife species cope with the annual cycle of flood and drought which transforms the marshy prairie from a dry savannah into the world's largest freshwater wetland – a 36,000 square-mile area that encompasses Southwestern Brazil and parts of Bolivia and Paraguay.

An examination of the behavior of man’s feline friends.

The activities of an elusive female leopard are traced over a two-day period on the hot plains of Africa.

A look at the survival of the African elephants, as ivory and foraging land became more valuable.

A freshwater lake in Tunisia that turns salty every summer.

The Japanese take efforts to save an indigenous monkey.

A look at the crane, Japanese symbol of longevity, true love and happiness.

Hunters and egg poachers threaten the existence of the giant loggerhead turtle.

Following the wild mustangs of America’s West.

An exploration of the Rift Valley that sweeps North from Kenya to Turkey, where prophets said their god first planted a garden.

The unusual life in the salty Dead Sea, where the desert plunges 1,200 feet below sea level.

What happens when a finely maintained garden is abandoned.

A year on a Japanese island following a family of red foxes.

The tunnelers, thatchers, weavers, dam builders, sculptors, potters and spinners of the animal kingdom.

Torrential rains flood Kenya’s Tsavo Plain triggering a cycle of animal and plant regeneration that flowers in the short period before the next drought.

How plants and their leaves adapt to different climates, predatory animals and man.

A five-year chronicle of India’s endangered gharial crocodile.

The year-long sojourn of artist and naturalist Keith Brockie on Scotland's Isle of May is captured on film.

An exploration of the ecosystem of Central America's rain forest.

An exploration of the scientific research into the nutritional, medicinal and economic value of plants.