Weird Nature - Fantastic Feeding

Our Planet - Fresh Water

"Fresh water defines the distribution of life on land. Follow the descent of rivers from their mountain sources to the sea. Watch spectacular waterfalls, fly inside the Grand Canyon and explore the wildlife in the world's deepest lake. Planet Earth captures unique and dramatic moments of animal behaviour: a showdown between smooth-coated otters and mugger crocodiles; deep-diving long tailed macaques; massive flocks of snow geese on the wing and a piranha frenzy in the perilous waters of the world's largest wetland."

Our Planet - Deserts

"Around 30% of the land's surface is desert, the most varied of our ecosystems despite the lack of rain. Saharan sandstorms reach nearly a mile high and desert rivers run for a single day. In the Gobi Desert, rare Bactrian camels get moisture from the snow. In the Atacama, guanacos survive by licking dew off cactus spines. The brief blooming of Death Valley triggers a plague of locusts 65 kilometers wide and 160 kilometers long. A unique aerial voyage over the Namibian desert reveals elephants on a long trek for food and desert lions searching for wandering oryx."

Sleeping Monsters, Sacred Fires: Volcanos of New Mexico

"This documentary explores New Mexico's vast volcanic history through craters, cinder cones, lava flows and mountains that have blown their tops - to reveal stories of New Mexico's cataclysmic beginning. Orginally broadcast on New Mexico PBS station KNME-TV.

"Produced in collaboration with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and originally broadcast on New Mexico PBS station KNME-TV, in Albuquerque, New Mexico."

Weird Nature - Puzzling Partners

Jane Goodall: What separates us from the apes?

"Traveling from Ecuador to Africa, Jane Goodall takes the audience on an ecological journey, discussing highlights and low points of her experiences in the jungle. She shows how progress is helping research (DNA analysis) and hurting the environment (clear-cutting). And she draws a dozen parallels between primate and human behavior, making the point that we really aren't all that different. Our big advantage, she says, is the ability to communicate with sophisticated spoken language -- yet, sadly, we are abusing this power and destroying the planet. She urges the TED audience to behave differently, and use their higher powers to correct the planet's course."

Secrets Of The Crocodile Caves

"Crocodiles are famously sun-loving reptiles, so why would they live in complete darkness in cool, dank caves? And where else would they do it but in Madagascar, home to some of the most unusual creatures ever to evolve on Earth? On "Secrets of the Crocodile Caves," NOVA ventures into a wilderness unlike any other.

"The program explores the mystery of the croc caves and probes other wildlife haunts within spectacular Ankarana reserve, a setting of ancient coral mountains with needle-sharp ridges and spooky caverns overlooking a lush dry forest. No other place like it exists, which is why scientists such as French crocodile expert Olivier Behra come to Ankarana to observe creatures and behaviors that are unique—and strange.

"Located near the northern tip of Madagascar, Ankarana is a natural fortress that has preserved many of the island's distinctive species, which took a markedly different evolutionary path from life on the African continent, 250 miles away. The island is especially renowned for its lemurs, which belong to a suborder of primates called prosimians that are more ancient than monkeys or apes. As the only primates on the premises, the prosimians flourished, diverging into dozens of different types including the crowned lemur, which PBS NOVA investigates in a picturesque colony presided over by a one-eyed queen."


















"Then there's the fossa, a lithe and lethal predator that's truly hard to describe. "The fossa looks a little bit like a cat, it looks a little bit like a dog, and it looks a little bit like a hyena," says American biologist and fossa tracker Luke Dollar. "But it's actually none of those things. The fossa is actually a really big mongoose. It's like a mongoose on steroids." Chameleons also populate the island in profusion, thanks to fruitful mating—an impressive ritual captured in fascinating detail by NOVA's cameras.

"But the star of the show is the Nile crocodile, which swam over eons ago from Africa and has since adopted some unusual habits. The most puzzling is its predilection, at least at Ankarana, for caves, an unlikely haunt for a cold-blooded creature that normally basks in the sun and consumes abundant riverine fauna—including 100 hapless humans a year on Madagascar. To solve this riddle, naturalist Behra cautiously ventures into the croc's underground lair—as do a troop of curious, thirsty, and very cautious lemurs.

"Located near the northern tip of Madagascar, Ankarana ("an-KAR-ana") is a place like no other on Earth. It is a spectacularly eroded limestone massif shot through with caves, forest-filled canyons, and underground rivers. Certain plants and animals found here, including a species of blind shrimp, live nowhere else in Madagascar, much less the world. There are also lemurs, chameleons, and the world's only known cave-living crocodiles. To investigate this otherworldly landscape, one of the finest natural treasures on an island rich with them, click on the slide show at left or the series of 360-degree panoramas below."

















"Crocodiles are not the only crocodilians. There are also caiman, gavials, and of course alligators. All told, these hardy reptiles are found in 91 countries—from Belize's freshwater pools, where Morelet's crocodile lurks, to the marshy riverbeds of China's Yangtze River, home to the world's most endangered crocodilian, the Chinese alligator. With this interactive map, get to know each species with photos and information on its diet, habitat, size, and more.

"Crocodiles inspire fear, which may have something to do with their coolly dominating presence. After all, for nearly 100 million years during the Mesozoic era (248-65 million years ago), the crocodilian order ruled the Earth. Today's crocodiles have changed remarkably little since then. They are still the most advanced reptile species, and they still terrify most people. In this feature, we ask that you put aside your fears and get up close and personal with a Nile crocodile."

Microcosmos (excerpt)

Battle To Save The Last Wild Tigers Of India

Microcosmos (excerpt)

The Life Of Mammals - Return To The Water

"Return To The Water follows the marine mammals in their underwater habitats. This part includes schools of dolphins, whales and somewhate surprisingly, elephants."

The Life Of Mammals - Opportunists

The Ultimate Predators

Wildlife Special - Elephants: Spies In The Herd

Microcosmos (excerpt)

Shamans Of The Amazon

"Excellent documentary about the Amazonian Shamans and their use of the sacred Ayahuasca vine to communicate with the Spirits of the Forest. Includes footage of peaceful drug-prohibition protests, an interview with Terence Mckenna, criticism of the so called "war on drugs" (essentially a form of cultural genocide), the corruption within large oil companies and governments, many civil rights issues, etc.

"During the making of this film:

* 16 million acres of Amazon Rainforest was destroyed.
* 150,000 species became extinct.
* In Ecuador, 9 oil spills released millions of gallons of crude oil into the head waters of the Amazon.
* Scientists worldwide agreed that Global Warming and climate change is a major threat facing all life on Earth.
* Natural disasters including volcanic eruptions increased.
* In the Netherlands, the case against the Santo Daime was thrown out of court. The judge found Ayahuasca use was not a risk to public health and their constitutional right to freedom of religion must be respected.
* Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Belguim and The Netherlands decriminalised most drugs.
* The USA gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $43 million dollars for the War on Drugs.
* The USA was voted off the United Nations Human Rights Commision.
* Humanity stands at the crossroads..."

Jane Goodall speaks at Google

"In the summer of 1960, 26 year-old Jane Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study the area's chimpanzee population.

"Although it was unheard of for a woman to venture into the wilds of the African forest, the trip meant the fulfillment of Jane Goodall's childhood dream. Jane’s work in Tanzania would prove more successful than anyone had imagined.

"In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation to provide ongoing support for field research on wild chimpanzees. Today, the mission of the Jane Goodall Institute is to advance the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things. The Institute is a leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats and is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa and the Roots & Shoots education program in more than 70 countries."

Walking with Lions

Mountain Gorillas

Wildlife Special - Polar Bears