Nature: Great Zebra Exodus

Each year, far from human eyes, a remote expanse of Botswana's Makgadikgadi salt pans hosts one of Africa's last great spectacles when thousands of striped nomads wander the breathtakingly beautiful but barren landscape. It is only by the grace of isolated summer rains that the zebras can survive here at all. Family groups gather together to follow the rains, driven by a constant search for better grazing on islands of grass that dot the pans. Meerkat families watch the zebras come and go, and families of lions wait for them along their grueling trek, hoping for a chance to bring one down. Their journey is one that is sometimes limited by the fragility of new life, but always made possible by the strong family ties that help animals survive in one of Africa's most surreal landscapes. It's a tale of loyalty and sacrifice, of home and exile, of death and new life, in southern Africa's largest zebra population.

Return to the Wild: The Chris McCandless Story

Twenty years ago, a young American hiker named Chris McCandless, the accomplished son of successful middle class parents, was found dead in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness and became the subject of the best-selling book and movie “Into the Wild.” Now, PBS retraces Chris McCandless’ steps to try to piece together why he severed all ties with his past, burnt or gave away all his money, changed his name and headed into the Denali Wilderness. McCandless' own letters, released for the first time, as well as new and surprising interviews, probe the mystery that still lies at the heart of a story that has become part of the American literary canon and compels so many to this day.

Wild Japan: Snow Monkeys

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.

Music for Elephants

This story began with a blind, bull elephant called Pla-Ra. Paul Barton took his piano to ElephantsWorld, a Sanctuary on the banks of the River Kwai in Thailand and began playing to the elephants while they were eating. "They were all having Barna Grass and it was that time of the day, when the elephants get to eat a lot and they don't waste a moment because they know that moment won't last forever," Paul recalls. "Pla-Ra was behind the piano with a mouthful of barna grass and I started to play Beethoven. Pla-Ra was chewing, and as soon as I played the first chords, he stopped eating with stalks of Barna grass protruding from each side of his mouth, and that's the way he stayed until the end of the piece." "Each time I played music for Pla-Ra, whether flute or piano, there was an identical reaction. Pla-Ra would stand for a while, and then he would curl his trunk and hold his trunk in his mouth until the piece was over. No matter how long that piece was, he would stay like that." ...

Living with Wolves

Wolves have been demonized for centuries, blood thirsty beasts haunting our nightmares. We were determined to dispel this myth and show the true nature of wolves. Compassionate family animals, both playful and affectionate. For six years in a tented camp in the wilderness of Idaho, we lived among a pack of wolves, listening to them, earning their trust.Now in "Living With Wolves," we share more of the story of The Sawtooth Pack, first told in our two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary, Wolves at Our Door. Our own lives, brought together by a devotion to wildlife, were forever changed by these elusive, intelligent animals who accepted us. Overcoming forest fires, marauding mountain lions and sub-zero winters, we share with you a heart-warming and unique partnership of human and predator, built on trust and defying the storm of controversy surrounding the wolf.

La vispa Teresa

La vispa Teresa (“Lively Theresa”) is based on a well known song; a girl, ten, catches a butterfly and all the other insects intervene to save it.

Vanishing of the Bees

This documentary takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee. The film examines our current agricultural landscape and celebrates the ancient and sacred connection between man and the honeybee. The story highlights the positive changes that have resulted due to the tragic phenomenon known as "Colony Collapse Disorder." To empower the audience, the documentary provides viewers with tangible solutions they can apply to their everyday lives. Vanishing of the Bees unfolds as a dramatic tale of science and mystery, illuminating this extraordinary crisis and its greater meaning about the relationship between humankind and Mother Earth. The bees have a message - but will we listen?

Alaska's Great Wilderness Denali: The Living Edens

Travel to Alaska's great wilderness, a place of incomparable beauty and power where you will witness close-up the amazing cycles of life in one of the last pristine corners of our planet Earth. Soar over Mt. McKinley, the tallest people in North America, crown jewel of the vast Alaska range, piercing clouds nearly four miles high. Explore the vibrant territory beneath this stunningly beautiful mountain. Watch caribou roam the plains, listen to the haunting howl of the wolf, witness the flight of the majestic golden eagle, meet a mother grizzly and her two cubs as they emerge from winter's hibernation. You'll be swept up in the drama and beauty of this unique wilderness and you'll enjoy for many years to come its unforgettable scenery.

The Most Powerful Black Holes in the Universe

Vigilantes del Planeta

Europe‘s Largest Desert

Near the cold Pyrenees of Iberia, surrounded by ancient and dark green forests, lies a strange land where the rain is scarce and the wind is always blowing. The soil is poor, there are no trees and the landscape resembles the moon. Is this what the future of desertification will look like? Incredible creatures with surprising behavior live in this strange landscape. The documentary explores a place with very dry skin but a wet hidden heart where even waterfowl or amphibians can live. Living in such conditions is not easy and only the toughest animals will survive.

Wild Brazil

Go up-river and deep into the jungle far from Brazil's cities and stadiums, where families of giant otters, tufted capuchin monkeys and mischievous coati (South American raccoon cousins) rally their wits to survive in a breathtakingly beautiful yet dangerous land.

Survivor

Nature documentary about a young wildebeest in the wilderness of Africa. The gnu calf strays from the herd and comes upon a lioness that kidnaps it. Instinctively, it treats the lion like its mother. And miraculously enough, the lioness does not see the calf as its prey. Like a true Survivor, the calf manages to escape from the lion's den and find its way back to its real mother.

River to the Heart

Eddy L. Harris is the author of the lauded travel book “Mississippi Solo” (1988), which chronicled his canoe trip down the length of the Mississippi River, from its headwaters in Minnesota to its terminus in the Gulf of Mexico. In “River to the Heart,” Harris retraces that journey as a 60-year-old, and the film explores what he discovered about both the country that was and the country that is.

Wild Serbia

Serbia is located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. It is also one of Europe’s natural wonders, filled with a rich variety of landscapes and animals.To this day a large number of Serbian people live in close communion with nature, proud of the storks’ nests in the villages, the ancient species of livestock that have been preserved and the vultures that return to make their home here. In many places people are pleased to see bears, lynx and wolves, and even jackals are at home in the forests of Serbia. This documentary presents Serbia's breath-taking, picturesque regions and unique wildlife on a journey to the most beautiful and wildest areas of the Balkan Peninsula.

The Magic of Mushrooms

Professor Richard Fortey delves into the fascinating and normally-hidden kingdom of fungi. From their spectacular birth, through their secretive underground life to their final explosive death, Richard reveals a remarkable world that few of us understand or even realise exists - yet all life on Earth depends on it.

Brotando en las cenizas

Magic Myxies

Short film showing (with limited accuracy) the life-cycle of myxomycetes.

Platypus: World's Strangest Animal

One of only two living mammals to lay eggs, the platypus has baffled and inspired the scientific community for hundreds of years. Three years in the making, this stunning natural history film takes us down the East Coast of Australia to the many serenely beautiful habitats of the platypus. Technology specially created for this film captures images from inside the nesting chamber of a wild platypus, and records the extraordinary sounds of the mother suckling her offspring. We watch as they grow from newborns to adulthood. Join renowned documentary makers David Parer and Elizabeth Parer-Cook (Dragons of Galapagos, Wolves of the Sea) on this fascinating journey from the rainforests of Queensland to the frozen mountains of Tasmania, as they reveal new insights into this mysterious creature.

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