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.
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.
Before leaving for Rome with his mother, five year old Natan is taken by his father, Jorge, on an epic journey to the pristine Chinchorro reef off the coast of Mexico. As they fish, swim, and sail the turquoise waters of the open sea, Natan discovers the beauty of his Mayan heritage and learns to live in harmony with life above and below the surface, as the bond between father and son grows stronger before their inevitable farewell.
2012: Time For Change is a documentary feature that presents ways to transform our unsustainable society into a regenerative planetary culture. This can be achieved through a personal and global change of consciousness and the systemic implementation of ecological design.
In a small rural town in Pennsylvania, the refuge of a rare salamander and the only source of clean drinking water for 700 people is threatened by the installation of a fracking waste injection well, prompting community members to band together to fight for the rights of their people and nature.
Intimate and fragmented moments unfold in a community of zoos and animal rescue centers across Argentina. As histories of these institutions are uncovered, dedicated workers commit both day and night to caring for the remaining enclosed animals, fostering a mutual bond that transcends imagined boundaries between human and animal.
220 million years ago dinosaurs were beginning their domination of Earth. But another group of reptiles was about to make an extraordinary leap: pterosaurs were taking control of the skies. The story of how and why these mysterious creatures took to the air is more fantastical than any fiction. In Flying Monsters 3D, Sir David Attenborough the world’s leading naturalist, sets out to uncover the truth about the enigmatic pterosaurs, whose wingspans of up to 40 feet were equal to that of a modern day jet plane.
Grand Canyon is a 1958 American short documentary film directed by James Algar and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is a pictorial interpretation of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Grand Canyon is one of Walt Disney's more unconventional and experimental works, as it has musical accompaniment, but no dialogue or narration. The short won an Oscar at the 31st Academy Awards in 1959 for Best Short Subject (Live Action).
90-year-old architect Shuichi Tsubata and his 87-year-old wife Hideko live in Aichi Prefecture. Their garden is bursting with 70 types of vegetables and 50 types of fruits, and they live in harmony with nature.
An epic documentary film that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. How did life begin? What is time? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? By introducing researchers from diverse backgrounds for the first time, then dropping them into new, immersive field work they previously hadn’t tackled, the film pushes the boundaries of how science storytelling is approached. What emerges is a deeply human trip to the foundations of discovery and a powerful reminder that the unanswered questions are the most crucial ones to pose. Directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney and advised by world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Most Unknown is an ambitious look at a side of science never before shown on screen.
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.
David Attenborough narrates the charming and fascinating story of some real-life animal romantics. There are show-offs and singers, dancers and fighters, stories of undercover affairs and heartwarming devotion. These include a male polar bear that plays hard to get, a lemur whose odour bags him a mate and a lizard who is tender and faithful to the very end. It reveals that animals can be loving, complex, funny and inventive - it is all part of the mating game.
A beautiful love story in danger. Our future depends on an amazing love story between the flowers and fauna consisting of bees, butterflies, birds and bats, which allow these species to reproduce. Delicate and graceful, the flowers are not content to be the ultimate symbol of beauty. On the contrary, their vibrant colors and their exotic flavors are so many wonders that attract pollinators and drunk with desire. All these animals are involved in a complex dance of seduction on which one third of our crops, a dance without which we could survive ... Pollen presents the unsung heroes of the global food chain. Their fantastic worlds are full of stories, drama and beauty. While a fragile and threatened, essential for the balance of the planet, it should now actively protect ...
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.
From the imposing mating call of the red deer and the flight of the buzzard to the hunt of the fox and the micro-ecosystem on a massive oak: nature documentarist Luc Enting recorded it all for his stunning feature film Wild Heart of Holland, produced by PVPictures. The result of his efforts is an exciting, moving and often humorous film, revealing the beauty and diversity of this wild park in every season. We also watch the main characters grow up to adulthood, a path inevitably dogged with challenges. Enting: “To me, this park, in any season, has an almost un-Dutch beauty. It is the largest continuous nature reserve in northwest Europe with an incredible variety of landscapes and life. It has forests, heath, sand drifts, brooks and pushed moraines. With my film, I would like to give a new insight into its incredibly diverse nature.”
Strangers in the Dark is an experimental film about how light pollution makes a glow-worm’s love life a living hell. Combining different techniques from animation to archive material the film follows glow-worm’s attempts to find a partner in an environment that is no longer dark at night. The story about light and darkness moves from the scale of planetary to microscopic, from the calmness of nature to a hectic city and from artificial light to the green shimmer of a glow-worm’s behind.
Is it human conceit to attribute emotions to animal actions, or are emotions basic to life on earth? Wildlife filmmakers and scientists make a convincing argument for the latter in this gripping film.
From homosexual penguins and sex-transitioning fish to pregnant male seahorses and sexually dominant female bonobos, thousands of species defy our expectations of gender and sexuality. Director Drew Denny takes the nature documentary to a whole new level in this eye-opening and entertaining expedition to the places David Attenborough overlooks, where giant duck penises and corkscrew vaginas take center stage. Debunking myths that females are “inferior” and being queer is somehow “unnatural,” Second Nature explores the 1500+ animal species that engage in same-sex sexual behavior and parenting, change sex, form matriarchies, and more.
Šumavská suita
Wild tigress, Machli, is one of three sisters raised in India's Ranthambore National Park. Their mother, "The Lady of the Lakes," ruled the lakeside territory, until Machli rose up and took possession of her mother's throne.