Die Berge der Deutschen - Von Höhenrausch und Hüttenzauber

A variety of unusual and frightening snakes are featured in this program. These unpredictable reptiles have appeared in both nature and recorded history for thousands of years. The huge appetite of the monstrous python and the toxicity of the Gaboon Viper are examined. Experts also comment on the spitting cobra's ability to hit its distant targets. The eating and mating habits of tropical sea snakes are compared to other snakes that exist exclusively on land. There's additional information about how snakes birth their young and how likely a particular snake is to attack when provoked.

This video examines the killer whale, one of nature's greatest predators. It is part of a multi-volume Time Warner series that markets the ferocious, killing aspects of various wild animals.

Fascinating footage of swooping bats, their remarkable habits and habitats, and close-up looks at their interesting yet eerie faces are featured in this documentary, volume seven of the Predators of the Wild series. Most bats eat insects, which may not always come to mind when one thinks of predators and prey -- although the fact that a swarm of bats can eat 30,000 pounds of insects in one night is staggering. Bats make up almost one-fourth of all of the mammals in the world, but only three species of bats are "true vampires" who rely on the blood of other animals for sustenance.

A contemplation of art and adventure in the southern wilds of New Zealand by both a landscape photographer and an adventure filmmaker. This film is the unexpected result of their two unique perspectives.

Shot on location in the famed Etosha Basin of Namibia in southern Africa, this video examines the habitat and habits of the lion, a regal-looking big cat that lives in groups called "prides." The program is part of a multi-volume Time Warner series that markets the ferocious, killing aspects of various wild animals. As a predator, the lion has a broad range of prey to choose from. The Etosha Basin is home to elephant, zebras, giraffe, wildebeests, eland, kudu, springbok, and black-faced impala.

The secrets of the maligned and misunderstood tarantula are brought to light in the Discovery Channel's Predators of the Wild series portrait of the Giant Tarantula. The film presents an intimate look at the largest and most venomous spider species in the world. Shot on location, viewers observe the tarantula close-up as it waits in its 3-foot burrow until its prey of insects, frogs, snakes, birds and rodents come along. Footage also captures the tarantula's deadly mating ritual.

Polar bear… immensely powerful, ferociously cunning, lethally equipped for devastating exploitation of its frozen realm. Legendary for its endurance, hunting prowess and awesome strength, it is the largest and most formidable land predator of the planet’s most brutally unforgiving environment. Venture into the trackless Arctic wastes to witness the uncanny survival strategies developed by this magnificent creature – tactics honed to a killing edge during 250,000 years of adaptation to its icy kingdom. See why the largest of these fearsome bears, weighing more than two full-grown lions, stands as the undisputed predatory monarch of a pristine, unconquered land where man still ventures at his peril.

This video examines the grizzly bear, one of nature's greatest predators. It is part of a multi-volume Time Warner series that markets the ferocious, killing aspects of various wild animals.

Crocodiles and alligators... gaping, saw-toothed jaws, muscular, bone-crushing tails, a Jurassic vision of armoured, flesh-eating horror. Lurking beneath the murky surface, eyes and nostrils are barely visible as the oblivious victim ventures one step too near. A sudden explosion of lunging, scaled fury, a hopeless, panicked struggle... a silent, watery death. Crocodiles and alligators reign as the supreme predators in rivers and coastal areas around the globe. With a carnivorous heritage extending back to the age of dinosaurs, these primordial relics are worthy successors to the "terrible lizards" they so closely resemble.

“A silent perusal of the Grand Canyon, morning to night, from a single, fixed camera position, by means of constant dissolves spaced a few seconds apart. Man — entirely absent — is no longer the center of the universe; the canyon exists outside of him. Despite the invisible photographer and his technologically-caused dissolves, this is a creditable approximation of the true foreign-ness of nature.” — Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art (1974)

Mythos Wald

Meet Rubel, fourteen years old boy smuggling rice from India to Bangladesh. He has to cross the river Ganga acting as the international border. The same river eroded his home in mainland.

Although the mountain volcano Mauna Kea last erupted around 4,000 years ago, it is still hot today, the center of a burning controversy over whether its summit should be used for astronomical observatories or preserved as a cultural landscape sacred to the Hawaiian people. For five years the documentary production team Nā Maka o ka 'Āina ("the eyes of the land") captured on video the seasonal moods of Mauna Kea's unique 14,000-foot summit, the richly varied ecosystems that extend from sea level to alpine zone, the legends and stories that reveal the mountain's geologic and cultural history, and the political turbulence surrounding the efforts to protect the most significant temple in the islands: the mountain itself.

Water Birds is a 1952 short documentary film directed by Ben Sharpsteen. The film delves into the still waters of lagoons and marshes to the wild blue wilderness of the vast oceans, to experience the beauty and variety of their majestic birds, each perfectly designed for its habitat. It won the Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-Reel.

David Attenborough sets out on a journey across the seven continents in search of the most impressive and inspiring natural wonders of our planet.

June 1971 - in a fluid landscape completely below sea level, a young biology student dies during the last year of his studies, leaving behind an unfinished scientific collection. More than fifty years later, a group of ecologists and volunteers are trying to understand and document the same environment as it is today.

Ant colonies are one of the wonders of nature: complex, organised… and mysterious. This programme reveals the secret, underground world of the ant colony, in a way that’s never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Prof Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. It also reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world – and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.

National Geographic filmmakers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, explore how some animals are thrust together by the forces of nature-sometimes through a millennium of evolution or even last year’s drought. In the aftermath of strange elephant deaths, they piece together a visually stunning story that confirms their theory that lions were hunting elephants. Narrated by Jeremy Irons.

The passage of time is spellbinding in this cinematic tour de force about the Wadden Sea. A film that inhales and exhales along with the tides as it explores the fragile relationship between man and nature.

Come along with us on a trip to the jungle of Costa Rica and marvel at these fascinating impressions in perfect 3D quality. Experience the magic of the rain forest and its inhabitants, mostly hiding away in big trees and covered by dense forest and difficult to see for the untrained eye. And listen carefully to the sounds of nature ...