As the largest living terrestrial mammals, elephants are usually considered as survivors under even the most dire climatic conditions. But all too often, these majestic giants are killed illegally for their ivory tusks. So, every dead full-grown elephant, whose carcass or skeleton is found with the tusks still in it, is a symbol of paradise – an elephant allowed to die of natural causes instead of bullets, snares or poison.
The keepers are kept busy with animals under their care. These animals, although they've got the hint of their natural instinct left, are unlikely to survive if released back to the wild. It'd be difficult for them to take part in the pack and they lack the skills to find food. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal for everyone at the zoo is to send the animals back to where they truly belong.
Elephants are among the most majestic and intelligent creatures on Earth--but for hundreds of years, they have suffered at the hands of humans. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this documentary short traces our long history with elephants and explores the many problems that arise when they are brought to live in captivity in zoos and circuses.
The film tells of the beginnings of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. At the end of the 1950s, the Tanzanian National Park Administration wanted to fence in the protected area around the Ngorongoro Crater. Bernhard and Michael Grzimek were invited by the national park administration in 1957 to get a precise picture of the animal migrations and to provide the national park administration with the values they needed for their project. Using a new counting method with two airplanes, the Grzimeks found out that the migration of the herds was different than assumed.
Drawing upon a vast and richly visual archive and featuring a host of performers, historians and aficionados, this four-hour mini-series follows the rise and fall of the gigantic, traveling tented railroad circus and brings to life an era when Circus Day would shut down a town and its stars were among the most famous people in the country.
Documentary on the Shackleton Antartic expedition. A retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in and the crew of his vessel 'The Endurance', which was trapped in the ice floes and frigid open ocean of the Antarctic in 1914. Shackleton decided, with many of his crew injured and weak from exposure and starvation, to take a team of his fittest men and attempt to find help. Setting out in appalling conditions with hopelessly inadequate equipment, they endured all weather and terrain and finally reached safety. Persuading a local team of his confidence that the abandoned team would still be alive, he set out again to find them. After almost 2 years trapped on the ice, all members of the crew were finally rescued.
A documentary that follows Dr. Penny Patterson's current scientific study of Koko, a gorilla who communicates through American Sign Language.
A 45 minute account of the life of a humble logger, named Vince Shute, who made one decision that would ultimately affect the black bear and the attitudes that people have of this often misunderstood animal. This short film goes into great detail about the history of The American Bear Association and the formation of the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary.
Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.
A gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stockbroker who saved the lives of 669 children. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Nicholas Winton organized 8 transports to take children from Prague to new homes in Great Britain, and kept quiet about it until his wife discovered a scrapbook documenting his unique mission in 1988. Winton was a successful 29-year-old stockbroker in London who "had an intuition" about the fate of the Jews when he visited Prague in 1939. He quietly but decisively got down to the business of saving lives. We learn how only two countries, Sweden and Britain, answered his call to harbor the young refugees; how documents had to be forged and how once foster parents signed for the children on delivery, that was the last he saw of them.
The tragic death of a polar bear triggers the end of the Buenos Aires Zoo. A superhero lover lawyer asks a court to declare the orangutan Sandra a Non-Human Person and revolutionizes the planet. A very Argentine story, full of passions, embarrassing missteps and memorable characters.
Elephants disrupt the lives of a family deep in the jungles of Northern Siam, and an entire village.
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.
Donkeys inhabit and communicate with each other - and the filmmakers - in a Sanctuary.
A special document of a 9-day Thai cave rescue mission in 2018
Take a tour with the staff of the Milwaukee County Zoo.
Born to Be Wild observes various orphaned jungle animals and their day-to-day behavioural interactions with the individuals who rescue them and raise them to adulthood. The film unfurls in two separate geographic spheres. Half of it takes place in the rain forests of Borneo, where celebrated primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas assists baby orangutans; the other half takes place on the arid savannahs of Kenya, where zoologist Dame Daphne Sheldrick works with baby elephant calves.
Exposing the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture through drones, hidden & handheld cameras, the feature-length film explores the morality and validity of our dominion over the animal kingdom.
Travel around the globe to some of the best zoos, which are striving to fill a new role that relates directly to environmental education.
On the northern bank of the Sand River in the Mala-Mala Game Reserve in South Africa, seven magnificent creatures reside in an area the size of Manhattan Island. Tracking them for 24 hours reveals a never-ending daily drama.