For thousands of years, the Great Plains were home to countless numbers of American bison, but in the late 1800s, the number of bison dropped from nearly 30 million to just a few hundred in less than 100 years. What happened to place this national icon on the brink of extinction? Join us as we detail the events that led to this mass extermination. Then follow the story of William Temple Hornaday, a chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian Institution who headed west to hunt bison for the museum, but ended up saving the species instead.
Snow blankets the trees and green lights dance in a star-filled sky. For a brief time during the festive season, our thoughts turn to a winter wonderland, far to the north. It’s a place best known to outsiders as Lapland, the magical home of Santa Claus. But far from the festive lights, Santa’s home is even more enchanting than you may realise.
A dive inside a wild land where nature hides some of her greatest secrets: The Alps. Steep slopes, wind swept cutting edge rocks. An air desperately lacking of oxygen. A biting cold. How do living beings adapt to those extreme conditions?
Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey chronicle a year in the lives of an Alaskan brown bear named Sky and her cubs, Scout and Amber. Their saga begins as the bears emerge from hibernation at the end of winter. As time passes, the bear family must work together to find food and stay safe from other predators, especially other bears. Although their world is exciting, it is also risky, and the cubs' survival hinges on family togetherness.
Secret territories still exist in France today. This film is a personal quest, the story of a crazy gamble taken by a passionate dreamer, an anti-hero capable of breaking all barriers to achieve his goal: to meet wild wolves in their natural habitat. After three years in the field, bivouacking in the wilderness in all weathers, the director managed to track down the wolves. Little by little, he observes, gets closer and ends up being accepted by the pack. Against all odds, the magnificent predators offer a little of their intimacy to this strange character. But the film also raises the question of the limits of this intimacy.
It may be the largest and most densely populated city on Earth, but Tokyo’s 14 million human residents share their home with an astonishing array of wildlife. From jewel beetles and goshawks in the city’s shrines to the forests of Okutama where bears, monkeys and tanuki feast, this film reveals the power of nature in Japan’s capital.
Ivohiboro, la forêt oubliée
'Guadalquivir' is a feature length documentary directed by Joaquín Gutiérrez that features a fox, an animal that has adapted, living in packs and alone and that is a carnivore, vegetarian and even carrion. The camera follows the path of the fox by the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas.
Der wilde Pazifik - Die Schönheit des Lebens
Rocks, dunes, sand and dust - large areas of Namibia in southwest Africa are characterized by deserts. Riverbeds full of sand meander through these inhospitable regions. Some of these only have water once every few years when enough rain has fallen in the mountains and the water rushes to the coast - but most of the time the river courses have dried up. And yet they are crucial for the survival of many living beings.
Our complex food system rests on the wings of the honey bee and the commercial beekeepers that move them from farm to orchard, pollinating the crops that we eat.
Germans colonized the land of Namibia, in southern Africa, during a brief period of time, from 1840 to the end of the World War I. The story of the so-called German South West Africa (1884-1915) is hideous; a hidden and silenced account of looting and genocide.
Tasmania lies on the Australian continent, but is a world apart. It is home to an extraordinary cast of black devils and white wallabies. Trees here tower to one hundred metres and green lights dance in the southern sky. As the last landfall heading south before Antarctica, Tasmania's isolation, cooler climate and distinct seasons influence everything.
By the late 1800s the free-ranging buffalo of the western plains of North America were almost extinct. This documentary is the story of the buffalo's revival. Live action, eye-witness accounts and archival photos document our fascination with this ancient and legendary animal.
Love them or hate them, there are 33,000 urban foxes roaming Britain's suburbia. For the residents of the Copse in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire - as for so many other suburbanites - the urban fox provides evenings of enchantment. A cul-de-sac of neighbours compete to offer the tastiest snacks for their bushy-tailed visitors, with one couple even setting up their own CCTV system to provide happy evenings of Fox TV.
Askania-Nova is the largest steppe wildlife sanctuary in Europe. It is located in south part of Ukraine, not far from Crimea peninsula. In order to underline this unique beauty we created a documentary musical film about life of animals and people in wildlife sanctuary of Askania-Nova. The movie reveals stories of a three protagonists, whose destinies were entangled because of wildlife sanctuary.
An unprecedented UHD film on Karnataka's rich biodiversity narrated by David Attenborough. Portraying the state with highest number of tigers and elephants using the latest technology - a masterpiece showcasing the state, its flora, fauna.
An examination of the extinction threat faced by frogs, which have hopped on Earth for some 250 million years and are a crucial cog in the ecosystem. Scientists believe they've pinpointed a cause for the loss of many of the amphibians: the chytrid fungus, which flourishes in high altitudes. Unfortunately, they don't know how to combat it. Included: an isolated forest in Panama that has yet to be touched by the fungus, thus enabling frogs to live and thrive as they have for eons.
This film depicts a moment of flirtation between N!ai, the young wife of /Gunda, and her great-uncle /Ti!kay. The two share a "joking relationship," a Ju/'hoan kin relationship which provides opportunities for casual intimacy, emotional release, and support.
Over three very personal films, Sir David Attenborough looks back at the unparalleled changes in natural history that he has witnessed during his 60-year career.