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- In the 1980's Barn Owls were declared extinct in Avon. While they were seen flying through the county, they weren't breeding there and no one was quite sure why. But due to one local hawk specialist, some hefty detective work and the generosity of the Portbury Docks authority, barn owls are now back and fledging in our area. Josie D'Arby uncovers this and other endangered animal stories for the BBC as regional input for Saving Planet Earth. Also featuring dormice in Cheddar Gorge and greater horseshoe bats at Woodchester Mansion.
- The love affair between the horse and the Irish people has endured for centuries. Almost everyone in Ireland goes to the races. The programme begins with the only horse race in the world to be run where the sea meets the land - on Laytown Beach, a few miles north of Dublin. Over countless generations Man has shaped these racehorses for speed and endurance, fashioned them to his needs - just as he has Ireland's landscape. This small island in the Atlantic Ocean might seem like a land trapped in time, but appearances are deceptive. The Irish landscape has undergone some of the fastest and most profound changes of any in Europe. Change lies at the heart of Ireland's being - not only of its past but also of its present and future. From the enigmatic limestone features of the Burren to the wide, bleak boglands of County Mayo; from the inaccessible cliffs of the island of Little Skellig to the rich wetland meadows of the Shannon Callows Ireland - Sculpted Isle explores some of Ireland's most characteristic landscapes. We look at how they were formed and how natural events and the actions of man have since shaped and sculpted them into what is familiar to us today.
- Kate Humble and Simon King follow the animals living along Zambia's Luangwa River, from the last days of the longest dry season in memory to the arrival of the rains that will change everything.
- The Black Mamba is well known as Africa's deadliest snake. In the small country of Swaziland, it's feared and revered for its power. Between October and February, temperatures rise here and it's known as 'snake season'. At this time of year, black mambas turn up everywhere - in people's homes, schools and cars. When people find snakes here, they kill them but getting close enough to kill a mamba means it is close enough to kill you, and people are getting bitten here every week. In a country with very limited health care and no anti-venom, it is becoming a crisis. Two very unlikely people have become motivated to do something about it. Thea Litschka-Koen is a mum, and manages a hotel with her husband Clifton. Known affectionately as the white witch by the locals, Thea is determined to change attitudes towards venomous snakes, based on centuries of fear and superstition. She and her husband are on call 24 hours a day to rescue and release black mambas and other venomous snakes when they get 'too close for comfort'. But what the locals really want to know is - will they come back again? We follow Thea and her team as they set up a pioneering new scientific project to track black mambas in the wild. If she can find out more about their movements and daily lives, she will be able to pass on vital information and reassurance to the local people who have to live alongside them.
- For fifteen million years orangutans roamed tropical forests from China to South East Asia. In Borneo, one of their last island outposts, lives one today who is a legend. He's won more than just a kingdom, he's won human hearts. They gave him the name Kusasi. The Orangutan King is the story of Kusasi's life told to us by a remarkable witness. Dr Birute M. Galdikas has been researching orangutans in Borneo for over 40 years. Under the guidance of Louis Leakey, Galdikas joined Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey to become a pioneer of Great Ape field research. Together they were known as the 'trimates', or 'Leakey's Angels'. Yet while Goodall's chimpanzees and Fossey's gorillas were made familiar through films, the orangutans are still largely unknown to television audiences. Their solitary lives high in the tree canopy have made them difficult to follow and film. Now, for the first time, Dr Galdikas will draw audiences deep into the orangutan universe. With enthusiasm and insight she tells us this special story - taking us back 30 years and unfolding Kusasi's story with detail, energy, and the wonder that she still feels for the orangutan species. As a three year old orphan, Kusasi fell under the care of Galdikas in her forest research camp. But driven by a cunning and tenacious spirit Kusasi did not behave as the other ex-captive infants. From the moment he arrived until today, Galdikas has watched Kusasi fight to win back and then succeed at life in the wild. And he's achieved what had once seemed impossible, reaching the top of the power hierarchy and ruling for ten years. The people who work at Camp Leakey enjoy his charisma, and even those who only visit him in his forest kingdom are struck with awe. As Julia Roberts was in 1997. Her encounter with Kusasi was unplanned - becoming a tight clinch with an irritable 140 kilo beast, possessing the strength of ten men. But she was unharmed. Kusasi is not malicious, and he's respected as much for his indifference to humans as for his power over the other orangutans. Today his spirit still burns brightly but his physical strength is fading. His fights with the rogue males who cross his borders are weakening him and The Orangutan King is the last chance for us to see him in power. But the hope of this film is that he will not be the last of his kind to rule with such strength in his forests. If the forest destruction can be stopped, there is a long future for the considerable Kusasi bloodline.
- The heat is on for the world's biggest population of cheetahs. Namibia, in Southern Africa, is home to 3,000 cheetahs but here they face the greatest challenges. In the north, a remarkable family of seven cheetahs struggle to survive the endless desert droughts on the scorched pans of Etosha. Meanwhile on the ranchland of the south, a lone female tries to scrape a living on the fringes of civilisation. If she gets caught by a farmer, more likely than not he will shoot her. But help is at hand.
- Jeff Corwin joins an elite hit squad of scientists on an adventurous mission to search out new species in one of the most remote and mysterious regions on Earth - the Himalayas. The mysterious Makalu-Barun National Park, on the shoulder of Mount Everest in Nepal, is a "biodiversity hotspot" - a rugged, forested region that Conservation International has singled out as the destination of an extraordinary expedition. Working day and night, a team of CI scientists will build an inventory of the region's wildlife. They hope, and expect, to come across new species as they work. Makalu-Barun is also a hotspot for yeti sightings. While the CI scientists work day and night, Jeff undertakes his own mission: to search out another, undescribed species - the infamous yeti. Determined to get to the bottom of this enduring mystery, he is guided by the stories of local people, the words of yeti myth experts, the advice of his fellow biologists and the accounts of holy men. He stumbles upon recent photographs and prized yeti relics, and travels to isolated yeti haunts in his search. By the end of the show, he is ready to draw his own startling conclusion about the truth behind the myth.
- Frank is in a wheelchair and has a long held dream to see the birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea. His friend, Benedict, a well traveled adventurer, and a team of people including many local people, attempt to get him through the rugged lands to where the birds can be seen. It not only follows their physical journey but their own emotional journeys as well. This documentary has many honest, self filmed, insights into their individual thoughts about themselves and each other.
- A stunning combination of environments characterises this series blending the beauty of the Highlands and Islands with the gritty, tough urban streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh. SSPCA: On the Wildside follows the daily lives of inspectors and ambulance drivers working across Scotland as they rescue and protect an extraordinary variety of wildlife, livestock and domestic pets. Everything from sperm whales to scorpions; sheep and deer to pigs; and rabbits to cats and dogs is encountered as Inspectors and ambulance driver's work in a rich diversity of environments and challenging situations to protect Scotland's animals.
- Three men use their extraordinary animal expertise to turn the natural behaviour of some familiar garden creatures into fun. They introduce bee racing to the world, demonstrate how to coach goldfish to play football, and conduct a series of gourmet tastings with a very sophisticated urban fox. Who are they? Lloyd Buck is a professional bird trainer, and full time Essex boy Matt Thompson is a zoologist and enthusiastic goldfish trainer James Cooper is a prop designer and the team's mechanical genius This series is a privileged peek into their world. It's a world where ravens perform magic tricks, birds of prey chase "scalextric" mice, and slugs aren't a garden pest, but talented escape artists. All three men have an uncanny way with animals and a fascination with natural animal behaviour. Their mission is to celebrate the unsung talents of the creatures all around us.
- Shaun Foggett lives with his partner, three kids and 21 deadly crocodiles. Shaun is an ordinary man with extraordinary dreams. Together with his partner Lisa and their young growing family, Shaun lives in a small house in the suburbs of Witney, Oxfordshire. Packed into sheds that fill all but a tiny square of their garden, he also has a collection of 21 crocodiles - the largest in Britain - many of them endangered in the wild. But he wants more. In 2005, Shaun survived a near-fatal blood disease and as he recovered, vowed to pursue his ultimate reptilian dream - to open the first ever Crocodile Zoo in Britain with each of the 23 species of crocodilian in the world. We follow his journey over a period of 5 months as he gives up his job as a joiner/carpenter in the family building firm to kick-start his hopes - finding premises, designing enclosures and hopefully persuading the planners to let him move 21 crocs to an industrial unit.
- Comedian Joe Pasquale attempts to survive alone in Guyana's vast rainforest. It's the wet season and torrential rains make survival difficult as Joe struggles to make fire and find food. In 90 percent humidity and crushing heat Joe builds a shelter and chops down two massive palm trees in a bid to get to the edible palm hearts at very top. But when the palms get trapped high up in the jungle canopy, Joe is reduced to eating maggots. After days of starvation rations, and losing his way in the jungle, Joe finally finds food. After surviving 6 days alone, Joe tears down camp and prepares to head back to civilization. He reflects that the experience is the most difficult thing he's ever done but acknowledges that to survive alone in the wild mental determination is even more important than physical endurance.
- SAS legend Chris Ryan and undercover reported Donal MacIntyre take on the vast and impenetrable rainforest of Guyana. They'll have to hunt and forage their own food or they'll go hungry. They spend just 24 hours together, during which Chris helps Donal set up camp. By the heaviest rains in living memory make everything difficult; any firewood is sodden, flooded rivers make fishing impossible and prey animals head for the high ground. On day two, Chris leaves Donal and sets up his own camp deeper in the jungle. Without food or company, Donal's mental and physical condition deteriorate. Chris's new location is even harsher than the first - there aren't even palm trees from which to gather palm heart and maggots. Instead Chris resolves to get a fire going and keep it burning through four days and nights of torrential rain. But gathering wood from further and further away takes its toll and by day five Chris is forced to eat some of his emergency rations. Aware that his motivation is waning, Donal forces himself to focus and after days of foraging manages to get some palm heart. The small calorie intake boosts him and gets him back on track to battle the jungle. But deadly treefall on the final night brings the most terrifying moments of Donal's jungle journey.
- Every year, without fail, Jane Goodall breaks a grueling schedule of lecture tours and conservation work to go 'home' -- her spiritual home of Gombe National park in East Africa. This film follows her on that journey, returning to Tanzania to see her beloved chimps, some of whom her work has practically made household names - Fifi, Freud and Frodo. We'll hear her thoughts every step of the way during the weeks leading up to Gombe -- as she visits a chimp sanctuary in Congo, delivers a final lecture, attends meetings and continues her work for the Jane Goodall Institute. This film reveals a new side of Jane Goodall, the thoughts and emotions generally hidden from the multitude of film crews that have followed her in the past.
- Dancer, choreographer and Dancing on Ice Judge Jason Gardiner steps way out of his metropolitan comfort zone for 6 days and nights on a desert island. The sights and smells of the tropics propel him back to his childhood in Australia, and the bullying that built up the resilience that ultimately helped him to the peaks of his profession. At first, faced with the chaos of a raw, untouched wilderness, his Obsessive Compulsive Disorders threaten to engulf him, as do a series of tropical storms that grind him down. But inspired by a rainbow, his mood and fortunes improve dramatically by the end he is vowing to swap his ordered home life for more wilderness adventures.
- Naturalist Mike Dilger is on a mission to seek out Britain's natural invaders. He's off to find out a bevy of botany and beasts, here by accident or design and now mingling with our native wildlife. A surprising array of plants and animals make this island far richer than you might think. Colonies of Indian scorpions, Tasmanian wallabies and giant American Bull frogs are obvious intruders. And yet rabbits, horseradish, doves and goats are also ancient invaders. This is the story of how Britain's wild invaders came here and how in some cases they've changed the face of Britain. On a journey from London to Loch Lomond, Mike will shed new light on our own backyard - British wildlife, sometimes exotic and sometimes familiar, but always surprising. Wildlife anyone can see once you know what to look for and where to start looking.
- TV Movie
- Winter Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams and World Champion Free-diver Tanya Streeter spend eight days fending for themselves in a remote corner of Botswana's Okavango Delta. They have to hunt and gather to supplement their emergency survival rations or they will go hungry, and they have to collect, boil and filter every last drop of the drinking water they needs to survive. Armed with a camera to film their adventure they are constantly on guard against attack from wild animals. Only minutes after they set off into the bush on their own they disturb a cheetah on a fresh kill. Terrified they don't take any meat from the kill and move swiftly on to their first campsite which is only a few hundred metres away. They have to collect, boil and filter every last drop of the drinking water they need to survive from thick muddy water holes, but working under the relentless African sun soon takes its toll on Amy who is violently sick. They have no luck hunting and the only food they gather is so bitter they can't eat it. Despite running low on energy they decide to spend three days in separate camps to experience what it's like to survive completely alone in the African bush. Eventually, the lack of food get to them both and the medical team send in a message ordering them to tuck into their emergency rations. Refuelled, they reunite for their last night in the wild and they finally catch some food - a catfish - and in the pandemonium that ensues, Amy gets a fishing hook stuck deep in her forefinger. The next day, after one final encounter with the African wildlife, they strike camp and head for a rendezvous with the support team.
- Describes a December 2010 series of five shark attacks at Eqypt's Red Sea Sharm el-Sheikh resort area that has exceptional water areas including coral reefs.
- Each reunion captures the bond between warm-hearted human character and adorable wild animal, proving with each story that animals are just as capable of love as humans are.
- As the dry season grips southern Tanzania, a pride of lions is faced with a shortage of prey. A big kill is essential for the pride's survival. One buffalo would provide enough meat to sustain a pride for several days. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Weighing more than a ton, the male buffalo is a daunting prospect for a hungry lion. Their herds are made up of many sub-groups of closely related individuals, and unlike other prey who run randomly in the presence of predators, buffaloes close ranks and face their adversaries head on. Many a buffalo bears the tell-tale signs of a failed lion ambush, thick scars running down their backs or parts of their tails missing. More often than not, however, it is the lion that is injured in these confrontations. It would take a certain amount of tenacity, foolhardiness and teamwork on the lions' part to bring this mighty beast down. Intimate Enemies is a film about the relationship between these two great animals as a drought forces them into a titanic battle.
- In 1998, Chris Packham met a hunter-gatherer tribe in remote Sumatra. 20 years later, he goes in search of the same tribe to search for the girl whose photograph he took.
- One-hundred strong, the herd slowly makes its way through the shifting sands, following the promise of ephemeral desert rains. This is the remarkable, precarious, and untold story of a lost herd of elephants that live near the fabled city of Timbuktu. How the elephants survive in this seemingly barren, desolate landscape is a mystery. It is one however that Anne Orlando, a biologist from the University of California, hopes to unravel. For the first time she will track the elephants to uncharted lands and reveal the relationship they have with Tuareg nomads - a relationship which can be both respectful, and bloody. The lost elephants of Timbuktu are completely isolated from other African elephants - they were cut off from each other as the Sahara turned to desert centuries ago. They have survived in this unlikely setting by having a mental map of scattered temporary lakes and marshes. This is the Sahel in the West African state of Mali - one of the most arid places on earth and becoming more so. As drought has intensified over time, the elephants' wanderings between these vital watering holes have stretched into a remarkable yearly migration of seven hundred miles. The Sahel is changing fast - the climate is becoming drier and many Tuareg people are abandoning their herds and establishing sedentary homes around the traditional waterholes of the elephants. This, unfortunately, can only lead to conflict. THE LOST ELEPHANTS OF TIMBUKTU will be an unforgettable adventure into a lost world.
- Travel by air with Mike Fay across Africa as he takes detailed digital still images of the continent to examine the human footprint on the land.
- When healthy dolphins mysteriously start turning up dead in remote Scottish coastline and Virginia US, a full scale search is launched to find the killer.
- The program explores communications and relationships between animals and humans. In part one we witness how animals can learn our language and find unique human-animal partnerships working to make the world a better place. Part two will discover how we humans can learn the languages of animals through science and other, less-easily defined approaches. Part three discovers the "conversations" that can take place between animals and humans, and the amazing results that these mutual comprehensions can yield. Dr Goodall's message is that communicating with animals brings humankind closer to another world, and that such liaisons can bring about unexpected benefits.
- Monty Halls spends a summer in the west of Ireland, observing the animals that migrate through the waters off Connemara.
- Naturalist Nick Baker is on a mission to change our minds about what constitutes a wildlife 'looker', getting us under the skin and into the minds of some of Namibia's most wonderful and beautiful freaks. From the savannah of the Central Plateau to the savage shores of the Skeleton Coast, this is a journey that proves just how ingenious Nature can be.
- Hippo: Nature's Wild Feast is a high-tech natural history event that presents the most comprehensive illustration to date of nature's food chain in action. Filmed over a week in Zambia's Luangwa Valley, Afterlife reveals an ecological system in action as Africa's most iconic animals - including lions, leopards, crocodiles, hyenas and vultures - fight for survival at the height of the dry season. The hippo is one of Africa's deadliest animals. But when one of these massive animals dies, an astonishing chain of events begins. A hippo carcass is a cache of two million calories just waiting to be recycled back into the food chain. A network of state of the art remote control cameras are set up around the carcass to capture the action night and day as one ton of flesh and bone is reduced to scraps. An international team of scientists and researchers watch from a studio tent just metres from the carcass, analysing the action. With fierce showdowns between rivals for these vital calories, the experts explain the different eating mechanisms of the animals: from crocodiles, who use each other as leverage for a 'death roll' to twist off the meat, to marabou storks, who gulp down pounds of flesh, which they store in their gullets and hyenas that can consume 30 pounds of flesh I just 15 minutes. Hippo: Nature's Wild Feast tells the story of how the death of one of Africa's most iconic animals sustains life for countless other species.
- Comedian John Bishop visits the Rwandan forest to learn about the endangered mountain gorilla from the vets who dedicate themselves to protecting them.
- Freddie Flintoff Goes Wild is a series of epic wildlife adventures and extreme experiences. In his own inimitable style Freddie takes us on a journey into the wild and show us some of the world's most exciting spectacles as we've never seen them before. In the midst of it, experiencing the fear, excitement, joy and wonder of being up close and personal with nature at its most spectacular. After some initial training Freddie sets out on his journey with his guide, armed with basic supplies and a wildlife mission. Walking with the Maasai on the hunt for the great wildebeest migration in Tanzania, collecting bushtucker with Aboriginals whilst keeping their eyes peeled for highly aggressive saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territories of Australia, tracking Orangutans and pygmy elephants with the Dusun in Borneo and hunting with the First Nations trying to find some of the most elusive animals in the Discovery Islands Canada, wolves, cougars and orcas.
- Solitary sharks that have formed a gang. An elephant-turned-serial killer. A pride of lions with a sudden appetite for giraffes. And pigs, by the thousands, erupting in flames. What on earth is going on in the animal world? This series travels the globe to investigate mysterious occurrences and odd behavior afflicting the animal kingdom. We follow field experts and game wardens as they dive into dangerous waters and enter wildlife warzones, making discoveries that could rewrite science and spell doom for certain species.
- Shaun Foggett and his family (partner Lisa, their three children, and more than 20 deadly crocodiles) will capture the hearts and imaginations of viewers as they follow this one-off man in pursuit of his dream.