The hippopotamus is a paradox: it’s a vegetarian and it’s also the most dangerous animal in Africa. It’s an animal that cannot swim but one that is utterly dependant on water. Natural World, Hippos s33e5: Africa’s River Giants
Soon a complex web has been created throughout the swamp, along which water flows gently to nourish the land. ibid.
Hippos are thought to be the closest living relatives of whales. ibid.
Jackson Wyoming: A town under siege: unseen, operating largely at night, an interloper from the wild is creating havoc. The culprit is – the beaver; whether felling trees or damming up waterways, they cause chaos. Natural World s33e8: Beavers Behaving Badly
They are the largest rodents in North America. ibid.
In these dark ancient forests lives a creature of legend … A rare north American black bear known as a ghost bear. This white bear is a mother with two black cubs. Natural World s34e9: Ghost Bear Family
A ghost bear mother is as likely to give birth to black cubs and white ones. ibid.
A dedicated team is heading deep into the Central American rainforest. Their cargo is precious: a troop of orphaned spider monkeys. Their mission is simple: to return the monkeys to where they belong. It’s all in a day’s work for the staff at the jungle animal hospital. Here the wards are full of rescued animals all hoping for a chance of freedom. Natural World s35e1: Jungle Animal Hospital
My goal is to follow and film a mother moose and newborn calf over the next year … how it survives its first year in the Canadian Rockies. Meet the Moose Family s35e3: Natural World
These guys can weigh 1,200 pounds and reach over two metres at the shoulder. ibid.
It’s an animal you can’t help but look up to. But what do we really know about giraffes? … ‘Some populations less than four hundred individuals in the wild.’ Natural World s35e6: Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants
Weighing up to two tons the giraffe is a colossal animal and unlike any other. ibid.
Namibia: it’s giraffe central. ibid.
‘We’ve seen giraffes roam distances we never thought.’ ibid.
Giraffes were thought to be mute till this year. ibid.
There are just 90,000. Giraffes have already become extinct in at least seven countries. ibid.
Giraffes look different in different places across the continent. ibid.
There are few sights in Nature as dramatic as a big cat battling its prey. But cheetahs aren’t born ready to hunt: it’s a skill their mothers teach them over many challenging months. Natural World s35e9: Cheetahs: Growing Up Fast, BBC 2017
She is the mother of five new cubs. This is a dangerous place for such new ones. ibid.
Rain is a whole new experience for the cubs. ibid.
The little cats have finally developed a big appetite for meat. ibid.
There’s an island in the Caribbean that made such an impression on early European sailors that they called it the Island of Enchantment. A lush exotic landscape teaming with charismatic creatures. Natural World s36e1: Puerto Rico: Island of Enchantment
This paradise is in danger of being lost. ibid.
The Puerto Rican Amazon parrot. At one point there were only 13 of these precious birds left in the world. ibid.
The island’s most endangered marine mammal: Puerto Rican manatees cruise these waters. ibid.
Leatherbacks: These turtles can weigh over half a ton and measure over six and a half feet. ibid.
In the heart of Brazil lives an animal so elusive few have ever seen it in the wild. It’s an armadillo. Some kinds of armadillo are no bigger than an orange but this rare one is the size of a pig - this is the giant armadillo. Natural World s36e2: Hotel Armadillo
There are so few of them that images like these are truly rare. ibid.
More than 8,000,000 animal species live on the planet today – only a special few are armed with extreme weapons. Huge physical appendages growing from their bodies wielded in titanic battles. What gives rise to these enormous structures? Are they more than just instruments of blunt force? And what can their evolution teach us about our own arms race? Natural World s36e3: Nature’s Wildest Weapons: Horns, Tusks & Antlers
Darwin’s beetle, Chile: the males grow up to nine centimetres long; their specially adapted jaws can be half their body length. ibid.
(1) Defence; (2) Competition; (3) Duels. ibid.
Only when animals fight in these ritualised duels do the benefits of extreme weapons outweigh the costs. ibid.
Not much bigger than an orange the Pygmy Marmoset in the smallest monkey in the world: they live in the largest tropical forest on our planet – the Amazon rain-forest. Natural World s36e4: Nature’s Miniature Miracles: Natural World, BBC 2017
Hermit crabs can be anything from a few millimetres long to the size of a coconut. ibid.
Sengi: for her size she’s twice as fast as a cheetah. ibid.
Rarely seen but they have a near-mythical reputation. They have boundless energy and their able to dive deep and catch the fastest prey: otters. Natural World s36e5: Supercharged Otters with Charlie Hamilton James
Florida Springs: Here clear spring-fed rivers provide the ideal opportunity to film otters grooming and hunting underwater. ibid.
Otters can be found on nearly every continent. ibid.
Long highly flexible bodies, a powerful tale, wet feet, some can dive to a hundred metres and hold their breath for over four minutes. ibid.
All over the world otter numbers have been in decline. ibid.
I ran towards goshawks – the story of how I trained my goshawk Mabel became a best selling book. Natural World s36e7: H is for Hawk: A New Chapter
She’s half dragon, half leopard. ibid.
The gigantic giraffe boasts some impressive stats: it’s the tallest mammal on Earth, nearly three times the height of a professional basketball player, and as heavy as a car. Natural World: Nature’s Biggest Beasts
Being one of Earth’s big beasts has its advantages but also comes with sizeable challenges. ibid.
This remote Indonesian island is home to an illustrious lizard: it owes its prehistoric good looks to its age. It’s one of the few living species to have been around for over three million years. The Komodo Dragon. Birth’s largest lizard … Around 6,000 remain making them vulnerable to extinction. ibid.
Australia: The little red flying fox is not so little. It’s a species of mega-bat with a body as big as a rat and heavier, and a wingspan of a metre. ibid.
Animals tend to be beefier in cooler climates. ibid.
The Mountain Stone Weta, 7 cm: an insect that’s grown as big as a mouse … When ice sets in around it this ingenious hulk of an insect does something very strange indeed: it freezes itself to death, nearly. ibid.
Water’s buoyancy helps support nature’s heavyweights. Which is why this is the domain of the most enormous animal ever to have existed: the 150 ton blue whale outdoes even the biggest dinosaurs for size. ibid.
Swarms are one of the greatest spectacles on Earth. At time horrifying and also a thing of wonder. As part of the swarm the smallest of creatures can become a force of nature. George McGavin, Ultimate Swarms, BBC 2018
Far from being the ultimate nightmare, swarms are one of Nature’s most ingenious solutions. ibid.
A swarm that can kill: the honey bee … Sixty million red crabs emerge from the trees … Millions, some say trillions, of mayflies take to the skies … The ants have learned to slow down … Asian silver swarm: a reflex response spreads through the swarm setting off a chain reaction of leaping fish … They share moods and reactions … A plague of locusts is never a welcome sight … Texas: Mexican free-tailed bats … ibid.
The Wisdom of the Crowd. ibid.
Some are about working together to solve a problem. ibid.
Cities: the fastest growing habitat on the planet. A land of opportunity. For animals of all shapes and sizes. This unnatural world presents unique challenges. But for those able to adapt and take advantage of the riches on offer, the urban jungle is quick becoming the new wild. Cities: Nature’s New Wild I: Residents, BBC 2018
Singapore’s otters have everything they need to survive: food, water and even security hidden corners in which to grow up in. ibid.