Travel around the globe to some of the best zoos, which are striving to fill a new role that relates directly to environmental education.
Social & External
Narrator (voice)
In the daily struggle for survival, terrible thirst drives wildlife to water...even when the water is just inches away from the jaws of a crocodile. During one harsh season, a punishing drought draws some of Africa's most magnificent creatures to the shrinking pools of the Luvuvhu River. Its dwindling waters provide relief for baboons, impala, elephants, lions, water birds and bee-eaters - but also a refuge for scores of hungry crocodiles. Amidst the stunning scenes of nature at its harshest, strange things happen. A baby crocodile basks on top of a hippopotamus. Baboons attack a crocodile that has taken a youngster from the troop. Crocodiles harass a heron and steal its hard-won catch. And hippos calmly wade into the middle of a crocodile feeding frenzy. But the power of nature and her relentless drought may prove greater than even that of the most fearsome beasts. This cruel season may turn out to be the LAST FEAST OF THE CROCODILES.
The Siberian discovery of the best-preserved woolly mammoth on record has teams of experts working around the globe, and around the clock, on some of the most ambitious projects in science. In Russia, paleontologists are conducting a historic autopsy on the 40,000-year-old beast to find out how it lived, and how it died. Meanwhile labs in South Korea and at Harvard University are using the latest advances in DNA manipulation in hopes of cloning the furry giant and introducing it to the modern world.
How did your body become the complicated, quirky, amazing machine it is today? Anatomist Neil Shubin uncovers the answers in this 3-part science series that looks at human evolution. Using fossils, embryos and genes, he reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates — the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree.
Humpback Whales takes audiences to Alaska, Hawaii and the Kingdom of Tonga for a close-up look at how these whales communicate, sing, feed, play and take care of their young. Humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a steady recovery. Join a team of researchers as they explore what makes humpbacks the most acrobatic of all whales, why only the males sing, and why these intelligent 50-foot, 48-ton animals migrate more than 6,000 miles round-trip every year.
Short dramatised documentary showing the ups and downs of daily life on a circus farm. “The only light comes from the flames of the funeral pyre that consumes a dead circus elephant shortly after its corpse has been unceremoniously dragged across a field by 50 carthorses.” (BFI)
This delightful Animal Planet series follows young animals facing special challenges. Zookeepers, veterinarians and other animal specialists explain their role in helping to get the youngsters off to a good start. This collection's four episodes feature the first year in the life of baby elephant Maximus; a trio of zebras at a sanctuary; an orphaned giraffe named Kulula who joins a new herd; and the truth about the much-maligned hyena.
The Secrets of Life series (1934-50) may not conform to modern expectations of nature filmmaking, inclined as it is towards giving cute fluffy creatures human names and characteristics. But it couldn't be accused of shielding kiddies from the harsher realities of the food chain, as this exercise in ruthless Darwinism demonstrates to unintentionally hilarious effect. A more than usually eccentric narrator introduces us to the newborn bunny quartet of Donald, James, Charles and Clifford, but as the film's title gives away, "the boys" aren't all long for this world as they face an assault course of hungry owls, predatory badgers, shotgun-happy gardeners and aerial bombardment (no harm in a little anti-Nazi detour, this is 1942 after all). (from http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-once-we-were-four-1942/)
In the frigid valleys of Japan's Shiga Highlands, a troop of snow monkeys make their way and raise their families in a complex society of rank and privilege where each knows their place. Their leader is still new to the job and something of a solitary grouch. But one little monkey, innocently unaware of his own lowly social rank, reaches out to this lonely leader, forming a bond with him that manages over time to warm his less than sunny disposition. It is a rare and remarkable gesture that alters both their lives. Changing seasons bring new babies to care for, a profusion of insects and blossoms to eat, family disagreements to squabble over and tragedies to overcome. Mating season brings competition for females, as the days grow shorter and colder in a rush toward winter. But with their now confident leader to guide them and their families to shelter and care for them, this troop of snow monkeys is ready to face the world.
Go up-river and deep into the jungle far from Brazil's cities and stadiums, where families of giant otters, tufted capuchin monkeys and mischievous coati (South American raccoon cousins) rally their wits to survive in a breathtakingly beautiful yet dangerous land.
Animals dance, sing, flirt, and compete with everything they’ve got to find and secure a mate. For many, the all-important bonds they share as a couple are what enable the next generation to survive. But can we call these bonds love? In this delightful, provocative look at the love life of animals, we see the feminine wiles of a young gorilla, the search for Mr. Right among a thousand flamingos, the open “marriages” of blue-footed boobies, the soap opera arrangements of gibbons, and all the subtle, outrageous, romantic antics that go into finding a partner. These are love stories all right, as various and intriguing as the lovers themselves.
Russian hunters on horse and a pack of borzois hunt down and kill a wolf.
Gordon Buchanan goes to meet the world's cutest animals to reveal their hidden biology, and find out why people have such a strong emotional response to them.
A group of children tells to the camera how they torture various animals, such as lizards, cats or mice. One of them tells how last summer, after attacking a cat with his friends, he saw something that made him reflect on what they did.
At a time when the public is more concerned than ever about the health and environmental problems associated with large-scale factory farming, Peaceable Kingdom explores another angle of this unfolding story: the interconnected life journeys of farm animals, former farmers, and animal rescuers struggling against an out of control industrial system. Breaking generations of silence in the farm community, Peaceable Kingdom weaves together themes of respect, forgiveness, commitment, and healing, offering a vision of a more peaceful world that is well within our reach.
David Attenborough tells the remarkable story of how these " birds of paradise " have captivated explorers , naturalists, artists, filmmakers and even royalty.
Fowl Play is a documentery about the treatment of egg laying hens and other animals. It goes inside of egg corporations that people buy from everyday, and exposes how those animals are being treated, abused, and killed.
Metamorphosis seems like the ultimate evolutionary magic trick - the amazing transformation of one creature into a totally different being: one life, two bodies.
Fox terriers kill rats in an aviary while excited spectators watch on.
One Life captures unprecedented and beautiful sequences of animal behaviour guaranteed to bring you closer to nature than ever before, as well as a second disc packed full of never before seen extras including an exclusive making of featurette narrated by Daniel Craig.
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
As boxing's popularity wanes, three fighters at different stages of their career make sacrifices to pursue their dreams of becoming champions.
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.
Behind-the-scenes documentary about how Lionel Messi succeeded in lifting the World Cup – the only trophy to have eluded him in an incredible career.
Errol Morris’s Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of four men, each driven to create eccentric worlds from their unique obsessions, all of which involve animals. There’s a lion tamer who shares his theories on the mental processes of wild animals; a topiary gardener who has devoted a lifetime to shaping bears and giraffes out of hedges and trees; a man fascinated with hairless mole rats; and an MIT scientist who has designed complex, autonomous robots that can crawl like bugs.
In Botswana's Okavango Delta, an ostracized lioness and her two cubs must fight alone to survive - overcoming all manner of hazards. Their only defense is to escape to Duba Island -- and with that, an unknown future. The setting for this epic tale is one of the last regions where lions can live in the wild. Faced with dwindling land and increasing pressure from hunting, lions - like our lone lioness and her cubs - are approaching the brink of extinction.
This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.
This documentary follows superstar Bret Hart during his last year in the WWF. The film documents the tensions that resulted in The Montreal Screwjob, one of the most controversial events in the history of professional wrestling, in which Vince McMahon, Shawn Micheals, and others, legitimately conspired behind the scenes to go against the script and remove Bret Hart as champion.
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
An epic documentary film that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. How did life begin? What is time? What is consciousness? How much do we really know? By introducing researchers from diverse backgrounds for the first time, then dropping them into new, immersive field work they previously hadn’t tackled, the film pushes the boundaries of how science storytelling is approached. What emerges is a deeply human trip to the foundations of discovery and a powerful reminder that the unanswered questions are the most crucial ones to pose. Directed by Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney and advised by world-renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Most Unknown is an ambitious look at a side of science never before shown on screen.