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Natural Curiosities Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 2017 - 2017
Episode 1
Animal Frankensteins
22 mins
Hybrids can be bizarre and they can be deadly. We look at two hybrid animals that owe their existence to human interference - the pizzly bear (a cross between a polar bear and grizzly), which has come into being because of global warming, and the killer bee, brought into existence because of the transfer of African bees to South America.
Episode 2
Finding the Way
22 mins
Homing pigeons are specially trained for competitive use of their natural ability to navigate (back, home) in flight, which in Cher Ami's case saved near 200 allied troop lives in the Great War. Studies slowly unravel their impressive set of methods, including orientation by sun or moon, earth magnetism and memorizing landmarks. The Ancient Egyptians venerated the scarab, believing his east-west rolling of dung balls imitates the sun god Cephti rolling the sun back daily. They belong to a family of dung-beetles, where one in ten arrives early at a rich dropping and prevents being robbed by evacuating a rich portion to bury. Rolling back, with eyes specially split to look both down and up, they manage to roll away in a remarkably straight line, albeit often not E-W. They too navigate by sun or moon and reset their bearings having to avoid an obstacle by way of an orientation dance on the ball.
Episode 3
Extreme Babies
22 mins
When the giant panda was discovered in Chine by a French missionary, zoological disputes began whether the black-white bamboo eater is a bear -as DNA confirms- or closer related to the weasel-like red panda. Its tiny, usually single baby turns out better then a layer of cubs due to the poor nutritional value of their diet, and ads to its zoo popularity. Since Victorians received the first kiwi corpses in London, its exceptionally big egg in proportion, requiring ten days to ponder, contributed to speculation concerning its relatives -ostriches, casuary, emu- and loss of flight. It seems they descend not from a local giant but from a small South American bird flying all over Oceania and abandoning energy-consuming flying due to lack of predators and easy foraging, which security also makes raising a single chick intensively more sensible then a nest with spares.
Episode 4
Curious Counters
22 mins
Can animals count? This is a question that has intrigued and fooled investigators for a long time. Just over a hundred years ago, a German horse called Hans was declared a mathematical genius but all was not as it seemed. And strangely, some bamboos around the world flower exactly at the same no matter where they are - are they counting down the years?
Episode 5
Incredible Shells
22 mins
David Attenborough investigates two shells that have proved to be winners in evolution: the bird's shell and the hard shell of the tortoise. The ostrich egg is so strong it's possible for a person to stand on it without it breaking - how does the chick break out of this fortress? The evolution of the tortoise shell was for a long time a mystery and this bony box offers a lot more than just protection.
Episode 6
Ferocious Fighters
22 mins
The Siamese Fighting Fish is so aggressive it will fight its own reflection until it is exhausted. Recent research shows that the fighting behaviour varies and depends on the personality of the fish. Male kangaroos were once pitted against humans in the boxing ring - the most impressive male kangaroos are solid blocks of muscle with a kick that can kill. Why do they fight and what skills must a winner have?