Natural World Season 34 Episodes

Episode 1

Africa's Fishing Leopards

Wildlife filmmaker Brad Bestelink and his fellow cameraman follow the life along a river in Botswana of a family of leopards. The mother feeds, trains and protects two cubs who must learn hunting and dealing with robbers like wild dogs or lions, seeking protection in trees, preferable carrying up carcasses. The boy is cocky but enterprising and inventive, unlike his sister, and even works out during the low season for game how to catch fat fish stuck in drying-up mud pools until the rivers they from the remains of come alive again thanks to rains in the mountains up stream. When the daughter reaches sexual maturity, the mother expels her from the territory, having become a mating rival.

Episode 2

Super-Powered Owls

55 mins

With their charismatic faces and extraordinary head-turning ability, owls are one of our best-loved birds. And yet it's rare to catch more than a glimpse of one in the wild. These mysterious birds haunt our night, floating through the darkness with an eerie silence. But how do they see in the dark? And how do they fly so silently?

Episode 3

Galapagos: Islands of Change

From enormous tortoises and deep-diving lizards to fish-eating snakes and birds that hunt giant venomous centipedes, the wildlife of the world-famous Galapagos Islands is unique and bizarre. This wilderness once inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, but it is currently undergoing a human revolution, with tourism driving a population boom.

Episode 4

Growing Up Wild

59 mins

Wildlife documentary about the trials and challenges faced by young animals.

Episode 5

Iceland: Land of Ice and Fire

60 mins

BBC description: In what turns out to be an explosive year, witness Iceland through the eyes of the animals and people that have made this wild island home. An arctic fox family must eke out a cliff-top living, an eider farmer has his hands full playing duck dad to hundreds of new arrivals and Viking horsemen prepare to saddle up for the autumn round-up. But nature's clock is ticking, and the constant volcanic threat eventually boils over with one of Iceland's biggest eruptions in more than 200 years. This land of ice and fire will not be tamed.

Episode 6

Attenborough's Big Birds

Famous naturalist David Attenborough spotlights the ostrich, the kiwi and their prehistoric ancestor, the elephant bird. Being flightless, these birds must rely on speed and camouflage to escape predators and protect their younglings.

Episode 7

Mountain Lions: Big Cats in High Places

Follow a year in the life of two Wyoming mountain lion families. David Attenborough narrates this study which has provided a great deal of previously unknown insight into the behaviors of these big cats.

Episode 8

Ireland's Wild River: The Mighty Shannon

Cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson explores Ireland's river Shannon on a canoe trip and films the wildlife he encounters along the way.

Episode 9

Ghost Bear Family

In the vast Canadian wilderness, there lives a very special bear family. Just out of hibernation, two black cubs have a pure white mother.

Episode 10

Return of the Giant Killers: Africa's Lion Kings

In southern Africa, a pride of lions has rewritten the rules - by learning to take down elephants. In this follow up to Africa's Giant Killers, we join the pride at the start of the rainy season. As the elephants depart, a catalogue of dramatic events unfolds. The pride males turn against each other, an inexperienced mum puts her new born cubs in mortal danger, a rival group of lions challenge the pride for its territory and, when lightning strikes, fires burn day and night. When the dust eventually settles, the pride is left with only one choice - to face their old foe the elephants or risk starvation. The final showdown awaits.