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Nature Season 17 Episodes
Season 17 Episode Guide
16 Episodes 1998 - 1999
Episode 1
The Great White Bear
Sun, Oct 11, 1998
The polar bear rules the north. To the hardy native people who settled the harsh lands of the Arctic, the powerful hunter with the ghostly white coat is known as the "lonely roamer." But most of us know the huge mammal as the polar bear.
Episode 2
The Secret World of Sharks and Rays
Sun, Oct 18, 1998
Woldwide, there are more than 370 species of sharks, which vary greatly in size, shape, preferred habitat, and prey. This film explores their worlds and those of their close cousins, the rays.
Episode 3
American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation
Sun, Nov 1, 199858 mins
This film tells the sad story of how the buffalo nation was destroyed nearly a century ago by greed and uncontrolled hunting -- and how a few visionaries are working today to rebuild the once-great bison herds.
Episode 4
India, Land of the Tiger: Tiger's Domain
Sun, Nov 15, 1998
On the first stage of his journey, Valmik encounters lions in the Gir Forest, the last remaining home of the Asiatic lion. Also, tigers stalk deer and langur monkeys, jackals pursue sloth bears and a peacock attacks a deadly cobra. In India, as nowhere else, animals live side by side with millions of people.
Episode 5
India, Land of the Tiger: Sacred Waters
Sun, Nov 15, 1998
Valmik travels along the great river basins of India following the sacred Ganges on its 1,000-mile path to the sea. As the monsoon ends, the rivers burst their banks and flooded the wetlands. Tigers, elephants, rhinos and people all adopt a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Both humans and other animals thrive in this sacred waterland which supports 400 million people.
Episode 6
India, Land of the Tiger: Unknown Seas
Mon, Nov 16, 1998
Valmik sets sail on a voyage of discovery, from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, helped by the same ocean currents that drove the first explorers around the coast of India. His first encounter is with a monster 15 meters long and weighing more than 18 tons. This sea creature poses no danger; it is a whale shark, the largest fish on Earth.
Episode 7
India, Land of the Tiger: Desert Kingdom
Mon, Nov 16, 1998
Valmik discovers thousands of demoiselle cranes in the dunes around the tiny village of Keetchan. They fly across the Himalayas from Russia and China to spend the winter in the desert and have been welcomed and fed by the villagers for hundreds of years.
Episode 8
India, Land of the Tiger: Mountains of Gods
Tue, Nov 17, 1998
Valmik travels to the source of the Ganges which is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Hindus. The infant Ganges carves its way into the forest that clothes much of the southern face of the Himalayas and in spring the slopes blush deep pink with rhododendrons.
Episode 9
India, Land of the Tiger: Monsoon Forests
Tue, Nov 17, 1998
Valmik travels to the lush monsoon rainforests of the Indian sub-continent. He journeys from Assam in the northeast, to the Western Ghats in southern India and across the seas to Sri Lanka. These fabled forests are rich in wildlife.
Episode 10
John Denver: Let This Be a Voice
Sun, Dec 6, 1998
Defying all conventional labels, John Denver held a singular place in American music: a songwriter whose immensely popular work was suffused with a deep and abiding kinship with the natural world.
Episode 11
Serengeti Stories
Sun, Jan 10, 1999
Uncover the variety of activity, both human and natural, that occurs on the slopes of active volcanoes. See the surprising number of animals that survive and thrive alongside these fiery natural phenomena
Episode 12
Iceland: Fire and Ice
Sun, Feb 7, 1999
Take an inspiring look at the real spirits -- both human and wild -- that thrive in a challenging land where fire literally meets ice.
Episode 13
Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia
Sun, Feb 14, 1999
Jutting into the North Pacific from Siberia, Kamchatka is a rugged peninsula of volcanic craters and steep valleys. While its impenetrability once made Kamchatka the perfect home of a notorious Soviet prison camp, its isolation also has kept it a haven for one of Earth's last giants, the grizzly bear.
Episode 14
Extraordinary Cats
Sun, Feb 21, 1999
Though cats appear aloof to the uninitiated, individual owners tell stories revealing that cats are capable of amazing acts of courage, stamina, resourcefulness, and loyalty.
Episode 15
The Seedy Side of Plants
Sun, May 23, 1999
NATURE uproots the cunning secrets of how flora reproduce.
Episode 16
A Conversation with Koko
Sun, Aug 8, 199960 mins
An afternoon spent with the famous gorilla who knows sign language, and the scientist who taught her how to "talk". One of the first words that Koko used to describe herself was Queen. The gorilla was only a few years old when she first made the gesture-sweeping a paw diagonally across her chest as if tracing a royal sash. The cause of the primate's celebrity is her extraordinary aptitude for language. Over the past 43 years, since Patterson began teaching Koko at the age of 1, the gorilla has learned more than 1,000 words of modified American Sign Language-a vocabulary comparable to that of a 3-year-old human child. While there have been many attempts to teach human languages to animals, none have been more successful than Patterson's achievement with Koko.
