Natural World - Season 27 (2009)

Wildlife documentary. In the small African kingdom of Swaziland, the black mamba is a snake both feared and revered. During summer, these elegant yet lethal snakes turn up everywhere - in homes, schools and cars - and people are bitten every week. Enter Thea Litschka-Koen, a mum and hotel manager who has become known affectionately as the white witch. She and her husband are on call 24 hours a day to rescue and release black mambas when they get too close for comfort. But what everyone wants to know is will they come back again? We follow Thea and her team as they set...

Natural World investigates the vital bond between animal mothers and their babies. The more we study animals, the more we realize just how emotional they are; all mothers are faced with tough choices as they struggle to bring up babies in a difficult and dangerous world, constantly balancing their own needs with those of their infants. Yet there are many ways to raise your brood, from the fish who looks after her young in her mouth to the extended childhoods of gorillas or orangutans.

This stunningly beautiful film reveals the unique wildlife of the Scottish Highlands, seen through the eyes of filmmaker Fergus Beeley. Based for a year at Loch Maree and the surrounding hills in Scotland's far north-west, Beeley presents his personal view of the shy animals whose lives are ruled by the rains. He follows the fortunes of rare black-throated divers and white-tailed sea eagles, which both breed there, while capturing the red deer and salmon whose lives also revolve around the loch. With an evocative score provided by local musician Phil Cunningham, this ...

In deepest Borneo, a remarkable young Frenchman called Chanee is combining his love of music and his passion for gibbons. These magical singing apes of the rain-forest are in danger of extinction and to help save them, Chanee has set up a rescue center, and become the world expert at matchmaking gibbons. Only when a pair has successfully bonded can they be released back into the wild. To increase awareness of the gibbons' plight, Chanee has created his own radio station, Radio Kalaweit, named after the local word for gibbon. Its music and message has now made it the ...

Living in the depths of the New Guinean Rainforest are birds of unimaginable colour and beauty. When Europeans first saw the plumes of these fabulous creatures in the sixteenth century, they believed they must be from heaven and called them the Birds of Paradise. The men of New Guinea make even greater claims. They say the birds possess supernatural powers and magic. But to find these Birds of Paradise in New Guinea is one of the very toughest assignments, and to witness their extraordinary mating displays is even tougher. These rare moments happen only briefly, ...

This is the emotional story of one young killer whale's quest for companionship after he was separated from his family. Luna was just two years old when, alone and confused, he found himself on the rugged, wild coast of Vancouver Island. Following his tumultuous life, the film records the human friendships he developed and the trouble this led him into. From death threats to numerous capture attempts by the government, the film-makers watched as people tried to determine his fate. Luna shows us how quickly our lives can once again cross with the natural world.

Jonathan Scott narrates the extraordinary story of the leopard - the one big cat that still survives across half the world while tigers, cheetahs and lions are all struggling. By following the lives of leopard mothers and their cubs in East Africa, the film investigates what it is about the natural history of these cats that makes them born survivors. Perhaps the most extraordinary revelation is that leopards are living undercover on farms and even in cities across Africa and Asia.

Wildlife documentary. How does a chimpanzee see the world? A research project at Edinburgh Zoo is designed to answer just that question in an innovative new way - by training chimps to use video touch screens and giving them a special chimp-proof camera. How will they react to tools which in evolutionary terms are a few million years ahead of them? As chimp specialist Betsy Herrelko finds out, trying to communicate with chimps using video technology has its trials and tribulations as power struggles, bites and fights get in the way of the hairy chimp directors. ...

Prairie dogs are America's answer to the meerkat - small, sociable and exceptionally cute. This offbeat film narrated by Rob Brydon takes us to the Wild West where prairie dogs live in huge colonies known as 'towns'. Like meerkats, they are comical to watch, but there is a whole lot more to prairie dogs than just being cute - they can talk. For 30 years Professor Con Slobodchikoff has been recording their calls in response to predators like coyotes, hawks and badgers. He believes he has discovered a language second only to humans in its complexity. It's a bold claim ...

Robert Macfarlane takes us through the wild landscapes and natural history of Essex.

Deep in the rain-forest of Central Africa lies an elephant oasis - a remarkable place that holds the key to the future for Forest Elephants. Over the last 20 years, Andrea Turkalo has been studying these enigmatic giants, getting to know over 4,000 intimately. She has begun to unravel the secrets of their complex social lives and the meanings of their unique vocalizations. New acoustic research is shedding light on the many mysteries that still surround forest elephant society. Will these endangered elephants finally speak out and tell Andrea what it is they need to ...