Natural World

Thousands of tons of war wreckage sank into the fabled lagoons of the South Pacific islands during the naval and air battles of World War II. This fascinating documentary Investigates the array of shipwrecks in the area which have been transformed into spectacular living reefs featuring fantastic mini-ecosystems and incredible marine wildlife.

Unlike great civilizations such as the Romans and the Egyptians, the Mayan empire did not arise from the banks of a mighty river. Then why did they populate Yucatan? The Maya believed that the freshwater pools dotted across the area were sacred portals to the underworld. They are indeed portals, but to an incredible underground labyrinthine system of rivers with amazing wildlife.

Botswana's elephants are doing very well. Too well perhaps. People are worried that too many elephants could cause damage and have suggested that up to 60,000 should be culled. Researcher Mike Chase studies ancient elephant migration routes. He has tracked them across vast deserts, desolate salt pans, and Angolan minefields. Now he thinks he has a plan that could safeguard their future.

In this extraordinary and moving documentary, Canadian bear expert Charlie Russell rescues two orphaned bear cubs destined for death in a squalid Russian zoo and moves them to his home in the remote wilds of the South Kamchatka peninsula, in the former Soviet Union. But when it comes time to release the orphaned cubs back into the wild, both the bears, and Charlie, face a litany of dangers.

In 1893, Ernest Thompson Seton rode into the wilds of New Mexico to kill a marauding cattle-killing wolf named Lobo. The book he wrote about his experiences was the first to portray wolves in a sympathetic light and was an early important work in the environmental movement. It inspired a generation of naturalists, including David Attenborough, who narrates this thrilling wildlife documentary.

The ancient Gurung tribesmen of Nepal are master honey hunters. They risk their lives collecting honeycomb in the foothills of the Himalayas, using nothing more than handmade rope ladders and long sticks known as tangos. This thrilling natural history documentary follows the tribe as they undertake their perilous, life-threating endeavors.