Life

In nature, living long enough to breed is a monumental struggle, and many animals and plants go to extremes to give themselves a chance. Three brother cheetahs band together to bring down a huge ostrich, bottle-nosed dolphins trap fish in a ring of mud, the strawberry frog carries a tadpole high into a tree and drops it in a water-filled bromeliad, and chinstrap penguins undertake a journey through the broken ice to get out to sea.

A look at how reptiles and amphibians conquer their shortcomings through amazing innovation. Extreme slow-motion shows how a Jesus Christ lizard runs on water, and how a chameleon fires an extendible tongue at its prey with unfailing accuracy. The camera also follows a Niuean sea snake, which avoids predators by swimming to an air bubble at the end of an underwater tunnel, and later Komodo dragons hunt a huge water-buffalo.

A stunning look at how mammals dominate the planet through intelligence, having warm blood, and the care they lavish on their young. A mother Weddell seal wears her teeth down keeping open a hole in the ice so she can catch fish for her pup, cameras follow the migration of millions of bats in Zambia and thousands of caribou across the Arctic tundra, while male humpback whales are shown battling for a female.

A look at how fish dominate the planet's waters through their variety of shape and behaviour. The male weedy sea dragon protects its eggs by carrying them on his tail, while the sarcastic fringehead appears to turn its head inside out when it fights. Later, slow motion cameras show flying fish gliding through the air like a flock of birds, and capture the world's fastest swimmer, the sailfish, plucking sardines from a shoal.

An incredible look at birds reveals some of the extraordinary things that having feathers allows them to do. For the first time, a slow-motion camera captures the unique flight of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird, and aerial photography takes us into the sky with an Ethiopian lammergeier. Also featured are the spectacular massed gathering of pink flamingoes, and the comic mating display of the sage grouse.

An incredible look at insects and how their armoured covering allowed them to become the most successful animal group ever. The camera flies with millions of monarch butterflies, while super slow motion shows a bombardier beetle firing boiling liquid at enemies through a rotating nozzle. Later, a honey bee army is seen stinging a raiding bear into submission, and a complex colony of grass cutter ants is seen like never before.