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Private Notes
The Season 26 opener probes colony collapse disorder---the dramatic loss of honeybees in North America and Europe. The honeybee is responsible (via pollination) for one of every three bites of food people eat. Included: long-term ramifications; possible causes.
Discover the epic history of the Druids, one of more than a dozen gray wolf packs now occupying the 2.2 million acres of Yellowstone National Park.
Documentarian Simon King raises two orphaned cheetah cubs in Kenya's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. He's seen bottle-feeding them and---to prepare them for the wild--- teaching the pair to hunt. King narrates.
Nature's ugliest creatures are spotlighted, including the dung beetle, elephant-seal bull, ghost-faced bat, Indian stork, naked mole rat, needle-toothed viperfish, proboscis monkey, star-nosed mole, tapeworm, vulture and warthog. Included: how their looks and attributes contribute to their survival.
Dr. Philip Stander, a Namibian carnivore expert, investigates the resurgent lion population in the Namib Desert. Included: the uniqueness of the big cats; and their biggest challenge---residents who see them as threats to livestock.
An exploration of Australia's diverse parrot population, including the fig parrot, the golden-shouldered parrot and the palm cockatoo. The overview examines their mating rituals and fight for survival, and details the damage the birds can do to farmers' crops.
The link between the horseshoe crab, which has remained the same for some 350 million years, and the red-knot shorebird, is explored. The horseshoe crab's spawning grounds, the Delaware Bay, are an important feeding ground for the red knots on their way from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic. Included: how biologists connected a drop in the red-knot population to a similar decrease in the crabs. Also: how horseshoe-crab blood is used to test human medicines.
An examination of what the future may hold for polar bears, which evolved from grizzlies during the last ice age, due to the dramatic changes in their Arctic habitat. The documentary also details how grizzlies are expanding their territory northward, encroaching upon the polar bears' domain. Included: a polar bear giving birth; grizzly and polar-bear mothers teaching their cubs to hunt.
A two-part examination of courtship rituals in the animal kingdom begins with females. Included: what they look for in potential mates.
The two-part examination of courtship rituals in the animal kingdom concludes with the male half of the equation. Included: the lengths to which they go to woo females, including changing body color; dancing; fighting; and making music.
A fascinating profile of a 33-year-old silverback named Titus, the leader of a gorilla clan in the mountainous region between Rwanda and Congo who faces a challenge for supremacy from his second-in-command, Kuryama. Archival footage and the observations of researchers fill in his backstory, including how, as a young adult, he engaged in secret liaisons with females behind the back of pack leader Beetsme, then led a rare bloodless coup against Beetsme.
Marine biologist-filmmaker Rick Rosenthal documents billfish (marlins, sailfish and swordfish), whose numbers have dwindled over the past 50 years from overfishing. Included: off Mexico's Contoy Island, he finds thousands of sailfish feasting on sardines; and along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, he swims with a "grander" (a marlin over 1000 pounds).
A chronicle of the first year in the life of a male red deer in the Austrian Alps. Included: his first six weeks, when he learns about the world; his introduction to humans; his first winter, when tragedy strikes, decreasing the odds of survival.
