Zachary Quinto sets out to research the strangest creatures dug up from the depths of the ocean and to see how much they lend to the monsters that are depicted in myth and legend. Starting in Australia, he meets with a teenager who was savagely attacked by a swarm of mysterious flesh-eating monsters, only to jump into the water himself the next day amongst highly venomous sea creatures. From the carnivorous fish of American rivers to the eyeless monsters of the Atlantic Ocean, Zachary finds some merit in these old monster stories and is starting to understand just what we mean when we say that we know less than 1% of what waits in the depths below.
A jaguar fights to keep his river home in Brazil as the night brings both challenges and opportunities to hunt.
Evening is falling in the world's greatest tropical wetland, Brazil's Pantanal. A stronghold for South America's most secretive big cat, the jaguar. And enjoying the last warmth of the day is a male known as Juru. At six years old and weighing over 100 kilos, he's amongst the largest, most powerful big cats in the Americas. This prime stretch of river has been his territory for two years. But tonight Juru's reign hangs in the balance. In a recent fight with a rival male, he badly injured his paw. It's left him weak and hungry. The coming days and nights will test him more than ever before. He'll need to summon the strength to defend his river.
Deep in the twisted roots of a giant strangler fig tree, hidden from view, lives perhaps the most bizarre nighttime creature of all. The spectral tarsier, tiny primates barely larger than a tennis ball. As darkness falls, a family of these small primates in Sulawesi ventures into the jungle to find food while protecting their babies.
Will explore the strategy, deception and feats of engineering plants use to thrive in the changing weather of different seasons. In the face of conditions ranging from ice and snow to raging fires, survival is often a question of perfect timing - particularly when contending with intense competition and surprising predators. In this episode, David Attenborough travels to Finland to show one of the most extreme examples of seasonal plant life in the Arctic Circle. He also travels to California to see how climate change is affecting giant sequoias. These ancient trees like all other seasonal plants depend on the predictability of the seasons and our current changing climate threatens their survival.
Scientists around the world are asking themselves the same questions. Over the decades the focus on dolphin research has changed from asking 'how intelligent are dolphins?' to 'how are dolphins intelligent?' and we look at research from the world's foremost dolphin experts for the answers.
Acclaimed biologist Dr. Merlin Sheldrake seeks a rare blue mushroom in Tasmania's ancient Tarkine rainforest, revealing fungi's extraordinary abilities. Fungi may provide solutions to humanity's problems, with millions more species yet to be discovered. All life on Earth is connected by a great mystery we are only just beginning to unravel. Hidden between the world of plants and animals, another world exists… Fungi’s web of life. We’ll begin in the mysterious world of the forest floor, where fungi are the central players in nature’s story of birth, death, and rebirth to discover that life as we know it simply would not exist without them. Dr. Sheldrake will show us some the grandest and strangest organisms ever discovered, showcased through jaw-dropping time-lapse cinematography, in a landscape largely unchanged from the time of the dinosaurs. Fungi have important lessons to teach humanity about survival through cooperation. Indeed, these incredible lifeforms may hold the key to solving some of humanity’s most urgent problems. With millions more species to discover, our journey into the secret world of fungi has only just begun.
From the carnivorous fish of American rivers to the eyeless monsters of the Atlantic Ocean, Zachary finds some merit in these old monster stories and is starting to understand just what we mean when we say that we know less than 1% of what waits in the depths below.