Fri, Jan 11, 2008
Rescued by local fishermen as a baby and raised by giant otter expert Carolina Vargas, this is the story of a young giant otter's journey to adulthood. At first, Sancho is utterly dependent on Carolina, and has to be bottle fed and taught how to catch fish. Eventually Carolina knows that she will have to break their extraordinary bond as Sancho makes his way back into the wild. Giant otters are highly social animals, so Carolina doesn't know whether an orphaned giant otter can survive alone in the world's biggest wetland. In the idyllic Pantanal, we follow Sancho's story as he learns to survive in a world fraught with danger.
Wed, Nov 1, 2006
Martyn Colbeck has spent 15 years scouring Africa for extraordinary images of the elephant. He has had to learn to read their minds and anticipate their every move. He has witnessed incredible behaviour: small secretive elephants deep in the Congo jungle, Echo the family matriarch giving birth at night, two huge bull elephants clashing heads in a deadly duel and mystical desert elephants gliding over the sandy dunes of Namibia.
Wed, Oct 28, 2009
Wildlife documentary. In the forests of northern Minnesota, biologist Lynn Rogers uses food to gain the trust of wild black bears, a controversial technique developed over his own forty-year journey from fear to fascination. Following the fortunes of mother bear June and her three cubs over a year, the film reveals an intimate portrait of the lives of black bears.
Wed, Mar 26, 2008
Elephant specialist Martyn Colbeck tells the story of two baby elephants struggling to survive. Their first six months are critical in the starkly beautiful deserts of Namibia. This is the most endangered elephant population in the world - it was devastated by poaching in the 80s, so every new calf is vital. It's a boom year, but when rivers disappear underground, their survival depends on the females who lead their young from one remembered food source to the next.
Mon, Aug 1, 2011
Biologist Joe Hutto was mother to the strangest family in the world, thirteen endangered wild turkeys that he raised from egg to the day they left home. For a whole year his turkey children were his only companions as he walked them deep through the Florida Everglades. Suffering all the heartache and joy of any other parent as he tried to bring up his new family, he even learned to speak their language and began to see the world through turkey eyes. Told as a drama documentary with an actor recreating the remarkable scenes of Joe's life as a turkey mum.
Sun, Apr 29, 2007
The Giant Japanese Hornet is the fiercest looking insect on earth, and one of the deadliest. This film follows the remarkable life of one giant hornet queen, as she emerges from hibernation and starts to build up a colony in an old temple garden. Her army of warriors terrorize the beautiful mountain valley in their constant struggle to find food for their hungry grubs. In a series of dramatic pitched battles, the giant hornets massacre thousands of bees, but victory isn't always assured - one local honeybee fights back thanks to a remarkable defensive strategy, and suddenly it is the hornets that are dying. A beekeeper monk bears witness to the rising power of the giant hornet colony, and despite the hornet's attacks on his own bees, he reveals a deep respect for these incredible predators.