Killer Gremlins & Cute Baby Animals - BBC Natural World is back

BBC Two, 8pm, Weds 25th January

The Natural World is back with another run of extraordinary films starting with 'The Jungle Gremlins of Java'. To celebrate here's a montage of cute baby animals that appear in the series...

Cute Baby Animals

The Jungle Gremlins of Java

The slow loris is a real-life gremlin, extremely cute but with a venom that can cause flesh necrosis and even kill a human.  Dr Anna Nekaris travels to the jungles of Java to solve the riddle of its toxic bite, but a shocking discovery awaits.

Dung carpets to prissy bower birds - Attenborough's Animal Architects on BBC2

Animal House, 8pm BBC2, 7th September

David attenborough delves into the world of animal high rises and subway systems to show us that animals are way ahead when it comes to modifying the world around them. From prissy Bower Birds who constantly decorate and tidy up every inch of their nest, to hornets who build electric central heating systems. Now if all this talk of DIY is making you feel hungry then consider the burrowing owl  He flys miles to collect cow dung in just the right condition to carpet the entrance to his burrow with - there's no complaining from the family though as droves of juicy bite-size beetles are attracted by the pong. If you prefer a less crunchy meal then the home of  the star nosed mole could be just the ticket - it's built so that tasty worms literally drop in for dinner. To find out how watch 'Animal House' on BBC 2 tonight.

'Delightful film’, 'breathtaking footage'  - Wildlife Magazine

Producer: Mark Fletcher

Series Editor: Steve Greenwood

Executive Producer: Chris Cole

 Sir David Attenborough visits the decorated nest of a bower bird (Photo: BBC)

Stuffed to bursting point by a ruthless queen - Empire of the Desert Ants, Natural World, BBC2

Wednesday 10th August, 8pm, BBC Two

Tonight Natural World delves into the seething antistrocracy of the Arizona desert, where a new honey ant queen wages an intense battle for survival as she attempts to build and defend her empire. Eliminating rivals with ruthless efficiency, sacrificing thousands in her quest for domination, murder, cannibalism, genocide - she will do anything to keep her crown. Empire of the Ants is the epic story of one honey ant queen's dramatic rise to power - her brutal fall from grace.

Photo: BBC

Honey ant queens share a throne 

Footage of ant queens working together has been captured by a BBC film crew. As the sole reproducer in a colony, ant queens are traditionally considered lone figures. However, in certain species unrelated queens will sometimes co-operate to kick-start a new colony. Read the full article on BBC news 

Stuffed to Bursting Point

The largest honey ant workers take on a very special role in the colony - repletes. They are force-fed load after load of nectar by forager ants until their abdomens become the size of peas. As they get bigger, they haul themsleves up onto the roof of the nest to avoid being damaged. Once hanging from the roof, the repletes refine the nectar into thick honey. During long winters and droughts, repletes regurgitate their contents to feed other colony inhabitants - a strategy to enable these ants to survive in the desert. 

BBC programme page

Series Editor: Steve Greenwood

Narrator: Andy Serkis

Producer: Ian Gray

Executive Producer: Tim Martin

 

Comimg up in this series of The Natural World

Heligan: Secrets of the Lost Gardens, Wednesday 17 August
Shot by Charlie Hamilton James this beautiful film uncovers the secret lives of the many wildlife residents the visitors rarely see.

Komodo: Secrets of the Dragon,
Wednesday 24 August
Using hi-tech tools to take a fresh look at this prehistoric beast, Doctor Bryan Fry discovers there is a lot more to the dragon than meets the eye – from hidden venom glands to its secret origins, thousands of miles away from its Indonesian home.



The Woman Who Swims with Killer Whales, Wednesday 31 August
The Killer Whale is the most feared predator in the ocean and most would consider it madness to enter the water with them. But New Zealander Dr Ingrid Visser things differently – and by swimming with her beloved whales she’s come to know almost all of them by sight.

Animal House, Wednesday 6 September
Sir David Attenborough tells the stories of the world’s best animal architects.

Dates may change

A Tiger Called Broken Tail - Natural World

Tuesday 15th February.
7pm on BBC Two

If there is one animal I would love to see in the wild it is the Tiger - Panthera tigris. I've spent some time tracking them with my friends Kalyan and Mandanna in India (Poo, Pee & Pugmarks) but sadly I never saw one myself. It's no suprise that they're difficult to see as they are superbly cryptic animals, mysterious and elusive, but more significantly they are also severly endangered. While India has the worlds largest tiger population, and the most active conservation projects, they have still declined by 60% since the 1990s - mostly due to illegal poaching. Now only 1,400 survive in highly protected reserves, and only 11% of their original habitat remains. This weeks Natural World comes straight from the heart of a cameraman, Colin Stafford-Johnson, and explores his relationship with the animals that he has spent many years filming. 'A Tiger Called Broken Tail' follows Colin and his soundman, Salim, as they piece together the final days of a tiger cub they call Broken Tail. After leaving his sanctuary and going on the run, he survived for almost a year in the unprotected badlands of rural Rajasthan. Through Broken Tail's story Colin and Salim uncover stark truths about India's last wild tigers.

- Paul Williams
Find out more on the BBC programme page

(Photo: BBC)

Elsa - The lioness that changed the world - Natural World

WATCH NOW! (BBC 2 LIVE)
7 pm, BBC 2, 1st Feb. 2011
BBC Programme Page

 (George Adamson & Elsa, Photo: BBC)

In 1966, as Geoff Hurst's hat-trick was being celebrated in England, two conservationists living in a remote part of Kenya, were being celebrated the world over. They were George and Joy Adamson and their story was 'Born Free'. This was the extraordinary tale of their relationship with Elsa, an orphaned lioness who they returned to a life in the wild.

Joy's book had been published in 1960, and had sold 6 million copies in its first year. Now it was time for 'Born Free' to hit the silver screen and be taken to an even wider audience. It became an overnight sensation, winning two academy awards, and is widely considered to have ignited a public passion for conservation. Lions were no longer to be seen simply as man-eaters or hunters' trophies - Joy and George had brought the gentler side of lions to the worlds attention.

As tonight's Natural World reveals the making of 'Born Free' was a life-changing experience for husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna who played the Adamsons. They were to become instrumental in creating the Born Free Foundation. But perhaps the most significant aspect of the film was that some of the captive lions that were used were released into the wild just as Elsa had been. George was determined to release a 'man-made' pride and this decision was to shape the rest of their lives. Sadly, the story ended in tragedy when in 1980 Joy was murdered whilst on her evening walk, and just 9 years later, George was murdered by poachers as he came to the rescue of a tourist.

Tonight's Natural World commemorates their legacy with an emotional and revealing drama documentary which re-lives those events – featuring intimate contributions from Virginia McKenna, who played Joy in the film, and David Attenborough who first worked with them in 1961.

I hope you enjoy the film as much I have,
- Paul

Produced by Clare Brook and Sacha Mirzoeff
Executive Producer: Brian Leith
Series Editor: Tim Martin

Miracle in the Marshes of Iraq - Natural World

Tuesday 18th January BBC2, 8pm

Mesopotamia's Missing Marshland



It's the largest and most ambitious habitat recreation project ever known - to bring back to life one of the world's greatest marshlands. And it's happening in Iraq!

Considered to be the original Garden of Eden, the marshes were once Iraq's wildlife jewel, where man and nature thrived for 5,000 years. But in the 1990's, Saddam Hussein drained these gigantic wetlands and turned them into a desert - destroying a home to thousands of people and millions of birds.

Donning his body armour, filmmaker David Johnson travels to the Mesopotamian Marshes to follow the work of Azzam Alwash, the visionary Iraqi engineer at the centre of this extraordinary scheme to re-flood hundreds of miles of desert and bring back life to the sands. This is a view of Iraq the world never sees - a world of huge reed beds and vast flocks of birds that fill the sky. But nothing ever quite goes to plan in Iraq.

Read more on the BBC web page.

 

Natural World: Butterflies - a very British obsession

17th December, 8pm, BBC2
From one of Britain's top wildlife cameramen - Mark Payne-Gill and producer Simon Bell, this promises to be a fascinating look into the most resplendent of Britain's insects - the Butterflies. (I can vouch for Marks obsession with these enchanting creatures, whilst filming 'Animals Guide to Britain' he would often leap a fence or dive into a quagmire in pursuit of a mere glimpse of a rare butterfly that he had sighted from the corner of his eyes!)

Take a Gander at a Panda! Natural World: Panda Makers

BBC Two, 8pm, Tues December 7th
Giant Pandas were on the brink of extinction but now they are coming back, thanks to an extraordinary conservation project. The Chengdu Research Base in central China is at the heart of a project to breed 300 pandas, and then start introducing them back into the wild. It is the most ambitious and controversial conservation effort ever mounted. Shot over two years, this film follows the pandas and keepers as, through visionary science and round-the-clock care, they edge closer to the magic number of 300.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/naturalworld 

Gander at a Panda! 

Here's a few preview clips from the film showing Baby pandas in the play cot at the Chengdu breeding centre in China. These are some of the 300 babies that will be part of a large-scale reintroduction programme of the Giant Panda back into the wild.

No idea where this fantastic music is from but it surely has one of the greatest lines.

I Get Knocked Down...

Natural World: The Himalayas

8 pm, BBC 2, 19th August 2010 &;
7:30 pm, BBC HD, 20th August 2010

 (photo copyright BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tj7j)

The wildlife of the most stunning mountain range in the world, home to Snow leopards, Himalayan wolves and Tibetan bears. Snow leopards stalk their prey among the highest peaks. Concealed by snowfall, the chase is watched by Golden Eagles circling above. On the harsh plains of the Tibetan plateau live extraordinary bears and square-faced foxes hunting small rodents to survive. In this world of extremes, the Himalayas reveal not only snow-capped mountains and fascinating animals but also a vital lifeline for humanity.

Producer: Mark Fletcher
Series Producer: Steve Greenwood
Series Editor: Tim Martin
www.bbc.co.uk/naturalworld

Natural World: Sea Otters - A Million Dollar Baby

BBC2, Thursday 12th August 2010

The trials and tribulations of a sea otter pup growing up on the coast of California.

The Californian sea otter is one of the rarest, and possibly cutest animals in the world. So when a sea otter mum decides to have her pup amongst the yachts of a millionaires' marina, it is a unique event. The mum must teach her baby how to dodge the boats and find the food in this busy harbour. However, the arrival of a tough male sea otter signals disaster for the family. When mum is attacked, the poor pup is left on her own and must fight for survival.

Sea Otter mothers are very protective of their pups and rarely let them out of their sight. Here the mother enjoys a rare peaceful moment when the pup falls asleep on her belly (Copyright: BBC).

Natural World: Echo an Unforgettable Elephant

BBC2, Thursday 5th August at 8.00pm.

A celebration of the life and legacy of Echo, the world's most famous elephant, who was born in 1945 and died in 2009, and who Natural World followed for the last 20 years of her life.

The timing of Echo's death could not be worse. The wise old matriarch had guided her family for half a century but the cruellest drought in living memory devastated her home under the shadow of Kilimanjaro. Will her 38-strong band of relatives and descendants overcome the loss of their leader, hunger and poachers to survive?

Presented by David Attenborough, editor Matt Meech, director Mike Birkhead and filmed by Martyn Colbeck. I wrote the music and Kate Gould is the solo cellist. Part of the BBC Natural World strand, series editor Tim Martin.

Echo on Wildlife Finder
Following on from the 4 stunning Natural Worlds filmed over the years of Echo's life - Wildlife Finder have launched a whole new section.  They've collated clips from all the programmes so you can now watch the best bits of Echo's personal story http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/characters/37

The Natural World: The Monkey Eating Eagle of the Orinoco

7 pm, BBC 2, 8th July 2010

copyright: BBC

The Harpy Eagle is the most powerful bird of prey in the world, plucking monkeys from the branches of the jungle canopy.  Rare and  elusive they are seldom seen but with the discovery of a Harpy nest in the remote Orinoco rainforest of Venezuela , wildlife film-maker Fergus Beeley has a unique opportunity to follow the life of a chick from birth to adulthood . Fergus ascends high into the canopy revealing a stunning world of colour and sound, and follows the trials of the harpy eagle's newly hatched chick as it grows up.  Fergus becomes just another member of the dazzling community of birds and animals surrounding the harpy nest and develops an unexpectedly close bond with the harpy chick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1vvd

Producers: Fergus Beeley & Dr. Adrian Seymour
Series Editor: Tim Martin

Natural World: Forest Elephants - Rumbles in the Jungle

BBC 2 - 8PM TONIGHT

The woman who 'speaks elephant'. Deep in the rainforest of Central Africa lies an elephant oasis - a remarkable place that holds the key to the future for Forest Elephants. Over the last 20 years, Andrea Turkalo has been studying these enigmatic giants, getting to know over 4,000 intimately. She has begun to unravel the secrets of their complex social lives and the meanings of their unique vocalisations. Today, new acoustic research is shedding light on the many mysteries that still surround forest elephant society. Will these endangered elephants finally speak out and tell Andrea what it is they need to survive?

Producer LUCY MEADOWS
Series Editor TIM MARTIN

The Natural World: A Killer Whale called Luna

24th Feb, BBC 2 - 8PM
This is the emotional story of one young killer whale's quest for companionship after he was separated from his family. Luna was just two years old when, alone and confused he found himself on the rugged, wild coast of Vancouver Island. Following his tumultuous life, the film records the human friendships he developed and the trouble this led him into. From death threats, to numerous capture attempts by the government, the filmmakers watched as people tried to determine his fate. Luna shows us how quickly our lives can once again cross with the natural world.

Producer SUZANNE CHISHOLM
Series Editor TIM MARTIN
Narrator MICHAEL PARFIT

The Natural World: Birds of Paradise

BBC 2 - 8PM
BBC HD – 11.30PM

“Typically unmissable.” THE GUARDIAN

Living in the depths of the New Guinea rainforest are the spectacular birds of paradise - creatures so beautiful that the first Europeans believed they must have fallen from heaven. Filming their bizarre courtship displays is the holy grail of wildlife film makers: some perform like iridescent acrobats, others make hypnotic pulsing sounds as they quiver and vibrate. David Attenborough narrates the film - he has been entranced by these birds since he was a boy and he introduces a team of New Guinean naturalists as they embark on a gruelling expedition to try to film ten Birds of Paradise deep in the heart of the rainforest.

Produced and directed by Harvey Jones
Series Editor TIM MARTIN

The Natural World: Radio Gibbon

BBC 2 - 9PM
BBC HD – 10PM

“He’s the coolest naturalist on the planet!” The Times

In deepest Borneo a remarkable young Frenchman called Chanee is combining his passion for gibbons and his love of music. These magical singing apes of the rainforest are in danger of extinction and to help save them Chanee has set up a rescue centre, and become the world expert at matchmaking gibbons - only when a pair has successfully bonded can they be released back into the wild. To increase awareness of the gibbons' plight Chanee has created his own radio station, Radio Kalaweit, named after the local word for gibbon. Its cool music and cool message has now made it the most successful radio station in Borneo.

Producer MIKE BIRKHEAD
Series Editor TIM MARTIN

The Natural World: Black Mamba, White Witch

Tonight - BBC 2, 9pm.
In the small African kingdom of Swaziland, the Black Mamba is a snake both feared and revered. During summer, these elegant yet lethal snakes turn up everywhere - in homes, schools and cars - and people are bitten every week. In a country with very limited health care and no anti-venom, it is becoming a crisis.  Enter Thea Litschka-Koen, a mum and hotel manager who has become known affectionately as the white witch. She and her husband are on call twenty four hours a day to rescue and release Black Mambas when they get too close for comfort. But what everyone wants to know is - "will they come back again?" We follow Thea and her team as they set up a pioneering new scientific project: to track the Black Mambas they release back into the wild, and find out just how these deadly snakes spend their lives.

Produced and directed by Jo Scofield
Series Editor Tim Martin

The Natural World: Andrea, Queen of the Mantas

Tonight BBC 2, 8PM & BBC HD,10PM

Manta rays are one of the most intelligent creatures in the ocean and, at up to seven metres long, one of the largest. Yet, despite their size and curious nature, almost nothing is known about their lives. Young marine biologist, Andrea Marshall, has given up everything for a life in Mozambique, diving amongst these beautiful animals. Superb underwater photography reveals new manta ray behaviour including breathtaking footage of their ritual courtship dances. The film follows Andrea as she studies these endangered animals up close. With the discovery of a giant new species and remarkable insights into mantas' secretive lives, Andrea's findings are already rocking the world of marine biology.

“These huge, strangely beautiful, highly intelligent and fascinating fish certainly make for soothing viewing.” Daily Mail

Produced and directed by MARK WOODWARD
Series Editor TIM MARTIN

Natural World: Bearwalker of the Northwoods

BBC Two, 8pm Wednesday 28th October

"It’s a total joy to have Natural World back on our screens, and you couldn’t ask for a stronger start to the new series than this. Dr Lynn Rogers, a softly spoken biologist, is the Burl Ives of the bear world. He loves bears with a quiet passion, and has spent a lifetime in the woods of North Minnesota building up trust with these fabulous creatures. Unlike Timothy Treadwell, he doesn’t sentimentalise bears or claim a spiritual affinity with them. But he does believe they are grossly misunderstood and that people often have a knee-jerk fear of creatures that are highly intelligent and surprisingly timid. This film is a labour of love in every possible sense – beautifully produced, filled with stunning footage in an achingly beautiful part of the world and presented by a man of the utmost decency. What more could anyone ask for?" David Chater, The Times

The Natural World: Uakari, Secrets of the English Monkey

This evening, 26th March 2009.
BBC2 at 8PM

In the flooded forests of the Peruvian Amazon lives one of the world's rarest and most mysterious primates, the Red-Faced Uakari Monkey. Local people call them English Monkeys, because of their resemblance to sunburnt visitors. Now there's a new Englishman on the scene, Mark Bowler, a young biologist who battles through the forest in his quest to understand their secret lives. The film shows the first footage of these extraordinary monkeys in the wild and reveals why ice cream could be the greatest threat to their survival.

Produced by Peter Von Puttkamer & Sheera Von Puttkamer
Series Editor Tim Martin