Evolution Earth

Science and Nature Series / 1 Season

Traveling to the far corners of the world, we discover the extraordinary ways animals are adapting to our rapidly changing planet. We witness nature’s remarkable resilience, as our perception of evolution and its potential is forever transformed.

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Scientists Look to Soil for Answers on Climate Change

3m 7s

Plant life on our planet is reacting to the changing climate. So scientists like Jane Zelikova are turning to the soil for an insight as to what is going on. Here in Kansas we see her and her research colleague Dr. Megan Machmuller digging down to take soil and root samples. She explains how grass systems play a vital role in carbon sequestration and the importance of necromass.

A Growing Number of Wildebeest In the Serengeti

3m 16s

After vets eradicated rinderpest, a disease which impacts both cattle and the wildebeest of the Serengeti. Wildebeest numbers grew and grew from 300,00 to over a million. At the time experts were worried they would overgraze destroying the ecosystem but instead the opposite happened, a key relationship was restored and the whole environment started to flourish.

A Herd of Buffalo Are Returned to the Fort Peck Reservation

5m 45s

Jonny Bearcub Stiffarm and others from the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes on the Fort Peck Reservation come together to celebrate a momentous occasion. As all the way from Yellowstone National Park a new herd of Buffalo are returned to their land.

Episode 5 Preview

30s

Grasslands are one of the planet’s most important, yet most overlooked habitats. Follow scientists as they discover animal species with the power to transform and restore our grasslands, turning them into carbon sinks that could slow climate change.

Preserving the Tundra with Reindeer

7m 37s

Reindeer are playing a crucial role in preserving the tundra. As the Sápmi winters are getting warmer and wetter, the lichen and grass reindeer rely on are frozen over. Sámi reindeer herders like Nils are guiding these animals to forests to eat shrubs and branches.

The Impact of the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds' Migration

7m 35s

billy barr looks through the logs he's been keeping for almost 50 years. He explains how the glacier lilies emergence is becoming more and more out of sync with the broad-tailed hummingbirds arrival after their long migration up from Mexico. When billy started keeping his records in the 70s they arrived on the same day, today the lily is flowering three weeks before the hummingbird arrives.

Episode 4 Preview

30s

At the planet’s frozen extremes, shifts in animal movement and behavior reveal vital information about our future world. Examine polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in Antarctica and other animals surviving in icy worlds.

Arctic Foxes Compete with Red Foxes

3m 19s

As the climate warms, the boreal forest is advancing further north. With the tree line comes the red fox a competitor of the high Arctic specialist, the Arctic fox. The trees advances aren't just a problem for the Arctic foxes but for the planet as a whole, the darker tree cover absorbs more heat and decrease the albedo effect which further warms the planet, causing the cycle to start again.

Big City Living For The Nubian Ibex

8m 2s

In the Negev Desert of Israel, rising temperatures mean longer droughts, more intense heat waves, water sources drying out, and valleys turning to dust. With a loss of vegetation and water, the Nubian Ibex are migrating their country lifestyles to the big city. The ibex are boldly taking over the city to adapt to their needs.

Episode 3 Preview

30s

Travel to the hottest and driest extremes to see animals go to extraordinary lengths to survive. From the Sahara Desert to Australia, animals provide new clues about our changing planet and what it will mean for the future of our heating world.

Senegal Chimpanzees Seek Shade In a Cave

2m 47s

In Senegal a troop of critically endangered West African chimpanzees seek shade in a cave to avoid the savanna temperatures which at the peak of the dry season push the chimps to their limits. This is a behavior never recorded before, and as with many precious resources, when the whole troop arrives, tempers can flare. As the climate continues to warm their limits will be pushed even further.

The Zebra Finches' Battle to Survive

3m

In the Australian Outback, we follow Mylene Mariette as she sets up an unusual experiment that reveals something extraordinary about the zebra finches battle to survive. When it gets really hot out here, these small birds can sing to their unhatched eggs, alerting them to the baking conditions. This in turn causes the new born chick to be smaller, increasing their chance for survival.

The Wild Camels of Mongolia's Gobi Desert

3m 4s

In Mongolia's Gobi Desert, we join scientist Adiya Yadamsuren and track down the elusive wild camels as they seek out the only water around… springs of water that are saltier than seawater. We then follow the female across the desert and are able to capture the first footage of a newborn baby wild camel.

How Silver Key Anoles are Adapting to Tropical Hurricanes

8m 52s

On the Turks and Caicos Islands, animals have a far greater ability to adapt to a changing world than we thought. Anthony Herrel studies how Silver Key anoles have evolved to keep up with destructive weather in the tropics. With changes in legs, feet, and aerodynamics, evolution is taking place at incredible speeds.

Episode 2 Preview

30s

Islands are like miniature simplified Earths, where evolution is playing out at super speed right before our eyes. Journey from the Galapagos to the edge of Antarctica to seek out animals responding to our changing planet in extraordinary ways.

How Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkeys Use Charcoal for Survival

3m 4s

Zanzibar red colobus monkeys are facing deforestation of their native home range and as a result are turning to raiding crops to get enough food. These foreign crops however have an unfortunate side effect of making the monkeys ill. So, they seek an unexpected solution: venturing further into the human world to find charcoal. Eating this aids in detoxifying and ensuring the monkeys' survival.

Catching Darwin's Finches on the Galápagos Islands

2m 24s

Early morning on the Galápagos Islands and Jaime Chaves is catching Darwin’s finches, endemic to these islands, in order to continue decades of work studying the size of these birds' beaks. The beaks are changing shape and size, not over millions of years but from one generation to the next, and now scientists like Jaime are studying the role humans are playing on the lives of these birds.

A Sea Lion Chase

2m 32s

In a remote cove on the Galápagos islands sea lions have recently started to hunt yellowfin tuna in response to dwindling fish stocks. The tuna are faster than the sea lion so they rely on teamwork. They corral the tuna into the cove with different sea lions, having different roles in the hunt. Working together they block the tunas escape until it tires and becomes stranded in shallow water.

The Marine Iguanas' Unusual Shrinking Adaptation

10m 42s

On the Galápagos Islands, Greg Lewbart and his team are trying to catch a marine iguana. Their goal is to study the iguana’s unusual adaptation. They have evolved the ability to shrink and regrow their vertebrae in response to changes in food availability. These conditions arises when the Pacific Ocean that is home to the algae they feed on warms, a result of the weather system known as El Niño.

Episode 1 Preview

30s

At Earth’s extremes, animals are reacting in surprising ways. Animal homes are changing around them at superspeed. Follow remarkable stories of resilience and hope. From humpback whales to tiny butterflies to ingenious savanna chimpanzees.

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