Nature

Science and Nature Series / 38 Seasons

NATURE brings the beauty and wonder of the natural world into your home, becoming in the process the benchmark for natural history programs.

Watch Latest: S43 E5

53m 3s / TV-PG

Polar Bears Try to Catch Salmon

Polar bears need the ice to hunt and as it vanishes they can no longer reach their traditional prey. With each Arctic summer providing more water and less ice, some polar bears are forced to try their luck with seaweed, birds, and Arctic char, a type of salmon, as they migrate upstream to spawn. Their ability to find food and develop new hunting skills may prove crucial to their survival.

Invasion of the Killer Whales | Preview

45s

A shift of power is taking place at the top of the world. The polar bear, once king of the North, needs ice to stalk its prey. Killer whales, or orca, on the other hand, are unable to hunt in an ocean locked in ice. As Arctic ice increasingly disappears, the tables have turned. Polar bears are struggling to survive while the now open ocean provides bountiful new hunting grounds for the whales.

A Sloth Named Velcro | Preview

45s

In 2000 in the jungles of Panama, a young journalist, named Ana, has a chance encounter with a tiny orphaned sloth, which she names Velcro. For nearly two years, the pair is inseparable until finally Ana travels up a remote river to reintroduce Velcro back to the wild. This is the story Ana’s return to Central and South America to see how much has changed since Velcro came into her life.

Citizen Sloth Patrol to the Rescue

Christy Fromel, a member of the loosely organized "Citizen Sloth Patrol", searches for sloths on a road not far from the Panama Canal. The concerned citizens who make up the patrol rescue sloths crossing dangerous roads in search of a new home.

Baby Pygmy Sloth Clings to Mom

2m 51s

Journalist Ana Salceda searches for pygmy three-toed sloths (Bradypus pygmaeus) on Isla Escudo de Veraguas, a small island off the coast of Panama. What she finds exceeds her expectations--a sloth mother with a baby in tow.

Animal Misfits | Preview

31s

Alongside the fastest, strongest, smartest animals are nature’s misfits, odd, bizarre and unlikely creatures that at first glance seem ill-equipped for survival. Left at the starting line in the race for life, these are the apparent losers in the story of evolution, yet somehow they manage to cling to life and in some cases even thrive.

Penguins: Spy in the Huddle - Part 3

44s

For nearly a year, 50 animatronic cameras disguised as realistic life-size penguins, eggs and rocks infiltrate penguin colonies to record the tough challenges penguins face from the moment they emerge from the sea to raising their chicks and finally returning to the water.

Penguins: Spy in the Huddle - Part 2

44s

For nearly a year, 50 animatronic cameras disguised as realistic life-size penguins, eggs and rocks infiltrate penguin colonies to record the tough challenges penguins face from the moment they emerge from the sea to raising their chicks and finally returning to the water.

Penguins: Spy in the Huddle - Part 1

44s

For nearly a year, 50 animatronic cameras disguised as realistic life-size penguins, eggs and rocks infiltrate penguin colonies to record the tough challenges penguins face from the moment they emerge from the sea to raising their chicks and finally returning to the water.

Bullfrog Dad Protects the Brood

2m 43s

The African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) is the biggest frog in Africa and very aggressive. But in spite of that, it’s a devoted father. Bullfrogs spawn in little pools around the margins of larger ponds and after mating is over one male stays to keep watch. If the pool dries up the dutiful dad digs a channel to a new water source.

Golden Frogs Make Waves

2m 45s

The male Panamanian Golden Frog (Atelopus zeteki) has a subtle ways of attracting a females--it waves. This friendly gesture can attract the unwanted attention of a rival male, which often ends in a wrestling match.

Trailer: Fabulous Frogs

47s

Sir David Attenborough takes us on a journey through the weird and wonderful world of frogs, shedding new light on these charismatic, colorful and frequently bizarre little animals through first-hand stories, the latest science, and cutting-edge technology. Frogs from around the world are used to demonstrate the wide variety of frog anatomy, appearance and behavior.

Emperor Penguins Huddle to Keep Warm

2m 53s

As the only creatures on earth to breed in the Antarctic winter, their survival, as well as those of their chicks, is put in jeopardy when the temperature falls to 40 below. So, instinctively, emperor penguins all converge on the same central point and begin to form a huddle. As those on the outside take the brunt of the cold, those on the inside take tiny steps that move the huddle in waves.

Gulf Grunion Beach Spawning

2m 22s

In Sonora, Mexico, thousands of Gulf Grunion fish act on a seemingly suicidal desire to breed out of water. The female grunion deposit eggs in the sand as far from aquatic predators as possible. The eggs remain buried in the wet sand and hatch in about 10 days, at which point the young grunion make their way back into the water.

Sardine Run in South Africa

2m 59s

The seasonal movement of billions of sardines along the coast of South Africa, the greatest fish migration on the planet, includes a stunning example of collective thinking to throw off predators. Synchronous movement by the sardines relies on a pressure sense that runs along their bodies to detect the movements of their nearest neighbors.

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