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.

53m 8s / TV-14

The Sagebrush Sea - Preview

41s

One of the most overlooked ecosystems on the continent consists of a massive sea of sagebrush that stretches across 11 states in the American West. This spartan yet spectacular landscape supports more than 170 species of hardscrabble birds and mammals. And among those that have adapted to survive here are birds found no place else – Greater Sage-Grouse.

Sage-Grouse Display Lekking Behavior

In the springtime, male greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) gather in groups, called leks, to compete for females. Males guard a territory a few meters in size (on average) and try to attract a mate by ruffling feathers and making a distinctive noise produced by air sacks in the chest.

Fences Create Problems for Pronghorn

1m 50s

The pronghorn is the fastest land animal in North America. However, an increasingly fragmented landscape, divided by ranchers' fences, is creating problems for the fleet-footed creature.

Animal Childhood - Preview

43s

In every animal’s life, there comes a time when it must stand on its own two feet, so to speak, and face the world alone. For a few, this happens just moments after birth, with no life lessons from parents to help them, no time to hone their survival skills. Others have the advantage of home schooling under the watchful eye of a mentor or family member.

Desert Goat Scales Steep Cliff Face

3m 35s

The nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) is a desert-dwelling goat that gives birth to young atop tall windswept mesas. The mesa's steep cliff faces offer protection from predators. When the offspring are a few days old they must scale these cliff faces to reach food in the valleys below.

Mystery Monkeys of Shangri-La - Preview

1m 11s

Representing the meticulous and ambitious work of an all-Chinese film company led by award-winning filmmaker, Xi Zhinong, this spectacular film is the true story of a family of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys living in the highest forests in the world.

Mischievous Monkeys Make Trouble

2m 1s

Two black snub-nosed monkey brothers play and wrestle among the tree tops, annoying the rest of the troop who are trying to rest. One of the brothers was abandoned by his mother; the other is treated like a prince.

Baby Snub-nosed Monkey Abandoned by Mother

3m 1s

A juvenile Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is abandoned by his mother while his half-brother becomes the favorite. In order to survive he must depend on the generosity of his other family members.

Social Spiders Build Massive Nests

3m 23s

A spider found in parts of the Caribbean and South America forms colonies that comprise thousands of individuals. Working together these colonies can build nests more than 20 feet across.

Animal Homes: Cities - Preview

1m 8s

Some animal species congregate in huge groups. Icelandic puffins form colonies of more than a million, which provides shared information about food sources and reduces the odds of being attacked. Social spiders in Ecuador gather by the thousands to capture large prey. Leaf cutter ants in Costa Rica build enormous acre-wide cities to house multimillion-citizen colonies.

Puffins Search for the Perfect Home

3m 15s

The Hebrides islands in Northwest Scotland are home to the largest puffin population in the U.K. Every year, the seabirds congregate in huge colonies in order to find a mate and secure the perfect piece of real estate to raise their young.

Behind the Scenes of NATURE "Animal Homes" | Puffin Cam

1m 9s

"Animal Homes: Cities" features a colony of over 40,000 puffins filmed from every angle imaginable. Cinematographer Mark Carroll explains how he got the close-ups using small GoPro cameras and the clever use of puppets.

Animal Homes: Location, Location, Location - Preview

1m 8s

Finding a good base of operations is key to successfully raising a family. One must find the correct stream or tree, the correct building materials, neighbors and sometimes tenants. In the wild, every home is a unique DIY project, every head of household is a designer and engineer. Animated blueprints and tiny cameras chart the building plans and progress of many different animal species.

It's raining ducks

3m 20s

Hooded merganser ducklings brave a 50-foot drop from their nest high in a tree to the forest floor below. They are following the calls of their mother who is waiting to reunite with them at a lake nearby.

Saltmarsh Sparrow Chick Narrowly Escapes Death

4m 52s

The saltmarsh sparrow nests in coastal marshes that tend to get flooded once a month during high tides. Eggs either float away or chicks drown in the rising water. Only chicks that are strong enough to climb can avoid certain death.

Animal Homes: The Nest - Preview

1m 8s

Bird nests come in all shapes and sizes, crafted from an inexhaustible diversity of materials, including fur, grasses, leaves, mosses, sticks and twigs, bones, wool, mud and spider silk. Quite a few also contain man-made materials – colorful twine, bits of wire, even plastic bags. Each one is a remarkable work of art, built with just a beak!

Behind the Scenes of NATURE "Animal Homes" | Warehouse Shoot

7m 43s

The opening scene of "Animal Homes: The Nest" features host Chris Morgan walking among a huge variety of bird nests in a darkened warehouse. Producer Ann Johnson Frum explains what went into filming this dramatic scene and gives us a glimpse of the nests' permanent home at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

The Last Orangutan Eden - Preview

47s

Ecologist Chris Morgan travels to the jungles of Northern Sumatra to document the work being done to save its population of wild orangutans. Asia’s most intelligent ape once roamed across the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, but today, fewer than 7,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild. The film cites rapid deforestation as the chief reason for the species’ declining population.

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