Nature » Season 27

Why We Love Cats and Dogs: Introduction

tanner vea — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:36:23 +0000

Some people are cat people, some are dog people. But regardless of which camp they fall into, most people are simply crazy about their pets. The connections people form with their cats and dogs are often the longest, strongest relationships in their lives. They are our soul mates, our best friends, sometimes even our surrogate children. What makes these creatures such key members of our families?

Perhaps it’s because our furry friends have long provided us with comfort, camaraderie, and unconditional love. Cats and dogs are our unending source of kisses, cuddles, slobber, claws, and laughs. Watch as NATURE shares the stories of pet owners and their beloved animals. From a very special dog named Jerry, to a cat that saved a man’s life, Why We Love Cats and Dogs presents a portrait of some of the most powerful and remarkable connections we experience as humans—the unbreakable bonds with our pets.

Four-time Emmy Award winner, filmmaker and director Ellen Goosenberg Kent kept the 10-month production of NATURE’s Why We Love Cats and Dogs on the right track. Ellen brings a strong visual sense to the art of storytelling and was able to illuminate the dynamic human-pet relationship, revealing how dogs and cats share our emotions in many significant ways.

Update February 19, 2009: Professional dog trainer and behaviorist Sarah Wilson answers Five Good Questions on PBS Engage.

Online content for Why We Love Cats and Dogs was originally posted February 2009.

Photo by Joe Sinnot © EBC

Clever Monkeys: Introduction

tanner vea — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:52:10 +0000

Just how smart are monkeys? Their innate curiosity leads them to try new things, but it’s their culture — the passing of information from one generation to the next — that teaches them much of what they know. Their young learn by reaching out with their hands to experience the world around them, grasping new objects, slowly piecing together an understanding of their society. They learn from their families how to find food, communicate, recognize kin, even use tools, medicine, and language. It is these familiar actions that make monkeys so fascinating to humans. We can see ourselves in their faces, our nature in their actions.

NATURE travels around the world to visit some of these fascinating primates. From tiny pygmy marmoset in South America to aggressive baboons of Africa and compassionate toque macaques in Sri Lanka, Clever Monkeys challenges many ideas about what is purely “human.” Buy the DVD. This film premiered November 9, 2008.

Is That Skunk?: Introduction

tanner vea — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:28:47 +0000

We find them in the evening digging through our garbage, hiding under our houses, or walking through our yards, streets, and parks. Skunks seem perfectly adapted to life around us. But we are less comfortable around them, for fear of their potent spray. As we expand our urban areas, many skunks find themselves increasingly unwelcome neighbors. It seems everyone has their own skunk story. But what do we really know about these infamous black and white creatures?

Watch as a California town overrun with skunks deals with their furry problem, and see what life is like for an evolutionary biologist in New Mexico who runs one of the few sanctuaries for skunks. Meet a researcher on the sandy shores of Martha’s Vineyard who stalks her striped specimens at night, and a woman in Ohio who runs a shelter and adoption agency for abandoned pet skunks. Is That Skunk? paints a complete portrait of the misunderstood skunk family, Mephitidae, and the people who love them.

To order a copy of Is That Skunk? please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Is That Skunk? was originally posted January 2009.

Photo credit: Cici Clark / © WNET.ORG

Kilauea: Mountain of Fire: Introduction

tanner vea — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:11:03 +0000

Kilauea continually molds Hawaii’s Big Island. Creating new land, shaping ancient forests and carving tunnels through the earth, the volcano fascinates a dedicated group of scientists and filmmakers who follow its every action. Using innovative new imaging technologies to map the magma chamber, following the lava’s heat along its journey underground, and listening to the constant noises of its movements, geologists map the shifting liquid earth as they work to understand its awesome force.

Ejecting fire, molten rock, giant boulders and poisonous gases, the volcano can be a hazard for researchers, homeowners, plants and animals, but it doesn’t just leave destruction in its wake. Twists and turns in the lava’s flow leave some patches of original ecosystems, called kipukas, undisturbed. These oases of life provide a haven to many rare creatures — including the Hawaiian state bird, the Nene — but remain in constant danger from the volcano and from invasive species. Below the surface, inactive lava tubes provide homes for many unique species of darkness-loving creatures called troglobites.

At the end of its journey, the lava meets the ocean. Braving an extremely hot sea, filmmakers record the birth of new land and the incredible phenomenon of pillow lava – a bizarre and truly magical sight to behold.

Violent and beautiful, destructive and creative, Kilauea: Mountain of Fire explores the incredible power of the volcano and the challenges of life in its shadow.

Kilauea: Mountain of Fire premieres Sunday, March 29 on PBS.

Victoria Falls: Introduction

tanner vea — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:32:16 +0000

After traveling 1,000 miles from the north, the Zambezi River reaches the edge of one world and plummets 350 feet into another. Victoria Falls, between the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe, is over a mile wide. No other waterfall in the world can match her scale.

The Zambezi is known as the “River of Life” across southern Africa, but surviving by the river near Victoria Falls is not always easy. During the rainy season the Zambezi has a fierceness and a power that is deadly to both animals and humans. At the peak of the rainy season, almost 300,000 gallons of water cascade over the falls every second.

Despite the danger, many birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals call this area home. And a fisherman, known as Mr. White, has lived in a nearby town for 74 years, spending almost every day by the falls. NATURE joins Mr. White as he tells us Zambezi’s story — a story of the changing seasons and many moods of the river.

During the dry season, life gravitates to the river by Victoria Falls. As the sun beats down and the water level lowers, grass-covered islands above the falls are exposed. Families of elephants from the surrounding savannah flock to the Zambezi to make the river crossing. Predator and prey rely on the river for water, and pairs of bee-eaters and pied kingfishers dig nests in the exposed muddy banks. Fish eagles raise their young and teach them to hunt, and hippos crowd the waters.

Life flourishes, for a while. And then, months later, clouds gather in the sky and rising waters force many animals to leave. It is the rainy season, and Victoria Falls becomes magnificent again – her voice rising from a whisper to thunder.

Victoria Falls premieres Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 8pm (check local listings).

Drakensberg: Barrier of Spears: Introduction

tanner vea — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:00:20 +0000

Rising sharply from the South African landscape, cliffs like spines of a dragon form the majestic Drakensberg Mountains (their name actually means “Dragon’s Mountain”). Born of Jurassic molten lava, they span more than 600 miles and tower more than 10,000 feet. Despite the impossible terrain and unpredictable weather, the Drakensberg is home to a fascinating array of animals, including crab-hunting frogs, bone-devouring vultures, cliff-dwelling baboons, and furry ice rats.

But one animal’s perseverance makes it the ultimate survivor: the eland, the largest member of the antelope family. In order to overcome the ever-changing endurance test cast by nature, these tenacious mountaineers undertake an annual migration toward the summit in search of greener pastures. NATURE tracks their epic climb in Drakensberg: Barrier of Spears.

The eland’s annual journey begins during the summer down in the fertile valleys at the foot of the Drakensberg. However, this grassland paradise is soon battered by wet spells, turning it into a green desert with rotting plants and little to eat. Driven by hunger, the herd has no choice but to move to higher ground. For the nomadic eland, home is always a step ahead.

Drakensberg: Barrier of Spears premieres Sunday, February 8 at 8pm (check local listings).

Photo © AWF

White Falcon, White Wolf: Introduction

tanner vea — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:45:52 +0000

Extending above the Arctic Circle in the far north of Canada, Ellesmere Island is one of largest untouched wildernesses on the planet. Here, the animals have only three short months to raise offspring and prepare for the winter. To succeed, their timing must be just right. White Falcon, White Wolf follows two families, a breeding pair of gyrfalcons and a pack of Arctic wolves. As nine months of snow and ice melt away, flowers bloom, young are born, and the struggle begins.

Gyrfalcons are the world’s largest and most powerful falcons. Yet even for them, the pressure is on. Last summer this pair’s two chicks died of starvation. Will the conditions be right this summer? Will their best efforts be enough to keep this year’s chicks healthy? Filmed in HD from a ledge adjacent to the nesting site, White Falcon, White Wolf provides an intimate portrait of this magnificent species.

Meanwhile, the pack of Arctic wolves wait with great anticipation for a sign that new pups have been born to their breeding female, who has spent a great deal of time in her den. When the pups arrive, the young wolf daughter will need to grow up. For now, however, she tends to let her curiosity get the best of her. Musk ox, snowy owls, Arctic hares and Arctic foxes round out the cast, as they too try to make the most of the precious Arctic summer. Buy the DVD. The film premiered October 26, 2008.

American Eagle: Introduction

tanner vea — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Everything about them is big. They are one of nature’s largest raptors, with wings that can span eight feet, and nests that can weigh up to a ton. Unique to North America, the bald eagle is the continent’s most recognizable aerial predator, with a shocking white head, electric yellow beak and penetrating eyes. Yet most people know little about it beyond its striking appearance.

In the 1960s, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction caused by the pesticide DDT and other human pressures. Following their protection as an endangered species, bald eagles have come roaring back. But even in the best of times, life in the wild for these birds is a surprisingly tough struggle.

From the pristine wilderness of Alaska to the Upper Mississippi River Valley, American Eagle goes behind the scenes and into the nest to provide the ultimate bird’s eye view into the private life of an American icon.

The Dragon Chronicles: Introduction

tanner vea — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:59:28 +0000

As a young boy, renowned reptile expert and conservationist Romulus (”Rom”) Whitaker dreamed of finding dragons. Years later, the successful herpetologist decided to set out to discover the real-life origins of these mythical monsters.

Rom’s snake park and crocodile bank in India, where he works to conserve and breed reptiles in the wild, were the first of their kind when he created them. Now he travels the world in search of modern day dragons. In the caves of Slovenia, he encounters the peculiar creature known as the olm, a cave-dwelling blind salamander once believed to be a baby dragon. In the rainforests of India’s Western Ghats, Whitaker handles flying lizards, belonging to the species called Draco. When threatened or courting, the males extend the bright yellow flaps on their necks. Whitaker captures one and gently stretches out its amazing wings. Finally, Rom’s quest leads him to Indonesia’s Komodo Island, where he sees a wild Komodo dragon for the first time.

The Dragon Chronicles follows Rom as he journeys around the world, reimagining the lines between fact and fantasy, in search of the fabled beasts’ contemporary counterparts.

The Wolf That Changed America: Introduction

tanner vea — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:42:29 +0000

In 1893, a bounty hunter named Ernest Thompson Seton journeyed to the untamed canyons of New Mexico on a mission to kill a dangerous outlaw. Feared by ranchers throughout the region, the outlaw wasn’t a pistol-packing cowboy or train-robbing bandit. The outlaw was a wolf.

Lobo, as locals simply called him, was the legendary leader of a band of cattle-killing wolves that had been terrorizing cattle ranchers and their livestock. Known as the “King of the Currumpaw,” Lobo seemingly had a mythical ability to cheat death, eluding the traps that ranchers had set for him throughout the countryside.

It was up to Seton, a naturalist as well as a professional animal trapper, to exterminate this “super-wolf.” The ensuing battle of wits between wolf and man would spark a real-life wilderness drama, the outcome of which would leave a lasting effect on a new and growing movement in America: wilderness preservation.