Steve Backshall travels across the world to encounter the most charismatic supergiant animals and discovers the remarkable things that their size enables them to do. Highlights include Steve swimming with Nile crocodiles in Botswana, dodging two-ton elephant seals in California and diving with sperm whales in the Caribbean.
Steve BackshallSelf
Directed by Bernhard Grzimek & Michael Grzimek
Life is an adventure - especially for a newborn animal who has so much to learn. "Growing Up Wild" takes audiences to the wildest corners of the planet to tell the tales of five courageous animals as they tackle the very first challenges of their young lives. With a little guidance from sage family members, each must figure out how and where to find food, while learning to recognize the very real threat of danger. From their first steps of exploring their world to their final steps into independence, "Growing Up Wild" reveals the triumphs and setbacks of five young lives in which instinct, parental lessons, and trial & error ultimately define their destinies. Featuring the stunning imagery and iconic storytelling that makes Disneynature's big-screen adventures an inspiring movie-going experience, "Growing Up Wild", brings home a special look at how similar and different these young lives can be. - Written by (C) 2016 Disney Enterprises
Ida, the grandniece of Simona Kossak, travels to the Bialowieza Forest at the Polish-Belarussian border. Sorting through the photos left by Lech Wilczek, Ida uncovers the life he had with Simona, captured in the photographs, footage and memories. A moving and powerful documentary about the life of Simona Kossak, a biologist, ecologist and activist known for her efforts to preserve the remnants of natural ecosystems in Poland and for living among the animals in the Białowieża Forest for over 30 years.
A documentary about returning the swift fox, the smallest of Canada's native foxes, into its original habitat.
At the heart of the South-East Asia, there are impenetrable forests. Outstanding Men kept it an ancestral know-how: the taming of the elephants. We call them Bunong – the original people of mountains. For centuries, Bunong considers the elephants as their brothers of the forest. Together, they worked miracles. Majestic quoted from Angkor was built thanks to the ingenuity of the men, allied to the physical strength of their elephants. They live in harmony in this world of forests where a brilliant multitude reigns over the fate of the men and the animals.
People go and search for the legendary Bigfoot creature.
Every year, on the steppes of the Serengeti, the most spectacular migration of animals on our planet: Around two million wildebeest, Burchell's zebra and Thomson's gazelles begin their tour of nearly 2,000 miles across the almost treeless savannah. For the first time, a documentary captures stunning footage in the midst of this demanding journey. The documentary starts at the beginning of the year, when more than two million animals gather in the shadow of the volcanoes on the southern edge of the Serengeti in order to birth their offspring. In just two weeks, the animal herd's population has increased by one third, and after only two days, the calves can already run as fast as the adults The young wildebeest in this phase of their life are the most vulnerable to attacks by lions, cheetahs, leopards or hyenas. The film then follows the survivors of these attacks through the next three months on their incredible journey, a trip so long that 200,000 wildebeest will not reach the end.
After an explosive and fortuitous encounter, a male hyena and a leopard join forces and create a peculiar hunting alliance.
Hwange's lions are rumored to be some of the biggest wild lions on the planet. One magnificent beast was destined to become one of Africa's most famous animals. He was known as Cecil. While his demise at the hand of hunters was splashed across the media, sparking fury in all who heard his tale, Cecil's story before he was posthumously iconized is worthy of celebrating
Squirrels are among the most widely known and recognized mammals. In many parts of the world they gladly join us for our lunches in city parks, amaze us with their acrobatics and entertain our children as cartoons on TV. Squirrels live in an extraordinarily diverse range of habitats. Some can fly, some can swim, some live in trees or underground, others love icy wastelands or burning hot deserts. But don’t let their cuteness fool you! They may be small, but squirrels are one of the most successful species on the planet. And they have big families. This blue-chip documentary explores some of the most fascinating squirrel species and shows how they became so successful dealing with extreme environments and curious (human) neighbors. 'Going Nuts' unveils the enchanting world of one of the “most watched” mammals on the planet.
A ten-minute study of wild animal life in a Swedish forest; stoat, fox, hare, and owl, who stalk and savage one another, are photographed with extraordinary vividness and intimacy. It is perhaps the most striking of Sucksdorff's animal studies, in spite of an abrupt introduction and ending.
The documentary investigates the challenges and practices of animal welfare in the Rio de Janeiro Biopark, addressing how different species are cared for outside their natural habitats. The production reveals the work of specialized Biologists and Veterinarians, highlighting essential aspects such as the population plan and environmental enrichment.
Narrated by Golden Globe winner, Donald Sutherland, this is the incredible story of Ailo, the little reindeer. This uplifting tale follows the journey of baby Ailo as he navigates his first year of life in the snowy landscapes of a picturesque Lapland. Frail and vulnerable, Ailo must learn to walk, run, leap and hide to ensure he survives the long, treacherous journey with the herd. Ailo’s Journey is an inspirational story, in which a bleak wilderness is warmed by a mother’s endless love as she watches over Ailo in his incredible adventures with other creatures of the Arctic.
Wolves divide and fascinate us. 150 years after they were driven to extinction in Central Europe, they are returning slowly but inexorably. Are they dangerous to humans? Is it possible to coexist? Using Switzerland as a point of departure, where wolves have returned in the very recent past, this documentary sheds light on the wolf situation in Austria, eastern Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and even Minnesota, where freely roaming packs of wolves are more common sight.
From the team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim's extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, the film is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.
American animal trapper Frank Buck travels with Ali, his "number one boy," on an expedition into the Malayan jungle. From their jungle headquarters just north of Singapore, Frank, Ali and a team of native helpers roam the area from Northern Johore to Perak in search of interesting wild animals, reptiles and birds. Hoping to find a tiger, Buck captures a monitor lizard and a black leopard, while another black leopard narrowly escapes an encounter with a giant python and then battles a bigger and stronger tiger. After trapping a spotted leopard, Frank adopts a baby honey bear and a baby elephant. The team catches an orangutan, but the tiger eludes their camouflaged pit. Meanwhile, Frank visits the "bathing festival" of a local tribe and watches as tribesmen kill an intruding spotted leopard with blow darts. The tiger then meets an enormous regal python, who has just crushed a crocodile, and fights to a draw with it.