BBC Nature's Most Amazing Events (2009)

Index
Peter's DVD rating: 3.5 stars
00:00Disc One: South Pacific Arctic 03:40 Ringed Seal basks on ice 05:45 Arctic Fox feeds on dead reindeer
08:00 Black Guillemot occupy frozen cliffs for nesting ledges in March 14:40 Narwhals swim through melting sea ice in June 18:40 Thick-billed Guillemots dive to hunt arctic cod and capelin, hold breath for nearly 2 minutes
22:00 Beluga Whale rub off old skin against pebbles in shallow sea 24:20Arctic Fox catches nesting Fulmar 26:00 Thick-billed Guillemot chick nudged to take maiden flight, followed by parent
28:20Some chicks land a long way from water, caught by Arctic Fox who buries larder 34:30Narwhal hunt for arctic cod and squid in summer open water 35:00 Bowhead Whale
35:50 Walrus can eat 4,000 clams in 10-minute dive 40:302007 melts 400,000 square miles of ice 46:10Pancake ice starts to form in autumn; frozen sea allows bears to walk on, but still too thin for
47:15 Polar Bear 49:00Diaries: Quest for Ice Whales 1:00:00The Great Salmon Run
1:06:00British Columbia: largest expanse of temperate rain forest in world; abundance of pure fresh water 1:09:50 Grizzly Bear feeds on grass and sedges 1:10:00 Grizzly Bear eats clam
1:10:502,000 Gray Wolf in the Great Forest 1:14:00Killer Whales eat a lot of salmon 1:14:10 Steller Sea Lion
1:14:30 Salmon Shark 1:15:00 Bald Eagle 1:16:00Pink, Chum, Coho, Sockeye, Chinook Salmon mingle in estuaries
1:20:00 Salmon can swim up river 2000 miles 1:30:00Salmon use their tails to tackle into current 1:30:20 Sockeye Salmon try to swim past bears
1:38:10 Sockeye Salmon change color when ready to breed 1:41:20 Bonaparte's Gull dives for salmon eggs 1:43:50Atlantic salmon can return year after year to spawn
1:46:00Decaying salmon fertilize forest: Sitka spruce, red cedar, western hemlock. 80% of nitrogen is from the sea. 1:49:00Diaries 1:59:00The Great Migrations
2:00:20Eastern edge of Serengeti dominated by Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano (Mountain of God): ashes discourage growth of trees 2:01:20Short-grass plains: lion hunts wildebeest 2:03:50Wildebeest start 7-month journey
2:04:50Ndutu pride try to survive in August, hunt warthog 2:11:00Giraffes and 2:11:10 Impala feed on Acacia trees
2:11:20Mice feed on seeds, hunted by 2:11:25 African Wildcat 2:16:00Wildebeest cross Mara River and its crocodiles
2:17:30 Serval 2:20:30 Steenbok hunted by cheetah 2:22:45 Grant's Gazelle
2:30:00December: rains bring wildebeest herd back to Ndutu pride after 7 months, give birth to 1/2 million calves 2:37:30 Common Eland Africa's largest antelope joins 1/2 million Thomson and Grant's gazelles, 200,000 zebra 2:42:00 Griffon Vulture and Spotted Hyenas steal cheetah kill
2:43:30 Blue Wildebeest start courtship battles in April 2:45:00 Red-Billed Quelea 2:47:20Diaries
00:00Disc Two: The Great Tide 02:30 Sardines (South American pilchard) winter journey: greatest "shoal" on Earth December in Agulhas Bank, eastern shores of South Africa 03:20 Common Dolphins
03:40 Cape Gannet 06:306 months later, winter cold currents sweep sardines up coast - Sardine Run 07:50 Cape Gannet colony 100,000 breeding pairs in summer: Bird Island, off Eastern Cape
10:30 Bryde's Whale also hunts sardines 20:40 Brown Fur Seal (Cape Fur Seal) hunts Gannet chicks on flippers - but only for fish in their stomachs 23:50 Cape Gannet chick follows common dolphin, who drive sardines to surface, but the seals are also on the hunt
29:00Sardines cannot tolerate temperatures higher than 20 deg. C; more than 500 million fish swim towards disaster, 1/10 of population 31:005,000 dolphins converge on Waterfall Bluff; shoal stretches along coast for 15 miles, 100 million fish in this shoal 34:30Dusky, copper, and ragged-tooth sharks encircle sardines in shallow water
37:30Fishermen on shore land only 50 tonnes, 1/10 expected in a good year 39:40Dolphins separate off a pocket of sardines, herd it to surface 40:00 Gannets and sharks join in feeding frenzy
43:00 Gannets dive down to 30 ft, swim down to 60 ft 44:30Bryde's Whale takes in 10,000 fish in one mouthful 48:00Life on the Run
59:00The Great Flood 1:00:00Desert lands of Kalahari, southern Africa, seasonal water turns into paradise of Okavango 1:04:30 Elephant skims dirty water from top
1:07:10Catfish trapped in shrinking pool are easy prey for 1:08:00 African Fish Eagle 1:08:05 Marabou Stork
1:10:00 Termites take vegetation underground 1:10:30 Leopard tackles 1:10:40 Crested Porcupine
1:19:10 Red-Billed Quelea collect grass seeds: they are nomadic and follow water; one of most numerous birds on earth 1:20:20 Hippopotamus males fight for territory 1:23:15 Red-billed Oxpecker lick wounds and keep them open
1:25:00Lions and elephants drink at water hole 1:30:00 Dragonflies appear after flood to breed 1:33:00 Common Reed Frog hides in lily
1:35:20 Red Lechwe first to take advantage of young shoots 1:42:00Lions hunt buffalo and elephant calf 1:48:00Diaries: Mission Impassable
2:00:00The Great Feast Seas along Pacific coast of North America (Alaska and British Columbia) 2:01:45 Steller Sea Lion suckles young for up to 3 years due to severe winters 2:04:00 Humpback Whale mother and calf embark on journey from Hawaii.
2:05:00Calf drinks 100 gallons of milk every day 2:05:30 Humpback Whale male breaching, but these whales do not feed here 2:09 Phytoplankton start to bloom in March, Alaska
2:10:00 Pacific Herring rise up to shallow coast in hundreds of millions to breed, 2:12:30 Herring spawn turns hundreds of miles of coastline white: 800 billion eggs in one bay 2:16:00 Zooplankton May, early summer in Alaska
2:19:00Sea Lions hunted by Orcas 2:22:20Sea Lion give birth 2:25:00Storm sweeps pups to sea, stirs up nutrients to feed plankton
2:28:30Humpbacks arrive in Alaska after 3000 miles 2:31:00Ocean is alive in July 2:31:45 Barnacles
2:32:25Jellyfish swarms in late summer 2:32:55 Plankton bloom radiates across north Pacific, provides earth with over 1/2 of oxygen; most intense where ocean streams through maze of coastal waterways 2:34:20Sea Lions drive herring to surface, pick them off one by one
2:35:50 Pacific White-sided Dolphin 2:36:30Murres are first to find fish at surface, can out-swim herring 2:37:25Gulls turn up, can dive down only 1 meter
2:38:30 Humpback Whale gulps herring 2:41:00 Humpback Whales bubble-net As few as 100 humpbacks have learned to fish like this 2:47:00Diaries: Swallowed by a Whale
Phoca_hispida.jpg
03:40 Ringed Seal
Alopex_lagopus.jpg
05:45 Arctic Fox
Cepphus_grylle.jpg
08:00 Black Guillemot
Monodon_monoceros.jpg
14:40 Narwhals
Uria_lomvia.jpg
18:40 Thick-billed Guillemots
Delphinapterus_leucas.jpg
22:00 Beluga Whale
Uria_lomvia-chick.jpg
26:00 Thick-billed Guillemot chick
Alopex_lagopus-Murre.jpg
28:20 Arctic Fox
Balaena_mysticetus.jpg
35:00 Bowhead Whale
Odobenus_rosmarus.jpg
35:50 Walrus
Ursus_maritimus.jpg
47:15 Polar Bear
Ursus_arctos_horribilis.jpg
1:09:50 Grizzly Bear
Ursus_arctos_horribilis-clam.jpg
1:10:00 Grizzly Bear
Canis_lupus.jpg
1:10:50 Gray Wolf
Eumetopias_jubatus.jpg
1:14:10 Steller Sea Lion
Lamna_ditropis.jpg
1:14:30 Salmon Shark
Haliaeetus_leucocephalus.jpg
1:15:00 Bald Eagle
Salmon-swim.JPG
1:20:00 Salmon
Oncorhynchus_nerka-bear.jpg
1:30:20 Sockeye Salmon
Oncorhynchus_nerka.jpg
1:38:10 Sockeye Salmon
Chroicocephalus_philadelphia.jpg
1:41:20 Bonaparte's Gull
Aepyceros_melampus.jpg
2:11:10 Impala
Felis_silvestris_lybica.jpg
2:11:25 African Wildcat
Leptailurus_serval.jpg
2:17:30 Serval
Raphicerus_campestris.jpg
2:20:30 Steenbok
Nanger_granti.jpg
2:22:45 Grant's Gazelle
Taurotragus_oryx.jpg
2:37:30 Common Eland
Gyps_fulvus.jpg
2:42:00 Griffon Vulture
Connochaetes_taurinus.jpg
2:43:30 Blue Wildebeest
Quelea_quelea.jpg
2:45:00 Red-Billed Quelea
Sardinops_sagax.jpg
02:30 Sardines
Delphinus_delphis.jpg
03:20 Common Dolphins
Morus_capensis.jpg
03:40 Cape Gannet
Morus_capensis-colony.jpg
07:50 Cape Gannet colony
Balaenoptera_edeni.jpg
10:30 Bryde's Whale
Arctocephalus_pusillus.jpg
20:40 Brown Fur Seal
Morus_capensis-chick.jpg
23:50 Cape Gannet chick
Gannets-dive.JPG
40:00 Gannets
Gannets-swim.JPG
43:00 Gannets dive
elephant-skim.JPG
1:04:30 Elephant
Haliaeetus_vocifer.jpg
1:08:00 African Fish Eagle
Leptoptilos_crumeniferus.jpg
1:08:05 Marabou Stork
termite.JPG
1:10:00 Termites
Panthera_pardus.jpg
1:10:30 Leopard
Hystrix_cristata.jpg
1:10:40 Crested Porcupine
Quelea_quelea-seed.jpg
1:19:10 Red-Billed Quelea
Hippopotamus_amphibius.jpg
1:20:20 Hippopotamus males
Buphagus_erythrorhynchus.jpg
1:23:15 Red-billed Oxpecker
dragonflie.JPG
1:30:00 Dragonflies
Hyperolius_viridiflavus.jpg
1:33:00 Common Reed Frog
Zambesi_Lechwe.jpg
1:35:20 Red Lechwe
Eumetopias_jubatus-winter.jpg
2:01:45 Steller Sea Lion
Megaptera_novaeangliae-calf.jpg
2:04:00 Humpback Whale mother and calf
Megaptera_novaeangliae-male.jpg
2:05:30 Humpback Whale male
phytoplankton.JPG
2:09 Phytoplankton
Clupea_pallasii.jpg
2:10:00 Pacific Herring
herring-spawn.JPG
2:12:30 Herring spawn
zooplankton.JPG
2:16:00 Zooplankton
Cirripedia.jpg
2:31:45 Barnacles
plankton-bloom.JPG
2:32:55 Plankton bloom
Lagenorhynchus_obliquidens.jpg
2:35:50 Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Megaptera_novaeangliae-herring.jpg
2:38:30 Humpback Whale gulps herring
Megaptera_novaeangliae-bubble.jpg
2:41:00 Humpback Whales bubble-net
Index Oct 14, 2011 copyleft Peter Chen