Nature (1982)
Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.
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Episode 1 - Hippo Beach
Release Date: 2003-10-19A chronicle of hippopotamus life along the banks of Zambia's Luangwa River includes footage of males fighting over territory; females protecting their young; the hippo's importance to river ecology; and societal rituals involving the head male of the pod. Mark Hamill narrates.
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Episode 2 - Kalahari: The Great Thirstland
Release Date: 2003-11-02Animal life in the Kalahari Desert, where rainy and dry seasons direct the inhabitants, including zebras; wildebeests; elephants; finches; bullfrogs; and flamingos, whose chicks must walk nearly 100 miles when fertile feeding areas dry up. Christopher Plummer narrates.
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Episode 3 - Kalahari: The Flooded Desert
Release Date: 2003-11-09Detailing the ecosystem of the Kalahari Desert as the Okavango River overflows, transforming a saltpan in to an oasis. Included: fish eagles in aerial combat for airspace over best fishing areas; the sitatunga antelope with ski-like hoofs. Christopher Plummer narrates.
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Episode 4 - White Shark/Red Triangle
Release Date: 2003-11-16Each year, in the late summer, a region known as the Red Triangle bustles with marine mammal activity. Lying between San Francisco and Monterey, the Red Triangle includes beaches where elephant seals go to molt, and offshore sites where great whites feed on unwary prey. When not prowling the Red Triangle, great white sharks search the kelp forest for sea lions, or roam the open ocean. Their migration is predictable. Each year they turn up at the same place at the same time, occasionally crossing paths with humans who still swim and surf in these dangerous waters.
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Episode 5 - Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns
Release Date: 2003-11-23In 1995, while filming wild horses in the mountains of Montana, Ginger Kathrens discovered a striking, almost pure white colt just hours after his birth.
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Episode 6 - Shadow Over the Sun: A Story of Eagles
Release Date: 2004-01-18Wilderness is elusive in Britain, but in the Highlands of Scotland, the sacred dance between predator and prey is still played out against a rugged and unforgiving landscape. Gliding above this wild land is Britain's most magnificent predator -- the golden eagle.
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Episode 7 - Diamonds
Release Date: 2004-02-08This episode of Nature, narrated by Stockard Channing, provides us with a fascinating look into the many steps of evaluating a diamond and preparing it for public sale. Miners dredge the earth, dealers fret over valuation exams to probe the minutest details of the stones, and finally the would-be owners gasp in awe. Diamonds are their own glorious world. Get a look at how they go from mining to necklace--with plenty of human drama along the way. You may never look at jewelry the same way again.
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Episode 8 - The Real Macaw
Release Date: 2004-02-15Everyone loves macaws. Playful, intelligent, beautiful, they are the stars of parrot parks and zoos, and the cherished pets of devoted owners around the world. All of which makes them prime targets for poachers, who can make enormous profits from illegal sales of the birds. Thousands are smuggled from the wild each year, and many die in the process. In the forests of South America, several species of macaw are severely endangered. But there is hope on the horizon. Dr. Charlie Munn, a wealthy American who is also a leading ornithologist and world expert on parrots, has begun a campaign to promote eco-tourism as a means of saving the birds. Employing former poachers as conservationists, and providing locals with the means to start and maintain a trade in tourism instead of smuggling, he’s betting that instead of buying birds, their fans will pay to see them in the wild.
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Episode 9 - Holy Cow
Release Date: 2004-02-22About 8,000 years ago, the relationship between cows and man began with the revolutionary advent of domestication in Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley, and Africa. Discover how cows have altered human life, human biology, and the geography of the world.
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Episode 10 - Ireland
Release Date: 2004-03-28NATURE's "Ireland" explores the richly textured natural world of the Emerald Isle, from its diverse wildlife to its craggy mountains and fog-shrouded coastlines.
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Episode 11 - Flight School
Release Date: 2004-04-11To help ensure the survival of endangered whooping cranes, Operation Migration maintains an artificial breeding program that prepares chicks for adulthood.
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Episode 12 - Land of the Falling Lakes
Release Date: 2004-04-18“Land of the Falling Lakes” looks at Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, an ancient forest of stunning beauty and waterways continuously evolving from limestone formations. Included: the brown bear, one of which intrudes on a wolf pack's meal of wild boar; and the olm, a subterranean creature without eyes which navigates and hunts via bioelectrical senses.
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Episode 13 - Pale Male
Release Date: 2004-05-16Follow the adventures of Pale Male, a daring red-tailed hawk who manages to thrive in the urban world of New York City.