Natural World

Season 4

1985 · 20 episodes · 0h 50m in all

Episodes

1. 1

   1. Land of the Tiger

   15 Sept 1985

   Land of the Tiger looks at the protected species of the Kanha and Ranthambore National Parks, celebrating these elusive and endangered big cats and exploring the delicately balanced ecosystem they inhabit. Interweaving footage of monkeys, deer and the tiger’s main competitor, crocodiles, the couple’s impressive cinematography brings the private world of tigers to life, as these magnificent creatures swim, play, mate, suckle their young and stalk their prey.

2. 2

   2. Namaqualand - Diary of a Desert Garden

   22 Sept 1985 · 50 min

   In all Africa there is no stranger riddle than the flowering of the land of the Nama. Those bushmen were the first to see their desert land burgeon into a blaze of color. But this paradise was always short-lived; a spectacular bloom that quickly withered away, not to be seen again for many years. RODNEY BORLAND filmed the most recent of these stupendous and mystifying displays. To a landscape already weird with huge halfmens plants, elephant ears and baboons' fingers, suddenly came vast arrays of nodding daisies and wave upon wave of mesembryanthemums, wild geraniums, gladioli and amaryllis. The landscape was bathed in brilliant hues, a natural garden whose glory may not shine again before the end of this century.

3. 3

   3. Horns of Dilemma

   29 Sept 1985

   Documentary on the illicit trade in Rhino horns, which is threatening the five kinds of rhinoceros with extinction.

4. 4

   4. On the Verge of Life

   6 Oct 1985

   Documentary about wildlife which lives around Britain's motorways.

5. 5

   5. The Man Who Loves Frogs

   13 Oct 1985

6. 6

   6. Emas - The High Plains of Brazil

   20 Oct 1985

7. 7

   7. The Flight of the Whooping Crane

   27 Oct 1985

8. 8

   8. White Rock, Black Water

   3 Nov 1985

9. 9

   9. Never Stay In One Place

   10 Nov 1985

10. 10

    10. City of Coral

    17 Nov 1985

11. 11

    11. Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean

    24 Nov 1985

    First in a three part series examining Arctic ecology, The Frozen Ocean focuses on the spring to summer months, providing an intimate portrayal of life in a land of relentless ice and intense cold.

12. 12

    12. Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Land of Beyond

    1 Dec 1985

    Hywel Bennett narrates the second of an award-winning trilogy of films about the Arctic. The winter is long and harsh, but for eight weeks of the year the midnight sun warms the frozen earth, nurturing lush vegetation and a rich variety of flowers, and transforming the barren wastelands into fecund breeding grounds so the life of the Arctic can renew itself.

13. 13

    13. Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Final Challenge

    8 Dec 1985

    Documentary series about the Arctic and its inhabitants.

14. 14

    14. Aspen - A Dance of Leaves

    22 Dec 1985

    The wild life of the prairies of Canada during the winter months.

15. 15

    15. The Plant Hunters

    29 Dec 1985

16. 16

    16. Short Grass Country

    5 Jan 1986

17. 17

    17. The Forgotten Garden

    12 Jan 1986

18. 18

    18. Inside Stories

    19 Jan 1986

19. 19

    19. Masked Monkeys

    26 Jan 1986

    Documentary on Guenons, a species of African forest monkey, and their place in the evolutionary hierarchy.

20. 20

    20. Sky Hunters

    2 Feb 1986