BBC High Definition Natural History Collection 2 featuring Life (Blu-ray)

Take a tour around the globe with the newest natural history programming from the BBC in stunning High Definition! Life presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world, 54 of which have never been filmed before. This remarkable 10-part blockbuster captures unprecedented, astonishingly beautiful sequences and presents a close-up profile our planet's most enigmatic life forms. In Nature's Most Amazing Events, you'll discover the dramatic stories behind the planet's most breathtaking natural events, charting the effects of global climatic phenomena which transform entire landscapes. South Pacific presents a comprehensive portrait of life in this vast ocean, containing 25% of the earth's water and over 20,000 islands! And Yellowstone offers an intimate portrait of this global icon of natural beauty, nature's most majestic playground. These four landmark series from the BBC will dazzle you with our world's stunning beauty, all presented in crystal clear Blu-ray high definition!

Life
From the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit, makers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, this is the original UK broadcast version of Life, with narration by renowned naturalist David Attenborough and music by Oscar® and Emmy® winning composer George Fenton In Planet Earth, we brought you the world as you've never seen it before. Now, get closer with Life. Four years in the making, filmed over 3000 days, across every continent and in every habitat, with breathtaking new high definition filming techniques developed since Planet Earth, Life presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world, 54 of which have never been filmed before. Packed with excitement, revelation and entertainment, this remarkable 10-part blockbuster captures unprecedented, astonishingly beautiful sequences and demonstrates the spectacular and extraordinary tactics animals and plants have developed to survive and thrive.

Nature's most Amazing Events
Witness the planet's most breathtaking natural events, and follow the dramatic wildlife stories behind them. Combining the epic cinematography of Planet Earth, with all the emotion, intimacy and storytelling of a wildlife diary, this series charts the effects of global climatic phenomena which transform entire landscapes, drawing in thousands of animals and determining their fate. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, each episode is set in a different part of the world - from the great flood of the Okavango delta to the plankton blooms of the Pacific Ocean, and from the Indian monsoon to the race for survival triggered by the annual Arctic melt - and shows how immense natural forces, often starting thousands of miles away, drive a chain reaction that culminates in a spectacular wildlife event. For some animals, it's a window of opportunity, but for others, it's the most dangerous time of their lives. Follow their emotional, involving stories to a dramatic climax where their fate will be revealed.

South Pacific
Explore the sheer scale and majesty of the largest and least-known ocean on Earth - the South Pacific. This landmark series amazes you with its rich history, unique plants and wildlife that span thousands of islands. Follow the travels of the Polynesians, witness the birth of active volcanoes and ponder the threatened future of this ever-changing system of seemingly endless atolls.

Yellowstone
Take the most astounding visual tour of one of the world's most spectacular wilderness areas. An American treasure that's larger than some states, Yellowstone's natural beauty and majesty include some of the richest wildlife beyond the plains of Africa. From hungry wolves descending on a buffalo to a mother grizzly tending to her cubs or elk and moose fighting for dominance, this vivid, wonderfully shot film reveals amazing tales your entire family will cherish.

Life
The Challenges of Life
Introducing the extraordinary things animals and plants must do in order to survive and thrive. Witness capuchin monkeys smashing open palm nuts with stone ‘hammers', hippos launching from the water into the air and chameleons stealing prey from a spider's web. Sprint with cheetahs as they band together to tackle ostriches; watch dolphins form perfect rings of mud to trap fish and swim with a seal as it struggles to escape attacking killer whales in the ice of Antarctica.

Reptiles and Amphibians
From icy wastes to arid deserts, reptiles and amphibians have used their ancient, cold-blooded body plan along with sophisticated behavioral innovations to master the harshest environments on the planet. See Komodo dragons hunting buffalo, sea snakes with one of the most toxic venoms in the world that breed in caves, the seemingly suicidal leaps of a waterfall toad, the tender giant African bull frog that digs water channels to save not only its own young, but that of others too; and lizards that can walk on water.

Mammals
New filming techniques reveal behavior that was previously impossible to capture in extreme locations. Fly among one of the largest migrations on Earth, as more than ten million fruit bats leave the Congo basin and converge in a few special trees in Zambia to feed, sprint with the tiny, extraordinary-looking sengi as it escapes a predatory lizard, see 30 polar bears gather to feed on a bowhead whale carcass and witness the biggest fight on Earth - male humpback whales battling for a female.

Fish
Fish can fly, sense electricity, swim at over 100mph and even walk on land. From the open ocean to coral reef and storm-ravaged surf to the freshwater springs of Kenya, swim with sharks, mudskippers and convict fish. See the hilariously named "sarcastic fringe-head" fighting for its home territory; hunt with sailfish; glide with flying fish; enter the secret world of courting sea-dragons; and even join the epic journey of the tiny, cliff-climbing goby.

Birds
Birds are supremely adaptable, capable not only of flying at phenomenal speeds and covering great distances, but of displaying a murderous nature, running on water in pursuit of love and even of building intricate structures. Using aerial camera techniques, Life flies with the birds and explores their incredible diversity and behavior: dodging the piratical frigate birds; soaring with the lammergeyers; dancing with a thousand flamingos in the lakes of Africa; and witnessing the extraordinary displays of spatula-tailed hummingbirds, western grebes and bowerbirds as they all attempt to attract a mate.

Insects
Insects are the most diverse animal group on the planet. The key to their success is their unique ability to reshape themselves. They possess fearsome weapons, yet can display surprising tenderness and sophisticated behavior. Take to the skies with millions of monarch butterflies in Mexico, see a beetle spray boiling chemicals at its enemies, witness giant bees fight to the death over females, join the marching columns of grass cutter ants and spend a jeopardy-filled day with damsel flies.

Hunters and Hunted
Every day, in the jungles, grasslands, deserts and frozen wastelands, battles are won, fought and lost between carnivores and their prey. See cheetahs join forces to bring down an ostrich, a tiny stoat take on a rabbit ten times its size, elephant seal pups snatched from their nursery pool by a killer whale, the antics of a squirrel as it outwits a rattlesnake and at an amazing 2,000 frames per second, the strike of a bulldog bat flying at 60 mph.

Creatures of the Deep
Using specially developed underwater tracking time-lapse techniques, LIFE takes a journey to the unchartered corners of the ocean. It's here the newest discoveries are being made and the strangest creatures live, from huge spider crabs which gather in their thousands, seeking safety in numbers as they shed their protective shell, to cross-dressing giant squid. Join a 250-strong pack of Humboldt squid on a hunting expedition, see the ultimate self-sacrifice of a Pacific giant octopus mother who starves to death tending her young and dive under the permanent ice of Antarctica to see a seething carpet of starfish as they devour a seal pup carcass.

Plants
The drama of the plant world is impossible to view with the naked eye. But using the latest time-lapse technology, all is revealed: how a Venus flytrap snaps shut and imprisons its prey and how the animal-like grasping hooks of the cat's claw creeper and the sticky pads of the Boston ivy help in their fight for light. Fly with the seed that inspired the design of gliders, watch the fastest growing plant on Earth rocket up two feet a day and discover the water-trapping abilities of the bizarre dragon's blood tree, which oozes red sap from its branches.

Primates
Primates are uniquely intelligent - engaging in problem solving, communication, tool use and intimate social interplay. Primates are uniquely intelligent, engaging in problem solving, communication, tool use and intimate social interplay. In the Congo, meet a tightly bound group of western lowland gorillas led by an ancient silverback, whose chest-beating sends shockwaves more than a mile through the undergrowth. See grey Phayre's leaf-monkey mothers in Thailand battling for the privilege to babysit bright orange newborns, encounter the violent disputes of a thousand hamadryas baboons and join chacma baboons shark egg hunting on the coast of South Africa.

Nature's Most Amazing Events

Episode 1: THE GREAT MELT As winter finally passes and the sun climbs over the Arctic, the 4 million square mile ice sheet rapidly begins to melt, revealing an archipelago of islands, channels and seas. For the masters of the ice, the polar bears, this is a moment of jeopardy but for others like the arctic fox, beluga whales, thousands of lemmings and immense flocks of birds this brief summer transforms the Arctic into the richest place on Earth.

Episode 2: THE GREAT SALMON RUN The temperate rainforest of British Columbia, Canada, harbors more life than any other forest in the world. Cloaked by the planet's tallest trees, the last big carnivores of North America roam free - the great grizzly bear and forest wolf. Yet their survival depends entirely on one great event that runs up the rivers just once a year. As the rivers teem with spawning salmon the bears and wolves are drawn together and a deadly conflict unfolds.

Episode 3: THE GREAT MIGRATION The parched grassland of East Africa's famous Serengeti Plain is the arena for bitter rivalries between warring cheetahs, lions and hyenas as they struggle over meager pickings. But with the arrival of the annual rains the plains momentarily flush green with fresh grass drawing in the greatest concentration of large animals on the Planet. Over two million wildebeest, zebra and Thomson's gazelle have undergone an epic journey crossing crocodile infested rivers to graze here - but how will they survive the arena of carnivores?

Episode 4: THE GREAT TIDE As winter arrives along South Africa's east coast the inshore waters cool, drawing billions of sardines northwards from the Cape to feed on the plankton-rich soup. The Sardine Run is the greatest marine spectacle on the planet, attracting an awe inspiring cast of ocean predators. Mega pods of common dolphins, battalions of sharks and greedy brydes whales feast on the sardines as gannets rain down from above. For African Penguins and bottlenose dolphins this movement of sardines is the defining moment of their lives. Both are living on a knife edge, and only the run of sardines can save them.

Episode 5: THE GREAT FLOOD In the intense heat of the northern Kalahari a herd of elephants trek towards a life saving goal while prides of lions and marooned hippos fight to survive around the last remaining waterholes. Their fortunes change dramatically with the annual flooding of Botswana's Okavango Delta, turning 6000 square miles of desert into a maze of lagoons, islands and swamps. As millions of animals are drawn to the oasis, including great herds of near-starving elephants, the scene is set for one of the greatest clashes in nature.

Episode 6: THE GREAT FEAST The arrival of spring sunshine triggers an explosion of life in Alaska's coastal waters so great that it eclipses even the Amazon rainforest. The feast draws in an amazing cast of characters, including humpback whales and their newborn calves who migrate all the way from Hawaii to spend the summer feeding in these rich waters, and resident sea lions who are also in a race against time to make the most of the good times before the harsh Alaskan winter closes in. Can the whales and sea lions catch enough fish - and avoid the predatory killer whales - to see them through?

Wild Pacific

1. An Ocean of Islands
Spin a globe so that the middle of the Pacific is directly in front of you and you will see a view of the world that is utterly unfamiliar. Continental landmasses are reduced to a sliver along the edges, leaving nothing but a seemingly endless ocean. A closer look into the blue will reveal a scattering of islands - thousands of them, from the Tropics to the sub-Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. Many of these islands are unbelievably remote, isolated from each other by hundreds, even thousands, of miles of water.
It is this isolation that defines the South Pacific. It is what makes it so unique. Here, splendid isolation has led to splendid evolution, throwing up some real curiosities like monstrous coconut crabs, giant skinks and flesh-eating caterpillars. The South Pacific is also home to some of the most isolated communities on Earth, like the 300 Anutans who live on an island just a sixth of a square mile in area and hundreds of miles from its nearest neighbour.
The words ‘South Pacific' instantly conjure images of pure romance and earthly paradise. But for wildlife and people living at its most remote extremes, things are not always so easy: waves the size of multi-storey buildings, brutal tropical storms and, in the far South, even blizzards all contribute to the onslaught. And behind everything is one vast ocean - the biggest on the planet.

2. Rising Lands
The most heavenly of South Pacific islands owe their origins to a violent birth of fire and volcanism. Stunning time-lapse and cineflex aerials take you on a journey across time to witness the rising of new lands, their fall, and the eventual growth of atolls, ringed by jewelled tropical reefs.
Eruptions, lava flows, and fields of rocks that float on water... The life of an island is a remarkable natural drama, but it is the creatures which call these islands home that really have the power to amaze.
In the Solomon Islands, birds use volcanic heat to incubate their eggs, while in Hawaii snow-capped peaks (yes, there is snow in this tropical paradise) play host to a vampire bug, with antifreeze in its veins. The Pacific is a lost world where the bizarre strategies for living are as countless as the myriad islands scattered across this vast and watery ‘paradise.'

3. Endless Blue
Larger than all the world's land masses combined, the Pacific is the vastest ocean on Earth. This seemingly endless blue water is a remote wilderness, home to the deepest point in all the world's oceans, and containing half the world's water. Like a vast marine desert, much of these waters lack the basic nutrients needed to fuel life. Many animals living here must go to extraordinary lengths to find food, and mates.
From deep-diving sperm whales to giant turtles, from penguins to ocean-voyaging sharks, the South Pacific Ocean is home to creatures like no other. The stories of these animals and their incredible lives are irrevocably intertwined with the story of the ocean itself, and they present a reality that is far from the peace and romance of the South Pacific idyll.
Using the greatest shipwreck survival story of all time (the Essex whaling ship of 1820), we will discover the true hardships of animal survival in this watery desert, and reveal the mysterious marine life that lurks within the ‘Endless Blue'.

4. Castaways
Remote and volcanic, the islands of the South Pacific are some of the most isolated places on Earth. Since their very creation, thousands of miles of water have separated these specks of earth from the nearest margins of continental land. Yet many islands teem with strange and exotic life. Unable to swim across the vast ocean voids, these animals and plants have presented a riddle which has taxed naturalists through the ages.
From the Australasian cradle, life spreads itself more and more thinly across the Pacific, until the last surviving voyagers are found cast away on the remotest of coral atolls. From the gecko which can give birth without having a mate, to the frog that needs no water for its tadpoles, the successful castaways have some extraordinary adaptations. Others, such as the tree-climbing kangaroo didn't get so far.
This is the story of winners and losers, and the incredible feats of navigation and serendipity which have enabled life in its myriad forms to conquer even the most far-flung of shores.

5. Strange Islands
Strange things live on islands. Giant lizards with monkey tails, flightless nocturnal parrots, forest-dwelling penguins, and kangaroos that live in trees. These are just a few of the unlikely animals that have evolved on the isolated dots of land in the vast Pacific. Most islands only have room for a few oddities, but the vast isles of New Zealand, with their rainforests, mountains and glaciers, have an abundance of unique creatures - although the only mammals to have colonised were bats. Bats became mice and an assortment of bizarre birds ruled the forests, but then some new arrivals reached these isolated shores.
Today, no less than 70 million possums live in New Zealand and a variety of familiar animals are finding new homes throughout the Pacific - often with catastrophic consequences for the unique island creatures. But here lies a puzzle: why do animals perfectly adapted to island life give up the ghost when creatures with no experience of island survival invade?
The new invaders have been catching a ride with human colonisers and - like the wildlife they have encountered - people have also had to adapt just to survive on these remote isles. They use fire to catch flying fish at night, while on Vanuatu 2,000 colourful islanders congregate every three years to celebrate an end to desperate times when cannibalism was a way of life.
Before humans, one species managed to reach the remote islands of Hawaii every 100,000 years; today 30 new species turn up every year. Life on an isolated Pacific island is eternally poised on a knife-edge; nowhere is this more apparent than in the remarkable and intriguing history of Easter Island.

6. A Fragile Paradise
Ever since people first discovered the Pacific, we have been fishing its bountiful waters in ingenious and increasingly effective ways. Islanders use spider's silk suspended by a kite to snare needlefish. Offshore, on a large modern fishing vessel, a row of fishermen dangle lures into a feeding frenzy of tuna, flicking the powerful fish onto the deck at spectacular speed. But as our fishing becomes ever more efficient, there are worries that now too many boats are chasing too few fish. Out on the high seas we join activists who are willing to put their lives on the line to save not whales, but tuna.
The magnificent albatross has long been a symbol of the untamable spirit of the ocean, but thousands have drowned as unwanted by-catch on the hooks of fishing lines. Now fishermen are pioneering new techniques to keep the birds off their hooks and assure a brighter future for all seabirds.
In the tropical islands of Fiji, the locals are learning new ways to bring colourful corals back to their damaged reefs; while a team of divers is restoring a reef's abundant fish life by introducing tourists to huge barrel-chested bull sharks.
But a new cloud is looming on the horizon. Islands are being washed away, corals are dying and a sinister change in the chemistry of the Pacific's waters is threatening the miniscule yet beautiful animals on which most other marine life depends. A vast Supertanker, quarter of a mile long, carrying oil from one end of the Pacific to the other, symbolises the threat posed to the world it passes through.
Is it too late to save this wonderful ocean? In Tonga, tourists now swim with some gentle giants that nearly disappeared from the world forever: that humpback whales still swim in the Pacific is proof that we can act globally to protect the wildlife of this fragile paradise.

Yellowstone

Winter: The Wolf's Story - Yellowstone in the depths of a bitter winter: beautiful and full of peril. Survival is everything. The Druid Peak wolves are expert hunters in the snow - and confident enough to take down fully-grown buffalo. But as spring draws out, hungry bears begin to emerge from hibernation, and violent fights with them and with the rival wolfpacks put the Druid Peak wolves' future in jeopardy. Will any of them even survive into the summer?

Spring: The Grizzly Bear's Story - As a grizzly bear family emerges from their den at Snake River, the mother finds an abundance of food for her new cubs. She has to fight to defend her prey against the newly-dominant wolves, bald eagles and the local coyotes. It's a time of great activity - and the cubs' curiosity constantly puts them in danger...

Summer: The Great Herd's Story - As summer turns into vivid autumn, the mood of the landscape changes again. There's a spectacular gathering of herds across the plains: testosterone fuelled elk, buffalo and moose in their thousands start their annual rut, calling so loudly they can be heard three miles away. Belligerent, unpredictable and very dangerous, the bulls can fight until injury or even death stops them. The Druid Peak wolves and our Snake River grizzly family are ready to take the spoils of weakened animals that will feed them into the approaching winter, before it takes its icy grip once again?

Life

"An amazing visual feat."
--Jonathan Storm, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 21, 2010

"Gasp inducing clarity.... Prepare to be amazed."
--Matt Roush, TV Guide, March 21, 2010

"Dazzling vision of nature."
--Robert Philpot, Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 21, 2010

"Nature is hot."
--Gloria Goodale, Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 2010

"Series of stunning beauty"
--Mike Hughes, TV America (syndicated), March 20, 2010

"Life is rich, rare and pure video gold. Life is bigger than all of us."
--Tom Shales, The Washington Post, March 19, 2010

"It's eminently essential TV ... Pupil-popping visual eloquence."
--Tom Shales, The Washington Post, March 19, 2010

"An 11-part series that's nothing short of mind-blowing - a shocking view of just how vibrant and dynamic our terrestrial brethren actually are."
--Daniel Stone, Newsweek, March 19, 2010

"Brace for a stunning armchair adventure, one that's surprising, beautiful, moving and dangerous - just like life."
--Joanne Ostrow, The Denver Post, March 19, 2010

"Fire up your flat screen"
--Robert Bianco, USA Today, March 19, 2010

"An amazing spectacle."
--Jacqueline Cutler, Tribune, March 21, 2010

"The reason flat screens, blu-ray and high-definition TV were invented.... Dazzling and precise"
--Mary McNamara, The Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2010

"that's what "Life" can do: make one weep over the fate of a species once relegated to nightmares and science fiction."
--Mary McNamara, The Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2010

"photography that is so gorgeous that every frame could win an Oscar..."
-- Linda Stasi, New York Post, March 18, 2010

"Discovery Channel's extraordinary and extraordinarily beautiful 11-part series, "Life," ...is narrated by Oprah Winfrey, who does a bang-up job, giving the voiceovers just the right tone - joyful when it calls for it, serious when it's needed, tense when required."
-- Linda Stasi, New York Post, March 18, 2010

"'Life' picks up beautifully where ‘Planet Earth' left off ... delivering a sumptuous, high-definition romp through astounding nature footage that quite simply defines the best Discovery Channel can be."
-- Brian Lowry, Variety, March 17, 2010

"...the most remarkable sequences might be the ones that illustrate the lengths to which the filmmakers went to bring back this footage. They're hunting big game, all right, and they've bagged another veritable treasure trove of it."
-- Brian Lowry, Variety, March 17, 2010

"For those reared on "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom," well, we ain't in Kansas anymore. The imagery is spectacular... Take it as praise of the highest possible order that ‘Life's' jaw-dropping pictures and panoramic scale are enough to overshadow even Oprah's presence."
-- Brian Lowry, Variety, March 17, 2010

"The sequences in the series could fill more than a few movie trailers. ... astonishing ... gripping... "
--Brian Stelter, The New York Times, March 18, 2010

"...gorgeous natural history series ... Informative and fun."
-- Tom Gliatto, People, March 29, 2010

"Another stunning beauty ... Grade: A"
-- Verne Gay, Newsday, March 17, 2010

"Life takes cameras where few have been."
-- Bruce Schwartz, USA Today, March 18, 2010

"...stunningly beautiful ... filled with surprising close-ups of Earth's most mysterious creatures in action."
-- John Griffiths, US Weekly, March 29, 2010

"With one incredible sight after the next, this mesmerizing miniseries shows just how alike humans and animals are in our everyday fight to adapt and survive in an ever-changing world."
--Len Feldman, National Enquirer, March 22, 2010

"Eye-boggling ... Stunning ..."
--Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly, March 10, 2010

"At least as far back as the baby-boomer touchstone Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the nature-TV genre has been constructed in this manner, but never so gorgeously. We are left to gawp and admire. A-"
--Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly, March 10, 2010

"Get your popcorn and wow-meters ready!"
--Ileane Rudolph, TV Guide, March 2010

"...it actually brought a lump to my throat."
-- Julie Vandal, Elle, April 2010

"But it's fair to say that after the popularity of "Planet Earth,'' the Discovery Channel confronted the pressure-packed question of whether it could produce another water-cooler show. The question's answer? That's "Life.''
--Don Aucoin, Boston Globe, March 19, 2010

"Brilliant"
--Don Aucoin, Boston Globe, March 19, 2010

"Bottom Line: An astonishingly close-up look at the glory and eccentricity of nature. ... honestly, there's never been anything like "Life.""
--Barry Garron, The Hollywood Reporter, March 19, 2010

"the ingenuity of Mother Nature to adapt species to their surroundings will elicit gasps of admiration from viewers. That was my reaction."
-- Seth Arenstein, Cable360, March 17, 2010

"But this is no mere sequel. In tone, pacing and even narration, everything about "Life" feels fresh and newly wondrous. That is saying something, when you consider that "Planet Earth" set the bar ridiculously high for nature documentary series."
-- Aaron Barnhart, Kansas City Star, March 17, 2010

Re: Oprah: "... the perfect choice for "Life."
-- Aaron Barnhart, Kansas City Star, March 17, 2010

"The Oprah Winfrey-narrated extravaganza, 'Life,' (captures) some of the most exotic, sensationally filmed moments of our planet's natural history..."
-- Christian Science Monitor, March 15, 2010

"...Discovery's freshest, fiercest perspective on the primal beauty of plant and animal existence in a series that's been four years and 150 worldwide expeditions in the making."
-- Channel Guide Magazine, March 2010

"...some of the most jaw-dropping scenes ever captured on film."
-- Channel Guide Magazine, March 2010

"Coming on the heels of Planet Earth, ...Life takes the natural history genre a step further, using ultra high-speed high-def digital photography to capture animal behavior that, in some cases, has never been seen before."
-- Emmy, Issue No. 1 2010

"As with Planet Earth, the real wonder is how the hell they got those images."
-- Outside, March 2010

"...full of how'd-they-get-that-shot moments..."
-- More, March 2010

Nature's Most Amazing Events

"For my money, the best thing on television." Richard Rogers, Observer

"David Attenborough is ringmaster to real-life wildlife events that are truly epic and dramatic. There's the usual ‘aahh' factor attached to tiny grizzly bear cubs, baby elephants and shoals of dolphins. But there's added ‘aargh' in this six-part series, as each week the cameras (high definition, of course) follow a set of beasts through a stunning but potentially perilous spectacle ... Naturally, Attenborough's narration and the BBC Natural History Unit's cutting-edge techniques make it an evocative and intimate affair." The Times

"Nature's Great Events is wonderful television ... it's a shining example of how to make an affecting nature documentary: stunning scenery and captivating creatures, beautifully filmed, and warmly narrated by a man who knows his Narwhals from his Natterjacks." Scotsman

"Slack-jawed with wonder and respect, you practically needed a seatbelt by the time he got to the narwhals, the aesthetic effect was so stunning." Gavin Docherty, Daily Express

"After Wednesday's superlative Nature's Great Events, any neighbouring nature doc could look a little lacklustre." Gareth McLean, Guardian

"...richly rewarding television ... Do I need to tell you that it looks ravishingly beautiful? No, I don't." Pete Clark, London Evening Standard

"The BBC is a constant fource for the visual wonders of our planet, and almost as amazing as the sights their programmes show us is their Natural History Unit's ability to keep finding inspiring and exciting ways to educate us about our world. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, this new six-par series does just that ... kicking off with a real humdinger of an epic ... This is an hour crammed with gasp-inducing moments ... There's limitless entertainment here, and awe for both adults and older children." Mail On Sunday

"This is must-see TV ... narrated by the reliably God-like David Attenborough..." Jane Simon, Daily Mirror

"...what more can be said about the impact of global warming on the region's wildlife? To their great credit, narrator David Attenborough and the series' producers, do manage to put extra flesh on the story, much of it exquisitely filmed, and take the viewer far beyond the sole concerns of the Arctic's top predator. Thus we get footage of beluga whales gathering, in a great festival of itching, to rub their skins on riverbed pebbles to free them selves of parasites; unicorn-tusked narwhals trying to glide through channels in the treacherous, moving ice; and guillemot chicks hurling themselves off cliffs on their first flights from their nests - as Arctic foxes wait below to pounce on those who fail this crucial aeronautical test." Robin McKie, Observer

"With the unbeatable combination of David Attenborough doing the voiceover and the usual breathtaking photography, this new six-part series is like a greatest hits compilation from the natural world ... Arctic foxes are seen looking after their unspeakably sweet cubs. Whales swim along cracks in the ice. There is spectacular footage of Guillemot chicks as they take flight for the first time. And then there are the poor old polar bears, falling through the thin ice and struggling to survive without food throughout the summer. Two thirds of these bears could disappear by 2050, and films as beautiful as this show exactly why that would be a catastrophe." David Chater, The Times

"Enough to melt the heart." Thomas Sutcliffe, Independent

"Simply gorgeous." Sophie Heath, Daily Mail

 "...flawless..." Jod Mitchell, Daily Telegraph

"...sublime photography..." Irish Independent

"Wonderful stuff of polar bears sliding about the place and an Arctic fox scavenging..." John Robinson, Guardian

Life

New animal behaviors
• The first filming of a humpback whale mating contest called a heat run - the largest animal battle on Earth
• Three cheetah brothers hunting together to bring down ostriches twice their size

• Stalk-eyed flies ‘growing' their eyes out on long stalks

• Dolphins filmed from the air ‘mudringing‘ - creating circles of mud to entrap fish

• Giant starfish devouring a dead giant Pacific octopus, filmed in time lapse

• Komodo dragons bringing down an animal 10 times their size - a real life drama that lasted over two weeks
• A pebble toad rolling down a mountain, bounching like a rubber ball, to escape a tarantula
• Thousands of pink starfish, urchins and monster nemertean words feeding on a dead seal under permanent ice in Antarctica, filmed over a month in tracking time lapse phtography
• The male Vogelkop bowerbird building an ornate seduction parlor that lures in a willing mate
• A mass spider crab molt where thousands of crabs come to mate and shed their too-tight shells
• Capuchin monkeys cracking open palm nuts with rocks, while the young ones slowly learn the method from the adults
• Probably the largest gathering of polar bears ever filmed, they confront one another around a huge whale carcass
• Tiny goby make an epic journey up Hawaiian waterfalls, 400 feet high, to lay their eggs in safe pools

• Greater bulldog bats hunting fish - filmed at 2000 frames per second

• Shot at night, massive numbers of Humboldt squid cooperatively hunting for sardines

Filming techniques
• The Heli-Gimbal - the HD Heli-gimbal produces rock-steady aerials from a lens with a zoom range from 10-800mm (equivalent to 1100 mm lens with a super 16mm camera). This allowed the LIFE team to film a spectacular range of aerials and dramatic "zoom outs" that take viewers from intimate close-ups of individual animals to massive wide-angle scenics and allows previous unfilmable behavior to be shot from the air
• Extreme High-Speed Photography - There are now extreme high-speed digital cameras that record images at very high resolution at speeds as high as 1,000 frames per second. The main adantage of these cameras compared to high-speed film cameras is they work directly onto a hard disk which is continually recording. Previous high-speed film cameras were really only practical in studios, but these new digital cameras can be taken out into the field, allowing the LIFE team to record animal behavior in a totally fresh way
• Low Light Photography - Extremely sensitive color HD, low light cameras can now provide new images and insights into nocturnal behavior
• Underwater Time-Lapse Sequences - New rigs that allow HD time-lapse underwater filming in natural environments (rather than tanks) have never been possible before and deliver stunning footage of new and natural behavior in the oceans
• Macro Photography - Chip-in-the-tip cameras, remote control "Ant-cam," and super-sensitive video cameras allow new insights into the world of the smaller creatures. With full depth of field and eye-level viewpoints, they give images that no longer look like traditional macro
• Additional Breakthrough Imaging Systems - New types of microscopy, infra-red, and ultrasonic imagery took the LIFE team into unexplored realms, from the deep ocean to the subterranean world

Nature's Most Amazing Events

This series employs state of the art photo-real satellite views from space, combined with revolutionary aerial techniques, stabilised camera mounts on boats, ultra high speed shooting, motion controlled photography and lapse time techniques pioneered on Planet Earth.

The Nature's Great Events team captured extraordinary wildlife footage, some shown for first time on television, including:
• Aerial footage of the amazing migration of the mysterious Arctic narwhal whale, with its unicorn-like tusk
• High definition footage of polar bears feeding on seals, struggling to survive as they hunt in broken ice and fall through
• The sardine run filmed with three crews in full high definition - underwater, aerial and on the surface
• Pioneering the boat stabilising mount to film the sardine run - previously only used in Hollywood feature films
• A shoal of sardines 15 miles long surrounded by thousands of sharks; 10,000 gannets raining down on a shoal of fish and a super-pod of 5,000 common dolphins - all filmed using the high definition helicopter mount

• Cape fur seals coming ashore to snatch gannet chicks from their colony

• The eruption of the Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano in the Serengeti - the first eruption since 1964 - filmed in HD from the ground and the air

• The epic scale of the wildebeest migration from the air

• Grizzly bear families emerging from their dens, in snowy Alaska, filmed with gyro-stabilised cameras mounted on helicopters

• A pack of wolves attacking an adult grizzly bear in North America

• High speed cameras film grizzly bears chasing down salmon in shallow water, showing their power and grace
• Underwater footage of bears catching salmon using their feet - filmed by producer Jeff Turner, who swam among them
• High speed cameras filming up to 2,000 frames per second reveal how salmon leap over three metres through the air to clear waterfalls
• Film of the Okavango Delta flood at every level - from macro to aerial photography

• A young elephant attacked and killed by a pride of lions in broad daylight
• Elephants using their trunks to siphon water from the top of dirty pools

• Underwater crew capture humpback whales engulfing a whole herring bait ball in one giant gulp

• A pod of killer whales attacking and killing a huge male sea lion

• Bubble netting by humpback whales filmed from the air and on the surface, together with incredible sound to illustrate the co-operative fishing behaviour of these few select whales.

South Pacific

There are 25,000 islands in the South Pacific. Anuta, for example, has one of the most isolated communities of people on the planet - the makers of this series their first visitors in two years.

Television firsts in the series include aerials of an exploding undersea volcano; the first ever shots of a dingiso, a kind of New Guinea tree kangaroo only discovered in 1994; a never filmed before bird of paradise; and perhaps the most pristine coral reef in the world.