Nature — Specials

53mNot yet aired

Scientists and bee experts discuss the crucial role that honeybees, a "keystone species," play in our economy and ecosystems, as well as bees' fascinating social organization and what we can do to reverse the decline of nature's pollinators.

Dec 201450m

This pledge period special airs throughout December, 2014 and contains segments from 16 of Nature's films about birds.

Dec 201850m

Join Lisa Dabek and her team with Woodland Park Zoo’s Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program as they journey into the remote cloud forests of Papua New Guinea. Meet one of the most elusive creatures you will ever see in the wild – the Matschie’s tree kangaroo. See how the local people are helping to protect this rare marsupial and its forest home.

Dec 201850m

Biologist Jack Hogg has been studying a herd of wild bighorn sheep on Montana’s National Bison Range for more than 35 years. When Jack’s herd gets infected with a deadly form of pneumonia, he goes in search of answers.

Dec 201850m

In the frigid Indian Himalayas, people manage to eke out a living alongside one of Asia’s most elusive cats: the snow leopard. Today there may be as few as 4,000 of these great cats remaining in the wild, and with the snow leopards‘ prey in decline, encounters between herders and the cat are on the rise. Explore this fragile relationship through the eyes of Tashi, a local goat herder, and learn how his village has partnered with the Snow Leopard Trust to find ways to both live with and save one of the rarest cats on Earth.

Jan 20201h

Sit back, relax, and experience the animals, landscapes, and awe of Yellowstone National Park in winter.

Mar 198850m

A five-year retrospective includes clips from The Flight of the Condor, Leopard: A Darkness in the Grass, Kingdom of the Ice Bear, Cats, The Gooneys of Midway, and Yellowstone in Winter, with animals hunting, courting, rearing young and adapting to their environment.

Jun 202328m

New York Harbor was a haven of incredible underwater biodiversity—until centuries of pollution turned it into a cesspool. Today, an alliance of architects, restaurateurs, scientists, and high school students is working to restore the harbor and protect the city from climate change. At the heart of the effort is a tiny creature with an outsized talent for cleanup: the extraordinary oyster.

Jun 202328m

The surprise return of beavers to the British countryside brings benefits and controversy for humans and wildlife alike. The work of these famously busy rodents increases local biodiversity, reduces storm-induced flooding, and restores wilderness to a highly manicured landscape. It also injects some chaos into the lives of the beavers’ human neighbors. Can the British beavers regain their former glory as powerful ecosystem engineers, or is their new home too domesticated to return to the wild?

Jun 202328m

One of the most inspiring conservation stories in American history is playing out on, of all places, a live-fire training ground at Ft. Bragg Army base in North Carolina. There, an improbable alliance is giving a special bird—the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW)—a new lease on life. After a clash between U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army revealed that low grade forest fires sparked by artillery and tracers inadvertently created excellent woodpecker habitat, the two sides joined forces to monitor and protect the birds on the base. Landowners on nearby properties are joining the effort—putting aside mutual suspicions and using fire to save the RCW and ignite a passion for wildlife.

Jun 202328m

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, yet its wild spaces are also among the most threatened. In 2008, the country became the first nation in the world to enshrine the “rights of nature” in its constitution—granting wild species their own legal rights to exist. Today, conservationists are putting that powerful tool to the test as they battle to save the country’s biodiversity.

Jun 202328m

Ten years after the largest dam removal in history—on the Elwha River, in Washington State—scientists are chronicling an inspiring story of ecological rebirth. Recovering salmon populations are transferring critical nutrients from the ocean into the forests along the Elwha’s banks, enriching the entire ecosystem. The Elwha’s revival is encouraging advocates to push for the removal of many larger dams in the region, and in the rest of the world.

Jun 202328m

Decades of war and unsustainable agriculture have stripped almost half the trees from the rainforest atop Mozambique’s Mount Gorongosa. The devastation threatens the watershed that sustains life in nearby communities and in Gorongosa National Park. Now, park experts and local farmers are uniting to plant a new shade-loving cash crop—coffee—that will help restore the forest and ensure a more prosperous future for humans and wildlife alike.

Jun 2023

The axolotl—an amphibian with incredible regenerative abilities—is ubiquitous in pet stores, science labs and pop culture, yet almost extinct in the wild. Now, scientists and farmers in Mexico City are using ancient Aztec farming techniques to secure the creature’s future. Meanwhile, another team is partnering with salamander-breeding, cough syrup-making Dominican nuns to save a closely-related species—the achoque.

Jun 202328m

Dogs are often thought of as humans’ best friends. But in Australia, they’re also being enlisted to save other species. Canine conservationists—and their sensitive noses—are helping researchers locate dwindling populations of elusive koalas as their habitats get fragmented by urbanization and devastated by wildfires. Dogs are also helping scientists track down—and take out—invasive foxes that have been devastating native sea turtle populations.

Mar 202412m

In the face of extreme habitat loss, wildlife biologist Dr. Chris Jenkins puts an ambitious plan in motion to save two uniquely American reptiles, the eastern indigo snake and the gopher tortoise, and the forest they call home.

Mar 20248m

As urban expansion quickly replaces natural habitats, façade engineer Alistair Law has discovered a new way to restore native ecosystems for pollinators and create natural spaces for us all within cities – by turning the walls of buildings into meadows.

Mar 202411m

Three species of sea turtles nesting in southeast Florida face a range of manmade threats. Thanks to conservation measures, loggerhead and green sea turtles are recovering, but leatherbacks remain at risk. Researchers know little about this amazing species — and in the battle to save leatherbacks, knowledge is key.

Mar 20249m

For years, Derek Gow worked his 400-acres in western England as a conventional sheep and cattle farm. But as both a farmer and conservationist, he knew that wasn’t right for nature. Now, he’s using his experience with British rewilding projects to return his land to what it once was: a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem.

Mar 202416m

Crystal River has long been a safe haven for the Florida manatee, but when an invasive algae wiped out the eelgrass that manatees need for food, the community rallied to restore the river and save the animals that call it home.

Mar 202411m

Coral reefs around the world are threatened by rising ocean temperatures, but hope is growing off the coast of Hawaii. There, researchers at the Coral Resilience Lab selectively breed corals to withstand ever-increasing amounts of heat stress.

Mar 202411m

All around the world, seabirds provide a critical link between land and sea. On Hawai’i, ecologists are working to protect two vital shearwater species that helped life first take hold across these islands.

Mar 202410m

Hawai’i is home to a broad, beautiful array of bird species found only on its islands — like the stunningly diverse honeycreepers, many on the border of extinction. Now, a local team is removing invasive predators, restoring habitats, and battling mosquito-borne diseases to protect honeycreepers from their latest threat: avian malaria.

Mar 202415m

In the middle of Rio de Janeiro sits the world’s largest urban rainforest: Tijuca National park. To combat a century of deforestation and hunting, a team of researchers are repairing the forest’s forgotten web of life, one species at a time.

Mar 202413m

Amid collapsing biodiversity worldwide, Mary Reynolds of Ireland is building a movement to turn gardeners into guardians of the planet by returning our own patch of land to nature and by restoring hope that individual action can create lasting change.

Apr 202410m

The golden lion tamarin stands as a beacon of hope and survival in the face of extinction after an outbreak of yellow fever led to a loss of nearly a third of their wild population.

Apr 202416m

In Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, Mauricio Ruiz has turned his love for nature into action by working with the community to reforest a critical stretch of the nation’s most endangered forest, and by using drones to help him reach his goal of planting 15 million new trees.

May 20249m

Fernanda Abra leads a crucial conservation initiative along the roadways of Brazil, where vehicles annually kill about 475 million vertebrates — more than double the country's human population. She spearheads over 300 projects targeting roads with high wildlife casualties.

May 202413m

Jaguar populations are falling worldwide, but the big cats are thriving in Belize, where one-third of the Central American country is protected habitat — but even this paradise isn’t perfect.

May 202416m

Many of the world’s most beloved frogs and amphibians are headed for extinction, but inside “The Ark” in Panama, some of those threatened species are given a fighting chance. Using innovative technology and breakthrough genetics, researchers have ignited a cadre of solutions to save these rare and cherished species.

Jun 202414m

On Panama’s remote Pearl Islands, marine biologist Callie Veelenturf is using her research on endangered sea turtles to help the country enshrine the rights of nature into law — and help the communities living there protect their own environment and livelihood.

Jun 202418m

Black-footed ferrets, North America’s only native ferret, still depend on humans for survival. That’s why a dedicated team has engineered new and innovative tools to help them make it in the wild.

Jul 202413m

Golden eagles are one of the largest raptors in North America, and their numbers are declining due to an unlikely poison: lead ammunition left behind by game hunters. Eagles scavenge on animal remains contaminated by lead bullets, so conservationists are proposing a radical solution: getting hunters to go lead-free.

Jul 202415m

Inventor Boyan Slat is on a mission to rid oceans of plastic. His team at The Ocean Cleanup designs and deploys systems that pull trash from the open ocean. Now, he’s stopping the pollution at its source: rivers where plastic is easier to catch, like those in Kingston Harbor, Jamaica.

Aug 202414m

Los Angeles is well known for its celebrities, so when the fearless cougar P-22 gained fame for making its home in the midst of the city, he inspired an effort to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing and helped spark a national campaign to support crossings and corridors everywhere.

Aug 202416m

In the northeastern part of India, the greater adjutant stork has been considered an ill omen for generations, and the endangered bird has paid the price. Its breeding population here fell to just 115 birds by the 1990s.

Sept 202415m

In Madhya Pradesh, renowned as India’s “tiger state,” a team installs AI-integrated camera traps to reduce conflict and safeguard lives in a vital wildlife corridor home to 2 million people – and 300 wild tigers that have caused an increasing number of problems for locals.

Sept 202417m

Along the coast of Gujarat, India, a renowned spiritual leader is inspiring fishermen to become guardians of the world’s biggest fish: the endangered whale shark.

Oct 202415m

Elephant migration corridors in India are a necessary thoroughfare for one of the planet’s largest animals — but when conflicts with human residents along these routes caught the attention of the Wildlife Trust of India, the solution became a massive undertaking: relocate an entire village.

Oct 202412m

Pangolins are amazing, bizarre, adorable creatures, but due to the demand for their scales on the illegal market, they’re also the most trafficked animal in the world. In order to turn the tide, wildlife veterinarian Elias Mubobo knows the solution rests in the hands of the local community — many of whom have never seen a pangolin in the wild.

Oct 20249m

Economic growth and wildlife conservation often run in conflict, but Mozambican scientist Cesária Huo hopes to support a new fully sustainable and economically viable model for harvesting a potent natural resource: bat guano.

Nov 202440m

It was a late-career epiphany that led “wacky genius” Pat Brown to abandon his academic career and commit himself to fighting global warming and biodiversity collapse. He did it, against all odds, by developing a surprising product: the revolutionary and delicious plant-based Impossible Burger.

Apr 202516m

Millions of birds pass through our yards during their bi-annual migrations, but they face an invisible killer along the way: glass windows. In the US alone, an estimated one billion birds die each year when they collide with windows. Now, two organizations help pave the way to a bird-friendly future.

May 202517m

Over 150 years after suffering the worst massacre in U.S. history, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation has purchased their ancestral homeland — called Wuda Ogwa, or Bear River — with a vision to return it back to nature.