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Natural World : Season 19
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Air date: 08 Oct '00 - 18 episodesNatural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.
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List of Episodes (18)
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Natural World (1983)
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1. Otters in the Stream of Life
08 Oct '00This film follows a year on the exquisite west coast of Scotland, in the intimate company of a family of otters. Guided by their mother, the otter cubs survive the wildest storms of the Scottish winter, striving to overcome many challenges on their way to independence. The west coast is warmed by the Gulf Stream which is why dolphins and sharks, whales and puffins all come here to share it with the otters. Two years in the making, this film is packed with surprises and excitement and set in the
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Natural World (1983)
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2. Camels Down Under
15 Oct '00Introduced to Australia in the 1840s by European settlers, camels were the only reliable form of transport in the country's harsh interior. Replaced by motor vehicles and abandoned at the turn of the 20th century, they now number over a quarter of a million - the only true wild camel population on the planet. This film tells the life story of a young camel growing up in the harsh world of the outback
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Natural World (1983)
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3. Deadly Vipers
22 Oct '00Predators with the largest fangs of any snake and venom containing up to 50 deadly ingredients, vipers kill more people than any other animal. But now that medical science is beginning to discover the healing power of natural poisons, could this lethal reptile turn out to be a boon for mankind?
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Natural World (1983)
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4. The Tigers' Fortress
29 Oct '00The chequered history of a tiger conservation park in Rajasthan, northern India, from its success in the 1980s through its battles with corruption and poaching in the early 1990s to its present status as home to the highest number of tigers and cubs for 15 years
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Natural World (1983)
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5. Big Red Roos
05 Nov '00A red kangaroo mother and baby belong to one of the hardiest species of animal athletes - but as this documentary shows, even they must battle to survive in the vast and inhospitable Australian Outback. The daunting challenges posed by the landscape are dramatically depicted over the course of a year in the kangaroos' lives
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Natural World (1983)
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6. Killer Whales: Up Close and Personal
19 Nov '00The intimate lives of a family of killer whales that hunt elephant seals and penguins off the storm-blasted Crozet Islands of Antarctica. French scientists study younger members of the group as they learn the complicated techniques involved in catching prey
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Natural World (1983)
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7. Madagascar - Land of Lemurs
26 Nov '00Isolated from the rest of the world for hundreds of thousands of years, Madagascar has become a treasure trove of unique wildlife. This programme follows the lives of its charismatic lemurs that are to be found nowhere else in the world.
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Natural World (1983)
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8. Seychelles - Jewels of a Lost Continent
10 Dec '00The epic story of how giant tortoises, silver lizards, the coco de mer tree and other extraordinary species came to be stranded on the tiny islands of the Seychelles, far out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The islands' wealth of wildlife all provide clues to the Seychelles' dramatic origins in the break-up of a primeval supercontinent.
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Natural World (1983)
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9. Bower Birds - The Art of Seduction
17 Dec '00David Attenborough travels to the remote highlands of New Guinea and the rainforests of Australia to explore the little-known world of the bower bird, a fascinating creature which flaunts its charms, steals for its own purposes and indulges in spiteful acts - all in the pursuit of the opposite sex
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Natural World (1983)
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10. The Last Tusker
21 Jan '01A colourful feature on Sri Lanka's elephant population, focusing on one of the last wild bulls. On this Buddhist island, elephants may be sacred, but they kill over people a year, and many are shot, survivors winding up in an elephant orphanage. Fifty years ago, there were ten thousand elephants and three million people on Sri Lanka; now there are two thousand elephants and 20 million people.
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Natural World (1983)
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11. Seals - Invaders of the Sea
28 Jan '01Wildlife programme in which state-of-the-art camera techniques reveal the sophisticated underwater world of the seal - an animal capable of surviving in every ocean corner of the world.
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Natural World (1983)
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12. Killer Bees and Magic Trees
04 Feb '01Austrian scientist Gerald Kastberger studies the aggressive giant honeybees of Assam, in particular their unexplained annual migration from the Himalayan foothills to specific trees scattered across the plains a hundred miles to the south - a distance which takes the bees three weeks to cover. Feared locally as much as the tiger, the bees attack en masse, and a hundred or more stings can kill.
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Natural World (1983)
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13. Hippo Beach
18 Feb '01Insight into the bizarre behavioural habits of the African hippo, a creature which spends most of its lifetime in water but cannot swim, and eats mainly grass yet thinks nothing of challenging a lion for a share of its kill. Featuring action-packed footage of fearsome hippo bulls as they defend their territories
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Natural World (1983)
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14. Timeless Thames
25 Feb '01This is a journey along the River Thames, England's most famous river, from its source to the sea. The Thames may seem tame today but it is still wild at heart and just waiting to reclaim its lost wildness, despite our best efforts to control it. The recent flooding throughout the British Isles illustrates just how close we live to the limits of nature. London is actually sinking faster than Venice and despite huge technological innovations, such as the Thames Barrier, we are losing the battle.
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Natural World (1983)
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15. Coyote - the Ultimate Survivor?
18 Mar '01Documentary on the coyote, cousin to the wolf and one of America's most charismatic animals. The film explores how this elusive and intelligent creature with a spine-chilling call remains an icon of the Wild West - revered by native Americans, yet hated by white ranchers - and tells its remarkable story of survival, from its stronghold in Yellowstone Park right into the heart of modern cities.
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Natural World (1983)
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16. Transylvania - Living with Predators
25 Mar '01Andrew Sachs narrates a documentary focusing on the large predators which live alongside humans in the beautiful forests and mountains of Transylvania, where shepherds always have to be on their guard for hungry wolves and bears seeking an easy meal of lamb. The programme examines the current situation and asks how long the inhabitants of Transylvania can tolerate these dangerous carnivores
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Natural World (1983)
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17. Danube Delta - Europe Untamed
15 Apr '01The delta of the river Danube is home to half a million wild geese, the greatest concentration of pelicans outside Africa, and the world's largest freshwater fish. Despite the previous efforts of communist regimes to drain the area, people still live and fish here in a way of life unchanged for centuries.
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Natural World (1983)
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18. Buffalo - The African Boss
31 Jul '01A study of the buffaloes of Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania, where they are prey to lions but will also attack them, and even kill their cubs. This dangerous side, which makes them the most feared of all Africa's large animals, is balanced by their loyalty and care for the other members of their herd.
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