Race of life

Dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex. When the Essex is attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in November 1820, her crew take to three fragile whalers. Alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the men must decide whether to head for the nearest islands - a thousand miles downwind to the west - or set out on an epic journey of almost three thousand miles to reach the South American mainland. Fear of cannibals forces them to choose South America. Almost three months later, the first whaler is rescued by another whaleship. Only three men are still alive. A week later the captain's whaler is also rescued, with just two men aboard. The third whaler is never found. This is a story of human endurance and what men in extremis will do to survive.

At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.

The blood orchid - a rare flower that could hold the secret of eternal life and be worth a fortune to the company that finds it first. Led by a pharmaceutical research team, a scientific expedition sets out to go and explore deep into the jungles of Borneo to locate and bring back samples of the legendary plant. Battling through rainstorms to make their way upriver, the group encounters poisonous insects and a ferocious crocodile, only to discover they're being stalked by an even greater danger: a gathering of giant anacondas. Heat-sensing, fifty-foot-long flesh eaters that will go after anyone that crosses in their path.

From the acclaimed team that brought you BBC's visual feast "Planet Earth," this feature length film incorporates some of the same footage from the series with all new scenes following three remarkable, yet sadly endangered, families of animal across the globe.

When three skiers find themselves stranded on a chair lift at a New England ski resort that has closed for the next week, they are forced to make life or death choices that prove to be more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.

When a huge hurricane hits her hometown in Florida, Haley ignores evacuation orders to look for her father. After finding him badly wounded, both are trapped by the flood. With virtually no time to escape the storm, they discover that rising water levels are the least of their problems.

A scientist explains how the savagery and efficiency of the insect world could result in their taking over the world.

Although first glance reveals little more than stones and sand, the desert is alive. Witness moving rocks, spitting mud pots, gorgeous flowers and the never-ending battle for survival between desert creatures of every shape, size and description.

A diverse group of individuals struggle to survive in the Kalahari desert after their passenger plane crashes.

A bush pilot in nothern Canada who with the aid of modernity thinks he can handle it all & knows it all. After reluctantly agreeing to transport a local indian girl to a medical facility his light plane crashes & they have to survive whilst finding their way back to civilization. Along the journey the man finds a new respect for the native ways as they battle to survive the elements.

Liz Bonnin introduces a cast of charismatic animals to reveal the remarkable strategies they use to survive, and even thrive, through the winter.

The changing position of the sun in the sky affects the behaviour of animals and plants across our planet. From the moment it rises, animals are waiting, ready to take advantage of the opportunities that the sun creates. A quirky chameleon uses solar power to survive, while a family of lemurs get a morning heat fix. But, as the day progresses and the sun climbs higher in the sky, becoming more powerful, animals must also react as it pushes them toward moments of crisis. As the sun sets and its great heat and light are extinguished, a night-time world wakes, full of characters who have carved a niche in the darkness. But even in the dead of night, the sun is not lost. Its rays are reflected in the moon, our 'ghost sun.' We take the rising and setting of the sun for granted, but it is the ultimate game changer. The way the natural world responds will be the difference between success and failure, life or death.

Table manners are out. Follow Africa's five mega-predators as they struggle for survival in a cruel season of deprivation on South Africa's Mala Mala Reserve. To survive they must compete for the same resources using every physical and psychological weapon in their respective arsenals. Who will emerge as top predator? What will it take to survive? Enter their minds, see through their eyes, and prepare to experience the battle for survival as never before in this stunningly filmed operation into the eat or be eaten world of Predators at War. Award-winning wildlife photographer and former game warden Kim Wolhuter is ‘embedded’ with Africa’s five super-predators as drought ravages the once lush Mala Mala Private Game Reserve. Now, as territories shrink, and the usual ‘rules of engagement’ explode into conflict, predator is pitted against predator in an all-out war for the area’s dwindling resources.

Follow the path of the sun on its annual cycle, from the Equator, across the northern hemisphere and into the South. Witness a world bursting with life, as spring and summer follow the passage of the sun. Revealed in all their glory are the natural rhythms of life - the urge to breed, to feed and to raise young - all driven by the sun, the moon and the seasons, across the world.

Four top predators are compared, each champion in a type of environment, with key adaptations. On the ground, the cheetah outruns prey (approached in masterly stealth) and enemies. In the air, the peregrine falcon is a flight and diving machine. In sweet water, the Nile crocodile survives since the Dino age, without natural enemies, with several amazing metabolism stunts. Lurking under water, it snaps blindly at migrating wildebeest, then waits underground. In the oceans, the equally ancient shark, notably the great white, migrates seasonally to find abundant prey, such as young seals around South Africa.

Eight celebrities embark on a 12-day expedition in the rainforest of Costa Rica, where they must learn to navigate difficult terrain, build shelters, make fire and eat the food that nature provides. From abseiling down ferocious waterfalls to crossing perilous rapids, the stars face a range of challenges and Bear himself eliminates one of them each week, leaving three in the final.

David Attenborough celebrates the amazing variety of the natural world in this epic documentary series, filmed over four years across 64 different countries.

Without plants, there would be no food, no animals of any sort, no life on earth at all. Yet for most of the time their lives remain a secret to us, hidden, private events.The reason is merely a difference of time. Plants live on a different time-scale from ours. Though not obviously to the naked eye, they are constantly on the move: developing, fighting, avoiding or exploiting predators or neighbours, struggling to find food, to increase their territories, to reproduce themselves, to find and hold a place in the sun. We only need to learn to look.

A cinematic experience bringing you the most amazing human stories in the world. Humans and wildlife surviving in the most extreme environments on Earth.

Iolo Williams explores the behaviour of birds in Wales, revealing all aspects of their lives from surviving harsh winters and avoiding predators, to living alongside us in our towns and cities.

In each and every one of these action packed hours, Gordon Buchanan is on a personal and dangerous mission to really KNOW a MANEATER -an animal that has killed or even eaten a human. But as populations of the planet's apex predators decrease, the number of attacks on humans increases. Buchanan wants to go to the places where man still battles beast and put himself 'directly in the path' of a predator to find out.

Africa is a land sculpted by time where animals have evolved complex weapons to arm them in the battle to live another day. An elephant's tusks can defend, or attack. An octopus uses camouflage to find food, or hide from an enemy. A Cape Fur Seal's speed and agility are valuable tools to catch a penguin, but ineffectual against a Great White Shark. A single hippopotamus holds a pride of twelve lions at bay with his sheer bulk, but backs down when faced with the piercing teeth of another hippo. With lethal weapons wielded by fearsome predators and prey, animals walk a precarious path, here among Africa's Deadliest.

In the desolate outreaches of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the most competitive fishing season on Earth takes place throughout four short weeks. 1,800 captains and their crews draw the battle lines to help save Alaska's ecosystem by reeling in a massive sockeye salmon payday. With potential fortune swimming just below the surface, five captains prepare to battle the unforgiving bay, the battering ram of boats jockeying for position and the law, which strictly monitors the season with recon choppers and police squads. On the bay, fishing for the nearly 44 million salmon is necessary for the environment, and arm of the law is long, tempers are short and every single decision is the difference between drawing a huge income and settling for pennies.

A unique fusion of blue chip natural history and earth science that explains how our living planet operates. This five-part series shows how the forces of nature drive, shape and support Earth’s great diversity of wildlife.

Continuing the compelling saga of the heartstring-tugging, dramatic tale of survival revolving around three families of meerkats who are descendants of the legendary meerkat matriarch, Flower. Neighbors and rivals who share a bloodline are forced to compete for food and resources in an environment that is undergoing a great deal of change: the Kalahari Desert in South Africa.

The Earth, our planet, is a magnificent and diverse world, filled to the brim with life. But life, in all its forms, cannot exist except within a very specific set of rules – among many, to be alive means to breathe, to breed, to sense one’s environment, and importantly – to and nourishment, in whatever form fits. Out in the wild, it’s eat or be eaten, and few escape this one law that governs all. The epic and eternal battle of predator vs. prey has moulded and shaped all life on Earth and resulted in a fierce array of weaponry and masterful set of skills. Deadliest Hunters takes a closer look at some of the animals that have led the way in refining their skills as masterful huntsmen.

Explore six of the last untouched locations on earth. The documentary series presents life as nature intended, following the unique way wildlife has adapted to these environments and continues to rise to new challenges over the course of a year.

For wild animals, life is all about survival. And in this daily battle, many species have adapted in amazing ways. By evolving unique behaviours, abilities and anatomical mutations, these animals have learned to survive, in every corner of the earth. Wildest Survival explores this rich and varied world of animal behaviour. From sophisticated animal communication to extraordinary sexual selection, bizarre animal mating to epic migrations; this series explores the most important themes in nature. Each episode of Wildest Survival features incredible, action packed sequences of creatures struggling to survive, revealing the most incredible ways that animals find food, a mate, avoid death and even take revenge.

Life's extraordinary journey to conquer, adapt and survive on Earth across billions of years comes alive in this groundbreaking nature docuseries.

Tom Hardy narrates this thrilling natural history series following five apex predators facing the ultimate test of survival in drastically changing environments across the globe.