Last Watched

Palaeontology

Sort by

Attenborough and the Giant Egg

   2011    Science
David Attenborough returns to the island of Madagascar on a very personal quest. In 1960, he visited the island to film one of his first ever wildlife series - Zoo Quest. Whilst he was there, he acquired a giant egg belonging to an extinct bird known as the 'elephant bird' - the largest bird that ever lived. It has been one of his most treasured possessions ever since. Fifty years older, he now returns to the island to find out more about this amazing creature and to see how the island has changed. Could the elephant bird's fate provide lessons that may help protect Madagascar's remaining wildlife?
Using Zoo Quest archive and specially shot location footage, this film follows David as he revisits scenes from his youth and meets people at the front line of wildlife protection. On his return, scientists at Oxford University are able to reveal for the first time how old David's egg actually is, and what that might tell us about the legendary elephant bird.

Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard

   2021    Science
David Attenborough joins an archaeological dig uncovering Britain’s biggest mammoth discovery in almost 20 years. In 2017, in a gravel quarry near Swindon, two amateur fossil hunters found an extraordinary cache of Ice Age mammoth remains and a stone hand-axe made by a Neanderthal. Professor Ben Garrod joins the team at DigVentures during the excavation as they try to discover why the mammoths were here and how they died. Could the Neanderthals have killed these Ice Age giants?

Attenborough and the Sea Dragon

   2018    Science
A remarkable 200-million-year-old fossil - the bones of an ichthyosaur, a giant sea dragon - has been discovered on the Jurassic coast of Britain. David Attenborough joins the hunt to bring this ancient creature's story to life. Using state-of-the-art imaging technology and CGI, the team reconstruct the skeleton and create the most detailed animation of an ichthyosaur ever made. Along the way, the team stumble into a 200-million-year-old murder mystery - and only painstaking forensic investigation can unravel the story of this extraordinary creature's fate.

Badlands

   2023    Science
Female Isisaurus traverse the Deccan Traps to reach their nesting site. A mixed herd of sauropods and Prenocephale navigate a maze of canyons, but are ambushed by a pack of Velociraptor and a trio of Tarbosaurus. A colony of male Corythoraptor protect their eggs from the scorching sun by day, and a female Kuru kulla at night, who has offpsring of her own.
Trudging through a scorching desert, two young Tarchia find relief at an oasis and encounter an adult twice their size, ready to lay claim. Several Isisaurus hatchlings fall prey to Rajasaurus in an attempt to reach their ancestral home.
Series: Prehistoric Planet II

Bear Necessities

   2008    Science
One animal embodies all that is amazing about survival. It has adapted to wildly varying habitats and evolved unique weapons of survival; its greatest asset is its ferocious bite and it is evolutions ultimate survivor, but what species is it? Find out if a new bear species could be about to evolve before our very eyes.
Series: Evolutions

Canyonlands

   2003    Nature
Journey through the long-vanished corners of prehistoric North America, beginning when man first entered the vast, unspoiled continent some 14,000 years ago, in this appealing BBC documentary. Witness ancient beasts, mammoths, mastodons, giant bears, and sabre-toothed cats, and see the legacies each has passed to their modern successors. Computer animation and digital effects bring to life mammoths, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, short-faced bears, glyptodonts, and a plethora of smaller animals in a lush Ice Age mosaic.
Series: Prehistoric America
Human Planet

Human Planet

2011  Culture
Neanderthal

Neanderthal

  History
Bronze Age

Bronze Age

2016  History
Rome Second Season

Rome Second Season

  History
The Story of China

The Story of China

2016  History
Conquistadors

Conquistadors

2002  History
Clash of the Gods

Clash of the Gods

2009  History
Clash of the Gods

Clash of the Gods

2009  History