In this captivating final episode of the series we meet some incredible conservation champions on nature's front line, fighting to preserve the future of our beautiful planet. The episode opens with a dramatic rescue operation for the critically endangered black rhino, showcasing the efforts of Dumi Zwane and his team to establish a new breeding colony in a safe haven. The focus then shifts to the Centro Jambatu research center in the Andes, where Jaime Culebras works tirelessly to save the last of certain frog species. The documentary also highlights the efforts of Trang Nguyen, who bravely infiltrates the illegal wildlife trade in West Africa to protect forest elephants from ivory poachers. Meanwhile, in Vienna, Katharina Huchler undertakes a remarkable journey to reintroduce the northern bald ibis to Europe after its extinction 400 years ago. Indigenous leader Alessandra Korap's battle to preserve the Amazon rainforest from exploitation is a key focus, alongside Mohamed Nasheed's fight against climate change to save coral reefs and his country. This episode addresses the broader issue of habitat destruction, emphasizing its role as a primary driver of extinction. It poignantly demonstrates the interconnectivity of life on Earth and the critical importance of conservation efforts.
This featured episode of the documentary series takes viewers on a captivating journey around the world, showcasing the astonishing ways in which animals adapt to living alongside humans. In Sauraha, Nepal, a rhino navigates through human-inhabited areas in search of food. In Bali, long-tailed macaques have learned to trade stolen items for food, demonstrating their intelligence and adaptability. The bustling streets of New York City are home to pavement ants that thrive on human leftovers, while in India, revered cobras coexist with humans in a unique cultural relationship. Melbourne, Australia, features nocturnal frogmouths benefiting from urban lighting for hunting, and Lake Tahoe in North America sees black bears adapting to easy food sources in human settlements. The documentary also delves into the challenges faced by wildlife due to human expansion and climate change. It highlights the plight of African elephants in Kenya conflicting with farmers, the impact of overfishing on humpback whales in Vancouver Island, and the dramatic increase of desert locusts in northeastern Africa due to climate-induced conditions. The episode concludes by emphasizing the importance of reimagining our relationship with nature. It suggests a shift towards plant-based diets to reduce agricultural land use and the potential of vertical farming technologies, offering hope and solutions for a sustainable coexistence with wildlife.
At first glance, Matthew Vandyke —a shy Baltimore native with a sheltered upbringing and a tormenting Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder diagnosis— is the last person you’d imagine on the front lines of the 2011 Libyan revolution. But after finishing grad school and escaping the U.S. for 'a crash course in manhood,' a winding path leads him just there. Motorcycling across North Africa and the Middle East and spending time as an embedded journalist in Iraq, Matthew lands in Libya, forming an unexpected kinship with a group of young men who transform his life. Matthew joins his friends in the rebel army against Gaddafi, taking up arms (and a camera). Along the way, he is captured and held in solitary confinement for six terrifying months.
In the second episode, Dreadnoughtus males compete for the right to mate. Lizards are hunted by Velociraptor among a group of sleeping Tarbosaurus. A Mononykus forages for termites and investigates new food options after a brief rainstorm. Several types of dinosaurs congregate around a watering hole in Mongolia. Above the deserts of North Africa, aerial combat ensues as male Barbaridactylus pterosaurs fight for the attention of females below. A herd of Secernosaurus brave the harsh gypsum dunes in search of nourishment.
Diarmaid MacCulloch traces the growth of an exuberant expression of faith that has spread across the globe - Evangelical Protestantism. Today, it is associated with conservative politics, but the whole story is distinctly more unexpected. It is easily forgotten that the evangelical explosion has been driven by a concern for social justice and the claim that one could stand in a direct emotional relationship with God. It allowed the Protestant faith to burst its boundaries from its homeland in Europe. In America, its preachers marketed Christianity with all the flair and swashbuckling enterprise of American commerce. In Africa, it converted much of the continent by adapting to local traditions, and now it is expanding into Asia. But is Korean Pentecostalism and its message of prosperity in the here and now an adaptation too far?
The series explores the impact of racism on a global scale and chronicles the shifts in the perception of race and the history of racism in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. The first episode begins by assessing the implications of the relationship between Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 15th century. It considers how racist ideas and practices developed in key religious and secular institutions, and how they showed up in writings by European philosophers Aristotle and Immanuel Kant.
This episode addresses the broader issue of habitat destruction, emphasizing its role as a primary driver of extinction. It poignantly demonstrates the interconnectivity of life on Earth and the critical importance of conservation efforts.