In the past few decades, scientists have learned that the basis of everything they thought they knew about bird brains—that they were largely comprised of the most primitive and instinctual of brain structures—was wrong. Fully 75 percent of the brains of parrots and thousands of other species of birds is actually made up of a sophisticated information processing system that works much the same way as the locus of human higher-mindedness, the cerebral cortex. The film shows scientists putting birds to the test. Can they solve problems? Can they cooperate? Do they feel emotion? New research demonstrates just how clever they can be.
A guide to plants that thrive in human-dominated environments, including trees that grow across canyons in India, which have developed into living bridges. The programme examines the origins of growing crops and the ongoing influence on the world of wild plants, as well as efforts to preserve species, from snipers firing pesticide bullets from helicopters to fend off invasive plants to plants being painstakingly pollinated using a paintbrush.
At the end of each Antarctic summer, the emperor penguins of the South Pole journey to their traditional breeding grounds in a fascinating mating ritual that is captured in this documentary by intrepid filmmaker Luc Jacquet. The journey across frozen tundra proves to be the simplest part of the ritual, as after the egg is hatched, the female must delicately transfer it to the male and make her way back to the distant sea to nourish herself and bring back food to her newborn chick.
The documentary shows the daily activities performed by the local and international staff who lives and works inside the Bear Rescue Center situated in Tam Dao National park, Northern Vietnam. Interviews, original and archive footage are edited to explain life, tasks and achievements of this NGO managed by Animals Asia. In this natural sanctuary, moon bears and sun bears are rescued, treated, kept safe and nursed: they are now free from the suffering caused by the cruel tortures of bile farming and extraction process. Since thousands of years bear bile products are in use in traditional oriental medicine and even nowadays it generates around two billions dollars of illegal business. Animals Asia staff is not only assuring better living and relief for rescued bears but promotes educational awareness about the bile farming issues, employees and generates fare trades for a relevant number of people of this rural area of Vietnam.
We love nature and all its glorious diversity. Some creatures we admire for their deadly beauty, others because they are cute, but for some it's hard to figure out exactly why we like them so much, perhaps it's a quirk. How do you decide nature's weirdest animal? Is it the sloth that hangs upside down and moves so slowly that moss grows in its fur? Is it a sea pen that sits rooted to the seabed in endless darkness and emitting its own glow? Could it be carnivorous snails that leave the ocean to digest dead creatures on the beach, finches that drink blood, or the tarantula that keeps a frog as it's pet. But with nature's endless variety, which is the weirdest? We can't decide. Can you?
A team of artists and activists exposes the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet. Two worlds drive extinction across the globe, potentially resulting in the loss of half of all species. The international wildlife black market at the expense of creatures that have survived on this planet for millions of years. And the other surrounds us, hiding in plain sight — a world that the oil and gas companies don’t want the rest of us to see. Using covert tactics and state-of-the-art technology, the Racing Extinction team exposes these two worlds in an inspiring affirmation to preserve life as we know it.
The film shows scientists putting birds to the test. Can they solve problems? Can they cooperate? Do they feel emotion? New research demonstrates just how clever they can be.