The Nature of Sex
From the sea horse that mates in an hypnotic underwater ballet to the rodent who copulates until he literally drops dead, THE NATURE OF SEX spans the globe to illustrate how an astonishing diversity of life forms find their mates and conceive, raise, and protect their offspring.
More from Season 18
Episode 1
Antarctica: The End of the Earth: Katabatic
Documentary that explores Antarctica's weather phenomena, its rugged and adaptable wildlife and the powerful dynamics of its ever-changing icecap. Part 1 discusses the effects of the katabatic -- the relentless wind that sweeps over the Antarctic landscape, often at speeds of more than 100 mile per hour, re-sculpting the topography of the continent and affecting the climate of the entire southern hemisphere.
Episode 2
Antarctica: The End of the Earth: Iceberg
Part 2 investigates the icebergs, million-ton islands of ice that have broken free of glacial cliffs to become floating platforms of life. Despite the harshness of the environment, diverse eco-systems thrive. The principal wildlife includes crabeater seals and leopard seals, Adelie and emperor penguins, Minke whales, krill, snow petrals and algae.
Episode 3
Horses
Though their glory days may be in the past, these hoofed creatures continue to enthrall us, as the NATURE program HORSES demonstrates in sparkling detail. From the steppes of Mongolia, where children race at breakneck speeds perched on stallions ten times their size, to the fields of Georgia, where people confined to wheelchairs find new freedom in the saddle, HORSES highlights the many roles played by this multi-talented beast of burden. There are also rare glimpses of the world’s most endangered horse, and an inside look at the art of the horse whisperers, the trainers who through their gentle touch can transform a wild bucking bronco into a stately show horse.
Episode 4
Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic
Ironically, the powerful, dedicated canines profiled in Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic are little more than mutts. They are mixed-breed huskies that have endurance.
Episode 5
Wisdom of the Wild
Human lives have been influenced by animals in matters that reach far beyond the food chain. In surprising ways, animals help teach, heal, and strengthen people -- in body, mind, and spirit.
Episode 6
Inside the Animal Mind Part One: Are Animals Intelligent?
Birds may have a reputation for being less than geniuses, but researchers are discovering that some are remarkably smart. Some birds have the capacity to recognize, count, or name different objects. Ravens, for instance, have the ability to solve difficult puzzles, such as untangling a knotted string to free up a tasty treat or figuring out how to steal fish by hauling in an angler’s untended line. And, as shown in the first part of NATURE’s Inside the Animal Mind, crows on the remote Pacific island of New Caledonia have learned a skill that people once thought only primates could master: the use of tools. The birds use long, specially chosen twigs to spear the plump grubs that hide deep beneath the bark of rotting logs.
