One family’s mission to trace their ancestor’s remains buried deep in the coastal sands of northern New Zealand and, together with a local Maori tribe, attempt to lay to rest the other restless spirits of 499 missing miners lost at sea over 100 years ago.
Ecologist Robert Richmond has been studying reef systems for a lifetime. What has he discovered?
The underwater habitat at the Kermadecs is unique in the world, supporting fish life not seen anywhere else, and sharks in abundance. Auckland Museum's Head of Natural Sciences, Tom Trnski, tells us why.
An amazing array of plants and animals survives in the Namib, the world’s oldest desert. They’ve had fifty million years to evolve cunning ways to cope with the heat and harvest water from the fog that often blankets this unique coastal desert.
The Kermadec Islands are a staging post for humpback whales heading from the tropics to feeding grounds in Antarctica that remain unknown. Scientists attempted to intercept them, track them, and discover where they go. Rochelle Constantine, director of the Marine Mammal Ecology Group at the University of Auckland describes how to shoot a whale for science.
The Kermadec Islands are a haven for seabirds, but it wasn't always this way. At the end of the 20th century, Raoul Island was practically devoid of birdlife. Seabird scientist Chris Gaskin reveals a remarkable story of recovery.
India’s Western Ghats are a lush, jungle refuge in an otherwise parched landscape. They intercept most of the summer monsoon rain, creating a home for wide range of iconic animals and weird mutants all adapted to make the most of the monsoon rains.
Giant panda cubs.
In Southwestern China immense geological forces have uplifted the highest ecosystems on Earth. Only a special breed of survivors can live up here, on the Roof of the World.
Devastating earthquake through the shift of tectonic plates.
In Africa’s Albertine Rift immense geological forces have created a huge variety of landscapes and transformed the climate. The unique residents of this evolutionary hotspot have been shaped by the Rift and evolved bizarre and unusual ways to survive.
The devastating effects of a tsunami hitting Auckland.
Ashes and molten rock cover the city of Auckland.
Costa Rica is the most biodiverse country in the world for its size. Its many eco-systems harbour a stunning array of exotic creatures—a great evolutionary melting pot resulting from the migration of animals from North and South America when a great land bridge joined the two continents 3 million years ago.
If humans ate like a fly.
The tropical island of Borneo: a strange and mysterious place of mutant creatures and plants seen nowhere else on Earth. Pygmy forest mammals, weird co-evolved partnerships between plants and animals, the world’s rarest ape and incredible gliders, occupy these 130 million year old jungles.
The life cycle of a zombie ant.
Suicidal lemmings.
In Antarctica there’s a war going on between those killing whales for scientific research and those who are attempting to stop them. Now a team of whale researchers from Australia and New Zealand enter the fray, to prove it’s possible to research these creatures without killing a single whale.
Compensation of being a pirate.
The Rift Valley Lakes of Africa tell the amazing evolutionary story of a small fish inside a species pressure cooker, unlike anywhere else on the planet.
A clumsy albatross.
Penguins messing about.
An isolated island once ruled by dinosaurs is transformed into a species factory where evolution creates wonders. Cycles of tumultuous geological and climatic events have forced all animals to mutate, creating an assemblage of the most amazing life on Earth. Madagascar is a story of survival...against all odds.
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