Key Stages: 1 - 2

Description

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BD0014 Habitats & Adaptations

BD0011 Take One Lion

Episode length - 1 hour

David Attenborough takes a breathtaking journey through the vast and diverse continent of Africa as it has never been seen before.

1 - Kalahari - In Africa's southwest corner, two extraordinary deserts sit side by side. Water is in short supply, yet these deserts are somehow full of life because the creatures that live here have turned the rules of survival on their head. In the Kalahari scrublands, clever meerkats are outsmarted by a wily bird, black rhinos get together to party and giant insects stalk huge flocks of birds. Rain almost never falls in the Namib. The creatures in this desert have gone to extremes as spiders wheel to escape and a desert giraffe fights to defend his scant resources in the greatest giraffe battle ever filmed.

2 - Savannah - East Africa is a land which is constantly changing: wet turning to dry, feast to famine, cold to hot. From dense forests to snow capped peaks, steamy swamps and endless savannah, this unique and varied land is also a haven for life. But away from the familiar, forever-travelling herds, there are a huge cast of other characters - lizards that steal flies from the faces of lions, vast dinosaur-like birds who stalk catfish through huge wetlands, and an eagle who risks everything on the arrival of ten million bats from a far off rainforest.

3 - Congo - The very heart of Africa is covered in dense tropical rainforest. The animals that live here find the most ingenious ways to carve out their space in a claustrophobic landscape. Danger lurks in every shadow, but some animals thrive here, from honey-stealing chimps to birds with a lineage as old as the dinosaurs, thundering elephants and kick-boxing frogs.

4 - Cape - Southern Africa is a riot of life and colour because of two great ocean currents that sweep around the continent's Cape. To the east, the warm Agulhas current generates clouds that roll inland to the wettest place in southern Africa. To the west is the cold Benguela current, home to more great white sharks than anywhere else. Moisture laden fog rolls inland, supporting an incredible desert garden. Where the two currents meet, the clash of warm and cold water creates one of the world's most fabulous natural spectacles - South Africa's sardine run.

6 - The Future - David Attenborough comes face to face with a baby rhino and asks what the future holds for this little one. He meets the local people who are standing side-by-side with the wildlife at this pivotal moment in their history. We discover what it takes to save a species, hold back a desert and even resurrect an entire wilderness - revealing what the world was like before modern man. 

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