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GREAT WILDLIFE MOMENTS VIDEO
Sir David Attenborough: For the past 50 years, the Natural History Unit has been filming nature at its most dramatic, so that we at home can see the natural world at its most spectacular and its most intimate.
But filming such a moment once is not enough. It's that that turns a good sequence into an astounding one. Take the killer whale sequence we've just seen. It was to lie in the surf and get shots that give the point of view of the seal of an attacking whale. All this sounds above and beyond the call of duty. So their carefully judged daring created a moment of television history that made its way into the memory of a generation. There have been many more such moments both before and since. Now, for the first time, they're compiled into one collection.
Categorised by regions, it travels from the vast expanses of the world's oceans to the claustrophobic tangle of this planet's jungles, from the skies above to the wide, open spaces below.
This collection takes us to places that are still unspoilt wildernesses,and long may they continue to be so.
The hippopotamus. Supported by the water, they use less energy than they would on land. Moving requires only a gentle push. They save energy in other ways too.
If the bear has learnt anything about salmon fishing, it's that when they're in still pools, forget them.
Crocodiles are everywhere. The migration is the bonanza they've been waiting for. But the zebra are surprisingly well-armed. Even in water, a zebra's kick is more than a crocodile can endure.
In rare cases, kingfishers try to drown each other, but in 15 years of watching them, I've only ever seen it once.
After three months buried in their eggs, baby green iguanas burst out ready to go. We know from fossils that some baby dinosaurs hatched from communal nests, but what happened next?
One of the most extraordinary of these insect enticers Iives here in the tropical rainforest of Sumatra. It only flowers once in 1000 days, and when the flower develops, it only lasts for three days, so very few people have seen it, but here it is.
So it seems really very unfair that man should have chosen the gorilla to symbolise all that is aggressive and violent, when that's the one thing that the gorilla is not and that we are.
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South American sea lions off the coast of Patagonia. They can't give birth while swimming, as whales and dolphins do, but have to come ashore. But the sea itself can harbour enemies. A killer whale: 30 feet long, eight tons in weight.
Natal, on South Africa's eastern seaboard. But this is a living slick, millions and millions of sardines on a marine migration that rivals that of the wildebeest on the grasslands of Africa. Common dolphin are coming in from the open ocean to join the feast.
In mid-afternoon, the elephants take to the ocean. Mahouts guide them through the water by pressing a foot behind the ears. These are working elephants.
The November monsoons bring torrential rain to Christmas Island and this triggers one of the most spectacular events in the natural world. All over the island, red crabs are on the move.
Blue whale, 30 metres long and weighing over 200 tons. It's far bigger than even the biggest dinosaur. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant, its heart is the size of a car.
Maachli being pursued by Nick again. He's definitely interested in mating. He's much bigger than Maachli, so this is a really risky moment for her.
Elephants must have been coming here for centuries, each generation deepening the cave and passing on to the next its knowledge of the route through the darkness to the precious salt.
What bird has the most elaborate, the most complex, the most beautiful song in the world?
There are lots of contenders, but this bird must be one of them: the superb lyrebird of southern Australia. The birds are in another emergent tree just like this one, and I've got an absolutely clear view of them.
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In May, when the freezing waters and cold temperatures force other animals to retreat to warmer conditions in the north, emperor penguins head south. They make their way to a number of traditional nesting sites.
Japanese cranes can live for more than 50 years and usually pair for life. Gathering in farm fields, they reinforce this bond with synchronised displays.
A small scratch on his left shoulder suggests a snake bite. He almost certainly ran straight into a puff adder inside the burrow. A bite from this snake could kill a man.
One liones waits. Others fan out in a flanking manoeuvre. Their strategy has the herd surrounded. The zebra's kick saves its life, but other lions lie in ambush.
Back at the African waterhole, after four long days, the giant python has selected its prey. Now it changes position in the water, going into the reeds close to the bank.
When sifakas are on the move, their agility and precision in the trees can clearly be seen, particularly in slow motion. Sifakas are vertical leapers, relying on powerful rear legs to push off with, and large feet to clamp onto the branches.
Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas. In the heart of town, it may not seem a likely home for wildlife. Mexican free-tailed bats. The home city of George W Bush is also the bat capital of the world. In the Dadia Mountains in Greece, golden eagles hunt over open forest, but their long wings create problems when chasing their prey among the trees. They have found an unlikely alternative prey. Now I'm getting up into the canopy, into the world of the birds of paradise. And here's the top.
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GREAT WILDLIFE MOMENTS VIDEO Part.1
