Summary: Journeying into the heart of equatorial Africa, this program joins Spanish primatologist Magdalena Bermejo and her husband, cinematographer German Illera, as Bermejo conducts groundbreaking research into the lives of western lowland gorillas. Viewers come to understand the discipline and perseverance required for such observation, as numerous challenges (including swarms of sweat bees and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beneath our feet lies a world of violence, death, and renewal-the soil. This program takes viewers deep inside that unseen realm, focusing on the chemical and ecological complexity that enriches soil and sustains plant and animal life. A wide array of fungi, microorganisms, insects, and small animals are examined, illustrating the roles they play in the development of root systems and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Drawing astonishing connections between forces thousands of miles apart, this program shows how life on earth is being pushed to extremes by a one-degree rise in average temperature. Specific topics include animal population declines, atmospheric developments above the oceans, and the widespread appearance of a previously rare respiratory illness. Viewers learn how many scientists believe these...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the pursuit of his work, celebrated photographer Frans Lanting has lived in the trees with wild macaws, camped with giant tortoises inside a volcanic crater, and documented never-before-photographed wildlife and tribal traditions in Madagascar. In this stunning TEDTalk slideshow, Lanting presents The LIFE Project, a poetic collection of photographs that tell the story of our planet, from its...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Science Screen Report studies how deserts form and how organisms adapt to these harsh environments. Defining a desert as a vast area of windy, arid land, the program identifies the Gobi and Sahara as common examples as well as regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. It demonstrates that many of these supposed wastelands contain surprisingly high levels of biodiversity, and shows how...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Across the world, plants and animals are silently finding their way into places where they don't belong. These interlopers, upon which scientists frequently bestow the term invasive species, have been known to display fearsome powers-including uncanny abilities to spread disease, damage soil, even devour buildings. This program examines the dangers posed by invasive species and the roles they...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: From 1968 to 1972, photographer and filmmaker Bob Campbell documented the activities of Dian Fossey as she developed a cross-species bond with Rwandan mountain gorillas. Campbell shot 70,000 feet of film, but only a fraction of his material was edited into the lecture presentation that preceded Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist. This program compiles highlights from the previously unreleased...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: whaledreamers-the title alone conjures up hypnotic visions of these most magnificent and ancient creatures. This visually stunning film offers an incredible glimpse into a rarely seen and scarcely understood tribal culture whose entire story of creation revolves around whales and has endured for centuries. The film passionately explores the connection between the subtle elegance of these...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: From the forests and coral reefs of the developing world to Yellowstone's majestic wilderness, researchers are learning more about the role predators play in the health of our natural systems. This program illustrates what happens when species that naturally prey on other species disappear. Does the general public need to rethink deep-rooted views of predators? Can we re-create missing links...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Eminent biologist E. O. Wilson has spent his life studying creatures great and small-from humans to insects-as well as the fragile and complex nature of the biosphere as a whole. Bill Moyers Journal profiles the two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, his advocacy of environmental stewardship, and his latest project: the Encyclopedia of Life, an online digital catalog of every living species on the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This Science Screen Report explores the challenges that marine plants and animals face in rocky shoreline areas, and vividly illustrates the diversity of those life forms. Examining crustaceans, gastropods, mollusks, and other shoreline creatures, the program shows how tide pools form a marine sub-habitat, and how rocky shore dwellers have evolved specific abilities to survive powerful waves...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Have Earth's vibrant waterways-its streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans-become delivery systems for pollutants and poison? This program points to signs that toxic substances are overwhelming our planet's aquatic ecosystems. Viewers encounter many of the causes for this concern, including a radical decrease in frog populations, distressed marine mammals in estuary habitats, and disturbing changes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Called "the rainforests of the sea," the world's coral reefs are home to millions of species. But these underwater ecosystems are in grave danger. This program travels to Chumbe Island Coral Park, Zanzibar; Mafia Island Marine Park, Tanzania; and Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt, to study the fragile ecology and amazing biodiversity of coral reefs-and the impacts of tourism, pollution,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Born in London in 1934, Jane Goodall spent decades in Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park, studying the social and family structures of chimpanzees and helping to bring their ecological vulnerability into the public consciousness. She also founded and remains integral to the Jane Goodall Institute, which encourages environmental activism and stewardship among young people. In this program,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010