Animals That Changed History - Season 1 - Covering: When our ancestors saw how other animals kept warm in sub-freezing temperatures, they started hunting them for their hides and fur. As hominid evolution was diverging from other primates, they lost their thick covering of fur when the mercury dropped.
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In 2016, a historic moment arrived when Barack Obama spoke in Cuba to the inhabitants of the island nation and promised a future together. For the first time in more than 50 years, an American president had entered the communist country and turned towards an erstwhile enemy. However, the US economic embargo against Cuba continues. It sanctions the socialist state – although the UN General Assembly recently again called it a violation of international law. Many Cubans are therefore sceptical about a new political future, despite the friendly words of the American President. Their distrust is deep. It is based on over fifty years of history and the policies of the United States towards their country. For years, the Cuban government has raised serious allegations against their big neighbour. The film "Operation Peter Pan" tracks these allegations.
It's in spring 2008, when the telephone of the Archaeological State Office Schleswig-Holstein suddenly rings. The message archeologist Martin Segschneider receives makes him curious.
From Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia, from Osnabrück to Paderborn, one of Germany's most beautiful forests extends for some 150 kilometers - the Teutoburg Forest. The low mountain range became famous due to the Varus Battle that took place in 9 AD. It was here that Hermann, or Arminius, the Cherusci Prince vanquished the Roman occupation army.
In Cologne in 1212 a boy named Nicholas captivated thousands of children between the ages of eight and fifteen with his fanatical speeches. They had been chosen, he said, to liberate Jerusalem. Likewise, in the French town of Cloyes a young shepherd gathered numerous children around him with the same proclamation.
Just after midnight on May 2, 2011, United States Special Forces raided the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama Bin laden had been hiding for years. “America's public enemy number one” was killed during the operation. The Navy SEALs thoroughly searched his house, recovering everything that could provide information about Bin Laden and his terrorist network Al-Qaeda: His documents and private correspondence, as well as every electronic data carrier.
In February 1917 World War I is raging when Mata Hari is arrested in Paris and taken to the examining magistrate. Her very life is at stake: she is accused of high treason. The famous exotic dancer has come to represent beauty and the power of feminine seduction. The documentary Mata Hari - the Beautiful Spy tracks down the true story of this fascinating woman.
North Korea is a country of stark contrasts. On the one hand, it presents real socialist stereotypes like cryptic messages from a frozen time loop, combined with shocking reports on shortages. On the other hand, polished Pyongyang lures with a futuristic skyline, flashy amusement parks and department stores with a range of goods equal to those in western consumer meccas.
A brook in the Serengeti is the home of a leopardess. The secret queen of the shadows took care of her son and has done a good job so far but the adventure continues.
The gallery forests of the Serengeti are the realm of a phantom. The shadowy thickets are the domain of a Leopardess.
Anacondas have fired people's imagination since time immemorial. Hardly any other animal is so feared and yet at the same time so revered as the biggest snake in the world.
The Lauenburg Lake District is located between Lübeck and Lauenburg on the River Elbe. With more than 470 square kilometres, it is the third largest natural reserve in Schleswig-Holstein. Due to its extensive forest areas, 40 lakes and its proximity to Mecklenburg's biosphere reserve Lake Schalsee, it forms the largest protectoral area alongside the former inner-German border.
Eagles are top predators who battle fiercely for survival and work hard to raise their young. There are 60 members of the eagle clan, all united by their acute eyesight, powerful wings, sharp talons and hooked beaks. To explore the world of the eagle we follow one individual from hatching to leaving the nest and setting up a home. Her fight for survival reveals what it takes to become a queen of the sky.
In the waters surrounding New Zealand live a number of dolphin species - each of which has evolved unique strategies in their family pods to survive and thrive in the different habitats around these islands in the Pacific Ocean. On the east coast of the south island off the iconic Kaikoura peninsula, an underwater canyon pushes water seething with nutrients to the surface which provides a year round banquet for huge pods of dusky dolphins. These athletic and highly social dolphins spend their nights feeding out in the canyon, and in early morning they return closer to shore where they rest socialize and play. One of their favourite activities is the “seaweed game” where individuals pass pieces of seaweed to each other practicing fancy maneuvers where they'll catch it on their tail, dorsal or pectoral fins. Down in the south west corner of New Zealand in the majestic landscape of Fiordland live the southern-most bottlenose dolphins. At almost 4 metres long these dolphins have adapted physically to the extreme winter conditions down here by growing bigger and fatter with extra insulating blubber and evolving stubbier beaks and shorter fins and tail flukes to reduce heat loss through their extremities. These fiords are different to the coastal environment in that freshwater sits on top of the denser seawater in a distinct layer, and is much colder than the saltwater and can prove lethal to the pods' calves in winter, so every year the bottlenose dolphins make a short migration to the outer fiords where there is less freshwater to enable their calves to survive. Off New Zealand's north island, in the middle of the Bay of Plenty, the country's most active volcano erupts from the sea, sending plumes of toxic gases rising skywards. In the water surrounding this volcano roam common dolphins - the nomads of the dolphin world. They are pelagic predators which mean they roam the open ocean searching for prey.
Sex is at the heart of everything. It's the only real way of leaving a legacy - in the genes of the future. But there's more than just the act - it's the build up to it when wildlife shows its incredible diversity. It drives touching courtships and fierce battles. Hormones and sex drive are forces that shape behaviour and can change an animal's purpose and persona. This is the story of how wild things get sexy.
We mostly know the nimble predators from the depths of tropical seas. At the same time very little is known about the sharks of the icy North.
The world is full of giants, huge creatures that fill us with awe and wonder. Some are gentle giants. Others are deadly hunters. There are different ways of defining ‘big' - biggest in volume, or the biggest of their kind. But one thing is for sure, the huge animals of this world are fascinating, diverse and beautiful.
Animals That Changed History - Season 1 - Companionship: Throughout history, humans have surrounded themselves with animals. But there are two species that are our undeniable favourites. Every dog today was once a wolf - genetically speaking. Wolves and hominids met as early as 400,000 years ago. Ancient hunter-gatherers and wolves competed for the same prey, and used the same tracking techniques.
Animals That Changed History - Season 1 - Beasts of Burden: About twelve thousand years ago, before the Neolithic Revolution, humans were mainly hunter-gatherers. Among the animals we hunted were the wild aurochs, the ancestor of all domestic cattle. The domestication of cows led to the use of oxen as draught animals that could help farmers plough fields.
Animals That Changed History - Season 1 - Covering: When our ancestors saw how other animals kept warm in sub-freezing temperatures, they started hunting them for their hides and fur. As hominid evolution was diverging from other primates, they lost their thick covering of fur when the mercury dropped.
Animals That Changed History - Season 1 - Food: Human life today would be very different if our ancestors had not stopped hunting animal protein. In the Fertile Crescent - known today as the Middle East - humans travelled in nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers and ate what they killed.
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