Africa's River Titans (2024)

Big Cat Odyssey: Revealed

Following award-winning filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert on their 30-year-long quest to document the behaviour of big cats in Botswana, this film brings together three decades worth of material, including extraordinary footage of hunting lions, scavenging hyenas and stealthy leopards. See firsthand the numerous changes that have led to dramatic decline of the lion population, and what needs to be done in order to ensure their survival

Storm Cats

Africa's big cats lead a predictable life, they are masters of the dry terrain. However, for eight intense weeks, violent storms transform their world. Storm Cats follows the lives of two generations of big cats during the fleeting wet season in arid Botswana. It is an intimate portrayal of lion and cheetah families pushed to the edge by nature's raw power. Only those that can adapt will survive

Africa's Fishing Leopards

David Attenborough narrates the intimate story of a leopard mother and her two cubs. This very special family must survive in the wilds of Botswana alongside some less-than-friendly neighbours: lions, wild dogs and hyenas. The competition for food is tough, and if they are going to make it they must learn a new skill - they must learn to fish. This is an epic family drama. With them every step of the way is local cameraman Brad Bestelink. Brad's 18-month journey following the lives of these secretive big cats offers a rare glimpse into an otherwise hidden world

Walking with Lions

Husband and wife team Phil and Lynne Richardson live at a water hole with lions, elephants, and baboons in the African bush of northern Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley. Video technologies like miniature infrared cameras and lenses for nighttime vision help them capture natural behavior without interfering with the wildlife

The White Lions

White lions are among the rarest and most treasured animals in the world. Rarer still is their survival in the wild. Their white color stands out in Africa’s wild bush country, increasing their risk of being targeted and killed by rival predators and marauding adult male lions. Only three white cubs have reached adulthood in the wilds of South Africa since white lions were first documented there in 1975. Now, two white cubs, sisters, have beaten the odds, surviving all the challenges of their youth with the help of two remarkable lionesses—their mother, Matimba, and their aunt, Khanya. Without an adult male lion to protect their small pride, Matimba and Khanya must rely solely on their own knowledge, strength and courage to protect their family.

Jaguar: King of the Jungle

The jaguar is the third largest of the big cats and pound for pound the most powerful. Our jaguar patrols a home range of over one hundred square kilometers in Brazil deep in the heart of the world's largest tropical rainforest.

Birth of a Pride

Follow two males lions who swam across the river from Namibia, and joined up with two females in Selinda. This union resulted in six cubs as they grow, learn to hunt, and ultimately, become the first pride in Selinda in many years

Lions Rule

The Lion, Africa’s ultimate predator. They’re known as the kings of the jungle yet their homeland is an open grassland rather than rainforest. In the African plains prey-rich real estate can be hard to come by, and lions work together to ensure no one claims their territory and usurps their crown

The Last Lioness: Birth of a Pride

A haunting call echoes across the Liuwa Plain. There is no answer, there hasn't been for years. She has no pride, no support - she alone must safeguard her own survival. Her name is Lady Liuwa, and she is the Last Lioness. Isolated by a scourge of illegal trophy hunting that wiped out the rest of her species in the region, Lady Liuwa is the only known resident lion surviving on Zambia's Liuwa Plain. For four years, cameraman Herbert Brauer watched her lonely life unfold, until, in her solitude, she reached out to him for companionship. But Herbert knows he is not the companion this lonely lioness needs - she should be amongst her own kind. Now, in May of 2009, plans for a male lion translocation have come through, and there is hope for ending her isolation. For the first time in more than five years, Lady Liuwa will no longer be the Last Lioness This is just a re-titled version of "The Last Lioness"

Killer IQ: Lion vs. Hyena

In this documentary, world-famous lion whisperer Kevin Richardson maps the behavior of both lions and hyenas. Assisted by the world's leading behavioral scientists, Richardson conducts various tests that target specific skills and aspects of the animals' behavior. Cognitive awareness and social intelligence are put to the test: how well do the animals do in tasks such as puzzle boxes, tug-of-war or mirror mazes? Do they share their findings with their family or clan? Or do they keep the newly acquired knowledge to themselves?

Puma!

It is a powerful predator, one of the most elusive animals in Patagonia and rarely filmed. In the very South of Chile the Pumas' hunting grounds lie in the awe-inspiring Torres del Paine National Park, follow a mother Puma as she rears her cubs in the wild, teaching them to survive and thrive.

Swamp Lions

The Swamp Pride is on its knees. Its mighty male was killed by poachers, leaving three mothers and their cubs defenseless in one of the toughest landscapes for a lion in Africa. Busanga Swamp is a quagmire, even in the dry season. Hunting in shoulder-deep water is all but impossible, and deadly hippos and crocodiles patrol the ever-present waters. Keeping cubs alive here is hard work, but for these lionesses it just got even harder: two massive young male lions are hunting them down. The males want to claim the Swamp Pride and its territory as their own, but to take over a pride they must kill its cubs. The mothers must fight tooth and claw to make sure that doesn't happen

Surviving the Drought

The Ruaha National Park in the south of Tanzania used to be a true paradise for wildlife gathered around the rich Ruaha river. A life-or-death quest for water has begun and the bewildered animals have no choice but to follow the dry riverbed upstream hoping to find water. Witness to this tragedy, a pride of hungry and thirsty lionesses and their cubs overlook the last pockets of water. Although it is dangerous for the young cubs to travel, the females have no choice but to follow the herds of herbivores in their migration.

Russia's Wild Tiger

Records the battle for the survival of the big cats and reveals intimate details of their lives. The animals they prey on are also in the film: tigers couldn’t survive without sika deer, Altai wapiti, wild boars and Asian black bears. Guiding the viewer through the film, an elder tiger tells the story of his cub, born in a conservation area, the year after he leaves his mother.

Lioness in Exile

Soon after we meet Manyari, the queen of her pride, she does something both unusual and bold: She leaves the sanctuary of the clan with her young cubs and takes them on a dangerous odyssey. She makes a bid to escape because two young bloods are sniffing around, and if they take over the pride, they will kill her cubs

The Real Lion Queen

The circle of life is broken in Zambia's Liuwa Plains National Park. Settlers, poachers, and professional hunters have almost wiped out the lion population, leaving just one lioness in the vast wilderness - but not for long. This is the story of "Lady Liuwa," a lion queen without a kingdom, and Herbert Brauer, a wildlife cinematographer on a six-year journey to find her a mate in hopes of forming a new pride. It's a mission full of setbacks and disappointments, chaos and danger, and the magic of unexpected relationships

Big Cat Games

From extreme speed to bone crushing bites, big cats are some of the most impressive predators on the planet. Each of them is an incredible animal, with its own unique and special set of skills. In Big Cat Games, we will challenge ferocious felines against each other in a series of trials that will determine once and for all who is king of the cats. In the wild they are confident, dominant, and fearless—but they have never had to face anything like this before. Lions, cheetahs and tigers will be pushed to the limits of their natural athletic abilities

Hippo vs Croc

Hippos and crocs have lived side by side for millennia, but are they cozy bedfellows or arch-enemies? One is a hefty herbivore, the other is the most successful freshwater predator on the planet, so how do they manage to survive together in the same habitat? They each have a unique arsenal of attributes honed by centuries of evolution; muscle power, bite force and ferocious dentition give them the edge in their environment. But once a year, their peaceful semi-aquatic existence turns into a battle for survival.

My Tiger Family

In the jungles of north west India, there lives a remarkable wild tiger family. Now, using 50 years of footage, the story of their matriarchal clan is pieced together.

Cave Crocs of Gabon

A caving expedition recently discovered a community of dwarf crocodiles living in the Abanda Caves, Gabon. The crocs are living in pitch darkness, hunt bats and some have bright-orange skin. Part of the original team returns to find out more about this bizarre phenomenon. It's mission impossible to access the crocs world and there's no way of knowing what they might find.

Lion Queen

Nakuru National Park in Kenya is rather like a reform centre for wayward youth. Take Scarface: as a young lioness with a reputation for killing sheep and cattle, she was due to be shot. Instead, she was chosen to establish a new pride in Nakuru. Wildlife film-maker Barbara Tyack chronicles the life of this special lion family with a weakness for climbing trees. Fabulous camerawork captures great chase sequences, some gory ones, and the odd romance

Regime of the Queen

An exploration of the feline motherhood world. The lion is king, but the lioness holds the true power behind the scenes.

Spirit of the Mountains

The charismatic Snow Leopard is the least understood of all the big cats and one of the most challenging to film. Over a period of five years, veteran Indian wildlife filmmakers, Naresh and Rajesh Bedi endured extreme cold and the thin air of the Himalayas in their daunting quest to reveal the secret lives of these elusive predators, ultimately with great success.

Lions Of Darkness

The eight lionesses soon give birth to their new leaders’ cubs and there are young everywhere, feeding, playing and training for survival. But danger lurks behind virtually every bush, whether from ever-present hyenas or from a clever mongoose. One lonely cub, born late and orphaned early, endures hardships so heart-rending the filmmakers were tempted to intervene. But they decided to let nature run its unpredictable course.

Pepedrilo

Pepedrilo and his peculiar connection with nature are embodied by the care and protection of a crocodile sanctuary, whose stability is put in danger day by day by the threat of men.

The Leopardess

Leopards are considered to be extremely shy big cats. Only a few animals can match the elegance of these feline predators. The cautious hunters are rarely seen in the wild for more than a few seconds. The cats can be observed more extensively when they rest asleep in a tree and recover from the mostly nocturnal hunt. But a leopardess has switched to hunting in broad daylight. Its home along the brook bed of the Olare Orok offers everything a mother needs to protect and nourish its offspring: picturesque rocks and dense bush, a landscape in which the big cat can disappear in seconds to sneak up on potential prey, which includes warthogs and antelopes. But hyenas and lions are always ready to contest for its territory and nourishment. The renowned wildlife filmmaker Reinhard Radke managed to capture astonishing insights into the social life and hunting tactics of the ambush hunters in the Maasai Mara.

Big Cats

Documentary series uncovering the secret lives of big cats, using the latest technology and scientific research to bring these animal superstars out of the shadows.

Ultimate Enemies: Revealed

National Geographic filmmakers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, explore how some animals are thrust together by the forces of nature-sometimes through a millennium of evolution or even last year’s drought. In the aftermath of strange elephant deaths, they piece together a visually stunning story that confirms their theory that lions were hunting elephants. Narrated by Jeremy Irons.

War of the Lions

From savannas bursting with game to deserts with not a drop to drink, all lion kingdoms are not created equal… so who is the REAL King of the Beasts? This is for kids but a little graphic. It's just a message doc lifting footage from SuperPride, Storm Cats, Desert Lions and a bunch more

Thailand's Wild Cats

The mysterious jungles of Thailand are home to some of the rarest wild cats on earth - the Clouded Leopard, The Asian Leopard, The Indian Fishing Cat and the Indo Chinese Tiger. In one of the last truly wild corners of the world this extraordinary collection of secretive predators defend their last remaining stronghold. As their territories intertwine and continuously shift, these cats must cheat death on a daily basis if they are to survive and thrive out in these tangled lands

Lions of the Skeleton Coast

Three lionesses try to survive in the Namibian desert.

Predators of the Wild: Crocodiles and Alligators

Crocodiles and alligators... gaping, saw-toothed jaws, muscular, bone-crushing tails, a Jurassic vision of armoured, flesh-eating horror. Lurking beneath the murky surface, eyes and nostrils are barely visible as the oblivious victim ventures one step too near. A sudden explosion of lunging, scaled fury, a hopeless, panicked struggle... a silent, watery death. Crocodiles and alligators reign as the supreme predators in rivers and coastal areas around the globe. With a carnivorous heritage extending back to the age of dinosaurs, these primordial relics are worthy successors to the "terrible lizards" they so closely resemble.

Jungle Cat

This final True-Life Adventure would also appear to be one of the best, as we go into the South American jungle to observe the jaguar. Jungle Cat is more intimate than its kin, allowing individual animal characters to be developed. Central to the cast is a pair of jaguars (one ebony), whose fighting leads to love and, not long after, two babies (one resembling each parent).

Lion Gangland

The Serengeti is one of the most brutal environments on the planet. It's also home to the tough Vumbi lion pride. Using ground-breaking new tools (including a lion-proof peeping Tom robot), National Geographic explorers Michael "Nick" Nichols and Nathan Williamson embed with the lions to reveal a never-before-seen view into a world with razor thin margins between life and death.

Cougar: On the Trail of the Ghost Cat

In the heart of southern France there is a fog-prone area where, according to legend, a bloodthirsty creature wreaked havoc 250 years ago. A rumor is spreading again in this legendary place, as eyewitnesses report an animal with large paws and a long tail that crosses roads in a single leap - powerful enough to tear down a horse and leave it mutilated in the pasture. Is the Beast of Gévaudan back? The animal photographer Bruno Loisel has a supposedly more rational explanation. The animal that fits the descriptions could be a cougar, but this species of big cat is only native to America. In order to learn the proper techniques for tracking down the puma, he travels to Canada, where he accompanies a team of researchers dedicated to studying the shy, almost invisible predator. Will Bruno be able to use his findings to solve the mystery of the new beast of Gévaudan?

Das Krokodil - Innenansichten eines Kraftpakets

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Eternal Enemies: Lions and Hyenas

Trek into the hidden battlefields of northern Botswana where lions and spotted hyenas clash in overlapping territories. With never-before-seen footage, much of it filmed at night, you'll uncover an intense and vicious blood feud that has been waged for millennia. Follow the Southern Clan, led by a powerful hyena matriarch whose firstborn female cub kills her sister at birth to assure her succession as leader of the clan. Lurk in the shadows as a lioness from the Central Pride gives birth to three cubs and then encounters a deadly Egyptian cobra. You'll be stunned by breathtaking chase scenes as the hyena matriarch is brutally killed by a male lion, throwing the clan into chaos. Discover nature's savage conflicts in this ancient rivalry.

Siberian Tiger, The Secret Kingdom

In the furthest reach of northeast China, is a mountain wilderness that few have yet explored: Hunchun National Nature Reserve. At its core, lives one of Earth’s rarest predators: The Amur tiger

Desert Lions of the Namib - Departure and Return

Two years after the moving documentary "Desert Warriors: Lions of the Namib", we find the five young lions who have grown up well. After leaving the lands of their childhood, they went in search of females with whom they could found new clans.