The Natural World: Black Mamba, White Witch

Tonight - BBC 2, 9pm.
In the small African kingdom of Swaziland, the Black Mamba is a snake both feared and revered. During summer, these elegant yet lethal snakes turn up everywhere - in homes, schools and cars - and people are bitten every week. In a country with very limited health care and no anti-venom, it is becoming a crisis.  Enter Thea Litschka-Koen, a mum and hotel manager who has become known affectionately as the white witch. She and her husband are on call twenty four hours a day to rescue and release Black Mambas when they get too close for comfort. But what everyone wants to know is - "will they come back again?" We follow Thea and her team as they set up a pioneering new scientific project: to track the Black Mambas they release back into the wild, and find out just how these deadly snakes spend their lives.

Produced and directed by Jo Scofield
Series Editor Tim Martin

'Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behaviour' - Insects

There are 200 million insects for each of us. They are the most successful animal group ever. Their key is an armoured covering that takes on almost any shape.Darwin's stag beetle fights in the tree tops with huge curved jaws. The camera flies with millions of monarch butterflies which migrate 2000 miles, navigating by the sun. Super-slow motion shows a bombardier beetle firing boiling liquid at enemies through a rotating nozzle. A honey bee army stings a raiding bear into submission. Grass cutter ants march like a Roman army, harvesting grass they cannot actually eat. They cultivate a fungus that breaks the grass down for them. Their giant colony is the closest thing in nature to the complexity of a human city.

VIDEO: Weird Indian Bird - What is a Frogmouth?

From www.ironammonite.com



A frogmouth is a tropical nocturnal bird related to the nightjar. They're active at night, when they hunt insects using their large gaping mouths to scoop them up. It was during the night that we ventured into the Thattekad forest to try and find one of the smallest and most elusive of the frogmouths - the edemic Sri Lanka Frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger). The only way to find one is to follow their distinctive calls - a loud descending cackly and frog-like series of 'Klock-klock-klock-klock-klock' calls (often described as sounding like rattling pebbles) the females call in response with a low long shrill 'Krrshhhh'.

The next day, with the help of local expert Eldos (who is a legend when it comes to finding birds), we found a roosting pair. They were barely visible amongst the leaves and even though we spotted them, filmed them and photographed them, they seemed pretty confident in their ability to hide and just gave us the occasional perplexed look. I was even able to interview Eldos, while we were in the company of these roosting frogmouths, they remained nonchalant about the situation!

The Natural World: Andrea, Queen of the Mantas

Tonight BBC 2, 8PM & BBC HD,10PM

Manta rays are one of the most intelligent creatures in the ocean and, at up to seven metres long, one of the largest. Yet, despite their size and curious nature, almost nothing is known about their lives. Young marine biologist, Andrea Marshall, has given up everything for a life in Mozambique, diving amongst these beautiful animals. Superb underwater photography reveals new manta ray behaviour including breathtaking footage of their ritual courtship dances. The film follows Andrea as she studies these endangered animals up close. With the discovery of a giant new species and remarkable insights into mantas' secretive lives, Andrea's findings are already rocking the world of marine biology.

“These huge, strangely beautiful, highly intelligent and fascinating fish certainly make for soothing viewing.” Daily Mail

Produced and directed by MARK WOODWARD
Series Editor TIM MARTIN

'Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behaviour' - Birds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/Life

Birds owe their global success to feathers - something no other animal has. They allow birds to do extraordinary things. For the first time, a slow-motion camera captures the unique flight of the Marvellous Spatuletail Hummingbird as he flashes long, iridescent tail feathers in the gloomy undergrowth. Aerial photography takes us into the sky with an Ethiopian Lammergeier dropping bones to smash them into edible-sized bits. Thousands of pink flamingoes promenade in one of nature's greatest spectacles. The Sage Grouse rubs his feathers against his chest in a comic display to make popping noises that attract females. The Vogelkop Bowerbird makes up for his dull colour by building an intricate structure and decorating it with colourful beetles and snails.

The Natural World: Victoria Falls, The Smoke That Thunders

BBC 2 - 8pm
This is a beautiful, intimate tale of life on the Zambezi River, set against the epic backdrop of Victoria Falls. The story is told from the point of view of a local fisherman, Mr White, who has fished these waters for 69 years, and whose riverside companions are elephants, baboons, hippos and kingfishers. We follow the fortunes of these animals through his eyes, learning how their lives are ruled by the moods of the river and the rains.

“The second in the new season is downright spectacular… This stunning film … at least gives you some idea of what everyday life is like on what Mr White calls “the edge of the world”. The Times

Producer Jamie McPherson

'Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behaviour' - Fish

Tonight, 21:00 on BBC One
Fish dominate the planet's waters through their astonishing variety of shape and behaviour.

The beautiful weedy sea dragon looks like a creature from a fairytale, and the male protects their eggs by carrying them on his tail for months. The sarcastic fringehead, meanwhile, appears to turn its head inside out when it fights.

Slow-motion cameras show the flying fish gliding through the air like a flock of birds and capture the world's fastest swimmer, the sailfish, plucking sardines from a shoal at 70 mph. And the tiny Hawaiian goby undertakes one of nature's most daunting journeys, climbing a massive waterfall to find safe pools for breeding.

For your free Open University Tree of Life poster call 0845 300 88 54 or visit www.bbc.co.uk/Life.

Weedy Sea Dragon
If you never thought Dragons could be weedy then Watch 'Life' tonight. Things are going to get fishy...

www.bbc.co.uk/life

The tiny fins of a sea dragon beat frantically to prevent the current sweeping it away. At the beginning of spring, sea dragons begin their courtship, dancing in pairs in the evening light. In a graceful duet, each partner mirrors the actions of the other and this continues well into the dark night. Two months later, the result of their courtship is revealed. The male now carries rows and rows of eggs embedded on his tail. The female passed them over to him on the night of the dance. By carrying them with him he keeps them safe from predators until they are ready to hatch. In the calm of a summer morning, with its yolk sack still attached, a baby sea dragon is born. In the weed bed are older youngsters, already able to feed themselves. After being well looked after by their father, the new babies must now make their own way in the world.

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Natural World: Bearwalker of the Northwoods

BBC Two, 8pm Wednesday 28th October

"It’s a total joy to have Natural World back on our screens, and you couldn’t ask for a stronger start to the new series than this. Dr Lynn Rogers, a softly spoken biologist, is the Burl Ives of the bear world. He loves bears with a quiet passion, and has spent a lifetime in the woods of North Minnesota building up trust with these fabulous creatures. Unlike Timothy Treadwell, he doesn’t sentimentalise bears or claim a spiritual affinity with them. But he does believe they are grossly misunderstood and that people often have a knee-jerk fear of creatures that are highly intelligent and surprisingly timid. This film is a labour of love in every possible sense – beautifully produced, filled with stunning footage in an achingly beautiful part of the world and presented by a man of the utmost decency. What more could anyone ask for?" David Chater, The Times

'Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behaviour' - Mammals

Visit the BBC Life Website

Mammals dominate the planet. They do it through having warm blood and by the care they lavish on their young. Weeks of filming in the bitter Antarctic winter reveal how a mother Weddell seal wears her teeth down keeping open a hole in the ice so she can catch fish for her pup. A powered hot air balloon produces stunning images of millions of migrating bats as they converge on fruiting trees in Zambia. Slow-motion cameras reveal how a mother rufous sengi exhausts a chasing lizard. A gyroscopically stabilised camera moves alongside migrating caribou, and a diving team swim among the planet's biggest fight as male humpback whales battle for a female.

The Elephant Shrew

Once known as the elephant shrew, the rufous sengi is permanently hungry and must hunt and feed industriously and efficiently in order to fuel its frenzied lifestyle. For maximum efficiency, the sengi creates an intricate netweork of pathways through the undergrowth that enable it to reach prey more easily. The sengi carries a mental map of these pathways, and should trouble appear, its speed and intimate knowledge of escape routes help it win the day. As an enemy, such as a lizard, appears, the sengi leaps into action and shoots off down the trails at high speed. Like most mammals - and unlike reptiles - the sengi's legs are directly underneath the body which makes for greater speed and agility. This female not only outruns the reptile, but outwits him and it's just as well, as she has a youngster to care for.