David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities

2013 • BBC America
4.9
29 reviews
TV-PG
Rating
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (5)

1 Stretched to the Limit
1/29/13
Some animals appear to have taken Nature's gifts and stretched them to extreme limits. Take the chameleon's tongue and the giraffe's neck, with these two natural curiosities one creature has ended up with a super­stretched neck, the other a stretchy tongue. In both cases Nature has found a way to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
2 A Curious Hoax?
2/5/13
Nature can baffle us so much we don't believe what we see. David discovers the curiosities of the platypus and the tadpole have led to accusations of forgery and have ultimately helped us rethink evolution.
3 Young Wrinklies
2/14/13
Aging and eternal youth seem to fascinate us. David encounters two examples where curious bodies and extreme lifestyles may unlock the secrets of the ageing process and longevity. For the elephant and the mole rat these animals wrinkly skins are not a sign of age, they help them survive! The first was thought to be a mythological creature when it arrived in Europe with striking features that proved to be key to it's long survival, while the second has almost supernatural biology and can literally puts it's life on hold to avoid the stresses of life.
4 A Curious Twist
2/19/13
Both the narwhal and the snail have developed a twist: the narwhal with its ferocious prong and the snail with its chic mobile home. David Attenborough questions why spirals are so widespread in nature. He gleans some answers by examining the narwhal's tusk and the spiral shells found on snails and ammonites, as he continues to discover nature's evolutionary anomalies.
5 Seeing the Pattern
2/26/13
Animals that are beautifully patterned or brilliantly coloured have attracted the attention of collectors for centuries. David Attenborough examines a zebra's stripes and the wings of a butterfly; animal patterns that have bedazzled and baffled science for a long time, and uses modern tools to unlock their secrets.

About this show

David Attenborough has spent a lifetime documenting the natural world. He's met a great number of nature's most extraordinary creatures yet there are certain stories of bewildering animals that continue to intrigue him - from the peculiar patterns of a zebra's stripes to the evolutionary quirk of the egglaying platypus. Each episode explores the stories behind two natural curiosities, linked together by a common theme. Filmed on location in the UK, David's gift for storytelling combined with wonderful images of the animal subjects creates a television series unlike any other he has made before.

Ratings and reviews

4.9
29 reviews
Christopher
May 5, 2016
Well made and edited, informative documentaries. Wish there were more!
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Justin H.
November 16, 2015
Brilliant.
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Anthony Tom
October 23, 2020
Huge Fan
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