As an island nation in the Pacific, New Zealand is biologically diverse due to a number of very specific geologic, climatic, and geographic variables. In this episode, viewers will learn how these variables have affected New Zealand's flora and fauna and see how through the mapping of these changes we are better able to predict what the future may hold.

Jungles provide the richest habitats on the planet—mysterious worlds of high drama where extraordinary animals attempt to survive in the most competitive place on Earth. Flooded forests are home to caiman-hunting jaguars and strange dolphins that swim among the tree tops, while in the dense underworld, ninja frogs fight off wasps and flying dragons soar between trees. Acrobatic indri leap through the forests of Madagascar, while the jungle night...

The prairies of the American west, the pampas of Argentina, the steppes of Russia, and the veldt of South Africa all share at least one thing in common: they are covered with miles upon miles of grass. This program can help students learn to identify the climates, life-forms, and behavioral adaptations that correspond to each type of grassland biome. Factors that threaten the survival of these habitats' distinctive animal communities-and of the ecosystems...

Whether it's a stretch of sand dunes in equatorial Africa or a cactus-covered plain in California, any place that receives less than ten inches of rain per year is considered a desert. By comparing and contrasting arid and semi-arid regions, this program provides students with a balanced picture of the Earth's desert biomes. The program also investigates how the few plants and animals that inhabit these ecosystems survive the extreme temperatures...

This program features Angela Blackwell, Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation. Ms. Blackwell is the former head of the Urban Strategies Council in Oakland, CA, and head of the nationwide Black Community Crusade for Children, which focuses on rebuilding black communities. In this program, she explains how "one caring adult" can save a child from a life of crime and violence.

The boreal biome, the sweeping band of conifer forest just south of the Arctic Circle, is a key region for studying climate change - and not just the impacts. Certainly, with boreal forest fires growing more frequent and boreal permafrost melting dramatically, the area is responding very visibly to the rise of carbon in the atmosphere. Yet the trees and permafrost themselves are vast reservoirs of carbon. Ecologists like Scott Goetz of the Woods Hole...

The Sun is our master and creator. It gives us our perception of time, controls our reality, and powers our lives. Big History sheds new light on our nearest star, revealing that ancient sun worship intersects with science.

In this episode Chris Packham unravels some of nature's oddest creatures: a deep-sea blob spotted in the Gulf of Mexico that mystified oil rig workers and sent the Internet in to frenzy, the washed-up remains of a gargantuan creature that baffled scientists for decades, and a stow-away spider with a set of unfathomable feet. Chris also investigates an octopus who's behavior was so extraordinary that nobody believed it was real, the curious case of...

Remote islands offer sanctuary for some of the planet's strangest and rarest creatures. The rare pygmy three-toed sloth enjoys a peaceful existence on an idyllic Caribbean island, while nesting albatross thrive in predator-free isolation. But island life always comes at a cost. On the Galapagos Islands, young marine iguana must escape an onslaught of deadly racer snakes the moment they hatch from the sand. On the sub-Antarctic island of Zavodovski,...

A look at some of the animals that survive the harsh conditions of the Sahara, their adaptive techniques of survival and their great diversity.