The BEST episodes of Natural World season 15

#1 - Sperm Whales: Back From the Abyss

Season 15 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/6/1996

Wildlife film about sperm whales, revealing the secret lives led by these often misunderstood ocean giants. Scientists all over the world are now learning about the secret lives of sperm whales, the world's largest hunters that spawned the legendy of Moby Dick. Although Mellville painted them as fearsome beasts of the sea, they are actually shy creatures, and cameraman Rick Rosenthal needed patience and persistence to film them at close quarters. They turn out to be efficient hunters with a close family network involving sophisticated and vocal social lives.

#2 - Himalaya

Season 15 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/1996

Documentary about the geological and natural history of the Himalayas, the highest and youngest mountain range in the world. The landscape is home to a remarkable diversity of wildlife, including red pandas, snow leopards and iridescent pheasants.

#3 - Echo of the Elephants: Africa's Forgotten Elephants

Season 15 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/6/1997

#4 - New Guinea: An Island Apart

Season 15 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/2/1997

New Guinea is the world's largest tropical island and is home to one of the most unusual collections of animals and plants on earth.

#5 - People of the Sea

Season 15 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/30/1997

Documentary about Newfoundland and the centuries-old reliance of its inhabitants on harvesting cod, whales and seals from the surrounding seas. Argues that increasing pressure from international fishing and advances in technology have had a profound effect on the marine wildlife of the area, pushing them to the edge of extinction. Considers what conservation methods have been taken or need to be implemented to retrieve the situation.

#6 - Postcards From the Past

Season 15 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/16/1997

Examines the landsacpe of the British isles and how it has been affected by its journey from the South Pole where it was located 600 million years ago.

#7 - The Wild Dog's Last Stand

Season 15 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/9/1997

Looks at the wilderness existence of packs of African wild dogs, filmed in Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Shows their hunting techniques, peculiar social lives and co-operative behavioural habits. They are considered to be one of the world's most endangered species.

#8 - Wings Over the Serengeti

Season 15 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/23/1997

Documentary on the vultures who live on the plains of the Serengeti in Africa.

#9 - Grand Canyon: From Dinosaurs to Dam

Season 15 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/16/1997

Looks at the wildlife that inhabits the Grand Canyon today, and how the ecology of the area has been affected by the building of two huge dams. Originally home to dinosaurs, it is now occupied by a strange mixture of species from bighorn sheep to ravens, lizards and tarantulas.

#10 - A Lemur's Tale

Season 15 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/2/1997

A touching and intimate portrayal of the ring-tailed lemur, award-winning wildlife filmmaker Adrian Warren spent five months in Madagascar's Berenty forest exploring the fascinating world of these distinctive animals. Providing a captivating glimpse into a year in the life of a lemur, the production starts just after the birthing season, focusing on fragile new arrival, Sapphire, an unusual pure white lemur. Capturing the troop's daily struggle to survive, the film offers an interesting insight into their evolution, behaviour and incredible teamwork.

#11 - Benguela and the Burning Shore

Season 15 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/26/1997

Documentary looking at the wildlife found in the Namib Desert in Africa- where baking sand dunes lie beside an ocean cooled by an icy current - The Benguela.

#12 - Wolves and Buffalo: an Ancient Alliance

Season 15 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/19/1997

Documentary on the Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta in Canada. Follows the buffalo herds in the last place where they roam freely and the timber wolves who prey on them.

#13 - The World in a Wood

Season 15 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/10/1996

An investigation into Wytham Wood outside Oxford, which has been studied by biologists for more than fifty years to examine the dependence between plants and animals.

#14 - Beetlemania

Season 15 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/3/1996

Documentary investigating beetles - which account for a quarter of all animals on earth.

#15 - Mandrills: Painted Faces of the Forest

Season 15 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/27/1996

A look at the complex social behaviour of a mandrill troop in Gabon, West Africa and associated rainforest species - many of which are relatively unknown.

#16 - Penguins In and Out of Water

Season 15 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/20/1996

Documentary on penguins- not looking at their traditionally viewed habitat Antartica, but at those penguins who have adapted to life in the deserts of Peru, and the cities of New Zealand.

#17 - Mara Nights

Season 15 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/13/1996

The first ever production to record animal behaviour at night without the use of lights, Mara Nights is an intriguing insight into a whole host of unseen nocturnal antics in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park. The normally astute hunting techniques of the lion are replaced by complete reliance on scent and sound, and in the words of the filmmaker Martin Dohrn "bumping into things then jumping on them".