Episode
Nature: Big Birds Can't Fly
Overview
It may seem strange that among the more than 10,000 bird species in the world today is a group that literally cannot fly or sing, and whose wings are more fluff than feather. These are the ratites: the ostrich, emu, rhea, kiwi and cassowary. How and why these birds abandoned flight has puzzled scientists since Darwin’s time, but DNA and dedicated research are helping to solve these mysteries.
Details
- Series
- Nature
- Season
- Season 34
- Episode
- Episode 3
- Air date
- 2015-10-07
- Runtime
- 53 min
Episode context
Big Birds Can't Fly is Episode 3 in Season 34 of Nature. It aired on 2015-10-07. The runtime is 53 min.
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Episode 2: Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Wild Lessons
Growing up in the wild is hard enough on young animals when they have parents to rely on for protection and guidance, but what happens when they lose their parents? How do they survive? Over the past few years, great strides have been made in understanding how to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned wildlife.
Episode 4: Soul of the Elephant
Wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert take an intimate look at one of the world’s most intelligent and sensitive animals.
More episodes from this season
Episode 1: Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Second Chances
Part 1 of 2. The Season 34 premiere focuses on the work of human caretakers of orphaned baby animals. At Australia's Cape Otway Conservation Centre, the staff cares for a baby koala found along a road. It's weak and underweight, and should be spending its first six months inside its mother's pouch; the staff gives it a teddy bear to hold for comfort. At a sanctuary in Costa Rica, meanwhile, primatologist Sam Trull cares for six baby orphan sloths, including one that has pneumonia.
Episode 5: Pets: Wild At Heart: Playful Creatures
Mini-cameras, moving x-rays and night vision cameras capture the wild behavior of parakeets, hamsters, cats, rabbits and Peruvian dogs.
Episode 6: Pets: Wild At Heart: Secretive Creatures
Moving x-rays, ultraviolet light and doggycams show how pets experience their world through hidden channels of communication.
Episode 7: Natural Born Hustlers: Staying Alive
Staying Alive offers stories about unusual survival techniques. Cuttlefish, for example, elude their many predators with a kind of invisibility cloak. Other ruses revealed include: why burrowing owls, who live underground, mimic the sounds of rattlesnakes; how imitation may not just be the sincerest form of flattery, it can also save your life; and what deception the regal horned lizard employs as a last resort to keep a menacing coachwhip snake at bay.
Episode 8: Natural Born Hustlers: The Hunger Hustle
Exploring the duplicitous ways in which animals try to secure their next meal. Singled out is the devious drongo, a South African bird. In winter, he has to rely on grubs and insects that live underground, but other animals are far better equipped to dig them up, so the drongo devises a con. He serves as lookout while vulnerable social weaver birds are on the ground digging up food. Among other segments: the orchid mantis, which attracts insects by mimicking a flower and why it is even more successful than the real thing; how killer whales use sound to manipulate the behavior of herring to their advantage; and how and why gray squirrels practice sleight of hand to protect the nuts they’ve gathered to get them through the winter.
Episode 9: Natural Born Hustlers: Sex, Lies & Dirty Tricks
Sex, Lies & Dirty Tricks explores sneaky mating techniques. For example, a lusty low-ranking male in a mob of red kangaroos considers possible plan A and plan B options when only the alpha male has the right to mate with the females in the group. A male marsh harrier’s solution to avoid conflict with a dominant resident male during breeding season is to grow feathers that make him look like female. He fools the resident male, but is able to woo a real female and settle down to raise a family. The final hour also exposes the dark ways brood parasites avoid parental duties, and how their chicks go even further to get the full attention of their foster parents. It’s a tough world out there, so it’s not surprising that crafty animals turn to disguise, illusion, duplicity and mimicry to beat the odds and live another day.
Episode 10: Moose: Life of a Twig Eater
Exploring the world of moose in the Canadian Rockies, focusing on a calf's first year of life.
Episode 11: Raising the Dinosaur Giant
Paleontologists bring the largest dinosaur ever discovered to virtual life.
Episode 12: Snow Chick
The incredible journey of one vulnerable and charismatic Emperor penguin chick.
Episode 13: Animal Reunions
Reunions between wild animals and their caregivers reveal whether interspecies bonds can stand the test of time.