The Best TV Shows on Animal Planet

The show was hosted by Jake, a jovial polar bear, and Stinky, his skunk friend. Other main characters included Armstrong the Chicken Hawk, Ollie the Tapir, Bunnie Bear, Tizzy the Bee, Yves St. La Roache, Rhonda Rat, and Dullard the Aardvark. Structured as a talk show, the hosts interviewed two guest animals in each episode. The animals talked about themselves and showed clips of their real-life counterparts.

Antonio Ballatore, his project manager Grace, and his right hand-dog, Chewie the bulldog, along with a team of Catsperts and Barkitects, transform drab, cramped homes and outside areas into functional, high-style spaces for both pets and the people they love. Antonio's excitement for both design and animals drive him to go the extra mile for his clients and their four-legged, winged, and scaly friends. The newly designed spaces, renovated specifically for the homeowners and their pets, feature design elements that alter homes to become creative and purposeful spaces for all to enjoy. This season, viewers will see a cabin redesign for a family and their blind dog; a complete backyard renovation featuring a pet-safe fire-pit; a man-cave that can accommodate 20 pets; and a room design complete with a soaring sculptural cat climbing wall, among other design transformations.

Follow Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin as they run the extraordinary Australia Zoo in the bushlands of northern Australia. Caring for over 1,200 animals, overseeing a world-class wildlife hospital, and conducting high-octane global conservation expeditions, the Irwins’ lives are full of adventure, fueled by their love of animals and passion for protecting them.

Part horror movie, part medical detective story, find out what happens when people fall prey to an infection from a parasite, those nasty microscopic creatures found in water, soil and even in the air. Victims' stories are retold, including how doctors and scientists attempt to unravel each case before it's too late. Biologist Dan Riskin, assisted by doctors and experts who witnessed each case, leads the scientific discussion about each parasite.

Follow veterinarians Dr. Diarra Blue, Dr. Aubrey Ross and Dr. Michael Lavigne, who recently moved to Houston to open a full-service veterinarian hospital and animal shelter together. The series captures the doctors' lives as they juggle running a new business while managing their family life filled with spouses, parents, in-laws, children, pets and friends, as well as their intense moments saving the lives of animals at their clinic.

Witness the miracle of cute, from a kitten's first tentative steps, to a puppy's first call to the wild. The first few months of their lives are an adorable adventure. These furry friends are simply too loveable, too curious, too cute!

A wildlife documentary television series that was hosted by Steve Irwin and his wife Terri.

Monkey Business is a long-running TV series about the exploits of various primates who reside at Monkey World, a rescue centre and sanctuary for primates in Dorset, United Kingdom. The series features Jim and Dr. Alison Cronin, directors of Monkey World, as they travel around the world rescuing primates from lives of abuse, and returning them to Monkey World. Their goal is to rehabilitate the rescued primates and allow them to live in as natural a habitat as possible, being part of a group and living with friends of their own kind.

Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International that premiered in September 2005 and ran for four series until its cancellation in August 2008. Blending more traditional animal documentary style footage with dramatic narration, the series told the story of the Whiskers, one of more than a dozen families of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert being studied as part of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term field study into the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of the cooperative nature of meerkats. The original programme was narrated by Bill Nighy, with the narration redubbed by Mike Goldman for the Australian airings and Sean Astin for the American broadcasts. The fourth series, subtitled The Next Generation, saw Stockard Channing replacing Astin as the narrator in the American dubbing. Meerkat Manor premiered in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2005, and the first 13-episode series concluded on 24 October 2005. With the success of the programme in the United Kingdom, Animal Planet started broadcasting it on its national channels in Australia, Canada, and the US. It has since been rebroadcast in more than 160 other countries. The fourth, and final, series aired initially in the United States from 6 June 2008 to 22 August 2008; it aired in the United Kingdom in April 2009. In August 2009, it was reported that the programme had been cancelled.

Following the antics of two brothers-in-law as they run the largest aquarium manufacturing company in the nation, Tanked dunks viewers into the high-decibel, family-owned business of Acrylic Tank Manufacturing (ATM). Led by business partners, best friends and constant rivals Wayde King and Brett Raymer, this 13,000 square foot facility, located in Las Vegas, produces some of the most outrageous, larger-than-life and one-of-a-kind tanks for some of the most striking fish and clients around.

In 1980, the U.S. government banned new human occupation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a protected area, home to thousands of native animals and pristine terrain spanning roughly the size of South Carolina. Currently, only a handful of families spread across seven permitted cabins are allowed to remain in the refuge. Within less than 100 years, all remaining permits will reach expiration, and there will be no human presence left.

Pet Star was a show on Animal Planet hosted by Mario Lopez. The show is a contest between owners and their trained pets who perform tricks. The tricks are graded by three celebrity judges on a scale of one to 10. In the end, the three pets with the highest score come out as finalists, and the audience votes on who is the episode's Pet Star. Then, at the end of the season, the winners compete to be the year's ULTIMATE PET STAR. The winner of a regular show gets $2,500, while the winner of the finals gets $25,000. There were many celebrity judges, including Gena Lee Nolin, Virginia Madsen, Will Estes, Lindsay Wagner, Matt Gallant, Mackenzie Phillips, Billy West, James Avery, George Wallace, Melissa Peterman, Christopher Rich, John O'Hurley, Vanessa Lengies, Dom Irrera, Carol Leifer, Andy Kindler, Melissa Rivers, Meshach Taylor, Kaley Cuoco, Rosa Blasi, Jeff Cesario, Karri Turner, Peter Scolari, Bruce Jenner, Fred Willard, Shari Belafonte, Josh Meyers, Lori Petty, Ben Stein, Richard Jeni, Ken Howard, Paul Gilmartin, Maria Menounos, Tempestt Bledsoe, David Brenner and Amy Davidson. Pet Star is based on the show Star Search. It is shown in the United Kingdom on Challenge.

From cats that break up relationships to violent felines that put their owners in the hospital, cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy has seen it all. Follow Jackson as he brings his unique understanding of cats to desperate families on the verge of giving up on their furry companions.

Extreme angler Jeremy Wade is on the hunt for fish with a taste for human flesh. This rip-roaring ride mixes action and adventure with mysteries, edge-of-the-seat chase and a battle of wills between man and nature.

There's no such thing as "a regular day" at Denver's Planned Pethood Plus veterinary clinic. For 80,000-plus clients and their pets, the clinic and its maverick ER vet Dr. Jeff Young represent one last hope and possibly the difference between life and death.

People who know and work with Pete Nelson describe him as a tree whisperer. For his part, Nelson lets the trees do the talking. He's a world-renowned treehouse designer and builder, and this series documents the work he and his team of craftsmen—including his son Charlie—do to create incredible homes and businesses in nature's canopy. Pete uses a combination of science and art to realize clients' sky-high aspirations of magnificent multi-bedroom treehouses with elaborate kitchens and bathrooms, or simpler, peaceful one-room escapes. Other backyard escapes featured in the series include a spa retreat, a brewery, and a honeymoon suite. "We awaken that inner child who dreams of living among the trees," Pete says.

Animal Precinct is an American documentary reality television series that originally aired from June 26, 2001, to February 4, 2008, on Animal Planet. Set in New York City, the series follows the animal cruelty agents of the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement Division as they work as advocates for the five million pets and other animals in New York City, sometimes removing them from dangerous situations and pursuing arrests of those who have been accused of being cruel to animals. The show was filmed locally by crews from Anglia Television, edited in the UK and shown on Discovery Channel networks worldwide.

A look at the lives of Montana conservation officers who defend public lands, handle anti-poaching sting operations and more.

From small towns in the South to remote areas of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, four eccentric but passionate members of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) embark on one single-minded mission - to find the elusive "creature" known as Bigfoot or the Sasquatch.

Follow Viewers get unprecedented access to the more than 500 agents of Texas Parks and Wildlife wardens who embark on dangerous missions to apprehend those who commit crimes against nature. The series captures the more than 60,000 arrests each year made by the wardens as they execute undercover stings, work on ongoing investigations and protect their territories.