NaN/100 votes#1 - Riddle of the Right Whale
Season 18 Episode 1 - Aired 10/3/1999
A dramatic film about Right Whales, the rarest of all the great whales. There's a race on to save them and even US nuclear submarines are part of the effort. Dramatic footage above and below the water reveals these fascinating giants battling for mates, rearing young, sailing with their tails and meeting other whales, dolphins, seals and sharks. It's called the Right Whale because it used to be the right whale to hunt - big and full of blubber. Today it's baffling biologists who cannot understand why, in spite of total protection, it refuses to recover.
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#2 - Hokkaido: Garden of the Gods
Season 18 Episode 2 - Aired 10/10/1999
A look at the unique wildlife of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, and the island's few remaining members of the ancient Ainu race, who see all animals as sacred. Swept by winds from the high Arctic, Hokkaido is an island of towering volcanos and fairytale forests, where cranes perform dances in the snow, brown bears plunge for salmon in rivers and eagles plunder the spoils from winter fishing fleets. The unique wildlife of Hokkaido has long been worshipped by an ancient race of hunter-gatherers, called Ainu, a few of whom still survive among modern Japanese. Even today, they honour the natural world around them through ritualised dance and prayer.
Director: Patrick Morris
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#3 - Elephants of the Sand River
Season 18 Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/1999
Beneath the forested flanks of an extinct volcano lies a cave with a mysterious secret. Kitum Cave on the slopes of Mt Elgon in Kenya is the only place on earth where elephants venture deep underground. They are forced to make the dangerous journey into the cave because of their craving for salt. Humans have been drawn to Kitum Cave for thousands of years, originally to harvest salt, but more recently to slaughter elephants, leading to local rangers Daniel and Mike being assigned to protect the survivors
Director: Brian Leith
Writer: Brian Leith
NaN/100 votes#4 - In the Company of Bears
Season 18 Episode 4 - Aired 10/24/1999
Insight into Canada's black bears, mountain-dwelling creatures which have developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the local human population comprising skiers and snow-boarders
Director: Jeff Turner
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#5 - The Millennium Oak
Season 18 Episode 5 - Aired 12/30/1999
Documentary charting 1,000 years in the life of an English oak, which would have existed from before the Norman Conquest, during the Black Death, Civil War and Industrial Revolution right through to the present day. Narrated by Tom Baker
Director: Mark Flowers
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#6 - The Temple Troop
Season 18 Episode 6 - Aired 12/12/1999
Remarkable film following an eventful year in the life of an unruly troop of macaque monkeys in Sri Lanka's ruined city of Polonnaruwa, tracing the audacity, resourcefulness and sheer animal cunning that enables them to outwit forest prey and engage in commando-style raids on neighbouring villages. Narrated by Roshan Seth
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#7 - Wild Indonesia: Island Castaways
Season 18 Episode 7 - Aired 1/23/2000
Shrouded in mystery,Indonesia is a bizarre and beautiful place,home to dinosaur-like komodo dragons and tree kangaroos,tropical beaches and snowy mountain peaks.Indonesia is nicknamed "the ring of fire",as this 3,000 - mile chain of 17,000 islands,running from Northern Australia to Asia,was created by volcanic eruptions 150 million years ago.Today,there are 155 active volcanoes in Indonesia,and one erupts every day,making this the most violent volcanic region on earth.With 150 million people,Java is the most densely populated island in the world and it has the largest Buddhist temple - the stunning ruins of Borobudhur that date from the eighth century.
Director: Joe Kennedy
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#8 - Wild Indonesia: Underwater Worlds
Season 18 Episode 8 - Aired 1/30/2000
Indonesia is one of the worldís natural wonders.In its underwater wonderland,flamboyant reef fish,huge manta rays and shimmering schools of barracudas ride the strong currents that flow between the 17,000 islands that form stepping-stones between Asia and Australia.The coral reefs are the rainforests of the sea.The people of the sea are as fascinating as the wildlife.Off the island of Sulawesi,the Bajau people,known as sea gypsies,live on the water.
Director: Joe Kennedy
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#9 - Wild Indonesia: Magical Forests
Season 18 Episode 9 - Aired 2/6/2000
Kangaroos in trees and flying foxes - nowhere else on the planet are their animals as weird and wonderful as in the forests of Indonesia.Despite all the destruction,two thirds of Indonesia is still jungle and,as the islands of Indonesia connect Australia to Asia,itis a unique meeting point for wildlife from East and West.Magical Forests enters the steamy jungles of Borneo, Sumatra and Java where highly endangered Asian elephants and hairy rhinos still roam.
Director: Joe Kennedy
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#10 - The Tiger's Tale
Season 18 Episode 10 - Aired 2/20/2000
Insight into the daily lives of a family of Bengal tigers inhabiting the Bandhavgarh National Park in India. Sita's newborn cubs find their feet in the jungle, learning how to clean and feed themselves, while adolescent Bachi seeks a mate. Narrated by Meera Syal
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#11 - The Wolf's Return
Season 18 Episode 11 - Aired 5/8/2000
Documentary reporting on an ambitious plan to reintroduce wild wolves into America's Yellowstone National Park. The animals were virtually hunted out of existence 100 years ago and this film follows one pack as they attempt to re-establish themselves in the famous mountain wilderness
Director: Bob Landis
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#12 - Monkey Warriors
Season 18 Episode 12 - Aired 5/15/2000
The monkeys of Jodhpur, India, held in great reverence by the Hindu townsfolk, squabble over territory with a troop from out of town : and finally engage in a full-scale battle to settle their dispute
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#13 - Dangerous Australians
Season 18 Episode 13 - Aired 5/22/2000
Footage of the lethal wildlife which makes living in Australia a hazardous undertaking. Venomous red-back spiders inhabit garages, funnel-webs stalk houses and gardens looking for mates and divers exploring coral reefs risk attack by a range of fiercely territorial creatures vying for space in cramped conditions
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#14 - The Crater: Africa's Predator Paradise
Season 18 Episode 14 - Aired 6/5/2000
Documentary about the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, which has the highest concentration of predators anywhere in the world. A huge natural bowl inhabited by over 25,000 wildebeest, it is nonetheless a difficult environment for predators, and numbers are declining
Director: Owen Newman
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#15 - Salmon: The Silver Tide
Season 18 Episode 15 - Aired 6/19/2000
The salmon that fill the rivers of the Pacific coast of North America have one of the most miraculous and mysterious life-cycles in the entire animal kingdom. After years feeding in the Pacific Ocean, they travel thousands of miles back to the rivers of their birth to spawn and to die. Using miniature underwater cameras, 'The Silver Tide' reveals the drama and danger of the salmon on their last great journey, as they encounter and overcome fishing nets, hungry bears, raging floods and massive waterfalls. Each year, despite these obstacles, millions of fish reach their final destination, and in doing so, sustain one of the most beautiful and wild landscapes on Earth.
Director: Miles Barton
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#16 - Claws
Season 18 Episode 16 - Aired 7/10/2000
Insight into the lives of crabs, whether they are climbing trees, travelling over mountains, scuttling across deserts or surviving in crushing pressure near super-heated water on deep ocean vents. From exotic tropical beaches to mosquito-infested swamps, this film gathers together examples of the most unusual and intriguing of the world's crabs
Director: Steve Nicholls
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#17 - The Story of an African Wild Dog
Season 18 Episode 17 - Aired Unknown
At home among the woodlands and floodplains is an African Wild Dog pack - fourteen adults and a bundle of boisterous pups. Part of the few viable remaining wild dog populations left in Africa, the Santawani pack is soon to become one of the most famous.
Director: Tania Jenkins
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Natural World Season 18
Every episode of Natural World Season 18 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Natural World Season 18!
Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Season 18 Ratings Summary
"Riddle of the Right Whale" is the best rated episode of "Natural World" season 18. It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Rick Rosenthal and written by N/A, it aired on 10/3/1999. This episode is rated NaN points higher than the second-best, "Hokkaido: Garden of the Gods".