The Worst Episodes of Natural World

#1 Worst Episode
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5.8/10(14 votes)
#1 - Invasion of the Crocodiles
S26:E65/9/2007
Australia's deadly saltwater crocs are making a dramatic comeback. They're spreading in alarming numbers through the billabongs, rivers and beaches of the Northern Territory. Last year, over 300 had to be removed from the harbour of Darwin, the region's capital. Hundreds of cattle are being killed, and most worrying of all, attacks on people are increasing every year, often in places where crocs were previously unknown. Biologist Adam Britton tries to find out why the crocs have suddenly become such a problem
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
6.6/10(27 votes)
#2 - Super Powered Owls
S35:E23/3/2015
With their charismatic faces and extraordinary head-turning ability, owls are one of our best-loved birds. And yet it's rare to catch more than a glimpse of one in the wild. These mysterious birds haunt our night, floating through the darkness with an eerie silence. But how do they see in the dark? And how do they fly so silently? Through the eyes of two special barn owl chicks and with the help of world leading scientists, Natural World reveals the magic behind owls' superpowers.
Director:Lucy Smith
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Lucy Smith
Writer:Unknown
6.5/10(21 votes)
#3 - Chimps of the Lost Gorge
S30:E112/8/2011
A real-life drama about a family of chimps trapped in a lost world. They live in a deep and ancient forested gorge that runs though the African savannah and for fifteen years it has been cut off from the rest of the jungle, leaving the chimps imprisoned. Here, they face a daily life-or-death dilemma: whether to leave the safety of the gorge and venture into the predator-ridden savannah to find food, or face hunger. There's now only twenty of them left and as Brutus the alpha male loses his grip, can the family hold it together or is time running out for the Kyambura chimps?
Director:Verity White
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Verity White
Writer:Unknown
6.8/10(35 votes)
#4 - Attenborough's Fabulous Frogs
S34:E108/28/2014
As a boy, frogs were the first animals Sir David Attenborough kept and today he is still just as passionate about them. Through his eyes, the weird and wonderful world of frogs is explored, shedding new light on these charismatic, colourful and frequently bizarre creatures. David reveals all aspects of the frogs' life, their anatomy, their extraordinary behaviour and their ability to live in some of the most extreme places on the planet, as he goes on an eye-opening journey into the fabulous lives of frogs.
Director:Sally Thomson
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Sally Thomson
Writer:Unknown
6.8/10(26 votes)
#5 - My Congo
S36:E79/7/2016
Wildlife cameraman Vianet Djenguet explores the extraordinary wildlife of the Congo.
Director:Doug Mackay-Hope
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Doug Mackay-Hope
Writer:Unknown
6.8/10(23 votes)
#6 - Bringing Up Baby
S29:E511/26/2009
Natural World investigates the vital bond between animal mothers and their babies. The more we study animals, the more we realise just how emotional they are; all mothers are faced with tough choices as they struggle to bring up babies in a difficult and dangerous world, constantly balancing their own needs with those of their infants. Yet there are many ways to raise your brood, from the fish who looks after her young in her mouth to the extended childhoods of gorillas or orang-utans.
Director:Mark Fletcher
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Mark Fletcher
Writer:Unknown

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7.2/10(38 votes)
#7 - Hotel Armadillo
S37:E24/7/2017
60 years after he first appeared on TV with an armadillo, David Attenborough introduces the family's biggest member and reveals never-before-screened secrets of giant armadillo life - including how this rare and seldom seen animal provides scores of other creatures with the hotel and restaurant services they need to thrive in earth's biggest natural wetland - the Pantanal of Brazil.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
6.7/10(11 votes)
#8 - The Mating Game
S33:E37/19/2013
David Attenborough narrates the charming and fascinating story of some real-life animal romantics. There are show-offs and singers, dancers and fighters, stories of undercover affairs and heart-warming devotion. These include a male polar bear that plays hard to get, a lemur whose odour bags him a mate and a lizard who is tender and faithful to the very end. It reveals that animals can be loving, complex, funny and inventive - it is all part of the mating game.
Director:Mark Fletcher
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Mark Fletcher
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(22 votes)
#9 - The Wild Places of Essex
S29:E122/10/2010
Multi-award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane sets out on a journey to explore the unexpected landscapes and natural history of Essex, revealing that there is far more to the county than the stereotypes of white stilettos and boy racers. Macfarlane spends a year travelling the county's strange and elemental landscapes of heavy industry, desolate beaches and wild woods. He encounters massive knot flocks over the Thames, peregrine falcons at Tilbury Power Station, water voles within sniffing distance of the municipal dump, deer rutting in earshot of the M25, barn owls, badgers and bluebells in Billericay as well as a large colony of common seals.
Director:Andrew Graham-Brown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Andrew Graham-Brown
Writer:Unknown
6.4/10(7 votes)
#10 - Killer Whales: Beneath the Surface
S33:E910/25/2013
The killer whale was long feared as a sea monster until, in May 1964, one was brought into captivity for the first time. This spawned a journey of discovery into the killer whale's true nature. It quickly became clear, these were not mindless killers - they were, in fact, highly intelligent social creatures. Today, our understanding is deepening still further and the latest revelations are among the most sensational - not only will these top predators 'adopt' and care for injured and abandoned orphans, but it seems there's no longer just the 'killer whale'.
Director:Bill Markham
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Bill Markham
Writer:Unknown
6.9/10(11 votes)
#11 - Superfish
S27:E155/14/2008
The billfish are the biggest, fastest, and most dangerous gamefish in the sea. All have captured man's imagination like few other creatures, whether it's the graceful sailfish, the menacing swordfish or queen of them all, the marlin, immortalized by Hemingway in 'The Old Man and the Sea'. Marine biologist and film-maker Rick Rosenthal has travelled three oceans in his attempt to capture them all on film, and in doing so has become a passionate champion for these endangered yet little-known ocean giants.
Director:Rick Rosenthal
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rick Rosenthal
Writer:Unknown
7.0/10(13 votes)
#12 - Kangaroo Dundee and Other Animals (1)
S36:E35/5/2016
In the outback of Australia, the world's most famous 'kangaroo mum' is expanding operations. Brolga, aka Kangaroo Dundee, is opening his doors to a whole new bunch of animal characters, including a trio of camels and a southern hairy-nosed wombat called Pete. The kangaroo joeys are still very much a priority but these days Brolga is sharing maternal duties with his wife Tahnee. With three emu chicks set to move into the family home and the dream of building a wildlife hospital about to become a reality, life in the Australian bush is more hectic than ever before.
Director:Andrew Graham-Brown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Andrew Graham-Brown
Writer:Unknown
6.8/10(9 votes)
#13 - Wild Ireland
S3:E101/13/1985
Time, climate and the needs of the Irish have fashioned a magical island. Cast free when the ancient bridge from Britain sank, it still holds within its saucer of ice-scoured rocks the animals and plants that followed the retreat of the glaciers. There are Irish deer, Irish stoats and Irish mountain hares, but no snake ever came to trouble the people who cut the forests, fished and farmed. They invented a land of fairy tales, but there are real mysteries too: a strange meeting of the Arctic and the Mediterranean in a moonscape of white rock called the Burren; the unbroken ebb and flow of wildfowl from this mild winter haven; and the daunting sprawl of the bogs - unbeautiful to some, yet valuable to all, fragile wildernesses in a land wild with change.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(15 votes)
#14 - Walrus: Two Tonne Tusker
S33:E810/18/2013
Sivuqaq is an 18 year old, larger than life captive pacific walrus. By now he should be a dad but things have not worked out. This is where reproduction scientist Holley Muraco comes in. Holley is taking on the biggest challenge of her career - trying to help Sivuqaq become a parent. Yet walrus love is a mystery - even pandas have been bred more successfully than walruses. Holley hopes the clues lie in in exploring the lives of Sivuqaq's wild cousins and that she can find the answers by journeying to their breeding grounds in Northern Alaska.
Director:Duncan Chard
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Duncan Chard
Writer:Unknown
7.3/10(25 votes)
#15 - Grizzlies of Alaska
S31:E93/8/2012
A mother grizzly bear brings up her two cubs in the wilds of Alaska. She must keep them safe from prowling males, teach them to hunt and prepare them to survive the savage winter. Alaska has the highest density of grizzlies in the world, so fights and face-offs are common. Biologist Chris Morgan spends the summer in this city of bears - often getting far too close for comfort.
Director:Bill Murphy
Writer:Joe Pontecorvo
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Director:Bill Murphy
Writer:Joe Pontecorvo
7.1/10(14 votes)
#16 - Giraffes: Africa's Gentle Giants
S36:E66/23/2016
Everyone loves giraffes, but what do we really know about them? Dr Julian Fennessy starts to reveal their secrets - the most important being that they are disappearing. In an urgent and daring mission, with a determined Ugandan team, he plans to round up 20 of the world's rarest giraffe to take across and beyond the mighty Nile River. The stakes are high, but if they succeed the reward will be a brighter future for an animal we have somehow overlooked.
Director:Tom Mustill
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Tom Mustill
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(36 votes)
#17 - Attenborough's Wonder of Eggs
S38:E13/31/2018
David Attenborough has a passion for birds' eggs. These remarkable structures nurture new life, protecting it from the outside world at the same time as allowing it to breathe. They are strong enough to withstand the full weight of an incubating parent and weak enough to allow a chick to break free. But how is an egg made? Why are they the shape they are? And perhaps most importantly, why lay an egg at all? Piece by piece, from creation to hatching, David reveals the wonder behind these miracles of nature.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(13 votes)
#18 - Reindeer Girls
S27:E114/9/2008
Elle and Inga, 17-year-old cousins from the north of Norway, are far from ordinary teenagers. They are reindeer herders, equally at home helping reindeer swim fjords or ice fishing as playing with the internet and mobile phones. We follow the girls and their families as they accompany the reindeer herds on the annual migration across the acrtic tundra, gaining a unique insight into the lives of the girls and the reindeer on which they depend in this bleak and beautiful world.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(13 votes)
#19 - Attenborough's Ark
S32:E511/9/2012
David Attenborough chooses the animals that he would most like to save from extinction. He shows why they are so important and shares the ingenious work of biologists across the world who are helping to keep them alive.
Director:Sally Thomson
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Sally Thomson
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(12 votes)
#20 - Pandas of the Sleeping Dragon
S12:E84/4/1994
Filmed in the nature reserves of the mixed bamboo forests of the Sleeping Dragon Mountains in Sichuan province, central China. Focuses on the predicament of the giant panda and on the lessser-known red panda. The giant panda's digestive system is more suited to meat eating yet, because it feeds almost exclusively on bamboo, which has a low nutritional value, the animal must feed virtually around the clock to survive. Other animals that live in the forests include parrot bills, bamboo rats, golden monkeys, tufted deer, wild dogs, golden pheasants and the takin - a distant relative of the musk ox. The giant salamander, known as the water dragon, the world's largest amphibian is also to be found in the area.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.3/10(19 votes)
#21 - Man-Eating Tigers of the Sundarbans
S28:E101/30/2009
Tiger experts in Bangladesh have a problem: how can they encourage local people to protect the beautiful and endangered Bengal tiger when these animals have developed a taste for human flesh? The Sundarbans forest is one of the biggest tracts of mangrove forest left in the world. It is rich in wildlife and provides important forest resources for communities living around its edge. But up to 50 forest workers are killed by tigers each year and now the boldest animals are sneaking into villages at night. This gripping film reveals the tension and heartache of living so close to a killer cat and follows the bold attempt by one village to teach street dogs to scare away the rogue tiger on their doorstep.
Director:Ingrid Kvale
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Ingrid Kvale
Writer:Unknown
7.1/10(11 votes)
#22 - Badgers - Secrets Of The Sett
S27:E72/15/2008
While badgers are easily recognized, remarkably few people have ever seen one alive. It's a creature blamed for destruction and disease, but surprisingly little is known about the sett society. We spy on them for over a year in a Devon valley, Big Brother style, with hidden underground cameras.
Director:Andrew Cooper
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Andrew Cooper
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(24 votes)
#23 - Cassowaries
S28:E132/19/2009
This film follows the dramatic attempts to save these endangered giant birds, and reveals their fascinating natural history for the first time. Narrated by David Attenborough.
Director:Bianca Keeley
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Bianca Keeley
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(22 votes)
#24 - Elephant Nomads of The Namib Desert
S27:E93/26/2008
This is the remarkable story of two baby elephants struggling to survive their critical first six months in the oldest desert on earth. The Desert Elephants of Namibia suffered a poaching holocaust in the 1980s. As the most endangered elephant population in the world recovers, every single calf is vital. Himba and Dusty are born in a boom year, but when the short-lived rivers on which they depend disappear underground, their lives depend on the memories, experience and decisions of the females who lead their tiny families.
Director:Mike Birkhead
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Mike Birkhead
Writer:Unknown
7.2/10(11 votes)
#25 - Penguins of the Antarctic
S24:E111/11/2006
Documentary charting the struggle for survival facing Antarctica's penguins. While some rely on thick down coats and fat reserves, others migrate north for the winter or stay on volcano-heated islands. However, the endearing animals' ability to defy the odds is about to be put to the ultimate test as the climate begins to change.
Directors:Mark Fletcher, Roger Webb
Writer:Unknown
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Directors:Mark Fletcher, Roger Webb
Writer:Unknown