7.8/1024 votes#1 - Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Second Chances
Season 34 Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/2015
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.
Director: Will Ridgeon, Mark Wheeler
Writer: N/A
7.4/1023 votes#2 - Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Wild Lessons
Season 34 Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/2015
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.
Director: Will Ridgeon, Mark Wheeler, Oli Sloane
Writer: N/A
7.5/1030 votes#3 - Big Birds Can't Fly
Season 34 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/2015
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.
Director: Mike Birkhead
Writer: Beth Jones
8.1/1051 votes#4 - Soul of the Elephant
Season 34 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/2015
Wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert take an intimate look at one of the world’s most intelligent and sensitive animals.
Director: N/A
Writer: Dereck Joubert
NaN/100 votes#5 - Pets: Wild At Heart: Playful Creatures
Season 34 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/2015
Mini-cameras, moving x-rays and night vision cameras capture the wild behavior of parakeets, hamsters, cats, rabbits and Peruvian dogs.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votes#6 - Pets: Wild At Heart: Secretive Creatures
Season 34 Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/2015
Moving x-rays, ultraviolet light and doggycams show how pets experience their world through hidden channels of communication.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/1028 votes#7 - Natural Born Hustlers: Staying Alive
Season 34 Episode 7 - Aired 1/13/2016
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.
Director: Gavin Boyland
Writer: N/A
7.8/1027 votes#8 - Natural Born Hustlers: The Hunger Hustle
Season 34 Episode 8 - Aired 1/20/2016
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.
Director: Mark Jones
Writer: N/A
7.4/1034 votes#9 - Natural Born Hustlers: Sex, Lies & Dirty Tricks
Season 34 Episode 9 - Aired 1/27/2016
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.
Director: Gavin Boyland, Mark Jones, Nick Green, Victoria Buckley
Writer: N/A
8.0/1040 votes#10 - Moose: Life of a Twig Eater
Season 34 Episode 10 - Aired 2/10/2016
Exploring the world of moose in the Canadian Rockies, focusing on a calf's first year of life.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1081 votes#11 - Raising the Dinosaur Giant
Season 34 Episode 11 - Aired 2/17/2016
Paleontologists bring the largest dinosaur ever discovered to virtual life.
Director: Charlotte Scott
Writer: N/A
8.2/1016 votes#12 - Snow Chick
Season 34 Episode 12 - Aired 2/24/2016
The incredible journey of one vulnerable and charismatic Emperor penguin chick.
Director: John Downer
Writer: N/A
8.2/1044 votes#13 - Animal Reunions
Season 34 Episode 13 - Aired 3/30/2016
Reunions between wild animals and their caregivers reveal whether interspecies bonds can stand the test of time.
Director: Peter Lown
Writer: N/A
8.0/1036 votes#14 - India's Wandering Lions
Season 34 Episode 14 - Aired 4/13/2016
As India’s population booms, her legendary wildlife has been squeezed almost out of existence. But the commitment of the Indian people to preserve their wildlife is surprising – leading even to bringing back what has been lost. Against a backdrop of teak forest, farmland and villages, this film explores the extraordinary story of Asia’s last lions and their recovery from near extinction. From a mere 20 individuals a century ago, they now number over 400. But the lions have outgrown their sanctuary and spilled out into the surrounding countryside and villages. Yet here a unique relationship has developed between lions and people, revealing a story not of continual conflict as we might expect, but one of survival and tolerance.
Director: Martin Dohrn, Praveen Singh
Writer: Martin Dohrn, Praveen Singh
7.1/1026 votes#15 - Nature's Perfect Partners
Season 34 Episode 15 - Aired 5/11/2016
It won’t come as any surprise that survival is the number one goal in the animal kingdom. But to ensure success on a continual basis, many creatures have opted to form alliances rather than go it alone. There are all kinds of partnerships to fulfill different needs, but as this film explains, these relationships are not only between animals of the same species. What is really astonishing is that completely unrelated species also form unlikely collaborations to succeed in the wild. Nature’s Perfect Partners travels around the world to profile an array of such animals who have joined forces.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/1021 votes#16 - Jungle Animal Hospital
Season 34 Episode 16 - Aired 5/18/2016
Follow a veterinarian, zoologist and their team through a year at ARCAS, a rescue center deep in the Guatemalan jungle.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Nature Season 34
Every episode of Nature Season 34 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Nature Season 34!
Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus...
Genres:DocumentaryFamily
Network:PBS
Season 34 Ratings Summary
"Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Second Chances" is the best rated episode of "Nature" season 34. It scored 7.8/10 based on 24 votes. Directed by Will Ridgeon, Mark Wheeler and written by N/A, it aired on 9/23/2015. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Nature’s Miracle Orphans: Wild Lessons".