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Favourite natural history programmes

Discussion in 'TV, Movies, Books about Zoos & Wildlife' started by DesertRhino150, 14 Sep 2019.

  1. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    One wildlife documentary I have just watched and enjoyed very much is 'A Wind on the Heath', made in 1969 or 1970 by Philip Wayre (of Norfolk Wildlife Park and Otter Trust fame) about the wildlife of Breckland. Some of the more interesting things in this documentary are the now-vanished populations of red squirrel and red-backed shrikes.

    Work - East Anglia Film Archive
     
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  2. Zoo2022

    Zoo2022 Well-Known Member

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    East Anglia Film Archive has some interesting 'zoo' pieces too from Norfolk Wildlife Park and (Ornamental) Pheasant Trust and Thorney.
    The two television programmes which influenced my childhood were Anglia TV's 'Survival Game' from the same stable; and 'Zoo Time' with Desmond Morris.
     
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  3. Dassie rat

    Dassie rat Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I enjoyed both programmes. I'm glad someone else remembers the 'Survival Game'
     
  4. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    As I've mentioned elsewhere on ZooChat,
    "Zoo Time" (Desmond Morris) was one of my very favourite television programmes when I was a child.

    Other programmes I used to enjoy enormously include "News from the Zoos" (James Fisher), "Great Zoos of the World" (Anthony Smith), "On Safari" (Armand & Michaela Denis) and "Look" (Peter Scott).
     
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  5. Enzothephotographer

    Enzothephotographer Well-Known Member

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    Holy ****, I specifically remember the chevrotain, martial eagle, and civet rubbing scenes in a nat geo doc clip on Youtube, glad I found the original doc that included this scene
     
  6. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Yesterday evening BBC 4 screened a television programme about David Attenborough's Zoo Quest series.

    Well worth watching on the BBC iPlayer. Follow the link below.

    BBC iPlayer - David Attenboroughs Zoo Quest in Colour

    "Thanks to a remarkable discovery in the BBC's film vaults, the best of David Attenborough's early Zoo Quest adventures can now be seen as never before, in colour, and with it the remarkable story of how this pioneering television series was made."
     
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  7. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I have just found and watched this brief six-minute excerpt from 'The Edge of Extinction', a 50-minute documentary that aired on the BBC in 1980. It is narrated and stars Gerald Durrell, and the excerpt uploaded online includes footage almost entirely filmed at Jersey Zoo. It is interesting to see the older styles of enclosure that were there, plus a good view of many species in the collection.

    Looking at the full episode description on the BBC's 'Genome' page (a full history of BBC TV guides), this episode includes footage of Gerald and Lee Durrell catching a group of volcano rabbits in Mexico.

    The excerpt can be viewed in this link:
    1980 Edge of Extinction | Earth In Vision
     
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  8. FBBird

    FBBird Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Much enjoyed, thank you
     
  9. DesertRhino150

    DesertRhino150 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Just been watching and enjoying this episode of Wildlife on One that is available on Youtube - while the main subjects are Western chimpanzees, there is also quite a bit of footage of other species including sooty mangabeys, African crowned eagles, Western red and pied colobus, Diana monkeys and also some short incidental clips of some more unusual species, including the olive colobus, tree pangolin and giant forest squirrel (I don't think I've ever seen film of the latter species, so that was possibly my favourite surprise).