Science and Nature

SuperNature - Wild Flyers

The sky is one of the world's most challenging places to live, but across the planet, an extraordinary range of animals do something we can only dream of take to the air. Some spend their whole lives airborne, while others only visit. But, they all have one thing in common: they survive by taking to the skies.

Bat vs Moth: A Nighttime Arms Race

3m 21s

The Night sky is the backdrop to an arms race that has been played out for millions or years between billions of bats and billions or moths, where aerial dominance is decided by the tiny advantages in flying skill and sensory equipment.

Extras + Features

  • Episode 3 Preview | Crowded Skies: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Episode 3 Preview | Crowded Skies

    S1 E3 - 30s

    The sky is a crowded world where mammals, birds and insects hunt, escape, mate, defend territory, sleep, and even die on the wing. Survival up here depends not just on beating gravity or mastering flight, but also out-flying the competition.

  • Inside a Giant Flock: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Inside a Giant Flock

    S1 - 2m 53s

    A flock is one of the most spectacular sights in nature – but how does it work? The explanation comes down to some surprisingly simple rules that each bird applies to its seven closest neighbors.

  • Anna’s Hummingbirds Attract Mates with Speed: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Anna’s Hummingbirds Attract Mates with Speed

    S1 - 3m 1s

    The Anna’s Hummingbird is so fast that it harnesses the air around it to produce a sound – angling its tail feathers as it reaches top speed so they resonate and hum – a sound that the female finds irresistible.

  • Bat vs Moth: A Nighttime Arms Race: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Bat vs Moth: A Nighttime Arms Race

    S1 - 3m 21s

    The Night sky is the backdrop to an arms race that has been played out for millions or years between billions of bats and billions or moths, where aerial dominance is decided by the tiny advantages in flying skill and sensory equipment.

  • Episode 2 Preview | Masters of the Sky: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Episode 2 Preview | Masters of the Sky

    S1 E2 - 30s

    Many animals take to the skies for a split second, but to stay there the planet’s strongest flyers have to push the laws of physics right to the edge. Explore the extremes of true flight: Power, acceleration, top speed, maneuverability and endurance.

  • Bat Wings: The Ultimate Flying Machine?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Bat Wings: The Ultimate Flying Machine?

    S1 - 2m 35s

    The secret to Brazilian free-tailed bats' success is safety in numbers, and their highly adaptable wing. Much like our hands its able to change its shape in all three dimensions, making the bat perhaps the ultimate flying machine.

  • The Rhinoceros Beetle in Flight: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Rhinoceros Beetle in Flight

    S1 - 2m 58s

    In his short life, this giant beetle has to find a mate, so to speed things up, he takes to the skies. As his wings move down, he produces lift much like a bird, but he also twists his wing at the end of each wing stroke.

  • How the Albatross Soars: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How the Albatross Soars

    S1 - 2m 53s

    With long thin wings, and a nose that can see the movement of the air around her, a royal albatross can use the power of the wind to fly for free.

  • A Powerful Swan Take Off: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Powerful Swan Take Off

    S1 - 3m 9s

    Whooper swans are built for speed. They have long, pointed wings with stiff primary feathers to enable them to migrate between their summer breeding grounds in Iceland and their wintering ground in the UK. But when you’re built for top speed, acceleration is a sluggish affair.

  • A Caracal’s Incredible Vertical Launch: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Caracal’s Incredible Vertical Launch

    S1 - 3m 21s

    Caracals are adapted to catch birds in flight and capable of leaping up to 3m high. Enormous back legs maximize the caracal’s speed on take off and special muscle fibers deliver three times the power of a human athlete’s.

  • A Flying Squirrel’s Greatest Threat is the Great Horned Owl: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Flying Squirrel’s Greatest Threat is the Great Horned Owl

    S1 - 2m 47s

    Gliding allows flying squirrels to find scarce food fast, even in the depths of a North American winter. The longest limbs in the squirrel world make their wings as large as possible. But flights are kept short and fast to help the squirrel avoid a major predator - the Great Horned Owl.

  • Wood Ducklings Take a Leap of Faith on the Day They Hatch: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Wood Ducklings Take a Leap of Faith on the Day They Hatch

    S1 - 2m 50s

    Wood ducks make a nest high in the trees to protect their eggs from predatory woodpeckers, raccoons, snakes and alligators. Although the eggs are laid over a two-week period they all hatch on the same day and the mother has just minutes to get the twelve noisy chicks to safety.

Schedule

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