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The Seven Wonders of the World (or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. The most prominent of these, the versions by Antipater of Sidon and an observer identified as Philo of Byzantium, comprise seven works located around the eastern Mediterranean rim. The original list inspired innumerable versions through the ages, often listing seven entries. Of the original Seven Wonders, only one—the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the ancient wonders—remains relatively intact.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in this documentary Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
[- Planet Earth - Seven Wonders of the Ancient World -]
BBC - Science
Planet Earth Episode 11 Ocean Deep - BBC Documentary - Sir David Attenborough
The final instalment concentrates on the least explored area of the planet—the deep ocean. It begins with a whale shark used as a shield by a shoal of bait fish to protect themselves from yellowfin tuna. Also shown is an oceanic whitetip shark trailing rainbow runners. Meanwhile, a 500-strong school of dolphins head for the Azores, where they work together to feast on scad mackerel along with a flock of shearwaters. Down in the ocean's furthest reaches, some creatures defy classification.
On the sea floor, scavengers such as the spider crab bide their time, awaiting carrion from above. The volcanic mountain chain at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean also sustains life through the bacteria that surround its sulphide vents. There are thought to be around 30,000 undersea volcanoes, some of them taller than Mount Everest. Their sheer cliffs provide anchorage for several corals and sponges. Nearer the surface, the currents that surround these seamounts force nutrients up from below and thus marine life around them is abundant. Ascension Island is a nesting ground for frigate-birds and green turtles.
Off the Mexican coast, a large group of sailfish feed on another shoal of bait fish, changing colour to signal their intentions to each other, allowing them to coordinate their attack. The last sequence depicts the largest animal on Earth—the blue whale, of which 300,000 once roamed the world's oceans. Now fewer than 3% remain. Planet Earth Diaries shows the search in the Bahamas for oceanic whitetip sharks.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Ocean Deep.
[- Planet Earth - Ocean Deep -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 10 Seasonal Forests - BBC Documentary - Sir David Attenborough
The penultimate episode surveys the coniferous and deciduous seasonal woodland habitats-the most extensive forests on Earth. Conifers begin sparsely in the subarctic but soon dominate the land, and the taiga circles the globe, containing a third of all the Earth's trees.
Few creatures can survive the Arctic climate year round, but the moose and wolverine are exceptions. 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) to the south, on the Pacific coast of North America, conifers have reached their full potential. These include some of the world's tallest trees: the redwoods. Here, a pine marten is shown stalking a squirrel, and great grey owl chicks take their first flight.
Further south still, in Chile's Valdivian forests, a population of smaller animals exist, including the pudú and the kodkod. During spring in a European broad-leafed forest, a mandarin duck leads its day-old family to leap from its tree trunk nest to the leaf litter below. The Bialowieza Forest typifies the habitat that characterised Europe around 6,000 years ago: only a fragment remains in Poland and Belarus.
On a summer night on North America's east coast, periodical cicadas emerge en masse to mate—an event that occurs every seventeen years. After revisiting Russia's Amur leopards in winter, a time-lapse sequence illustrates the effect of the ensuing spring on the deciduous forest floor. In India's teak forests, a langur monkey strays too far from the chital that act as its sentinels and falls prey to a tiger. In Madagascar, mouse lemurs feed on the nectar of flowering baobab trees. Planet Earth Diaries explains how aerial shots of the baobab were achieved by the use of a cinebulle, an adapted hot air balloon.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Seasonal Forests.
[- Planet Earth - Seasonal Forests -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 9 Shallow Seas - BBC Documentary - David Attenborough: This programme is devoted to the shallow seas that fringe the world's continents. Although they constitute 8% of the oceans, they contain most marine life. As humpback whales return to breeding grounds in the tropics, a mother and its calf are followed. While the latter takes in up to 500 litres of milk a day, its parent will starve until it travels back to the poles to feed-and it must do this while it still has sufficient energy left for the journey.
The coral reefs of Indonesia are home to the biggest variety of ocean dwellers. Examples include banded sea kraits, which ally themselves with goatfish and trevally in order to hunt. In Western Australia, dolphins "hydroplane" in the shallowest waters to catch a meal, while in Bahrain, 100,000 Socotra cormorants rely on shamals that blow sand grains into the nearby Persian Gulf, transforming it into a rich fishing ground. The appearance of algae in the spring starts a food chain that leads to an abundant harvest, and sea lions and dusky dolphins are among those taking advantage of it.
In Southern Africa, as chokka squid are preyed on by short-tail stingray, the Cape fur seals that share the waters are hunted by the world's largest predatory fish-the great white shark. On Marion Island in the Indian Ocean, a group of king penguins must cross a beach occupied by fur seals that do not hesitate to attack them. Planet Earth Diaries shows the difficulties of filming the one-second strike of a great white shark, filmed by Simon King.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Shallow Seas.
[- Planet Earth - Shallow Seas -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
On March 20, 1995, the Tokyo Metro was infected with dangerous sarin nerve gas, which was planted by 5 members of a terrorist group called Aum Shinrikyo. A total of 13 people were killed.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Zero Hour in this episode Terror in Tokyo.
[- Zero Hour - Terror in Tokyo -]
BBC - Discovery Channel
Planet Earth Episode 8 Jungles - BBC Documentary - David Attenborough: This episode examines jungles and tropical rainforests. These environments occupy only 3% of the land yet are home to over half of the world's species. New Guinea is inhabited by almost 40 kinds of birds of paradise, which avoid conflict with each other by living in different parts of the island. Some of their elaborate courtship displays are shown.
Within the dense forest canopy, sunlight is prized, and the death of a tree triggers a race by saplings to fill the vacant space. Figs are a widespread and popular food, and as many as 44 types of bird and monkey have been observed picking from a single tree. The sounds of the jungle throughout the day are explored, from the early morning calls of siamangs and orangutans to the nocturnal cacophony of courting tree frogs. The importance of fungi to the rainforest is illustrated by a sequence of them fruiting, including a parasite called cordyceps. The mutual benefits of the relationship between carnivorous pitcher plants and red crab spiders is also discussed.
In the Congo, roaming forest elephants are shown reaching a clearing to feed on essential clay minerals within the mud. Finally, chimpanzees are one of the few jungle animals able to traverse both the forest floor and the canopy in search of food. In Uganda, members of a 150-strong community of the primates mount a raid into neighbouring territory in order to gain control of it. Planet Earth Diaries looks at filming displaying birds of paradise, focusing mainly on the filming of the six-plumed bird of paradise.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Jungles.
[- Planet Earth - Jungles -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 7 Great Plains - BBC Documentary - Sir David Attenborough: This episode deals with savanna, steppe, tundra, prairie, and looks at the importance and resilience of grasses in such treeless ecosystems.
Their vast expanses contain the largest concentration of animal life. Over Africa's savanna, a swarm of 1.5 billion Red-billed Queleas are caught on camera, the largest flock of birds ever depicted. In Outer Mongolia, a herd of Mongolian gazelle flee a bush fire and is forced to find new grazing, but grass self-repairs rapidly and soon reappears.
On the Arctic tundra during spring, millions of migratory snow geese arrive to breed and their young are preyed on by Arctic foxes. Meanwhile, time-lapse photography depicts moving herds of caribou as a calf is brought down by a chasing wolf. On the North American prairie, bison engage in the ritual to establish the dominant males.
The Tibetan Plateau is the highest of the plains and despite its relative lack of grass, animals do survive there, including yak and wild ass. However, the area's most numerous resident is the pika, whose nemesis is the Tibetan fox. In tropical India, the tall grasses hide some of the largest creatures and also the smallest, such as the pygmy hog. The final sequence depicts African bush elephants that are forced to share a waterhole with a pride of thirty lions. The insufficient water makes it an uneasy alliance and the latter gain the upper hand during the night when their hunger drives them to hunt and eventually kill one of the pachyderms. Planet Earth Diaries explains how the lion hunt was filmed in darkness using infrared light.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Great Plains.
[- Planet Earth - Great Plains -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 6 Ice Worlds - BBC Documentary - David Attenborough: The sixth programme looks at the regions of the Arctic and Antarctica. The latter contains 90% of the world's ice, and stays largely deserted until the spring, when visitors arrive to harvest its waters.
Snow petrels take their place on nunataks and begin to court, but are preyed on by South Polar skuas. During summer, a pod of humpback whales hunt krill by creating a spiralling net of bubbles. The onset of winter sees the journey of emperor penguins to their breeding grounds, 160 kilometres (99 mi) inland. Their eggs transferred to the males for safekeeping, the females return to the ocean while their partners huddle into large groups to endure the extreme cold.
At the northern end of the planet, Arctic residents include musk oxen, who are hunted by Arctic foxes and wolves. A female polar bear and her two cubs head off across the ice to look for food. As the sun melts the ice, a glimpse of the Earth's potential future reveals a male polar bear that is unable to find a firm footing anywhere and has to resort to swimming-which it cannot do indefinitely. Its desperate need to eat brings it to a colony of walrus. Although it attacks repeatedly, the herd is successful in evading it by returning to the sea. Wounded and unable to feed, the bear will not survive. Meanwhile, back in Antarctica, the eggs of the emperor penguins finally hatch.
Planet Earth Diaries tells of the battle with the elements to obtain the penguin footage and of unwelcome visits from polar bears.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Ice Worlds.
[- Planet Earth - Ice Worlds -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 5 Deserts - BBC Documentary - David Attenborough: This instalment features the harsh environment that covers one-third of the land on Earth: the deserts.
Due to Siberian winds, Mongolia's Gobi Desert reaches extremes of temperature like no other, ranging from -40 °C to +50 °C (-40 °F to 122 °F). It is home to the rare Bactrian camel, which eats snow to maintain its fluid level and must limit itself to 10 litres (2.6 U.S. gal; 2.2 imp gal) a day if it is not to prove fatal.
Africa's Sahara is the size of the USA, and just one of its severe dust storms could cover the whole of Great Britain. While some creatures, such as the dromedary, take them in their stride, for others the only escape from such bombardments is to bury themselves in the sand.
Few rocks can resist them either and the outcrops shown in Egypt's White Desert are being inexorably eroded. The biggest dunes (300 m or 1,000 ft high) are found in Namibia, while other deserts featured are Death Valley in California and Nevada, the Sonoran in Arizona, the deserts of Utah, all in the United States, the Atacama in Chile, and areas of the Australian outback.
Animals are shown searching for food and surviving in such an unforgiving habitat: African elephants that walk up to 80 kilometres (50 mi) per day to find food; lions (hunting oryx); red kangaroos (which moisten their forelegs with saliva to keep cool); nocturnal fennec foxes, acrobatic flat lizards feeding on black flies, and duelling Nubian ibex. The final sequence illustrates one of nature's most fearsome spectacles: a billion-strong plague of desert locusts, destroying all vegetation in its path. Planet Earth Diaries explains how the hunt for the elusive Bactrian camels necessitated a two-month trek in Mongolia.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Deserts.
[- Planet Earth - Deserts -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 4 Caves - Sir David Attenborough - BBC Documentary: This episode explores "Planet Earth's final frontier": Caves.
At a depth of 400 metres (1,300 ft), Mexico's Cave of Swallows is Earth's deepest Pit Cave freefall drop, allowing entry by BASE jumpers. Its volume could contain New York City's Empire State Building. In this episode divers explore the otherworldly cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula, appearing to be flying in water (because it is so clear), allowing viewers a glimpse of the hundreds of kilometers of caves which have already been mapped. Also featured is Borneo's Deer Cave and Gomantong Cave.
Inhabitants of the former include three million wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat, which have deposited guano on to an enormous mound. In Gomantong Cave, guano is many metres high and is blanketed with hundreds of thousands of cockroaches and other invertebrates. Also depicted are eyeless, subterranean creatures, such as the Texas blind salamander and (bizarrely) a species of crab.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is featured with its calcite formations. Mexico's Cueva de Villa Luz is also featured, with its flowing stream of sulphuric acid and snottite formations made of living bacteria. A fish species, the shortfin molly, has adapted to this habitat. The programme ends in New Mexico's Lechuguilla Cave (discovered in 1986) where sulphuric acid has produced unusually ornate, gypsum crystal formations. Planet Earth Diaries reveals how a camera team spent a month among the cockroaches on the guano mound in Gomantong Cave and describes the logistics required to photograph Lechuguilla. Permission for the latter took two years and local authorities are unlikely to allow another visit.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Caves.
[- Planet Earth - Caves -]
BBC - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 3 Fresh Water - BBC Documentary - Sir David Attenborough: The fresh water programme describes the course taken by rivers and some of the species that take advantage of such a habitat. Only 3% of the world's water is fresh, yet all life on land ultimately depends on it.
Its journey begins as a stream in the mountains, illustrated by Venezuela's Tepui, where there is a tropical downpour almost every day. It then travels hundreds of kilometres before forming rapids. With the aid of some expansive helicopter photography, one sequence demonstrates the vastness of Angel Falls, the world's highest free-flowing waterfall. Its waters drop unbroken for nearly 1,000 metres (3,000 feet) and are blown away as a mist before they reach the bottom.
In Japan, the water is inhabited by the biggest amphibian, the two-metre long giant salamander, while in the northern hemisphere, salmon undertake the largest freshwater migration, and are hunted en route by grizzly bears. The erosive nature of rivers is shown by the Grand Canyon, created over five million years by the Colorado River. Also featured are smooth coated otters repelling mugger crocodiles and the latter's Nile cousin ambushing wildebeest as they cross the Mara River. Roseate spoonbills are numerous in the Pantanal and are prey to spectacled caiman.
In addition, there are cichlids, piranhas, river dolphins and swimming crab-eating macaques. Planet Earth Diaries shows how a camera crew filmed a piranha feeding frenzy in Brazil-after a two-week search for the opportunity.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Fresh Water.
[- Planet Earth - Fresh Water -]
BBC - Earth - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Planet Earth Episode 2 Mountains - BBC Documentary
David Attenborough: The second instalment focuses on the mountains. All the main ranges are explored with extensive aerial photography. Ethiopia's Erta Ale is the longest continually erupting volcano-for over 100 years. On the nearby highlands, geladas (the only primate whose diet is almost entirely grass) inhabit precipitous slopes nearly five kilometres (3 mi) up, in troops that are 800-strong: the most numerous of their kind.
Alongside them live the critically endangered walia ibex, and both species take turns to act as lookout for predatory Ethiopian wolves. The Andes have the most volatile weather and guanacos are shown enduring a flash blizzard, along with an exceptional group sighting of the normally solitary puma. The Alpine summits are always snow-covered, apart from that of the Matterhorn, which is too sheer to allow it to settle. Grizzly bear cubs emerge from their den for the first time in the Rockies, while Himalayan inhabitants include rutting markhor, golden eagles that hunt migrating demoiselle cranes, and the rare snow leopard.
At the eastern end of the range, the giant panda cannot hibernate due to its poor nutriment of bamboo and one of them cradles its week-old cub. Also shown is the Earth's biggest mountain glacier-the Baltoro in Pakistan, which is 70 kilometres (43 mi) long and visible from space. Planet Earth Diaries explains how difficult it was to get close-up footage of snow leopards; it was a three-year process and is the world's first-ever video footage of snow leopards.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode Planet Earth - Mountains.
[- Planet Earth - Planet Earth - Mountains -]
BBC - Earth - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
A BBC documentary which explores the history of climbing K2, the mountaineers mountain, from the early days to the summit with historical footage photographs & re-enactments.
It will be 60 years next year since it was first climbed so what better way to remind ourselves how spectacular this mountain is. A documentary which explores the history of climbing K2, the mountaineers mountain, from the early days to the summit with historical footage photographs & re-enactments.
Here with Watch Documentaries 360 in this documentary The Ghosts of K2.
[- Mountain Men - The Ghosts of K2 -]
BBC - K2 - Nature
Planet Earth Episode 1 From Pole to Pole - BBC Documentary - David Attenborough: The first episode illustrates a journey around the globe and reveals the effect of gradual climatic change and seasonal transitions en route. During Antarctica's winter, emperor penguins endure four months of darkness, with no food, in temperatures of -70 °C (-94 °F).
Meanwhile, as spring arrives in the Arctic, polar bear cubs take their first steps into a world of rapidly thawing ice. In northern Canada, 3 million caribou complete an overland migration of 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi), longer than that of any animal, and are hunted by wolves during its journey. The forests of eastern Russia are home to the Amur leopard; with a population of just 40 individuals in the wild, it is now the world's rarest cat.
This is primarily because of the destruction of its habitat, and Attenborough states that it "symbolises the fragility of our natural heritage". However, in the tropics, the jungle that covers 3% of the planet's surface supports 50% of its species.
Other species shown include New Guinea's birds of paradise, African hunting dogs in their efficient pursuit of impala, elephants in Africa migrating towards the waters of the Okavango Delta, a seasonal bloom of life in the otherwise arid Kalahari Desert, and 300,000 migrating Baikal teal, containing the world's entire population of the species in one flock. The Planet Earth Diaries segment shows how the wild dog hunt was filmed unobtrusively with the aid of the Heligimbal, a powerful, gyro-stabilised camera mounted beneath a helicopter.
Join with Watch Documentaries 360 in the series of Planet Earth in this episode From Pole to Pole.
[- Planet Earth - From Pole to Pole -]
BBC - Earth - Nature - Planet Earth - Science
Vienna, Austrian capital city, a city full of culture at the heart of Europe. Vienna has been a place where dreamers, artists and innovators from every corners of the world travel to experience the dazzling intellectual and artistic life there for centuries.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, lies in the country’s east on the Danube River. Its artistic and intellectual legacy was shaped by residents including Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud. The city is also known for its Imperial palaces, including Schönbrunn, the Habsburgs’ summer residence. In the MuseumsQuartier district, historic and contemporary buildings display works by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and other artists.
Let find out what these documentary is about to tell us about this unique city with Watch Documentaries 360 in the story of Vienna - City of Dreams.
Source: Google
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BBC - Travel - Vienna
Ant is a small insects that is very mazing and interesting. They are social animals that have a very good organised system. There are 3 types of population in the ant colony. The soldier ant, the ants that have a duty to defend their nest. Worker ants, that ant that is responsible for cultivating fungus for food to serve all of the ants. And the queen ant, there is only one queen ant in the colony and it is very large. The responsibility of the queen ant is to reproduce ant population.
In order to find out how ants work so well together, scientists have created the ant's nest with leaves to study their life in their colony.
Let see what the scientist find out in the video by BBC Planet Ants - Life Inside The Colony.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_colony
[- Planet Ants - Life Inside The Colony -]
Animal - Ants - BBC - Science
Earths Frozen Regions and Global Warming
BBC | Earth | ScienceJames Baylog has a near fatal attraction to ice. His fascination is leading him farther and deeper into the cryosphere, the frozen regions of the earth. What began as a photographic assignment has become a mind-blowing odyssey into an unpredictable world where entire landscapes cuter between solid and liquid states. On the Greenland ice sheet a crack-open and a mile wide lake 4 out of 3000 foot-castle. One of the world greatest glaciers shear of an iceberg that is nearly a thousand feet tick.
Changes in the ice is normal. It is volatile constantly in flux, but Blaylock is witnessing suggests something extraordinary is going on. His passion is to document and hep scientists understand this monumental changes. Balog's work frames one of the most important scientific questions humans have ever faced the question of "how fast were the world's glaciers and ice sheet melt and what will all that melting mean for us".
Let see what James Baylog has to show us in this thrilling extreme ice documentary Earths Frozen Regions and Global Warming.
More reading: http://jamesbalog.com
[- Earths Frozen Regions and Global Warming -]
BBC - Earth - Science
Galapagos - Islands that Changed the World
BBC | Animal | ScienceNatural history series exploring the Galapagos Islands, which lie 1,000 kilometres off the coast of South America.
In the early 16th century, the first person in recorded history to set foot on Galapagos, the Bishop of Panama, deemed it a hellish place. He found no water and two of his men and ten of his horses perished. Through time, this forbidding archipelago became the haunt of pirates and whalers, but as more people came to Galapagos, they began to see it in a whole new light.
In 1835, Charles Darwin's brush with these islands became the catalyst for a revolution that would transform our understanding of life on Earth.
From flightless cormorants hunting underwater to giant tortoises courting on the rim of an active volcano, a look at the hidden side of Galapagos, revealing why it is such a fascinating showcase for evolution.
Let find this out in BBC documentary GALAPAGOS - Islands that Changed the World
Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galápagos_Islands
http://www.galapagos.org
[- Galapagos - Islands that Changed the World -]
Animal - BBC - Galapagos
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