Natural World Season 22, Episode 16: Ireland: Sculpted Isle

Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs

Last year, while excavating a 5,000 year old temple buried by Egyptian sands, archaeologist Edda Bresciani unearthed a sacred chamber - with an unexpected secret.There in the center of the room, gleamed an iridescent pool of emerald water. And right next to it, in a small depression hewn into the floor - thirty perfectly preserved crocodile eggs. Nearby were mummified adults. "The temple was a nursery for sacred crocodiles," she says incredulously. "They emerged from the eggs, to be reared in the pool before being sacrificed and mummified. I'd found a temple to Sebek - the crocodileheaded deity." Despite their revered status in ancient Egypt, the crocodiles in the river Nile were all hunted out by the 1800s, and the Pharaoh's crocodiles were lost forever. Or so it was thought.Then there came mysterious sightings of crocodiles emerging from strange places in north Africa away from the Egyptian Nile. Are these the long lost ancestors of the Pharaoh's crocodiles - alive and well?

Elephant Cave

Beneath the forested flanks of an extinct volcano lies a cave with a mysterious secret. Kitum Cave on the slopes of Mt Elgon in Kenya is the only place on earth where elephants regularly venture deep underground. Driven by cravings for salt, these elephants are forced to make the dangerous venture into the cave. Humans have been drawn to Kitum Cave over thousand of years, originally to harvest salt, but more recently to slaughter elephants, leading to local rangers Daniel and Mike being assigned to protect the survivors

White Shark/Red Triangle

Each year, in the late summer, a region known as the Red Triangle bustles with marine mammal activity. Lying between San Francisco and Monterey, the Red Triangle includes beaches where elephant seals go to molt, and offshore sites where great whites feed on unwary prey. When not prowling the Red Triangle, great white sharks search the kelp forest for sea lions, or roam the open ocean. Their migration is predictable. Each year they turn up at the same place at the same time, occasionally crossing paths with humans who still swim and surf in these dangerous waters.

Tigers of the Emerald Forest

Huge male tigers are the focus of this film, Dedicated scientist Raghu Chundawat and his partner Joanna Van Gruisen have been studying them for the last eight years and reveals the unique secrets of the tigers of the Emerald Forest.

Dune

Five Owl Farm

This is the story of a remarkable place - a Yorkshire farm where all five British owls live side by side.

The Monkey Prince

The Mountain Troop is the most powerful in the kingdom, and it lives in the best location. That is where Bobo is born. From the moment of his birth, Bobo is at the very pinnacle of troop hierarchy and is treated like a prince. But a territorial war between two rival troops changes his life forever. Once his princely status comes to an abrupt end, he has little choice but to find a new home. Somewhere between fact and fiction, The Monkey Prince delves into the destiny of a remarkable monkey and reveals the private lives of two rival troops by showing their territorial wars and their interaction with human and natural worlds.

The Eagle Has Landed

The struggle to bring ospreys, red kites and sea eagles back from the brink of extinction is Britain's greatest wildlife success story. Thanks to a few dedicated people these magnificent birds of prey are recovering fast, and after over 100 years absence they may even be about to reclaim the skies of southern England.

Swamp Cats

Film about a family of lions living in the swamps of the Okavango delta, seen through the eyes of a cub born just before the annual flood.

Caribou and Wolves: The Endless Dance

Across the top of North America, millions of caribou are led on their never-ending journey by the mothers of the herd. Driven by the demands of motherhood, they travel 3000 miles on a trek from their winter range at the edge of the northern forests to calving grounds and back again. The caribou keep themselves to open ground for visibility of their predators. The wolves are not far behind.

Missing... Presumed Eaten

A Moose Named Madeline

Richard E Grant narrates this documentary following a female moose and its calf Madeline in the dangerous Canadian wilderness. The youngster must overcome wolves, swarms of biting flies and the freezing weather if it is to survive into adulthood

The Amber Time Machine

Amber is one of David Attenborough's great passions - he is captivated by its beauty and the animals frozen within it in perfect detail. In a personal journey he traces the history of a piece he has had since he was a boy, travelling back millions of years to the age of dinosaurs to unravel its secrets.

Five Big Cats and a Camera

The story of the hurdles overcome by Owen Newman & Amanda Barrett, as they set out 14yrs ago to film cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals and lions.

Ice Age Death Trap

For thousands of years downtown LA hid an indiscriminate killer - in one of the most surprising wildlife crime stories in the world, Natural World turns forensic detective to solve the mystery and unmask victims and killer. Features sabre-tooth cats, dire wolves and huge short-faced bears.

Lion: Out of Africa?

The biggest of the big cats is declining fast, killed because it's developed a taste for beef - cows are much easier to catch than wildebeest in many parts of Africa. This film investigates solutions with help from big cat expert Jonathan Scott, a Masai entrepreneur, and a South African vet who's setting up a lion sperm bank.