Category Archives: Wildlife

Nature: Trumpeter Swans Near Cayuga, New York

We leave you this Sunday among trumpeter swans braving winter’s chill near Cayuga, New York. Videographer: Carl Mrozek.

TheĀ trumpeter swanĀ (Cygnus buccinator) is a species ofĀ swanĀ found inĀ North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species ofĀ waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 250 cm (6 ft 2 in to 8 ft 2 in).Ā It is the American counterpart and a close relative of theĀ whooper swanĀ (Cygnus cygnus) ofĀ Eurasia, and even has been considered the same species by some authorities.Ā By 1933, fewer than 70 wild trumpeters were known to exist, and extinction seemed imminent, until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeters around Alaska’sĀ Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and theĀ Trumpeter Swan SocietyĀ gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010.

Wildlife: Orangutans On The Island Of Borneo

Learning survival skills is a must for baby orangutans to live in the rainforest among their predators, however, not all of them are natural acrobats!

The Bornean orangutan is a species of orangutan endemic to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan and Tapanuli orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia.

Borneo, a giant, rugged island in Southeast Asia’s Malay Archipelago, is shared by the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, Indonesian Kalimantan and the tiny nation of Brunei. It’s known for its beaches and ancient, biodiverse rainforest, home to wildlife including orangutans and clouded leopards. In Sabah is 4,095m-tall Mount Kinabalu, the island’s highest peak, and, offshore, the famed dive site Sipadan Island.Ā 

Japan Views: Snow Monkey Park In Heavy Snowfall

Located at the base of Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, the Jigokudani Monkey Park – often referred to as the Snow Monkey Park – is home to a very special troop of monkeys. Created in 1964, the park was established as a conservation area in which the monkeys, Japanese macaques to be exact, would have a refuge within what was already their natural habitat. Once in the park, the naturally-curious monkeys observed humans using the hot spring of a nearby guesthouse and before long, started copying the behaviour. The rest as they say, is history.

Antarctic Views: Emperor Penguin Chicks Early Life

Narrated by Kate Winslet, Snow Chick – A Penguin’s Tale tells the story of an emperor penguin chick’s first precarious months of life as it grows up in the world’s most extreme nursery.

Emperor penguins are the only animals to breed in the Antarctic winter, and after months of blizzards and temperatures of -60C, male emperor penguins are watching and waiting for their chicks to hatch. Snow Chick is the last to emerge into this harsh, frozen world.

As he takes his first steps, he tries to fit in with the baby penguin gang, but when you’re so small it’s hard to be accepted by the bigger chicks. Soon he ventures too far from his mother for comfort and gets lost in a storm. Later, he’s chased by chick-snatching penguins and escapes a scavenging petrel by the fluff of his back – all the while slipping and skating on treacherous ice. With the arrival of the comical and pugnacious adelie penguin, colony life is turned upside down. But it signals a bigger change – the parents who braved long and treacherous journeys across the sea ice to bring back food eventually return no more. With his band of penguin brothers, Snow Chick has no choice but to make his own way to the sea. A few more adventures lie ahead before he gets tossed unceremoniously into the open ocean – his new home for the next four years.

An enchanting and action-packed dramatised Christmas treat, featuring one of the cutest and toughest creatures on Earth. Filming over a whole Antarctic year, the crew endured some of the toughest conditions on earth to capture these astonishing moments of intimate behaviour.

Views: Ecuador – Wildlife, Rainforests & Waterfalls

Ecuador is a country straddling the equator on South America’s west coast. Its diverse landscape encompasses Amazon jungle, Andean highlands and the wildlife-rich GalĆ”pagos Islands. In the Andean foothills at an elevation of 2,850m, Quito, the capital, is known for its largely intact Spanish colonial center, with decorated 16th- and 17th-century palaces and religious sites, like the ornate CompaƱƭa de JesĆŗs Church.

Video timeline: 00:16 – Mindo Valley 00:42 – Pailon del Diablo Waterfall 01:39 – Quilotoa Vulcano Lake 01:59 – Crowned woodnymph bird 02:19 – White-necked jacobin bird 03:07 – Time-lapse of the sky above Quito 03:44 – Cotopaxi National Park 04:57 – Golden tanager bird 05:17 – Andes Mountains 05:38 – Cayambe Volcano 06:23 – Amazon Rainforest

Underwater Views: Marine Coral Reef Wildlife (8K)

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.

Video timeline: 00:00–00:05 Intro 00:06–00:13 Seahorse 00:14–00:21 Coral reef 00:22–00:28 Sea turtle 00:29–00:40 Shark 00:41–00:48 Octopus 00:49–01:00 Lion Fish 01:01–01:08 Moray 01:09–01:17 Clown Fish and Sea Anemone 01:18–01:29 Manta Ray 01:30–01:37 Red shrimp 01:38–01:48 Jelly Fish 01:49–01:58 Sea horse 01:59–02:26 Coral reef 02:27–02:38 Clown Fish and Sea Anemone 02:39–02:50 Turtle eating 02:51–03:11 Octopus 03:12–03:21 Dolphin 03:22–03:31 Sea Turtle 03:32–03:42 Star Fish 03:43–03:51 Long Arm Octopus 03:52–04:04 Scorpion Fish 04:05–04:35 Coral reef 04:36–04:58 Sea Turtle

Nature Views: Pronghorn Antelope In Montana (CBS)

“Sunday Morning” takes us among pronghorn antelope at play near Virginia City in Montana. Videographer: Brad Markel.

TheĀ pronghornĀ is a species ofĀ artiodactylĀ (even-toed, hoofed)Ā mammalĀ indigenous to interior western and centralĀ North America. Though not a trueĀ antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as theĀ American antelope,Ā prong buck,Ā pronghorn antelope,Ā prairie antelope, or simplyĀ antelope because it closely resembles the antelopes of theĀ Old WorldĀ and fills a similarĀ ecological nicheĀ due toĀ parallel evolution. It is the only surviving member of theĀ Ā familyĀ Antilocapridae.

Views: Protecting Brazil’s Golden Lion Tamarin

Concerned by a recent drop in population numbers of the threatened golden lion tamarin, conservationists in Rio de Janeiro state have built a bridge across a busy highway to help the monkeys circulate over a wider forested area.

The golden lion tamarin, also known as the golden marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae. Native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, the golden lion tamarin is an endangered species.

Preview: ‘Alaska’s Call Of The Wild – Kodiak Bears’