Show

Synopsis

Date

Time

Channel

Nature: Ireland

Although green is its emblematic color, Ireland's verdant fields are not the nation's only extraordinary natural features. Sculpted millions of years ago by the advance and retreat of vast shields of ice, the Emerald Isle harbors a wealth of wildlife among its craggy mountains, fog-shrouded coastlines, steep gorges, and vast networks of inland waterways.

Situated in the North Atlantic, Ireland is often buffeted by Atlantic storms but also enjoys the mild influences of the Gulf Stream, which passes nearby on its journey from the waters off Florida to the coast of Norway.

The first settlers of Ireland are believed to have arrived some 9,000 years ago. Impenetrable forests at first confined them to the coastline, where abundant fish and dense oyster beds in shallow waters offered an easy food source. Penetrating the forests, the population gradually moved inland, spreading across a strange and varied landscape of steep mountains, island-filled bays, dry grasslands, peat bogs, and the enigmatic Burren, a terrain marked by limestone outcroppings and huge boulders strewn by the retreating glaciers.

NATURE's IRELAND also explores the island's diverse wildlife, from the peregrine falcons who haunt the mountainsides to the puffins, gannets, and dippers who nest and breed on the offshore islands, the salmon who journey upstream into its waters to spawn, and the otters, stoats, badgers, red deer, and other mammals that make Ireland their home.

March 27

8 pm(?) KUAT doesn’t list the time. Check the TV schedule for the date.

KUAT (6) Tucson

Nature: Deep Jungle: Episode 1

Follow intrepid explorers and scientists as they go deep into jungles around the globe, unraveling secrets that lie within.

Filmed in the rainforests of 14 countries, DEEP JUNGLE, a three-hour miniseries, reveals how technology is changing the nature of jungle exploration by providing scientists with the means to unlock secrets that enlarge our understanding of rainforests and the role they play in planetary ecology.

Join NATURE and follow researchers as they climb more than 200-foot-high jungle canopies, confront bizarre species, decipher mysteries of animal behavior, and probe archeological sites that harbor clues about lost civilizations.

Episode 1
In the Sumatran jungle resides a species of tiger which scientists have yet to observe in the wild. NATURE heads into this mysterious part of the world intent on changing that. This jungle quest introduces a whole world of scientific adventurers, whose arsenal of gadgetry shows the jungle as it has never been seen before. Mobile phones track elephants through the Congo basin, thermal lenses show us the largest fruit bat migration on earth, and high-speed video reveals one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom. Of all the insights into the jungle, the most startling pertain to its evolutionary history: in Madagascar infrared cameras reveal Darwin's infamous giant moth, and in Borneo a new 3D mapping technique provides us with a breathtaking virtual tour of the canopy and a glimpse into evolution itself.

April 17

8 pm(?) KUAT doesn’t list the time. Check the TV schedule for the date.

KUAT (6) Tucson

Nature: Deep Jungle: Episode 2

Episode 2
Travel to the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Peru and learn about the intricacies of jungle life. State of the art graphics reveal that we can only understand the jungle by focusing on its smallest building block -- a giant tree and all the life that lives around it. The biggest creatures of the forest live out their lives here, from the huge harpy eagle to the planet's greatest predator, the strangler fig. This microcosmic example of the larger forest works through an extraordinary web of interrelated entities, like the electrical connections in a computer. Bee expert David Roubik is here in search of the elusive key that holds the whole jungle world together and discovers a bizarre relationship between a bee and the perfume of a rare orchid that puts him closer to his goal. Martin Nicholas travels to this area as well, seeking contact with a legendary, giant, chicken-eating spider. His discovery shows that even in a small jungle space like this one there are layers of complexity still to be discovered. Graphics help us visualize the natural end of this area -- a battle between a strangler fig and a giant Brazil nut tree.

April 24

8 pm(?) KUAT doesn’t list the time. Check the TV schedule for the date.

KUAT (6) Tucson

Nature: Deep Jungle: Episode 3

Embark on a journey to discover where we come from and what our own future might hold. Italian primatologist Chloe Chipoletta tries to make the first human contact with lowland gorillas in the remote African forests of the Congo. Similar contact with other great apes by experts like David Watts in Uganda has revealed where our ability to use tools came from. We discover that even our cherished notions of being the only animal capable of sophisticated culture are false when we witness capuchin monkeys in Brazil with the rudiments of culture. American archaeologists Rene Munoz and Charles Golden, working in the forests of Guatemala, and British archaeologist Charles Higham working in Cambodia are studying the ruins of lost civilizations searching for answers to one question: what happens when we turn the skills we inherited from our primate past against the forest? The fate of these civilizations offers us a powerful lesson about our own future and the future of the jungle.

May 1

8 pm(?) KUAT doesn’t list the time. Check the TV schedule for the date.

KUAT (6) Tucson

Nova: Wave That Shook the World

Experts reconstruct the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in an effort to prepare for the next big one.

March 29

8 pm(?) KUAT doesn’t list the time. Check the TV schedule for the date.

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: The Dead Sea

Exploring the Dead Sea

March 10

6 pm, 9pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Everglades

Examining Florida's Everglades, the largest wetlands in the U.S. The hour focuses on the area's ecological woes and the reasons for them.

March 11

2 pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Everglades

Examining Florida's Everglades, the largest wetlands in the U.S. The hour focuses on the area's ecological woes and the reasons for them.

March 13

10 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Everglades

Examining Florida's Everglades, the largest wetlands in the U.S. The hour focuses on the area's ecological woes and the reasons for them.

March 21

1pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Grand Canyon

A geological and historical survey of the Grand Canyon explores how the stunning Colorado River gorge was formed

March 13

8 pm, 11 pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Grand Canyon

A geological and historical survey of the Grand Canyon explores how the stunning Colorado River gorge was formed

March 17

11 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Kilimanjaro

Exploring Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain. The 19,340-ft. peak is located near the Equator in a Tanzanian savannah, but the climate at the summit is polar.

March 16

1 pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Naked Planet: Niagara Falls

Examining the geological, social and industrial history of the spectacular waterfall on the Niagara River, which separates Ontario, Canada, from New York state.

March 23

7 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie

Lyle Lovett hosts (and is heard singing in) this examination of the ecological importance of tallgrass prairies, which once covered a third of the U.S. landmass

March 11

5 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie

Lyle Lovett hosts (and is heard singing in) this examination of the ecological importance of tallgrass prairies, which once covered a third of the U.S. landmass

March 12

5 pm

KUAT (6) Tucson

Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie

Lyle Lovett hosts (and is heard singing in) this examination of the ecological importance of tallgrass prairies, which once covered a third of the U.S. landmass

March 13

1 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie

Lyle Lovett hosts (and is heard singing in) this examination of the ecological importance of tallgrass prairies, which once covered a third of the U.S. landmass

March 15

2 am, 5 am

KUAT (6) Tucson

Planet Earth

Here we will explore the role of life in shaping our planet and in shaping its future. Is man a threat to Earth's future, or is he emerging as the brain or nervous system of this grand living organism called Earth? How is the Amazon rain forest a critical piece in the puzzle of the health of our planet? New discoveries tell us that life may be a billion years older than previously thought which has provocative implications. We will explore new revelations about the global consequences of a "Nuclear Winter" and "Ultra-Violet Spring."

March 12

8 am

KUAT (6) Tucson