The Ark In Space

Wild Japan

Thursday, 29 January 2026

Japan is a crowded country but stull has many diverse wildlife and landscapes. Many of the animals have adapted and continue to thrive alongside humans. This documentary is a very sweet and beautifully created piece of work and features narration by Michelle Dockery. You will witness frogs and their amazingly complex nests, the tadpoles feeding off it before they make their way out into the world. Then there are the macaques raiding the local farms for the fresh produce (well, everyone has to eat, don’t they?). These and many other animals will thrill and engage you for 20 minutes. I particularly liked the underwater sequences - simply phenomenal. It leaves me wondering how on earth it was done. Enjoy!

Mallorca's Living Fossils

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Thought extinct thousands of years ago, the Mallorcan midwife toad was discovered alive and well in the 1970s. Its lifecycle is astounding considering it lives among pools in the mountains of this Spanish island. Oh and the male carries the eggs around his hind legs while they develop! This and other members of the living fossil club are featured in this fascinating documentary short by Rachel Ledbetter.

The Frog Photographer

Saturday, 16 October 2021

Director Thaddeus D. Matula followed conservation biologist, amphibian specialist and nature photographer Robin Moore into the heart of the Costa Rican rain forest on the Osa Peninsula. The Osa is a mecca for biologists as it is home to 2.5% of all the world's unique species. Robin sets out to document some of its smallest four-legged inhabitants including the poison dart frog which has a very distinctive call! This amazing project was selected for the launch of BBC Earth.

Wanted: Grizzly Bears?

Tuesday, 12 January 2021

Curious about grizzly bears? A 7 minute film about the elusive North Cascades grizzly bear narrated by ecologist and film maker Chris Morgan, and including appearances by many Washington State residents who share their opinions of bears, and help bust some myths. The film includes beautiful footage of the North Cascades, and bears in Alaska where Morgan has hosted several films for PBS Nature, the BBC, and others.

The Solitary Bee: Wonderful Short Documentary

Thursday, 18 July 2019

Did you know that the UK has over 250 species of bees and that the majority of them don’t live in hives but live their lives alone? This wonderful documentary by Team Candiru follows first Red Mason Bees and then others as they struggle to find resources, avoid death and create new life. If you love nature the next seventeen minutes are going to seem like a few seconds. Enjoy!

Plus if you want to learn more about the bee hotels included in this documentary then whey not visit our feature article on them?

Land of the Strays

Saturday, 21 July 2018

There are around two million dogs living on the streets of Costa Rica. By any standards that is something of an issue but what to do in the face of such overwhelming numbers? Lya Battle decided that she would start to look after some strays and soon there were too many to fit in her suburban home. Fortunately her grandfather had left her a farm which she then turned in to a sanctuary. Now over 1,000 dogs call it their own. As you can imagine, feeding time is probably the most complicated part of looking after so many dogs! Land of the Strays is a wonderful, warm-hearted short documentary directed and produced by Adrian Cicerone.

Why Conserve Biodiversity?

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

There are millions of species on the planet, right? So, surely we can spare a few of them! Directed by Luis Navarro for Divulagare, this animated short documentary takes four minutes to explain very clearly why the conservation of our planet’s biodiversity is of paramount importance to us all. Think of an ecological butterfly effect and you (ort of) get the picture. Enough of me trying to explain – press play!

Dragonfly: Award Winning Documentary

Sunday, 26 November 2017

If you have ever gawped at the sight of a dragonfly whizzing past you in all its colorful aerodynamic glory, then you will enjoy this film immensely. It has some of the best macrophotography of the dragonfly in all its stages that I have ever seen. Plus it answers all the questions you might have about the life cycle of this ancient creature which has survived virtually unchanged for millions of years.

However, the part that I found most fascinating was the part of the film which describes how dragonflies live most of their lives as nymphs and that a number of different species can live side by side during this stage (even though they don’t mind the off foray in to cannibalism).

One thing I certainly did not know is that during this period of their lives they have a lower jaw which they can extend suddenly and swiftly, like a hydraulic ramp, to catch prey that would otherwise be just out of their reach. It is quite a sight.

The amazing facts about dragonflies do not stop there and after they come in to their brief adult phase each species seems to have its own interesting variation on the mating game. The documentary takes us throughout the year to the inevitable demise of the adults. However, below the placid waters of British ponds a vicious fight for survival continues.

Created by Andy Holt of Wild Life Lens, Dragonfly has been awarded Best Documentary at the BIAFF (British International Amateur Film Festival) 2014 Film Festival.

The Rise of the Common Crane Migration

Sunday, 22 January 2017

During the 18th and 19th century the Common Crane almost disappeared from Western Europe. We drained their wetland habitats and hunted them. But right now over 300.000 Common Cranes migrate each year from their breading habitats in Scandinavia to Southern Spain. The numbers rise each year too – but as you will discover from this wonderful short by Tim Visser Creations, although we helped to restore the number of cranes to their former heights, it was purely accidental conservation.

Saving the Last Wilderness

Sunday, 15 January 2017

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to many remarkable creatures. In the language of the original Alaskans it means sacred place where life begins. It is vast, serene and other-worldly yet our own world is impinging on it more and more. Can this lovely place be saved before its pristine beauty is destroyed forever? There are many who wish to see its preservation – as this superb film by Florian Schulz shows. Sit back, grab a coffee and open your mind to wonder - this contains some of the best wildlife photography you can see. For more information about how to help save this place, visit We Are The Arctic.

Island of the Ladies

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

This is a collection of clips captured near Isla Mujeres Island, Mexico. The whale sharks and manta rays in this video gather at Isle Mujeres each year to feed on tuna and snapper spawn.

Sit back and enjoy the wonderful images captured by natural history filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall whose work you may well have seen on Nature and Secrets of the Ocean Realm. It is all quite stunning.

The Sea Turtle Hospital

Sunday, 29 May 2016

The population of American sea turtles is dwindling. So, it is more important than ever that injured and sick turtles get the treatment that they deserve so they can be rehabilitated and set free, back in to the wild. This short documentary showcases the work of the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys. The work that the medical staff there does is exemplary – such a shame that most of the problems they encounter are down to humans.

The Secret Life of Mountain Lions

Monday, 28 March 2016

The Secret Life of Mountain Lions provides a rare glimpse into the family and social bonds of mountain lions. It affirms their rightful place in nature and the importance of protecting them for generations to come. Narrated by Chris Morgan (PBS, BBC, National Geographic), this video contains extraordinary footage captured with motion-triggered cameras from Panthera's Teton Cougar Project.

Through the Thick: Preserving the Rhino in South Africa - a Documentary

Director of Photography Nino Leitner and his crew recently spent time in the Shamwari Game Reserve, in the Eastern province of South Africa. This documentary is about about their efforts to tackle illegal rhino poaching. As well as containing some of the most spellbinding nature film-making that is currently possible, the documentary draws attention to the current onslaught on the rhino in South Africa.

Sanctuary of 700

Thursday, 28 May 2015

Cats, cats, everywhere! If you feel overwhelmed by two or three cats paying you attention then perhaps you should look away now! Cat House on the Kings in California is currently home to 700 cats and kittens which, for a number of reasons, have lost their own place of safety and need somewhere to stay before they are adopted.

It’s quite a sight as the place has a no-cage policy which means that the cats are free to wander everywhere which, being cats, of course they do!

Run by the redoubtable Lynea Lattanzio, The Cat House began life over two decades ago and despite initial problems with permission to provide shelter to so many cats, has gone from strength to strength ever since. Ms Lattanzio’s ultimate aim is, frankly, to go out of business. Through educating the public she wants the need for this kind of place to become a thing of the past. Eleanor Abernathy, the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons she ain’t.

Elizabeth Nelson, a graduating film student at Northern Arizona University, visited this fascinating place and created this lovely short documentary. Although The Cat House does do tours, most of you reading this will be far away from California. So, take a guided tour around the facility and meet the staff, including Ms Lattanzio who tells us how the whole thing started.

The word sanctuary doesn’t fully or properly describe this place. It’s a veritable Shangri-La for cats. You can also learn a lot more about it at its website, The Cat House on the Kings.

Odonates: The Lives of Dragonflies and Damselflies

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Have you ever wondered how to tell a dragonfly apart from a damselfly? That question and many others are answered in this delightful short documentary by Melissa Lesh. We won't tell you here - watch the video. In fact if you are doing a school paper on odonates in general then you cannot go far wrong if you watch this film – and them watch it again making notes next time!

Brown Wood Owl: The Juvenile’s Journey

Sunday, 28 September 2014

The Brown Wood Owl has a special place in Sri Lankan folklore, known as the devil bird. So when filmmaker Thivanka Perera came across a pair in the crevice of a tree trunk he decided to monitor their progress. The resulting short film tells the story of survival against all the odds and while the ending is not a completely one, this reflects the way that nature operates. This film officially selected for the 2014 Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York.

The Birds of Troup Head

Sunday, 10 February 2013

In June 2012 Cain Scrimgeour visited RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Troup Head in Scotland, to produce a short promotional film for the RSPB. A week was spent filming on the high sea cliffs of the reserve, where he was privileged to be in the presence of the beautiful and prehistoric Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus. The close proximity allowed him to delve into the Gannets lives, witnessing the complexity of their behavioural traits.

Cain takes up the story: During the week the weather was by majority hot and sunny with flat seas, this proved to be challenging in terms of exposure whilst filming these large white birds, but it also meant that the majority of the Gannets kept to the cliff edges, never venturing above the cliff tops. Only two days did I experience wind which provided some interesting photograph and filming opportunities. The waves picked up, and began crashing into the base of the rocky cliffs, whilst the winds updrafts allowed the Gannets to gain height, congregating at the uppermost parts of the cliff face, gliding effortlessly above the horizon.

Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon and Species Extinction in America

Sunday, 29 May 2011

This is a rough cut of a proposed documentary by David Mrazek but you can see from this fifteen minutes or so that the finished product is going to be something really special. It tells the story of the demise of the great American species the Passenger Pigeon, the numbers of which went from the billion to none by the early twentieth century.

It details not only how the destruction of the species was speeded up by what amounted to industrialised harvest but warns that we are still doing the same thing to the planet – and depriving future generations of possibly countless species.

The documentary points out that at least our ancestors had the benefit of ignorance (with which I disagree a little it has to be said – that is letting them off the hook too easily!) yet that is something we most certainly do not have.

This documentary is already extremely well put together and I really look forward to seeing the complete version. The story of the Passenger Pigeon is tragic – if you have never heard of it you really should watch this eye opening film.

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