Natural World 22

Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs (2003)

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 (2003)

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 (2003)

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 (2003)

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 (2003)