Nature

Snakes have been a fascination for people since biblical times, and an icon in the hard rock world since its earliest days. Unbeknownst to many, like the hard rock scene, the snake world has its own underground, a rich subculture full of hardcore enthusiasts who feed on the adrenaline of their passion. And if there’s one guy who’s a satellite drifting into both universes, it’s Henry Rollins. The attitude-filled singer of the Rollins Band, spoken-word artist, author and frequent cable TV personality is doing his thing once again, this time for Nat Geo Wild, as he hosts Snake Underworld, premiering […]

Peter Lik is an adventurist at heart. The self-taught, most successful landscape photographer in the world — who just celebrated a personal first, bagging a million dollars for one of his photos — brings his Aussie charm and adrenaline-fueled devotion to Mother Nature to The Weather Channel in From the Edge With Peter Lik. The 13-episode series puts Lik in front of the lens where he shares and shows his fascination of America’s landscape. Each episode follows his journey in getting to the location to take the ultimate shot. “I’ve taken over, you know, 2 million photographs in my life, […]

Thirty-five years ago this summer, the movie Jaws scared audiences out of the water with its thrilling — if unrealistic — portrayal of a shark terrorizing a tourist community. Twenty-three years ago this summer, Discovery Channel began helping to undo some of the bad rap sharks got from Jaws by starting its annual Shark Week event. Over the years, the network’s varied shark-themed specials have walked that fine line between exciting (and maybe scaring) us with the harrowing spectacle of these ancient predators in action, and educating us about their reality. Discovery continues this with Shark Week 2010, beginning Aug. […]

Shaun Ellis is a wolf behavior expert with a unique approach to studying the creatures — he lives with them and becomes part of their world. Now, before you shrug and say that this is another Grizzly Man just waiting to happen, it should be known that Ellis is not living with the wolves in the wild, but in captivity at a wildlife park in England; wolves are more social animals than bears; and Ellis — though he may look a little odd as he strolls through a luxury hotel in his fatigues during a network press tour — actually […]

Having set our clocks forward in March already, we humans may feel like spring has sprung unusually early. But animals, not governed by clocks and watches, are going along with their familiar patterns quite nicely. Often we are so busy with our lives that we may not notice the amazing natural transformations that occur during this season of rebirth, but a six-week Animal Planet event will help change that. Spring Watch USA airs Saturdays beginning April 21, and it’s almost like a nature reality series. Filmed prior to broadcast each week, the show has cameras across the country that capture […]

That was BBC producer Alastair Fothergill’s edict to his crew of established wildlife filmmakers during their five-year work on filming Planet Earth, a terrific, 11-part series premiering on Discovery Channel and Discovery HD Theater March 25, and airing Sundays. And they more than made good on that. Every scene does, indeed, captivate the eye and the imagination as it reintroduces audiences to the wonders of a planet we have increasingly taken for granted. New animal behavior and new locations never before captured on film are simply amazing as the series visits the Arctic, Antarctic and everyplace in between. The filmmakers […]

Canine chaos hits television this month with the return of two annual favorites — The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, airing Feb. 12-13 on USA Network, and Puppy Bowl III, airing Feb. 4 on Animal Planet. With this kennel full of cuties in store for our TV screens, that got us fetching recollections of some other memorable mutts we’ve seen over the years on various sitcoms, dramas and even commercials. Here, divided by groups like at Westminster (though slightly less snobby; we actually recognize Jack Russell terriers and mixed breeds!), are some of our favorite dogs from TV history: Working […]