7pm ELEPHANT FAMILY & ME - Documentary - Gordon Buchanan tries to gain the trust of a herd of elephants in the wilds of Kenya to film this uniquely intimate portrait of their family life.
Wendy is a teenage elephant mother, struggling to raise her first baby Wiva. Filming them is tough - elephants are one of the most dangerous animals on earth thanks to years of human persecution. With the help of local expert Benjamin Kyalo, Gordon manages to get spectacularly close to the elephants on foot. And he witnesses at first hand the dangers baby Wiva faces growing up in the African bush.
8pm NATURE – Documentary
LEAVE IT TO BEAVERS – Scientists, conservationists and environmentalists reveal how beavers can transform and revive landscapes.
A growing number of scientists, conservationists and grass-roots environmentalists have come to regard beavers as overlooked tools when it comes to reversing the disastrous effects of global warming and world-wide water shortages. Once valued for their fur or hunted as pests, these industrious rodents are seen in a new light through the eyes of this novel assembly of beaver enthusiasts and “employers” who reveal the ways in which the presence of beavers can transform and revive landscapes. Using their skills as natural builders and brilliant hydro-engineers, beavers are being recruited to accomplish everything from finding water in a bone-dry desert to recharging water tables and coaxing life back into damaged lands.