This new value-packed six-DVD set, that is printed on foil stock with
embossing, lets viewers experience nature’s magnificent wonders,
awe-inspiring fury, and astonishing creatures. Reader’s Digest cameras
transport you around the world to capture incredible sights you will
want to relive again and again in three great series available for the
first time on DVD and in one box set!
Nature’s
Great Events - Looking for something wild? This
three-part series captures breathtaking footage of spectacular migrations,
unique parenting habits, and dramatic struggles between predator and prey
in the animal kingdom. (Discs 1 & 2).
The Family
Life of Animals - Courtship, childrearing and coming of
age. Real dramas of survival from the animal kingdom come to life in this
mesmerizing series that captures nature’s rarest, most exotic, and amazing
creatures in their natural habitats, and learn how they have adapted and
flourished in some of the world’s harshest terrains. (Discs 3 & 4).
Nature’s
Rage - This is as close as you want to get to
nature at its most extreme! Spellbinding footage from around the globe
captures avalanches, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornadoes and more
of nature’s most awe-inspiring fury! (Discs 5 & 6).
DVD 1:
Part 1: The Great Journeys - All over our restless planet, animals are on the
move! Reader's Digest transports you to witness epic journeys that challenge
the exploits of our greatest explorers! From the East African savannah to the
Mexican forest, great migrations overwhelm the imagination with their enormous
numbers, and fantastic distances. Witness 1.5 million wildebeest on their trek
toward rain-replenished grasslands. Gaze at millions of snow geese in dramatic
flying formation. Follow male humpback whales on their 6,000-mile round trip in
search of mates in tropical waters. Marvel at the 120 million red crabs that
blanket Christmas Island on their journey to the sea.
Part 2: The Great Milestones - In the animal kingdom, changing seasons, or
shifting phases of the moon, are signs that the time has come for courtship,
mating, leaving home, or giving birth. This program captures the spectacles
that become some of nature's great events. Join Adelie penguins on their
exhausting march to reach the ocean in time for their brief breeding season.
Discover the extended family lifestyle of the elephant, where helping out is
the rule. Astonishing footage preserves magnificent images of hippos galloping
gracefully through the water, wandering albatross locating their lifetime
partners, and after a spectacular courtship, taking turns to incubate their
single egg, and beaches filled with turtles scooping out nests for the next
generation.
DVD 2:
The Great Hunts
- Predators come in all shapes and sizes. From powerful polar bears to a swarm
of mosquitoes that can drain enough blood to fell a caribou, this compelling
program captures the primal struggle for survival that plays out in the great
forests, plains, rivers, and lakes of the world's wilderness areas. Witness how
millions of feeding flamingos become a target for massive birds of prey, and
grizzly bears anticipate the arrival of salmon. Watch with amazement as lions
bring down buffalo four times their weight, blind army ants set out on a
raiding party, 20-foot-long crocodiles poise to strike their prey, and sea
otters attempt to smash mussels against the rocks while turbulent waves crash
over them. This is nature at its' most dramatic, as the planet's hungry hunters
obey a powerful instinct to find food, no matter the conditions, or the odds,
because when ferocious hunger clashes with the will to escape, the outcome is
rarely certain.
DVD 3:
Part 1: The Wonders of Life’s Beginnings - Before there can be family, before the miracle of
birth, the dramas of courtship must unfold. To ensure the best offspring, a
female must choose her mate wisely, and a male must prove he is Mr. Right.
Witness sensational rituals of courtship, including a spring-bok risking his
life to defend precious grass that lures the opposite sex; a sage grouse
battling for the position to perform his mating display; a beautifully plumed
peacock's struggle to attract a mate, but not a predator! In the high-stakes
mating game, the chance to reproduce may be more important to the male than
life itself. Every miraculous birth heralds the birth of a new generation, but
life's trials have only just begun.
Part 2: The Adventures of Childrearing - Raising the young is life's greatest challenge.
Family life in the animal kingdom is marked by tragedy and brutality, but also
the sweetest of pleasures. Watch with amazement at the surprising and often
ingenious ways that parents protect, feed, and shelter their young. You will
march with the emperor penguins as they protect precious eggs from the most
extreme conditions on Earth. You will delight in comical scenes of romping baby
chimps as they learn the art of cracking nuts, and cheer as a herd of elephants
responds to the calls of a trapped baby elephant being menaced by a hyena.
Observe how animal parents offer their young survival skills they will need when
they set out on their own.
DVD 4:
The Road to Independence - In the life of every young creature, there comes a
time when it must leave the nest, break away from the safety of home and
family, and strike out on its' own. It's how young animals become adults and
prepare to have families of their own. It's also how they perpetuate their
unique genetic heritage. In this final chapter in the Family Life of Animals, a
young bald eagle tests her wings under the watchful eye of her mother,
orb-weaving spiderlings spin their first threads of silk, baby loggerhead
turtles crowd together for safety, cheetahs develop their hunting skills, and
snow geese chicks join an epic migration at six weeks of age. You will be moved
and amazed at the many paths animals take on the road to independence.
DVD 5:
Part 1: In Harm’s Way! - Welcome to the danger zone, where nature strikes
again and again with unimaginable force. Experience the terrors that confront
those who live and work in harm’s way. You will meet a woman who survived being
buried alive in an avalanche for five hours. You will join firefighters
battling infernos so intense that they create their own weather patterns! You
will witness floods of biblical proportions, and share remarkable stories of
courage as ordinary citizens band together to save their homes and help their
neighbors.
Part 2: Without Warning - Nature’s destructive forces inspire our fear and
fuel our fascination. In this program, you will share too-close encounters with
relentless tornadoes, lightning strikes that are five times hotter than the sun’s
surface, home-swallowing sinkholes, and cataclysmic earthquakes. You will
experience what it’s like to stare 1,000 feet up a tornado funnel, or survive a
lightning strike. You will also meet professional storm trackers and scientists
who race against time to learn all they can about these devastating and deadly
events.
DVD 6:
Tracking
the Killers -
Everyone talks about the weather. Meet the brave and dedicated people who are
trying to do something about it! In this compelling program, you will fly
aboard 30-year-old warplanes into the eye of a hurricane, and sail with the
International Ice Patrol in search of icebergs. You will face towering walls of
water and mountains of fire. You will scan the skies on alert for asteroids on
a collision course with our planet. You will watch and listen, map and monitor
to try to predict when nature’s greatest nightmares will strike next. Harrowing
tales from those who have survived volcanic eruptions and tsunamis show what is
at stake for scientists and storm trackers whose research and actions can make
the difference between life and death.
