Penguins: Life on the Edge

The real-life Chris and Martin introduce each Wild Kratts episode with a live action segment that imagines what it would be like to experience a never- before-seen wildlife moment, and asks, 'What if...?'

Namib, an incredible spot is home to the highest sand dunes on Earth, along with 3500 species of plants of incredible diversity, all adapted to the arid climate. Elephants, antelopes, lions, giraffes and rhinoceros roam freely in the Namib with neither fence nor enclosure, as if at the dawn of time. Management of the protected areas has been entrusted to the local people and in particular to the Himba, the dominant tribe of the desert. Underground there are hidden treasures, diamonds, uranium and iron. From the beginning of the 20th century the Namib has attracted miners from all over the world, with an increasing appetite. Today, new mining projects threaten the ecosystem of the region. Olivia crosses the desert from the South to North, sharing the difficult everyday lives of the people of the desert. Exploring this rich but fragile garden of Eden, she attempts to understand why the survival of the desert is so important to the people and animals that live there.

Alex the lion is the king of the urban jungle, the main attraction at New York's Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends—Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo—have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them. Not content to leave well enough alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape—with the help of some prodigious penguins—to explore the world.

For the last fifteen years, French mountaineer, explorer and writer Laurence de la Ferrière has been scaling the heights of the world's highest tops, and in 1997 became the first French woman to reach the South Pole single-handed. Two years later, she attempts to cross the Antarctic from the South Pole to the French base of Dumont d'Urville. A 3,000 km long challenge over 3 months filled with unexpected hurdles.

Two otters, a mother and daughter, are inseparable as the cub faces the dangers of her first Scottish winter, and Mum works hard to ensure both survive. Never more than a few feet apart, cub and mum exhibit a very special relationship as the cub grows up, learning how to fish and fend for herself on the idyllic west coast of Scotland.

Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.

Seven-time Emmy Award winner Betty White shares her love for animals and VIP backstage pass to three of America's top zoos and safari parks for a characteristically irreverent, intimate and unique tour of everything big cat.

Soon after we meet Manyari, the queen of her pride, she does something both unusual and bold: She leaves the sanctuary of the clan with her young cubs and takes them on a dangerous odyssey. She makes a bid to escape because two young bloods are sniffing around, and if they take over the pride, they will kill her cubs

The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly's freedom. A lively sound track, with music composed by Frederic Chopin, allows us to live for a few moments in this fleeting world.

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

Celebrate the slips and slides and swims and glides of delightful penguins in poetry and song.