Episode 4: Jungle
In parts of the tropics, it is so warm and wet that plants grow with unparalleled speed and the trees form a ceiling of leaves high above the ground. It is up here, in the sunlight, that David Attenborough begins his exploration of this rich environment. He then descends on ropes into a strange intermediate world dominated by vertical trees trunks and eventually arrives on the ground where fungi flourish and animals move silently through the gloom searching for food.

Episode 5: Seas of Grass
When rainfall is low, trees may be replaced by grass. Continually sprouting even when regularly cropped, it provides food for a great variety of animals. But life on the plains is very exposed and therefore dangerous. SOme of the grass-eaters are small enough to find shelter in underground warrens. Other have to rely on speed to escape the hunters that also roam the plains.

Episode 6: The Baking Deserts
Life depends on water - and in deserts there may appear to be none. But every few months there may be brief but heavy rainstorms - and some desert plants can swiftly absorb the rain and store it in huge reservoirs. A few animals know how to raid these life-giving stores. Others survive on the dew that may settle on the desert at night and yet others get all the liquid they need from the bodies of their prey.

Synopsis

This landmark David Attenborough series presents the most comprehensive portrait of the natural world ever seen on television. To produce it, camera teams journeyed for three years from high Himalayan valleys to the depths of the ocean, from the sands of the Sahara to the humid jungles of Borneo. Everywhere they travelled they chronicled the many different ways that animals and plants have evolved in order to defend themselves against the elements - and often - one another.Episode 1. The Building of the Earth Episode 2. The Frozen World Episode 3. The Northern Forests Episode 4. Jungle Episode 5. Seas of Grass Episode 6. The Baking Deserts Episode 7. The Sky Above Episode 8. Sweet Fresh Water Episode 9. The Margins of the Land Episode 10. Worlds Apart Episode 11. The Open Ocean Episode 12. New Worlds