How Nature Works

Seasonal forests are special. Their ecosystems have to cope with drastic change twice a year, in Spring and Autumn. Not only do the individual inhabitants have to deal with that change, but the entire ecosystem has to transform itself at exactly the same time – and it can only do this if all the animals work in perfect synchronicity.

In this episode, we travel to the savannahs of Kenya; the grasslands of Australia; and the Cerrado of Brazil to witness how one of our most important ecosystems works – grasslands. In Kenya we witness the surprisingly important role that rhinos play in making the grasslands fit for antelope. In the Brazilian Cerrado, we reveal how maned wolves get by on a low nitrogen diet, with the help of an odd dietary supplement – a fruit.

This film transports us around the emerald band that encircles our planet – our jungles. And begins by tackling one of the biggest puzzles about the world’s rainforests: why do these places have such a bewildering variety of life, far greater than any other habitat on Earth?