New on Animal Planet in January:
Animal CrackersPremiere date: Friday 4 January 2008 at 20h00
Animal Crackers is new series that features stories about animals who really shouldn’t have bonded with each other, but have. It also tells stories about the unusually strong bonds between animals and humans.
From dogs that nurse kittens to pigeons that love humans, Animal Crackers is a celebration of friendships and loopy love that crosses the species divide. The show also features zoos and rescue centres that are hand-rearing animals.
Lemur StreetPremiere date: Sunday 13 January, 2008 at 19h00
From the makers of Meerkat Manor, comes Lemur Street. A new series exploring the more complex social system of the ring-tailed Lemur set on the tropical island of Madagascar.
The Tornado Troop and their rivals the Graveyard Gang are ruled by two dominant females, Electra and Crystal, whose daily battle for territory and ultimately survival, is highlighted throughout the 13 part series.
As mating season arrives these two rival gangs are tenser than usual and with the troops living in close proximity, trouble is never far away. Territories are fiercely protected, mating rights passionately defended and with predators to watch out for and young to bring up there’s never a dull day.
Infighting and bullying in the jostle for dominance is frequent as roving opportunistic males attempt to join the different troops. Whilst babies and juveniles cause havoc, the constant threat of snakes and hawks are always present.
Chasing NaturePremiere date: Saturday 26 January, 2008 at 18h00
Chasing Nature gets the best and brightest engineering students in the US to design and construct an apparatus that mimics an animal’s own amazing capability - on a human scale - in less than one week.
Each episode features a new group of students tackling a new challenge. Can the students catch a 22-kilo metal fly in a giant 12-metre-tall spider web? Can they build a scorpion tail on the back of a high-speed vehicle that can sting fleeing prey? Can they build an apparatus that allows them to swing like a great ape across a 30-metre chasm?
The show's produced by the makers of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters.
Buggin' With RuudPremiere date: Sunday 27 January, 2008 at 18h00
Whether you love or loathe bugs, or have the urge to squish them on sight, the adventures of Animal Planet’s quirky entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste, offers you a journey into the world of insects.
Buggin with Ruud uncovers little-known secrets about the insect world and debugs myths about multi-legged creepy-crawly species. The New Zealand-based bug specialist, author, educator, researcher, musician and radio and television host, better known as 'The Bug Man', shares his bug enthusiasm, aiming to dispel the bad reputation that insects have.
Ruud’s travels throughout the series take him everywhere on a global arthropod adventure: he crosses paths with one of nature’s deadliest hunters, the Sydney funnel web spider; in Hawaii, Ruud goes head to head with the evolutionary marvel, the carnivorous caterpillar; Ruud journeys through an incredible insect minefield in Madagascar and finds the hissing cockroaches’ home away from home.
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