Dung Mafia
Channel: Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)
TX Time: 13h50
Genre: Wildlife, Documentary
On the African savannah, a strange relationship is in play.
The biggest land mammal on Earth has struck a deal with one of the smallest, and it's a complex contract that reads like a Mafia drama.
Throughout the day, huge herbivores dump hefty payloads of faeces onto the ground, and as it drops, two family empires mobilize to stake their claims.
It's a dog eat dog world behind the elephant's feet - as two Dung beetle businesses prepare to fight for the prize.
This is a microcosm of a free-market economy. A world of supply and demand, of profit and loss, of empires and failed start-ups.
The largest land mammal is actually a factory for a cutthroat workforce below.
Each behemoth supplies the grasslands with tons of daily dung. As a fresh pile drops, two families splutter into action.
Dung beetles rule the Dung Mafia, and their world is divided.
The Diggers and the Rollers compete for the poo - A Montague/Capulet rivalry of dung processing.
Diggers emerge from below, Rollers approach over ground.
But the families differ in their approach, and ultimately their success.
Diggers are brainy, co-operative and productive, Rollers are all brawn and bravado.
While the Diggers are street-smart and successful, pulling together like any successful mafia family, the Rollers fall victim to in-fighting, competition and cutthroat battles to get their hands on the valuable merchandise – dung.
Both families are after the same prize, but one will only survive if they win the mafia war.
Their future generation depends on it.
Heart of the Elephant
Channel: Nat Geo Wild (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)
TX Time: 14h55
Genre: Wildlife, Documentary
This is is a story of wonder woven together from a tapestry of eyewitness accounts and scientific proof of these gentle giants' intelligence and undeniable emotional capacity, which is far more powerful than we ever acknowledged.
It's a story not just about the love and compassion they feel towards the members of their species, but also their ability to distinguish and trust the humans who prove they are deserving of it.
A story that will open your heart to the genuine emotions of this gentle giant.