Equator's Wild Secrets

TPTP
©National Geographic
Equator's Wild Secrets

Synopsis

Life along the equator is spectacularly diverse. More than half of the world's species live here. Tropic Thunder is a 6 part archive series about Equator's wildest and most diverse ecosystems - the Amazon, the Andes, the Galapagos Islands, Borneo and Sumatra, Africa, and the Coral Sea. This series features a cornucopia of exotic animals in habitats ranging from steamy rainforests and great grasslands to snowy mountains and great reefs. Although there is access to plentiful food, fierce competition is still part of daily life on the equator. Great currents and trade winds also drive animals to adapt and behave in ways not seen in other wildlife hotspots? Welcome to the jungle, the mountain, the savannah and the rich reef?all part of the Equator's greatest hotspots.

Episodes

Season 1
  • Galapagos

    +

    Seven hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador lies a collection of volcanic islands that harbor some of the strangest living things to ever exist. These are the Galapagos Islands.

  • Borneo And Sumatra

    +

    Two islands are the last strongholds for Southeast Asia's rainforests. Borneo and Sumatra each harbor some of the most unique yet elusive species on Earth.

  • Africa

    +

    Africa: Head to equatorial Africa, the cauldron of evolution, where giant grazers and iconic carnivores dominate its arid grasslands and rare apes thrive in its rainforests. (S1, ep 3)

  • Africa

    +

    The Equator runs two thousand five hundred miles across the great continent of Africa. The species that live here are as varied as its landscapes.

  • Coral Kingdom

    +

    Coral reefs of the Asia-Pacific region are the richest on planet Earth. For the weird and wonderful creatures of the oceans rainforests, interdependence is key to survival.

  • Secret Creatures of The Andes

    +

    Intersecting the equator, the Ecuadorian Andes are a biodiversity hotspot where jungle dwellers live alongside alpine specialists, all uniquely adapted to survive the extremes of mountain-living.

  • Amazon: The Great Flood

    +

    Every year the world's largest rainforest undergoes an epic transformation. Who survives Amazonia's shift from the dry to the wet and who doesn't.