Animals Like Us

In the wild, where only the fittest survive, adopting other animals' offspring is not really in line with Darwin's theory of evolution. And yet, amongst bees, dolphins, lions and several primate species, altruism may go as far as adoption.

Do animals have languages that we don't understand? Birds sing and lions roar but do these noises mean anything? From parrots to killer whales we find out who is saying what to whom and explore whether there is such a thing as animal language.

Like us, animals are exposed to parasites, bacteria and viruses - the germs which cause disease. How do they survive these attacks ? Recent research and observation have shown that animals use plant and insect substances to treat themselves - not only do they apply things to their skin, they actually treat themselves by feeding on things not normally part of their diets. Capuchin monkeys rub citrus fruit on their fur, caterpillars eat poison hemlock, herbivorous red deer have even been seen chewing the legs off live seabirds. This film takes off around the world to discover how animals use medicine, it questions what notions they have about health and how medical knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. In doing so, the film also asks what we can learn from animals about medicine.

Man is not the only social animal. Long before man took hold of the political domain, nature had provided other animal species with a whole array of political stratagems, from the most cunning to the most egalitarian.

Animal Homosexuality is a documentary that looks at the instances of sexual relationships (other than heterosexual) and what their purposes are and how they may relate to human relationships.

Everywhere in nature, spun threads cross and weave, creating many intersections where spinner insects and spiders can feel each other's vibrations. It's one incredible form of communication for the silent organisms of our planet.

Shaped by evolution, mutualism describes all long or short term exchanges and cooperation between animals to survive. It turns the traditional host-parasite relationship in a beneficial alliance for both partners.

Recent discoveries have shown that hundreds of animal species use tools. New Caledonia crows, for instance, use twigs to remove insect larvae from their galleries; sea otters use flat stones to break open urchin shells or earshells; tailor ants weave leaves together with the threads secreted by the specie's larvae.