THIRTEEN’s Nature’s Animal Homes Deconstructs a Variety of DIY Dwellings

Wednesday, April 8, 15 and 22, 2015 on PBS

The three-part series provides intimate, never-before-seen views of the lives of animals in their homes

If you are a fan (or in my case, a MAJOR fanatic when it comes to nature programming), The you are going to love Animal Homes.  Animals, like humans, need a place they can call home to provide a safe and stable place to raise a family, but they go about building it in entirely different ways. Whether it is a bird’s nest, bear den, beaver lodge or spider web, these are homes of great complexity, constructed from a wide range of natural as well as man-made materials. This three-part series investigates just how animals build their remarkable homes around the globe and the intriguing behaviors and social interactions that take place in and around them.

Host Chris Morgan examines a beaver dam in Jackson Hole, Wyoming © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Hosting the series is ecologist Chris Morgan (Siberian Tiger Quest, Bears of the Last Frontier), who serves as guide and real estate agent. He evaluates and deconstructs animal abodes, their materials, location, neighborhood and aesthetics. In addition to Morgan opening the doors of animal homes in the wild, he is also in studio showing examples of the incredible diversity of nests and their strength, even trying his hand at building a few. Animal Homes airs on three consecutive Wednesdays, April 8, 15 and 22, 2015 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). After broadcast, the episodes will be available for online streaming atpbs.org/nature.

The series features a blend of CGI, animation, CT scans and signature blueprint graphics to highlight engineering principles inside the structures. A variety of cameras, including tiny HD versions, capture unprecedented views inside animal homes without disturbing natural behavior. When appropriate, filmmakers shoot behaviors in slow motion and use infrared and time lapse to reveal how animals create their structures over time and through the seasons.

Animal Homes was filmed both in the U.S. and abroad. The U.S. locations include the Connecticut coast (ospreys and saltmarsh sparrows), North Carolina (ducks), Hawaii (albatross), outside Burlington, Vermont (ravens), Maryland (black bears) and Jackson Hole, Wyoming (beavers). Over the course of three episodes, the series delves into the amazing flexibility animal architects display, the clever choices they make and the ingenious ways they deal with troublesome habitats.

Animal Homes

Program 1: The Nest

Wednesday, April 8 at 8 p.m.

A broad-tailed hummingbird in Arizona sits in the nest she built © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

A merganser duckling in North Carolina about to jump from a nest 50 feet from the ground © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Ovenbird nest “blueprint” © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Close up of young ravens in a cliff face nest in the Green Mountains of Vermont © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Bird nests come in all shapes and sizes, crafted from an inexhaustible diversity of materials, including fur, grasses, leaves, mosses, sticks and twigs, bones, wool, mud and spider silk. Quite a few also contain man-made materials – colorful twine, bits of wire, even plastic bags. Each one is a remarkable work of art, built with just a beak!  We begin with a museum collection of nests and branch out to scenes in the wild all over the world, where birds arrive at diverse nesting grounds to collect, compete for, reject, steal and begin to build with carefully selected materials, crafting homes for the all-important task of protecting their eggs and raising their young.

Animal Homes

Program 2:  Location, Location, Location

Wednesday, April 15 at 8 p.m.

Host Chris Morgan explores the interior of a bear den in Maryland © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

 

Finding a good base of operations is key to successfully raising a family. One must find the correct stream or tree, the correct building materials, neighbors and sometimes tenants. In the wild, every home is a unique DIY project, every head of household is a designer and engineer.  Animated blueprints and tiny cameras chart the building plans and progress of beavers, saltmarsh sparrows, woodrats, gray jays, hawks and black-chinned hummingbirds examining layouts and cross sections, evaluating the technical specs of their structures and documenting their problem-solving skills. Animal architecture provides remarkable insights into animal consciousness, creativity and innovation.

Animal Homes

Program 3:  Animal Cities 

Wednesday, April 22 at 8 p.m.

Puffins by a burrow in the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Host Chris Morgan admires a North American eider duck nest and egg © THIRTEEN Productions LLC

Armani/Casa Goes Back to Nature with its 2013/2014 Collection

Photo Credit: Fabrizio Nannini PHOTOGRAPHY

“Nature is a special place, where dreams meet reality and reality can transfigure itself into a sign or symbol, or a pure expression of culture.”

Nature as Giorgio Armani observes it is “eternal, infinite and powerful, seemingly simple yet always producing different paths through which to reconcile desire and fantasy.” The new Armani/Casa Collection was born from this enchanted observation and it is expressed in the use of unusual eco-friendly materials to protect the environment: striped banana tree finishes (gathered after the crops are cut) and tamo, the Japanese ash wood whose grain seems to reproduce the movements of sand in Zen gardens.

They are striking materials for furniture that features pure lines and simple shapes. Like the Gabriel Wardrobe that was inspired by old trunks: it is made in tamo with internal lighting and brown soft leather-covered trim, reminiscent of the wooden construction of vintage travelling containers. The elegant Daybed, which stems from the previous Engadin model, covered with soft leathers and fabrics from the Armani/Casa Exclusive Textiles by Rubelli line. The sophisticated Glam Dressing Table is delicate and feminine, with pale gold metal finish, offered in three different precious versions.

Acclaimed Soprano RENEE FLEMING and JOHAN BOTHA star in OTELLO, VERDI’s towering tragedy of jealousy and murder, on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, FEBRUARY 24 at 12 Noon on PBS

SEMYON BYCHKOV conducts the Shakespearean drama, which also features FALK STRUCKMANN as Iago and MICHAEL FABIANO as Cassio

 

Renée Fleming as Desdemona and Johan Botha in the title role of Verdi’s “Otello.”
Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

RENEE FLEMING

VERDI‘s Shakespearean tragedy Otello starring JOHAN BOTHA in the title role and RENEE FLEMING as Otello’s innocent wife, Desdemona, airs on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, February 24 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). SEMYON BYCHKOV, who led an acclaimed run of performances featuring Botha and Fleming in the 2007-08 season, again conducts the opera, regarded by many critics as Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece. FALK STRUCKMANN takes the role of the villain Iago for the first time at The Metropolitan Opera, and rising tenor MICHAEL FABIANO, a winner of the Met’s 2007 NATIONAL COUNCIL AUDITIONS, makes his house role debut as Cassio. Otello will be seen in ELIJAH MOSHINSKY’s production, which premiered at the Met in 1994.