Nature Shock

True stories from the animal world that shocked naturalists and scientific experts. In this first programme scientists discuss the gruesome discovery in the Florida Everglades of a 6ft Burmese python undone by an unusual meal of decomposing alligator. Tests proved the snake had swallowed the creature whole, but that it soon proved to have bitten off more than it could chew

Documentary examining a spate of violent cattle and rhino deaths which took place across a large area of Africa in the early 1990s. Locals and scientists came to believe that the perpetrators were elephants seeking revenge against Maasai villagers who had previously been responsible for barbarous behaviour towards elephants, as evidence suggested they being specifically targeted for retribution

Examining evidence that four black bears killed in Yellowstone Park in 1990 were victims of their larger cousins, grizzly bears, who had hitherto shied away from confrontation despite their physical superiority. Although the cases were unrelated, they demonstrated the rise in numbers of one of North America's most fearsome predators, showing the effect of changing habitat and increasing hunger

The investigation into a series of unexplained deaths among dolphins and porpoises off the coasts of Virginia and Scotland in the late 1990s. The dead mammals presented no external signs of trauma but were shown under autopsy to have massive internal injuries. Ruling out human and environmental causes of death, a team of American researchers eventually discovered small puncture marks on the creatures' jaws that brought them to a shocking conclusion

Detailing the findings of an investigation into multiple alligator deaths which occured in and around Florida's Lake Griffin during the late 1990s. With no signs of attack, locals and experts struggled to explain events which left many of the creatures in a catatonic state, struggling to survive in conditions they had adapted to over millions of years

How in 2005 billions of potentially deadly jellyfish suddenly appeared off Japan and started heading directly toward Australia. With an invasion coming, scientists set about investigating the influx, attempting to identify the motivation for their appearance and the apparently considered decision to head for the Antipodes. Last in series