Starting at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 3, tune into a night of natural wonders! Nature’s Meet the Coywolf, Megafalls of Iguaco and Wild Africa’s Coasts.
Nature: Meet the Coywolf (8:00 pm)
There is a new hybrid species that has been spreading across North America at a startling pace and slipping unnoticed into cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Boston and even New York. It is called a coywolf, a mixture of western coyote and eastern wolf, whose first known birth occurred less than a century ago. Because these animals originated in the east, they are also known as eastern coyotes.
Living in our midst and thriving, these intelligent wild animals have figured out how to move through our communities often undetected. Scientists say it is one of the most adaptable mammals on the planet, but what surprises them most is how this wild carnivore manages to live right alongside us while remaining just out of view. Many of us now share our yards, parks and streets with these elusive new predators even though we may hardly ever get a glimpse of one. Explore the origins of this hybrid animal and how it has adapted and evolved when Meet the Coywolf airs Monday on WLRN Channel 17 at 8 p.m.
Wild! Megafalls of Iguaco (9:00 pm)
One of the most amazing wonders on earth, the Iguacu Waterfall, sits in the middle of lush damp rainforest on the borders of Brazil and Argentina. It is one of the most spectacular secrets of the natural world. Over one and a half miles long - nearly three times the size of Niagara - with up to 300 individual waterfalls - this is a one hour special on a place like no other, where enough water flows over the edges every day to supply the city of London for more than a year - this is the Iguaçu Waterfall.
The story follows animals native to this Atlantic rainforest habitat, including kamikaze-like swifts that live behind and fly through the thundering masses of falling water, as well as spotted jaguars and a family of coatis. The film also shows the struggle of park rangers to defend this threatened reserve from opportunistic exploitation.
Wild Africa: Coasts (10:00 pm)
Africa’s coasts were formed by the break-up of Gondwanaland 100 million years ago. They define the familiar shape of this special continent, and touch on deserts, mountains, forests, wetlands and savannahs.
This episode takes us back in time to witness the birth of Africa and also carries us on a spectacular journey around the edge of the continent. Using breath taking satellite imagery, aerials and stunning underwater photography we travel for 18,000 miles, along shores so rich and varied in nature that it seems incredible they can all exist within the boundaries of a single continent. But these extreme worlds are no coincidence. They are a manifestation of the very different oceanic climates that, over time, have washed against the flanks of Africa.
The Lost Tribe (10:52 pm)
WLRN in partnership with Florida International University invites you on an extraordinary journey to Oceania as it presents a short documentary film about a group of Pacific islanders who believe they are one of the lost tribes of Israel and wish to return there.
The Gogodala people are hunter-gatherers in one of the most remote places on the planet. Their oral history begins thousands of years ago with an account of their ancestors’ long journey by canoe to an Eden-like tropical lagoon in Papua New Guinea where they live today.
But now they are making an extraordinary claim that has attracted the attention of scholars and religious groups from around the world. They say that, all those thousands of years ago, their ancestors actually launched their canoes from Jerusalem. And they believe that Religious Studies Professor Tudor Parfitt from Miami's Florida International University can help them validate this claim and fulfill their dream to return to the Promised Land.
Learn more about the expedition and filmmaker Tim Long's experiences while documenting this extraordinary journey to one of the most remote corners of the world.
http://news.fiu.edu/2013/11/pivoting-and-pointing-in-papua-new-guinea/68165
