nature documentaries

A new documentary combining high-stakes adventure with groundbreaking wildlife conservation started streaming on Apple TV+ Friday. Previously the streamer released a new trailer for The Wild Ones documentary series, below, promising all sorts of high-tech derring-do in the name of saving threatened animal species all over the world. Now you can watch it.

The six-episode documentary, premiering July 11, follows a team of elite wildlife experts as they venture into Earth’s most remote and dangerous environments to protect critically endangered species.

Update: The Wild Ones began streaming Friday. As one critic cited on the reviews site Rotten Tomatoes put it (though it’s too early for a fresh or rotten rating): “The Wild Ones is a triumph of storytelling, a visual feast and a heartfelt plea to cherish and protect the natural world.”

If you love a good nature documentary — especially because the photography is so mind-blowing nowadays — you’re in for a treat with The Secret Lives of Animals. Apple TV+ dropped an official trailer for it recently (see below). The 10-part series is now streaming, as of Wednesday, December 18.

“Welcome to a world beyond imagination, where fish can fly and lizards walk on water,” the trailer’s voiceover says, as those images appear onscreen. “Animals do the most remarkable things at every stage of their lives.”

Update: The Secret Lives of Animals 10-part docuseries started streaming on Apple TV+ Wednesday.

Does “incredible never-before-seen footage of rare and remarkable animal behaviors, highlighting the brilliant intelligence of the natural world” sound good to you? Then get excited for the new 10-part nature documentary series Apple TV+ unveiled Monday with that description, The Secret Lives of Animals.

And no, the series doesn’t come with David Attenborough narration. But you still get a great English accent. SAG Award winner Hugh Bonneville, of Downton Abbey fame, plays that role for this one.

Now hear this: Apple TV+ dropped a trailer Tuesday for its upcoming documentary series Earthsounds, narrated by Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Tom Hiddleston.

The streamer said you’ll “hear our planet like never before in the new 12-part immersive natural history series.” All episodes become available February 23.

Apple TV+ dropped the official season 2 trailer for the award-winning natural history series Prehistoric Planet Tuesday. It explores new dinosaur discoveries and diverse habitats from 66 million years ago.

And that’s not all. The streaming service said a new companion podcast looking at the science and filmmaking behind the series launches May 8, ahead of the May 22 season 2 debut.

On Tuesday, aka National Velociraptor Awareness Day, Apple TV+ dropped a teaser trailer for season 2 of its award-winning natural history series, Prehistoric Planet. And it comes complete with an exciting “new” lineup of dinosaurs.

Narrated by the inimitable Sir David Attenborough — the voice of nature — the series uses new research and technological wizardry to create an in-depth nature documentary. But this one, returning May 22, takes you to landscapes filled with fearsome predators and gentle giants of many millions of years ago.

Dinosaurs are extinct but the epic documentary series Prehistoric Planet certainly is not. Its second season is scheduled to stomp onto Apple TV+ in May.

Get ready for fresh episodes about Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest ankylosaurids and other amazing archosaurs that are gone but not forgotten.

Fathom, the new Apple TV+ documentary about whales, tells the story of a couple of women who made it their life’s work to figure out why the humpback sings — and what that song means. Though there’s a lot to like here, and the vibes are admirable, the whole effort could have used more … (30-minute pause) depth.

Fathom, which premieres today, keeps the network’s focus on mass-market biological documentary alive. It joins such outstanding efforts as Tiny World and Earth at Night in Color.

Two of Apple TV’s big nature shows just returned back for their second seasons mere months after they debuted. Tiny World is the cuter of the two. Its micro look at a macro world remains charming, cute and sometimes despairing and gross, but never so much you couldn’t show it to kids.

Apple TV+ docuseries Earth at Night in Color delivers a fresh batch of majestic nighttime sights, cruel natural phenomena and fascinating perspectives in its second season, which premieres today. The show didn’t quite reinvent the nature documentary wheel, but it still offers a welcome retreat from the horrors of 2021.