The Ultimate Guide

Documentary about spiders, showing how arachnids jump, spin webs and poison and digest their prey. Covered by only a thin skin, their tiny bodies are extremely delicate, yet their venom can be lethal. The Sydney Funnel Web weighs just four-hundredths of an ounce, but it has half-inch fangs, sharp enough to pierce a toenail, and the most toxic spider venom known to man.

Modern submarines, enormous ships that are self-contained wonders of technology, are able to produce oxygen and water for their occupants. They are equipped with their own power plants, and feature sophisticated food service, entertainment facilities, firefighting stations, and a place for worship. Ultimate Guide: Submarines demonstrates how the submarine has developed since its first appearance in the Revolutionary War. In addition, scientists are harnessing the power of submarine-like vehicles to investigate the depths of the oceans.

Sun, wind, and rain are basic to life, but sometimes the weather is more than just that. Sometimes it's stronger, violent. The wind becomes a tornado, the rain a hurricane. The Earth's atmosphere, for a moment, makes it uninhabitable. And there's nothing we can do about extreme weather but try to predict it, prepare for it and hope that it never happens here. This DVD from the Discovery Channel looks at the innermost workings of a storm system to reveal the visible and invisible forces that drive our weather. Using the latest satellite imagery and 3D graphic animation, trade-winds, tornadoes, lightning, monsoon, and hurricanes are examined in detail. From the aurora borealis to the bizarre downpouring of fish and frogs, we learn that the earth's atmosphere is a delicate and ever-changing environment. Finally we delve into the past to discover how earth's volcanic origins helped create weather as we know it.

A tour through the human body, from skeleton to skin, from the senses to organs and cells. Utilizes microscopic and endoscopic filming, extreme close-ups, computer-generated graphics and animation, slow motion and time-lapse macro photography, and MRI scans of brain activity

Almost everybody loves dolphins. Some people think of them as being cooperative, intelligent and caring. Others even view them as being highly evolved versions of ourselves. Now the latest research has shed new light on these fascinating creatures, and some of it is surprising. In this Ultimate Guide volume, experience the beauty and wonder of dolphins and their underwater realm. Marvel at their spectacular - and seemingly impossible - acrobatics. Dive with them to depths of six hundred feet. Learn about their complex social skills, and discover the fantastically diverse membership of this far-flung family - including the mysterious freshwater dolphins of China, India and South America

They can live for a century, wait a year between meals, and deliver 16 tons of crushing force with their jaws. Is it any wonder the ancient Egyptians revered the crocodile? Examine the unique talents — including infrasonic communication and suspended animation — that make the world's largest reptile such a tenacious predator and survivor.

Eight legs, three hearts, and a wealth of suction cups - the octopus is one of nature's most curious creations. Color-blind, it still can mimic multicolored backgrounds, and even use color to communicate. Shy and retiring, these cephalopods are hard to find and study, but Ultimate Guide: Octopus reveals their secrets, with amazing, up-close footage of a creature that prefers not to be seen.

Documentary compares and contrasts the similarities and differences among all eight species of bears, including the grizzly, polar, panda, black, spectacled, sloth, moon and sun bears.

This documentary from the Discovery Channel drops the viewer into the feline world of the big cats of the jungle and the domain that they rule. Part of the 'Ultimate Guide', this episode is a look at everything furry and ferocious beneath the green and brown of the underbrush. Follow in the tracks of the explosive cheetah, a man-eating tiger and the king of the jungle, the African lion. Travel with roaming hunters as they stalk their prey, with such weaponry as night-vision and enhanced hearing capability. Added bonus segment includes the mystery behind the legend of the infamous saber-toothed tiger.

At times, dogs appear to move and react like wild animals. Yet they are, by definition, domesticated. In perhaps only fourteen thousand years, humans have modified and manipulated a single species to create more than four hundred breeds. But for all their variety of appearance, all dogs are simply mutations of their closest ancestral relative... the wolf. How did the dog come to be so successfully domesticated from its wild ancestors? Dr. Rodney Honeycutt discusses the genetics of domestication and some of the special qualities of the dog, such as its phenomenal senses of hearing, smell, and taste. A survey of strange and wonderful breeds of dogs is presented, from dogs that whistle to dogs that sing, and the vulpines (foxes) which can climb trees. Also, some of the unique jobs of dogs are explored, from sniffing out termites, to herding goats and finding missing persons.

Documentary explores the natural habitats of snakes, providing a unique perspective. Computer graphics are used to illustrate how serpents have evolved and how their unique bodies allow them to thrive around the world.

Sixty-five million years ago, a world that belonged to the dinosaurs suffered a cosmic catastrophe, obliterating the kingdom of Tyrannosaurus rex. For the sixty-five million years folllowing, the bones of the last king of the dinosaurs lay hidden. Then, at the turn of the 20th Century, scientists began to coax the first fragments from the badlands of western North America. They found a super-carnivore that stood eighteen feet tall and was forty feet from head to tail. Today, the bones of Tyrannosaurus rex allow us to encounter the greatest meat-eating machine of the prehistoric world, and T. rex has become the most famous of all the dinosaurs, an ultimate expression of savagery and power.