In Lions of the Namib, narrator Sir David Attenborough narrates the struggles of lion prides surviving in one of the harshest environments on Earth — the Namib Desert. With little water and scarce prey, these lions must use strategy and patience to hunt, but even their best efforts often end in failure. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
Deserts aren't empty — they're some of the most extreme, most surprising ecosystems on Earth. From the towering dunes of the Namib and the sunbaked Kalahari to the rugged Australian Outback and the icy sands of the Gobi, life finds a way.
After watching desert video clips, have students dig deeper with their own research and build a brochure covering:
- Location of the ecosystem on a world map
- Adjectives that describe the ecosystem
- Three animals that live there
- Three plants that grow there
- The climate
- Why the ecosystem matters
- Their favorite fun facts
Students summarize in their own words, which means they're practicing a real skill: pulling information from multiple sources and deciding what's worth keeping. The brochure format gives them room to make it their own
Explore the fascinating world of deserts and discover how plants, animals, and people adapt to survive in some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. From towering cacti and clever nocturnal animals to sudden sandstorms and scarce water sources, students will learn how life continues to thrive in these extreme environments.
This Kahoot investigates the unique features of desert ecosystems, including climate, habitats, food chains, and the special adaptations that help living things conserve water and stay cool. Students will also explore how deserts change over time and why these harsh landscapes are an important part of our planet’s natural systems.
Watch the related BBC videos (below), then invite your Grade 3–8 students to test their knowledge and uncover the surprising diversity and resilience of life in the desert.
In Brown Hyenas in Search of Food, narrator Sir David Attenborough reveals how hyenas often walk over 18 miles a day in search of food. They find it in a surprising location: along the coast there are thousands of Cape fur seals. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet, a series featuring remarkable animal behavior from all seven continents.
In honor of his 100th birthday on May 8, 2026, this special playlist brings together 10 unforgettable videos from landmark BBC series including Planet Earth, Blue Planet, and Frozen Planet. Journey from the deepest oceans to frozen polar landscapes and some of the wildest places on Earth, encountering extraordinary animals and the remarkable behaviors that help them survive.
Over a broadcasting career spanning more than seven decades, Attenborough has transformed the way audiences experience nature on screen. His distinctive narration and passion for the natural world have brought viewers closer to wildlife while drawing attention to biodiversity, conservation, and the environmental changes affecting our planet.
Explore some of the spectacular moments that have made his work so enduring — and celebrate a century of curiosity, discovery, and wonder.
In Brown Hyenas of the Namib Desert, narrator Sir David Attenborough observes a female brown hyena living in the Namib Desert. Her home is an abandoned diamond mine, where she has reared nine generations of cubs. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet, a series featuring remarkable animal behavior from all seven continents.
In Life in the Extreme Heat, narrator Sir David Attenborough describes how animals like the golden mole, desert long-eared bat, and darkling beetle have adapted to survive life in the desert. From clever ways to gather water to unique hunting techniques, these creatures demonstrate the incredible resilience of life in the Namib and Negev deserts. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In The Wasp vs. the Spider, narrator Sir David Attenborough invites us to discover The Namib, the oldest and one of the driest deserts in the world, where survival is a true test of nature's creativity. Meet two fascinating insects: the pompilid wasp and the golden wheel spider. Watch as the spider escapes the wasp’s sting and a grim fate by cartwheeling down a sandy slope in an incredible display of survival! This video is excerpted from BBC’s Africa, a study of the landscape and wildlife of the world’s wildest continent, Africa.
From the sun-scorched dunes of the Sahara to the scrubby plains of Australia, desert animals have cracked one of nature's toughest puzzles: how to survive where water is scarce, temperatures are brutal, and food is hard to find. In this playlist, you'll meet the remarkable species that call these landscapes home — from the iconic camel and the lightning-fast hawk to the bounding kangaroo and the armored pangolin.
Each video, drawn from landmark BBC series including Seven Worlds, One Planet and Planet Earth II, puts you face-to-face with real desert survival in action. Some animals store water and energy for enormous journeys across open terrain. Others hunt by night, move in short bursts, or use camouflage so good they practically disappear. Every strategy is different. Every one is extraordinary.
As you watch, think bigger: How do animals adapt to temperatures that would stop most creatures in their tracks? What physical traits make desert life not just possible, but thriving? And how do these species — predator and prey, reptile and mammal — depend on each other to keep desert ecosystems in balance?
This playlist won't just teach you about deserts. It will make you see them differently.
Venture into dark caves where glow worms use light to lure their prey, witness enormous gatherings of lake fly midges as they transform from aquatic larvae into flying adults, and journey into the jungle at night to uncover the science behind bioluminescence.
These BBC videos reveal the remarkable adaptations that help some of the smallest creatures on Earth find food, communicate, reproduce, and survive. Discover how insects and other invertebrates use light, movement, camouflage, and ingenious hunting strategies to thrive in environments ranging from underground caves to freshwater lakes and tropical forests.
They may be small, but their impact — and their survival skills — can be enormous. Get ready for a close-up look at the miniature marvels living all around us.
In Lions of the Namib, narrator Sir David Attenborough narrates the struggles of lion prides surviving in one of the harshest environments on Earth — the Namib Desert. With little water and scarce prey, these lions must use strategy and patience to hunt, but even their best efforts often end in failure. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
Deserts aren't empty — they're some of the most extreme, most surprising ecosystems on Earth. From the towering dunes of the Namib and the sunbaked Kalahari to the rugged Australian Outback and the icy sands of the Gobi, life finds a way.
After watching desert video clips, have students dig deeper with their own research and build a brochure covering:
- Location of the ecosystem on a world map
- Adjectives that describe the ecosystem
- Three animals that live there
- Three plants that grow there
- The climate
- Why the ecosystem matters
- Their favorite fun facts
Students summarize in their own words, which means they're practicing a real skill: pulling information from multiple sources and deciding what's worth keeping. The brochure format gives them room to make it their own
Explore the fascinating world of deserts and discover how plants, animals, and people adapt to survive in some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. From towering cacti and clever nocturnal animals to sudden sandstorms and scarce water sources, students will learn how life continues to thrive in these extreme environments.
This Kahoot investigates the unique features of desert ecosystems, including climate, habitats, food chains, and the special adaptations that help living things conserve water and stay cool. Students will also explore how deserts change over time and why these harsh landscapes are an important part of our planet’s natural systems.
Watch the related BBC videos (below), then invite your Grade 3–8 students to test their knowledge and uncover the surprising diversity and resilience of life in the desert.
In Brown Hyenas in Search of Food, narrator Sir David Attenborough reveals how hyenas often walk over 18 miles a day in search of food. They find it in a surprising location: along the coast there are thousands of Cape fur seals. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet, a series featuring remarkable animal behavior from all seven continents.
In honor of his 100th birthday on May 8, 2026, this special playlist brings together 10 unforgettable videos from landmark BBC series including Planet Earth, Blue Planet, and Frozen Planet. Journey from the deepest oceans to frozen polar landscapes and some of the wildest places on Earth, encountering extraordinary animals and the remarkable behaviors that help them survive.
Over a broadcasting career spanning more than seven decades, Attenborough has transformed the way audiences experience nature on screen. His distinctive narration and passion for the natural world have brought viewers closer to wildlife while drawing attention to biodiversity, conservation, and the environmental changes affecting our planet.
Explore some of the spectacular moments that have made his work so enduring — and celebrate a century of curiosity, discovery, and wonder.
In Brown Hyenas of the Namib Desert, narrator Sir David Attenborough observes a female brown hyena living in the Namib Desert. Her home is an abandoned diamond mine, where she has reared nine generations of cubs. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Seven Worlds, One Planet, a series featuring remarkable animal behavior from all seven continents.
In Life in the Extreme Heat, narrator Sir David Attenborough describes how animals like the golden mole, desert long-eared bat, and darkling beetle have adapted to survive life in the desert. From clever ways to gather water to unique hunting techniques, these creatures demonstrate the incredible resilience of life in the Namib and Negev deserts. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In The Wasp vs. the Spider, narrator Sir David Attenborough invites us to discover The Namib, the oldest and one of the driest deserts in the world, where survival is a true test of nature's creativity. Meet two fascinating insects: the pompilid wasp and the golden wheel spider. Watch as the spider escapes the wasp’s sting and a grim fate by cartwheeling down a sandy slope in an incredible display of survival! This video is excerpted from BBC’s Africa, a study of the landscape and wildlife of the world’s wildest continent, Africa.
From the sun-scorched dunes of the Sahara to the scrubby plains of Australia, desert animals have cracked one of nature's toughest puzzles: how to survive where water is scarce, temperatures are brutal, and food is hard to find. In this playlist, you'll meet the remarkable species that call these landscapes home — from the iconic camel and the lightning-fast hawk to the bounding kangaroo and the armored pangolin.
Each video, drawn from landmark BBC series including Seven Worlds, One Planet and Planet Earth II, puts you face-to-face with real desert survival in action. Some animals store water and energy for enormous journeys across open terrain. Others hunt by night, move in short bursts, or use camouflage so good they practically disappear. Every strategy is different. Every one is extraordinary.
As you watch, think bigger: How do animals adapt to temperatures that would stop most creatures in their tracks? What physical traits make desert life not just possible, but thriving? And how do these species — predator and prey, reptile and mammal — depend on each other to keep desert ecosystems in balance?
This playlist won't just teach you about deserts. It will make you see them differently.
Venture into dark caves where glow worms use light to lure their prey, witness enormous gatherings of lake fly midges as they transform from aquatic larvae into flying adults, and journey into the jungle at night to uncover the science behind bioluminescence.
These BBC videos reveal the remarkable adaptations that help some of the smallest creatures on Earth find food, communicate, reproduce, and survive. Discover how insects and other invertebrates use light, movement, camouflage, and ingenious hunting strategies to thrive in environments ranging from underground caves to freshwater lakes and tropical forests.
They may be small, but their impact — and their survival skills — can be enormous. Get ready for a close-up look at the miniature marvels living all around us.