The Dark: Natures Nighttime World (2012)

This illuminating natural history series reveals a totally new perspective on wildlife at night. Over six months, a team of biologists and specialist camera crew explore the length of South and Central America to find out how animals have adapted to life in the dark.

Part 1: Central American Jungle
The expedition starts in the jungles of Costa Rica where the team are after some of the most frightening nocturnal predators. Alone in the dark, nighttime camera specialist Justine Evans has an exceptionally close encounter with a large male jaguar. Biologist Dr George McGavin is on the trail of the most ingenious predator of the jungle - the net casting spider. And cameraman Gordon Buchanan finds ruined temples deep in the jungle as he searches for the bizarre creatures that rule the jungle canopy at night.

Part 2: Amazon Flooded Forests
The expedition travels south to a flooded forest in the heart of the Amazon. Large mammal expert Bryson Voirin encounters a curious sloth, while camerawoman Sophie Darlington attempts to film the only nocturnal monkey in the world high in the jungle canopy. Further south, Gordon Buchanan goes in search of giant anteaters and enters a deserted house that has been taken over by vampire bats. And Dr George McGavin abseils deep into the perpetual darkness of a giant cave system, where he and the team discover species new to science.

Part 3: Patagonian Mountains
The expedition culminates at the wild, windswept tip of South America. Camerawoman Justine Evans attempts to film the hunting behaviour of the puma, the widest-ranging of all big cats in the Americas. Further south, Gordon Buchanan dives into the Strait of Magellan to solve the mystery of what humpback whales moving close to the shore could be doing. And Dr George McGavin attaches a miniature tracking device to a vampire bat's back to discover whose blood it is feeding on.