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Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution

Richard Fortey

Lion Television

Shaun Trevisick

Sebastian Duthy

Bill Locke

Georgina Stewart

Emma Falkus

Katie King

Hannah Mounce

Chipper Wichman

Steve Montgomery

Brendon Coat

Ellie Armstrong

Don Swanson

Andy Rossiter

Molly Hagerman

Chris Warren

Sam Gon III

Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution: Episode 1: Hawaii: A New Eden

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Hawaii: A New Eden

Episode 1

Episode 1: Hawaii: A New Eden

BBC Four - Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution, Hawaii: A New Eden

Richard Fortey is on Hawaii to investigate how life colonises a newly-born island.

Richard Fortey investigates why islands are laboratories of evolution. On Hawaii he finds honeycreeper birds, carnivorous caterpillars and silversword plants.

Three-part series in which Professor Richard Fortey investigates why islands are natural laboratories of evolution and meets some of the unique and remarkable species that live on them. Examining some of the crucial influences on natural selection that are normally overlooked - like geology, geography, isolation and time - the series reveals that there is much more to evolution than 'survival of the fittest'. Charting the lifecycle of islands - from their birth and colonisation to the flowering of evolutionary creativity that often accompanies their maturity, and what happens when an island grows old and nears its end - Fortey encounters wild lemurs in the rainforest of Madagascar, acid-resistant shrimps in the rock pools of Hawaii, and giant wolf spiders in Madeira as he searches for the hidden rules of island evolution.

In the first episode, Fortey is on Hawaii to investigate how life colonises a newly born island. According to some estimates, Hawaii has been successfully colonised by only one new species every 35,000 years due to its remote location - yet the Hawaiian Islands teem with a great diversity of life. In search of the evolutionary secrets of how one species becomes many, Fortey encounters beautiful honeycreeper birds whose evolution rivals that of Darwin's famous finches; carnivorous caterpillars who now can't eat leaves, and giant silversword plants that thrive in parched volcanic soil at 10,000 feet.

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Series looking at why islands are natural laboratories of evolution.

Series in which Professor Richard Fortey investigates why islands are natural laboratories of evolution and meets some of the unique and remarkable species that live on them.

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Nature's Wonderlands: Islands of Evolution

Episode 1: Hawaii: A New Eden

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