Raven Teen Titans

This leopard -the rarest cat in the world.Here,in the forests of eastern Russiathe winter makes hunting very difficult.
Prey animals are scarce,and there's no concealing vegetation.The cub is a year old and still dependent on its mother.
Deer are frequent casualties of the harsh winter,and these leopards are not above scavenging from a corpse.African leopards could never survive here,but the Russian cats have thick fur to shield them from the cold.There are only forty of these leopards left in the wild,and that number is falling.
Like so many creatures,the cats have been pushed to the very edge of extinction by hunting,and by the destruction of their habitat.
This leopard symbolizes the fragility of our natural heritage.The future of an entire species hangs on survival of a tiny number of mothers like this one.
All animals, rare or common,ultimately depend for their energy on the sun.
In Japan the arrival of the cherry blossom announces the beginning of spring.
The sun's energy brings color to the landscape.The earth,as it makes its annual journey around the sun,spins on a tilted axis.
And it's this tilt that creates the seasons.The advance of the seasons brings constant change.As the sun's influence diminishes in the north,so the forests of America begin to shut downlosing their leaves in preparation for the dark cold months ahead.
One season hands over to another.Some organisms thrive on decay,but most must make special preparations for winter and a life with little sun.
Whole populations of animals are now forced to travel great distances in pursuit of food and warmth.
300,000 teal birds gather to escape from the Siberian winter by migrating south to Korea -the world's entire population in a single flock.But there are parts of the world that have no seasons.In the tropics the sun's rays strike the earth head onand their strength is more or less constant all year round.
That is why the jungle grows so vigorously,and supports so much life.This forest covers only 3 percent of the planet's surface,but it contains more than 50 percent of all its plants and animals.
The canopy is particularly rich.There are monkeys, birdsand millions of species of insects,exactly how many we have no idea.
The character of the forest changes as we descend,becoming ever darker and damper,favoring different kinds of animals and plants.Less than 2 percent of the sunlight reaches the floor,but even here there is extraordinary variety.
In the great island of New Guinea,there are 42 different species of birds of paradise,each more bizarre than the last.
This forest is so rich that nourishing food can be gathered very quickly.That leaves the male six-plumed bird of paradise with time to concentrate on other matters,like tidying up his display area.
Everything must be spick and span.All is ready.Very impressive,but no one is watching.The superb bird of paradise calls to attract a female.And he has more luck.
But what does he have to do to really impress her?She retires to consider her verdict.It's hard not to feel deflated,when even your best isn't good enough.
The sun influences life in the oceans just as it does on land.Its richest parts are those where waves and currents bring fertilizing nutrients to surface waters that are bathed in sunlight.The seas off the Cape in South Africa have this magic recipe,and they are hugely productive.
Summer is the time of plenty and it's now that the seals start to breed.
The strike of a great white shark lasts a mere second.Slowing it down forty times reveals the technique and immense strength of this massive predator.If surprise fails,there will be a chase.The shark is faster on a straight course,but it can't turn as sharply as the seal,its agility versus power.
Once the seals have finished breeding,the giant sharks will move on.It's now becoming clear that great whites migrate thousands of miles across the oceansto harvest seasonal abundances in different seas.
The sun,beating down on tropical waters,powers the weather systems of the globe.Moisture evaporates from the warming ocean,and rises to create great storms.
The winds generated out at sea sweep inland across the continents.As they travel across the desert,they create the biggest of all sand storms,blowing sand halfway round the world to fertilize the Amazon jungle.
Winds blowing across the Indian Ocean collect moisture and sweep northwards towards the Himalayas.As the air rises,so it cools.The water it carries condenses into clouds and then falls as the life-giving rains of the monsoon.
So air currents powered by the sun carry wet air to the middle of continents.Without water there can be no life,but its distribution over the land is far from even.
Deserts cover one third of the land's surface,and they're growing bigger every year.This is a desert in Southern Africa.It's the dry season, and thousands of elephants have started to travel in desperate search for water.
All across Southern Africa animals are journeying for the same reason.Buffalo join the great trek.Nowhere else on Earth are so many animals on the move with the same urgent purpose.
They're all heading for swamps,a vast inland delta.
At the moment it is dry,but water is coming.The travelers are hampered by dangerous dust storms.Females and calves can easily get separated from the main herd.For this pair sanctuary lies in the patch of woodland a few miles ahead.
They can't rest until they reach it.The main has already got there safely.Finally, the stragglers emerge from the dust.The exhausted calf is still blinded by sand.
Its mother does everything possible to help it.The storm is now subsiding,but not all the elephants have been so lucky.
One youngster has got lost.Thirsty and exhausted,it follows the tracks of its mother,but sadly in the wrong direction.
At the peak of the dry season water arrives in the swamps.It fell as rain a thousand miles away in the highlandsand has taken nearly five months to reach here.
The water drives out insects from the parched ground,which are snapped up by plovers.Catfish,traveling with the flood,collect any drowning creatures the birds have missed.
It's a seasonal feast for animals of all kinds.Birds are the first to arrive in any numbers -wattled cranes,then black storks.Behind the birds come buffalo.
After weeks of marching their trek is coming to an end.As the water sweeps into the swamps,a vast area of the desert is transformed into a fertile paradise.
Nowhere on our planet is the life giving power of water so clearly demonstrated.The swamp becomes criss-crossed with trails as animals move into its heart.
The new arrivals open up paths like arteriesalong which water flows,extending the reach of the flood.
This is an Africa rarely seen -a lush water world.
Some creatures are completely at home here.These are antelope with hooves that splay widely,enabling them to move its speed through the water.For others the change is far less welcome.
Baboons are somewhat apprehensive bathers.The water brings a season of plenty for all animals.Hunting dogs.These are now among the rarest of Africa's mammals,but then nonetheless the continent's most efficient predators.
Their secret is teamwork.Impala are their favorite prey.They start to hunt,and the pack splits up.
An aerial viewpoint gives a new insight into their strategy.As the dogs approach their prey,they peel off to take up separate positions around their target.
They seem to form a cordon around the impala.Moving in total silence, they take up their positions.Those ears can detect the slightest rustle.The hunt is on.
Three dogs close in on one impala.Missed.The lead dog drives the impala towards the hidden flankers.Anticipating their line,the leader cuts the corner,and joins a flanker for the final assault.
It's all or nothing.One on one.The dog has stamina,the impala has speed.Leaping into the lake is an act of desperation -impala can barely swim.
The dogs know their prey must come out or drown -now it's a waiting game.The rest of the pack are calling.They've made a kill in the forest,and this is an invitation to join in the meal.
The impala is in luck.A pack this size kills once a day and everything is shared.And this impala is reprieved.
The elephants are nearing the end of their long journey.After weeks of marching they're desperately tired.The matriarch can smell water,and encourages the herd to make one last effort.
The youngsters are exhaustedbut their mothers have made this journey beforeand they know that they're close to water.After many hundreds of miles they've arrived.
The lives of these elephants are dominated by the annual rhythm of wet and dry,a seasonal cycle created by the sun.At the southern end of the earth,after four months of total darkness,the sun once more rises over Antarctica.
Now at last the Emperor penguins abandon their huddle.The males are still carrying the precious eggs that they've cherished throughout the Antarctic winter.
With the returning sun the eggs hatch.Other birds have not even arrived.But the Emperors,by enduring the long black winter,have given their chicks a head start.
These youngsters are now ready and eager to make the most of the brief Antarctic summer.
Only 3 percent of the water on our planet is fresh.Yet these precious waters are rich with surprise.
All life on land is ultimately dependent upon fresh water.
In these mysterious mountain regions -isolated mountain plateaus rising high above the jungle.
This was the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Lost World,'an imagined prehistoric land.
Here, strange towers of sandstone have been sculptured over time,by battering wind and torrential rain.
Moisture rising as water vapour from the surface of the seais blown inland by wind.
On reaching mountains,the moisture is forced upwards,and as it cools, it condenses into cloud and finally rain -the source of all fresh water.
There is a tropical downpour here almost every day of the year.Fresh water's journey starts here,high in the mountains.Growing from humble streams to mighty rivers,it will travel hundreds of miles to the sea.
Angel Falls,the highest waterfall in the world.Its waters drop unbroken for almost a thousand metres.
Such is the height of these falls,that long before the water reaches the base in the Devil's Canyon
it's blown away as a fine mist.In their upper reaches,mountain streams are full of energy.Streams join to form rivers,building in power,creating rapids.
The water here is cold.Low in nutrients, but high in oxygen.The few creatures that live in the torrent have to hang on for dear life.Invertebrates dominate these upper reaches.
This invertebrate, its body flattened to reduce drag,has bushy gills to extract oxygen from the current.
Black fly larvae anchor themselves with the ring of hooks,but if these become unstuck,they're still held by a silicon safety line.
There are advantages to life in the fast stream -bamboo shrimps can just sit and sift out passing particles with their fan-like forearms.
Usually,these mountain streams only provide enough food for small animals to survive.But with the spring melt here in Japan,monsters stir in their dens.Giant salamanders, world's largest amphibian,almost six feet long.They're the only large predator in these icy waters.