WILD RUSSIA

In the Spring of 2007, what would become one of YouTube's hottest videos was posted - The Battle at Kruger. The clip captures an amazing predator encounter as lions and a crocodile fight over a buffalo calf at a South African watering hole. Shot by an amateur videographer, it documents a never-before-filmed tournament of survival. Enlisting the help of wildlife experts, National Geographic deconstructs this battle, revealing how lions and crocodiles hunt and how buffalos may survive - against all odds.

Caught in the Act brings you a selection of unbelievable scenes depicting extraordinary animal behaviour, together with the emotional accounts of the filmmakers who witnessed them, that will make you rethink what you know about the natural world! Amateur and professional filmmakers are always out in the bush, witnessing wildlife in its element…but every now and then, Nature throws out a wild card, and it all gets caught on camera! Andre Hartman certainly didn't expect to capture the footage he did when a 14 ft great white plunged right inside the cage with two divers! Territoriality over mating rights is a powerful instinct in the animal kingdom, driving animals to cruel and unusual behaviour. With their extraordinary size and strength, a clash between southern white rhinoceroses becomes a brutal battle when mating rights are called into question. Even the gentle giraffe turns violent when it comes to defending a female - and that elegant neck can deliver a knockout blow! But the territorial battle witnessed by Gordon Dyer was nothing short of terrifying: a coalition of four fierce male lions savaging an older opponent for his territory. But not all of nature's battles are fought between mature males - amongst plains zebras, and altogether more sinister practice is employed to ensure a stallion's dominance. Jenny Papas gives her heartrending account of how a stallion killed the offspring of another male to preserve his own strong genes. When predator and prey clash, the odds are stacked in the predators favour! But that doesn't mean hunting is an easy task - sometimes, the prey fight back! A gnu takes a lion for a spin, whilst a zebra leaves a prowling leopard cowering in his treetop refuge! But few prey animals show the resilience of the monitor lizard: in an extraordinary clip, a determined lizard stomps clear across a road with a 5 kilogram martial eagle digging its talons into its back! The bird is so surprised by its die-hard prey, all it can do is sit and squawk as its meal takes it for a ride!

At the roof of the world and on the edge of civilization sits the Russian Arctic, known for its extreme temperatures, weather and hostility. A haven for polar bears, as many as 500 pregnant females make their dens on Wrangel and Herald islands. Wrangel Island also attracts the world's largest population of walruses. One walrus segregated from the herd provides a feast for a few lucky bears. In late August, massive muskoxen bulls gather together to compete for mating dominance. Each bull can weigh 400 kilograms and charge at a speed of 40 kilometres an hour; a head-to-head impact can be heard more than a kilometre away. Meanwhile, the high Arctic's lemming population has crashed this year, and it is taking a significant toll on other creatures. Arctic foxes struggle to feed their litters while a snowy owl can only watch as her underdeveloped youngster succumbs to malnourishment. In the Russian Arctic, biting cold and howling storms lay down nature's harsh rules.

Which animal will he crown the number one venomous culprit in Australia? Come and join Dr Brady Barr and discover the most venomous creatures!

The majestic Primeval forests of the Urals is a land of extremes where giant deer, half-tonne leviathans and tiny creatures flourish.

The peninsula of Kamchatka in Russia's Far East is a dramatic landscape where fire and ice meet. Lava-spitting volcanoes reign here in a dramatic cycle of creation and destruction. With one of the highest levels of geothermic activity in the world, over 29 active volcanoes sit amidst scores of extinct and dormant cones. Brown Bears wait for salmon-spawning season to eat their fill of the protein rich fish; Stellar's Sea Eagles and Golden Eagles fight for access to ice-holes to fish, Wolverines and Red Foxes fight for carrion; and unusual birds like the Willow Ptarmigan care for their young. These magnificent animals are somehow able to thrive in this seemingly harsh environment, where summer is brief and winters are long and severe.

In between Europe and Asia, squeezed between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mighty summits reach over 5,000 metres high into the sky. Located on a continental divide, and extending a thousand kilometres from West to East, huge areas of the inaccessible mountains have remained an almost pristine wilderness. One side of a mountain can be vastly different to another, with heavy rainfall hitting some slopes and valleys to create lush vegetation, while other areas are left arid. Bison graze, bears prowl and lynxes hunt small prey while vultures circle in search of carrion. The diverse landscapes have spawned a cornucopia of species - this area has one of the highest levels of biodiversity on earth and many species are unique to this area and perfectly adapted to their habitat.

One Russia Pacific Coast, an exotic Asiatic habitat is home to some of the rarest and most magnificent animals on earth. In a landscape dominated by forests, and coastline, the world's largest car, the Amur Tiger roams the forest floor, while Asian Black Bears seek safety in the treetops. Lake Chanka is home to the extraordinary Chinese soft-shelled turtle, and the region's rivers serve as a hunting ground for the enormous Blakiston's Fish Owl. All remaining 40 Amur Leopards in the world live here and this incredibly rare animal is captured in bread-taking HD.