7.045 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestSeries exploring strange animal behaviour looks at how a surprising number of creatures take substances for pleasure or to cure ailments. Discover starlings that use aromatherapy, chimps that administer their own medicine, an odd amphibian that can heal itself, bee bouncers that stop drunk and disorderly bees returning to the hive, monkeys whose liking for happy hour tells us about our own drinking habits, lemurs that ingest mind-altering millipedes, hedgehogs that indulge in strange rituals, cats that get high on plants and reindeer whose fondness for magic mushrooms may have spawned the greatest legend of them all.
Weird Nature is a 2002 documentary television series produced by John Downer Productions for the BBC and Discovery Channel. The series features strange behavior in nature—specifically, the animal world. The series now airs on the Science Channel. The series took three years to make and a new filming technique was used to show animal movements in 3D. Each episode, however, tended to end with a piece about how humans are probably the oddest species of all. For example, in the end of the episode about locomotion, the narrator states how unusual it is for a mammal to be bipedal. In the episode about defences, the narrator explains that humans have no real natural defences, save for their big brains.
Cinematography
Pioneering 3D motion filming changed nature docs forever.
Production
Three years of patience captured moments never seen before.
Writing
Narrator's sardonic human takedowns are chef's kiss.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 3D motion technique required specially built rigs that tracked animals from multiple angles simultaneously—tech that later influenced how sports broadcasts analyze athlete movement.
This series helped launch the 'weird nature' subgenre that peaked with Planet Earth's more sensational moments, though its human-shaming finales were controversial among BBC purists who preferred anthropomorphism-free docs.
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