Planet Earth II

The world's deserts are lands of extremes, forcing animals to come up with ingenious ways to cope with the hostile conditions and giving rise to the most incredible survival stories on Earth.

A pride of desert lions is so hungry they risk hunting a giraffe several times their size, while male sand grouse fly 120 miles each day to the nearest waterhole and dice with death to collect water for their chicks.

Filmed for the first time, a tiny bat does battle with one of the world's deadliest scorpions. And in Madagascar a locust swarm of biblical proportions is revealed as never before.

Grasslands cover one quarter of all land and support the vast gatherings of wildlife, but to survive here animals must endure the most hostile seasonal changes on the planet.

From Asia's bizarre looking saiga antelope, to the giant ant-eaters of Brazil, grassland animals have adapted in extraordinary ways to cope with these extremes. In the flooded Okavango, lions take on formidable buffalo in epic battles, on the Savannah bee-eaters take advantage of elephants to help catch insects and on the freezing northern tundra, caribou embark on great migrations shadowed by hungry Arctic wolves.

Captured in stunning ultra-high definition detail, Planet Earth II is an immersive exploration of the islands, mountains, jungles, deserts, grasslands and cities of the world.

Cities are growing at a faster rate than any other habitat on Earth. They may seem an unlikely place for animals to thrive, but they can be a world of surprising opportunity. Leopards prowl the streets of Mumbai, peregrine falcons hunt amongst New York's skyscrapers, and a million starlings perform spectacular aerial dances over Rome. In Jodhpur, langurs are revered as religious deities and in Harar, locals live in harmony with wild hyenas. Many animals, however, struggle to cope in the urban jungle. As the architects of this environment, can humans choose to build cities that are homes for both them and wildlife?