Nature, Big Cats, Small World
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Wednesdays, Jan. 22 & 29, at 8 PM
Thursdays, Jan. 23 & 30, at 1 AM
Mondays, Jan. 27 & Feb. 3, at 5 PM
On the shores of Botswana’s Gomoti River, Africa’s three Big Cat families have made themselves at home. Each has carved out a space to raise their young, while trying to avoid the others. Witness how winter floods bring both opportunity and hardship, testing their survival abilities.
Learn more about lions, cheetahs, and leopards, as well as the other players in the field such as impala, baboons, warthogs, wildebeests, zebras and more. The two-part series explores how all these cats must use their unique skills to avoid lethal encounters, outsmart rivals, and thrive in a crowded neighborhood. Witness the rare and breathtaking moment when two cheetah brothers defy danger by swimming across a crocodile-infested river to mark their territory, showcasing the extraordinary lengths big cats go to secure their domain.
Episode One, “Landlords”
An aging lion has his hands full with newborn cubs, and rivals that could come for his territory and pride. Four lionesses struggle to turn their dozen busy cubs into useful pride-members. Meanwhile a cheetah mother is racing to prepare her cubs for life without her; and a leopard is trying to start a family of his own. In this crowded world, trouble comes when the cats least expect it.
Episode Two, “Outlanders”
Winter brings floods and outsiders into the world, upending the lives of the lions and young cheetahs; while a mother leopard is forced to choose between her older daughter, and her newborn cubs. When the river that sustains the small world turns on the Big Cats, it brings disruption and turmoil into their lives.