Plot Synopsis

HIDDEN HABITATS is a half-hour series that explores Earth's microworlds, revealing self-contained ecosystems bursting with life that depends on an intricate web of relationships and natural forces. Each 30-minute episode breaks down a different ecosystem, introducing the animals that live there and revealing the fine balances of its existence. Featured habitats include: the most famous archipelago on Earth, the Galapagos; the Serengeti, East Africa's vast grassland that's home to the greatest concentrations of herbivores; the Namib Desert, Africa's oldest desert, where sea fogs and detritus -- airborne water and food sources -- are blown in across the desert by the winds; Monterey Bay, where the sea otter feeds on sea urchins, keeping their numbers under control and preventing them from destroying the kelp habitat; Canada's Coastal Forests, which is part of an ancient forest system that stretches along the coast from Northern California up to Southern Alaska; and other microworlds like the Great Barrier Reef, the Red Center of Australia, Yellowstone National Park, the Amazon, the archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Circle, the deep sea, the Scottish Highlands, and the Okavango. More than two years after its world premiere on BBC Four, where it debuted as NATURE'S MICROWORLDS, BBC America aired the U.S. premiere of this series on Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT, showing back-to-back episodes.