Natural World - Season 12 - Eps 4: Toadskin Spell
Looks at the extraordinary properties of frog and toad skin, showing how it enables them to survive hostile environments. Amphibian skin contains many chemical compounds, including antibiotics, fungicides, anti-viral agents and toxins, which serve as built-in barriers against infection and protection from predators. Scientists in America have even identified an anti-cancer agent in the skin of certain amphibians. One sequence reveals a dangerous and illegal craze in California for toad licking - the skin of some toads contains hallucinogens so powerful that the US Drug Enforcement Agency puts it in the same class as heroin. The programme features toad and frog species from Britain and the continents of Africa, America, Asia and Australia.
About Natural World
Title: Natural World
First Air Date: 1983-10-30
Last Air Date: 2020-03-20
Status: Returning Series
Rating: 7.1/10 (from 25 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 40
Total Episodes: 543
Network: BBC Two
Genres: Documentary
Production Companies: BBC Studios, BBC Studios Natural History Unit, BBC
Synopsis
Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.
Cast
David Attenborough
Self - Host
John Hannah
Narrator (voice)
Juliet Stevenson
Narrator (voice)
