The cold weather and a shortage of food eventually drove the Neanderthals to extinction, clearing the stage for Cro-Magnons, our direct ancestors. But you'll have to wait for the next episode to find out more about that!

The European Fountain Society, with its seat in Karlruhe in southwestern Germany, is committed to the preservation and care of historical fountains and emphasizes the importance of water for man and culture.

We don't know exactly how and when life began on Earth, but the answer probably lies in the depths of the ocean: It is here that the first unicellular organisms evolved.

How do coral reefs form, and what role do they play for underwater creatures such as fish? In this video, you can see some fascinating life forms and how they interact with one another.

Brilliantly colorful parrot fish and two-bar sea bream are among the fish featured in this segment. Sea cucumbers, the vacuum cleaners of all the Earth's oceans, also make an appearance.

Different types of fish have very different tactics when it comes to survival in the coral reef, including camouflage, safety in numbers, and hiding in plain sight.

In this segment, we get to see some of the oldest inhabitants of the ocean and learn about how they have adapted to life under water.

In this video, we learn all about humpback whales. They might not be the largest whales, but they are extremely agile and graceful — and very musical as well!

We continue following the humpback whales, learning about their migration patterns and how they raise their young. We also meet Californian sea lions, which, despite their heft, are very agile and adept — and also very peaceful.

Californian sea lions are quite adept on land, but spend most of their time in the water. They are considered to be elegant and intelligent animals with outstanding swimming abilities.

From the oceans to the cliffs, from the steppe to the semi-desert, we continue our journey through our planet’s many biomes. Here, we meet spectacular white storks, and herds of wildebeests and zebras, whose distinctive stripes serve as camouflage against tsetse flies and horseflies.

Cheetahs, giraffes, and elephants are the fastest, tallest, and largest land animals, respectively—and they can all be found on the African savanna. Here, we learn about what makes them special, and why they’re threatened with extinction.

In this video, we learn amazing things about leopards and rhinos — and why a life-giving river in New Zealand was granted protected status equivalent to that of a human being.

In addition to many majestic and fascinating species, evolution also led to the emergence of humankind — and we now have the obligation to protect our planet and care for all forms of life.

Hollywood director James Cameron dove once before into the depths of the ocean with his Blockbuster movie Titanic . Now he wants to reach the deepest point of the world's oceans — the Mariana Trench. But billionaire Richard Branson is also planning his own expedition into the deep.
Copyright: Deutsche Presse Agentur [The German Press Agency]