About this season
The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging. The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "Dē Rērum Nātūrā" — On the Nature of Things.
Episodes (17)
1. Animals And Man
Aired 3 October 1965
A series studying animal kingdom, and man's place in it, through comparisons of anatomy, function, and behavior.
2. Animals On Land
Aired 10 October 1965
How animals get from place to place, including burrowing, crawling, climbing trees, running,.
3. Animals In The Water
Aired 17 October 1965
"Animals In The Water" studies fish, crocodiles, seals and whales.
4. Animal Adaptation
Aired 24 October 1965
A look at how animals have developed special means of coping with environments - long neck of giraffe, coat of polar bear.
5. Animal Adaptation
Aired 31 October 1965
A look at process of natural selection by which animals have developed special means of coping with their environments: long neck of giraffe, coat of polar bear.
6. Animals And Food
Aired 7 November 1965
How animals locate, obtain, process and eat food using "anatomical tools": beaks, claws etc.
7. Animals As Engineers
Aired 14 November 1965
Animals modify their environments in many ways: by building nests, damming streams.
8. Animals As Engineers
Aired 21 November 1965
Program shows how animals modify their environments in many ways; by building nests.
9. Animal Hands And Tools
Aired 28 November 1965
Man is known as "toolmaker", although certain other animals do use tools.
10. Animal Vision And Smell
Aired 5 December 1965
Different combinations of senses are dominant in activities of different animals: vision and smell in insects, smell and hearing in most mammals, vision and touch in higher primates.
11. Animal Territory And Aggression
Aired 12 December 1965
A look at various ways animals and man defend their homes and their young.
12. Animal Social Behavior
Aired 19 December 1965
13. Episode 13
Aired 26 December 1965
14. Animal Learning
Aired 2 January 1966
How much of animal behavior is inherent, and how much is learned?
15. Episode 15
Aired 9 January 1966
16. Episode 16
Aired 16 January 1966
17. Man And Animals
Aired 23 January 1966
Man, animal species, as he might be described by an objective zoologist from another planet: what is he.