YELLOWSTONE: BATTLE FOR LIFE

BBC Earth's Yellowstone: Battle for Life gives a barely perceptive nod to the obvious natural wonders that make the park so famous, and instead focuses on the wildlife alone.

Quick, what's the first image of Yellowstone that pops into your head? Is it the geyser Old Faithful? Or the beautiful Yellowstone Falls? Or perhaps one of the stunning rainbow-hued pools of scalding water? Or the crowds and crowds of tourists flocking to see these natural wonders?

Well, strangely enough, BBC Earth's Yellowstone: Battle for Life gives a barely perceptive nod to those obvious things that make the park so famous, and instead focuses on the wildlife alone. In fact, it isn't until a solid hour and 45 minutes until you even see a human onscreen. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you watch this DVD and think that you will be the only one enjoying the natural splendor of Yellowstone when you visit, you may be in for a rude surprise.

Yellowstone: Battle for Life is broken up into three parts: Winter, Summer, and finally Autumn (I suppose winter is so darn long, that it was just easier to roll spring into summer!). The Winter segment focuses on the dominant animals of the season, in particular the wolves (reintroduced to the park in the 1990s) who get stronger throughout the coldest months dues to the weakening of other animals, and the bison, whose thick fur and bulk is made for the most extreme temperatures. Summer highlights the grizzly bears, and Autumn takes a look at the elk and bighorn sheep. Sprinkled in there are plenty of other critters, including rare hummingbirds who migrate from Mexico for the short summer; moths, that prove to be one of the main sources of protein for the bears; beavers, who find some of their hard work poached by moose; and the busy little pika, who has a short time to gather and dry plants for his long winter under the snow.

The photography is, of course, up-close and fantastic (a trademark of the BBC Earth series). I particularly enjoyed watching a fox standing atop the crust of snow, cocking his head first one way, then back, then back again... listening... until he leapt straight in the air, then straight down through several feet of snow to catch a mouse! Crazy! The beaver moments are great, as one fellow slaps his tail in the water at a moose to chase him away from the tasty branches that he's gathered. And who wouldn't smile at the frustrated squirrel whose carefully buried pinecone is unearthed by a hungry bear who wants others to do the dirty work?

As great as these images are, and they truly are great, I kept waiting for an acknowledgement of, you know, Yellowstone. For a series that is 150 minutes, there is very little mentioned of the natural wonders of the park, just mainly reiteration of the unusual fact that the park's plateau is actually a huge volcanic cauldron, which accounts for the unusually extreme winters and climate. And the only extras are three featurettes called "The People of Yellowstone", some behind-the-scenes peeks at the experts on the park (particularly funny are the "geyser gazers," who are basically regular folks that are geyser groupies, helping the rangers track eruptions).

It is probably no accident that the very last line of the program calls national parks "America's best idea" in a timely nod to the Ken Burns The National Parks series. If we want to find out more about the park, rather than just the animals, Battle for Life seems to be saying, that that is where we should be headed next. In the meantime, enjoy the fantastic photography of all of Yellowstone's amazing critters.