If you like nature and the wildlife that surrounds us, then you are in the right place to discover 13 best nature documentaries on YouTube.
Nature documentaries bring a lot to the table. They can be interesting and funny but also filled with breathtaking landscapes. If your TV is always circling from Animal Planet to National Geographic, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Personally, I always admired the nature documentary filmmakers. It needs a lot of courage, skill, and patience to make one. It’s all about waiting for the right moment and catching it on film. Sometimes that waiting can be few hours and sometimes few weeks or even months. Also, this job brings lots of danger and many of documentary makers are risking their lives just to get that special shot. Take Steve Irwin (or The Crocodile Hunter), for example. This man was almost fearless. He wasn’t afraid to face the crocodiles and many other dangerous species, just so he could make his audience pleased. Unfortunately, this ultimately led to his death. He was filming a documentary titled Ocean’s Deadliest when a stingray pierced his heart leaving him to bleed to death. It is the only case of stingray’s attack with fatal outcome ever captured on video.
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When we talk about patience and skills, some filmmakers lack them, so they tend to make some shortcuts along the way. The aimed audience is really picky and honestly, there are just so many times one can find lions catching zebras entertaining and interesting. If you are interested in nature from an environmental point of view, don’t miss these 12 Best Environmental Documentaries on YouTube. Back to shortcuts — you know those “close up shots” of animals that seem really hard to get? Well, there are some impatient documentary makers known to make the shoots in zoos or by even renting animals to make those and similar shots. There were even cases where filmmakers used CGI to edit some scenes while claiming they are real. There is also staging. Those are cases when the filmmakers simply create the story or scene and then present it to the viewers as the real deal. One of the most famous cases of staging is Disney’s White Wilderness. This documentary had the goal of presenting the wildlife of Arctic, but the filmmakers decided that isn’t interesting enough in its natural form, so they added some scenes they deemed fitting. The premise was that lemmings take upon mass migration that ends with their suicide in the Arctic Ocean. There was just a little problem. Species of lemmings portrayed in the documentary don’t migrate and most certainly don’t commit mass suicides. Eventually, it was discovered that the particular scene didn’t take place even near the Arctic Ocean, but in Calgary, and lemmings were pushed into the water instead of jumping voluntarily. Let’s hope the ones featured on our list of 13 best nature documentaries on YouTube don’t contain any shortcuts.
To compile our list we took recommendations from Slash Film, PBS and Made Man among others. After collecting close to 60 nature documentary titles, we checked their availability on YouTube. We ranked those that were available in full for free according to their IMDb rating and got the 13 best. Let’s begin.
13. African Cats
IMDb Rating: 7.6
When you think about it, there is no major difference between us and animals in terms of basic behavior. If you disagree, this documentary, next on our list of best nature documentaries on YouTube will surely change your mind. It revolves around two cat families who introduce their young ones to the life of wilderness. If this isn’t enough to make you interested, maybe the fact that the documentary is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart will do the trick.
12. March of the Penguins
IMDb Rating: 7.6
We are continuing our list of best nature documentaries on YouTube with this amazing documentary that follows the Antarctica’s emperor penguins in their yearly attempt to find a mate. Each year, penguins that are 5 or more years old leave the ocean (their natural habitat) and embark on a journey to the breeding grounds of their ancestors in their attempt to find a mate. After they find a mate and the chick is hatched, they make long journeys back to the ocean and again to the breeding place in order to feed their young. If you are sick of Hollywood love stories, maybe this one will be refreshing.
11. Nanook of The North
IMDb Rating: 7.7
Let’s get back to 1922. Nanook of the North is considered to be one of the first documentaries and it looks like it stood the test of time. The documentary follows the members of the Inuit tribe, Nanook, and his family in their journey across north Quebec in the attempt to find food and trade.
10. La Soufriere
IMDb Rating: 7.7
If you are remotely familiar with documentaries, you will recognize the name of Werner Herzog. La Soufriere is one of his earlier works and follows the story of a peasant who refused to abandon the island of Guadeloupe where a volcano was scheduled to erupt. Herzog travels to the island to find out the peasant’s reasons for doing so while finding more of those who remained to face with the eruption. Don’t worry – we won’t spoil the ending. You’ll have to watch the documentary to find out whether the volcano erupted or not.
9. Encounters at the End of the World
IMDb Rating: 7.8
Meeting Antarctica surely looks entertaining if Werner Herzog is leading the way. He and his crew embark on a journey to this icy continent to explore its beauty and to get to know people who dedicated their lives to science and who found their home in this harsh place. Full of amazing shots, this documentary will reveal you a side of Antarctica you didn’t know about.
8. Grizzly Man
IMDb Rating: 7.8
We may be boring with all these Werner Herzog’s documentaries on our list of 13 best nature documentaries on YouTube, but the man obviously knows his business. Timothy Treadwell occasionally made journeys to remote parts of Alaska and lived with bears so he could study them. Unfortunately, his passion for bears ended in a tragedy when a rogue bear killed him and his girlfriend. This documentary tells his life story while also taking into consideration the studies he made during his research.
7. Chasing Ice
IMDb Rating: 7.8
Former climate change skeptic James Balog decided to make an effort to inform the world that climate change is a real deal. The documentary follows James as he travels through Arctic and leaves cameras that have a goal of tracking changes in glaciers. The results turned out to be stunning.
6. Microcosmos
IMDb Rating: 7.9
Although we barely notice them (unless they bite us), insects are a major part of the life on Earth. Microcosmos, made in 1996, gives a perfect insight into their life and the way their world is organized. After watching this documentary that ranked 6th on our list of best nature documentaries on YouTube, you will think twice about killing that annoying fly.
5. Winged Migration
IMDb Rating: 8.0
It took the filmmakers of Winged Migration approximately four years to shoot the documentary, the number 5 on our list of best nature documentaries on YouTube, while visiting seven continents. The documentary follows the migrations of several bird species and stays with them throughout the whole journey. The fact that two months of filming in one location was brought down to a minute in the final cut of the documentary shows how much effort was invested in Winged Migration. It is important to note that “tamed” birds (raised from birth by humans) take up a large portion of the film since it was necessary for the birds to get accustomed to the filmmakers and the equipment.
4. Sharkwater
IMDb Rating: 8.0
Sharks are bloodthirsty sea creatures that only want to have a piece of human’s body for dinner, right? Well, that’s the Jaw’s version. Sharkwater gives you another view on sharks that turns out to be more accurate. This documentary also deals with topics of shark hunting and the way mass hunt leads them to extinction. The documentary was a large success and even brought the issue to the wider audience, leading to shark hunting bans all over the world.
3. Rivers and Tides
IMDb Rating: 8.1
This one on our list of best nature documentaries on YouTube may not fit in everyone’s definition of a nature documentary, but most nature lovers will probably find it interesting. Rivers and Tides follows an artist named Andy Goldsworthy, who uses natural materials ranging from rocks to flower to make short-lived sculptures.
2. The Last Lions
IMDb Rating: 8.4
Jeremy Irons (voice of Scar in The Lion King) returns again to the world of lions, but this time he narrates The Last Lions and isn’t a bad guy. The documentary revolves around Ma di Tau, a lioness that needs to protect her cubs from the various enemies and ensure their survival. The documentary also tries to send a message about the endangerment of lions, underlining that 50 years ago there were almost half a million of lions in Africa, and now the number is close to 20,000.
1. The Cove
IMDb Rating: 8.5
We came to an end of our list of 13 best nature documentaries on YouTube with one disturbing documentary. Although you may think dolphins are enjoying doing all those tricks for your entertainment, the truth is on the opposite side. Most of them are tortured and it isn’t rare for them to commit suicide after captivity becomes insufferable. The Cove follows a longtime dolphins activist and former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry in attempts to discover the truth about Japan’s hunt on dolphins and country’s cruel whaling industry. The film also shows how the captured dolphins are sometimes sold to the highest bidder and others are slaughtered and their meat sold in supermarkets. Although all claims are backed with footage, the Japanese government still refused to take determined actions.
