Best Animal Documentaries - Best Documentary Films About Animals

Arctic Tale gives you close up, personal and unforgettable profiles of Nanu, a polar bear cub, and Seelu, a seal pup, as they struggle to survive changing environmental conditions that threaten their habitat and their lives. With these lovable animal tykes leading the way, the film swims directly and deeply into disturbing environmental issues-- like global warming, pollution, and, most especially, the shrinking arctic ice.

Directors John and Brad Hennegan follow six thoroughbred horses--including the fabulous and tragic Barbaro--and their human trainers and handlers as they go through the preparatory paces leading up to the Kentucky Derby, the annual race that’s known as "the most exciting two minutes in sports."

In October 2003, grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard were killed by the Alaskan bears they'd been following and studying. Famed director Werner Herzog uses the pair's archival footage plus interviews with their friends, family, colleagues and bear experts to examine their lifestyle, motivation and experiences. The film is a fascinating study of human interaction with wild animals, and the footage of the bears is absolutely phenomenal.

March of the Penguins takes you into the harsh environment of Antarctica, where Emperor penguins gather annually to go through their fascinating rituals of building their nests, finding mates and propagating their species. They endure amazing hardships. And, as this film shows, they may be cute, but penguins are truly tough birds.

Filmmaker Judy Irving looks in on the life of down-and-out musician Mark Bittner who lives on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill, where he enters into communication and communion with a flock of some 50 wild cherry-headed parrots, who have wonderfully distinctive personalities and eventually change his outlook on life. You will love this heartwarming film.

Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud and their crew of 500 people spent four years and spanned the globe to capture the startlingly beautiful images of various species of migrating birds as they fly thousands of miles twice annually in search of food. An amazing cinematic achievement.

Wolves, so often maligned in lore and legend, have been hunted and slaughtered almost to the point of extinction. They are still on the endangered species list, but these fascinating creatures, who display an amazingly complex, intelligent and deeply rooted social structure in their pack behavior, are making a comeback in Yellowstone. This is their story, and it's a great one!