NHK - Life Force (2011) Part 4 New Zealand

LIFE FORCE is a celebration of the power of evolution. An exploration of the forces that shape life in all its unexpected glory.

This breath-taking series is a groundbreaking cross-genre fusion of blue-chip natural history and cutting edge science documentary. Viewers are transported to six strange worlds within worlds where it seems as if nature has thrown the rule book out the window.

But LIFE FORCE goes in for a closer look, and reveals how the magic of evolution and the forces of nature have together shaped eccentric animals, eclectic lifestyles and unorthodox patterns of behavior. Each place has a unique personal history and suite of extraordinary characters.

NHK and NHNZ's multi-award winning film-making partnership combined to use the latest technologies to cast a spotlight on six far corners of the planet, to reveal these rich and surprising natural worlds.

Part 4: New Zealand

New Zealand – a fairytale archipelago with a turbulent geological past. A land with astonishing creatures; flightless birds and creatures of the night; living fossils and dinosaurs… Evolution has run wild on this land of isolation and today some of the world's most unusual animals can be found only in New Zealand.