Natural World Season 22 Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs 2003
Last year, while excavating a 5,000 year old temple buried by Egyptian sands, archaeologist Edda Bresciani unearthed a sacred chamber - with an unexpected secret.There in the center of the room, gleamed an iridescent pool of emerald water. And right next to it, in a small depression hewn into the floor - thirty perfectly preserved crocodile eggs. Nearby were mummified adults. "The temple was a nursery for sacred crocodiles," she says incredulously. "They emerged from the eggs, to be reared in the pool before being sacrificed and mummified. I'd found a temple to Sebek - the crocodileheaded deity." Despite their revered status in ancient Egypt, the crocodiles in the river Nile were all hunted out by the 1800s, and the Pharaoh's crocodiles were lost forever. Or so it was thought.Then there came mysterious sightings of crocodiles emerging from strange places in north Africa away from the Egyptian Nile. Are these the long lost ancestors of the Pharaoh's crocodiles - alive and well?
- Released: 2003-10-12
- Runtime: 60 minutes
- Genre: Documentary
- Stars: David Attenborough, John Hannah, Juliet Stevenson
- Director: Brian Jackman, Andrew Graham-Brown, Mike Birkhead
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1. Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs 2003-10-12
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2. Elephant Cave 2003-10-19
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3. White Shark/Red Triangle 2003-10-31
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4. Tigers of the Emerald Forest 2003-11-16
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6. Five Owl Farm 2003-12-07
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8. The Eagle Has Landed 2004-01-02
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9. Swamp Cats 2004-01-09
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10. Caribou and Wolves: The Endless Dance 2004-01-16
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11. Missing... Presumed Eaten 2004-01-23
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12. A Moose Named Madeline 2004-02-08
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13. The Amber Time Machine 2004-02-15
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14. Five Big Cats and a Camera 2004-02-22
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15. Ice Age Death Trap 2004-02-29
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16. Ireland: Sculpted Isle 2004-03-14
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17. Lion: Out of Africa? 2004-04-11
