Great Zebra Exodus

This episode in the PBS Nature series follows the zebra herds of Botswana on their annual dry-season migration through the “salt pan” region known as Makgadikgadi. Narration by Chris Morgan overlays the scenic but unsentimental spectacle captured by filmmaker Adrian Bailey, as the striped horses are endangered by thirst, prowling lions, and their own fiercely uncompromising instinct. In a particularly brutal sequence, the cameras record what is said to be a situation almost never witnessed by humans: a newly ascended stallion in his family herd finds a newborn foal fathered by his now-deceased predecessor, and—somehow sensing the DNA mismatch—the alpha male ferociously attacks the unwanted baby, ultimately inflicting fatal wounds despite a frantic defense by the mother (evidently for zebras it's all black and white—no shades of gray). Warmer and fuzzier scenes appear in cutaways to another group of Botswana critters co-existing with the equines—a burrow of meerkats, who are famous for being camera-friendly. A solid entry for nature collections, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)