Animals & Nature

BBC America continues the nature theme with 24 Hours on Earth, an exploration of how plants and animals handle the 24-hour cycle, at 9:00. No, it’s not the 24 hour news cycle.

The first season finale of 24 Hours on Earth, an exploration of how plants and animals handle the 24-hour cycle, is on BBC America at 9:00.

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Smithsonian Channel is airing Aerial America: Wilderness, a look at the land covered by the Act, at 9:00.

The Smithsonian Channel looks at how certain of Africa’s animals adapt to their surroundings and use the terrain to unlock new hunting techniques, seek out new prey, and amplify their age-old skills by using the lay of the land in the series premiere of Africa’s Predator Zones, at 8:00.

Today is Earth Day and National Geographic Wild has Africa’s Wild Coast, a documentary about efforts to protect Gabon’s rich coastal waters which are under attack from illegal trawling, putting humpback whales, hippos, sharks and other animals in danger, at 8:00.

Discovery’s 26th annual Shark Week starts tonight at 8:00 with Air Jaws: Countdown to Shark Week 2013. Tune in for some amazing footage of great white sharks leaping out of the water in pursuit of prey. Bet you didn’t know that sharks could fly.

Discovery’s annual Shark Week kicks off tonight at 8:00 with Air Jaws: Fin of Fury, in which documentary filmmakers go looking for a giant shark.

National Geographic Wild has the series premiere of the reality show about a veterinarian in paradise (or, if not paradise, at least Hawaii), Aloha Vet, at 9:00.