After Dark

Finally, for this series, we look deep into the darkness to examine creatures that live in the shadows and the adaptations they need to survive. Nocturnal animals have taken to this dark world for a good reason: they can escape predators, avoid the heat of the day, and take their turn sharing food and resources in their ‘niche.’ But which animals come out at night? How do they find food in the dark? Where do they go during the day? Nocturnal animals have some fascinating ways to survive in the dark. Spend a night on an exploratory tour with porcupines, raccoons, mice, and cats as their day begins, while the rest of the world goes to sleep. The world of the night is a world of fear, excitement, and survival. Every animal adapted to live in the dark is a specialized survivor. The raccoon will eat almost anything and has a hypersensitive sense of touch. A wheat field hides thousands of mice – surviving as a team thanks to their speed, camouflage, and enormous families. The Arctic is home to both a white fox and a red fox, each running their race of life side by side. Australia, sometimes known as the oldest continent of all, has a unique collection of nocturnal animals, each running their own race of life after dark. And almost every continent has the porcupine, a prickly survivor who loves fruit and is very good at defending itself.