When it comes to mysterious animals, what's often just as fascinating as the "does it exist" or "what happened to them" questions are the experts and passionate amateurs who attempt to find the answers. Meet them, and find out more about everything from Bigfoot to the Tasmanian Tiger, in these documentaries at SBS On Demand and on SBS VICELAND and SBS.
Dinosaur with Stephen Fry
Along with museum visits and expert interviews, the series shows us life as the dinosaurs would have lived it. Source: Mentorn Media
Four-part series Dinosaur with Stephen Fry premieres 7.30pm Thursday 16 March on SBS, with new episodes following weekly. Episodes will be available at SBS On Demand after they air:
Searching for the Tassie Tiger
‘Searching for the Tassie Tiger’. Source: Distributor
Neil Waters looks every bit the retired gardener he is. But he also harbours a passion: to discover traces of the Tasmanian tiger. Although it is thought to have been extinct since the death of the last thylacine in Hobart Zoo in 1936, a growing civilian movement, of which Waters is president, is determined to prove the Tassie tiger has survived. Waters commits his life savings to the search, but has this commitment been worthwhile?
Searching for the Tassie Tiger airs Saturday 25 March on SBS VICELAND.
Monster: The Mystery of Loch Ness
The Loch Ness monster has captured imaginations for decades - although 'monster' is a harsh world for a creature that has in stories, films and cartoons, and is often affectionately referred to as 'Nessie'. How did the legend begin - and what do the locals think about it now? This three-part series covers how it all started in the 1930s with a spate of sightings, various investigations (and some feuds and fakeries) that have taken place since, and how the enduring myth has become an ingrained part of the culture of the Scottish Highlands.
The Unxplained: Strange Creatures
Hosted by William Shatner, The UnXplained is a series that dives into the unknown, inexplicable, mysterious and monstrous. Alongside lost civilisations, curses, cults, extreme weather, UFOs and many other things that continue to confuse and fascinate the world, the series also turns the lens on animal mysteries. This episode, in season one of the show, looks at animals that supposedly don't exist - but do they? Millions of people around the world claim to have had an encounter with a creature unlike any recognised by mainstream science – such as the mothman, chupacabra, and Mongolian death worm. Could these incredible creatures be real?
3 seasons of The UnXplained are streaming now . The series is also airing Thursday nights on SBS Viceland - check the for exact air times in your state. Watch the 'Strange Creatures' episode here:
The Unxplained: The Truth About Bigfoot
For centuries, legends and eyewitness accounts have told of a massive, hairy creature that roams the forest on two legs. While science has yet to prove the existence of this mythical man-beast, as this episode of The Unxplained shows, countless researchers and others around the world are convinced that there is a giant, ape-like animal in the remote parts of the world. Perhaps the most compelling pieces of evidence to support the existence of Bigfoot are the huge footprints that have been found for decades. Anthropologist Dr Jeff Meldrum has been studying these footprints for more than two decades and, based off his research, has concluded that they are being made by a giant primate with fifteen-inch feet. Meldrum is one of many modern researchers who believe that Bigfoot is a very real creature living in the remote parts of the world and could possibly be a descendant of Gigantopithecus, a ten-foot-tall primate that went extinct thousands of years ago. Others have different ideas. Is Bigfoot a figment of our imagination? A hoax? An unrecognised animal? An extraterrestrial being?
3 seasons of The UnXplained are streaming now . The series is also airing Thursday nights on SBS Viceland - check the for exact air times in your state. Watch the 'Bigfoot' episode here:
