These free nature documentaries give you a whole film or episode to watch without a paid subscription. Start with a dive beside a coral reef, a river expedition in southern Africa, or the first episode of a series about…
Items 19 The creator’s order
1 Our Planet YouTube Watch the full One Planet episode on Netflix’s public YouTube channel. It introduces footage from seas, forests, and ice and sets up the eight-part 2019 series, whose full original episodes are also on the channel. Choose this for a wide view before moving to the habitat that interests you most. 0 2 Chasing Coral YouTube Netflix’s public YouTube channel carries the full feature. A team tries to photograph reefs through a bleaching event, following changes that can easily be missed in a single underwater visit. Pick it for the process of making a slow environmental change visible. 0 3 Into the Okavango YouTube Open the complete documentary on Nat Geo Animals. In canoes, the team follows a route toward Botswana’s Okavango Delta and traces connections between the places that supply its water. This is a longer expedition film with people, geography, and wildlife all in view. 0 4 Secrets of the Octopus: Inside the Brain of an Octopus YouTube Nat Geo Animals provides this whole episode. It uses encounters at close range to show what an octopus can do with sight, touch, and an unusually flexible body. Choose it if you want one animal group followed well beyond a highlight reel. 0 5 Living Wild: Animals of America's National Parks YouTube Open the Nat Geo Animals full special for a broad survey of wildlife in protected American landscapes. The variety makes it a good introduction if you want to move among many species and habitats without setting up a second episode. 0 6 Whales: Giants of the Deep Blue Oceans YouTube Nat Geo Animals offers this complete documentary special on whales. It compares behavior you can see from a boat with animals moving through deeper water. Choose this for the scale and movement of whales rather than a single short encounter. 0 7 America the Beautiful: Never-Before-Seen Wildlife Footage YouTube Nat Geo Animals carries this complete America the Beautiful installment. It gives cameras and unusual animal encounters room in the story, with several American landscapes rather than a single park providing the terrain. 0 8 Artifishal: The Fight to Save Wild Salmon YouTube Watch the full Patagonia film on its official channel. It follows arguments about hatcheries, river restoration and wild salmon. The filmmakers take a clear position, and it’s a useful choice when the story of a fish matters to you as much as close-up river footage. 0 9 Blue Heart: The Fight for Europe's Last Wild Rivers YouTube Patagonia’s complete documentary visits rivers in the Balkans and people working to keep them free-flowing. The landscape and what a dam would change are clearer once the film has shown the same stretch of water from several positions. 0 10 How Old-Growth Forests Protect Our Climate YouTube Use DW Documentary’s official full film for a closer look at what changes when a forest has lots of old trees, dead wood and time to regrow. The documentary connects the forest you can see with its importance for carbon storage and a variety of species. 0 
Our PlanetYouTubeWatch the full One Planet episode on Netflix’s public YouTube channel. It introduces footage from seas, forests, and ice and sets up the eight-part 2019 series, whose full original episodes are also on the channel. Choose this for a wide view before moving to the habitat that interests you most.0
Chasing CoralYouTubeNetflix’s public YouTube channel carries the full feature. A team tries to photograph reefs through a bleaching event, following changes that can easily be missed in a single underwater visit. Pick it for the process of making a slow environmental change visible.0
Into the OkavangoYouTubeOpen the complete documentary on Nat Geo Animals. In canoes, the team follows a route toward Botswana’s Okavango Delta and traces connections between the places that supply its water. This is a longer expedition film with people, geography, and wildlife all in view.0
Secrets of the Octopus: Inside the Brain of an OctopusYouTubeNat Geo Animals provides this whole episode. It uses encounters at close range to show what an octopus can do with sight, touch, and an unusually flexible body. Choose it if you want one animal group followed well beyond a highlight reel.0
Living Wild: Animals of America's National ParksYouTubeOpen the Nat Geo Animals full special for a broad survey of wildlife in protected American landscapes. The variety makes it a good introduction if you want to move among many species and habitats without setting up a second episode.0
Whales: Giants of the Deep Blue OceansYouTubeNat Geo Animals offers this complete documentary special on whales. It compares behavior you can see from a boat with animals moving through deeper water. Choose this for the scale and movement of whales rather than a single short encounter.0
America the Beautiful: Never-Before-Seen Wildlife FootageYouTubeNat Geo Animals carries this complete America the Beautiful installment. It gives cameras and unusual animal encounters room in the story, with several American landscapes rather than a single park providing the terrain.0
Artifishal: The Fight to Save Wild SalmonYouTubeWatch the full Patagonia film on its official channel. It follows arguments about hatcheries, river restoration and wild salmon. The filmmakers take a clear position, and it’s a useful choice when the story of a fish matters to you as much as close-up river footage.0
Blue Heart: The Fight for Europe's Last Wild RiversYouTubePatagonia’s complete documentary visits rivers in the Balkans and people working to keep them free-flowing. The landscape and what a dam would change are clearer once the film has shown the same stretch of water from several positions.0
How Old-Growth Forests Protect Our ClimateYouTubeUse DW Documentary’s official full film for a closer look at what changes when a forest has lots of old trees, dead wood and time to regrow. The documentary connects the forest you can see with its importance for carbon storage and a variety of species.0