Madagascar (TV series) in March 2011. In this one-off programme, David Attenborough undertakes a personal journey back to Madagascar to investigate the fate of "Aepyornis", the island's extinct elephant birds. Believed to be the largest birds which have ever lived, evidence of their existence can still be found on the island. Whilst filming "Zoo Quest to Madagascar" in 1961, Attenborough pieced together a complete elephant bird egg from fragments of shell collected for him. "Madagascar" was first announced in March 2009 as a partnership between Animal Planet and BBC Worldwide. Production duties were handled by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, with
Northern elephant seal of the Northwestern Coast of America", that an 18-ft-long bull caught on Santa Barbara Island yielded 210 gallons of oil. They were thought to be extinct in 1884 until a remnant population of eight individuals was discovered on Guadalupe Island in 1892 by a Smithsonian expedition, who promptly killed seven of the eight for their collections. The elephant seals managed to survive, and were finally protected by the Mexican government in 1922. Since the early 20th century, they have been protected by law in both Mexico and in the United States. Subsequently, the U.S. protection was strengthened after passage of