In South Dakota, thousands of fireflies, in the midst of a mating ritual, compete against the bright stars that light up the dark skies of the Badlands. Often, it's hard to tell one from the other.

Golden lion tamarins have evolved a clever way to keep their population size steady in the face of predation. They almost always give birth to twins.

In ring-tailed lemur society, it's the females who call the shots. They live in groups of up to 30 members and the alpha female will fight hard to protect her territory.

By all accounts, Roman gladiators were the rock stars of their day, performing in a packed coliseum to a crowd of thousands. But evidence suggests they experienced extremely malnourished childhoods marked with high levels of stress.

A scientist's visit to a Shuar elder in Ecuador reveals the secrets of the ceremonial tradition of head shrinking. Now the scientist has set himself a gruesome goal to do it himself.

Franz Oppenhoff was installed as the mayor of Aachen, Germany, after it was taken by Allied forces. Little did he know, guerrilla Nazi assassins who called themselves "Werwolves" had him in their crosshairs.

An estimated 25% of all elephants born in Burma are captured and sold into the tourism trade. What's worse: They must be broken in first.

A scientist sets about to recreate a Stone Age funeral pyre. Astonishingly, and using nothing but resources from that era, the makeshift pyre achieves the same high temperatures as a modern crematorium.

Gaboon vipers don't have the fastest strike in the snake world--but they don't need to be faster than other snakes, just their prey. In this case, a passing bird stands no chance.

Joseff of Hollywood made jewelry for many of the most important American films of the 20th century. When Doris and Shelly Lyn visit his studio, they have one goal: no drooling on the designs.