Animal Magnetism

Ever since Cro-Magnons painted their caves with images of wild bison, humans have been fascinated with wild animals, with their power, their speed, their unutterable strangeness. Even in today's media-saturated world, these creatures - whether luminescent fish, blindingly fast cheetahs, or oddly human orangutans - still have the power to captivate us.

48 Hours examines and reveals this allure, in "Animal Magnetism."

• Bringing Home The Big Cats: CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger takes a look at some housecats who aren't so tame. Some people are making pets out of big, and sometimes dangerous, cats. What happens when the pet decides the owner is the prey?

Magnetic Links: The Web is a good place to find out much more about all kinds of creatures. We've gathered some of the best sites here.

• Saving Cheetahs With Science: Smithsonian scientist Jo Gail Howard is trying to ensure the survival of the cheetah through artificial insemination. But the procedure is tricky, and demanding. Will she succeed?
• Planes, Cranes & Automobiles: Idaho rancher Kent Clegg is trying to save eight endangered sandhill cranes by guiding them over the Rocky Mountains in a small plane. Is he crazy, or just very committed? Find out.
• Dan Goes Deep-Sea Diving: To find out first-hand what the blackest bottom of the sea is really like, CBS News' Dan Rather made several dives with pilot Tim Askew to view the deep-sea world the way marine scientists do.
• The Mother Of All Orangutans: In 1971, Birute Galdikas, an anthropology student, ventured into the jungles of Borneo to study the last wild orangutans. She was supposed to stay for five years. She is still there, feeding an obsession that could ultimately force her to choose between her human family and her ape one.
• Life Inside a Wolf Pack: What do you do with a partially tame pack of wolves? Jim and Jamie Dutcher had to solve this problem after they finished a years-long documentary about a wolf pack that had become very accustomed to their presence. Go along with the couple as they visit the wolves in their new refuge in Idaho.