It may have been the year of the humanitarian at Time magazine, but at the art theaters it was the annum of the animal.

If you've already memorized every step of "The March of the Penguins," and give the characters pet names, two new, diametrically different and fascinating documentaries now have a DVD release to provide some nature alternatives.

The true story of "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" (New Video) is seen through the eyes of Mark Bittner, an aging musician and San Francisco street person who has befriended one of the flocks of liberated parrots in his neighborhood and become a rather astute observer — and interpreter — of their behavior.

Much of his concern is reserved for the parrot he has named Connor, a grouchy loner whose failing efforts to find a mate are undoubtedly connected to his surly attitude, but Bittner also follows the tragic story of Sophie, after her partner Picasso disappears.

An even more obsessive devotion is recounted in "Grizzly Man" (Lions Gate), a documentary by the acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. It's about Timothy Treadwell, a self-appointed protector of grizzly bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve, who spent 13 years filming the bears in their habitat and living among them, ignoring laws against taking residence in the preserve.

On Oct. 3, Treadwell and Amie Huguengard, the first woman he invited to stay with him in the wild, were attacked by a bear; the event was recorded and is recounted here in disturbing detail.

Herzog, who narrates the film, used some of the 100 hours of film Treadwell shot for a potential TV show to explore Treadwell's complicated relationship with bears he had named and "befriended."

BAND CAMP BLUES

Fans of the original "American Pie" will recall an incident between Michelle and her instrument at band camp, which is to the school's geeks what spring break in Cancœn is to the cool kids.

The new straight-to-video "American Pie Presents Band Camp" (Universal) takes us inside Band Camp with Matt (Tad Hilgenbrink), chip off the old brotherly block of horn-dog Matt Stifler, who is sentenced to a camp session after he plays one too many practical jokes on the school nerds.

Naturally, he comes up with a scheme to make it worthwhile, and yes, sex is involved.

The humor is even more juvenile than that of the theatrical versions, and not nearly as clever, but it does see the return of Jim's Dad, Eugene Levy, who ends up getting a little more involved in school activities than he should.