I'm currently editing a narrative piece that calls for one character to be watching an off-screen TV during several scenes. The script calls specifically for Animal Planet, but obviously we can't use "real" Animal Planet audio without permission if my director wants to avoid legal issues when submitting to film to festivals and so forth, and the chances of a student production being able to afford licensing fees are, I imagine, approximately zero. Can anyone think of anywhere one might find something that sounds more or less like a Nature documentary under a free-or-student-affordable-liscense?

The first thing that leaps to mind is writing the narration myself, having someone read it in the studio, and then adding some relevant "nature sounds" from the sound-effects library. This might work, but would take additional effort and has the risk of coming off as very obviously fake. Has anyone done this? Can it work?

When all is said and done, I need to procure about five minutes of background chatter.

Best Regards,
Ryan Spicer

Sounds like what you're looking for is "walla." I've never watched the Animal Planet, so don't know what your sounds are like, but it would be easy to create in most any multi-track audio software, and you could likely emulate exactly what you hear on Animal Planet, and maybe have some fun doing it.
Bear in mind that for a 5 minute piece, you could probably get away with taking a shorter loop, cutting it into bits, and rearranging those bits for a longer piece without it appearing to be looped.

Just use your best Aussie accent and yell 'Danger, danger, danger -- aye mate' - that should be pretty obvious for any US viewer. ;) All the Aussies I know say they don't really like Steve Irwin (and he's not big in Australia), but he's made his mark on this side of the pond.