02x03 - Chapter 3: The Next Generation

[bunniefuu]

[somber music playing]

[David Attenborough] A million wildebeest,

after , kilometers on the march,

are facing their greatest obstacle
on their annual migration.

[bleating]

Tanzania's Mara River.

Traveling with them are zebras.
Some, females with foals.

And waiting for them...

crocodiles.

[music becomes dramatic]

The smaller a foal, the lower its chances.

- [foal whinnying]
- And he is one of the smallest.

[music intensifies]

[music abates]

[music intensifies]

He tries to stay
as close as possible to his mother.

Those that get separated
are unlikely to survive.

- [music intensifies]
- [foal whinnying]

He's struggling to keep up.

[foal whinnying anxiously]

All he can do is kick...

[snorting]

...while others take the fall.

[music continues]

[buffalo bellows]

[foal snorts, whinnies]

[groans]

[music ends abruptly]

The distractions last just long enough

to enable him to reach his mother...

continuing their march
with the planet's largest herd.

[rousing music playing]

[music abruptly trails off]

[theme tune playing]

[music fades out]

[gentle classical music fades in]

Some animals give their young
the best start in life

by making truly astonishing journeys.

And it's not only where they go
that's important but when.

[music becomes optimistic]

Mexico's Pacific Coast.

[music abates]

The beach looks deserted.

But beneath the sand,

thousands of animals are on the move.

[subdued classical music playing]

[music becomes optimistic]

Olive ridley turtle hatchlings.

In October, the sand is at exactly
the right temperature for an emergence.

The first to surface

stay still.

Any movement might attract attention.

They must wait for others.

They are about to start

on the most dangerous journey
of their lives.

And it's better to do that together.

[music becomes dramatic]

[music crescendoes]

[music ends]

[music reprises]

- For the hunters...
- [turtle chirping]

...this is the biggest feast of the year.

[music intensifies]

[chirps]

- [muffled chirp]
- [music fades out]

They take half
of the emerging hatchlings on the beach.

[tense music playing]

But the little turtles
keep arriving in such numbers

that the predators simply can't keep up.

[hatchlings chirping]

And that is their only chance
of reaching the water.

[music intensifies]

[caws loudly]

[gulls squawks]

[chirps]

[music ends abruptly]

[snorts softly]

[somber music playing]

[music becomes tense]

- The tide is going out.
- [snarling]

Things are getting even more dangerous
for the little turtles.

Their only chance is to follow the others.

[music becomes urgent]

[birds squawking]

[music abates]

Some reach the shallows.

But even now, they're not safe.

[whimsical music playing]

Those that survive

will swim harder in the next hours

than they will ever do again.

As they travel, they are imprinted
by the Earth's magnetic field.

A mental marker that will guide them back
when it's their time to breed.

Every olive ridley turtle

will spend the first years
of its life in the Pacific,

feeding and growing alone.

Each will travel
hundreds of thousands of kilometers

until one day, they change course...

and begin the long journey
back to the beach where they hatched.

For the first time in over a decade,

this teenage turtle

meets others of its own kind.

[music becomes rousing]

A quarter of a million of them.

The greatest gathering
of turtles on Earth.

[music intensifies]

Here she will mate,
then swim ashore to lay.

She is no longer a tiny hatchling.

But the shallows
are still just as daunting.

[optimistic music playing]

[gasps]

Land.

- [growls softly]
- The first she's touched in years.

- [gasps, sighs]
- Now she has urgent things to do.

Her eggs are ready to be laid,

and she must dig a nest for them.

If she deposits them below the tide line,

they would drown.

But too far up the beach,

and they could dry out.

So the middle ground is very popular.

[music becomes rousing]

As thousands more adults arrive,

as many as % of the eggs laid here

are accidentally destroyed
by other nesting females.

[music abates]

But so many eggs are laid

that millions will remain undamaged,
deep in the sand.

She lays a hundred or so.

And with that, her work is done.

But next year, at this same time,

she will return to this particular beach
to lay again

and will keep doing that
for the rest of her life.

Most of the journeys made
in order to breed

have barely changed for millennia.

[stillness]

[thunder rumbling]

In a remote part of the Atlantic,
east of South America,

lie the Falkland Islands.

Elephant seals
have been coming here to breed

for thousands of years.

[making fart-like noises]

Here on this beach, in late October,

there are only pups.

[trills]

Their mothers left them weeks ago,

and now they must fend for themselves.

[barking softly, making fart-like sounds]

In a few days, they too will leave

and begin their lives
as ocean wanderers in the deep sea.

[making fart-like sounds]

But they have yet to learn how to swim!

This sheltered beachside pool

would seem a good place to do that.

[growls softly]

[honks]

- [growls]
- [honks]

[blowing]

They get acquainted with the sea.

[croaks]

They make the right
swimming movements instinctively

but are, as yet,
unable to understand danger.

[menacing music playing]

Orca.

k*ller whales.

[music abates]

This is no passing pod.

They've traveled hundreds of kilometers
to get here at this precise time.

Twenty years ago,

the lead female discovered
when the pups go to their play pool.

And when, as the tide rises,
she too could reach it.

[pup barking]

Until then, she must wait.

[menacing music reprises]

If she mistimes her att*ck,

she will get stranded on the rocks.

[music abates]

At half tide,

it's just deep enough for a k*ller whale.

[menacing music reprises]

[music becomes dramatic]

The pups don't recognize the thr*at,

even when it's staring them in the face.

She needs a pup to be in the water,

but it's still
dangerously shallow for her.

A wrong turn

and she could get stuck.

[music abates]

[low voice] The pups
are almost within reach.

She watches and waits

for one to come close enough to snatch.

[disquieting music playing]

[seal barking]

[music climaxes]

[seal trills]

She carries it, still alive, out to sea.

This female orca
is the only one who hunts in this way.

And she does so for her entire family.

The pup remains alive for hours.

These orcas have learned to take advantage

of the seals' annual journeys
here to breed.

And, perhaps equally remarkably,

know exactly when
they should come back every year.

[birds squawking]

[birds chirping]

[spiritual music playing]

Breeding in safety, for some animals,

means avoiding crowds.

New Zealand.

The last habitable landmass
to be reached by people.

[music intensifies]

To get here,

the Polynesians had to cross
thousands of kilometers of open ocean.

And so indeed does any animal.

But nonetheless, one visitor
makes a , -kilometer journey

across the Southern Ocean every year

to the island's most secluded corners.

[bird call]

[quirky music playing]

[chirruping]

It's shy and mysterious.

[peeping]

Fiordland's tawaki penguin.

The jungle penguin.

He's looking after
his eight-week-old chick

while his partner is at sea finding food.

If he doesn't do so adequately,
she might leave him.

[music continues]

[chick chirping]

Penguin divorce rates are indeed high!

So he had better keep everyone away.

- [squawks]
- [cheeps]

[squawks]

His partner has returned to the coast
after a busy day collecting food.

But getting ashore is not easy.

[somber dramatic music playing]

[music abates]

It's a question of timing.

[music reprises]

[music abates]

Almost!

[music reprises]

[music abates]

[music fades out]

Nicely done.

[whimsical music playing]

To reach her hungry chick,

she has to travel over boulders,

roots,

and ravines.

[chirping]

[peeping]

[chick chirping]

This is Deliveroo, penguin-style.

[mother chirping]

- [chick peeps]
- Dad can only watch with envy.

[music fades out]

[mother chirping]

As the chick grows,
so too does its appetite.

To keep up with the demand,

Mum must complete
the obstacle course through the jungle...

[quirky music playing]

...again

and again.

[mother chirping]

To rear her chick,
she will walk the distance of a marathon

and swim over a thousand kilometers.

[music continues]

And she will lose
up to half of her body weight.

- [squawking]
- [peeping]

But that doesn't stop her.

[lively percussion playing]

[high-pitched chirps]

[music ends abruptly]

- [chick cheeping]
- [spiritual music playing]

And then, after ten long weeks,

she's finally had enough.

With the delivery service ended,

hunger drives the chick to the sea.

There's plenty of food
to be had just offshore,

but strangely, he swims away with others

and keeps going
for thousands of kilometers,

halfway to Antarctica.

It's the longest single journey
made by any penguin

and quite possibly pointless.

It's thought their ancestors
started doing this two million years ago

when their food was only found out here.

And it's clearly been
a hard routine to break.

[ambient music playing]

In November,

an increase in the daily sunlight
heats the Indian Ocean

and kick-starts the monsoon.

In its path lies Christmas Island.

[quirky electronic music playing]

The rise in humidity it brings
awakens a sleeping army.

[music becomes dramatic]

Christmas Island red crabs

now live almost entirely on land.

But to breathe,

they still need moisture in their gills

and the sea in which to lay their eggs.

So they make an annual trek to the coast,
as they have done for , years.

Lately, however, a lot has changed.

[car horn hoots]

But help is now at hand.

[music intensifies]

Local people
have also built special bridges

that allow them to cross the busiest roads
at their own speed,

and a network of subways guides them.

[rapid squeaking]

They increase their pace,

for they must catch the high tide.

[music ends abruptly]

[waves gently crashing]

In a single night,
four million crabs reach the coast.

[optimistic ambient music playing]

Each female shakes , eggs
into the surf.

They hatch immediately
and become free-swimming larvae.

Most years, the vast majority
are eaten or washed into the deep,

and none return.

But with luck,
on the next month's high tide,

they will be swept back
to the island's shores.

[music fades out]

Thousands of kilometers further south,

another first journey is about to begin.

[atmospheric panpipe music playing]

Late November,

midsummer, at the end of the world.

Patagonia, the southernmost tip
of the Americas.

[music becomes rousing]

Only one large land predator
lives as far south as this.

The puma.

This is Machito.

- [growls softly]
- The gray one.

He is one year old and about to face
the biggest test of his life.

Not that he knows it.

[rousing music playing]

[Machito snarls]

[brown puma vocalizing]

He and his sister, Niña,

are at the age where they should separate,

and each find a territory of their own.

[music fades out]

Competition between males

means Machito will have to travel
much further than his sister.

- But now, each must learn to hunt.
- [snorts]

[subdued tense music playing]

[prey grunts]

Even for their mother,

there is no greater challenge...

[music intensifies, abates]

...than catching an adult bull guanaco

three times her size.

But she's an expert.

The cubs watch closely.

[disquieting music playing]

To succeed,
she must get within a few meters.

[music intensifies]

[music becomes dramatic]

And then hold on,
no matter how wild the ride.

[puma snarls]

[music builds]

[music builds]

[guanaco whinnying]

[guanaco bellowing]

[silence]

The cubs should make the most
of the free meal.

Their easy living
is about to come to an end.

[whimsical music playing]

Their mother has done
all she can for them.

After a year together,

her territory is no longer theirs.

It's time for them to leave.

[music becomes nostalgic]

For several weeks,
the siblings stay close to each other.

But they will soon need
to go their separate ways.

Niña, the female,

will be allowed to live
close to her mother's home range.

Machito will not.

Male territories are much larger.

And to find enough space,

he may have to travel
for hundreds of kilometers.

For the first time in his life,

he is alone.

[music climaxes, fades]

After weeks on the move,

he is starving.

[guanaco whinnies]

[apprehensive music playing]

He's seen how to hunt,

but has he learned enough?

[music accelerates]

[guanaco shrieking]

Not quite.

[music abates]

To find food, he must keep moving,

heading deeper into unfamiliar lands.

[music reprises]

He doesn't stop until...

[sniffs]

...he picks up
the unmistakable scent of a fresh k*ll.

[snarling]

But it was made...

[ominous music playing]

...by a huge male.

[music fades out]

[gentle growling]

[tense string music playing]

[gentle snarling]

[snorting]

[growling]

He's twice Machito's size...

[growling]

[music intensifies]

...and could k*ll him in seconds.

- [growls]
- [snarls]

[soft growling]

But he's too hungry to give up now.

[soft growling]

[growling]

[snorts]

[silence]

Remarkably, the old puma backs down

and allows the youngster to feed,

behavior that is very rare among males.

Machito's courage
may have bought him more time,

but his journey has only just begun.

[poignant music playing]

Male pumas travel far and quickly.

As a consequence, very little is known
about their independent lives.

It's thought that few survive
their first year alone.

With luck,

he'll be one of them.

[ambient music playing]

[chirping]

It's Christmas Eve,

and the shores of Christmas Island
are bright red.

Once in a decade,

the ocean currents
are just right for the crablets to return.

[optimistic music playing]

And this is one of the biggest ever seen.

Billions crowd the reefs...

[music speeds up]

...bewildering the locals.

[music slows]

They try to reach dry land

in whatever way they can.

They need to get to the forest
from where their parents came

and where they will be safe,
just two kilometers away.

But their parents
weren't the size of a pinhead.

- [music speeds up]
- [squeaking]

Now they shed their shells,
changing their wetsuits

for something
in which it's easier to breathe.

Ready.

- [squeaking]
- But before they've even left the beach...

[big crab growls]

...they are att*cked by someone unexpected.

[music abruptly ends]

Mother?

[quirky music playing]

Clearly, adult red crabs
are not very child-friendly.

Time to leave the beach, and quickly.

[squeaking]

That requires climbing the seawall.

[music speeds up]

As formidable
as a skyscraper would be for us.

[music speeds up]

[music abates]

Once at the top,
they must creep through the town.

[music intensifies]

[woman speaking English]

[Attenborough] But it's hard
to keep a low profile

when you're part of an army
of several billion.

[music intensifies]

The world is very, very dangerous

when you're very, very small.

[squeaking]

So they need to watch their step.

The forest edge.

Safety is in sight.

[music ends]

But it's too soon to relax.

[shrieking string music playing]

[music subsides]

Yellow crazy ants,

which eat crablets.

Those that make it through

are home for Christmas.

[squeaking]

They will spend the next five years
feeding and growing

before making the return journey
to the sea

and then producing little crablets
of their own.

An animal's first journey

will almost always be
its most challenging.

But some are especially daunting.

- [optimistic music playing]
- [squawking]

Young demoiselle cranes

face one of the toughest migrations
made by any bird.

Fleeing frozen Mongolia,

they travel south
to spend the winter in India.

But the journey there
wasn't always as hard as this.

[music ends]

Forty-five million years ago,

the land beneath them
was comparatively flat.

It was then crushed and pushed upwards
into great folds,

creating what was to become
the highest mountain range on Earth.

[dramatic music playing]

The Himalayas.

To cross, the cranes must now ascend
to , meters above sea level.

[cawing]

The higher they fly, the lower the oxygen.

[music becomes suspenseful]

Exhausted, they're vulnerable to att*ck.

[music fades out]

Golden eagles, lifted by the warm air
rising from the steep slopes,

soar above the cranes.

[cranes squawking]

[menacing music playing]

And then, they dive down towards them.

[tense music playing]

To bring down such large prey,

the eagles work as a pair.

[music climaxes, slowly fading out]

This chick's first journey

has become its last.

There are lower, safer routes than this.

But the cranes' instinct

is to fly in the direction
they have always taken.

[poignant music playing]

[squawking]

Until very recently, they faced hunting

and the loss of many
of their traditional feeding sites.

Then one small village in Northern India

changed their fortunes.

[optimistic music playing]

The people of Khichan
began to feed and protect the cranes.

[squawks]

More and more cranes arrived each winter.

Fifteen thousand of them
now visit Khichan every year.

[music becomes rousing]

It's the greatest gathering of the species
to be seen anywhere.

For the chicks,

their journey south
across the tallest mountain range on Earth

is finally over.

Until next year.

[cawing]

[squawks]

[music fades out]

In this changing world,

animals on the move
need our help more than ever.

The tropical forests of Yunnan

are the last home
of the endangered wild elephants of China.

[elephants roar, growl]

[snarls]

In March ,

the forest was hit by the biggest,
longest drought on record.

Trees d*ed

and elephants starved.

[growling]

With a new member of the family
about to be born...

[snorts, growls]

...the herd decided to move.

But this was to be no ordinary journey.

[rousing music playing]

Their story captured
the world's imagination.

[growls]

Here was the largest land animal

trying to find somewhere to live

in the most populated country on Earth.

The family headed north

into a very different China
from the one they had left behind.

For eight months, they trekked through
strange new lands

but couldn't find anywhere to settle.

So their newest arrival
was born on the move.

[barks]

That, for elephants, was highly unusual.

His start to life would be very tiring.

But the now -strong family
had to keep traveling.

[music intensifies]

And for those
who'd only just learned to walk,

every hurdle was a problem.

[growls]

- And every slope...
- [trumpets]

...a steep one.

[music abates]

They continued for another kilometers.

And the further north they trudged,

the less they belonged.

[roars]

To eat or drink,

they were forced to steal.

But remarkably,

instead of driving them away...

[roars]

...people gave them safe passage...

[trumpets]

...and allowed them to plunder.

[snorting]

[growls]

After marching for a year,

they were exhausted.

[snoring]

[poignant music playing]

Elephants usually sleep on their feet

and only lie down
when they are completely fatigued.

[snoring]

If we continue to change our planet,

more and more animals

will be forced to make new journeys
such as this.

[music intensifies]

But it was their next move

that would be
the most extraordinary of all.

[music intensifies]

[music fades out]

[theme tune playing]

[music crescendoes]

[music fades out]