All language subtitles for BBC.Hidden.Kingdoms.1of3.Under.Open.Skies.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Our planet is home to millions
of different animals.

The big and the powerful
capture our attention...

but there is another story to tell.

Beneath our feet are hidden
almost magical worlds...

..teeming with extraordinary
little creatures.

The world looks
very different to them.

A falling acorn becomes a meteor...

..a tiny trickle, a tsunami...

..and every enemy is a giant.

Now, using the latest technology,

we can recreate the world
from their perspective.

These are tales of life
from the African plains...

and America's Sonoran Desert...

..in the Hidden Kingdoms.

MOUSE HOWLS

East Africa...

and the largest animals
that walk the Earth.

But look closely beneath their feet

and you will see a network
of tiny trails...

..and the tiny creature
that constructed them.

She's an elephant shrew,

known by her African name "sengi".

Trails like this are the secret
to a sengi's survival.

They're race tracks that allow them

to sprint through
this miniature jungle.

To escape their enemies
and chase down food,

all they really need...

is speed.

For their size, a sengi is
twice as fast as a cheetah.

Just off trail is her youngster.

Sengi babies spend
their first few days in hiding,

waiting for their mother's
fleeting visits.

The mother's high-speed lifestyle

requires even more fuel now that
there are two mouths to feed.

She's forced to forage in
the far corners of her territory.

Generations of termites built
this mountain fortress...

but now it's the home of a hunter.

ROARING

A monitor lizard
can taste a scent trail.

But the forked tongue does more.

Its shape means it tastes
in stereo...

..so it not only knows
that prey passed by,

but in which direction
it was headed.

SHE SQUEAKS

A mother's instinct
is to lure away the danger.

Sengi know their trails so well,

they can normally outrun an enemy.

But the world above
is beyond their control.

With the trail suddenly blocked,

there's no escaping the predator.

SHE SQUEAKS

With her mother gone,

how will the youngster learn
the secrets of sengi life?

Nearly 10,000 miles away,

on the other side of the world,

a different hidden kingdom...

..in America's Sonoran Desert.

Long before the first
human settlers,

there were already families

struggling to make
this wilderness home...

..and they're still here.

A family of grasshopper mice.

The father has long gone.

This mother is raising
four hungry mouths alone.

20 days after they arrived

kicking and squeaking
into the world,

they're furred and feisty.

They're not quite ready
to make it on their own,

except for one.

An hour older
and bolder than his brothers,

he already has the urge to explore
the world beyond his birthplace.

DISTANT HOWLING

Every night, his mother
goes out to find food.

And she sees things out there that
could scare a young mouse to death.

There are more venomous creatures
here than anywhere in the USA.

THUNDERCLAP

No place for the timid.

But she's not your average mouse.

Her kind has never known a time
without this ancient adversary.

It's why old-timers would call her
by an earlier name...

..scorpion mouse.

The sting of a scorpion
can cause death in humans.

But a grasshopper mouse
has almost superpowers.

Their reactions are faster
than a scorpion strike...

..their bodies immune
to the venom.

They specialise
in killing deadly prey.

MOUSE HOWLS

To defend their territory,
they stake a claim

with a warning howl.

HIGH-PITCHED HOWLING

If we were shrunk to mouse size,
it would sound more like a wolf.

The young grasshopper mouse
knows nothing

of the dangers outside his door.

But barely three weeks old,

growing curiosity means
he's about to face them.

The desert will soon have him
running for his life.

In Africa, the orphaned sengi
must learn to fend for herself.

Without a mother to guide her,

she has no sense of who
is friend or foe.

Curiosity gives way to hunger.

For the first time, she's driven
onto the trails her mother left.

A young sengi must eat
every few hours.

Catching enough food is a challenge.

It's no good trying to fight
through thick grass.

Obstacles just slow you down.

The penny drops.

The trail is the key
to finding food fast.

So, to maximise speed, a spot
of spring-cleaning is in order.

The smaller the mammal,
the higher its metabolism.

So, in the hidden kingdom,

there's a constant race
to fuel your lifestyle.

It's why sengis are
a little...fussy.

They can spend half their waking
hours tidying their home.

The sengi needs to clear away
everything that gets between it...

and its food.

But no matter how hard you work,

some problems are just
too big to deal with...

..even for the most
house-proud sengi.

RUMBLING

SHREW SQUEAKS

ELEPHANT RUMBLES

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Things seemed to be going so well.

Luckily, in the hidden kingdom,
help is at hand.

Dung beetles can sniff the whiff
of dung half a mile away.

Within minutes,
thousands helicopter in.

Without these miniature marvels,

the savanna would be
drowning in dung.

Serrations on their head
saw it up...

..and legs like spades shape
the dung into perfect balls.

Most just take enough to eat.

Others are out to attract
female company.

And for that, the bigger
the balls, the better.

She climbs on board for the ride.

Later, she'll lay her eggs inside...

..as soon as the male finds them

a secluded spot where
they can start a family.

Pound for pound, a dung beetle is
stronger than an elephant.

Sadly, this is no consolation
when their worlds collide.

Still, it's not all bad.

At least the trail is clear.

Alas, bigger problems
are brewing on the horizon.

THUNDERCLAP

In the Sonoran Desert,
the remaining youngsters

wait patiently in the burrow
for their mother.

HIGH-PITCHED HOWLING

They're getting a taste
of the world outside.

So far, their mother has
protected them from its dangers.

But there's nothing
she can do for her eldest.

He faces his first night
in the desert alone.

The heat absorbed by this desert
road lures insects at night.

It's the perfect place for
a hungry mouse to find food,

and for others to set up an ambush.

There are more rattlesnakes here
than anywhere else on Earth.

A grasshopper mouse tiptoes
through a living minefield.

Grasshopper mice face deadly
locals every night.

Usually a dry riverbed
would be a place of safety.

But tonight a powerful
force threatens...

..one so rare, a mouse could go its
whole life without seeing it.

This refuge will soon become a trap.

There are places in this desert

that don't see a drop
of rain for 1,000 days.

Yet when it does arrive, a year's
worth can fall in a single night.

For one so small, wet fur
can lead to a fatal chill.

A mouse shakes up to 30 times
a second, generating forces of 70G.

It may have rained,

but months of blazing sun has baked
Arizona's earth as hard as stone.

The water can't soak away.

Instead, it gathers momentum

as it races downhill.

To us, it's a tiny stream.

To a mouse, it's
a 12-inch high tsunami.

MOUSE SQUEAKS

Back in Africa, the grassland
is tinder-dry.

For now, life in the
Hidden Kingdom appears tranquil.

When it comes to perseverance,
a young sengi could learn a lot

from Africa's hard-working
waste disposal expert.

Dung beetles can push the equivalent
of a three-tonne truck.

It provides all the food this
male's family will ever need.

The trouble with keeping
your head down, though,

is that you can't always
see where you're going.

Dung beetles don't give up.

Even when they've lost the ball,
they get right back on,

heading off in the same direction,
no matter what is in their way.

The secret to super strength
is diminutive size.

Small animals weigh less,

so waste less muscle power
moving their bodies.

Relative to body weight, the smaller
the animal, the stronger it becomes.

They are unstoppable.

Almost.

Wildebeest stampede for a reason.

Down here, you're the last
to see trouble ahead.

A sengi's trails are
its greatest strength

and its Achilles heel.

They're so dependent on them,
they're effectively a prisoner.

Every year, lightning sets
the bone-dry savanna alight.

Few small creatures
can escape the inferno.

When fire threatens, she can
outrun the flames...

..but it's into the unknown,

leaving the very trails
that kept her alive.

High noon in the Wild West.

So hot, the last drop
of water is long gone.

The highest temperatures
are down at mouse level,

where it can reach a blistering
60 degrees centigrade.

It's a side of the
sun-scorched desert

a nocturnal mouse should never see.

Except for those
washed up, exhausted,

and swept very far from home.

In daytime, the desert is
a real-life Jurassic Park,

where heat brings
the lizards to life.

This realm of reptiles
is ruled from the air.

BIRDS CRY

Harris hawks.

"Eyes like a hawk"
is no empty phrase.

Their vision is thought to be
eight times as good as ours.

It's hard to outwit
this intelligent team.

They're the world's only
pack-hunting raptors.

While one attempts
to flush the prey,

others prepare an ambush.

Hawks tend to eat animals alive,

so have giant talons to hold down
struggling prey.

Long, feather-free legs
are ideal for extracting mice

from those hard-to-reach places.

When one victim is out of reach,

it pays to be open
to other opportunities.

A zebra-tailed lizard is
the fastest in the West.

But a collared lizard will
chase anything that moves.

Both accelerate so fast they can't
help but "pull a wheelie".

At times, like tiny T-rex,
they're on two legs.

When danger threatens, only one
has this trick up its sleeve.

With a shimmy beneath the sand,
the zebra-tail is saved.

A collared's colours make it
an easier target.

BIRD CRIES

The daytime is not safe
for a grasshopper mouse.

BIRD CRIES

For now, best to wait
till darkness falls.

Africa.

It's hard to see a fire
as anything but disaster.

But for the savanna, it's as
natural as the rising sun.

As the smoke clears,
it's already recovering.

For the survivors, it brings
fresh hope for the future.

The dry grass burns so swiftly

that a sengi trail can survive
almost unscathed.

It's nothing that an enthusiastic
spring-clean can't solve.

Around the trail, the grassland
doesn't so much recover

as burst back into life.

The flames have swept away the old,

allowing fertile ash to fuel
the growth of fresh young grass.

In a few short days, the savanna
is transformed.

And the sengis' world
is once again restored.

She's home.

And as long as she looks after the
trails, they will keep her alive.

Sundown in the Sonoran.

This is the time when grasshopper
mice were born to venture out.

Their territories can be
over 300 metres wide...

..and marked with
a distinctive scent.

When close enough, a lost mouse can
follow its nose, all the way home.

It's true to say that
the things we want in life

are not always the things we need.

So it is that there comes a time

when every youngster faces
a difficult choice.

An easy life...

..or independence.

The world is full of danger.

But what would life be
without a challenge?

Life will be hard.

But not even a two-headed monster
will slow it down.

The false head of a venomous,
giant centipede confuses predators

and packs a powerful punch.

It's the real head
that inflicts the venom.

But this is a scorpion mouse.

And as they say,

what doesn't kill you
only makes you stronger.

MOUSE WAILS

MOUSE WAILS

Their mothers give them
the start they need.

But it's their own experience that
finally makes a man of the mouse.

At less than four weeks old, he's
finally ready to leave his home...

..to wander the desert alone.

These two tiny lives may be
separated by continents,

but for all youngsters,
the challenges are the same.

They'll face hardship.

There will be twists
and turns along the way.

With luck, they'll avoid the dangers

and live their extraordinary lives
running free.

Little guys don't always
finish last.

And heroes come in all sizes,

especially in the Hidden Kingdom.

In this series, the team's mission
was to show viewers

the natural world from
a completely new perspective.

To achieve their goal,

they had to combine their experience
as wildlife film-makers

with techniques learned from
the world of feature films,

using special effects,
storyboards,

but most crucially of all,
a great cast of characters.

Cameraman Jip and producer Simon

set off into the wilds
of Kenya to find them.

The animals in the series
were small,

but the kit required
was greater than ever,

weighing almost half a tonne.

The theory is, the smaller the things
you film, the more kit you need.

After dark, Simon discussed
his ambition with the team.

If there was one thing I'd really
love to get, it's just trying

to give the audience an impression
of what it might feel like

to be running down there,

just a couple of inches high off the
ground at the same speed as a sengi.

So, basically like a car chase?
Yeah, a sengi car chase.

To learn as much as possible
about the sengi,

next morning they met with trackers
from the local village.

Trackers are more used to finding
lions or big game,

but these had been using their
skills to piece together

the sengis' movements.

Yeah, this is the poo of the sengi.

And with their help, they soon spot
one of the distinctive race tracks.

Here's a trail.
Really, where? There.

You're kidding.
No, it goes over there.

But it is true when you come down
here, you definitely can see a path.

That's a great sign.

It wasn't long before the team
got their first glimpse.

There it goes. Wow, that was
right in the distance.

Did you see that?

It just went "vooom!"
That is amazing.

Did you even get it in shot?
I don't even know.

I mean, I think I wasn't
framed where it was.

This was going to be harder
than they thought.

The ground they're covering
in that time is ridiculous.

Jip, keep your eyes open.

Jip moved into position. The sengi
continued to run rings around them.

Oh, there he goes, he went
straight past you.

It would be tricky but the team
put their plan into action.

Work began on building the perfect
stage for the Hidden Kingdom stars.

First, for a dung beetle.

By building stages in the savanna,

the team could film the animals
from low angles

to show the audience the true scale
of this Hidden Kingdom.

To recreate the world from
a small creature's perspective

would require some special effects.

Another technique,
the use of blue screen.

We can then cut out
the blue background

and replace it with something else.

And all these elements
come together

to create this kind
of Hidden Kingdoms look.

The stage is set.

Tomorrow they would go
in search of the one thing

that would attract the beetles.

Time enough to implement
their plan for the sengi.

They would need to win its trust...

and began to build a special filming
territory, complete with trail.

If a sengi would adopt their track,
they had a chance,

and Jip knew how he could keep up.

The camera's going to
whizz down here...

at sengi speed, which is...

well, lightning speed, really.

To get down on the sengis' level
we have to dig a trench,

dig a blooming great hole to put
the camera in, and the cameraman in,

so that we're eyeball to eyeball
with this incredible animal.

After a lot of work
with a pick and shovel,

the track was ready for a test run.

This should give you
something to look at.

Every Hollywood star
needs its own stand-in.

And, three, two, one.

If they could earn the sengis'
confidence and work with them,

they might have a chance of bringing
this animal's incredible abilities

to the screen.

But obviously at
ten times the speed.

You know, this might just work.
Yeah.

The following morning, the team
got up well before dawn

to collect the vital ingredient

that would attract
the beetles to the stage.

At the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage,

young elephants are cared for
by their keepers

until they're ready to head back
into the wild.

Our chances of obtaining elephant
dung have drastically increased.

The crew would join them
on their daily walk

to seize any opportunity
that presented itself.

Morning.

You on that? Nice close up.

It's a two-trowel technique now.

That one was nice, solid, good form.

ELEPHANT BREAKS WIND

THEY LAUGH

Elephant flatulence.

It's a good sign, it's a good sign.

It really smells bad.

With the secret ingredient to hand,
they could return to the stage,

watch the skies, and wait for the
dung castle to work its magic.

Here he is. Look, look,
look, look, look.

There's our star.

The first sighting.

They are coming in from all
directions. What do you want to do?

Look, straight for it, look.

At last, the beetles
can take the stage.

Welcome to the Hidden Kingdom.

The great thing about these beetles
in the wild

is they just pick a direction
and they keep going and keep going

and keep going -
they're the perfect actors.

But despite this success, as the
days wore on, one worry remained.

Would a sengi ever adopt
the trail they'd built

and trust the team enough
to race alongside it?

OK, try one as fast as you can.
Ready? Yeah, I got it.

What would happen?

THEY LAUGH
Did you get that?

Well, it went through frame,
for sure.

The trails are so important to
the lives of these tiny creatures

that they were even willing
to forgive the questionable

trail-building skills of the team.

I just need to be
slightly ahead of him...

All they had to do now was keep up.

I was behind that then.

You've got a tail disappearing.

The sengi weren't slowing down but
eventually Jip managed to keep up.

That felt more on it.

It was close. I lost him
towards the end.

Oh, the moment of truth.

He's through. Look,
he's running, he's running.

There was certainly a moment.
That was more than a moment.

It's going to work,
it's going to work.

This was one of the many filming
territories required to capture

the story of the sengis'
Hidden Kingdom.

After a brief spell as TV stars,

it was as if we had never
visited their world.

Come on, up over the top.
Brilliant. You superstar.

Camera speed. On the move
in three, two...

Here we go, this is it.
Fantastic, guys. Well done.

The crew's adventure in the
miniature world was over,

but they returned home with
a new-found admiration

for the little things in life,

those extraordinary tiny heroes.

Next week, we enter the
Hidden Kingdom of the forest,

a secret woodland
and a steaming jungle.

Two tiny heroes must
fight for survival,

escape their enemies...

..and above all, learn to use
the incredible powers

they were born with.