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On the southern border
of the United States

lies a remote desert kingdom,

home to staggering landscapes

and a remarkable world of wild creatures.

This is Big Bend... where
the legendary Rio Grande river

has cut deep canyons
between Texas and Mexico...

but the wildlife knows no borders

in this truly special place...

Here, the most talked-about
frontier in the world

is a wonderland of serene beauty...

Where mountain lion and black bear roam.

Where bats stalk
the desert floor at night.

A land of blazing skies and tortured rock,

and home to one of America's
great national parks...

the road ends at Big Bend.

The exact details are unknown,

but some 30 years ago,
a female black bear set out

on a remarkable journey
from northern Mexico.

She was heading for Texas.

Human borders meant nothing to this bear;

she was on a mission.

She was looking for a new home,
a place free of competition...

where she could bring up
her cubs in peace.

Far on the northern horizon,
there was such a place.

Mountains reaching for the sky
with flanks of green

hinting at unseen treasures.

A wonderland for a pioneering bear.

Bears had been wiped out
of Texas many years before.

Some had since strayed over the border,

but she was the very first to stay

and raise a family...

and what a place she picked.

Surrounded by blistering desert,

Big Bend hides a mountain
kingdom of sparkling streams

and hidden canyons,

bursting with forests and life.

Here, she'd be in good company...

for Big Bend is home to a national park

with more kinds of wild creatures

than almost any other park
in the United States.

In Big Bend, she had found
America's wildest frontier.

It is fall in Big Bend,

and this acorn woodpecker is busy.

For just a few weeks,

these oak trees will be
laden with acorns...

perfect food for the long winter ahead.

If only he can find a safe place
to store them.

The tallest dead tree in the valley

is as good as he'll get.

High above thieves in the forest below,

he and his family can
concentrate on the work in hand.

It's a laborious business,

each hole must be drilled just right:

too big, and the acorns fall out;

too small, they just won't fit in.

As the weeks go by the larder grows,

a bonanza for the long months ahead.

But their stash is just too tempting.

While he's off hunting,

a young female moves in
with less than noble intentions.

Maintaining this winter stash

takes up a huge amount of time and energy,

well worth the effort if they
can keep it safe and secure.

But life can be very cruel
to a Big Bend woodpecker.

There are many reasons Big Bend
is good for bears,

and this is one of them.

Many months have passed,
and fall is a distant memory...

but there are still acorns to be found...

and bears love acorns.

This bear is skin and bone...
he's had a tough winter.

Nothing is going to stop him.

For six days in a row,

he keeps returning to
this fountain of food...

much to the disgust
of the acorn woodpecker.

But there's nothing he can do

except watch months of hard work
being dismantled in minutes.

Most adult bears would think
twice before climbing

so high in a rotten tree,

but the fear of falling seems
to be the lesser of two evils.

If there's more food higher up,

this bear will do whatever it takes.

Acorns are full of protein and fat...

lifesavers for a desperate Big Bend bear.

Now he just has to get down.

The name Big Bend was born of a river...

the legendary Rio Grande.

For over 1,000 miles,

the Rio Grande carves a giant arc

around the wild lands of southern Texas.

To the 18th century settlers,

the remote country cradled by
this giant curve in the river

became known as the Big Bend.

Today the river and its bend
marks the border

between Texas and Mexico.

The Rio Grande is one of
the youngest river systems

in North America,

its story freshly written

in the stone it has carved

along its three million year journey.

To a thirsty desert,

water brings the gift of life.

Big Bend is hummingbird heaven.

Some 15 different kinds
have been spotted here,

out of barely 30
in all of the United States.

Many are just passing through...

tiny birds on huge journeys.

But some are born of Big Bend.

These are lucifer hummingbirds.

For the lucifers, it's breeding season...

and they must build up
their energy reserves

for the challenges ahead.

The male lucifers have dazzling
purple throat feathers,

which need to be in peak condition

to impress the less-colorful females.

But first the field must be cleared...

even other hummingbird species
are not tolerated.

There's only room for one
male lucifer in this town.

After all his territorial battles,

you'd think the female would give in easy.

But she herself now needs to be chased,

for him to prove
he's worthy her attention.

Winning over this lady
truly is an exhausting business.

However, she still seems unsure.

But he has one final trick
up his sleeve...

some hummingbird flamenco.

Who could resist such perfection
and poise?

All the hard work is paying off.

It's "take me home, darling."

The human story in Big Bend
goes back around 10,000 years.

Stone Age pioneers hunted
and gathered across the region

but left only the faintest traces.

In the last 1,000 years,

several Native American tribes
came and went...

the Chiso and Apache.

The very last were the Comanche,

who journeyed across these lands
just 150 years ago.

The greatest challenge
to Big Bend's wild world

came, of course, from more recent settlers

as they pushed into the remotest
corners of wild America.

Until 1848, Big Bend was part of Mexico.

Since then, waves of Mexican
and American settlers

have moved all across the region...

to ranch, or mine precious quicksilver.

That mix of cultures and people
live here to this day.

♪ It never took money
to feel like livin' ♪

♪ Never can try for me... ♪

For the wild inhabitants of Big Bend,

it mattered little what tribe or creed

were the human settlers of the region.

What mattered to them
was how many humans came

and how they treated their wild neighbors.

In the decades after the last
Native Americans

were pushed out,

Big Bend was the end of the road...

A place to escape the law.

If in real trouble,

you could head south to Mexico
across the Rio Grande.

Once you made it to the river,

it was rarely deep enough
to slow you down.

Today in Santa Elena Canyon,

a unique resident of Big Bend

crosses from the United States to Mexico

dozens of times a day.

With deserts in every direction,

this is one of the last places
you'd expect to find beavers.

At sunrise, one of the most talked about

international borders in the world

is also a peaceful place
to find breakfast.

The second-largest rodents on Earth,

beavers spend their nights
foraging for food

along the Rio Grande.

Early morning means a final snack

before they head for bed.

Young willow trees and cane

make up the majority of their diet.

Each beaver must eat between two
and three pounds of vegetation

a day to keep going.

The sound of chewing beavers
has echoed through these canyons

for thousands of years.

Another exercise beavers devote
their time to is fur control.

To keep their coat in top condition,

beavers spend long hours
grooming their fur

and oiling it from
special glands under their tail.

After a big feed,

nothing seems to make a beaver
feel quite so good.

From the mid-1600s,

America's beavers were heavily hunted

by the new European settlers.

They were as good as cash
in the Wild West.

But hidden in this remote backwater,

Big Bend's beavers managed to survive

these centuries of wildlife extermination.

The Texans behind the national park here

dreamed of connecting Big Bend

with the neighboring protected lands

across the river in Mexico...

Choosing to let these natural treasures

unite the two countries

in a place where the wildlife
knows no borders.

Big Bend sits in the Chihuahuan Desert,

the largest in North America.

Come spring, small corners
explode in a blizzard of blue.

These are Big Bend's famous bluebonnets.

Growing up to three feet tall,

the flowers dwarf their famous cousins

across the rest of Texas.

Another desert plant that defines Big Bend

is the Ocotillo.

For much of the year,

Ocotillos look like a burnt
clump of dead branches.

But come spring...
and the right conditions...

these gray stems deliver a bounty

of blood orange flowers.

Shared by the United States and Mexico,

the Chihuahuan Desert is one of
the most biologically diverse

on the planet.

And while the big critters
get all the glory,

it's the little creatures that
make this region truly special.

Thousands of different kinds
are the backbone

on which all of the wildlife
of Big Bend depends.

Big Bend is one of the hottest
corners of Texas.

Even in spring, temperatures
can rise to 100 degrees.

Not that some of Big Bend's
residents seem to mind too much.

Rattlesnakes, like this
western diamondback,

and most other reptiles,
do need external heat

to warm their muscles and get moving.

But some spring days can be too hot

even for these cold-blooded creatures.

But sunbathing is a particular specialty

of this Big Bend resident.

Texas horned lizards
need a lot of sunlight

to produce healthy levels of vitamin D.

Hard to spot with
their remarkable camouflage,

it takes a lot to get one
of these characters moving...

even when dinner delivers itself.

Night brings a whole new world
to Big Bend.

Temperatures can drop 60 degrees
from daytime highs.

The darkness and chill evening breezes

bring out a whole new cast of characters.

This is their time.

More than 20 different kinds of bats

roam the night sky here.

And this is one of the most remarkable...

the pallid bat...

So called because of their light coloring,

pallids are almost unique among bats...

...because of their
hunting strategy.

Unlike almost any other bat,

pallid bats stalk their prey
on the ground.

But they wouldn't take the risk
if it wasn't worth the reward.

One theory about their
unusual hunting strategy,

is that pallids are much better
able to hear their prey

from ground level.

But as many hunts fail
as are successful...

prey can give off toxic
chemicals or simply fight back.

But their unusual survival
strategies don't stop there.

Unlike almost any other insect-eating bat,

pallids also drink nectar from cactus

and other desert flowers.

Because they have to burrow
so far to get to the nectar,

the pallids get covered in pollen.

And they'll deliver great quantities

of this precious cargo

to the next flower they visit

on their lifelong journeys
through the desert night.

Depending on your disposition,
Big Bend has been called both

a geologist's paradise and nightmare,

so complicated are its
landscapes and their stories.

Some 140 million years ago,

this was one vast, shallow, salty sea,

dumping layers of sand
across the entire region.

Huge pressures within the Earth's crust

then forced up the mountains,

and later, magma burst through,

forming these volcanic islands in the sky.

And all of these stories in stone

have been constantly scraped and sculpted

by sun, wind and water.

In spring, visitors might just
catch a flash of crimson

in Big Bend's skies.

These are vermilion flycatchers...

and while common all over Mexico,

are in the northern limits
of their range in Big Bend.

This male's dazzling colors
advertise his success

as a hunter.

In peak condition, he's positively radiant

compared to his female partner.

The couple have three newly hatched chicks

and for the next few weeks
the youngsters will demand

all of their parent's time and energy.

Both mom and dad feed the new arrivals,

but when they need
to be kept warm or quiet,

it's usually mom
who steps in to protect them.

Not far away,

in a nest barely the size of a golf ball,

this Anna's hummingbird
has two healthy chicks

almost ready to leave the nest.

This is unique footage...

the first time these birds
have ever been seen nesting

in Big Bend.

Though the chicks hatched
barely two weeks ago,

they've already grown
most of their adult feathers.

They're keen to leave their tiny home,

but their first attempts at freedom

can be a little clumsy...

and dangerous.

If this chick falls to the ground

its life is over.

There's little the panicked mother can do.

After five agonizing minutes,

the youngster is back
where it should be...

hopefully with a lesson learned.

Not far away, the flycatcher dad
is still hard at work

hunting for his offspring.

Barely two weeks after hatching,

the chicks leave their nest for good.

But they haven't yet learned

proper flying and hunting skills,

so the two parents are still flat out

keeping up with their demands.

And then one day,
the parents don't return.

Barely three weeks out of the egg,

they're all on their own

in a hot and hostile desert.

Summer has arrived in Big Bend.

When the sun climbs high in the sky,

almost nothing stirs...

Only mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday sun...

so an old song goes.

Neither are common in Big Bend.

Their place is taken by

one of the region's
most colorful characters.

A heat specialist, this male
great earless lizard

seems to relish the midday sun.

Earless lizards don't live very long,

so this mature male must hook up
with a mate

as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, there are plenty
of other males about.

Maybe showing off his splendid
colors will send them packing.

Males are territorial

and try and guard
their patch from all comers.

It's an exhausting business.

He's spotted a female...

so he tries some moves

that wouldn't be out of place
in a city gymnasium.

How many push-ups can you do...
when its 100 degrees?

His masculine maneuvers pay off...

the female is on her way.

Mating is brief.

She'll go off and lay four
or five eggs in the sand,

while he gets back to
the important business

of looking good for the next lucky lady.

While summer brings extreme heat
to Big Bend,

it also brings rain.

Clouds roll in from the Gulf of Mexico,

laden with water sucked off the surface

of the Caribbean Sea.

In the very hottest months of the year,

Big Bend gets most
of its annual ration of rain.

At first it almost seems
the desert creatures

are stunned by its arrival.

But there's no time to waste,
for it won't last long.

The water holes are magnets

for some of Big Bend's
most elusive creatures,

usually almost impossible to find

in its vast desert landscapes.

Some 700,000 years ago,

the ancestors of an iconic desert animal

reached North America

across what is today the Bering Straits.

They had evolved in North Africa
and their journey into America

took them as far south
as Texas and northern Mexico.

These are desert bighorn sheep.

Countless numbers of this ram's ancestors

once roamed America
until centuries of settlement

and hunting almost wiped them out.

Just a few thousand
individuals survived...

and none in Texas.

But then began one of America's

great wildlife reintroduction stories.

It started with just seven
animals released in 1973.

Today more than 1,000 run wild

in some of the most
spectacular landscapes in Texas.

Desert Bighorns are
fantastically well adapted

to Big Bend's parched landscapes.

Supreme climbers, they rarely stray

more than a few hundred yards
from a cliff or steep slope...

safe zones where no predator can
match their speed or agility.

Male bighorns usually keep to themselves

in small bachelor groups...
until breeding season.

Then all the rules change.

Hormones are loose on the desert wind.

Before all-out war, the bachelors start

honing their combat skills.

Who will do final battle for the females?

And it's not all noble jousting...

they have plenty in
the dirty tricks department...

some of it below the belt.

This provocative behavior
helps to narrow the field:

Who is truly willing to take on who?

Weeks of this minor warfare

finally sort out who is up
for the ultimate fight.

These massive collisions would
shatter most animals' skulls,

but everything about
the bighorn is built for battle.

The winner has won the right
to mate with the females...

this year's youngsters
will carry his genes.

Finally, it's time for some
rest and recuperation.

He's played his part in
the return of bighorn sheep

to Big Bend country.

Summer is fast becoming a memory.

But the summer rains
have left their legacy.

One third of the year's rain
fell between July and September.

In the mountains, it's a gift
that keeps on giving.

This is not New England in the fall,

but a canyon in the middle
of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Stands of Douglas Fir,

quaking aspen, and bigtooth maple

have survived in the Chisos Mountains

since the last Ice Age.

And outposts of oak...

and oak means acorns.

For Big Bend's pioneering bears,

fall is a time of peace and plenty.

Long afternoon naps in the leaf litter

have some downsides.

But few itches will survive a good stretch

and a favorite tree trunk.

This female's pregnant

and building up precious layers of fat

for the lean months ahead...

and with luck, some new arrivals
in spring.

Big Bend's bears don't hibernate,

but do go into long periods
of low activity, or torpor,

to conserve energy.

For this mother-to-be,

her fat reserves will be her lifeline.

Winter in Big bend is a brief affair.

If the north winds blow
and the snow queen does visit,

warm southerly breezes
soon send her packing.

By late March, temperatures are climbing.

And under the cover of darkness,

a voracious predator
is closing in on Big Bend.

Flying through the night
he has come from the south,

where he spent the winter waiting...

and preparing for his journey north.

For the next five months,

he will bring a swift and silent death

to countless creatures
of the Big Bend night.

He is an elf owl...

the very smallest owl in the world...

barely five inches high

and weighing less than a tennis ball.

But for elf owls,
size truly doesn't matter.

They'll tackle prey almost as
big and powerful as themselves.

This male elf owl now has a partner.

She's moved into their nest...

an old woodpecker hole
in a giant agave stalk.

Sitting on eggs, for the next few weeks

she'll need him to do most of the hunting.

And when she's hungry
she lets him know all about it.

From dusk to dawn,

the male scours the surrounding
desert for fresh supplies.

After all his efforts,

he seems tempted to have
a quick snack on the job.

But Mom is not impressed.

Sitting on three ravenous chicks,

she's not tolerating
that kind of behavior.

Every scrap of food is precious now.

And with another three or four weeks

before the young leave the nest,

this extraordinary little father

is facing many more hunting missions

through the long desert nights.

For the acorn woodpeckers,

spring has been uneventful...

so far.

But trouble is on the horizon.

And this time it's a family affair.

The woodpeckers can only look on in anger.

But there is some consolation:

this mother bear is both healthy
and heavy,

and not desperate enough
to risk climbing to

the very top of the tree.

The woodpecker's stash up there is safe...

for now.

But there are two other
thieves in training.

Still too young for the taller trees,

it won't be long before
these student climbers

want to push their limits...

and they'll be light and strong enough

to go wherever they want.

But that is some months away yet.

For now, there is so much
to see on the ground.

Over the next year
they'll depend on their mother

to feed and protect them...

...and show them around
the new world

they have been born into.

These cubs are truly special.

Bears born in Big Bend,
who will call this place home...

...a mountain and desert kingdom

that for so long was missing their kind.

They carry on the legacy
of that pioneering female

who came across the desert
barely 30 years before.

If nothing blocks their way,
these cubs may come and go

from their ancestral lands in Mexico.

Big Bend's bears were the first
to return to Texas...

and with luck, they will not be the last.