All language subtitles for Planet Earth Live Series 2 4of5 An Elephants Tale 720p HDTV_Subtitles01.ENG

This is Maya.
She's just a few hours old.

The newest arrival in Samburu
National Park in Northern Kenya.

Maya's mum, Zadie,
is a first-time parent.

She must learn quickly,

and guide Maya through the first
vulnerable weeks of her life.

Planet Earth Live have sent a crew
to follow them

through the good times and the bad.

Right now, Maya and Zadie
are separated from their herd.

And surrounded by danger -

hungry predators
and the guns of poachers.

Maya and Zadie must find the herd.

The family can help protect Maya

and teach her how to be an elephant.

Maya faces many challenges.

Her greatest is to cross the flooded
river that runs through her home.

If she and her family get this
wrong, it will be a disaster.

This is Maya's story.

Maya is just moments old.

She's frail, helpless

and totally dependent on
young first-time mum Zadie.

This will be the hardest month
of Maya's life.

Aside from feeding,
she has two crucial needs -

to be protected from danger and to
learn about the world around her.

A big, stable family
can provide Maya with both.

It can literally make the difference
between life and death.

But Maya and Zadie are alone.

When Zadie went into labour,
her family left her behind.

They had to keep moving to feed.

The family are only a mile away,

but to Zadie and Maya, it might
as well be a million miles.

They should be here,
teaching Zadie how to be a mum.

What Maya really needs
is her first feed.

Like humans, an elephant's first
milk is packed with vital nutrients.

It also kick-starts
the baby's immune system.

Maya desperately needs to feed,
simply to keep going.

She's hungry, exhausted, vulnerable
to the slightest infection,

and at the point of collapse.

But instead of feeding Maya, Zadie
keeps searching for the family.

If she doesn't start to
look after Maya properly,

the youngster
will soon be in serious trouble.

Zadie has got one thing right.

She came here - to Samburu.

It's May, and it's the rainy season.

The grass is high and plentiful.

There's more than enough food
for everyone.

Thousands of elephants
flood into the reserve

to make the most of the feast.

Pregnant females time giving birth
to coincide with this bounty.

For elephants, May brings
something of a baby boom.

But 20% of these babies will not
live to see their first birthday.

This is a dangerous world.

Rain turns the river into a torrent
and it's full of crocodiles.

Temperatures can reach
over 40 degrees Celsius.

Maya's safe - so far.

But it looks like the family
have already lost a calf.

Zadie's cousin Emily
gave birth just last week.

Now her calf is missing.

David Daballen from the charity
Save The Elephants

is worried for the calf's safety.

We're looking for a young baby

and we've found the rest
of the group

but, you know, no sign of the baby,

so I'm a little concerned about that.

Emily is here, but not her calf.

David fears the worst.

I suspect it could be lions.

We have two massive males
in this pack

who are very, very specialised
in killing young baby elephants

and, you know, we have seen
their tracks around this area.

Save The Elephants have been working
here for nearly 20 years.

David knows the park well.

He heads straight for the area where
Emily and her calf were last seen.

There's no sign of a calf.

Just a pride of very full lions.

Most lions are reluctant
to attack elephants,

but here in Samburu,
some prides have specialised.

A baby elephant can weigh
nearly as much as a lion.

A single kill can feed
the whole pride.

Fearing the worst,
David searches the area.

He finds the one thing
he really doesn't want to.

The remains of Emily's calf.

It's part of nature
for elephants to lose a baby,

but this will be quite emotional for
poor Emily to lose her first calf,

which was only a few days old.

Elephants have very complex emotions.

They respond to death just like us.

For Emily, she'll be mourning
for the calf she just lost.

Despite Emily's loss,
little Maya and her mum Zadie

will still be safer with the herd
than they are out here alone.

Maya is just hours old...

a tempting target for lions.

And Zadie still hasn't given Maya
her first essential feed.

Dehydration is a very real threat
to her tiny new life.

What Maya desperately needs is food
and a chance to cool down.

Elephants use water holes to
cool off in the heat of the day.

As fun as this looks,
there's a serious side to it.

Samburu is close to the equator.

The sun's rays can be lethal.

Elephant skin can be nearly
four centimetres thick in places.

But it still needs protecting.

And mud is a very effective
natural sunscreen.

Working out how to walk on it
can take some time.

A waterhole is exactly
what Maya and Zadie need.

The day is getting hotter.

Thankfully, in the rainy season,
there's almost always water nearby.

Suddenly Zadie seems
to turn a corner.

She uses the water
to cool them both off.

Maya comes to life.

This time when Maya
searches for milk,

Zadie gives her time
to find the teat.

At last Maya gets that first
essential feed.

This is the lifeline she needed.

With her belly full,
she finally has the energy

to continue their search
for the family.

Elephants use low-frequency sound
to communicate.

The sound can travel for miles.

Zadie homes in on the herd.

It's a joyous reunion.

Maya finally gets to meet the herd.

And they're all very excited
to meet HER.

These elephants will be
Maya's security.

They'll protect her and teach her.

They all want to say hi
and welcome her to the family.

These relationships
will last for life.

Now that Maya and Zadie
are back with the herd,

Zadie doesn't have to cope
on her own any more.

Now, it's time for her first lesson
in family politics.

An older female from the herd,
Annie, comes over for a look.

Zadie crouches back,

a gesture of respect.

In response, Annie holds
her ears out.

A greeting to mum and her baby.

She sniffs and gently inspects Maya.

It's how elephants get acquainted.

And it seems that Maya's taken
a shine to her.

When Annie moves on, Maya follows.

Until Annie gently
sets her straight.

Maya still has a lot to learn
about family life.

At least for now, she's safe.

But life as an elephant
is never easy.

The family all
look out for each other,

but some dangers
are beyond their control.

Samburu is a small reserve.

The animals here are protected.

But elephants are constantly
on the move.

And ivory poaching is at its
highest level for decades.

The areas between protected reserves
are treacherous.

The poachers are ruthless.

The wardens trying to protect the
elephants need to be heavily armed.

Maya's family's range
takes them well outside

the safety of the reserve.

As a result,
they're a small and depleted herd.

THUNDER RUMBLES

The oldest, wisest elephants
have the most ivory.

That makes them both prime targets
for poachers

and the animals the herd
can least afford to lose.

The herd relies on the collected
wisdom of its elders to survive.

When the elephants
in Maya's herd were killed,

their vast knowledge
died with them.

Around 70 elephant families
use Samburu.

None of them are entirely safe.

In a herd three miles to the east,

Matriarch Sylvia still bears

a life threatening injury
from a poacher's gun.

She has a week-old calf,
Little Pinkfoot,

who leads a carefree,
well-protected life,

with Sylvia as head of the family.

But both their lives are in danger.

The poacher's bullet left a serious
wound that never completely healed.

Sylvia has a huge abscess
on the side of her face.

If the infection spreads,
the blood poisoning could kill her.

Sylvia was heavily pregnant with
Little Pinkfoot when she was shot.

Elephants have the longest pregnancy
of any mammal, 22 months.

For all of that time,
they're vulnerable and exposed.

Incredibly, Little Pinkfoot
was born fit and healthy.

She even has the support
of a big sister.

But if Sylvia dies, Little Pinkfoot
will almost certainly starve.

The only answer is intervention.

David decides that Sylvia
needs treatment.

The risks are immense
for everyone involved.

Only recently,

David's friend was crushed and
killed during a similar operation.

First, Sylvia must be tranquilised.

It can take up to ten minutes
for the drug to take effect.

The dart falls out,

but it's already delivered
its payload of tranquiliser.

Thankfully, Little Pinkfoot's
sister is at hand.

But this could still go badly wrong.

Sylvia or her family could charge,
and force the team to withdraw.

Sylvia could fall awkwardly.

Her huge bulk could restrict
her ability to breathe.

She could suffocate.

Worse still, she could fall on
Little Pinkfoot, and crush her.

At first things are looking good.

But then Sylvia puts out
a distress call.

SYLVIA TRUMPETS

Little Pinkfoot responds.

She runs back to Sylvia

and stands right underneath
her three-tonne bulk.

For her, being right under mum
is the safest place in the world.

David and the team try to flush
Little Pinkfoot out with vehicles,

but she just won't budge.

Eventually, David does
the unthinkable.

He risks his own life
to save Little Pinkfoot's.

If Sylvia goes down now,
she could easily crush them both.

But even Little Pinkfoot
weighs 100 kilos.

Moving her takes force.

The rest of the herd
are wild with distress.

They could charge at any moment.

Little Pinkfoot panics.

The team have got to get her back
to her sister's side.

Thankfully, baby elephants
instinctively follow large objects.

So David uses his vehicle
to lead her towards her family.

Once she's safe,
the team can start their work.

The abscess is huge.

It will need to be drained
and cleaned thoroughly.

The team work as fast as they can
to reduce the stress to Sylvia

and the rest of the herd.

A vet from
the Kenyan Wildlife Service

gives her a massive dose
of antibiotics.

Thousands of elephants
get shot every year.

Most die slowly and painfully.

Finally, the vet gives Sylvia
an antidote

to the tranquiliser
to bring her round.

But searching for her family,
she heads off

in the wrong direction.

This time David uses his car to coax
Sylvia towards Little Pinkfoot.

Eventually the family is reunited.

It's a moment of joy.

The flared ears and
the body language say it all.

Without this emergency procedure,

both Sylvia and Little Pinkfoot
could easily have died.

This herd is safe, for now.

Three miles west,
Maya's doing well, too.

She's a week old now.

Protected by a forest
of tree trunk-like legs.

For such huge and powerful animals,
elephants are astonishingly gentle.

Tenderly, they lift her
to her feet to feed.

This is family life.

Safe, secure and strong.

But there are still
challenges ahead.

The Ewaso Ngiro river is
the life-blood of the reserve.

The river will play
a massive role in Maya's life.

She'll make this trip almost daily.

As an adult, she'll need to drink
up to 150 litres of water a day.

Large males can drink up to
200 litres in under five minutes.

For now, Maya just can't quite
work out what she's supposed to do.

But she'll be drinking milk
from her mum for the next two years,

so there's no rush to learn.

Zadie and the family

are cautious with Maya at the river.

She's taking her baby steps
in a big and dangerous world.

The river can flash flood,

turning into a death trap
in a matter of moments.

The water is thick
with mud and silt.

Ewaso Ngiro means "Dark Water"
in the Samburu language.

It's also cover
to hundreds of Nile crocodiles.

These crocs are huge.

They can take down fully-grown
giraffes.

A baby elephant would be easy.

The elephants have to cross
the river all year round.

There's not enough food on
one side alone to keep them going.

But crossing takes skill,
strength, and experience.

Maya's family choose to stay put.

Downstream, another herd have
decided to take the plunge.

They test the water, waiting to go.

Euphrates, a wise old matriarch,
leads her family out into the river.

She knows that to reach
the other side safely,

they have to head slightly upstream,
into the current.

Watching from the shallows
is a young group with no matriarch.

Three first-time mums,
each with a calf about Maya's age.

Euphrates and her family
safely reach the other side.

The inexperienced young mums watch,

then they decide to go for it.

Quickly, they're in too deep
to get back.

This is really, really bad.

This is the problem of not having any
proper leadership in their families.

If they become separated,
they could easily drown.

Oh, my God! One is gone!

The mothers try in vain,
but they can't contain all three.

As they save one,
another washes away.

Oh, God! They're still going
and the baby's gone.

Soon, all three are being swept
downstream fast,

through the crocodile-infested
waters.

The current's even too much
for the mothers.

They have to let their babies go.

David can't see how they can
possibly survive.

Oh, man, this is no good.
Let's go. Let's go.

You can hear the poor females.

OK, Apo. No, no, no. Right, right.

All the big females are running.

Oh, God.

OK, one baby's out.

Man, the other one is here,
the other one is here.

Wow!

There are two babies actually
here. Wow, they're really tough.

Come on, big females, come in!

Oh, please don't move.

Oh, they're coming down.
The females are coming down.

I hope they will save them
because they will get tired

and if a croc grabs them, that's it.

The poor mothers just don't know
what to do.

They have no way of
lifting them out.

And David can't even help.

Oh, come on, females,
get in and save the babies!

The riverbank is sheer

and the babies are weak
and terrified.

Oh, man! That is so relieving.

It's so joyful to see all of them
again, coming back together.

I can't really remember
having such a tense time

in my life with all, you know,

the experiences I have.

I'm so glad they all made it, anyway.

Oh, poor things.

They are really crying.

They've just had a nightmare.

Maya's moment to cross the river
will come.

But she's still just two weeks old.

For now, Zadie and the rest
of the family

are keeping her safe and well.

Maya has a lot to learn.

Her day starts at sunrise.

Elephants can travel long distances,

but this is the rainy season.

There's enough food in Samburu.

Maya and her family
don't have to go far.

Maya learns the tastes and textures
of the world around her.

She's still drinking up to 11 litres
of her mum's milk every day.

This is just a chance to experiment.

She's beginning to work out
what she should and shouldn't eat.

Adult elephants have the largest
brain of all land animals.

Maya's brain is just a third
of its adult size.

It's still growing,
and forging new connections.

This is an essential time for
learning and emotional development.

And to learn, you have to explore.

There are already a couple
of other babies in the family

to team up with.

It's a good way to learn
co-ordination and balance.

It's a great way of building
social bonds, too.

Building good relationships
is a vital skill.

Every elephant's survival depends
on the strength of the herd.

Look out for your family,

and they'll look out for you.

A bit further north
live two tiny tearaways...

..Sky and Grace.

Their family is large and stable.

A big family means there are
lots of eyes to keep watch

while they grow up
at their own pace.

They're about six weeks old

and there are lots of exciting
things to discover.

Not least,
what to do with that thing

in the middle of their face.

At this stage, their trunk is more
like a mischievous friend

than a finely-tuned tool.

That's no surprise when you realise

it contains 100,000 muscles
and tendons!

Practice is essential, especially
if you want to be just like mum.

As adults, they'll use their trunks
for all sorts of different tasks.

For now, learning even the basics
takes time.

Further south, Maya has a different
lesson to learn.

The nuts of the Doum palm
are delicious.

But the trees can grow to 20m tall -
well out of reach.

That's where a bit of
family know-how comes in,

like teaming up with your baboon
neighbours to get what you want.

The nuts are very tough,

and although the baboons
can reach them,

they can't get through
their thick husk.

Once they've eaten what they can,
the rest ends up on the floor.

Zadie and the other adults pick up
the baboons' cast-offs.

Their powerful jaws and huge teeth
crush the nuts,

exposing their soft
and nutritious centres.

But elephants are very messy eaters,

which means the baboons
can finish off what's left.

Zadie's cautious of the big males
getting too close to baby Maya.

But it's the rainy season.
There's enough food for everyone,

so things remain calm.

May, in the Samburu reserve, is
the time for a special annual event.

All of the elephant families
come together at the river.

It's a spectacular gathering.

It's Maya's first chance
to learn a whole new dimension

in elephant society.

This will become a yearly
pilgrimage for her.

It'll play a very important role
in her social life.

As the elephants gather,

youngsters trumpet and call,

beckoning yet more families
down to the river.

The kids get together
and learn how to socialise.

Young males test their strength
with a bit of gentle sparring.

While others are just excited
to be reunited with old friends.

It's a time to relax, play, and make
the most of the leisure time

that comes with a season of plenty.

Tight family structure
and social bonds are everything.

Elephants always look out
for each other.

Observations first made
here in Samburu

take our understanding
of elephant relationships

to a whole new level -

revealing they'll even adopt
the orphans of other herds.

Grace's mum was part of a family
that was almost totally wiped out.

When her mother died,
she was left alone.

Luckily a big, stable family
took her in.

She's with them to this day.

Even bereaved youngsters get
a second chance at a happy family.

Her adoption highlights
the immense importance

of social bonds to elephants.

Back at the beach,
the big bulls have turned up

and there's only one thing
on their mind -

girls.

They travel long distances
to be here in May.

They're searching for mates.

Maya would have been conceived
right here, almost two years ago,

but today, she needs to keep
well out of the way.

These guys mean business.

The bulls weigh up to six tonnes
and stand four metres tall,

well over twice the size
of a female.

But receptive females
can attract more than one suitor.

The males crowd each other
to stay as close as possible.

Once she's chosen,
the couple start their courtship.

Mating causes a real ripple
of excitement through the herd.

This is the end of the males'
responsibilities.

For the females,
it's just the beginning.

Every day, little Maya
is growing more adventurous,

moving away from mum to explore.

Zadie is starting to let the family
watch over Maya much more.

It's good for both of them.

It gives Zadie a chance to feed
and keep her strength up,

while Maya gets the full
protection of the herd.

They even let her suckle
for comfort.

And the more Zadie feeds,
the richer the milk she produces.

Maya is getting stronger by the day.

It's the end of May.

Maya has cleared all the hurdles
of her first month.

Now it's time for the biggest
challenge of her young life.

She must brave the hungry crocodiles

and biting currents of the river.

Most of the herd have already
crossed.

Maya and Zadie have to follow.

But will Zadie
make the right decisions?

Get this wrong and she could
lose Maya for ever.

Maya struggles to keep her footing,

as Zadie strides out into
the surging river.

In the middle,
the current is strong.

But Zadie uses her body
to shield Maya.

She's made the right choice

and picked a spot where the river
is wide, but shallow.

Her first successful river crossing.

With the help of her exceptional
family,

Maya has made it through
the toughest month of her life.

Zadie has proven to be
a surprisingly good mother.

And Maya a survivor.

But for Maya,
there's a challenging year ahead.

She'll have to stay on the move
through the harsh dry season,

searching for food and water -

a search that could easily lead her
outside the reserve.

But if the family can keep her safe,
perhaps one day,

like Zadie, Maya too will become
an exceptional mother.

She may even become the
matriarch of the family,

using her knowledge
to guide the herd

through an uncertain future.

But that's a long way off.

For now, she can rest assured
that she's the tiny half

of an amazing team.

Since filming finished,

Zadie and Maya have been spotted
safe and healthy.

They're inside the reserve,
away from the danger of poachers.

Zadie and her family

continue to give Maya
the care and support she needs.

Somewhere out in Samburu,
Maya's story continues.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd