All language subtitles for Baby Animals Series 1 01of13 Mini Giants 1080p

Babies.

They come in all shapes
and sizes.

And generally,
the bigger the animal,

the bigger the baby.

So a baby might be puny
compared to its parent

but that doesn't mean
it's not a mini giant.

(♪♪♪)

(Birds chirping)

(♪♪♪)

The phrase "little baby"
applies to most infants.

But not to elephant calves
like Nandi,

born weighing
as much as 270 pounds.

That's a whole lot of baby!

Nandi is the newest addition
to our African elephant herd,

and she's our first
baby elephant

at the Reid Park Zoo.

Just hours after she was
born, Nandi could see, smell
and walk.

Before long, she figured out

how to put
her most distinguishing feature

to good use.

Her trunk contains
around 100,000 muscles.

African elephants
have amazing trunks,

and their trunks
are so many things to them,

they're an arm and a straw,
all in one.

Their trunks, even more
interesting, I think, are used

when they greet each other

and when they interact
with each other.

So their trunks are a way
that they connect,

much like we might hug a friend

or shake the hand of someone
we've just met.

That's what elephants
use their trunks for,

for their communication.

Now, just less than
1-year-old, Nandi spends
most of her time

checking out anything
she can reach.

And if she strays too far,

her mother, Semba,
cops her back in line.

Semba's interactions with
Nandi are very gentle and sweet.

Semba uses her trunk
to touch her

and to comfort her
and to guide her along,

so if she's trailing behind
or she's moving too slow,

Semba will use her trunk
to kinda push her,

give her a little boost.

But it takes a village
to raise a baby elephant.

So, when Nandi gets hungry,

she can get milk
not only from Semba

but from any of her aunts,
known as allomothers.

In the wild,
allomothers make sure

the calf keeps up with the herd

and doesn't end up
as a lion's lunch.

But Nandi doesn't have to worry
about that here.

Nandi is very,
very enthusiastic.

When she greets her keepers
in the morning,

when she gets to go out
on to the exhibit,

she flares her ears out
and trumpets

and runs really quickly,

like a little kid who's excited
to go out and play.

She will often run out
and grab an item,

it might be a branch,
it might be a piece of hay

or a chunk of bark,

and she'll hold her trunk
up high

and wave it around
as though it were a flag,

and it's just really,
really cute.

It's hard not to laugh
when you watch her,

hard not to be
in a really great mood.

African elephants are the
world's largest land animals.

By the time Nandi is 6,

she'll tip the scales
at more than a tonne.

Her big brother, Sundzu,
who's 4 four years old,

is well on his way.

Sundzu was the former baby
of the family,

and he had a difficult time
adjusting,

to not being always
under mom's feet,

but over time,
over several months,

he really became more curious
about Nandi

and now plays with her
almost every day.

It's really sweet,
he's very gentle with her.

By playing with Sundzu

and interacting
with the rest of the herd,

Nandi is experiencing
a world similar

to what she'd face
out in the wild,

she's learning
how to be an elephant.

She's just recently
encountered our pool,

and it's a little different
perhaps than a wild stream

in that
it has slightly steep steps,

and so her first venture in,

she just ran into the pool
and sank.

She was okay,
she was with her mom

and she was able to swim,

but that's something
that's really important

for young calves in the wild,

to learn how to negotiate
mud wallows

and bodies of water
so that they can be safe.

In the wild,
Nandi and the rest of the herd

will depend
on Nandi's mom, Semba,

the dominant female
or matriarch.

Matriarchs play a critical role

in guiding the herd
to water and food.

The loss of the matriarch
can devastate the herd.

Out in the open,
the risk in real.

One of the problems
that we're facing is that

matriarchs, just like bulls,
do have long tusks

and elephants are often poached
for their ivory tusks,

and it's typically
the older elephants,

and so a problem can be

when older elephants
are taken out of the population.

The knowledge that they have,

that they've not yet passed down
to the rest of the herd,

is lost with their death.

Nandi will reach sexual
maturity at around 12 years old.

By then,
she'll tower up to 14 feet tall

and weigh more than 5 tons.

But, for now,
all that really matters to Nandi

is hanging out with the herd

and enjoying her special role
as the baby of the family.

(♪♪♪)

They're built
like beefy weightlifters,

as wide as they are tall.

Western lowland gorillas
stand at 5'5"

but can max out
at nearly 350 pounds,

making them the largest primates
on the planet.

But not this girl.

(♪♪♪)

At not quite 2 years old,

Anaka is still
a relative light weight

and a total original.

She has this curly hair
that really sets her apart

from the other individuals
in the group.

When Anaka was born,
she weighed around 4 pounds.

Anaka's mother is Sukari,
which in Swahili means "sugar".

And as far as Anaka's concerned,

her mom is the sweetest.

All of the gorilla's moms

seem to have
their own parenting style,

just like humans,

and Sukari is the type of mom

that, you know, she wants
to have an eye on her infant

but she has no problem
with Anaka goes off

and plays by herself
for a little bit,

as long as she can keep an eye
on her.

And Anaka appreciates
the freedom to roam.

She learnt to walk on her own
at about 30-weeks-old,

but even before that,

she cultivated her own style
and resisted being babied.

Normally,
gorilla moms will hold them

but within like that first day,

Anaka was already riding
on Sukari's back,

which is really interesting,

but she's kinda been that sort
of "I'm a tough little girl"

all along from day one.

But even a tough little girl
needs a little help sometimes.

When she gets frightened,
she's quick to call mom

and she can make a loud scream

when she's a little bit
frightened

and everybody thinks,
"Oh my gosh, what's wrong?"

but it's just her, you know,
wanting to be closer to mom.

Huge adult gorillas, like
Sukari, can look pretty scary,

but they are, in fact,
very shy, peaceful herbivores.

Unlike other gorillas
that sleep in trees,

lowland gorillas, like Sukari
and Anaka, sleep on the ground.

But Anaka and Sukari
spend much of their waking hours

in the trees,

looking for leaves and fruit
to eat.

Because the food is so small
and gorillas are so big,

Anaka must eat
almost constantly,

when she's not resting,
or playing with her pals.

We have four juveniles
in our group

and with four juveniles,
anytime is playtime really,

so they're always chasing,
wrestling

and making all these interesting
noises, these vocalizations

that are associated often
with these play behaviors.

Some of the other youngsters
will even give Anaka a lift.

I wonder how that's possible

cos they weigh almost
about the same,

they both weigh about 30 pounds,

so I just think,
"Oh, how are they doing that?"

But I think it's just part
of being a gorilla

and something they do.

Playtime isn't just
for the youngsters,

every once in a while,
mom joins the fun.

But at the end of the day,
she's still Anaka's mother

and protect her.

So Anaka is very dependent
on her mom

and she will sleep with her
at night,

she rides on her back still.

Anytime there is a moment
where Anaka's a little nervous,

she'll, of course, go
right to her mom.

Sukari will continue
nursing Anaka

for another couple of years.

Although lately,

Anaka is starting to develop
a hankering for solid food,

when she can get it.

Her mom doesn't
actively share with her

but her mom
does let her pick up food

that maybe her mom has dropped.

Gorillas are super-social
animals that hang out in troops.

In the wild, a troop usually
has five to ten members.

It would be one male,

and an adult male
is called a silverback,

and he would be
with several females

that he's breeding with
and then, of course, their kids.

Lowland gorillas,
like humans,

have no distinct
breeding season.

The game is always on.

But it's not always easy.

First of all, a female
will only start breeding

when she's 10 years old,

then with a 40%
infant mortality rate,

she will only actually produce a
healthy baby every 6 to 8 years.

When a baby like Anaka
finally joins the troop,

she learns very quickly
who's the boss.

The dominant male,
the silverback.

He has a very important job,
which is a difficult job,

but that's to keep
all of the girls in line

and to keep peace
within that family group.

At the silverback's side
are females,

like Sukari, with their babies.

Slightly further away
sit the females without babies.

And relegated to the outskirts
of the troop

are the subadult males.

In captivity, as in the wild,

anything Anaka
and the other youngsters

need to know about their world,

they learn
within this tight structure.

They're watching their
parents for how to forage,

what to eat, how to interact
with other individuals.

They're learning sort of the
social norms of being a gorilla,

a wild socialized gorilla.

Along the way, one of the big
lessons Anaka will learn

is that one day she will have
to leave all this behind.

And once the kids
become old enough

and they'll be--
reach sexual maturity,

they actually disperse
from the group.

In the wild,

Anaka could typically live
as long as 40 years.

And maybe even have
a few babies.

For now, here in the zoo,
she is just hanging out

and loving life.

(♪♪♪)

Tough,

rambunctious,

and fast on his feet,

this young white rhino doesn't
take orders from anybody.

Only 2-1/2 months old,
and already 220 pounds,

this baby, known as Tino,
was born to run.

When he was first born,

he was up on his feet
within about half an hour.

And from then he actually
found his feet very quickly.

He had big adventurous little
(Unclear) running around

in his (Unclear)
checking everything out,

before he could even really
walk properly.

In the wild, Tino's fleet
feet

could keep him safe
from predators

if he should wander away
from his mom.

But here, running's just a way
to burn off energy,

when he is not wallowing
in the mud

or exploring his new home.

It's all mom can do
to keep up with him.

(♪♪♪)

And once he stops
pounding the turf,

Tino's ready to go head to head
with the grownups.

He very much likes
to show the others

that he's this big brave thing,

and he runs up to them
and says,

"I'm the boss
and I'm gonna push you around."

And then something
will give him a fright

and he'll run away and squeal
like a little child.

He's very much a mama's boy,
yes.

So mama's very good
at being very protective of him

so he knows he's safe,

and he runs up
and hides behind mom.

Tino's mom, Tamu, could've
been carrying this big bruiser

for up to a year and a half.

He was born a healthy 110 pounds

and since then
he is just continued to grow,

2-4 pounds every day.

He began drinking milk
mere hours after he was born,

but soon,
Tamu will wean him

and show him
how to eat short grasses.

Food is just the start
of the mother-baby bond.

White rhinos are some of the
most devoted moms in the world.

They generally stay with their
babies for 2-4 years.

So mom's very much
being the teacher

of getting him to use his horn,

so they do a lot of sparring,

where they sorta play fight
with both their horns.

Teach him to rub on things
to shape his horn.

She's been very good

in showing him the essential
parts of life so far.

White rhinos are one of the
most social rhinoceros species.

Females leave their calves
in adolescence

in tightknit herds of up to 14.

These guys actually depend
on their mom or their siblings

or even just their herd
to keep the mentality.

These guys are actually quite
depressed if they're alone.

At 1-month-old, white rhinos
are only about 2 feet tall.

But give them a little time.

They are the largest
living species of rhinoceros,

growing as big as an SUV,

and weighing up to 2-1/2 tons.

The little nub on Tino's head

will eventually develop
into two distinct horns.

The largest front horn
will never stop growing

and can reach up to 5 feet.

Horns grow from the skin

and are made of
compressed strands of keratin,

the same material
as our fingernails and hair.

And just like those,

a rhino horn will grow back
if it breaks off.

Females use their horns
to protect their young

while males use them
against predators

and to spar with other rhinos.

But these important tools,
unique to rhinoceros,

are a double-edged sword.

A lucrative
horn-poaching business

has endangered
the rhinoceros population.

That's what makes Tino's birth
such a triumph.

Thanks to the strength of
rhinoceros mothers, like Tamu,

and conservation areas,
like this one,

the white rhino
has made a huge comeback.

Now reclassified
as near threatened,

20,000 live in protected areas.

Ultimately
what we're tryin' to do

is to stop these guys
from becoming extinct,

and the more we can get
these guys up in numbers

and start to release them
back into the wild.

So having this rhino calf
born here

is another number into that

but it's a huge feat for us
as well.

This little calf's life
is a celebration.

Once he's ready,
he will be sent off to mate.

But he has a few frolicking
years left before that happens.

For now, after a boisterous day
in the park,

a nap is in order.

Mother Tamu
will welcome the break...

while at lasts.

(♪♪♪)

(♪♪♪)

Majestic and strong,

an enduring symbol
of the Great Plains.

The bison is the heaviest
land animal in North America,

reaching a height of 6 feet
and weighing up to a ton.

Even newborns ate pretty big
and cute!

Every April or May,

the mother bison give birth
to babies

that weigh-in between 33
and 55 pounds.

Though he may look defenseless
as a newborn calf,

you'd never wanna get
between him and his mother.

No, you really don't wanna
push a bison in the wild.

There's a couple reason
for that.

They have very bad eyesight
and they are very big.

So when they don't know
what you are,

they're gonna charge at you.

Big or small,

once they get moving,
they are hard to stop.

This little one's eager
to stretch his legs.

They get happy,
they get excited,

they'll kick, they'll buck,
they'll bounce around.

If one gets excited
and starts running,

they will all start running.

And they just all of sudden,
out of nowhere,

they get like puppy crazy
and it's great.

(♪♪♪)

Despite their massive size,

bison are surprisingly swift
on their feet.

When they have to, they can run
up to 40 miles an hour.

While bison are powerful symbols
of the North American frontiers,

they didn't originate here.

Like humans, their ancestors
reached North America

by crossing
the Bering Land Bridge

some 500,000 years ago.

And like us,
they started raising families

and made themselves at home
on the range,

which allow them to pay more
attention to their grooming.

In captivity and in the wild,

a little guy like this
sticks to his mom like a shadow.

Mama wouldn't have it
any other way.

They are great mamas.

They definitely keep
the calf close

and they will always
put themselves

between a calf and a person.

If a person walks up,
they'll put themselves.

They scoot under them.

When they're its first born,

they'll bump it up
and get it nursing

and guide it
where it needs to be,

to find it, to be able to nurse.

And they'll always protect it
and put themselves in-between

that calf and any kind of danger
or person.

Barely a day old,

the fur on this ginger calf
will gradually darken.

In 4 months,
he'll match his mom.

(♪♪♪)

But not all bison are dark.

We have a couple herds
of bison here.

We have a white bison
and we have brown bison here.

In the wild, the rare white
bison are considered sacred

among some Native American
religions.

Whatever the color,
baby bison are quick studies.

This fellah was standing
on his own at 10 minutes old

and nursing within a half hour.

For the next 18 months,
they will continue to nurse,

but he's also fully equipped
to start grazing

at only 5 days old.

As goes a bison calf learned,
it does know how to nurse.

They are born
with all their teeth.

They have this full set
of baby teeth.

So they can actually start
picking up

how to eat hay,
how to do all that,

how to drink water
and how to start surviving

from the time
they are very small.

By the time he is
9 months old,

this guy can weigh
up to 400 pounds.

The males and females
do develop differently.

Males get bigger.

They have a lot more shag
around their heads.

Both do have horns.

On an adult bull, these horns
can grow up to 2 feet long.

Males keep growing
for up to a dozen years,

but females reach
their maximum size

when they reach sexual maturity
at age 3.

Males, however,
are late bloomers

and don't usually mate until
they are around 6 years old.

Adult bison are almost too big
to tangle with,

but in the wild,

the calves can fall prey
to bears and wolves.

They find safety in numbers.

They all know to follow a
herd, which I think, is a skill

essential for surviving
in the wild,

because they are prey animals.

It keeps them alive
to be in a herd

and they've learned that.

(♪♪♪)

So if he were in the wild,
this vulnerable bison calf

has got the whole herd
to protect him

until he grows majestic
and strong.

Until then, he can just practice

some speedy
and graceful running.

Graceful might take
a little longer.

Except for their size,

these big babies
couldn't be more different.

Each is a mini version
of its giant parents

and each is a keen student,

learning how to make its way
in the world.

(♪♪♪)

(♪♪♪)