Original subtitles

Africa's grasslands are home to a variety of mammals.

But none are as well-known

As the continent's five safari superstars;

Lion,

Rhinoceros,

Leopard,

Buffalo

And elephant.

They are the celebrated "big five".

But it's not easy being big in the wild.

In the constant struggle to succeed

In africa's dynamic ecosystems,

The big five must work hard to survive.

Few animals in the world inspire such awe

As a male lion in his prime.

His confident yellow eyes,

Huge head and lush golden mane command respect.

He is the largest of all africa's carnivores,

Powerfully built and beautiful.

It's shocking then for many to imagine

Killing such a noble beast.

But colonial hunters who came to africa

Considered tracking and shooting lions

As one of their highest achievements.

Along with four other

Of the continent's most powerful and impressive animals .

In time this group became known as the "big five".

Each revered by hunters as dangerous adversaries

And thus sought-after trophies.

As each of the five could easily kill an unwary hunter.

In modern times

Thankfully trophy hunting is far less popular

And many of these majestic animals

Now live in protected wildlife parks and reserves

Around africa.

But they still face the brutal challenges of the natural world,

Where their survival is by no means secure.

Each animal must use its unique combinations of size,

Strength,

Stealth

And power in numbers to persevere.

Lions the biggest of africa's cats,

With males standing 4 feet tall at the shoulder

And weighing 420 pounds.

While lionesses are smaller at 290 pounds.

They are the only truly social big cats,

Living together in groups known as prides.

Their ability to hunt as a team gives them the edge

And allows them to bring down prey well over twice their size.

By weight, lions are responsible for 65 percent of the prey

Killed on the savanna.

And these lions specialize in hunting

One of their fellow big five.

Buffalos are no easy target though.

Because these huge herbivores

Have one special weapon against predators:

Power in numbers.

Herds like this one

Are made up mostly of females and their young

And can have several hundred members.

Within such a big group, organization is needed.

And buffalos have a well-ordered herd structure,

With smaller family units sticking together.

This mother had her first calf at around five years old.

The youngster will be weaned at seven months,

And from there on will subsist on grass like his mum.

If conditions are good,

The mother will have a new calf every fifteen months.

She, like all buffalo cows,

Won't move far from her relatives in the herd.

But the bulls must look further afield

If they're to find a mate.

Before they can breed

They have to fight their way up the herd's hierarchy.

This means going head to head with other bulls.

Two 1700 pound bulls slamming into each other

Has the equivalent force

Of a car hitting a wall at 31 miles per hour.

To protect their brains and absorb the impact,

Males have a thick helmet of horn called a boss.

It takes eight years of battling for a buffalo bull

To get high enough on the pecking order

To be eligible for breeding.

Dominance in these mega herds has other benefits too.

The highest-ranking buffalos take up position

At front and centre of the herd.

Giving them first access to the best food -

And minimizing their chances of becoming prey.

But not all buffalo enjoy the safety of the herd.

Bulls leave when they get too old to fight for dominance

Or keep up with the group -

Alone they are far more vulnerable to lions

And more dangerous to man.

Legends of these old bulls

Trampling and goring hunters to death

Struck fear into the hearts of men,

And earned buffalo a place in the big five.

Unlike rhino and elephant, buffalo weigh less than a ton.

Making them small enough to be killed by lions.

Mostly the mega-herders have the edge,

And a united front of horned heads

Can drive away a whole pride of lions.

Such large congregations

Not only offer protection from predators,

They also play a crucial role

In maintaining the savanna ecosystem.

Buffalo are bulk grazers, using wide rows of incisors

To crop large quantities of long grass.

As they feed

They clear access to shorter more nutritious shoots below,

For selective grazers like rhino.

It's the buffalos' ability to work as a herd

And to survive on low quality food

That has allowed them to thrive

In the face of nature's challenges.

With population estimates ranging

From 500,000 to a million

They are the most numerous of any of the big five.

But still buffalo must stay vigilant -

Because lions are also experts at working together.

Which is no doubt how this buffalo became a meal.

Male lions are more powerful than the females, and eat first.

Once this big male has had the proverbial 'lion's share',

The rest will eat.

The pride is at home in the dense cover of the bushveld,

Using the cloak of foliage to remain unseen -

And protect their newest and most vulnerable members.

The young lions are barely 6 weeks old,

And have only just left the den

Where they spent their first weeks of life.

Still they're too young and vulnerable

To be out in the open -

And for now mum keeps them out of sight.

Despite the close-knit family system,

Lion prides are relatively fluid.

Members come and go

Within a territory of about 15 square miles.

Not far away the cubs' older siblings

Are enjoying a hunting success of their own.

This lioness was born in a litter of five

And spends much of her time with her sister and three brothers.

At 18 months, they're old enough

To be completely independent of their mother.

Working together they have become proficient hunters

And brought down a buffalo calf.

It may be hidden from other lions and hyenas

In the tangle of bushes

But it attracts the attention

Of africa's biggest aerial scavengers.

The lions don't appreciate uninvited lunch guests.

But at midday it's too hot to eat,

So one of the brothers tries to move the kill out of view.

But it's too much effort.

He'll have to stand guard for now.

The vultures won't try anything while the lion's still around.

This kill is a promising sign for the young lions.

Honing their hunting skills now, before they have to leave

The comfort and familiarity of the pride, is important.

Soon the males will have to seek

A territory and pride of their own, which will require

Fighting ferocious battles

With other big males.

But the brothers are at an advantage.

They will leave together,

Cooperating in their coalition of three

To hunt and challenge for control over another pride.

As night falls, temperatures drop

And the young lions are ready to eat.

Dinner time in a lion family can be a noisy affair.

And after the first course they relax under the stars,

But the smell of the kill attracts an unlikely visitor.

A female leopard.

The big five's more elusive cat does scavenge sometimes -

But she knows better than to intrude on a lions feast.

If the lions caught her hanging around, they would kill her,

And beating a hasty retreat is a wise decision.

When food is available in abundance,

Lions will gorge themselves.

The males eat up to 88 pounds

And the females around 44 at a time.

That's about five times their daily food requirement.

This much food is a luxury of a successful pride.

Not all are so lucky.

Despite their cooperative hunting behavior,

Lions generally only have a 30 percent kill rate.

That means 70 percent of the time

They go away without any dinner,

And when prey is scarce or the pride is inexperienced,

Hunger quickly gives way to starvation.

With ribs and hip bones showing,

It's clear that this young pride hasn't eaten in many days.

It's a stark contrast

To the bloated bellies of the more successful pride

And telling evidence that although lions are thought of

As africa's most ferocious killers,

Their lives are by no means easy.

The lions that do survive

Are the strongest and most skilled hunters,

Taking top spot on the food chain

And eating most of the savanna's big herbivores.

But not all of them.

This is one of the last black rhinos left in africa.

They may be too big to fall prey to lions -

But they are no match for man.

Before intensive poaching by humans,

Black rhinos were the most numerous and widespread

Of the five species of rhino in the world.

The decrease in their numbers from 65,000 in the wild in 1970

To just over 5000 now,

Represents one of the fastest declines of any large mammal

In recorded history.

This bull, like all male rhinos, is a solitary browser,

Eating more than 200 species of trees and bushes.

His prehensile hooked lip pulls foliage into his mouth.

The reason he is immune to being eaten

Is because he weighs more than 2,500 pounds.

By exceeding one ton in weight

He's above the predation threshold,

Making him too big for lions to kill.

For this mother lion, hunting is far from a priority.

Her main concern is keeping her cubs safe

And staying cool in the heat of the day.

But this isn't easy for her.

Because lions cannot sweat.

Without sufficient sweat glands

They resort to panting to expel excess heat.

Along with sticking to the shade,

This makes the scorching climate bearable.

Even heat cannot dull one of the cub's most driving urges;

To feed.

Her growl is a clear enough message - back off.

Even the starling,

Dressed in chic but heat-absorbing purple feathers

Is getting too hot.

It also turns to panting to keep cool.

As the afternoon passes, temperatures drop

And the lioness has moved into a more comfortable position.

The cubs are restless in their bushy hide-out.

They're hungry, but won't make a hasty move.

Mealtimes are not on their terms.

They know to let this sleeping lioness be.

When she rolls onto her back it's like a sign saying

"the milk bar is open".

The bravest cub approaches cautiously.

Mom consents. It's dinner time.

The cubs will get all their nourishment from suckling

Until they're around 8 weeks old.

Once the lioness is satisfied that the cubs are well fed,

She moves them back into the safety of the undergrowth.

They have a lot of growing up to do before they become africa's

Most powerful predators.

The cubs aren't the only big five babies around.

This white rhino calf is less than a year old

And his keratin horn is not much more than a bump.

He's been eating grass since he was 8 weeks old,

But he'll continue to suckle from this mother

For several months.

Rhinos have poor eyesight

And he keeps close to mum,

As he's still vulnerable to lions and hyenas.

With mothers protection he will likely grow into a mature bull,

Weighing around 5,000 pounds.

But for now he's quite content at his mothers' side,

And will stay with her for 2 to 3 years,

Or until she has another calf.

The bond between mother and calf

Is extremely strong in white rhinos.

More so than with black rhinos.

White and black rhino are both grey

But they exhibit certain differences, like size.

The white rhino is almost a ton heavier.

The name 'white' derives from a mistranslation

Of the afrikaans word "wyd", meaning wide,

In reference to its broad, square muzzle.

This defining characteristic allows the white rhino

To feed on its choice of the savanna's dense, short grasses.

But the grasses often contain ticks

That get into hard to reach places.

Luckily there are ox-peckers

Willing to offer their cleaning services.

The birds feed on the ticks

And both parties benefit from the arrangement.

White rhinos

Are the world's only purely grazing rhino species.

And weighing in at two tons,

They are possibly the largest pure grazers that ever lived.

White rhinos are considered territorial and semi-social

As they do not form large herds.

Females however are rarely found alone

And will congregate in groups of up to six.

Like this group of two related cows and a sub-adult calf.

Rhino cows often move through many male territories.

And they've attracted the attention of the bull

Who controls this area.

Adult bulls are largely solitary,

Living in ranges of a few square miles.

And this bull is eager to get to know his visitors.

But the cows are not interested

And politely remove themselves.

While rhino bulls are somewhat retreating in their courtship,

Another one of the big five is more overt in his intentions.

Mature elephant bulls weigh around five tons,

Making them the world's biggest land animal.

They're two and a half times larger than the white rhino.

This bull may be particularly aggressive.

His weeping temporal glands and frequent urination

Are a sure sign that he is in a condition known as musth.

From the age of 25 years old

Musth occurs sporadically in bulls,

Increasing their testosterone to six times its normal levels.

Bulls in musth dominate others in fights

And are left well alone by most.

Free to focus on finding cows to mate with.

Although females are smaller,

They control the movement of herds which are matriarchal,

Made up of related females and young males,

All of whom share close social ties.

Elephant families

Have the opposite activity regime to lions,

Sleeping for only four or five hours a day.

This large herd

Has been moving constantly in search of food and water.

It's an exhausting existence for youngsters.

This new-born elephant calf already weighs 220 pounds.

Being on the move all day has taken its toll on the youngster.

In elephant life there is no bond stronger

Than that between a mother and her offspring,

And this mum is rightly concerned about her little one.

In the heat it's become dehydrated and needs to rest.

Another youth is also facing a tough time.

Like all bulls, at adolescence he was ejected from the herd.

Sometimes the young bulls form bachelor groups, like these two.

The older bull's missing tusk

Shows he's had his share of battles.

The two are after one of their favorite foods,

The nutritious pods of a camelthorn tree.

But the pods are too high up to be picked.

One of the bulls knows how to bring them down to his level.

And he has perfected getting the pods into his mouth

With a deft flick of the trunk.

An elephant's trunk contains an amazing 50,000 muscles.

The appendage is incredibly

Versatile and strong which is one of the reasons

The elephant eats the biggest variety of plants

Of any herbivore.

While feeding

This bull is doing a cape glossy starling a favor.

He's rustling up insects as he forages,

Which the opportunistic bird picks off.

The use of their trunks,

Combined with immense strength and intelligence

Means that elephants can survive

In some of africa's harshest landscapes.

While the largest member of the big five

Lives an extremely social life,

The smallest member is the exact opposite.

The leopard is renowned for its secrecy.

They are the most private of africa's big cats.

Leopards are adapted to a range of habitats

And are the most widespread wild cats on the planet.

Dense vegetation like that along the banks of this river

Provides them with plenty of cover,

Vital for hunters that rely primarily on stealth.

The ability to move unseen

Helps them escape the attention of bigger competitors,

Another key to their success.

Because they can live in almost any habitat

Offering enough cover in which to hide,

Leopards reside inside and outside of protected areas.

Their ability to avoid human persecution

As well as their adaptability,

Has enabled them to live across most of africa,

And beyond into asia.

This female is well established in her territory

Of about 10 square miles.

It's prime hunting ground

And she has successfully defended it

From other females for many years.

Males are afforded access only briefly to mate.

This is her only companionship in an otherwise solitary life.

Like all females she is slightly smaller than a male,

But is still powerfully built and an effective hunter.

Leopards are masters of ambush.

Stalking silently

They get as close as possible to unsuspecting victims

Like impala,

Before pouncing and killing them swiftly with a strangling bite.

In areas where other bigger predators

Like lion and hyena exist,

Leopards drag their kills into the bows of trees

To avoid being hijacked.

Here the kill is relatively safe

And she can eat in peace.

But she has to prepare her meal first.

This is done by carefully

Plucking the hair off the carcass with her front teeth.

She then uses her powerful jaws and large canines

To rip into the meat.

Above vultures circle, knowing full well their time will come.

With no family members to share the feast,

She can take her time feeding.

The kill not only provides ample sustenance

But also most of the moisture she needs in the form of blood.

Meaning leopards can go for long periods without water.

Elephants however, need to drink more regularly.

This little one has arrived at water just in time.

Baby elephants are far more susceptible than adults

To the potentially fatal risk of dehydration.

Elephants use water for more than just drinking.

Bathing is a favorite pastime

That fulfills an important function for the elephants.

Their massive bodies

Generate as much as five kilowatts of metabolic heat,

The equivalent of enough power to run a microwave

For 5 hours.

And after a hot day on the savanna

A swim prevents overheating.

With their collective thirst quenched,

The herd can relax and enjoy some grooming.

Rubbing against the river banks helps remove parasites

And keep the elephants clean and healthy.

Water is integral to the elephant's life.

As it is for all of the big five and those that live here.

The buffalos come down in herds

To sip together at the shore's edge.

Rhino too arrive to quench the thirst of a long day.

Even the lions are drinking.

But they do so discreetly, at a small stream

Away from the hustle and bustle of the waterhole.

In africa's great savanna ecosystems

None of the famous five are exempt from a reliance on water.

Each of the animals in the big five

Is exceptional in one way or another.

Whether in size,

Or strength,

Or social behavior.

These charismatic animals

Are recognized in a class of their own.

The huge, solitary rhino,

With its armor-like skin and lance-like horn.

The stealthy and elusive leopard,

Moving unseen and unheard.

Mega-herding buffalo,

Rumbling through the bush in throngs of thousands.

Ferocious lions,

Symbols of brute strength and cunning cooperation.

And the enormous, social,

Resilient elephant.

Each uses its strengths to thrive on the african savanna.

And together they capture the imagination of the world;

As icons of africa's wildlife riches.

They are and will always be

The big five,

Africa's pride.