All language subtitles for Planet.Earth.II.4of6.Deserts.BBC.1080i.HDTV.h264.AC3.MVGroup.org

Imagine a world where temperatures
rise to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Where there's no escape
from sun, wind and dust.

Imagine a world with
almost no food or water.

These are the conditions in

one third of the lands of our planet.

To live here demands the most
extraordinary survival strategies.

This is the oldest desert in the world.

The Namib in south-west Africa.

It's been dry for 55 million years.

Life here for a hunter
is as hard as it gets.

A pride of lions.

One of the very few that endures
this desert's scorching temperatures

and lack of water.

Hunting here presents special problems.

A herd of oryx, the only
prey within 20 miles.

Out here, there is no cover for an ambush.

It'll have to be a straight chase.

They have failed

and each failed hunt brings
the lions closer to starvation.

To find enough to eat,

the pride continually searches
an area the size of Switzerland.

Three days and 100 miles
later, and still no kill.

These are desperate times.

(BIRDS CAW)

A dry riverbed on the
edge of their territory.

The only animals here are giraffe,

but these one-tonne giants could
kill a lion with a single kick.

Lions seldom tackle such formidable prey...

...but this pride can't go
on much longer without food.

The whole pride must work together
as a team if they're to succeed.

Two lionesses lead the chase.

Others race to cut off
possible escape routes.

The giraffe has the speed and
stamina to outrun the pride...

...but it's being chased into a trap.

Up ahead, the lead female waits.

It's now up to her.

Most lion hunts end in failure.

But no lions fail more often than
those that live in the desert.

Once again, the pride
must continue their search.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

It does, sometimes, rain in the desert.

Here, in the American West, storms
can strike with devastating force.

After ten months of drought,

millions of tonnes of water are
dumped on the land in under an hour.

Over millions of years,

sand and gravel carried
by the rampaging floods

have carved channels
through the solid rock.

Slot canyons, 150 feet deep.

In some places, these canyons have widened

until the land between them
is sculpted into tablelands

and isolated pinnacles,

some of the most dramatic
landscapes on the planet.

The rain may be long gone...

...but there is water here...

...locked away within the tissues
of specialist desert plants.

Cacti are unique to American deserts.

They all hoard water,

storing it in swollen stems

and protecting it behind
a barricade of spines.

They're so successful that
they dominate these deserts.

But this forest of spikes can cause

problems for the animals that live here.

A Harrisxxx hawk.

It has developed special techniques
for hunting amongst the cacti.

Ground squirrels.

Prey.

At the first sign of danger they
bolt for the safety of the thorns.

But the hawks have a
tactic to flush them out.

These are the only birds
of prey that hunt in packs.

Flying in formation, they try to
drive their quarry into the open.

But this squirrel is staying put.

So now the hawks continue the hunt...

...on foot.

They're closing in from all sides.

Soon, all escape routes are cut off.

The squirrel is trapped.

The spines that cover almost
every plant in this desert

can provide protection and
shelter for many animals.

So, why should these
spikes be hung with corpses?

What kind of creature could be responsible

for creating such a gruesome scene?

There's a mysterious killer
at work in this desert.

It's a butcherbird.

This little songbird uses the
spines as a butcher uses his hook...

to hold its prey as it dismembers it.

(CHICKS SQUAWK)

And with chicks to feed, he
also uses the spines as a larder.

He's been stocking it for weeks.

Hanging his prey out of the
reach of scavengers on the ground

ensures that his newly hatched
young will never go hungry.

An ingenious solution to making
the good times last in the desert...

...if a little macabre.

(CHICKS SQUAWK)

Some deserts are so arid,

they appear totally
devoid of all vegetation.

Yet even these landscapes can be
transformed in a matter of days.

The deserts of Peru are
amongst the driest in the world,

but just add a little water and
plants that have lain dormant

for months will burst into life.

And when a desert suddenly turns green,

even the most seemingly desolate
can become a land of opportunity.

No creature exploits the
greening of a desert more quickly

or more dramatically than a locust.

Madagascar's arid south-west

has received its highest rainfall in years.

Now, an army is on the march,

attracted by the smell
of newly sprouting grass.

Locusts are normally solitary creatures,

but when food becomes suddenly
plentiful they come together

into an unstoppable force that
devours everything in its path.

But this devastation is
about to get a lot worse.

The locusts now transform
into winged adults,

and with conditions as good as this,

they do so three times faster than normal.

Now they are at their most voracious...

and with wings, they can take to the skies.

Once airborne, the locusts
can travel over 60 miles a day

in their search for new feeding grounds.

A super swarm of this scale may
only appear once in a decade.

This one extends over 200 square miles

and contains several billion individuals.

Between them, they will devour
40,000 tonnes of food in a day.

Nothing can strip a land of
its vegetation with such speed

and thoroughness as a plague of locusts.

When the food eventually runs
out, the whole army will die...

but not before it's devastated the land.

With no plants to bind them,

thin soils soon turn to dust and blow away.

Now, these barren lands are left
to the mercy of the elements.

Scorched by the sun and
scoured by windblown sand,

desert rock is shaped into
strange, otherworldly landscapes.

These rocky deserts may
have a beguiling beauty,

but when they become this barren,
very little life can endure.

For many animals, the only way
to survive the most hostile times

is to keep moving.

In the Kalahari, brief rains
have given way to the dry season.

Food and water are becoming
increasingly scarce.

For these zebra, it's time to leave.

They're setting off on

the longest overland migration
made by any mammal in Africa,

marching towards the
scent of distant rains.

As drought intensifies,

desert-living elephants must
also undertake long journeys

in search of water.

The older females can remember where,

even in times of extreme
drought, there may still be water

and sometimes lead the herd to a
water hole they may not have visited

for decades.

These zebra are almost at
the end of their journey.

This is what they've been heading for...

...a rare water hole.

In deserts, most water
holes are short lived.

They appear after rains,

but then vanish almost
as quickly as they came.

Animals have come here
from many miles around.

Yet this can be a dangerous
place in which to linger.

60 miles away, in the heart of the desert,

sandgrouse chicks are hatching.

It's safer for them to be here.

But being so distant
from water is a gamble.

With only their mother to
shield them from the sun,

if they get nothing to drink,
they will be dead within hours.

Their only hope is their father.

Every morning he makes
the 120-mile round trip

to get water for the family.

Grouse from all over the
desert visit this oasis,

arriving together in large flocks,

and that is important.

There's safety in numbers.

The male snatches a drink,

but he also needs to
collect water for his chicks.

Using specially adapted breast feathers,

he can soak up water like a sponge.

But it takes time, and he is in danger.

Goshawk.

Sandgrouse here are their main prey.

Again and again, the male
sandgrouse risk their lives

in order to collect water for their chicks.

This is why sandgrouse nest
so far from water holes.

At last, he's soaked up as much as he can.

Carrying a quarter of
his body weight in water,

he can now set off on
the long journey home.

He's back, and just in time.

He can give the chicks
their first ever drink.

But he will have to undertake
this perilous journey every day

for the next two months until his
chicks can finally make the flight

to the water hole for themselves.

It's July in the deserts of Nevada
in the western United States.

The hottest time of the year.

Bands of wild horses, mustang,

are converging on one of the last
remaining water holes for miles.

Now, water not only offers
them the chance to drink,

it can also bring power.

If a stallion can control access to water,

he will have secured mating
rights to the entire herd.

So stallions try to dominate these pools,

fighting off rivals who venture too close.

A stranger.

He's travelled ten miles to be here

because the pools where he's
come from have already dried up.

With him come his females.

If he can't provide them with
water, they will leave him

for the white stallion who
already dominates this pool.

So, he will have to fight.

There is everything to lose.

A broken leg or a shattered jaw

would mean a slow and painful death.

A missed kick, and it's all over.

The new arrival has won...

and his prize is more than
just the chance to drink.

He has provided for his
herd, and in the process,

stolen his rival's females.

The white stallion's rule is over.

Desert life is not only shaped
by the scarcity of water,

but also by the relentless
power of the sun.

The highest temperatures on Earth

have all been recorded in its deserts.

Changes in the climate
mean temperatures here

are rising more than
the global average and,

as deserts heat up,
they are also expanding.

Every year, a further 50,000
square miles of grass and farmland

are turning into barren
stretches of dust and rock.

In the heat of the day, surface
temperatures can reach 160 degrees,

far too hot to handle for most.

But not for this shovel-snouted lizard.

Raising its feet off the ground in turn...

...enables each to briefly cool.

But even this dancing desert specialist

can't stand the heat for long.

One option is to find shade.

Dune grass, the only vegetation
here, provides virtually none,

but just an inch beneath
the surface of the sand,

it is several degrees cooler.

Avoiding the extreme heat
imposes a rhythm on desert life.

And many animals here choose
the simplest option of all...

...staying hidden all day,

and only venturing out
in the cool of the night.

As darkness falls, animals
appear from seemingly nowhere.

And, among them, inevitably,

are hunters.

One of the most voracious
nocturnal predators

is also one of the hardest to see.

This mysterious creature hardly ever
appears on the surface of the dunes.

But there are signs on the
sand that can give it away.

It lives only here, where the
sand grains are so perfectly dry

and polished, that they
flow almost like water.

It's no bigger than a ping-pong ball.

A golden mole.

It's totally blind,

but there's nothing to
see underground anyway.

Instead, it has superb hearing.

Its entire head acts as an amplifier

that picks up vibrations through
the sand, so, to locate prey

on the surface of the
dune, it has, paradoxically,

to thrust its face into the dune.

Termites.

Not easy to catch when you're blind.

Far better to go into stealth mode.

Once below the sand, it can
detect the slightest movement...

...allowing it to strike
with pinpoint accuracy.

Well, most of the time.

They can travel two thirds of a mile
a night in search of its dinner...

...and right now, it has
just detected its main course.

Little wonder it's sometimes
called "the shark of the dunes".

Food can be so scarce in the
desert that, even at night,

animals can't afford to be
choosy about what they eat.

Israel's Negev desert.

Otonycteris, the desert
long-eared bat, is on the hunt.

Most bats catch flying insects
on the wing, but there are so few

of these in the desert that this
bat must do things differently.

It has to hunt on the ground.

But what really sets it
apart is what it's hunting...

...a deathstalker scorpion.

The venom of this species is
potent enough to kill a human.

Tackling it seems madness for a
bat weighing just half an ounce.

In the pitch-black, both predator
and prey are effectively blind,

but the scorpion has one advantage...

he can sense the approach of the
bat through vibrations in the sand.

Otonycteris must rely
entirely on its hearing.

If the scorpion doesn't move,
it won't know it's there.

The battle is on.

Armed with crushing pincers
and a sting loaded with venom,

this scorpion is a dangerous opponent.

A direct strike on the head.

Is it all over?

Not for this bat.

Otonycteris clearly has
some immunity to the venom,

but repeated stings must still
be extraordinarily painful.

And if the bat is not to go hungry,

it must catch another three
scorpions before sunrise.

Desert animals have developed
remarkable strategies

to make the most of the rare
opportunities that come their way.

Although some deserts may not
see rain for several years,

most will hold a little
water in one form or another.

The trick is simply
knowing how to reach it.

Dawn in the dunes of the Namib,
and something magical is happening.

Moist air lying over the
neighbouring Atlantic is cooled

and blown inland, forming fog banks
that shroud the desert in mist.

This precious moisture lies
tantalisingly out of reach

at the top of the dunes,
and it won't last long.

It'll be burnt off by the
sun just hours after it rises.

Darkling beetles race
to the top of the dunes

to reach the fog before it vanishes.

Some of the Namib's
dunes are 1,000 feet high,

the tallest in the world.

For a beetle no larger than a
thumbnail, this is the equivalent

of us climbing a dune
twice the height of Everest.

But even more impressive
is what it does next.

Standing perfectly still,
facing into the wind,

the beetle does a headstand.

Fog begins to condense on its body.

Microscopic bumps on its
wing cases direct the water

to grooves that channel
it towards the mouth.

Before returning down the slip face,

it will drink 40% of its body weight.

This little beetle has learned
how to conjure water out of the air

in one of the driest places on earth.

And it's not alone on the top of the dunes.

Web-footed geckos use a similar trick.

Surely, few animals go to
greater lengths to get a drink.

Unfortunately, Namaqua chameleons
know that on foggy mornings,

the beetles coming down the dunes
are juicier than those going up.

The diversity of life that thrives
in a world almost totally devoid

of water is truly remarkable.

Success in the desert depends
on an extraordinary variety of

survival strategies that have
evolved over millions of years.

But our planet is changing.

The world's deserts are growing
bigger, hotter and drier,

and they're doing so
faster than ever before.

How life will cope here in
the future remains to be seen.

Finding animals in these vast empty
landscapes was a persistent problem

for the Deserts team.

But surely this wouldn't be the
case when they set out to film

one of the greatest concentrations
of wildlife on earth.

It can't be hard to find
a billion locusts, can it?

OK.

With news that freak rains have triggered

a mass emergence of locusts
in a remote part of Madagascar,

the team sets off in pursuit.

We've got some young hopper
locusts just crossing the road

in front of us here. We've
just had to stop the cars.

Here they are, here, all on
the side of the road, look.

It looks promising.

But though finding hoppers is easy,

filming them proves more of a challenge.

Can we rethink this? Because
it's not really working.

The locusts are really skippy.

Any kind of movement, they just
freak out, So we're now doing

our best locust-herding
techniques to try to get them to go

in front of the lens, which is
proving harder than anticipated.

This is my Monday morning
locust-herding jazz hands.

- Ah!
- What? What's that?

- What?
- It's a wasp nest.

Soon, the crew find themselves
surrounded by locusts.

No need for jazz hands now.

It's a good start, but the team
still need to film the winged swarms

that complete the story.

But, once airborne, they
can travel 60 miles a day,

so finding a swarm won't be easy.

Fortunately, the UN's Food
and Agriculture Organisation

are here, too, to help.

The FAO are on a mission
to eradicate the plagues

decimating crops across Madagascar,

and if anyone knows where the locusts are,

it's the local expert, Hasibelo.

He thinks that they are moving this way.

Time to go swarm-chasing.

But chasing is the operative word.

The locusts always seem one step ahead.

It's amazing, really,
because this plan's completely

- radically changing, hour by hour.
- We now have to travel

several hours further north, which is...

- a bit of a pain.
- It's a bit of a pain.

As they venture into the unknown,

it's clear it's been
a very wet year indeed.

Traffic is one thing,
but boats on the road?

Unconventional traffic.

Progress is slow, and
soon stops altogether.

The locusts are just across the
water, so the team must follow...

...on this.

What could possibly go wrong?

We're now stuck on, possibly,
the world's most antiquated raft

trying to cross a very fast-flowing river.

But, onwards and upwards.

We've now got an hour-long river
crossing, and we'll just have to see

what's on the other side.

With the river behind them,
it should be plain sailing.

But once across, the team
discovers that, yet again,

the locusts are nowhere to be seen.

And, after two weeks on the road,

the local street food is
beginning to take its toll.

So Ed's not very well.
Been yacking up and...

And not very nice stomach.

We just need to do whatever it takes now

to get us to where the swarms are.

The next day, the team forges on.

Briefly.

Here's Jamal, our driver.

What do we think? Yeah?

No?

The road has turned into a bog.

The cars can go no further.

We need to cross this area
of water to get to the savanna

and find our locust swarms.

And it's amazing to think that,
with the combined might of the

United Nations and the BBC, we are
eventually defeated by a puddle.

Back to the drawing board.

Once again, it's Hasibelo to the rescue.

Well, we have a plan.

Taking to the air was never on the cards,

but thanks to the FAO's helicopter,

the team can now play the
locusts at their own game.

More smoke?

This time, it's a billion locusts...

...and one very relieved producer.

Woohoo!

Against the odds, the team
has located a super-swarm.

This is exactly what we've been
looking for. We've driven halfway

across Madagascar to one of
the most remote parts there is.

It's just been a nightmare,
but, finally, we're here.

I mean, this is the biggest swarm
we could have even hoped for.

It is just amazing.

Look at here, I'm going to film here.

It's incredibly exhilarating,
and yet totally shocking,

to think of the devastation that
swarms like this are causing.

It just makes you realise
how important the FAO are

in getting this under control.

I'm just going to run through it.

I should be naked for this, but...

Thankfully, Rob kept his clothes
on, and, more importantly,

this plague has now been halted,

but not before the team had
witnessed one of the biggest swarms

ever recorded on film.

Next time, we journey to
the world's great plains,

where spectacular gatherings of
wildlife cope with extreme change...

...and surprising creatures
survive in unexpected ways.