Original subtitles

[music]

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[Male narrator] Patagonia.

One of the most beautiful and ruthless landscapes on Earth.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

Yet each year, she offers a tiny gap for survival.

Many return to her rich coastlines to breed.

And raise vulnerable young.

Thousands come home to feed.

Others, to hunt.

Some cross entire oceans looking for a mate.

Or to forage in her ancient forests.

All her creatures bow to the seasons.

To move is to survive

in the wild extremes of Patagonia.

[music]

It's August, deep winter in the far south of Chile.

One of Patagonia's largest mammals is on the move.

Herds of guanacos descend from their alpine pastures

in the Andes,

4,000 feet down to the more sheltered valleys below.

They're uniquely adapted for living at high altitudes.

And a thick fur coat protects them from the icy 70 mph winds.

But it's the snow and ice that forces them to leave.

There's little grass on offer.

This is a group of survivors.

Resilient females and last year's strongest young.

A single adult male watches over his family and frozen territory.

They'll return here next spring,

but now, they must move or starve.

With the descent comes danger.

The guanacos are easier to hunt on the lower, open plains.

This family knows it.

Hungry eyes watch closely.

Condors will pick apart any stragglers left behind.

There's a greater danger.

Not from the air, but down on the ground.

Puma.

The guanacos aren't the only ones

looking to make it through the winter.

The snow starts to thin out below 1,000 feet.

And as more guanacos stream into the valleys,

families unite.

The bigger the herd, the better the chance of survival.

For the strong, these lower plains

will provide enough food for winter.

Those that survive will return to their higher pastures

once the snow melts.

Just in time for the expecting mothers to give birth.

An event relished by one mother puma.

She's been tracking the herds down the mountains.

Her home range covers over 50 square miles.

She's just as desperate to secure a good meal.

[music]

Her cubs' lives depend on it.

At only three months old,

they're too young to hunt by themselves.

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To make it through winter, they have no option

but to follow the herds down.

The migrating guanacos could be their only lifeline.

By mid-September, the first signs of spring

bring an inkling of warmth along the east coast of Argentina.

For the past few months, just beyond the Valdes Peninsula,

dusky dolphins have been escorting

long-distance travelers in from the deep.

Southern right whales.

These giants feed in the plankton-rich waters

off Antarctica.

But a slight rise in temperature

draws them to Patagonia's coastline to mate,

give birth, and nurse their young.

By the end of winter, their numbers peak at around 2,000.

During the coming months of spring,

the warmer, protected bays are the ideal nursery.

This youngster's a rarity.

Only five percent of southern right whales are born white,

though it will darken with age.

They'll hide out here until the calves are strong enough

to make the arduous journey back to Antarctica in December.

The whales aren't the only ones drawn to

Patagonia's warming coastline.

150 miles south of Valdes,

the beaches of Punta Tombo are empty.

But not for long.

Close to half a million Magellanic penguins

are about to make landfall.

[music]

These solitary animals

have spent winter widely dispersed across the Atlantic.

Yet, each year, they come together to breed.

The males arrive first.

This male's swum over a thousand miles to get here,

to the biggest event of the penguin year.

The pressure's now on to claim a burrow in which to nest

before his partner arrives.

But the best real estate is selling out fast.

Rival males have already staked their claims.

He's found the last gem.

But if he wants it, he'll have to defend it.

It's a rough neighborhood.

There's little respect for squatter's rights.

It's every male for himself.

[music]

Victorious, he moves into his hard-won burrow.

Abandoned since last summer, this soon-to-be nursery

is in serious need of renovations.

Some new furnishings will help.

Everything must be perfect for the Mrs.

Magellanic penguins mate for life,

and these reuniting pairs haven't seen each other

for over five months.

At last, after two weeks of preparation, the ladies arrive.

[Narrator] Exhausted from their travels,

females have to locate their life partners

in a sprawl of 400,000 penguins.

[penguins calling]

Each male has a different call.

She recognizes his above all the others.

[penguins calling]

Each year, they migrate thousands of miles

to this exact spot to reunite.

[music]

He shows off his moves to seal the deal.

[music]

Turns out, he's still got it.

She'll lay two eggs, incubated and cared for by both parents.

Each take turns to head back out to sea to feed.

If all goes well, the eggs will hatch in around six weeks.

But the chicks will have little time

to enjoy the security of the beach.

They must learn to swim and fend for themselves

in the southern Atlantic Ocean before winter returns.

By October, the warmth of spring reaches the high alpine meadows

in southern Chile.

The winter fortress of Torres del Paine

gives way to a new landscape.

Spring flowers bloom and the mountain rivers swell.

[music]

A resident torrent duck has learned to master

these icy rapids.

Big feet provide grip on the slippery rocks.

And stiff tail feathers help brace against

the full force of the water

as he searches for fresh insect larvae hidden under the rocks.

[music]

While on the alpine slopes,

Patagonian fox cubs eagerly await

their mother's return with food.

Spring brings new opportunities to both predator and prey.

A carpet of rich, emerald grasses

lures the guanaco herds back to higher pastures.

It's now a race for food to build up milk supplies.

The new calves will be arriving any day now.

This pregnant female joins up with other expectant mothers.

These maternal groups offer support and protection.

Because birthing is the most dangerous time of the year.

The female puma continues to track the herds

as they move back up the mountain.

[music]

Her cubs are growing fast.

They're now around five months old and weaning off her milk.

They're beginning to get the taste for fresh meat,

which means she must make a kill every few days.

The guanacos are now at their most vulnerable.

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The icy wind is relentless, regardless of the season.

Wet newborns are at high risk of hypothermia,

but the guanaco's too-short tongue

prevents them from licking them dry.

So the females give birth at noon,

when the sun is at its highest.

[wind whistling loudly]

With pumas about, he has just minutes to get to his feet.

[music]

His mother provides shelter from the wind

while the weak sun dries his fur.

His thick coat will soon keep him warm,

while his mother's rich milk helps build up his strength.

Only one in four youngsters

will make it through their first year.

Those that don't survive are a welcome gift for the foxes.

And caracaras.

In Patagonia, nothing goes to waste.

Mothers need to stay alert.

Beyond the cold wind

and predators that could kill their calves,

there's another threat lurking on the horizon.

[Narrator] Lusty males are a constant danger.

In Patagonia's short summer, guanacos drop calves,

then immediately mate again.

Bachelors gather on the fringe,

eager to move in at the first opportunity.

The females aren't interested yet,

too focused on their newborns.

But ambitious males don't care.

[music]

Mothers try to shield their young caught in the barrage.

With so many bachelors hanging around,

male testosterone reaches a boiling point.

Rivals compete for dominance.

Only the strongest win a territory and breeding rights.

They target each other's testicles

with razor-sharp teeth.

[music]

The guanacos battle it out,

oblivious to the hungry eyes waiting in the wings.

Distraction is what the puma has been waiting for.

[music]

She uses whatever cover she can find, but in this open country,

there's little chance for an ambush.

Out here, it comes down to a chase.

The condors sense a meal is coming.

[music]

The guanacos spot the puma on the charge

and try to stick together so not to become isolated.

[music]

One youngster is disorientated in the panic.

A guanaco calf is lost,

but the lives of the puma's cubs are assured.

Above, the cleanup crew patiently waits its turn.

The males continue their brawls,

and the herd keeps moving.

Now's their chance to get ahead of the pumas.

An eternal dance across all the seasons.

It's now late November, early summer in Patagonia,

which marks the arrival of one of the smallest migrants

in the world.

These are the ancient Valdivian Forests of southern Chile.

A vast stretch of temperate rainforest

rising along the Pacific Coast.

This freeze-free refuge is now home to species

found nowhere else on Earth.

While others migrate here

to take advantage of a seasonal feast.

This is the green-backed firecrown hummingbird.

Each summer, they migrate hundreds of miles from Argentina

in time for the annual Quintral bloom.

A parasitic mistletoe

that flowers deep within this cold forest.

They rely on the sugary nectar inside to survive

when other flowers are scarce.

Flapping their wings up to 80 beats per second

allows for the ultimate precision flying.

But to compensate, they must feed

every ten to fifteen minutes,

which in turn helps pollinate more than 20%

of the forest's flowering plants.

December is the height of summer.

And as the birds follow the nectar trail along the coast,

it's a very busy time back at the penguin household.

The Magellanic penguin colony has nearly doubled in size,

becoming the largest in the world.

The rookery is waddling with activity.

The pressure is on for the five-week-old chicks

to gain weight before the cold arrives

and the colony flees across the Atlantic.

The demand for food is relentless.

This fluffy coat gives way to sleek swimming feathers.

Soon, they'll be ready to take to the water on their own.

Until then, they pester their parents for food.

The young chicks are unable to digest whole fish.

So the parents regurgitate a fatty, high-protein paste.

It's now his partner's turn to head out to sea and find food.

She joins up with thousands of other parents

making their way to the shoreline.

[penguins calling]

[waves breaking]

Back at the nest, someone is missing.

[music]

He calls out, but there's no reply.

One of the chicks is following his mother

all the way to the ocean.

[music]

At the water's edge, the commuting parents

detect an unwelcome visitor.

A penguin killer is on the hunt.

[Narrator] At this time of year, huge sea lions,

a hundred times the penguins' size,

feed along this same coastline.

The penguins must time their entry just right.

In the water, the adults have the speed, agility and numbers

to overwhelm the sea lions,

but any young chicks are easy pickings.

[music]

His fluffy coat quickly becomes waterlogged, dragging him down.

Mom to the rescue!

[music]

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[music]

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It's been a rough day at school.

With a long, cold walk back to the nest.

[music]

Reunited, he warms up and waits for their next meal to arrive.

The chicks have just two months left to prepare

for a life at sea.

Any that aren't ready to leave this beach will die of cold

when winter returns.

By February, the summer season is beginning to turn.

The southernmost tip of South America

is first to feel the chill,

signaling the imminent departure of a long-distance migrant.

Thousands of red knots have spent the summer

gorging on mollusks and sea worms

in the remote marine wetlands of Tierra del Fuego.

They arrived in December, having flown all the way

from the Canadian Arctic.

They've got just three months to double their weight

before they head home.

An annual round trip of over 18,000 miles.

It's one of the longest migrations

made by any animal on Earth.

Enormous flocks of larger godwits join the red knots,

also here to fuel up before the long journey north.

Buried just beneath the sand is

an abundant supply of bloodworms.

But the birds need a little bit of water to dig them out.

[music]

When the tide is just right, they take to the air

and head to the flats.

[music]

[music]

They only have a short window to feed

before the water gets too deep.

The birds probe and plough through the loose, wet sand,

using their sensitive bills to detect the slightest change

in water pressure.

Once discovered, they swallow their prey whole.

They'll gorge themselves for another month

until they're strong enough to attempt the return leg north.

Over 9,000 miles back to their Arctic summer breeding grounds

to escape the bitter Patagonian winter.

[music]

On their journey up the east coast of Patagonia,

they'll pass over another migrant

who's getting ready to leave the Valdes Peninsula.

By March, the barren beaches of Punta Norte

are cold and windswept.

Thousands of southern sea lions

feel the summer window beginning to close.

They've been here since December, birthing pups.

Now, attentions turn to siring next year's generation.

The males know their time to mate is running out.

The most dominant bulls cause chaos in the ranks.

[music]

[music]

These are the final battles for this season's mating rights.

It's a very dangerous time for any females

who have yet to give birth.

[music]

She has just weeks to get her newborn ready for open water

before winter closes in.

Such a busy colony can be overwhelming.

She teaches her pup a unique call, individual to each pair,

in case they get separated in this late summer rush.

[music]

Her protein-rich milk allows her pup to quickly put on weight.

But to maintain her milk supply, she must feed regularly.

Her pup's coat isn't thick enough

to brave the icy waters yet,

so after nursing, she has no choice

but to leave her pup on shore.

She may be at sea for up to three days.

[music]

For this late pup, it's the wrong time to be alone.

[Narrator] 750-pound fighting males

don't care who's in their way.

[music]

And irritable mothers don't like sharing milk.

[music]

[music]

The lone pups find comfort in each other,

while the older ones playfight and wrestle,

already toughening up to face Patagonia alone.

When the tide is out, the reef offers shallow channels

for the pups to play.

And learn to swim.

But when the tide rolls in and floods the reef,

it's time for the pups to retreat to shore.

Danger lurks in the surf.

[music]

Orca.

Here in Patagonia, they've learned to ride the waves

and pluck pups off the beach.

These seasonal migrants time their arrival

to terrorize naive new additions to the colony.

At high tide, the pod moves closer inshore.

The once shallow channel is now deep enough to enter.

The tide pushes up the sandy beach.

And another orca lines up...

Waiting for the perfect wave.

[music]

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She needs the outgoing waves to float her six-ton frame free.

[music]

These are the only orcas in the world

who have learned to hunt in this way.

For an adult female, every return to the beach

is fraught with potential tragedy.

She calls out to her pup.

There's no reply.

She searches frantically amongst the chaos.

At last, a familiar cry.

The most dangerous swimming practice on earth

begins again tomorrow.

[music]

For those that survive the gauntlet, winter looms.

By April, the colony will vanish

as sea lions disperse along Patagonia's wild coastline.

This hostile land at the end of the world

closes her doors again.

Those that risked traveling thousands of miles to get here

now leave carrying young.

Others must part ways and endure winter alone,

carrying the strength of their bond

through the dark months ahead.

And for those that call Patagonia home,

their only chance of survival is to keep moving.

[music]