All language subtitles for A537DBC0066CF49F99B1B0E11A2035EC_eng

A thousand kilometers
on the march are facing

their greatest obstacle
on their annual migration.

Tanzania's Mara River.

Traveling with them are zebras,
some females with foals, and

waiting for them.

The smaller a foal, the lower its chances.

And he is one of the smallest.

He tries to stay as close as possible to
his mother.

Those that get separated are unlikely to
survive.

He's struggling to keep up.

All he can do is kick.

While others take the fall.

The distractions last just long enough to
enable him to reach his mother.

Continuing their march with the planet's
largest herd.

Some animals give
their young the best start

in life, by making truly
astonishing journeys.

And it's not only where they go that's
important, but when.

Mexico's Pacific coast.

The beach looks deserted.

But beneath the sand, thousands of animals
are on the move.

Olive Ridley Turtle hatch entrepreneur,

In October, the sand is at exactly the
right temperature for an emergence.

The first to surface.

Stay still.

Any movement might attract attention.

They must wait for others.

They are about to start on the most
dangerous journey of their lives.

And it's better to do that together.

For the hunters, this is the biggest feast
of the year.

They take half of the emergence.

And they are catching hatchlings on the
beach.

But the little turtles
keep arriving in such

numbers that the predators
simply can't keep up.

And that is their only chance of reaching
the water.

The tide is going out.

Things are getting even more dangerous for
the little turtles.

Their only chance is to follow the others.

Some reach the shallows.

But even now, they're not safe.

Those that survive will swim harder in the
next 24 hours than they will ever do again.

As they travel, they are imprinted by the
Earth's magnetic field.

A mental marker that will guide them back
when it's their time to breed.

Every Olive Ridley turtle
will spend the first 15 years

of its life in the Pacific
feeding and growing alone.

Each will travel hundreds of thousands of
kilometers.

Until one day, they change course.

And begin the long journey back to the
beach where they hatched.

For the first time in
over a decade, this

teenage turtle meets
others of its own kind.

A quarter of a million of them.

The greatest gathering of turtles on
Earth.

Here she will mate, then swim ashore to
lay.

She is no longer a tiny hatchling.

But the shadows are still just as
daunting.

The first she's touched in 15 years.

Now she has urgent things to do.

Her eggs are ready to be laid.

And she must dig a nest for them.

If she deposits them below the tide line,
they would drown.

But too far up the beach, and they could
dry out.

So the middle ground is very popular.

As thousands more adults arrive.

As many as 80% of
the eggs laid here are

accidentally destroyed
by other nesting females.

But so many eggs are laid.

That millions will remain undamaged deep
in the sand.

She lays a hundred or so.

And with that, her work is done.

But next year, at this
same time, she will

return to this particular
beach to lay again.

And will keep doing that for the rest of
her life.

Most of the journeys made in order to
breed have barely changed for millennia.

In the remote part of the Atlantic, east of
South America, lie the Falkland Islands.

Elephant seals have been coming here to
breed for thousands of years.

Here, on this beach in late October,
there are only pups.

Their mothers left them weeks ago and now
they must fend for themselves.

In a few days, they
too will leave and begin

their lives as ocean
wanderers in the deep sea.

But they have yet to learn how to swim.

This sheltered beach-side pool would seem
a good place to be.

But they have yet to do that.

They get acquainted with the sea.

They make the right swimming movements
instinctively.

But are as yet unable to understand
danger.

Orca.

Killer whales.

This is no passing pod.

They travel hundreds of kilometers to get
here.

But at this precise time.

Twenty years ago, the lead female discovered
when the pups go to their play pool.

And when, as the tide rises, she too could
reach it.

Until then, she must wait.

If she mistimes her attack, she will get
stranded on the rocks.

At half-tide, it's just deep enough for a
killer whale.

She doesn't

recognize the threat.

Even when it's staring them in the face.

She needs a pup to be in the water.

But it's still dangerously shallow for
her.

A wrong turn and she could get stuck.

The pups are almost within reach.

She watches and waits.

For one to come close enough to snatch.

She carries it, still alive, out to sea.

This female orca is the only one who hunts
in this way.

And she does so for her entire family.

The pup remains alive for hours.

These orcas have
learned to take advantage

of the seals' annual
journeys here to breed.

And perhaps equally remarkably.

Know exactly when they should come back
every year.

Breeding in safety for some animals means
avoiding crowds.

New Zealand, the last habitable landmass
to be reached by people.

To get here, the Polynesians had to cross
thousands of kilometers of open ocean.

And so indeed does any animal.

But nonetheless, one visitor
makes a 6,000 kilometer

journey across the
Southern Ocean every year.

To the island's most secluded corners.

It's shy.

And mysterious.

It's a secret.

It's a secret.

Fjordland's Tarwaki penguin.

The Jungle Penguin.

He's looking after his eight-week-old
chick.

While his partner is at sea.

Finding food.

If he doesn't do so adequately,
she might leave him.

Penguin divorce rates are indeed high.

So he had better keep everyone away.

His partner has returned to the coast
after a busy day collecting food.

But getting ashore is not easy.

It's a question of timing.

Almost.

Nicely done.

To reach her hungry chick, she has to
travel over boulders, roots and ravines.

This is Deliveroo penguin style.

Dad can only watch.

And watch with envy.

As the chick grows, so too does its
appetite.

To keep up with the demand, Mum must complete
the obstacle course through the jungle.

Again.

And again.

To rear her chick, she
will walk the distance of

a marathon and swim
over a thousand kilometres.

And she will lose up to half of her body
weight.

But that doesn't stop her.

And then, after ten long weeks,
she's finally had enough.

With the delivery service ended,
hunger drives the chick to the sea.

There's plenty of food to be had.

Just offshore.

But, strangely, he swims
away with others and keeps

going for thousands of
kilometres, halfway to Antarctica.

It's the longest single journey made by
any penguin.

And, quite possibly, pointless.

It's thought their ancestors
started doing this two

million years ago, when their
food was only found out here.

And it's clearly been a hard routine to
break.

In November, an increase
in the daily sunlight

heats the Indian Ocean
and kickstarts the monsoon.

In its path lies Christmas Island.

The rise in humidity it brings awakens a
sleeping army.

Christmas Island Red Crabs now live on the
island.

They now live almost entirely on land.

But to breathe, they still need moisture
in their gills.

And the sea in which to lay their eggs.

So they make an annual trek to the coast,
as they have done for 200,000 years.

Lately, however, a lot has changed.

But help is now at hand.

Local people have also
built special bridges that allow

them to cross the busiest
roads at their own speed.

And a network of subways guides them.

They increase their pace for them to catch
the high tide.

In a single night, four million crabs
reach the coast.

Each female shakes 100,000 eggs into the
surf.

They hatch immediately and become
free-swimming larvae.

Most years, the vast majority are eaten or
washed into the deep.

And none return.

But with luck, on the next month's high
tide...

they will be swept back to the island's
shores.

Thousands of kilometres further south,
another first journey is about to begin.

Late November.

Midsummer at the end of the world.

Patagonia.

The southernmost tip of the Americas.

Only one large land predator lives as far
south as this.

This is Machito.

The grey one.

He is one year old and about to face the
biggest test of his life.

Not that he knows it.

He and his sister, Niña, are at the age
where they should separate...

and each find a territory of their own.

Competition between males means Machito is
the only male...

and Machito will have to travel much
further than his sister.

But now, each must learn to hunt.

Even for their mother...
there is no greater challenge...

than catching an adult bull guanaco...

three times her size.

But she's an expert.

The cubs watch closely.

To succeed, she must get within a few
meters.

And then hold on, no matter how wild the
ride.

The cubs

should make the most of the free meal.

Their easy living is about to come to an
end.

Their mother has done all she can for
them.

After a year together, her territory is no
longer theirs.

It's time for them to leave.

For several weeks, these siblings stay
close to each other.

But they will soon need to go their
separate ways.

Niña, the female, will be allowed to live
close to her mother's home range.

Machito will not.

Male territories are much larger.

And to find enough space, he may have to
travel for hundreds of kilometers.

For the first time in his life...

he is alone.

After weeks on the move...

he is starving.

He's seen how to hunt.

But has he learned enough?

Not quite.

To find food, he must keep moving.

Heading deeper...
into unfamiliar lands.

He doesn't stop... until...

he picks up the unmistakable sense...

of a fresh kill.

But it was made...

by a huge male.

He's twice Machito's size...

and could kill him in seconds.

But he's too hungry...
to give up now.

But he's too hungry...

Remarkably, the old puma backs down...

and allows the youngster to feed.

Behavior that is very rare among males.

Machito's courage may have bought him more
time.

But his journey has only just begun.

But his journey has only just begun.

Male pumas travel
far... and quickly.

As a consequence... very little is
known... about their independent lives.

It's thought that few
survive... their first year alone.

With luck... you'll
be one of them.

It's Christmas Eve... and the shores
of Christmas Island... are bright red.

Once in a decade...

the ocean currents are just
right... for the crablets to return.

And this is one of the
biggest... ever seen.

Billions crowd the reefs...

bewildering the locals.

They try to reach dry land...

in whatever way they can.

They need to get to the forest...
from where their parents came...

and where they will be safe.

Just two kilometers away.

But their parents...

weren't the size...

of a pinhead.

Now they shed their shells... changing
their wet suits... for something in which...

it's easier to breathe.

Ready.

But before they've
even... left the beach...

they are attacked... by
someone unexpected.

Mother?

Clearly... adult red crabs...
are not very... child-friendly.

Time to leave the
beach... and quickly.

That requires
climbing... the sea wall.

As formidable...
as the skyscraper...

would be for us.

Once at the top...

they must creep...
through the town.

But it's hard... to keep a low
profile... when you're part of an army...

of several billion.

The world... is very, very dangerous...
when you're very, very small.

So they need...
to watch their step.

The forest edge...
safety... is in sight.

But it's too soon... to relax.

Yellow... crazy ants...

which eat... crablets.

Those that make it through...

are home... for Christmas.

They will spend... the
next five years... feeding...

and growing...

before making...
the return journey...

to the sea...

and then producing...
little crablets... of their own.

An animal's... first journey...

will almost... always
be... its most challenging.

But some...

are especially... daunting.

Young... demoiselle cranes...

face one of the... toughest
migrations... made by any bird.

Fleeing... frozen
Mongolia... they travel south...

to spend the winter... in India.

But the journey there...
wasn't always... as hard as this.

45 million years ago... the land
beneath them... was comparatively flat.

It was then... crushed... and pushed
upwards... into great folds... creating...

what was to become... the
highest mountain range...

on earth.

The Himalayas.

To cross... the cranes... must now ascend...
to 8,000 meters... above sea level.

The higher... they fly...
the lower... the oxygen.

Exhausted... they're
vulnerable... to attack.

Golden eagles... lifted by the warm air...
rising from the steep slope... soar...

above the cranes.

And then... they dive
down... towards them.

To bring down... such large
prey... the eagles... work as a pair.

This chick's... first journey...

has become... its last.

There are... lower...
safer routes... than this.

But the crane's... instinct... is to
fly... in the direction... they hope...

they have always taken.

Until very recently...
they faced hunting...

and the loss... of many of
their... traditional feeding sites.

Then... one small
village... in northern India...

changed... their fortunes.

The people... of Kichang... began
to feed... and protect... the cranes.

More... and more... cranes...
arrived... each winter.

But...

15,000... of them... now
visit... Kichang... every year.

It's... the greatest... gathering... of
the species... to be seen... anywhere.

For the chicks... their journey... south
across... the tallest... mountain range...

on earth... is finally... over.

Until... next year.

In... this... changing... world...
animals... on the move... need... our help...

more than...

The tropical...
forests... of Yunnan...

are the last... home...

of the endangered...
wild... elephants... of China.

In March... 2020...

the forest... was hit...

by the biggest... longest...

drought... on record.

Trees... died...

and elephants... starved.

With a new member... of
the family... about to be born...

the herd... decided... to move.

But... this... was to be...
no ordinary... journey.

Their story... captured...
the world's... imagination.

Here... was the...
largest... land... animal...

trying... to find...
somewhere... to live...

in the most...

populated...
country... on Earth.

The family... headed north... into a
very... different China... from the one...

they had left... behind.

For eight months... they trekked...
through strange... new lands...

but couldn't find...
anywhere... to settle.

So... their newest arrival...

was born... on the move.

That... for elephants...
was highly... unusual.

His start... to life...
would be very... tiring.

But the now... seventeen strong...
family... had to keep... travelling.

And for those... who'd only just... learnt
to walk... every hurdle... was a problem.

They couldn't... and
every slope... a steep one.

They continued... for another...
four hundred... kilometers.

And the further... north they
trudged... the less... they belonged...

To eat... or drink...

they were forced... to steal.

But the... best
friends... were cowards.

They were...

But remarkably, instead of driving them
away, people gave them safe passage...

and allowed them to plunder.

After marching for a year, they were
exhausted.

Elephants usually sleep
on their feet and only

lie down when they
are completely fatigued.

If we continue to change
our planet, more and more

animals will be forced to
make new journeys such as this.

But it was their next move that would be
the most extraordinary of all.