All language subtitles for The Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth BBC Xvid AC3 EN

This is a first for me.

I'm standing in the forests of Mexico

where every year 50 million
butterflies assemble

to spend the winter together.

It's something I wanted to see
ever since I first heard about it.

And this is just the first of
12 places I'm going to visit

in order to celebrate in this program
some of the most spectacular sights

that the natural world has to offer.

A new Millennium and the biggest party
the world has ever seen

As humans we traditionally punctuate
our yearly cycle with mass gatherings

so too do many animals, coming together in
huge numbers for a whole variety of reasons

Across the northern hemisphere

and the south, every month around our planet,
nature throws its own massive parties

minus 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

We have ignition and we have lift off
and the shuttle has cleared the tower

Technology originally devised to help us
see beyond our planet into space

is now of invaluable use in
discovering more about our own home

Using the orbit of the shuttle as a guide,

we'll make a month by month journey
around our planet

seeing how the sun and seasons
influence nature's greatest spectacles

We begin in the northern hemisphere
at the winter refuge of Monarch Butterflies

It seems extraordinary that during
the secone half of the 20th century

when we were exploring space and
men were walking on the moon,

the outside world knew nothing of this wonderful
spectacle, it wasn't discovered until 1975

and then thankfully, immediately protected

But there are still a lot we don't know about
the way in which these butterflies behave

but one thing is certain,

the trigger that sends us on these
extraordinary journeys are the seasonal changes

that are brought about by the way our planet
the earth rotates about the sun

Most great assemblers
are driven by the search for food

or the eternal need to reproduce

For monarchs, it's a response to
winter conditions further to the north

and someone have flown
as far as 4000km to be here

Mass gatherings like this one
are uncommon in the natural world

and as we shall see many are short-lived

Monarchs cluster together to keep warm,

for even here the days and nights can be cold

but on sunnier days, the dense clusters
are in danger of overheating

Taking to the air helps them to cool down

and gives them an opportunity
to exercise their wings

while monarchs may occasionally drink,

they will not feed much
if at all during the winter

and with extreme cold persisting
further to the north,

these butterflies will remain
in this forest for several months

It's the far north that
is home to our next spectacle

We journey to Newfoundland where
both sea and land are frozen

Caribou are north America's
long distance walkers,

spending their entire lives on the move

This far north the winter days are short

and the caribou use the daylight
hours to search for food

This winter herd consists
mainly of females and calves

They are part of the bigger George
river herd, Canada's largest

which numbers an impressive half a million

When not moving, caribous spend much
of the day with their heads buried in the snow

the males have lost their antlers but
the females keep theirs throughout the winter

As mothers they need to be able
to protect their excavations

for beneath the snow they find
a lichen known as reindeer moss

which is rich in energy and the main
winter diet for them and their calves

Unlike other deer, a caribou muscle
is completely furred,

a necessary protection against frostbite

and their legs have a build-in arterial
bypass that keeps heat in the upper body
where its most needed

The herding instinct increases
with the lengthening days

and the caribou become more purposeful
in their travelling

This is the start of the great migration

as they prepare to leave their wintering
grounds and journey towards the open tundra

As the George River herd moves northwards,
and different strains come together,

winter loosens its grip, spring is approaching

On the other side of the northern hemisphere,

Japanese red crested cranes patiently
sit out the last few days of winter

Japan's most northern island Hokkaido
experiences the harsher side of winter

Unusually for cranes, they do not migrate
despite temperatures of minus 20 degree Celsius

Instead they follow a traditional daily routine
that brings them to regular feeding sites

Cranes live in communities throughout the winter

but like most animals in the northern hemisphere

the long awaited arrival of spring will cause a
shift in the pattern of their daily schedule

By mid March a strengthening spring sun is enough
to stir some activity and shake off the winter blues

but such early morning sessions provide
only a hint of what is to become

For these cranes, the ritual of flying
to feeding sites is no different in spring

Japanese cranes are heavy birds,
males can weigh up to 15 kilos

Flying into the wind helps them to get airborne,

but with feeding sites just a few km from their
roosts, they rarely fly higher than they need to

Display is central to the life of these birds

and the feeding grounds become
the stages on which the Japanese cranes
can do the thing they do best - dancing

Cranes form lifelong partnerships and
dancing strengthens the bond between them

but it's also an opportunity for each pair
to show off to the neighbors

While for the cranes the problems
of winter are over,

another animal has had a very
different winter experience

Like the cranes red-sided garter snakes
patiently wait out the long winter,

but unlike cranes they do it underground

10 feet underground in fact

In all, they have spent 7 months
beneath the Manitoban prairies

and their blood has congealed
to the thickness of mayonaise

The males are the first to react to spring

and despite the remains of some winter snow,
they emerge from deep underground

In a matter of days, they appear
above the surface in their thousands

Under the warmth of an April sun,

the blackness of their stripes
helps them to heat up more rapidly

Having spent so long underground, the males
have lost a third of their body weight,

but before feeding they must mate

Their test-osterone levels are at an all-time
low but this does not deter them

Sperm produced the previous summer has been
stored in their bodies throughout the winter

and this is their one and only chance to use it

The females are 3 times the size of the males

but what the males lack in size,
they make up for in number

It's not unusual for a single female
to court more than 100 males

Attracted by the strong scent
emitted by the females,

the snakes become embroiled
in a sexual frenzy

The confusing massive bodies provides
the opportunity for some males to cheat

They emit a scent identical
to that of a female

and so draw other males away
from the real females

As a result they can increase their chances
of mating by as much as the third

Females are keen to leave the dens
and feed on the open prairies

but heavily outnumbered
they are often overpowered

Whatever the tactics of the males,
the females will mate only once

For garter snakes, their annual
sexual marathon is drawing to a close

With the long days of summer in full-swing
across the northern hemisphere

one particular seabird ventures northwards
from Africa and southern Europe

And there is one place it favors -
Bass Rock, off Scotland's east coast

Gannets arrive in Britain from January onwards,

but their numbers build throughout the spring

For most of these birds
this is familiar territory,

they would have made the same journey every year

Breeding couples are not only loyal
to Bass Rock but to each other

and the gentle bout of bill fencing
is their way of saying so

The number of gannets gathering on this
tiny island has grown 5 fold in 30 years

by May, 70,000 birds cram tightly together

making this one of the largest
gannet colonies in the world

It's little surprise therefore that some
gannets have trouble locating the right nest

A male gannet establishes his nesting
territory when he is 3 or 4 years old

From then onwards he and his partner
will use the same nest site each year

A gannet nest is hardly
an architectural wonder,

but home improvements will
continue throughout the summer

Gannet chicks eat only a few times a day,
but when they do, it's quite a feast

Their main diet is a mix bag of herring, mackerel
and sand eels, served up with a dash of saliva

Keeping the feathers in good condition
is an important routine for every bird

and gannets look after theirs
with exquisite precision

Both male and female gannets go fishing and
to ensure that a chick isn't left alone

one parent signals its intention
to leave by pointing its bill skywards

Air traffic around Bass Rock reaches a peak
as mid summer approaches

A diving gannet can hit the sea surface
at a staggering 100km an hour

slicing through the water with a torpedolike velocity

The north sea provides rich rewards
for these birds

and their fishing trips
can last between 7 and 13 hours,

a direct benefit of the long summer days
as they peak towards the summer solstice

In high summer, America's northernmost
state stages a double spectacle

For salmon it's the once in
their lifetime chance to breed

For grizzly bears, it's an
unmissable midsummer feast

It takes a special event for the
normally solitary and antisocial grizzlies
to tolerate such a large gathering

And while there would always
be the one that gets away

In a good year, a grizzly can eat
some 30 kilos of salmon in a day

In poor salmon years, males will
dominate the main fishing grounds,

females and cubs have to be content
to fish on rivers away from the bigger males

Cubs born early in the summer discover
how to fish by watching their mother

This yeanling has already
learned to be more bold

Grizzly mothers don't feed their young
directly, it's a case of grab what you can

Losing some food to an offspring
is one thing,

but the smell of a fresh catch
can attract bigger competition

Summertime it's better for a mother
and her cubs to hang out in the
relative safety of some tall grass

staying close to mom is an
inbuilt mechanism for survival

Even so, fewer than half the cubs
will make it to adulthood

Grizzlies are largely vegetarian,
with less than a 3rd of their diet to be meat

Despite their baby teeth,
spring cubs take to grazing early on

During summer, McNeil River Falls sees the
biggest gathering of grizzlies in the world

and for bears that usually have home ranges
of hundreds of square kilometers getting
on with the neighbors can be difficult

The common hunger that draws some of the
biggest of America's brown bears together
could also produce some of the biggest fights

But they are for the most part tolerant
of one another,

spending much of the day practising
their varied styles of fishing

The basics are taught
to the cubs by their mothers,

but as they get older, bears improve on
these skills becoming more adept at catching
fish with a minimum amount of effort

Large males weigh between 3 and 500k,
the weight of 6 fully grown men

They can eat up to 15% of
their body weight in a day

but if the runs are good, they become
more selective often eating just the eggs

In a poorer salmon year, every bit is savored
but not always by the bears

With their powerful front paws,
keen vision and a good sense of smell,

some grizzlies become very expert indeed

But keeping a catch isn't always easy

Being in close company with
other bears is certainly stressful

but the rewards it brings are great

and the bears need all the food
they can get to carry them through
their long and lonely winter hibernation

These river bears will stay together
throughout the long days of summer

The Rift Valley lakes of east Africa
are home to some 3 million lesser flamingos

It's the biggest gathering of any
inland water bird in the world

and it's a wonder that can
be seen throughout the year

for here on the equator,
conditions are fairly constant

The volcanic forces that shape
the landscape are never far away

Hot springs bubble constantly giving
the birds their very own steam bath

The hot corrosive water at this
caustic soda lake deters most animals

so flamingos have almost exclusive access to
the microscopic blue-green algae it contains

They spend much of the time with their
heads upside down filtering the algae
from the distasteful water

Special airchambers in the bill
provide extra buoyancy

so that they only sift the upper surface
where the algae is most abundant

The water in the lake is too toxic to drink,

so every day the flamingos fly off to find
something a little more palatable

The volcanic springs that feed the lake
may not be the sweetest of the waters

but they are not caustic

With so many birds wanting
to quench their thirst,

flamingos have to queue politely
and wait their turn

They also have a much-needed
opportunity to take a bath

and wash away the lake salts
that coat their feathers

Flamingos are the most vulnerable
when they are close to the lake edge

A fish eagle can only catch one
if it's in shallow water

so many birds packed so closely
together could easily panic

and exploiting that is the eagle's
favorite technique

At times, the whole colony will join together
to perform a ritualized dance

which may help them
to synchronize their breeding

At the other end of the world,
conditions couldn't be more extreme

While the northern hemisphere
enjoys long summer days,

a winter blackout has descended
across this frozen southern continent

the occasional burst of the aurora
provides the only light

The winter temperatures have been
dropping as low as minus 60 degree Celsius

and thousands of male emperor penguins
have spent the last two months

huddled together in one great scrum

The first sign of seasonal change
is the reappearance of the sun,
a distant blip on the horizon

It seems perverse of these birds
to decide that winter in Antarctic
is the best time to bring up their young

The females are away fishing

and most of these males are carrying eggs
on the top of their feet beneath
a special fold of feathered skin

In ferocious winds of 200km/h the only practical
way for them to keep warm is by huddling

It's a very democratic system, the penguins
constantly move round the edge of the colony

ensuring that each gets a reasonable time
in the lee of the huddle away from the wind

By August, the warmer temperatures
allow the colony to break up

Winter has taken its toll and the males
have lost half their body weight

They're also left holding the baby

These newly hatched chicks can
expert very little from their fathers

After four months of fasting, there
is nothing solid in a male's stomach

but he is able to produce a protein rich secretion

but that is barely enough to
keep a chick alive for a week

Fattened up from 2 months' fishing the females
reappear with magically accurate timing

In such a crowd, calling is
the best way to locate her partner

A female arrives to take over

at first, the male is a little reluctant
to abandon his offspring

Once the exchange starts, it needs to be quick

a few minutes on the ice would
almost certainly kill the chick

Now at last, the chick can feed properly

During the next 5 months,
an emperor chick would eat 100k of food

In one big helping, it can eat
1/3 of its own body weight

Now at last, their fathers
have a chance to eat

but the ice edge may be
several hundred kilometers away

Emperor penguins have a fast mode of
transport than just plain walking,

they can toboggan

From now on, males and females
will take turns to go fishing

Each trip may involve travelling
thousands of kilometers in search of food

With spring now well established
in the southern hemisphere

one of the world's smaller dolphins
makes an entrance

Dusky dolphins live permanently
around the coasts of New Zealand

but at this time of year, they gather off
the south island in pods hundred strong

And being a dusky dolphin requires
a certain acrobatic flair

Why these dolphins leap is still uncertain,

but males are known to chase females
in an airborne courtship

and spring is the beginning of the mating season

Leaping may also be a technique
used by the pods to herd fish

The splashes of the dolphins at the front of the pod
could well signal to others the location of fish

and may push their prey towards
the dolphins in the middle

Whatever the reason, duskies are without
doubt highly cooperative and social animals

Some of the big pods number 500

and reach their peak during the
southern hemisphere's spring and summer

Gathering in such numbers,

seems to stimulate the dolphins to
perform their most dazzling acrobatics

Still in the southern hemisphere
just south of the equator,

one of nature's greatest shows
is taking place

Nearly 2 million wildebeest,

this journey is the biggest
land mammal migration on our planet

They're driven to cross every obstacle
and the Mara river is the most perilous

It's the promise of rain that
starts them on their cyclical journey

and wildebeest noses
can detect rainfall 30km away

The sight and smell of the Mara river
seems to panic the wildebeest

and the resulting crush
becomes more hazardous

Wildebeest like many grazing animals
find safety in numbers

but big numbers nonetheless attract attention

This is one of the few occasions
when crocodiles work as a team

It can sometimes take more than one pair
of jaws to overpower a wildebeest

A river crossing may last several days

and the vast majority of wildebeest
will make it successful

Inevitably though some will be luckier than others

And this is why they do it

the shifting rains have brought fresh
growth to the pastures of the Serengeti

the new grass will support
the herds for the next 6 months

then once again, new rains in the north
will bring them back full circle

Across the Indian Ocean, and almost
on the same latitude as the Serengeti

Christmas Island has now experienced
the first rains of its monsoon

The humid conditions are a trigger for
the emergence of this island's most
common resident, the red crab

November is the start of a mass
migration for these land crabs

The males leave their burrows first

and within a few days there are
spectacular numbers of them out in the open

This is just the first wave of a migration that
will ultimately involve some 80 million crabs

Soon they spill out of the forests
into human territory

Road traffic is one of their biggest hazards

The crabs follow migratory paths
that run in almost straight lines

and they take no account
of oncoming traffic

Their destination is the sea

and after a couple of weeks travelling,
the male crabs head straight for the water

Red crabs lost their sea legs
long ago in evolution

and so now they are in danger of drowning

the water in a rock pool is the
safest way of getting a drink

Salts lost on the journey are recovered
by a quick dabble in the surf

Soon after they arrive, the male crabs
leave the beach and make new burrows
in the forest above the coast

With the arrival of the females the whole
reason for their journey becomes apparent

Red crabs may live on land, but
their reproduction is tied to the sea

Once mated, the female takes over the burrow

and remains there for two weeks
incubating her eggs in a specialized pouch

When she emerges, she joins other females
each carrying around 100,000 eggs

This final stage of the journey
from the coastal forest to the sea

is the equivalent in human term of a person
carrying a 7-kilo-load for over 30km

From the outset the red crab migration
is operated with military precision

It culminates in millions of expectant mothers
reaching the sea on the eve of the highest tide

While some crabs will attempt
to release their eggs from the cliffs,

most take the final few steps to the sea edge

For some, this is their first time

but for others, it's a familiar experience

Red crabs can live for as long as 20 years

This is a dangerous time for them
since they are poor swimmers

many will drown but the urge to
release their eggs is overwhelming

Each wave surging up the beach,
stimulates the crabs to release their eggs

and the retreating water turns brown

Hopping up and down helps
empty the egg pouches

The young hatchlings will remain in the sea
for 3 weeks and then return to land

but only a tiny fraction will survive to do so

Another generation is spawned ensuring that
Christmas Island will remain the island of red crabs

The last stage of our global journey
takes us to the Great Barrier Reef

the first structure built by living
organisms to be identified from space

It stretches over 2000km and is home
to 400 different types of coral

It's the largest living structure in the world

But the real magic of this spectacle
isn't in the size of the reef or
the numbers of the animals it supports

Now in mid-December the summer solstice
is approaching in southern hemisphere

for each and every coral their one chance
to reproduce is about to arrive

Water temperature and the lunar cycle
act as triggers

For several days after a full moon,

the corals synchronize the release
of their eggs and sperm into the ocean

Individual corals of the same species
spawn together,

their timing is precise to the hour

The full secrets of the reef's spectacular sex
life were not discovered until 12 years ago

a reminder that we still have
much to learn about our planet

As the spawning reaches its climax,
billions of eggs and sperm are cast adrift

it's as if nature is throwing
its own firework party

Great mass spectacles are rare in nature

many are ephemeral lasting only
a matter of days or weeks

Today we are perhaps more
aware of their fragility

the last Millennium may have been
an age of discovery

but it was also one of loss

200 years ago, the wilderness of
north America was home to a sight
that stunned the pioneering settlers

60 million bison roamed the vast
expanses of the American prairies

They must have seen so numerous
as to be indestructible,

but within less than a century,
their numbers were reduced to just 600

We may have lost the spectacle,
but we still have the species

I'm in the first of all national parks
Yellowstone in the United States

and here carefully protected a handful of
bison have increased to several thousand

It's true that in the past century we've
been inflicted terrible damage on the earth

but thanks to the work of conservationists,

there is still a great deal
to celebrate on this planet

long may remain,
so Happy New Millennium

Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie
www.mvgroup.org