All language subtitles for Hyena Coast NG 720p HDTV EN Sub

NARRATOR: Surviving off the
coast in the oldest desert

on the planet is a rare beast.

Join the quest to find one
of its more elusive members.

They are not a mirage.

And while local
wildlife fears them.

One scientist tracks
down these scavengers...

...to unlock the secrets
of their existence.

How they live.

How they hunt.

And how they adapt as the
world changes around them.

The key lies with a den
mother named Tosca...

...and German scientist Ingrid
Wiesel stops at nothing

to find her on - Hyena Coast.

This is the Atlantic
coast of Namibia.

Here, an arid desert meets
with powerful ocean winds,

making some of the harshest
conditions on Earth.

Dubbed The gates of Hell
by European sailors...

...and the land God made in
anger, by resident Bushmen.

Shipwrecks are proof of the raw
power in this deadly habitat.

It's in this ferocious landscape
the brown hyena reigns.

The seal colonies hugging the
shoreline

are its hunting ground.

Hundreds of thousands of Cape
fur seals call this home.

But living here
has a steep price.

The cost is sacrifice.

Paid in full to the brown hyena.

German scientist Ingrid
Wiesel keeps record.

It's her life's quest to
study the brown hyena...

...otherwise known
as the strand wolf.

Ingrid: I'm trying to locate
one of my female hyenas.

Her name is Tosca.

I haven't received her
signal for a long time.

And so I'm a little bit worried
and I'm not really sure

what happened to her.

She's the main breeding female
of one of the clans that

I'm studying so finding her is
really important to me.

NARRATOR: Ingrid discovered
Tosca when she was 4 months old

...and watched as she became
the leader of her clan.

Ingrid: Tosca is an extremely
important hyena to me.

I've known her for many years
but I've also known her mother.

I've known her grandmother.

She is basically the third
generation of hyenas

of the group that I started
studying when I arrived here

17 years ago.

NARRATOR: The Namib is the
world's oldest desert stretching

the entire coast of Namibia
and is home to Ingrid's study.

She works out of Luderitz,
an old diamond mining town.

A remote city off the
South Atlantic coast,

Luderitz is exposed to powerful
sea winds that cut through

buildings and boats on its way
to the desert on the other side.

Ingrid's study will
prove a challenge.

Harsh desert conditions
are just the start.

The brown hyena is
a desert phantom,

but finding one
strengthens her resolve.

Ingrid: The first brown hyena
I saw and laid eyes on

in this area, I was in
love with them.

They were so beautiful
and not what I expected.

NARRATOR: The first hyena
family she studies is Tosca's.

Ingrid: I followed the movements
of her mother and grandmother

and I could see how she
inherited all this ancient

knowledge that the other
two hyenas also inherited.

And she really became part of my
life and part of my family too,

which makes it just a special
connection that I have.

NARRATOR: Brown hyenas can
travel 55 miles in one trip,

making them difficult to track.

Finding Tosca will
prove difficult.

Ingrid uses modern technology
to follow every step.

Tosca and other breeding
females wear GPS collars.

Ingrid: These collars emit a VHF
signal so I can actually track

the animal that is
wearing the collar.

NARRATOR: The collar records
specific data

of the hyena's movements.

But Ingrid needs to be within
radio contact to download

this essential information.

Ingrid: Yeah one can actually
find out a lot about

the animal's life and the
animal's activity and behavior

just by having these collars
fitted.

I don't even have
to see the animal,

I don't have to get close to it.

It's all done remotely.

And the beauty is that we can
drop the collar off

when the battery expires so the
animal won't have the collar on

for the rest of its life.

It's just for a couple of years.

NARRATOR: Seventeen years of
study and now Ingrid

is the world expert on
brown hyenas.

Hyena Lady is what
the locals call her.

Her research shapes our
understanding

of these elusive beasts.

Collar data shows Ingrid's
hyenas depend

on a healthy seal population.

Her search starts there.

Originally thought to only
scavenge on seal carcasses,

Ingrid discovers these
animals are true hunters.

Ingrid: It's quite amazing
what's happening there.

NARRATOR: They stalk the
coastline for seal pups,

an important part of their diet.

Ingrid keeps her focus on the
science with an empathetic eye.

Ingrid: When you are at the seal
colony you've got thousands

of seal pups there so you don't
really bond

with one of the seal pup.

It's like a prey item.

NARRATOR: It only takes one bite
for the hyena to crush

the pup's skull, killing it
instantly.

Ingrid: If you study a carnivore
you have to deal with death

I mean they have to feed they
have to feed their young,

that's just life.

NARRATOR: Ingrid also discovers
these coastal hyenas are active

in the day, contrary to their
nocturnal inland cousins.

And she also suspects brown
hyenas are able to sniff out

seal pups that have
recently suckled,

making for a rich
and fatty meal,

sometimes pumping milk from
the baby with its paws.

Ingrid watches on
but no sign of Tosca.

Mothers carry some of
their kills to their dens,

sometimes as far
as 12 miles away.

The secluded valleys where
the dens sit are important

to Ingrid's work.

It's a meeting
place for the clan.

It's here where Ingrid hopes to
see her favorite subject, Tosca.

Ingrid: It's actually females
that are my favorite animals

because that's' the ones you
observe with the cubs at the den

the most so obviously they grow
to your heart and you see

how much they have to work
to raise the cubs.

NARRATOR: Typical
dens average 4 adults,

who bring back
food for the cubs.

Could this one have brought
food back for Tosca?

Black backed jackals' squat at
this hyena den aiming

to find an easy meal.

Brown Hyena dens are located in
secluded areas to offer cubs

protection from the
harsh world around them.

Cubs live here until
they're 15 months old.

German Scientist Ingrid Weisel
hopes the subject of her study,

Tosca is among them.

But she is nowhere to be found.

Ingrid continues her search
at other known den sites.

Ingrid: I haven't seen her for
weeks and I was just hoping

by having a look at all the
den sites that I know

that she's used in the past
that I could find her and see

what she's doing - whether she's
breeding or whether she's OK.

NARRATOR: Each den
she checks is empty.

Bones litter the ground and
prove this to be a busy den.

But these bones are old.

Ingrid: When her Mom died, Tosca
became the main breeding female

of that hyena clan.

And, you know these females are
extremely important to clan

structure because it's usually
only one female in a group

that has got cubs.

So for the whole dynamics of
the clan she is important.

NARRATOR: Ingrid searches
all known den sites.

No Tosca.

Her clan has abandoned
their home range,

begging the question: why?

Ingrid: Tosca is a really
special hyena to me.

I got this special bond to her
and although I know she doesn't

really have a bond to
me, quite naturally,

she probably would
rather be left alone.

But I know, I hope, or I believe
that she would recognize me

and that she actually know
who I am.

And whatever I am doing here is
actually for the greater good

of these animals to
survive in this area.

NARRATOR: Ingrid grinds on,
trying to answer

where Tosca's clan has gone,
and why they left.

What do these great survivors
know that she does not?

A new threat to hyena survival
may be why Tosca has left.

Ingrid is determined
to learn why.

She travels to beaches
of Van Reenan Bay,

where Tosca has
been known to hunt.

Several seal rookeries
scatter along the shoreline.

Ingrid treks to her observation
post at the top of the cliffs

north of the beach.

She finds only jackals.

Ingrid: There's quite a
lot of jackals there today.

NARRATOR: Seal carcasses are
plucked to fill their bellies.

There are fewer
seals this year...

...and the jackals
grow desperate.

A few try to take
down a large seal pup.

The pup remains
close to its mother,

though the jackals
try to split them.

They succeed.

The pup runs to the
water for protection.

He's lucky.

Down the beach another
pup is under attack.

He's outnumbered.

One jackal bites the throat.

The others tear at its body.

The four jackals have won.

Others try to claim their prize.

The smell of death draws more
hungry jackals and creates

a feeding frenzy.

Ingrid: Quite amazing.

A huge group of jackals just
ripping this pup apart.

Really amazing how efficient
they are with these hunting

strategies.

They've got these groups that
form and they cooperate

so brilliantly.

They are true survivors
these jackals.

NARRATOR: There are dozens
of jackals but no hyenas.

No Tosca.

Ingrid's quest continues.

60 miles south of
Luderitz sits Bakers Bay.

A large seal colony lives here,
and this is where Ingrid goes

next to find Tosca.

More than twenty thousand
seals are found here

during summer breeding.

It's a perfect hyena
hunting ground.

Ingrid catches sight of an
injured hyena in the distance.

Ingrid: Oh my god,
this is amazing.

This is a very old
friend of mine.

I can't believe this but
it's a hyena called Halenge.

It's a hyena I collared
many many years ago.

He's the first hyena I ever
collared with a GPS collar.

And he must be - I must think a
bit - I think he's about

14 to 16 years old.

So I really didn't expect to see
him here at the seal colony.

Well he looks in a pretty
good shape for his age.

But he's limping quite badly.

It's not really unusual
because a lot of hyenas

do injure themselves here.

They fall, they
slip on the rocks.

But obviously, you know, there's
quite a lot of competition

between hyenas at the seal
colonies,

so they also fight a lot.

He might have got his injury
from a fight with another hyena

He's out there at the
colony maybe to kill seals.

NARRATOR: Halenge's first
attempt to catch a young seal

is clumsy.

Its mother tries her best
to protect her young.

With good result.

This pup got away.

Will Halenge find another?

At Bakers Bay, Halenge, the
first hyena Ingrid tagged,

is on the hunt for food.

Ingrid: And there he goes...
here we go.

NARRATOR: Halenge
proves he's a survivor.

Ingrid: Wow, he still knows
how to hunt. This is incredible.

NARRATOR: Few predators kill
prey as fast as the brown hyena.

Ingrid: What a successful hyena
to survive in the wild

for all these years.

It's amazing.

NARRATOR: Halenge takes
aim on a second pup.

Death comes with one bite.

Halenge is on a killing spree.

Ingrid has seen this before.

The average is 3 pups, but
some will take 10 or more.

Ingrid believes one hyena
may have taken close to 100.

Since the prey is abundant,
the hyena's hunting instinct

stays at peak.

Ingrid calls this an
over-stimulus situation.

Baker's Bay remains
a hotspot for hyenas,

but there's no sign of Tosca.

Ingrid thinks the falling seal
population may be the cause.

Ingrid: Over the past ten years
I've been seeing that

the population size of the seal
colonies has been decreasing.

The hyenas might have to go
further inland to find enough

food for their survival.

NARRATOR: Could Tosca be inland?

Tosca may be with another of
Ingrid's collared females,

named Obelixa...

...so she drives south
across the desert,

to the ghost town
of Elizabeth Bay.

Ingrid: I haven't received her
signal for quite a long time now

so I am a little bit worried
what's happened to her.

And I want to see if I can find
her today just to see whether

she is all right and just to see
if the collar is still working.

NARRATOR: Abandoned in 1948,
Elizabeth Bay is a shadow

of its former self.

Ingrid: It's absolutely amazing
to think that a hundred years

ago people were living here and
now suddenly the hyenas have

made the houses their home and
nature has taken over this place

again in a quite unique way.

NARRATOR: Colonial Germans
built the town in 1908.

Forty years later the desert
began to tear it down.

The unrelenting wind erodes
every brick and stone.

Making way for its new
residents, brown hyenas.

Obelixa could be anywhere.

Worse, she knows each nook and
cranny of these buildings.

Ingrid: Olbixas' signal now. Um.

It's very very difficult to
judge the direction

of the signal with being between
all these buildings,

so it bounces off all the walls

And I know that Oblixa has quite
a few resting sites inside

these buildings so just in
case if she's inside there

that we are not standing right
in front of her and she hasn't

got any way out and you know we
put ourselves in danger.

Yeah, it sounds as if it's
actually coming

from inside there.

NARRATOR: Ingrid bottles her
fear in hopes Obelixa

can provide clues to find Tosca.

Ingrid: I can get a signal from
everywhere but Oblixa likes

to rest in these rooms so I know
of a very very nice resting site

here and I just want to see
if she's actually in there.

So. ...No.

See, this is the
resting site over there,

and you can still see
all her footprints,

they're relatively fresh.

So maybe she's been
here yesterday.

OK will just have a look
in the other houses,

see if we can find her.

There she is, there she is!

She just came out there.

She's walking around
the building there.

There she goes.

She's doesn't look bad.

NARRATOR: Obelixa is here.

Tosca is not.

Ingrid: I can't get a good
enough view on Obilxia now

to really judge her condition
but what's key to me is that

the collar is not working
properly.

.. So what I'm going to do is,
I'm going to try to capture her

to replace the collar.

NARRATOR: The data in Obelixa's
broken collar may hold the key

to finding Tosca.

Elizabeth Bay
as Ingrid preps to retrieve

a collar on a rogue brown
hyena named Obelixa.

Hatrmut Winterbach, a
wildlife vet, joins her.

He readies a tranquilizer dart
to knock Obelixa out to swap

the old collar for a new one.

Hartmut and Ingrid
have done this before.

They use the cover of
darkness to take the shot.

Ingrid: Brown hyenas
are very shy animals.

We can't use any white light
as we we'll disturb them,

so we have to make use of
technologies such as infrared

technologies and night vision
to be able to observe them.

NARRATOR: The bait sits
for several cold hours,

when Ingrid finally
sees something.

Ingrid: There's a
hyena, but it is a cub.

It's quite small I think,
I would think

it's about 9 months old.

It could be one of Obilixa's
cubs, that's amazing.

There are 2 hyenas at the bait.

There, there I think
that's Obilixa.

Yeah I can see the collar.

It's Oblixa.

She's chasing the
jackal from the bait.

Oh fantastic.

We have to be very very quiet
now not to disturb her.

NARRATOR: Hartmut
takes aim and shoots.

Obelixa doesn't make it too far
before she falls victim

to the drug.

She is asleep
within ten minutes.

Ingrid and Hartmut have
little time to act.

Ingrid: We have to be extremely
quiet because the animal can

still hear everything that
is going on around it.

But it can't react to it so it
will get quite nervous and upset

NARRATOR: Ingrid
replaces the collar...

...while Hartmut conducts
a full examination.

Ingrid uses tissue samples
to track Obelixa's health.

Information essential
to her work.

They inject the antidote.

In just a few minutes
Obelixa will wake.

Ingrid: The animals actually
suffer from some sort of amnesia

from the drugs which works in
our favour because

they often don't seem
to remember

what is actually happened
to them.

NARRATOR: At first,
she's unsteady,

but within the hour
she'll be fine.

In the morning, Obelixa roams
her streets without reservation.

Elizabeth Bay is her home and
the darting won't scare her away

Her bond to this town makes it
unlikely Tosca would be here.

Now, Ingrid takes to the
sky to continue the search.

From here, Ingrid studies the
vast coastline her brown hyenas

claim as their own.

Ingrid shifts the
search to the Atlas Bay,

just south of Luderitz, where
she knows of a large seal colony

Ingrid: I think I hear
a very faint signal now.

Oh that's brilliant, OK.

NARRATOR: She's
found Tosca's signal.

Ingrid: I got a very faint
signal of Tosca close to

Atlas Bay so I really want
to take the opportunity and go

into that area and see if I can
get a signal from the ground.

NARRATOR: Ingrid heads to an old
unused den in the hills

near Atlas Bay.

Ingrid: I just don't have any
idea which hyenas could be here.

It could be Tosca
which would be amazing.

NARRATOR: Ingrid watches
for Tosca

as night settles over the den.

Ingrid: Well there are some
hyenas that have arrived.

It is very difficult to see now
but looks as if there are

2 sub-adults and there is
definitely one adult around

there but I can't see who it is.

You know. The only thing I could
do is I, I have to set up

a camera trap close to the den
to actually get images

of these hyenas to be able to
identify them.

But it's fantastic
that the den is active

NARRATOR: It's morning on the
Namibian coast

and German scientist Ingrid
Weisel sets up a remote camera

to learn more about a den of
hyenas.

Ingrid: So the way these camera
traps work is that

they've got an infrared
sensor which emits a beam,

and if an animal walks through
this beam and the beam is broken

then the camera automatically
takes a photograph.

We've basically set this camera
trap now to record videos

so I'm going to leave that here
overnight

and I'll check tomorrow morning.

[Telephone ring]

Ingrid: Hello ... Ach,
no, not another one.

I got a phone call this morning
that somebody found a dead brown

hyena on the road and from the
area where he described he found

this hyena it could actually
be that it is Tosca.

So I'm really worried
that we've got bad news.

Oh there I can see the hyena.

It's on the side of the road.

NARRATOR: There is no
collar on the hyena.

Has Tosca removed hers?

Ingrid: So it could be Tosca.

So the first thing I do
is to just quickly check

whether it is a male or female.

And it's a male, so it cannot
be Tosca which is really good.

It might sound a bit stupid but
I'm always relieved

when you know it isn't a male,

as bad as it is to have
a road kill.

But if it's a female there's
always the chance that

this animal was lactating and
that basically then the cubs are

without a mum and
might not make it.

Or even if the animal was
pregnant.

These hyenas they've already got
such a tough life out here

in the desert trying to survive,

finding enough food,
raising their cubs

and its always so sad to see
that actually you know still

the humans are the biggest
threat to even these elusive

animals that live in such a
like pristine area.

NARRATOR: Now, Ingrid is eager
to see if her camera

in Atlas Bay has better news.

Ingrid: I'm really excited to
see what's on these photos

I hope I can ID some
of the animals,

so we should be
able to see - Oh no!

The hyenas managed again to
get the equipment out

despite all my efforts

so well I guess I have to just
find the bits and pieces

and hope that the memory
card is still somewhere

and that I can still
recovered some of the photos

and see the culprits.

So we've got the back here.

There are some more pieces

Oh ya I can see it...
Oh God that's good

at least well - it still
looks and I hope we can still

use it.

It is pretty dirty but well the
camera trap is beyond repair

that's for sure.

NARRATOR: The
camera is destroyed,

but Ingrid's determination
never wavers.

Ingrid: I'm just going to open a
couple and see whether we've got

hyenas on there.

(Laughs)

There's a porcupine, so this
porcupine just came out of

the one entrance there.

There's an animal
coming what is this?

Oh no it's a jackal.

Shame I thought maybe
it's the mother.

Let's open another one,
have a look what's on there.

Oh, this is the one
that ate my camera trap.

It just grabbed a piece, and
I see it walking off with it.

And I can't really make
out any identification,

there we go and he's coming
back, and that's it.

I think that this is when the
camera trap was destroyed.

Well we know the animals are
there but basically I am going

to go back and set up another
camera trap at this time.

I'll make another plan and I'll
try to set it up in a way

that it can't destroy it at all.

But this is really good
news, I'm so excited.

NARRATOR: Ingrid goes home and
returns with sturdier equipment.

Ingrid: I'm right at the den
now and the entrance is just

a couple of meters away from me,
and now I've just put it very

high up so the animals actually
can't reach it from the ground.

And I hope this one
is going to work now.

NARRATOR: Ingrid now waits to
see if her quest for Tosca

is over.

As Ingrid waits to see if her
remote camera catches

the main subject of her
brown hyena study...

...she aims to answer
another burning question.

Why has Tosca's clan
abandoned their home?

The answer may be in the seal
colony they used to prey upon.

Ingrid: On this beach, you
usually find marine carry on

went washed up.

And I just want to see -Oh!

This is - this is weird.

God I haven't seen this before.

I'm quite concerned.

There are actually hundreds
of dead seals on this beach.

This is incredible... this...

You know usually seal pups die
within the first month

of being born.

That's when we find
most mortality.

But now the pups are
four or five months old.

They shouldn't actually
die in these numbers.

NARRATOR: Massive seal
mortalities like this may be

the reason Tosca moved her clan.

Rotting seal carcasses would
only provide food

for a short time.

Tosca may have moved, in
order to keep her clan alive

Ingrid: I'll just take some
samples and I'll talk

to the marine biologist today.

And we'll see if we can
find out what this caused.

NARRATOR: By the time Ingrid
gets back to Luderitz

she has a possible answer...

Ingrid: The marine
biologists here in Namibia,

they're talking about a
neurotoxin called Domoic acid

which is produced by algaes.

NARRATOR: Domoic acid attacks
the brains of mammals

and has been known to kill.

It comes from the algae
blooms like Red tide.

Outbreaks can occur when
cold ocean waters warm.

Ingrid: I just think the marine
biologists may be right.

And that we've got a problem
at hand here.

NARRATOR: Warmer ocean
waters support fewer fish.

Fewer fish mean fewer seals.

And fewer seals mean less food
for Namibia's coastal hyenas.

Ingrid treks back to Atlas Bay
to see if Tosca has fallen

victim to the food shortage.

The camera is unharmed and
Ingrid is eager to reveal

the findings.

Ingrid: Looks like it has been
going on and off the whole night

so this is really exciting.

Those are the 2 sub-adults.

Just in front of the entrance.

Lots of jackals Four
jackals chasing each other,

ummm, going to the den entrance.

No there is nothing on there
it's so often the case...

There is an adult - oh my god!

This is unbelievable - she's
got a collar - so I think,

oh yeah - I can see her clearly
in the next video...

that's Tosca

...I can't believe it, she is
there...

Oh God, it's like. It's so
amazing to see her again.

Now she is digging
at the entrance.

Maybe she is planning
to use it or just opening

the entrance wider

Oh no there is a tiny
little cub coming out!

This is unbelievable...

and a second one.

And it looks - They are hers.
I mean, this is incredible

they go straight to Tosca.

Agh they are about
probably three months old.

They're not older than three
months. They are tiny.

Oh, this is amazing,
she is lying down,

she is probably going to,

they're probably going to nurse
just now.

Yeah, she is lifting her leg and
you can see there are two cubs.

The one cub is already nursing
but the other one

is still investigating and...

It could actually be one of
first times they've coming out

of the den.

Because brown hyenas use natal
dens which are relatively small

and the cubs stay inside so the
mom basically

just goes to the den, nurses
them, but they don't come out.

And then only later she moves
them to a communal den

where they start coming out and
socializing

with the all the other animals.

NARRATOR: Ingrid's quest
to find Tosca is over,

but Tosca's journey
is just beginning.

Ingrid: This is great, this is
better than I ever hoped for

finding her and her
small little cubs.

NARRATOR: Two months pass and
Tosca's cubs continue to grow.

Now more confident,
they play in the day.

Their mother ever tender.

Tosca remains Ingrid's favorite.

It's why she worked
so hard to find her.

But now it's time for
Ingrid to let Tosca go.

Ingrid: Tosca's collar's
life is coming to an end.

So I decided before I'm losing
her and maybe the collar again

I decided to actually drop the
collar of

and retrieve all the data.

So on one side as a scientist I
am really happy to retrieve

all the data today
and to be able to see

what she has been up to for the
past year,

but on the other hand I am
really sad because it means...

I have to let go.

I have to say goodbye to Tosca
...who you know I have followed

for such a long time.

So I feel a little bit
like I am losing a friend.

NARRATOR: Ingrid's study of the
brown hyena

will not end with Tosca

the strand wolf survivor.