All language subtitles for Baby Animals Series 1 04of13 Survival Lessons 1080p

What is cute to us
is dinner to others.

Calves like these have to learn
to run and walk quickly

to escape scary predators.

In the wild the giraffe,
the pronghorn, the zebra,

and the muskox
need to learn fast or die young.

(♪♪♪)

(Birds chirping)

This is Lester.

Lester was 117 pounds
at birth,

but just wait
until he grows up.

At just 1 year old he used to be
the baby around here,

but lately,
competition is fierce.

Three months ago,
this male showed up.

And then a month ago
this unnamed female showed up.

She was a whopping 192 pounds
at birth.

The biggest baby
this zoo has ever seen.

But Lester doesn't seem to mind.

And all three of our calves,

they hang pretty closely
together.

They love to play,

they'll chew
on each other's ears,

chew on each other's hair

just to hang out
and have a good time.

All three calves were born
to different mothers,

but they all have the same dad,
Duke.

(♪♪♪)

Duke is our adult male

and he has fathered 14 calves
here at the zoo.

Duke is a little distant,

he does his own thing usually
when he's out on exhibit.

But he likes our female keepers
the most,

his favorite food is bananas.

We give him a banana
every morning

when he shifts on to
and off of exhibit.

And he can be very stubborn
at times,

he likes to stay close
to our adult females,

if they're not going out yet
he likes to kind of hang back

until
they're out on exhibit also.

All of Dukes calves
have hit the ground running,

literally.

When they're born,

they have a 6 foot fall
to the ground.

And within an hour
they're running around

that's to help them survive.

In the wild

babies are prime targets
for predators,

so they don't have time
to waste.

Giraffe females even synchronize
their breeding cycles,

so they all give birth at once.

Safety in numbers.

Lester was born in captivity,
but that doesn't mean

he necessarily had
an easy start.

His mother died
only three months

after he was born.

Within the first couple of
days he was sad.

He made noise,
he went out on exhibit

and when she wasn't there,

he was making noise
looking for her.

In the wild, a dead mother

would surely be the end
of Lester

since male giraffes
usually don't take part

in the parenting process.

But thankfully,

zookeepers stepped in
and took over.

Lester was still nursing
when his mother died,

so they had to find
a different source of milk

to keep him fed.

When Lester's mom passed
away,

they obviously had to make
some kind of supplement for him,

because he wasn't eating
the grain and the brows

the way our adult giraffes were,

so we tried
a couple different kinds

of grain, and milk,
and milk replacement pellets.

It definitely requires
a different level of care,

a more intense level of care.

But even through hardship,

Lester has maintained
a great attitude.

Lester has definitely
a very unique personality,

his mom was
a wonderful calm giraffe.

So when his mom passed away
in May,

the keepers took care of him
very closely,

so he's very desensitized
to being around us.

He'll walk right up to us
when we give him his grain

and he's just
a very good giraffe.

He's got
a very sweet personality.

And now
with these new baby giraffes

joining the family,

Lester seems to be getting back
to his old self.

That's what I love
about the new calves being here

is that that's kind of
brought that out in him again.

He was not a loner,

but he was much more calm
than a giraffe his age

normally would be.

So now that we have
these new little ones,

he's really kind of just started
hanging out with them

and acting a little more fun.

Fortunately, calm little
Lester has a fun friend

in this
still unnamed baby female.

She is definitely
the liveliest of the bunch,

she's a very dainty little girl,

she steps around
all our mud puddles.

She's made the group
very lively actually.

It's wonderful
having all the young ones there

and just seeing them play
and chase each other.

Some of our older females
that don't have any offspring,

they hover around her,

they'll come check on her
and take care of her.

Giraffes grow up fast.

In the wild,

Lester would be weaned
between 9 to 12 months.

By 1 to 3 years old,

he would leave
to join an all-male group.

And then
when he's around 7 or 8,

start a family of giants
all his own.

But here at the zoo,

he gets a bit more time
to just play around

and be a young giraffe
having fun.

Twins are usually
double the trouble.

But when you've got two sets
of twin baby pronghorns,

well,
that's four times the work.

And four times the meat

for a predator
looking for a tasty treat.

Pronghorn are very vulnerable
to a few predators in the wild,

the biggest one is wolves
and coyotes.

When baby pronghorns are
born,

they take a couple of hours
to get up and go.

So mom usually leaves them
hidden in some tall grass

to wait until she comes back
to nurse them.

But mum isn't worried
about her newborns,

because baby pronghorns
have no smell to them,

so they can stay hidden

even when predators
are very close.

Besides hiding

baby pronghorns
don't have any defenses,

so it's up to them
to eat as much as they can

so they can grow fast.

Baby pronghorns
are basically miniature versions

of the adults,
but they are so cute.

They've got
these huge brown eyes

with these wonderful eyelashes,
great big ears, slender legs.

And they like to hit the
bottle pretty hard.

The animals take
30 seconds to a minute

to take that milk in.

It's every three hours
from 7:00 in the morning

until 10:00 at night
and then we start to cut back.

They are being bottle-fed
at this point in time,

because their mothers

were not
particularly good mothers.

Our other mother,

who we affectionately call
Blue tag,

was really interested
in both her twins initially.

She cleaned them off,
she let both of them nurse.

But then she lost interest
and we were losing the twins,

because they were hungry
and she was not nursing them.

But luckily these twins
have each other to lean on

even if they can't depend
on mom.

What you'll see quite often
is they'll be resting together,

one will get up
and start to graze

and that will sort of
get the other one up

and grazing.

Both sets of twins
love to eat together

and they're never far apart.

They're also keeping
a careful eye

on the adults in the herd,

which is how they'll learn
proper pronghorn behavior

without their mothers
to teach them.

So they're going to
hopefully,

adapt
to typical pronghorn behavior

by watching
what the adults are doing.

Watching the adults

will teach the babies
how to survive

like where to find
the tastiest treats,

how to hide from predators,

and most importantly
how to move fast,

their main defense.

And a pronghorn needs to learn
how to use these,

they're a cross
between horns and antlers

and both males and female
have them.

Although a female's prongs
are smaller and develop later.

Little male
is already developing

little horn buds,

so if you were to touch
the top of its head,

you'd feel two little bumps.

Baby pronghorns
have to grow up fats,

so they can survive
a long cold winter.

Pronghorn have
this great thick coat

for winter,
which they will shed,

so they'll be shaking
their coats

and out will emerge
a summer coat

which is much thinner.

Light-colored fur
helps pronghorns blend

into the tall dry grasses
where they live.

They literally disappear
into that grass

and you have to look
quite carefully for them.

Hiding is important for
babies to avoid being eaten,

but sometimes
they also have to run away

and pronghorns
are amazing runners.

So as a car
goes down the highway

or you're driving
down the highway

at about 100 kilometers an hour,

pronghorn can run
about that fast.

That's almost as fast
as a cheetah

and pronghorns can keep up
their high speeds even longer.

The babies often bound around
inside the zoo enclosure,

building up their muscle,

so they can make
those high-speed runs.

(♪♪♪)

It's hard for predators
to sneak up on pronghorns,

they have protruding eyes

which means they can see
pretty far on each side.

Pronghorn also have
these giant ears,

they're great
for flicking flies,

but they're also
paying attention

to the landscape
and what's going on around them.

Pronghorns
are very curious creatures,

hunters used to tie rags
to poles and wave them

until the pronghorns came over
to see what was going on.

Flagging isn't allowed anymore,

the pronghorns still like to get
a close look at the action.

(Cameraman laughs)

Alright.

When they're not
investigating, pronghorns are
usually eating,

sitting down
or doing both at once.

If they fall asleep,

it's usually for only 10 minutes
at a time.

That's because
the threat of predators

is always lurking

and a gentle herbivore
has to stay alert.

But luckily,

these babies are watching out
for each other,

making sure that no nearby wolf
is going to get

a two-for-one meal.

(♪♪♪)

Moms come in all stripes,
but if you're baby zebra,

you should
count your lucky stars

that you get a zebra mother.

All zebra moms
are very good moms,

they're very protective.

And you don't wanna get
too close to a baby zebra,

'cause mom is going to give you
one of those mean kicks.

Baby zebras start to walk
just 20 minutes after birth

and after an hour they can run.

That's important,
because zebra herds

are always on the move
to find food and water.

And if a predator comes around,
zebras have to start hoofing it.

They are horses,

they have endurance
and they can really run.

Zebras are a tasty treat
for cheetahs, hyenas, and lions,

so being bale to take off
and run at a moment's notice

will keep these babies alive.

When danger's around,

that whole herd
will all take off

at the same time.

All hoof stock has that fight
or flight instinct

and generally gonna be
a flight thing.

The whole herd gets scared,
they're all gonna run.

When danger's close by,

zebras bark or whinny
to warn each other.

Their ears
are always pricked up

to listen for predators.

And a zebra's eyes
sit on the side of its head,

so it can see
nearly all the way behind it.

But those aren't a zebra's
only secret weapons,

their stripes evolve
to help keep them safe.

They group together

and those stripes create
a confusing pattern

to predators.

You can tell
the younger zebras apart,

because they're born
with brown and white stripes,

which darken as they age.

Even though
they all look the same to us,

zebra stripes are also
how babies can recognize

their moms.

And babies stick close
to their moms,

so when the herd takes off
they don't get left behind.

Moms and baby zebras
have very good bonds,

they're very strongly connected.

Female zebras
stay with their herd,

but after two years
male zebras break off

to start their own herd
as a zebra dad.

Zebra dads are good dads,
they are very protective

and nothing else is gonna hurt
his herd.

Moms and dads know their
babies by a unique smell.

New moms
usually keep their babies

away from the herd
for a few days

to make sure her baby
can recognize her

before they join
the rest of the herd.

Zebra parents never adopt
an orphan baby,

so if anything happens
to its parents,

a young zebra is on its own.

And a baby zebra
is an easy target

without a mom to protect it.

They nurture their foals
up to two years,

they will not mate again
until that foal is ready

to be pushed away from mom.

But before that happens,
babies have a lot to learn.

Baby zebras nurse until they are
about 8 to 12 months old,

but they also like to nibble
on grass, just like mom.

The babies
have the advantage here

of being able to learn foraging
from their mom.

Besides mom,

baby zebras often spend
a lot of time

with their siblings.

Zebras love to chase each other.

Baby zebras are very playful,
play is learning, play is good,

play is social.

So it's very important
that they are very active.

They're learning
those social skills,

but
it's a very strong herd impact

and they've got to learn
their place in the herd.

Being in a herd
has important responsibilities.

In the wild,
zebras go on guard duty,

one zebra
will watch for predators

while the rest
drink from watering holes.

Zebras only sleep
when they're in groups,

so there's always others
to watch for danger.

Good thing
mom is always close by

to keep an eye out,

because baby zebras need
lots and lots of sleep.

(♪♪♪)

Ah, so they can make sure

they have the energy to get up
and go.

(♪♪♪)

Muskoxen are fearsome-looking
Arctic creatures

with masses of shaggy fur,
curved horns,

and bony head plates.

They're not animals
you wanna get too close to.

Unless you're a baby muskox
snuggling up to mom.

Bulldozer
is a 6-week-old muskox

and while he may look
pretty independent

at this young age,

he's never too far away
from mom Tannis.

After all to a predator
Bulldozer is fresh meat.

She is proving to be
a wonderful mom,

she is very protective of him,

she always has
a watchful eye out for him.

She will call for him
if you know,

he's just gone out of eyeshot
of her.

She is an excellent muskox mom.

Baby muskoxen are born
in the spring

after eight and half months'
gestation.

He was really just a little
black ball of fluff

that couldn't stand
for probably two or three hours

just after birth.

But in the wild,

there's no time to wait
for the newborns

to get their footing.

And baby muskoxen have to get up
and go quickly

and learn from mom
how to survive.

Babies are a tasty treat
for Arctic predators

like wolves and foxes,

so mothers are always
on the lookout for threats.

The mother will typically
put herself

between whatever is the threat
and the baby

as a defense mechanism.

Mom is Bulldozer's protector

until he can look
after himself,

so she chases off anything

that might want to make him
a meal.

But adult muskoxen

can be a threat
to babies as well,

so Tannis is always watchful
of dad Shaner when he's around.

Muskox will show
they're dominant to other muskox

by doing something called
the head-butt,

so what you'll see is
they put their heads down

and literally do a head-butt
with that large horn plate.

It's also
the muskox's best method

of attack and defense,

so little Bulldozer
will have to learn how to do it

if he's going to survive.

Adult muskox males
can weigh around 800 pounds,

so they're not a beast
you wanna make angry.

One day Bulldozer
will grow to that size,

but in the meantime

it's best to keep his distance
from dad Shaner.

Muskoxen
also have powerful hooves,

which is an important adaptation
for life in the high north.

They use these hooves
to break through ice

to get to fresh water
and to dig through snow

to get to the roots, mosses,
and likens they feed on.

But how do they stay warm up
north on the tundra?

Muskox have an undercoating

that helps keep them warm
in the winter,

which they shed for the summer.

This undercoating
is called qiviut

and it's even softer
than cashmere.

It is highly valued for sweaters
and scarves.

Muskoxen shed their qiviut
by rubbing it off

on rocks and trees.

Here at the zoo,

they have a nice rubbing post
to use.

Even though Bulldozer won't need
to shed his baby qiviut

until the following spring,

mom is making sure
he gets the idea for next year.

During his first winter

Bulldozer will be sticking close
to his mom

and her thick adult qiviut.

But the layers that help
muskoxen survive the winter

can make the summer heat
pretty intense,

even after an adult
has shed their qiviut.

One of the adaptations
you will see with the muskox

in the summer heat
is they will just lay down

and stay very quiet and still.

And to stay cool
what you'll see

is almost their body
moving up and down,

it's kinda like panting
like a dog does

that just releases the heat
that they're feeling.

Muskoxen can run
up to 25 miles an hour,

but they usually
prefer to move slowly,

because they can overheat
so quickly.

They will even lie down to eat.

It's all typical,
very healthy muskox behavior.

Bulldozer is grazing
for greenery

like the rest of the herd,

but he's still nursing
from time to time.

A muskox when they are
nursing

typically go underneath
all that fur,

it's hard to even see
how they do it,

but they go under
and they just toss

with their head
to find that nipple.

But little Bulldozer
can't nurse forever.

The mother is starting to
wean her young muskox,

the behavior is
quite often she will walk away,

she will butt him
with his head.

She generally
is discouraging him from nursing

and going underneath her.

By encouraging Bulldozer

to get most of his food
from grazing

rather than nursing,

Tannis is making sure
he can get along without her

when he's ready.

That includes showing him
the tastiest morsels of food

he can graze on.

During their first winter

baby muskoxen
are still very dependent

on their mothers
for warmth and protection

even if
they're no longer nursing.

Male muskoxen reach adulthood
at 3 or 4 years old,

but it isn't
until they're 6 or 7

when they start competing
with other males

for dominance of a herd.

It's a dramatic scene
in the summer

with the male muskoxen charging
and head-butting each other.

The younger muskoxen

usually aren't strong enough
to compete

and end up being forced out
and having to start

their own herds.

But for now young Bulldozer
is still safe with mom,

learning the dos and don'ts
of how to survive as a muskox.

(♪♪♪)

Staying alive is important
when you're a cute little calf

and these bright-eyed beasts
hit the ground running.

With mom not always around
to save them,

they need to protect themselves
until they're big and strong.

These calves
need to learn quickly

to stay alive.

(♪♪♪)

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