Original subtitles

In some ways, the animal kingdom is a cold,

brutal and unforgiving place.

In others, it's a big happy family.

Mom and dad, and sometimes dad and uncles

all pitch in to raise the generation of baboons...

Penguins...

Capybaras and emperor tamarins.

These baby animals may live in a cruel world,

but their family dynamics make it all worthwhile.

These are their family ties.

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This baby hamadryas baboon

belongs to one of the largest species of monkey in the world.

As a male, Tonkai will grow to weigh as much as 65 pounds,

like his father Horace, the dominant male in the group.

As the alpha male, he and he alone

can mate with the females.

In the wild, he would prevent females

from even socializing with any other males.

I got him just under 10 years ago.

and he was quite chubby and unfriendly

when we had him in quarantine, when he first arrived here,

but since then he's met all the females

and become quite dominant

and he's very protective of his group of females now.

He's turned into an aggressive, typical male baboon,

who wants to kill anyone who looks at the females.

That aggression is typical behavior

for an alpha male in baboon society.

And in the wild,

that behavior is crucial to the group's survival

That's what they thrive on.

Male dominance protects them in the wild.

Tonkai is not losing too much sleep

over all that grownup stuff.

All he wants to do all day is have a little fun.

He'll run along and just throw himself on the ground,

and roll over and end up with his bottom in the air, so...

I guess he's experimenting with climbing,

and learning to climb and things like that.

For Tonkai, life here in the zoo is all about the tumbling.

Baboons are tough and he's a baby baboon,

so he's tough.

Little Tonkai might not know it now

but in this group, he could be the heir-apparent.

The hierarchy of the group is definitely the male first,

and then I guess, the male's son

so young Tonkai will be growing up

into his father's position eventually.

Which means that one day,

Tonkai could have a flashy coat just like his dad.

The dominant male has definitely got a dominant coat;

it's very gray and frizzy.

He has that naturally anyway,

but the girls spend a lot of their time grooming him,

so he's got a perfect coat.

So a dominant male will have that bright gray coat,

and the submissive males won't; they'll be brown like the rest.

If he's lucky, Tonkai could also have his father's chompers.

Horace has got massive teeth the size of your fingers,

so he barks and the girls come running towards him

and just submit.

But for the time being, at just 6-1/2 months old,

Tonkai is still cutting his own teeth.

At the moment, he's got his young pixie look

in everything about him;

his nose, his ears, everything's pointy.

At about a year and a half old,

he'll start to grow into an adult baboon,

so he'll start to thicken up.

In the wild, Tonkai would live in Eastern Africa

or on the Arabian Peninsula.

They've evolved to be in an arid area,

so they survive in the desert...

Which explains Tonkai's vivid red bottom.

Hamadryas baboons are well known for their pink, swollen bottoms.

Because they come from an arid area,

it basically acts like a cushion for them on hot or cold rocks.

So both the males and females have that.

The most important female in this group for Tonkai

is his beloved mother Chapi.

At roughly 30 pounds, she is half as big as Horace

and like all subservient females,

she sports a much less flashy, much less groomed brown coat.

At 12 years old, Chapi is a first-time mother.

But she's handling it like a pro.

Chapi's been a really good mother

from day one when the baby arrived.

Some of that was probably learned

by watching her mother raise her brothers,

when she herself was a baby.

And she just had to remember that for about 12 years,

which I think is amazing.

Chapi did what any good baboon mother would do;

protect her pride and joy.

When they are very small babies,

mom keeps it pretty much to herself.

She'll almost hide it from other group members,

keep her arm over it,

'nothing to see here' sort of thing.

It's very intense the first few months,

then gradually the baby gets used to the group.

In the wild, the group is usually made up

of 7 to 8 members

but sometimes it can be much bigger.

No one looms larger than Horace,

the tough as nails, super dominant leader.

But as it turns out when it comes to kids,

Horace is an old softie.

We were a bit worried

but Horace is learning to be gentle

for the first time in his life,

and not close his jaws down when he's playing with his son,

so he's doing really well.

Horace might be the dominant male in these parts

but these days, it's clear who's really running the show!

For the first time in his life,

Horace has got a son, swinging on his tail,

and running up and chewing on his toes and...

So at first, Horace sort of looked a bit disgusted,

and 'what do I do here?'

And Tonkai seems to take advantage of that

and just swing on dad's tail and then chew on dad's toes

like he couldn't care less.

For Tonkai, things would be very different

if he lived in the wild.

Horace would have a lot more baboons in his family,

in his troop to look after.

He'd have a few different sons or daughters to look after.

He'd have to be worrying about predators

and all sorts of different things,

so Tonkai would probably hardly see Horace

during the day in the wild; it would all be about survival.

To be survival-ready,

Tonkai leans heavily on his mother

to teach him the ropes.

She's encouraging him to forage for himself,

walk around, get to know the rest

of his family group members himself.

But as the undisputed leader, Horace is also a huge influence

on Tonkai's development and preparedness for the wild.

Obviously, his son copies everything he does,

so Horace is an integral part

of Tonkai's growing up.

Tonkai has already learned that when dad barks,

you need to get moving - and fast.

Which means dad and I have seen a predator

or something dangerous,

so in the wild you'd have to learn that early in the pace,

otherwise you wouldn't get to be a year old.

You have to know when to run and hide.

In another 6 months,

Tonkai will continue to get shaggier,

and more and more will look like an adult baboon.

He'll be a dominant male eventually.

He's pretty pushy already as it is,

he's a typical little male

so it'll just get more so as it gets older.

If he is still with this group,

young Tonkai could get his turn being groomed by the females

until his bright gray coat announces to everyone

that there's a new boss in town.

With webbed feet, bright orange beaks,

and white stripes unique to each individual,

Gentoo penguins are charismatic characters.

They live along the Antarctic Peninsula,

but they also have a home here in the Edinburgh zoo.

This temperate climate is similar to the one

they'd enjoy in the wild.

Setting up shop here at the zoo,

these penguins have decided to start a family,

and every family begins with a little romance.

When a male and female penguin get together,

they're in it for the long haul.

Males will construct nests out of rocks.

And the female will choose her mate

based on who has the biggest nest,

and most impressive building skills.

The courting ritual is elaborate and very dramatic.

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It's like a small soap opera

because you see them going around the nest site

and there's also other behaviors you can look out for.

When they're courting each other,

it's very nice behavior.

They do something called a "bow hiss",

which is when they put their two heads together

and they make a lovely hissing noise.

And they present each other with stones as well,

and that's a really good indication

that they are thinking about pairing up,

or that they are courting each other.

And you can see that right from the start of February

all the way through until this time of year.

After mom and dad get together, it's time to lay some eggs.

The female lays two

and the parents work in shifts to incubate the eggs.

The parents will communicate with their eggs,

even before they hatch.

(Squawking)

Chicks learn to recognize their parents' vocalizations

while they're still inside the egg.

After about 5 weeks, the baby penguins arrive...

often a whole bunch at once in the colony.

Like any modern household,

parents split their duties 50-50.

One parent will go off and fish,

while the other stays with the babies and feeds them.

Then they switch.

And a huge part of growing up

is learning how to get along with their siblings.

Penguin chicks are born in groups.

They stick together as they learn

how to move through the world.

They often form cliques loosely based on age.

Older chicks hang out with older chicks,

and babies hang out with other babies.

The chicks general will interact with each other very closely.

Out in the wild, it's exactly what they would do.

It's called crashing,

so the chicks would naturally gather all together

when they get about 3 to 4 months old,

and then they would learn to feed and hunt as a group,

rather than having to try and do this all on their own.

It's a little bit frightening if you're very small.

But after they've dipped their toes in the water of penguin life,

the pressure is on

for these chicks to become independent.

They become independent around about 3 months,

so from us, we determine a chick's independent;

once they're feeding from us,

they've lost all of their extra downy feathers,

and they're happy to go in the water

because they've developed those necessary muscles for swimming.

In the wild, these chicks would have to look out for predators,

and the colors of their feathers in adulthood

help protect them.

A black back and a white front camouflages the penguin

perfectly while it's swimming.

To a predator in the sky looking down,

the penguin looks like it's part of the dark water.

To a predator in the ocean looking up,

the penguin looks like it's part of the sunlit sky.

It's called 'countershading'.

And even though there are no sharks at the zoo,

these penguin parents still keep a watchful eye.

They always know where their kids are,

and what they're up to.

Obviously out in the wild,

this will protect them from predation,

from cold, from extremities,

and make sure they're getting fed whenever they need.

And it's pretty much exactly the same instincts here.

Although they don't have to worry about predators,

they do carry out the same life cycles

as they would do out in the wild,

so mom and dad will follow very close behind them

and then they will go back to their nest at night.

And they'll normally brood underneath them as well,

keep them nice and warm and safe.

These penguin chicks have ties to mom and dad,

but they also know the other youngsters of their colony.

After being spoon-fed for the first few months of life,

they'll soon start to break away

to court charming penguin mates of their own.

Its face and light brown hair tells you it's a beaver.

Even the webbed feet help make the case.

But there's no beaver tail on this shaggy creature.

In fact, it has no tail.

It's a capybara, found in South America

or the Adelaide zoo here in Australia.

Standing two feet tall at the shoulders,

and potentially weighing as much as 165 pounds,

it's the world's largest rodent.

These capybara pups were born 2 to 3 weeks ago,

and they all seem to be pleased with each other's company.

The capybara pups get along quite well with each other.

They will stay with each other mostly to feel quite safe,

and also to stay warm.

As babies, the pups were able to walk

shortly after they were born.

And it didn't take long for them to be chips off the old block.

When the pups are born,

they resemble adult capybaras pretty much identically.

They are obviously much smaller, they weigh about a kilo,

and they do come out fully furred

and quite independent.

When they reach 3 months, they will be fully weaned.

If they were in the wild, by the end of their first year,

the males would leave their family group.

But for now, like human siblings,

the pups also enjoy a fair share of horsing around.

Their mom Sophia is always on the lookout,

making sure their mischief

isn't interrupted by some nasty predator.

Although the pups are quite independent when they're born,

the females are very caring

and very protective of the young.

If there is a danger,

the females will defend the pups.

Sophia also makes sure to keep her babies well fed.

But if she's not available, the pups have other options.

In a family group of capybaras,

adult females will take on a co-parenting role,

and that means they'll share raising and protecting,

and also feeding the young.

That means conveniently tapping into their favorite aunt

or cousin for a little midmorning milk break.

Their father Pierre

isn't too big on all this family stuff.

The males don't have a lot to do with interacting,

other than socially.

The females, on the other hand,

will usually stay quite close to the pups.

They'll feed the pups, keep them warm,

and also guide them to food and water,

and teach them the skills that they're gonna need

when they're adults.

The number one skill to learn is water sports.

In the wild, capybaras live around water bodies,

so one of the main things that they've learnt here

is how to swim.

It's a very important skill for them to have in the wild.

What makes the pups natural-born swimmers

is their semi-webbed feet.

When they grow up, they will be able to stay underwater

for as much as 5 minutes at a time.

All the better to hide from predators.

Like the hippo, this little guy's eye, ears and nostrils

are located near the top of its head,

which means it can hide underwater,

while keeping a close watch on what's happening above water.

Another lesson they need to learn; healthy eating.

Identifying the different types of plants

that are safe for them to eat.

They feed on a range of plant species,

as well as fruit and vegetables.

The babies are learning

how capybaras need to chew their food

from side to side, like a camel;

the ideal way to eat tough plant materials,

like grasses and aquatic plants.

When this male pup becomes sexually mature,

he will most likely leave the comfort of his family

for greener pastures.

The capybaras live in quite large groups.

As they get older, the dynamics of those groups will change.

As the do reach sexual maturity,

males are more likely to disperse

and form their own groups,

as they can become quite aggressive.

And females will more likely stay within their groups

and continue to reproduce.

But for now, these pups live and learn together.

Webbed feet and all, with the help of their parents,

step-parents and silly siblings,

these pups will be healthy adult capybaras in no time.

They live mostly in the tropical rainforests of South America.

From head to tail, they top out at 15 inches.

They only weigh about a pound.

They are emperor tamarins.

Adult tamarins might be tiny,

but as far as baby primates go, this guy is huge.

At 7 weeks, he's already reached nearly a quarter

of his mom's weight,

which proportionately makes him the second largest infant

among all primates.

And his parents couldn't be happier.

The baby was born on March 31st

to first-time parents Laura and Roger.

It was really exciting for us

because Laura had never had a baby before.

And in the world of tamarins, this guy's doubly special.

Tamarins usually have twins

and in this case it's just a singleton.

That does happen from time to time

but it's not that common.

Roger is also a first-time parent,

but he did have the experience of helping

to raise his own brother.

So he was able to give Laura a few choice pointers.

Roger stepped in, showed her what to do;

Roger was able to take the baby off his back,

push it onto Laura, to make sure she knew how to nurse,

because a lot of times the first-time mothers

don't really know what to do or how to nurse their babies.

Each tamarin group usually has only one breeding female,

like Laura, who is polyandrous.

This means that she mates with several males in the group,

not only with one, like Roger.

That means she has multiple daddies

to help her raise her kids.

And in tamarin families, daddies are big players.

The males do most of the caregiving,

so baby stays on dad for most of the time

and he only goes to mom for nursing.

He nurses on mom several times a day.

In the wild, Laura and Roger would be teaching their baby

the same things he is learning here in captivity.

Watching out for any predators

in the form of anything that might scare them.

They're showing their baby what food is and how to eat.

Although this guy will eventually become

a great bug catcher,

he'll also learn to find any fruit,

flowers, frogs, snails, lizards

and even baby birds.

Quite the balanced diet!

But not so fast;

before this little guy blossoms to be an adult tamarin,

he has some growing-up to do.

He has to grow in his mustache.

When they're first born,

they have just this little tiny bit of white hair

that you can see is going to grow into their mustache,

and it's just tiny.

And then within the first couple of weeks

you can see the hair's coming in,

and even right now,

it's starting to get this nice little mustache

that's really adorable.

And right below that fancy mustache

is their super active tongue.

Emperor tamarins have a lot of different ways to communicate.

One of the things they use is their tongue.

They do tongue flick at each other

and it can mean a variety of things,

depending on the situation.

Some of it is aggression,

some of it is 'get out of my way'.

In the wild, this baby tamarin would eventually leave

the comfort of his home

and break free from his parents.

At about 5 weeks old,

they start to explore on their own.

Our baby's currently 7 weeks old

and he's really starting to bounce around the exhibit

and he's having a really great time exploring.

Highly territorial,

this guy would travel more than a mile a day,

crisscrossing his group's sizable turf.

But here at the zoo,

this infant gets to stay with his parent

a little bit longer...

even if Mom might want him out of the house!

She is starting to lose a little bit of her patience

with the infant because the infant is huge.

The infant is really big at this point,

and Laura really does not want to carry it around anymore.

So she's trying to make him be a little bit more independent.

One day, Laura and Roger's baby

will grow to be just as big as they are,

with a full-fledged mustache, too.

He will one day have a little tamarin of his own,

cute and cuddly like he is.

Ready to conquer the world.

If you don't have a family, then what do you have?

This truism transcends the animal kingdom.

In the end, it's all you've got.

From households big and small,

these animals are groomed to grow old

and do the family name proud.

Until then,

their families are helping them every step of the way.

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