Original subtitles

Autumn in Atka Bay, Antarctica.

just a few weeks ago, this was open sea.

Now, a new frozen landscape is forming.

This new world appears devoid of life.

Well, almost.

An emperor penguin.

And he is not alone.

Thousands of emperors are coming to this frozen bay.

They are here because the new ice provides the safest place

for them to breed.

The ice will last nine months before melting away next summer.

And they will need every day of those nine months

to raise the next generation of this great emperor dynasty.

But to do so, they will have to survive the coming winter.

The coldest and the cruellest on Earth.

Emperors pair up anew every year.

And although winter is fast approaching.

The process of finding the perfect partner,

cannot be hurried.

New couples perform a graceful ritual

that will cement their commitment to each other.

Moving together in synchrony is the key to creating a powerful bond.

And this bond needs to be one of the strongest in nature.

Because the survival of every family here,

and therefore the survival of this dynasty,

depends upon it.

A penguin is beautifully designed for many things.

But mating,

is not one of them.

Unfortunately not all the penguins have been able to find

the perfect partner.

And with time fast running out,

this female forgoes the formalities.

But this couple has already bonded too tightly to be split apart

by an interloper.

Penguins unlucky in love head back to spend the winter

feeding at sea.

Because there's no food out here on the ice.

The couples now face weeks of waiting while their eggs develop.

But one pair appears to have got ahead of schedule.

A bulge on a penguin's belly is normally the sign of a parent

keeping an egg warm on its feet.

But she seems to be trying to keep...

a snowball warm.

They appear to be getting in some practice for the real thing.

The days are becoming shorter and colder.

Until finally the sun sets for the last time for two months.

It won't rise again until the spring.

Now, they live in a twilight world,

under the bright Antarctic moon.

For this couple, the long wait for their egg is almost over.

The female senses it.

Her contractions have begun.

The next generation of emperors is on its way.

Producing an egg takes a huge amount of energy.

Such that the females lose a quarter of their body weight.

She hasn't eaten for over a month

and needs to return to the ocean to feed.

She can't take her precious egg with her.

So she must pass it to her partner to care for.

He has a special brood pouch to keep it warm, close to his skin.

If he doesn't get the egg off the ice quickly, it will freeze.

Now, she's free to go.

But she does seem rather reluctant to leave.

He will now have sole responsibility for their egg

all through the long, harsh winter.

He won't see his partner again

until the egg has hatched.

Over the next few days, every female in the colony,

hurries away on the same 15-mile march to the sea.

A freezing wind blowing in from the heart of the continent

drives the temperature down.

To keep themselves and their eggs warm,

the males now perform one of the most spectacular

demonstrations of cooperation in nature.

One by one,

they lack themselves into a huddle.

Creating a giant incubator made up of over 4, 000 male penguins.

Each individual constantly tries to push into the best possible position

to keep himself and his egg warm.

As a result, the entire huddle is forever on the move.

Storm force winds now drive the temperature down

to minus 60 Celsius.

For the emperors on the outside, facing the wind,

the conditions become unbearable.

They have no choice, but to break off and try to get round

to the sheltered side.

He must get back on his feet, but without letting go of his egg.

If he fails, the embryo inside will rapidly freeze and die.

Once they arrive on the sheltered side of the huddle,

they get some relief from the wind.

When a blizzard sets in here, it rages for days on end.

Now, the casualties are revealed.

Battered, starving and exhausted, there is still no relief

for the survivors.

The storm has driven them nearly a mile

from the safest part of the ice.

It's a weary march back to where they started from.

Now, they reform their huddle to be ready for the next storm.

Which will come inevitably.

Only after two months of brutal weather,

does the polar night finally come to an end.

And with it, comes a hint of warmth.

The return of the sun coincides with the appearance

of the newest members of the colony.

In a matter of days, there are thousands of hungry mouths,

all demanding food.

Their fathers haven't eaten anything for nearly four months.

Yet, they have kept back a vital reserve,

a kind of thick, penguin milk

just for this moment.

But it's only enough to keep the chick alive for a few days.

The females must return soon with food.

For some, it's already too late.

The first of the females are returning.

Fat and well-fed, more arrive, all with food for the chicks.

And not a moment too soon for the waiting fathers.

A mother's first sight of her young chick.

With their band reaffirmed, the whole family celebrates.

Now, at last, he can hand over his precious chick

to its mother.

But there are less fortunate females here

whose chicks have died.

Yet, their parenting instinct is still strong.

The sight of a youngster being handed over is irresistible.

More chickless females join in the melee.

The chick appears to be safe.

But it is no longer with its true parents.

The prospects for a kidnapped chick are never good.

Despite their immense efforts over the last three months,

this couple have nothing to show for it.

For those couples that have been successful,

it's the father's turn to head back to sea

to get a much-needed meal for himself.

And to take his turn collecting food for the chick.

The mother is now able to bond with her new baby.

And urgently to feed it.

Its first taste of sea food.

But the times of hardship are not over.

Another storm and another white-out.

For some, this is a catastrophe.

They have tumbled into a ravine in the ice.

With steep, slippery walls.

Chicks are now a deadly burden.

Mothers carrying young cannot grip the ice.

If she doesn't get out, they will both die.

This mother has had to make a terrible choice.

To save herself she has abandoned her chick.

One mother at least is not prepared to give up on her chick.

Mother and chick are safe.

There is, occasionally, a respite from the brutality of Antarctica.

Clear skies,

gentle winds,

and a particularly spectacular display of the southern lights.

The Aurora Australis.

As the sun climbs higher everyday,

it warms the ice.

Soon, the emperors' frozen world will start to melt away.

For the last few weeks, the mother and father

have taken it in turn to feed their offspring.

But it's growing appetite will soon force both parents

to go away fishing at the same time.

Now, it's time to encourage the month old chicks

to stand on their own two feet.

Sometimes it takes a well-timed kick.

Now, both parents can head off to sea to go fishing.

For the first time, the chicks will have to face the elements

without a parent to protect them.

Other adults certainly won't look after them.

So, lone chicks gather together for comfort.

As the temperature drops to minus 25,

the chicks instinctively create their own mini huddle.

just as their fathers do.

This is no time for a youngster to be alone.

If they're lucky, some chicks may still have the protection

of a parent taking a break from fishing.

But for the majority, the huddle is their only shelter.

Even in this weather, adults must still head back and forth

to the sea to bring back food.

The instinct to follow adults is still strong.

But in a blizzard, that is a bad idea.

The adults disappearance

-leaves the chicks in confusion.

Lost and alone, his only hope

is that this adult is heading back to the colony

and not away from it, across the frozen wastes.

With the last of the big storms over,

summer has arrived.

The ice that has been the penguin's home is melting.

These chicks are almost fully grown,

and approaching independence.

Before they leave for the sea,

all emperors, adults and their chicks must moult.

For the youngsters, this marks the arrival of adulthood.

Against all the odds, two-thirds have survived.

But the annual disappearance of their ice world

is a reminder that they face an uncertain future.

Ocean temperatures are expected to rise year-on-year.

This Antarctic sea ice on which all emperor penguins rely

may not freeze for long enough each year

for them to complete their extraordinary life cycle.

But as the whole colony prepares to leave Atka Bay.

These parents have successfully raised the next generation

in this emperor's dynasty.

To capture the extraordinary story of the emperor penguins,

the Dynasties team had to travel to the end of the earth.

Neumayer research station will be home to the film crew for nearly a year.

There's about 70 tons worth of food.

We've got about 15 boxes of white cabbage.

Neumayer has everything they need.

But it's a different world outside.

It's really easy to feel quite comfortable inside.

This place, it's...

Wild, really wild.

It's worth reminding ourselves that, every now and again...

Gotta go inside.

The crew need five layers of clothing,

before they can even think of leaving the base.

As the final plane departs, they know that it will be the last

till winter is over in eight months time.

The plane has just left and that's us on our own now.

Nobody will be coming in case something happened.

We are now all by ourselves.

When the team head out to explore, they discover just how careful

they'll have to be working in this hostile world.

We've come across an enormous crack,

so we're probably on an unsafe piece of ice at the moment.

Oh, my God.

Did you just hear that?

A deep crack in the edge of the ice shelf like this,

can be extremely dangerous.

Oh, my word, it just goes straight down.

This area is definitely not safe.

An incredible reminder of how...

How unpredictable this place is, it's just mind-blowing.

Six miles from the station,

the permanent ice meets the ocean.

This is where the penguins will soon be heading.

Once the sea is frozen,

the team will have to cross the treacherous newly formed ice

to reach them.

Found a decent spot for the guys to lower me down

onto the sea ice for the first time.

So, Will's gonna act as a safety man for me in case anything goes wrong.

These are our first few steps on to the sea ice,

definitely feels a bit nerve racking knowing that there's

a couple hundred metres of water underneath us.

To find a safe route,

the crew must check the depths of the ice all the way.

Ice around 30 centimetres and above is stable.

This is a great moment for us, we finally made it to the colony.

Yeah, it's really special.

When it's this still and there's this many birds in front of you.

It makes the place look absolutely beautiful.

A few weeks later, the sun sets for the last time.

And Antarctica reveals its harsher side.

We think it's probably minus 50.

The sun is somewhere below the horizon.

So, it won't be visible for another,

six weeks probably.

Um, so this is something that we're gonna have to get used to.

It's easier said than done.

Oh, God.

And then the storms come.

We've got proper weather now and really, really strong wind.

The colony is just in front of us, sometimes it disappears behind the snow.

The speed's been hovering around 100 km/h now, since it's picked up.

What these penguins are having to put up with out there.

It's just mind-blowing.

We're finally coming to the end of this storm,

there's all sorts of weird, rattling sounds.

To be quite honest, I don't know how this station manages

to stay standing.

Finally, the sun returns, but the storms continue.

A break in the weather reveals something the team had not expected.

Well, I can her a heck of a lot of noise coming from just over the brow.

Oh, man.

Oh, my word.

There are birds down there with chicks.

Film crews have to capture events as they unfold

whatever their feelings.

I know it's natural, but it's, urn...

It's bloody hard to watch.

Oh, the worst.

I think we're just gonna have to observe them for a bit

to see exactly what's happening.

We've come back up onto the top because the weather's coming in again,

and we were just about to pack up.

And an adult with a chick on its feet managed to make its way up.

It's amazing using its beak,

and then when it got to this last, little bit,

its wings.

Oh, man, if only the other 50 in there could do the same.

Hopefully, the weather will clear again tomorrow, and we can get back down here,

and fingers crossed, there will be a few less birds in this hole.

Two days later, the weather allows the team

to return to the colony.

Already the gulley has claimed more casualties.

The team decide to act.

We've given it a lot of thought,

we've decided that we are definitely going to dig a shallow ramp

that they will hopefully use.

It's very rare for the film crew to intervene,

but they realise that they may be able to save

at least some of these birds, simply by digging a few steps

in the ice.

Oh, man, Will, look.

Oh, my goodness.

We were literally just about to leave, but the first birds

are definitely making their way out which is brilliant.

So hopefully, they'll just make their way back to the colony

and them and their chicks will have a much better chance of survival

because there's no chance that they were going to survive

down there at all.

The crew followed the chicks as they grew up,

and after months with the emperors,

their time in Antarctica is finally coming to a close.

We're coming to the end of the trip now and um...

Yeah, we've had a...

We've had an amazing year.

And...

I'm obviously desperate to get home.

But there's, um...

There's an odd part of me that doesn't want to leave.

What a privilege, eh?

Next time, a lioness battles against the odds.

To protect her family.

Can she lead them back from the brink of disaster?