All language subtitles for America.the.Beautiful.2022.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-KOGi

Welcome to North America.

The most diverse
continent on Earth.

The only place where you can find
every landscape from polar ice cap...

to baking desert, and
everything in between.

Whatever the neighborhood, there's
a hero who can make it a home.

Smart, tough,
brave, you name it.

They all have what
it takes to thrive

in the wildest, most
beautiful continent on Earth.

Patchwork quilt of life

Wildness never dies

Beauty always thrives

Under these spacious skies

Every corner of America calls
for a different kind of hero.

These are the Teton
Mountains of Wyoming.

The edge of North America's biggest
mountain range, the Rockies.

With towering peaks
and vast forests,

this is a land of giants.

But heroes come in
all shapes and sizes.

A red squirrel.

Yeah, he's small, but trust
me, size isn't everything.

He's collecting pinecone seeds

to help feed him through the
long mountain winter ahead.

He's been hard at
work for two months.

And he's collected a
stash to be proud of.

With all those savings in the bank,
you might think he could rest easy.

But life's not that simple.

A freeloading black bear.

Darn!

He's not gonna take
this lying down.

What the...

Seriously?

I mean, you got to admire
the squirrel's guts.

He's taking on a guy a
thousand times his size.

If he gets too close, he might
end up in a pinecone sandwich.

He tries the angry holler.

The blitz defense.

But dream on.

The whole stash is
gone in minutes.

A small snack for the thief,

a big problem for the squirrel.

He's not defeated, though.

He finds some new hiding spots.

As evening falls, he's
still hard at work.

And yet more strangers
show up on his patch.

Long-eared owls.

They like to dine
out on squirrels.

Probably a good
time to head to bed.

While he's sleeping, his
worst nightmare comes true.

Porcupines uncover one
of his new stashes.

And worse still, a grizzly bear,
the greediest thief of them all,

finds the last of
his buried savings.

Morning brings a scene of...

carnage.

All appears lost.

But here's why this
squirrel's a hero.

Up in a treetop, he's been
gathering a secret supply

that the big guys didn't find.

He didn't put all his
eggs in one basket.

Smart thinking,

just what you need to make it
in the mountains of America.

Mountain worlds cover one
quarter of our continent.

From the glacier-carved Yosemite
Valley in the Sierra Nevada...

to the volcanoes of the
Cascades and Aleutians.

Most famous of our 300 active
volcanoes is Mount St. Helens.

And the highest point
in the continent?

Over 20,000 feet.
Denali, in Alaska.

Up high, the extreme cold is
the biggest challenge for life.

Drop down to the coast,

and there's a whole different
set of problems to overcome.

In the South, thousands of square miles
of wetlands sit just above sea level,

including the biggest swamp
in all of North America.

The Atchafalaya in Louisiana.

It's ruled over by a giant

that's been around since
the time of the dinosaurs.

An American alligator,
our biggest reptile.

Up to 15 feet long,
and a half a ton.

How has her kind survived

in America's wetlands
for 70 million years?

Patience.

She'll wait as long as it
takes to catch her prey.

It helps that she can go
for two years between meals.

Eyes and nostrils on
the top of her head

mean that she can stay hidden
underwater while she looks for food.

She'll eat just about anything.

Although today, she's
gunning for a big prize.

A white-tailed deer.

The best grazing is right
by the water's edge.

The younger deer have no experience
of the danger that can lie beneath.

She has to keep it real slow.

These guys are too wary.

Maybe a resting deer will
be easier to approach.

Over a short distance,

she can strike five times
faster than a snake.

Not today.

But no worries. She's got
all the time in the world.

It just takes one deer
to make one mistake,

and she'll be waiting.

Head north from the low-lying
swamps of the South...

and you enter the vast
American heartland.

All along the Mississippi River,

over the spectacular
Badlands of South Dakota,

open country of plains,
rivers, and forests

stretch for 3,000 miles.

All the way to the Arctic,
where North America

reaches closer to the North
Pole than any other continent.

In the middle,

the prairies are the meeting place
for weather from north and south.

Out here, you got to be ready
for all seasons in a day.

One minute, it's
green all around.

An hour later, snow everywhere.

Be prepared for anything,

whether you're big
like a bison...

small like a prairie dog...

or newly arrived for
the breeding season.

Like this burrowing owl.

The greatest temperature change
ever recorded on Earth in one day

was on the U.S. prairie,
a 100-degree swing.

Sunny and warm again.

And now, it's raining.

The heartland heroes
are used to it.

Whatever!

This hard-working prairie dog
mom takes it all in her stride.

She's got demanding
kids to worry about.

You know the feeling.

Out here, though, it pays to
keep one eye on the weather.

There's no mountains to block
winds blowing from north or south.

So when the winds shift

and freezing cold air from the Arctic
meets baking hot air from the tropics,

things get nasty.

Up above the prairie dog town,

the most violent type of
thunderstorm on Earth is forming.

A supercell.

The warm air is pushing up through
the cold at 100 feet per second,

sucking water vapor with it.

The thundercloud can climb to
twice the height of Mount Everest.

The low rumble of a storm
alerts animals for miles around.

In the most extreme supercells,

the movement of warm and cold
airstreams creates a spinning vortex.

The birth of one of the planet's
most destructive forces.

A tornado.

Over 1,000 touch
down here every year.

If you've got a
burrow, use it now.

Wind speeds can hit
over 300 miles per hour,

the strongest winds on Earth.

Tornadoes are getting more
widespread as our climate warms.

A big challenge for people,

but for the burrow dwellers
of the Great Plains,

a tornado is just a
minor inconvenience.

Mama prairie dog gets
straight on with rebuilding

the front porch.

She even gets the
kids to help out.

But wait, is that another
change in the wind?

Oh, man!

The heroes at the
heart of our continent

endure the planet's
wildest weather.

Travel out to the
sunny California coast,

and the challenges for
life are way different.

Just offshore from Los Angeles,
there's a special breed of hero.

Dolphins.

The secret to their success?

Teamwork.

There are more dolphins
per square mile here

than anywhere else on Earth.

A gang like this can
be 10,000 strong.

Every one of them swimming as fast
as an Olympic sprinter can run.

Today, they're hunting
within sight of Tinseltown.

Working together, they
scour the ocean for prey.

Soon, they round up a
giant school of anchovies.

Other hunters spot
the opportunity.

Californian sea lions
and diving seabirds.

It looks like an easy meal.

But the anchovies have
a dazzling defense.

They stay close and
coordinate their movements.

The blur of twisting and turning
fish confuses the hunters.

They can't pick out
any single fish.

This looks like a
job for team dolphin.

They drive a wedge
into the shoal.

Working together, they gradually break
the shoal up into smaller chunks.

Now, it's easier to target
the individual fish.

Every predator eats
as much as it can...

before the gatecrashers arrive.

A humpback whale can eat 80,000
anchovies in a single gulp.

So, two whales together soon bring
an end to this Hollywood drama.

Since humans were banned
from hunting whales,

some have made a comeback here.

Including the greatest of all.

The blue whale.

The biggest animal
that's ever lived.

Up to 200 tons
and 100 feet long.

North America is one of the best
places in the world to see blue whales.

Almost as many live here now as
there were before hunting began.

The rich Pacific sustains
these ocean giants,

and also giants of the land.

Off Northern California, fog
banks form over the cool ocean.

Breezes blow the fog inland...

where coastal redwoods,
the tallest trees on Earth,

absorb the fog water
through their leaves.

There are woodlands watered by the
ocean on our Atlantic Coast too.

This is the only tropical
forest in the Lower 48.

The South Florida home to
one of our smallest heroes.

You're looking right at him.

North America's tiniest toad.

An oak toad, the
size of a nickel.

He's got to head out to eat.

The problem is, when
you're this small,

pretty much everything
else wants to eat you.

This little guy needs courage.

For him, a 50-yard journey to
find food is a dangerous quest.

With predators at every turn.

In his path, the
biggest toad in America.

At over ten times his size,

this cane toad could
swallow him whole.

Better hope the big
guy's not hungry.

Oof. Lucky escape.

It won't always be
so easy, though.

Some hunters here are hungry.

A garter snake.

She smells the air with her
forked tongue to track her prey.

She's nearly on him.

But she loses the trail.

Maybe the toad used the smell of
the snail to mask his own scent.

It pays to be small sometimes.

Now, there's just one last
predator in the toad's path.

Perhaps the most
sinister of them all.

A sundew, a carnivorous plant.

It uses a sugary secretion
to lure in its prey.

The ant is trapped by
the sticky droplets.

Allowing the sundew
to slowly engulf it.

A deadly predator...

but just what the
toad's been looking for.

He fires out his tongue faster
than the human eye can blink...

stealing ants from the
sundew's sticky grip.

Who doesn't love an
all-you-can-eat buffet?

Brave and crafty,

he's definitely a hero of
this lush coastal forest.

Inland, America
is a drier world.

In California, humid Pacific air
can't cross the High Sierras.

Beyond is the driest
place in North America

and the hottest place
on Earth, Death Valley.

Named by European settlers

who almost died crossing
this scorched plain.

The western deserts
are the setting

for some of the most
famous landscapes on Earth.

Some are the stuff of legend.

In the stories of the Navajo,

the 1,000-foot-tall towers
of Monument Valley...

are the bodies of
defeated monsters.

The bare rock of these deserts
have been carved by the elements

for thousands of years.

With spectacular results.

The Grand Canyon, the
largest canyon in America.

Nearly 300 miles long...

and over a mile deep.

It's truly awe-inspiring.

But how do you
make a living here?

Rule one. You gotta be tough.
Able to endure months of drought.

Rule two. Everyone,
from this mountain lion

all the way down the food chain,
has to grasp the opportunity

when rain does make it
beyond the mountains.

When it rains here...

it rains here, up to
two inches an hour.

After the storm,

all the locals
come out to drink.

Even those,

like this rattlesnake,
who usually stay hidden.

For this roadrunner,

the rain presents more than just
a chance to quench his thirst.

He has his eye on a female.

But despite his best efforts
at personal grooming,

she's not interested.

So, lucky for him,

the rain has brought out what
he needs to impress his lady.

Food.

The perfect gift
for a first date...

a scorpion.

No luck there.

How about a juicy lizard?

Surely, this will win her heart.

I mean, who couldn't resist fresh lizard
delivered with a shake of the tail?

She's leading him on a dance.

She's interested.

But there's trouble ahead.

The rattler is still out.

The shock puts her off romance.

It's too bad.

But no unwanted gift
should go to waste.

Especially in the desert,
where the good times

usually don't last long.

Out here, change can come fast.

But for sheer scale of change,
head to the north of our continent.

The White Mountains
of New Hampshire.

Scene of one of the most famous
transformations on Earth.

As winter approaches, the trees
lose pigments from their leaves.

The cue for a magical display.

The fall colors of New England.

The color change sweeps
through the plants

and the animals.

Some caterpillars here
change color with the leaves.

It's a neat trick, which means
they can stay camouflaged

while their home
changes around them.

The fall transformation is the
beginning of the great northern winter.

Brutal... and beautiful.

The northern lights dance over
the summit of Denali in Alaska,

our highest mountain and
the coldest place on Earth

outside of Antarctica.

Through the long winter months,
the weak sun brings no warmth.

So, you've got to be ready to
take advantage of the good times

when spring finally comes.

A caribou herd is on the move...

seeking out the
newly exposed grass.

But this female has
dropped behind the herd...

to have her calf.

He's the last-born youngster
of this calving season.

It's going to take a heroic
effort from Mom to keep him safe.

At just an hour old, she
pushes him to get moving.

They're vulnerable alone.

Way ahead, the herd
offers safety in numbers.

She's nearly caught up
with another mom and calf

who are also trailing
behind the herd.

But her tiny, last-born calf
is struggling to keep pace.

And the last place you want
to be is bringing up the rear.

Grizzly bears are on
the caribous' tail,

recently emerged from
hibernation and very hungry.

This bear is more
desperate than most.

She's a mother too, with
three young cubs in tow.

The older calf tries to
keep safe by keeping still.

But he panics.

Mom calls to encourage him.

But she's helpless
against the bear.

Some battles can't be won.

This small meal won't
sustain the bears for long.

The mom of the youngest calf
needs to keep him on the move.

Soon, they catch up with
the rest of the herd.

The caribou choose a dangerous
route to shake off the bears.

Ahead of the herd is a river, fast
flowing and swollen with melted snow.

It's tough for the adults. For
the calves, it can be deadly.

They've only just learned to
walk, and now, it's sink or swim.

The mother of the youngest calf
has brought him safely this far,

but she can't help
him with this.

It's possible death in front...

or certain death behind.

Where she leads,
hopefully, he'll follow.

He's struggling to swim.

He's made it!

The bear won't risk
crossing with her cubs.

Mama caribou has led
her calf to safety.

And just in time, he
found his inner hero.

It's ultimately the land
itself that shapes our heroes.

Just look deeper into every
corner of this great continent,

and you'll find beautiful landscapes,
graced by icons of the American wild.

This is paradise

Heroes supremely adapted to
the challenges of their worlds.

Seed and grain, new life

Striving to overcome all
that life throws at them...

All that we don't even know

and surviving to raise
new generations...

that can call this
beautiful land... home.

This is paradise

Under these spacious skies