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[wind howling]
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[Morgan Freeman] For 90%
of our planet's history,
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it has been too warm for ice to form.
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So when the Ice Age hit
two and a half million years ago,
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its impact was huge.
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[poignant music playing]
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[grunting]
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This is the story of a great freeze
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and the rise of a dynasty
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that would bring life
to the brink of extinction.
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[music intensifies]
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- [music ends]
- [echoing howls]
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{\an8}[rousing music playing]
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[snarling]
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{\an8}[trilling]
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{\an8}[screeching]
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{\an8}[rousing music continues]
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[growling]
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[wind howling]
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{\an8}[rumbling]
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[rousing music intensifies]
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[music fades]
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[ambient music playing]
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[bird caws]
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{\an8}[ethereal vocalizing]
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Yellowstone is one of the coldest places
in America.
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In winter, it still endures
some of the same freezing conditions
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that an ice age brings.
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[grunting]
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Temperatures can drop
below minus 50 degrees.
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Only those built for the cold can survive.
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A bison's thick coat
is such good insulation,
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they need little energy to keep warm...
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which is just as well,
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as grass is hard to find beneath the snow.
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[snorts]
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But bison aren't
the only hungry ones here.
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[high-pitched squawking]
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[howling]
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Wolves can also withstand
the coldest of winters...
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and have been hunting bison in America
for more than 100,000 years.
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[grunting]
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To split up the herd...
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[snorts]
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...the pack needs to get them moving.
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[bison grunting]
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Panic gives the wolves control.
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[tense music playing]
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The herd must stick together.
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One trip could prove fatal.
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But the bison can't run forever,
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especially in the deep snow.
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[grunting]
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[wolves whining, growling]
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[wolf growls]
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[grunting]
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Their only hope
is to turn and face their pursuers.
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[panting]
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[grunting]
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Only then does the pack finally relent.
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[bison grunting]
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But no matter where they go,
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the wolves will follow.
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Age-old enemies that have been
locked in battle for millennia.
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Yet these ancient adversaries are lucky...
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for they can look forward
to the end of winter
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and the relief of spring.
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[bison bellowing]
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But there was a time when winter
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{\an8}never seemed to end.
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{\an8}Two and a half million years ago,
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changes in the Earth's orbit,
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ocean currents, and carbon dioxide levels
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led to an abrupt cooling of the planet.
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The great Ice Age had begun...
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[ethereal music playing]
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...and it started
with the tiniest of things.
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On its own, a snowflake
is a fragile, frozen wonder.
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No two the same.
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But together,
snowflakes changed the world.
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Without warm summers to melt them,
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snow blanketed the north of the globe...
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[music ends]
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...and, over thousands of years, compacted
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to form permanent ice sheets
several kilometers thick.
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Here, in this silent realm,
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life was frozen out of existence.
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But south of the ice sheets,
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a new world was created
where life could thrive.
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Circling almost
the entire Northern Hemisphere,
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{\an8}the tundra-steppe
became Earth's most extensive habitat.
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Mammals that adapted well to the cold
dominated these frigid lands...
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including the largest
and most iconic of them all...
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[creatures rumbling]
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...woolly mammoths.
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Their elephant-like ancestors
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left Africa millions of years earlier
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and evolved
into these highly specialized beasts.
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[rumbling]
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Long hair, smaller ears, and shorter tails
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help them conserve heat in the cold.
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[roaring]
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They are guided by an old female,
the matriarch,
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who passes her knowledge
down the generations.
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[roars]
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Generations she needs to keep safe.
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[roaring, snorting]
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[ominous music playing]
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[growling]
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[snarling]
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Bigger than lions today,
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cave lions can bring down
the very largest of prey.
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[mewling]
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But smaller is easier.
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With little cover,
the brazen cats don't even try to hide.
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Instead, they bide their time,
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waiting for the right moment.
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The calf must stay close
to its protectors...
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but the hunters have him in their sights.
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[grunting]
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[trumpeting]
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[roaring]
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- [snarling]
- [mammoths trumpeting]
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The mammoths form a wall of tusks...
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[snarling]
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...but the lions aren't going anywhere.
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[snarling]
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[snarling]
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[roaring]
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[trumpeting]
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[snarling]
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The matriarch has had enough...
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- [snarling]
- [trumpeting]
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...but one of the hunters
spots an opportunity.
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[tense music playing]
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[snarling]
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- [growls]
- [bellowing]
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The teenager will never stray
from the herd again.
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[snarling]
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[growling]
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[roaring]
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[snarling]
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Now it's the lions' turn to defend.
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- [roaring]
- [snarling]
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The calf's mother...
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[roaring]
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...knows it's a lost cause.
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They have no choice but to back down
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and protect the generations that remain.
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All they can do
is continue their migration
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across the cold tundra-steppe.
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While ice never completely
engulfed the planet,
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its impact was still felt
across the globe...
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sometimes in the most unexpected ways.
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With most of the world's water
locked up as ice,
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the land became increasingly dry.
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00:14:06,804 --> 00:14:09,974
This is the flip side of an ice age.
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South of the tundra-steppe,
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the deserts almost doubled in size,
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devouring everything in their path.
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[unsettling music playing]
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[whispered vocalizing]
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Only desert specialists that had evolved
to withstand extreme heat
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could survive such hostile conditions.
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But the drying didn't stop there.
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Even further south,
Africa's tropical rainforests,
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stable sanctuaries for life
for over 50 million years,
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almost completely disappeared...
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[stirring music playing]
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[music ends abruptly]
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...replaced by a vast expanse
of dry forest and grassland.
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The impact on life was huge,
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not least on one group of animals...
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[honks, yaps]
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...the primates.
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Baboons share 94% of their DNA with us,
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as well as a crucial part of our story.
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The descent from the treetops
to a life on the forest floor.
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Down here, during the Ice Age,
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our cousins faced many new challenges.
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Life on the ground is more dangerous...
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[tense music playing]
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[baboon barking]
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...home to large predators.
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Fortunately, what primates lack
in strength and size,
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we make up for
with intelligence and large families.
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[gentle music playing]
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But finding enough food
to feed many mouths...
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[chirping]
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...is a constant challenge.
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[elephant growling]
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So when food is found,
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it attracts plenty of attention.
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[grunting]
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- And where there's a precious resource...
- [elephant snorts]
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[screeching]
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...conflict is inevitable...
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- [warthog squeals]
- [baboon grunts]
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...not least with your own kind.
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[tense, dramatic music playing]
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A rival troop
with no appetite for sharing.
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[barks]
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[clicking]
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[grunting]
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- [barking]
- [screeching]
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In the dry forest,
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every fruit is worth fighting for...
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[screeching]
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[barking]
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...and every fight counts.
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[energetic music playing]
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[screeching]
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[screeching]
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00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:04,685
[screeching]
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00:19:08,147 --> 00:19:09,231
[music slows]
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[screeching]
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The rival troop cut their losses.
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00:19:18,365 --> 00:19:20,701
- [clicking]
- But they'll be back.
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00:19:27,666 --> 00:19:31,170
To overcome the challenges
of a more hostile world,
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primates relied
on their social intelligence,
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a trait that, in time,
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would lead to one species of primate
achieving global domination.
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[ominous music playing]
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{\an8}[music ends]
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The buildup of ice in the north
affected the climate across the planet.
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00:20:08,916 --> 00:20:12,920
But just as life got used
to colder, drier conditions,
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everything changed.
228
00:20:21,511 --> 00:20:25,891
The ice began to melt
as Earth's orbit shifted once more
229
00:20:28,060 --> 00:20:31,730
and global temperatures began to rise.
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00:20:31,813 --> 00:20:33,982
[somber music playing]
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What started as a series
of meltwater streams
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soon turned into a deluge.
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00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:49,248
[somber music continues]
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00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:09,142
In North America, the meltwater
formed an enormous glacial lake
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600 meters deep
and covering 10,000 square kilometers.
236
00:21:21,238 --> 00:21:25,534
The only thing stopping the water
from flooding the land to the west
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was a towering wall of ice.
238
00:21:35,127 --> 00:21:40,590
On the far side,
the wall was almost a kilometer high...
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00:21:40,674 --> 00:21:43,427
[ominous music playing]
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...a seemingly unstoppable barrier...
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but not for much longer.
242
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[faint rumbling]
243
00:22:00,485 --> 00:22:05,699
As temperatures kept rising
and the meltwater lake kept growing,
244
00:22:06,533 --> 00:22:09,453
the pressure from behind increased.
245
00:22:09,536 --> 00:22:11,538
[creaking, rumbling]
246
00:22:18,128 --> 00:22:23,133
Before long, the walls started to crumble
from the inside out...
247
00:22:38,023 --> 00:22:41,818
until finally, catastrophic collapse.
248
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[dramatic music playing]
249
00:23:17,646 --> 00:23:23,276
In an instant, a lake the size
of the Irish Sea is unleashed.
250
00:23:41,169 --> 00:23:42,796
[music fades]
251
00:23:42,879 --> 00:23:44,881
[birds tweeting]
252
00:23:45,882 --> 00:23:47,676
Thirty kilometers south,
253
00:23:48,176 --> 00:23:51,680
and the first hint
of the coming apocalypse.
254
00:23:53,807 --> 00:23:55,475
[faint rumbling]
255
00:23:55,559 --> 00:23:56,768
Tremors.
256
00:23:58,854 --> 00:23:59,896
[chirping]
257
00:23:59,980 --> 00:24:01,565
They sense danger...
258
00:24:02,399 --> 00:24:04,526
[whinnying]
259
00:24:04,609 --> 00:24:06,445
...but there's nowhere to hide.
260
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:08,530
[rumbling intensifies]
261
00:24:21,001 --> 00:24:22,752
[whinnying]
262
00:24:27,215 --> 00:24:31,428
The first they see is a wall of dust.
263
00:24:35,056 --> 00:24:36,808
A hundred meters high,
264
00:24:37,434 --> 00:24:40,353
it's the vanguard of a giant tsunami.
265
00:24:49,905 --> 00:24:52,616
[epic music playing]
266
00:25:16,598 --> 00:25:18,975
[music fades]
267
00:25:19,059 --> 00:25:21,311
In just ten hours,
268
00:25:21,394 --> 00:25:25,357
the megaflood smashes
an 800-kilometer-long path
269
00:25:25,982 --> 00:25:29,861
through the American continent,
all the way to the ocean.
270
00:25:30,904 --> 00:25:32,906
[mournful music playing]
271
00:25:40,497 --> 00:25:44,292
Natural wonders that might otherwise
take millennia to form
272
00:25:45,210 --> 00:25:47,963
are created in a matter of hours.
273
00:25:49,089 --> 00:25:51,091
[ethereal music playing]
274
00:26:01,059 --> 00:26:05,063
But these spectacles are short-lived.
275
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:13,905
Just a few days later,
276
00:26:14,698 --> 00:26:16,741
all that remains
277
00:26:18,034 --> 00:26:19,786
is an eerie silence.
278
00:26:19,869 --> 00:26:22,122
[music fades to silence]
279
00:26:28,211 --> 00:26:34,884
The indelible scars of this megaflood
still mark the American landscape today...
280
00:26:38,138 --> 00:26:41,600
yet since the dawn of the Ice Age,
281
00:26:41,683 --> 00:26:46,688
there have been more than 50 cycles
of ice buildup and melt...
282
00:26:49,232 --> 00:26:53,153
each causing its own epic floods.
283
00:26:53,236 --> 00:26:55,238
[optimistic music playing]
284
00:26:59,784 --> 00:27:03,288
Once the turmoil
of the last great melt subsided,
285
00:27:04,289 --> 00:27:07,167
balance slowly returned across the land.
286
00:27:15,508 --> 00:27:17,677
Rainfall became more regular...
287
00:27:19,971 --> 00:27:22,390
allowing forests to bounce back.
288
00:27:22,474 --> 00:27:24,476
[chirping, tweeting]
289
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:29,689
Deserts shrunk and greened
290
00:27:30,357 --> 00:27:33,360
as, once again, water flowed.
291
00:27:39,407 --> 00:27:41,409
And where water flows,
292
00:27:41,993 --> 00:27:44,746
life soon follows.
293
00:27:53,922 --> 00:27:55,882
Europe's Danube delta
294
00:27:55,965 --> 00:27:59,010
is one of the largest wetlands
in the world.
295
00:28:00,470 --> 00:28:03,056
It formed after the last great melt
296
00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:07,936
and quickly became home
to an incredible wealth of animal life.
297
00:28:14,484 --> 00:28:16,444
With so much food on offer,
298
00:28:16,528 --> 00:28:19,948
whiskered terns travel
thousands of kilometers
299
00:28:20,031 --> 00:28:21,866
to breed in these rich waters.
300
00:28:23,660 --> 00:28:26,371
It's the perfect place to raise a family...
301
00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:30,083
[chirping]
302
00:28:32,419 --> 00:28:36,047
...but it's a wasted journey
303
00:28:36,631 --> 00:28:40,510
if a male arrives too late
to find a female.
304
00:28:46,933 --> 00:28:52,480
All he can do
is watch the success of others.
305
00:28:52,564 --> 00:28:53,606
[chirping]
306
00:28:53,690 --> 00:28:55,692
[slow, playful music playing]
307
00:29:00,697 --> 00:29:02,365
With his rival gone...
308
00:29:02,449 --> 00:29:03,658
[chirping]
309
00:29:03,742 --> 00:29:05,285
...now is his chance.
310
00:29:13,918 --> 00:29:15,587
[chirping]
311
00:29:18,381 --> 00:29:20,175
Food makes an excellent gift...
312
00:29:20,842 --> 00:29:21,843
[chirping]
313
00:29:23,511 --> 00:29:25,930
...but she's not impressed.
314
00:29:27,140 --> 00:29:29,350
[chirping]
315
00:29:33,313 --> 00:29:36,649
He tries his luck nonetheless...
316
00:29:39,694 --> 00:29:40,820
but to no avail.
317
00:29:42,238 --> 00:29:43,531
[chirps]
318
00:29:46,409 --> 00:29:50,747
The spurned male must dine alone.
319
00:29:54,417 --> 00:29:59,798
Only when life is so bountiful
can females afford to be so choosy.
320
00:30:01,257 --> 00:30:03,259
[chirping]
321
00:30:08,807 --> 00:30:10,725
[chirping]
322
00:30:10,809 --> 00:30:15,271
The end of the Ice Age
ushered in not only a time of plenty...
323
00:30:18,525 --> 00:30:22,570
but also a time
of great climate stability...
324
00:30:25,073 --> 00:30:28,785
a time known as the Holocene.
325
00:30:44,175 --> 00:30:48,263
During this period,
warm, wet conditions prevailed...
326
00:30:48,346 --> 00:30:49,389
[trumpeting]
327
00:30:49,472 --> 00:30:51,432
...and average global temperatures
328
00:30:51,516 --> 00:30:55,228
fluctuated by
less than one degree Celsius,
329
00:30:56,771 --> 00:31:01,818
allowing life to flourish
in every corner of the world...
330
00:31:03,403 --> 00:31:05,363
[squawking]
331
00:31:08,616 --> 00:31:13,663
...each species boasting
an unbroken line of ancestry
332
00:31:13,746 --> 00:31:16,833
stretching back four billion years
333
00:31:16,916 --> 00:31:19,794
to the very origin of life on Earth.
334
00:31:20,461 --> 00:31:23,131
[gentle music playing]
335
00:31:33,892 --> 00:31:35,184
[trilling]
336
00:31:42,108 --> 00:31:44,110
[music fades]
337
00:31:45,278 --> 00:31:50,158
However, not everything thrived
during the Holocene.
338
00:31:53,786 --> 00:31:59,167
A strange and highly selective extinction
was underway.
339
00:32:01,252 --> 00:32:02,921
Across the planet,
340
00:32:03,004 --> 00:32:06,174
the largest land animals
were disappearing.
341
00:32:07,342 --> 00:32:12,805
Mammoths, cave lions,
and hundreds of other species vanished.
342
00:32:15,683 --> 00:32:18,186
North America was particularly hard-hit,
343
00:32:19,103 --> 00:32:22,649
losing over 70% of its giants...
344
00:32:25,777 --> 00:32:27,278
but not all.
345
00:32:29,697 --> 00:32:32,033
In the absence of competitors,
346
00:32:32,951 --> 00:32:36,079
bison took over the great plains...
347
00:32:36,162 --> 00:32:39,624
- [grunting]
- ...roaming in huge numbers.
348
00:32:55,306 --> 00:32:57,392
- [grunting]
- But they weren't alone.
349
00:32:57,475 --> 00:32:59,602
[ominous music playing]
350
00:33:04,107 --> 00:33:06,985
With fewer big prey to choose from,
351
00:33:08,987 --> 00:33:12,490
bison became the focus
of another group of survivors.
352
00:33:16,285 --> 00:33:18,287
[grunting]
353
00:33:20,873 --> 00:33:23,459
Age-old enemies.
354
00:33:27,380 --> 00:33:31,426
Their best defense
is to keep an eye on the danger,
355
00:33:33,094 --> 00:33:36,431
stick together, and calmly move on.
356
00:33:40,935 --> 00:33:43,229
But these are no ordinary hunters...
357
00:33:45,565 --> 00:33:47,567
[grunting]
358
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,698
...for the Ice Age saw the spread
of a new predator.
359
00:33:54,699 --> 00:33:56,701
[ominous music continues]
360
00:34:01,581 --> 00:34:02,707
Like wolves,
361
00:34:03,499 --> 00:34:05,334
we hunted in groups.
362
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,299
And what we lacked in strength and speed...
363
00:34:13,634 --> 00:34:18,264
we made up for
with intelligence and cunning.
364
00:34:21,225 --> 00:34:25,188
The evolution of our large, complex brains
365
00:34:25,271 --> 00:34:28,066
had set us apart from other primates
366
00:34:29,484 --> 00:34:33,780
and enabled us to hunt
in increasingly sophisticated ways.
367
00:34:33,863 --> 00:34:36,908
[slow, majestic music playing]
368
00:34:39,285 --> 00:34:40,912
Mimicking wolves
369
00:34:42,038 --> 00:34:45,166
and using carefully placed stone stacks,
370
00:34:46,751 --> 00:34:50,797
hunters corralled the bison for miles,
371
00:34:52,173 --> 00:34:55,009
until they were exactly
372
00:34:55,968 --> 00:34:57,345
where they wanted them.
373
00:34:57,428 --> 00:34:58,554
[music fades]
374
00:35:04,018 --> 00:35:05,728
[bison grunting]
375
00:35:08,106 --> 00:35:12,068
Only then do they close in
behind the herd.
376
00:35:13,778 --> 00:35:16,322
[grunting]
377
00:35:21,285 --> 00:35:23,621
Reveal themselves too soon
378
00:35:25,498 --> 00:35:28,876
and days of effort will be wasted.
379
00:35:29,544 --> 00:35:31,546
[ominous music playing]
380
00:35:38,177 --> 00:35:41,013
Their ultimate prize
isn't the death of one,
381
00:35:42,682 --> 00:35:44,517
but the fall of many...
382
00:35:49,689 --> 00:35:53,067
to feed many over the winter months.
383
00:35:57,029 --> 00:35:58,865
[grunting]
384
00:36:02,326 --> 00:36:04,453
The trap is set.
385
00:36:09,876 --> 00:36:14,005
All they need is a little encouragement.
386
00:36:14,839 --> 00:36:16,632
[hunters shrieking]
387
00:36:17,508 --> 00:36:19,719
- [shrieking]
- [dramatic music playing]
388
00:36:20,845 --> 00:36:22,388
[grunting]
389
00:36:31,647 --> 00:36:32,899
[music ends]
390
00:36:32,982 --> 00:36:34,192
[grunting]
391
00:36:34,275 --> 00:36:36,277
[dramatic music resumes]
392
00:36:43,868 --> 00:36:45,411
[music ends]
393
00:36:45,494 --> 00:36:46,996
[rocks clattering]
394
00:36:49,248 --> 00:36:50,291
[dull thud]
395
00:37:00,468 --> 00:37:02,345
By the early Holocene,
396
00:37:02,970 --> 00:37:08,142
humans had spread out of Africa
to almost every continent on Earth
397
00:37:09,185 --> 00:37:13,022
and become
the world's most dangerous predator.
398
00:37:13,773 --> 00:37:15,775
[distant cries]
399
00:37:17,860 --> 00:37:19,737
While our rise contributed
400
00:37:19,820 --> 00:37:22,949
to the global extinction
of large land animals,
401
00:37:23,824 --> 00:37:26,869
our story could have been a short one
402
00:37:28,621 --> 00:37:31,207
had we not done something remarkable.
403
00:37:32,124 --> 00:37:34,126
[suspenseful music playing]
404
00:37:34,961 --> 00:37:40,299
We freed ourselves from the uncertainty
of a hunter-gatherer existence
405
00:37:41,008 --> 00:37:44,262
by forming alliances with nature.
406
00:37:47,223 --> 00:37:49,600
The stable climate of the Holocene
407
00:37:49,684 --> 00:37:53,604
enabled our ancestors
to develop a unique relationship
408
00:37:55,856 --> 00:37:57,066
with plants.
409
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,699
They hand-selected certain species
410
00:38:05,449 --> 00:38:09,745
and sowed their seeds
where they were best able to grow.
411
00:38:09,829 --> 00:38:11,831
[gentle music playing]
412
00:38:16,294 --> 00:38:18,587
All this care and attention
413
00:38:18,671 --> 00:38:22,717
dramatically increased
the plants' chances of survival,
414
00:38:24,176 --> 00:38:29,098
and in return,
humans could reap the rewards.
415
00:38:33,978 --> 00:38:36,480
They learned how to produce more food
416
00:38:37,064 --> 00:38:40,234
and to make it last all year round.
417
00:38:44,363 --> 00:38:46,073
And where their plants grew,
418
00:38:47,992 --> 00:38:49,452
people prospered.
419
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:58,544
Our ancestors discovered
how to ensure a stable food supply.
420
00:39:00,546 --> 00:39:03,966
And it wasn't just plants
they domesticated.
421
00:39:04,050 --> 00:39:05,384
[cattle lowing]
422
00:39:05,468 --> 00:39:06,802
Animals too.
423
00:39:08,512 --> 00:39:09,930
Across the world,
424
00:39:10,014 --> 00:39:14,769
many hunter-gatherers
gave up their nomadic lifestyles
425
00:39:17,021 --> 00:39:19,231
in favor of farming.
426
00:39:20,524 --> 00:39:25,946
Slowly but surely,
the wilderness was transformed,
427
00:39:27,198 --> 00:39:29,950
tamed by human hands.
428
00:39:32,370 --> 00:39:35,414
Freed from the constant battle
to find food,
429
00:39:36,207 --> 00:39:38,209
human populations grew,
430
00:39:39,794 --> 00:39:41,796
work diversified,
431
00:39:43,422 --> 00:39:46,092
society became more complex...
432
00:39:49,095 --> 00:39:52,014
and civilizations were born.
433
00:39:52,098 --> 00:39:54,100
[rousing music playing]
434
00:39:58,979 --> 00:40:04,026
We achieved something
no other species has ever done.
435
00:40:05,152 --> 00:40:10,032
We broke free of nature and rose above it.
436
00:40:11,575 --> 00:40:15,371
Agriculture changed everything...
437
00:40:17,748 --> 00:40:21,335
but another revolution was coming.
438
00:40:21,419 --> 00:40:23,421
[rousing music intensifies]
439
00:41:09,675 --> 00:41:11,677
[music fades]
440
00:41:13,762 --> 00:41:19,894
Our ingenuity has taken us further
than we could ever have imagined,
441
00:41:21,854 --> 00:41:26,942
and our story is now written
on the surface of the Earth.
442
00:41:30,488 --> 00:41:36,327
What was once wild has been tamed or lost.
443
00:41:40,831 --> 00:41:43,792
We're too successful for our own good
444
00:41:45,044 --> 00:41:46,921
and for that of the planet...
445
00:41:49,465 --> 00:41:54,303
and we are now causing
the next mass extinction.
446
00:41:54,386 --> 00:41:56,388
[solemn music playing]
447
00:42:00,142 --> 00:42:03,812
It's not just
that simply feeding ourselves
448
00:42:03,896 --> 00:42:06,982
takes up more than half
of all habitable land...
449
00:42:21,830 --> 00:42:26,168
and it's not just
that the carbon dioxide we are releasing
450
00:42:26,252 --> 00:42:28,337
is heating our planet faster
451
00:42:28,420 --> 00:42:32,925
than at any time
in the last 500 million years.
452
00:42:40,057 --> 00:42:45,396
Nor is it just that we are warming
and acidifying the oceans,
453
00:42:46,981 --> 00:42:49,483
destroying their natural balance
454
00:42:49,567 --> 00:42:53,571
and killing off
vast swathes of marine life.
455
00:42:57,116 --> 00:43:01,954
Nor is it just that we are causing
extreme weather events...
456
00:43:02,037 --> 00:43:03,414
[thunder crashing]
457
00:43:03,497 --> 00:43:04,790
...fire and drought
458
00:43:05,958 --> 00:43:09,920
that are returning the Earth
to its barren beginnings.
459
00:43:15,217 --> 00:43:18,679
And it's not just that we are doing
any one of these
460
00:43:19,847 --> 00:43:22,683
but that we are doing all of them,
461
00:43:23,475 --> 00:43:28,022
all at the same time.
462
00:43:29,982 --> 00:43:32,484
And to make matters worse,
463
00:43:33,444 --> 00:43:36,322
we are doing it at meteoric speed.
464
00:43:36,405 --> 00:43:39,116
[music quickens]
465
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:41,201
[music ends abruptly]
466
00:43:46,707 --> 00:43:53,707
Although rare, mass extinctions change
the course of history like nothing else.
467
00:43:55,841 --> 00:44:01,680
So far, Earth has endured
five of these apocalyptic events,
468
00:44:02,931 --> 00:44:07,978
each one wiping out
more than three-quarters of all life.
469
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,693
What's more, the dominant species going in
470
00:44:15,319 --> 00:44:19,573
are not the dominant species coming out.
471
00:44:23,786 --> 00:44:26,580
The impact of a mass extinction
472
00:44:26,664 --> 00:44:30,959
has not been felt for 66 million years.
473
00:44:32,378 --> 00:44:35,172
Now we're on track
474
00:44:36,548 --> 00:44:37,758
for the sixth.
475
00:44:45,516 --> 00:44:47,810
In the last 50 years alone,
476
00:44:48,686 --> 00:44:54,233
wildlife populations have fallen
by an average of almost 70%,
477
00:44:55,734 --> 00:45:01,657
and this time,
we are the ones responsible.
478
00:45:04,868 --> 00:45:08,288
And yet despite this grim forecast,
479
00:45:08,997 --> 00:45:12,584
there remains a glimmer of hope.
480
00:45:12,668 --> 00:45:15,254
[gentle, optimistic music playing]
481
00:45:16,213 --> 00:45:22,928
We are the first species
in the four-billion-year story of life
482
00:45:23,679 --> 00:45:27,891
to understand
what is happening to our world.
483
00:45:30,018 --> 00:45:32,688
We are also the first species
484
00:45:32,771 --> 00:45:36,525
to understand
what is needed to put it right.
485
00:45:36,608 --> 00:45:38,610
[ethereal vocalizing]
486
00:45:38,694 --> 00:45:43,031
Our intelligence has brought us this far,
487
00:45:44,742 --> 00:45:48,412
and it's the only thing that can save us.
488
00:45:55,002 --> 00:45:59,006
Our future, and that of the planet,
489
00:45:59,089 --> 00:46:00,924
is yet to be written.
490
00:46:02,885 --> 00:46:07,055
How we act now
will determine the next chapter...
491
00:46:07,139 --> 00:46:08,474
[baby gurgling]
492
00:46:08,557 --> 00:46:11,351
...in the story of life.
493
00:46:11,435 --> 00:46:13,353
- [echoing crash]
- [water dripping]
494
00:46:13,437 --> 00:46:15,939
- [music fades]
- [thunder rumbling]
495
00:46:20,319 --> 00:46:23,030
But whatever future awaits...
496
00:46:23,113 --> 00:46:25,574
[ominous music playing]
497
00:46:30,496 --> 00:46:33,373
...if there's one thing
we've learned from the past...
498
00:46:39,713 --> 00:46:45,803
it's that life has always found a way.
499
00:46:45,886 --> 00:46:47,846
[eerie music playing]
500
00:46:47,930 --> 00:46:49,848
[birds tweeting]
501
00:46:56,688 --> 00:46:58,690
[tweeting growing louder]
502
00:47:09,868 --> 00:47:12,371
[eerie music intensifies]
503
00:47:16,041 --> 00:47:18,377
[music fades]
504
00:47:20,087 --> 00:47:22,756
[rousing music playing]
38329
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