Original subtitles

Puma.

Ghost of the mountains.

This female is known as Rupestre.

She lives at the base of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field

in South America.

Recently, she laid claim to the isolated shoreline

of this great lake.

It's an ideal place to raise a family.

Rupestre is at a turning point.

She's just given birth to a litter of four.

That is rare, and certainly the largest that she has ever had.

Establishing a dynasty in this new territory

and raising four cubs to adulthood

will be the greatest challenge of her life.

One son...

..three daughters...

..and no chance of a lazy day for this single mother, Rupestre.

The moment her cubs awake, they play.

It's the perfect way

to learn the skills needed

to become deadly predators.

Stealth...

..sharp reflexes...

..and great agility.

They've got a long way to go.

They'll rely on their mother for at least a year yet.

Raising four cubs is a challenge at any time of year,

but with winter fast approaching, her task will be a formidable one.

Each day, Rupestre leaves her cubs in their lakeside nursery

whilst she heads up to the hunting grounds

in the foothills of the Torres del Paine mountains.

A guanaco.

A wild form of llama, nearly three times her size.

Hunting a full-grown guanaco is risky.

A single kick can be fatal...

..but Rupestre has little choice.

Pumas are masters of stealth.

They have to be.

Getting close can make all the difference.

Only one in around ten hunts is successful.

Although tonight she goes hungry,

Rupestre can still provide milk for her cubs.

But unless she herself gets a meal,

she will soon be unable to feed them.

A few days later,

the family is enjoying the spoils of a better night's hunting.

She's brought her cubs away from their lakeside nursery

for one of their first tastes of meat.

One of her daughters, Coiron,

is already showing signs of being a particularly inquisitive young puma.

But up here in the hunting grounds,

wandering off alone can be dangerous.

These foothills are home to more than 30 rival pumas.

This is Blinka,

an adult female with only one eye.

Her mother dominated the lakeside territory in the past,

and there's every chance Blinka may try to reclaim it

from Rupestre in the future.

But right now, there's a different problem.

Blinka is calling for a mate.

This one...

..is called Oscuro.

Male pumas are the greatest threat to Rupestre's family.

They'll often kill cubs that aren't their own.

Luckily, Coiron instinctively rejoins her siblings.

But more importantly, Oscuro's attention is firmly fixed on Blinka.

Up here, there's always the risk of an attack by a wandering male.

The whole family are much safer at the lakeside.

There's so little prey down here, male pumas rarely come this way.

That's what makes this place such a valuable nursery.

But it does have one disadvantage.

It doesn't provide much protection from the elements.

The cubs are just 12 weeks old when winter arrives.

The season is long and the weather is only going to get worse.

Rupestre needs to find them shelter.

In the mountains, there are caves,

but they are a long way away for little legs.

Coiron takes it in her stride, as do her sisters,

Dania and Daneska, who are rarely apart.

Their brother, Neneo,

seems to prefer staying as close to his mother as possible.

Before long, a challenge.

It's hardly a big jump and certainly doesn't deter the three sisters.

But Neneo isn't quite bold enough to follow.

Back together.

Perhaps next time he'll be a little braver.

Finally, a refuge and a rest for their tired legs.

Not as cosy as they're used to...

..but an excellent place to hunker down,

protected from any oncoming storm.

In the weeks ahead,

temperatures drop to minus 15 degrees Celsius.

Icy gales whip up without warning.

Rupestre hasn't had to look after cubs as young as this

in winter before, and hunting is never harder than in the snow.

The cubs only venture out on the rare occasion

that she's been successful.

Even at just four months old,

Neneo demands more food than his sisters,

and forces himself into the best position.

The more weight he can gain as a cub,

the better he's likely to fare as an adult male.

Winter up here is a knife-edge balance between getting enough food

and avoiding the full force of the elements.

After months of bitter cold,

finally the sun sweeps back across the territory.

It was always going to be a major challenge

to get four cubs as young as this through winter...

..but Rupestre has succeeded.

With the worst of the weather behind them,

she can take her family back to their lakeside nursery.

But there's the scent of an intruder in the air.

This is something she must investigate...

..on her own.

A stranger.

An adolescent cub, easily scared off.

But it's not alone.

Its mother wants the lakeside for her own.

Rupestre stands her ground.

She'll only risk a fight if she really has to.

Intimidated, the intruder retreats.

The lakeside nursery belongs to the family once more.

And once again, it becomes their favourite place to relax.

All through winter, when solid food was so scarce,

Rupestre has provided milk for her cubs.

That's nearly twice as long as usual.

But now it's time for the cubs to move on to a meat-only diet.

The arrival of spring brings easier prey,

and she starts training her family.

Although too young to catch a newborn guanaco themselves,

it's an opportunity to see how it's done.

Neneo is quick to copy,

but, so far, he's only confident enough

to try the technique on his mother.

Being away from the nursery

also gives the cubs a chance to explore the territory.

Dania and Daneska are still inseparable.

Coiron is once again the adventurous one.

Under their mother's watchful eye,

each is settling in well to life as a puma.

As spring turns to summer, cold air whips down from the ice field.

And today, winds are tearing through the territory at close to 100mph.

To make things worse,

the freezing gale carries the family's scent to a new male.

This is Carnasa.

He wants to mate with Rupestre, but first he will try to kill her cubs.

Rupestre won't mate with him whilst she still has a litter to raise.

Blocking his path, she keeps his attention on her.

By goading him to fight,

she's trying to give her cubs enough time to escape.

Female pumas will die trying to protect their young.

The cubs are nearly out of sight.

But Carnasa still seems determined to follow them.

Rupestre is lucky to be alive.

She now has to find her scattered family...

..before he does.

She doesn't yet know if she gave them enough of a head start.

As evening draws in, her calls go unanswered...

..lost on the wind.

By morning, the air is still.

Rupestre has found three of her cubs.

But one daughter, Coiron, is missing.

And there's no knowing whether Carnasa

is still prowling these hills.

If she is to find her lost cub,

she must risk leaving the others alone again.

It's been ten hours since she saw her lost daughter.

They've never before been apart for as long as this.

Her other cubs still need her.

She can't keep looking forever.

Finally...her calls are answered.

Coiron has eluded Carnasa,

and survived her first-ever night alone.

The whole family are back together.

For the next few weeks,

the cubs don't venture far from the shores of the lake.

Rupestre must once again split her time

between them and the hunting grounds.

Bruised and battered, with nothing to show for it,

each failed attempt leaves her weakened.

Back at the lake, things are about to get even worse.

Her rival, Blinka, has given birth,

and she's come to claim the lakeside nursery.

It's where she grew up, and she's ready to fight for it.

Rupestre is caught off-guard.

Fights as violent as this between females are rare.

But with cubs of her own,

Blinka will not back down.

Overwhelmed, Rupestre has lost.

The lakeside is no longer safe for her.

She is forced to move her family...again.

It's just not worth risking another fight with Blinka.

They must now take their chances

among the other pumas on the hunting slopes.

At ten months old, the cubs are still relying on Rupestre for food.

A meal as big as this would feed them for days.

Failed again.

The family haven't eaten for nearly a week.

Time to try something different.

Switching to hunting young guanaco

means trading stealth for speed.

They should be easier to catch,

but exhaustion and muddy ground slow her down.

One last push.

Success, but far from the cubs.

If she goes to fetch them, someone else might steal her kill.

She's worked too hard to risk that.

First to the food is Neneo.

If he's ever to challenge males like Oscuro and Carnasa,

he must learn how to assert his dominance.

For now, he practises on his sisters.

With Neneo's appetite, there's barely enough to share.

Rupestre has to work harder and harder.

She runs down young guanaco,

sometimes as many as three in one day,

while her cubs grow in confidence.

Working together, Dania and Daneska perfect their hunting skills.

Coiron practises on her own...

..with even some small success.

And eventually, Neneo becomes bold enough

to grapple with giants himself.

So close.

Winter returns.

The cubs are now 15 months old.

Neneo is a strong young adult...

..able to get what he wants.

His sisters have learnt from their mother what it takes

for a female to raise a family here.

Now, to complete her cubs' journey to independence,

Rupestre has one thing left to do...

..leave her family.

And that day...has now come.

Her cubs have the skills they need to survive by themselves...

..even at this, the harshest time of the year.

Coiron is the first to separate from her siblings.

From her earliest days, she has shown an instinct for independence.

Dania and Daneska may support each other for many more months,

but one day they too will almost certainly drift apart.

Independence is often hardest on males.

Neneo will be forced to leave everything he knows to battle rivals

for a new territory

and find females with whom to start his own dynasty.

His mother's training will stand him in good stead.

But the story doesn't end there.

A few quiet months later, with her grown-up cubs high in the hills,

Rupestre is back down at the lakeside.

Against all the odds,

quadruplets yet again.

Exhausting.

So far, they've had the very safest of nurseries...

..but there are now two blood lines that lay claim to this site.

Blinka's cubs may have grown up and moved on,

but Blinka herself will be back.

There will be many more battles ahead...

..but if any mother has the strength and experience

to ensure that her dynasty thrives...

..it is surely Rupestre.

For the Dynasties crew,

the only way to tell Rupestre's story

was to experience the Torres del Paine landscape

as she does -

all on foot.

So far over the shoot, we're definitely well over 1,000 miles,

hiking with the cats.

I really enjoy it. I don't know if my knees enjoy it.

Both pumas and crew battle 100mph winds

and constantly changing weather.

When people ask what the hardest thing about filming here is,

honestly, it's the wind.

It's almost impossible to even walk sometimes.

It's very difficult to see anything.

Yeah, this is my favourite office.

Since I started working here in the park,

I know many pumas, and my favourite's Rupestre.

Nico has been working with pumas for ten years,

and helps the crew get in the right mind-set.

You need to be patient.

You need to be very concentrated

to work with the animals,

to think why the pumas are taking this route,

or a different route.

It's a beautiful thing to do.

Before long, the crew settle into Rupestre's world

and, in turn, for her, they become part of the scenery.

She totally ignores their presence.

The cubs, however, are a little more inquisitive.

We're following these cubs.

You know, we're literally watching them grow up.

It's a really cool experience

to spend months with the same family,

and to, you know, really get to know them.

Living so close to the family means

the crew also witness one of the toughest moments

in the cats' lives...

..when Carnasa attacks.

We lost sight of her and the cubs,

so we were very worried because we didn't know

if the cubs had been injured or died.

Now it's too dark, so we'll know what will happen tomorrow.

We lost Rupestre at the end of last night.

Yeah, we're now trying to find her and the cubs.

She's done so well getting this far.

We're going to keep looking.

After a sleepless night

and lots of walking, I'm just relieved that she's OK.

It was really impressive watching

Rupestre hold him off long enough that the cubs could all scatter.

I think we really appreciate the struggle that she faces

and...and just the hard work that goes in to being a puma here.

As the cubs reach adulthood,

their biggest threat may no longer be from other pumas

but from the human world outside.

Rupestre's cubs might travel for miles looking for a territory,

heading beyond protected areas

and onto livestock ranches, known as estancias.

Nico has witnessed first-hand the problems that pumas

and people face when their worlds collide.

Sheep are tempting prey.

Some estancias can lose up to 10, 15 or 20,

even 20% of their livestock in a year because of predation.

The way they deal with this problem,

if they see a puma, they hunted it and they killed it.

On the biggest ranches,

over 50 pumas could be killed in a single year.

Nico is working with a nearby ranch,

Cerro Guido, on a solution.

Specially trained guardian dogs.

They live all day and night with the sheep.

They go and start to bark, and the pumas, they go away.

Pumas are ambush hunters,

and the barking dogs take away the element of surprise.

We have been using the dogs for a couple of years,

and the results can be astonishing.

The dogs significantly reduce predation on the sheep

and the pumas return to hunting wild prey.

When pumas don't kill the sheep,

ranchers don't kill the pumas.

Protecting the pumas inside the ranch,

we are protecting a similar area than Torres del Paine,

so we're doubling the protection.

This success is just in time for Rupestre's son.

The last time the crew filmed him, he was heading towards this ranch.

Nico's work could help to give him a safer future.

Probably the son of Rupestre will find a safe place to breed,

to stay, to make this place his home.

The hope is that, one day, many more ranches will replace guns

with guardian dogs.

We were working in the middle for both pumas and people.

We want this to be spread out, all over Patagonia.

Puma and human worlds will continue to overlap,

but new solutions like this may allow Patagonia's

most-charismatic predator to thrive

across the whole of the continent.

Next time, on the dusty plains of Kenya...

..can an inexperienced leader

bring her family back together...

..to give her newborn calf

a chance of survival,

and carry on her ancient dynasty?