Original subtitles

Amboseli, Southern Kenya.

Home to a once thriving dynasty of elephants.

But since the death of their experienced leader...

..this family has struggled to keep its calves alive.

But there is new hope in one determined elephant...

..a twisted-tusked female called Angelina.

She is pregnant, carrying the next generation.

But she can't raise her calf alone.

She will need the strength and support of her family.

Can Angelina bring them all together...

..for the first crucial year of her baby's life...

..and turn around the fortunes of this dynasty?

Amboseli National Park

lies beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro.

This morning, Angelina's family are tightly gathered around her.

And this is why.

A son...

..born just a few short minutes ago.

This is Atlas...

..taking his very first steps in a world of giants.

All new calves are wobbly on their feet...

..and born barely able to see.

Working out who's Mum can take a bit of time.

A little gentle guidance from Angelina...

..and Atlas can finally take his first feed of milk.

Elephant mothers cannot raise their calves unaided.

Like all new-born elephants, Atlas can't yet run,

hide or defend himself from predators.

This is one of the main reasons that elephants live in family groups.

Angelina will need the help of her aunts,

cousins and elder daughters.

Together, they must try to keep Atlas safe,

as he begins the first and most dangerous year of his life.

Four days later.

Something extraordinary has happened...

..something that will irreversibly change the fortunes of Atlas,

Angelina and her family.

Overnight, Angelina has given birth to a second calf.

This is Alana, a daughter.

For elephants, having twins is so rare...

..that it's only been recorded five times in Kenya.

Although this might seem like good news

for the future strength of the family...

..calves need so much milk and care

that raising twins is almost impossible.

There's now a very real chance

that Angelina could end up losing both babies.

For a family who have lost ten calves in the last five years,

keeping twins alive will be their greatest challenge.

Angelina leads her family to look for breakfast.

Alana is busy playing.

And she's been left behind by her family.

Not a good start.

Fortunately, her elder sisters,

aunts and cousins come to the rescue.

The effectiveness of these baby-sitters

will be critical to the twins' chances of survival.

With the family back together again,

Angelina leads them to one of their favourite feeding spots...

..a vast swamp, lying in the heart of Amboseli...

..supplied through the year by water flowing from Mount Kilimanjaro.

The adults wade in and start to feed.

But the twins are a little more hesitant.

Atlas encourages his sister to take the plunge.

The family venture further into the swamp in search of the best grass.

But the baby-sitters have led the twins

into a patch of particularly sticky mud.

Within seconds, Atlas is in trouble.

Alana is trying to reach her brother.

Atlas is completely upside down.

As the family try to help, they only make matters worse.

Angelina pulls Alana away.

She mustn't risk losing both of her calves.

The baby-sitters are now searching in the mud for Atlas.

Miraculously, he's free...

..but so exhausted, he needs help to lift his head to breathe.

His baby-sitters help him back...

..to be reunited with his mother.

Elephants learn from their experiences.

And this has certainly been a lesson for Angelina, her family...

..and perhaps even her twins.

Elephants need a varied diet...

..and they leave the swamp to forage on the plains.

For the twins, this open ground is a great place for playing.

Like human babies, calves learn through social interactions.

At this age, even their trunk is a bit of a mystery.

Everything needs investigating, even their mother's wonky tusk...

..their big sister's tail...

..or their cousin's ear.

This play works both ways.

The baby-sitters must start to learn what the twins need

and important bonds can begin to form.

On the horizon...

..a group of bull elephants has appeared.

Males leave their families once they are about 14 years old

and spend time in bachelor groups.

One of Angelina's family is in oestrus,

four days during which she's ready to mate.

This only happens about once in every four years.

And it can attract bulls from far and wide.

Normally placid males try to get close to a female in oestrus,

and that can cause chaos.

Angelina keeps the twins near to her side.

The bulls kick out when the twins get in their way.

As the competition between the bulls intensifies,

alarm spreads through the family.

With the twins safely in the middle, the whole group runs.

Atlas and Alana are exhausted, trying to keep up with their mother.

But at least they've managed to get away from the amorous bulls.

Back at the swamp,

this time, Angelina picks a better feeding place...

..and things settle down.

A huge lone bull...

..disturbed by the family's approach.

Angelina can only find Alana.

Atlas is dangerously close to the bull.

..Angelina attempts to drive the male away from her son...

..and the rest of her family back her up.

Confronted by the united family...

..the bull retreats.

Now they can take Atlas and Alana out of harm's way.

Angelina and her family are becoming a force to be reckoned with...

..now able to protect both calves.

The chances of both her son and daughter

surviving their first year...

..have significantly increased...

..thanks to the help of the whole family.

But in Amboseli, nothing stays the same for long.

Two months later and the dry season has arrived.

This is the hardest time of the year for elephants.

The knowledge of where to find food

during these dry times is critical...

..and is passed down by example, from generation to generation.

Angelina has taken her twins to an acacia woodland

where there's still something to eat.

But acacia thorns aren't quite to Alana's taste.

With her mother distracted,

she starts to investigate things for herself.

She's now several months old and becoming very inquisitive...

..as is her brother.

But neither of them knows quite what to make of this buffalo,

who's trying to rest.

Not much chance of that today.

Morning adventure complete...

..they're back to Angelina before she seems to have even noticed.

But as time passes, the savannah is growing drier.

Grassland is turning to dust.

There has been no rain for months.

Even the strongest may be brought down by drought.

Angelina leads the family in a never-ending search for food.

It's the youngest who, with less reserves than the adults,

feel it the most.

Alana keeps falling behind.

And now Angelina's milk is beginning to run dry.

The twins are starting to compete with one another.

Although close to a year old and able to eat grass,

they still need milk.

The time for sharing is over.

The twins have no choice but to keep up with their mother

as she keeps moving.

As the weeks pass, there is no let up.

The twins are close to starvation.

Their bones are showing beneath their skin

and their cheeks are sunken.

But still they have to keep moving.

Angelina takes her family back to the swamp.

But even here, the grass is short and the water has turned into mud.

Alana is so hungry that she ducks her head to try and suckle.

If you're starving,

even the smallest drink of milk is worth a mouthful of mud.

The swamp is now no place for the twins.

Angelina must take them to safer feeding grounds.

But Atlas simply hasn't got the energy.

Angelina, having helped him through so much, won't leave him.

Hyenas.

They can kill babies this size.

But to even get close,

they must first separate a calf from its family.

Angelina stands guard over her twins.

The members of her family now confidently work together.

The baby-sitters lead the charge.

They won't let the hyena get anywhere near the twins.

Angelina can now try to coax the calves to their feet.

First, Alana.

And with one final effort...

..Atlas.

Together, they can move towards safer grounds.

In the face of extreme hardship,

the bonds in this family have grown stronger.

Elephants can detect storms coming from 150 miles away.

The long awaited rains have arrived.

And not a moment too soon.

The good times are back again.

The hardest part of Angelina's journey is over.

The twins are now a year old.

Their chances of survival are now much higher.

Growing in independence and physical strength...

..the twins are now at home in the swamp.

Alana's confidence may one day help her become a leader herself.

And Atlas, having survived so much,

may now have the experience to become a successful bull

and perhaps father his own dynasty.

Under Angelina's leadership, the whole family is thriving.

Five more calves have been born.

The dynasty is returning to its full strength...

..united by one determined elephant.

The Dynasties team spent over two years

filming with Angelina's family...

..gradually earning their trust

to allow them to witness the twins growing up.

The team had to learn to understand

and predict the movements of the family.

But filming the bulls proved a rather different challenge.

Their extensive range takes them out of the safety of Amboseli

and into surrounding farmland.

And it's here, when night falls,

that the bulls come into conflict with humans.

The only way to observe them in the darkness is to use a thermal camera.

The bulls, without making a sound,

sneak in to feed on the farmer's crops.

But even when the bulls are discovered,

there is little the farmers can do about it.

With their entire livelihoods at stake,

they try to drive off the elephants with fire.

But the bulls have become so accustomed to this

that they barely pause to look up.

Conflict with humans is becoming one of the biggest threats to elephants.

Here, an organisation called Big Life Foundation

is coming up with solutions

to try to keep both elephants and humans safe.

When the elephant gets into their crops,

the farmer became so angry to that elephant,

so it's easy for him to spear, poison it.

Since 2011, 50 elephants have been killed in conflict in this area...

..and 20 people have been killed by elephants.

If that farmer is trying to cultivate three acres

and four elephants get into that farm,

they will completely finish the whole farm in two hours.

So these shelters, farmers will stay there?

Yeah, the farmers will stay there all over the night. All night?

All night. Here, we have lost a lot of people here.

An elephant trampled and killed on this spot at the farm.

The Big Life team have started to implement a long-term solution

by laying hundreds of miles of electric fencing.

The benefit of the fence coming up all along,

it will act in two ways - save the life of the farmer

and also the life of the elephants.

But until this barrier is finished,

a group of specially trained Big Life rangers

do the next best thing - they become a living fence.

Called in nightly by the farmers,

the rangers head across swampy ground

to try to chase the elephants away.

In the pitch-black,

and unarmed except for a torch and some firecrackers,

it's dangerous work.

Bulls can weigh seven tonnes and can easily outrun a human.

It's incredible that we're watching them, those rangers,

and they don't know where the elephants are.

We can see where the elephants are.

They're pretty brave guys.

The bulls are moving, but not in the right direction.

They're still eating and trampling the crops.

The elephants must be pushed back before the farmers lose everything

and before the situation escalates.

The rangers have one last resort...

..their firecrackers.

Although harmless, the noise and bright light

are enough to finally get the bulls' attention.

The rangers' strategy is working.

The elephants are moving back towards the reserve.

Now, the elephants have gone back to Kimana Sanctuary.

They're safe for now. Yeah. So they're in a very safe place.

So you've got to be very brave and careful.

Brave and careful. So you have to be very careful as you work.

It's pretty nerve-racking to think that in 14 years' time,

our little male twin is going to be leaving his family

and braving this conflict zone.

I'm just so relieved the rangers will be here

to maximise his chances.

By working tirelessly all night and every night,

this year, these rangers have prevented 180 crop raids...

..and they were able to save the lives of all but one bull.

Keeping the elephants and farmers safe in this way

buys time for the longer-term solution to be put in place.

And with that, perhaps, will come some degree of harmony

in the struggle to share this land.

Poaching seems to have gone down.

What is left here is human-elephant conflict.

This is where now the war of elephant is being lived.

If we can't do something on human-elephant conflict,

we'll lose all.

We need to all join hands.

We need to say, "Yes, they have the right to live."

If we can't say no to killing of elephants,

then we end up losing everything.

We end up losing the beauty of the world.

Our kids and our grandchildren will not see anything,

they will just read in history, in books.

Like the dinosaurs.

Next time...

..after struggling for years,

a cheetah mother may have one last chance to raise a family

on these unforgiving plains.

Can she keep them safe

and prepare them for a life without her?