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00:00The Great White Shark swims alone.
00:30But for less formidable animals, it pays to be a face in the crowd.
00:43Animals have joined forces again and again throughout the 4 billion year history of life.
00:52In the battle for survival, working together has proved to be a winning strategy.
01:11The power of teamwork is one of evolution's greatest triumphs.
01:41Shallow tropical sea, one of the most diverse and colourful habitats on Earth.
02:00But its beauty conceals a harsh reality.
02:13A battle for survival has raged throughout life's 4 billion year history.
02:19That fight continues today, here as much as everywhere on the planet.
02:34Only the biggest dare to cruise alone.
02:40The reef can provide shelter for many small fish.
02:52But others find safety through one of evolution's major advances.
02:57Living in groups.
03:05Traveling in company means never facing predators alone.
03:11The shimmering dances of shoals distract killers from focusing on one target.
03:23Silver sides find safety in a crowd, hiding behind each other.
03:29The fish can take fish out of step, risk being picked off as they lag behind.
03:36The same dance for life has evolved many times.
03:45In aerial ballet, starlings strive to avoid a falcon's killer grasp.
03:52There's safety in synchrony.
04:05A spectacular defence widely deployed.
04:13Among reindeer, the deadly dance is with wolves.
04:18But the steps for survival are the same.
04:36Migrating wildebeest are safer in convoy.
04:39A crocodile can only kill one at a time.
04:43Each animal is more likely to save its own skin by simply following the herd.
04:58But in one of life's greatest breakthroughs, true teamwork has evolved.
05:06This social revolution is based not just on herding, but on cooperation and self-sacrifice.
05:16Meerkats live in teams whose individuals don't just help themselves, they help each other.
05:25Rising from their safe den, they are hungry after the night.
05:29But it's dangerous out here.
05:32The main threat comes from above.
05:44The eagle does not notice them.
05:48Sensing the coast is clear, the meerkats venture into the open to dig for insects.
05:54In teams, individuals play different roles.
06:08And perched high in a bush, a lookout watches over the foragers.
06:21Another adult stays back at the den.
06:24Not all the group will get a chance to eat today.
06:26As today's babysitter, this team player is looking after the young of the only breeding female in the group,
06:36keeping them safe from danger.
06:38The guard's warning alerts the others.
06:53Writers are making 135 footer, it's not 50ustoves.
06:54The guard's warning at the ancient writing staff.
06:55M bombshells ago.
07:08The poor sccom bay from poverty, this desk may not be cual HELP given a wall.
07:11Meerkat Teamwork
07:41like most cooperation between animals is based on family.
07:49In nature blood is thicker than water and most of this team are helping younger relatives.
07:56Helping of family seems to be the origin of all animal societies.
08:06Mammals don't have a monopoly on such helping.
08:12Some of the most selfless acts occur between the smallest creatures, living in families
08:18of vast size.
08:25One of the most fearsome sites in Africa.
08:29The biggest family outing on earth.
08:32Millions of driver ants, all siblings.
08:35They're on a mission to kill.
08:51And kill they do.
08:53Almost anything their flowing horde washes over.
09:07Bull ants aren't much of a threat.
09:15But working as a team, they overpower prey many times their own size.
09:22Unable to escape, the victims are dismembered and carried back to a hungry brood.
09:33Parties of workers pull together while larger soldiers stand guard.
09:43Not all animals caught in the flood are entirely defenseless.
10:02And as the attack starts, this banana slug exudes copious quantities of slime.
10:27Undeterred, the ants step up the attack, risking death by slime for the good of their family.
10:42For the slug, resistance is futile.
10:46All out of slime, it is sliced into steaks.
10:54Incredibly, other ants rush in to rescue their entrapped kin.
11:01Crumbs of earth are used to sponge up the slime.
11:11They now pull away what's left to release gummed up siblings.
11:19When helping family seems so natural, it's easy to take it for granted.
11:24But there is a mystery here.
11:26Why should relatives help each other so selflessly?
11:33Clues can be found within the supremely coordinated body of any living creature.
11:41The bodies are billions of cells.
11:43Eye cells, brain cells, and muscle cells all working together.
11:48These cells have one thing in common.
11:58Their genes.
12:00They're tokens.
12:04At conception, a single cell splits, and an embryo forms.
12:11At each split, a complete body construction manual in chemical code, is copied into the new cells.
12:18The instructions are the genes.
12:21as each cell is genetically identical all are perfectly related in other words they're clones
12:34the cell clones soon number in the millions
12:39depending on their position in the embryo the cells read different chapters of their identical
12:47instruction books and form the various parts of a body heads tails and vital organs
13:06the miracle that is a living body is a mass of identically related cells clones working together
13:14and steered by the genes they share this bonding between perfect relatives can also operate on a much larger scale
13:25like any multi-celled animal a seal consists of clone cells but on the rocks below are teams of cloned individuals that work together as if in a single body
13:44each of these blobs of jelly is a clone belonging to one of two opposing armies the gap between them a battlefront frozen by the onset of low tide
14:03as the tide rises they reveal themselves as sea anemones
14:18there are two feuding families here a pink tip team and a green team
14:26they face off over no man's land within each family the members are genetically identical they are natural clones
14:36the anemones are formed like cells in a body by splitting from one original
14:51anemones are formed like cells in a cell in an embryo
14:52amazingly the resulting army of clones behaves as if it were one huge animal
14:57like a cell in an embryo each anemone has a job
15:01those in the middle of the body are the reproducers
15:05and like a protective outer skin warrior anemones form a front line
15:17heavily armed with stinging clubs
15:21the warriors are also an attack force
15:24driven to reproduce both clone teams on this rock are trying to expand
15:29this is clone war
15:32cloned anemones sharing all genes
15:46will die for the team
15:51as will cells in a single body
16:04skin cells of a battling elephant seal die in their millions
16:21but for the winning body the payoff is reproduction
16:25identical genes to those carried by the cells killed
16:31now have a future
16:36but when two animals come together to reproduce
16:39genes must share their future with others
16:47the next generation are not clones
16:49this baby carries a mix of genes from both its parents
16:56and families unlike clone teams are full of tension
17:00as individuals juggle sacrifices made for their family
17:04with self-interest
17:06caring for the new generation
17:19is the basis of all animal societies
17:25this family is a tight social group of a female cheetah
17:29and her closest relatives
17:31her cubs
17:32a mother protects her young
17:46ancient pressures have molded this instinct
17:50predators such as lions kill young cheetahs
17:53predators
18:06and
18:10the
18:12the
18:20the
18:20the
18:22At risk to herself, the mother cheetah distracts the lion long enough for her cubs to escape.
18:52The cheetah's protective urge is as much a product of evolution as is her sinuous body, but she must balance caring for cubs with self-preservation.
19:13In the long run, cheetah mothers rear more young by giving all the care they can, but without dying in the process.
19:22The cheetah's maternal instincts not only cause her to bring the meat, but as a mammal she has evolved another trick, milk.
19:47By suckling them, she is their lifeline.
19:59Her maternal care has been honed by natural selection, giving her genes a future.
20:05With their mother working hard to feed and protect them, these babies themselves stand a good chance of surviving to breed.
20:13But they also carry the genes of another parent. So where is he?
20:23This is their father. Because the mother can rear the young alone, he is free to sire more babies with other females.
20:32Evolution has shaped virtually all male mammals to behave this way since they can pass on genes without caring for babies.
20:42But there are rare exceptions.
20:45A family of four titi monkeys, including mom, a baby, and dad.
21:04Their lives and their relationships are shaped by their home, perilously high in the forests of South America.
21:17Here, dad sticks around, and he's left carrying the baby.
21:27Mom has lost most caring instincts. Her role is limited to providing milk.
21:33As soon as she's finished suckling, the baby is passed back to dad.
22:02To survive up here, babies must be carried everywhere. But mom can't do it.
22:19Making milk takes up so much of the energy she gets from her food, she has none left to carry babies.
22:25Titi males cannot abandon their families as most male mammals do, because their babies would fall, die, and their genes would be lost.
22:40Due to the demands of treetop life, Titi males have evolved family bonds.
22:49Such two-parent families are very rare in mammals, but not everywhere in the animal kingdom.
22:55For most birds, parenting is also a team effort.
23:05But if food supply is unpredictable, there can be friction in the family.
23:10It's a team effort.
23:17Masked booby pairs display a tender and seemingly affectionate bond.
23:22This nesting colony is on the Galapagos Islands.
23:38Females lay two eggs. Many fail to hatch. But if both do, there's trouble ahead.
23:57Emerging a few days after the other, the younger chick is at a dangerous disadvantage.
24:03Their parents struggle to catch enough fish for both of them.
24:19And even when they've done well, there are further problems.
24:26Frigate birds, masters of mugging, target boobies that have a hard-won load of fish inside them.
24:33With the fish stolen, both chicks will go hungry today.
24:59Shortage of food has turned booby family life into a battleground.
25:14Older chicks always force the smaller chick from the safety of the nest.
25:18The parent does nothing to stop it.
25:20The exposed chick attracts the wrong kind of attention.
25:39The exposed chick attracts the wrong kind of attention.
25:42A hungry frigate.
25:52Life in a booby family seems harsh.
25:55But with its competitor removed, the older chick may now survive.
25:58But some bird siblings facing different pressures, don't become enemies.
25:59They become allies.
26:00They become allies.
26:01They become allies.
26:02They become allies.
26:03Life in a booby family seems harsh, but with its competitor removed, the older chick may
26:16now survive.
26:21But some bird siblings facing different pressures don't become enemies.
26:26They become allies.
26:33Southern ground hornbills, an extended family, the parents, two adult sons, and last year's
26:44chick.
26:45She's the only daughter.
26:47Her sisters left to set up their own families.
27:00Female offspring never leave home, but they don't sit around idle.
27:19They help out with the family business.
27:26It's safely housed in the middle of this baobab tree.
27:37This year's chick.
27:42Working to feed it are all the adults, including the grown-up sons.
27:51This male is feeding a chick that's not his own, but it isn't wasted effort.
28:01As its brother, he shares as many genes with the chick as he would with his own offspring.
28:09But why does this family cooperate when others, like the boobies, fight?
28:14The chick helps to keep this huge and seemingly insatiable chick well-stuffed.
28:29More importantly, a big territory is needed to supply so much food.
28:41Good territories containing a nesting tree are very hard to find.
28:48A son's best option is to delay breeding until he inherits the family territory.
28:53Until then, he helps rear siblings, which carry copies of his genes.
29:01This delayed inheritance of land, bonds hornbills into an extended family team.
29:12In the same African bushland, grazing animals such as Impala are constantly threatened by
29:18by a more complex extended family, a family of predators.
29:25In the same group of fishh��, this year begins to price-up.
29:33You can kill someone, and be watched by one hundred thousand dollars.
29:37It's been a great time to see the shark-runs' bears, and a lot of people have lost their siblings.
29:40The shark-runs' bears have been captured by one hundred thousand dollars and years since the
29:48nest of a horse-runs' bears are still alive anymore.
29:53Rudely awakened by scrapping pups, an African wild dog pack begins a session of ritual bonding.
30:23In wild dog society, males and females from two different families form a new pack. Leaving the pups behind, the adults go hunting.
30:53Let's go, let's go.
31:23Pack living is deadliest.
31:53The pups share genes with both sides of the family.
32:07Their parents are the oldest male and the oldest female.
32:19All the dogs pull together to feed them, and they receive meat from many mouths.
32:23Sometimes a pair not in a pack manages to raise a few pups, but this is very unusual.
32:44Wild dogs have enemies, including hyenas.
32:48In a pack there are more eyes and ears alert to danger.
32:56In small families, the pups are usually killed.
33:09These puppies are safe, at least for the moment, fed and protected by their complex family team.
33:28Other extended families have evolved into much larger teams.
33:32In the deserts of southern Africa, after brief rains, sand is damp and workable.
33:38And one industrious family piles two and a half tons of it into thousands of castles.
33:45The builders are secretive, subterranean and weird.
33:52This strange rodent is a Damaraland mole rat.
34:16It lives in a vast network of tunnels, but not alone.
34:21Damaralands live in colonies, large families of up to 40 individuals, and for a reason.
34:30They chop sand as a team, furry drill bits randomly prospecting for widely spaced prizes.
34:39A strike.
34:44Hundreds of bulbs and tubers, packed with nutrients and water, are stored away.
34:49Only by working together can they keep this chamber stocked and fuel the colony through the barren dry season.
35:00Father and mother, the only breeding pair.
35:06Mom and the youngest siblings eat from the store all the year round.
35:19Back at the cutting edge, the work goes on.
35:22The team must make the most of the short window of time before the sand becomes too dry to dig.
35:32Juveniles going off duty, play fight on the way to the communal sleeping chamber.
35:37The exhausting business of finding food in this dry dirt has forced mole rats to work together.
36:07Each of these mounds of dry dirt is the castle of one huge animal.
36:12An animal with a body made up of a million separate working parts.
36:24These working parts are brothers and sisters.
36:28They are termites, living and working together so harmoniously that the whole colony acts like one vast super animal.
36:42These are termite workers, soft-bodied and blind, making the most of a rare humid morning to extend their home.
36:49Acting like cells of the super animal, termites have evolved tools for different tasks.
37:02Most are workers or, like this one, heavily armed soldiers.
37:12In chambers deep in the mound, workers cultivate edible fungus.
37:15These chambers form the super animal's stomach.
37:22But all this life creates carbon dioxide.
37:26If it were to build up, the super animal would suffocate.
37:32The shape of the mound itself prevents this.
37:35The high chimneys reach into the swirling wind, allowing the colony to breathe.
37:39Tubes and chambers are refreshed with oxygen.
37:56In effect, the super animal has evolved a gigantic lung.
38:00In the very heart of the mound lies the super animal's reproductive organ.
38:16A chamber containing the only fertile female in the colony.
38:20The living egg production line that is the termite queen.
38:23All the sterile attendant workers, both male and female, share her genes, as do the million others in this mound.
38:31The queen produces an egg every three or four seconds, throughout her life of some thirty years.
38:45The baby termites are raised together in vast nurseries.
39:02These babies are all sterile.
39:05Their life work will be to prepare others for a momentous night in the future.
39:21Beneath a heavy night sky, the family waits for the perfect moment.
39:25Just once every year, rain triggers magic from this muddy mound.
39:38These virgin kings and queens are the colony's glittering legacy.
39:44Winged messengers delivering copies of the super animal's genes into the future.
39:55Termites are hugely successful, but are themselves threatened by an even more powerful super animal.
40:12The ant.
40:17This is a scout for a marauding army.
40:25Finding a suitable target, it heads for home, laying a chemical trail as it goes.
40:32Other ants will soon follow this back.
40:36In numbers.
40:43The termites are oblivious to the danger.
40:45The scouts' relatives are killers, but picky.
40:57They target only termites.
41:06Termite warriors, specialized for biting, defend the front line.
41:09But they're no match for the ants' jaws and deadly sting.
41:34Suddenly, the raid is over.
41:35With swift efficiency, the ants gather mouthfuls of termites and march home.
41:45The world is ruled by family teams.
41:50Ants alone outnumber humans a million to one.
41:55And for a very select number of species,
41:59cooperation can go beyond family ties.
42:03Such alliances rely on trust.
42:06Every night, a third of a million bats pour from this Trinidadian cave to feed.
42:22Among them, the greater spear-nosed bat.
42:24The greater spear-nosed bat.
42:25It has recently been shown to live in a society based on trust.
42:34One bat finds an open nutcase.
42:39A bat jackpot.
42:41Willing to share, she calls loudly.
42:42But the bats that respond are not close relatives.
42:46They are females that banded together when they left their parents.
42:49Effectively, their friends.
42:50Each bat here is a working mother.
42:51She can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
42:52They can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
42:53They can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
42:54They can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
42:55They can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
42:56They can take her time because, remarkably, it's aồnidian.
42:59They can take her time because, remarkably, they can take her time because, remarkably, they can take her time.
43:12And again, the brain, they can take her time because, remarkably, back at the cave, they operate a babysitting club.
43:17babysitting club
43:26at first sight
43:27this cave seems to be total mayhem
43:30a disorderly squeaking rabble
43:32but a closer look reveals the method in this battiness
43:38in each roof dimple
43:40a crèche of babies
43:42but not home alone
43:44they have babysitters
43:47astonishingly
43:48though closely related to just one or two of the babies
43:52they care for all
43:53listening for a distress call from any baby in the group
44:06flying lessons
44:07are a risky pastime
44:10predators wait below
44:14it must get off the cave floor
44:21and quickly
44:22before the possum notices
44:24and in foul pools
44:32lurk other dangers
44:34out of immediate risk
44:47it starts to shriek
44:48if left here
44:54it will die of cold
44:56alerted by the cries
45:03a babysitter swoops to the rescue
45:05even though this is not its own infant
45:08a second babysitter arrives
45:23if the baby is to survive it must get a firm grip
45:28almost there
45:37almost there
45:42this rescue system works
45:55because these bats have the brain power to get to know each other as friends
45:59and to trust each other to be good babysitters
46:04this sort of cooperation
46:08is very
46:09very rare
46:11spear-nosed bats
46:22are minor league in this trusting game
46:25compared to one other species
46:27a species
46:28a species found throughout the world
46:29spreading to the remotest corners
46:32it can even cope with the extremes of an arctic winter
46:35surviving here only through trusting cooperation
46:39humans
46:49several cultures have blossomed in the snow and ice
46:53through the power of human societies
46:55in our natural state
47:01we're naked and defenseless
47:03all the other animals here
47:07have bodies shaped by evolution
47:09to fight against the arctic cold
47:11reindeer are born with natural survival equipment
47:15their hairy noses warm the air they breathe
47:19and their hooves have become splayed snowshoes
47:25confronted by an old adversary
47:36they rely on safety in numbers
47:39warm in their thick coats
47:45family teams of wolves hunt across these arctic wastes
47:49but neither reindeer herds nor wolf families dominate this habitat as they once did
48:04but neither reindeer herds nor wolf families dominate this habitat as they once did
48:18wolves have been driven away by a newcomer
48:21the team player with the added dimension
48:24humans have evolved huge brains
48:33humans have evolved huge brains
48:35giving us uniquely powerful social skills
48:38based on trusting cooperation
48:40although we have few natural defenses
48:44our societies dominate much of the earth
48:47the story of human evolution is not of people battling the elements alone
49:01we are able to share solutions to survival problems with other humans from a much larger society
49:08every winter
49:16every winter the sami people of arctic europe corral their reindeer helped by their families
49:22and by others from a wide social circle
49:28friends that they will help in turn
49:31teaching and sharing knowledge is just part of the intricate exchange that makes us human
49:45our cooperation goes beyond families and a few close friends
50:06our huge brains allow us to keep a mental record of favors
50:10which one way or another we trust will be returned
50:25we're no angels
50:27our brains are packed with potential for conflict and cheating
50:31but we have also evolved a uniquely powerful potential
50:35for cooperation through trust
50:38wherever stable human societies have been created
50:41that trusting potential has been nurtured
50:45trust is the currency of humanity
51:03the currency of humanity
51:10genes
51:15life's blueprints
51:17have been carried on a ceaseless journey
51:20by countless generations
51:22for four billion years
51:24that journey continues today
51:29as survivors of life's ancient struggle
51:32pass on successful genes
51:37from humble beginnings
51:39animal teams
51:41have risen to dominate our planet
51:43a world
52:01Winning teams now share
52:11in the great triumph of life.
52:25To learn more about what you've seen on this nature...
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