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While the immense ecosystem of the Kalahari is characterized by its harsh conditions, it also offers a wealth of resources to the native wildlife. From the burrows of nocturnal bat-eared foxes to the massive colonies of harvester ants, the region provides habitats for a vast array of life.
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00:00An immense dry land dominates southwestern Africa.
00:12Here, sand covers the land in rippling dunes and underlies dry savannas.
00:24Rain drains away as quickly as it falls.
00:30But there are places within this sandy expanse where rock towers high and water quenches even the mightiest of bursts.
00:46These different environments combine in a kaleidoscope of landscapes and life, creating the many faces of the Kalahari.
01:00.
01:02.
01:06.
01:09.
01:10.
01:13Kalahari, a word meaning place of great thirst.
01:40It's the appropriate name of one of southern Africa's greatest wildernesses.
01:58The Kalahari stretches over an area 25% bigger than Texas, on a high, flat plateau in southwest
02:06Africa.
02:09Sixty million years of erosion have covered the bedrock across this expanse in sandy soils
02:16up to 200 feet deep.
02:20These sands shape and define this arid land.
02:26Unpredictable rains quickly drain through them, leaving the surface devoid of water.
02:35This is a place of extremes, with scorching summer days and freezing winter nights.
02:45It's a place known for its hardy plants and animals.
02:51These have adapted to make the most of scant resources.
02:58Surviving despite the harsh conditions.
03:04But within this expanse there are exceptions.
03:10The plants that provide for a huge array of life.
03:15Rocky outcrops rise from the middle of this sandy expanse.
03:19The landscape's only vertical feature for hundreds of miles.
03:28Their caves offer moist shady refuge in a sun-baked land.
03:36And where a great river flows out over the Kalahari sands, Africa's greatest oasis provides plenty for creatures big and small.
03:50In its massive expanse, the Kalahari is truly one of the wildest and most diverse lands in Africa.
04:15As dawn breaks over the southern reaches of the Kalahari, a group of its most iconic creatures begins its day.
04:32Meerkats.
04:39After spending the night huddled together in their burrow, they emerge to scan their surroundings.
04:44Always alert to the possibility of predators.
04:49And today they must be extra vigilant.
04:56Their newest members are leaving the safety of the burrow for the first time.
05:13And they're extremely vulnerable.
05:20The pups are just three weeks old.
05:25If they're to succeed in life, they must learn an essential skill for thriving in this inhospitable land.
05:32Digging.
05:33Digging.
05:34Digging.
05:35Digging.
05:36Digging.
05:37Digging.
05:38Meerkats.
05:39Meerkats.
05:40sharp claws make them experts in this field.
05:41helping them thrive in this field.
05:42If they're to succeed in life, they must learn an essential skill for thriving in this inhospitable land.
05:48Digging.
05:49Digging.
05:50Digging.
05:55Digging.
05:56Digging.
06:02Meerkats.
06:07Digginghes.
06:08Digging.
06:09Digging.
06:13Meghan.
06:14The mane and trapped claws make them experts in this field, helping them thrive in their
06:15sandy habitat.
06:20They feed mainly on insects fetched from below the surface.
06:26The pup's older siblings and cousins will dig up prey for them for the coming weeks,
06:33supplementing their mother's milk.
06:35Within the next six weeks, they'll be weaned, and then their begging whines will fall on deaf ears.
06:58They must learn to find their own food before then, if they're to survive.
07:05But the ability to dig is crucial for more than just food.
07:12As the midday sun beats down on the Kalahari,
07:15summer days average 100 degrees Fahrenheit and can soar above 105.
07:23Now, in the middle of winter, nights can plummet to 10 degrees.
07:28So meerkats live underground.
07:35The meerkat's burrow is insulated by as much as seven feet of sand,
07:42keeping temperatures comfortable despite the extremes outside.
07:46Meerkats can carve out lives for themselves in the Kalahari's sands.
07:58They find both food and shelter beneath the surface.
08:05But not all share the advantage of being able to take shelter from the Kalahari's extremes.
08:15On a cold winter morning, this ostrich lies in the sand,
08:25trapping its body heat in its dense feathers.
08:28But keeping warm is only part of the battle.
08:41As the sun rises, so does the temperature, and even winter days can top 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
08:48Long, bare legs help the ostrich keep cool during the day.
09:00And spreading her wings allows for maximum airflow.
09:06Her male companion's legs serve another important purpose.
09:16His scarlet shins indicate high testosterone levels.
09:20It's late winter, the beginning of breeding season.
09:25He ushers another male away from his territory and his harem of three females.
09:40In an unusual system of communal breeding,
09:43all the females will lay their eggs in the same nest.
09:46But only the first to lay will share incubation duties with the male.
09:51The other females need only look out for themselves.
10:10At six and a half feet tall, ostriches have a good vantage point to scan for their biggest threat.
10:20The Kalahari's lions.
10:28This big male has recently formed a coalition with a younger accomplice.
10:36Together, they control a territory of around a thousand square miles.
10:40And the right to mate with the pride of females living in it.
10:47Now in the height of the dry season, they know that prey congregates in dry riverbeds.
10:56Here, plants take advantage of relatively nutrient-rich soils, which attracts these herds.
11:12Even here, few big herbivores can survive.
11:16So Kalahari lions rely far more on small prey than their counterparts elsewhere.
11:26A springbok ram would make a decent meal for the males.
11:30But lions use the element of surprise to hunt.
11:34And in the open riverbed, there will be no surprising the ram.
11:40Springbok can run at almost 55 miles per hour, a good deal faster than the apex predator.
11:56The ram's plucky show draws a lion in the sand, reminding the lion that with the ram's head start, a chase would be futile.
12:14And the lion knows it.
12:15By avoiding the chase, the springbok has conserved crucial energy.
12:31The lions will wait for the cover of darkness, when they're less likely to be spotted.
12:37Satisfied of their safety, the springbok slowly move off.
12:45They use these dry riverbeds as highways through the sandy land,
12:55finding food here in the toughest times.
13:04Between the riverbeds, great dune fields stretch for hundreds of miles,
13:09forming iconic landscapes in a wilderness dominated by sand.
13:20But some 500 miles to the north, an entirely different form rises from the Kalahari floor.
13:27The Tsodilo hills in northern Botswana are rocky islands in a sea of sandy soils.
13:37They stretch for nine and a half miles, and rise to around 1,300 feet high.
13:51It's more than 150 miles in any direction, to their nearest equivalent in elevation.
14:05More rain falls in these northern reaches of the Kalahari, and green plant life takes advantage of it in the rocky slopes.
14:22Formed under high temperatures and pressures deep underground, these hard quartzite rocks have withstood the effects of erosion over millennia.
14:39Ancient rock paintings are evidence that humans have been attracted to this landmark for over 100,000 years.
14:54These hills offer more than a glimpse into the past.
15:09They are a shady refuge to a variety of life.
15:16Including a species that lives nowhere else on Earth.
15:20The Tsodilo gecko.
15:34Mainly nocturnal, its eyes are adapted to low-light conditions.
15:42With pupils that contract to a thin slit during occasional daytime forays.
15:50To grip the rocks, the gecko's toes have adhesive pads, covered in microscopic hair-like structures.
16:09It scales the cave's walls to hunt insects in the many crevices.
16:13Mottled skin helps it blend in with its rocky home, and escape the attention of predatory birds and small mammals.
16:27Ear holes lead to sensitive tympanic membranes that make hearing one of its most acute senses.
16:38And even when the quietest attacker catches it off guard, it has an emergency defense mechanism.
16:48Like all geckos, it can shed its tail in times of peril, growing a new one after each close call.
17:00This species has evolved to live in the rocks of these isolated outcrops.
17:17And sodillo geckos rarely venture onto the sandy savannah beyond.
17:33In the dry south of the Kalahari, bigger species rely on their ability to cover open ground to survive.
17:39Here, herds of hartebeest roam over home ranges of up to 380 square miles.
17:54Their reflective coats allow them to spend long hours under the baking sun, in their preferred habitat of open grasslands.
18:14But these large antelope struggle to find enough food during the driest part of the year.
18:24They cover ground day after day, searching for nutritious grass until rain brings new growth.
18:54As the sun sets, they'll stop and huddle together to avoid attracting the attention of lions.
19:13Luckily for the hartebeest, not all who prowl the Kalahari knight are a threat.
19:18These bat-eared foxes have spent the day in their den, avoiding the heat.
19:29Thick coats make them better suited to searching for food in the cold night.
19:37And they are excellently equipped for finding prey in the dark.
19:46Their enormous ears can hear the slightest of movements.
19:52Even below ground.
19:59When the rains arrive, the foxes will feed mainly on a fresh abundance of termites.
20:15But during the dry winter, they turn to hunting rodents.
20:26A mouse makes a good meal for a small fox.
20:31Their adaptable diet will carry the foxes through to the easy pickings of the rainy season.
20:43An ant-eating chat subsists entirely on insects.
21:08In the dry winter, it turns to a staple.
21:19It's found a colony of harvester ants with their huge underground nest.
21:23It offers insulation and protection from most predators.
21:35But the ants must eat.
21:38An army of workers heads out to gather food in the form of grass seeds.
21:44On this small scale, a grass seed represents relative plenty.
21:52And the colony can thrive.
22:01It's a toilsome task.
22:03But they go about it with busy determination, returning their spoils to the hordes below ground.
22:16While those below receive the banquet, the foragers risk becoming food.
22:33Though each ant is a mere morsel, in large numbers they can satisfy the chat's hunger.
22:41It's a constantly replenishing food source for the chat.
22:50These very small creatures can find all they need in the driest parts of the Kalahari.
23:11But the mosaic of landscapes in this wilderness provides for animals of all sizes.
23:21465 miles to the north, there's another exception to the Kalahari's general severity.
23:28A place where even giants can find all they need to thrive.
23:42What starts as a trickle some thousand miles away in the Angolan highlands,
24:01steadily grows to become the mighty Okavango River.
24:05By the height of the Kalahari dry season, the floodwaters which have gathered over months reach northern Botswana.
24:17Here they unleash 4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water.
24:26This great flood covers more than 2,000 square miles in a system of streams, swamps and lagoons.
24:47This is the Okavango Delta.
24:53Here more than 480 species of birds make their homes.
24:59Here is the
25:21The Occupy
25:51Cofango's water provides for bird life that couldn't survive without it, as well as large herds of Africa's megaherbivores.
26:09Buffalo must drink at least once a day, so most of the Kalahari is uninhabitable to these large grazers.
26:21They gather here in herds of hundreds, finding all the water they need, even after the annual floods recede.
26:29But they dare not wade too deep. Danger lurks in these waters.
26:38Nile crocodiles can grow to more than 16 feet long and weigh up to a ton.
26:54These powerful carnivores ambush drinking prey from beneath the surface.
27:01But powerful jaws can be menacing to more than just their prey.
27:13A youngster has strayed onto an adult male's turf and provoked an attack.
27:23The battle-hardened veteran has only half of his upper jaw, but it's enough to hold fast on his opponent.
27:38He takes a few deep breaths to prepare himself for an explosion of energy.
27:46His powerful shakes would tear the flesh from a mammal carcass.
28:01But the young crocodile's armour of scales resists, and the stalemate continues.
28:17The old male is strongest in the water.
28:25He prepares himself again.
28:38This time, the youngster bites back.
28:48When he dies, he escapes.
29:02The scarred old male blows bubbles of aggression.
29:07Eventually, he emerges to warm himself on the bank and regain his energy.
29:14He has asserted his dominance among the crocodiles.
29:19But even he isn't boss in the Okavango swamps.
29:26This title belongs to the hippopotamus.
29:37Bulls can weigh more than three tons, and they have mighty jaws of their own.
29:44Hippos spend the night grazing on land, eating up to 90 pounds of grass.
29:51During the day, they stay submerged, escaping the hot sun.
29:57And water lilies make a great snack to get them to dinner time.
30:16Mostly aquatic, hippos rely on the delta's surface water as a suitable habitat.
30:24And flat, sandy soils allow them to walk along the bottom of swamps at relatively constant depths.
30:41But it's a plant, rather than an animal, that takes advantage of the delta better than any other.
30:47Papyrus.
30:59This is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, and it dominates the waterways.
31:07The steady flow of water leaches nutrients from the sandy floor.
31:14But papyrus is able to recycle the nutrients it absorbs, taking nourishment from dying shoots,
31:21and redirecting it toward new growth, allowing it to grow tall and dense.
31:26It's a banquet for the world's biggest land mammal, the African elephant.
31:45A mature elephant bowl eats around 660 pounds of food a day.
32:04He feeds on a huge variety of plant matter.
32:08And even the fibrous papyrus stems are on the menu.
32:13Thanks to the Okavango's abundant greenery, in this wet corner of the Great Kalahari, elephants thrive in high concentrations.
32:28As this giant moves, his disturbance provides a feast for a smaller companion.
32:39A cattle egret can snap up insects flushed from the grass, taking advantage of a feast on a smaller scale.
32:46Insects are an important source of food for many of the Delta's birds, including hornbills of the red-billed and yellow-billed varieties.
33:05But there is another hornbill here that needs more than insects to get by.
33:30The ground hornbill is as big as a turkey.
33:43They spend their days patrolling territories of up to 38 square miles, on foot, looking for food.
33:53This group's territory includes part of one of the Delta's large islands.
34:00The flood water doesn't reach here, but despite the dryness, there is food to be found.
34:09Hornbills will eat anything, from insects to reptiles, and even small mammals.
34:19This leopard tortoise is in danger.
34:33The hornbills have cornered him.
34:38But they can't remove him from his shell.
35:01The tortoise survives the ordeal, and the birds move off to hunt elsewhere.
35:26With enough territory on the Delta's dry islands, the hornbills can find all they need.
35:33For another of the area's iconic predators, the daytime strategy is very different.
35:42This young leopard has recently gained independence from her mother.
35:54The Delta's tall trees provide her with excellent lookout points.
36:00From here, she can keep an eye out for prey.
36:06And another group of youngsters nearby would do well to be wary.
36:13A family of baboons is moving through the undergrowth.
36:28Theirs is a relatively easy life, surrounded by the Delta's luck abundance.
36:34Leopards are the biggest threat to the troop.
36:41But she does most of her hunting under the cover of darkness.
36:47With the troop's big males on guard, she won't risk an attack in broad daylight.
36:53Instead, she will take the time to rest.
37:03And the young baboons can play without concern.
37:08In this wet wonderland, all manner of creatures thrive.
37:33But only Africa's most hardy can survive beyond the limits of the oasis.
37:44In the height of the dry season, the south of the Kalahari has very little in the way of greenery.
37:51And even less surface water.
37:54Living hundreds of miles from the Delta's oasis, another family of baboons must be resourceful to get by.
38:12But even here, they can find enough to sustain themselves.
38:15These omnivorous primates have incredibly varied diets, eating everything from grass and bark to insects and small mammals.
38:36Dextrous hands allow them to pick exactly what they're after from the foot of an acacia tree.
38:41Baboons are one of the few, mainly terrestrial species of monkey.
38:56But there are no slouches when it comes to climbing.
38:59The acacia tree is a jungle gym for the youngsters' games.
39:10Despite the desolate appearance of their habitat, the troop is healthy enough to expend excess energy playing.
39:16The tree has a deep taproot that reaches water far below the ground.
39:19The tree has a deep taproot that reaches water far below the ground.
39:24This allows it to grow new shoots, food for the baboons in even the fields.
39:29the toughest of times.
39:30Trees like this are crucial to a variety of life in the Kalahari.
39:32Trees like this are crucial to a variety of life in the Kalahari.
39:33The tree has a deep taproot that reaches water far below the ground.
39:38This allows it to grow new shoots, food for the baboons in even the toughest of times.
39:47Trees like this are crucial to a variety of life in the Kalahari.
40:00Including its avian predators.
40:07The talons of a varose eagle owl are strong enough to lift its own weight in prey.
40:13It hunts by night and sleeps the hot day away in the treetops.
40:20While the eagle owl rests, other raptors are on the prowl.
40:29A southern pale-chanting goshawk swoops down on prey from high branches.
40:34While it eats its latest kill, someone else pays close attention.
40:54A crimson-breasted shrike is eager for a cheap meal in the challenging dry times.
40:59The goshawk isn't fazed by the smaller bird, and it's unlikely there'll be leftovers.
41:22As the wind starts to blow through the Kalahari's grasses once again, relief for the parched land is on its way.
41:38Finally, rain brings some moisture to the land.
42:05The Kalahari's plants will grow rapidly and feed the animals that need them most.
42:11The Kalahari's plants will grow rapidly and feed the animals that need them most.
42:40As the clouds break and the morning sun returns, the Kalahari bathes in new light.
42:49For all life here, the brief downfall has spurred a timely boost in food supplies.
43:03And they all cash in, taking advantage of sudden plenty in a dry land.
43:13For the meerkat family, this is a gift at a crucial time.
43:23Every day brings the pups nearer to fending for themselves.
43:31The rain has brought with it a flush of insect activity, feeding the pups as they gain confidence and experience.
43:45Some will eventually leave to join new families.
43:57But the pack will remain strong, working together to raise one generation after the next.
44:13In its immense expanse, the Kalahari is far more than a barren desert.
44:37The Kalahari is far more than a barren desert.
44:44Life of all forms thrives here.
44:52In a land underscored by sand, rocks provide crucial refuge.
45:01And a mighty river floods far and wide.
45:10This provides abundance for some.
45:20While elsewhere, the hardy must make use of what's on offer.
45:29This is a land of variety, filled with many faces.
45:39A collage of life and landscapes.
45:42That make up the colorful kaleidoscope, which is the Great Kalahari.
45:48The Great Kalahari.
45:49The Great Kalahari.
45:51The Great Kalahari.
45:53Transcription by CastingWords
46:23CastingWords
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