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00:04Our moon is a familiar face in the night sky.
00:11She illuminates the way for animals on the move.
00:16But even when her light fades,
00:20she has an unseen power
00:22which guides creatures across the entire planet.
00:32A humpback whale mum and her new calf
00:36relax in the warm waters of the Hawaiian archipelago.
00:42It's the perfect nursery.
00:50The calf was born just a few months ago.
00:55The tropical waters give him warmth.
00:59There's shelter from the waves
01:06and from the strong currents of the open ocean beyond.
01:11But he'll have to face them soon.
01:13He must build his strength.
01:16Mum must rest.
01:19Their journey is about to begin.
01:24They'll need to use the unseen power of the moon
01:27to find their way.
01:39Our moon shapes life on Earth in extraordinary ways.
01:46She can light the way to love.
01:48She can light the way to love.
01:51Dictating the length of day.
01:54Summoning the seasons.
01:58She can light the way to love.
02:02Reveal hidden pathways.
02:06Bring times of plenty or strip away chances of survival.
02:32With each phase,
02:34from full moon to nu,
02:38less light is reflected to Earth.
02:41Earth, but the more powerful the moon becomes.
02:49As the moon aligns with the sun, their combined gravitational pull on our planet is at its
02:56strongest.
02:59This shift in gravity is the signal to start an ocean odyssey.
03:08This calf has only known the shelter of these Hawaiian seas since he was born.
03:16The waters may be calm, but they are not always safe.
03:24A male, he's looking for the chance to impress.
03:33And now he's joined by other males who are all searching for a mate.
03:51It's not known why, but a new moon brings out their competitive side.
04:12They are keen to show the female they've got what it takes.
04:21In these displays, they can accidentally drown a young calf.
04:33The males use the deeper water to fight for dominance.
04:57None takes a chance to slip away.
05:18She has led her calf to the safety of the shallows.
05:31In a few short months, he's already doubled in size drinking mum's rich milk.
05:42But she hasn't eaten in six months.
05:45This nursery comes at a cost.
05:48There's not enough food for mum here.
05:53And their feeding grounds are 5,000 kilometres away in north-west Alaska.
06:03It's a journey all the humpbacks here in Hawaii must take.
06:07And one the calf must learn.
06:10This is the only time his mother will guide him north.
06:15There's little margin for error.
06:19Set off too early and they'll arrive in frozen seas.
06:24Stay too long and they'll starve on the long voyage ahead.
06:32The new moon is their signal.
06:37Mum and calf can sense the greater gravitational pull.
06:44For mum, it's time to head north.
06:49For the calf, this new feeling is the first lesson on the unseen power of the moon.
06:58They'll need to keep on course and pinpoint their feeding grounds
07:03among thousands of kilometres of coastline.
07:10And the moon's power will guide them each step of the way.
07:19Every month, the moon changes not just her phase, but her position.
07:25Higher in winter, appearing longer in the night sky.
07:34Lower in summer, shining for less time, only skimming the horizon.
07:43It's these changes in phase and position which set animal migrations in motion.
07:56In the lowlands of southern England, a nightjar rests in the heath.
08:08She's a nocturnal hunter.
08:12And she's waiting for the moon to rise.
08:25In the cool of the night, the heath comes alive.
08:36The full moon signals to the nightjar.
08:41It's time to come out into the light.
08:55She's searching for moths.
08:58They spend these summer nights looking for a mate.
09:03Using the moon to navigate, they'll keep it at a constant angle as they fly.
09:10But tonight, the full moon is their downfall.
09:19The nightjar's huge eyes drink in every photon of light the moon provides.
09:26Tonight's bright full moon helps her pick out insects silhouetted against the dark sky.
09:38Under a full moon, nightjars are twice as effective at catching prey.
09:46And she must catch as many moths as she can.
10:04Packed with protein, insects are the ideal fuel.
10:19But this moon is more than a hunting aid.
10:28It's a countdown to the start of her migration.
10:34In late summer, the low full moon will only stay above the horizon for a short while.
10:42Nightjars lives are tuned to the phase and light of the moon.
10:51And she won't be alone on this journey.
10:55Nightjars all across Europe will start their migration ten days after this low full moon of late summer.
11:05Using the moon as a clock, they can synchronize their departure, ensuring their safety in numbers on their long journey
11:14ahead.
11:19Thousands of nightjars will head to Central Africa, chasing an endless summer.
11:35The changing height and phase are both clock and calendar.
11:41A seasonal signal and a call to arms.
11:54Beneath the glow of a high winter moon in southern Australia, a transformation is underway.
12:07Every year, spider crabs must molt their spiky armor in order to grow.
12:18But it'll take days for their new shell to harden.
12:24So they're vulnerable.
12:33Long legs help this crab travel around seven kilometers from the rocky depths to the cool, calm shallows.
12:42He's searching for a safe place to molt and needs to find it fast.
12:49His body has already started to transform.
12:53It can't be stopped.
13:00The moon has triggered others to migrate here to molt.
13:06But they've been followed.
13:12A three-meter-long broad ray.
13:22With no place for the crabs to hide.
13:31A lone crab is defenseless and delicious.
13:45They pin them to the sea floor.
13:55Port Jackson sharks mop up the stragglers.
14:06The moon draws more crabs out of the deep.
14:12In winter, the water is calm and cold.
14:17The perfect conditions to molt.
14:22The full moon allows thousands of crabs to coordinate their march to the shallows.
14:32And as they gather, they begin to band together.
14:43To shed his shell, this crab needs to find the safety of the swarm.
14:51He can't drop his guard.
15:01He's no heavyweight.
15:04But can still pack a pinch.
15:09Nipping at the ray's soft undersides is just enough to put it off.
15:30The safety of a huge mound is in sight.
15:55It's a lucky escape.
16:06Now, he has an army who's got his back.
16:22Now, he has an army who's got his back.
16:31The mountain of crabs should make an easy meal.
16:38But the mound is now a sea of spines and claws, which sways and shifts.
16:55So the ray can't grip even a single crab.
17:05There are as many as 20,000 crabs in this small sandy bay.
17:12And with this sheer force of numbers, they create an impenetrable fortress.
17:29Surrounded by his band of brothers, he'll molt, transforming in safety until his new armor hardens.
17:40The crabs will disappear back into the depths until next year, when the high winter moon signals the army to
17:50rise up once more.
17:57The full moon is 400,000 times less bright than the sun, but it's no pale imitation.
18:08She can extend the day and open up new opportunities.
18:21And there's no more important time than when raising a family.
18:28In the lush forests of Kyushu Island, Japan, a red shield bug guards her tiny babies, tucked into the leaf
18:43litter.
18:47This is the only brood she'll ever have.
18:51Shield bugs' lives are short.
18:53Being a mum is the last thing she'll do.
19:00To ensure they can get the best start in life, she must leave them in search of food.
19:10Among the tangle of vines and trees, she's searching for a special type of ripe fruit.
19:23She keeps an eye on the pattern of light and shade in the canopy, which will guide her home.
19:41She's locked on to a scent.
19:48The fruit of the boro boro tree.
20:05But the light is fading.
20:10And her map has gone.
20:14She can't find her way back to her babies.
20:28A dark forest is a dangerous place for a lost little bug.
20:41But the moon is here to help.
20:48It re-illuminates the canopy.
20:53It may not be as bright as the sun, but the contrast between the moonlight and dark creates a clearer
21:00pattern.
21:02The little bug can read these like points on a map.
21:10So she's able to take the most direct route home to her babies.
21:14In minutes.
21:15Not hours.
21:21It's these full moon nights which give her valuable extra foraging time.
21:35Tomorrow, the moon will shine less bright.
21:39The canopy map dimmer.
21:42Harder to read.
21:44Less time to feed her babies.
21:47But tonight, it won't set until dawn.
21:51So she must make the most of this extended opportunity to find food on this long, moonlit night.
22:15On the nights after the full moon, the amount of reflected light fades fast.
22:24A crescent moon is barely visible.
22:27But even a silver sliver can keep animals on track.
22:37African savannah elephants take the definition of a midnight snack to the extreme.
22:44They can spend 16 hours eating and consume over 100 kilograms of food a day.
22:53They'll spend so much time eating that they're awake nearly all night.
22:59And all that food has predictable consequences.
23:10Life in the shadow of giants is a dangerous game.
23:18This little beetle could easily be crushed.
23:27But it's a risk he must take if he's to win a mate.
23:34For this beetle, dung is a prized possession.
23:39A big ball of dung is exactly what a female beetle is looking for.
23:44To lay her eggs in.
23:47And this pile has already attracted other males.
23:55To beat the competition, he needs to be quick.
24:00It's time to get dirty.
24:08It's time to get dirty.
24:11Using his strong legs, he sculpts a ball five times his size.
24:22He needs the moonlight to make a clean getaway.
24:28A straight line is the fastest way.
24:33But which way to go?
24:38The small amount of light from a crescent moon is scattered by particles in the atmosphere.
24:48And this creates lines of light in the night sky.
24:53Known as polarized light.
25:03Even head down and facing backwards, he can follow these lines of light.
25:22But beware the thief in the night.
25:30With such a big ball, stopping to check your position can be risky.
25:49Equally matched, it's now a battle of stamina.
25:54He needs to stay on top.
26:02Losing the higher ground could mean it's game over.
26:08But he won't give up.
26:18With the chance of other dung ball bandits nearby,
26:24he pushes on, following the polarized light.
26:37Finally, his new ball of dung brings him the female attention he desires.
26:52The ball will become home for their new brood.
26:58He'll keep pushing until he finds soil soft enough to bury the ball.
27:05His moonlight-guided great escape.
27:10Finally complete.
27:20Moonlight offers a visible guide to animals on the move.
27:27But the moon has an unseen and even more powerful way to guide navigators.
27:34The moon's proximity to Earth means her gravitational pull helps power an immense force.
27:48Under the Earth's crust, the iron-rich rock is molten.
27:54Just as the moon's gravitational pull acts on the tides, it also tugs on the swirling rock deep underground.
28:07This movement adds electromagnetic energy, creating powerful magnetic fields.
28:18These fields align and oppose each other, creating our north and south poles.
28:33When charged particles from space strike this magnetic field, it causes the atmosphere to glow, and it becomes visible as
28:45an aurora.
28:49An ever-present power felt all across the entire planet.
29:04Even in the middle of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific.
29:10One hundred and fifty-five million square kilometers of endless bloom.
29:19Its sheer size means storms and strong currents swirl across it, uninterrupted.
29:29Our humpback mum and her young calf are 2,000 kilometers from land.
29:37In the open ocean, they could easily be knocked off course.
29:43The calf sticks close to mum, riding her slipstream, saving valuable energy.
29:50But mum is now burning through hundreds of thousands of calories a day.
29:55Make a mistake in navigation now, and it could cost them their lives.
30:09As they journey, the visible moon will change phase and position, so it can't be relied upon as a guide.
30:20But the magnetic field is an all-pervasive power.
30:29Inside their brains, mum and calf both have tiny iron particles, called magnetite.
30:37These align with the magnetic field, triggering a cellular reaction.
30:43It lets them sense how steep and how strong the field is.
30:50From this, they can work out their position, and in what direction to swim.
30:58Their own biological map and compass.
31:06So mum can find her way across this seemingly featureless ocean.
31:13And now the calf is learning how to use this sense for a life as a long-distance ocean voyager.
31:31The magnetic field touches every part of the planet, from the deepest oceans, to high mountain peaks, from the largest
31:44animals on the longest migrations, to the smaller, but no less mighty.
31:55Deep in a European forest.
32:02The spring sunshine stirs a sleepy alpine newt.
32:11After a year in the woods, instinct now drives him to find water.
32:21He's looking for a mate.
32:28He's looking for a mate.
32:29This finger-length newt is too small to see which way to go.
32:35He'll need to rely on his superpower to find his pond.
32:42But he's not alone.
32:51A grass snake, energised by the sun, is on the hunt.
33:02The snake relies on its speed and strength to chase down and strangle its prey.
33:31Little legs struggle in the dense forest.
33:42But for a tiny newt, there are plenty of places to hide.
34:05The setting sun is a sign it's safe. A grass snake can't hunt in the dark.
34:14But now disorientated from the hunt, he needs to work out which way his pond is.
34:23He too has magnetite in him. His superpower, which allows him to sense the magnetic field.
34:32Just like following a compass, he's keeping his whole body aligned to the angle of the field.
34:39And can head in the direction of the pond he left a year ago.
34:54A spring storm doesn't bother him either.
34:58The magnetic force flows whatever the weather.
35:06With his internal compass, this tiny newt can travel as far as four kilometers.
35:21As the dense forest thins out, the newt can now smell that water is close.
35:35Finally, his pond.
35:43Time for a well-earned dip.
35:46Time for a well-earned dip.
35:49But he can't rest.
35:52It's time to find a mate.
36:06As the season turns to summer, he'll return to the forest.
36:12But next spring, wherever he is in the woods, he'll find his way back to this pond, using the lunar
36:20charged magnetic field to point the way.
36:33As the magnetic field wraps around the planet, its angle changes.
36:39At the poles, it's vertical.
36:42At the equator, it's parallel to the surface, creating a map for those who can read it.
37:00Where the waters of the vast Atlantic meet the Congo jungle, the coastline is one of the few places in
37:08the world suitable for ocean giants to emerge.
37:15Four kilometers of sand, just soft enough, the beach not too steep.
37:30This leatherback turtle touches land for the first time in three years.
37:39The moon has gifted her a high tide, helping her part of the way.
37:47She'll need all the energy she has to haul herself up the beach.
37:56Using a moon-powered map, she's traveled from her feeding grounds in Brazil, 6,000 kilometers away, back to the
38:05place she first hatched.
38:09On the coast of Equatorial Africa.
38:22This time, she's here to lay eggs of her own.
38:35Her eggs will be incubated in the warm sand, where they'll develop a super sense.
38:58Mum has done all she can.
39:06She's leaving her eggs in the care of the moon.
39:22As the eggs develop, the lunar-charged magnetic field courses through them, deep in the sand.
39:45The hatchlings have particles of magnetite within them, and can also sense the angle of the magnetic field.
39:55So each one is born with a magnetic imprint of this stretch of coastline.
40:05This beach is their first mark on their magnetic map.
40:16But it's the visible moon which guides their first steps.
40:23Instinctively, they head out to the brightest part of their new world.
40:29Moonlight reflected on the sea.
40:54They'll ride the ocean currents in search of food.
41:04As they travel, the angle of the magnetic field will change.
41:26As they travel, the angle of the magnetic field will change.
41:40The moon has had influence over the Earth for billions of years, creating profound physical changes to our planet.
41:50These allow animals on the final stretch of their long migration to home in with amazing accuracy.
42:03The gravitational pull of the moon strains the Earth's thin crust.
42:14This has helped create volcanic peaks and vast canyons, even underwater.
42:22Such are the scale of these formations.
42:24Their huge mass alters the gravity on Earth.
42:29Slightly stronger where there are mountains.
42:33Slightly weaker in deeper canyons.
42:45These are gravitational signposts for those who can feel it.
43:02Mum and calf can sense the slight change in gravity caused by the mountains and canyons on the ocean floor.
43:34They've made it across 5,000 kilometers of open ocean to the cool Alaskan river.
43:46The calf now has a thick layer of blubber to keep him warm.
43:53But Mum has lost nearly half her body weight since she left these shores seven months ago.
44:03These green seas are a sign her fasting will soon be over.
44:17Plankton-rich waters have drawn in millions of herring.
44:22Plankton-rich waters of the moon.
44:23And this is why Mum and calf have come so far.
44:31Weeks of traveling with the moon as their guide.
44:33They've arrived at the right place and at the right time.
44:39And there's one final skill the calf can learn.
44:47How to work as part of a pod.
44:52And master the art of the hunt.
44:59The males put their fighting aside and now work together.
45:05Each humpback in the group has a role to play.
45:10One releases air while swimming in a circular pattern towards the surface.
45:19As the bubbles rise, they form vertical curtains, forcing the fish together.
45:37Calls from the others further concentrate the shoal.
45:44And then a coordinated surge.
45:54The bubble net size, shape, and amount of air is adjusted depending on the type of prey.
46:31The
46:50not all humpbacks catch food this way it's unique to only a few groups in
47:01alaska this calf is part of a special community of whales
47:21he'll need to spend the summer finding his place in the pod
47:28after a well-earned feed it's time to play
47:45but there's another reason for his breaching
47:52it's now thought the young humpback is also resetting his senses
48:01as he free falls back into the water he's calibrating to the gravity signposts of the
48:09underwater mountains and canyons at these rich feeding grounds
48:37once autumn arrives and the herring leave
48:41the calf will join his mum on the return back to hawaii
48:53the next time he travels back to these waters he'll do so alone
49:01on his long journey triggered by the moon phase
49:08kept on course by the magnetic field and guided by gravity
49:20the moon's all-pervasive power and influence will be with him every step of the way
49:41to film the lunar lives of leatherback turtles in gabon the team partnered with a local ngo devoted to
50:00their survival
50:10didier doesn't have to go far
50:13to reconnect
50:16only 10 kilometers from the capital libraville is pongara national park
50:22one of the world's most important nesting beaches for endangered leatherback turtles
50:29it is important to protect the marine turtles because the turtles are already indicators of the good health
50:38of the ocean
50:40the turtles
50:41the turtles regulate the population of the medus
50:45if there are a lot of medus and that there are no more turtles because the medus will eat the
50:51larvae and the fish
50:51and then we will not have any fish
50:54we are doing research to put in place the strategies of conservation of these species
51:11we are on a turtle hunt we prepare to do biometrics and put the bags
51:17and take the GPS
51:19she has a cicatric on the soil
51:24look
51:25it's like a cliff
51:28she has already come to the pond and then she has been attacked by an animal on the beach
51:36she is beautiful
51:38she is beautiful
51:40beautiful like the sun
51:45she is beautiful
51:46the first time I saw a turtle hunt
51:48I did not come back
51:50it was a moment
51:51that stayed in my head
51:53it was really
51:56overwhelming
51:59on the beach
52:00it is slow
52:01it is heavy
52:02but in the water
52:03it is light
52:04like a fish
52:10the sun
52:10the moon this evening
52:11is very beautiful
52:13we can walk on the beach
52:16without using light
52:21we do not hunt here
52:22it is禁止
52:24you know
52:25it is this kind of activity
52:29that kills the turtles
52:30that bite
52:32that kill
52:32men
52:33see
52:33at the beach
52:34at the beach
52:34in the water
52:34it is a good
52:36a good
52:44adult turtles can get tangled and drowning in discarded fishing nets
52:50and pongara's proximity to the capital brings a greater threat
52:58Timber from Gabon's vast forests is taken by sea to sawmills in the capital.
53:05Not all the huge trees make it.
53:52Leatherbacks have existed since the time of
53:55the dinosaurs, and it's down to the hard work of Didier and his team to help them survive
54:02the pressures of the modern world and ensure Pongaro remains a vital nesting ground, critical
54:09not only for Gabon, but of global importance.
54:25The complementarity, which is the balance and harmony on the earth.
54:58Didier
54:59Didier
54:59Didier
55:01Didier
55:02Didier
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55:06Didier
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