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00:04There's a story that unites each of us with every animal on the planet.
00:11It's the story of the greatest of all adventures, the journey through life.
00:19For animals, there is just one goal at the end of this journey, to leave offspring.
00:27But this can be immensely difficult to achieve.
00:33In this series, we will see animals of all kinds striving to overcome the obstacles
00:39that face them at each stage in their lives.
00:45They will be strong.
00:52Cunning.
00:57And ingenious.
01:05They will fight battles.
01:25And will do whatever it takes to win a mate.
01:29Cunningham.
01:34Cunningham.
01:41Cunningham, a little boy.
01:48Cunningham.
01:55END
01:57Cunningham.
01:57END
01:58individual one step closer to leaving offspring, the next best thing to immortality.
02:13The journey through life begins afresh with every new generation,
02:18as it has for countless millions of years.
02:25It is life's great story.
02:52Many animals face their greatest challenge within days or even hours of entering the world.
03:01This is when they are smallest and most vulnerable.
03:10The remote Ørsteddal valley in Greenland,
03:14scene of one of the most extraordinary trials that any animal must face at the beginning of its life.
03:28Newly hatched barnacle geese.
03:38Their parents chose to nest on top of a huge tower of rock.
03:46Newly hatched barnacle geese.
03:51Such extreme isolation was the only way to protect their brood from predators on the ground.
04:00But now there is a price to pay.
04:07Up here, the five goslings may be safe and warm,
04:12but they have nothing to eat and they're getting hungry.
04:18Like their parents, they only eat grass.
04:22And to find it, the goslings must first get down there,
04:27120 meters below.
04:31But they won't be able to fly for another eight weeks.
04:43So they'll have to jump.
04:49Their father is restless.
04:51He decides it's time for the family to leave.
04:59He calls to encourage them.
05:08But they are so tightly bonded to their mother that they will only follow her.
05:19The parents both survived their descent as youngsters.
05:22They're living proof that their chicks can make it.
05:29The fluffy goslings are certainly light and well padded.
05:37But luck will play its part.
05:49The hungry gosling is very silent.
06:06The good of the frogs would be very close to the gosling.
06:11and instinct compels them to follow.
06:27The gosling spreads its body and flaps its tiny wings
06:31to slow its descent and lessen the impact of inevitable crashes.
06:40If the first collision is belly-first, it should survive the fall.
06:57This chick jumps off the back of the cliff.
07:02It's less of a drop, but there's far more risk
07:05of getting lost in the crevices below.
07:12The third makes another good jump.
07:18But the fourth slips.
07:26Plummeting down headfirst too close to the cliff could bring disaster.
07:57The third gosling is doing better.
07:59However, hitting the rock belly first should prove a lifesaver.
08:06But still the tumble goes on.
08:27There is nothing its mother can do but follow it down.
08:36There is nothing its mother can do but follow it down.
08:38One last chick.
09:03The perfect launch.
09:08And a controlled drop.
09:10This is as good a descent as it's possible to make.
09:51You're a normal creature.
09:51The problem is that it's possible that it's possible to make it work.
09:52It's possible that it's possible to make it work.
09:52It's possible that the reason you make it work out of the world is so well known.
10:05It's possible that the horse can break down the world into the world.
10:19It's parents are there to meet it.
10:46A little dazed, perhaps, but all in one piece.
10:54One gosling, at least, hasn't made it.
11:07And this chick appears to be in a bad way.
11:24At last it responds to its mother's calls.
11:36The resilience of a barnacle goose chick is extraordinary.
11:46But there are still chicks unaccounted for, somewhere amongst the rubble.
11:55The parents can't risk searching because they need to lead their two survivors away quickly before predators arrive.
12:09A third one has made it.
12:18But it needs to catch up.
12:38Reunited.
12:44Three out of five chicks have made it.
12:48Without such a dramatic start in life, it's unlikely any of them would have even got this far.
13:00These chicks will face more dangers in the future, but only two days old they've already survived the greatest challenge
13:08of their lives.
13:16But not all animals face such traumatic beginnings.
13:26South Africa.
13:32A meerkat emerges from its burrow and scans for danger.
13:44The whole family is on high alert, and for good reason.
13:52Today, the newest members of their group will emerge to start exploring their world.
14:12For now, they will stay close to their mother.
14:17A meerkat's world holds many dangers.
14:28But under watchful eyes, they're quite safe here.
14:51If one of these little creatures, indeed, if any animal, is to become one of life's winners by leaving offspring,
14:58then a long and difficult journey lies ahead.
15:05It will face many dangers along the way.
15:13It's only by overcoming every challenge that an animal can succeed in life.
15:28For this pup, that story is just beginning.
15:33For the next few weeks, his survival is his mother's business.
15:41All many babies can do to help themselves is to grow as strong as possible.
15:53A young animal significantly improves its chances of surviving if it can grow fast.
15:59And few babies have more growing to do in their first weeks than a humpback whale.
16:08In just six weeks, this newborn calf must leave these nursery waters off Hawaii
16:14on a 4,800-kilometre migration to its feeding grounds in the Arctic.
16:23For that, it will need to be strong.
16:27Twirling at the surface rapidly develops muscle strength and diving ability.
16:38Before then, this 900-kilogram calf must double its weight
16:42by drinking 2,000 litres of its mother's fat-rich milk.
16:57But the milk supply is limited.
17:00Until its mother reaches the feeding grounds, she's fasting.
17:07Humpback calves make such demands of their mothers
17:10that females can only raise one every two or three years.
17:19If the calf is to be ready for the migration,
17:22then what they both need now is to be left in peace.
17:31But here, the birthing season and the mating season coincide,
17:37and that spells trouble.
17:40Where they are now, the man is around the world.
17:44How can you talk about these diseases?
17:50Male humpbacks will pursue any females
17:53even if they are still nursing and so can't get pregnant.
18:08Male humpbacks will pursue any females,
18:12These three and a half thousand kilogram males, fired up with testosterone, pose a serious threat to any calf that
18:20gets caught up in the chase.
18:32As the mother tries to outrun the males, the calf sensibly stays as close to her as possible to avoid
18:40being separated and lost.
18:58As more and more males join the chase, the mood becomes ever more aggressive.
19:21Now there is a real danger of the calf being injured by flailing tails and crashing bodies.
19:42Eventually, the males become so preoccupied with fighting each other that the calf and her mother can escape.
20:00Even if a calf gets away unharmed, the ordeal can leave it exhausted.
20:06The dangers from the breeding season will only grow in intensity and some calves will become so weakened that they'll
20:15struggle to survive the coming migration.
20:31Even the most formidable predators are surprisingly vulnerable in infancy.
20:40Here in Kenya's Masai Mara, a lion cub has, on average, only a one in five chance of surviving its
20:48first two years.
20:51Which ones do so depends on the strength of the pride to which they belong.
21:05For six weeks, this female cub has been hidden away by her mother in the long grass.
21:18But today, with her brother and sister, she's going to join the creche at the heart of her pride.
21:34Adult females provide the food and the first line of defense.
21:39With at least four in her pride, this cub should be well looked after.
21:52All the lionesses have their own cubs, who will be both playmates and future allies.
22:02Under the female's watchful eyes, she can practice her stalking, pouncing and fighting skills.
22:35But there is one more family member to meet.
22:38And perhaps the most important of all.
22:51Her father.
22:57Her ultimate defender.
23:01Marauding rival male lions are a constant threat.
23:05If they overthrew him, they would kill all his cubs and father their own.
23:17The security of the whole pride.
23:21And this cub's future rests on him remaining strong.
23:32But the early days of an animal's life are a very different prospect if its parents do not support it.
24:00This peculiar, almost alien scene is in fact the emergence of a brood of orchid mantids.
24:12If two hops have taken the only an illegal inside enslave regions and the lion inundrum,
24:16the revised them to print a jewel's gift on an occupied-collegi Futurian.
24:19Mantids, like the great majority of animals, play the numbers game.
24:26Having over 60 hatchlings increases the chances that a few will make it to adulthood.
24:36But during these first minutes, they are especially vulnerable.
24:56They must quickly hide away
24:59and wait for their soft bodies to harden.
25:02They must be able to hide.
25:05They must be able to hide.
25:07They must be able to hide.
25:09They must be able to hide.
25:14They must be able to hide.
25:15Within 20 minutes, they are transformed.
25:21Now, the immediate danger is from each other.
25:31Mantids will eat anything that moves,
25:35including other mantids.
25:54It's time to leave.
25:56It's time to leave.
26:07This tiny insect is now open to attack from predators lurking in the undergrowth.
26:23Whether an individual mantis survives or not is partly a matter of chance.
26:34Whether it's spotted by a predator.
26:43Whether it turns right or left.
26:56So far, its luck has held.
27:00But this hungry jumping spider is still in pursuit.
27:10A mantis is born with exceptional eyesight.
27:14But the spider's is even better.
27:22Although this young mantis can't yet fly, its long four legs, evolved to catch prey, give it reach.
27:30The deer in the dark 있다.
27:57ABOUT BUTTER
28:00There seems to be no escape.
28:09But this mantis has a surprising line in self-defence.
28:16Kung-fu, praying mantis style.
28:32Of course, it's all bluff, trying to look bigger and confuse its enemy.
28:41But it's got away with it.
28:52Just staying alive for its first few hours
28:56is a significant accomplishment for a newly-hatched insect.
29:02But there's still a long way to go.
29:05With a bit of luck, in two months' time,
29:08it will be as big and beautiful as this orchid mantid.
29:24Or maybe not.
29:27After all, mantids are cannibals.
29:34However, there are plenty more where that one came from.
29:53A young fur seal, just old enough to be left alone while its mother hunts out at sea.
30:03It won't be long before the pup has to negotiate these treacherous waters for itself
30:09and learn to catch its own food while avoiding predators.
30:22But how can he take his first lesson without risking it being his last?
30:30Luckily, the fur seals on this beach in Kaikoura, New Zealand, have, in the last decade, discovered the perfect place
30:39to do that.
30:43Surprisingly, the pup heads not towards the sea but inland on one of the strangest journeys any seal makes.
30:56A stream meets the beach and this pup swims up it.
31:22What drives him to travel deep into the forest is a mystery.
31:30And yet, no one finds the scenic wind.
31:53At last, this pup has arrived.
32:04This secluded waterfall makes for a perfect learner's pool.
32:20In this sanctuary, he can join the local pups
32:24to learn manoeuvres that will one day help them escape their enemies.
33:09No one knows how the first pups found this place,
33:12but each year, more and more young seals make the journey.
33:32They're getting a crucial head start in life.
33:40And learning is always easier when you're enjoying yourself.
33:59Each seal spends three days in intense training.
34:04Then, after this rite of passage, they head back to the beach.
34:12It won't be long now
34:14before they will leave their mothers for good
34:16and put their new skills to the test.
34:42It's now late in the meerkat pupping season in South Africa,
34:47and the pups, born two months ago, are growing well.
34:53This pup has been well cared for and fed,
34:56but now it's time she learned to catch her own food.
35:02One of the great benefits of being raised in meerkat society
35:06is that adults without young of their own
35:09help with childcare
35:10and will spend hours teaching the youngsters.
35:15Today's first lesson is ant hunting.
35:20Being shown the right approach is one thing,
35:26but when the food bites back,
35:29all technique goes out of the window.
35:44Not exactly a resounding success.
35:49However, this helper now has a different kind of lesson in mind.
35:54One designed to bring a pup face-to-face with danger
35:58for the first time.
36:02It will be her biggest test so far.
36:19A scorpion, an excellent source of protein
36:22and a meerkat's favorite food.
36:26But their sting is very painful, much worse than an ant.
36:31The tutor weakens it with a bite before handing it over.
36:38But the pup still has a fight on her hands.
36:55The idea is to nip off the sting on its tail,
36:59but its pincers are almost as formidable.
37:11The pup's helper keeps a watchful eye on her.
37:22She has disarmed the sting,
37:24but those pincers are still giving her trouble.
37:45She has disarmed the sting,
37:47but those pincers are still giving her trouble.
37:47A pause, perhaps with encouragement,
37:50before the helper gives her the nod to finish the job.
38:05At last, a small but significant success.
38:15It's a test that every member of her family will have to go through.
38:23And this youngster has passed in triumph.
38:34Back in Hawaii, six weeks have passed.
38:39This humpback whale calf has fallen behind on the annual migration to the Arctic.
38:47It's struggled to grow strong enough, and now it's fighting for its life.
38:55Exhausted and weak, it has already been targeted by sharks.
39:02Its mother helps it to the surface to breathe,
39:06which takes its toll on her, too.
39:11This is now a huge test of the strength of their bond.
39:29But suddenly, the calf is alone.
39:36Its mother appears to have abandoned it,
39:39perhaps to save herself.
39:43Sharks move in.
39:52With a shark on its tail,
39:54the end for this calf now seems inevitable.
40:07But bursting from the deep...
40:11the mother is back.
40:20And she's brought help.
40:25A man.
40:26Although he's unlikely to be the calf's father,
40:29he does something to help it that has never been witnessed before.
40:39He blows a wall of bubbles, creating a protective screen around the calf.
41:00The sharks are held back.
41:03The sharks are held back.
41:07But not for long.
41:09A shark is soon trailing the whales again.
41:13A bolder strategy.
41:24The aggression the male whales were using against each other in the breeding season
41:29now appears to be aimed at the shark.
41:34A human is ordinary.
41:35A dumbass is during the breeding season.
41:37Who is never a fish's father.
41:38A black bear with the shark.
41:38With the shark.
41:47The Pharaoh is there.
41:48A black bear.
41:51A black bear with the shark.
41:52The Pharaoh is there.
41:57The shrimp who is a giant bear with the shark.
41:57A black bear with the shark.
41:58What a shark is alive.
41:58You see the shark.
42:00A black bear with the shark.
42:01Once there is a chance of the calf surviving,
42:04the bond between mother and young remains extraordinarily strong.
42:11The compulsion of the young to survive, and of adults to protect,
42:15burns bright, even against heavy oats.
42:33For many young animals, taking their first steps away
42:37from the protection of parents can be daunting.
42:47Long-eared Djoboa live in the remote Gobi Desert of Mongolia.
42:55After six weeks of being cosseted underground with their families,
42:59young Djoboa finally emerge to spend their first night alone,
43:04learning to catch food.
43:10Infrared cameras can reveal their lives,
43:13but to this Djoboa, the night is completely dark.
43:19Luckily, his hearing more than compensates.
43:23His ears are longer compared to his body
43:26than those of any other animal.
43:34In fact, his ears are so sensitive
43:36that every new sound tends to give him a fright.
43:44The call of a little owl,
43:47a Djoboa's main predator,
43:48and something worth being nervous about.
44:11The youngster's challenge is to distinguish danger from dinner.
44:18The youngster's challenge is to distinguish danger from dinner.
44:20An aggressive gecko is definitely not on the menu.
44:42A Djoboa's hearing is so acute, he can even detect sleeping insects.
44:50But it's hard to grab them when you can't see them.
45:03At last, food.
45:07Confidence grows with success.
45:32Learning to take care of yourself is a tiring business.
45:39Rather than return to the family burrow,
45:42he naps in the open.
45:57But with his immense ears, it must be hard to tune out.
46:15There comes a time when every animal must finally leave youth behind and enter the adult world for good.
46:30A black-footed albatross on the brink of adulthood and learning to fly.
46:44Her maiden flight will take her away from this tiny Pacific island and out to sea.
46:52She will not touch ground again for three years.
46:58But she's not quite ready... yet.
47:22Learning to control a two-metre wingspan in a gusty sea breeze takes practice.
47:35These fledglings have not been fed since their parents left a few weeks ago.
47:42To find food, they must leave too.
47:47And eventually, one of them takes to the wing.
47:55But maiden flights often proves to be a bit of a false start.
48:12To be continued...
48:15To be continued...
48:31To be continued...
48:40Tiger sharks.
48:46They congregate here every year precisely when albatross chicks fledge.
49:01If a shark doesn't strike exactly on target...
49:06A lucky albatross may escape.
49:17There can be few animals that have to face such danger at the very moment they leave home.
49:33To be continued...
49:50To be continued...
49:53To be continued...
50:04To be continued...
50:07To be continued...
50:09To be continued...
50:11To be continued...
50:11To be continued...
50:11To be continued...
50:13To be continued...
50:14To be continued...
50:15To be continued...
50:15To be continued...
50:15To be continued...
50:16To be continued...
50:16To be continued...
50:17To be continued...
50:18To be continued...
50:51It's a remarkable escape.
50:53But a water take-off is even harder than from land.
51:41This albatross has left youth behind.
51:47It's time to embark on the next step of life's story.
51:54Independence in the adult world.
51:57Independence in the adult world.
52:02Independence in the adult world.
52:02Independence in the adult world.
52:22Independence in the adult world.
52:30Oh, my God.
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