This special episode brings together highlights from the series, from hidden forests and turbulent coasts to vast, unexplored deserts.
We begin in the oldest desert on earth – the Namib in south west Africa. A pair of ostriches raise their family in the searing heat to keep them safe from predators – but time is ticking as the chicks begin to hatch. Outside the egg, the newborns won’t survive long in these temperatures, but not all the clutch hatch at once. For the whole brood to survive, the parents need to time their departure perfectly, but they are forced to make the difficult decision to leave behind unhatched eggs. As the family depart, one more newborn emerges, and the lone chick wanders the vast desert calling for its family.
Away from the tropics, in the cold waters off North America, the sun fuels forests of giant kelp. It is a dangerous place for young horn sharks as giant sea bass and large sharks patrol looking for prey. The real danger, however, is buried beneath. A little horn shark unwittingly stumbles into an ambush set by an angel shark. With a lightning strike, it is swallowed whole, but it is not over yet – the little horn shark has a secret weapon.
From kelp forests to rainforests, animals must develop remarkable strategies to survive, and, in the Amazon jungle, alien-like treehoppers form surprising alliances to keep their young safe and fight off deadly assassin bugs. Here, it pays to work together.
In the open grasslands of Africa, hunters are driven to new heights to gain the advantage. Leopards are the most adaptable of big cats, and a handful of special individuals have learned to hunt by hiding and leaping from treetops – some higher than the roof of a two-storey house. Their lives depend on them getting this unique game of hide-and-seek right, and when they do, their prey doesn’t see them coming.
Freshwater is the lifeblood of all life on earth, and the stage for extraordinary animal dramas.
In Botswana, nestled amongst flowering water lilies, newly hatched lily trotter chicks learn a vital lesson – how to ‘walk on water’. Their oversized feet, almost double the length of their body, make for a wobbly start, and their dedicated father will do whatever it takes to keep them safe during the most vulnerable stage of their lives.
South Africa’s Robberg Peninsula is a treacherous place to start life. Thousands of Cape fur seals are squeezed onto a small ledge. A clumsy yearling pup escapes to the water, and once immersed, the youngster is nimble and graceful. In recent years, this coast has been home to unprecedented numbers of great white sharks, and to protect themselves, the seal colony do something extraordinary - they band together to see off the world’s most notorious predator.
Many animals must now rise to a new challenge – living alongside us. Some are meeting this challenge head-on and thriving. In Bali, long-tailed macaques have learned to steal tourists’ most valued items and then use them to barter with temple staff for their favourite food. The older, wiser males simply won’t give you back your phone unless they get just what they want.
A lucky few can succeed in a human world, but our impact now extends to even the most remote corners of our planet.
On the tiny Raine Island, tens of thousands of female green turtles come ashore to nest, but many are stranded by the ebbing tide. The island is on borrowed time. This, the world’s largest green turtle rookery, may soon disappear beneath the waves. Show less