Original subtitles

We have explored almost every corner of our planet,

and it's easy to imagine that there's nothing left to discover.

But the natural world can still surprise us...

..with astonishing, wild places...

..remarkable spectacles...

..and breathtaking animal dramas.

In this programme, we celebrate highlights from Planet Earth III.

We travel across the globe,

from hidden forests...

..and turbulent coasts...

..through vast, unexplored deserts.

We will also see in this changing world

how animals are adapting to new challenges.

This is Planet Earth III.

This is the most ancient desert on the planet.

The Namib, in Southwest Africa.

It is one of the hottest places on earth.

Yet this male ostrich and his mate...

..have come here to start a family.

Few predators venture out during the heat of the day.

But such safety comes at a price.

Out in the open, the newly hatched chicks

are exposed to the crushing heat of the sun.

But not all of the brood have hatched.

Until they do, the family will stay here.

The adults take it in turns to protect the brood.

So, whilst the female takes a well-earned break,

the male takes over for the most testing shift.

He gently rolls the unhatched eggs...

..calling to the young within them.

He doesn't want to leave anyone behind.

The temperature continues to rise by five degrees Celsius every hour.

CHICK CHIRPS

He protects the chicks that have emerged...

..shading them with his own body.

At the end of another gruelling day in the sun...

..he's lost almost all his energy.

But he must resist the urge to rest.

The cool of the night brings some relief,

but now, predators are out and about.

JACKAL BARKS

JACKAL MOANS

It's going to be a long night.

Dawn brings a surprise.

Three additions to the family...

..to greet the returning female.

But there's a problem.

The chicks won't survive another day in these temperatures.

Yet the male is reluctant to leave.

Some of the eggs have still not hatched.

But time has run out.

They must depart.

Just a few minutes too late.

CHICK CHIRPS

Alone and without the protection of its parents,

this hatchling's chances are slim.

CHICK CHIRPS

CHIRPING CONTINUES

OSTRICH CHIRPS

CHIRPING CONTINUES

BOTH CHIRP

These ostrich have overcome a battle

with the deadly power of the sun.

But its intensity can also be life-giving.

Here in the shallow seas of North America,

the sun fuels the growth

of an underwater forest.

Giant kelp.

One of the fastest-growing organisms on the planet.

It can increase its length by up to two feet a day...

..and eventually reach the height of a 12-storey building.

These forests are nurseries for young horn sharks.

As the sun begins to set, they leave their daytime shelter...

..and set off into the heart of the kelp forest to find food.

Barely half a metre long,

this little shark is extremely vulnerable.

There are monsters here.

A giant sea bass

weighing over 200kg...

..and wolf eels with big teeth

that can crush little red sea urchins.

But the biggest danger comes from other sharks.

Hound sharks...

..and huge broadnose sevengills.

In this forest, it pays to keep a low profile.

An angel shark.

One of the most deadly sharks in the kelp forest

and certainly the best camouflaged.

An angel shark will lie in wait for days.

But this one

has already attracted too much attention.

It's not welcome here.

Now the coast is clear.

But angel sharks hunt around the clock.

Openings for breathing called spiracles

blow out sand that helps cover its body.

The trap is set.

Staying close to the seabed

is a good way to avoid most predators.

Faster than the blink of an eye.

But it's not over yet.

Horn sharks have a secret weapon.

Sharp spikes keep them very much off the menu for most...

..so this young horn shark can continue hunting...

..safe from attack.

From kelp forests...

..to rainforests,

animals must develop remarkable strategies in order to survive.

This is a tree hopper.

Here in the Amazon,

there are hundreds of different species of them...

..and they come in an extraordinary variety of shapes.

HOPPER HUMS

But they also communicate...

..in a remarkable way.

HOPPERS CHIRP

Most of these calls we can only hear

by using special microphones.

Each tree hopper species has its own repertoire...

HOPPER HOOTS

HOPPER RUMBLES

HOPPER COOS

..and every sound...

OVERLAPPING CALLS CONTINUE

..has its own particular meaning...

..whether it is to attract a mate...

HOPPER BUZZES

..share information about food...

..or warn each other about the arrival of predators.

HOPPER CHIRPS

This tree hopper mother uses sounds to communicate with her young...

..encouraging them to stay together...

..so that she can protect them...

..for there are plenty here waiting to eat young tree hoppers.

Ants - on the hunt.

Tree hoppers know how to defend themselves.

But not all threats are so easily dealt with.

An assassin bug.

Armed with piercing mouth parts

and sticky front legs.

Capable of literally sucking the life out of her entire brood.

She uses her body to block the assassin's path...

..but she can't guard them all.

She needs help from friends in high places.

BEES BUZZ

Bees.

They're very aggressive.

MUSIC: Ride Of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner

This is more than the assassin bargained for.

Mission accomplished.

Her brood are safe...

..and the bees claim a reward.

A little tickle on a tree hopper's back...

..and the hopper excretes some of its partly digested plant sap...

..which we call, rather flatteringly, honeydew.

A sweet reward for protecting them.

In the Amazon, it pays to work together.

On the open grasslands of Africa...

..where many eyes watch for danger...

..hunters are driven to new heights to gain the advantage.

This leopardess, believe it or not,

is ready to hunt at a moment's notice.

She is one of the few special leopards

that have learnt to hide in the tree tops

and wait for their prey to come to them.

Without making a sound,

she gets into position.

Not this time.

And now her presence is known to all.

BABOON BARKS

But leopards will go to astonishing lengths to succeed...

..and some are more daring than others.

This leopard climbs up to a branch

nine metres above the ground.

She's higher than the roof of a two-storey house.

Leopards have killed themselves jumping from these heights.

To succeed on these equatorial grasslands,

you must be adaptable...

..and sometimes brave.

Here in southern Africa,

the lives of animals are driven by huge seasonal changes.

Every year, over 5,000 square miles of grassland

are transformed by water.

The Okavango in flood...

..attracts millions of animals.

And for some,

now is the perfect time to raise a family.

A lily-trotter.

EGGSHELL CRACKS

And he is a father on duty.

TROTTER CHIRPS LOUDLY

He has not just one...

..but four newly-hatched chicks.

They won't be able to fly for another six weeks...

CHICK CHIRPS

..so, until then,

he alone is their protector.

Walking on water is not straightforward...

..so he must show them how to be a lily-trotter.

The floodwaters make the perfect training ground.

And in two weeks...

..his chicks not only double in size...

..they grow in confidence.

But this is a dangerous place to stray.

HE CHIRPS

He sounds the alarm

and his chicks instantly freeze.

They can't yet fly to safety.

But there is one thing he can do to protect them...

TROTTER SQUAWKS

..and it's risky.

Get close enough to distract...

..and hopefully divert the crocodile.

SQUAWKING CONTINUES

Mission accomplished.

HE CHIRPS LOUDLY

He signals the all-clear...

CHICK CHIRPS

..but one chick is missing.

HE CHIRPS LOUDLY

His calls...

..go unanswered.

HE CHIRPS LOUDLY

CHICK CHIRPS

A little bedraggled, but alive and well.

This chick just hadn't heard his call.

And when danger threatens,

it's always better to be safe than sorry.

He's brought his chicks - all four of them -

to the verge of independence.

The early stages of any animal's life are their most vulnerable...

..and in the treacherous coastal waters

of South Africa's Robberg Peninsula,

Cape fur seals face an unexpected challenge.

SEALS BARK AND GRUNT

This pup was born into a crowded world.

But now, at nearly a year old,

he can escape to the water.

There is no question

as to where this pup belongs.

In the water,

he's fast and agile...

..and he needs to be.

The rolling surf conceals life-threatening dangers.

The great white shark.

This young pup has had a very lucky escape.

SEALS BARK AND GRUNT

Here on Africa's southern coast,

seals risk their lives every time they set out to eat.

Powerful ocean currents attract huge shoals of fish.

But in recent years,

this stretch has attracted increased numbers of great whites, too.

The great whites are shrewd hunters

and use whatever cover is available.

This shark won't need to eat for another few days...

SEAGULLS CAW

..but he's not alone.

These usually solitary hunters

are gathering in unprecedented numbers...

..a dozen at a time.

The seals are nimble...

..but great whites are patient...

..and have explosive acceleration...

..hitting top speed with just five swipes of their tails.

Cornered, the seals keep close to the jagged cliffs.

They're trapped.

But as the great whites move in for the kill...

..the seals do something astonishing.

Together...

..they turn on their enemy.

As more join, the mob grows...

..in both number and confidence.

The tables are turning.

By sheer force of numbers, these fur seals

drive the world's most notorious predator...

..back out to sea.

These seals have found a remarkable way

to meet the demands of life in the wild.

But many animals must now rise to a new challenge...

..living alongside us...

..and few have managed to exploit this more brazenly

than this troop of long-tailed macaques in Bali.

They have everything they could want for...

..and that is thanks to us.

The troop heads for a building in the centre of their territory.

Uluwatu Temple.

MACAQUE CHITTERS

Tourists come here every day in crowds...

..so the temple grounds are full of opportunities...

..if you know where to look.

TOURIST GASPS

There is a constant supply of hats...

..and sunglasses...

..and, if you've mastered the element of surprise...

..it's easy to get them.

CELL CAMERA CLICKS

But this harvest is not for eating.

It's for bargaining.

Seems like a fair trade.

But there are greater rewards to be had

for those who know how to get them...

PHONE CAMERAS CLICK

..and this old male appears to be doing...

..very well.

He and the other elders in this troop

have both experience and knowledge.

They've been working the temple for over ten years,

and now concentrate on the big stuff...

..things that human beings just can't do without.

TOURIST GASPS

No-one wants to walk home with just one shoe.

MACAQUE CHITTERS

And these old boys can't wait to get their hands on the latest tech.

TOURIST GASPS

They've worked out that we simply can't survive

without our phones...

..or our wallets.

MACAQUE SCREECHES

TOURIST GASPS

The older males understand something the youngsters have yet to learn...

..the art of the deal.

A banana?

How dare you?

MACAQUE SCREECHES

A bar of chocolate?

That's better.

The real skill is in the negotiations.

The macaques are playing us at our own game.

They demand...

..whatever they want.

A lucky few are able to succeed

in a human world...

..but our impact now extends to even the most remote corners

of the planet.

Raine Island.

One of the planet's most important breeding sites...

..for one particularly precious species...

..the green turtle.

On a few special nights each year,

as many as 20,000 females come ashore here.

Their instinct to nest is strong...

..and many haul themselves far inland in search of nesting space.

In a single night,

they may lay as many as two million eggs.

Dawn.

This exhausted female has nested,

but now she faces a long return journey

through the dunes to the sea.

As the sun rises...

..she's at risk of being baked alive.

Every inch she travels is gruelling...

..and the ebbing tide has exposed a rocky reef.

It has already claimed many lives...

..other females overcome by heat and exhaustion.

Her temperature is rising.

She has to keep going.

SHE EXHALES

As many as 2,000 female turtles

may die here each year.

SHE GRUNTS

TIDE APPROACHES

But the coast is always changing...

..and the turning tide

may yet save her.

Half of all the green turtles in the Pacific

come here to nest,

as they have done for at least a thousand years.

But for how much longer?

If sea levels rise as predicted,

within the next 30 years,

Raine Island will disappear beneath the waves.

We have reached a crucial time in our planet's history.

Life faces many challenges...

..but the natural world is remarkably resilient...

..and many great wonders still remain...

The question is...

..for how much longer?

Habitat Explorer brings animals and their habitats to life.

Explore this free interactive and make origami animals.

Go to...

..and follow the link to the Open University.

Or to order a free printed version,

visit the website or call the numbers on the screen.

MUSIC: Pompeii by Bastille