All language subtitles for Planet.Earth.III.Ep03.Deserts.and.Grasslands.2023.1080p.BluRay.x264.Atmos.TrueHD7.1-WiKi.English

(EERIE GROANING)

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH:
This is Guelta d'Archei

in Central Africa...

(EERIE GROANING)

...a hostile,
seemingly empty world.

(GROANING GETS LOUDER)

There is life here...

(DISTANT VOICES)

...but it exists at
the very limits of survival...

(BELLOWING)

...for this is a world
with almost no water.

Lands like these cover
over a third of our planet.

Here, life is forced
to do things differently.

This is
the most ancient desert of all.

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.

(SQUAWKS)

Few predators venture out
during the heat of the day.

(CHIRPING)

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.

(SQUAWKS)

He doesn't want to leave
anyone behind.

(CHIRPING)

The temperature
continues to rise

by five degrees Celsius
every hour.

He protects the chicks
that have emerged...

...shading them
with his own body.

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

(INSECT BUZZES)

...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.

(YELPING)

(HOWLING)

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.

(CHIRPS)

(CHIRPING)

Alone, and without

the protection of its parents,

this hatchling's chances
are slim.

(CHIRPS)

(CHIRPING)

(CHIRPING)

(CHIRPING)

(SQUAWKS)

(SQUAWKING)

(SQUAWKING)

(CHIRPS)

(SQUAWKING)

(CHIRPING)

Survival here,

as in all deserts,
is on a knife edge...

...so desert dwellers have had
to evolve in remarkable ways.

Some have even given rise

to legends of dragons
and unicorns.

(RUSTLING)

And even the dunes have
their own magical quality.

(WIND WHISTLES)

Indeed, some have
their own voice.

(EERIE HUMMING)

Here in Arabia,
this extraordinary sound

is created by billions
of moving sand grains

vibrating against one another.

(EERIE HUMMING)

The eerie song they produce
can be heard for miles

across the world's
biggest sand desert.

(EERIE HUMMING)

Winds have also built sand
into surreal shapes.

Deserts around the world
can appear so alien

that they seem to belong
to another planet altogether...

...few more so
than here in Australia.

(CHIRPING)

Yet one little creature

chooses this desert
to prepare

for a most important event
in its life.

A male spotted bowerbird.

For the last two months,

he's been busy
in anticipation of brief rains.

That is when females
will look for a mate.

So he's built a bower,
a sort of theatre,

a stage on which he will dance
with the female

if she's willing.

He decorates the entrance

with piles of
empty snail shells and bones.

(SQUAWKS)

How could any female resist?

(DISTANT THUNDER)

The rains are due any day,

so it's his last chance
for improvements.

You can never have
too many shells.

But in his absence...

...a rival male drops by
to size up the competition...

...and cause trouble.

Wreck your neighbour's bower,
and your own might look better.

(SQUAWKS)

And perhaps
one of the best bits

would look good
in his bower.

The owner is back...

...and something isn't right.

(SQUAWKS)

(SQUAWKS)

Repairs are needed.

Still no sign of rain,
or females.

Undeterred, he continues
his preparations.

(SQUAWKS)

Time to rehearse
his courtship display.

(SQUAWKS)

But sadly, he may
only ever dance alone.

For the last three years,
the rains have failed.

Without them,
the females won't mate.

They need the rains

to provide food
for their family.

Changes in the climate
are affecting these birds,

just as they are affecting us.

(HINGE CREAKS)

A quarter of the world's people
live in arid lands.

So we, too, have to deal
with climate change.

Less rainfall
and extended droughts

allow deserts to grow.

And as they do,
so does the likelihood

of one of nature's
most intimidating events.

(WIND RISES)

(WIND GUSTS)

A dust storm.

(WIND HOWLS)

A wall of dust,
up to a mile high,

travelling at almost 70mph.

Today, these destructive storms

are some of the most powerful
ever seen.

Unstoppable, they can travel
thousands of miles,

overwhelming towns and cities
across the world...

...in an instant.

It takes millennia
for life to adapt

to the extremes of deserts.

These baboons manage

to survive in one of
the driest environments

on Earth...

...the Erongo Region
in Namibia.

Not a single drop of rain
has fallen here

for eight months.

Life here for these baboons
is as hard as it gets.

(GRUNTING AND SCREECHING)

And it's especially difficult

for this young female.

She has just given birth
to her first baby.

She's desperate for water.

Without it,
she can't produce milk.

The tiny amount of moisture
in her food

is simply not enough
for both of them.

The troop must constantly
search for water.

(CHATTERING)

And they won't wait for her.

(BARKS)

At last,

one of the troop's scouts finds
a tiny trickle on a rock face.

(SLURPS)

Relief.

But not for everyone.

The young mother
will have to wait.

Access to the precious water
is determined by rank.

(SCREECHES)

She is so low
in the pecking order...

...she might fail to get
any drink at all...

(GRUNTS)

...because jumping the queue
is severely punished.

(SCREECHING)

It's risky...

...but she can't wait
any longer.

A dangerous move.

(SCREECHING)

But there's no match
for a mother's determination.

This will be enough
to keep her and her baby alive

until rain falls.

Rain brings salvation
not just to her and the troop,

but to the thirsty land.

When it does fall,
it can transform a desert...

...and turn it into

one of Earth's
most productive landscapes.

(GRUNTING)

Grasslands.

They support

the greatest concentrations
of large animals

to be found
anywhere on the planet.

(BRAYING)

Here, nature is
at its most spectacular.

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 treetops

and wait for their prey
to come to them.

Without making a sound...

...she gets into position.

(THUD)

(SNORTS)

Not this time.

And now her presence
is known to all.

(SNORTS)

(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.

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

Leopards have killed themselves
jumping from these heights.

(SNORTING)

To succeed
on these equatorial grasslands,

you must be adaptable

and sometimes brave.

(CRUNCHING)

(WIND HOWLS)

The Eurasian Steppe,
the largest grassland on Earth.

It tests animals
in a different way.

Here, the wind can blow

at speeds
of nearly 80mph...

...and temperatures drop to
below -30 degrees Celsius.

Yet one bizarre creature
has evolved ways to survive

in these extremes.

(SNORTING)

Saiga antelope -

small but tough animals

that lived alongside
woolly mammoths.

(SNORTING)

The male's enormous nose
both filters out the dust

and warms up the cold air
before it reaches his lungs.

But at this time of year,

it also serves
a very different purpose.

(SNORTS)

It impresses the females.

And the bigger it is,
the better.

This old male
knows what it takes

to hold their attention.

(SNORTS)

But they make him work for it.

And if that isn't effective,

he has other ways
of impressing them.

A bush.

Very majestic.

But when you are
king of the steppe,

there's always someone
waiting to claim your crown.

This young buck
fancies his chances.

He aims to steal
the king's harem.

(SNORTS)

The challenger charges,
ready to do battle.

This could be
a fight to the death.

70% of rutting males will die.

The older male eventually
begins to gain the upper hand.

And with one final effort,
he drives the young rival away.

The king has kept his crown

and his harem.

Only the strongest saigas
can endure and succeed

in one of the harshest places
on Earth.

But close to the equator,

where there is constant warmth
and water,

there are grasslands
close to paradise.

This is the most
biodiverse grassland

in the world -

the Cerrado in Brazil.

Here, there are
thousands of species

of both animals and plants
found nowhere else.

A rich and complex community

that is kept in balance
by this ghostly creature.

The maned wolf.

Quiet and shy,

it's little known
and seldom seen.

Unlike any other wolf
in the world,

their diet
is mostly vegetarian,

and they particularly like
lobeira fruit.

This plant increases
the fertility of the land

and helps to sustain
the entire Cerrado.

The maned wolves,
odd though it may seem,

are, in effect, the gardeners
of these unique plains.

The dense grass, in turn,
provides this female

with a comfortable home...

(WHINING)

...and somewhere to hide
her three puppies,

just one month old.

She is so rare that she's been
fitted with a radio collar

so that scientists
can study her continuously.

And our remotely controlled
den camera

reveals a mother
only comes here

for a few hours a day
to suckle her pups.

She spends
much of her time foraging

to provide
for her growing family.

Now alone in the den,

her puppies
are suddenly in danger...

...not from other predators...

(CRACKLING)

...but from fire.

Their home is being burnt
all around them.

These fires can race through
a mile of grassland

in a matter of minutes.

The Cerrado devastated.

Why?

In order to clear land
to grow crops.

This particular fire
didn't reach their den...

...but it's empty.

(PANTS)

(WHINING)

This time
the family were lucky...

(WHINING)

...but her species faces
an alarmingly uncertain future.

At the current rate
of habitat destruction,

these may be some
of the last maned wolves

to survive in the wild.

In grasslands,

the land and the animals
are so closely interconnected

that the loss
of one key species

could well trigger the collapse
of the entire ecosystem.

That's what happened here
in Central Africa,

when 95%
of the elephant population

were killed for their ivory.

Without
these essential gardeners,

life couldn't flourish.

This male is one
of the few survivors.

(GRUNTS)

He still bears the scars
from his persecuted past.

But the slaughter
was stopped just in time.

With an end to poaching,

this male is part
of a growing herd

that now lives in safety.

Today, it's thought that

this is one of the largest
groups of African elephants

surviving in the wild.

As they recovered
their numbers,

their grazing encouraged
a healthy growth

of new grasses...

...and they created space
for other animals...

...bringing life back
to Zakouma.

This miraculous transformation
shows what can happen

if nature is allowed
to restore its own balance.

(GRUNTS)

Abakar is part of the team
of local rangers

who risked their lives
to protect these elephants.

And the elephants
didn't just heal the land.

They did something
no-one had anticipated.

As we understand more about
the wonders, the connections

and the fragility
of these landscapes...

...the consequences
of our actions

are thrown into sharp focus.

They show that we urgently
need to do everything we can

to help nature heal itself.

(DRONE BUZZES)

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH:
To film maned wolves,

the Planet Earth crew
joined pioneering scientists

in Brazil.

If you get a direction,
please let me know.

Yeah, she's, like,
three o'clock

from the car here.

Like, 800 metres, too.

Without their help, the wolves
are almost impossible to track,

let alone film,

in the dense grass
of the Cerrado.

It's so hard to find them.

They're sort of
solitary animals

in a huge grassland
with sort of metre-high grass,

which is the same height
as the wolf,

and it's like looking for

a needle in a haystack
currently.

Shall we turn the car around
if she's going

- to head that way?
- Yeah, maybe.

The researchers
have radio-collared

two female wolves.

Both have puppies.

They hope to track one to a den

and set up remote cameras
inside.

The footage would provide
the researchers

with crucial information

and help to protect
this endangered species.

She's in there somewhere.

Maned wolf,
they're so special.

It's very important

to understand more
of this species.

When we get more knowledge,

it's getting easier
to protect them.

But the signal
from one of the females

takes them
in a worrying direction.

So, it's led us directly

into this huge,
epic-scale farmland,

the likes of which,
to be honest,

I've never seen before.

And it shows you
what little is left

of their natural habitat.

50% of maned wolf habitat
has been lost to farmland...

...and the radio collars show
they now regularly stray

into this unfamiliar landscape.

Tragically, the researchers
discover the body

of one collared mother wolf
on farmland,

the cause of her death unknown.

Her puppies
won't survive alone for long.

Without delay, the researchers
set out to find them.

They rescue
five one-month-old pups

hidden in the long grass.

(WHINING)

To assess their condition,

the pups are taken to
an emergency rescue facility.

(WHINING)

They will be cared for
around the clock

until they are strong enough

to be released
back into the wild.

Their mother's death
is a huge blow for everyone.

For the crew,

the only chance
of filming in a den

now lies with
one remaining collared female,

known as Nhorinha.

WOMAN: She's more here
to the right.

- MAN: Is that her there?
- No.

WOMAN: Yeah, I can see her.
She's there. She's there.

Yeah, got her, got her,
got her.

So she's at... She's coming
towards two o'clock now.

50 metres away from the car.

She's coming behind this tree
in the middle here.

Let's wait for her.

- I've got her, I've got her.
- OK.

Eventually, the team captured

the first images
of Nhorinha on camera.

To finally see our wolf
is amazing.

Using a drone camera,
they follow her to her den.

The drone reveals
the first glimpse

of Nhorinha's puppies...

WOMAN: Oh, my God.

...and she's moving them...

...something that's never been
witnessed before.

This is very special.

My heart stopped.

I, like... I can't believe
I'm really seeing here.

We know where the den is now.

The following morning,
they return to the den site.

They want to rig their cameras,

but can only approach
when they know

Nhorinha is not at the den.

- Is she nearby?
- No. No signal yet.

Nhorinha, it's out of here,
at least 1 km.

So it's very good news for us.
Let's try to approach it.

Bárbara checks that
Nhorinha is away from the den

so the team can go in
without disturbing her.

MAN: (WHISPERS) Going in.

The den isn't
immediately obvious,

but the grass here
is flattened,

so they place their cameras
and hope for the best.

(WHISPERS) We're about
80 metres from the den.

This is as close
as we could be safely.

This is the moment of truth.
We're turning them on.

And we're live
and the camera hasn't moved.

Luke keeps watch
over the cameras

while the team continue

to monitor
Nhorinha's movements.

Before long, they're stopped
in their tracks.

Just seen this huge plume
of smoke in the distance,

you know,
directly behind the den

where our mother maned wolf
has been with her puppies.

I'm quite anxious.

I'm sure all the researchers
are as well.

And the fire may well have been
started by farmers

in order to clear land
to grow crops

that will be used to feed
chicken and cattle

around the world.

MARK: The heat from the fire

when we're working
that close is so intense

that I can feel it burning
the skin of my arm.

It moves so fast.

There's no way you'd escape
something like that.

KIRI: Every single cell
in your body

just wants to
get out of there.

But actually, this whole place,
this whole Cerrado,

is surrounded
by farmland and roads.

So actually,
when you really think about it,

the wildlife
has nowhere to run.

After a difficult few weeks

for Bárbara
and the research team...

Hello.

How are you doing?

- How was it?
- It was good.

...the crew have
some good news for them.

Oh, check.
There's one right there.

- Right now?
- Yeah. Can you see?

- That's...
- That's the puppy there.

- That's live?
- Yeah, yeah, that's live.

Oh, my God!

I've never seen anything
so cute in my entire life.

- Me neither.
- Me neither, guys.

- Look at this.
- It's looking at the camera.

Unbelievable.

That's the first record
in the world,

so intimate inside the den.

Nobody ever saw this.

Such new information
of such important species.

KIRI: Are you feeling
emotional, Bárbara?

Difficult not to be. I don't
have words to describe it.

It's like...
It's too much for me.

The cameras continue to gather
the first-of-its-kind footage,

providing insight into
the all-important first weeks

of a maned wolf's life...

...and, crucially,

how much space
must be protected

to support future generations.

I really hope that every person
in the world

could see from their house

how special
and how beautiful, amazing

these animals are.

I feel quite worried,
but not hopeless.

I will fight every day
and every year to help them.

I was born in Cerrado.

I grew up in Cerrado,
and Cerrado, it's my home.

I have to protect it.