Original subtitles

I'm in South Africa, sitting beside a colony of meerkats, waiting for this

year's youngsters to emerge and start exploring their world.

Here they come.

That's the adult.

They must check the coast is clear.

There's another one.

Ah, there's a baby.

Here's a little one.

We can't know what the future is going to hold for this little creature,

just as every one of our histories is unique to

ourselves, so this animal too will have its own story.

If one of these little creatures, indeed if any animal, is to become one of

life's winners by leaving behind offspring,

then a long and difficult journey lies ahead.

This is the story of life.

And for these little creatures, it's just beginning.

Many animals face their greatest challenge

within days or even hours of entering the world.

This is when they are smallest and most vulnerable.

The remote Ostedal Valley in Greenland.

Seen of one of the most extraordinary trials that

any animal must face at the beginning of its life.

Newly hatched barnacle geese.

Their parents chose to nest on top of a huge tower of rock.

Such extreme isolation was the only way to

protect their brood from predators on the ground.

The five goslings.

The five goslings may be safe and warm, but they

have nothing to eat and they're getting hungry.

Like their parents, they only eat grass.

And to find it, the goslings must first get down there.

Four hundred feet below.

But they won't be able to fly for another eight weeks.

So they'll have to jump.

Their father is restless.

He decides it's time for the family to leave.

He calls to encourage them.

But they are so tightly bonded to their mother that they will only follow her.

The parents both survived the descent as youngsters.

They're living proof that their chicks can make it.

The fluffy goslings are certainly light and well padded.

But luck will play its part.

At the bottom of the cliff, their mother calls for them to join her.

And instinct compels them to follow.

The gosling spreads its body and flaps its tiny wings to

slow its descent and lessen the impact of inevitable crashes.

If the first collision is belly-first, it should survive the fall.

This chick jumps off the back of the cliff.

It's less of a drop, but there's far more risk of getting lost in the crevices below.

The third makes another good jump.

But the fourth slips.

Plummeting down head-first, too close to the cliff.

It could bring disaster.

The third gosling is doing better.

Hitting the rock belly-first should prove a lifesaver.

But still the tumble goes on.

There is nothing its mother can do but follow it down.

One last chick.

A perfect launch.

And a controlled drop.

This is as good a descent as it's possible to make.

Its parents are there to meet it.

A little dazed, perhaps, but all in one piece.

One gosling, at least, hasn't made it.

The terceir intelligent gosling, This chick as well as this lady is in a bad way.

And this chick appears to be in a bad way.

At last, it responds to its mother's calls.

The resilience of aàng the praticer's mother is huge enough

to武 any chkel that could be answered at her last minute.

And we finally take the night's call.

This is an aunty, and we'll see you next time.

And we hopefully will see you soon.

Theomi expect masih gerade.

This conical goose chick is extraordinary.

But there are still chicks unaccounted for, somewhere amongst the rubble.

The parents can't risk searching because they need to lead

their two survivors away quickly before predators arrive.

A third one has made it.

But it needs to catch up.

Reunited.

Three out of five chicks have made it.

Without such a dramatic start in life, it's

unlikely any of them would have even got this far.

These chicks will face more dangers in the future, but only two days old,

they've already survived the greatest challenge of their lives.

A young animal significantly improves its chances of surviving if it can grow fast.

And few babies have more growing to do in their first weeks than a humpback whale.

In just six weeks, this newborn calf must leave these nursery waters off Hawaii and

start on a 3,000-mile migration to its feeding grounds in the Arctic.

For that, it will need to be strong.

Twirling at the surface rapidly develops muscle strength and diving ability.

Before then, this one-ton calf must double its weight by

drinking over 3,500 pints of its mother's fat-rich milk.

But the milk supply is limited.

Until its mother gives birth, the mother reaches the feeding grounds she's fasting.

Humpback calves make such demands of their mothers that

females can only raise one every two or three years.

If the calf is to be ready for the migration, then

what they both need now is to be left in peace.

But here, the birthing season and the mating

season coincide, and that spells trouble.

Male humpbacks will pursue any females, even if

they are still nursing and so can't get pregnant.

These 40-ton males, fired up with testosterone, pose a

serious threat to any calf that gets caught up in the chase.

As the mother tries to outrun the males, the calf sensibly stays as close to her as

possible to avoid being separated and lost.

As more and more males join the chase, the mood becomes ever more aggressive.

Now

there is a real danger of the calf being injured by flailing tails.

And crashing bodies.

Eventually, the males become so preoccupied with fighting

each other that the calf and her mother can escape.

Even if a calf gets away unharmed, the ordeal can leave it exhausted.

The dangers from the breeding season will only grow in intensity, and some calves

will become so weakened that they'll struggle to survive the coming migration.

Even the most formidable predators are surprisingly vulnerable in infancy.

Here, in Kenya's Masai Mara, a lion cub has, on average,

only a one in five chance of surviving its first two years.

Which ones do so depends on the strength of the pride to which they belong.

For six weeks, this female cub has been hidden away by her mother in the long grass.

But today, with her brother and sister, she's

going to join the creche at the heart of her pride.

Adult females provide the food and the first line of defence.

With at least four in her pride, this cub should be well looked after.

All the lionesses have their own cubs, who will be both playmates and future allies.

Under the female's watchful eyes, she can practise

her stalking, pouncing and fighting skills.

She has the power to steal the cubs' skins.

Oink!

Oink!

Oink!

But there is one more family member to meet.

A lion cub!

And perhaps the most important of all...

her father.

Her ultimate defender.

Marauding rival male lions are a constant threat.

If they overthrew him, they would kill all his cubs and father their own.

The security of the whole pride.

And this cub's future rests on him remaining strong.

But the early days of an animal's life are a very

different prospect if its parents do not support it.

This peculiar, almost alien scene is in fact the emergence

of a brood of orchid mantids from their egg case.

Mantids, like the great majority of animals, play

a very important role in the survival of animals.

They play the numbers game.

Having over 60 hatchlings increases the chances that a few will make it to adulthood.

During these first minutes, they are especially vulnerable.

They must quickly hide away and wait for their soft bodies to harden.

Within 20 minutes, they are transformed.

Now, the immediate danger is from each other.

Mantids will eat anything that moves.

Including other mantids.

Time to leave.

This tiny insect is now open to attack from predators lurking in the underground.

Whether an individual mantis survives or not is partly a matter of chance.

Whether it's spotted by a predator.

Whether it turns right.

Or left.

So far, its luck has held.

But this hungry jumping spider is still in pursuit.

A mantis is born with exceptional eyesight.

But the spider's is even better.

Although this young mantis can't yet fly, its

long forelegs evolved to catch prey give it reach.

There seems to be no escape.

But this mantis has a surprising line in self-defense.

Kung Fu.

Praying mantis style.

Of course it's all bluff.

Trying to look bigger and confuse its enemy.

But it's got a way with it.

Just staying alive for its first few hours is a

significant accomplishment for a newly hatched insect.

But there's still a long way to go.

With a bit of luck, in two months' time, it will

be as big and beautiful as this orchid mantid.

Or maybe not.

After all, mantids are cannibals.

However, there are plenty more where that one came from.

A young fur seal, just old enough to be left alone while its mother hunts out at sea.

It won't be long before the pup has to negotiate these treacherous waters for

itself and learn to catch its own food while avoiding predators.

But

how can he take his first lesson without risking his life?

With it being his last.

Luckily, the fur seals on this beach in Kaikoura, New Zealand, have, in the last

decade, discovered the perfect place to do that.

Surprisingly, the pup heads not towards the sea, but

inland, on one of the strangest journeys any seal makes.

A stream meets the beach,

and this pup swims up it.

Each seal pup only makes this journey once.

What drives it to travel deep into the forest is a mystery.

At last, this pup has arrived.

This secluded waterfall makes for a perfect learner's dream.

It's a place where they can learn to swim and swim.

In this sanctuary, he can join the local pups to learn

manoeuvres that will, one day, help them escape their enemies.

No-one knows how the first pups found this place, but

each year, more and more young seals make the journey.

They're getting a crucial head start in life.

And learning is always easier when you're enjoying yourself.

Each seal spends three days in intense training.

Then, after this rite of passage, they head back to the beach.

It won't be long now before they will leave their

mothers for good and put their new skills to the test.

It's now late in the meerkat pupping season in South Africa, and the pups,

born two months ago, are growing well.

This pup has been well cared for and fed, but

now it's time she learned to catch her own food.

One of the great benefits of being raised in meerkat society is that adults without

young of their own help with child care and will spend hours teaching them.

It's a great way to help the youngsters.

Today's first lesson is ant-hunting.

Being shown the right approach is one thing.

But when the food bites back, all technique goes out of the window.

Not exactly a resounding success.

However, this helper now has a different kind of lesson in mind.

One designed to bring a pup face-to-face with danger for the first time.

It will be her biggest test so far.

A scorpion.

An excellent source of protein and a meerkat's favourite food.

But their sting is very painful, much worse than an ant's.

The tutor weakens it with a bite before handing it over.

But the pup still has a fight on her hands.

The idea is to nip off the sting on its tail.

But its pincers are almost as formidable.

The pup's helper keeps a watchful eye on her.

She has disarmed the sting, but those pincers are still giving her trouble.

A pause, perhaps for encouragement, before the

helper gives her the nod to finish the job.

At last, a small but significant success.

It's a test that every member of her family will have to go through.

And this youngster has passed in triumph.

Back in Hawaii, six weeks have passed.

This humpback whale calf has fallen behind on the annual migration to the Arctic.

It struggled to grow strong enough, and now it's fighting for its life.

Exhausted and weak, it has already been targeted by sharks.

Its mother helps it to the surface to breathe, which takes its toll on her, too.

This is now a huge test of the strength of their bond.

But suddenly, the calf is alone.

Its mother appears to have abandoned it, perhaps to save herself.

Sharks move in.

With a shark on its tail, the end for this calf now seems inevitable.

But bursting from the deep, the mother is back.

And she's brought help.

A male.

Although he's unlikely to be the calf, father, he does

something to help it that has never been witnessed before.

He blows a wall of bubbles, creating a protective screen around the calf.

The sharks are held back.

But not for long.

A shark is soon trailing the whales again.

A bolder strategy.

The aggression the male whales were using against each other

in the breeding season now appears to be aimed at the shark.

As long as there is a chance of the calf surviving, the bond

between mother and young remains extraordinarily strong.

The compulsion of the young to survive and of adults to protect burns bright,

even against heavy yields.

For many young animals, taking their first steps

away from the protection of parents can be daunting.

Long-eared Jerboa live in the remote Gobi desert of Mongolia.

After six weeks of being cosseted underground with their families,

young Jerboa finally emerge to spend their first night alone, learning to catch food.

The young Jerboa are now ready to go to the wild.

Infrared cameras can reveal their lives, but

to this Jerboa, the night is completely dark.

Luckily, his hearing more than compensates.

His ears are longer compared to his body than those of any other animal.

In fact, his ears are so sensitive that every new sound tends to give him a fright.

The call of a lizard.

A little owl.

A Jerboa's main predator, and something worth being nervous about.

The youngster's challenge is to distinguish danger from dinner.

An aggressive gecko is definitely not on the menu.

A Jerboa's hearing is so acute, he can even detect sleeping insects.

But it's hard to grab them when you can't see them.

At last, food.

Confidence grows with success.

Learning to take care of yourself is a tiring business.

But rather than return to the family burrow, he naps in the open.

But with his immense ears, it must be hard to tune out.

There comes a time when every animal must finally

leave youth behind and enter the adult world for good.

A black-footed albatross on the brink of adulthood and learning to fly.

Her maiden flight will take her away from this tiny Pacific island and out to sea.

She will not touch ground again for three years.

But she's not quite ready...

yet.

Learning to control a six-foot wingspan in a gusty sea breeze takes practice.

These fledglings have not been fed since their parents left a few weeks ago.

To find food, they must leave too.

And eventually, one of them takes to the wing.

But maiden flights often proves to be a bit of a waste.

They have a false start.

They congregate here every year, precisely when albatross chicks fledge.

If a shark doesn't strike exactly on target, a lucky albatross may escape.

There can be few animals that have to face

such danger at the very moment they leave home.

It's a remarkable escape.

But a water take-off is even harder than from land.

This albatross has left youth behind.

It's time to embark on the next step of life's story.

Independence in the adult world.

It's been over 30 years since anyone climbed these cliffs.

Producer Tom Hugh-Jones and cameramen Matteo Willis and Mark Payne Gill are in

Greenland to film newly hatched goslings leap from these towering spires.

They can only convey the scale of what these tiny animals

must go through by showing it from their perspective.

I'm not one for vertigo, but I just can't imagine

what a chick would feel like having to do this.

We're not going to have much time once they jump, eh?

No.

A lot of waiting and then suddenly it all happens.

It's just that moment, isn't it?

You've got 20 seconds to get everything.

Yeah.

Tom spots his first pair of barnacle geese and he has good news.

Yeah, copy, Tom.

She's still brooding the eggs, so we're here in plenty.

It's a change of time, which is good.

The team has some time on its hands to prepare for the big moment.

Three, two, one, go.

Tom helps Mark to get his eye in.

I don't think the chick will be quite the same.

Tom checks on the nests every few hours.

All the mothers are still on the nest, but no signs of chicks.

BEEP We've got to sit and wait, which is what we do.

Over.

The only thing that seems to be hatching around here are mosquitoes.

Have you got mozzies in your pants?

I haven't, no.

Sorry, I just swallowed a tonne of mosquitoes.

COUGHS But it's the birds that are constantly on their minds.

I dreamt about ducks last night.

Ducks?

Yeah.

Oh, so you had a dream about birds?

I had a dream about birds as well.

Mark dreamt about chicks.

HE LAUGHS Oh.

The wait is over.

I've just spied our first chick.

WHISTLE BLOWS WHISTLE BLOWS These chicks may jump any time.

Where are the chicks?

Matteo concentrates on trying to film the leaps...

..while Mark focuses on the front of the cliff for the fall.

Their nest is just there, above my fingertip.

They've got to go down, down, down, down, down, down,

down, down, down, ..until they hit the scree slope below.

That's an incredible fall for anything, let alone a gosling.

It's almost 48 hours since the chicks hatched.

So they're really getting to the limit of how long

they can go before they start getting too hungry.

So we should be on for a big jump.

HE SIGHS I just saw the female.

Come on, what are you going to do?

Female is pointing towards the back side of the rock now.

No, no, no, not the back side.

I'm going to follow her.

Come on, he comes forward again.

Come on, little dad.

I can't see the chick now.

Where's the dad?

They might be about to go.

Jump at the far corner.

I've got two chicks.

There it goes, there it goes.

There it goes, there it goes, there it goes.

All the way down, all the way down.

Wow.

OK, I didn't see that one.

That's hidden from my view.

Did you see the last one jump, Matteo?

I didn't see it until it was flying through the air and then I didn't catch it.

OK, got the chick, got the chick, got the chick.

CHIRPING That was a shock for it.

He survived.

CHIRPING All the chicks jumped where the cliff obscured Mark and Matteo's view.

CHIRPING What happens next comes as a shock.

CHIRPING The flock's come up the stream.

He's now about five o'clock.

CHIRPING CHIRPING CHIRPING

It's heartbreaking.

I know, I know.

I think it's got them all.

CHIRPING It's really sad.

CHIRPING There's nothing you can do.

CHIRPING The fox has its own young to feed.

Life in this barren landscape is desperately tough for all its inhabitants.

CHIRPING The team has to move on and try to film another nest.

CHIRPING And I'm going to head off up round here.

CHIRPING And try and find a good position.

CHIRPING

So, this nest here is our last great hope.

Probably the only remaining one that we can get a good viewpoint on.

CHIRPING The parents appear eager for their chicks to go.

Stand by, Mark.

It looks like it's going to jump.

CHIRPING By the male's feet.

CHIRPING Come on.

CHIRPING Where are you going to go?

CHIRPING Here it goes.

Here it goes.

The chick's going.

CHIRPING Wow.

Oh, my goodness.

CHIRPING Here it comes.

CHIRPING Wow.

CHIRPING They're all falling exactly the same way, all at once.

CHIRPING Here we go.

Here we go.

Here we go.

CHIRPING

Chicks are tumbling down.

CHIRPING Can you see it?

CHIRPING Tumble, tumble.

Whoa.

CHIRPING Down the scree slope.

Crikey.

CHIRPING How many chicks can you see?

CHIRPING Um, I count three.

CHIRPING No visual yet on any foxes.

CHIRPING So far, so good.

CHIRPING And they seem to be moving through.

CHIRPING

CHIRPING CHIRPING This one is able to film the

family all the way down to the river and safety.

CHIRPING

They've witnessed the triumph of one of the most extreme survival strategies in nature.

CHIRPING I mean, think how far they've had to come,

and this is only, what, their third day in the world?

CHIRPING Yeah.

It's just great to see them doing what they should be doing now.

CHIRPING

CHIRPING Next week on Life Story, animals grow up in the adult world.

CHIRPING They will master complex skills.

CHIRPING And learn how to stand up for themselves.

CHIRPING