Original subtitles

We are living in extraordinary times.

The pandemic has changed all our lives.

But while we are restricted, wildlife is free.

In moments of crisis, the natural world can be a source of both inspiration and escape.

So we are taking you on an adventure to

some of the wildest places on Earth,

bringing together spectacular stories from Planet Earth 2 and Blue Planet 2.

And accompanying this special journey, there's a new

score created by Hans Simmer and Jacob Sheffield.

This is the music for the original series, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and

featuring on piano the award-winning artist Dave.

Working remotely on opposite sides of the Atlantic, they've

come together to create a visual and a musical feast.

Our adventure will take us to some of the most extreme environments on Earth.

From the hottest deserts, to the freezing poles, and from highest mountains,

to mysterious kingdoms underwater, where, against all odds, life flourishes,

giving us all a message of hope for the future.

This is Planet Earth, a celebration.

The Atlantic.

Off the coast of South Africa, it collides with the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.

Spectacular winter storms create colossal waves.

But one species turns these turbulent seas into a playground...

Bottlenose dolphins.

They are extremely intelligent.

And with this intelligence comes playfulness.

They surf.

And as far as we can tell, they do so for the sheer joy of it.

The coastal waters of South Africa teem with life.

And below the surface...

one of the greatest of all kelp forests.

Which is home to some truly extraordinary creatures.

Including one smart individual who's found rather ingenious ways to survive.

Barely visible except for the pulsating science

and the siphon through which it breathes.

A common octopus waiting for prey to pass by.

A crab will do.

The octopus sets off in pursuit.

With the patience of an ambush hunter.

But the octopus shares the Cape waters with a great concentration of other predators.

Fur seals.

And sharks.

They all eat octopus...

if they can find one.

And pyjama sharks are experts...

at hunting in the undergrowth.

Time to disappear.

But these tough-skinned little sharks...

are small enough to reach deep into crevices.

But the octopus is far from finished.

She slips her tentacles into the shark's gills.

That prevents the shark from breathing.

When caught out in the open and vulnerable...

this octopus does something truly extraordinary.

And never recorded before.

She disguises herself...

with a protective armor of shells.

The shark can sense its prey.

But the shells confuse it.

In a forest full of hungry mouths... superior wits allow this octopus to stay alive.

Surviving in this submarine jungle... can be a challenge.

But above the waves...

over 700 miles to the north...

lies a world with challenges of a different kind.

The Namib Desert.

It's the oldest desert on the planet.

Believed to have been dry... since dinosaurs walked the earth.

Life here for a hunter... is as hard as it gets.

A pride of lions.

One of the very few... that endures this desert's scorching temperatures...

and lack of water.

A herd of oryx.

The only prey...

within 20 miles.

Shh, shh, shh.

Out here... there is no cover for an ambush.

It will have to be a straight chase.

They have failed.

And each failed hunt... brings the lions closer to starvation.

To find enough to eat...

the pride continually searches an area...

the size of Switzerland.

Three days... and a hundred miles later...

and still... no kill.

These... are desperate times.

A dry river bed... on the edge of their territory.

The only animals here... are giraffe.

But these one-ton giants... could kill a lion...

with a single kick.

Lions seldom tackle... such formidable prey.

But this pride... can't go on much longer...

without food.

The whole pride.

..

must work together as a team... if they're to succeed.

Two

lionesses lead the chase.

Others race to cut off... possible escape routes.

The giraffe has the speed... and stamina... to outrun the pride.

But... it's being chased... into a trap.

Up ahead... the lead female... waits.

It's now... up to her.

Most lion hunts... end in failure.

But no lions... fail more often... than those that live... in the desert.

And yet... for generations...

despite overwhelming... adversity...

they have managed... to endure.

Dawn breaks...

in the Andes.

Here... high altitudes... bring their own... set of trials.

Wildlife... faces scorching... days... and perishing...

nights.

Mountain Vizcacha...

are up early... to claim... the best places... to catch... the sun's... first rays.

For others... up here... the sunrise... is even more... welcome.

At over... 4,000 metres...

this is the highest... flamingo colony... in the world.

At night... it gets so cold...

that even this... salty water... freezes over.

And now... the flamingos... are trapped... in the ice.

Eventually... the sun... thins the ice.

But it's still... a struggle... for the flamingos... to break free.

Walking on... thin ice... is always... risky.

And it's hard... to retain... one's dignity.

Especially... when you're wearing... stilts.

At these altitudes...

the sun's... power... can quickly turn... from... salvation...

to... threat.

The atmosphere... is so thin... there is very little... protection...

from ultraviolet... radiation.

By mid-morning... it's risky... to linger... out in the open.

Out on the lake... there is nowhere... to hide.

The white crust... of the soda lake... reflects the sun's... glare...

and increases... the impact... of its ultraviolet... rays.

By mid-day... uncovered human skin... will burn... in four minutes.

But this doesn't seem... to bother... the flamingos.

In fact... they are... on parade.

During

the breeding season... the flamingos perform... these peculiar... courtship dances...

even through... the hottest time... of the day.

They're so eager... they don't even... pause to feed.

The rules... are something... of a mystery...

but after a month... of dancing... all the birds... will have paired off...

and will be getting... ready to mate.

Up here... there are a few... other creatures... to bother... the flamingos...

but then... few other creatures... could even... tolerate... these conditions.

Wildlife...

has colonized... almost every corner... of our planet.

Even the slopes... of its highest mountains...

the Himalayas.

Lethally cold...

scoured by gales... and blizzards...

these mountains... are among the most... hostile places... on Earth.

Yet...

a few... special animals...

manage to live here.

The Snow Leopard.

Seldom seen...

at the detail... of their lives...

It has long been a mystery.

But now, at last, helped by the latest remote camera

technology, we are getting closer to them than ever before.

They're very rare, only about four of them in 40 square miles.

There is simply not enough prey to sustain more.

They live solitary lives.

Nonetheless, they are well aware of the presence and the movements of their

neighbours because they leave messages in a few special places.

They rub particular rocks with their cheeks...

and then spray them with urine.

The two perfumes create a unique signature.

Any other leopard can know which of its neighbours

passed this way without ever making direct contact.

But there are times when snow leopards must come together.

And the event is often violent.

An adult female and her daughter.

She has devoted the last two years to raising her cub.

And very soon, it will be weaned.

For now, the cub is still entirely dependent on its mother.

But staying together as long as this could cause problems.

The female is now in heat again.

And any male that smells her signature will know that.

From this moment on, her cub's life is at risk.

Males kill cubs that are not their own.

But the mother is now driven by an urge that she cannot control.

She lets the males know exactly where she is.

From up here, she can be heard for miles around.

A young male emerges from the wilderness, eager to find her.

Snow leopards meet so infrequently that there is uncertainty.

And tension.

And it's about to get worse.

Another, bigger male has arrived.

The mother and cub are trapped between the rivals.

The cub is now in danger.

Mother must act fast.

To divert the male's attention from her cub, she rolls over submissively.

With the males fixed on the female, the cub has a chance to escape.

The males close in on the mother from both sides, keen to claim her for their own.

A fight is inevitable.

The female moves to escape and protect her cub.

But the big male follows her.

He will not let her leave until he has mated with her.

He

will not let her leave until he has mated with her.

With the males gone, the female is, at last, reunited with her cub.

But she has been injured.

The cub, however, is alive, thanks to its mother.

Until her injury heals, she won't be able to hunt.

Mountain animals survive on the very edge of existence.

Mother and cub were not seen again.

Until, over a month later, high on a ridge, a remote camera was triggered.

The female cat.

She's no longer limping, but she's now alone.

Then, an hour after the female has left, the camera is triggered again.

It's her cub, taking her first steps towards adulthood and independence.

She is unlikely to see her mother again.

But every now and then, they will be reunited

through the messages they leave on the marking rocks.

Her mother has succeeded in raising her.

But life ahead will be challenging, and she will spend nearly all of it alone.

Existence in these unforgiving mountains is fraught with difficulty.

But surviving on remote islands can also be tough.

The Galapagos lie in the Pacific Ocean, 600 miles from the coast of South America.

This is Fernandina Island.

Volcanic, harsh, and desolate.

To survive here, wildlife has had to evolve specific skills.

And that has made the iguanas here different from all their relatives.

These are marine iguanas.

They are vegetarians.

But since there's little food for them on the

land, marine iguanas graze on the sea floor.

A big male like this one can dive to 30 meters and hold its breath for half an hour.

There are more than 7,000 individuals on Fernandina alone.

And by bringing nutrients from the sea to the land,

the iguanas help other animals to survive here too.

Crabs feed on dead skin on the iguanas' back and,

in turn, provide a welcome exfoliation service.

While smaller lizards prey on the flies that pester the colony.

But not all the relationships on this island are so harmonious.

Marine iguanas lay their eggs in sand.

In June, when the hatchlings emerge, they're vulnerable.

They must join the adults at the edge of the sea.

But the journey will be a dangerous one.

Racer snakes.

The snakes miss their chance.

But more babies are hatching.

And now the snakes are on the alert.

This is the best feeding opportunity they will get all year.

On flat ground, a baby iguana can outrun a racer snake.

But others are waiting in ambush.

Another hatchling has its first glimpse of a dangerous world.

A snake's eyes aren't very good.

But they can detect movement.

So if the hatchling keeps its nerve, it may just avoid detection.

A near miraculous escape.

The lucky survivors can begin learning the unique way of life here.

Other islands may seem more welcoming places to grow up.

But appearances can be deceiving.

During the dry season, over half a million terns

crowd onto this remote atoll in the Indian Ocean.

Their chicks are still in their dark juvenile plumage.

They vary in age.

Whilst the more advanced chicks take to the air,

others aren't quite ready yet.

Those just starting to learn to fly use the shallow lagoon that occupies the

centre of the atoll as their training ground.

It's difficult for some of them to stay aloft for long.

Giant trevallies.

Usually they are solitary hunters.

But about 50 of them have come here from neighbouring regions.

They are also very close to the reefs.

Attracted by this abundance of potential prey.

The fledglings stay out of the water if they can.

They even drink on the wing.

If the trevally are to catch one now, they have to up their game.

They have to up their game.

So there is a fish here that, amazingly, has a brain capable of

calculating the air speed, altitude and trajectory of a bird.

The time comes when every fledgling has to

take to the air and collect food for itself.

Their parents lead them to the training grounds.

They have to learn how to swim.

If they are to survive, they must learn quickly.

After a month of practising over the lagoon, the youngsters

start to leave and take their chances out over the open sea.

6,000 miles to the north and the warm waters of the tropics become a distant memory.

The Arctic.

For millennia, animals have survived in a world

where temperatures can fall to below 50 degrees.

And every winter, the Norwegian fjords in the Arctic Circle are crowded by one of

the most spectacular assemblies of fish to be seen anywhere.

Herrings.

Billions of them.

And following them...

Orca.

There are up to a thousand of them.

It's possibly the greatest gathering of orca on the planet.

The herring may be plentiful, but in these winding

fjords, they're not always easy to track down.

These particular orca, however, are fish-hunting specialists.

They work as a team, coordinating their approach by calling loudly to one another.

They herd their fish and turn the herring into tighter and tighter shoals.

They swim below them, trapping them against the surface of the sea.

And now the orca deploy their special weapon.

They beat their tails with such force that the shock waves stun the herring.

And then the senseless victims are easily collected.

But all this underwater noise attracts others.

Humpback whales.

They move in on the action.

They approach the shoal from beneath and then lunge upwards,

gathering up to a hundred kilos of herring in a single mouthful.

The

humpbacks are competitive newcomers.

They only started coming here within the last decade.

But these polar seas are so rich that there appears to be enough food for everyone.

We share our planet with spectacular wild animals which have

adapted to live in the strangest and harshest of environments.

Now, more than ever, they are an inspiration for us all.

For this special Planet Earth musical celebration, to raise our spirits during

the pandemic, we brought together composer Hans Zimmer and top-selling artist Dave.

I'm quarantined whatever happens.

You know, that's the composer's life.

I couldn't have seen the world ever stopping, ever,

if it wasn't for something like this, you know.

They're both passionate about the natural world.

Anything I write in one way or the other is

determined in one way or the other by nature.

You know, that episode everybody's always

talking about was the iguanas and the snakes.

Every director I've ever worked with only wished that they could have had a car

chase like that or an action scene like this.

We're trying to provide you with an experience.

An experience which gets under your skin and you start to understand a little bit

more what this world is all about and how we fit into this world.

To

be performing with an orchestra as talented

as the one that I did today, it's amazing.

I got a lot of inspiration from the natural world through my music.

Music is everywhere.

There's a tone to the birds when they sing.

The air, the wind, the trees, the elements.

The soundtrack to nature is a beautiful thing.

Music and images can create an experience that can teach

us something on a profound level, make us feel a hope.

Let's look forward.

Let's look towards the future.

Let's make a better future.

Never before in the history of humankind has it been

more critical to protect and nurture the natural world.

Which is, after all, our home too.