Original subtitles

From the iconic big cats that enthrall us...

to the little-known small cats

that are just coming into light...

these felines have conquered the planet

and are leading extraordinary lives.

They are acrobats in the jungle...

opportunists on the beach.

There's even a semi-blind bobcat

who can pluck her dinner from the air.

From the oldest desert in Africa...

to the highest mountain on Earth,

cats have adapted to the challenges of every climate

and found a way to survive.

The monsoon wetlands of South Asia.

Home to an extraordinary cat.

One whose entire life revolves around water.

This is a fishing cat.

Their unique ability to catch slippery fish

in these weed-filled ponds

has allowed them to colonize these vast wetlands.

Beneath their long outer coats, they have a shorter layer

of insulating fur that acts like a wet suit,

and they have partially webbed feet.

They're well adapted to a life aquatic.

But even so, every fishing cat still has to learn how to fish.

This female has two kittens just a couple of months old.

Up to now they've been kept safely away

from the water's edge, but that's all about to change.

This is the first time they've seen water.

It's natural to be nervous.

But these kittens are born water babies.

It's time to show them the real reason

they've been brought here.

Long whiskers detect vibrations from fish

moving in the shallows...

helping to gauge the exact striking distance.

Then it's the kittens' turn.

For now, it's only water plants that need to be afraid.

This could take some time.

They'll be back tomorrow for another lesson.

All over the globe, cats of all shapes

and sizes have adapted to the challenges

of the planet's most extreme environments.

This is the Namib, Southern Africa.

The oldest desert on Earth.

There's no surface water for hundreds of miles.

Despite this, these desert lions thrive amongst the dunes.

They live in small, isolated prides,

relying on shared knowledge and experience

to find food in this hostile landscape.

Emerging from the dunes, 3 sisters, recently orphaned,

barely a year old.

They are alone...

the youngest, most inexperienced pride in Africa.

This is the hardest time of the year

for the animals of the Namib.

The desert is at its hottest and driest.

Yet, it's this hostility that offers the cubs

a chance to survive.

It will mean searching, day in, day out.

They walk twice as far as lions

living on the savannas of East Africa.

But this harsh place sometimes throws them a lifeline,

a victim of the extreme heat, a dead oryx.

These cubs don't have the skills or the strength to hunt yet...

...but like all desert lions, when times demand it,

they will scavenge, even on rotting meat.

With luck, this strategy

of scavenging victims of the harsh desert

will keep the cubs from starvation.

A kudu, a huge antelope, and one rarely seen in the desert.

But this is no victim of the heat.

This is a lion kill.

A full-grown lioness who's not going to share.

A close call and a vital lesson for the sisters.

In the desert, the biggest danger facing young lions

comes from adult lions.

The desert has provided just enough for them to survive.

Very soon, they will be old enough and strong enough

to hunt for themselves.

Cats have evolved to survive

in almost every environment on Earth.

The thick fur and large padded feet of Canada lynx

enable them to thrive in the deep snow of the frozen north.

In the forests of India,

wonderfully agile clouded leopards

are at home amongst tangled branches.

Large claws provide grip,

and a long tail gives them balance.

On the African plains, caracal spring

almost effortlessly over the tall savanna grass

using their long, powerful legs.

While some cats are finely tuned to live in just one environment,

others have a different strategy.

They will go wherever new opportunities appear.

The Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

Here, there's a cat that has mastered life in the jungle

emerging to hunt on a tropical beach.

Thermal imaging cameras reveal the nightlife

on this pacific shore, and it's busy.

A jaguar, the biggest and most powerful cat in the Americas.

They're built to take on the biggest,

most dangerous prey in the jungle...

but that task is even more difficult for this female.

She's pregnant.

Right now she needs to eat as much as possible

to provide nourishment for her developing cub.

Tonight, this beach may provide

a very welcome addition to her diet.

A jaguar's eyes are 6 times more sensitive to light than our own,

so even in the dark,

anything that moves catches her attention.

Around the time of the full moon,

turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.

For protection, an olive ridley turtle

wears armor one inch thick.

But for its size,

a jaguar has the strongest jaws of any cat.

And a bite powerful enough to crack open

this rich source of food.

She is not the only one that benefits.

Other animals clean up the scraps.

Her visit to the beach couldn't have been timed any better.

It's the beginning of a seasonal gathering of turtles

the arrival.

arribada,

known locally as the

Over the next few nights,

30 thousand turtles will come to this beach to nest.

It's rare for a cat to have food so readily available,

and this pregnant mother isn't the only one

that will feed well tonight.

As many as 14 jaguars patrol this beach.

One of the densest populations in the world.

In fact, they won't eat many,

but the meat from just a few turtles

will make all the difference.

Soon this opportunity will be over,

and the jaguars will return to hunting in the forest...

leaving the beach to the thousands of hatchlings

that emerge and instinctively head for the sea.

Two and a half thousand miles north...

the cool and stormy shores of California.

A very different coastline where a very different cat

has found her own way to make a living.

At home in her den close to the beach,

a remarkable bobcat.

Bobcats usually hunt rabbits and small mammals,

but this female has set her sights higher.

Here, where a freshwater stream meets the sea...

gulls flock to drink and wash salt from their feathers.

It's what she's counting on.

But it's not going to be easy.

She'll just have to wait for the gulls to come back.

To hunt like this takes determination...

and an enterprising spirit.

Most end in failure.

But she returns day after day.

With every attempt, she refines her technique.

At last!

But one gull won't keep her fed for long.

Fortunately, this beach

is never short of chances to hunt.

There's no doubting her persistence and skill...

even if the occasional gull does slip her grip.

And like any cat, once a bobcat has perfected the hunt...

they'll keep on killing...

ensuring that they have enough food

just in case the supply should suddenly run out.

And what makes this hunter truly remarkable

is that she's blind in one eye!

The Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh

is the world's largest mangrove swamp.

Unexplored muddy islands surrounded by the sea...

where a legendary big cat rules.

Perhaps the most elusive and least understood.

The swamp tiger.

Only at low tide is it possible to catch a glimpse

of what lies within these mysterious mangroves.

This is when animals come down to the shore to feed...

...both the hunted

and the hunter.

Low tide also offers a brief chance for this male

to patrol the shoreline of his island.

Scent marking is a warning to other tigers to keep out.

This is a place where a cat must live his entire life

in tune with the tide.

With the rising water, life retreats,

back into the depths of the mangroves...

and he must follow, disappearing again

into these strange swamplands.

We know almost nothing about these tigers,

but researchers now believe that as many as a hundred of them

make these remote islands their home.

The world's most celebrated big cats continue to surprise us,

but the most surprising cats of all...

are the little cats.

Out of the 40 known species,

33 are what scientists call the small cats.

They are the most secretive

and least studied members of the family.

In the mountains of Chile, a guina,

the smallest cat in all the Americas,

hunts moths amongst the undergrowth.

Ocelots are the most common cat in the Costa Rican jungle,

yet they are rarely seen.

Their perfectly camouflaged coats

help them to disappear in an instant.

African wildcats live scattered all across Africa,

from Morocco to South Africa.

They're one of the most widespread of all cats,

yet they, too, are hardly ever seen.

But now specialized camera technology

is giving us a new insight into the mysterious lives

of these small cats...

in some of the most remote places on Earth.

The Karoo Desert, South Africa.

A vast landscape dominated by low desert scrub.

It provides the perfect cover for Africa's smallest cat.

She waits for the cool of night before heading out to hunt.

A black-footed cat.

This little female is known to researchers as Gyra.

She's tiny, weighing a mere two pounds,

200 times less than a lion.

She'd be almost impossible to find,

but she's being tracked with a radio collar.

And using surveillance cameras that rival a cat's night vision,

we can at last reveal her nocturnal pursuits.

She can walk 20 miles a night in search of food,

the farthest recorded for any small cat.

Guided by superb night vision,

and responding to the smallest of sounds,

she finds almost anything that moves is a potential meal.

She'll even eat locusts...

but she prefers gerbils.

Or if that doesn't work...

birds.

With a wiggle to tuck her legs in,

she gets as low to the ground as possible.

Primed like a spring, she can deliver maximum power

to jump!

She hits her target 60% of the time.

It's what makes black-footed cats

the most lethal hunters in the entire cat family.

And the reason for Gyra's huge appetite

is that she's raising her own little hunter.

Even the deadliest cat in Africa has a softer side.

Perhaps the most bizarre small cat of all lives here...

in the heart of Mongolia...

one of the most remote and least populated places on Earth.

After decades of research, we are now able to reveal

an insight into their hidden lives.

This is a Pallas's cat.

She's cautious and she has good reason.

Kittens.

4 of them.

2 months old and just out of the den.

They're already becoming a bit of a handful.

They live in a world of windswept grassland,

an area three times bigger than the state of Texas.

But this outcrop of rocks is a safe place to hide the family.

It's morning, and the kittens are hungry,

but a mother can't hunt with four excitable youngsters

tagging along.

Today, she will have to leave her kittens home alone.

Out here in the open, there's nowhere to hide.

The only thing she can do is try and blend in.

Pallas's cats' ears are positioned

unusually low on their heads,

and that helps them to keep a low profile.

What's more, these cats can flatten their bodies

to look like a rock.

She'll need to hunt all day

to provide enough for her growing kittens,

who, meanwhile, are getting up to all sorts of mischief.

Play will help them to hone their own hunting skills.

A silver vole finds itself

the center of the kittens' attention.

The key is a silent, patient approach.

Alas, on these rocks, a vole has the upper hand.

Fortunately, the kittens can rely on their mother to provide.

Pallas's cats actually do very well here.

There could be as many as 10,000

living in these grasslands...

not that it makes them any easier to see.

In other places, small cats are living secret lives

right under our noses.

East of Johannesburg, Africa's biggest industrial complex.

It's the size of a city.

Behind the barbed wire,

surveillance cameras detect intruders every night.

A cat has taken over.

The tierboskat, also known as a serval.

This restricted area is now the home of around

a hundred of these small spotted cats...

the densest population anywhere in Africa.

This strange industrial wasteland is teeming with life.

It's a place where people rarely venture...

and the fences keep out larger predators

that might be a threat to the servals.

What's more, the water used to cool the heavy industry

has helped create lush meadows around these pools,

and that, in turn, has led to an explosion of rats and mice...

all a serval can eat.

They're not only attracted by the food

but by the one thing that all cats need --

their own space

where they can be left undisturbed.

This is a small cat paradise.

Cats have conquered almost every corner of the planet.

But now, even in the most remote places,

they are feeling the impact of our way of life

as we encroach more and more on their world.

Around the planet, their numbers are decreasing.

If cats are to survive in our changing world,

we just need to leave them some space.

Next time...

The frontiers of discovery...

Just in front of us. Ah, that's really special.

Holy mackerel.

...getting closer than ever before...

There you go.

...to the secret lives of cats.

There.

series concludes.

"Nature's" landmark three-part

It's a critical time for new

research and cat conservation.

This is an age of discovery

that's revolutionizing

how we view this amazing

super family.