Original subtitles

NARRATOR: In one of Africa's last great wildernesses,

lives a family of hunters.

(SNARLING)

The Hot Springs Pack.

This is a family on the edge.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

They're surrounded by enemies.

(BARKING)

(LIONS SNARLING)

(CROCODILE HISSING)

These wild dogs live at the mercy of the changing seasons.

If the family is to survive these testing times,

the pack's young pups must learn to hunt, and fast.

Growing up is never easy.

But for these pups, it's a matter of life and death.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Hidden in a gully, in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park,

an alpha female has pups deep inside a den.

She and her lifelong mate have raised several litters.

Many of the older pups are still with them,

forming a family pack of 19 dogs.

It's October, the height of the dry season.

Each morning and evening, the dogs set off to find food.

They hunt at dawn and sunset,

lolloping after their antelope prey.

They're long-distance runners, on spindly legs

that carry them for many miles.

The pack hunts over a vast swath of bush covering 200 square miles.

At the heart of their territory is Hot Springs,

a waterhole fed by a geothermal upwelling.

It's a staging post for herds of antelope

migrating through the pack's territory,

on their way to the Luangwa River,

which lies to the west.

(SCREECHING)

The pack's strong, plenty of experienced hunters.

The alpha pair lead the hunt.

The rest of the pack, all their offspring, spread out in pursuit.

They're a tight-knit team,

and rely on each other to bring down enough prey to feed the family.

While cheetahs sprint, leopards ambush,

and lions overpower their prey,

wild dogs simply keep running.

As one dog tires, another takes up the lead.

Together, they have the stamina to exhaust their quarry.

Back at the den, the seven pups wait patiently for breakfast.

They're only four months old,

too young to join in the hunt.

As the dry season progresses, they get more confident

and spend more time outside the den.

One patient adult stays with them to babysit,

until the other adults return, successful.

They bring meat for the pups.

(YELPING)

But a meal only increases their energy levels.

that'll stand them in good stead as adults.

Vultures make great target practice.

Scientists follow and monitor the pack using radio collars.

This is the alpha female's third litter.

She's proving to be a good mum. But it's tiring work.

The pack spends the day resting in the shade near the den.

There's always something new for the pups to experience.

After this morning's vultures, they battle squadrons of bees.

The bees are searching for water, and the pups' eyes and mouths are under attack.

Time to go.

The pups join the adults,

leaving their den behind for the first time.

The pack is now able to roam over a much larger area, following their food.

Wild dogs need huge areas to live in, and are very rare.

Luangwa in Zambia is one of their last strongholds,

but even here there are only a dozen or so packs.

Over most of Africa, they are in serious decline,

with only a few hundred packs left.

This may be one of the last generations before extinction.

(WIND BILLOWING)

As November approaches, rainstorms bring great change to the Luangwa Valley.

(HEAVY RAIN AND WIND)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Over the next few months the dogs' dusty home

is transformed into a wetland paradise.

(BIRDS CALLING)

Fresh grass grows everywhere.

The antelope scatter across the savannah,

and the dogs follow.

For a few months, they disappear into a flooded landscape

of swamps and islands.

By May the rains have passed,

and once more the dogs' world begins to dry.

But the pack itself has undergone big changes over the wet season.

The dog pack has dwindled from 19 to 12.

Some of the older offspring have left, to try and start their own family

and one of the pups has died.

The remaining six pups are now a year old,

almost adult size, but still very dependent.

In human terms, they're like adolescents.

The two parents mark their territory together, reaffirming their bond.

The yearling pups still beg for food.

They tag along on hunts now but are more of a hindrance than a help.

The alpha male is aging. His days as lead hunter are numbered.

But the mother is still strong and the family obediently follows her.

A lone puku at the waterhole is a tempting target.

Unfortunately, their arch rivals have got here first.

Hyenas.

They're twice the weight of wild dogs,

and as a pack, formidable,

when they're awake.

(SNORTING)

But there's a hierarchy around waterholes.

Top are the elephants.

Nobody gets in their way.

So the hyenas slink off to find somewhere else to snooze

until night falls.

The dogs, too, find a quiet corner to wait while the behemoths drink their fill.

The alpha male and female will face a much tougher dry season this year.

This time around, the only other hunters in the pack are four 2-year-olds,

their eldest offspring.

Six hunters are only just enough to keep the pack going.

They desperately need the additional six yearlings

to learn the skills and strategies of a hunt,

if the family is to survive.

The dogs rest.

They'll need all their energy to hunt tonight.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

But peace doesn't last long.

This elephant is male, on heat, in musth.

It makes him aggressive, unpredictable,

and very dangerous.

His testosterone is 60 times higher than normal.

(GRUNTS)

He's seven tons of belligerent frustration.

(TRUMPETS)

To the pups, surprisingly, he's no danger,

but a bit of fun, a game of tag on a giant scale.

(TRUMPETS)

(ELEPHANT GROWLING)

(TRUMPETING)

(TRUMPETING)

The elephant will never catch them,

which must only add to his irritation.

He did, however, leave a gift.

All dogs love dung, to roll in, and to smell of,

as every dog owner knows.

One theory is that they want to be as smelly as possible.

Maybe it's to disguise their own smell.

We really don't know.

Another thing that wild dogs and domestic dogs have in common

is that they play with sticks.

It's something few other animals do.

According to psychologists,

learning about objects promotes high-level thinking and self-awareness.

We are only just beginning to realize how smart dogs really are.

The alpha male and female are more focused

on the comings and goings around them.

Puku antelope are this pack's preferred prey,

but the herd has many eyes and noses, and raises the alarm.

(SHRIEKING)

Impala are another favorite, but they are more athletic, and have another advantage.

They hang out with baboons.

(BABOON GRUNTING)

The baboons and impala look out for each other.

As the day wears on, warthog come by.

A warthog could be a good meal,

and much slower on its feet than the dogs.

But the adults have fearsome tusks,

and will turn and fight a lion or hyena, let alone a dog.

By late afternoon, hunger sets in,

and the family begins to stir once more.

(TWITTERING)

They greet with twittering sounds.

African wild dogs have a complex communication system,

almost like a language.

There are 18 types of calls, with rumbles, buzzes,

and moans that are all unique to wild dogs.

(TWITTERING)

They are also among the least aggressive and most playful of all canines.

There's hardly any real aggression linked to rank.

Siblings will usually stay together all their lives,

often founding their own packs together.

One of the older females plays with the pups as though she was the runt,

and the pups tickle her tummy, and play-bite.

(DOGS WHINING)

But it's time to eat. The alpha male leads off.

His partner ends the play and joins the lead.

Twilight is their most active time.

Each evening, they may travel up to 20 miles,

searching for the herds of puku.

In the fading light, they become silent-footed creatures of the shadows.

They hunt firstly with their ears, like huge dishes turning to every sound.

No dog has better hearing.

Getting wind of the dogs, antelope scatter.

A bushbuck.

A puku.

This pack specializes in creating chaos in the woodland.

The dogs don't tire easily.

And nightfall doesn't stop them.

They're too hungry to give up now.

They burn up food, each one needing double the energy humans do,

despite being a third the size.

The six yearling pups follow enthusiastically,

but in the confusion and the darkness,

they aren't much help yet.

The hunt involves chase after chase, over several miles.

They could overheat.

Their brain would be fried if it weren't for

their big ears acting as cooling fans.

But as it gets darker,

the advantage turns back to the puku.

(HOWLING)

Their night vision is more acute than the dogs'.

Hyenas and lions take over the night shift.

The twilight-loving dogs must make way.

The hyenas have young to feed.

Their pups are only a few months old.

Hyenas are social, like wild dogs.

The clan is built around the family.

Though actually, they're more closely related to cats and civets than canines.

The wild dogs wait for dawn to resume hunting.

Their saliva shows up black in the night-vision camera.

We can see who's got the most attention.

It's the alpha female, their devoted mother,

and the linchpin of this family.

As dawn breaks, the wild dogs go into action.

Caught napping, a puku gets trapped.

They don't go for the throat.

Wild dogs are too small to throttle an antelope three times their size.

It takes all of them to stop the puku escaping.

(PUKU GRUNTING)

The dogs have to eat as fast as they can.

The prolonged kill has inevitably attracted attention.

The hyenas arrive to steal the meal.

The family sets off again,

avoiding a battle with their rivals that they're sure to lose.

They're always on the move, naturally itinerant.

Wild dogs only use a den when there are young puppies.

The rest of the year is spent exploring new areas

within their massive home range.

Perhaps a new neighborhood will help the yearlings gain in experience.

Unaware, they move into the territory of a large female leopard.

She's a ferocious cat, far more powerful than one of them,

but the dogs give chase anyway.

Some things are universal.

They're not after her as prey,

but as a rival predator, she competes with them for food.

She could easily take one of the dogs down, but she's no match for the pack.

Cornered up a tree, the leopard waits out of reach,

frustrating the dogs below.

(LEOPARD GROWLING)

Eventually, they give up.

As the day warms, they rest, with the morning's puku in their bellies.

The breakfast won't satisfy the pups for long.

When the afternoon cools,

the ceremony of greeting and playing still includes

begging their mother for food like the big babies they were six months ago.

But she's got nothing to give them.

As well as food, the dogs need water.

Towards the river are drying lagoons.

The dogs haven't visited here for a while,

and the antelope are off their guard.

These isolated oxbow lakes form when the river changes course.

In the wet season they fill, but now thin puddles are all that remain.

There's barely enough for a drink but it still draws the animals in.

Elephants should have no problem pushing the dogs off the waterhole.

But the pack holds its ground.

(ELEPHANT GROWLING)

The alpha couple stares the lead elephant down,

and the family holds firm.

The elephant seems confused and backs away.

That's something the locals don't see very often.

The yearlings all stand strong together.

(TRUMPETS)

The elephants grow frustrated,

but nobody moves until the elephants give up.

The family seems to revel in its new-found bravado.

They seem more cohesive.

They're moving as a pack,

traveling west towards permanent water and better hunting.

The landscape around them is changing.

This woodland is different, a little denser.

And the animals they encounter are stranger.

They've reached the open plains near the Luangwa River.

The adult dogs know that the nearer the river,

the more full of life it is in the dry season.

But it's all new to the yearlings.

Puku and impala are everywhere,

converging on the last permanent water in the valley.

(WHINNYING)

But that doesn't make them any easier to catch.

The antelope here seem more wary.

They're skittish, keeping a much greater distance from the dogs.

This is a popular hunting ground for all predators,

including the biggest and most dangerous of all.

He'd steal anything they catch.

They keep moving, until they reach the end of the line.

The alpha pair have led their family to the bank of the Luangwa River.

The yearlings have never seen anything like it.

The Luangwa is one of the longest unaltered rivers in Africa.

The Valley covers 20,000 square miles

and is one of the richest places for wildlife in the world.

To the dogs from Hot Springs, it must seem like so much water,

and so many animals.

Some are strange and menacing.

Others look harmless, but aren't.

The hippo calves are guarded by their mothers.

Like children on their first visit to the seaside,

the dogs can't contain their curiosity,

and excitement.

Dogs love to dig, burying food, or digging for any meal.

Little edible lives under the sand,

but there is fresh water.

As evening approaches, the family is in for more surprises.

The hippos head onto the grassy banks for a night of grazing,

and a herd of elephants arrives for an evening drink.

So many large neighbors to contend with is a little overwhelming.

(GROWLING)

The crocodiles are intimidating.

They're feeding on the giant carcass of an elephant.

But the greatest threat lies on the opposite side of the river.

A family of lionesses, nicknamed the Hollywood Pride.

The channel separates the dogs, but lions often cross.

The water's only one foot deep.

The older youngsters chaperone the yearlings away.

The alpha female challenges the lions.

(BARKING)

She'd risk her life for her family.

(BARKING CONTINUES)

(GROWLING)

(DOG CONTINUES GROWLING)

Her barks do little to intimidate the cats.

But eventually, the lions move on.

It's time for them to hunt.

(GROWLING CONTINUES)

The courageous mother defended the family,

but she still has to feed them.

The yearlings are hungry again.

The four older siblings, the 2-year-olds, take the lead.

The brother and three sisters are almost ready for independence.

(SCREECHING)

For once, the yearlings are right behind them.

Working with their older siblings, they fan out and help herd the puku

down towards the beach.

An older sister's got one.

It's a big male puku, and she desperately needs help.

It takes the yearlings a moment to realize

that their older sister has caught something,

but they are beginning to understand what's needed.

It's the first successful catch with their help.

But another sister is on her own mission.

In the distance, she grabs another puku.

She can't hold it and also needs help.

With the first puku down,

the dogs come to her aid.

This is what teamwork should look like.

It's a good evening for the dogs.

But they need to eat quickly.

The commotion draws the attention of bigger predators.

The lionesses have crossed the river.

It seems making their kills on the beach wasn't the dogs' greatest idea.

While they fed on one puku,

a huge croc stole the other.

The pack had a good meal first,

but the yearlings are reluctant to give up a prize

they've helped earn themselves.

(CROCODILE GROWLING)

They may not realize how dangerous these reptiles are.

This game is a bad idea.

It gets worse.

Hyenas are on their way.

Behind them, the lionesses.

Both are after the dogs' kills,

and neither would think twice about attacking them to get a meal.

(GROWLING)

Cats can see at night much more effectively than dogs.

The pack abandons its kill,

but the lions keep coming.

(ROARS)

They just want the dogs away from the river.

Any rival predator is bad news.

(SNARLING)

The family flees down the beach to safety.

The night has been eventful,

but at least they've fed and, more importantly,

the yearlings have joined the hunt.

(BIRDS TWITTERING)

Over the next few weeks, the Luangwa River continues to fall,

and draws increasing numbers of animals to its banks.

Despite the run-in with the lions, the dog pack stays close to the river,

and the yearlings get more competent every day.

But the rains are due soon, and then there will be water

away from the river.

The antelope will disperse,

and kills here will be harder to come by.

The dogs will stay until then, but the pressure is on now,

not only to eat, but for the youngsters to learn to hunt.

The yearlings now regularly help the six adults.

The alpha pair and the four 2-year-olds

still make all the kills,

but the yearlings make up the crucial numbers needed.

The pack's new-found success comes at a price.

All the lions are on to them now.

After each successful kill, the dogs wolf down as much as they can

before the lions and hyenas arrive.

They lose many of their meals.

Male lions are mostly scavengers.

They don't need to hunt for themselves.

Despite the dangers and frequent losses,

the family is reluctant to leave the river.

Hunting school is still in session.

The yearlings are getting stronger and their muscles filling out.

They're gaining in confidence.

Most days, the three 2-year-old sisters

lead the yearlings down to the beach.

They wash the night's evidence from their faces, and play.

It's a way to unwind,

but it also reinforces the bonds between them

and the roles they play in the hunt.

It's an important part of the yearlings' training.

The lionesses are never far, a constant threat.

To the cats, the dogs are competition.

But they're so full of meals provided by the dogs,

they're a lot less dangerous than if they were hungry.

The promise of rain begins to lure antelope away from the river,

for easier water and fresher grass.

It's time for the dogs to leave too.

The yearlings seem happy,

but the three older sisters hold back.

Eventually, they all set off together for the long journey home.

They're heading back to Hot Springs.

As the day warms, they have to rest.

The 2-year-old sisters sit apart from their younger siblings.

They're adults now, and ready to start breeding.

So they have a decision to make.

Wild dog calls can travel many miles,

and the three females listen, maybe for potential mates.

The male moves away from his sisters.

He'll stay with the family for longer,

helping his parents and younger siblings.

But the sisters are restless

and for a moment seem unsure.

They would be abandoning their family, and their brother,

and everything they know.

But leaving would give them a chance to have pups themselves.

They decide to go it alone.

The sisters will stay together,

traveling for maybe hundreds of miles

across the Luangwa River basin,

searching for nomad males their own age,

or a pack they can join.

Now, there are only three adults in the pack,

only three competent hunters.

Five is considered the minimum.

The six yearlings will have to fill the gap fast.

Their new-found skills will really be put to the test.

The first rains will signal the start of lean times

for the valley's predators.

The three sisters' leaving could not have come at a worse time.

To add to the family's troubles,

one of the yearlings is injured and is slowing their progress.

Without enough dogs, they won't be able to bring down prey.

They can't afford to be another dog short.

Family ties compel the others to wait for him.

It's only by all pulling together that this family will survive.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

They're heading back to Hot Springs,

where all the yearlings were born.

There's permanent water, and a few antelope always return there.

Blocking the way ahead, buffalo.

Buffalos are belligerent, heavily armored, built to fight off lions.

The dogs will never catch a buffalo.

But the yearlings do need to practice hunting.

This game of chase is dangerous, but it will hone their skills

and build their confidence.

(BUFFALO SNORTING AND GRUNTING)

The young dogs are fearless.

They work together as a team, moving the buffalo out of the way.

(SNORTING)

If they can take on these guys, they're ready to do anything.

The promised rains never quite come before the family arrives back at Hot Springs.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

Once home, the alpha male and female reaffirm their bonds.

A change in her scent means only one thing,

she's ready to mate again.

In a few months, there should be new pups.

They den here because there'll be fewer lions and hyenas

than there are nearer the river.

At least, in theory.

The puku and impala are returning too,

no longer reliant on the river for moisture.

Soon, the alpha female will retire to her den.

The alpha male is old now,

not the hunter he used to be.

The survival of the pack depends on the yearlings.

They've learned well.

They know to split up and flank their prey.

(DOGS CALLING)

They know they just have to keep running...

And eventually, the kill will come.

The yearling drives the impala right into the jaws of his siblings.

(DOGS TWITTERING)

For the first time, they provide a meal for their mother.

They eat quickly.

Little goes unnoticed on these plains

and you never know who's coming to dinner uninvited.

(HOWLING)

Hyenas. Their old enemies.

(HYENAS YIPPING)

But now the pack has confidence, and together the dogs stand strong.

(GROWLING)

Let the hyenas fight over the scraps.

These hunters can always catch another meal.

For this family, six fresh young hunters is enough.

The yearlings have come of age.

They're ready to help defend and feed the new puppies

when they come.

For now, at least, the future looks secure for the Hot Springs Pack.

It's a ray of hope for wild dogs in Africa.

♪♪

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