Original subtitles

Few things can be more wonderful

than the gift of flight.

We all dream of the freedom to soar over the landscape.

It's unimaginable that if you could fly,

you might choose to give it up.

But that's exactly what some birds have chosen to do.

The question is, why?

(dramatic music)

Whether it's to save energy,

tap into new food resources,

or invest in other skills,

they all have their reasons.

But it doesn't make this exclusive group of flightless birds

any less weird and wonderful.

Cranes.

Giant birds standing taller than most kids

and weighing more than a house cat.

Proof that you don't need

to be small and lightweight to fly.

These heavy but elegant birds

undertake huge annual migrations.

They pass over other birds similar in size,

but these ones can only reach for the stars.

These are rheas,

one of a small handful of birds

that have abandoned the ability to fly.

From flying ancestors, all have become grounded.

But how, and why?

60 species of bird have given up flight,

but they are not all related.

Each have taken their own evolutionary path.

(gentle music)

The Galapagos is a cluster of tiny islands

out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

They were thrown up by volcanoes

just a few million years ago.

Because of their remoteness,

very few animals have managed to colonize the island.

With the gift of flight, though,

birds were able to make landfall after an ocean crossing.

Those pioneers found a paradise,

a landscape where there is little competition for food

and no predators.

Cormorants were among those early aeronauts

arriving by wing.

There are over 40 species of cormorants

that have settled on most coastlines

and waterways around the world.

All are large, heavy seabirds,

streamlined, and with oily, waterproof plumage.

They are expert fisherman,

diving to do most of their hunting.

(calm music)

But with powerful wings to transfer

between different fishing grounds

and their nesting and roosting sites,

which thanks to their flight,

can be in the trees and out of the reach of predators.

(birds crying)

Because fish shoals are always on the move,

the birds needed the capacity for long-distance travel

until they found Galapagos.

Once they'd settled on the islands,

they had everything they needed.

There was no longer any need to make long journeys,

and without mammalian predators,

they no longer needed flight to escape danger.

They didn't need to fly, so why bother?

It saved energy not having to grow big, powerful wings,

and so gradually, over thousands of years, they stopped.

Today, their wings are tiny

and totally incapable of getting them airborne.

While size isn't everything,

they have made up for their puny flappers with big flippers,

improving their performance in the water.

They are high-performance divers.

Even a plunge in search of fish

can take them to 10 or 15 meters,

even 18 meters at a push.

(upbeat music)

Downsizing in the wing department

creates the need to improvise in other areas of life.

When looking for love,

many birds show off with spectacular aerial displays

to capture the attention of the opposite sex.

Whether it's dancing cranes,

eagles showing off their gift-passing skills,

or wallcreepers flashing some color,

wings come in handy.

The grounded cormorant compensates for his shortcomings

with flowers and chocolate,

or at least a gift of seaweed.

If his gifts are inventive enough,

they move to second base, mimicking each other's movements.

As long as the chemistry is right,

she might be willing to go all the way.

Which is another challenge.

The balancing act might be easier

with long, stabilizing wings to hold out.

(passionate music)

fortunately, he doesn't need to keep it up for long.

Bird life abounds all over the Galapagos.

Most species keep their aerial options open.

The lava heron doesn't fly much.

He's a stalker,

but still maintains his wings to travel around the island.

His favorite hunting ground is the tangled mass

of roots in the mangrove forest.

They make perfect handrails,

allowing him to safely hang out over the water.

The mangrove roots attract small fish.

They're like a natural barrier,

stopping large fish from chasing them.

They don't expect attacks to come from above.

But the heron can only reach so far.

Long legs and neck help,

but still, the fish can move deeper,

staying out of reach from overhead strikes.

But there are threats that come from underneath.

(suspenseful music)

There are about 20 species of penguin,

all found in the southern hemisphere

apart from these little pioneers,

who have found their way north of the equator.

Like their cousins,

Galapagos penguins turned wings to paddles.

Back in the days of the dinosaurs,

the penguins' earliest cousins could fly,

but there were a lot of birds around at the time

all competing for food.

But few of them were capable of diving deep

to exploit the riches of the sea.

Penguins seem to see the gap in the market

and move into this territory.

As evolution gradually carved their bodies

for maximum performance,

feathers became short and stiff for streamlining

and wing bends were flattened and reinforced

for better upstroke underwater.

Penguins now fly only beneath the waves.

The Galapagos penguins,

among the rarest of their clan, are experts,

reaching hunting speeds

of 35 kilometers per hour underwater.

They exploit the frigid Humboldt Current

that brings plenty of nutrients, and therefore fish,

from the Antarctic.

So, although they live in the tropics,

the feisty birds are still taking advantage of polar seas.

There might only be 2000 of these little swimmers left,

one of the greatest treasures of Galapagos.

The Galapagos is a weird place

where evolution had space to experiment.

These two flightless birds have carved out niches,

and to do so, have sacrificed flight.

But it's the biggest birds that took the weirdest route

to a life on the run.

While dinosaurs were roaming the Earth,

some medium-sized, heavy-bodied,

long-legged birds known as ratites

foraged in their shadows.

Those ancient ancestors are long gone,

but they probably looked something like the modern bustard.

They were omnivores,

eating seeds, leaves, fruits, and small animals,

but were able to find all that they needed

strutting around on the ground.

This lifestyle enabled them to develop

heavier bodies and longer, stronger legs

to carry them across the plains.

But despite their weight,

they still retained powerful wing muscles,

enough to get airborne should danger threaten.

(suspenseful music)

They were a successful family of birds

living in many parts of the globe.

When they first appeared,

the Earth had just one vast landmass,

but over time, the land broke apart,

making the continents we know today.

The early species of ratites were separated by oceans.

At this point, all of them could fly.

But the desire for a firm footing

must have been deeply ingrained in their genetic makeup.

Over time, all of the different species

in different parts of the world gave up flight.

It was a dramatic transformation,

but one that happened again and again

in different species in different parts of the world.

And not only did they all ground out,

but most of them got big.

In fact, they include the largest birds on Earth.

They are supersized.

But there are pros and cons to their life at ground level.

Now, for example, they have to sleep on the ground

at the mercy of predators.

But thanks to their size,

they can also be intimidating

and able to stand up for themselves.

They have carved out their own unique rules for survival,

an unusual lifestyle with many bizarre behaviors,

especially when it comes to mating.

While the Galapagos cormorant

offers gifts of seaweed or rocks,

rheas have found new ways to flirt.

Rheas are the largest birds in the Americas.

Though having escaped from captivity,

this flock has made itself at home in European farmland.

Wing feathers, once long and stiff,

have become ornate fans,

and like a French can-can lineup, can be strutted.

The fluffed up males charge each other

and use their wings to try and steer

groups of females together.

Competition can be fierce.

(cheerful music)

Eventually, the victor will lead away a harem

of impressed potential mates.

He has a cousin on the other side of the world

who uses color to impress.

The pristine tropical beaches of Eastern Australia

make the perfect stomping ground.

The cassowary,

often considered the most dangerous bird on the planet.

If you have any doubt that birds

are descended from dinosaurs,

look no further.

With huge thumb claws,

a cassowary is a modern velociraptor.

They barely have any wings at all,

and what's left of flight feathers

are bald, claw-like quills.

(tense music)

There's nothing to fan and flirt with,

so the cassowary uses color.

It's the larger females that have the brightest makeup,

but the bright hues of red and purple

are not picked for aesthetics,

but because they resemble the cassowary's food.

(fruit thudding)

They specialize in eating fruit,

and the fruit trees here

obligingly add bright pigments to their fruits,

making them easier for the birds to spot in the leaf litter.

The colors attract cassowaries to berries

and to each other.

After the fun of flirting comes the burden of parenthood.

But it's a duty that the father shoulders alone.

Among the biggest grounded birds, like the rhea,

all males are stay-at-home dads.

The male made the nest,

and once he's mated with a few females,

they laid their eggs in it.

But they have left him with full custody.

Depending on how successful he was with the ladies,

there could be up to 80 eggs in this nest,

and he's stuck sitting on them for over a month.

He can't drop his guard.

In his native South America,

he might be threatened by pumas or jaguars.

But even here in Germany,

there are harriers and other birds of prey

that would relish an egg.

Duties don't stop when eggs hatch.

Some baby birds are helpless to begin with.

Fortunately for the cormorants,

both parents stay around to help raise the chicks.

They need to be sheltered and kept warm during the night,

and shaded from the hot equatorial sun during the day.

Their down feathers are not waterproof,

so until adult plumage develops,

all food will have to be brought to them at the nest.

The begging never stops.

Once nest watch is over,

the rhea dad has it comparatively easy.

His chicks are ready to run around and look for food

within hours of hatching.

They have an instant instinct to peck at seeds and bugs.

But although they can fend for themselves,

they are ankle height to their father,

and vulnerable to predators,

so the proud parent stands guard.

He's so protective that other rheas,

even the chicks' mothers, are driven away.

After using them in his defensive displays,

he preens his magnificent feathers.

And his doting checks copy his every move.

They want to grow up to be just like dad.

It seems to get them excited.

Playtime is all about racing games,

training the long legs that will eventually carry them

at 65 kilometers per hour.

(bright music)

The cassowary family prefers a more leisurely stroll.

Again, it's dad on duty.

Mom didn't stick around.

Everything the kids need has to come from him.

It's not easy going through the thick jungle.

Streams create easy natural paths.

Like the rheas, his chicks were able-bodied from the start,

but they need a bit more guidance from him

to identify which fruits are ripe

and to avoid the poisonous ones.

With sensitive ears,

dad can detect the distinctive thud of falling fruit,

a dinner gong.

He leads the family to their meal

and shows them how it's done.

(cheerful music)

But the chicks still need to learn

not to bite off more than they can chew.

Dad tenderly shows them how to deal with a challenging meal.

This family of big flightless birds known as ratites

make wonderful dads.

Cassowaries rule the tropical forests of Australia,

but on the open plains,

another feathered father is schooling his brood.

The emu is Australia's biggest bird,

but they don't start out big.

The camo stripes help hide his babies from predators,

but still, he keeps a close eye on them.

But in the desert landscape,

the biggest life skill he needs to pass down

is the ability to find water.

(birds chittering)

Emu don't lap up or sip water.

They scoop it up,

then raise their heads to let the liquid

run down their throats.

(water splashing)

Because water's scarce and not available every day,

when they find it, they make the most of it.

Dad can gulp down up to 18 liters.

And why not take the chance

for a cooling bath while they're at it?

But dad never drops his guard.

Movement draws his big and eager eyes.

A dingo, one of the few animals

that represents a real threat.

Their time at the pool is done for now.

For most birds,

the biggest educational breakthrough

comes when they learn to fly.

Not a skill the young flightless cormorant will need.

His challenge is to learn to swim.

Dad goes first and tries to coax him out.

His entry isn't exactly graceful.

Dad has food in his throat and uses it as a lure.

The chick's desire for food is so great

that he pursues his father,

learning to swim without even trying.

He even tries following on short dives.

(tense music)

(cormorants crying)

He's getting good at keeping his head

above water when he wants to,

but he has other lessons to learn about life at sea,

like trying to avoid pirates.

Frigate birds are masters of the air,

among the most acrobatic of all fliers.

They live along the coast,

but are not waterproof, and cannot swim.

Instead of diving for fish themselves,

they wait for other birds to hunt for them

and then swoop in to steal the catch.

At least the frigate birds are only after stolen property,

and are not trying to kill the cormorants themselves.

But one of the greatest threats to a flightless lifestyle

is the risk of predator attack.

Ostriches are not only the biggest flightless birds,

they're the biggest birds of all,

and famously, the fastest.

But on the African plains,

they're also one of the most useful.

Standing nearly three meters tall

and with tennis-ball-sized eyes,

ostriches are living watchtowers,

and other animals like gazelles, zebra, and wildebeest

like to hang out around them,

using the giant birds as lookouts.

It can be difficult to spot danger in the long grass.

(sinister music)

A cheetah sets its sights on the gazelle,

its favorite prey.

It can run fast, but only for a short distance.

So, if it's to carry out a successful strike,

it needs first to stalk in close.

But an ostrich spots the spots and sounds the alarm,

giving the gazelle a head start

that ultimately saves its life.

(cheetah panting)

Weighing three times more than a cheetah,

the adult birds rarely have anything to worry about.

But it's not only gazelles that draw the cheetah's glare.

Male cheetahs often form groups, or coalitions.

By working together,

they can try and distract the aggressive babysitter.

(sinister music)

And with dad out of the way,

they strike.

Predators are the one big drawback to flightlessness.

But these birds are grounded, big, and tough,

and ready to defend their own.

Under the care of diligent fathers, many young will survive.

Dinosaurs stalk the forest.

Under the protection of a velociraptor-clawed dad,

the cassowary chicks have doubled in size.

They are big enough to take care of themselves,

though dad will keep up his field training

and protection racket for nine months.

Giving up flight might seem like an evolutionary mistake,

but it's opened up new lifestyles

for the birds who have chanced it.

(dramatic music)

Sometimes the non-fliers are the source of ridicule,

but really, they should be seen as a story of success.

They have conquered diverse habitats

from the Great Plains and deserts

to rainforests, islands, and even oceans.

They include the biggest birds, the fastest,

the deepest-diving, and the most dangerous.

There's a lot to be said

for putting one foot in front of the other.

One small step for a bird

was a giant leap for flightless birdkind.