Original subtitles

Imagine a place where the world's most endangered creatures

can roam free.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

He's warming up his legs.

Oh, there he goes!

A vast wilderness...

..brimming with the intimate dramas of its inhabitants.

LION ROARS

..as they take their first steps,

learn to get along and confront their rivals.

In the shadow of Mount Kenya,

Ol Pejeta is one of the few untamed places left on Earth.

On Ol Pejeta, the wild really, really is the wild.

It's home to 13,000 animals...

Let's get ready to rumble!

..watched over by a dedicated team of rangers...

Just like you take care of your kids, these are our kids.

..who every day must decide if they should intervene

..in a wild animal's life.

I don't want to see who will win on this.

..or let nature take its course...

It's a tough call. It's a tough call, definitely.

..as these extraordinary creatures strive to survive in the wild.

He's up. There he goes.

Nice!

MONKEY SQUEALS

As dawn breaks in Ol Pejeta, all across the savannah,

mothers coax their young ones awake.

All, it seems, except for black rhino Mkora,

who is giving her son Vumbi a lie-in.

Vumbi is a typical Mama's boy.

Most rhinos lead a solitary life.

At three-and-a-half, Vumbi is the equivalent of a teenager

and should have left his mother by now to strike out on his own.

He's really enjoying everything, just like any other teenage boy.

You sleep whenever you want.

There's always food for you in the fridge.

Everything is there provided for you.

Who would want to walk away from that? I know I wouldn't.

Vumbi may be enjoying the good life with his mum Mkora...

Oscar, one-five, Oscar on-five, Oscar one.

..but rangers Elimlim and Abraham know it's not just him

that isn't ready to be alone.

Mkora means naughty. The naughty one? Yes, the naughty one.

So Mkora is a naughty girl.

You can see now they're there.

They're resting.

The mum has lost two of her previous calves.

He has become like the favourite.

The mother always clinging to him, naturally very protective,

just like in humans.

When you have one surviving kid,

you feel like you always want to cling to them.

You have eyes on them at any given time.

With black rhinos critically endangered,

the rangers are keen for Mkora to mate again.

And so it seems are the bull rhinos.

The other males are seeing her and they are noticing her

and they obviously want to mate with her,

but now Vumbi is kind of blocking that.

Vumbi is cramping her style.

Coming between his mum and her suitors is not only stopping Mkora

from having another calf,

it's also extremely dangerous for Vumbi.

For a female black rhino to mate,

before she becomes submissive, they have to fight.

You can imagine, then, Vumbi is getting in the way.

Vumbi might end up having very traumatic wounds.

The wind direction is going on this side, so we can walk this way.

The male is coming toward us.

It's very dangerous, being charged by rhino.

There is almost zero chance of survival.

The male is catching up with the scent.

It's more interested in Mkora than us.

So the male is trying to prevent Mkora from going further ahead.

So this means they are probably going to mate any time soon

and so Vumbi will have to keep off.

RHINO GRUNTS

As Mkora tries to shield Vumbi...

RHINO GRUNTS

..a second bull appears and confronts the first.

RHINOS GRUNT

This can get ugly very fast.

Vumbi is hiding behind the mum.

They might even end up killing Vumbi.

While the males lose themselves in competition...

..Mkora sees her chance and escapes with Vumbi.

At this stage, Mkora should be thinking about

maybe having another calf or so.

Because all these suitors are coming in...

..and there is this calf getting in their way...

..and the fact that it's a male calf, it's also a bigger challenge.

It's becoming impossible.

With Vumbi's life increasingly at risk from older males

wanting to mate with his mother, the rangers need to find a way

to persuade him it's time to leave her side.

I really wish I could explain the facts to him,

that he's better off wandering by himself.

Vumbi sticking with the mum is risky... Risky for him.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

In the wild, the first few years of life are always the most precarious.

The chances of an animal surviving to adulthood are slim,

no matter who you are.

If you're a prey species, then the chances are almost minuscule.

I mean, they're tiny.

If you're an insect, you've got a 1% chance of surviving.

When you're a child, whether you're an elephant or whether

you're a hippo, your chances of getting eaten here are very high.

Surviving to adulthood is tough for any animal.

But when you're the runt of the litter,

your chances are even slimmer.

Spotted hyena cub Neville is just a few months old.

Hyena pups, you know, they like playing.

They are always so playful. All like kittens.

But Neville, he is the punching bag for them.

NEVILLE SQUEALS

Hyena social structure works like a monarchy.

They are led by a dominant female.

There is the dominant female and there is a weakest female.

Neville is from a lowest ranking female.

He's also a male, so that means he's very, very, very low

in the rank in that clan.

Primarily scavengers,

hyena are often seen as less than noble creatures.

They are amazing. I love them.

They are also intelligent, very intelligent, you know,

and hyenas actually are good wildlife.

They mean a lot in our ecosystem

and as well they have families too and kids to raise, you know,

so they are misunderstood.

They are misunderstood.

Neville is here.

He's here trying to get the scraps.

Neville might be the smallest and weakest in the clan

but he does have something going for him.

He's a bit sharp

because, even being bullied, he always fights back,

and that shows that he might be weak outside

but he's very strong inside.

That's what I like about Neville.

A very tough young boy.

It's been 24 hours since the clan last ate

but a hunter has just returned with an antelope kill.

According to the strict hierarchy,

Shenz, the queen of the clan, eats first.

She has that look in her eye.

"I am the queen."

And truly she is the queen.

She's massive.

HYENA HOWLS

And she is the mum to Gretchen and Gemma.

By virtue of birth, Gretchen and Gemma outrank all other hyenas.

Only after this royal family have had their fill

can the rest of the clan feed on what is left.

They actually eat everything,

apart from the hooves and maybe the horns.

They crush even the bones

to get the inner bone marrow.

As the son of the lowest ranking female,

Neville has to wait for everyone else to finish.

It's a hard life. It's a tough life.

Finally, belly full, the queen sleeps

and Neville sees his chance for some scraps.

You can do it, Neville.

But the queen's daughters, Gretchen and Gemma,

are very much awake.

Hyena cubs are sometimes killed by members of their own clan

so attempting to get some food is a risky business for Neville.

And he is often punished for his audacity.

NEVILLE SQUEALS

NEVILLE SQUEALS

I'm just sad because...

..it's terrible, it's terrible.

NEVILLE SQUEALS

Oh, God.

Neville's mother Margo is powerless to intervene.

Because Margo is the lowest ranking female,

Gretchen and Gemma, they have the power.

And she can't do anything about that.

Surviving to maturity is going to be an uphill struggle for Neville.

The hyena kingdom,

it's only the fittest who survive.

That's all I can say.

You have to be a fighter. You have to fight.

No matter what.

For every newborn in the wild, the chances of survival are slim.

But there is one thing that can help improve the odds.

You will see quite remarkable coping mechanisms

portrayed by the majority of the young ones.

The fact that most born in the wild have the strength to even run

a few minutes after birth.

Survival is highly threatened during the younger stages of life,

but it's also quite tied to how protective a mother is.

SQUAWKING

Grevy's zebra and new mum Carrie recently gave birth to baby Theo.

Much to the delight of Bernard.

There's Theo with his mum.

So beautiful.

Theo was born months after the usual breeding season ended.

His late arrival means it's not only the savannah's predators

he needs protecting against.

Being born out of season, being the youngest member,

is like a new kid in school.

He is quite weak.

The other siblings are much older.

So everybody wants to bully him.

Like any youngster, Theo just wants to play,

but being smaller and weaker than the other foals,

no-one wants to play with him.

Fierce.

Zebras have one of the hardest kicks on the planet

and trying to fit in when you're of a different stripe

can be extremely dangerous.

Mum Carrie eventually leads Theo away from the herd's blows.

His mother, Carrie, tends to be very protective of him.

He should be living a quite happy life.

Unlike common zebra, Grevy's are much rarer.

Grevy's zebra were in their tens of thousands.

Currently, there are only 2,000 remaining globally.

Climate change and human activities have contributed

immensely to this decline.

As we speak right now, if we don't act...

..we are going to lose this species.

These are very precious animals.

And when we have a new foal, we have to ensure that it survives.

There are just 19 Grevy in Ol Pejeta,

kept in a 1,000-acre enclosure.

A secure zone which protects young foal Theo and the herd

from the savannah's big cats.

So we had to intervene and provide the Grevy's with an area

whose competition for food, with other wildlife, is low.

And also, in terms of predators, it's much more secure.

Theo may be safe from predators, but mum Carrie's maternal instinct

to keep him away from the kicks and bites of the herd

might be doing his chances of survival more harm than good.

Having only your mum as a friend, it's quite a disadvantage,

because you need to interact with others to learn things

which your mum won't be able to teach you,

so Theo has a lot to cope with right now.

15km away, young hyena cub Neville also has a lot to cope with.

It's been two days since he had a proper meal

and he's been relying on suckling his mother to keep hunger at bay.

At this moment, Neville really needs a lot of milk from mum

because the milk itself contains a lot of calcium

and it's really high in protein.

But mum Margo is so low down the pecking order

when it comes to feeding, she's struggling to produce milk.

Her only option is to leave Neville and look for food.

With his mum gone, it's not long before Neville draws the attention

of the queen's daughters.

Gretchen and Gemma really, really don't like him,

or they just want to overpower him every time.

NEVILLE SQUEALS

Neville fights back as best he can...

..but he needs to be careful.

Every time he fights back,

they will see him as a threat to them,

and that could eventually lead to Gretchen and Gemma killing Neville.

As evening falls, and with his mum still absent,

hunger drives Neville to the only other source of milk at the den.

The queen of the clan, Shenz.

Neville going to the dominant female to get some milk

is a foolish thing to do, that's for sure.

SHENZ GROWLS

Hyena mothers don't share.

They don't suckle other cubs.

I hope Margo will eventually come back and feed him

enough at least to regain his energy that he needs.

Over in the eastern territory, there's no danger

of black rhino calf Vumbi being separated from his mother Mkora.

But their unusual bond is getting in the way

of the rangers' plans for Mkora to have another calf.

It takes three years to have a calf, and when that delays,

you are not likely to recover the population.

So Mkora needs to tell Vumbi to...

..bugger off.

He's still behaving like a toddler.

He has to man up, whether he likes it or not.

Were you a mummy's boy growing up?

I would say personally, yeah, why not?

I think I was a mummy's boy.

My other siblings were already away from home,

so I was with her all the time and it was hard.

So I can relate with Vumbi.

But today, the rangers have a chance to help Vumbi on his way.

The initiation now for Vumbi would be the ear notching.

In Ol Pejeta, when rhinos reach between three and four years of age,

they have their ears notched.

Notching in very simple terms is you put a cut on the ear

so that it's easy to identify one rhino from the other.

Vumbi is on the list.

It's a relatively painless procedure and the rangers are anticipating

it will result in more than just identifying marks.

We are really hopeful that it is going to be

the instigator for them now to part ways

because they have to be separated for that activity to take place.

Once he's been notched,

now he's going to realise that something has changed.

He's no longer the small boy that he used to be, running around,

clinging to the mum all the time.

Catching rhino is a major operation.

This is a very bushy area so there could be lions around,

elephants around, buffaloes around,

so there will be a team making sure that we are safe.

We have a fixed wing with a spotter.

Then, once they see it, they report to the helicopter.

That's where we have the vet who is going to dart down the animal.

Here they come.

How hard do you think it is to take a shot at rhino?

From a chopper? Yeah. Very hard.

It takes a very skilled veterinarian to do that,

because imagine the wind blowing.

It's easy to miss.

Vumbi is successfully darted

but now has to be separated from his mum.

Whilst Vumbi is about to go down,

the chopper will come really low to chase off Mkora,

the mother.

Oh, there they are.

Black rhinos are always pissed off.

So you can imagine, you are pissing off an already pissed off animal.

It's a force to reckon with.

As the tranquilliser takes hold,

Vumbi is unable to keep up with his mum

and she is driven away.

Poor Mkora. I am trying to put myself in her shoes

and it must be really devastating and heartbreaking.

You have brought up your kid,

you are just seeing he's becoming an adult, then all of a sudden...

..picked off and you are pushed away.

I wish there was a way to communicate

with these animals at times.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Once Vumbi is down, the team only have a few minutes

to complete the ear notching.

Vumbi's notch number is 161.

He is a male, 3.6 years.

It's a good age for him to be notched.

Now the helicopter has driven off Mkora,

the hope is Vumbi won't be able to pick up his mother's scent

when he wakes.

He's about to wake up any minute.

As you can see, the ears, they are moving around.

And there he goes.

He's up.

Nice!

I'm so relieved and happy that he's woken up.

I'm really hopeful that now he's going to move on and...

..accept what's happening and now go into his own life.

Moving on for the first time is perhaps the most dangerous time

of that animal's life.

It's never safe. It's a wild place.

The next few days are really going to be tough on him,

but we'll give him the best experience

to learn how to adapt and living a solitary life,

which black rhinos are meant to live.

For youngsters to survive in the wild,

a mother's protection is undoubtedly vital.

But because Grevy's zebra are so endangered,

foal Theo and his herd live in a secure zone.

Although today reports have come in,

there's been a breach in the enclosure's fence.

So it came from the fence.

So what we want to do now is to set a trap somewhere there.

Next to the road. Call it the highway for the leopard.

With a leopard on the loose, Bernard is keen to check on Theo.

Referred to as a dazzle when zebras herd together,

their multitude of confusing stripes make it difficult

for predators to single out individual targets.

But Theo is being kept apart from the herd by mum, Carrie.

There he is, close to the mother.

Where he feels comfortable.

Rather than standing with the other members of the herd.

He looks good and healthy.

It's only that he is not in the company

of the other bigger foals in the herd.

He's staying with the mum all the time.

With Theo isolated and vulnerable,

the Ol Pejeta capture team is mobilised.

We had to find ways to ensure

we could get that leopard out as fast as possible.

Once you bite that meat the door will be locked behind. We get you.

With the trap set, all the rangers can do now

is hope they catch the leopard

before the leopard finds what he is looking for.

It's been 48 hours since black rhino calf Vumbi was caught

and separated from his mum.

The rangers are keen to see how he's coping with the solitary life.

But first, they have to find him.

Vumbi means 'dust' in Swahili.

He's very elusive. From afar, you can't see him.

That's why he was given that name.

It's a good thing that Vumbi is now by himself,

but the greatest challenge we are very worried about now

is if he might stray into another black rhino's territory.

On the way to becoming solitary creatures,

some adolescent rhino will seek out a companion

to help them through the difficult teenage years.

And it's Vumbi has found someone for the job.

In most cases of that age you are not strong enough to defend your own territory,

so you are looking for an animal to, you know,

accommodate you, to take you on board.

Either an animal older than you or probably, you know,

an animal of your age that is also facing the same challenges.

The rangers have spotted two rhinos moving through the bush.

One of them is Vumbi.

And the other...

..is his mother, Mkora.

I think this goes a long way to show that these are still wild animals

and they do things in their own time.

If they want to stay together a little longer,

that's up to them and we can't really intervene with that.

Just like in humans, not everyone moves from their mum's house.

Some take longer.

We don't know how long now it's going to take for him

to realise that he needs to be his own man and find his own path.

Typical mummy's boy!

For many young animals in the wild,

the bond with their mother is incredibly strong.

But young hyena Neville's mother, Margot,

is still away searching for food.

She is not around to feed him and that makes him very weak day by day.

The rest of the clan has also gone scavenging,

leaving only one other low ranking male cub behind.

Neville's brother, Sherlock.

Being left alone in such massive wilderness by yourself

is quite sad for them.

Also, it's really, really dangerous for Sherlock

and Neville to leave the den.

There are predators out there.

But Sherlock and Neville haven't eaten in three days

and seem willing to take a risk.

To me, it was quite unusual to see such young cubs

coming out of the den.

That shows maybe they are hungry

and they are trying to check if there is anything around them.

They are just sniffing around.

It seems there is something they are trying to follow.

Born with an acute sense of smell,

hyenas have been known to sniff out carrion

up to two and a half miles away.

I can actually see them heading towards the road.

You could see the bonding and togetherness with them.

As one was tracking, the other one was on the lookout always.

Neville and Sherlock are now so far from their den,

being spotted by a predator could prove fatal.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

It's actually a Thomson gazelle.

Killed by maybe a cheetah.

Because cheetahs just eat the internal body parts

and leave the rest of the carcass.

It's a massive kill for them.

This is... This is actually good.

It's not good, it's great for them.

For the first time in their lives,

Neville and Sherlock are at the front of the dinner queue.

Having a kill by themselves, you know, without the rest of the clan.

This is heaven sent.

Oh, thanks God.

At least my two young boys will have a feast themselves today.

But if these two young boys aren't careful,

filling their bellies could come at a cost.

The carcass has scent, you know.

And the scent spreads all over the wilderness.

Where the kill is,

it's actually like 100 metres from where the den is.

Just around there might be a cheetah or any other predator,

which is really bad for them.

If it finds them there it will kill them.

They are tearing it up.

And... Oh...

They have just realised, hey, this is too dangerous for us out here.

So they are trying to drag it together.

Unwilling to give up their find, Neville and Sherlock

attempt to drag the carcass to the safety of their den.

The only problem is, it weighs more than they do.

It seems Sherlock is a bit hesitant.

But Neville is like, hey, we don't have any time.

Right now it's like mission impossible, you know.

They have to do it.

Spotted hyena cubs Neville and Sherlock

are determined to drag their scavenged kill

back to the safety of their den.

Sherlock has joined in and they are pulling it together.

This is great.

But vultures have started to circle,

signalling the chance of an easy meal to the savannah's predators.

If they spot one vulture heading towards that direction...

..and they see another vulture heading towards the same direction,

they will start running to that direction.

Getting closer to the den, their effort has left Sherlock exhausted.

Come on, Sherlock. You have to help your brother.

Come on. Neville!

Neville is just using his last strength to pull back the kill.

I love his strength, you know?

I love...I love that, he's too determined to,

like, not let go of such a big feast.

Bull's-eye.

I'm now happy, I'm now relieved.

I can see that the weakest has become the strongest this time

and I think he needs an award.

Do we have an award?

LAUGHING: He...he needs an award.

Yeah! Yeah.

With the carcass safely in the den, Sherlock joins Neville.

It was like, uh, Manchester City winning the FA Cup.

Which is...quite great for me.

Over in the secure enclosure, a leopard has been on the loose,

threatening the critically endangered Grevy's zebra,

and their youngest foal, Theo.

The spooked herd are sticking close together.

ZEBRAS SNORT

But there's no sign of Theo.

If Theo was lost, it would be very sad.

Heartbreaking.

So, we are worried.

We cannot afford to lose Theo.

Last night, in an attempt to catch the leopard,

a trap was laid by the rangers.

GROWLING Yeah.

LEOPARD GROWLS AND SNARLS

He feels intimidated.

Do you get scared?

No, no. We are used to it.

This is a walk in the park.

The rangers might have caught the leopard,

but their success may have come too late.

It would be a very big blow to lose Theo,

our latest addition to the herd.

But Bernard is not ready to give up just yet.

20 miles west of the secure enclosure...

..the capture team are ready to release the leopard.

OVERLAPPING SPEECH

LEOPARD GROWLS

With the leopard safely away from the enclosure,

Bernard has some good news.

There's Theo with his mum.

It's so nice to see him.

ZEBRAS SNORT

He has managed to mingle and mix with the rest of the herd,

and Mummy seems relieved.

He seems very, very comfortable.

Integrating with the herd will undoubtedly help

Theo's chances of survival, both now and in the future.

The goal is to grow their numbers

and, eventually, repopulate the main conservation area.

I would love to see the young boy maybe

one day with his own territory.

I think that's part of the success stories

that makes us feel like our jobs here

are quite meaningful in the greater perspective.

Two days ago, hyena cub Neville risked everything

for the meal that almost certainly saved his life.

His mother Margo has now returned to find him surprisingly well-fed.

Everyone could learn from Neville.

Life is hard.

You have to go out there and get whatever you have

and drag it back to yourself and prove to everyone that,

"I am somebody.

"I am part of you and I will always be part of you."

Neville may have been born to be the lowest-ranking male in his clan,

but having survived the absence of his mother,

he's also living proof that every dog, or even hyena,

will have its day.

He made it.

Hooray, Neville.

HE LAUGHS

Oh!

There he goes!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media