Original subtitles

Experience a world beyond imagination

where fish can fly...

lizards walk on water,

apes master tools

and frogs disappear in plain sight.

Animals do the smartest things...

through every stage of their lives.

From leaving home...

to raising a family.

From finding food...

to making friends.

They find ingenious ways to survive

against all odds.

Welcome to The Secret Lives of Animals.

Nothing is as precious as a cuddle with your sleeping child.

But as every parent knows,

moments like these are few and far between.

Because life doesn't get tougher than when you're raising a baby.

Unless, of course, you're raising two.

And, like this family,

you live in Fongoli, in southeastern Senegal.

A baking hot, barren world.

Right now, this chimpanzee mother's priority is feeding her children.

But out here at the end of the dry season...

the larder looks empty.

To keep her family alive, she'll have to dig deep.

A huge, mud-baked fortress.

Could this hold the answer?

Termites.

Millions of them.

Full of fat and protein.

Food that could provide the vital calories her family needs.

The issue is getting to them.

But if anyone can, she can.

Chimps share 98% of their DNA with us.

And, like humans, their minds are built for problem-solving.

With walls baked hard as concrete, she can't smash the termite mound open.

So she looks for something...

to help her unlock the riches...

and does something fewer than 1% of animals have the intelligence to do:

She crafts a tool.

A handmade termite fishing rod.

As any angler knows, fishing is a question of patience...

and skill.

Not quite.

Gotcha.

Time and again, she shows her children how it's done.

Just like her mum showed her.

It's a skill they'll be able to pass to their own families...

when the time comes.

Few things can prepare you for the ever-changing challenges

of being a parent.

And, just like us,

animals do everything they can to get it right.

For all animals, family comes first.

In the Californian kelp forest,

one dedicated dad will stop at nothing

to give his children the best start in life.

This striking fellow is a garibaldi fish.

He's hoping to become a father to nearly a million babies.

But to stand any chance,

he must first find a safe place to protect his eggs.

Almost impossible

here in the turbulent...

surge zone...

where everything everywhere is on the move.

Without protection, any eggs will be washed away.

And with them, his chances of fatherhood.

Anchored to the calmer side of the rocks,

this patch of red algae looks promising.

Sheltered from the current, its feathery strands are strong.

The perfect place to attach eggs.

But for the number of babies he hopes to have...

he'll need more space.

His patch will never get bigger

unless he can keep the hungry pests at bay.

And they love red algae.

And keep coming...

and coming.

It's a colossal task...

in these tumultuous seas.

But this dad-to-be works tirelessly

to prepare the area for his future offspring.

After a very busy month,

his patch of red algae has tripled in size.

And for garibaldi females, bigger is always better.

Over the next few days, he mates with as many as he can.

Each female adding an astonishing 15,000 eggs to his nest...

until he's tending to an eye-wateringly large family.

This garibaldi dad has cleverly created a safe zone in the surge zone.

It's extremely rare to see male-only parental care

in the animal kingdom,

but in fish, it's a speciality.

More than 50% of fish dads take on sole responsibility for childcare.

Three weeks later...

his diligence pays off.

For this super dad, it's a numbers game.

Because in a fish-eat-fish world,

unfortunately, only a handful will make it to adulthood.

No matter how many babies,

the goal of every parent is to keep their family safe.

But how can you protect your children if you don't even get to meet them?

That's the sad truth facing one extraordinary insect.

This green lacewing has just one shot at motherhood.

She's only got a month to live...

and hundreds of eggs to lay.

But hungry predators are everywhere...

with eggs top of the menu.

So how can this lighter-than-a-raindrop mum-to-be

keep her eggs safe when she won't be around to protect them?

She looks for a special spot,

selects the perfect leaf...

and does something magical.

From the tip of a delicate leaf hair...

she spins a silken thread.

Laced with protein, it hardens in the blink of an eye.

A unique hair extension.

The perfect support for a precious egg.

And she creates this enchanting structure...

for every single one.

And just as well.

By suspending the eggs in midair...

and disguising them as part of the plant,

she has hidden them in plain sight.

So the ants don't even realize there are eggs there at all.

With her family safe from harm...

this maternal magician has performed her last act.

She might not live long enough to meet her children...

but she's done everything in her power

to give them the best possible start in life.

And five days later, they begin to reveal themselves.

Unlike the lacewing, most parents don't have a magic trick up their sleeve.

For them, raising a family takes unwavering devotion.

This young eider duck is sitting on eggs...

high on a ridge on an Icelandic island at the edge of the Arctic Circle.

Out here, she's exposed and vulnerable.

Gulls on the hunt for ducklings.

And if they don't get them, the elements will.

To keep her unborn family alive,

this devoted mother will put her body on the line.

She barely leaves her nest, not even to eat.

It's an intense energy-sapping vigil

that drains her of almost half her body weight.

After a month, starved and exhausted,

her devotion has paid off.

But she's not done yet.

Up here, her ducklings will quickly starve.

Just hours after becoming a new mum,

she must get her hatchlings to the sea, so they can all eat.

But that's a long way down...

through gull territory.

The odds are stacked against them.

They must stay under the radar.

Whispered contact calls keep the family close.

Newborns can't fly...

but are light enough to bounce.

The final stretch across open ground is the most dangerous...

and keeping them hidden from the aerial surveillance

is near impossible on her own.

So Mum does something unthinkable.

Calling.

She exposes the family's location...

to everyone.

But like an SOS...

it alerts dads...

and other mothers in need.

United, they create a defensive circle that encloses the chicks.

A security escort that discourages the gulls from aerial attack...

so their precious offspring can reach the sea in safety.

The young mother's sacrifice is rewarded.

She can eat for the first time in a month.

And her ducklings get the nourishment they need.

Watching your children take their first steps towards independence

is a proud moment for every parent.

But for some, it can be a long time coming.

This female meerkat is mum to a huge family.

Her teenagers still haven't left home.

And her hungry newborns demand constant attention...

and protection.

Because here in the Kalahari Desert...

one wrong step could be your last.

When danger comes calling, everyone looks to her.

Right now, a rival meerkat group is on the warpath.

They could target her babies.

She faces the dilemma of working mums everywhere:

How to be in two places at once.

Leave the newborns alone and they could starve.

But if she doesn't see off the intruders,

it's almost certain death for her pups.

Left with no choice...

she charges into battle.

Leaving her helpless babies with a trusted family member.

The last line of defense.

The longer Mum's away...

the hungrier the pups get.

But the meerkat guard offers much more than protection.

She does something extraordinary.

She suckles the hungry youngsters.

Fewer than 1% of mammals can act as a wet nurse like this.

It's a clever solution for a working meerkat mum.

But it's not the only way she spreads the load of childcare

because when it comes to raising meerkats,

every member of this family pulls their weight.

Scorpions are a family favorite,

but they have enough venom to kill something 100 times a meerkat's size.

The growing pup must learn to disarm it before it's safe to eat.

Inexperience soon shows.

But this is a family that stands together...

and an older sibling is always on hand to show them the ropes.

He teaches the pup how to safely bite off the sting.

Thanks to his brother's help,

maybe he's learnt enough to do it on his own next time.

They say it takes a village to raise a child,

and when it comes to meerkats, it really does.

Raising a family can be the most rewarding job in the world...

but it's far from easy.

It takes great patience...

dedication...

and a little bit of magic

to give your children the best start in life.

Wildlife cameraman and primate specialist Max Kölbl

has spent thousands of hours filming chimpanzees.

But in all that time, he's never seen them termite fishing.

It's such a unique behavior.

It is something that I heard about, but I had never seen it in the wild.

Filming chimpanzees is like boot camp.

You are constantly on the go with a 25-kilo pack on your back.

Sun is high. Temperatures are high.

These chimps can roam up to ten miles a day,

and it's a sweltering 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

In these conditions, Max couldn't film the chimps without an expert guide, Jacques.

Jacques has been working with those chimps for over ten years now,

and he knows those individuals like his own family.

Chimpanzees are especially similar

to humans in character and mentality,

you can get close to them when they're calm,

and study them in the wild environment.

Without his help,

Max will never get close enough to film termite fishing.

They have a very vulnerable being with them, so they want to protect it.

So you just have to make them feel as comfortable as you can.

The mother chimpanzee has spotted something.

Could this be the moment that Max has waited for?

They all have sticks in their mouth,

which hopefully means that they're gonna go fishing.

Let's see.

After 15 years of working with chimpanzees,

Max's dream is realized.

The light is great. The kid sits in a great spot. You can't imagine it better.

It's an extraordinary intimate moment

between this wild mother and her children.

Their society is filled with things that our society is filled with.

They have hierarchies, they cooperate, they play and they love each other.

I think that no other species loves their kids in the same way as chimpanzees do.

Next time...

When danger lurks around every corner,

you need to know when to stand your ground

and when to run and hide.

If your life is on the line,

it takes great intelligence to protect yourself and survive.