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.

The Australian Outback.

A kangaroo playground.

But life on these grasslands isn't all fun and games.

Adult males stand six foot tall.

And they're packed with muscle.

They need it...

to fight for dominance.

With claws sharp enough to blind an opponent.

And kicks so powerful they can damage vital organs.

This young male will soon have to step into this arena.

It's a daunting prospect.

To master the skills he'll need, he must go

to fight school.

It's a vital rite of passage.

Here, they get to grips with grappling,

eye gouging...

and most importantly...

kicking.

It's hard to pull off.

To hit the mark, he must learn to use his tail like a fifth limb.

It's designed to take his weight and add stability.

It requires strength...

balance

and, most of all, practice.

After six months, his training's complete

and he's fully grown.

But...

dominant males won't tolerate fight school graduates in their territory.

Now he'll have to earn his place on this grassland.

The gloves are off...

this is the real thing.

Now almost three foot long,

his tail is seven pounds of pure muscle.

A firm anchor...

from which to kick...

with force.

The old heavy-weight has the size advantage...

but the young contender has stamina on his side.

He saves his strength and then...

lands a punishing body blow.

Powerful enough to stop his opponent in his tracks.

With the skills he's learnt,

he's one step closer to becoming a champion.

Standing on your own two feet is not easy,

but if you can master your natural talents,

you'll enjoy the rewards for the rest of your life.

Off the coast of Thailand,

on a small island...

long-tailed macaques live hand-to-mouth.

A diet of leaves alone isn't enough to sustain them.

And this young male is hungry.

But his coastal home does have a hidden bounty.

Twice a day...

a potential feast is revealed.

Shellfish.

Packed with protein.

The problem is getting into them.

The old-timers are eating like kings.

And they aren't the sharing types.

If he wants to eat, he must figure out how to do it for himself.

At first glance,

it looks simple.

But there must be more to this than meets the eye.

Macaques are one of only a handful of primates

clever enough to use stone tools.

And careful observation begins

to reveal their secret.

He notices each kind of shell needs a different type of stone.

Pointed are best to chisel oysters off the rocks.

Flat and heavy to pound loose shells.

The trick is getting the right combination.

And so far, he hasn't cracked it.

He needs to find a rock just the right shape and weight.

And that's not all.

Shells are hard to keep still.

Those in the know find somewhere to secure them.

Their very own anvil.

Then, it's a matter of persistence.

Until...

smashed it.

With these newfound skills,

he can now enjoy almost 50 different types of shellfish.

And eat more calories in a few hours

than a whole day spent chewing leaves.

Freeing up precious time...

to live the high life.

Not all animals watch and learn from others.

Some must figure it out for themselves.

This Madagascan panther chameleon is just one day old...

and already abandoned by his mother.

He may be smaller than your thumb,

but he has the potential to become one of the most effective hunters on Earth.

Hidden in his mouth is a secret weapon.

An insect's worst nightmare.

One of the fastest muscles in the world.

But acceleration of naught to 60 in seven hundredths of a second

takes some getting used to.

Aiming is difficult when your eyes don't always move together.

And everyone has a blind spot.

To target accurately,

he'll need to get both eyes aligned.

Locked on...

bull's-eye.

And saliva 400 times stickier than ours seals the deal.

In less than a day,

this boy wonder has become one sharp shooter.

But his tiny size makes him a target too.

An adult panther chameleon would eat him in a flash.

There's only one way out of this...

doing something heavy adults can't.

Lighter than a dollar bill...

he skydives...

to safety.

Few animals perfect their superpowers so quickly in life.

For most, discovering their inner talent takes time.

In a Vermont woodland...

these raccoon kits are taking their first steps towards independence.

Just three months old,

they're still under Mum's watchful eye, for now.

Budding explorers, they are into everything.

Which can get them into trouble.

But curiosity is essential.

It's how raccoons learn.

Right now, they're looking for food

like insects, frogs and snails.

But unlike most mammals,

they don't just hunt with their nose.

They hunt with their feet.

Independent toes make their paws as dexterous as our hands.

And they can figure out what an object is just by touching it.

When they don't immediately find what they want,

they keep looking.

A creek can be a challenging hunting ground.

Ripples and the sun's glare

make it hard to see under the surface.

But when wet, a raccoon's paws become even more sensitive.

Just like a cat's whiskers,

fine hairs on their fingers sense the tiniest vibrations.

Sending signals to a brain that, for its size,

is more devoted to touch than any other carnivore.

But it takes time to figure out what's what.

So, if at first you don't succeed,

try...

try...

again.

Gotcha.

A tasty crayfish.

Not a bad end to a morning's work.

While some animals have natural curiosity and work things out for themselves...

others need a helping hand.

In Borneo, this young orangutan is two years old.

She has the longest childhood in the animal kingdom.

And she needs it.

Because there is so much to learn about her rainforest home.

She'll spend almost all of her life up in the trees...

so climbing is the most important skill to master.

In the low branches, she's confident.

But orangutan's main food source is fruit.

Most of that...

is found way up there...

over ten stories high in the canopy.

She must learn to climb these giants on her own.

Mum leads the way.

She tries to copy every step.

It's a good start.

But this isn't called a rainforest for nothing.

Wet trees make climbing treacherous.

No conditions for a beginner.

But even this is an opportunity for learning.

When it rains every day, it's handy to know how to make a shelter.

An umbrella.

It's something only great apes can do.

Not quite there yet.

Every storm passes eventually.

With the return of the sun...

the climb is back on.

Up here, one slip could be fatal.

Climbing this high is a matter of endurance and stamina.

But Mum is always close by in case she gets tired.

After nearly an hour, she's made it.

A cause for celebration.

The prize is worth the risk.

Durian fruit.

Packed with vitamins and calories,

it's the ultimate brain food.

Just what her growing mind needs.

This young orangutan will be eight before she's ready to go it alone.

Until then, she knows she'll be learning from the best.

Reaching the peak of your potential isn't easy.

But with curiosity...

persistence...

and the spirit to succeed...

you can master your talent...

and reach dizzying heights.

To film a young orangutan's precarious journey towards independence,

the team ventured deep into the Bornean rainforest

where they saw firsthand the challenges they'd face.

One of the hardest things about filming orangutans

is getting shots that aren't just looking up at them from below.

We really want to be eye-level with them

and sort of be really embedded in their world

and the only way to do that is to be up there.

The team want to film her first solo climb high into the canopy.

But these are some of the tallest trees on Earth,

rising over 200 feet.

The only way to film at these heights

is with the help of an elite team of rope specialists.

First, they must accurately shoot a fishing line

- over the highest branch. - Got it.

- You got it. - One shot.

Awesome.

Next, they use it to haul up over half a mile of rope

and establish a complex network of filming track and platforms to work from.

Then, the cameras are very carefully winched into place.

Yeah, it looks okay from down here.

It's an impressive feat of engineering.

Rigged and ready to film.

But the orangutans have other ideas.

Basically, we've put up a jungle gym for them

and they're just enjoying swinging on them.

While they play...

the shoot grinds to a halt.

She's literally holding us to ransom.

We just have to sit it out.

After a lengthy standoff,

the troublemakers tire of the ropes...

She's climbing...

and the young orangutan turns her attention to the real thing.

- They come in down here. - Yep.

I think that's nice, isn't it?

We've got an orangutan.

Quite confident it's going to have a go at climbing the tree,

so we're hoping all the stars align.

And then,

the moment they've all been waiting for.

Slowly.

That was great.

The crew's high-wire camera rigs are a soaring success.

Capturing a unique moment in this young orangutan's life.

She's just at the age where she's sort of gaining her independence.

So every day is like a school day.

And she's passed today's milestone test with flying colors.

Next time...

We all grow old.

But by sharing experience...

taking on fresh challenges...

and finding a special place within the family...

old age can actually be

a new beginning.