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NARRATOR: All across this planet,

young animals in the wild must learn how to survive and thrive.

They are taught these life lessons by their parents...

but also by the other members of their communities.

Each will follow a very different path.

Some will become great hunters.

Others will learn the secrets of the forest.

They will all face unique challenges...

and master different skills,

passed down generations.

Five remarkable young animals.

Five incredible tales of growing up wild.

STARTING OUT

In the white-capped peaks of Alaska, it's late spring.

Soon, much of this snow will have melted.

But at the moment, it's concealing a cozy home.

The winter den of a mother brown bear and her two tiny cubs.

The cubs were born in here.

They're only a few months old,

and their mother's been looking after them all on her own.

She dug them this warm den

and lined it with dry grass months ago.

And even though she hasn't eaten since entering,

she's still been producing milk for her cubs.

It's one of the things that make bears

different from our other animal families.

But there's a problem.

The fat reserves the mother built up last summer,

in preparation for hibernation, are running out...

and, therefore, so is the milk the cubs need.

Soon, hunger will force them to take their first steps

outside the safety of their den...

to embark on an incredible journey.

One of great risk and great reward.

Only one in three cubs is likely

to make it to their first birthday.

This will be the most important year of their lives.

On the open plains of Africa,

another single mom is introducing her brand-new cubs

to their brand-new world.

Five baby cheetahs and their adoring mother.

No den for these cubs.

They were born right here on these grasslands.

It might seem serene here,

but life in this place is extremely difficult...

and dangerous.

To survive,

these young cats will have to follow in their mother's footsteps

and become the fastest hunters on Earth.

She alone will train them,

push them to their limits

and prepare them for their fiercest enemies.

Not far away lives another majestic feline family.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

A family very different from the cheetahs in so many ways.

A young lion cub grows up in a family of 12 or more relatives...

much larger than that of a cheetah.

He has plenty of cousins to play with.

He has numerous aunts

and a loving mother to nurture him.

And, above all of them,

a mighty warrior protector, his father.

One day the cub may rule his own land,

but before then,

he must come to understand his place in the pride...

and how the family unites to overcome their greatest adversary.

Buffalo.

In Sri Lanka,

abandoned ruins serve as a home to an even bigger family.

(BABY MACAQUE WHIMPERS)

These are toque macaques.

They live in a society of about 50 members,

far larger and more complex than any cat or bear family.

(CHITTERING)

Life as a young monkey might look like a barrel of laughs...

but they're all governed by a strict social order.

Being part of a troop is great for protection and food,

but it comes at a cost.

How important you are and what you're allowed to eat

all depends on who your mother is.

The high-born kids are treated like royalty.

While the lower-class kids

are reminded every minute of every day where they stand.

This is no place to try and get above yourself.

(SQUEALING)

For the lowest of the low, like this little guy...

it makes daily life a real uphill battle.

He's the last in line for everything...

and has to find ways to survive on the very edge of society.

Our fifth story takes place in a great rainforest

in the wild heart of Africa.

The forest is just waking up.

And so is this curious young chimpanzee.

Unlike the rigid hierarchy of the macaques,

this guy lives in a much more relaxed

community of about 30 relatives.

These chimpanzees are the most advanced of our five animal families,

and have developed some truly amazing skills

that few others can match.

(GIBBERING)

This knowledge is passed down

from one generation to the next.

It helps the oldest, wisest chimps to lead the troop.

Such wisdom may take the young chimp 20 years to acquire.

Along the way,

he'll need to learn to distinguish

between skills that are actually useful

and skills that are...

not so useful.

(SHRIEKS)

This journey of understanding

will draw on the knowledge of the whole troop

and all of its elders.

There's no going it alone

for a young chimp growing up in the wild.

KEYS TO SURVIVAL

The first few months of a young animal's life

are a time of pure amazement.

But there are also great dangers.

Unlike our other animals,

bears hibernate in the safety of their den for the entire winter,

when there's no food to be had.

But it's late spring, and the mother is starving.

It is time to go find food.

The first great threat our cubs must face

is the enormous spring thaw in the mountains.

Deep cracks in the glaciers

make certain areas too treacherous to cross.

And the unstable, softening snow can turn one wrong footstep

into a deadly disaster.

Within five seconds,

an avalanche can reach 80 miles per hour.

The largest can travel two miles downhill.

One hundred thousand tons of snow, ice and rock

consumes all before it.

Any bear caught in its icy grip will be swept to its death.

However, our cubs are lucky.

Their mother knows a safe route.

One she learned from her mother years ago.

Her fat reserves are almost gone.

She's lost 40% of her body weight,

and soon her milk will run out.

Before then, she needs to reach the coast

and the food that they so desperately need.

Back on the African plains,

our cheetah family faces a very different challenge.

While the bears must survive

their environment literally collapsing around them,

these cubs must contend with the other animals

that share their environment.

They're only two months old.

They're still adjusting to this diverse grassland community

and they have yet to learn friend from foe.

(BARKING)

Guess that's what mothers are for.

She's also the one who will teach them to hunt.

Her cubs will soon be fully weaned.

It's time for them to learn the art of the chase.

Not far away,

another would-be hunter is learning the ropes.

(MEOWS)

The large pride supporting our lion cub

makes his early formative years

markedly different from the cheetahs'.

And different threats

require different defensive skills.

Don't be fooled into thinking these buffalo are just big, gentle cattle.

They are 2,000 pounds of don't-mess-with-me.

They are one of the few animals that willfully kill lions.

The mother needs to move her cub to safety.

(SNARLING)

Some of the buffalo herd work to scatter the lion pride.

Others target the cubs.

This mother attempts to draw the buffalo away.

Safe for the moment.

The terrified cub panics.

Surrounded and all alone, he makes a critical error.

(CRIES) He calls out for his mother.

But it's the buffalo who hear his cries.

(SQUEALS)

Suddenly, his mother leaps into the fray

and leads a bold counter-offensive.

The rest of the pride join the attack.

(BUFFALO GRUNTING)

(CUB CALLING)

At last,

the mother locates her cub.

The bond between a mother and her cub

is as strong a force as any in nature.

And with the rest of the pride to back her up,

right now her cub has a much greater shot at survival

than many other young animals.

In Alaska, our bear family has reached their destination.

They've made it through the mountains,

down to the lush coastal meadows.

Unlike the lion cub,

these young bears have only their mother to look after them.

Exploring their world for the first time,

they are in a permanent state of wonder.

And for good reason.

All the bears have come out of hibernation.

Like the cubs' mother,

they've slept all winter without eating,

and they're really hungry.

Hungry enough to eat grass.

Fresh sedge grass quells their immediate hunger

and is easy to digest.

But it's not particularly appetizing.

The good thing is, you don't have

to waste any energy trying to find it,

which is ideal for the cubs.

Since leaving their den, they've hit a growth spurt

and are constantly hungry.

Experienced older bears have learned

that this is the time for eating all you can

and conserving your strength.

Now the cubs' mother doesn't have

the option of laying around.

After six months without food,

she needs the protein-rich grass to keep her milk flowing.

Her growing cubs are now demanding

four times as much milk as they did in the den.

Both cubs are greedy for all the milk they can get.

They aren't satisfied unless they get

45 ounces of milk a day.

And if one of them suspects the other

of getting an extra ounce or two on the side,

watch out. (SHRIEKING)

Their mother knows the cubs must learn

not to draw attention to themselves.

There are dangerous bears here they need to avoid.

The biggest males can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds.

Three times bigger than their mother.

(BEARS SNARLING)

Someday, our cubs, too, may have to face down rivals

in such open displays of strength.

But right now, it's the bears they can't see

that they need to be worried about.

A large, starving male has caught their scent.

He will kill and eat them if he can.

The mother is desperate to get them to the safety of cover.

But it's too late.

(BEAR ROARING)

Their pursuer is upon them.

The cost of being a single mother

now becomes clear. (BEAR ROARING)

Unlike the lions, she has no sisters

to help her protect her cubs.

She's completely on her own.

In the midst of the attack, she loses track of her cubs.

It's exactly what the big male

has been waiting for.

Attacks by male bears are one of the main causes of cub deaths.

But not this time.

While he's thrown off trying to track their scent,

the mother seizes her chance to get her cubs to safety.

A mother is a cub's best defense against all threats.

FINDING FOOD

Just surviving the dangers of day-to-day life

can be a trial for young animals.

But they must also learn to feed themselves.

It's dawn in the jungle palace of Sri Lanka.

The locals are just waking up,

and are hungry for breakfast.

(MACAQUE CRIES)

The monkeys' search for food is constant.

And today, they've descended upon

a banyan tree full of ripe figs.

Nearly 80% of their diet is fruit. (MACAQUE SQUEAKS)

But fruit lacks one vital element... protein.

Some members of the troop,

if they're crafty enough and lucky enough,

will find one of the richest sources of protein...

birds' eggs.

Call it an extra-soft omelet.

An easier and less goopy alternative are mushrooms.

They taste pretty good, too.

At a lily pond on the outskirts of the ruins,

these highly resourceful macaques have developed

a surprisingly innovative and unusual method

of foraging for food.

The young watch and learn from their mothers.

The seed heads of the lily pads are delicious and nutritious.

But they're not all easy pickings,

and this is where the macaques get creative.

Remarkably, they've learned to dive underwater.

They're proficient swimmers

and can find food hidden in the depths of the pond.

They stash what they find in cheek pouches, to eat later.

For intelligent animals,

this is one of the great advantages of living in a large group.

When one individual develops a new skill,

the others can learn to follow their lead.

In the African rainforest,

our chimpanzees have taken this form of passed-down knowledge

to a whole new level.

(SHRIEKING)

They live in one of the most diverse habitats on Earth.

It can take a lifetime to learn the secrets of survival here.

To do so, young chimps draw on the collective know-how

of the whole troop.

The old-timers know the most tricks.

This little guy is learning about the fruits of the forest.

For chimps, fruit is survival.

The elders have learned that the forest

produces different types of fruit

at different times of year.

They teach the young chimps which tree is in fruit when,

and how best to eat it.

This tough wooden boomerang is actually the fruit of a Xylia tree.

It's a lot of work to get to a few seeds.

And that's enough with the exhausting Xylia.

On to the next fruit.

Deep in the forest, there's a river

where other softer fruit is in season.

Adults collect the fruit and carry it to the stream.

They've learned to wash the dirt off before they eat them.

It's not the most sophisticated style of eating,

but the young chimp dutifully emulates it.

After generations of trial and error...

this is the technique the chimps have developed

to get the best out of the fruit.

Just when you think all the juice is gone, one last trick.

Add a little water, and go again.

Mmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Still good.

(HOOTING)

But there's more to subsistence

than re-chewing already chewed fruit.

The next level of food-figuring

will involve an ingenious technique

that few creatures have discovered.

For other animals, the challenge isn't just what food to eat,

it's learning how to find it in the first place.

On the Alaskan coast, when the tide retreats,

it reveals vast mudflats full of food, if you know where to look.

(BIRDS CALLING)

The mother bear has brought her cubs

to the safety of an open beach

where dangerous bears can't sneak up on them.

And better yet, she knows where to find food here.

It's time to show the cubs how to feed on fresh clams.

It's a bit of an art.

A bear's nose,

which is over a thousand times

more sensitive than ours,

is perfect for sniffing out the buried shellfish.

(SEAGULLS CALLING)

This is the cubs' first trip to the seaside,

and they are, understandably,

a little overwhelmed by the moment.

There are other young bears enjoying the safety of this beach.

A year or so ago,

they were also with their mothers, learning to dig for clams.

And after all this time,

they still haven't forgotten how to horse around.

This playful tussling serves an important purpose.

It helps them work out who's stronger

and may prevent actual deadly fights

or serious injury when they're fully grown.

But not all visitors to this beach are here to play.

The big bear is back.

He is a constant reminder to this family

that they can never let their guard down.

In Sri Lanka, the macaques' search for food is never-ending.

One low-ranking monkey doesn't have

the energy to join in with the rest.

The high-class kids are well-fed, full of energy and confidence.

They make no secret of the fact that he's not one of them.

(CHITTERING)

Worse still, when the troop does find food,

only the social elite get to feed on the tastiest flowers.

As the lowest of the low,

he has to survive on scraps from above.

Weak from hunger,

he's too tired to hold his own.

His chances of survival are fading... fast.

One of the group leaders, a large male, has noticed he's in trouble.

Living on the edge of society leaves him open to attack.

In an extraordinary gesture,

the male leader takes pity on him.

It's rare,

but some species of primate do adopt vulnerable youngsters.

It's another advantage of living in a big troop.

Most importantly,

the big male can show the little monkey where to find food.

Caterpillars have appeared,

hanging from the trees like wiggling fruit.

Juicy hawk moth caterpillars are the biggest and fattest.

They're also the most difficult to reach.

The perfect time for monkeys

to show off their athleticism.

The big caterpillars are beyond

our little guy's grasp...

but there are plenty of smaller ones

grubbing around in the ruins.

Caterpillars are a rich source of protein.

The perfect food for a hungry, growing youngster.

With a full belly, and someone to look out for him,

life for this young macaque is finally looking up.

HUNTING

For some young animals,

simply knowing where to find food isn't enough.

They must learn how to catch their food.

Food that can run from you.

The mother cheetah is a master of this domain.

With five hungry mouths to feed,

she must hunt almost every day.

And these cubs get first-hand lessons

from the fastest predator on the plains.

Their mother's explosive speed

makes her perfectly suited

to targeting smaller antelope.

Larger antelope are too strong

for her to hunt on her own.

She's waiting for one to drop its guard.

To increase her chances,

she must get as close as she can

before launching her attack.

(SQUEAKING)

(CUBS SQUEAKING)

Her growing cubs will eat well this evening.

Larger prey living in herds are safe from a lone cheetah.

But a different kind of cat,

with a totally different strategy,

can overcome a herd's defenses.

The young lion cub is about to watch

and learn how his family pride hunts.

Working together,

they can target zebra 20 times heavier

than the gazelle the cheetah hunted.

These muscular felines use strength and surprise

rather than raw speed.

The lionesses join forces to set an ambush.

The cubs' mother takes the lead.

Her job is to split the herd

and force some of them towards her sisters lying in wait.

Her cub watches intently as the trap is set.

(LIONESS GROWLING)

(ZEBRA NEIGHING IN PANIC)

Hunting together increases the pride's chances of success.

It also improves their chances

of keeping their food.

A fresh kill is a prize that others would like to steal.

The cheetah family have gorged on the gazelle.

But the commotion of the hunt has attracted envious onlookers.

(HYENA LAUGHING)

Hyenas...

a cheetah's worst nightmare.

Hyenas are powerful enemies and will steal their food.

But worse... if they discover the young cubs...

(HYENAS SNARLING) ...they will hunt them down.

The mother's lost several cubs before.

She knows they're in extreme danger.

But her greatest hunting asset now exposes a weakness.

A cheetah sacrifices bulk for speed.

She's not built for this fight.

One bite from those savage jaws...

and it's game over.

Their mother's lost sight of them.

They won't be safe until they're back by her side.

As the light fades...

so do their chances of survival.

Hyenas hunt at night and can take their time to find the cubs.

(BARKS)

The dawn brings hope.

One little cub has made it.

Along with her two sisters.

But the two others are nowhere to be found.

They've been taken in the night.

Even young animals who are born to hunt

can fall prey to hunters.

Finding food is seldom easy...

but every now and then,

it arrives wholesale.

DAYS OF PLENTY

And when it does,

a growing young animal needs to be ready to capitalize.

Until now, the brown bears have been surviving on grass and clams.

But they need to fatten up for the coming winter,

and we all know what that means.

Salmon.

They're on their annual migration,

leaving the sea to swim upriver

to freshwater spawning grounds.

It's the great food bonanza that every bear here

has been waiting all year for.

(SEAGULLS CALLING)

All the bears need to pile on vital pounds

for their long winter hibernation.

They'll gorge on the salmon,

eating up to 30 fish a day, if they can.

But competition is fierce.

As these bears have no idea how long this food will last.

Once again, the family must find somewhere safer.

Further upstream is a spot the mother knows from previous years.

The salmon are never guaranteed...

but she's hoping there will at least be a few.

And, hey, looks like there are a few.

More than a few.

The hungry bears can't believe their eyes.

More salmon than they could ever dream of.

All they have to do is catch them.

It's been a year since the mother fished here.

She's out of practice.

It's so frustrating. The cubs were expecting to score big.

But try, try again,

and they finally get what they've waited so long for...

A salmon supper.

With so many fish, the bigger bears have no need to fight.

The growing cubs will finally get their chance to eat

until they can't eat anymore.

The bears will keep feeding for as long as the salmon keep coming.

They'll eat 90% of their entire year's food

in just a few weeks,

piling on fat that will keep them alive

through their winter hibernation.

In the Sri Lankan ruins,

monsoon rains have let loose

a different kind of free-for-all.

Thousands of winged termites are

taking to the air to found new colonies.

The macaques are literally engulfed by them,

so they hardly need to expend any energy

snatching up this potent source of protein.

This incredible flying feast occurs only once a year,

and lasts just a few hours,

so the troop must savor the moment while it lasts.

Seasonal rains in the chimpanzees' jungle home

have also brought out swarms of insects.

But these bugs are different.

These bugs bite back.

A column of ferocious soldier ants with just one mission.

To feed an army of 50 million.

Time to learn how to eat

without being eaten.

It's a simple but ingenious trick.

Twig-trolling.

A long time ago, one of our little chimp's ancestors

stumbled upon an easy way to eat ants.

Make a rod from a twig...

poke it into a colony...

and presto,

a bugsicle.

Yet another remarkable skill that's been passed down

from generation to generation.

And this is the young chimp's generation.

It's his turn to watch and learn.

Making tools is something that

very few animals have ever managed.

So this is a big deal for our little guy.

Before you know it, he's mastered the trick.

But he still has to learn

the troop's most advanced and most difficult skill.

ALLIES AND ENEMIES

As our young animals grow older,

they meet new kinds of challenges and learn new life lessons.

Often, these lessons are not so much taught to them

as they are imposed upon them by nature.

It's been a few months since the young cheetahs lost

their two brothers to the hyenas.

The memory of that night still haunts the family...

but it has also heightened their alertness.

(CHITTERING)

The growing cubs have an instinctive urge

to practice their hunting and survival skills...

quite separate from their mother's influence.

This includes play-fighting...

and play-hunting.

Even their mother is not safe from a surprise attack.

(CUB SQUEAKS)

Climbing, on the other hand,

might not seem like a very useful skill for a cheetah.

But their mother knows it's a crucial skill.

A cat that can't defeat its enemy

with sheer strength needs a Plan B.

Next time the hyenas come calling,

the cubs will have a chance.

(LION GRUNTING)

Not very far away,

our young lion is about to encounter

a threat from inside the family.

Unlike the cheetahs, it's his large pride

that has kept him safe and well-fed,

but that's about to end.

His father has mating rights to all the pride females,

and will kill to protect them.

The young male is now two years old

and will soon want his own pride. (GROWLING)

This makes him a potential threat to his father...

who consequently forces him out.

(GRUNTING)

It's a pivotal and painful moment in a young lion's life.

(ALL GRUNTING)

But he's not alone.

All his male cousins of the same age are banished as well.

The young cheetahs are also facing a critical test.

The day they've been dreading has arrived.

The hyenas are back.

By now the cubs have learned what the mother has always known.

These intruders aren't just scavengers...

they're deadly efficient hunters.

Once again, Mother leads the defense.

(SNARLING)

But this time, she's not alone. (SNARLING)

(ROARS)

(HYENAS LAUGHING)

The hyenas attempt to outflank the mother and separate her cubs.

One brave young cub risks her life

to back up her mother.

Giving her sisters just enough time

to escape up a tree to safety.

Plan B has worked.

Hyenas can't climb trees.

When the coast is clear... the sisters re-join their mother.

(CUBS BARKING)

They have every right to celebrate.

But there will be more battles to come.

At least now they know they can outmaneuver their foes.

The young lions, on the other hand, are struggling to get by.

With no mothers to hunt for them,

only one in eight males make it to adulthood.

Suddenly, the cheetah cubs' chances

don't look quite so bad.

It's the height of the dry season,

a time of frequent grass fires. (CRACKLING)

The herds of big game have moved on.

There are no easy pickings for open-range predators.

The outcast lions are starving.

Our young male suddenly spots something.

A sign from above.

Wherever there are vultures...

there is food nearby.

A rotting carcass isn't the meal he was hoping for.

But he's desperate.

He and his cousins will eat anything at this point.

(GRUNTING)

He must face three more years in the wilderness

before he's big enough to rule.

The question is, can he survive that long?

The toque macaques are about to face their own dire threat.

The rocks above their home have been

taken over by a competing troop.

These battle-scarred fighters want the fruit trees

of the temple grounds for themselves.

And they'll go to war to get them.

The two sides scope each other out.

Lookouts alert the big males to man

the front lines as the intruders move in.

(CHITTERING)

(SQUEALING)

The little ones are whisked off to safety.

All the monkeys work together

to defend against the enemy troop.

It's another vital benefit of living in a big group.

The home troop aren't just defending their food.

If they're defeated, the invaders

may force them into a life of servitude.

Like most animals, the monkeys will

avoid violent fights if they can.

Facial warnings and body postures

tell the opposition to back off or else.

These gestures are a way of assessing who's strongest

without starting a battle.

(SNARLS)

(MONKEYS SQUEALING)

But when negotiations break down...

(SCREECHING)

It's all-out war.

(SNARLING AND CALLING)

The sides are evenly matched.

Only the troop leaders can decide the outcome.

(HISSING AND SHRIEKING)

(SCREECHING)

(SCREECHING)

The home team holds its ground

and repels the invaders.

(CHITTERING)

(WHIMPERING)

But not everyone is celebrating.

This little guy has lost his protector,

the troop leader.

His injured comrades scan the battlefield.

But he's nowhere to be found.

But then,

from the wake of the enemy's retreat...

the troop's brave leader emerges.

(CRYING)

And returns to his young protege's side.

This little monkey has been through a lot of ups and downs

for such a young age.

But for now,

his future looks safe.

AN ANCIENT TRADITION

Deep within the African rainforest,

a great secret is about to be revealed.

Our young chimpanzee is about to

discover an extraordinary use of tools,

invented centuries ago, by an inspired chimp,

and passed down through the generations.

Unlike chimps in other parts of Africa,

these chimps have discovered how to break open nuts.

Which is a lot harder than it looks.

Only the right set of tools will do.

First you need a steady base that holds the nut in place.

Then you need the right kind of hammer.

The troop leader has his own special hand-and-foot technique

that puts other nut-crackers to shame.

But he's happy to show the young up-and-comers how it's done.

And having just turned three years old,

it's this little guy's turn to learn the art.

He's got himself a nice, big nut.

And he's decided to go with a wooden hammer.

No one's told him yet

that wood is not the best material for cracking nuts.

That's it. He's found a good, sharp rock.

Normally it doesn't take this long.

Cracked it. Good job.

The most experienced adults don't expend so much energy.

They know larger rocks mean fewer strikes.

But large tools will crack more than nuts.

(YELPS)

(MOANS)

It will take years

before our young chimp is as good as the adults.

But he's on the learning curve,

and well on his way to mastering this remarkable skill

that so few have cracked.

EPILOGUE

All of our extraordinary young animals have gone on to live

full but challenging lives.

In Alaska, the bear cubs' first year was a true test...

and they passed with flying colors.

The great salmon feast fattened them up

in preparation for winter.

Without it,

they would not have survived here.

The cubs would eventually learn how to find food on their own,

but would still rely on their mother's protection

for another two years.

They continue to grow stronger

and more adventurous with the passing of the seasons.

But when the first heavy snows of the year arrive,

it's always time to return to the high mountains

to dig a den

and settle in for the long winter months of hibernation.

On the African plains,

the male lions survived their harsh years in exile.

By the age of five, they were powerful young adults,

ready to fight for a pride and kingdom of their own.

They entered a land ruled by two old warrior brothers.

One of them, aging and frail,

didn't have the heart for a fight.

His tenacious brother was left to face the strong young males alone.

(ROARING)

Together, they ran him off and became the new lion kings.

The three cheetah cubs stayed with their mother

until they were a year-and-a-half old.

But they had one final test before they reached independence.

Could they hunt for themselves?

Against overwhelming odds,

their mother had raised three mighty young cheetahs

who were ready to make their own way in the wild.

The macaques would again be threatened

but never defeated by their neighboring rivals.

And with the troop leader to show him the way,

the lowly monkey would grow up

to have a family of his own.

And finally, in the great rainforest,

it would take 20 more years,

but the young chimpanzee would eventually master

all of his ancestors' skills...

and live to become

one of the wisest elders of his troop.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)