Planet Earth - Season 1 Edit

A 100,000 avalanches devastate the slopes every winter.

A chance to catch up with friends.

A day in a Gelado's life reveals how they've risen to the challenge.

A female with young makes an easier target.

A giant panda nurses a tiny week old baby.

A grizzly bear.

A hundred years ago

A lake of lava that has been molten for over a hundred years.

A lush water world.

A male bear would kill and eat them given the chance.

A mother grizzly emerges from her den

A moulin a shaft in the ice opened by melt water

A new day

A pack this size kills once a day and everything is shared.

A polar bear stirs.

A puma

A seasonal cycle created by the sun.

A single egg rested on the top of its feet

A snow leopard

A vast area of the Kalahari is transformed into a fertile paradise.

A vast inland delta.

African leopards could never survive here,

After four months of total darkness,

After many hundreds of miles they've arrived.

After months of confinement underground

After six months' dozing underground.

After weeks of marching their trek is coming to an end.

After weeks of marching they're desperately tired.

All across Southern Africa animals are journeying for the same reason.

All animals, rare or common,

All is ready.

All mountains everywhere are being worn down by frost, snow and ice.

Allowing her to get within striking distance.

Along which water flows,

Alpine glaciers may seem immense,

Although the cubs are now as large as their mother,

An aerial viewpoint gives a new insight into their strategy.

An animal few humans have ever glimpsed

An avalanche destroys everything in its path.

An early warning system puts everyone on the alert.

An icon of the wilderness,

And a life with little sun.

And a new opportunity.

And an utterly fearless disposition.

And are hugely productive.

And at 50 degrees of latitude a radical transformation begins.

And blood pheasant.

And can make all the difference in a bear's annual struggle for survival.

And creates an opportunity.

And eager to reach their mother,

And encourages the herd to make one last effort.

And even she can have problems.

And fill the landscape with the covers of a new season.

And Gelado certainly have the right equipment.

And guanacos and their newborn young must suddenly endure a blizzard.

And has lost half her body weight.

And has taken nearly five months to reach here.

And he has more luck.

And her milk is starting to run dry.

And immense strength of this massive predator.

And is caught by another.

And is crowned with permanent snows

And it's now that the seals start to breed.

And it's this tilt that creates the seasons.

And joins a flanker for the final assault.

And kept warm beneath the downy bulge of its stomach.

And lead her cubs away from the mountain.

And light returns to the high Arctic,

And millions of species of insects,

And not enough of their energy reaches the ground

And not return there till spring.

And now it's easier to target an individual.

And of life in general.

And produces so much oxygen

And rises to create great storms.

And she must get there before the ice breaks up.

And show you the planet and its wildlife

And spring is advancing rapidly.

And still rising the roof of our world.

And storms can erupt without warning.

And supports so much life.

And take their first steps in the outside world.

And temperatures drop to minus seventy degrees centigrade.

And that long tail helps her balance.

And that number is falling.

And the cub is still blind.

And the cubs must have the shelter of the den.

And the eagle has to struggle to control it.

And the monsoon is born.

And the mother has led her cubs a mile from the den.

And the pack splits up.

And the sun does not set.

And the thawing shifting landscape.

And the thickening veil of snow forces them to give up.

And their strength is more or less constant all year round.

And then falls as the life giving rains of the monsoon.

And there's no concealing vegetation.

And there's no food on these nursery slopes.

And there's work to be done.

And these forests are bustling with life.

And these leopards are not above scavenging from a corpse.

And they are hungry.

And they crop the high meadows like herds of wildebeest.

And they know that they're close to water.

And they will not see the sun again for four months.

And they're growing bigger every year.

And they're now roosting among the rocks.

And they're only just in time,

And this impala is reprieved

And this is an invitation to join in the meal.

And thousands of elephants have started to travel

And when the cold bites they have these upper slopes to themselves.

Announces the beginning of spring.

Another battle is being waged here

Antelope with hooves that splay widely,

Anticipating their line

Are forced upwards by the Himalayas.

Are home to some very remarkable mountaineers

Are now forced to travel great distances in pursuit of food and warmth.

As Africa, drifting northwards, collided with the southern edge of Europe.

As animals move into its heart.

As it plunges into the depths of the glacier.

As the air rises so it cools,

As the air rises, so it cools.

As the Danakil Depression.

As the dogs approach their prey

As the snows retreat

As the sun departs from the Antarctic

As the sun's influence diminishes in the north,

As the water sweeps into the Okavango

As they disappear,

As they travel across the Sahara

As we travel south

As you have never seen them before.

At high altitudes the monsoon rains fall as snow.

At last it seems that they're ready for their journey

At last they are over the highest barrier that lies in their way.

At the moment it is dry,

At the peak of the dry season in the Kalahari

At the southern end of the earth,

At the southern end stand the mountains of Patagonia.

At these latitudes the sun's rays are glancing

At this stage the odds are even

At this time of the year bears should be fattening up for the winter.

Baboons are somewhat apprehensive bathers.

Battered by hurricane force winds,

Because each guards a treasure:

Becoming ever darker and damper,

Before that is possible.

Behind the birds come buffalo.

Being so small,

Beneath the blooms another display.

Birds are the first to arrive in any numbers

Blowing sand halfway round the world

Bring fertilizing nutrients to surface waters

Broad leaves must be shed in winter for their damage by frost.

Broadleaves are much easier to eat and digest

Buffalo join the great trek.

But also a problem for the mother.

But as spring creeps up from the south

But at dusk the plateau becomes a more dangerous place.

But at least these monkeys have a choice

But big animals find it difficult to get about here.

But each year over 50,000 demoiselle cranes

But elsewhere others still rage.

But even a young crane is a heavy prize

But even here there is extraordinary variety.

But even now blizzards can strike without warning.

But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity.

But Gelados are unique

But having descended so far to make the kill

But here a mountain is in gestation.

But is now believed to be a small mountain bear.

But it can outrun the wolf if only it manages to keep its footing.

But it can't turn as sharply as the seal,

But it contains more than 50 percent of all its plants and animals.

But it won't last much longer.

But its distribution over the land is far from even.

But like all who visit the world of the high mountains

But most must make special preparations for winter

But no one is watching.

But not all the elephants have been so lucky.

But on a much longer timescale.

But on these sheer cliffs any slip by either animal could be fatal.

But on these sheer cliffs any slip by either animal could be fatal.

But sadly in the wrong direction.

But she does have an excellent territory,

But she's leading her cubs into a dangerous new world.

But slowly disintegrating.

But the Andes have the most unstable mountain weather on the planet

But the chances of the cub reaching adulthood are slim.

But the Emperors by enduring the long black winter

But the giant panda can't fatten up enough to hibernate.

But the good times will not last.

But the mother faces a dilemma:

But the panda is held captive by its diet

But the Russian cats have thick fur to shield them from the cold.

But the vast herds do not travel alone.

But their bodies are rich in fat

But their mother must keep them out and active.

But their mothers have made this journey before

But then nonetheless the continent's most efficient predators.

But there are animals here

But there are parts of the world that have no seasons.

But these are just the Alpine foothills.

But these forests hold fewer challenges for the more mobile.

But these socials can't go on for too long.

But they are hungry

But they don't have their mother's sense of urgency.

But they drop their guard when the Gelados are around.

But they're dwarfed by those in the great ranges

But this is a special alliance from which both partners benefit.

But this steep slope is not the easiest place to take your first steps.

But water is coming.

But we can only be visitors here.

But what does he have to do to really impress her?

But you need more than a head for heights to survive up here.

But, unlike other monkeys,

By hunting and the destruction of their habitat.

By late morning ferocious winds are roaring past the peaks

By midsummer its larger, more famous relative, has retreated into a cave.

By migrating south to Korea

Carry wet air to the middle of continents.

Catfish, traveling with the flood,

Causing clouds to form

Cherry blossom.

Collect any drowning creatures the birds have missed.

Collect moisture and sweep northwards towards the Himalayas.

Condenses into clouds

Contains a third of all the trees on Earth

Creating a chain of young volcanoes.

Day 10,

Deaf and blind beneath the snow some two months ago.

Deer are frequent casualties of the harsh winter

Deserts cover one third of the land's surface

Each more bizarre than the last.

Eagles hunt by sight

Either the caribou will make a mistake

Enabling them to move its speed through the water.

Ethiopian wolves

Even if you have a warm coat

Every year three million caribou migrate across the Arctic tundra.

Everything must be spick and span.

Exactly how many we have no idea.

Extending the reach of the flood.

Favoring different kinds of animals and plants.

Females and calves can easily get separated from the main herd.

Finally, the stragglers emerge from the dust.

Flowing down the valley with unstoppable force.

For a few miles from the coast the ice is already splitting.

For all monkeys morning is grooming time,

For its world is one we seldom visit.

For many this is their first journey across the Himalayas.

For milk produced on a diet of bamboo is wretchedly poor.

For now though it's still minus thirty degrees

For others the change is far less welcome.

For some, it will be their last.

For the kind of bamboo it eats only grows at this altitude.

For the leopard the snow provides cover

For the very first time.

For this pair sanctuary lies in the patch of woodland a few miles ahead.

Forced up a huge dome of rock 500 miles wide,

Four weeks old

Further north, they hold other dangers.

Further south the winter snows have almost cleared from the Arctic tundra.

Gelada baboons.

Gelados chatter constantly while they do it.

Gelados have a busy daily schedule

Giving other hunters a chance to scavenge

Golden eagles patrol these cliffs in search of the weak or injured.

Gouging out deep valleys.

Grind their way down the mountains,

Has so little nutritional value

Have given their chicks a head start.

Her cubs gaze out of their bright new world

Her cubs, however, make light of the snow

Her den is well chosen.

Her emergence marks the beginning of spring.

Her large paws give an excellent grip

Her tender cleaning wards off infection.

Her two cubs follow her

Here in their natural home they form great forests

Here nature stages one of her greatest dramas

Here, at the far eastern end of the range in China,

Here, in the deciduous forests of eastern Russia

Hibernate,

Himalayan monal,

Human beings venture into the highest parts of our planet at their peril.

Hunting dogs.

If others are on the lookout.

If she delays, the whole family will risk starvation.

If surprise fails,

If they tire of tree bark and other survival food

Imagine our world without sun.

Immense rivers of moving ice,

Impala are their favorite prey.

Impala can barely swim.

In desperate search for water.

In Japan the arrival of the cherry blossom

In the American Rockies

In the Arctic winter

In the ascent every wing beat becomes an exhausting struggle.

In the chaos a calf is separated from its mother.

In the great island of New Guinea

In the tropics the sun's rays strike the earth head on

In which to teach them their mountain survival techniques.

India collided with Tibet

Into a landscape of spires and canyons.

Is a touching symbol of the precariousness of life in the mountains.

Is so colossal it shapes the world's climate.

Is today the longest continually erupting volcano on the planet,

It apparently helps to surround yourself with as many layers as possible.

It changes the composition of the atmosphere.

It escapes the touches of one,

It fell as rain a thousand miles away in the highlands of Angola

It follows the tracks of its mother,

It formed as the floor of the Pacific Ocean

It has exceptional views of the surrounding cliffs.

It lightens the skies in the far north.

It seems to be an odd creature to find on these high rocky slopes.

It starts to melt the sea ice.

It was an act of desperation

It was once considered a kind of raccoon,

It will be another year before the cubs can hunt for themselves.

It'll be a year before it has the strength and skill

It's a family a mother with four cubs.

It's a female returning to her lair.

It's a great way to network while your hands are busy.

It's a seasonal feast for animals of all kinds.

It's a silent place

It's all or nothing.

It's clearly visible from space.

It's continuously dark

It's hard not to feel deflated

It's hard to imagine what could have attracted it here.

It's high summer,

It's March

It's not so risky to put your head down

It's now becoming clear

It's over a hundred meters below the level of the sea.

It's six days since the bears emerged

It's six months since she last fed

It's summer

It's the biggest mountain glacier on Earth

It's the dry season

It's the mating season for oriental pheasants,

It's the newly born calves that they are after.

It's time to put them to the test.

Its agility versus power.

Its eyes do not fully open until three months after birth,

Its food, bamboo, on which it totally relies

Its mother does everything possible to help it.

Its richest parts are those where waves and currents

Its summit too steep to hold a snow field.

K2 and her sister peaks have claimed more lives than any others.

Laden with rock,

Lava rises to the surface through this crack in the crust

Leaping into the lake is an act of desperation

Less than 2 percent of the sunlight reaches the floor,

Like other great ranges,

Like so many creatures,

Like the water running through it,

Like tidying up his display area.

Losing their leaves in preparation for the dark cold months ahead.

Lying within a colossal rent of the earth's surface

Male Emperor Penguins are facing the nearest that exists on planet Earth

Males may be twice the size of a female

Males must fight for the right to breed,

Markhor gather for their annual rut.

Midsummer on the tundra

Millions have flown up here to escape the heat of the lowlands

Missed.

Moisture evaporates from the warming ocean

Molten lava rising from the earth's core

Mont Blanc the highest peak in Western Europe.

Mont Blanc the highest peak in Western Europe.

Most monkeys couldn't live up here.

Most of the creatures here move up or down the slopes with the seasons

Most other bears would be sleeping underground by now,

Moths may seem a meager meal for a bear,

Moths.

Mount Everest, five and a half miles above sea level

Moving at 250 miles an hour,

Moving in total silence

Musk deer make the most of a short flash of spring foods.

Nearly half of all cubs die in their first year out on the ice.

Newborn calves have to be up and running the day they are born.

No hunter other than the snow leopard

Northern Canada's wild frontier.

Not while her cub is so utterly helpless.

Nothing can live permanently.

Now at last the Emperor penguins abandon their huddle.

Now it's a waiting game.

Now she converts the last of her fat reserves into milk for her cubs.

Now she lures them with the promise of milk,

Now the mother can start hunting for the seals they must have,

Now, over six billion crowd our fragile planet.

Nowhere else on Earth are so many animals on the move

Nowhere on our planet is the life giving power of water so clearly demonstrated

Of a tiny number of mothers like this one.

Of the giant Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram mountains of ****stan.

Of those humans who've tried to climb it

On the highest summits of our planet

On these treacherous slopes

Once the seals have finished breeding

One in ten have lost their lives.

One inhabitant endures the bitter winters out in the open.

One of the lowest hottest places on Earth.

One on one.

One season hands over to another.

One youngster has got lost.

Only now can mountaineers reclaim the upper reaches.

Or after a mile the wolf will give up.

Or face months of near starvation.

Or risk death.

Other birds have not even arrived.

Over millennia, rain and ice carved the rock

Packs of them, eight to ten strong, shadow the migration.

Perhaps for sheer joy.

Perhaps to clean her fur,

Pools of sulphuric acid are indications

Powers the weather systems of the globe.

Pray animals are scarce,

Progress is slow

Provide a winter refuge for some animals.

Pumas are usually solitary and secretive.

Rearing four cubs to this age is an exceptional feat,

Rhododendrons

Rich in food and water.

Running directly at the herd is a ploy to generate panic.

Set out on one of the most challenging migrations on Earth.

She greets her one year old cub.

She has a grueling climb to get back to her lair.

She has been in her den the whole winter.

She has just one brief summer

She must soon leave the safety of these nursery slopes

She retires to consider her verdict.

She returns with nothing.

She toboggans down the slope.

She won't leave this cave for three weeks,

She's becoming weak from hunger

Silently she positions herself above her prey.

Slid beneath the South American continent, buckling its edge.

Slowing it down forty times reveals the technique

Snow forms a continuous blanket across the land.

So air currents powered by the sun

So now animals can collect their share of the energy

So the deciduous forests of America begin to shut down

So the land becomes barren with little for animals to eat.

So the sun's influence grows stronger

So this forest supports very little animal life.

Some 50 million years ago

Some creatures are completely at home here.

Some groups are 800 strong

Some herds travel over 2,000 miles a year in search of fresh pastures.

Some might think that by climbing a great mountain

Some organisms thrive on decay,

Spins on a tilted axis.

Stripped of snow,

Summer brings 24 hours of sunlight

Summer is the time of plenty

Summer reveals the true nature of the Rockies.

Summers here are long enough for broadleaf trees to replace conifers.

Surely no greater ordeal is faced by any animal.

Sweep inland across the continents

Sweeping away four months of darkness.

Temperatures plummet

That are bathed in sunlight.

That deep underground there are titanic stirrings.

That divide the Indian subcontinent from Tibet.

That few except the most skilled mountaineers can penetrate these ranges.

That great whites migrate thousands of miles across the oceans

That has come from the sun.

That is where she hunts for the seal she needs to feed her cubs.

That is why the jungle grows so vigorously

That it can't build up a store of fat like other bears.

That leaves the male six plumed bird of paradise

That nourishing food can be gathered very quickly.

That once stretched between the two continents.

That runs from Patagonia to Alaska.

That stretches across a tenth of our planet

That they've cherished throughout the Antarctic winter.

The advance of the seasons brings constant change.

The Alps were raised some 15 million years ago

The Amur leopard

The Amur leopard symbolizes the fragility of our natural heritage.

The Andes of South America.

The beginning of the boreal forest

The calf is young,

The canopy is particularly rich.

The cats have been pushed to the very edge of extinction

The character of the forest changes as we descend,

The cliffs where they sleep are for expert climbers only,

The cranes must gain height to avoid the building storm.

The cranes must gain height to avoid the building storm.

The cub is a year old and still dependent on its mother.

The cub must be patient.

The cubs are easily chilled and they will be more comfortable resting in the den.

The distinctive jagged shapes of the Alps

The dog has stamina,

The dogs know their prey must come out or drown

The eagles work in pairs to separate a young crane from the flock.

The earth, as it makes its annual journey around the sun,

The elephants are nearing the end of their long journey.

The Ethiopian volcanoes are dormant,

The exhausted calf is still blinded by sand.

The female calls them,

The flock stay in close contact by calling one another.

The future of an entire species hangs on survival

The Gelados graze alongside Walia ibex,

The giant sharks will move on.

The glaciers are so steep and crevassed

The glaciers.

The golden eagles have been expecting them.

The golden snap nosed monkey, like the giant panda, lives only in China.

The herd breaks up

The highest peak of all,

The Himalayas.

The hunt is on.

The ice itself is constantly moving,

The immensity of the herd can only be properly appreciated from the air.

The impala has speed.

The impala is in luck.

The inhabitants must migrate,

The Karakoram lie at the western end of a range

The lead dog drives the impala towards the hidden flankers.

The leader cuts the corner

The lion of the Andes.

The lives of these elephants are dominated by the annual rhythm of wet and dry,

The main has already got there safely

The males are still carrying the precious eggs

The matriarch can smell water

The Matterhorn,

The mother can wait no longer

The needle shaped leaves of the conifers are virtually inedible

The Nepalese call it 'a mountain so high no bird can fly above it.'

The new arrivals open up paths like arteries

The Okavango becomes criss crossed with trails

The only food the cubs have known since they were born

The peaks bear their sculpted forms.

The peaks here rise so precipitously,

The penguins stay when all other creatures have fled

The range at its center rises to 3 miles high

The range at its center rises to 3 miles high

The rarest cat in the world.

The rarest of Himalayan animals.

The red panda, rarely glimpsed in the wild.

The rest of the flock battle on.

The rest of the pack are calling.

The Rockies are no longer rising

The roof of Africa.

The sea ice still holds firm,

The seas off the Cape in South Africa have this magic recipe

The shark is faster on a straight course

The slopes of the Rockies, bleak though they are,

The snow leopard is an almost mythical creature,

The spring sun brings warmth

The storm is now subsiding,

The strike of a great white shark lasts a mere second.

The strongest fingers of any primate

The struggle of a giant panda mother to raise her cub

The sun influences life in the oceans just as it does on land.

The sun once more rises over Antarctica.

The sun, beating down on tropical waters,

The sun's energy brings color to the landscape.

The superb bird of paradise calls to attract a female.

The taiga is unveiled.

The taiga.

The travelers are hampered by dangerous dust storms.

The water brings a season of plenty for all animals.

The water drives out insects from the parched ground,

The water it carries

The winds generated out at sea

The winter makes hunting very difficult.

The world's entire population in a single flock.

The worsening weather dampens the sound of her approach

The worst of the blizzard brings success for the snow leopard,

The youngsters are exhausted

Their day ends as it began, safe on the steep cliffs.

Their mother has not eaten for five months

Their secret is teamwork.

Their thick fur allows them to survive at greater altitudes than any other monkey

Then black storks

There are 42 different species of birds of paradise,

There are monkeys, birds

There are only forty Amur leopards left in the wild

There can be no life,

There is no food and no water for them,

There were one and a half billion people on Earth.

There will be a chase.

There's a last chance to socialize before returning to the sleeping cliffs.

There's no food and few insects to feed on.

These are lechwe

These are now among the rarest of Africa's mammals,

These are the first intimate images of snow leopard ever filmed in the wild.

These forests are a host to a rich variety of springtime migrants.

These loose boulders are the mountain's crumbling bones.

These rare creatures are usually very shy

These same volcanic forces also created Ethiopia's highlands.

These slopes are now lifeless.

These spires are the eroded remains of an ancient seabed

These steep slopes provide a sanctuary for the cubs

These stunted shrubs mark the tree line

These summits, nearly 3 miles up,

These, the highest mountains of the world,

They are unique to the highlands of Ethiopia.

They can always descend to lower warmer altitudes

They can't rest until they reach it.

They create the biggest of all sand storms

They have somehow conquered it,

They live in the largest assemblies formed by any monkeys.

They must cross the Himalayas.

They must turn back

They peel off to take up separate positions around their target.

They seem to form a cordon around the impala.

They start to hunt

They still rely on her for their food.

They take up their positions.

They use thermals, rising columns of warm air, to gain height.

They use thermals, rising columns of warm air, to gain height.

They won't attempt an attack in broad daylight

They would never survive their first winter.

They're all heading for the swamps of the Okavango,

They're constantly on the move.

They're searching for a rather unusual food

They're the most dangerous mountains of all.

They're the most powerful erosive force on our planet.

They're the only monkeys in the world that live almost entirely on grass.

They've grown enormously in confidence,

They've hit serious turbulence.

They've made a kill in the forest

Thirsty and exhausted,

This bird could easily take a young markhor.

This forest covers only 3 percent of the planet's surface,

This forest is so rich

This huge ice filled valley is so large

This huge mountain chain continues the great spine

This is a desperate race against worsening weather.

This is a frozen alien world.

This is an Africa rarely seen

This is the boulder strewn snout

This is the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia,

This is the greatest concentration of peaks over 5 miles high

This is the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa.

This is the longest overland migration made by any animal.

This is the other extreme

This land was just as flat and as deep

This male smells a potential mate.

This one, Erta Ale,

This series will take to the last wildernesses

This vast barrier of rock and ice

This vast forest circling the globe

This vast range stretches 5,000 miles from the Equator down to the Antarctic.

Those ears can detect the slightest rustle.

Those that succeed can stand for only a few moments on its summit.

Three dogs close in on one impala.

Thrusting up these immense peaks, which are still rising.

To be found anywhere on Earth.

To enable trees to grow.

To fertilize the Amazon jungle.

To harvest seasonal abundances in different seas.

To kill for itself on these difficult slopes.

To reach their overwintering grounds in India

To see a group walking boldly in the open is extremely rare.

To try and catch such a large animal.

Tragopan

Trees come into bloom.

Truly, all seasons in one day...

Two miles up the crumbling precipices seem devoid of life.

Ultimately depend for their energy on the sun.

Very impressive,

Volcanoes form the backbone of the longest mountain chain on our planet

Warm winds from India, full of moisture,

Water arrives in the Okavango.

Wattled cranes,

Weak from lack of food and water,

Weak from lack of food and water,

Were carved by those great mountain sculptors

Were created by the collision of continents.

When even your best isn't good enough.

Where giant land masses are pulling away from one another.

Where the snow is unmarked by footprints.

Which are also unique to these highlands.

Which are snapped up by plovers.

Who's delayed feeding them on this special day.

Whole populations of animals

Winds blowing across the Indian Ocean

Winter in Antarctica.

With a 2 meter wing span

With the grazing largely over

With the returning sun the eggs hatch.

With the same urgent purpose.

With time to concentrate on other matters

Without their mother's skill and experience

Without water

Wolves have made a kill

Wolves.

Would have a chance of catching such fragile prey.

Would have a chance of catching such fragile prey.

Yet they gather in some numbers on these apparently barren slopes.

You might expect that grazers would avoid each other's patch

You'll need to travel 500 miles south from here

43 miles long and over 3 miles wide.

70 million years ago

300,000 Baikal teal gather to escape from the Siberian winter