[rustling]
[uplifting music plays]
[Helena Bonham Carter] Every living creature starts life as a baby.
[squealing]
For each, there's a whole new world to discover.
There'll be joy,
and friendship.
But life also brings challenges.
[uplifting music continues]
Some have devoted parents to protect them.
Others must fight every step of the way.
[uplifting music continues]
[growling]
These newborns will never be more vulnerable.
The journey toward adulthood will be hard.
To survive takes courage,
determination...
and above all...
love...
for babies born wild.
[uplifting music fades]
The windswept shores of the Namib Desert,
where barren sand dunes run down to the icy sea.
[dramatic music plays]
It doesn't seem possible for life to exist here.
And yet...
[dramatic music continues]
...a colony of Cape fur seals.
Around 4,000 of them.
These marine mammals spend most of the year at sea.
But now, in summer, females gather on land to give birth.
[baby seal whimpers]
[jaunty music plays]
[seal grunts]
Amorous males are here too.
They've turned this isolated beach into one noisy, chaotic seal hub.
[grunting]
[dramatic music plays]
In the midst of it all...
after eight months of pregnancy...
[dramatic music continues]
...a new life
is about to begin.
[seal croaks]
[dramatic music fades]
[tranquil music plays]
At last, making his entrance into the world,
little Tabo.
[tranquil music plays]
[baby seal squeals]
[baby seal whimpers]
A male, weighing just 13 pounds.
[baby seal whimpers]
In these first seconds,
his senses are flooded by the rowdy colony around him.
[tranquil music continues]
[whimpering]
But his only focus right now is on his mom.
[tranquil music continues]
For her, it's love at first sight.
She's naturally protective of her precious new baby.
[baby seal whimpers]
Giving Tabo his first wash, she takes in his distinct smell.
[tranquil music continues]
And their unique calls will help them recognize each other
against the clamor of the colony.
[seals croak]
[seal croaks]
[seals grunt]
Until he can swim, in six weeks' time,
he's totally dependent on her for all his food and protection.
Right now, he's ready for his first milk.
[tranquil music plays]
High in calories and full of fat, it will help Tabo grow and put on weight.
But it won't last forever.
To keep him healthy, soon his mom must return to sea to find food.
[seal croaks]
It will mean leaving Tabo alone and defenseless.
[tranquil music continues]
Here in the colony, there's safety in numbers,
but this is far from being one big, happy family.
Other mothers only have eyes for their own pups.
[seal grunts]
And amongst these bulls, there's no such thing as fatherly care.
[seals croak]
[tranquil music continues]
Tabo will have to face life in this large crowd of strangers
all by himself,
as his precious time with his mom grows short.
[baby seal grunts]
[baby seal squeals]
[tranquil music fades]
For new arrivals, it's hard to start life out in the open.
Other babies are wisely hidden from the moment of birth,
especially when they're destined to be rulers of the African savanna.
[jaunty music plays]
In a palm thicket hideout,
new life.
[jaunty music continues]
Three lion cubs.
Two sons and a daughter,
only four weeks old.
[jaunty music continues]
With eyes just opened,
they take their first faltering steps in this big new world.
[jaunty music continues]
While the boys explore...
Kaya, the little female, hangs back with Mom.
[jaunty music continues]
Unlike her brothers,
she'll spend her whole life with her pride.
[jaunty music fades]
The bond between lionesses is strong from the very start.
[cub squeals]
Her elder brother is already displaying confidence.
But Kaya is more reserved.
[cubs squeal]
She'll have to be brave
if she's to overcome the dangers these cubs face.
[whimpering]
Their spotty coats camouflage them for a reason.
In this dog-eat-dog world,
every other predator here would kill these newborn cubs.
[quiet dramatic music plays]
That's if they can get past Mom.
[cub squeals]
She's their fiercest protector.
[quiet dramatic music continues]
[whimpering]
For the next four weeks,
she'll do everything she can to keep her babies hidden
until they're strong enough to join their pride.
[quiet dramatic music fades]
For many new arrivals,
the protection of a family is the only thing keeping them safe.
But sometimes, family decisions can also lead to trouble.
Meet little Jasiri,
an elephant calf just a few weeks old.
He's so young, he's still finding his feet.
Born in the dry grasslands of Northern Kenya...
[tranquil music plays]
...life for this little calf will mean constant traveling...
[elephant trumpets]
...while trying to keep up with his mom in a sea of tree trunks.
[tranquil music continues]
In their search for fresh grass, this family can walk over ten miles a day.
But with a baby in tow, they'll always slow down.
[tranquil music continues]
Like most babies, little Jasiri needs regular milk and rest.
But they can't stop for too long.
[tranquil music continues]
It's time to go.
But keeping such little legs on the move sometimes requires gentle persuasion.
[baby elephant trumpets]
[low growling]
After their morning's grazing, the herd move on to the river.
[tranquil music plays]
[elephant trumpets]
All that fiber for breakfast leaves them thirsty.
[tranquil music plays]
But the river is key to their lives for another reason.
[elephants trumpet]
[uplifting music plays]
It's where the clans gather.
[uplifting music continues]
- [elephant trumpets] - Old friends catch up.
And youngsters get together for a pool party.
[elephants trumpet]
In fact, everyone has fun,
whatever their age.
[uplifting music continues]
All except Jasiri.
He could easily get lost in a crowd this big.
After nearly two years of pregnancy...
[elephant grunts]
...Mom keeps her precious baby as close as possible.
Some of the family are wading further out.
Elephants crisscross this river every day,
driven to find fresh grass.
But Mom's instinct tells her that today's conditions aren't right.
Stored in her remarkable memory is almost every crossing she's ever made.
She knows the water holds many dangers.
Shifting sands create deep channels of turbulent water...
that can sweep a tiny calf
right off its feet.
She'll have to decide.
Either she follows her family
and risks her calf's life...
or they get separated from the herd,
where neither is likely to survive.
For every new arrival,
some of the hardest lessons occur
when one of the simplest rules of survival is broken.
Staying where it's safe.
On the desert sand in Namibia,
Tabo's been lapping up all his mom's attention.
[tranquil music plays]
One week old, he's looking fat and healthy.
[tranquil music continues]
But he's blissfully unaware that life is about to change.
His mom must go and feed at sea.
[melancholy music plays]
Until she returns, little Tabo must be brave and stay put.
[seal croaks]
[whimpering]
[croaking]
[melancholy music continues]
Alone for the very first time.
[baby seal whimpers]
He desperately looks for her...
and immediately breaks Mom's first rule.
[suspenseful music plays]
"Don't wander off."
[croaking]
[seal grunts]
[baby seal squeals]
No other mother here will care for him.
It's a tough lesson to learn.
[suspenseful music continues]
[baby seal whimpers]
His searching puts him right in the path of some heavy traffic.
[seal croaks]
These 500-pound males have just one thing on their mind.
To mate with females.
[seals grunt]
They steamroll over anyone who gets in their way.
[seals grunt]
Tabo's had a lucky escape.
But with every step he takes...
he's wandering further into trouble.
[seal squeals]
It might be scary inside the colony...
but it's even more dangerous outside.
[tense music plays]
Stray pups like Tabo are exactly what this predator is looking for.
[tense music fades]
[tranquil music plays]
A new day in the African bush...
and the cubs are being shown the boundary of their secret hideaway.
While her brothers stick close to their mom,
Kaya is struggling to keep up.
That's why, until they're a couple of months old,
cubs are kept separate from their family.
[tranquil music continues]
Lions cover huge distances following prey.
And not too far away, that's exactly what their family is doing.
[dramatic music plays]
This is the MalaMala pride...
rulers of a prime spot of territory along the Sand River.
[dramatic music continues]
Six lionesses and 14 teenage cubs,
led by a powerful coalition of brothers.
[dramatic music stops]
But right now, this pride has a problem.
[tense music plays]
A herd of buffalo.
[buffalo snort]
Each one, half a ton of aggression with razor-sharp horns
that can easily kill a lion.
So the pride must surround them and single one out.
[tense music continues]
But
the tables have turned.
[growling]
These teenagers are nervous, incompetent hunters.
[tense music continues]
They're messing it up for the rest of the pride.
[buffalo snort]
[tense music fades]
As another hunt fails, tempers are running high.
[lion roars]
Soon, Kaya and her brothers must join this family.
[growling]
But when fights break out...
young cubs can get injured if they're caught in the line of fire.
[tense music plays]
- [lion growls] - [cub whimpers]
It's a risk Mom can't take.
She'll have to keep Kaya and her brothers hidden for now.
But life is tough being a single mom.
She'll have to hunt alone,
and there's no guarantee that she'll find enough food
to keep her cubs alive.
[tranquil music plays]
For a baby born wild,
survival often depends on the decisions of your family.
In Kenya, little Jasiri is about to get a valuable first lesson
on trust and judgment.
While he's enjoying a closely supervised paddle...
his mom seems anxious.
Her family intend to cross the river.
[elephants trumpet]
As they finally decide to go...
she has no option but to follow.
[elephant growls]
[tense music plays]
Ahead, it's suddenly clear the family have made a rash decision.
[tense music intensifies]
Some of the older calves are in trouble.
[tense music continues]
And Jasiri's mom is having second thoughts.
[tense music continues]
But as the calves find their footing...
she's forced to try again.
[tense music continues]
Using her trunk, she gauges the speed of the current...
and tests the stability of the sand.
Jasiri shelters nervously beneath her.
But he's caught by the current.
[tense music plays]
Her worst nightmare has come true.
[tense music plays]
She just about manages to support him with her trunk.
[tense music continues]
But they're still a distance from the bank.
The current takes Jasiri again.
[tense music continues]
She's only got seconds.
Ahead, the rapids will sweep him away for good.
[tense music continues]
Just in time,
she catches him.
[elephant trumpets]
[tense music continues]
[trumpeting]
Family help is on the way.
[tranquil music plays]
Together, they form a wall of bodies to block the current...
and Jasiri is guided across.
[tranquil music continues]
At last...
weak and exhausted,
he's safe.
[tranquil music continues]
On his journey through life,
there'll be many rivers to cross,
but this first one will never be forgotten.
[tranquil music continues]
Only time will tell if this harrowing experience
will affect Jasiri's trust in his family in the months to come.
In Namibia,
it's been 48 hours since Tabo's mom went to sea.
In searching for her, he's become lost.
With no friends in the colony to turn to,
he's vulnerable.
[tense music plays]
A brown hyena...
drawn in by the irresistible smell of seal pups.
[tense music continues]
She's looking for those that have been left on their own.
[baby seal whimpers]
Tabo's only chance is to get back inside the colony.
[baby seal squeals]
But his wanderings have left him hot and dehydrated.
[baby seal croaks]
[tense music plays]
He makes it close to the shore...
but that's as far as he can go.
[tense music continues]
Tabo has been spotted.
[tense music continues]
Wary of an adult's bite,
the hyena checks for Mom.
[tense music continues]
Tabo needs her now more than ever.
[suspenseful music plays]
[baby seal squeals]
[squealing]
She hears her son's desperate cries.
[tense music plays]
[tense music intensifies]
[baby seal squeals]
[seal grunts]
[tense music fades]
[tranquil music plays]
Tabo is safe for now.
[baby seal squeals]
[tranquil music continues]
But with the pupping season in full swing...
other predators are on the prowl.
[tense music plays]
Soon, Tabo will need all the courage and bravery he can muster
when more danger comes calling.
[dramatic music plays]