"Eighty million years ago, disaster came to a world ruled by dinosaurs." "It came in waves of and and wind that buried every creature alive." "For eons, the dinosaurs lay entombed in a place that would one day be called the Gobi Desert in a country named Mongolia." "Among the dead was one of the strangest dinosaurs that ever lived." "It was called Oviraptor." "It was swift, smart, lethal." "Now, only bones tell us about its life." "And the vicious world it lived in." "The bones have given us a glimpse of those ancient times." "A dim reflection of life before history." "But there is more to the story......still hidden in the vast emptiness of the Gobi." "Now an ambitious expedition is traveling to that distant desert to uncover the secrets of the Oviraptor's world." "They don't exactly look like scientists." "Often, they're mistaken for each other." "But Mike Novacek leads the expedition, along with colleague Mark Norell." "They could be taken for surfers;" "but they're from the American Museum of Natural History - scientists piecing together an ancient jigsaw puzzle of evolution and extinction." "To me it's so obviously important, I'm so emotionally bound up in this." "I can't imagine why a knowledge of our history of where we come from isn't important to human experience." "Could you imagine what it would be like to live in the late 20th century and not know that extinction actually existed?" "There's also just this sense of discovery." "I mean, every bone that we find tells us something about how the world was 80 millions years ago, which is...pretty neat." "Just having a sense of history of what the planet was like and what the planet has gone through, I think, just increases our appreciation for our own existence." "Mike and Mark are about to journey to the sun scorched badlands of the Gobi." "It's a desolate area - a half million dusty square miles of sand, scrub, and redrock cliffs." "But it's a paleontologist's version of heaven." "For this is where the Oviraptors lived and died and lay untouched in the earth for millennia." "Then, in 1922, one of the most famous scientific expeditions in history wound its way toward" "Mongolia's dinosaur graveyard its leader was a charismatic and......" "ontroversial explorer named Roy Chapman Andrews." "Like Mark and Mike, he came from the" "American Museum of Natural History." "But Andrews was an incurable publicity hound - and a scientific cowboy." "Where his paleontologist used a camel-hair brush," "Andrews hacked away with a pick ax." "But he found one of the richest dinosaur boneyards in the world." "He returned with a spectacular collection of fossils -- and a library of stunning film images." "But in the 1920s," "Communists seized power in Mongolia." "The open door to the West slammed shut." "For the next 65 years, the fabulous fossil fields of the Gobi were forbidden territory." "Now, everything's changed." "Only token symbols of Russia's domination remain." "Finally, Western scientists can return." "We don't want those onions?" "They rot." "They rot in two days." "Mark and Mike were among the first scientists allowed in." "They're now back for their sixth expedition with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences." "Three kilos?" "Three kilos." "They have just enough supplies for a short month, and a long way to go......" "retracing Andrews' footsteps on their way to one of the richest concentrations of fossils in the world - a place called Ukhaa Tolgod." "Over a vast span of time," "Ukhaa Tolgod was ruled by dinosaurs." "Dinosaur history can be thought of as a great empire that lasted a few hundred million years." "That's a significant slice of the history of life." "Imagine that time, from the moment the dinosaurs appeared till now, is a single day." "At midnight, dinosaurs first walked earth." "They're flourishing at noon." "They don't go extinct until five in the afternoon." "Time passes." "The first modern man finally appears a minute and a half before midnight." "All of our recorded history takes three and a half seconds" "ln the Gobi, time seems to have stood still." "The Gobi is such a big place and it basically has no life support system." "We really have to bring everything with us." "So all our food, all our fuel which we're carrying in a fuel tanker, all our supplies have to be treated like we're actually exploring a polar region." "ln such a vast area, success is never certain." "Even getting there can be a nightmare." "Roy Chapman Andrews thought he'd solved the problem in the '20s, with a new piece of technology." "When it was announced that we were to attempt a scientific exploration of the Gobi Desert with a fleet of motor cars, men said that we were little less than fools." "Only camels had been used in that country." "We had 40 men, eight motor cars and 150 camels to carry supplies." "It was the biggest land scientific expedition ever to leave the United States." "Roy Chapman Andrews." "From China, Andrews headed northwest." "He left Peking, then crossed over the border and drove deep into the parched heart of outer Mongolia." "Mongolia, a land of painted deserts dancing in mirage." "Mongolia, a land of mystery, of paradox and promise!" "A thirsty land." "A land of desolation!" "Gazelles, wild asses, and wolves ranged the marching sands." "Few explorers had been there and they brought back tales of thirst, cold, and hunger." "But Andrews found one more thing......mud." "Our average speed was only four miles an hour." "Rocks, ravines, washouts, and ditches followed one another in rapid succession." "One might imagine that the roads have gotten better." "They have not." "And even modern jeeps aren't built for a desert like the Gobi." "We have an electrical problem and we don't know what it is." "It's not a very complicated wiring plan." "It's a Russian jeep." "It's not like a Japanese or an American car." "They're up and running." "But next, it's a truck's turn." "Piston, huh?" "We think it's piston number six." "A critical breakdown could have severe consequences." "End of the expedition, if not the end of our lives." "Maybe we'll make it." "Oh, God." "With the nearest gas station some 500 miles away, and time already getting tight, things will have to go smoothly from now on." "Oh, we're having some mechanical problems." "We think it's a fuel pump." "But we're not sure." "This could be way bad." "Seems to me I got this thing in there without doing the twisty deal." "Maybe we'll tow it or abandon it." "Abandon it." "Get on with it." "We can't stay here more than a day." "After more than 12 breakdowns, the vehicles all decide to run at the same time." "As they enter the dusty dinosaur fields of the Gobi, they're traveling a long way backwards in time." "Dinosaurs first appeared some 230 million years ago, in a world with a different face." "The creatures were thriving 100 million years later, as South America and Africa split apart." "About 75 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous period, dinosaurs began to disappear-- leaving only bones behind." "Their bones were more motionless than the continents" "Then in the 1920s, Roy Chapman Andrews came to a remote place in the Gobi Desert he would name the Flaming Cliffs." "It was a likely- looking place." "There appear to be medieval castles with spires and turrets brick-red in the evening light, colossal gateways, walls and ramparts." "A labyrinth of ravines and gorges studded with fossil bones make a paradise for the paleontologist." "Without a doubt there were hundreds of bones lying just beneath the surface." "But where?" "If only my eyes could pierce that baffling surface and get a glimpse of what lay concealed!" "Within minutes, they were finding fossils." "Andrews and his team had stumbled onto the mother lode of dinosaur bones." "They discovered the remains of some 200 different animals, many of them completely new species." "The fossils revealed a world that Andrews found alien and terrifying." "Dinosaurs were the sort of creatures you might think of as inhabiting another planet or the kind you dream of in a bad nightmare." "It was an image our culture nourished for generations." "Dinosaurs were fierce, monstrous -- and not all that bright." "Many of the new ideas about dinosaurs are coming from the amazing boneyard called Ukhaa Tolgod." "The team discovered the site three years ago." "Now, to get to the dinosaurs, all they have to do......" "is find it again." "The maps in general are pretty lousy for the Gobi Desert." "The towns on those maps are myths in many cases." "We don't even pay any attention to any of the roads marked on those maps." "They're completely wrong." "Even a satellite tracking system doesn't always help." "So the satellite may know where you are but the road you need may be in a completely different direction so the roads here are very confusing." "There are no signs and many of them lead nowhere." "We're gonna go like this." "We're a little off course." "We're not really lost." "We're just a bit off course." "So we've gotta go this-away and that-away." "At times, you have to go in circles to move forward." "Roy Chapman Andrews too spent more than a few days wandering the Gobi." "But in the end, he blundered into a discovery that stunned the world." "A member of his expedition literally stumbled across a critical link in the great chain of being." "On July 13, George Olsen reported that he had found some fossil eggs." "We did not take his story very seriously." "Nevertheless, we were all curious enough to go with him to inspect his find." "There could be no mistake." "Our paleontologist finally said," ""Gentlemen, there is no doubt about it." "You are looking at the first dinosaur egg ever found."" "The discovery made Roy Chapman Andrews a national hero." "But the eggs were not alone." "Lying above the nest was a bizarre skeleton - a bird-like dinosaur unknown to man." "It had apparently been caught in the act of murder - stealing the eggs." "So it was forever cursed with the name Oviraptor " "Latin for "egg thief."" "It would be years before we discovered the strange truth about the animal called Oviraptor." "ln the late '20s, the winds of change blew fiercely over the great dinosaur fields of Mongolia." "That's when Roy Chapman Andrews was forced to leave the Gobi forever." "We are more than ever convinced that Central Asia was a paleontology Garden of Eden." "Still, we have shown the way, have broken trail as it were." "Later, others will reap a rich harvest." "Decades later," "Mark and Mike are hoping to find the treasures that Andrews left untouched in the sand." "After more than a week in the blistering Gobi, they finally reach their goal:" "the brown hills of Ukhaa Tolgod" "With all the delays, they've only got two weeks to work." "This is the place where they've pinned all their hopes." "With luck, a year of shifting sands has exposed more bones." "But even here, there are no guarantees." "It is possible to fail in the Gobi." "It's a huge area, a huge tract of land, there are lots of rocks." "But they don't all contain fossils." "You can drive to what looks like the most tantalizing set of badlands you could possibly imagine and not find one scrap of bone." "It's a treasure hunt in a way and it is sort of like finding a needle in a haystack." "But on this day," "Discovery and elation are immediate." "Oh, I see it." "Oh, wonderful." "Jeez." "That's nice." "Back to lizard" "The side of a skull here." "The teeth sticking out." "You can see these teeth, yeah." "Each one of these is a socket for a tooth." "Pretty big." "This is a hand claw." "Has this big thing right here on it... it's the hand of an Oviraptor." "About medium size." "They've hit the jackpot:" "among their first finds are Oviraptors - the creature Andrews knew as "egg thief."" "Considering that the Oviraptor is one of the rarest dinosaurs in the world and there's only been a handful of specimens found before we discovered this place where we've found 25." "I mean, today we found at least five just in the first 20 minutes." "This is really not what paleontology is like, most of the time." "You don't go finding 12 skeletons in a half an hour." "There's another one right there, too." "Yup." "Each one of these little mounds of little white flecks sticking out... that's the eroded rubble of parts of big dinosaur skeletons" "One, two, three, four four skeletons right here." "This is going to be a really good specimen." "This is part of a shoulder right here." "Let me see." "This looks, is looking like a tail." "That's the tail and part of the pelvic girdle here and the tail shooting straight out." "This is nice." "I mean, what we're seeing here is just awful." "I mean, all these poor dinosaurs and other creatures -- mammals and vertebrates - buried alive possibly and skeletons littering the surface like some battlefield." "But it's great for us 'cause we thrive on carnage." "We don't have enough tape." "We oughta count everything here." "Once, scores of dinosaurs walked the sands of Ukhaa Tolgod moving toward a tragic destiny." "I think this was an oasis 80 million years ago." "Huge numbers of dinosaurs and other vertebrates congregating around maybe some water." "And on occasions, not just one event but on several occasions, these animals were buried in these sands." "We'd have to imagine an enormous sandstorm, an enormous force bearing down on these creatures for such a disaster." "Some of the dinosaurs almost look like they're trying to swim to the surface, much like a skier in an avalanche caught, in some cases, in their struggle to get out of this sand avalanche, or great wall of sand, that engulfed them." "Perhaps they suffocated in the sand." "Hey, I just swept there." "You've made it all dirty again." "I take pride in my work." "Next year we'll bring some dust busters." "The prehistoric sandstorms buried dinosaurs at every stage of life." "And on their first expedition here," "Mark and Mike made an unprecedented discovery:" "A nest with eggs and inside one was an embryo - the embryo of an Oviraptor, like a dinosaur on the half shell." "Here was the vicious carnivore, the "egg thief,"" "just a tiny baby about to hatch." "It was an important discovery - a secret moment in the very beginning of this strange dinosaur's life." "This year, they're hoping to find out more about the Oviraptor and its fate." "There's growing excitement on the far side of the ridge." "They think they've found a completely new kind of dinosaur, a relative of the Oviraptor, and it may shed light on what ultimately happened to the dinosaurs." "We have no idea what this is." "It's a really big animal." "It might be something new." "This specimen has a lot of important implications that go beyond just being a really beautiful object." "So it's exactly what we wanted to find -- we hope." "The skeleton is what's important." "Mark and Mike believe that these bones may help prove an exciting theory - that some dinosaurs actually evolved." "They evolved into creatures that are still alive today." "The bones tell the story." "There are uncanny similarities in the skeletons of certain dinosaurs - like these and modern birds." "Almost without doubt, they shared a close common ancestor." "And each new find may help prove that dinosaurs did not really go extinct, that birds, in fact, are dinosaurs." "Dinosaurs need to be thought of as incredibly successful animals that exist with us today." "We just call them birds." "Our skies are filled with dinosaurs." "It's a bad metaphor to use to call something like dinosaur-like, you know......just because it's old, obsolete, ugly, stupid, and slow." "I mean, that's not what these animals are all about." "I mean, it's like the swifts flying around here and things I mean, they're a type of dinosaur." "And that they're still with us now." "And the closest relative to birds is these small carnivorous dinosaurs we've collected in these red rocks." "At day's end, hopes are high that this new find will help connect the dots between dinosaurs and birds." "The feeling of anticipation is palpable, if not always exactly in key." "First thing in the morning, they're back at the site." "So, we hope we got something we can identify eventually." "Mike, work on that." "Kill that beetle, while you're at it." "As they pry the rock open, they sense trouble." "Look at that." "Yeah." "I don't know what that is." "Bunch of ....maybe." "I'm afraid to say." "Could it be a theropod, maybe?" "No." "Well, it could be, but... lt's not known to science." "I think what we're lookin' at is that there's a dead theropod right there." "It's gone and we're excavating an ankylosaur." "And the ankylosaurs are among the most common dinosaurs around." "It's not a new dinosaur at all." "It's not even related to birds." "I'm sure that this is an ankylosaur." "You want us to just go away?" "What they want to do now is give up." "Today, the dinosaur hunters have tracked down approximately zilch." "Well, you win a few and you lose a few." "That's just -- l don't feel too good right now I'm tired." "They've spent two fruitless days working in the blistering heat." "But tomorrow will be another day - with any luck, a better one." "Instead, nature decides to add insult to injury." "As Mongolian would say, "Ich boro." lt's raining." "Sounds like I'm bored." "Yeah, it sounds like I'm bored." "The sun burns off the disappointment." "It's a new day and a new dig." "This find is not a new species." "It's not related to birds." "And it's not an Oviraptor." "But it probably was the Oviraptor's prey." "It's an animal called Protoceratops." "They called these guys the cows of the Cretaceous." "They were sort of everywhere." "They roamed around, they think, maybe in herds." "It's full of spikes." "We actually call it Spikey now." "We've sort of bonded with this one." "These are the eyes and the snout." "So we're looking at the skull from the top." "These are......cheek spikes and the frill covering the neck here." "Protoceratops was a bizarre dinosaur, a hog-sized animal with a beak like a parrot's, a strict vegetarian that grazed the ancient Gobi." "Around its head was an elaborate shield, but the shield didn't protect it from its enemies." "Enemies like the Oviraptor." "And that's exactly what the team digs up next -- Oviraptors." "A pair of them lying so close together they seem to describe an ancient romance." "Yeah, we're kind of fond of them." "We're trying to figure out what names to give them." "Ozzie and Harriet." "Romeo and Juliet." "Batman and Robin." "Well, we have a hypothesis they were holding hands and they were sort of reaching for each other across the miles." "The star-crossed Oviraptors are given the permanent nicknames of Romeo and Juliet." "We have one hand just down here." "This is the other one." "Christa now is gluing another hand." "And this is, of course, the neck coming up and the head and the hip bone." "And over here we have a claw." "It's a long hard process to excavate the past." "But they've done it before." "Over the last few years, they've uncovered a world of almost preposterous beings." "Some are related to birds." "Others are even related to us." "Our tiny ancestors - mammals that lived alongside the Oviraptors." "Most of these mammals were small, like early mice and shrews." "But these insignificant creatures gradually evolved into all the mammals of our world - the cats, the aardvarks, the whales and even human beings." "But sometimes evolution...... has to take a back seat to hygiene." "We don't have much water here, so it's kind of hard to get things clean." "I thought I packed more shorts." "For some reason, I messed up." "I've got these on delicate." "Yeah, personal grooming is a passion of the camp here." "The team spends a lot of time making sure that they're groomed, looking their best at all times, because you never know." "There may be some formal affairs in a nearby village that you might need to attend." "There are only a few days left." "It's time for the second act of Romeo and Juliet:" "the Oviraptors await a sheltering shroud of rags and plaster." "They're now in the skillful hands of preparator Amy Davidson." "I love skeletons." "I actually never was that into dinosaurs as a kid, but I've always loved bones." "And I have a background as a sculptor and I've always admired the skeleton that we all have inside us." "It's some of the most beautiful sculpture on earth." "And these fossil skeletons look almost as well preserved as yesterday's camel skeleton" "But they are a dinosaur." "These fossils are forever." "It almost lasted forever." "For 80 million years, Romeo and Juliet lay together reaching toward each other in death." "What were they like in life?" "Did they hunt together?" "Share food with each other?" "Fight with each other?" "Or was this love among the Oviraptors?" "Scientists may never know for certain if the bird-like Oviraptors fell in love." "But now there's a new find that digs even deeper into the private lives of the dinosaurs - a place paleontologists usually enter only in their best dreams." "Oh, yeah, it's farther down." "They've discovered another Oviraptor." "And then, in the dirt below the skeleton -- eggs, an entire nest." "How many eggs now revealed?" "Uh, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine." "And then three over there -- twelve." "Twelve eggs." "All right." "Another one coming out right here." "It's really a great fossil find because it's one of the rare instances where we can capture a little bit of behavior that's 80 million years old." "Here we have a sort of day in the life of or the death of a creature of a dinosaur... in association with something it did during its life." "This one was fossilized where it dropped and it happened to drop right on top of its own nest." "She didn't just drop there." "The good mother Oviraptor was sitting on the nest." "They probably brought food to their nest, as birds do." "And the good mother tended her eggs." "Like a bird, she prodded them into a circle" "The fearsome carnivore of the Gobi was parenting." "So the story of the dinosaur named "egg thief"" "has finally come full circle." "The Oviraptors watched over their eggs and took care of the nest." "Now, they will never be seen as simply nightmare creatures again." "The dig has been everything the team could hope for." "But to see what they've really got, they have to get all the fossils safely out of the ground, and then take them on a trip exactly halfway around the world." "She athed in plaster, Romeo and Juliet are now heavy but dangerously delicate -- like Rice Krispies wrapped in concrete." "No, no." "That way." "Okay, okay." "Sorry." "I thought you were going to push backwards." "Perfect." "It's beautiful, Amy." "More, more, more, more, more." "It's beautiful." "More, more, more, more." "Okay." "Nothing came out." "All right, Amy." "So far, so good." "Now they have to convince the good mother Oviraptor to come down from her hillside perch." "It's like moving a grand piano off a cliff." "Romeo and Juliet prove just as stubborn." "I'm happy." "Just drive slowly, please?" "It's not there yet." "It could get lost in the mail." "They do get lost in the mail." "The good mother Oviraptor and Romeo and Juliet are trucked east." "And then, they disappear -- lost, somewhere in China." "After four months bound up in Chinese red tape, the dinosaur fossils finally make it to their destination...... the American Museum of Natural History in New York." "The first arrival is Juliet." "She's headed for Amy's lab, where, if all goes well, they'll find out what ancient secrets lie beneath the recent coat of plaster." "I'm really glad this is here." "This is great" "From the summer in the Gobi to the winter in New York City." "Juliet is now a seasoned world traveler." "After 80 million years of repose" "She,s the new kid on the block." "There's a lot of questions at this point." "There could be anything in here." "I have a feeling that this one's going to be a nice skeleton - this is my guess - a nice skeleton, hopefully with a skull, all laid out." "It's pretty fun." "And it's all mine." "It's a tricky business -- millimeters make all the difference." "Yeah, this is good." "I'm really glad I didn't saw through a bone in the process." "It's weird." "It's just opening this little window into this world I was living last summer." "Yeah, this looks good." "After all this work, they still don't know if Juliet is an important specimen, whether her skeleton is perfect or a total ruin." "This is great." "I'm really psyched, 'cause this is the skull." "It does have a skull." "We're really, really happy." "I like, you know, working late at night." "It's really hard to go home because...... I just look at it and say, "l can't believe this."" "It's traveled 80 million years and halfway around the world and it's sitting here and, you know, it's a dinosaur." "Working late?" "Yeah." "And it's so beautiful." "The more I work on it, the more you see this natural sculpture." "My work just sort of disappears and this beautiful thing comes out of the rock." "The process takes weeks." "Finally, Juliet is revealed in all her splendor." "She's everything they've been hoping for, perhaps the most perfect specimen ever found - a dinosaur for the ages." "It's a beautiful fossil." "ln fact, I mean, that I think that this is probably the best prepared and the best preserved" "Oviraptor that's yet been worked on from our expedition - or even anywhere in the world I think we're going to have the, to be able to relish in the fruits of last summer for many years to come." "It makes you wonder what's still out there." "She's more than a pretty face" "These bones will help us trace the evolution of dinosaurs into birds." "Meanwhile, Juliet makes a scientist dream about the world she left behind." "I think what fascinates me is the broad picture." "What was it like if you were flying in a little Piper Cub over that area, like some of the bush pilots do over the Serengeti?" "What would it look like then - all those dinosaurs and the mammals and the lizards -- and the Gobi?" "After six long summers," "Mark and Mike have uncovered the hidden secrets of the Gobi -- making Juliet's world feel almost real." "You could picture a lake perhaps and some cliffs and a bunch of Oviraptors on a cliff like a colony of seabirds, perhaps." "And a bunch of these tanklike ankylosaurs lumbering around near the pond" "and perhaps a herd of Protoceratops wandering through." "And every once in a while a vicious Velociraptor coming over the hill to nab something." "And we can imagine the Oviraptors:" "Romeo and Juliet, hunting together, and the good mother, minding her eggs." "Unnoticed in its low station is our own ancestor, a tiny tense creature lost among the powerful beings of the ancient Gobi." "ln the end, they would all disappear from the face of the earth - along with most of the creatures of their world." "From our perspective, of course, this mass extinction event is not a big problem because we're part of the group that survived and started evolving into bats and large hoofed animals and lions and tigers and bears... and ultimately humans." "Ultimately, humans, like the Oviraptors, and most of the dinosaur kingdom, may not be able to count on permanent residence on earth." "Every species that's ever lived" "Has become extinct or will become extinct." "And whether extinction is due to the total decimation of our population or whether it's due to the evolution of that species into another species, nevertheless, everybody becomes extinct eventually." "So in that view, we've had it." "Some species lived and then died out:" "a story like any other story." "Others evolved, changed and lived on." "So perhaps a message about our own future is encoded in these silent remnants of the past." "The only real knowledge we have of our distant biological past is from the fossil record." "And it gives us a sense of who we are and where we sit in the world and what that world might become." "Time is the hardest rock to pierce, and the story of life, with its infinite changes, is the greatest mystery we have." "But the expedition has been blessed with luck." "They've gazed into the past and brought the violent and tender world of the Oviraptor that much closer to our own." "And they all lived appily ever after." "G'night, sweetie." "In an ordinary house on an ordinary street..." "Kyle, are you in bed?" "...there lived a cat." "There's my kitty." "You're so sweet." "He had everything a kitty could want..." "Feed the gerbils, honey?" "Yeah, Mom." "...affection, food, shelter and a family who thought he was the sweetest kitty in the whole wide world." "But this is only half the story." "There is another side to this contented kitty one his family knows nothing about." "Like his ancestors, he has the heart of a hunter." "Well fed and showered with affection, wildness still courses through his veins." "He may look domesticated, but look again." "This is a real life Jekyll and Hyde." "It is the paradox of the cat." "There are more than 100 million cats in the U.S. alone." "What goes on in their secret world?" "In the next hour you may learn more about cats than you ever wanted to know." "It's 8 p.m. Do you know where your kitty is?" "Magnificent, elusive and deadly, the cat family species boasts 38 species of feline ferocity including the diminutive, wild cat." "Since prehistoric times, these cats have wandered Africa and Europe." "The presumed ancestor of our domestic cat, the wild cat might look like a tabby, but its canines and claws are as lethal as those of any tiger." "In its eyes, there's a haunting familiarity" "How did this ferocious feline jump the wild track and make its way to our milk bowls and our beds?" "Felis catus set out on the rocky road to domestication more than 3,000 years ago." "In ancient Egypt, this hunter extraordinaire kept rodents from the granaries" "In return, he was worshipped as a symbol of life." "But history would not always treat our feline friend so kindly." "Believed to be the devil's companion, more than a few were burned at the stake for keeping wrong company." "Luckily, the cat would soon fall into grace once again, for his hunting skills proved invaluable on the open seas." "Cats kept the rat in check." "Near the end of the road, perhaps the most steadfast alliance was forged between the farmer and his beloved barn cat." "Now, what you got there?" "You are a good cat." "Ironically, the cat's very wildness was its ticket to domestication." "There's extra milk for you tonight." "Now to complete the journey." "...eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen... ready or not here I come." "What lay ahead was one of the most complex relationships nature has ever known the remarkable bond between human and cat." "We were drawn to a creature we could never fully tame." "Wow!" "Hey guys look what I found." "We would overlook their wildness and welcome them into our lives." "When the dust of the eons finally settled, we found ourselves inexorably linked to the cat." "This extraordinary creature had found a permanent place in our hearts and our homes." "Mama, Mama, Mama, Mom, Mama, look what I found." "Can I keep him, please, please?" "At last, the cat managed to dethrone the dog as the most popular pet in the Western world." "In the U.S. alone, house cats have doubled in number in just 20 years." "C'mon, chin up." "That a good boy." "Cat-mania is sweeping the country." "These are piddle pants for cats." "The Chaise lounges are a new add" " On to our products that we're carrying." "The Litter Maid Electric Self- Cleaning Litter Box." "We probably spend about eight grand a year." "$10, $20, or $30,000 a year, just on one cat." "Yeah." "Throughout the world, cat shows pay homage to our feline companions in a fury of grooming, primping and keen competition." "Through the careful coupling of cats, humans have created nearly 50 breeds of domesticated felines" "Though some might look to the untrained eye like mistakes of nature... each coupling is carefully planned to make a winner." "But a cat needn't be a winner to be the object of affection." "Well, it's Rush's third birthday." "We have birthday cakes for us, so why shouldn't we have a birthday cake for our four-footed child?" "The Ross family has taken feline adoration to new heights" "They're very much our family." "Well, hi, Neut." "Hey, Rush, here's some food coming." "My husband spoils the cats." "Of course, I don't." "And so he always has the cats eating with us at the table." "One more bite, but don't let it spoil you." "You won't get the same thing tomorrow night." "They like to have the food that we're eating." "And they oftentimes will eat very peculiar things, things they would never eat if you would put it in their bowl." "As you can see, our cats are very well fed." "But well-fed cats still do hunt." "So we keep them inside." "And our cats are never bored." "Shirley May loves her cats." "But even she knows, there can be too much of a good thing." "When I was a child, there was a family down the street who had some cats." "And they didn't have them altered." "And there were kittens born all the time." "Well, of course, I thought that was great, because I loved kittens." "Super kitty flying through the air!" "There are more than 10,000 human babies born in this country each day and more than twice that many kittens." "Sheltered and well-fed, cat numbers can soar if reproduction goes unchecked" "Cats are prolific." "One female can have as many as 30 kittens a year." "In just seven years, she and her offspring could produce over 300,000 kittens!" "Suddenly, sometimes, those kittens would disappear and nobody seemed to be able to tell me where the kittens went." "With such feline fertility, unwanted cats are a sad byproduct of our domestic bond" "This scene may be an echo from the past, but the tragedy is still being played out today." "Even now, hundreds of cats are abandoned each day in the U.S. alone." "What's to become of a castaway?" "He is suddenly faced with the struggle to survive in an alien world." "But the cat holds a wild card a gift from his ancestors." "He is one of the earth's most adept hunters." "Good news for the cat..." "but bad for the locals." "There's one more predator on the prowl." "And when push comes to shove, he's not a picky eater another key to the cat's success." "In the face of adversity, the cat often has the advantage" "Armed with sharp claws, he's not restricted to terra firma." "The cat nearly always lands on his feet." "This diminutive creature seems to defy the odds." "With a flexible backbone like a cheetah, the cat can run up to 30 miles per hour." "His agile body is engineered for the chase." "But at times, the best strategy is to seek shelter..." "and wait." "For the tables will soon turn for felis catus." "Night belongs to the cat." "He is a creature designed for the nocturnal hunt:" "with night vision, whiskers to help navigate, a keen sense of smell, and ears tuned to signals that mere humans could never perceive." "The faintest squeak even from a distance allows him to pinpoint his prey... and launch his assault." "Only the fortunate manage to escape this master predator." "The cat is a marvel of engineering." "His supple spine allows acrobatics of which we could only dream." "His uncanny sense of balance almost always insures a safe landing." "With persistence and precision, the cat gets his mouse." "This is a creature designed to survive." "He has landed in the most outlandish of places and somehow managed to endure." "Near the Antarctic, temperatures can plunge to 50 below." "On a diet of seabirds and the occasional penguin carcass, the cats of Macquarie Island have persevered since they were dropped here by sealers over a century ago." "Half a world away, the volcanic Galapagos Islands offer little water or prey to its immigrant cats." "Though lean, the population persists." "Abandoned cats are struggling to survive throughout the world even in the U.S., where there are an estimated 50 million." "Here in Miami, Florida, thousands of forsaken felines have landed in the middle of a raging controversy." "Though the dumping of pets is prohibited in Dade County parks, it's not uncommon to find colonies of up to 75 abandoned cats." "What are the consequences of so many predators?" "Don Chingquina of the Tropical Audubon Society is concerned about the wildlife." "You know parks like these are so important to migrating birds, because when you think about it, these birds fly from as far away as the Yucatan." "They come across the Gulf of Mexico, and they're tired, they're hungry." "They land in a small, confined place like this to replenish and they're greeted by 50 to 100 cats." "It's a recipe for disaster." "Through no fault of their own these felines have stirred a fiery debate." "Kate Rhubee is one of many volunteer feeders who have taken pity on these outcasts." "She, too, knows there's no easy solution." "A lot of people are really concerned about the impact that the homeless cats have on the small birds in the area." "In an ideal world, we wouldn't have people dumping their pets, and the cats wouldn't be outside, and they wouldn't be impacting the wildlife." "But in this cycle of human neglect, it's not just the wildlife that's in jeopardy." "These cats are at the mercy of world-class hurricanes, aggression within the colony and disease." "It's really upsetting to me when someone dumps their pets here, 'cause this is absolutely no life for a cat." "In the last three-and-a-half months, we've had 39 new cats dumped here." "With so many new arrivals, the population is exploding." "Spaying and neutering is critical." "But most of the strays have become so wild, it's impossible to even approach them." "Members of the Cat Network provide the traps, the ingenuity and the sardines." "Still, there's no guarantee which cats will venture into the traps if any at all." "Only tomorrow will tell." "Hey, you guys, we got one already." "The night's bounty has been good." "Kate?" "Is this the orange you were looking for?" "Yes, he is." "I'm concerned that he's really sick," "looks like he's gonna have AIDS with all of those marks." "Off to the vet you go." "Dr. Ted Sanchez works with the Cat Network at a reduced rate caring for homeless cats." "The rest of the funds come from volunteers like Cindy Hewitt who contribute thousands of dollars each year." "We're going to be taking a little blood test and we're just gonna try to rule out a couple of viral diseases that they commonly get." "It's a male." "And these guys tend to be a little bit more prevalent in the males than the females because they tend to have more sexual contact." "We're just going to take a little blood." "Cats are vulnerable to two lethal viruses." "Feline leukemia and feline AIDS are both highly contagious and deadly." "It's not a pretty death." "Cindy, I think we may have a positive here." "You can tell here." "We'll see what the test comes out." "But you see the gums?" "They're real, real red." "He's got a pretty good gingivitis here, which is one of the common things we see with feline... plus the fact that he's a male." "So we'll wait." "He's got a couple of variety of skin lesions as well, so he's not in the greatest shape." "He's been eating well, he's not too thin, but this is a bad sign." "It really makes me sad that the animals suffer." "And anytime I have to put a cat down, it really bothers me." "But, if you leave him, then he's gonna infect the others." "It's the right thing to do, unfortunately." "And he'll also have a really miserable death." "If they go through the course of this illness, it's not fair to them." "They suffer too much." "Cats that test negative for disease might be candidates for adoption." "But first they must be spayed or neutered." "I don't think it's the solution to the problem." "But at least we are controlling the population somewhat." "Thousands of cats are being put to sleep every year, needlessly, because owners are just not complying with spaying and neutering." "We have to tell these people that are abandoning cats, this isn't the way to do it." "Spayed and neutered cats have the tips of the ears clipped, to serve as a permanent record." "This kitten has become too wild for adoption." "Once she's recovered from surgery, she'll return to the colony to face an uncertain future." "You doing alright?" "Alright." "It's a dismal solution for the cats and a precarious one for the wildlife." "Well-fed and spayed, a cat can still hunt." "But where are the thousands of homeless felines to go?" "Until an answer can be found, migrating birds may come face to face with yet another predator." "But it's not just the homeless that hunt." "There are more than 60 million house cats in the U.S." "and many are on the prowl night and day." "What is the impact of these unleashed predators?" "The answer is clear at the Wildlife Center of Virginia." "Dr. Gentz, cat attack coming in from Harrisonburg." "Many of the patients are casualties of ordinary house cats." "We have two injured bunnies." "Most are mangled beyond repair." "Cat attack coming in from..." "Each day brings new drama for Dr. Ned Gentz and his team, as they try to piece together the victims of cat attacks." "Well, I think this one's going to make it... although probably half don't." "Casualties pour into the Wildlife Center night and day." "Pet owners are often shocked to find that their well-fed cats are killers." "Though some have been de-clawed, the attack is often just as gruesome." "This one was injured on it's eye right here." "And it was bleeding this morning." "And this one was injured on his leg..." "...right there." "Oh, you better put it back in." "The hospital recovery room is filled with creatures that fell prey to the claw." "Most require intensive care." "But for every recovering patient... .." "there are four others that didn't make it." "This represents two weeks of cat attack victims brought here to the Wildlife Center of Virginia the non-survivors." "We probably have an equal number of animals in the intensive care unit still being treated now that we hope will do better than these, but statistically about 80 percent of the cat attack victims that we see here don't survive." "Cats are incredibly efficient hunters and predators." "This poor bunny was effectively disemboweled by the cat that caught it." "Creatures lucky enough to survive an attack face yet another peril." "Cat saliva is almost toxic by itself." "Getting bit by a cat is like injecting poison into a wild animal." "A wild animal with a cat bite that doesn't die from the trauma will die of an infection within 24 to 48 hours." "As a wildlife veterinarian, it's my job to take care of sick and injured wildlife and I like to do that, but this is a waste." "These animals didn't have to die." "If people would keep their pet cats indoors, these animals wouldn't end up in my wildlife hospital." "What's a cat owner to do?" "Just three hours from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, on 25 acres of rolling woodland, lives a cat named Ting Tang II." "Ironically, he lives with a biologist who's specialty is birds." "As a devoted cat owner," "Ruth Beck has been grappling with a personal dilemma." "I specialize in ornithology and I'm very interested in birds." "But I also love cats." "Ting Tang II is a hunter." "It is not the cat's fault, it's what he does and what he does successfully." "He has some basic equipment, just as every hunter would have:" "first of all, you can look at these nice teeth." "And then we have an excellent set of switchblades and they indeed can inflict quite a wound." "C'mon, breakfast." "Ting Tang II is a well-fed cat." "But breakfast never puts a damper on his favorite pastime." "He's an avid bird watcher and hunter." "Each morning, after a full can of food," "Ting Tang is ready for his favorite sport." "But he has to comply with the rules of the house." "Most bird species feed early in the morning." "So just by not letting him out until 10 or 11 o'clock and for just a few hours mid-afternoon, when the birds are less active... will certainly help to prevent the cat from capturing the birds." "Ruth has found a compromise that gives the cat some freedom, but gives the birds some protection, as well." "Ting Tang II must make the most of his hours in feline paradise." "He is a cat with a curfew." "When day is done, he'll be called indoors." "I think that true cat lovers don't see their pet as killers" "I'd like to see us make everyone aware of the fact that our pets are also predators." "If we come to terms with the fact that our cats do hunt," "the question then becomes:" "How much are they hunting?" "That's just what the British Mammal Society set out to discover when they launched their survey called," ""Look What the Cat Brought In"" "...a bit ghoulish, really." "This is brilliant." "Yes, it's good, isn't it?" "Excellent..." "The Society has found itself buried beneath a mountain of responses." "For Michael Woods, processing the results has been daunting." "C'mon, I can't have you sitting on top of all my work." "Well, I have a very ambivalent relationship with cats." "I love the way that they move and I think they're beautiful animals, but I just hate what they do to the wildlife." "The Society invited the public to register their cats for a five-month period, detailing every creature their kitty dragged home." "The amazing thing is we've had the results from 750 cats, which is a huge amount and much better than we'd expected." "We've got a lot of them analyzed and it's giving us some really good answers." "And some of them are real big killers, they're some big killer cats out there." "And they're causing quite a lot of mayhem." "Remarkably, almost as you'd expect, the traditional prey of the cat, the mouse, has come out much the highest." "If you extrapolate up to the number of cats we have in Britain, which is around about seven million and that's just the tame ones the wild ones are on top of that then we are looking at something around 200,000 mice" "are killed every year by cats." "And then we have voles, and then after that, shrews." "The mice are interesting, because a lot of people think we don't need mice, you know, because they can be a pest and a problem, particularly if they get into the house, but mice are very important," "along with the other small mammals, as prey species for natural predators." "Then, if we turn to the information we've got about cats, we find that a third of them, approximately, wear bells." "Wearing bells seems to make almost no difference at all to the amount of prey that they catch." "They still go out and catch just as much." "And color of cats seems to make a difference." "White cats appear to catch a lot less than some of the other more camouflaged cats, and I guess it's color that does that, particularly at night, if they're hunting at night." "The survey's certainly shown that however much you feed a cat, it makes no difference at all and the cat feeds and is just as likely to start hunting immediately." "Out of 750 cats, one of the biggest killers is Missy, a female cat who lives down in Dorset, and who has killed over seven pages worth of small mammals and birds for us to include in the survey." "So she's a real, you know, wicked thing to have out there." "Knowing her record," "I thought it would be interesting to enter her and I was really surprised myself when I started to fill in the form and found out how many things she did bring in." "Hilary and Jim Pike have become accustomed to Missy's daily offerings." "For Jim, the rabbits are the worst." "They all start from the skull and eat the head first and all we get left are two ears and four little paws°°°" "°°°which is not a very nice thing when you come home and it's on the middle of the mat or stuck on the tiles." "There must be some sort of driving force that makes her do it all the time°°° °°°nothing to do with hunger." "They obviously just do it because they love it." "The spot you see along here, she lays in there in the summer time, and the swallows zip along, come down to along the top of the pond to drink, and she just leaps up and grabs them clean out of the air" "And, you know, just a big snatch, and they're just stunned the moment she's got them." "The two sucker fish that we bought specifically to take out all the algae, within two weeks of us buying them and they were quite expensive..." "We paid 40 pound for the pair." "And in two weeks they're on the kitchen mat." "We found them on the grass." "So that was a waste of time and money." "Well, I've been collecting what Missy's brought in for the last two weeks, approximately." "So, would you like me" "To show you just a few of the items or bodies, I should say?" "It was a little bird, I'm afraid." "Just looks to be asleep, but unfortunately, there's one gone." "And then this is one of the many mice we have around here." "This is what Missy's brought in in less than two weeks." "She's quite a hunter." "She's really surprised us on the amount of carnage." "I've got to say that it's really shocked me when we started counting them up." "In the last two weeks she's brought in maybe 30, 36... plus maybe a dozen or so that we've let go." "And I think that's a little bit too much, really." "Well, I'm quite proud to think that she was one of the top cats." "But knowing how much stuff I didn't write down" "Because I wasn't here to see it, um, I think she's actually the top cat." "For many a cat, such extraordinary hunting prowess at one time translated into a ticket to travel the world." "They kept stowaway rats at bay..." "But not all the cats that left port made the long journey home." "Some jumped ship and soon had a foothold in a new frontiert" "New Zealand is a unique place." "Like many islands, its wildlife evolved with few natural predators." "Today, rare shore birds still lay their eggs on the sandy beaches completely exposed." "Attentive parents tend to their chicks, but their nests are vulnerable." "Until recently, the system worked fine." "But today, New Zealand's shore birds are in trouble." "Here at Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge, the fairy tern is down to less than six breeding pairs." "Each chick represents the future of the species." "With the Department of Conservation," "Richard Parrish and Leigh Honnor are part of a team trying to save the last of the fairy terns and Mangawhai's other threatened species." "Five years ago, they found themselves confronted with a mystery:" "Something was killing the chicks and no one knew what." "The team had to do a little undercover work." "One year we lost a lot of nests of the fairy terns and we didn't know who was doing it, so we decided to set up an infrared camera" "24 hours a day on the nests and try and work out who was taking the eggs and the chicks" "The new lens is good, isn't it?" "The wide-eyed angle lens..." "Oh, it is." "...taking in a much bigger field of view." "Well, those chicks will probably stay here another day." "You think so?" "Initially, we set it up on a Caspian tern colony, just to get used to the equipment and iron out the problems." "What they discovered was both alarming... ." "And macabre." "We ended up catching a cat on film, and over four nights, that cat took out 40 chicks." "The interesting thing for me was that the cat only ate the heads." "They left the bodies behind." "Over the next four years, they trained the camera on various nests and found more gruesome evidence against the alien predator." "As a result, feral cats are now being eradicated in Mangawhai Park." "New Zealand is just one example of what can happen when a cat comes to stay." "Here, in a land where temperatures can soar to 120 and there's often no water in sight, it's hard to imagine any creature surviving for long... but the cat has adapted once again." "In the middle of Australia's Outback, it must eat whatever it can find be it road kill or Australia's endangered wildlife." "Bilbies, bandicoots, and other rare marsupials have been pushed to the edge of extinction by a barrage of pressures, including introduced species." "One of the culprits is the cat." "For at least a century, feral cats have roamed this harsh expanse." "And yet they remain elusive°°° °°°even to those whose ancestors were here long before them." "In an effort to unlock their secrets," "Parks and Wildlife biologist Rachel Paltridge has enlisted the help of experts." "Searching for a cat in the Outback is like looking for a needle in a haystack." "Yet these Aboriginal trackers are able to read even the most elusive signs in the shadows of the sand." "So the pussy cat, him sitting down, jumping here, jumped there, jumped there, and over there..." "With their extraordinary expertise," "Rachel has begun to unravel the secrets of the cat" "Where's that pussy cat now long ways?" "Must be a long ways off." "With their greater insight, she hopes that, someday, cat numbers will be controlled." "They're a pretty amazing animal you have to respect them." "But they just don't belong out here." "They didn't evolve out here." "The native animals didn't evolve with them and just can't really tolerate their predation." "Hopefully, this work will lead to a better understanding of feral cats and eventually lead to better management." "To reveal the patterns of these elusive predators," "Rachel uses radio telemetry, tracking individual cats over time." "Finding them is only half the challenge." "Feral cats are as ferocious as any wild animal." "Before handling one," "Rachel must first anesthetize it." "Cat bites are not only dangerous to prey, they can infect humans as well." "We caught this cat about four months ago, using the Aboriginal trackers to catch it, and radio collared it, and we've been following its movement patterns in those last four months." "This cat normally only roams over about two or three kilometers a day and he has a fairly tight home range that he lives in." "He's lost about 300 grams in the last four months." "I don't know if its maybe times are getting a bit tough there may be a bit less food around." "I just wanted to check that his collar was still okay and not rubbing on his neck and just check his general condition." "But he's fine, so we'll just let him go here and continue tracking him." "Any cats that are not part of Rachel's study might find another fate awaits them." "It is a twist of irony:" "the cat has helped push much of the Aborigine's traditional food prey to near extinction." "In doing so, it now fills an important niche itself." "Like a game of cat and mouse in this scenario, it is the cat that has become the mouse." "Going to cook this one up for supper tonight?" "Yeah." "Good meat." "These people have been eating cats all their lives and it's quite an important part of their diet" "So they'll probably cook it up on the fire tonight." "Good bush meat?" "Yeah." "Now that the bilbies, bandicoots and other medium-sized mammals have all but disappeared, the cat has taken a place in the food chain." "Back at camp," "Rachel collects as much information as possible before the cat becomes dinner for the trackers" "I'm trying to look at the predation pressure on all the wildlife out there in the Spinnefex Grasslands and I'm looking at gut contents as probably the best way of understanding what they eat." "This cat was obviously a very good hunter." "You can see quite plainly each object's quite intact still." "What's this one, snake?" "He's got a little snake in here." "Well, there's heaps in his stomach." "There's three different sorts of lizards, three of these military dragons, one quite large..." "and there's also some remains of some bird feathers." "So you can just see how much of an impact they're probably having on the native wildlife out there if just each cat eats that much in just one day." "Ideally, we'd like to get rid of them altogether and see the native animals that have declined severely returned to their original status out here." "Until the cat is better understood, it will remain a fixture in the Outback." "It has worked its way into the food chain, for better or worse." "There is a new order here in the heart of Australia and it's not a kind one for the wildlife or the cat." "The cat wars are raging throughout Australia." "Halfway across the continent, there's a new chapter unfolding" "On 160,000 acres of land, a wire fence stretches as far as the eye can see." "Why would anyone put up a 150-mile fence in the middle of the Australian Outback?" "The world has lost 40 species of mammal over the last 200 years;" "23 of those were Australian." "At present, about one a year we're losing and that's just not acceptable." "John Wamsley is a self- made millionaire and rabid conservationist." "Considered controversial by many, his passion for native wildlife has fueled his ire against the cat." "Let's talk about cats." "This is a feral cat..." "they came to Australia about 500 years ago, probably with the early shipwrecks off the West Australian coast, but they couldn't cross" "Australia until the rabbit came." "The rabbit came late 1800s, and that allowed the cat to cross Australia, and that's when the devastation started." "I love Australia and I love the Australian wildlife." "I've taken on the job of saving them and I am going to save them." "It's as simple as that." "For over a decade," "Wamsley has bred endangered species in captivity to insure that Australia's unique creatures don't slip away." "We're an island." "We had no serious predators and all these incredible creatures evolved..." "little marsupials, most of them and they evolved to do wonderful things." "We've got banded anteaters with fluffy tails." "We've got kangaroos that burrow in the ground like rabbits." "And we're losing them." "We've got the bilbie that looks just like a cartoon character" "The world would love to see our animals, but they can't, because they're all going." "Wamsley's dream to create a safe haven for native creatures is getting closer all the time." "But fencing in habitat is only half the battle." "Before endangered wildlife can be released, the enclosure will have to be free of introduced species." "This fence is all about cats and rabbits." "It puts a pretty big boot in it." "It's a massive charge and it's like getting hit in the middle of the back with a sledge hammer." "When a cat touches that fence once, it doesn't come back." "On the other hand, we don't want to stop the big kangaroos, the wildlife that already live here, we don't want to stop them with this fence." "And this fence is designed to let them through." "The kangaroos just hop through." "What we're going to do here, is we're now watering the cats." "The cats have plenty of water here." "And on the hottest day in summer, when we get there in February when all the rabbits are gone we're gonna cut off their water." "There'll be water outside the fence." "They'll come over the fence to get the water." "They won't be able to get back in again." "For the cats and rabbits that don't take the bait," "Wamsley called in an expert." "I guess Adam O'Neil is the real live Crocodile Dundee." "He understands animals and the bush better than anybody else" "I've ever met." "He's probably the best shot that I've ever seen." "He can knock over a rabbit at 500 meters without any trouble." "Yeah, he's got the job of getting rid of the cats and the rabbits." "Well, I love the cat along with every other animal on this planet." "They're not exactly calculating and malicious with intent." "They're just out there acting on their instincts to survive." "It's just unfortunate the way things have panned out" "I suppose." "But they've obviously got to go from this environment." "Once again, the cat has been caught in the crossfire." "If you walk down the street with this cat hat on, then you are noticed." "I can guarantee you that." "Some people might try and ignore you, and they'll have different things to say to you, but you'll be noticed by everyone." "Here at CATS, Incorporated, we say,"No dead cats for hats."" "Right, Nippy?" "Not everyone approves of Wamsley's approach." "At the other end of the spectrum is Christine Pierson, the president of CATS, Incorporated." "She is dedicated to the care of strays and the control of cat numbers through sterilization." "Killing cats or trying to get rid of the cats is achieving nothing." "Christine Pierson has her own theories about the cat crisis." "If you leave the birds and the animals alone, they have a natural balance between them." "But the trouble is that people come along and they upset the natural balance and they stuff everything up." "And so the cat wars continue to rage." "Where does the solution lie?" "Perhaps it begins in our own backyards." "In the Adelaide Hills, there is a cat whose lifestyle changed a few years back." "Owner Christine Colyer is a bird lover who's found an unusual solution for her beloved cat." "Diddles is a happy cat." "The more comfortable she is, the happier she is the further out that tongue will hang." "She is the most beautiful cat in the world." "We just don't think that there's another one like her." "Nestled in this garden of Eden," "Diddles has the run of the house and access to an open cat flap... 24 hours a day." "The world outside for Diddles is a labyrinth of bridges and tunnels a playground for cats." "We have what we call a London Bridge, which Diddles just loves to run from one side to the other up and over and down." "It's not a cage." "And that's the beauty of it." "The garden is full of birds be it the [... pigeons, the red finches, rosillas, the cockatoos] that fly in." "They will graze directly around the cat units." "It's lovely to see the birds coming around so close." "It certainly is peace of mind for me to know where Diddles is, that she is safe and that she can go outside and enjoy life just as normal, but she is protected." "And so are the birds." "Back in Virginia, another cat is yielding to domestication." "Ting Tang!" "Time to come in." "Ting Tang ll's moment in the sun has come to an end." "You know the rules." "C'mon in now." "It's curfew time." "Good boy." "Yes, it's time to come on in." "Until tomorrow, there will be one less cat on the prowl." "Through the millennia, cats have found their way into our hearts and our homes." "Mama, Mama, Mama, Mom, Mama, look what I found." "Can I keep him, please, please?" "But has our passion for these creatures also blinded us to their natural instincts?" "Has domestication gone awry?" "With cat numbers on the rise," "Felis catus is getting away with murder." "Well-fed and sheltered, these predators are gaining a competitive edge against which few creatures can contend." "Most simply can't compete with the extraordinary cat." "In the time it's taken to watch this film, cats in the U.S. have caught as many as 100,000 mammals and over 30,000 birds." "As for Missy, last month she caught five rabbits, 17 shrews, 11 mice and seven birds." "Nine more cats were dumped in the Miami Park." "Neut celebrated another birthday." "Diddles communed with the cockatoos." "And Ting Tang II broke his curfew twice." "It's 9 p.m." "Do you know where your kitty is?" "He gives us his all." "Speed." "Endurance." "Power." "Yet his wild spirit burns bright." "Spark of ancient myth... pride of king and conqueror he was the backbone of civilization." "History was forged to the beat of his hooves." "Even now, he still lays claim to the heart" " With all the bold beauty that is the horse." "Summer sets off fireworks in the mountains of southern Montana." "Spurred by heat and hunger, wild horses converge on the cool green heights, and sparks begin to fly." "Stallions spar and court young mares in a drama as old as the hills." "The mustang has become a symbol of the American West." "But some say he's a newcomer to these parts, even a trespasser." "The truth is tangled in the long and winding history of his kind." "It began some 60 million years ago, in the forests of North America." "Living on leaves, a creature the size of a fox walks the underbrush on padded toes." "In time, forests give way to grassy plains." "Legs grow long, and toes become nimble hooves in a body built for speed." "About a million years ago, the first true horses spread across land bridges to Asia and Europe." "Their numbers swell, then slowly decline perhaps due to climate change, or the impact of a two-legged predator." "To Ice Age hunters, the herds must have seemed inexhaustible." "But by 8,000 years ago, horses were extinct in the Americas and dwindling elsewhere into memory and myth." "Then somewhere on the steppes of Eurasia, at least 4,000 years ago, the horse inspired someone as more than just a meal." "It may have begun as a shaman's ritual, or a reckless teenage prank." "But some brave soul took a quantum leap and changed the world forever." "The horse utterly changed our sense of distance and speed." "He carried us forward in space and time, and made our world smaller." "Great equestrian cultures arose and thundered across antiquity" "Today, most have vanished." "But here on the steppes of Mongolia, little has changed since the time when the horse became a way of life." "Nomads still measure their wealth in livestock and move vast herds with the seasons." "Small but hardy," "Mongolian horses endure a harsh climate, and grow a thick winter coat." "When pasture is meager, they can survive on very little." "Mongolian nomads also herd sheep, goats and cows, but horses are their greatest pride." "Revered, they are largely reserved for riding and one other important role." "Mongolia's national drink, called airag, is fermented mare's milk." "Life in the saddle begins early in keeping with a local proverb:" ""A Mongolian without a horse is like a bird without wings."" "In July, thousands of nomads set up camp on the edge of the capital city," "Ulan Bator." "They come to celebrate Naadam, an ancient religious festival." "National competitions of traditional sports are held, including two days of horse racing." "One of the country's top horse breeders," "Khen Medekh traveled over a week to take part in what will be his 30th Naadam." "From a herd of 400 head, he has brought his 12 fastest horses." "Also in tow are his grandchildren for good reason." "Riders must be under 12 to compete at Naadam." "Training, however, is no child's play." "It's what Khen Medekh lives for" "Horse training is a passion." "My father was a great trainer and he passed that on to me." "It's the same for most Mongolian people." "We compete at Naadam to see who has the best horse, and because we're so proud of our horses." "A fine racehorse is a symbol of good luck and happiness." "On the day of the first race, preparations begin at dawn." "Hats and bright silks will help families spot their little jockeys at a distance." "The distinguishing mark of a racehorse is a leather tail wrap always wound clockwise." "Forelocks are also bound." "Khen Medekh enhances the look with a charm bearing Mongolia's national emblem." "He has high hopes for this young stallion." "With an offering of mare's milk" "Khen Medekh's wife invokes the sacred powers of nature to bless horses and riders." "A circle of incense purifies." "A drop of airag protects from harm." "An ancient Buddhist chant rings out for luck." "Some 500 riders will compete in the first race." "Parents on horseback swell their ranks." "By tradition, they circle clockwise at a staging area near the finish line." "But the running of the race is not yet at hand." "The starting point lies more than 15 miles away in the open steppe." "To reach that point at a walk will take the racers some three hours which leaves time to kill for everyone else." "Nomads like Khen Medekh take the moment to catch up with old friends and trading partners." "For people who live much of the year in relative isolation, there's also the irresistible allure of new faces." "For now, small talk belies the drama that's erupting miles away, as 500 horses reach the starting point and the race begins." "Long before they can see the racers, spectators crowd the finish line." "According to myth, the dust kicked up by winning horses showers happiness and prosperity on all those it touches." "Front-runners have been galloping for nearly 30 minutes" "By Western standards, this might qualify as an extreme sport but these are the descendants of Genghis Khan, who forged the largest land empire ever known on horseback." "The blue sash of victory goes to the first five horses" "A flash of green tells Khen Medekh his granddaughter has placed." "But a riderless horse sends him off in search of his youngest grandson." "After an initial flurry, racers trickle in for another hour." "Herd instinct alone will keep a horse going even one that lacks the fitness and conditioning required for a long-distance run." "For some, the strain is too much." "When a horse dies on the racetrack, the trainer is dishonored." "But the child who has lost a beloved pet reaps only heartbreak." "A fall near the starting point dashed the hopes of Khen Medekh's grandson." "His horse is safe, his bruises minor." "But his six-year-old pride will sting until the races are over." "Naadam concludes in the National Stadium, with a parade of champions." "Khen Medekh is twice a winner." "His grandchildren take two of his horses through their victory laps." "A herald sings the praises of the winning horses;" "medals and mare's milk do them honor." "But for each little rider, the highlight is a kiss from the President of Mongolia." "No other nation makes more of the horse." "Fiery steed, faithful servant, he is all good things to the Mongolian people." "In return, they may succeed in saving the last truly wild horse on earth" "Before the rise of civilization, his kind ranged throughout Asia and Europe." "Alert and aggressive, they were elusive prey with their camouflage of tawny coat, their upright, two-toned mane." "These horses were already rare in 1878, when Russian explorer" "Nikolai Przewalski returned from Mongolia." "He carried a skull and hide that would prompt the announcement of a new species." "In a race for specimens, stallions were slaughtered to subdue mares." "Mares were killed to secure foals." "Dozens died en route to zoos and animal collectors in the West." "Przewalski's horses were last sighted in the wild in the 1960s." "A decade later, fewer than 300 survived in captivity only." "This endangered species was declared extinct in the wild." "In 1992, 16 Przewalski's horses from European reserves touched down in Ulan Bator." "Their journey was the crowning achievement of Dutch conservationists and Mongolian authorities." "Transports were blessed with mare's milk as the horses arrived at a nature reserve established in their honor." "The homecoming delighted local people." "Their name for the horses is takhi." "The word also means spirit." "Today, some 80 free spirits roam 120,000 acres under watchful eyes." "Park rangers closely track the animals' health and behavior." "Breeding success is high:" "two generations have been born in the reserve." "To increase the gene pool, horses are still brought in from the west." "But prospects for self-sustaining population are promising." "Mongolia's preservation of the takhi seems a fitting tribute to an animal who has given us so much." "Domesticated, the horse revolutionized our world but in the process, he was also transformed." "The legendary Arab is just one of more than 150 breeds some honed for work, some for sport, others for sheer show." "The Spanish horse boasts one of the oldest pedigrees." "His speed and stamina were praised by the Romans." "The famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna was founded in his name." "A dancer's grace made him a favorite of monarchs, and earned him the title:" ""Royal Horse of Europe."" "Today, he inspires a new generation at the Royal Andulusian School of Equestrian Art in the town of Jerez, in southern Spain." "Few gain admission here:" "only first-rate horses, trainers and students." "A strict curriculum has produced several Olympic competitors." "The school also keeps tradition alive." "Once a week, the public is invited in, to enjoy the splendors of another age." "In 18th century costume, riders recreate the height of classical horsemanship, as it was practiced throughout the courts of Europe." "Most spectacular are the "airs above the ground."" "Horses naturally leap and kick when fighting." "Centuries ago, cavalry mounts were trained to perform these moves in battle." "Eventually each gesture became an end in itself as formal as ballet." "A supreme effort," "virtually in place" "Few can perform this exacting dance with the power and precision of the Spanish horse." "The purity of the breed is proudly protected in Spain, yet his bloodlines extend far and wide for this was the horse who once conquered a new world." "Some 500 years ago," "Spanish explorers rode upon the shores of the Americas." "Some native people mistook man and mount for a single fearsome creature" "But soon, they would make the horse their own." "Through stealth and trade," "Native Americans embraced the horse." "It was said" ""they came to each other like long lost brothers."" "Some called him "Sky Dog."" "He opened vast horizons in this life, and haunted their visions of the afterlife." "But this cult of the horse would not last." "By the 19th century," "Native Americans had been robbed of land and livelihood." "Their beloved Sky Dogs were shot, or simply set loose." "Scores of Indian ponies joined strays and runaways already thriving in the wilderness." "By 1900, over a million horses roamed the American West." "But not for long." "To make way for cattle and sheep, public lands were cleared of animals considered worthless pests." "They were slaughtered by the thousands for pet food, fertilizer, and mere sport." "In the 1950s, public outcry denounced the abuses." "Still, numbers had dropped below 20,000 by 1971, when a federal law was finally passed to protect the wild horse as a "living symbol of the pioneer spirit of the West."" "Today, the Bureau of Land Management oversees some 45,000 horses on public lands in 10 states." "On the Montana-Wyoming border, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is home to a herd of about 160" "Most live in small family groups of several mares, their foals and a single dominant stallion" "His role is to guard his "harem"" "and protect his growing offspring." "This stallion, known as Raven, is one of the most dominant on the range." "A heap of fresh droppings called a "stud pile"" "alerts him that potential rivals may be in the vicinity." "A band of young bachelor stallions prompts Raven to move his family to a safe distance." "Then he advances on the intruders and confrontation becomes inevitable." "Raven may be outnumbered, but at ten years old, his maturity and experience give him the advantage." "As he enters the fray, his band stays put on the sidelines." "Most clashes between stallions are more about asserting rank than inflicting harm, and serious injuries are rare." "In the end, the bachelors move on unscathed but chastened, and Raven returns to his mares" "Occasionally, even mature stallions form malliances." "A stud named Starman acts as a subordinate or "lieutenant stallion" to Flash, who has a mare and foal of his own." "Flash tolerates Starman's presence, but allows him no access to his lone mare." "In summer, a waterhole fed by melting snow banks attracts this small band." "The mare enjoys a soothing mud bath, while her three-month old foal plays with the idea." "But for now, the water holds no appeal for Flash's lieutenant stallion." "Starman picks up the scent of another mare, and sets off in hot pursuit." "The mare's yearling son tries to intercept Starman, but fails to impress such a mature stallion." "This mare's own stallion must be just out of sight a boon for Starman." "Still, she rejects his advances." "In the end, she gets away, and Starman can only observe the tactics of more successful suitor." "At times, the Pryor Mountains seem heaven-on-earth for horses." "Though much of the terrain is arid and winters are harsh, summer pastures can be glorious" "The horses have few predators to fear:" "most were eliminated by ranching and land development." "With high fertility rates, the horses' numbers can increase by 10, even 20 percent a year." "And that means trouble in paradise." "In the last three decades, the Bureau of Land Management has removed more than 100,000 wild horses from the range." "The round ups are intended to protect public lands from overgrazing and ensure the health of the herds." "Excess animals are placed in adoption programs, but supply far exceeds public demand." "Horses deemed "unadoptable"" "live out their days in holding pens." "Even now, the fate of America's wild horses remains an open-ended question" "Some 4,000 years of domestication have failed to deprive the horse of his wild instincts." "His natural impulse is to flee the company of humans." "Bryan Neubert makes a living, not "breaking"" "but-in his words- "starting" wild or green horses" "This two-year-old quarter horse stud, born on the open range, has never been handled." "On his ranch in northern California," "Bryan is about to make first contact." "Bryan will chase the horse until he turns to face his pursuer." "The goal is capture the animal's attention and keep it." "I'll ask again now." "Good." "Now let's see if he leaves with the hindquarters or if he leaves with the whole horse." "See, here's the... the first little part is gonna happen here in just a second, I think." "Subtle shifts of body language keep the horse focussed on Bryan." "If his attention wanders," "I might see if I can get another step closer." "As long as he's doing that, I'll just let that soak in." "I'll take another step." "And I'll take another one here" "He's having trouble with it, but he's trying." "He's gonna have to leave here pretty soon." "And I'll try to direct him back" "There, he adjusted in the rear quarters, that's what I'm gonna need here." "Within about 15 minutes, the young stallion has mastered the maneuver." "Now Bryan presents a new challenge." "I might do just a little swinging here and see if he can stand that." "And I'll see about, see if I can put that on there without hitting him in the face" "And I'll just, as I come forward, just let that go." "And it's kinda scary." "You can see that it's troubling to him a little." "I'll just put just a little pressure till, till he finds his way toward me" "See, he keeps thinking his answer is out of here, but the answer's right there." "The horse turns to Bryan for reassurance a critical breakthrough." "Now he might reach for me." "Let's see if, he'll come in here." "I'll see if I can get another half a step without scaring him." "See how he's reaching for me?" "Now here's a spot where you want to watch their ears, 'cause some of them, they'll take a run at you." "Now, I'll just wait here till he reaches." "Like that." "See him smelling me?" "There's the first, second time he's ever been touched by a human or he touched a human, I guess" "Now, again, let's see if this head shaking will disappear." "I'll just keep a little tension there, and I'll see if he'll reach for me." "And pretty soon I'll reach for him, like right there." "We sorta met one another." "Little bit of touching there." "Little bit more here." "See, he's finding out he can touch me and reach for me now." "In a horse, there's a spot in there where they can just turn loose emotionally." "You can see in their eye and their face a change that comes over them and they'll begin to drop their head and their eyes'll soften and you can just see that they're beginning to trust you and then you can" "move right on and really advance then." "I'll get my weight shifted back" "He's feeling a whole lot better about things now, he's finding out I can touch him and he won't get hurt." "Less than half an hour after the first touch," "Bryan tests the saddle." "Very important to swing this on so that it doesn't hit him." "I'll just grab it, gradually just lays right over on their back like that." "I don't mind seeing one buck with the saddle, because being a prey animal, that's his responsibility to not let anything stay up there" "That's where the predator has the best advantage." "If he can get above and stay with him, then he can have himself a meal." "Pretty dreamy now, but we'll see what he's like when he feels that saddle on there" "I'd rather he test the saddle before I get on than after I got up there." "Now I'm gonna move him off, but ever so softly, if I can." "I'm not trying to make him buck." "Okay, maybe I'll give him a little consoling." "Did you get scared...?" "It's been less than two hours since Bryan began work a fairly routine "first session"." "He'll leave the saddle in place for a few more hours, then give the young stallion a well-earned rest until morning." "Yesterday's fear gives way to recognition and trust." "Today will be another turning point." "Social animals feel safest in a group." "As a comfort to the young stallion," "Bryan has corralled several other horses." "See, if he wiggles," "I'll just wait here till he stands put." "Pet him over here as if it was my leg and maybe... get myself kinda set here before he gets untracked." "Might let him go right out that way." "And I'll just ask him to go." "If he gets upset, if he gets scared, wants to run, I'll just try to go with him." "People ask me about this new way of working with horses." "Far as I know, it's been around as long as there's been horses and men interacting with one another." "I don't know how the first man could ever get on the horse for the first time without having something working for him." "I'll get a little bolder as he gets a little more" "confidence." "I'll ask him here to come back to me with this rein alittle, and he did." "The young stallion's first ride lasts no more than 15 minutes and prompts a simple reward." "Hey kid." "This just kinda soothes them sometimes, give them a little hugging." "This is a place where they, a lot of them just can't stand to have you that close." "And if you can show them that it's okay to be this close, why it's a real relaxing, soothing kind of thing." "They really have to trust ya." "By day three, it's time to abandon the security of the corral." "A whole new life is beginning for the young stallion." "He's gettin' so he trusts me a whole lot more today," "I see." "And Bryan is left to ponder an age-old mystery about the nature of horses." "I often wonder:" "How in the world would they allow somebody to get up on their back and guide them around?" "They'll take us miles and miles till they're totally, you know, tired." "Pull wagons and pack loads and all kinds of things, when actually they could kick us or hurt us or buck us off any time." "And yet they'll just work their hearts out for us, if it's presented to them in a way that they can understand" "Pretty special animal, really." "Special, indeed." "No more than 60 years before the first moon landing, the world was driven by horse power." "Every sector of the economy relied on him:" "transport and trade, industry and agriculture." "No creature served us better in the building of civilization or its occasional overthrow." "For millennia, the warhorse prevailed in battle." "If not for a horse, would Alexander have been great?" "Who can imagine Attila the Hun or Napoleon on foot?" "Over a million horses served in World War I." "Nearly a third died." "In World War Il, tens of thousands perished in a battle of bullets and bombs." "The Age of Horsepower was over" "And yet there are more horses in the world today than during the 1800s some 62 million." "In an Age of Technology, perhaps we yearn all the more for the touch of something wild" "The horse is no longer changing our world." "But he can still change lives one at a time." "In central Georgia," "Carol Wooley has loved horses since she was a child." "In 1995, a friend told her about an old school horse who had seen better days as a fox hunter and jumper." "His name was Carousel, and he needed a home." "Carousel was in his mid to late 20s, a little lame, in fact,100 pounds over weight." "He was a little swayback, just a good quiet lesson pony" "Carol took good care of him." "Local children rode him." "Soon" "Carousel was a favorite." "In 1996, two weeks after the summer Olympic Games, the Paralympics came to Atlanta" "Some 3,500 athletes attended." "For the first time, equestrian events were included" "Sixteen nations sent teams." "It was up to event organizers to provide horses for 62 athletes with a wide range of disabilities." "Each would be judged on precision, smoothness, and harmony of horse and rider, while performing a set pattern in the arena." "A call went out to horse owners for calm, well-trained mounts." "Carol Wooley volunteered two of her younger horses, but Games Officials were desperate for more." "She thought twice then sent for old Carousel as well." "After a check-up, he was quickly put to the test" "And later in the day they called him for Denmark, and I met Brita Anderson who's a very small woman in a wheelchair, and I thought to myself," ""There's no way she is going to ride this pony."" "She spoke English quite well, and I asked her,"Have you ever fallen off a horse?"" "And she smiled and looked at me and says," ""Many times."" "Far from falling, on the day of competition," "Brita and Carousel took Carol by surprise." "Brita and Carousel made a connection." "He knew exactly what she wanted and she knew how to get the most out of him." "And he loved her." "I'm still not sure how she did it, but they just were a perfect match." "The judges agreed." "The pair took first place in their division, and received the highest score of all the competitors." "From Denmark," "Brita Anderson riding Midland's Carousel, owned by Carol Wooley." "When they won the gold medal, it was this little pony and a horse trainer from no where and a world-class rider, and the thought that they actually won that gold and they earned it, it was probably one of the high points in my life." "By the time she returned home," "Carol had decided to start a therapeutic riding school." "Horseback riding can improve balance and muscle tone, as well as a sense of independence and self-esteem in people with all sorts of disabilities." "For Carol there's no greater reward than to see someone like 13-year-old Sara take her first ride." "You're riding, kid!" "You're riding!" "When you take a child out of a wheelchair and put him on a horse, he's immediately taller." "The walk of a horse mimics the same movement you get to actually walk on your own legs, it gives them freedom of mobility, it gives them control over something that they may have never known before." "They can control where they're going." "Carol runs the school on grants, donations and volunteers." "And Carousel heads her fleet of gentle horses past their prime." "In August of 1998, at a regional show for riders with disabilities," "Carol decides to send Carousel into the arena one last time." "Nine-year-old Shawn Donalson, one of Carol's top students, has never competed before." "It's a breathless moment for his parents." "Make the old man proud." "He's got a good horse." "Knows what to do." "Young boy and old horse are picture-perfect, and take a blue ribbon." "In first place," "Shawn Donalson." "A first for Shawn, a final trophy for Carousel." "The competition concludes with a ceremony." "As a symbol of retirement," "Carol removes the saddle from a little horse of unknown breeding who has meant so much to so many." "To him go the full laurels of a champion." "He was quite calm and stood through everything." "He half way, I think, understood that we were doing an honor to him." "I was a little surprised that he didn't mind us putting flowers on him." "He acted like, well, those were his flowers." "This was fine." "I think, he enjoyed it really." "He wasn't just an old sway backed horse with a gray face." "He was everybody's dream of a horse." "He served everyone that's ever owned him, every place he's been." "He's done everything we've asked him to do all of his life." "To me, he symbolizes all the horses that have worked hard all their lives and have given us so much pleasure." "He's a fairly tale of a horse" "But there's probably thousands of them out there just like him." "I guess he's the poster child for all of them." "For all they have done for us, for all that they are, may they always have green pastures each and every one." "Once we saw them as gods these soaring spirits of the sea." "How else to explain their boundless grace and energy, the way they inspire our joy." "Today, dolphins seem like part of the family." "They enchant us with their willingness to please and perform." "But the dolphin ' s true home... the sea is an alien world and here a different side emerges." "Cunning, powerful and relentless, dolphins are consummate predators." "They are social creatures that communicate and cooperate for danger can strike from anywhere." "The quest for prey, the quest for mates, nothing comes easy out here." "For the ocean is as unforgiving as it is boundless." "Join us as we explore the world of dolphins in the wild." "In the salt marshes of South Carolina is a rich ocean estuary a nursery for fish and shellfish and a lure for all kinds of predators," "Every day as the tide ebbs, the broad mud banks become exposed," "It is then an extraordinary event occurs," "Seabirds vie for a front row position," "They have an intense interest in hat is to come," "The predators regroup for another coordinated attack," "These are bottlenose dolphins among the most inventive and intelligent hunters in the sea," "Here they locate schools of small fish in the turbid channels," "Then in a stunning maneuver, they rush up the mudflats creating a bow wave that drives the fish ashore," "Using their excellent above-water vision, they snatch up the fish stranded on the banks," "How dolphins locate the schools of fish and coordinate their attack is not entirely known" "They may use either audible or visual signals" "For some reason the dolphins always rush up the banks on their right side" "Over time the teeth on that side will actually be worn down from chewing as much mud as fish" "Occasionally they will work themselves completely out of the water" "Being stranded up here could be fatal" "As they shimmy up the mud banks it's almost as if they're evolving into the land creatures they once were" "Some fifty million years ago the ancestors of these air-breathing mammals ventured into the seas" "To follow dolphins in the wild is to discover one of the most remarkable adaptations in the natural world" "They use their intelligence to survive changing or inventing strategies to suit their environment" "Spinner dolphins leap in hat appears to a display of exuberance" "In fact, they may be signaling others to join them, or coordinating movements of the pod," "A kind of long distance communication," "At close range, dolphins "speak" through clicks and histles," "These signals can mean anything from" ""Food's over here" to "Watch out!" "There's danger!"" "They also communicate through touching," "Dolphins are notoriously affectionate and extremely sensuous," "When dolphins mate, they swim in rhythm with the female on top," "Sex is as frequent as it is casual," "It's not always for reproduction" "Often it's a social tool used to strengthen and maintain bonds" "Whether old or young male or female-all dolphins engage in caressing and petting" "But beneath this veneer of harmony lies a darker side, marked by conflict and violence" "Surprisingly the beloved bottlenose we know as "Flipper" may be the most aggressive dolphin species" "In the Bahamas two male bottlenose harass a male spotted dolphin" "At first the interaction seems harmless enough but it quickly escalates" "The bottlenose take turns assaulting the spotted perhaps to assert their dominance" "Next they turn on a spotted dolphin half their size" "It's only a calf" "Bottlenose are among the very few wild creatures that will kill for reasons other than hunger" "Swimming in formation a group of adult spotteds rush in to intercede" "In the flurry of threats the calf escapes to the surface" "Bottlenose are even more prone to clashing with members of their own species" "These males in the Bahamas bear many scars including those from fierce battles" "A first sign of impending trouble is "jaw clapping"" "a clear audible threat" "When fights break out they're marked by head ramming biting and blows from powerful flukes" "Many dolphins have evolved their own sometimes brutal aspects of society" "Shark Bay in Western Australia here vast sea grass beds support a large community of bottlenose dolphins" "Here an international team of scientists investigates dolphin aggression" "The waters of Shark Bay are in the throes of hat appears to be a gang fight" "Groups of males are observed chasing down other males" "It can go on for hours and cover miles of territory" "The battles are over females part of an extremely complex social system only now being unraveled by Dr, Richard Connor from the University of Massachusetts" "He's spent his professional life studying dolphins in the wild" "And his work has changed our image of the dolphin" "I think in the 1960's the myth was generated that dolphins were all sweetness and light" "And almost incapable of aggression" "At least that was the public perception carried on a large part until today" "Dolphins are capable of a lot of aggression" "They can be quite nasty depending on the circumstance" "They are complex intelligent social mammals and that carries with it a range of behaviors from the nice to the not so nice" "Just like in our own species" "And like our own species dolphins are highly individualistic" "To study their relationships" "Connor needs to clearly recognize individuals" "He does this by their unique fin markings" "He's studied them in Shark Bay since 1982 and he knows over three hundred dolphins by name" "and Minnie right there between them." "And here comes Bad Ghost and Poltergeist." "There ' s Wow resting at the surface." "There ' s Myrtle, there ' s Hobo." "Xxx and Horton?" "Beautiful, look at that!" "All together." "Connor is especially intrigued by relationships between the males" "To him, it's like cracking the code of a secret society" "They follow a mature male with a jagged dorsal fin named "Bottom Hook"" "He's usually observed swimming with another male called "Pointer"" "They're almost inseparable forming hat Connor calls an alliance" "Some of these alliances last for a dozen years or more" "Today a female is seen swimming between them as if she's being herded" "In fact, she is their captive" "They guard her night and day" "Very rarely do you see the female off to the side from the males" "They like to keep her between them" "That basically eliminates avenues of escape for her" "We've seen them keep females for over a month at a time" "Bottomhook and Pointer are vigilant" "Their strategy is to keep her from mating with other males" "To limit the female's choice to themselves" "We've often seen the males use alot of aggression to keep the female with them," "Even so, it's likely that the female wants to mate with these males as well as other males in the bay" "The males are trying to sequester the female simply to increase the chance that they will be the father of the offspring" "Eventually, the hungry males must break formation to feed" "Pointer races off to chase a fish" "It's a risky move because in the confusion the female may try to escape" "One male will be close to the female for a hile" "The other will be off foraging catching fish" "And then they'll switch," "And the one that was off chasing fish will come back and stay close to the female" "Now here Pointer is rushing back towards her now" "As Pointer resumes guard duty" "he warns the female with a popping sound" "It means: "stay close"" "For other male alliances are prowling the bay in search of females to capture and they'll kidnap them from rivals" "But not without help" "Connor found that different alliances will join forces to kidnap females or to defend against attacks" "Some of these groups have joined together to form a nearly invincible super-alliance" "It consists of fourteen males and their captive females" "Unique in the animal kingdom" "Connor calls them the "wow crowd"" "We suspect from hat we can see the "wow crowd" seems to dominate interactions in this area" "Probably by being in such a large group they are able to defeat other alliances" "But we suspect that the way they're always changing partners is required to maintain friendly bonds within the group" "They have to take turns cooperating with each other to sort of keep things on a friendly basis between all the alliances" "Maintaining relations in such a large group is a delicate proposition" "But the pay-off is clear" "Like a fierce tribe the "wow crowd" dominates other alliances and can aggressively pursue its goal of capturing females" "It's easy to lose sight of the females' role in all this" "In fact, she is the motivating force behind much of this Machiavellian male behavior" "The females of most dolphin species have a mating strategy of their own" "And it calls for multiple sexual partners" "So in spite of the males' best efforts to restrict the females' choice it's not entirely successful" "This spotted dolphin female in the Bahamas mates with a number of eager males" "Any one of these partners may end up being the father of her calf" "In a surprising way this strategy may protect her future offspring" "A female dolphin will usually give birth to a single calf after a year long pregnancy" "It'll be a few years before this one becomes spotted like its mother" "After giving birth the female is unreceptive during the calf's first few years" "She will spurn the advances of courting males" "But young males can be dangerously persistent" "Adult male dolphins may do more than simply harass females" "They are strongly suspected of killing dolphin calves a possible strategy for making the female receptive again" "This time the mother fights them off" "In Shark Bay, a female, Nicky cruises the shallows with her calf" "She's being herded by Bottomhook and Pointer" "Like most female dolphins she's mated with a number of partners" "So the scientists are not sure ho the father of the calf is" "But then neither are Bottomhook and Pointer" "And in their uncertainty, the calf is spared" "Finding food is the mother's top priority and here in Shark Bay she's discovered some surprising resources" "There's something enchanting about coming in contact with dolphins in the wild" "The activity is carefully monitored to avoid potential harm to dolphins or to humans" "Please, please don't reach out to her head, please" "That's Nicky;" "she will bite you" "Trust me" "She hasn't bitten anybody since yesterday," "If you're lucky enough to be called out" "Just step out" "Hold the fish by the tail" "Not the dolphin," "Place right down into the dolphins mouths" "Please do not be tempted to touch during the feeding that's hen we can have accidents" "This kind of interaction between humans and wild dolphins occurs in very few places" "For some, it's a healing experience" "For others a kind of mystical, New Age encounter" "But to the hungry dolphins it's mostly about getting a fish" "If there's a lesson here for the calf it's that a dolphin must always be inventive in finding food" "For out in the wild it's no easy task" "Calves are dependent on their mothers for some three to six years" "During this period the young dolphin must learn how to fend for itself" "Like humans, dolphins are not born with the skills to survive" "The learning process may start through simple mimicry" "The calf will imitate its mother's every pose posture and action" "If she stands with her tail in the sand the calf will follow suit" "Even though it may not have an inkling of hy she's doing so" "Dolphins are opportunistic feeders and the young must learn many extremely difficult and creative hunting techniques" "The mother is using sound in a way the calf may not be capable of just yet" "The buzzing sound is a series of rapid fire clicks part of a sophisticated sensory system called echolocation" "The sound signals penetrate the sands then echo back, giving a clear indication of hat lies below" "It's like X-ray vision capable of seeing through almost any porous medium" "Dolphin calves can create sounds shortly after birth mostly histles used for communication" "The clicks required for echolocation may take months to develop" "Like most intelligent predators dolphins learn to hunt by making a game out of it" "This trunkfish is not part of their diet but for the young dolphins it's a target to practice on" "It takes an adult to demonstrate proper form" "Calves often wander away from their mothers sometimes up to half a mile" "Though it can be dangerous taking risks is an important part of learning" "These young dolphins may not very adept but at least they're catching fish on their own" "The mortality rate for young dolphins is very high" "In Shark Bay fifty percent don't survive their first year" "Much depends on how quickly the calf can master new skills for survival" "A mother leads her calf on strenuous runs in the shallows" "The calf can barely keep up" "This is basic training for a difficult and dangerous fishing strategy" "It's a skill passed on from generation to generation" "The techniques that dolphin calves learn are often unique to here they live" "The steep cliffs of Cape Peron block the prevailing winds creating calm clear waters along the beach," "Shallows can be dangerous places for dolphins" "Strandings are not uncommon and here they can easily be cornered by predators" "But the shallow water is a hunting ground for a small group of specialists" "Here they practice a fishing technique other dolphins find too risky" "The shallows would seem to favor the smaller creature" "But the dolphin has mastered the art of hydroplaning skimming through mere inches of water" "Sometimes breathing air has its advantages" "The sea eagle ho's watched the chase with intense interest times his swoop perfectly" "Of the four to five hundred dolphins in Shark Bay only a handful of females have mastered this technique" "Often dolphins play with their catch before eating it" "Just offshore a dolphin tosses a snake eel about like a ragdoll" "The others approach the tossed prey with great interest" "But they will not touch it observing some kind of protocol" "Scientists have speculated it's a way of confirming trust or simply avoiding a costly conflict" "When calves catch their tiny fish they too make a great show of it" "By five or six years old young dolphins no longer need their mother's guidance" "They will be part of a hunting culture that will forever be as challenging as it is perilous" "Dolphins have adapted to an alien world that is hostile to air-breathing mammals" "In the dark of night dolphins need to know hat's out there" "Using their echolocation dolphins can detect the size shape" " Even the density of an object" "But it's only good for a hundred yards or so and is highly directional detecting nothing from behind" "It's so accurate they can clearly distinguish between different species of fish" "Even in daylight visibility is limited underwater" "But using sonar can be risky because the tell-tale clicks may reveal your presence to predators" "So dolphins rely more on their excellent hearing" "The best defense is to stay together keep silent-and listen" "Success in hunting is knowing hen to use your sonar and hen to turn it off" "With its own sonar turned off a killer hale moves silently through Alaskan waters-listening" "It can hear the slightest splashing the very breathing of distant prey" "A group of Dall's porpoises just up ahead" "These are among the fastest small cetaceans so quick and agile they can elude most predators" "They travel these icy waters in groups of two to ten" "But for this small herd there's little safety in numbers" "As quietly as possible the killer hales are closing in" "The slightest sound would betray their presence" "The porpoises detect something" "But it may be too late" "The killers are capable of speeds up to thirty miles per hour" "The porpoise zig-zags for its life" "Killer hales are masters at cutting off the path of retreat" "This one dives below a harbor porpoise" "Like sharks killer hales don't always finish off their prey right away" "They'll often let the victim struggle until it's energy is spent or it simply bleeds to death" "Other members of the pod move in on a" "Dall's porpoise that's been hit" "It still has some life left and tries to make it to calmer inshore waters" "The males" " Like lions tend to leave the hunting to the females" "Now they join in for the kill" "Soon the restless seas are resonating with the eerie calls of the killers" "and the chilling sounds of teeth crushing bone" "The porpoise had the unhappy fate to be pursued by hunters with sensory capabilities as good as its own" "For killer hales are dolphins" "They are the largest member of the family and the only dolphins that habitually hunt their cousins" "Still, they're the most sociable of all dolphins living in highly stable family groups" "Most of the males never leave the group they are born in" "Some will even teach the calves how to hunt" "This unfortunate harbor seal is about to become a living training tool" "The killer hales circle the prey as if toying with it" "In fact they may be demonstrating to their young how to cut off a prey's retreat or how to confuse it" "More important the calves will learn how to coordinate their efforts with others in the pod" "Older males have been observed allowing calves to feed before they themselves begin to eat" "The young will grow into the ocean's top predators" "Like killer hales, pilot hales are misnamed and are true dolphins" "The second largest of the family they can weigh up to four tons" "Pilot hales dive to depths of a half mile in search of octopus and squid" "These pygmy killer hales may be every bit as fierce as their namesakes" "And like their bigger cousins, they're believed to kill marine mammals" "But pygmy killers are very rare and seldom observed in the wild" "There are over thirty species of dolphins and we know very little about most of them" "The northern right hale dolphin is a gregarious creature often found swimming with other species like hite-sided dolphins," "Dolphins come in a variety of sizes and shapes" "What distinguishes them as a family are anatomical features like the shape of the jaws and teeth" "Dolphins are designed for the hunt" "This fifty ton monster is a grazer not a hunter" "And it's a true hale" "Southern right hales are filter feeders straining enormous quantities of water for tiny crustaceans" "The windswept shores of Patagonia in Argentina" "Once a year right hales migrate to breed in the warm shallow waters" "Here they are greeted by dusky dolphins" "Unlike their big lumbering cousins duskys are small fast, and agile" "In the summer months they leave the safety of coastal waters to hunt miles offshore" "In deep waters, locating pursuing and catching prey is exceptionally difficult" "But duskys have developed some extraordinary tactics" "In the morning, small search parties set out probing with their sonar" "There may be twenty to thirty groups patrolling these waters each pod separated by a mile or two" "The leaps give them a vantage point for sighting prey" "Seabirds have gathered up ahead a sign they've found something" "This time of year Southern anchovies are here in vast numbers" "For the penguins it's a feast" "It's up to the dolphins to bring some order to all this and they quickly do" "The dolphin's strategy is to circle the school and drive it into an ever tightening ball" "They guard the outside perimeter by blowing bubbles hich frightens the fish" "This takes advantage of the fishes' natural defense to huddle together hen attacked" "As the fish ball gets tighter the duskys take turns grabbing mouthfuls of fish then retreat to guard the perimeter" "Soon the ball is clustered so tightly the fishes' escape response breaks down" "Now it's simply a matter of the dolphins' nipping food off the edges" "As the feeding progresses the dolphin calves are nohere to be seen" "For others drawn to the feast might prefer young dolphin to a mouthful of anchovies" "Mothers bring their calves to a sort of nursery away from the chaos of the feeding area" "For the rest of the group the feeding's over and it's time to celebrate" "The event is marked by exhilarating acrobatic displays" "Dolphin groups that usually travel apart now come together to socialize" "In the world of dolphins that means frequent sex with a variety of partners" "The males" " Swimming upside down follow the females" "They synchronize their movement with hers all for a brief moment of coupling" "Physical contact among these groups of dolphins strengthens communal bonds" "For cooperative hunters these bonds are essential" "The duskys are about to face a challenge that calls for teamwork on monumental scale" "Sixty feet below the surface, a monstrous swirl of life undulates like a strange super organism" "It's a mass of anchovies over a hundred feet in diameter" "For these duskys it's the mother lode" "Circling the fish with violent splashes the duskys corral them closer together" "A team of dolphins works below the school herding it towards the surface" "They must keep the enormous mass together" "If it splits into smaller schools they'll be hard to control" "Finally, they succeed in herding the great ball of fish to the surface" "It serves as a wall, closing off one avenue of escape" "Now sea lions are drawn to the scene" "The dolphins struggle to keep the school together but the sea lions are not team players" "They plunge into the mass of fish to feed" "The school is simply too large for the dolphins to control" "Now the leaps serve a different purpose" "High and acrobatic they're calls for help" "From miles away, other duskys rush to the feeding site" "They porpoise high in the air to keep sight of the action ahead" "By the time they reach the school there's a feeding frenzy going on" "Chaos reigns and the ball is in danger of splitting apart" "The new arrivals get right to work and quickly coordinate their efforts with the other duskys" "Now there are enough dolphins to guard the perimeter hile they take turns feeding" "Finally all the dolphins' hard work pays off" "The fish have been packed together so long they've consumed too much oxygen" "There's little chance the ball will split apart" "For the dolphins ho can now feed at will this hunt is over" "To ancient mariners the dolphins' mastery of the ocean world seemed magical" "They were cast as heroes in myth and legend" "Today we look for glimpses of ourselves in dolphins" "And we find them in their conflicts yes-but also in the ways they communicate and cooperate their sheer inventiveness," "But there's no need to romanticize or humanize dolphins to respect them for hat they are" "Strong and intelligent hunters in a wilderness called the sea" "The English language contains dozens of words that describe the dog" "Yet none alone seems entirely adequate" "Ioving, loyal, devoted, amusing, spirited, tireless" "How they enchant us, delight us, brighten our days" "And how they work for us" "Down through history no other animal has served us in as many ways" "Called by one philosopher" ""the noblest beast God ever made," the dog is at work" "On farms and in pastures around the world..." "Across the forbidding reaches of the frozen North..." "As comrades on the battlefields of war..." "Seeking even the faintest scent of a buried victim" "Of disaster..." "Or a hiker who has lost his way" "And he is the devoted servant of he ill, elderly, and handicapped" "We will never know exactly how this unprecedented partnership came about or when" "But one story tells us:" ""In the beginning" "God created man, but seeing him so feeble" "He gave him the dog"" "Every year since 1877 a stylized ritual has been repeated in Manhattan the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show the world series of dogdom" "Some 2,66 dogs, all purebreds and prizewinners in other shows will compete." "Westminster now welcomes 136 breeds and varieties" "There are 52 million dogs in the United States" "While some romp in the yard or sleep by the fire others are being carefully primped and primed to take home ribbons" ""Oh, Rhye, Rhye, Rhye Oh, Rhye, Rhye, Rhye" "What do you think, huh?"" ""Give me another kiss Good boy!"" ""You're a sweetheart aren't you"" ""That's $56.66" "That's a show special normally $79.95"" ""Low sodium" "A diet for your dogs an all natural diet" "No added preservatives colorings, or flavorings"" ""Oh, that ought to be great"" ""Okay." "Try that out on him and if you live in Manhattan there's a store that delivers for you right on the bag"" "While most show dogs today perform no labor at all outside the arena historically their ancestors worked side by side with man" "In fact, our unique and splendid partnership with the dog began as a working relationship... as long as ten to fifteen thousand years ago" "Over the centuries many of their jobs became obsolete" "One that has continued is tending sheep" "In New Zealand, sheep outnumber people twenty to one and a saying goes:" ""No dog, no shepherd" "No shepherd, no sheep" "No sheep, no wool or meat"" "With dogs at their side" "New Zealand farmers now rank second in wool exports and are near the top in meat products" "Some of New Zealand's back country is so remote it is only accessible by helicopter" "The dogs may not like the ride but where the shepherd goes so goes his devoted dog" "Grant and Robyn Calder run a sheep station on New Zealand's South Island" "Grant is a champion breeder and trainer of sheepdogs in the tradition of his father and grandfather before him" "Much of New Zealand is mountainous country suitable only for grazing" "Without the sheepdog this would be wasteland." "Working their 13,666-acre property with no additional hands, the husband-and-wife team herd 7,566 sheep." ""It's really an unusual partnership that a husband and wife work a farm like this together" "But thanks to the dogs we can manage to do it" "Without them, we just couldn't do it" ""A useless farmer could come on to this place with my team of dogs and work out how to work them and actually make a living here" "But if you took my dogs away and left me on this place we would be broke in 12 months"" ""Here, pup, pup, pup, pup" "Come on, I have to give you a name"" "One of the two types of dogs the" "Calders breed is called a "huntaway"" "Grant begins training at about three months" "Huntaways work the sheep from behind facing away from the shepherd" ""That's the first signs of a pup starting to work is to go over there like that and chase those sheep" "If I put a string on that pup the noise would start coming and that's the makings of a huntaway dog" ""Two sheep over there" "Good boy, good boy"" "Even early in the training a simple tug of the string keeps this pup facing correctly" ""Good boy." "Good boy, good boy, good boy"" "This six-month-old pup is learning not only when to bark but when to stop once the sheep obey him or the shepherd commands him" ""Will a go, Danny" "Will a go" "Good boy, that's good." "Good boy"" "The second type working the" "Calders' sheep is called a "heading" dog" "They virtually never bark but control the sheep entirely with their eyes" ""She tries to mesmerize them" "She can introduce herself quietly" "looking straight into the sheep's eyes"" "Twice a year the Calders round up from the high country 2,566 of their sheep for shearing to send to market, or in this instance to be dipped to protect their wool" "Robyn works on a high ridge and Grant is lower down as they and their ten dogs begin to pull the flock together" "Because sheep in New Zealand have no natural enemies they have never developed a herding instinct and therefore spread far afield" "The dogs are tireless and would literally work until they drop" "It's not unusual in the course of a day for them to cover up to 56 miles" "Over the years, man has channeled the dog's ancient hunting instincts into herding and driving behavior" "Ther shepherds command the dogs with words or by whistling" ""They're just basic commands" "A 'run' command (he whistles it)" "You want him to run slow, you can vary it..." ""...(he whistles)" "'Left hand' (he whistles)" "'Right hand' (he whistles)" "'Stop' (he whistles)"" ""When he's finished the job, you have two commands to call him off" "One's 'Well a go' and the other one is (he whistles)." "Well a go"" ""It's hard to believe how tough dogs are" "And on this property they work in extreme conditions in all types of weather" "Even with a dog in those sort of conditions everything might be against him" "He might have cut feet' he might have snowballs built up on him" "They will always try and run they will always try their best to do and complete the job that you've put in front of them"" "Like army sergeants on alert, the dogs keep the flock moving" "In one week's time the remarkable team of two people and their ten steadfast dogs have completed the roundup" ""A dog's work is never done" "And when he finishes on the hill he comes into the real hard work of slogging in the hot yards" "The hotter it gets, the more the sheep put their heads down and won't go" "And we tend to only work with one or two dogs in the yards so that we can alternate them so that each dog gets a turn because it is hot and dry dusty, dirty work"" "Because of the intense heat the tired sheep often don't want to move creating traffic jams in the tight confines of the pen" "To find the offenders the dogs simply make a sidewalk out of the backs of the sheep" "After a chemical dip for protection against external parasites the sheep will be set free to wander up to the high country again to graze until the next roundup" "And then, once more, when the shepherds head for the hills their canine partners will be by their sides" ""For us to spend a day on the hill horse and dogs the companionship and love and hard work that they give to us you could never receive from any other animal in the world"" "The New Zealand farmer and his dog have become a world-famous partnership" "Today, more than 266,666 such dogs are on the job across the country" "Probably the most photographed is this one a public tribute to the dogs that help keep the economy so vital and alive" "The origins of the domesticated dog lie shrouded in the distant past but it is generally agreed that the dog evolved from the wolf or that both share a common ancestor" "Wolves and dogs have the same basic anatomy physiology, and patterns of behavior and underneath the dog's domestic facade lie the instincts of a predatory hunter" "Wolves live and hunt in packs" "Unlike other meat-eaters such as members of the cat family that ambush their prey wolves stalk chase after, and run down prey" "However as the wolf quickly learns even with the cooperation of the pack he is no match for an animal as large as a bison" "The mainstay of the wolf's diet are animals the size of deer small moose, or elk" "Pack behavior is strictly regulated by a dominance hierarchy understood by all members" "In the dog, pack loyalty is basically unaltered even after thousands of years of domestication" "The main difference is the dog looks to man as leader of the pack" "Modern-da scientists have pondered why early man himself a flesh-eating hunter would have turned competitors like wolves or wild dogs into allies" "Animal behaviorist Dr. Michael Fox one of the world's leading experts on wolves and dogs has one explanation for how the partnership may have begun" ""I feel that dogs and humans came together because of their similarity in lifestyles to the degree that we hunted in small packs we were gatherer-hunters and the dog-wolf ancestor was like that too"" ""And it's quite probable that the early hunting societies found that dogs were pretty good allies if they were properly socialized to help locate and even ambush prey"" ""Dogs, in their long association with us have powers of manipulation"" ""In one sense we have domesticated them but they have domesticated us too" "We have the situation where the dog will come up and just look at you and look at you and you have to feed it" "The dog knows how to touch your heart" "They have a power in the eye"" ""Some people think that their dogs have ESP that they know what you're feeling and thinking" "But they are acute observers of our body language depressed happy or anxious and reading all that all the time..." ""...because that's how they communicate with each other too"" "In finding out about each other and the rest of the world smell is the dog's primary tool" "It is said their ability to smell is at least 566 times greater than our own" "Their hearing too, is better than ours but they see less well and are colorblind" "There are 356 recognized breeds of dogs in the world" "Regardless of outward differences they are all the same species, Canis familiaris" "Their wide diversity in appearance can often be explained by the work humans have bred dogs to do" "In the language of his native Germany dachshund means "badger dog"" "His short, stubby legs and narrow body made him ideal for squeezing into burrows after prey" "Terriers, too, were bred small and low to the ground so they could plunge into dark holes in pursuit of rats or foxes" "The name terrier comes from the Latin word terra, or earth" "Whippets and greyhounds are long-legged and sleek because they were bred for hunting and racing" "Firehouse mascots today" "Dalmatians were companions to charioteers in ancient times" "In Elizabethan England they gained fame as coach dogs with a calming effect on the horses" "The regal chow chow boasts a 2,666 yearhistory in China as hunter and guard" "For centuries dogs have helped man hunt" "Today, we have made them highly specialized" "Pointers only point nose high, body frozen in place" "And retrievers only retrieve joyfully leaping into even frigid waters to bring back their quarry" "From predatory wild animals we have created regardless of breed the most adaptable and sociable of all domesticated animals" "It is not precisely known when we first put dogs to work as entertainers but one of the most famous adored by countless millions, is Lassie" "Bob Weatherwax, son of the original Lassie trainer is no preparing the seventh generation" "Lassie for an upcoming television series" "To get the seven dogs who have actually appeared on the screen" "Bob and Rudd Weatherwax had to breed more than 266 collies to get just the right coloration, intelligence and temperament" "On screen, the Lassie character has always been a female but in reality all Lassies have been male collies because males tend to have a more luxuriant coat and greater stamina" "The Lassie legend began in the 1946s with a dog named Pal" ""Originally Lassie..." "MGM had their own collie to do Lassie" "It was a female dog, which is what Eric Knight wrote the story around because it had to have puppies" "And my father's dog was hired as a double dog and it was a male collie called Pal" ""And I think he knew that the other dog couldn't do this performance..."" ""...and they had a spot where Lassie had just come from Scotland back to England" "And he had to cross a river, and it's a nice scene"" "The genius of Rudd Weatherwax came through in this scene in which he taught Lassie to look naturally exhausted as if it weren't a trick at all" ""Come on, crawl"" "The mind of the dog, no mater how bright he may be cannot conceptualize "look tired"" "But the dog can obey a series of off-screen commands given in a specific order that result in the tired look the audience sees" ""Speak." "Stay, stay." "That's the boy." "Stay"" "Compared to many dogs that bring a large measure of instinct to their work dog actors start out as a blank slate" "Because they are intelligent they are capable of learning" "The motivation to learn the willingness to behave in such un-doglike ways is based simply on the dog's desire for human praise" ""Dog is man's best friend' I figure the most domesticated of all animals and they want to please us" "They want to be with man" "It's like A for effort' they'll give you that effort" ""All right, come on!" "Up!" "Up!" "All right come on over here, come on" "All right, take a bow"" "The earth's ice-locked polar regions could never have been explored without dogs" "In the early 1966s sled dog teams brought Peary to the North Pole and Amundsen to the South" "When northern regions were settled dogs became an essential part of life" "Until the advent of airplanes and snowmobiles dogs alone transported mail and supplies pulled sleds, took hunters in search of prey" "Today in Alaska, the pioneering spirit of that earlier times is celebrated in a grueling 1,166-mile race" "Beginning in Anchorage and ending in Nome it covers a distance roughly the same as from Seattle to Los Angeles" "Its name, Iditarod, is said to come from the trail that was once the lifeline linking far-flung villages in the interior" "Two-time champion of what is called the" ""last great race on earth" is 33-year-old Susan Butcher" "A world-class athlete and now a celebrity she is going for an unprecedented third consecutive win" "She hopes to beat her 11-day record and take home the $36,666 first prize" ""Five minutes until we drop?" "Yeah."" ""I've been racing in the Iditarod for ten years now" "And I think over all the years I've been basically in the top ten and I think that all comes from my training ability with the dogs and the time that I spend with them and the conditioning that I put on them" "And then the rest has to be up to the dogs" "I've got good dogs and I bred them and raised them purely for long-distance racing"" "Many observers feel that the time Susan spends with her dogs and the affection she lavishes on them are key elements of her success" "Fifty-three teams will leave at two-minute intervals" ""Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, go"" ""All right"" ""Over the years I've really seen that dogs love to race and know what it's all about" "When they see a team in front of them they'll pick up their pace and want to pass around them" "And what I found out is they know then when there's no other team in front of them because there's no dog scent on the trail"" "In 1975 when she moved to America's last frontier the adventuresome 26-year-old first lived in a tent then single-handedly built a log cabin" "She was 36 miles from her nearest neighbors 56 miles from the nearest road" "She started out with only three dogs and today has a breeding kennel with 136" "Susan raises only Alaskan Huskies a line bred from Eskimo and Indian dogs" ""Well, I changed the teams around today, David"" ""Susan runs Trail Breaker Kennel with her husband" "David Monson, himself a champion racer" ""I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts but I've always felt I was born in the wrong century and in the wrong place" "And so I kept moving north and west" "And I've always loved animals and they've been the most important thing in my life" "And so I was looking to incorporate living in the wilderness and working with dogs and I found the perfect thing"" ""How's your baby." "How are they?" "Hi, guys." "Heigh-o"" "In the early days of sled-dog racing breeding was often a haphazard mater" "But Susan Butcher knows that good racing dogs don't just happen without careful planning" ""Every summer I raise a number of puppies-between 56 and 166 pups" "And I'll pick out two of my best dogs" "Usually if I have a very fast dog but maybe it doesn't have a good enough coat" "I'll breed it to one with a good coat" ""But the most important thing is that they have bred into them the desire to pull and the desire to travel"" "And travel they do every day, with either Susan or her dog handler" "These four-month-old pups are learning that running that running is fun and that being with people is fun" ""There's a lot of mushers that don't really like to make their dogs into pet dogs and feel that they have to keep them very separated to make them a working animal only" "But I feel that the best thing that you can do with a dog is to really bond them to yourself" "So we're just trying to teach them to respect us and trust us and vice versa" "I have to trust my life in their hands all the time and they should learn to trust me with their life" "And then when you're out there racing that trust is what's going to make you able to win"" ""Are you going to be my next all-time best leader?" "Are you going to be my all-time best leader?"" "Every night Susan and David bring a few dogs into the cabin for extra attention" "It's done as part of Susan's training strategy but also because she quite simply adores her dogs" ""Every fall is a really exciting time for me and for the dogs" "As the temperatures get colder we just develop a certain excitement towards winter" "When it starts to get cold the dogs just start making a lot of noise running around their chains;" "they're just antsy" "They want to get going" "They just show me in many ways that they're ready to roll ready for the racing season"" "All the adult dogs are run three to four times a week throughout the year" "As with all athletes conditioning is vital to their performance" "When snow cover is too thin to be safe for the sled the dogs pull an all-terrain vehicle left in neutral gear" "To some 266 miles of trails," "Susan adds new ones each year to keep the dogs from getting bored." ""A lot of people would look at my life and think it's a lot of hard work" "But for me, it's a labor of love" "I spend all day long with my dogs and work with them" "And I'm my own boss; there's no one telling me what to do or at what time to do" "I live way out here where I can go anywhere and do anything at any time of day" "And I love that freedom"" ""The best things for long-distance racing dogs are a fast trotting speed and then they have to have good feet and you just want them to have a good attitude" "Their heads are bent and they're just going for it and they're paying attention to you and you're paying attention to them and you just are working as a team"" "Like a coach with marathon runners" "Susan gradually increases the length of the runs" "Her goal is 56 miles without tiring" "The dogs, never more happy than when on the trail joyfully oblige" "Twelve to sixteen hours a day the routine seldom varies" "The culmination in March: the chance to compete in the most punishing race on earth" "The mushers, as sled-dog drivers are called brave temperatures that can drop to 46 below" "Except for one mandatory 24-hour rest stop they may sleep only an hour or so each day and only after the dogs are tended and fed" "The route can be potentially treacherous at every turn" "In 1985 a moose attacked Susan's dogs forcing her out of the race" "On the last leg of the race along the frozen Bering Sea mushers encounter the most severe weather" "It is Susan Butcher's tenth day out and she is trailing as she has for most of the race" "Now, a violent storm has forced temperatures to plunge and swirling snow has obliterated much of the trail" "Both Susan and the dogs are pushed to the limit of their endurance" "The storm has thwarted her nearest competitors who have stopped to wait it out" "Undaunted, Susan Butcher charges on" "In Nome expectant crowds gather" "The ham-radio operator at the last checkpoint has reported that the first musher might reach the finish line at any time" "In 11 days, 11 hours, and 42 minutes a jubilant but exhausted Susan Butcher becomes the first person ever to win the Iditarod three consecutive times" "Susan is a full 14 hours ahead of any other musher" "Some will not cross the finish line for several more days" "Amazingly, Susan could have made even better time than she did if she had wanted but she put the safety and well-being of the dogs above all else" ""It was a matter of either go for a record competing against only Father Time and no other musher and possibly take more out of the team than I like to or just to take good care of the team" "and be well satisfied with a victory" "And I thought that sounded a lot safer"" "Susan and racing enthusiasts everywhere know the real tribute belongs to the bravery" "Iove, and indomitable spirit of these magnificent dogs" "On an ordinary street in an ordinary California town a drama anything but ordinary is quietly unfolding" "Seventeen-year-old Mike Knowlton was born with spina bifida a disabling birth defect of the spine that occurs in one to two out of every thousand babies born in the United States." ""Good girl." "Hi, girl." "Yeah"" "Mike must be cared for by his parents" "Joy and Dale Knowlton for he is totally paralyzed from the chest down" "Mike walked on his own for many years" "Then, without warning, his condition worsened" ""The last time he was walking was right about here"" ""At that point in time he had to have support from one of us to move his legs"" ""When we were told he was paralyzed and a wheelchair was going to be with him the rest of his life..."" ""Michael went into a depression for about two years" "It was very hard for him to adjust"" "Now a dog has come into Mike's life and the depression has lifted" "Her name is Zest" ""Zest has made a major change" "If I didn't have her" "I don't know what I would do"" ""She just really helps me a lot"" "A unique organization called Canine Companions for Independence or CCl, brough Mike and Zest together" "Using dogs to guide the blind is a well known success story" "CCI pioneered the idea that dogs could also help the wheelchair-bound" "During an intensive two-week training program students master 89 commands" "For their safety as well as the dogs' and the public's they must gain total control over the animals' actions" "CCI instructors have spent six months training the dogs" ""All right." "Good boy." "Good girl." "Get happy everybody"" "One of the most important jobs is retrieving" ""Look." "Get it." "Bring it here." "Good girl"" "Keys are especially difficult because of their uneven edges and dogs dislike the taste of metal" ""All right!" "Good boy!"" "Because they will be going home to very diverse environments the teams are put into as many real-life situations as possible during the two-week course" "Today, on a college campus the dogs encounter some other dogs that at first they think are real" ""These are the kinds of things you guys need to anticipate know that it's going to come up" "These things happen all the time"" "Some in the class have driven in vans equipped with electronic lifts but none has had prior experience with a bus." "For the dogs too, this is a first" ""Remember, this is as new for her as it is for you" "And even though it's new for you you have to portray to her that you're confident"" ""Yeah." "Okay, Zest"" ""The most frustrating part was having them tell me to have the dog do something" "And the dog wouldn't do it and they wanted to tell me how to get the doh to do it" "But my biggest thing was would I be able to make it through the two weeks because I kind of had doubts"" ""No, Zest." "Zest." "Come on"" ""She should come to you not go around behind there" "She doesn't understand that concept"" ""Okay, Well, what do I do to get her to..."" ""You need to do what you need to take care of yourself and your dog"" ""I'll start over again"" "The sheer physical exertion would cause some to simply give up" "But Mike is determined" "Finally, he and Zest are successful" "Even for those with the use of their arms fatigue is a major factor that often keeps them housebound" "Dogs are a wonderful solution for they will pull tirelessly" "At the end of the two weeks, the last hurdle is the final exam" "Of the more than 366 teams that have gone through CCI since it began in 1975 humans have passed" "With well-deserved pride the class arrives for graduation threshold to their new independence" ""As you can see, this is quite a loving team" "And throughout their lives there's always going to be a lot of love and commitment on the part of these two" "Mike worked very hard in this class and so did Zest" "And congratulations to both of you"" ""Ladies and gentlemen, Mike and Ziggy"" "The diplomas, appropriately are inscribed with both names student and dog alike" ""Mike and Zest"" "Today Mike is a high-school senior" "Having Zest has helped Mike vastly broaden his horizons and now for the first time he is" "considering going on with his education a vocational school where he thinks he might study computer science" "Whenever Mike is working" "Zest has been trained to rest quietly by his side and not disrupt the classroom" "But at those moments when he needs her help" "Zest knows it's time to work" ""She does things like picks up papers or pens and makes me feel independent" "like I don't always have to ask somebody" "I can just go to Zest and tell her"" "All CCI graduates report a dramatic rise in self-esteem because of the dog's role as icebreaker" "People who normally feel awkward approaching a person in a wheelchair do not feel uncomfortable in the presence of the dog" ""I'm real shy and the last couple of months it seems like it's easier to go up to people because most of the time people come up to her" "And I kind of get into the conversation" "It helps me to get to know people"" ""We didn't realize that kind of a bond could be between a dog and a person" "It realy gives us a different perspective"" ""We didn't realize that a dog could do as much for" "Michael's emotions as this dog has done"" ""Okay, Zest" "Come here" "Up switch, Zest" "Good dog" "That's it" "That's it" "Good girl" "Okay, Zest" "Come on" "Good dog" "A boy needing help and a loving canine at his side" "Perhaps nowhere is the age-old covenant between man and dog more poignantly felt than here" "In northern California one man remembers a partnership with dogs that many people have never even heard of" "For the 13 months he served in Europe during World War II oe Simpson fought alongside a dog" ""Atta girl, heel"" "They were one of the earliest teams in what was known as the K-9 Corps" ""In 1942 the K-9 Corps was formed by a group of civilians from the New England Dog Training Club"" ""And Dogs for Defense was formed at the same time and they picked 14 Gis out of 5,666 volunteers" "And fortunately, I was one of the 14 icked not because I knew anything about dogs necessarily but because I was in the horse business" "And this is how I got started in the K-9 Corps"" "Patriotic families everywhere across America volunteered their dogs to help the war effort" "Rovers, Spots, and Fidos of al descriptions were sent off to an uncertain future in the Army, Marines or Coast Guard" "Like their human counterparts all dogs were examined for fitness" ""Any new man that came in got a new dog" "And they taught us to make the dog heel sit, and down, and stay and all the obedience commands" ""And these dogs then went through the training with the master" "And then when that was through certain ones that were fit for attack training if they had enough aggressiveness in them were put into attack classes" "And the dogs that were better for messenger work were trained for that" "Some dogs were trained for pack dogs" "So it was quite a course"" "In Europe dogs were used in World War I but this was our first use of them in combat" "Some 16,666 served in many of the bloodiest battles across Europe and the South Pacific" ""If you needed to send a message back to the forward outpost we had a messenger collar that we'd put the message in and put it around the dog" "And the dog had to learn that when this collar was on him he was to run as fast as he could back to the other master"" "Messenger dogs had to develop equal loyalty to two masters because they worked by going from one to the other" "To ignore the noise and flames from exploding shells was hardest to teach" ""The dogs didn't have to reach up and tap us on the shoulder to tell us that there were some Germans over there" "We knew by watching our dog and being able to read the dog this is very important with anyone working a dog if you can read the dog then you'll know what the dog is trying to tell you"" ""And I owe my life to my dog and I'm sure a lot of the other handlers would say the same thing."" "Joe Simpson was one of many who brought their dogs home after the war" "Intensive demilitarization programs retrained the animals before they were allowed to return to civilian life as the gentle and loving pets they had originally been" "One phase of training similar to that for war dogs is used in search and rescue work" "More than 76 such groups now exist across the United States" "All volunteers they work alongside law enforcement teams in wilderness rescues and the aftermath of disasters" ""Go through." "No, no, no." "No cheating"" "It takes hundreds of hours of training before a team can be sent on a mission" ""Go through"" "Early on a dog often needs to be coaxed" ""Okay" "Try that way again?" "Want to go through?"" "Go." "All the way" "Good girl!" "Good girl!"" "What handlers look for is not the breed itself many breeds are used but qualities like intelligence, curiosity, and self-confidence" "The dogs must be taught agility so they can safely negoiate boulders and other obstacles in the woods as well as piles of disaster rubble" ""Climb." "Good girl"" "Shirley Hammond is both a handler and a trainer" ""What we do is we start the dogs out very young if we can although we can start older dogs teaching them on an agility course" ""We do a lot of ladder climbing with the dogs" "And this teaches them to use their back feet" "Their back feet just normally follow their front feet and they do not develop a knowledge of back feet unless they're taught to do something feeling what they're putting it on and feeling for stability with it"" ""Good dog, Tasha" "Good girl!" "Good dog!"" "This 12-week-old puppy confronts a ladder for the first time" "In addition to the obstacle course they train on a rubble pile that simulates a disaster area" "The uniform and helmet signal to Shirley's dog" "Cinnamon that now they are working" "Trained not to follow her instincts to jump off the unstable boards" "Cinnamon zigzags across the rubble in what is known as air-scenting trying to pick up the victim's scent on the air currents" "She has been trained to cover the entire area thoroughly" "Once the victim, in this case a volunteer has been found the dog's job is to scratch and bark to alert the handler to the area with the most intense scent" ""Put that one back there" "Oh, look" "What did you find, Cin?"" "Finding the victim is the dog's primary reward" "It is essential that physical contact be made so the dog knows she's done her job well" ""Good girl, you found him" "You've got him where you want him now" "Yeahl've got him where I want him" "Did you find him, huh?"" "In 1985 Shirley and Cinnamon were one of 13 U. S search-dog teams that made a vital contribution in a real life disaster the devastating earthquake that wracked Mexico City" "The soft sub-soils underlying the city and inadequate building codes were blamed when hundreds of buildings collapsed" "Thousands were injured thousands more left homeless" "As many as 16,666 died" ""It was really hard to believe because there were buildings standing with glass and beautiful structures that were just..." ""...pancaked to the floor" "This is a building that was 11, 12, 14 stories" "Suddenly, it's down to 16, 26, 36 feet high because some of them actually sank down into their basements" "They went that far down "" ""Can you jump?" "Up, up." "In you go"" "Twelve hours a day for a week the teams searched through the twisted rubble" "Hundreds of people surely lay trapped but where?" "And could the dogs find any of them in time?" ""Cin, stay, stay"" ""They cock their head and listen with their ears as if maybe they might even be able to hear the victims after they would bark as if they were kind of calling to them by their barking"" ""And the other side of that coin, of course is when they did locate someone buried under the rubble that as gone, deceased it was a very low-key reaction" "Just a little pawing and a little whining"" "Amazingly, even at week's end victims were found still clinging to life" ""Agua, agua"" "Only hours old when the quake hit this baby was trapped for nine days" "Doctors cannot easily explain her survival" "Others see it simply as a gift from God" ""The Mexican people were just wonderful to us and it was a warm, warm feeling" "They were so..." ""...appreciative of our being there" "And it was really a very unqiue position to know that you were doing something that was helpful and that your dog was able to do it" "It's a feeling that says this is what we've done it for" "All the times we've been wet, we've been cold..." ""...we've been tired, we've been hot" "This is real and it's so exciting so exciting"" "Many thousands of years ago some long-forgotten caveman welcomed a wild animal into his home to share his fire and food" "Through the centuries the dogs that evolved have remained our enduring helpmates and unfaltering friends" "Our own success as a species is due in no small measure to the fact that a canine partner has been by our side" "Intelligent and loyal beyond measure dogs ask little from us in return for their unquestioning devotion" "In fact most dogs do not see work as work but thrive on serving us simply for the praise of a job well done" ""Give." "Good girl" "Yeah, good girl"" "In commenting on this age-old partnership one author has written:" ""We give them the love we can spare the time we can spare, the room we can spare" "In return dogs have given us their absolute all" "It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made"" "In remote mountains of central China moisture borne on the monsoons nurtures a forest world of isolation... and mystery" "Across ages bamboo(Poaceae(family))has flourished in the persistenet mists erecting nearly impenetrable thickets" "barriers against time and the outside world" "For nearly a decade a Chinese scientist has searched the bamboo forest for one of the world's most elusive animals" "Though its image is known to millions the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)has kept its life in the wild hidden from humans" "For Professor Pan Wenshi deciphering the panda's secret is an urgent matter" "The species clings precariously to existence" "Only about twelve hundred remain" "In captivity pandas have not reproduced enough to increase or even maintain their population" "If the species is to be saved we must understand and protect the secret life of pandas in the wild" "Now an unprecedented opportunity" "In a mountain cave a newborn panda is found... permitting the first comprehensive film record and the first long-term study of a young panda embarking on a remarkable life unlike that of any creature on earth" "The Qin Ling mountains... rugged divide between northern and southern China and one of the last retreats of the giant panda" "Concealed by dense foliage and its own distinctive color pattern the panda is literally hidden here" "In the panda's world nothing is quite what it seems" "The clown-like mask elicits instant human affection" "But it's probably seen as a threat by other animals... one of the panda's many subtle defenses" "Pandas are shy and seldom aggressive" "When one is seen, it is usually retreating" "They are solitary animals..." "rarely together" "But they are aware of each other... keeping in touch by sound..." "and especially scent" "Their social lives consist largely of reading and leaving scent marks" "Rubbing its scent glands on trees and rocks a panda says "here I am" or "there I was"" "By smell alone pandas can tell the identity and sexual mood of a neighbor who may go unseen for months" "Almost exclusively giant pandas eat bamboo" "Equipped with a unique sixth digit ideal for eating bamboo pandas have been shaped by evolution for this life-sustaining activity" "They consume up to eighty pounds of bamboo" "(Bashania fargesii and Fargesia spathacea) a day wity great technique and efficiency" "But they're finicky about this monotonous diet" "They eat different parts of the bamboo in different seasons" "Sometimes they prefer the tender leaves and shoots while at other times it's the tough woody stems they crave" "It's a lot of word for little reward... only about 17 percent is digested" "So pandas must eat relentlessly up to 14 hours a day" "They eat till they're full then sleep wherever they are until they awaken... hungry again" "But young pandas are the exception" "To survive they must learn about the world... they must play" "Seemingly vulnerable the panda has endured while other more formidable mammals have become extinct" "Its margin of safety is narrow... but for millions of years it has been sufficient" "Yet an understanding of how the wild panda survives has been as elusive as the animal itself" "To unlock the panda's secrets a former logging camp called Shashuping now serves as a research station" "From this base, biology professor Pan Wenshi and his students monitor more than sixty pandas in the surrounding forest the first long-term study of wild pandas and their young" "With Lu Zhi, former student and now a research colleague" "Pan has long hoped to discover why panda young fragile in captivity seem to thrive in the wild..." "This knowledge could save the species" "After years of patient searching" "Pan and Lu Zhi now suspect a birth has occurred in a high den and set out on a September morning to investigate" "The treacherous slopes of Qin Ling are like fortress walls... and perhaps explain why the existence of giant pandas here was not confirmed until 19,4" "A gentle approach..." "to glimpse without disturbing" "In a cramped cave an adult female they have tracked closely..." "Cradled in her paws a tiny pink body" "Pan will find that a panda mother devotes herself entirely to her newborn" "She holds and soothes the baby continuously... neither leaving the den nor feeding for 25 days" "Blind and helpless the newborn is dwarfed by its mother... at about four ounces it weighs only 1/966th as much" "Perhaps in part to prevent an accidental crushing the infant panda wields a voice out of all proportion to its body" "Professor Pan's hope is that by studying the baby's needs he can learn enough to help avoid misadventures of the past involving pandas and human beings" "A panda was not seen alive in the West until 193, when a cub named Su Lin was carried to the United States" "Though Su Lin would survive only 18 months it was love at first sight" "The public craved more pandas and zoos responded" "The sudden fad was called "panda-monium"..." "The panda was immediately beloved but poorly understood... treated as if the living animal were itself a child's toy And the toy arrived without an instruction manual" "Keepers could only guess at its needs" "Nearly half died within five years" "As a result of our enchantment one in ten of the world's remaining pandas lives in captivity today... among the most popular and profitable of zoo animals" "The dream has been to breed pandas in captivity for release into the wild but arranged matings produce very few offspring" "The result has been a record of more deaths in captivity than births" "Even in a more natural enclosure in a Chinese panda reserve successful reproduction remains uncertain" "A female can conceive only during a few days each year" "In captivity males are mainly indifferent in part because they lack competition and often overweight" "Loud love songs frequently lead to no more than a wrestling match" "Even when young are produced their chances of survival are bleak" "In the past three decades nearly,6 percent have died within their first year" "Despite intense care this cub would live only five months" "So far, it has not been possible to breed a self-sustaining panda population in captivity" "For the species to survive protecting it in the wild is critical" "But time and habitat are running out" "A panda homeland that once stretched across southern Asia from Vietnam to present-day" "Beijing has shrunk under human pressure to only six small unconnected areas" "For about 246 wild pandas the slopes of the Qin Ling mountains are a last refuge" "By fitting pandas with radio collars and monitoring their signals professor Pan and Lu Zhi have been able to track the pandas in their study group from atar and locate them easily for closer observation" "Theirs is an unprecedented bond between human and panda" "Never before have wild pandas wild pandas become so accustomed to scientists and allowed them so close" ""For nine years in Qin Ling" "Lu Zhi and I have lived among giant pandas" "We drink water from the same small stream with them and we have stayed together with them almost everyday" "They are familiar with our scent" "These pandas know us very well" "Lone pandas are often very tolerant" "But will a mother be so trusting if they attempt to visit the newborn inside the den?" "Hoping to conduct a thorough examination of the panda cub" "Professor Pan and Lu Zhi approach while the mother feeds some distance away from the new den." "She has stayed away so long they now fear the cub may be dead erasing a scientific opportunity and another life in a lineage where each has become precious" "Their fears prove unfounded" "Pan knows his time to inspect the cub is limited" "Too long in the den and despite their efforts to gain her acceptance the mother could react violently to their presence here and attack them" "They usually observe from a distance but they must sometimes examine the infant panda closely to document its growth" "It's a female..." "an advantage for science" "In the years to come she may bear cubs of her own permitting study of a panda family across generations" "At seven weeks the baby weighs more than three pounds" "Her eyes are opening on the world" "Her expanding repertoire of sounds could alarm her mother still browsing nearby" "Pan is heartened by what he finds the cub appears normal and fit with a stomach full of mother's milk and a strong heartbeat" "Time is up" "The baby must be returned quickly to avoid a confrontation" "In the weeks to come" "Pan and Lu Zhi make an important observation" "When her cub is weeks old a wild mother leaves it to feed for hours at a time" "In the past this natural behavior was often though abandonment and many cubs were taken from their mothers only to die later in human care" "This all began with a boyhood dream of adventure in a far away exotic land..." ""When I was in high school" "I read Jack London's books" "Among the books, two greatly impressed me" ""White Fang" and"The Call of the Wild"" "Form then on" "I dreamed of living in remote areas like western America or Alaska or the Yukon River Valley..." "Living in the wild and among wild animals... that was my early dream and I hoped to make it my future" "The years have turned early fascination to enduring devotion" "Pan spends months of each year in primitive conditions paying some research expenses out of his own pocket working late hours to log and analyze data in a tiny cubicle that is both office and bedroom" "Pan's other world offers a stark contrast" "The rest of the year he spends in Beijing sprawling symbol of modern industrial China" "Here Pan is a biology professor at Beijing University" "His work was mainly in the laboratory until he and the panda had their first fateful encounter" ""Um, after graduating from college when I was 25years old," "I had the opportunity to um, to go visit um, the Beijing Zoo where they had the first captive-born baby panda" "And that was the first time that I was able to hold a panda and it was very interesting" "The baby panda climbed all over me and that was when I decided I wanted to devote my whole life to studying the pandas"" "At a zoo in the ancient capital city of Xi'an a visit to a friend..." "Her name is Dan-Dan... a reference to her reddish-brown and-white coloration" "She is one of only three such pandas they know of" "Pan and Lu Zhi think this color scheme may be a throwback to prehistoric times" "Pandas may have developed their black and-white coloration as camouflage during the ice ages" "Finding Dan-Dan ill in the wild" "Pan and Lu Zhi brought her here for temporary care hoping she would be released later" "Her confinement disturbed Pan who was himself held prisoner in the late" "Sixties during the Cultural Revolution" ""The Cultural Revolution was a big mess" "No one dared to speak the truth" "Because I told the truth they put me in jail beat me and pulled my hair" "I thought:" "the only thing I can do is to insist on seeking the truth..."" "After 5, days of beatings and confinement in darkness, Pan escaped" ""Overcoming this suffering has become the basis for my conviction as a scientist always to tell the truth"" "In a Beijing classroom" "Pan carries his campaign on behalf of pandas to a wildly receptive audience" "Using props made from the skins of pandas who died in captivity" "Pan teaches about the need to protect wild pandas" "His stories evoke surprise" "The children thought pandas lived only in zoos" "Pan wants to inspire understanding of wild pandas in the generation that will probably decide their fate" "In a country to nearly 1.2 billion people with urgent human needs he faces a long road" "Even some friends cannot understand why he leaves his home and family several times a year for the sake of a wild animal" "the trip south to the Qin Ling mountains is itself a test of resolve 22 hours by train then 14 hours by bus" "For Pan, this journey retraces the ancient retreat the panda before advancing waves of human settlem" "The last stands of wilderness like the last pandas survive only where food crops cannot... at the highest edges of existence" "For years, Professor Pan and Lu Zhi conducted a lonely enterprise" "But they have now attracted a following of students who staff the Qin Ling research station in seasonal shifts" "To Pan, they hold promise that the panda will not be forgotten" "And they have been staunch companions in an adventure that has sometimes been an ordeal" ""There were many difficulties when we started this research" "We always felt cold and clothes were always wet" "Lu Zhi got frostbite on her face and Ding Qian had frostbitten fingers" "Mid-December" "Four months have passed since the birthing season among Qin Ling pandas" "Cubs are now old enough to crawl from their dens and are sometimes found outside while their mothers browse nearby" "Face to face with humans, the cub seems by turns reticent and full of bravado" "To symbolize her importance for the future of pandas the two researchers have decided to name her Xi Wang-meaning "Hope"" "The christening is of no interest to a baby who may sleep 26 hours a day even when guests are present" "Easy slumber is a panda trait" "Nearby, her mother unwinds from the labors of eating bamboo" "Xi Wang seems vulnerable" "But animal predators pose less of a threat than humans" "A panda pelt can bring poachers more than $16,666 and dozens of panda cubs have been taken into captivity by well meaning "rescuers"who believed or wanted to believe that they had been abandoned." "Xi Wang is still nursing so bamboo which will dominate her life is for now just a plaything" "A surprise..." "The mother returns and decides to move" "Xi Wang to a new den a routine occurrence" "But for Pan and Lu Zhi it's a rare moment" "Despite years of observation they have seldom seen two pandas even mother and young together in the open" "Touched by her devotion they call the mother Jiao-Jiao or "Double Charming"" "In Pan's study area only one farm has persevered in the harsh altitudes of panda territory" "En route back the two scientists visit the Li family who count themselves protectors of the pandas" "Pan has heard reports that a panda has been sighted in the vicinity" "It behaved as though ill" "Have the Lis seen it?" "They have, by the river and were surprised to encounter one so far down the mountain" "In a chill are rain at one in the morning" "Professor Pan and his team are summoned on a special mission..." "Villagers have sent word that a wild panda has appeared on a doorstep" "Pan thinks it may be the animal seen by the Lis" "The scientists are puzzled by a tendency of wild pandas to come to human dwellings when ill... an enigma in a creature normally so withdrawn" "Though they are neighbors of wild pandas few in the village have ever seen one" "Beneath corn (Zea mays) dried for hog (Suidae(family))feed the creature huddles as if seeking help" "The animal appears old" "Pan asks if the panda has been fed" "It has not" "The man discovered it whimpering..." "...and he was amazed" "Suspecting a digestive problem" "Pan decides to treat the panda back at camp" "It proves no easy task to relocate the 266-pound creature" "At Shashuping research station therapy begins with a breakfast of bamboo" "Weighing the old panda's good fortune at being rescued the students call him by a name that means"Lucky"" "Already, his appetite is returning..." "Antibiotics and vitamins mixed in honey meal quickly revive Lucky's spirit" "In ancient texts a creature believed to be the panda was known as "the iron-eating beast"" "...because it chewed up metal cooking utensils ...and it still tries to" "Lucky, it turns out, has an unruly curiosity and an indiscriminate palate" "Eventually the cautious researchers manage to retrieve this unusual delicacy" "In Shashuping's field lab" "Lu Zhi adds samples of Lucky's blood to a growing collection from pandas living in isolated groups" "Through genetic analysis she seeks to learn how much inbreeding has occurred" "In a hundred years, she fears all" "Qin Ling pandas could be first cousins" "This could cause extinction through harmful mutations and vulnerability to disease" ""There is a critical question:" "if this animal is inbreeding then how much and how bad the inbreeding could be" "This work, we hope will answer this question and then we'll find a way to help pandas"" "Recovered after a week of treatment" "Lucky is ready to be released..." "Pan is hopeful but the scientists know Lucky may be too old to survive in the wild" "Weeks later their fears will be confirmed" "Again ill" "Lucky will be taken to a feeding center where he will die" "In the bitter cold of early January while other Qin Ling animals hibernate the panda cannot" "Enslaved by the need to eat almost perpetually pandas continue to roam the frozen forest" "Pan and Lu Zhi have learned to respect the panda's tough constitution" "Thick, oily fur and bulky bodies insulate them and they seem immune to the cold" "For Xi Wang, snow is just a new terrain to explore" "Now a five-month-old toddler she seems dimly aware that trees are important" "In the months to come they will offer her only safety from predators in her mother's absence" "But to hide in a tree" "Xi Wang must first learn to climb it" "For now, baffled by the challenge she gives up" "For those who would study pandas winter in the Qin Ling mountains is a test of resolve..." "The cold is relentless..." "even inside" "Days and nights pass in the shared chores of a dwelling heated only by wood fire lit only by candle and lantern" "As winter drags on" "Jiao-Jiao begins to take Xi Wang with her while foraging" "The ancient Chinese may have found in such scenes of tranquility a symbol of peace" "According to one account retiring armies waved not a white flag but an image of a panda" "For Xi Wang another attempt to climb" "Success brings not only safety but a measure of youthful adventure" "As winter gives way to spring the panda's realm in the Qin Ling mountains reawakens with sound and color" "By may the new foliage intrigues Xi Wang" "At nine months she continues to nurse but like human babies she investigates the world with her mouth" "For Jiao-Jiao spring brings not only the bamboo shoots she treasures but the seasonal agony of ticks (Metastigmata(suborder)) and leeches (Hirudinea(class))" "Xi Wang will watch her mother from the trees another four months until she's ready to join her foraging along the forest floor" "Once tentative, she now climbs about freely sometimes showing greater daring than judgement" "Jiao-Jiao seems concerned about a well-padded youngster especially when succulent bamboo shoots are abundant" "For both, life is serene" "They look awkward but pandas are deceptively agile their joints so flexible they can bite their own tails and perform gymnastic routines in suspenseful slow motion" "Clear-cut harvesting of the panda's forests is the paramount threat to their continued existence" "Food and cover dwindle" "Populations are further isolated" "Panda ranges have declined by half in only two decades..." "primarily from logging" "A billion people in China need wood for homes and heat" "In fifty years it could be almost two billion" "Over the years" "Professor Pan has watched timber companies invade 76 percent of Qin Ling's panda habitat" "He asks how far the loggers intend to go" "Next spring, they will cut all the way over the mountains the slopes now roamed by Jiao-Jiao and Xi Wang" "To penetrate the panda's forest new roads must be blasted out of the mountainside" "By most standards the operations are crude sometimes conductecd with a casual daring that mixes gun powder with cigarettes" "Industrial safety is a recent development here but despite accidents the work goes on relentlessly" "Risking all" "Pan has pleaded with authorities to stop the logging of Qin Ling" "With stubborn insistence despite threats and harassment he has succeeded" "The government has halted the timber cutting in the 125-square-mile study area" "An excursion to check on Xi Wang now outfitted with a radio collar..." "It is mid-October" "At fourteen months" "Xi Wang is passing her second autumn" "Something is amiss" "The signals lead to a tangled clump of brush" "Expecting Xi Wang they find only her collar" "Pan believes Jiao-Jiao tore the collar from her youngster" "He suggests they search for Jiao-Jiao instead" "But Jiao-Jiao's signal is weak They will have to separate and scour the slopes" "Xi Wang is invaluable to science" "She has been monitored since birth and has provided unprecedented information" "But for Pan and his crew this panda has also become a friend" "Following his instincts" "Pan comes to a steep ravine..." "Barely visible among the foliage sitting casually in a tree the familiar shape of Xi Wang" "To re-establish contact they must sedate and re-collar Xi Wang" "They must act now before they lose her again" "But her perch above a cliff makes it a delicate operation" "The tranquilizing dart is necessary the pain to be inflicted slight" "But the moment is always disconcerting to those whose lives are dedicated to protecting wild things" "Several minutes pass as drowsiness sweeps across her" "They pray she won't fall" "Now docile" "Xi Wang stays in the tree enabling them to bring her down safely" "At 86 pounds she is a precious but awkward burden" "The professor who is her observer and defender a father of two daughters bears her as carefully as if she were a third" "Using radio collars" "Pan and Lu Zhi have been able to keep track of the whereabouts and activity of more than 36 pandas at Qin Ling" "Theirs is the first comprchensive study to document social and breeding behavior of wild pandas" "These periodic inspections are inconvenient for Xi Wang and rob her of dignity" "But she is contributing details of her development that can be obtained in no other way" "Xi Wang's story could affect her entire species revealing how to ensure their survival in the wild and to improve their care in captivity" "For Xi Wang it has been a day of curious events and a close encounter with another species..." "She returns to her mother and the life of endless simplicity now interested only in a drink of water and soon perhaps, a little bamboo" "At the Shashuping research station, a moment of farewell" "Ater months of work four of Pan's students must return to the university" "Assistants will come and go during the years ahead but Pan intends to stay here as long as it takes to understand the life of pandas in the wild and to keep them roaming freely through the surrounding forests" "In the ritual exercise called qigong" "Pan daily rekindles his deter mination" ""My friends in Beijing always ask:" "'Why do you continue to work..." ""...in the field year after year?" "When will it end?" "Your work has been published" "Why don't you stop?" "I tell them: 'My goal is to protece the panda and to establish a refuge for them in the wild" "That is my mission but it will be difficult" "Achieving this goal may take my entire lifetime" "And even that may not be enouth"" "So one man perseveres as solitary as his pandas a lonely figure in this island of wilderness" "One man and one panda" "Since these scenes were filmed" "Xi Wang has struck out on her own" "In the not too distant future she could have a cub herself" "As pandas have for millions of years she will feast on the forest drink from cold streams endure the chillmists" "But her passage though life will be recorded for the ages because, like her name" "Xi Wang represents for all her species... a last fateful glimmer of hope"