" Throughout his long career as filmmaker, storyteller, innovator, educator," "Walt Disney never forgot his love for animals." " His early cartoons made a mouse world-famous." "He brought stardom to a certain Donald duck." " From those first cartoons to fairy tales was but a step, and Walt's fanciful fables always had animals in them." "Snow white with her friendly forest companions;" "dumbo, the little elephant who thought he could fly..." "And actually could;" "and Bambi, the gentle Fawn of innocent pastime." "But Walt Disney was never satisfied with past achievements." "He was a man of many parts, a man with an inquiring mind, and there came a time when his great curiosity led him from the world of fantasy into the realm of fact." "He produced a film with the title seal island." "And since it was a true story, he decided to call it a true-life adventure." "It won an academy award, and with that, Walt was off into a whole new domain:" "The world of nature." "For a span of ten years he made a series of these nature films, long before the word "ecology"" "had come into our common vocabulary." "People everywhere came to know and love and remember the true-life adventures." "There was beaver valley, with it's plotting, patient hero." "Academy award." "The living desert, with its unexpected drama." "Academy award." "Bear country with its comic touch;" "the vanishing prairie-- epic panorama;" "white wilderness, the frozen wonderland;" "and many more." "Nine academy awards in all." "It was always Walt Disney's belief that animals in themselves were interesting, that birds could be amazing, that all of nature was startling and dramatic, so he created this new form of screen entertainment." "He set the rhythms of nature to music and found fun in doing it." "Wherever the camera saw comedy, he let humor have its say." " Wherever tragedy, he let the facts speak." "And so it was that in the true-lifes, as in nature's own scheme, predators had their place." "Animals had their special talents, birds their singular beauty, and all creatures, even the insects, their mysterious and wondrous ways." "As a special tribute to the man who created these classics of screen entertainment, we bring you now the best of Walt Disney's true-life adventures." "If there's one animal to symbolize the American prairie, it's the bison or buffalo." "And in the vanishing prairie, Walt recognized this noble beast as the living evidence of our pioneer heritage." "To this day these mighty giants still roam the remote reaches, and the bellowing of the embattled bulls may still be heard, echoing across the plain like rumbling thunder." "When real thunder comes, the sound is often counterpoint to the drumming hoof beats of the thundering herd." "In the high country, far above the surrounding plain, thunder of another kind sometimes bounces off the peaks, ricocheting from crag to crag." "The curious sounds of nature often caught Walt Disney's ear." "He heard in them a kind of natural music, and when the big-horn rams performed, he visualized the scene as an anvil chorus, played by titans." "Music, Walt felt, was everywhere in nature." "The trick was to find it." "And to do that, one had only to look and to listen." "In fact the more you looked, the more you found." "The strutting Sage-grouse seemed to provide a basic rhythm." " The dancing prairie chickens added their own embellishments and some fancy footwork." "And the busy sharp-tail did the best turn of all." "It was easy to see where the American Indian found the pattern and tempo for his tribal rituals." "Of course Walt Disney knew there was more to making nature films than simply combining imagination and the talents of photographer and musician." "There was drama to be found, there was spectacle, and always mystery." "The mystery of migration." "How did the wild geese know the way?" "And how come the freewheeling ducks could misread a frozen pond?" "And what happened when they did?" "The more he explored nature, the more Walt Disney came upon the unexpected." "Take the case of the whooping cranes." "These handsome birds exist on the thin edge of extinction." "Walt found in this remarkable photography of their courtship antics a chance to preserve their ways." "As a conservationist he hoped it would not become a record of something vanished." "Even now it's a sight rarely seen." "But as Walt would have wished, suppose we let nature's stories tell themselves as they are now, for they are never-ending and going on all the time." "In nature, there is no past, no future, only the now." "The vivid, exciting, life-or-death present instant." "And in the life of a prairie dog, it's that dangerous moment when the prairie falcon swoops." "One of Walt Disney's best-remembered true-lifes was called the living desert." "It tells the story of many strange lives that exist where no life was thought possible." "On the living desert, nature's theme is always the preservation of the species, and she uses many methods to accomplish her purpose." "This is the pepsis wasp, or tarantula hawk." "In order that her kind may survive, she must stalk the deadly tarantula, and engage it in mortal combat." "It's her perilous mission to sting the giant spider, paralyze it, and thus preserve it as food for her young." "She hurries from one likely-looking hole to another, literally asking for trouble." "And she finds it." "But not the kind she expected." "The ant army swarms to the attack." "Their one purpose is to weigh her down, keep her earthbound." "Against this organized onslaught the wasp has no defense." "She can only hope to shake them off." "She wins her freedom, but only to resume her search for spiders." "Driven by the compelling urge to reproduce her species, she'll let nothing stop her." "A tarantula it must be, and a tarantula it is." "Now they are met, face to face, and this is a sight few have ever witnessed." "In this strange encounter the spider battles for its life." "The wasp, for generations yet to come." "For only through the tarantula can she ensure the propagation of her line." "In this raw and elemental struggle, these are the weapons:" "The paralyzing sting of the wasp and the lethal bite of the spider." "The rapier and the broadsword." "In size and brute strength, the odds favor the giant, but these are more than matched by the frenzied skill of its tiny adversary." "The stricken wasp grovels in the sand." "But the spider fails to follow up." "It's a missed opportunity, and a fatal mistake." "In this brief respite, the wasp recovers." "And now she drives for the one vulnerable spot-- the abdomen." "Then the turning point, as the wasp suddenly reverses her tactics, and flat on her back, thrusts home." "She scores again and again, and her poison begins to take its toll." "The groggy giant is almost defenseless now, but the wasp is a creature obsessed." "Finally, one last paralyzing thrust, and the battle is over." "But now in victory, the wasp faces an even bigger task." "She must drag the spider many times her size to a secret hiding place." "But into her fragile body nature has packed a strength prodigious beyond belief." "With fanatical energy she digs a hole, for it's part of her ritual to bury her victim." "Now and then she pauses to check for measurements, then returns to her task." "A tremendous Boulder presents an obstacle, but only temporarily." "To a human, this would be like towing a ten-ton truck with your teeth." "Now, on the tarantula's body, she will lay a single egg." "Soon a new wasp will emerge, feed on the paralyzed spider, and then one day venture forth to replay this grim desert drama." "It's often been said that truth is stranger than fiction, yet sometimes fiction can add something to the truth." "When Walt Disney watched the scorpions in their mating ritual, he saw it like this." "All right, everybody, choose your partners for the stingeree." "♪ Lady and gent to the center of the ring ♪" "♪ Lock those claws, lift that sting ♪" "♪ Three legs up and four legs down ♪" "♪ Whirl that scorpion round and round ♪" "♪ Circle round and away we go ♪" "♪ Sashay right with a do-si-do ♪" "♪ Halfway round and backtrack back ♪" "♪ Snap your claws with a clickety clack ♪" "♪ Gents to the left, ladies to the right ♪" "♪ Now ain't that gal a pretty sight?" "♪" "♪ Swing your partner, give her a hug ♪" "♪ Get your hooks on a lady bug ♪" "♪ Stingers up for the stingeree ♪" "♪ But watch out gal you don't sting me ♪" "♪ Allemande left with your insect fair ♪" "♪ And take your gal to you know where ♪" "It was Walt Disney's way to look on animals as personalities, as struggling, striving little creatures facing problems not unlike our own." "With that in mind, we come to the story of skinny, the bravado squirrel." "For openers, skinny seems to want to join his fellows in all that's going on in the colony, but he's ignoring the fact that he's the runty-est, newest, least experienced ground squirrel on the ground." "The others pay him no mind." "This is known even in the animal kingdom as the cold shoulder." "Well, perhaps he can share a meal with them." " Nope." "Non-members of this club are simply not welcome." "Suddenly skinny and his problems are forgotten, when a real social outcast sticks his nose in things, with the idea of dining on the diners." "The gila monster looks like a beaded bag-- a bag packed with poison." "For all the pretty appearance, it's the venomous lizard in this part of the world, and a fella to be met with caution." "So the party breaks up in panic as the squirrels flee the enemy." " There's one, though, who chooses to stand pat." "That's skinny." "It's hard to say if he's long on grit or short on common sense." " Either way, he seems to have taken the monster's measure." " Out-guessed, out-gambled, and out-maneuvered, the reptile moves on to peddle his poison somewhere else." "Who's the hero of the hour, and newest member of the gang?" "Skinny, naturally." "And naturally, he gets a big hand." "And all a member's privileges, including the right to nibble the best blossoms." "But suddenly table rock, or what seemed like table rock, turns into table tortoise." "Everybody off." "End of the line." "As usual, skinny does everything backwards." "Or is it frontwards after all?" "At least he's going wherever it is he wants to be going." "Often in nature animals will run for the sheer joy of being alive." "And in such moments of exuberance, the young, prong-horn antelope is one of the best speed burners going." "But what may have begun as a playful romp may suddenly turn into a game of life and death." " The predator misses by mere inches as panic gives the antelope a new burst of speed." "In the long run it's the bobcat that comes up short on speed and stamina." "The young antelope will continue to kick up his heels, so long as he stays out in front." "Disappointment is nothing new to the bobcat." "Every hunter must miss occasionally." "The thing to do is keep on going." "Something is bound to turn up somewhere." "Suddenly it does." "A pack of peevish peccaries, the wild pigs with a face full of knives." "Danger personified." " Moral?" "Never pick on a peccary." " But what if he picks on you?" "Climb a tree as fast as you can." "What if there isn't a tree within miles?" "Well, then, climb anything." "Climb a cactus." " Guttural growling]" " Any old perch must do now." "Even a prickly one." " The woebegone cat has about decided this is no place for a tenderfoot." "From a similar vantage point nearby, another hunter is sizing up his chances." "The red-tailed hawk is keen of eye and seldom misses anything." "Especially a meal that might be wandering by." " Two killers came to do battle, but only one will leave." "But if death stalks the desert, there is always new life to replace it." "Nature's cycle is never-ending." "The rains mean refreshment, renewal, and in due time, burgeoning rebirth." "And so closed one of the chapters in Walt Disney's continuing chronicle of ecology." "But the world is nature's stage, and it soon became Walt's too." "Soon his camera crews were seeking places farther afield, and almost inevitably the path led to that most alluring of wildlife havens, Africa." "This is mt." "Kilimanjaro, rising 19,000 feet into the African sky." "Its crest thrusting through the clouds wears a permanent mantle of snow." "Here in its shadow our story begins, for this is the realm of the African lion." "Enter the king of beasts, the monarch, come to review his subjects." "Largest member of the cat family, the lion roams and rules a vast territory." "On this immense pasture land he finds endless herds of grazing animals." "Here are multitudes beyond counting, and here in this natural spectacle is nature's infinite pattern and plan." "At the moment it's a picture of peace and plenty, yet over this sun-drenched setting there hovers constantly the shadow of death, and the lion is its messenger, for these grazing species are his food." "And since this is a true-life adventure in nature's Africa, where we meet tragedy, we may expect to see it, and where we find life born anew, we will pause to view that too." "The ruler and the ruled." "The eaters of meat and the eaters of grass, all living together." "Nowhere else in the world does nature mix her species in such profusion and variety." "The African lion is nothing more than an overgrown cat, and like all the tribe he likes his comforts." "In fact he's just about the laziest animal alive." "And when lions decide to relax, it's cat napping on a grand scale." "A family of lions is called a pride, and it includes anywhere from half a dozen to two dozen members, all the relatives of several generations." "Unlike most cats, the lions are family-minded, and the pride tends to be more or less permanent." "In rotation the youngsters grow up, find themselves mates, and raise their own crop of cubs, the usual litter being four to six." "In a nursery, the youngsters follow the lazy example set by their elders, and work as little as possible for their keep." "They nurse with any lioness that's handy, and whose mother belongs to whom doesn't seem to matter." "Around home, the king of beasts is just another helpless, good-for-nothing male animal." "The real head of the royal household is the lioness, and when she wants his majesty's place in the shade, she says so in no uncertain terms." " And the youngsters know who's boss too." "They side with mother every time." "Aside from occasional squabbles, the pride is one big, happy family and as long as everybody's well fed, they spend their days in leisurely contentment." "But if an outsider from another territory moves in, there's a sudden change." "A strange lioness has no place in the inner circle, and before she quite knows what's happened, she's surrounded by snarling fury." "Lionesses roaring]" "This is a battle of the females." "For some reason the mothers in the pride seem to feel this visiting lioness is a menace to their cubs." "Their logic is a bit obscure, perhaps, but their actions are perfectly clear." " Guttural roaring]" " The male lion plays a minor part in the affair." "He seems to participate only because it's expected of him." "But up against an enraged lioness, his heart isn't really in it." "In the end, the intruder manages to beat a retreat, considerably the worse for wear." "But soon it's time to go hunting again, and now the pride tries an old, old strategy." "They move into heavy brush in the hope of taking their prey by surprise." "And here's their chance." "A herd of impala at their watering place." "Now the pride has a problem in tactics." "This species of antelope is perhaps the most difficult of all to catch." "They decide on a direct attack, and the shock of a sudden appearance has its effect." "Now every lioness is on her own." "The trick is to panic the impala and then try to cut them down as they run by." "Here is a game of speed and wits, with a good portion of luck thrown in." "In Africa, as everywhere else, the daily dilemma of each creature is food, and the elephant, with the biggest appetite, has the biggest problem." "He consumes great quantities of grass, but he finds it only an appetizer, and takes his main course from the forest." "Strictly a vegetarian, and by habit a browser, he eats leaves, branches, and all." "These huge animals weigh from six to eight tons apiece, and they consume a good part of their weight every day." "Dinner is a long, drawn-out affair." "It takes time to fill an elephant." "He's a slow eater, but a thorough one." "Methodically he strips the trees of whole branches at a time." "The elephant's trunk serves as an arm, a hand, and a set of fingers all in one." "It's an all-purpose instrument, amazingly sensitive and handy for all sorts of jobs from the biggest to the most delicate." "Often when he's brought his branch to the ground, the elephant anchors it with his foot and pulls off bite-size twigs with his trunk." "He understands the principle of leverage, and if he finds himself with a limb that won't break, he simply applies extra pressure with his huge tusks." "The tusks of the average bull weigh about 50 pounds each, but record pairs weighing 150 pounds apiece have been known." "Both the male and the female have them, and with these handy tools there's little that can resist them." "They sometimes uproot a full-grown tree." "At birth, the baby elephant weighs 200 pounds." "In most families that would be a whopper, but in this company he's just a baby." "This little fella was actually only 12 hours old, and he's having trouble matching his mother's gigantic stride." " The young of most species are naturally playful, and a baby elephant is no exception." "He gets a challenge pleasure out of chasing the egrets that often follow the elephants." " These birds are attracted to the insects the herd stirs up as it moves through the grass." "But now the tables are turned, and they're the ones being made to scatter." "Young master elephant may be a small fry in his own league, but in this one he can really throw his weight around." " The one thing elephants must have is water, and they make long marches to find it." "It takes a good-sized water hole just to meet their drinking requirements." "Now the versatile trunk serves as a flexible water hose." "We humans do well to drink our eight glasses, about two quarts, in a day, but an elephant siphons up that much in every trunkful." "A thirsty elephant can take on 14 gallons of liquid refreshment and even Mr. half-pint drinks it by the bucket." "Here is a pair of tusks that almost got out of control, and they make drinking something of a problem." "And then there's the fella who makes a game out of it." "Finally the hose is hung on a built-in drying rack, but the ritual at the water hole has barely begun." "Now with his thirst satisfied, the elephant turns his attention to a shower." "There's no hot and cold, of course, and it's the muddiest kind of water, but the elephant enjoys it in spite of all." "To him it's cool and it's wet, and that's all that matters." "And then comes the big rinse, and this is the most fun of all." " Ordinarily elephants stick to shallow water, but if they do get beyond their depth, they are excellent swimmers." "And if one submerges he keeps his trunk above the surface as a breathing tube." "For all its handiness, however, there is one place an elephant's trunk just won't reach." "Here at the water hole many species come and go, but to the hippopotamus, this is home." "A true water animal, the hippo is thoroughly adapted to his element." "He favors the marshy backwaters where he can wallow to his heart's content, and he finds a good mud hole irresistible, for after all, the hippo is related to the pig." "Second only to the elephant in size, the hippopotamus measures 13 feet around the waistline, and often achieves a bulk of four tons, yet he's surprisingly agile both on land and in the water." "He's usually peaceable, yet he's well able to take care of himself, in a mock battle or in the real thing." "The power in these ponderous jaws is tremendous." "This, except for the whales, is the biggest mouth in all the animal kingdom." "It was the ancient greeks who gave the hippopotamus his name." "It means "river horse,"" "and when his horsy face is seen like this, the name certainly fits." "Occasionally, company comes to call, and of course it's for dinner." "This bird is interested in the tiny parasites that live on hippos." "He's called the Lily-trotter, from his habit of walking on Lily pads." "But he's also a hippo-hopper, and his exaggerated feet are perfect for the footwork required." "The bird makes himself a sort of personal valet and goes about tidying up here and there." "He checks eyebrows to see if they need plucking." "A bird beautician, as it were." "There's really not much you can do to help this face, but he keeps trying." "Sometimes he gets carried away by his enthusiasm." "Then his client gives him the brush-off by going below." "The hippo's balloon-like build gives him buoyancy, and he moves through this underwater dream world practically without effort." "He's able to close both his nose and his ears, and his great lung capacity permits submersion for minutes at a time." "To renew his air supply, he need only poke his nostrils above the surface." "The hippo associates with some strange companions." "Now it's the fish." "He's not especially interested in his finny friends, but they're more than a little interested in him." "Here is one of nature's unexplained puzzles, why the fish are attracted to the hippo." "It's a good guess, however, that they feed on his brand of parasites." "These are a carp-like species called the barbel." "They give him a thorough going-over." "And here's the odd spectacle of a fish fishing, of all places, inside a hippo's mouth." "Attracted by all the commotion, a passerby crashes the party." "This is the crocodile." "And he too has a place in this submarine setting." "Crocodile, barbel, hippopotamus." "Reptile, fish, mammal." "A strange affinity in a strange world." "The strange worlds of nature are many, but none is more bizarre, remote, and mysterious than the Amazon jungle." "In this green, green sea of vegetation, there exists a teeming and endless variety of life." "Mammals and birds among the oddest in nature." "There are monkeys of nearly every kind." "There are birds of every hue." "Unfamiliar specimens like the giant anteater, and that upside-down creature, the sloth." "But the most colorful of all, and the most dangerous, is the prowling Jaguar, the animal we shall call "the jungle cat."" " Although the problems of the hunt are the jungle cat's daily occupation, she must often interrupt them to continue the training of her young." "In time they must take her place, and to do so they must know all the jungle's weird ways." "And now comes the strangest lesson of their young careers-- how to deal with their worst enemy." " Guttural roar]" " There are many things for the kittens to learn from this demonstration, and one of them is this:" "It's important to know when to move in, and when to move back, and when to call in the reserves." "It would seem the big cats have stirred up a whole nest of jacares, and now it's a matter of picking one they can handle." "Here's a likely-looking candidate." "Cat versus crocodile, a battle out of the swamps of eternity." "The cat has cleverness and guile on its side, the crocodile--brute strength and a killer's instinct." "The cat's problem is simple, though not easy." "It's how to get past those murderous teeth." " When the thing is done, it is done simply and most effectively, by drowning." "Thus perishes the amphibious lizard that haunts the jungle swamps." "Again the jaguars conquer, simply because they know no fear." "If the mists of imagination were to draw aside, if the mind's eye were to recreate a scene out of prehistoric times, it might well look like this." "And in such a place we might almost accept the presence of a dragon or a dinosaur." "Well, dinosaur there is, of a sort." "It's the alligator, cousin and counterpart of Brazil's jacare, a bellowing echo of Africa's crocodile." "Indeed the American species inhabiting the Florida everglades is every bit as monstrous as any of its relatives." "All three species are ugly, all are belligerent, all are dangerous." "All are a something kept on earth far beyond their time." "The alligator, of course, is an amphibious reptile, as much at home under the surface as he is up topside, and this very fact makes him doubly dangerous." "The other creatures of the swamp never quite know where he is or when he will unexpectedly pop up." "For the stealthy submariner, a pair of dangling feet makes a tempting target." "Nothing for the hunter this time." "Nothing but footprints on the ceiling." "Twilight brings a new mood to this eerie setting, and a different set of creatures." "These are the night watchers, the ones who know the moon better than the sun." "While others may choose to lie on the bottom, or doze in cozy dens, or sleep the dark away, these nocturnal denizens, most of them musicians, tune up for a concert." "A sort of symphony of the swamp." " Comedy may well occur anywhere in nature, but the bears of the American north woods seem to have a natural feeling for it." "Unconscious, perhaps, but ever-present." "To them a tree is little more than a convenient scratching post, handy for itches in the britches." "If there is music in nature, there are also other rhythms." "The big, basic rhythms, the turning of the sun, the coming of night and day, and above all, the cycle of the seasons." "Winter brings its own conditions of existence for nature's creatures and its own kind of spectacle." "All must adapt, of course, each in his own way." "The methodical beaver has long since planned for this season." "Half of it's spent sleeping in his snug and snowy castle." "These are the otters." "They can't stand being cooped up inside in glorious weather like this." "And they're as crazy and carefree as they come." "Meanwhile friend beaver goes right on sleeping." "He wouldn't wake up for an earthquake." "Or the crack of a glacier breaking up." "Small matter that it's 1,000 miles north." "Now to the domain of the polar bear, mightiest hunter of the arctic." "He's a bear of the sea almost as much as a creature of the land." "His thick coat and underlayer of insulating fat protect him in these icy waters." "And so he's as much at home in the arctic ocean as his main prey, the seal and the walrus." "For this reason he's a constant threat, and his mere appearance will panic the walrus, the mighty bulls and all." "He may be foiled occasionally, but the great bear of the far north never really gives up the chase, he simply bides his time." "Strangely, the polar bears' cubs are almost the exact opposite in personality." "Only later will they become as grimly serious as he is." "At this age they're lighthearted and fun-loving, with a flair for innocent games." "Even a sense of humor." "Life isn't all that serious yet for these youngsters." " Bull's-eye." "In due time, of course, the cubs must get a taste of the harsher side of life." "The arctic, after all, isn't entirely a playground, even though these little fellows may seem to think so." "Today's lesson, it turns out, is about something called, uh, gravity." " Well, there's nothing like the school of hard knocks." "Survive that and you're ready for anything." "One of the things that true-life adventures did was to show how mistaken many of our nature myths can be." "Consider the case of the much maligned wolf." "In fable and fairy tale this animal is invariably a villain." "In plain fact, he's an admirable provider, mate, and head of family as we shall see." "The home life of the wolf is a routine of domestic tranquility." "The male surprisingly attentive to his pups." "The female quite content to let him take over." "This is a far remove from the old wives' tales and the ravening wolf pack of legend." "One of father's family chores is this singing lesson, a short course in how to be a howling success." " No wolf pup wanting to gain his full credentials can qualify for either fact or fable until he learns to howl at the moon, not necessarily in tune." "Likewise every small fry, would-be wolf must learn the techniques of the pack." "The first sight of the caribou." "It's enough to raise the hackles on any young hopeful." "The great tide seems endless." "But how to catch up with them." "That's the pack's secret, the very thing the young must learn." "The trick is to take turns, to run the caribou in relays, so that the weaker animals will tire and drop behind while the wolves stay fresh." "Ironically after doing all the work, the wolves often must hand the prize to someone else." "There's probably not another animal alive that could chase a wolf from his dinner, except this one." "He's the Wolverine." "The Wolverine is a galloping enigma." "It's hard to know what nature had in mind for it." "He's actually a weasel, largest of the tribe, yet he seems many animals in one." "He can run like a deer, climb like a bear, use his paws like a raccoon, see like an eagle, and when necessary, fight like a cougar." "The Wolverine's energy is boundless, his curiosity unending, and his appetite enormous." "He eats anything." "Period." " And once he goes after something, in this case a fledgling osprey that cannot yet fly, he's unstoppable." " This is the more savage side of nature, and suddenly we begin to grasp what the fight for survival actually involves." " And now for one of nature's greatest mysteries." "In our modern world we talk of overpopulation, but do we really know what it means?" "The lemmings do." "It means not enough forage to go around." "It means too many bodies for the ground space available." "When that happens, the lemmings start to travel." "A strange kind of panic seizes upon these tiny rodents." "They practically stop eating." "They start to move." "To where it doesn't matter." "The thing to do is go." "No barrier can stop them now." "Not even the sea." "Why?" "The answer to this riddle has never been known." "Some say the lemmings are fooled by thinking this is a lake." "Be that as it may, they cannot know it is a lake without a farther shore." "The sea has many mysteries." "Some explainable, some not." "What brings the sea birds back to their habitual nesting grounds, when they've spent the summer thousands of miles away?" "No one really knows." "These gannets return unerringly to this Cliffside colony year after year after years unending, crossing mile upon mile of open ocean to find it." "Another mystery." "How can these birds dive from such heights and not meet disaster." "Straight in they come, like homing arrows, barely missing their fellows." "This is one riddle that does have an answer." "Gannets have air chambers in their chests to cushion the moment of impact." "And so they plummet down like a rain of rockets, going deeper and deeper till no fish among the unwary may escape his doom." "In this strange world of nature, there are many secrets and many more untold, for this true-life adventure has explored but a few." "Season after season, as long as life goes on, nature and all her marvels will continue to fascinate mankind, continued to be a source of wonder and mystery." "And beauty." "Captioning by captionmax"