"Arctic Kingdom:" "Life At the Edge ln the far northern reaches of planet Earth lies an alien sea of ice its waves frozen in time in darkness, in uncompromising cold lt's winter on the Arctic Ocean" "But a great power is returning to conquer this frozen sea" "The sun's rays touch the ice and like a living thing it responds" "As the ice surrenders to the rising sun it becomes a world in motion a shifting stage full of danger and drama" "Where creatures are trapped between moving sheets" "Stranded on the frozen waters" "Caught in the struggle to live in one of the harshest places on earth" "And where the ice meets the open sea the sun awakens a world of strange and glorious life" "This is the Arctic under the sun a short brilliant season of survival a miracle and a resurrection at the edge of the ice" "After three months of winter's hard darkness the fisrt light of spring spreads a glow across the ice lt's dawn in the Arctic in the season of eternal sun" "A lone predator stalks the ice in the early light" "A polar bear is on the prowl in different to the killing cold" "Even in temperatures of fifty below he doesn't hibernate" "The bear is the supreme master of winter on the ice" "He can grow to seventeen hundred pounds of hunting power but his life depends on just one creature" "The ringed seal takes a quick breath and returns to his world below the ice" "He, too, has endured all winter just beneath the feet of his mortal enemy" "It's April." "A female is also on the ice bringing her cubs out hunting for the first time" "They were born four long months ago and since then, their mother's had nothing to eat" "Her sense of smell is so keen that she can detect her prey through several feet of snow and half a mile away" "She seeks out ridges where drifting snow covers the breathing hole of a ringed seal" "Inside this protective snow cap a seal has dug al lair" "She catches his scent" "The seal rests but only sleeps a few seconds at a time its sharp hearing tuned to danger" "A tense contest of the senses begins" "Even the top predator on the ice misses 1 9 times out of 20" "And yet, the mother bear will need to kil at least two seals a week to keep her cubs alive" "The seal is safe for the moment but each new trip to the surface to breathe could end in another ambush lt's an oversized game of cat and mouse" "The bear eats mostly the blubber licking bits of fat from the snow" "A stealthy white shadow has been following the bear" "An Arctic fox" "For days he has been tracking the great hunter crossing miles of ice in hopes of leftovers from a kill" "When hunting is good, the bear leaves a feast behind" "The fox finds a morsel and buries it a precaution against an unpredictable future" "The sun now skims the horizon and will not set again for four months" "Day by day it begins to take control of the ice in the seasonal tug of war between darkness and light" "But for nearly half the year the far north is angled away from the sun and sleeps in the dark shadow of winter" "Left in the deep-freeze of space the Arctic seas lie covered with six million square miles of ice" "As the year progresses the planet swings around the sun" "Light returns to the top of the world" "With 24-hour sunshine the polar ice begins to retreat" "By spring, the ice edge has receded to a tangle of islands in the high Canadian Arctic and to the entrance of Lancaster Sound" "An ice-breaker cuts the first breech of the year through six feet of solid ice lt brings goods to and from villages and mining outposts 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle" "For the ship, the ice is an obstacle" "For some, it is home" "The init have carved life from this place for 4,000 years" "The ice is their world and spring promises a rich season of hunting ahead" "The ice itself has been guarding a secret world" "But now the crystal fortress begins to crack its walls pierced by light" "ln the shallows forty feet below the sun reveasl a garden of unexpected color" "Golden sea anemones..." "bright orange starfish and small crustaceans awaken from a winter trance" "Overhead, the skylight of ice glows green with life" "A vast pasture of algae now blooms on its surface spreading across the sea for hundreds of miles" "Countless young fish and shrimplike creatures come here to graze" "These in turn become food for staggering numbers of Arctic cod" "Protected by the shield of ice some half million tons of cod flourish in Lancaster Sound" "All this abundance is solar powered" "As light floods the water, it sets off an explosion of life" "Great stores of food can now be reached where the ice meets open water" "It's May, and animals begin to gather for this annual feast of spring" "Thick-billed murres fly in from the North Atlantic to plunder the cold waters for cod" "They flock to Lancaster Sound in the hundreds of thousands" "Murres are uncertain aviators" "Their true medium is water" "Once beneath the waves they're the Arctic version of a penguin" "With short flipper like wings they dive nearly 300 feet for three minutes at a time" "On the way back up air trapped in their feathers expands" "They rocket to the surface in a jet trail of bubbles" "At the ice edge nearby a polar bear scents the shifting wind" "As though navigating by satellite he continues to hunt across the same range even as the ice turns into ocean" "Beneath his fur the white bear has jet black skin to absorb heat from the sun when he's on the surface" "ln the near freezing water four inches of blubber keep him warm and afloat" "He's not above taking a bird or two" "But the murres take no notice and prepare to leave for they have an urgent appointment to keep" "Timing is everything here and the schedule is set by the sun" "The murres head for land" "The short breeding season has begun and for those who come late there'll be no second chance" "Their destination is a lonely outpost in Lancaster Sound" "... thetoweringcliffsofPrince Leopold Island" "Half a million seabirds crowd onto these rocky ledges one thousand feet above the sea" "The murres alone number almost 200,000" "Vicious fighting breaks out as the murres battle for the safest nest sites" "They lay only a single egg pear shaped to prevent it from rolling off the narrow rock shelf" "The stronger, more aggressive birds win sites midway down the cliff leaving the weaker birds at the top where they're most vulnerable" "An Arctic fox has been stranded here as the ice retreated from the island" "His white winter fur has been replaced by a sleek, brown coat" "A castaway for the summer he hunts alone on an island of birds" "He heads for the cliffs the only place to find food on the island" "Faced with a dangerous thief the birds abandon their eggs" "And though they can lay another a late season chick will not survive" "The fox steals all the eggs he can reach but he'll need dozens each week to stay alive" "Some he stashes in the cold ground" "There will be lean days ahead" "It's June." "A hundred miles from the island a fleet of white whales has arrived at the ice edge" "belugas hunting for cod" "The sea is suddenly alive with sound" "This chirping white chorus emerges from feeding grounds beneath the frozen sea like a gathering of polar ghosts" "With no dorsal fin to impede their icy travels these are true Arctic whales" "The belugas' rich symphony of sounds hints at the complexity of their lives" "Their sonar may be the most sophisticated of any whale" "Navigating under miles of ice they bounce clicks off shifting floes using a kind of "sound imaging" to master their world" "Their melodies pulse from their rounded foreheads the frequencies fine tuned like a focused beam of light piercing the blue depths" "The bonds between them are strong" "A mother and calf will swim side by side for three years" "Shadowy gray at birth they only gradually turn as perfectly white as the surrounding ice" "The sun is riding high now" "Strong winds from the open sea unleash their power against the ice" "Beaten by wind and wave weakened by sun and current the ice fractures and begins to split apart" "lmmense cracks open behind the leading edge of the ice" "These "leads" extend for miles opening up new feeding areas and hunting grounds" "The Inuit are experts at navigating the tricky ice fields of spring lt's a skill born of necessity of the ancient need to hunt on this ever changing surface" "Olyuk knows how to read the ice" "Still men and machines are sometimes lost" "ln the old days entire hunting parties could disappear without a trace" "They are now sixty miles from home" "They are hoping the trip will end in a successful hunt but it may take days" "Not far away, one of the most aggressive animals in the Arctic hauls out to rest adult walruses heavily armored with tusks and skin that is one inch thick" "Their skulls are massive and backed by a body weighing one ton they can bash through nine inches of ice" "Out of the water their only enemies are polar bears and human hunters" "The walrus feed on vast beds of clams buried 200 feet below in the muddy sea floor" "Each one can eat thousands of clams in a single meal" "And the mud harbors less obvious but just as deadly predators" "A carnivorous snail begins a slow methodical attack" "It smells the clam hiding in the mud and tries to penetrate the tightly closed shell" "But the clam can defend itself with a strong kick from its single foot" "Even stranger creatures patrol the dark ooze" "They thrive in the near freezing waters of the Arctic feeding on the remains of the dead" "... andoneachother" "Overhead, the surface is warming up" "Frozen salt ater melts first and from deep inside the ice salty brine begins to drain away" "Plumes of supercool salty liquid spill downward out of holes in the ice freezing the waters just beneath" "Hollow stalactites build up around the draining brine some reaching three feet in length" "The waves continue to hammer at the ice and the edge gives way under the relentless assault" "lnd and strong currents push ice floes together" "Massive blocks pile up and over each other building miniature mountain ranges" "ln the wake of the shifting ice giants come to fee" "The bowhead whale is named for its great curving jaw" "A favorite target of whalers it has never recovered from two centuries of slaughter" "Numbering only in the hundreds bowheads in the eastern Arctic make their last stand" "Reaching 60 feet in length it's the largest animal in the Arctic seas" "Yet the bowhead comes to feed on the smallest" "Energized by the touch of the sun the depths now pulse with millions of minute animals" "They seem electrified their transparent bodies glimmer with iridescent light" "More liquid than solid these delicate drifters are miracles of survival wrapped in enchanting beauty" "But to live here, they must also kill" "A jelly trails its long tentacles snaring a copepod then reeling it in to its death" "These tiny hunters float in a world of their own unaware of the leviathan that could devour their entire universe" "The bowhead sweeps through the water like a living trawl net" "Between the cavernous jaws dark sheets called baleen filter the water collecting thousands of small creatures" "lts enormous white tongue will scrape the baleen clean harvesting the sea one giant mouthful at a time" "The sun is winning control of the ice and the surface pools with melt water" "Temperatures now reach a balmy 40 degrees" "Dripping water measures the fleeting season the sound of summer ticking away" "Fresh leads break into the remaining ice" "The Arctic's most intriging creature moves in from the sea" "The narwhal - with its ivory tusk a living tooth up to ten feet long" "The whales converge along the narrow highway" "This is what Olyuk has been looking for" "Hunting is at the heart of Inuit culture a way of life and a skill still passed down from father to son lt's a proud link to the past and the only way to live off the land in the Arctic" "Today, the Inuit are still allowed to hunt whales but their take is strictly controlled" "Yet Olyuk remembers the not so distant days when hunting meant the difference between life and death" "They have landed a female only males have a tusk" "Whale skin is especially nutritious high in vitamin C" "Without such a diet the Inuit would have suffered from the scurvy which plagued many Arctic expeditions" "Eaten raw, it's a delicacy called "muktuk."" "ln the still twilight of midnight te narwhals joust a slow stately ritual of mythic beasts" "The purpose of their strange single tusk remains a mystery" "Like the peacock's tail and the lion's mane it may serve as a banner of male prowess" "It could be a weapon" "But it's the stuff of legend ln the Middle Ages the tusks were sold as unicorn horns for ten times their weight in gold" "The sea ice is flooded now although beneath the water the ice is still several feet thick" "Out on the melting surface an abandoned ringed seal has lost her bearings" "She has wandered away from her breathing hole and cannot find her way back" "Now, she is trapped above the ice an easy target for a hungry polar bear" "And if she cannot return to the sea beneath her she will starve" "The young seal is now exhausted but luck finally leads her to a hole in the ice" "She is safe, but now she's in unknown territory a long way from her familiar network of breathing holes" "She won't stray far for a while" "All around her the ice is changing" "The pasture of algae that once blanketed the surface has sloughed off and joined together in flowing ribbons of green" "Long tendrils reach out to absorb light and nutrients from the passing currents" "A new lead has opened in the ice and a pod of narwhals comes streaming into the crack" "They usually travel in small numbers but when fishing is good hundreds may come together" "As they enter the crack these specialized hunters take a risk" "The opening unlocks a rich store of Arctic cod but the ice is still shifting" "Without warning, the lead closes off" "The whales are trapped" "The entire pod must surface to breathe in this small pool of open water" "They bob up and down in a crush of bodies careful not to wound each other with their tusks" "If the hole closes over completely the narwhals will have to make a run for open water if they don't find it they will suffocate and die" "Then suddenly, as unpredictably a it closed the lead reopens and the whales are free" "High off the cliffs of Prince Leopold Island fulmars and kittiwakes ride the wild winds" "Even gusts of 40 miles per hour present no problem for these aerial acrobats" "Landing is the tricky part" "There is new life in the murre colony" "The adult birds are busy plying back and forth to the sea returning with cod for their young" "The chick will need to triple its weight over the next three weeks and feeds round the clock in the constant daylight" "At the top of the cliff glaucous gull chicks are hungry too" "But gulls don't limit their diet to fish" "This one goes hunting closer to home looking for an unprotected chick" "It returns with a grisly catch" "For the fox, these are hungry times" "Egg laing is over and the chicks have hatched out of his reach" "He has only his store of buried eggs to see him through" "High summer finally reaches the Arctic" "The last remnants of ice swirl near the shores of Lancaster Sound" "The frozen sea is broken at last drifting in tattered pieces on the current" "Moving inshore are the gleaming white shapes of belugas" "They return by the hundreds to the same inlets they frequent each year" "Their smooth, white skin has turned yellow and wrinkled lt's time to molt" "On the rocky bottom of the shallows the whales scrape off their old weathered skin with a rejuvenating rub" "Terns wheel overhead and dive for bits of molted skin" "As the tide turns, the whales retreat into deeper water" "But one young beluga has pushed too far inshore" "The benevolent sun now becomes his greatest enemy" "He could easily sunburn and out of the cold water he could overheat" "The others can do nothing" "The rocks have cut his sensitive skin" "All he can do is wait for the incoming tide" "With one last surge the young beluga recovers his freedom" "It's only August, but atumn is closing in on the murre colony" "The chicks are just three weeks old still unable to fly" "Yet the time has come to leave the island" "Escorted by its father a chick makes its way through a gauntlet of hostile adults stilldefending their ledges" "Driven by irresistible instinct the chick prepares to make an incredible leap from the thousand foot cliff" "With its father close behind he plummets to the waters below" "For the next eight weks they'll drift southward as the young murres grow the feathers they need to finally take to the air" "The fox is left alone" "His stash of eggs is gone and he may starve before he can escape the island" "The moon now looks down on Lancaster Sound the cold pale face of the coming winter" "All across the Arctic, animals are on the move fleeing the coming freeze" "The cold is returning to claim these seas" "The great bowheads depart as their food supply begins to dwindle in the fading light" "Slowly, the surface begins to transform crystals congeal into grease ice then thicken into pancake ice" "The season of the sun is over" "Soon, winter and the white bear will stalk the ice once more" "Cold howls across the empty expanse of frozen sea" "Darkness deepens" "The bear settles in to stay and the Arctic turns once more toward the dark night of space" "Yellowstone:" "Realm of the Coyote" "It's a world forged by fire and ice," "a wonderland with jagged edges," "Born of a cataclysmic eruption nearly two million years ago it's been exploding ever since," ",Yellowstone," "This is the first national park on earth and perhaps still the greatest," "A primeval landscape of water, light - and extraordinary life," "Over the eons," "Yellowstone has become an American Serengeti home to one of the most diverse communities of large mammals on the continent," ",home to the great Wyoming herds," "For thousands of years the call of one great predator has rung out across the wilderness," "The call of the coyote," "It's not the largest or fiercest of Yellowstone's creatures," "But it may well be the most cunning" "According to one proverb," ""Next to God, the coyote is the smartest person on earth,"" "If it seems almost human, that's because like us, the coyote is both cowardly and brave - a schemer," ",and an opportunist," "Above all, the coyote is a survivor, lt was present at the birth of Yellowstone, lt has outlasted the ice Age, the Stone Age, famines, floods;" "and still, it's going strong," "Nearly 1,000 coyotes live in Yellowstone," "This could be the story of almost any one," "Let's call this one Cain short for the coyote's Latin name," "Canis latrans the "talking dog,"" "Over the next four seasons, he will face the greatest trials," "This is the story of that year, a year of perils," ",a year of struggle," "a year through the eyes of Yellowstone's coyote," "Wandering across the vast horizon, coyotes like Cain watch over Yellowstone," "At three years old, Cain weighs 35 pounds big for most of North America, but average in the park," "Like most coyotes here, Cain is a member of a pack not a leader, just an underling," "Usually, he hunts on his own," "But every day, he is pulled back to his home, his family the group that sustains him," ",his pack," "A family of up to a dozen coyotes rules a territory of a few square miles," "The top dogs - the leaders," ",are a single male," ",and his lifelong mate," "The rest are usually their offspring a mob of siblings," "Packs are an uneasy blend of competition and cooperation, snarling and snuggling," "But for all the seeming affection, hen it comes to food, there's always tension," "The young are the second-class citizens of coyote society," "They must wait to eat," ",until after their parents have had their fill," "Cain should know he'll also have to wait his turn," "But sometimes the temptation, the hunger is too great," "He needs to eat now, lt won't happen without a fight," "There's no welcome home here," "Bared teeth and arched back show Cain's aggression," "But his tucked tail and other signs tell the true story," "He's scared," "Now he'll have to learn the hard way," "As in most coyote fights, no blood is shed," "But the outcome is very real:" "Cain will go hungry today," "Despite the conflict, Cain gathers with his pack his siblings, his rivals," "Life is more secure in a group than alone," "Coyotes have more calls than any other wild mammal of North America," "This group howl means they're allstill buddies," "As coyotes rule the land in Yellowstone, another animal dominates the water, lt's the one creature that seems to enjoy this brutal season," "And it's having a blast, an Arctic blast," "For the otter, winter is a special playtime," "Any riverbank is an excuse for a slide," "From the hills to the valleys otters create their own highways," "For them, it's always rush hour," "Zipping along at about 15 miles an hour, it's clear they've raised commuting to a high art," "With their insulating fur, otters are as cozy beneath the ice as on top of it," "And since open water can always be found, even in winter, otters don't face starvation like most of Yellowstone's creatures," "Fish are abundant and sluggish from the cold," "But catching the fish is the easy part," "To eat it, the otters have to surface," "And that's exactly here the competition is waiting," "Cain's pack is on patrol," "Coyotes are patient hunters with a talent for snatching the prey of others," "But the feisty otters are no pushovers," "Coyotes are most successful working as a team," "The pack will stake out several holes," "But otters can usually find an emergency exit," "And hen menaced, they can work as a team too," "Ever scheming, Cain sets his sights on a new prize," "But there's no honor among thieves," "Cain's pack runs him down," "The dominant male has claimed the meal as his own," "Once again, Cain is left frustrated," "Life in a pack can sometimes seem unfair," "Winter for coyotes is breeding time," "Junior members of the pack are supposed to spend this season on the sidelines," "But tentatively, gingerly," "Cain begins to show an interest in the top female," "The male leader won't put up with it," "This is his mate - and his alone," "He lays down the law," "The ruling male has a dilemma," "Should he stay to guard his mate?" "Should he head out after food?" "Hunger wins out," "Or does it?" "He can't make up his mind," "Cain sees an opportunity coming," "The leader has turned up a feast," "But Cain has turned up something equally enticing," "As an underling," "Cain is supposed to help raise the young, not sire them," "Cain has violated the laws of the pack, and now he's caught in a compromising position," "The leaders head off, but they're not through with Cain yet," "The pack's sentence, hen it comes," ",will be harsh," "The battered Cain will face the worst penalty: expulsion," "The top male leads the final charge," "Cain's companions have cast him out," "Now exiled and vulnerable," "Cain will be forced to wander the wilderness alone," "For a lone coyote, the odds are never good," "Cain's chances of dying this winter have just tripled," "All of Yellowstone's best turf has been claimed by one pack or another," "And so the outcast must now prowl the borderlands," "Without a territory, without partners, finding food will be a greater struggle, ln this winter's bleak landscape," ",even the carcasses are picked to the bone," "Cain will have to take greater risks to get meals that might have come easily to the pack," "He is forced to go it alone against creatures like the golden eagle," "With a wingspan of nearly seven feet, the eagle is a formidable opponent," "And it's not frightened of a single coyote like Cain," "Cain's perils are, in fact, just beginning," "Lone coyotes are wanderers sometimes traveling 20 miles in a single night and Cain will have to travel far," ",to find food in a land here he's not part of a pack," "His best hope is under the snow," "Rodents like the vole are a coyote specialty," "Enough of these appetizers and Cain will have a full meal," "Not that coyotes are finicky," "They'll eat almost anything from grasshoppers to cows, lt's been said," ""a coyote's favorite food is anything he can chew,"" "When it comes to hunting voles, the coyote is a skilled performer," "But another wild dog is a real virtuoso," ",the fox," "With its sharp ear, the fox pinponts its prey," "And hen it strikes, it strikes with style," "Foxes fight with style too, lt's a dance of dominance hen foxes gather at an elk carcass," "Foxes, unlike coyotes, don't live in packs," "And encounters are usually testy," "ln the lower valleys," "Cain is on the lookout for animals in trouble," "Once the buffalo roamed the West in the millions," "Then they were all but eradicated, ln the bison's most desperate hour," "Yellowstone sheltered the only wild herd in the United States," "Winter has always been hard on these great beasts," "But even in the lethal cold, one thing has always made Yellowstone a haven," ",the geysers" "A single geyser like Old Faithful can erupt with enough energy to melt tons of ice," "Hot springs, mud pots, steam jets, and fumaroles these are the vents for the earth's great boiling energy," "Yellowstone has more geysers than anyhere else in the world," "ln the depth of winter, hen the subzero winds bite, the bison cluster around these oases of warmth," "Here, grass still grows, covered only by a thin layer of snow that the bison can plow with their heads," "But sometimes the snow hides ice kept thin by the hot springs," "Buffalo can weigh up to a ton," "But their legs are narrow and pointy," "On thin ice, that's a treacherous combination," "Every step may be a step toward disaster," "ln Yellowstone, the things that give life can also claim it back," "There's nothing the herd can do," ",no lifeline the can throw," "It will take the buffalo nearly four hours to drown," "Death is a long time coming on the high plateau," "Deep into the month of April, winter lashes the park one last time," "Yellowstone is chilled, frozen under a great hite cloud," "Temperatures drop to 40 below," "This is beyond cold," "This is an assault on all things living," "If a coyote knows loneliness, this must be the loneliest time," "But a new season is on its way," "With every passing day, huge cracks rend the ice and shatter the crust of winter," "Cain has made it through a trying season," "But now he must do more than simply endure," "He needs a mate, a pack, a territory to call his own," "Sooner or later he must find these, for without them, his life will be desolate and brief," "With the coming of spring, food is emerging everyhere," "And Cain is on the prowl," "As the snow retreats, carcasses are revealed," "Among them, the bison that drowned in the winter," "Freezing waters have preserved the carcass, and with the thaw, it's reappeared just in time to catch Cain's eye," "The new season feeds on the remains of the old," "A bear emerges from hibernation, lt's time for breakfast," "Only this fast has been four months long," "And a solo coyote can figure the odds," "The grizzly settles down to enjoy Cain's meal," "As the thaw continues, hite turns to gold, and then to green," ",and the dance of spring goes on," "With great urgent leaps, the cutthroat trout migrate up the Yellowstone River," "Many will end up as food for predators along the banks," "Like the osprey the magnificent fish hawk," "ln a land of hunters, the osprey is one of the greatest with feet that grasp like pincers, the perfect tool for holding on to a slippery fish," "Every morning, the river brings a new feast to the osprey's door," "And for Cain, for all those that dwell in Yellowstone," ",the first murmur of spring has now turned into a full-throated roar," "With so much food in abundance, life is flourishing everyhere," "New borns have also appeared at Cain's old pack," "Two months of gestation have led to this:" "Five new members of the pack, five potential partners, five potential rivals," "All around Cain, families are springing up," "But he has no pack, no mate, no young," "His only companion: a badger, ln fact, the partnership of coyote and badger is legendary," "Native Americans spoke of an ancient bond between the two;" "they called them "cousins,"" "What they are is something like hunting partners," "Cain's keen senses locate the prey," "The badger - a master digger flushes it from the earth," "Above ground, the coyote keeps watch for fleeing prey," "Cain gets the meal this time," "But his deeper hunger endures," "He needs a mate," "At Cain's old pack, the two leaders raise their pups," "But they have help:" "other pack members pitch in to watch over the pups" "to teach them" "to protect them from threats," ",like the grizzly," "A half-ton beast with five-inch claws is an unwelcome visitor," "Led by the mother, the pack uproots, moving the pups to a standby den they've prepared for just such emergencies," "But nature holds other threats for the coyotes," "Each year the park must face a trial by fire," "The great inferno of 1988 was the most ferocious to scar the region in two centuries," "But almost every year, lightning sets Yellowstone aflame," "ln the aftermath, Cain walks the smoldering earth," "His quest for a mate has led him far," "But he still has many difficult miles to go," "Fire is not only a destructive force, lt also kindles new life," "After a blaze, the grasslands send up new shoots," "As if in response to the killing flames, everything comes to life again," "Fire brings a second spring," "It is a time of beginning for the pups too," "They have survived the blaze, and are growing rapidly," "Weaned in their second month, they're too big for the den now," "They've moved into a kind of fort tucked away under a tree," "This tug-of-war is just practice," "Today, it's a feather one day soon - it will be a bone, ln the early hours of a new day, a young pup sets out after a vole," "But he can barely handle a bee!" "Success, lt's the pup's first catch, a first taste of his new life," "The pups are becoming more assured," "But it's one thing to hunt on your own, another to work as a team," "And that's hat they're setting out to do," "Their target - a badger," "The pups aren't old enough to know they're supposed to be partners," "They've still got a lot to learn," "But the pups seem to feel pretty good about themselves all the same," "Year after year, the drama of Yellowstone's seasons play out on a grand scale," "For this park spans the decades, lt spans the continental divide, lt spans 2,2 million acres," "Yet for all the enduring panoramic beauty of Yellowstone, there is another face to this park rougher, more unformed, almost otherworldly," "Yellowstone has been a national park for well over 100 years," "And yet in a sense," ",it is built anew every day," ",boiling up in great basins of sulfur and mud," "Those that roam Yellowstone day after day find that each day takes them over slightly different terrain," "Each day, they find the horizon is new again," "After six months alone," "Cain catches sight of a potential mate," "She was cast out from her pack during the food shortage last winter," "The lone female has been wandering the park like Cain," "The two coyotes offer something precious to each other a partnership the promise of a family," "Once paired, most coyotes will mate for life," "And this first date has gone very well," "Together they will hunt through the grasslands," "Together they will search for a home," "Finding one won't be easy, ln fact, it will be the challenge of their lives," "All the surrounding territories are held by large packs," "And turf won't be taken without a fight, ln Cain's former pack, the pups are six months old almost fully grown," "Working with the adults, they are now a well-coordinated killing team," "And their target is a sickly elk calf," "The mother does her best to defend her young one," "But it's no use," "The coyotes claim their prey," "Long after her battle is lost, the mother continues to fight," "But the coyotes won't be denied their meal," "ln the cruel equation of Yellowstone, the death of the elk calf means life for the young coyotes," "The final days of summer turn cool," "As Cain and his mate wander, the buffalo go head-to-head in a violent mating contest the rut," "The males are well-dressed for battle -their heads and shoulders padded with extra wool to absorb the pounding," "And hen it comes, the pounding is ferocious," "For the losers, the cost is sometimes death," "And there is no dignity to death in a land of scavengers," "The colors of fall herald the return of freezing temperatures," "For Cain and his mate, now comes a critical test," "They've hunted side by side, but now they must hunt as a team," "An injured mule deer seems an easy target," "But the coyotes are cautious," "A mule deer's hoof can slash like a knife," "The pair just can't get the job done," "Two coyotes can't surround their prey the way a pack can," "Their failure is a dangerous omen," "For a pair that can't make a kill, winter will be an ordeal a deadly ordeal," "With the first snows, begin the battles of winter," "The bighorn sheep are fighting for a chance to mate," "Now all of Yellowstone's creatures must once more fend off starvation," "The thermal springs offer respite for some," ",but the season will still take its awful toll," "The odds against Cain and his partner grow with each passing week," "Without a pack, hunting is difficult, holding a territory even more so," "Without a pack, they stand less chance of surviving, or of raising young," "Rivers are natural turf boundaries," "And to cross the line into another pack's domain is to risk confrontation," "But for the hungry pair, now is the time for risk," "They can't resist the lure of a bison carcass," "The resident pack can't afford to share their food with trespassers," "A clash is coming," "And for Cain, it will have a special significance," "This is his old pack," "These are his kin," "And Cain is still coyote non grata," "Vicious as it is, this battle won't go to the limit, lt will stop hen one coyote proves strongest," "And one has, lt's Cain," "This is now his turf," "Defeated, the former leaders wander off into exile," "Old and tired, their prospects are poor," "Cain and his mate claim one of their rewards the right to eat first," "Confrontation becomes cooperation as Cain's brothers and sisters accept the takeover," "They all settle in for a banquet," "Cain will in time become a father," "And by helping raise his pups, his siblings will make sure the family line lives on," "Sibling rivalry turns to revelry of a sort," "And Cain's pack begins life anew," "More adversity will lie ahead this winter - lethal temperatures," "Punishing winds and the never ending struggle for food," "But the coyotes will survive," "They have survived fire and ice, survived the attacks of man and beast," "This too they will outlast," "There is an Indian tale that states the coyote will be the last animal on earth," "After the buffalo are gone, after man has disappeared, all that will be left is darkness," "And in the darkness will echo the call of the coyote," "It appears out of the dawn of time," ",a creation of the sun, caldron of life," "This is the tropical forest nature at her most extravagant," "Sustained by the partnership of animal and plant, it has produced more than half the species on earth, lt is a sea of green -- seemingly spellbound -- changeless," "But look again," "Behind the green curtain are countless battles for survival, into this complex world has come a rare breed of adventurer," "Scientific knowledge is the treasure they seek, and to find it, they're not afraid to go out on a limb," "This is a place unlike any other in the world," "Panama's Barro Colorado Island, known as bcl to the scientists ho journey here," "A protected realm in the middle of the Panama Canal," "BCl is home to the Smithsonian's Tropical Research lnstitute," "Scientists come to this island from all over the globe to unravel the mysteries of life in the tropical forest," "It is an adventure beyond the reach of one person, or one lifetime," "BCl's a very special place for me just because the more I come here, the more familiar I get with the island, lt's just home, it's comfortable, it's exciting," "I think Barro Colorado Island offers for me a lot of things that I would not find in any other place, lt's a really highly diverse forest, the research facilities are just fantastic, you come there, you go out and do the work," "and Barro Colorado Island is protected so that your work is not destroyed at all," "I discover things, ln the tropics you may be a person ho's discovered something that not a single human being in the history of the world has bothered to notice," "Here unfolds one of nature's great puzzles," "How does the tropical forest manage to support such a remarkable community of life and sustain itself at the same time?" "One thing is certain, at the heart of it all are the trees" "A single tree, as it drives towards the light, affects the lives of countless creatures," "But life is a struggle here for every creature and the odds that any one seed will grow into a Titan are astronomical, lt takes luck and strategy to make it to the top," "For people, getting to the top always requires some special precautions," "Biologist Deedra McClearn has learned to seek the forest's answers on its own terms," "Even if it means following her slingshot all the way up," ",into the crown of one of the forest's giants," "This is a dipteryx, one of the great ones, lt rises head and shoulders above the ocean of leaves around it, more than a hundred feet tall," "From its majestic flowers will come fruit, and from the fruit, perhaps an offspring that will survive to take the place of its parent among a procession of giants," "Climbing has taught Deedra to respect trees as individuals," "Since I've started climbing I like dipteryx, because it's a beautiful tree, it's emergent, it comes above all the rest of the trees, they often have great views, and the wood is really hard and solid," "I feel safe climbing a dipteryx, chain saws won't cut down a dipteryx," "I have a lot of different emotions associated with actually climbing a tree," "One of them is familiarity, lf it's a tree that I've climbed before, I feel comfortable, it's a very satisfying sort of feeling to make a good assent, lf it's a tree that" "I haven't climbed before or it's given me troubles, or I'm worried about a branch, then it can be very nerve-racking," "Deedra climbs into the canopy to release a coati a tropical cousin of the raccoon, I know you," "She captures coatis just to let them go, I have caught you 15 times and you always thrash around," "Just wait a second," "She's curious how an animal ho isn't a born climber manages to survive ten stories up, I think coatis are really interesting as climbing mammals because they're not perfect," "They're kind of clumsy, they're not graceful leapers, they can't hang by their tail, they don't have exclusively manipulative hands to grasp onto branches, but they do really well," "One of the things that really surprised me was that they actually will jump quite a far distance going down," "It'll launch itself into a tree and it doesn't really know here it's going to grab on, it just, I think, assumes that it'll be able to find something hen it hits that," "The coati has a lot of company up here," ",with good reason," "The canopy is the forest's powerhouse," "This is here leaves transform light into the stuff of life itself," "The canopy creates its own world, with lands and waters, prey and predators, lt overflows with flowers, greenery, and fruit food for all ho can live at these heights," "Earthbound for years, scientists could only guess hat went on up here -- until now," "The canopy is the last frontier on earth and it's only been the last 10 or 15 years that people have really gotten up into the trees and started looking at the insects and looking at the leaves, and actually there still hasn't" "been that much mammal work up in the canopy, but it's a different life zone, lt's like going to the bottom of the ocean," "You can't tell hat's up here from working on the ground and it's different," "Bold researchers like Deedra are proving how different the tropical forest is from our preconceptions of the jungle," "For one thing, it is not always steamy and wet" "Like many tropical forests, BCl has a long dry season," "Food is now becoming scarce," "Even coatis, ho will eat just about anything are hard pressed to fill their bellies," "They gather under the majestic dipteryx, waiting," "Now, hen they need it most, the tree will bear its fruit," "For dipteryx this is the beginning of the long struggle to reproduce," "Howler monkeys gather in its crown," "Here is a banquet that will stave off hunger for many," "The timing is crucial, By fruiting during the dry season, the dipteryx guarantees that many will gather for the feast," "Oddly enough, the tree wants its fruit to be eaten even though each fruit contains a seed that could bring forth the next generation," "But hy?" "All these capuchin monkeys know is that food is nearly at hand," "And if enough of them arrive, they could drive the howlers from this nutritious meal," "What scientists have discovered is the fruit is actually an expensive bribe, lf animals take it, they may carry the seed locked inside far from the parent tree," "The further away the seed gets, the better its chance of surviving," "With ripening fruit all around them, the canopy animals can now afford to be finicky eaters," "Once they've had the ripest bit, they simply drop the fruit and move on to the next," "But this rain of half-eaten fruit is of no help to the tree in its quest to reproduce, its seedlings have little luck of thriving here in the shadow of the parent's crown," "Still for the animals waiting below, it's manna from heaven," "The coatis eat only the sweet flesh, they leave the seed intact," "But others are waiting in the wings," "Once the coatis have relieved their hunger, agoutis gingerly join the feast," "Agoutis are rodents;" "they have teeth and jaws designed to gnaw right through the tough shell and devour the seed within," "Squirrels, too, relish the giant seeds," "Instead of creating new dipteryx trees, the seeds simply feed a host of hungry visitors," ",even peccaries," "Satiated, the coatis settle into some mutual grooming," "ln evening's golden light, butterflies and ants gorge upon the remains of the feast," "It's been a good day for all the animals, but bad for the lordly dipteryx," "lts potential offspring lie here they would have fallen away;" "nothing has carried them away," "Has the tree's survival strategy failed?" "ls the next generation lost?" "ls there no help under the sun for the dipteryx?" "Perhaps the moon can shed some light on the mystery of the dipteryx," "Tropical nights weave their own magic and unveil a hole new cast of characters," "Everyhere, there are bats, conjured out of the dark," "Among the branches hunts a marsupial, a marmosa, its prey is pint-size, like itself," ",a katydid camouflaged unsuccessfully as a leaf," "Even hile enjoying its meal, the marmosa must be wary," "if it doesn't want to end up as dinner itself," "Dipteryx seeds make a nutritious meal for a spiny rat, and a dangerous one as well," "Gnawing on the tough seed makes enough noise to attract the unwelcome eye of a passing margay," "The tiny forest cat enjoys its meal, until disturbed by yet another denizen of the dark," "Only at night does Elizabeth Kalko venture out on her own quest," "The Barro Colorado Island she knows is very different from the one most people see," "The night is a totally different world from the daytime," "We are just exposed to a wonderful orchestra of different sounds, of many insects and frogs, then you see the stars through the canopy and this is just an incredible atmosphere," "And occasionally there are bats fluttering by and even touching you with their wings," "The night holds no fear for Elizabeth," "She is in her element, and bats are her passion," "She hangs nets of fine mesh over small streams, fishing for bats," "She believes bats are the unsung heroes of the night, vital to the survival of dipteryx, and many other tropical giants," "That's a short-tailed fruit bat, and although they are relatively easy to get out of these nests, one has to be very careful about their sharp teeth," "Bats rely on forest trees for food and shelter, but they'll repay their hosts as they make their nightly rounds," "Legs are free, hoops, don't bite me, be nice, all right, I don't think that bats are really ugly, I think that the misconception that bats are ugly comes from our very limited knowledge about bats," "Most of the bats have very, very,very pretty faces and especially here we find bats with beautiful facial stripes, and colored ears, and they actually have large eyes and don't look ugly at all," "But a bat is much more than just a pretty face," "Sometimes hen I set mesh nets and bats fly in, they bring a fruit with them and drop them in the mesh net and so I can tell hat kind of bat has taken hat kind of fruit, I know hat this bat had for dinner," "Let's get it out of the mesh net here," "This is a fruit of the dipteryx," "And the bat has carried the fruit in its mouth hen it was hit into this net," "It turns out that the fate of our majestic dipteryx rests upon the soft wings of a little bat," "Drawn by the scent of ripe fruit, artibeus bats hover over the tree's canopy," "Yet death lies in wait among these boughs," "Luckily the bat's ability to "see" in the dark using sound not only pinpoints the fruit, it warns it of the hidden boa," "Another bat flies, locates fruit, carries fruit away it tears it off the stem and carries it away," "Still it's far too dangerous to eat it here," "Only hen it arrives at a safe roost, usually tucked under the fronds of a palm tree, does it stop to eat," "Unknowingly, it has already performed a great service for our dipteryx," "The bat has carried the fruit away from the dipteryx, beyond the reach of any diseases or parasites that may plague the parent tree," "Once the bat gnaws off the sweet flesh, it lets the seed drop," "Every night hen the fruit is ripe, artibeus bats make several visits to our tree," "And each time they return to the safety of the same feeding roost to enjoy their meal," "After each trip, another dipteryx seed joins the little mound forming just below," "Curiously enough, in this heap of discards lies the tree's best hope for a successor," "Morning's light has scarcely revealed the half-eaten fruit, hen they are discovered by an agouti," "Have the precious seeds come this far, only to be wasted?" "But the agouti can't possibly eat all that it has found," "And hat it does next adds another piece to the puzzle of how dipteryx manages to survive," "With the dry season continuing, the agouti stashes the remaining seeds for the hard times to come," "Much like a squirrel buries a nut, it carefully hides them, one by one," "Yet there will always be some it doesn't need or simply forgets," "Unwittingly, the agouti has now planted the next generation of a tropical giant," "As the dry season on the island gets worse, many canopy trees actually shed their leaves in a tropical version of autumn," "For months, streams have been draining water away," "And torrid heat continues to rob the forest of precious moisture," "The remaining water collects in ever shrinking pools," "More and more trees drop their leaves;" "it's a way to conserve water and cut their losses as the drought deepens," "As always in the forest, there's an animal that's found a way to take advantage of every situation, lt hides among the fallen leaves disappearing in plain sight," "A caterpillar masquerading as a dead leaf," "But there's no hiding from the army ants," "Since many small creatures disappear in the dry season, army ants are forced to tackle prey many times their own size," "They overwhelm them by sheer force of numbers," "Treehoppers suck the remaining sap out of plants," "But they're also under attack," "A mother defends her brood from a wasp trying to steal one of her larvae for food," "Each time the larvae wave their legs calling out an alarm, the mother treehopper strikes back at the wasp," "By April, the dry season has turned cruel," "Famine is only just kept at bay," "The buds from the balsa tree are eaten before they can ever bloom," "The hole forest seems to hold its breath," ",waiting for the rains," "Over eight feet of rain may fall during the wet season," "The first good drenching triggers an avalanche of change," "This wet new world is paradise for creatures -- water loving," ",and waterlogged," "Stan Rand, renowned frog man, is used to working in a deluge, but it does have its draw backs," "When you wear glasses such as I do, you don't see properly because your glasses get all wet from the rain on them and then they get all steamed up inside and you can't see anything," "Luckily, sight is not the primary sense Stan uses in his work," "To truly enter the frog's world, he must wait until dark and find his way through a landscape of sound," "What you hear are the voices of all these frogs and on a good night there can be" "14, 15, 17, different kinds of frogs all calling at the same time, all audible from the same place," "Only the males call, each in search of a mate," "To be heard and recognized above all this amorous bedlam is a challenge, challenging, too, for Stan and his students," "This is a young male pentadactylus like all frogs they eat live food, frogs and mice and insects and probably small birds, in fact, I know they eat small birds," "And he's got a dorsal secretion that is really quite nasty," "He got me, One of their defenses is this skin secretion," "Group walks away" "For 30 years, Stan has lived in Panama not far from BCl," "He's become totally attuned to the ups and down of a frog's life," "He even understands hy frogs use different calls at different times," "There's a physalaemus male," "You can tell he's calling by himself because he's just giving a simple hine call -- oow, oow, lf another male came in and began to call, he'd change his call adding chucks to his call," "so he'd go, oow-chuck, oow-chuck- chuck, I can sometimes get him to answer me as if I were another male," "See?" "He went from going oow to oow-chuck, oow-chuck, and now that I've stopped talking to him, he's going back to the simple hines," "More frogs" "Male frogs make the added "chuck" sound to attract females," "The females can tell from the pitch hich male is the biggest and strongest," "But male frogs have to think twice about sounding off," "Because females aren't the only ones out there listening to the chucks;" "predators are too," "So any male frog that wants to mate must gamble with his life," "And with other, bigger frogs nearby a call can be a fatal attraction," "But for those ho survive long enough to mate, it's a gamble well worth taking," "The male locks onto the female in a mating embrace," "As he fertilizes the eggs, he hips the fluid released with the eggs into a meringue-like nest of bubbles," "These tiny frogs mate in very shallow pools at the foot of dipteryx and other trees," "The bubbles help keep the eggs moist and full of oxygen and beyond the reach of aquatic predators," "Sometimes several pairs will cooperate in creating a frothy nursery for their young," "Red-eyed tree frogs protect their brood differently," "They live high in the canopy, more at home on dipteryx's spreading branches than in a pond," "They come down only hen it's time to mate," "Then they must get their young close to water," "The males descend to the lower eaves of the tree, here they call to the larger females," "After mounting the female, the male hangs on tight," "She's off on a search for just the right place to lay her eggs a leaf overhanging a small forest pool," "Location is critical if it's too low, her brood could be washed away by the next storm," "Sometimes the eggs are laid as high as 30 feet up," "The eggs are encased in a jelly-like mass a gooey aquarium in hich they'll develop into tiny tadpoles," "Only then will they drop into the pool below," "The young frogs rush to develop," "And none too soon," "A vine snake -- three feet of elegant death," "ln just four days the eggs have become recognizable tadpoles, but they're not ready to take the plunge yet," "Even so, they may not have the luxury of waiting," "At this stage, the tadpoles can hatch," "But in just a few more days their tails will be much longer, allowing them to swim better," "And once they're in the pond, they'll need to be good swimmers," "Fish will find the premature tadpoles easy pickings," "It's a deadly dilemma risk the snake's bite, or leap into the waiting mouths of the fish below," "As if the fish weren't enough, the tadpoles must contend with this monster in miniature," "A dragonfly nymph, a youngster itself, is one of the fiercest creatures in this realm," "But there will always be some ho sidestep instant death and live to return to the trees," "Despite all appearances to the contrary, even the dragonfly nymph will be transformed someday soon and take to the tropical air," "Waking to a misty morning is an island wrapped in enchantment," "The rains have cast their spell," "And in the soil, the seeds of our dipteryx await a rebirth," "But before that can happen, the forest must change once more," "A carpet of forest litter, preserved in the dry air now moisture melts it away, ln just a few days, the nutrients locked away in the dead leaves will be restored to the living," "Fungi and molds course over the withered remains," "Fungi are the middlemen, mining the bodies of the dead for riches hich they supply to the living," "Here everything is recycled, as a new generation rises from the moist earth," "The seedlings respond in rhythm, spreading their leaves to catch the daylight, folding them at dark," "Young vines grope for support," "They've traded strength for length, and need help to climb towards the sky," "But herever they grow, they can't escape the hordes of hungry mouths that surround them," "To protect themselves from being eaten, many tropical plants lace their foliage with poisons," "But these new leaves haven't had the time to mount their chemical defense," "Yet in the tropics, poison to one is a treat for another" "There's always some insect that can find an antidote to a plant's toxins," "And from then on, it will be the only one they eat," "Leafcutter ants have found another strategy," "An army of workers seeks out only nontoxic plants any and all they can find," "All herbivores are living recycling plants," "They absorb just a small fraction of hat they eat," "The rest they return as manure rich fertilizer that feeds the growth of the forest," "Unless if gets hijacked by a pair of industrious dung beetles," "A monkey dropping is a mother lode for the dung beetles, ho fashion it into a ball, a combination pantry and nursery for their young," "They roll their stash away, looking for a place to bury it among all the new growth," "A baby dipteryx enters this complex and competitive world, lt started life as a tiny flower in the canopy, here it was pollinated and ripened into fruit, lt was carried away in the claws of a bat," "ho ate its flesh, and discarded the seed, lt was buried alive by an agouti, and has lain in wait for the rains for months," "Now, its time has come!" "Only one in a thousand ever gets this far," "The huge seed stored enough energy to unfurl a giant among seedlings nine inch tall, with lots of green," "Lots of juicy green," "But it is not a delicacy," "Not even a food of first choice," "But hen other juicy edibles become scarce," ",baby dipteryx does end up on the menu," "The parent tree has spent centuries, growing hundreds of feet and preparing millions of fruit, so at least one offspring will survive to reach the canopy," "Yet all that effort can be gobbled up in seconds," "It will never survive being stripped bare," "And even those ho remain intact need luck to prevail," "They must have light to live," "And light is hard to come by on the forest floor," "Each and every ray must penetrate layers of foliage to reach a seedling below," "Animals can search out light, but the seedlings, rooted in place, must wait for the sun," "They make do with sun specks that flicker over the forest floor, illuminating them for just minutes each day," "Even if it gets its moment in the sun," ",the fall of a single leaf can seal a seedling's doom," "A new day in the forest sometimes brings disaster, lf a new tree is to thrive, another must fall," "For the plants that have struggled to survive in its shadow, perhaps for decades, this is a reprieve from a dark prison," "A light gap has been torn in the fabric of the canopy, lt has been centuries since this spot saw broad daylight," "For seedlings starved for the sun it is a chance to grow and flourish," "A race for the life-giving light has begun," "There will be winners and losers as each plant tries to crowd out its neighbors," "into the new light comes another creature, biologist Phil Devries," "Phil studies the world of the light gap and he's discovered some astonishing relationships here," "Since I've been a small child I noticed plants and I noticed insects, I like being in nature and I like forests a lot, I can think of nothing more enjoyable than being surrounded completely on all sides" "and I literally mean up, down, any direction with life and that's hat being in a tropical rain forest is all about," "His love for this forest world is neatly matched to his quick eye and insatiable curiosity, I observe as much as I possibly can, and effectively hat you're doing is you're asking," ""Hello organism, hat are you doing for a living and ho do you interact with hile you're out here doing your duties as a butterfly or an ant or a lizard or a plant?"" "I can use butterflies literally to move around in the forest and tell me hat the vegetation is like," "Phil has uncovered a light gap plant called a croton that's developed an unexpected relationship with two different insects, an ant and a butterfly caterpillar," "Croton provides sugar secretions hich attracts ants to little nectaries, and the ants hen they're on the plant," ",deter herbivores, that is insects that eat leaves," "The plant actually uses ants to guard its vulnerable leaves bribing them with a sugary nectar," "The ants keep away any insect that might do their meal ticket harm," "However, this is really hat I'm looking for, lt's an herbivore as well, but the ants don't bother it because it produces sugar secretions of its own," "The butterfly caterpillar uses its sugar secretions just as the plant does as a tasty bribe, lt keeps the ants well-fed in exchange for their protection," "Back to ants  caterpillar" "The funny thing about this butterfly caterpillar is that it bribes these ants with a sugar secretion and the ants act like guard dogs and help protect it from it's own predators," "ln addition to producing sugar secretions for the ants, this caterpillar has another trick that's even more magic," "Phil has made another remarkable discovery," "These caterpillars can actually sing," "To capture this amazing talent Phil has designed special audio equipment to record its calls," "This gear I have here is an amplifier and a very, very sensitive microphone, I use this to listen to well, basically, sounds that nobody else can hear, and I'm listening to this caterpillar singing at the moment," "And how these caterpillars produce heir songs is pretty interesting in that on the top of their head there are long bridges, and right above the head there's a collar here there are two little rods, and the two rods beat up and down on top of the head," "and then the head moves in and out, and these little rods have little rings in them, and hat they do is they hit the top of the head, and then it's rasping back and forth like a Latin American percussion instrument," "Caterpillar on mic, Phil's fingers move it to branch" "I think it's fair to say, without gloating too much, I have the world's largest collection of caterpillar calls," "Now let's see hat happens hen we reintroduce this caterpillar to the ants," "Upon its return, the caterpillar puts its musical ability to another surprising use mimicking the calls of ants," "The ants respond as we would, if we heard a cry for help," "They rush over immediately, And help is always welcome," "Danger is never far away," "This guard ant earns its keep," "An assassin bug could skewer the caterpillar and suck it dry," "But it's no match for the ant," "A parasitic wasp fares no better," "ln the tropical forest, every creature lives within an intricate web shifting always between harmony and struggle," "The lesson that I've learned is that it's probably just scratching the surface of the number of interactions that you have in any light gap in the tropics," "The picture that emerges from there is of staggering complexity hen you think about how many species, there are of plants in the tropics, and insects in the tropics, lt's very humbling to realize that, even though I know a little bit" "within the context of a tropical rain forest, I know absolutely nothing," "This little dipteryx, of course, also knows nothing of the complex network of relationships that have brought it into the light," "So far, it has beaten the odds," "And if its luck holds out, it may someday become a forest Titan itself," "Dipteryx, large and small, is at the heart of a glorious pattern of forest life," "Unveiling this grand design remains the quest of the scientists of Barro Colorado Island a labor of love, and a journey of many lifetimes," "Perhaps centuries from now, the forest will still be here and scientists will still be working in its green depths hen our tiny seedling finally takes its place among the giants," "Australia's Great Barrier Reef" "ln the liquid skin of planet Earth live creatures of unearthly beauty," "These tiny animals have crossed oceans of space and time in an epic bid for survival," "Wanderers through inner space, they carry the future of their species," "On their odyssey they have faced extinction and awesome planetary force," "Theirs is an evolutionary success story, made possible by a remarkable reproductive strategy," "Reefs are exotic interruptions in otherwise barren tropical seas," "They're oases of life, vibrant, colorful and competitive," "But this vast canvas of living art has not just materialized out of the blue," "Coral and its cohorts have arrived from somehere," "Though they seem solid and unmoving, reefs have spread themselves throughout the tropical oceans," "How have they overcome their immobility?" "The answer has its origin in one of life's most fundamental acts - sex," "But the reproductive rites of coral communities are shrouded in mystery, lt's only in the last ten years that the reef has begun to reveal its private life," "For animals sex is a fact of life, but for the 'rocks' of the reef a sex life would seem out of the question," "But corals are not rocks, they're colonies of tiny animals," "Only the outer surface of these colonies is alive;" "a living skin populated by polyps," "Their structure is simple, a tube with a mouth surrounded by stinging tentacles," "These tiny animals a few millimeters across build reefs" "The beauty of the individual rivals that of the colony as a hole," "A single pioneering polyp clones or buds itself endlessly to produce a colony of hundreds, even thousands, of identical individuals, ln theory a polyp could live forever this way, unchanging and unmoving," "But change and mobility are essential to all species," "On the reef sex achieves both in one elegantly simple solution, lt's a brief extravaganza, cued by the summer moon, and for the rest of the year the priority is coping with life's demands," "Inside the reff's barrier, garden eels vie for tasty morsels," "They inspect drifting particles," "Some are food, some just broken parts of other reef creatures, but in the quiet lagoon every particle is inspected by somebody," "A goatfish snuffles industriously," "Within a self-made sandstorm it feasts on small worms and molluscs hich it locates using sensitive barbels," "But the real heavy mover in the sand business are sea cucumbers," "The basic design is a long hollow tube that creeps around the lagoon floor," "They push sand in one end, and out the other," "Some sea cucumbers mop the reef with sticky feet, passing edible particles into their mouths," "Nature constantly tests and refines its designs the basic theme remains, only the detail varies," "With its body completely buried in sand another sea cucmber unfurls its feathery arms to net drifting debris," "Every particle of sand in the lagoon was once part of the animals and plants that make up the reef," "Sand production is aided by heavy-jawed grazers like the bumphead parrotfish," "Moving in herds like buffalo over the reef they bite off pieces of coral, crush it to powder and leave clouds of new sand in their wake," "The reef supports an endless variety of grazers, scrapers, and biters," "Many seem to bite at dead reef but are actually cropping back a fuzz of algae that grows by day," "The wastes of these schools of fishes act as fertiliser to the plants they crop," "The waters surrounding the reef are poor in nutrients, so recycling of its limited resources is essential," "It begins with the invisible haze of life called plankton, lt continually showers the reef," "Just as plankton gather nutrients from the ocean, fish like the spiny chromis gather plankton so nutrients from the ocean are imported into the reef's economy," "Poised like ghostly daggers, barracuda cruise the coral fringe;" "they are after more than planktonic prey," "These larger predators are drawn to the rich life of the reef," "Compared to the impoverished oceans the reef is a prosperous economy," "Built up from nothing by the labours of tiny animals and plants it attracts investment from thousands of other species, lt becomes a bank, or storehouse, of the ocean's resources," "But some creatures are a storehouse in themselves," "A sleek manta ray wings its way through the late afternoon, lt owes its huge bulk, and wingspan of five meters to the millions of minute plankton it sieves from tropical waters," "Mantas are free agents, opportunists," "They exploit the reef as and hen it focuses their food supply," "They feed and then move on, leaving each reef a little poorer for their passing," "The blubber jelly voyages at the him of wind and tide, feeding on plankton as it drifts," "Billowing in the currents its an occasional visitor to the reef," "Like all jellyfish it's a free-living relative of the unmoving corals on the reef below," "Building on the skeletons of others, hard corals extract calcium from sea water," "Tiny polyps toil in limestone to craft their biological works of art," "From the hard coral foundation has arisen a rambling architecture," "This ever expanding labyrinth has another dimension:" "it creates living space for related corals," "Bold against blue, lace-like Gorgonians strain against the current," "On the reef slope, soft corals sweep the same current," "Their flexible arms house polyps but, unlike hard corals, these are no reef builders," "Lacking a solid skeleton, they draw support from tiny limestone spines within their tissues," "When the soft coral dies it disappears, leaving no lasting monument," "Reef plants appear to be just as ephemeral but their role is fundamental," "All capture energy from sunlight some also contribute to the reef structure," "The brittle green Halimeda is mainly limestone, lt constantly sheds gritty lakes into the lagoon," "The stony skin of pink coralline algae glues the limestone blocks of the reef together," "Filamentous algae seems little more than a green fur on rocks," "But it's the pasture of the reef, and essential to all the reef grazers," "But the ties that bind algae and the reef together go deeper," "Like algae, hard corals also require sunlight to grow," "This is a clue to an intimate relationship that literally fuels the reef," "Corals are twin-engined," "They're animals that have harnessed the power of plants to build the vast and elaborate limestone structures we call the reef," "How have they done it?" "Somehere in their evolutionary past coral struck a deal with microscopic single-celled algae called zooxanthellae," "The algae is sheltered inside the polyp tissue, producing sugars from sunlight and recycling coral waste products," "This partnership became a most powerful evolutionary achievement," "Between them they built reefs, lt's not until the sun sets that coral's second, animal, engine is revealed," "As darkness falls, plankton begins its nightly ascent into the waters surrounding the reef," "From their stony lairs emerge, the polyps," "Wreathed with stinging tentacles, each polyp is poised to reap a grisly harvest," "Other members of the night shift emerge to feed," "Feather stars take up strategic positions in the current," "They sieve plankton and particles with their arms," "Slender prey, a formation of razorfish expertly mimic the harp coral that hides their knifelike bodies," "A chaotic ball of eel-tailed catfish swarms in mid-water between feeding," "Lagoon sands below them are loaded with hidden delicacies," "These miniature catfish scout for their supper in rank and file, aided by sensitive chin hiskers," "Lagoon sediments provide dainty pickings for the feather-mouthed sea cucumber" "Little more than an elastic tube filled with water, it delicately wipes each feathered finger across its mouth, collecting food along with sand," "More robust sea cucumbers have rubbery bodies that make them unpalatable to predators," "They continue their slow work of shunting sediment day and night and have no need to hide, unlike the sophisticates of the night shift," "A hunter by night, an octopus is able to change both colour and texture," "Hiding and bluffing, this stealthy camouflage expert is both actor and magician," "lts relative the cuttlefish shares the octopus's talent for lightning colour change," "Shunning camouflage altogether, the flamboyant spanish dancer flounces through the night," "lts colourful costume is a signal to predators," "Like other nudibranchs, or sea slugs, the Spanish dancer looks much better than it tastes," "Overcome by darkness, parrotfish retire into the fabric of the reef," "Some of these daytime dandies sleep in a gossamer cocoon of their own weaving," "Perhaps this mucous bubble disguises their scent to unwelcome visitors," "A fast-moving vegetarian, the parrotfish grazes algae with its bird-like beak," "Clownfish may be left out in the dark hen their protective anemone shuts up for the night," "This is the reef's best known example of shared lives" "The reef is a multi-layered organisation and its inhabitants have perfected the art of living on and in each other," "Liaisons are everyhere but some may be hard to find," "An ornamented anemone harbours colour-coordinated shrimp" "Competition for the reef's limited resources is tough," "When citizens live together there are winners and losers," "The blood-sucking fish louse has a one-way relationship with its suffering host," "Even corals are not exempt from exploitation by others," "Down among the valleys of the polyps lies another world," "A world that's never been seen," "Among the heaving tissues of the polyp, live flatworms the size of a pinhead," "Living on the thin veneer of the coral's mucous these tiny lodgers appear to do no harm, gliding like magic carpets in a world of altered reality," "On the reef every opportunity has been investigated," "Space is at a premium, and overcrowding a fact of life, invariably property disputes develop and borders are drawn," "Where two different species meet, encounters can be nasty," "Nightly 'space wars,' fought by special stinging tentacles, leave a conspicuous hite saw of conflict," "Surrounded, this fatal siege may last months," "A plate coral spreads outward to meet itself," "Here the problem is resolved by a fence of self-recognition," "Over time this living evolves," "Territorial struggles shape the reef as a multitude of species vie for position," "Shading its competitors from light, the fast-growing plate corals borrow a strategy from the forest canopy," "Other inhabitants can neither outgrow nor out-sting their competitors," "For sponges chemical warfare is the way," "Their tissues are loaded with toxins, a kind of natural anti-fouling that preserves their space," "Just as space invaders are part of life, so too are space makers," "Sometimes an opening comes by chance," "Storms and ocean swells damage the reef, tearing long-lived corals from their foundations," "But not all space is created by the elements," "The crown of thorns starfish, a coral predator, opens up new territory with each meal," "And new settlers are in ready supply," "Out of the blue curtain of distance the currents propel a sea full of eager immigrants, a multitude of microscopic larvae," "This humble bean, covered with beating hairs, is the beginning of a new coral," "Equally disguised, a larval sea urchin is a long way from its final form," "Even the giant clam begins life microscopically," "All reef larvae are designed to voyage in the plankton," "To become citizens of a reef they will need to take on their adult form, but first they must find a safe place to settle," "Journeying day and night they may stumble upon a reef, a sentinel in the dark sea," "But their sanctuary is in fact a snare," "Night has unmasked the reef," "Poised and armed, it has become a waiting wall of mouths," "The graceful Gorgonian is now a web of death, its animal nature revealed," "Thousands of tiny polyps wait outstretched," "A feather star sways in the gathering storm," "A million mouths wait in silence for the microscopic voyagers to blunder their way into outstretched arms," "The weaponry of the reef is revealed, a sinister array of traps, sieves, harpoons and clutching tentacles" "The methods may vary but the final sentence will always be the same," "And night after night this random microscopic rain falls," "Millions of epic voyages end in tiny, but titanic, struggles," "Despite huge losses some larvae survive their perilous voyage and settle," "They grow to become solid citizens of the reef, joining the wall of mouths and waging space wars with each other," "This endless lottery of settlement and survival weaves a visual tapestry of species, colour, pattern and form," "But beauty and harmony is a mask it hides chaos and competition," "Reef society is shaped in a war zone of relentless conflict," "The reef thrives in adversity, prospering despite its internal struggles," "But reefs have also endured struggles of planetary dimension over enormous geological time," "Through the millennia continents drift, climates change, sea levels rise and fall," "As the world moves around them coral reefs remain, as always, immobile," "They seem at the mercy of geology yet today's have somehow survived 214 million years of global upheaval," "Coral reefs rim continental shelves and cap volcanic sea mounts throughout tropical oceans," "But once, reefs lived in an ancient sea called the Tethys, lt lay between two supercontinents hich split apart, causing Africa and India to drift northwards," "The broad Tethys Sea, evolutionary home of modern reef animals, was squeezed out of existence," "Over millions of years it became a war zone of continental collision, earthquakes and sea level change and the animals evolving here came under siege," "Amidst these shunting continents reef life had two choices:" "extinction or escape," "Today's reefs are built by immobile creatures that somehow dispersed and evolved from their ancestral communities in the Tethys," "But to escape the ravages of geology they had to play an evolutionary Ace," "This ace not only allowed them to move, but to change, lt was sex," "And every summer the age-old ritual unfolds," "Shoals of tiny fry appear, with their parents, the spiny chromis," "Their behaviour is unusual among reef fish;" "they guard their growing offspring," "A female cuttlefish holds an egg daintily in her tentacles," "She chooses a nest with great care and places the fertile egg securely within," "But despite her plump maternalism this is the extent of her parenting," "From the time the egg is placed in its coral cradle the young cuttlefish will be on its own," "This careful handling of individual eggs requires more time and effort than most other reef dwellers invest," "The giant clam makes no attempt to nurture its young," "However it does invest enormous energy producing and broadcasting many millions of eggs and sperm," "With each mighty contraction the waters of the lagoon turn milky," "Fish dart closer, feasting on the seasonal delicacy," "Other, perhaps more prudent species will wait for dusk before they begin to spawn," "The male coral trout emerge in sober courting colours," "With his tail flagged black he patrols his territory," "Females are lying low on the reef, their swollen bellies heavy with eggs," "Concealed in the watery twilight they await the male's advances," "His elaborate dance is designed to tempt a female from her retreat," "Reluctantly she leaves the reef's protection, encouraged by the ardent male," "The climax of their courting ritual is a spawning rush," "A split second hen eggs and sperm are released near the surface," ",leaving the future to chance, once again," "As summer waters warm other biological clocks are ticking," "The reef below begins to stir," "Cued by the full moon in November, countless coral polyps bulge," "They are ripe with packets of egg and sperm that have taken months to prepare," "Their time has come," "Others respond to an unseen urge," "Crown of Thorns starfish begin their slow creep to high points on the reef," "Even inert creatures are stirring," "Sea cucumbers scurry, at their own pace, away from the lagoon floor to the coral ledges above," "Here they begin a sinuous dance, swaying to an ancient evolutionary rhythm," "Even the fragile feather mouth rises to the occasion," "This is an event too compelling to miss," "From within the bulging polyp comes an answering movement," ",building to a slow spiral as each puts the finishing touches to its precious bundle of eggs and sperm," "This living jewel is the coral's passport to mobility," "While polyps turn in time, the hypnotic dance of the sea cucumbers has reached its silent climax," "Males begin exuding sperm from tiny pores on their heads," "They rear and sway to scatter their sperm throughout the lagoon, perhaps to meet the eggs released by females," "The Crown of Thorns smoulders dramatically, releasing a misty cloud of sperm, lt drapes itself across coral that would normally be its food," "Now begins one of the most monumental and secret events in nature, mass spawning on the Great Barrier Reef," "ln unison, polyps pucker and propel their fragile spheres into space," "Locked in limestone they cannot move to mate, instead they reach out to each other with tiny voyaging probes," "Their cue is exact;" "each year each species will spawn at the same time on the same day," "We are privileged to be spectators as the reef stages this unearthly performance," "Each night, for a week following the full moon, the intensity builds, new species adding to the growing curtain of new life," "Along 1200 kilometres of the northeast coast of Australia, countless millions of polyps spawn in unison," "Some corals are hermaphrodites hile others have separate colonies of females and males," "Whatever their sex, each has its own pace and style," "The synchronised spawning creates a web of drifting food for those with an appetite for it," "A hermit crab picks off eggs as they emerge," "But predators take only a fraction of the coral's output," "Most pass unhindered into the sea," "And still the outpouring continues," "For these few nights of the year, space wars seem insignificant," "Adversaries are united by powerful ancient forces," "The reef acts like a single organism, intent on securing its future," "Living rocks erupt in a frenzy of colour and movement but the climax is yet to come," "Six nights after the full moon, silent and unheralded, there is a kaleidoscopic finale," "The giant plate corals, each with hundreds of thousands of polyps, explode into ascending galaxies of pink and hite," "The sea is now a soup of coloured eggs against the black depths, but the performance is not yet over," "lncredibly, there is one final encore," "The lagoon becomes laced with streamers, the reproductive segments of polychaete worms, seeming to bid bon voyage to the millions of new lives ho set sail tonight," "As the frenzy of release subsidies, the tide plays its part in the completion of the night's magic," "The moon stills the restless sea as egg and sperm bundles rise to the surface," "Somehow, in this vast and chaotic scramble, the right egg and right sperm will meet, fertilise, and develop," "Each morning the sea bears witness to the night's toil as the future hopes of the reef community drift away," "Here is the solution to the reef's immobility," "From this floating slick the tiny developing larvae begin their odyssey," "Opportunists take advantage of the annual bounty, but against the overwhelming abundance they make little impression," "However, in the vast ocean this ribbon of new life will remain vulnerable," "As plankton blooms mound the spawning raft, more opportunists gather," "Larvae may end their journey on the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish," ",or engulfed by the ballooning jaws of marauding manta rays," "Up here, invisible, could be the beginning of a new coral," "Out of the countless millions dispersed only a few will survive their journey," "Far fewer will evade the wall of mouths and find a safe place to settle," "But despite incredible odds the survival of just one coral larva is enough," "They cross the trackless oceans, minute in size, monumental in importance," "Time will see their strategy prevail," "Even the perilous flanks of an active volcano may be journey's end," "Having crossed ofcean wastes as an invisible mist in the plankton, coral larvae settle to found a reef," "lts volcanic support will subside but, once established, a reef outpost will build and maintain itself, gathering the rare larval voyagers over time," "Each new atoll is a stepping stone to the next, ln this way corals have marched through time and great ocean distance," "They have established collections of living art in the galleries of empty oceans," "Reefs are portrayed as 'fragile ecosystems' with a 'delicate beauty', and yet they're robust enough to have survived millions of years of fierce competition and planetary upheaval," "They're exquisite, but they're also dynamic and adaptive communities," "They've adopted mass spawning and dispersal as their incredible solution to the problems of tme, change and immobility," "The architects of the mighty atolls and the Great Barrier Reef are simple animals and plants," "The limestone fortresses they build are monuments to the evolutionary success of Sex on the Reef," "The red kangaroo powerful, comical engaging this is the desert dwelling symbol of Australia" "But kangaroos can be found almost anywhere down under" "They're up in trees" "... ontheforestfloor" "... andcanevenbefoundonthe rocks" "But all the kangaroos face danger" "This is the story of a mother and her Joey and how he comes into his own" "There is tenderness here in the desert and the harsh reality of survival" "Persecuted by some, revered by others the red kangaroo has astonishing tales to tell" "This is Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth" "Sixty million years ago this land began its final break from the rest of the world evolving along a path all its own" "Today, its vast, open interior lies naked in the sun a land from another place in time" "It's unforgiving here, not for the faint of heart and survival means marching to a different beat" "But this dry, hostile landscape is not devoid of life it's home to one of the most astonishing creatures on earth" "Kangaroos live in New Guinea and Australia yet their name is known far and wide" "But while the world may know a 'roo when it sees one to science, they're still something of a riddle" "You might think nothing this big is supposed to hop" "But kangaroos do it with speed and agility" "Six-foot marvels of efficient locomotion they emerged from the rain forest then spread over a continent while adapting to desert heat" "This is the story of the red kangaroo an amazing tale from the land down under" "It's summertime in the outback" "And the 'roos can be found where there is food" "Most red kangaroos are red in name only the females and youngsters tend to be gray" "The 'roos look like they're congregating in groups but it's food, not the company that draws them together" "For kangaroos the most powerful social bond is between a mother and her young" "And like many of Australia's astonishing mammals joeys are raised in a pouch" "They spend the first eight months of their fascinating lives living in a built-in nursery" "This youngster needs a taste of life outside the pouch his mother's nearly bursting at the seams" "A wedgetailed eagle waits for his debut but it's not here to wish him good luck" "Joey doesn't care who's in attendance" "He's not in a hurry to come out" "His mother has other ideas" "She dumps him out in a tangled heap" "For the first time he sets foot in the world" "But the place is not to his liking" "The eagle watches his entrance and exit lt's following the show with keen eyes" "A six-foot wingspan and powerful talons make the wedgetail a dangerous observer" "For young kangaroos that are clumsy or careless death can descend from the sky" "Shade is precious in the desert heat" "To cool themselves, kangaroos lick their skin where blood vessels run close to the surface" "Getting comfortable can be a bigger problem especially with a pouch full to the brim" "A joey's world revolves around its mother relationships don't get much closer than this" "The kangaroos languish lt'll be nightfall before there's any relief from the heat" "This old male decides to lay down afternoon stakes he's digging a hollow to rest his giant hips" "For the joey, a tail in the face is worth the security of the pouch" "He's safe from predators and free to keep an eye on the goings on" "His mother's portable nursery the hallmark of most marsupials originated in the dinosaur age" "One hundred million years ago rain forest blanketed this land" "Only small slivers of green still remain lush shrinking Edens clinging to an island continent's edges" "ln places no more than 30 miles wide these ancient rain forests are endangered" "But it was in places like these that tiny marsupials first made their Australian appearance" "Exactly how they lived in this isolated world is a subject for debate" "But there's no dispute that evidence of marsupial origins can still be found here today" "The kangaroo's ancestors started out in trees much like this mountain brushtailed possum which moves through the branches on all fours" "The first marsupials did raise their young in a pouch but a tree-bound existence made them different in many ways" "Kangaroo ancestors were probably good climbers with long toes sharp claws, and prehensile tails" "They may have started out as leaf-eaters but leaves are low in nutrition and difficult to digest" "So perhaps Joey's ancestors ventured out of the trees in search of sweeter stuff" "The dinosaurs were gone by then but other deadly reptiles remained" "This carpet python is looking for a meal" "And possums have long been a favorite" "The possum's keen hearing is no match for such stealth" "The possum escapes with little more than a good scare but next time, its luck may not hold" "It was 1 5 million years ago when the kangaroo's ancestors moved down to the forest floor" "Here beneath the canopy shaded from heat many animals are active all day" "And in this rich, green, jungle store there's something for everyone to eat" "The musky rat-kangaroo is the smallest and most primitive of Joey's living relatives" "Weighing in at only one pound it's the only kangaroo that doesn't hop" "Rat kangaroos live mainly on the ground" "They don't use those tails for climbing but for gathering nest-building materials" "And those long, grasping toes are great for handling a fruit and insect based diet" "Another ancient denizen of the forest arrives and the little rat kangaroo beats a hasty retreat" "The cassowary is an unusual animal that has changed little in millions of years" "These large, flightless birds can be over five feet tall and it's the males that look after the young" "Shy birds, these giants shrink from confrontation unless there's a threat to their young" "Using their huge claws cassowaries have been known to kill humans in defense of their chicks" "But this primeval world where kangaroos evolved has been disappearing from Australia for millennia" "And most kangaroos have long since adapted to harsher stuff" "Out in the bush, the days of high summer have passed" "The red kangaroos are more active during the day" "But our joey still spends most of his time in the pouch" "Older ones are venturing out to enjoy the cooler weather" "Red kangaroos are affectionate mothers" "She grooms him every day always keeping her eyes peeled for danger" "She knows he's still small enough to lure unwanted attention" "There is reason for her caution" "The wedgetailed eagle is nearby" "When the bird takes off mothers fold their joeys back into the pouch" "With no prospects in the offing the eagle returns to her nest to see to her own family business" "Her chicks are voracious eaters" "They love kangaroo meat" "But there's competition in the predatory arena" "Australia's wild dog, the dingo also lurks wherever kangaroos gather" "So the eagle must set out again" "Wedgetails are partial to young joeys but won't take on protective mothers to get at them" "Soon, he'll be as much of a handful as the other joey who's already out and about" "Once again, Joey's mother senses trouble" "And her instincts are usually on the mark" "Not far off, the eagle has claimed a young kangaroo and Joey's mother decides to depart" "But wedgetailed eagles have families to feed as well" "And these two are anxious to eat" "She brings them torn off slivers of meat gently feeding the chicks from a fearsome beak" "Nothing much has changed for the rest of the kangaroos" "The young males play" "the adults relax" "Many settle in for a regular daytime snooze" "But Joey's got other ideas" "He's up now, so his mother must rouse herself to stand guard" "Joey looks big enough to be weaned" "He has taken to sticking just his head in the pouch sometimes nursing sometimes only for comfort" "The kangaroos are having a quiet afternoon" "For the most part, they just sit around or dust-bathe" "For the first time" "Joey's mother allows him to wander more than an arm's length away" "He's always been a fine scratcher" "But he's still an uncertain walker at best" "Kangaroos are built for hopping" "They look ungainly moving at slower speeds" "Young males play-fight for hours each day" "This comical pair probably won't hurt each other but someday, they may fight in earnest for mating rights" "Though he's still nursing" "Joey wants to try a mouthful of grass and gets a thorn in the nose for his trouble" "It will be a while before he's tuned to this landscape but he just learned a valuable lesson" "He turns to a more familiar source" "But Mother isn't her usual welcoming self" "She controls her pouch with powerful muscles and easily ejects her joey" "His weaning has begun" "From now on, he'll do more of his feeding from outside" "ln time, Joey will join these sparring matches" "Using their tails for balance the young kangaroos stand upright wrestling with forearms and pawing at heads and shoulders" "They throw their heads back protecting themselves from sharp claws" "A passing eagle, headed back to a recent kill stops to survey the scene" "Her arrival sends Joey diving head first into the pouch" "All the kangaroos are wary" "But with hungry chicks to feed the eagle returns to the dead joey" "Apart from human hunters only the eagle and the dingo now regularly pursue red kangaroos" "But huge lizards and even marsupial lions may have fed on Joey's ancestors" "Giants once roamed this landscape" "Their legacy today is a ferocious flesh-eating marsupial now found only on Australia's companion island Tasmania" "Not known for their table manners" "Tasmanian devils snarl and snap even when there's plenty to go around" "The devils are gorging on a mid-sized kangaroo usually called a wallaby" "And the ruckus alerts another kangaroo cousin that it's time to take cover" "This little hopper is a Tasmanian bettong" "Her youngster, too large for the pouch keeps to the nest when she forages" "The smaller devil, a female also has young who have grown too large for her pouch" "From the safety of a hollow log the young ones wait impatiently for their dinner" "As quiet settles on the forest the sprightly bettongs get back to business" "Hopping probably originated in kangaroos like these:" "Perhaps the motion confused predators giving the small 'roos a chance at escape" "But it was on the open plains that the kangaroos' singular way of getting about probably came into its own" "Scientists know that hopping can be far more efficient than running" "When a kangaroo hits the ground its hind legs store energy like compacted springs" "The energy helps propel the kangaroo upwards for the next hop" "The motion also accordions the 'roo's lungs in and out so the animal wastes no effort while breathing" "Scientists haven't solved the mystery of how kangaroos went from four legs to two" "But the Aborigines have long had their own explanations" "One ancient myth holds that while making its four legged way through the brush a kangaroo heard sounds it had never heard before" "It followed the enchanting music until it came upon human beings singing and dancing on two feet" "The kangaroo stood up on feet of its own then began to copy their movements" "It burst from hiding in a frenzy intending to join the ceremony around the fire" "But the people were angry" "They fell upon the proud animal determined that it should die" "Then a spirit voice boomed from the heavens telling them to release the kangaroo and cherish him as a brother" "While hopping earned kangaroos a special place in the Aboriginal Dreamtime it also propelled them into some of the most unlikely places" "This beautiful little kangaroo is a yellow footed rock wallaby" "They show off their mountaineering skills wherever cliffs jut out of Australia's vast desert land" "Living in large colonies the rock wallabies shelter in caves along the rocks" "Shady crevices harbor vegetation year-round" "But water can be a problem" "To get it, they sometimes descend to where rain collects below" "Wedgetailed eagles prey on rock wallabies, too" "Youngsters waiting on the cliffs sometimes wander into the open" "Only adults descend to drink" "Young ones too big for the pouch must stay behind" "ln just a few minutes she'll drink a tenth of her weight in water" "Then she'll hurry back to her joey" "Thirsty joeys drink straight from mother's mouth" "Like their big red cousins on the plains young rock wallabies spend hours in mock battle" "And while the children play some adults engage in courtship" "But this male's gentle ardor is getting him nowhere" "The children, oblivious, play on" "He's nothing if not persistent" "But she'll have none of it" "Other adults bask lazily in the early morning light" "Long eyelashes my help screen out the harsh sun and discourage flies" "Before retreating into the cool caves for the day the wallabies sunbathe" "As the sun warms the cliff face they head for their midday hideouts" "The eagle will have no more chances at them today lt wheels and heads for the plains and its larger kangaroo fare" "Joey's growing like a desert weed and sporting a much redder coat" "Each day he spends less time in the pouch and no longer clings to his mother when out" "This is a dangerous time for Joey" "He's too big for his mother to carry if she has to run away and reason to run is never far off" "A hungry dingo is slinking about while Joey's busy grooming himself" "His mother calls Joey to her side" "Neither one sees the dingo approaching through the brush" "For a moment, a young male freezes" "His panic proves contagious" "Mother and Joey make their getaway too" "The dingo's no slouch when it comes to speed but the 'roos reach 35 miles per hour" "Dingoes have better luck hunting in packs when they're after large kangaroos" "But when smaller game are plentiful they tend to hunt alone" "Safely away from the wild dog" "Mother lets Joey back into the comforting pouch" "Nearby, a big male paces nervously" "He's caught the scent of yet another danger" "Drifting smoke" "Again, the action of one kangaroo triggers the flight of others" "This time they've been frightened by fire and they're racing to get away" "But this is no wildfire lt' a weapon" "The Aborigines have been using fire to hunt for thousands of years" "They are after a favorite delicacy a lizard called a goanna" "Some seek refuge from the flame in trees others go underground" "Here, women use sticks to locate escape tunnels then unearth the lizards using tin cans" "A goanna for the barbie is reason for celebration but these old ways are disappearing" "Today fewer Aborigines use fire to hunt and ironically, some kangaroos are paying the price" "The little rufus-hair wallaby depends on spinifex bushes that the Aborigines burn lt needs their fires to thrive" "They use the old bushes for shelter" "But fire promotes the new growth that feeds the wallaby and these little spinifex mice" "The wallaby eats the bushes' young leaves" "The mice take the seeds" "The wallaby burrows into older bushes which bristle with spiky defenses" "But these thorny refuges have been no match against the upheaval of the last two centuries" "Since Europeans arrived in 1 7 88 almost half of Australia's kangaroo species have been declared extinct endangered, or vulnerable" "The whites brought foreign animals by the boatload" "They converted vast areas of land to grazing changing the landscape forever" "Unlike the soft-footed kangaroos hard-hooved sheep and cattle wore away the desert scrub and soil" "Livestock paths quickly eroded into ravines pastures became wastelands" "Rabbits, introduced for the benefit of hunters bred out of control" "Miles of fences went up in a vain attempt to contain them" "Today, those same fences bewilder migrating herds of native animals like the emu" "lnevitably, rats and mice accompanied the Europeans as did the domestic cat" "... whichquicklydevelopedataste for small kangaroos" "So did the fox" "They continue to take a dreadful toll on the kangaroo" "Now many of the smaller species face uncertain futures" "But for some kangaroos, the Europeans provided a bonanza" "They dug water bores throughout the desert to supply their livestock and the red kangaroo has benefitted ever since" "One 1 9th century naturalist spotted so few red kangaroos that he predicted their ultimate demise" "But thanks to the permanent water supply the population boomed" "When water is readily available to red kangaroos they breed like there's no tomorrow" "Joey's only been out of the pouch for two days but his mother is about to give birth again" "A pink embryo, the size of a bean makes its first appearance" "Blind and deaf it must somehow find its way to the mother's pouch or perish" "lts hind limbs, destined for enormity someday are now just useless buds lt must use its tiny forelimbs to drag itself through the tangled forest of its mother's fur lnstinct keeps it moving up against the pull of gravity" "The epic, six-inch journey takes over three minutes" "Once inside the pouch it searches out the nipples" "Joey's brother was actually conceived many months ago but remained in suspended animation while Mother tended to Joey himself" "It is a miraculous process the key to reproductive success" "While a mother raises one joey out of the pouch a tiny one grows inside it and a third waits on hold in the womb" "It's time for her to put yet another embryo in reserve" "Just two days after the birth the big reds start sniffing around again a sign she's already in heat" "Mother won't let Joey into the pouch anymore but she still nurses him occasionally" "Amazingly, she now produces two kinds of milk one for the embryo another for Joey" "Her condition sets some of the males to jousting" "A big newcomer collared by scientists to track his wanderings has thrown his hat into the ring" "He's over six feet tall and clearly dominates the contest" "By kangaroo Queensberry rules only the subdominant male kicks giving away his inferior position" "Mother, now eating for three and ready to make it four grazes continuously" "But fortunately, Joey increasingly fends for himself" "The very biggest of the males now finds Mother irresistible" "He's huge" "She appears to ignore his persistent attentions" "Then, her scent attracts another suitor" "But the dominant old male scoffs at competition" "From a distance" "Joey watches the proceedings" "The result of this mating will grow for a few days then become dormant until Joey's brother is out of the pouch" "With such an ingenious breeding scheme it is no wonder red kangaroo numbers exploded once humans supplied a permanent source of water" "Every year, survey teams take to the air to count the reds" "Their reports will determine the number of 'roos that can be hunted legally the following year" "Strewn over the vast harsh desert at the center of Australia red kangaroos now number close to ten million" "Out in the open" "Mother and Joey quickly recover from their fright at the plane" "Others inevitably encounter the thousands of miles of fencing that crisscross the desert..." "and sometimes these encounters are deadly" "Australia's kangaroo population is booming and several million are culled each year" "Mother and Joey freeze caught in the hunter's lights" "But they're not the quarry he seeks" "The hunter has his sights on huge red males" "Culling kangaroos strikes many people as cruel" "Others argue it's no crueler than slaughtering livestock" "Given Australia's delicate desert ecology the kangaroo harvest may prove more sustainable than raising sheep and cattle" "Aside from hunters' bullets kangaroos face another nighttime hazard thousands are killed each year on desert highways" "Mother and Joey are safe the next day but picking up dangerous habits" "Strips of green growth parallel Australia's roads places where the runoff from occasional rain nurtures fresh grasses" "Feeding along roadsides at night kangaroos often blunder into oncoming vehicles" "The sheer numbers of red kangaroos makes this an all too common sight" "But in a very different part of Australia there are still rare kangaroos that few people have ever seen" "Here, in one of the remaining slices of primeval forest the kangaroo story comes full circle" "This is Mount Finnigan a place of reverence for Aborigines and one of the last strongholds of one of Joey's most extraordinary relatives" "It takes patience to catch a glimpse of this elusive creature and a healthy measure of luck" "An experienced woodsman recognizes telltale claw marks leading up into the canopy" "There it is..." "Bennett'streekangaroo" "Millions of years after kangaroos came down out of trees the Bennetts went back up" "ln evolutionary terms, they haven't been up there very long" "And those big hind feet seem ill suited to life among the leaves" "While a mother forages her joey clings uncertainly to a nearby vine" "They look awkward and out of place up here but tree kangaroos are very acrobatic" "They can make spectacular leaps of 20 feet from limb to limb and can safely catapult 60 feet down if startled" "Remarkably, another kind of kangaroo has also taken to life in the treetops" "This is Lumholtz's tree kangaroo and like their ground-based cousins" "Mother and joey are quite affectionate" "As they walk, they move their hind legs independently something most 'roos don't do" "But nothing compares to big reds in the desert where the hop still reigns supreme" "Joey's quickly approaching his mother's size" "Her younger joey has recently started taking his first peak at the world and will soon outstrip his brother in the quest for Mother's attention" "Joey must now look after himself and begin mixing it up with other young males" "Right on schedule he has taken an interest in jousting" "Tentatively, he approaches the fray" "And while his mother looks on he gets into his first dust-up" "Joey is beginning to look the part" "He has all the makings of a big red" "Turning adversity into advantage the red kangaroo has flourished even as its kangaroo cousins have struggled or disappeared altogether" "This pouch-raised powerhouse is a marvel of natural engineering lt inherited the harsh expanse of Australia's desert and made the landscape its own" "OKAVANGO:" "Africa's Wild Oasis" "Africa As it once was," "Here inthe heart the great Kalahari Desert lies a remarkable oasis an immense delta called the Okavagno," "It's a sanctuary for a natural world unchangedin manyways since the dawn of humanity," "The Okavango is a place like nohere else in Africa rich tapestry of wild life woven together by the life-giving waters of this vast Eden," "This is a world of tranquil beauty, but even so theeternalstruggle for survival goes on continually," "Here too the rules of the hunt are ever changing subject to the capricious ebb and flow of the Okavango's floodwaters," "Some prey animals mustbe taken quickly before they reach deep water," "But nohere is truly safe," "The wild dogs of Africa are superb predators, but their hunting skills are rigorously challenged during timesof flood by species of antelope especially adapted to the wetlands," "Water defines this remarkable place and it often decides ho will succeed and ho will fail," "Who will survive, and ho willperish," "Here in Africa's great waterland:" "the Okavango," "The heart of the Okavango is apermanent swamp a maze of lagoons and channelscoursing throughreeds and grasses and blanketsof water lilies," "Filtered by vegetation and sand, these pure waters become crystal clear," "The existence of a watery refuge here in the midst of one ofthe world's great deserts is the result of a unique interplay between climate and geology," "lts source is the Okavango River, one of the longest in Southern Africa," "On reaching Botswana, it meanders between two geological faults," "Then the river spills out ontoa vast floodplain, lt divides intoa network of channels and wetlands, creating one ofthe largest inland deltas in the world," "The delta can be seen from space spreading like a giant hand across theface ofsouthern Africa, lt's born of summer rains a thousand miles to the north in the highlands of Angola," "Fed by these rains, the Okavango River slowly winds through a longpanhandle before enteringthe permanent swamp," "There it is further slowed by flat terrain anddense vegetation," "Over the next few months, the level of the permanent swamp risesalmost imperceptibly," "When the new water finally reaches thefloodplain, it arrives at the height of the dry season," "This is the miracle of the Okavango," "The delta's unique environment begins in the panhandle here the rivermeanders for some sixty miles," "Thousands of carmine bee-eaters migrate here to nest in the steep sandy banks," "These strikingly beautiful birds primarily live on honey bees and other flying insects caught on thewing," "They lay their eggs hen the water is low in tunnels usually five to six feet long," "This isalso the main breedingground of one of the Okavango's more sinistercreatures," "Baby crocodileshatch as the river is rising it willprovidethem aconvenient means of transport," "Many ofthe young crocswill drift with the current southeast into the heart of the Okavangodelta," "This permanent swamp is a water wilderness of swamp grasses, fernsand lilies," "This tangled world seems half-liquid, half vegetationand it never dries," "Floodwaters - in yearsof abundant rain can double the area of the swamp to some 5,000square miles," "Elephants are among the few large mammals that venture into the heart ofthe permanent swamp," "They browse on the foliage hile the young frolic in the Okavangoshallows," "This isa sanctuary for the shy and elusive sitatunga, a waterloving antelope that seldom ventures outside the permanent swamp," "And this is theonly place in Africa here the slatey egret can be found innumbers, lt's one of therarest herons in the world," "The inner swampis a nesting haven for a rich variety of waterbirds and there are huge colonies," "Here the yellow billed stork can raise theirhatchlings in isolatedsafety," "Other waterbirds are drawn to the swamp simplyto huntand feed," "This saddlebillhaunts the shallows seeking fish and frogs," "The marabou storks nest by thethousands here in low spreading fig trees," "Stalking the waterways the marabou can sometimes bring a quick end to a young crocodile'sjourney," "After along night of grazing, hippos spend the day digestingand wallowing," "A single hippo may transform a hundred and fifty pounds of vegetation into dung hich in turn enriches the water and plant life," "En route to favored grasslands, the hippos trample pathways throughoutthe delta, creating channels in the waterways," "Now is the season hen floodwaters from the Okavango Riverare slowly filling thepermanent swamp," "But here on thefloodplains, the water left from last year's flood is quickly evaporating," "Lechwe graze in the shallow," "They feed on grasses that sprout along the edge of the receding waters," "A pack of wild dogs appears," "These are the "paintedwolves"of Africa," "The dogs are skilled tacticians, but theOkavango poses a special challenge," "Lechwe always race for the safety of water hen threatened," "Lechwe have developed elongated hooves that allow themto race through the shallows," "The dogs are often no match for them," "As the lechwe escape into deepwater, the dogs chooseto waitand watch," "The dog's instinct is confirmed crocodile is lurking nearby," "But thelechwe would rather take theirchanceswith the crocodile, than face certain death with the dogs," "Throughout the Okavango, palm trees dot the landscape," "They provide shade and shelter and a plentifulsupply of fruit," "Baboonsscale the heights to feast in these vegetable ivory palms," "But they're notthe only ones with a craving," "As night falls,the left-over palm fruits are not forgotten," "The African porcupine loves them too," "With their strong sharpincisors, the porcupine tears into the fibrous flesh, leavingthe hard inner seed tobecome, perhaps, a future palm tree," "The rare and endangeredpangolin has to pass on the fruit," "They are among the few mammals in the world without teeth, ln stead, this"walking artichoke" survives by raiding ant and termite colonies," "When a pangolin comes upon a termite mound, it usespowerful claws to tearinto the rock-hard mud," "Within is a complex network ofcorridors and chambers, filled with ghostly hite insects thatshun daylight," "ln a typical mound there are millions of termites," "And using its sticky tongue, the pangolin will feast on vast numbers of them," "Termitemounds provide hiding places for both predator and prey deal jackal dens, and observation posts for leopards," "Many ofthe mounds become the foundation for full-grown islands," "A sweeping viewof the Okavango revealsthem scattered over a wide band betweenthe permanent swamp and the outer floodplain," "ln thisseason, all the big game animals of the delta converge on the receding waters," "Beyond the swamp and the islands, the vast floodplains still aredrying out," "Buffalorumble far andwide insearch of water," "With all the noise and dust, it almost seemsthat war has broken out in theOkavango," "It is the onsetof the dry season the African winter," "For these wild dogs, it is thetime for rearing pups," "Expectant females cleanout abandoned burrows here they can give birth in safety," "The wild dogs of Africa are a distinctspecies, only distantly related to domesticateddogs," "Contagious diseases andhunting by man have threatened them with extinction," "But here in theheart of the Okavango they'refree tohunt and reproduce in relativesafety," "When the females are about to give birth, there'slittle for the pack todo but wait," "Hooded vultures keep them company," "Only a few months ago, there was waterhere, now there are plains ofgrass dried to a golden brown," "During the dry season the openplains of the Okavango favor animals built forspeed," "These cheetahs have only to lie in wait, as their prey appear innumbers," "The cheetah is the fastest caton earth, and it will sometimes walk boldly up to its prey until it's within sprinting range," "The prey finds camouflage in the amberfields of grass," "But onefalse move canbetray the reedbuck," "As the victim is hauled into the shade, silent witnesses pass by the scene," "ln the dry season, herds of giraffes seek the last remaining water in theflooddplains," "Back inthe denof the wild dogs, there is much excitement," "Three weeks after birth, the pups are finally emerging into daylight," "Up until now the mothers have not allowed other dogs near theirburrows," "But noweveryone joins in, welcoming the new arrivals," "ln thispack hile several females have given birth, only the dominant female assumes the role of mother," "She even nursesthe pups of the other females," "Still the dominant female has trouble keeping an eye on all twenty-one new arrivals," "One of the other females perhapsa new mother herself kidnapsa pup," "She anda cohort carry it back towardsanotherburrow," "But it is a short-livedventure as the dominantfemale quicklydrives them off," "She reclaims the pup as her own," "Millions of birds move in unison like a great school of fish, engulfing the air," "Swirling flocks of queleas converge on the diminishing water holes to quench theirthirst," "The Okavango isnow in the midst of a long drywinter," "All across the floodplains, dried-out game trails radiate from theshrinking waterholes," "Wildlife congregate around thefew oases," "Here they'll wait out the dryseason until the annual flood arrives, hich is still working its way ever soslowly out of the permanent swamp," "Small groups ofbuffalo from across the plains now mass together into herds of thousands," "Water is their most critical need," "But thewild dogs obtain much of their water needs from the flesh oftheir prey," "The pups even seem to enjoy the dry weather as theyfrolic in the winter sun," "More and more they're playing at hunting," "Assuming the stance forstalking, this pup launches a mock attack on theothers," "Out on the hunt, the adult dogs survey aherd of lechwegrazingon the plains," "Withoutwater nearby, these lechwe arevery vulnerable," "For this is theseason of the wild dog," "Huntingin packs up to twenty or more, wild dogs are very successful hunters," "They have incredible stamina and blazing speed, at times secondonly to the cheetah," "Once inthe jaws of predators, the victim's fate is sealed," "The lechwe ceases its struggling and appears to go into deep shock," "Within a few minutes the prey is dismembered," "The dogs gorge themselves to fill their bellies, becausethe pups and their guardians are awaiting them," "The pack returns from the hunt, lt's time of high excitement and celebration," "A guardian receives a piece ofthe kill, regurgitated byone of the hunters," "The pups clamor to receive their share," "They too are fed regurgitated meat," "The pups are becoming frisky and aggressive launching surprise attacks on their constant companions, the vultures," "Nearby are three male lions, aformidable coalition, that have roamed this area for years," "A lioness part of a pride offemales awaits with anticipation for one of the males," "ln the surrounding vegetation, the others mark the group's territory," "ln a bizarre looking expression calledflehmen, the male lion tests theair for thescent that indicates the female is in heat," "Lions have beenknown to copulate up to eightytimes aday," "But theduration is brief from a minute to only six seconds," "This group of lions monopolizes severalprides of females in their territory," "But still find ample time to rest," "The long, dry winter seems endless," "Day after day aremorseless sun arcs through acloudless sky, lt warms the air after cool, even bitter cold nights," "This year's floodwatersare slow in coming," "Vital pools andwaterholes have shrunkto merepuddles," "Catfishare nowconcentrated in the ooze," "Fish eagles swoop down to gorge on thefish," "They compete among themselves even in the midst of plenty," "The ponds are becoming crowded," "Large crocodiles have abandoned them and theconstant presence of buffalo and other animals now force the smaller crocs to move on as well," "Every creature vies forits place in the comforting ooze," "Young crocs seek new hiding places in the shade of reeds," "There, they will lie dormant until thefloodwaters return," "Rollingin the mud, thebuffalo crushes a poolof catfish," "All thebetter for the marabou ho nohad only to pluck out the lifeless prey," "For thefish-disaster," "For thebirds aseason of plenty," "Once again, water orthe lack of it determines ho will survive inthe Okavango," "The hippo poolsare now more hippo than pool, ln the dry, enervating air, they wallow in the last of thecoolingmud," "Catfishtry to crawl away in search ofother pools," "It's a futile effort and many pools are already a grisly mass of dying fish," "All over the plains there is adesperate need for water," "Then a rare andwelcomesound at the height ofthe dryseason," "ln a cruel twist of fate this storm brings not rain but fire!" "Lightening has set off the drygrass and in moments the floodplains are a swirling inferno," "The frantic pangolin desperately triesto outrun the flames," "Many smaller creatures and insects will beconsumed by the fire in seconds," "The wildfire races across the Okavango, settingpalm and papyrus ablaze," "Burningtapers carried by the wind spread the fireeveryhere," "He wilddogs know from experience not to run in panic," "The biggame animals escape to the centers of large islands," "There the vegetation issparse and there is little tofeed the killing flames," "The fire rages for days, lt marches in adeadly procession north towards the permanent swamp," "Rivers and channels provide only temporary barriers," "The towering flames hipped by the wind leap across thewaterways and into theswamp itself," "The fire is over, lt has scorchedthousands of acres of floodplain and hasstripped great areas of the permanent swamp of its vegetation," "All that remains is a charred landscape seemingly devoid of life," "Fire can be good for the delta, clearing away dead vegetation and prompting the growthof new grass," "But some fear that toomany manmade fires could do irreversible damage to the Okavango," "The pangolin isa survivor, having found refuge in an underground burrow," "The larger animals have also escaped the flames only toface aneven more arid and harsh environment than before," "But now, at last, the Okavango works itsgreatest magic as the new floodwaters finallyarrive," "ln surreal counterpoint, trickles of water create tendrils of dustas theyadvance acrossthe plains," "They slowly percolate through the ashes, restoring life to the charred land," "Only inches deep in places, the newflood spreads out across the land," "Some creatures that survived the fire now perish in the rising waters," "The waters of the Okavango have come athousand miles from the mountains of Angola they now end their journey on the vastfloodplains of the Kalahari," "The water will slowly refill the dry channels and dusty lagoons, lt alsocourses through old hippo paths allowing many predators to infiltrate the plains," "Myriadsof fishmigratewith the new water to feed on the rich supply of insects itdisplaces," "Not farbehind are theyoung crocodiles," "Waterbirds now search the edgeof the flood, findinga rich concentration of prey," "The pelicans welcome this season of plenty, eagerlyscooping up newly arrived catfish," "For thehippos,it's time at last to gather and bathe in deep water," "All theanimalsare nowforced to cross the flooded areas," "Water is once again an element to contend with," "The wild dogs must negotiate amaze ofwaterways, infiltrated by stealthycrocodiles," "They'reaware that for every croc theysee, others may lurkunseen," "Huntingand escaping now depend on crossing ever deepening channels," "Cheetahs are creatures of the drier savannah, but those that live in the Okavango must crossthe waters to hunt," "They doso after much hesitation andthen with prudent speed," "After running down their prey, cheetahs go forthe throat," "Then they patiently wait hile life ebbs slowly from their victim," "Nightfall and spring rains have stirred a singular event as winged termites called alates take flight before mating underground," "The puff adder,too, responds to the spell of the season," "Now is its time to bear young," "With the rain, the Okavango glitters with moisture and theplains turn a vivd green," "The wild dog pups have been playing athunting for weeks," "They'renow oldenough to witness the real thing," "They join the pack, now ranging farand wide in search of prey," "At every water crossing, the adults are cautious but the pups will learn only gradually about the enemythe water hides," "And hen the chase begins in earnest, the pups must be left behind," "ln the excitement and confusion comes a momentof extreme danger," "Urged on by theadults, the pups must cross tosafety," "Once more, ancient adversarieshave met and played out their predestined roles," "The drama of the wild favors neither predator nor prey," "The survival ofall is insured in the natural world hich gives no reature an absolute advantage," "All belong-and have their proper place in the great waterland called the Okavango,"