"On a lake in east Africa, one million flamingoes jostle for space." "It's a massive gathering, the biggest flock of flamingoes on the planet, and every day, it's getting bigger." "They're attracted by the safety of the lake, but as more flamingoes arrive this sanctuary is in danger of becoming a battleground." "Predators are drawn here, too, attracted by the prospect of flamingo flesh." "Unusual predators, who normally never prey on flamingo." "So, the stage is set for a violent confrontation." "The lives of both the hunted, and the hunters are on the line." "In a few moments, one of these flamingoes might be eaten by an animal that doesn't really hunt birds." "But why ?" "This is the exact moment when the flamingo's life hangs in the balance." "Will the flamingo cheat death ?" "Or is it doomed to die here ?" "To find out, we need to go back in time, to look at the flamingo's life and discover the critical events witch might have led to this." "Three months earlier, the flamingo is over 300 miles further south, on lake Natron, in Tanzania." "Most of the massive flock is scattered right across East Africa but this group has come here to face one of the biggest challenges of their life." "In one of the hottest places in the whole world, flamingo parents are struggling to bring up their chicks." "On muddy islands, in the middle of the lake, they are invisible from the continent." "Safe in their nursery, hidden from hunters." "But the lake waters that surrounds them is treacherous." "It's horribly corrosive, like ammonia." "The flamingo's leather legs can stand it, but it will burn any other animal's skin to the bone." "So, predators don't raid out, and the chicks are safe." "But this security comes with a scorching price." "In mid-day , the surface temperature of the lake can reach 60 degrees centigrade hot enough to fry an egg, rather than hatch one." "So the parents build nests on mounds of wet mud, a foot high, and then shade their chicks to keep them cool." "But the adults can't baby-sit all the time." "They have their own needs, too." "On a daily basis, parents have to leave the chicks, to fly off and search for food." "At only 10 days old, the chicks are left in the crèche, to fend for themselves." "Like predators, the weather is also an enemy." "As it gets hotter, the shallow lake begins to dry out." "In places it evaporates to a harmless, soda crust, witch provides a land bridge for invaders to walk across." "This hellhole of a nursery is far from safe now." "The most vulnerable are the youngest chicks, who can't keep up with the crowd and don't stand a chance against the hyena." "Wherever you encounter death in Africa, there will be a mortuary bird stalking the muddy sea." "Maribu storks normally just scavenge corpses, but they'll kill, too." "Their huge scissor-like bills make short work of small chicks." "The most likely survivors are chicks witch hatch at the same time." "They show the herd instinct of sticking together in the crèche, or running together out of harm's way." "Now the flamingo parts in a race against time." "In the dry outs, the lake's disappearing fast, it's not safe anymore." "The chicks need to be well-fed so their flight feathers can grow quicly." "Because it's time to escape to another lake, a safer home." "A few week later, lake Natron is virtually empty." "Only some late hatches are still here." "The caustic water of the lake, witch was once a protection, now imprisons them." "As the lake dries out, soda crystals have collected around the chick's ankles and set like concrete." "This dead weight will soon stop the chick from walking, let alone flying." "A few chicks, out of sync with the rest, will die." "But most survive" "Most stay safe by sticking with the massive crowd." "The drought is beginning to affect life back at lake Bogoria, too." "The flamingo numbers are starting to build up but the flock is not yet at massive proportions." "There is still one month to go before the flamingo-baboon confrontation." "There may be water in the lake, but inland, the country's bone-dry." "And the baboons are hungry." "This part of Kenya is a virtual desert in the dry season." "So, this troop is resorting to eating grass roots." "Even for these dusty, meager mouthfuls they have to travel further each day." "Their wonderings may take them into unusual territory but survival is all about grabbing any opportunity you can." "Several miles further south, at another lake, a fish eagle is still doing what fish eagles do best." "Hunting fish." "It's well equipped for the job." "With needle-sharp talons, and amazing aerobatics skills." "Fish eagles normally live on fresh water lakes, not places where you find flamingoes." "But, at this time of year, with so many flamingoes passing by, a fish eagle might just be tempted to leave its usual home, and follow the crowd." "That much potential prey on the move, is just too big on opportunity to miss." "Flamingoes usually fly at night, very high in the sky." "This way they can travel in massive flocks, and yet avoid too much unwelcome attention." "Flamingoes are survivors, they live long lives often up to 40 years, and they are constantly on the move, covering thousands of miles backwards and forwards across Africa, searching for food and safety." "In East Africa, they're homing in on the rift valley's soda lakes" "In the drought, many of these shallow lakes have dried out." "But there's one lake that still has everything they'll need." "From every direction, flamingoes are homing in on lake Bogoria." "The deepest soda lake for hundreds of miles and for now, the best place to be." "Little do they realize, that in 2 weeks time one of these flamingoes will meet a baboon, and come face to face with death." "But witch one will it be ?" "Unaware of their fate, all they want to do now, is make the most of lake Bogoria can offer." "And that's something really quite special." "On the lake shore, water wells up over rift valley's volcanic rock in scolding hot springs and geysers." "These flow into the lake, and once there the water becomes more concentrated, and corrosive." "This creates a place uninhabitable to almost everything except flamingoes." "There are no fish in the lake, and no crocodiles, so the flamingoes are safe swimming out in the water." "Bu on shore there's danger." "The baboons have arrived." "Birds aren't their usual prey especially such big ones." "But these are desperate times, rampant hunger will soon drive the baboons to change their ways." "Maybe the fish eagle will try its luck, too." "Flamingoes are big birds to bring down, so it won't be easy." "but the eagle must catch one, because there's absolutely nothing to eat here." "These flamingoes are walking a fine line between life and death." "Any move made now, could start a chain of events with a terrible end, in just one week's time." "But witch birds are the winners, and witch are the losers ?" "Can anyone flamingo do anything to improve its chances at the moment of impact ?" "It's the new arrivals, exhausted from the long journey, that are most at risk." "And if the recent parents are still being pestered for food by their chicks, they'll be especially vulnerable." "But these particular parent birds are the lucky ones." "Because incredibly, flamingoes only manage to bring up a chick every 7 years." "With only one week until impact, what happens from now on is crucial." "To build their strength, flamingoes need to eat." "And surprisingly enough, the lurry green waters are choke full of bacteria rich in essential nutrients." "These birds feed in an extraordinary way, gulping water, then pumping it out through bristles inside their bills, witch sift out the bacteria at an incredible rate of 20 bill fulls a second." "And to avoid dipping their heads in the caustic water flamingoes feed with their bills upside down, the enlarged upper bill act as a float, to keep bird's head near the surface in the super rich scum." "Because the food is microscopic, the flamingoes have to suck up at least 4 gallons of water a day, to get enough to eat." "This takes hours and hours of feeding." "They also need to avoid burning too many calories." "Feeding while swimming in deep water, swinging your head like this, uses a lot of energy." "Feeding while standing is a lot less effort," "And closer to shore, where the wind has blown the scum, is a much higher concentration of food." "But standing in the shallows with your head down, is a very risky position to be in." "Now, hunger has driven the fish eagle to change the habits of a life-time, and hunt birds instead of fish." "Flamingoes are awkward birds with no real means of self defense." "Their natural response to danger is to get away , fast." "So the minute they're threatened, they run for take-off." "For the fish eagle, it's crucial not to waste energy in a long chase." "It must be a quick kill." "That looked easy, but the hard part is working out what to do with the corpse." "Compared with catching fish, witch weigh ounces, dragging off a 4 pound flamingo or trying to balance on soft, squishy mud, is impossible." "So, hungry or not, the eagle has to abandon its feast, and think again." "Once the eagle's gone, it doesn't take long for the other flamingoes to drift back to the shallows." "Back into danger." "Why do they take such a risk ?" "It's not just richer food that draws them to the shore." "There's something else here that these birds can't live without." "They're surrounded by water, but in this lake, they can't drink a drop." "The water's so salty, it's effectively poison." "To quench their thirst the flamingoes must find fresh water and the only place they can get that, is from the hot springs and streams on the shore." "But salty lake water also makes their feathers sticky, so, at the hot springs, they wash carefully." "If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to fly, losing a crucial means of escape" "But with so few springs, and so many flamingoes, they have to queue to get a bath." "Flamingoes use the same instinctive rules used by pedestrians on busy city pavements." "Staying in orderly lines, and following the bird in front, is the most efficient way to move in a crowd." "This sort of ritualized behavior doesn't just make life easy, it could make the difference between life and death." "With the flamingoes back in range, the fish eagle tries again." "So, will it make the same mistake again, and strike well out of its depth ?" "Was the fish eagle luckier this time ?" "Or did they consciously plan a whole new method of attack ?" "The flamingo caught was a straggler, it was injured, it couldn't keep up." "Any predator could see that it was doomed" "It's a tactic that a baboon could do well to follow." "Is this the crucial rule for survival when attacked ?" "Don't get separated from the crowd." "Is sticking with the massive flock always the safest place to be ?" "With just one day to go, the huge numbers of flamingoes at lake Bogoria is close to breaking point." "Something's got to give." "It's hot, very hot." "And there's not enough food to go around." "In these conditions, the birds get stressed and many get sick." "And in massive flocks like this diseases spread like wildfire." "That's the opportunity the baboons have been waiting for." "One baboon is prepared to risk, waiting through painfully corrosive water to snatch its chance." "But this is rotten, and possibly diseased meat." "It would be much better for them to eat live flamingo flesh, if they ever get the chance." "And that chance is coming in less than 2 hours time." "Now, though, it's far too hot to move." "It's time to sleep." "Time drags, as the afternoon passes." "The heat becomes even more intense." "The flamingoes are now desperate for a drink." "The middle of the lake is overcrowded." "There no room to move, and not enough water to go around." "So, some decide to look for water elsewhere." "But the only place to go, the only place with a permanent fresh water stream is 5 miles away, at the south end." "And little do these flamingoes know, that it's also inhabited by a troop of hungry baboons." "They've arrived at an oasis of cool water and shady fig trees." "It's perfect for thirsty flamingoes, but it's also a trap." "The flamingoes don't realize it, but by choosing to drink here and separating from the main flock they're putting themselves in real danger." "The baboons watch carefully looking for a chance." "This could be what they're looking for." "This bird has a badly infected foot an injury common in massive flocks." "Tightly packed, the birds are effectively standing in they own sewer." "So, any cuts in the flamingo's skin, quickly become infected." "When the baboon makes a move the healthy flamingoes turn away quickly." "But the injured bird has less energy and doesn't react as fast" "It's an obvious target." "Despite the risks the flamingoes keep coming, because they have no choice." "They must drink." "They must drink here." "These flamingoes are bound to be edgy after what's just happened." "But they're also twitchy because they're used with the safety of being in a bigger group." "The baboons now know what they want." "Flamingo." "And if there's the slightest chance of getting one, they will." "Will this flamingo live ?" "Is survival just a lottery ?" "Or are they specific tactical reasons why some birds live and others die ?" "At the moment of attack this flamingo escaped." "The baboon is left empty handed and hungry." "But why was this bird a winner ?" "What are the precise reasons why this flamingo got away ?" "Most important of all, it learnt from an early age to react early to danger." "To move fast and stick with the flock whether in a crèche, running away from the hyenas, or with the adults, escaping from the fish eagle." "But how did the flamingo, drinking with its back to the shore spot the baboon in time ?" "It escaped by following the same instinct used by all animals that live in a group." "Keep an eye on your immediate neighbors at all times and at the first hint of hurried movement copy them" "If they turn right, you turn right if they flap their wings, you flap, too." "That way, it only needs one bird to recognize danger and take evasive action, and then like a life preserving Mexican wave the escape response sweeps through the flock in a fraction of a second." "A wise flamingo learns that the safest place to live is in the thick of it." "Living on the edge is suicide." "Stick to the center of a million strong crowd and your odds of being eaten are a million to one." "Being individual, step out of the flock and life can be over very quickly." "The only downside is that a massive flock needs massive supplies." "In this huge flock food and water are still in short supply and the future looks bleak for everyone." "Unless something changes soon." "With the rains, the streams and lakes will refill" "There'll be water to drink, and plenty more wet places for the flamingoes to run." "Now, all these animals can leave this overcrowded lake, and spread out across Africa again." "Predators picked off a few flamingoes but it's nature, in the form of weather, that holds the ultimate power over life." "If the rains had failed, the death toll might have been massive." "It's only because the rains did come, that life can continue on this massive scale."