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Culture Express
  • 5/17/2025

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00:30Antarctica, the Earth's coldest continent, the one that is most hostile to life.
00:44Here, 1,300 kilometres from the South Pole, it's 40 degrees below zero.
00:54Of all the millions of species of animals on Earth, only one can live here permanently.
01:11A Weddell seal.
01:16She can survive because she can dive below the ice.
01:25Here she is protected from the storms above and here, too, she can find food.
01:50But she is a mammal and she has to breathe air.
01:55So she has to keep a lifeline open to the world above the ice.
02:01Not only for her, but now for her newborn pup.
02:10She's less than a week old and still very vulnerable.
02:25A blizzard blows in and with it storm force winds.
02:29It could last for a week.
02:42Being mammals, seals can generate heat within their bodies and their fur, with a thick layer
02:48of fat beneath it, prevents most of that heat from escaping, even in cold conditions
02:53like this.
03:01What is more, she is able to feed her youngster with that mammalian speciality, milk.
03:09And while she does so, she shields him from the worst of the blizzard.
03:38She has worked hard throughout the winter to prevent her breathing hole in the ice from
03:43freezing over.
03:55That requires constant attention, filing back the edges of the hole with her teeth.
04:09The pup needs to join her under the ice as soon as he can swim properly.
04:17She encourages him to take his first plunge, but hardly surprisingly, he's not keen.
04:44Now, guided by his mother, he has to learn how to hunt underwater and to find his way
04:50back through the maze to his hole in the ice.
05:10A warm body, fur, milk and maternal care are essential for the Weddell seal's survival
05:17in this freezing environment.
05:22And those qualities have helped the mammals to colonise the entire globe.
05:38Equatorial East Africa.
05:42It's hard to imagine a place more different from Antarctica.
05:48To survive here, mammals need additional talents.
05:55This tree shelters the territory of a tiny mammal that spends its whole life in frenzied
06:01activity.
06:05It used to be called an elephant shrew, but now it's called by its African name of sengi.
06:17This is a female rufous sengi.
06:23And like all sengis, she's so active she's permanently hungry.
06:30To get all the food she needs, she has to be both industrious and ingenious.
06:42She has made an intricate network of trails that enable her to hunt her insect prey very
06:48efficiently.
06:50But these pathways have another important function when she meets her enemies.
07:20Having a map of these trails in her head can mean the difference between life and death.
07:44Like most mammals, and unlike reptiles, her legs are directly beneath her body.
07:51That makes her less stable, but much faster and more agile.
08:13Not only has she outrun this reptile, she's outwitted him.
08:24And just as well, for she is a mother and has a youngster to care for.
08:38The sengi relies on speed and cunning for its success.
08:43Other mammals have very different techniques.
08:54Here in Madagascar, one of the most bizarre of all mammals is on the prowl.
09:08The aye-aye, like the sengi, lives on insects.
09:13But the ones that she seeks, she can't see, for they're buried deep inside branches.
09:18They're beetle grubs.
09:25To find them, she has a special talent.
09:28She taps her fingers on the wood up to eight times a second and listens for the tiny change
09:33in resonance that indicates a hollow spot within.
09:38Her hearing is so acute, she can identify the precise position in which to gnaw a hole
09:44in order to reach the grub.
09:49And she has a grotesquely long middle finger with which to skewer it.
10:06It takes a young aye-aye four years to perfect this technique, but once it has done so, it
10:13can collect prey that no other mammal can reach.
10:36The Arctic tundra.
10:38Food is hard to find here, too.
10:41Indeed, this land is so barren that few large animals can live here.
10:48Yet one mammal has found a way to do so.
11:03It's late spring, and as the mounting strength of the sun warms the land, eight million reindeer
11:10move north.
11:23But the vegetation is so meagre that the only way the herds can get enough is to keep constantly
11:29on the move.
11:37Newborn calves soon discover that they will have to spend every day walking in search
11:43of food.
11:46They have extraordinary endurance.
11:49Some of these animals, before they die, will have trekked for a distance equivalent to
11:54three times around the earth.
12:01Grazing is now at its best.
12:03But this is also the time when the reindeer's worst enemy appears.
12:10Biting flies.
12:14The flies not only drive them to distraction, but they can drain a pint of blood each day.
12:31But the reindeer have a defensive strategy.
12:40Each individual tries to push its way into the centre of a group where there are fewer
12:45flies.
13:02With all this pushing and jostling, mothers need to keep their calves close.
13:15Sometimes the flies become so bad that the reindeer can stand them no longer, and they
13:20bolt to higher ground where the flies can't follow.
14:15But the price of escape can be high.
14:25In the rush, one mother has lost her calf.
14:53Others have already found it.
15:10The herd has long since moved on, but her maternal instinct is so strong she'll stay
15:16to search for her missing calf for days.
15:23The reindeer are free from flies for now, but with no food on these high slopes, they
15:29will eventually be forced to descend to find new pastures and face the biting swarms once
15:36more.
15:41No animal makes a longer migration across the lands of the earth than these mammals.
15:54Other mammals have found a more economic way of travelling huge distances, and at greater
16:01speed.
16:02They go by air.
16:33Giant, straw-coloured fruit bats inhabit the great forests of the Congo.
16:43Their wings are nearly a metre across.
16:47In late October every year, they set off on a long journey across the forest canopy.
17:00The flocks of hundreds become thousands.
17:13And tens of thousands become hundreds of thousands.
17:18They're fast and powerful flyers, and can travel more than a thousand kilometres in
17:25just a few nights.
17:36How they know where and when to travel is a mystery, but they all end up in one place.
17:42Kasanka, a remote swamp in Zambia.
17:47There are ten million of them here.
18:10They crowd together in just one small patch of forest, no bigger than two or three football
18:15pitches.
18:17And here they take up residence for a few weeks.
18:20It's the largest fruit bat roost on earth.
18:38After their long journey, they need to rest and relax.
18:51The roost is so crowded that complete strangers rub shoulders and even snuggle up together.
19:01As evening approaches, they prepare to reap the reward for their long journey.
19:20They've come from all over Central Africa to this one place because here, at this time
19:25of year, there is an extraordinary glut of mangoes and other fruit.
19:32Steaming out from the roost, they set off to collect it.
19:50Each bat guzzles at least two kilos worth of fruit every night.
20:16In just a few weeks, this mega-roost will devour more than a billion separate fruits.
20:25It's only the power of flight that allows these mammals to travel so far and so fast
20:31that they can reap such a brief harvest.
20:33After six weeks, the trees have been stripped of their fruit.
20:40Then once again, the immense aerial armada takes to the air.
20:46Each bat returning to its own particular patch of the vast Congo forests.
21:16The land mammals of Africa also travel together in stupendous numbers.
21:39The herds that graze the East African plains are not nearly the size they were a century
21:44ago, but they are still immense.
21:51Grazing together is a good defense.
21:53There's safety in numbers.
21:57But hunting together also brings advantages.
22:08This hyena, however, is searching for food on her own.
22:15She needs to be careful.
22:23But she smells food, and she takes risks.
23:13Bruised and bloodied, she is lucky to have survived her mistake.
23:43But she's not totally defeated.
23:46She belongs to a clan.
23:48A call to arms rings out through the night.
24:00Reinforcements assemble.
24:03Every adult in the clan responds.
24:18If a clan attack together, they have a chance of challenging the lions.
24:32It's a clan against the pride, each at full strength.
24:47And the clan outnumbers the pride.
25:02The
25:26combined power of the hyenas eventually forces the lions to retreat.
25:34Attacking as a coherent team requires a high degree of social cooperation,
25:39and that is another of the mammals' specialities.
25:53Social bonds between mammals begin when mothers feed their young on milk.
26:01And few look after their young with greater care
26:05than the mammal which dominates this landscape.
26:12A female polar bear is trying to find food for her cubs.
26:18But this is a particularly difficult time of the year.
26:23The sea ice on which she hunts is melting beneath her feet.
26:29She must look for food on land.
26:53They're all safely ashore, but they could still face months of hunger.
27:12Finding food is not so easy on this cold and barren coast.
27:17The search may be a long one.
27:22Polar bears have an extraordinarily sensitive sense of smell,
27:32and she has caught a faint whiff of something promising.
27:37It's the immense carcass of a bowhead whale.
27:56A whale carcass could provide more than any one family could eat.
28:03But they're not the first here to find it.
28:06By any means.
28:12The smell has brought in bears some miles away.
28:21Bear families seldom get on with one another.
28:33She's taking a risk bringing her cubs here.
28:41Male bears can and do kill and eat small cubs.
28:52Another family challenges her.
29:03She must decide whether to compete for food or run away and go hungry.
29:17She keeps her cubs close to her and stands her ground.
29:32Their mother's courage has won the cubs a meal.
30:03Living as a family may bring rewards, but it can also create problems,
30:10for siblings can also become rivals.
30:16A coati, a South American relative of the raccoon.
30:25These babies were born in a nest high in a tree
30:29and are about to come down to the ground for the first time.
30:32Some more reluctantly than others.
30:47Once on the ground, the mother coati rounds her babies up
30:52and takes them away to join a single large group.
31:00Together, these families form a gang of two-forty.
31:06The coati is the youngest.
31:08Once again, numbers bring safety.
31:12The first to spot danger will warn everyone.
31:16But keeping order isn't easy,
31:18and when they find out that the coati has run out of food,
31:22it's not just a matter of keeping order.
31:26It's also a matter of keeping the cubs safe.
31:30The coati is the youngest.
31:32She is the only female in the family.
31:36She is the only female in the family.
31:40She is the only female in the family.
31:44Keeping order isn't easy, and when they find food, it's a free-for-all.
32:06Meerkats in the Kalahari Desert also live in large groups,
32:10but they're rather more organised.
32:14COATI
32:34Each family band is controlled by a queen,
32:38who is nearly always the only female to breed.
32:44She has been kept very busy suckling her five pups,
32:48and it's high time they became more independent.
32:54Today is the new brood's first trip to get breakfast for themselves.
33:00COATI
33:10It takes weeks for youngsters to learn how to find food.
33:20This one is trying to catch ants,
33:23but hasn't quite grasped the necessary technique.
33:31But this youngster has persuaded an adult to show him what to do.
33:38The tutor is not his parent, just an enthusiastic instructor,
33:42and one who will adapt his lessons to the ability of his student.
33:49This new one is a beginner, so he starts with something easy,
33:53how to dig for insect larvae.
34:01SCORPION
34:08Other males, like this one, are much trickier.
34:13So the tutor disables the scorpion's sting before he lets the youngster tackle it.
34:30BIRD
34:37The family also cooperates in defence.
34:41Every member does a tour of guard duty, keeping an eye out for danger.
34:47So while one watches, everyone else can rest.
34:53COATI
34:58And on warm days, one can easily nod off.
35:13COATI
35:23COATI
35:31The secret of Meerkat's success is that everyone takes a turn in communal duties.
35:45COATI
35:53ELEPHANT
35:56But many mammals do more than just share their workload.
36:01Some can share their knowledge, and do so across several generations.
36:10Elephant survival depends on profiting from the experience of many lifetimes.
36:18This baby elephant was born last night,
36:22and the whole herd seems to welcome this new addition.
36:29But the mother is young and inexperienced.
36:32This is her first baby.
36:48COATI
36:53If she is to produce milk, a mother must drink,
36:57and the newborn calf must keep up with her
37:00as the herd continues on their long journey to find water.
37:07After eight kilometres, the calf is flagging.
37:12COATI
37:15Enough is enough.
37:25The young mother encourages her calf to continue,
37:29but there is still a long way to go, and the calf is already getting dehydrated.
37:41COATI
38:01The elephants are now so close to water that they can smell it.
38:11COATI
38:31Water at last.
38:42COATI
38:55This is the calf's first encounter with a waterhole.
39:01She's not sure what to make of it, or indeed, how to get out of it.
39:12Her mother tries to help her, but she has no experience of dealing with babies.
39:27As the herd moves deeper into the swamp, the calf follows,
39:31but now she is in real trouble.
39:41Elephant babies can and do get permanently stuck in deep mud.
40:12Her mother's attempts to help her baby are only making matters worse.
40:17It's stuck beneath her, and she's pushing it deeper still.
40:25But now the baby's grandmother spots the problem and steps in.
40:31COATI
40:39Drastic action.
40:41She pushes mother out of the way with an unceremonious poke in the rump
40:45and enables her granddaughter to scramble free.
40:55Mother and calf have learned a valuable lesson from grandma.
41:01Such passing of wisdom across generations
41:05has been an important element in the survival of elephants.
41:10COATI
41:25The largest animal on land, the elephant, is a mammal.
41:32And so are the largest animals in the sea.
41:40COATI
41:50A female humpback whale and her calf.
41:56Every few years, she will travel nearly 5,000 kilometres
42:00from the rich waters of the Antarctic
42:03to these warm but comparatively sterile waters of the Pacific
42:07to give birth to a single calf.
42:37The seas around Tonga are not only a nursery for humpbacks,
42:43but also their mating ground.
42:58This 50-year-old female has come here to seek the best partner,
43:03and she starts by announcing her arrival to potential suitors.
43:08COATI
43:31One by one, the males arrive.
43:39COATI
43:46But as they do, she swims away,
43:50compelling her half a dozen or so suitors to follow her.
43:56COATI
44:06She leads, while the males jockey for position behind her.
44:14The males bellow threats to one another, creating huge plumes of bubbles.
44:26COATI
44:29So far, it has been a relatively gentle affair.
44:33Now, the competition becomes serious.
44:39Hour after hour, the males battle for position right behind her.
44:44COATI
44:56COATI
45:05And now the 40-ton males begin to smash into one another.
45:10COATI
45:26COATI
45:33This is the most massive battle in all of nature.
45:36Rival males can kill one another.
45:39COATI
45:42COATI
45:50As the conflict reaches its climax, they try to force each other downwards.
45:58COATI
46:12COATI
46:14At last, a victor takes his place alongside the female and remains unchallenged.
46:24By inciting the males to fight, the female has secured the best mate for herself.
46:31The one who is most likely to father the strongest offspring.
46:42COATI
46:48Together, the couple dive to the depths.
46:53But still, no one knows where they will mate.
46:58COATI
47:04COATI
47:12COATI
47:24All mammals, including ourselves, share a set of winning characteristics.
47:31COATI
47:36Warm bodies, extraordinary senses and highly developed intelligence.
47:43And those qualities have contributed to their and our success.
47:53But perhaps the most important characteristic of all lies in the strength of our family ties.
48:01It is the mammal family that has conquered the earth.
48:32TONGA
48:41Tonga is famous for humpback whales,
48:44but even here, finding and filming whales in the open ocean would prove challenging.
48:50For the life team, capturing the humpback whales' unique mating contest, known as a heat run,
48:56would need local knowledge, hours on the water and a big slice of luck.
49:02We've heard that one of the boats further inland by submarine rock
49:06has seen a female with a calf and an escort,
49:10which is something which might build to hopefully a heat run.
49:14So we're going to head over there and take a look.
49:16Any adult female with a calf could be coming into season
49:20and so might be a target for amorous males.
49:24When we got there I was pretty excited, a little bit nervous, didn't know what to expect.
49:32Once I got in the water and dived down it was surprisingly quiet and mellow.
49:39I certainly didn't expect what happened next.
49:41A calf just came straight up towards me.
49:54A female with a calf
50:12She seemed really relaxed and definitely interested in me.
50:16It's literally just swimming around within metres of flicking its tail,
50:20just being inquisitive I think and having a bit of fun.
50:29It's obviously quite young so it's staying on the surface for quite a long time.
50:33It's not diving down for very long, maybe a couple of minutes.
50:36The mother will be about 5 or 10 metres away.
50:40But even a calf has great power in its fins and tail.
50:44Roger will need to be careful.
50:54A calf with a calf
50:58And even a calf has great power in its fins and tail.
51:02Roger will need to be careful.
51:15Got it?
51:20That was the most silly thing I've ever seen in my life.
51:24It's just gambling around like a little newborn lamb.
51:27It weighs 2 tonnes.
51:31A couple of bumps, it'll just come round and blast fluke at me or whatever.
51:35I've got a great shot of it chasing Jason around.
51:37Jason's just backpedalling like this.
51:43It's just a baby, like a little puppy.
51:45You're playing with a little puppy but it's 4 metres long.
51:48It's just ludicrous.
51:50Was its mum alright?
51:52She was just totally chilling out underneath Peck's back.
51:55Just hanging like this at about 15 metres.
51:58Just watching?
51:59Yeah, just hanging there.
52:00Probably didn't even see it, I don't think.
52:05It's one thing to be close to a playful baby.
52:08It will be another to be in the path of a testosterone-charged group of males,
52:13each 10 times her size.
52:22There are enough males here for a heat run.
52:25But are they in the mood?
52:30Yes!
52:39When you guys are ready.
52:42Bring your candy back, baby.
52:52These whales can weigh up to 40 tonnes,
52:54and they move surprisingly quickly.
52:56So as well as getting the cameraman in position to get the shots,
52:58which they have to be fairly close,
53:00we have to be really careful that they don't get bumped or hit.
53:02If they get a knock from one of these guys,
53:04it can do some serious damage.
53:13I'm right towards you.
53:15To avoid disturbing the whales' behaviour,
53:18the team need to free dive without scuba tanks,
53:22holding their breath as long as they can.
53:25On a good dive, I can hold my breath for maybe two minutes.
53:29These guys, they can go for 20 minutes or more
53:31before they have to come up for a breath.
53:33There's no contest.
53:35More and more whales are gathering.
53:38But it's not turning into a heat run yet.
53:49Hard to say what's going on for this.
53:57They're kind of moving around, coming up and under and over.
54:00Hopefully something's starting to happen.
54:03Maybe love's in the air?
54:10Love may be in the air, but it isn't in the water.
54:14Despite keeping tabs on the whales over the next ten days,
54:17there was still no sign of a heat run starting.
54:20You'd think it'd be quite easy to keep track of a 40-tonne animal.
54:23And we've got six of them out here, and we keep losing them.
54:27One minute they're there, we get up reasonably close.
54:31Within 30 seconds, they've dived, and they're gone again.
54:34And then it takes another maybe five minutes, ten minutes,
54:37and then they'll come up again, and they'll be 300 yards away,
54:41and it just takes ages just to get close to them.
54:44So we're just playing a continuous game of cat and mouse.
54:50Cat and mouse? It's whales.
54:54The mating season is coming to an end,
54:57and the crew haven't completed their mission.
55:00But then, at last, the whales' behaviour seems to have changed.
55:06So this is it. We've just spotted about six or seven humpbacks on the horizon.
55:10We think it's a heat run.
55:12The last 16, 17 days on the water are probably going to come down
55:16for the next two hours as to whether we get our shots or not.
55:20The chase is on.
55:43There's at least three or four males going past there,
55:46and they're all competing and knocking into each other and crossing
55:50as they try to get the pole position behind the female.
55:53Right at you. Right at you.
55:55The whales are moving so fast that to stand any chance of filming them,
56:00the crew needs to be dropped right in front of the charging group.
56:05Just as Roger gets alongside the males,
56:08the tempo of the chase suddenly shifts to full bore with a flick of a tail.
56:17He's got it.
56:19He's got it.
56:21He's got it.
56:23He's got it.
56:25He's got it.
56:27He's got it.
56:29He's got it.
56:32He's got it.
56:45Facing the charging males deep underwater,
56:48Roger keeps shooting, holding his breath until the group pass over.
57:01A quick gasp of air and Roger's back down again.
57:15The whales continue to rush by.
57:18In the end, Roger just can't keep up any longer.
57:22Exhausted, it's time to return to the boat for the last time.
57:27Amazing. That was the most amazing experience I've ever had.
57:31We had about seven or eight.
57:34We both dived down about 20 metres in front,
57:37and then the female came through first, quite close,
57:41and then they all just started diving towards me,
57:43so it was just sort of like,
57:46and then, like, after about 40 seconds,
57:4840, 45 seconds, I was getting a little bit out of breath,
57:51and then I sort of looked up, and there's one sitting right on top of me.
57:56Did you get it?
57:57I think so. I hope so.
57:59If not, I'll throw it over the bayou.
58:02LAUGHTER
58:04I think I got it.
58:06I think I got it.
58:08I think I got it.
58:10I think I got it.
58:12I think I got it.
58:15It's taken 18 days and hundreds of dives,
58:18but at last the team have been able to reveal
58:21a secret of these whales' lives that few people have ever seen.