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Across the Earth, creatures
begin to sense secret signals...
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...begin to move.
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There is change in the length of day,
and of night...in air temperature
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and weather...foreshadowing
a great upheaval ahead.
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On a planet constantly in motion,
swept by relentless seasonal change,
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life too must move
in order to survive.
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Miracles of nature
are about to unfold.
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Each summer an extraordinary
migration is fueled by millions
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of tiny eating machines.
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Gorging themselves on milkweed, they
grow large enough for transformation...
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from caterpillar...into one of
Nature's most sublime creations:
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the monarch butterfly.
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Generation by generation, waves of
monarch butterflies will migrate
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northward through the United
States as far as southern Canada.
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As many as four generations
are produced each summer.
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The fourth generation appears
no different from those that
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preceded it, but it is.
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lnstinct tells it not to mate
but to accumulate fuel urgently,
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loading nectar through
a straw-like proboscis.
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This generation will live at
least eight times longer than
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its predecessors, enabling it to
complete the longest and greatest
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insect migration on Earth...
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Using prevailing winds when
possible, they labor to cover
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about 100 miles a day.
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Escaping the northern winter,
they navigate toward a place
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last visited by their
great-great grandparents.
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Converging from across two-thirds
of North America, as many as
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half-a-billion sweep
southward toward central Mexico
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on journeys of up to 2,500 miles.
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Only one in five survives the
hazards of the long migration,
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but their numbers are so vast: a
hundred million complete the journey
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...arriving each year in the same
small patches of mountain forest
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that ensure their
survival through winter.
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How something the size of a leaf, can
navigate across an entire continent
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to a place it has never been,
remains an unsolved mystery of nature.
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The return of the monarchs
holds mystical significance.
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lt is the Mexican celebration
of the Day of the Dead.
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ln cemeteries, villagers gather with
incense and candles to welcome back
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the souls of departed loved ones...
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Because the arrival of the monarchs
coincides with the Day of the Dead,
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many villagers believe the
spirits of their loved ones are
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returning on the
wings of butterflies.
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ln the forest above the village, the
last of the monarchs have arrived.
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Through the winter they hang
almost motionless in semi-dormancy.
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A single tree may be
blanketed by tens of thousands...
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so many featherweight creatures their
combined mass can break the branches.
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Their winter homes are
today protected reserves
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...but to local schoolchildren
they seem like magic forests.
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They will fly only
when warm enough.
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A gentle breath is all it
takes to trigger a cascade.
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As spring approaches, the
northward migration must begin.
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lt is time at last for
this generation to mate.
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The females lead the great exodus...
carrying their fertilized eggs
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toward the
North American heartland...
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each carrying as well the secrets
of how a distant future generation
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will finds its way back,
and complete a migration
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as mysterious and
wondrous as any on Earth.
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Of all nature's migrators,
none travel farther
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or in greater
number than birds.
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Their preparation is intense. The
young of species like Canada Geese
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must grow enough in summer to
migrate with adults by autumn.
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Aviation fuel in the form
of fat must be packed on
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to power the flight ahead.
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Some grow so heavy they
can barely take off.
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But when ready, they
grow restless and eager...
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Signals only they can decipher
tell them when the weather
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and winds are most favorable
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...signals that propel
them irresistibly forward,
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to join one of Nature's
greatest spectacles.
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Traveling mostly beyond our view,
migratory birds have eluded our
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understanding since earliest times.
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Today, radar designed to track
Aircraft and weather has begun
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to peer into their
rarely seen world.
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Researchers have confirmed that
most small birds migrate at night...
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and that many species save
energy by riding storm winds
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and prevailing air currents.
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Radar studies have also disclosed
flight speeds, travel routes
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and flock sizes...and revealed that
birds migrate in greater numbers
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than previously thought,
over distances once unimagined.
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Five billion birds migrate each
year from Europe deep into Africa,
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and similar throngs cross
Asia and the Americas.
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To find their way, birds employ
a remarkable array of techniques.
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lnitially, instinct points
them in the right direction.
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Where possible they
follow landmarks.
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Where there are no landmarks, they
turn to compasses provided by nature.
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Many take their bearings
from the sun's position.
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The billions of night flyers
seem to orient to the sunset
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in the west as they set out.
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Night offers protection
from predators and smoother,
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cooler air for easier flight,
but somehow they must navigate
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through the dark.
Like early pilots, they simply
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use the stars as a compass and
fly toward familiar constellations.
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When clouds obscure the stars,
an internal magnetic compass
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may guide them. Occasionally,
the Earth's magnetic field is
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visible to us in auroras, but
only in the polar skies at night.
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Some birds use a magnetically
sensitive substance in their heads
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to detect the pattern of Earth's
magnetic field...and to follow it
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like a map in the sky.
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Equipped by nature with a remarkable
array of navigational skills,
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using whichever best
guides them moment to moment,
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birds are the master
navigators of the animal kingdom...
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The cold nutrient rich waters
of the northern Pacific provide
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an abundance of food for
migrating sea mammals.
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But when winter arrives, many
leave here and swim great distances
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to accomplish another
common goal of migrations
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to mate and give birth in
places of safety and warmth.
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So strong is this compulsion, gray
whales make the longest migration
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of any wild mammal...swimming
nonstop day and night without feeding
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for up to two solid months...from
as far north as the Arctic Ocean
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5,000 miles south to Mexico.
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They may navigate through
dark and murky seawater
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using a primitive
echolocation system.
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Like submarines, many whales beam
out and receive echoing sounds
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that sketch acoustic images
of the undersea terrain.
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Traveling near shore,
grays sometimes spyhop...
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...perhaps to locate
familiar coastal landmarks.
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They maintain their bearings simply
by keeping the sound of the surf
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to their left going south,
to the right returning northward.
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Pregnant females lead the
migration south in order to reach
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Mexico before giving birth.
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Unfortunately, the timing
is not always perfect...
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L. A. County lifeguards were the
first to reach the 13-foot-long
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infant gray whale. Experts tell us
it's a female and they think she's
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less than a week old because part of
the umbilical cord is still attached.
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It's said the mother may have started
south late, giving birth along the way
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to an orphan now badly dehydrated and
malnourished.Rescue efforts are now
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underway to bring the baby whale
out of the water and transport her
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to an emergency care center at
SeaWorld in San Diego, two hours away.
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I needed to drive as fast as I
could, as fast as the truck would go
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and I knew time was of the essence.
And then the CHP would just zoom on
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right ahead, close off traffic
and let this whale go on by.
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When I first saw the whale,
I honestly didn't think
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that she was alive. We see
animals like this all the time,
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and the majority of them
come in and die very soon after,
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or arrive dead.
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They name her ''JJ'', and begin
round-the-clock care.
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They must quickly learn how to
take the place of a mother whale.
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It was amazing. As soon as
the warm milk reached her stomach,
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she calmed...as if she recognized
that we were here to help her.
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She was still semi-comatose and
my assessment at the time was that
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that animal had almost no chances of
surviving. She was in very bad shape.
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While JJ's fate resides in the
hands of human keepers, most of the
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gray whale mothers have made it
to the warm, protected lagoons of
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Baja California before giving birth.
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The regularity of their migrations
Once made them easy prey for whalers.
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Now, they are greeted like
Celebrities by adoring fans
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yearning to touch a real whale.
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Protective laws discourage boaters
from approaching a whale...
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...but no law prevents a
whale from approaching a boat.
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Naturalist Sherri Bondi
and her daughter are here
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for just such an encounter...
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My little girl, Selenita, the
little mermaid, has
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a very special connection
to the whales.
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When I got out there
it was just like, whoa...
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One was coming straight for us and
I'm like what's that whale doing?
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Lookit, Mommy.i
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Oh, look at the eye, look.
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They seem to really study us
carefully. I often wonder
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what they're thinking about
while they're gazing at us,
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as I gaze at them.
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Most whales are shy and keep their
distance. But a few are curious.
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Occasionally a mother whale will
bring her baby to the boats,
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in what seems like an attempt to
introduce it to the human visitors.
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Because of the protected nature of
the lagoons we don't have predators
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who prey on the baby whales.
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They stay in the lagoons for about
two months while the calves nurse,
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and they nurse all day long and all
night long, and they grow very quickly.
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They can double in weight from
when they're born - they're about
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a ton when they're born and
about 15 feet in length.
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The mothers start to teach them
swimming skills in what I call
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swimming schools. they'll swim
against the tide in order to
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strengthen their flippers to
make the long migration north.
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She spit water at you.
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I was really wishing I would
touch a whale.
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I'm like'Oh, I hope I touch him and all
of a sudden my hand was really down...
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I touched it.i
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It was just...a miracle?
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ln late spring, when the calves
are strong enough, their mothers will
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lead them on their first great voyage
north to feast in the polar seas.
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One youngster has missed that
first migration, but 14 months after
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her rescue the orphaned calf JJ,
gorges on 500 pounds of seafood a day.
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Once nearly lost,
she approaches adult size.
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She pushes against the northwest corner
of her holding pen day after day
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...seemingly eager to rejoin her
own kind on their journey northward,
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unaware that such a rendezvous
is now only two weeks away...
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One of the most bizarre
migrations in nature occurs on tiny
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Christmas lsland - a thousand
miles west of Australia
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in the lndian Ocean.
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Each year as the monsoons arrive,
rainy season and lunar cycle
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combine to unleash the breeding
urges of forest creatures
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that emerge like...
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...monsters in the night.
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A hundred million red crabs begin
their annual march from woodland
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to sea to mate and spawn...
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The island's one thousand
human inhabitants miscalculated
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the location of their community,
building it smack in the middle
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of the largest migration route.
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But the crabs are harmless, and
the islanders adopted a strained
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but friendly relationship
with their fellow residents.
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After a journey of up to three
weeks, males reach the shore first,
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where they confront an obstacle
course of jagged limestone cliffs
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undercut by powerful seas.
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Nature itself can seem booby-
trapped with hidden surprises...
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On terraces above the cliffs,
the males prepare burrows
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as they await the females.
When the females arrive
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a few days later, they promptly
take baths to replenish moisture
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lost on the journey...and perhaps
to rinse away the grime of travel
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and enhance their feminine allure.
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When ready, they
approach the burrows...
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where they are seized by
the males in a mating embrace.
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After mating, the males will depart
for the interior forests again,
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leaving the females
in protective burrows
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as their now-fertilized
eggs develop.
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The females know precisely the
right moment in the lunar cycle
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to amass at the sea's edge.
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The high tide of the last
quarter moon is about to crest.
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Each carrying up to a
hundred thousand eggs,
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the females head for the surf...
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...where they discharge their
eggs into the outgoing tide.
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The young will spend three
weeks at sea as marine larvae
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before returning as baby crabs. But
adults are no longer able to swim.
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The mothers risk their
lives discharging their eggs.
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Those swept away will drown.
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The surviving females head back
to the woodlands, leaving the fate
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00:25:40,927 --> 00:25:44,124
of the next generation
to the whims of the currents...
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...and the predators of the sea.
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On the plains of East Africa,
migration holds the promise of life...
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...and the prospect of death.
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Here, life is a relentless
confrontation between hunter...
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...and hunted.
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Yet survival is also
determined by the seasons.
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Through the wet season, zebras
and other grazers are sustained
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by rich grasses and abundant water.
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00:26:42,127 --> 00:26:44,561
For them, and the
hitch-hiking Oxpecker birds,
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this is a time of plenty.
But soon drought will wither
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00:26:51,967 --> 00:26:56,085
the plains, changing the lives
of both predator and prey.
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For two-hundred-thousand
zebras it is time to begin
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00:27:01,767 --> 00:27:03,439
their migration northward.
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00:27:19,687 --> 00:27:22,759
At times leading the
great migration, zebras are
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00:27:22,887 --> 00:27:25,276
joined by more than
a million wildebeest.
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00:27:26,327 --> 00:27:29,717
lt is the largest migration
of hoofed animals on Earth.
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00:27:32,207 --> 00:27:36,086
The two species find safety
in numbers and in mutual vigilance...
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00:27:37,047 --> 00:27:40,835
the alarms of each alerting the
other to the presence of predators.
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00:27:50,127 --> 00:27:52,004
There is another kind of threat...
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00:27:59,447 --> 00:28:03,884
Range fires race across the
tinder-dry plains, a signal
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00:28:04,247 --> 00:28:10,277
that drought has parched the land.
Thirst becomes a driving force.
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00:28:15,007 --> 00:28:19,876
The herds will risk drinking even
from pools where crocodiles wait.
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00:28:33,007 --> 00:28:35,316
The wary zebras
remain on high alert.
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00:28:36,767 --> 00:28:40,442
But a young wildebeest does
not sense danger's approach.
250
00:29:13,767 --> 00:29:16,440
Reaching the northern
grasslands the herds confront
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00:29:16,607 --> 00:29:21,920
the unrelenting reality of
Africa: there is no safe haven.
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00:29:28,687 --> 00:29:31,759
lt is very rare for a hyena
to attack an adult zebra.
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00:29:34,047 --> 00:29:35,719
Foals, are easier.
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00:29:49,047 --> 00:29:51,607
A mother is lured away to
a defensive position...
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00:29:52,287 --> 00:29:55,006
unaware that other hyenas
approach from behind.
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00:30:00,727 --> 00:30:02,445
The father races to the scene.
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00:30:21,007 --> 00:30:23,202
One very lucky foal will live on.
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00:30:27,967 --> 00:30:31,880
Others are not so fortunate.
For those whose existence
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00:30:32,047 --> 00:30:34,242
depends not on grass but meat,
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00:30:35,087 --> 00:30:40,605
zebras are a river of passing food...
a guarantee of their own survival
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00:30:41,647 --> 00:30:42,762
in a harsh world.
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00:30:55,727 --> 00:30:59,436
Many are lost...but those that
survive will grow strong...
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00:31:00,847 --> 00:31:03,520
and one day will race
across the African plains
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00:31:04,247 --> 00:31:06,203
in the great migrations to come.
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00:31:24,367 --> 00:31:28,440
Sharing these grasslands with the
migrating herds are grazing animals
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00:31:28,727 --> 00:31:31,116
whose history has
followed a different path.
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00:31:36,087 --> 00:31:41,525
Their story is closely linked to that
of anotherspecies that arose here.
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00:32:04,527 --> 00:32:08,042
Once seasonal migrators,
following the herds they hunted,
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00:32:08,847 --> 00:32:12,556
some humans in Africa long ago
turned instead to the herding
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00:32:12,647 --> 00:32:14,365
of domesticated animals.
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00:32:15,927 --> 00:32:18,805
No longer compelled to
pursue wild prey like zebras,
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00:32:19,647 --> 00:32:21,797
they were able to
establish settlements.
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00:32:23,527 --> 00:32:28,476
Today, like countless humans elsewhere,
the Maasai and Datoga peoples still
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00:32:28,567 --> 00:32:33,277
lead their herds from protective
corrals to pasture and back each day.
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00:32:38,487 --> 00:32:41,684
Yet in the time machine of
East Africa there are still
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00:32:41,967 --> 00:32:43,764
tribes who follow the seasons.
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00:32:45,967 --> 00:32:50,324
The Hadza possess neither shelters nor
livestock to restrict their movements.
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00:32:51,287 --> 00:32:55,565
Employing simple tools and weapons,
they choose instead to continue
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00:32:55,887 --> 00:32:57,684
pursuing the wild herds.
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00:32:58,527 --> 00:33:02,202
They are rare living remnants of
the tribes who left these plains
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00:33:02,767 --> 00:33:06,999
100,000 years ago to embark
on what would prove to be
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00:33:07,727 --> 00:33:10,719
the greatest of all migrations!
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00:33:20,327 --> 00:33:23,842
They were the ancestors
of all modern humans.
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00:33:25,527 --> 00:33:31,159
Their mastery of fire, weapons, tools
and clothing gave them the ability
285
00:33:31,607 --> 00:33:36,601
to survive almost anywhere, making
possible a new kind of migration...
286
00:33:41,807 --> 00:33:45,038
Small bands of hunters would
venture northward out of Africa
287
00:33:45,527 --> 00:33:47,006
into the world at large.
288
00:33:48,007 --> 00:33:51,044
They set out not on
round-trip, seasonal journeys...
289
00:33:51,807 --> 00:33:56,722
but on a one-way migration
that has lasted 4,000 generations...
290
00:33:57,567 --> 00:34:01,640
...a migration that would take them
to the very ends of the Earth.
291
00:34:04,967 --> 00:34:09,518
Then in a geological eyeblink,
our species and our technology
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00:34:10,287 --> 00:34:12,721
radically changed
the face of the planet.
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00:34:15,967 --> 00:34:18,925
Our blazing success
has darkened the lives
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00:34:19,087 --> 00:34:21,681
and blocked the journeys
of many other species.
295
00:34:32,767 --> 00:34:36,476
But today we have come to
understand that our own existence
296
00:34:36,967 --> 00:34:40,039
is closely linked to that
of the creatures around us.
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00:34:45,047 --> 00:34:50,405
We turn from the hunters we once were...
...to the protectors we are becoming.
298
00:34:55,167 --> 00:34:58,796
We cannot really hope to know most
wild creatures in their worlds...
299
00:34:59,447 --> 00:35:04,680
but occasionally one animal crosses
into our world and touches our hearts.
300
00:35:08,207 --> 00:35:12,997
The time has come for ''JJ'' to
go home, to rejoin her own kind
301
00:35:13,207 --> 00:35:15,596
as they embark on their
migration northward.
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00:35:46,847 --> 00:35:51,967
Her story has become a media event,
her plight a concern to millions.
303
00:35:54,127 --> 00:35:57,039
And now she is carried
homeward as carefully as if
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00:35:57,127 --> 00:35:58,719
she were one of our own.
305
00:36:26,607 --> 00:36:30,646
Sometimes a single creature
we come to know can stand for
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00:36:30,887 --> 00:36:33,082
all the billions we cannot know.
307
00:36:34,087 --> 00:36:38,524
And in our concerns for one, we
discover how much we treasure all.
308
00:36:40,647 --> 00:36:45,118
On tiny Christmas lsland,
millions of baby crabs are returning
309
00:36:45,287 --> 00:36:50,077
from the open ocean, fulfilling the
purpose of their parent's migration.
310
00:36:58,407 --> 00:37:02,082
Now they begin the first
of their own great migrations...
311
00:37:02,767 --> 00:37:06,077
from the nursery of the sea
to the home of their species
312
00:37:06,367 --> 00:37:07,800
in the forests above.
313
00:37:21,287 --> 00:37:25,519
ln marshlands and lakes on every
continent, in wave after wave
314
00:37:25,607 --> 00:37:31,443
of triumphant landings, billions of
birds reach their journeys end at last.
315
00:37:50,367 --> 00:37:54,645
On a planet constantly in
motion, life too must move
316
00:37:55,207 --> 00:37:56,686
in order to survive.
317
00:37:57,647 --> 00:38:00,639
Season by season,
creature by creature,
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00:38:01,527 --> 00:38:06,476
miracle by miracle...
...the epic journeys continue.
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