Episode 4 Wild Tales

The world is full of amazing animal families.

Tales of life and death happen every day.

For the youngest members, growing up is tough, really tough.

These stories recreate their rollercoaster lives on Wild Tales.

We're following the fortunes of three fantastic animals characters.

Yogi, our little bear cub,

is about to wake from his first big winter sleep.

Kumi, our cheeky leopard cub, has a scary encounter

with his dangerous neighbours.

And brave Rooney shows off his star qualities as he steps

into the front line to fight off a lethal puff adder.

But where do we start?

Well, you're about to find out.

First stop is Kenya's Masai Mara in East Africa.

Last time we visited, Kumi and his mum Mila were on their way to

a wildebeest kill and were ambushed by ferocious lions.

They dashed for safety up a tree.

We left them under siege knowing any attempt to climb down

could end in a fatality.

Next morning, and they've stayed up in the tree the whole night.

They're safe up there, as, luckily, lions aren't very good at climbing.

But if Kumi makes a wrong move now,

there's a chance he could get killed.

Lions just hate other big cats, especially leopards.

They see them as unwelcome competition.

Sit tight, Kumi!

Uh-oh, he's looking very nervous.

He's pacing up and down the branches checking out the lions below.

Let's hope he's not looking for an escape route.

Mila and Kumi are desperate to get down.

They haven't had a drink all night.

This is a real test of their patience.

At last, the lions seem to be backing off.

This could be a big chance to escape.

But they've gotta be careful. The lions may not have gone far.

Mum's leading the way. She's got to stay on her guard.

Now Kumi's coming down. So far, so good.

But they can't hang around here.

The lions could be back at any moment.

Travelling 1,000 miles south across Africa,

our destination is the Kalahari desert and our meerkat Rooney.

Like most deserts, it gets very cold at night.

Now, as the sun rises, the whole team needs to warm up.

For the adults, that means the usual sunbathing. But what's Rooney up to?

He's found another way of keeping warm. It's playtime!

Rooney and the pups love to muck about and they're not the only ones.

Look, Dad's joining in too.

There are arms, legs and tails everywhere. This is great fun.

Where's Rooney gone?

He must be stuck down that hole.

Whoa! There he is! Wow!

Let's see that again.

But there's more to play than just fun and games.

Meerkats are very social animals.

Living in a big group means you have to have some order.

By play-fighting, they work out who's strong and who's weak.

And look at Rooney go.

He's keen to climb up the ranks.

Hopefully, he'll follow in Dad's footsteps

and lead his own team.

Now to the chillier climes

of Alaska's Katmai National Park.

SNORING

Yogi and his family, have been snoozing

away through the winter.

It was the first proper hibernation for the two little cubs.

But after one of the coldest winters ever,

it's touch and go if Yogi and his sister will survive.

WIND HOWLS

There's Mama Bear.

But what about the cubs?

Have they made it?

Oh, what a relief. There's Yogi.

This is fantastic. He's survived his biggest test yet.

But what about his sister?

This isn't looking good.

There's no sign of her.

Oh, no, they're not hanging around.

If she was alive, they would definitely have waited for her.

This is really bad news.

She must have died in hibernation.

Starvation is one of the biggest killers in wintertime.

Bears can lose up to half their weight during their long sleep.

Little Sis didn't eat enough to keep her going for all that time.

But at least we've got Yogi.

He's got to make sure he does everything

to give himself the best chance of making it through the next winter.

As he gets bigger, he needs to pile on more pounds,

so he's got to start eating.

It's very early in the season,

and there's not a lot of food, so Mama Bear's brought Yogi

to the coast to teach him how to catch clams.

It involves getting your nose dirty.

With his amazing sense of smell, Yogi can sniff out the clams

buried a foot below the surface of the sand.

But he's gotta tread carefully.

The clams can detect vibrations and

will dive deeper into the sand if they feel a bear is coming.

Just watch Mama.

She's sniffing and being very quiet.

Nothing there.

Ah. She's sniffed one out.

Bingo! One fresh clam.

All you need to do now is prize it open.

Clams are a source of protein,

and Yogi's trying to find some of his own.

His claws are good at shifting that wet sand.

It looks like you've scared that one away.

That's better. He's nabbed one!

Thanks to Mama, he's learning a new way of finding food.

If he doesn't want to end up the same way as his sister,

he's got to find as much as he can right now.

The lions seem to have gone, so it's finally clear for our leopards.

They're both starving, so Mila's leading Kumi

to the spot where she stashed away her latest kill, a wildebeest.

But he'll have to find it.

It's all part of his training to be a grown-up.

Ooh, look. Kumi's sniffing around.

That must be where the kill is stashed.

Mila's watching on. She's got to let Kumi find the wildebeest by himself.

Oh, look, he's got it!

He's keen to get it out. Look at him struggling.

It must be pretty heavy.

Kumi's managed to pull it out and... Kumi, you've dropped your dinner!

Never mind.

Kumi was never one for table manners.

Leopards are solitary cats, and so they tend to eat alone.

Kumi needs to learn that.

It means he gets a bigger portion.

But he can't rely on Mum for all his meals.

To become independent, he's got to fend for himself.

First he's to discover what's

on a leopard's menu other than wildebeest.

Yogi and Mama have been

tucking into clams and anything else they can get their paws on,

but it's summer and time for Yogi to learn a new skill,

fishing.

Mama's taking Yogi to a spot where

the salmon are literally jumping out of the water.

But with so many fish about, it's very hard to concentrate.

Yogi's gonna have to try a few

clever fishing techniques if he wants a catch.

First off, the belly flop.

Mm, not so successful. Let's go upstream to some shallower water.

The fish are nearer the surface, so should be easier to catch.

Now, time to watch Mama, Yogi.

She's showing him another technique, wading. What you've got to do is

put your nose close to the water, look for the fish

and then try to grab one between your paw and a rock.

Got one. That's how you do it, Yogi.

Mama Bear makes it look easy, but it takes a lot of skill.

That's cheating, Yogi.

Catch your own!

Here he goes.

First he's got to wrestle with the rapids.

And then he's got to find some fish.

It's touch and go.

Wow! Nice one, Yogi. He's caught his first salmon!

Now he's taking it so he can scoff it down and...

Oh, no, quick, catch it, Yogi, don't let it get away.

Slippery suckers, aren't they?

Yes! He's got another.

He's on a roll now.

Learning to fish is a vital skill for Yogi to master,

as soon he'll be on his own.

So far, he's making good progress,

but he's got lots more learning.

After all that playing and mucking about, Rooney needs a break.

Time for something more relaxing, like grooming.

This is a good way of team bonding,

but it's also a great way to keep everyone clean.

They're removing ticks and parasites from each other.

Look at Rooney.

He's getting a lovely bath.

But not everyone on the team can relax. For these meerkats,

there's always someone on guard duty, looking out for danger.

Uncle Bob's currently on the lookout.

He's doing a good job so far, keeping up a nice loud chirp

to let everyone know the coast is clear.

HE CHIRPS

He's been on duty since dawn and is a bit tired.

Whoa, steady there, Bob! Whoops!

As Bob makes his way back up,

Rooney's come to check out what's going on.

His hero, Uncle Bob, is having some trouble staying upright.

Time for a change of guard.

But climbing back down isn't that simple.

Ow! Time for Auntie Mavis to take over.

To Rooney, being on guard duty looks kind of intriguing.

So he's keen to give it a try.

That's it. You've got the right idea.

Now you just gotta go a bit higher, like Auntie Mavis.

Ooh, now even she's having a wobble.

Maybe this guard-duty lark isn't for Rooney after all.

Yogi and Mama are fishing

and Yogi's really mastering his technique.

After catching lots of salmon,

he can at last take some time out.

Grizzlies are intelligent and inquisitive,

and Yogi's no exception.

He's found a new toy -

a makeshift seesaw made from driftwood.

Right, enough fun and games, Yogi. Time to get back to business.

At this time, grizzly bears have a special ability.

They can eat as much as they like without ever feeling full.

But eating for bears isn't about how many fish you can gobble down,

it's about which bits you choose.

The skin, brains and eggs are the most nutritious bits of all.

And this is where bears get really clever.

Yuck! Look at that. Yogi's learnt the quickest way

to get at the best bits, the eggs, with a gentle squeeze.

With that mastered,

Mama Bear is keen to push on with more fishing lessons

for Yogi, and they involve a bit of snorkelling and diving.

Let's hope Yogi doesn't mind getting out of his depth!

Kumi's really tucking in to Mila's latest catch, a wildebeest.

But Mum can't look after Kumi forever.

She'll want to start another family before long,

and when she gets pregnant,

she'll chase Kumi out of her territory.

As the day draws to a close, Kumi's heading down to the river.

To survive and become a successful adult leopard,

he's got to master some key hunting skills.

The leopard is the ultimate stalker,

especially at night, under cover of darkness.

Look how it creeps up on its prey,

staying low to the ground so it doesn't get spotted.

Then it moves into position, within striking distance.

Now it's Kumi's turn.

Two Egyptian geese have flown down to the river for a drink.

This ain't gonna be easy.

For a start, Kumi's got no cover, especially as it's still daylight and

these birds could easily fly away.

Look, he's trying a bit of stalking.

This is really good practice. He's getting closer and closer.

Oh, no, he's given the game away. The goose has spotted Kumi.

You were never really gonna hide behind those tiny blades of grass.

It was a long shot, but hey, at least he gave it a go.

All good practice. But Kumi's still got plenty of learning to do.

THUNDER RUMBLES

In the Kalahari, there's a change in the weather.

It's the start of the rainy season.

The meerkat team are making a beeline for the burrow.

THUNDER CRACKS

They're not too keen on getting wet.

Stormclouds pass over Rooney's home for three weeks,

bringing nearly 20cm of rain.

But this stormy weather isn't all bad news.

As the heaviest rains pass by, the Kalahari is springing to life -

new grass, fresh flowers and lots of yummy creepy-crawlies.

What a difference three weeks makes!

And look at the difference it's made to Rooney. He's really grown.

At seven-weeks-old, he's nearly as big as all the grown-ups.

But he still hasn't yet acquired

all the skills he'll need as an adult meerkat.

After being cooped up,

he's like a big kid and can't wait to explore.

He's never seen flowers before.

Rooney can really become part of the team.

But has he got what it takes to prove himself in attack and defence?

Yogi's mastered his fishing technique,

and it's time for the next lesson.

Mama Bear's taken Yogi far upstream to a massive lake,

and she's gonna show him a brand-new way to catch fish, snorkelling.

Peering underwater,

Mama Bear can spot dead and injured fish and pick them off.

Now Yogi's having a go.

Ah, he's got one. That's just too easy!

He's OK in the shallows, so now it's time for the advanced class.

They go to deeper water,

where the fish are much harder to get at.

Mama Bear's showing Yogi how

to dive for his dinner, but first she's gotta take a deep breath.

That's amazing.

She dived seven metres down to catch that -

equal to a two-storey building.

Yogi's bobbing about on the surface.

It's his go now.

He can see the fish.

He's just gotta dive down.

What's he doing?

Looks like he hasn't quite worked out what to do this time.

Learning to fish is really important for Yogi,

as one day soon he'll be on his own.

Since his exciting wild-goose chase, Kumi's been busy exploring.

He's nearly fully grown, but he's still a youngster

and needs to be careful of bumping into strangers,

especially dangerous ones.

And here are two at the top of the list.

They're buffalo.

Kumi's backing off, and just as well. Buffalo are big.

They're almost eight times the size of Kumi, and they've got horns.

In fact, they're one of the most dangerous mammals in Africa.

Kumi seems really intrigued.

Perhaps he's never seen buffalo before.

But he's gotta be really careful.

These guys will charge at him if they feel angry or threatened,

and our curious leopard cub could even get trampled to death.

One of them has gone up behind him on the bank.

Kumi's not looking too comfortable any more.

But these big guys don't give up easily.

They've got good hearing...

..sharp eyesight...

..and a keen sense of smell.

They know where he's hiding.

Watch out, Kumi, they could be after you.

Uh-oh, they're moving in.

He's making a run for it!

He seems to have escaped.

But the buffalo are still close by.

And there are plenty more dangers out there for young leopards.

Be careful, Kumi.

Thanks to the rains, the desert is bursting with life

and there's plenty of food up for grabs.

Look at Rooney go.

He's famished, and those bugs don't stand a chance.

But little does he know he's got a massive test ahead of him.

Danger is approaching.

It's probably the most deadly snake in Africa,

responsible for more deaths than any other reptile.

It's the puff adder.

This is one snake you really don't want to bump into.

It's aggressive

and armed with lethal venom that can dissolve your blood and tissues.

Rooney's encountered snakes before, first a mole snake.

and then a cobra...

..but nothing as dangerous as this big killer,

and this time Rooney's big enough

to be in the front line.

It's dangerously close to where Rooney and the team are foraging.

Auntie Mavis is on guard duty.

She's spotted it. There's the alarm.

Rooney recognizes that call: a snake's invaded.

The team launch an attack.

They've got to keep it out.

This is Rooney's big chance to prove himself.

He's stepping into the front line.

Look at him go. He's leading the attack.

Whoa! Just as well these guys have got lightning reactions,

otherwise they wouldn't stand a chance.

Phew, the snake seems to have got the message.

It's backed off. Well done, Rooney! What a star player!

He's just fought off the deadliest snake in Africa.

Surely nothing can harm him now.

Or can it?

Next time on Wild Tales,

how will clever Yogi get on when Momma Bear leaves him all alone?

Has cheeky Kumi got what it takes to catch his own dinner?

And will brave Rooney survive his deadliest encounter yet?

Find out next time on Wild Tales.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media