Elephants Nature's Epic Journeys

We're about to follow the world's greatest migrations

and reveal their secrets in a way that's never been done before.

All over the world, animals are on the move...

..on journeys that their lives depend upon.

Migrating to find food, to give birth, or to escape danger.

To reach their destination, they must travel hundreds of miles

through some of the most inhospitable wilderness

in the world,

their drive stronger than the obstacles in their path.

That rapid's really picking up. They're just disappearing under the water.

For the first time, ground-breaking science allows our specialist team

to follow these migrations more closely than ever before,

and understand them in unprecedented depth.

We can track this elly's movement in real time.

Using the latest satellite-tracking technology,

we can monitor individual animals

and witness first-hand their struggles for survival.

We've got a drama down here.

We got him. We've got the wolf, we've got the wolf.

This time, we're following one of

the largest elephant migrations in East Africa,

joining them for the most important stage of their journey.

(That's extraordinary!)

We'll follow them as they enter

the Samburu National Reserve in Eastern Kenya,

when around a thousand elephants come together.

We'll stay with them and investigate the challenges they face

as they search for food...

..brave hungry predators...

The lions are somewhere in between us and them.

..and battle to win the right to mate.

Below us, around 1,000 elephants are coming together

from all over Northern Kenya in the most crucial gathering of year.

And we're here to follow them every step of the way.

Kenya, East Africa,

and Samburu National Reserve.

165 square kilometres of rugged highlands and dry grassland.

For the next month, we'll base ourselves here,

the arena for one of the greatest elephant gatherings on earth.

Right now, all across Northern Kenya,

dozens of elephant families are leaving their home territories,

travelling huge distances to get here.

Triggered by the annual rains and the promise of new vegetation,

family groups and lone bulls will walk up to 100 miles

to reach this one place in search of food, water and a mate.

It's a brief but important opportunity,

because in about 21 days' time, the elephants will begin

to head back out to their home ranges across Northern Kenya.

We're basing ourselves at the headquarters of Save the Elephants,

a key research organisation located in the very heart of the reserve.

Using this as our base camp, a team of biologists, camera crews

and local experts will study the elephants' every move.

That left ear, it's instantly recognisable.

-It's so jagged.

-It's very jagged.

'I'll be working closely with elephant expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton,

'analysing satellite-tracking data as it comes into camp.'

Using this information, the team will head out each morning

to track the elephants as they enter the reserve.

50 elephants are currently fitted with satellite-tracking collars.

And the latest data suggests that the numbers coming to the reserve

could now be the highest in five years.

To help us assess the success of this year's migration,

we're going to follow two distinct groups.

Wildlife cameraman Bob Poole will follow the bulls

as they enter the reserve to find a mate.

In recent years, these males, with their large tusks,

have been targeted by poachers.

This gathering will help reveal much-needed information about

the health of these individuals and of the East African population.

At the same time, wildlife cameraman Max Hug Williams

hopes to follow a special group of young elephants.

A herd of orphans, where every single adult member

has been killed by poachers.

Inexperienced and leaderless, these young orphans

can use this remarkable gathering

to try to get an older, wiser herd to accept them,

in a form of adoption,

before they begin to disperse back out of the reserve

in just three weeks' time.

Satellite-tracking collars

will be key to helping us to follow our elephants.

I'm joining Save The Elephants

as they collar an individual from another orphan herd,

an 11-year-old female who lost her mother two years ago.

The more orphans that are collared, the more we can learn

about how these young elephants cope without their mothers.

-ELEPHANT ROARS

-Got her.

-That's it.

She's been given a sedative by the vet

so the team can get in to fit her collar.

ELEPHANTS ROAR

She's right behind you.

Back, back! He's saying to go back, he's saying to go back!

While the elephant is unconscious,

my job is to keep her cool and comfortable.

While the elephant is down, it's hugely important

to keep her airways open, with a simple stick, but it does the job.

It's pretty extraordinary to feel her breath on my hand.

'With every collar fitted, the researchers gain

'a greater understanding of these complex creatures.'

THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

This collar is going to gather a whole wealth of information.

Not only where this orphan cow goes,

but also giving the team insight into aspects of her behaviour.

Why she chooses to go to certain places at certain times of the year,

how she behaves under stressful situations.

But also giving information on her own individual personality.

Why she makes certain decisions that other individuals might not.

So this is now going to be sending a signal every hour, on the hour,

so we can pretty much track this elly's movement in real time.

See exactly where she's going and why.

'With the tracking collar secure,

'it's time to bring the elephant around and get her back on her feet.

'The vet administers a drug

'to reverse the effects of the anaesthetic.'

Each collared individual will tell its own tale

and help to paint a bigger picture of this year's annual gathering.

Over the next few days, the satellite-tracking data shows

elephant families making their way to the reserve

from all over Northern Kenya.

Amongst those arriving, the incoming data reveals

that a herd of young, orphaned elephants

well known to the scientists is already in the reserve.

Max, it's Liz. I've got coordinates for you.

North, 0.33 degrees.

East, 0.47.

So Will's saying we need to go left.

Max finds the elephants not far from their last coordinates.

He filmed this herd five years ago,

before the family was decimated by poachers.

This is the first time he's seen them since.

It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you think,

the last time I was filming these guys,

they were in the perfect family,

and now they've been reduced to this orphan group.

This herd lost all seven adult members.

Across Africa, ivory poaching is at an all-time high,

with one elephant killed on average every 15 minutes.

It's been described as an elephant holocaust,

with over 30,000 elephants killed for their ivory every year.

By killing adults with the largest tusks,

poachers are depriving herds

of their most experienced and important members,

disrupting the elephants' close-knit society

and leaving younger, inexperienced elephants to fend for themselves.

LOW ROAR

Now, in this area of Northern Kenya,

almost one in five herds are orphan herds.

This one is led by a young 13-year-old female called Habiba.

Getting up this close and seeing Habiba, looking into her eyes...

..you have to think what she's been through in her short life

and how she's had to grow up so quickly.

Normally, the matriarch is at least twice Habiba's age,

but as the oldest remaining member of the herd,

her whole family now look to her for guidance.

Barely a teenager, she lacks the knowledge and experience

needed to keep her family safe.

A herd can pay dearly for this lack of knowledge.

Just a few years ago, another orphan herd,

led by an inexperienced matriarch, made a terrible decision.

She decided to cross a river when it was in full flood -

a huge error in judgment...

..that put the lives of the young calves in danger.

DISTRESSED CRY

DISTRESSED CRY

TRUMPETING

DISTRESSED CRY

BIRDSONG

This family was lucky. The calves were washed ashore.

But it drives home just how important

an older, experienced leader is.

Habiba, our orphan leader,

is herself a first-time mother to little calf called Zawadi,

who is already proving to be quite a handful.

This little character is going to give us heart attacks, I think,

because he's always disappearing off on his own.

Even with the short time we spent with him,

you can just see what a character he is.

Zawadi is a plucky little elephant, but he's still only a year old

and completely reliant on Habiba.

SQUAWKING

PLAYFUL TRUMPET

BIRDSONG

CHITTERING

For a first-time mother with no help or guidance,

keeping Zawadi safe is a real challenge.

I suppose he's had to grow up fast in a family like this.

His mum is so young, everyone else in the group is so young,

so he's probably just been left to his own devices.

And I think Habiba's really got to keep an eye on him

because it's not a good idea for someone that small

to go wandering off on his own.

This year's great elephant gathering

is a critical time for these young orphans.

One of the best ways to increase their chances of survival

is to be accepted by another more-experienced herd.

But it won't be easy.

It's rare for animals to help, let alone accept other animals

if they aren't related.

They now have about 14 days

before the elephants start to disperse,

during which time, Max will keep a close eye on their progress.

With plenty of family groups already in the reserve,

the lone bulls are beginning to arrive.

Driven by the urge to mate, these impressive animals

may have travelled nonstop day and night for up to 100 miles.

Once in the reserve, they won't have much time to find a female

that's in just the right condition for mating.

They could face tough competition from other visiting bulls.

WARNING GRUNTS

Just five years ago,

over 30 large tuskers would have visited this reserve.

Now, as a result of poaching, there could be as few as four.

Using the satellite data, combined with our observations on the ground,

we can get an unique and timely insight

into the lives of these magnificent individuals.

Right now, live data shows that one of these few remaining big tuskers

is heading straight for the gathering.

Rarely seen in the reserve, he's a legendary bull elephant called Matt.

He's on the edge of the reserve, so he's coming in any minute.

And how long have you been familiar with this particular bull?

I think we started collaring him about ten years ago.

And he's just the most fantastic male. Really beautiful ivory.

So it's very exciting because he's somebody we don't see very often.

But I can tell you one thing, he's not one to mess around with

because he's not used to people.

He's been spending a lot of time up here in the north, about 50km away.

And now he's just had a major behaviour change.

Matt is travelling from his home in the foothills of Matthews Range

and heading south, straight for the gathering.

Moving much faster than usual,

he covers the last 50km in just over a week.

The latest data shows he's now right on the edge of the reserve.

So if you look here, you can see how fast he's been moving.

This is amazing. He's just streaking straight down towards Samburu,

which I reckon indicates he's in musth.

Musth is state of heightened aggression,

during which a bull's desire to find a mate is at its greatest.

AGGRESSIVE ROAR

For a short period, their bodies are flooded with the male sex hormone, testosterone -

in some cases, as much as 60 times more than when not in musth.

In this elevated state of arousal, they are primed to do two things.

Mate or fight.

It's a time when they're at their most unpredictable and dangerous.

Matt's arrival in the reserve means

the other bulls now have serious competition.

But just how easy will it be for him to assert his dominance

and find a suitable mate?

Using the information from Matt's satellite collar,

wildlife cameraman Bob Poole hopes to find out.

-RADIO:

-Go ahead, go ahead with the coordinates.

OK. North, zero degrees, 34 minutes, 28 seconds.

East, 37 degrees,

71 seconds. You got that?

Perfect. We'll go straight there. That's very exciting. Over.

Have fun.

There we are, on the river and he's just there. So...

..let's go find a musth bull!

A big musth bull!

Bob grew up in Kenya and has been around elephants his entire life.

Even so, this is a rare opportunity

to get close to a bull of Matt's stature.

There, there, there! There's an elephant under a tree over there.

He's a big male all by himself. It's got to be Matt.

After his long journey, this is Matt's last chance to rest

before he begins his nonstop search for a mate.

He must have gotten a little hot

and decided to take a break under the only tree around.

It may be nice for him to get our scent.

So I'll go upwind a little bit so he can smell who we are.

And then we'll just take it really nice and slow.

Because we're going to spend a lot of time with this elephant

and we want to sort of meet on peaceful terms.

Don't mind us.

You are spectacular!

Wow!

Magnificent bull!

It's a good opportunity for Bob

to confirm that Matt is indeed in musth.

Oh, there's the dribble!

Look at that! OK.

Urine dribbling is a classic sign

of a bull's increased sexual arousal...and aggression.

AGGRESSIVE SNARL

Now what's he doing? He's on the move.

It appears he's coming!

Oh, now...

HE TRUMPETS

That's a musth bull for you.

He's not quit. Come on, Matt, dude,

we're going to be buddies, aren't we?

Jeez, that gave me a...!

I'm shaking, I'm literally shaking. That was a...

BOB EXHALES

Over the next two weeks, Bob will need to tread very carefully,

using all his knowledge and expertise,

if he's going to stay close to Matt as he goes about securing a mate.

At base camp, the collar data from Habiba and the orphans

shows how they've fared since the loss of their mothers.

Saba, what is your movement data revealing about your orphan herds?

If you just look at somebody like Habiba,

what you can see is that she's become extremely conservative,

restricting her movements to largely within the reserves.

You know, where she knows, where she feels safe is inside the reserves.

And she's just keeping her movements very small and certain.

Habiba is being really cautious, never venturing far.

This makes it less likely

that she'll encounter another herd willing to help them.

But the tracking data does reveal an encouraging sign.

With around 10 days to go until the elephants begin to disperse,

a large, mature herd is heading towards our orphans.

This is just the kind of family they could learn from.

As Max waits for this herd to arrive, he joins Habiba

and the orphans in the shade.

It's the middle of the day, it's boiling hot

and for young calves, it can be really dangerous.

Sunstroke and dehydration could even kill a young baby.

So it's vital that she brings them into shade.

As Habiba's family enjoy some respite from the heat,

the more experienced herd head straight for them,

perhaps bringing the leadership the orphans so desperately need.

The leader of the other herd approaches them.

AGGRESSIVE TRUMPETING

But instead of sharing the shade with them,

the incoming herd forces them out into the hot sun.

Most of the other families are moving into the shade,

but Habiba and our little group of orphans have been displaced.

In an attempt to find another place for her family to rest,

Habiba has to lead them across the river, towards another herd.

But here, too, they face rejection.

That's just ridiculous.

Because that bull is actually smaller than Habiba,

but yet he stopped our entire family in their tracks.

I mean, this tiny bull is bullying around our little family of orphans

and they're not going to be able to pass until he moves on.

That just goes to show

that our young family of orphans

are really low in the pecking order.

And that's because she's just still so young to be a matriarch.

Habiba and her herd don't have much time to find help.

Soon, the gathering will start to break up

and the elephants will head back to their home ranges.

At the top of elephant society, older bulls in musth

are constantly on the move, roaming day and night in search of females.

Armed with Matt's latest coordinates,

Bob heads out early each morning to follow the bull's every move.

Today, he finds him with a large group of females.

LOW ROAR

But there are several younger males also trailing the herd.

They, too, are looking for a chance to mate.

It's time to deal with the competition.

AGGRESSIVE ROAR

Oh-ho-ho-ho!

Here we go!

AGGRESSIVE ROAR

You take the biggest, strongest terrestrial animal on this planet

and then you give him this infusion of testosterone

and he just becomes this force of nature that just is unparalleled.

There's nothing out there that can compare with a musth bull.

None of the males here are a match for Matt.

But if he meets a bull of equal size,

the result could be very different.

Brutal fights like this one are rare,

but bulls are prepared to fight to the death for the right to mate.

As Matt sees off the young bulls, Bob decides to move on.

Matt coming up right behind us,

but I think...it's time to go.

He always gives me a little bit of a fright when he comes at us like that.

We can't take our eyes off Matt.

For Matt, these young males were nothing more than an irritating distraction,

but as the gathering grows, so does the size of the competition.

The team has picked up a signal

from the collar of another big bull coming in from the west.

He's a 28-year-old bull called Eddison,

and we head straight out to meet him.

Look at him! I mean, for goodness' sake!

There is such determination in the way he's walking.

It's beautiful to watch!

You can just see he's got his mind on one thing at the moment.

He's picked up a scent of an oestrus female. He's picking up her call...

That means he's in full musth, isn't he?

Taking a little sniff this way.

-He's coming.

-Oh, he's coming.

-He's coming.

Don't move your thing, don't move, don't move.

-What's that about?

-Don't move.

THEY CHUCKLE

That was amazing!

I am completely giddy. That was amazing!

'Unlike Matt, Eddison is familiar with vehicles

'and takes a more curious than aggressive approach.'

I will never forget that as long as I live.

SABA CHUCKLES

LIZ EXHALES

Thrilling!

'With Eddison in the park, there's now some real competition for Matt.

'And time is running out for him to find a mate.'

His coordinates show just how hard he's been looking since he arrived.

He's been moving between different herds almost 24 hours a day,

seven days a week nonstop, without any luck.

For Matt to successfully mate,

he needs to find a female during the short period she's in oestrus,

the only time she's able to conceive.

The way that the elephants can know what state of oestrus

the female is in is through their urine.

So she'll urinate for him.

Now, you see what Matt's doing there with his trunk?

He's testing the ground where she was. His nostrils are wide open.

But it's not good news. The levels of hormones in her urine

tell Matt that she isn't ready to mate.

Matt's moving on. He didn't really like what he smelt there, I guess.

She did her urination and then she moved off just a few feet

to sort of, like, "Is he going to be interested?"

And, er... Wow! Here's another bull coming.

Not a big bull, but he's going to come in now

and I bet you she backs away.

Yep. See, there she is, she's, like,

"No, I'm not interested in you, pal. You are a pipsqueak."

An elephant's trunk is not only the longest nose in the animal kingdom,

it's also one of the most sensitive,

allowing it to detect even the smallest changes

in hormone levels in urine.

Back at base camp, a visitor is using this incredible sense of smell

in a more poignant way.

A bull called Jaeger has found a collection of tracking collars,

all of which belonged to elephants killed by poachers.

He gently manipulates and smells each collar.

But there's one in particular that holds his interest.

It's hugely emotive to watch this elephant behave in this way.

He recognises who these collars belong to.

He is inhaling megabytes of information

about who these individuals were.

And...it's extremely emotional to watch this.

'We can't, of course, know what he's thinking,

'but his behaviour suggests that he's been affected by what he's found.'

It just goes to show how incredibly emotionally intelligent these animals are.

They remember, they recognise years after elephants pass away.

We know that they grieve the dead

and they often manipulate the skulls and the bones of the dead,

but I'd never seen anything like this before.

Jaeger finally leaves camp,

having spent over half an hour with the old collars.

POIGNANT TRUMPET

With Matt constantly on the move day and night,

Bob has to be given his location each morning.

His latest collaring data, already nearly an hour old,

points to an area of thick bush just a few miles from camp.

In such difficult terrain, Bob needs to use all his tracking skills

to work out where Matt has moved to since his last known position.

You can see right here there's been an elephant. That's very clear.

The grass has been trampled down.

Matt is a master of hiding in thick bush.

I could go walking up all through this stuff, looking for him,

but it would be kind of silly because by the time I see him,

he's so close to me that, you know,

if he wanted to, he'd step on me, like that.

So Matt could be anywhere in here. It's thick bush again.

We just have to keep our eyes open.

We don't want to come around the bush going too fast

and suddenly bump into him.

You know, this guy could pummel us seriously.

HE LAUGHS

So we've just found Matt guarding a female.

The fact that Matt is guarding her

suggests she's in oestrus and ready to mate.

He now has to ensure that no other bulls get to her first.

And he's pushing other bulls around.

You see the action happening.

Whoo! This is fun!

Following Matt around for a few days and not having him do anything

and suddenly he's in full swing.

This is really tight quarters for us and Matt together,

but the action is on.

Where's Matt?

There he is.

Clearly, this female is ready, or just about to be ready.

Enough that Matt's willing to guard her.

Up until now, we just haven't seen Matt taking such a keen interest in mating.

And finally, after all these days, he is.

But Matt is not the only one that wants to mate.

The younger males are interested, too.

And we definitely need to keep an eye out on Matt.

See, these guys retreating right now

means Matt's probably pushing this way.

Can you see Matt?

As Matt moves one of the young bulls away, Bob gets caught up in the action.

AGGRESSIVE ROAR

We got stuck.

-WHISPERS:

-I just high-centred myself on a log.

We got to hurry, guys. Just got to winch ourselves over this log.

FAINT TRUMPETING

Let's just take this stuff here for now. All right, we can go.

HE EXHALES

That was a little intense, you know?

Trying to give Matt some space and then we were stuck.

Ha! Luckily, Matt went the other way.

Matt may have found a receptive female,

but to mate with her, he needs to keep the other males away.

A mile downriver, cameraman Max

is desperately trying to catch up with Habiba and her calf Zawadi

as the satellite data shows she is leading her little family into lion territory.

BIRDSONG

There's a pride of lions just in this saltbrush.

You can see just by the bush there.

And this is perfect lion habitat.

They lie in here, waiting to ambush prey.

They're just opportunists

waiting for a calf straying away from their mother.

Oh, there's another one.

Across Africa, lions have been known to hunt elephants.

Like this pride in Botswana,

they target young and vulnerable individuals...

..separating their victims from their family

and using strength in numbers to make a kill.

Max knows the danger little Zawadi could be in.

Looks like it might be a pride that I know.

And there's about seven of them.

So if it's them, they're a serious threat to these calves.

And a lion in Samburu, there's very little game around.

They have to be opportunist.

If they see a calf stray away from its mother,

then it's fair game, they'll be on to it.

Because this pride has got a lot of mouths to feed.

Habiba is just 50 metres that way

and the lions are somewhere in between us and them.

Habiba and the orphans are oblivious to the danger.

Wilson? Wilson? Wilson, they're here!

The lions are just in this clearing.

I just saw a female slinking behind this tree.

And Habiba is literally 50 metres over there

and this lion's now moving that way.

I've always known that lions here sometimes take elephants,

but to see them so close to this really vulnerable family,

I mean, they're a group of babies and if ever there was a scenario

where a lion could grab an easy meal, it's with this lot.

Zawadi, he's venturing off on his own, which is a terrible idea.

The lions are just between here and him.

LOW ROAR

LOUD CRY

A bull chasing a female charges through where the lions were stalking Zawadi.

This is just crazy.

This female almost came to us for protection.

He virtually mounted us as well as her.

In a twist of fate, the commotion

has flushed the lions out into the open.

HE EXHALES

The orphans move off, blissfully unaware of their close call.

BIRDSONG

With not long to go before the herds begin to leave the reserve,

Bob heads out to see how Matt is doing keeping the female away from the other bulls.

We've got one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, bulls

following the female with Matt right behind her.

With so many males still around,

Matt can't afford to take his eyes off her for one second.

I mean, we've watched the action building every day

and finally, it's really getting serious.

Matt, not caring about us any more.

He's just surrounded by so many bulls.

This is great action!

These younger bulls aren't big enough to challenge Matt directly,

but they're crafty.

With Matt distracted, one male grabs his chance

and chases after the female.

TRUMPETING

Matt could be about to lose everything he's worked so hard for.

LOW ROAR

ROARING

TRUMPETING

TRUMPETING

Matt took his eye off the ball for a minute

and he almost let one of these other bulls mate that female.

But I don't think he was successful because

Matt was coming in full bore and managed to push him off.

Matt can really move when he has to.

With all these bulls here, it's unlikely the female

will stop long enough to allow Matt to mate her.

His best chance is still to get her on her own.

Satellite collars have revealed incredible insights

into elephant behaviour.

And the more time we spend with them, the more we're learning

about the intricacies of their daily lives.

I've just received news of something extraordinary

happening close to camp.

BIRDSONG

As I arrive on the scene, I can barely believe my eyes.

A group of elephants are gorging themselves on weaver bird nests.

Nests that at this time of year

are certain to be full of eggs and chicks.

For an animal that's supposed to feed solely on vegetation,

this is astonishing behaviour.

And it's never been filmed before.

It raises a compelling question.

Are these elephants deliberately targeting these nests for the eggs,

and even the young chicks?

The elephants have moved on and it's a fascinating scene

because littering the floor,

under these trees laden with weaver bird nests,

are eggshells.

And just looking at the nest, and considering there is

so much lush, green grass and shrubbery around

that the elephants love at this time of year,

you can't help wondering whether it's a nest

that these elephants really have a taste for.

Shells everywhere. A dead chick here.

And another one here.

But what's clear is they have pretty much decimated

quite a large number of the population of weaver birds here.

What are the elephants liking about these nests?

Whether it is just the foliage, the vegetation,

or whether they've acquired a taste for eggs, or chicks, or both?

Whatever the reason, it's clear there's still much more to learn

about an animal we think we know so well.

Out in the reserve, Bob continues to track Matt's progress.

Finally, he's got the female on her own.

She's an 18-year-old called Lepidoptera,

in her prime and already a mother to three calves.

More importantly, she's finally showing interest in Matt,

slowing down and stopping him in his tracks.

GENTLE ROAR

At last, strength, experience and persistence have paid off

and Matt has successfully mated.

In 22 months from now, if all goes well,

Lepidoptera will give birth to a calf

that could carry Matt's legacy well into the future.

TRUMPETING

Her behaviour now is just incredible.

Look at her, she's so, so happy about this.

Standing next to Matt

and she's constantly reaching out and touching him.

He knew what he was doing.

All the elephants are so excited about this.

TRUMPETING

Tracking Matt's every move has allowed Bob to witness

just how a dominant bull goes about choosing a mate.

Using its incredible sense of smell to choose the right female...

..its remarkable strength to ward off other males...

..but also demonstrating an ability to be tender and sensitive.

Here's this magnificent bull, you know, one of the last of his kind,

you know, of that size, in Africa,

and you see him passing his genes on and you just think,

"Wow, that is so cool that I was here for that".

When that calf is born, they'll know who the father was.

You know, that is so amazing. I'm just...I'm thrilled right now.

Sadly, with impressive bulls like Matt targeted for their tusks,

this might be the last chance he has to pass on his genes.

Already, the very latest tracking data shows

that the elephants are beginning to disperse

and that this year's gathering will soon come to an end.

BIRDSONG

The movement data is so clear.

Not only can you see the musth bulls dropping out of musth, moving away,

but the families are also dispersing.

Now it's getting a lot drier, there's no more surface water and they have to go out.

So you're beginning to see this dispersal now.

The land is drying up and the elephants are parting.

With less water around, most of the elephants are spreading out again

across Northern Kenya in their constant search for food and water.

And, of course, when they're away from this protected area,

they are facing a whole gamut of threats.

We always see them go with a bit of a heavy heart.

Certainly an animal like Matt, every time he goes,

I wonder whether we're ever going to see him again.

With only nine days or so left until most of the herds disappear,

time is running out for Habiba and her family to find help.

But her collar tells Max she's heading in the direction

of a well-established herd.

Its leader is an experienced 50-year-old tuskless matriarch.

This could be the orphans' last chance

to be accepted by another family before the gathering ends.

Zawadi, and there's some other youngsters here,

so it would be so nice to see Zawadi interacting with another group.

Zawadi's just wandered up to another baby.

He got put back in his place a bit, a bit of a nudge,

but he seems to be almost playing with these other youngsters,

which is so lovely to see.

If Habiba can associate with an older female, she'll learn so much.

And then something remarkable happens.

As the herd heads off, the orphan herd leaves with them,

both families now moving as one.

This is so nice to see because this tuskless female

is now leading not only her family, but also Habiba.

She's right in the middle of the herd with Zawadi.

And for some reason, our ragtag group are being tolerated.

This is what elephant society should be like.

And I just hope that some of this knowledge is rubbing off

so she can lead this little orphan group wisely in the future.

And I suppose it's not just Habiba who's learning here

because when you look in the middle,

there's Zawadi sparring with someone a little bit older than him,

but this is what it's all about.

Every single member is learning from others in the group

and Zawadi now has some sparring partners.

And that's so important for a youngster like him.

Because if he's ever to become a majestic bull like Matt,

then he needs to learn the ropes in a family group.

And one day, he may well grow up to be the size of Matt

and be having kids of his own.

Despite everything they've been through,

the orphans have finally found the support they so desperately need.

As the number of orphan herds increases, scientists

are discovering that elephants are finding new ways to adapt.

This is how an intelligent, social species

is learning to respond to the new challenges it faces.

Over the past month, Samburu National Reserve

has been the setting for a remarkable gathering.

Using the data from the satellite collars,

we've been able to see for ourselves how young, orphan herds

are coping with the loss of their matriarchs...

..how bull elephants select females to pass on their great legacy...

..and we've captured incredible new elephant behaviour.

Whilst we still don't fully understand the complex relationships

between these majestic animals,

what we have seen reveals an astonishing capacity

for emotional intelligence, compassion and kindness.

These elephants are finding ways to help each other

and preserve their unique society.

It's this that gives hope for bulls like Matt

and families like our orphans,

so that they might continue this age-old gathering

for generations to come.

Our Samburu elephants have faced countless challenges.

And for the many who have succeeded,

the time has come to leave the reserve.

They'll now need to use the lessons they learned here

to tackle the many threats and obstacles they'll come up against

as they disperse across Northern Kenya.

And if they manage to survive out there,

they'll do it all again next year.

Next time, we join the largest land mammal migration on the planet.

200,000 caribou brave the Western Arctic

to reach their calving grounds.

Failure to get there could spell disaster.