Growing Up Life Story

So far on Life Story, we have seen animals survive

the challenges of the first stage of their lives.

Now, many animals face a period of great change...

..the journey towards adulthood.

A time when they must strike out on their own,

learn from hard experience...

..and develop new skills.

WIND HOWLS

The beginning of winter in the Arctic.

It's hard to imagine a more challenging time or place

to learn how to fend for yourself.

Until today, this three-month-old Arctic fox pup has had it easy.

Fed and protected by his parents,

playing with his siblings.

THEY SNARL

But his mother is about to bring her cubs' childhood to an abrupt end

and drive them into the wilderness.

Soon, food will be so thin on the ground

that her cubs' only chance of avoiding starvation

is to split up and face a six-month-long winter alone.

Even so, a young fox has only a one-in-five chance of surviving.

To find enough to eat on these barren wastes,

an Arctic fox may have to travel 60 miles a day.

Scratching for scraps and scavenging from others -

it's a meagre existence.

And the worst of the winter is still to come.

WIND ROARS

By midwinter, temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius,

and deep snow makes scavenging nearly impossible.

But a faint sound beneath the snow

may be this fox's salvation.

Lemmings.

It's time to become a hunter.

But catching what you can't see is not easy.

It's hard to judge the leap...

..and the depth of the snow.

Too deep...and you get stuck.

Too shallow,

and it can be rather painful.

It's going to take time,

but mastering lemming hunting

is vital if a young fox is to make it through the winter.

At last, this fox is on his way.

But if he is to survive until spring,

he'll need to make a catch like this

every couple of days.

Adolescence for an Arctic fox is almost always a solitary journey,

but many creatures simply cannot make it on their own.

JUNGLE NOISES

Even at seven months old, this tiger cub needs protection.

CUB BREATHES STEADILY

She's learning to take care of herself in a very dangerous world.

This is her father.

His role is to patrol his territory, defending it against rival males

who would try to kill any cubs they find that are not their own.

His scars are evidence of the violence of the society

she is about to enter.

He's ruled for five years,

but he's becoming increasingly battle-worn.

She's unlikely to reach adulthood unless her father stays in power.

At the moment, she is safe.

LOW GROWL

And in good company.

She has a brother and a sister.

They will be her playmates and allies as she grows.

THEY SNARL

She already seems to be the most confident of the three.

They practise the fighting and hunting skills

that they will depend on as adults.

But the cubs still have much to learn

before they'll be fending for themselves.

Their mother is both their provider and teacher.

She's a formidable hunter,

despite having lost an eye in a fight with a rival.

MOTHER PANTS

Her cub is about to be given a masterclass.

Their mother's success means that today,

the cubs will not go hungry.

If all goes well, these cubs should have the experience

and strength to survive on their own in a year's time.

But only if their mother's support,

and their father's protection, continues.

Growing up is not just about learning to survive.

Learning the art of seduction can also be a vital part

of becoming an adult.

Here in eastern Australia lives an animal

that spends up to seven years perfecting the ability

to build a structure solely to impress a female.

It's a bower.

And this is its creator -

a five-year-old juvenile male satin bowerbird.

He is just a beginner.

But a stone's throw away is another bower...

..and one from which the youngster could learn a lot.

It's bigger and more elaborate.

And this is its builder - an experienced male

resplendent in his blue adult plumage.

So THAT is how it should be done.

Junior returns to his own bower and tries to improve things.

That should probably go just here.

Or...maybe here...

Perhaps he was right in the first place.

He just can't make up his mind.

This could take some time.

And it's not just about building.

The master's bower has something that Junior's lacks completely.

Blue decorations really please a female.

And the master has gone to town.

Junior takes a closer look.

What will the master make of his visitor?

Rather than drive him away, the master has other intentions...

Seduction.

ADULT BOWERBIRD TRILLS

Juvenile males are almost identical to females.

So the master grabs the opportunity

to practise his courtship display on him.

Junior doesn't know what to do next.

So he exits...

..mid-performance.

The youngster's bower.

With the breeding season close,

adult males grow increasingly intolerant of juveniles.

Oh, dear, there's virtually nothing left.

Junior will just have to start all over again.

But he has several years left to perfect his skill -

at least he's got time on his side!

Now, where should that stick go?

Africa.

These 18-month-old cheetah sisters have been struggling to cope

since they left their mother a few weeks ago.

Their biggest problem is their own inexperience.

They are barely managing to catch even the smallest prey.

Unless they can master big-game hunting,

the sisters will soon starve.

They are the only survivors from a litter of five.

They have spent their lives so far playing and learning together.

Continuing that bond will be the key to their survival.

Cheetah siblings that support each other have a better

chance of making it to adulthood.

This is now the critical time for the sisters

because an opportunity is arising and they must seize it.

Male impala.

Weighing more than both sisters put together,

they make a formidable prey.

But the impala are caught up in a month-long competition for mates...

..and that is making the males

increasingly weakened and distracted.

The next few weeks may provide the sisters'

best chance to make their first big kill.

They need to act soon.

The amount of time that different animals must

spend in growing up varies enormously.

Once a veined octopus reaches adulthood,

it mates and dies shortly after.

So most of its life is spent as an adolescent,

eating as much as possible.

Although octopus are voracious hunters,

their soft bodies make them very vulnerable to other predators.

So how do the octopus that live here,

on the exposed sea floor of Indonesia's Lembeh Straits,

keep on eating without being eaten?

For most, the solution is an almost unbelievable talent for disguise.

The mimic octopus can change the colour of its body to

seamlessly blend in with its surroundings.

It can also mimic predators, like a flounder or a lionfish.

The wonderpus's strategy is to look

so bizarre it is simply unrecognisable as an octopus.

But no disguise is completely effective,

and flounders are a persistent menace,

always on the lookout for an edible tentacle.

Unfortunately, the veined octopus has no clever disguise.

And a flounder is trailing it, waiting for an off-guard moment.

But the octopus has a unique solution to this problem.

A discarded coconut shell could provide some

protection from its stalker.

This one carries the shell everywhere it goes.

But this is only half the story.

For all-round security, it needs another half to make

a matching pair.

Its remarkable ability to manipulate shells is the first-known example

of tool-use amongst invertebrates.

Now the octopus can get back to its

adolescent enthusiasm with body-building.

The stalker is still stalking.

However, an armoured pod has another, more unexpected, benefit.

The chance of a sharp exit.

This cunning cephalopod lives to hunt another day,

all tentacles intact.

For some juveniles, their greatest rivals are adults of their own kind.

Huge colonies of nesting birds on the Falkland Islands

are a sitting target for a ruthless predator.

A striated caracara.

He too is a juvenile, a yearling.

But despite the abundance of prey, this youngster is hungry.

That's because hunting rights in the colony are strictly controlled.

Adult caracara are fiercely territorial.

Breeding pairs punish juvenile trespassers very severely.

BIRDS SQUAWK

Juveniles are banished to the surrounding moorlands,

where their chances of survival are slim.

A year ago, this bird was being cared for,

like these chicks are now.

But his parents pushed him out to make way for a new brood.

The adults want to keep the juveniles down.

But this youngster is not alone.

There are other outcasts here.

And they've joined forces.

To survive on these islands, all juvenile caracara form gangs.

They are an undisciplined mob, riven with in-fighting.

But there is strength in numbers.

And the adults know it.

They will try to break the gangs up...

..if they can.

BIRDS SQUAWK

But now, with the might of the gang behind them,

young caracara can rise up against authority.

The balance of power has shifted.

With strength of numbers, comes air supremacy.

Now the gang can invade the colonies with little

fear of retribution from adults.

Gang life may not be easy for a lowly, new member.

But it opens up opportunities denied to it as a loner.

They are after eggs, and together, they overwhelm the nesting shags.

The mob plunders until they are all fully gorged.

Working together is the only chance of success these juveniles have.

But gang life is a brutal existence that a young caracara must

endure for four years before finally reaching adulthood

and leaving the mob behind.

In India, a year has passed.

The three tiger cubs are now 18 months old

and on the brink of independence.

They're resting in the protection of a derelict fortress,

trying to keep cool.

But the situation is less relaxed than it appears.

Something caused their mother to hide them here several days ago.

They haven't seen her, or their father, since then.

They're growing hungry.

They may soon be forced to take a critical step towards independence

and to begin hunting for themselves.

This female has been the most confident of them all

since they were cubs.

It's she who finally leaves the security of the fort

and heads out on her own.

On the furthest edge of the family territory,

she catches sight of another tiger.

It's her mother.

She is behaving strangely.

A male.

But he's not the cub's father.

A new male in the territory can mean only one thing -

that her father's rule is ending.

Her mother has little choice but to change her allegiance.

No matter how much the mother appeases the male,

her daughter is now in danger.

This male will try to kill any of the old rulers' cubs.

The young female's survival now depends on finding a new home.

Early independence has been forced upon her.

The next day, the forest is quiet.

The young female is dead.

Killed by the new male.

Perhaps her confidence was her downfall.

The other two cubs at the fort are safe, for now.

The journey to independence can be the most dangerous period

of an animal's life.

Often it's the more cautious ones that win through.

Animals fortunate or skilful enough to reach independence

now face a new challenge -

learning to compete in the adult world.

Very few animals experience this more acutely than

a booted racket-tail hummingbird.

He may look mature, but he's still struggling to cope with

the daily demands of adult life.

Hummingbirds have the most hyperactive lifestyle of all birds.

A racket-tail must consume a sip of energy-rich nectar

2,000 times a day.

But here in the cloud forests of South America,

flowers are very few and far between.

Constantly on the brink of starvation,

a racket-tail must learn where the flowers are

and the shortest route between them.

His heart beats 1,000 times a minute and his wings at 60 times a second.

His lightning reactions and aerial agility allow him

to dodge his way through his day.

And he needs to.

Because more than 30 other species of hummingbird live here,

all competing for the same flowers.

About the size of your little finger and the weight of a one-pence piece,

the racket-tail is too small to battle with the bigger species.

But he can out-manoeuvre the competition

and sneak through to flowers undetected.

However, even a racket-tail can't avoid conflict with its own kind.

A juvenile must learn to stand his ground, against mature males.

This hummingbird's day is about to get even worse.

Almost every afternoon it rains.

But such a tiny hummingbird can't afford to take shelter.

As the day cools down, he needs even more energy

to maintain his body temperature.

But on this scale, raindrops can be a force to be reckoned with.

When the rain eases off, yet another problem emerges.

BUZZING

Honey bees are too small to fly in heavy rain,

but once it stops, they're out in force urgently harvesting nectar.

And are prepared to fight for it.

One sting could kill a young racket-tail,

but luckily he has superior agility on his side.

Evening arrives and this exhausted hummingbird can finally stop.

But it must slow its heart rate

and enter a state of torpor in order to survive the night.

WIND WHISTLES

Every dawn, the same hectic schedule will begin all over again.

But with each day, he learns a little more

about becoming a successful adult.

Coming of age is a gradual process for the hummingbird,

but for some animals, it's defined by a single moment.

Late autumn in southern Africa spells the end of youth

for the cheetah sisters.

Hunger has sharpened their instincts.

The sisters have identified a target.

Although in his prime,

this male is exhausted by weeks of intense competition.

But there's still no room for error when taking on such powerful prey.

The stalk, the sprint and the kill...

..everything must be perfectly executed.

Cheetah are unable to sustain top speed for long,

so they'll only be able to catch the impala if the chase starts

when they're really close.

And if they work as a team.

One false move and the chance will be gone.

The sisters close in and set the trap.

She loses her stride and the impala gains ground.

But her sister is ready.

Whilst the impala is still on his feet, he's dangerous.

They struggle to deliver the killing bite.

Finally, it's over.

At this moment, with this first success,

these young cheetahs have entered the adult world.

Now they will face a new set of challenges -

finding a home, winning a mate

and eventually raising young of their own.

But the lessons of youth are the foundations of their future.

A small white fox that can cover more than 50 miles a day

across this vast, white landscape is a real filming challenge.

-Justin, Justin, do you copy?

-'Yeah, copy.

'I'm just trying to get my thumbs to come back to life.'

Director Sophie Lanfear has experienced the difficulties

of filming arctic animals before.

But she hopes to capture, for the first time,

the extraordinary hunting behaviour of an Arctic fox

"snow-diving" for lemmings.

Her journey begins in the Swedish Arctic

with cameraman Rolf Steinmann.

Just spotting the foxes proves hard enough

and it's soon clear that getting close to them

is going to demand all of Rolf's patience and resilience.

Today, we found a den here

and, after 13 hours of waiting, the Arctic fox finally came out.

He's sitting there right now and taking a sun bath.

So, fingers crossed this individual gets used to us

and he lets us see how he can survive out here.

After a week, the outlook seems good.

But fortunes can change suddenly in the Arctic.

WIND HOWLS

It's now pretty white out.

With such bad conditions, the team consider abandoning the shoot.

Should have probably gone an hour ago.

I don't know if it's safe to drive in this.

Sophie and Rolf have no choice but to sit it out.

With filming out of the question, all they could do is stay warm.

Although the weather eventually clears,

there's precious little time left for filming.

Rolf, I hope you know how many bags we've got.

Finally, Rolf is able to film again.

But the foxes are proving hard to predict.

At one point, he walked out of the frame and I tried to frame up

so that it comes into frame and then suddenly it jumps.

Bloop!

I mean, I didn't even think that there's a big fat lemming

just sitting in the landscape and waiting to be eaten.

It was the last chance to film a hunt.

Their time is up.

I mean, that lemming must have been either already dead

or it was really stupid or it was...

With the foxes in Sweden too elusive,

the following winter the team decide to try their luck in Canada.

This location is one of the best places for tourists

to experience arctic wildlife.

And it's almost guaranteed to provide close encounters

with white foxes.

So it's quite a surprise that the first fox they see

is the wrong colour.

It's the first year in 30 years

that red foxes have come around this area to stay so early in the winter.

I mean, it's not their natural habitat, they shouldn't be here,

and they're probably the reason why the Arctic foxes aren't coming in.

These red foxes are bigger and stronger than Arctic foxes

and they can push them out of the area

and we experience it here in a very painful way.

Weeks pass, but no white foxes.

Instead, the number of red foxes just grows and grows,

as does their boldness.

After five weeks without seeing a single white fox,

Sophie and Rolf are forced to accept a second defeat.

This is some kind of official "game over".

Some people just don't give up

and, two and a half years since her first attempt,

Sophie is back in Canada,

but now further north, where red foxes shouldn't be a problem.

I'm in Arviat this time

and third and final chance to film Arctic foxes.

So I'm confident, this time,

we're going to get it, we're going to get it.

Rolf was busy on another assignment,

so cameraman Justin Maguire takes up the challenge.

OK, we have our stuff, yay!

And he seems to bring good fortune.

In the first few days, they find some remarkably brazen foxes.

No, no, no, no!

SOPHIE LAUGHS

That's definitely the closest yet.

But the foxes' very boldness is a problem.

There's a fox being chased.

He's getting his gun out.

No!

GUNSHOT ECHOES

Hunting is a traditional way of life in these communities

and foxes living nearest human habitation are most at risk.

So the team's only choice is to head further out into the tundra,

as far from human contact as possible.

Not quite sure where we're heading.

The landscape's completely featureless

and we haven't seen any bears or foxes.

Somewhere out here, they hope to find foxes

which are behaving completely naturally.

But the crew's life returns to an all too familiar pattern.

We drive, we stop, we spot, we lose them.

We drive, we stop, we spot, we lose them.

Vanished. Currently lost them.

Eventually, persistence pays off.

Sophie and her team finally get their shot.

I've waited a very long time...

..for this moment.

I don't think Rolf would believe it.

Next time on Life Story, animals secure a home in a dangerous world.

They battle...

grab opportunities...

..compete with neighbours...

..build...

..and fight to dominate their world.