Exploring the Adorable World of Baby Animals | BBC Earth Kids

two weeks have passed the chicks are testing their independence and spending time away from their mothers all that is except one as the last to hatch he's way behind in development while the older chicks are boisterous and confident he still feels most comfortable in his mother's pouch but penguins are sociable birds and to survive he must learn to play his part in The Colony it's a daunting Prospect but the little chick finds some courage [Music] [Music] [Music] it's a shaky start but he mustn't lose his nerve time for a bit of tough love with every step he gains more [Music] confidence it's just as well he has so many friends to make [Music] but when you're the smallest it's tough to join the [Music] [Music] gang for now there's always mom out in the open ocean the fathers are reveling in being back in the [Music] water they haven't eaten for four whole months and have lost half their body [Music] weight to stock up on fish and Squid they hold their breath for up to 20 minutes and dive to nearly 600 100 m deeper than any other [Music] [Applause] [Music] bird at the colony 3 weeks have passed and the chick is confidently following his mother wherever she goes he's still learning how things should be done and how they shouldn't he soon thinks there's nothing left to [Music] learn so nervous toddler turns cocky Explorer but at this age she mustn't let him out of her sight [Music] [Applause] [Music] the next morning and the Cubs are doing well there we go got two little boys they're a healthy 1.2 kg each H and as the days Roll by the Cubs continue to thrive under giles's watchful eye so we try and spend a little bit of time with them every day it's really important because ultimately from day one we've been building our bond with them and the fact that they just get used to you know hearing my voice and the sensation of being touched and picked up and stuff is really good his eyes are still completely closed so this is day eight but yeah it's usually between 600 and 12 yeah you're going to stay stay still for just a second wow see they're growing they're growing that's 200 G again in a day fantastic so they're only 12 days old and they're all already doubled their birth weight the stronger and bigger you get the quicker you get the better your chance of survival in the wild just noticed that one little ey is open which is awesome you can see me now sort of you can see a shadow anyway for the first couple of weeks they're not going to be able to focus properly it's still going to take like a human baby like it takes a few weeks to for the eyes to adjust two weeks later the Cubs are growing stronger and it's time for JS to give them names so if you look at the two of them together this little chap has more of a continuous stripe going along this way whereas this one's a bit more broken looks like a spot so this is we're calling this one spot for the time being and this one stripe and he tends to have a little bit more of a a feisty character than his brother he is going to be a challenge I can see it already see what I mean about being strawy aren't you yeah that's good you got spirit so this is one we're calling spot this little chat was the first one born and he was the one that for the first couple of hours we were a little worried about he had a bit of a tougher time didn't you you're doing well he's nearly the same weight as his brother now despite their good health life for young Tigers is precarious globally over a third of captive born saman cubs won't make it to adulthood see you need to relax like your brother relax so Gil has made a difficult decision to safeguard the Cub's future wide world you're going to pass with flying colors buddy yeah he's going to hand raise them himself at home so he can give them 24-hour care and Mel the vet has come to check if they're healthy enough to leave the heart sounds really good steady beat no murmur how relaxed he is strong he's so relaxed we're starting off with such robust healthy little cubs they're not um too young so we've already got so much strength in them the Cubs will be vulnerable to illness until they're around 6 weeks old so Giles has got to keep a close eye on them Round the Clock there is an awful lot of pressure you know this first and foremost you know there's pressure because these guys are so important to not only us here at the zoo but also to the breeding program potentially a lot of eyes around the world that are you know watching what we're doing and making sure we do a good job we give it a good go Hy we give it a good go you're so fluffy yeah her eyes and ears that were closed for the first two weeks of her life are now [Music] opening and with this comes a whole new world of sensory stimulation [Music] she uses her vision to move around but does she see the world the same way we [Music] do well dogs are colorblind but that doesn't mean that everything is black and white she does see color but mostly just blues and yellows it's because she only has two types of color receptors compared to humans who have three and it's also why your dog will often ignore an orange toy in the green grass as those colors look the same to them better to give them something blue but it's when things are moving that her vision comes into its own dogs's eyes process what they see more quickly than we do it's almost like they see in slow motion that's why they're always in the right place to catch the frisbee a dog's hearing is also superhuman they can hear things four times further away and twice as high pitched as we can it's why we can't hear dog whistles but it also means they can hear the hum of lights and even the pulsing sound of a quartz crystal in a digital clock but there's one sense she'll use more than any other her sense of smell a dog's brain is one tenth the size of ours but the part that controls smell is 40 times larger they have up to 300 million scent glands in their nose compared to our 5 million Our Story begins with a tantalizing glimpse of something very special a cub just 10 days old wild Cubs as young as this have never been filmed before for their first 6 weeks most Cubs usually hide away in their dens hardly glimpsing daylight these are unusually adventurous they seem totally unaware of the dangers although their eyes are just opening they won't see clearly for another 6 weeks they're the mother's first litter and they're going to be quite a test for her the Tigers must pick them up by the Scruff of the neck it's a delicate operation a little too much pressure and she'll hurt her [Music] cup she can bite with a force of nearly 500 kilos but this requires the gently this touch tigers usually have two or three Cubs four are quite a handful and these already seem more challenging than most the ratio between the Sexes among newborns is usually equal true to form two of these Cubs are male and two are female it will be rare indeed for all four of them to reach maturity many dangers lie ahead at this size they make a snack for even the smallest Predator their mother must make sure that everyone is accounted for with two back in the den and one on its way there's only one straggler left to worry about the Cubs contact cry make sure he's not forgotten as long as the Cubs call their mother is compelled to keep retrieving them but this would try any Mother's patience a young Cub's life is very precarious had the mother been away hunting at A Moment Like This the outcome could have been very different [Music] she's clearly going to be a devoted mother but she still has a lot to learn this is not the way to do it filming such behavior is unprecedented it gives us an extraordinary opportunity to follow these Cubs as they grow the erated water of the falls creates prized feeding grounds but the currents are [Music] Fierce these 35 G FL balls must learn fast or face being swept away mom leads them down the side of the falls [Music] their goal is a Rocky island Mom and Dad gather their chicks and they're off the ducklings dowy feathers trap air like a life jacket as they Bob across the surface that's a good start but one chick is swept away mom and dad look frantically for their missing duckling in the chaos they have to make a difficult Choice risk everything for a rescue or keep their other chick safe they push across the final current to the [Music] Rock mom makes a break for it one lone chick struggles [Music] through swiftly followed by [Music] dad the rock is a refuge but the insects they eat live underwater so this duckling has to go in again luckily the island gives Shelter From the full force of the torran now its Downy feathers make it too buoyant to dive so in the shallows it grips the rivered with its tiny feet and drives its head underwater today these parents have led their duckling through its toughest right of passage with no other Bears around she makes the move this is a big moment in the Cubs lives she's got to be careful though another bear could turn up at any moment the Cubs are a bit nervous being out on the creek and they know they have to stick close to her wherever she goes while there are still lots of salmon around the mother bear can be selective with what she eats she takes a bite of this salmon and then and drops it as she can probably tell from The Taste it's a male Bears need to Target the richest most nutritious food source what she really wants to find are female salmon and she'll go out of her way to catch one female salmon are loaded with thousands of brightly colored nutrient Rich eggs this is the best part of the salmon high in calories and fat and she doesn't want to leave any behind the Cubs though still need to learn which are the best parts to eat though the Cubs are still nursing they need these protein Rich salmon as much as their mom does the whole family has to put on as much weight as possible before winter [Applause] hibernation the mother bear is always alert to potential dangers to her Cubs surprisingly it's another ghost bear this one looks like a large male [Music] the Cubs know that when another bear is around they have to get out of there they Retreat to the safety of the [Music] trees the mother bear is much smaller than him but she's still going right after him I'm not sure that's such a good idea he could certainly do some damage to her and he doesn't seem much deterred by her approach [Music] that's a risky move on her part anytime two bears physically interact like that there's a good chance one of them could be hurt they're very powerful animals I don't know her character well enough yet to decide if she's fool hearty or Brave only time will tell but her Cubs knew what to do in this situation they knew that their best defense was to get up as high into a tree as quickly as possible yeah she is very determined and going back to somewhere in a very very straight line This is super encouraging this is exactly what lionesses do when they've got tiddlers I will put money on the fact that in those bushes she's got a little surprise for us they're just going to keep back keep back keep back see what's going on that's it she's going in I can see uh just tucked in the bushes I can't see anything else maybe she's just resting oh I can I can she's got C [Music] right in the cover deep deep deep deep deep in [Music] there they are tiny that is [Music] gorgeous fantastic she's got two tiny cups they are no more than a week old ears are still folded almost flat they're blind very wobbly they can hardly walk or move all the time their mouths are open they're just gorgeous the Cubs have tiny spots like a leopard they'll fade as the cups get older but they're great camouflage for the moment oh they are exquisite [Music] well here we are in the season of renewal and she Tippy as I now refer to her has got her own young family [Music] they are completely helpless 100% dependent on her for everything for milk cuz that's all they're getting they Haven even got teeth yet she's just totally chilled totally relaxed which is lovely [Music] what an amazing thing to [Music] find isn't it a beautiful illustration of just how tender and attentive a massive brute of a predator like that can [Music] be it has been 18 days since leely gave birth [Music] for her to produce twins Is Not Unusual half of all Panda births result in them but for both twins to survive certainly is pandas almost always abandon one Cub it's thought that they don't have sufficient milk or energy to care for [Music] two but the team at chungu have hit upon a cunning [Music] [Music] plan by removing one cup at Birth and then switching them throughout the day and night keepers are able to encourage Panda mothers to feed both siblings while being under the impression that they have only one Lely is distracted with a bowl of Honey water but is reluctant to give up her cub doing this successfully requires enormous patience from the keeper and great trust from the Panda one twin is taken to the incubator where it will have a top up of formula milk and switched with the other which will now get his share of his mother's milk the keeper will swap the twins up to 10 times a day and leely will almost always have one cup with her [Music] [Music] [Music] Jong Do's technique of twin swapping at last opens the way to a possible 100% survival rate in newborn captive cups it's March and light returns to the high Arctic sweeping away four months of [Music] darkness a polar bear stirs she has been in her Den the whole winter her emergence marks the beginning of Spring after months of confinement underground she toboggans down the slope perhaps to clean her fur perhaps for sheer Joy [Music] [Music] her Cubs gaze out at their Bright New World for the very first time the female calls them but this steep slope is not the easiest place to take your first steps [Music] but they are hungry and eager to reach their mother who's delayed feeding them on this special day now she lurs them with the promise of milk the only food the Cubs have known since they were born deaf and blind beneath the snow some 2 months ago [Music] [Music] their mother has not eaten for 5 months and has lost half her body weight now she converts the last of her fat reserves into milk for her cups [Applause] [Music] [Music] the spring Sun brings warmth but also a problem for the mother it starts to melt the sea ice that is where she hunts for the seal she needs to feed her Cubs and she must get there before the ice breaks up for now though it's still -30° and the Cubs must have the shelter of the [Music] den this puppy was rejected by his mother at Birth but he's had the Good Fortune to be adopted by a cat her mothering hormones are so strong she accepts him as her own the puppy was born on the same day and he happily adapts to his new family but kittens live by different social rules even when they suckle they name tag tits with their own individual scent and return to it each [Music] time this simple rule maintains peace and Harmony during feeding time but for dogs pack life requires fighting for your share in the Rough and Tumble of competing Ms this puppy breaks all of the cat's social conventions his wild instincts Express themselves despite his unusual family ultimately the puppy's needs and his foster mother's nurturing feelings overcome any differences for now but as adults these top predators will differ in almost every detail when a cat drinks he uses a refined technique the rough upper side of his tongue curls downwards to pick up the liquid using surface tension it pulls the column of milk up into his mouth without making any mess at all [Music] a solitary Hunter can afford to take his time it's a different matter when you hunt as a [Music] pack a dog also pulls a column into his mouth but unlike cats he shapes his tongue into a ladle to SLO more liquid it for pack animals beating your Rivals to a drink is more important than cleanliness x-ray shows how the milk is thrown backwards at five times the force of gravity and his mouth shuts like a trap as it is swallowed [Music] it might be effective but it's far messier than the cat orphan weasel twizz is now 5 weeks old her eyes have opened her hearing is becoming more acute and she's much more active in the wild twizz would be playing with the rest of her litter so Rob has to take over this role play is how a weasel would learn how to fight and to hunt they use all four limbs to grip the prey items deliver a real powerful bite then to the back of the neck but uh very gentle at this stage she's only small still so it's fabulous to see that she's got the this Instinct dinner already a little chittering this is like a contact call I've heard this in the wild with wild weasel lots of times and it's to me it's one of the most beautiful sounds there actually is twizz must start strengthening her muscles to improve her agility and this needs to be done indoors we're going to test her strength agility and a safe environment Rob wants to see if twizz is brave enough to explore but also cautious enough to hide from any danger got to be always close to cover because they're vulnerable from attack from other Predators she's heading for cover when she's really unsure which is a great sign cuz she needs to be absolutely on the ball when she's out in the [Music] wild at this age wild weasel kids would go on day trips with their mom who would show them how to hunt prey and robs got just the thing to help twiz it'll be an easy target in a matter of weeks they'll actually be independent and hunting for [Music] themselves weasels eat anything from birds to vs so they need to climb and tunnel she's just coming back for a little bit of reassurance that's what we'll be doing in the wild going back to the mother and then uh she'll go off again adventuring she's showing Great Signs yeah it's great to see