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[David Attenborough] Just 50 years ago,

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we finally ventured to the moon.

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For the very first time,
we looked back at our own planet.

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Since then, the human population
has more than doubled.

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This series will celebrate
the natural wonders that remain

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and reveal what we must preserve

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to ensure people and nature thrive.

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The Earth still has sanctuaries,

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and, on occasion, they hold
spectacular gatherings of wildlife.

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They provide vital space,
but they're disappearing fast.

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[wildebeest lowing]

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A fifth of the land 
on our planet is covered by desert.

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The driest of all
is the Atacama in South America.

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There are places here
where rain has never been recorded.

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Deserts may appear to be barren and empty,

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but they are of crucial importance
to life.

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For those that can overcome
their challenges,

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they provide a vital refuge.

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[wind whistling]

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Socotran cormorants,

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emerging from a dust storm
in the Arabian desert.

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It is the very emptiness of this landscape
that has brought them here,

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and they have come in immense numbers.

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[birds squawking]

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Fifty thousand of them.

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A quarter of the total population.

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They have come
because here they can breed...

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undisturbed.

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But nesting in a desert is difficult.

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Temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius.

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Yet, both the adults
and their white chicks

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are ready for this challenge.

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[birds panting]

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They cool themselves 
by panting.

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Any adult that appears to have food
in its crop is mobbed.

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An adult will only give food
to its own chick,

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which must be here somewhere.

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The chicks chase an adult
out into the desert.

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No luck.

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Now, they must get back quickly
to the safety of the colony.

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This desert provides the cormorants

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with more than just a secure refuge.

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Every morning, a mass movement begins.

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It's the rush hour.

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A shallow arm of the sea,
right beside the colony,

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is full of food.

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[cawing]

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This richness comes
from the desert itself.

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Dust, blown from the land,

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contains nutrients
that fertilize the surrounding waters.

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So, it is the desert itself
that enriches the sea.

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In Oman, during the summer monsoon,
fogs roll in from the sea,

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billowing over the Dhofar mountains.

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The mists bring just enough moisture
to sustain a little vegetation...

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and this sparse greenery
becomes a focus for life.

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Ibex must cross the near vertical cliffs
to reach one of the few springs.

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But they're nervous...

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and with good reason.

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An Arabian leopard,

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one of less than 200
that survive in the wild.

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This male's territory

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extends over 350 square kilometers
of high mountains and deep wadis.

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The southern edge
of the Arabian Peninsula

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is one of the few places left
where there is enough prey

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to sustain a population of these leopards.

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But even so, there are probably
less than 60 individuals

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in over 15,000 square kilometers.

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These leopards have always been rare,

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but now conflict with people

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is causing their numbers
to decline still further.

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[bird chirps]

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Few leopards are left,

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so what our hidden cameras now capture
verges on the miraculous.

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A female leopard,

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and she is tracking a male.

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Such meetings
are becoming increasingly rare.

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[growling]

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This briefest of unions

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may ensure
the short-term future for these leopards.

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But in the longer term,

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their fate will depend
on their territory being protected.

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To the north of the Dhofar mountains

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lies a place
of almost unimaginable emptiness.

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The Rub' al Khali,

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the Empty Quarter.

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The very name of the place

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resonates with the romance
of these desert lands.

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This is the largest sand sea
in the world.

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There are parts
where human beings never venture.

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Only the greatest desert specialists
can survive here.

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Arabian oryx.

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Their ranges are vast,

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extending
for over 3,000 square kilometers.

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This is one of their last refuges.

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Once hunted close to extinction,

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they have now reclaimed
their ancestral territory.

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With the help of conservationists,
they have returned home.

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But reintroduction
cannot save all desert animals.

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[elephants huffing]

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Desert elephants.

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Less than 150 survive, here in Namibia.

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This oldest of deserts
is scarred by dry riverbeds,

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carved by water that flows
for only one or two days in a year.

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An adult elephant

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must find up to 200 kilos of food
each and every day if it's not to starve.

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So, for these last survivors,
life is an endless trek.

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The herd is guided by a single old female,
the matriarch.

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She is leading her family

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to a special place
where food should be available

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even in a drought.

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She learned of its existence
from her mother,

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many years ago.

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Now, she's teaching her own calf
how to get there.

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The elephants are not alone
in their search for food.

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Desert lions.

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They are just as rare as the elephants.

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The calf is protected by its mother.

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So the lions let them pass.

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Distant trees are a sign of water.

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[brays]

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The riverbed is dry.

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The ana trees, however, are still green.

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But there is a problem.

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At this time of year,

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seedpods from the ana trees
usually litter the ground.

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Rich food for elephants.

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But this year, the crop has failed.

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The matriarch
has led her herd here for nothing.

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Even the trees' leafy branches
are out of their reach.

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The family has no option but to move on.

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A bull, standing nearly four meters tall.

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He can reach into the canopy,

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and he could be the solution
to their problem.

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The old female has known him all her life
and turned to him for help before.

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Elephants can only survive here

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because of knowledge
passed down over generations.

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But less than 20 matriarchs still survive,

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and if their knowledge is lost,

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elephants may no longer
be able to live here.

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Deserts cannot support
large numbers of animals the year round,

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and even those specially adapted
to these conditions

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can only survive in small numbers.

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But on very special occasions,

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deserts are transformed.

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[thunder rumbling]

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Once in a decade,

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there may be a cloudburst.

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A single one can turn the desert green.

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In southern California,

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the change is visible from space.

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Hundreds of square kilometers
suddenly bloom.

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If such transformations become regular,

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a new habitat may develop.

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Grasslands.

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One of our planet's
most productive landscapes.

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They support the greatest aggregations
of large animals on Earth.

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The Serengeti sustains herds
of over a million wildebeest.

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They follow the rains
to crop the newly sprung grass.

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These vast herds attract predators.

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Five male cheetahs.

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One of the largest coalitions
ever observed.

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They dominate a territory
of 450 square kilometers.

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They patrol it together,

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and that attracts attention.

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[birds chirruping]

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[braying]

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A change of strategy is needed

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if they're to hunt successfully.

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They need cover.

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An adult wildebeest
is a formidable opponent.

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Four of the cheetahs start the stalk,

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walking directly towards the prey.

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The fifth creeps around the side.

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They need to get really close
before making their final sprint.

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They're nearly there.

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All five break cover,

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each cat chasing a different target.

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It's chaos.

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A single cheetah
is not strong enough to defend its prize.

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They must work together.

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These dramas only continue
because the Serengeti is protected,

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and has been for over 65 years.

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But the Serengeti is an exception.

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Across the planet, space for grasslands
has been steadily disappearing.

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[huffs]

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A hundred and eighty years ago,
herds of bison, millions strong,

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grazed the Great Plains
of North America.

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They roamed across a prairie
a hundred times larger than the Serengeti.

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This was the true wild west.

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[roaring]

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Every summer,
the males roared their challenges

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and fought for possession of the females.

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As the rut intensified,
the fights became more brutal.

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Today, however,
most of the prairie is silent.

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Humans slaughtered the great herds.

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Less than 30,000 wild bison remain,

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and 90 percent of the prairie
has been lost,

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most of it to agriculture.

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What we eat, and how we produce it,

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will determine the future
of our planet's grasslands.

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Our past could show us
how we can feed ourselves

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and still leave room for nature.

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The ancient hay meadows of Hungary,
still farmed in the traditional way,

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provide habitats
of extraordinary richness.

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Butterflies are abundant.

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One species has
an almost unbelievably complex life cycle.

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The Alcon blue.

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Each female must mate and lay eggs
on just one species of plant,

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the marsh gentian.

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The eggs soon hatch into caterpillars.

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High up on the plants,
they're safe from predators below.

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00:34:10,631 --> 00:34:14,677
But then, the caterpillars
do something seemingly suicidal.

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They abseil down on threads of silk
to the ground below...

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and into danger.

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They have no defense
against the marauding ants,

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which carry them off.

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00:34:44,248 --> 00:34:48,419
But this is exactly what the caterpillars
need to happen.

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They're producing a scent
like that emitted by an ant larva.

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The ants respond
by taking them back to their nest.

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There, they deposit them
in the colony's brood chamber.

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The purple-colored caterpillars,
lying among the ants' own white larvae,

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give off just the right signals.

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And the nurse ants rush to feed them.

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But there is more.

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The caterpillars now start to mimic
the sounds made by the queen ant,

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and, as a result,
the ants treat them like royalty.

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If food gets short,

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the ants will even feed the caterpillars
instead of their own young.

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They give them such quantities of food
that the caterpillars grow hugely.

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00:36:14,338 --> 00:36:19,886
And there, underground, the caterpillars
feed and grow for nearly two years.

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Until, one day,
there is nothing for the ants to feed.

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The caterpillars have pupated.

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But a few weeks later,

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out crawls an Alcon blue butterfly.

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Now, they begin to leave the nest

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that has been their home
for the last 23 months.

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The young adult
makes its way out of the nest

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and clambers up a grass stem.

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Its wings expand
as it prepares to fly off and find a mate.

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This complex life
may be laborsaving for the butterfly,

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but it's risky.

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If anything happened to the ants
or to the gentian,

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the Alcon blue would become extinct.

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00:38:16,711 --> 00:38:19,797
Only tiny fragments
of these ancient meadows

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are left in Europe.

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But beyond them to the east,

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once stretched grasslands that extended
for a fifth of the way around the world,

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from Romania to China.

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Here, there are places where,
for mile after endless mile,

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there are no roads or fences.

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00:39:11,599 --> 00:39:16,437
Here, where there are no trees,
eagles nest on the ground.

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Once, these eagles would have preyed
on antelope that numbered in millions.

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And some are still here.

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00:39:38,959 --> 00:39:43,756
These are saiga, antelope that live
nowhere else in the world.

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Their extraordinary noses
are specially adapted

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00:39:49,470 --> 00:39:53,265
to filter out the dust kicked up
by the immense herds

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00:39:53,432 --> 00:39:54,600
that once lived here.

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00:39:58,312 --> 00:40:00,815
Now, they're critically endangered.

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00:40:01,649 --> 00:40:06,112
Poaching and the loss of habitat
have had a devastating impact on them.

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00:40:09,448 --> 00:40:13,494
But conservation efforts have recently
started to make a difference.

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00:40:16,038 --> 00:40:20,668
There is still hope
for these extraordinary plains dwellers.

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00:40:28,467 --> 00:40:33,180
And the proof of this
can be found further east, in Mongolia,

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where the grasslands
still remain largely intact.

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These are Przewalski’s horses.

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00:40:47,111 --> 00:40:50,197
Fifty years ago,
they were extinct in the wild,

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00:40:51,198 --> 00:40:54,076
but a few adults survived in captivity.

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00:41:00,249 --> 00:41:03,669
Careful breeding from 12 of them
increased their numbers

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00:41:03,919 --> 00:41:06,964
until there were sufficient
to release on the plains.

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00:41:09,758 --> 00:41:11,886
These are their descendants.

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00:41:22,021 --> 00:41:24,940
A stallion protects each harem.

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00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:34,283
They must be vigilant,
and they race to defend their herd...

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00:41:43,501 --> 00:41:46,629
or chase off bachelors
trying to lure away a mare.

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00:42:01,268 --> 00:42:03,687
With their numbers now topping 300,

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00:42:05,105 --> 00:42:08,651
the future for these wild horses
looks more secure.

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00:42:12,863 --> 00:42:14,990
Their recovery was only possible

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00:42:15,407 --> 00:42:20,663
because the vast Mongolian steppe
still remains largely untouched.

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00:42:33,217 --> 00:42:39,306
These grasses are some of the tallest
to be found anywhere on our planet.

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They're so tall
they can conceal elephants.

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00:42:56,365 --> 00:43:00,286
They make the giants that live among them
seem small.

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A last hiding place

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00:43:21,307 --> 00:43:25,686
for the highly endangered
greater one-horned rhino.

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00:43:36,488 --> 00:43:37,990
This is India,

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00:43:39,742 --> 00:43:42,286
one of the most populous countries
on Earth.

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00:43:45,289 --> 00:43:51,420
Yet here there is a great determination
to protect these crucial grasslands.

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00:44:06,602 --> 00:44:08,145
What must it be like

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00:44:08,395 --> 00:44:12,191
to live in this dense,
claustrophobic world?

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00:44:21,909 --> 00:44:25,996
Just moving about
could mean walking into danger.

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00:44:41,679 --> 00:44:46,308
The grasses conceal tigers.

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00:44:57,069 --> 00:45:00,572
Stripes and shadows blend.

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00:45:14,545 --> 00:45:18,924
Long grass
may hide a tigress from her prey,

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00:45:24,972 --> 00:45:28,809
but it also hides the prey from her.

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00:45:37,234 --> 00:45:40,446
She must get within 20 meters of it.

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00:45:46,618 --> 00:45:51,540
And she must always know
exactly where the prey are hidden.

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00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:44,593
She may have lost them.

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00:47:06,907 --> 00:47:09,117
She risks a look.

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00:47:12,996 --> 00:47:14,122
[bleats]

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00:47:17,543 --> 00:47:19,545
[bleating resonates]

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00:47:38,313 --> 00:47:44,403
Every deer around
now knows exactly where the tiger is.

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00:47:58,750 --> 00:48:02,713
Others have heard the signal
that announced her failure.

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00:48:11,847 --> 00:48:12,806
Her cubs.

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00:48:22,566 --> 00:48:25,235
She had left them hidden in the grass.

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00:48:28,614 --> 00:48:29,948
[growling]

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00:48:39,625 --> 00:48:41,710
In the last hundred years,

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00:48:42,085 --> 00:48:47,799
the number of wild tigers
has declined by over 95 percent.

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00:48:51,553 --> 00:48:52,971
But here in India,

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00:48:53,722 --> 00:48:56,433
despite the enormous pressure
from poaching,

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00:48:57,517 --> 00:48:59,561
and a growing human population,

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00:49:01,063 --> 00:49:04,066
tiger numbers are actually increasing.

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00:49:13,450 --> 00:49:18,580
Protect the precious space
that grasslands and deserts provide,

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00:49:21,166 --> 00:49:24,169
and the animals will bounce back.

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00:49:40,519 --> 00:49:42,729
Please visit ourplanet.com

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00:49:43,063 --> 00:49:47,901
to discover what we need to do now
to protect wild grasslands.

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♪ I can hear the whole world
Singing together ♪

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00:49:58,453 --> 00:50:04,418
♪ I can hear the whole world
Say it's now or never ♪

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00:50:07,212 --> 00:50:11,508
♪ 'Cause it's not too late
If we change our ways ♪

316
00:50:11,591 --> 00:50:15,053
♪ And connect the dots to our problems ♪

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00:50:15,470 --> 00:50:21,143
♪ I can hear the whole world
Say we're in this together ♪

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00:50:21,601 --> 00:50:23,311
♪ We're in this together ♪