The Americas (2025) s01e01 Episode Script

1
Welcome to The Americas.
An extraordinary journey
across Earth's great super continent.
From the northern reaches of Canada
through the breathtaking landscapes
of the United States.
South to the iconic Amazon rainforest
and the very tip
of Patagonia.
Capturing the widest variety of life
on the planet.
Five years in the making,
with 180 separate expeditions.
Revealing new discoveries
only found here.
For the first time
experience the strength
the heart
the hope.
The untold story
of our home.
Tonight on The Americas
The Atlantic Coast.
A world of wonder.
Where enchanted seas
meet fairy-tale forests.
And life finds a home
amongst the bright lights
of a new world.
Although over 100 million people
live on America's East Coast,
this is also where you find
200,000 square miles of historic forest.
And where
the Carolinas' vast coastal plains
slip beneath the waves.
Reemerging as the ever-shifting sands
of the Outer Banks.
These islands are home
to surprising castaways.
Wild horses.
They live a perilous life,
braving tides and strong currents.
Legend has it
their ancestors were marooned here
when the ships of conquistadors
were wrecked on these shores.
But one stallion is
doing very well here.
He rules this part of the island,
carpeted in lush meadows.
And at its heart
lies the key to his success.
A fresh water spring.
Controlling this vital supply
gives him power.
For a decade, he's defended the well
and his family
from other stallions.
He bears the scars to prove it.
But at 15 years old,
the stallion may be past his prime.
Losing one big fight
could mean the end of his reign.
That fight looks to be on the cards.
Because it's breeding season.
He can smell
that one of his mares is ready to mate.
To heighten his senses,
he curls his lips, in what's known
as the Flehmen response.
But other stallions have noticed too.
Including
his arch rival.
This intruder may have
dainty white feet,
but he's 500 pounds
of testosterone-fueled attitude.
The aging stallion
must rise to the challenge.
Like prize fighters,
they size each other up.
Stamping.
And posturing.
The intruder is younger and bigger,
but the wily old stallion has
years of combat experience.
A stamp of his foot says,
"Bring it on."
The old stallion
skillfully dodges flying hooves.
He takes one ferocious kick to the chest
but rears up to avoid the knockout blow.
That
was the challenger's best shot.
And it wasn't enough.
The stallion runs
the intruder off his land.
Victory for the veteran means
he can stay with his family.
And his place
on these unique islands is secure,
for now.
But here, danger is never far away.
Out to sea, Atlantic waters are deadly.
Both above
and below.
In the waters
just off the coast of North Carolina,
this sand tiger is heading
to a shark rendezvous.
Ten feet long with teeth to die for,
this female certainly looks the part.
But she is about to reveal
a very different side to her nature.
Sand tiger sharks
are surprisingly sociable.
Every summer, hundreds assemble here.
But the purpose
of these extraordinary gatherings
is still a mystery to scientists.
They happen in a place of eerie beauty
known as "the graveyard
of the Atlantic."
More than 2000 ships
have met their end on this coastline,
from Spanish galleons and pirate ships
to merchant vessels
sunk in World War II.
These rusting hulks create new habitats,
swiftly colonized by many creatures.
Including vast shoals of scad.
But these little fish
have a big problem.
They're on the menu.
For jacks.
30-pound high-speed hunters.
And not just one of them.
The scad must seek safety.
And they find it
somewhere extraordinary.
With
the sharks.
The scad use the sand tigers
as bodyguards.
Each shark finds itself cloaked
in a shimmering veil of tiny scad.
It's a remarkable relationship
and one rarely filmed.
A hidden wonder
where the human world
and the natural world meet.
Journey 200 miles up the Atlantic Coast,
and you'll discover the largest
estuary in the U.S.,
Chesapeake Bay.
Where 150 rivers meet the sea.
It's here that this true American icon
is forced to meet
its greatest challenge head-on.
Winding through Maryland and Virginia,
the streams and rivers
that feed Chesapeake Bay
are a haven for wildlife.
But they are also among
North America's busiest waterways.
To thrive here takes
a particular kind of attitude.
A bald eagle,
the Atlantic Coast's
great success story.
In the 1970s, there were no eagles
on this stretch of river.
But thanks to protection
and the banning of harmful pesticides,
and now there are
more than 300 breeding pairs.
Their numbers are soaring.
With a seven-foot wingspan
and eyesight five
times better than ours,
this female looks the perfect predator.
But for a bird that likes to hunt fish,
she has one major flaw.
She's not built to take off from water.
For all her power, fishing is not easy.
Missed again.
For most of the year,
she can do well enough.
But in the spring, everything changes.
Ospreys arrive.
Birds of prey supremely adapted
to just one thing
fishing.
In March each year, 20,000 ospreys
migrate here from the south.
They stay for the summer
to raise their chicks.
Now they're in the eagle's territory.
Ospreys can hit the water
at 70 miles an hour.
Their long legs stretch down
to grab fish
three feet below the surface.
Equipped with waterproof feathers,
take-off is no problem for them.
They're taking
a lot of her fish.
Outclassed on home turf.
It's time to impose a fish tax.
Bald eagles have some powers
that ospreys can't match.
Audacity.
Persistence.
And sheer strength.
Daylight robbery.
A quick barrel roll.
And it's time for her to collect.
North America's
comeback queen.
Flourishing on this most crowded coast.
Almost a third of Americans
make the Atlantic Coast home.
The towns and cities we build
have been the biggest force
of change here.
Where animals can sometimes
find themselves in an alien world.
But here in the suburbs
there are aliens living among us.
This peaceful corner of Maryland
is about to be invaded.
On a sleepy Maryland street,
something is stirring.
And it is not alone.
This male and thousands of others
have spent 17 years
deep underground.
They're called periodical cicadas,
and each is on a critical mission
to secure the next generation.
But things here have changed.
Seventeen years earlier,
George W Bush was in the White House.
No one had heard of a smart phone,
and many suburban developments
were still plots of woodland.
Instinct drives the swarm to climb.
Many fall at the first hurdle.
But this male has found a good spot.
A tall tree.
The ideal place
to make a dramatic transformation.
Breaking free from the husk
of his old body,
he unfurls new wings.
And his adult form is revealed.
Around him, the others change, too
ahead of the next stage of the mission.
It might seem a beautiful day
in the neighborhood
but the human residents
wake to an audio onslaught.
The volume can exceed 96 decibels.
It's like a rock concert
in your front yard
with cicadas on vocals.
But for the cicadas,
this isn't a horror story.
It's a romance.
And the language of love
is music bug style.
With many males for every female,
it isn't straightforward.
Mm, perhaps three's a crowd.
Maybe she's the one.
It's time for a cicada serenade.
Vibrating his body like a tiny violin.
Dee waits for a special signal from her.
And there it is.
A snap of her wings
that shows his charms
have won her over.
After 17 years of waiting,
a brief encounter is all it takes
to fertilize her 500 eggs.
For the males, adult life is very short.
After just a month,
it's all over.
Now their bodies will nourish the soil
for the next generation.
While above,
the female lays her precious eggs.
A few weeks later,
the young will drop to the ground
and burrow deep into the earth.
When they emerge in 17 years' time,
who knows what they'll find?
To keep up with the pace
of the modern world,
animals have to be versatile.
Meet one of the most adaptable
in all the Americas.
She can think and feel her way
through any challenge.
Getting a drink
out of a water-filled tree hole?
No problem.
But she'll need all her wits about her
because this raccoon
doesn't live in the woods.
She's a New Yorker.
New York City
Home to eight million people.
Come on
Ooh, New York ♪
But even here,
the wildlife finds a way.
Making the most
of 20,000 acres of parks and gardens
is one of the cleverest animals
in the Americas.
A raccoon.
Country raccoons are nocturnal.
But here, they emerge
in the daytime as well,
so they must be wary
of people, dogs and cars.
Be kinda street-smart.
This female needs to take extra care.
She's a mom.
The wall provides high-rise living
for her growing family.
These kits are four months old,
and they share their home
with an older brother.
He's getting ready
to leave home for good.
But raccoons aren't the only ones
with a taste for city living.
A red tailed hawk,
and it has its sights set
on the kits.
Mom is alert to any sign of trouble.
Come on, come on. Back inside.
With that hawk nearby,
she needs to stick around.
There may be safety in numbers,
but this is becoming a tight squeeze.
And something's gotta give.
But it's best to wait for nightfall.
This city may never sleep.
But luckily,
hawks do.
It's a chance for the eldest kit
to bid farewell to the family.
As Mom watches him go,
he's tentative at first.
He's on his own now.
She must stay with her younger kits.
But soon, he's free soloing with ease.
His supersensitive paws
help him find the safest footholds.
And they're not bad
for shucking snails, either.
But alone on the parapet,
he needs to keep on his toes.
Yeah. Nice move.
He seems ready
to face the city on his own.
In fact, there's evidence
that an urban upbringing
makes raccoons better
at problem-solving.
He's gonna be just fine.
Away from the magical bright lights
of New York
is a different fairytale world.
Deep in the Appalachian woods,
for a few bewitching summer nights,
fireflies take the stage.
Males flash
to attract females.
The chemical light they produce
is one of the most
energy efficient on Earth.
For the fireflies,
flashing in synchrony
increases their impact.
For us, it's pure wonder.
Forests cover 65 percent
of the Atlantic Coast.
In one corner of Tennessee,
there are so many trees,
they seem to create smoke.
In fact, it's a unique fog.
This is the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.
And here, one black bear mom
is having trouble
with some very hungry cubs.
It's late summer in the Smoky Mountains,
the national park with the
greatest biodiversity in America.
The huge range of trees and plants
provides a varied menu
for this mother bear
and her six-month-old cubs.
With winter just a few months away,
they need to pile on the pounds.
And there's one food
that will help them get there.
Cherries.
They're high in fats and protein,
so it's crucial
the cubs make the most of them.
But someone beat them to it.
A trespasser.
An adult male.
And what's worse,
males sometimes kill cubs.
He's no match
for a protective mom.
Now the family can focus
on getting those cherries.
The tasty fruits are not easy to reach.
Especially if you're a cub.
Mom's got a workaround.
Her cubs, though,
don't yet have the strength
or the skill.
But they do appear to be fearless.
This is going out on a limb.
At just 30 pounds,
the cubs are light enough
to climb to the ends of branches.
But a fall from this height
could be fatal.
They've got the hang of it.
And these calorie-packed cherries
will help the cubs
to gain the weight they'll need
to survive the coming winter.
The Smokies are a magical place,
and as America's most visited
national park,
they bring that magic to millions.
Heading north,
the ancient Appalachians
formed the backbone
of the Atlantic Coast.
Eventually, their weathered peaks
reached New England.
Two hundred years ago, the woods here
were cleared for agriculture.
But when many farmers headed west,
the forest made a spectacular return.
And now there are
six and a half billion trees.
In the heart of Massachusetts
stands a queen of the woods.
A red oak tree,
known here as Triple Oak.
She has weathered 130 years of change.
Right now, she faces
the inevitable turn of the seasons.
Throughout the long days of summer.
her leaves captured the sun's energy,
using green chlorophyll to produce
the sugar she needs to thrive and grow,
and the oxygen we need to breathe.
But winter is coming.
The shorter days mean there won't be
enough sunlight to power her leaves.
So Triple Oak must do
something remarkable.
She withdraws her chlorophyll.
As the green pigment is extracted,
all the other colors are revealed.
For a few short weeks,
Triple Oak wears a
gown of burnished gold.
But her work isn't finished.
In winter storms,
a tree in full leaf catches the wind
like a ship in full sail.
She could be uprooted
so her leaves must go.
Triple Oak creates a layer of cells
that seal the leaf off from its twig.
Denied the tree's life support,
the leaf dies
and is cast aside.
Triple Oak then heals the scar.
A process she repeats 200,000 times.
Across New England,
countless oaks, maples,
beech and birch all follow suit.
A spectacle so vast,
it can be seen from space.
New England in the fall is one
of planet Earth's
greatest natural wonders.
And it happens on our very own doorstep,
on America's spellbinding
Atlantic Coast.