Secrets of the Penguins (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[wind]
[Narrator] Far beyond
ice and snow
in strange and distant lands,
a few intrepid penguins
[wave crashing]
choose to live
.where we might
think they don't belong.
-It just feels like such a
ridiculous place to be looking
for a penguin.
[Narrator] Four different
species of banded penguins.
-Okay, here's good, here's good.
[Narrator] Two years
uncovering their secrets
-No way.
They're working as a team.
[Narrator] Reveals these
penguins might be the smartest
of them all.
-That's one of the best things
I've ever seen in nature.
[Narrator] They're
problem solvers
architects
teachers.
-Oh, this is super cute.
A little one trying to learn.
[Narrator] And as their
world collides with ours,
they take their intelligence
to a whole new level.
[theme music playing]
[gentle music playing]
[Narrator] This mother
has lessons to share.
Life hacks to pass to
the next generation,
how to live in the tropics.
She's a Galápagos penguin,
part of the
banded penguin family.
Named for the
stripe on their chest.
They use their unique
intelligence to live in a
mysterious world on the equator.
[penguin footsteps approaching]
She's one of just 2,000
Galápagos penguins,
the rarest penguins
in the world,
and at just 20 inches tall,
among the smallest.
[snort]
Her neighbors are
odd but tolerant.
And the 80-degree temperature?
Not a problem.
Her featherless pink
patches release heat.
Her issue in this
warming climate
is getting enough food.
-One of the biggest challenges
these penguins have got
is that the currents are
really unpredictable,
so they've got to work really,
really hard to find fish.
[Narrator] National
Geographic explorer
and cinematographer
Bertie Gregory has heard
they've devised
hunting techniques not
seen anywhere else.
[playful music playing]
[playful music playing]
[Bertie Gregory]
It is so interesting.
And this penguin is
spending so much of her time
swimming along,
looking round above her head,
she's totally
watching the pelicans,
and as soon as she
sees a pelican go down,
she zooms over.
Let's see what's going on here.
[whimsical music playing]
This pelican's massive mouth's
full of water and fish,
it's got to push that
water out of its mouth and
hold onto the fish,
and that's the point
at which they're vulnerable.
Penguin's going for it.
No way, stealing fish right
out the beak of the pelican.
[Narrator] And it's
not just the mother who
knows this trick.
[Bertie Gregory] The
penguins have totally got
this figured out, you know,
a way to work smarter,
not harder.
What's magic is seeing
lots of young penguins in
with the older penguins.
They can't hatch out their
eggs knowing how to do this,
they must have to learn it by
watching the older penguins.
[Narrator] And that's what
the mother's four-month-old son
has been doing.
[Bertie Gregory] Oh,
this is super cute,
he's trying to learn.
This pelican has taken off,
oh, it's gonna dive
right in front of it.
[distant splash]
[Bertie laughs]
He's like, "I don't
know what to do yet."
[splash]
This little penguin has
got a lot of learning to do.
Well, it looks like
he's full of attitude,
so I reckon he's got it in him.
[Narrator] But right now, his
mother has another priority
she's heard something.
[water vibrating]
Just off the coast
anchovies.
in the thousands.
As oceans get warmer,
an increasingly rare event.
The pair can't
afford to miss it.
[inquisitive music playing]
[Narrator] Bertie wants to
see if the Galápagos penguins
can make the most of
the feast that's arrived.
[Bertie Gregory]
We can see up ahead.
We got a bunch of
boobies and frigates,
a bunch of birds,
and that's always a good
sign that this fish underwater.
Okay, here's good, here's good.
[whimsical music playing]
[Narrator] Mom doesn't get
this opportunity very often.
Her boy has never
seen so many fish.
Little fish are tricky
to catch underwater,
and there's no time to
waste because the penguin's
flying neighbors
have the advantage.
[Bertie Gregory]
It's just chaos,
diving birds crashing
in from above,
and the two penguins look
completely overwhelmed.
[Narrator] They need backup.
So, Mom calls out
[penguin call]
for help.
[distant penguin call]
[distant penguin call]
[penguin call]
[distant penguin call]
New evidence suggests each
sound has a specific meaning,
and when
penguins spot fish,
the complexity of
their call changes,
making it easier for others
to pinpoint their location.
Team assembled.
They deploy a coordinated
form of hunting,
usually only seen in
highly intelligent mammals,
like dolphins.
One unit dives,
blocking the bottom,
driving the fish upwards.
Others swim near the surface,
herding them into
a dense bait ball.
The fish are
disoriented and panic,
making them easy to pick off.
[Bertie Gregory] When there
was just two penguins,
they were having to work
really hard to catch fish,
but the moment the whole
gang arrived and there were
20, 30 penguins, suddenly,
they were having
a much easier time.
[Narrator] The banded
penguins are the only ones
known to hunt this way.
They catch almost twice as
much food than when hunting
on their own.
The calorie equivalent
of four pizzas each.
[Bertie Gregory]
I've read about this,
but to actually see it play
out underwater right there.
The way they heard the
ball together is so clever.
[Narrator] But by
corralling the fish,
they've made it even
easier for their rivals.
Time for phase two.
As part of the
ball breaks off,
the penguins see
an opportunity.
[dramatic music playing]
[Bertie Gregory] The bait
ball is really shifting now,
it's rushing for shallow water,
heading into the
mouth of the mangrove,
the penguins
are right behind him.
[Narrator] They herd
the fish into a channel
just ten inches deep,
where they
have the advantage.
It's a crash course in
outsmarting the competition.
[Bertie Gregory] It's
just amazing to see them use
the lava landscape,
has lots of big cracks
that the penguins can drive
fish into and single them out.
Clever bunch of little penguins.
I've seen penguins do
some pretty amazing things,
but that was definitely the top.
[Narrator] By using their
intelligence and passing life
lessons down to
the next generation,
Galápagos penguins
are holding on in
a changing environment.
[upbeat music playing]
[Narrator] The ancestors of
these banded penguins
[penguin call]
followed currents
to a different continent.
They're African penguins,
four inches bigger
and a lot noisier than
their Galápagos cousins.
But they're also
the most endangered.
Those that remain are
more reliant on their smarts
than ever before.
[uplifting music playing]
[penguin calls]
This gang,
technically called a waddle,
grew up together on this beach.
He meant to do that.
And that.
At five, they're
still young adults,
but they already have
responsibilities.
Some live right here
on the beachfront,
digging nests to keep cool
in the South African sun.
But with less than
half an acre of beach,
it gets overcrowded.
So, the really clever
ones choose a place with
a little more style.
Simonstown, a leafy
suburb of Cape Town.
40 years ago,
penguins saw its
potential as a safe haven,
now 2,000 live here.
This guy's rewired his
natural instincts for the city.
Like his Galápagos cousins,
he's smart enough
to make his neighbors
work for him.
They make great paths
and they keep predators away.
But there are other dangers
he's learned to deal with.
He seems to have memorized
when the rush hour hits,
so he can time his
journey to beat it.
With eyesight evolved
for deep sea diving,
he can see in the dark,
navigating the
safest shortcuts.
[bus horn]
And if necessary, he
can reroute in an instant.
[gentle music playing]
All the way to his front door.
[gentle music playing]
Home sweet home,
where his partner
[baby penguins chirping]
and their
one-week-old twins are waiting.
[baby penguin wails]
But being a penguin in a
human world can push their
problem-solving
skills to the limit.
[gentle music playing]
[Narrator] Up Africa's
western coast,
another African
penguin colony is clinging on
against the odds.
This couple works hard
for what they have.
They've been together
their entire adult life,
and they're about
to have a family.
But raising chicks here in
90-degree heat isn't easy.
When their
ancestors lived here,
it was covered in guano,
bird poop.
120 feet deep.
Penguins used to dig out
burrows in it to protect their
eggs from the sun,
but when people discover
guano makes good fertilizer,
it was taken on
an industrial scale.
Once 100,0000
penguins nested here,
now, around 1,000 remain.
Without the
protection of guano,
not only are eggs
and chicks exposed to
the relentless heat,
but if parents get too hot,
they have to
abandon their nests.
This father-to-be has
spotted something
that could save the day.
[upbeat music playing]
Seaweed might help
shade the nest
almost as well as
vintage poop.
Suddenly, everyone
wants a piece of it,
but there's always one
who sticks his beak in
where it doesn't belong.
[squawking and thudding]
[growls loudly]
No one steals
from these two.
They're ready,
and just in time.
That was the easy part.
Their challenge is
to keep the egg at
a constant temperature.
But with a changing planet,
they are increasingly
hit by extreme heat waves.
It will be 40 days
before they know
if they've succeeded.
These penguins bring inventive
solutions to modern problems.
Others rely on ancient
wisdom to survive.
[wave crashing]
[Narrator] In the
powerful waters off the
West Coast of Africa,
this youngster
has been separated
from his hunting party,
and being alone makes
you an easy target
on this desolate coast.
[suspenseful music playing]
Stretching over 1,000 miles
barren, arid and
swarming with predators.
No place for a penguin,
but they found a way
to make this cave home.
His elders all made
it back to shore,
but he's been
spotted by a jackal.
He's given away
their secret hideout.
But his ancestors chose
this home for a reason.
[waves crashing]
The turbulent entry
takes some getting used to,
but for jackals, it's
out of the question.
Outsmarted by a bird brain.
These penguins,
never filmed before,
have been raising chicks
right under the jackal's
nose for decades.
He can now focus
on his real quest,
finding love.
Single females are
few and far between.
Because, like many penguins,
African penguin
couples stay together for life.
But a tall nesting tower
might just catch a lady's eye.
Made from mud and well,
old bird poop,
his tower has been
passed down generations.
His job is to build
it up, high as he can.
It might keep their
future eggs safe when the
tide rushes in.
Looks like his renovation
might just have worked.
Ooh, she's keen.
[whimsical music playing]
[inspirational music playing]
[distant penguin call]
[penguin call]
He celebrates in this ancient
cathedral with a song.
[penguin call]
This might be a
unique dialect sung
nowhere else on earth.
[distant penguin calls]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Narrator] Back
on Halifax Island,
it's been a rough six weeks
for the seaweed king and queen,
but they've made it.
Their little son is born.
[baby penguin squawking]
His super food diet of
anchovies and sardines boosts
not just his body but his brain.
He'll grow 30 times in size
over the next two months.
[whimsical music playing]
Now a teenager,
he's smart enough to
face the world on his own,
even if he doesn't
realize it himself.
His parents know
he's got to go.
The school of life awaits.
He'll likely
live up to 20 years,
but for the first four,
he'll travel hundreds
of miles exploring
and above all, learning,
and scientists
believe this might be the
secret to the banded
penguin's success.
[upbeat music playing]
-Hola, Amigo.
You're still wearing
your pajamas.
Hola, Chica.
Como estas?
How are you today?
[Narrator] National Geographic
explorer and penguin scientist
Poppy Borboroglu
has devoted his life to
understanding the
banded penguins’ ways.
[Dr. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu]
Amigo, how are you?
Your tuxedo is in pieces.
[Narrator] These are
the Magellanic penguins,
the largest of all
the banded penguins.
This colony holds a special
place in Poppy's heart
because he's
witnessed its beginning.
15 years ago,
Poppy got a call.
-I was in my office one Monday
and then they said,
"Hey, Poppy,
can you come and check?
We think we have
penguins there."
And we came here, and
when we saw the first nest,
that was really unbelievable.
The first nests
were just in here,
there were three nests
here in the waterfront in
these main bushes.
[Narrator] Poppy was
even more surprised when he
discovered who
the newcomers were.
[Dr. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu]
They were all young individuals
from other colonies.
[Narrator] Some could have
travelled hundreds of miles
from southern Argentina.
[Dr. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu]
Imagine yourself selecting a
place for the first time,
the conditions are
completely unknown,
it's like colonizing Mars.
When we came here
for the first time,
there were
only the six pairs,
now we have
over 4,000 pairs.
[Narrator] And the key
to this successful colony
is these smart,
adventurous youngsters.
[Dr. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu]
Banded penguins spend
many years as juveniles,
so they have time to
explore different areas,
and that's what they've been
doing for millions of years.
[Narrator] Like their ancient
ancestors who left Antarctica,
the young banded penguins'
intelligence might help them
outsmart a changing world,
as the next generation
becomes the new guardians of
the penguin's secrets.