Super/Natural (2022) s01e02 Episode Script

1
(DRAMATIC THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Enter a world
- just beyond your perception.
- (CLICKING)
A world of extraordinary animals
with hidden powers
and super senses.
- If you think you know nature
- (BELLOWING)
think again.
(THEME MUSIC ENDS)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: In this unpredictable world
- animals will do whatever it takes
- (WINGS FLUTTERING)
to keep their families safe.
But with great parenting
comes great responsibility.
(THUDS)
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: This male African jacana
has been left holding the babies.
- (WATER SLOSHING)
- (SQUAWKING)
BENEDICT: For four weeks, he's cared
for his eggs alone.
And since they hatched two days ago,
- he's taken them under his wing.
- (CHITTERING)
BENEDICT: Jacana chicks hatch out
as matchbox-sized mini-mes of the adults.
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT:
And they're surprisingly independent.
(THUDS)
BENEDICT: Just like Dad's,
their huge splayed toes
spread their weight
over a large surface area,
so they can almost walk on water.
(FLY BUZZING)
BENEDICT:
They venture deep into the lily field
(FLY BUZZING)
feeding on flies.
Dad treads a delicate line
between allowing his chicks
the freedom they need to grow,
and keeping them safe.
(FLY BUZZING)
(WATER SLOSHING)
BENEDICT:
They may be self-sufficient,
but they're naïve to danger.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
BENEDICT: Only one in four
will reach adulthood.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: With polarized eyesight,
African fish eagles see through glare
reflecting off water
and zero in on movement.
(CHITTERS)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: When Jacanas sense a threat,
they usually scoop up their young
and head for cover.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: But his chicks
are scattered too far.
- So he sends out a secret alarm call
- (TWEETING)
triggering an incredible
anti-predator instinct.
(TWEETING CONTINUES)
BENEDICT: The chicks freeze.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(BIRD CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: All Dad can do is hope
they keep as still as possible.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(TWEETING)
(SCREECHING)
BENEDICT: Once danger's passed,
he runs to pick them up.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHIRPING)
(THUDS)
BENEDICT: But one
of his chicks is still missing,
still frozen.
Holes in her beak act like a snorkel,
helping her breathe.
But because she's under water,
she can't hear her dad's call.
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: The more he searches,
the more attention it attracts.
(WATER SLOSHES)
BENEDICT: Crocodiles detect vibrations
with their acutely sensitive skin.
- Those huge feet
- (SQUAWKING)
come at a price.
(BIRD CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: Finally, Dad's call
is close enough to be heard,
and the chick moves towards it.
(CHIRPING)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(TWEETING)
BENEDICT: At last,
all back together,
- tucked in with Dad.
- (TWEETING)
BENEDICT: When animals
take on the challenge of raising young,
it takes phenomenal skills
to keep the family growing strong.
(FLY BUZZING)
- (SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
- (BIRD SQUAWKING)
(CHIRPING)
- (MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (WATER SLOSHING)
(MILD-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Mothers will go
to extraordinary lengths to ensure
the best start in life for their young.
This giant Amazon river turtle
is searching for the perfect beach
to lay her eggs.
Problem is, they only exist
for two months at the end
of the dry season
hidden down
a complex maze of waterways.
(VOCALIZING)
BENEDICT: And the river
is too murky to find her way.
But this mom is determined,
tapping into
an incredible hidden network.
(TURTLE CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: She navigates
towards the faint calls of other turtles.
They get louder,
and multiply.
(TURTLES CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: From an area
of 1500 square miles,
turtle mothers are gathering.
(TURTLES CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: Forty thousand of them.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: Somehow,
along with the other females,
she needs to ensure her eggs hatch
with the onset of the rains.
(WIND HOWLING)
BENEDICT: Lay too early,
and her young
won't be able to dig themselves out
of the hot, dry sand.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
BENEDICT: Lay too late,
and the rising water will drown her eggs.
Recently discovered, these turtles
have a remarkable ability
- for predicting the future.
- (GRUNTS)
BENEDICT: Using collective intelligence,
they can judge the ideal time to lay.
With eight different calls,
they discuss humidity, temperature,
and water level,
until they come to a consensus.
The time is now.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
(GRUNTING)
BENEDICT: She uses guidance
from others to choose her spot,
right here in the center of the beach.
By nesting together,
they give four million baby turtles
the best chance of survival
in two months' time.
As the eggs incubate in the sand,
up above, the rains finally arrive.
(RAIN PATTERING)
BENEDICT: Just like his mother
- (GRUNTING)
- this newborn turtle is talking.
And he's not alone.
Thousands of nests across the beach
take part in the conversation.
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: Together, they decide on
the perfect time to emerge.
(CHIRPS)
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: The moist sand is easy to dig,
but he emerges into a dangerous world.
(BIRD SCREECHING)
(GRUNTS)
BENEDICT: Some
will never make it to the river.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: But
the mothers' incredible teamwork
has ensured that these little turtles
have safety in numbers.
- (CHIRPING)
- BENEDICT: Hiding in the crowd,
keeping in communication
(CHIRPING)
those at the front encouraging
others onwards.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
(SQUEAKS)
BENEDICT: And just like
his mother before him,
with the guidance of the group,
he's made it.
(WATER SLOSHES)
BENEDICT: Now,
he must swim to safety.
And incredibly, he has someone
to help show the way.
- (WATER SLOSHES)
- (CHIRPS)
BENEDICT: Mom is still here.
In fact, all the turtle mothers
have been waiting.
(TURTLES CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: When they hear their young,
they call to them,
guiding them to deeper water.
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: This recent discovery
is the first example of turtle parents
helping their offspring
after they've hatched
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: For many animals,
super-powered
parenting starts long before birth.
(FETAL HEARTBEAT)
BENEDICT: Inside a womb,
an extraordinary life is beginning.
Four months old, less than one ounce.
Before birth, this African elephant
must increase his weight 6,000 times.
Just as well, someone else
will be doing the heavy lifting.
(GROANS)
BENEDICT: An elephant mother faces
the greatest gestation of any mammal.
(SCREECHES)
BENEDICT: She must carry
her baby for almost two years
- (GROANS)
- keeping him growing
through extreme seasons
(WIND WHIRRING)
and safe from many deadly enemies.
- (HISSING)
- (GROWLING)
BENEDICT: But
she won't have to do it alone.
- Her herd is her lifeline
- (TRUMPETS)
(GROANS)
and his too.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Now
twelve months in the womb,
ears and hearing are still developing.
- But already he's listening
- (LOW PURR)
with his feet.
(BELLOWS)
BENEDICT: Special cells in his toes
and heels pick up the vibrations
of the herd communicating.
(GROANS)
BENEDICT:
He's learning to recognize Mom
- (SNORTS)
- and his huge extended family.
(GROANS, TRUMPETS)
BENEDICT: Through communication
and cooperation,
elephants form powerful relationships
and social networks
that will be essential to his survival.
(TRUMPETING)
BENEDICT: But making sense
of life within the herd
- requires incredible intelligence.
- (GROANS)
- (FETAL HEARTBEAT)
- BENEDICT: And even at 20 months,
he still needs more time to develop
the biggest brain
of any terrestrial animal.
So, she prolongs her pregnancy
for another two months
by maintaining the flow of hormones
to her womb
(HEART BEATING)
(ELEPHANT GROANS)
- until finally
- (HEART BEATS FASTER)
he's ready for the outside world.
(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)
(SQUEALS)
BENEDICT: Her newborn baby's eyes
are not yet fully functioning.
(ELEPHANT GROANS)
BENEDICT: But Mom's low frequency calls
are reassuringly familiar.
- The other females in the herd
- (SQUEALS)
soothe him with gentle rumbles
(RUMBLING)
and show their excitement
by secreting pheromones
from their temporal glands.
(SQUEALS)
(RUMBLING, TRUMPETING)
BENEDICT: But
there's little time for celebration.
The scent of birth travels
quickly on the morning air.
- (GROANS)
- (ROARS)
BENEDICT: As other females
remove the after-birth
and throw mud to disguise the smell,
(GROANS)
(TRUMPETS)
BENEDICT: Mom encourages him
to stand with the promise of milk.
(SCREECHES)
(GROANS)
(TRUMPETING, RUMBLING)
BENEDICT: But before he drinks,
they must move.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: There are
lion prides here that specialize
in hunting vulnerable elephants.
But in an increasingly warming world,
a newborn's greatest threat
is dehydration.
(GROANS)
(TRUMPETS)
BENEDICT: The rain never came this year.
It will take the combined force of family
to find water during drought,
and amazing parenting skills
to help him survive the journey.
Not all animal parents stay around
to protect their young.
Instead, they use supernatural powers
to keep their babies safe
when they are gone.
In the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest,
a thumbnail-sized little devil frog
has been busy finding pools
for each of her five tadpoles.
Just one more to go.
She secretes a special liquid
so her tadpole can swim on her back.
(MILD-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Then
she tracks down standing water
with her incredible sense of smell.
But it's all the way up there.
Bromeliad plants grow on branches
in the canopy.
There's no soil to absorb water up here,
so they trap their own.
The perfect nursery pool,
but one epic climb for a tiny frog.
(WATER LAPS)
BENEDICT: She drops off
her tadpole in its new home.
But there's nothing for her up here.
She must return to feed
on the forest floor,
leaving her young exposed
to the predators that hunt
around bromeliad pools.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: But Mom has a plan.
Back in the leaf litter,
she gorges
on tiny, poisonous ants.
(HISSING)
BENEDICT:
They have little nutritional value,
but this ingenious frog
can assimilate ant toxins
into a much more potent compound
making her skin fatal to the touch.
She's cloaked herself
in a chemical shield.
Now she needs to pass
her poison power to her young.
In each pool,
she lays a single, unfertilized egg,
laced with neurotoxins.
As the tadpoles eat,
poison releases from the egg
and floods the nursery pool.
Wandering spiders detect their prey
by tasting with their legs.
But this water is too toxic to enter.
For two months,
this helicopter mom continues
to drop off poisoned eggs to her tadpoles,
ensuring that as they grow,
they transform into poisonous
little devils,
just like Mom.
When raising young is a more
long-term investment,
- it takes even more exceptional parenting.
- (PURRS)
(SCREECHES)
BENEDICT: Six cubs is a lot,
especially for a first-time mother.
(SCREECHES)
BENEDICT: But this cheetah descends
from a bloodline of supermoms,
- famous for raising large litters.
- (WHINES)
BENEDICT: Fending for such a large family
on the African savanna
calls for a very particular
set of skills.
She must hunt almost every day.
To find enough prey,
she taps into a hidden sensory world.
Impala.
They leave scent trails
with their hooves
to keep their herd together,
which means she can track them down
- with her acute sense of smell.
- (SNIFFING)
BENEDICT: But there are those
that follow her family in the same way.
Larger predators will seek out
and kill cheetah cubs.
So to stop her family being traced,
this mother does something remarkable.
(URINE TRICKLING)
BENEDICT: By neutralizing
the sulfur compounds in her diet,
she removes the scent from her urine,
making her almost impossible to follow.
Six cubs are a handicap
for a stealth predator.
But her advantage is her ability
to hunt during the heat of the day.
Most other predators have to rest now,
so this is the safest time
to leave her cubs,
and head out alone.
(CHEETAH SCREECHES)
BENEDICT: In thick bush,
her spotted coat blends
with the dappled light,
allowing her to close in on a target.
But her final approach
must be on open ground.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: So, once again,
she turns the heat to her advantage.
Side-facing eyes give impalas
a wide field of view,
but their depth perception is poor.
The heat haze acts
like a cloak of invisibility.
allowing her to hide in plain sight,
to move closer, and closer,
until she's ready to strike
(SCREECHING)
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Zero to 60
in under three seconds.
(SCREECHING)
(GRUNTS)
BENEDICT: At last, a family-sized meal.
Still, she has to make her cubs eat fast.
She knows time is tight.
As soon as flesh is exposed,
blood mixes with oxygen,
creating a scent that carries far
on the wind.
(LION GROWLS)
BENEDICT: But she has an uncanny ability
to see trouble coming,
and keep one step ahead.
(CUB GROANS)
BENEDICT: Bellies full,
the whole family's safe.
Finally, mom should get
some well-deserved rest.
But not too much.
In just over a year, she has to ready
these cubs for independence.
Parents have their work cut out,
preparing their young
- (HORNS HONKING)
- to fly the nest.
- (MILD-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
- (HORNS HONKING)
BENEDICT: Chicago's urban jungle
may not seem
like a great place to bring up the kids,
unless you're a super-powered parent.
For a peregrine,
the Windy City has a lot going for it.
An invisible network of air currents
flowing around Downtown Chicago,
that this mother turns to her advantage.
When the sun heats
the tarmac and concrete,
it creates powerful thermals
that help her
soar half a mile above the skyline,
ready to dive.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Two hundred
and fifty miles per hour.
And if her prey dodges behind buildings,
she uses fast-flowing air channeling
between blocks like a jet stream,
increasing her horizontal speed
(HORNS HONKING)
gaining the element of surprise.
(SCREECHES)
BENEDICT: Making a killing in the city,
she raises more young
than her rural peregrine cousins.
(CHICKS CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: Over the past five weeks,
she's kept three chicks growing strong
(SCREECHING)
providing all they needed to survive.
With a little help from superdad.
Together, they share the babysitting
and the hunting.
Now, the chicks are fledging.
And in only eight weeks,
they must be ready to survive
in the city on their own.
(TWEETING)
BENEDICT: Getting them up to speed will be
the greatest parenting challenge yet.
So when Dad goes to grab lunch
for the family,
(SCREECHING)
BENEDICT:
Mom begins schooling her chicks
in extreme urban flying.
Learning to hunt above the city
requires unique skills.
Mum needs to show them how to use
these complex thermal currents
as aerial superhighways.
(TWEETING)
BENEDICT: So she demonstrates
again.
And again.
(TWEETING)
BENEDICT: And again.
The chicks practice balancing
on the thermals,
until finally,
they're ready
to take to the air.
(SERENE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Now they've found their wings,
it's time to move on
to more advanced aerobatics.
(ADVENTUROUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(SCREECHING)
BENEDICT:
Dad's returned with an incentive
to take the lesson to the next level.
Releasing prey helps teach his chicks
how to use gravity
and change their body shape
to cut through the air
and gain speed.
Now Mom ups the ante with the food pass,
an essential step in developing
the agility to tackle fast-flying prey.
No other birds devote so much time
to teaching their young.
(CHIRPING)
BENEDICT: But with high investment
comes high reward.
(TWEETING)
BENEDICT: In just a month's time,
a new generation of super hunters
will be ready for the big, bad city.
(WATER SLOSHING)
BENEDICT: On this coral reef,
there's one tiny animal
that never lets its offspring leave.
A sea sponge makes a living castle
for a queen snapping shrimp
and her 300-strong colony.
Each shrimp is no bigger
than a grain of rice.
And she has potent powers
to keep them under her control.
She emits a chemical cocktail
that suppresses her daughters' ability
to reproduce,
turning them into dutiful workers.
They toil relentlessly,
cleaning the sponge
and maintaining passageways.
But not all her subjects are born equal.
Others develop into soldier shrimps
with outsized claws
and an instinct to defend.
Sea stars are sponge predators,
always trying to eat the shrimp
out of house and home.
Though it's around a thousand times
their size,
the shrimp unite against the enemy.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: But with all soldiers
guarding out front,
a greater threat sneaks in the back.
A polychaete worm,
perfectly shaped
to infiltrate the heart of the colony.
But they don't eat sponges.
Those jaws are for slicing shrimp.
The workers are powerless to fight back.
- But with alarm clicks
- (CLICKING)
they call for backup.
(CLICKING)
BENEDICT: The soldiers arrive,
and deploy their ultimate weapon.
They snap their claws so fast,
it vaporizes water,
creating a bubble.
When the pressure of the ocean
makes the bubble implode,
water inside super-heats to 7,000 degrees,
pushing out a powerful shockwave.
It stuns the worm
- (SNAPS)
- into a full retreat.
But not before damage is done.
The queen is dead.
As soon as her influence is removed,
there is a race for power.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: Free
from their mother's chemical control,
these workers begin to transform.
And the winner is the first to mature
and to begin exerting influence
over her siblings.
The bloodline lives on.
Families are most powerful
when they stick together.
But that's not always an option.
(SNORTS)
BENEDICT: The quest
for water is getting so desperate,
it's splitting this family apart.
Elephants can cover 20 miles a day,
but some are struggling to keep up.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: For each step an adult takes,
a calf must take six.
The herd had to keep moving,
but a mother won't abandon her baby.
In 100-degree heat,
they're exhausted
(GROANS)
close to dehydration,
close to death.
Exposing cool soil is the only way
to give her calf relief.
It buys her a little time
for her to summon her greatest superpower.
(SNORTS)
BENEDICT: Leaning forward,
she shifts her weight
to align her head with her legs,
and spreads her front feet
so they are fully engaged with the ground.
Then she does something extraordinary.
She feels for her family.
Three miles away
(GROANING)
using their trunks
to lower the frequency of their calls,
the herd sends vibrations
through the ground.
Sensitive cells in the mother's feet
pick up the sound
and channel it through her skeleton
towards her ear.
By shifting position, she deciphers
the direction of the message
- and what it means.
- (LOW GROANS)
The family is urging them on.
Her baby can't take much more,
but Mom is determined.
She knows her family is calling
for good reason.
(GROANING)
BENEDICT: Using the same ability
to detect distant vibrations,
they've heard something phenomenal.
(THUNDERCLAPS)
BENEDICT: Thunderstorms also produce
low-frequency infrasound.
It's thought elephants can sense them
from more than 100 miles away.
Keeping all ears to the ground,
the herd heads straight to the source.
(LOW GROANS)
BENEDICT: They're hungry, and weak.
But the promise of life-sustaining water
drives them on.
(ELEPHANT GROANING)
- BENEDICT: Until finally
- (TRUMPETS)
(GROANING)
- (TRUMPETS)
- it's within reach.
As the message of hope spreads
far and wide,
more elephants gather
- (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
- (GROANS)
until the whole extended family
is reunited
almost.
(TRUMPETS)
BENEDICT: The baby is still struggling.
But Mom never left his side,
and now they're so close,
they can smell it.
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(SNORTS)
BENEDICT: When family sticks together,
communicating, collaborating
- and combining as one
- (BELLOWING)
everyone, no matter how small,
has the very best chance of survival.
(ROARS)
BENEDICT: Continuing your bloodline
is life's ultimate mission.
(MILD-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
BENEDICT: It takes
every superpower possible
to protect and provide for the family
(BIRD TWEETING)
and secure the future
- for a new generation
- (CHIRPING)
- (CHIRPING)
- of amazing animals.
(GRUNTS)
If you think you know nature
(PURRS)
think again.
(DRAMATIC THEME PLAYING)
(MUSIC ENDS)