Dynasties II (2022) s01e03 Episode Script

1
Amboseli, southern Kenya
home to a once thriving
dynasty of elephants.
But since the death
of their experienced leader
this family has struggled
to keep its calves alive.
But there is new hope
in one determined elephant
a twisted-tusked female
called Angelina.
She is pregnant,
carrying the next generation.
But she can't raise
her calf alone.
She will need the strength
and support of her family.
Can Angelina bring them
all together
for the first crucial year
of her baby's life
and turn around the fortunes
of this dynasty?
Amboseli National Park
lies beneath the snow-capped
peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro.
This morning, Angelina's family
are tightly gathered around her.
And this is why.
A son
born just a few
short minutes ago.
This is Atlas
taking his very first steps
in a world of giants.
All new calves are wobbly
on their feet
and born barely able to see.
Working out who's Mum
can take a bit of time.
A little gentle guidance
from Angelina
and Atlas can finally take
his first feed of milk.
Elephant mothers cannot raise
their calves unaided.
Like all newborn elephants,
Atlas can't yet run, hide
or defend himself
from predators.
This is one of the main reasons
that elephants live
in family groups.
Angelina will need the help
of her aunts, cousins
and elder daughters.
Together, they must try
to keep Atlas safe,
as he begins the first
and most dangerous
year of his life.
Four days later.
Something extraordinary
has happened
something that
will irreversibly change
the fortunes of Atlas,
Angelina and her family.
Overnight,
Angelina has given birth
to a second calf.
This is Alana, a daughter.
For elephants,
having twins is so rare
that it's only been recorded
five times in Kenya.
Although this might seem
like good news
for the future strength
of the family
calves need so much milk
and care
that raising twins
is almost impossible.
There's now a very real chance
that Angelina could end up
losing both babies.
For a family who have lost
ten calves
in the last five years,
keeping twins alive will be
their greatest challenge.
Angelina leads her family
to look for breakfast.
Alana is busy playing.
And she's been left behind
by her family.
Not a good start.
Fortunately, her elder sisters,
aunts and cousins
come to the rescue.
The effectiveness
of these baby-sitters
will be critical to
the twins' chances of survival.
With the family
back together again,
Angelina leads them
to one of their favourite
feeding spots
a vast swamp
lying in the heart
of Amboseli
supplied through the year
by water flowing
from Mount Kilimanjaro.
The adults wade in
and start to feed.
But the twins are
a little more hesitant.
Atlas encourages his sister
to take the plunge.
The family venture
further into the swamp
in search of the best grass.
But the baby-sitters
have led the twins
into a patch
of particularly sticky mud.
Within seconds,
Atlas is in trouble.
Alana is trying
to reach her brother.
Atlas is completely upside down.
As the family try to help,
they only make matters worse.
Angelina pulls Alana away.
She mustn't risk losing
both of her calves.
The baby-sitters are now
searching in the mud for Atlas.
Miraculously, he's free
but so exhausted
he needs help
to lift his head to breathe.
His baby-sitters
help him back
to be reunited
with his mother.
Elephants learn
from their experiences.
And this has certainly been
a lesson for Angelina,
her family
and perhaps even her twins.
Elephants need a varied diet
and they leave the swamp
to forage on the plains.
For the twins, this open ground
is a great place for playing.
Like human babies, calves learn
through social interactions.
At this age, even their trunk
is a bit of a mystery.
Everything needs investigating,
even their mother's
wonky tusk
their big sister's tail
or their cousin's ear.
This play works both ways.
The baby-sitters must start
to learn what the twins need,
and important bonds
can begin to form.
On the horizon
a group of bull elephants
has appeared.
Males leave their families
once they are about 14 years old
and spend time
in bachelor groups.
One of Angelina's family
IS in oestrus,
four days during which
she's ready to mate.
This only happens
about once in every four years.
And it can attract bulls
from far and wide.
Normally placid males
try to get close
to a female in oestrus,
and that can cause chaos.
Angelina keeps the twins
near to her side.
The bulls kick out
when the twins
get in their way.
As the competition
between the bulls intensifies,
alarm spreads
through the family.
With the twins
safely in the middle,
the whole group runs.
Atlas and Alana are exhausted
trying to keep up
with their mother.
But at least
they've managed to get away
from the amorous bulls.
Back at the swamp,
this time Angelina picks
a better feeding place
and things settle down.
A huge lone bull
disturbed
by the family's approach.
Angelina can only find Alana.
Atlas is dangerously close
to the bull.
With her ears spread in threat,
Angelina attempts to drive
the male away from her son
and the rest of her family
back her up.
Confronted
by the united family
the bull retreats.
Now they can take Atlas
and Alana out of harm's way.
Angelina and her family
are becoming
a force to be reckoned with
now able to protect
both calves.
The chances of both
her son and daughter
surviving their first year
have significantly
increased
thanks to the help
of the whole family.
But in Amboseli,
nothing stays the same for long.
Two months later,
and the dry season has arrived.
This is the hardest time
of the year for elephants.
The knowledge
of where to find food
during these dry times
is critical
and is passed down
by example,
from generation to generation.
Angelina has taken her twins
to an acacia woodland where
there's still something to eat.
But acacia thorns
aren't quite to Alana's taste.
With her mother distracted,
she starts to investigate
things for herself.
She's now several months old
and becoming very inquisitive
as is her brother.
But neither of them
knows quite what to make
of this buffalo,
who's trying to rest.
Not much chance of that today.
Morning adventure complete
they're back to Angelina
before she seems
to have even noticed.
But as time passes,
the savanna is growing drier.
Grassland is turning to dust.
There has been no rain
for months.
Even the strongest
may be brought down by drought.
Angelina leads the family
in a never-ending search
for food.
It's the youngest who,
with less reserves
than the adults,
feel it the most.
Alana keeps falling behind.
And now Angelina's milk
is beginning to run dry.
The twins are starting
to compete with one another.
Although close to a year old
and able to eat grass,
they still need milk.
The time for sharing is over.
The twins have no choice
but to keep up with their mother
as she keeps moving.
As the weeks pass,
there is no let-up.
The twins are close
to starvation.
Their bones are showing
beneath the skin
and their cheeks are sunken.
But still,
they have to keep moving.
Angelina takes her family
back to the swamp.
But even here,
the grass is short
and the water
has turned into mud.
Alana is so hungry
that she ducks her head
to try and suckle.
If you're starving,
even the smallest drink of milk
is worth a mouthful of mud.
The swamp is now
no place for the twins.
Angelina must take them
to safer feeding grounds.
But Atlas simply
hasn't got the energy.
Angelina, having helped him
through so much,
won't leave him.
Hyenas.
They can kill babies this size.
But to even get close,
they must first separate a calf
from its family.
Angelina stands guard
over her twins.
The members of her family
now confidently work together.
The baby-sitters
lead the charge.
They won't let the hyena
get anywhere near the twins.
Angelina can now try to coax
the calves to their feet.
First, Alana.
And with one final effort
Atlas.
Together, they can move
towards safer grounds.
In the face of extreme hardship,
the bonds in this family
have grown stronger.
Elephants can detect storms
coming from 150 miles away.
The long-awaited rains
have arrived.
And not a moment too soon.
The good times are back again.
The hardest part
of Angelina's journey is over.
The twins are now a year old.
Their chances of survival
are now much higher.
Growing in independence
and physical strength
the twins are now at home
in the swamp.
Alana's confidence
may one day help her
become a leader herself.
And Atlas,
having survived so much,
may now have the experience
to become a successful bull
and perhaps
father his own dynasty.
Under Angelina's leadership,
the whole family is thriving.
Five more calves have been born.
The dynasty is returning
to its full strength
united by
one determined elephant.
The Dynasties team
spent over two years filming
with Angelina's family
gradually earning their trust
to allow them to witness
the twins growing up.
The team had to learn
to understand
and predict the movements
of the family.
But filming the bulls proved
a rather different challenge.
Their extensive range
takes them out of the safety
of Amboseli
and into surrounding farmland.
And it's here, when night falls,
that the bulls come
into conflict with humans.
The only way to observe them
in the darkness
is to use a thermal camera.
The bulls,
without making a sound,
sneak in to feed
on the farmers' crops.
But even when the bulls
are discovered,
there is little
the farmers can do about it.
With their entire livelihoods
at stake,
they try to drive off
the elephants with fire.
But the bulls have become
so accustomed to this
that they barely pause
to look up.
Conflict with humans is becoming
one of the biggest threats
to elephants.
Here, an organisation
called Big Life Foundation
is coming up with solutions
to try to keep both elephants
and humans safe.
When the elephant
gets into their crops,
the farmer became so angry
to that elephant,
so it's easy for him to spear,
poison it
Since 2011,
50 elephants have been killed
in conflict in this area
and 20 people
have been killed by elephants.
If that farmer is trying
to cultivate three acres,
and four elephants
get into that farm,
they will completely finish
the whole farm in two hours.
So, these shelters,
farmers will stay there?
Yeah, the farmers will stay
there all over the night.
- All night?
- All night.
Here We have lost
a lot of people here.
An elephant trampled and killed
on this spot at the farm.
The Big Life team have started
to implement
a long-term solution
by laying hundreds of miles
of electric fencing.
The benefit of the fence
coming up all along,
it will act in two ways -
save the life of the farmer
and also the life
of the elephants.
But until this barrier
is finished,
a group of specially trained
Big Life rangers
do the next best thing -
they become a living fence.
Called in nightly
by the farmers,
the rangers head
across swampy ground
to try to chase
the elephants away.
In the pitch-black,
and unarmed except for a torch
and some firecrackers,
it's dangerous work.
Bulls can weigh seven tonnes
and can easily outrun a human.
It's incredible
that while we're watching them,
those rangers,
and they don't know
where the elephants are,
we can see
where the elephants are.
They're pretty brave guys.
The bulls are moving,
but not in the right direction.
They're still eating
and trampling the crops.
The elephants
must be pushed back
before the farmers
lose everything
and before the situation
escalates.
The rangers
have one last resort
their firecrackers.
Although harmless,
the noise and bright light
are enough to finally get
the bulls' attention.
The rangers' strategy
is working.
The elephants are moving back
towards the reserve.
Now the elephants have gone back
to Kimana Sanctuary.
They're safe for now.
Yeah. So they're
in a very safe place.
So you've got to be very brave
and careful. Brave and careful.
So you have to be
very careful as you work.
It's pretty nerve-racking
to think that,
in 14 years' time,
our little male twin is going
to be leaving his family
and braving this conflict zone.
I'm just so relieved
the rangers will be here
to maximise his chances.
By working tirelessly all night
and every night,
this year these rangers have
prevented 180 crop raids
and they were able to save
the lives of all but one bull.
Keeping the elephants
and farmers safe in this way
buys time for the longer-term
solution to be put in place.
And with that, perhaps,
will come some degree of harmony
in the struggle
to share this land.
Poaching seems
to have gone down.
What is left here
is human-elephant conflict.
This is where now the war
of elephant is being lived.
If we can't do something
on human-elephant conflict,
we'll lose all.
We need all to join hands.
We need to say, "Yes,
they have the right to live."
If we can't say no
to killing of elephants,
then we end up
losing everything.
We end up losing
the beauty of the world.
Our kids and our grandchildren
will not see anything,
they will just read in history,
in books
like the dinosaurs.