Natural World (1983) s22e07 Episode Script

In the heart of a great African wilderness a tiny lion cub, her eyes still closed and just a few days old is carried by her mother to a new place of safety With luck and the help of her family she will grow up to be a very special lion Part of a pride who live a very unusual existence in an extraordinary place These lions live in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and they spend more than half the year in a swamp This remarkable pride does things very differently from their savannah or woodland-living cousins Living here means tackling the unique challenges of being a Swamp Cat It's the beginning of winter in the Okavango, the driest time of the year There's been no rain for months, and most of the Okavango is dry, windblown and layered in dust But despite these, a great gathering is taking place From miles around, thousands of buffalo have begun to assemble, in preparation for a great march For them there is almost no grazing here and little to drink Elephants gather here too treading ancient pathways to the few remaining waterholes Before long, even this precious water is churned to mud Yet the buffalo appear to be moving even deeper into the parched floodplains Because they know a dramatic change is on its way It arrives as tiny tendrils of life a precious annual flood that will turn the arid plains into a massive swampland Rain that's fallen in the highlands of Angola 1000 miles away has taken 4 months to reach the Okavango It starts slowly as trickles of water creeping over the land filling a web of dusty pathways, sheeting out across the plains, spreading into the land of the Swamp Cats Somewhere here in a secluded woodland, one of the female swamp cats has hidden her newborn cubs This is Fulani, the most mischievous and playful of three sisters As most lionesses do, Fulani's mother left the main pride and hid herself in a safe place, away from male lions and predators while she gave birth She and her sister will spend the next few weeks here raising Fulani and her two siblings All around them, their home is about to change In a matter of days, thousands of square miles of dusty grasslands transform Almost overnight, Fulani's sanctuary has become an island they are now separated by miles of water from their extended family the swamp cat pride They roam 100 square miles of this wetland, they're one of the few prides that have learned to survive the tough conditions of the swamp 1600 lions live in the Okavango region Most of them live the life typical of savannah lions and avoid the flooded areas This pride does things differently At the head of the family are the grandmothers with years of swampland experience With their older daughters they form the nucleus of swamp cat pride a formidable sisterhood bound together by blood ties The swamp pride is lorded over by a great Kalahari male and his two brothers While savannah males spend a lot of time away on territorial patrol these swamp males show unusually high devotion to the pride spending much of their time with females In summer, availability of food drops by 80% as prey animals disperse The pride survives this lean season by splintering into smaller groups but now, as the flood arrives, they all begin to reunite But they are still not up to full force Fulani's mother and her new cubs are still in hiding several miles away Their sanctuary now surrounded by all manner of new life Some antelope are in their element here, these are lechwe, aquatic grazers that have evolved to live in Africa's swamps Surrounded by water and with hungry mouths to feed Fulani's mother is forced into the shallows in search of a meal Lechwe are perfectly at home in the swamp They have oily waterproof coats and elongated hooves for running over waterlogged ground Confident that no predator can match their speed in the water they spend their time in the shallows grazing new swamp grass Fulani's mother knows that these lechwe are a tough choice for a meal though she also knows there're ways to increase her chances Her best bet is to be bold and to run an inexperienced young lechwe onto dry land She's been lucky but she's not going be able to support her small family on such difficult prey The waters of the Okavango never reach the sea Instead, they spill out over 6000 square miles of the ancient Kalahari desert to form the largest inland delta on earth Desert turns to vibrant swamp a temporary oasis created by the great winter flood For little Fulani it's a bewildering time she's never seen water before She is curious, but like every cat on earth, she has an instinctive hatred of water Her mother is intent on getting the cubs into the shallows Growing up here means that Fulani and her siblings will simply have to get their feet wet their very survival depends on it The water is rising and if they are to join the main pride, their mother will need to move now Most savannah lion cubs aren't faced with so many challenges early on but these 6-week-old cubs are straight in at the deep end They will now have to make an arduous and exhausting journey across miles of cold, flooded grasslands Icy water makes progress slow and tiring Lions aren't designed for this environment Only minutes into their journey, the lionesses become uneasy They're being followed This unknown nomadic male poses a serious threat to the cubs For little Fulani and her siblings, there's no rest the shortest routes are through the deepest channels and with only their noses above water, the risks of drowning and hypothermia are high Still their mother urges them on The young familiar male shadows them until dusk Now Fulani's group is within striking distance of the main pride One last fast-flowing channel separates them from home ground The moment they cross this natural boundary the male loses confidence and abandons his pursuit Winter nights in the Okavango can plummet below freezing and at first light, the swamp is covered with frost tough conditions for tiny cubs The soft contact calls of Fulani's mother drift across the dawn letting the swamp pride know she is coming home Fulani's first big challenge's over her mother cautiously leads the cubs towards the pride She stops at a safe distance to reassure them she is family and not foe After several weeks apart, the sisters are reunited Fulani is immediately at home in the accompany of cousins large and small She will be introduced to lion behavior that is very different from traditional lion families Lions elsewhere have very separate and rigidly enforced territories Perhaps because of the unpredictable flood and dry land being a short supply lion prides in the swamp appear to be less aggressive towards each other and they actually share the islands Uniquely, the swamp pride's home range might overlap by as much as 80% with a neighboring pride So rather than patrolling borders and scrapping with the neighbors the swamp pride males spend more time socializing with the rest of the family The pride will need this level of cooperation if they are to make a success of life in the swamp Under the watchful eye of the old grandmothers, Fulani already has a head start Although this pride male may be a little daunting for Fulani now, one day she will form a bond as special with him as she has with her mother Fulani is still dependant on her mother's milk soon she will start to eat meat and that's when she will need the support of the extended family The last two absent females accompanied by a young male, head back towards the pride For the entire summer, they've been on their own trying to hunt down whatever they could find But lions are far less effective in small groups so they end up stealing much of their food from more successful hunters Hyenas are perhaps the most adaptable predators in the swamp On the east African plains, it's the lions that tend to make the kills but here the lions are often cast in the role of scavengers At full force, the swamp cat pride now has the muscle-power to tackle extremely large prey and they've brought down an adult giraffe during the night Giraffe are one of the few large animals left in the flooded plains yet incredibly the swamp pride had worked out how to pull down this powerful animal Fulani climbs in for her first tentative taste of meat alongside her father Elsewhere pride males rarely allow youngsters so close at the kill but the swamp pride males show remarkable levels of tolerance This feast is unusual and will tide them over for a while but the prey they really depend on has yet to arrive As the flood continues to rise and spill out across the land it reaches its highest level for 20 years pushing out most of the grazing animals After several weeks of trekking the great herds of buffalo finally begin to appear in the swamp streaming in sinuous lines across the flooded grasslands Their goal is the new sweet grass, nourished by the floodwaters These herds are constantly on the move across the swamp searching out fresh grazing And, keenly awaiting their return are the swamp cats After the hardships of the last few months, suddenly there's potential prey everywhere But hunting these buffalos is not for the faint-hearted Stalking very deep in the swamp is far more demanding than on dry land and tackling the highly dangerous African buffalo is a task that only experience and weight of numbers can achieve It will be a testing time for the lions especially the youngest in the pride From now one the swamp cats will be constantly on the move to stay within range of the buffalo and little Fulani and the other cubs will be forced to keep up no matter how exhausting and treacherous the journey In front are the wise old grandmothers who are veterans of the game How well they use their knowledge and experience will determine the survival of Fulani and the rest of the pride The grandmothers maintain a relentless pace as they lead the pride from island to island on the trail of the buffalo On a welcome patch of dry land Fulani and her cousins take the rare opportunity to romp a brief lapse in concentration that has serious consequences Fulani becomes separated from the group The pride drawn by the distant sound of buffalo presses on unaware that Fulani is missing A yelps are muffled by the sounds of the swamp And her mother's scent trail is lost in the water Naturally, Fulani's mother hears a faint cry Neither mother nor cub is sure of direction and their paths diverge in the swamp Fulani is in real danger Small cubs separated from the protection of the pride for even a short time are killed by hyenas, crocodiles or leopards or simply succumb to cold and exhaustion In the Okavango more than half the cubs die before they are even 12 weeks old Despite her frantic searching, Fulani's mother cannot find her lost cub As dusk approaches, the rest of the pride stop trailing the buffalo and settle down to wait Fulani's mother won't give up her search The hours of darkness are the most dangerous for an unprotected lion cub with many predators on the prowl The little cub has survived the night but she is frightened and confused During the night the pride has joined Fulani's mother in the search And now they can hear the cub's desperate calls Fulani's misadventure has cost the pride valuable time and energy A day's gap is opened up between them and the buffalo The herd is many islands and water crossings away And the swamp pride needs to make up ground When the exhausted cubs begin to slow the pride down the females are forced to leave them All lions leave small cubs alone while hunting but it's a much tougher situation for Fulani and the other cubs The swamp pride may be away for days tracking the buffalo so the cubs must wait quietly for fear of attracting hyenas Out on these floodplains, the swamp cats face far more hunting challenges than most lions There is so little cover that an ambush is difficult to set up Stalking low in the water is impossible But they still need to rely on stealthy and surprise So the swamp cats have had to master the art of approaching quietly in water Even if they can get close, the lion's main weapon - explosive speed is severely hampered in the shallows Buffalo are clever, powerful and dangerous They are also strong swimmers so the pride needs to employ special tactics As the lions close in and the buffalo's own noisy progress through the water marks the sound of the lions' approach These swamp-specialists have learned through bitter experience not to attempt an attack in the water They carefully maneuver around the herd two females swim round to cut off any escape route The pride inches into position concentrating on a small group with a calf They wait until the buffalo edge onto dry land before springing the ambush But the buffalo know exactly how to respond by heading for deep water Despite the size of the pride, most buffalo hunts in water end like this Nine out of 10 hunts fail The swamp cats regroup and get back on the buffalos' trail They will shadow the herd and wait for another chance Each side understands the inevitable and ongoing contest As the shadows lengthen, the lions settle down prepared to play a waiting game Darkness brings cover and at night, the buffalo tend to spend more time on dry islands than in the water giving the swamp cats an edge Hunting by moonlight these two adversaries play out an ancient game of cat and mouse Only this time, the mouse weighs nearly a ton and is heavily armed All night long, the 3 males harass the resilient buffalo herd When the dawn comes, there's no kill, but there's a victim An old bull is down, exhausted by the lions' persistent attacks Some of the buffalo cows have banded together and stand by him presenting a united and intimidating front to the waiting lions But eventually the cows recognize the old bull's time is up and abandon him to his fate He rises to his feet for one last defiant stand There's no rush both the hunters and the hunted sense that the outcome is now inevitable As the adults settle down to feed Fulani's mother goes back to fetch all the junior members of the pride This is Fulani's first taste of buffalo And she joins in alongside the adults All show remarkable tolerance towards each other Fulani soon learns the tricky art of picking the bones clean Because each buffalo is so hard won, the swamp cats won't waste a thing There will be nothing left for the vultures An old female meticulously buries the entrails disguising any smell that would carry on the wind and attract hyenas Fulani watches and learns but more importantly, the meal has bought the pride some time to relax Lions are the only social big cats and none are more sociable than the swamp cats Playing is important for forming alliances, and the special cooperation that the pride need for killing dangerous animals like the buffalo Fulani will need a little bit more weight and tackling experience before she will be taken seriously A few weeks later, at the height of the winter season over 70% of the swamp pride's home range is under water The waterlogged land lies under a blanket of mist in the cold morning air This is when the great Okavango is at its most spectacular Emerald green grasses grow through the floodwaters and the areas between the isolated islands are crisscrossed with a web of trails left by animals as they move through this complex wetland In the intervening weeks, the swamp pride has managed to pull down a few buffalo and Fulani is growing into a strong and independent cub One of the most intense periods of her young life is about to begin The water is now so deep that the great buffalo herds break up into smaller groups and begin to disperse, making them harder to find The swamp cat pride are so reliant on the buffalo to keep them in good shape that they must venture into the deeper swamp and take whatever opportunities they can Only by being able to swim and follow the buffalo, can the swamp cats survive here The pressure is on for the cats, because the season is drawing to an end The buffalo begin to move out of the swamp cats' territory and soon they will be gone Time is running out for the lions Fulani and the other cubs will go with them it will be her greatest challenge yet Hours of swimming with the pride across the deepest part of the swamp Leading once again will be the grandmothers they remember the best places to cross deep fast flowing channels They can anticipate how to play the swamp to their advantage and they know where these last isolated groups of buffalo might be found Fulani's ability to learn the tricks of being a swamp cat now will determine whether she will succeed or fail in years to come She must learn to find safe crossings how to stalk prey, the best ways to conserve heat and energy where crocs will be lurking.
How to take part in an ambush In other words, the problems of being a cat that lives in water The swamp cats have followed the last big herd to one of the large dry islands on the very edge of their home range Now they prepare an ambush The cubs are far too small to approach aggressive buffalo who would kill them on sight so they're left close by to watch and learn Fulani has a grandstand view Each lioness maneuvers carefully into position surrounding the buffalo Some hide and patiently wait Others begin a flanking movement to get behind the herd Every cat moves closer, waiting for the buffalo to panic Soon the floodwaters will start to recede and the delta will turn once more towards desert In these summer months, Fulani will become a young adult During the dry season, the pride will split up and Fulani will shadow her mother learning to hunt honing her skills in the swamp So that by the time the annual floodwaters arrive again and the swamp pride reunites for the next great buffalo season Fulani will be an accomplished hunter and a successful swamp cat