Natural World (1983) s25e06 Episode Script

This is Namaqualand in southwest Africa only the strongest and most resourceful can survive here Life is anything but easy in such a parched land Only 6 inches of rain fall here each year But when the rain does fall, its effect is miraculous Flowers in every color of the rainbow unfold to greet the sun A billion glorious blooms spread out across the sands to turn this dry and dusty desert into the greatest natural garden on earth Spring time and the desert garden is in full bloom where it meets the sea along the coast of south Africa it seems to cover almost every square inch of land even the stones themselves seem to come alive The Atlantic ocean marks the western edge of Namaqualand From here, this ancient desert stretches inland over sand dunes and great plains for hundreds of miles until it reaches this mountainous escarpment You might call it the garden wall Within its boundaries, great splashes of color have transformed the desert plains into fields of flowers There's enough variety here to make any botanist drool In fact, there're over 3,000 different species of flower in Namaqualand and more than half of them occur nowhere else on earth But how does a desert support such an incredible diversity of life? not just of plants, but of animals too Among ostriches, it's not mom but dad who looks after the nest And this proud father has timed his family perfectly to coincide with the full flushes of spring But however cute these chicks are, they're not the most endearing inhabitants of the desert garden That title falls to the meerkats These captivating animals are constantly on the lookout for predators But this time, they got nothing to fear The Nama people have been peacefully grazing their livestock here for centuries But by far the most important residents in Namaqualand are the smallest Insects play a vital role in pollinating these desert blooms Over thousands of years, plants have evolved all sorts of ways to try to attract the interest of a passing pollinator giving Namaqualand a floral variety unmatched anywhere else on earth Some plants even use deception the petals of this beetle daisy mimic the colors of a real beetle to try entice pollinators hungry not for nectar but for love These goldthorn flowers offer a different bribe Inside the flower are thousands of tiny but highly nutritious droplets of oil And to get to them, this bee has evolved extra long front legs which can gather the oil from the flower's long horns while pollen rubs off on the bee's body directing hungry insects to a deep well of nectar within Once again, specialist equipment is required This time, a very, very long tongue The flower reaps its reward when the fly collects a faceful of pollen and carries its genes to pollinate another flower and with a pollinator specialized to this one, the plant can be certain that its pollen will be carried to another flower of the same species Well, almost certain Succulent leafed Mesembryanthemums have no nectar to offer and instead, bribe monkey beetles with a meal of pollen rich in protein though this male seems to be more interested in love than lunch Unfortunately, it's not long before another male arrives to break up the party These fights over the ladies can be violent enough to break a rival's legs But this time, the interloper is driven off unharmed leaving the happy couple safe in their petal boudoir Not all insects enjoy such a happy relationship with the flowers of this desert garden These foam grasshoppers are hungry vandals devouring whole flowers even whole plant as they try put on enough weight to be able to reach breeding size before the season ends The ostrich family is already growing fast The proud parents looking on as the chicks begin to forage for themselves With so much to choose from they are a bit like children in a sweetshop hardly knowing where to start But it's not just their parents keeping an eye on them An ostrich's chick would make a good lunch for the caracal but dad has other ideas And while the caracal puts on a good show, he wisely decides that discretion is the better part of valor As dusk falls over Namaqualand the plants close up for the evening protecting their precious pollen from the night dew But there're some night raiders against whom there is no defense Even a desert garden has moles Well, mole rats, anyway These subterranean phoebes spend their entire lives underground stealing supplies from the surface And in this time of plenty, they gorge themselves on fresh greens leaving enough time for their other favorite pastime Sleep Elsewhere in the night, there's more frantic activity Emerging from 2 years underground a thread-winged lacewing unfolds her wings Once her wings have dried in the night air this beautiful bride will go in search of a groom Their courtship is a moonlit dance a bright moment in the dead of night A night when the Nama people also dance under the moon But the lacewing's magical dance won't last long Once their eggs are laid the pair will die as dawn breaks on a new season in Namaqualand The flowers of the desert can't last long in the summer sun Under its ferocious heat, these fragile annuals soon wither and die but as the petals fall, they reveal the plant's insurance for the future billions and billions of seeds For the harvest ants, this is the busy season And as they carry the seeds off to stock their larders, they provide a valuable service spreading the seeds across the plains The spring colors fade leaving a brown and barren landscape But there is still life in this desert The meerkat pups are emerging from their den for the first time Only 3 weeks old they'll need to be fed by their parents for at least 2 months before they can fend for themselves It's got to be hard work for the grown-ups The Nama people face a similar problem a need to find good grazing for their animals The lambs have been kept safe over night in makeshift enclosures and are now returned to their mothers for suckling a welcome drink for the thirsty youngsters The Namaqualand sand grouse have to work harder for their liquid refreshment Each day they may fly 40 mile or more in search of water Soon, these pools will dry up and the grouse will have to search for water even further afield The Nama must also travel far to find water deep into the mountains in search of ancient springs This spring-fed pool is a rare oasis without it, these animals will perish For the meerkat family unable to leave the desert plains life is now really tough all their moisture must come from food It takes special survival skills to make a living in these harsh conditions Long claws and a keen sense of smell help them unearth juicy morsels from the sand These youngsters are learning fast This lizard might seem like an easy target but he has a trick up his sleeve or more accurately, up his tail To start with, he tries playing dead But when that doesn't work, he deploys his secret defense mechanism Grabbing hold of his own tail, he forms an impenetrable ring of spines It's enough to deter even the most determined meerkat He turns to digging in search of easier prey if that's what you can call a deadly scorpion The sting in his tail could easily kill a child Yet scorpions are still favorite meerkat food Fast reflex is help And meerkats are largely immune to the venom but a sting still hurts, so it's worth taking care For meerkat children, it's sometimes pays to play with their food As summer wears on, temperature soar it's been months since the last rains These quiver trees seal in moisture beneath shining bark and waxy leaves saving water in this unforgiving heat It's not always enough As a last resort, they can amputate their own branches to reduce water lose A shady place can be a vital refuge from the sun It's just too hot to move but some poor souls still have to keep watch Searing winds blow across the desert And the withered remains of long dead plants are carried by these winds scattering their seeds across the desolate landscape Harvest ants are still hard at work, collecting whatever seeds they can find and hauling them back to their nest But it isn¡¯t just the ants who've learned to escape the heat below ground Irises and lilies also retreating to the earth storing moisture and nutrients in underground bulbs safe from the sun but not safe from everything For the mole rats, these bulbs are fast food water, energy and goodness all packed into a neat little bundle Start piling them now will see the mole rats through hard times when the soil will be just too dry and too hard for digging new tunnels in search of food So now, they race to store as much as they can Summer is almost at its peak but there is one animal who seems to thrive in this desolation The foam grasshoppers are fat and well-fed preparing for their final transition to adulthood They burst out of their old skins and into brightly colored new ones And after months of walking they finally grow wings The vivid colors echo those of the spring flowers they fed on but make them all too easy to spot now Yet the hungry meerkats leave them well alone and with good reason Those bright colors advertise the fact that the grasshoppers are loaded with poison and so not worth eating A single mouthful would be deadly The grasshoppers harvest this poison from milkweed one of the few plants that are still green The milkweed is loaded with cyanide which the grasshoppers store in their bodies as they eat Though it doesn't deter the grasshoppers the poison does help protect the milkweed from other hungry mouths Many plants protect their precious water in this way and that can mean death for a desperate animal With nothing left for their livestock to eat the Nama must pack up their belongings and round up their herds It would be a long and arduous journey to find new grazing east out of Namaqualand to a plateau where the grass still grows fresh and sweet Only the youngest lambs and the youngest children are given a free ride as they abandon this scorched landscape It's hard to imagine that this was once the lush and colorful garden of spring Soon, even the resourceful ostrich family will be unable to glean a living and they too will have to leave Succulent dwarf Mesembryanthemums give up the struggle and reabsorb the water from their soft leaves Pebble plants hide themselves beneath silvery skins which reflect the sun's dangerous rays and camouflage them perfectly among the corps of stones They are not dead, only sleeping But the meerkat family can't afford to rest Too small to travel elsewhere, they must work hard to survive constantly searching to find enough food There's no more sharing now It's very meerkat for himself and not even the pups are spared this harsh reality The group's family ties a stretch to the limit Every last morsel is vital Yet only 100 miles away where the desert garden meets the sea life is much less of a struggle The air is cool above the icy waters of the Atlantic bringing moisture which forms life giving mists These daily mists sweep inland bring in water to this thirsty ground before they're burned off by the sun They bring just enough moisture to keep this strip of land green and glowing attracting ostriches down to the coast in search of food For a few places in the world where you can see ostriches on the beach There's other more typical coastal wildlife here too The Benguela current brings nutrient-rich water all the way from Antarctic It feeds an abundance of fish and they in turn feed cape fur seals who time their breeding to match the peak of this bonanza As summer ends the pup suckle furiously on rich creamy milk in just 3 months, they'll start to forage alone at sea Cape gannets are also here to feed on the fish Masters of the air, they are a little ungamely on land This chick's looking for an elegant role model to follow into the air but without much luck Soon it must throw caution to the wind Even if his first foray ends in disaster Mother seal is hungry she leaves her pup alone and heads off in search of a snack That's bad news for the gannet chick because seals don't only have a taste for fish These desperate attempts to take off maybe just too late More used to fins than feathers this seal must tear the bird apart before it can swallow such large prey The weather is turning once again Now the Benguela current brings powerful storms which sweep inland but they carry with them the promise of new life This is what our desert garden's been waiting for the winter rains The kiss of life Seed capsules break open and release their treasures The pebble plants wake up and burst through their protective skins The rockery of the desert garden begins to flower While winter brings rain it's also cold.
Too cold for all but the hardiest insects Even the meerkats in their fur coat must bask in the sun before they can face the cold mornings The cold conditions mean that early flowering plants like the quiver trees can only be pollinated by animals hardy enough to withstand such low temperatures Their nectar makes a welcome meal for this weaver bird but he's not the bird the tree had in mind for this treat It's songbirds with their long bills that the trees trying to attract to spread its pollen And the quiver tree flowers this early to make sure it gets the songbirds full attention As night falls in Namaqualand it gets even colder but there's still one animal tough enough to be out and about in pollinating the early desert flowers The short tailed gerbil has a nose for nectar As he feasts at the flower, the gerbil's whiskers are coated with pollen which he'll then carry off to pollinate another flower It makes this gerbil one of only a handful of rodents anywhere in the world who help pollinate plants The desert garden is greening up and as the weather warms, there're signs of new life everywhere The male ostrich is looking for love He spies a beautiful maiden and the dance of seduction begins His chosen one shows her appreciation of his efforts and prepares herself for his attentions It seems to be a match made in heaven But the meerkats have seen it all before With the promise of easier times on the way They can afford to devote a bit less time to survival and a bit more time to play After the strain of the summer all these rough and tumble is just the thing to help reinforce the family bond It's all useful training that will help to toughen them up for the hard summers ahead It won't be long before they too will have a new family The final ingredient in this desert garden's recipe for success is on its way As winter turns to spring that coastal mists push moisture further and further inland One vital last watering that brings the barren seedbeds to life As the mist recedes, it reveals the miracle of Namaqualand Once again, parched earth is transformed into an exuberance of growth Once again, flowers of every color you can imagine unfold to greet the sun And once again, a billion blossoms spread out across the desert sands in one of the greatest natural spectacles on earth The meerkats seem surprised by this sudden transformation of their home For them, and all the animals who manage to survive in this challenging land the rich living has returned Water isn't around for long in this desert yet plants make the most of every last drop through seeds, bulbs and cunning adaptations they've managed to survive the parched summer to flower once again They fight for the attention of pollinators large and small with an incredible variety of flowers The result: a diversity of plant life that makes Namaqualand such a glorious desert garden Transcription and synchronization by Andrew & Hattie