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00:00:07,341 --> 00:00:09,841
[Paul Rudd]
Planet Earth is so spectacular,

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00:00:10,636 --> 00:00:13,676
it's easy to miss
the smaller things in life.

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00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:17,636
But take a closer look...

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00:00:18,143 --> 00:00:20,563
and there's a whole undiscovered world.

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A world where tiny heroes...

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and little monsters...

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need incredible superpowers...

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to help them triumph against giant odds.

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Life moves fast.

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00:00:58,183 --> 00:00:59,813
Especially when you're small.

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This little chipmunk
is barely a month old.

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But he'll be lucky
to live longer than a year.

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[sniffing]

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There's so much to explore.

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And so little time.

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His patch of North American forest
is about to burst into life.

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With little creatures...

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and big opportunities.

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[bird hums]

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[wings flapping]

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00:01:45,731 --> 00:01:49,941
But tiny lives can be over
in the blink of an eye.

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00:02:05,751 --> 00:02:06,961
No time to stand still.

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[goshawk screeches]

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Move fast.

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Learn quickly.

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And you might just make it
through the year.

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Early spring.

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And the forests of
the Appalachians Mountains

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are just beginning to bloom.

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There's so much food here,

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a palm-sized chipmunk
only needs half an acre to himself.

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[sniffs]

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Nuts are particularly abundant.

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They're the currency
that drives this little world.

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And in autumn, when they're ripe,
they'll provide a huge windfall.

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00:03:48,478 --> 00:03:50,898
But before then,
he has a lot to deal with.

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An older, stronger male
already lives here.

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[chitters]

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If the little chipmunk
is going to make it,

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someday soon he'll need to
stand up for himself.

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But fighting is risky.

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He can't afford to be injured
so early in the season.

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[chipmunks chittering]

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[chitters]

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He'll have to keep his head down...

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scratch out a living on the edges...

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until he's big enough to hold his ground.

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For most, spring's a time to get out
and get eating.

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Small animals have fast metabolisms,
so they must feed more often.

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The caterpillars are ravenous...

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and so are the birds.

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Sapsuckers drill hundreds of wells
to reach the rising sap.

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[chirping]

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And walnut-sized hummingbirds
take full advantage.

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They fly almost 5,000 kilometers
to get here.

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And arrive just in time
for this seasonal sugar rush.

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While most of the forest
is in overdrive...

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one resident is still fast asleep.

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Curled up in a space
smaller than an egg cup,

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a jumping mouse has been hibernating
for eight months.

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Now, she's in danger of never waking up.

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Sleep too long and she'll starve.

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Two-thirds of these mice do.

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Her neighbors, on the other hand,
never rest.

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They've got
hundreds of tiny mouths to feed.

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Like all ants, they are industrious.

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But what makes them unique
is where they live.

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[rumbling]

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Only the size of a grain of sand,
they're so small,

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their entire society
fits inside an old acorn.

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[rumbling]

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It seems the perfect safe house.

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But maybe it's not such a good idea
to build your home in someone else's food.

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[rumbling]

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Giants stalk this forest.

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[rumbling continues]

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[rumbling]

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Wild turkeys.

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Time to secure the grubs
and hold on tight.

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[turkeys gobbling]

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This could be a rough ride.

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[rumbling]

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At least acorns make sturdy homes.

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And they're built to roll.

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[turkeys gobbling]

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Summer in the forest comes fast.

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It looks lush and bountiful.

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And yet,
the little chipmunk is barely getting by.

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The acorns still aren't ripe.

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And, with no patch of his own,

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he's forced to forage
in the older male's territory.

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Still not ready for that fight.

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He needs to bulk up.

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In desperate times,
chipmunks will try almost anything.

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[sniffing]

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Maybe even a slug.

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Or maybe not.

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Can't stick around though.

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There's a deadly threat up above.

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And there'll be another soon.

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[chick chirping]

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Right now,
this baby goshawk can barely stand...

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let alone fly.

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[chirping]

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It'll be a while
before she's hunting chipmunks.

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Down below, something strange is hatching.

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After two years as a grub,

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a Hercules beetle
the size of a golf ball is emerging.

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He's in a big hurry...

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to claim the high ground
so he can secure a mate.

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But why walk...

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when you can fly?

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One of the world's heaviest insects,

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his wing muscles
need to be fully warmed up

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before he can take to the air.

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It's safer to walk for now.

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But this Herculean task looks simple
compared to an acorn weevil's.

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She's only a hundredth his size,

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but she has
a thousand times further to go.

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She's on an epic journey...

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to reach the forest canopy.

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All in pursuit of precious acorns.

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They haven't matured yet.

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But she's not going to eat them.

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They're for her young.

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[machine whirring]

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She can only bore into them
while they're green.

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A lot of effort for just one egg.

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And she's got many more acorns to fill.

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On the forest floor,
the jumping mouse is beginning to stir.

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She really must wake up soon.

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For now, she's blissfully unaware
of the turning seasons...

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and of the battle
brewing right above her head.

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The Hercules beetle has made it
to the top of the log.

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But there's no time to rest.

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The competition is close behind.

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Some of the strongest beetles
on the planet.

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Each can lift 100 times their own weight.

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The goal is to pick up
and throw your opponent from the log.

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The sumo wrestlers of the insect world.

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The log is his.

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And with it comes the chance to mate.

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The young goshawk's vision
is already twice as good as ours.

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At four weeks old,
she's almost fully grown.

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Most of her feathers are now through.

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Soon she'll be able to fly.

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Until then,
the little chipmunk can rest easy.

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Not too easy though.

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It's still some time until autumn,
and those acorns are finally ripe.

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When midsummer nights fall,

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there's magic in the air.

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[insects chirping]

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Thousands of tiny fireflies
dancing in the darkness.

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[owl hooting]

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-[crickets chirping]
-[frog croaking]

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Inside her log,
the little jumping mouse is finally awake.

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But now, close to starving to death.

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She needs to find food.

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[sniffing]

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And that means braving the night.

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Strange things are stirring
on the forest floor.

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[owl hoots]

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[hawk screeches]

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And one of nature's weirdest spectacles
is about to unfold.

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After 17 years
feeding underground as grubs,

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cicadas are finally surfacing.

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And now, they have just days to live.

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[cicadas buzzing]

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The race is on.

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00:19:38,679 --> 00:19:40,679
After a lifetime alone underground,

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millions of thumb-sized cicadas have
timed their emergence for this moment.

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It's one of the biggest migrations
on Earth.

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Tonight,
they transform from nymphs to adults.

174
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Tomorrow, they'll mate,
and then they'll die.

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Many won't even last the night.

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[crunching]

177
00:20:32,357 --> 00:20:36,567
But sheer numbers ensure most will survive
long enough to reproduce.

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And the forest still gets a feast.

179
00:20:46,163 --> 00:20:48,753
But the jumping mouse
is more of a vegetarian.

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She's on the hunt
for small seeds and fungi.

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00:21:06,892 --> 00:21:09,652
Timber rattlesnakes
can go months without feeding.

182
00:21:18,403 --> 00:21:22,373
Right now, something mouse-sized
would go down perfectly.

183
00:21:29,039 --> 00:21:31,249
Foraging in the dark is risky business...

184
00:21:35,504 --> 00:21:36,594
unless you've got...

185
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secret superpowers.

186
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Seemingly defying gravity,
she can jump two meters high.

187
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Oversized tendons in her feet and legs,
combined with her tiny size...

188
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allow her to leap from danger
lurking in the forest.

189
00:22:29,183 --> 00:22:32,313
And hopefully onto safer feeding grounds.

190
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[birds singing]

191
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[bird caws]

192
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As summer turns to fall,

193
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the forest enters a magical golden period.

194
00:22:59,004 --> 00:23:01,804
But with it comes a new threat.

195
00:23:11,225 --> 00:23:13,265
The young goshawk has fledged...

196
00:23:19,858 --> 00:23:21,688
from scraggly little chick...

197
00:23:28,450 --> 00:23:29,870
to aerial assassin.

198
00:23:34,957 --> 00:23:36,577
Her wingspan over a meter.

199
00:23:38,126 --> 00:23:42,046
And she's capable of speeds
up to 60 kilometers per hour.

200
00:23:57,479 --> 00:23:59,939
Small animals best keep an eye on the sky.

201
00:24:07,364 --> 00:24:08,874
And not just for hawks.

202
00:24:17,624 --> 00:24:20,044
The moment
the little chipmunk has been waiting for.

203
00:24:26,550 --> 00:24:28,050
Ripe acorns.

204
00:24:31,555 --> 00:24:35,635
This windfall only lasts a week or two,
so time to stock up.

205
00:24:40,814 --> 00:24:44,324
He can cram multiple nuts
in those supersized cheeks.

206
00:24:49,740 --> 00:24:53,370
A valuable skill when you need hundreds
to survive the winter.

207
00:24:59,416 --> 00:25:02,416
But his stockpile doesn't seem to be
building fast enough.

208
00:25:09,092 --> 00:25:11,512
Someone has been raiding his stash.

209
00:25:14,389 --> 00:25:15,599
The older male.

210
00:25:23,106 --> 00:25:24,936
The more this little guy stores...

211
00:25:29,571 --> 00:25:31,621
the more his neighbor steals.

212
00:25:38,705 --> 00:25:39,915
And to cap it all off...

213
00:25:43,252 --> 00:25:46,172
many of the nuts nearby are worthless.

214
00:25:52,344 --> 00:25:55,104
The acorn weevil's larva
has been growing inside.

215
00:25:58,892 --> 00:26:03,112
Now the size of a jelly bean,
it's time to escape the nursery.

216
00:26:07,818 --> 00:26:09,648
Much easier said than done.

217
00:26:19,913 --> 00:26:22,003
Even empty nuts don't go to waste though.

218
00:26:26,295 --> 00:26:30,125
A new home
for a new generation of acorn ants.

219
00:26:41,810 --> 00:26:43,480
Over in her cozy log,

220
00:26:45,689 --> 00:26:48,689
the jumping mouse
is already preparing her bed.

221
00:26:51,987 --> 00:26:54,237
She's only been awake for a few months.

222
00:26:55,032 --> 00:26:57,662
Now it's time for another big sleep.

223
00:27:03,123 --> 00:27:04,963
No rest for the little chipmunk though.

224
00:27:06,835 --> 00:27:08,295
Autumn is almost over,

225
00:27:08,378 --> 00:27:11,218
and his chances of surviving winter
are looking bleak.

226
00:27:16,345 --> 00:27:17,675
He needs more nuts.

227
00:27:19,389 --> 00:27:20,889
And there's only one solution.

228
00:27:25,270 --> 00:27:26,860
[chipmunk chitters]

229
00:27:27,606 --> 00:27:29,816
Time to venture into enemy territory.

230
00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:31,900
[chipmunk chittering]

231
00:27:39,993 --> 00:27:42,043
The older male may be willing to steal...

232
00:27:47,584 --> 00:27:49,804
but he certainly isn't willing to share.

233
00:28:06,478 --> 00:28:09,108
The young chipmunk has been caught
red-handed.

234
00:28:14,319 --> 00:28:17,199
This patch of forest isn't big enough
for the both of them.

235
00:28:24,705 --> 00:28:27,365
[chipmunks chittering]

236
00:28:30,127 --> 00:28:31,797
But he can't run forever.

237
00:28:34,256 --> 00:28:35,876
It's time to fight.

238
00:28:36,884 --> 00:28:38,304
[chipmunks chittering]

239
00:28:48,604 --> 00:28:50,774
[chipmunk screeching]

240
00:29:06,997 --> 00:29:09,917
Scarred and beaten,
the older male turns tail.

241
00:29:16,548 --> 00:29:17,798
[thuds]

242
00:29:18,842 --> 00:29:21,802
And it looks like he won't be back
anytime soon.

243
00:29:26,517 --> 00:29:27,937
[screeches]

244
00:29:32,606 --> 00:29:35,226
Sometimes when you're small,
life can be painfully short.

245
00:29:40,113 --> 00:29:42,533
But this little chipmunk
is making the most of it.

246
00:29:45,077 --> 00:29:46,907
He's secured a territory of his own,

247
00:29:47,746 --> 00:29:49,456
an enormous haul of nuts...

248
00:29:51,250 --> 00:29:54,380
and overcome the challenges
of being tiny...

249
00:29:55,295 --> 00:29:57,255
in a big, wild wood.

250
00:29:59,466 --> 00:30:01,836
With everything he needs
to see him through winter...

251
00:30:04,429 --> 00:30:06,519
finally, he can rest...

252
00:30:08,392 --> 00:30:10,812
and dream of another spring.