1 00:00:18,435 --> 00:00:19,770 [Tom Hiddleston] The night. 2 00:00:24,441 --> 00:00:30,822 A shadowy world that hides more than half the animals on our planet. 3 00:00:33,534 --> 00:00:38,747 Until now, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives. 4 00:00:41,750 --> 00:00:44,837 But with next-generation technology, 5 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,800 we can see the night as clear as day. 6 00:00:56,598 --> 00:01:00,769 With cameras a hundred times more sensitive than the human eye... 7 00:01:04,147 --> 00:01:06,859 we can now capture the beauty of night... 8 00:01:09,361 --> 00:01:10,487 in color. 9 00:01:15,367 --> 00:01:17,202 Alien landscapes. 10 00:01:20,289 --> 00:01:24,793 Strange creatures brought to life by the darkness. 11 00:01:27,713 --> 00:01:30,174 Unseen behaviors. 12 00:01:37,222 --> 00:01:40,767 Now we can follow the lives of animals 13 00:01:41,602 --> 00:01:44,104 in Earth's last true wilderness. 14 00:01:46,648 --> 00:01:47,649 The night. 15 00:02:09,588 --> 00:02:13,217 It's the last light of day in Patagonia. 16 00:02:15,802 --> 00:02:18,055 [birds singing in the distance] 17 00:02:19,806 --> 00:02:22,976 These are the southernmost mountains in the Americas... 18 00:02:23,894 --> 00:02:29,107 and home to the continent's most wide-ranging large cat. 19 00:02:35,864 --> 00:02:39,409 Puma, the mountain lion. 20 00:02:47,125 --> 00:02:50,796 This young female is called "Petaca." 21 00:02:56,009 --> 00:02:59,847 She's a curious teenager, just 13 months old, 22 00:02:59,930 --> 00:03:03,809 and still under her mother's watchful eye. 23 00:03:09,940 --> 00:03:11,650 [sniffs] 24 00:03:14,820 --> 00:03:19,491 Her home mountains are among the best hunting grounds in the Andes. 25 00:03:21,577 --> 00:03:23,704 [purrs] 26 00:03:25,539 --> 00:03:29,710 The ideal place for Petaca and her two bigger brothers... 27 00:03:31,503 --> 00:03:33,172 to get to grips with life. 28 00:03:40,262 --> 00:03:43,473 But their mother's care won't last much longer. 29 00:03:47,352 --> 00:03:48,520 [growls] 30 00:03:49,479 --> 00:03:54,109 And little Petaca will soon have to fend for herself. 31 00:04:01,950 --> 00:04:03,285 [animal hoots] 32 00:04:04,286 --> 00:04:05,954 [birds cawing in the distance] 33 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:12,920 As night approaches, it's time for the pumas to go in search of a meal. 34 00:04:17,048 --> 00:04:21,178 But Petaca still relies on her mom to hunt for her. 35 00:04:28,101 --> 00:04:32,898 Ninety percent of puma hunts happen between dusk and dawn. 36 00:04:40,072 --> 00:04:44,952 Mom is leading the cubs on the trail of the pumas' top prize. 37 00:04:51,583 --> 00:04:52,709 Guanaco. 38 00:04:53,585 --> 00:04:56,046 Wild relatives of the llama. 39 00:04:56,129 --> 00:04:58,048 [brays, snorts] 40 00:04:59,633 --> 00:05:01,134 [whinnies, snorts] 41 00:05:03,303 --> 00:05:05,347 [brays, snorts] 42 00:05:12,104 --> 00:05:15,941 In daylight, the odds are stacked against the cats. 43 00:05:20,988 --> 00:05:22,865 But as dusk falls, 44 00:05:24,908 --> 00:05:27,327 the chance of success grows. 45 00:05:33,834 --> 00:05:36,587 [guanaco squealing] 46 00:05:40,716 --> 00:05:43,468 At twice the size of an adult puma, 47 00:05:44,303 --> 00:05:46,305 they're no easy quarry. 48 00:05:52,644 --> 00:05:56,940 Mom is giving Petaca and her brothers a vital lesson. 49 00:06:01,778 --> 00:06:06,450 By pushing the herd uphill, it's harder for them to outrun her. 50 00:06:09,036 --> 00:06:11,622 [guanaco squealing] 51 00:06:14,875 --> 00:06:18,170 And she spied an opportunity. 52 00:06:25,677 --> 00:06:27,387 [guanaco squeals] 53 00:06:50,702 --> 00:06:52,496 [guanaco squealing] 54 00:06:57,668 --> 00:06:59,878 Petaca's mother makes her kill... 55 00:07:02,631 --> 00:07:04,967 as dusk fades to darkness. 56 00:07:17,646 --> 00:07:19,940 But with moonlight cameras, 57 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:26,280 we can now see the pumas' nighttime world like never before. 58 00:07:31,952 --> 00:07:34,121 [guanaco squeal in the distance] 59 00:07:46,466 --> 00:07:50,971 Pumas' night vision is six times more sensitive than ours. 60 00:07:51,555 --> 00:07:55,767 Allowing Petaca to navigate through the darkness with ease. 61 00:08:03,942 --> 00:08:07,446 This is the first time these cats are being filmed 62 00:08:07,529 --> 00:08:10,157 using only the light of the moon. 63 00:08:20,167 --> 00:08:22,252 This new way of seeing 64 00:08:22,336 --> 00:08:25,506 allows us to follow the family into the night 65 00:08:26,173 --> 00:08:30,135 and witness a pivotal moment in Petaca's life. 66 00:08:38,018 --> 00:08:40,102 As the family share the meal... 67 00:08:42,481 --> 00:08:45,442 Petaca must learn to win her share. 68 00:08:51,365 --> 00:08:56,245 But this vital lesson is the last her mom will ever give her. 69 00:08:56,828 --> 00:08:58,413 [bird chirps in the distance] 70 00:09:03,836 --> 00:09:07,297 Her mother has picked up the scent of a nearby male. 71 00:09:16,181 --> 00:09:21,103 The time has come to leave her cubs and start a new family. 72 00:09:25,482 --> 00:09:30,988 For Petaca, losing her mom is a life-changing moment. 73 00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:41,456 She's left with only her two brothers for support. 74 00:09:48,922 --> 00:09:50,299 [mewls] 75 00:09:50,382 --> 00:09:54,261 The cubs call into the dark for their mother to return. 76 00:09:56,930 --> 00:09:58,056 [mewls] 77 00:09:59,016 --> 00:10:00,559 But she doesn't respond. 78 00:10:02,227 --> 00:10:03,770 [mewls] 79 00:10:03,854 --> 00:10:05,480 From now on... 80 00:10:06,315 --> 00:10:07,566 they're on their own. 81 00:10:12,696 --> 00:10:13,780 [mewls] 82 00:10:25,542 --> 00:10:29,129 To survive, Petaca will need to grow up fast 83 00:10:30,589 --> 00:10:34,551 and find her place amongst the community of cats 84 00:10:34,635 --> 00:10:37,387 for whom these mountains are home. 85 00:10:44,978 --> 00:10:47,439 Patagonia's night skies 86 00:10:47,523 --> 00:10:52,361 are amongst the clearest and darkest in the world. 87 00:11:06,166 --> 00:11:08,919 Untouched by the lights of humanity, 88 00:11:09,503 --> 00:11:14,758 this night wilderness has become a vital refuge for pumas. 89 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:23,600 And these wildlands support the large herds of guanaco 90 00:11:23,684 --> 00:11:25,769 on which the pumas rely 91 00:11:26,478 --> 00:11:29,857 and that Petaca must learn to hunt. 92 00:11:31,775 --> 00:11:33,986 [guanaco squealing] 93 00:11:36,864 --> 00:11:38,824 Three months on, 94 00:11:39,908 --> 00:11:43,871 and only she and one brother have stayed together. 95 00:11:51,587 --> 00:11:55,966 They've survived this far on the diet of small animals. 96 00:11:58,677 --> 00:12:03,223 But to get a decent meal they must master hunting guanaco. 97 00:12:08,103 --> 00:12:11,565 The guanaco know pumas will attack at night. 98 00:12:15,319 --> 00:12:18,488 Lookouts keep vigil from each hilltop, 99 00:12:18,572 --> 00:12:22,743 ready to alert the herd at the first glimpse of a cat. 100 00:12:31,543 --> 00:12:34,421 Tonight Petaca takes the lead. 101 00:12:39,384 --> 00:12:43,472 She may be smaller than her brother but she's more tenacious. 102 00:12:47,893 --> 00:12:51,146 And is their best chance of success. 103 00:12:56,610 --> 00:13:01,073 Without night cameras, she can't be seen in the darkness. 104 00:13:02,991 --> 00:13:07,329 The guanaco don't know she's coming. 105 00:13:10,123 --> 00:13:14,378 But in her inexperience, she's too high on the slope. 106 00:13:19,383 --> 00:13:24,513 She needs to get below her prey so they can't escape downhill... 107 00:13:29,351 --> 00:13:33,856 and creep to within meters to stand a chance. 108 00:13:39,027 --> 00:13:41,530 Just as her mother showed her. 109 00:14:11,268 --> 00:14:14,229 [guanaco squealing] 110 00:14:27,117 --> 00:14:29,203 It's just not her night. 111 00:14:33,207 --> 00:14:35,792 And things are only going to get tougher. 112 00:14:47,596 --> 00:14:51,016 Two months on and the arrival of winter 113 00:14:51,099 --> 00:14:54,686 brings new challenges for Patagonia's pumas. 114 00:14:59,441 --> 00:15:04,571 In the colder weather, the cats need up to 3,000 calories a day 115 00:15:04,655 --> 00:15:06,073 just to survive. 116 00:15:10,035 --> 00:15:12,246 With the mountains dusted in snow, 117 00:15:12,329 --> 00:15:15,165 finding cover to hunt is harder. 118 00:15:17,042 --> 00:15:20,420 And the pumas here are forced to take chances. 119 00:15:20,504 --> 00:15:21,713 [guanaco snorts] 120 00:15:36,854 --> 00:15:42,025 For Petaca, the winter has brought an even greater concern. 121 00:15:49,032 --> 00:15:53,579 A new puma family has followed the guanaco herds... 122 00:15:53,662 --> 00:15:54,872 [cub mewls] 123 00:15:54,955 --> 00:15:57,374 ...into the heart of her territory. 124 00:15:58,542 --> 00:15:59,877 [mewls] 125 00:16:03,589 --> 00:16:06,008 At just 10 weeks old, 126 00:16:06,091 --> 00:16:09,011 these cubs pose Petaca little problem 127 00:16:09,094 --> 00:16:13,765 as they explore the mountain slopes where she herself was raised. 128 00:16:19,396 --> 00:16:23,442 But their mother is a far more dangerous threat. 129 00:16:25,652 --> 00:16:28,822 She's a powerful, more experienced female 130 00:16:29,573 --> 00:16:33,702 and will fight to have this territory for her family. 131 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:45,464 For young Petaca, a fight could lead to serious injury. 132 00:16:48,091 --> 00:16:52,179 There's no choice... but to leave. 133 00:17:06,234 --> 00:17:07,444 [puma mewls] 134 00:17:13,325 --> 00:17:15,577 To find their own territory, 135 00:17:15,661 --> 00:17:18,622 young pumas will roam for up to a year 136 00:17:19,705 --> 00:17:23,252 and may cover over 700 kilometers. 137 00:17:25,170 --> 00:17:26,296 [puma mewls] 138 00:17:26,380 --> 00:17:28,214 Petaca and her brother 139 00:17:29,341 --> 00:17:33,387 must now venture far beyond the world they know. 140 00:17:37,057 --> 00:17:41,603 It's a journey that happens mostly under the veil of darkness. 141 00:17:49,069 --> 00:17:51,905 But they're not alone out here. 142 00:17:53,407 --> 00:17:55,450 [puma growls] 143 00:17:55,534 --> 00:17:59,830 A larger male has killed an adult guanaco... 144 00:18:01,707 --> 00:18:05,878 and the carcass is drawing in cats from kilometers away. 145 00:18:21,310 --> 00:18:23,979 Pumas were always thought of as solitary. 146 00:18:25,647 --> 00:18:31,653 But only now are we discovering they live complex nocturnal lives. 147 00:18:35,991 --> 00:18:38,076 As the cats come together, 148 00:18:39,328 --> 00:18:40,829 tension is rising. 149 00:18:40,913 --> 00:18:42,664 [puma growls, roars] 150 00:18:45,209 --> 00:18:47,628 [growls, hisses] 151 00:18:54,468 --> 00:18:58,096 Petaca must pluck up the courage to get a share. 152 00:19:08,315 --> 00:19:10,234 But as the smallest here... 153 00:19:11,318 --> 00:19:14,154 she needs to tread very carefully. 154 00:19:31,380 --> 00:19:34,550 A stare from the bigger cat is a test. 155 00:19:38,971 --> 00:19:41,723 Freezing with head kept low... 156 00:19:44,518 --> 00:19:46,103 is a sign of submission. 157 00:20:14,882 --> 00:20:16,425 As she closes in... 158 00:20:20,554 --> 00:20:23,223 she must now hold her ground. 159 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,689 [puma hisses, snarls] 160 00:20:36,069 --> 00:20:37,821 [growls] 161 00:20:39,615 --> 00:20:41,950 Once the other cats have had their fill... 162 00:20:49,082 --> 00:20:55,631 remarkably, Petaca is rewarded with the carcass all to herself. 163 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,808 Petaca has found her place within the community of cats here. 164 00:21:08,602 --> 00:21:12,856 The most important step on her path to adulthood. 165 00:21:22,407 --> 00:21:25,202 We're now discovering that for young pumas, 166 00:21:25,786 --> 00:21:29,623 sharing carcasses is like social networking. 167 00:21:30,999 --> 00:21:33,710 They are sites to meet other cats 168 00:21:33,794 --> 00:21:37,005 and maybe even a future partner. 169 00:21:48,725 --> 00:21:53,564 Nine months later and another summer has passed. 170 00:21:56,066 --> 00:21:58,068 [birds singing in the distance] 171 00:22:00,195 --> 00:22:04,616 Petaca has grown strong during her first year of independence. 172 00:22:07,244 --> 00:22:12,040 She's no longer with her brother but she's not alone. 173 00:22:12,124 --> 00:22:13,458 [cub mewls] 174 00:22:24,970 --> 00:22:27,139 Two small kittens. 175 00:22:28,599 --> 00:22:30,100 Her first litter. 176 00:22:32,603 --> 00:22:35,606 Born in the warm days of summer. 177 00:22:41,737 --> 00:22:47,159 Only eight weeks old, they're completely reliant on their mom. 178 00:22:56,126 --> 00:22:57,294 [mewls] 179 00:23:03,008 --> 00:23:06,762 Like all the challenges she's faced over the last year... 180 00:23:08,805 --> 00:23:13,894 Petaca already seems to be taking motherhood in her stride. 181 00:23:25,197 --> 00:23:27,574 She has mastered the mountains 182 00:23:28,492 --> 00:23:33,580 and is ready to pass on her secrets to the next generation. 183 00:23:53,267 --> 00:23:55,686 To follow pumas in Patagonia, 184 00:23:56,979 --> 00:24:01,483 the Earth at Night team had to pioneer a new approach to night filming. 185 00:24:06,947 --> 00:24:08,824 -[man, on radio] Go ahead. -Where are you at? 186 00:24:08,907 --> 00:24:12,286 [Tom Hiddleston] For cameramen John Shier and Dawson Dunning, 187 00:24:12,369 --> 00:24:17,416 that meant following these large cats in the dark on foot 188 00:24:17,499 --> 00:24:19,168 for the very first time. 189 00:24:20,377 --> 00:24:23,130 [man] The key here to filming the cats, really, is-- is when they move, 190 00:24:23,213 --> 00:24:25,549 you gotta stick with them, but you wanna stay with them 191 00:24:25,632 --> 00:24:27,885 in a way you're not interfering, especially if they're hunting. 192 00:24:27,968 --> 00:24:28,969 So it's this balancing act. 193 00:24:34,308 --> 00:24:38,854 [Tom Hiddleston] Using thermal spotting scopes that detect an animal's heat, 194 00:24:39,438 --> 00:24:42,941 John and the specialist guides could track the cats 195 00:24:43,025 --> 00:24:46,862 and, most critically, keep the team safe. 196 00:24:47,654 --> 00:24:49,823 [Shier] The key is that the spotter hangs back 197 00:24:49,907 --> 00:24:53,076 ideally on a hill above me so they can see what's going on, 198 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:54,870 um, tell me if there's guanaco coming up 199 00:24:54,953 --> 00:24:56,872 that the cat might try to hunt, so I can get in position. 200 00:24:58,123 --> 00:24:59,333 Where are you at? 201 00:24:59,416 --> 00:25:01,084 [spotter, on radio] I see everything. 202 00:25:01,168 --> 00:25:03,837 [Shier] That spotter behind me is even more important at nighttime 203 00:25:03,921 --> 00:25:06,798 because he's constantly scanning, seeing what's going on. 204 00:25:09,885 --> 00:25:12,721 When I'm out at night with these cats, I don't worry about the cat I'm following, 205 00:25:12,804 --> 00:25:15,474 'cause I can see it, I can follow it, I know what it's doing. 206 00:25:15,557 --> 00:25:18,769 I worry about the cat that I don't know is there, that I'm going to stumble into. 207 00:25:24,107 --> 00:25:26,235 [Tom Hiddleston] Following the pumas over months, 208 00:25:26,318 --> 00:25:30,113 the crew walked a collective 5,000 kilometers. 209 00:25:30,697 --> 00:25:34,117 The equivalent distance from Los Angeles to New York. 210 00:25:36,578 --> 00:25:38,956 Working in close proximity, 211 00:25:39,039 --> 00:25:41,875 they learned the cats' nocturnal behaviors 212 00:25:41,959 --> 00:25:44,795 and the pumas soon got used to them. 213 00:25:44,878 --> 00:25:48,006 [Shier] Some nights we're out there with them for 17 hours. 214 00:25:48,090 --> 00:25:51,260 It's like a lot of animals, if you treat them with respect, 215 00:25:51,343 --> 00:25:54,179 uh, don't harass them, a lot of times they'll treat you 216 00:25:54,263 --> 00:25:55,848 like you're just part of the landscape. 217 00:26:00,936 --> 00:26:04,731 [Tom Hiddleston] By closely following this community of cats over two years... 218 00:26:07,317 --> 00:26:10,821 John and the team captured some remarkable moments 219 00:26:10,904 --> 00:26:13,240 in the pumas' struggle for survival. 220 00:26:14,157 --> 00:26:15,784 [guanaco brays] 221 00:26:31,717 --> 00:26:34,636 But the most compelling story to emerge 222 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:36,346 was that of Petaca 223 00:26:36,930 --> 00:26:39,850 as she faced her first year of independence. 224 00:26:44,229 --> 00:26:46,106 [Shier] The first thing anyone would know is, well, her brothers 225 00:26:46,190 --> 00:26:47,733 were kind of hopelessly just screwing around, 226 00:26:47,816 --> 00:26:48,901 they're not paying attention. 227 00:26:48,984 --> 00:26:50,485 Petaca always paid attention. 228 00:26:53,488 --> 00:26:56,408 [Tom Hiddleston] Pumas are notoriously elusive. 229 00:26:56,491 --> 00:26:58,285 [Shier] Right here. Just settle. 230 00:26:58,869 --> 00:27:01,663 [Tom Hiddleston] So to get such intimate insights 231 00:27:01,747 --> 00:27:06,293 into the life of an individual puma is incredibly rare. 232 00:27:08,545 --> 00:27:10,714 [pumas roar, growl] 233 00:27:10,797 --> 00:27:13,967 [Shier] I'm really close, maybe 15 yards? 234 00:27:15,219 --> 00:27:18,013 [Tom Hiddleston] Following her story through the seasons, 235 00:27:18,931 --> 00:27:21,558 their dedicated approach paid off 236 00:27:22,601 --> 00:27:25,479 when Petaca allowed John and the team 237 00:27:25,562 --> 00:27:30,317 a privileged view into a whole new chapter of her life. 238 00:27:37,199 --> 00:27:40,702 [Shier] This is really rewarding and a really special situation for me 239 00:27:40,786 --> 00:27:43,121 because it's a cat that I've known now for basically its entire life. 240 00:27:43,205 --> 00:27:46,416 And to-- to get to spend that much time with it and to get to know it, 241 00:27:46,500 --> 00:27:50,587 and to see it have its own offspring, uh, that's really rare. 242 00:27:50,671 --> 00:27:53,131 And, I mean, it's especially rare for a puma. 243 00:27:53,632 --> 00:27:56,301 All right, I need to go up a bit. I'm starting to lose light anyways. 244 00:27:57,010 --> 00:28:01,515 [Tom Hiddleston] By being able to follow Petaca and the other pumas at night, 245 00:28:02,140 --> 00:28:06,645 allows us for the first time to see the whole story 246 00:28:07,396 --> 00:28:09,898 of these ghosts of Patagonia.