Earth at Night in Color (2020) s02e03 Episode Script
Kangaroo Valley
1
The night.
A shadowy world that hides more than half the animals on our planet.
Until now, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives.
But with next-generation technology,
we can see the night as clear as day.
With cameras a hundred times more sensitive than the human eye
we can now capture the beauty of night
in color.
Alien landscapes.
Strange creatures brought to life by the darkness.
Unseen behaviors.
Now we can follow the lives of animals
in Earth's last true wilderness.
The night.
The end of another long, hot day.
And the sun begins to set on the mountains of Southeast Australia.
There are more kangaroos here per square kilometer
than anywhere else on Earth.
The roos live in small family groups.
This one has six females,
who spend their time looking after their joeys.
Lugging them about in pouches
putting up with their antics
and play-boxing
All under the watchful eye of one big male.
Weighing in at over 85 kilos and packed with muscle.
He'll do whatever it takes to defend the females
so he can father the next generation of joeys.
As the sun sets
he must be on guard.
For once the heat of the day is over
Australia's top predators emerge from the shadows.
Dingoes.
As the temperature falls, they take to the valley.
Here, nearly half their diet is kangaroo.
Dingoes work as a pack
hunting together to bring down the weakest members of the mob.
But in the last of the daylight
the roos spot the attack.
Mums and joeys scatter.
But the big male stands his ground.
A moment that lets the rest of the group escape
and breaks up the attack.
Safe
for now.
But dingoes and roos are more active
once the sun has set.
As darkness descends
the landscape transforms.
Becoming the starlit backdrop
to the secret lives kangaroos live in the cool of night.
As the moon rises,
the big male and his mob head to the valley floor
to graze on fresh shoots and leaves.
But they won't have the rich pickings all to themselves.
For
as if by magic
other roos appear
to feast under the stars
forming a mega mob.
At night these eastern grays,
the most social of all kangaroo species
assemble in their hundreds.
With so many alert to threats,
the gathering lets them dine in relative safety.
In the darkness
they struggle to see danger approaching.
But they can hear it.
Kangaroo ears can rotate independently,
giving them close to 360-degree hearing.
Any unfamiliar sound
and they run for it.
Scattering, they zigzag towards the safety of the trees
where the dingoes lose their advantage.
More than 90% of Australia's mammals are nocturnal.
A bizarre array of beasts found nowhere else on Earth.
Most are foragers.
But these eucalyptus woods are home
to one ferocious nocturnal predator.
Weighing in at less than a kilo
the tiny eastern quoll
is equipped to take down insects, mammals
and even the occasional snake.
This female is a mother of five.
And, having outgrown her pouch,
they've been housed in the safety of her burrow.
Until now.
Tonight, her three-month-old pups
are on their first foray into the forest
on a quest for grubs and insects.
But the quolls aren't the only late-night diners out and about.
A rustle in the bushes
sends panic through the pups.
Luckily, Mum is close by.
And they can piggyback their way to safety.
But they needn't have worried.
The intruder's just a friendly bettong.
Yet one more of Australia's remarkable nocturnal creatures.
A few nights later
the big male,
his females and their joeys
are back in the mega mob.
The little still stick close to their mums
who will soon be ready to have more joeys.
And that's a problem for the big male.
Every bachelor nearby uses the cover of darkness
to make a move on his females.
But he's not going to give up easily.
Smaller rivals are quickly seen off.
But full-grown males turn to macho rituals.
The right to mate
goes to the most powerful roo.
So challengers strut about, flexing their muscles.
Scratching shows off physique
and is best done with an air of arrogance.
Chest rubbing lets rivals get a whiff of their masculine scent
while high standing literally says, "I'm bigger than you."
Most of these roos don't dare stand up to the big male.
But tonight, there is one here
who fancies his chances.
He kicks off the confrontation with a scratch.
The big male responds with his own show of strength.
But when the posturing doesn't work,
and the rival won't back down,
he must fight.
Only now can we see how dangerous these nocturnal battles can be.
Swinging their heads back to avoid getting their eyes scratched out.
The big male drives the challenger back,
forcing him to kick.
It's a last resort for a roo that can sense he's losing.
Sure enough
the challenger admits defeat.
The big male is victorious.
And lives to fight another night.
The Australian night sky has one of the most spectacular starscapes on Earth.
But stars aren't the only light show in the mountains.
Under rock shelves and ledges,
the magic of bioluminescence casts a spell.
A chemical reaction
in glowworms.
A light in their tail creates a beacon in the darkness
whilst the glowworm produces elegant silken threads.
But there's a dark side to these ornate clusters.
The threads are ribbons of sticky glue.
Every light is a trap.
Insects drawn to the lights
are quickly entangled in the inescapable goo.
And once trapped
the glowworm reels its victim in.
Being eaten alive
has never looked so beautiful.
Each night, the final hours of darkness
can be the most dangerous for kangaroos.
The mega mob has broken up,
leaving roos spread across the valley floor.
And they're not alone.
The dingoes are back.
The pack needs to get as close as they can before launching an attack.
Sneaking into striking distance,
they creep ever closer.
But the moment they are detected
the chase is on.
The eastern gray is able to hit speeds of 60 kilometers an hour.
But with incredible stamina
dingoes will pursue them for up to 5 kilometers.
And in the cold light before dawn,
they've singled out an unlucky youngster.
Working as a pack, they drive it into the path of their most experienced hunter
One young roo won't see another night.
For now, the threat to the rest of the mob is over.
As the warmth of the sun once again touches the valley
the roos begin to regroup.
The heat of the day finally giving them respite.
And a chance to recover.
It was the mega mob's safety in numbers
and the bravery of the big male
that enabled them to survive the night.
But with rivals lining up to challenge him,
his reign will last for little more than a year.
For now, he must rest up
and make the most of his remaining time as the mob boss.
For this episode, the greatest challenge the crew faced
was filming the highly intelligent and elusive dingo.
Dingoes at the best of times are really quite skittish animals, difficult to film.
So it would be a first to film a dingo hunt at night.
Dingoes are the kangaroos' main predator.
And play a vital role keeping numbers in check.
Usually we can just look for all the mobs of roos.
They can tell us whether or not there's a dingo around.
We've just seen a kangaroo run out of frame.
So we're just scanning around now to see why.
Could be a dingo.
There they are.
We've got a white, black and a sandy dingo walking together.
Having found the dingoes, the team faced an even bigger challenge:
to follow them through the rugged landscape.
There we go.
To keep up with the pack, they used pioneering drone technology,
equipped with cutting-edge night cameras.
Liberated from the land,
they were now able to follow the dingoes anywhere.
Dingoes can move really far. They can move really quickly.
They can travel up to a couple of kilometers in a matter of minutes.
It's up. It's up. Yeah.
Over the course of the next three weeks,
the crew covered hundreds of kilometers by air
to get an intimate look into the lives of this pack.
It's just incredible, the images that we've gotten from it.
From this new aerial perspective
they were finally able to follow the pack night and day.
Capturing rarely-seen footage of dingoes hunting as a pack.
Yeah, this is incredible.
With brand-new technology and weeks of persistence,
the team revealed the nocturnal rivalry
between two of Australia's most iconic animals.
The night.
A shadowy world that hides more than half the animals on our planet.
Until now, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives.
But with next-generation technology,
we can see the night as clear as day.
With cameras a hundred times more sensitive than the human eye
we can now capture the beauty of night
in color.
Alien landscapes.
Strange creatures brought to life by the darkness.
Unseen behaviors.
Now we can follow the lives of animals
in Earth's last true wilderness.
The night.
The end of another long, hot day.
And the sun begins to set on the mountains of Southeast Australia.
There are more kangaroos here per square kilometer
than anywhere else on Earth.
The roos live in small family groups.
This one has six females,
who spend their time looking after their joeys.
Lugging them about in pouches
putting up with their antics
and play-boxing
All under the watchful eye of one big male.
Weighing in at over 85 kilos and packed with muscle.
He'll do whatever it takes to defend the females
so he can father the next generation of joeys.
As the sun sets
he must be on guard.
For once the heat of the day is over
Australia's top predators emerge from the shadows.
Dingoes.
As the temperature falls, they take to the valley.
Here, nearly half their diet is kangaroo.
Dingoes work as a pack
hunting together to bring down the weakest members of the mob.
But in the last of the daylight
the roos spot the attack.
Mums and joeys scatter.
But the big male stands his ground.
A moment that lets the rest of the group escape
and breaks up the attack.
Safe
for now.
But dingoes and roos are more active
once the sun has set.
As darkness descends
the landscape transforms.
Becoming the starlit backdrop
to the secret lives kangaroos live in the cool of night.
As the moon rises,
the big male and his mob head to the valley floor
to graze on fresh shoots and leaves.
But they won't have the rich pickings all to themselves.
For
as if by magic
other roos appear
to feast under the stars
forming a mega mob.
At night these eastern grays,
the most social of all kangaroo species
assemble in their hundreds.
With so many alert to threats,
the gathering lets them dine in relative safety.
In the darkness
they struggle to see danger approaching.
But they can hear it.
Kangaroo ears can rotate independently,
giving them close to 360-degree hearing.
Any unfamiliar sound
and they run for it.
Scattering, they zigzag towards the safety of the trees
where the dingoes lose their advantage.
More than 90% of Australia's mammals are nocturnal.
A bizarre array of beasts found nowhere else on Earth.
Most are foragers.
But these eucalyptus woods are home
to one ferocious nocturnal predator.
Weighing in at less than a kilo
the tiny eastern quoll
is equipped to take down insects, mammals
and even the occasional snake.
This female is a mother of five.
And, having outgrown her pouch,
they've been housed in the safety of her burrow.
Until now.
Tonight, her three-month-old pups
are on their first foray into the forest
on a quest for grubs and insects.
But the quolls aren't the only late-night diners out and about.
A rustle in the bushes
sends panic through the pups.
Luckily, Mum is close by.
And they can piggyback their way to safety.
But they needn't have worried.
The intruder's just a friendly bettong.
Yet one more of Australia's remarkable nocturnal creatures.
A few nights later
the big male,
his females and their joeys
are back in the mega mob.
The little still stick close to their mums
who will soon be ready to have more joeys.
And that's a problem for the big male.
Every bachelor nearby uses the cover of darkness
to make a move on his females.
But he's not going to give up easily.
Smaller rivals are quickly seen off.
But full-grown males turn to macho rituals.
The right to mate
goes to the most powerful roo.
So challengers strut about, flexing their muscles.
Scratching shows off physique
and is best done with an air of arrogance.
Chest rubbing lets rivals get a whiff of their masculine scent
while high standing literally says, "I'm bigger than you."
Most of these roos don't dare stand up to the big male.
But tonight, there is one here
who fancies his chances.
He kicks off the confrontation with a scratch.
The big male responds with his own show of strength.
But when the posturing doesn't work,
and the rival won't back down,
he must fight.
Only now can we see how dangerous these nocturnal battles can be.
Swinging their heads back to avoid getting their eyes scratched out.
The big male drives the challenger back,
forcing him to kick.
It's a last resort for a roo that can sense he's losing.
Sure enough
the challenger admits defeat.
The big male is victorious.
And lives to fight another night.
The Australian night sky has one of the most spectacular starscapes on Earth.
But stars aren't the only light show in the mountains.
Under rock shelves and ledges,
the magic of bioluminescence casts a spell.
A chemical reaction
in glowworms.
A light in their tail creates a beacon in the darkness
whilst the glowworm produces elegant silken threads.
But there's a dark side to these ornate clusters.
The threads are ribbons of sticky glue.
Every light is a trap.
Insects drawn to the lights
are quickly entangled in the inescapable goo.
And once trapped
the glowworm reels its victim in.
Being eaten alive
has never looked so beautiful.
Each night, the final hours of darkness
can be the most dangerous for kangaroos.
The mega mob has broken up,
leaving roos spread across the valley floor.
And they're not alone.
The dingoes are back.
The pack needs to get as close as they can before launching an attack.
Sneaking into striking distance,
they creep ever closer.
But the moment they are detected
the chase is on.
The eastern gray is able to hit speeds of 60 kilometers an hour.
But with incredible stamina
dingoes will pursue them for up to 5 kilometers.
And in the cold light before dawn,
they've singled out an unlucky youngster.
Working as a pack, they drive it into the path of their most experienced hunter
One young roo won't see another night.
For now, the threat to the rest of the mob is over.
As the warmth of the sun once again touches the valley
the roos begin to regroup.
The heat of the day finally giving them respite.
And a chance to recover.
It was the mega mob's safety in numbers
and the bravery of the big male
that enabled them to survive the night.
But with rivals lining up to challenge him,
his reign will last for little more than a year.
For now, he must rest up
and make the most of his remaining time as the mob boss.
For this episode, the greatest challenge the crew faced
was filming the highly intelligent and elusive dingo.
Dingoes at the best of times are really quite skittish animals, difficult to film.
So it would be a first to film a dingo hunt at night.
Dingoes are the kangaroos' main predator.
And play a vital role keeping numbers in check.
Usually we can just look for all the mobs of roos.
They can tell us whether or not there's a dingo around.
We've just seen a kangaroo run out of frame.
So we're just scanning around now to see why.
Could be a dingo.
There they are.
We've got a white, black and a sandy dingo walking together.
Having found the dingoes, the team faced an even bigger challenge:
to follow them through the rugged landscape.
There we go.
To keep up with the pack, they used pioneering drone technology,
equipped with cutting-edge night cameras.
Liberated from the land,
they were now able to follow the dingoes anywhere.
Dingoes can move really far. They can move really quickly.
They can travel up to a couple of kilometers in a matter of minutes.
It's up. It's up. Yeah.
Over the course of the next three weeks,
the crew covered hundreds of kilometers by air
to get an intimate look into the lives of this pack.
It's just incredible, the images that we've gotten from it.
From this new aerial perspective
they were finally able to follow the pack night and day.
Capturing rarely-seen footage of dingoes hunting as a pack.
Yeah, this is incredible.
With brand-new technology and weeks of persistence,
the team revealed the nocturnal rivalry
between two of Australia's most iconic animals.