Nature (1982–…): Season 39, Episode 1 - Pandas: Born to Be Wild - full transcript
Observing pandas in the wild in China's Qinling Mountains; the training of a young panda born in captivity.
In South Central China
at the Wolong Panda Center,
there's a young cub
that has never tasted freedom.
His life is about to change.
This cub is special...
chosen for the wild.
But first he needs to discover
what it means
to be a wild panda.
And his training team
has to discover more
about how pandas
are brought up in the wild.
Even with teams of committed
rangers and researchers
and radio collars to track them,
the released pandas have often
struggled or even died.
Now there are just three years
to prepare him
for a panda's life in the wild.
A giant panda is carried up
into the mountains...
like an emperor.
Since 2003,
nine pandas raised
in the Wolong Panda Center
have taken this journey
to be released.
Even with teams of committed
rangers and researchers
and radio collars to track them,
the released pandas have often
struggled or even died.
A trickle of information back...
tells of violence and hardship.
Six mountain ranges
draped in bamboo
that's nine feet tall
and impenetrable.
Over a vast area,
hidden, scattered,
are only 2,000 wild pandas --
all there are.
Filming them
was thought futile.
Even just finding one
is almost impossible.
Almost impossible.
Giant pandas are bears,
relatives of grizzlies,
black, and polar bears.
But, surprisingly,
pandas don't hibernate,
even though
the temperature can drop
to 30 degrees below freezing.
They have to keep feeding.
Bamboo provides
only just enough energy,
but it's almost all they eat
for 14 hours a day.
To help it down, they roll
the leaves into a sausage,
with the help of a boneless pad
from their wrist,
the panda's unique "thumb."
Males start to search
for females in spring.
Courtship, mating,
and raising cubs in the wild
is mysterious --
barely seen before
and never filmed.
Wild pandas can be dangerous
with huge claws
powered by muscular front legs.
Many faces are scarred
by old battle wounds.
The pandas here in the mountains
are totally wild.
None have been released
or have radio collars here.
That makes it harder,
but it is the best chance
to understand truly wild pandas.
In South Central China
are around 40 reserves.
They stretch across
300 miles of mountains.
The cub's story starts at
the Wolong Panda Center.
For the pandas growing up here,
it's a five-star hotel
compared to living
in the mountains above.
There's the
"all you can eat" dining...
and the kindergarten.
The best part is hanging out
with friends and family.
Giant pandas in the wild
are solitary,
but in captivity,
they are social.
It's not known why --
maybe generations
of living with people
or a quirk of evolution
perhaps --
but they are natural clowns.
Ah, this is the life!
It's... exhausting.
Looking after 40 or so pandas
in Wolong are 85 staff
with 59 enclosures,
a research lab,
and a panda hospital.
It's almost impossible
to breed pandas.
Decades of matchmaking
in zoos failed.
Artificial insemination
was the breakthrough.
Our mother-to-be is pregnant,
5 months in, and about due.
Head keeper Wu Daifu
is feeling the pressure.
The camera's ready
to capture a rare moment.
There.
The cub is born...
blind, deaf, and hairless.
It weighs just 3 1/2 ounces.
This cub is special...
chosen for the wild.
Like all bears, pandas
have tiny, helpless young.
The cubs are
the smallest newborns
of all placental mammals
relative to the mother's size.
They'll both be isolated
in a large enclosure
to encourage
his natural instincts.
She's been chosen for being
a protective,
instinctive mother,
but she was born
and brought up in captivity.
She knows nothing about
living in the mountains.
He needs to discover what
it means to be a wild panda.
Different altitudes have
different species of bamboo,
so pandas have learned
to move around
to find the best kinds
for their diet.
They're not the only ones
on the move.
Takin, giant golden goats
that look like wildebeest,
move up and down the mountains
to feed on summer bamboo.
There's a world
of other animals.
Golden snub-nosed monkeys,
like elves with blue faces,
live here.
These mountain monkeys
are unusual and rare.
There's another type of panda --
a red panda.
They're not actually related
to giant pandas
but part of the raccoon family.
In summer, pandas also come up
here to avoid overheating.
But water is harder to find
near the peaks.
Even above 6,000 feet, pandas
can suffer from heat stress.
As the climate shifts,
so will the best bamboo,
trees, and water.
Animals will need more space
to find new homes.
High in the mountains,
autumn comes early.
It's a bounty of colors.
In 1985,
researchers found a hollow
that had been used
as a wild birthing den.
What they learned became
another lesson for the cubs
they were training for the wild.
In the wild,
sometimes the mother
will not leave the den at all.
She stays with the cub
and is forced to fast
for the first month or so.
Like any bear milk, hers is
among the richest in the world.
It carries more antibodies
than any other animal's
because the cubs are so
underdeveloped and vulnerable.
He's a month old now.
He's grown from 3 1/2 ounces
to 4 1/2 pounds.
And when he's awake,
he can see and hear.
Over 10 years of motherhood,
she can only have
three or four young.
That is the lowest potential
birth rate of any mammal.
Autumn brings
a dramatic change of season.
The monsoon
from India and Myanmar
is channeled up valleys
through the Himalayas
as far north
as the Qinling Mountains.
It arrives as mist
and carries rain or snow.
Pandas -- mothers and cubs --
come down the mountains
to spend the winter
in the valleys.
The mist settles as low cloud,
hiding the pandas' wild world.
At the base of the mountains,
the Wolong Panda Center
is milder.
It's November,
and he's now three months old.
An animal's personality
develops early.
Emotional responses
like courage or fear
can be affected by
as little as a single incident
in the first few months.
He's starting to get curious
but struggles to escape.
His mother leaves more regularly
to feed herself now.
So, at last, he's able
to explore his world.
Pandas have a phenomenal
sense of smell,
better than a bloodhound.
Their hearing is good, too.
Eyesight, less so.
Strange...
A weird-looking panda.
Head keeper Wu Daifu
and the team
have to become pandas
to visit our youngster.
They even spray themselves
with panda pee.
The last thing
these surrogate mothers
want to be seen as
or smell like...
is human.
It's worth
being a bit ridiculous.
Contact is kept to a minimum
and always in disguise.
But today they have to do
a health check.
This is the only contact
he'll have
with anyone
other than his mother.
Being able to film this
is a rare privilege.
Size, weight, teeth, and claws.
All healthy.
His life is more natural here
than being with the other cubs
all playing together,
but is it anything like
being a wild panda?
The training team
are hoping to discover more
about how pandas
are brought up in the wild.
In the meantime, Operation
Undercover is successful.
Totally fooled.
Well, maybe.
It's winter
back in the mountains
and 30 degrees below freezing
at night.
In the high summer feeding
grounds, the snow just piles up.
But in the deep valleys
below 3,000 feet,
there is life.
Bamboo is evergreen.
The wild parents feed
while the cubs remain hidden.
By early March, low-lying areas
are beginning to thaw.
Over the next month or two,
the animals start
to head back up the mountain.
The breeding season, "the rut,"
is about to start,
and males head to claim
the best areas.
Single females follow.
Mothers have
a more difficult decision.
The mating grounds
are dangerous,
and females with young
seem to go into hiding.
Takin, the golden wildebeest...
and golden monkeys follow.
This year, they are shadowed
by the first month-long
expedition from Wolong.
The team is on a key mission.
As part of
the reintroduction process,
the head keeper, Wu Daifu,
wants to find
a panda breeding ground.
Discovering his cub's potential
to breed in the wild
is crucial to the program.
Cameramen Jacky Poon
and Wu Yuanqi
lead a filming team each
to increase the chances
of finding a panda.
For three years,
the film crew and rangers
search for breeding grounds.
All the animals here
benefit from the protection
of the panda reserve.
Days of exhausting trekking
to find the breeding grounds.
And then...
a sound from the next valley,
their first panda calls.
The scouts find
fresh panda tracks.
And there -- a wild panda.
One of the rarest sightings
in nature.
Wu Daifu
sees his first wild panda
after 15 years
of working with pandas
in sanctuaries
and breeding centers.
Cameraman Jacky Poon
takes up the story.
When you encounter
wild panda,
there's nothing cute and cuddly
about them.
Their eyes are very focused
and very alert
of what's going on.
They are just a big bear.
He's probably
the dominant male in the area.
He may weigh over 300 pounds
and, if he stood up,
reach almost seven feet.
He's fearless and curious.
He may never
have seen people before.
We have to be really
cautious and really careful
when we are doing this.
Do we have to give him space?
What is the safety distance
between this individual
and us and the camera?
And we always have to think,
"Okay, if anything happens,
what am I going to do?"
The team follow him
along a narrow mountain ridge.
This is the time
of the spring panda rut,
the month where males gather
to find females to mate.
Pandas can smell hormones.
Another panda has left
a urine message on a tree.
He'll add his own.
He does a handstand to get
as high up the tree as possible
so that he seems bigger.
The wild panda catches
another scent --
a female in season.
He starts to roll
in the snow and leaf litter.
He's mixing in his own smell.
It's a conversation in scent.
It seems like he's playing,
rolling around,
but this is serious business.
This is a territorial wild bear,
ready to defend his patch.
There's a spot of blood
in the middle of his flank.
It's the first sign
of things to come.
He rolls in the scent marks
of a female
and then walks towards the team.
For Jacky,
it's a moment of panic.
All of a sudden,
the panda comes this way.
I get the kit
and just run the other way,
just me shouting at Wu,
"Go! Hurry up! Hurry up!"
The panda completely
ignores the rangers
and crew trying to get clear
and just lumbers on.
Yeah, a bit too scary.
He's actually gotten
really close.
You can see
we're just running away.
And then, this is the second
time he goes towards me.
I try to hold the shot
as long as possible,
but it's a bit --
a bit too scary.
Three times
he wanders towards the crew,
and despite getting close enough
to touch,
ignores them completely.
He's so focused
on finding a mate,
nothing, it seems,
will distract him.
A panda sees the world
through his nose.
It may be tough out here
for a captive-bred panda
that hasn't the experience
of growing up with wild smells.
Wu Daifu, a world panda expert,
realizes it won't disturb
the wild panda
if he moves in a little closer
for a better view.
What becomes clear is that
the world of a wild panda
is complex, chemical,
and, judging
by the blood, dangerous.
The team returns with
the reintroduction project
seeming more real now
and more difficult.
The weather this spring's
not much better back at Wolong.
The cub is now seven months old.
His instinct is to climb trees,
but his mother's
very protective.
She'll teach him
everything she can,
but she grew up here,
playing with her friends
and treated like royalty.
Maybe trying to keep the cub
on the ground
is a maternal instinct
or perhaps when she was a cub
20 years ago,
a keeper or someone
was afraid for her
and stopped her climbing.
He has instincts, too,
perhaps triggered
by his semi-wild upbringing.
"No, you don't!"
He doesn't go far up the tree.
His mother's anxiety
has affected him.
Exploring in the wild would be
dangerous with predators
and rival pandas around,
but here on the ground,
in an enclosure,
he is safe.
He's gaining in confidence
and coordination.
Hmm.
Maybe.
His instinct to explore
his world is good,
but his coordination, less so.
He doesn't seem like an animal
meant for the ground at all.
While our panda family
is kept isolated,
the other pandas
are let out to play together.
They should be shy loners,
but among friends,
they turn into party animals!
After a few months in a panda
nursery, they have graduated...
to the panda kindergarten.
It's still a puzzle --
why do panda cubs
instinctively love
playing so much?
Most of the pandas born here
and across China
are kept for breeding.
Some of them even have genes
from areas
where pandas are now extinct.
Every one of these cubs counts.
Isolated in his big enclosure,
the panda cub starts
his second year of training.
He's a clumsy climber.
His wild development's
been held back.
Mother's fatty milk and little
exercise have made him chubby.
"Whew! That was hard."
Bamboo doesn't grow
in the enclosure.
It's delivered.
But he doesn't care
about bamboo.
He's still on milk.
Ah.
Solid ground.
Autumn turns again into winter.
The wild pandas are back
in the valleys.
Pandas evolved from other bears
23 million years ago
at a time when grasses,
including bamboo,
were replacing forests.
Fossilized
skulls found in caves
revealed that there was
a pygmy panda species
and an even more giant panda.
Even then,
these prehistoric pandas
had teeth adapted
for eating grass.
Young pandas are little known
from the wild, never filmed,
but dens in trees
are thought to be important.
Old forests
are like high-rise homes.
If more could be discovered
about how cubs survive
in the wild,
it could be copied in Wolong.
It's March, and the second
big expedition
into the Qinling Mountains
sets out --
another month of trekking long
distances to find wild pandas.
Thanks to the snow,
it's possible to find
and follow
a panda's trail most days.
The males are again
competing for females,
bellowing like stags.
Trees are clawed,
and the smell of panda is there,
even to human noses.
Then, one day, a discovery.
Blood in the footprints.
This year already
feels different.
The dominant male
is facing a challenger.
The pandas are more nervous
and always melt quickly away
into the bamboo.
With the prospect of spring,
the other animals
are moving up the mountains.
Red pandas will eat
almost anything,
but here,
bamboo is their main food.
Small goral antelope move up
and so do groups of takin
that also specialize
in eating bamboo.
Bamboo is rich in protein,
and the animals are following
the brief seasonal new shoots.
March brings unpredictable
weather, and a storm moves in.
The tawny owl sits it out.
Then, a week later,
the team discovers
something astounding --
a male panda under a tree,
and a second male --
a challenger -- in the bamboo.
Above them in the tree,
a third panda,
It's a female, probably
the only one in the area,
so she's their one chance.
Guarding her
is the dominant male,
at the base of the tree.
Nothing like this
has ever been seen before.
The rival backs away.
Female Pandas are only fertile
for a couple of days,
so every male battles
to be in the right place
at the right time.
After an hour,
she starts to come down.
The male has to be careful --
females will attack
and can injure males
if they don't want to mate.
The couple fight
for only a second.
He retreats,
and she makes her escape.
She's not ready.
Both males will follow her
until she comes into estrus.
With the snow melting,
tracking is difficult.
The pandas become
almost impossible to find.
One wet, misty dawn,
the team finds the pair.
The female is above.
It's the same stand-off.
This "mate guarding" behavior
is similar in many animals.
He's trying to keep her away
from his rival.
She may just be hungry or may
just prefer the other male.
She challenges the old warrior,
and again he backs down.
The balance of power
isn't just with the males.
Calls between the male rivals
become more frequent.
A showdown seems inevitable.
The challenger is to the left.
He's younger
and takes the high ground,
an advantage in a fight.
The old, dominant male
backs down.
But then he rallies
and comes back in.
It's a psychological battle
as much as one of strength.
This stressful build-up
has taken weeks.
If you look carefully,
you can see why
the old male is wary --
his face is in tatters.
And he's exhausted.
The challenger moves back
and skirts around him.
This struggle, this dance
around the female,
takes tactics
as well as strength.
It's a conflict between
experience and youth.
Timeless.
A week later,
the female is found in a tree
with no sign of either male.
Instead, on the forest floor
is another mating dance --
golden pheasants.
It's all show for them.
The courtship of the circus.
This seems like a much more
fun way to choose a mate.
The female panda peers down.
The younger male,
and no sign of his elder.
Youth has won out.
He sniffs,
licks the ground, and drools.
She's come into estrus
and is finally ready.
Then, in what they may imagine
is a discreet corner, they mate.
The roaring, scent marking,
fighting, and being held hostage
may actually
trigger her ovulation.
It's similar
in other bear species,
and it explains why pandas
have such problems
breeding in captivity.
Wild animals
lead complicated lives.
Whether our cub in Wolong
will have a clue what to do...
is a big question.
Another year into his
preparation for release,
and he's now 3 --
the panda
equivalent of a teenager.
In the wild, his mother would be
starting to part ways --
to let him fend for himself.
But there's no sign
of letting go here.
They play together,
just like she learnt to
in the panda kindergarten
with her friends.
He's still suckling.
Their isolation
has made them closer.
Far from helping him to become
self-sufficient,
he seems more dependent on her.
He's a big baby!
Having seen male pandas
in the wild,
it's hard to imagine
he'd do well
in the battle for a mate.
It may be just a teenage phase,
but he seems to have
gone backwards.
He's just a giant softy.
She's no better.
He can't even eat properly.
You've got to roll the leaves up
into a sausage, remember?
Bamboo shoots bamboozle him.
Yet within the teenager,
a wild instinct is emerging.
He's just started
scent-marking trees
and restlessly patrolling.
But just when you think
he's growing up,
he's back to being a cub again.
Training for a future alone
in a big, bad world
is something
all parents struggle with.
It's impossible to prepare
for the unknown
and the inevitable separation.
Freedom has a price,
especially for those
left behind.
The cub, almost an adult now,
is carried
into the panda reserve.
The crate is covered
to minimize human contact.
His first steps
without his mother.
Imagine the feeling,
leaving mum,
entering a new,
bewildering world.
But it may be just what
this cub needs to grow up.
He's in a huge enclosure
within the reserve,
safe from wild males.
He'll stay here for as long
as it takes,
getting used
to the wildlife and freedom.
The enclosure door will be left
open for him, when he's ready.
Maybe next year.
The following spring,
it's the last expedition
into the mountains,
this time for six weeks.
There's good news
for wild pandas.
The 40 or so different panda
reserves are to be absorbed
into a massive
new protected area,
three times the size
of Yellowstone,
over 10,000 square miles.
This will make
a huge difference,
especially as a changing climate
threatens the bamboo forest.
After weeks
of searching on foot,
the team find
the dominant young male,
presumably the winner
of last year's rut.
He's following a female.
Females only breed
every few years,
so she must be a different one.
The team is surprised
to witness them mating.
Maybe pandas in the wild don't
find it so difficult after all.
The old male is found,
retired in a den.
He's on the higher fringes
of his old home range,
marginalized,
out in the cold.
His teeth are badly worn.
Bears' teeth can't cope
with coarse bamboo for 20 years.
His face still has the battle
scars from last year.
Solitary pandas
like our old male
can travel
significant distances.
One radio-collared panda
travelled hundreds of miles,
going between reserves and
crossing rivers and main roads.
It was this discovery that
partly inspired the massive
new panda reserve, protecting
all other wildlife, as well.
The old warrior
will roam widely,
keeping out of the way
of other male pandas now.
But he does seem to have
one friend -- a wild boar.
To the team, it's Pooh-Bear
on a new adventure with Piglet.
One day,
while tracking a female,
there's an extraordinary
discovery --
the most important find
of the three-year expedition.
A wild panda cub.
Even the most experienced ranger
has only seen one twice
in 23 years.
The crew made sure that they
were out of the way
by setting up on a high cliff.
It's an emotional moment
for cameraman Jacky Poon.
This scenario has been
here since yesterday,
so 24 hours ago,
and the baby is still up here
in the same tree.
And this is really rare.
And we have never
actually seen this before.
So has the rangers.
They've never actually
seen this before.
But this is what seems to be
happening right now.
We have been monitoring
the baby,
and we are hoping
that the mother will come
and collect the baby
by tomorrow.
The cub -- probably
six to nine months old --
stays in the tree
for over two days, unfed,
while his mother is away.
His black-and-white markings
match the branches
as a surprisingly
effective camouflage.
It's another piece
of the puzzle.
He's hiding up there,
most likely as a protection
against hormone-fueled
rutting males.
In other species of bears,
males kill first-year cubs
because having a young cub
will stop a female from mating.
The team refocuses their search
to look for cubs in trees.
They found another one, younger,
also up in the branches all day.
This is not a one-off.
This has to be normal
wild panda behavior.
This has significant
implications --
young pandas need trees
as well as bamboo to survive.
Perhaps, for climbing,
the cub knew better
than his mum all along.
This wild cub means next year's
training may need a rethink.
Three years and over
hundreds of miles on foot
have uncovered many
of the important secrets
of a panda's life in the wild.
The newly enlarged reserve
helps all the animals
thanks to the pandas.
And somewhere out there
is a young male
from another world --
our world.
It's been an extraordinary
investment into one animal.
Now he's where he should be
and looking forward
to some serious adventures...
in his own time, of course.
at the Wolong Panda Center,
there's a young cub
that has never tasted freedom.
His life is about to change.
This cub is special...
chosen for the wild.
But first he needs to discover
what it means
to be a wild panda.
And his training team
has to discover more
about how pandas
are brought up in the wild.
Even with teams of committed
rangers and researchers
and radio collars to track them,
the released pandas have often
struggled or even died.
Now there are just three years
to prepare him
for a panda's life in the wild.
A giant panda is carried up
into the mountains...
like an emperor.
Since 2003,
nine pandas raised
in the Wolong Panda Center
have taken this journey
to be released.
Even with teams of committed
rangers and researchers
and radio collars to track them,
the released pandas have often
struggled or even died.
A trickle of information back...
tells of violence and hardship.
Six mountain ranges
draped in bamboo
that's nine feet tall
and impenetrable.
Over a vast area,
hidden, scattered,
are only 2,000 wild pandas --
all there are.
Filming them
was thought futile.
Even just finding one
is almost impossible.
Almost impossible.
Giant pandas are bears,
relatives of grizzlies,
black, and polar bears.
But, surprisingly,
pandas don't hibernate,
even though
the temperature can drop
to 30 degrees below freezing.
They have to keep feeding.
Bamboo provides
only just enough energy,
but it's almost all they eat
for 14 hours a day.
To help it down, they roll
the leaves into a sausage,
with the help of a boneless pad
from their wrist,
the panda's unique "thumb."
Males start to search
for females in spring.
Courtship, mating,
and raising cubs in the wild
is mysterious --
barely seen before
and never filmed.
Wild pandas can be dangerous
with huge claws
powered by muscular front legs.
Many faces are scarred
by old battle wounds.
The pandas here in the mountains
are totally wild.
None have been released
or have radio collars here.
That makes it harder,
but it is the best chance
to understand truly wild pandas.
In South Central China
are around 40 reserves.
They stretch across
300 miles of mountains.
The cub's story starts at
the Wolong Panda Center.
For the pandas growing up here,
it's a five-star hotel
compared to living
in the mountains above.
There's the
"all you can eat" dining...
and the kindergarten.
The best part is hanging out
with friends and family.
Giant pandas in the wild
are solitary,
but in captivity,
they are social.
It's not known why --
maybe generations
of living with people
or a quirk of evolution
perhaps --
but they are natural clowns.
Ah, this is the life!
It's... exhausting.
Looking after 40 or so pandas
in Wolong are 85 staff
with 59 enclosures,
a research lab,
and a panda hospital.
It's almost impossible
to breed pandas.
Decades of matchmaking
in zoos failed.
Artificial insemination
was the breakthrough.
Our mother-to-be is pregnant,
5 months in, and about due.
Head keeper Wu Daifu
is feeling the pressure.
The camera's ready
to capture a rare moment.
There.
The cub is born...
blind, deaf, and hairless.
It weighs just 3 1/2 ounces.
This cub is special...
chosen for the wild.
Like all bears, pandas
have tiny, helpless young.
The cubs are
the smallest newborns
of all placental mammals
relative to the mother's size.
They'll both be isolated
in a large enclosure
to encourage
his natural instincts.
She's been chosen for being
a protective,
instinctive mother,
but she was born
and brought up in captivity.
She knows nothing about
living in the mountains.
He needs to discover what
it means to be a wild panda.
Different altitudes have
different species of bamboo,
so pandas have learned
to move around
to find the best kinds
for their diet.
They're not the only ones
on the move.
Takin, giant golden goats
that look like wildebeest,
move up and down the mountains
to feed on summer bamboo.
There's a world
of other animals.
Golden snub-nosed monkeys,
like elves with blue faces,
live here.
These mountain monkeys
are unusual and rare.
There's another type of panda --
a red panda.
They're not actually related
to giant pandas
but part of the raccoon family.
In summer, pandas also come up
here to avoid overheating.
But water is harder to find
near the peaks.
Even above 6,000 feet, pandas
can suffer from heat stress.
As the climate shifts,
so will the best bamboo,
trees, and water.
Animals will need more space
to find new homes.
High in the mountains,
autumn comes early.
It's a bounty of colors.
In 1985,
researchers found a hollow
that had been used
as a wild birthing den.
What they learned became
another lesson for the cubs
they were training for the wild.
In the wild,
sometimes the mother
will not leave the den at all.
She stays with the cub
and is forced to fast
for the first month or so.
Like any bear milk, hers is
among the richest in the world.
It carries more antibodies
than any other animal's
because the cubs are so
underdeveloped and vulnerable.
He's a month old now.
He's grown from 3 1/2 ounces
to 4 1/2 pounds.
And when he's awake,
he can see and hear.
Over 10 years of motherhood,
she can only have
three or four young.
That is the lowest potential
birth rate of any mammal.
Autumn brings
a dramatic change of season.
The monsoon
from India and Myanmar
is channeled up valleys
through the Himalayas
as far north
as the Qinling Mountains.
It arrives as mist
and carries rain or snow.
Pandas -- mothers and cubs --
come down the mountains
to spend the winter
in the valleys.
The mist settles as low cloud,
hiding the pandas' wild world.
At the base of the mountains,
the Wolong Panda Center
is milder.
It's November,
and he's now three months old.
An animal's personality
develops early.
Emotional responses
like courage or fear
can be affected by
as little as a single incident
in the first few months.
He's starting to get curious
but struggles to escape.
His mother leaves more regularly
to feed herself now.
So, at last, he's able
to explore his world.
Pandas have a phenomenal
sense of smell,
better than a bloodhound.
Their hearing is good, too.
Eyesight, less so.
Strange...
A weird-looking panda.
Head keeper Wu Daifu
and the team
have to become pandas
to visit our youngster.
They even spray themselves
with panda pee.
The last thing
these surrogate mothers
want to be seen as
or smell like...
is human.
It's worth
being a bit ridiculous.
Contact is kept to a minimum
and always in disguise.
But today they have to do
a health check.
This is the only contact
he'll have
with anyone
other than his mother.
Being able to film this
is a rare privilege.
Size, weight, teeth, and claws.
All healthy.
His life is more natural here
than being with the other cubs
all playing together,
but is it anything like
being a wild panda?
The training team
are hoping to discover more
about how pandas
are brought up in the wild.
In the meantime, Operation
Undercover is successful.
Totally fooled.
Well, maybe.
It's winter
back in the mountains
and 30 degrees below freezing
at night.
In the high summer feeding
grounds, the snow just piles up.
But in the deep valleys
below 3,000 feet,
there is life.
Bamboo is evergreen.
The wild parents feed
while the cubs remain hidden.
By early March, low-lying areas
are beginning to thaw.
Over the next month or two,
the animals start
to head back up the mountain.
The breeding season, "the rut,"
is about to start,
and males head to claim
the best areas.
Single females follow.
Mothers have
a more difficult decision.
The mating grounds
are dangerous,
and females with young
seem to go into hiding.
Takin, the golden wildebeest...
and golden monkeys follow.
This year, they are shadowed
by the first month-long
expedition from Wolong.
The team is on a key mission.
As part of
the reintroduction process,
the head keeper, Wu Daifu,
wants to find
a panda breeding ground.
Discovering his cub's potential
to breed in the wild
is crucial to the program.
Cameramen Jacky Poon
and Wu Yuanqi
lead a filming team each
to increase the chances
of finding a panda.
For three years,
the film crew and rangers
search for breeding grounds.
All the animals here
benefit from the protection
of the panda reserve.
Days of exhausting trekking
to find the breeding grounds.
And then...
a sound from the next valley,
their first panda calls.
The scouts find
fresh panda tracks.
And there -- a wild panda.
One of the rarest sightings
in nature.
Wu Daifu
sees his first wild panda
after 15 years
of working with pandas
in sanctuaries
and breeding centers.
Cameraman Jacky Poon
takes up the story.
When you encounter
wild panda,
there's nothing cute and cuddly
about them.
Their eyes are very focused
and very alert
of what's going on.
They are just a big bear.
He's probably
the dominant male in the area.
He may weigh over 300 pounds
and, if he stood up,
reach almost seven feet.
He's fearless and curious.
He may never
have seen people before.
We have to be really
cautious and really careful
when we are doing this.
Do we have to give him space?
What is the safety distance
between this individual
and us and the camera?
And we always have to think,
"Okay, if anything happens,
what am I going to do?"
The team follow him
along a narrow mountain ridge.
This is the time
of the spring panda rut,
the month where males gather
to find females to mate.
Pandas can smell hormones.
Another panda has left
a urine message on a tree.
He'll add his own.
He does a handstand to get
as high up the tree as possible
so that he seems bigger.
The wild panda catches
another scent --
a female in season.
He starts to roll
in the snow and leaf litter.
He's mixing in his own smell.
It's a conversation in scent.
It seems like he's playing,
rolling around,
but this is serious business.
This is a territorial wild bear,
ready to defend his patch.
There's a spot of blood
in the middle of his flank.
It's the first sign
of things to come.
He rolls in the scent marks
of a female
and then walks towards the team.
For Jacky,
it's a moment of panic.
All of a sudden,
the panda comes this way.
I get the kit
and just run the other way,
just me shouting at Wu,
"Go! Hurry up! Hurry up!"
The panda completely
ignores the rangers
and crew trying to get clear
and just lumbers on.
Yeah, a bit too scary.
He's actually gotten
really close.
You can see
we're just running away.
And then, this is the second
time he goes towards me.
I try to hold the shot
as long as possible,
but it's a bit --
a bit too scary.
Three times
he wanders towards the crew,
and despite getting close enough
to touch,
ignores them completely.
He's so focused
on finding a mate,
nothing, it seems,
will distract him.
A panda sees the world
through his nose.
It may be tough out here
for a captive-bred panda
that hasn't the experience
of growing up with wild smells.
Wu Daifu, a world panda expert,
realizes it won't disturb
the wild panda
if he moves in a little closer
for a better view.
What becomes clear is that
the world of a wild panda
is complex, chemical,
and, judging
by the blood, dangerous.
The team returns with
the reintroduction project
seeming more real now
and more difficult.
The weather this spring's
not much better back at Wolong.
The cub is now seven months old.
His instinct is to climb trees,
but his mother's
very protective.
She'll teach him
everything she can,
but she grew up here,
playing with her friends
and treated like royalty.
Maybe trying to keep the cub
on the ground
is a maternal instinct
or perhaps when she was a cub
20 years ago,
a keeper or someone
was afraid for her
and stopped her climbing.
He has instincts, too,
perhaps triggered
by his semi-wild upbringing.
"No, you don't!"
He doesn't go far up the tree.
His mother's anxiety
has affected him.
Exploring in the wild would be
dangerous with predators
and rival pandas around,
but here on the ground,
in an enclosure,
he is safe.
He's gaining in confidence
and coordination.
Hmm.
Maybe.
His instinct to explore
his world is good,
but his coordination, less so.
He doesn't seem like an animal
meant for the ground at all.
While our panda family
is kept isolated,
the other pandas
are let out to play together.
They should be shy loners,
but among friends,
they turn into party animals!
After a few months in a panda
nursery, they have graduated...
to the panda kindergarten.
It's still a puzzle --
why do panda cubs
instinctively love
playing so much?
Most of the pandas born here
and across China
are kept for breeding.
Some of them even have genes
from areas
where pandas are now extinct.
Every one of these cubs counts.
Isolated in his big enclosure,
the panda cub starts
his second year of training.
He's a clumsy climber.
His wild development's
been held back.
Mother's fatty milk and little
exercise have made him chubby.
"Whew! That was hard."
Bamboo doesn't grow
in the enclosure.
It's delivered.
But he doesn't care
about bamboo.
He's still on milk.
Ah.
Solid ground.
Autumn turns again into winter.
The wild pandas are back
in the valleys.
Pandas evolved from other bears
23 million years ago
at a time when grasses,
including bamboo,
were replacing forests.
Fossilized
skulls found in caves
revealed that there was
a pygmy panda species
and an even more giant panda.
Even then,
these prehistoric pandas
had teeth adapted
for eating grass.
Young pandas are little known
from the wild, never filmed,
but dens in trees
are thought to be important.
Old forests
are like high-rise homes.
If more could be discovered
about how cubs survive
in the wild,
it could be copied in Wolong.
It's March, and the second
big expedition
into the Qinling Mountains
sets out --
another month of trekking long
distances to find wild pandas.
Thanks to the snow,
it's possible to find
and follow
a panda's trail most days.
The males are again
competing for females,
bellowing like stags.
Trees are clawed,
and the smell of panda is there,
even to human noses.
Then, one day, a discovery.
Blood in the footprints.
This year already
feels different.
The dominant male
is facing a challenger.
The pandas are more nervous
and always melt quickly away
into the bamboo.
With the prospect of spring,
the other animals
are moving up the mountains.
Red pandas will eat
almost anything,
but here,
bamboo is their main food.
Small goral antelope move up
and so do groups of takin
that also specialize
in eating bamboo.
Bamboo is rich in protein,
and the animals are following
the brief seasonal new shoots.
March brings unpredictable
weather, and a storm moves in.
The tawny owl sits it out.
Then, a week later,
the team discovers
something astounding --
a male panda under a tree,
and a second male --
a challenger -- in the bamboo.
Above them in the tree,
a third panda,
It's a female, probably
the only one in the area,
so she's their one chance.
Guarding her
is the dominant male,
at the base of the tree.
Nothing like this
has ever been seen before.
The rival backs away.
Female Pandas are only fertile
for a couple of days,
so every male battles
to be in the right place
at the right time.
After an hour,
she starts to come down.
The male has to be careful --
females will attack
and can injure males
if they don't want to mate.
The couple fight
for only a second.
He retreats,
and she makes her escape.
She's not ready.
Both males will follow her
until she comes into estrus.
With the snow melting,
tracking is difficult.
The pandas become
almost impossible to find.
One wet, misty dawn,
the team finds the pair.
The female is above.
It's the same stand-off.
This "mate guarding" behavior
is similar in many animals.
He's trying to keep her away
from his rival.
She may just be hungry or may
just prefer the other male.
She challenges the old warrior,
and again he backs down.
The balance of power
isn't just with the males.
Calls between the male rivals
become more frequent.
A showdown seems inevitable.
The challenger is to the left.
He's younger
and takes the high ground,
an advantage in a fight.
The old, dominant male
backs down.
But then he rallies
and comes back in.
It's a psychological battle
as much as one of strength.
This stressful build-up
has taken weeks.
If you look carefully,
you can see why
the old male is wary --
his face is in tatters.
And he's exhausted.
The challenger moves back
and skirts around him.
This struggle, this dance
around the female,
takes tactics
as well as strength.
It's a conflict between
experience and youth.
Timeless.
A week later,
the female is found in a tree
with no sign of either male.
Instead, on the forest floor
is another mating dance --
golden pheasants.
It's all show for them.
The courtship of the circus.
This seems like a much more
fun way to choose a mate.
The female panda peers down.
The younger male,
and no sign of his elder.
Youth has won out.
He sniffs,
licks the ground, and drools.
She's come into estrus
and is finally ready.
Then, in what they may imagine
is a discreet corner, they mate.
The roaring, scent marking,
fighting, and being held hostage
may actually
trigger her ovulation.
It's similar
in other bear species,
and it explains why pandas
have such problems
breeding in captivity.
Wild animals
lead complicated lives.
Whether our cub in Wolong
will have a clue what to do...
is a big question.
Another year into his
preparation for release,
and he's now 3 --
the panda
equivalent of a teenager.
In the wild, his mother would be
starting to part ways --
to let him fend for himself.
But there's no sign
of letting go here.
They play together,
just like she learnt to
in the panda kindergarten
with her friends.
He's still suckling.
Their isolation
has made them closer.
Far from helping him to become
self-sufficient,
he seems more dependent on her.
He's a big baby!
Having seen male pandas
in the wild,
it's hard to imagine
he'd do well
in the battle for a mate.
It may be just a teenage phase,
but he seems to have
gone backwards.
He's just a giant softy.
She's no better.
He can't even eat properly.
You've got to roll the leaves up
into a sausage, remember?
Bamboo shoots bamboozle him.
Yet within the teenager,
a wild instinct is emerging.
He's just started
scent-marking trees
and restlessly patrolling.
But just when you think
he's growing up,
he's back to being a cub again.
Training for a future alone
in a big, bad world
is something
all parents struggle with.
It's impossible to prepare
for the unknown
and the inevitable separation.
Freedom has a price,
especially for those
left behind.
The cub, almost an adult now,
is carried
into the panda reserve.
The crate is covered
to minimize human contact.
His first steps
without his mother.
Imagine the feeling,
leaving mum,
entering a new,
bewildering world.
But it may be just what
this cub needs to grow up.
He's in a huge enclosure
within the reserve,
safe from wild males.
He'll stay here for as long
as it takes,
getting used
to the wildlife and freedom.
The enclosure door will be left
open for him, when he's ready.
Maybe next year.
The following spring,
it's the last expedition
into the mountains,
this time for six weeks.
There's good news
for wild pandas.
The 40 or so different panda
reserves are to be absorbed
into a massive
new protected area,
three times the size
of Yellowstone,
over 10,000 square miles.
This will make
a huge difference,
especially as a changing climate
threatens the bamboo forest.
After weeks
of searching on foot,
the team find
the dominant young male,
presumably the winner
of last year's rut.
He's following a female.
Females only breed
every few years,
so she must be a different one.
The team is surprised
to witness them mating.
Maybe pandas in the wild don't
find it so difficult after all.
The old male is found,
retired in a den.
He's on the higher fringes
of his old home range,
marginalized,
out in the cold.
His teeth are badly worn.
Bears' teeth can't cope
with coarse bamboo for 20 years.
His face still has the battle
scars from last year.
Solitary pandas
like our old male
can travel
significant distances.
One radio-collared panda
travelled hundreds of miles,
going between reserves and
crossing rivers and main roads.
It was this discovery that
partly inspired the massive
new panda reserve, protecting
all other wildlife, as well.
The old warrior
will roam widely,
keeping out of the way
of other male pandas now.
But he does seem to have
one friend -- a wild boar.
To the team, it's Pooh-Bear
on a new adventure with Piglet.
One day,
while tracking a female,
there's an extraordinary
discovery --
the most important find
of the three-year expedition.
A wild panda cub.
Even the most experienced ranger
has only seen one twice
in 23 years.
The crew made sure that they
were out of the way
by setting up on a high cliff.
It's an emotional moment
for cameraman Jacky Poon.
This scenario has been
here since yesterday,
so 24 hours ago,
and the baby is still up here
in the same tree.
And this is really rare.
And we have never
actually seen this before.
So has the rangers.
They've never actually
seen this before.
But this is what seems to be
happening right now.
We have been monitoring
the baby,
and we are hoping
that the mother will come
and collect the baby
by tomorrow.
The cub -- probably
six to nine months old --
stays in the tree
for over two days, unfed,
while his mother is away.
His black-and-white markings
match the branches
as a surprisingly
effective camouflage.
It's another piece
of the puzzle.
He's hiding up there,
most likely as a protection
against hormone-fueled
rutting males.
In other species of bears,
males kill first-year cubs
because having a young cub
will stop a female from mating.
The team refocuses their search
to look for cubs in trees.
They found another one, younger,
also up in the branches all day.
This is not a one-off.
This has to be normal
wild panda behavior.
This has significant
implications --
young pandas need trees
as well as bamboo to survive.
Perhaps, for climbing,
the cub knew better
than his mum all along.
This wild cub means next year's
training may need a rethink.
Three years and over
hundreds of miles on foot
have uncovered many
of the important secrets
of a panda's life in the wild.
The newly enlarged reserve
helps all the animals
thanks to the pandas.
And somewhere out there
is a young male
from another world --
our world.
It's been an extraordinary
investment into one animal.
Now he's where he should be
and looking forward
to some serious adventures...
in his own time, of course.