First Steps

In this first episode animals overcome their first great hurdle - surviving infancy. Flightless barnacle goose chicks face their greatest challenge at the very start of their lives. In order to find food they must leap 400 feet down a cliff. Young fur seals in New Zealand have found the perfect place to learn how to avoid predators like killer whales. The little known long-eared jerboa, deep in the Gobi desert, has the largest ears relative to its body of any animal on earth. On its first night alone it learns how to use its astonishing hearing to detect insect prey in the darkness. Albatross chicks make their first flight from the Pacific island where they were born. But huge tiger sharks are waiting for any that misjudge and land on the sea. Ep. 1, Young animals take on the challenges of the wild world that surrounds them in this series. Included in the opener: Meerkat pups leave their burrows for the first time; barnacle geese learn to fly; humpback whales protect their young from sharks.