Life Story

So far on Life Story, we have seen animals survive

the challenges of the first stage of their lives.

Now, many animals face a period of great change...

...the journey towards adulthood.

A time when they must strike out on their own,

learn from hard experience...

...and develop new skills.

WIND HOWLS

The beginning of winter in the Arctic.

It's hard to imagine a more challenging time or place

to learn how to fend for yourself.

Until today, this three-month-old Arctic fox pup has had it easy.

Fed and protected by his parents,

playing with his siblings.

THEY SNARL

But his mother is about to bring her cubs' childhood to an abrupt end

and drive them into the wilderness.

Soon, food will be so thin on the ground

that her cubs' only chance of avoiding starvation

is to split up and face a six-month-long winter alone.

Even so, a young fox has only a one-in-five chance of surviving.

To find enough to eat on these barren wastes,

an Arctic fox may have to travel 60 miles a day.

Scratching for scraps and scavenging from others -

it's a meagre existence.

And the worst of the winter is still to come.

WIND ROARS

By midwinter, temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius,

and deep snow makes scavenging nearly impossible.

But a faint sound beneath the snow

may be this fox's salvation.

Lemmings.

It's time to become a hunter.

But catching what you can't see is not easy.

It's hard to judge the leap...

...and the depth of the snow.

Too deep...and you get stuck.

Too shallow,

and it can be rather painful.

It's going to take time,

but mastering lemming hunting

is vital if a young fox is to make it through the winter.

At last, this fox is on his way.

But if he is to survive until spring,

he'll need to make a catch like this

every couple of days.

Adolescence for an Arctic fox is almost always a solitary journey,

but many creatures simply cannot make it on their own.

JUNGLE NOISES

Even at seven months old, this tiger cub needs protection.

CUB BREATH ES STEADILY

She's learning to take care of herself in a very dangerous world.

This is her father.

His role is to patrol his territory, defending it against rival males

who would try to kill any cubs they find that are not their own.

His scars are evidence of the violence of the society

she is about to enter.

He's ruled for five years,

but he's becoming increasingly battle-worn.

She's unlikely to reach adulthood unless her father stays in power.

At the moment, she is safe.

LOW GROWL

And in good company.

She has a brother and a sister.

They will be her playmates and allies as she grows.

THEY SNARL

She already seems to be the most confident of the three.

They practice the fighting and hunting skills

that they will depend on as adults.

But the cubs still have much to learn

before they'll be fending for themselves.

Their mother is both their provider and teacher.

She's a formidable hunter,

despite having lost an eye in a fight with a rival.

MOTHER PANTS

Her cub is about to be given a masterclass.

Their mother's success means that today,

the cubs will not go hungry.

If all goes well, these cubs should have the experience

and strength to survive on their own in a year's time.

But only if their mother's support,

and their father's protection, continues.

Growing up is not just about learning to survive.

Learning the art of seduction can also be a vital part

of becoming an adult.

Here in eastern Australia lives an animal

that spends up to seven years perfecting the ability

to build a structure solely to impress a female.

It's a bower.

And this is its creator -

a five-year-old juvenile male satin bowerbird.

He is just a beginner.

But a stone's throw away is another bower...

...and one from which the youngster could learn a lot.

It's bigger and more elaborate.

And this is its builder - an experienced male

resplendent in his blue adult plumage.

So THAT is how it should be done.

Junior returns to his own bower and tries to improve things.

That should probably go just here.

Or...maybe here...

Perhaps he was right in the first place.

He just can't make up his mind.

This could take some time.

And it's not just about building.

The master's bower has something that Junior's lacks completely.

Blue decorations really please a female.

And the master has gone to town.

Junior takes a closer look.

What will the master make of his visitor?

Rather than drive him away, the master has other intentions...

Seduction.

ADULT BOWERBIRD TRILLS

Juvenile males are almost identical to females.

So the master grabs the opportunity

to practise his courtship display on him.

Junior doesn't know what to do next.

So he exits...

...mid-performance.

The youngster's bower.

With the breeding season close,

adult males grow increasingly intolerant of juveniles.

Oh,dean there's virtually nothing left.

Junior will just have to start all over again.

But he has several years left to perfect his skill -

at least he's got time on his side!

Now, where should that stick go?

Africa.

These 18-month-old cheetah sisters have been struggling to cope

since they left their mother a few weeks ago.

Their biggest problem is their own inexperience.

They are barely managing to catch even the smallest prey.

Unless they can master big-game hunting,

the sisters will soon starve.

They are the only survivors from a litter of five.

They have spent their lives so far playing and learning together.

Continuing that bond will be the key to their survival.

Cheetah siblings that support each other have a better

chance of making it to adulthood.

This is now the critical time for the sisters

because an opportunity is arising and they must seize it.

Male impala.

Weighing more than both sisters put together,

they make a formidable prey.

But the impala are caught up in a month-long competition for mates...

...and that is making the males

increasingly weakened and distracted.

The next few weeks may provide the sisters'

best chance to make their first big kill.

They need to act soon.

The amount of time that different animals must

spend in growing up varies enormously.

Once a veined octopus reaches adulthood,

it mates and dies shortly after.

So most of its life is spent as an adolescent,

eating as much as possible.

Although octopus are voracious hunters,

their soft bodies make them very vulnerable to other predators.

So how do the octopus that live here,

on the exposed sea floor of Indonesia's Lembeh Straits,

keep on eating without being eaten?

For most, the solution is an almost unbelievable talent for disguise.

The mimic octopus can change the colour of its body to

seamlessly blend in with its surroundings.

It can also mimic predators, like a flounder or a lionfish.

The wonderpus's strategy is to look

so bizarre it is simply unrecognisable as an octopus.

But no disguise is completely effective,

and flounders are a persistent menace,

always on the lookout for an edible tentacle.

Unfortunately, the veined octopus has no clever disguise.

And a flounder is trailing it, waiting for an off-guard moment.

But the octopus has a unique solution to this problem.

A discarded coconut shell could provide some

protection from its stalker.

This one carries the shell everywhere it goes.

But this is only half the story.

For all-round security it needs another half to make

a matching pair.

Its remarkable ability to manipulate shells is the first-known example

of tool-use amongst invertebrates.

Now the octopus can get back to its

adolescent enthusiasm with body-building.

The stalker is still stalking.

However, an armoured pod has another, more unexpected, benefit.

The chance of a sharp exit.

This cunning cephalopod lives to hunt another day,

all tentacles intact.

For some juveniles, their greatest rivals are adults of their own kind.

Huge colonies of nesting birds on the Falkland Islands

are a sitting target for a ruthless predator.

A striated caracara.

He too is a juvenile, a yearling.

But despite the abundance of prey, this youngster is hungry.

That's because hunting rights in the colony are strictly controlled.

Adult caracara are fiercely territorial.

Breeding pairs punish juvenile trespassers very severely.

BIRDS SQUAWK

Juveniles are banished to the surrounding moorlands,

where their chances of survival are slim.