Top 10 BBC Earth Moments of 2024 | BBC Earth

the female's the largest and the most adventurous flapping her wings to strengthen them she approaches The [Music] Edge but even she's thinking [Music] twice it's a deep drop to the ground [Music] [Music] below a crash landing that that wasn't in the flight plan she could have broken her Wing or flight feathers not quite the encouragement her two less confident brothers were looking for but she has more immediate [Music] concerns wolves are on the PRL [Music] [Music] lacking the strength to take off vertically she climbs back up the rocks to gain height for another [Music] attempt

and she's ready to try again [Music] success spurred on by their sister's achievement the others seem a little braver [Music] [Music] know this successfully fledged it won't be long until all three leave their parents for good crabs may not seem unusual but there's one kind here that's like no other on this little island in Vanuatu lives a real Oddity it's the largest terrestrial invertebrate on Earth the robber crab the biggest can weigh up to 4 kog the same as a newborn baby and have a leg span of 1 M it's a hermit crab on steroids

at night the huge robbers really come alive although these crabs are found throughout the Pacific it's only on undisturbed islands that you can see them in such numbers exactly why robber crabs have grown so big is a mystery but with so few creatures making it to these remote Islands the giant crustations seem to have filled a niche normally taken by mediumsized mammals and with almost no competition from other native animals the crab's huge size allows them to make the most of another great colonizer something found here in abundance coconuts are one of their favorite foods

it's why they're also called coconut crabs and they've been known to carry them as far as 5 km back to a favorite Den robber crabs are perhaps the only animals in the world able to break into a coconut the husk is ripped off by powerful pinces other legs drill through the germinating holes on the seed itself until the nut finally cracks the whole process can take several hours but the reward is a meal rich in protein rber crabs May rule the land but they're no masters of the sea an adult crab would drown in a

few minutes which raises the question how did these monsters get to so many of the South Pacific's most isolated Islands this female carries the answer thousands of eggs which will soon be left to the mercy of the ocean current a few shakes of her tail are all that's needed to send them on their way the eggs will hatch immediately then the LA will have just 50 days to find a new home above the water losing its fear of humans has enabled one animal to spread into cities everywhere and in huge numbers pigeons are by far

the most successful Urban bird [Music] here in Albi and the south of France the pigeons Come to the River to bathe they need to PR their flight feathers clean off the city dust and cool themselves down but death lies in weight a predator that has taken advantage of the very thing that has led to the pigeon's success their lack of fear as the pigeons bathe oil from their plumage flows down stream and is detected a monstrous Wells catfish introduced here just 40 years ago they have proliferated virtually exterminated the local fish stocks and they've now

developed a taste for Pigeon their eyesight is poor so they use their barbles to sense the movements of their victims this is a radical new hunting strategy for what is normally a bottom dwelling [Music] [Applause] fish after a thous Thousand Years of Living in this city pigeons are now having to learn to avoid a [Music] fish as the new day Dawns we get our first glimpse into the lives of these secretive [Music] [Music] animals they slept in the trees for safety now they're sunbathing to warm up [Music] [Music] that's beautiful footage yeah she's having a

good look at it isn't she so this is basically her eyes now whatever we see now it's like through their eyes yeah considering this has only been on overnight she's not bothered by it not at all so this one is grooming now grooming is the way they socialize so I think she might be a more dominant female it's wonderful to finally see the baboon's world but will this teach Leah and raino how to keep them off the crops oh fence not even jumping over it just going through there yeah straight through she pulled it down

didn't she went through it's like it's not even there these fences to be honest I don't think you're going to stop them at all my opinion does anything put the baboons off one of our cameras gives us a clue and now they're running yeah course now it's an open area it's a road which suggests that they don't like being in it and that's definitely something that we can think about in terms of the crops Leah thinks an empty space around the crops would be a better barrier than a fence and soon we get more inside

information the baboons are digging for water it's dry season so the river have dried up but there is an easier way to get a drink why bother digging when there's a water trough has the camera gone underwater yeah is it waterproof has to be it gives Leah another idea I'm just thinking about you know keeping water points away from the crops cuz maybe having a water close to the crops is you know drawing them [Music] [Music] in as it gets colder one animal here gets stronger wolves the winter is their time gradually it weakens their

prey this is the Druid wolf pack one of the largest and most powerful in Yellowstone the pack have this bull elk surrounded but there's a problem the pack won't follow the bull into the river they won't risk freezing to death in the ice cold water what's more now the Elks antlers are at just the right height to Keep the Wolves at Bay it's stalemate but it's now the elk that has a problem of his own although it's only kneed deep he can't stay in this freezing water [Music] forever a young female is not prepared to

let him go but the elk is strong oneon-one he has the advantage [Music] her only support is another [Music] youngster they are neither strong or experienced enough to bring this elk down but it's enough to make him turn and run back to the river where he knows they won't follow but the longer he stays in the freezing water the weaker he will get others before him have waited here too long and wolves are patient right now his strength is his only Advantage he has to try again this time even the young wolves stay put without

the support of the pack they never really stood a chance and the pack have already decided that this early in the winter a bull elk in his prime is just too strong but as the winter gets colder and the snow gets deeper the tables will turn it's a particularly demanding place to grow up the slopes are near vertical and even the adults can get into trouble but danger comes from elsewhere too Eagles and wolves hunt [Music] here so for protection maror live in hers [Music] with extremely good eyesight and a strong sense of smell it

means there are more of them to spot any Predators essential especially when they're up against the most dangerous of them all the ghost of the mountains The elusive snow leopard brilliantly well camouflaged against the rocky outcrops it's hard for the marker to [Music] see with huge well padded feet it's hard for them to hear too so sometimes even the alert ever watchful maror don't notice the threat [Music] to survive maror kids have to be excellent [Music] Mountaineers and rely on their instincts [Music] having a watery exit strategy undoubtedly played a part but it's their skill

in escaping on vertical Rock faces that helps them stay alive and the most menacing of mountain ranges these daring seaons in Chile have become regulars at the fish markets with great Ingenuity and a little courage they found a space for themselves in today is new wild but not everyone necessarily welcomes them dogs Patrol these [Music] beaches but with around 2 million stray dogs in chin VIs visiting these beaches for a [Music] seaon is becoming rather dangerous seaons are not used to this sort of threat dogs may be domesticated but their pack instinct is still strong

they tackle the seaons one at a time [Music] [Music] [Music] eventually they force the seaons back towards the sea but all is not lost the seaons are familiar with the sound of these trolley wheels and no it will be worthwhile to follow leftovers from the markets are thrown back into the sea for many wild mammals surviving in the modern world requires a mixture of Ingenuity adapt ability and a helping hand from us pikers this young male has been awake all winter living on the food reserves he built up last year for him summer can't come

soon enough as the sun's warmth returns for just a few weeks this harsh world is trans formed into a rich high altitude Meadow it's what all the pikers here have been waiting for for almost 10 months there's no time to [Music] waste Ready Steady now they must collect as much food as quickly as they possibly can [Music] but some of them seem in less of a hurry clearly biting their time the others are gathering leaves nonstop [Music] they build hay stacks and that takes a lot of work each mouthful has to be carefully placed to

allow the sunlight to dry it they also add a few leaves of other plants that contain chemicals which will help preserve the hay during the winter as many as 11,000 return Journeys may be needed to build a reasonably large a stack and then it has to be guarded against opportunistic [Music] neighbors the weather is showing signs of changing it's time to make a move [Music] this P specializes in stealing from its neighbors [Music] Got Away With It Again a beaver can fell a cottonwood tree in just a few hours hundreds in a year the beaver

doesn't chew through the whole trunk just enough to make the tree unstable it then Retreats and lets the wind do the rest it cuts branches into more manageable lengths and then swims them down a network of purpose-built canals towards the dam the pond gives this Beaver protection from predators and the canals allow it to forage far into the forest carrying many times its own weight with ease Autumn is the busiest time of year for beavers it won't be so easy to make repairs when the pond is frozen over the sound of running water is their

stimulus to shore up gaps with Timber and plug leaks with mud but the dam not only serves the Beavers moose come here from the forests around to feed on Weeds that thrive in the beaver's shallow Pond the weed is rich in vital sodium that the forest can't easily provide but now that winter is approaching another essential role for the dam is revealed these smaller branches are not for fixing the dam they're for eating the beaver secures them to the mud in the lake [Applause] bottom in just a few weeks this Lake will be frozen and

the Beavers won't be able to cut and move trees but they will be able to swim right under the ice to feed from this underwater ladder moose also eat twigs and branches and often try to take advantage of the beaver's hard labor this young male is getting a little too close to the beaver's ladder Autumn is not a time for sharing in Antarctica the freeze up has come in spectacular Style in Winter the continent doubles in size it's now bigger than the USA the giant lockup causes an urgent problem for one inhabitant a Weddle seal

as the sea around her freezes her breathing hole has begun to freeze over too without it she'll suffocate so she resorts to using her teeth to keep it open but at least she has a retreat from the icy world above the sea down here is a constant minus 2° Centigrade that's over 50° warmer than it is at the surface and it's been like this for 25 million years beneath the layer of ice this enchanted kingdom is protected from the extreme temperatures above it's a Wonderland of the strange and beautiful [Music] in this safe stable World

Life explodes but even here winter cold can crush the party as temperatures plummet on the surface it triggers the growth of something [Music] sinister this is a brle super cooled water sinking from above forming a pillar of ice [Music] for the creatures of the seabed it's a stealthy finger of death [Music] a river of ice imprisons everything in its path [Music] even those that think they've beaten the extremes of winter can get caught out