Exploring the Adorable World of Baby Animals | BBC Earth Kids

Two weeks have passed. The chicks are testing their independence and spending time away from their mothers. All, that is, except one. As the last to hatch, he's way behind in development. While the older chicks are boisterous and confident, he still feels most comfortable in his mother's pouch. But penguins are sociable birds, and to survive, he must learn to play his part in the colony. It's a daunting prospect, but the little chick finds some courage. It's a shaky start, but he mustn't lose his nerve. Time for a bit of tough love. With every step, he gains more confidence. It's just as well. He has so many friends to make, but when you're the smallest, it's tough to join the gang. For now, there's always mum. Out in the open ocean, the fathers are reveling in being back in the water. They haven't eaten for four whole months and have lost half their body weight. To stock up on fish and squid, they hold their breath for up to 20 minutes and dive to nearly 600 meters, deeper than any other bird. At the colony, three weeks have passed, and the chick is confidently following his mother wherever she goes. He's still learning how things should be done and how they shouldn't. He soon thinks there's nothing left to learn. So nervous toddler turns cocky explorer, but at this age, she mustn't let him out of her sight. The next morning, and the cubs are doing well. There you go, two little boys. They're a healthy 1.2 kilograms each. And as the days roll by, the cubs continue to thrive under Giles' watchful eye. So we try and spend a little bit of time with them every day. It's really important because ultimately from day one, we've been building our bond with them. So the fact that they just get used to, you know, hearing my voice and the sensation of being touched and picked up and stuff is really good. His eyes are still completely closed, so this is day eight. Yeah, it's usually between six and 12. Yeah. You gotta stay still for just a second. Wow. Do you hear they're growing? They're growing. That's 200 grams again in a day. It's fantastic. So they're only 12 days old and they're all already double their birth weight. The stronger and bigger you get, the quicker you get, the better your chance of survival in the wild. Just noticed that one little eye was open. She's awesome. You can see me now, sort of. You can see a shadow anyway. For the first couple of weeks, they're not gonna be able to focus properly. It's still gonna take, like a human baby, like it takes a few weeks for the eyes to adjust. Two weeks later, the cubs are growing stronger and it's time for Giles to give them names. So if you look at the two of them together, this little chap has more of a continuous stripe going along this way, whereas this one's a bit more broken, looks like a spot. So this is, we're calling this one spot for the time being and this one stripe. And he tends to have a little bit more of a feisty character than his brother. He is gonna be a challenge, I can see it already. See what I mean about being stroppy, aren't ya? Yeah. That's good, you've got spirit. So this is one we're calling spot. This little chap was the first one born and he was the one that for the first couple of hours we were a little worried about. He had a bit of a tougher time, didn't ya? You're doing well. He's nearly the same weight as his brother now. Despite their good health, life for young tigers is precarious. Globally, over a third of captive born Sumatran cubs won't make it to adulthood. So you need to relax like your brother. Relax, mate. So Giles has made a difficult decision to safeguard the cub's future. You're gonna pass with flying colours, buddy. Yeah. He's going to hand raise them himself at home so he can give them 24 hour care. And Mel, the vet, has come to check if they're healthy enough to leave. Well, the heart sounds really good. Steady beat, no murmurs. How relaxed he is. He's so relaxed. We're starting off with such robust, healthy little cubs. They're not too young, so we've already got so much strength in them. The cubs will be vulnerable to illness until they're around six weeks old. So Giles has got to keep a close eye on them round the clock. There is an awful lot of pressure. You know, there's first and foremost, you know, there's pressure because these guys are so important to not only us here at the zoo, but also to the breeding programme. Potentially a lot of eyes around the world that are, you know, watching what we're doing and making sure we do a good job. You're giving it a good go, hey? We're doing a good go. You're so fluffy. Her eyes and ears that were closed for the first two weeks of her life are now opening. And with this comes a whole new world of sensory stimulation. She uses her vision to move around, but does she see the world the same way we do? Well, dogs are colour blind, but that doesn't mean that everything is black and white. She does see colour, but mostly just blues and yellows. It's because she only has two types of colour receptors compared to humans who have three. And it's also why your dog will often ignore an orange toy in the green grass, as those colours look the same to them. Better to give them something blue, but it's when things are moving that her vision comes into its own. Dogs' eyes process what they see more quickly than we do. It's almost like they see in slow motion. That's why they're always in the right place to catch the frisbee. A dog's hearing is also superhuman. They can hear things four times further away and twice as high pitched as we can. It's why we can't hear dog whistles, but it also means they can hear the hum of lights and even the pulsing sound of a quartz crystal in a digital clock. But there's one sense she'll use more than any other, her sense of smell. A dog's brain is one tenth the size of ours, but the part that controls smell is 40 times larger. They have up to 300 million scent glands in their nose compared to our 5 million. Our story begins with a tantalising glimpse of something very special, a cub just 10 days old. Wild cubs as young as this have never been filmed before. For their first six weeks, most cubs usually hide away in their dens, hardly glimpsing daylight. These are unusually adventurous. They seem totally unaware of the dangers. Although their eyes are just opening, they won't see clearly for another six weeks. They're the mother's first litter, and they're going to be quite a test for her. The tigress must pick them up by the scuff of the neck. It's a delicate operation, a little too much pressure, and she'll hurt her cub. She can bite with a force of nearly 500 kilos, but this requires the gentlest touch. Tigers usually have two or three cubs, four are quite a handful, and these already seem more challenging than most. The ratio between the sexes among newborns is usually equal. True to form, two of these cubs are male and two are female. It will be rare indeed for all four of them to reach maturity. Many dangers lie ahead. At this size, they make a snack for even the smallest predator. Their mother must make sure that everyone is accounted for. With two back in the den and one on its way, there's only one straggler left to worry about. The cub's contact cry makes sure he's not forgotten. As long as the cubs call, their mother is compelled to keep retrieving them, but this would try any mother's patience. A young cub's life is very precarious. Had the mother been away hunting at a moment like this, the outcome could have been very different. She's clearly going to be a devoted mother, but she still has a lot to learn. This is not the way to do it. Filming such behaviour is unprecedented. It gives us an extraordinary opportunity to follow these cubs as they grow. The aerated water of the falls creates prized feeding grounds, but the currents are fierce. These 35-gram fluffballs must learn fast or face being swept away. Mum leads them down the side of the falls. It's a rocky island. Mum and dad gather their chicks, and they're off. The duckling's downy feathers trap air like a life jacket as they bob across the surface. That's a good start. But one chick is swept away. Mum and dad look frantically for their missing duckling. In the chaos, they have to make a difficult choice. Risk everything for a rescue, or keep their other chicks safe. They push across the final current to the rock. Mum makes a break for it. Lone chick struggles through, swiftly followed by dad. The rock is a refuge, but the insects they eat live underwater, so this duckling has to go in again. Luckily, the island gives shelter from the full force of the torrents. Now its downy feathers make it too buoyant to dive. So in the shallows, it grips the riverbed with its tiny feet and drives its head underwater. Today, these parents have led their duckling through its toughest rite of passage. With no other bears around, she makes the move. This is a big moment in the cubs' lives. She's got to be careful though. Another bear could turn up at any moment. The cubs are a bit nervous being out on the creek, and they know they have to stick close to her wherever she goes. While there are still lots of salmon around, the mother bear can be selective with what she eats. She takes a bite of this salmon and then drops it. As she can probably tell from the taste, it's a male. Bears need to target the richest, most nutritious food source. What she really wants to find are female salmon, and she'll go out of her way to catch one. Female salmon are loaded with thousands of brightly colored, nutrient-rich eggs. This is the best part of the salmon, high in calories and fat. She doesn't want to leave any behind. The cubs, though, still need to learn which are the best parts to eat. Though the cubs are still nursing, they need these protein-rich salmon as much as their mom does. The whole family has to put on as much weight as possible before winter hibernation. The mother bear is always alert to potential dangers to her cubs. Surprisingly, it's another ghost bear. This one looks like a large male. The cubs know that when another bear is around, they have to get out of there. They retreat to the safety of the trees. The mother bear is much smaller than him, but she's still going right after him. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. He could certainly do some damage to her, and he doesn't seem much deterred by her approach. That's a risky move on her part. Anytime two bears physically interact like that, there's a good chance one of them could be hurt. They're very powerful animals. I don't know her character well enough yet to decide if she's foolhardy or brave. Only time will tell. But her cubs knew what to do in this situation. They knew that their best defense was to get up as high into a tree as quickly as possible. Yes, she is very determined in going back to somewhere in a very, very straight line. This is super encouraging. This is exactly what lionesses do when they've got tiddlers. I will put money on the fact that in those bushes, she's got a little surprise for us. We're just gonna keep back, keep back, keep back, see what's going on. That's it, she's going in. I can see her just tucked in the bushes. I can't see anything else. Maybe she's just resting. Right in the cover. Deep, deep, deep, deep, deep in there. They are tiny. That is gorgeous cubs. They are no more than a week old. Ears are still folded almost flat. They're blind. Very wobbly, they can hardly walk or move. All the time, their mouths are open, they're just gorgeous. The cubs have tiny spots like a leopard. They'll fade as the cubs get older, but they're great camouflage for the moment. Oh, they are exquisite. Well, here we are in the season of renewal and she, Tippi, as I now refer to her, has got her own young family. They are completely helpless, 100% dependent on her for everything. For milk, that's all they're getting. They haven't even got teeth yet. She's just totally chilled, totally relaxed, which is an amazing thing to find. Isn't it a beautiful illustration of just how tender and attentive a massive brute of a predator like that can be? It has been 18 days since Lili gave birth. For her to produce twins is not unusual. Half of all panda births result in them, but for both twins to survive certainly is. Pandas almost always abandon one cub. It's thought that they don't have sufficient milk or energy to care for two, but the team at Chengdu have hit upon a cunning plan. By removing one cub at birth and then switching them throughout the day and night, keepers are able to encourage panda mothers to feed both siblings while being under the impression that they have only one. Lili is distracted with a bowl of honey water, but is reluctant to give up her cub. Doing this successfully requires enormous patience from the keeper and great trust from the panda. One twin is taken to the incubator where it will have a top-up of formula milk and switched with the other, which will now get his share of his mother's milk. The keeper will swap the twins up to 10 times a day, and Lili will almost always have one cub with her. Chengdu's technique of twin swapping at last opens the way to a possible 100% survival rate in newborn captive cubs. It's March and light returns to the high Arctic, sweeping away four months of darkness. A polar bear. She has been in her den the whole winter. Her emergence marks the beginning of spring. After months of confinement underground, she toboggans down the slope, perhaps to clean her fur, perhaps for sheer joy. Her cubs gaze out at their bright new world for the very first time. The female calls them, but this steep slope is not the easiest place to take your first steps. But they are hungry and eager to reach their mother, who's delayed feeding them on this special day. Now she lures them with the promise of milk, the only food the cubs have known since they were born deaf and blind beneath the snow some two months ago. Their mother has not eaten for five months and has lost half her body weight. Now she converts the last of her fat reserves into milk for her cubs. The spring sun brings warmth, but also a problem for the mother. It starts to melt the sea ice. That is where she hunts for the seal she needs to feed her cubs, and she must get there before the ice breaks up. For now, though, it's still minus 30 degrees and the cubs must have the shelter of the den. This puppy was rejected by his mother at birth, but he's had the good fortune to be adopted by a cat. Her mothering hormones are so strong, she accepts him as her own. The puppy was born on the same day and he happily adapts to his new family. But kittens live by different social rules, even when they suckle. They name tag teats with their own individual scent and return to it each time. This simple rule maintains peace and harmony during feeding time. But for dogs, pack life requires fighting for your share in the rough and tumble of competing mouths. This puppy breaks all of the cat's social conventions. His wild instincts express themselves, despite his unusual family. Ultimately, the puppy's needs and his foster mother's nurturing feelings overcome any differences. For now. But as adults, these top predators will differ in almost every detail. When a cat drinks, he uses a refined technique. The rough upper side of his tongue curls downwards to his mouth. This allows him to pick up the liquid using surface tension. It pulls the column of milk up into his mouth without making any mess at all. A solitary hunter can afford to take his time. It's a different matter when you hunt as a pack. Also pulls a column into his mouth, but unlike cats, he shapes his tongue into a ladle to slosh more liquid in. For pack animals, beating your rivals to a drink is more important than cleanliness. X-ray shows how the milk is thrown backwards at five times the force of gravity, and his mouth shuts like a trap as it is swallowed. It might be effective, but it's far messier than the cat. Orphaned weasel, Twiz, is now five weeks old. Her eyes have opened, her hearing is becoming more acute, and she's much more active. In the wild, Twiz would be playing with the rest of her litter, so Rob has to take over this role. Play is how a weasel would learn how to fight and to hunt. They use all four limbs to grip the prey items, deliver a real powerful bite then to the back of the neck, but very gentle at this stage, she's only small still. So it's fabulous to see that she's got this instinct in her already. The little chittering, this is like a contact call. I've heard this in the wild with wild weasels lots of times, and to me, it's one of the most beautiful sounds there actually is. Twiz must start strengthening her muscles to improve her agility. And this needs to be done indoors. We're going to test her strength, agility in a safe environment. Rob wants to see if Twiz is brave enough to explore, but also cautious enough to hide from any danger. Got to be always close to cover, because they're vulnerable from attack from other predators. She's heading for cover when she's really unsure, which is a great sign, because she needs to be absolutely on the ball when she's out in the wild. At this age, wild weasel kids would go on day trips with their mum, who would show them how to hunt prey. And Rob's got just the thing to help Twiz. You'll be an easy target. In a matter of weeks, they'll actually be independent and hunting for themselves. Weasels eat anything from birds to voles, so they need to climb and tumble. She's just coming back for a little bit of reassurance. That's what we'll be doing in the wild, going back to the mother. Then she'll go off again adventuring. She's showing great signs. Yeah, it's great to see.