Wildlife Specials: The Spy Collection

Emperor penguins cross a treacherous frozen sea to reach their breeding grounds. They must lay their eggs without touching the ice. Rockhoppers brave the world's stormiest seas, only to come ashore and face a daunting 300-foot cliff. Humboldts are strange tropical penguins that have rarely been filmed. The hard work for all the penguins finally pays off when their tiny, vulnerable chicks begin to hatch.

Chicks are hatching all over! Male emperors form an identity parade before handing over their newborns to the returning females. On the Falklands, Rockhopper chicks meet some unruly neighbors - king cormorants, and Caracara birds grab an eggcam and film the aerial shots of the colony! In Peru, Humboldt chicks emerge into the desert and the adults leave their burrow plastered in mud and needing a bath.

The chicks are growing up fast and becoming increasingly independent. Emperor and Rockhopper chicks are placed in a creche as their parents go fishing and the Humboldts are left in their burrows as the adults enjoy a soft landing of feathers by a beach swarming with cormorants. From egg to adolescent, spycams have been with the young penguins through their tough early months. Now they are with them as they leave.

Filmed in the Arctic islands of Svalbard, Norway this beautiful program gets closer than ever before to the world's greatest land predator with the help of Icebergcam, Blizzardcam and Snowballcam. These cameras are just a breath away when two sets of cubs emerge from winter maternity dens. They also capture the moment when the sea-ice breaks away from the island in the spring. As this program captures its intimate portrait of polar bears' lives, it reveals how their intelligence and curiosity help them cope in a world of shrinking ice.

The story continues as the spy cameras follow both sets of polar bear families. The mother with two cubs is in polar bear heaven, surrounded by ice and seals. That is, until an ocean swell makes ice travel difficult for the cubs. The other mother and cub family find it difficult to survive on Svalbard, as food is scarce. They must be clever and find emergency sources of food to stay alive. Elsewhere, a group of young, playful male polar bears play a rousing game of soccer with Snowballcam.

For the first time, our cameras film tiger cubs just a few days old. As they grow into engaging, playful young cubs, many other jungle creatures are revealed. At this vulnerable young age they are prey for almost anything but this is also when life is at its most idyllic.