Our Planet II – Episode 3 “The Next Generation” Recap & Review

The Next Generation

Episode 3 of Our Planet II picks up where we left off. A million wildebeest and zebra face their toughest challenge ahead, and that comes from those Nile crocodile and the deadly river. The worst affected here though are the young foals, who find themselves in serious danger. Thankfully, a lot of the zebra do make it but some foals do end up being taken by the crocodiles. Still, they continue their march to the other side and continue on their hunt for greener lands.

October brings with it new challenges, and some animals make truly extraordinary journeys. Down on the Mexico’s Pacific coast, beneath the sand, thousands of animals are on the move. Olive ridley turtle hatchlings, to be precise.

The sand is at the perfect temperature for them to be hatched, but their journey is a perilous one. It’s also one of the most dangerous in the world. For hunters, this is the best feast of the year, with sea birds, reptiles and even crustaceans like crabs getting in on the action. With half of these hatchlings killed, the other half now have to contend with even worse conditions, coming in the form of the tide going out.

Even when the turtles reach the shallows, they’re still not safe. They have to find food and try to survive. After 15 years of being on their own, these teenage turtles make it back where they came from, much larger but still wary of the threats these shallows brings. There’s around 250,000 of them, which happens to be the greatest gathering of turtles on Earth.

The middle ground of the beach, further away from the water so as not to drown and not too far out to become too dry, is a super popular area and some eggs are actually damaged and destroyed in the process by other turtles. Still, there’s enough of them laid to keep up the same migration as before.

In a remote part of the Atlantic are the Falkland Islands, where elephant seals have been coming for millions of years to breed. There’s only pups left and they need to fend for themselves. They don’t know how to swim yet though so thankfully, the sheltered beachside pool is a good place to do that… or is it?

Orca whales show up at this precise time of the year, allowing them to reach the “playside pool” and use the currents and tide for the killer whales to pass through and take them out, in plain sight.

Breeding in safety for some animals means avoiding crowds, and what better place to do that than New Zealand. One visitor here makes a 6000km trek to the island’s most secluded area. The tawaki penguins, better known as “Jungle penguins”, who make an extraordinary trek through the jungle just to feed their young. Much like Emperor Penguins, these guys constantly make the journey, across the span of 10 weeks, until they’re ready to journey all the way to southern Antarctica.

In November, monsoon season starts and the rise in humidity awakens a sleeping army. Christmas Island red crabs live almost exclusively on land but they also have to make an annual trek to the ocean to complete their lifecycle. They need to catch the high tides of the ocean to shake off over 100,000 eggs a piece into the surf. They hatch immediately and become free-swimming larvae. The majority are eaten or lost but with any luck, the next high tide will allow some of them to return.

Another first journey is about to begin in late November, which happens to be in Patagonia, the southernmost tip of the Americas. The puma is the only land predator that lives this far south and after a year, they need to learn how to hunt on their own. The prey here is difficult to catch though. With two cubs watching on, their mother makes a kill and gives them an easy meal, but it’s likely to be their last one. They’re about to go on the hunt for more and they’ll need to go it alone.

In December, the shores of Christmas Island turn red as billions of crablets try to make it to dry land. They’re back! They need to get to the forest though which is 2km away. Before even leaving the forest, they’re attacked and eaten by adult red crabs, no less. With a billion strong, these little crablets have to watch their step.

Along with navigating the urban jungle, yellow crazy ants also eat these crabs. Those who make it, spend the next five years growing and eating before producing crablets of their own and returning to the sea.

Young demoiselle cranes face perhaps one of the toughest migrations of any bird. They flee frozen Mongolia to spend the winter in India. The journey there wasn’t always this hard but with the highest mountain range on Earth to traverse – the Himalayas – they have to ascend to 8000 meters above sea-level. Unfortunately, this also makes them prone to attack from eagles, that soar over the landscape. Eagles work as a pair, taking down the chicks as a unit. Those who survive, do so knowing they’ve been through a hellacious ordeal.

Tropical forests of Yunnan are home to the endangered wild elephants of China, which is where we focus our efforts on the last parts of the episode. In March 2020, the forest was hit by the largest drought on record. With a new member of the family born, for 8 months elephants travelled north to try and find a new home.

Still on the move, navigating through farmland and industrial areas, the family struggle to find somewhere to live. 400km later, and after marching for nearly a year, these exhausted elephants lie down and sleep; something very rare for elephants to do. However, their next move is one of the most surprising… but we’ll find out about that in the final episode!

The Episode Review

Our Planet has been a solid watch this year, with a thematic current of migrations and movements being the key component. Some of the shots have been absolutely breathtaking and seeing the sheer number of different animals and how their journeys have differed with the changing seasons and what’s happening to our planet is certainly eye-opening.

The ending to this chapter, featuring the elephants all lying down, is certainly surprising and this may be the biggest cliffhanger of the season, leaving everything resting precariously on a knife-edge for this final chapter!