Wildlife Specials: The Spy

The epic story of the greatest animal trek on earth. Dungcam and Bouldercam are joined by Croccam, Skullcam, Tortoisecam and other 'spycams' to film, up-close and personal, a wildebeest calf making this spectacular year-long journey. Over one million wildebeest and their young make the arduous trip across Tanzania's Serengeti and Kenya's Masai Mara.

The migration reaches Kenya's Masai Mara where, for the calf, the river presents his greatest challenge yet. Croccam, Skullcam, Tortoisecam and Hippocam are just some of the spycams following the calf as he crosses the raging torrents. They film, up close and personal, as crocodiles pick-off stragglers, hippos become carnivorous and the river's sheer walls become death-traps.

The cubs are now half grown, still playful and enchanting. But this is also a time for learning the hunting and fighting skills they will need as adults. We also see how some of the other jungle creatures, born at the same time, are progressing.

Now young adults, the tigers are starting to become independent. As they learn to be King of the Jungle, the other jungle animals have to learn to survive their early attempts at hunting.

Using the latest camera techniques, we go to the heart of the swarm, and footage from camcorders and mobile phones captures the amazing impact they can have on our lives. One man has learned to control the ultimate swarm, becoming their 'queen bee' and learning to control what most people fear.

Extraordinary photography reveals the incredible collective intelligence behind these invasions. All unite as one and act like a giant organism controlled by a single brain. Fire ants invade and destroy computer equipment and, when their nest is flooded, create living rafts with their bodies. One swarm is even helping to save the planet from the Greenhouse Effect.

This beautiful program gets closer than ever 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. 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. The other mother and cub family find it difficult to survive. 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.

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 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, 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. From egg to adolescent, spycams have been with the young penguins through their tough early months. Now they are with them as they leave.