Babies are often the stars of natural history programmes, leaving their parents as bystanders. But the mums and dads of the animal kingdom finally have their moment in the spotlight in a new BBC series. Looking at how different creatures, from insects to big cats and great apes, nurture their young – or, in some cases, don’t – and the brutal sacrifices they have to make, Parenthood casts an eye over family units across land and sea in 23 countries.
Scholey’s collaborations with Sir David Attenborough over the past 42 years have created some of TV’s most beloved programmes, and Parenthood expands on themes previously touched on in 1990’s The Trials of Life.
As we’ve come to expect, man’s activities and their impact on habitats, food and the wider environment are never far from the surface. But for Scholey, there’s one truth that dictates how animals raise their young: “The chances of survival of not only an individual animal’s family, but also their species, depends on how well their parenting strategy works.”
HANUMAN LANGURSJodhpur, India
“You often think that every parent of a species will be landed with the same tasks, but this isn’t true of langurs, who live in a hierarchy. Who you are born to really matters in this monkey troop. If you’re born into royalty, there will be a lot of other langurs who can help out, but if you’re low down and stay that way, your baby will inevitably starve and die. These monkeys evolved into a strict order of dominance with a head [of the hierarchy] and royalty. We filmed a female lower down the food chain who has a baby and has to try and climb the ladder, or at least work as a more lowly langur and try to rise up.” – Keith Scholey
KILLER WHALESBremer Bay, Australia
“Killer whales have unquestionably the most impressive parenting strategy of any ocean creature. They live in a matriarchal society led by the grandmother, who’s the most experienced hunter, and they have been proven to be able to teach one another. We saw a glimpse of this when we saw a mass of them thrashing around and thought it was a hunt — but a drone camera filming overhead revealed there was no prey. Instead, one killer whale was in the middle and the others were practising hunting it. We also capture for the first time a group of them hunting a blue whale — a seemingly impossible feat of predation, but one achieved by their ability to teach and strategise how to take down big prey.” – Olly Scholey
CAPE GANNET AND CHICKMalgas Island, South Africa
“Once common across South Africa, cape gannets are now an endangered species. Their main food source — sardines and anchovies — are also disappearing due to over-fishing, so they’ve taken to scavenging hake from trawlers, which can give an adult all the food it needs but doesn’t have enough nutrients for a chick. We came across a spectacular scene where the adults find a big ball of sardines that has been used for bait, and fed on by dolphins, sharks and other marine creatures. Once the chicks are ready to leave the island to live their own lives, they first have to run a gauntlet of cape fur seals who hunt the fledglings in huge waves. These seals also feed on the dwindling sardine supply — and will take down the chicks just to get at the food that’s inside them.” – Olly Scholey
AFRICAN SOCIAL SPIDERNamibia
“This is the one that’s going to be fast-tracked to Gogglebox! It’s a scene simultaneously of horror and awe: more than a thousand newborn spiderlings, who are born with the ability to hunt as a pack, kill and eat their mother and then go after other adults in the colony one by one. What I find amazing, though, is that they approach her in a synchronised movement — they move forward and then they all freeze to listen out for the vibrations of the mother’s final struggle, which mimics the vibrations of their insect prey. I’m glad humans haven’t adopted this strategy!” – Keith Scholey
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINSIndonesian Coral Reef
“A bottlenose dolphin calf will usually stay with its mum for three years, learning from her and other dolphin adults that she socialises with. We watched one mum demonstrating how to play a game where you pick up a piece of coral, balance it on your nose and swim up to the surface, before dropping it and racing back to catch it just before it hits the bottom of the sea. We’re not sure exactly why they play it, but it’s clear that it’s essential to this particular group and it has specific rules. We watched this calf do it repeatedly, then decide it’d rather have fun on the surface — it swims off and drops the rock while doing cartwheels. All the while, mum’s watching it, clearly asking it to play the game properly.” – Olly Scholey
LIONS AND CUBSBotswana
“What lions go through to raise a cub is really counterintuitive to us: they have to risk their life every day. We filmed a pride that specialised in hunting buffalo, which are great because they provide a lot of food, but are hugely risky to attack. There is a very moving scene of a pride’s reaction after their mother is gored and dies. For some big cats, like cheetahs, once mum’s gone, everybody’s done for, but lions have a social structure where other lionesses will suckle the cubs and they’ll get absorbed into this bigger family. Their social parenting structure is very effective.” – Keith Scholey
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