[thunder cracking] [birds tweeting] [tranquil music] [seals thudding ground] [tranquil music continues] [waves crashing] [birds chattering] [waves crashing] [tranquil music] - [Announcer] "Nature" is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and biannual financial support from viewers like you.

[tranquil music] [tranquil music continues] - At the southern tip of South America, not far from Antarctica, is a land of extremes and contradictions, Patagonia.

Glaciers and deserts, camels and penguins, this place combines the bizarre and the unlikely.

Strange looking giant hares called maras, and herds of graceful camels known as guanacos, share the arid scrubland.

On the coast, a rich current nourishes fur seals, elephant seals, and sea lions, while killer whales patrol the shores, waiting for the unwary.

[waves crashing] [waves crashing] [footsteps pattering lightly] Every year, on a remote coast in South America, penguins come ashore.

Not to a snowy world, but to the edge of a parched wilderness.

[stirring music] A forgotten world.

A world of marvels.

Strange creatures have lived in this isolated region for millions of years.

The last land before the frozen ice of Antarctica, Patagonia's shores seem like the end of the earth.

[stirring music continues] [waves crashing] Springtime is high season in Patagonia, when thousands of Magellanic penguins head for the beach.

The males arrive first.

After reclaiming their nesting burrows, it's time for some spring cleaning.

[debris clattering] [penguins scuffling] Territorial fights break out as the males stake their claims.

[penguins scuffling] Then they wait for the next wave of penguin society.

The females will arrive in a few weeks.

[hooves clopping] Inland, the full-time residents roam the arid hillsides.

The guanacos, relatives of the camel, live side by side with penguins, in this strange land called Patagonia.

[tranquil music] Patagonia lies between two oceans, a vast region that stretches across parts of Argentina and Chile.

East and west are as different as night and day, due to nature's great wall, the Andes Mountains.

These towering peaks steal moisture from the ocean's winds, leaving an arid desert to the east.

A quarter of a million square miles.

These parched planes eventually meet the South Atlantic, nearly 2000 miles long, this rugged coastline is mostly uninhabited and undisturbed.

Its secluded gulfs welcome some of the largest animals on earth.

[tranquil music] [waves crashing] [whales calling] For six months, these shallow bays echo to the sound of whales.

[water spraying] Who knows how many dawns have passed since the southern right whales first found the sanctuary.

These gigantic mammals use these peaceful inlets to breed.

[tranquil music] [water babbling] [whale calling] The slow rituals of courtship and coupling reveal a delicate tenderness.

It's a mating of giants.

[tranquil music] [water babbling] [whale calling] Another male has been attracted by the female's calls.

Males will try to mate with any available female.

[tranquil music] [whales calling] Sometimes the females don't cooperate, but in this case, she changes partners.

[stirring symphonic music] [water babbling] [stirring symphonic music] [water babbling] [whales calling] [water babbling] [gulls cawing] Spring welcomes other visitors to Patagonia's shores.

Southern elephant seals come here to breed, and raise their young.

[seals thudding ground] [seal spluttering] The massive bulls are remarkably agile for their size, they can easily maneuver their 6,000 pounds of blubber.

[seals thudding ground] [seal spluttering] The dominant males acquire harems, which they constantly guard from subordinate males.

[seal grunting] Only five days after coming ashore, the females give birth.

Their milk is rich in fat, and the pups quickly put on an insulating layer of blubber.

The mother doesn't eat while nursing.

She can lose as much as 700 pounds, while the pups put on nearly 20 pounds every day.

The bulls have been ready to mate ever since they arrived.

A few weeks after giving birth, the cows are ready too.

But this female has lost so much weight, he has to approach matters very delicately.

[seals grunting] After mating, he still has to prevent her from wandering off.

Fidelity is not part of elephant seal society.

The young males spend much of their time sunbathing.

On another shore, the female Magellanic penguins have begun to arrive, plump from a winter spent feeding at sea.

Each female mates with the same male year after year.

But first, she must find him.

[waves crashing] [birds cawing] [footsteps pattering lightly] A raucous male fanfare greets the new arrivals.

[penguins cawing] Amazingly, she can tell which male is hers just by his call.

[penguins cawing] It's been perhaps six months since they've seen each other, and they must reestablish the pair bond.

[penguins cawing] [wings flapping] [beaks tapping] After getting reacquainted, they mate near the family burrow.

[footsteps pattering lightly] [penguins cawing] [beaks tapping] The neighbors are busy with their own preparations, and take no notice of the mating pair.

[penguins cawing] United again, this pair will soon be incubating their eggs.

[waves crashing] [birds tweeting] [whale calling] This mother already has a new addition.

One year after mating, she returned here to give birth.

Right whales are born huge, about 15 feet long.

This one begins its life in the quiet bays of Patagonia, but it will need to become seaworthy soon, before it returns with its mother to the cold Atlantic.

[stirring symphonic music] Once upon a time, the ocean reached far into Patagonia, but 20 million years ago, this part of the continent began to rise.

Patagonia slowly lifted out of the sea.

[stirring symphonic music continues] A prehistoric Atlantic washed this beach.

Now, only fossils remain.

[birds tweeting] It was the fossils of Patagonia, like this giant oyster shell, that led Darwin to ponder why species come and go, and helped inspire his theories on evolution.

Huge creatures once lived here.

Now the inhabitants are smaller, but just as odd.

The mara looks like a cross between a hare and an antelope, but it's actually a rodent.

One of the largest and most unusual.

[birds tweeting] They feed on the short grasses of the dry scrub desert.

This mara was born 20 minutes ago.

Another is about to follow.

[birds tweeting] Maras are monogamous, a rarity among mammals.

[birds tweeting] [footsteps pattering] With their eyes open, they're on their feet soon after birth.

The mother will send them into a communal burrow, along with the young of several other parents.

In this unusual system, the adults share the responsibility of protecting the young.

One couple usually remains near the burrow.

This couple is ready to feed its young.

After the new mother leaves, they announce lunch.

Often, all the youngsters come out when they hear the call.

They will try to suckle from any mother, but only their own will let them.

[footsteps pattering] [birds tweeting] This hungry youngster is persistent.

He tries the same trick again, only this time, he not only has the wrong parent, but the wrong sex.

The male pays no attention to this misdirected youth.

[footsteps pattering] [birds tweeting] He tries once again, approaching another female with renewed hope.

Finally, he finds his mother, and his lunch.

The maras are adapted to a land whose main features are the absence of water, and the ever-present winds.

[wind blowing] [branches rustling] [brooding music] From the Andes to the Atlantic, the winds mold the land.

[brooding music continues] [wind blowing] [stirring music] Powerful and persistent, they even stir the ocean, drawing up the riches from the deep.

[stirring music continues] Anchovies fatten on plankton.

[stirring symphonic music] Flocks of terns track the schools.

There's good fishing here, and many seabirds exploit the sea's productivity.

[stirring symphonic music continues] [terns chattering] In October, imperial cormorants nest practically on top of each other, and squabble incessantly.

[birds chattering] The easiest way to collect nest material, is to act quickly when a neighbor is looking the other way.

This greedy thief has trouble carrying his ill-gotten gains.

[birds chattering] In the penguin colony, the mood is much more subdued.

The adults need to stay put and incubate their eggs.

This female is taking the first shift, while her mate feeds at sea.

At no time will the eggs be left unguarded.

[birds cawing] The changing of the guard throughout the colony creates a continual procession between land and sea.

[waves lapping] [footsteps pattering] [water babbling] Finding water to drink in this arid land is easy for the penguins.

They have a special gland to remove salt from seawater.

[water babbling] Thirst quenched and freshly laundered, they're ready to relieve their partners at the nest.

They leave the refreshing sea behind, and take their turn in the wind and dust.

[brooding music] [birds tweeting] [brooding music continues] It wasn't always so parched and barren here.

Patagonia's streams, rivers, grassland, and forests, were once abundant.

[stirring music] [insects chirping] 20 million years ago, much of Patagonia looked like this.

A wetter land, lush with trees, and home to some of the oddest animals that ever lived.

It came to a cataclysmic end.

[stirring symphonic music] [volcanoes rumbling] [stirring symphonic music continues] Volcanoes belched into the sky, the Andes Mountains were born in fire.

[stirring music] [wind blowing] The new mountains changed Patagonia forever.

These giants of earth and rock steal rain from the clouds, sucking them dry before they reach the plains.

This rain shadowed desert is Patagonia's cruel inheritance, from the birth of the Andes.

The winds have uncovered Patagonia's past.

Petrified trees were once witnesses to a land of forests.

[brooding music] [debris clattering] [birds tweeting] The hairy armadillo is a survivor of those days.

Throughout all the upheaval, it has remained virtually unchanged.

[armadillo sniffing] [birds tweeting] Powerful claws and an acute sense of smell help them find food in the dry soil.

They have the survival skills necessary for life in the desert.

Armadillos have never been fussy about their diet.

They'll eat anything.

This and their protective coat of armor, enable them to make a home in this harsh scrubland.

[armadillo sniffing] [birds tweeting] Many species met their end as Patagonia changed, but the armadillo is still going strong.

Few animals can survive here, except, as Darwin noted, the guanaco, which stood guard on the hilltop, a watchful sentinel over its herd.

[birds tweeting] A species of llama, the guanacos live in groups, consisting of a male, several females, and their young.

This group is enjoying a good dust bath, which helps remove insects from their thick coats.

[birds tweeting] [wind blowing] "There was not a tree," wrote Darwin, "and scarcely an animal or a bird."

[wings flapping] It's easy to see how he missed this one.

The burrowing owl uses holes abandoned by armadillos and maras.

Her mate left a lizard for the chicks in the burrow.

[wind blowing] Her chicks are growing fast, and she needs to feed them often.

[birds chattering] Only a few weeks from fledging, they use their leisure time to practice takeoffs.

[wings flapping] [birds chattering] It's mid-November.

40 days have passed since the penguins laid their eggs.

Down at the shore, new life is heard in the colony.

[penguins chattering] The chicks are small and weak, but know instinctively how to get the nourishment they need from the parent on duty.

Partially-digested fish and squid will fatten them up quickly.

[penguins chattering] Both parents share the responsibility of caring for the young.

Their neighbor, the largest bird in the Americas, is also busy raising its chicks.

Parenthood for the rhea follows a very unusual path.

Several females laid eggs in this male's nest, but he alone incubates and cares for all of them.

[birds chattering] [water babbling] The young birds of various ages and sizes are quite a lot to handle.

He acts as their guardian and leader, and is fiercely protective of them.

This female is the mother of some of his flock, but he won't allow her to drink here until the chicks are all finished.

[footsteps pattering] [birds chattering] The youngsters always keep an eye on the male.

They don't want to be left behind.

[birds chattering] In Patagonia, at the bottom of the world, the seasons are opposite to those in the north.

December is summertime, the season of intense heat.

There's no shade, but the guanacos, like their camel relatives, are adapted to life in this arid place.

Yearling males, pushed out of their families by the dominant male, form bachelor herds.

[birds tweeting] [hooves clopping] They practice the rituals required to secure territories.

In a few years, they'll try to obtain their own females.

[footsteps pattering] [birds tweeting] The young guanacos, called chulengos, are graceful and agile, and naturally inquisitive.

[footsteps pattering] [birds tweeting] And there is much in Patagonia to be curious about.

But when a chulengo first meets a mara, courage fails both.

[thunder rumbling] [birds tweeting] [footsteps pattering softly] [thunder rumbling] Distant sounds hint at approaching rain, but that's only nature's tease.

Patagonia's wind blows steadily offshore, keeping the summer storms at sea.

[thunder cracking] [stirring symphonic music] [birds tweeting] The sea is bountiful, the shore is isolated, and the bays are tranquil.

[stirring symphonic music continues] [birds cawing] [waves crashing] [water spraying] The whales and seals were once hunted here.

They both return to this now safe haven every year.

[whale grunting] In December, the right whales move out to feed, and the sea lions move in to breed.

[seawater gushing] The southern sea lions are related to elephant seals, and have a similar social system.

[seals grunting] A female attempts to join the other cows at the breeding site, but an eager male makes it very difficult.

He tries to take possession of her, even before she comes ashore.

[seals grunting] The bulls and cows form a sort of lounging party, with no obvious boundaries between the harems.

Even the newborn pups are squeezed in between them.

But the bulls know where one harem ends, and the other begins.

[seals grunting] This youngster is lost.

This female knows by his call that he isn't hers, and she sends him off to continue his search.

[seals grunting] Males without a harem become frustrated, as they watch the bulls and cows from the sidelines.

[seals grunting] One of them tries to get to the females and steal one away, but the resident male quickly chases him off.

[seals grunting] The young males eventually band together, and make a concerted effort to gain access to the females.

[seals grunting] The joint assault causes confusion, enabling one of the raiders to pluck a female from under the nose of the resident bull.

Teamwork has given some of the younger males the opportunity to breed.

[seals grunting] [waves lapping] She'll give birth to his pup a year from now.

[seals grunting] Many of the bachelors will be unable to mate this year.

Some take out their frustration on those members of the colony they can boss around.

The pups.

[seals grunting] [waves lapping] With luck, a kidnapped youngster can escape back into the colony, but this time the male will not let up.

This pup will not survive such extreme aggression.

[water babbling] [seals grunting] [brooding music] Away from the shore, Patagonia has other survival tests, other extremes of nature.

"The curse of sterility is on the land," wrote Darwin.

This is a land ruled by drought, a drought caused by the imposing wall of the Andes, which locks Patagonia's water in snow and ice.

[brooding music continues] [wind howling] An ice cap smothers 9,000 square miles of the Southern Andes.

Thousands of years of frozen rain, stacked hundreds of feet deep, Patagonia's glaciers are still advancing.

[stirring symphonic music] [ice cracking] [ice rocks crashing] [ice rocks crashing] [water gushing] [ice rocks crashing] [water gushing] [ice rocks crashing] [water gushing] Giant slabs churn the frigid waters below, creating waves of blue ice.

[ice rocks crashing] [water gushing] [ice rocks crashing] [water gushing] [tranquil music] The melting icebergs release rainwater trapped by the Andes for millennia.

[water gushing] [birds tweeting] But only a few rivers carry it across the Patagonian wilderness.

Not enough to water the desert, but just enough to feed a few lakes along the way.

[tranquil music continues] [birds tweeting] Chilean flamingos are drawn to such rare gifts from the Andes.

They travel long distances to reach these remote lakes, reliable oases in the vast desert.

[birds chattering] [tranquil music continues] Many other birds are attracted to these lakes, like white-cheeked pintails, and South American stilts.

[water babbling] [birds chattering] Wilson phalaropes work diligently to stir up insects with their feet.

[birds chattering] [water babbling] [birds tweeting] It's midsummer, and the imperial cormorants are now ferrying fish to their growing chicks.

[birds chattering] Each one tries to push the other away from the parent, in order to be fed first.

[birds chattering] The rich coastal waters of Patagonia seem most attractive to the penguins.

More than a million come here for the feast.

[penguins chattering] The chicks, now about three months old, require so much food that both parents are out fishing.

This one is trying to come ashore, but it's tired and full of fish.

It does its best to waddle home.

[waves lapping] [penguins chattering] Its progress is hampered by thousands of last year's young.

Their feathers are not yet fully waterproofed, so they try to stay out of the cold water.

They've gathered on a platform of soggy seaweed, where there seems to be at least one penguin too many.

[waves lapping] [penguins chattering] Giant petrels stalk the colony, intent on stampeding the penguins into the water.

This enables the hungry petrels to watch for stragglers, the weak, the sick, or the injured.

[waves lapping] [penguins chattering] Also, by clearing the beach, dead penguins are revealed.

[waves lapping] [penguins chattering] [petrels snarling] The penguins settle down once the quarrelsome scavengers are at work.

A kelp gull is also in the scrap business.

It's looking for a parent feeding its chick.

[birds chattering] The penguin knows there's a thief around, and tries to keep the food in the family.

[birds chattering] But the gull is quick as a pickpocket.

[birds chattering] Though it will never fly, wing flapping is important preparation for swimming, the next stage of penguin childhood.

It's February, and the chicks are starting out on a 1500 mile journey north to the warm waters of Brazil.

The beach is full of bullies.

Last year's young give the smaller birds the same rough sendoff they got the year before.

[birds chattering] [waves lapping] [waves lapping shore] There's no turning back once he decides to take the plunge.

The majority of the chicks won't reach their destination.

Starvation is the biggest killer, but some are taken by predators, like the giant petrels.

[waves lapping] [birds chattering] This one is in the clear.

He'll spend the next six months on the Atlantic swell, before returning to dry land.

In a few weeks, as winter creeps into Patagonia, the adults will also venture north, and the penguin exodus will be complete.

[waves lapping] [pup chattering] Sea lion pups also take their first dips at this time of the year.

[waves lapping] [birds chattering] At low tide, a distant reef protects them from the dangers of the open sea.

At high tide, orcas, killer whales, can now cross the reef and approach the shore.

[sea lion pups grunting] But for the playful sea lions, high tide means surf's up.

They seem oblivious to the dark fin of a deadly enemy approaching in the distance.

[waves crashing] [waves crashing] [pups grunting] [waves crashing] [pups grunting] [waves crashing] Death comes disguised as a harmless wave.

[waves crashing] [birds chattering] [waves crashing] Orcas are not the only predators that seem to toy with their prey before eating it, but they are rarely caught in the act.

This behavior might be one way an adult teaches a calf how to capture and kill sea lions.

[sea lions grunting] [waves crashing] [brooding music] [sea lions grunting] [brooding music continues] Patagonia is a hard place, a foreboding land.

Darwin wrote, "All was stillness and desolation."

[stirring symphonic music] Yet such a place is full of mystery and marvels.

Like all who are lucky enough to stand here, Darwin was awestruck and excited by its grandness.

This is one of the few truly wild places left on earth.

It is sometimes harsh and unyielding, but always humbling to the human spirit.

[stirring symphonic music continues] - [Announcer] "Nature" is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and biannual financial support from viewers like you.

[stirring ambient music] [wind blowing] [stirring ambient music continues] [stirring ambient music continues] [birds tweeting] [stirring ambient music continues] [tranquil incidental music]