Planet Earth Great Plains online movie

These are the most numerous birds on Earth. Some flocks are so vast, that they could take five hours to pass overhead. The East African savannas alone sustain nearly two million wildebeest. They trim the grass down to its roots leaving little in their wake but within days the plant will recover and continue to sustain the biggest herds on Earth. Grass is not confined to the tropics. It manages to grow even in the bitter conditions of the Arctic. Beyond the limits of the last tree the planet is barren and ice locked. The frozen no man's land at the end of the planet Earth. The receding ice reveals an immense flat plain, the size of Australia. This is the Arctic tundra. Snow geese. They winter along the Gulf of Mexico and in spring they fly the entire length of North America to reach the Arctic tundra. Five million birds make this journey every year. Their marathon migration is almost three thousand miles long and has taken them three months. Exhausted and starving, they touch down inside the Arctic Circle back at their traditional breeding grounds, at last. Snow geese pair for life. On this seasonal planet, the great plains are lands of feast and famine. At their peak they support the greatest gatherings of wildlife found anywhere on Earth. Watch an Arctic fox who surveys the colony. Further south, other bigger predators prowl the tundra. Wolves. For them, finding food on the plains is an even greater challenge. Somewhere in this immense landscape there is food for them. Watch Caribou. Travelling thirty miles a day they can cover nearly two thousand miles during the summer months. Watch at the prairies of North America. This rich pasture once supported the greatest herds ever seen on our planet. There were once sixty million bison. On temperate plains around the world summer is a time for growth and reproduction. Now the grass produces its flowers. New colors also come to the plains. The northern flowering is mirrored by the grasslands of the southern hemisphere. And nowhere is more impressive than on the vent of South Africa. Not all temperate plains are so rich and colorful in the summer. The Tibetan Plateau the highest great plain in the world. Despite the conditions, grass survives, and in sufficient quantities to support the highest of all grazing herds those of the wild yak. It's also exceptionally dry for one very big reason the Himalayas. The great mountain range acts as a barrier preventing clouds moving in from the south and this casts a giant rain shadow that leaves Tibet high and dry. Watch the Wild ass. The males are fighting to win territories those that hold the best, are more likely to attract a herd of females. Female asses are mysterious creatures. They're the great nomads of the plateau and will often trek vast distances across these parched plains in search of oases. But when they do find paradise they're liable to feed and drink for just a few hours and then head back to the dust for no apparent reason. Wild asses are the most conspicuous pioneers of this high frontier but the most numerous grazers in Tibet lives underground. Watch Pika, a relative of the rabbit. On the exposed plateau pikas never stray far from their burrows but even so, squatters will move in given half a chance. The bizarre Tibetan fox, the pika's nemesis. In summer, the Tibetan plateau heats up drawing in warm wet air from the south but the water never arrives. As the moist air approaches it's forced upwards by the Himalayas and condenses into huge rain clouds. These clouds drop all their water on the southern side of the mountains. The very peaks that keep Tibet dry are responsible for the monsoon rains falling farther south, and the greening of India. Elephant grass is the tallest in the world. The long grass plains of tropical India are home to some of the largest grass eating mammals on Planet Earth and some of the smallest. Pygmy hogs are the tiniest and rarest of all wild pigs. This is how grass can grow given unlimited sunshine and water but on most tropical plains across our planet the wet season is followed by a dry one. On the African savannas, grazers are marching in search of grass and water. Without rain, these plains can become dust bowls. Elephants must drink almost daily. Driven on by thirst, they march hundreds of miles across the parched plains. The elephants dominate the water hole but as night falls the balance of power will shift. The elephant's night vision is little better than our own but lions have much more sensitive eyes. The cats are hungry and the elephants seem to sense it. Lions don't usually hunt elephants, but desperate times require desperate measures. A solitary lion stands no chance but the whole pride is here. There are thirty of them, and they're specialist elephant hunters. Elephants know these drinking holes are dangerous, but they have no choice. The dramas that play out here are a savage reminder of how important water is for all life on these plains.

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