Planet Earth II

The world's deserts are lands of extremes that force animals to come up with ingenious ways of coping with hostile conditions, giving rise to the most incredible survival stories on earth. A pride of desert lions are so hungry they risk hunting a giraffe several times their size, while male sandgrouse fly 120 miles each day to the nearest waterhole and dice with death to collect water for their chicks. Filmed for the first time, a tiny bat does battle with one of the world's deadliest scorpions, and in Madagascar, a locust swarm of biblical proportions is seen as never before.

Mouse over thumbnail for slideshow

Or scroll and see one by one:

the pride continually searches an area the size of Switzerland.

#2

..but this pride can't go on much longer without food.

#3

Two lionesses lead the chase.

#4 #5

After ten months of drought,

#6

have carved channels through the solid rock.

#7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14

into an unstoppable force that devours everything in its path.

#15 #16 #17 #18 #19

desert-living elephants must also undertake long journeys

#20 #21 #22

arriving together in large flocks,

#23 #24 #25

for the next two months until his chicks can finally make the flight

#26

If a stallion can control access to water,

#27 #28 #29

but also by the relentless power of the sun.

#30 #31 #32

One of the most voracious nocturnal predators

#33 #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 #39 #40 #41

Before returning down the slip face,

#42 #43 #44

Here they are, here, all on the side of the road, look.

#45

Soon, the crew find themselves surrounded by locusts.

#46

But chasing is the operative word.

#47 #48

the local street food is beginning to take its toll.

#49 #50