Human Planet

Only one creature has carved a life for itself in every habitat on Earth.

That creature is us.

All over the world, we still use our ingenuity to survive in the wild places,

far from the city lights, face to face with raw nature.

This is the Human Planet.

In all the wild places on Earth,

we have risen to the challenges nature has thrown at us.

Now we have created the habitat of our dreams.

Designed by us, for us.

The pinnacle of human imagination and ingenuity.

This is where we humans like to think we reign supreme,

driving out the nature we don't want...

Oh, God!

...shipping in what we do.

But the natural world isn't easy to control.

Can we humans ever really master nature in the urban jungle?

And is it wise to try?

Dubai is the ultimate modern city...

...orderly, sparkling and squeaky clean.

It's a temple to man's ingenuity, rising from the desert.

But there's a menace in the air.

Pigeons.

Thousands of them are making a mess in this pristine metropolis,

and Dubai doesn't like it.

One man can help.

The Arabs call him Al Hurr.

His name is David Stead.

Good lad.

His challenge is to keep Dubai pigeon free

using falcons - an ancient Arabian solution

for a modern urban problem.

Birds of prey, of course, are hunting birds.

And the falcons, in the bird of prey family,

are the specialist bird-hunters.

They only catch other birds for a living.

And, as a result, the pigeons are most scared of falcons,

compared to any of the other birds of prey. So, even a pigeon

that has never seen a falcon in its life does have this almost genetic fear

of the silhouette - the shape - of a falcon.

Today, he is working for some of Dubai's top hotels

- with his peregrine falcon Nimr. - (WHISTLING)

Nimr is a three-year-old falcon now.

They become adult at one.

So she's now quite a mature falcon

although, at three, she still has an awful lot to learn.

Out of the whole team, she's probably the most arrogant.

She has this tremendous attitude about her

and she knows who's in charge. And, I can assure you, it's not us.

City pigeons damage these buildings.

Their corrosive droppings erode chrome and stone,

and each bird can produce 1 2 kilos of mess a year.

But David's aim isn't to kill or even catch them.

He is hoping to scare them away.

And Nimr loves the chase.

After all, she's a peregrine -

the fastest creature in the sky,

capable of swooping at 280 kilometres an hour.

So, once she's moved them on, he needs to tempt her back.

And that's tricky.

She's an extremely inquisitive falcon,

which can be frustrating for me, because I tend to lose

all contact and control with her

when she's flying and she sees something amusing.

But there's always one way to a falcon's heart -

the promise of a chicken dinner.

Thanks to David and Nimr, Dubai's hotels remain pigeon free.

After all, no-one wants pigeon poo to spoil their million-dollar view.

Sometimes, driving unwanted wildlife out of a town

requires a much more modern solution.

Sergeant Stan Schumaker is on a mission.

He works in Estes Park, Colorado.

Every day he patrols his patch on an unusual police vehicle -

a Segway scooter.

His job is to keep the streets free of trouble.

And trouble here is particularly large and spiky.

Once the elk come in, getting around town's a hassle, pretty much

from June to the beginning of October.

Every summer, the town is invaded by elk stags.

Sergeant Schumaker's job is to make sure that the locals

can go about their daily business.

Not easy at this time of year.

They may look placid,

but elk weigh over 300 kilos, can be three metres tall

and their antlers are lethal.

They're pretty much everywhere in town.

This whole valley is pretty much full of elk. At any given time,

there could be anywhere from 500 to 1,500.

The female elk love the urban grasslands.

They live here year round.

We've got two main golf courses.

The grass is, of course, golf grass, so they absolutely love that.

The male elk are only visiting.

And it's not for golf.

The boys are back in town for one thing -

a stag party.

At this time of year,

the stags fight over the females and can be very dangerous.

But it's not just the elk causing problems.

Sergeant Schumaker also has to control the tourists.

A lot of these tourists have no idea that these animals are wild.

It's the craziest thing, but they...

For some reason they think these animals are tame.

There's no messing with an irritable elk.

Get back, guys.

In the Wild West of the 2 1st century,

the sheriffs white stallion has been replaced by a giant scooter.

The elk do not like the Segway. I don't know what it is.

I think it's the movement,

because I'm not moving normal, as a human would walk.

And I'm scurrying around a lot quicker on that Segway.

So the elk do not like it whatsoever.

Today's been a good day for Sergeant Schumaker.

He's run the troublemakers out of town.

But not all the invaders who come to our cities are so easy to chase away.

Some cities are plagued by creatures

who are just as wily and streetwise as us.

Jaipur, one of the fastest growing cities in India.

Here, muggings and petty theft are part of everyday life.

Shakuntla, a local market seller, is terrorised by street gangs.

And these are not the local lads.

She has to face them every day.

They're a terrifying bunch.

A posse of rhesus macaques hang out on the rooftops.

One bite from these canines can inflict horrible damage.

For the macaques, life in the urban jungle is even easier

than life in the real one.

Like us, they can be smart and slick.

Jaipur's temples and streets provide endless pockets to pick.

And their favourite place is the food market.

The question today is, will Shakuntla's stall

survive all the monkey business?

The attack is led by the gang leader, an alpha male.

The macaques work as a co-ordinated team,

ducking and diving.

Attacking from all angles,

the smaller macaques distract Shakuntla,

while the bolder males grab the loot.

Life on Jaipur's streets is tough enough.

But when your enemy is protected by a deity, there's nothing you can do.

These monkeys are sacred to the monkey god Hanuman.

Monkeys can be a menace in the market.

But there is a wider war going on under all our city streets.

Some species have become a threat to our domination

of our very own urban world.

Jeff and Junior are on a stakeout,

hunting down mortal enemies on the Manhattan front line.

My job is a night-time exterminator in New York City.

Day-time guys where I work do bedbugs.

We just do rats, mice, roaches in restaurants.

What sort of time do you think we'll be getting up in this place?

I don't know. They said about midnight.

They're not closed yet.

I mean, I don't really have a problem telling people what I do,

but we try to be as discreet as possible, just because I don't want people

to think that they're eating in an area that's full of rats.

But East Village is full of them, so you can't hide that.

Rats love fine dining too.

But they don't leave tips behind.

They leave excrement and disease.

No-one wants to admit that the Big Apple has a big rat problem,

so Jeff and Junior only work at night.

Trash is a big deal.

Us being sloppy humans throwing trash out on the sidewalks,

and leaving the juices and meat juices and chicken bones everywhere.

That's a buffet for them, you know what I mean?

Tonight, they're laying traps in Chinatown.

Wow!

Are you OK?

Another one of these, man.

Another one of these. Wow.

How do you even leave your restaurant like this?

Oh, man! Dude, look at this.

Look at all of this stuff! Sushi, rice, noodles.

HURT.. Rats will eat anything, from chop suey to the chopsticks themselves.

We walk in at night because we have keys.

We have to go when the customers are gone.

And when the people leave the restaurant, the rats think it's time to come out.

But we go in there later, like an hour after they close, so they're out partying.

Uh-oh. There he is, there he is, there he is. Right there, right there.

Right there, right there, right there, right there. See him?

Shh! Shh! He's going down, he's going down. Right there. Right in the hole.

Damn!

- He was drinking coffee. - Something.

That's the last thing that this guy needs is coffee.

Unbelievable!

- That's why I don't eat takeout, man. - Yes, you do.

Come on. Let's go to the basement, man.

Watch out, man. It's slippery.

And there's another horror in the basement.

Yo! Look at the bugs in the ceiling! You don't ever see that.

Right there behind the door.

- Cockroaches. - (WHACK!)

- This is professional extermination. - I got these bugs.

- Oh! Have you seen this basement? - What's in there, man?

Old buildings connected by pipes and basements