Earth at Night in Colour

The night.

A shadowy world that hides more than half the animals on our planet.

Until now, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives.

But with next-generation technology,

we can see the night as clear as day.

With cameras a hundred times more sensitive than the human eye...

we can now capture the beauty of night...

in color.

Alien landscapes.

Strange creatures brought to life by the darkness.

Unseen behaviors.

Now we can follow the lives of animals

in Earth's last true wilderness.

The night.

Another day draws to a close across Kenya's Maasai Mara.

A last refuge for Africa's lions.

The grasslands here are home to three generations of a small family.

Six adolescents.

A pride male.

And one devoted mother.

The lioness.

She has three new cubs.

At ten weeks old,

her youngsters are too small to defend themselves...

but big enough to get into trouble.

The coming weeks will test this mother more than ever.

Only around one in three cubs make it through their first year.

By day, the lioness must rest.

Because as the sun sets...

her work begins.

Lions are largely nocturnal...

living out 80% of their lives after dark.

We've never been able to tell the full story

of a lioness and her family at night.

But for the first time,

low-light cameras can see their moonlit world...

in color.

This astonishing new way of seeing the night

offers a whole new understanding of lion family life.

At the start of the night,

one important member of the family is absent.

The pride male is out on patrol.

His job is to protect his 40-square-kilometer territory

from rival lions.

His roar is a warning call

that travels further at night when the air is cool.

Bellowing at over a hundred decibels...

he can be heard eight kilometers away.

It's clearly exhausting work.

But he gives it everything he's got...

to keep his family safe in the darkness.

Protected by the male,

the lioness's first job of the night is to feed her cubs.

At ten weeks old,

cubs are entirely dependent on milk from their mother

and can each drink up to a liter a night.

Once she's fed them...

she lets them play with their older brothers and sisters in the moonlight.

Lions aren't just more active at night.

They're also more social.

The cubs might be small, but they're already learning to play fight.

But if things get too boisterous...

the lioness steps in.

Playtime...

is over.

As the most experienced female, the lioness must feed the whole pride.

But she can't hunt with her cubs in tow.

To the human eye...

it's almost pitch black.

But our cameras show...

that to hunt for her family,

her only option is to abandon her cubs.

With her little ones unguarded...

the lioness knows she must work fast.

Lions are known for hunting as a pride.

But tonight...

the lioness doesn't rely on teamwork.

With night vision six times more sensitive than ours,

she picks out a herd of wildebeest.

Approaching from downwind,

she must get within 30 meters of her prey.

She makes the kill all on her own.

An adult wildebeest will provide food for her whole family

for up to two nights.

But the lioness can't rest for long.

She must get back to her cubs.

Lions aren't the only animals to hunt these grasslands by moonlight.

An African eagle owl.

With eyes adapted for the darkness...

and fringed wings that reduce noise...

he swoops silently down on rodents and reptiles.

But under a full moon his usual prey will see him coming.

So instead he targets smaller victims hiding in the grass.

To catch them, the eagle owl must get off his perch

and chase them down on foot.