Sea island macaques live in matriarchal groups. The largest troop on the island has over 200 members. It’s July. The baby monkeys, born a week earlier, are having fun. Little do they know that they’ve been born into a world full of danger.
The South China Sea is the most important tropical ecosystem in China, home to an amazing array of sea creatures... A female green sea turtle is on its way home. It’s one of nature’s miracles: through thousands of kilometers of open ocean, sea turtles are drawn to the beaches where they hatched.
For soft-bodied hermit crabs conch shells are the ideal home. Left vulnerable by nature, they’ve no choice but to use the resources left behind by better equipped creatures...
In early summer, a unique looking creature appears in southeast coastal areas of China. Slow moving and soft bodied, conspicuous in their bright colors and lacking any protective shell, the sea slug is an unexpectedly bold adventurer.
Sperm whales are the greatest travelers among the cetaceans. They leave the tropics in spring for the higher latitudes. Their schools include many pregnant mothers to be. A lone female appears at the Daya Bay of south China’s Guangdong province. She’s pregnant and she’s strayed away from her group. She’s lost.
The Yancheng Wetlands in east China’s Jiangsu province are the winter habitat for red-crowned cranes. Migrating birds must change their habitats according to the seasons in order to survive. This great migration is the longest journey made by any animal on our planet.
This is Liaodong Bay on the Bohai Sea, up in the northernmost reaches of China’s territorial waters. While problematic for human beings, it provides shelter for the new-borns of spotted seals.
Black-faced spoonbills nest on cliffs. This endangered species has migrated from the south of China to breed here.
Early spring in Dagang wetland, Tianjin: a male great crested grebe is on the look-out... In the distance, there’s a female. Could she be the one? From her provocative plumage, he can see that she might be in the mood too...
In the Xisha Islands, buffeted by tropical marine monsoons all year round, new life is constantly emerging... This is China's main sea turtle breeding ground. Every year more than ten thousand turtles make their debut into the world. Helpless on land, their instinct directs them to the one place where they are relatively safe: the deep blue sea.
Black-tailed gulls are foraging in the vast sea. It's the breeding season, and they're in desperate need of food. Their prey is hidden beneath the surface of the sea.
Some fish are model parents compared to the sea ravens... Take the Fat greenling for example. This father keeps a watchful eye over the eggs until they all hatch...