Parenthood | Preview (BBC One)

Parenthood in the animal kingdom is a high-stakes game. In a world full of danger, some animal parents go to extreme lengths to ensure the survival of their offspring.

This new five-part natural history series for BBC One and iPlayer explores the extraordinary strategies and ingenious tricks that animal parents employ to give their young a head start in life.

From Orcas teaching their offspring to hunt Blue Whales, to Orangutan showing their young to make their beds, to Hippo families navigating the terrifying African night. Parenthood is an adventure – and our cameras are there to capture every gripping moment.

Just like us, animal parents can be caring, patient, dedicated, short-tempered and foolish. Elephant mothers will dedicate themselves to showing their calves where to find water, Cardinalfish fathers endure housing their fry inside their own mouths, whilst a lion pride adopts the cubs of a recently killed matriarch and raise them to become giant hunters.

In the first episode, finding a suitable home is the first challenge. In the Kalahari, lion mothers survive by raising one another’s cubs in times of need – only these mothers have the added risk of having to teach their cubs to also become giant hunters. Elsewhere, in Texas, a pair of burrowing owls provide an underground nest for their chicks, giving them protection while they work around the clock to supply food.

Food is vital to all parents’ success – but a mother hippo in Tanzania has to leave the safety of her pool every night to find grass for her and her calf, running a gauntlet of hungry lions hidden in the dark with her newborn.

Some parents take providing to extremes. In a sequence never featured in a documentary before, an African social spider regurgitates a 'milk' made from dissolved body parts to feed her young. Once her spiderlings need something more substantial, however, she offers herself - and they eat her alive. It is the ultimate parental sacrifice.

Protection is also key to good parenting. In Indonesia, a clever boxer crab mother cultivates live anemones from the reef around her to use as weapons against predators. When one is stolen, she amazingly clones her anemone, providing just enough protection to see her eggs through to independence.

Animal parents are having to adapt to a world that is changing rapidly, and the recovery of the Iberian lynx in southern Spain is a remarkable success story – showing how humans can help animal parents thrive in the face of enormous challenges.

Parenthood begins Sunday 3rd August at 7:20pm on BBC One.