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So far on Life Story,

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we have seen animals
take their first steps...

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..grow up...

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..find a home...

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..and gain power.

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Now, they need a mate.

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Competition to win a partner

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is so intense in nature,

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it has created
both the most extraordinary beauty

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and life-threatening violence.

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A male waved albatross

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will have the same partner
for his lifetime

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of over 20 years.

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After feeding alone
over the Pacific Ocean,

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this male has returned here
to the Galapagos,

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as he does every year,

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to wait for his mate
to come back to him.

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Others are already
reaffirming their bonds.

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As the years go by
and they get older,

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there is always the possibility that
one of them will not make it back.

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But his bond with his partner
is so strong,

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he will simply sit and wait for her.

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In nature, it's rare to form
such a lifelong commitment.

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For most animals, the mating game is
both brief and fiercely competitive.

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A female green turtle

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must survive the dangers
of the open ocean for 30 years

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before she's mature enough to mate.

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She's come here, to the shallow
waters off Malaysia, to breed.

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A male.

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He's been waiting weeks
for this opportunity.

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Courtship begins
with the gentlest of circling...

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..before she accepts his advances.

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Their first breath together

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is the beginning
of several hours of mating.

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He will hold on as tight as he can

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to keep her all to himself.

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Unfortunately, they have company.

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Another male.

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He will do anything he can
to separate the pair

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and mate with the female himself.

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He targets
the soft, vulnerable parts.

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He knocks the air out of his rival.

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The female is struggling now
with the extra weight on her back,

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and soon she will need to surface
to take a breath.

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Another male.

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MORE competition.

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And here's another.

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Now, the female has two males
locked on her back

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and it's twice as hard for her
to get to the surface.

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After an hour of battling,

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the pair are being harassed
by seven males.

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But the males are so excited,
they start attacking each other.

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In the commotion, the couple
break away for the surface.

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The pair manage
to make their escape...

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..leaving the rival males
milling around in confusion.

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Finally, they can mate in peace.

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In the mating game, it's usually
the males who take the risks

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and make the most effort.

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HE CHIRRUPS

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A flame bowerbird
doesn't fight to win a mate.

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His strategy is to put on a show.

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First, he builds a stage.

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In the breeding season, he spends
a week creating this construction,

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called a bower,
in the forests of Papua New Guinea.

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He's a stickler for detail.

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The stage is set.

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Time to paint it with mud.

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That makes a darker background,

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which will set off
his magnificent colours.

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Next, there are difficult
decisions about the set-dressing.

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Perhaps a bit dull.

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There's still room for improvement.

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Perfect.

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Time to call in the audience...

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HE SQUAWKS

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..if anyone's interested.

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This could take some time.

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Attracting attention is
an essential part of winning a mate.

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The world's oceans
are filled with brilliant colours,

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all designed
to make their wearers conspicuous.

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Unfortunately this small,
Japanese puffer fish is dull,

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almost to the point of invisibility,

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but to compensate,

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he is probably nature's
greatest artist.

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To grab a female's attention,

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he creates something that almost
defies belief.

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His only tools are his fins.

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In his head,
a plan of mathematical perfection.

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He ploughs the sand, breaking it up
into the finest of particles.

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These shells aren't just
rubbish to be removed.

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He uses them to decorate
the bridges of his construction.

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He can't rest for more
than a moment,

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but must work 24 hours a day
for a week,

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or the current
will destroy his creation.

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A final tidy-up
and his masterpiece is complete.

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Nowhere else in nature
does an animal construct something

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as complex and perfect as this.

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If this doesn't get him noticed,
nothing will.

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Now it's ready for inspection.

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A female, swollen with eggs.

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To make sure she gets the best view,
he encourages her into the centre.

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Inspection over, she withdraws

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to await the final stage
of the process.

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By the next morning, all the softest
sand is now in the middle.

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The centre of the arena
has been flattened.

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Right on cue, here she is.

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This is what she wanted.

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It's a perfect bed for her eggs.

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The male now grasps her cheek and
then fertilises her minuscule eggs.

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And with a quick flick of his fins,
he buries them.

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They carry on like this
until she has finished laying.

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An hour of his rough affection
leaves a love bite on her cheek.

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Finally, she leaves.

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He stays to fan the eggs
until they hatch,

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while his extraordinary work of art
fades away around him.

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South Georgia in the Antarctic.

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A male fur seal.

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He's about ten years old
and in his prime.

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He's coming ashore to face
the fight of his life.

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He may even die on this beach.

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For the first time,
he is strong enough to try to win

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a territory that could attract
a harem of females.

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But there are plenty of rivals here
with the same idea.

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These are only
the preliminary rounds.

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The real struggle will begin
once the females arrive.

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Just a week later,
females have filled the beach

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choosing the best territories in
which to give birth to their pups.

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This male now has a harem
of a dozen females

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and he's going to have
to defend them.

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His jealous neighbours will be ready
to exploit any sign of weakness.

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It's only once the females
have given birth

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that males can mate with them.

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Now this male must ensure that he
alone fathers next year's offspring.

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But this is the rival's chance too.

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He must act fast.

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He won't find them all
as easy as this to intimidate.

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New males pound up from the sea,

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intent on testing
the territory holders.

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With many more waiting behind them.

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The biggest battles are yet to come.

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Usually in the mating game,
it's not the males

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but the females who call the shots.

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And this male long-tailed manakin
is trying to win over

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one of the world's
choosiest females.

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He's been practising his moves
here in Costa Rica

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for as long as a decade.

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There's another male here too.

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Only the newcomer is not a rival,
he is a junior partner.

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They know each other so well,
they can finish each other's calls.

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But that's not all that
they have synchronised.

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They are master and apprentice.

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The apprentice has also been
practising for many years.

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But now he must copy
the master's every move.

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In fact,
the master needs his wingman

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as a female won't even
look at a solo performer,

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and what's more,
she will expect perfect harmony,

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so they practice together every day.

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At last they're ready.

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Here she is.

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Rehearsal over,

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their performance is the result
of more than ten years' hard work.

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She won't tolerate a single slip-up.

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Suddenly the master
calls time on the dance...

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..and the apprentice is banished.

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Only the master gets to mate.

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For the apprentice, there will be
no reward until his master dies

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and he can take his place.

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The mating game can sometimes be
a long game.

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A male peacock jumping spider
from Australia

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on a quest for a mate.

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And when you're the size
of a grain of rice,

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almost anything here
could be dangerous.

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He's searching for any sign that
a female spider came this way.

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And he's found something.

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Spider silk,
with the scent of a female.

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He just needs to follow it...

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..wherever it leads him.

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Other males have gone on the same
quest and have come to a grisly end.

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Here's the female
and she doesn't look very amorous.

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In fact, she kills every male

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who doesn't match up
to her expectations.

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What can he do to win her over?

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Dance.

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Dance for his life.

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He will need a show-stopping trick
to avoid becoming lunch.

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With his fan unfurled,

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he begins an ever more complicated
series of dance moves

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to try and seduce her.

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At last she succumbs to his advances
and allows him to mate with her.

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He matched her expectations.

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But she kills him anyway.

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After all, his body will make
the perfect meal

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with which to nourish their eggs.

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Back in Papua New Guinea,

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the male flame bowerbird is still
doing his best to attract a female.

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And at last he gets a response.

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Unfortunately, it's a young male.

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And worse, he's brought a friend.

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They're taking liberties,
practising on his bower.

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He doesn't seem to know
what to do about it.

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But enough is enough.

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The commotion attracts the attention
of another adult male,

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a neighbour and rival.

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Having destroyed the bower,
he even steals the decorations.

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The owner arrives back
to find a scene of destruction.

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No female's going to look twice
at this mess.

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He'll just have to start
all over again.

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00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:06,280
In life, there will always be rivals
in the mating game.

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Autumn in the forests of Japan.

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The mating season
for Japanese macaques.

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This dominant male
is over 20 years old.

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00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:43,600
Age has clouded one eye.

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00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,400
He has had a harem of females
for many years.

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00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,280
And he can mate with them unopposed.

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00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:15,520
But time catches up with everyone.

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00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:29,920
Young rival males are hanging out
on the perimeter,

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eyeing up his females.

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00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:52,240
For years, Old Blue-eye has asserted
his authority from this tree.

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But his authority is waning

220
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and the moment his back is turned,

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his females are lured away
by younger males.

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00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:24,200
Throughout the forest, his females
are conducting secret affairs.

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00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:34,960
Blue-eye tries to guard his females
by patrolling the edge of the troop.

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Caught in the act.

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He attacks his unfaithful female.

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He has reasserted his authority.

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Or so he thinks.

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00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,520
The moment the old male
shuts his eyes,

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his females are off again.

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Most of next year's babies
will be fathered by his rivals.

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And he will never know.

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00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:15,200
In Papua New Guinea,

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the bowerbird has lovingly rebuilt
and redecorated his bower.

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00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,680
Another visitor.

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This time it's a female.

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This is just where he wants her.

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Time to begin the show.

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First, he expands
his pupils alternately.

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It's an oddly mesmerising display.

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A spot of limbering up

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accompanied by a weird
and wheezy call

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from deep in his throat.

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00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,600
Now, it's time for his
grand performance.

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He waves his wing
like a matador's cape.

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She appears to be transfixed.

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00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:28,200
This is certainly eye-catching
but it seems he needs to do more.

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Generously, she drops him a hint.

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00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,440
It's the bird equivalent
of a bouquet of flowers.

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It's all going so well,

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it's time to get physical
with a few head-butts to her chest.

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One final flourish
to cap weeks of effort.

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But something's wrong.

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00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:48,120
His rival is back,
and at the worst possible moment.

254
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,880
What should he do?

255
00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:05,040
For the female, the moment has gone.

256
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:13,480
Sometimes, whatever you do,
things just don't work out.

257
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,280
On the fur seal beach
in South Georgia,

258
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,280
the fighting has been relentless
for two weeks.

259
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,800
Bloodied and scarred,
this bull has held on to his ground

260
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,560
and his harem against allcomers.

261
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:12,000
But it's not over yet.

262
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,040
The rivals keep coming.

263
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,920
This new one looks
particularly powerful.

264
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,960
When two bulls are as evenly matched
as this,

265
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:34,520
they can trade blows
for 20 minutes.

266
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:47,800
The resident bull is tiring.

267
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,880
The weeks of fighting
have taken too great a toll.

268
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:01,640
Suddenly, his neighbours
join in the attack.

269
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:16,280
Overwhelmed, he's driven
from his territory

270
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:18,280
and out of the colony forever.

271
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:36,880
The breeding season is almost over
and the seals will soon leave.

272
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:53,120
Now an outcast, this mortally
wounded bull will die here...

273
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,400
..but he will die a winner.

274
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,880
He held his territory for
long enough to father offspring.

275
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:29,480
Success in nature is all about
creating the next generation,

276
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,320
whatever it takes.

277
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:56,880
A male waved albatross waits for his
mate to return from the open sea.

278
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:13,280
Could this be her?

279
00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:22,240
Or this?

280
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,840
Is there something familiar
about her?

281
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:50,120
Recognition.

282
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:08,760
Reunited.

283
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:22,200
And they can resume
their long-standing relationship.

284
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,760
If love, as we understand it,
exists in nature,

285
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,320
then surely this must be it.

286
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:17,800
Their lifelong bond will help them
face the final chapter

287
00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:20,800
of life's story together,

288
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:22,600
parenthood.

289
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:42,960
One of the most unexpected stories
found by the Life Story team

290
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:47,720
was that of a small fish who makes
crop circles in the sand.

291
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:52,520
Unfortunately, it builds them right
at the bottom of a bay

292
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:54,200
in southern Japan.

293
00:49:54,200 --> 00:50:00,280
So how do you film a tiny fish,
13 metres under the sea?

294
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:10,120
Specialist underwater cameraman
Hugh Miller's solution

295
00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:13,520
is to build a film studio
on the sea bed.

296
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:14,680
This is a quad, a quad pod.

297
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,480
It's a bit like a tripod
but it's got four legs

298
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:21,240
and lets us get the camera
very, very low to the sea bed.

299
00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:27,360
This metal triangle is going to be
the buoyant light rig,

300
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:31,240
so it's like a little ray
of sunshine down at the bottom

301
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:34,600
of the sea, but this is
the first time it's been used

302
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,520
and we're going to find out
if it works or not.

303
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:40,360
Hugh has also designed
an underwater crane

304
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:43,840
to reveal the full complexity
of the nest structure.

305
00:50:43,840 --> 00:50:48,000
But however good the equipment,
the team will still have to find

306
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:51,160
the 12cm-long fish
in a big bay.

307
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:56,320
For that, they turn to the expert.

308
00:50:57,560 --> 00:50:59,080
70-year-old Yogi Okata

309
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:02,000
first discovered the mysterious
crop circles

310
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,320
and the puffer fish that makes them.

311
00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:12,440
He and his dive buddy Toyo
are going to search

312
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:16,360
several square miles of sea bed,
hoping to locate a fish.

313
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:26,160
Fish is very difficult,
almost camouflaged very well,

314
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:30,960
like almost sandy, so just
I can see shadow or just eye.

315
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,320
So it's very difficult.

316
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,880
But eventually Toyo and Yogi
have good news,

317
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:41,120
they've found what turns out to be
the only male fish in the bay.

318
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:42,320
12 metres, yeah.

319
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,400
They've even drawn a map for
Hugh to find it.

320
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:50,400
If I get lost,
I'll be holding this.

321
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:54,920
Time to build the studio.

322
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:17,800
All the kit is taken to the sea bed
to be carefully assembled.

323
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:23,000
The last thing in place
is Hugh's little ray of sunshine.

324
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:36,200
The fish won't start building
a new nest for several days,

325
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:38,760
so there's time to test
his reaction to the kit

326
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,720
while he fans his eggs on his old,
disintegrating nest.

327
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:47,760
He's certainly not camera shy.

328
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:52,400
And now Hugh's had his first good
look at the fish.

329
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,520
The biggest surprise was the fish
is a little bit smaller

330
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:01,920
than I first hoped.

331
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:05,400
In fact he's only, well,
he's really only about this big.

332
00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:07,720
And so to suddenly be faced
with a fish

333
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:10,160
that's probably half the size
of what I was hoping,

334
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:12,560
I thought, well, this is going to be
a little bit harder

335
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:13,920
than I first thought.

336
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:15,880
Yogi and Toyo keep watch

337
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,640
and it's not long before they spot
the fish starting to construct

338
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:24,560
a new nest, which Yogi expects will
take him seven days to complete.

339
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,520
He surprises everyone
by finishing it in three.

340
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,600
Yogi warns the crew
to be ready at dawn the next day

341
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:40,080
for a visit from a female fish.

342
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:45,760
They spend three hours
crouched over the camera

343
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:49,400
to film the action as it unfolds,
just as Yogi predicted.

344
00:53:56,760 --> 00:54:00,560
So what happened? Spawning!

345
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:02,280
We've got it.

346
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,600
The little chap was doing
very well for himself.

347
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:08,400
But the male built his nest so fast

348
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:11,880
that Hugh never had time
to film a top-down shot

349
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:15,080
for the ultimate reveal
of his hard work.

350
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:19,200
This requires the crew
to become builders too.

351
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:22,920
They build an A frame to hold
the camera perfectly steady

352
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:25,000
well above the nest.

353
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:45,200
Yogi and Toyo position
the frame near to the old nest.

354
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:51,720
Now the crew just have to wait

355
00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:55,520
for the fish to finish tending
his eggs and resume building.

356
00:55:00,720 --> 00:55:03,680
But a few days later,
there's bad news.

357
00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:07,040
We've been watching a typhoon system
far to the south of us

358
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:10,640
for a number of days, and we haven't
really felt its effects until now,

359
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:14,480
and today was going to be
the first day of the puffer fish

360
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:17,160
beginning its next cycle
of nest building,

361
00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:19,800
and it's been completely blown.

362
00:55:21,880 --> 00:55:23,920
So rather than going in
with the cameras

363
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:26,560
and starting the new cycle,
we're actually going in

364
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:29,080
just to recover equipment,
which is a real shame,

365
00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:31,760
cos we don't know what's going
to happen next, really.

366
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:48,360
It's five days before
the storm blows through.

367
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:52,960
Finally, the sea calms down
and the visibility returns.

368
00:55:57,120 --> 00:55:59,920
But for Yogi and Toyo,
it's back to square one.

369
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:02,680
They must find the fish
all over again.

370
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:08,120
Day after day they search, and Toyo,
acting as interpreter, reports back.

371
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:13,240
Um... No nest, no male.

372
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:17,800
The news gets slightly better.

373
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,720
We find a fish.

374
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:22,880
Just one fish but no nest.

375
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:31,760
We find the male
at the 20 metre deeps,

376
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:33,400
but not make circle.

377
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,920
The storm has put the fish off
his construction work.

378
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:43,400
Time is up and the team reluctantly
start to dismantle

379
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:44,800
the underwater studio.

380
00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:50,040
But the fish has one more surprise
in store.

381
00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:53,520
Well, it just couldn't come at
a later point, the last dive.

382
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:56,920
We're, we're going in
to pull out the kit,

383
00:56:56,920 --> 00:57:00,560
and there's a male making a nest.

384
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:09,160
One final chance to get the perfect
top shot from the A frame.

385
00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:34,080
A shot that truly does justice to
the fish's extraordinary artistry.

386
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:43,280
Next time on Life Story,

387
00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:48,560
animals raise offspring
with great commitment,

388
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:51,400
bad behaviour,

389
00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:53,840
lessons to be learned

390
00:57:53,840 --> 00:57:56,400
and life and death choices.

391
00:57:58,080 --> 00:58:01,680
Success means
leaving a legacy for the future.

392
00:58:04,960 --> 00:58:08,400
For a free Open University
interactive poster

393
00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:11,160
exploring animal life journeys,
call...

394
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:16,680
..or go to...

395
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:23,840
..and follow the links
to the Open University.