5 Incredible Animals That Could Go Extinct In Your Lifetime | BBC Earth

From the majestic snow leopard to the powerful polar bear, this compilation celebrates some of the most treasured and highly endangered species from the BBC Archive.

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thirsty elephants often race into pools the matriarch knows that her family must not rush Amy this pool is stagnant and the elephants have a trick that deals with that sediment settles to the bottom and the cleaner fresher water lies on the surface they skim it carefully from the top then as gently as elephants can they move forward slowly trying not to disturb the stagnant layers but precious water like this draws in herds from far and wide in the exuberance of a greeting all their careful work is undone when Bulls are forced together by the need for water tempers can flare [Music] [Music] you can see how the younger wolves are excited by the arrival of their father storm these younger wolves are his pups from previous years in fact they still look at his mouth to be fed like they did when they were small [Music] it's so rare to see this I feel very lucky [Music] but then my eye in the sky spots a black bear approaching the den I see it before the Wolves do they don't realize the approaching threat while the black bear would be hard-pressed to take on an adult it could be after the pups [Music] [Music] [Music] every time the bear tries to go into the trees where the pop star storm bites him in the rear forcing the bear to turn back to face [Music] [Music] by working together a combination of pushing from behind and leading him on storm in his offspring get the bear away from the dead I think that bears just as happy as the Wolves to be out of there you've got pot vehicles coming through trucks loaded up with charcoal and that's why America it's just so tense about crossing the road with just him fine so he's just waiting nervously for a quiet time to cross with these all family I feel for him after 20 minutes we take matters into our own hands and Lambert stops the traffic no vehicle that's confidence for you with Chima Nuka in charge the orphan morali is confident enough to venture out whoa Oh fantastic oh my gosh look at this the whole movie era and his mother are almost the last ones to break cover and scamper over absolute confident stick with all the youngsters across safely Jimmy Lucca can stop being the lollipop man the boss showing us that despite there's a road running through this is still his jungle it's a great relief to see the whole family across the road and safety this area is more densely forested than the sections we've been in before it's criss crossed with gorilla trails so there are clearly other families around and Moo guru cos arrival just adds to the numbers maybe thumbs oh my water right down onto the road amazing he didn't even know I thought maybe stop a bit bit reluctant but cause he came meters for me to see him out in the open like that you see how big he is amazing Marco gather for their annual wraps males must fight for the right to breed but on these sheer cliffs any slip by either animal could be fatal [Applause] a Snow Leopard the rarest of Himalayan animals it's a female returning to her lair [Music] these are the first intimate images of Snow Leopard ever filmed in the world [Music] she greets her one-year-old cut [Music] our den is well chosen it has exceptional views of the surrounding cliffs on these treacherous slopes no hunter other than a snow leopard would have a chance of catching such agile prey [Music] a female with young makes an easier target [Music] [Music] a large pores give an excellent grip and that long tail helps her balance [Music] silently she positions herself above her Prairie [Music] [Applause] SBN is coming right up to me unfortunately it ignores the seals breathing hole and heads straight for me it's why I've come here to see these animals to get to understand them see them up close hey bear oh my god hey bear [Music] the Bears nose is thousands of times more powerful than mine it's gathering information before it approaches like it would when stalking a seal my scent is strongest at the weakest point the door its systematically trying from all angles one of the few animals that actually see us as food the Bears nose has led it to a gap you can sniff me god I could have actually touched his nose a basis for flexing and yeah I can feel oh not sure if I like that not sure if that's good our best bet would be to get a full week on top of it just like she does when she's making into seal layers and push [Music] okay don't go on top tops dangerous like it's just toning above me if I was to be standing side by side with this animal maybe about seven feet tall hey beer everytime she pushes everytime she exerts a little bit of force use it using up Karlie's is there anything worth eating here is there anything worth using up energy for inside the rest definitely me once it realizes it's too difficult to get in the polar bear moves off I'm definitely at this point my fear far away is my fascination this is closer to polar bear though if I ever imagined I'd ever get I thought something I don't want to do again in honey [Music]