Asia, S1 E6, The Arid Heart

In the heart of Asia lie vast, arid lands. These deserts and dry grasslands are so hostile that they push life to the limit. Here, one of the rarest animals on earth, the Gobi bear, searches desperately for water, and the bizarre-looking long-eared jerboas use their striking features to catch prey. Asiatic lions must do whatever it takes to find food, and juvenile cormorants resort to cannibalism to survive. On the arid grasslands, Pallas cats need ingenious ways to get close to their prey, Mongolian gazelles must battle harsh winters and human barriers, and takhi are terrorised each night by Mongolian wolves. Life in the arid heart of Asia demands extraordinary resilience – those that live here are the continent's great survivors