The west coast of America.
It's a landscape full of extremes.
Bringing up a family here would be a challenge to anyone.
So how do the mothers in this neighborhood succeed?
By far the most dynamic area is the coastline
It's famous for its storms but it's also rich in life.
The cold shoreline is a difficult place to live.
For a single mother, it's challenging.
Yet this is where a sea otter mother lives and brings up her pups.
Dad plays no part. Mum is left quite literally holding the baby.
Otters only produce one pup at a time.
It's hard enough for the mother to survive here, let alone bring up a demanding pup.
The pup comes with its own fluffy life jacket.
Keeping it groomed is one of the mother's essential tasks
for if such a tiny pup got waterlogged, it will be fatally choked within minutes.
She supports her pup on her belly, warming and feeding it.
But like all busy mothers she needs to grab a meal when she can
and to do that means abandoning the pup on the surface while she goes in search of food.
The water is so cold she needs to eat about a third of her own body weight a day just to keep warm.
And producing rich creamy milk is an extra burden.
The richest of our ice-creams is only 15% fat
Her milk is a luxurious 25%.
Not every dive is successful
and she may need to move around the coast if she's to find a meal.
Sea otters are fussy feeders and each individual has its own special favorites
If octopus is on her menu she needs to dive deep and search hard.
But it's worth the effort. One octopus makes a substantial meal.
Other otters prefer shellfish or crabs not the easiest of snacks to open
but with practice, they can use rocks to smash open their catch.
As the pup's baby fur changes to a waterproof coat,
the youngster gets better at swimming and diving
and gradually learns to become independent
By 2 months, mum starts to share her solid meals
and her favorite snacks will become her baby's favorites too.
But even when it's old enough to catch its own dinner, it still pests mum for an easy meal.
Otter pups have a lot to learn about their complex home.
And the more time and energy their mother invest in them,
the more likely she is to succeed in passing on her genes.
And experiences worth a lot here.
Older mothers are far more successful than young ones.
Even so there's still room for trial and error.
In her lifetime, this mother could have 10 pups but over half will die before they mature.
So otters have a high investment, high-risk strategy
producing just one high maintainance offspring
But in pools nearby, a sea urchin mother has a very different approach.
She's on almost everyone's menu as a tasty snack, so she only has a short life
Producing one baby in a year would be no good for her.
She has a very different strategy.
In one year, she produces 200,000 eggs.
And if she can get within one meter of the sperm producing male
nearly all of these eggs could be fertilized.
But she has to leave the rest of their development to fate.
In her unpredictable environment, it's better to produce a huge family
and then let the babies fend for themselves.
So in the same neighborhood,
two mothers have found two totally different ways of mothering:
playing numbers game or lavishing attention on a single baby.
Other mothers go for 2 or 3 babies every other year.
A mother black bear lies dormant in her den.
She gives birth to her cubs in the dead of winter,
so they're ready to take advantage of the spring and summer months.
But winter in the Rockies is cold and hostile
With temperatures as low as 12 degrees below freezing
mums that live here are forced to shut down their bodies.
Her heart rate drops to 8 beats a minute,
and she breathes only once every 45 seconds.
She doesn't eat, drink or defaecate.
But her body stays warm.
She can remain like this all winter, transferring warmth and food into the cubs
She is living off the fat reserve she accumulated during the autumn
By gorging on carrion, nuts and berries, she put on nearly 20k a week.
When her cubs were born, they weighed only 200g,
but in a few months, mother's milk will have fatten them to 10 times their original weight
Eventually, the temperature rises. Spring has arrived.
Another phase of mother bear strategy begins
Now the cubs are free to explore their new world.
Mum on the other hand takes time out to just eat, and eat and eat.
While fasting and feeding her cubs, she may have lost 40% of her body weight
But despite being weak and thin,
she still has to care on her own for her boisterous toddlers.
For the next 2 years,
she will protect them and teach them the complex skills of forest survival
And because she's caring for them, they have time to play.
Play is an essential way for toddlers to exercise their muscles and brains
and become successful adults.
Black bears can live for 25 years
and so a bear mother can easily afford to invest 2 years in raising each set of cubs
The outstanding mothers we've seen in America are not alone.
Super mums exist all over the world.
But even super mums can't afford to rest on their laws in this changing and dynamic world
So for mums, whether super or not, a mother's work is never done.
Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org