Like humans, baby animals must all learn to thrive on this planet. Narrated by Academy Award nominee Helena Bonham Carter, the cuddly and cute documentary series Wild Babies invites us on several epic adventures. The 16 wild babies we meet across the globe are born into various circumstances and must prepare to navigate the years ahead. 

In eight 30-minute episodes filmed in locations like South Africa, Costa Rica and South Carolina, we follow these baby animals after birth as they grow, explore, and interact. Since cliff-hangers are through lines in the series, you’ll be desperate to learn what these adorable creatures get into next. 

You can peek into the lives of these precious and precocious little ones when Wild Babies debuts May 5 on Netflix. 

Meet the wild babies 

The cute and fuzzy wild babies in this series all deserve their time in the spotlight. 

Tabo 

Tabo is a baby fur seal born in Namibia. He depends on his mother for the first six weeks of his life before he learns to swim. Though he’s pretty helpless at first, especially when his mom leaves him to find food, he bravely outsmarts both a jackal and a hyena.

Kaya

The only female in a four-cub litter of lions, Kaya struggles to keep up with her boisterous brothers in the South African desert. The foursome get separated from their mother and are forced to hide from a leopard. 

Jasiri

Though the African baby elephant is one of the biggest of the wild babies, Jasiri is coddled and spoiled by his herd. However, not even his mother’s loving protection can keep him from the dangers of a river crossing before he’s barely learned to walk. 

Matengu

Though he looks like a reptile, Matengu is a baby pangolin. He’s a mammal who can roll into a ball, exposing his armor of scales to predators. It’s a skill the nosy little pangolin must learn quickly after attracting a hyena’s attention. 

Mina

Mina is the sweetest, tiniest orangutan. She lives in Indonesia and is ready to embrace her surroundings and freedom. However, no matter how desperate she is to explore, her mama, who has previously lost an infant baby, is reluctant to let her try new things or even climb. 

Chico

Chico is a baby capuchin monkey who sees the whole wide world in front of him, and he wants more than anything to play with his older monkey cousins. Though he’s pampered and protected at first, he must learn to fight and fit in with his tough-loving family. 

Quito

Quito is a baby mongoose who needs to quickly figure out how things work around him. After all, he and his sisters only have a 50-50 chance of survival in their first few months. Unfortunately, his massive family of 35 can’t be bothered to teach him the ropes. 

Kesari

Kesari, a baby sea otter who dwells in Alaska, is doted upon by her mother. For the first month of her life, her mother carries her around. Though she’s set to begin swimming lessons like the other pups her age, she isn’t easily convinced to leave the comfort of her mom’s belly. 

Duma and Venus

These wild dog sisters in Botswana get into mischief and mayhem immediately. While Duma’s overconfident exploration gets all of her siblings lost, Venus’ quick thinking leads everyone back to safety.

Amma

In Sri Lanka, Amma, an orphaned nine-month-old macaque, is figuring out how to fit in with the other monkeys. With her mother presumed dead, she has no one to feed her, so she spends every waking moment searching for food. Without the protection of her mother’s rank, she has to learn to stand up for herself. 

Pico

Though penguins are known for living and thriving in arctic regions, the cold takes some getting used to for baby Pico. Luckily, his two loving parents work hard to keep him warm and cozy. He stays glued to his father’s feet at all times to keep from freezing to death until his mother returns home with food. 

Minnie

In Zambia, teenage lioness Minnie learns quickly why lionesses are the primary hunters and leaders of a lion pride. She stands up for herself and stays safe as her pride fends off two nomadic males who threaten to kill the cubs and take over. 

Spruce

If there’s one thing wild babies adore, it’s sleep. Canadian grizzly bear yearling Spruce is much too enamored with his naps to bother learning how to fend for himself, especially since he’s still being breastfed. Though he’s bored with his grass diet, digging for clams on the beach before hibernation is more work than he bargained for. 

Silver

Since Arctic foxes don’t hibernate, Silver learns the art of hunting and fattening herself up before the Icelandic winter arrives, when energy must be conserved. The only girl amongst her rambunctious brothers, Silver is the brains of her litter. 

Kai

Off the coast of South Carolina’s Kiawah Island, baby dolphin Kai studies his mother diligently to learn how to fish dive onto the beach for a tasty snack. At age 2, he knows how to hunt fish in the open ocean, but he must learn how to hunt on land without getting stuck on the sand.