What’s Worth Watching: Baby Animals Start Their Stories

Life Story, “First Steps” (Saturday, June 6, 9/8c, Discovery)

“The Circle of Life” gets the documentary treatment in a new BBC co-produced series premiering tonight on Discovery. Life Story spotlights various animals around the world, from tigers to kangaroos, and follows them on their journeys from birth to giving birth. The epic undertaking was shot in 29 countries across six continents, racking up more than 1,800 hours of footage for editors to sift through.

In the first episode, baby animals get their first tastes of the wild. Adorable little meerkats will test out the world outside their burrows, barnacle geese chicks will jump off a 400 feet cliff, and a mama humpback whale will give everything she has to keep sharks from turning her little one into lunch. All that’s missing is Rafiki, a lion cub, and Pride Rock.