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Our Planet | Jungles | FULL EPISODE | Netflix — Transcript

by Netflix · 3,293 words · 437 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:20Just 50 years ago,
0:23we finally ventured to the moon.
0:40For the very first time, we looked back at our own planet.
0:53Since then, the human population has more than doubled.
1:04This series will celebrate the natural wonders that remain
1:09and reveal what we must preserve
1:12to ensure people and nature thrive.
1:27[animals whooping]
1:34This is a tropical forest.
1:38A rain forest.
1:40The richest habitat on Earth.
1:44Exactly how many species rain forests contain is unknown,
1:49but it runs into millions.
1:52And new ones are discovered every week.
2:00There are some, like this clouded leopard, we still know virtually nothing about.
2:15Although they cover just seven percent of the world's land area,
2:19jungles play a vital role in the health of the planet.
2:42In the heart of Africa lies the Congo.
2:49It is our planet's youngest rain forest, a mere 18,000 years old,
2:54and it's the jungle with more big animals than any other.
3:17A family of lowland gorillas.
3:24They're led by this silverback, the dominant male.
3:33He's as tall as a man, but twice the weight.
3:37His family depend on him for survival.
3:44As their guardian, he must keep a lookout for danger.
3:57A rival male might usurp him and tear his family apart.
4:03But there is one threat beyond his control.
4:10In the last 20 years,
4:11poaching for bushmeat has halved the Congo's gorilla population.
4:29His kind are now critically endangered.
4:38[grunts]
4:45[elephant huffs]
4:49It's only a forest elephant, which needn't concern the silverback.
4:57[low trumpeting]
5:01But the elephant has reason to be wary of poachers too.
5:08Their long straight tusks are even more sought after
5:11than those of their grassland cousins.
5:22He follows paths
5:23made by generations of elephants before him,
5:26searching for food.
5:34Like the elephant, the silverback's family will travel several kilometers a day,
5:39looking for fruits and seeds.
5:45They and the elephants are the gardeners of this jungle.
5:50The seed dispersers.
5:54And many of the trees here
5:56owe their existence to these large animals.
6:05Here, all paths eventually lead to Mbeli Bai.
6:18Open areas like this are a unique feature of the Congo's jungles,
6:22and there are more than a hundred dotted throughout the forest.
6:30Known as bais, these clearings attract many of the jungle's inhabitants.
6:44[elephant brays]
6:47The silverback cautiously leads the way,
6:52but his family are close behind.
7:20The gorillas come to feed on aquatic plants rich in salt,
7:24a mineral in short supply inside the forest,
7:28but crucial to their survival.
7:43Elephants mine salts from the mud using their trunks.
7:56Or just drink the mineral-enriched water.
8:06The silverback's family are not the only gorillas here.
8:11Nearly 200 others also use this bai,
8:15as well as more than 530 elephants,
8:19a measure of Mbeli's importance.
8:29For the elephants, the bais have another vital role.
8:37Most of their lives are spent
8:38roaming the vast forested interior on their own,
8:43so it's only here they get a chance to meet others.
8:55Unlike most of the Congo's other bais, Mbeli is well protected,
9:00making it a refuge from poaching.
9:06It's only when they leave that the danger returns.
9:14And as the Congo's main seed dispersers,
9:17the loss of its megafauna could have a far-reaching impact
9:21on the future of our planet's second-largest rain forest.
9:35Jungles may look the same,
9:37but each is home to a unique cast of characters.
9:45New Guinea is the world's largest jungle-covered island,
9:49and more than half of its plants and animals
9:51are found nowhere else on Earth.
9:58Its turbulent geological past has shaped this vast island
10:02into a dramatic landscape of mountains and valleys.
10:11A process that isolated one species from another.
10:19Separated in this way,
10:20New Guinea's animals have become truly bizarre.
10:27The male twelve-wired bird-of-paradise
10:30is the only bird in the world that has tail ornaments like this,
10:35used to tickle the face of a prospective mate.
10:41From one crow-like ancestor,
10:44birds-of-paradise have evolved into 40 different kinds.
10:50Every corner of this island has its own version.
10:55Meet the black sicklebill of New Guinea's highlands...
11:01[croaks]
11:04...able to morph into some very un-birdlike shapes.
11:16Each male bird-of-paradise has a unique display for attracting mates,
11:22and none is more extraordinary
11:24than the one that takes place on this stage.
11:33For the owner, a western parotia, there's work to be done first.
11:41Every morning, he clears his court of the night's fallen debris.
11:50It's a vital chore if he wants to attract a mate.
11:56Females only visit the tidiest courts,
12:03so one rogue leaf might ruin his chances.
12:10[squawks]
12:16Perfect.
12:19His obsessive housework pays off,
12:23and a female drops in for a closer look.
12:27Now is his chance to really impress,
12:30but it won't be easy.
12:34Females are very fussy,
12:36and she'll expect his carefully choreographed routine
12:39to be faultless.
12:42He opens with a bow.
12:46Next, his blue eye must flash yellow.
12:52So far, so good.
12:55He has all the moves.
12:59Fancy footwork.
13:04The whirling dervish.
13:12The head plume shuffle, with spin.
13:18Her erect head feathers and quivering wings
13:21are a very encouraging sign.
13:32His sidestep and head bob look good from any angle,
13:37but his crowning glory
13:38can only be appreciated from her perspective.
13:44Wait for it.
13:47There it is. A flash of his iridescent throat patch.
13:53Her excitement grows.
14:12His performance has been a triumph,
14:17and he wins her approval.
14:27New Guinea's isolation has created a unique variety of animals,
14:34but the age of a forest has an even greater impact
14:37on the diversity of life it contains.
14:43The jungles of Borneo, in Southeast Asia,
14:46have grown here for nearly 130 million years,
14:51making them the oldest on Earth.
14:59This limestone mountaintop in Borneo's highlands
15:03was originally formed under the sea.
15:08Time and rain has slowly shaped this jungle fortress
15:12into these 40-meter towers.
15:25The great age of this island's jungle is best illustrated
15:29by one of the oldest predators on Earth.
15:43A velvet worm.
15:46Completely at home on the humid forest floor.
15:53They've been here since the age of the dinosaurs,
15:56and have remained virtually unchanged.
16:05It detects its insect prey through vibration and touch.
16:11But with no turn of speed,
16:14how does it capture these fleet-footed critters?
16:20The answer is stranger than fiction.
16:28Glue guns.
16:34The sticky slime hardens on impact,
16:38trapping the luckless insect.
16:41The velvet worm will inject the cockroach with digestive saliva,
16:45and then suck out its insides.
16:55The high humidity of the forest floor isn't just good for velvet worms.
17:06It's perfect for fungi, too,
17:10and Borneo's ancient jungles are rich in species.
17:26By decomposing the dead,
17:29the slime molds and fungi recycle scarce nutrients.
17:50Time has made Borneo's jungles extraordinarily rich and diverse.
17:57Here, in just a few hectares of forest,
18:00there may be more kinds of plants than in the whole of Europe,
18:08including some of the most specialized on Earth.
18:18Over several weeks,
18:20these growing tips inflate to form jugs or pitchers.
18:34There are 39 kinds of pitcher plant in Borneo,
18:38and most are found nowhere else.
18:44To get the nutrients they need to survive, pitcher plants rely on animals,
18:50often in surprising ways.
18:57This is the mountain treeshrew, an animal found only in Borneo.
19:12Every morning, the treeshrew visits his neighborhood pitchers.
19:17It depends on the sugary solution
19:19that exudes from hairs on the pitcher's lid.
19:25When he's licked this lid dry, he'll move to another.
19:31And then another.
19:38Eventually, all that sugar can have only one result.
19:44[splat]
19:50In return for the free food, the treeshrew leaves a gift.
19:56Fertilizer for the plant.
20:00All that's needed is an afternoon shower
20:03to flush the shrew poo into the pitcher's bowl.
20:13Without these added nitrates, the plant couldn't survive.
20:19And the quest for nutrients has led some pitchers down a sinister path.
20:28A gracilis pitcher plant
20:31attracts ants to the underside of its lid with drops of nectar.
20:37But what do the ants give in return?
20:43It's a story that also depends on rain.
20:50The force of the raindrops
20:51make it impossible for the ants to hold on.
21:01It's the plant world's only springboard trap.
21:06This pitcher plant feeds on ant bodies.
21:18All pitcher plants depend on animals for survival,
21:23and one has even gone into business with a bat.
21:29The woolly bat finds hemsleyana pitchers
21:32because the plant's broad back wall reflects the bat's ultrasound.
21:44The tube-like pitchers are the perfect roosting site.
21:52The pitcher provides secure accommodation
21:55and the plant is enriched by its guest's deposits.
22:04Relationships like these have taken millions of years to evolve,
22:08but many could be gone in a decade.
22:14In the last 50 years, Borneo has lost over half of its jungle.
22:23And it's even worse
22:25on the neighboring islands of the Philippines.
22:30Here, 90 percent of the primary rain forest has gone.
22:41What's left is the last refuge for the world's rarest bird of prey.
22:47The mighty Philippines eagle.
22:55[caws]
22:56With just 400 pairs remaining,
22:59a chick on a nest is a very scarce sight.
23:07Scientists have tracked the mother since she was a year old.
23:11Now aged ten, this is her first chick.
23:22It's four months old, already nearly a meter tall,
23:26and increasingly confident.
23:31Although Mother still likes to give a helping hand.
23:42The chick is very demanding.
23:48She expects regular food drops,
23:52but, like a toddler having a tantrum, she doesn't want any help at mealtimes.
23:57[cawing]
24:01Already, she's the same size as her father
24:04and too big to argue with.
24:08But if his youngster is to take her next steps,
24:11he knows it's time for some tough love.
24:16From now on, visits will be less frequent.
24:29[caws]
24:30The parents drop by with an occasional food parcel,
24:37but a small fruit bat isn't much to get excited about.
24:48It's confusing
24:49when your parents don't visit as frequently as they once did.
25:04[caws]
25:04Every day, she calls,
25:08but no one is paying any attention.
25:15She's hungry,
25:17and all that's left are scraps.
25:26It's time to become a proper eagle.
25:34Flapping strengthens flight muscles in two-meter wings.
25:43Wings that will be used to carry off her hefty prey.
25:51Though that skill is still some time off.
25:59So far, she's never ventured beyond the security of her nest.
26:08And with good reason.
26:15There's a 70-meter drop to the forest floor.
26:24A fall would be fatal.
26:32It's a nervous moment, but she must persevere.
26:39Right now, she's all toes and talons.
26:52Sudden gusts of wind are not helpful when balancing over a death-defying drop,
27:00and the daily downpours don't make it any easier.
27:14Every day, she gets a little stronger and more confident.
27:25Then, the day comes when confidence finally matches know-how.
27:48Now is the moment to reach for the sky.
28:00Her first ever flight from her nest tree.
28:07It'll be nearly a year before she's fully independent.
28:13Then, her survival will depend on finding a territory
28:16with large stretches of unspoilt jungle.
28:26In the Philippines' fragmented forest,
28:28there's just too little prey for a supersized eagle.
28:36But there is one jungle whose size is still legendary.
28:45The Amazon basin is over 3,000 kilometers across
28:49and home to half of our planet's remaining rain forest.
29:00But there are challenges for those living in the Amazon's deep interior.
29:05[birds hoot and chirp]
29:14Black spider monkeys,
29:17with eyes on a salt lick.
29:23Being so far from the sea, salt is in short supply here,
29:28so a visit to a lick is essential.
29:36But first, they must be sure there are no predators lurking below.
29:42A harmless agouti is a good sign.
29:54This is the only time a spider monkey ever sets foot on the ground.
30:04And if you have your head in a hole,
30:07best to have a lookout.
30:11Monkeys can't survive without these minerals,
30:15and predators know it.
30:21[chitters]
30:22A warning from the lookout.
30:35It's not a false alarm.
30:41A jaguar.
30:44Rarely seen, but the Amazon's top predator.
30:56With the jaguar gone, the monkeys return,
31:01but it's a risk.
31:03Nobody knows when the predator will be back.
31:13It's not just spider monkeys for whom fear must give way to need.
31:19In the Amazon, salt licks are as vital as an oasis in a desert.
31:31Noises could be friend or foe,
31:33so every visitor must remain poised for flight.
31:50[rustling]
31:54[cawing]
32:00It's a false alarm.
32:02Just the harmless agouti again.
32:10In the Amazon, every animal group has more species than anywhere else.
32:17And that includes frogs.
32:22There are thought to be over a thousand different kinds of them here,
32:30and new ones are still being discovered.
32:49Frogs are an indicator of a healthy forest,
32:54but its most important residents are the jungle's smallest inhabitants.
33:16There are thought to be over two million kinds of insect in the Amazon.
33:23These are the most numerous.
33:30A colony of leafcutter ants can run into the millions.
33:41Each colony is a superorganism with a collective function...
33:46to gather leaves and carry them back to their underground nests.
34:13Within the territory of a leafcutter colony,
34:15as much as a fifth of all new plant growth will be harvested by the ants.
34:23Slicing through leaves with specialized mandibles,
34:26they produce high frequency vibrations, which stiffens the leaf,
34:32making it easier to cut.
34:36Working together, they can strip a tree bare in 24 hours.
34:52The trick is holding on to your leaf as you fall.
35:01Easier said than done.
35:04But best not to return to the nest empty-handed.
35:15A leafcutter colony is like a mega-herbivore,
35:19not dissimilar to an elephant in the Congo,
35:21and their impact on the ecosystem is just as important.
35:28The ants follow scent trails back to the nest,
35:35dodging unexpected obstacles.
35:42But to increase efficiency, the ants keep their paths clear of debris.
36:04A leafcutter nest can be up to eight meters deep
36:08and have thousands of interconnected chambers.
36:15The workers carry the freshly harvested leaves
36:18to special rooms for processing.
36:23The leaves are not food, but used to create gardens of fungus,
36:28which they feed to their larvae.
36:35The success of the colony depends on keeping their gardens disease-free.
36:42So, the ants have teamed up with bacteria to help control pathogens,
36:46which would destroy their precious fungi.
36:53Scientists now believe
36:54these bacteria could provide new solutions to human diseases.
37:03But as successful as these ants are,
37:05the rain forest's diversity depends on no one species gaining the upper hand.
37:14[animal hoots]
37:18Here, ants don't have it all their own way.
37:25This one is behaving oddly.
37:32It seems compelled to climb upwards,
37:35and is already several meters above the forest floor.
37:40Something has taken control of its movements,
37:44like a puppeteer pulling at the strings of a marionette.
37:54There's just one final act, for which the ant has no choice.
38:03It must find a place to bite down, tethering it to the vegetation.
38:24With the ant in its death grip,
38:27a parasitic fungus, Cordyceps, erupts from its body.
38:41Finally, the fruiting body of the fungus bursts from its head.
39:01From this bulbous container, spores will be cast into the air currents,
39:05where they will claim more ant victims.
39:13But it's not just ants.
39:15Many others are infected by the Cordyceps fungus.
39:38The more numerous a species is,
39:40the more likely it is to fall victim to the killer fungus.
39:52Checks and balances like these means no one species can ever dominate,
39:58so protecting the jungle's incredible diversity.
40:15But today, the diversity of the world's rain forests
40:19is falling at an alarming rate,
40:23and that is because of us.
40:29We have now replaced up to 27 million hectares of virgin jungle
40:35with a single species of tree.
40:42This is oil palm,
40:44one of the world's most productive crops.
40:48But these monocultures
40:49support only a fraction of the diversity found in primary rain forests,
40:56and it is pushing many animals to extinction.
41:04In the swamp forests of northern Sumatra, in Indonesia,
41:07time is running out for one of our closest ancestors.
41:14The orangutan.
41:21A baby orangutan takes more than ten years to become independent.
41:28Everything must be learned from its mother.
41:31Like how to bridge the gaps between trees.
41:40Survival depends on each orang
41:43understanding its patch of forest perfectly.
41:49Watching scientists have named this pair Ellie and Eden.
41:56Ellie is 18 years old,
41:59and Eden, her first baby, is three.
42:07Right now, he needs a little bit of encouragement.
42:20Like all orangutans,
42:22Ellie has a mental map of her surroundings,
42:26including the location of every fruiting tree.
42:34Eden needs to learn this, too,
42:37but for now, he must watch everything his mother does,
42:42learning not just what's edible but also how to eat it.
42:58Every day is a new lesson for Eden.
43:06Here, ants are a big part of their diet, and there's a knack to gathering them.
43:15Once tangled in Ellie's fur, they're easy to pick off.
43:23For little Eden, it's all about watching and learning.
43:35Eden's cousin, Louis, is more experienced.
43:40Four years older than Eden,
43:42he can move through the branches with ease.
43:55It's taken a few years to master,
43:58and it's clearly a skill he feels is worth showing off.
44:13Conquering the treetops is just stage one in an orangutan's education.
44:19To survive, Louis must learn more.
44:24Much more.
44:29His mother, Lisa, has found a rotten tree trunk
44:32with lots of ants.
44:35But this anting opportunity requires more know-how.
44:41To get them, Lisa must break sections off.
44:50At his age, Louis must do more than watch.
44:56He must copy.
45:16Not a bad effort.
45:21But even at the age of seven, he's yet to master the art of ant capture.
45:33Louis has much to learn.
45:39Pluto, on the other hand, graduated a long time ago.
45:46Thirty years old and nearly a hundred kilograms,
45:49he is king of this jungle.
45:54His cheek flanges are a sign of power,
45:58something for Louis to aspire to.
46:06Pluto is constantly on the lookout for food,
46:10and he's just spotted a promising opportunity.
46:16These wasps mean one thing to him.
46:21Tasty grubs.
46:28To get at them, he favors a smash-and-grab technique.
46:39His thick fur protects him from most of the angry wasps,
46:43but the rewards are worth risking a few stings.
46:52Louis keeps his distance.
46:57He would need to be a lot bigger and hairier
47:00before he could do battle with wasps.
47:10But here, there's one trick that can take half a lifetime to get to grips with.
47:22Louis' mother, Lisa, has learned how to make tools from sticks,
47:27to winkle out insects.
47:31The orangutans living here
47:33are the only ones in the world to have discovered this skill.
47:40Louis must try and learn it too,
47:42but it may be another eight years before he's as good as his mother.
47:49This long education has made orangutans
47:52particularly vulnerable to changes taking place in their forest.
48:01It's now estimated that we lose 100 orangutans every week
48:06from human activity.
48:17Louis and Eden's generation could be the last wild orangutan.
48:28When Pluto was their age, his jungle home stretched to the horizon.
48:39Not anymore.
48:44In the last four decades,
48:46the pristine lowland jungle that orangutans depend on
48:51has declined by a staggering 75 percent.
48:58Across the world, we are losing tropical forest
49:02at the rate of nearly 15 million hectares every year,
49:08and with it, the planet's treasure trove of diversity.
49:15Jungles store and capture more carbon than any other habitat on land.
49:23They cool our planet,
49:25provide food and medicines.
49:29We lose them at our peril.
49:43Please visit ourplanet.com
49:46to discover what we need to do now to protect our jungles.
49:53♪ I can hear the whole world Singing together ♪
50:01♪ I can hear the whole world Say it's now or never ♪
50:10♪ 'Cause it's not too late If we change our ways ♪
50:14♪ And connect the dots to our problems ♪
50:18♪ I can hear the whole world Say we're in this together ♪
50:24♪ We're in this together ♪

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