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00:13There's a story unfolding on the west coast of Costa Rica.
00:18A story both ancient and new.
00:22A tale of two creatures from opposite worlds,
00:25each on a comeback from their own devastating declines.
00:31One is a sea turtle, a global ocean traveler.
00:40The other, a magnificent cat,
00:43the top predator in Central America.
00:49The return of an endangered forest will bring them together
00:52in an uncommon clash of land and sea.
00:57A surprising encounter of a rare predator
01:01and a most unusual prey.
01:06How will their fates play out when they finally meet
01:09on one special crescent of sand called Jaguar Beach?
01:22A past week for more than two of us....
01:23A past week for more than 90 years.
01:27Theamatous
01:39Star Wars
01:41Off the shore of Central America,
01:43in the shallows of the Pacific,
01:46an ancient ritual is underway.
01:48After more than a decade at sea, an olive-ridley sea turtle nears the end of her long migration.
02:05Guided by the Earth's magnetic field, she has navigated thousands of miles, seeking out the very beach where she was born.
02:18This secluded crescent of sand has long provided a refuge for one of the world's most beloved creatures, and is home to a wild coastal community.
02:42Shorebirds flock to its shallows to feed, under the pterodactyl silhouettes of magnificent frigate birds.
02:55American crocodiles slip out of their swampy lagoons for an occasional saltwater splash.
03:06Rising up from the beach is one of the last habitats of its kind on Earth.
03:13A tropical forest that's dry for half the year.
03:19Restored as a national park after it had been clear-cut for agriculture, its tangled woodlands sprawl nearly 200 square miles across Costa Rica's mountainous west.
03:34The forest stretches all the way to the ocean's edge, where its mangrove tendrils filter fresh water from salt.
03:46The hardy trees provide a home for over 250 species of birds.
04:03Yellow-naked parrots nest in the heights.
04:14Orange-fronted parroquets feast on its floral buffet.
04:20They share the canopy with gymnastic spider monkeys and howlers.
04:39And in the understory, lumbering baird's tapirs forage for fallen fruit.
04:49The unusual forest opens onto a pristine strip of sand.
04:53One of only a few in the world where olive-ridley sea turtles nest en masse.
05:00For nearly two decades, biologist Luis Fonseca has been trekking to this remote alcove to monitor nesting sea turtles.
05:11But after five years on the beach, he arrived one morning to a shock. Signs in the sand that he and the turtles were not alone.
05:22The first tracks were no aberration. He soon saw more evidence that one of the most formidable predators in the Americas was making a comeback in the dry forest.
05:38The population of jaguares has increased almost exponentially in the last decade.
05:45We can say that we have almost zero jaguares in the first years to have almost 40 individuals in the last year of investigation.
05:57The return of an apex predator was bound to send ripples through the ecosystem.
06:10So Luis decided to expand his research to include the jaguars.
06:15Hoping to learn what impact they would have on the turtles, he set up hundreds of camera traps to capture their movements and behavior.
06:32And then he waited for the turtles to emerge from the ocean.
06:46For years at a time, olive-ridley sea turtles live a solitary, nomadic life at sea.
06:57Their world is one of mighty behemoths and lively schools of dolphins.
07:09Then, every year or two, a primeval instinct draws them home to these shores.
07:17Male turtles, identifiable by their longer tails, rarely return to land after hatching.
07:27But during nesting season, these ancient mariners patrol the shallows looking for mates.
07:49Seduction begins with a tender but clunky embrace.
07:52The male uses long claws on his front flippers to hook onto the female's shell.
08:04The courtship is quick, but the coupling can last for several hours.
08:08The female does most of the work, constantly pushing to the surface, so they both can breathe.
08:24For these two ocean wanderers and their species, it's a fleeting but critical connection.
08:42It's a critical connection.
08:43It's a critical connection.
08:44It's a critical connection.
08:45It's a critical connection to the crow.
08:46A few weeks later, the female drags herself from the comfort of her weightless, watery world.
09:16With her hundred-pound frame and short flippers, she's far more graceful at sea than ashore.
09:28But she's determined to find a good spot for her nest.
09:39Then she starts to carve out a deep, protective cavity.
09:52As she digs, another mother-to-be emerges from the surf, carrying her own precious cargo.
10:02In a few months, this sliver of beach will draw thousands of sea turtles for a mass nesting
10:08event.
10:09But for now, she and the other female seem to have it all to themselves.
10:14Within the forest, the area's dominant male jaguar, named Alonso by Luis, sets off on
10:39a midnight hunt.
10:58On the beach, the first female turtle puts the final touches on her nest.
11:04Her eggs are now hidden, but she is still very much exposed.
11:11No stalking, no pouncing.
11:39Just a quick and easy bite to the back of the head.
11:46Back in the mangroves, Alonso settles down to his meal.
12:13His powerful jaws make quick work of the turtle's hard shell.
12:22The jaguar has the most powerful bite of any big cat.
12:26His jaws work just as well on the shell as they do on other animals' skulls.
12:46His tongue isn't just for tasting, it's lined with back-facing barbs that may aid with stripping
12:52flesh from bone.
12:58With Alonso otherwise occupied, the other nesting female is still hard at work.
13:05Around 100 eggs tumble into the nest, soft leathery shells cushion their fall.
13:24In her final maternal act, she carefully conceals them.
13:37Then, she returns to her ocean world, never to know what becomes of her clutch.
13:56The eggs must now survive the next 45 days, hidden in the sand, on a beach where everyone is looking for their next meal.
14:05Back in the mangroves, the turtle will feed Alonso for two days.
14:19For now, he has eaten his fill.
14:23But he's not the only one dining tonight.
14:34As he takes a break, hungry scavengers move in from the shadows.
14:46The scent penetrates the forest.
14:58A resourceful opossum is in luck.
15:01He's so taken by his windfall, he fails to notice that someone has come back for seconds.
15:16The jaguar's leftovers will nourish a whole forest community.
15:38But Luis is concerned for the turtles, because olive ridleys are in decline around the world.
15:45How will the growing jaguar population affect the vulnerable turtles, staging their own comeback here on this critical beach?
15:58Luis hopes his camera traps can offer some clues.
16:04So we know that the jaguars, possibly in the night, can walk around here.
16:09And they can even sleep, rest, and wait for a turtle.
16:14So that's why we know that this is a good place to put a camera traps.
16:18The cameras reveal a secret no one expected.
16:20Constant traffic of jaguars.
16:21Moving between the dry forest and the beach.
16:28The cameras reveal a secret no one expected.
16:36Constant traffic of jaguars moving between the dry forest and the beach.
16:51What was once a sanctuary for Luis's nesting sea turtles has become a favourite hunting ground for a forest predator.
17:06It's an amazing comeback story for the big cats.
17:18During the 1950s and 60s, Costa Rica's northwestern coast was stripped of its trees.
17:24Replaced by a patchwork of cattle ranches.
17:27Jaguars and other forest animals all but disappeared.
17:36Then, in 1971, Costa Rica created Santa Rosa National Park.
17:42And let nature rebuild the forest.
17:57New growth stretched across the province, eventually connecting the coast to an inland jaguar habitat.
18:14One by one, the cats followed the lure of the resurrected forest.
18:21They found their way deeper into the park, expanding their territory.
18:26All the way to the beach.
18:34To monitor the effects of this surge of predators, Luis assembled a small team with a passion for jaguars.
18:42And the patience and fortitude to work in extreme isolation.
18:56When you're a child, everyone asks you what you want to do.
19:06You want to be an astronaut, you want to be a dancer.
19:12You want to be an astronaut, you want to be a dancer.
19:16I wanted to work with animals.
19:17Ser biologist and work in theình
19:40Here we are in a place where we can study one of the most elusive animals that exist.
19:47These elusive animals are what drew Carolina Perez from her home in Italy to this rugged coastal outpost.
19:55Several hours' drive and a mountain hike from the nearest town.
20:01With only a flashlight and a bag of batteries, she monitors the project's cameras.
20:10They have captured some fascinating consequences of the jaguar's return.
20:15The jaguar eats a tortoise, he spends a few hours there eating,
20:19and when it's full, he leaves the tortoise in the carcasa.
20:25And that carcasa is available for a large number of species that normally do not act like scavengers.
20:32The presence of the jaguar gives the opportunity for other species to feed themselves.
20:38Wow.
20:40Even pumas, top predators themselves, have altered their behavior.
20:50They've become more active during the day to avoid the new rulers of the night.
20:56And they're not above jaguar leftovers if it means a free meal.
20:59The team's cameras are offering other revelations as well.
21:13Normally, a single male jaguar needs 50 square miles of territory to himself.
21:28Here, an abundance of turtles keeps competition for food low.
21:43And these intensely solitary cats live in much closer proximity.
21:46This gives Luis's cameras an unprecedented view into their social lives.
21:52Luis has recorded jaguars mating, wrestling, and even carting off an ill-fated dolphin.
22:12The project identifies the individual cats by their rosettes, the spots on their fur.
22:28Each jaguar's pattern is as unique as a human fingerprint.
22:33In the last ten years, Luis's team has documented and named around 40 individual jaguars.
22:47And they're capturing not just behaviors, but personalities.
22:54Alonso, the 12-year-old dominant male, asserts his right to any female or food on the beach.
23:01Amanda, highly territorial.
23:06She seems to be the dominant female.
23:15And Jorge, a young tough on the cusp of adulthood.
23:20He's been gravitating towards the females in heat.
23:31Tonight, Jorge is on the prowl, heading to the beach in search of an easy meal.
23:45And he's well equipped to spot one.
23:48His eyes are backed with a mirror-like tissue that reflects light into his retinas.
23:53And gives all cats their famous night vision.
24:02Tonight, he finds no turtles, but something for other appetites.
24:10It's Amanda, enjoying her own turtle catch.
24:14Jorge is eager to put his adolescent prowess to the test.
24:31In this rare peak into Jaguar courtship, Jorge and Amanda take playful breaks between couplings.
24:43But the interlude is cut short when Alonso arrives.
25:00Jorge beats a hasty retreat.
25:24Still outranked by Alonso, he'll have to settle for a fleeting tryst.
25:28For now, he heads back to the forest to wait out the heat.
25:43Early April.
25:45At the peak of dry season, the sun bakes the canopy.
25:52As streams dry up, tensions rise.
25:55A trip to one of the few remaining watering holes now means risking a run-in with a thirsty predator.
26:08A family of white-faced capuchin monkeys shelters high in the canopy.
26:22But the heat is unrelenting, and while mum naps, a young capuchin takes his brother on a daring mission.
26:28To drink from a small seep in the ground.
26:30Bees have beaten them to it.
26:31Bees have beaten them to it.
26:43Bees have beaten them to it.
26:53He endures the thirsty swarm for a few precious drops.
26:56His brother isn't quite convinced it's worth it.
27:13The sun beats down across the park.
27:15From the forest to the beach, life slows to a crawl.
27:25Even offshore, the coastal breeze offers little relief to a colony of magnificent frigate birds.
27:30A young mum-to-be languishes in the heat, shielding her single egg from the relentless sun.
27:43She'll remain on the nest for the next eight weeks, leaving only for brief spells to find food and water.
27:57In the forest, Amanda is also looking for water.
28:20Inside the forest, Amanda is also looking for water.
28:27But Luis's cameras catch someone else on the hunt.
28:46Jorge is more interested in a private moment than a drink.
28:57In the forest, Amanda puts on a half-hearted show of resistance.
29:20The coupling takes less than a minute.
29:22Fast work.
29:23But jaguars can mate dozens of times a day.
29:44In between mating, the couple takes a stroll.
29:47Using scent glands in his cheeks, Jorge lays his claim to this swath of forest.
30:04It seems the young upstart has stepped out of Alonzo's shadow.
30:31Late May.
30:32The beginning of the wet season in the dry forest.
30:35The beginning of the wet season in the dry forest.
30:45More than three feet of rain falls in just the first three weeks.
30:54The forest springs to life.
30:56In the next five months, over 90% of the year's rain will fall.
31:18Long dry riverbeds begin to flow.
31:20A wave of relief for the parched forest.
31:23A slow greening spreads across the hills, transforming Santa Rosa into a coastal oasis.
31:41Capuchins feast on nuts and ripe berries.
31:42Capuchins feast on nuts and ripe berries.
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33:13that gather in a synchronized mass-nesting event.
33:19An Arribada, Spanish, for a rival.
33:30The first few females converge offshore.
33:34Soon, hundreds arrive.
33:44The shallows fill with a constellation of turtles.
33:53They're all waiting for a mysterious signal humans have yet to decipher.
34:05A cue that the time is right to head ashore.
34:13Of course, it would be a legendary
34:30map of the sea that is a mysterious
34:34wavelength between the people of the sea.
34:37Over the next few months, thousands will pour forth from the ocean.
34:41ocean. An armada of mothers, bringing the next generation to the sand.
35:06It's one of the natural world's timeless and spectacular sights.
35:09A ritual of renewal that may date back to the age of the dinosaurs.
35:33The beach becomes a sea of churning sand.
35:39In a single season, this small crescent, less than a mile long, will be filled with up
35:59to seven million eggs.
36:10But on Jaguar beach, a successful hatch is far from guaranteed.
36:16As the Arabada subsides, Carolina gets to work.
36:23All night, we do nocturnal patrols with the goal of marking marine turtles.
36:32Hello, little girl.
36:37What we have in the project is metal plates that have a number to identify the turtles,
36:45if they come back to this same beach or in other beaches.
36:54What we are doing at the moment is to mark a nest at night.
36:57Then, during the arrival, we mark, if possible, 200 nests, and then we have to wait 45 days.
37:04What we are doing at night?
37:12These 45 days mark a dangerous period for the baby turtles.
37:18As they incubate in the sand, relentless predators stalk them from above.
37:22On most nesting beaches, wild dogs, foxes, and coyotes, so-called mesopredators,
37:43plunder nests for the protein-packed eggs.
37:45Using the tools of shoestring science, Carolina is trying to track how many of these nests will be raided.
38:05We mark the nest with a bottle that is tied to a rope.
38:11So, this helps us to monitor the nest, to see if there was a nest,
38:15if there was a nest in the nest.
38:24The bottles make it easy to see if a nest has been disturbed.
38:33During recent arubadas, the bottles have helped them document an encouraging trend
38:38that they believe is tied to the return of the jaguars.
38:41It seems the jaguars are keeping smaller predators off the beach, inadvertently protecting the
39:02turtle's eggs.
39:06As Carolina works, she's constantly aware of the jaguars' presence in the dark.
39:11At the beginning, she's afraid, because I'm surrounded by things that I can eat every day.
39:21When you walk on the beach, you know that they are there, you know that they are watching.
39:31They are watching you and you will not see anything, you have to be aware of what you are doing.
39:38Maybe I will not bath for the night or go to the beach or go to sleep.
39:49But it changes the attitude and it is incredible.
39:58Thanks, little girl.
39:59Thank you very much.
40:00Carolina isn't the only one patrolling the night.
40:18Amanda has caught wind of a late night snack.
40:30It's easy pickings on Jaguar Beach.
41:00And from the size of her belly, it looks like Amanda is eating for two.
41:25But Amanda won't be the only mom whose success is tied to the turtles.
41:30A half-mile offshore, the frigate bird colony is noisier than usual.
41:45Across their island outpost, hundreds of downy hatchlings begin to stir.
41:50The first time, mother awakens to her hungry and persistent chick.
42:04For their first five months, frigate bird chicks depend entirely on their mothers for food.
42:16Chicks that don't get fed don't last long.
42:32Mom has to hunt, and fast.
42:48But she knows exactly where to go.
43:02The last month and a half have been quiet on the beach, since the end of the Arribada.
43:06But today, something is different.
43:25The sand begins to shift.
43:27The beach erupts with new life.
43:42Dad Governor.
43:43Thearing snow in the spring is blue.
43:47God
43:57Ow.
44:00장난 surtout.
44:01For the hatchlings, digging their way to the surface is just the beginning.
44:31It's a long way to the water, and there's a gauntlet to be run.
44:58For a creature only two inches long, almost everything is an obstacle.
45:10A fallen branch blocks the path.
45:30At last, she's on the open beach.
45:34But here, the dangers multiply.
45:48The young frigate bird mother swoops in right on time.
46:05One by one, hatchlings are carried off into the sky.
46:15A spiny-tailed iguana launches an aggressive ground attack.
46:34When the crustaceans close in, ghost crabs are surprisingly strong.
46:49Another hatchling looks destined for a similar fate.
46:59With a survivor's determination, she fends off the attack.
47:08She races for the ocean.
47:19One final close call, and then the finish line.
47:43She plunges into a salty marine world, where she'll spend years before returning to this
47:49beach.
47:58She'll swim out past the rocky retreat, where the frigate bird mom can now feed her chick
48:04a magnificent meal.
48:11Only one in a thousand of these baby turtles will survive to adulthood.
48:20But Luis believes these hatchlings got some surprising help from the forest predator that
48:26takes their mothers, who takes their mothers, but safeguards their nests.
48:31During several years, there was a void of neonates who were born on the beach.
48:39At this moment, with the presence of the jaguar on the beach, the neonates are able to be born.
48:46They are coming to the water, and with a lot of luck, in the future, they will be able to
48:50be new individuals who will come to the beach to eat their eggs.
48:55What allows me to conclude is that, in reality, the presence of the jaguar is positive in
49:02this moment for the marine tortoise.
49:06Luis's team has found that jaguars kill less than 1% of the beaches' nesting mothers.
49:12And by warding off threats to the eggs, the predator has become the protector.
49:18On the island, the frigate bird chicks continue to gorge on the hatchling bounty.
49:37And in the forest, Amanda is caught on camera, doing something strange.
49:55She tears off bite-sized portions from her latest turtle catch.
50:16A few days later, Luis's cameras provide an adorable explanation.
50:32Amanda with her curious new cubs.
50:46For the next two years, Amanda will teach her cubs how to survive.
50:55And guide them through the dry forest that helped bring her species back to this special beach.
51:10The rebirth of Santa Rosa's forest, and the resurrection of its magnificent top predator,
51:17has restored an ancient relationship.
51:30The renewed partnership has healed the connection between vastly different worlds.
51:36From the forest, to the air, to the deep ocean, to the beach where the lives of all their inhabitants intertwine.
51:57Where two creatures reunite as they were for thousands of years.
52:07Predator, prey.
52:10Unlikely allies in each other's survival.
52:16Near the sea without any other animals within half prenders.
52:19Nowassee, the buffalo and the animal mer pillow.
52:23Big flood, dense mountain corpses.
52:27Marthy's caveman, living on the island.
52:29parameters and conquest where the animals can hide.
52:33Is it simply that a forest of lions life, locked?
52:35Murphy's caveman, living on the island.
52:36Right in our island.
52:38The golden world.
52:41Toレ af internet.
52:44It is Su operational.
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