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00:29Transcription by ESO. Translation by —
00:30This pair of great hornbills are particularly excited.
00:36Hidden from sight, high up in a tree, something is stirring.
00:43Their little secret.
00:47She takes in her first view of the world.
01:02A world that her parents have successfully learned to navigate in order to survive in this ever-changing new wild.
01:12It is perhaps not perfect, but is the reality in a country of over 1.4 billion people,
01:22where boundaries are often blurred, sometimes leading to conflict.
01:38A land of sacred peaks and secret creatures,
01:43lost in the mists of time somewhere between folklore and magic.
02:04A land of thundering waterfalls.
02:08Deep gorges and ancient rocks,
02:12all shaped by tectonic forces, wind and water for over 2.5 billion years.
02:25But even greater is the force of change brought in by human pressures.
02:31Only in the past two centuries.
02:37This is the story of the Nilgiris.
02:41India's first biosphere reserve.
02:44These islands in the sky still hold many secrets.
02:51These islands in the sky still hold many secrets.
03:32This is the story of the Nilgiris.
03:33They are the ones that find the해�ryеров.
03:33This is the story of the Nilgiris to come.
03:34In the sky still hold many secrets.
03:36Though the trees are the ones that find the trees.
04:01Like the mountains themselves, shrouded in mist, the story of the origin of the name
04:08Nila Giri is still shrouded in mystery.
04:39Nila Giri
04:54Whatever may be the origin of the name, there is no doubt that the many folds of these rugged
05:02mountains still hold many mysteries.
05:06Many of the plants and animals here are found nowhere else on the planet.
05:17Nila Giri
05:18Like the Nila Giri Chilapun, a species of laughing thrush that has evolved in isolation here
05:25for over five million years, and is inseparable from this Sky Island home.
05:39Nila Giri
05:40The highest part of the Nilgiris is a land of extremes.
05:48Nila Giri
05:49The mountain monarch here, in this precipitous terrain, is the Nilgiri Tar.
05:58Nila Giri
05:59Living in small herds, these sturdy mountain goats make their home in the high elevation grasslands
06:06and steep rocky cliffs, inaccessible to predators.
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06:15Also known as the cloud goat, this sure-footed ungulate is the only one of its kind found naturally occurring
06:22in the tropics.
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06:29They roam their vast grassland kingdom, browsing on a variety of plants.
06:40Nila Giri
06:42The grasslands appear monotypic.
06:49Nila Giri
06:50In the sea of grass, these pockets of dense jungle are known as shoreless.
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07:14and slowly release it through the year, ensuring a perennial supply of fresh water.
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07:26These little streams join together to form rivers that cut through this landscape.
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07:54Creating the Moya
08:04Nila Giri
08:04In Tamil, it means the river that disappears.
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08:21A green ribbon of life.
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08:26An oasis in a rain-parched landscape.
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08:34From space, the Moya can be seen as a 22-kilometer long scar on the north side of the Nilgiri
08:41massive.
08:49Nila Giri
08:51The eastern Giri mountain range runs 1,600 kilometers north to south along the west coast of peninsula India.
09:02The Nilgiri massive runs west to east and forms a bridge, a critical link to the eastern ghats.
09:10Its unique location combined with its unique nature and culture has made it India's first biosphere reserve.
09:21Established in 1986, the Nilgiri biosphere reserve, covering an area of 5,500 square kilometers,
09:32is part of UNESCO's man and biosphere program, aimed at using research to explore the relationship between humans and the
09:43environment.
09:57Nila Giri
09:58This mosaic of grassland and schola is important, not only for its ability to store water, but it is also
10:06an ancient storehouse of numerous little secrets.
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10:11Species found here exist nowhere else on the planet.
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10:24Some are so seldom seen that most people don't even know they exist.
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11:12Graw, the largest bovine in the world. And Sambhar, the largest of India's deer mãoz
11:21Nila Giri
11:23Nila Giri
11:25Nila Giri
11:50Small herds graze in the open, unaware that they are being watched.
12:13She gives chase.
12:36It's too late, for now, she will go hungry.
12:46A story of predator and prey that has unfolded here for thousands of years.
12:55But over the last two centuries, these mountains have been transformed.
13:05An ever-growing human population, with an ever-hungry appetite for land and consumption, has drastically
13:14altered this landscape.
13:1980% of the Nilgiri Massive was converted to human use of various forms.
13:31It's difficult to believe that all this transformation took place only within the last 200 years.
13:48But it was the Opium Wars in China that triggered a desperate search for alternative tea-supplying
13:54landscapes that led to tea plantations being developed in India.
14:00First in Assam, and then in the Nilgiri's.
14:07This combined with the construction of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, popularly known as the Toy Train, changed the face of
14:15the hills.
14:15With that, Ooty became the busy, bustling heart of a fast-growing township.
14:27A combination of tourism and trade.
14:31www.Ootyin' Peel.com
14:38A combination of tourist mining and touring and commercial Feet
15:01A combination of tourist mining and alternative trading mining and mining and mining-based mining
15:25A stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of the market
15:28is another world. An idyllic, year-round garden. Busy with bees.
15:47In this garden, it's not just the roses that have spines.
15:59Meet the horsefield's spiny lizard, also known as the Nilgiri thalia, with a tail nearly two
16:09and a half times its body length. It is a species found nowhere else in the world.
16:22Once at home in high elevation bushes around grasslands, they've had to adapt to their changing
16:29environment and now live incognito in gardens, performing the role of insect control.
16:43Sudden movements trigger a sailor's hunting instinct. But a sudden movement also triggers a fly's
16:52instinct to flee.
17:03To catch a fly, one needs to be a fly on the wall.
17:16In this case, a branch.
17:28She has her eyes on the prize.
17:32A fly. Too distracted to notice the camouflaged lizard.
17:42Being within striking distance is critical.
17:47Being within striking distance is critical.
17:47Any sudden movement or loss of focus, and the fly will be gone.
18:11With quick reflexes and an uncanny ability to conceal herself,
18:20this sailor has managed to capture a meal.
18:25Even in the heart of this town.
18:49As towns go to sleep, the hills reveal their wild side.
18:57In this era of lights and cameras, every action is captured.
19:05Security cameras reveal the vibrant, nocturnal urban wildlife of the hills.
19:21With a civil socioccoloaders Leonard.
19:22The front door is a very tall, nocturnal urban transfer chair.
19:23The body's face, a fire is a laser, theय will be made by a fire.
19:27There is a cloud of a fire.
19:28The ground of a fire.
19:28The red lights are the fire.
19:29The вод of a fire.
19:29The wind of a fire.
19:30The ground of a fire.
19:30The wind of a fire.
19:32The wind of a fire.
19:36The wind of a fire.
20:27Dawn reveals the newest habitat of the hills.
20:35Neatly manicured rows of tea, a vast sea of green.
20:45The whole cast of the Jungle Book are here.
20:50From elephants, to cheeky monkeys, mongoose, to sloth bears, and even the enigmatic Black
21:02Panther.
21:05But in order to adapt to this new wilderness, they've had to play by some new rules.
21:13Rule number one, don't eat the tea.
21:22Luckily the herbivores haven't developed a taste for tea, and hardly ever graze on tea leaves.
21:33They much prefer the lush growth of grass under the tea.
21:42Rule number two, get to know your neighbors.
21:51There's also a sloth bear family learning their way around this tea garden.
22:01And where there's prey, there are predators lurking.
22:07Rule number three, see, but don't be seen.
22:14The master of camouflage in this wilderness of tea is the leopard.
22:21The most adaptable of all the big cats.
22:23Leopards, leopards have learned the rules of the game well.
22:39She's not watching the sambar.
22:56The side of the jungle is the top.
23:03The animal is the middle one.
23:16Dogs are a big part of the diet of these leopards.
23:22With challenging waste management,
23:26open garbage dumps attract macaques,
23:31dogs,
23:33and wild pigs.
23:37A ready source of food for waiting leopards.
23:44This leopidus has her paws full.
23:49Her litter of four includes two melanistic cubs.
24:00But how they turn black,
24:01and if in fact a black leopard is a product of its habitat,
24:05has long been a source of discussion amongst evolutionary biologists.
24:14The black panther and leopard are all the same species,
24:20sometimes erroneously considered different.
24:27Melanism is a very rare mutation that occurs when an individual expresses the recessive gene.
24:42With the tea pickers gone for the day,
24:45they can now come out of hiding.
25:02The rocks in the tea garden are a favorite play area.
25:12Clay is an essential part of growing up.
25:15It strengthens bonds between them,
25:18and develops their abilities to camouflage and ambush,
25:22skills necessary to make them the ultimate predators.
25:35On the northern and eastern sides of the Nilgiris,
25:39things are very different.
25:53It's the dry side,
25:55the rain-shadow region.
25:59Clouds flow past,
26:01but the mountains have drained all the moisture.
26:14At the start of the dry season,
26:17gooseberries are a delicacy,
26:20but for the cheetal,
26:21reaching them is impossible.
26:25Langurs, take a bite,
26:27and throw the rest of the fruit to the ground.
26:29A welcome morsel for waiting cheetal.
26:36Cheetal and langur have learned to share their space and resources
26:40to protect each other from predators.
26:47Cheetal are the most abundant deer species here,
26:50and are a favorite meal for leopards and other carnivores.
27:06The wild dogs, known as DAL,
27:10are efficient top predators.
27:13They rarely hunt alone.
27:16Their strength is in their numbers.
27:23Cheetal is a Easter egg when human beings are found.
27:25The wild dogs are a nice herbaler.
27:26Now in the wild dogs,
27:29the birds are keen on their adventures of a wild dog.
27:32Blackbuck, with speeds of over 80 kilometers per hour, may be too fast for Dole.
27:45They'll have to focus their attention on their slower neighbors, Cheetal.
27:54When Dole go out on a hunt, the forest goes quiet.
28:08The moment they see the Dole, the Cheetal flee with their tails in the air, not giving away
28:15their presence with a call, perhaps it's a strategy to avoid getting singled out.
28:22Unlike felines that are ambush predators, Dole rely on chasing their prey down.
28:30The bigger the pack, the swifter the kill.
28:37A wild dog is a hyper carnivore, consuming up to 340 kilos of meat a year, nearly a kilo
28:46a day.
28:50These dogs need to consume not only for themselves.
28:57Back at the den, this pack has eight hungry mouths to feed.
29:24The pups have had a full day of play in the safety of their den.
29:37Once the adults return, it's time for food.
30:05Eat regurgitated meat also allows the pups to get started on a meat diet.
30:11I don't know.
30:41Dole have more teats than any other canid, an advantage when having to nurse large litters.
30:50By the time they are six weeks old, they'll switch to an entirely meat diet.
31:11There's nothing better than a little siesta after a full meal.
31:23There's something brewing in the distance.
31:44The monsoon is the region's heartbeat.
31:57In India, the monsoon is a season of many faces.
32:04It comes as a boon and a curse.
32:08It can be a creator and a destroyer.
32:20But whatever it is, life without the monsoon is next to impossible.
32:33Within a few weeks, the landscape is transformed.
32:59In the plains below, the deluge is a relief to the residents.
33:13Across the western ghats, the monsoon rains rejuvenate over 250 species of amphibians, of which over 90% are found
33:24nowhere else on the planet.
33:32Malabar gliding frogs descend from the canopy and gather around pools of water created by the monsoon rain.
33:42This is their one time to mate in a year, and things get frantic fast.
33:48Normally this happens under the cover of darkness, but in the monsoon, with heavy rains and reduced light, mating can
33:56happen even during daytime.
34:08Once a male latches onto a female, special glue in the thumbs makes him hold on, and fertilization of the
34:17eggs happens outside.
34:26As the eggs are fertilized, they get put into a protective foam nest that will not only keep the eggs
34:33moist, but also protect them from predators.
34:39In the next few weeks, the eggs develop into tadpoles.
34:55And with the help of a little rain, they flow into the safety and security of a pool of fresh
35:01water below.
35:18In the water, the tadpoles feed on algae and vegetable matter growing on rocks and dead branches.
35:27They rest under leaves, but as air breathers, they need to come up to the surface to grab a mouthful.
35:42All this movement attracts the attention of a little dragon.
35:54In the dark, shadowy world at the bottom of the pond, another creature is awaiting transformation.
36:07It's a creature with a superpower.
36:17With compound eyes and near 360-degree vision, it's difficult to hide from their sight.
36:46An ambush predator, this little dragon has one of the fastest strike forces in nature.
37:02Able to extend its razor-sharp lower jaw in a split second, it can capture tadpoles, mosquito larvae, and other
37:12aquatic invertebrates with precision.
37:17This is a voracious predator.
37:22The more food, the faster its transformation.
37:28Within a few weeks, the little dragon emerges from the water for its final act.
37:35The little nymph turns out to shape-shift.
37:38It swallows in air to extend its abdomen.
37:47And pumps fluids to extend its paper-thin wings.
37:54But in a miraculous transformation, the little nymph turns into a dragon that can fly.
38:13This particular dragonfly is known as the globe skimmer, or wandering glider.
38:20It has the longest distance insect migration in the world.
38:24An individual globe skimmer can cover a distance of 6,000 kilometers in its lifetime.
38:32But in order to accomplish such an extraordinary feat, there's one thing the globe skimmer will need.
38:40Fuel.
38:41Fuel.
38:43Fuel.
38:44Fuel.
38:44Fuel.
38:45Fuel.
38:47Fuel.
38:47Fuel.
38:48Fuel.
38:50Fuel.
38:51Fuel.
38:53Fuel.
38:54Fuel.
38:57Fuel.
39:00Fuel.
39:01fig tree can have fruit ready for picking over the course of a few weeks. It's a
39:10seasonal bonanza and the fig with its sweet delectable fruit attracts not just
39:16the mammals but also a who's who of the bird world. Fairy bluebirds, barbits,
39:25bulbuls, green pigeons, miners, lorikeets and the largest of them all, the great
39:38hornbill. With a five-foot wingspan and an appetite to match, the hornbill is a
39:46voracious fruit eater. Known as the tree planter of the forest, hornbills feed on
39:59a variety of fruit and help propagate figs across their range. But there's another
40:09creature that figs need to be really thankful for the tiny fig wasps that
40:24play a crucial role in pollinating the giant fig tree. In a complex ancient
40:36relationship spanning millions of years, each species of fig tree has
40:42co-evolved with a particular species of fig wasp. One cannot survive without the
40:52other.
41:00Today the hornbills seem to be in no mood to feed on the figs.
41:06They have some crunchy protein on their mind. As the sun rises, dragonflies appear on
41:15the scene. Not a few, but a few hundred thousand of them. Here to catch the millions of fig wasps
41:27emerging non-stop.
41:42The dragonflies, with their lightning fast manoeuvres, are too much for the awkward hornbills.
41:53But it won't stop them from trying.
42:17Got one. Well, almost.
42:28Persistence pays off, and the hornbills mix their fruit diet with some highly earned protein.
42:39The hornbills must feed well, as very soon they will begin nesting.
43:05In one of the most unique nesting habits, a young hornbill is imprisoned for its own safety inside a nest
43:13It's taller.
43:16It's taller.
43:37It's taller.
43:46It's taller.
43:47Both parents engage in feeding the growing chick.
44:11As the chick grows, the food too begins to change.
44:15From soft figs and other fruit to crunchy cicadas and even other fledglings.
44:26Over the course of two months, the parents care for the young.
44:32And now, nearly 70 days after the chick hatched, she's ready to fledge.
44:47The male hornbill entices the chick to come out by not feeding her.
45:02Now it's mom's turn.
45:04She sits, just barely out of reach, encouraging her little secret to come outside.
45:23But it's hard to do when you've been growing to nearly the size of the adult, cramped inside
45:29a tree hollow.
45:35The young fledgling seems to be stuck.
45:55But with a little bit of struggle and a little bit of coaxing, the chick finally emerges.
46:10Hornbill fledglings are able to fly the first day outside the nest.
46:15But in this case, our hornbill has crashed onto a pile of dense vegetation.
46:35Flying lessons begin almost immediately, incentivized by some good food.
46:53This unique strategy in hornbill has been very successful over the ages.
46:59But today, with the loss of primary forests, and the paucity of large-sized trees with nesting
47:08hollows, this strategy now makes them vulnerable.
47:16But somehow, like many of the species across the Nilgiris, they've learned to adapt to this new wilderness.
47:35And for now, their mighty call continues to reverberate across the mountains.
47:52Like the tiny fig wasp, inseparable from the mighty ficus tree, connected to the hornbill, the gardener of the forest,
48:02we too are a part of this delicate, intricately interconnected world.
48:12A natural world full of beauty and magic.
48:18These mountains are an ancient storehouse of stories.
48:28A source of sacred rivers.
48:34And home to the guardians of our climate.
48:38A source of sacred rivers.
48:39For the past few centuries, humans have dominated this landscape.
48:53Bringing in rapid change to this small but vital biosphere reserve.
49:09Can we help preserve this unique habitat?
49:14The only home to so many endemic species.
49:20Creatively trying to adapt to live alongside us.
49:27The fate of this fragile ecosystem lies on us.
49:41Although everything is not perfect, it is precious.
49:50The Nilgiris, India's blue mountains, continue to hold many secrets within her folds.
49:59Wherein lies a story of hope.
50:03Of beauty.
50:06Fragility.
50:09And intertwined futures.
50:18Fragility.
50:19Fragility.
50:21Fragility.
50:22Fragility.
50:23Fragility.
50:24Fragility.
50:25Fragility.
50:26Fragility.
50:27Fragility.
50:28Fragility.
50:29Fragility.
50:31Fragility.
50:31Fragility.
50:31Fragility.
50:31You
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