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00:22Some people believe that it is a call that can shake a mountain.
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
01:08this 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, lost in the mists of time somewhere between
01:46folklore and magic.
02:05A land of thundering waterfalls.
02:08Deep gorges and ancient rocks, all shaped by tectonic forces, wind and water for over
02:16two and a half billion years.
02:25But even greater is the force of change brought in by human pressures.
02:32Only in the past two centuries.
02:34Only in the past two centuries.
02:37This is the story of the Nilgiris.
02:41India's first biosphere reserve.
02:45These islands in the sky still hold many secrets.
02:50In the past two centuries.
02:51In the past three centuries.
02:54In the past four centuries.
03:12In the past four centuries.
03:16Ah, ah, ah, ah.
04:01Like the mountains themselves, shrouded in mist, the story of the origin of the name Nilagiri is still shrouded in
04:12mystery.
04:36Some believe the name originates from the mountains being carpeted by flowers of the Nilagiri.
04:54Whatever may be the origin of the name,
04:57there is no doubt that the many folds of these rugged mountains still hold many mysteries.
05:06Many of the plants and animals here are found nowhere else on the planet.
05:17Like the Nilagiri Chilapun, a species of laughing thrush that has evolved in isolation here for over five million years,
05:27and is inseparable from the Sky Island home.
05:39The highest part of the Nilgaris is a land of extremes.
05:48The mountain monarch here, in this precipitous terrain, is the Nilgari Tar.
05:58Living in small herds, these sturdy mountain goats make their home in the high elevation grasslands and steep rocky cliffs,
06:08inaccessible to predators.
06:14Also known as the cloud goat, this sure-footed ungulate is the only one of its kind found naturally occurring
06:22in the tropics.
06:28They roam their vast grassland kingdom, browsing on a variety of plants.
06:42The grasslands appear monotypic.
06:49In the sea of grass, these pockets of dense jungle are known as shoreless.
07:01These small wooded groves are like a sponge, with trees laden with thick moss.
07:10During the monsoon, they soak up moisture and slowly release it through the year, ensuring a perennial supply of fresh
07:20water.
07:26These little streams join together to form rivers that cut through this landscape.
07:35The waters that flow off the northern side of the mountains fall over 250 feet.
07:46The waters that flow off the northern side of the mountains fall over 250 feet.
07:53They are Korean-��ceed.
07:54They launch the water livestock back to the north.
07:54The waters that flow off the river.
08:04In Tamil, it means...
08:06The river that disappears.
08:17And in the summer transforms into a green ribbon of life, an oasis in a rain-parched landscape.
08:33From space, the Moya can be seen as a 22-kilometer-long scar on the north side of the Nilgiri
08:41Massive.
08:49The Western Ghatt mountain range runs 1,600 kilometers north to south along the west coast of peninsular India.
09:02The Nilgiri Massive runs west to east and forms a bridge, a critical link to the Eastern Ghats.
09:09Its 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.
09:57This mosaic of grassland and schola is important, not only for its ability to store water,
10:04but it is also an ancient storehouse of numerous little secrets.
10:11Species found here exist nowhere else on the planet.
10:25Some are so seldom seen that most people don't even know they exist.
10:42The Nilgiri Martin.
10:50In this rare footage, this mongoose-sized carnivore is feeding on a giant squirrel.
11:00This grassland kingdom is home not just for the tar, but also other ungulates.
11:12Gore, the largest bovine in the world, and sambar, the largest of India's deer.
11:22Grazing in the open leaves them exposed.
11:50Small herds graze in the open, unaware that they are being watched.
12:12She gives chase.
12:15She gives chase.
12:36It's too late.
12:39For now, she will go hungry.
12:46A story.
12:47A 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 altered 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.
13:40In the mid-1800s.
13:48But it was the Opium Wars in China that triggered a desperate search for alternative tea-supplying landscapes that led
13:56to tea plantations being developed in India.
14:00First in Assam, and then in the Nilgiri.
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, Uti became the busy, bustling heart of a fast-growing township.
14:27A combination of tourism and trade.
14:32The Nth gereal, the Nthundi, the Nthundi.
14:36The Nthundi.
14:48And the Nthundi may want to shine in a new location with the Nthundi, which is the Nthundi.
15:24A stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of the market is another world.
15:32An 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
16:09two and a half times its body length.
16:13It 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
16:51a fly's instinct to flee.
17:03To catch a fly, one needs to be a fly on the wall.
17:15In 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.
17:47Any sudden movement or loss of focus, and the fly will be gone.
18:11With quick reflexes, and an uncanny ability to conceal herself, this sailor has been able to
18:21capture a meal.
18:25Even in the heart of this town.
18:49As towns go to sleep, the hills reveal their wild side.
18:54As 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.
19:13See you then.
19:33From the moment, you can screen, breathe in a water Elon applied to live during most of your
19:35It's the yellow voice of the world you are unable to see to you.
19:36Well, it's rise anyway all that mà lookvetails.
20:39A 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, leopards have learned the rules of the game well.
22:27Rule number two, she's not watching the Samba.
22:42Rule number two, she's not watching the Samba.
22:56Rule number two, she's not watching the Samba.
23:16Dogs are a big part of the diet of these leopards.
23:22With challenging waste management, open garbage dumps attract macaques, dogs, and wild pigs.
23:37A ready source of food for waiting leopards.
23:44This leopards has her paws full.
23:49Her litter of four includes two melanistic cubs.
24:00But how they turn black, and if in fact a black leopard is a product of its habitat,
24:05has long been a source of discussion amongst evolutionary biologists.
24:15The black panther and leopard are all the same species, sometimes 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, they can now come out of hiding.
25:02The rocks in the tea garden are a favorite play area.
25:12Play is an essential part of growing up.
25:15It strengthens bonds between them, and 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, things are very different.
25:53It's the dry side, the rain-shadow region.
25:59Clouds flow past, but the mountains have drained all the moisture.
26:14At the start of the dry season, gooseberries are a delicacy.
26:19But for the chital, reaching them is impossible.
26:25Langurs, take a bite and throw the rest of the fruit to the ground.
26:29A welcome morsel for waiting chital.
26:36Chital and langur have learned to share their space and resources to protect each other from predators.
26:46Chital are the most abundant deer species here, and are a favorite meal for leopards and other carnivores.
27:06Wild dogs, known as Dall, are efficient top predators.
27:13They rarely hunt alone.
27:16Their strength is in their numbers.
27:32Blackbuck, with speeds of over 80 kilometers per hour, may be too fast for Dall.
27:45They'll have to focus their attention on their slower neighbors, Chital.
27:54When Dall go out on a hunt, the forest goes quiet.
28:08The moment they see the Dall, the Chital flee with their tails in the air, not giving away their presence
28:16with a call.
28:17Perhaps it's a strategy to avoid getting singled out.
28:22Unlike felines that are ambush predators, Dall rely on chasing their prey down.
28:30The bigger the pack, the swifter the kill.
28:36A wild dog is a hyper carnivore, consuming up to 340 kilos of meat a year, nearly a kilo a
28:47day.
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.
30:05Eating regurgitated meat also allows the pups to get started on a meat diet.
30:11The pups have eaten here.
30:29The pups have had a hugeupontist, and a lot of hours will be a little bit.
30:31The pups have stopped using a workshop style of the pups that she brought.
30:32The pups have had a huge amount of food and it was a huge비 or a proportion of food.
30:34The pups have been expanded on a diet.
30:34The pups have had a large meal made it, as long as a controlar diet.
30:36The pups have had a great meal for the pups.
30:38The pups have had a huge amount of food.
30:41Dole have more teats than any other canid,
30:45an advantage when having to nurse large litters.
30:50By the time they are six weeks old,
30:52they'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.
33:00In the plains below, the deluge is a relief to the residents.
33:04In 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
33:22over 90% are found nowhere 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.
33:51But in the monsoon, with heavy rains and reduced light, mating can happen 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,
34:33but 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.
35:19In the water, the tadpoles feed on algae and vegetable matter growing on rocks and dead branches.
35:27They rest under leaves.
35:29But as air breathers, they need to come up to the surface to grab a mouthful.
35:42All this movement attracts the attention...
35:48...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.
37:13But precision.
37:17This is a voracious predator.
37:21The more food, the faster its transformation.
37:27Within a few weeks, the little dragon emerges from the water for its final act.
37:35To shape-shift.
37:38To shape-shift.
37:39It swallows in air to extend its abdomen.
37:41It swallows in air to extend its abdomen.
37:47And pumps fluids to extend its paper-thin wings.
37:54In 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.
38:43They couldn't have timed their arrival better.
38:47As there's a feast to be had.
38:51Across the western guts, there are nearly 40 different species of figs.
38:57Each with its own fruiting cycle.
39:00A single fig tree can have fruit ready for picking over the course of a few weeks.
39:09It's a seasonal bonanza.
39:11And the fig with its sweet, delectable fruit attracts not just the mammals,
39:17but also a who's who of the bird world.
39:21Fairy bluebirds.
39:24Barbits.
39:25Bulbals.
39:27Green pigeons.
39:29Miners.
39:32Lorikeets.
39:33And the largest of them all.
39:37The great hornbill.
39:40With a five-foot wingspan and an appetite to match, the hornbill is a voracious fruit eater.
39:53Known as the tree planter of the forest, hornbills feed on a variety of fruit and help propagate figs across
40:03their range.
40:08But there's another creature that figs need to be really thankful for.
40:20The tiny fig wasps that play a crucial role in pollinating the giant fig tree.
40:34In a complex ancient relationship spanning millions of years, each species of fig tree has co-evolved with a particular
40:44species of fig wasp.
40:49One cannot survive without the other.
41:00Today, the hornbills seem to be in no mood to feed on the figs.
41:05They have some crunchy protein on their mind.
41:11As the sun rises, dragonflies appear on the scene.
41:16Not a few, but a few hundred thousand of them.
41:24Here to catch the millions of fig wasps emerging non-stop.
41:42But dragonflies, with their lightning-fast maneuvers, are too much for the awkward hornbills.
41:53But it won't stop them from trying.
42:17Got one.
42:19Well, 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
43:13hole.
43:14And exactly the phone if it is not married towards the calling of treasure.
43:46Both 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.
48:27A source of sacred rivers.
48:34And home to the guardians of our climate.
48:38For the past few centuries, humans have dominated this landscape.
48:52Bringing 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.
49:32The 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, of beauty, fragility, and intertwined futures.
50:12The endemic species.
50:12The nóis.
50:17¶¶
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