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Nilgiris A Shared Wilderness
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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 this ever-changing new wild.
01:12It is perhaps not perfect, but is the reality in a country of over 1.4 billion people.
01:21Where 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.
02:10And ancient rocks.
02:12All shaped by tectonic forces.
02:15Wind and water for over 2.5 billion years.
02:25But even greater is the force of change brought in by human pressures.
02:32Only in the past two centuries.
02:36This 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 sky still hold many secrets.
03:03Things are not a large-scale creature.
03:04In the sky, the planet is the city.
03:08The land of the sea is the city.
03:13The land of the sky is the city.
03:31Oh, my God.
04:01Like the mountains themselves, shrouded in mist, the story of the origin of the name Nilagiri is still shrouded in
04:12mystery.
04:37Some believe the name originates from the mountains
04:40being carpeted by flowers of the Nilagiri.
04:54Whatever may be the origin of the name, there is no doubt
04:59that 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 chilipun, 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
06:06and steep rocky cliffs, inaccessible 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.
07:34The waters that flow off the northern side of the mountains fall over 250 feet.
07:46And carve a chasm nearly 1,000 feet in depth, creating the moya.
08:04In Tamil, it means the river that disappears.
08:17And in the summer transforms into a green ribbon of life.
08:25An 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 Nilgiri Massive
08:51The Western Ghatt mountain range runs 1,600 kilometers north to south along the west coast of peninsular India.
09:02The Nilgiri Massive
09:04The Nilgiri Massive runs west to east and forms a bridge, a critical link to the Eastern Ghattas.
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.
09:57The Nilgiri Massive
09:58This 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.
10:10The Nilgiri Massive
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
10:49In 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.
11:12Gaur, the largest bovine in the world, and sambar, the largest of India's deer.
11:23Grazing in the open leaves them exposed.
11:50Small herds graze in the open, unaware that they are being watched.
11:56They're not quite the major.
12:04The Nilgiri Massive
12:11The Nilgiri Massive
12:13She gives chase.
12:16The Nilgiri Massive
12:36It's too late.
12:39For 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.
13:12Has 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.
13:48But 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.
14:40A combination of food and trade.
14:51A combination of food and trade.
14:53And it's just a little bit more interesting to the winds that the sea of the sea of the sea.
15:24A stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of the market is another world.
15:33An idyllic year-round garden.
15:39Busy with bees.
15:47In this garden, it's not just the roses that have spines.
15:58Meet the horsefield's spiny lizard, also known as the Nilgiri thalia, with a tail nearly
16:09two-and-a-half times its body length.
16:14It 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
16:29changing environment, and now live incognito in gardens, performing the role of insect control.
16:43Sudden movements trigger a sailor's hunting instinct.
16:48But a sudden movement also triggers a fly's instinct 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.
17:47Any 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
18:21managed to capture a meal, even 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.
19:11I'm good to see you on theäø.
19:31See you.
19:32Like a family.
19:33Follow us on your calendar.
19:35Do you want to find out?
19:35See you next time.
19:40I'm so stoked.
19:41When the time is boss, of course, I'm so stoked.
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.
22:20The most adaptable of all the big cats, leopards have learned the rules of the game well.
22:39She's not watching the samba.
22:41She's not watching the samba.
23:04She'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, has long
24:06been a source of discussion amongst evolutionary biologists.
24:14The 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.
26:30A 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 dull, the chital flee with their tails in the air.
28:14Not giving away their presence with a call.
28:17Perhaps it's a strategy to avoid getting singled out.
28:22Unlike felines that are ambush predators, dull 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.
28:45Nearly a kilo a 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.
30:05Eating regurgitated meat also allows the pups to get started on a meat diet.
30:11Aved diet.
30:41Dole have more teats than any other canid.
30:44An 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.
33:00In 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
33:2290% 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.
33:43This 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, but also protect them from predators.
34:40In 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.
35:29They rest under leaves.
35:30But as air breathers, they need to come up to the surface to grab a mouthful.
35:41All 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 super power.
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.
37:34The 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.
37:54In 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.
38:19It has the longest-distance insect migration in the world.
38:25An 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, as there's a feast to be had.
38:51Across the western guts, there are nearly 40 different species of figs, each with its own fruiting cycle.
39:00A single fig tree can have fruit ready for picking
39:04over the course of a few weeks.
39:09It's a seasonal bonanza,
39:11and the fig, with its sweet, delectable fruit,
39:14attracts not just the mammals,
39:17but also a who's who of the bird world.
39:22Fairy bluebirds, barbits, bulbuls,
39:26green pigeons, miners, lorikeets,
39:33and the largest of them all,
39:37the great hornbill.
39:40With a five-foot wingspan and an appetite to match,
39:45the hornbill is a voracious fruit eater.
39:53Known as the tree planter of the forest,
39:57hornbills feed on a variety of fruit
40:00and help propagate figs across their range.
40:08But there's another creature
40:10that figs need to be really thankful for.
40:20The tiny fig wasps
40:23that play a crucial role
40:25in pollinating the giant fig tree.
40:34In a complex ancient relationship
40:37spanning millions of years,
40:39each species of fig tree has co-evolved
40:43with a particular species of fig wasp.
40:48One cannot survive without the other.
41:00Today, the hornbills seem to be in no mood
41:03to feed on the figs.
41:06They have some crunchy protein on their mind.
41:11As the sun rises,
41:14dragonflies appear on the scene.
41:16Not a few,
41:18but a few hundred thousand of them.
41:24Here to catch the millions of fig wasps
41:27emerging non-stop.
41:42But dragonflies, with their lightning-fast manoeuvres,
41:46are too much for the awkward hornbills.
41:53But it won't stop them from trying.
42:17Got one.
42:19Well, almost.
42:28A little bit more.
42:29Persistence pays off,
42:30and the hornbills mix their fruit diet
42:32with some highly earned protein.
42:39The hornbills must feed well,
42:42as very soon they will begin nesting.
43:05In one of the most unique nesting habits,
43:08a young hornbill is imprisoned
43:10for its own safety inside a nest hollow.
43:38for its own safety inside a nest hollow.
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,
44:37she'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 a tree
45:29hollow.
45:35The young fledgling seems to be stuck.
45:55But with a little bit of struggle, and a little bit of coaxing,
46:04the 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.
46:44Incentivized by some good food.
46:53This unique strategy in hornbills has been very successful over the ages.
46:59But today, with the loss of primary forests,
47:05and the paucity of large-sized trees with nesting hollows,
47:09this strategy now makes them vulnerable.
47:16But somehow, like many of the species across the Nilgiris,
47:20they've learned to adapt to this new wilderness.
47:24A shared wilderness.
47:36And for now, their mighty call continues to reverberate across the mountains.
47:52Like the tiny fig wasp, inseparable from the mighty ficus tree,
47:58connected 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.
48:39For 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.
49:32The fate of this fragile ecosystem lies on us.
49:42Although everything is not perfect, it is precious.
49:50The Nilgiris, India's blue mountains,
49:54continue to hold many secrets within her folds.
49:59Wherein lies a story of hope.
50:03Of beauty.
50:06Fragility.
50:07Fragility.
50:09And intertwined futures.
50:15Fragility.
50:28Open 2000 Directs snippets
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