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Discover the wildest nature in the Amazon rainforest, from canopy dwellers like monkeys and harpy eagles to the unique adaptations of creatures living on the forest floor......
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00:04The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world.
00:09So big, it generates half its own rainfall.
00:17It's the richest ecosystem on the planet.
00:21So diverse, it's home to a third of all life forms on Earth.
00:28Its hot, wet climate changes little through the year.
00:32In such dependable conditions, life has run wild.
00:38But the Amazon isn't just one world, it is many.
00:43From sunlit treetops to dark forest floor, high cloud forests to lowland palm swamps.
00:51It's a jigsaw of different habitats, which animals and people have developed an almost infinite number of ways to exploit.
01:00And driving it all is the mightiest river on Earth.
01:04Huge principio
01:07And a beautiful defense.
01:33We must ruin it again.
01:52The Amazon covers 8 million square kilometers of South America.
01:58If it were a country, it would be the sixth largest in the world.
02:05It has formed over the last 15 million years, since the Andes mountains began to rise, forcing the Amazon River
02:15to flow west to east.
02:21Today, 60% of the Amazon lies in Brazil.
02:28The remaining 40% is spread across 8 more countries.
02:35Straddling the equator, it is permanently hot and wet.
02:42Ideal conditions for life.
02:49It's unrivaled anywhere, in terms of its biodiversity.
02:55And the secret to success here is specialization.
03:18For the animals that can reach it, the Amazon's canopy is a green eavey.
03:2645 meters above ground, it is open and bathed in sunshine.
03:33The sun delivers the equivalent energy of 6 million atomic bombs over the Amazon every day.
03:43Countless trillions of leaves photosynthesize in 12 hours of light, 365 days a year.
03:54They pump out 20% of the world's oxygen and produce incalculable tons of fruits and seeds.
04:06The canopy is the most productive part of the forest.
04:12It's a land of plenty.
04:16But not without challenges.
04:26From above, it appears to be an unbroken carpet of green.
04:34But in reality, the branches of each tree rarely touch each other.
04:41And with the ground a dizzying distance below, getting about can be tricky.
04:51There are over 100 species of monkey in the Brazilian Amazon alone.
04:57And each has evolved a different way of coping with this treetop existence.
05:04Red howler monkeys take it steady and clamber slowly through the branches.
05:15They're one of the heaviest monkeys in the forest, and like to be sure where they're putting their feet.
05:27A muscular tail is a built-in safety rope.
05:32Life in the trees isn't easy, but it does have advantages.
05:46A jaguar can't climb all the way to the canopy.
05:52Some monkey is rarely on the menu.
06:00Tiny squirrel monkeys dash through the branches,
06:03in a much more chaotic fashion than the cautious howlers.
06:08They use their tails not for gripping, but for balance.
06:15These little lightweights can get to parts of the canopy other monkeys cannot reach.
06:24They weigh less than a kilo, and the smallest of twigs and vines support them.
06:39A bromeliad is a treetop treasure trove.
06:44Insects hiding among the leaves are packed with protein,
06:48and fuel the squirrel monkey's frenetic way of life.
06:59The amount of food on offer in the jungle canopy has driven monkeys to develop weird and wonderful ways to
07:05exploit it.
07:13One of the oddest to conquer this high-rise lifestyle is the bald wakari.
07:21Not the most handsome monkey in the forest, but one of the most acrobatic.
07:29Wakaris are the only monkeys in the Amazon to have short, stumpy tails.
07:37But what they lack in tails, they make up for in muscular arms and legs.
07:48They can make daredevil jumps of ten metres or more.
07:52They will damage the owler.
08:21kia kia yhtä
08:21These buck teeth are perfectly suited to picking out seeds from the aguacate fruit.
08:33Bare faces and a tufted tail create the illusion that these monkeys are upside down.
08:41Scientists believe this could be an adaptation to confused predators.
08:47Monkeys up here are out of reach of jaguars below, but the canopy harbors fearsome killers
08:54of its own.
09:07A harpy eagle can sit silently for hours, watching for the perfect hunting opportunity.
09:18Harpies are expert monkey catchers.
09:23They're armed with talons 13 cm long, the size of a grizzly bear's claws.
09:37And they're so powerful, they can pluck prey weighing as much as they do.
09:42Up to 9 kg, clean out of the canopy.
09:51Large eyes give them excellent vision.
09:55They can pinpoint the smallest monkey over 200 meters away.
10:10Despite a wingspan of over 2 meters, the harpy eagle is surprisingly agile.
10:20It can fly up to 80 km an hour and manoeuvre through the trees with the lightning reactions
10:27of a fighter pilot.
10:37It's over in seconds.
10:40The huge talons exert over 50 kg of pressure and instantly crush the monkey's bones.
10:58A juvenile harpy eagle hangs around its parents' nest, begging for food.
11:05It's already fledged, but is not yet an experienced hunter.
11:12A sloth has chosen a dangerous place for a snooze.
11:19An adult harpy would snatch this sleepy sloth up its branch in the blink of an eye.
11:24But even when handed a meal on a plate, this young eagle doesn't seem sure where to start.
11:35It's a lucky escape for the sloth, but hardly a quick getaway.
12:00Sloths are certainly slow-moving, but there's nothing lazy about them.
12:09Their ponderous movements are part of a unique way of coping with jungle life.
12:19Sloths spend their whole lives in just a handful of trees.
12:25Claws clamp onto branches, and their grip is so strong they rarely fall, even when they
12:31go to sleep.
12:35Modified muscles allow a sloth to hang for hours, in positions other mammals would find impossibly
12:42uncomfortable.
12:47The secret of the sloth survival is slow digestion.
12:54They expend so little energy, they need to eat very little.
13:02They chew their way through less than 200 grams of leaves each day.
13:07Every meal takes 30 days to digest.
13:13They come to the ground just once a week, to answer the call of nature.
13:18The climb down is worth the effort, because their dung serves to fertilize their patch of trees.
13:27Sloths blend in completely with their surroundings.
13:31Their mottled fur is highly camouflaged, and even goes green with algae when it's wet.
13:40They cannot regulate their own body temperature as other mammals do, but instead rely on the
13:45constant warmth of the rain forest, to keep their metabolism ticking over.
13:52Sloths are so much a part of their environment, that they have themselves been colonized by other animals.
14:02These tiny moths spend their whole lives in a sloth shaggy coat.
14:08A hundred or more sloth moths can be found burrowing in the fur of a single host.
14:18As caterpillars, the moths feed exclusively on sloth dung.
14:23By hitching a ride on the sloth, female moths make sure they're always in the right place at the right
14:29time,
14:31to lay their eggs next to their food supply.
14:38Being so wholly dependent on one habitat and food source makes animals very vulnerable to change.
14:47But such specialized ways of life are one of the reasons the Amazon is so diverse.
14:57The Amazon is home to a third of all species on the planet.
15:03With a new species being discovered every three days.
15:10More types of ant can be found on a single tree in the Amazon than in the whole of Britain.
15:16In one hectare of jungle, there are more kinds of plants than in all of Europe.
15:24And one in five of all birds in the world call this rainforest home.
15:30The Amazon is a multi-storey world.
15:34Animals living at opposite ends of one tree lead such contrasting lives they could be at different ends of the
15:40earth.
15:44The forest floor is a very different world from the canopy above.
15:50Only two percent of the sunlight that saturates the canopy filters down to the ground.
15:58It's hot and stifling.
16:00A dark underworld where nightmarish creatures reign.
16:09A colony of army ants is moving house.
16:15Scouts beat a path through the undergrowth, leaving a chemical scent trail for the rest of the swarm to follow.
16:27Workers linked together to build living bridges.
16:35Soldiers stand guard over the ant highway.
16:44Army ant colonies can contain two million individuals.
16:48And columns stretch for 200 meters.
16:59The new nest site is in the hollow of a tree.
17:05As more ants arrive, they cling together, forming a protective lattice around the entrance.
17:14But this nest is just a temporary bivouac.
17:19Army ants can't afford to stay in one place for long.
17:24With a new camp established, the ants' behavior changes.
17:33The marching column disperses, and workers fan out across the forest floor.
17:38It's time to hunt.
17:43The raiding ants systematically sweep through a patch of forest, searching every surface for food.
17:55The swarm can catch as many as 100,000 prey items in a single day.
18:06The ants communicate using pheromones, chemicals released into the air that send instant messages, calling for reinforcements.
18:18Once a victim is captured, the ants sting it repeatedly.
18:23Enzymes in their venom start to break down its tissues, making it easier for the hunters to cut up their
18:29kill.
18:36Body parts are carried back to their bivouac.
18:42When they've exhausted one patch of forest, the whole colony moves on to a fresh hunting ground.
18:50Army ants are some of the most formidable creatures in the Amazon.
18:54But there are animals that beat them at their own game.
19:00At the head of the hunting party, ant birds pick off insects flushed out by the advancing swarm.
19:10These birds survive by letting army ants do the hard work for them.
19:20And then pinching their prey.
19:26Incredibly, some butterflies eat only ant bird droppings.
19:32It's one of the most bizarre specializations in the Amazon.
19:38Over 300 species of birds and butterflies rely on army ants for survival.
19:49Every imaginable niche in the Amazon has been filled, because it is such a stable environment.
19:57At the poles of our planet, animals are faced with extreme differences between seasons.
20:05Winters are dark and frozen solid.
20:10But in summer, the sun never sets, and 24 hours of daylight melt the frozen world.
20:19Few animals evolve to cope with such extremes.
20:26But as you travel towards the equator, conditions stabilize.
20:33Days and nights have more equal lengths, and the difference between seasons is less pronounced.
20:40Animals no longer need to hibernate or migrate for winter.
20:45But can spend their energy exploiting their environment.
20:52In the Amazon, right on top of the equator, almost nothing changes from one day to the next.
21:00Year in, year out.
21:05And in such a uniform world, evolution has run wild.
21:13The Amazon is home to some of the wildest colors and forms in nature.
21:20The forest floor is the most constant environment of all.
21:27As well as being shaded from extreme sunlight, it's also sheltered from wind and rain.
21:3725% of the rain that falls over the forest evaporates as it trickles through leaves and branches.
21:45And never makes it to the ground.
21:51A million species of arthropods, insects and other creepy crawlies are found in the Amazon.
21:5720% of all species found worldwide.
22:05This spider is one of the largest, the size of a man's hand.
22:11Spinning a trail of silk and thread is her way of mapping her territory.
22:17And making sure she can always find her way home.
22:23A caravan of caterpillars hitches together with fine hairs, ensuring no one gets lost.
22:36Conditions are so predictable that animals are able to develop incredibly specialized ways of life.
22:47This pile of froth is home to some tiny tadpoles.
22:53Their bullfrog father whipped up the foam from mucus secreted from their mother's back.
23:01But that's the last parental care they'll receive.
23:05From now on, they're on their own.
23:11They blow bubbles to prolong the life of their foam home.
23:16It's the only armor they have.
23:20But it provides little protection from one jungle monster.
23:31This wasp measures just a few millimeters.
23:34But to tadpoles, it's an aerial assassin.
23:41Older tadpoles can wriggle below the surface to hide.
23:44But less developed eggs have no escape.
23:52These two creatures are locked into an even more complex relationship.
23:58The wasps ball up wads of the tadpole's foam nest and use it as glue to construct their hives.
24:11As animals become more specialized to exploit a particular habitat or food source, so others adapt to outdo them.
24:19An evolutionary arms race produces ever stranger life forms.
24:27If this stick insect stays still, he'll but disappear.
24:35His camouflage perfectly matches his surroundings.
24:43He may have avoided detection by one predator, but he's still the source of a meal for another Amazon creature.
24:53Tiny biting flies, known as stick ticks, are slowly feeding on his tissues.
25:05It's not just animals that have gone into overdrive here.
25:10Because the Amazon straddles the equator, where there are no seasons, plants grow at a constant rate all year round.
25:22Hundreds of millions of trees compete for light and nutrients.
25:29But despite such an abundance of green, soil in the Amazon is thin and infertile.
25:39Dead wooden leaves are broken down quickly by fungi and bacteria.
25:47Roots and shoots spread out across the forest floor, probing for any scrap of nutrition in the leaf litter.
25:58Nutrients are recycled so fast, there's no time for rich soil to develop.
26:05Competition is intense.
26:09Plants fight a slow motion battle, and many are armed and dangerous.
26:18This tree's spines keep leaf-eating monkeys away.
26:23Others bleed poisonous sap, which deters wood-boring beetles.
26:32But there's one kind of sap in the Amazon that has changed the world.
26:41Rubber.
26:43In the middle of the 19th century, the world discovered what native Amazonians had known for centuries.
26:51The sticky latex from the rubber tree was very useful indeed.
27:04By the late 1800s, the rubber boom was in full swing.
27:10And Manaus, a sleepy town on the banks of the Amazon River, had become a thriving metropolis, and a byword
27:19for wealth and decadence.
27:22Rubber barons would light cigars with banknotes, and water their horses with champagne.
27:36Today, Manaus stretches for over 20 kilometers along the Amazon River, and has a population of 2 million people.
27:51There's even an opera house in the middle of the jungle, which was built using the finest materials,
27:58imported from Europe.
28:02The rubber boom put the Amazon on the world stage.
28:07But it wasn't the first time the jungle had seen the hustle and bustle of human civilization.
28:18In 1541, Spanish explorer Francisco de Oriana became the first European to venture into the dark heart of the Amazon
28:28rainforest.
28:32Far from finding a pristine wilderness, accounts from his voyage tell of busy riverside towns, roads stretching deep into the
28:42jungle interior, and advanced cultures.
28:50But within a hundred years, when the next expeditions followed in Oriana's footsteps, almost all trace of humans had vanished.
29:03The rainforest had reclaimed the thriving settlements of which Oriana wrote.
29:10And to the conquistadors, the Amazon seemed untouched.
29:17Few believed these mythical towns had ever existed.
29:25But recent research has revealed evidence of ancient civilizations beneath stretches of forest thought to be primary growth.
29:36It is now thought that five and a half million people inhabited the Amazon in the early 16th century.
29:46And it seems Oriana and his crew unwittingly precipitated their destruction.
29:54Ninety-five percent of the indigenous population was wiped out by diseases such as flu and smallpox, introduced by the
30:03Europeans.
30:09Today, there are 30 million people living in the Amazon.
30:15Many are descendants of the first waves of incomers, robber farmers and slave traders.
30:25But some are descended from people who have been in the Amazon for 10,000 years.
30:45Children of the Sateri Maui tribe in northern Brazil still learn the skills passed down from their ancestors.
30:53Fishing for ants is a way of harvesting one of the most important protein resources in the forest.
31:01It's estimated that ants account for 30% of all animals in the Amazon.
31:12They're in a quiet taste.
31:17And there's a knack to eating them.
31:21The bulbous head is packed with protein.
31:28But this snack has a nasty habit of biting back.
31:35The Sateri Maui people have another relationship with ants.
31:40One that is altogether more extraordinary.
31:46This team of hunters are after some menacing prey.
31:58Most hunting parties creep through the forest so as not to disturb their quarry.
32:06But there's no need for stealth today.
32:09These men want their target to know they're coming.
32:18Hunting horns reverberate through the forest and stir every creature into life.
32:32Hunting horns reverberate through the forest.
32:36At last, they've found what they're looking for.
32:42Bullet ants.
32:51These giants are some of the largest ants in the world.
32:57Three centimetres long, they sport serrated jaws that can cut through human flesh like butter.
33:07But it's the other end of the ant that is most fearsome.
33:14A bullet ant's name says it all.
33:18Their sting is the most painful in the insect world.
33:27Agitating the ants with smoke and sound brings more and more to the surface.
33:45One sting would inject neurotoxic venom so powerful it feels like being shot.
33:57The ants have evolved this weapon as a defence mechanism.
34:03The excruciating pain tricks any attacker into believing it has suffered a far greater injury than an ant sting.
34:13And causes it to run away.
34:17But capturing this hazardous hole is just the beginning.
34:24Enduring the terrible pain a bullet ant can inflict is a rite of passage for every Soteri Maui man.
34:42Back in the village, women prepare for the arrival of the ferocious ants.
34:50The leaves of a cashew tree have special properties.
34:57Children are taught that the youngest and juiciest leaves are the best ones to pick.
35:10Soaked in water, they make a natural chloroform.
35:29Knocking the ants unconscious is the only way they can be handled.
35:43It's a technique that has been passed down the generations.
35:56Dosey from the sleeping potion.
35:58The ants submit without a struggle.
36:10The weave of a palm leaf glove pinches each ant around the waist and holds them tight.
36:21Dozens are trapped, staying inwards in a living mitten.
36:34This ant ceremony is known as the Festa Tokandira.
36:48Every Soteri Maui man will pass through this ritual.
36:52Not once, but 20 times during his lifetime.
36:59Today it's the turn of two boys.
37:09They've both done it before.
37:18But knowing what lies ahead is no comfort.
37:27The ants have shaken off their sleeping draught.
37:32Smoke agitates them even further.
37:37They're wide awake and angry.
37:42And each boy must keep his hand inside this gauntlet for a full ten minutes.
37:50Each sting is 30 times more painful than that of a wasp.
37:57And in each glove, there are over 120 stinging ants.
38:12Just one sting could cause an allergic reaction powerful enough to kill.
38:22Dancing and chanting helps keep the boys' minds focused.
38:27The pain is so intense it can play tricks on the psyche.
38:32Men have reported wanting to cut off their own hands to escape it.
38:39But they must also keep moving.
38:42Dancing keeps the blood pumping through their veins,
38:45which helps dissipate the poison.
38:48And sweating releases it from the body.
38:52The boys' hands swell and become paralysed.
38:55The pain spreads up their arms to their chests.
39:01And it will last for 24 hours.
39:10The whole village supports them and helps them through the ordeal.
39:18The Soteri Maui people say that the toxins in the ants' stings immunize them against disease.
39:25And will keep them strong and healthy.
39:28And they believe that undergoing this agonizing trial
39:33helps each boy take a step towards being a true man.
39:47The Amazon's constant climate has driven the diversity of plants, animals and even people.
39:55And fueling the whole giant ecosystem is water.
40:03rivers criss-cross the Amazon.
40:06A natural irrigation system that provides water to animals in all corners of the forest.
40:16While many cats avoid getting their feet wet,
40:20jaguars use the smaller waterways to move around with ease.
40:27Their large paws make excellent paddles.
40:35The rivers also provide a jaguar with a food supply.
40:41They often catch fish or turtles in the shallows.
40:50Even caiman fall prey to these powerful big cats.
40:57But this young jaguar is a novice hunter.
41:05The caiman is young too.
41:07But it instinctively knows to stay still.
41:32It's a lucky escape.
41:37An older, larger caiman might not have let go so readily.
41:48Water from all these small creeks eventually feeds into the Amazon.
41:53The mightiest river in the world.
42:00Over six and a half thousand kilometers long,
42:03it flows from its source high in the Peruvian Andes
42:06to its vast gaping mouth that stretches 240 kilometers along the east coast of Brazil.
42:16More water flows from the Amazon River to the ocean than from the world's nine next largest rivers combined.
42:24It holds a fifth of all the fresh water in the world.
42:34The Amazon River has over 1,000 tributaries.
42:38Some are cloudy with nutrient-rich sediment carried from the Andes Mountains.
42:45Others are acidic.
42:46Their pure water is the color of black tea.
42:50At the city of Manaus, in the heart of the rainforest,
42:54the mud-colored Solimoes River is joined by the black Rio Negro,
42:59itself one of the largest rivers in the world.
43:03Together they form the main trunk of the Amazon.
43:08The two rivers are different temperatures and flow at different speeds.
43:13So they remain separate for nearly 10 kilometers before their waters mix.
43:19And where these meetings of the water occur are some of the richest freshwater environments on Earth.
43:28There are more species of fish in the Amazon River system than are found in the Atlantic Ocean.
43:38There are fish so large, they're said to be able to swallow a man whole.
43:44And shoals of piranhas, whose ability to strip the flesh from a man's bones in minutes is legendary.
43:55But there is one creature here that even piranhas fear.
44:03Pink river dolphins are consummate hunters.
44:07They're nearly blind, but visibility in the river is almost zero.
44:12So they don't need eyesight.
44:16They hunt and navigate using echolocation.
44:23The bulge on their foreheads focuses clicks that bounce off obstacles and prey,
44:28building up a sonic picture of their underwater world.
44:34It's so accurate, they can detect objects as small as a pin.
44:59So they can get caught.
45:02It's so accurate, they can use the ocean.
45:02OK, you should be able to see the two people who are in the south.
45:02Is that the children who are in the south?
45:04They're hungry to die before they have the same기는.
45:13The rivers are full of life, but they're also one of the reasons this rainforest is home
45:20to such extraordinary biodiversity.
45:25Small rivers might be easy for wildlife to cross, but the larger ones are impassable.
45:31The Amazon itself can be over 30 kilometers wide in places.
45:37Rivers traverse the jungle, forming barriers and cutting off animals and plants from one another.
45:48This network of waterways slices up the Amazon into a series of forested islands.
45:55It looks like a uniform blanket of green stretching to the horizon.
46:00But different regions, separated by large rivers, have distinct characters.
46:08The cloud forests of the Andean foothills are quite different from the flood-prone lowlands.
46:14Cut off from their relatives in these divergent habitats, castaway creatures evolve into new species.
46:26Tamarins are a prime example.
46:31These tiny primates have colonized the torso of the rainforest.
46:36They live below the canopy, so they're out of reach of the harpy eagle's talons.
46:41But above the forest floor, far from the stinging, biting dangers that lurk there, claws, rather than the nails of
46:51other primates, are an adaptation for clinging to upright tree trunks in their vertical world.
46:58There are dozens of different tamarinds across the entire Amazon rainforest, but certain species are confined to small sections of
47:06it, hemmed in by river boundaries.
47:19These pied tamarinds only occur in the corner of the Amazon where the city of Manaus has developed.
47:29Their forest world is being taken over by the urban jungle.
47:39As the city spreads, groups are being cut off from one another.
47:44Trapped by surrounding rivers, they have nowhere to go.
47:49As a species, pied tamarinds are in trouble.
47:53They're one of the most critically endangered animals in the Amazon.
47:59But this troop is adjusting well to its new suburban home.
48:04Their natural athleticism stands them in good stead for negotiating a city environment.
48:11Walls and wires aren't much different from branches and lianas.
48:24Rivers separate species.
48:26But for people, waterways in the Amazon are a vital communication network.
48:37Despite decades of logging, roads are few and far between outside the handful of towns in this huge region.
48:46Rivers are the main highways.
48:50Ivan Ildo is a reggaetau, a river trader.
48:56He's been travelling up and down the Amazon and its tributaries for 35 years.
49:02Carrying goods from one end to the other.
49:07He spends days and weeks at a time out on the river.
49:18Most of the Amazon's 30 million strong population are riveriños.
49:25River dwellers living deep in the interior in floating villages.
49:31They make a living by growing fruit and gathering what they can from the forest.
49:38The nearest shop can be hundreds of kilometers away.
49:42So they rely on reggaetaus like Ivan Ildo to trade their goods.
49:48For them, river traders are a lifeline.
49:54For them, river traders are a lifeline, making it possible to survive in the Amazon.
50:13The Amazon is a complex patchwork of habitats.
50:19Where powerful forces produce biodiversity unparalleled on our planet.
50:24It's larger than any other forest.
50:27But it's not just one world.
50:29It's many.
50:33The largest river system on Earth carves up the jungle.
50:37Isolating animals and plants.
50:39Driving them to evolve.
50:48And the constant climate gives every living thing the time and resources to specialize.
51:00As the modern world encroaches, it's clear how vulnerable animals can be to change.
51:11But people have been part of the Amazon's story for millennia.
51:17And it's seen civilizations come and go.
51:21The Amazon's future is in our hands.
51:24And its complexities must be respected.
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