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'20 years ago,
my good friend Douglas Adams spent
a year tracking down

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'endangered animals together
with the zoologist Mark Carwardine.

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'Now it's my turn.

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'Mark and I are heading off to find
out exactly what happened

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'to those species that he'd seen
dangling on the edge of extinction
two decades ago.

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'It promises to be exhausting...

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'exhilarating...' Unbelievable!

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'..and exasperating...' Agh!

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'..but I wouldn't miss it
for the world.'

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Having completed our expedition
through Uganda and Kenya
in search of rhinos, Mark and I

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have stepped off the beaten path,
travelling directly to Madagascar.

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I have to confess, Mark,
to me Madagascar is a children's
film title and not much more.

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I know vanilla comes from here.
That's terrible! I'm sorry.

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So tell me what there is
that excites you about the place,

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cos you've been
bubbling about it for weeks.

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Well, if you're into wildlife, this
is probably the most exciting place
in the world to come

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because most of the animals and
plants here are found nowhere else.

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If you come here for the first time,
virtually everything
you're seeing is new.

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Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean,
285 miles off
the coast of Mozambique.

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We've come in search of the aye-aye,
a peculiar nocturnal lemur

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said to be so strikingly
unattractive that it
chills the heart of all who see it.

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20 years ago, Mark encountered
the fearsome aye-aye on the little
island of Nosy Mangabe,

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which is where he's decided
we should begin OUR adventure.

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Nosy Mangabe. Oh, this is amazing!
I never thought I'd come back.

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Let's see if we can leap off. Well,
you say "leap" - you know
what happens with me and boats!

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I know, just be careful.

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Ohhhh...

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Hang on, oops.

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Wait for the sea.

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Ooh, my God. Thank you. OK? Yeah!

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'But for me, at least,
encountering the unique wildlife

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'won't be the only novel experience
on Nosy Mangabe.

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'Mark has arranged
that we shall be camping.'

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No, I don't... I haven't camped
since I was 16. One night.

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You're joking! Chagford, Devon...
It was supposed to be a fortnight.

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The first night camping - hated it
so much I spent all my pocket money
in the Ring Of Bells pub.

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You are kidding me!
You've surely camped since 16?

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No, only in the homosexual sense.
Ooh.

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I know. Oh, hell. Well...

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I wish I'd ordered two tents now.
I'm going to go and sort that out.
I know, in every way.

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The island of Nosy Mangabe is
an idyllic tropical paradise
and just the sort of place

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any self-respecting exotic species
might choose to set up home.

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But Mark's keen we waste no time
looking at the scenery.

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Oh, well...

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Look at this, Stephen.

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Look at this.

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This is a leaf-tailed gecko,
and look at its tail.

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It's just like an old mouldy leaf.
Oh, flicked it. Oh!

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It's OK, but it is probably

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the most extraordinary example of
camouflage you'll ever see,

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and it's even got this ragged edge
so that it breaks up
the outline a little bit,

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and all these marking all over it
just match the tree trunk.

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This one's a panther chameleon.

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'Even before our search for wildlife
has properly begun, it seems
to be finding us at every turn.'

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They're wonderful creatures,
aren't they? Fantastic.

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Do their eyes go through 360
degrees? They seem to go in any
direction, swivel up and down.

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They do. They can do two things.

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They can either look at
and focus on two things as once,

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or they can put them both in front
and then get binocular vision.

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To hone in exactly on an insect
with their tongue, is it? Yes.

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'For Mark, this island is
also special for another reason.

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'It was right here,
way back in 1985, that the idea
for Last Chance To See began.'

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Now, as a matter of fact, Mark,
I've gone to a great deal of trouble

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on this long, long journey
of bringing this with me.

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Wow! What's this?
See if this means anything to you.

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Oh, my goodness! Do you
know what it is? I recognise it.

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Douglas Adams pursues one of the
world's rarest animals. I haven't
seen this for years and years.

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So tell me, this was your first...
Was it?

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Yeah, what happened was Douglas and
I came here to Nosy Mangabe and
landed on this very beach in 1985

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to look for the aye-aye, and the idea
was that Douglas was going to
write an article for the Observer,

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and the whole point was, because
he'd had never had any involvement
in wildlife or conservation,

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he'd look at it from a different
point of view, and hopefully add
a new dimension to the story. Yeah.

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We spent a few nights here and we...

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I remember we sat on a rock
or on the edge of a hut we were
staying in on the last day,

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and talking about how much
we'd enjoyed the whole experience,

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and I remember Douglas said,
"Why don't we do more?"

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And we did. It took us three years
to get our act together...

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But that's how...? Then we
started travelling and looking for
more endangered species.

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So we are where it all began?
That's very kind of you
because I lost my copy, that's great.

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Ah! Here we are.

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We had the most amazing experience.

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Douglas and I went out with
our torches, 50 yards from the hut,

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we saw an aye-aye... Oh, my God!

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..and Alan, the photographer,
got this picture.

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We went running back,
it was only, like, five seconds,

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and it was the first time one
had been seen in the wild for years.

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Mark has long harboured an
ambition to get his own photograph
of an aye-aye in the wild.

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He's determined not to
leave Madagascar without it.

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We're going to hunt in the exact
spot where Mark found his aye-aye.

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So long as it hasn't moved in
the intervening 20 years, our
encounter is virtually guaranteed(!)

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Cor, it gets dark very quickly.
It really does. Suddenly.

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Is there something moving up there?

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The first thing you'd see would be
the eyes, their luminous eyes.

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They reflect the light?
Yes, exactly.

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It's alive this jungle, though,
isn't it? Oh, it's fantastic.

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Unbelievable.

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Bloody hell, what's that?

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Oh, it's a snake. Oh, yes, yes.
It's very hard to identify as
a snake because it's now coiled up,

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its head is pointing
directly at the light.
How did you spot it?

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Because it was moving. Stephen...?
Yeah?

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Look what I've found.
I've found the most amazing thing.

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Look, that... Oh, my God! ..is
the smallest chameleon in the world.

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Pigmy chameleon.

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Oh, my God! And that's an adult.

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You're joking? I mean, everything
about him is perfect. You can see...

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Look at the tail.

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That is fantastic.

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You take that end.

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There we go. There we go.

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Look at that! His face is fabulous.

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Slightly...
He looks slightly annoyed.
It's so delicate, so delicate.

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I'm frightened to hurt him.
Isn't that just fantastic?

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It's a finger wide.

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And you're telling me
that is a full-grown adult?

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That is the smallest chameleon in
the world. It just shows what's here.

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Goodness knows what we're missing,
walking through the forest like this.

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'We've been hunting now for a couple
of hours, and the one thing we do
know we are missing is an aye-aye.

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'Unlike bugs,
every one of which we encounter!'

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Those things - what are they?
Keep calm!

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Well, you weren't!
See you when it flew on you!

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You're a naturalist.
You screamed like a pansy.

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THEY LAUGH

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The thing is, not that many years
ago, there were some trees
that the aye-ayes really liked,

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their favourite trees, but they
got blown down in a cyclone,

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so the trouble is now no-one
really knows where they're going,
it's a bit more hit and miss,

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and I think we'd be
really lucky to find them.

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Still, we have seen something quite
extraordinary, the pigmy chameleon.
I never believed I'd see that.

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It's just heaving with wildlife,
this place.

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God, I hate camping.

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I hate it. It's so uncomfortable,
so unnatural.

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I miss all the things that I
rely on at home.

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I miss my computer, I miss my wife,
I miss the internet...

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Hang on, I'm not married.
Oh, no, that's right! ..I miss
my Wi-Fi, miss the internet.

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Wi-Fi...oh, Wi-Fi.

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If only, out here...

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Wi-Fi...Wi-Fi...

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HE SIGHS

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Well, Stephen went to bed a few hours
ago, but I just want to make the
most of being on this amazing place.

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If you had to be cast away on
a desert island,
this would be the one to choose.

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It's absolutely heaving
with wildlife, thick forest.

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It's like a microcosm of
how Madagascar used to be.

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I could stay here for months,
actually, there's so much
to explore and so much to see.

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It's absolutely brilliant.

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GROANING

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What...?

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Oh, my God.

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HE EXHALES

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00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:26,200
Well, I slept...
In patches and snatches, I slept.

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The sea to one side of me
and the noisiest jungle in the world
to the other,

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but I suppose
I can't complain, but...

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HE SIGHS

152
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..I'd rather have had a bed,
to be perfectly honest.

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Having failed to make an early
encounter with the world's ugliest
lemur, Mark is not down hearted.

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While he re-thinks our strategy,
Mark has decided that what I need

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is a fully immersive
crash course on lemurs.

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He's taking us 300 miles
to the far south of Madagascar.

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00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:29,120
I'm shocked by the stark contrast
between this landscape and
the lush island we've left behind.

158
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Wow.

159
00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:44,840
Well, let's have a look.

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Here we are, down here.
God, it's huge, isn't it?

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00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,920
I know, it's phenomenal.
Nosy Mangabe is up here, isn't it?

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00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,800
That's right. We've come all this
distance down the east coast to here.

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I don't know. One of the things
I've noticed as we've been travelling
is how little forest there is.

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I know. All the hills are bald.
It's frightening what's happening.

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All the way down here,
it's just bare.

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And this whole island, pretty much,
was covered in forest.

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Four-fifths of it gone already.

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Terrible, four-fifths.

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00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,960
What's frightening is, I can
see the difference from
when I was here 20-odd years ago.

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00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:29,360
We can see that there's less forest,
and that's in that
short space of time,

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so it's only a matter
of a few years before it all goes,

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00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:36,120
And not only the forest. The people
will find it harder to survive,

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00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,600
and all the wildlife goes as well.
Yeah.

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00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:59,600
We've come to Berenty,
a preserved island of forest
in the sprawling desert.

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00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,880
I'm assured that if you
want an introduction to lemurs,
there is nowhere better,

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owing to a 20-year study programme
responsible for much of
our understanding of lemurs.

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00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,480
'Josia Razafindramanana
and Raymond Tsaramanana

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00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,920
'are the latest researchers
to contribute to the programme.'

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00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,240
We are doing a survey
of the brown lemurs' population.

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00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:32,840
In 1977, eight brown lemurs being
kept in cages escaped during
a cyclone into this isolated forest.

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00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,200
30 years later, the brown lemurs
number many hundreds

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00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,800
and are suspected of out-competing
the native ring-tailed lemurs.

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00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:46,000
To discover exactly how many
brown lemurs there are,
Josia is undertaking a survey.

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00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,040
First, attract your lemur
with a banana.

185
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,280
Look at that row of them up there.
Oh, yes, they're all looking down.

186
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,520
Six or seven.
I can't believe they'll spot it.

187
00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,960
Lemurs...banana...ready?

188
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:05,800
Look out. Oh, no...

189
00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:07,480
BANANA THUDS ON GROUND

190
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,480
Oh, they did see it. They're looking.
Banana!

191
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,200
I'll do it again. Ready?

192
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,720
Yep, they're all concentrating.
There is one looking at you.

193
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,400
It's going to fall on the cameraman.
Missed!

194
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:22,680
There.

195
00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,120
Is it working?

196
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,400
OK, they're getting interested.

197
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,200
OK, they definitely know...
Oh, look.

198
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:43,240
Shall I just gradually ease them in?

199
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:48,760
'Next, each surveyed lemur
must be expertly marked
with a harmless purple dye.

200
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,320
'And as the dye must be shot
from a syringe,

201
00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,160
'this is the part that requires
someone with skill and precision.'

202
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,520
Yeah. Excellent.
Are you ready, Stephen? Yeah.

203
00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,640
MARK CLICKS HIS TONGUE
Just throw it...

204
00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:05,480
Here...

205
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,200
Damn! Missed it.

206
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,000
Yes, yes, yes. Ready?

207
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,560
Oh... Here we are...

208
00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:15,240
Wait, wait wait.

209
00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,360
Aw, I'm such a crap shot.

210
00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:20,640
SHE LAUGHS

211
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,720
Overshot.

212
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,800
Let me tell you when you
when you have to...

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00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:33,080
OK, now you can't miss.
It's from three feet away.
Give a banana... Oh, no!

214
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,920
Nerves! Nerves are
getting the better of me.

215
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,400
Come on. It's all right.

216
00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:46,800
Wow. Ohhh... Yeah! You got the tail.
That is really visible. Wow.

217
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,280
Yes. Well done. Great! Thank you.

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00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:55,200
The pressure, I can't tell you,
was enormous. I thought
I was going to miss every one.

219
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,480
Never has a brown lemur
been so professionally marked.

220
00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:01,080
You're just being kind now.

221
00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,200
THEY ALL LAUGH

222
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:13,080
The following morning, Mark's ready
to get to work on my lemur learning.

223
00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,800
Though there've been no reported
sightings of aye-ayes in Berenty,

224
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:21,760
the ongoing research has ensured
a healthy population of
various different species of lemur

225
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:26,160
more than happy to be
pointed at and talked about.

226
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,480
It's a dancing sifaka.

227
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:29,840
Look at that.

228
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:32,800
Funny animal.

229
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:40,640
Like the illusive aye-aye,
the dancing sifaka are one of
almost a hundred species of lemur.

230
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,120
Oh, wow! Oh, my Lord!

231
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:46,880
That's fantastic.

232
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,040
That's extraordinary.

233
00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:52,920
That's fantastic. What a sight.

234
00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:54,840
Aww...

235
00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,840
That is brilliant.

236
00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:01,600
Absolutely brilliant, I love it.

237
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,080
There's nothing else quite like it,
is there? It's extraordinary.

238
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,280
Starting with the basics,
Mark is keen to establish

239
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,600
that all species of lemur live here,
and only here, on Madagascar.

240
00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:20,080
And while distantly related,
they are not,
under any circumstances, monkeys.

241
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:22,240
They are primates. These are...

242
00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:27,840
Well, it's complicated, but a
primate is surely what we are, isn't
it? Yeah, they're primates like us.

243
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:33,840
What happened was, when Madagascar
split away from Africa, from
Gondwanaland, the super-continent,

244
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:39,040
which is about 160 million years ago,
there were no primates here at all.

245
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:44,520
And what they reckon happened is the
ancestors of these guys rafted
out across the Mozambique channel.

246
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,720
You know you get floating
mats of vegetation sometimes? Yes.

247
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:53,320
The theory is that there were some
of the ancestors, early primates,
that got on one of these rafts

248
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,320
and made it to Madagascar, amazingly,

249
00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:00,400
and then of course,
cos Madagascar is cut off,
they have evolved separately,

250
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:06,480
so they've evolved into lemurs here,
whereas on the mainland of Africa
they evolved into monkeys and apes

251
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:09,240
and so on... And into humans.
And into humans, yeah.

252
00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:15,280
So they're all primates but they've
evolved separately over all
those millions of years. I see.

253
00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:21,560
Cos the other thing that makes lemurs
so interesting is female dominance.

254
00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,240
It's very unusual
in the mammal world where,

255
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,880
not just that you have female
leaders but the females are boss.

256
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:30,760
How interesting.

257
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:36,480
And it's actually the females that
defend the territory as well. They
have a hilarious way of doing it.

258
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:41,760
When they meet other groups,
in the ring-tailed lemurs -
see that one just leap up -

259
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:42,920
they, um...

260
00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,400
They outstare one another.

261
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,960
I had an ex-girlfriend who did that.
It was really frightening.

262
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,040
STEPHEN LAUGHS

263
00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,600
There's a lot in that tree. Yeah.

264
00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:08,880
Deep in the heart of Berenty,
it's hard to imagine that this
idyllic lemur playground

265
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:14,480
is just a small island of forest
in an almost
completely barren landscape.

266
00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:29,680
The trees that once
covered these surrounding plains
have now been cut down

267
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,480
to be replaced by
this commercial crop, sisal.

268
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,960
And here's a thing.
The reason sisal has replaced trees

269
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,520
is because, as we in the West
have become concerned
about the environment,

270
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,040
we demand that
packaging is recyclable,

271
00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:49,840
and one of the best materials
to make recyclable packaging out of
is sisal.

272
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,160
For any conservation work
to be successful,

273
00:19:55,160 --> 00:20:00,520
it's necessary first to
understand the people
whose lives it would impact upon.

274
00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:05,120
Mark has arranged a visit
to a local village that promises
to be truly eye opening.

275
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:10,560
I'm told this is to be the first
time a film crew has ever
been allowed into the village.

276
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,440
STEPHEN GASPS

277
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,720
We've arrived in the middle of
a traditional healing ceremony.

278
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:29,560
This is a country, I'm learning,
in which tradition is
very much a part of modern life.

279
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,280
The lady in the middle
has been possessed by spirits.

280
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:38,560
Oh, I see.

281
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,720
In Malagasy culture,
nature is central to life.

282
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,720
Nature is responsible for
protecting, sustaining and healing.

283
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,960
She looks all right. She looks like
she's doing quite well.
She's lasting well.

284
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,240
Maybe it's working.

285
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,880
'For longer than anyone can
remember, it's been said
that nature is an endless resource.

286
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:09,680
'The forests and the wildlife
are there to be exploited,
and will always be replenished.'

287
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,080
GOATS BLEAT

288
00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,960
Wonder what they're doing
with the goats...

289
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,280
Do you think there may be
blood-letting? I hope not.

290
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,800
I can't help feeling sorry for them.

291
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:26,480
Hmm.

292
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,280
Well, it seems like
it was a false alarm.

293
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,360
They're not going to
slaughter or sacrifice the goats.

294
00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:39,920
They're just honouring them. They're
just lying there in the arena.

295
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:45,520
Though there has been talk about
sacrificing the "vazar" - the white
man, the European - apparently.

296
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,760
There's a strong chance there
may be some throat-cutting yet,
so stay tuned.

297
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,120
Tallest first!

298
00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:58,160
This is not a people
wheeling out tradition
on high days and holy days.

299
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,360
It runs through
every aspect of life.

300
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:06,440
One of the key things in Madagascar
is what they call "fady",
which is a kind of taboo.

301
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,280
It's almost like it is dangerous
to do something in a certain way,

302
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,520
or see something in a certain way,
so for example,

303
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:20,680
I mean, some of them sound ridiculous
to us, like it's actually bad luck
to hand an egg to somebody directly.

304
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:27,080
You have to place it on the ground,
and they pick the egg up. Others
are a bit more logical in a way.

305
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:32,120
One is that if you're digging
a grave, the handle on the spade
has to be loose,

306
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,120
otherwise you have too strong
a connection with the dead.

307
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:39,680
But what does all this have to
do with our aye-aye adventure?

308
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,120
I confess I fear the worst.

309
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:45,000
Aye-ayes, generally speaking,
are bad luck.

310
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,200
If you see an aye-aye and it points
at you with its middle finger,
then it means you're going to die.

311
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,400
So they're animals of ill omen,
essentially?

312
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,800
Exactly, and they get killed as
a result. They kill... Oh, I see.

313
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:00,880
Yeah, and the feeling is so strong.

314
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,040
There's one story of an aye-aye
that walked into a village

315
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:05,960
and the villagers saw it

316
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:11,520
and they actually moved the
entire village as a result
so it didn't bring bad luck.

317
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,840
And this persisted
right into the 21st century?

318
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,720
Yeah, it still exists
all over Madagascar.

319
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:26,800
Leaving the village,
I can't help feeling that
squeezed between the twin threats

320
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:34,080
of modern farming and traditional
superstition, the aye-aye's chances
of long-term survival are slight.

321
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:42,840
OK, I'm going to have
a little bit of a moan, because
we're all tired and ill.

322
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,600
We've travelled thousands of miles
and we've all had stomach upsets.

323
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:50,840
The cameraman has been on the loo
non-stop for the last three days.

324
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,080
We're all getting a bit
tired and grumpy.

325
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,880
Look at the bags under my eyes.
I don't know where they've come from.

326
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:02,320
This shirt's about
four days old, and...it's not nice.

327
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,160
But anyway, mustn't grumble.

328
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,480
With the whole team thoroughly
dosed up against the worst
Madagascar can throw at us,

329
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,800
we elect for a day off
in the capital city of Antananarivo.

330
00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:23,160
The only problem is that between
us and the city lie some of
the worst roads in Madagascar.

331
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:27,960
With stomachs churning and buttocks
clenched, never have aye-aye-hunters

332
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,840
more wished that a journey
might be smooth...

333
00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,960
..and unhindered.

334
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:20,280
Antananarivo has a scattering
of cafes, restaurants and hotels
with internet connection,

335
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,360
in many ways the perfect place
for a rest day in a hectic schedule.

336
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:28,400
Mark, however, has his own idea
of what constitutes a rest day.

337
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,320
With his heart set on the
closest of aye-aye encounters,

338
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:39,120
Mark has had an idea of how we
might while away an hour...or five.

339
00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:43,000
Here, the city zoo is one of
the few places in the world

340
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,920
to keep the mysterious
nocturnal aye-ayes captive.

341
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,880
Stephen, last time I went
into a cage with an aye-aye,
there was a baby,

342
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:55,400
and it was spinning like a top
and urinating,
spray urinating, just to warn you.

343
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:56,880
Oh, thanks(!)

344
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,120
Oh, here we are. Merci.

345
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:02,520
My goodness. Can you see them?
Oh, there's one here.

346
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,040
Oh, yes.

347
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,480
Let's just shut the door. That
would be a disaster, wouldn't it?

348
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,320
Oh, Lord, they're extraordinary.

349
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,840
It's like, sort of...
either it's very old

350
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:23,640
or does it naturally have those
grey hairs in their coat? They do.
They're very shaggy coats.

351
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:28,320
They almost look unkempt.
There's nothing else like them.
Completely peculiar.

352
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:34,560
'I must confess, the aye-aye is
not an animal I was ever going to
fall in love with at first sight.

353
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,480
'And it's not hard to see how
it gained its fearsome reputation.'

354
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:44,320
Saw its reflection.

355
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,360
It sniffed the camera
and tapped the camera lens

356
00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:49,960
with its twiggy finger.

357
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:51,560
Just checking it out.

358
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,120
So inquisitive. It's lovely.

359
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,600
(Gosh, how extraordinary.

360
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,040
(That's amazing.

361
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,360
(Look at this.)

362
00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:12,920
Hello. Gosh.
You're inquisitive, aren't you?

363
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,360
Aren't you?

364
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,160
(My goodness.) That was brilliant!

365
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:26,800
I know. Close up, actually, there's
something charming about them.

366
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,120
You can just see the finger there,
can you see that long middle finger?
Oh, yes, yes.

367
00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:36,040
It is just like a twig, isn't it?
It's unbelievable.
What's it for? It's for feeding.

368
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:41,160
What the aye-aye's doing in
Madagascar is filling the niche
of a woodpecker, believe it or not.

369
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,600
There are no woodpeckers? There are
no woodpeckers here at all,

370
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:49,520
so it goes along the branches,
like this, and it taps
with its middle finger

371
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,920
anywhere along a branch or a tree
trunk where it might be hollow,

372
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,040
and listens with that amazing ear.

373
00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:01,040
What they're listening for is hollow
bits in the wood and grubs moving
around. Escaping or rushing around.

374
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,800
It's called percussive foraging,
which I think is a great name.
Oh, how brilliant!

375
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,560
When they hear something moving,
they use those amazing incisors
and gnaw away a hole,

376
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,320
just like a woodpecker tapping,
and then like a surgeon's instrument,

377
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,240
it inserts the middle finger
and pulls out the grub.

378
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:19,760
Amazing.

379
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,920
That's... Uses that finger
for everything. It really does.

380
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:33,880
'This may not be Mark's
wildest encounter,
but it will have to do for now.'

381
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:38,840
That is brilliant.
That's one extraordinary animal.

382
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,960
They're real characters.

383
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,600
Come on! Eggs.

384
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:46,520
Where are you? They're looking.

385
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,400
Look, look, look.

386
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:53,480
That's an egg, look. Look, that's
an egg. Oh, it didn't want it.

387
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,560
Not so keen on the egg.
It didn't want its egg.

388
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,960
Right, if you're not going to have
your breakfast egg,
you can have some fruit.

389
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:03,480
CRACKING

390
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,360
I just trod on the egg!

391
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,920
Oh, no, how embarrassing.

392
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,240
I'm so sorry.
I just trod on the egg.

393
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,360
Stephen! Oh, dear.

394
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:15,000
He didn't want it anyway.

395
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,520
Where's the honey?

396
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,040
Look...

397
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:28,480
(He can smell it.)

398
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,840
He's licking your finger.
Oh, my God.

399
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,640
That's fantastic. What an honour.

400
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,960
Oh, wow.

401
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:41,680
That's made my week.

402
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:46,680
That is absolutely marvellous.
Aye-aye-aye.

403
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,200
The strange thing is,
after a couple of hours

404
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,400
with this grotesque
and frankly smelly creature,

405
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,560
we are both utterly entranced
and completely under its spell.

406
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,080
I've never seen anything like you.

407
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,920
You're very mysterious

408
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,920
and lovely,
kind of lovely in the end.

409
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,120
There's a French expression,
jolie-laide.

410
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,720
Jolie means pretty
and laide means ugly,

411
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,440
but it means that
it's actually attractive.

412
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,240
Sums it up quite well.
I think they're fantastic.

413
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,160
But how do you change attitudes
towards aye-ayes for people

414
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:25,960
who can't spend an afternoon

415
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,960
getting up close
and personal in the city zoo?

416
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:41,320
We're heading to one project that's
trying to reshape deeply entrenched
attitudes to an entire forest.

417
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,280
We're on the road west,
heading to Kirindy,

418
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,360
one of the most threatened
islands of forest in Madagascar.

419
00:30:58,120 --> 00:30:59,720
All around us on the journey,

420
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,680
the landscape is littered with
strange and wonderful peculiarities.

421
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,080
But perhaps the strangest
and most wonderful,

422
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,840
10 miles from the nearest
town, is an orange fridge.

423
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,760
A fridge. Bonsoir.

424
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,400
Oh!

425
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,920
Not bad, is it?

426
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,040
Classiko Cola, no less. Perfecto.

427
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,520
Merci beaucoup. Merci a vous.

428
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:27,040
A votre sante!

429
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,200
This is an entrepreneurial response

430
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,640
to one of Madagascar's
most famous sights,

431
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,800
known locally as Baobab Alley.

432
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:42,720
If baobab trees are your thing,
this is where you need to come.

433
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,680
They almost look upside
down or something.
There's something so wrong.

434
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,160
There's a great story that God
gave each animal one tree to plant,

435
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,560
and the hyena got the baobab,
and planted it upside down.

436
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,200
Oh, there you are, you see.

437
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,240
They look like giant Chianti
bottles, with bad hair days.

438
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:09,360
They're very spooky aren't they,
these lone fingers poking up in
this sort of plateau of weirdness.

439
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:10,400
It's just so odd.

440
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,240
I know, but the thing is,
of course, this whole area

441
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,760
was clothed in native
dry deciduous forests

442
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:17,720
and all the other
trees have gone,

443
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,440
so all that's left of that
are these few baobabs.

444
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,000
Cos the baobab wood
isn't very good for building,

445
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,720
and it doesn't burn well,
so it's not good firewood.

446
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:28,000
So people would just
leave the baobabs alone,

447
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,440
and they've taken the rest, and this
whole region was covered in the kind
of forest we're heading for now.

448
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,160
That's why they look
so lonely and strange. They do.

449
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:40,640
Baobabs.

450
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:47,800
Not so much the proud sentinels
of a barren landscape as the last
survivors of a mighty forest.

451
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,440
It's evidence that this was,
within the life of these few trees,

452
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,680
a mighty jungle,
and home to a cacophony of wildlife.

453
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:17,200
A little way down the road, we get
our first encounter of what's known
as slash and burn agriculture.

454
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:23,200
The burning of trees returns
nutrients to the ground, and,
for a single year following,

455
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:28,320
this dust can be farmed before it's
abandoned, and the farmer moves on.

456
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,720
It's a devastating
fight for survival

457
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,280
scratched out by some of
the poorest farmers in the world.

458
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:48,680
Arriving at the research station
in Kirindy, we've hardly had time
to get our bearings

459
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,000
before we are whisked off to a cabin
where Melanie Dammhahn,

460
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,720
one of Kirindy's research
scientists, has a surprise
to show us.

461
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:57,120
You promised a surprise.

462
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,000
Yeah. Is it an insect?

463
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,720
No. Insect(!)

464
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,760
Well, what is it?
It's a little box. What could it be?

465
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:05,600
It's trapped in the little box.

466
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,240
Uh! Oh, my God, it's fantastic.

467
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:12,720
This is another of almost
a hundred species of lemurs.

468
00:34:12,720 --> 00:34:16,360
This one is unique to the
isolated forest of Kirindy.

469
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:22,480
He doesn't like the light.
A few years ago, we didn't
even know this existed.

470
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,160
Is this a recent discovery?

471
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:27,520
These are babies of the other
species. So what's it called again?

472
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,360
It's called Madame Berthe.
Madame Berthe's mouse lemur.

473
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,800
It's called after a Madagascan
primatologist. So this is a lemur.

474
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:36,520
In other words, this is a primate.

475
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,520
This is the same order as
gorillas and human beings.

476
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,080
It's the smallest
primate in the world.

477
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,080
It must be. I've seen bigger mice.

478
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,560
So this alone is a good reason
for protecting this forest.

479
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:49,880
It needs primary forests.

480
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,360
It's only found in Kirindy,
and it's a very special animal.

481
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,240
It'd be worth protecting
it just for these guys. Yeah.

482
00:34:56,240 --> 00:35:01,880
Melanie's research involves
catching the little-known
mouse lemurs for study,

483
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,200
before releasing
them as quickly as possible.

484
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:09,720
So we're going to
release it into its original
place that you found it now, are we?

485
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:11,400
Yeah, let's bring it home.

486
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,280
Let's bring it home, exactly.

487
00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:19,600
Oh, there it goes.

488
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:21,920
Time to come out.

489
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,880
Oh! It's just divine.

490
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,440
I love the way it checks
everything out in slow motion.

491
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,840
Its perfect little hands and eyes.

492
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,400
Oh, my darling!

493
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:44,200
It's so nervous. Not surprised!

494
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,120
Hello.

495
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:53,000
Here he goes, here he goes.
That's it, good. Up the tree.

496
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,120
And then going for it.

497
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,040
I'm sorry, but this is one
of the most beautiful animals

498
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,040
I've ever seen.
I'm glad you realise.

499
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,840
I really do, it's so, so beautiful.

500
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,320
Kirindy is now just 3% of its
original size,

501
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,760
and Madame Berthe's mouse lemur
is just one of many species

502
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:17,600
that live only in this island
of isolated and shrinking forest.

503
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,040
This feels all too horribly like
it could be a last chance to see.

504
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,640
But there is a chance
for the mouse lemur,
and the other species of Kirindy.

505
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:33,680
The following morning,
we're on our way to Tsitakabasia.

506
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,680
This is 1 of 10 villages,
dotted through the forest,

507
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,920
and literally translates
as "Far from the stars".

508
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,240
Tsitakabasia is one of the
poorest communities in Madagascar,

509
00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:54,760
but the future of the forest
rests with these people.

510
00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:00,440
We're being brought by Richard Lewis
of the Durrell Wildlife
Conservation Trust,

511
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,520
a man who is bringing very
new ideas to a very old way of life.

512
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:13,840
Richard is working with the
people of the forest to establish
an extraordinary competition.

513
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,880
Each forest village has been given
a section of forest to conserve.

514
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,200
After one year, a survey
takes place, and the village

515
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,640
that's best conserved its piece
of forest wins a significant prize.

516
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,880
Today is the day of reckoning.

517
00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:39,880
So what exactly are
we doing here, Richard?

518
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,280
We look at all of the threats.

519
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:47,000
For example if we find tree stumps,
freshly-cut tree stumps,
if we find fires.

520
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,600
And then the positive
side, the biodiversity.

521
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:51,600
We're looking for birds, for lemurs.

522
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:54,400
When you say "we", you mean
the villagers. Oh, yeah.

523
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:56,000
With you from Durrell?

524
00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:02,240
The team walk a transect,
a straight line chosen at random,
marking down all the positive

525
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,360
and negative points they
encounter along the way.

526
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:11,520
Not an exhaustive survey,
but a good indication of
the health of the forest.

527
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:16,480
You can't say there were this many
animals in the forest, but you can
say there are more animals

528
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:20,520
than in another forest,
and there are more animals
this year than last year.

529
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:24,120
That's the important thing.
You do this every year,
same time every year.

530
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:28,440
Ecological monitoring
was always considered
a hard-scientific discipline.

531
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:30,480
You had to have
a bank of PhDs to do it.

532
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:35,760
And we thought "You know,
it's not rocket science,
counting birds in the forests".

533
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,000
It's our old friend, the sifaka.

534
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,560
It's lovely, isn't it?
That was very well spotted.

535
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,560
That's great.
It's a good sight, isn't it?

536
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,040
Isn't it amazing they saw it? I think
we'd have walked straight past.

537
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:55,400
A lot of these fruits, what
are they? I don't know if
that's relevant to a transect.

538
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,840
These are baobab fruits.
There must be a baobab somewhere.

539
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,800
We looked at Baobab Alley,
and there weren't any fruits
and flowers.

540
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:06,440
These are one of the species
of tree that we record
on the transects,

541
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,040
because they're
important for biodiversity.

542
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:13,480
It remains to be seen if
the people of Tsitakabasia
will win the competition.

543
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:18,720
But it's immediately clear
that the burning of trees in
this part of Kirindy has ended.

544
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:28,440
We're travelling east
to an isolated piece of rainforest,
and a naturalist's dream.

545
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,880
Mark has been making calls
to anyone who may be able
to lead him to an aye-aye,

546
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:37,000
and has heard that there have been
recent sightings close to Andasibe.

547
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:49,400
ANIMAL CALLS

548
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,520
What was that?
Did you hear something?

549
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,280
Hell of a row, what are they?

550
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,200
That was black and white
ruffed lemurs, which really
is black and white.

551
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:01,600
Amazing animal.
They come out in the day, so they're
sort of settling down for the night.

552
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,880
Change of shift for when
the aye-aye comes out.

553
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,240
Mucking around in the dormitory.

554
00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:12,000
But with Mr Carwardine in charge,
there'll be no dormitory for me.

555
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:19,480
Let's be honest, aye-ayes don't
make life easy for aye-aye hunters.

556
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,960
Not only are they endangered,
but they only appear in darkness,

557
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:28,360
and then prefer to stay in the tops
of trees. And there's another thing.

558
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,480
Mark has revealed that they also
have the widest range of any lemur,

559
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,520
each individual roaming up to
500 acres of dense forest.

560
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:41,120
So, just another 499
and three quarter acres
for us to search, then.

561
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,200
Nothing, absolutely nothing.

562
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:45,800
My torch is going.

563
00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:54,440
With another total fiasco under
our belts, a new day beckons.

564
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,720
Yeah, this is what
woke me up this morning.

565
00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:04,800
'Mark has arranged for us
to meet with Dr Rainer Dolch
and his guide, Joseph.

566
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:08,440
'I don't know what it was about
Joseph, but something told me

567
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:12,440
'we weren't the first team
from the BBC that he had led
into this forest.'

568
00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:18,640
This is such
a gorgeous forest, isn't it?

569
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,760
It's lovely, absolutely lovely.

570
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:24,400
It's just dripping with life.
And water, but life.

571
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,400
Look at all the moths and
flies that you have.

572
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,120
I know it's stunning.

573
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,400
It's paradise wood, really.

574
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:36,560
Rainer is fighting to protect
every inch of this
ancient fragment of forest,

575
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,320
not just for the wide-ranging
aye-ayes,

576
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,160
but also for another lemur that
needs a lot of space,

577
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,840
the biggest lemur of all,
the mighty Indri.

578
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:53,160
I'm terrified of putting my hand on
anything because I've been warned
there are leeches.

579
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,200
They hang under leaves
and things like that,

580
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,440
and they drop down on your neck.

581
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:02,640
They'll be up your trousers. That's
the thing to worry about. Oh, Lord.

582
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:06,200
Are you wearing pants? Oh, dear.

583
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:10,880
The Indri is not just
the biggest lemur,
but I'm told it's also the loudest.

584
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:16,640
Mark has instructed me to listen out
for a cry not unlike whale song.

585
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,520
PIERCING WAIL
That's it. Isn't it fantastic?

586
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,560
WAILING

587
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,160
Isn't it the most
extraordinary sound?

588
00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,520
You're so right about whale song.
It is very like it. It really is.

589
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,640
It's so eerie, otherworldly.

590
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,960
So what it is is, this will be
a male and a female calling
that we're hearing now,

591
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:51,960
and probably another one,
a youngster as well, so it's
literally like a family sing-song.

592
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,880
And there's some others calling
off in the distance, harder to hear.

593
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,880
They're all listening,
so they can tell where all
the different groups are,

594
00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:04,720
and it's a lot easier than going off
and scent-marking the territory.
It uses much less energy.

595
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:07,840
Yeah, why widdle when you can yodel?
Yeah, they're close.

596
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:09,920
Let's see if we can get
right up to them.

597
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:20,360
Just look for any sign of
movement, cos they leap.

598
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:22,480
And they're sort of black and white.

599
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:25,480
Yeah, they look a bit like
pandas gone wrong.

600
00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:31,560
That's a Channel Five
documentary - When Pandas Go Wrong.

601
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,400
Where are you looking?

602
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:36,680
(Look, look, look!)

603
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:38,720
There, right in the tree. Huge!

604
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:45,240
My heavens!

605
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:49,320
It really is a big lemur, isn't it?
It's wonderful. Oh.

606
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,000
Oh, nice jump. Where did it go?

607
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,720
Just to the left. Oh, yeah.

608
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,680
There's a great view of two.

609
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:58,280
Yes! Got them?

610
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,040
Absolutely.

611
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,040
Look at that..

612
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:05,240
LOUD WAILING

613
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:15,640
That's amazing. Unbelievable.
I thought a fire alarm had gone off.

614
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:20,160
I mean, you know the sound has to be
loud to travel across the forest,
but that's deafening.

615
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,360
We've been so lucky, because...ow.
God, that's sharp!

616
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,000
It's serrated, isn't it?

617
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:37,800
We've been so lucky to see
such a range.

618
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:42,240
We've got such an insight into what
variety there is here,

619
00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:46,040
from that tiny mouse lemur
to these huge animals.

620
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,440
Am I right in thinking that
when man first came to Madagascar,

621
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:54,560
there were also really giant lemurs,
bigger than mountain gorillas,
really huge ones?

622
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:59,920
There was an amazing selection.
15 or 16 species have become
extinct already since people arrived.

623
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:03,880
But you know, when Douglas and
I came, I remember there were

624
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,240
21 species of lemur known,
and now there's more than 80.

625
00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:10,280
And there's probably more
still to be discovered.

626
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,680
That's not because
they're doing well...

627
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,320
It's just because
they're discovering more.

628
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,400
What's scary is, they're being
discovered, new species,

629
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,760
and they're immediately going on
the endangered list.
That's the problem. Yeah.

630
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:27,880
And after all, we mustn't look at
people who live in these
countries with too sour an eye.

631
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,080
I mean, at the time of Shakespeare,
there were more bear pits

632
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:35,120
than there were theatres,
where they were tormenting
and torturing bears.

633
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,480
We British have been just as
stupid and cruel with our animals,

634
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,720
and we've, you know, made just as
much of a mess of our woodlands.

635
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:46,120
We've made all the
same mistakes before. Yeah.

636
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:13,120
Somewhere out there,
there are aye-ayes.

637
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,960
And we're still keen to see them.

638
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:21,800
But encountering the Indri,
one can't help but be aware that
such big and wide-ranging creatures

639
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:27,680
won't thrive isolated from others in
islands of forest, hemmed in by
paddy fields and farmland.

640
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,920
But Rainer Dolch has a solution.

641
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:36,800
Rainer's vision is vast.

642
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:44,160
He is leading a scheme to establish
nurseries that will literally
re-seed the rainforest.

643
00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:50,320
So your solution, if I've got
it right, is to grow to plant
corridors of living rainforest,

644
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,440
or living habitat through which they
can pass from one island to another.

645
00:46:54,440 --> 00:47:01,120
The real challenge of this big
project is to link forest patches
via corridors that we restore,

646
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:08,840
and so that's why in this area, we
are beginning to plant native trees
that we produce in our nurseries.

647
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,760
Can you really create a natural
rainforest by planting like this?

648
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,640
Well, this is a big question.
Of course you can't plant

649
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:18,000
all the trees that occur
in a natural forest,

650
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,600
but you can help the
forest to come back on its own.

651
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:26,720
So you have these 120 species,
and these are species that
we have chosen

652
00:47:26,720 --> 00:47:30,480
because they're
actually preferred by lemurs
and other seed dispersers.

653
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:33,000
How big is this corridor
that we're seeing?

654
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:36,840
In this particular area,
we would have to restore
about 3,000,000 trees

655
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:40,240
if you think that you're planting
a thousand trees per hectare.

656
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:43,560
If they planted 3,000 trees
a day every single day of the year,

657
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:48,320
that would be slightly over
a million in one year, so they
have to do that for three years.

658
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:50,240
That gives you an idea
of 3,000,000.

659
00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:53,000
And that's one corridor.
This is a vast undertaking.

660
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,400
And it's not just planting,
so actually restoration
of natural forest

661
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,880
is more than just digging
holes and putting a tree in it. Yes.

662
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:04,480
You're a youngish man,
Rainer, but will you live to see

663
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,760
these corridors as active places
where animals can pass through?

664
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,440
Well, I hope so. The whole project
is designed for 30 years,

665
00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:14,440
so after 30 years we hope
that these trees

666
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:19,640
would have grown to something that
is recognisable as a rainforest.

667
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:37,720
We receive news from the forest
of Kirindy, where Durrell was
running their competition.

668
00:48:37,720 --> 00:48:43,520
The results are in,
and the village has been victorious,
winning about £1,000,

669
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:48,840
and choosing to spend its windfall
on building a school, something the
village has never had in the past.

670
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:55,640
It has also made a commitment to
put special emphasis on teaching
about the forest environment.

671
00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:58,600
But for us, the real highlight
of our time in Madagascar

672
00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:02,600
was always going to be
an aye-aye encounter in the wild.

673
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,720
When Mark took a call from
Louise Marie, a self-styled
aye-aye tracker,

674
00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:43,000
claiming to know a tree
where aye-ayes had been
nesting very recently,

675
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:45,360
we knew we were in with a chance.

676
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:26,960
Do you know how many aye-ayes
are on the island?

677
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:28,960
There is four aye-aye living.

678
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:32,920
Only four? Only four. That's why
I hope that we are lucky tonight.

679
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:34,480
We'd have to be lucky.

680
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:38,640
And they sleep in the tree
during the day? Of course.

681
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:40,560
In the trees, in the nest.

682
00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:42,880
They have a nest?
Yeah, they have a nest.

683
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:46,760
So do they have favourite trees
that you know on the island?

684
00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:53,160
Cos there are so many trees
here, our chances of finding
one of four aye-aye's is quite small.

685
00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:54,760
Even on a small island.

686
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:56,640
Even on a small island, yeah.

687
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:58,920
How will you do it? What's the trick?

688
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:03,560
Favourite place of aye-aye is the
coconut... Oh, they like coconuts?

689
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:07,040
They like coconuts. Can they open
them? Do they use their teeth?

690
00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:09,240
Ah, yeah, good question.

691
00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:10,760
Thank you!

692
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:12,760
Interesting question.

693
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:18,320
My first good question
of the entire series.

694
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:21,000
'Dizzied by the
brilliance of my question,

695
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,600
'the answer is a blur of razor-sharp
teeth and strength of jaw.

696
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:28,440
'I'm beginning to think Louise
sees the aye-aye

697
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,640
'as more like a miniature
cornered tiger than a benign lemur'.

698
00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:34,960
It's very dangerous, don't touch.

699
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:40,000
No, I won't touch. I can see
all the coconut shells. Yeah.

700
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,960
I show you later.
I can show you later.

701
00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:52,520
So from here, look up.

702
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:55,080
That's what we have to do,
look up? Yeah.

703
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:57,320
This kind of place,
you might see one?

704
00:51:57,320 --> 00:52:01,920
Is that the nest up there?
Yeah. Those are dry leaves.

705
00:52:03,240 --> 00:52:07,280
That's quite a big nest. 
That's aye-aye nest.

706
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:12,080
So how recently... We found aye-aye
from this nest last night.

707
00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:14,560
Last night?
So this is quite recent. That's good.

708
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:18,360
Do they stay in the same nest every
night for a week or a few days?

709
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:23,080
No, no, they change every
four days, normally. Right.

710
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:28,160
So, all we can do is wait for dark

711
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:32,800
and hope the aye-aye
hasn't moved on since last night.

712
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,240
Oh, snake. Snake on a stick.

713
00:53:00,560 --> 00:53:05,200
Amazing what they can come up with to
pass the time waiting for aye-ayes.

714
00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:07,120
Yeah.

715
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:14,680
What about this
sort of thing you get in
The Jungle Book and various other...

716
00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:16,920
Is this your main
source of information?

717
00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:23,480
As it should be. Literature is the
only access to truth we have on this
planet, Mark, you should know that,

718
00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:27,080
and there's this idea that snakes
hypnotise their foe.

719
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:28,960
Oh, yeah, stand in front of it...

720
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:34,120
Not literally hypnotise, obviously,
but actually they somehow
cause them to freeze.

721
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:36,320
No, not true. No.

722
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:45,520
As the sun sinks below the horizon,
all eyes are trained on a palm tree

723
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:48,600
that may or may not
contain an aye-aye.

724
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:54,040
I'm starting to wonder if this
is the closest we'll ever come

725
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,720
to a sighting and Mark's
long-awaited photograph.

726
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:10,280
Suddenly, Louise claims
to see movement in the branches.

727
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:13,000
Here. Yeah.

728
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:16,480
I must confess I didn't, but it
seems rude not to make the effort.

729
00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:18,000
There.

730
00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:22,600
Then we see it.

731
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:25,160
Not much of it, admittedly,
but we see it.

732
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:29,360
A real, live aye-aye in the wild.

733
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:32,080
Is it walking back over here?

734
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:34,760
On the branch.

735
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:36,920
Can you see it? Yeah, yeah.

736
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,280
Are you all right?
Yeah. Oh, my goodness.

737
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:46,840
That was very professional,
if I may say so. Thank you.

738
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:49,520
There we are.

739
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:53,760
Beside the branch. It's difficult
to see from here.

740
00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:54,960
He's making fun of us.

741
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:02,280
Yes!
Look at that, right out in the open.

742
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:07,440
Wow. One of the rarest and most
unusual animals in the world.

743
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:10,000
He's hanging upside down like a bat.

744
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,240
I know, they do that. When they come
out from sleeping all day,

745
00:55:13,240 --> 00:55:16,880
they hang upside down and groom
before it goes off
and starts to feed.

746
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:21,200
We've literally caught him
just as he's woken up. We did it.

747
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:23,160
We've seen them in the wild.

748
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:25,680
Unbelievable.
I really didn't think we would.

749
00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:29,520
That is so fantastic. It's
literally just come out of its nest.

750
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:32,080
So this is the
morning ritual, as it were.

751
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:36,240
Yeah, just getting ready.
Shaving and showering,

752
00:55:36,240 --> 00:55:39,720
and then it'll go off and feed.

753
00:55:39,720 --> 00:55:43,440
And we might even see it
eat a coconut, or at least...

754
00:55:43,440 --> 00:55:44,960
Well, I hope so.

755
00:55:48,560 --> 00:55:50,600
Can't believe it. That is so lucky.

756
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:54,000
And then a real surprise we
could never have hoped for.

757
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:55,920
There are two!

758
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:58,520
Oh, my... Look at that.

759
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:02,160
That's half the
population of this island.

760
00:56:02,160 --> 00:56:04,480
We're so lucky. My goodness.

761
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,880
Look, it's actually tapping the
coconut with its middle finger.

762
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:11,080
You can actually see.

763
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:13,960
It's tapping the side of
the coconut

764
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:17,480
to see how much milk or water
is inside there.

765
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:24,080
And if there's enough,
it'll actually gnaw a hole and
then start getting the flesh.

766
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:27,040
It's gone behind. Let's go round.
OK.

767
00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:32,520
'And at last, a chance for the shot
Mark has waited for for 20 years'.

768
00:56:32,520 --> 00:56:34,600
Look, it's moving down the frond.

769
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:36,280
Oh, yeah.

770
00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:38,680
That's it. Come on.

771
00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:40,680
He's moving again.

772
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:42,600
Damn.

773
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:44,920
Damn, damn, that
would have been superb.

774
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:48,920
Look, he's starting
to eat the coconut.

775
00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:51,440
It's not looking
in the right direction.

776
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:52,760
Come on...

777
00:56:52,760 --> 00:56:56,080
CAMERA CLICKS
No, that was rubbish.

778
00:56:56,080 --> 00:56:58,760
That's hopeless.

779
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:01,320
Come on.

780
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:03,280
CAMERA CLICKS
Yes! Did you get it?

781
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:04,800
No!

782
00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:07,520
Very coy.

783
00:57:08,880 --> 00:57:10,400
Yes.

784
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:13,720
That was it. You can see the fingers.
And those bat ears.

785
00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:16,080
Aye-aye mission accomplished.

786
00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:17,720
He's on to one of these.

787
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:20,840
What are these trees?
Was it in a lychee tree?

788
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:25,040
We've spent three weeks on islands.

789
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:27,520
I'm struck that it was this
island of Madagascar

790
00:57:27,520 --> 00:57:31,360
that allowed such
a peculiar creature to evolve
in the first place,

791
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:36,880
and it is shrinking islands
of forest that threaten to wipe it
from the face of the earth for ever.

792
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:42,480
The aye-aye may not be the most
appealing creature on the planet.

793
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:46,280
But one thing's for sure.
There's nothing else anywhere
quite like it.

794
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:49,640
That's incredible.

795
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:55,320
The aye-aye is beguiling,
certainly bizarre, for some
even a little revolting,

796
00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:58,520
and I say long may it
continue being so.

797
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,440
In the next episode,
we'll be exploring the animals

798
00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:18,200
that inhabit the margins
between sea and land

799
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:21,040
around the islands of
Malaysia and Indonesia,

800
00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:25,280
getting up close and personal with
sea snakes, sea horses, baby turtles

801
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:30,000
and the largest venomous animal
in the world, the Komodo dragon.

802
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:51,960
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

803
00:58:51,960 --> 00:58:55,000
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk