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South America is a continent of extremes.

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It has the world's longest mountain
range... the Andes.

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In Amazonia, it has the mightiest river

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and the greatest expanse of rainforest
on the planet.

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And the driest desert on earth

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the Atacama, lies beside one of
the world's richest seas.

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South America also contains
incredible variety.

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Almost no other continent can boast
such a wealth of wildlife

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living in such a range of
different landscapes.

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Almost everywhere you go

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there's an extraordinary
diversity of life.

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But how did all these unique worlds
come about?

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To understand the natural history
of South America

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we must go back in time
back to the age of the dinosaurs.

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South America was then part of Gondwana

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a massive continent

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that also included what are now Africa
Australia, India and Antarctica.

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This was a world dominated by reptiles.

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Descendants of those ancient creatures
still live in South America today.

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And the forests of southern Chile
still have plants

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that the dinosaurs would have recognised

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tree ferns
and the bizarre monkey puzzle tree.

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Then, a new group of animals appeared
animals like this.

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The early mammals were small

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and many were marsupials
like this shrew opossum.

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It lives in the cold
damp forests of southern Chile

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where it hunts for insects
and earthworms.

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The shrew opossum shares
these ancient forests

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with this other small marsupial.

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Local people call it
the 'monito del monte'

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or 'monkey of the mountains'.

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It's so tiny you could hold it
in the palm of your hand.

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It too eats insects
but also has a taste for fruit.

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When we think of mammals with a pouch

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it's perhaps Australia with its kangaroos
that comes to mind.

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But South America also has over
eighty species of marsupial

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a legacy of the time

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when the two continents
were joined together.

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Around a hundred million years ago

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the giant continent of Gondwana
slowly split apart.

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South America became an enormous island

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cut off from the rest of the world.

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The next chapter in South America's
history was violent and prolonged.

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It changed the face
of the continent for ever.

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Starting some eighty million years ago

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the island was convulsed by a series
of massive volcanic eruptions

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that continue today.

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Forced up by movements
deep in the earth's crust

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a huge chain of mountains arose

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spanning the length of the continent
The Andes.

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Running over five thousand miles

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this is the longest mountain
chain on earth.

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At its northern end
tropical cloudforest covers the slopes

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yet its peaks are so high

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that even on the equator
they carry permanent snow and ice.

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In the central Andes

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there's a high
dry desert the altiplano.

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As you travel further south

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the mountains are lower

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but they're that much closer
to the Antarctic.

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In the far south

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the Patagonian ice sheets
are the largest

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expanse of ice
outside the polar regions.

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They cover more
than seven thousand square miles

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and their glaciers
flow all the way to the sea.

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But even here

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in the shadow of the ice
animals survive.

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In the shadow of the Patagonian icecap

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animals must survive ferocious winds
and winters of heavy snow.

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Only the hardiest animals
can live here

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like guanacos South American
relatives of the camel

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and foxes.

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Even for them

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surviving the winter is a challenge

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Patagonia may be severe

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but it's not the most extreme part
of the Andes.

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That's back in the heart of the range

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an oxygen-starved plateau more
than four thousand metres high.

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Here, in the Altiplano

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meltwater from the surrounding peaks
evaporates in huge salt lakes.

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Frozen by night and baked by day

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these caustic saltflats must be

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one of the most inhospitable places
on earth.

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This is Salar Uyuni
in the Bolivian Andes.

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Covering four
and a half thousand square miles

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it's the largest expanse of
salt on the planet.

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Incredibly, islands in this sea of
salt actually support life.

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Viscachas.

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These rabbit-sized rodents have to contend
with thin air, bitter cold,

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and an almost total lack of water.

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They get just enough moisture to survive
from their food.

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Thick fur keeps them warm

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and extra red blood cells help to
absorb sufficient oxygen.

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The thin air's a problem
for this hummingbird too.

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To conserve energy when it's feeding
it has to perch, rather than hover.

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The high altiplano may seem hostile

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but some animals actually
choose to come here.

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Flamingos come here to breed

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because these caustic waters
are full of their favourite food.

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They display to each other
with a massed courtship dance.

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The rise of the Andes created

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whole new environments
within the mountains

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but it also had
more far-reaching effects.

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This great barrier changed
the climate of South America.

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It also re-drew the map of
the entire continent

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radically altering the course of
its major rivers.

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The Iguazu Falls are one of the wonders
of the world.

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Four times as wide as Niagara

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they carry sixty thousand tons
of water a second.

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Part of Amazonia was once a huge swamp

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connected to the Pacific
and the Caribbean.

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The rise of the Andes broke those links

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forcing the major rivers to flow east.

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One massive river now drains forty percent
of South America... the Amazon.

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This is the mightiest river on earth.

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Running over four thousand miles
from the Andes to the ocean

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it carries a fifth of all the
river water on the planet.

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A thousand miles
before it reaches the sea

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its main channel is already
ten miles wide.

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Every year the mighty Amazon
bursts its banks

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flooding an area of forest
the size of England.

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At the height of the flood

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the trees can stand in water
ten metres deep.

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The floodwaters bring
with them the animals of the river

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like boto dolphins.

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Their origins are a mystery.

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Could they be a relic of Amazonia's
ancient links with the oceans?

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These river dolphins are almost blind

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no handicap in water
that's often very muddy

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because they navigate by echolocation.

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Unlike marine dolphins
they have a flexible neck

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so by sweeping their head

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from side to side
they can scan their path ahead.

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Their sonar is so precise
that they can weave their way

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through a maze of submerged branches
in search of fish.

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Whisker-like bristles on their lips
help them zero in on their target.

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The botos' origins may be mysterious

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but some of the Amazon's fish certainly
have a marine ancestry

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like stingrays.

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Their nearest living relatives
are in the Caribbean.

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The Amazon has over
three thousand kinds of fish.

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This is the pirarucu
the world's largest fresh water fish.

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And these are the most notorious...
piranhas.

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The variety of life in these waters
is extraordinary...

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and with so many fish
there are bound to be fish hunters.

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In this water world

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Caiman are the top of
the food chain...

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the aquatic equivalent of the jaguar.

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Red-bellied piranhas are
predators themselves

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but to a caiman
they're just another mouthful.

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The Amazon river and its tributaries

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drain the largest expanse of
tropical rainforest on earth.

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Stretching almost unbroken
from the Andes to the Atlantic

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the Amazon jungle
has a greater variety of life

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than any other forest on the planet.

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In just over two square miles of forest

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scientists have counted
three thousand varieties of plants

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five hundred and thirty kinds of birds

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and eleven different species of monkeys.

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There are countless reptiles
amphibians and insects.

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Six hundred and fifty species of beetle

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and eighty kinds of ant have been found
on a single tree.

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Scientists disagree about the reasons
for this diversity

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but in almost every group of animals

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the number of different species
is extraordinary.

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Because there are so many species

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most of them have to specialise.

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Pygmy marmosets are
the world's smallest monkey.

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They live on the sap of
just a few kinds of tree

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gouging the bark with special teeth
to release its flow.

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They're just one of
over thirty species of marmoset

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and tamarin in the Amazon basin

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a group of monkeys unique to the
lowland rainforests of South America.

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Like these tassel-eared marmosets
most live in family groups.

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A breeding female lives with one
or more adult males

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and several youngsters.

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Females typically
give birth to twins

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and unusually among monkeys

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it's the father
who's left holding the babies.

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Tassel-eared marmosets
are opportunists.

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As well as gum, they eat insects
fruit, birds' eggs

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small snakes and lizards...

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almost anything
they can get their hands on.

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The youngsters must develop fast

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if they're to survive in the dangerous

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and competitive world of the rainforest.

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Amazonia lies on the eastern
side of the Andes

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and here torrential tropical
rains water the prolific jungle.

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But the mountains block
the moisture-bearing winds

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so some of the western side receives
almost no rain.

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Here lies the world's driest desert...
the Atacama.

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The Atacama can go for years
with literally no rain at all.

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It's hard to imagine
how anything could survive here.

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And yet it does.

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Guanacos.

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These South American camels can
tolerate extremes of heat and cold.

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A desert might seem a better place
for a camel

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than the snows of Patagonia

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but the Atacama is a challenge
even for them.

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Daytime temperatures
can rise to forty degrees.

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Their only relief is a dry dustbath.

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But what can they live on?

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With hardly any water here
how could plants possibly grow?

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This is the key to survival in the Atacama
the Pacific Ocean.

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The desert is a narrow strip
between the mountains and the sea.

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Moist air over the water is chilled

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by a cold ocean current just offshore

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so every day

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a blanket of fog rolls
in from the Pacific.

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The fog is almost the only source
of water in the desert.

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Moisture condenses on the cactus spines
enough for lichen to grow.

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And every morning

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the lichen is covered
with the precious droplets of water.

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This water provides a life-giving drink

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for the few hardy inhabitants of
the Atacama

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like diuca finches.

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The guanacos obtain moisture
by eating the lichen

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delicately extracting it

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from between the cactus spines
with their soft, sensitive lips.

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They also eat the flowers
of a parasitic plant

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that grows on the cactus.

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Called quintral
it's sweet and full of nectar.

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Guanacos
and everything else in this desert

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are living on the edge.

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Without the moisture
from the early morning fog

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life in the Atacama
would be almost impossible.

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As you travel South

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the prevailing weather
comes from the opposite direction

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so the eastern side
of the continent is dry.

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But here lack of water
is not the most extreme problem

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it's the wind.

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This is the land of the Roaring Forties

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ferocious winds that batter
the dry grassy steppes of Patagonia.

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Anything that lives here has to contend
with almost incessant gales.

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These are maras
large rodents unique to South America.

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Adult maras live and give
birth to their young in the open

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but they rear them in
an underground burrow

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sheltered from the cold winds
and predators like foxes.

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Mara territories overlap

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so often several pairs share a burrow.

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00:26:10,470 --> 00:26:13,303
These warrens act as a community creche.

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The parents can leave their young
to go and feed

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but there's always someone
to keep an eye on them.

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The nursery can have twenty
or thirty young.

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Sometimes hungry infants try to suckle
from the 'baby-sitter'.

246
00:26:30,590 --> 00:26:32,023
She tries to drive them off

247
00:26:32,158 --> 00:26:35,321
but they can steal a tenth
of their milk this way.

248
00:26:43,670 --> 00:26:45,160
In windswept Patagonia

249
00:26:45,305 --> 00:26:48,763
a hole in the ground counts
as prime real estate

250
00:26:48,908 --> 00:26:51,240
and it's a magnet for squatters.

251
00:26:53,346 --> 00:26:56,679
Here even the birds nest underground.

252
00:27:02,288 --> 00:27:04,449
As soon as the maras backs are turned

253
00:27:04,591 --> 00:27:07,389
burrowing owls try to
take over their home.

254
00:27:15,101 --> 00:27:17,467
Could this be the moment to move in?

255
00:27:33,419 --> 00:27:35,046
But they're soon spotted.

256
00:28:22,635 --> 00:28:24,967
This time, the squatters are evicted.

257
00:28:25,104 --> 00:28:26,969
The maras keep their burrow.

258
00:28:33,513 --> 00:28:34,411
In Patagonia

259
00:28:34,547 --> 00:28:38,779
burrowing owls aren't the only birds
that nest underground.

260
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,010
With no trees to nest in

261
00:28:42,155 --> 00:28:46,216
burrowing parrots excavate holes
in a sandstone cliff.

262
00:28:59,505 --> 00:29:03,032
There can be over fifty thousand birds
in these colonies.

263
00:29:03,943 --> 00:29:05,570
This is one of the few places on earth

264
00:29:05,712 --> 00:29:08,078
where parrots nest by the seaside.

265
00:29:18,725 --> 00:29:22,752
The diversity of South American wildlife
doesn't end at the coastline.

266
00:29:24,130 --> 00:29:28,032
The seas that surround the continent
are some of the richest in the world.

267
00:29:43,483 --> 00:29:48,386
Upwellings of cold, nutrient-rich water
feed huge shoals of fish...

268
00:29:49,155 --> 00:29:52,750
food in turn for seabirds
and marine mammals.

269
00:30:21,888 --> 00:30:25,051
The sheer numbers of fish here
are astounding.

270
00:30:25,692 --> 00:30:29,492
A single shoal of anchovies can be
hundreds of thousands strong.

271
00:30:31,664 --> 00:30:37,569
These huge concentrations inevitably
attract predators... dusky dolphins.

272
00:30:40,740 --> 00:30:44,870
The dolphins' migrations are synchronised
with the anchovies' movements.

273
00:30:52,552 --> 00:30:56,488
For the defenceless anchovies
there seems to be safety in numbers.

274
00:30:56,856 --> 00:30:57,754
When they come under attack

275
00:30:57,890 --> 00:30:59,482
they bunch more tightly together...

276
00:30:59,625 --> 00:31:03,686
to form a dizzying ball of
swirling fins and scales.

277
00:31:06,599 --> 00:31:10,865
The dolphins find it harder to target
any single fish in this dense mass

278
00:31:11,003 --> 00:31:13,062
so they try to break up the shoal...

279
00:31:13,206 --> 00:31:14,537
by swimming through it.

280
00:31:23,583 --> 00:31:25,107
Once the shoal has been split

281
00:31:25,251 --> 00:31:26,809
the dolphins confuse the fish

282
00:31:27,019 --> 00:31:30,045
and scatter them even more
by blowing bubbles...

283
00:31:30,189 --> 00:31:34,125
and by emitting high frequency sounds
that stun them.

284
00:31:43,469 --> 00:31:44,993
This drives them to the surface

285
00:31:45,138 --> 00:31:48,266
where they become easy prey
for seabirds too.

286
00:31:55,648 --> 00:31:56,808
Attracted by the disturbance

287
00:31:56,949 --> 00:32:01,409
yet more hunters join the attack...
southern sealions.

288
00:32:18,838 --> 00:32:20,328
Under assault from all sides

289
00:32:20,473 --> 00:32:23,442
the fish are now totally disoriented.

290
00:32:23,843 --> 00:32:26,334
Trapped at the centre of
this feeding frenzy

291
00:32:26,479 --> 00:32:27,639
they don't stand a chance.

292
00:32:54,874 --> 00:32:58,275
Magellanic penguins mop up
the last survivors.

293
00:33:04,050 --> 00:33:08,009
At the end, all that's left
are tiny fish scales...

294
00:33:08,621 --> 00:33:11,146
drifting down into the deep.

295
00:33:16,062 --> 00:33:20,658
For almost a hundred million years
South America was an island.

296
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,200
Its animals evolved in isolation

297
00:33:23,336 --> 00:33:26,772
cut off from the rest of the world
by the surrounding sea.

298
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:29,432
But around three million years ago

299
00:33:29,575 --> 00:33:31,839
the same kind of movements of
the earth's crust

300
00:33:32,011 --> 00:33:37,449
that built the Andes raised a land bridge
joining North and South America.

301
00:33:39,018 --> 00:33:42,317
Animals could now pass easily
between the continents.

302
00:33:42,588 --> 00:33:45,989
The impact on South America
was profound.

303
00:33:59,772 --> 00:34:04,539
Among the first mammals to arrive
were these... coatis.

304
00:34:04,977 --> 00:34:07,036
Relatives of the North American racoons

305
00:34:07,179 --> 00:34:10,945
they're active, agile
intelligent and adaptable.

306
00:34:16,789 --> 00:34:20,316
They quickly colonised this land
of new opportunities.

307
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,996
Today they're found as far south
as Argentina.

308
00:34:33,506 --> 00:34:37,738
These early invaders soon made
South America's forests their own.

309
00:34:41,581 --> 00:34:44,516
For the continent's original inhabitants
like the sloth

310
00:34:44,650 --> 00:34:46,982
life would never be the same again.

311
00:34:48,254 --> 00:34:52,020
These brash newcomers
were just so fast.

312
00:34:54,527 --> 00:34:58,088
Sloths are lethargic by nature
as well as by name.

313
00:34:58,264 --> 00:35:01,927
They have a low body temperature
and very slow metabolism.

314
00:35:11,577 --> 00:35:15,479
Sloths have hung on by doing
one thing supremely well

315
00:35:15,615 --> 00:35:17,947
eating and digesting leaves.

316
00:35:23,789 --> 00:35:26,189
Coatis succeed
because they're opportunists

317
00:35:26,325 --> 00:35:28,953
quick to seek out any new snack.

318
00:35:29,395 --> 00:35:32,159
They leave sloths behind
at the starting line.

319
00:35:35,801 --> 00:35:38,292
They're social animals
living in bands of up

320
00:35:38,437 --> 00:35:40,564
to twenty females and their youngsters.

321
00:35:41,007 --> 00:35:43,237
And they're omnivorous eating fruit

322
00:35:43,376 --> 00:35:47,335
insects, spiders, slugs, fish, snakes
birds and mammals...

323
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:49,277
almost anything they can find.

324
00:35:58,257 --> 00:36:00,384
A flexible nose
and a good sense of smell

325
00:36:00,526 --> 00:36:03,256
help them sniff out the slightest chance
of a meal.

326
00:36:19,078 --> 00:36:23,412
These early colonists were soon followed
by others larger

327
00:36:23,549 --> 00:36:27,383
and more deadly
like the jaguar.

328
00:36:30,089 --> 00:36:35,425
South America had large carnivores
before cat and dog-like marsupials.

329
00:36:35,761 --> 00:36:39,595
But many had already died out
before the newcomers got here.

330
00:36:51,243 --> 00:36:53,768
Coatis may have had it easy
when they first arrived

331
00:36:53,913 --> 00:36:57,508
but once large hunters followed
life became tougher.

332
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,674
On the whole, the invaders
were very successful.

333
00:37:30,816 --> 00:37:33,580
Some may have out-competed
the original inhabitants

334
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:35,346
others may have eaten them

335
00:37:35,488 --> 00:37:38,355
but many of the new animals simply
moved into spaces

336
00:37:38,491 --> 00:37:40,015
that were already empty.

337
00:37:40,392 --> 00:37:43,418
Today, almost half of
South America's mammal families

338
00:37:43,562 --> 00:37:45,792
are North American in origin.

339
00:37:49,368 --> 00:37:51,768
Eventually the immigrants
in this new found land

340
00:37:51,904 --> 00:37:54,566
spread to all corners
of the continent.

341
00:38:06,118 --> 00:38:08,484
As the invaders adapted to
their new surroundings

342
00:38:08,621 --> 00:38:10,987
some evolved into new forms.

343
00:38:14,393 --> 00:38:20,093
A simple, dog-like ancestor gave
rise to this the maned wolf.

344
00:38:22,368 --> 00:38:23,801
Like a fox on stilts

345
00:38:23,969 --> 00:38:28,565
this long-legged predator hunts
the grassy plains of southern Brazil.

346
00:38:28,774 --> 00:38:32,972
It eats small animals and must
travel far to find enough to eat.

347
00:38:40,986 --> 00:38:44,786
The great plains are one of South America's
most ancient landscapes.

348
00:38:45,491 --> 00:38:47,015
Throughout the continent's history

349
00:38:47,159 --> 00:38:49,684
they've remained relatively unchanged.

350
00:38:50,062 --> 00:38:55,125
Today they have a strange mixture
of animals the old and the new.

351
00:39:00,406 --> 00:39:03,773
Deer are relatively recent arrivals
from North America.

352
00:39:03,943 --> 00:39:05,808
On the plains they rub shoulders
with animals

353
00:39:05,945 --> 00:39:10,541
that have been here
for tens of millions of years...

354
00:39:13,319 --> 00:39:14,343
Like the rhea

355
00:39:14,486 --> 00:39:17,216
South America's equivalent
of the ostrich.

356
00:39:30,736 --> 00:39:34,137
If the maned wolf is one of the most
recent animals on the plains

357
00:39:34,273 --> 00:39:36,605
this is one of the oldest

358
00:39:38,244 --> 00:39:39,939
The giant anteater.

359
00:39:41,747 --> 00:39:44,375
It's one of the most specialised
insect-eaters on earth

360
00:39:44,516 --> 00:39:48,418
and that bizarre snout is one of
its secret weapons.

361
00:39:53,125 --> 00:39:55,719
The snout houses a long sticky tongue

362
00:39:55,861 --> 00:39:58,591
ideal for delving into termite mounds.

363
00:39:58,998 --> 00:40:01,091
But first you've got to break in.

364
00:40:03,736 --> 00:40:06,227
Termite mounds can be almost
as hard as concrete

365
00:40:06,372 --> 00:40:09,637
so you also need a set of
very powerful claws.

366
00:40:18,784 --> 00:40:21,582
The giant anteater is one of
the few surviving members

367
00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:22,744
of a group of animals

368
00:40:22,888 --> 00:40:26,380
that has lived in South America
for over fifty million years.

369
00:40:31,530 --> 00:40:35,193
This is another one, the armadillo.

370
00:40:35,768 --> 00:40:38,396
Armadillos and
anteaters survived the invasion

371
00:40:38,537 --> 00:40:42,098
because they specialise in food
the invaders can't tackle.

372
00:40:42,541 --> 00:40:45,339
They eat mostly ants and termites.

373
00:40:46,679 --> 00:40:50,638
The maned wolf doesn't compete
with them because it prefers mice.

374
00:40:58,390 --> 00:41:00,449
But catching them isn't easy.

375
00:41:24,450 --> 00:41:27,977
All that effort
for just one tiny mouthful.

376
00:41:33,058 --> 00:41:34,787
The animals of today's South America

377
00:41:34,927 --> 00:41:39,455
are a pale shadow of what was once
here two ton armadillos

378
00:41:39,598 --> 00:41:42,362
flesh-eating birds three metres tall

379
00:41:42,501 --> 00:41:45,800
a giant ground-living sloth
the size of an elephant.

380
00:41:48,707 --> 00:41:52,575
The ground sloth disappeared less
than ten thousand years ago.

381
00:41:52,711 --> 00:41:55,544
What drove these giants to extinction?

382
00:41:59,418 --> 00:42:02,615
Long after the land bridge linked
North and South America

383
00:42:02,755 --> 00:42:05,553
there was one last great invasion

384
00:42:05,691 --> 00:42:07,784
the most far-reaching of all.

385
00:42:23,542 --> 00:42:26,602
No one knows exactly
when the first people arrived

386
00:42:26,745 --> 00:42:29,873
or even how they came
by boat along the coast

387
00:42:30,015 --> 00:42:32,245
or overland from North America.

388
00:42:41,627 --> 00:42:45,393
We do know they've been here
for at least twelve thousand years

389
00:42:45,631 --> 00:42:48,794
and they soon penetrated
every part of the continent

390
00:42:48,934 --> 00:42:52,768
from the sea coast to the high peaks
of the Andes.

391
00:42:59,611 --> 00:43:01,943
The first hunter-gatherers
may have hastened

392
00:43:02,047 --> 00:43:04,572
the extinction of creatures
like the giant sloth

393
00:43:04,783 --> 00:43:07,684
but they made little direct
impact on the landscape.

394
00:43:18,730 --> 00:43:20,960
But the development of
settled agriculture

395
00:43:21,100 --> 00:43:24,092
eventually changed
the face of South America.

396
00:43:31,410 --> 00:43:33,275
Elaborate civilisations flourished

397
00:43:33,412 --> 00:43:36,142
in the most remote corners
of the mountains.

398
00:43:37,649 --> 00:43:41,881
Their last monuments can still
be seen high in the Andes

399
00:43:42,020 --> 00:43:46,684
in the ruins of the legendary Inca city
of Machu Picchu.

400
00:44:07,045 --> 00:44:09,445
People even changed the animals.

401
00:44:09,681 --> 00:44:11,478
Around seven thousand years ago

402
00:44:11,617 --> 00:44:14,245
they domesticated wild relatives
of the guanaco

403
00:44:14,386 --> 00:44:16,980
to produce Ilamas and alpacas.

404
00:44:18,991 --> 00:44:21,858
As sources of meat and wool
and beasts of burden

405
00:44:21,994 --> 00:44:24,986
these were the key to survival
in the high Andes.

406
00:44:30,269 --> 00:44:32,396
These domestic animals
are still important

407
00:44:32,538 --> 00:44:35,029
to the people of the altiplano today

408
00:44:35,174 --> 00:44:37,005
and are an integral
part of their culture.

409
00:44:43,682 --> 00:44:46,310
By selectively breeding
from their wild ancestors

410
00:44:46,451 --> 00:44:48,976
the mountain people have
developed different aspects

411
00:44:49,087 --> 00:44:51,487
of the animals to suit different needs.

412
00:44:53,792 --> 00:44:56,317
Llamas are better pack animals
and have good meat

413
00:44:56,461 --> 00:44:59,988
whereas alpacas are more valued
for their dense wool.

414
00:45:08,674 --> 00:45:10,767
Llama fairs, and even races

415
00:45:10,976 --> 00:45:13,444
are a high point
on the local calendar.

416
00:45:13,579 --> 00:45:15,979
And they're more than
just an excuse for a party.

417
00:45:23,722 --> 00:45:25,053
The animals carry weights

418
00:45:25,190 --> 00:45:26,987
so the race is a test of stamina

419
00:45:27,125 --> 00:45:30,288
especially at this high altitude.

420
00:45:53,018 --> 00:45:55,851
Traditional cultures have survived
in places like this

421
00:45:56,021 --> 00:45:59,115
because they are so isolated
from the outside world.

422
00:46:28,620 --> 00:46:30,349
Wildlife too survives

423
00:46:30,489 --> 00:46:34,186
because much of the continent remains
isolated and remote.

424
00:46:37,863 --> 00:46:41,299
People may have irretrievably changed
parts of South America

425
00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:43,463
but it's a vast continent

426
00:46:43,602 --> 00:46:46,537
and much of it is too extreme
for people to settle.

427
00:46:50,742 --> 00:46:55,236
So it still retains huge areas of
stunning wild landscapes.

428
00:46:55,514 --> 00:46:59,712
For sheer variety it's
without rival anywhere on earth.

429
00:47:35,620 --> 00:47:37,645
South America's natural landscapes

430
00:47:37,789 --> 00:47:42,590
and their wildlife owe their existence
to the continent's unique history.

431
00:47:43,295 --> 00:47:46,321
They're the latest spectacular chapter
in a story

432
00:47:46,465 --> 00:47:50,424
that has been unfolding
for over a hundred million years.