1 00:00:45,380 --> 00:00:48,577 This is the green heart of South America 2 00:00:48,716 --> 00:00:51,947 the largest expanse of rainforest on the planet. 3 00:00:58,993 --> 00:01:02,622 For sheer exuberance of life it's unrivalled. 4 00:01:10,738 --> 00:01:15,505 Nowhere else on earth can you find so many different plants and animals. 5 00:01:25,486 --> 00:01:26,976 With such infinite variety 6 00:01:27,121 --> 00:01:29,715 you might think that living here was easy. 7 00:01:29,857 --> 00:01:31,051 But you'd be wrong 8 00:01:31,859 --> 00:01:32,985 very wrong. 9 00:01:36,731 --> 00:01:41,225 Few places are as hard to survive in as the Amazon jungle. 10 00:01:51,479 --> 00:01:53,709 Despite decades of deforestation 11 00:01:53,848 --> 00:01:57,443 an ocean of trees still stretches almost unbroken 12 00:01:57,585 --> 00:02:00,679 from the Atlantic to the foothills of the Andes. 13 00:02:01,222 --> 00:02:06,182 You can fly over it for hours and see no trace of human activity. 14 00:02:17,372 --> 00:02:19,033 People do live in the forest 15 00:02:19,173 --> 00:02:22,870 but their numbers are tiny as low as in a desert. 16 00:02:23,011 --> 00:02:25,479 For this is no tropical paradise. 17 00:02:25,613 --> 00:02:28,878 In fact, the image of abundance is an illusion. 18 00:02:30,051 --> 00:02:31,780 There may seem to be plenty to eat 19 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,047 but taking advantage of it can be an enormous challenge 20 00:02:35,189 --> 00:02:36,816 and not just for people. 21 00:02:50,104 --> 00:02:55,098 Anything that lives here must be supremely adapted to its chosen way of life. 22 00:03:04,686 --> 00:03:07,484 Woolly monkeys live in the high canopy. 23 00:03:08,423 --> 00:03:12,951 When you're moving through the treetops five limbs are better than four. 24 00:03:14,362 --> 00:03:18,298 A grasping, prehensile tail acts as an extra arm 25 00:03:18,433 --> 00:03:19,957 or a bridge for a baby. 26 00:03:23,304 --> 00:03:26,740 And hanging by their tails leaves their hands free to gather food 27 00:03:26,874 --> 00:03:29,468 from places otherwise hard to reach. 28 00:03:33,648 --> 00:03:36,981 They're fruit eaters but surprisingly in a tropical forest 29 00:03:37,085 --> 00:03:38,575 that's no easy option. 30 00:03:39,420 --> 00:03:44,289 There may be thousands of trees but those in fruit are widely scattered. 31 00:03:45,126 --> 00:03:47,060 Even if the monkeys know where to go 32 00:03:47,195 --> 00:03:50,221 they often have to travel a long way between meals. 33 00:03:53,668 --> 00:03:56,603 They eat just the fleshy part of the fruit. 34 00:03:56,738 --> 00:03:59,764 Their jaws aren't strong enough to deal with the hard seeds 35 00:03:59,974 --> 00:04:04,172 so most of those end up on the ground thirty metres or more below. 36 00:04:21,662 --> 00:04:24,062 Seeds aren't the only thing they drop. 37 00:04:24,432 --> 00:04:28,596 Gorging on all that fruit has a predictable end product. 38 00:04:32,907 --> 00:04:35,205 Wonderfully fresh dung. 39 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:40,679 But nothing goes to waste. 40 00:04:40,815 --> 00:04:43,648 Even dung is someone's bread and butter. 41 00:04:50,558 --> 00:04:55,586 Before the dung has time to cool sensitive antennae pick up its smell. 42 00:05:11,679 --> 00:05:14,204 For the dung beetles the race is on. 43 00:05:14,882 --> 00:05:17,146 Only the winners will get a share. 44 00:05:23,124 --> 00:05:26,491 In the jungle nothing edible stays around for long. 45 00:05:26,794 --> 00:05:28,853 You have to grab it while you can. 46 00:05:41,275 --> 00:05:44,073 The first beetles to arrive are males. 47 00:05:44,212 --> 00:05:46,646 They use the dung to attract a mate. 48 00:05:46,781 --> 00:05:49,477 The bigger your ball the better your chances. 49 00:05:50,351 --> 00:05:53,650 The female will lay her eggs in the ball and then bury it. 50 00:05:53,788 --> 00:05:56,416 It's food for the grubs when they hatch. 51 00:05:58,926 --> 00:06:00,587 If you haven't got a ball of your own 52 00:06:00,728 --> 00:06:02,696 you can try to steal someone else's. 53 00:06:10,338 --> 00:06:13,398 Within minutes there's not a trace of dung left. 54 00:06:14,976 --> 00:06:17,444 The forest looks deserted 55 00:06:17,578 --> 00:06:20,979 so what has become of that infinite variety of life? 56 00:06:23,718 --> 00:06:25,709 It's here, but it's hidden 57 00:06:25,853 --> 00:06:29,289 camouflaged with forest greens and browns. 58 00:06:37,999 --> 00:06:43,096 If you're to eat but not be eaten you must see but not be seen. 59 00:06:55,750 --> 00:06:58,844 The thin layer of leaf litter on the forest floor hides 60 00:06:58,953 --> 00:07:02,081 all manner of creatures that creep and crawl. 61 00:07:02,523 --> 00:07:04,252 This isn't a blue worm 62 00:07:04,392 --> 00:07:07,486 but a legless amphibian called a caecilian. 63 00:07:07,628 --> 00:07:10,756 In the jungle things are seldom what they seem. 64 00:07:16,871 --> 00:07:21,205 Some of these animals recycle the nutrients in the fallen leaves. 65 00:07:21,342 --> 00:07:23,674 Others prey on the recyclers. 66 00:07:24,745 --> 00:07:26,804 Theirs is a moist and dark world 67 00:07:26,981 --> 00:07:30,417 where only two percent of sunlight ever reaches the ground. 68 00:07:35,556 --> 00:07:38,525 This is a worm but a worm with a difference. 69 00:07:38,659 --> 00:07:40,991 It can grow to a metre long. 70 00:07:42,830 --> 00:07:44,991 Though most forest animals try to hide 71 00:07:45,132 --> 00:07:47,657 others go out of their way to show off. 72 00:07:50,071 --> 00:07:54,030 A male wire-tailed manakin trying to attract a mate. 73 00:07:54,175 --> 00:07:55,767 He can't afford to miss a chance 74 00:07:55,910 --> 00:07:58,208 so the slightest movement sets him off 75 00:07:58,346 --> 00:08:00,906 even if it's only a passing agouti. 76 00:08:31,679 --> 00:08:35,979 The agouti's eating Brazil nuts fallen from the canopy above. 77 00:08:36,117 --> 00:08:37,550 They're a hard nut to crack 78 00:08:37,685 --> 00:08:39,550 and agoutis are one of the few animals 79 00:08:39,687 --> 00:08:42,212 with teeth strong enough to deal with them. 80 00:08:42,690 --> 00:08:46,786 But being hard is only one way seeds avoid being eaten. 81 00:08:53,601 --> 00:08:56,661 A tropical forest may seem like the Garden of Eden 82 00:08:56,804 --> 00:09:00,240 but much of what grows here is forbidden fruit 83 00:09:00,474 --> 00:09:04,808 packed with poisons like strychnine morphine and cocaine. 84 00:09:08,416 --> 00:09:10,281 Even leaves are off limits. 85 00:09:10,418 --> 00:09:11,646 There are plenty of them 86 00:09:11,786 --> 00:09:14,653 but most are so toxic they're inedible. 87 00:09:23,697 --> 00:09:26,131 Why are they so poisonous? 88 00:09:29,437 --> 00:09:31,962 Plants can't run or hide to defend themselves 89 00:09:32,106 --> 00:09:34,506 so they go in for chemical warfare. 90 00:09:34,875 --> 00:09:37,343 Vegetarians like this white-faced saki 91 00:09:37,478 --> 00:09:40,641 have to deal with poisons most creatures couldn't handle. 92 00:09:43,584 --> 00:09:46,678 Plants and animals are locked in an arms race. 93 00:09:47,488 --> 00:09:49,217 To counter the plant's poisons 94 00:09:49,356 --> 00:09:54,123 sakis have their own secret weapon an incredibly long intestine. 95 00:09:54,895 --> 00:09:57,728 These monkeys aren't much bigger than a domestic cat 96 00:09:57,865 --> 00:10:00,800 but their guts are as long as a gorilla's. 97 00:10:01,135 --> 00:10:05,162 They can eat leaves and seeds that would make other animals sick. 98 00:10:13,581 --> 00:10:17,039 Seeds are often even more poisonous than leaves. 99 00:10:17,184 --> 00:10:19,948 But with their formidable digestive powers the sakis 100 00:10:20,087 --> 00:10:21,714 take them in their stride. 101 00:10:24,792 --> 00:10:26,316 This one's a female 102 00:10:26,460 --> 00:10:30,453 with a white moustache rather than her mate's white face. 103 00:10:34,602 --> 00:10:37,093 Some leaf eaters like this piping guan 104 00:10:37,238 --> 00:10:40,571 limit the amount of poison they eat by selecting young leaves, 105 00:10:40,708 --> 00:10:43,108 which aren't as toxic as older ones. 106 00:10:44,812 --> 00:10:46,279 But they're still dangerous 107 00:10:46,413 --> 00:10:48,711 so the guan deploys another countermeasure. 108 00:10:58,626 --> 00:10:59,786 It eats mud. 109 00:11:06,500 --> 00:11:08,695 The mud seems to hold a strange attraction 110 00:11:08,836 --> 00:11:12,363 for all sorts of other animals like spider monkeys. 111 00:11:16,410 --> 00:11:18,435 These are animals of the high canopy 112 00:11:18,579 --> 00:11:20,672 so why risk coming down to the ground? 113 00:11:40,301 --> 00:11:43,759 Only after the most careful check do they take the plunge. 114 00:11:48,475 --> 00:11:51,410 Up in the trees spider monkeys are in their element 115 00:11:51,545 --> 00:11:53,137 and have few natural predators. 116 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:55,043 But down here they're vulnerable. 117 00:12:10,564 --> 00:12:12,828 As the largest of all South American monkeys 118 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,264 they'd be a good meal for a jaguar 119 00:12:16,170 --> 00:12:19,697 and catching one on the ground would be its best chance of a kill. 120 00:12:25,579 --> 00:12:27,979 Something in the mud must be absolutely vital 121 00:12:28,048 --> 00:12:29,606 for them to take such a risk. 122 00:12:32,753 --> 00:12:35,449 One of the group is always on the lookout. 123 00:12:44,431 --> 00:12:48,094 The slightest hint of danger sends the monkeys back into the trees. 124 00:12:53,374 --> 00:12:55,706 But the new arrival is only a brocket deer 125 00:12:55,843 --> 00:12:57,640 here for the same thing. 126 00:12:59,513 --> 00:13:02,346 When they can these timid little deer eat fruit 127 00:13:02,483 --> 00:13:06,010 but when it's scarce they have to make do with leaves and fungi 128 00:13:06,153 --> 00:13:07,711 all potentially poisonous. 129 00:13:11,692 --> 00:13:14,957 Like the monkeys it's risking its life to come here 130 00:13:15,062 --> 00:13:19,522 its back still carries the scar of an attack by a big cat. 131 00:13:24,605 --> 00:13:25,970 For all kinds of animal 132 00:13:26,073 --> 00:13:30,100 a visit to a clay lick is a regular part of their routine. 133 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,812 But it has to be just the right kind of clay. 134 00:13:36,016 --> 00:13:38,507 Good licks are few and far between. 135 00:13:38,752 --> 00:13:40,811 Like waterholes on the African savannah 136 00:13:41,021 --> 00:13:45,515 they're a focus of activity but you can never drop your guard. 137 00:13:50,130 --> 00:13:53,861 When the sun comes out the lick becomes even more dangerous. 138 00:13:54,468 --> 00:13:56,629 Predators are harder to spot. 139 00:14:03,377 --> 00:14:07,370 Monkeys rely on their good eyesight to warn them of danger. 140 00:14:07,514 --> 00:14:09,243 When it's overcast there's no problem 141 00:14:09,383 --> 00:14:12,375 but the tropical sun casts deep shadows 142 00:14:13,721 --> 00:14:16,451 And they find it hard to cope with the contrast. 143 00:14:20,694 --> 00:14:23,959 Does that twitching leaf hide a stealthy jaguar? 144 00:14:28,068 --> 00:14:30,195 Is there a puma in that shadow? 145 00:14:38,579 --> 00:14:41,104 Coming to a clay lick is obviously very risky 146 00:14:41,248 --> 00:14:44,843 but so many animals do it there must be a good reason. 147 00:14:49,523 --> 00:14:53,755 People used to think that animals ate soil just to obtain salt. 148 00:14:53,894 --> 00:14:57,660 But some of these licks are no richer in salt than their natural diet 149 00:14:57,798 --> 00:14:59,925 so that's only part of the story. 150 00:15:10,544 --> 00:15:13,672 Recent research shows that some kinds of clay neutralise 151 00:15:13,814 --> 00:15:17,147 many of the poisons plants use to defend themselves 152 00:15:17,284 --> 00:15:19,218 either by combining with them chemically 153 00:15:19,353 --> 00:15:22,618 or by lining the gut with a protective coating. 154 00:15:25,025 --> 00:15:28,222 That's why animals risk their lives to come here. 155 00:15:30,531 --> 00:15:34,729 The alternatives are death by poisoning or starvation. 156 00:15:35,369 --> 00:15:37,564 Without clay to counteract the toxins 157 00:15:37,704 --> 00:15:41,970 much of what grows in the forest would be simply impossible to eat. 158 00:15:45,579 --> 00:15:49,811 But why they should eat such a bellyful in one go, is still unknown. 159 00:16:08,469 --> 00:16:12,803 Every rustle in the undergrowth sends the monkeys running for safety. 160 00:16:15,676 --> 00:16:18,839 But it's just a herd of white-lipped peccaries. 161 00:16:24,618 --> 00:16:26,381 Peccaries are social animals 162 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,956 using scent glands to communicate and keep the group together. 163 00:16:30,324 --> 00:16:33,088 Their collective stench is overpowering. 164 00:16:41,635 --> 00:16:46,629 Peccaries eat a varied diet of roots bulbs, fallen fruit and seeds. 165 00:16:46,773 --> 00:16:50,436 That reduces the risk of overdosing on any one poison 166 00:16:50,577 --> 00:16:53,045 but it could still be a lethal cocktail. 167 00:16:56,416 --> 00:16:59,044 They seem to be seeking out just the right pieces of mud 168 00:16:59,186 --> 00:17:01,586 but how they choose nobody knows. 169 00:17:02,122 --> 00:17:03,817 We're only just beginning to understand 170 00:17:03,957 --> 00:17:07,552 the full story behind this extraordinary behaviour. 171 00:17:15,702 --> 00:17:19,331 As soon as it begins to rain all the animals depart. 172 00:17:19,473 --> 00:17:21,839 Only the smell of the peccaries lingers. 173 00:17:30,050 --> 00:17:32,712 The lick is now even more dangerous. 174 00:17:32,853 --> 00:17:37,347 The roaring of raindrops on leaves would drown the sound of an approaching hunter. 175 00:18:39,620 --> 00:18:44,114 For forest animals plant poisons are a problem to be overcome. 176 00:18:44,458 --> 00:18:46,358 But forest people, like the Waorani 177 00:18:46,493 --> 00:18:48,757 have turned them to their advantage. 178 00:18:51,565 --> 00:18:55,797 The bark of this liana gives them curare a nerve poison. 179 00:18:58,472 --> 00:19:01,703 The Waorani use it to tip their darts when they're hunting. 180 00:19:01,842 --> 00:19:04,675 It kills by paralysing the chest muscles 181 00:19:04,811 --> 00:19:07,541 so the victim dies of suffocation. 182 00:19:11,551 --> 00:19:12,609 Without curare 183 00:19:12,753 --> 00:19:16,621 the Waorani would find hunting animals like monkeys almost impossible. 184 00:19:16,757 --> 00:19:19,453 It's a key to their survival in the forest. 185 00:19:34,875 --> 00:19:37,742 The jungle provides all you need to live here 186 00:19:37,878 --> 00:19:39,846 if you know where to find it. 187 00:19:44,718 --> 00:19:46,709 The Waorani have no written language. 188 00:19:46,853 --> 00:19:51,347 Vital knowledge is handed down over the generations by word of mouth. 189 00:19:55,595 --> 00:19:58,291 These men are collecting kapok seeds. 190 00:19:58,432 --> 00:20:02,698 The only problem is that the kapok tree is one of the tallest in the forest. 191 00:20:03,070 --> 00:20:04,731 A slip would be fatal. 192 00:20:13,413 --> 00:20:15,381 Shaking dislodges the fluffy seeds 193 00:20:15,515 --> 00:20:18,848 but what they're really after are the unopened pods. 194 00:20:25,559 --> 00:20:28,687 They're hanging from the tips of the furthest branches. 195 00:20:49,716 --> 00:20:52,480 Some people use the down for stuffing mattresses. 196 00:20:52,619 --> 00:20:54,985 The Waorani use it in their hunting. 197 00:20:56,423 --> 00:20:57,947 They're skilful hunters 198 00:20:58,091 --> 00:21:01,993 but even they step aside when the top predators arrive. 199 00:21:05,766 --> 00:21:06,824 Army ants. 200 00:21:13,006 --> 00:21:16,874 What they lack in size they make up for by overwhelming numbers. 201 00:21:17,144 --> 00:21:19,977 An army like this can be a million strong. 202 00:21:20,647 --> 00:21:24,981 These biting, stinging hordes are the scourge of the forest floor. 203 00:21:25,285 --> 00:21:30,348 Anything small in their path must run fly... or die. 204 00:21:35,662 --> 00:21:37,823 Measured by the weight of prey they consume 205 00:21:38,031 --> 00:21:40,625 these little insects have as great an impact 206 00:21:40,767 --> 00:21:43,759 on the forest as any jaguar or Waorani hunter. 207 00:22:30,684 --> 00:22:34,211 But a few creatures can outwit the lethal horde. 208 00:22:37,023 --> 00:22:41,255 Army ants are blind, and need movement to trigger their attack. 209 00:22:41,394 --> 00:22:45,125 By keeping still, this grasshopper becomes invisible to them. 210 00:22:48,168 --> 00:22:51,501 A spider's life literally hangs by a thread. 211 00:22:58,945 --> 00:23:02,005 But for most small things there's no escape. 212 00:23:02,983 --> 00:23:05,076 This may look like an undisciplined rabble 213 00:23:05,218 --> 00:23:08,654 but in fact it's a highly organised military machine. 214 00:23:25,138 --> 00:23:28,301 Ants communicate by scent sound and touch. 215 00:23:28,441 --> 00:23:31,137 They come together to pass on information. 216 00:23:33,179 --> 00:23:34,271 These are soldiers 217 00:23:34,414 --> 00:23:37,577 but their massive jaws are defensive weapons. 218 00:23:39,052 --> 00:23:41,452 The real killers are the smaller workers 219 00:23:41,588 --> 00:23:43,419 which sting their prey to death. 220 00:23:48,795 --> 00:23:52,196 Every morning the ants march out of camp to forage. 221 00:23:52,465 --> 00:23:56,333 Columns of workers lay down scent trails for others to follow. 222 00:23:56,736 --> 00:23:58,328 If a scouting party finds food 223 00:23:58,471 --> 00:24:02,669 it sends chemical signals down the line to summon reinforcements. 224 00:24:12,485 --> 00:24:15,784 Like any army this one has its camp followers. 225 00:24:22,562 --> 00:24:25,360 Insects trying to escape the ants are flushed 226 00:24:25,498 --> 00:24:27,625 into the waiting mouths of ant birds. 227 00:24:29,002 --> 00:24:30,970 But it's a risky way to make a living. 228 00:24:31,071 --> 00:24:35,269 As few as four ant stings can kill a small bird like this. 229 00:24:44,451 --> 00:24:47,978 Ants and birds between them can clear a patch of forest floor 230 00:24:48,054 --> 00:24:50,318 of almost all invertebrate life 231 00:24:50,457 --> 00:24:53,255 but any empty space is soon re-colonised. 232 00:24:56,763 --> 00:24:59,994 Some ant birds are totally dependent on the army to flush out prey 233 00:25:00,133 --> 00:25:01,964 that would otherwise be hidden. 234 00:25:02,202 --> 00:25:05,194 Without ants to help them they would become extinct. 235 00:25:17,817 --> 00:25:18,647 A column of ants 236 00:25:18,785 --> 00:25:21,652 can have thirty different kinds of bird following it. 237 00:25:22,589 --> 00:25:24,079 There's a strict pecking order 238 00:25:24,224 --> 00:25:27,990 with the most skilled professionals occupying the best vantage points. 239 00:25:37,670 --> 00:25:40,764 All this activity sets the manakin off again. 240 00:25:47,647 --> 00:25:51,845 At least he's courting a bird this time even if it's not his kind. 241 00:25:56,656 --> 00:25:59,921 The ants dismember the paralysed bodies of their prey 242 00:26:00,026 --> 00:26:01,721 and cart them back to camp. 243 00:26:02,328 --> 00:26:06,230 Special long-legged 'carriers' help with the heavy haulage. 244 00:26:19,145 --> 00:26:19,770 Between them 245 00:26:19,979 --> 00:26:22,311 they can drag many times their own weight. 246 00:26:45,772 --> 00:26:49,299 This is headquarters a living tent of ants. 247 00:26:50,410 --> 00:26:53,174 The bivouac is the army's nerve centre 248 00:26:53,313 --> 00:26:56,077 with the queen hidden deep inside. 249 00:26:58,151 --> 00:27:00,415 Most of the time they keep on the move 250 00:27:00,553 --> 00:27:01,918 but when the colony has eggs 251 00:27:02,021 --> 00:27:05,184 the troops come back to the same camp each evening. 252 00:27:35,722 --> 00:27:39,488 Even though night is falling animals return to the clay lick. 253 00:27:40,827 --> 00:27:43,125 It's been flooded by heavy tropical rain 254 00:27:43,263 --> 00:27:46,198 and bats come to drink its mineral-rich waters. 255 00:27:49,602 --> 00:27:52,969 There's even a caiman here a dwarf caiman 256 00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:54,666 less than a metre long. 257 00:27:55,708 --> 00:27:57,608 It's much too small to worry a deer 258 00:27:57,744 --> 00:28:00,076 but it would take a bat or a moth. 259 00:28:10,757 --> 00:28:14,921 All sorts of hunter home in on this temporary pool 260 00:28:20,767 --> 00:28:23,031 And tonight there's a special visitor. 261 00:28:23,570 --> 00:28:26,539 It's the largest animal in the Amazon jungle 262 00:28:26,673 --> 00:28:31,042 the size of a small cow yet it's seen more rarely than a jaguar. 263 00:28:35,882 --> 00:28:39,045 With an incredible sense of smell and acute hearing 264 00:28:39,185 --> 00:28:41,278 it can keep out of people's way. 265 00:28:50,430 --> 00:28:54,230 Its nearest relatives are the horse and the rhinoceros. 266 00:28:54,567 --> 00:28:56,194 It's a tapir. 267 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:02,769 Tapirs eat leaves and fruit 268 00:29:02,942 --> 00:29:05,536 and like so many of the forest's vegetarians 269 00:29:05,678 --> 00:29:08,374 they need their medicinal dose of clay. 270 00:29:20,693 --> 00:29:23,719 In the jungle no chance of a meal goes to waste. 271 00:29:23,963 --> 00:29:25,931 Bloodsucking ticks fasten themselves 272 00:29:26,032 --> 00:29:28,694 to the soft skin around the tapir's eyes. 273 00:29:35,141 --> 00:29:39,942 And it's picked up another bloodsucker something altogether more sinister. 274 00:29:44,217 --> 00:29:46,082 A hitch-hiking vampire bat 275 00:29:46,219 --> 00:29:49,052 taking advantage of this movable feast. 276 00:29:58,131 --> 00:30:02,295 The Amazon basin gets an incredible three metres of rain a year 277 00:30:02,435 --> 00:30:05,734 but pools of standing water are rare in the forest. 278 00:30:08,741 --> 00:30:10,208 Most of the rain runs off 279 00:30:10,343 --> 00:30:14,370 to swell the world's largest river the Amazon. 280 00:30:25,725 --> 00:30:29,718 Tentacles of the mighty river reach far into the jungle. 281 00:30:30,063 --> 00:30:34,625 Their banks are the setting for one of Amazonia's greatest spectacles. 282 00:31:14,807 --> 00:31:15,398 Every morning 283 00:31:15,541 --> 00:31:17,805 flocks of red and green macaws gather 284 00:31:18,010 --> 00:31:20,672 at special places along exposed river banks. 285 00:31:40,500 --> 00:31:42,730 They too have come for clay. 286 00:31:45,671 --> 00:31:48,265 Macaws are specialised seed eaters. 287 00:31:48,408 --> 00:31:50,069 The plants they depend on for their food 288 00:31:50,209 --> 00:31:51,676 try to protect their seeds 289 00:31:51,811 --> 00:31:55,542 with a hard outer coating that's often very poisonous. 290 00:31:56,182 --> 00:31:59,345 The birds can remove some seed coats with their strong beaks 291 00:31:59,485 --> 00:32:02,511 but their diet is still exceedingly toxic. 292 00:32:03,256 --> 00:32:04,848 So like the monkeys and tapir 293 00:32:04,991 --> 00:32:08,654 they neutralise the plants' defences by eating clay. 294 00:32:15,435 --> 00:32:18,029 They visit these clay banks every two or three days 295 00:32:18,171 --> 00:32:19,968 especially during the dry season 296 00:32:20,072 --> 00:32:21,972 when there's less choice of food. 297 00:32:22,675 --> 00:32:24,870 It has to be just the right kind of clay 298 00:32:25,011 --> 00:32:25,978 so over the years 299 00:32:26,112 --> 00:32:28,842 they mine deep shafts in the best seams. 300 00:32:41,894 --> 00:32:46,490 The morning visit to the dispensary is also an opportunity to socialise. 301 00:32:46,866 --> 00:32:50,825 Macaws pair for life which can be forty five years. 302 00:32:52,872 --> 00:32:54,100 For the noisy youngsters 303 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,140 this is a chance to find a partner. 304 00:32:59,178 --> 00:33:00,941 Space on the lick is limited 305 00:33:01,047 --> 00:33:03,982 and while waiting their turn tempers can flare. 306 00:33:15,394 --> 00:33:16,588 When they leave the river bank 307 00:33:16,729 --> 00:33:19,095 the macaws break up into family parties 308 00:33:19,232 --> 00:33:22,292 and fan out over the forest to search for food. 309 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,541 The canopy is a very different world to the cool 310 00:33:30,676 --> 00:33:33,201 dark and moist forest floor. 311 00:33:40,786 --> 00:33:44,847 Up on the green roof of the jungle the tropical sun is king. 312 00:33:45,157 --> 00:33:46,624 This may be a rainforest 313 00:33:46,759 --> 00:33:50,695 but anything that lives up here has to contend with drought. 314 00:33:52,565 --> 00:33:57,002 The thick, fleshy leaves of Bromeliads are almost cactus-like. 315 00:34:04,677 --> 00:34:08,113 Even in a rainforest it doesn't rain every day. 316 00:34:08,414 --> 00:34:12,350 Days or even weeks can pass without so much as a shower. 317 00:34:16,022 --> 00:34:19,014 Howler monkeys greet an approaching storm. 318 00:34:51,691 --> 00:34:52,783 Perched on branches 319 00:34:52,925 --> 00:34:55,621 bromeliads have no roots in the ground below 320 00:34:56,095 --> 00:34:59,030 so they have to make the most of any water that's going. 321 00:35:00,466 --> 00:35:04,664 Their waxy rosettes of leaves channel the rain into a central tank. 322 00:35:05,338 --> 00:35:07,932 Some can store as much as ten litres. 323 00:35:12,578 --> 00:35:16,344 Each little green aquarium supports its own web of life. 324 00:35:16,716 --> 00:35:18,377 Mosquitoes lay their eggs in them 325 00:35:18,517 --> 00:35:22,476 and the larvae attract predators like water beetles. 326 00:35:23,456 --> 00:35:25,947 The plant benefits from the insects' waste products. 327 00:35:26,459 --> 00:35:30,725 They provide nitrogen... hard to come by without roots in the soil. 328 00:35:38,638 --> 00:35:39,662 When the rain stops 329 00:35:39,805 --> 00:35:43,297 any moisture soon evaporates in the tropical heat. 330 00:35:46,646 --> 00:35:50,013 The treetops can be more like a desert than a forest. 331 00:35:51,684 --> 00:35:55,017 If a monkey needs a drink there's only one place to go. 332 00:36:07,533 --> 00:36:10,627 Bromeliads are like waterholes in the desert. 333 00:36:10,770 --> 00:36:14,137 These miniature oases are often the only source of water 334 00:36:14,273 --> 00:36:17,037 for creatures that never go down to the ground. 335 00:36:33,459 --> 00:36:34,619 Exposed to the sun 336 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,695 the forest canopy is a different world 337 00:36:37,997 --> 00:36:40,397 one of unexpected extremes. 338 00:36:45,304 --> 00:36:49,297 Birds are quick to take advantage of these swimming pools in the sky. 339 00:36:58,517 --> 00:37:00,644 Bathing is more than a mere luxury. 340 00:37:00,786 --> 00:37:03,380 It helps to keep their feathers in peak condition. 341 00:37:32,752 --> 00:37:35,687 Each visitor seems more colourful than the last 342 00:37:35,821 --> 00:37:40,952 but the paradise tanager must be the star of this parade of bathing beauties. 343 00:38:11,257 --> 00:38:15,921 Sometimes the weight of all those water-filled bromeliads is just too much. 344 00:38:19,498 --> 00:38:21,261 Only when their contents are emptied 345 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:26,269 can you see just how great a variety of life these little water tanks support. 346 00:38:27,339 --> 00:38:32,606 A single species of bromeliad can harbour four hundred different kinds of animal. 347 00:38:35,781 --> 00:38:37,840 With that many in one tiny habitat 348 00:38:37,983 --> 00:38:42,010 no wonder the Amazon jungle is so rich in species. 349 00:38:47,593 --> 00:38:49,993 It's a long way back to the forest canopy 350 00:38:50,129 --> 00:38:53,587 but that's no problem for this climbing vine snake. 351 00:38:58,571 --> 00:39:01,972 If a falling branch brings a whole world crashing to the ground 352 00:39:02,107 --> 00:39:05,304 how much greater is the effect of a fallen tree. 353 00:39:07,346 --> 00:39:10,713 But this is all part of a natural cycle of change and decay. 354 00:39:11,283 --> 00:39:15,276 At any moment, treefalls cover ten percent of the forest. 355 00:39:16,188 --> 00:39:17,314 Even before they fall 356 00:39:17,456 --> 00:39:21,085 trees can be rotted away from within by fungi. 357 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:24,761 Once they're on the ground the attack intensifies. 358 00:39:38,077 --> 00:39:41,740 Nowhere else in the world do things decay so rapidly. 359 00:39:53,592 --> 00:39:57,824 Almost all the forest's nutrients are locked up in living tissues. 360 00:39:57,997 --> 00:39:59,658 They're so scarce that fungi 361 00:39:59,798 --> 00:40:02,323 and slime moulds have to grab them fast. 362 00:40:17,783 --> 00:40:18,579 Incredibly 363 00:40:18,717 --> 00:40:21,515 even living animals aren't safe from attack. 364 00:40:22,755 --> 00:40:27,692 Insects can inhale fungal spores which then devour them from within. 365 00:40:34,099 --> 00:40:37,193 For everything life in the forest is tough. 366 00:40:37,503 --> 00:40:39,630 You have to seize your opportunities. 367 00:40:43,876 --> 00:40:47,403 Tamarins eat almost anything they can lay their hands on. 368 00:40:47,780 --> 00:40:49,111 No bigger than a squirrel 369 00:40:49,248 --> 00:40:53,651 these little monkeys are one of the Amazon's supreme opportunists. 370 00:40:58,023 --> 00:41:01,117 They move fast and while they prefer the lower canopy 371 00:41:01,260 --> 00:41:03,490 they forage at every level in the forest 372 00:41:03,629 --> 00:41:05,961 from the ground to the topmost trees. 373 00:41:08,534 --> 00:41:10,798 They have a finger in every pie. 374 00:41:11,870 --> 00:41:15,169 Fruit, insects almost anything is on the menu as long 375 00:41:15,307 --> 00:41:18,299 as it's not too large for these agile midgets. 376 00:41:39,465 --> 00:41:42,491 These golden mantled tamarins survive by being quick 377 00:41:42,634 --> 00:41:44,226 and adaptable generalists. 378 00:41:46,505 --> 00:41:47,369 They live in small 379 00:41:47,506 --> 00:41:49,770 tightly knit groups of about half a dozen 380 00:41:49,908 --> 00:41:53,503 keeping in touch by calling as they move through the forest. 381 00:42:01,487 --> 00:42:05,514 The well-camouflaged rufous pottoo is a bird of the night. 382 00:42:05,657 --> 00:42:08,455 It gets a rude awakening as the monkeys pass by. 383 00:42:16,068 --> 00:42:19,196 And the tamarins arouse another bird. 384 00:42:43,695 --> 00:42:46,687 The manakin is still looking for a mate 385 00:42:48,534 --> 00:42:51,435 but a tamarin is obviously a poor substitute. 386 00:42:58,477 --> 00:42:59,944 Living in a family group 387 00:43:00,012 --> 00:43:02,981 means more eyes and ears to detect danger. 388 00:43:03,882 --> 00:43:06,851 Their chief predators are birds of prey and ocelots 389 00:43:06,985 --> 00:43:10,250 but in the forest the unexpected is never far away. 390 00:43:21,733 --> 00:43:25,863 Tamarins may be small but the Waorani hunt almost anything. 391 00:43:30,142 --> 00:43:32,303 This is when the kapok comes in handy 392 00:43:32,444 --> 00:43:35,106 as flights for their curare-tipped darts. 393 00:43:37,816 --> 00:43:39,044 That's not a tamarin 394 00:43:39,184 --> 00:43:41,675 but a woolly monkey a much bigger target. 395 00:43:44,189 --> 00:43:46,350 It's one of the largest monkeys in the forest 396 00:43:46,492 --> 00:43:49,086 but still very hard to follow and bring down. 397 00:43:58,337 --> 00:44:00,532 The chase can take hours with two 398 00:44:00,672 --> 00:44:02,697 or three hunters working together. 399 00:44:06,578 --> 00:44:09,069 Outwitting a fast and wary monkey more 400 00:44:09,214 --> 00:44:12,809 than 30 metres up in the treetops takes years of practice 401 00:44:12,985 --> 00:44:15,613 and skills handed down over generations. 402 00:44:23,562 --> 00:44:27,089 They try to single out one of the monkeys from the rest of the group. 403 00:44:38,076 --> 00:44:39,839 But it's a difficult target. 404 00:44:58,230 --> 00:45:01,666 Separated from its companions the monkey freezes 405 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,530 so the hunters try to panic it into running. 406 00:45:11,677 --> 00:45:13,508 It's already been hit once 407 00:45:13,645 --> 00:45:16,307 and the poison is beginning to take effect. 408 00:45:25,991 --> 00:45:29,392 But it often takes more than one dart to bring it down. 409 00:45:57,856 --> 00:46:02,054 Eventually the monkey dies but up in the tree 410 00:46:02,194 --> 00:46:04,355 so they still have to retrieve it. 411 00:46:16,975 --> 00:46:18,567 The hunt may be challenging 412 00:46:18,710 --> 00:46:22,669 but skilled hunters can eventually clean out a tract of forest. 413 00:46:23,048 --> 00:46:26,074 Then, like the army ants they have to move on. 414 00:46:35,994 --> 00:46:39,452 The tamarins escaped... this time. 415 00:46:45,437 --> 00:46:47,735 For people and animals alike the forest 416 00:46:47,873 --> 00:46:50,341 is a hard place to make a living. 417 00:46:50,475 --> 00:46:53,205 The seeming abundance of food is an illusion. 418 00:46:53,345 --> 00:46:54,972 There are no easy options. 419 00:46:58,950 --> 00:47:01,145 Tamarins are jacks of all trades. 420 00:47:01,286 --> 00:47:04,278 Most other forest animals are specialists. 421 00:47:04,423 --> 00:47:08,257 But whatever your chosen path the competition is intense. 422 00:47:08,493 --> 00:47:12,122 In the Amazon jungle there's no such thing as a free lunch. 423 00:47:15,634 --> 00:47:18,330 Yet everything comes to he who waits. 424 00:47:26,712 --> 00:47:29,476 The manakin finally gets his bird 425 00:47:30,048 --> 00:47:33,017 He seduces her with a tickle under the chin. 426 00:47:50,135 --> 00:47:54,595 The story of the Amazon jungle is one of survival against the odds. 427 00:47:54,740 --> 00:47:57,072 You or I would die here 428 00:47:57,209 --> 00:47:59,268 but like the manakin and the tamarins 429 00:47:59,411 --> 00:48:02,141 the Waorani know how to live in the forest. 430 00:48:03,582 --> 00:48:05,607 Their way of life may be vanishing 431 00:48:05,751 --> 00:48:08,515 but so much else still survives. 432 00:48:08,653 --> 00:48:14,182 The Amazon jungle remains the largest and the richest rainforest on earth.