01x03 - Mountains

[bunniefuu]

Pascal:
In these mountains,

people and pumas
just don't get along.

This man, alone,
has k*lled dozens of them.

And today he has one more
in his sights.

At the ends of the Earth
is a land of extremes...

...home to spectacular wildlife.

For centuries,

people and animals
have battled for supremacy.

But now enemies
are becoming allies.

Together,
they face new challenges...

...in a rapidly changing world.

You are at the mercy
of the elements.

This is the story of what
it takes to survive...

...on the edge of the world.

Patagonia --

one of the world's
last great wildernesses.

It stretches for more
than 1,000 miles,

all the way down
to the southernmost tip

of South America.

Towering above the region
are the Andes,

dividing Chile from Argentina.

We're headed on an epic journey

up through Patagonia's
wild Highlands,

from its foothills
to its volcanic plateaus,

all the way
up to its high ice fields.

Our journey begins
on the grasslands

of the Patagonian steppe...

...at 1,500 feet.

Here, one predator
reigns supreme.

The puma.

This big cat roams all
of the Americas.

You might know it as a cougar,
a mountain lion,

or even a panther.

In Patagonia, with no bears
or wolves to trouble them,

pumas are the top predator.

And they know it.

It's early autumn

in Torres del Paine
National Park.

A critical time
for this mama puma

and her five-month-old cubs.

She's still nursing them.

But winter is coming.

The cubs need to fatten up,

if they're going to survive
the brutal months ahead.

Mom heads out to hunt.

Guanacos.

Nutritious and delicious.

Busted.

These wild relatives
of the llama are on high alert.

There's safety in numbers.

But one guanaco
didn't get the memo.

The mama puma needs to get
as close as possible.

She jumped the g*n.

Only one in five of her guanaco
hunts is successful.

Time to lie low.

Her next meal
should wander by soon.

This deadly game
of hide-and-seek

has been played for millennia.

Guanacos' senses are sharp

and their long legs allow them
to sprint

at 35 miles per hour...

...almost as fast as a puma.

But there's plenty
of slower prey around.

More than 10 million sheep
graze the Patagonian grasslands.

Sheep that are usually protected
by gauchos,

like Mirko Utrovicic.

If pumas symbolize
the region's wild places,

it is horse-riding ranchers
like Mirko

who personify
its frontier spirit.

But these two Patagonian icons
have had their issues.

Mirko is no ordinary gaucho.

He's a skilled
cazador de leones--

a lion hunter.

He's the guy you hire
when you've got a puma problem.

Ciao, ciao.

Pumas are now protected
across Patagonia.

But if they step
outside a national park

and onto a ranch,

all bets are off.

The hunt is on.

Pascal:
We're on a ranch just outside

of Torres del Paine
National Park,

in the wild mountains
of Patagonia.

And the legendary hunter
Mirko Utrovicic

has a female puma in his sights.

¿Vamos a verla?
Sí, vamos.

But he's not here
to k*ll the puma.

He's here to protect it.

A year ago, Mirko changed sides.

The puma hunter

is now the puma guardian.

Mirko realized
that wild Patagonia

needs its top predator.

Conservation can also
make you a good living.

Mirko now works full-time
as a puma tracker,

often with biologist Nico Lagos.

This ranch,
the Estancia Cerro Guido,

is particularly
wildlife-friendly.

When Mirko finds a puma here,

he asks the gauchos to move
their sheep to another area,

keeping both prey
and predator safe.

Ya, sí, ya, ya, ya.

Ya, sí, ya, ya.

Haven't seen her
for like six months,

so it's good
to see her again.

We're very happy
about it.

They thought this female
had been k*lled by ranchers.

Mirko spends a lot of time

encouraging other gauchos
not to sh**t the pumas.

And it looks like his message
is starting to get through.

Mirko is part of a new movement
in Patagonia.

The old frontier spirit,
where nature was the enemy,

is giving way to a more...

collaborative approach.

Pumas play an important role
up here in the mountains.

They keep grazers,
like guanacos, in check...

...allowing other species
to flourish.

But this fragile balance

is in danger.

Higher up in Torres del Paine
National Park

is a valley
with a surprising secret.

It's home to a huge herd
of wild horses.

At 120 strong, it could well be

the largest herd of wild horses
in the world.

But these horses aren't native
to the area.

They're descended from runaways,

animals that escaped
from ranches.

It's the breeding season.

Stallions would normally
separate their mares

from rival males...

...but in this super herd,


side-by-side.

And they don't
always see eye-to-eye.

But the real threat lies
outside the safety of the herd.

Pumas have discovered
the valley's secret...

...and a few have become
expert horse hunters.

Feral horses are a problem
on the American plains

and in the Australian outback.

Why?

Because there,

they have no predators.

Those populations
grow unchecked,

devastating fragile grasslands.

But in this valley,
things are very different.

The size of the herd
is surprisingly stable...

...staying between 110
and 120 animals.

As long as the puma is here
to control their numbers,

the valley's wildlife
should remain in balance --

proof that nature works better
with more hungry predators.

But the puma
isn't the only animal

doing its part
for the ecosystem.

Uno, dos, tres.

Another, more unusual, creature

is being recruited
to make Patagonia wild again.

Pascal:
We're on a journey up into the
mountains of Patagonia...

...one of the most sparsely
populated places on Earth.

But even here,
humans have left their mark.

At 2,400 feet,

the Chacabuco Valley
runs eastward,

high into the Andes.

It's ranchland

which has been overgrazed
by sheep for centuries.

The wildlife is long gone.

But that is about to change.

The land has been bought
by Tompkins Conservation,

an organization
with a lofty goal...

...make Patagonia wild again.

Inside this crate is the team's
secret weapon.

Uno, dos, tres.

This is a Darwin's rhea.

Look up "ostrich,"

take a left,

and say hello to one
of the world's largest birds.

They might look a bit dopey,

but they play a vital role
in the wild.

They're food for predators.

Fast food.

Clocking in at speeds
of up to 40 miles per hour.

Rheas also spread seeds
and provide natural fertilizer,

helping restore the habitat
to its former glory.

Back on the ranchland...

...the plan is to release
c*ptive bred birds...

...and let them run wild.

And that's not all

Cristián Saucedo
and his team are doing here.

Saucedo:
We remove fences.

Guanacos recover the land

that they lost
for sheep ranching activity.

Pumas are recovering their role

as the top predator
of the ecosystem.

In a very short period of time,

we have seen
how the landscape change.

Pascal:
But this wild party
is just getting started.

A few years ago,
Tompkins Conservation

and the Chilean government

set aside 10 million acres
of Patagonia,

an area three times the size

of Yosemite and Yellowstone combined,

as protected land.

When it comes to rewilding,
Patagonia is leading the way.

European settlers

and their voracious sheep
may have laid waste

to Patagonia's
mountain grasslands...

...but further up in the Andes,

others have lived in balance
with the land for generations.

Tres Monjes Mountain is home
to the Quintriqueo family.

Their pastures are
a few hours' ride away,

so Ricardo and his son
Ricardo Jr. saddle up early.

Their goats will eat
almost anything.

But the good stuff
is higher up the mountain.

Ey, ey.

Ricardo Jr.'s family
are Mapuche,

one of the region's last
surviving indigenous peoples.

For generations,

they have watched outsiders
abuse the land,

cutting down trees
and overgrazing pastures.

Ricardo Jr.'s connection
to this place runs far deeper.

Pascal:
We're travelling up through one
of the wildest regions on Earth.

This otherworldly landscape
has been shaped

by millions of years
of volcanic activity.

The Buenos Aires Lake Plateau

rises 5,000 feet above sea level
in the Argentinian Andes.

Eleven million years ago,
lava from a huge volcano cooled,

leaving a massive expanse
of impermeable rock,

peppered with hundreds of lakes.

Little grows
on this barren rock,

but the lakes teem
with insects...

...which is why
red hooded grebes...

...come here to breed.

Found nowhere else on Earth,

they're one of South America's
rarest species

and, arguably,
one of its most striking.

It's early summer
and these birds

are looking for love.

Competition
for the females is fierce.

Tempers occasionally flare.

Eventually, the birds pair off.

Now courtship can begin...

...with a water dance.

The male makes
the first move --

the dunk.

Step 2 --
the synchronized head bob.

Step 3?

Head turns.

The female ends the dance.

He'll do.

The pair will spend the next
few months raising chicks.

If successful, they'll be making
an invaluable contribution

to the survival
of their species.

Because of climate change,

the lakes these birds depend on
are drying up.

There are now only 750 red
hooded grebes left in the world.

They're on the brink
of extinction.

It's taken tens
of millions of years

for the grebes to evolve,

but in the next decade,
they could be gone.

From the plateau,
we head up into the high Andes.

They stretch 5,500 miles,

from the Caribbean to the
southern tip of South America,

the longest mountain chain
in the world.

And a stronghold for another
of Patagonia's wild icons...

...the Andean condor.

With a wingspan
of almost 11 feet,

it's one of the world's
highest flyers,

capable of cruising
at 15,000 feet.

But the higher we go,
the harder it is to find food...

...so, the condor has to cover
a lot of ground --

up to 200 miles a day --
in search of its next meal.

In the air, they're majestic.

On the ground, less so.

Like all vultures,
condors are scavengers.

It looks like a free-for-all,

but there's a strict
pecking order.

Dad -- the one with the floppy
fin on his head --

digs in first.

The younger birds have
to get in line.

But you are what you eat

and a scientist has made
a troubling discovery

that could threaten
the condor's very existence.

Pascal:
The Patagonian mountains are not
exactly an easy place to live.

The high-flying condors
have learned how to thrive

in this harsh wilderness.

But there's a hidden threat
on the horizon.

Vultures rarely win
popularity contests,

but these birds captured

Melanie Duclos' heart
at an early age.

This rocky slope is a popular
hangout for condors,

the perfect spot to rest.

And digest.

Melanie doesn't just want
to learn their secrets.

She's devoted her life
to protecting them.

She collects and analyzes
their feathers,

a convenient way
of giving them a check-up,

and she's made
a shocking discovery.

There are no heavy industries
around here...

...but deadly chemicals

are spread around the world

by winds and ocean currents.

Melanie's groundbreaking
research is in its early stages,

but she's very worried.

When it comes to pollution,

the condor is Patagonia's
canary in a coal mine.

Melanie hopes her painstaking
research will raise the alarm

and that industries
and governments

will take notice
and start cleaning up their act.

As we fly even higher
into the Andes,

the air thins
and the temperature drops.

Patagonia is transformed
into a world of ice.

Almost 90% of all the glaciers
in South America

can be found here.

Few creatures can survive
on these barren rivers of ice.

But one remarkable
animal thrives on them...

...and biologist Isaí Madriz
is here to find it.

He's come
to the Exploradores Glacier

in the Chilean Andes,

hoping to track down one

of Patagonia's
toughest creatures.

Isaí works with a professional
glacier guide, Jarol.

This crevasse
isn't an obstacle.

It's their destination.

Madriz:
Going inside the glacier,
it's a very humbling experience.

You are at the mercy
of the elements.

Pascal:
Isaí's found
what he's looking for.

Latin name Andiperla morenensis,

aka the Patagonian ice dragon.

Madriz:
There's very few organisms

that can actually withstand
a place like this.

The dragón de la Patagonia
does that.

Evolutionarily, it has adapted
itself to live at this extreme.

Pascal:
Little is known about these
incredibly rare insects.

Isaí thinks that their blood
contains glycerol,

a natural antifreeze.

But the big question is

what do they eat?

He believes they feed on tiny
algae that live in the ice

and, when times are hard,

each other.

But as the world warms,

time is running out
for the ice dragon.

There's very little information
about this species,

but it is endangered
because we already know

that their habitat,
it's melting away

at an incredibly fast pace.

Whatever happens to the glacier,

Isaí wants to make sure
the ice dragon has a future,

so, he's collecting some for his
c*ptive breeding program.

Madriz:
Protecting any species
is valuable,

but protecting a species
that can actually teach you how

to survive on an environment
like this year-round

for millions of years
is imperative.

Pascal:
We've reached the summit

of Patagonia's
awesome mountains.

Here, among the peaks
of the high Andes...

...great rivers of ice are born.

This is the Southern Patagonian
Ice Field.



and an astounding


Patagonia's ice fields cover
more than 6,500 square miles

and are the third-largest
expanse of freshwater ice

on the planet.

Temperatures can drop
below -10° Fahrenheit.

But even here, in Patagonia's
most extreme environment,

there are hardy pioneers.

This camp is the temporary home

of an elite team
of glaciologists.

You need much more than a PhD
to work at a place like this.

Very little is known
about the impact

of climate change
on the ice field.

Chile's General Water
Directorate is funding research

to find out
how much it's melting.

Expedition leader Camilo Rada
is never happier

than when he's up here
on the ice.

Camilo is using radar to measure
the thickness of the ice.

Even just a few inches of melt

will raise global sea levels.

His mission is to get
up-to-the-minute data,

but he takes a longer view when
it comes to our changing planet.

As a glaciologist, he sees
things in geological time.

Pascal:
In the Patagonian Mountains,

age-old rivalries are coming
to an end...

...and wildlife-friendly
attitudes are taking hold,

with far-reaching consequences.

But global problems are
presenting new challenges.

Patagonia's animals and people

will need all
of their resilience

if they're to survive
our rapidly changing world.

Next on "Patagonia: Life on the
Edge of the World"...

The far south is a place...

Whoa!

...dominated by extreme

forces of nature.

Here, both people and animals

must overcome
enormous challenges

in order to reap
fantastic rewards.