♪♪
BENSON:
Dropped into one of the
wildest places on the planet...
[ Chirping ]
...I'm going to run
a unique experiment.
♪♪
Using a network of remotely
operated cameras...
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
...I want to explore
[ Purring ]
every level of this
incredible jungle,
in real time,
for a month...
♪♪
...a wildlife filmmaking first.
[whispering] See if we can get
a wide shot of this, as well.
The multiple live feeds
will allow us to experience
the behaviors
of the animals here,
as the action unfolds.
Filming 24/7...
[ Thunder crashing ]
...and suffering
challenging conditions...
Agh!
MELVILLE:
Oh! Oh!
BENSON:
...we'll to try
to capture the lives
of remarkable creatures...
MELVILLE:
[gasp, whispering]
What's that in the trees?
BENSON:
...and experience life
in this incredible green realm
in a whole new way.
[ Rumbling ]
[whispering]
That is remarkable.
♪♪
[ Outro plays ]
♪♪
♪♪
[ Insects chirping,
creatures whistling ]
[ Creature caws ]
[ Insects buzzing ]
[ Whirring ]
[ Creatures calling ]
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
BENSON:
I'm Will Benson,
a naturalist and filmmaker.
♪♪
COX:
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
BENSON:
And, with my team,
it's taken us a week
to rig a remarkable patch
of Amazon rain forest
with remote-controlled cameras
to covertly watch the lives
of the animals here.
♪♪
In my hunt for this
incredible location,
I surveyed maps
and satellite images
and, in the Amazon basin
of Ecuador,
I found a region
of unmatched biodiversity.
♪♪
It took us four days to get here
and can only be
accessed by boat.
♪♪
Parts of this jungle have
never been visited by humans.
It doesn't get
any wilder than this.
[ Monkey calling ]
A troop of very noisy
woolly monkeys
just climbing
above us right now.
A single hectare here
contains more tree species
than the entire of the U.S.
and Canada combined,
and over 100,000 species
of insect.
It's a living, breathing,
green metropolis of life...
[ Suspenseful chord strikes ]
...and I can't wait to meet
its billions of inhabitants.
[ Purring ]
[ Insects chirping,
money chattering ]
Across this patch of jungle,
our cameras will allow us
to see it all,
from 3 feet below the ground
to 300 feet above it.
♪♪
We've bugged an area
of tangled vines inhabited
by a colony
of palm-sized monkeys;
rigged a muddy wallow visited
by mammals and exotic birds;
trained our cameras on fruiting
trees up in the emergent layer,
that will attract
hungry primates;
lined the riverbank
with cameras
to capture the Amazon's
aquatic critters;
and rigged nesting sites
and animal trails.
♪♪
The live feeds from the cameras
are wired back
to our remote
monitoring stations...
MEYRICK:
Look at the size of that.
MELVILLE:
Oh, that's huge.
BENSON:
...from where we'll
follow the action
across multiple areas of the
rain forest as it unfolds.
♪♪
The network of cameras
have been rolling,
day and night,
for a week, now,
and we're getting
into the swing of spying
on the daily lives
of the inhabitants
of this jungle metropolis.
[ Whirring ]
[ Tweeting ]
The sac-winged bats
blissfully fill their days
alternating between
sunbathing and sleeping...
[ Monkey hooting ]
...while this family
of saki monkeys...
[ Hooting ]
...are still trying to make
sense of our cameras.
MELVILLE:
They look a bit bemused.
[ Laughs ]
-BENSON: Yeah.
I think you would be,
if a strange camera
suddenly appeared
in your living room one day.
[ Hooting continues ]
[ Screech ]
[ Hooting continues,
insects chirping ]
Almost nothing is known
about these rare primates
who live hidden among the top
layer of this city of green...
...so, being able to meet
their inquisitive gaze
through our spy rig
is an incredible moment.
[whispering] Fantastic.
[ Hooting ]
Appearing somewhat overdressed
in their coat of coarse fur,
they use their strong hind legs
to propel themselves
through the branches.
[ Insects chirping ]
[ Screech ]
[ Hooting continues ]
Getting to see these elusive
sakis so early on
is a great sign
and we're now itching to meet
the nine other species of monkey
that share this
tree-top neighborhood.
[ Creatures chirping ]
[ Sinister music plays ]
But then?
Rain.
♪♪
[ Thunder crashing ]
♪♪
The downpours here can last
anywhere from a few hours
to a few weeks...
...and the bad weather
is threatening
to bring our whole project
to a soggy standstill.
♪♪
It's now rained every day
for the last eight days
and, um, we're waterproofed
and our kits are waterproof,
but the wildlife has
pretty much gone to ground.
We've had minimal activity
at most of our camera sites.
Um, because wildlife
doesn't like getting wet
and it hunkers down, waits
for a bit of a sunny window
to come out and forage
and hunt for food.
But, you know, this is all part
of the experiment, um,
all part of the challenge, uh,
and keep our fingers crossed
that it stops raining soon,
we can dry our boots out
and film some wildlife.
[ Thunder rumbling ]
All we can do is sit it out.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
♪♪
And after the tenth day of rain,
the clouds finally clear...
♪♪
...and I'm thrilled
when the wildlife begins
to return to our cameras.
[ Whirring ]
[ Creature cawing ]
[ Peccary snorting ]
These bristly pig-like animals
are collared peccaries.
[ Snorting ]
[chuckling] And it seems
the alert adults
have sensed
they're being watched.
MELVILLE:
[whispering] They're properly
looking at the cameras.
BENSON:
They're so aware of them,
aren't they?
But, they soon realize
we pose no threat
and return
to their daily business.
[ Lapping ]
This muddy wallow is clearly
irresistible to peccaries
and our cameras
are revealing why.
It's the ideal place
for a refreshing drink
and somewhere to cool off
in the midday heat.
MELVILLE:
Oh, look, there are
some little, tiny ones.
Little babies.
BENSON:
Fantastic.
[ Snorting ]
Squabbling between the peccaries
seems to be a regular affair...
[ Squeaks ]
...but it rarely lasts long.
Day after day, we watch as the
herd returns to this wallow.
[ Snuffling ]
[whispering]
Their really sensitive noses
are great for finding
seeds and...
tasty morsels to eat here.
[ Rumble ]
And this relentless
snuffling and plodding
stops trees and plants
from growing in the wet soil,
so it seems they've tailor-made
this mucky meeting place
to suit their needs
just perfectly.
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh,
he's got that again.
BENSON: Okay.
[ Insects chirping ]
Trail cameras
on this forest floor
capture incredible predators,
[ Rumbling ]
like puma,
a notoriously elusive jaguar.
[ Purring ]
[ Chirping ]
[ Whistle ]
With hungry mouths
patrolling down here,
life in the trees
is a far safer option for many.
[ Whirring ]
And, 10 feet up,
our cameras spy one of the most
vulnerable animals of all.
[ Chirp ]
It's a pygmy marmoset.
[ Chirping ]
Weighing less than an apple,
pygmy marmosets are the
smallest monkey in the world.
MELVILLE:
Look at their little faces.
Just gorgeous.
BENSON:
Stunning.
[ Whirring ]
Their needle-sharp fingernails
enable them to scamper up and
down tree trunks and vines...
...leaping over 30 times their
body length from tree to tree.
[ Creature croaks ]
They can swivel
their heads backwards
to spot any potential predators.
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
And it seems something
has caught the eye
of one of the marmosets,
prompting a loud warning call.
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh,
look, he's really nervous.
He's looking around.
BENSON:
There's some movement
over there.
MELVILLE:
Yeah.
BENSON:
The technology we're using here
means we have an eye
at all levels of this jungle.
Zoom in there.
[ Whirring ]
From one of our canopy cameras,
we can zoom in and see
what's triggered this alarm...
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
...a great black hawk,
stealthily eyeing them up.
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
A very real threat for one
of these snack-sized monkeys.
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
The shrill call lets the hawk
know he's been spotted.
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
And it has the desired effect.
[ Hiss-squeaking ]
His cover has been blown
and he's lost the element
of surprise...
[ Hiss-squeak ]
[ Wings fluttering ]
...allowing the rest
of the marmosets
to return to their playful ways.
For now.
From the moment
we entered this jungle,
we've been surrounded
by a more dizzying array of life
than anywhere
I've ever experienced...
[ Insects chirping ]
But to see some of the more
unusual creatures here,
we need a few extra tricks
up our sleeve.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
I think we want to make sure
we've got as much coverage
in this clearing as possible.
MEYRICK: Heading this way?
-BENSON: Yeah.
♪♪
We obviously know there's
big populations of things
like jaguar and, uh, puma here,
and also scavengers,
but, it's a huge area.
I think we can use a --
a cow's head as bait
and we can hopefully bring some
of those really cool animals
towards where we've got some
of our cameras set up
and see some of the action
for ourselves.
MEYRICK:
How long do you reckon
it'll take for animals
to actually smell this thing
and start coming in?
BENSON:
I reckon things like vultures,
they've got an amazing
sense of smell.
Possibly, in the first day,
we're gonna see animals
start coming in.
And, thanks
to a remarkable insect,
we have the perfect setting
for our experiment.
It's actually,
is one species of ant
that creates these clearings
-MEYRICK: Yeah.
BENSON:
and that has a symbiotic
relationship with these trees,
which are the same trees
in this whole area
and the ants live
inside these branches.
You can see there are little
in and out holes
and these swellings
are their nest, uh, nodule.
The ant releases a --
an acid into the soil
which no other
tree species tolerate,
so, those trees can't grow here.
This tree tolerates it
and, as a result,
gets precedence to grow here.
And the common name for this
species of ant is the lemon ant.
MEYRICK: Right.
-BENSON: Because, if you eat it,
it tastes like lemon.
It's like the world's
smallest lemon sherbet.
MEYRICK: [Chuckle]
-BENSON: Give it a go.
MEYRICK:
More like lime.
[ Laughter ]
BENSON:
With insects eaten
and the lure set,
everything is in place
to monitor this area
over the coming days,
to see who arrives.
[ Insects buzzing ]
[ Creature whistling ]
Each evening,
we spy on the animals
as they hunker down
among the three-dimensional
tangle of branches.
[ Whimsical tune plays ]
And, while this baby woolly
monkey is snuggling up with Mum,
there's no rest for our team.
♪♪
As the Sun dips
below the canopy,...
[ Whistling ]
...the jungle's night shift
begins to stir.
♪♪
To see in this nighttime world,
we've rigged the jungle
with infrared lights.
[ Suspenseful lullaby plays ]
♪♪
But wildlife has no need
for technology
to operate in the Amazon's
twilight zone.
♪♪
This brocket deer has a layer
of ultra light-sensitive cells
at the back of its eyes,
allowing it to see using the
faintest twinkle of starlight.
And keep watch
for nighttime hunters.
MEYRICK:
Oh, number one.
Is that something
that's moving in the bushes?
-MELVILLE: Oh, wow!
BENSON:
Like this solitary puma.
Twenty feet
above the forest floor,
our cameras spy a family
of curious night monkeys,
stirring.
MELVILLE:
Oh, they're quite cute-looking.
MEYRICK: Quite cute, yeah.
-MELVILLE: [Laughing]
[ Chattering ]
[ Rumbling faintly ]
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh, look
at the little baby ones.
MEYRICK:
Incredible.
[ Chirping ]
[ Chattering ]
BENSON:
These are the only nocturnal
monkeys on the planet.
By day, they sleep
in this hollowed-out tree.
But under the cover of darkness,
they emerge...
MEYRICK:
Oh, he's coming out.
MELVILLE:
Off he goes.
BENSON:
...to hunt for insects and ripe
fruit in the surrounding canopy.
MELVILLE:
We've got the infrared lights
and we can see
pretty [laughing] well,
-MEYRICK: Yeah.
MELVILLE:
that, actually, down there,
it is pitch-black.
-MEYRICK: Yeah.
We -- Yeah,
if we went out there,
we'd be just completely blind.
[ Insects chirping ]
BENSON:
As the weeks roll on,
one of the toughest parts
of this filming experiment
is keeping our network
of cameras rolling 24/7
and, with a small team,
that means working in shifts.
[ Alarm beeping ]
Two of us will wake up
in the middle of the night...
♪♪
...pack all our food,
water, and batteries
for the next 12-hour shift,
and make the exhausting
hour-long hike through the dark
to switch out with the
other half of the team.
♪♪
But operating the cameras in the
day can be just as demanding.
[ Whimsical tune plays ]
Wildlife rarely appears
on demand
and, even with multiple cameras
placed across the jungle,
we can sometimes wait for days
without seeing any activity,
[ Monkeys screeching ]
[chuckle] even when their calls
are tantalizingly close.
[whispering] You can hear them.
MELVILLE:
[chuckling, whispering] Yeah.
BENSON:
They're still around.
[ Caw ]
♪♪
MEYRICK:
Very quiet today.
There's plenty of wildlife
in here, like this one.
[ Clap ]
♪♪
BENSON:
Fortunately, as the Sun
rises on a new day,
the wildlife activity around
our cameras picks up again.
[ Suspenseful
country music plays ]
♪♪
Yellow-spotted turtles
are regular visitors
to our riverbank cameras...
♪♪
...and this one is looking
for a place to haul out.
♪♪
Easier said than done when
you're wearing a heavy shell.
♪♪
♪♪
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
When the Sun's out,
these turtles bask in the heat.
♪♪
It warms their
cold-blooded bodies,
while the UV rays
k*ll parasites and algae
growing on their shell.
♪♪
A blissful moment of alone time.
♪♪
On these blistering days,
our monitors are busy
with activity.
♪♪
The peccaries are joined
by animals
from across the forest...
[ Whimsical-suspenseful
tune plays ]
♪♪
...from piping guans...
♪♪
...to inquisitive curassows.
♪♪
And twist-neck turtles
join in on the action.
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
♪♪
Even the nervous brocket deer
has returned,
braving a quick drink
in the safety of the clearing.
♪♪
What appeared, at first, to be
a humble muddy pool is, in fact,
a hidden haven
for the animals here,
all thanks
to the curious peccaries,
who fortify this wallow
with their daily visits.
♪♪
[ Whistling ]
[ Chirping ]
At midday, the fierce equatorial
Sun bakes the canopy.
Moisture is sucked from the
treetops like a giant sauna.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
[ Creature cawing ]
As the mercury creeps
close to 100°,
it's hot work,
for both the animals
and for us.
♪♪
[ Woodpecking ]
[ Leaves rustling ]
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh, wow,
look, quickly.
♪♪
Spider monkeys!
BENSON:
Wow.
♪♪
I've never seen these guys
coming down out of the trees
before, ever.
-MELVILLE: No.
BENSON:
Spider monkeys almost never
leave the safety
of the treetops.
Jaguar and puma
roam the forest floor
and would seize any opportunity
to prey on these large primates.
♪♪
It's a risky maneuver.
There he is.
He's coming to drink.
[ Woodpecking ]
♪♪
In the searing heat,
this male's need for a drink
has become too great.
♪♪
[ Gulping ]
[ Screeching ]
While the young seem oblivious
to the danger afoot...
[ Continues screeching ]
...the female waits nervously.
♪♪
He's dangerously exposed.
[ Lapping ]
Ordinarily, spider monkeys
get their water
from tree holes or moisture
gathered on leaves.
♪♪
Could something else be drawing
them to this mud wallow?
♪♪
MELVILLE:
Oh, yeah, look, there he goes.
BENSON:
Wonderful.
♪♪
Really rare to be able to see
this sort of behavior.
♪♪
[ Cawing ]
We don't have to wait long
before our cameras capture
another piece of the puzzle.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh, I think it's
a howler monkey.
BENSON:
[whispering] Yeah,
it's a howler monkey.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
Oh, I hope they come down.
BENSON: Yeah.
Following
in the spider monkey's
footsteps,
the howler monkey wastes no time
heading down to the muddy bank.
But it's not a drink
of water he's after.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
[ Chewing ]
♪♪
Yeah, they're not drinking.
They're just eating
MELVILLE: Yeah.
-BENSON: whole clumps of clay.
♪♪
Amazing.
MELVILLE:
Like whole mouthfuls
of the stuff.
♪♪
Oh, look there's two;
there's two!
♪♪
BENSON:
Howler monkeys are known
to sometimes eat clay
that's rich in minerals
to help neutralize toxins
from their leafy diet.
[ Gulp ]
♪♪
Their mucky meal is evidence
that this watering hole
contains more
than meets the eye,
and sheds light
on why the monkeys
risk life and limb
to come and feed here.
♪♪
That's amazing to see.
♪♪
[ Chattering ]
Despite the rewards of filming
in a pristine rain forest,
Agh!
the conditions
are far from easy.
MEYRICK:
We've been setting up
remote cameras
in really hard to get to places.
It's obviously muddy
and slippery
and we've gotta get
cameras and cables
and feed them back to our tent.
BENSON:
Just getting power
to our camera rig
in a place this remote
is a huge logistical challenge.
♪♪
So, the, uh,
the batteries that we're using
to power our remote rig
are these kind of 20-kilo,
12-volt batteries,
and we've got three of them
that we're having to carry
to and from base every day, so,
the walk, alone, with this
weight is k*lling us
and, uh, it's an enterprise
unto itself,
and that's before you've even
pressed record on the cameras.
COX:
I've worked in the Serengeti,
in the Arctic,
in every sort of environment,
up mountains,
and there's nowhere
quite like the jungle.
It's so difficult,
in so many ways,
to try and film wildlife.
The wildlife is spread
between 100 meters up
and a meter down in the ground
and you can quite easily walk
for 20 minutes here
and see nothing,
yet I know the facts are
that I've probably passed
thousands of species
in that time.
♪♪
BENSON:
While the Amazon's
wildlife are experts
at keeping themselves hidden...
♪♪
...trail cameras reveal
that powerful predators
[ Rumbling ]
do use this area.
♪♪
Hoping to film the behaviors
of one of these apex predators,
we decide to rig a location
close to where the trail cameras
were last triggered.
♪♪
I think this site's perfect.
I could imagine,
you know, something like
a jaguar could be up there,
puma, lying in wait.
Amazing ambush predators,
as we know,
they'll potentially sit
and watch things
going into this cave and then,
you know, you could have a --
a deer come through here.
It would have no idea
it's being watched
and that jaguar would be on its
back before it knows about it.
So, um, it's a long shot,
but I think,
if we have our cameras here,
we're likely to see some
really exciting behavior.
As well as rigging cameras
outside the cave,
we install a camera
inside, as well,
to see what animals use it.
COX:
So, I think we're gonna
have to run the cable --
BENSON:
We have no idea what could be
lurking deeper inside,
so we've got to be
extremely cautious.
We can have some
infrared lights in there,
so we can have
a bit of illumination.
♪♪
Getting the infrared
lights in place
means crawling for 40 feet
through thick mud
into the furthest reaches
of the cave.
♪♪
Some bats flying
around in there.
[ Wings fluttering ]
Clearly an active spot.
♪♪
Not only is this cave
the perfect home
for a whole manner
of jungle predators,
bats are known to carry some
of the deadliest diseases
known to humans,
so this isn't somewhere
I want to hang around.
♪♪
And, with the lights installed,
I make a hasty exit.
♪♪
[ Insects chirping ]
[ Creature whistling ]
For a zoologist, like me,
there are few places
more exhilarating
than a rain forest after dark
and the nighttime world
of the Amazon
quite literally
pulses with life.
[ Hooting ]
Our microphones
across the jungle
capture a chorus
of nocturnal animals
echoing through the understory.
[ Insects chirping ]
[ Whooping ]
The camera we installed in the
cave is already paying off,
revealing a lively colony
of round-eared bats.
♪♪
And, in infrared,
[ Twittering ]
we can see
their invisible world.
♪♪
These bats can't support their
body weight standing upright,
so, instead,
they hang from the roof.
♪♪
Special tendons in their feet
allow them to dangle
with zero effort,
so they can focus
on more important tasks,
like grooming.
♪♪
But getting up there takes
a feat of precision aerobatics.
♪♪
They have to flip 180° midair
and reverse into position.
MELVILLE:
I guess you always see
bats either flying
or hanging [laughing]
upside-down, backwards.
I never really thought about how
they get from one to the other.
MEYRICK:
How they get into
that position, yeah.
MELVILLE:
Bit like parallel parking.
MEYRICK: Yeah.
MELVILLE:
They just slot right in.
♪♪
[ Twittering ]
At the back of the cave,
it looks like
all the adults are in one spot
and then, the young are sort of
[laughing] off to the side.
MEYRICK:
Yeah.
Yeah, they're really
separated, aren't they?
MELVILLE:
Yeah.
♪♪
BENSON:
Their bizarre leaf-shaped nose
focuses and amplifies their
chirping echolocation calls
into a narrow beam.
♪♪
It's a super-sense allowing them
to navigate in the dark
and locate
any potential dangers.
♪♪
And we soon discover what
these bats need to be wary of.
MEYRICK:
Oh.
There's something on three.
Snake.
MELVILLE: Oh, wow!
-MEYRICK: There it is.
That is a big snake.
-MELVILLE: [Scoff]
Look at the way it moves
MEYRICK: Oh, yeah.
-MELVILLE: its head,
like kind of almost
sniffing through the air.
♪♪
MEYRICK:
Well, it looks like
he's hunting.
BENSON:
Using heat-sensitive
receptors on its head,
the snake probes the air for
any bat within striking range.
♪♪
MEYRICK:
Being at the cave entrance,
probably not a bad place,
just waiting for a bat
to fly past.
♪♪
BENSON:
But this bat appears too busy
cleaning its wings
to have noticed.
MELVILLE:
I mean, I've seen a couple
of snakes around camp, but,
I haven't seen one this big.
MEYRICK:
No, that is a sizable snake.
He's gotta be,
uh, six-foot-long maybe?
BENSON:
Big enough to make
this bat pay attention.
MELVILLE:
He's disappeared.
Well, it's quite creepy
to think, when we were
setting up the [laughing] camera
in the cave, it could've been
in there the whole time.
[ Cawing ]
[ Insects chirping ]
BENSON:
As the snake slinks
into the undergrowth...
[ Wings fluttering ]
...the colony are left in peace.
Every sunrise in the Amazon
feels magical...
[ Hooting ]
...a billion jungle inhabitants
awakening for a new day.
♪♪
The air in this jungle
is a living mist
of moisture, microbes,
and invisible spores,
slowly decaying
everything it touches.
I think I've got two belts
that I've gone through here.
Both of them have been
consumed by mold.
They just...don't dry.
And while our cameras
are designed
for these rain forest
conditions,
it's beginning to take
its toll on them, too.
MEYRICK:
The biggest challenge
with the cameras
and all the equipment
we have here is the humidity
and that affects cables;
it affects cameras
and you can have a camera
working just fine, one moment,
and then, all of a sudden,
it reaches a point
where it no longer works.
♪♪
BENSON:
It becomes a constant struggle
for us to keep the cameras
and monitors running 24/7.
COX:
It's already full of water.
MELVILLE:
If we got another box,
I'm sure we could work it out.
MEYRICK:
Some camera's gone down
and we've had to swap it out
for a new one
and that will last fine
for a few days
and then, that will go down,
so that's a constant challenge,
is to keep repairing and
keeping on top of all the kit.
COX:
We just brought these back
from one of our positions
and there's water
kind of dripping out
of various bits of it.
Actually, that is
soaking wet in there.
[ Blows ]
They are waterproof, but it's --
when it's been raining here,
it's been literally
a power shower,
um, it's been a jet wash.
MEYRICK:
When it's this wet
everywhere, um,
cameras just don't survive.
BENSON:
With only have a tight window
to get the footage
we need here...
MELVILLE: No!
BENSON:
...we've got to keep
the rig running
and not let the conditions
get to us.
♪♪
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
For now, the cameras
are back in action
and we can press on
with our filming experiment.
MELVILLE:
[gasp] What's that in the trees?
There's something moving there.
♪♪
BENSON:
It's a troop of woolly monkeys.
MELVILLE:
Very exciting.
BENSON: Yeah.
MELVILLE:
[whispering] God,
there's loads of them.
♪♪
[ Leaves rustling ]
BENSON:
Their muscular bodies
enable them to move with ease
among the three-dimensional
layers of the canopy...
♪♪
...and make death-defying leaps
from branch to branch.
♪♪
[whispering] Very, very agile,
like an acrobat.
♪♪
Our cameras are revealing
that they have a secret weapon
for success
among these treetops.
MELVILLE:
Oh, look, look how he's --
he's holding himself
with that branch.
♪♪
BENSON:
[whispering] He has a kind of
thick pad on the inside
of the top of the tail,
which they can use to --
to grab onto things,
but it is like another hand.
They're pretty much dangling
from their tails.
It's like "Mission: Impossible."
-MELVILLE: [Chuckle]
BENSON:
Their tail can support
their entire body weight,
freeing up their hands
to search for food.
♪♪
Each morning, like clockwork,
we watch as the troop heads out.
♪♪
Let's see if we can follow him.
MELVILLE:
Yeah.
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
BENSON:
Can you move that camera one?
Let's see if there's something
coming through there.
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
Led by the imposing alpha male,
they travel through the canopy's
interconnected sea of green
and our cameras capture glimpses
of their two-mile
foraging mission.
♪♪
150 feet above the
forest floor...
♪♪
...we see that the foods
they're after
are young leaves
and fresh shoots.
♪♪
But climbing higher, still,
there's an even
tastier reward...
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
...soft, ripe fruit.
♪♪
Their sensitive hands
allow them to feel
for those which are
just right for picking.
♪♪
That thick fur is amazing.
MELVILLE:
Yeah. I wonder if it's
to keep the bugs away.
♪♪
BENSON:
But woolly monkeys appear
to be picky eaters,
consuming just the juiciest
and sweetest part of the fruit
and discarding the rest.
♪♪
As they feast their way
through the treetops,
their castoffs shower
the forest floor below...
♪♪
[ Crack ]
where the seeds can germinate.
♪♪
MELVILLE: Oh, privileged view.
-BENSON: Yeah.
So, it seems their picky
table manners
actually help to plant
more fruit trees here,
meaning the next generation
of ravenous woollies
will have plenty to feast on.
♪♪
[ Whimsical tune plays ]
It's been three weeks since we
begun our filming experiment
and our remote cameras
have discovered creatures
of all shapes and sizes.
[ Whimsical tune plays ]
But there's one group
of animals
that reigns supreme...
[ Buzzing ]
...insects.
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
Over two and a half million
species of them
inhabit every inch
of the Amazon jungle
and each day is a battle
against this relentless
army of bugs.
MEYRICK:
We're absolutely
covered in them.
BENSON:
Sometimes they're
after our equipment.
This is what's happening
to our bags.
They're everywhere.
MELVILLE:
Oh! Oh!
BENSON:
Most of the time,
they just want us.
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
MELVILLE:
Everything wants to lay
its eggs in you
or bite you
[laughing] or sting you.
COX:
I've just been pursued
by a fly, just literally.
I went up there, came back,
went up there, came back,
and he just followed me
the whole way.
♪♪
BENSON:
It seems the wildlife, too,
isn't exempt from this
barrage of bugs.
♪♪
[ Buzzing ]
MEYRICK:
I liken it to imagining
you're in a sauna
and you're doing
a full-body workout.
MELVILLE: [Scoffs]
-MEYRICK: Every five minutes,
someone pokes you
with a really sharp stick.
♪♪
BENSON:
For most of the inhabitants
here, bugs mean food,
and, for this oropendola,
a juicy caterpillar
is the perfect way
to start the day.
Several floors below,
in the tangled understory,
our cameras spot
that the pygmy marmosets
are also working up
quite an appetite.
[whispering] Let's go wider
on one of these other angles.
The whole g*ng are out in force.
MELVILLE:
[whispering] Oh, wow!
There's lots of them.
[ Ethereal-suspenseful
music plays ]
BENSON:
Using their needle-sharp teeth,
they nibble holes in the tree.
MELVILLE:
Oh, wow!
♪♪
BENSON:
Our close-up camera reveals
that it's not the bark
they're eating...
[ Lapping ]
...but the sticky sap
underneath...
♪♪
...a high-energy superfood
for these marmosets.
♪♪
It pools into the perfectly
excavated holes,
ready to be slurped up.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
[chuckle] They're lapping it up.
♪♪
BENSON:
Draining all the sap from one
part of the tree could harm it,
so the marmosets create
a network of holes
and just eat a little from each.
♪♪
♪♪
This industrious colony
can create
up to 1,300 holes
on a single tree,
so getting to the sap
before it drips away
is busy business.
♪♪
Our cameras are revealing
that the pygmy marmosets
are essentially farming
this delicious gum
up in the canopy,
a smart strategy that saves
these vulnerable monkeys
from making dangerous trips
into the jungle to find food.
♪♪
[whispering]
This is what's amazing
about using a rig
of cameras like this,
that you can film unnoticed
-MELVILLE: Yeah.
BENSON:
and the wildlife will continue
as if you're not there.
♪♪
[ Scampering ]
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
Our cameras have stealthily
watched the bait
for many days, now,
and, after the long wait,
our patience
is finally rewarded.
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
[ Chirp ]
[ Ethereal suspenseful
music plays ]
It's one of the rain forest's
most infamous undertakers:
a yellow-headed vulture.
Unlike most birds, they have
an incredible sense of smell,
allowing them to zero in
on a potential meal
in thick jungle
from up to two miles away.
♪♪
Their entire diet consists
of dead meat...
[ Insects buzzing ]
...and their bald head and legs
are perfectly adapted
to stay clean
as they pick their way
through a messy carcass.
♪♪
Other species of vultures
have a poor sense of smell,
but the sight of the
yellow-headed vultures circling
has alerted them
to the feast below.
♪♪
The first to join are the giants
of the vulture world...
[ Suspenseful music climbs ]
...king vultures.
With a seven-foot wingspan,
they are top
of the pecking order here.
[ Wings fluttering ]
MEYRICK: Oh, what was that?
Something landed in the tree,
quite big.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
Must be the king vulture.
MEYRICK: That must be
a king, yeah.
BENSON:
With their piercing eyes
and flame-red face,
it's easy to see
why ancient Mayans
believed king vultures
to be messengers for the gods.
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
Despite their
foreboding appearance,
vultures are
incredibly cautious
and a gathering like this would
be impossible to film up close.
[ Buzzing ]
[ Hiss ]
-[Whistle]
-[Hiss]
Ordinarily,
the domineering kings
would muscle the smaller
vultures off a carcass,
but, today, something
is holding them back.
[ Whimsical-suspenseful
tune plays ]
It's not quite the predatory
leopard we were hoping for.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
It's a tortoise!
MEYRICK: That is a tortoise.
-MELVILLE: [Laughs]
MEYRICK:
I wonder what he's doin' here.
♪♪
BENSON:
The vultures seem
as surprised as we are
by this unlikely arrival
at the banquet.
♪♪
MELVILLE:
Maybe it's just
his route through
MEYRICK: Could be. Let's see.
-MELVILLE: on his morning walk.
♪♪
BENSON:
Yellow-footed tortoises
are a well-known resident
of the forest floor.
♪♪
MEYRICK:
Yeah, he's on a mission.
Look at him.
He's heading straight for it.
BENSON:
They're known to feast
on leaves and fruit.
♪♪
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
♪♪
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
MEYRICK:
He's puttin' his nose
right in there.
MELVILLE:
Yeah.
♪♪
BENSON:
This rarely seen behavior,
of a tortoise scavenging meat,
is how they supplement
their diet
with a bit of extra protein.
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
♪♪
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
And, now it's had its fill,
it returns to its
fruit-eating ways.
MELVILLE:
It's such a cute animal,
I'm almost disappointed
in the tortoise.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
[ Buzzing ]
[ Chirping ]
BENSON:
It's a glorious afternoon
and, at the river,
the yellow-spotted turtles
are, again, soaking up some rays
in quiet tranquillity.
But not for long.
[ Whimsical-suspenseful
tune plays ]
This, however,
is no chance encounter.
♪♪
This butterfly has come here
looking for a meal.
Unlike carnivores, that get
sodium from their diet,
herbivorous butterflies
need to get creative
about how they get it.
♪♪
Further along the riverbank...
♪♪
...our cameras have discovered
huge numbers
of colorful butterflies
flocking to patches
of exposed clay.
♪♪
[ Whirring ]
♪♪
They use their long proboscises
to lick the mud
and extract any sodium
from the moist soil.
♪♪
It's a beautifully
organized affair,
with each species
color-coding themselves
to feed in their own patch.
But some butterflies seek
a more intense sodium hit...
♪♪
[ Chorale joins ]
♪♪
...and, unfortunately
for turtles,
their tears are
the ultimate source.
[ Whimsical chord strikes ]
[ Whirring ]
[ Chirping ]
The salty moisture around their
eyes and nose is irresistible.
The boldest butterflies
don't even wait
for the turtles to be fully
out of the water.
But, they appear
remarkably accepting
of their fluttering companions.
Perhaps their
probing proboscises
clean the turtle's
hard to reach places.
[ Chirping ]
But even the most obliging
turtles have a limit...
...compelling them
to return, once more...
...to the solitude of the water.
As the nights tick by,
our cameras across the forest
[ Whirring ]
are finding creatures
that only emerge
under the cover of darkness.
[ Whirring ]
From the charming...
-MEYRICK: It's moving
MELVILLE: Oh, wow.
-MEYRICK: in the bushes.
MELVILLE: It's a porcupine!
-MEYRICK: Is it?
MELVILLE:
[chuckling] Oh, look,
he just fell over.
Oh, that's really sweet.
BENSON:
...to the unexpected.
MEYRICK: A crab, look.
-MELVILLE: Oh, wow, there is
actually a crab.
-MEYRICK: Yeah.
How weird, to see a crab
in the middle of the jungle.
BENSON:
With infrared cameras,
we're able to see the invisible.
[ Ethereal-suspenseful
music plays ]
And, along the banks
of the river...
♪♪
...they're revealing
a colossal cloud of insects...
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
...gathering over the water.
And it's not long
before this buzz of activity
attracts some familiar faces.
♪♪
So this is where the bats come
when they leave their cave.
♪♪
They fire high-pitched chirps
across the water...
♪♪
...and, by listening to the
echoes that bounce back...
♪♪
...they can zero in
on a single insect
and make their strike.
♪♪
♪♪
Even large prey items,
like this huge moth,
can be dispatched on the wing.
♪♪
Each bat can eat
up to 3,000 insects per night
and our infrared cameras
are revealing the scale
of this feeding frenzy.
♪♪
I, for one,
appreciate their part
in helping to keep the army
of biting insects here
in check.
[ Chirping ]
[ Chirping ]
[ Whooshing ]
[ Whistling ]
[ Poignant tune plays ]
After four incredible weeks,
our time here is almost
at an end.
Filming
"Undercover in the Jungle"
has allowed us to experience
the lives of the animals here
in a whole new way.
That is fantastic,
an animal's-eye view of this
amazing forest clearing.
And, as a zoologist,
it's allowed me
to witness things that I
never imagined possible.
[whispering] You'd never be able
to get this sort of footage.
Even sitting in a hide
with a long lens,
you'd have to be super lucky.
MELVILLE:
Yeah.
[ Thunder crashing ]
♪♪
BENSON:
But it's been
a humbling experience.
MELVILLE:
This has definitely been one
of the most mentally challenging
projects I've ever done.
BENSON:
The extreme conditions
pushed our equipment
and our bodies
to their very limit...
[ Buzzing ]
♪♪
...giving us a profound
understanding
of what the animals must
overcome to survive here.
♪♪
[ Rumbling ]
♪♪
[ Chirping ]
We've had just glimpses
of some creatures...
♪♪
...and have become
well-acquainted with others.
♪♪
Yet, this is just a snapshot
of the magnitude of life
that exists here...
[ Twitter ]
[whispering]
What a remarkable moment
to have captured.
[ Cawing ]
...and a reminder
of how much there is
still to learn
about this magical Eden.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
To learn more about what you've
seen on this "Nature" program,
visit pbs.org.
♪♪
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