Original subtitles

Dream of the Caribbean and you might imagine

palm-fringed islands and endless sunshine.

But stretching over a million square miles,

with over 7,000 islands,

this is the home of extraordinary natural wonders.

I want to show you the wild heart of the Caribbean.

HE IMITATES HOWL

MONKEY HOWLS

I'm Liz Bonnin.

The Caribbean shaped my childhood

and inspired me to explore the natural world.

SHE GASPS

It's a place of incredible variety.

That was mind-blowing.

I'll be travelling across the Caribbean's

four distinct regions...

This place is so surreal.

...to celebrate its astonishing and awe-inspiring creatures.

Everything about this animal speaks to highly sophisticated evolution.

Their remarkable habitats are under threat.

I'll meet the people protecting these precious ecosystems...

It's just a beautiful thing,

to watch an animal going back to its home.

...and discover the relationship between life, land and sea

that you can find nowhere else on Earth.

There's more to this place than meets the eye.

So much more.

The vast tropical region of the Caribbean

extends as far as the eastern coastline of Central America.

Hot, humid jungles meet the crystal clear waters

of the Caribbean Sea,

resulting in spectacular landscapes and a rich variety of species.

I've travelled to Belize and its coastal lagoons

to search for a species I've never seen before.

The Antillean manatee.

These magnificent marine mammals can measure

up to four metres in length and weigh as much as 600kg.

Manatees spend about eight hours a day grazing on sea grass

and other marine vegetation to get all the nutrition they need,

consuming as much as 9% of their body weight.

There are only about 2,500 Antillean manatees

left on the planet,

and it's estimated that almost 1,000 of them

live along Belize's coastline.

I've come to Gales Point,

where manatees have been faring relatively well,

to meet manatee expert Jamal Galves.

Jamal!

There are a lot of people here. It's busy this morning.

Excellent. So where are we heading off to?

Jamal and the team are monitoring the health and behaviours

of the manatees here,

and today they also hope to put a satellite tag on one.

OK, well, look, I'm keen to learn and to be your assistant

as much as I can be.

You just tell me what you need.

Jamal first encountered manatees with a group

of American researchers here 25 years ago, aged 11.

They took him under their wings, taught him the ropes

and even helped with his studies abroad.

Now a fully-fledged biologist

and National Geographic explorer,

he's back living in the village he loves,

coordinating this entire research operation.

After a hiatus, the team are eager to get to work.

This is the first of the season. Since three years.

Since three years. LAUGHTER

And they've allowed us on the boat.

I've got that giddiness again.

This is my first time seeing a manatee with my own eyes.

And we're not just seeing one,

we're helping to conserve this species

by giving it a much-needed health check

for the first time in three years.

Manatees that these guys know,

that they haven't seen for a while.

They're chilled, but you can feel the excitement.

Right, Jamal, what's the plan?

OK.

You just want to get one? One at a time?

We're clear for take-off.

And we're off.

Go find us manatees!

You see a manatee?

Oh! wait, what?

Oh, look it!

Oh, wow!

Three, four, five.

Are they quite social?

Like, they do hang out in little groups.

What's an 0G?

"Original gangster!"

This is the best research trip I've ever been on.

Manatee mothers and calves are known to form very strong bonds,

staying together for up to two years as the female nurses her young.

But as mainly solitary animals,

gatherings like this one will only occur when manatees are feeding

or drinking fresh water in rivers.

Right there. Hold on. Get ready.

Get ready.

Is he turning left?

Get ready. Now.

Now.

Look at the state of this!

I think we got it. In the water.

One guy in the water.

Look.

Two guys in the water.

Three. Four.

Oh, my God. This is amazing.

How do you guys know what you're doing?

RADIO: We have a big gap over there.

So it's not just as easy as having a net out.

The manatee can dip down and swim under the net

because, you know, they're used to the mud.

They don't need visibility.

They've got extraordinary senses that allow them to navigate

through these types of waters.

Lead scientist Buddy, who first met and mentored Jamal

all those years ago, guides the team to anchor down the net

and contain the manatee safely.

Flippin' heck! LAUGHTER

This is amazing.

It's a good team. And a lot of the local guys here

take great pride in doing this.

It's really wonderful to watch.

Using a second, smaller net,

they gently guide the manatee to the boat,

working carefully to minimise the risk of injury or stress.

RADIO: Back in the boat.

Manatee incoming.

One, two, three!

On board, Jamal and the team must conduct their health checks

as quickly as possible.

There's so much going on.

It's all kicking off.

Are you checking for tags? Uh-huh.

Has this one been tagged before? Yes or no?

With no tag detected,

this manatee hasn't been health checked before.

Oh, look at it!

Look at it!

Looking out for it. Looking out for it.

Not yet.

Here.

No problem.

Excuse me, darling girl.

Not breath. No breath.

Just a little.

Breath!

Splashing the manatee's snout mimics the sensation of surfacing,

triggering the instinct to breathe.

In the water, manatees normally come to the surface to breathe

every three to four minutes.

If this manatee's breathing rate slows down too much,

it'll need to go back in the water fast.

You might think it's a bit of a lumpy-looking

grey beast of a thing that we've just hauled out of the water.

Yeah, I need this filled up.

But everything about this animal

speaks to highly sophisticated evolution.

In and around its mouth are bristles with a very important function.

They've been described as living cutlery.

They help to grasp the food and direct it to its mouth.

Its lips are what we call prehensile.

They're independent of each other.

So when it's feeding on vegetation,

the sea grass that it loves so much,

it can pick out the choice bits of sea grass

with one side of its mouth and chuck out the rest with the other.

It's a very dainty eater.

Now tell me it's a lump.

Breath!

What are the bloods for?

Manatees across their range

are threatened by coastal development

and boat strikes.

This lagoon offers some refuge.

But things are changing here, too,

and Jamal has found that many individuals

now bear scars from boats.

The health checks the team are carrying out are crucial.

Faecal samples reveal the manatee's diet,

skin samples test for pollutants

and blood tests can detect infection.

All this data will reveal the conditions

of the manatee's environment to help protect it for the future.

Oh, Buddy's calling me over.

Hi. Hi, there.

The satellite tag will track the manatee's movements

and behaviours, revealing how its environment is changing.

But as the team complete their health check,

there's a concern.

Come on.

Underneath the lips a little more.

Now a little water, right?

Breathe. All right.

I've got to get a picture before I go.

Unfasten, and everything all right?

What's happening?

The manatee hasn't taken a breath in about three minutes.

Jamal, take your hand and swipe.

Wipe it clean so it's dry.

Breath. OK, undo the nets.

The team take no chances.

It needs to get back in the water quickly.

When this is in the water, I can let go?

Yeah, just put it down in the water. Don't throw it.

I won't throw it. God, no, no, no.

All right. Ready? One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Ooh!

LAUGHTER

Well, I just got baptised.

Oh, yeah. We forgot to tell you. What happened to you?

I got thrashed by a manatee, and it was worth every second!

I hope so!

What? That was amazing!

Oh, no, that was...

Actually, that's the best ending to the most extraordinary afternoon.

Over the next nine months,

Manatee 181 and its tag will be delivering the vital data

that Jamal and Buddy need to help secure the future

of this lagoon for the manatees and all of the wildlife here.

I accompanied Jamal back to dry land

to find out how he feels about the future here.

Like, I can't even put it into words.

It was ridiculous.

It was the most incredible thing.

Manatee Man.

You are Manatee Man. That's not something you've made up.

Everybody in Belize calls you Manatee Man. Yeah.

It sticked, eventually.

LAUGHTER

I grew up in one of the most crime-ridden area

in terms of where I was in Belize City.

But growing up where I am,

society, the societal perception is that people like us,

we're not meant to be doctors or researchers.

The people that we influence,

the people that we're able to inspire

to want to be a part of these critical efforts

is important to me.

And I feel that people see me as saving manatees,

but manatees basically saved my life first.

Because I've developed this interest in the species,

I was so focused that I didn't have time to be doing other things.

They've literally saved my life.

Jamal hopes that by introducing young Belizeans

to his manatee research,

more of them will, like him, be inspired

to choose a different path in life.

It's been an absolute honour spending time with you.

It was funny seeing you on the boat

because it reminded me of my younger self.

Yeah, this day will stay with me forever,

and I don't mean that glibly.

Honestly, it's right here.

Yeah. So thanks again.

As soon as we leave the coast, the jungle is all around us.

Belize has more rainforest cover than anywhere else

in the Caribbean.

Covering 60% of the country,

it teems with life of all kinds

and envelops the towns and villages within it.

I'm in the Belize River Valley in the centre of the country

where a community of seven different villages

is doing things a little bit differently.

The locals here have developed a very special relationship

with a noisy neighbour,

the largest and loudest monkeys of the Americas,

the Yucatan black howler monkeys,

or baboons, as they're known locally.

Good morning!

Hi. May I interrupt? Good morning.

Are you Ms Jessie? Morning.

Yes, I'm Ms Jessie. Nice to meet you.

Hi, nice to meet you. Can I join you ladies?

How are you all?

Do you all know each other a long time?

How long have you known...?

Ms Jessie has been an activist in the communities

from as far as I can remember.

On top of demanding day jobs as teachers,

nurses and Red Cross coordinators,

Ms Jessie and her team have been working hard

to protect the howler monkeys here for the past 25 years.

Belizeans have a very special relationship with the howlers.

You've always respected them, haven't you?

We grew up with the monkeys,

so they're almost like a part of our culture.

I have a tree right in my yard, a fig tree.

Love figs.

And they are always there in my yard.

At certain time, they're missing for a while.

You look forward to see them.

And then, when they come back, they come with a baby or two.

Yeah. Yeah.

It makes us proud.

So we want to take care of them.

In the 1980s, a sanctuary was set up to protect the monkeys

as their habitat disappeared and numbers fell.

But it failed, so Ms Jessie gathered a group of women to take over.

The men were running the sanctuary up to 1998.

That's when we took over.

And what state was the sanctuary in, then?

So it was totally ruined,

and we didn't have any funds,

we didn't have anything.

None of us knew anything about computers.

So, when we started our first proposal,

Ms Darla would say, "I can't do that!

"I don't know how to do it!"

"Yes, you can." That's what we said.

"Yes, you can, Darla.

"You have to try."

Woman power behind this whole thing.

Because all the farmers' cooperatives,

all the livestock cooperatives,

they are all men and they are all failed.

They failed.

This was run by men and failed.

And since the woman took over,

then here we are, flourishing like a flower.

I have got shivers.

People might say, you know, "They're woman anyway.

"What do they know?"

You know? But we really know.

In fact, we are the mothers of the men.

So we know.

What was the situation with the black howler monkeys

when you took on the sanctuary?

When we started, there were, like, 500-800 monkeys.

And the work that we have done with the landowners,

we have over 5,000 monkeys today.

Might you be Robert? Yeah.

Ms Jessie said I need to come with you... OK.

...to find howler monkeys.

In the forests around the village,

local guide Robert is going to show me

how they've increased the monkey population.

Let's try this way here.

Your instincts? Yeah, because corridors,

we have corridors. OK.

You see, with the pledge that the people sign,

we ask them to leave strips of forest

within property boundaries.

If you leave 50 feet and I leave 50 feet,

that forms 100 feet of forest.

That forms a corridor so wildlife could move from one area

to another.

Ms Jessie and her team persuaded 200 villagers to set aside

parts of their gardens

and plant some of the monkeys' favourite fruit trees

to contribute to 20 square miles of protected howler monkey habitat.

Right where we're passing right now, do you notice monkeys?

The monkeys are looking at us. Did you test me?

I guarantee. If I'm lying, I'm dying.

He tested me and I failed.

It's real. Monkeys are looking at us.

LAUGHTER

Where, Robert?

Oh!

Oh, my gosh!

That's the alpha male.

You also have, like, a juvenile, a mother,

and also maybe the baby - all bunched together.

Good grief. Can we get a tiny bit closer?

Sure. Yes, we can.

You know, we learn about animals in books

and then you just get the opportunity

to come and meet them in a place that's worked

really, really hard to help them.

It's just breathtaking.

This forest is now home to one of the highest densities

of black howler monkeys in the world.

Oh, there's a baby!

He's checking us out!

Female howler monkeys give birth to one baby a year,

caring for it for 12 months.

The youngster will then stay with its troop

until it's four years old.

Nigel.

He's over... He's over our cameraman's head.

He may well land on our cameraman's head.

Good morning.

Oh, he's going after Mama.

The dominant male of this small family group

keeps a close eye on the proceedings.

You can see the prehensile tail

that acts as another limb, essentially.

And there's a part of it under it

that's got a bit of a texture to it.

It's a gripping pad,

as they're moving through the canopy,

grasping onto branches.

To keep the family safe and to protect their territory,

these monkeys have evolved a very impressive

means of communication.

So have you learned a lot of their howls?

Oh, yeah, I guess.

Look at this.

HE IMITATES HOWL

MONKEY HOWLS

HE IMITATES HOWL

MONKEY HOWLS

That reverberates in your chest.

Almost makes me feel sick.

These extraordinary vocalisations can be heard

up to two miles away.

And it's all down to this enlarged bone called the hyoid bone

that's near the vocal cords,

so it helps to amplify the howls.

And they're for all sorts of purposes,

for announcing your presence,

for letting other members of your troops know where you are,

for looking for mates,