1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,880 An international team of explorers, 2 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:16,360 scientists and filmmakers is on a critical mission to save tigers. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:17,800 THUNDER CLAPS 4 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:23,920 Revered and feared, the majestic tiger has been hunted to the brink of extinction. 5 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:35,560 But the mysterious Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan may hold new hope. 6 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,160 What we find out here could be essential for the survival of the species. 7 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,240 The expedition has found tigers in the tropical south. 8 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:50,680 Now, the search continues into the mountains, where science says tigers shouldn't exist. 9 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,240 We have to look everywhere. 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,240 We have to search everything. That's our mission. 11 00:00:55,240 --> 00:01:01,440 As the team take on the mighty Himalayas, they will face their toughest challenges yet. 12 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,040 Predators enter camp. 13 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,200 We've got a cat! Gee! Oh, we've got a cat. 14 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,560 Oh! Food supplies are ruined. 15 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,880 I've suddenly become a vegetarian. 16 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,720 And they are stalked by big cats. 17 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,520 And I don't know where the hell I am. 18 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:23,640 What they discover in the mountains could change the fate of tigers forever. 19 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,440 Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh. 20 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,200 Bhutan is a little-known Himalayan country. 21 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:07,720 From its border with India, the land rises 7,000 metres into the highest mountain range on earth. 22 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,600 For three weeks, the expedition has been based in the tropical south. 23 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,960 Now they're packing up jungle base camp. 24 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:22,040 The final and most crucial phase of the expedition has begun. 25 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,160 A small team is travelling into the high Himalayas 26 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:33,120 to investigate rumours that tigers are living at extreme altitudes. 27 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:40,320 Gordon Buchanan is a wildlife cameraman, with 10 years' experience filming big cats. 28 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:46,080 He's returning to these mountains to check the camera traps he set at the start of the expedition. 29 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:47,280 All ready to go. 30 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,240 Good luck. 31 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,800 It's quite exciting because all this time that I've been at base camp, 32 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,240 the camera traps that I laid up in the Himalayas a good while back, 33 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,800 they've been clicking away and recording images up there. 34 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:06,800 With Gordon is Oxford University biologist Dr George McGavin. 35 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,920 He will be carrying out a health check of the forest, to see if it's rich enough to support big cats. 36 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:20,520 The cooler, higher altitude will have a completely different fauna. 37 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,120 Totally uncharted, unknown in terms of its animals and plants. 38 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:31,520 These mountains are the missing piece of a puzzle that might save tigers from extinction in the wild. 39 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,240 Tigers used to range across all of Asia. 40 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,520 Only small pockets remain. 41 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,640 But there is a master plan 42 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:48,160 to link isolated tiger populations in the last wild landscape along the foothills of the Himalayas. 43 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,760 No-one knows how many tigers there are in Bhutan. 44 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:59,600 The vast tiger corridor will only be effective if evidence of tigers can be found. 45 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,960 Not just in its southern jungles, but in the mountains, too. 46 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,320 Time is not on their side. 47 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:14,080 Tigers could go extinct over the next one or two decades. 48 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,320 Literally, tigers are dying as we speak. 49 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:24,920 The inspiration behind this master plan to save tigers is big cat expert Dr Alan Rabinowitz. 50 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:32,080 The Himalayan corridor, by its nature, by its name, is a very mountainous region. 51 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,280 Its survival will depend on whether or not 52 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:40,280 tigers can live and move through some of these high mountain ranges. 53 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,200 The team has just two weeks to find that vital evidence. 54 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,440 Gordon and George's new base camp is 3km higher than their last one. 55 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,040 With the help of local herders, 56 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,560 this expedition will be the first from the outside world to explore this remote region. 57 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,760 There are no roads here. 58 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,600 So the expedition's kit is arriving by pony train. 59 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:28,000 Gordon's prepared for anything. He's brought an arsenal of high-tech cameras. 60 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,240 If we're going to be successful up here, we have to throw everything we've got at it. 61 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,680 So we've got the thermal camera, we've got the infra-red camera, 62 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,880 we've got the big long lens and the camera traps. 63 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,760 Because for Alan's idea of the tiger corridor to work, 64 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,920 we not only have to find tigers down in the south, but we have to find tigers throughout Bhutan. 65 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:52,240 Explorer Steve Backshall is the third and final member of the mountain team. 66 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:57,000 He is five days' walk to the northeast of Gordon and George's mountain camp. 67 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:06,560 Steve's trekking up to the Tibetan border, to a remote peak where tigers are rumoured to roam. 68 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:11,240 Local people call it Gang Chen Ta - Tiger Mountain. 69 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,240 As far as knowledge of tigers go, this part of the Himalaya hasn't been explored by anybody. 70 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,000 So any information we can find up here is going to be massively valuable. 71 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,320 Steve has tracked deadly predators across every continent. 72 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,840 Now he's on the trail of tigers. 73 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,040 His field skills will help him discover whether legends of tigers 74 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,280 living at high altitude in the Himalayas are true. 75 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:47,800 Fact and fiction can become blurred at these extreme altitudes. 76 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,160 Just saw quite a large shape moving into these trees. 77 00:06:54,120 --> 00:07:00,080 I'm not 100% sure what it is, so going to just move quite quietly. 78 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:07,800 Bhutan's mysterious mountains are supposed to be home to a huge hairy creature called the Yeti. 79 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,040 Oh, it's a yak. 80 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,480 There are some wild yak left in the Himalaya. There are not many. 81 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,120 Most of them are domesticated, 82 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,600 and just allowed to roam free and graze like this one here. 83 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:33,560 Yak usually occur too high to be tiger prey. I've never heard of it happening. 84 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,280 But it could. 85 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:42,640 A male tiger needs to eat close to Steve's body weight in fresh meat every week. 86 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:48,160 The best way to track down an elusive tiger is to first find its prey. 87 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,800 On this main track that we've been walking on, 88 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,240 all of the tracks that are left behind 89 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,560 are from the shod hooves of horses and donkeys. 90 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:05,760 This here, this kind of chute running down the hillside is very, very steep, 91 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:09,720 and it's not made by domestic animals. 92 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,320 This is definitely coming from wild animals. 93 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:18,800 So there you can see a very definite cloven hoof. 94 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,280 Slightly splayed because it's going uphill on a soft surface, 95 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,560 but that is from a sambar deer. 96 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:32,720 It's the largest deer found round here, and the favourite prey of the tiger. 97 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,360 So even though we haven't actually seen any of these animals yet they're definitely here, 98 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:42,960 and it's really, really good news for us because this is exactly the kind of large prey that tigers need. 99 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:47,520 I mean, they'd need to eat something the size of a sambar deer probably at least once a week. 100 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:58,600 Before it gets dark, Gordon and George head off to get a feel for the forest around camp. 101 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,160 BIRD CALLS 102 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:08,600 The altitude will make exploring here a physical challenge. 103 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:16,680 We've just moved from the tropical forest at low altitude up to 10,000 feet in an hour, 104 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:19,440 and you feel a bit breathless. 105 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:25,800 So, I'm not going to be racing about after insects for a day or two. 106 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,280 Well, a day. 107 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:33,640 George will perform a rapid health check of this forest by surveying the smaller animals that live here. 108 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:38,240 It's early spring, so it should be full of life. 109 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,200 Absolutely stunning. 110 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:42,760 FAINT PECKING 111 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:44,480 A woodpecker. 112 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,280 I reckon it will be very hard to see anything in this. 113 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,360 I reckon we'll have to have a lot of luck on our side. 114 00:09:55,360 --> 00:10:00,520 Cos even if you're very careful, you make just too much noise. 115 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:01,760 TWIGS SNAP 116 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,920 Gordon's exploring the perimeter of camp. 117 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:15,640 Just off the track, a huge scat. 118 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,560 This is probably the kind of upper end of a leopard scat, 119 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:22,480 kind of lower end of a tiger scat. It could be either. 120 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,160 But it is definitely from a big cat. 121 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,480 And we are... Camp is just on the other side of the trees there. 122 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,880 200 yards away. 123 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,440 Wow. 124 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:38,720 I always think, where a cat walks once, it's likely to walk again. 125 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,640 Amazing that we've just arrived and we're finding signs of big cats right beside camp. 126 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:49,480 There's no way of telling if they're the droppings of a tiger or a leopard. 127 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,320 It's a promising lead for the expedition, 128 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:57,240 but signs of any big cat prowling so close is a serious worry for the herders. 129 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,800 They round up their animals and light fires. 130 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,160 One domestic animal like this would be an easy meal. 131 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,520 25 may tempt the predator even closer. 132 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,520 That's a very smart idea to have them all tied up to a rope here, 133 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,360 where they can have an eye on them, 134 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,200 than having them all around the edge here. Cos that's a risk. 135 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:28,520 And they are now very concerned about the thought that they might lose one of their animals. 136 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:35,160 Big cats usually avoid humans. 137 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,280 But hungry tigers and leopards WILL eat people. 138 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:45,000 They ambush their prey, ideally in the pitch dark. 139 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Everyone must be on their guard. 140 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,880 If a big cat does prowl close to camp, 141 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,200 Gordon should spot it, using night vision or thermal imaging gear, 142 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,680 which picks up body heat. 143 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:17,480 After five cold hours, George sees something unfamiliar in the darkness. 144 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:27,040 I just walked out and I saw eyeshine on some animal over here, but it was moving in an odd way. 145 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,080 It was as if it was flying, but not. 146 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,480 It is 100% big cat. 147 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,880 It had a long tail. 148 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:42,440 The thermal camera picks up the ponies and a small hot-spot in the trees behind them. 149 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,320 Gordon's suspects it's a leopard. 150 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,720 But he needs confirmation. 151 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,440 Right, do you know what I'm going to do? 152 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,720 And I think I have to do this alone, is try and go up and intercept the leopard. 153 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,160 He's not going to come down. I'm not going to put him off. 154 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,200 But if I can go ahead of him, I might get some shots of him on this camera. 155 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,760 George will stay in camp with the thermal camera, 156 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,560 and warn Gordon if the leopard appears. 157 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:23,440 He looks very alone there. A little white figure. 158 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,520 (It's behind you!) 159 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:32,720 That's the dog there. 160 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:33,800 DOGS BARK 161 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,880 Dogs have seen someone or heard something. 162 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,880 It'll take more than a little dog like that to put a leopard off. 163 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,120 One of the favourite things that leopards like to eat are dogs. 164 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:49,520 I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. 165 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:54,360 You know, I'm convinced that that leopard is still there. 166 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:59,240 Gordon, there seems to be a very, very faint white spot 167 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,840 just up from you to your left. 168 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,720 Towards me or away from me? 169 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:07,960 If you spin round, 170 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:12,240 there's a very, very tiny white spot 171 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,240 just up the hill a bit. Over. 172 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:25,600 OK, Gordon the thing that I could see which is a white spot ran or moved very quickly 173 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:31,760 to the right and then back again to the left, and I think it was a smaller animal on a tree branch. 174 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,280 OK, I'm going to pull out of here. 175 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,240 I shall see you in a minute. 176 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:42,000 If it was a leopard Gordon saw, it seems to have moved off. 177 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,760 But he's barely back in camp when the herders' dogs 178 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:50,360 pick up something the team's high-tech cameras have not. 179 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,400 The ponies sense it, too. 180 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,320 Some have broken their tethers and have strayed close to the tree line. 181 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,040 There's a distinctive shape on the thermal camera. 182 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,960 We've got a cat. Gee. Oh, we've got... 183 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,080 a cat following one of the ponies. 184 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,560 It looks like a leopard. It looks like a leopard. 185 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,840 The ponies that we're using to help us with our equipment, 186 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:24,960 they just go off and they start foraging in the trees close by. 187 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:28,840 Unbelievable. 188 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,080 Unbelievable. It's still coming, it's still coming. 189 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,360 We are right in the middle of camp. 190 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,040 This is the first night here up in the mountains and we have a big cat. 191 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,080 Look at that. 192 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,240 Just absolutely bold as brass. 193 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:55,000 It's not as thick-set as a tiger. 194 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:04,360 You know, these cats living up here will not be that used to seeing horses, 195 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,360 and this one's just taking full advantage of it. 196 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,080 Oh, I've just lost him. No, I've lost it. 197 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,960 There's nowhere in the world that you can just show up, 198 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,640 drop out of a helicopter and see leopards. Nowhere. 199 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:29,200 Has this night been a one-off or are Bhutan's mountains a refuge for other rare cats? 200 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,320 Finding leopards at this altitude 201 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,240 is no guarantee that tigers also exist here. 202 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,880 Steve is trekking towards Tiger Mountain, 203 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,560 along paths made by generations of remote Himalayan tribes. 204 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,600 He's not finding the big prey he'd hoped for. 205 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:03,560 Just caught a flash of golden colour, and having taken a few minutes just to look around me, 206 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:09,240 I've seen that this hillside is absolutely covered with marmots. 207 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,960 Marmots are very good at taking care of themselves. 208 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:20,080 If one of them senses the presence of a predator, they'll let out a big alarm call like a whistle, 209 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,280 and all of them will just dive for burrows instantly. 210 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:28,080 Leopards will eat marmots, but they're probably too small to be tiger prey. 211 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:34,080 Ah, there they go. 212 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,600 Two males letting off steam. 213 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,880 Almost like all-in wrestlers with each other. 214 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,800 I guess because now is a time of plenty, 215 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:54,200 and marmots don't have to worry so much about laying down fat reserves and gathering stuff for hibernation, 216 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:55,680 they're just letting off steam. 217 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:00,520 It's hilarious to watch. 218 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,960 Gordon is heading for the top of the mountain 219 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,560 to check camera traps he set out at the very start of the expedition. 220 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:26,080 Thick bamboo and the punishing gradient reminds him how unlike classic tiger habitat this is. 221 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:40,400 Considering how much effort it takes me to walk round here, it's going to have an effect on the tigers. 222 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,440 At the moment, I just think... 223 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,240 it seems just ridiculous that they might even be here. 224 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,560 If it wasn't hard enough, the altitude, even at this height, really kicks in. 225 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:55,800 Going downhill's fine. 226 00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:00,480 As soon as you start coming up, it really hits you. 227 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,120 And it's really steep here so you're having to work 10 times as hard. 228 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,280 Oh, gosh. I wonder how George is doing. 229 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,040 BRANCHES SNAP / HE YELLS 230 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:18,920 George is still finding his feet. 231 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,560 His 30 years of field experience will be invaluable in assessing 232 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,360 whether these forests really can support tigers. 233 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,320 This stump is just full of this stuff. 234 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,720 The wood's just rotten away. But what's interesting 235 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:51,880 is that I can see no signs of any insect there moving. 236 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,080 Which is sort of surprising. But... 237 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,040 there's plenty more stumps and plenty more rotten logs. 238 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,760 But no bugs. 239 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:06,800 Even in spring, temperatures drop below freezing most nights. 240 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:15,080 There are far fewer animals here than in the tropical forests the team's just left. 241 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:24,600 George will have to use every trick to find out what lives here. 242 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:32,040 Each discovery will be included in the scientific report he's compiling for the prime minister of Bhutan. 243 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,040 Oh! Look. 244 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,080 Wow. 245 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,520 These chicks have just hatched. 246 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:42,920 To find out what kind of birds they are, 247 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,880 George will have to wait for the adults to return. 248 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,240 OK, that's the female back, and she's got a beak full of earthworms. 249 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,520 My goodness, that's a lot of worms. 250 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:02,040 It's really great to be having a really good view of these chicks and actually see what they're being fed. 251 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:07,000 Which is the only way of finding out, to sit here and actually watch them. 252 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,280 Obviously those birds are a lot better at finding 253 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:15,280 earthworms and insects than I am. 254 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:21,640 But then I'm not a white-collared blackbird. There we are. 255 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:28,520 Gordon's approaching the camera traps he set at 5,000 metres. 256 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,320 At this altitude, it's too harsh, even for trees. 257 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:47,240 Can tigers really have adapted to such an extreme environment? 258 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,080 Gordon's camera traps may hold the answer. 259 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,920 They've been recording everything that moves past them. 260 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,200 First one. 261 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,360 Come on, please, we've got to get something. 262 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:12,280 We've got to get something. 263 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:18,200 Often the case is with camera traps you get every animal apart from the one that you're actually after. 264 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,720 Oh, look, is that choughs? 265 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,040 Yeah, these birds have set it off. 266 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,200 Actually, when I was up there, I saw the choughs flying about over that ridge. 267 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,080 OK, you can see what's triggered this. 268 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,960 Heavy snow. Even though it actually looks like rain. 269 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,280 Oh, fox! Wow! 270 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,040 Great. Red fox. 271 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,160 Oh, you're beautiful. Look at that. 272 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,360 Oh, it's posing perfectly for the camera as well. 273 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:49,120 Gosh, that is lovely. 274 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,880 They're the same red foxes that we get in the UK. They're amazing. 275 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,520 They really are amazing animals, the fact that they can make a living 276 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:02,200 from the dustbins outside our houses and they can make a living here, high up in the Himalayas. 277 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,320 Oh, what was that? What was that? What was that? 278 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,840 Jesus, is that a snow leopard? 279 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,760 You ratbag! It is! 280 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,840 Snow leopards are incredibly rare and elusive. 281 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,040 Oh, wow. 282 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:26,400 No wonder hardly anybody sees these cats, they're just so well camouflaged. 283 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:31,040 You could literally walk past that within four metres and not see it, easily. 284 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,880 It looks like it's a cub. 285 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,600 And the reason it's staying there for such a long time, I'm guessing, 286 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,600 is that its mother has left it there while she's gone off hunting. 287 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,520 Oh, wow. 288 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,800 That is just stunning. 289 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,520 Oh, it's come right up to the camera. 290 00:23:54,520 --> 00:24:00,520 That is one of the most exquisite-looking animals I've ever seen. 291 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,800 Snow leopards are an exceptional find. 292 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:19,440 But maybe 5,000 metres is just too high for tigers. 293 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,520 Gordon decides to intensify his search lower down the mountain. 294 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:34,440 He's brought extra camera traps from the old base camp in the south 295 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:39,880 and sets them out across the mountain side, from the tree line at 4,000 metres... 296 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,640 right down to the bamboo forest near their new camp. 297 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:56,440 While Gordon's on the trail of majestic big cats, George has found something less appealing. 298 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,280 These are flesh flies. 299 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,120 There is an animal in here somewhere. 300 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:07,280 There is something... 301 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,240 There is something here that is not right. 302 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,240 BUZZING 303 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:19,080 Blow flies have found their way into the tent where the expedition's meat is stored. 304 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,920 If you don't have a refrigerator, 305 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,920 you have to eat dry meat or dry fish. 306 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,240 And that does attract a lot of flies. 307 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:33,120 There are more insects in this tent than I've found in the entire forest. 308 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:35,120 Mind you, it's only one species. 309 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,760 Look at that, in there. 310 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,400 That's fly eggs! 311 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:44,720 Within hours, these fly eggs will hatch into maggots. 312 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,440 I've suddenly become a vegetarian. 313 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,680 In the far north of Bhutan, 314 00:25:54,680 --> 00:26:01,200 15 kilometres from the border with Tibet, Steve's almost in sight of Tiger Mountain, 315 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,080 where local legends say tigers roam. 316 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:10,040 This is probably our best chance of seeing things. We're just at the tree line 317 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,360 and, all around us, the hillsides are open. 318 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,880 So we can see for a long, long way. 319 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,000 Oh, hang on! 320 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,040 That's a huge herd of animals. 321 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,960 I mean, I reckon there's got to be 40 or 50 there. 322 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:32,960 They are called blue sheep because they have a kind of slatey blue-grey coat. 323 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:34,640 And there's... 324 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,760 I can see one adult male 325 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,360 with huge horns. 326 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:46,880 They're totally at home out here, in this steep-sided, barren land. 327 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,520 They're incredibly graceful and nimble over the rocks. 328 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:54,880 But if the tiger really is living in this sort of area, or anywhere near here, 329 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,560 that's what it's going to be feeding on. Blue sheep. 330 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:03,240 For an ambush predator like a snow leopard or a tiger, this is kind of easy game. 331 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,560 Large herds of blue sheep would be perfect prey for a tiger. 332 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,840 But science says tigers don't live at these heights. 333 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:18,760 Steve will need to find concrete evidence to prove the textbooks wrong. 334 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,240 The first step is to meet the people of Laya. 335 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:25,520 Hello, hello. 336 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:31,240 It's one of the highest villages in Bhutan and the gateway to Tiger Mountain. 337 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,640 If there are tigers living at 4,000 metres, surely the villagers will know? 338 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:55,240 This would have to be just about the most spectacular spot on earth to build a village. 339 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,120 The houses are just exquisite. 340 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:04,520 All of the wood is beautifully painted. 341 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:12,360 Journeys like this are all about auspicious signs in Buddhism, and you don't get much more auspicious than 342 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:16,400 that beautifully painted image of a tiger. 343 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,120 Tigers decorate every house. 344 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:26,760 Steve's keen to find out if they're imagery from local folklore or a picture of real life around here. 345 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:38,120 1,000 metres below, Gordon is trying everything to get hard evidence of tigers. 346 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:42,920 He's looking for a vantage point in the bamboo forest to set up a hide. 347 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,280 Whoa, look at this. It's all bare. 348 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,800 Lots of signs of signs of animals having used this area. 349 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,880 Wonder if they're sheltering. 350 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,400 The big rock overhang, here. 351 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:55,880 Oh, some dung here. 352 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,240 Oh, do you know what I think this is? Look. 353 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,760 I bet you it's a salt lick. 354 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,440 Let me just see. 355 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,040 Yeah. 356 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,440 It's very salty. 357 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:17,360 Deer and other plant-eating animals don't get enough salt in their diet. 358 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,400 Sooner or later, they have to visit salt licks. 359 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:26,600 Gordon hopes tiger prey will be drawn out of the forest and tigers won't be far behind. 360 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,320 All he has to do is sit in his hide and wait. 361 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,280 362 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:44,960 that I might just get back... 363 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:53,960 Up in Laya Village, Steve has been invited to the home of a village elder and his family. 364 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,280 Right here. 365 00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,000 Oh, look at that. 366 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,160 I'm Steve. Yes. 367 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:05,480 Pleased to meet you. 368 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:08,120 HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE Kinle? Steve. 369 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:14,000 Kinle has spent his whole life in Laya, and will know about the animals found here. 370 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,480 Oh, wow. 371 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,160 Sit here? 372 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:25,120 Before Steve can ask any questions, his hosts prepare him a medicinal drink. 373 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:29,440 It's supposed to give him strength for his onward journey. 374 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,880 Oh, wow, look at that. 375 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,200 This is the famous Cordyceps fungus. 376 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:42,480 It is essentially a fungus growing out of a caterpillar. 377 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,000 How anyone came up with the idea that this could actually become 378 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,800 a sort of panacea, a medicine that could cure all ills, 379 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,440 is totally beyond me. 380 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,800 But it does have to be one of THE great, weird, 381 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,560 grotesque miracles of nature. 382 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:05,080 You can still see the almost intact, if somewhat desiccated, 383 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,400 body of the moth caterpillar. 384 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,160 This is its head up here. And the fungus, 385 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:14,680 the fruiting body of the fungus, has erupted clean out of the head. 386 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,160 That is just bizarre. 387 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:27,680 Right. So she's just put one of the caterpillar in with some of this distilled wheat liquor. 388 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,200 And then drink? SHE SPEAKS HER NATIVE LANGUAGE 389 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,280 And it's good for stomach? Yeah? OK. 390 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:39,000 Right, if I actually drank all of this, forget about the caterpillar, 391 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:45,240 I would not only be hanging drunk but I think very, very sick, particularly at this altitude. 392 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:49,680 So I've just got to figure out how much I can take and be polite. 393 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,120 Oh, dear. 394 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,800 CROAKILY: That's good! 395 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:01,880 THEY LAUGH 396 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:03,840 HE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS 397 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,680 Yeah, it's good. I'd like to say I can feel it working, 398 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,840 but I'm sure that's just the booze. 399 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,400 But it's Gordon who needs the hit. 400 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,920 The last six hours at the salt lick have passed very slowly indeed. 401 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:35,640 Oh, what's that? 402 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:39,320 Nothing. 403 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,760 There's nothing. 404 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:48,600 This is so time-consuming, just sitting here, waiting. 405 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:52,040 Waiting, waiting, waiting. 406 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,120 You just feel a bit silly, 407 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,520 sitting in a hide, waiting, 408 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,240 in the hope that a tiger's just going to amble past 409 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,640 in the short time that I have to spend in here. 410 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,080 That's the great thing about the camera traps, 411 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,000 you just put them in and leave them. 412 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,960 You put ten camera traps out and they can stay there 24 hours a day, 413 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,760 daytime, night-time, 414 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:18,800 functioning, always watching, always ready. 415 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,280 Unlike me in a hide. 416 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:30,440 George has discovered some curious holes near camp and he's gone to investigate. 417 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:34,520 Put that in there. 418 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,760 Woo-hoo, nice. 419 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,240 Right, let's see what we've got in here. 420 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,040 A voyage into the darkness. 421 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:47,640 HE HUMS THE THEME FROM THE A-TEAM 422 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,000 Clearly been used. 423 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,880 It's quite clean. 424 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,800 That is definitely working. 425 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,720 (Ah! It's a pika. 426 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,040 (They're very similar to rabbits and hares. 427 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:05,440 (Look at it. 428 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,960 (Let's see if I can get closer to it. 429 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:19,800 (I think he might be getting a little bit annoyed about the fact that I'm trampling across his burrow system. 430 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,600 (This is just... I never thought I'd get this close to a pika.) 431 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,520 HE CHUCKLES 432 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,000 (I'm going! 433 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,760 (I've heard they like flowers as a bit of a treat.) 434 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:38,160 George wants to tempt a pika even closer. 435 00:34:52,240 --> 00:34:54,920 (I could have touched it. 436 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:02,520 (Oh, my God. 437 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,480 (It's eating the white ones. 438 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,000 (I don't believe it! 439 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,600 (Look. 440 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,040 (I'm actually...) HE LAUGHS 441 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:17,600 George is discovering this mountain habitat is far richer than it first appeared. 442 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:19,720 It's a case of knowing where to look. 443 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:21,320 (This is very difficult. 444 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:25,480 (This whole bank has been burrowed away, it's very soft. Oh! 445 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,160 (Oh! 446 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,080 (Ah! Oh, my God.) 447 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:41,040 In Laya, Steve's welcoming ceremony is over. 448 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:45,080 He can start asking direct questions. 449 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,760 HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE 450 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:55,080 Kinle is a farmer. This is kind of ideal for us, because to find someone who does travel right across 451 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:59,360 the full range of altitudes here, he could have really good handle 452 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,160 on what's going on with the big cats here. 453 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:07,280 Kinle, what wildlife, what animals do you see here? 454 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,920 HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE 455 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:19,200 The first things he said he sees as far as wildlife goes were things you'd expect. 456 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:25,000 Then, he said he also sees tiger. Sometimes they'll see the footprints, the pugmarks in the snow. 457 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,200 And also the carcasses of animals that have been killed by tiger. 458 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:33,640 How big would you say a tiger footprint would be normally? 459 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,680 HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE 460 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:44,720 I completely assumed that Tiger Mountain was a name purely out of mythology. 461 00:36:44,720 --> 00:36:49,280 But Kinle is telling me, the reason it got this name is because there are tigers there. 462 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,720 If that's true, then that's a really big deal. 463 00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:56,840 Because the base of Tiger Mountain is well above the tree line 464 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:00,960 and much higher than tigers are actually thought to ever go. 465 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:05,760 Any real evidence we can find that this is true is a major, major discovery. 466 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:12,160 Steve has his first real lead that tigers might be living up here. 467 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:20,280 To check out these stories, he will leave Laya and continue on towards Tiger Mountain. 468 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,720 Kinle will set him off on his journey. 469 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:32,600 These are prayer wheels. You see them very often in Buddhist culture. And you have to spin them clockwise. 470 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,360 It's auspicious, particularly for a journey. 471 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,360 Oh, there's a big one. Yes, yeah. 472 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,120 BELL RINGS 473 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:54,080 If Tiger Mountain is home to a secret population of tigers, 474 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:59,440 living at over 4,000 metres, it won't just be exciting new science. 475 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:04,120 It would prove that tigers live throughout Bhutan. 476 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,480 The country could become a heartland within the proposed tiger corridor, 477 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:13,400 from which they could spread out and repopulate the whole region. 478 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:26,400 In the bamboo forest near camp, Gordon has given up on the hide. 479 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,800 He's keen to see if the camera traps have had more luck. 480 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:40,920 This one's here, still here, which is good. 481 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,360 Oh, come on. Please, please, please. 482 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,760 Undetected, the remote cameras have been quietly 483 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,880 filming everything that moves past them in this secret forest. 484 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,600 A rare golden cat that almost nothing is known about in the wild. 485 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:06,000 A bizarre-looking serow. 486 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,240 Herds of takin on their summer migration to high alpine pastures. 487 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,960 Langur monkeys. 488 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,240 A rare glimpse of the shy red panda. 489 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,000 Huge Himalayan black bears. 490 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,440 And, most amazing of all, a leopard, scent-marking its territory. 491 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:37,800 Probably the same cat that stalked through camp on the first night. 492 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:45,520 I'm absolutely astounded by the numbers of animals living here, 493 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,360 compared to what we're seeing. 494 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:54,120 And these little camera traps, they're giving us a little kind of peek through a keyhole 495 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:59,400 into a very rich environment, a place that is more than capable of supporting tigers. 496 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,640 Come on, just once, I don't even want a whole tiger. 497 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:06,640 I just want a tail. 498 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:11,840 A stripe. An ear. Just something to tell me that tigers are here. 499 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:14,880 Time is running out. 500 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:25,320 Steve has finally reached the foot of Tiger Mountain. 501 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:29,880 This is where the Layap tribe say they have seen tigers. 502 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:39,440 We've been going for six days now and we're coming right up to the northernmost extreme of Bhutan. 503 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:46,160 Up there is Tiger Mountain, and there's some of the wildest, 504 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:51,520 most beautiful country you'll see anywhere in the world. 505 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:58,640 The thing is that, even though we're at 4,300 metres, there's still cover, there still is trees here. 506 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:03,720 I really didn't think that we'd have tiger anything like this kind of height, but it is possible. 507 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:08,680 There's enough cover for them, there's potentially prey for them. I don't know. 508 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:11,720 Maybe the stories the locals were telling are true. 509 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:20,000 That's a lammergeier. They're just massive, absolutely huge. 510 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:24,320 These birds have sighted a carcass of some kind up there, 511 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:29,680 and that really would be very, very exciting because anywhere you find a carcass, you're going to find 512 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:34,040 other kinds of scavengers and perhaps even predators. This is fantastic. 513 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,360 If the animal carcass is fresh, then the vultures may lead Steve to the predator that's still feeding on it. 514 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:44,600 Up here, it can only be a big cat. 515 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:51,400 Steve follows the vultures. They're circling close to a small stone hut, 516 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,360 home to a family of yak herders. 517 00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:01,320 The father is worried for the safety of his small children. 518 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:05,800 A wild blue sheep has been killed a few hundred metres behind their hut. 519 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,200 THEY SPEAK THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE 520 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:14,760 Could you show me where this happened and maybe if there is any sign there? 521 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,560 TRANSLATOR SPEAKS 522 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:18,760 HE SPEAKS HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE 523 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,120 TRANSLATOR: He's going to show us the spot. 524 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:22,360 OK. 525 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,160 The kill site will hold clues as to what happened. 526 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,600 Oh, wow! 527 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,200 OK. 528 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,640 This is all rather unpleasant, very, very strong smell. 529 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,680 It's still, from the waist up, very much intact. 530 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:44,000 It's just eaten the back half, and most of the rest of it is gone. 531 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:49,080 The herder has found paw prints close to the carcass, 532 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,320 but they're not big enough to be the tiger Steve was hoping for. 533 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,120 They belong to something equally elusive. 534 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,880 Ah, yes. 535 00:42:57,880 --> 00:42:59,680 He sees here 536 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:01,480 the pugmarks 537 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,440 of the snow leopard, going this way. 538 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,320 I see, yes, I see. 539 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,000 Oh, yes, I do see. 540 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,600 Perfect. 541 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:13,280 Those are the toes there. 542 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:18,800 That's the pad print, toe, toe, toe and toe. 543 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:25,400 She's moved up this gully, around like that, and off in that direction, 544 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,400 and she probably used this ridge line here to actually hide herself. 545 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:35,160 We have a great chance here, probably the best I'll ever have in my life, 546 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,200 of actually seeing and filming a snow leopard. 547 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:44,440 And I think that chance is just to sit and wait up there, and see if it comes back for the remains. 548 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:51,080 To avoid spooking the cat, Steve must be alone. 549 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:06,240 That's the blue sheep that was killed last night. 550 00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:08,440 I've put myself in 551 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,840 under a rocky overhang 552 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:14,560 so that my back's protected and nothing can come at me from behind. 553 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:17,720 Can't pretend I'm not scared. 554 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:20,160 I am. 555 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:27,800 Venturing out at night is risky. 556 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:33,240 But George and Gordon know it's the best time to find evidence of big cats. 557 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,640 It's so thick in there. 558 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,560 Just using this spotlight to just see if can pick up any eye-shine. 559 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:52,400 George has spotted a pair of eyes reflected in his spotlight. 560 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:57,200 Gordon's night-vision camera will give them a better look. 561 00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:02,000 You see the eye-shine there, just in that fork. 562 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,560 OK, moment of truth, George. 563 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:17,320 Oh, what the... 564 00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:21,400 It must be a squirrel. 565 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,960 Kind of hard to tell. 566 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,280 Yeah, definitely a squirrel. Ahh. 567 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:29,320 Maybe a flying squirrel. 568 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,080 Now that is a flying squirrel, see the flaps. 569 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:34,400 Oh, look at that, oh, yes. 570 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:38,360 You beauty, you going to do a little flight for us? Oh, that's amazing. 571 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:42,720 See this is one creature that probably wouldn't have much trouble in this forest. 572 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:46,400 Imagine just being able to glide from one end of the valley to the next. 573 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:48,920 Bit of evolution. 574 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:53,720 If I could see him flying, that would be just amazing. 575 00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:02,360 Gordon continues on, but George is determined to see a squirrel fly. 576 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,600 The best way is with his thermal-imaging camera. 577 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,880 Is it going to do anything, I wonder? 578 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:16,720 Wow! I don't believe it! 579 00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:20,000 That's gone straight off the screen! 580 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,520 That was about 70 metres! That's unbelievable. 581 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:26,200 Wow! Look at that! 582 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:29,280 That was an absolutely enormous leap. 583 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:37,000 Just by having two flaps of skin from the legs, acting as a sort of umbrella, if you like. 584 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,280 Flying squirrels can stay in the safety of the trees. 585 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,160 With large predators about, 586 00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,080 the ground is the most dangerous place to be. 587 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,720 On the slopes of Tiger Mountain, the cold has forced Steve to abandon 588 00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:11,720 his stakeout, but he's lost his way back to the tents. 589 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:18,880 I suddenly feel very exposed, out here on my own. 590 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,240 If a snow leopard can take down a yak, 591 00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:24,240 then it certainly wouldn't struggle with me. 592 00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:27,400 And I don't know where the hell I am. 593 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,720 DISTANT BARKING 594 00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:35,280 I don't know if you can hear that, but the yak herder's dog 595 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:40,160 is going absolutely mental, just non-stop barking off in the distance. 596 00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,080 That could well be cos he can hear something. 597 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,800 Steve is definitely not alone. 598 00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:50,960 A line of prints here. 599 00:47:53,240 --> 00:48:00,280 Snow leopards, despite being very powerful animals, move very lightly on their feet. 600 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:02,560 This print is still settling, 601 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:05,840 is still filling with water, you can still 602 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:07,600 see it moving around. 603 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,400 This is really fresh. She was here 604 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:14,760 maybe just a minute or two ago. 605 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:18,280 She could be watching me right now. 606 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:34,600 I've spun myself around now. 607 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:36,360 No idea where I am. 608 00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:38,240 That's where I've just come from. 609 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:43,880 There's eye-shine dead ahead of me. 610 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:45,480 Oh, there's two. 611 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:46,960 No, that can't be right. 612 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,720 Aww! I just gave myself a fright there. 613 00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:57,320 It's the yaks. 614 00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:03,000 Oh, is that...? Oh, that's our toilet tent. 615 00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:04,520 Oh, thank God for that. 616 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,160 Next morning, Steve wants to find out 617 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:14,560 if last night's encounter 618 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:15,600 with a snow leopard 619 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:16,880 was as close as it felt. 620 00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:23,400 So, he came in down here, 621 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:25,320 and you can see here 622 00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:27,280 really clearly 623 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,920 the exact marks where he's accelerated away. 624 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:39,760 Some more here, and they're all scraping away as he sprinted off up in this direction. 625 00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,200 Again, really clear ones here. 626 00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:46,440 And then he's gone. 627 00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:56,080 So, I was five metres away from a wild snow leopard. 628 00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,320 I mean, look how close he was to me. 629 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:05,080 Despite his close encounter, Steve must leave Tiger Mountain 630 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:07,920 without cast-iron proof that tigers live up here. 631 00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:11,840 Gang Chen Ta has held on to its mysteries. 632 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:24,080 George is returning to the capital to present the expedition's findings to the Prime Minister. 633 00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:28,280 The teams still lacks scientific evidence of tigers living at altitude, 634 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:31,680 even though the forest looks like it could support them. 635 00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:37,880 Wow, look at that pool. That is spectacular. 636 00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:43,000 I've seen some beautiful places in my time, 637 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:47,200 but I don't think I've ever seen anywhere on earth that rivals this. 638 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:50,280 A picture just can't grab this. 639 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:52,320 It's primeval. 640 00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:59,560 Soaking it up, because I might not be back. 641 00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:07,280 What we're going to do is just hang onto as much of this as we can. 642 00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:14,800 For the largest surviving cat in the world, and one so beautiful... 643 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:20,480 ..Bhutan seems to be its last hope. 644 00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:26,520 Because everywhere else, it's hunted and poached and killed 645 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:32,480 for skin, for parts, for cures of various sorts. 646 00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:38,400 The thought that tigers could be gone 647 00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:40,000 in 50 years... 648 00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:43,040 ..is, um... 649 00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:46,720 It's just unthinkable. 650 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,640 Just one image would prove they live up here 651 00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:58,800 and could help secure their future. 652 00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:01,680 Gordon's camera traps are the team's last hope. 653 00:52:03,880 --> 00:52:05,960 Oh, look at this bear. 654 00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:08,040 Oh, sniffing the camera. 655 00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:13,120 The camera traps aren't always invisible. 656 00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:15,400 He's a really healthy specimen as well. 657 00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:18,240 He'd have to be living up here, it's going to get cold. 658 00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:21,760 He's going to have to work hard. It's only the strong that survive. 659 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,640 Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! 660 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:29,520 Oh, oh, I don't believe it! 661 00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:33,560 Oh, God, oh! 662 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:36,160 Thank you, thank you, thank you! 663 00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:42,640 Oh, gosh! 664 00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:50,520 OK, they're here. 665 00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:54,440 HE SOBS WITH EMOTION 666 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:08,960 You know, it's only one tiger, but the fact that they can live here 667 00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:12,920 is just so important, not just for this one individual, 668 00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:16,800 but for tigers in the wild for the future. 669 00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:19,360 It's just... Oh. 670 00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:21,400 Oh, man. 671 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,360 It just walked along this path, 672 00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:27,560 literally down this path. 673 00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:32,760 If he was just passing through this area, he would have his head down just powering on through. 674 00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:35,840 But he's scent-marking quite high up on the rock 675 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:40,400 and what he's saying is, "This is my place, this is where I live." 676 00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:44,760 Finding tigers here is phenomenal, because what it does - 677 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:50,360 it just shows that almost every square mile from here down to India is potential tiger habitat. 678 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:57,000 Gordon has found tigers at 3,000m and he still has more cameras to check 679 00:53:57,000 --> 00:53:59,600 a vertical kilometre higher up the mountain. 680 00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:11,080 How high into the Himalayas are tigers living? 681 00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:24,400 45 images. 682 00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:27,800 I wonder what that's of. 683 00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:34,800 Oh! 684 00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:37,600 Oh, man alive! 685 00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,840 I'm just completely speechless. 686 00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:58,960 Gordon's cameras have captured over 30 images of tigers walking along this ridge. 687 00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:03,320 These tigers are living right in the shadow of the high Himalayas. 688 00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:06,680 We are above 4,000 metres at this point. 689 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:11,040 These are the highest-living tigers in the world. 690 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:17,160 There are at least two adult tigers here - 691 00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:20,600 one male, one female. 692 00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:28,560 You've got one tiger that's walked through here, scent-marked on that rock. 693 00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:30,960 A second tiger... 694 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:36,120 big male, comes through in the day, stops, sniffs. 695 00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:40,560 We're watching possibly the precursor to tigers meeting and mating. 696 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:45,000 There's a female up here letting the male know that she's around. 697 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:50,240 They've probably met and mated by now, 698 00:55:50,240 --> 00:55:54,720 and somewhere I really believe there is a little cave 699 00:55:54,720 --> 00:55:58,760 down in one of these valleys that have tiger cubs in it. 700 00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:08,480 Tigers breeding this high in the Himalayas is totally new to science. 701 00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:15,880 More importantly, these animals could be central to the tigers' survival. 702 00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:27,360 If Bhutan stays the way that it is, it just becomes a big machine that produces tigers that will move out. 703 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,680 It is incredible, just blows me away. 704 00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:37,080 The expedition is coming to an end. 705 00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:40,160 But George still has one last important visit to make. 706 00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:46,760 He's presenting the team's findings to the Bhutanese Prime Minister. 707 00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:50,480 The report shows that the ancient Kingdom of Bhutan 708 00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:54,160 holds a significant proportion of the world's wild tigers. 709 00:56:54,160 --> 00:57:00,720 It will be the heart of the tiger corridor if governments across the region can work together. 710 00:57:00,720 --> 00:57:06,200 There is our brief preliminary report... 711 00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:10,280 Thank you very much. 712 00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:13,360 Thank you very much. This should be very, very useful. 713 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,000 Tigers must be protected. 714 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:20,040 Tiger doesn't belong to us, to this generation alone. 715 00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:22,480 It belongs to future generations as well. 716 00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:28,120 Alan's plan to link isolated tiger populations 717 00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:32,880 and create the world's largest tiger reserve is closer to reality. 718 00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:35,960 This gives me hope. 719 00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:37,720 This area holds the key 720 00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:39,680 for the future of tigers, 721 00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:45,200 hopefully, for the whole Himalayan corridor, and could serve as a model for the rest of the world. 722 00:57:45,200 --> 00:57:50,720 The tiger corridor had a big missing link in it, and Bhutan was that. 723 00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:54,200 Nothing was known about the tigers that may live here. 724 00:57:54,200 --> 00:57:57,640 We have filled in the final part of the puzzle. 725 00:57:57,640 --> 00:58:02,080 People have pushed tigers to the brink of extinction. 726 00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:04,720 This is their last chance. 727 00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:08,680 Can we save tigers? Absolutely we can save tigers. 728 00:58:08,680 --> 00:58:11,400 We will save tigers. 729 00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:35,960 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd