Original subtitles

[birds chirping]

[chanting in foreign language]

[narrator] Some people believe that it is a call

that can shake a mountain.

[hornbills calling]

This pair of great hornbills are particularly excited.

Hidden from sight, high up in a tree, something is stirring.

Their little secret.

She takes in her first view of the world.

A world that her parents have successfully learned to

navigate in order to survive in this ever-changing new wild.

It is perhaps not perfect, but is the reality in a country

of over 1.4 billion people,

where boundaries are often blurred,

sometimes leading to conflict.

A land of sacred peaks and secret creatures,

lost in the mists of time somewhere between

folklore and magic.

♪ ♪

[temple bell ringing]

A land of thundering waterfalls, deep gorges and ancient rocks,

all shaped by tectonic forces, wind and water for over

two and a half billion years.

But even greater is the force of change

brought in by human pressures, only in the past two centuries.

This is the story of the Nilgiris,

India's first biosphere reserve.

These islands in the sky still hold many secrets.

♪ ♪

[calling]

♪ ♪

[lightning crashes]

♪ ♪

Like the mountains themselves, shrouded in mist,

the story of the origin of the name Neela Giri is

still shrouded in mystery.

♪ ♪

While others believe the name originates

from the mountains being carpeted by flowers

of the Neelakurinji.

Whatever may be the origin of the name, there is no doubt that

the many folds of these rugged mountains

still hold many mysteries.

Many of the plants and animals here are found

nowhere else on the planet.

[bird chirps]

Like the Nilgiri Chilappan, a species of laughing thrush

that has evolved in isolation here for over 5 million years

and is inseparable from the Sky Island home.

The highest part of the Nilgiris is a land of extremes.

The mountain monarch here in this precipitous terrain

is the Nilgiri Tahr.

Living in small herds, these sturdy mountain goats

make their home in the high elevation grasslands

and steep rocky cliffs, inaccessible to predators.

[chirping]

Also known as the cloud goat, this sure-footed

ungulate is the only one of its kind found naturally

occurring in the tropics.

They roam their vast grassland kingdom,

browsing on a variety of plants.

The grasslands appear monotypic.

In this sea of grass, these pockets of dense jungle

are known as sholas.

These small wooded groves are like a sponge,

with trees laden with thick moss.

During the monsoon, they soak up moisture and slowly release

it through the year, ensuring a perennial supply

of fresh water.

These little streams join together to form rivers that

cut through this landscape.

The waters that flow off the northern side of the

mountains fall over 250 feet

and carve a chasm nearly a thousand feet in depth,

creating The Moyar.

In Tamil, it means 'the river that disappears'.

And in the summer transforms into a green ribbon of life.

An oasis in a rain-parched landscape.

From space, the Moyar can be seen as a 22-kilometre-long scar

on the north side of the Nilgiri Massif.

The Western Ghat mountain range runs 1,600

kilometres north to south along the west coast

of peninsular India.

The Nilgiri Massif runs west to east and forms a bridge,

a critical link to the Eastern Ghats.

Its unique location combined with its unique

nature and culture has made it India's

first biosphere reserve.

Established in 1986, the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve,

covering an area of 5,500 square kilometres,

is part of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme,

aimed at using research to explore the relationship

between humans and the environment.

This mosaic of grassland and shola is important,

not only for its ability to store water,

but it is also an ancient storehouse of

numerous little secrets.

Species found here exist nowhere else on the planet.

♪ ♪

[bird singing]

Some are so seldom seen that most people

don't even know they exist.

♪ ♪

[narrator] The Nilgiri Marten.

In this rare footage, this mongoose-sized carnivore

is feeding on a giant squirrel.

This grassland kingdom is home not just for the Tahr

but also other ungulates.

Gaur the largest bovine in the world.

And Sambhar, the largest of India's deer.

Grazing in the open leaves them exposed.

Small herds graze in the open, unaware that they

are being watched.

[bird chirping]

♪ ♪

She gives chase.

♪ ♪

It's too late.

For now, she will go hungry.

A story of predator and prey that has unfolded here

for thousands of years.

But over the last two centuries, these mountains have

been transformed.

An ever-growing human population

with an ever-hungry appetite for land and consumption

has drastically altered this landscape.

80% of the Nilgiri Massif was converted to human

use of various forms.

[calling]

It's difficult to believe that all this transformation

took place only within the last 200 years.

In the mid-1800s.

But it was the Opium Wars in China that triggered a

desperate search for alternative tea-supplying landscapes

that led to tea plantations being developed in India.

First in Assam, and then in the Nilgiris.

This combined with the construction of the

Nilgiri Mountain Railway, popularly known as the

Toy Train, changed the face of the hills.

With that, Ooty became the busy, bustling heart of

a fast-growing township.

[train whistles]

A combination of tourism and trade.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

A stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of the market

is another world.

An idyllic year-round garden.

Busy with bees.

In this garden, it's not just the roses that have spines.

Meet the Horsfield's Spiny Lizard,

also known as the Nilgiri Salea, with a tail nearly

two and a half times its body length.

It is a species found nowhere else in the world.

Once at home in high elevation bushes around grasslands,

they've had to adapt to their changing environment

and now live incognito in gardens,

performing the role of insect control.

Sudden movements trigger a Salea's hunting instinct.

But a sudden movement also triggers a fly's instinct

to flee.

[narrator] To catch a fly, one needs to be a fly on the wall.

In this case, a branch.

She has her eyes on the prize.

A fly, too distracted to notice the camouflaged lizard.

Being within striking distance is critical.

Any sudden movement or loss of focus and the fly will be gone.

♪ ♪

With quick reflexes

and an uncanny ability to conceal herself,

this Salea has managed to capture a meal,

even in the heart of this town.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

As towns go to sleep, the hills reveal their wild side.

In this era of lights and cameras,

every action is captured.

Security cameras reveal the vibrant,

nocturnal urban wildlife of the hills.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[glass breaks]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[glass shatters]

♪ ♪

[animal grunting]

Dawn reveals the newest habitat of the hills.

Neatly manicured rows of tea, a vast sea of green.

The whole cast of The Jungle Book are here.

From elephants, to cheeky monkeys, mongoose,

to sloth bears, and even the enigmatic black panther.

But in order to adapt to this new wilderness,

they've had to play by some new rules.

Rule number one, don't eat the tea.

Luckily, the herbivores haven't developed a taste for tea,

and hardly ever graze on tea leaves.

They much prefer the lush growth of grass under the tea.

Rule number two.

Get to know your neighbors.

There's also a sloth bear family learning their way

around this tea garden.

And where there's prey, there are predators lurking.

Rule number three.

See, but don't be seen.

The master of camouflage in this wilderness of tea

is the leopard.

The most adaptable of all the big cats,

the leopards have learned the rules of the game well.

She's not watching the Sambar.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[screeches]

[narrator] Dogs are a big part of the diet of these leopards.

With challenging waste management,

open garbage dumps attract macaques,

dogs,

and wild pigs.

A ready source of food for waiting leopards.

This leopardess has her paws full.

Her litter of four includes two melanistic cubs.

But how they turn black, and if in fact a black leopard

is a product of its habitat, has long been a source

of discussion amongst evolutionary biologists.

♪ ♪

The black panther and leopard are all the same species,

sometimes erroneously considered different.

Melanism is a very rare mutation that occurs when an individual

expresses the recessive gene.

♪ ♪

With the tea pickers gone for the day,

they can now come out of hiding.

♪ ♪

The rocks in the tea garden are a favourite play area.

Play is an essential part of growing up.

It strengthens bonds between them

and develops their abilities to camouflage and ambush,

skills necessary to make them the ultimate predators.

♪ ♪

On the northern and eastern sides of the Nilgiris,

things are very different.

♪ ♪

It's the dry side, the rain shadow region.

Clouds flow past, but the mountains have

drained all the moisture.

♪ ♪

At the start of the dry season, gooseberries are a delicacy,

but for the Chital, reaching them is impossible.

Lungurs take a bite and throw the rest of the

fruit to the ground.

A welcome morsel for waiting Chital.

Chital and Lungur have learned to share their space

and resources to protect each other from predators.

Chital are the most abundant deer species here and are

a favorite meal for leopards and other carnivores.

♪ ♪

Wild dogs, known as dhole,

are efficient top predators.

They rarely hunt alone.

Their strength is in their numbers.

[bird chirping]

Blackbuck, with speeds of over 80 kilometers per hour,

may be too fast for Dhole.

They'll have to focus their attention

on their slower neighbors, Chital.

When Dhole go out on a hunt,

the forest goes quiet.

♪ ♪

The moment they see the Dhole, the Chital flee with

their tails in the air, not giving away their

presence with a call.

Perhaps it's a strategy to avoid getting singled out.

Unlike felines that are ambush predators,

dhole rely on chasing their prey down.

The bigger the pack, the swifter the kill.

A wild dog is a hyper-carnivore, consuming up to

340 kilos of meat a year, nearly a kilo a day.

These dogs need to consume not only for themselves.

Back at the den, this pack has eight hungry mouths to feed.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The pups have had a full day of play

in the safety of their den.

[growling]

Once the adults return, it's time for food.

[whimpering]

♪ ♪

Eating regurgitated meat also allows the pups

to get started on a meat diet.

♪ ♪

Dhole have more teats than any other canid,

an advantage when having to nurse large litters.

By the time they are six weeks old,

they'll switch to an entirely meat diet.

There's nothing better than a little siesta

after a full meal.

There's something brewing in the distance.

[thunder and lighting crashing]

[wind blowing]

The monsoon is the region's heartbeat.

[water splashing]

♪ ♪

In India, the monsoon is a season of many faces.

It comes as a boon and a curse.

It can be a creator and a destroyer.

[wood cracking]

But whatever it is, life without the monsoon

is next to impossible.

♪ ♪

Within a few weeks, the landscape is transformed.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

In the plains below, the deluge is a relief to the residents.

[croaking]

Across the Western Ghats, the monsoon rains

rejuvenate over 250 species of amphibians, of which over

90% are found nowhere else on the planet.

Malabar gliding frogs descend from the canopy and gather

around pools of water created by the monsoon rain.

This is their one time to mate in a year

and things get frantic fast.

Normally this happens under the cover of darkness,

but in the monsoon, with heavy rains and reduced light,

mating can happen even during daytime.

♪ ♪

Once a male latches onto a female,

special glue in the thumbs makes him hold on

and fertilization of the eggs happens outside.

♪ ♪

As the eggs are fertilized, they get put into a protective

foam nest that will not only keep the eggs moist,

but also protect them from predators.

In the next few weeks, the eggs develop into tadpoles.

♪ ♪

And with the help of a little rain, they flow into the

safety and security of the pool of fresh water below.

In the water, the tadpoles feed on algae and vegetable matter

growing on rocks and dead branches.

They rest under leaves, but as air breathers,

they need to come up to the surface to grab a mouthful.

All this movement attracts the attention

of a little dragon.

In the dark, shadowy world at the bottom of the pond,

another creature is awaiting transformation.

It's a creature with a superpower.

♪ ♪

With compound eyes and near 360-degree vision,

it's difficult to hide from their sight.

♪ ♪

An ambush predator, this little dragon

has one of the fastest strike forces in nature.

Able to extend its razor sharp lower jaw in a split second,

it can capture tadpoles, mosquito larvae

and other aquatic invertebrates with precision.

This is a voracious predator.

The more food, the faster its transformation.

Within a few weeks, the little dragon emerges from

the water for its final act.

To shape-shift.

It swallows in air to extend its abdomen.

And pumps fluids to extend its paper-thin wings.

In a miraculous transformation,

the little nymph turns into a dragon that can fly.

This particular dragonfly is known as the

globe skimmer or wandering glider.

It has the longest distance insect migration in the world.

An individual globe skimmer can cover a distance of

6,000 kilometers in its lifetime.

But in order to accomplish such an extraordinary feat,

there's one thing the globe skimmer will need.

Fuel.

They couldn't have timed their arrival better,

as there's a feast to be had.

Across the Western Ghats, there are nearly 40 different

species of figs, each with its own fruiting cycle.

A single fig tree can have

fruit ready for picking over the course of a few weeks.

It's a seasonal bonanza and the fig with its

sweet, delectable fruit attracts not just the mammals, but also

a who's who of the bird world.

Fairy bluebirds, barbots, bulbuls, green pigeons, mynahs,

lorokeets, and the largest of them all, the great hornbill.

With a five-foot wingspan and an appetite to match,

the hornbill is a voracious fruit eater.

[narrator] Known as the tree planter of the forest,

hornbills feed on a variety of fruit

and help propagate figs across their range.

But there's another creature that figs need to be

really thankful for.

♪ ♪

The tiny fig wasps that play a crucial role

in pollinating the giant fig tree.

♪ ♪

In a complex ancient relationship

spanning millions of years, each species of

fig tree has co-evolved with a particular

species of fig wasp.

One cannot survive without the other.

Today, the hornbills seem to be in no mood

to feed on the figs.

They have some crunchy protein on their mind.

As the sun rises, dragonflies appear on the scene.

Not a few, but a few hundred thousand of them.

Here to catch the millions of fig wasps emerging nonstop.

[wings fluttering]

But dragonflies with their lightning fast maneuvers

are too much for the awkward hornbills.

But it won't stop them from trying.

♪ ♪

Got one.

Well, almost.

Persistence pays off and the hornbills mix their fruit diet

with some highly earned protein.

[birds chirping]

The hornbills must feed well, as very soon they

will begin nesting.

In one of the most unique nesting habits,

a young hornbill is imprisoned for its own safety

inside a nest hollow.

Both parents engage in feeding the growing chick.

[screeching]

[screeching gets more frantic]

[screeching continues]

As the chick grows, the food too begins to change.

From soft figs and other fruit to crunchy cicadas

and even other fledglings.

Over the course of two months, the parents care for the young.

And now, nearly 70 days after the chick hatched,

she's ready to fledge.

[hornbill squawks]

The male hornbill entices the chick to come out

by not feeding her.

[hornbill squawks]

Now it's mom's turn.

She sits just barely out of reach,

encouraging her little secret to come outside.

But it's hard to do when you've been growing

to nearly the size of the adult, cramped inside a tree hollow.

[squawking continues]

The young fledgling seems to be stuck.

♪ ♪

But with a little bit of struggle

and a little bit of coaxing, the chick finally emerges.

Hornbill fledglings are able to fly the first

day outside the nest, but in this case our

hornbill has crashed onto a pile of dense vegetation.

Flying lessons begin almost immediately.

Incentivised by some good food.

This unique strategy in Hornbills has been very

successful over the ages.

But today, with the loss of primary forests

and the paucity of large sized trees with nesting hollows,

this strategy now makes them vulnerable.

But somehow, like many of the species across the Nilgiris,

they've learned to adapt to this new wilderness.

A shared wilderness.

♪ ♪

And for now, their mighty call continues to reverberate

across the mountains.

[hornbill calling]

Like the tiny fig wasp, inseparable from the

mighty ficus tree, connected to the hornbill,

the gardener of the forest.

We too are a part of this delicate, intricately

interconnected world.

A natural world full of beauty and magic.

These mountains are an ancient storehouse of stories.

[calling]

A source of sacred rivers.

And home to the guardians of our climate.

For the past few centuries, humans have

dominated this landscape.

♪ ♪

Bringing in rapid change to this small

but vital biosphere reserve.

Can we help preserve this unique habitat?

The only home to so many endemic species.

Creatively trying to adapt to live alongside us.

The fate of this fragile ecosystem lies on us.

[elephant trumpeting]

Although everything is not perfect, it is precious.

The Nilgiris, India's Blue Mountains,

continue to hold many secrets within her folds.

Wherein lies a story of hope, of beauty,

fragility, and intertwined futures.

♪ ♪