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This is the green heart
of South America

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the largest expanse of rainforest
on the planet.

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For sheer exuberance of life
it's unrivalled.

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Nowhere else on earth can you find
so many different plants and animals.

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With such infinite variety

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you might think
that living here was easy.

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But you'd be wrong

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very wrong.

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Few places are as hard to survive in
as the Amazon jungle.

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Despite decades of deforestation

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an ocean of trees still stretches
almost unbroken

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from the Atlantic to the foothills
of the Andes.

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You can fly over it for hours
and see no trace of human activity.

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People do live in the forest

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but their numbers are tiny
as low as in a desert.

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For this is no tropical paradise.

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In fact, the image of abundance
is an illusion.

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There may seem to be plenty to eat

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but taking advantage of it can
be an enormous challenge

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and not just for people.

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Anything that lives here must be supremely
adapted to its chosen way of life.

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Woolly monkeys live in the high canopy.

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When you're moving through the treetops
five limbs are better than four.

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A grasping, prehensile tail acts
as an extra arm

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or a bridge for a baby.

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And hanging by their tails leaves
their hands free to gather food

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from places otherwise hard to reach.

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They're fruit eaters
but surprisingly in a tropical forest

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that's no easy option.

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There may be thousands of trees
but those in fruit are widely scattered.

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Even if the monkeys know where to go

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they often have to travel a long way
between meals.

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They eat just the fleshy part
of the fruit.

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Their jaws aren't strong enough to deal
with the hard seeds

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so most of those end up on the ground
thirty metres or more below.

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Seeds aren't the only thing they drop.

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Gorging on all that fruit
has a predictable end product.

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Wonderfully fresh dung.

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But nothing goes to waste.

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Even dung is someone's bread
and butter.

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Before the dung has time to cool
sensitive antennae pick up its smell.

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For the dung beetles
the race is on.

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Only the winners will get a share.

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In the jungle
nothing edible stays around for long.

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You have to grab it
while you can.

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The first beetles to arrive are males.

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They use the dung to attract a mate.

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The bigger your ball
the better your chances.

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The female will lay her eggs in the ball
and then bury it.

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It's food for the grubs
when they hatch.

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If you haven't got a ball of your own

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you can try to steal someone else's.

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Within minutes
there's not a trace of dung left.

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The forest looks deserted

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so what has become of
that infinite variety of life?

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It's here, but it's hidden

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camouflaged with forest greens
and browns.

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If you're to eat but not be eaten
you must see but not be seen.

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The thin layer of leaf litter
on the forest floor hides

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all manner of creatures
that creep and crawl.

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This isn't a blue worm

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but a legless amphibian
called a caecilian.

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In the jungle
things are seldom what they seem.

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Some of these animals recycle
the nutrients in the fallen leaves.

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Others prey on the recyclers.

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Theirs is a moist and dark world

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where only two percent of sunlight
ever reaches the ground.

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This is a worm
but a worm with a difference.

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It can grow to a metre long.

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Though most forest animals
try to hide

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others go out of their way
to show off.

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A male wire-tailed manakin
trying to attract a mate.

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He can't afford to miss a chance

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so the slightest movement
sets him off

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even if it's only a passing agouti.

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The agouti's eating Brazil nuts
fallen from the canopy above.

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They're a hard nut to crack

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and agoutis are
one of the few animals

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with teeth strong enough to
deal with them.

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But being hard is only one way seeds
avoid being eaten.

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A tropical forest may seem
like the Garden of Eden

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but much of what grows here is
forbidden fruit

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packed with poisons like strychnine
morphine and cocaine.

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Even leaves are off limits.

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There are plenty of them

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but most are so toxic
they're inedible.

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Why are they so poisonous?

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Plants can't run or hide to
defend themselves

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so they go in for chemical warfare.

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Vegetarians
like this white-faced saki

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have to deal with poisons most
creatures couldn't handle.

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Plants and animals are
locked in an arms race.

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To counter the plant's poisons

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sakis have their own secret weapon
an incredibly long intestine.

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These monkeys aren't much bigger
than a domestic cat

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but their guts are
as long as a gorilla's.

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They can eat leaves and seeds
that would make other animals sick.

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Seeds are often even more
poisonous than leaves.

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But with their formidable
digestive powers the sakis

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take them in their stride.

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This one's a female

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with a white moustache rather
than her mate's white face.

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Some leaf eaters
like this piping guan

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limit the amount of poison they eat
by selecting young leaves,

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which aren't as toxic as older ones.

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But they're still dangerous

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so the guan deploys
another countermeasure.

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It eats mud.

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The mud seems to hold
a strange attraction

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for all sorts of other animals
like spider monkeys.

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These are animals of the high canopy

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so why risk coming down
to the ground?

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Only after the most careful check
do they take the plunge.

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Up in the trees spider monkeys
are in their element

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and have few natural predators.

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But down here
they're vulnerable.

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As the largest of
all South American monkeys

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they'd be a good meal for a jaguar

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and catching one on the ground would
be its best chance of a kill.

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Something in the mud
must be absolutely vital

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for them to take such a risk.

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One of the group is always
on the lookout.

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The slightest hint of danger sends
the monkeys back into the trees.

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But the new arrival is
only a brocket deer

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here for the same thing.

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When they can
these timid little deer eat fruit

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but when it's scarce they have to make do
with leaves and fungi

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all potentially poisonous.

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Like the monkeys
it's risking its life to come here

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its back still carries the scar of
an attack by a big cat.

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For all kinds of animal

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a visit to a clay lick is a regular
part of their routine.

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But it has to be
just the right kind of clay.

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Good licks are few
and far between.

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Like waterholes
on the African savannah

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they're a focus of activity
but you can never drop your guard.

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When the sun comes out
the lick becomes even more dangerous.

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Predators are harder to spot.

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Monkeys rely on their good eyesight
to warn them of danger.

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When it's overcast
there's no problem

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but the tropical sun casts
deep shadows

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And they find it hard to cope
with the contrast.

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Does that twitching leaf
hide a stealthy jaguar?

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Is there a puma in that shadow?

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Coming to a clay lick is
obviously very risky

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but so many animals do it there
must be a good reason.

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People used to think that animals
ate soil just to obtain salt.

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But some of these licks are no richer
in salt than their natural diet

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so that's only part of the story.

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Recent research shows
that some kinds of clay neutralise

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many of the poisons plants use to
defend themselves

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either by combining
with them chemically

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or by lining the gut
with a protective coating.

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That's why animals risk
their lives to come here.

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The alternatives are death by poisoning
or starvation.

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Without clay to counteract the toxins

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much of what grows in the forest
would be simply impossible to eat.

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But why they should eat such a bellyful
in one go, is still unknown.

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Every rustle in the undergrowth sends
the monkeys running for safety.

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But it's just a herd of
white-lipped peccaries.

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Peccaries are social animals

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using scent glands to communicate
and keep the group together.

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Their collective stench
is overpowering.

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Peccaries eat a varied diet of roots
bulbs, fallen fruit and seeds.

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That reduces the risk of overdosing
on any one poison

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but it could still be a lethal cocktail.

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They seem to be seeking out just
the right pieces of mud

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but how they choose nobody knows.

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We're only
just beginning to understand

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the full story behind
this extraordinary behaviour.

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As soon as it begins to rain
all the animals depart.

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Only the smell of the peccaries lingers.

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The lick is now even more dangerous.

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The roaring of raindrops on leaves would
drown the sound of an approaching hunter.

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For forest animals plant poisons
are a problem to be overcome.

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But forest people, like the Waorani

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have turned them to their advantage.

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The bark of this liana gives them curare
a nerve poison.

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The Waorani use it to tip their darts
when they're hunting.

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It kills by paralysing the chest muscles

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so the victim dies of suffocation.

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Without curare

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the Waorani would find hunting animals
like monkeys almost impossible.

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It's a key to their survival
in the forest.

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The jungle provides all you
need to live here

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if you know where to find it.

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The Waorani have no written language.

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Vital knowledge is handed down
over the generations by word of mouth.

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These men are collecting kapok seeds.

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The only problem is that the kapok tree
is one of the tallest in the forest.

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A slip would be fatal.

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Shaking dislodges the fluffy seeds

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but what they're really after
are the unopened pods.

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They're hanging from the tips of
the furthest branches.

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Some people use the down
for stuffing mattresses.

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The Waorani use it in their hunting.

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00:20:57,923 --> 00:20:59,447
They're skilful hunters

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00:20:59,591 --> 00:21:03,493
but even they step aside
when the top predators arrive.

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Army ants.

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What they lack in size
they make up for by overwhelming numbers.

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An army like this can be
a million strong.

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These biting, stinging hordes are
the scourge of the forest floor.

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Anything small in their path must run
fly... or die.

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Measured by the weight of
prey they consume

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these little insects have
as great an impact

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on the forest as any jaguar
or Waorani hunter.

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But a few creatures can
outwit the lethal horde.

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Army ants are blind, and need movement
to trigger their attack.

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By keeping still, this grasshopper
becomes invisible to them.

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A spider's life literally hangs
by a thread.

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00:23:00,445 --> 00:23:03,505
But for most small things
there's no escape.

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This may look like an
undisciplined rabble

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00:23:06,718 --> 00:23:10,154
but in fact it's a highly organised
military machine.

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00:23:26,638 --> 00:23:29,801
Ants communicate by scent
sound and touch.

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00:23:29,941 --> 00:23:32,637
They come together to
pass on information.

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These are soldiers

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00:23:35,914 --> 00:23:39,077
but their massive jaws
are defensive weapons.

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00:23:40,552 --> 00:23:42,952
The real killers are
the smaller workers

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which sting their prey to death.

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Every morning the ants march
out of camp to forage.

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Columns of workers lay down scent trails
for others to follow.

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00:23:58,236 --> 00:23:59,828
If a scouting party finds food

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it sends chemical signals down
the line to summon reinforcements.

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Like any army
this one has its camp followers.

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Insects trying to escape
the ants are flushed

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into the waiting mouths of ant birds.

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00:24:30,502 --> 00:24:32,470
But it's a risky way to make a living.

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00:24:32,571 --> 00:24:36,769
As few as four ant stings can
kill a small bird like this.

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00:24:45,951 --> 00:24:49,478
Ants and birds between them
can clear a patch of forest floor

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of almost all invertebrate life

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but any empty space
is soon re-colonised.

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Some ant birds are totally dependent
on the army to flush out prey

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that would otherwise be hidden.

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Without ants to help them
they would become extinct.

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A column of ants

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can have thirty different
kinds of bird following it.

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There's a strict pecking order

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with the most skilled professionals
occupying the best vantage points.

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All this activity sets
the manakin off again.

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00:25:49,147 --> 00:25:53,345
At least he's courting a bird this time
even if it's not his kind.

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The ants dismember the paralysed bodies
of their prey

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and cart them back to camp.

243
00:26:03,828 --> 00:26:07,730
Special long-legged 'carriers' help
with the heavy haulage.

244
00:26:20,645 --> 00:26:21,270
Between them

245
00:26:21,479 --> 00:26:23,811
they can drag many times
their own weight.

246
00:26:47,272 --> 00:26:50,799
This is headquarters
a living tent of ants.

247
00:26:51,910 --> 00:26:54,674
The bivouac is
the army's nerve centre

248
00:26:54,813 --> 00:26:57,577
with the queen hidden deep inside.

249
00:26:59,651 --> 00:27:01,915
Most of the time
they keep on the move

250
00:27:02,053 --> 00:27:03,418
but when the colony has eggs

251
00:27:03,521 --> 00:27:06,684
the troops come back to the same
camp each evening.

252
00:27:37,222 --> 00:27:40,988
Even though night is falling animals
return to the clay lick.

253
00:27:42,327 --> 00:27:44,625
It's been flooded by heavy tropical rain

254
00:27:44,763 --> 00:27:47,698
and bats come to drink its
mineral-rich waters.

255
00:27:51,102 --> 00:27:54,469
There's even a caiman here
a dwarf caiman

256
00:27:54,539 --> 00:27:56,166
less than a metre long.

257
00:27:57,208 --> 00:27:59,108
It's much too small to worry a deer

258
00:27:59,244 --> 00:28:01,576
but it would take a bat
or a moth.

259
00:28:12,257 --> 00:28:16,421
All sorts of hunter home in
on this temporary pool

260
00:28:22,267 --> 00:28:24,531
And tonight
there's a special visitor.

261
00:28:25,070 --> 00:28:28,039
It's the largest animal
in the Amazon jungle

262
00:28:28,173 --> 00:28:32,542
the size of a small cow
yet it's seen more rarely than a jaguar.

263
00:28:37,382 --> 00:28:40,545
With an incredible sense of smell
and acute hearing

264
00:28:40,685 --> 00:28:42,778
it can keep out of people's way.

265
00:28:51,930 --> 00:28:55,730
Its nearest relatives are the horse
and the rhinoceros.

266
00:28:56,067 --> 00:28:57,694
It's a tapir.

267
00:29:02,540 --> 00:29:04,269
Tapirs eat leaves and fruit

268
00:29:04,442 --> 00:29:07,036
and like so many of
the forest's vegetarians

269
00:29:07,178 --> 00:29:09,874
they need their medicinal
dose of clay.

270
00:29:22,193 --> 00:29:25,219
In the jungle
no chance of a meal goes to waste.

271
00:29:25,463 --> 00:29:27,431
Bloodsucking ticks fasten themselves

272
00:29:27,532 --> 00:29:30,194
to the soft skin around
the tapir's eyes.

273
00:29:36,641 --> 00:29:41,442
And it's picked up another bloodsucker
something altogether more sinister.

274
00:29:45,717 --> 00:29:47,582
A hitch-hiking vampire bat

275
00:29:47,719 --> 00:29:50,552
taking advantage of this movable feast.

276
00:29:59,631 --> 00:30:03,795
The Amazon basin gets an incredible
three metres of rain a year

277
00:30:03,935 --> 00:30:07,234
but pools of standing water
are rare in the forest.

278
00:30:10,241 --> 00:30:11,708
Most of the rain runs off

279
00:30:11,843 --> 00:30:15,870
to swell the world's largest river
the Amazon.

280
00:30:27,225 --> 00:30:31,218
Tentacles of the mighty river
reach far into the jungle.

281
00:30:31,563 --> 00:30:36,125
Their banks are the setting for one of
Amazonia's greatest spectacles.

282
00:31:16,307 --> 00:31:16,898
Every morning

283
00:31:17,041 --> 00:31:19,305
flocks of red
and green macaws gather

284
00:31:19,510 --> 00:31:22,172
at special places along
exposed river banks.

285
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,230
They too have come for clay.

286
00:31:47,171 --> 00:31:49,765
Macaws are specialised seed eaters.

287
00:31:49,908 --> 00:31:51,569
The plants they depend on
for their food

288
00:31:51,709 --> 00:31:53,176
try to protect their seeds

289
00:31:53,311 --> 00:31:57,042
with a hard outer coating
that's often very poisonous.

290
00:31:57,682 --> 00:32:00,845
The birds can remove some seed coats
with their strong beaks

291
00:32:00,985 --> 00:32:04,011
but their diet is
still exceedingly toxic.

292
00:32:04,756 --> 00:32:06,348
So like the monkeys and tapir

293
00:32:06,491 --> 00:32:10,154
they neutralise the plants' defences
by eating clay.

294
00:32:16,935 --> 00:32:19,529
They visit these clay banks
every two or three days

295
00:32:19,671 --> 00:32:21,468
especially during the dry season

296
00:32:21,572 --> 00:32:23,472
when there's less choice of food.

297
00:32:24,175 --> 00:32:26,370
It has to be
just the right kind of clay

298
00:32:26,511 --> 00:32:27,478
so over the years

299
00:32:27,612 --> 00:32:30,342
they mine deep shafts
in the best seams.

300
00:32:43,394 --> 00:32:47,990
The morning visit to the dispensary
is also an opportunity to socialise.

301
00:32:48,366 --> 00:32:52,325
Macaws pair for life
which can be forty five years.

302
00:32:54,372 --> 00:32:55,600
For the noisy youngsters

303
00:32:55,740 --> 00:32:57,640
this is a chance
to find a partner.

304
00:33:00,678 --> 00:33:02,441
Space on the lick is limited

305
00:33:02,547 --> 00:33:05,482
and while waiting their
turn tempers can flare.

306
00:33:16,894 --> 00:33:18,088
When they leave the river bank

307
00:33:18,229 --> 00:33:20,595
the macaws break up
into family parties

308
00:33:20,732 --> 00:33:23,792
and fan out over the forest
to search for food.

309
00:33:29,140 --> 00:33:32,041
The canopy is a very different world
to the cool

310
00:33:32,176 --> 00:33:34,701
dark and moist forest floor.

311
00:33:42,286 --> 00:33:46,347
Up on the green roof of the jungle
the tropical sun is king.

312
00:33:46,657 --> 00:33:48,124
This may be a rainforest

313
00:33:48,259 --> 00:33:52,195
but anything that lives up here
has to contend with drought.

314
00:33:54,065 --> 00:33:58,502
The thick, fleshy leaves of Bromeliads
are almost cactus-like.

315
00:34:06,177 --> 00:34:09,613
Even in a rainforest
it doesn't rain every day.

316
00:34:09,914 --> 00:34:13,850
Days or even weeks can pass
without so much as a shower.

317
00:34:17,522 --> 00:34:20,514
Howler monkeys greet
an approaching storm.

318
00:34:53,191 --> 00:34:54,283
Perched on branches

319
00:34:54,425 --> 00:34:57,121
bromeliads have no roots
in the ground below

320
00:34:57,595 --> 00:35:00,530
so they have to make the most of
any water that's going.

321
00:35:01,966 --> 00:35:06,164
Their waxy rosettes of leaves channel
the rain into a central tank.

322
00:35:06,838 --> 00:35:09,432
Some can store as much as ten litres.

323
00:35:14,078 --> 00:35:17,844
Each little green aquarium
supports its own web of life.

324
00:35:18,216 --> 00:35:19,877
Mosquitoes lay their eggs in them

325
00:35:20,017 --> 00:35:23,976
and the larvae attract predators
like water beetles.

326
00:35:24,956 --> 00:35:27,447
The plant benefits
from the insects' waste products.

327
00:35:27,959 --> 00:35:32,225
They provide nitrogen... hard to come
by without roots in the soil.

328
00:35:40,138 --> 00:35:41,162
When the rain stops

329
00:35:41,305 --> 00:35:44,797
any moisture soon evaporates
in the tropical heat.

330
00:35:48,146 --> 00:35:51,513
The treetops can be more
like a desert than a forest.

331
00:35:53,184 --> 00:35:56,517
If a monkey needs a drink
there's only one place to go.

332
00:36:09,033 --> 00:36:12,127
Bromeliads are like waterholes
in the desert.

333
00:36:12,270 --> 00:36:15,637
These miniature oases are
often the only source of water

334
00:36:15,773 --> 00:36:18,537
for creatures
that never go down to the ground.

335
00:36:34,959 --> 00:36:36,119
Exposed to the sun

336
00:36:36,260 --> 00:36:39,195
the forest canopy
is a different world

337
00:36:39,497 --> 00:36:41,897
one of unexpected extremes.

338
00:36:46,804 --> 00:36:50,797
Birds are quick to take advantage of
these swimming pools in the sky.

339
00:37:00,017 --> 00:37:02,144
Bathing is more than a mere luxury.

340
00:37:02,286 --> 00:37:04,880
It helps to keep their feathers
in peak condition.

341
00:37:34,252 --> 00:37:37,187
Each visitor seems more colourful
than the last

342
00:37:37,321 --> 00:37:42,452
but the paradise tanager must be the star
of this parade of bathing beauties.

343
00:38:12,757 --> 00:38:17,421
Sometimes the weight of all those
water-filled bromeliads is just too much.

344
00:38:20,998 --> 00:38:22,761
Only when their contents are emptied

345
00:38:22,900 --> 00:38:27,769
can you see just how great a variety
of life these little water tanks support.

346
00:38:28,839 --> 00:38:34,106
A single species of bromeliad can harbour
four hundred different kinds of animal.

347
00:38:37,281 --> 00:38:39,340
With that many in one tiny habitat

348
00:38:39,483 --> 00:38:43,510
no wonder the Amazon jungle
is so rich in species.

349
00:38:49,093 --> 00:38:51,493
It's a long way back to
the forest canopy

350
00:38:51,629 --> 00:38:55,087
but that's no problem
for this climbing vine snake.

351
00:39:00,071 --> 00:39:03,472
If a falling branch brings a whole world
crashing to the ground

352
00:39:03,607 --> 00:39:06,804
how much greater is the effect
of a fallen tree.

353
00:39:08,846 --> 00:39:12,213
But this is all part of a natural cycle
of change and decay.

354
00:39:12,783 --> 00:39:16,776
At any moment, treefalls cover
ten percent of the forest.

355
00:39:17,688 --> 00:39:18,814
Even before they fall

356
00:39:18,956 --> 00:39:22,585
trees can be rotted away
from within by fungi.

357
00:39:22,860 --> 00:39:26,261
Once they're on the ground
the attack intensifies.

358
00:39:39,577 --> 00:39:43,240
Nowhere else in the world do things
decay so rapidly.

359
00:39:55,092 --> 00:39:59,324
Almost all the forest's nutrients
are locked up in living tissues.

360
00:39:59,497 --> 00:40:01,158
They're so scarce that fungi

361
00:40:01,298 --> 00:40:03,823
and slime moulds
have to grab them fast.

362
00:40:19,283 --> 00:40:20,079
Incredibly

363
00:40:20,217 --> 00:40:23,015
even living animals
aren't safe from attack.

364
00:40:24,255 --> 00:40:29,192
Insects can inhale fungal spores
which then devour them from within.

365
00:40:35,599 --> 00:40:38,693
For everything
life in the forest is tough.

366
00:40:39,003 --> 00:40:41,130
You have to seize your opportunities.

367
00:40:45,376 --> 00:40:48,903
Tamarins eat almost anything
they can lay their hands on.

368
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,611
No bigger than a squirrel

369
00:40:50,748 --> 00:40:55,151
these little monkeys are one of
the Amazon's supreme opportunists.

370
00:40:59,523 --> 00:41:02,617
They move fast
and while they prefer the lower canopy

371
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:04,990
they forage at every level
in the forest

372
00:41:05,129 --> 00:41:07,461
from the ground to the topmost trees.

373
00:41:10,034 --> 00:41:12,298
They have a finger in every pie.

374
00:41:13,370 --> 00:41:16,669
Fruit, insects
almost anything is on the menu as long

375
00:41:16,807 --> 00:41:19,799
as it's not too large
for these agile midgets.

376
00:41:40,965 --> 00:41:43,991
These golden mantled tamarins survive
by being quick

377
00:41:44,134 --> 00:41:45,726
and adaptable generalists.

378
00:41:48,005 --> 00:41:48,869
They live in small

379
00:41:49,006 --> 00:41:51,270
tightly knit groups of
about half a dozen

380
00:41:51,408 --> 00:41:55,003
keeping in touch by calling
as they move through the forest.

381
00:42:02,987 --> 00:42:07,014
The well-camouflaged rufous pottoo
is a bird of the night.

382
00:42:07,157 --> 00:42:09,955
It gets a rude awakening
as the monkeys pass by.

383
00:42:17,568 --> 00:42:20,696
And the tamarins arouse another bird.

384
00:42:45,195 --> 00:42:48,187
The manakin is still looking
for a mate

385
00:42:50,034 --> 00:42:52,935
but a tamarin is obviously
a poor substitute.

386
00:42:59,977 --> 00:43:01,444
Living in a family group

387
00:43:01,512 --> 00:43:04,481
means more eyes
and ears to detect danger.

388
00:43:05,382 --> 00:43:08,351
Their chief predators
are birds of prey and ocelots

389
00:43:08,485 --> 00:43:11,750
but in the forest
the unexpected is never far away.

390
00:43:23,233 --> 00:43:27,363
Tamarins may be small
but the Waorani hunt almost anything.

391
00:43:31,642 --> 00:43:33,803
This is when the kapok comes in handy

392
00:43:33,944 --> 00:43:36,606
as flights
for their curare-tipped darts.

393
00:43:39,316 --> 00:43:40,544
That's not a tamarin

394
00:43:40,684 --> 00:43:43,175
but a woolly monkey
a much bigger target.

395
00:43:45,689 --> 00:43:47,850
It's one of the largest monkeys
in the forest

396
00:43:47,992 --> 00:43:50,586
but still very hard to follow
and bring down.

397
00:43:59,837 --> 00:44:02,032
The chase can take hours with two

398
00:44:02,172 --> 00:44:04,197
or three hunters working together.

399
00:44:08,078 --> 00:44:10,569
Outwitting a fast
and wary monkey more

400
00:44:10,714 --> 00:44:14,309
than 30 metres up in the treetops
takes years of practice

401
00:44:14,485 --> 00:44:17,113
and skills handed down
over generations.

402
00:44:25,062 --> 00:44:28,589
They try to single out one of the monkeys
from the rest of the group.

403
00:44:39,576 --> 00:44:41,339
But it's a difficult target.

404
00:44:59,730 --> 00:45:03,166
Separated from its companions
the monkey freezes

405
00:45:03,300 --> 00:45:06,030
so the hunters try to panic it
into running.

406
00:45:13,177 --> 00:45:15,008
It's already been hit once

407
00:45:15,145 --> 00:45:17,807
and the poison is beginning
to take effect.

408
00:45:27,491 --> 00:45:30,892
But it often takes more
than one dart to bring it down.

409
00:45:59,356 --> 00:46:03,554
Eventually the monkey dies
but up in the tree

410
00:46:03,694 --> 00:46:05,855
so they still have to retrieve it.

411
00:46:18,475 --> 00:46:20,067
The hunt may be challenging

412
00:46:20,210 --> 00:46:24,169
but skilled hunters can eventually
clean out a tract of forest.

413
00:46:24,548 --> 00:46:27,574
Then, like the army ants
they have to move on.

414
00:46:37,494 --> 00:46:40,952
The tamarins escaped... this time.

415
00:46:46,937 --> 00:46:49,235
For people and animals
alike the forest

416
00:46:49,373 --> 00:46:51,841
is a hard place to make a living.

417
00:46:51,975 --> 00:46:54,705
The seeming abundance of food
is an illusion.

418
00:46:54,845 --> 00:46:56,472
There are no easy options.

419
00:47:00,450 --> 00:47:02,645
Tamarins are jacks of all trades.

420
00:47:02,786 --> 00:47:05,778
Most other forest animals
are specialists.

421
00:47:05,923 --> 00:47:09,757
But whatever your chosen path
the competition is intense.

422
00:47:09,993 --> 00:47:13,622
In the Amazon jungle
there's no such thing as a free lunch.

423
00:47:17,134 --> 00:47:19,830
Yet everything comes to he who waits.

424
00:47:28,212 --> 00:47:30,976
The manakin finally gets his bird

425
00:47:31,548 --> 00:47:34,517
He seduces her
with a tickle under the chin.

426
00:47:51,635 --> 00:47:56,095
The story of the Amazon jungle is one
of survival against the odds.

427
00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:58,572
You or I would die here

428
00:47:58,709 --> 00:48:00,768
but like the manakin and the tamarins

429
00:48:00,911 --> 00:48:03,641
the Waorani know how to
live in the forest.

430
00:48:05,082 --> 00:48:07,107
Their way of life may be vanishing

431
00:48:07,251 --> 00:48:10,015
but so much else still survives.

432
00:48:10,153 --> 00:48:15,682
The Amazon jungle remains the largest
and the richest rainforest on earth.