Original subtitles

All around the planet,

billions of animals are on the move...

making incredible journeys.

The most amazing of these...

are the smallest.

This series uses the latest camera technology

to follow six tiny animals on the biggest adventures of their lives...

as they travel through extraordinary landscapes...

where every little step counts.

In this episode, a pangolin travels through a land of giants

to seek a mate in a protected forest.

And in Brazil, a lion tamarin family travel to the edge of their world

and into a new future for their species.

The greatest adventures are the smallest.

Taiwan is home to an animal that inspired legends

of underground dragons.

But this is no scaly fire-breather.

It's a Formosan pangolin.

And as evening falls...

his journey is just beginning.

At two years old, he's the size of a pineapple.

It's his first breeding season, but timing is crucial.

He must find a receptive female

before peak season ends in a few days' time.

He leaves his own distinct scent markings,

a calling card for any prospective mate.

And his sensitive nose can detect female pheromones.

His territory is a tiny patch of forest half a mile wide.

He hasn't found any sign of another pangolin here,

and so he must keep searching.

To fuel his journey, he needs food.

Something has caught his attention.

Black ants.

He needs to eat 80,000 ants a day to bulk up.

But woodpiles are dangerous places to root around.

A disturbed Taiwanese cobra

can strike faster than the blink of an eye.

Flicking its tongue,

the snake can taste the pangolin's odour.

Just one drop of its venom could kill a human.

But it would be a mistake to try and bite a pangolin.

His body is covered by snake-proof scales

made of the same material as a buffalo's horn.

The scent of more ants draws him upwards.

Being snake-proof does come with its disadvantages.

His suit of arm our is heavy.

But it's not enough to stop him from trying.

His skills overlap to give flexibility.

He's primed for rapid feeding, with a 40-centimetre tongue.

Essential for tackling cocktail ants -

so called by the way they cock their tail when alarmed.

He laps them up by the dozen.

The ants are quick to mobilise...

fighting back with vicious bites.

He has flaps to protect his ears,

but the ants are small enough to exploit chinks in the arm our.

He's managed to snaffle a few thousand ants...

but the attacks have become too painful to bear.

Time to retreat.

A nocturnal traveller,

he must now journey into the unknown in search of a mate.

11,000 miles away, on the opposite side of the world,

in Brazil's Atlantic Forest...

dawn is breaking for a family of tiny monkeys.

Golden-headed lion tamarins.

This female is six years old

and around the size of a milk bottle.

She has made a home here with her lifelong mate.

But they have a giant responsibility.

Three boys under two years old and baby twins.

A boy...

and a girl.

They are no bigger than the palm of a human hand.

Mum is struggling to provide the milk that they need

because the drying climate has made fruit scarce.

The twins must eat every two days, or they could die of starvation.

Driven by hunger, the family must travel quickly to find food.

Lion tamarins are canopy sprinters.

With claws like running spikes,

they dash along the branches,

and their forelimbs are like springs,

boosting their momentum.

They can cover large areas

by sprinting in bursts of 25 miles per hour.

So scientists must use radio collars to follow their journeys.

Weighed down with babies a quarter of their weight,

running is exhausting.

They urgently need food.

Black-necked aracari.

Birds have an aerial advantage when it comes to spotting fruit.

They've revealed a hoard of figs.

She only needs to eat around 40

if she is to get the calories to produce milk today.

But she can smell scent markings.

She's trespassing into someone else's territory.

Another lion tamarin family.

With less food available,

lion tamarins are pushed more into conflict.

The rivals' alarm calls are a sign

that they have no intentions of sharing,

and with young babies in tow,

it's too risky for the family to stay.

Mum has barely eaten enough,

but at least she can feed the twins with a little milk today.

If they don't get another meal within the next two days,

they could starve to death.

That's not the only threat they face right now.

A storm is brewing.

When it rains, the air temperature plummets to ten degrees Celsius.

THUNDER CRACKS, RAIN HISSES

Hungry and drenched,

the babies can't generate heat fast enough.

Hypothermia is a major killer of these tiny monkeys.

But being 20 centimetres tall does have advantages.

You can hide in the smallest spaces,

and the family huddle inside to keep warm.

Four miles from their old home, and hungry...

but at least tonight, they have somewhere to sleep.

In Taiwan, the pangolin is nearly two miles beyond his territory,

with no sign of a female.

It's critical that he picks up a scent within the next few days.

Very few will be receptive so late in the season.

But his search has taken him into a strange type of forest.

There are no trees to climb here.

Bamboo.

The tallest grass in the world.

This species can grow a metre in a day.

Here, it towers 20 metres high.

Row upon row...

mile upon mile.

It's easy to get lost.

This is a strange landscape - a plantation created by humans.

Monoculture.

Nothing but bamboo...

except...

the faint scent of a female.

The scent has led him into an area that has been left wild.

And there's a pangolin burrow.

PANGOLIN SNIFFS

Something doesn't smell right.

A gem-faced civet.

Like a skunk, it can release a stink when alarmed.

Not what you want when your sexual prowess depends on smelling good.

While the pangolin tries to sniff out a mate,

another animal here employs a very different strategy.

Light.

56 species of firefly are found in Taiwan.

Each with its own distinctive sequence of flashes,

all used for attracting a mate.

The presence of fireflies is a sign of a healthy habitat.

If the pangolin continues in this direction,

he might find more burrows.

As wild habitats are turned to monoculture,

fireflies disappear,

and pangolins find themselves more exposed...

to humans.

Another pangolin burrow.

This time, it's empty.

With dawn breaking, at least it's a place to sleep.

The lion tamarins have woken to a new dawn,

hungry, and far from the fruiting trees that they once called home.

Grooming reinforces the bonds between Mum and Dad.

Giant trees are the perfect place to live,

full of hiding spaces,

and ahead, there's one of the biggest trees that they've seen.

Its branches support a rich garden of plants.

But the lion tamarins want what might be hiding within.

They don't just eat fruit.

10% of their diet is prey.

Their extended fingers are adapted to reach deep inside.

These grasshoppers are the first proper meal

that they've had in days.

It's an incredible feast.

But there's even better food here.

Frogs.

Concentrated protein.

Mum's got one.

And the whole family are keen for a bite.

It's important that Mum eats first

and replenishes her energy for making milk.

Even if the twins are keen to try frog for themselves.

It's the baby's very first taste of solid food.

This is the perfect home for the family.

All the frogs they can eat, and no other lion tamarins to compete with.

They could establish a new territory of fruiting trees around it.

The future for the family is looking bright.

With Mum and Dad relaxed, they allow the male twin

to take his first steps towards independence.

Two months old,

he's learning by copying his older brothers.

But he's not ready to join in on the play fighting just yet.

All the commotion hasn't gone unnoticed,

On the forest floor, predators hunt in the shadows.

An ocelot.

It's only twice the size of a house cat.

But to the tiny primates, it's a giant,

and could kill each of them with a single bite.

The lion tamarins are unaware of the danger approaching below.

The ocelot's speckled coat makes him disappear amongst the undergrowth.

His feet are six centimetres wide,

larger than a lion tamarin's head.

They allow him to tread stealthily.

And ocelots are agile enough to hunt...

in the trees.

Something isn't right.

He's been spotted.

The family needs to abandon the tree, quickly.

For the ocelot, it's not worth the chase.

He's a night-time hunter.

And this is his sleeping tree,

at the heart of his territory,

three miles wide.

The family must escape from this area quickly.

Come nightfall, the cat will be back on the hunt.

In Taiwan, the daytime temperature can reach the mid 30s,

too uncomfortable for a heavily armoured pangolin.

He hides in the burrow, where it's ten degrees cooler.

As dusk approaches, he can get back to his journey.

Out there is the female who dug this burrow,

and her scent is growing stronger.

He's entered an olive grove...

and is deep in a world transformed by humans.

He has never been so exposed.

In Taiwan, feral dogs pose the biggest threat.

One of the few animals able to bite through the pangolin's arm our.

Finally, a female.

Instinct now takes over.

Gently stroking her back,

he seeks approval.

But the more he makes his advances,

the tighter she curls up.

She's not interested.

A sign that she may already be pregnant.

He's too late.

With time running out, he must continue

if he is to find another female.

Fortunately, he's within reach of a remarkable place.

Taoist shrines are believed to bestow good luck

upon all who pass,

and they are often found close to a protected forest

where pangolins thrive.

In Brazil, the lion tamarins have spent the last five days

jumping between thousands of trees.

But they have yet to find anywhere safe with enough food

to make a home.

Suddenly, something that they have never seen before.

A break in the tree cover.

A road.

Here, they are more exposed to aerial threats.

A monkey-eating harpy eagle.

15 times heavier than a lion tamarin.

With nightfall fast approaching,

the family can't turn back.

They must find a way to cross.

The gap here is ten metres wide.

Too far to jump.

They aren't the only ones stuck here.

A sloth.

This overhanging tree could be the family's only way over.

An aerial attack can come from anywhere.

Mum goes first, risking it alone.

She's made it.

Five metres in a single bound - ten times her own body length.

The rest of the family must follow.

Five have made it.

Two to go.

The eagle's caught something.

It's a sloth.

All the family are accounted for.

They continue their journey for just over a mile...

until, suddenly, their path is blocked again.

Having spent their entire life surrounded by trees,

they've reached the edge of the forest.

Beyond is human territory.

A farm.

The lion tamarins are trapped within one of the few remaining patches

of the once-vast Atlantic Forest.

Today, only 12% remains.

They travel along the forest edge.

There's nothing for them out there.

It's a dead end for the family.

When forest fragments become too small,

there's not enough food to sustain a healthy population of animals.

The whole ecosystem begins to collapse.

It's the end of five days searching for a new home...

and the tamarins' future seems as uncertain as ever.

For the pangolin,

it's now coming towards the end of the breeding season.

He's crossing the boundary into a protected forest,

one of the thousands scattered across Taiwan,

covering nearly 20% of the island.

Here, dogs are kept out.

Reserves like this are home

to the world's densest population of pangolins.

As many as 25 in a square mile.

Before he continues,

he needs to find food and replenish his energy.

Termites.

Packed with protein.

He isn't the only one that's hungry.

A moon bear.

Taiwan's largest carnivore,

30 times bigger than a pangolin.

They usually live high in the mountains,

but in the spring, these bears travel down to lower slopes

to seek food.

Built for ripping apart trees

with powerful muscles and five-centimetre-long claws.

It could crunch a pangolin in one bite.

It isn't going to give up without a meal.

The pangolin takes his chance to get away.

Luckily, it's not him that the bear is after.

It's the termites.

He needs to find a meal that the bear can't reach.

Cocktail ants... again.

There's only one scent

that can entice a young male away from food.

The pheromones of a female.

This could be his chance.

She is in the last few days of her reproductive cycle.

Soon she will be unable to get pregnant.

The final stage of his journey is now led by this female.

It's a good sign.

They travel hour after hour through the night.

He has proved himself worthy.

Mating in a suit of arm our isn't easy.

Finding the right angle could take until morning.

His first great journey is a success -

he's found a mate.

And safe in this protected forest,

he can help to ensure the survival of his species.

It's morning in Brazil.

The lion tamarins are still travelling along the forest edge...

and now they are being watched.

Mum isn't sure what to make of these monkeys.

These are Wied's marmosets.

A distant cousin of lion tamarins.

Remarkably, they speak a similar language

and can understand each other.

They, too, are homeless and have babies to feed.

It gives them a unique opportunity to join forces.

The lion tamarins take the high branches

and keep watch for aerial threats.

The marmosets keep an eye out down below for predators on the prowl.

One has spotted an agouti...

a giant rodent,

three times bigger than a lion tamarin.

It searches for food like a sniffer dog

and stores nuts in the ground like a squirrel.

Both families follow it,

watching where it stores its stash.

The agouti has led them to a new world of opportunity.

A place of strange plants...

and huge colourful fruits.

A cocoa pod...

with enough cocoa beans to feed a lion tamarin for a day.

This is a territory with plenty of food to go around.

As they travel further,

they discover the most remarkable fruit of all.

The biggest of any tree on earth.

This is jackfruit.

It's as big as a basketball

and five times bigger than a lion tamarin.

The fruit on a single tree is packed with enough calories

to feed 6,000 golden-headed lion tamarins for the day.

The entire world population.

The family have made it to a kabruka,

a place where people sustainably grow fruit

in the shade of giant native trees.

And every year, thousands of new trees are planted

to connect and restore dying forest fragments.

Kabrukas like this are a sanctuary

for almost every golden-headed lion tamarin.

Here, they grow bigger, healthier,

and produce more babies.

The family have discovered a new home on the edge of their world

where they will never go hungry again.

To film tiny animals,

Big Little Journeys needed the help of scientists and local people

working at the forefront of conservation.

Wow. Oh, wow!

In Taiwan, the team work with Dr Nick Sun, who has tracked

critically endangered pangolins for the past decade.

When she walks away? Yeah. OK. OK.

Nick gives the team an opportunity

to get a pangolin's-eye view of the world,

and it's one that's full of danger.

Globally, 300,000 pangolins are poached every year

for their meat and scales.

Only in Taiwan is their population stable,

but they still face very real threats.

Pangolins are animals that I've wanted to film for years,

and then you come to a rescue centre and you see the reality.

But it's not all bad news.

Nick is preparing to release a young rescued male.

His return to the wild gives the team an opportunity

to closely film the behaviour of this elusive species.

To monitor the progress of released individuals,

Nick and his team conduct regular examinations.

It's thanks to the rescue centre, that are giving these charming,

rare, incredible animals a chance in nature.

I think we all should be very, very pleased

that people like Nick are out there,

fighting to protect the natural world.

The camera crew are preparing to film the pangolin's first steps

back into the wild.

11,000 miles away in Brazil,

the team are filming an animal harder to follow -

a family of golden-headed lion tamarins.

They really go when they want to.

For them, they're not travelling far.

They're just jumping between trees.

But for the crew, we're walking up and down very steep slopes,

very tangled terrain.

They are super small for a primate and very fast.

You have to imagine the face of a tamarin

is maybe the size of a polar bear's nose.

So keeping that in focus while they're moving is very tricky.

Keeping up with them is only possible because of the work

of conservationist Joanison Vicente and his team,

who are using radio collars to track their movements.

88% of the Atlantic Forest has been cut down,

so understanding how lion tamarins travel

is essential for their conservation.

It's been little journeys for them.

They're just pinging across the top of the trees,

but they've kept us on our toes.

Come on, let's follow.

In Taiwan, the team are filming in a thick bamboo forest.

I'm hoping the pangolin

isn't just going to run away from us

because it's quite difficult to move around in here.

We've just got to work really calmly because we can't startle him.

If we do, he'll just roll up into a ball.

It's not just working at a pangolin's pace

that makes filming a challenge, it's also the weather.

It's a bit soggy now. I'm feeling a bit soggy now.

Don't worry!

We only have a very narrow period of time

where it's light enough to film and the pangolin is awake.

In Brazil, the lion tamarins lead the team to a kabruka.

Here, local farmers use traditional techniques

to grow shade-loving crops

whilst preserving the natural habitat for wildlife...

but Joanison has other ambitions.

As the lion tamarins settle into their new home,

the team switch to remote-controlled cameras.

Each night they're coming back to sleep in tree hollows.

We've found that most nights they're sleeping in the same one,

but sometimes they do catch us out.

With the support of local communities,

the future is looking brighter for golden-headed lion tamarins.

In Taiwan, the team's time filming pangolins is coming to an end.

But by using camera traps and attaching a tag,

Nick can continue to monitor his behaviour.

Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal on earth,

so every release is a victory.

There is hope for many of these endangered species.

All it needs is passionate people who want to make a difference.

Bye-bye!

There's people like Nick that are really helping to ensure

that these amazing creatures

live out here in the world that they belong in,

so, yeah, it's amazing to see.

Next time -

a chameleon in the forests of Madagascar

and a water vole in the Scottish Highlands

make the journeys of their lives, travelling further than ever before

to ensure the future of their bloodline.