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My name is Francis Hall?.
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I've spent my life in forests,
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watching trees be born,
grow and die.
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As I couldn't see them growing,
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I presumed they were immobile.
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Because I couldn't hear them,
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I imagined they were silent.
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Over time.
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00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,243
I discovered
they were prodigiously alive.
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00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,483
When I first became a bolnnist,
I never imagined
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00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:57,002
that the great tropical forests
would vanish before my eyes
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00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,168
in barely 50 Year?'-.
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They were so huge...
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Millions of years ago, we were born
in the highest branches of the canopy
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but we have forgotten that.
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Before it's too late, I would like
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to share this lifetime journey with you.
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Tell you about my great passion,
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the story of the trees
of the great tropical forests.
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00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:10,127
ONCE UPON A FOREST
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I have visited
all the world's forests.
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I have walked on the canopy.
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I have explored miles of undergrowth.
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At all times,
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I was amazed
by the great trees' ability
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to live without moving.
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How many times
have these wooden beings
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challenged my own intelligence?
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To live... without moving.
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They have invented
another way of being alive,
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almost imperceptible.
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The mysterious universe of plant genius.
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In the tropical primary forest,
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I have seen our world's
greatest beauties and riches.
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Billions of plants, billions of animals,
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00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,929
all mutually indispensable,
intimately connected,
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00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,601
sometimes so close
that they end up blending.
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I have seen men seize ancient trees
in just days.
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In no time at all,
one can destroy, take, collect
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and chop them down.
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Yet hew many centuries
are needed to rebuild?
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How can the process be reversed?
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00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,844
This feeling of helplessness
fills me with anger
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and sadness.
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00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:12,484
Since the dawn of time,
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plants have given us
the air that we breathe.
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Must they vanish
for us to remember that?
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Who can recreate life?
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Life alone.
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It's a matter of time.
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The great trees that lived here
have sown a multitude of seeds,
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season after season, just in case.
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The shade of the undergrowth acted
like a sleeping spell on them.
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They will now mend
the mutilated forest.
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Light invites them
to begin the story anew.
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The forest will outlive us.
It has the power of rebirth.
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But only if men leave it in peace
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for more than seven centuries.
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This is where
the tale of a rebirth begins.
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These trees are pioneers.
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They grow rapidly. They are all alike.
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In a few days, they sprout.
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In a few months,
they shelter the ground with their leaves.
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Water, air and sun
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enter the pioneers' leaves.
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Chlorophyll transforms them.
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A huge being rises up.
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A tree!
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The miracle of photosynthesis.
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In their rush towards the sun,
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the pioneers cannot create defences
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to fight the herbivores
that attack their first leaves.
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And when its damaged leaves
cannot capture the light,
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the tree dies, deprived of energy.
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To repel attacks, certain pioneers
call animals to the rescue.
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When Cecropia grows a new leaf,
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things that look just like ant eggs
appear at its base.
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The result is instant.
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The ants open small doors
created by the tree
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along its stem.
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The ants make themselves at home.
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They bore openings between each level.
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The insects soon occupy Cocropia
mror its full height.
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Cecropia can grow in peace.
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Its tenants ensure its defence.
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50 years
after the first seeds germinate,
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the pioneers reach maturity.
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They won't live any longer.
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Born at the same time,
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they die together.
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The brevity of their existence
is inscribed in their genes.
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The minute fauna hidden in the ground
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turns this forest of dead wood
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into a rich, loose humus.
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This is the unsettling world
of the deoomposers.
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They digest everything
that falls to the ground
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to return it to the cycle of life.
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The secondary forest
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replaces the primary one.
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Its trees sprouted
in the pioneers' shade.
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They are nourished
by their fallen wood.
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Thus begins the second stage
in the forests reconstruction.
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It will lake several centuries
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to put back together the huge puzzle
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wiped out by deforestation.
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Light, once again,
organises the layout of the undergrowth.
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The countless leaves, like solar cells,
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the branches
that raise the leaves to the sun,
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the big trunks that lift the treetops
to the sky...
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Being a tree means excelling
in the art of slanding, balanced.
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As the branches spread,
the base of the trunk grows thicker,
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strengthening the giant's foundation.
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The underground world of trees
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is as vast and important
as the visible part.
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Roots don't: really act as anchors.
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They are above all water collectors.
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They work with strange filaments,
fungi,
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secret but key actors
in the life of the forest.
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Water is vital for trees.
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The fungi help the reels to collect it
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by spreading their minute tentacles
beneath the surface.
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In return, the tree shares the energy
from its aerial parts with them.
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After one hundred years,
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the secondary forest
is still like an empty shell.
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Over five centuries,
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it will host more and more
living creatures
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and a rich and varied plant life
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that will connect with each other.
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The interaction begins on every level
of the undergrowth,
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from the infinitely small
to the infinitely large.
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Wnes spread before the undergrowth
is cast into shadow.
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I find these plants phenomenal.
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They don't tire themselves
making huge, sedentary trunks.
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Others do that for them.
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Discreet on the ground,
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they follow the shade of a tree's trunk.
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Having found a base,
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they climb up to the sky
to gorge on the sun.
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The philodendron vine fascinates me.
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It is camou?aged by the bark
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near the ground,
within reach of predators' jaws.
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A few feet higher up,
it becomes exuberant,
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as if it finally felt safe.
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How did this plant acquire
such a subtle strategy?
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That mystery is beyond me.
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I'm particularly fond
of the passion vine's story.
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You know this plant.
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It bears the delicious passion fruit.
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Let's digress with this vine
via the great evolutionary laboratory.
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By changing the timescale,
we shall see how the forest creates
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new species of passion vine.
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In the forest,
the passion vine has a single enemy,
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the Heliooonius butter?y caterpillars
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that have devoured its leaves
for generations.
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One day, during a mutation,
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a passion vine became highly toxic.
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Rid of its predators,
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this new species of vine
began to prosper.
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Until a new species of caterpillar
appeared,
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immune to the vine's poison.
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The butter?y became toxic
for its predators.
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In all impunity, this new Heliooonius
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started devastating passion vines.
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Other species of vine then appeared
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changing the shape of their leaves
to fool the butter?ies.
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The trick worked perfectly
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until the butter?y found a ?ower
whose pollen was so rich
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it was able to live much longer,
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long enough to learn to recognise
the passion wine's disguised leaves.
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A new passion vine appeared.
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It produced fake eggs
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to make the butter?y believe
the place was already occupied.
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I'll stop there
but, in this game of to and fro,
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45 species of Heliooonius butter?ies
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and 150 species of passion vines
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appeared in just a few decades.
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And there are millions of species
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that come to life in the same way.
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These countless individual stories
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contribute to the history of the forest.
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The yearS P955-
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The secondary forest
continues to grow.
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Its trees are now around 130 feet tall.
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From the ground up,
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they offer a host of dwellings
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to countless creatures seeking
new areas to oolonise.
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Deforestation made many species ?ee.
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They return over time.
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The leaf eater
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attracts the ?esh eater.
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The food chain gradually forms anew.
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Some new arrivals play a key role
in the foresfs rebirth.
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From distant lands,
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they bring the seeds of trees
that didn't survive destruction.
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Through such twists of fate,
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the forest recovers
some of its gems
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like the moabi, the most beautiful
of the great tropical trees.
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This seed contains the promise
of a 220-foot giant.
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The first seconds
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of a creature that will live
more than 1,000 years.
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The secondary foreslfs renewal
occurs through spectacular phenomena
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but also countless tiny events,
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repeated millions of times.
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The ?ourishing of the tall trees' tops
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sets the rhythm for the plants
and animals living below.
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00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,121
Wherever there's a patch of light,
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there's a leaf to catch it.
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00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,847
And wherever there's a leaf,
there's someone to covet it.
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00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,922
If we were to weigh
the foresfs animals,
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the ants in their entirety
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00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,648
would outdo the combined weight
of all the other animals.
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00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:56,884
They work on every level.
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00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,131
Tiny transporters,
they carry huge amounts
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00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,528
of leaves and soil
between the upper and lower forest.
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00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,888
As gardeners,
they grow plants in the treetops
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00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,570
to make their nests.
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00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:22,721
As farmers,
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00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,322
they gather the honeydew
produced by stinging insects
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00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,602
that feed on the trees' sap.
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00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:06,809
Termites impress me.
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00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:11,164
All day long, they decompose
huge amounts of dead wood.
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They stubbornly carry soil to the sky
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to build their fortress
high above the ground.
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From the infinitely small
to the infinitely large,
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the canvas uniting all living beings
is slowly woven.
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00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,240
This canvas, as yet incomplete,
is already dense enough
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to heighten the tension
between hunter and hunted,
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00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,047
for nests and dwellings to become rare,
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for the weak to migrate
to escape the strong.
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00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,086
The forest now has two faces,
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one by day and one by night.
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More than anything,
I love dawn in the forest.
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This fragile moment
when the song of the day's animals
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00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,924
blends with the cries
of the night creatures.
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How many of them
are hidden in the trees?
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The trees
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communicate in secret.
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Not with sounds but scents.
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Stringing scents together
as we do words,
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they send their messages
over long dislnnoes.
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Seducing, attracting.
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Rejecting or enchanting,
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their influence is considerable.
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Like all living beings.
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00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,883
Trees need a mate
in order to reproduce,
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or to pass on their pollen at least.
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00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:29,602
That's why ?owers are born.
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00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:36,524
They charm the animal
with their shape, colour and scent.
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By hiding a little nectar
at their heart, they invite it
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to roll in their pollen.
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00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,528
Then the animal moves on
to other ?owers
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carrying further and further
the precious load
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00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,604
entrusted to it by the plant.
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The technique is perfect.
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00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,845
The tree in bloom carries out,
remotely and discreetly,
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00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,563
something that causes
so much toil and energy for animals,
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the act of mating.
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Trees do not burden themselves
with useless things.
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00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,807
Flowers give way to ywna fruit
260
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,082
that will grow in secret.
261
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:28,243
When they're attacked,
trees sound the alarm.
262
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:35,121
They release odorous signals
that elicit an instant reaction
263
00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:36,890
from their neighbours.
264
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,009
Their leaves then become toxic,
bitter er repulsive.
265
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:39,689
All the predator can do
is go elsewhere to eat.
266
00:43:56,720 --> 00:44:00,566
We find the secondary forest trees
three centuries later.
267
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:03,888
They have become giants.
268
00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:08,562
They new fight each other
for a place in the sun.
269
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,051
Putting a neighbour
in the shade kills it
270
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:13,685
and makes it vanish.
271
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,766
Some trees even engage
in a bodily struggle.
272
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:34,562
The strangler fig seed
arrives via the air.
273
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,451
While the other trees, year after year,
274
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,245
grew patiently
in the dim light of the woods,
275
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,362
this seed overtakes everyone.
276
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:50,168
It sprouts on high branches,
making the most of the sun's energy.
277
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:59,448
On sprouting, the young tree
sends its roots to the ground.
278
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:01,050
Roots?
279
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:05,165
Genuine lassos that immediately
weld together
280
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,044
as soon as they touch.
281
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,402
The struggle will last
several decades.
282
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:47,448
The tree slowly wastes away.
283
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:49,844
Down in the undergrowth,
284
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,281
profiteers try to seize
its dead leaves
285
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,323
before they touch the ground.
286
00:45:57,720 --> 00:45:59,802
For me, the basket palm
287
00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:02,002
is the most spectacular of them.
288
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:05,565
Ittrapsallitcantocarryittoilsrools
289
00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:10,405
where the deoomposers help it
to produce ils own humus.
290
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,090
So many creatures
live in the undergrowth now
291
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,771
that every scrap, every particle
292
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,680
is a meal opportunity
fought over in countless ways.
293
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:48,487
The struggle comes to an end.
294
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,570
The strangler fig
has dew-toured its victim.
295
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:55,683
Taking its place in the forest,
296
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:59,725
I't has cannibalised its wood
to make its own branches.
297
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:01,330
It has taken its shape.
298
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:05,084
All that remains of the vanquished
is a gaping void
299
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:08,488
in the middle
of the vanquishefs huge trunk.
300
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:58,049
Over time, the foresfs ceiling closes.
301
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:03,083
On the ground, the low plants
have vanished through lack of light.
302
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:10,170
This open undergrowth
indicates a mature forest.
303
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,248
Asia! as the eye can see,
304
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:15,967
it's hard to find two trees
of the same family.
305
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:18,048
This is not an accident.
306
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:30,281
Living motionless
on the same spot for centuries
307
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:35,171
means accepting the impossibility
of ?eeing predators' attacks,
308
00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,489
disease and parasites
that accumulate overtime.
309
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:43,729
The adult tree can bear all that
without too much harm
310
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:46,161
butifilsseedsfallatilsfeet.
311
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:48,521
They are irretrievably condemned.
312
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:56,805
The tree's only solution
313
00:49:56,920 --> 00:49:59,241
is to scatter them
as far as possible.
314
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:08,529
Minute vibrations spread
315
00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:10,449
through the ground for miles,
316
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:13,166
to the feet
of a hungry, waiting animal.
317
00:50:42,720 --> 00:50:44,006
How ironic...
318
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:47,091
The trees feed the forest creatures
319
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:49,362
for one good reason:
320
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:51,164
to transport their seeds.
321
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:53,886
The fruit is merely the bait
in this ruse.
322
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,123
The trees even fill their fruit
with sugar
323
00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:14,527
and delicious aromas.
324
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:17,205
They're irresistible.
325
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:55,525
The trick works.
326
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:58,691
The future tree
is carried off in a huge stomach
327
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:00,484
carried by stronq MS
328
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,206
and a brain always seeking to travel.
329
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,321
Some trees even make
330
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:10,011
the ?esh stick to the fruit's stone.
331
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:11,884
The glutlon will suck it at length
332
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:14,847
before finally spitting it out.
333
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,531
Thus the seed travels even further.
334
00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:36,245
It amuses me to think
that each forest tree
335
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:38,931
travelled part of the way
with an animal.
336
00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:46,848
How did it end up here?
337
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:49,201
During a hunt or a nap?
338
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:53,568
Time is so different for trees.
339
00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:56,884
Animal life
must seem so brief to them.
340
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,650
The animal rules over space,
the tree overtime.
341
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:56,371
Trees are in fact great travellers.
342
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:59,849
They use all the mobile forces
of the natural world.
343
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:04,251
By water, on wings, on foot, on the wind,
344
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,045
they can spread to every continent.
345
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:13,006
I even know of trees
that can cross the oceans.
346
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:04,480
The forest is luxuriant again.
347
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:09,162
But it depends a great deal
on the daily tropical rain showers.
348
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,682
If there are just a few days
without rain,
349
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,610
the leaves begin to wither.
350
00:55:16,720 --> 00:55:19,485
Particularly those of plants
living on branches
351
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,523
or trunks, far from the ground.
352
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:24,601
They have no way to stock water.
353
00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:42,445
In the heat,
354
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:44,528
the forest is rich with scents.
355
00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:48,287
This time, they rise to the sky.
356
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,211
The trees call for rain.
357
00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:46,801
The scent molecules
trap water vapour
358
00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:49,048
hanging in the air.
359
00:56:49,160 --> 00:56:51,208
This suffices to form clouds.
360
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:53,730
It's as if the trees
361
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:56,081
kept the rain above their heads
362
00:56:56,200 --> 00:56:58,248
to refresh themselves at will.
363
00:59:21,320 --> 00:59:23,448
Back in the primary forest,
364
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,881
exceptional trees bloom.
365
00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:45,401
They have trunks worthy
of the centuries that they have seen.
366
00:59:48,840 --> 00:59:50,205
700 years n90.
367
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:53,688
This giant was a tiny seed.
368
01:00:08,880 --> 01:00:11,247
Trees embody time.
369
01:00:46,120 --> 01:00:48,566
The forces at work within such trees
370
01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:50,091
are considerable.
371
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:52,364
The roots draw water,
372
01:00:53,240 --> 01:00:57,609
vessels carry it upwards
to 220 feet above the ground.
373
01:00:57,720 --> 01:00:59,529
The leaves turn it into sap
374
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:02,086
that returns to the branches and roots.
375
01:01:04,800 --> 01:01:06,768
A tree lives through this ?ow.
376
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:09,360
When 'n can no hanger rake water
to 'its top,
377
01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:11,050
it stops growing.
378
01:01:11,160 --> 01:01:13,640
That's the only limit to its ascent.
379
01:01:58,920 --> 01:02:01,685
The moabi is new an emergent tree,
380
01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:04,485
one of those that dominate
the forest ocean
381
01:02:05,240 --> 01:02:06,969
for over a thousand years.
382
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:23,405
The canopy.
383
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:26,201
The active surface
of the primary forest,
384
01:02:26,320 --> 01:02:29,881
where life abounds
like nowhere else on earth.
385
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:33,127
Here, the forest touches the sky.
386
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:36,483
Here, thousands of individuals
sprout, grow
387
01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:38,682
and breathe at the same time.
388
01:03:01,840 --> 01:03:04,923
Atthe end ofils life,
atreeisaworldofitsown,
389
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:06,769
like an island.
390
01:03:06,880 --> 01:03:09,804
It's the home for hundreds
of plant species,
391
01:03:09,920 --> 01:03:12,844
occupied in turn
by hundreds of animal species,
392
01:03:12,960 --> 01:03:15,964
also inhabited by smaller creatures.
393
01:03:19,360 --> 01:03:21,124
On inking a closer look,
394
01:03:21,240 --> 01:03:24,483
we discover that these tinier worlds
395
01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:26,364
are infinitely small.
396
01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:36,568
The accumulation of these creatures
397
01:03:36,680 --> 01:03:40,605
becomes a burden that endangers
the tree's balance.
398
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:47,409
This giant that defied gravity
for centuries is going to surrender.
399
01:06:43,360 --> 01:06:44,725
The death of great trees
400
01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:48,606
is the perfect sign
of the forests maturity.
401
01:06:49,120 --> 01:06:51,361
It reshuf?es the cards
by rutuming to the ground
402
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:56,088
the huge quantity of matter
represented by the fallen tree.
403
01:06:56,200 --> 01:06:58,806
It also brings light
to the undergrowth
404
01:06:58,920 --> 01:07:01,651
that hadn't seen any for centuries.
405
01:07:20,520 --> 01:07:24,161
A tree that falls
is a genuine revolution.
406
01:07:25,840 --> 01:07:27,080
When it happens.
407
01:07:27,200 --> 01:07:31,000
The world of the canopy
meets that of the undergrowth.
408
01:07:31,120 --> 01:07:33,202
Despite living in the same place,
409
01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:35,322
they had never met before.
410
01:07:48,160 --> 01:07:51,562
The seeds of pioneers
were waiting in the shade.
411
01:07:51,680 --> 01:07:54,968
They instantly launch
the healing process.
412
01:07:55,080 --> 01:07:57,731
A new cycle begins.
413
01:08:20,960 --> 01:08:23,611
I've spent so many years
in forests.
414
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:25,245
A whole human lifetime.
415
01:08:26,120 --> 01:08:29,488
Thinking in tree time
makes my head spin.
416
01:08:30,520 --> 01:08:34,684
What does the world look like
when you live so long?
417
01:08:35,760 --> 01:08:38,843
I've worked a lot, I've learned a lot
418
01:08:38,960 --> 01:08:42,248
but I've merely touched on
this world's mysteries.
419
01:08:42,360 --> 01:08:45,204
Here, I sense the power
of life's forces,
420
01:08:45,320 --> 01:08:47,971
their creativity, their whims.
421
01:08:48,520 --> 01:08:51,967
Something that goes beyond me
but whose grandeur I appreciate.
422
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:56,563
I cannot accept the disappearance
of this world.
423
01:11:02,200 --> 01:11:04,407
My story is at its end.
424
01:11:05,240 --> 01:11:09,564
I hear the murmur of primitive peoples
fading in the undergrowth,
425
01:11:09,680 --> 01:11:13,730
carrying off the memory
of man who came from the forest.
426
01:11:14,600 --> 01:11:17,604
In the past,
we lived in peace with the trees.
427
01:11:17,720 --> 01:11:22,601
Our ancestors looked on them
as respectable and benevolent gods.
428
01:11:23,880 --> 01:11:27,771
Today, we are victims of our own might.
429
01:11:27,880 --> 01:11:29,769
Let us look at trees.
430
01:11:29,880 --> 01:11:32,167
In their motionless serenity,
431
01:11:32,280 --> 01:11:35,204
lie the roots
of what was our birthplace
432
01:11:35,320 --> 01:11:37,209
and our wisdom.