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In the heart of the Americas,
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where continents collide,
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there's a land full of natural riches.
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BEAR GRUNTS
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BIRDS CALL
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HOWLING
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A land of towering giants...
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..scorching sands...
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..and secret rivers...
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..where great civilisations rose...
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..and fell.
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MAN WHOOPS, HORSE WHINNIES
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To succeed here takes passion and spirit.
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This is a country rich in colour and culture.
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A festival of life.
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This is Mexico.
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BIRD CALLS
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BIRD CRY ECHOES
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In the far north-east of Mexico is an ancient mountain world...
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Serranias del Burro.
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It's home to an abundance of creatures.
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And its most surprising resident
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is the black bear.
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This mother has three young cubs, just eight months old.
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BEAR GRUNTS SOFTLY
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It's autumn and the family needs to fatten up
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before the winter hibernation.
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This year, the oak trees are laden with acorns -
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an important source of fat.
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The bears have plenty to eat,
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but their challenge here is finding enough to drink.
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CATTLE LOWING ECHOES
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The limestone mountains soak up the rain,
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so there are no permanent streams.
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Fortunately for the bears, there is another source of water.
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CATTLE LOW
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Serranias del Burro is prime cattle country and the ranchers provide
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year-round water for their herds by tapping into underground springs.
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The water tanks are a magnet for all.
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Mother bear, with her young cubs, must approach with caution.
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CATTLE LOWING ECHOES
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Bears occasionally kill cows,
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so the ranchers let their cows' horns grow long
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as a natural bear deterrent.
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The family gets the message -
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loud and clear.
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The cattle have had their fill, now it's the family's chance.
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BIRDS CALL
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But someone else has got his eye on the tank.
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BEAR GROWLS
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A big male.
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He's best avoided.
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CUBS CALL OUT
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This male wants more than a drink,
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he wants to cool off in his tub.
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At last...
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Mexico's black bears were once on the brink of extinction,
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but they clung on in mountain hideaways like Serranias del Burro.
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The ranchers here don't just tolerate the bears,
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they help them out, even providing a leg up for the cubs.
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The population is flourishing,
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making this mountain world an important stronghold for bears in
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North America.
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Mexico is a vast country, around 2,000 miles long...
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..dominated by a great range of mountains, the Sierra Madre...
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..stretching all the way from the country's northern border
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with the United States, down to its southern border with Guatemala.
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Travel down Mexico's rocky spine -
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and there are many more diverse mountain worlds.
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The grandest of them all is found in the north-west of the country,
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in a region known as Copper Canyon,
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covering 25,000 square miles.
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A maze of gorges,
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some even deeper than the Grand Canyon.
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In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors came here,
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hunting for gold and silver.
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But they weren't the first to arrive.
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The Raramuri have lived in these mountains for over 2,000 years.
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To escape slavery in Spanish mines,
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many sought refuge in the most inaccessible places.
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To navigate the canyon's vast terrain quickly,
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the Raramuri became skilled long-distance runners...
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..able to cover 200 miles without stopping.
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Centuries of running at high altitude has made them
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unrivalled endurance athletes.
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THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH
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Today, the Raramuri still live in remote regions of the Copper Canyon
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and running remains an important part of their culture.
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Sisters Carmen, Mequejilda and Elida
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are from a proud family of runners.
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Their brother, Santos, is already a champion, winning several marathons.
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But today, it's his sisters' turn.
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Their traditional running sandals called huaraches,
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once fashioned from animal hide, are now made from old car tyres.
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Wearing them from childhood
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strengthens the foot muscles
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and stiffens the arches of the feet.
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Preparing this new generation of Raramuri for a life on the move.
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They are heading to the nearest town for a race.
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Here in the town of Porochi,
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a race day is a chance for distant neighbours to catch up.
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BUZZ OF CHATTER
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The girls' race is the first of the day.
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HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH
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They will be competing over three miles.
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Uno, dos, tres...
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fuera!
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In this traditional team event,
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the girls toss a hoop, called an arihueta, for the first lap.
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One lap down, one to go.
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Sister Elida now takes the arihueta.
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THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT
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The first hoop to cross the finishing line wins.
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At last, the home straight.
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MEN SHOUT
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Elida is first to cross the finish line...
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CROWD APPLAUDS
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..upholding her family's winning record.
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THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH
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The races continue long into the night.
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Mexico has one of the largest indigenous populations in Latin America.
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More than 25 million people and 68 different languages.
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Living in the Copper Canyon has moulded the Raramuri's whole way of life.
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All of Mexico's mountain worlds
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shape life in profoundly different ways.
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Nowhere is this more apparent than among a very unusual group of mountains...
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1,000 miles to the south,
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where ancient tectonic events have crumpled the land...
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The Sierra Gorda, or opulent mountains.
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Here, the temperate and tropical collide,
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creating a mosaic of different habitats.
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BIRDS CALL
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In this one region, there are more than 2,000 different types of plant...
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..over 340 bird species...
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BIRDS CALL
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..and 800 kinds of butterfly.
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Fairy tale oak forests are a secret garden
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for more colourful tropical species.
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The most bewitching of all,
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orchids.
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Over millions of years,
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these flowers have developed an unusual relationship
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with a very colourful character...
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..the orchid bee.
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For just a few months each year, when the orchids are in bloom,
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the orchid bees visit them in droves.
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Not to sip their nectar -
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but to sweep up fragrant oils using brushes on their front feet.
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They scrape the oils into a special pouch on their hind legs.
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BEE BUZZES
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These orchid bees are mixing their own cologne...
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..made from up to 80 different scents collected from the forest.
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This complex fragrance helps the males attract the females.
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BEES BUZZ
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The most fragrant oils are produced by one very special kind of orchid...
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..Stanhopea.
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This orchid blooms for just one day each year.
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In this crucial 24 hours, it must spread its pollen far and wide.
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As soon as it opens,
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the flower emits a hypnotic perfume...
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..that smells like freshly ground cinnamon...
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..sending the orchid bees into delirium.
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BEES BUZZ INTENSELY
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But Stanhopea's sweet smell belies a cunning purpose.
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Its petals are covered in slippery oil droplets.
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And their intricate shape forces the bee to walk backwards.
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The bee slips
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and the orchid sticks a packet of pollen onto its back...
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..which it will unwittingly carry to other Stanhopea flowers.
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With its pollen distributed in just a single day,
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the flowers' job is done.
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As the sun sets,
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the petals wilt and die.
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BIRD CALL ECHOES
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Travel further south down Mexico's spine and ancient peaks give way to
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younger mountains in the fertile heart of the country.
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Much of this land is over 6,000ft above sea-level.
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A landscape of extensive farmland and pine oak forest.
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The soils here are especially rich because this is the home
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of restless giants.
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Popocatepetl is Mexico's second-highest peak...
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..over three miles above sea-level - and still growing.
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It's the country's most active volcano.
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LOW RUMBLING
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Mexico is one of the most volcanically active places on earth
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because it lies at the collision point of three tectonic plates,
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producing a great chain of mountains that stretch right across central
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Mexico, known as the Transvolcanic Belt,
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with more than 20 active volcanoes.
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They can cause death and destruction
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but they're also givers of life.
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Their volcanic ash enriches the soil,
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making this a highly productive region of Mexico...
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..and the most inhabited.
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The country's capital, Mexico City,
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lies on a high plateau in the shadow of volcanoes.
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People first settled here almost 10,000 years ago.
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DISTANT DOGS BARK
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It's a riot of colour...
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CAR HORNS BEEP
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..noise...
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and culture.
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CROWD CHEERS
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This sprawling mega-city is home to over 20 million people
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and 80% of all the food consumed here comes from a single place...
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..the largest wholesale food market in the world...
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..La Central de Abasto.
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30,000 tonnes of produce changes hands every day...
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..much of it grown on Mexico's volcanic belt.
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NOISY CHATTER
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The country's most iconic foods, chillies, maize and avocados,
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all originate in Mexico's Highlands.
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Many are exported worldwide
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and there's one product that's earned a formidable reputation.
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BELL TOLLS
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TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH:
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16-year-old Martin is a sometime bull rider but a full-time jimador,
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a farmer who harvests the blue agave plant...
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..the essential ingredient of tequila.
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Agave plants can take a decade to mature before the plant is cut down.
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DOGS BARK
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By slicing away the spiky leaves, the jimadores expose what they're after,
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the sugar rich heart, the pina.
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Martin toils in the shadow of Volcan de Tequila,
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which last erupted 220,000 years ago...
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..its ancient ash fertilising the rich red soils.
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This one region of Mexico, Jalisco, produces 80% of the country's tequila,
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crafted in special distilleries.
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The pinas are first roasted and then crushed, squeezing out the sugar-rich juices.
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These are then fermented.
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Yeast turns the sugar into alcohol.
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Finally, it's distilled...
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producing the highest grade tequila.
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MEN SPEAK IN SPANISH
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To improve the quality of their crops,
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some farmers are trying something new.
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For the first time in 200 years,
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they are letting a proportion of their agave go into flower.
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The plants funnel all their sugars into towering blooms...
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..rendering them useless for tequila
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but offering a lifeline for a threatened species.
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Thousands of female lesser long-nosed bats migrate along
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Mexico's mountains to reach their breeding caves in the north.
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They can fly over 60 miles a night and need frequent sips of sugar-rich nectar.
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The agave provides them with a critical source of food.
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The bats also benefit the farmers by pollinating their crop.
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MEN CHAT IN SPANISH
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If their agave is exposed to a greater mix of pollens,
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the plants will be stronger and more resilient to disease.
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THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH
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THEY LAUGH
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By helping the bats, the agave farmers are safeguarding their own future...
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..and ensuring the continued legacy of Mexico's most iconic drink.
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Central Mexico's mountains have attracted people for millennia.
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Immense empires grew in this volcanic heartland...
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..and the remnants of some of their cities still stand.
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1,500 years ago, Teotihuacan was a thriving metropolis,
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home to over 100,000 people.
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But perhaps the most famous ancient empire here
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was the Aztecs.
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They dominated central Mexico in the 15th and 16th centuries.
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Aztecs believed mountains connected Earth to the heavens
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and the underworld.
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50 miles south of Mexico City is the Temple of Tepozteco.
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This shrine was abandoned long ago
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but a very resourceful animal has since made it home...
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SOFT GRUNTING
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..coatis.
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They are the most social of the raccoon family...
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..forming bands up to 30 strong.
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They normally live in tropical woodlands and open forest.
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COATIS SNUFFLE AND SQUEAL
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Coatis are omnivores.
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They can eat pretty much anything.
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Here at Tepozteco, there are plenty of options.
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This important archaeological site attracts many visitors,
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and tourists bring opportunities.
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This is no ordinary coati clan.
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These adaptable animals have become artful thieves.
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The coatis are thriving thanks to teamwork
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and a shameless streak.
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COATIS SQUEAK
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Below the volcanic heartland,
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Mexico's Sierra Madre stretches on south towards the tropics.
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At its southernmost tip,
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where it meets the Pacific Ocean,
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the mountains catch the moisture from clouds rolling in off the sea.
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10% of all of Mexico's rain is captured here,
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helping to create a lush cloud forest known as El Triunfo.
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The combination of humidity,
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altitude and warmth makes the perfect conditions for life to flourish.
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BIRDS CALL, INSECTS BUZZ
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This secret mountain world is home to an abundance of rare creatures,
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many found nowhere else on earth.
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High in the canopy,
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100ft off the ground, lives the alligator tree lizard...
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..and the horned guan.
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GUAN MAKES DEEP-THROATED CALL
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The last survivor of an ancient bird family,
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00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:34,520
it's been evolving independently for more than 30 million years.
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BIRDS CALL VOCALLY
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In forest clearings, male long-tailed manakins dance to entice females,
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a ritual that may take a decade to perfect.
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Travel deeper into the heart of this cloud forest,
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and you might discover the true spirit of El Triunfo...
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..a mythical creature rarely seen.
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Sacred to the ancient Aztecs,
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who treasured its feathers more than gold.
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It's considered the most beautiful bird in the Americas...
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00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,000
BIRDS CALL
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..the aptly named resplendent quetzal.
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00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:09,440
It's the mating season and these males' three-foot-long tail feathers
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have helped him successfully attract a mate.
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00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:22,040
Now he has a young family to feed.
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00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:32,680
He works tirelessly for a month to satisfy his brood's voracious appetite.
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00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:44,720
His lush Mexican home is brimming with fruit and insects.
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At the end of the mating season,
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he will drop his spectacular tail feathers,
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but the quetzal grows a new train every year.
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00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:13,600
Only in such a rich mountain habitat can animals afford to devote so much
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energy to looking this good.
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From north to south, all of Mexico's mountain worlds are unique.
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And some are so inviting,
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they compel creatures to journey vast distances to reach them.
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00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:54,000
Every winter, one creature travels nearly 3,000 miles
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from as far as Canada,
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00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:59,880
to this special place, high in the mountains of central Mexico.
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00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:11,960
The trees seem to be draped in leaves, but in fact,
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00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,040
they are coated in millions of delicate creatures.
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00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:22,280
Silent, unmoving...
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00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,840
..monarch butterflies.
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00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,280
In their hundreds of millions.
333
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,640
These oyamel fir forests are their perfect winter sanctuary.
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00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:49,120
The low temperatures slow their metabolism,
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00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,680
putting the butterflies in a trance for five long months.
336
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,880
Mountain mists prevent them from drying out.
337
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,520
And the towering firs help protect them from winter storms...
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00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:17,480
..ensuring they don't freeze.
339
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:23,000
For thousands of years,
340
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:29,520
these monarchs have had a special significance for the people of Mexico's mountains,
341
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:34,080
who believe the butterflies to be the spirits of the dead,
342
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,440
returning to Earth from the heavens.
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00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:42,160
And their arrival in winter coincides with one of the most
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00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:44,880
important events in the Mexican calendar.
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00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,960
MAN SINGS IN SPANISH
346
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:11,720
Dia de Los Muertos - The Day of the Dead.
347
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,480
CHIMES TINKLE
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SHE SPEAKS IN SPANISH
349
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,720
In villages across the Sierra Madre,
350
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:30,320
families like Catalina's are remembering those who have passed on.
351
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,240
TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH:
352
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,240
THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH
353
00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:01,160
Catalina and her family gather around her husband's grave.
354
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:39,720
THEY CHAT AND LAUGH
355
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:54,000
The family keep their candles burning until first light.
356
00:44:55,240 --> 00:44:57,800
But they are not alone.
357
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:04,080
Tonight, millions of candles are lit throughout Mexico...
358
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:12,720
..helping to guide the spirits of loved ones back home.
359
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,200
The party for the dead has only just begun.
360
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:28,040
FIREWORKS WHISTLE
361
00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:33,080
WHOOPING AND CHEERING
362
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,160
Many Mexicans do not believe death is an ending.
363
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:44,640
They embrace it as an essential part of a natural cycle.
364
00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:58,200
The people here have been celebrating the Day of the Dead
365
00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:00,160
for more than 3,000 years.
366
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,840
Generation after generation.
367
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,360
But the spirits of the dead cannot stay for long.
368
00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:27,600
Just as the spirits must return to the heavens...
369
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:33,640
..the butterflies will also leave.
370
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:02,080
This is Mexico's greatest natural spectacle,
371
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:05,600
up to a billion butterflies take to the wind.
372
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,240
These monarchs will never return to Mexico.
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00:47:16,240 --> 00:47:19,440
Their short time on this earth is almost over.
374
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:24,960
But they will lay their eggs on the journey north.
375
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:36,640
And next year their descendants will continue this ancient ritual...
376
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:44,520
..by making the same epic pilgrimage along Mexico's rocky spine,
377
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,280
back to this unique mountain world.
378
00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:00,920
It's no coincidence that Sierra Madre means Mother Mountains.
379
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,560
Her great ranges nurture an incredible diversity of life...
380
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,960
..and helped give birth to some of the greatest civilisations on earth.
381
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:25,880
The Aztecs believed mountains brought you closer to the heavens.
382
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:31,000
In Mexico's Mother Mountains,
383
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,760
you can see why.
384
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:51,080
Of all the animals the mountains team wanted to feature,
385
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,200
one creature was top of the list.
386
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:58,920
Rarely seen, little-known, hardly ever filmed.
387
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:02,600
Mexico's black bear.
388
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:07,960
Filming them would be a great achievement.
389
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,600
To stand any chance of even finding them,
390
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:18,760
the team relied on Mexico's foremost bear scientist,
391
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:20,040
Diana Doan-Crider,
392
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:24,400
a Mexican American who has been studying and protecting these bears
393
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:25,960
for 25 years.
394
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:32,280
My mother's Mexican and my father's American.
395
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:36,600
When I was a kid, my grandfather, he would tell me stories of seeing bears.
396
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,200
As I grew up, I knew I wanted to study wildlife in Mexico.
397
00:49:57,680 --> 00:49:59,360
Since the 1980s,
398
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:03,440
Diana's extensive research in the Serranias del Burro
399
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:07,160
has shown that these mountains are an essential stronghold
400
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:08,280
for black bears.
401
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:18,760
She has worked closely with ranchers and landowners to help protect
402
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:20,160
this important habitat.
403
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:28,120
But five years ago, disaster struck.
404
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,280
Five years ago, it quit raining for eight months.
405
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:36,600
So it dried up all of that fuel.
406
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:39,920
And then, in March, while I was here, a fire started.
407
00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:43,920
That fire didn't stop until May.
408
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:47,400
And it burned 350,000 acres.
409
00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:54,200
I will be honest, I was traumatised by what I saw because...
410
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:55,320
I'm sorry.
411
00:50:57,200 --> 00:50:58,560
We saw a lot of dead bears.
412
00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:10,440
I think a lot of us were, like, "Man, this is it. It's over."
413
00:51:13,240 --> 00:51:16,520
The fires also ravaged the oak forests,
414
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:20,040
whose acorns are a critical source of food for the bears.
415
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:30,680
This is Diana's first time back to find the bears since the fire,
416
00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:33,760
so the shoot takes on extra significance.
417
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,400
After decades of conservation effort,
418
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:43,520
she is desperate to see if they have managed to survive,
419
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,240
and whether this fragile ecosystem has fully recovered.
420
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:54,640
This is my first time back, and this place here was completely devoid
421
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:56,840
of vegetation.
422
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:59,360
So this was a dead tree.
423
00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:02,440
And what's really great is that we have acorn production now.
424
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:04,640
And that's what we were most concerned with,
425
00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:07,200
was how long was it going to take for these patches,
426
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:10,520
especially severely burnt patches, to start producing acorns.
427
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:15,800
The mountains team have timed their visit carefully.
428
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:21,120
It's autumn, and the bears should be around,
429
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:23,080
fattening up on the flush of food.
430
00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:30,920
Diana takes the team, along with landowner David,
431
00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:33,280
to look for signs of bear activity.
432
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:36,160
What we have is branch breakage by the bears.
433
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:38,960
They climb up in here and they pack it down and then they sit up there
434
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,480
and feed. And this is a really good example.
435
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,720
There is further evidence, if a bit unsavoury.
436
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:48,320
How old would that be?
437
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:51,360
This is probably just a couple of days old because it has been
438
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:53,720
very hot and it is still moist on the inside.
439
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,520
I'd have to taste it to be sure.
440
00:52:57,520 --> 00:52:58,840
LAUGHTER
441
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:04,040
Great news - proof that the bears are around.
442
00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:07,760
But this is a vast landscape,
443
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,000
more than 1,000 square miles of wilderness.
444
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,360
The team need to know where they should focus their effort.
445
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:19,840
And Diana knows the right people to ask.
446
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:26,960
Ranchers. They know this land like the back of their hands...
447
00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:30,320
..and the bears better than anyone.
448
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:36,600
I came in kind of with an attitude of telling them what I was going to do,
449
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:39,040
what I was going to learn about bears and, you know,
450
00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:41,160
give them all the answers that they needed.
451
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:44,080
I remember the first meeting I had with them, and it was a group
452
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:46,640
of ranchers, and they sat down and they gave me a list.
453
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,680
And they told me, "This is what the bears do in the spring,
454
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,040
"this is what the bears do in the fall, this is how many cubs they have.
455
00:53:53,040 --> 00:53:54,360
"This is what they eat."
456
00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:59,080
And I can tell you this, every one of those things on that list were true.
457
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,120
There have been recent bear sightings.
458
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:09,960
And ahead of the shoot the ranchers set up some camera traps for
459
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:14,440
the team, hoping to find out where the bears are most active.
460
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:17,600
Oh, man. I can't believe it.
461
00:54:18,720 --> 00:54:19,960
Look what he did.
462
00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:24,120
A bear just came and knocked over the whole rock.
463
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:27,880
There's two down.
464
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:35,200
LAUGHTER
465
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:38,120
Look here. He made a hole.
466
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:40,600
This isn't exactly what they were hoping for.
467
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:46,880
These animals, they can't, like, not totally trash it.
468
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,400
Bears four, me zero.
469
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,560
We'll see if we have anything that's useful on these cameras.
470
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:58,160
I guess it's the best way we can work out where to concentrate our
471
00:54:58,160 --> 00:55:00,600
efforts, as long as it hasn't been eaten up.
472
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:03,760
Can you see anything?
473
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:09,520
For the first time in five years, Diana sees her bears again.
474
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:12,160
- What are they doing?
- They are just goofing around.
475
00:55:13,560 --> 00:55:16,440
And they both have chest blazes which makes me think that they
476
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:18,080
- are siblings.
- Siblings.
477
00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:21,360
These two show up and they start romping around,
478
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,320
- playing with each other.
- It would be great if we could film them because
479
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:26,720
they are very playful.
480
00:55:26,720 --> 00:55:30,480
What's interesting about this is you see the truck go by.
481
00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:33,280
And not even four minutes later the bear comes back.
482
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:38,320
At least now we know which are the most active pools to concentrate on.
483
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,880
I'll be honest with you, I never knew this number of animals were
484
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:43,760
visiting these water sources.
485
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,480
With this information from the camera traps,
486
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:54,040
the team now concentrate on a few key water tanks.
487
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:58,520
It's really good cos we've just seen our first bear.
488
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:06,000
There is a mother bear and a baby there just feeding on some acorns.
489
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:23,760
For the first time since the fire, this is a bumper year for cubs.
490
00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:41,400
- That's a wonderful jump.
- Oh, my gosh.
491
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:43,240
This is so amazing.
492
00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:44,560
That's great stuff.
493
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:49,680
Today has been great. The dam broke, we've got some great play behaviour.
494
00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:51,600
I mean, as good as I've filmed anywhere,
495
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:53,720
Canada or North America.
496
00:56:53,720 --> 00:56:55,000
So it has been great.
497
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,840
Diana has been an absolute godsend to the shoot.
498
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:08,000
Having her wisdom and her 25 years' experience and her relationship
499
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:14,440
with the ranchers, she has opened the door to us, to tell, I think,
500
00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:16,800
the most magical black bear story.
501
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,800
I quit coming for a long time and now I've come back, five years later,
502
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:26,320
and I'm actually floored over the recovery of the ecosystem.
503
00:57:28,800 --> 00:57:31,920
And not just that, but the recovery of this bear population.
504
00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:41,920
This place demonstrates how people can coexist with wildlife.
505
00:57:41,920 --> 00:57:43,760
It's a really unique relationship.
506
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:48,240
The ranchers have learned to coexist with the bears.
507
00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:50,560
The bears have learned to coexist with the cattle.
508
00:57:50,560 --> 00:57:53,320
I love that. That's Mexico's heritage -
509
00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:55,000
us living on the land.
510
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:05,760
Next time, we travel to Mexico's southeast,
511
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:07,680
and a unique peninsula.
512
00:58:08,720 --> 00:58:10,840
The Yucatan,
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the birthplace of the once-mighty Maya civilisation...
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..where mysterious forests hide a secret underworld.
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