Original subtitles

A gibbon.

Acrobatic.

Graceful.

Social.

Just one in a remarkable animal family.

Countless faces.

Monkeys.

Apes.

Lemurs.

They've conquered the world working together.

Every triumph is shared.

And every drama, too.

Family is everything...

...for the primates.

The forests of Southeast Asia...

...are home to world-class animal acrobats.

These are lar gibbons.

Each small family defends a huge territory.

They must cover big distances quickly.

So gibbons move like nothing else on Earth.

They brachiate,

swinging from branch to branch,

and it's this technique that gives them their speed.

A gibbon's arms are twice as long as their legs.

So their body acts as a pendulum,

with enough momentum to clear a gap of ten metres.

But with a 30-metre drop below,

every leap takes nerve.

Confidence like this must be learned.

This youngster is just ten months old -

by gibbon standards, a toddler.

She was born with all the tools she needs for the high life.

But learning how to use them...

...takes practice.

(WARBLING)

Trial and error like this is risky.

Few gibbons escape without broken bones.

But lessons are shared.

Gibbons, like all primates,

learn from one another.

From family,

friends,

playmates.

Play is the best form of practice...

...and the more they play...

...the faster their skills develop.

Young primates stand the best chance in life in the security of a family.

Across the world...

...family power has been the key to primate success.

From snow-capped mountains...

...to dusty backstreets.

Uncharted jungles...

...and the open savanna.

Social living has been the making of primates.

But it's not to say that family life is without its challenges.

Exhausting, even.

(SNORING)

(SNORES)

In Malaysia, these dozing dusky leaf monkeys

are a close-knit family group.

One dominant male oversees eight females...

...and their young.

Lots of them.

(SQUEAKING)

But one female is keeping her distance.

She's just given birth...

...to a rather lurid infant.

Mum must never lose sight of baby,

and that's why he's been born in a kind of high-vis jacket.

And there are others who find his bright-orange fur

equally eye-catching.

His aunts and cousins.

They all want a cuddle with the newborn.

Here, the baby-sitting becomes strangely competitive.

It might seem a bit rough on the baby,

but his mother is tolerant.

It all helps to establish the troop's bond with the newborn,

making it all the more likely they'll protect him.

Just as well, because in the jungle, you're never far from danger.

(SCREECHES)

An alarm call.

It's a python.

Mum quickly locates her orange infant...

...and he's soon safe in her arms.

But the troop aren't finished.

As long as the snake remains in their territory, it's a threat,

especially to the youngest.

That's one snake that won't stick around.

Putting up with your family takes patience,

but you can rely upon them when it really matters.

Dawn in the Amazon basin.

These white-cheeked spider monkeys...

...are equipped for life in the treetops.

Spider monkeys have an extra limb -

their tail...

...which allows them to go where others monkeys can't...

...and reach opportunities no other primate can.

This female's tail is strong and dextrous -

it's as good as any arm.

And it holds the key

when she ventures to the most perilous places.

This tributary of the Amazon is in flood,

bursting at its seams.

The currents are strong enough to uproot trees...

...and wash away any who stray too close.

But they also bring opportunity.

Aquatic plants, a feast quite unlike anything to be found in the canopy.

Now her tail is a safety rope.

It's flexible and can support all her weight.

It even seems to have a mind of its own.

And it has a pattern of grooves for grip,

like the palm of a hand.

It's thought the extra nutrients in these plants make it worth the risk.

And this elder female has led the way.

Her troop have followed.

Soon everyone is tucking in.

Here, family knowledge is shared...

...remembered

and even passed on between generations.

Primate groups come in all shapes and sizes...

...and for all sorts of reasons.

Here, on Ethiopia's open highlands,

geladas form herds, the biggest groups of all.

Because where there's nowhere to hide,

there's safety in numbers.

On the edge of the world's hottest desert...

(SCREECHING)

(BARKING)

...hamadryas baboons band together...

...to defend scant resources from rivals.

(SCREECHING)

When two groups clash,

it pays to have numbers on your side.

It's much more peaceful and the groups are much smaller

in the Dry Chaco forest of Argentina.

Here, owl monkeys live in small nuclear families -

just parents and their young ones.

Mum and Dad are one of the most devoted pairs

in the natural world...

...because they only have each other to rely on.

(YAWNS)

Despite the benefits of social living,

there are a few primates

who prefer to go it alone.

As night falls in Sri Lanka,

a solitary, rarely seen creature is stirring.

This pint-sized primate...

...is a gray slender loris.

Active only at night, a loris is wide-eyed and stealthy...

...even when she's just hunting fruit.

A solitary life should mean she doesn't have to share.

But there are challenges, too.

This loris is a single mother.

She has twins who, unfortunately, are just too big to bring along.

So the youngsters are parked in dense vegetation,

where they're expected to sit tight and wait for her to return.

But tonight, one of the infants is not where she left him.

This little loris has slipped from his roost,

and now he's in trouble.

(SQUEAKS)

At only five weeks old,

he's little bigger than a golf ball.

But already, he's well equipped.

(SQUEAKS)

He's one of few primates with night vision,

thanks to a special reflective layer of cells, the tapetum,

in his oversized eyes.

Whilst most young primates take months, or even years,

to fully find their feet,

this baby loris already climbs with confidence.

And he was born with a vice-like grip.

(SQUEAKS)

His mother can hear him.

(SQUEAKING CONTINUES)

(SQUEAKS)

Reunited at last.

A loris must grow up fast.

Their infancy is one of the shortest of any primate.

In less than four months' time,

he and his twin will strike out alone.

But even then, their mother won't abandon them.

She'll let them share her territory,

ensuring that they have what they need in the early days of independence.

In this cabruca forest, towering trees crawl with microscopic life.

And this miniature world

has its very own miniature squirrel-sized monkey.

A golden-headed lion tamarin.

He's a dad,

with a small but demanding family.

He's being tracked using a radio collar,

so scientists know one thing for sure -

he is devoted.

Despite that,

today it seems he's forgotten something.

(SCREECHES)

- His daughter. - (SCREECHES)

(SCREECHES)

For a tiny tamarin mother,

pregnancy and birth takes a huge toll.

So the lion's share of childcare falls to her partner.

He leads everyone to the day's first stop...

...breakfast!

A tamarin day is a fast and furious

and often rather destructive hunt for food.

These bromeliads are full of bite-size morsels.

They'll stay just long enough for everyone to get their fill...

...because tamarins are bite size, too,

and it's dangerous to stay in one place too long.

(SQUEAKING)

Time to move.

Everyone follows.

Well, almost everyone.

(SQUEAKS)

(SQUEAKS)

This is how a tamarin dad is destined to spend his days.

Whether the family are eating...

...grooming...

...or just playing...

...it's he who shoulders the burden of responsibility.

(SHRILL CALLING)

In truth, his daughter is plenty big enough

to keep up with the family...

...but she'd much rather hitch a ride from her long-suffering dad.

Amongst the ring-tailed lemurs of Madagascar,

females rule.

These leaders juggle childcare with territorial warfare.

If needs must,

they'll go into battle with baby on board.

In primate life,

those at the top stand out...

...even in the deep shade of the West African jungle,

where the only thing more colourful

than a dominant male mandrill's backside...

...is his face.

Mandrills' bright colours signify health and dominance.

(BARKING)

(YELPING)

From the extraordinary nose of Borneo's proboscis monkey...

...to the oversized canines of a drill...

...or the huge cheeks of a dominant male orangutan...

...these physical features mark out those at the top...

...but also expose them to politics and backstabbing.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

In India's desert state of Rajasthan...

...a single battle-scarred male Hanuman langur

watches over his troop...

...50 females and youngsters

who rely upon him to keep the peace and rivals at bay.

(SQUEALING)

His offspring are growing up in the safety of his protection.

(FLY BUZZES)

But these bachelors have banded together

in the hope of deposing him and taking the troop by force.

(GROWLS)

If they succeed,

they will kill his infants.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

(RAPID CLICKING)

Teeth grinding is a display of defiance.

(CLICKING)

(BARKS)

He's not going down without a fight.

(CLICKING)

Challenge accepted.

(CLICKING CONTINUES)

(SQUEALING)

Attack is the best form of defence.

(SCREECHING)

(GRUNTS)

He's seen off his rivals by intimidation.

(GRUNTS)

And his offspring are safe...

...for the time being, at least.

A leader's dominance is under constant threat.

Eventually, everyone must step aside.

In Morocco's cedar forests, winter brings short days...

...for the world's most isolated monkey.

Barbary macaques' morning commute

is short...

...but steep.

(SQUEALING)

Playtime is not wasted.

These antics mask political jostling.

The playmates are testing one another...

establishing status...

...and forging alliances -

that secret weapon in primate society.

But one macaque watches from the sidelines.

He's a male in his final years...

...known here by researchers for his battle-scarred nose

and by the fact he's usually alone.

His status and importance has waned.

But he was once second in command of this troop of 40.

To climb the ranks, he was ruthless.

In his youth, he too jostled for position...

...made allies...

...and enemies, too,

to secure his role in the top ranks of this group.

But those days...

...are behind him now.

These Barbary macaques are marooned

2,000 metres up in Morocco's Atlas Mountains

where they endure

some of the biggest climactic extremes

of any primate.

In just hours,

the temperature can fall by 30 degrees centigrade.

The lives of the young and the old are at risk.

At dusk, the group start to form huddles,

teaming up to fend off the cold.

They provide warmth to each other,

helping them all to survive until morning.

The old male, however, is alone...

...until...

...he's joined by some unlikely friends.

He's found a new role in the group...

...caring for young who are not his own, and it's paid off.

Male Barbary macaques form lasting grandfather-like relationships

with youngsters.

(TEETH CHATTER)

And now, together,

they all stand a better chance of surviving the night.

They can endure the extremes of the mountain winter

thanks to cooperation.

Working together is at the heart of the success...

...of this entire animal family...

...a family whose story has a new chapter.

In 1997,

scientists embarked upon an expedition to a lost world...

...a remote plateau in Northern Sumatra.

1,000 metres above sea level...

...this is Batang Toru.

After weeks of searching,

they caught a glimpse...

...of this.

A new species of primate.

A great ape.

The Tapanuli orangutan.

(GRUNTS SOFTLY)

They are smaller,

have paler, thicker fur than their lowland cousins.

Scientists believe these are adaptations for living at altitude.

But like all orangutans...

...the bond between an infant and its mother

is one of the strongest and longest in the natural world.

At this high elevation,

it seems these orangutans

need a greater variety of plant foods to survive.

All of which this infant has to learn.

It will take five years before she's ready to head off alone.

But her world is changing...and fast.

When the Tapanuli orangutan was named in 2017,

it became the newest,

and in the same moment, the most endangered great ape on Earth.

There are only 800 individuals.

Their lost world is no longer a secret.

In fact, it's under immediate threat

from logging, mining and hydropower projects.

The Tapanuli orangutan was isolated,

hidden,

for nearly 700,000 years.

It's now thought

that within a generation

they could be gone.

And across the world,

this is becoming a familiar story.

95% of Madagascar's lemurs are endangered.

The Barbary macaques' home is shrinking fast

in the face of rapid climate change.

India's lion-tailed macaques' forests are now adrift in a sea of agriculture.

Today, over half of all primate species are under threat.

And the future of them all...

...is in the hands of one primate.

Us.

The Primates team embarked on almost 30 filming expeditions

across the world,

climbing trees, scaling mountains

and weathering storms to film primates at home in the wild.

But at a secret location in Malaysia,

one shoot was a little different.

These lar gibbons have been rescued from the pet trade

and are being prepared for release back into the wild

by Malaysian gibbon guardian Bam.

Here we do the rehabilitation project for gibbons.

We expose them to the wild as much as possible.

We introduce them with other gibbons so they can learn their own language.

We encourage them to climb higher.

We help them to harness the skills to make them wild again.

Like all primates, young gibbons should grow up as part of a family.

But in this case, that family is Bam.

We give them love, motivation and support.

Bam's dedication

offers the chance to reveal the lives of gibbons as never before.

Having the chance to film gibbons

which are halfway through the process of being rehabilitated

is a real treat.

They're showing very, very natural behaviour,

but they're not completely freaked out by my presence,

which is really, really good.

And with Bam's expert help,

the team can try a completely new approach.

The way that gibbons move,

they live in a 3D world. You know?

They're up, down, left, right, diagonal,

backwards, forwards...

They're everywhere.

The crew decide to experiment with filming in all directions at once

with a 360-degree camera.

We can really spin around

and show their world from their point of view.

But before they can begin,

the crew need Bam's help to introduce themselves -

and their unusual equipment -

to the gibbons.

When we first got the camera out,

it was a completely alien sight to the gibbons.

I think they were a little bit scared of it and very cautious.

Bam is just getting up to the camera

and interacting with it and just showing that it's safe.

It's just a little bit of an introduction to the camera system.

Then they got curious about it.

They were testing - hands all over the lenses

and coming up and licking the lenses and then trying to bite on the cables.

Over the week, they've got more comfortable with it

and then they were starting to ignore it

and act a little bit more naturally,

which was exactly what we were after.

With everything in place and the gibbons reassured,

the crew are finally ready to film.

But there's a problem.

We tried to film the adults for the first time,

and the adults have learnt how to be gibbons,

so they go high in the trees, usually.

It was quite frustrating cos James was 60 foot up in that tree,

looking across - it looked great -

but the gibbons were on the floor.

But for Bam, this is a familiar problem,

and she knows exactly what to do.

JAMES: I used a catapult to fire a light-weight line up

over one of the top branches,

and then we used that line to pull up a blue plastic bucket

that was basically full of treats -

oranges, bits of papaya, bananas, all the things that gibbons really love.

And as soon as they saw that bucket,

from a distance, they knew that it was worth investigating,

and then we could then get the shots of them moving in.

Bam does whatever it takes

to ready her gibbons for a life in the wild.

It's all part of the rehab process, which is very, very convenient for us.

This morning, the gibbons climbed right up into the tree,

and we were able to get some really nice shots of both of them

doing what gibbons do best - up high, incredible acrobatics,

big, break-neck jumps going across,

death-defying stunts - really, really good.

And the 360 camera captured

a never-seen-before angle

of the gibbons' canopy world.

The most important thing is that they...they get back to the wild,

and actually I hope what we've been doing is enriching their lives,

helping with their play, getting them better at climbing.

Today, I saw Betsy and Lola playing on that tree.

They don't really go there.

And then, after the training, they start playing on that tree.

It's the highest tree here, in the centre,

so they climbed really high.

It's good. They are more confident.

The filming also gives Bam a new perspective -

a gibbon's perspective, high in the trees.

Wow, I didn't know

- that it's so high. - Yeah.

And she sees something she's never seen before.

- They're really high. - Higher than this one.

JAMES: I know.

BAM: Aw!

Wow.

It's a backflip!

- What, up there? - Yeah.

Oh, my God!

I know!

It's mad, isn't it?

(BOTH LAUGH)

Thank you for showing me.

Oh, it's an absolute pleasure.

No, it's been absolutely just wonderful filming them.

But some of Bam's gibbons still have a way to go.

STEVE: We fell in love with them instantly.

JAMES: The infants are just crazy.

It's hard not to be really sucked into their world

and to be really quite captivated by them.

STEVE: They're such adorable animals

that it's really easy to see

why people want to keep them as pets.

Infant gibbons bond closely with their carers,

and that makes them vulnerable.

Bam is leading the charge

against the biggest threat

faced by gibbons in Malaysia -

the trade in infants.

And it's not just gibbons.

Primates of all kinds are sold, most often via social media,

for photo opportunities on the street

or as exotic pets.

These infants have been rescued from a life

for which they are completely unsuited.

Gibbons are so cute when they're small,

but once they reach one years old,

they start to become destructive, they need more space.

JAMES: They're wild animals.

They haven't evolved to be kept as pets.

And as they grow up, they become demanding,

they become very physical.

Oops!

(MIC SCRATCHES)

It's not the cute cuddly little thing it used to be,

so out it goes.

But it's not just the individual gibbons that suffer.

BAM: To get one baby, it is estimated around 10 or 11 die

during the process.

The capture of infant gibbons

is decimating the wild population in Malaysia.

Bam campaigns to raise awareness and convict traders.

But at least for the gibbons in her care,

there are positive signs - and sounds - that they're on the right track.

It's a classic early morning sound of the Southeast Asian rainforest.

It's a beautiful dawn chorus.

Gibbons are the only primates that can sing -

to mark their territory, to find mate, to communicate.

(CALLS)

JAMES: And it's fantastic, listening to these guys,

because obviously they're rehabilitated animals...

(CALLING)

...and they're calling now, in the distance.

It's a great sound.

When gibbons sing,

it's an indication that the rehabilitation is working

and that they're one step closer to the wild.

BAM: The gibbons give melody to the jungle.

No gibbons means no melody.

So I hope the forests will sing again.

Over half of the primate species are in need of help.

Primate champions like Bam are working to turn the tide,

and there's hope that these gibbons, at least,

can look forward to a life in the wild.

Next time, meet the people making ground-breaking discoveries...

Right there.

...revealing the secret lives...

Wow!

(RADIO CHATTER)

...and safeguarding our closest relatives.

Our number one objective is zero extinctions.