All language subtitles for Forest Elephants Natural World Collection BBC 2010 BLURAY 1080p EN

Think of African elephants,
and most of us will picture open savanna

where the largest land mammal mingles
with lions, giraffes and gazelles.

In fact, a third ofAfrica's elephants
live here -

in dense, dark rainforests.

(TRUMPETING)

Forest elephants stand
just two metres at the shoulder,

are more slightly built,

and have pinker tusks
than those on the savanna.

Little else was known about them

until one remarkable woman
began eavesdropping on their lives.

Andrea Turkalo is no ordinary scientist.

By living alone in remotejungle, she's
learned more about these hidden giants

than anyone else on Earth.

This has placed a huge burden
on her shoulders.

Forest elephants are now under greater
threat than their savanna cousins.

But Andrea could be in a unique position
to help them.

She's learned their language
and understands what they're thinking.

She can even hear when they're in trouble.

Incredibly, she believes

that if we listen carefully enough,

they might tell us
what they need to survive.

The only thing most scientists see
of forest elephants

is what they leave behind.

Counting dung piles has been the crude way
of guessing how many there are.

Their real secrets are hidden away
in the vast rainforest

that stretches over the Congo Basin.

But in a small corner
of the Central African Republic,

there is a window into their lives.

(TRUMPETING)

This is Dzanga Bai...

...a vast, natural clearing
and a Mecca for forest elephants.

(BIRD CHITTERS)

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

(TRUMPETING)

The forest provides
all the food they need.

So what is it that draws them
out of the shadows?

(RUMBLING)

The clearing contains a vital ingredient
that's lacking in their diet.

Volcanic rocks lie close to the surface,

and the salts they contain
neutralise toxins

ingested with rainforest leaves and bark.

Generations of elephants have come here
to prospect for these minerals

and settle their stomachs.

(BUBBLES GURGLE)

Blowing down, they churn up the mud,

then take a mouthful
of the mineral-enriched waters.

(RUMBLING)

As soon as they've mastered their trunks,
they're hooked.

It may be that these mineral salts
are also vital

for the elephants' growth and fertility...

...which is why as many as 3,000 elephants
visit Dzanga each year.

They'll try any tactic to control
the best areas of the bai.

(RUMBLING)

(PROLONGED CRY)

Dzanga Bai is not the only clearing
where they can get these salts,

but it's certainly one of the biggest
and most frequented.

When Andrea Turkalo first came here,

she had an instinct
that this place could help her

unlock the secret lives
of forest elephants.

ANDREA: I knew immediately
that this was an extraordinary place,

because to see wildlife in the open
in the forest is impossible.

I went there first in 1 987 just to see
the place, and actually slept there.

And all night there were
these extraordinary elephant sounds,

because elephants don't sleep like we do.

There was just this symphony of elephants,

and in the morning they were still there.

It was obvious that this was probably
one of the most special places for them

in the Congo Basin.

Andrea now understands
what the symphony means.

She can even hear
an individual elephant's voice.

(RUMBLING)

But back then, she was faced
with a huge problem.

Each elephant visits
forjust a few hours -

at best, a few days.

So Andrea only had snapshots to go on.

(THEY TRUMPET IN TURN)

- (PLAINTIVE WAILING)
- ANDREA: Oh!

- (AGGRESSIVE TRUMPET)
- (ANDREA LAUGHS)

(ROARING)

She might not see them again
for months...or years.

From this constantly changing cast
of characters,

how could Andrea work out the big picture?

(THEY TRUMPET AND RUMBLE)

There was another challenge.

Andrea wasn't a trained scientist.

But she had been a teacher in the Bronx,
one of New York's toughest neighbourhoods,

and she was single-minded enough
to commit herself long-term.

She left her family and friends and
set herself up in the middle of nowhere.

At the beginning,

I can honestly say there were
a lot of things I was afraid of.

I wasn't comfortable in the dark.
You're always in contact with insects,

and that was something I didn't like.

But you have to deal with it,
and that's what I did.

Andrea's had to turn her hand
to everything,

building a camp from scratch

and surviving
on minimal creature comforts.

(ANDREA TALKS TO COMPANION)

She's also had to place her trust
in the local Bayaka Pygmies.

They come from an ancient tribe
who have always lived in this forest.

They have helped her to adapt.

ANDREA: All my employees come
from the local Bayaka tribe.

They have great forest skills.

They keep me out of harm's way.

They see things long before
I even am aware of them.

NARRATOR: Every day,
Andrea sets off with her loyal helpers

on the 45-minute walk to the bai.

It's a routine she's stuck to
for 20 years.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

(RUMBLING)

Today, like any other day, she has no idea

who - or what - she might see.

(WAILING)

ANDREA: Oh, my God! It's Gutki.
I can't believe she's come back.

I haven't seen her in about six months,

and she's still able to keep up
with her group and she's still walking.

(TRUMPETING)

NARRATOR: It's not uncommon
for calves to be born with disabilities.

What's unusual is that Gutki has survived
for so long.

Unlike on the savanna,

there are no large predators here,
which might explain why.

But life in the forest for a disabled calf

is by no means easy.

ANDREA: What really amazes me
about this individual is,

if you think about walking in the forest,

the mother must come to obstacles
like fallen trees.

So she's evidently accommodating
the female with the handicap,

because she's keeping up with the group.

Otherwise, she would just get lost
in the forest - left.

(SNORTING AND BUBBLING)

This place never ceases to amaze me -
the things you see.

NARRATOR: Even though Andrea
sees individuals only rarely,

she's been able to piece together
their life stories.

(RUMBLING)

She couldn't have reached
this extraordinary position

without first learning

how to pick out faces from the crowd.

By mid afternoon,
the crowd can be 140 strong.

To keep track of so many individuals,
Andrea drew pictures of their ears,

which get ripped and torn in distinctive
ways as they move through thejungle.

(GENTLE TRUMPETING)

(RUMBLING)

She had over 4,000 identity cards

before she realised
her phenomenal memory was taking over.

(TRUMPETING)

ANDREA: I think the big breakthrough was
when you realised you knew the elephants.

You felt empowered. You could just go
out there and look, and you knew them...

...like you would see someone
on the street in your home town

and recognise them.

NARRATOR: Now her encyclopaedic mind
holds details

of countless unfolding family sagas.

(RUMBLING)

During the hours she spends at the bai,
she notes all the arrivals and, crucially,

who greets whom.

It's late afternoon, and Andrea
has noticed two related elephants

who've arrived
from different parts of the forest.

ANDREA: This is Mimi I,
who's the matriarch of this group.

(RUMBLING)

Mimi I knows that Mimi II is there.
They're heading right towards each other.

There we go. There's a nice greeting
going on right now -

some very low frequency.

Yeah, now they're trunking each other.

Yeah.

Yeah - that's a mother and daughter.

Some of these greetings are very subtle,

and if you know the individuals,
then you can predict them.

NARRATOR: By understanding
these relationships,

Andrea's made an important discovery.

(SNORTING AND BUBBLING)

In the forest beyond the bai,

it's rare to see
more than one elephant at a time.

People assumed they led solitary,
independent lives.

Andrea believes that even though relatives
might not stay together in the forest,

they do appear to know
each other's whereabouts.

ANDREA: I think there's a general
misconception about forest elephants

only having small family groups.

But they do have extensive networks,
and they should,

because we know that
about savanna elephants.

Why shouldn't forest elephants
still maintain these social groups?

NARRATOR: Dzanga Bai,

as well as offering medicinal salts,
appears to be an important venue

for elephant family reunions.

Andrea is beginning to understand

why the Bayaka call this place
"the village of elephants".

But even the Bayaka don't understand
how the elephants appear

to second-guess each other's movements -

how they know

when other family members
will be at the bai.

To get to the bottom of this,

Andrea has had to start thinking
like an elephant...

...tuning in to this forest world
as they do.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(TRUMPETING)

A heavy storm
prevents Andrea being at the bai,

but even from her office,
she can hear the elephants calling.

For two decades,
she's spent more time with elephants

than with her friends and family.

Even so,

she's only witnessed
a fraction of what they do.

Forest elephants spend
only 5% of their lives at the bai,

mostly at night, when Andrea's not there.

(THUNDER CRASHES AND ROLLS)

(WAILING CALL)

It's at night,
when they're visible only by starlight,

that the elephants are
at their most sociable...

(SHARP BARK)

...and most vocal.

(RUMBLING)

It's also when Andrea
is most worried for them.

(GROANING)

Huge reunions out in the open
place forest elephants in grave danger.

Every year, one in ten of Dzanga's
elephants is taken by poachers.

(THUNDER CRASHES)

(ELEPHANTS RUMBLE)

(BIRDSONG)

(FLOCK SQUAWKS)

Andrea's no longer here
just to study them.

She feels a growing duty to protect them.

She believes their conversations
are rich in meaning,

and that one way to help
is to listen to what they're saying.

Today she's adding to her vocabulary,

and to get a better view of the clearing,
she's working from a viewing platform.

ANDREA: We're up pretty high,
about maybe seven metres.

And you can see
one end of the bai from the other.

And you see all the entrances to the bai,

so I'm able to keep track
of all the individuals that come in.

NARRATOR: From up here,

she can compile
a kind of elephant phrase book,

which links particular behaviour
to the calls they make.

ANDREA: What I'm doing is
I'm trying to capture vocal sequences

between elephants in the clearing
in order to build up

an elephant lexicon
with these vocalisations' meaning.

Because I know the individuals,
I can also anticipate these vocal events.

(LOUD GROANING)

Someone's lost.

It's probably a juvenile lost its family.

(INSISTENT MOANING)

(DISTANT TRUMPETING)

NARRATOR: An elephant's hearing
is phenomenal.

They can hear much deeper sounds
than we can.

(RUMBLING)

Technology is helping Andrea to record
these very low-frequency calls

that are normally inaudible to humans.

(WHOOSHING)

ANDREA: Yeah, Milo is checking out
this female.

(RUMBLING)

She's doing a very nice rumble.

(RUMBLING)

Elephants often do that when
a female is being checked out by a male.

They do this low rumble.

NARRATOR: Andrea can now identify
ten different types of call.

She's even discovered
that each family has a distinctive voice.

- (PLAINTIVE WAILING)
- ANDREA: Oh!

Separated from its mother.

(GROWLING)

Oh, the mother's coming.
The mother hears the baby crying.

- (GENTLE TRUMPETING)
- There she is. She's vocalising.

There's a lot of low frequency
going on now,

reassuring the calf.

And probably the calf is learning
the family's specific calls.

(RUMBLING)

NARRATOR: Back in camp,
Andrea can analyse the recordings

and start to see the pattern
of each elephant call.

- (YELP FOLLOWED BY WAIL)
- This is a clip that I've pulled off

to illustrate the distress call
in a young calf.

It's crying, and it makes this sort of
very low, mournful sound. Um...

And what you'll see next is the response
of two young, sub-adult females.

They approach the calf,
and then they discover each other.

This looks like a small greeting,
but then they go back and follow the calf,

who's probably heard from its mother
in the meantime

and is approaching its mother.

NARRATOR: Each sound recording

gets turned into a spectrogram giving
Andrea a detailed picture of the call.

ANDREA: This is the calf's call.

And then you have
these very low-frequency calls here.

You definitely see the calf calling -
you see the mouth open.

But to know who's making
those low-frequency calls is difficult.

But because the calf turned around
and went in the other direction,

I would assume it's the mother,

and it recognised its mother's voice
and now it's approaching its mother.

If you collected enough of these
distress calls of calves of a certain age,

you could compare them to see
if this is your typical distress call.

NARRATOR: Andrea has developed
an amazing skill.

By learning their language,
she can interpret what they're doing.

This is a greeting
between three members of the same family.

(LOW YOWLING)

(CHIRRING)

(TRUMPETING)

They're all vocalising.

(TRUMPETING)

They've all recognised each other

and they've all grouped together,

and the ears are flapping
and they're trunking each other

and they're excited to be together again.

So I assume they were separated
for a bit of time,

because of the, er...the energy
involved in their vocalisations.

(LOW YOWLING)

NARRATOR: Their rumbles can travel
over a mile through dense vegetation.

Even though family members are spread out,

they can hear an invitation to meet up.

(RUMBLING)

Part of the call is inaudible to our ear -
it's infrasonic.

But a lot of it is audible,
and that's what we're hearing.

But these low frequencies are the ones
that travel farthest through the forest.

So if they're having this greeting and
there are relatives in the nearby forest,

they'll hear it, and a lot of times,
you see other family members show up.

NARRATOR: If their social networking
is this powerful,

they might even be able
to warn each other of danger.

The following morning,
the bai is eerily quiet.

(THEY WHISPER IN LOCAL FRENCH)

He says that he's found blood on the trail
and there's a lot of elephant tracks.

NARRATOR: Days like this remind Andrea
how vulnerable these elephants are.

ANDREA: I can see blood right here.

He ran here,
but you can see tracks all around.

There's more here.

(SHE SPEAKS LOCAL FRENCH)

More here.

You can see where the elephant has
trampled earth. He's probably panicking.

He looks pretty big.
(SPEAKS LOCAL FRENCH)

You can see track right here.

Pretty big male.
That's the track of the front leg.

NARRATOR: Most forest elephants
have tusks.

The biggest adults carry the most ivory.

This is a big patch of coagulated blood.

It's pretty fresh,
so it was from this night.

There's also a track.
Now they're saying it might be a female.

Where we are now is only about...
probably 30 metres from the bai.

But we suspect the elephant was shot
on the other side and ran.

We didn't hear any gunshot, and generally
somebody will hear a gun if it goes off.

NARRATOR: Dzanga Bai is
within a national park,

so all Andrea can do
is report the incident to forest guards.

It's a hard place to police,

but Andrea's very presence in the area

does make events like this
less frequent than they'd otherwise be.

Andrea wants local people to understand
the value of elephants,

notjust as intelligent,
interesting animals,

but because in their secret wanderings,

elephants influence the shape
and richness of the forest itself.

The richer they make the forest,
the more food there is for everyone.

The most obvious way they do this

is by engineering pathways
through the tangle of vegetation.

Over time, elephant feet
have created wide trails -

highways that run
for hundreds of miles through the forest

and which link key resources.

ANDREA: We're walking along
a pretty well-worn elephant track,

and occasionally,

areas open up like this
because of the existence of this tree.

This is a particularly favourite tree of
elephants - it's duboscia - and generally,

where you find these trees
the forest opens up

because elephants come and eat the fruits.

It's a very fibrous fruit,
and we find it generally

in about 90% of the elephant dung
throughout the year,

so there's always
a duboscia tree fruiting.

Not only do they eat the fruits, but they
also scrape the bark off and eat that.

NARRATOR: Their trails are used
by many other animals.

Western lowland gorillas eat
the same kinds of fruits as elephants,

so elephant paths
are like signposts to food.

(ELEPHANT RUMBLES)

But there's one type of fruit
that only the elephants can get to.

Omphalocarpum fruits are encased
in a tough shell,

making them virtually impossible to crack.

(CHOMPING)

Elephants have
the perfect tool for thejob.

They may devour everything,
but the seeds of all the fruits they eat

pass unharmed through the gut.

(CRUNCHING)

As they travel,
the elephants replant the seeds,

creating avenues
of their favourite fruit trees.

Where there's a lot of elephant activity,
areas open up,

and sedges and grasses can take hold.

They are fundamental
to the gorillas' diet.

These great apes would find life

much harder without the elephants.

But the relationship
isn't an amicable one.

(ELEPHANT RUMBLES)

(BELLOWING)

Elephants don't like other animals sharing
the clearings they created.

As they dig for minerals, they actually
maintain and expand these bais.

Over centuries, elephants have made
hundreds of small clearings in the forest.

But none compares
to the importance of Dzanga.

(TRUMPETING AND RUMBLING)

It's now the dry season,
one of the busiest,

and for Andrea, one
of the most fascinating times at the bai.

It's when most of the big bulls show off.

(RUMBLING AND SPLASHING)

This is Triple Bite.

Over the years, Andrea has watched him
grow from an adolescent

into one of the most dominant bulls
in the clearing.

But he hasn't been here for nearly a year.

He has travelled hundreds of miles
to reach Dzanga,

where he knows he can find females.

It's notjust the females that sense
the tension rippling across the bai

when the big males arrive.

(TRUMPETING)

That's Gonya V chasing sitatunga.

(SHORT TRUMPETS)

For the younger bulls especially,
this can be a very exciting time.

ANDREA: The young elephants,
they come and they're very feisty,

and they'll just run around the bai
for the entire afternoon.

He's like a young male in puberty,
so he's learning how to be a male.

(TRUMPETING)

(SNORTING)

(TRUMPETING)

NARRATOR: Unlike on the savanna,

elephants rarely see each other
in the forest.

This clearing offers
rare moments of contact -

time for the bulls
to get to know each other

and learn each other's strengths.

(RUMBLING)

(BELLOWING)

And everything they do
is copied by the youngsters.

(THEY RUMBLE)

(BELLOWS AND RUMBLING)

ANDREA: A lot of learning going on here.

It's sort of like a school yard.

Elephants are so much like humans.

We learn to be human and end up
being socialised,

and elephants undergo the same process.

NARRATOR: Andrea calls this
"bull school"...

a time and place

to learn their position
in elephant society.

ANDREA: When I started this study, I had
no idea about how conscious they were,

and yes, they do have good memories,

and they have personalities.

Watching an elephant grow
from childhood to adulthood,

it's been astonishing to see the changes

in how much they really have to learn
to become and elephant.

(BELLOWING)

NARRATOR: Andrea has revealed something
even more significant about Dzanga Bai.

This clearing isthe place
where elephant culture is passed on.

Understanding the central importance
of Dzanga Bai

places an even bigger burden
on Andrea's shoulders.

Her presence here
is notjust preventing elephant deaths,

but the possible disruption
of their entire way of life.

(RUMBLING)

She wants to protect the elephants,

but she has to work within a culture

that has very different attitudes
and priorities to her own.

For centuries, the local Bayaka
have hunted forest wildlife for food,

and Andrea is pragmatic about that.

ANDREA: Traditionally the forest,
for them, has been their life source.

It's where they find everything they need.

You know, they eat elephant meat.
That's not a mystery to me.

NARRATOR: Andrea steers a difficult course

between her feelings for the elephants

and respect for the Bayakas' traditions
and needs.

ANDREA: A lot of them will go into the
forest for two or three months of the year

where they'll gather honey
and certain seeds that they eat.

And the people that work with me, I've
made their work schedule very flexible,

so they can tell me, "I want to go into
the forest for the next three months, "

and I'll say, "Fine. "

I think that's a very important part
of their culture

and they need to teach that
to their children,

because ultimately,
it may be the only way they'll survive.

NARRATOR: Not many employers

would be this flexible,

but she believes it's the only way.

(WATER SLOSHES)

ANDREA: You have to be there for them
when they really need you.

Otherwise, they won't be there
for you when you need them.

I think that's really sustained me here
in many ways -

that connectedness to people here.

NARRATOR: Andrea treats
her Bayaka workers like family,

making regular trips to buy them supplies.

The local village is only eight miles
from Andrea's camp, but the round trip,

on rough, dirt tracks, takes a whole day.

(INAUDIBLE)

It's impossible to grow anything in camp,
because elephants raid the crops at night.

The heat and humidity means
nothing stays fresh for long.

OK, a c'est dix milles et cinq milles.

This is smoked fish.

If you buy it smoked, it keeps up to
two weeks in camp without refrigeration.

I don't eat smoked fish.

It's an acquired taste.

Merci.

NARRATOR: Protein is difficult to come by.

What there is
tends to come from the forest.

Local people are allowed to hunt
outside the national park,

but laws control which animals
can be taken as bush meat, and how many.

Even so, Andrea knows there's
elephant meat under the counter.

(HE SPEAKS LOCAL FRENCH)

The guards that patrol the forest

do their best to contain
this black market.

More commonly, they pick up people
who have taken too many animals,

or who have the wrong licences
for their weapons.

Most people arejust trying
to feed their families.

Elephant meat is a delicacy,

but it's rarely on the menu.

They are hard to kill
with a normal shotgun.

And Andrea's workis making a difference.

When I first started working with
the Bayaka, I think we all had this vision

that they know the wildlife,
but they didn't know elephants in the way

that they've gotten to know them with me.

But because now they've spent many years
observing elephants first-hand,

their ideas have totally changed.
In fact, one of them said to me one day,

"Madame, these aren't elephants -
these are people."

And it was very touching
for me to hear that.

Sadly, local opinions are increasingly
affected by bigger changes

sweeping across the region.

Andrea's seeing more and more elephants
entering the bai.

She thinks they're being pushed
into Dzanga

as commercial logging disrupts
their extensive network of paths.

What's more, ivory is back in demand,

and the tusks of forest elephants
are most sought after.

They are pinker and much denser
than those of savanna elephants,

resulting in a rose ivory

that's highly prized for carving.

Its value is astronomical.

A pair of tusks raises $90,000
on the black market.

It's no wonder some local people
get drawn into poaching.

Human conflict in neighbouring countries
floods the area with weapons.

The guards confiscate many of them,

but there are plenty more,

and they're largely pointing at Dzanga.

It's the easiest place to find and kill
forest elephants...

unless, of course, Andrea is there.

ANDREA: I will react immediately
to any threat.

I can be out at the clearing having a nice
afternoon and then I hear gunshot

and I'm gone.
I'm back to camp on the radio,

trying to get guards motivated.

In many ways, Andrea is the only person
standing between the elephants

and mass slaughter.

After years of wanting to be here,

she now dare not leave.

Even trips to the local town
could endanger the elephants,

because she's under surveillance too.

(ANDREA SPEAKS LOCAL FRENCH)

Her absence from the bai never seems
to go unnoticed.

The poachers are very localised. They live
in the village. I know them. They know me.

So when I'm driving out of town,
they see me, and everybody...

It'd be people going, "Andrea!"
by the side of the road!

So they know I'm leaving. And that's a
worry, because there have been incidences

where there is poaching
when I've been gone.

This video was taken
when I wasn't at the bai.

It was taken by one of the assistants,
and he told me about this bull.

This is an elephant Andrea knows well.

But he now has a line of wounds
across his flank.

He's a young bull - he's about 35 to 40.
His name is Hezy.

The wounds are definitely bothering him.
You see this often in elephants

when they've been wounded -
they'll spend a lot of time either...

throwing water on themselves or mud.

Cos those wounds are pretty deep.
I mean, they pierce the...

the epidermis,
which is about a half an inch thick.

Andrea can tell from the pattern of wounds

this was not the result of a fight.

That many wounds - I'd say a Kalashnikov.

Hezy has returned to the likely scene
of the crime,

perhaps because it's also the best place
to treat his wounds.

But since this video was taken
on May 1 3th, we haven't seen him. So...

he might have even died.
He might have developed an infection

from the wounds he sustained.

With the stakes becoming higher,

even Andrea cannot live in such remote
forest without protection.

She needs to share
the weight of responsibility,

and a chance has come.

She's been asked to help
with a pioneering study

at the other end of the elephants' range.

It means, for a few weeks,

she will have to leave the elephants
at Dzanga Bai.

Forest elephants inhabit a huge area,
stretching over 2,000,000 square miles.

But there could be
fewer than 1 25,000 left.

This is Gabon...

...where the African rainforest
meets the ocean.

It's considered to be one of the last
safe havens for forest elephants.

It couldn't look more different
from Dzanga.

Beyond the endless beaches,

there's a mosaic of savanna, forest

and swamp.

It's a new experience for Andrea.

She's used to seeing groups
of over 1 00 elephants together.

Here, just seeing one is a challenge.

You don't see many, but when you do see
them, they're doing extraordinary things

I've never seen before in my life.

Elephants have adapted
to this diverse range of habitats,

even snorkelling across flooded channels
and swamps.

This place gives me a lot of hope,
in terms of elephant conservation,

just because the elephants
are inaccessible.

People can't hunt in these swamps.

And so that is a refuge for them.

However, there's no clearing like Dzanga
to see elephants

and monitor what they do.

Researchers have had to find a different
way to tune into their lives.

MAN: We can put one somewhere around here.

Andrea'sjoined Peter Wrege from the
Elephant Listening Project

at Cornell University.

He's an expert in acoustic research,

something he hopes will reveal
more about forest elephants.

- So this is the hard drive...
- Yeah.

...to store the data.

And then this is the computer -
microcomputer -

that's actually processing the sound.

He's putting up remote listening devices

to eavesdrop on them.

But he needs Andrea's help,

because only she can translate
their calls.

PETER: We're still in kindergarten

in learning exactly what
their vocalisations mean

and the social context
in which they occur.

And this is where Andrea is so vital
to what we're doing now...

is that she knows the behaviour
of the elephants very, very well.

NARRATOR: These recording units contain
state-of-the-art microphones,

specially designed to pick up
low frequency calls.

They can be left running
for three months, 24 hours a day.

Each one records rumbles
from over a square mile ofjungle.

It's better than CCTV.

That's OK. So we're...

finished. Ready to go.

PETER: It's absolutely a kind of spying
on elephants -

listening in on their conversations

in order to understand what they're doing,
how many there are, where they're going.

NARRATOR: Peter already has
33 of these bugging devices

deployed in the rainforests
of central Africa.

Now he needs Andrea's help

to decode the latest recordings.

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS MORE LOUDLY)

- PETER: That's pretty deep.
- ANDREA: Mm-hm.

The different rumbles tell Andrea
how many elephants are present

and what they're doing.

OK, that, for me - this first call -

may be an adult female.

And this might be a response to that call.

Let's try this one.

(ELEPHANT RUMBLES)

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)

- This is a young animal again.
- Young animal.

Just by listening, she can tell which
members of the family may be vocalising

and why.

Would you call those all protest calls
or...? You said also sometimes...

No, I think they're lost calls.
I think they're separated.

So you're actually hearing a difference
between a protest and a lost?

Yes. Those sounds like, to me, lost calls.

It starts low and it goes up.
The structure looks the same.

Yeah, well, that's one of the problems is,
I need to know a little more

from your ear, what do I need to be
looking for to...make that distinction?

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS LOUDLY)

Andrea's knowledge will help Peter create

a visual record
of specific elephant calls.

He can then refer to this library

and learn even more
about elephant life here.

You don't have anything before that,
do you?

Recorded?

Oh, I'm sure I do. This is clipped out,
though. We could look.

It almost sounds like mating.

- Really?!
- Yeah.

Because you've got a lot of these
high-pitched things going on.

Without even seeing elephants,

it's possible to translate their rumbles

into information about breeding success.

(ELEPHANT RUMBLES)

They've also revealed
the dangers elephants face.

Before his study began,

Peter was told
there was no poaching in the area.

That's not the case.

These, I'm pretty sure,
are high-powered rifle shots.

(CRACK)

So these devices also spy on the poachers.

By pinpointing hot spots
of illegal hunting,

guards could target areas
more strategically and efficiently.

- A lot of frogs.
- Mm-hm.

(CRACK)

- Those are definitely guns.
- Yeah.

And again, this is a bit strange,
because the intensity changes.

(SERIES OF QUIETER CRACKS)

- That's a tree.
- Really?!

That's a tree. This first thing
right here - this first sound you hear -

it's the crack
and then it's the "k-k-k-k-k-k".

- Hm, I don't know, Andrea...
- No. No. I'd put money on that on.

- (CRACK)
- ANDREA: Hear that?

(SERIES OF QUIETER CRACKS)

And that's the whole thing going down.
It might get hung up on something.

- True.
- Yeah.

- A lot of trees out there.
- It's very complicated, tree fall.

- (PETER LAUGHS)
- 20 years in the forest

has taught Andrea what to listen out for.

And Peter knows the value
of her extensive memory bank.

PETER: I am very concerned, actually,
about the huge knowledge Andrea that has

about these elephants. I find it
phenomenal what she remembers.

No-one else comes anywhere close
to what she has.

So I think it is critical that we
basically kind of extract this information

from her brain.

NARRATOR: This experience has shown Andrea
how her knowledge could help elephants

across their whole range.

But she will always feel a strong
connection to the individuals

back at Dzanga that have been her life
for so long.

I probably think about these elephants
during my waking hours

about 90% of the time.
I'm very concerned about them.

I mean, I feel it's my
moral responsibility to be there.

Hopefully, when I get back, you know,
the numbers will be

the numbers I'm expecting to see.

When Andrea returns to Dzanga,

there's depressing news.

More poaching has been reported
in the area.

The demand for ivory is now threatening
the very existence

of forest elephants.

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)

Recent data has shown we've maybe lost
between 40 and 50% of the population

in the central Africa area.

So there's increasing pressure
on this area

where there are still animals left over.

Dzanga Bai continues to be a magnet
for forest elephants

and a privileged window into their lives.

That's Marnie.

Oh! There's a new calf!

For the next 60 years,

this calf could return time after time

to take the salts, meet up with family

and to find a mate.

(WHISPERS) That's nice.

That's a new baby for today.

He's trying to figure out
what to do with his trunk.

But ifAndrea were to leave,

who knows what upheavals
he and his family would face.

I'm not an optimist
about the future for animals here.

So, I mean, I get a little bit...

um...

emotional about it, but the reality is,
these animals, if they're not protected,

they're...they're going to be poached.

For two decades, she has carried
this responsibility on her shoulders.

But she cannot stay here forever.

I've been here for 20 years
and I'm beginning to feel my age.

I think I'll stay here
as long as I can walk

and I can get support to do what I do,
because I love this place.

I mean, there's a lot of downsides
to my job, but coming here every day is...

is what makes it all worthwhile
and just seeing them right here.

Maybe the pioneering study in Gabon
will eventually take the pressure off her,

and the remote listening devices
will become her ears in the forest,

allowing elephants to tell us

of the dangers they face...