Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,360
'Created by fire and titanic upheavals of the earth,
2
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:11,160
'islands make up one sixth of the landmass of our planet.
3
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,160
'They are lenses through which to study
4
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,000
'the complex workings of evolution.'
5
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,440
Tropical islands have been important
6
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:23,240
in the understanding of evolution
7
00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,080
ever since Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos
8
00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:28,800
early in the 19th century.
9
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,840
We are going to visit three very different tropical islands
10
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,400
to see what they can tell us about evolution, even today.
11
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,680
'Islands are natural laboratories.
12
00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,200
'Full of novel experiments in natural selection...
13
00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,040
'..and evolutionary wonders.'
14
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,120
But there's much more to evolution than the survival of the fittest.
15
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:56,720
The phrase wasn't even in Darwin's first edition
16
00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,720
of the Origin of Species.
17
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,880
'I'm exploring other major influences.
18
00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,000
'Geology, geography.'
19
00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,440
Hello! 'Isolation and time.'
20
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,000
- You found this?
- Yeah.
- Giant's bones!
21
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,240
'I'll be charting the lifecycle of islands.
22
00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:20,400
'From birth and colonisation...
23
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,520
'..to the burst of evolutionary creativity
24
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,960
'that often accompanies maturity.'
25
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:29,320
(They take the leaves so delicately.)
26
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,400
'And what eventually happens when an island grows old and nears its end.'
27
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,520
You can almost feel this unforgiving rock
28
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,680
return ultimately to sea level.
29
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,920
'Places of extinction, as well as creation.
30
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,440
'Our story will reveal evolution in action.'
31
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,360
We just discovered a new species of the mouse lemurs.
32
00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,840
- So, mouse lemurs are still actively evolving?
- Yeah.
33
00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,600
'And how life generates abundance, even from a blank slate.'
34
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,440
Islands are the ideal place
35
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,960
to understand the rules that govern evolution.
36
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,880
'Madagascar is an island of great antiquity,
37
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,320
'where the aeons have created almost a separate realm of animals.
38
00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,960
'Of the 250,000 species that live here,
39
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,960
'more than 90% of the island's amphibians,
40
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,280
'70% of its reptiles and plants,
41
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,000
'as well as half its birds,
42
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,080
'and almost all of its spiders and insects, are endemic.
43
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,360
'Natives that are found here and nowhere else.
44
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:11,120
'To solve the riddle of how such extraordinary diversity was created,
45
00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,920
'I first need to see one of its most charismatic animals.'
46
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,000
Animals whose ancestors arrived here
47
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,520
probably on a natural raft of vegetation some 55 million years ago.
48
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:35,080
Primates related to modern monkeys, apes and even us.
49
00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:39,480
The lemurs.
50
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,640
The ancestral lemur survived crossing several hundred miles of ocean
51
00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,360
to find itself marooned on a nearly uninhabited island.
52
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,880
The fourth-largest island in the world, Madagascar,
53
00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,160
is 250 miles off the east coast of Africa.
54
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,680
A thousand miles long and 350 miles at its widest point.
55
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,640
'Descendants of the first primates
56
00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:13,960
'that landed all those millions of years ago
57
00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,680
'can be found on a series of smaller islands
58
00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,480
'set within a Madagascan river.
59
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,360
'But these islands are not all they seem.'
60
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,160
It looks like a jungle, it smells like a jungle
61
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,280
and it is a jungle of sorts - but a bogus jungle.
62
00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:40,200
Welcome to Lemur Island.
63
00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,600
Not quite a zoo, but it certainly ain't natural.
64
00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:52,840
Hello, little guy.
65
00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:00,080
'Just a short paddle across the manmade river,
66
00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,680
'tourists from the nearby private lodge
67
00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:04,760
'can get up close and personal
68
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,680
'with as many as six captive lemur species
69
00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,040
'from different parts of Madagascar.'
70
00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,280
THEY LAUGH
71
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,720
Well, he's looking around for the next banana.
72
00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,640
I'm just a passing fad.
73
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,640
The lemurs' exile in Madagascar
74
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,680
has favoured the retention of traits
75
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,080
some other primates have left behind.
76
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,000
Lemurs are different from monkeys.
77
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,400
Lemurs are related to bushbabies...and lorises.
78
00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:54,400
And, like them, they have a nose which sort of glistens.
79
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,680
They're called strepsirrhini.
80
00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,600
For these particular primates, the sense of smell is all-important.
81
00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,800
Whereas for the monkeys and the apes, and indeed ourselves,
82
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:10,200
we've rather relegated smell to a secondary position
83
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,000
and we rely on our sight, on our wonderful vision.
84
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,240
It's likely that the moist-nosed animals evolved first.
85
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,400
And it's generally thought, of course,
86
00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,400
that these animals are a more primitive, or basal group.
87
00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,880
The ancestors of the lemurs arrived on Madagascar around ten million
88
00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:35,680
years after the mass extinction event
89
00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,840
that wiped out the dinosaurs and many other animals.
90
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,080
The island they found almost completely lacked predators,
91
00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,960
or indeed competitors, and was richly endowed with different habitats.
92
00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,080
Adapting to these new circumstances
93
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,160
triggered the evolution of many specialist species.
94
00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:03,440
'Today, there are no fewer than 106 species of lemurs.
95
00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,240
'That's almost as many as all the species of monkeys
96
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,320
'living in Africa and Asia combined.
97
00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,480
'Biologists call this process adaptive radiation.
98
00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:18,920
'And it's a particular feature of island life,
99
00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,840
'where isolation creates an abundance of opportunities.'
100
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,720
This really beautiful animal
101
00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,120
is the diademed sifaka.
102
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:41,360
One of a dozen species in Madagascar.
103
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,680
All these lemurs seem to have a different livery
104
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,120
to help them recognise their own kind.
105
00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,320
'Sifaka lemurs feed primarily on leaves.
106
00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:03,200
'Their specially evolved stomachs can process deadly alkaloids
107
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,120
'most other primates would strenuously avoid.'
108
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,520
To see the largest living lemurs
109
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,840
produced by this burst of adaptive evolution,
110
00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,760
I visit the remote Mitsinjo Forest Reserve.
111
00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,800
I'm with Dr Rainer Dolch and guide Regis Razafiarison
112
00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,960
who have spent much of the last 20 years trying to protect them.
113
00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,240
I'm in this fragment of Madagascan rainforest
114
00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,080
in search of a large lemur
115
00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,920
that doesn't really respond to being kept in captivity.
116
00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,400
You just have to examine it in the wild.
117
00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,720
Indri live in troops of six to eight individuals
118
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,800
led by a dominant female.
119
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,200
Their song is the most complex of all lemur species,
120
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,520
which not only marks out their territory for neighbouring groups,
121
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,360
but is used for warnings and bonding.
122
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,400
LEMURS CALL
123
00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:16,760
- Do you hear that wailing sound over there?
- Yeah.
124
00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,720
- Yeah, it's distant. Yeah.
- Yeah, so I think we're fairly close.
125
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:21,800
That's their territorial call,
126
00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:25,600
and I think we just move that direction, and...
127
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:26,840
try and find the group.
128
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,360
- There...
- Lovely view. Lovely view.
129
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:43,560
So, do you see the two?
130
00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:45,000
One's a bit further down.
131
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,320
Yeah, yeah.
132
00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,440
But it's usually the female that leads the calls.
133
00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:56,960
And it's a surprisingly effective call
134
00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,760
- that carries a long distance, doesn't it?
- It does, yeah.
135
00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,840
You can hear it even in the village, which is like 3km away from here,
136
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,680
so they delineate their territory by calling every morning.
137
00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:12,280
So, they distinguish themselves from other bands.
138
00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,320
They distinguish themselves from other bands -
139
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,480
but they're also communicating within the group,
140
00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,840
because at some point the group will actually be spread out
141
00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,920
quite...over a large area.
142
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:30,560
The indri has evolved to feed on a wide variety of leaves and flowers
143
00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:33,640
only found in the ancient Malagasy rainforest.
144
00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:39,280
Rainer and his team
145
00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:43,560
have been monitoring this particular family for several years now.
146
00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,600
To see if he can get us a little bit closer,
147
00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,120
Regis has brought them some of their favourite leaves.
148
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,120
We try to tempt them down and lure them towards us,
149
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,520
if you like, and - well, let's see what comes out of it,
150
00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,960
but Regis has done that for quite some time,
151
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,200
so we can just trust him and follow him.
152
00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:26,840
And it's coming.
153
00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:28,040
There you go.
154
00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:44,760
Beautifully versatile hands,
155
00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,960
forward-looking eyes, and so on, that reveal...it's primate.
156
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,520
Yeah, totally. I mean, the hands, if you look at them,
157
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,040
they are quite humanlike.
158
00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,440
We can also see this delicate way of nibbling leaves,
159
00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,920
- so it's...it's a leaf connoisseur.
- Yeah.
160
00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,360
Could I have a closer look myself?
161
00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:08,880
Sure, yeah. Let's approach them a bit.
162
00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,080
(They take the leaves so delicately.)
163
00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:39,320
Malagasy legends revere the indri as man's closest relative,
164
00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,120
the long lost brother who still dwells in the forest.
165
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,560
The indri has evolved a specialised diet
166
00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:58,240
that requires it to forage over large areas,
167
00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,720
restricting the places it can live and limiting its numbers...
168
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,560
..but no such limits apply to my next lemur.
169
00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:14,640
A small generalist whose rapid evolution
170
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,480
has allowed it to spread to different habitats all over the island.
171
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:29,280
To see one, I travel to the botanical gardens and zoo of Tsimbazaza...
172
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,960
..and meet Madagascar's leading primatologist.
173
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,920
I'm with Professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy,
174
00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,520
and we're looking at the mouse lemur,
175
00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:45,400
the smallest of all living lemurs -
176
00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:47,960
and, indeed, the smallest primate.
177
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:52,960
Well, Jonah, the great bulbous eyes mean - certainly nocturnal.
178
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,640
Exactly. They are very, very dynamic when it's dark.
179
00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,840
They look as if they've got kind of those insectivore faces.
180
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,240
Yes. They eat mostly insects.
181
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,720
That's where they can find animal protein.
182
00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:07,640
And how long do they live?
183
00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,080
Most lemurs can live up to 15 years.
184
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,400
So they're... For an animal of that size,
185
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,560
that's quite extraordinary, isn't it?
186
00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:17,920
What does it weigh? I mean, what is...?
187
00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,840
The smallest mouse lemurs weigh only 30g.
188
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:23,480
Oh!
189
00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,680
'Even though this mouse lemur looks like other mouse lemurs,
190
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:33,040
'in fact, it is a recently evolved, distinct species.'
191
00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,040
The other interesting thing that's recently been discovered
192
00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:37,760
about these sorts of lemurs
193
00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,560
- is there are more species than we thought.
- Yeah.
194
00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,560
In the past, we just thought
195
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,200
that there are only two species of mouse lemurs,
196
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:51,200
but we just discovered new species of the mouse lemurs -
197
00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,400
and this is one that we discovered.
198
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,600
So, this is because the genetics, the genome of the species,
199
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,040
- is different...
- Exactly.
200
00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,800
..even though the appearance is superficially very similar.
201
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,640
Yeah. There are more than 20 different mouse lemurs
202
00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:05,000
in the island of Madagascar.
203
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,880
And are they only found in the rainforest,
204
00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,880
or can they survive in the cleared forests?
205
00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,760
Mouse lemur you can find all over Madagascar.
206
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,080
So, they're actually very adaptable little animals.
207
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,960
They can adapt very, very easily in their natural habitat.
208
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,800
One of the reasons for the success of the lemurs
209
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,520
is the rarity of predators...
210
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,040
..but ancestors of one major carnivore
211
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,480
managed to reach the island from Africa
212
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,760
before humans arrived.
213
00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:38,640
The fossa.
214
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,800
It is both very rare and very shy,
215
00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,600
and, in the wild, ranges over wide territories.
216
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,960
In captivity, its young are so naturally ferocious
217
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,080
they can only be fed live food.
218
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,480
The top predator, the fossa,
219
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:30,560
is quite capable of chasing after lemurs...
220
00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:32,920
in the canopy, as well as birds.
221
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,200
It has a very catlike appearance, perhaps -
222
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,360
particularly with its long balancing tail -
223
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,480
but actually it is related to the mongoose,
224
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,800
which, of course, is an African neighbour.
225
00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,320
It's really quite a fearsome predator.
226
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:59,000
The fossa's long tail make it extremely well-adapted
227
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,720
to hunting in the trees...
228
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:07,320
..but Madagascar's predators come in unexpected shapes and sizes.
229
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:10,680
This small chameleon
230
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,320
belongs to one of the oldest and most diverse
231
00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:15,440
radiations of animals on the island.
232
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,120
So, look at this little chap, here.
233
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,080
It's a small Calumma gastrotaenia.
234
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,720
Just woke up.
235
00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,280
So, walking slowly - but they always walk slowly.
236
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:30,520
They always walk slowly,
237
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,520
and it always seems that they do two steps forward and one step back.
238
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,440
That's obviously a camouflage against predators,
239
00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,240
because they look like leaves moving in the wind.
240
00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:46,680
Now, Madagascar's really the home of the chameleon, isn't it?
241
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:47,920
That's true.
242
00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:49,360
I mean, you find more than half
243
00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:53,440
of all the chameleon species of the world in Madagascar.
244
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,040
It really has developed from the north to the south -
245
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:58,120
from the rainforest to the dry forest.
246
00:17:58,120 --> 00:17:59,920
If you're small, like this chap,
247
00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:02,960
you obviously go for really small flies, or small crickets,
248
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,000
or something like that, as your prey.
249
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,520
This tiny chameleon weighs only a few grams.
250
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:14,760
Like this cricket,
251
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:19,160
it would also provide a tasty morsel for its largest relative -
252
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:24,640
just one of the 75 different species on Madagascar.
253
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:29,240
So, we've seen the smallest, and this must be - what? The largest?
254
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,240
This is one of the two largest chameleon species
255
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,000
in Madagascar - and the world.
256
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,480
This is Parson's chameleon
257
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:42,120
and it's actually named after a parson, as you may have imagined -
258
00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,960
actually a missionary that worked in Madagascar in the 19th century.
259
00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,960
So, it can grow a bit bigger than it is at the moment,
260
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,360
but that's already an impressive animal.
261
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,280
And does he live high in the canopy?
262
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,080
Lives high in the canopy,
263
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,520
and up there it feeds on large insects
264
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,880
such as dragonflies or large crickets,
265
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:08,840
and, well, eventually other chameleons
266
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:10,840
that are smaller than him.
267
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:17,600
When I first looked at these things, I thought they've only got two toes -
268
00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,480
but then I saw, INSIDE...
269
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,800
I could see the bones of the normal fingers.
270
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:24,600
Five toes, but bundled up.
271
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,360
Well, those toes are an adaptation to arboreal life,
272
00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:33,280
and so that gives them a shape of their feet
273
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:37,240
with which they can actually grab the branches they're walking on -
274
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,240
just, like, look at it, how it can suspend itself,
275
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,760
like, just clinging on my arm.
276
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,520
But not all chameleons live in trees.
277
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:57,440
Unlike the lemurs, whose original ancestor has long vanished,
278
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,440
the relatively primitive chameleon settlers
279
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,280
still live alongside more recently evolved ascendants.
280
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,080
Look what we have here.
281
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,440
- Do you see?
- Wow!
- The animal sitting on the leaf there.
282
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:09,840
What a handsome fellow.
283
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,440
Looks like a minute triceratops dinosaur.
284
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,600
So, is this the horned chameleon, with its pair of horns at the front?
285
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,040
It's actually called the Brookesia superciliaris,
286
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,080
so the horns are a bit reminiscent of giant eyebrows.
287
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:28,720
- Oh, right!
- That's the name.
288
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,560
But it's on the ground, of course. It's not on the branches.
289
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:32,800
It is a ground chameleon,
290
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,040
so it would actually go on the forest floor during daytime
291
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,320
and forage, and then only at night
292
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,960
would he climb up on small branches to go to sleep.
293
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,280
And you say it's a relatively primitive one.
294
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,040
It is a very basal chameleon on the chameleon phylogenetic tree.
295
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,600
So, that means that ground hunting probably came before arboreal hunting
296
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,120
for these animals.
297
00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:54,480
So, what we're seeing here
298
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,120
- is the sort of basal part of an evolutionary radiation.
- That's right.
299
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:01,840
But instead of the species dying out, as you might expect,
300
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,480
they're all still with us.
301
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,560
An evolutionary scenario
302
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:11,000
that allows both ancient and recent forms of related animals
303
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,160
to live alongside one another is rather unusual.
304
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:19,600
What allowed this to happen on Madagascar?
305
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,720
The answer is time.
306
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:33,240
80% of all islands in oceans are created by volcanoes
307
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,080
rising up from the sea floor in just a few million years.
308
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,440
Madagascar is different.
309
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,680
It was born when the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana
310
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,480
was pulled apart by the inexorable forces of plate tectonics
311
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,240
200 million years ago.
312
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:59,040
By 90 million years ago, Madagascar had been transformed into an island.
313
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,040
This massive rock is granite,
314
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,280
and the presence of granite is proof enough
315
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:23,080
that Madagascar was once part of an ancient continent.
316
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:28,480
It's an "acid rock", as geologists say, full of quartz.
317
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,200
And, where granite weathers in a tropical climate,
318
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,120
it does so to a red material called laterite,
319
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:40,040
and in the rainy season,
320
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:45,000
the rivers run almost red as blood as laterite is washed out.
321
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,200
Millions of years of erosion from weathering and rivers
322
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,520
have created numerous habitats...
323
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,720
..and this great variety has in turn created a vast number
324
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,720
of different ecological niches,
325
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:07,760
providing many opportunities
326
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,920
for different species to adapt and evolve.
327
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,920
One way to envisage an ecological niche
328
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,080
is to imagine dividing up a habitat into different packages.
329
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,560
Each package or niche can be differentiated from the others
330
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,320
by such factors as the amount of sunlight or rainfall it receives,
331
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,720
the resources it can provide, and, crucially,
332
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,640
whether it is already occupied by other potential competitors.
333
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,080
In Madagascar's rainforest,
334
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,680
frogs have occupied numerous special niches,
335
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,160
partly because they're the only amphibians
336
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,080
to have colonised the island.
337
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,440
Toads and newts never made it.
338
00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,760
At the Amphibian Survival Assurance Center of Andasibe,
339
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,600
scientists are trying to discover more
340
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,360
about Madagascar's numerous species of endemic frogs.
341
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:09,360
Come on in.
342
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:11,040
Oh, wow. So this is your...
343
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:13,600
..frog heaven.
344
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,520
That's not the right term...
345
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,960
'To protect them from invasive diseases,
346
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,880
'Dr Devin Edmonds heads a captive breeding programme.'
347
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:23,480
Well, I'm looking for the frogs.
348
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:24,840
THEY CHUCKLE
349
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,160
I can't actually spot one, but you'll no doubt...
350
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,800
- Oh, yes, I can - right in the middle there.
- Yeah.
351
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,880
Tiny brown frog with a tiny white spot on its nose.
352
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,920
'His research vividly demonstrates how separation of populations
353
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,000
'might trigger the appearance of new species.'
354
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:52,720
We have one species here that looks almost identical
355
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,400
to another in our forest that we have here.
356
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,720
The only way to really tell the two apart
357
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,040
is to listen to the calls of the males.
358
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,360
And that's quite sufficient to keep the two species absolutely separate.
359
00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:08,920
Presumably you proved that by molecular studies, as well.
360
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:10,880
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
361
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,840
So...and how recently was this recognised?
362
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:15,320
In the last decade -
363
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,840
and the species with the different call
364
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,960
that looks the same as this one is not even described yet.
365
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,040
- You mean... So it doesn't have a scientific name?
- It doesn't.
366
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,840
So, we're watching the very birth of new endemic species here.
367
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:31,960
Yes, exactly.
368
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,720
This represents kind of a complex of species.
369
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,400
I think there's more than eight or nine now
370
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,360
that are kind of recognised as being different species
371
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:41,880
in different parts of the island -
372
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,200
but they all essentially look like this.
373
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,720
Fossil evidence of frogs
374
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,240
dates back to when Madagascar was still part of Gondwana,
375
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,080
and when giant reptiles still ruled the earth.
376
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:01,840
There are more than 300 species of endemic frogs in Madagascar.
377
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,520
Many of them tiny - like the ones we've looked at -
378
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,520
but some slightly larger.
379
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,880
But the largest frog that ever lived
380
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,280
was also found in Madagascar as a fossil -
381
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,240
a contemporary of the dinosaurs.
382
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,640
It was 16 inches across,
383
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,560
probably weighed more than 4kg,
384
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,680
and some people think
385
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,160
it probably ate baby dinosaurs.
386
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,640
Beelzebufo's disappearance shows the isolation offered by an island
387
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,680
is no guarantee of long-term survival.
388
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,440
Fears of another wave of extinction
389
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:45,000
are the reason why the survival centre in Andasibe was established.
390
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,640
Devin's team conduct regular nocturnal surveys,
391
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,800
capturing and swabbing local species
392
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,760
to test for the presence of a new invasive disease,
393
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:58,240
chichrid.
394
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:01,680
It's a deadly fungus
395
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,920
which some predict could make a third of the world's amphibians extinct.
396
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:14,000
But what no-one yet knows is whether Madagascar's endemic frogs
397
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,320
will be more or less vulnerable to it than those found elsewhere.
398
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,080
The disease can't be removed from the environment
399
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:22,400
once it's introduced.
400
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,720
If we're not looking for it, we won't know if it arrives.
401
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,520
And at the worst case scenario, you can lose a third or more
402
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,880
of the amphibians in a pristine habitat
403
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,040
over the course of a few months, so it can be pretty dramatic,
404
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,120
or have a pretty dramatic effect on the forest -
405
00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:46,240
especially in areas where there's a lot of diversity, like Madagascar.
406
00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:55,560
An animal that shares the tree-living niche of many of Madagascar's frogs
407
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,200
is lurking in the rainforest...
408
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,040
..but it has evolved a strikingly different specialisation
409
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,720
to survive in the dense forest.
410
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:10,800
So, Richard, on this tree,
411
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,840
some of the guides pointed out to me earlier,
412
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,840
that there is a very interesting animal
413
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:17,920
sitting on that particular tree.
414
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,400
- You mean that little thin tree?
- Exactly.
415
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:24,040
So well camouflaged that it is the same colour as the bark.
416
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,640
Right, well, I'll start looking at the bottom and I'll work my way up.
417
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,400
- Yeah.
- Ah...
418
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,240
So, up...
419
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:33,800
Are you going to give me a hint?
420
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,240
Do you see the point where this branch is sticking out of the stem?
421
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:40,000
I can see...
422
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,640
Ah, I think I've finally twigged.
423
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:42,960
If I can just...
424
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:44,480
I point it out to you.
425
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,960
- It's head-down.
- Its head pointing down.
426
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,680
- Yeah!
- There you go.
427
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:56,360
Well, that wins the prize, really, doesn't it? For camouflage.
428
00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:01,680
It's a leaf-tail gecko, actually, and it's another Madagascar endemic,
429
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,320
and it's so well-camouflaged because if it wasn't,
430
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,080
then a lot of birds would prey on it...
431
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,280
..and so it would actually stay on the tree while camouflaged.
432
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:13,720
Absolutely motionless.
433
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,000
Totally.
434
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,760
So, I guess these geckos have had their own radiation here.
435
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:22,440
Did they come over, do you think,
436
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,400
about the same time as the lemurs - 14 million years ago-ish?
437
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,040
Yeah, that's very probable, because they must have come
438
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,760
when the ocean currents permitted them to raft over
439
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,320
from mainland Africa.
440
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,360
That was presumably after the big extinction
441
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,480
- that removed the dinosaurs - and a lot else.
- That's right.
442
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:38,840
So, they are reptiles
443
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,760
that came after the dinosaurs went already extinct.
444
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,920
And then took off onto their own little Madagascan radiation.
445
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:47,640
That's right - and all the gecko species
446
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:49,840
that we have in Madagascar are actually endemic.
447
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:51,160
I love it.
448
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:55,320
And once night falls,
449
00:29:55,320 --> 00:30:01,440
our once-invisible gecko wakes up to become a formidable insect hunter.
450
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,440
One of the endemic insects it preys on
451
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,320
has evolved features seen here on Madagascar
452
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:13,120
and nowhere else.
453
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,320
To claim its mate, it really sticks its neck out.
454
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,120
One of the most extraordinary creatures,
455
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,280
if most diminutive, in Madagascar.
456
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,320
It's the giraffe-necked weevil.
457
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,480
It's the male -
458
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,520
and only the male has this extraordinary extended neck,
459
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:50,240
and it's not surprising to learn that it's used to battle other males.
460
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,000
The one with the longest and strongest
461
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,240
wins the attentions of the female, which has no such long neck.
462
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,920
It's a very special kind of adaptation.
463
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,080
The female has a short, stubby neck
464
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,200
and rolls up the leaf of its favourite food plant
465
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,320
into a sort of cylinder and lays its egg there.
466
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,160
The cylinder falls to the ground, and the next generation is nourished.
467
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:13,520
Of course, it's a beetle,
468
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:18,000
so it has wings that are folded under the scarlet wing cases,
469
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:19,840
and it's quite capable of flying off -
470
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,800
in fact, I can see it flexing its wing cases even as I speak.
471
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,600
It's probably searching a male to fight,
472
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,480
or maybe a female to mate with.
473
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,880
Most colonists that arrive on a remote island like Madagascar,
474
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:44,680
full of opportunities,
475
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,720
have ample space to radiate and evolve,
476
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,400
becoming the forebears of many new species...
477
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:56,400
Ooh...
478
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:58,760
Aha! I can see it.
479
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,400
..but sometimes a plant or animal breaks this general rule.
480
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:14,400
Eddy Manatijara is searching for an epiphyte -
481
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,880
a plant that grows harmlessly on another plant.
482
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,320
It favours inaccessibly high tree branches.
483
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,960
Yet despite having such an elevated niche high in the canopy,
484
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,320
this plant's status is more akin to that of a fugitive.
485
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,560
'Because, in the game of radiating into new niches...'
486
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:43,080
A special treasure.
487
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,080
'..it did not pass go.'
488
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:47,520
Bit more.
489
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,280
What may not look the most exciting of plants...
490
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:57,560
It's a cactus, and it's called rhipsalis,
491
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:01,920
and it's the only cactus in Madagascar.
492
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,040
Other species of rhipsalis
493
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,320
are found, for example, on the southern part of India.
494
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:12,000
So, this is a relic of the ancient Gondwana continent.
495
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,720
But it's also interesting from another point of view -
496
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:22,960
we're used by now to seeing radiations in Madagascar.
497
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,080
Different groups of animals and plants
498
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,280
filling a whole range of ecological niches
499
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,200
and producing lots and lots of species.
500
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,040
The cacti didn't do it -
501
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:36,400
so this, you could say, is the exception that proves the rule.
502
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:43,680
The cactus's failure to radiate left many of the dry habitat niches,
503
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,360
which have been occupied by cacti elsewhere,
504
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,320
free for other plants to exploit.
505
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,440
But in order to adapt to these habitats,
506
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,520
many of these plants in turn became very cactus-like,
507
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,160
resembling this euphorbia.
508
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,760
It's a process called convergent evolution.
509
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,240
Having spent four decades studying the history of life
510
00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:14,400
since the earliest times,
511
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,120
there is something particularly fascinating
512
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,480
about seeing how nature keeps reinventing the same traits
513
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:21,920
in different organisms.
514
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:30,400
These are giant pill millipedes.
515
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,680
It's a particularly wonderful animal for me to find,
516
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:38,360
because it reminds me very much of the trilobites I studied
517
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,680
for so many years at the Natural History Museum -
518
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:44,680
many of which could also roll into a tight ball...
519
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,480
just like this animal.
520
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:48,920
He's not very frightened of me, though, because...
521
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,760
he's unrolling almost immediately!
522
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,400
There you can see the legs on the underside...
523
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,240
kicking away, you see?
524
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:05,040
Well, I've seen animals more than 400 million years old
525
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,840
that look remarkably similar.
526
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,080
So, for me, I'm looking back hundreds of millions of years into the past,
527
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:17,520
even though these animals probably evolved here...
528
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:22,560
Well, I'd say "only" a few tens of millions of years ago.
529
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,280
Of course, there's no question of these being other than
530
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,960
the most distantly related, in that they're both arthropods.
531
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:34,720
It just shows that common problems promote rather similar solutions.
532
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:41,480
Another example of convergent evolution.
533
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,400
Aren't they wonderful?
534
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:51,200
My next example of convergent evolution
535
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,400
is a nocturnal wanderer.
536
00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,440
Quite spooky.
537
00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:06,840
There's a...
538
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,240
There's a family of woolly lemurs,
539
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:10,920
just woken up, I suppose,
540
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:12,320
and on the night shift...
541
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,360
..but that's not the special animal I'm after.
542
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,080
In the depths of the Mitsinjo Forest Reserve,
543
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,640
the populations of other elusive animals
544
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:29,640
are being monitored and studied.
545
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,200
The reserve has a research project,
546
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:38,720
which means they put down pitfall traps,
547
00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:41,960
and trap animals that have been walking around
548
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:43,760
on the forest floor in the dark.
549
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,760
My quarry is both strange and strangely familiar.
550
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:52,960
You might be reminded of something in your garden.
551
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:57,800
Fantastic little animal.
552
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:00,800
Beautiful.
553
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:12,880
There we are.
554
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,520
Well, it looks just like a hedgehog -
555
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,080
and that's not a coincidence,
556
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,760
because it lives just like a hedgehog.
557
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:23,400
It eats worms and other invertebrates,
558
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,120
mostly nocturnally...
559
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:26,800
but it's no hedgehog.
560
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,880
It belongs to a completely different group of animals.
561
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,240
In fact, this is a tenrec.
562
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:35,480
Its closest relative outside Madagascar
563
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,040
is probably that extraordinary African animal, the aardvark.
564
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:43,520
It's a fantastic example of convergent evolution.
565
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,000
The tenrecs have turned into...
566
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:52,120
oh, more than 20 species of endemic animals in Madagascar.
567
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:58,160
As well as their protective spines and insect-based diets,
568
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,320
like European hedgehogs,
569
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,640
in the chillier winter months, this species of tenrec
570
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,880
also drops into a form of semi-hibernation termed "torpor".
571
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,880
As well as physically and behaviourally
572
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:16,800
resembling other animals,
573
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,880
some convergent species have also evolved
574
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,320
almost inconceivably similar physiological traits.
575
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:31,160
Madagascar's frogs have evolved defences almost identical
576
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,960
to relatives that live thousands of miles away,
577
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,960
that they can never have encountered, let alone interbred with.
578
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,840
One example was rescued by Dr Devin Edmonds.
579
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,120
So, these are brilliant orange frogs, and in amphibia,
580
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,720
- usually, orange, bright colours are a warning sign.
- Mm-hm.
581
00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:52,040
Is that the case here?
582
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,160
This is exactly the case. Yeah.
583
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,400
These bright colourations serve to warn predators
584
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:58,960
that they're poisonous.
585
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,040
So, what sort of toxin do these frogs have?
586
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,400
They have several kinds of alkaloids in their skin
587
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,040
that are distasteful and poisonous to predators,
588
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,520
which they get from the prey that they eat -
589
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:13,800
things like ants or beetles or mites.
590
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,360
So they take the poison from the prey and plaster it on the outside.
591
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:18,600
Exactly. Exactly.
592
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,440
I've seen frogs brightly coloured like that in Central America.
593
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,760
Yeah, this is kind of an interesting case of convergent evolution,
594
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:29,800
where you have two frogs that are totally unrelated to each other,
595
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,600
evolving in basically identical ways,
596
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:37,000
so these frogs actually have the exact same alkaloids in their skin
597
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,200
as their South American and Central American relatives.
598
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,360
That really is quite extraordinary.
599
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,000
This must have taken millions of years, for sure,
600
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,680
- for this sort of sophistication to arise.
- Mm-hm.
601
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:51,880
It's quite extraordinary to think that this could happen twice
602
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:53,960
in such a similar fashion.
603
00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:05,040
But the prize for the most unlikely example of how one animal has evolved
604
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:09,000
to fill almost exactly the same ecological niche as another
605
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,280
goes to a notoriously reclusive animal feared by Malagasy folklore.
606
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:20,280
To all intents and purposes,
607
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,880
it earns a living the same way as a woodpecker,
608
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,080
and even builds a nest...
609
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,800
but it's actually a type of lemur.
610
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:37,440
If you look at the aye-aye, the aye-aye has big ears.
611
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:45,360
To hear the larvae in the trees, they listen first to hear the noise,
612
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,560
and then the teeth, very strong, incision to break...
613
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:51,760
- To break wood.
- ..the wood.
614
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:58,360
Then they use the fingers to eat the larvae.
615
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,280
So, sort of like a hook.
616
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,000
Like a hook, to get the larvae.
617
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:09,480
But, I mean, if this is so different from the other lemurs,
618
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,800
it implies this has a long independent history.
619
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,240
Exactly. So, once they come to the island,
620
00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:18,640
there's a huge radiation,
621
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:22,560
and the aye-aye separate from the rest of the lemurs -
622
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,440
they have their own evolution.
623
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:30,160
In the past, people thought that the aye-aye was like a rodent,
624
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:34,640
because of the teeth - but the aye-aye live like birds.
625
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,600
They build nests.
626
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:45,720
So, it's about as specialised a niche as you could possibly imagine.
627
00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:47,840
None of the lemurs has that features.
628
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:49,400
Just the aye-aye.
629
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,520
The aye-aye is such an extraordinary animal,
630
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,000
you simply couldn't make it up from first principles.
631
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:03,000
Today, this highly evolved loner is under threat
632
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,600
from a gregarious generalist.
633
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:13,400
Homo sapiens was the last primate colonist to reach Madagascar...
634
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,240
but already this species has left an indelible mark.
635
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:23,120
Surprisingly, the first human settlers to reach the island
636
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,240
came not from Africa, 250 miles away,
637
00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:31,440
but from Borneo, more than 2,500 miles away.
638
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:36,200
The reason was a change in ocean currents,
639
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,520
which after millions of years of flowing west to east,
640
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,480
changed to flow east to west,
641
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:46,400
thus allowing early Bornean seafarers to drift gently with the currents
642
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,440
to traverse the Indian Ocean.
643
00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,080
They settled in Madagascar's central highlands,
644
00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:57,840
where they cleared the forests
645
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:02,000
and started creating terraced paddy fields to grow rice.
646
00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:07,640
And here is hidden tantalising evidence for early human encounters
647
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:11,120
with some of the oddest creatures ever to live on Madagascar.
648
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:16,720
The first fossil clue that led scientists to search
649
00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:18,640
for these now-vanished animals
650
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,680
is to be found in the village of Sambaina.
651
00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:28,440
It's kept in a house owned by its discoverer, Mrs Medolin.
652
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:35,640
Ah, hello!
653
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,840
- Salama.
- Salama!
654
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,160
- Mrs Medolin.
- Yes, salama.
655
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:45,840
- Now, you have some bone here to show me.
- Mm.
656
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:48,840
- You found this.
- Yeah.
657
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,880
You found this.
658
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:54,720
These are bones - giants' bones,
659
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:58,280
found by Mrs Medolin in a nearby field.
660
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:01,160
- Thank you very much for showing them to me.
- Mm.
661
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:02,920
We'll go and see if we can find them
662
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,520
in the place where they occur, very near here.
663
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:14,400
My fellow palaeontologist Karen Samonds and her team
664
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:18,400
have been excavating a paddy field site for only two seasons...
665
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,800
..but every day, new finds are rescued from the mud.
666
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:33,400
Well, it's actually a funny story.
667
00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:36,320
We knew people found fossils from around this region,
668
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,880
so we actually just found a spot to dig two simple pits,
669
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,080
and in those two pits last year we found more than a hundred fossils.
670
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:44,320
So, an instant bonanza.
671
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,000
Yes. Instant bonanza - that's the way we like it, so...
672
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:51,360
Just looking around, I can see it's a virtually horizontal plain
673
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,040
surrounded on all sides by hills,
674
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,160
- which makes any geologist think - a lake.
- Yep.
675
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,320
So, we have good evidence that this whole region
676
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:00,000
was a giant fossil lake.
677
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,720
The mountains that we see here are volcanic mountains.
678
00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:05,320
These mountains came up, and when they raised,
679
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,120
it actually prevented some of the rivers from flowing west,
680
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,960
and that region, the whole basin, then filled with water,
681
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:12,760
forming the giant fossil lake.
682
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:15,120
When it was a lake,
683
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:18,080
it undoubtedly supported all sorts of different kinds of animals
684
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:19,680
that relied on it, lived within it,
685
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,960
and those are the animals that we find today.
686
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,120
Ooh, so what have we got here?
687
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:29,920
Ah, so this is part of an elephant bird -
688
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:31,360
bone from the leg.
689
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:34,080
So, you can imagine how massive this bird must have been.
690
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:35,400
- It's huge.
- It's a huge bird.
691
00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:37,200
Bigger than either of us.
692
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:39,440
- And pretty strong.
- Very strong, yep.
693
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:41,000
And inside of the bone, you can see,
694
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,560
it has a lot of these openings and holes,
695
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,240
so even though it's a mammoth size,
696
00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:47,560
it still shows the signature of a bird,
697
00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:49,800
which is to try to lighten that - even that big bone.
698
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:53,000
- And flightless. Needless to say.
- Yes. A flightless bird.
699
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,440
- And quite a lot of meat on it, I imagine.
- Quite a lot -
700
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:57,800
in fact, you can imagine those animals would have been
701
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,760
- quite a prize for someone who wanted...
- A big chicken dinner.
702
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:03,440
..a big chicken dinner, yes!
703
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,880
This is the jaw of a pygmy hippopotamus.
704
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,160
So, you can see, here's one of the teeth.
705
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,120
So, to us, I mean, this looks pretty big,
706
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:15,200
but if you compare this to the size of an African hippo, say...
707
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,200
- We are talking that sort of size.
- Exactly.
708
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:18,600
So, these guys went small.
709
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,640
We have some things on islands getting small,
710
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,400
and other things, like the elephant bird, getting really large.
711
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:24,960
That's a common pattern on islands.
712
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:26,480
Here's another hippo. Here we go.
713
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,080
This one you can see more of the teeth.
714
00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:31,000
- Yeah, I can see... Those are the anterior.
- Those are the anterior...
715
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,320
- The front teeth.
- ..front teeth, projecting forward.
716
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:34,560
Here are some of the molars.
717
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:36,440
And so, if we had to do a count,
718
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,000
I'd say more than 80% of what we find is actually pygmy hippo,
719
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:40,280
so there you go.
720
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:44,160
And did this pygmy hippo overlap with the arrival of Homo sapiens?
721
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,080
It certainly did, and, in fact, there's even some bones,
722
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:51,440
cut marks on hippos, where you actually see butchery marks.
723
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:53,720
People that must have hunted them and eaten them.
724
00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:55,480
So, that's almost the smoking gun.
725
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:56,720
Yeah. Certainly.
726
00:46:56,720 --> 00:46:58,040
We know that they interacted,
727
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:01,320
and humans must have prized them for hunting.
728
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:21,760
Pulling bones out of mud is exciting,
729
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:25,280
but what's really exciting is piecing those bones together
730
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:27,640
to find a complete skeleton -
731
00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:32,400
and here we have the brontosaurus of the bird kingdom -
732
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:34,520
the elephant bird.
733
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:36,600
Aepyornis - and what a creature.
734
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,080
Well, you can imagine its succulent thighs,
735
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,160
its huge quantity of breast meat.
736
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:51,640
As for the brain, well, it's got a very small brain case,
737
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:53,960
so it was certainly no intellectual giant -
738
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,920
but that hasn't stopped emus and ostriches
739
00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,760
doing very well for themselves, and still with us today.
740
00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:01,680
All a question of niche, as usual.
741
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:08,360
But I suppose the real vulnerable spot for this animal was the egg.
742
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,520
Probably the largest egg that ever existed.
743
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:15,480
20 omelettes in a single shell.
744
00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:21,800
They once thronged in huge numbers all over Madagascar...
745
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:26,760
..and it's so sad that they're no longer there today.
746
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:28,640
I would love to have seen them.
747
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:43,960
Well, we found a jawbone of this animal when we were in the field.
748
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:47,120
It demonstrates another rule of island life -
749
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:50,920
as well as things getting larger, some things get smaller.
750
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,320
It's a pygmy hippopotamus.
751
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,240
It's actually relatively easy to change size.
752
00:48:56,240 --> 00:48:59,680
It doesn't require a great deal of genetic reorganisation,
753
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:03,600
so if food is short, or food changes,
754
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,160
or the niche changes in some subtle way,
755
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:09,400
then size change is relatively easily achieved.
756
00:49:20,720 --> 00:49:24,640
There were once even more species of lemur in Madagascar
757
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:26,480
than there are today.
758
00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:29,880
There were ground-dwelling lemurs, megaladapis -
759
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:32,440
example of island gigantism.
760
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:36,800
Sadly, none of them survived the arrival of the human.
761
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:55,040
Today, the bustling capital of Antananarivo
762
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:57,720
is a melting pot of different peoples.
763
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,360
The first settlers from Borneo
764
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:09,760
were followed by waves of new colonists from Africa.
765
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:14,280
People from India, the Arab world and China joined the melting pot.
766
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,680
Finally, the arrival of Imperial Britain and France
767
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:25,960
in the 19th century began a profound transformation.
768
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:32,960
European plantation owners introduced eucalyptus trees to the island...
769
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:39,840
..and the dire consequences of this are still being felt today.
770
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:41,080
HE COUGHS
771
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:44,160
This scene says it all, really.
772
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:48,520
Behind me, a great swath of felled eucalyptus,
773
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:51,640
and here it's been turned into charcoal,
774
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:53,400
in this smouldering heap.
775
00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:59,800
The population of Madagascar is increasing at a tremendous rate,
776
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:02,920
and you can understand why, in some ways,
777
00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:06,960
eucalyptus is regarded as a very useful crop -
778
00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:10,560
but, of course, it's also destroying the ecology.
779
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:18,600
And here's the almost indestructible eucalyptus
780
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:21,040
already regenerating from the charred stump.
781
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:33,440
Around 80% of Madagascar's remaining forest
782
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:37,480
is now being used to grow eucalyptus trees for charcoal fuel.
783
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:43,000
If this rate of habitat loss continues unchecked,
784
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:44,640
by some predictions,
785
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:50,280
90% of the country's wild lemurs could be extinct in just 20 years.
786
00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:56,520
I can only hope the haunting calls of lemurs like the indri
787
00:51:56,520 --> 00:52:00,760
are not a foreboding of how fragile these creatures' future really is...
788
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:02,160
LEMURS CALL
789
00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:06,120
..for "lemur", in Latin, means "ghost".
790
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:14,760
Madagascar is the place where the ecological niche has triumphed.
791
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:17,920
If there are a hundred different trades in nature,
792
00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:21,360
there are a hundred different species to fill them.
793
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:26,400
The amphibia, the birds, the mammals, it's all the same -
794
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:31,200
they have divided the environment into habitats that they can utilise.
795
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:35,480
And how different this is from the eucalyptus monoculture.
796
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:38,440
That's a kind of monopoly - a single trade -
797
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:40,840
and very few of the animals and plants that live here
798
00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:42,200
can cope with it.
799
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:59,560
I've come back to the pristine forest of the Mitsinjo Nature Reserve.
800
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,280
Here, brothers Yousef and Mad,
801
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:07,760
who run one of the country's reforestation programmes,
802
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:09,920
are helping me to find some of the plants
803
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:13,240
that they believe have valuable medicinal properties.
804
00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:19,440
The secrets they are uncovering make an unexpectedly strong case
805
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,960
for preserving these unique habitats
806
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:24,400
as the island's greatest resource.
807
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:34,360
Mmm!
808
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:38,240
Well, it's certainly quite pleasant-tasting.
809
00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:41,080
Makes you feel rather like a lemur.
810
00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:42,560
Hmm.
811
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:44,000
These are sweet trees.
812
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:45,920
- A sweet tree.
- Yes.
813
00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:51,800
Now, most of the trees in this forest are not sweet trees.
814
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:56,320
Most of them have unpleasant taste or are actually poisonous -
815
00:53:56,320 --> 00:53:57,680
but this one, not.
816
00:53:57,680 --> 00:53:59,840
This is not. This is sweet trees.
817
00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:04,640
If you get hungry in the forest, these trees can help you.
818
00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:06,720
So, if I was really hungry,
819
00:54:06,720 --> 00:54:09,640
I would eat one of these leaves and keep me going.
820
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,560
This is part of the coffee family.
821
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:16,000
Oh, right - a very big family in the tropics.
822
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:17,240
Yes. Yeah.
823
00:54:17,240 --> 00:54:18,960
And what is it used for?
824
00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:20,960
This is good for the fever.
825
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:23,840
- Oh, so it brings down high temperature.
- Yes.
826
00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:28,320
Which, in an area where there is a lot of malaria, must be very useful.
827
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:29,520
Yes. Oh, yeah.
828
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:32,720
And you take the leaves and they cook the leaves
829
00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:34,320
and they drink the infusion.
830
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:36,000
Does it taste unpleasant?
831
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:38,560
Er, yeah, yeah - it's a little bit bitter.
832
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:39,880
- Ah, right.
- Yeah.
833
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:41,640
THEY CHUCKLE
834
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:45,200
Ah!
835
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,240
A plant with conspicuous white berries.
836
00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:51,800
What is this one?
837
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,040
This is Malagasy tea.
838
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:56,400
This plant is help us for the...
839
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,080
blood...high blood pressure.
840
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:01,840
- Ah, right - it reduces blood pressure.
- Yes.
841
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,320
This is a native for Madagascar.
842
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:06,640
I mean, that's the thing -
843
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:11,720
these forests are full of secret ingredients, really,
844
00:55:11,720 --> 00:55:14,720
- for human use, eventually.
- Mm-hm.
845
00:55:18,240 --> 00:55:22,240
A few of the 600 or more endemic trees and plants
846
00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:25,160
have already been used to create new medicines -
847
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:27,800
including anti-cancer drugs.
848
00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:32,360
I'm told that the Malagasy name of this plant
849
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:34,640
means "take away all your worries",
850
00:55:34,640 --> 00:55:37,200
so I'm looking forward to an infusion of that one.
851
00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:43,600
Yousef and Mad have promised me
852
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:46,280
it is safe to try out some of the leaves we found
853
00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:47,680
with my Malagasy meal.
854
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,200
So, this is my Malagasy gastronomy.
855
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:53,880
The empty plate -
856
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:59,040
well, there is no animal source of endemic protein here.
857
00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:03,440
Enough tenrecs and lemurs have been eaten already.
858
00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:11,240
But I am allowed to eat banana bread wrapped in endemic ginger species.
859
00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:14,280
And I may need it to take the taste away.
860
00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:18,720
There's several species of ginger in Madagascar,
861
00:56:18,720 --> 00:56:21,080
but this one is an endemic species,
862
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:24,360
and it should give the bread a special flavour.
863
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:28,040
And it's rather nice.
864
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:32,400
Now, I'm going to start with Malagasy tea.
865
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:35,320
Supposedly good for blood pressure, as well.
866
00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:42,000
And it's really quite pleasant...
867
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:43,800
and quite refreshing.
868
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:48,560
I've been slightly dreading the next one.
869
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,360
This is the one that's apparently good for fever.
870
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:56,360
Ugh.
871
00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:57,600
And nor does it.
872
00:56:57,600 --> 00:56:59,040
It's kind of very bitter,
873
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:01,280
but it's got that sort of it's-good-for-you taste,
874
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:02,880
if you know what I mean. I'll just...
875
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:09,120
Now, fortunately, I have a brew made from the tree
876
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:11,360
that cures all known ills.
877
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:16,960
Ahh!
878
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:20,640
Well, I can feel the bliss coming on.
879
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:38,440
It took tens of millions of years living in rainforests like these
880
00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:41,960
for such magical varieties of plants and animals to evolve.
881
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:50,680
Nestled in the branches or creeping through the leaf litter,
882
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:54,120
teem hundreds upon hundreds of species -
883
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:56,400
many still unknown to science.
884
00:57:58,200 --> 00:58:03,120
Their fragile lives prove how an island such as Madagascar
885
00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:06,200
is both a laboratory for evolution
886
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:10,360
and a haven for the sort of adaptive experimentation
887
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:13,160
that can take place nowhere else.
888
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:23,920
In the next episode, we travel to the island of Madeira -
889
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:27,920
an ark of ancient forests and rich marine habitats...
890
00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:33,360
..but an island that is approaching the end of its life cycle,
891
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:36,080
to return to the sea from which it arose.
73619
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.