Original subtitles

Jungles cover just 6% of the planet but contain half of all its life...

Find an insect here and chances are, it's never been seen before...

...let alone named.

What makes the rainforest the richest environment on earth?

ln this series we'll discover

how the sun's energy powers this extraordinary variety of life.

l'm about to meet some amazing animals,

scale the tallest trees and explore one of the world's last frontiers.

This sea of green stretching out below is the greatest driving force of life

but because of its inaccessibility

it's one of the last places on earth to be explored.

ln fact it's so hard to get up here,

at the moment we know less about the canopy of the rainforest

than we do about the surface of the moon.

But now using special equipment such as this cinebulle...

a motorized balloon...

we're at last able to discover some of its secrets.

Jungles form a green band right around the globe,

spanning the equator through central and south America...

across Africa and south east Asia...

all the way here... to Borneo.

But what's it like to live way up in this canopy world?

Think of a jungle and you think trees.

They're the essential ingredient but the business end isn't down here,

it's up there.

That's where the action is and where the animals want to be.

But to be part of that high society

you need to be more than just a social climber, you need to be a pro.

To us, moving around 70 metres up in the air would be a scary business.

But the animals that live up here just make it look a breeze.

Orang-utans are the largest animals living full time in the tree tops.

But one false move up here could cost you your life!

Orang utans are born with a powerful grip but they aren't born expert climbers.

And it takes time for them to develop the skills

they need to hang out in the canopy.

Youngsters aren't weaned until they're at least five or six years old

but they'll stay with their mothers for much longer than that during

which time she passes on her knowledge of the forest to them

but for these orphans who haven't got a mother to guide them

it can be especially hard.

As they get older they have to learn how to make he right judgement calls,

find out which branches can take their weight

and how to cross gaps by swinging on vines

or bending branches to form bridges

so they can move around the forest in search of food.

So it's no mean feat to live up there

and it can take several years to learn the ropes.

But what's so good about the canopy that it's worth risking life and limb?

l'm about to find out!

But to reach the top l need a bit more than an orang-utan master class.

The first problem is getting the rope up the tree.

The second problem is getting me up the tree.

There's one slight snag... l've got a real fear of heights.

And there's something else...

The trees in Borneo are the tallest of any tropical rainforest

and this one's a mammoth.

75, 80 metres, that's nearly 250 feet l maybe feel dizzy just looking at it

l have to take a little break

l've got a camera on my helmet

so l can actually show you the kind of view that l am seeing from up here,

it's a really quite a long way down there.

This is really scary.

Thank Goodness! l've made it. l'm exhausted

l am feeling a bit of vertigo and l am very aware

that this giant's limbs are holding me up.

But what a spectacular view, it's wonderful.

That's got to be one of the most nerve wracking things l've ever done...

but it's the only way to really appreciate the animals that live up here.

So here l am, about 60 metres off the ground, up a giant menggaris tree.

lt's just fantastic... well worth the climb.

But there is a snag... now l'm up here, l have to stay put.

l'm just not equipped to get around.

But the animals that live here have neat solutions to the problem.

These orang-utans use their sheer weight to swing effortlessly between the trees.

And if you haven't got a rope,

these South American Woolly monkeys find a grasping tail works just as well.

Spring loaded legs help these lemurs in Madagascar get from tree to tree.

And sometimes, just a simple leap of faith will do!

Woo! But there's one animal that easily surpasses all the others.

And it relies simply on strength, agility and nerves of steel.

Gibbons are the kings of swingers, the fastest flightless animals in the canopy.

The key to the gibbon's amazing agility is its unique wrist,

with a ball and socket joint that lets it swing like a pendulum.

To be anywhere near as good as gibbons

l'd need fingers nearly twice the length that l have.

At top speed, no part of the gibbon's body is in contact with the trees...

they literally gallop through thin air!

lmagine being able to leap 1 2 metres in a single bound.

Other animals don't gallop, they glide.

Using their skin flaps like wings,

tiny dragon lizards can glide up to 1 00 metres...

Some snakes can glide too...

and even steer themselves from one branch to another...

And this frog has webbed feet that act like tiny parachutes to break its fall...

Seeing how easily animals move through the canopy makes me realize

how ill equipped we are for life in the trees.

Wouldn't it be fantastic

if l could just step off this branch and fly though the air.

But there is a way l can fly.

One way they can get a better overview of the canopy

and find out how it works is using this cinebulle.

As with any hot air balloon,

we have to take off at dawn when the air is still.

But the advantage of this cinebulle is that it has an engine...

so we can steer and we're not totally at the mercy of the wind.

This is spectacular... my first chance for a bird's eye view of the canopy.

lt's a real revelation!

Now l can see the whole forest spread out beneath me.

Just look at the sheer size of those trees...

and there are millions down there,

as far as l can see in every direction... all bursting with life.

lt's like sailing over a sea of leaves...

l thought l might be scared but actually it is just so exciting to be up here.

We're skimming the treetops.

From up here the rainforest looks as complex as any manmade metropolis.

Each tree is like a huge tower block reaching into the sky.

But unlike our cities, this one is completely solar powered...

and each individual tower is designed to maximise the sunlight.

Every tree crown is shaped to capture as much light as possible.

The upper canopy absorbs 90% of the sun,

while lower down, the little that does get through

is trapped by other trees perfectly formed to snap up what's left.

These layers are so seamless that very little light reaches the forest floor.

Stretching out beneath me right here is an incredible solar factory.

Each tree is powered by thousands and thousands of leaves.

Like trillions of tiny solar panels they harness the sun's energy,

strange to think that a humble leaf is responsible

for the single most important reaction on the planet: photosynthesis.

Plants everywhere use photosynthesis - the process of converting sunlight,

carbon dioxide and water into food.

But here, it's done on a massive scale.

This is the most productive living system on the planet.

ln these equatorial rainforests,

where the tropical sun is so intense all year round,

the energy produced in the canopy

could power a thousand cities the size of New York.

And it's not just trees that are so hungry for this solar energy -

other plants want a piece of the action too.

Giant trees like this provide a perfect spot for huge roof top gardens.

From the forest floor you'd never guess the canopy was hiding

such an explosion of colour...

There are even garden ponds up here -

which are always great for attracting wildlife.

These bromeliads in South America are one of the few places

where drinking water collects in the treetops.

ldeal for a thirsty coatimundi or woolley monkey.

Not only are they handy drinking fountains

but they also make good breeding pools for frogs...

Amazingly, some even harbour predatory crabs!

So whether it's lunchtime or bath time,

all the plants and animals up here are linked -

involved in countless close, relationships.

And the sheer variety and numbers are astonishing...

one in 1 0 of all the world's plants can be found up here...

and there are more animals living in the canopy than anywhere else on earth...

which is why it just shakes, rattles and rolls with life!

Here in the rainforest, there are thousands of different types of tree,

each one with a multitude of residents.

But as with any property it's location, location, location...

and there's lots of competition for the perfect penthouse home.

For hornbills, finding the right tree is crucial to survival.

They need a roomy nesting hole -

usually made when a large branch falls off a mature tree...

which doesn't happen very often.

Scientists have installed surveillance cameras into nest holes

like this to get an intimate kind of big brother

view into the private lives of hornbills.

These unique pictures show a female hornbill making herself at home.

She needs to feel as comfortable as possible

because she's going to be a prisoner in here for up to 4 months.

Once in, she starts preparing to seal up the door...

She's plugging the entrance with mud,

pieces of wood and sticky fruit - and leaving just a very narrow slit.

And the reason why she shuts herself away...

is to lay her egg and protect her chick.

From now on, she'll depend entirely on her partner to survive.

He makes about ten or more runs a day, bringing back about a kilogram of food,

a varied diet of fruit, insects, small reptiles and young birds.

He stores it in his throat,

and once back at the nest, regurgitates it for his family.

With such intensive care, the chick grows fast...

and eats mum out of house and home.

After five weeks there's only room inside the hole for him.

Once a pair have found their ideal home, they'll keep on coming back for years.

So trees like this are critical to the survival of these endangered birds.

lf this nest isn't available next year,

this chick's parents may never find another.

The canopy is such a prime location, even plants are in a race to reach the top!

These climbing lianas take a fast track

to the sun by crawling up the trunks of trees.

Because they don't have to support themselves,

they can channel all their energy into growth...

shooting up towards the light at breakneck speed!

Once they've gone as high as they can go,

they climb over the tree crowns, knitting the canopy together.

Over decades a single liana may grow as a thick as a tree...

and can reach a staggering length... of more than a kilometre.

And they are great for hanging around in...

They are flexible and very very strong.

But it's not just me and Tarzan who make use of the lianas.

For bugs these lianas are like highways.

Allowing them to commute from tree to tree.

The lianas are a godsend for all kinds of animals, providing a safe bridge.

And these bridges can take you up... down... and across!

Canopies with lots of these highways in the sky are home to many more animals.

After all, such a sophisticated 3D transport system

is bound to attract more commuters.

So what are all these animals up here for?

The answer is simple - food.

And some of the best sources of food are flowers.

The flowers are an open invitation.

Like flashing neon lights they can be seen for miles across the high rise city.

They are like billboards, advertising the latest jungle eateries.

As in any city, there are different restaurants for different tastes.

And a single tree may have as many as 600,000 flowers,

producing hundreds of litres of nectar every day.

This is a coral tree. lt's a favourite amongst the birds.

Trees pollinated by birds lay on huge quantities of sugary nectar...

energy on tap.

Any one type of tree may only be in flower for a week or so,

but different types flower at different times -

so somewhere or other, there's always a meal to be had.

But it's insects who are the main clientele...

ln payment for a hearty meal, they help to pollinate the trees...

in fact they pollinate 90% of all plants in the canopy...

So it's no surprise that this place is really buzzing.

These are giant honey bees and each year they migrate hundreds of kilometres,

timing their journey to arrive as the rainforest blooms.

The colony - up to 40,000 strong -

returns every year to nest in the branches of the same tree.

Giant honey bees are 3 times the size of European bees

and can pack twice the sting!

So predators are best to heed the warning in this wave...

it's an alarm that goes off if the bees feel threatened.

Even the orangs' thick fur isn't completely sting proof...

l wouldn't stand a chance!

But still... compared to my next assignment, giant bees don't sound so bad!

First, take 2 kilometres of rope and drape it over the treetops.

Second, you need a balloon filled with helium.

Third, get someone with a bad fear of heights -

and you've got the recipe for another thrilling experience.

This is the only way l can hang about in the outermost tips of the trees...

and the nearest l can get to being a canopy animal!

And l'm off...

This is the most incredible feeling...

This is quite hard work.

l'm about 250 feet up,

that's about the same as being on the 21 st floor of a building.

This bubble is full of helium and so l should be at neutral buoyancy.

And when l get stuck in the branches, which is the one problem about this,

l should just be able to give a little bounce off a branch

and get lift-off which should just take me floating over the treetops!

So much for that idea!

Best not to look down.

lt's a very long way...

lt's just fantastic up here.

And this is what l come to find.

Got ya.

Figs are one of the most reliable sources of food in the forest.

When a fig tree comes into fruit, it's like switching on a beacon,

advertising the opening of a new restaurant.

Animals of all descriptions home in, some from miles away.

ln fact some figs are visited by more than 1 00 different species...

everything from hornbills and orang utans...

to gibbons and tree squirrels... sometimes all in a single day!

Figs come in various colours and sizes but they all provide a reliable meal.

And the more visitors the better to disperse their seeds.

Young orang utans learn from their mothers

where and when the trees come into fruit each year.

They travel miles across the canopy,

keeping an eye on restaurant opening times and testing figs to see if they're ripe.

This memory map is an essential part of their jungle survival kit.

A fig feast only lasts a couple of weeks but as one comes to an end,

somewhere another is beginning...

and the jungle traffic heads off in a new direction...

Figs may be good for animals but they may spell disaster to the trees.

This little seedling of destruction is a strangler fig.

lt sends down these roots

and when they reach the ground this tree's fate is sealed.

As it grows a strangler takes hold of its chosen tree in a lethal embrace...

Spreading slowly but surely to form a living cage

from which there is absolutely no escape.

But it's not just massive trees that play host to these super plant parasites.

They'll get a grip on anything that will support them.

These are the ruins of Angkor in Cambodia...

part of a lost civilization that was only rediscovered in 1 960.

So tight is the stranglers' grip that in some cases they're the only thing

that's keeping these 600 year old temples standing.

lf strangler figs have so much power over stone,

what happens when their strength is unleashed on a living tree?

Over decades, they constrict its growth and slowly smother it to death...

All traces of the tree

that once supported this strangler fig have now completely disappeared.

ln here is where the original tree has rotted away.

Leaving just this lattice work of roots

which makes a fantastic living climbing frame.

lt's absolutely amazing this tree.

Full of creepy crawlies but l am just hoping that there aren't any snakes.

Most of this stuff looks as if it could be full of them.

But l'm nearly at the top.

The strangler fig's remarkable strategy has enabled

it to get a head start and win a place high in the canopy.

For any tree, reaching the canopy takes huge amounts of time and energy.

But a few go even further and stick out head and shoulders above the rest.

Some of these giant menggaris

and dipterocarp trees can tower almost 90 metres tall...

that's like a 30 storey skyscraper.

But there's a price to pay for reaching these dizzy heights.

lt's tough at the top!

And things are about to get tougher for me too.

l've got to get up there at the hottest, most uncomfortable time of day.

lt's noon,

much too dangerous for the balloon... the hot air is too turbulent.

Which is why, here in Borneo, biologists use a giant crane.

Here at the very top of the canopy

it can be more like a desert than a tropical rainforest.

Lack of water and the intense heat of the sun

can make it pretty unpleasant both for me and the trees.

That's why many of the leaves of canopy trees

are tilted in such a way to avoid the direct heat of the midday sun.

And instead catch the less damaging rays of the morning and late afternoon.

After a few hours baking in intense tropical sun, it's now reached 35 degrees.

By mid afternoon all anyone can do is sit it out...

l'm starting to wilt too...

The heat's uncomfortable, but it can also be dangerous.

lt stirs up unstable air currents... and that means trouble...

Storms can come in very fast up here

especially in the afternoon when the air heats up.

You certainly don't want to be around when they arrive.

l'm in one great big lightning conductor, and l can't risk staying up here!

But to see what happens next we've left some cameras in the canopy.

The wind buffets these branches with tremendous force...

at up to 80 kilometres an hour...

Have you ever seen rain like this?

Even the trees are in danger of drowning!

They need to shut their breathing pores and dump

that extra water as fast as possible.

Gosh, l'm glad l'm not up there right now!

lt can't be much fun for the animals that live up there.

Orang utans have thick oily rainproof fur

but that doesn't mean they enjoy getting soaked!

At least these downpours are usually short and sharp...

and when the sun breaks through, the water soon evaporates...

and the whole jungle starts to steam...

As evening falls,

there's time for the canopy crowd to relax before getting an early night.

Orang utans build themselves a cosy nest from branches,

but they must make sure it'll take their weight...

You don't want to fall out of bed here!

Peace... but not for long... the night shift is ready to clock on.

The forest population is about to explode

with a huge influx of visitors for the night.

Outside the mouth of this hillside cave

and l'm about to witness one of the rainforest's

most breathtaking spectacles...

You can hear the noise building inside the cave.

These are wrinkled lip bats and they're all heading out into the forest to hunt.

This is a rush hour

to rival the commuter movements of the busiest cities in the world.

There are over half a million bats living in this cave

and they are pouring out at some 60,000 a minute.

That's 1 000 a second.

And the sound is incredible...

it's just like the wind rustling through the leaves of a tree.

l've been watching for a full half hour, and they're still coming...

but l'm going to have to leave them to it

and prepare for my own nigh-time manoeuvres.

This could be the trickiest test of all... as if it wasn't hard enough in daylight,

now l'm about to climb up in the canopy in the dark...

We know little enough about the canopy during the day time

but we know almost nothing about it at night,

and there is only one way to find out more

and that's by spending a night up in the branches.

This is a real step into the unknown...

but l'm determined to get up there for a canopy sleepover.

Many rainforest animals are only active in the dark...

so who knows what l'm going to find!

Like the orang utans, l've got my own nest for the night.

But mine's a platform more than 30 metres up

and barely big enough for me to stretch out...

l'm definitely going to tie myself on!

Right this is home for the night but l am not going to bed just yet.

At night the forest changes character completely.

90% of the animals that live here are nocturnal

and we have rigged up some infra red surveillance cameras in the hope

that we can catch some of the action.

So all that's left for me to do is switch off my torch

and switch on the infra red lights.

As soon as the lights go out you realize how ill equipped we are in the dark.

For us this is an alien world of sound and smell...

There's something moving around in the tree right above me.

What l need is my torch.

Ah that's better.

l don't know what that was but... we've picked up a snake on camera.

And he's certainly not camera shy...

lt's a reminder of just how many venomous snakes,

insects and spiders are on the prowl up here at night...

Let's hope he doesn't end up in my sleeping bag!

Well, l can't see much, but it sounds as if there's plenty going on...

The night life's really hotting up...

But where have all those wrinkle lip bats gone that l saw earlier.

There is one way to find out. And that's using this: a bat detector.

Bats calls tend to be between about 1 5 and 200 kilohertz

which is way too high for our hearing range

but this converts it into sound that we can hear.

lf l just set it so that it picks up a wide range of frequencies,

we should be able to see what's out there.

l'm picking up some pretty strange sounds.

Bats come to the canopy for a midnight feast...

because this is where the insects are.

And there are plenty of rich pickings to be had.

ln a single night they can consume half a million pounds of insects -

that's the equivalent of two million quarter pounders.

But not all bats eat insects. Some eat nectar.

A great many trees in forests

around the world rely exclusively on bats to pollinate their flowers.

Here in South East Asia one in three mammals is a bat

and their value to rainforests is immense.

The flower of the durian fruit is large, white and fragrant...

and it only opens in the dead of night.

ln other words, it's perfectly designed to be noticed by pollinating bats.

ln fact, whichever rainforest you're in,

you'll find a whole variety of flowers that rely on them.

But bats don't just help out with pollination.

Some eat fruit... and scattered seeds far and wide.

lt's about 3 in the morning, and it's just freezing cold.

l've got to find a jumper...

lt's just so exposed.

The temperature can drop by about 20 degrees.

And every now and again l remember that l'm perched 1 00 feet up in the air.

But l'm not complaining... after all this l've got my reward...

a visit from a real canopy rarity.

This is a bear cat... its local name is a binturong.

lt may look cute but binturongs can reach 2 metres long

and eat whatever they can catch.

These youngsters are a few months old

and already have an acute sense of smell and hearing.

They also have highly sensitive eyes to help them get around and hunt at night.

The binturongs might be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...

but l'm fading fast... and it's time to try and catch 40 winks...

Well, l've survived the night up here,

and this has got to be the most spectacular way to wake up.

What a beautiful morning.

The whole forest has come alive with bird song

and the sound of those beautiful gibbons calling.

They're up early, laying claim to their patch of forest...

Dawn is the best time to truly appreciate how full of life the canopy is.

lt's just magical.

The rainforest is richer in life than anywhere else on earth...

and the canopy is the jewel in its crown.

Each of these thousands of trees has its own unique community...

from the tiniest insects to some of our closest relatives.

Nearly half of all known creatures on the planet live in the Canopy World...

but even more astonishing is that, right here,

there may be just as many other species that no one's ever seen.

Once it was out of reach,

but now, finally, we are able to explore the secrets of the canopy....

...the world's last high frontier...