Original subtitles

An eastern sun rises on a world of magic

Like restless spirits

flying foxes return with the dawn

to their roost in Indonesian forest

Dense tropical jungle covers more than half

this land of 17,000 islands

a land where elemental forces are still at work

For millions of years

this has been a turbulent corner of the planet

New islands rise from the seabed

Older islands are worn down and destroyed

by water and by fire

This is the most volcanic region in the world

Indonesia has 155 active volcanos

But when the volcanos sleep

conditions are ideal for the growth of forest

Here on the equator

high rainfall, tropical heat and fertile soil

nurture a jungle unrivaled in its luxuries

There are literally thousands of different kinds of tree here

and they support a variety of animal life to match

Indonesia has a greater range of animal species

than any other country in the world

Most of them live here

in the tropical rainforest

It's not just variety that makes the jungles of Indonesia so exceptional

There's an extraordinary mix of plants and animals

some are Asian, others would look more at home in Australia

That's because the island chain links the 2 continents

like a line of stepping stones that runs all the way from northern Australia to Asia

At the western end of the chain

the giant islands of Sumatra and Borneo

carry much of Indonesia's forest

It's a forest that's home to giants

Amorphophallus, the titan arum

Its erect flower spike can rise to the height of 2 men

It's the tallest flower in the world

It stinks of rotting meat

a feature that it shares with another giant flower - the rafflesia

Both are pollinated by flies

Rafflesia flowers can be 1m across

This extraordinary plant has no leaves, stem or root

It lives as a parasite on lianas

and flowers just once in its life

Some of the world's tallest trees are here

the dipterocarpus, named after their 2-winged seeds

They can grow to 60m

This forest of giants has gigantic animals too,

elephants

There's even a rhinoceros

The hairy Sumatra rhino

is the smallest of the world's 5 kinds

but it still weighs a ton

Animals like rhinos and elephants came here from Asia

Many times in the past

the sea level was much lower than it is today

So islands that are now surrounded by shallow sea

were linked to the mainland

The Sumatran rhino is one of the world's rarest animals

fewer than 1000 survive

Like all rhinos, it's persecuted for its horn

Along with undisturbed forest

rhinos need mineral salt licks

and also mud

Wallowing keeps their skin in good condition

and brings relief from biting insects

The Asian elephant is endangered too

Sumatra has 3/4000

and Borneo barely 1000

They used to live on Java as well, the next island to the east

but rising human populations

and intensive agriculture

leave no room for giants like this

Giants they may be

but these elephants are actually smaller than their mainland relatives

The same is true of many other island animals

but no one knows why

A herd of elephants needs a lot of forest to support it

Each adult can eat 150k of greenery a day

The age-old drama of hunted and hunter

still plays on this jungle stage

Sumatra's forest still has tigers

Like elephants and rhinos

they came from mainland Asia during the Ice Ages when the sea levels were lower

A litter of cubs like this is a rare and privileged sight

Fewer than 500 Sumatran tigers still survive

The Sumatran is the smallest of the 5 surviving races of tiger

and the darkest in color

Perhaps that makes it better suited to life

in the dense tropical rainforest

As a top predator, the tiger needs a large area to feed itself

especially in forest

where prey like deer and pig seldom live in great numbers

Java and Bali once had tigers

but they were killed off by a rising tide of people

As populations grow and the forest shrinks

Sumatra's tigers also face an uncertain future

Even at their peak

tigers never spread far along the island chain

Deep channels between the islands were always a barrier

At the eastern end of archipelago

on the giant island of New Guinea

their place is taken by a very different hunter

This is New Guinea's nearest rival to the tiger

the quoll

It's the island's largest predatory mammal

but it's no bigger than a domestic cat

It hunts insects, lizards, rats and mice

and it raids birds' nests

The quoll is marsupial, a mammal with a pouch like the kangaroo

and that's a clue to its origins

Its ancestors came from Australia

The forest of the quoll is a world away from the jungles of Sumatra

with their tigers, rhinos and elephants

As little as 10,000 years ago

New Guinea was part of Australia

its wildlife reflects that link

The quoll is not the only marsupial here

Sugar gliders

They spend the day huddled in their nest high in a hollow tree

emerging only at night

Perhaps because of their secretive nature

they are regarded with great suspicion by some of New Guinea's tribes

People believe they are sorcerers

assuming animal form so they can spy on their victims

In fact, the sugar glider's nocturnal habits have a simpler explanation

They eat sap and insects and nectar from flower in forest trees

so they often have to climb right up to the ends of the branches

If they were out on a limb during the day, they'll be very exposed to predators like hawks and eagles

Under cover of darkness, the risks are less

And they reduce them even more by never going down to the ground

Using folds of skin between their limbs

they glide from tree to tree

New Guinea is a very rugged island

well into the 20th century, much of the interior was still unexplored

The mountain forests were slow to give up their secrets

Among them is one of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet

The long-beaked echidna

This remarkable animal is a mammal but a very primitive kind

It's warm-blooded and feeds its young with milk

but it lays eggs like a bird or a reptile

It's another relic from New Guinea's past

Its only living relatives are in Australia

The echidna eats earthworms

electrical sensors in its snout may help it sniff them out

Its tongue is armed with horny spikes that impale the worms and transfer them to its toothless mouth

The long-beaked echidna

lives only in New Guinea's high cool mountain forests

as well as worms, it eats termites

hence its other name - the giant spiny ant eater

The female lays just one egg a year

When the infant hatches, she carries it in a pouch like a kangaroo

until it gets too spiky for comfort

The mountains of New Guinea's central spine rise to more than 5000m

They are a barrier to the movement of both animals and people

Even on the equator, their summits are crowned with perpetual ice and snow

There's nothing higher between here and the Himalayas

To the south of the mountains the land falls steeply

Below lies a tract of swampy lowland forest

so poor and hostile that people call it - the death zone

The ground is flooded for much of the year,

little lives here but fish and frogs

and remarkably - people

The Korowai tribe had learnt

how to rest a living from these unpromising surroundings

To catch fish, they seal off a section of stream with dams

Then they scoop out the water with paddles

made from part of a local palm tree

This is very much a team effort

Every ablebodied member of the group takes their share of the work

both men and women

When the water is drained

the stranded fish can be picked out of the mud

but they're a meager reward for all that effort

With food so hard to come by

it's no surprise that this forest supports so few people

If the Korowai's fishing methods are unusual

their houses are even more so

These must be the ultimate in tree houses

some are 15m above the ground

The Korowai say that living in the trees

they can see the birds in the mountains

and it's harder for demons and sorcerers to climb their stairs

It also keeps them safe from floods

and there're fewer mosquitoes

and it's a defense against people too

Until very recently, blood feuds and head hunting raids were part of everyday life here

With their intimate knowledge of the forest

the Korowai can live in a land where most people would starve

Sago from the pith of a palm tree is their stable diet

along with lizards and insects, fish and frogs

and the occasional - pig

Well into the 1970s, war between neighboring tribes

was a way of life in New Guinea

Few people could travel far beyond their tribal boundaries

Isolated by strife and rugged terrain

each tribe develops its own culture

New Guinea has more than 1000 languages

Half of them spoken by less than 1000 people

The people of New Guinea's interior seem lost in time

Only in the last few decades, has contact with the outside world

brought the beginnings of change

In much the same way, New Guinea's mammals are locked in a time warp

isolated from other kinds, the marsupials flourished

In New Guinea, even the kangaroos climb trees

though not very well

Tree kangaroos are sluggish animals

Perhaps because their diet of leaves

is low in nutrients and high in poisonous toxins

They have an extremely slow metabolism

and that is reflected in their movements

There are several kinds of tree kangaroo

like the ones that live on the ground

they carry their young in a pouch

but they are very different in other ways

Their fore and hide limbs are of equal length

to make it easier to climb

Their wide paws have roughened pads to stop them slipping

and their feet have powerful claws to grasp the branches

The many kinds of tree kangaroo

make a good living in the forest canopy

But none of them look as if they are entirely at home in the trees

Climbers like these couldn't compete

against more agile tree livers

Like the ones at the western end of the archipelago

In the forests of Borneo and Sumatra

monkeys and apes take the place of tree kangaroos

Gibbons,

fueled by a diet of fruit, these little apes are the supreme arboreal athletes

They live in small families

and every morning, male and female

mark their territory by singing a swinging duet

Up in the tree tops, nothing can match the grace of a gibbon in full flight

only the birds move faster

Gibbons spend their whole life up in the tree tops

They never come down to the ground

as the forest canopy provides all their needs

It's a world all of its own

Monkeys and apes are the defining elements of these magical forests

Indonesia has a greater variety

than any other Asian country

The orangutan

the 'man of the forest'

This great ape lives only in Borneo

and here in Sumatra

20,000 years ago, it was found on the mainland too

but now these islands are its last refuge

Orangutans are fruit eaters

but prolific fruiting trees like figs are widely scattered

so they have to cover a lot of forest to find enough food

Few trees have enough fruit to feed

more than one or two animals as big as these so these apes can't live in large groups

Young animals stay with their mothers for several years

but full-grown males are solitary

Despite their weight

orangutans in Sumatra spend most of their time up in the trees

They travel on the ground only when there's no alternative

and this is one reason why

Sumatra still has tigers

A tiger could kill an orangutan

especial a young one

500km across the sea

on the neighboring island of Borneo

it's a different story

Here, there are no tigers

so the orangs are safer on the ground

Bornean orangutans are much heavier than their Sumatra cousins

Some of the males are so huge that the trees can scarcely bear their weight

Males grow twice the size of females

A full-grown male can weigh 100k,

so swinging through the forest canopy is hardly an option

It's easier to walk

With their greater size

males have to wander much more widely than females

in their search for fruit

But that search is far from random

It seems they can remember the location of fruiting trees from year to year

and arrive just as the fruit is ripening

Although fruit is their staple diet

they are not averse to a snack of animal protein if the opportunity arises

Termites inside a decaying tree trunk

now the male's colossal strength comes in handy

Few other apes and monkeys have males

so much larger than the females

perhaps male competition for mates is more intense

or perhaps for female orangutans, size matters

Several times a day, these bigger males declare their presence from the tree tops

Their calls can be heard from a great distance

lesser males keep out of the way

The calls of monkeys and apes

are the signature tune of these western forests

Far to the east

in New Guinea, the orchestra

has very different players

No primates sing in this dawn chorus

This is a land of birds

The most spectacular of New Guinea's birds

are the birds of paradise

There are 38 different kinds here

The ones in this tree are red birds of paradise

They are found only in a few small islands off the coast of New Guinea

Males flaunt their flamboyant plumes

to attract the more drably colored females

Several males perform together

competing for the attention of prospective mates

They make their dance easier to see by stripping leaves from the branches

These colorful displays can be seen from a great distance

They attract females from far and wide

Red birds of paradise always display up in the tree tops

Deep within the forest, visibility is much poorer

so birds that live in the undergrowth must adopt a different strategy

The Wilson's bird of paradise

uses its penetrating calls to attract females

Each adult male has its own display ground

and its plumage is intricate rather than flamboyant

designed to be admired up-close

in a dance of courtship

but that bird beside him is a younger male

the dance has to be learnt

Young males acquire the skill by watching an older male

and copying his every move

He tolerates them because they look just like females

Learning the dance can take 7 years

The novice's disguise is so effective

that an adult male can be deceived

into courting the wrong sex

That's not a female at the top of the twig

but another young male

When the eager male discovers his terrible mistake

all hell breaks loose

The undergrowth of the forest floor

hides one of New Guinea's most feared creatures

one that can kill

The cassowary

this flightless giant is New Guinea's largest bird

It can grow to the height of a man

Even these brown youngsters are no chickens

Like so many of New Guinea's animals

the cassowary has Australian affinities

Being flightless here is no disadvantage

New Guinea has no tigers only the palm-sized quoll

and a cassowary is far from defenseless

its powerful feet are armed with a lethal claw

it can disembowel with a single kick

Unusually among birds

it's the male that looks after the young

After mating, the female lays her eggs and disappears

leaving her partner to incubate them and care for the chicks

Cassowaries spend most of their time searching for food

on the forest floor

They eat seeds, insects

and especially fruit

These enormous birds consume a huge amount of fruit every day

Surprisingly, enough has dropped by other birds feeding up in the trees

to give them all their need

Cassowaries help to spread the seeds of many forest trees

By the time they've passed through the bird's gut

they can be well away from their parent tree

Local people in New Guinea hunt cassowaries for their meat

and sometimes keep young ones in captivity to fatten them up

There has been a trade in these birds for hundreds of years

A cassowary can be exchanged for 8 pigs or even a wife

New Guinea at the eastern end of the island chain

has very different animals to Borneo and Sumatra in the west

Although this forest ride across the archipelago

very few creatures have made it from one end to the other

Deep channels between the islands limit their spread

But some animals have made their journey

They're found at the full-length of the 5000km of Indonesia's island chain

Bats

These are fruit bats, flying foxes

with a wingspan of 1.5m they're the largest bats in the world

and they are great flyers

They can travel 60km in a night searching for food

so to them, island hopping is no problem

At dawn they return to a communal roost

that during the breeding season can number hundreds of thousands

This female already has a youngster

She'll carry it with her for the first month, but as it gets heavier she will leave it behind at the roost when she goes foraging

Mature male fruit bats have territories in their roosting trees

Branches that they mark with scent and defend against other males

The females decide where to roost and who to mate with

The males are remarkably well endowed

Each morning the male checks out all the females roosting on his branch

Courtship can be lengthy and intense

20 minutes of deep grooming

licking the female's nether parts with a long rough tongue, perhaps to arouse her

or perhaps to remove any rival male's sperm

Mating is vigorous, noisy and repetitive

Bat male looked violent

but the female can always let go of the branch

and fly off when she's had enough

Fruit bats are among the most successful of Indonesia's creatures

and the most widespread

Right across the country, sunsets are patterned with silhouettes of their departing hoards

as they leave their roosts on their nightly search for food

Fruit bats are found throughout the archipelago

wherever there is forest

But what is most striking about Indonesia is its variety

Its 17000 islands separate 2 oceans

and unite 2 continents

They're set in some of the richest seas in the world

That natural variety is matched by a human diversity

This is a meeting point for cultures - old and new

Over the centuries, Indonesia's peoples

have developed their own unique ways of life

In much the same way, many of the animals here are unique

Isolated on remote islands

the castaways of two continents

went their own way to become creatures found nowhere else on earth

Throughout the natural history of Indonesia

the only certainty has been change

Over millions of years, volcanos built new islands in what was once open ocean

islands of opportunity for new life to conquer

The story of wild Indonesia has been written in fire

and that fire still burns today

Transcription by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org