All language subtitles for Mysterious Planet Series 1 Part 5 The Forgotten Forest 1080p

NARRATOR: A rain forest like
no other, icon of Brazil,

but this is not the Amazon.

80 times smaller,
yet just as rich,

this is Mata Atlantica, a
forest on a remarkable journey.

Over millions of years,
enduring cataclysmic change,

always creating more life.

How has this forest
become one of Earth's

great biodiversity hotspots?

And why has it been forgotten?

Hi, there.

I'm David Schwimmer, King
of Rhetorical Questions.

Join me in facing some of
the most dangerous animals

and life threatening
locations from the safety

of this armchair in this
episode of "Mysterious

Planet, the Forgotten Forest."

[eerie music]

NARRATOR: Brazil's cultural
epicenter, home to over 13

million people, Rio de Janeiro.

A bustling metropolis of
music and color and dancing,

but right on its back doorstep
is a forgotten world that beats

to a very different rhythm.

Mata Atlantica, Brazil's
Atlantic rainforest,

a primordial world home to
strange and unique life.

These calls are not birdsong.

They belong to something
more curious hidden

somewhere up in the trees.

Wait for it.

A golden lion tamarin, a tiny
monkey with a lion's mane

found nowhere else on Earth.

They're are no
bigger than squirrels

and scamper about like
them, but take a closer look

and they are primate
through and through.

They are very social and
live in groups of around 10,

like a tiny primate sitcom.

Typically, with a
breeding female,

her mate, and their offspring.

Family is everything
to the tiny tamarins.

Their survival depends
on sticking together

for protection and to defend
their all important territory,

which is where they find food.

Coming at you.

The menu here is huge.

Today, it's insects,
thousands of different types

to choose from.

Insect takeout.

Yeah, got you, baby.

And tamarins are
experts at extracting

them with long clawed fingers.

Where are you?

Where's-- here's-- oh, yeah.

Hello, lunch.

As long as they stick
together, forest life is good.

They have all the
resources they need here.

Their home is one of Earth's
great biodiversity hotspots.

Over 20,000 species of plants,
and 2,000 animal species,

around half found
nowhere else on Earth,

a jungle paradise rivaled
only by the Amazon.

But Mata Atlantica is very
different from its world

famous neighbor.

The Amazon rain forest
is hard to miss covering

over 3 million square miles.

Southeast, forever
in its shadow,

lies Mata Atlantica, a thin
stretch of green hugging

Brazil's Atlantic coast.

You'd be forgiven for not
even knowing it exists,

but it's unique.

From the ocean to the high
mountains of the interior,

containing some of
South America's most

spectacular wonders,
like the Iguazu falls,

and Rio, the great
city at its heart.

But it's 80 times
smaller than the Amazon

and has an equally
rich diversity of life.

How can this be?

That's rhetorical,
I'm going to tell you.

One of the most diverse groups
of animals in Mata Atlantica

hides in every nook and cranny.

Here's a cranny.

Frogs.

550 species, 80%
found nowhere else,

each perfectly adapted to
its own miniature world,

and all of them are
hunters, but some have

bigger appetites than others.

A horned frog,
giant of its kind,

with a mouth nearly
6 inches wide,

it's nicknamed the Pacman frog.

Like its smaller cousins,
it's an ambush hunter.

But little bugs don't quite
cut it for the Pacman.

It requires something
more substantial.

It'd be ironic if
he ate French chefs.

Lightning speed and a
bite as strong as a dog's,

there's no escape.

Snakes, birds, even small
mammals are gobbled up.

You can't even reason
with him, but there's

more to the Pacman than
its gluttonous appetite

and good looks.

It has a tale to tell, a clue
to the mysterious origins

of the forest itself.

Hey, where you--

In Brazil's Atlantic forest,
the colossal Pacman frog

has a big appetite and
a big story to tell.

Scientists recently
discovered that this frog's

ancestors lived over 5,000 miles
away on the far side of Africa.

150 million years ago, the
Earth looks very different.

South America is
joined to Africa

in a great southern
continent called Gondwana.

But all that is about to change.

Titanic forces deep within
the Earth are stirring.

Gondwana is splitting up,
a brutal, brutal divorce.

I wonder who gets the islands?

South America heads West.

Later.

Bye.

As the newborn
continent moves on,

along its ruptured
coastline, a forest

is forming, the beginnings
of Mata Atlantica.

And in the new forest is
a stowaway from Gondwana,

the ancestor of the Pacman.

At first, they live alongside
dinosaurs, or underneath them,

but as South America
drifts further,

the time of the dinosaurs
is coming to an end.

I feel a meteor coming on.

Cue, meteor.

Yeah, these leaves
will protect me.

I don't hear anything,
but doesn't look good.

Yup, there-- Don't worry, guys.

This is CGI.

As the forests recovered
following the extinction

of the dinosaurs, the way
was opened for species that

had been hiding in their
shadow, like an understudy

in the great play of life.

10 million years before
the Amazon existed,

in Mata Atlantica strange
life was taking to the trees.

Some more quickly than others.

A maned sloth, another
species unique to this forest.

Sloths belong to one
of the strangest groups

of animals on Earth,
called xenarthra,

which means alien joints.

It's thought their weird
anatomy was originally designed

for digging and that
the sloths ancestors

survived the dinosaur extinction
by hiding underground.

Strong claws have become
hooks for climbing

so the sloth can get to
what it loves most, leaves.

But their diet is
so low in calories

they have to save all
the energy they can,

so they're not only one of the
weirdest creatures on Earth,

they're also one of the slowest.

They spend five
hours a day feeding,

the rest of the time they
just sleep, like comedians

but without the self-loathing.

Sloths weren't the only
xenarthrans to take

to the trees of Mata Atlantica.

Here's another, a tamandua,
tree dwelling anteater.

It's following its nose
to something irresistible.

No, not me.

Termites.

Nutritious, but tiny
and hard to reach.

No problem for the tamandua.

Take that, wood eaters.

Like sloths, its claws
are grappling hooks,

and it has a 15 inch
sticky tongue, which can

Hoover up 9,000 termites a day.

And it has another
unique innovation,

a gripping prehensile tail,
like an extra hand, need.

Great for hard to reach
meals and tickle fights,

and a good insurance plan when
there's nothing between you

and the forest floor.

Show off.

Brazil's Atlantic forest is
on an evolutionary journey.

Aren't we all?

The dinosaurs are
long gone and new life

is taking to the trees.

One group of animals are the
dinosaurs direct descendants.

Birds are the most diverse of
all animals in Mata Atlantica.

1,000 different species in
all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Some don't seem to have
left their dinosaur

roots all that far behind.

A channel-billed toucan can
evolved from the one can.

With an appetite for flesh, but
it's not hunting for itself.

Frogs and small
birds are important

for the growth of baby toucans.

But the bulk of
their diet is fruit.

As the male and
female take turns

ferrying food to their
chicks, they help the forest.

They're one of the top seed
dispersers in Mata Atlantica

and play a key part in
creating a diversity of trees

matched nowhere else on Earth.

Primates also spread
seeds through the forest.

In the wet season,
Mata Atlantica's trees

are heavy with ripe
fruit, a bounty

golden lion tamarins
can't resist.

At this time of
year, fruit makes up

the bulk of their
diet, that and ice

cream, a vital energy boost.

And they need it.

There are new mouths to
feed in the family, twins.

Tamarins almost
always have twins

and Mom has her hands
full, but that's

where the family come in.

Her little ones need to nurse
for nearly two hours every day,

but when she's not suckling,
dad and the rest of the family

do the child care.

So mom gets a chance
to feast on fruit too.

The timing of the twins
arrival is no coincidence.

To produce enough
milk for her babies,

she needs all the
nutrition she can get.

So tamarin moms have their twins
at the peak of forest fruiting.

Their lives are intimately
tuned to the rhythm

of this ancient forest.

But tamarins are relatively
new arrivals here.

Their ancestors also
came from Africa,

but didn't arrive
here until about 40

million years ago,
when South America

was already
separated from Africa

by thousands of miles of ocean.

How did they get here?

Incredible as it seems,
scientists now believe they

crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

We can only imagine
how it happened.

My guess is tiny surfboards
or monkey balloons.

Here goes.

40 million years
ago, a massive storm

looms over the African coast.

Trees are the only shelter.

The storm passes and the
forest is left standing,

but something isn't right.

Ripped from the land, a
floating patch of jungle

held together by
Earth, roots, and vines

set adrift in the
middle of the Atlantic.

And on board, a tiny
ancestral primate that looks

a lot like a tamarin.

A floating forest
would have insects

and be the worst cruise ever,
enough for a whole family

of small primates.

Pushed on by favorable
winds, the crossing might

take as little as 15 days.

A one in a million
event transporting

a band of tiny monkeys
to a distant shore.

And to a quite remarkable
future, because these are not

only the ancestors
of the tamarins,

but of all the
new world monkeys,

which was also the name
of my high school band.

After a remarkable journey
across the Atlantic Ocean,

the ancestor of all new
world monkeys has arrived.

At the same time, great change
is coming to South America.

In the West, the
Andes are rising.

The longest mountain
range on Earth,

and they start to change
the weather, diverting

moist Atlantic winds South
to bring tropical rain

right across South America.

The Amazon is growing
and spreading, creating

a giant rain forest joining
up with the Mata Atlantica,

a forest just
waiting for monkeys.

From the remarkable voyage of
just a handful of tiny monkeys,

the African ancestors spread
out to fill this great forest,

evolving over time into more
than 140 different species

of new world monkey.

But about 10 million years
ago that spread is halted.

The climate starts
to cool and dry.

South American forests
begin to shrink.

The Amazon and Mata
Atlantica become

cut off from one another.

In between, a great
strip of dry savannah

called the Cerrado grows up,
forming an impenetrable barrier

for rain forest animals.

Insert joke here.

And in the two forests
either side life

starts to go its separate ways.

The Amazon may be huge,
but it's flat and uniform.

Mata Atlantic is different.

A clue is in the landscape
that defines one of the most

iconic cities on Earth.

Rio de Janeiro is
dominated by great outcrops

of rock, pillars
of the new world,

and they have an ancient origin.

They are the remains of
great eruptions of magma

that date back to
the time when South

America split from Africa,
a very public divorce.

This great contorted landscape
makes Rio spectacular and sexy,

but it also makes
Mata Atlantica rich.

Right here, where
continents ripped apart,

the landscape is made for
rainforest diversity. ,

For every hill and every
valley, there is a slightly

different formula for life.

And as rivers crash over
great layers of volcanic rock,

they create further
opportunity for life.

Since the age of
the dinosaurs, it's

this unique geology that has
been shaping Mata Atlantica.

As night falls, another
strange creature

is about to emerge,
further evidence for

the incredible diversity here.

An animal that,
like the tamandua,

has also evolved an
extra hand for climbing.

Well, he says it's for climbing.

A tree porcupine with
a prehensile tail.

And if this is not
strange enough,

there are at least four
different species here.

One is very spiny,
another not quite so,

and this one is hardly spiny
at all, much more furry,

which seems pointless.

Pun intended.

Each a product of the
slightly different

conditions in a slightly
different patch of forest.

Since the age of the dinosaurs,
the unique geological past

of Brazil's Atlantic forest
has been shaping amazing life.

When it comes to
plants, it is even

more diverse than the Amazon.

On every tree here, there
are bromeliads, relatives

of the pineapple,
which also originally

came from these forests.

They grow perched on tree
branches high in the canopy

and catch all the
water they need

from above channeling it with
their pineapple like leaves

into a central pool.

And this one is a tiny egg.

After about 20 days, the egg
starts to hatch, a tadpole.

Over the next few weeks, it
grows legs, loses its tail,

and emerges into its
own tiny plant penthouse

complete with pool and a view.

Up here there is water, shelter,
and plenty of passing insects.

Yep, gotcha.

Life is so good, some frogs
will spend their entire lives

in a single bromeliad,
and over millennia

the frogs and the
bromeliads have

evolved alongside each other.

Today, there are more
than 1,000 species

of bromeliad, many harboring
their own unique species

of frog.

But there are dangers even here.

I mean, I sense danger.

Yeah, there it is.

It was in this rich forest
that the golden lion

tamarin found its niche.

This guy again.

30 million years after its
African ancestors first

arrived, in Mata
Atlantica it evolved

to become a unique species, but
where other monkeys got bigger,

it stayed small.

A formula that
works here though.

It's agility and dexterity
are the perfect combination

for finding food in this
infinitely complex three

dimensional world.

And they make up
for their small size

by working together as a family,
but their evolutionary journey

didn't stop there.

This may be the oldest
forest in South America,

but it doesn't stand still.

Over time, it has been
constantly changing.

When the Earth's
climate gets wetter,

the forest spreads, even
reconnecting with the Amazon.

And in drier times, it
contracts, shrinking back

into small isolated pockets.

In isolation, life
evolves in new directions,

and then the process repeats.

It's this change over time
that is the final ingredient

for such diversity.

It has even changed the tamarin.

There are not one, but
four different species

of lion tamarin in this forest
and thousands of hairstyles

distinguished mainly by
the color of their coats.

Their different faces,
living proof of the power

of this ancient
forest to shape life.

But recently, the
forest has started

to change in a different way.

For millennia,
the Mata Atlantica

has been a force for evolution,
but now a different change

is coming to the forest.

The effect was slow at first,
but as human populations grew,

so did the hunger for resources.

The rate of
destruction completely

overtook the natural
cycle of forest expansion.

In just a few hundred
years, the forest

was reduced to a patchwork
of isolated islands.

Today, less than 10% of
Mata Atlantica is left.

Many of its species
lost forever.

One of the most remarkable
forests on Earth forgotten.

But in the few tiny
pockets that remain

is a glimpse of what once was.

This patch of forest, the size
of a dozen football fields,

contains one of the few
remaining populations

of golden lion tamarins.

By the 1970s, only 300 golden
lion tamarins were left.

Extinction was imminent,
but now there is hope.

Thank goodness
they're freaking cute.

These tamarins
are being watched.

They can try and hide,
but it won't work.

Some of the family are
wearing radio collars.

Mostly they listen
to classic rock,

and they've been marked
with unique patterns

of dark hair dye
to help identify

every precious individual.

In the 1970s, zoos
around the world

started breeding programs
to reintroduce tamarins

back to the wild, and ever
since, conservationists have

been working day
and night to protect

this icon of Mata Atlantica.

Monitoring like this
is essential to ensure

the future of the
species, and they've

made a dramatic comeback.

They're the Rocky
Balboa's of tiny primates.

Today, there are over 3,000
tamarins living in the wild.

But bringing them back from
the brink of extinction

is only the beginning
of the battle.

That was a lot of Bs.

To ensure the future of
the tamarins and all Mata

Atlantica's amazing inhabitants,
the fragmented forest

must be reconnected,
and now ambitious plans

are underway to do just that.

Not a moment too soon.

There are still remarkable
discoveries here.

So when a totally new
species of tree porcupine

appeared in 2013, people
said, what the heck is that?

It was named Coendou speratus.

Speratus is Latin for hope.

Over millions of
years, this forest has

been on a remarkable journey.

Enduring cataclysmic events,
but always creating more life.

And its unique
inhabitants survive

on the brink of extinction.

The hope is that
the forgotten forest

will never be forgotten again.

I'm David Schwimmer and this has
been more than I bargained for.

Seriously, I mean,
this is a lot of work,

this mysterious planet thing.

Oh, you're welcome.

OK, I need some tea
or something, guys.

Are we still recording?