Original subtitles

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Karnataka contains

some of the richest wild places left on Earth.

One-quarter of all India's plant and animal species are found here.

It's one of the last places

where big wild animals can roam in safety.

We are about to travel across this diverse land.

From the mountain rainforests of the Western Ghats...

..to the ancient rocks of the Deccan Plateau.

From the rich jungles in the south...

..and over the waters that transform the land.

And we will reveal wonders.

This is the story of Southern India's largest state.

(BIRDS CALL)

September in Karnataka.

The monsoon rains have finished.

(BIRDS TWITTER, INSECTS BUZZ)

The land resonates to the sound of life

in all its abundance.

But the animals here must always be on guard.

(UNDERGROWTH RUSTLES)

This land is ruled by the largest cat on the planet.

Karnataka's rich jungles

provide its most famous residents

with all the food they need.

This young female has two young cubs.

They're just five months old and totally dependent on their mother.

Karnataka is home to more tigers than any other place in the world.

The 400 individuals that live here

make up 10% of the global tiger population.

And every single addition is priceless.

(SNUFFLES)

These jungles are where cubs learn how to survive.

With so much potential food,

they're likely to get an excellent start in life.

The thickness of these jungles in southern Karnataka

allows tigers to coexist alongside the largest of land animals.

Elephants.

This family has a new addition in tow.

A tiny calf, just a few weeks old.

The matriarch, the old female who leads the herd,

is taking them to a favourite destination.

At this time of year,

elephants love nothing more than a good bath.

With abundant food and water, they can focus on family time.

Elephants have some of nature's strongest social bonds.

It's now that the younger members of the family

get to know the rest of the herd.

But these good times won't last.

Now that the monsoon rains have finished,

Karnataka begins to dry out.

In just a few months, most of this vegetation will be gone.

The herd will have to rely on the matriarch's prodigious memory

to ensure that they find enough food to survive.

Forest covers only 20% of Karnataka.

The rest of this huge state appears to be barren.

The vast Deccan Plateau

contains some of the oldest rocks on Earth.

Here, the absence of rain produces strange landscapes.

In the historic lands of Hampi,

sand blown by the wind has carved the ancient rocks

into all kinds of shapes.

This is the stage

for one of nature's most dazzlingly beautiful spectacles.

(BIRD CALLS)

The competitive displays of peacocks.

The males have been preparing all year for this gathering.

This is their breeding season.

Dozens of females converge on the display grounds

to judge the competition.

A peacock's tail is unfakeable proof of his vigour.

The finest display will be produced by the fittest male.

With so much at stake, tempers flare.

(PEACOCKS SQUAWK)

This could be the only chance to mate a male will get for the whole year.

Only the most spectacular will be able to take it.

The males take every opportunity to impress the peahens.

With the audience assembled,

the show can begin.

(BRIGHT MUSIC)

The younger males watch from the sidelines.

It will be three years

before they have the plumage they need to take part.

The adult males angle their vibrating trains to face the sun

so that their displays will look as brilliant as possible.

The best dressed will enjoy

an uninterrupted opportunity to strut their stuff.

The owner of the most spectacular feather fan

has now earned himself mating rights

to all the females here.

Surprisingly, these rocks hide a major food source...

..though only a few can collect it.

Southern India's only bear, the sloth bear,

is expert at doing that.

A female is looking for lunch and leaving no stone unturned.

(QUIRKY MUSIC)

(SNIFFS)

Up to 60% of a sloth bear's diet

is made up of ants and termites.

Her jaws and lips are shaped like a funnel

with which she sucks them up.

She can eat half a kilogram of termites every day.

But this particular bear will have to turn over a lot of rocks

because she isn't just feeding herself.

She has two cubs, just a few months old.

She rarely lets them out of her sight.

And following mum around can get quite tiring.

No other kind of bear cubs

routinely travel on their mothers' backs.

Extra thick fur allows the cubs to get a firm grip.

It will be another two years before they're truly independent.

The Deccan Plateau is an unforgiving place to raise a family.

With wolves and other predators

ready to attack at every opportunity...

..a safe refuge is of the greatest importance.

Jungle cats are well adapted to these exposed conditions.

Monumental outcrops provide strategic lookout points.

Danger is never far away.

But with mum on guard,

the kittens can play and hone their survival skills.

And those skills may be tested at any moment.

One bite from a spectacled cobra is usually fatal.

They're one of India's most dangerous snakes.

The inquisitive youngster edges closer.

The cobra's hood is a final warning.

Another inch and it will be game over for the kitten.

But this time, the kitten makes the right move.

The reason why the Deccan Plateau is so dry...

..lies in Karnataka's greatest geological feature.

The mighty Western Ghats mountain range.

This vast escarpment

intercepts the rain clouds arriving from the coast

and creates the most biodiverse habitat in India.

The number of species found here and nowhere else on Earth

rivals that of the Amazon.

This huge rainforest

is home to the world's largest venomous snake.

(SINISTER MUSIC)

The king cobra.

They have acute eyesight

and can track their prey through the thick forest.

They feed almost entirely on other snakes.

And when they catch one,

they swallow it whole and head first.

With no means of pinning it down,

the king cobra has to roll to subdue its victim.

And they are insatiable.

They even eat their own kind.

As the dry season progresses,

female king cobras stop hunting.

For the next few weeks,

this mother won't eat at all.

The drying rainforest

has created the conditions she has been waiting for.

This 10-foot long female

now uses her coils to pile leaves

into one of the animal kingdom's largest nests.

No other snake behaves in this way.

Exposed eggs wouldn't survive the rain.

So she heaps up the leaves to protect them.

The pile will act as a natural incubator.

She has special temperature receptors in her skin

and she adjusts the leaves of the nest

to ensure the eggs within

stay at a steady 28 degrees centigrade.

She will guard this nest with her life for up to a month,

eating nothing.

These rainforests are home

to several dozen kinds of fruiting trees.

In spite of the dry season,

many trees produce fruit all year round.

They are great boons for the rainforest's canopy dwellers.

But there's one tree here that almost everyone avoids.

The strychnine tree produces fruit so poisonous,

just one could kill a human.

Amazingly, Malabar pied hornbills

are able to stomach this lethal neurotoxin.

Exactly how they achieve this isn't yet known.

But it does give them the monopoly of these otherwise fatal fruits.

Being able to eat even the deadliest of meals

has made these hornbills the most prolific seed disperses

in the entire forest.

But even a bird that is immune to poison is not immune to parasites.

Each evening, the hornbills search out a very particular spot.

An open glade in the forest.

These dry conditions produce plenty of dust

and hornbills bathe in it.

With their feathers cleansed,

they return to the forest to roost.

The lower slopes of the Western Ghats

are home to India's very own dragon.

The camouflage of a Draco lizard

helps keep it off the menu of its many potential predators.

But camouflage is a problem

when trying to attract the attention of a female.

So the male flashes a bright yellow flap of skin

to show a female where he is.

But she is too busy feeding.

And he is too far away.

But like all dragons, he has got a hidden superpower.

He can fly.

On specially adapted ribs,

he will glide up to 100 feet between trees.

It's the quickest and safest way to travel in this aerial habitat.

Brushing him aside with her tail, she threatens to jump.

Despite his best efforts, she's not interested.

Perhaps this bachelor will have more luck on the next tree.

The Western Ghats are the backdrop to 280km of coastline.

Migrating gulls are drawn to these rich tropical waters.

Twice a day, the tide here creates the ideal habitat

for India's most industrious creature.

As the water recedes,

tiny edible particles get trapped in the sand.

This is food for some.

Sand bubbler crabs.

Scooping up sand with their fine pincers...

..they sieve out its edible bits and then roll it into small balls.

They have to work fast.

Their specialised mouth parts can only extract the food

if the sand is wet.

To get enough to eat,

each crab produces over 1,000 of these sand balls every day.

But time is not their only enemy.

The crabs themselves make excellent snacks.

Plovers and sandpipers feast on them.

Pond herons stalk them one...

..by one.

This army has to eat out in the open.

But there is a defence in huge numbers.

Not even the turning tide stops them.

When the water arrives,

they break ranks and perform their final trick.

Rotating in the sun, each builds a circular wall of sand pellets.

Completing the roof traps a bubble of air beneath.

And that is just big enough

to enable the crabs to remain safely underwater until the next tide.

Beyond these familiar shores lies an alien world.

The reefs of Karnataka are still largely unexplored.

This is a wild India that few have seen.

After six months with little rain,

Karnataka's jungles are drying out.

This creates an opportunity

for India's most social wild canid -

the dhole.

Dhole packs communicate by whistling.

But when they hunt, they travel in silence.

With immense territories,

they know how to find every one of the shrinking waterholes.

As the drought intensifies,

they become the prime place for an ambush.

An adult sambar deer would feed the whole pack for days.

But sambar are tough adversaries.

A youngster is a far easier proposition.

The dogs have surrounded one in a tiny pool.

She challenges the inexperienced members of the pack...

..and tries to draw them away from her youngster.

One kick from an adult sambar could be fatal.

Eventually, the dogs give up.

This lone mother has seen off the whole pack.

It will be another year

before the calf is strong enough to fight its own battles.

Further into the jungle,

some of the last remaining pools have trapped huge carp.

It's an opportunity for specialist fish hunters.

Smooth-coated otters.

Travelling as a family,

they begin to search all the pools in their territory.

But today they are in for a surprise.

Tigers sweat mainly through their paws.

So on hot days, they cool off in jungle pools.

The otters would never approach a tiger on land.

But in water, their element,

their confidence is boundless.

Sometimes even a tiger...

..is no match for a pack of indignant otters.

With the coast clear...

..they set to work.

Smooth-coated otter families

can travel many kilometres each day.

When they find a shoal of fish...

..they work together to corner them

and pick them off one at a time.

Each of the family needs to eat a kilo of fish every day.

In two months, the monsoon rains will arrive

and release the imprisoned fish.

Until then, this pool will provide all the food the otters need.

Whilst tigers rule the jungle floor...

..the canopy is dominated by Karnataka's largest monkeys...

..gray langurs.

For much of the year, they get all they need from the treetops.

But now the cupboard is bare.

The langurs must search for food and water on the ground.

Scouts in the trees keep watch...

..ready to sound the alarm.

A rare black panther is quickly noticed.

The danger seems to have passed.

But in this jungle, there are always eyes watching.

(LANGUR SCOUTS CALL)

(GROWLS)

A close call.

Nowhere is entirely safe...

..from a leopard.

Life here is becoming tough,

even for an animal with no natural predators.

Karnataka's elephants constantly search for fresh vegetation.

But now the options are running out.

The last of the grass provides little sustenance.

As a last resort, the herd turns to the jungle trees.

Using their tusks, they prise off strips of bark.

Despite the conditions,

they still need to find over 100 kilos of vegetation every day.

And with the rains still a month away,

the outlook appears bleak.

Fortunately, there is one last possibility.

Within these jungles lies an Eden...

..where water flows all year round.

An elephant Shangri-la called Kabini.

The older members of the herd remember how to find it.

After months of walking,

the family have all made it.

Each year, hundreds of elephants from across all Karnataka

assemble at their great jungle paradise.

In a few weeks, the rains will come again and revive their forest home.

The water across Karnataka is now at its lowest point.

Temporary sandbars have appeared in the shrinking rivers,

creating pools where the remaining fish have congregated.

Thousands of river terns arrive here to breed.

Food is now readily available.

The birds have timed their arrival perfectly.

They quickly pair up and start to nest.

Then, after just four weeks,

the first chicks begin to hatch.

Now, the parents are intensely busy.

A steady stream of small fish is delivered into tiny mouths.

The terns have just a few busy weeks

before the returning rains will submerge the sandbars

for another year.

Summer temperatures have now risen to over 40 degrees,

triggering a change in the atmosphere.

Huge clouds blow in from the Indian Ocean

and condense over the Western Ghats.

This is the start of one of the most important seasonal events

on the planet.

The mighty monsoon.

In just a few weeks,

trillions of litres of water will fall across India.

As the rivers swell, the rainforest is transformed.

The humidity soars to 100%...

..and the earth throbs with calls.

The Western Ghats have over 100 different species of frogs.

(FROGS CROAK, INSECTS BUZZ, BIRDS TWITTER)

These monsoon rains are the cue they have been waiting for.

It's time for the males to attract mates.

(WATER RUSHES LOUDLY)

But there's a problem.

The sound of water is so loud

it's difficult for the frogs to make themselves heard.

So Karnataka's amphibious orchestra

has evolved an unusual solution.

If you can't shout about your credentials,

flaunt them.

A female arrives.

The ante has been upped.

Stretching to the limit,

this male shows off his enormous legs.

His performance has paid off.

The monsoon rains are also a trigger for the female King Cobra.

She leaves her giant nest.

By abandoning her unhatched eggs,

this cannibal queen

is actually giving them their best chance of survival.

Were she to stay,

she might well eat her own offspring.

These youngsters aren't even safe from one another.

King cobras hatch hungry.

Their best chance is to get as far away from the nest

as fast as they can.

For the next five years,

these youngsters will lead entirely solitary lives in the forest

until they're large enough to find a mate.

But right now, they must slip away quietly and disappear.

During the monsoon,

the vast amount of rain falling across the state

creates an intricate network of streams.

Small ones join with others.

Rivers grow and turn into surging torrents...

..that feed almost every major river in southern India.

The waterfalls of Jog and Shivanasamudra

are among India's most impressive natural wonders.

More rain falls in the three months of the monsoon

than in the whole of the rest of the year.

The drenching monsoon rains

power Karnataka's spectacularly rich natural worlds.

Across rainforests...

..ancient rocks...

...thick jungles...

..and thundering waters...

..wildlife thrives.

This annual elemental pulse

ensures Karnataka is reborn each year

as one of the most important and glorious wild refuges on Earth.

Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2019