All language subtitles for Subtitulo ingles

My name is Francis Halle.

I spent my whole life in forests.

I watched trees being born,
how they grew and died.

'Cause I couldn't see them grow

I thought they were motionless.

I couldn't hear them either

and so I assumed they were quiet.

Only after years did I discover

how they burst with life.

When I became a botanist,
I never dared to think

that the mighty tropical forests
would disappear before my eyes

in barely 50 years.

They were so very big...

Millions of years ago we became
born there as great apes...

in the tops of the canopy.

But we have forgotten that.

Before it's too late I want

share my life journey with you,

initiate you into my great passion:

the story of the trees of the
large tropical forests.

ONCE ONCE ... A FOREST

I am in all the forests of the
world.

I walked on the canopy

and explored miles
and miles below.

And every time

I was amazed
how colossal trees can

live without moving.

Did countless times

these wooden creatures doubt me

to my own mind.

Life...

without moving.

They came up with another way
of life,

almost imperceptible.

This is the mysterious world

of vegetable ingenuity.

In the tropical jungles

I saw the most beautiful and the richest
what this world has to offer.

billions of plants,
billions of animals,

all indispensable,

closely connected,

sometimes so close that it becomes difficult

to keep them apart
they become one.

I saw how man ages ancient trees
took possession of it in a few days.

It takes little time to make them
to chop, to destroy

and grab everything.

But how many centuries will it take
to rebuild everything?

How can you stop that state of affairs?

This feeling of powerlessness
makes me furious

and sad.

Since the beginning of time

do plants give us the
air we breathe.

Do they have to disappear before
do we remember that?

Who can give new life?

Only life itself.

It's a matter of time.

The great trees that lived here,

sowed multitudes of seeds,

season after season,

In case that.

In the shade on the bottom
they slumbered for a long time.

Now they will make it mangled
restore forest.

It's the light that drives them
to redo the whole story.

The forest will survive us.

It has the ability
to be born again.

There is only one condition:

man needs more than

700 years away.

This is where the story
of that rebirth begins.

These trees are pioneers.

They grow quickly.
They all look the same.

They shoot up in a few days.

They will cover the ground in a few months
with a protective layer of their leaves.

Water, air and sun

penetrate their leaves.

Chlorophyll or chlorophyll converts them.

An immense being rises.

A tree!

It is the miracle of photosynthesis.

But in their sprint to the sun

the pioneers don't have time
for the defense

against the herbivores who
attack the first leaves.

And when the leaves are so damaged
that they can catch no more light,

the tree dies, robbed of its energy.

To repel attacks,

call some pioneers
the help of animals.

Like the Cecropia Tree
gets a new leaf

small dots appear at the base
that resemble ant eggs.

They take effect immediately.

The ants open doors that the tree
along the entire length of its trunk

before she made.

The ants feel right at home.

They make openings on every level.

The insects palm the Cecropia tree
soon over its entire length.

The Cecropia can now grow quietly.

The tenants will defend him.

50 years after
the first seeds sprouted,

the pioneers are mature.

They will not live longer.

They were born together

and they will die together.

The short duration of their existence
is in their genes.

Hidden in the ground,
conjure tiny animals

this forest of dead wood around

to rich, loose humus.

That's the enigmatic world
of the degradation organisms.

They digest everything
falls to the ground

to put it back into the life cycle.

The secondary forest

replaces the primary forest.

The trees have sprouted in
the shadow of the pioneers.

They will feed
with their fallen wood.

This is how the second phase begins
the reconstruction of the forest.

It will take ages to

the giant puzzle that
deforestation has been wiped out

to reassemble.

Again the light determines how
the bottom layer will look like.

The countless leaves,
all solar panels;

the branches that the
lifting leaves to the sun,

the great trunks that cover the treetops
lead to heaven...

To be a tree, that is
excel in the art of standing,

perfectly balanced.

As the branches expand,
the base of the trunk thickens

to strengthen the giant's foundation.

The underground world of trees

is just as big and important
as the visible part.

Carrots do much more
then anchor the tree.

They mainly collect water.

They do that with their root hairs
and in association with fungi,

secret but defining links
in the life of the forest.

Water is vital for trees.

The fungi help to collect it

by their tiny threads beneath the surface
to spread out.

In exchange

does the tree give them back the energy
which he takes above the ground.

After a century

is the secondary forest
still an empty shell.

But 500 years later

many more living beings already live there

and a rich, varied plant life.

They will make a covenant together.

At every level of the underlay
begins a long interaction,

of the infinitely small
to the infinitely great.

Before the underlayer is completely in the shade
state, the creepers spread out.

I find these plants incredible.

They don't bother with it
creating huge, solid trunks.

Others will do that for them.

Unobtrusive on the bottom

they follow the shadow of a tree trunk.

Once they find a base,

they climb up to heaven
to bathe in the sun.

The stem of the philodendron fascinates me.

He is camouflaged by the bark

close to the ground,
where he is vulnerable to his attackers.

But a few meters higher
will he grow luxuriantly,

like he finally feels safe.

How did that plant
developed such a shrewd strategy?

That's a mystery I can't get to.

Perhaps the best thing I can do is tell the story of the
passion flower, what I love.

You know that plant

she bears the delicious passion fruit.

We take a detour through the big
laboratory of evolution.

We fast forward the time
and see how the forest new species

of the passion flower.

In the forest has
the passion flower only one enemy:

the caterpillars of the Heliconius butterfly,

that leaves her for generations
devour.

One day, during a mutation,

a passion flower became very poisonous.

Without his looters

could this new species
suddenly thrive...

...until there is a new caterpillar species
showed up,

which was immune to the plant's poison.

The butterfly in turn became
poisonous to its predators.

There was no one to stop him
and this new Heliconius began

destroy passion flowers.

So other variants appeared

who changed the shape of their leaves
to trick the butterflies.

The ruse worked perfectly,

until the butterfly found a flower
which was so nourishing

that she made him live longer,

long enough to see the disguised leaves
to learn to recognize the passion flower.

A new passion flower appeared.

She made fake eggs

to make the butterfly wise
that someone had preceded him.

I'll stop here, but with this game
making fun of each other,

were created in decades

45 species of Heliconius butterflies

and 150 varieties of passion flowers.

And so there are millions of species,
big and small,

that come to life in the same way.

These countless, special stories

make the history of the forest.

The years pass.

The secondary forest
continues to grow.

Are trees
are now about 40 meters long.

From foot to crown

do they offer accommodation

in search of countless creatures
to occupy new territories.

Deforestation put many species to flight.

In time they come back.

the leaf eater

attracts the carnivore.

The food chain gets
gradually taking shape again.

Some newcomers play a leading role
in the rebirth of the forest.

From far away places

they bring the seeds of trees
who did not survive the destruction.

Those twists of fate give the forest

some of his gems back,

like the Moabi tree,

the prettiest
under the big tropical trees.

In this seed lies the promise
from a giant of 70 meters...

The first seconds

of a being that is more than
will live 1,000 years.

The renewal of the secondary forest
is sometimes very spectacular,

but at other times it's
countless small events

that are repeated millions of times.

The blossoming of the tops of the tall trees

determines the rhythm of the plants
and animals that live underneath.

Where a streak of light appears,

grows a leaf to catch it.

And where there is a leaf,

there is always someone who preys on it.

If we joke all the animals of the forest
put on the scales,

then the ants would weigh more

than all the other animals combined.

They work at all heights.

Tiny transporters they are,
those huge amounts of leaves

and transporting soil between
the top and bottom layers.

They are also gardeners

who grow plants in the treetops

to make nests.

Farmers are too

when they collect the honeydew
of the lice which in turn

live off the tree sap.

I find termites impressive.

All day long they break
huge amounts of dead wood.

Determined they carry earth
to the sky,

to high above the ground
to build a fortress.

From the infinitely small
to the infinitely great

the cloth is slowly woven
that connects all living beings.

The canvas isn't finished yet

but it's strong enough already

for the tension between hunter
and drive up prey,

to nests and dens
to make rare,

to make the weak go away
so that he escapes the strong.

The forest now has two faces:

one for the day and one for the night.

Of the dawn in the forest
I still like the most.

This fragile moment when
the song of the day animals

coincides with the cries
of the nocturnal animals.

How many do they have there?

hidden among the trees?

Trees communicate

in secret.

Their language makes no sound but smells.

They string together scents,
as we do with words.

Laying their messages
great distances.

That seduce, attract,

repel or enchant.

Their influence is enormous.

Like all living things,

do trees need a partner
to reproduce

or at least to get their pollen
to pass on.

That's why flowers are born.

They seduce the animal
with their shape, color

and perfume.

Through some nectar in their hearts
to hide, they invite it

to roll through their pollen.

The animal then pulls
to other flowers

and takes the valuable freight that
the plant entrusted it

further and further along.

The technique works perfectly.

From a distance and so inconspicuous
possibly does the flowering tree

what costs animals so much energy
and such a hassle is:

mate.

It's not in the nature of trees
to lie awake for useless things.

Flowers make way for young fruits

that will grow secretly.

If they are attacked,
the trees sound the alarm.

They send out scent signals
which has an immediate response

arouse from their neighbours.

Their leaves become poisonous,
bitter or disgusting.

The predator will go elsewhere
have to eat.

These are the trees of the secondary forest
three centuries later.

They have become giants.

They're crowding each other now
for a place in the sun.

Shade a neighbor,
means he dies

and disappears.

Some trees even keep
physical battles.

The seed of the strangler ficus
travels by air.

While the other trees
year after year,

Growing patiently
in the dim light down there,

this seed outsmarts them all.

It germinates on the high branches,

to make the most of the energy
to take advantage of the sun.

It has only just sprouted
or the sapling

already sends its roots to the ground.

Roots?

It's more like lassos
that grow together

as soon as they touch.

The fight will be tens
take years.

The tree is slowly withering away.

On all floors below

try to be profiteers
to catch dead leaves

before they hit the ground.

I still find the feather palm

the most spectacular of all.

He catches everything he can
and carries it to its roots.

Top soil is made from it.

So much lives in the bottom layer now

that every piece, every leftover

is a meal for which on endless
many ways is fought.

The battle is over.

The strangler ficus has his
victim devoured.

He took his place in the forest

and cannibalized his wood
to make its own branches.

He took his form.

What remains of the prey,
is a gaping hole

in the middle of the
huge tribe of the victor.

Over time
the roof of the forest closes.

To the ground

are the low plants
disappeared due to lack of light.

This open underlayer
indicates a mature forest.

as far as the eye can see,

is it hard to make two trees
from the same family.

This is no coincidence.

For centuries motionless on
live in the same place

that is accepting that it is impossible
to flee from predators attacks,

for illnesses

or parasites
that accumulate year after year.

The adult tree can do all this
tolerated without too much damage.

But when are seeds
fall at his feet,

they are hopelessly lost.

All the tree can do

is she as far as possible
to spread.

Spreading tiny vibrations

stretches for miles through the ground,

to the paws of a hungry animal
that is waiting for this moment.

It's ironic...

The trees give all the animals of the forest

for only one good reason to eat:

to transport their seeds.

The fruit is no more than the lure
in this scam.

As icing on the cake, the trees cram
their fruits even full of sugar

and delicious aromas.

They are irresistible!

The ruse works.

The future tree
leaves in a big stomach

on strong legs

and with a head that always wants to travel.

Some trees leave the flesh

even stick to the pit.

This monkey will suck on it for a long time

before finally spitting it out.

That's a few hundred meters again
won for the seed.

I am amused by the thought
that every tree in the forest

a piece with an animal
has traveled.

How did it get here?

Was it on a hunt or a nap?

Time is so different for trees.

For them, the life of
of an animal seem very short...

The animal rules over space,

the tree over time...

They may stop
trees are great travelers after all.

They use everything
which moves naturally.

That could be water, on wings,

or legs, or the wind

and so they can reach every continent.

There are even trees

that cross oceans.

The forest is lush again,

but it has become very dependent
of daily tropical rain showers.

A few days without rain

and the leaves are already beginning to wither.

This is especially true for plants that
grow on branches or trunks,

far from the bottom.

They cannot store water.

Because of the heat

the forest is loaded with scents.

But this time they rise to heaven...

The trees are calling the rain.

The odor molecules
catch the water vapor

that hangs in the air.

That's enough to make clouds.

It's like the trees

kept the rain over their heads

to freshen up to your heart's content.

The forest is again
become a primary forest.

untouched by man,
and exceptional trees grow there.

They have tribes that betray that
they have seen for many centuries.

It's unbelievable to think
that this giant 700 years ago

an unsightly seed!

Trees embody time.

In such trees are impressive

forces at work.

The roots absorb the water.

Wood barrels need to see it up
to get, 66 meters above the ground.

The leaves make juice from it

that returns to the
branches and roots.

A tree is a creature
that flows and flows.

If he no longer has the water
can get higher

he stops growing.

That's the only limit on
his climb.

The Moabi tree is now stinging
above the others,

one of those forest giants that have more
for over a thousand years

the ocean of trees will dominate.

the canopy,

the active surface
of the primary forest,

where it teems with life,
like nowhere else on earth.

Here the forest touches the sky.

Sprout here, grow
and breathe billions of individuals

at the same moment.

At the end of his life
is a tree a world unto itself,

like an island.

He gives shelter
hundreds of plant species,

which in turn hundreds
housing animal species,

where smaller creatures reside.

If you look closer,

do you see that in every world another
smaller seat, and another one, and another one,

it goes on indefinitely.

Add all those creatures together

and you arrive at a burden that the tree
can throw it off balance.

This giant, who is gravity
has endured for centuries,

will go down on my knees
and give up his place.

The death of big trees

is the ultimate sign
that the forest is mature.

The cards are shuffled again
because of the enormous amount of matter

that fallen tree
returns to the earth.

The intermediate layer also gets the light back

that she had to miss for centuries.

A tree that falls
that's a real revolution.

If that happens,

meet the world of the canopy
that of the undergrowth.

Though they lived in the same place,

they are only now seeing each other for the first time.

The seeds of pioneers
were waiting patiently in the shade.

They immediately start it
healing process on.

It is the beginning of a new cycle.

I spent so many years
in forests.

A whole human life.

Thinking in tree time
makes my head spin.

What does the world look like
when you live that long?

I worked hard

and learned a lot

but I could tell the secrets of
barely understand this world.

Here I feel the power of life,

The creativity and the whims.

They are beyond my cap,
but I embrace their greatness.

That this world disappears
I cannot accept.

My story is coming to an end.

I hear the murmurs of early nations
that dies at the bottom of the forest.

The memory of the man who
came out of the forest, take them with them.

Once we lived
at peace with the trees.

Our ancestors saw them as
venerable and kind gods.

Today we are the victim
of our own power.

Let's look at trees.

In their motionless calm

are the roots
of what was once our cradle

and our mind.