All language subtitles for Equator.Battle_for_the_Light.2005.BDRip.h264.1280x720

The Sun.

Giver of light and the light shines most powerful at the equator.

Here it powers an extraordinarily rich zone of life.

Brilliant and bizarre species from three continents, three oceans.

More than a line on a map, equator is a powerful force of nature.

Around the equator, Dawn arrives with staggering speed and.

The new day rapidly unveils the lush rainforests of southern Asia.

Sunlight sweeps the treetops at nearly 500 meters per second.

Twelve hours of darkness ends, 12 hours of light begins life at the equator is precisely tuned to this dynamic daily rhythm.

These lush forests are driven by intense competition for light.

But even before that battle gets started, another daily skirmish is underway.

The battle to be heard gibbons are early risers, heralding the lights returns.

Each pair duets, one calling the other listening, confirming bonds and declaring territories.

In the gloomier branches below, a lone male orangutan remains quiet in his night nest.

Orangutans prefer to wake late.

In the calm Dawn Air, Asia's many types have given all worn off their neighbors with vigorous operatic display with.

These singing apes are unique among primates, both sexes use vocal displays to repel rivals.

As the day brightens, an array of voices struggles to be heard.

The hornbill is less operatic but has plenty of volume.

The hollow cask above the bill amplifies calls.

It can be heard over a huge area.

High up there, sounds carry far, but it's tougher down in the undergrowth.

For small birds, a high pitched call repeated often his most effective.

Another strategy is to broadcast at a precise frequency, which differs from your neighbors.

She.

This is how spectators can attract a mate above all, that didn't happen to me.

Finally, the male orangutans baritone lays claim to his vast home, right?

Okay.

This is the most complex dawn chorus on the planet in southern Asia.

You can hear the rich diversity of life at the equator.

She has Dawn's sound battle subsides, the sun rises over forests of remarkably tall trees, some stretch over 80 meters high.

Southern Asia's forests are dominated by ancient trees known as dip to.

These giants cast a shadow over every living thing.

Controlling the daily battle for the land.

But these trees.

Are selfish giants.

Not only did they grab most of the sunlight, but almost nothing can feed on their leaves that are filled with oily toxins called turbines.

The departure caps, massive cylindrical trunks have few side branches until they open out into mighty crowds.

Their shape creates wide gaps in the canopy, aerial canyons that animals of southern Asia have evolved to cross in spectacular ways.

Most monkeys are brave sleepers, but they have no match for this creature's airborne skin.

The Kluger is an expert glider using the remarkable skin folds between its limbs and tail.

It can soar 120 meters.

Little is known about the life of this secretive nocturnal mammal, except that it's astonishing gliding skill has developed for life in very tall, branchless trees.

And it's by no means the only one.

In these forests, even lizards can fly Draco lizards and miniature gliders with their own elastic skin membranes to carry them across the forest chasms and to avoid predators on the ground.

It's not just the animals whose shape is molded by the departure of cops.

So are the trees below sea growing in the shadow of the selfish giant smaller trees stretched toward the sunlight as spindly, flexible poles.

Just the right size for red apes on the.

Using their weight, an immense strength to flex the saplings.

Orangutans can swing and pole vault across the gaps with ease.

A prodigious memory helps them navigate huge distances in search of favorite fruits.

As the morning advances, the little spider hunter flies at circuit of ginger flowers, probing for nectar and pollinating as it goes.

After a long overnight fast, many creatures need a floral sugar boost to fuel their day.

Throughout equatorial Asia, a fig tree and fruit is a magnet, attracting morning diners from far and wide.

In Borneo, a rhinoceros hornbill and a rare helmeted horn will arrive early.

Inspecting the rightness of its tiny fruit.

The Horn Bill's long, dexterous beaks are perfectly designed for picking figs, but they must hurry.

They won't have the tree to themselves for very long.

Gibbons are very aware of any ripening fruit inside their territory, and they've learned the best pathways to reaching.

They use a neighboring dip for a carp as their leader and prepare for a hair raising aerial assault.

The timid, helmeted one bill quickly retreats.

The rhinoceros hornbill moves to the outer branches and plucks a few last morsels.

Just as well, these acrobatic apes are in no mood to share.

The tropical fig harvest is a vital oasis within the desert to dip treetop trees.

Unlike the selfish giants, which expend considerable energy creating toxins, the FIG invests its energy reserves, providing nutritious fruit in return for this fruit.

A succession of satisfied diners will carry away its tiny seeds in their stomachs.

Eventually, the seeds will be sown far across the forest, but before they can keep their side of the bargain.

The gibbons face more life threatening leaps back into their land a tree.

The Gibbon family quickly departs in search of other tasty fruits for which these forests are famous below the selfish giant's, many plants battle for their meager share of the light producing leaves that are lush and tasty.

Asian elephants have a passion for palms.

Each adult eats 150 kg of greens every day, and a whole herd gives the forest a real thrashing.

As they move and feel they tear open new clearings, allowing the light to reach down to the forest floor, triggering regrowth.

The Sun helps the forest to recover from a herd of hungry elephants.

But the light starved understory of Asia's forests is shaped in a more subtle way by its great diversity of monkeys and apes.

Many wild fruits and equatorial Asia have tastes and aromas that are irresistible to the palates of primates.

In return, for some seeds scattering thanks to their love of fruit, mangosteen, lychees, durian and tan all thrive in these forests and were enjoyed by monkeys and apes long before their discovery by more recent primates.

People from primates are fussy eaters, and with such tropical abundance, they often discard more than they eat.

But there's a cleanup expert close at hand.

The bearded pig has a nose well attuned to the sun's fallen bounty.

With such riches raining down, it's not surprising that bearded pigs are numerous and widespread.

You.

Fruit scavengers are also attractive prey.

There are tigers in these forests.

It pays to be watchful.

Even the rare and poorly sighted Sumatran rhino was drawn to the sound and smell of fallen fruit.

Be it hornbill above or rhinoceros below.

All these large animals and birds show just how generous the lower forest plants are compared to the impenetrable, selfish giant.

Gathering fruit can be risky.

Dangling 50 meters above a stony riverbed, an orangutan mother has discovered a berry bonanza just as well.

Red apes are careful, precise climbers.

They use three limbs gripping tightly at all times.

The mother seems unconcerned about her five year old hanging precariously above her at this tender age.

He's already learned from his mother where it's safe to climb and what is safe to eat.

Far below other eager mouths awaiting.

Energy from the treetops is never wasted.

Where more berries fall than fruit scavengers can eat, a few will sprout.

The rest will decay, returning nutrients to the tree they came from.

Fruiting trees and vines get extra nutrient payback.

Dung and urine is most likely to fall under the trees that are generous providers.

Here at the equator, the Sun's heat drives decomposition 10 times faster than in cool climate forests.

Dung beetles kick start the breakout.

Within a few weeks, most nutrients will be recycled through the thin topsoil and back to the trees.

Rainforest soils depleted and poor, so trees don't bother with deep roots.

Instead, they're mighty buttress roots sprawl over the surface, sending out shallow, ruthless just below the leaf litter itself.

The greedy Detroit cop routes probe close to the surface and enlists the help of soil fungi to mine every last available mineral from the leaf litter.

Securing enough nutrients is never a problem for one McJob plant.

This is a reflection flower at one meter across.

It's the largest single flower in the world.

The blotchy petals resemble rotting flesh.

It also generates a foul smelling odor and radiates subtle heat, all designed to mimic a rotting corpse.

So it's irresistible to the flies which pollinated.

But how can roughly reflection on the gloomy forest floor get enough energy to fuel such lavish tactics?

Not by its own efforts.

It's a thief, a parasite that steals from a vine nearby.

The giant flower has no leaves and no roots.

It's parasitic threads penetrate deep inside the vine, the Rift Lesia sucks all the nutrition it needs from its host.

The host vine grows high into the treetops, so the parasite is fed by the vines leaves lowly roughly down on the forest floor gains the full energy of the tropical sun.

Giant departure, a car, so the gatekeepers of light, they take all the energy they need.

But as the sun's rays penetrate the many layers of foliage, they are filtered, scattered and reduced.

Red and blue wavelengths are easily absorbed by most plants, whereas green light reflects off leafy surfaces.

That's why leaves appear green.

It's mostly green light that makes it to the forest floor.

Only two per cent of the sunlight makes it this far.

So bottom dwelling plants are adapted to absorb the faintest light.

Corrugated leaves with prism like faces absorbs scattered rays from every direction.

But forest floor plans must also cope with the other extreme.

Brief bursts of full scorching sun.

The bottom dwellers leaves are protected by waxy, reflective coatings, providing a sunscreen to the burning, sun flecked pass by and the gloom returns.

Another tactic is to produce red lips.

These are better equipped to absorb the green light that dominates down here, red pigments can also be a sign that leaves contain bitter toxins to deter grazing animals, at least in part.

And there are always plenty of grazes to deter plants without toxins can pay a heavy price.

In tropical forests grazes never rest.

Some caterpillars are immune to plant toxins and actually concentrate them in their bodies, so they too become toxic, causing their enemies to vomit or even giving them heart failure.

Outlandish patterns and bold colors advertise their poisons.

Such colors are very effective warnings that can save lives.

Most of all, the forest floor dwellers battling to make the most of the Sun's energy the most tireless are ants.

They overwhelm anything they can carry home.

They're even bold enough to steal the crumbs from a water monitor's mouth.

Until it can stand it no more.

The world has its giants, too.

Like poly rockets more than a centimeter long.

It's 100 times heavier than its neighbors, preferring to forage solo.

They still communicate with their fellows, exchanging chemical tips on the latest dining place or home, or they use vines as their highways, foraging all the way from the floor to the mid forest levels.

Up here, midway between the gloomy, damp floor and the full burning sun, living is pleasant, there's the ideal amount of daylight for many plants here.

Grow on top of others.

They're not parasites.

They perch on the branches of trees and include a thousand varieties of beautiful orchids.

Many orchids can only grow near the equator.

Some are so sensitive.

A tiny drop in temperature can kill them.

But how have Bork had succeeded in colonizing every corner of Asia's tropical forests?

One answer is their root systems that cling tenaciously and can trap moisture from mist and showers.

But the real secret is in the way they travel.

The blooms of this tiny orchid, a barely a millimeter across, and it's my seed heads are about to burst.

The microscopic seeds float on the breeze like specks of dust.

They are so light because they carry no food supply of their own.

Once they crash, land seeds rely on a special fungus to invade them.

Remarkably.

The invader provides the energy boost they need to sprout.

The awkward world is full of surprises.

This gently waving petal is not what it seems.

It's an orchid mantis, brilliantly camouflaged and swaying in time with the breeze as it sizes up a meal.

The fluffy sap sucker has also perfected the white on white look.

But those sticky threads would be unpleasant to eat.

The mantis wisely lets it pass.

Now, this is more like it.

A real mountain sized meal.

Praying mantis is a voracious predators.

But when you rely on camouflage and ambush, it can be a very long wait between meals.

It's been six days since she last fed, everything will be consumed, except the scaly wings.

The battles between predator and prey, a never ending.

But the daily battle for the light now takes a very different turn.

At noon, the equatorial sun is at its zenith.

The problem now is not getting enough light, but avoiding it.

The Rhino Wallen's seeking relief from the heat and the flies with a mud pack.

The tiger uses its day wisely.

It rests not.

With predators off duty, some loving butterflies have the flowers to themselves.

Everyone else avoids the Sun, a siesta.

Is a necessity.

Not all Asia's primates are canopy dwellers, crab eating macaques spend much of their time along stream edges where there's plenty of shade to avoid the afternoon heat.

While the elders cool off by fishing for crabs and tasty water snails, the youngsters splash and play.

Their antics have not gone unnoticed.

It's too hard to be bothered chasing them, not the Tigers battle will come later.

The Sun's power has also been at work on the forest.

By mid-afternoon, evaporation from billions of leaves is enough to change the weather.

Throughout the day, trees draw ever more moisture into mighty buttresses and up through massive trunks.

And.

Water travels in an elaborate net.

The woody tubes called Xylem.

Amazingly, these thin tubes transport water and nutrients upwards against gravity for over 80 meters.

The destination is nature's own solar panels.

The leaves.

Water combines with carbon dioxide and light in the green miracle that has photosynthesis.

Mind you, pause, release the leftover water vapor and oxygen to be sucked out from the leaves and out above the forest canopy coalescing into clouds.

Mean.

Tropical forests are rain making machines.

A bear cat carries a cub back to its den before the rain unleashes its full force.

Almost every day, equatorial forests are drenched.

Five meters of rain falls on Borneo and Sumatra each year.

Plants are well-equipped for downpours.

Orangutans are to their shaggy fur sheds, rain, but their best defense is their brain.

Regular afternoon rains top up the forest swallows.

These are crucial breeding places for both frogs and dragonflies.

The dragonflies larvae are predators.

They stalk these newly filled ponds.

The strength of the afternoon downpour often topples old or weakened trees.

When a giant falls, it opens up a light gap in the canopy.

And now the battle for the light suddenly gets serious.

Long dormant seedlings quickly sprout, then jostle upwards toward the light.

It's a mad scramble to get there first by whatever means.

The battle only ceases when the victors close the gap with new foliage.

In the last hour of daylight, most animals, attention returns to food and.

A huge male orangutan has found a durian tree laden with spiky fruit.

And the tyrion's pungent odor soon attracts an audience.

The largest ape in the forest has spent the last three days here devouring all the durian he can possibly eat.

His canines are powerful enough to crack the thick husk.

And no part of the delicious, creamy pulp is wasted.

Durian fruit is designed to attract large mammals with keen noses.

Such animals are big enough to swallow its seeds whole and to pass them undamaged with a fertilizer coating social.

Finally, he can eat no more.

Asian elephants are the ultimate durian, and.

They are drawn to the king of fruit from far and wide by the pungent odor that's almost palpable.

But they're not the only ones looking to hear.

For a young orangutan to cross the forest floor, there must be a real prize on offer.

Only a fruit for the flavor to die for is worth such a risk.

But getting inside this fallen gift of the Sun is a different matter.

The durian has evolved to be eaten by forest giants.

And she's not yet strong enough to crack it.

A frustrating stalemate over.

Fallen durian are soon located by the biggest nose in Asia.

And finally, the king of Fruits has met its match, dispatched with a single bite.

Asian elephants also have an ancient relationship with jackfruit.

These enormous fruit sprout directly from the trunk exactly of elephant hide.

A 10 kilogram fruit is a jumbo sized mouthful, even for an elephant.

Such a problem requires a weighty solution.

Sweet scented jackfruit contains slippery seeds easily swallowed and which will be passed a day later, far away in the forest.

So the most powerful animal in southern Asia becomes the willing servant of the fragrant fruiting trees.

Just before sundown, Silverleaf Monkey should be finding a place to sleep.

Instead, they're on the move, heading for a late supper to be digested slowly overnight.

It's a nervous time, but the troop leaves a century and look at.

He remains vigilant while the others descend to feed on grasses and tender shoots.

At this point, the Sumatran tiger has been waiting for the dusk.

This is its favorite time to hunt when mouse deer emerge from the thickets.

The tiny deer remain extremely alert and are often first to sound an alarm.

Their battle is to stay alive.

And.

Tonight, it's a leaf monkey that's lost the twilight battle, paying the price for relaxing vigilance.

Day's end approaches as rapidly as it began.

Has soft shadows rise up through the forest?

The battle for the life ceases.

At least for today.

The moment before sunset is when giant cicadas call.

And red flying squirrels appear.

The squirrels cautiously emerge from their tree holes before launching out between massive departure atop pillars.

She's having major league, they climb as high as possible before leaping again.

And so they move through the forest.

She.

She's with furry membranes between their limbs, but not their tail.

They're not the most accomplished of the gliders here, but they are well adapted to the challenge of moving between the tall trees.

Another reminder of how two cups have shaped many lives.

The bloated male orangutan is ready for sleep, adjusting his nest to support his massive bulge.

She's.

The tree he sleeps and also enters a time of rest.

Once photosynthesis stops, plant metabolism goes into reverse.

Leaves consume more oxygen and energy than they produce.

The forest becomes like a massive solar battery running down during the hours of dogs.

The battle for daylight may be over.

But battles between predator and prey only intensified.

Even nocturnal hunters are part of food chains that lead back to the treetops and the energy of the equatorial sun.

The Asian Fishing Cats night is off to a poor start.

Just above swallows and ponds, tree frogs gather to lay their foamy egg masses at once, the eggs hatch tadpoles wriggle out and drop into the pond below.

Where tree frogs gather, the red sided snake is never far away.

But the snake ignores the file he had from.

It prefers a much easier meal of frog spawn.

The fishing cat is persistent.

It stalks a fish still plump with fallen berries.

Nutrients that began high in the treetops are returned to land and soon to the forest itself.

In the hours before dawn, the shy Lugo is finally full of energy.

It searches out the most tender leaf tips.

Varying its diet to avoid an overdose of plant toxins.

But Kalugin does have another newly discovered strategy.

They feed on sugar rich tree sap, including the poisonous sap of Tiptree cups.

This mysterious mammal.

Appears to have conquered the treetops chemical defenses, as well as the chasms between their giant trunks.

Of all Tropical Asia's extraordinary creatures, the Kluger seems the most directly molded by the selfish forest giants.

It's perhaps their finest creation.

Another Dawn chorus announces that the battle for the light is about to resume.

Only on the equator could such a massed choir of voices greet the return of each day.

Once again, the mighty dipped her aqab trees, a first to soak up the Sun's energy, casting their pervasive shadows on all below.