All language subtitles for Secrets Of The Elephants s01e04 Asia.eng

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Across Asia two of
the world's most intelligent species

are figuring out
how to co-exist.

(croaking)

We may keep a
close eye on them...

(barking)

But they're also
watching us, and learning.

Masters of adaption,

Asian elephants are
adjusting to our ways,

while we're trying to understan
them and learn their secrets.

(theme music playing).

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Elephants left Africa
more than two million years ago

long before the last ice age,
in search of a new home.

These ancient wayfarers ended u

spread across
most of southern Asia.

Doctor Paula Kahumbu
is searching Borneo's

Kinabatangan River for the
smallest and rarest of them.

An expert on the
African Savannah elephant,

she's here to see how the
Bornean elephant known by some

as the Pygmy, is adapting to it
rapidly changing environment.

PAULA: I can see footprints,
I can see lots of footprints.

Look at that.

(bellowing)

I can't see these elephants;

I can just hear them.

(bellows)

These Bornean elephants,
they're so mysterious,

hardly been studied.

It's unusual in so many ways.

Its looks, its features,

its habitat.

From the river all you can
see is pristine rain-forest,

but this is an illusion.

Within just a few
meters the forest turns

into oil palm plantations.

And they stretch as
far as the eye can see.

NARRATOR: Palm oil
is in everything from

cookies to ice-cream,
toothpaste to laundry detergent

Cheap to produce, but
wildlife pays a high price.

Animals like the orangutan
are being driven to extinction

as their forest home is cleared

The elephants
are vulnerable too.

Only 1500 remain.

Their migration
routes have been squeezed,

so now they have to use the
riverbanks as their pathways

and swim across the
rivers to find food.

(trumpeting)

PAULA: We just heard an elephant
trumpeting just back here.

Oh my gosh they're just in here.

They're just in here.

I think it's coming
down to the water.

(trumpets)

There seems to be
elephants all around us.

(trumpeting)

This is so exciting.

There are elephants
over here, up there.

Oh my gosh, they're crossing.

It's unbelievable.

So many of these rare elephants.

It's not just one family;

it looks like
several families together,

crossing in one giant group.

I've counted over
30 individuals already.

Oh, the babies are
going right underwater,

completely submerged.

What really strikes me is
their pinkly mottled skin.

It's the result
of de-pigmentation.

And the tip of their
trunks has just one,

what we call prehensile finger,

not two like the
African elephant.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: With half of their
forest home already gone and

the remainder shrinking faster
than anywhere else on the planet,

Bornean elephants have
had to learn to adapt,

even if that means going
against their natural instincts

(rattling)

The sounds of the
forest have been replaced

by noises from another world.

(rattling)

Every time old palms are
chopped down and replaced,

the elephants
grasp at an opportunity.

PAULA: The elephants are
moving in within seconds.

It's almost as if they hear
the machines and it's a magnet.

It's like a
Pavlov's dog reaction.

They all come running in,
trumpeting excited.

(bellows)

And they're feeding on
that vegetation very rapidly.

They're literally
within meters of the machines

as they're working.

It's unbelievable.

The top of the
palm has a sweet core,

so they've become a
source of concentrated food.

(bellowing)

They're communicating at a
volume so loud to hear each

other over the
sound of these machines.

(bellowing)

This is not just bizarre to see
elephants thriving in such close

proximity to noisy,
noisy human behavior.

It's also quite
tragic that they've abandoned their wild ways.

The babies are in
there with their mothers.

They are witnessing
everything and learning,

and they will have exactly the
same reaction when they hear

the machines; they
will know that means food.

(rattling)

They are incredibly adaptable,
not just to the presence of

people and the dangers they
might encounter with people,

but they are also very adaptable
to their changing environment.

Elephants are as smart,
if not smarter, than us.

NARRATOR: The Asian elephant
is as far removed from its

African cousin as we
are from chimpanzees.

(singing in native language)

NARRATOR: They are the
smallest of all elephants with

shorter trunks and longer tails

But they have the biggest
brains of any land mammal,

which serves them well
as they increasingly come

into contact with us.

♪ ♪

This bull has seen a lot
of change in his lifetime.

(trumpets)

He has reason to be angry.

(trumpets)

His entire world has changed.

As a calf the land
around him was his playground

and his pantry.

(buzzing)

Now it's off limits.

He knows electric
fences are bad news.

Sometimes they shock.

Sometimes they kill.

But all the fruit he
craves lies just beyond it.

So he returns under
the cover of darkness.

It's a stealth mission
revealed by specialized cameras

He has his own
version of night vision.

(sniffing)

A sense of smell so acute
that blind elephants have

been known to lead herds.

(rustling)

Only fools goes rushing in.

(buzzing)

Bulls can sometimes be loners,

but now that we have claimed
two thirds of their habitat,

they are banding together

for safety in populated areas,

and to mount raids.

(buzzing)

It's a high risk strategy, but
what this bull and his friends

are about to do
is truly remarkable.

♪ ♪

Few animals know
how to use tools,

but he's learned he
can use wood against wire,

to save himself
from an electric shock.

(buzzing)

(buzzing stops)

♪ ♪

Once inside, they are silent.

No squeaks, no ear flaps.

Their large footpads
act like shock absorbers.

Five tons of
elephant glide past,

in ghostly silence.

Now to enjoy the
fruits of their labor.

(thudding)

(barking)

(explosion)

(trumpeting)

Luckily for them it's
only firecrackers tonight.

(barking)

Poisons, explosives and other
lethal deterrents kill around

300 elephants a
year in Sri Lanka.

(trumpeting)

(speaking in native language)

NARRATOR: Interactions like
this are becoming more frequent

as new roads,
fields and settlements

claim 5,500 square miles across
South East Asia every year,

pushing elephants into ever
closer contact with people.

To survive they've learned to
anticipate human behavior and

put that knowledge to work,

for their own good.

(singing in native language)

NARRATOR:
Thailand's highway 3259 is

a sugarcane transport road.

Thousands of farmers use it to
get their crops to the refinery

(bellowing)

But this highway
has a toll collector.

Locals call him, "The Don,"

and this is his territory.

He's a master deal maker,
calculating risk versus reward

to get what he's due.

(bellows)

The Don can actually sniff out

when a delivery
truck is on the way.

He can gauge quantity using
his sense of smell alone,

targeting the trucks
carrying the biggest loads.

Time to collect his toll.

♪ ♪

170 pounds of raw sugarcane

provides the 70,000 calories

he needs every day.

But the Don is not on his own.

He's brought some
younger bulls along, henchmen,

to show them how it's done.

♪ ♪

They watch the Don's technique.

He knows that if
they aren't too greedy,

the drivers will pay his toll.

And in return he and
his accomplices will

stay out of their
sugarcane fields.

Their observation and knowledge
of us has helped elephants to

get by in an evermore
human-dominated landscape.

But their long-term future
may depend on us understanding

them as individuals.

♪ ♪

Paula's seen how some
communities in Africa play

a positive role in
reducing conflict between

humans and elephants.

She's keen to find out
if similar ideas are being

tried here in Borneo.

PAULA: It's extraordinary to
me that Asian elephants still

exist on this continent.

There's so much development.

So much land has been
transformed for human use.

What we find is a lot of
situations where people and

elephants and coming
into contact with each other.

The problem is when
elephants are harmed by people,

they remember it.

Sometimes they develop
a culture of aggression,

attacking people which
can be deadly for humans

and elephants alike.

NARRATOR: Local Bornean
biologist Doctor Farina Othman

believes getting up close
and personal is the best way

to forge a new
human/elephant understanding.

FARINA: The first time I
saw the Bornean elephants

I remember being
very connected to them.

Then I decided to become
the voice of the elephant.

This is Iman.

Iman mean faith.

And usually
she's with her group.

But today I guess she
decided to have a me time and

to enjoy the water, right?

PAULA: Using her
unique approach,

Farina has become a case worker,

a translator between
individual elephants and

the people who live among them.

FARINA: I get to know
their personality and so we know

a few elephants, uh,
which can get upset easily.

So, we will inform the
local communities about

their personality and behavior,
so that they themselves can

be more prepared when
these elephants are close to

their land, or to their house.

Once you understand
all these signals then you can avoid accidents,

and they will get
comfortable being with you,

they will allow you to
see them, to observe them,

to be with them.

PAULA: Farina's work is proof
of how valuable it can be to

have someone local
studying these elephants.

Someone who
understands the needs of

both animals and people.

(bellowing)

Thanks to work like hers, people
here are starting to think about

elephants differently, even
making changes to help them.

And the benefits of
co-existing with elephants

can work both ways.

(rumbling)

(trumpets)

NARRATOR: With greater
understanding of each other and

sharing our lands, we can
improve the lives of elephants

and our own in the
most incredible ways.

Asian elephants have
walked India's Western Ghats

for tens of thousands of years,

following routes passed
down generation to generation.

Old and young trek up
to 150 miles to reach

their seasonal feeding grounds.

But there is little
here for them to eat on

this part of their long journey

What was once forest is
now almost entirely farmland.

Warm and humid air make

the perfect
conditions for growing tea.

But for elephants
these lush hills might

as well be green deserts.

Tea plants contain
toxins that make them bitter

and unappetizing,

so the elephants went hungry,

and sometimes left a
trail of destruction as

they searched for food.

Until the farmers noticed

and decided to make a change.

One with a big impact.

They stopped using
herbicides to kill the weeds around their plants,

and let volunteer giant
gardeners do the work instead.

The elephants not
only consumed the weeds,

they also leave behind a
nutrient rich fertilizer.

And because they
now have natural,

rather than
chemical weed control,

the farmers' tea
is 100% organic,

and elephant friendly.

The elephants now have
a much needed rest stop,

and a chance to refuel.

By cooperating, everyone wins.

With full bellies,
the elephants continue on

the final leg of
this long migration.

For many the destination
is the Kabini Forest.

(bellows)

A 250 square mile reserve,

and one of the greatest
wildlife spots in India.

♪ ♪

Every year a dam is
opened below this floodplain.

The river drains, and
is replaced for two months

by lush grassland,

creating a manmade
elephant utopia.

Once a year families
can safely unite at

the end of their long migration

Old friendships are renewed.

(squeals)

New acquaintances made.

(squeals)

A space created by people

providing a much
needed haven for elephants.

(squealing)

PAULA: Elephants and
humans evolved together.

(chirping)

We have it in our DNA, we
sense it when we see them.

And we feel their roars
and their trumpeting and

their rumbling
deep in our bones.

(roaring)

If we keep
elephants in our lives,

and we keep elephants
in these landscapes,

we sustain a part of our own
ancient cultures and traditions,

because these animals teach
us something about ourselves.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.

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