All language subtitles for South.Pacific.E04.Ocean.of.Volcanoes.1080p.BluRay.DTS.x264-NaRB_track3_[eng]

This tiny South Pacific island
may not look like much.

But it was once a mountain
that towered above the waves.

Now it barely breaks the surface.

Yet still it attracts
a spectacular array of wildlife.

There are thousands of islands
just like this

scattered across the Pacific,

and all are teeming with life.

So what has reduced
the mountains of the Pacific to this?

Almost seven miles deep,

the Pacific is the deepest body of water
on the planet.

But sometimes,

the seabed shoots to the surface.

Behold one of nature's rarest sights...

...the creation of a new island.

This is Kavachi in the Solomon Islands...

...one of the most active
undersea volcanoes in the world.

In the last 100 years, Kavachi has emerged
above the waves just a handful of times,

but so far to no avail.

Powerful waves
keep sweeping its efforts away.

This is a view of the Pacific
as seen from space -

a vast expanse of water that covers
almost a third of the Earth's surface.

Today, only 1 % of this vast ocean is land,

and much of it owes its existence
to the explosive powers

of volcanoes like Kavachi.

1,500 miles north of the equator,

perhaps the most famous group
of volcanic islands in the world -

Hawaii...

...still one of the most volcanically
active areas on Earth.

And this is Kilauea.

Like all volcanoes, it's plumbed
into the very heart of the Earth -

home to a lot of hot, angry rock.

Rising from 60 miles
below the ocean's floor,

this lava has flowed non-stop
for 25 years.

On the lower slopes,

the lava travels
at less than 100 metres an hour,

betraying little of its awesome power.

Nothing can survive

this smouldering blanket.

As the crust cools,

it is lifted by the lava
still flowing beneath it.

The advance is relentless
and unpredictable,

changing direction without notice.

Roads here are regularly swept away

and some are now buried
under 35 metres of rock.

In the last 20 years,

more than 200 homes have been destroyed
by Kilauea's flow.

And it doesn't stop here.

Rivers of liquid rock
plunge over the cliffs

and into the water below.

This is the front line
in a battle between the elements.

Most of the lava is swept away
before it can settle.

But, inch by inch, the island grows.

Below the waves, the battle rages on.

As the lava hits the water, it's burning
at over 1,000 degrees Celsius.

Cold currents from the deep
send its temperature plummeting,

releasing steam
with explosive consequences.

The lava fights on,

but it's only a matter of time
before its fire goes out.

The commotion attracts attention.

But it will be some time
before it's safe to settle here.

Pouring into the sea,

Hawaii's lava has forged
almost 2.5 square kilometres of new land

in less than 25 years.

It's cold, hard rock -

bleak, threatening and barren.

But there are some colonisers
who just won't be put off.

'Ohi'a lehua, a native plant and symbol
of Hawaii, is among the first

to flourish on this new land.

This spindly bush will grow
into a 30m-tall tree,

its bright flowers food
for a variety of birds,

like these Hawaiian honey creepers.

But how on earth can a seed become a tree

in a place where there is no soil
and no sign of fresh water?

The long, tenacious roots of the 'ohi'a

wend their way through the cracks

and penetrate deep into the rock
in search of trapped water and nutrients.

Their quest leads them
to a remarkable, subterranean world.

Once, a raging torrent of lava
flowed right through here.

When it stopped,
this was all that remained...

...a lava tube...

...pitch black,

constantly damp...

and very cold.

Can anything survive in this harsh world?

Amazingly, yes.

Patches of bacteria line the walls,
feeding on the minerals

in the volcanic rock itself.

But that's not all.

This is the small-eyed big-eyed
hunting spider -

a curious name for any spider,

let alone one whose eyes barely function.

But in total darkness,
eyes are little use.

Although he can't see it,
the spider has company.

Rare crickets scale the rocks...

...while translucent earwigs

and milky millipedes forage for food.

These are cave specialists,

or troglobites,

and they never leave the lava tube.

Over time, most have lost
their eyes and colour...

...like this plant hopper.

Its tail has a curious function.

Any predator biting it from behind
will be left with nothing

but a mouthful of irritating, waxy hair.

This is a place of ghostly stillness -

a definite advantage for
the small-eyed big-eyed hunting spider.

With its super-sensitive leg hairs,

it can pick up
the slightest movement in the air...

...and it senses the cricket's presence
long before it's close enough to ambush.

As prey are few and far between,

this may be its last meal for some time.

With no light and little vegetation,

only the specialists survive here.

But that isn't the case
for all lava tubes.

Southeast of Hawaii, straddling
the equator, like the Galápagos Islands.

As on Hawaii, some of the volcanoes here
are still very active.

The coastline of Isabela -
the largest island -

is covered in volcanic rock.

Here a very different kind of animal
can be found in the rocky tubes.

The chicks of Galápagos penguins.

Without the lava tubes,
they wouldn't survive.

Cool and sheltered, the tubes are
the perfect nursery, protecting the chicks

from the unforgiving temperatures outside.

Unforgiving if you're a penguin, that is.

Adult Galápagos penguins only cope by
doing something the chicks can't yet do.

They take a dip.

The adults plunge into cool waters

that have travelled
all the way from the Antarctic.

Who says penguins can't fly?

There's lots of food here,
as schools of fish

are drawn to the shelter
of these rocky, volcanic shores.

But while the parents are out fishing...

...their chicks are home alone.

Back in the lava tube,

there's something creeping around.

A Sally Lightfoot crab
has penguin on its mind.

It's dark, so the crab can't be sure
exactly what it's up against.

This time, it's taken on
more than it can handle.

Had the encounter been
just a few days earlier,

the outcome
might have been very different.

Crabs are major predators
of baby penguins.

Far to the west, in the Solomon Islands,
lives an animal

that depends on another characteristic
of volcanoes for its survival.

Heat.

Meet the megapode,
also known as the incubator bird.

Megapodes work hard to find
the perfect spot to lay their egg.

And, thanks to this island's
volcanic springs,

that spot is just a foot or two
below the sand,

where the temperature
is an ideal 33 degrees.

But some megapodes
don't seem as keen to dig as others...

...and this can sometimes lead to fights.

With the dispute finally settled,
the victor lays an egg

and covers it with sand.

Parenting over,

the megapode leaves
the time-consuming job of incubation

to the volcano.

While the megapode thrives
on a volcano's heat,

back in Hawaii,

there's a creature that thrives
on the exact opposite.

This is Mauna Kea...

...a dormant volcano
and Hawaii's tallest mountain.

Incredibly for a tropical island,
its peak is covered with snow.

Little can survive
at such freezing heights.

Bugs blown up here don't stand a chance.

Stunned or trapped in snow,
they slowly die.

But not everything succumbs to the cold.

These tiny creatures are wekiu bugs.

Their cells are filled
with a special kind of antifreeze

that allows them to live
around the snow line.

Originally, wekiu bugs
were seed-eating vegetarians,

but their descendants have adapted
to this hostile environment.

Now with a taste for blood,

they are the Pacific's own vampire bugs.

Needle-sharp mouthparts pierce
their dead and dying victims,

before they suck out
anything that's left inside.

Measured from the sea floor,

the wekiu's home
is the tallest mountain in the world...

...about a kilometre taller than Everest.

But it won't hold this record for ever.

After millions of years of growth,

this mountain is slowly but surely
losing height

at a rate of 20 centimetres
every 100 years.

In fact, it's so massive
that it's buckling the seafloor beneath it

and sinking into the ocean.

Mauna Kea's future can be glimpsed in
the Society Islands of French Polynesia.

The peaks of these islands once rose much
higher than this from the ocean floor.

It's been almost two million years

since their volcanoes
first broke through the ocean.

But erosion is washing away
their volcanic cores.

Now the only growth occurs
just below sea level,

on what was once
the mountain's sloping flanks.

In the shallow waters
around an island's base,

coral reefs rise towards the surface.

Of all the formations in the Pacific,

these reefs are by far
the richest in life.

There are hundreds of
different kinds of coral.

And all are made up of millions
of tiny creatures called polyps,

each covered in a hard skeleton.

Reefs are home to
thousands of specialists...

...like these razorfish that blend into
the staghorn coral around them.

But not all animals here need to blend in.

Grey reef sharks.

The reef's top predators, these sharks
patrol the waters on strong currents.

But without all the life on the reef here,

they could never exist in such numbers.

They may be idle right now,

but they won't remain this way for long.

As night falls...

it's feeding time.

Needlefish stalk the coral shallows
in search of food.

Predators by day,
at night they become the prey.

Speeding away at 20mph,

the needlefish give the chasing sharks
a run for their money.

But it's hard to escape from so many.

Daylight reveals another reef predator.

Crown-of-thorns starfish...
coral killers.

Climbing over their prey,

they secrete digestive juices that turn
the inside of the coral to liquid.

Then they suck out the nutrients,

leaving nothing behind
but a ghostly skeleton.

In only a few days, they can kill
huge swathes of the reef.

Fortunately, coral has an unlikely ally...

...the Triton's trumpet.

Believe it or not,
this is a predator on the prowl...

...its killer pounce revealed
only when time is speeded up.

An unlikely hero perhaps.

But the Triton's trumpet is
an invaluable control on these starfish.

And the crown-of-thorns isn't
the only coral killer on the reef.

The razor-sharp beaks
of bumphead parrot fish

also put a dent in this living landscape.

A single fish can chew its way through

a staggering five tonnes of coral a year.

Smaller parrot fish, colourful cousins
of the bumphead, are also at it.

But they all give a little back...

...as the ground-up coral
comes out as sand.

This is island building
of a different kind.

So, some of the Pacific's
most elegant beaches

have sprung from
a less than stylish birth.

Above the water,
time seems to stand still.

But the Pacific islands
are always changing...

if slowly.

This is Bora Bora...

...a volcano in what could be called
"late middle age".

The sloping flanks have slipped
further into the sea,

pushing the reef away from the shore.

A lagoon is formed.

It's a patchwork of coral outcrops
and sand.

Protected from the powerful waves
of the surrounding ocean,

all kinds of animals take refuge
in these calm, shallow waters.

Some take comfort
in their bold appearance.

But others take shelter in the coral.

Such as these sedentary and appropriately
named Christmas tree worms,

filtering food from the gentle currents.

For many, entire lives are played out
within the clumps of coral.

Mandarin fish.

A dozen of them may inhabit one outcrop.

Males are always on the hunt for a mate,
and competition is fierce.

Disputes start with a polite warning.

The rising dorsal fin
is a clear signal to back off.

But sometimes,
going for the jugular is the only way.

The fight over, it's time
to get down to business.

Spawning is a brief affair.

Then the eggs are left
to the mercy of the current.

Life in the lagoon depends on a daily
flushing of water from the open ocean.

This flows in through channels
formed by natural gaps in the reef.

With each changing tide,
a soupy river of debris and nutrients

flows out of the lagoon and into the blue.

This attracts all sorts of life.

One regular visitor to the channels

is the gently gliding manta ray.

It filters out minute creatures
floating in the currents.

But there's more than enough to go around.

Schools of snapper take the lead...

...while a wall of fusiliers
mops up the remains.

Across the South Pacific,

time continues to work its magic on rock.

Millions of years of erosion and sinking
have reduced

the volcanic mount of Maupiti
to little more than a hill.

Eventually, this hill will disappear too.

And when it does,
it will look like this...

...Mataiva, a coral atoll.

Rising above the waves, a coral atoll's
reef surrounds a shallow lagoon.

Where there was once a mighty peak,
now there is only water.

There are thousands of atolls like Mataiva
dotted around the South Pacific,

their size and shape determined
by the original volcano.

Some atolls are round,
their rings unbroken...

...while others have been
bent out of shape

by ocean currents and earthquakes.

And a few span huge distances,

a testament to volcanoes whose size
and power were once truly colossal.

Rangiroa in French Polynesia.

Over 30 miles wide,

its lagoon is so large that
if you were floating in its centre,

you wouldn't see land in any direction.

The story of land building
in the South Pacific

may start with volcanic eruptions...

...but it doesn't end there.

A volcano once formed an island here,
but it sank back below the surface.

Now it's on the rise again.

This is the extraordinary Kingman Reef.

Over 3,000 miles
from the nearest continent,

it is one of the last pristine coral reefs
left in the world.

As tourism and fishing are banned here,

the reef is about as close as you'll get

to the Pacific as it used to be...
before humans arrived.

Part of what makes Kingman extraordinary

is the 200 types of coral found here.

But there's also something else.

And it's helping to build the reef.

Giant clams...

everywhere.

More than you'll see
on any other reef in the world.

When giant clams spawn, they expel
millions of eggs into the water.

And when one starts,
all the others quickly follow.

The sea soon turns cloudy...with life.

Giant clams can live for over 50 years.

But it's their death that is crucial
to the creation of land in Kingman Reef.

These few hundred metres
of coral rubble and dead clams

are the only visible signs of Kingman
above the water...

...providing a valuable rest stop
to passing voyagers.

Eventually, seeds brought
by ocean currents and birds

will turn it into a new island.

And once vegetation is established,

wildlife is never far behind.

Being good long-distance travellers,

fairy terns island-hopped
their way here to French Polynesia.

The ancestors of these
blue lorikeets, however,

were brought here
by some of the earliest Polynesians.

It could be described as the ultimate
honeymoon destination.

Though the waters off these shores
don't always appear too inviting.

Blacktip sharks have adapted
to swim in less than a foot of water.

They come to these shallows
to hunt for smaller fish.

Like Kingman Reef, all signs
of these islands' volcanic past

have long since disappeared.

But without it, land
could never have got started here.

In the very west of the Pacific, however,

volcanoes have had a helping hand.

Palau - the jewel of Micronesia.

As with many islands in the Pacific,
its volcanic peaks still linger on.

Beyond their shores
are other familiar scenes.

Barrier reefs.

And small coral atolls.

But here, there's something different.

The reefs of Palau
have risen from the deep,

not slowly, like Kingman, but suddenly.

35 million years ago, powerful earthquakes
forced them high above the waves.

And Palau's rock islands were created.

Some are up to 200 metres tall.

Exposed cliffs now reveal
their rock's true origins.

It's limestone, created by crushed coral
and ancient shells.

Since those earthquakes,
there's been another big change here.

At the end of the last ice age,

large areas of this landscape
became flooded as the ice melted.

In the process,
over 70 marine lakes were created.

Cut off from the outside world,

these lakes produced some unique animals.

One of these was an ocean predator
with long tentacles.

But here, it evolved into
a harmless, graceful wanderer.

Jellyfish normally feed on small fish.

But in the lakes, there was little prey.

So their bells have become a home to
millions of tiny photosynthesising algae.

When exposed to sunlight,
these algae produce sugars,

which in turn provide their hosts,
the jellyfish, with food.

Now, each day, the jellyfish
migrate across the lake,

following the arc of the sun.

Their only obstacle, the occasional
anemone that tries to catch them

as they float past.

And sometimes fails.

So, with little danger,
and a never-ending supply of food,

the jellyfish have multiplied...

..and multiplied...

..and multiplied.

It's strange to think that Palau
was once just a piece of endless ocean.

But nothing lasts for ever.

The never-ending rise and fall
of land in the Pacific

will continue to produce strange
and wonderful worlds like these.

At the start of it all will always be
the incredible natural force

that created land here
in the first place...

..the ocean volcano.

During the making of this series,

the team filmed in many remote locations
across the South Pacific.

These isolated islands are home
to some truly unique wildlife,

many of them found
nowhere else on Earth.

But life on remote islands
comes at a price.

Any change can be disastrous.

And this is what the team came face
to face with on the Galápagos Islands.

The Galápagos are very special.

It was of course these volcanic islands
that inspired Darwin.

And here, there are
an astounding number of creatures

that exist nowhere else in the world.

One of these unique animals
is the Galápagos penguin.

And this is what the team wanted to film.

Recently, their survival has become
increasingly uncertain.

And the crew knew
this could make filming very difficult.

Fortunately, the cameramen had
close ties with the Galápagos.

Richard Wollocombe worked as a wildlife
guide on Galápagos for several years.

He was aware of the penguins' problems,

so this filming trip was a chance
to find out more.

Ironically, it's people's love
of the islands

which have actually caused
some of the problems.

The major problem is, the big increase in
the amount of tourists going to Galápagos

has meant that the service industries
who supply those tourists

have increased the amount of products
going to the islands,

and those products can contain very
damaging species, introduced species,

which can have huge detrimental
impacts on the native flora and fauna.

Richard hoped to film inside the nests
of Galápagos penguins.

How easy this was going to be,
nobody knew.

Today's penguin population
stands at less than 2,000,

dramatically less
than it was 25 years ago.

Now introduced species are adding extra
pressure to the lives of the penguins.

When Richard arrived,
the Galápagos authorities

were tightening their regulations.
And the final filming permission

was down to a meeting
with the National Park in person.

They've decided to collaborate
with our filming.

And they're really excited
we're doing the filming

because they can collaborate with us
with some scientific investigations.

Few observations had ever been made
inside a penguin's nest,

so filming might reveal
some interesting behaviour.

I'm fascinated because I've never seen it
on television or any video,

so it's a first.

However, filming couldn't start
immediately.

First, Richard's equipment had to be
fumigated and placed in a freezer

to kill off anything living - plant or
animal - that was carried in on the plane.

It's so amazing to see the level of
dedication going on here in this job.

They're going through our equipment
with a fine-tooth comb,

taking absolutely everything apart

and looking at the finest details.

The National Park had cause
to be concerned.

Disaster had nearly struck Isabela Island,

the very place Richard hoped
to film the penguins.

Just a few introduced goats
multiplied to a staggering 100,000.

Their indiscriminate grazing
devastated the landscape,

destroying the shade and food
of the unique giant tortoises.

Something had to be done.

The government of Ecuador
took on the battle,

and, against all odds,
managed to eradicate every goat.

With the goats gone,
the landscape quickly recovered,

and the population of the island's
precious giant tortoises increased.

The goat invasion did not affect
the penguins.

But the penguins have other pressures

and not all man-made.

Galápagos penguins are
the most northerly penguins in the world.

And they can only live here because of
the cold, nutrient-rich current,

flowing all the way from the Antarctic,
which supports huge shoals of fish -

penguin food.

But just a small change
in water temperature

can dramatically alter this food source.

And that is exactly what happened.

In 1982, the strongest-ever-recorded
El Niño hit the islands.

El Niño, a natural phenomenon,

brings warm waters
which destroys the huge shoals of fish.

As a result, penguin breeding failed

and their population crashed
by almost 70%.

Ahoy there!

After 72 hours in the freezer, Richard's
film equipment had passed inspection,

and he was ready to set off.

He was joined by
Carolina Larrea Angermeyer,

a local scientist who had agreed
to take Richard

to a location where she knew
penguins regularly nested.

It would take 16 hours
to reach Isabela Island.

There, they hoped to find the chicks

hidden in rocky crevices
near the shoreline.

But the search didn't start well.

RICHARD: What's that?

A dead penguin. I saw two more over there.

- Do you think it's a cat?
- Probably.

I'm not sure because it's not very recent,
so you cannot really see much of it.

- There's the wing there.
- Yeah, it's the wing there,

but the rest of the body,
you cannot really tell, because...

RICHARD: Man, can you believe that?
It's pretty depressing if it WAS a cat.

So this is one of the troubles
in Galápagos,

is that we have introduced mammals

that these animals have not evolved
to compete with.

The search continued.

But they didn't find
any penguin nests at all.

We still have to check
a number of other nests, but, um...

I don't think we'll get a chance
to see penguin chicks here.

Carolina set up mosquito traps,
as there were also fears

that avian malaria
may have reached the islands.

We might have a bit of a dilemma,

because what we were expecting to find
was life, not death.

We were expecting to find a new generation
of penguins in their nests,

um, being tended by their parents.

And it was really a big disappointment
to find just dead penguins everywhere.

Tourism is growing by 10% a year
in the Galápagos,

and with people

come invading species.

It's impossible to apply
the strict fumigation regulations

the filming kit was subject to
on the importers and traders.

Other South Pacific islands, like Hawaii,
are fighting the same battle.

There, an estimated 30 new species
arrive every year.

For several days, Richard and Carolina
travelled around the islands

searching for penguin nests.

And at last, good news.

We have got two little babies,
two-week-old chicks about this big,

sitting abandoned on a nest.

Both parents are out feeding right now
to try and ensure their survival.

I'm so happy!

I'm really relieved, I have to say.
I am...

Phew!

Richard worked quickly
to get the camera in place,

and all his efforts were rewarded.

A great view of an adult
feeding the chicks.

And to top that,
an unexpected visitor to the nest.

RICHARD: The chicks didn't like
the crab at all.

Suffice it to say, there was a constant
tit-for-tat going on in the nest.

The crab would go forward,
and the penguins would bite it.

Then the crab would recede
into the shadows.

It was really interesting for a while.
It looked quite ominous.

No, it's quite unusual, I think.
I don't think that's...

Certainly no-one in Galápagos has seen

what goes on in the nests at night-time.

So this is all very novel, very new
and very, very exciting.