Original subtitles

Brazil is more than a single habitat.

This is a country spoiled for natural wonders.

And some of its greatest diversity is found in the Pantanal,

the world's biggest continental wetlands.

But what created this spectacular region?

The answer... Wiill surprise you.

At the heart of the South American continent,

shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, is the Pantanal.

Pantanal is the Portuguese word for "swamp". It's a world of water,

untouched for millions of years.

The name is as simple as the region is spectacular,

recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.

It's home to giant otters -

the biggest otters in the world.

Unlike most otter species they don't live alone,

but in clans of 3 to 10 members, constantly

patrolling their territory.

From their heads to the tips of their tails, these agile

swimmers reach a length of 2 meters.

Several families live here in the Rio Negro,

in the south of the Pantanal. The more members

a clan has, the more powerful it is,

and the bigger the territory it rules.

This family has 9 members, sharing a single den.

Giant Otters dig their den high on the river bank,

to be safe from floodwaters.

They all join in, scent-marking the entrance.

A big clan has a sharper scent. That means a clearer warning.

So: everyone contributes to the defence of the den.

They extend the scent markings all the way down to the river.

But why?

All is soon revealed.

They have young.

The babies are just a couple of days old.

They're still blind. But that won't stop

the family starting swimming lessons. And that's quite a process.

First the baby is covered in sand and urine, to take on the family scent.

They will never leave the baby on its own.

And there's one very good reason.

A sentinel keeps guard,

constantly scanning the surroundings.

At a sign of danger he gives a warning.

Everyone will join in,

to chase the interloper away.

Caimans are the biggest danger for the young.

Some years the losses are so high,

the female otters may give birth twice!

It's not the caiman's day.

Giant otters once lived in all of South and Central America,

even as far north as Texas.

Today they're found only in isolated pockets. Thankfully,

in the Pantanal, they're still fairly common.

Tonight, the otters will be safe

in their den.

Since the 1980s a number of cross-border National Parks

have been established here.

They are one reason for the high biodiversity.

But they protect only a small part of the Pantanal.

One thing is sure: it doesn't do

to be scared of water, here!

This mammal species certainly isn't: These are Capybaras -

the world's biggest rodents.

As they make their way across the river,

this group is vulnerable.

Unseen dangers lie in wait...

One lead male must protect the whole group.

Young and old alike.

Discipline isn't their strong point.

At least, they're all sticking together, today.

Jaguars are the third largest big cats, after lions and tigers.

Capybaras are tasty easy prey.

The lead rodent is nervous for his group.

A single warning cry is enough to send them leaping

into the water.

But the jaguar may be on a different hunt this morning.

In fact the capybaras can relax.

The big cat is crossing the river...

..for a female.

Jaguars are loners. But females' smaller territories

overlap with the males'.

A male will always follow a receptive female.

They'll spend a few weeks hunting and eating in tandem.

They will mate up to 100 times a day.

Then they go their separate ways.

Jaguars have been well protected, and they're no longer unusual here.

The story of the Pantanal's creation

is just as fascinating as its wildlife.

Two million years ago tectonic shifts

created a gigantic "sinkhole", hundreds of meters deep.

At its centre: a basin, almost perfectly circular,

that Rivers began to fill.

They created an enormous flood-plain.

Surrounded by imposing heights,

the Pantanal covers an area as big as Great Britain.

Geological factors alone would make this a unique region.

But that's not all...

Water flows into the basin primarily from the North and East.

Big rivers grind their way through the rocks;

innumerable smaller ones cascade over waterfalls to fill the plains.

They bring sediment and nutrients from the highlands.

Half-way down, capuchin monkeys have found

their very own paradise. Somewhere, fruit is always ripening.

Much of it ends in the primates' stomachs,

but the rivers also carry plenty down to the plains...

Unless of course, it's intercepted by the Brycons -

These 40-centimetre omnivores

are just one of hundreds of fish-species here.

The Pantanal is an amazingly dynamic habitat.

In the rainy season, from November to March,

the water level rises by up to 7 meters.

Only the highest land stays dry.

And wide stretches are completely submerged.

The Jacana is one of more than 400 bird species here.

It belongs to the family of "Jesus Birds".

And with those extraordinary feet, it can almost walk on water!

There are enough amphibians and aquatic insects

for all the birds to eat. Even for the big ones!

The Jabiru stork is South America's biggest flying bird,

after the Condor.

It has a wing-span of two and a half meters.

And it can weigh up to 9 kilograms.

Jacana couples have precisely defined territories...

which they consider their personal property.

Whoever the interloper, they'll defend their patch...

even against the world's biggest stork!

The giant may not know what he's done wrong.

But he won't argue the point.

The old story.

David defeats Goliath!

To the South of the region there are thousands of rather shallow lakes,

mostly covered in water-lilies and other water-plants.

These are ideal conditions for capybaras.

They'll eat greens on land;

but they definitely prefer floating varieties.

And they're not disturbed by crested screamers!

The Marsh Deer can't quite ignore them.

South America's biggest deer are also partial to water plants.

So 3 quarters of the world population live here in the Pantanal!

Many of the lakes are so overgrown, you might not even see them.

And yet nearby, there are bodies of water in which no plants grow.

An invisible barrier cuts them off from the groundwater beneath.

Minerals gather in them, creating salt lakes.

It's still not clear why.

The process of salination was so slow,

that most animals, like the caiman, could adapt to it.

Close relatives of alligators, they're found only in South America.

They mainly eat fish.

But these reptiles, up to 2 metres long,

also hunt other aquatic animals.

Young capybara would be welcome prey.

First, though, the caiman must get

past the pack leader without being spotted.

But the boss is vigilant. He puts the herd on alert.

Adults form a protective circle around the young.

Some young instinctively scramble on to the adults' backs.

Without the element of surprise,

no point in continuing. It would be wasted energy.

Concentrating on the hunt, the caiman has come dangerously close

to a neighbour's territory.

That's happening more and more, as the numbers of Caimans grow.

Hard to believe that 50 years ago, Caimans were almost extinct here.

The unsuccessful hunter now shows his defiance.

That could be a mistake.

His larger, stronger neighbour is not intimidated.

In fact, he's been provoked.

This has to end in a fight!

Sudden, hidden and deadly.

The intruder's fate is sealed.

In the 1950s, 8 million Caimans

became shoes and handbags every year.

The 1973 CITES "convention on endangered species" saved them.

No one counts Caimans now.

Though it's not far from the Amazon, the Pantanal looks

completely different. Repeated flooding means

that trees only grow on higher ground. The land between

8 is open, like the Pampa.

The result is a mosaic of different habitats.

But that's not enough to explain the species diversity.

A close relative of the slot moves between grassland and gallery forest.

Long, curved claws on its front paws,

50 centimetre tongue

and a bushy tail.

The giant anteater - eats ants -

and also termites.

His prey try to fend him off, by biting at his long nose.

He never entirely empties an ant colony

but wanders from nest to nest.

These typical termite mounds aren't found everywhere.

They can't be built on the soft sand of a swamp.

But there are plenty of ants,

and termites, to go round.

Measuring in at 2 meters, anteaters are loners.

The only exceptions are for mating...

and when a female has young.

The mother carries her offspring piggy-back for 9 months.

That's the best way to keep it safe.

Giant anteaters eat up to 30.000 insects a day.

The sticky tongues pick up a lot of sand on the way -

that may leave just 200 grams of usable food -

not a lot for such a big animal.

The baby merges almost perfectly with its mother's coat.

The female patrols her territory every day.

Always on the lookout for food.

At the end of the day, mother and baby

find small islands of trees, where they can sleep.

They won't be sharing!

A flock of electric blue birds suddenly fills the sky.

These are the world's biggest parrots -

another Pantanal superlative.

Hyacinth Macaws.

These birds are very sociable and extremely intelligent.

And that was almost their downfall.

At the beginning of the 1970s their numbers were in free fall.

They were captured by animal dealers

and their habitats faced destruction.

Then came salvation, at least here

in the Pantanal. The fruit of the Accuri-palm

is Hyacinth Macaws' favourite food.

Conservationists working with locals

planted Accuri trees to help the Macaws.

Other animals only eat the fibrous husk of the fruit.

Macaws can reach the nutritious kernel.

Thanks to their powerful beaks.

So the insides are reserved for them.

Though they'll still fight among themselves!

But these palm trees are no good for their young.

Macaws bring up their offspring in tree-holes.

The trees need a strong trunk and soft wood.

The perfect candidate is the Mandovi tree.

So conservationists have planted those, too.

With an old hole in a trunk,

Macaws can safely bring up their young.

The only problem is: there are relatively

few holes with enough space to raise Macaws in.

The birds grow to a meter in length. A couple that secures a hole,

guards it through the year.

The Pantanal's second biggest parrot species

also nests in the Mandovi tree.

That makes them direct competitors for the Hyacinths.

Today, with so many more Macaws, suitable holes are in short supply.

Especially since they all prefer fully decorated

and furnished apartments, to a new built.

The best nesting-places are constantly in dispute.

Among the Hyacinths... and also between

the Hyacinths and the Red & Green macaws.

The bigger blue birds usually win out.

Thanks to nearly 50 years of reforestation,

most macaw couples now find a suitable hole.

Hyacinth Macaws are recovering.

They're still rare. But the Pantanal proves again and again

that species can be protected. With determination,

and a long-term-commitment.

Raising the brood begins in September.

Some take the preparations very seriously.

Others less so...

The giant anteater is looking out for something more to eat.

He's found a perfect food source.

Cow-dung!

Almost every patty hosts an ant colony.

But what are cows, doing here?

Biodiversity here isn't explained solely

by the special geography, and the annual floods.

It's also the result of a centuries-old-

cooperation between humans and nature.

On farms called Fazendas that still practice

traditional cattle-droving.

Where respect for the wilderness

is passed down from generation to generation.

At high water, all the animals

gather on higher ground.

As the water recedes,

the herds return to the remote, low-lying parts of the Fazendas.

This sustainable husbandry has nothing in common

with industrial beef production.

These animals are not fed on soya, grown on

acres of levelled rainforest.

And overgrazing is unknown here.

Relatively few animals, live off vast expanses of territory.

Fences separate the Fazendas from one another.

But these are no barriers to wild animals.

Nandus, in peaceful coexistence with cattle.

The Fazendas are not on the edge of the wilderness,

but right in the middle. Humans and wild animals

as close neighbours.

Armadillos are close relatives of anteaters.

This must be one of the world's strangest mammals.

Four species live here. The most common is the Yellow armadillo.

It's constantly digging new holes.

Usually it leads a solitary existence.

But - there's one exception: When several males spend days

chasing a single female, it's mating time.

Success goes to the fittest.

But it's not over till it's over. The others aren't going to give up.

The wedding-run can be exhausting.

The female takes a break.

The many deserted armadillo holes soon find new tenants.

Burrowing owls that would fit in the palm of your hand

take them over to raise their brood.

The soft alluvial sand is very unstable.

The burrows are high-maintenance.

Life gets quieter for the armadillos,

as the owls come into mating season.

The Pantanal is almost 2.500 kilometres south of the equator,

but twilight here is equally brief.

Land and water become pleasantly cool.

The night holds plenty of secrets.

Young caimans go out hunting for the first time.

They don't need training.

Their jaws snap shut on the tiniest movement.

From the very start, they must look after themselves.

Big mammals are active too,

Peccaries: South American wild pigs...

and pampas deer.

They haven't gone unnoticed.

The puma must get close to his potential prey.

There's plenty of choice.

A second's inattentiveness will seal their fate.

That was a close one.

It won't be tonight's last attack.

They might be creatures from another world.

They live high in the trees, and are covered in spines,

from head to tail. Brazilian porcupines.

Some of the Pantanal's most unusual inhabitants.

Unlike their North American cousins,

these half-meter mammals balance with

their tail when they climb.

These rodents don't jump from tree to tree,

but cross: by bending the branches.

A troop of howler monkeys is startled awake. They should be sleeping.

The Southern Tamandua is naturally nocturnal, wandering

through the woods, looking for food.

The giant anteater's cousin has similar claws,

and a long sticky tongue.

Unlike its lanky relative it's a skilled tree-climber.

Up in the trees, and in dead wood on the ground,

it finds ample nutrition.

But it too, works long and hard for a full stomach.

Not far away, a calf has been torn apart. The work of a puma.

It gripped its victim's head, until the animal suffocated.

A small spotted cat appears.

Not an ocelot, but a very young puma.

The mother took down this calf, to feed her cubs.

And the young puma has company.

Its sibling isn't sure about coming down from the tree.

Its mother encourages it with a low whistle.

Hesitantly, the cub emerges to join the feast.

And soon joins in the fray.

The twins are about 4 months old

and still depend entirely on their mother.

She killed the calf, last night. It weighs about 80 kilograms.

She immediately covered it with sand,

to hide it from vultures, peccaries and other pumas.

She sliced open the calf's hide for her cubs.

Their teeth are not yet strong enough.

They can handle the rest.

For the Tamandua, the night is coming to an end.

It'll sleep through the heat of the day.

The night shift gradually gives way to the day.

Through 8 long months,

scarcely a drop of rain falls on the Pantanal.

The shallowest lakes dry out first.

Between April and October

water levels drop, meter by meter.

As the waters evaporate, life gets harder

in the shrinking rivers and lakes.

Caimans and giant otters don't get along at the best of times.

They're competing for the same prey.

Agile mammals and apparently sluggish reptiles,

keep a beady eye on each other.

The otters hunt and eat fast.

But now the caimans are ready to intervene.

The reptiles' approach hasn't gone unnoticed.

The caimans press forward their attack.

But most of their lunges are in vain.

In the Rio Negro water levels are still dropping.

The otters have to climb a steep bank to reach their den now!

For the fish it's worse.

On the sand banks, bigger fish are already stranding.

It's an open and shut case.

There ought to be enough for everyone.

But stealing is so much fun!

Share only when you really have to.

The cycle of water and drought

gives the Pantanal its annual rhythm.

Every year the rains refill the basin.

But what would happen if the rains stayed away?

That became a cruel reality at the beginning of 2020.

In the west of the region, in the Serra do Amolar,

several fires broke out as the waters reached their highest point.

The reason was simple:

There wasn't nearly enough rain.

High water was two meters below the point it should have reached.

The top level of earth stayed dry.

A dropped cigarette; cinders from a riverbank campfire:

Enough to trigger a disaster.

Some fires were started on purpose, to clear forests for grazing -

A service supplied by the "ready to use" charcoal industry.

Wilderness transformed into mechanized cattle farms.

This destructive activity has ruined large parts of the Pantanal.

The fires burned well into November.

Three thousand fires ravaged nearly a third of the Pantanal.

It was an unprecedented tragedy for flora, fauna - and for people.

Experts worried that there could be

30 % less rain in future years.

That would mean the end for this miracle of nature.

It's a long time since so many lakes dried out.

The direct result of the drought.

Temperatures above 40 degrees,

for weeks on end, are unbearable.

The only relief is to find some shadow...

and wait for rain.

And finally...

The first storm in almost a year

reaches this parched landscape.

The downpour at last extinguishes the flames.

Nature can breathe again.

It was worst for those animals that depend on water.

But these rains are still not enough.

Only a long and intense rainy season will protect

this region from another catastrophe.

Only when the waters are free to flood the land meters-deep,

and the rivers can burst their banks, only then:

will the Pantanal once again be a sea of green.

Then the wounds the fires left behind can heal.

The greatest wetlands on the Globe will re-awaken to new life.

Few places in the world are so colourful and so rich in wildlife.

This paradise has only survived till now,

because people and nature have lived together in harmony.

That is the secret of this watery world.

And that is its hope, for the future.