Original subtitles

Pascal: In these mountains,

people and pumas just don't get along.

This man, alone, has killed dozens of them.

And today he has one more in his sights.

At the ends of the Earth is a land of extremes...

...home to spectacular wildlife.

For centuries,

people and animals have battled for supremacy.

But now enemies are becoming allies.

Together, they face new challenges...

...in a rapidly changing world.

You are at the mercy of the elements.

This is the story of what it takes to survive...

...on the edge of the world.

Patagonia --

one of the world's last great wildernesses.

It stretches for more than 1,000 miles,

all the way down to the southernmost tip

of South America.

Towering above the region are the Andes,

dividing Chile from Argentina.

We're headed on an epic journey

up through Patagonia's wild Highlands,

from its foothills to its volcanic plateaus,

all the way up to its high ice fields.

Our journey begins on the grasslands

of the Patagonian steppe...

...at 1,500 feet.

Here, one predator reigns supreme.

The puma.

This big cat roams all of the Americas.

You might know it as a cougar, a mountain lion,

or even a panther.

In Patagonia, with no bears or wolves to trouble them,

pumas are the top predator.

And they know it.

It's early autumn

in Torres del Paine National Park.

A critical time for this mama puma

and her five-month-old cubs.

She's still nursing them.

But winter is coming.

The cubs need to fatten up,

if they're going to survive the brutal months ahead.

Mom heads out to hunt.

Guanacos.

Nutritious and delicious.

Busted.

These wild relatives of the llama are on high alert.

There's safety in numbers.

But one guanaco didn't get the memo.

The mama puma needs to get as close as possible.

She jumped the gun.

Only one in five of her guanaco hunts is successful.

Time to lie low.

Her next meal should wander by soon.

This deadly game of hide-and-seek

has been played for millennia.

Guanacos' senses are sharp

and their long legs allow them to sprint

at 35 miles per hour...

...almost as fast as a puma.

But there's plenty of slower prey around.

More than 10 million sheep graze the Patagonian grasslands.

Sheep that are usually protected by gauchos,

like Mirko Utrovicic.

If pumas symbolize the region's wild places,

it is horse-riding ranchers like Mirko

who personify its frontier spirit.

But these two Patagonian icons have had their issues.

Mirko is no ordinary gaucho.

He's a skilled cazador de leones--

a lion hunter.

He's the guy you hire when you've got a puma problem.

Ciao, ciao.

Pumas are now protected across Patagonia.

But if they step outside a national park

and onto a ranch,

all bets are off.

The hunt is on.

Pascal: We're on a ranch just outside

of Torres del Paine National Park,

in the wild mountains of Patagonia.

And the legendary hunter Mirko Utrovicic

has a female puma in his sights.

¿Vamos a verla? Sí, vamos.

But he's not here to kill the puma.

He's here to protect it.

A year ago, Mirko changed sides.

The puma hunter

is now the puma guardian.

Mirko realized that wild Patagonia

needs its top predator.

Conservation can also make you a good living.

Mirko now works full-time as a puma tracker,

often with biologist Nico Lagos.

This ranch, the Estancia Cerro Guido,

is particularly wildlife-friendly.

When Mirko finds a puma here,

he asks the gauchos to move their sheep to another area,

keeping both prey and predator safe.

Ya, sí, ya, ya, ya.

Ya, sí, ya, ya.

Haven't seen her for like six months,

so it's good to see her again.

We're very happy about it.

They thought this female had been killed by ranchers.

Mirko spends a lot of time

encouraging other gauchos not to shoot the pumas.

And it looks like his message is starting to get through.

Mirko is part of a new movement in Patagonia.

The old frontier spirit, where nature was the enemy,

is giving way to a more...

collaborative approach.

Pumas play an important role up here in the mountains.

They keep grazers, like guanacos, in check...

...allowing other species to flourish.

But this fragile balance

is in danger.

Higher up in Torres del Paine National Park

is a valley with a surprising secret.

It's home to a huge herd of wild horses.

At 120 strong, it could well be

the largest herd of wild horses in the world.

But these horses aren't native to the area.

They're descended from runaways,

animals that escaped from ranches.

It's the breeding season.

Stallions would normally separate their mares

from rival males...

...but in this super herd,

20 mature males live side-by-side.

And they don't always see eye-to-eye.

But the real threat lies outside the safety of the herd.

Pumas have discovered the valley's secret...

...and a few have become expert horse hunters.

Feral horses are a problem on the American plains

and in the Australian outback.

Why?

Because there,

they have no predators.

Those populations grow unchecked,

devastating fragile grasslands.

But in this valley, things are very different.

The size of the herd is surprisingly stable...

...staying between 110 and 120 animals.

As long as the puma is here to control their numbers,

the valley's wildlife should remain in balance --

proof that nature works better with more hungry predators.

But the puma isn't the only animal

doing its part for the ecosystem.

Uno, dos, tres.

Another, more unusual, creature

is being recruited to make Patagonia wild again.

Pascal: We're on a journey up into the mountains of Patagonia...

...one of the most sparsely populated places on Earth.

But even here, humans have left their mark.

At 2,400 feet,

the Chacabuco Valley runs eastward,

high into the Andes.

It's ranchland

which has been overgrazed by sheep for centuries.

The wildlife is long gone.

But that is about to change.

The land has been bought by Tompkins Conservation,

an organization with a lofty goal...

...make Patagonia wild again.

Inside this crate is the team's secret weapon.

Uno, dos, tres.

This is a Darwin's rhea.

Look up "ostrich,"

take a left,

and say hello to one of the world's largest birds.

They might look a bit dopey,

but they play a vital role in the wild.

They're food for predators.

Fast food.

Clocking in at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.

Rheas also spread seeds and provide natural fertilizer,

helping restore the habitat to its former glory.

Back on the ranchland...

...the plan is to release captive bred birds...

...and let them run wild.

And that's not all

Cristián Saucedo and his team are doing here.

Saucedo: We remove fences.

Guanacos recover the land

that they lost for sheep ranching activity.

Pumas are recovering their role

as the top predator of the ecosystem.

In a very short period of time,

we have seen how the landscape change.

Pascal: But this wild party is just getting started.

A few years ago, Tompkins Conservation

and the Chilean government

set aside 10 million acres of Patagonia,

an area three times the size

of Yosemite and Yellowstone combined,

as protected land.

When it comes to rewilding, Patagonia is leading the way.

European settlers

and their voracious sheep may have laid waste

to Patagonia's mountain grasslands...

...but further up in the Andes,

others have lived in balance with the land for generations.

Tres Monjes Mountain is home to the Quintriqueo family.

Their pastures are a few hours' ride away,

so Ricardo and his son Ricardo Jr. saddle up early.

Their goats will eat almost anything.

But the good stuff is higher up the mountain.

Ey, ey.

Ricardo Jr.'s family are Mapuche,

one of the region's last surviving indigenous peoples.

For generations,

they have watched outsiders abuse the land,

cutting down trees and overgrazing pastures.

Ricardo Jr.'s connection to this place runs far deeper.

Pascal: We're travelling up through one of the wildest regions on Earth.

This otherworldly landscape has been shaped

by millions of years of volcanic activity.

The Buenos Aires Lake Plateau

rises 5,000 feet above sea level in the Argentinian Andes.

Eleven million years ago, lava from a huge volcano cooled,

leaving a massive expanse of impermeable rock,

peppered with hundreds of lakes.

Little grows on this barren rock,

but the lakes teem with insects...

...which is why red hooded grebes...

...come here to breed.

Found nowhere else on Earth,

they're one of South America's rarest species

and, arguably, one of its most striking.

It's early summer and these birds

are looking for love.

Competition for the females is fierce.

Tempers occasionally flare.

Eventually, the birds pair off.

Now courtship can begin...

...with a water dance.

The male makes the first move --

the dunk.

Step 2 -- the synchronized head bob.

Step 3?

Head turns.

The female ends the dance.

He'll do.

The pair will spend the next few months raising chicks.

If successful, they'll be making an invaluable contribution

to the survival of their species.

Because of climate change,

the lakes these birds depend on are drying up.

There are now only 750 red hooded grebes left in the world.

They're on the brink of extinction.

It's taken tens of millions of years

for the grebes to evolve,

but in the next decade, they could be gone.

From the plateau, we head up into the high Andes.

They stretch 5,500 miles,

from the Caribbean to the southern tip of South America,

the longest mountain chain in the world.

And a stronghold for another of Patagonia's wild icons...

...the Andean condor.

With a wingspan of almost 11 feet,

it's one of the world's highest flyers,

capable of cruising at 15,000 feet.

But the higher we go, the harder it is to find food...

...so, the condor has to cover a lot of ground --

up to 200 miles a day -- in search of its next meal.

In the air, they're majestic.

On the ground, less so.

Like all vultures, condors are scavengers.

It looks like a free-for-all,

but there's a strict pecking order.

Dad -- the one with the floppy fin on his head --

digs in first.

The younger birds have to get in line.

But you are what you eat

and a scientist has made a troubling discovery

that could threaten the condor's very existence.

Pascal: The Patagonian mountains are not exactly an easy place to live.

The high-flying condors have learned how to thrive

in this harsh wilderness.

But there's a hidden threat on the horizon.

Vultures rarely win popularity contests,

but these birds captured

Melanie Duclos' heart at an early age.

This rocky slope is a popular hangout for condors,

the perfect spot to rest.

And digest.

Melanie doesn't just want to learn their secrets.

She's devoted her life to protecting them.

She collects and analyzes their feathers,

a convenient way of giving them a check-up,

and she's made a shocking discovery.

There are no heavy industries around here...

...but deadly chemicals

are spread around the world

by winds and ocean currents.

Melanie's groundbreaking research is in its early stages,

but she's very worried.

When it comes to pollution,

the condor is Patagonia's canary in a coal mine.

Melanie hopes her painstaking research will raise the alarm

and that industries and governments

will take notice and start cleaning up their act.

As we fly even higher into the Andes,

the air thins and the temperature drops.

Patagonia is transformed into a world of ice.

Almost 90% of all the glaciers in South America

can be found here.

Few creatures can survive on these barren rivers of ice.

But one remarkable animal thrives on them...

...and biologist Isaí Madriz is here to find it.

He's come to the Exploradores Glacier

in the Chilean Andes,

hoping to track down one

of Patagonia's toughest creatures.

Isaí works with a professional glacier guide, Jarol.

This crevasse isn't an obstacle.

It's their destination.

Madriz: Going inside the glacier, it's a very humbling experience.

You are at the mercy of the elements.

Pascal: Isaí's found what he's looking for.

Latin name Andiperla morenensis,

aka the Patagonian ice dragon.

Madriz: There's very few organisms

that can actually withstand a place like this.

The dragón de la Patagonia does that.

Evolutionarily, it has adapted itself to live at this extreme.

Pascal: Little is known about these incredibly rare insects.

Isaí thinks that their blood contains glycerol,

a natural antifreeze.

But the big question is

what do they eat?

He believes they feed on tiny algae that live in the ice

and, when times are hard,

each other.

But as the world warms,

time is running out for the ice dragon.

There's very little information about this species,

but it is endangered because we already know

that their habitat, it's melting away

at an incredibly fast pace.

Whatever happens to the glacier,

Isaí wants to make sure the ice dragon has a future,

so, he's collecting some for his captive breeding program.

Madriz: Protecting any species is valuable,

but protecting a species that can actually teach you how

to survive on an environment like this year-round

for millions of years is imperative.

Pascal: We've reached the summit

of Patagonia's awesome mountains.

Here, among the peaks of the high Andes...

...great rivers of ice are born.

This is the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

220 miles long

and an astounding 5,000 feet deep...

Patagonia's ice fields cover more than 6,500 square miles

and are the third-largest expanse of freshwater ice

on the planet.

Temperatures can drop below -10° Fahrenheit.

But even here, in Patagonia's most extreme environment,

there are hardy pioneers.

This camp is the temporary home

of an elite team of glaciologists.

You need much more than a PhD to work at a place like this.

Very little is known about the impact

of climate change on the ice field.

Chile's General Water Directorate is funding research

to find out how much it's melting.

Expedition leader Camilo Rada is never happier

than when he's up here on the ice.

Camilo is using radar to measure the thickness of the ice.

Even just a few inches of melt

will raise global sea levels.

His mission is to get up-to-the-minute data,

but he takes a longer view when it comes to our changing planet.

As a glaciologist, he sees things in geological time.

Pascal: In the Patagonian Mountains,

age-old rivalries are coming to an end...

...and wildlife-friendly attitudes are taking hold,

with far-reaching consequences.

But global problems are presenting new challenges.

Patagonia's animals and people

will need all of their resilience

if they're to survive our rapidly changing world.

Next on "Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World"...

The far south is a place...

Whoa!

...dominated by extreme

forces of nature.

Here, both people and animals

must overcome enormous challenges

in order to reap fantastic rewards.