1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,480 20 years ago, my good friend Douglas Adams spent a year tracking down endangered animals 2 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,280 together with the zoologist Mark Carwardine. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,280 Now it's my turn. 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,320 Mark and I are heading off to find out exactly 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,160 what happened to those species that he'd seen 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,280 dangling on the edge of extinction two decades ago. 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:31,200 It promises to be exhausting, exhilarating and exasperating. 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,480 But I wouldn't miss it for the world. 9 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:44,880 Mark Carwardine, how are you? 10 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,800 How very good to see you. How are you? 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,720 Thanks for waiting. I paid extra to go business so that my luggage would be out last. 12 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,480 A little privilege you get. I see you've come dressed for the jungle. Well, not exactly, no. 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,960 Welcome to Manaus at last. Thank you. 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,640 My travelling companion is to be Mark Carwardine, 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,920 an internationally-renowned zoologist and photographer. 16 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:07,760 In the pursuit of the weird and the wild, 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,040 he's travelled to almost every country in the world, 18 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,360 encountering pretty much every conceivable creature, 19 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,280 and several of the inconceivable ones. 20 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,320 We're starting our adventures in the Amazon, 21 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,120 the biggest river system in the world. 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,040 We've arranged to set out from Manaus, on the banks of the Rio Negro, 23 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,440 where Mark has a fast boat waiting to take us up river. 24 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,640 That's not the Amazon. No, that's the Rio Negro. 25 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,040 Goodness me. There we go. 26 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,800 Two things, I think the most important bit of kit, binoculars... 27 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,240 Oh, thank you. Sorry they're not wrapped. 28 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,600 No, no that's wonderful, that's wonderful. And a hat. 29 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,680 Oh, they're good. Oh! 30 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:58,240 We're hunting for the lugubrious Amazonian manatee, 31 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:04,400 a large seal-like mammal that once swam these waters in vast herds. 32 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:06,520 What are our chances of seeing a manatee? 33 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:11,320 Pretty slim, to be honest. They're here, we're going to go to the right areas where they occur, 34 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,160 but the fact that it's murky water 35 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,040 and the fact that when they rise to the surface to breathe, 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,960 they have two little nostrils at the top of the snout, 37 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,160 and all that breaks the surface is just enough for the nostrils to blow out, 38 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,080 take a breath, and they disappear below again. 39 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:31,000 So not only are they rare, you could be on top of one and you still might not see it. 40 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,480 They were confused with mermaids in the early days, weren't they? 41 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,040 Yeah, although you had to be quite drunk as a sailor. 42 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,680 I think the reason they were called mermaids is cos the females 43 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,360 have mammary glands in the same position as female humans, 44 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,880 and I think that's how the term originally came about. 45 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:51,240 In fact the name "manatee" is taken from the word in Carib, 46 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,760 one of the old Brazilian tribal languages, meaning "breast". 47 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,960 Though not noticeably breasted to the casual observer, 48 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,000 the manatee is a large, fully aquatic mammal, sometimes known as a sea cow. 49 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,960 Manatees are spectacular only in their single-minded devotion 50 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,120 to doing everything as slowly as possible. 51 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,360 Unfortunately, when escaping from hunters, 52 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,440 they have also been inclined to do it rather slowly 53 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,480 and the species is now classified as vulnerable to extinction. 54 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,800 'To begin the hunt, Mark has brought us to a lodge 55 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,880 'aimed at fulfilling the every need of the 21st century jungle tourist.' 56 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,360 You've taken me to the middle of the jungle, and we're sitting on golf carts. 57 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:40,600 I'm sorry about that. 58 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,320 So they've got electricity for charging them. I notice a phone signal. 59 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,760 I know, it's like an out of body experience. Oh, dear. How unusual. 60 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:53,960 'Whilst I admit to being a fan of the 21st century's little luxuries, 61 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,480 'I must admit that this isn't entirely what I'd expected of the Amazon.' 62 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,960 See the macaws? 63 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,640 Hello. Thank you. 64 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,360 Oh. Thank you very much, very kind. 65 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,560 The Lodge is comprised of seven towers, 66 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,840 linked by a five-mile network of walkways. 67 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:55,000 Mark first came here exactly 20 years ago together with author Douglas Adams. 68 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,320 I became friends with Douglas in the early '80s and we decided we wanted 69 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,280 to do something for wildlife and travel together as well, 70 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,120 and we came up with this idea of Last Chance To See. 71 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,960 We got a world map and Douglas stuck pins in where he'd like to go, 72 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,520 and I stuck pins in where the endangered animals are and we came to a compromise, 73 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,840 and strangely enough, the first place we came to was here. 74 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:24,560 We started off in the towers here and went off into the jungle looking for the Amazonian manatee. 75 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,200 By 1988, Douglas Adams was the celebrated author 76 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,360 of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and a personal friend. 77 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,040 While he trotted the globe with Mark, 78 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,360 I lived in his house, fielding requests for lenses and guidebooks 79 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,640 to be sent to exotic locations, 80 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:46,240 and I came to know jealousy on an inter-stellar scale. 81 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:51,560 Douglas, as we know, died very sadly almost what, five-and-a-half years ago now, 82 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:59,200 and I never spoke to him about this, but did he express a desire to go back and look 20 years on? 83 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,280 He became really passionate about conservation. He'd done a lot of good work 84 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,040 for conservation after Last Chance to See, 85 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,320 and we were both very keen to go back and see what had happened in the years in-between, 86 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,800 and, very sadly, I was talking to him about that very thing the night before he died, 87 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:18,040 and we were planning the next trip and planning to go back 88 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,040 around the world and review all those projects, 89 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,000 so, very sadly, he missed out on that. 90 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,600 After Douglas died, Mark asked me if I would be interested 91 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,720 in accompanying him on the journeys they'd been planning. 92 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,520 Though Mark and I have never travelled so far as to the corner shop together, 93 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,920 for better or for worse, our fate is sealed. 94 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:46,000 I have to confess I'm quite nervous about this whole enterprise. 95 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,920 I like my creature comforts rather more than I like my creatures. 96 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:53,160 I must say, standing next to him, he's so tall as well. He's so brown 97 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,720 and so bright and knowledgeable, 98 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:00,400 it makes me feel really short and white and stupid, to be honest. 99 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,240 I'm quite nervous of Mark. I don't know him that well. I've met him before, 100 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:08,240 but he's such an all-round expert on all living things 101 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,040 and I shall feel very foolish if I say, "What's that?" 102 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,520 and he gives me a long, burning look as if he cannot believe 103 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:19,200 there is a sentient being on the planet who is unaware of what a capybara is. 104 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,360 Mark has been telling me of a local legend in which the Amazonian manatee 105 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,520 is guarded by a most peculiar bright, pink dolphin, 106 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,200 known locally as the boto. 107 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:34,480 It is said that if you want to find manatees, 108 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,520 then you must first make your peace with the dolphin. 109 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,080 Unlike the manatee it shares its waters with, 110 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:49,360 the boto is a fast-moving predator, living on fish and small crustaceans. 111 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:55,600 The boto is typically eight feet long, becoming pinker as it becomes more excited. 112 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,000 It should be noted that the boto is only found 113 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,560 in the Amazon basin and is recognised as an endangered species in its own right. 114 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:09,880 It should also be noted that dolphins are Mark's most favourite thing in the whole wide world. 115 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,520 We're going to see a lot of animals on our adventures, 116 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,400 but you're particularly excited about today. Why is that? 117 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,640 You know how some people need a cigarette or a drink 118 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,040 every so often to survive normal daily life? 119 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:37,240 I have to see a whale or a dolphin at least once every couple of weeks to survive. 120 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,240 I lay awake last night thinking about today. I know it's sad. How wonderful! 121 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:42,880 I love it. It's fantastic. 122 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:47,200 I had heard that there was a legend that at night, 123 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,320 the pink river dolphin turned into a gentlemen with a black top hat - 124 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,400 it's very specific - 125 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:55,320 and an Edwardian waistcoat, 126 00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:00,400 and ravished the local women, and it was explained to me 127 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,400 that this was probably missionaries 128 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:08,920 justifying the arrival of rather surprising pink babies in Indian tribes. 129 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,560 One of the things I want to try and do today is to get some underwater shots of them 130 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,320 because they're so hard to approach normally and the visibility is so bad. 131 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,720 There are very few pictures of them underwater. 132 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,880 My dream is by the end of the day at least have one great underwater shot. 133 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,880 'In an attempt to increase visitors' chances of glimpsing the rare dolphin, 134 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:34,200 'staff of the lodge have been feeding the boto from a floating platform in the river.' 135 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,880 Thank you. Did you have a pee before you left, by the way? 136 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:43,520 No, I didn't. I could get into the water, I'm sure it's big enough to accommodate my urine. 137 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:45,600 You mustn't pee in the river. 138 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,160 There's a fish here called a candiru fish. Have you heard of that? 139 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,880 That's an urban myth, isn't it? No, no, it's true. 140 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,640 It's about this long and if you pee in the water, 141 00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:00,000 which I'm serious that you mustn't do, it swims up your urine and into your willy. 142 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,960 Basically, it's designed to go into the gills of a fish, 143 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,160 so it gets into the gills and the spines come out, it lodges itself in there, 144 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:12,320 drinks the blood and then when it's full, it lets go and drops to the bottom and digests it. 145 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:17,800 But if you get one up there it's apparently unbelievably painful, and you have two choices, 146 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,880 you chop your willy off or you have to get to a hospital, 147 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:24,720 and given that we're nowhere near a hospital, there's only that first choice. 148 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:29,280 I've got a couple pieces of string, actually, so if you just tie a knot in it. 149 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:30,880 Please! I've done mine. 150 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:32,440 Don't be... 151 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,440 Which size do you need? Oh... 152 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,480 Sorry! Wicked. But the fish does exist? 153 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,280 No, no, the string's a joke. But the fish is real. 154 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:49,600 Then I'll be extra careful with my family package. Gracious. 155 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,360 'Having been distracted by Mark's "hilarious" joke, 156 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:58,880 'we fail to notice that while we haven't found the dolphins, the dolphins have found us.' 157 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,040 Oh, look at that. Fantastic, it came right out of the water. 158 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,680 Yay! Oh, they're fantastic. 159 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,440 Aren't they beautiful? 160 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:12,680 They're so lovely. 161 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,680 You notice when they're swimming around, 162 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:20,520 they can do sort of handbrake turns. Most dolphins, all the neck vertebrae 163 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,080 are fused, and it's designed for swimming fast 164 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,520 so when they turn they don't break their necks. 165 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:28,600 But these dolphins are designed for swimming in the flooded forest 166 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,520 and weaving in between all the trees and roots, 167 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:34,760 so when you watch, they can turn on a sixpence 168 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,280 and they can bend their necks and they're very different to marine dolphins. 169 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,320 Really interesting. Yeah. Yes! 170 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,040 Astonishing. 171 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,080 Very beautiful, and unmistakeably dolphinous. 172 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,560 That obviously isn't a word, but you know what I mean. 173 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,880 'As a creature more at home on the land than in the water, 174 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:59,240 'I am more than a little uncertain about joining Mark in the river to get his shot.' 175 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,200 I would be a lot more uncertain if I knew what Mark told me later. 176 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,680 Not only is this water home to the candiru fish, 177 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,640 it's also popular with piranha fish 178 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:11,320 and frequented by passing bull sharks, 179 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,280 the most deadly shark in the world. 180 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,480 The sediment in the water means that one simply has no idea what, if anything, is down there. 181 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:43,760 And suddenly out of the murky darkness, the unmistakable shape of a dolphin appears just inches away. 182 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:58,360 Oh, they're very soft. 183 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,080 They feel like an old vinyl lilo. 184 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,840 One of those little paddling pools or something you used to blow up. 185 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,520 They've got that sort of vinyl feel. 186 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:48,760 Sorry. 187 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,960 The lodge has provided everything we had hoped for, 188 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,720 with one noticeable exception - a manatee. 189 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,280 Amazing. 190 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,920 We decide to leave the tourist trail 191 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:13,080 and fly in search of a man who spends his life tracking manatees, 192 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:14,880 if only the rain would ever stop. 193 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,160 My God, I'm glad we didn't take off in this! 194 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:23,960 Whether or not we get to take off depends on the only man with the skill, 195 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:25,880 and the plane, to get us there. 196 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,000 Captain Wilson, a Christian missionary pilot. 197 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:33,080 But even with God on his side, he's taking no chances with the elements. 198 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:38,320 So if you get caught in this when you're flying, do you just have to land somewhere and wait? 199 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,880 Yes, on a river. Isn't that dangerous? 200 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,880 Not with experience, you still.. You can't be sloppy. 201 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,680 You still need to respect. We always respect water, 202 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,840 fire and wind, always, you know? 203 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,720 I don't think Stephen quite realises what we're in for now 204 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,560 because we're going to do some serious searching for the manatees 205 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,400 and to do that you have to go much deeper into the jungle 206 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,400 and we've got a boat which I hope is going to be waiting for us, 207 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,880 I'm not sure if it's going to be there, 208 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,400 but we're going to search for it from the plane. 209 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:13,960 Right, Stephen? Yes? We're off. 210 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,040 Are we really? Yep. Blimey. The rain's pretty much gone. 211 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:18,600 Let me grab your... 212 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,000 Oh, thank you so much. 213 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:33,040 ..The weather and other things, give us a safety flight in Jesus' name. 214 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,320 Amen. What did he say? I just heard "in Jesus' name" at the end. 215 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:37,960 May the Lord help us. 216 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:55,880 It's perhaps only in flight that you begin to get a sense of the scale of the Amazon rainforest. 217 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,160 It's a place of extremes. 218 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:02,560 The Amazon basin contains the biggest rainforest in the world 219 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,800 and a network of rivers containing a fifth of all the river water on the planet. 220 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:11,280 This forest contains a tenth of all the species known to science 221 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,720 and we're on the lookout for just one of them. 222 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,200 Are you excited? I'm extremely excited. 223 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,440 Is that your excited face? 224 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,200 It is. 225 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,240 What do you expect me to look like? 226 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:30,040 No, it's thrilling. It is. 227 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:36,360 I genuinely am astonished that I'm doing this. I've never come anywhere close to anything... 228 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,200 'But before attempting to spot manatees, 229 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,440 'first we have to spot the boat that should be waiting for us.' 230 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,520 It should be around here somewhere. 231 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:52,000 We've spotted it? Fantastic. That's a relief. There it is. 232 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,880 Pumas and jaguars don't swim on the boats, do they? 233 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,160 Very rarely. 234 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,680 Don't tell me there's mobile reception. Please! There's no signal. 235 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,120 Of course there isn't. 236 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,680 We've flown two hours south of Manaus, deep into the rainforest, 237 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,160 to find a boat called the Cassaquiari. 238 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,320 Don't forget to come and get us, will you? 239 00:17:20,360 --> 00:17:22,080 No, exactly. Goodbye, Captain. 240 00:17:22,120 --> 00:17:26,800 Thank you so much. That was a very memorable and enjoyable flight. 241 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,280 After you. Thank you very much. 242 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,440 Hey, bon dia. 243 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:35,880 'With luck, the Cassaquiari should be able 244 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:40,360 'to take us to the manatee-hunting scientists that we've come to find. 245 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,800 'As our last link with civilisation departs, 246 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,840 'before any hunting can take place, we must make ourselves at home.' 247 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,800 Power. No, that was working perfectly before. 248 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,880 Bugger. You actually touched the switch. 249 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,680 It was working perfectly, you complete swine. 250 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,960 Right, let's get this in here. Oh! No power. 251 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,880 Right, we're going back, that's it. That is it! 252 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,720 Oh, well, never mind. It was worth a try. 253 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,200 There's no "never mind" about it. 254 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,120 Where are the other plugs? I cannot go for four days without power. 255 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,880 Oh, I despair. 256 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,080 You may well despair, but not as much as I do! 257 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:28,120 'While I attempt to resolve the complex technicalities essential to the expedition...' 258 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,320 Oh, well. 259 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:35,680 '..Mark is distracted when one of the crew spots something in a nearby tree.' 260 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:39,840 Well, they're saying it's a cobra, which is very unlikely here 261 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,200 and they're saying it's venomous, so... 262 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,240 I can't quite see it yet... Oh, wow! 263 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,280 It's right here. It's an emerald tree boa, 264 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,960 which is one of the most spectacular snakes in the Amazon, 265 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:59,280 probably about a metre above where we're going to be, hopefully. 266 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:00,920 Can we go under? 267 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:05,960 I think he's a bit worried about going underneath. Look at that. 268 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,760 Can you keep the boat steady to get a photograph? 269 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,840 That's it. If you can hold it there. 270 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,080 I'll try and take the picture one-handed. 271 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:38,000 It's not Mark, it's the extremely valuable camera I'm worried about. 272 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,120 OK, this is perfect. Oops. 273 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,400 LAUGHTER 274 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,160 So this is a boa, so it's not venomous at all, it's... 275 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:51,040 It's a constricting snake and it feeds mainly on bats and small birds, 276 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,560 and this is how you'd typically find it. 277 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,960 I've never seen one in the wild before. I've seen them in captivity, 278 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:02,480 so it's a really special moment, and it is one of the most attractive snakes. 279 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:09,480 God, this is impossible. The snake wonders what the hell we're trying to do. 280 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,720 Look out, mind that branch. 281 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,720 Poor thing, it's looking completely baffled. Oops! 282 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,760 OK, this is the one, this is perfect. 283 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:44,000 Mark Carwardine is not just a photographer, he's also an environmentalist. 284 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:51,880 As the heavens open and manatee hunting is quietly shelved for the day, 285 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:53,920 I discover another side of Mark 286 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,360 when he reveals that the risk of falling into the Amazon 287 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:01,440 is not the greatest danger he faces in the line of duty. 288 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:04,520 A lot of it is quite dangerous. 289 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:09,560 The trouble is that a lot of endangered animals are being threatened by people 290 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,760 who are prepared to do anything to get at them. 291 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:17,480 There's a lot of money in wildlife trade and skins and horns and ivory 292 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,560 and so on, and the poachers who are killing the animals are armed. 293 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,440 A lot of them carry around AK47 sub-machine guns, Kalashnikovs, 294 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,000 which they are prepared to fire, 295 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,200 and so when you go out on patrol with these people, 296 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,880 you have to expect that you could get into serious trouble. 297 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,160 And I was also working in Cambodia just recently 298 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:39,800 and the week before I got there, 299 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,000 five of the people who I was going to be working with were killed 300 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:45,720 by poachers in their sleep. 301 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,160 They were in hammocks in the rainforest, 302 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,480 fast asleep in the middle of the night. 303 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,920 And poachers turned up and killed them all with machetes. 304 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,160 And this kind of thing is not unusual, 305 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,880 it's all part and parcel of conservation these days. 306 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,440 Right, come on. 307 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,200 A little bit further back, 308 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,080 a little bit more like that, 309 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,600 how's that? Well, it's a bright light but it'll have to do. 310 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,240 Well, here we are in the middle of a rainstorm in the tropical rainforest. 311 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,320 I'm hot and sweaty and I want so much to be in a hotel 312 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:38,160 that's got air conditioning and Wi-Fi and cellular coverage 313 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,120 and things like that, but what am I moaning about? 314 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,360 I'm in one of the most extraordinary parts of the world, 315 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,320 and I'm in the company of an extraordinary man. 316 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:51,600 He knows so much generally about zoology but of course particularly about marine mammals 317 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:56,160 and river mammals like dolphins and manatees which he's so sweetly passionate about, 318 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,960 he just can't see enough of them. 319 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:02,440 And he's prepared to put up with all kinds of hardship in order to go and see them. 320 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:07,240 Anything that nature can dream up, anything that could feast and gorge on other animals... 321 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:14,120 Crikey, there's thunder. ..It's around the place and it wants to crawl up one's bits, you know? 322 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,000 Mark told me to close the door last night because vampire bats had come in. 323 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,720 Listen to that thunder. We're all going to die. 324 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:41,000 Fortunately, we are in the safe hands of a captain who knows these waters well. 325 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,360 The river we have come to, the Rio Aripuana, 326 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:52,800 is a tributary of the Madeira, which is in turn a tributary of the Amazon. 327 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,400 This would be one of the biggest rivers in England if it were in England, wouldn't it? 328 00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,720 The one we're on now. Oh, it would be, yes. 329 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,600 A tributary of a tributary of a tributary of a tributary. 330 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,040 The Madeira is one of the biggest rivers in the world and it's a tributary. 331 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,320 When you think of the scale of the whole place, 332 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:11,480 this is just half of the Amazon that you can see on the map here. 333 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,640 The whole area is about twice the size of Australia. 334 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,440 And there may be 10,000 manatees spread out. 335 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,400 So talk about needle in a haystack, 336 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,880 we've got a task for ourselves. 337 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:30,520 A century ago, these waters were said to be home to great herds of manatees. 338 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:32,920 Today, they are few and far between. 339 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,960 We are heading out to meet the one man who may be able to lead us to a manatee in the wild. 340 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,240 I think this must be Marc and Ivano up here. 341 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:47,160 Thank you very much. Oh, that's great. 342 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,000 Hello, you must be Marc and Ivano. 343 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,640 Marc van Roosmalen is a self-styled naturalist 344 00:24:54,680 --> 00:25:00,000 who has dedicated many years to this otherwise unstudied stretch of river. 345 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,200 He claims to have discovered several species unknown to science, 346 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,160 and while the scientific establishment treats those claims with caution, 347 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,240 we are still hoping he will be the person who can help us on our quest. 348 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,520 Hey, hello. Shake hands? 349 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,800 Marc has made this remote village his base 350 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:23,320 while working on the river. 351 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:30,760 His secret of success is employing Francisco, a man who grew up in the village, to track animals. 352 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,640 Could you ask Francisco if he's ever seen any manatees? 353 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,160 He saw. Oh, really? Recently? 354 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,840 When was the last time? 355 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,480 He has seen it a week ago. 356 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,720 And where was that? 357 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,160 Here, very close here, in the lake. 358 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:06,520 He's telling me now that he just saw them feeding in these lakes behind the... 359 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:08,880 Just over here. 360 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:15,160 It's really close so we could go there and he says you can see them feeding on the floating vegetation. 361 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:16,720 Would he be willing to take us? 362 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,280 Yes, we can go anytime. 363 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,080 MUSIC 364 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,040 The place where Francisco suggests we hunt is a few miles up the river. 365 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:03,040 While we travel, Mark discovers that Ivano's taste for endangered species developed at an early age. 366 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:08,040 When I was a child, we ate manatee a lot. You loved to eat manatees? 367 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,280 I thought you loved to watch manatees. 368 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:17,720 Because the meat of manatee is not like a fish, it's different. 369 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,640 The taste is like a cow. 370 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,880 Really, like beef? Yes, like beef. 371 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,840 Have you had it in the last few years? 372 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:30,240 No, no, I think the last time I ate manatee was like 10, 12 years ago. 373 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:31,800 Do you miss it? 374 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,240 A lot. Do you really? It was really that tasty? 375 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,960 Yes, lovely, very lovely. So you can't get manatee meat anymore? 376 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:44,000 No, no, it's illegal. We cannot eat, we cannot find because nobody wants to sell, because it's illegal. 377 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,400 Is there not a black market for manatee meat? 378 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,000 Maybe sometimes you can get, but it's not easy. 379 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,480 The boat's cook, Grassa, 380 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,520 even recalled manatee recipes from her own childhood. 381 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,360 Her father, hunters. 382 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:18,680 Sounds like a complicated recipe. 383 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:23,680 No, it's very easy. She said that they first kill the manatee 384 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,560 and you've got the back of manatee, cos the meat's much better. 385 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:34,280 They boil it first. The meat, boil it, and put to dry and after dry, 386 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:40,840 you fry it and you put in a can with the fat of manatee. That's the way. 387 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,840 But for us, Grassa is sticking to one of her less controversial recipes. 388 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,760 I gather there's a lake just behind the trees here with the manatees hang out. 389 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,760 So Mark has gone with Francisco 390 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,320 and they've taken a boat through all the foliage 391 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,360 to find a way through for us later on 392 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:04,280 and see if the manatees are there. I think this is probably 393 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:08,520 going to be the most challenging part of the trip for Stephen because we have to be quiet. 394 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,320 BUZZING 395 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,640 Shh, flies making a noise. 396 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,000 We have to lower our voices from now on 397 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,400 because the manatees aren't that far away, 398 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,000 and if they hear us, we're never going to find them, 399 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:27,480 so it's silence until the others come back and we just keep our fingers crossed. 400 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:37,960 (Special non crunchy vegetables. Shh.) 401 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:45,520 Finding the creek to be overgrown, Marc van Roosmalen and Francisco 402 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,400 resort to dragging their boat overland 403 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,800 to get to the hidden lake where Francisco believes the manatee live. 404 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,080 (That's where Francis was saying that they got in 405 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,840 (through a little channel off the river, off the main river. 406 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,920 (And there's now a bunch of them inhere, with a bit of luck.) 407 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:30,360 Oh, look. That was a flying fish or something. 408 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,520 I think it was, yeah. It leapt out and swam across. 409 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,160 You can really feel that this is the right place, can't you? Yeah. 410 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:42,920 It's got a sense of being cut off. Absolutely. 411 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:47,320 If you're gonna see manatees, this is the place it's gonna be. Right. 412 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,680 This is a sign that there are manatees. 413 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,520 They were feeding on these maybe this morning. 414 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,560 And it's floating all over the place. 415 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,200 So we know for sure that there's manatees here. 416 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,600 So there's lots of manatee food here. 417 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,440 It's all looking promising. 418 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:12,480 These lilies, they're the kind of thing that the manatees like to feed on. 419 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:17,160 They might lift their mouths and the top of the snout out of the water to get a good grip on those. 420 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:22,120 One of the best things about manatees is that they're eating plants 421 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,560 that have lots of silica in them, so it wears down their teeth a lot. 422 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,160 And they have this fantastic conveyor belt system 423 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:33,160 where their teeth are all molars, and they move forward about a millimetre a month. 424 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,440 And as they come to the front, they drop out 425 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,240 and then they're replaced by the next lot. 426 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,880 It's a sort of anti-manatee device by the plants 427 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,320 to stop them eating by having lots of silica, 428 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,440 and the manatees overcome it by just replacing their teeth! 429 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,240 That's fantastic! 430 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:54,800 That is extraordinary. Over how many millions of years would that take place? 431 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:06,680 Locally, the manatee is known as the "ghost of the Amazon", and we're beginning to see why. 432 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,000 In spite of hunting now being illegal, 433 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:15,080 sightings of the Amazonian manatee are getting more and more infrequent. 434 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:20,160 And increasingly, we're wondering if here, in these far-flung lakes 435 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,760 and rivers, illegal hunting still goes on. 436 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,280 Good tip apparently is to wear the hat, 437 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,360 and then the hood over it. 438 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:37,880 Cos then you can move your head freely. Are you sure? 439 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,840 Now I see more. 440 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,400 Now move your head freely. 441 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:46,720 Free movement of head? I may have got that wrong. 442 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,600 I can't hear a word you're saying. 443 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,640 Do you not like it? It's good! 444 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,440 Maybe I've got it the wrong way round. 445 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:03,880 That looks really good, actually. 446 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,680 It's quite comfortable! 447 00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:16,200 Ah. 448 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,600 It's an absolutely beautiful little lake. 449 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,320 We didn't see any manatees, but we saw a lot of evidence of manatees. 450 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,320 Or at least evidence it's the kind of place they'd live. 451 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,080 Yeah, I really thought we might see one, actually. It's disappointing. 452 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,920 Quiet as we were, they certainly would have known we were here. 453 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,400 Relatively quiet! Yeah. 454 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,720 I think you have to be absolutely silent. 455 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,880 We did make a fair amount of noise. 456 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:48,120 We can either try again or we do know places where there are captive manatees, of course. 457 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:52,320 We won't leave Brazil without seeing an Amazonian manatee. 458 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:56,160 Yeah, I really, really wanted to see one in the wild, though. 459 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,320 That would have been the thing. I know. 460 00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:10,160 The next two days, we searched rivers and lakes... 461 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,000 There is a movement, isn't there? 462 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:13,760 I thought it was a reflection. 463 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,880 We ploughed tributaries of the tributary. 464 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:26,640 But if there are manatees in the Aripuana, then they chose to stay concealed in the murky waters. 465 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:28,320 Some might think that to be outmanoeuvred 466 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:33,440 by one of the slowest-moving creatures on earth is embarrassing, but not us. 467 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:40,480 Marc has an old tracker's trick to increase our chances of finally outfoxing the wily manatee. 468 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:42,800 He's taking us to a zoo. 469 00:35:48,240 --> 00:35:52,600 Manaus is home to over 1.5 million people, and, I'm assured, 470 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,200 a handful of obliging manatees. 471 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:04,240 INPA is the Brazilian research institute tasked to study life in the Amazon. 472 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:10,720 It's one of the few places in the world that keeps captive Amazonian manatees for scientists to observe. 473 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:17,440 With a hard luck story and natural charm, Mark has talked his way in to the manatee centre of study. 474 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,520 Ah, look, look at this! Oh, my! 475 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,120 Oh, look. I love their whiskers and faces! 476 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,080 They look so gentle, don't they? 477 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:33,280 Completely harmless. 478 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,280 They are a bit like seals, aren't they? 479 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,400 There's a great description I read where somebody said 480 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:50,480 they're a bit like seals but they're more like travelling cases for putting seals in. 481 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,480 I think it says it all. They're not related to anything else. 482 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,800 They're extraordinary animals, unlike anything else. 483 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:02,240 They're not quite like seals, they're not quite like dolphins or whales. 484 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,800 You see those flippers, their very long flippers? The front ones. 485 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:09,120 Obviously adapted from the forearm and the hand. 486 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:10,360 But they use them. 487 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,080 It's like walking, exactly. 488 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:15,920 They do use them to walk on the bottom of the river. 489 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,040 I think I'm in love. 490 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,720 They've got that slow grace that big animals have, like elephants, 491 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,560 which are so surprisingly graceful when you see them. 492 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:30,040 Yeah, actually the Brazilian name is peixe-boi, which means fish cow, 493 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,120 or ox fish. And they're basically underwater cows. 494 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:38,480 There's no better way of describing them - just munch away at aquatic grasses all day long, 495 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:43,160 and don't do very much. Just move around slowly - fairly quiet, peaceful sort of life. 496 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:45,960 Marvellous. 497 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:50,960 Vera De Silva is in charge of INPA's manatees. 498 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:57,600 She immediately takes us away from the main tanks to see something neither Mark nor I had expected. 499 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,680 Tucked around the back, Vera has a number of orphaned manatees 500 00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:08,240 with tell-tale rope marks and machete cuts, typical of the marks left by hunters. 501 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,880 The people hunting them use the calves as bait. 502 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,000 They get the little one and not the mother. 503 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:17,240 They will tie the little one and make them call. They make a sound 504 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:22,200 and they will call the mother, and the mother, she won't stay, and she comes. 505 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:23,800 Cos they do help one another. 506 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,480 If there's an injured one, they might help to bring it up to the surface. 507 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,400 I don't know. In captivity, we notice this. 508 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,920 In the wild, I don't know if there is a record of this. 509 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,280 Human activity has resulted in the manatee 510 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:46,000 being one of almost 17,000 species currently on the endangered list. 511 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:51,280 We're inclined to think of periods of extinction as naturally-occurring pre-historic events. 512 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:57,160 But the greatest mass extinction the world has ever seen is happening right now. 513 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,840 Human activity is causing it, and human activity alone can put it right. 514 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,520 You need to hold...Under there. Yes. So he can... 515 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,280 These young manatees are now receiving round-the-clock attention 516 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:14,720 to nurse them back to health so that scientists can study them before releasing them back into the wild. 517 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,400 Mmm. 518 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:21,960 See he's got that prehensile lip, all the hairs on the lip.? He's slipping away! Oh! 519 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,960 I've got to grip him quite hard. 520 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,520 He's got his eyes closed, look at that. 521 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:29,200 He's enjoying himself so much. 522 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:30,760 And also the nose here. Yes. 523 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,600 Yeah, got the skin-flaps closing the nostrils. 524 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,680 It could be done underwater. 525 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:40,200 Presumably it would be with the mother, obviously. Yes. 526 00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:42,760 Though he specialises in underwater photography, 527 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:47,280 Mark has never yet been able to get a picture of an Amazonian manatee. 528 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,000 This is an opportunity he isn't going to pass up. 529 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:52,280 Vera, I don't suppose I could ask a huge favour? 530 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:58,200 Would it be possible to get in the big tank with the adults? Er... 531 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:01,320 Please. Yes, I will let you try. 532 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:07,160 But because the animals are not used to have people swimming with them, 533 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,600 I don't know how they will react. Has anyone been in with them before? 534 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:16,880 Er, a long time ago when our oldest female had her first calf. 535 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:21,080 And she was very aggressive towards the diver. 536 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:26,280 And she put him towards the wall, so she didn't let the person approach the calf. 537 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,840 It will be an experiment for everybody! 538 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:32,680 OK! This is the first time I've ever done this - 539 00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:38,080 swimming with Amazonian manatees, it's a big life tick for me. Do you mind passing me the camera? 540 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,080 There we are, I've got it. 541 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,400 Thanks a lot. Great, thank you. 542 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:07,040 Not only did Mark not seem to be in any danger from the manatees, 543 00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:09,160 but they barely seemed to notice him. 544 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,080 I'm struck by the quiet peacefulness of these big animals, 545 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,840 and the thought that back when great herds moved in these rivers, 546 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:36,080 they would have been ridiculously easy prey. 547 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,800 I can't help thinking of the many creatures, like the iconic dodo, 548 00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:54,920 whose placid temperaments made them all too easy to chase into extinction. 549 00:41:54,960 --> 00:42:01,360 In an area as vast as the Amazon, a law to stop hunting can never be enforced. 550 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:05,880 So the challenge is to change attitudes that have been held for generations. 551 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:23,880 We have heard of one team who are trying to do exactly that. 552 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:28,840 We've travelled 400 miles west of Manaus to the city of Tefe. 553 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,720 At first, one is struck by an almost complete absence of cars - 554 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:43,200 the result of Tefe being a city still unconnected to the rest of the world by road. 555 00:42:43,240 --> 00:42:46,760 Though founded as a base for missionaries in the 17th century, 556 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:52,360 these days, Tefe is best known as the town closest to one of Brazil's biggest reserves. 557 00:42:58,680 --> 00:42:59,920 Whoa! Sorry! 558 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,320 It's the home of rhythm! 559 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:11,840 The reason we're here is to meet Dr Miriam Marmontel and her team from the Mamiraua Institute, 560 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,240 who have a novel approach to ending hunting. 561 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,560 This is Mark. Hi, pleased to meet you, hello. 562 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,400 We've come to the right place, I can see, cos you've got manatee earrings. 563 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:22,840 Amazing! How wonderful! 564 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:26,960 Though no-one knows for sure, it is thought 565 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:31,200 there may now be only a few thousand manatees living in the Amazon. 566 00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:34,880 Miriam is draining a tank in preparation for releasing Piti, 567 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,360 an orphaned manatee, back into the wild. 568 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:38,760 Oh, there he is! 569 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:43,520 While this will have a marginal impact on numbers, the hope is that 570 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,280 by involving traditional hunting communities, 571 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:51,080 the release will have a significant impact on attitudes to manatees. 572 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:54,800 So where did he come from? 573 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:59,680 He got entangled into a fishing net, or so the locals told us. 574 00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:03,720 But when we got him, he had a harpoon wound through his back. 575 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,720 So they harpooned him at some point, 576 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:12,040 either to take him out of the net or intentionally. 577 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,440 Has he exhibited fondness for you or any particular humans? 578 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,600 For Michelle, who got him. 579 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:23,720 She went up and brought him in a speedboat. 580 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,840 Before the team can transport Piti, he has to be moved 581 00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,920 and measured to see if he's big enough to be released. 582 00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,360 Oh, they're so strong. 583 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,760 Oh, he's very good. He's so trusting, isn't he? 584 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,520 He obviously loves you. 585 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,800 He does. You can tell. 586 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,360 It's all right, it's OK. 587 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,680 Lots of water I suppose now he needs, yes? 588 00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:21,200 You're going to measure...?We're going to obtain all measurements. 589 00:45:21,240 --> 00:45:25,600 Piti has been putting on several centimetres every week, 590 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,720 after spending six months in a tank. 591 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:34,160 Miriam confirms that he is, at last, ready to begin his journey back to freedom. 592 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:35,440 Will you miss him? 593 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,160 You can have all the science and expertise in the world 594 00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:44,800 and it only works if you have somebody like Michelle, 595 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,760 who the manatee trusts, who spends all day, every day with him. 596 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:51,720 We may give ourselves six kicks up the backside 597 00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,200 for what we do that causes the extinction of animals, 598 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:56,560 but we have to give ourselves the odd pat on the back 599 00:45:56,600 --> 00:46:00,640 for at least being aware of animals in a way that no other animals are aware of animals. 600 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,320 As a human race I think we're terrible, we do terrible things. 601 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:08,720 But thank God we have this relatively small number of people 602 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,000 who do devote their lives to it. 603 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:14,080 Yeah. You were telling me the other night 604 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:16,920 that in the world conferences, people are giving up. 605 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:21,200 When I do things like this, it just gives me hope again. 606 00:46:21,240 --> 00:46:26,320 I love animals. I mean, you can't help but be moved by things like this. 607 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,840 I think you've got to get into the field, you've got to get to see things 608 00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:31,720 just to remember what it's all about, 609 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,680 otherwise it is all just facts and figures on paper. 610 00:46:34,720 --> 00:46:37,400 MANATEE FARTS 611 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:39,640 I think he's just farted! Yeah, really! 612 00:46:39,680 --> 00:46:41,000 Seriously? Yeah. 613 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,080 I know, they fart a lot, don't they? 614 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,960 I'm right in the cloud of it coming up right now. 615 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,840 Mmm, nice(!) Can you smell it? I'm getting a whiff now, yes. Are you? 616 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,280 Mmm. Imagine what it's like here. 617 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:58,320 Mmm, yeah. Well, at least he's not a meat-eater or it'd be worse. 618 00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,080 No, that's true. Oh, Jesus, yes! 619 00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:03,600 God! Holy woly! 620 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,880 That's pretty rich, isn't it? 621 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:11,120 He's allowed to, he's only one year old! 622 00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:13,560 Could have waited just a minute. Oh, my God! 623 00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:14,960 Just like that. 624 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,320 Oh, yes, I see what you mean about the, um... 625 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,120 He had a little bit of an old poo there. 626 00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,360 Watch your feet. God, he's strong. 627 00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,000 If you'd gone in there, there'd have been trouble. 628 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:33,200 The nearest known group of manatees is still 100 miles away, 629 00:47:33,240 --> 00:47:38,440 which means to get there, we plan to spend the next day travelling by boat 630 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,840 deep into the heart of one of the biggest reserves in Brazil. 631 00:47:44,240 --> 00:47:47,560 Oh, well done. Yes! 632 00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:51,560 OK! Yes. 633 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,400 Hooray! Fantastic. 634 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:56,960 But you know what they say about the best-laid plans. 635 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,840 We should have noticed what the omens were telling us. 636 00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:05,720 The following morning, in readiness for the long journey, 637 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:10,760 we've been asked to get to Piti's boat in time to sail at first light. 638 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,080 I don't claim to be the first to fall for an animal like Piti, 639 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:18,120 though I dare say few will have done so quite so dramatically. 640 00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:22,520 CRASHING 641 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:26,080 Argh! Oh... 642 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:30,520 Oh, God! 643 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:31,800 Oh! 644 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:44,160 I had put one foot off the side of the pontoon and fallen heavily on my right arm. 645 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:49,440 A paramedic from the nearest hospital is shipped out to confirm my worst fears. 646 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:51,680 It's broken, I think. 647 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:57,000 He's asking about your spine. How is that? 648 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:00,040 The spine is good. Feels good. 649 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:03,880 Can you explain that it's incredibly painful? 650 00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,400 It's very, very painful to move or twist my arm. 651 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:10,360 When he moves, it's intense pain. 652 00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:12,040 Well done. 653 00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:14,200 Oh! Argh! 654 00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:15,720 Ah! 655 00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,120 Take it easy, there's no rush. Oh! Ah! 656 00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:23,880 That's it, just...Argh! 657 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,080 Ah! 658 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:33,720 OK. Well done, well done. 659 00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:35,880 Argh! 660 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:40,320 Thank you so much. 661 00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:42,920 Argh! Ah... 662 00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:50,600 You OK? Yeah. Argh! 663 00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:54,960 Jesus! God! 664 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:56,480 OK, you're there. 665 00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:11,640 Two helpless creatures, side by side, 666 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:15,440 on a small boat in the apparent endlessness of the Amazon. 667 00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:24,120 Hello. Hello, how are you guys doing? Not so good, huh? 668 00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:36,480 Captain Wilson has responded to our SOS, and I'm heading to a Manaus hospital. 669 00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:43,160 Suddenly, for me, the adventure is over, and we are all alone with our thoughts. 670 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:48,240 Extinction happens and the world keeps turning. 671 00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:54,480 Does it matter if the Amazonian manatee ceases to exist? 672 00:50:54,520 --> 00:51:00,080 Some will argue that each species has a crucial place in a complex eco-system. 673 00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:01,960 Perhaps. 674 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,160 But this is what I think. 675 00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:10,040 I think that it's just indecent if humanity, through our actions, or through our neglect, 676 00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:15,560 should cast into oblivion an intricately perfect piece of evolutionary engineering 677 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:18,640 millions of years in the making. 678 00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:22,040 I think that, somehow, we have to do better than that. 679 00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:31,800 What a day! Er, we've been on the go since four o'clock this morning. 680 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:34,560 We did manage to get Stephen to Manaus in the end. 681 00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:37,920 It wasn't easy, but we got him here and we got him checked over 682 00:51:37,960 --> 00:51:41,960 by several consultants and doctors in a couple of clinics here, 683 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,600 who unfortunately confirmed our worst fears 684 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:48,200 which are that his arm is quite badly broken 685 00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,080 in three different places 686 00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:55,040 and he needs an operation to put a couple of metal pins in to hold it all altogether. 687 00:51:55,080 --> 00:52:00,080 So what we've decided is we're going to fly him to Miami. 688 00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:03,960 Meanwhile, I'm going to try to charter a float plane 689 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,480 really early tomorrow morning to catch up with Piti, 690 00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:10,360 the manatee who's still on that boat, 691 00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,600 but who will now be about 500 miles or so west of Manaus. 692 00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,040 Well, we thought yesterday was bad. 693 00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:18,720 Today's proving even worse. 694 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:22,560 Stephen had a sleepless night and we were up half the night 695 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:26,720 making phone calls and receiving phone calls with last-minute arrangements. 696 00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:28,840 Then we lost Stephen's X-ray. 697 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:31,040 We've found it again, thank goodness. 698 00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,880 And we lost the key to the storeroom with all the kit. 699 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,000 I think everyone's just too tired. 700 00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:37,480 I've got food poisoning, 701 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:41,720 I'm throwing up every half an hour or so and feeling really ill. 702 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:44,360 I'm on the float plane, as you can see. 703 00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:47,400 Managed to speak to the rest of the crew on their satellite phone. 704 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:51,960 And I've got the co-ordinates to their boat 705 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:55,920 on the lake somewhere 500 miles away in the Amazon 706 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,200 written on the back of a laundry list. 707 00:52:59,240 --> 00:53:01,480 And the plan is to try and find them there, 708 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,120 and should be landing in the next hour and a half or so, 709 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:06,160 if all goes to plan. 710 00:53:07,240 --> 00:53:11,520 For once, plans work out. And with the light beginning to fade, 711 00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:14,120 just minutes before Piti must be released, 712 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:17,080 Mark's plane touches down. 713 00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:24,120 Hi. How's Piti? 714 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:27,040 He's doing fine, ready to go into the pen. Fantastic. 715 00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:32,040 Half a world away, I successfully check into a Miami hotel 716 00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:35,880 to await my fate at the hands of the surgeons. 717 00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:39,440 But with all the distractions of the West at my disposal, 718 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:43,200 all I can think about is Mark, the team from Mamiraua 719 00:53:43,240 --> 00:53:49,640 and a young manatee which has distinguished itself only by a prodigious talent for farting. 720 00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:58,000 Miriam has sent out a message inviting the children of five villages 721 00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:01,000 to be the first to come and see Piti. 722 00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:04,760 Few will ever have encountered a live manatee before. 723 00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:07,960 Nobody knows if they will respond. 724 00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:11,880 As the boat closes in on Piti's final destination, 725 00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:14,200 the news of his arrival has been spreading. 726 00:54:14,240 --> 00:54:17,040 And by boat and canoe, in twos and threes, 727 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:20,600 and then in a flood, they come. 728 00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:35,880 The local team has built an enclosure 729 00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:38,880 where Piti can become acclimatised to the lake, 730 00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:41,720 and where local children can come to learn about him 731 00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:43,160 and help look after him 732 00:54:43,200 --> 00:54:46,280 until it's time to release him fully into the wild. 733 00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:53,240 It's OK, he's nearly clear. 734 00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:22,040 Fantastic. He's in. 735 00:55:30,280 --> 00:55:34,280 Miriam is hoping that the enthusiasm of children for one manatee 736 00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:37,360 will feed back through families and villages, 737 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,960 and that manatees will at last come to be seen 738 00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:43,280 as something to be cherished, rather than culled. 739 00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:49,480 If successful, she's hoping to repeat this scene throughout the Amazon basin. 740 00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:03,400 So when the day finally comes and you feel he's ready, what do you do, 741 00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,960 just lift the door and say goodbye and hope for the best? 742 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:11,040 We attach a radio tag him, 743 00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:14,800 so we can also follow him and monitor his movements. 744 00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:19,520 And be close to him, make sure there's no hunters following him. 745 00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,080 The locals will hopefully help us with that. 746 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:24,760 So he'll be the best looked after manatee in the world. 747 00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:26,680 Definitely. 748 00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:35,120 Hi, Stephen. It's Mark. 749 00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:37,560 Mark, hello, how good to hear your voice. Hi. 750 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,520 'Tell me about Piti - how did it go?' 751 00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:43,000 He's certainly in good hands, and a couple of the girls 752 00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:45,760 from the institute are staying on in the village with him. 753 00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:50,160 They're gonna look after him until he gets moved out into the middle of the lake. 754 00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:53,960 Everyone thinks he stands a really good chance, which is fantastic. 755 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:55,880 'Oh, that's so wonderful.' 756 00:56:55,920 --> 00:56:58,440 Just sorry you couldn't see him. 757 00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:04,680 Wherever we meet next, it is firmly understood that Stephen never leads, he only follows. 758 00:57:04,720 --> 00:57:08,840 And everybody helps him onto boats, because he's a clumsy arse. That's got to be understood. 759 00:57:08,880 --> 00:57:10,960 Well, don't do it again. 760 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,480 I will do my very best not to do it again. 761 00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:15,960 OK! Speak to you very soon. 762 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:18,720 You bet, lots of love. All right. Bye. 763 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,480 I wish Stephen had been here to see this. He'd have loved it. 764 00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:26,320 And it makes me feel really positive. 765 00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:28,720 You can get really bogged down and dragged down 766 00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:34,200 by all these population figures and trends and animals disappearing and declining in numbers. 767 00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:37,720 And some of us think there's no hope at all. 768 00:57:37,760 --> 00:57:41,280 Then seeing this and seeing all these people who've given so much 769 00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:43,920 for just one manatee, it really does give me hope. 770 00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:49,240 If encountering a manatee can move these children as much as it moved me, 771 00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:56,240 then maybe there is an outside chance that the greatest period of extinction the world has ever known 772 00:57:56,280 --> 00:57:59,760 will not claim the lugubrious, flatulent, 773 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:03,040 and slightly wonderful Amazonian manatee. 774 00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:17,040 On his visit to Africa, 775 00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:21,800 there was one animal that obsessed Douglas Adams for the rest of his life. 776 00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:24,840 It weighed three tons, had a horn to die for, 777 00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:29,120 and had one of the worst tempers in the animal kingdom. 778 00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:31,520 Now it's my turn. 779 00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:43,440 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd