MONKEYS CHATTER
# It's a new dawn
# It's a new day
# It's a new life for me, yeah
# It's a new dawn, it's a new day
# It's a new life for me
# Ooh-ooh, ooh
# And I'm feeling good... #
Mischievous monkeys...
MONKEYS SCREECH
..intelligent apes...
..and a cast of strange and enchanting little cousins.
MONKEY SQUEAKS
This is the story of our closest relatives on Earth,
the primates.
From the mighty gorilla
to a monkey so small, it could fit in the palm of your hand.
We're all part of the same amazing animal family.
Today, there are over 400 different members of our primate family.
They are unrivalled acrobats...
..doting parents
and some of the smartest creatures in the natural world.
But how did primates become king of the swingers?
In this series, we're on a journey through the primate family tree,
to retrace the astonishing rise to power of our very own animal family.
Hello.
He won't leave my face!
MONKEY CHATTERS
Oh!
In this episode, we're in Asia,
the birthplace of the primate family.
We reveal the surprising ways monkeys and apes
conquered the biggest continent on the planet.
# I'm feeling good... #
Prepare to meet our amazing animal family.
MONKEY CHATTERS
MONKEYS CHATTER AND SCREECH
THUNDER RUMBLES
Our story starts here
in the forests of Asia...
..more than 55 million years ago.
At some point, deep in the mists of time,
an unfamiliar creature appeared somewhere up in the canopy.
As this mysterious animal took its first steps leaping from
branch-to-branch,
it marked the birth of a new family of animals on Earth,
our family, the primates.
SCREECHING
Today, the descendants of those early primates...
..still hang out in the tree tops of Asia.
The gibbon.
SCREECHING AND CHATTERING
Flying through the canopy at astonishing speed...
..they can clear 30 feet between branches.
LEAVES RUSTLE
These jungle acrobats are perfectly adapted for canopy life.
LEAVES RUSTLE
Never has an animal looked so comfortable in the trees.
To find out how the gibbon became king of the swingers...
..I've come to meet a youngster getting to grips with jungle life.
This orphaned gibbon is about two years old and she's just adorable.
She has an almost human-like quality.
You can see just by looking in her eyes
that there's a real intelligence.
Everything about her body is perfect for climbing.
With light-weight bones,
she doesn't weigh much more than a newborn human baby.
But there's one feature that stands out above all others.
Looking at this gibbon,
the first thing you notice is just how long all of its limbs are,
especially its arms,
which are one-and-a-half time longer than its legs.
But it does look perfectly at home in the trees.
With those long arms and their light-weight bodies...
..gibbons appear to defy gravity.
But this is a flying trapeze
with no safety net.
Living in the canopy can be a dangerous business
and sometimes gibbons do get it wrong
and they'll fall from what is clearly a great height
and in the process, injure themselves or break bones,
so imagine what it must be like raising young up there
in the tree tops.
GIBBON CHATTERS
This little one spends most of his time clinging to Mum.
But he's starting to learn the ropes.
Like any novice, he's a little nervous.
And when he's accidentally dropped 60 feet up...
..he has to learn fast.
But he soon gets into the swing of things.
It looks like he's passed his first lesson in jungle school.
Living high in the tree tops may seem precarious.
But there's a wealth of food in the canopy.
And up here, few predators can get to them.
That's why early primates flourished in the tree tops of Asia...
..and why gibbons still live here today.
The gibbon is the perfect jungle acrobat.
But it's only one of over 400 extraordinary members
that make up our amazing
animal family.
The primate family tree burst into life around
55 million years ago.
As it grew, separate branches began to break away,
as new members of our family evolved.
In the oldest part of the tree there are inquisitive lemurs.
Next to them is the oddest branch of all...
..home to curious little night-time hunters.
The largest and busiest branches belong to the monkeys,
with more than 270 noisy members.
And finally there's our branch...
..the apes.
The biggest and smartest primates of all.
Today the primate family tree
is one of the most diverse and dazzling groups of animals
in the natural world.
Our journey starts on one of the earliest branches of the tree...
..with this deadly little night-time ninja.
More than 55 million years ago,
the first primates arose in the forests of Asia.
WAVES CRASH
I've come to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia,
in search of one of the most ancient members of our family.
These bizarre creatures are part of a group that has existed since long
before monkeys and apes.
During the day, they hide out in the most impressive trees in the jungle.
This magnificent strangler fig tree
is home to one of the weirdest members of our family.
Hidden deep in this living labyrinth are a group of strange,
gremlin-like predators.
To see these tiny terrors in action, I have to wait until sunset.
As the sun goes down...
..we can observe the jungle at night like never before.
A brand-new low-light camera allows us to film in near total darkness...
..that makes it look like daylight.
This extraordinary new technology
reveals the secret world of some of our most distant cousins.
The tarsiers.
They aren't much bigger than a tennis ball.
But what they lack in size they make up for in ears...
..and eyes.
Each eyeball is bigger than its brain...
..giving these little creatures night-vision
100 times better than ours.
With their alien appearance...
..it's easy to think we're not related.
But look closely and you start to see the features we share
as fellow primates.
They have delicate little hands...
..with five fingers and even tiny fingernails...
..a feature seen in nearly all of our primate cousins.
But the little tarsier also has a few unusual traits.
They have long frog-like legs,
which they use to launch themselves...
..60 times their own body length.
They are the long-jump champions...
..of the primate world.
What an incredible animal!
Tiny tarsiers might look cute...
..but they use their springy limbs and doe eyes...
..for a sinister purpose.
Each night they ping through the trees...
..pouncing on unsuspecting insect prey.
Of over 400 members of our family,
the innocent-looking tarsier is the only fully carnivorous primate.
In these curious little predators, we get a glimpse of how the primate
story began.
On our primate family tree...
..tarsiers sit on one of the oldest branches...
..but around 40 million years ago a new branch broke away,
..as early primates continued to evolve.
This group had bigger brains, better eyesight...
..and lived in big noisy troops.
The monkeys had arrived.
Today, in the same Sulawesi jungles the tarsiers patrol at night...
..monkeys have taken over the day shift.
LEAVES RUSTLE
MONKEYS CHATTER
Black crested macaques.
Monkeys with mohicans.
I've come to meet these rowdy characters
that live in troops of up to 100 mischievous members.
Living together means these macaques can alert each other to danger.
MACAQUE CHATTERS
..and watch over the troop's most precious members.
But to live in big groups you have to know your friends...
..from your enemies.
THEY CHATTER
And these guys have an ingenious way of sizing each other up,
just by using their highly expressive faces.
To demonstrate, I'm setting up a jungle photo booth.
It's thought that black crested macaques are some of the friendliest
monkeys on earth.
When they see a stranger or an individual they don't recognise,
their faces light up and they switch on the charm and to see
the charm offensive, I've brought an unusual piece of kit
that they should find irresistible.
Inside this box is a camera.
It's hidden behind a one-way mirror.
When the monkeys peer inside,
all they'll see is their own reflection.
And thinking it's another monkey,
they should greet them
by pulling a range of friendly facial expressions.
MACAQUE CHATTERS
HE LAUGHS
You can see he's looking on one side and he's trying to figure out where
the other monkey is. That's why he keeps going back and forth.
Brilliant!
But look what they're doing with their faces,
especially their mouths.
They're just lip smacking.
This is their way of saying hello.
Different expressions have different meanings.
An innocent looking yawn shows off sharp teeth and is in fact a threat.
Folding the ears back is a friendly gesture.
An invitation to play.
CONTAINER CLATTERS
Sulawesi macaques have up to 130 different actions and expressions.
But sadly we only capture a few before our experiment...
CONTAINER THUDS
..is cut short.
LEAVES RUSTLE
Sulawesi macaques
have some of the most expressive faces of any primate.
It seems there are a few expressions they even share with us.
# Smile
# Though your heart is aching
# Smile
# Even though it's breaking
# When there are clouds
# In the sky
# You'll get by... #
The ability to use their faces to communicate is not unique to
these macaques - it's seen in ALL monkeys and apes.
It's something that unites us as a family.
It's enabled us to live in the most complex societies...
..of any mammal.
# If you
# Just smile. #
As early primates ventured beyond the jungles,
they began to colonise unusual new lands.
I've come to a group of islands off southern Thailand...
..to meet some monkey castaways who have conquered
this idyllic looking world.
And to do this
they've figured out a brilliant way
to harvest the fruits of the sea.
WAVES CRASH
Meet the beach monkeys.
Or, long-tailed macaques.
They spend much of their day frolicking on the tropical sands.
When it gets too hot they take a dip to cool off.
MONKEY CHATTERS
Move over, Daniel Craig.
But what's the secret to their leisurely lifestyles?
MONKEY SCREECHES
WAVE CRASHES
On the surface it looks like they have the perfect life.
But this island is isolated from the mainland and food is scarce,
so to survive here they've been forced to find their meals in a way
that's really quite ingenious.
WATER LAPS
Every day, as the tide rolls out, the monkeys stop playing...
..and turn their minds to the task of finding food.
Clams and oysters that were submerged
are now ripe for the picking.
But the fleshy treats are locked within a thick armour-plated shell.
Their dextrous little hands and even their powerful jaws...
..aren't strong enough to open them.
To get to their dinner they face the ultimate monkey puzzle.
And these guys have cracked it.
MUSIC: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
By selecting the most pointed rocks...
..these monkeys have figured out how to chisel their way
into the toughest oyster shells.
ROCK THUDS
In the animal kingdom,
only a handful of creatures have the intelligence to use tools
in such a sophisticated way.
These long-tailed macaques have used their big brains to figure out
the secret to a leisurely lunch.
MACAQUE CHATTERS
Their seafood diet is so nutritious they soon get the energy they need.
And they are back, spending time playing...
..lounging...
MACAQUE CHATTERS
..or just taking a dip.
For these macaques, life really is a beach.
Watching these clever monkeys hard
at work it's clear to see that there's
far more than just brute force at play here.
To succeed, they've applied their brilliant minds
and worked out how to access this
abundance of seafood
and it is this resourcefulness that's led to the macaque family
becoming the most widespread of all monkeys on Earth.
Whether it's mountains, forests or beaches,
their sharp minds have puzzled out the best way to survive.
As early monkeys spread across Asia...
..they encountered some landscapes
that even big brains couldn't help them conquer.
They needed to adapt in other ways.
The mangrove swamps of Borneo.
They look lush and bountiful,
but the leaves here are tough and highly toxic.
Few animals can stomach them.
But one strange looking monkey has evolved a way to survive.
By pushing bits of its body to a comical extreme.
The proboscis monkey.
The males have by far the biggest noses of any primate.
So big...
..they can make eating rather awkward.
Combined with their swollen pot bellies,
these primate Pinocchios...
..may not win any beauty contests.
But their peculiar looks have been key to them conquering
the hostile mangrove swamps.
Behind those pot bellies are several bacteria-filled stomach chambers...
..that break down the toxic leaves.
A bit like a cow's stomach.
So they can happily chomp away on food
other monkeys just can't stomach.
But why the big noses?
To demonstrate,
I need to lure them close with the proboscis equivalent
of a chat-up line.
I've got the love song of the male,
which I'm going to play using the speaker.
Hopefully, it should act as an irresistible draw for the females -
but also a bit of a threat for the males.
Either way, it should get them a bit closer to the water's edge.
MALE PROBOSCIS LOVE SONG PLAYS
It's not long before my calling
alerts a rival male to the river bank.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
And soon he starts to honk back.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
It must be the male making that sound. It's just going...
HE HONKS
PROBOSCIS HONKS
It's very deep. It sounds so weird!
The only thing...
PROBOSCIS HONKS
..weirder than how they look is how they sound!
Bizarrely it's this love call...
PROBOSCIS HONKS
..that's thought to be the secret behind THAT nose.
Proboscis monkeys live in troops, with one male...
PROBOSCIS HONKS
..a harem of females, and their young.
To impress his female followers the male tries to produce the deepest,
loudest call he can.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
Surprisingly, the reason they can make those reverberating calls...
..is because their huge honkers are like a giant amplifier.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
It's thought that the big nose of the male
acts as a resonating chamber,
so the bigger the nose the louder the call.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
The secret behind the biggest nose in the jungle?
Well, it was always going to come down to impressing the opposite sex.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
To us, they may appear comical...
..but these monkeys are perfectly adapted for life in the swamps.
PROBOSCIS HONKS
They are one of the only large mammals that can live here.
By adapting their bodies and using their big brains...
..monkeys were able to reach new frontiers right across Asia.
But the tropical jungles and beaches were just the beginning.
Some monkeys would go on to conquer the snowcapped mountains.
# I'm feeling good... #
2 million years ago the primates were spreading across Asia.
Most stuck to the tropical forests.
But a few pioneering little monkeys
began to push their way further north.
Today, in the frozen mountains of central China...
..lives perhaps the hardiest monkey of all.
The golden snub-nosed monkey.
Even in the depths of winter...
..youngsters spend much of their day
just playing about and making a racket.
THEY CHATTER
For the grown-ups...
..it can all get a little too much.
MONKEY CHATTERS
So how does a monkey that would seem more at home in the tropics...
..survive temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius?
The adults have long golden manes for insulation.
Even the babies have thick polar suits...
..with furry ears and mittens to keep them warm.
But perhaps their strangest feature is their nose.
Instead of fleshy snouts they have open nostrils that warm the freezing
air as they breathe in.
The golden snub-nosed monkey is
living proof of how brilliantly primates
can adapt to different landscapes.
And why today there are more than 100 different species across Asia.
MONKEYS SCREECH
Monkeys occupy the busiest, noisiest branches on our primate family tree.
MONKEYS SCREECH
But around 25 million years ago a new branch grew...
..home to a new type of primate.
They had longer, stronger arms, lost their tails...
..and they grew even bigger brains.
This is our branch.
The apes.
Today, one of our closest relatives still hangs out in the jungles
of Borneo.
The orangutan.
LEAVES RUSTLE
Its name means person of the forest.
And it's not hard to see why.
To discover just how similar we are to these great apes,
I've come to a jungle rescue centre...
..to meet an inquisitive little orangutan called Octo.
(Hello.)
What a cool-looking character.
At first, Octo seems a little suspicious.
But it's not long before he reveals his mischievous streak.
LEAVES RUSTLE
Oh!
'And he seems determined to interrupt me.'
It's near enough impossible...
Even the onlookers start to heckle from the sidelines.
Now we take having thumbs for granted but...
ORANGUTAN BLOWS RASPBERRY
HE LAUGHS
ORANGUTAN BLOWS RASPBERRY
It's only after they settle down
that I'm able to get a proper look
at young Octo.
At two years old this young orangutan is such...
a brilliant climber.
By the time he's an adult, he'll have the reach of about two metres.
Those arms are so long.
But it's not just his arms that allow him
to move through the tree with ease.
It is also down to his legs.
His hips are really flexible.
You can see that in the way that he moves them.
Sometimes it looks like he's doing splits between two branches.
But the real secret to this little guy's success...
..comes down to a feature he shares with us.
His thumbs.
We take it for granted...
Ooh, watch out!
..but having a thumb gives us such incredible dexterity.
Just imagine NOT having a thumb,
trying to do a simple task like doing the buttons up on your shirt,
or opening a door. It would be nearly impossible.
But having a thumb that pivots around -
that you can use and clasp and grip with your hands -
makes them such powerful tools,
especially for climbing trees like this.
Orangutan hands are so similar to ours.
It's what allows them to move so comfortably
through the forest canopy.
But the greatest similarity between orangutans and us
is not in the way we look...
..but in the way we bring up our babies.
Other than humans,
orangutans have the longest childhood of any primate,
and this little one is going to stick with its mother
until it is around eight years old.
And she is its lifeline.
The bond between orangutan mother and child
is said to be the most intense bond in the animal kingdom.
Adult orangutans spend most of their lives alone.
So before they leave the nest,
mums dedicate almost a decade
teaching their offspring everything they
need to know to survive in the forest.
We have so much in common with these great apes.
Our dextrous hands, big brains and long childhoods.
These features were part of a winning blueprint
that helped apes and monkeys spread across Asia.
But also beyond.
Primates first arose in Asia.
They adapted their bodies and behaviours to conquer the forests,
beaches and even the snowy landscapes of this giant continent,
but their story didn't end here.
Millions of years ago...
..early Asian primates ventured into a new land.
# We have all the time
# In the world
# Time enough for life to unfold
# All the precious things
# Love has in store... #
A land where they grew bigger...
GORILLA BELLOWS
..stronger and smarter than anywhere else on the planet.
For the primate family,
Africa would become the land of the record breakers.
# Every step of the way
# Will find us
# With the cares of the world
# Far behind us... #
Prepare to meet an amazing animal family.
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!
Ooh-ooh-ooh!
# We have all the time
# In the world
# Time enough for life
# To unfold
# All the precious things
# Love has in store. #
Mischievous monkeys.
Intelligent apes.
And a cast of strange and enchanting little cousins.
This is the story of our closest relatives on Earth.
The primates.
From the mighty gorilla, to a monkey so small
it could fit in the palm of your hand.
We're all part of the same amazing animal family.
Today, there are more than 400 different primates.
They are unrivalled acrobats...
..doting parents,
and some of the smartest creatures in the natural world.
But how did primates become king of the swingers?
In this series, we're on a journey through the primate family tree.
To retrace the astonishing rise to power
of our very own animal family.
Hello!
Don't lick my face!
Last time, we discovered how primates arose in the treetops of Asia.
In this episode, we're in Africa
to find out how primates became bigger...
..stronger and smarter than anywhere else on the planet.
# Nothing more
# Nothing less
# Only love...
Prepare to meet our amazing animal family.
# Only love. #
Our story starts in the lush jungles of Uganda.
It's here in Africa that primates pushed their bodies and minds to a whole new level.
They became bigger, stronger,
and formed more complex societies than anywhere else on Earth.
And it's in these forests
that one group evolved something quite extraordinary.
Because for the apes living under this canopy,
it's all about one thing -
brain power!
For these jungles
are home to one of the brightest sparks in the primate family.
The chimpanzee.
We have more in common with these great apes
than with any other animal on Earth.
Their faces can express complex emotions
with a single glance.
They yawn when they're tired.
Laugh when they're having fun.
And even kiss to make up after a spat.
And just like us, they are endlessly inquisitive.
And it's this natural curiosity
that has been key to their success.
I'm meeting some energetic four-year-olds
at a jungle rescue centre
to set them a challenge that should demonstrate just how smart they really are.
But they've got other plans!
This is what all the youngsters want to do!
Ow!
They just want to play!
# Hey, everybody
# Let's have some fun
# You only live but once
# And when you're dead, you're done
# So let the good times roll
# I said let the good times roll
# I don't care if you're young or old
# You ought to get together and let the good times roll... #
These chimpanzees are really playful and so boisterous.
They're lots of fun to play with.
But one thing I noticed is just how heavy they are.
They're extremely dense!
They look like they should be at least half the weight of what they are.
And that's because of all that muscle they've got.
They are built for life not only on the ground
but also in the trees. Look how well they're climbing!
They're so playful, but they do have a gentle side to them, as well.
Just like us, chimps have different personalities.
Some are shy.
Others, show-offs.
Some like to take the lead.
Others are a little more cautious.
But perhaps the most extraordinary thing we share with chimps
is the ability to learn from each other.
To demonstrate, I've set up a test
with an unused termite mound
that's been filled with honey.
The chimps have had to figure out how to get at the honey deep inside.
A few super-smart chimps
first learnt that if they could fashion a dipping stick
they could get at the sugary treat.
Amazingly, the others watched
and learnt.
Over a few years,
this intricate behaviour spread through most of the group.
One of our boisterous four-year-olds hasn't quite mastered it yet.
So I'm giving him a lesson.
It's not looking promising.
But after some perseverance...
Perfect! He's seen me using that stick to get to the honey and he's copied it
and that's the process of learning.
The chimpanzees' ability to figure out problems
and learn from each other
has led to different groups of chimps developing distinct behaviours
and skills.
These are so unique to different populations
that chimps, like humans, are said to have different cultures.
Chimpanzees are exceptionally bright.
And they use their razor-sharp minds to puzzle out and remember
how to solve even the trickiest of problems.
But having a big brain isn't just a chimp thing.
It runs right throughout the family.
And it's this combination of intelligence and curiosity
that has pushed primates beyond other animal families,
allowing them to conquer so much
and spread right across the continent of Africa.
As primates ventured across Africa's varied landscapes,
they evolved into new species on the primate family tree.
It's a family tree that burst into life around 55 million years ago.
One of the earliest branches
belongs to a group that includes inquisitive little lemurs.
Then come the tiny nocturnal tarsiers.
In Africa, the monkey branches would flourish,
with around 70 different species.
Finally, there's our branch,
the apes.
Home to the biggest, brainiest primates of all.
Today, across the world,
there are over 400 species that make up our amazing animal family.
But to find out how the very first primates spread into Africa,
we begin on one of the oldest branches of all,
with the leaping lemurs.
Around 50 million years ago,
long before today's monkeys and apes arose,
the very first primates
journeyed from Asia into Africa.
Today, a group of their descendants
are found on one very special island.
The island of Madagascar.
Most of the animals and plants here are completely unique.
In the arid south, weird cactus-like forests dominate the scenery.
In this unusual, spiny landscape
lives an equally unusual little character.
The locals here call these bizarre animals "the ghosts of the forest"
because as they flit silently through the trees,
all you catch are fleeting glimpses.
But if you're lucky enough to see one,
you're in for one of the most flamboyant displays in the natural world.
These ghostly creatures are a type of lemur called Sifakas.
They have long back legs...
..pointed snouts
and wet little noses.
They leap through the forest with pinpoint precision...
..most of the time!
But these little acrobats have an even weirder way of getting about the forest.
Oh, wow! Hello!
Hello, little guy.
I can't believe I'm this close to them, the wild, completely wild sifakas.
Hello!
Sifakas live in small troops, usually around six individuals.
And they get their name from their distinctive calls.
Shif-auk! Shif-auk!
We've been following this troop of Sifakas
and this one here, all of a sudden, it made this sound.
"Shif-auk! Shif-auk!"
That's the alarm call, and that's where they get their names from.
Shif-auk!Shif-auk! Shif-auk!
But the most incredible thing about these guys
isn't the way they sound.
It's the way they move.
Especially when they leave the branches to cross open ground.
Because sifakas have evolved one of the most peculiar walks on Earth!
Their powerful hind legs act like springs,
propelling them forward.
Their strange walk is called bipedal galloping,
and they are the only mammal that do it.
It may look a little ungainly,
but they can cover four feet in a single bound.
Which means they can quickly get back into the safety of the trees.
But up here, the challenges of getting about become even trickier.
The vertical branches of the ocotillo tree
are covered in needle-like thorns.
But this is the sifakas' realm.
Up here, they become the most graceful movers in the forest.
MUSIC: Viennese Waltz
They can leap 20 feet between branches.
Thick leathery pads on their hands and feet
are thought to offer protection from the spikes
as they land.
This is an aerial ballet seen only in the ancient forests of Madagascar.
Sifakas are just one of over 100 different species of lemur in Madagascar.
Most live in the trees.
But there's one unusual little lemur
that patrols the forest floor.
And they can be recognised by a tell-tail sign!
Ring-tailed lemurs.
The gangsters of the lemur world!
These hardy little bandits
spend most of the time on the ground.
They live in feisty groups of up to 30 members.
And they can be highly territorial.
But it's not the males that lead the gangs.
It's the females.
They'll chase off rivals and defend their patch.
All whilst carrying babies on their backs!
The females in these gangs are so close,
they even coincide their pregnancies.
So they all give birth at exactly the same time each year,
when food is most plentiful.
For the first couple of months, their tiny offspring
get a piggy-back ride,
but there comes a time when they have to find their own feet.
This youngster thinks he's ready to go it alone.
But taking your first steps in the trees is precarious!
Under Mum's watchful eye, our young explorer
soon gets a little more daring.
And when he's done, he can always jump onto Mum's back.
Young lemurs need to grow up fast.
Males usually leave a group when they're just a few years old.
But young females stay in the same gang for life.
And if they're strong and healthy,
they could grow up to be leader of the pack.
Lemurs may not be the biggest, but they are fantastically hardy little animals.
So much so, they're the only member of the primate family
to make it to this remote island.
Isolated here for 50 million years, they've been able to thrive,
because back on mainland Africa, things were changing.
A new chapter was unfolding that would change the primate family for ever.
On our primate family tree,
new species were evolving
and filling up the branches.
Lemurs occupied one of the oldest branches.
But their noisy neighbours, the monkeys,
were gaining ground.
Spreading onto the great plains of Africa.
Here, some would grow bigger and stronger.
And a pioneering monkey would become queen of the savannah.
Around ten million years ago,
the climate across Africa began to dry out...
..opening up vast expanses of savannah.
For the primate family, this brought new challenges
and dangers.
Out here, there was nowhere to hide from predators.
To conquer these hazardous plains,
monkeys would have to organise their troops with military precision.
I'm on my way to visit a group of very mischievous monkeys
that thrive out on these plains.
And to survive out here,
they've evolved to live in some of the biggest, most complex groups
of any primate.
And to find out how so many monkeys can live in so much proximity,
I'm hoping to get right inside the troop.
Chacma baboons.
Of all the monkeys, these guys are the most at home on the ground.
They roam the savannah in sprawling gangs of up to 80 strong.
This troop, in southern Namibia,
is made up of young orphans.
Though they're used to humans, they still interact like a wild troop.
And that means plenty of monkeying around!
Like boisterous children in a school playground...
..there are all sorts of high jinks!
From tussles on the climbing frame...
..to endless playing about.
It appears fun,
but there's more to this chaos than meets the eye!
On first glance, it might seem like they're all best of friends.
But the truth is that no two baboons are born equal.
In every troop, there's a very strict hierarchy,
the haves and the have-nots.
And that status quo is ruthlessly enforced
by the more dominant members of the troop.
Males spend most of their lives fighting their way up the ranks.
But for females, it's a different story.
Because every female is born with a rank.
A rank that usually stays with her for life.
In this troop, one way the pecking order shows itself...
..is in who gets to hold the babies.
This little six-week-old orphan...
..has recently been introduced to the group.
All the females want to play with him,
and with so much competition,
it comes down to pulling rank.
It's not so much baby-sitting,
more baby stealing.
But it's the highest-ranking female
who ultimately wins the battle for baby.
All this attention is quite exhausting!
Baboon society might seem tough
especially if you're a low-ranker.
But chacma baboons, like many monkeys,
have a way of keeping the peace.
Grooming.
They spend several hours a day pampering each other.
For all their nit-picking,
lower-ranking baboons can form alliances with those of higher status.
And you know you've been accepted as part of a troop
when you get your first grooming session!
I am...covered in baboons
right now!
Licking my face!
Ow!
So much of the baboon's life is spent squabbling and fighting
and jockeying for position
that they need to find a way to de-stress,
and grooming is a perfect way to do this.
It's like the social glue that holds the troop together.
And as you see, it is quite calming
but also quite painful as I don't have any hair on my head!
When monkeys moved out of the forests onto the open plains,
living in larger groups was essential.
With nowhere to hide from predators,
many eyes were needed to scan for dangers
and search for food.
Chacma baboons live in one of the most complex societies
of any primate.
But some of their close cousins
would take troop life to a whole new level.
The Simien Mountains,
Ethiopia.
Rising to nearly three miles above sea level,
this is the roof of Africa...
..and home to perhaps the most majestic of all monkeys...
..the gelada.
Today, they're only found in these verdant highlands.
Geladas spend their nights on the steep rocky slopes
out of reach of predators.
And every morning, they clamber up to the summit.
The males have luxuriant and golden locks.
And deep red markings on their chest.
Most surprising, when they yawn they reveal these.
Teeth like these are usually only seen in top predators.
But these guys are mostly vegetarian.
So why are they so long in the tooth?
Well, it's partly down to sheer numbers.
Geladas live in mega-troops
of up to 1,200 individuals.
Every morning, they move as one
across the high plateaus
in search of fresh feeding grounds.
The mass march of the monkeys.
But when they stop to feed,
you notice this huge crowd is made up of many smaller family groups.
Each one has a male, several females and their babies.
They spend their days feeding on fresh grass shoots
and playing around.
It seems a peaceful life.
But there's trouble on the horizon.
Gangs of bachelor males watch on.
Like troublesome teenagers,
they wake up late and spend their days plotting.
Their aim is to challenge the resident males
and win control of a harem.
They begin to close in on their target,
singling out one individual male.
But down below, he knows exactly what they're up to.
It's the gelada stand-off.
Both sides want to appear as threatening as possible.
This is where those teeth come in.
The big resident male leaves his harem
and approaches the gang.
He needs to show them who's boss around here.
The odds are stacked against him.
Six to one.
(HIGH-PITCHED SCREECHING)
He seems fearless.
But what's surprising is what happens next.
He turns and scarpers!
But this isn't cowardice.
It's a planned tactic to show those young whippersnappers
who's got the most stamina.
And they quickly tire.
The bachelor boys are defeated.
But they'll be back tomorrow.
And our resident male returns to his family a hero.
In gelada mega-troops, with more than 1,000 monkeys,
males need a way to scare off rivals...
..and keep their family safe.
And that's why these vegetarians
have evolved those ferocious-looking fangs.
So far in our primate story,
we've seen how leaping lemurs were cast away
on the island of Madagascar.
And on mainland Africa,
we've seen how monkeys conquered the open plains and plateaus.
But the primate story in Africa
has one last chapter.
On our primate family tree
the monkey branches were full of chattering characters.
But there's one more branch crucial to our story.
Our branch, the apes.
In Asia, there were orangutans and gibbons.
But in Africa, apes would become even smarter...
..and even bigger.
Millions of years ago,
the ape family reigned supreme.
There were numerous different species.
Today, only a handful remain.
We've already met the chimpanzee,
an ape with extraordinary intelligence.
But in the remote mountains of Uganda
lives one giant ape
of mythical status.
This jungle here in Uganda
is known as the impenetrable forest.
And as its name suggests, it's one of the wildest places in Africa.
It's also one of the few places on Earth
where you can still see one of the most powerful of all primates.
The mountain gorilla.
In terms of size, gorillas are undoubtedly
the greatest of the great apes.
They weigh around two and a half times as much
as an average human male.
And can reach up to 30 stone.
So why did they grow so colossal?
To find out, I'm hoping to come face to face with our giant primate cousins.
As their name suggests,
mountain gorillas live only at altitude.
Most more than a mile above sea level.
So there's only one way to get to them.
And that's up!
You can see why this is called the impenetrable forest!
It's a dense, tangled web of vegetation.
And for those early explorers who were trying to find the mountain gorilla,
it must have been an exciting but daunting challenge.
Mountain gorillas were first documented in 1902
by a German explorer, Captain Beringe.
In his diary, he describes the low rumbling noise they make.
When you hear that noise,
you know you're close.
(LOW RUMBLING)
We can finally hear them.
I was told that you definitely hear the gorillas before you see them.
(QUIET RUMBLING)
In this thicket of jungle, you can't see anything.
And then all you hear is this loud, deep bellow
and you know that's coming from a creature that is two and a half times your size.
So if I said I wasn't nervous, maybe that was a little lie!
And then, after three hours of bushwhacking...
..I finally get my first glimpse.
Wow.
That's one of the females.
What strikes me is how gentle they appear,
considering they are the largest primate on the planet.
But then I notice she isn't alone.
This adorable baby gorilla is about a year old.
Baby gorillas will stick by their mothers for the first few years
and won't stray more than a few metres.
Gorilla families are made up of several females and their babies.
They're led by one giant male.
The silverback.
It's not too long before he makes his entrance.
Wow!
Right. So, I can now see the silverback.
The leader of this family.
And what a magnificent creature.
You can see that he is noticeably different in comparison to the females.
A huge forehead, a crest on the top of his head.
That's where all those jaw muscles attach.
That's where he gets that powerful bite.
And his hands and arms are just enormous.
The silverback is not only the leader of the family,
but also the protector.
This male bears the scars to prove it.
Well, this silverback looks like a gentle giant,
but he can be ferocious.
A few days ago, he was in a fight with another male
and he's got two scars to show for it -
one on his head and one on his hand.
But that is the life of a silverback that has a family to protect.
His aim is to look after his females and his offspring.
Providing security is one reason
male gorillas have become so enormous.
The biggest males attract the most females
and so have the most offspring.
For gorillas, big is best.
But there's another reason they've become the giants of the primate family.
And I catch a glimpse of this
when another silverback unexpectedly steps out into a jungle clearing.
I am just in awe of this animal.
Mountain gorillas are vegetarians.
But at this altitude, there's very little energy-rich fruit.
So 85% of their diet
is made up of nutrient-poor leaves.
It's incredible to think that the massive bulk of a mountain gorilla
comes only from the vegetation they eat,
and an adult can make its way through 25 kilograms a day!
To digest such a huge bulk of vegetation
requires an equally huge stomach.
And big stomachs require big bodies.
So it's eating a poor quality diet
and having to protect their family
that explains why gorillas have become the giants of the primate family.
But the best is yet to come...
..when a passing three-year-old male stops to check me out.
This is completely unexpected and so unbelievable!
(LOW RUMBLING)
Hello!
Hello. Hello!
Oh, my goodness!
I can't believe that! That is...
..me coming face to face, not only face to face,
but hand to hand with a young mountain gorilla.
Unbelievable!
I've been incredibly lucky to get so close to these gentle giants.
Mountain gorillas are critically endangered.
Today, there are only around 900 left.
They are, perhaps, the most precious of all our primate cousins.
Over the course of millions of years,
primates conquered Africa.
To do so, some had become acrobats.
Others, gangsters.
And some had become masterminds.
Primates had conquered every corner of Africa,
from the island of Madagascar to the highlands of Ethiopia.
But their story didn't end here.
There was one last continent up for grabs.
In this lost jungle world...
..monkeys would run riot,
evolving super-powers unseen anywhere else on Earth.
Next time,
monkeys crack the Americas.
# Every step of the way
# You'll find us
# With the cares of the world
# Far behind us
# Yes
# Only love. #
MONKEYS WHOOPING
# I see trees of green
# Red roses too
# I see them bloom for me and you
# And I think to myself
# What a wonderful world... #
Mischievous monkeys...
intelligent apes,
and a cast of strange and enchanting little cousins.
This is the story of our closest relatives on earth...
..the primates.
#..What a wonderful world. #
From the mighty gorilla to a monkey so small
it could fit in the palm of your hand.
We're all part of the same amazing animal family.
They are unrivalled acrobats...
doting parents...
and some of the smartest creatures in the natural world.
But how did primates become king of the swingers?
We're on a journey through the primate family tree
to retrace the astonishing rise to power
of our very own animal family.
Primates first flourished throughout Africa and Asia.
But now, monkeys were to venture into a new jungle world...
..the Americas.
Here, they would evolve to be unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Prepare to meet your amazing animal family.
MONKEYS CALLING
35 million years ago,
across the continents of Africa and Asia,
the primate family was flourishing.
From monkey troops that rule the mountains...
to tiny forest hunters that stalk the night...
the primates here adapted their bodies and minds
to master the diverse landscapes.
But Asia and Africa are only part of the story.
Monkeys began to expand into a brand-new world.
The final continent to be colonised
by our primate relatives were the Americas.
When these ancestors first stepped foot on these shores,
they discovered an unexplored jungle paradise,
a land where they could run riot.
The vast forests of South and Central America
are the perfect monkey playgrounds.
Today, there are more monkey species here
than the rest of the world put together.
In these forests, they evolved amazing adaptations
that can't be seen anywhere else on Earth.
IT ROARS
Over 150 different species thrive in these jungles.
And of their many wonderful adaptations...
there's one that truly sets monkeys of the Americas apart
from their cousins.
They evolved a radical new way to move through the canopy.
To see this amazing adaptation for myself,
I've come to a rescue centre in Belize
that's home to a particularly cheeky little character.
This little guy is a spider monkey.
And as you can see from the way he moves,
he gets his name because of those long limbs.
He looks like a spider,
the way that he clambers around these trees.
He is perfectly at home in the trees
and that's largely thanks to one key adaptation.
The thing that makes them really amazing is that tail.
These spider monkeys have evolved a tail
that puts most other monkeys to shame.
Their snake-like limb is so flexible,
it can wrap around the thinnest of branches,
giving them a secure grip while high up in the canopy.
Look at that curly tail.
It grabs onto everything as he moves.
He's just amazing.
The end of its tail is packed full of nerves
so it can carefully feel its way along the branches.
Having such an amazingly sensitive gripping tail
is totally unique to monkeys in the Americas.
Our little monkey is really quite tentative
as he moves across the branches.
But he's really only just learning the ropes.
It's only when you look at the adults that you realise
how perfectly adapted they are to life in the tree tops.
It takes time to learn
how to use such an impressive fifth limb...
but the adults have mastered it.
They make jungle gymnastics look so easy.
Their curious tails even have a bare patch of skin at the tip
much like the palm of a hand for an even better grip.
But most importantly of all,
the monkeys here evolved tails far stronger
than anywhere else on Earth.
They're so powerful,
they can support their entire body weight.
It might look like a common monkey trick,
but it's only monkeys in America that can hang around like this.
In these dense forests,
spider monkeys make canopy acrobatics look like child's play...
because they've turned their tail into an extra limb.
In this new jungle world,
monkeys began to adapt in other unusual ways...
ways that would alter the path of our family's history forever.
The primate family tree is made up of a number of key branches.
There are weird little lemurs, super smart apes...
and the largest group of all, the monkeys.
But around 35 million years ago,
the monkey branch split into two very separate groups,
when a few pioneering characters from Africa
ventured across to the jungles of South America.
Tucked away on this distant continent,
the monkeys here began to adapt in weird and wonderful ways.
Today, they're known as the New World monkeys,
the most diverse and bizarre branch of all.
35 million years ago,
monkeys began to conquer the forests of the Americas.
Today, there are more species of monkey here
than anywhere else on Earth.
Life in these dense forests
posed unique challenges for primates.
And one troop of tree top daredevils
has evolved an explosive way of springing through the canopy.
At first light, the troop starts to wake,
a family of sleepy squirrel monkeys.
Once they're up, it's mayhem in the canopy.
These squirrel monkeys live in big groups of up to 75 strong.
Moving through the canopy en masse,
these bright-eyed little scamps hardly ever sit still...
spending their day trying to snatch up insects...
or battling with their friends for fruits.
For them, leaping fearlessly amongst the branches
over 100ft high is easy.
So what allows these little acrobats
to jump with such death-defying precision?
Firstly, their fingers have tiny fingerprints,
just like ours...
which is an adaptation to provide just that little extra grip.
But their impressive high-wire antics
are mostly down to their legs.
Squirrel monkeys were built to bounce.
They have short strong thighs and longer lower limbs.
And these frog-like proportions
give them remarkable jumping power.
They can bound over six foot.
That's more than seven times their body length.
With these leaping legs,
they've evolved the perfect way to bounce up...
and down the canopy...
..in a heartbeat.
The New World monkeys
came up with novel ways of getting about these dense forests.
But having the ability to move through the branches
is only one of the trials of jungle life.
For monkeys living here, there's an even greater challenge...
..a challenge that one boisterous character
has solved in an ear-splitting way.
ANIMAL HOWLING
BIRDS TWITTERING
The howler monkey.
HOWLING
To find out why these rowdy monkeys make such a racket,
I've come to a special reserve in the jungles of Central America
where I can get close to a wild troop.
And the first thing I discover
is they're not nearly as scary as they sound.
The name howler monkey conjures up the imagination
to picture some sort of fearsome animal.
But they're surprisingly gentle mannered.
Hello.
These chilled characters
spend most of their time relaxing and slowly eating leaves...
though they do make the extra effort
to pick juicy cashew fruit which they get everywhere.
So why do such gentle souls...
create such a racket?
They live in close-knit groups.
This one has an alpha male, three females,
and luckily, for me,
I also get a glimpse of a new arrival.
She's carrying a little baby.
It can't be more than two months old.
And howler monkey babies will stick with their mothers
until they're at least a year old, stay clambered on for safety.
And that's what I can see this one's doing right now.
Yeah, it's taking a few steps away from Mum.
Oh, wow.
So, this is just a rare moment where this tiny baby
will slowly start to try and get used to its surroundings,
its environment,
but Mum is still close by for safety.
Of all the monkeys I've met,
howlers seem to live the most peaceful lives.
Weirdly, this tranquillity
is all thanks to their monster roar...
because their deafening howl
is actually a brilliant way of avoiding conflict
with the neighbours.
HOWLING
There's something almost quite scary about the way they sound.
If you didn't know what howler looked like
and you were in this forest, that would definitely keep you away.
Once the big alpha male begins...
the rest of the group joins in.
HOWLING
You can feel the sound.
Howler monkeys broadcast the loudest call
of any land mammal on earth.
It radiates for nearly 3 miles across the canopy.
This record-breaking howl is like a territorial war cry
that keeps rivals far away from the family.
To create this long-distance bellow,
their vocal cords are nearly three times longer than ours,
giving them an extra low voice.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen,
the dawn chorus of the howler monkey.
To conquer this continent,
evolution pushed the bodies of New World monkeys
in ways never seen in their relatives of the old world.
They developed some totally unique tricks...
Tails that move like tentacles...
throats that act as long-distance speakers,
and super springy almost frog-like legs.
They would rewrite the monkey rule book.
The monkeys of the Americas
took on many of the challenges of jungle life.
And today, the forests echo with their unique
and unusual solutions.
On the primate family tree,
the branch of the New World monkeys continued to diversify
and split into different groups.
The howler and spider monkeys occupy the same offshoot...
while on the other branches,
live many of the smallest members of the family.
These tiny characters are able to reach the fruits
amongst the smallest twigs in a canopy.
But being small in the jungle can be a dangerous business.
And one little redhead has come up with an ingenious survival tactic.
The golden lion tamarin,
they may be tiny but tamarins are experts at jungle life.
These lightweight little fur balls have come up with clever tricks
for darting through their forest world.
Pinging through the branches,
they can even land on vertical tree trunks.
Unlike most primates,
their fingernails have evolved into super sharp claws.
This allows these nimble little monkeys
to clamber about with ease.
But the downside to being small
is you're the perfect bite-sized snack
for many a jungle predator.
THUNDER RUMBLES
Jungle cats stalk these forests,
and tamarin families always need to keep a watchful eye.
But these little monkeys have evolved a clever way
to keep their numbers up.
Instead of producing one youngster at a time,
like most other primates,
they nearly always give birth to twins...
tiny tamarin twins.
With two to look after,
the parents even share the childcare.
Having two babies at a time doubles the chances
that at least one little one can be kept safely out of harm's way.
For a monkey with so many predators,
it might seem strange that they have such bright orange fur.
To our eyes, they stand out like a beacon in the green jungle.
But the big cats that hunt them are colour blind,
they can't easily detect the difference in colour
between something that's red and something that's green.
So although Mum can always tell where the family is,
they're surprisingly well-camouflaged amongst the leaves.
The tamarins have come up
with a clever combination of adaptations
that have made them masters of jungle life
at the small scale.
The monkeys of the new world became the rulers of the rainforests.
But as they spread further across this continent,
the dense jungle gave way to much dryer rocky forest.
It's here that I'm hoping to meet
one of the most extraordinary characters
on this continent.
I'm in Northeast Brazil,
in a region where rocky canyons meet arid woodland,
and this place is just spectacular.
And it's also home
to a very special member of the family,
a monkey that when it comes to intelligence
is right at the top of the class.
To thrive here, they've come up
with one of the most brilliant tricks in nature.
Meet the bright sparks of the monkey family,
a troop of bearded capuchins.
They use their clever minds to find their favourite foods
in this dry forest.
And this troop has a real taste for one thing,
palm nuts.
But before they can enjoy them, they face a real challenge.
So this is one of the palm nuts that the monkeys are after.
Inside it is a kernel that's packed full of calories.
The only problem is that it's encased in this hard outer shell.
And to reach the prized kernel inside,
these little capuchins have engaged their big brains
to become expert nut crackers.
But first, they need to gather the right tools for the job.
Given the choice, they'll start with a stone
that weighs as much as they do.
They look like kids picking up bowling balls
that are a bit too big for them.
They're really quite funny little things.
They'll try their hardest to carry it to a hard flat surface
that acts as an anvil.
That's where the real business can begin.
Here comes the alpha male.
He is the star of the show.
This guy is the best nut cracker in the troop.
But how may strikes will this expert take?
One strike.
Two.
And he's got inside.
Perfect.
These palm nuts are 20 times harder than a walnut.
And cracking them takes some skill.
But seriously, how hard can it be?
OK, the pressure is on.
I did see the alpha male crack one of the nuts
with only two strikes.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah! Here we go.
Oh, no.
Oh, God.
HE LAUGHS
The force of the rock rebounding my hand, actually,
it does quite hurt.
I begin to draw a crowd of curious onlookers.
And at last...
Yes, finally.
So what was that, about 20 hits?
The spectators have been keeping a close eye on my progress.
They are trying to get hold of that.
It's my nut.
But not for long.
Incredibly, these capuchins don't need to crack nuts.
There's plenty of other food around.
They just really like them
and are willing to put in the practice
to perfect every stage
of this complex nut cracking procedure.
The young learn by hanging around the adults
and closely watch what's going on.
They start by practising with smaller stones.
But it's a highly complex operation with many fiddly stages.
The palm nut has to be carefully positioned in a dip on the anvil
to help keep it in place,
or else, everything will go flying on impact.
And if the stone isn't big enough...
or not dropped hard enough,
the nut simply won't break.
Success requires a truly masterful touch.
This level of dexterity is
one that was previously not thought possible in monkeys,
but here are the capuchins doing it perfectly,
and it's just brilliant to watch.
These skilful capuchins have used their sharp minds
to conquer parts of the Americas other monkeys
simply couldn't reach.
But 15,000 years ago...
an even smarter primate finally arrived...
the most intelligent family member of all.
The first primates arrived in the forests of the Americas
around 35 million years ago.
HOWLING
Today,
they echo with the loudest calls in the world...
play host to the most agile canopy gymnasts...
and this land has given rise
to the sharpest minds of all the monkeys.
But these New World monkeys
would in time receive a very different neighbour...
the brightest primate of all.
For a long time,
monkeys were the only primate
to have made it here from Africa.
They had this land all to themselves
right up until about 15,000 years ago,
and then everything changed.
An ape managed to make the journey across from the old world
to the Americas.
Humans had arrived.
South America was the last continent to be colonised by humans.
This is a man's world.
When mankind first stepped foot into this jungle world,
we had finally become a truly global species.
Today, we have out-competed every other animal on Earth.
And that phenomenal success
is rooted in our amazing primate family traits.
From the way we move...
..our agility...
balance...
..and power...
..to our dextrous hands...
..that enable us and our family to use complex tools.
We share the drive to fight for resources.
These basic primate traits define us
and make us who we are.
But we have also gone far beyond our primate cousins.
Using our big brains,
we shaped the natural world around us
and even harnessed the power of animals,
allowing us to conquer new lands.
We have pushed the ability
to work together in tight-knit groups...
evolving language...
and complex culture.
We've built our own jungles...
..where we can live in numbers greater than ever before.
We are perhaps the ultimate primates
in the family that has walked the planet
for over 55 million years.
Throughout this series,
we've seen how the primate family tree
formed five key branches.
There are ancient lineages like the tiny carnivorous tarsier...
HOWLING
..and the lemurs of Madagascar.
The monkeys thrive on two separate branches,
one dynasty in Africa and Asia...
while the New World monkeys rule the jungles of the Americas.
The final branch is home to the apes...
including chimps,
gorillas, orangutans,
and the most successful global primate ever...
us.
Today, there are over seven billion people on this planet.
But our meteoric rise
has come at a cost to many members of the primate family.
Our growth is threatening the survival
of many of our wild cousins.
Across the world,
nearly half of all primates are now endangered
as their forest homes are destroyed.
Only 900 mountain gorillas remain in the wild.
And lemurs
are the most threatened group of mammals on the planet.
But despite the decline, there's still hope.
Around the world,
there are people working to help our closest relatives.
And they're making a real difference.
On the island of Borneo,
protected forests have been set up
to provide a new start for orangutans
that have lost their homes.
Over the past four decades, 40% of the jungle here
has disappeared due to deforestation.
For each and every orangutan,
their future hangs in the balance.
I'm lucky enough to join a dedicated team
on a mission to rescue some of our most threatened cousins.
This baby and her mum
were found in devastated forest
over 100 miles from here.
With their natural habitat gone,
their chances of survival were down to zero.
Today, the team is transporting them to a new jungle home
in a protected part of the island
where they can start a new life together.
The journey to reach this point has taken three long days.
But finally, the time has come for this mother and baby
to step out into their new home.
Instantly, her instincts kicked in
and she just went up that tree
and, I've completely lost sight of her, but...
I can hear her.
Many primates are fighting for survival.
But at this critical time,
there are also many people fighting to ensure they have a safer future.
We like to think of ourselves
as the most intelligent animals on Earth.
But with this intelligence surely comes a responsibility
to protect our planet
and the animals that we share it with.
There is no doubt that our family members
are some of the most charismatic and precious characters
on the planet.
# At last
# My love has come along
# My lonely days
# Are over
# And life is like a song
# Oh, yeah, yeah
# At last
# The skies above are blue
# My heart was wrapped up in clover
# The night I looked at you... #
Together, along with our cousins,
we make up a truly amazing animal family.
# At last. #