1 00:00:08,142 --> 00:00:18,483 NARRATOR: A rain forest like no other, icon of Brazil, 2 00:00:18,552 --> 00:00:19,651 but this is not the Amazon. 3 00:00:23,491 --> 00:00:31,163 80 times smaller, yet just as rich, 4 00:00:31,165 --> 00:00:39,671 this is Mata Atlantica, a forest on a remarkable journey. 5 00:00:42,443 --> 00:00:51,250 Over millions of years, enduring cataclysmic change, 6 00:00:51,385 --> 00:00:53,218 always creating more life. 7 00:00:56,457 --> 00:00:58,990 How has this forest become one of Earth's 8 00:00:59,026 --> 00:01:00,959 great biodiversity hotspots? 9 00:01:03,531 --> 00:01:05,764 And why has it been forgotten? 10 00:01:12,006 --> 00:01:13,205 Hi, there. 11 00:01:13,207 --> 00:01:16,274 I'm David Schwimmer, King of Rhetorical Questions. 12 00:01:16,343 --> 00:01:19,410 Join me in facing some of the most dangerous animals 13 00:01:19,447 --> 00:01:21,746 and life threatening locations from the safety 14 00:01:21,816 --> 00:01:25,684 of this armchair in this episode of "Mysterious 15 00:01:25,819 --> 00:01:28,820 Planet, the Forgotten Forest." 16 00:01:28,823 --> 00:01:34,660 [eerie music] 17 00:01:56,050 --> 00:02:03,454 NARRATOR: Brazil's cultural epicenter, home to over 13 18 00:02:03,491 --> 00:02:07,392 million people, Rio de Janeiro. 19 00:02:13,567 --> 00:02:19,538 A bustling metropolis of music and color and dancing, 20 00:02:19,607 --> 00:02:26,478 but right on its back doorstep is a forgotten world that beats 21 00:02:26,547 --> 00:02:28,080 to a very different rhythm. 22 00:02:36,891 --> 00:02:48,167 Mata Atlantica, Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, 23 00:02:48,302 --> 00:02:54,373 a primordial world home to strange and unique life. 24 00:02:59,847 --> 00:03:01,480 These calls are not birdsong. 25 00:03:04,318 --> 00:03:12,190 They belong to something more curious hidden 26 00:03:12,226 --> 00:03:13,859 somewhere up in the trees. 27 00:03:17,397 --> 00:03:18,263 Wait for it. 28 00:03:23,337 --> 00:03:31,343 A golden lion tamarin, a tiny monkey with a lion's mane 29 00:03:31,412 --> 00:03:33,412 found nowhere else on Earth. 30 00:03:39,420 --> 00:03:41,286 They're are no bigger than squirrels 31 00:03:41,322 --> 00:03:46,158 and scamper about like them, but take a closer look 32 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,294 and they are primate through and through. 33 00:03:52,032 --> 00:03:56,301 They are very social and live in groups of around 10, 34 00:03:56,303 --> 00:03:57,903 like a tiny primate sitcom. 35 00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:02,640 Typically, with a breeding female, 36 00:04:02,676 --> 00:04:06,578 her mate, and their offspring. 37 00:04:10,417 --> 00:04:12,718 Family is everything to the tiny tamarins. 38 00:04:15,322 --> 00:04:19,191 Their survival depends on sticking together 39 00:04:19,326 --> 00:04:24,730 for protection and to defend their all important territory, 40 00:04:24,732 --> 00:04:27,132 which is where they find food. 41 00:04:27,134 --> 00:04:27,833 Coming at you. 42 00:04:31,872 --> 00:04:33,538 The menu here is huge. 43 00:04:35,809 --> 00:04:40,479 Today, it's insects, thousands of different types 44 00:04:40,481 --> 00:04:41,179 to choose from. 45 00:04:42,616 --> 00:04:44,682 Insect takeout. 46 00:04:44,718 --> 00:04:46,351 Yeah, got you, baby. 47 00:04:53,127 --> 00:04:55,427 And tamarins are experts at extracting 48 00:04:55,496 --> 00:04:57,262 them with long clawed fingers. 49 00:04:59,967 --> 00:05:00,699 Where are you? 50 00:05:00,834 --> 00:05:03,768 Where's-- here's-- oh, yeah. 51 00:05:03,804 --> 00:05:04,503 Hello, lunch. 52 00:05:16,049 --> 00:05:19,951 As long as they stick together, forest life is good. 53 00:05:25,059 --> 00:05:27,459 They have all the resources they need here. 54 00:05:32,466 --> 00:05:36,001 Their home is one of Earth's great biodiversity hotspots. 55 00:05:42,209 --> 00:05:54,886 Over 20,000 species of plants, and 2,000 animal species, 56 00:05:55,021 --> 00:06:03,829 around half found nowhere else on Earth, 57 00:06:03,964 --> 00:06:06,832 a jungle paradise rivaled only by the Amazon. 58 00:06:13,573 --> 00:06:16,842 But Mata Atlantica is very different from its world 59 00:06:16,844 --> 00:06:17,676 famous neighbor. 60 00:06:24,151 --> 00:06:27,985 The Amazon rain forest is hard to miss covering 61 00:06:28,021 --> 00:06:29,988 over 3 million square miles. 62 00:06:34,127 --> 00:06:37,929 Southeast, forever in its shadow, 63 00:06:37,931 --> 00:06:43,335 lies Mata Atlantica, a thin stretch of green hugging 64 00:06:43,470 --> 00:06:44,803 Brazil's Atlantic coast. 65 00:06:48,142 --> 00:06:52,010 You'd be forgiven for not even knowing it exists, 66 00:06:52,145 --> 00:06:52,811 but it's unique. 67 00:06:57,350 --> 00:07:03,688 From the ocean to the high mountains of the interior, 68 00:07:03,757 --> 00:07:05,891 containing some of South America's most 69 00:07:06,026 --> 00:07:11,229 spectacular wonders, like the Iguazu falls, 70 00:07:11,265 --> 00:07:14,299 and Rio, the great city at its heart. 71 00:07:22,843 --> 00:07:28,380 But it's 80 times smaller than the Amazon 72 00:07:28,382 --> 00:07:31,116 and has an equally rich diversity of life. 73 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,453 How can this be? 74 00:07:35,456 --> 00:07:37,556 That's rhetorical, I'm going to tell you. 75 00:07:50,070 --> 00:07:53,872 One of the most diverse groups of animals in Mata Atlantica 76 00:07:53,941 --> 00:07:55,941 hides in every nook and cranny. 77 00:08:02,482 --> 00:08:03,148 Here's a cranny. 78 00:08:05,719 --> 00:08:06,418 Frogs. 79 00:08:10,491 --> 00:08:18,229 550 species, 80% found nowhere else, 80 00:08:18,265 --> 00:08:24,903 each perfectly adapted to its own miniature world, 81 00:08:25,038 --> 00:08:31,643 and all of them are hunters, but some have 82 00:08:31,712 --> 00:08:33,478 bigger appetites than others. 83 00:08:45,526 --> 00:08:52,563 A horned frog, giant of its kind, 84 00:08:52,599 --> 00:08:56,468 with a mouth nearly 6 inches wide, 85 00:08:56,470 --> 00:08:58,470 it's nicknamed the Pacman frog. 86 00:09:05,412 --> 00:09:08,914 Like its smaller cousins, it's an ambush hunter. 87 00:09:14,821 --> 00:09:17,289 But little bugs don't quite cut it for the Pacman. 88 00:09:19,426 --> 00:09:22,093 It requires something more substantial. 89 00:09:24,030 --> 00:09:26,364 It'd be ironic if he ate French chefs. 90 00:09:33,540 --> 00:09:41,846 Lightning speed and a bite as strong as a dog's, 91 00:09:41,915 --> 00:09:42,614 there's no escape. 92 00:09:50,457 --> 00:09:54,659 Snakes, birds, even small mammals are gobbled up. 93 00:09:56,129 --> 00:09:59,731 You can't even reason with him, but there's 94 00:09:59,733 --> 00:10:02,100 more to the Pacman than its gluttonous appetite 95 00:10:02,202 --> 00:10:02,968 and good looks. 96 00:10:04,938 --> 00:10:11,008 It has a tale to tell, a clue to the mysterious origins 97 00:10:11,044 --> 00:10:12,143 of the forest itself. 98 00:10:13,847 --> 00:10:14,546 Hey, where you-- 99 00:10:17,684 --> 00:10:26,223 In Brazil's Atlantic forest, the colossal Pacman frog 100 00:10:26,259 --> 00:10:30,428 has a big appetite and a big story to tell. 101 00:10:34,334 --> 00:10:36,968 Scientists recently discovered that this frog's 102 00:10:37,037 --> 00:10:45,310 ancestors lived over 5,000 miles away on the far side of Africa. 103 00:10:50,450 --> 00:10:55,720 150 million years ago, the Earth looks very different. 104 00:10:58,125 --> 00:11:00,792 South America is joined to Africa 105 00:11:00,927 --> 00:11:04,195 in a great southern continent called Gondwana. 106 00:11:09,335 --> 00:11:10,635 But all that is about to change. 107 00:11:16,409 --> 00:11:19,778 Titanic forces deep within the Earth are stirring. 108 00:11:24,818 --> 00:11:30,021 Gondwana is splitting up, a brutal, brutal divorce. 109 00:11:32,759 --> 00:11:33,792 I wonder who gets the islands? 110 00:11:41,234 --> 00:11:43,902 South America heads West. 111 00:11:44,037 --> 00:11:44,835 Later. 112 00:11:44,871 --> 00:11:45,570 Bye. 113 00:11:48,709 --> 00:11:53,044 As the newborn continent moves on, 114 00:11:53,113 --> 00:11:58,582 along its ruptured coastline, a forest 115 00:11:58,618 --> 00:12:04,622 is forming, the beginnings of Mata Atlantica. 116 00:12:08,395 --> 00:12:15,800 And in the new forest is a stowaway from Gondwana, 117 00:12:15,836 --> 00:12:17,769 the ancestor of the Pacman. 118 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:27,278 At first, they live alongside dinosaurs, or underneath them, 119 00:12:27,314 --> 00:12:34,018 but as South America drifts further, 120 00:12:34,087 --> 00:12:37,021 the time of the dinosaurs is coming to an end. 121 00:12:39,059 --> 00:12:40,525 I feel a meteor coming on. 122 00:12:41,995 --> 00:12:42,694 Cue, meteor. 123 00:12:47,734 --> 00:12:49,067 Yeah, these leaves will protect me. 124 00:12:53,973 --> 00:12:56,274 I don't hear anything, but doesn't look good. 125 00:12:59,045 --> 00:13:13,190 Yup, there-- Don't worry, guys. 126 00:13:13,226 --> 00:13:13,925 This is CGI. 127 00:13:25,138 --> 00:13:28,005 As the forests recovered following the extinction 128 00:13:28,041 --> 00:13:31,809 of the dinosaurs, the way was opened for species that 129 00:13:31,878 --> 00:13:35,413 had been hiding in their shadow, like an understudy 130 00:13:35,482 --> 00:13:36,948 in the great play of life. 131 00:13:44,691 --> 00:13:49,427 10 million years before the Amazon existed, 132 00:13:49,496 --> 00:13:53,798 in Mata Atlantica strange life was taking to the trees. 133 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:02,607 Some more quickly than others. 134 00:14:09,382 --> 00:14:16,054 A maned sloth, another species unique to this forest. 135 00:14:22,495 --> 00:14:24,929 Sloths belong to one of the strangest groups 136 00:14:24,998 --> 00:14:28,466 of animals on Earth, called xenarthra, 137 00:14:28,601 --> 00:14:30,101 which means alien joints. 138 00:14:37,177 --> 00:14:40,211 It's thought their weird anatomy was originally designed 139 00:14:40,346 --> 00:14:45,283 for digging and that the sloths ancestors 140 00:14:45,418 --> 00:14:49,821 survived the dinosaur extinction by hiding underground. 141 00:14:56,162 --> 00:15:01,899 Strong claws have become hooks for climbing 142 00:15:01,902 --> 00:15:06,938 so the sloth can get to what it loves most, leaves. 143 00:15:11,311 --> 00:15:13,311 But their diet is so low in calories 144 00:15:13,446 --> 00:15:18,516 they have to save all the energy they can, 145 00:15:18,651 --> 00:15:22,320 so they're not only one of the weirdest creatures on Earth, 146 00:15:22,389 --> 00:15:23,955 they're also one of the slowest. 147 00:15:28,161 --> 00:15:31,396 They spend five hours a day feeding, 148 00:15:31,398 --> 00:15:36,601 the rest of the time they just sleep, like comedians 149 00:15:36,603 --> 00:15:38,469 but without the self-loathing. 150 00:15:41,241 --> 00:15:43,741 Sloths weren't the only xenarthrans to take 151 00:15:43,777 --> 00:15:45,610 to the trees of Mata Atlantica. 152 00:15:52,185 --> 00:16:11,703 Here's another, a tamandua, tree dwelling anteater. 153 00:16:17,978 --> 00:16:20,745 It's following its nose to something irresistible. 154 00:16:22,615 --> 00:16:23,581 No, not me. 155 00:16:25,385 --> 00:16:26,017 Termites. 156 00:16:28,588 --> 00:16:33,391 Nutritious, but tiny and hard to reach. 157 00:16:35,928 --> 00:16:37,462 No problem for the tamandua. 158 00:16:38,765 --> 00:16:40,064 Take that, wood eaters. 159 00:16:42,869 --> 00:16:48,606 Like sloths, its claws are grappling hooks, 160 00:16:48,741 --> 00:16:52,343 and it has a 15 inch sticky tongue, which can 161 00:16:52,478 --> 00:16:59,150 Hoover up 9,000 termites a day. 162 00:16:59,285 --> 00:17:04,889 And it has another unique innovation, 163 00:17:05,024 --> 00:17:10,294 a gripping prehensile tail, like an extra hand, need. 164 00:17:11,731 --> 00:17:16,300 Great for hard to reach meals and tickle fights, 165 00:17:16,302 --> 00:17:20,838 and a good insurance plan when there's nothing between you 166 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:21,806 and the forest floor. 167 00:17:23,843 --> 00:17:24,542 Show off. 168 00:17:28,514 --> 00:17:31,549 Brazil's Atlantic forest is on an evolutionary journey. 169 00:17:32,986 --> 00:17:33,718 Aren't we all? 170 00:17:36,189 --> 00:17:39,256 The dinosaurs are long gone and new life 171 00:17:39,325 --> 00:17:40,458 is taking to the trees. 172 00:17:44,998 --> 00:17:49,333 One group of animals are the dinosaurs direct descendants. 173 00:17:54,274 --> 00:17:58,876 Birds are the most diverse of all animals in Mata Atlantica. 174 00:18:00,814 --> 00:18:06,017 1,000 different species in all shapes, sizes, and colors. 175 00:18:10,990 --> 00:18:13,424 Some don't seem to have left their dinosaur 176 00:18:13,426 --> 00:18:14,892 roots all that far behind. 177 00:18:18,498 --> 00:18:24,469 A channel-billed toucan can evolved from the one can. 178 00:18:27,107 --> 00:18:38,583 With an appetite for flesh, but it's not hunting for itself. 179 00:18:40,853 --> 00:18:43,253 Frogs and small birds are important 180 00:18:43,289 --> 00:18:44,689 for the growth of baby toucans. 181 00:18:51,164 --> 00:18:53,531 But the bulk of their diet is fruit. 182 00:19:00,073 --> 00:19:02,339 As the male and female take turns 183 00:19:02,375 --> 00:19:06,878 ferrying food to their chicks, they help the forest. 184 00:19:10,416 --> 00:19:15,419 They're one of the top seed dispersers in Mata Atlantica 185 00:19:15,555 --> 00:19:19,624 and play a key part in creating a diversity of trees 186 00:19:19,626 --> 00:19:21,826 matched nowhere else on Earth. 187 00:19:43,616 --> 00:19:46,384 Primates also spread seeds through the forest. 188 00:19:51,257 --> 00:19:54,491 In the wet season, Mata Atlantica's trees 189 00:19:54,561 --> 00:19:59,129 are heavy with ripe fruit, a bounty 190 00:19:59,199 --> 00:20:01,566 golden lion tamarins can't resist. 191 00:20:05,271 --> 00:20:07,471 At this time of year, fruit makes up 192 00:20:07,507 --> 00:20:10,807 the bulk of their diet, that and ice 193 00:20:10,843 --> 00:20:15,045 cream, a vital energy boost. 194 00:20:15,081 --> 00:20:16,747 And they need it. 195 00:20:16,816 --> 00:20:20,384 There are new mouths to feed in the family, twins. 196 00:20:24,690 --> 00:20:29,960 Tamarins almost always have twins 197 00:20:30,029 --> 00:20:34,298 and Mom has her hands full, but that's 198 00:20:34,334 --> 00:20:36,567 where the family come in. 199 00:20:36,702 --> 00:20:41,906 Her little ones need to nurse for nearly two hours every day, 200 00:20:42,041 --> 00:20:45,642 but when she's not suckling, dad and the rest of the family 201 00:20:45,678 --> 00:20:46,611 do the child care. 202 00:20:49,148 --> 00:20:52,316 So mom gets a chance to feast on fruit too. 203 00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:58,256 The timing of the twins arrival is no coincidence. 204 00:21:02,528 --> 00:21:04,795 To produce enough milk for her babies, 205 00:21:04,797 --> 00:21:07,231 she needs all the nutrition she can get. 206 00:21:08,734 --> 00:21:12,837 So tamarin moms have their twins at the peak of forest fruiting. 207 00:21:16,142 --> 00:21:19,343 Their lives are intimately tuned to the rhythm 208 00:21:19,412 --> 00:21:20,544 of this ancient forest. 209 00:21:26,085 --> 00:21:29,153 But tamarins are relatively new arrivals here. 210 00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:39,563 Their ancestors also came from Africa, 211 00:21:39,699 --> 00:21:42,566 but didn't arrive here until about 40 212 00:21:42,635 --> 00:21:47,638 million years ago, when South America 213 00:21:47,707 --> 00:21:50,907 was already separated from Africa 214 00:21:50,943 --> 00:21:53,010 by thousands of miles of ocean. 215 00:21:55,114 --> 00:21:56,414 How did they get here? 216 00:22:01,587 --> 00:22:05,389 Incredible as it seems, scientists now believe they 217 00:22:05,458 --> 00:22:07,391 crossed the Atlantic Ocean. 218 00:22:09,729 --> 00:22:12,662 We can only imagine how it happened. 219 00:22:12,699 --> 00:22:16,367 My guess is tiny surfboards or monkey balloons. 220 00:22:24,944 --> 00:22:25,876 Here goes. 221 00:22:26,012 --> 00:22:30,280 40 million years ago, a massive storm 222 00:22:30,316 --> 00:22:32,316 looms over the African coast. 223 00:22:38,958 --> 00:22:40,624 Trees are the only shelter. 224 00:22:47,133 --> 00:22:52,036 The storm passes and the forest is left standing, 225 00:22:52,171 --> 00:22:53,704 but something isn't right. 226 00:22:58,378 --> 00:23:04,782 Ripped from the land, a floating patch of jungle 227 00:23:04,851 --> 00:23:09,920 held together by Earth, roots, and vines 228 00:23:09,956 --> 00:23:12,990 set adrift in the middle of the Atlantic. 229 00:23:18,231 --> 00:23:23,667 And on board, a tiny ancestral primate that looks 230 00:23:23,803 --> 00:23:24,802 a lot like a tamarin. 231 00:23:29,942 --> 00:23:32,876 A floating forest would have insects 232 00:23:32,912 --> 00:23:37,081 and be the worst cruise ever, enough for a whole family 233 00:23:37,083 --> 00:23:37,915 of small primates. 234 00:23:43,089 --> 00:23:48,025 Pushed on by favorable winds, the crossing might 235 00:23:48,094 --> 00:23:50,127 take as little as 15 days. 236 00:23:55,768 --> 00:23:58,836 A one in a million event transporting 237 00:23:58,905 --> 00:24:02,606 a band of tiny monkeys to a distant shore. 238 00:24:08,948 --> 00:24:14,852 And to a quite remarkable future, because these are not 239 00:24:14,854 --> 00:24:17,988 only the ancestors of the tamarins, 240 00:24:18,123 --> 00:24:23,260 but of all the new world monkeys, 241 00:24:23,329 --> 00:24:26,263 which was also the name of my high school band. 242 00:24:33,206 --> 00:24:39,477 After a remarkable journey across the Atlantic Ocean, 243 00:24:39,612 --> 00:24:43,681 the ancestor of all new world monkeys has arrived. 244 00:24:50,823 --> 00:24:55,993 At the same time, great change is coming to South America. 245 00:25:08,307 --> 00:25:10,574 In the West, the Andes are rising. 246 00:25:12,979 --> 00:25:22,319 The longest mountain range on Earth, 247 00:25:22,355 --> 00:25:30,661 and they start to change the weather, diverting 248 00:25:30,663 --> 00:25:35,332 moist Atlantic winds South to bring tropical rain 249 00:25:35,334 --> 00:25:37,668 right across South America. 250 00:25:41,574 --> 00:25:47,811 The Amazon is growing and spreading, creating 251 00:25:47,847 --> 00:25:55,819 a giant rain forest joining up with the Mata Atlantica, 252 00:25:55,955 --> 00:25:57,988 a forest just waiting for monkeys. 253 00:26:01,761 --> 00:26:06,230 From the remarkable voyage of just a handful of tiny monkeys, 254 00:26:06,365 --> 00:26:11,968 the African ancestors spread out to fill this great forest, 255 00:26:12,004 --> 00:26:16,573 evolving over time into more than 140 different species 256 00:26:16,642 --> 00:26:17,675 of new world monkey. 257 00:26:22,782 --> 00:26:27,284 But about 10 million years ago that spread is halted. 258 00:26:32,158 --> 00:26:35,125 The climate starts to cool and dry. 259 00:26:38,064 --> 00:26:40,698 South American forests begin to shrink. 260 00:26:42,267 --> 00:26:44,935 The Amazon and Mata Atlantica become 261 00:26:45,070 --> 00:26:46,170 cut off from one another. 262 00:26:50,042 --> 00:26:53,344 In between, a great strip of dry savannah 263 00:26:53,445 --> 00:26:59,550 called the Cerrado grows up, forming an impenetrable barrier 264 00:26:59,552 --> 00:27:01,551 for rain forest animals. 265 00:27:01,621 --> 00:27:02,720 Insert joke here. 266 00:27:05,391 --> 00:27:09,826 And in the two forests either side life 267 00:27:09,895 --> 00:27:11,495 starts to go its separate ways. 268 00:27:15,968 --> 00:27:22,239 The Amazon may be huge, but it's flat and uniform. 269 00:27:26,579 --> 00:27:29,880 Mata Atlantic is different. 270 00:27:31,450 --> 00:27:34,184 A clue is in the landscape that defines one of the most 271 00:27:34,319 --> 00:27:36,253 iconic cities on Earth. 272 00:27:44,797 --> 00:27:48,532 Rio de Janeiro is dominated by great outcrops 273 00:27:48,534 --> 00:27:57,408 of rock, pillars of the new world, 274 00:27:57,543 --> 00:27:58,942 and they have an ancient origin. 275 00:28:03,683 --> 00:28:07,284 They are the remains of great eruptions of magma 276 00:28:07,419 --> 00:28:09,286 that date back to the time when South 277 00:28:09,421 --> 00:28:13,691 America split from Africa, a very public divorce. 278 00:28:18,897 --> 00:28:28,839 This great contorted landscape makes Rio spectacular and sexy, 279 00:28:28,841 --> 00:28:31,775 but it also makes Mata Atlantica rich. 280 00:28:34,046 --> 00:28:38,381 Right here, where continents ripped apart, 281 00:28:38,417 --> 00:28:47,257 the landscape is made for rainforest diversity. , 282 00:28:47,326 --> 00:28:51,528 For every hill and every valley, there is a slightly 283 00:28:51,530 --> 00:28:53,130 different formula for life. 284 00:28:56,302 --> 00:29:00,337 And as rivers crash over great layers of volcanic rock, 285 00:29:00,406 --> 00:29:02,940 they create further opportunity for life. 286 00:29:15,621 --> 00:29:18,221 Since the age of the dinosaurs, it's 287 00:29:18,290 --> 00:29:22,226 this unique geology that has been shaping Mata Atlantica. 288 00:29:32,171 --> 00:29:35,572 As night falls, another strange creature 289 00:29:35,574 --> 00:29:39,643 is about to emerge, further evidence for 290 00:29:39,778 --> 00:29:41,512 the incredible diversity here. 291 00:29:49,321 --> 00:29:52,589 An animal that, like the tamandua, 292 00:29:52,724 --> 00:29:56,593 has also evolved an extra hand for climbing. 293 00:29:56,728 --> 00:29:58,095 Well, he says it's for climbing. 294 00:30:00,266 --> 00:30:04,668 A tree porcupine with a prehensile tail. 295 00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:10,140 And if this is not strange enough, 296 00:30:10,209 --> 00:30:12,743 there are at least four different species here. 297 00:30:18,117 --> 00:30:25,955 One is very spiny, another not quite so, 298 00:30:25,991 --> 00:30:29,626 and this one is hardly spiny at all, much more furry, 299 00:30:29,695 --> 00:30:31,161 which seems pointless. 300 00:30:31,296 --> 00:30:31,962 Pun intended. 301 00:30:33,566 --> 00:30:35,832 Each a product of the slightly different 302 00:30:35,868 --> 00:30:39,870 conditions in a slightly different patch of forest. 303 00:30:44,410 --> 00:30:48,578 Since the age of the dinosaurs, the unique geological past 304 00:30:48,581 --> 00:30:53,116 of Brazil's Atlantic forest has been shaping amazing life. 305 00:30:58,123 --> 00:31:00,724 When it comes to plants, it is even 306 00:31:00,726 --> 00:31:02,226 more diverse than the Amazon. 307 00:31:06,932 --> 00:31:12,002 On every tree here, there are bromeliads, relatives 308 00:31:12,137 --> 00:31:15,071 of the pineapple, which also originally 309 00:31:15,107 --> 00:31:16,173 came from these forests. 310 00:31:19,645 --> 00:31:25,415 They grow perched on tree branches high in the canopy 311 00:31:25,484 --> 00:31:27,216 and catch all the water they need 312 00:31:27,253 --> 00:31:33,557 from above channeling it with their pineapple like leaves 313 00:31:33,559 --> 00:31:34,825 into a central pool. 314 00:31:44,837 --> 00:31:47,804 And this one is a tiny egg. 315 00:31:52,077 --> 00:31:58,949 After about 20 days, the egg starts to hatch, a tadpole. 316 00:32:01,020 --> 00:32:07,057 Over the next few weeks, it grows legs, loses its tail, 317 00:32:07,126 --> 00:32:12,262 and emerges into its own tiny plant penthouse 318 00:32:12,264 --> 00:32:14,765 complete with pool and a view. 319 00:32:18,404 --> 00:32:23,373 Up here there is water, shelter, and plenty of passing insects. 320 00:32:25,978 --> 00:32:26,710 Yep, gotcha. 321 00:32:28,414 --> 00:32:32,482 Life is so good, some frogs will spend their entire lives 322 00:32:32,518 --> 00:32:37,153 in a single bromeliad, and over millennia 323 00:32:37,189 --> 00:32:39,822 the frogs and the bromeliads have 324 00:32:39,858 --> 00:32:41,625 evolved alongside each other. 325 00:32:43,862 --> 00:32:47,030 Today, there are more than 1,000 species 326 00:32:47,165 --> 00:32:52,102 of bromeliad, many harboring their own unique species 327 00:32:52,237 --> 00:32:52,903 of frog. 328 00:33:00,245 --> 00:33:02,279 But there are dangers even here. 329 00:33:04,583 --> 00:33:06,750 I mean, I sense danger. 330 00:33:08,854 --> 00:33:09,553 Yeah, there it is. 331 00:33:18,697 --> 00:33:22,065 It was in this rich forest that the golden lion 332 00:33:22,067 --> 00:33:23,633 tamarin found its niche. 333 00:33:25,004 --> 00:33:25,836 This guy again. 334 00:33:29,008 --> 00:33:32,408 30 million years after its African ancestors first 335 00:33:32,444 --> 00:33:36,012 arrived, in Mata Atlantica it evolved 336 00:33:36,048 --> 00:33:41,951 to become a unique species, but where other monkeys got bigger, 337 00:33:42,021 --> 00:33:42,853 it stayed small. 338 00:33:45,757 --> 00:33:47,657 A formula that works here though. 339 00:33:49,128 --> 00:33:52,696 It's agility and dexterity are the perfect combination 340 00:33:52,831 --> 00:33:56,833 for finding food in this infinitely complex three 341 00:33:56,968 --> 00:33:57,901 dimensional world. 342 00:34:03,909 --> 00:34:05,976 And they make up for their small size 343 00:34:05,978 --> 00:34:14,717 by working together as a family, but their evolutionary journey 344 00:34:14,753 --> 00:34:15,685 didn't stop there. 345 00:34:19,558 --> 00:34:24,260 This may be the oldest forest in South America, 346 00:34:24,329 --> 00:34:25,862 but it doesn't stand still. 347 00:34:30,869 --> 00:34:33,370 Over time, it has been constantly changing. 348 00:34:38,644 --> 00:34:41,211 When the Earth's climate gets wetter, 349 00:34:41,213 --> 00:34:46,583 the forest spreads, even reconnecting with the Amazon. 350 00:34:50,022 --> 00:34:54,824 And in drier times, it contracts, shrinking back 351 00:34:54,893 --> 00:34:57,160 into small isolated pockets. 352 00:35:00,632 --> 00:35:05,035 In isolation, life evolves in new directions, 353 00:35:05,170 --> 00:35:06,703 and then the process repeats. 354 00:35:08,707 --> 00:35:13,210 It's this change over time that is the final ingredient 355 00:35:13,212 --> 00:35:14,811 for such diversity. 356 00:35:26,959 --> 00:35:28,725 It has even changed the tamarin. 357 00:35:31,797 --> 00:35:34,864 There are not one, but four different species 358 00:35:34,933 --> 00:35:40,403 of lion tamarin in this forest and thousands of hairstyles 359 00:35:40,539 --> 00:35:42,772 distinguished mainly by the color of their coats. 360 00:35:45,744 --> 00:35:48,812 Their different faces, living proof of the power 361 00:35:48,947 --> 00:35:51,348 of this ancient forest to shape life. 362 00:35:56,955 --> 00:35:58,888 But recently, the forest has started 363 00:35:58,957 --> 00:36:01,024 to change in a different way. 364 00:36:08,834 --> 00:36:11,034 For millennia, the Mata Atlantica 365 00:36:11,036 --> 00:36:15,771 has been a force for evolution, but now a different change 366 00:36:15,807 --> 00:36:17,040 is coming to the forest. 367 00:36:24,116 --> 00:36:33,522 The effect was slow at first, but as human populations grew, 368 00:36:33,559 --> 00:36:35,425 so did the hunger for resources. 369 00:36:40,866 --> 00:36:42,932 The rate of destruction completely 370 00:36:42,935 --> 00:36:46,636 overtook the natural cycle of forest expansion. 371 00:36:50,776 --> 00:36:53,809 In just a few hundred years, the forest 372 00:36:53,845 --> 00:36:57,180 was reduced to a patchwork of isolated islands. 373 00:37:02,154 --> 00:37:06,656 Today, less than 10% of Mata Atlantica is left. 374 00:37:10,895 --> 00:37:13,496 Many of its species lost forever. 375 00:37:18,670 --> 00:37:23,573 One of the most remarkable forests on Earth forgotten. 376 00:37:37,623 --> 00:37:41,257 But in the few tiny pockets that remain 377 00:37:41,260 --> 00:37:43,159 is a glimpse of what once was. 378 00:37:48,467 --> 00:37:52,402 This patch of forest, the size of a dozen football fields, 379 00:37:52,537 --> 00:37:56,006 contains one of the few remaining populations 380 00:37:56,141 --> 00:37:57,741 of golden lion tamarins. 381 00:38:05,017 --> 00:38:09,653 By the 1970s, only 300 golden lion tamarins were left. 382 00:38:11,923 --> 00:38:19,128 Extinction was imminent, but now there is hope. 383 00:38:19,164 --> 00:38:20,764 Thank goodness they're freaking cute. 384 00:38:23,368 --> 00:38:24,768 These tamarins are being watched. 385 00:38:30,475 --> 00:38:33,343 They can try and hide, but it won't work. 386 00:38:34,846 --> 00:38:37,913 Some of the family are wearing radio collars. 387 00:38:37,949 --> 00:38:41,317 Mostly they listen to classic rock, 388 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:43,586 and they've been marked with unique patterns 389 00:38:43,588 --> 00:38:45,788 of dark hair dye to help identify 390 00:38:45,824 --> 00:38:47,457 every precious individual. 391 00:38:51,029 --> 00:38:54,063 In the 1970s, zoos around the world 392 00:38:54,099 --> 00:38:57,066 started breeding programs to reintroduce tamarins 393 00:38:57,135 --> 00:39:02,205 back to the wild, and ever since, conservationists have 394 00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:04,674 been working day and night to protect 395 00:39:04,676 --> 00:39:07,110 this icon of Mata Atlantica. 396 00:39:11,850 --> 00:39:14,350 Monitoring like this is essential to ensure 397 00:39:14,386 --> 00:39:20,089 the future of the species, and they've 398 00:39:20,125 --> 00:39:22,359 made a dramatic comeback. 399 00:39:22,494 --> 00:39:24,594 They're the Rocky Balboa's of tiny primates. 400 00:39:26,498 --> 00:39:30,600 Today, there are over 3,000 tamarins living in the wild. 401 00:39:34,573 --> 00:39:37,106 But bringing them back from the brink of extinction 402 00:39:37,175 --> 00:39:39,776 is only the beginning of the battle. 403 00:39:39,778 --> 00:39:40,677 That was a lot of Bs. 404 00:39:43,582 --> 00:39:46,583 To ensure the future of the tamarins and all Mata 405 00:39:46,585 --> 00:39:51,254 Atlantica's amazing inhabitants, the fragmented forest 406 00:39:51,256 --> 00:39:55,792 must be reconnected, and now ambitious plans 407 00:39:55,861 --> 00:39:57,994 are underway to do just that. 408 00:40:01,733 --> 00:40:03,299 Not a moment too soon. 409 00:40:06,538 --> 00:40:09,606 There are still remarkable discoveries here. 410 00:40:12,811 --> 00:40:16,479 So when a totally new species of tree porcupine 411 00:40:16,481 --> 00:40:21,384 appeared in 2013, people said, what the heck is that? 412 00:40:22,954 --> 00:40:25,955 It was named Coendou speratus. 413 00:40:25,957 --> 00:40:29,125 Speratus is Latin for hope. 414 00:40:34,699 --> 00:40:37,300 Over millions of years, this forest has 415 00:40:37,369 --> 00:40:39,269 been on a remarkable journey. 416 00:40:42,574 --> 00:40:50,680 Enduring cataclysmic events, but always creating more life. 417 00:40:59,658 --> 00:41:03,125 And its unique inhabitants survive 418 00:41:03,161 --> 00:41:05,261 on the brink of extinction. 419 00:41:07,566 --> 00:41:09,799 The hope is that the forgotten forest 420 00:41:09,934 --> 00:41:11,935 will never be forgotten again. 421 00:41:16,074 --> 00:41:19,242 I'm David Schwimmer and this has been more than I bargained for. 422 00:41:21,046 --> 00:41:23,679 Seriously, I mean, this is a lot of work, 423 00:41:23,715 --> 00:41:25,582 this mysterious planet thing. 424 00:41:27,185 --> 00:41:29,686 Oh, you're welcome. 425 00:41:29,821 --> 00:41:32,088 OK, I need some tea or something, guys. 426 00:41:33,625 --> 00:41:36,359 Are we still recording?