(UPLIFTING MUSIC)
(BIRDSONG)
NARRATOR: Forests and woodlands are the green lungs of the Earth
and vital to mankind's survival.
The air we breathe, the timbers we build with,
the medicines we take...
the lists of benefits they provide is exhaustive,
as is the list of other animals
making a meal of these resource-rich environments.
One of the largest can be found in the wilds of British Columbia.
British Columbia, or BC, as the locals like to call it,
is the westernmost province of Canada,
sitting between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains.
There are still incredible expanses of untouched wilderness here...
thousands of islands, tens of thousands of rivers and lakes
and forests that stretch as far as the eye can see.
With its mix of deciduous and coniferous trees,
the landscape changes dramatically with each passing season,
providing a magnificent backdrop and perfect stage
for these remarkable omnivores.
Two species living here in BC
are the grizzly and the nimble black bear.
Smaller in size than the grizzly bear,
black bears are still big animals.
Males weigh in at 270kg, and on their hind legs,
can stand a good head and shoulders taller than a person.
Between 120,000 and 150,000 black bears
live in British Columbia,
so the province can easily lay claim
to having one of the highest black bear populations in the world.
And black bear skeletons found on Vancouver Island
would indicate they've been living in this neck of the woods
for at least 10,000 years.
Grizzlies are well outnumbered here, with 15,000 in total.
But nonetheless,
that still amounts to a quarter of the entire North American population.
While lone male grizzlies will actively stalk and kill humans,
the bears along this stretch of river
have a very different type of prey in their sights.
The salmon run is in full swing...
a feast for the bears,
and for humans seeking a close but relatively safe encounter with them.
Every July, salmon rush in from the sea
and frantically swim upriver to breed.
But many won't make it past these ravenous predators
waiting to cut them off at the pass.
This is an important event for black and grizzly bears,
as they need to fatten up before winter kicks in.
Aside from salmon,
berries, seeds and vegetation make up the bulk of a bear's diet,
so these forests are as vital to their survival
as the rivers that run through them,
providing habitat and sustenance year round.
Grizzly bears have an amazing sense of smell,
even better than a dog's,
and can sense food from many kilometres away.
They can easily be distinguished from black bears
by their small, round ears, classic teddy bear looks,
strong shoulder humps and four-inch claws,
perfect for foraging and digging for food,
or taking on feisty prey.
Beyond North America, they're known as brown bears,
but here, everyone calls them grizzlies,
a name that references the long guard hairs
that grow on their backs,
giving them a grizzled appearance.
Khutzeymateen Provincial Park is a well-established sanctuary
for grizzly bears in British Columbia.
It contains a complete river system, fed by streams high in the mountains
that flow out into this estuary, then on to the Pacific Ocean.
The Sitka and spruce forests surrounding the inlet
provide shelter and an abundance of seasonal fruits and berries.
So all things considered,
Khutzeymateen is grizzly bear heaven.
It is the only sanctuary of its kind in the world,
where human access is quite restricted.
Grizzlies are generally solitary animals,
but they're not particularly territorial,
so they will comfortably come together
whenever and wherever food is ripe for the picking.
Like most bear species,
grizzly cubs are born in their mothers' forest den during winter,
only emerging when they've opened their eyes and grown a warm coat.
By this time, they're a decent size
and ready to have a go at getting their own food.
Mother bears will stay with their cubs for two or three years.
But once they split up,
her offspring invariably set up a home range for themselves nearby,
just to stay loosely in touch.
Because bears live in and use a variety of habitat types,
wildlife biologists refer to them as umbrella species.
In ensuring their protection,
many other species are indirectly protected as well.
The forests on Kangaroo Island,
13km off the coast of South Australia,
harbour a number of rare or threatened species.
Kangaroo Island was cut off from the mainland
by rising sea levels 9,000 years ago,
so pests such as foxes and rabbits introduced by European colonialists
are absent here,
so the native wildlife has an opportunity to thrive.
The nation's favourite forest-dwelling local is the koala.
Koalas live in pockets of dry eucalypt forest on the island.
Typically, eucalyptus trees have fire-resistant bark
and thick, leathery leaves that are full of oils
that prevent them from drying out in the hot sunshine.
These leaves are tough and poisonous,
but the koala has evolved an unusually long digestive organ,
which allows them to break down the toxins.
Eucalypt leaves are low in nutrition,
so koalas need to conserve their energy.
When they're awake, they'll almost always be eating,
as they need to get through 0.5-1kg of leaves per day.
This is not as straightforward or as easy as it sounds.
For even though there are 700 species of eucalypts in Australia,
koalas are seriously fussy,
preferring to eat the leaves of only two or three varieties.
Unless there's a drought, koalas don't need to drink.
The gum leaves provide all the moisture they need.
Each adult koala's habitat is made up of several trees
located within a specific home range.
Home ranges may overlap,
but unless koalas are breeding,
they won't visit one another's home trees.
Males will mark the territories of potential mates
by rubbing their scent, exuded from glands on their chests,
on to the trunks of their trees.
They then attract females living within that area by bellowing,
loudly advertising their genetic superiority through vocalisations.
(VOCALISING)
Koalas, like many Australian mammals, are marsupials,
and like most marsupials, the females have pouches,
where their young develop.
Joeys are blind and only 2cm long when they're born.
They stay in their mothers' pouches, suckling for six or seven months,
before they're big enough to emerge into the big, wide world.
Joeys spend the next few months riding on their mothers' back,
learning all about life in the animal kingdom's slow lane...
where sleeping up to 20 hours a day
is not only acceptable behaviour for a teenager,
it's mandatory.
Sharing the forest trees on Kangaroo Island are tawny frogmouths.
They are a nocturnal species that look a lot like owls,
but lack their distinctive curved talons.
By day and night, tawny frogmouths are well-camouflaged,
often appearing to be part of the tree they're roosting in.
They can be difficult to spot in the wild,
but Kangaroo Island has a facility where all the large birds
that naturally occur in the island's secluded forests
can be more easily encountered.
And one of the star attractions is the barn owl.
Barn owls have made a home for themselves
in forests all over the world.
By day, they will roost in hollow logs, caves or dense trees.
But at night, when they're looking for food,
they will move to likely wooded forests to hunt...
perching on branches that provide a direct launching pad
to the banquet table below.
On tonight's menu, a small rodent,
quickly seized in the talons and dispatched of in under a minute.
Barn owls will also hunt on the wing,
using their exceptional hearing to detect pray.
The shape of their facial discs
channels soundwaves towards their ears,
so owls can effectively pinpoint moving prey,
even on nights when there is little to no moonlight.
There are 216 owl species in the world,
and most favour a forest habitat.
The great horned owl,
with its whopping three-foot-plus wingspan
and distinguishing plumicorns on its head,
is the most common owl species in North America,
and readily encountered here in Denali,
one of America's most impressive national parks.
Covering 2.5 million hectares,
this remote haven for wildlife straddles the Alaska Range.
The standout feature in this landscape
is North America's tallest peak, 6,194m Denali.
Most of the terrain in this vast wilderness is tundra...
but at lower elevations,
the subalpine forests support a remarkable number of animals.
One species taking that all in its rather long-legged stride
is the moose.
At over 2m tall, the moose is the largest deer in the world,
and it's brilliantly adapted to the Denali environment.
The moose's large size helps it to conserve body heat.
When the snow is deep,
those impressive legs enable moose to dig deep for moss and lichens.
And as spring approaches, they use their long legs
to wade deep into lakes and marshes to forage on water plants.
Once summer arrives, the land bursts into life,
and moose can be found browsing on trees and shrubs,
which, given the climate and poor quality of the soils,
never reach their full size.
Moose lips are prehensile -
they can grip their food,
allowing the animal to carefully select the most nutritious tips
growing among the tough, woody branches.
As with all deer,
those colossal antlers are used for sparring during mating season.
Even antlers this size must be grown anew every spring
in preparation for the battle to become a father.
A small but significant population of some 150 moose
live in and around the forests in Jasper National Park...
the largest wilderness area in the Canadian Rockies.
The subalpine forests in Jasper
have a hard time competing for attention
amid such splendour...
colossal peaks, tranquil lakes, and crystal-clear rivers.
But these magnificent trees protect the park's watershed
by preventing soil erosion
and provide food and shelter for a great diversity of wildlife.
If danger threatens,
these mule deer will take cover deep inside the forest.
And to ensure young fawns are not separated from their fleeing mothers,
they have evolved the perfect beacon to follow -
a bright white rear end.
Another animal living in Jasper is the wapiti.
It too is a deer, marginally smaller than the moose,
but no less impressive to observe in the wild.
With over 1,300 living in the park, they are easily encountered.
During winter, they shelter deep in the forests,
which affords them a measure of protection from the elements
and a ready source of bark,
which they strip from the trees when other food sources are scarce.
Adult wapiti usually stay in single-sex herds for most of the year
until it's time to breed.
Bulls will challenge each other
for the right to mate with an entire harem,
and if push comes to shove,
they will wrestle with their antlers to assert dominance.
A key predator in the Canadian Rockies
used to be one of the most populous wild mammals in the world,
but now, it is somewhat elusive -
the grey wolf, also known as the timber wolf,
in deference to its preferred habitat.
They're not easily encountered in the wild,
but just beyond the township of Golden in British Columbia,
there's a place dedicated to raising awareness
and promoting the conservation of these magnificent animals.
These captive-born individuals live a semi-wild existence.
Every day, they're taken into the wilderness
and encouraged to wander free for a couple of hours.
Wild wolves live in social family groups
of about seven or eight animals,
with an alpha male and female in command.
They cannot run as fast as their prey,
so they hunt as a pack,
using a combination of tactics to outmanoeuvre their target.
In Australia,
dingoes play a very similar role in the ecosystem to wolves,
and employ many of the same tactics when hunting.
They've lived on the Australian mainland for at least 3,500 years,
and are descendants of a South Asian breed of grey wolf.
They can live in a variety of habitats in Australia,
but prefer the edges of woodlands, where water and prey are plentiful.
The lowland temperate forests
that cover much of the Great Dividing Range,
separating the East Coast from inland Australia,
are a key stronghold, providing shelter and plenty of food.
Opportunistic carnivores,
the dingo's diet includes native animals
such as kangaroos, wallabies and wombats,
as well as small reptiles and insects.
They are solitary hunters,
but will form packs when they're hunting larger game.
Producing between four and nine pups every year,
dingo parents will raise their young in a hollow log
or disused wombat burrow.
Only the dominant members of an established dingo pack will breed,
and once the pups have been weaned,
other adults help ensure the youngsters have enough to eat...
and do their best to keep them out of harm's way.
Their key predator in this part of the country
is the wedge-tailed eagle.
These pups are blissfully unaware of the threat they pose,
but fortuitously, their mother has their backs.
She can't afford to be anything but vigilant.
Even when she's away from her brood
hunting for food to fill their bellies,
she will keep one eye on the sky,
raising the alarm and racing to the rescue
at the first sign of danger.
These pups will be fully grown by seven months of age,
but may stay with their parents for a year,
learning to live the wild life of Australia's undisputed top dog.
As autumn descends on North America,
millions of butterflies prepare to embark on the journey of their lives.
A migratory marathon some 5,000km long.
Making use of the air currents,
this super generation of monarchs will fly up to 150km a day...
as they head, en masse, from their summer breeding and feeding grounds
to a place where they can ride out the winter...
huddled together on the branches and trunks
of great stands of oyamel fir trees,
such as these grand specimens
in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
100km north-west of Mexico City.
Most of the sites
favoured by the monarchs for their winter hibernation
are kept secret,
but eco-tourism is an increasingly important source of income
for the local people here,
so it is possible at their discretion
to experience this great natural spectacle in all its glory.
To save energy, the monarchs cluster together on the trees,
creating a microclimate that protects the insects from the cold.
When it's time for these butterflies to leave their roost,
they will follow the same migratory route in reverse,
but no single individual can hope to make it all the way back.
This phase of the monarchs' migration is more of a group effort
to ensure the perpetuation of the species...
a relay, where the baton for life is passed
from one generation to the next.
Those that have wintered over in Mexico fly the first leg,
stopping when they find a patch of milkweed plants
suitable as a nursery for the young.
Shortly after they've mated and laid their eggs,
the adult monarch butterflies die.
After a few days, the next generation hatch as caterpillars,
greedily feasting on the milkweed, before forming a chrysalis
and transforming into adult butterflies themselves.
This next wave of monarchs takes wing,
flying another few hundred kilometres
in search of the next viable patch of nutritious milkweed.
They mate and lay their eggs, and in so doing,
set the cycle in motion once again.
Since each individual butterfly on the return journey
will only live for 4-5 weeks,
it can take four or five generations
for the monarchs to complete their migration back to Canada.
There is still a great deal of mystery
surrounding this extraordinary migration,
and a lot of scientific debate about how and why it occurs.
But it's fair to assume there's a general consensus
that this is one of the most inspiring and intriguing
natural events on Mother Nature's calendar.
Another tiny forest creature that serves the greater good
is the green tree ant.
Each individual is no more than 10mm long,
but when thousands of them get together,
they are a force to be reckoned with.
Also called weaver ants,
these little insects live across the entire tropical north of Australia,
in rainforests and in woodland environments.
They are one of the most dominant and visible ant species
in the country,
due to their incredible balloon-shaped nests.
The construction of these enormous structures
is a true wonder of nature,
a tribute to the power of cooperation.
First, a group of worker ants will pull together a number of leaves
to form a chamber.
These are living leaves that remain attached to their branches,
so the nest will stay green and strong for a long time.
A second group of workers then come along
to secure the leaves in place,
each carrying a younger ant or grub.
These grubs can spin silk,
so the workers use them like glue sticks
to bind each nest for the colony together.
The green ants will fiercely defend their nest,
swarming out to bite anything that's perceived as an attacker.
This jack jumper ant doesn't stand a chance,
even one-on-one...
for the green ant can add insult to injury,
squirting acid directly onto the wound
he's already made with his jaws.
One green ant colony can contain many nests,
each with a designated function, to protect growing larvae...
house the workers...
or most importantly, house the queen.
In addition to protecting their own,
green ant nests aid other species in the environment.
The host tree is protected from leaf-eating insects
who are deterred by the ants.
Some butterflies deliberately lay their eggs in ant-inhabited trees.
The ant protects the emerging caterpillar in return for a meal.
The caterpillar secretes a delicious sugary liquid, which the ants adore.
From one of the smallest forest animals on the planet
to one of the largest,
the magnificent Asian elephant.
Growing to just under 6.5m in length
and weighing in at 2,000-5,000kg,
Asian elephants are smaller,
but no less impressive than their African cousins.
They have five toenails on their front feet,
whereas the African elephant only has four.
Their ears are significantly smaller,
but just as effective when it comes to radiating heat
to keep their body temperature cool.
They use their trunks for smelling and breathing,
but also for eating and drinking,
and with 100,000 different muscles and tendons in play,
they are clearly very flexible organs.
(ELEPHANTS TRUMPETING)
Elephants will nap for a few hours at a time at night,
but given the amount of food they need to consume to survive,
most of their lives are spent on the move, foraging.
Elephants are revered in some Asian cultures,
but equally prized by others for their strength.
For thousands of years,
they were fair game to capture from the wild and domesticate.
Now this practice has been widely banned
in order to conserve the few natural herds that remain.
Laos was once known as Lan Xang, 'the Land of a Million Elephants'.
Today, there are around 1,800,
but only half of them live in the wild.
These elephants were rescued
from an unregulated logging camp in northern Laos,
where they were used as a low-budget alternative
to industrial heavy lifting machinery,
destroying the very habitat they needed to survive.
Now they lead a far less stressful working life
here on the outskirts of Luang Prabang.
Many conservationists would argue
that elephant rides should also be a thing of the past,
but they currently give communities such as this an income
and good reason to protect these beautiful animals
that might otherwise be killed for damaging farmlands
or slaughtered for their tusks, meat and skin.
While these rescued elephants
are not free to venture through the forests on their own,
they are treated with compassion and kindness...
and clearly have a far better working life
than they were previously condemned to endure.
The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world.
It lives in Tasmania,
Australia's main island off the south-east coast of the mainland.
A favourite haunt is the Tarkine Wilderness,
the second largest tract of coastal temperate rainforest in the world.
Much of the forest here is inaccessible
to all but the most determined.
Hidden valleys and thick forests
support ecosystems that haven't altered for thousands of years.
About the size of a cat, the devil prefers carrion to live prey.
Tasmanian devils will eat the carcass of almost anything they find,
happily devouring flesh, fur and bones.
They perform an important service
by getting rid of any corpses that would otherwise rot in the forest,
potentially spreading disease to other animals.
Devils have a ferocious appetite
and can eat 40% of their bodyweight in just 30 minutes.
They're famous for their rowdy behaviour and aggressive noises.
Devils have a range of postures and vocalisations
they use to locate, communicate and compete with one another -
growls, screeches and vibratos.
When eating communally, devils avoid crowding each other out
by using their whiskers
to determine a sufficient space between themselves,
and in so doing,
they avoid the risk of being bitten during the feeding frenzy.
One of Australia's most familiar marsupials
can be found in forests throughout Tasmania and the mainland -
the possum.
There are 23 different possum species in Australia,
and at least as many more in New Guinea.
Possums are mainly herbivorous,
spending most of their time high in the boughs of large trees,
or searching for grasses, flowers and juicy shrubs.
Brushtail possums are the largest species in Australia,
and the most common.
They're nocturnal, and will often retreat into tree hollows
to snooze during the day,
but even these provide little guarantee of protection.
(SCREECHING)
Brushtails are a feisty species
and will put up a fight to defend their territory.
But against a larger, more formidable opponent
such as this aggressive lace monitor,
this mum was destined to lose the battle
to protect her young.
Ringtails are another relatively easy possum to encounter.
They will build themselves spherical nests, or dreys,
fashioned from shredded bark and grass.
They are agile climbers
and will use their tails as an extra hand,
enabling them to more effectively gather food.
Ringtails usually only eat the fresh tips of leaves
and are partial to the nectar on flowers.
Australia's most spectacular possum can fly.
This is the sugar glider.
A flap of loose skin between the glider's fifth finger and first toe
can stretch out to create a kind of wingsuit
that allows the glider to sail almost effortlessly
through the trees.
But while they're still too young to be airborne,
they must retreat from forest bullies by more conventional means.
With good reason,
pandas are probably the most adored forest animal in the world.
Many zoos have panda enclosures,
where it's possible to observe them at close range.
But nothing beats seeing this magnificent bear in the wild.
Pandas once lived throughout Southern China,
but today, their habitat is restricted to the Sichuan Province.
The World Heritage-listed landscape here is breathtaking...
a wonder of waterfalls, mineral-rich lakes
and diverse forest ecosystems that vary with the altitude.
The entire province is surrounded by mountains,
which receive heavy snowfall in the winter,
but the climate in the valleys is unusually mild,
allowing lush corridors of bamboo to grow
between the region's thick deciduous forests.
An adult panda can eat 40kg of bamboo per day,
a formidable task,
aided by big wrist bones that function like opposable thumbs.
They're great for grasping bamboo and climbing.
Biologists are convinced
that like their grizzly and polar bear relatives,
pandas were once carnivorous.
Indeed, they still have the teeth and digestive system
of a committed meat eater.
They will eat the occasional mouse or insect,
but otherwise, modern pandas subsist almost entirely on bamboo.
Even though pandas are considered a national treasure in China,
there are fewer than 2,000 left in the wild.
To stop their numbers falling further still,
pandas are now protected,
and several rehabilitation and breeding centres
have been established to help build the population.
These are staffed by local scientists
and volunteers from all across the globe,
animal lovers,
who are intent on making a difference to the lives of China's pandas,
no matter how menial the task may seem.
With the view to raising as many captive-born pandas as possible,
the panda nursery in Chengdu
actively monitors the growth and health
of all cubs born at their facility.
The more pandas they can breed and successfully raise here,
the more pandas there will be in the wild.
China's breed-and-release program
is slowly but surely helping wild panda numbers to rebound
after decades in decline.
So much so, the IUCN,
the International Union for Conservation of Nature,
recently announced the giant panda has had an upgrade to their status,
moving from the endangered species list
to the less onerous vulnerable one.
They're not quite out of the woods yet,
but with animal lovers all around the world
rallying to support their cause,
they are well on their way to salvation.
Forests throughout the world are rich and complex environments,
and they support an equally rich and complex menagerie of animals...
roaming through the undergrowth...
sleeping in the treetops...
eating their way through nature's great smorgasbord.
Wherever and whenever they choose to reveal themselves
in all their wild, untamed glory,
they truly do leave us in awe.
Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv