1 00:00:34,047 --> 00:00:36,685 Oh, God! 2 00:00:45,087 --> 00:00:49,967 This, six foot below the surface of the earth, 3 00:00:49,967 --> 00:00:53,847 is the coolest place in the entire colony. 4 00:00:53,847 --> 00:01:00,327 And it draws down the hot, stale air from above... 5 00:01:00,327 --> 00:01:03,682 I'm being bitten! 6 00:01:04,647 --> 00:01:07,367 ...draws it down from above, 7 00:01:07,367 --> 00:01:13,007 down these deep, long chimneys which extend right up the side. 8 00:01:13,007 --> 00:01:17,602 (DIRECTOR) Sorry, David, cut! We'll have to do it again, we couldn't see you. 9 00:01:22,527 --> 00:01:25,767 If you're making a series of films about animal behaviour, 10 00:01:25,767 --> 00:01:29,327 seeing the narrator may or may not be useful. 11 00:01:29,327 --> 00:01:32,767 But you certainly need to see the animals. 12 00:01:32,767 --> 00:01:35,207 This is the tropical rainforest, 13 00:01:35,207 --> 00:01:39,967 famous for being the richest proliferation of life on Earth, 14 00:01:39,967 --> 00:01:42,844 so where are the animals? 15 00:01:44,327 --> 00:01:49,847 You can walk for hours and not see any, let alone get close enough to film them. 16 00:01:49,847 --> 00:01:55,363 But they're here all right. You can hear them all around. 17 00:01:56,447 --> 00:02:01,235 (VARIOUS ANIMAL SOUNDS) 18 00:02:09,487 --> 00:02:11,207 At last, something. 19 00:02:11,207 --> 00:02:16,917 Only a fleeting glance, and hardly the most appealing view. 20 00:02:19,487 --> 00:02:22,887 Chimpanzees. They're hunting colobus monkeys. 21 00:02:22,887 --> 00:02:27,207 But I only know that because I'm with an expert: Christophe Boesch. 22 00:02:27,207 --> 00:02:30,927 Christophe is a Swiss zoologist who, with his wife Hedwige, 23 00:02:30,927 --> 00:02:34,967 was the first to discover that chimpanzees in these West African forests 24 00:02:34,967 --> 00:02:38,640 regularly catch monkeys. 25 00:02:40,367 --> 00:02:47,078 Each member of the hunting team has his own particular job in setting up an ambush. 26 00:02:54,087 --> 00:02:56,607 To me, this seemed total confusion. 27 00:02:56,607 --> 00:02:59,847 And it was only Christophe's explanations and predictions 28 00:02:59,847 --> 00:03:05,159 that enabled the cameraman and me to follow the battle. 29 00:03:09,527 --> 00:03:12,927 When the hunt was over, it was only because we were with him, 30 00:03:12,927 --> 00:03:15,127 wearing clothes similar to his, 31 00:03:15,127 --> 00:03:19,927 that they allowed us to get close to them as they relaxed after the chase. 32 00:03:19,927 --> 00:03:23,607 How did get these animals so accustomed to you 33 00:03:23,607 --> 00:03:28,327 so we could stand as close to them as this? 34 00:03:28,327 --> 00:03:32,767 Just patience. It took us five years. 35 00:03:32,767 --> 00:03:38,207 Five years just following them, being always very quiet, never aggressive, 36 00:03:38,207 --> 00:03:43,127 always the same colours, same clothing, the same... patience, patience. 37 00:03:43,127 --> 00:03:47,247 - And how long every day? - It's difficult to know. 38 00:03:47,247 --> 00:03:53,087 At the beginning, we are ten hours in the forest and maybe see them two seconds. 39 00:03:53,087 --> 00:03:59,407 And it's just by accumulating the contacts that, with time, the contacts get longer. 40 00:03:59,407 --> 00:04:04,727 And after some times... Now, you see, we were able to follow them hours. 41 00:04:04,727 --> 00:04:07,967 But at the beginning, it was absolutely impossible. 42 00:04:07,967 --> 00:04:13,847 It's difficult to imagine what it was at the beginning, just bottoms running away. 43 00:04:13,847 --> 00:04:17,567 So after five years, you could get close to them, 44 00:04:17,567 --> 00:04:20,967 but then you now know them individually, don't you? 45 00:04:20,967 --> 00:04:24,647 For sure, that's the main purpose of this long-term study, 46 00:04:24,647 --> 00:04:26,927 to work on the individual level. 47 00:04:26,927 --> 00:04:28,927 How many are there in that group? 48 00:04:28,927 --> 00:04:31,887 - About 60. - And you know all 60? 49 00:04:31,887 --> 00:04:39,567 All 60, yeah, but two very newborn babies that are less than a month old. 50 00:04:39,567 --> 00:04:45,127 - How do you recognise them? - A chimp's face is easy to recognise. 51 00:04:45,127 --> 00:04:48,087 How they look and the nose form and the ears. 52 00:04:48,087 --> 00:04:52,327 I say even I recognise better chimpanzees than the human beings. 53 00:04:52,327 --> 00:04:57,647 Just the eyebrow and I know who it is. A human is more difficult. 54 00:04:57,647 --> 00:04:59,807 What about their voices? 55 00:04:59,807 --> 00:05:05,007 The voices. I can recognise each male individually by their voices. 56 00:05:05,007 --> 00:05:09,327 They are very clear and, I think, all the females should be possible to recognise. 57 00:05:09,327 --> 00:05:13,247 The chimps recognise each other, for sure, just by the voice. 58 00:05:13,247 --> 00:05:17,047 I can do it only with the males, but it's still a great help. 59 00:05:17,047 --> 00:05:20,487 Following the hunt, it's important to be with the hunters. 60 00:05:20,487 --> 00:05:24,807 If I know the voices I can say, "OK, here's Brutus, let's go there", 61 00:05:24,807 --> 00:05:27,843 because I know he's the best hunter. 62 00:05:27,887 --> 00:05:32,367 Chasing bottoms and recognising eyebrows, for Christophe, are means to an end: 63 00:05:32,367 --> 00:05:35,567 understanding the way chimpanzee society works. 64 00:05:35,567 --> 00:05:39,647 His research has shed unexpected light on our own ancestry. 65 00:05:39,647 --> 00:05:44,007 It used to be thought that our primate ancestors only developed tool using, 66 00:05:44,007 --> 00:05:46,447 cooperative hunting and food sharing, 67 00:05:46,447 --> 00:05:50,367 when they left the rainforest and colonised the open savannahs. 68 00:05:50,367 --> 00:05:53,403 Christophe's findings, however, contradict that. 69 00:05:53,727 --> 00:05:57,607 When we compare chimpanzees, we are surprised to see the opposite. 70 00:05:57,607 --> 00:06:02,767 It's the forest chimps who tend to hunt more frequently, more sophisticatedly, 71 00:06:02,767 --> 00:06:05,447 cooperate much more, share more food, 72 00:06:05,447 --> 00:06:08,127 make more tools, use more tools. 73 00:06:08,127 --> 00:06:11,607 - It's rather a surprise. - Very much so. 74 00:06:11,607 --> 00:06:14,325 Yeah. 75 00:06:14,967 --> 00:06:16,967 Does that mean they're going? 76 00:06:16,967 --> 00:06:21,007 No. They might be, but if a group's resting like that, 77 00:06:21,007 --> 00:06:25,287 infants, there is always some fight, something. 78 00:06:25,287 --> 00:06:29,847 When we were talking earlier, you inadvertently described yourself 79 00:06:29,847 --> 00:06:32,247 as a member of the chimp group. 80 00:06:32,247 --> 00:06:35,207 You said someone was coming to join "us", 81 00:06:35,207 --> 00:06:39,287 and actually you meant "the group of chimps". 82 00:06:39,287 --> 00:06:44,887 Yeah, I feel part of the group, but I'm sure the chimps don't feel I am. 83 00:06:44,887 --> 00:06:51,647 So if I say "us", it's just my personal bias because I have to behave like the chimps. 84 00:06:51,647 --> 00:06:54,567 Sometimes I even feel, the way they look at me, 85 00:06:54,567 --> 00:06:57,647 that I am making mistakes... 86 00:06:57,647 --> 00:06:59,407 What kind of mistakes? 87 00:06:59,407 --> 00:07:04,767 As I told you, it's when we are going on patrol to the neighbour territory, 88 00:07:04,767 --> 00:07:08,887 so we tend to be very... "We"! You see my mistake. 89 00:07:08,887 --> 00:07:13,047 They tend to be very silent, and they don't even... 90 00:07:13,047 --> 00:07:18,367 You've seen the way they walk. They try not to make a single noise. 91 00:07:18,367 --> 00:07:20,847 I'm just a human and I make lots of noise, 92 00:07:20,847 --> 00:07:25,007 and they always look at me in a reproval way, 93 00:07:25,007 --> 00:07:29,407 as if I've made too much noise, so I'm trying to be very... 94 00:07:29,407 --> 00:07:31,847 ...trying to be part of the group. 95 00:07:31,847 --> 00:07:33,927 For hunting, it's the same. 96 00:07:33,927 --> 00:07:38,487 A group of hunters will arrive under a group of colobus without being noticed. 97 00:07:38,487 --> 00:07:43,687 So I've trained myself alone to walk under a group of colobus, 98 00:07:43,687 --> 00:07:48,647 so that I will not disturb my chimpanzees before they hunt. 99 00:07:48,647 --> 00:07:52,167 It's only too easy to empathise with chimpanzees, 100 00:07:52,167 --> 00:07:55,487 but ants, surely, are totally inscrutable. 101 00:07:55,487 --> 00:07:59,127 How could you possibly develop a fellow feeling for these? 102 00:07:59,127 --> 00:08:02,327 If anyone has done so, it must be Nigel Franks. 103 00:08:02,327 --> 00:08:05,407 He guided our filming of army ants in Panama, 104 00:08:05,407 --> 00:08:10,639 and I also tracked him down to his laboratory in Bath University. 105 00:08:11,367 --> 00:08:14,287 He confessed that he really liked ants. 106 00:08:14,287 --> 00:08:18,087 It's a very strange thing. I also admire them enormously. 107 00:08:18,087 --> 00:08:21,887 If we were to walk onto Barra Colorado Island together 108 00:08:21,887 --> 00:08:24,327 and find some army ants at last, 109 00:08:24,327 --> 00:08:28,687 I can hardly believe what I'm seeing, all the complexity and the organisation. 110 00:08:28,687 --> 00:08:31,687 My heart skips a beat, it's so exciting. 111 00:08:31,687 --> 00:08:36,687 You stand two inches from the edge of a trail, and they don't even know you're there. 112 00:08:36,687 --> 00:08:38,967 That's the beauty of studying ants. 113 00:08:38,967 --> 00:08:41,927 Their world is so different, you can observe them 114 00:08:41,927 --> 00:08:45,167 like an Olympian god, without even interfering. 115 00:08:45,167 --> 00:08:48,927 These merciless hunters bring back their booty to the bivouac, 116 00:08:48,927 --> 00:08:52,367 a million ants clinging together in a huge ball. 117 00:08:52,367 --> 00:08:56,807 Although this camp site is always shifting, with Nigel's guidance we found it. 118 00:08:56,807 --> 00:08:59,167 But what goes on inside? 119 00:08:59,167 --> 00:09:03,487 The only way past these vicious guards was with a long optical probe 120 00:09:03,487 --> 00:09:07,087 normally used by doctors to look inside the human body. 121 00:09:07,087 --> 00:09:11,087 And the view it gave thrilled Nigel as much as us. 122 00:09:11,087 --> 00:09:15,967 These army ants are devouring other ants, and you've got all these voracious larvae. 123 00:09:15,967 --> 00:09:21,087 How do they control them? All these hungry things live inside a wall of ants. 124 00:09:21,087 --> 00:09:23,607 How do they prevent them eating one another? 125 00:09:23,607 --> 00:09:27,167 Nobody, before that filming expedition, had been able 126 00:09:27,167 --> 00:09:29,367 to look into a bivouac without disturbing it. 127 00:09:29,367 --> 00:09:32,527 To see how they were beautifully holding on to each larva... 128 00:09:32,527 --> 00:09:35,807 There's a living colony creating a basketwork, 129 00:09:35,807 --> 00:09:39,727 and we hadn't been able to look into it, so it was a revelation. 130 00:09:39,727 --> 00:09:43,647 Is this pure research, just because you're interested in ants, 131 00:09:43,647 --> 00:09:46,087 or do they have a deeper significance? 132 00:09:46,087 --> 00:09:48,887 I see deep significance in studying natural history, 133 00:09:48,887 --> 00:09:53,407 even in just knowing what's living in this world that we're all living on. 134 00:09:53,407 --> 00:09:57,647 But, in addition, ants have some technologies 135 00:09:57,647 --> 00:10:00,487 that we're only just beginning to explore. 136 00:10:00,487 --> 00:10:03,327 For example, there's no foreman, nobody's in charge, 137 00:10:03,327 --> 00:10:05,487 the queen's not giving out instructions. 138 00:10:05,487 --> 00:10:10,847 They all simply interact with one another and react to one another's successes. 139 00:10:10,847 --> 00:10:14,487 So we can look at how a lot of simple processing units, 140 00:10:14,487 --> 00:10:17,527 albeit ant workers, interact and communicate 141 00:10:17,527 --> 00:10:21,567 so you get the emergence of complexity in structure. 142 00:10:21,567 --> 00:10:25,887 That can tell us about technologies possibly involving teams of robots, 143 00:10:25,887 --> 00:10:28,007 or how to wire different computers together. 144 00:10:28,007 --> 00:10:30,807 After all, they're just simple processing units. 145 00:10:30,807 --> 00:10:35,327 We can really learn extremely deep and important lessons from studying them, 146 00:10:35,327 --> 00:10:41,765 and yet you can go back to the natural history and rejoice in simply looking at them. 147 00:10:42,367 --> 00:10:45,807 Elephants, of course, are rather easier to spot than ants. 148 00:10:45,807 --> 00:10:50,087 But we hoped to film some of the major events in an individual's life. 149 00:10:50,087 --> 00:10:53,687 To do that, you need to know exactly who is who. 150 00:10:53,687 --> 00:10:58,607 Cynthia Moss, in Kenya, has been following one group of them for 25 years. 151 00:10:58,607 --> 00:11:01,367 I asked her how she'd started. 152 00:11:01,367 --> 00:11:06,887 The first thing we tried to do was to get to know all the elephants individually. 153 00:11:06,887 --> 00:11:11,567 At that time, there were about 500-600 elephants in the population. 154 00:11:11,567 --> 00:11:13,887 That was a very nice number 155 00:11:13,887 --> 00:11:19,207 because we felt it was possible to know each of those individuals. 156 00:11:19,207 --> 00:11:22,647 - How many hundred? - Between 500-600. 157 00:11:22,647 --> 00:11:28,687 - How long did it take you to do that? - Quite a long time. A couple of years. 158 00:11:28,687 --> 00:11:34,447 I think, in fact, it wasn't until 1978 that I knew every individual in the population. 159 00:11:34,447 --> 00:11:38,047 - How do you recognise them? - By their ears, first of all. 160 00:11:38,047 --> 00:11:40,047 That's the main characteristic. 161 00:11:40,047 --> 00:11:43,287 Their ears are never absolutely smooth along the edge. 162 00:11:43,287 --> 00:11:47,127 There's usually little nicks or holes or whatever. 163 00:11:47,127 --> 00:11:50,727 And also the vein pattern is very distinctive. 164 00:11:50,727 --> 00:11:57,087 But after a while, you get so used to them and you recognise the whole elephant. 165 00:11:57,087 --> 00:12:02,967 And we can recognise them maybe sometimes 100-200 metres away 166 00:12:02,967 --> 00:12:06,967 by just the body, the way it walks, the way it holds its head. 167 00:12:06,967 --> 00:12:09,327 Just as if you were walking along 168 00:12:09,327 --> 00:12:12,967 and a friend of yours was walking away from you across the street, 169 00:12:12,967 --> 00:12:14,687 you know that's Jack. 170 00:12:14,687 --> 00:12:19,567 And the same with elephants. We recognise the whole animal now. 171 00:12:19,567 --> 00:12:24,287 - Do you give them names or numbers? - Well, we give them names. 172 00:12:24,287 --> 00:12:28,007 We started out giving the males numbers and the females names. 173 00:12:28,007 --> 00:12:33,327 And, of course, I've been accused of being a female chauvinist for this. 174 00:12:33,327 --> 00:12:37,847 But it was hard enough thinking up enough names for the females. 175 00:12:37,847 --> 00:12:42,007 That's one of the major trials, trying to think up enough names. 176 00:12:42,007 --> 00:12:45,927 They each must have a unique first three letters. 177 00:12:45,927 --> 00:12:50,527 I've been through five of those names for babies books. 178 00:12:50,527 --> 00:12:54,167 What's your research day like? How do you start? 179 00:12:54,167 --> 00:12:59,607 Well, it depends really on what we're looking at at that time. 180 00:12:59,607 --> 00:13:01,527 We've done a number of studies. 181 00:13:01,527 --> 00:13:07,687 Now, for instance, I did a study that was just on calf behaviour. 182 00:13:07,687 --> 00:13:14,487 So what I did was to choose 14 calves and follow their lives for 18 months. 183 00:13:14,487 --> 00:13:19,687 Then my research day would consist of trying to find one of those calves, 184 00:13:19,687 --> 00:13:24,407 and then stay with it and build up a record of how that calf developed, 185 00:13:24,407 --> 00:13:29,567 when it started to feed, how much it suckled, how close it stayed to its mother, 186 00:13:29,567 --> 00:13:33,047 when it was one month and when it was nine months, 187 00:13:33,047 --> 00:13:36,327 just getting the developmental material. 188 00:13:36,327 --> 00:13:41,287 Filming the critical moments in the life of a calf, its mother, auntie or grandmother, 189 00:13:41,287 --> 00:13:44,327 is only possible with such detailed knowledge. 190 00:13:44,327 --> 00:13:46,167 It must be very demanding. 191 00:13:46,167 --> 00:13:50,647 You must think, if only I could look at something else other than this elephant. 192 00:13:50,647 --> 00:13:53,127 - Never, never. - Really? 193 00:13:53,127 --> 00:13:57,087 It's one of the most amazing things, that even I find surprising, 194 00:13:57,087 --> 00:14:01,127 that every time I go out to find elephants 195 00:14:01,127 --> 00:14:03,327 I'm looking forward to what I'm going to see. 196 00:14:03,327 --> 00:14:07,687 I know I'm going to see something interesting and I've never been bored. 197 00:14:07,687 --> 00:14:13,167 - Do you have favourites? - Yes, I'm embarrassed to say. 198 00:14:13,167 --> 00:14:14,967 - Why? - I don't know. 199 00:14:14,967 --> 00:14:21,967 It's something about the way they interact, maybe, with the rest of the family, 200 00:14:21,967 --> 00:14:29,566 certain personalities that we like, and I have a new favourite whose name is Tulip. 201 00:14:29,567 --> 00:14:34,887 She's just a very sweet calf and is full of fun, she does a lot of playing. 202 00:14:34,887 --> 00:14:40,007 She comes around the camp a lot, that whole family is here, so I see them a lot. 203 00:14:40,007 --> 00:14:44,487 You do get very caught up in their lives, what's going to happen to them, 204 00:14:44,487 --> 00:14:47,967 when is so-and-so going to reach sexual maturity, 205 00:14:47,967 --> 00:14:54,007 will she have the calf, will it live, who will she mate with? 206 00:14:54,007 --> 00:14:58,127 You do get caught up in the whole history of the family. 207 00:14:58,127 --> 00:15:02,047 There may be some austere and puritanical scientist 208 00:15:02,047 --> 00:15:05,127 who'd say that if you call an elephant, say, Elizabeth, 209 00:15:05,127 --> 00:15:09,247 you would be, almost inevitably, conferring human characteristics on it. 210 00:15:09,247 --> 00:15:12,527 - Do you think that's a danger? - Not any longer. 211 00:15:12,527 --> 00:15:15,607 It could be in the beginning of a study, 212 00:15:15,607 --> 00:15:22,087 but elephants are such overwhelming creatures in their own lifestyle 213 00:15:22,087 --> 00:15:27,127 that you soon stop any ideas that they might be human 214 00:15:27,127 --> 00:15:30,967 or might have human attributes. 215 00:15:30,967 --> 00:15:33,567 But we must share some characteristics. 216 00:15:33,567 --> 00:15:42,076 I mean characteristics like bad temper or jealousy or sexiness or something. 217 00:15:42,487 --> 00:15:49,687 I think there are some that you could use English words to describe, 218 00:15:49,687 --> 00:15:56,047 such as... I've always said elephants can experience something similar to joy. 219 00:15:56,047 --> 00:15:58,207 Just being with them a short while 220 00:15:58,207 --> 00:16:01,247 you realise they're certainly experiencing some kind of emotion. 221 00:16:01,247 --> 00:16:05,647 If you use the word joy, you're accused of being anthropomorphic, 222 00:16:05,647 --> 00:16:08,047 but there is some sort of elephantine joy, 223 00:16:08,047 --> 00:16:11,527 we just don't have the vocabulary to create a new word. 224 00:16:11,527 --> 00:16:17,647 But it's certainly there and it's similar to human excitement and happiness. 225 00:16:17,647 --> 00:16:22,607 But I don't know what you could call it that would satisfy the purists. 226 00:16:22,607 --> 00:16:25,047 Cynthia's elephants were very cooperative. 227 00:16:25,047 --> 00:16:28,727 But these waders in Norfolk are always extremely nervous. 228 00:16:28,727 --> 00:16:33,207 To film them effectively you need more than just powerful lenses and hides. 229 00:16:33,207 --> 00:16:35,527 You also need some inside knowledge, 230 00:16:35,527 --> 00:16:39,727 and RSPB warden Paul Fisher certainly has that. 231 00:16:39,727 --> 00:16:41,807 When the tide begins coming in, 232 00:16:41,807 --> 00:16:45,727 it covers over the feeding grounds, the mud-flats out there, 233 00:16:45,727 --> 00:16:51,247 and the birds are forced more and more to come in towards the shore 234 00:16:51,247 --> 00:16:56,607 onto smaller areas of mud, gathering together in larger and larger numbers. 235 00:16:56,607 --> 00:17:00,087 He knows that the biggest tides drive the birds off the estuary, 236 00:17:00,087 --> 00:17:03,840 forcing them to roost in a nearby gravel pit. 237 00:17:03,927 --> 00:17:07,807 I think we can look forward to the next couple of days, 238 00:17:07,807 --> 00:17:10,207 when there'll be particularly high tides, 239 00:17:10,207 --> 00:17:13,327 amongst the highest we can expect in the year, 240 00:17:13,327 --> 00:17:16,207 and at that time, although it doesn't look much now, 241 00:17:16,207 --> 00:17:18,567 looking out over these shingle sites, 242 00:17:18,567 --> 00:17:24,482 we can expect to see 40-, 50-, 60,000 birds roosting here. 243 00:17:24,687 --> 00:17:31,045 One shot we particularly wanted was of a huge flock wheeling above my head. 244 00:17:34,447 --> 00:17:36,927 With the birds all crowded together as predicted, 245 00:17:36,927 --> 00:17:40,887 Paul knew exactly the right tactics to get it. 246 00:17:40,887 --> 00:17:44,367 Yes, somewhere around here for the exact flightline. 247 00:17:44,367 --> 00:17:47,567 Now then, yes, I think probably about here, 248 00:17:47,567 --> 00:17:51,927 because the birds will fly in from that direction there, over the wall, 249 00:17:51,927 --> 00:17:57,087 and make a beeline for this part of the marsh over there. 250 00:17:57,087 --> 00:18:00,607 So I think if we had the camera crew here, 251 00:18:00,607 --> 00:18:03,087 I think they'll fly practically over his head. 252 00:18:03,087 --> 00:18:07,567 Now, as so often, it's just a case of patient waiting. 253 00:18:07,567 --> 00:18:13,561 There are warmer places to do that than the Norfolk coast at dawn in November. 254 00:18:18,407 --> 00:18:22,327 They'll only make the flight from gravel pit to mud-flat once. 255 00:18:22,327 --> 00:18:26,603 If we miss it, we may not get another chance. 256 00:18:31,287 --> 00:18:33,766 They're on the road. 257 00:19:03,167 --> 00:19:06,556 Just what we wanted. 258 00:19:06,887 --> 00:19:10,567 (HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRR) 259 00:19:10,567 --> 00:19:13,287 But birds can be very obliging. 260 00:19:13,287 --> 00:19:17,647 We never had a more cooperative subject during the three years of filming 261 00:19:17,647 --> 00:19:22,567 than the one I met here among the stunted palm scrub of southern Florida. 262 00:19:22,567 --> 00:19:25,047 It's a harsh territory for birds. 263 00:19:25,047 --> 00:19:28,927 Food is hard to find and there aren't many places to build a nest, 264 00:19:28,927 --> 00:19:31,567 but it's the home of an interesting bird 265 00:19:31,567 --> 00:19:36,327 that has been studied almost as intensively as any bird in the world. 266 00:19:36,327 --> 00:19:38,727 And this is it! 267 00:19:38,727 --> 00:19:40,887 The Florida scrub jay. 268 00:19:40,887 --> 00:19:44,487 Because every jay in this part of the world has been banded 269 00:19:44,487 --> 00:19:46,447 for the past almost 20 years, 270 00:19:46,447 --> 00:19:49,887 we know who each is and what part they play in the community. 271 00:19:49,887 --> 00:19:52,607 (HE CALLS TO THE BIRDS) 272 00:19:52,607 --> 00:19:55,607 And that's all thanks to Glen Woolfenden. 273 00:19:55,607 --> 00:19:58,647 Is that noise your invention or one of their calls? 274 00:19:58,647 --> 00:20:00,767 I think it's a bird invention. 275 00:20:00,767 --> 00:20:05,327 It's a rough imitation of the call they make 276 00:20:05,327 --> 00:20:08,087 when they want to chase somebody from their territory. 277 00:20:08,087 --> 00:20:11,887 So why do they come to you if you're making that call? 278 00:20:11,887 --> 00:20:15,207 They've also learned that when we do it - 279 00:20:15,207 --> 00:20:18,367 and I'm sure they can tell us from other birds - 280 00:20:18,367 --> 00:20:21,367 it means food, like the peanuts in my hand. 281 00:20:21,367 --> 00:20:24,327 - Do you deliberately tame them? - Absolutely. 282 00:20:24,327 --> 00:20:31,167 Because our objective is to have the birds so tame that they tend to ignore us, 283 00:20:31,167 --> 00:20:36,807 so when we go to follow their behaviour we can watch a bird behaving normally. 284 00:20:36,807 --> 00:20:42,687 As soon as we want to watch them behaving normally, I take the food away, 285 00:20:42,687 --> 00:20:47,287 then they begin foraging on their own or other normal activities. 286 00:20:47,287 --> 00:20:50,567 So what do they think you are? 287 00:20:50,567 --> 00:20:53,167 That's complicated and varies with the individuals. 288 00:20:53,167 --> 00:20:55,567 We're here with the tamest individuals. 289 00:20:55,567 --> 00:20:57,607 Obviously, we're a food supply. 290 00:20:57,607 --> 00:21:00,647 When we visit their nest, they're a little uneasy. 291 00:21:00,647 --> 00:21:04,167 I don't think the tamest ones consider us predators, 292 00:21:04,167 --> 00:21:08,207 perhaps more comparable to a deer browsing through the habitat 293 00:21:08,207 --> 00:21:12,007 that might bump into the nest, so they try and scold us 294 00:21:12,007 --> 00:21:15,447 as they would a deer to move us away from the nest. 295 00:21:15,447 --> 00:21:19,967 So you can know every one of these birds as an individual, right? 296 00:21:19,967 --> 00:21:24,847 Absolutely, but we can't tell individuals apart by their appearance, 297 00:21:24,847 --> 00:21:28,847 but by the colour rings they have on their legs. 298 00:21:28,847 --> 00:21:33,927 We have ten colours, a silver band, and when you put them together, 299 00:21:33,927 --> 00:21:38,887 you could have 1,200 unique combinations before you had to duplicate any names. 300 00:21:38,887 --> 00:21:40,487 Who is this? 301 00:21:40,487 --> 00:21:45,287 This is a one-year-old female called Silver Azure Green Dash. 302 00:21:45,287 --> 00:21:50,087 The silver is the metal band, and the dash tells you which leg the bands are on. 303 00:21:50,087 --> 00:21:53,007 When was she hatched? What's her history? 304 00:21:53,007 --> 00:21:59,007 She's just under a year old. She was hatched in a nest relatively nearby. 305 00:21:59,007 --> 00:22:03,447 There's somebody back, a different one, this is its sister. 306 00:22:03,447 --> 00:22:08,407 She was hatched in a nest within 100 feet of here about a year ago. 307 00:22:08,407 --> 00:22:13,247 What's the advantage of this detailed study of every single bird? 308 00:22:13,247 --> 00:22:18,367 Our objective is to really know the sociology of a wild animal, 309 00:22:18,367 --> 00:22:22,087 the demography, the behaviour of the animal. 310 00:22:22,087 --> 00:22:27,567 If they're tame like this, we can follow virtually their every move 311 00:22:27,567 --> 00:22:30,717 with their paying very little attention. 312 00:22:33,127 --> 00:22:36,887 The Florida scrub jay has a social system known as 313 00:22:36,887 --> 00:22:39,887 "cooperative breeding" or "helpers at the nest". 314 00:22:39,887 --> 00:22:47,487 These birds, right now, are helping at a nest of their mother and stepfather. 315 00:22:47,487 --> 00:22:52,487 Last year, other birds, like the one on your head, helped raise these. 316 00:22:52,487 --> 00:22:56,287 So there's a cooperation within these families or clans 317 00:22:56,287 --> 00:22:58,607 that we're interested in studying. 318 00:22:58,607 --> 00:23:01,407 That was why we wanted to film them. 319 00:23:01,407 --> 00:23:04,007 The helpers didn't see us as a threat, 320 00:23:04,007 --> 00:23:09,842 but they gave us a perfect demonstration of how to see off real intruders. 321 00:23:10,047 --> 00:23:13,481 (SCREECHING) 322 00:23:24,167 --> 00:23:28,687 Do you manage to retain a scientific, dispassionate view 323 00:23:28,687 --> 00:23:31,567 or do you develop favourites among them? 324 00:23:31,567 --> 00:23:35,167 I have to remain objective in order to study science, 325 00:23:35,167 --> 00:23:39,327 so when we see a bird about to be depredated or that seems hungry, 326 00:23:39,327 --> 00:23:44,887 we don't change its natural behaviour, because we want to study nature. 327 00:23:44,887 --> 00:23:49,367 Secretly, perhaps, there are birds that one of us likes a little more, 328 00:23:49,367 --> 00:23:51,607 but we can't help him. 329 00:23:51,607 --> 00:23:56,407 This relationship between man and bird has been going on not just for 20 years, 330 00:23:56,407 --> 00:23:59,007 but for at least 20,000. 331 00:23:59,007 --> 00:24:04,687 The honeyguide will lead you to a nest of wild bees, if you understand its signals. 332 00:24:04,687 --> 00:24:09,167 This has been studied by Hussein Isack from the National Museum in Nairobi. 333 00:24:09,167 --> 00:24:14,127 Where I come from in northern Kenya, we use the bird to find honey. 334 00:24:14,127 --> 00:24:16,047 It's very important to us. 335 00:24:16,047 --> 00:24:20,567 So I've always been very interested to find how this behaviour works, 336 00:24:20,567 --> 00:24:23,927 what the benefits are for the bird and for people. 337 00:24:23,927 --> 00:24:27,207 So you've known honeyguides since you were small? 338 00:24:27,207 --> 00:24:33,207 Yes. I followed it as a young boy, but I never looked at it as a scientist. 339 00:24:33,207 --> 00:24:36,047 What have you discovered through this work? 340 00:24:36,047 --> 00:24:42,327 First, honeyguides know the locations of all bee colonies in an area. 341 00:24:42,327 --> 00:24:49,407 So when they find a person, they take him straight to the nearest bee colony. 342 00:24:49,407 --> 00:24:53,607 Previously, it was thought that when the bird finds a person they get excited, 343 00:24:53,607 --> 00:24:57,967 then fly in front of you, looking for bee colonies at the same time. 344 00:24:57,967 --> 00:24:59,487 This isn't true. 345 00:24:59,487 --> 00:25:04,047 They already know where the bees are, and they lead him to this fairly straight. 346 00:25:04,047 --> 00:25:10,127 That means that the honeyguide has a map in its mind of a very big territory. 347 00:25:10,127 --> 00:25:13,567 Yes. If the colony's far, say, two kilometres, 348 00:25:13,567 --> 00:25:18,087 the bird will fly straight and then come back after 2-3 minutes, 349 00:25:18,087 --> 00:25:21,647 so it's as if it has to go and establish the direction, 350 00:25:21,647 --> 00:25:26,647 which is difficult because the whole forest looks the same. 351 00:25:26,647 --> 00:25:32,527 That means, too, that the birds explore their area and find all the bees' nests. 352 00:25:32,527 --> 00:25:34,447 Yes. 353 00:25:34,447 --> 00:25:39,207 If you sit near a bee colony in a hide and don't make any noise, 354 00:25:39,207 --> 00:25:43,367 you will find, in the morning, several birds come to check and fly away. 355 00:25:43,367 --> 00:25:47,287 So they seem to check whether a honey badger or a person 356 00:25:47,287 --> 00:25:51,207 has attacked the bees in their absence... 357 00:25:51,207 --> 00:25:56,967 - So they even update their knowledge. - Yes, they do. 358 00:25:56,967 --> 00:26:00,207 When the bird arrives at the bee colony, 359 00:26:00,207 --> 00:26:04,807 the guiding call changes, so you know, or the honey hunters know, 360 00:26:04,807 --> 00:26:08,167 before they reach the colony, that the bird has arrived. 361 00:26:08,167 --> 00:26:11,367 This is important because some people may give up. 362 00:26:11,367 --> 00:26:16,727 Following the bird in the bush is so difficult, with acacia thorns, people do give up. 363 00:26:16,727 --> 00:26:21,087 So the bird has evolved a way of telling the person, "We have arrived, 364 00:26:21,087 --> 00:26:24,476 "now look for the colony". 365 00:26:43,047 --> 00:26:45,560 Thank you. 366 00:26:48,487 --> 00:26:51,159 Mmm! 367 00:26:51,167 --> 00:26:55,447 The bird has not only led us to honey, it has posed for us to film it, 368 00:26:55,447 --> 00:26:59,564 and that certainly deserves a reward. 369 00:27:04,527 --> 00:27:08,127 But how could this relationship have started? 370 00:27:08,127 --> 00:27:15,447 It is thought that guiding behaviour may have started with the honey badger. 371 00:27:15,447 --> 00:27:17,047 The honey badger? 372 00:27:17,047 --> 00:27:21,527 Because honey badgers dig up bees' nests, 373 00:27:21,527 --> 00:27:26,087 if the bees' nests are underground where they're accessible to the badger. 374 00:27:26,087 --> 00:27:29,487 It is thought maybe this behaviour started with the badger, 375 00:27:29,487 --> 00:27:32,767 so I want to see if this actually happens. 376 00:27:32,767 --> 00:27:35,287 How are you going to find that out? 377 00:27:35,287 --> 00:27:38,487 I've got a model car 378 00:27:38,487 --> 00:27:43,607 which I operate remote with this thing, 379 00:27:43,607 --> 00:27:47,407 and I have a badger on it. 380 00:27:47,407 --> 00:27:54,447 And if the bird does indeed guide a badger, it should respond. 381 00:27:54,447 --> 00:27:57,047 Obviously, I've got to operate it from a height. 382 00:27:57,047 --> 00:27:59,527 - Have you tried it yet? - I'm trying. 383 00:27:59,527 --> 00:28:02,567 The problem is the terrain, it's quite rough, 384 00:28:02,567 --> 00:28:05,287 and this little car gets stuck a lot, 385 00:28:05,287 --> 00:28:09,207 so I have to help it and the bird sees me. 386 00:28:09,207 --> 00:28:12,247 But I have started and I think they'll respond, 387 00:28:12,247 --> 00:28:16,876 if they do guide the real badger. 388 00:28:23,207 --> 00:28:27,847 In the Serengeti, another scientist uses electronic gadgetry 389 00:28:27,847 --> 00:28:30,367 to investigate his subjects. 390 00:28:30,367 --> 00:28:35,280 Craig Packer and his team work with lions. 391 00:28:45,167 --> 00:28:47,847 A powerful loudspeaker 392 00:28:47,847 --> 00:28:51,600 and a very long lead... 393 00:28:52,807 --> 00:28:57,846 ...the truck driven away to a safe distance... 394 00:28:58,287 --> 00:29:04,042 ...and a recording of the roar of a particularly powerful stranger. 395 00:29:05,567 --> 00:29:09,035 (ROAR FROM LOUDSPEAKER) 396 00:29:11,887 --> 00:29:16,084 (LOUDER ROAR FROM LOUDSPEAKER) 397 00:29:16,167 --> 00:29:20,607 The advantage of the playback experiment is that we can intervene, 398 00:29:20,607 --> 00:29:24,207 we can create a situation to elicit the behaviour, 399 00:29:24,207 --> 00:29:30,884 so that we can actually watch in detail in a controlled situation. 400 00:29:32,167 --> 00:29:36,527 It seems much of the roaring has to do with their territorial behaviour. 401 00:29:36,527 --> 00:29:39,487 If they've just chased away a stranger 402 00:29:39,487 --> 00:29:44,407 then they'll roar as a parting shot to the retreating opponents. 403 00:29:44,407 --> 00:29:49,327 But often it seems they're roaring more to stay in contact with their pride mates. 404 00:29:49,327 --> 00:29:53,207 The pride is often split up and spread over a wide area, 405 00:29:53,207 --> 00:29:59,447 and they might be roaring to find out where their companions are at any time. 406 00:29:59,447 --> 00:30:04,047 And they show a really interesting variety of cooperative behaviours. 407 00:30:04,047 --> 00:30:06,607 They hunt together, rear their cubs together, 408 00:30:06,607 --> 00:30:09,327 and they defend these group territories. 409 00:30:09,327 --> 00:30:13,607 We filmed Craig's lions tackling buffalo in the only way they can - 410 00:30:13,607 --> 00:30:15,327 as a team. 411 00:30:15,327 --> 00:30:17,367 Lions are such familiar animals 412 00:30:17,367 --> 00:30:21,567 you might think we know all about their behaviour, but not so. 413 00:30:21,567 --> 00:30:25,327 They generally seem to surprise us with what they're up to. 414 00:30:25,327 --> 00:30:29,207 How do they know if they live in a pride of ten 415 00:30:29,207 --> 00:30:31,887 they'd do better than a pride of 11? 416 00:30:31,887 --> 00:30:35,367 Then we say, "They can't do that. They can't count to ten". 417 00:30:35,367 --> 00:30:39,727 Then we look at our data and find they mostly live in prides of ten or less. 418 00:30:39,727 --> 00:30:42,967 It's as if they do make some of these decisions, 419 00:30:42,967 --> 00:30:45,527 and we've no idea how they do it. 420 00:30:45,527 --> 00:30:48,567 We assume they use certain rules of thumb. 421 00:30:48,567 --> 00:30:54,127 In a certain situation, I'm a bit hungrier than I would be if I did something else. 422 00:30:54,127 --> 00:30:56,487 It's not that they're counting to ten, 423 00:30:56,487 --> 00:30:59,967 but maybe something happens between ten and 11that we can't see, 424 00:30:59,967 --> 00:31:03,007 and they see something that correlates with that. 425 00:31:03,007 --> 00:31:06,447 After 25 years of study, 426 00:31:06,447 --> 00:31:11,687 do you think now you can empathise into the mind of a lion, 427 00:31:11,687 --> 00:31:15,407 that you can really know what it's feeling? 428 00:31:15,407 --> 00:31:19,767 Not really. A few things seem straightforward. 429 00:31:19,767 --> 00:31:25,087 If they're to kill or a male is guarding a female, they seem very possessive. 430 00:31:25,087 --> 00:31:27,167 It's obvious when they're hungry. 431 00:31:27,167 --> 00:31:33,607 But for the rest of the time, it's difficult to try to understand what's going on in there. 432 00:31:33,607 --> 00:31:38,847 If you look into the eyes of a baboon, you get the sense of wheels turning, 433 00:31:38,847 --> 00:31:45,487 and a sense of what this animal might be thinking about for its next move. 434 00:31:45,487 --> 00:31:50,247 But when you look into the eyes of a lion, it's like cold fish. 435 00:31:50,247 --> 00:31:57,197 It's just nothing. You cannot really read into it in the same way. 436 00:31:59,327 --> 00:32:03,767 The Sahara has one advantage for anyone studying animals. 437 00:32:03,767 --> 00:32:06,767 It's such a simple environment, it should be easy to sort out 438 00:32:06,767 --> 00:32:09,047 what's affecting an animal's behaviour. 439 00:32:09,047 --> 00:32:12,567 There aren't, of course, many animals, but there is one: 440 00:32:12,567 --> 00:32:16,400 an amazingly accomplished ant. 441 00:32:20,767 --> 00:32:24,567 Cataglyphis comes out at midday, when the sand is hottest, 442 00:32:24,567 --> 00:32:27,207 to collect insects killed by heatstroke. 443 00:32:27,207 --> 00:32:31,047 And after wandering about in all directions over the featureless sand, 444 00:32:31,047 --> 00:32:33,927 it can still run straight back to its nest. 445 00:32:33,927 --> 00:32:37,487 How does it know which way to go? 446 00:32:39,967 --> 00:32:44,167 The man who discovered the answer, making cataglyphis famous amongst ants, 447 00:32:44,167 --> 00:32:48,647 Rudiger Wehner, was still busy with his apparatus. 448 00:32:48,647 --> 00:32:51,967 What exactly is this extraordinary device? 449 00:32:51,967 --> 00:32:54,687 This trolley is an almost perfect tracking device 450 00:32:54,687 --> 00:32:57,407 for following accurately the coordinates of an ant. 451 00:32:57,407 --> 00:33:03,967 There is an ant walking in the centre, and we now follow its every movement. 452 00:33:03,967 --> 00:33:08,367 This ant has left its underground burrow to search for prey, 453 00:33:08,367 --> 00:33:14,807 and it has found a piece of food which it now carries straight back to its home. 454 00:33:14,807 --> 00:33:19,287 So you can see exactly which direction it's going in and plot its course. 455 00:33:19,287 --> 00:33:23,847 Yes. To find its way, the ant would use the position of the sun 456 00:33:23,847 --> 00:33:25,847 and other sources of light information. 457 00:33:25,847 --> 00:33:29,127 What about these extra bits on your device? 458 00:33:29,127 --> 00:33:33,287 By these devices, I can show that the ants use the sun as a compass. 459 00:33:33,287 --> 00:33:38,127 I now block off the direct light from the sun, 460 00:33:38,127 --> 00:33:43,207 and turn this mirror and reflect the light from the sun onto the ant. 461 00:33:43,207 --> 00:33:48,287 So, for the ant, the position of the sun has shifted by 180 degrees. 462 00:33:48,287 --> 00:33:54,441 And, actually, the ant turns around and now walks away from home. 463 00:33:54,527 --> 00:33:58,807 Well, it proves it. It's very unkind. 464 00:33:58,807 --> 00:34:03,767 You see it? It's still walking away from home, not knowing what it's doing. 465 00:34:03,767 --> 00:34:07,367 Is it only the sun? If the sun goes in, does it get lost? 466 00:34:07,367 --> 00:34:10,807 No, it would also use the pattern of polarised light in the sky, 467 00:34:10,807 --> 00:34:16,287 but this is now blocked off by this orange filter in the centre of the trolley. 468 00:34:16,287 --> 00:34:19,767 Polarised light? We can't see polarised light? 469 00:34:19,767 --> 00:34:23,527 Polarised light is invisible to humans, but insects can see it 470 00:34:23,527 --> 00:34:28,327 because they have built into their compound eyes tiny polarisers, 471 00:34:28,327 --> 00:34:30,687 by which they use polarised light as a compass. 472 00:34:30,687 --> 00:34:34,087 So there's a pattern in the sky that we can't see...? 473 00:34:34,087 --> 00:34:35,767 Exactly, a complicated pattern. 474 00:34:35,767 --> 00:34:40,407 The polarisers in the ant's eye are a mirror image of this pattern. 475 00:34:40,407 --> 00:34:43,807 The ant scans the sky to get the best fit 476 00:34:43,807 --> 00:34:47,407 of its own analyser pattern and the outside polariser pattern. 477 00:34:47,407 --> 00:34:49,287 Astounding! 478 00:34:49,287 --> 00:34:53,327 So Rudiger Wehner has shown that a tiny creature like an ant 479 00:34:53,327 --> 00:34:57,287 has an astonishingly advanced computing capacity. 480 00:34:57,287 --> 00:35:03,167 But one answer just prompts more questions, and he's still working away. 481 00:35:03,167 --> 00:35:06,207 His subjects do at least come out into the open. 482 00:35:06,207 --> 00:35:11,967 Other insects with equally astonishing talents live almost entirely below ground. 483 00:35:11,967 --> 00:35:13,967 Termites. 484 00:35:13,967 --> 00:35:16,807 Several million live in a single community, 485 00:35:16,807 --> 00:35:21,447 largely ruled by a huge, bloated egg factory, the queen. 486 00:35:21,447 --> 00:35:25,527 They build some of the biggest constructions made by any animals. 487 00:35:25,527 --> 00:35:29,007 To see inside, a delicate approach is no good. 488 00:35:29,007 --> 00:35:33,567 You need a pick, a shovel and a big hole. Mark Collins showed us. 489 00:35:33,567 --> 00:35:39,004 Here's one I prepared earlier. Let's go in and have a look. 490 00:35:41,007 --> 00:35:45,327 Here we are in the cellar, directly beneath the termites' main nest. 491 00:35:45,327 --> 00:35:49,407 Above us, unknown to science until a few years ago, 492 00:35:49,407 --> 00:35:55,767 these clay veins, spiral veins, going round and round under this huge clay plate, 493 00:35:55,767 --> 00:35:58,207 which cools the colony. 494 00:35:58,207 --> 00:36:01,607 It's absolutely spectacularly beautiful, I must say. 495 00:36:01,607 --> 00:36:06,127 But haven't we killed this colony now, by digging this hole in it? 496 00:36:06,127 --> 00:36:08,687 By our actions, I think not, 497 00:36:08,687 --> 00:36:12,767 because the termites, unbelievably, can move 1 cwt of soil overnight, 498 00:36:12,767 --> 00:36:15,327 and they can soon seal this hole. 499 00:36:15,327 --> 00:36:18,047 But, unfortunately, we're on the edge of a farm, 500 00:36:18,047 --> 00:36:23,287 and it's the farmers that kill off these nests by ploughing the soil. 501 00:36:23,287 --> 00:36:28,200 They destroy the termites' galleries and they can't survive that. 502 00:36:28,687 --> 00:36:34,487 In these soils, the termite population can reach 4-5,000 per square metre of soil. 503 00:36:34,487 --> 00:36:37,367 Once the bush is clear, 504 00:36:37,367 --> 00:36:42,007 termites start to feed on the crops the farmers are trying to grow. 505 00:36:42,007 --> 00:36:45,767 In some cases, like the nest we've seen, those species die out, 506 00:36:45,767 --> 00:36:47,527 but others become pests. 507 00:36:47,527 --> 00:36:50,767 You've spent a lot of years studying termites. 508 00:36:50,767 --> 00:36:53,727 Would you be sorry if they were exterminated? 509 00:36:53,727 --> 00:36:55,567 Very sorry indeed. 510 00:36:55,567 --> 00:37:01,047 They're crucial to the recyling of materials and nutrients through the ecosystem. 511 00:37:01,047 --> 00:37:04,847 They're the engine of the ecosystem, turning over the dead plant litter, 512 00:37:04,847 --> 00:37:07,007 bringing it back into the soil. 513 00:37:07,007 --> 00:37:10,287 Many predators depend upon them for their everyday sustenance. 514 00:37:10,287 --> 00:37:16,207 Not only that, when you look at the way they run their societies, 515 00:37:16,207 --> 00:37:19,887 they're so efficient that one can only admire them. 516 00:37:19,887 --> 00:37:22,127 There's so little waste, almost none. 517 00:37:22,127 --> 00:37:27,287 On these fungus gardens, they recycle everything, so unlike ourselves, in fact. 518 00:37:27,287 --> 00:37:33,122 We can learn things from them. The world would be a worse place without them. 519 00:37:33,847 --> 00:37:36,327 Even with the best advice, of course, 520 00:37:36,327 --> 00:37:40,567 filming doesn't necessarily go smoothly and without interruption. 521 00:37:40,567 --> 00:37:44,647 They move around in a flock, scratching around for what they can get... 522 00:37:44,647 --> 00:37:47,956 (COW MOOS) Cut! 523 00:37:49,367 --> 00:37:51,607 Cut! 524 00:37:51,607 --> 00:37:54,359 I've got sweat in my eyes. 525 00:37:55,327 --> 00:37:58,204 I burnt my thumb! 526 00:37:59,687 --> 00:38:02,527 They are remarkably sweet and delicious... 527 00:38:02,527 --> 00:38:05,757 And also gritty! (SPITS) 528 00:38:07,007 --> 00:38:10,327 But you wouldn't want anything to go wrong here. 529 00:38:10,327 --> 00:38:14,847 We'd read detailed scientific accounts of how these killer whales, orca, 530 00:38:14,847 --> 00:38:18,447 plunder the colony of sea lions on this beach in Patagonia. 531 00:38:18,447 --> 00:38:21,647 Although scientists can tell you what is happening, 532 00:38:21,647 --> 00:38:24,367 it's the cameraman who has to get the shots. 533 00:38:24,367 --> 00:38:27,167 And Paul Atkins took on the job. 534 00:38:27,167 --> 00:38:30,727 How practical did you think it was going to be? 535 00:38:30,727 --> 00:38:35,647 We thought it was going to be very practical to get good shots from the beach 536 00:38:35,647 --> 00:38:38,647 of whales attacking sea lions because, 537 00:38:38,647 --> 00:38:42,607 according to scientist Juan Carlos Lopez, it happened fairly predictably, 538 00:38:42,607 --> 00:38:46,887 at predictable places on the beach, so we knew we could get something. 539 00:38:46,887 --> 00:38:51,407 The very first day, Juan Carlos took us to a hotspot on the beach. 540 00:38:51,407 --> 00:38:54,687 He said, "Sit here a minute". The tide was right. 541 00:38:54,687 --> 00:38:58,007 And a whale charged out of the water and grabbed a sea lion. 542 00:38:58,007 --> 00:39:03,647 Juan Carlos was so pleased it had happened like he said it would. 543 00:39:03,647 --> 00:39:08,727 But after watching that for two weeks, and watching them take the pups out, 544 00:39:08,727 --> 00:39:14,407 toss them around like a volleyball game, it was quite horrifying to watch, 545 00:39:14,407 --> 00:39:18,047 we concluded it would be suicide to get in the water. 546 00:39:18,047 --> 00:39:20,007 We checked with Argentinian divers 547 00:39:20,007 --> 00:39:23,287 and they all said don't ever get in the water with orca. 548 00:39:23,287 --> 00:39:25,047 And Juan Carlos, 549 00:39:25,047 --> 00:39:30,757 who'd studied these whales for 17 years, had never been in the water with them. 550 00:39:33,727 --> 00:39:39,323 There was no problem getting shots from the safety of the beach. 551 00:39:40,767 --> 00:39:46,367 The spot where we got most of the shots of the whales grabbing sea lions 552 00:39:46,367 --> 00:39:50,807 we called "the dead zone", and it was an attack channel. 553 00:39:50,807 --> 00:39:55,207 Killer whales would be lying out at the beginning of the channel, waiting. 554 00:39:55,207 --> 00:39:59,567 Sea lions crossed this channel and a group of adults usually made it across 555 00:39:59,567 --> 00:40:02,683 without any response from the orca. 556 00:40:02,687 --> 00:40:08,287 But if there was one pup in that group, there could be five adults and one pup, 557 00:40:08,287 --> 00:40:14,156 the orca, from 100 yards out, detected that and charged right in. 558 00:40:30,247 --> 00:40:34,287 But there was another angle we wanted, which was lying on the beach, 559 00:40:34,287 --> 00:40:37,567 like a seal, unfortunately, right in "the dead zone". 560 00:40:37,567 --> 00:40:40,247 We were trying to get a point-of-view shot, 561 00:40:40,247 --> 00:40:45,081 as though it was the point of view of the killer whale. 562 00:40:46,167 --> 00:40:49,287 This is my partner, Mike DeGruy, lying in front of the colony. 563 00:40:49,287 --> 00:40:53,807 He's in quite a bit of danger here. This is exactly where whales beach themselves. 564 00:40:53,807 --> 00:40:57,087 He wouldn't be lying with his back to the ocean, 565 00:40:57,087 --> 00:41:02,922 unless we knew this was not the time of day in which the whales would attack. 566 00:41:03,967 --> 00:41:09,127 This technique also came in handy for pointing the camera towards the ocean 567 00:41:09,127 --> 00:41:12,167 while the whales were attacking, to get low-angle shots 568 00:41:12,167 --> 00:41:17,957 that feel like the whales are bursting out of the screen and into your living room. 569 00:41:21,687 --> 00:41:24,327 We wanted to get some shots from above, 570 00:41:24,327 --> 00:41:29,647 just to get that much closer to the whales, to get some fins passing by etc. 571 00:41:29,647 --> 00:41:34,927 Juan Carlos thought this was the first time the whales had seen a boat with them. 572 00:41:34,927 --> 00:41:38,167 It's a tiny 12-foot Zodiac. 573 00:41:38,167 --> 00:41:42,127 There was some surf, we had trouble getting in the water, 574 00:41:42,127 --> 00:41:46,887 we finally got through the surf and were getting the equipment arranged, 575 00:41:46,887 --> 00:41:51,767 and the driver was trying to start the engine and it wasn't starting. 576 00:41:51,767 --> 00:41:55,527 We'd drifted about 20 feet from the shore, the waves are crashing, 577 00:41:55,527 --> 00:41:58,127 we looked up and here comes this huge fin, 578 00:41:58,127 --> 00:42:02,287 one of the males had done a right-hand turn, headed straight for the boat. 579 00:42:02,287 --> 00:42:07,887 This is a dorsal fin that sticks five feet out of the water, so it's pretty intimidating. 580 00:42:07,887 --> 00:42:12,367 It was obvious, with nothing else in the water, it was coming straight for the boat. 581 00:42:12,367 --> 00:42:15,007 One of Juan Carlos's worries was 582 00:42:15,007 --> 00:42:20,127 maybe he'll think this is a rival whale that has moved into his territory. 583 00:42:20,127 --> 00:42:25,607 So we saw that and were yelling to the pilot, "Start the engine!" 584 00:42:25,607 --> 00:42:27,967 And he's going... 585 00:42:27,967 --> 00:42:32,207 And finally, just like in a movie actually, 586 00:42:32,207 --> 00:42:36,207 just as the whale got about 30 feet away, he started the engine, 587 00:42:36,207 --> 00:42:40,847 and the whale, one of the males called Mel, 588 00:42:40,847 --> 00:42:43,047 curved around and looked at us, 589 00:42:43,047 --> 00:42:46,927 tilted his fin down 'cause they do that when they look up, 590 00:42:46,927 --> 00:42:51,203 circled around the boat, checked us out, and left. 591 00:42:52,607 --> 00:42:57,967 Next day, I thought if that whale does the same, circling the boat, 592 00:42:57,967 --> 00:43:01,047 I can get an underwater shot by submerging my camera. 593 00:43:01,047 --> 00:43:04,287 Stay in the boat safely, and dip it in the water. 594 00:43:04,287 --> 00:43:07,687 So we had the same experience, we got in the water, 595 00:43:07,687 --> 00:43:13,287 the whale, a different male, Bernard, who'd not checked the boat out before, 596 00:43:13,287 --> 00:43:16,247 saw us and headed straight for the boat. 597 00:43:16,247 --> 00:43:19,567 He came in, circled the boat, came up very close, 598 00:43:19,567 --> 00:43:24,687 I stuck my camera in the water, pulled the trigger and it didn't work. 599 00:43:24,687 --> 00:43:27,887 It's one of those horrifying moments in film-making. 600 00:43:27,887 --> 00:43:31,647 I've got this perfect shot and the camera's not working. 601 00:43:31,647 --> 00:43:33,927 I was extremely upset. 602 00:43:33,927 --> 00:43:35,887 I thought that was the last opportunity. 603 00:43:35,887 --> 00:43:38,727 The whales probably wouldn't approach the Zodiac again. 604 00:43:38,727 --> 00:43:42,567 Having sussed it out, they weren't curious about it any more. 605 00:43:42,567 --> 00:43:46,607 Besides the fact that the longer you're on location, 606 00:43:46,607 --> 00:43:50,767 the more obsessed you get with getting a better shot, 607 00:43:50,767 --> 00:43:54,727 we were watching the sea lions for quite a while, 608 00:43:54,727 --> 00:43:58,527 and we noticed that they preferred sea lion pups, which are very small. 609 00:43:58,527 --> 00:44:04,887 So we thought the whale should be able to tell the difference between us and pups. 610 00:44:04,887 --> 00:44:10,327 So that night, we decided it's time to get in the water with the whales. 611 00:44:10,327 --> 00:44:13,127 We thought we'd watched them enough to take that chance. 612 00:44:13,127 --> 00:44:15,327 That's the way we played it next day. 613 00:44:15,327 --> 00:44:18,047 We went out, put the Zodiac in the water. 614 00:44:18,047 --> 00:44:21,327 Again, the whales weren't approaching the boat any more. 615 00:44:21,327 --> 00:44:25,207 So we had to position ourselves right in the attack channel. 616 00:44:25,207 --> 00:44:29,887 When the tide was right, the whales would head down this channel to the sea lions. 617 00:44:29,887 --> 00:44:35,007 We decided to put ourselves in the channel to see them underwater passing by. 618 00:44:35,007 --> 00:44:39,447 So we anchored right on the edge of the kelp forest, 619 00:44:39,447 --> 00:44:43,647 and saw the fins coming, about 100 yards down the channel. 620 00:44:43,647 --> 00:44:46,287 So I started getting on my scuba gear. 621 00:44:46,287 --> 00:44:51,047 Juan Carlos looked at me and started putting on his scuba gear. 622 00:44:51,047 --> 00:44:55,327 I started getting my camera ready. He was getting his still camera ready. 623 00:44:55,327 --> 00:45:01,447 He was looking at me and I looked at these two fins coming down the channel. 624 00:45:01,447 --> 00:45:06,647 So I jumped over, held onto the side of the boat, and Juan Carlos jumped over. 625 00:45:06,647 --> 00:45:10,327 It was the first time he'd done it. 626 00:45:10,327 --> 00:45:14,727 The thing about getting an underwater shot of the whales is the visibility... 627 00:45:14,727 --> 00:45:18,247 The water's really murky, so the visibility's about 5-10 feet. 628 00:45:18,247 --> 00:45:22,447 So you've got a 30-foot whale looming out of the murk at you. 629 00:45:22,447 --> 00:45:26,127 So you didn't want to dive under, wait in the murk, 630 00:45:26,127 --> 00:45:28,687 and say, "Where's it going to come from?" 631 00:45:28,687 --> 00:45:33,847 You wanted to watch the fin till the last minute, then duck under. 632 00:45:33,847 --> 00:45:36,087 I also held onto the boat till the last minute 633 00:45:36,087 --> 00:45:41,367 to give me that option of, "Well, I've made a mistake!" 634 00:45:41,367 --> 00:45:44,647 So the camera's in this hand, boat's in this hand. 635 00:45:44,647 --> 00:45:49,087 Juan Carlos is behind me, Keith Turner's at the engine, in case of trouble. 636 00:45:49,087 --> 00:45:52,607 Keith's saying, "They're coming, you'd better swim out now..." 637 00:45:52,607 --> 00:45:56,007 I'm going, "I see them, I'm waiting, I'm going to swim out..." 638 00:45:56,007 --> 00:45:59,767 These huge fins, talk about hearing the "Jaws" theme music... 639 00:45:59,767 --> 00:46:03,207 These huge fins are coming straight for us. 640 00:46:03,207 --> 00:46:08,167 And there was that instant when I thought, "We've made the wrong decision. 641 00:46:08,167 --> 00:46:11,567 "These whales aren't going to be friendly." Just that moment of fear. 642 00:46:11,567 --> 00:46:17,004 Then I thought, "I can't jump back in the boat, I'll be so embarrassed." 643 00:46:23,567 --> 00:46:26,767 Out of the gloom materialised the head of this orca. 644 00:46:26,767 --> 00:46:31,077 It looked at us and slowly swam by. 645 00:46:50,327 --> 00:46:54,527 That was our first encounter. We came up and Juan Carlos's eyes 646 00:46:54,527 --> 00:47:00,687 were that big, and he was exhilarated at having finally seen his whales underwater. 647 00:47:00,687 --> 00:47:05,807 That was Mel, a male he's watched for 17 years, watching the back and the fin, 648 00:47:05,807 --> 00:47:10,800 and bursting out of the water feeding, but he'd never been that close. 649 00:47:12,007 --> 00:47:15,687 We tried to be very objective when making the decision. 650 00:47:15,687 --> 00:47:20,407 We looked at the pros and cons and thought, finally, we could do this. 651 00:47:20,407 --> 00:47:24,847 But it comes down to, are you going to jump in or not? 652 00:47:24,847 --> 00:47:29,317 And you're not quite sure until that moment comes. 653 00:47:40,887 --> 00:47:44,847 Research into animal behaviour is going on all over the world. 654 00:47:44,847 --> 00:47:49,487 Some will provide knowledge essential for the conservation of the species concerned, 655 00:47:49,487 --> 00:47:53,487 some may have wider applications and help us develop techniques 656 00:47:53,487 --> 00:47:56,527 that animals themselves evolved millions of years ago. 657 00:47:56,527 --> 00:48:01,447 But all help us towards an understanding of the world as a complex, living entity, 658 00:48:01,447 --> 00:48:03,487 and of our own place in it. 659 00:48:03,487 --> 00:48:07,167 Only if we have that are we likely to be able to maintain 660 00:48:07,167 --> 00:48:10,447 the diverse magnificence of life on Earth, 661 00:48:10,447 --> 00:48:14,647 and ensure that next year, too, there will be elephants and lions, 662 00:48:14,647 --> 00:48:18,927 army ants and chimpanzees, and a chance, once more, 663 00:48:18,927 --> 00:48:22,885 to go into a termite mound. 664 00:48:26,487 --> 00:48:30,718 (GRUNTS OF EFFORT) 665 00:48:49,087 --> 00:48:53,407 This, six feet below the surface of the ground, 666 00:48:53,407 --> 00:48:56,087 is the cellar of the fortress. 667 00:48:56,087 --> 00:49:03,526 Its floor is studded with shafts which go down as much as 12-14 feet... 668 00:49:04,087 --> 00:49:06,607 Did I... Did something go wrong with the words? 669 00:49:06,607 --> 00:49:09,967 We could do with another take, if you're willing... 670 00:49:09,967 --> 00:49:13,959 Six feet below the surface...