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National Geographic Heroes of the High Frontier
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The rainforest canopy |
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has been an unknown world |
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"Yes!" |
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A new breed of explorer |
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onto the green roof of the world |
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going where no one has gone before. |
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We join the adventures |
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of these Heroes of the High Frontier |
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In the darkest depths of the darkest |
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The pioneering spirit |
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as a courageous band sets off |
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A flame ignites a quest |
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but, until now, always just above our |
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Almost a century ago |
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Yet another continent of life remains |
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not upon the earth, but one or two |
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There awaits a rich harvest |
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for the naturalist who overcomes the |
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to the summits of the jungle trees. |
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The rainforest canopy is home |
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than anywhere else on the face |
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Many are born here |
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rarely, if ever, touching the earth. |
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Their lives, their whole world |
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The canopy is the last |
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Biologist Terry Erwin began exploring |
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Since he had no way to reach |
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he brought it down to earth. |
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Clouds of insecticide welled up - |
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and a rain of entirely new and |
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So many creatures of so many kinds, |
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it seemed there were 20 times |
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on this planet as we had thought. |
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The canopy was a hot-bed of |
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Just what was going on up there? |
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There was only one way to find out. |
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A combination sling-shot, fishing pole |
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for shooting a line a hundred feet up. |
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"Yes!" |
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Accuracy is essential. |
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To get that all important |
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a climbing rope is hauled up to which |
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Ever since her first climb, |
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"I realized, at that moment, |
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I knew where I was going |
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I was going up in the canopy." |
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It takes hard work and courage |
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- but when they climb, Nalini and |
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are also returning to a very old world. |
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Our ancestors lived in trees. |
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Perhaps, we are returning to a place |
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A place of primal fears. |
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Braving these dizzying heights |
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the first canopy researchers |
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"We really felt like pioneers, |
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we felt like we were frontiersmen, |
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no human had ever gone before and, |
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was something new and |
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- new species, new interactions." |
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Nalini learned that giant forest trees |
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actually sprouted roots from their |
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Jay Malcolm found that animals |
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were actually common creatures |
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Meg Lowman investigated |
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between animals and plants, |
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a source of the canopy's |
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And Neil Rettig spent months |
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unveiling the life of one of the |
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Working in the canopy |
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that this is where the rainforest |
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...where light is turned into life. |
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The canopy is a powerhouse |
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It's where sunlight changes into |
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It's where trees reproduce, where the |
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where pollination takes place, |
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so I think it's really where |
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This is where the birds feed. |
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You can see where, where all the, |
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the epiphytes have been sort of |
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because this is where the birds |
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and the monkeys come and feed |
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I can't believe I'm in top of this tree... |
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"Today I got up much higher than I |
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I was able to shift the ropes around |
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and I was actually able to get to |
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"God! Wow!" |
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"I can see forever!" |
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Just 25 years ago, |
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up the rivers of Surinam and Guyana, |
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in search of one of the canopies |
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It was the personal quest of |
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He and two friends sought to witness |
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The Harpy's life in the wild |
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until Neil strapped on spikes |
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and jury-rigged a reinforced cable |
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big enough to wrap around the huge |
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Somehow, they scaled one hundred |
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"When I think of the crazy things |
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that all three of us did (Wolfgang, |
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I mean, we're lucky we're still here." |
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They built a blind from which |
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They used a ladder to climb |
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from the crown of one tree |
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While exposed outside the blind, |
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and frequent attack by the most |
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When the blind was complete, |
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to meet the fierce gaze of the Harpy |
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"The harpy eagle will, will always |
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I feel like I'm part of it |
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After a month of observation, |
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a tiny ball of fluff appeared between |
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Neil was the first to ever glimpse, |
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a newly hatched Harpy |
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But his exhilaration |
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"I had just finished spending three |
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watching the chick hatch |
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and I was completely overwhelmed |
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and I started climbing down, using |
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and I was just thinking about |
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I was daydreaming, |
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I was so excited that the chick had |
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in the early morning when the chick |
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and I just, I remember leaning |
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and just falling into space |
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I remember falling down and trying |
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crashing through the vegetation and |
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and then, then I couldn't breathe. |
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And I looked up and, uh, Wolfgang, |
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my, uh, associate was coming out of |
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and the eagle came and ripped off |
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and flew away with it |
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- he shot back up in the blind and |
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Well, finally, they, they, |
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and they carried me out in the |
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one week later, I was, I was climbing |
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Protected by luck and a motorcycle |
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Neil suffered only a few broken ribs |
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He continued to film, capturing the |
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like sharks among the green billows |
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Sloths are a favorite prey |
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Usually, they eat part of the carcass |
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- but, this time, dinner is delivered |
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Neil, who had survived a fall |
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was felled by a tiny insect bite. |
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Infected by a parasite, |
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I knew someday I had to go back |
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and actually document what happens |
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when that young Harpy makes its |
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Neil was one of the first to venture |
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but he and other pioneers |
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all over the world. |
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The rainforest canopy is like an |
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an archipelago of floating islands |
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that encircles the globe in a belt |
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Originally, it covered 12% of the |
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but more than half of it has been |
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Yet, it remains home to more than |
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and plants living on earth. |
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Canopy explorers are discovering |
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has a nature all its own. |
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Malaysia's canopy is one of the |
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and most unattainable in the world. |
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Like giant lollipops, trees rise a |
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before spreading their crowns into |
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From miles around, animals are |
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unique to Southeast Asia's |
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They are coming for a feast. |
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In the course of a just a few weeks, |
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most of the trees here will bear |
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laying out a banquet in the sky. |
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The seeds of the tallest trees... |
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...helicopter down a hundred feet |
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>From there, it's another hundred feet |
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Orangutans make an endless |
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through these tree tops in search of |
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They travel alone except for females |
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They maintain detailed mental maps |
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memorizing the location of each |
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and the shortest routes between them. |
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While still a baby at mother's breast, |
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an orang begins a lifetime |
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just where and when to find |
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When a wave of mass fruiting hits |
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it gives the orangs something even |
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- a chance to socialize with |
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Infants get a rare chance to play with |
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Long thought to be loners by nature, |
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we now know that orangs enjoy |
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- when there's enough food to |
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Even the big males are welcome to |
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Gibbons, too, relish the sweet, |
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Orangs would usually threaten a |
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in the same fruiting tree, |
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but with plenty of food of around, |
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the little ape can eat his fill |
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Then he swings away with |
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hundreds of feet above the ground. |
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Orangs are too heavy for |
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Instead, they descend to the under |
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where they put their weight to |
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Still 50 feet above the forest floor, |
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they sway back and forth on the |
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working their way between the taller |
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Moving among the trees |
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presents special challenges |
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...especially those without limbs. |
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A snake requires exquisite balance. |
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This one is quite comfortable |
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The flying snake glides |
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It flattens its body into a ribbon- |
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It's not easy to escape such a |
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Ribs raise wings, |
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Flying dragons soar through the open |
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just one leap ahead of |
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These are the gothic cathedrals |
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but there are places that resemble the |
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- the lush forests of Costa Rica. |
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Here, epiphytes, the plants growing |
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may weigh more than the foliage of |
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Woody vines called lianas knit |
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providing by-ways for all sorts of |
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and making a prehensile tail |
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The booming calls of howler |
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attract the attention of a passing |
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For canopy animals, |
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it is the forest floor that is |
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A jaguar would love to snatch |
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if only it could reach their treetop |
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The close-knit canopy... |
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...is a green roof shading |
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A dark netherworld populated |
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Most seedlings that sprout here |
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But vines make their own luck, |
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they flail about following |
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Some climb using tendrils |
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pulling the plant skyward. |
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Others take a more direct approach, |
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wrapping their stems around any |
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When they finally break out |
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they turn the power of the sun |
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No sooner is light turned into |
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transforming the sun's energy |
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Orchids don't have to fight for |
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they start life up here already. |
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They are epiphytes, so-called |
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which thrive without any connection |
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But one infamous plant makes |
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The tiny seedling sends down roots. |
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Just thin strands at first, |
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heading a hundred feet to the forest |
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Once it connects with the earth, |
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Its leaves compete for light |
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while its roots multiply and merge |
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They wrap around the trunk |
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constricted and starved of life, |
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while the roots solidify into the |
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with an empty heart. |
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The strangler fig may be a killer, |
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but it also provides food for |
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and support the thousands of |
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Epiphytes are the particular |
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She practically lives up here |
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She studied the cloud forest |
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and each day is reminded of how |
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"I think one of the most amazing |
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is when the mist and fog and |
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and it hits the forest, it hits the tree |
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and you suddenly realize you are |
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This daily misting provides just |
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Mosses catch droplets drifting past. |
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With each drop, |
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some from as far away as |
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Soil builds up |
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and the hanging gardens grow in size |
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A kiss from a desert wind, blown |
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"I suddenly feel like this is |
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this is the nourishing mist and fog |
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So I feel it on my face, feel it |
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and I understand better what an |
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Nalini has discovered that the moss mats, |
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that blanket the |
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"These mats are just full of roots, |
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I'll just finish clipping these last |
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and then the moment of peeling |
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Watch this. |
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And what you see is this soil and |
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It smells great, |
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it's like this very earthy smell, |
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which is kind of funny when you |
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but you can see that the branch |
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Um, the branches always look a lot |
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when they have their moss mats |
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So there are lots of invertebrates, |
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that live in this material high, |
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you have to get up here, |
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you have to look in these plants, |
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you have to look in this soil to |
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what's going on up here." |
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Nalini's perseverance and her daring |
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"A really amazing thing about |
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they can actually nourish the tree |
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Some species of trees can put out |
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and trunks that go into this soil |
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And, so, the epiphytes are getting |
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they're getting their place |
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but the tree is getting nutrients and |
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that the epiphytes make. |
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So, it's kind of like the epiphytes |
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and it's just a really amazing |
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Suspended in three dimensional |
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these hanging gardens are like |
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- creating opportunities for a whole |
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They provide good pickings for |
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Flowers are nectar, even ants for |
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even ants for a protein snack |
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But ants are just the appetizer. |
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Fruit is the main course. |
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Following its nose, the Kuati is led |
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Monkeys with prehensile tails are |
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Though the Kuati is no canopy |
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he is not to be denied. |
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He searches for the ripest fruit. |
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His cast offs feed a band of Kuati |
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on the forest floor. |
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The seeds would never survive |
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where specialized fungi and insects |
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Animals connect the sun lit canopy |
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Flowers are designed to |
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but leaf-cutter ants are not |
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They strip palatable blooms |
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Millions of ants working together |
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and sucking it down into the earth |
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Whether it's carried or |
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it is rapidly recycled back into |
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Fingers of slime mold spread |
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breaking it down into plant food. |
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The gossamer threads of fungi |
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absorb 95% of the nutrients - |
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building forest giants that rise up |
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The leaf litter hides many miracles. |
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A strawberry frog guards its eggs |
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which develop in a puddle of |
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As soon as the tadpole hatches, |
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she moves it to a more secure |
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encouraging it to wriggle up |
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No bigger than a thumbnail, |
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she undertakes a phenomenal |
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She climbs in search of a bromeliad - |
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that channel rain and mist into |
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This tiny ocean in the sky comes |
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- mosquito larvae, feeding on |
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This debris also acts as fertilizer |
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She drops her tadpole off in the |
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But her work is not yet done. |
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She has other tadpoles stashed |
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and every two days she makes |
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Her offspring's telltale vibrations |
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but this egg isn't fertile, it's dinner - |
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a brilliant strategy for survival |
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until a thirsty coati happens by. |
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It takes researchers years to |
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and just seconds for a coati to send |
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The sky-high world of epiphytes is |
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of millions of such little life |
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"I love epiphytes. |
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I don't know why I do. |
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I think it's something about they live |
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and ever since I was a little kid, |
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it was a world I could escape to, no grown-ups, |
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no grown-ups climb |
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where I could go up and read |
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and... It's been 17 years |
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and every time I put on my Jumars |
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it's that same feeling of |
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of what will I find today, |
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The rain forest canopy yields |
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to only the most determined |
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It took Neil Rettig fourteen years to |
| 00:34:45 |
and his work with the Harpy eagle. |
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"I think what's at the center of the |
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for me, a link back to my youth, |
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when I was a 23-year-old wild |
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Just the odors of the flowers and bird |
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that had been shut down for all |
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It was just like I had never left." |
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A Harpy's calls help lead Neil |
| 00:35:15 |
just a few miles from his old |
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Neil was now one of the world's |
| 00:35:30 |
but he was as thrilled as ever to set |
| 00:35:39 |
"It was like having a reunion with |
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"Possibly, one of the new adults |
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For six months, Neil kept his vigil. |
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As he watched the chick grow, |
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he wondered if he would finally |
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the maiden flight of a harpy on film. |
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Every day brought Neil and the chick |
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While Neil watched the chick |
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exercising and testing its wings. |
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Then one day, Neil turned the |
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A long awaited milestone |
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and perhaps most of all - for Neil. |
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Such long term dedication has |
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from the canopy, |
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but as the light of a day fades, |
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a cloak of mystery descends. |
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The next frontier in canopy |
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beckons out of the gathering dark. |
| 00:38:06 |
Few have dared to climb into this |
| 00:38:08 |
when it comes alive with a whole |
| 00:38:14 |
They come out to reap the bounty |
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Bats are the unsung heroes |
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They hover over the branches, |
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Only just able to carry its prize, |
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it flies to a roost where it can feed |
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Bats play vital roles in pollination, |
| 00:39:24 |
and the reproduction of trees. |
| 00:39:27 |
The bat eats the sweet flesh of the |
| 00:39:31 |
They fall far from their parent |
| 00:39:33 |
where they have a better chance |
| 00:39:40 |
Animals help many canopy plants |
| 00:39:44 |
Epiphytes face unique challenges |
| 00:39:47 |
spreading their seeds around the |
| 00:39:50 |
One solution, a sticky coating that |
| 00:39:54 |
from falling to the forest floor |
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and attracts a particular species |
| 00:40:04 |
These ants are strong enough to |
| 00:40:16 |
They carry them to their nest |
| 00:40:18 |
but they eat the nutritious coating |
| 00:40:23 |
The seedlings grow turning the nest |
| 00:40:26 |
overflowing with the ants favorite |
| 00:40:30 |
some of which are never found |
| 00:40:39 |
A canopy mouse quenches its thirst |
| 00:40:44 |
Mice eat epiphyte seeds and are, in |
| 00:41:06 |
It's flicking tongue tastes |
| 00:41:09 |
as it follows it out onto the |
| 00:41:24 |
Sometimes, there's no where to go, |
| 00:41:41 |
It spreads its limbs like a parachute. |
| 00:41:43 |
The mouse crashes through foliage |
| 00:41:52 |
It weighs so little - air resistance |
| 00:41:56 |
so that it landed safely, |
| 00:41:58 |
one of the benefits of being a small |
| 00:42:04 |
Small animals thrive in rainforest |
| 00:42:10 |
In the Great Amazon Basin, |
| 00:42:12 |
they could travel from treetop to |
| 00:42:19 |
The woolly opossum was thought |
| 00:42:21 |
to be one of the rarest of the |
| 00:42:24 |
Its prehensile tail is naked at the tip |
| 00:42:34 |
They are built like little wrestlers. |
| 00:42:36 |
Babies cling tightly to their mothers, |
| 00:42:38 |
who grasp the thinnest of lianas |
| 00:42:58 |
Those without a family in tow have |
| 00:43:10 |
They are all searching for sweets. |
| 00:43:12 |
They drink nectar and eat fruit. |
| 00:43:22 |
The mother must seek her dinner |
| 00:43:25 |
Using aerial roots as a ladder |
| 00:43:32 |
So sweet is this perfume it distracts |
| 00:43:45 |
The aroma of ripe banana proves |
| 00:44:05 |
Mother and offspring are lucky to |
| 00:44:28 |
The wooly opossum finds the |
| 00:44:32 |
By now, it should be hidden in the |
| 00:44:43 |
But it has no need to fear, |
| 00:44:45 |
the trap was set by biologist |
| 00:44:49 |
who is exploring the night-world of |
| 00:44:51 |
with some startling results. |
| 00:44:54 |
"These wooly opossums are the |
| 00:44:58 |
in this forest, |
| 00:44:59 |
more abundant than any other kind |
| 00:45:01 |
more abundant than any kind |
| 00:45:02 |
or any other kind of mammal |
| 00:45:05 |
People knew that there were things |
| 00:45:07 |
we just didn't know how many |
| 00:45:09 |
so, when we started doing this, |
| 00:45:10 |
everything we found out was |
| 00:45:13 |
Gaining access to the canopy and |
| 00:45:16 |
has really allowed us to enter |
| 00:45:19 |
a new realm of, of research. |
| 00:45:21 |
And, we, uh, know almost nothing, |
| 00:45:22 |
there's new species of small |
| 00:45:24 |
so, there promises to be a lot more |
| 00:45:29 |
"Off you go." |
| 00:45:34 |
>From museum rarity to common |
| 00:45:37 |
they just had to look for it |
| 00:45:44 |
To service as many traps each day |
| 00:45:46 |
Jay learned an ancient technique |
| 00:45:49 |
"This is called the picoino or |
| 00:45:52 |
it's the same method that the |
| 00:45:55 |
to climb up palm trees. |
| 00:45:57 |
The way it works is what you're |
| 00:45:59 |
you're sort of pushing out against |
| 00:46:01 |
so you're really sort of turning your |
| 00:46:11 |
To climb seven stories in a manner |
| 00:46:13 |
a feat that requires incredible |
| 00:46:30 |
Should he lose his grip, |
| 00:46:34 |
he would crash to the ground below. |
| 00:46:42 |
Having attached a small pulley, |
| 00:46:44 |
he raises a simple and ingenius |
| 00:46:53 |
Once it is in place, |
| 00:46:54 |
he slides down like a fireman on |
| 00:47:12 |
Then he simply raises his trap |
| 00:47:15 |
where it will await an |
| 00:47:22 |
Jay finds that he captures opossums |
| 00:47:32 |
Canopy animals are stopped short |
| 00:47:34 |
where the fabric of the forest is |
| 00:47:42 |
Thirteen years after the chain |
| 00:47:45 |
this place is still a no-man's land, |
| 00:47:50 |
"An area that's been cut over |
| 00:47:52 |
and you know what it's like walking |
| 00:47:55 |
it's hot, full of all sorts of burrs |
| 00:47:58 |
from a life standpoint it has been, |
| 00:48:01 |
- there's not much left there, |
| 00:48:03 |
it's just a, a tragedy." |
| 00:48:08 |
Despite efforts to save it, |
| 00:48:11 |
the rainforest is being consumed |
| 00:48:14 |
lending an air of urgency to |
| 00:48:25 |
But in the face of such a huge |
| 00:48:28 |
you have to dream larger still. |
| 00:48:35 |
A lighter than air arc ascends |
| 00:48:42 |
Suspended beneath is the |
| 00:48:45 |
a sled bearing excited researchers |
| 00:48:50 |
Among them, is one of the founders |
| 00:48:52 |
Meg Lowman, who has explored |
| 00:48:57 |
but, today, she goes where no one |
| 00:49:07 |
Their mission - to trawl the green |
| 00:49:11 |
and to get some inkling of the |
| 00:49:14 |
right or left... exactament... |
| 00:49:22 |
The blimp maneuvers the luge |
| 00:49:24 |
Sidling up to a tree crown a hundred |
| 00:49:30 |
As soon as they are close enough |
| 00:49:32 |
nets are wielded frantically. |
| 00:49:37 |
...encore |
| 00:49:38 |
They scoop up insects and collect |
| 00:49:41 |
to gather as many samples of |
| 00:49:47 |
It would have taken weeks of |
| 00:49:50 |
climbing to get the samples they |
| 00:49:52 |
in just one morning on the luge. |
| 00:50:03 |
The luge is part of |
| 00:50:06 |
which invites the best researchers, |
| 00:50:12 |
They also use the canopy raft, |
| 00:50:15 |
a web-like platform dropped |
| 00:50:20 |
Walking atop the swaying trees is |
| 00:50:25 |
"I guess I feel really special |
| 00:50:28 |
and I really tiptoe all the time |
| 00:50:30 |
because I'm frightened of |
| 00:50:33 |
or snapping a branch, |
| 00:50:34 |
but, in actual fact, with the raft |
| 00:50:39 |
our weight is dispersed really nicely" |
| 00:50:43 |
Meg's work in the treetops has |
| 00:50:46 |
plants evolved poisons to defend |
| 00:50:50 |
while insects evolved ways to |
| 00:50:54 |
Rain forest plants and insects are |
| 00:51:31 |
The arsenal of poisons and antidotes |
| 00:51:35 |
and animals are a pharmaceutical |
| 00:51:38 |
They are the stuff that medicines |
| 00:51:42 |
Who knows what cures to what |
| 00:51:46 |
among the samples collected by |
| 00:51:56 |
Each evening the best canopy |
| 00:51:59 |
...share a meal along with their |
| 00:52:03 |
samples and data they are beginning |
| 00:52:08 |
They have blazed a trail into the last |
| 00:52:11 |
- opening this eighth continent to |
| 00:52:16 |
Upon their shoulders the next |
| 00:52:24 |
Today, canopy tours offer a thrilling |
| 00:52:33 |
But the greatest thrill is realizing |
| 00:52:37 |
floating above our own, |
| 00:52:43 |
The same pioneering spirit that |
| 00:52:46 |
has given us the power to destroy it. |
| 00:53:00 |
The first canopy explorers have |
| 00:53:02 |
to save this amazing world. |
| 00:53:06 |
We have a choice. |
