Our Great National Parks (2022) s01e05 Episode Script

My mom moved us to Indonesia
for a few years as a kid.
We lived in a small house
with the simple joys of nature.
A mango tree out front,
whiffs of fruits and spices.
Paddy fields where water buffalo
glanced up at you with mud-covered snouts.
Indonesia is home
to some of the most important forests
and biodiversity in the world.
And there's nothing
like the Leuser Ecosystem,
home to some of the most
endangered species on Earth.
The rain forests
of Gunung Leuser National Park
shelter countless plants and animals
each with a role to play.
Leuser is also the last stronghold
of four of the planet's
most threatened species.
Powerful and elusive tigers
the world's smallest rhinos
unique forest elephants
and orangutans, one of the smartest
great apes in the world.
Once, these animals could be found
together across southeast Asia.
But deforestation and poaching
means that, today,
Leuser is the only place
they still co-exist.
Will we allow something so precious
to disappear forever
or seize our last chance to protect it
for our children and grandchildren?
Join me in this most unique
of wild spaces.
On the Indonesian island of Sumatra
lies a vast tropical rain forest
and at its core,
Gunung Leuser National Park.
Here, forest-covered mountains dominate,
reaching 10,000 feet tall.
They safeguard its inhabitants
like a fortress.
But perhaps its greatest wildlife riches
are found in its steamy lowland jungles.
In Indonesian, "orangutan"
means "person of the forest."
And these trees are home to
the densest population anywhere on Earth.
This is their forest.
There are several huge males.
With large, flanged cheek pads,
they're more attractive to mates.
They're immensely powerful
with a bite force stronger than a lion's.
But there's an athletic and ambitious
younger male coming up through the ranks.
Rakus.
His name, given to him
by resident scientists, means "greedy."
Because he likes to eat
pretty much everything.
Leaves,
bark
fruit
termites.
It's all on the menu.
If this gourmet ape can eat enough,
he may one day develop cheek pads
like the most senior males.
There's one food in particular
that could fuel his ambition.
The neesia fruit.
About the size of a football,
it's packed with large, tasty seeds.
Before it ripens,
it's as hard as concrete,
making it nearly impossible to get into.
Ripe neesia cracks open by itself.
But the succulent seeds are surrounded
with thousands of sharp, irritating hairs.
To get this meal, Rakus must master
the most sophisticated skill
in the jungle.
Many of the orangutans here
use an ingenious way
of avoiding the neesia's prickly hairs.
First, they select a stick.
Then, maneuvering it
with their extremely versatile lips,
they push it into the neesia's cracks.
Repeated movement of the stick
dislodges the seeds
and in the process scrapes out the hairs
making the fruit ready to eat.
Orangutans are usually solitary animals.
But the neesia tree
comes into season only rarely.
When it does,
it draws in orangutans from far and wide.
As they gather, there's a chance
to learn from each other.
Friska is a mature female
and is expert at preparing the fruit.
Rakus moves in for a masterclass.
There's enough food around
for him to be tolerated.
These are the only wild orangutans
known to create and use tools
in this unique way.
Rakus wants to have a go himself.
Carefully, he crafts his tool.
And Rakus selects the perfect neesia.
Then it's down to trial and error.
At last, with a little perseverance
Rakus gets the delicacy he's been craving.
The more he perfects
this extraordinary skill,
the bigger and stronger he'll become.
And one day, this greedy guy
may just rise to the top.
Leuser's abundance
is partly thanks to its soil,
which is up to six times more fertile
than other rain forests in the region.
And this is a reason why.
One of the world's most active volcanoes.
Mount Sinabung.
For millennia, its eruptions
have showered the area with volcanic ash
rich in minerals and nutrients.
The ash acts as a fertilizer,
supporting a jungle
of staggering complexity.
With thousands of species of plants,
it's one of the most diverse forests
in the world.
The titan arum.
This is the largest flowering structure
on the planet
growing up to ten feet tall,
the height of a basketball hoop.
It only emerges after the plant
has been growing for a decade.
But producing this huge bloom
saps a lot of energy.
Flowering can only last two nights.
So it has a clever way
of rapidly attracting
the insects it needs for pollination.
It produces a powerful scent.
But this is no fragrant beauty.
It reeks of rotting flesh.
The huge red bloom
stretches up to five feet,
adding to the illusion
of a fresh animal corpse.
Then as night falls,
its greatest deception begins.
Channeling ten years of stored energy,
the arum pumps heat
into its central column,
becoming as hot as blood.
Like a chimney, rising heat carries
its stench up into the cool night air.
For hundreds of scavenging insects,
the draw is irresistible.
They're lured
into the arum's inner chamber.
A cavern filled
with male and female organs.
As the insects search for the rotting meat
they've been promised
they find themselves
coated in pollen they will carry with them
to other arums.
And if they've already visited
another of these giants,
they will pollinate this plant.
Ten years of preparation
for a two-night show.
The flower's energy is exhausted.
The stragglers file out
before finally,
in a matter of seconds
the entire structure collapses.
Successfully pollinated,
another ten-year cycle is set in motion,
toward more gigantic blooms.
Even within Leuser's lowlands,
there are
extraordinarily different landscapes.
The park's rivers transport
its nutrient-rich soils
downstream to the coast
where the forest meets the Indian Ocean
giving rise to a muddy mangrove swamp.
A mudskipper.
This fish is not confined
to the life aquatic.
Taking a big gulp of air
and using fins that have a shoulder joint,
he propels himself around.
A fish that can walk.
He spends most of his life
here on the mudflats.
His periscope-like eyes
have a lens like land-based animals,
allowing him to see
far better out of water than in.
His favorite meal is a formidable foe
with razor-sharp pincers.
If he can catch one
without getting nipped.
Perhaps something softer?
These crabs are very agile
especially for a fish out of water.
Finally, all that remains
is to disarm his prey.
Holding it in his mouth,
he uses a neat trick.
Shake a crab hard enough
and it will sacrifice its claw,
the tastiest bit.
But the loss is only temporary.
Within a month,
the crab will have grown a new claw.
Maybe even bigger than before.
For this land-loving fish,
life is a never-ending crab-claw buffet.
Heading inland,
Leuser quickly becomes mountainous.
The forest here is much more impenetrable.
Steep hills provide a last refuge
to Leuser's most endangered creature
the rarely-glimpsed and surprisingly small
Sumatran rhinoceros.
Although only four feet tall,
it still weighs a ton.
Perfect for bulldozing through thickets
in search of lush foliage.
By pruning plants,
these rhinos benefit the forest,
making room for new tree growth.
They dig out mud wallows, which help them
stay cool in the midday heat
benefiting a range of neighbors.
So the more rhinos,
the healthier the whole forest becomes.
Illegal hunting and habitat loss
have reduced numbers
to just a handful in the wild.
To save them from extinction,
rangers are constantly on patrol,
deterring poachers
and bringing the few remaining rhinos
into captivity outside the park.
These rhinos now live in large,
guarded natural enclosures
where a breeding program
hopes to reintroduce
their descendants into Leuser
and eventually restore the balance
of rain forest life.
There are many extraordinary relationships
between the creatures that live here.
Some, we are only just discovering.
Deep in Leuser's foothills,
one of its smallest inhabitants
is unwittingly helped
by its largest.
The Sumatran elephant.
As they travel, they carve a network
of pathways hundreds of miles long.
Many species rely on these paths
to get through the dense jungle.
But one resident depends
on these elephants more than most.
A wart frog.
She's only the size of a chicken's egg,
but she has incredibly sharp senses.
It's thought she detects vibrations
of the approaching herd
using special cavities in her lungs.
You'd expect her to get out of the way.
Instead, she heads towards them.
Straight into the crush zone!
But it's not the elephants themselves
she's drawn to.
The frog has a belly full of eggs,
and she needs to lay them in still water.
The elephant's footprints
make the perfect pop-up nursery.
She's given her eggs
the best start in life
and leaves them to hatch.
Within two weeks, they've become tadpoles.
But until they transform into froglets,
survival in their flooded footprint
is under threat.
The tropical sun
can quickly dry out these pools.
So, if water levels drop, these tadpoles
must get themselves out of trouble
by doubling the speed
of their transformation.
As froglets,
they can finally escape the drying ponds.
As long as they don't get squashed.
Up in the treetops,
the stakes are even higher.
Many of Leuser's animals
have mastered living up here.
But perhaps none are more daring
than the Thomas leaf monkey.
Found only in Northern Sumatra,
they roam in groups of up to 20.
One male leads the troop,
and the rest are females and young.
The adults are supremely agile.
Able to zip around the branches,
they can leap large gaps with ease.
But this two-year-old is still developing
the strength in his leg muscles
and he can't navigate the canopy
with the confidence of his elders.
His mother used to carry him everywhere,
but she has a new baby.
And the youngster must now
find his own way in the world.
Today, he faces
one of the biggest challenges of his life.
The troop have exhausted supplies
in this tree,
so they have to move on.
But it will take a giant leap
across a gap of more than 20 feet.
It's a three-story drop.
One mistake
could be fatal.
The older monkeys have spent years
perfecting such large jumps.
Climbing to the topmost branches,
they launch
maneuvering their limbs
to control their descent.
Even Mom, with her new baby on her belly,
tackles the distance with grace.
The two-year-old is up next.
But it's all too much.
With the rest of the troop
feasting on the other side
he's stranded.
Mom can't come to his rescue.
There's only one way to find out
if he's got what it takes.
Nailed it.
The first of many such giant leaps
he'll make on his journey to adulthood.
And he gets a well-earned reward.
Animals like the leaf monkeys
help maintain the health
of Leuser's rain forest,
spreading seeds
and natural fertilizers as they move.
Every species here is important.
Even the smallest
that lurk in the dark underworld
of the forest floor.
The leafy gloom is home to a hunter,
the hammerhead worm.
This species of flatworm
with its distinctive bands
is so new it's yet to be named.
As predators go, it's extremely small.
The length of a fingernail.
But it is deadly.
It's on the hunt
for a juicy slug or snail.
They're everywhere in Leuser,
devouring microscopic plants
and organisms
and also the fungi that's essential
for recycling plant debris.
And this is where the hammerhead
plays its part,
keeping their numbers down,
and so protecting the greenery.
Using chemical sensors in its hammerhead,
it tastes the ground
for signs of a victim.
Slugs and snails can't help
but leave an unmissable trail of slime.
With just a hint of a shell on its back,
this curious creature
is called a semi-slug.
The perfect prey.
Wrapping around its victim,
the flatworm pumps out mucus to trap it.
Once the prey is disabled,
it attacks the semi-slug
with toxins and digestive juices,
breaking down its flesh
finally, swallowing it
through a mouth in the middle of its body.
Within a matter of minutes,
all that remains is the translucent shell.
There are predators
of all shapes and sizes across Leuser.
But perhaps the most important
sits right at the top of the food chain.
To find it,
you have to travel even higher
to the remote, fortress-like mountaintop,
which gives the park its name
Mount Leuser.
Towering over 11,000 feet above sea level
often shrouded in mist
the forest is stunted
with patches of open moorland.
It can be
up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit colder here
than the humid jungles far below.
Only the toughest of plants can survive.
Clinging onto the rocks,
they hold the soil in place
preventing erosion
and retaining rainwater,
which then flows steadily
into the forests far below.
It's eerily quiet.
Only a few animals
venture this far up the mountain.
The muntjac. A type of deer
that browses on the moorland plants.
Scientists hope research cameras
might finally record
the predator which hunts them
filming it here for the first time.
But it is almost never seen.
So it takes patience.
At last
in a high mountain pasture
a Sumatran tiger.
This adult male is checking out
the scientific equipment
left to record it.
The terrain is so inaccessible
that almost no studies have been made
into the Sumatran tiger's behavior.
But it's believed
that as they patrol the mountaintops,
these tigers stop deer and other animals
from overgrazing the delicate vegetation.
And these precious images
prove that they're still here.
As long as we protect the park,
Sumatra's biggest cat
can remain king of the jungle.
While Leuser's mountainous terrain
offers some natural protection
on the fringes of the park,
the risk to the wildlife is greater.
Leuser's ecosystem continues
into an area twice the size of the park.
Much of it is protected
but millions of people live in towns
and villages amongst these forests.
So having the support of local communities
is crucial to keeping
Leuser's wildlife safe.
Hidden in the trees
on Leuser's southern border
is a rarely-seen Sumatran slow loris.
She's got huge eyes
that help her to see
in almost complete darkness.
This mother has a young baby
just a few weeks old,
but he's already too big
for her to carry as she feeds.
Leaving him seems risky.
Rival lorises
can be viciously territorial.
And the forest here is full of snakes.
But lorises have a secret weapon.
Their bite contains a deadly toxin,
making them the only venomous primate
on the planet.
Even this youngster.
So Mom can just hide him among the leaves
while she goes foraging on her own.
It's extremely unusual
to see slow lorises venture to the ground.
But she has to
to get to one of her favorite foods,
the calliandra.
Its sweet-smelling nectar is packed with
the energy she needs to nourish her baby.
But these flowering bushes
have been planted by farmers
to shade their coffee crops.
And lorises' proximity to humans
has given them a problem.
Traffickers in the illegal pet trade
have hunted these cute creatures
to the edge of extinction.
But fortunately, this community is part
of a new scheme that protects them.
The farmers get a better price
for their coffee
for leaving the lorises alone.
And the lorises help the farmers,
because when they eat the calliandra,
they pollinate it.
As dawn approaches,
she must return to her baby
and get back to the business
of being a mom.
Local communities can also help
to combat the biggest threat
deforestation.
Leuser is so vast,
it's almost impossible to patrol.
Every single hour,
more than a football field
of forest is cleared,
much of it illegally,
to make room for growing palm oil.
Palm oil is used in up to 50% of products
on our supermarket shelves,
from cookies to shampoo.
These plantations are lifeless
compared to the richness
of the rain forest.
But some communities
are taking part in a fight back
working with conservationists
to remove the plantations.
A small subsidy and a chance
to grow a few profitable fruit trees
within the forest
gives an incentive
and helps safeguard their futures.
On the recovered land,
Leuser quickly produces wonders.
The wind brings seeds
from healthy forests nearby.
Microorganisms help to heal the soil.
In just a matter of months,
ferns and other plants
grow over the old site.
The pollinators move in.
Mammals and birds spread more seeds.
And in as little as four years,
a thriving forest reappears.
As it does so, animals start to return.
Eventually, giant trees will grow.
They'll absorb more and more
carbon dioxide from our atmosphere,
enriching it instead with oxygen,
which benefits us all.
By protecting this forest,
Asia's most endangered creatures
will still have a home.
While still an infant, this Sumatran
orangutan was taken from the forest
and sold into the pet trade.
After years of captivity,
she was finally rescued
and brought back
to live freely again in the treetops.
And now, she has another to care for.
Less than two weeks old.
So small she could fit
in the palm of your hand.
These tender moments are the beginnings
of one of the closest
mother/baby bonds in nature.
For eight years,
she will live
within arm's reach of her mother,
who will teach her
everything she needs to survive.
Gunung Leuser National Park
and the vast ecosystem that surrounds it
is a place of hope
and an opportunity
to protect its unique wildlife
in this, their last precious refuge.
National parks are one
of our greatest achievements.
Over time, we've created nearly
a quarter of a million protected spaces
in almost every country on Earth.
But in this world that's getting warmer
and more crowded, we've got to do more.
And if we're going to hang on
to more of these wild places we depend on,
each of us has a role to play.
Demand to protect our last wildernesses
for future generations.
Campaign to create more,
wherever you live,
and insist they're accessible
for everyone.
Push your own communities
to adopt smarter climate practices.
And vote like the planet depends on it.
There's no more time to waste.
The world we leave to our children
is too important.
The time to act is now.