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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:24,361 --> 00:00:29,321 PROFESSOR BRIAN COX: J1 2009 a new specles of spider was identified. 2 00:00:33,321 --> 00:00:36,601 A spider with superpowers. 3 00:00:44,881 --> 00:00:47,361 It was named exactly 150 years 4 00:00:47,441 --> 00:00:50,801 after the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, 5 00:00:50,881 --> 00:00:56,801 in which he explained why life on Earth is so diverse and so complex. 6 00:01:03,601 --> 00:01:07,081 Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection 7 00:01:07,161 --> 00:01:09,441 Was built on the work of naturalists 8 00:01:09,521 --> 00:01:13,681 who were discovering thousands of new species across the world. 9 00:01:18,201 --> 00:01:21,761 That process of finding species new to scilence and naming them 10 00:01:21,841 --> 00:01:24,281 continues to this day and it's recognised 11 00:01:24,361 --> 00:01:26,761 in the name of this newly-discovered arachnid. 12 00:01:29,161 --> 00:01:30,921 Darwin's bark spider. 13 00:01:35,961 --> 00:01:39,321 The spider occupies a unigue niche. 14 00:01:39,401 --> 00:01:42,481 It can hunt where no other spider can. 15 00:01:45,441 --> 00:01:48,761 That spider creates the largest webs found anywhere on Earth. 16 00:01:48,841 --> 00:01:52,001 And in order to do that, it has to produce the strongest silk 17 00:01:52,081 --> 00:01:57,721 of any spider, and it can span over 25 metres across lakes and rivers. 18 00:01:57,801 --> 00:02:00,761 And, actually, no one knows how they get their webs 19 00:02:00,841 --> 00:02:02,641 across such a large distance. 20 00:02:10,001 --> 00:02:14,521 But Darwin's bark spider is Just one of thousands of unigue species 21 00:02:14,601 --> 00:02:17,801 of animals and plants that you find in Madagascar. 22 00:02:21,601 --> 00:02:23,001 The rainforests here 23 00:02:23,081 --> 00:02:26,401 are öone of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. 24 00:02:32,201 --> 00:02:34,801 And each year, more discoveriles are made, 25 00:02:34,881 --> 00:02:36,681 as researchers try to understand 26 00:02:36,761 --> 00:02:41,441 why this tiny corner of the universe is so prolific. 27 00:02:42,641 --> 00:02:45,561 ALI of these living things were found within a five-minute walk 28 00:02:45,641 --> 00:02:47,321 of this field station. 29 00:02:47,401 --> 00:02:50,401 And the diversity is remarkable. 30 00:02:50,481 --> 00:02:52,601 There's a chameleon there. 31 00:02:52,681 --> 00:02:54,121 These are orchids. 32 00:02:54,201 --> 00:02:56,601 This big green leaf is a Travellers Palm. 33 00:02:56,681 --> 00:03:00,841 There are four species of mushroom on that branch alone. 34 00:03:07,801 --> 00:03:12,641 Across Madagascar there are over 14,000 species of plants. 35 00:03:12,721 --> 00:03:16,601 There are hundreds of species of mammals and birds and reptiles. 36 00:03:16,681 --> 00:03:21,521 And over 9096 of them are unigue to this island. 37 00:03:22,201 --> 00:03:24,441 (CHIRPING) 38 00:03:31,761 --> 00:03:36,201 Now, how could it be that so many diverse living things 39 00:03:36,281 --> 00:03:39,081 so beautifully adapted to their environment 40 00:03:39,161 --> 00:03:40,641 could have emerged from a universe 41 00:03:40,721 --> 00:03:44,881 that's governed by a simple set of natural laws? 42 00:03:50,241 --> 00:03:52,841 The fact that we know the answer to that guestion 43 00:03:52,921 --> 00:03:56,121 is one of the greatest achievements in science. 44 00:03:56,201 --> 00:04:02,161 And in this film I want to explore how these endless forms most beautiful 45 00:04:02,241 --> 00:04:04,721 have emerged from a lifeless cosmos. 46 00:04:52,801 --> 00:04:54,161 Africa, 47 00:04:54,241 --> 00:04:57,441 a whole continent full of creatures utterly different 48 00:04:57,521 --> 00:04:59,041 from those in Madagascar. 49 00:05:05,041 --> 00:05:09,441 But the diversity of life doesn't stop at what you see, 50 00:05:09,521 --> 00:05:11,881 because within each individual 51 00:05:11,961 --> 00:05:15,281 lies another hidden world of complexity. 52 00:05:17,761 --> 00:05:19,401 (CUBS GROWLING) 53 00:05:43,201 --> 00:05:47,001 This, believe it or not, is the top predator in Africa. 54 00:05:47,081 --> 00:05:50,921 Or she will be when she's older. She's only about eight weeks old now. 55 00:05:53,921 --> 00:05:57,361 Her body is built from a host of different molecules. 56 00:05:57,441 --> 00:06:01,361 And by far the most diverse group are known as proteins. 57 00:06:02,481 --> 00:06:06,081 You can see the proteins here. Those claws, 58 00:06:07,041 --> 00:06:09,121 so vital to the lion's survival, 59 00:06:09,201 --> 00:06:11,681 -are made of a protein called keratin. -(GROWLING) 60 00:06:11,761 --> 00:06:14,921 Her eyes, also absolutely vital for her survival, 61 00:06:15,001 --> 00:06:17,081 have a protein called opsin 62 00:06:17,161 --> 00:06:21,121 which is bound to a pigment to make structures called rhodopsins, 63 00:06:21,201 --> 00:06:23,001 which allow her to see in colour 64 00:06:23,081 --> 00:06:27,601 and also allow her to see very well at night when she's hunting. 65 00:06:29,681 --> 00:06:32,561 There are also proteins in her muscles. (CHUCKLES) 66 00:06:33,801 --> 00:06:38,441 Myosin and actin. These are the things that allow her to run away. 67 00:06:47,801 --> 00:06:52,001 The proteins in a lion come in countless different forms. 68 00:06:54,081 --> 00:06:56,281 But they all share something in common - 69 00:06:57,801 --> 00:07:00,561 a backbone of carbon. 70 00:07:02,281 --> 00:07:06,361 An atom that's able to form long complex molecules. 71 00:07:10,601 --> 00:07:14,521 Of all the 92 elements, there really is only one 72 00:07:14,601 --> 00:07:20,041 that has that appetite for bonding its four electrons 73 00:07:20,121 --> 00:07:22,321 to share them with other molecules. 74 00:07:22,401 --> 00:07:28,001 Carbon will share those electrons with nitrogen, with oxygen, with hydrogen, 75 00:07:28,081 --> 00:07:30,521 and, critically, with other carbons 76 00:07:30,601 --> 00:07:34,281 to bulild up these immensely complex chains, 77 00:07:34,361 --> 00:07:38,321 the amino acids and the proteins which are the building blocks oflife. 78 00:07:38,401 --> 00:07:39,801 (GROWLING) 79 00:07:40,241 --> 00:07:44,001 So to understand our planet's endless diversity, 80 00:07:44,081 --> 00:07:47,601 we must begin by considering this life-giving element. 81 00:07:48,361 --> 00:07:50,561 I've got a few scratches now because of you. 82 00:07:51,401 --> 00:07:53,041 Because of your proteins. 83 00:07:55,481 --> 00:07:59,681 After all, to build a lion, you must first build carbon. 84 00:08:00,561 --> 00:08:04,481 And that's a story that stretches back to a time long before 85 00:08:04,561 --> 00:08:07,081 there were even stars in the universe. 86 00:08:08,561 --> 00:08:10,441 (EXPLOSION) 87 00:08:14,281 --> 00:08:17,161 Thirteen and a half billion years ago, 88 00:08:17,241 --> 00:08:20,841 Just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, 89 00:08:20,921 --> 00:08:23,641 the universe was a carbon-free zone. 90 00:08:25,601 --> 00:08:30,521 An infinite sterile gloom of hydrogen and helium clouds. 91 00:08:31,961 --> 00:08:33,921 Until one day, 92 00:08:34,001 --> 00:08:37,881 those vast clouds began to collapse under the force of gravity. 93 00:08:40,321 --> 00:08:42,401 (EXPLOSION) 94 00:08:42,921 --> 00:08:47,081 And long before the solar system, Farth or life existed, 95 00:08:48,841 --> 00:08:51,161 the first stars were born. 96 00:09:09,561 --> 00:09:10,881 The birth of the first stars 97 00:09:10,961 --> 00:09:13,361 did much more than just illuminate the universe, 98 00:09:13,441 --> 00:09:17,201 because that set in train a seguence of events 99 00:09:17,281 --> 00:09:21,521 which ultimately is necessary for the existence of life in the universe. 100 00:09:29,001 --> 00:09:30,761 And we can still see that process 101 00:09:30,841 --> 00:09:32,721 playing out in the universe today. 102 00:09:38,001 --> 00:09:41,641 This is the brand-new South African Large Telescope. 103 00:09:42,401 --> 00:09:45,681 (MAN SPEAKING AFRIKAANS) 104 00:09:48,641 --> 00:09:51,321 İts mirror is 11 metres wide, 105 00:09:51,401 --> 00:09:55,281 making it the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. 106 00:09:57,601 --> 00:10:00,841 And it recently helped to pin down what's happening in an object 107 00:10:00,921 --> 00:10:04,401 some 650 million light years from Farth. 108 00:10:10,721 --> 00:10:14,161 This beautiful, almost lifelike system 109 00:10:14,241 --> 00:10:16,961 is known simply as The Bird. 110 00:10:18,281 --> 00:10:21,761 It's the spectacular result of what we used to think 111 00:10:21,841 --> 00:10:24,001 were two galaxies colliding. 112 00:10:28,161 --> 00:10:31,081 İt's events happening in the head of The Bird that are most interesting 113 00:10:31,161 --> 00:10:33,681 from the perspective of life in the universe, 114 00:10:33,761 --> 00:10:37,641 because the head is formed by another galaxy, 115 00:10:37,721 --> 00:10:41,481 a third galaxy, an island of billions and billions of stars 116 00:10:41,561 --> 00:10:45,601 colliding with the two galaxies that form the wings and the body 117 00:10:45,681 --> 00:10:49,761 at a speed of around 250 miles a second. 118 00:10:49,841 --> 00:10:53,761 Now, the turbulence, the disturbance that that creates 119 00:10:53,841 --> 00:10:57,361 is causing many new stars to be formed. 120 00:10:57,601 --> 00:10:59,441 (RUMBLING) 121 00:11:02,801 --> 00:11:06,481 These stars begin their lives by burning hydrogen 122 00:11:06,561 --> 00:11:08,601 to produce ever more helium. 123 00:11:10,361 --> 00:11:13,881 But as they age, as the hydrogen runs out, 124 00:11:13,961 --> 00:11:15,681 they turn to this helium. 125 00:11:17,521 --> 00:11:20,081 The temperature at their core rises, 126 00:11:20,161 --> 00:11:24,721 increasing the chances of three helium nuclei fusing together 127 00:11:24,801 --> 00:11:27,841 to form a new elemeni, carbon. 128 00:11:30,681 --> 00:11:32,761 That process has been going on 129 00:11:32,841 --> 00:11:37,921 for almost the entire history of the universe, back 15 billion years. 130 00:11:38,001 --> 00:11:42,481 And it's the formation of stars that is the vital first step 131 00:11:42,561 --> 00:11:44,641 in the formation of life, 132 00:11:44,761 --> 00:11:50,161 because stars produce the heavy elements in the universe, including carbon. 133 00:11:55,841 --> 00:11:57,641 (EXPLOSION) 134 00:11:57,721 --> 00:12:00,401 From the universe's earliest times, 135 00:12:00,481 --> 00:12:04,481 carbon has been created inside ageing stars. 136 00:12:09,081 --> 00:12:15,321 And over time, this carbon has built up, drifting through the cosmos as dust. 137 00:12:17,281 --> 00:12:22,761 Until some of it was caught up in the formation of a planet called Farth. 138 00:12:28,641 --> 00:12:34,281 And it's here that we can see this ancient carbon brought vividiy to life. 139 00:12:48,961 --> 00:12:53,881 Today the universe is old enough that countless stars have lived and died. 140 00:12:53,961 --> 00:12:56,121 And so there's been plenty of time 141 00:12:56,201 --> 00:13:00,401 to synthesise the primordial hydrogen and helium into the heavy elements. 142 00:13:02,521 --> 00:13:07,841 The guestion now is how does that carbon get into the web oflife? 143 00:13:07,921 --> 00:13:12,641 Well, today it enters via one ingredient, 144 00:13:12,721 --> 00:13:16,041 and I'm gonna measure İt using this balloon. 145 00:13:22,921 --> 00:13:25,801 The ingredient is carbon dioxide, 146 00:13:25,881 --> 00:13:29,041 which plays a key role in photosynthesis. 147 00:13:31,441 --> 00:13:35,601 Fach night, the carbon dioxide concentration increases, 148 00:13:35,681 --> 00:13:39,041 filling the air around the leaves at the top of the trees. 149 00:13:42,921 --> 00:13:46,601 Now, this balloon has a carbon dioxide monitor in it which is going to measure 150 00:13:46,681 --> 00:13:49,241 the change in the levels of CO2 151 00:13:49,321 --> 00:13:53,001 at the top of the forest canopy as night turns to day. 152 00:14:00,721 --> 00:14:05,681 As the sun rises, the trees begin to photosynthesise. 153 00:14:07,001 --> 00:14:10,441 Now, at 6pm last night, so just after sunset, 154 00:14:10,521 --> 00:14:15,201 the concentration was around 350 parts per million. 155 00:14:15,281 --> 00:14:18,401 Around 10pm, so four hours after sunset, 156 00:14:18,481 --> 00:14:23,401 the concentration had risen to about 400 parts per million. 157 00:14:23,481 --> 00:14:27,161 And now, at about midday, the concentration 158 00:14:27,241 --> 00:14:32,561 is back down to about three, four, five parts per million. 159 00:14:32,641 --> 00:14:36,441 So that's a variation over a period of 18 hours 160 00:14:36,521 --> 00:14:40,841 of, what, arocund 1096 in the concentration of carbon dioxide 161 00:14:40,921 --> 00:14:44,481 Just in that piece of atmosphere at the top of the forest canopy. 162 00:14:44,561 --> 00:14:48,281 So what you're seeing there is photosynthesis in action. 163 00:14:53,921 --> 00:14:58,721 Every day, across the planet, photosynthesis uses sunlight 164 00:14:58,801 --> 00:15:03,121 to turn carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars. 165 00:15:07,081 --> 00:15:12,361 The overwhelming majority of the carbon is locked up inside long chains 166 00:15:12,441 --> 00:15:15,801 of sugar molecules called cellulose and lignin. 167 00:15:20,281 --> 00:15:24,561 Now, lignin is the stuff that gives wood its strength. 168 00:15:24,641 --> 00:15:28,201 So in this form, and remember, that is most ofit, 169 00:15:28,281 --> 00:15:32,041 it is very difficult indeed for animals to access. 170 00:15:36,721 --> 00:15:38,881 For the energy and nutrients locked away 171 00:15:38,961 --> 00:15:41,041 inside these long carbon chains 172 00:15:41,121 --> 00:15:44,961 to move through the food web, they must be broken down. 173 00:15:49,481 --> 00:15:54,481 And the best place to see that process in action is out on the open plain. 174 00:15:56,361 --> 00:16:00,521 It's one vast larder for all manner of organisms. 175 00:16:06,521 --> 00:16:10,641 But by far the most effective harvester of carbon 176 00:16:10,721 --> 00:16:14,001 is actually one of the smallest creatures on the savannah. 177 00:16:19,241 --> 00:16:24,721 Termites are social insects, working together to form a characteristic sight 178 00:16:24,801 --> 00:16:27,241 seen all over the bush. 179 00:16:27,321 --> 00:16:30,881 That's a termite mound, actually it's a tip of the iceberg. 180 00:16:30,961 --> 00:16:35,601 The termite city extends way beyond that, underground. 181 00:16:35,681 --> 00:16:38,601 And its function is fascinating. 182 00:16:38,681 --> 00:16:41,201 İt's essentially an air-conditioning system. 183 00:16:41,281 --> 00:16:46,281 What it does is maintain very specific conditions inside the mound, 184 00:16:46,361 --> 00:16:48,561 the conditions of the rainforest. 185 00:16:51,201 --> 00:16:56,201 When the termites first colonised the savannah some 30 million years ago, 186 00:16:56,281 --> 00:16:58,441 they brought their rainforest with them 187 00:16:58,521 --> 00:17:00,081 to support a form of life 188 00:17:00,161 --> 00:17:03,881 that was already wonderfully adapted to living off dead wood. 189 00:17:05,041 --> 00:17:07,681 This is what these termite mounds are all about. 190 00:17:07,761 --> 00:17:12,801 Can you see those structures there? Those white honeycomb-like structures? 191 00:17:12,881 --> 00:17:15,561 Those are called fungal combs. 192 00:17:15,641 --> 00:17:19,481 They're wood pulp and possibly bits of dead grass 193 00:17:19,561 --> 00:17:22,401 that the termites bring in and build into that structure. 194 00:17:22,481 --> 00:17:26,361 And the reason the conditions have to be the same as the rainforest 195 00:17:26,441 --> 00:17:31,201 is because they grow a particular genus of fungus 196 00:17:31,281 --> 00:17:35,081 called Zermitomyces around those honeycombs. 197 00:17:39,441 --> 00:17:40,761 The job of that fungus 198 00:17:40,841 --> 00:17:45,081 is to break down the lignin and the cellulose inside the wood 199 00:17:45,161 --> 00:17:47,841 and convert it into a form that the termites can eat. 200 00:17:47,921 --> 00:17:52,001 Which actually you can see there, they're the little white nodules 201 00:17:52,081 --> 00:17:55,641 Just present on the honeycomb structure. 202 00:17:58,521 --> 00:18:03,161 The termites lack the enzymes to break down the wood efficiently, 203 00:18:03,241 --> 00:18:05,321 so they've become farmers, 204 00:18:05,401 --> 00:18:08,241 tending to öone giant social stomach. 205 00:18:10,121 --> 00:18:14,881 So there's a very intense relationship between the termites and the fungus. 206 00:18:14,961 --> 00:18:18,481 You don't find that fungus anywhere else, actually, 207 00:18:18,561 --> 00:18:20,801 in the world, as far as we know, 208 00:18:20,881 --> 00:18:23,401 other than inside termite mounds. 209 00:18:26,441 --> 00:18:31,961 And it's thought that up to 9096 of the carbon locked up in lignin 210 00:18:32,041 --> 00:18:36,321 in this part of Africa is released back into the food chain again 211 00:18:36,401 --> 00:18:40,361 solely by those termites and that fungus. 212 00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:05,761 So the termites deal with most of the lignin. 213 00:19:05,841 --> 00:19:10,081 But that still leaves a vast store of carbon in the form of cellulose. 214 00:19:11,281 --> 00:19:16,081 Across Africa, herds of mammals graze on grasses and leaves, 215 00:19:16,161 --> 00:19:19,161 turning this cellulose into meat. 216 00:19:23,121 --> 00:19:26,681 Many are a iype of mammal known as a ruminant. 217 00:19:26,761 --> 00:19:31,801 The largest of which is öne of the easiest animals to spot on safari. 218 00:19:31,881 --> 00:19:33,761 MAN: Giraffe there as well. 219 00:20:02,721 --> 00:20:06,361 Giraffes live off a diet that's similar to termites. 220 00:20:06,441 --> 00:20:08,121 They eat cellulose. 221 00:20:08,201 --> 00:20:12,881 Primarily, actually, the tops of the acacia trees that you see here, 222 00:20:12,961 --> 00:20:16,561 scattering the African savannah. And they face that same problem, 223 00:20:16,641 --> 00:20:20,761 they've got to break those difficult carbon bonds down. 224 00:20:20,841 --> 00:20:22,561 And they've come up with a very similar solution, 225 00:20:22,641 --> 00:20:26,401 which is to cultivate bacteria and fungi. 226 00:20:26,481 --> 00:20:31,281 But they do it inside their stomachs, and ruminants, like giraffes, 227 00:20:31,361 --> 00:20:35,161 have had to build a very complex system in order to do that. 228 00:20:35,241 --> 00:20:36,921 They've got four stomachs. 229 00:20:37,001 --> 00:20:41,001 One of them contains their culture of bacteria and fungi, 230 00:20:41,081 --> 00:20:45,121 and they allow them to digest that difficult cellulose. 231 00:20:49,601 --> 00:20:51,561 Even with all this hardware, 232 00:20:51,641 --> 00:20:55,521 ruminants must feed for over two-thirds of the day. 233 00:20:59,121 --> 00:21:03,441 But there are other creatures here that have found a shortcut. 234 00:21:03,761 --> 00:21:07,441 After all, if plant fibres are hard to digest, 235 00:21:07,521 --> 00:21:11,481 why not let someone else do the work and simply steal a meal? 236 00:21:18,761 --> 00:21:20,761 He's coming for us. 237 00:21:20,841 --> 00:21:22,721 Oh, my God! 238 00:21:30,961 --> 00:21:33,201 (ENGİNE STARTING) 239 00:21:35,881 --> 00:21:37,961 Look what we've just found. 240 00:21:38,041 --> 00:21:40,321 We were out looking for giraffe this morning, 241 00:21:40,401 --> 00:21:43,361 we've found about 10 of them Just over there. 242 00:21:43,441 --> 00:21:48,361 But, in looking for the giraffe, we've just found a leopard. 243 00:21:48,441 --> 00:21:50,921 This is one of the top predators out here. 244 00:21:51,001 --> 00:21:56,521 He's got very little to fear, apart from other leopards and maybe lions. 245 00:21:56,601 --> 00:21:59,201 He's having a good look. He certainly doesn't care about us. 246 00:22:03,641 --> 00:22:08,001 He's around two years old and, at the moment, 247 00:22:08,081 --> 00:22:10,841 he doesn't have his own territory, he's too young for that. 248 00:22:10,921 --> 00:22:13,841 And so he is İying low. 249 00:22:16,681 --> 00:22:18,961 (ENGİNE STARTING) 250 00:22:19,041 --> 00:22:21,801 He'll have to make about two kills a week 251 00:22:21,881 --> 00:22:26,321 to stay in good condition, so maybe he'd catch an impala 252 00:22:26,401 --> 00:22:28,641 every three or four days. 253 00:22:28,721 --> 00:22:31,001 And he's obviously doing that 254 00:22:33,041 --> 00:22:35,801 because look at him. (CHUCKLES) 255 00:22:38,721 --> 00:22:40,721 Now he's looking for protein. 256 00:22:42,001 --> 00:22:44,681 And I'm alittle bit worried because I'm protein. 257 00:22:45,761 --> 00:22:47,601 -0Oh, wow! -MAN: It's that boom. 258 00:22:47,681 --> 00:22:49,121 He's after the boom 259 00:22:50,641 --> 00:22:52,321 He's coming really close to us 260 00:22:52,401 --> 00:22:54,961 because he's after the soundman's boom pole. 261 00:22:55,441 --> 00:22:56,681 Which he's... Oh. 262 00:22:56,761 --> 00:22:59,001 It's...(CHUCKLES) That's incredible. 263 00:23:00,441 --> 00:23:02,161 (WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY) 264 00:23:02,961 --> 00:23:04,361 (LAUGHS) 265 00:23:21,441 --> 00:23:24,361 From its origin in the death of stars... 266 00:23:30,761 --> 00:23:33,241 its capture by plants... 267 00:23:38,921 --> 00:23:41,921 through insects, mammals and on... 268 00:23:49,921 --> 00:23:54,321 the carbon cycle is the real circle of life. 269 00:23:54,401 --> 00:23:56,441 (DISTANT ROAR) 270 00:23:59,681 --> 00:24:01,201 Out there tonight, 271 00:24:01,281 --> 00:24:05,401 the relentless recycling of carbon through the food chain will continue. 272 00:24:07,321 --> 00:24:09,641 As night falls, you can almost sense it, 273 00:24:09,801 --> 00:24:12,881 the change in the sounds and the atmosphere. 274 00:24:16,961 --> 00:24:20,881 Some will die so that others can live, 275 00:24:20,961 --> 00:24:25,921 as carbon leaps from branch to branch across the great tree of life. 276 00:24:27,241 --> 00:24:33,081 And guülding it on its way is just one very special form of chemistriy. 277 00:24:33,801 --> 00:24:37,561 Every living thing is just a temporary home for carbon atoms 278 00:24:37,641 --> 00:24:40,241 that existed long before there was life on Earth 279 00:24:40,321 --> 00:24:45,281 and will exist long after Africa and Earth are gone. 280 00:24:50,761 --> 00:24:55,641 But the pattern of life, the information needed to build 281 00:24:55,721 --> 00:24:58,321 a zebra or a tree 282 00:24:58,401 --> 00:25:01,361 or a human being or alion persists. 283 00:25:01,441 --> 00:25:05,481 İt's passed on from generation to generation in a molecule, 284 00:25:05,561 --> 00:25:10,361 a helical molecule with a backbone of carbon, called DNA. 285 00:25:37,121 --> 00:25:40,201 There was a time when Farth appeared empity. 286 00:25:40,281 --> 00:25:42,321 (# ATMOSPHERE BY JOY DIVISION) 287 00:25:53,441 --> 00:25:57,881 Yet despite appearances, 3.8 billion years ago 288 00:25:57,961 --> 00:26:02,721 life was already underway in the form of tiny living specks 289 00:26:02,801 --> 00:26:06,081 that probabiy all shared the same biochemistıy. 290 00:26:06,721 --> 00:26:09,921 We know that every living thing on the planet today, 291 00:26:10,001 --> 00:26:13,761 so every piece of food you eat, every animal you've seen, 292 00:26:13,841 --> 00:26:16,281 everyone you've ever known or will know, 293 00:26:16,361 --> 00:26:20,961 in fact, every living thing that will ever exist on this planet 294 00:26:21,041 --> 00:26:23,721 was descended from that one speck. 295 00:26:32,321 --> 00:26:36,521 We call it the last universal common ancestor, or LUCA. 296 00:26:36,601 --> 00:26:40,601 So, just as the universe had its origin at the Big Bang, 297 00:26:40,681 --> 00:26:45,321 all life on this planet had its origin in that one moment. 298 00:26:50,681 --> 00:26:53,841 Lless than a billion years after its formation, 299 00:26:53,921 --> 00:26:56,201 there was already life on Farth. 300 00:26:57,121 --> 00:26:59,121 (THUNDER RUMBLING) 301 00:27:01,401 --> 00:27:04,361 İt's possible that some of it used biochemistry 302 00:27:04,441 --> 00:27:08,081 utterly different from the life we see today. 303 00:27:08,321 --> 00:27:11,721 If so, it has long been extinct. 304 00:27:14,161 --> 00:27:18,681 İt's also possible that the first life may not have been cellular, 305 00:27:18,761 --> 00:27:23,201 just living chemistry in the porous rocks of some ancient ocean. 306 00:27:24,041 --> 00:27:25,921 We're not sure. 307 00:27:26,001 --> 00:27:31,081 But what's certain is that öone day a population of organisms showed up 308 00:27:31,161 --> 00:27:34,201 With biochemistry that we would recognise. 309 00:27:35,881 --> 00:27:38,401 This was LUCA, 310 00:27:38,481 --> 00:27:42,601 the first expression of a form of life that would, in time, 311 00:27:42,681 --> 00:27:47,681 throw up a group of humans who left their mark in this part of Africa. 312 00:27:51,921 --> 00:27:54,561 Now, we don't know what LUCA looked like. 313 00:27:54,641 --> 00:27:58,601 We don't know precisely where it lived or how it lived. 314 00:27:58,681 --> 00:28:00,481 But we do know this, 315 00:28:00,561 --> 00:28:06,401 if you start to trace my ancestral line back to my parents, to their parents, 316 00:28:06,481 --> 00:28:08,481 to their parents, to their parents, 317 00:28:08,561 --> 00:28:12,441 all the way back through geological timescales 318 00:28:12,521 --> 00:28:16,801 over hundreds of thousands and millions and billions of years, 319 00:28:16,881 --> 00:28:22,321 there will be an unbroken line from me all the way back to LUCA. 320 00:28:26,801 --> 00:28:30,201 We know that, because every living thing on the planet today 321 00:28:30,281 --> 00:28:32,961 shares the same biochemistry. 322 00:28:33,041 --> 00:28:34,401 We all have DNA. 323 00:28:34,481 --> 00:28:39,001 İt's made of the same bases - A, C Tand G. 324 00:28:39,081 --> 00:28:41,321 They code for the same amino acids. 325 00:28:41,401 --> 00:28:44,241 Those amino acids build the same proteins 326 00:28:44,321 --> 00:28:48,601 which do very similar jobs, whether you're a plant, a bacterium 327 00:28:48,681 --> 00:28:51,401 or a bipedal hominid like me. 328 00:28:56,601 --> 00:29:00,521 So all life uses the same fundamental biology. 329 00:29:02,201 --> 00:29:06,161 Those four bases, A, C€ Gand I, 330 00:29:06,241 --> 00:29:08,841 which code for just 20 amino acids, 331 00:29:08,921 --> 00:29:13,841 which in turn build each and every oöne of life's proterins. 332 00:29:17,401 --> 00:29:21,401 Be you bacteria, plant, bug or beasi, 333 00:29:21,961 --> 00:29:24,641 your design comes from your DNA. 334 00:29:26,881 --> 00:29:29,881 So it's this molecule that must hold the key 335 00:29:29,961 --> 00:29:33,841 to understanding why life today is so diverse. 336 00:29:36,921 --> 00:29:38,721 We now know that the answer to the guestion, 337 00:29:38,801 --> 00:29:41,001 "Why is life on Earth so varied?" 338 00:29:41,081 --> 00:29:43,361 is actually the answer to the guestion, 339 00:29:43,441 --> 00:29:47,001 "Why is the DNA molecule itself so varied?" 340 00:29:47,081 --> 00:29:49,041 What are the natural processes 341 00:29:49,121 --> 00:29:52,201 that cause the structure of DNA to change? 342 00:29:52,281 --> 00:29:56,401 Well, part of the answer actually doesn't lie on Earth at all. 343 00:29:56,841 --> 00:29:59,641 It lies up there amongst the stars. 344 00:29:59,721 --> 00:30:04,721 And I can show you what I mean, using this, which is a cloud chamber, 345 00:30:04,801 --> 00:30:10,481 a piece of apparatus that has a unigue place in the history of physics. 346 00:30:11,001 --> 00:30:14,001 I'm gonna cool it down using dry ice, 347 00:30:14,161 --> 00:30:16,121 frozen carbon dioxide, 348 00:30:16,201 --> 00:30:19,081 jJust below minus 70 degrees Celsius. 349 00:30:24,161 --> 00:30:26,641 -T'll put the top on. -(GLASS CREAKING) 350 00:30:26,721 --> 00:30:29,241 -(SOUEALING) -Hear that? 351 00:30:30,201 --> 00:30:33,121 That's the metal at the bottom of the tank cooling down very rapidliy 352 00:30:33,601 --> 00:30:35,201 to minus 70. 353 00:30:37,681 --> 00:30:39,641 The cloud chamber works by having 354 00:30:39,721 --> 00:30:45,161 a super-saturated vapour of alcohol inside the chamber. 355 00:30:45,841 --> 00:30:48,121 Plenty on there. 356 00:30:48,201 --> 00:30:50,121 Now, I want to get that alcohol, 357 00:30:50,201 --> 00:30:53,041 I want to boil it off to get the vapour into the chamber. 358 00:30:53,121 --> 00:30:55,521 So I'm gonna put a hot-water bottle on top. 359 00:30:55,841 --> 00:31:00,201 I mean, this is the first genuine particle physics detector. 360 00:31:00,281 --> 00:31:03,721 İt's the piece of apparatus that first saw anti-matter. 361 00:31:04,041 --> 00:31:07,921 And it really does consist only of a fish tank, 362 00:31:08,001 --> 00:31:11,321 some alcohol, a bit of paper, and a hot-water bottle. 363 00:31:33,521 --> 00:31:35,081 There, look at that. 364 00:31:35,161 --> 00:31:38,361 You see that cloud, that vapour trail? 365 00:31:41,081 --> 00:31:42,801 That's a cosmic ray. 366 00:31:42,881 --> 00:31:46,361 That was initiated by a particle, 367 00:31:46,441 --> 00:31:50,041 probably a proton, that hit the Earth's atmosphere. 368 00:31:53,361 --> 00:31:57,121 It almost certainly originated outside our solar system 369 00:31:57,201 --> 00:32:00,801 and was accelerated by the magnetic fields of our galaxy. 370 00:32:00,881 --> 00:32:05,001 It may even have begun its life beyond our galaxy. 371 00:32:05,121 --> 00:32:06,921 (EXPLOSION) 372 00:32:20,041 --> 00:32:25,041 Now, imagine if one of those hits the DNA of aliving thing. 373 00:32:25,321 --> 00:32:28,561 What that will do is cause a mutation. 374 00:32:28,641 --> 00:32:34,201 That mutation may be detrimental, or, very, very occasionally, 375 00:32:34,281 --> 00:32:35,601 it might be beneficial. 376 00:32:40,041 --> 00:32:44,281 And I think it's gulte wonderful to imagine 377 00:32:44,361 --> 00:32:47,521 that maybe one of the key mutations 378 00:32:47,601 --> 00:32:49,961 that was selected for over the millennia, 379 00:32:50,041 --> 00:32:51,961 that led to some trait in me, 380 00:32:52,361 --> 00:32:56,081 was caused by some particle that began its life, perhaps, 381 00:32:56,161 --> 00:32:59,241 in a massive supernova explosion, 382 00:32:59,321 --> 00:33:01,681 perhaps outside our galaxy, 383 00:33:01,761 --> 00:33:04,001 and went and hit the DNA of something 384 00:33:04,201 --> 00:33:07,681 and caused some kind of beneficial mutation. 385 00:33:07,881 --> 00:33:10,441 We don't know, but you can dream, can't you? 386 00:33:18,281 --> 00:33:23,121 Mutations are an inevitable part of living on a planet like Farth. 387 00:33:25,881 --> 00:33:28,201 They're the first hint at how DNA, 388 00:33:28,281 --> 00:33:31,761 and the genes that code for every living thing, 389 00:33:31,841 --> 00:33:35,161 change from generation to generation. 390 00:33:48,281 --> 00:33:50,001 (MONKEYS HOWL) 391 00:33:52,121 --> 00:33:54,081 Mutations are the spring 392 00:33:54,161 --> 00:33:57,281 from which innovation in the living world flows. 393 00:34:00,881 --> 00:34:05,601 But cosmic rays are not the only way in which DNA can be altered. 394 00:34:06,801 --> 00:34:09,481 There's natural background radiation from the rocks, 395 00:34:09,561 --> 00:34:12,841 there's the action of chemicals and free radicals. 396 00:34:12,921 --> 00:34:15,961 There can be errors when the code is copied. 397 00:34:16,041 --> 00:34:19,881 And then all those changes can be shuffled by sex, 398 00:34:19,961 --> 00:34:21,801 and, indeed, whole pieces of the code 399 00:34:21,881 --> 00:34:25,161 can be transferred from species to specles. 400 00:34:25,241 --> 00:34:27,241 So, bit by bit, 401 00:34:27,321 --> 00:34:30,761 in tiny steps from generation to generation, 402 00:34:30,841 --> 00:34:34,441 the code is, constantly, randomly changing. 403 00:34:37,321 --> 00:34:39,081 Now, whilst there's no doubt 404 00:34:39,161 --> 00:34:42,281 that random mutation does alter DNA, 405 00:34:42,601 --> 00:34:45,281 evolution is anything but random. 406 00:34:45,961 --> 00:34:51,201 It can't be, because the chances of something with DNA as complex as this 407 00:34:51,281 --> 00:34:54,841 appearing by luck alone are vanishingly small. 408 00:34:55,881 --> 00:34:57,961 Imagine you just changed one position 409 00:34:58,041 --> 00:35:01,001 in the code at random, a random mutation. 410 00:35:01,081 --> 00:35:03,481 There are four letters - A,T, C, andG- 411 00:35:03,561 --> 00:35:06,241 so there are four possible combinations. 412 00:35:06,321 --> 00:35:08,961 If there are two places in the code, 413 00:35:09,041 --> 00:35:11,481 there are four combinations for each one. 414 00:35:11,561 --> 00:35:13,161 So that makes 16. 415 00:35:13,241 --> 00:35:16,761 If there are three, then there are 64 possibilities. 416 00:35:16,841 --> 00:35:21,081 By the time you get to a code with 150 letters in it, 417 00:35:21,161 --> 00:35:24,681 then there are more possible combinations in the code 418 00:35:24,761 --> 00:35:27,401 than there are atoms in the observable universe. 419 00:35:30,881 --> 00:35:34,001 Now, a hippo has a code 420 00:35:34,081 --> 00:35:37,561 with around three billion different letters. 421 00:35:37,641 --> 00:35:41,521 So, the number of combinations of those letters, 422 00:35:41,601 --> 00:35:45,201 their chances of producing that code at random 423 00:35:45,281 --> 00:35:48,561 are absolutely infinitesimally small. 424 00:35:48,641 --> 00:35:49,881 İt's impossible. 425 00:35:51,681 --> 00:35:53,361 (SNORTING) 426 00:35:54,641 --> 00:35:58,681 So there must be a non-random element to evolution, 427 00:35:59,641 --> 00:36:02,841 a natural process, which greatly restricts 428 00:36:02,921 --> 00:36:06,961 this universe of possibilities and shapes the outcome. 429 00:36:07,761 --> 00:36:10,881 We call it natural selection. 430 00:36:11,401 --> 00:36:13,081 And to see it in action, 431 00:36:13,161 --> 00:36:15,401 let's return to where we began, 432 00:36:15,481 --> 00:36:17,801 on the island of Madagascar. 433 00:36:47,641 --> 00:36:49,561 Around 65 million years ago, 434 00:36:49,641 --> 00:36:52,801 a group of seafarers were nearing the end of a long journey 435 00:36:52,881 --> 00:36:54,521 across the Indian Ocean. 436 00:36:55,201 --> 00:36:59,801 These were accidental travellers, a group of creatures from Africa 437 00:36:59,881 --> 00:37:04,241 trapped on a natural raft and carried by the ocean currents. 438 00:37:12,681 --> 00:37:16,041 The land they found was virgin, green territory. 439 00:37:17,281 --> 00:37:21,921 Plants, insects, reptiles and birds had established themselves. 440 00:37:22,521 --> 00:37:24,961 But there were none of their own kind. 441 00:37:27,761 --> 00:37:31,121 They were caught up in a sağa that tellis of the great shifting 442 00:37:31,201 --> 00:37:33,721 of Farth's continental plates. 443 00:37:39,681 --> 00:37:43,081 İt's impossible to understand the diversity of life on Earth today 444 00:37:43,161 --> 00:37:46,801 without understanding the shifting geography of our planet. 445 00:37:46,881 --> 00:37:49,001 See, here's a map 446 00:37:49,081 --> 00:37:52,921 of the Southern Hemisphere as it was 150 million years ago, 447 00:37:53,001 --> 00:37:57,401 and you see it's dominated by a single land mass called Gondwana. 448 00:37:57,601 --> 00:38:00,281 And then, 90 million years ago, 449 00:38:00,361 --> 00:38:03,281 Gondwana had begun to break up, 450 00:38:03,361 --> 00:38:05,321 to separate into something 451 00:38:05,401 --> 00:38:08,681 that looks guite recognisably like Africa, 452 00:38:08,761 --> 00:38:10,121 and these two islands - 453 00:38:10,201 --> 00:38:12,481 Madagascar and India. 454 00:38:12,761 --> 00:38:15,121 Now, subseguentiy, India has drifted northwards 455 00:38:15,201 --> 00:38:18,481 and bumped into Eurasla, raising the Himalayas. 456 00:38:18,561 --> 00:38:19,921 But, crucially, 457 00:38:20,001 --> 00:38:23,121 Madagascar has remained isolated. 458 00:38:23,201 --> 00:38:25,841 İt's been an iİsland surrounded by ocean 459 00:38:25,921 --> 00:38:28,241 for almost 90 million years. 460 00:38:36,721 --> 00:38:39,721 So, when those seafarers arrived on their raft 461 00:38:39,801 --> 00:38:44,641 of trees and twigs and leaves, they had a blank canvas. 462 00:38:44,721 --> 00:38:49,721 This two, three, maybe even a single pregnant, individuals, 463 00:38:49,801 --> 00:38:52,441 had a whole island to roam across. 464 00:38:52,521 --> 00:38:55,401 And over 65 million years, 465 00:38:55,481 --> 00:38:59,481 they have blossomed into hundreds and thousands of individuals 466 00:38:59,561 --> 00:39:02,441 and become Madagascar's most iconic animals. 467 00:39:11,241 --> 00:39:14,601 (LEMUR SHRLEKING IN DISTANCE) 468 00:39:44,561 --> 00:39:48,481 Finding the descendants of those ancient mariners is not easy. 469 00:39:49,401 --> 00:39:53,001 But local gurde Joseph has been tracking them for years 470 00:39:53,081 --> 00:39:54,801 and he's going to help me find them. 471 00:39:56,601 --> 00:39:59,001 (LEMUR SHRLIEKING) 472 00:40:14,681 --> 00:40:16,881 There, at the top of the tree, is an İndri, 473 00:40:16,961 --> 00:40:19,361 which is the largest lemur in Madagascar. 474 00:40:20,161 --> 00:40:21,401 And... 475 00:40:22,721 --> 00:40:26,641 it's Just sat there watching us... guletly at the moment. 476 00:40:31,201 --> 00:40:33,841 This lemur here is a very special lemur. 477 00:40:33,921 --> 00:40:36,241 He has a name. He's called David. 478 00:40:38,561 --> 00:40:40,761 After Sir David Attenborough. 479 00:40:49,841 --> 00:40:52,201 (LEMUR SHRLIEKING) 480 00:41:10,761 --> 00:41:13,041 (WHISPERING) Now, we could only do this 481 00:41:13,121 --> 00:41:16,001 because Joseph has spent a lot of time with these lemurs, 482 00:41:17,681 --> 00:41:19,321 so they trust him. 483 00:41:20,961 --> 00:41:23,241 And therefore, it seems, they trust me. 484 00:41:38,081 --> 00:41:40,041 Such enormous hands. 485 00:41:41,961 --> 00:41:43,601 The reason, it's thought, that... 486 00:41:43,681 --> 00:41:47,561 we find lemurs here in Madagascar, and Madagascar alone, 487 00:41:47,641 --> 00:41:50,761 is because there are no simians. 488 00:41:50,841 --> 00:41:55,681 There are no chimpanzees, none of my ancestral family 489 00:41:55,761 --> 00:41:59,481 dating back tens of millions of years to out-compete them. 490 00:41:59,561 --> 00:42:03,361 So, what's thought happened is that, 491 00:42:04,041 --> 00:42:06,281 around 65 million years ago, 492 00:42:06,361 --> 00:42:09,161 one of the lemurs' ancestors 493 00:42:10,281 --> 00:42:14,641 managed to sail across the Mozambigue Channel and landed here. 494 00:42:15,561 --> 00:42:17,921 There were none of those competitors here, 495 00:42:18,001 --> 00:42:21,121 and so the lemurs have flourished ever since. 496 00:42:22,961 --> 00:42:24,961 There are now over 90 species of lemur... 497 00:42:25,041 --> 00:42:27,241 or subspecies, in Madagascar. 498 00:42:28,041 --> 00:42:30,121 And no species... 499 00:42:30,201 --> 00:42:32,681 of my lineage - the simians. 500 00:42:33,721 --> 00:42:36,281 (LEMUR SHRLIEKING) 501 00:42:47,041 --> 00:42:49,281 Över a vast sweep of time, 502 00:42:49,361 --> 00:42:51,361 the lemurs have diversified 503 00:42:51,441 --> 00:42:54,081 to fill all manner of different habitats. 504 00:42:56,721 --> 00:42:59,801 From the arid spiny forests of the south, 505 00:43:00,961 --> 00:43:03,761 to the rocky canyons in the north. 506 00:43:03,841 --> 00:43:05,961 There is something about this island 507 00:43:06,041 --> 00:43:09,361 that is allowing the lemurs' DNA to change 508 00:43:09,441 --> 00:43:11,321 in the most amaziıng ways. 509 00:43:30,681 --> 00:43:33,081 We're on the hunt for an aye-aye, 510 00:43:33,161 --> 00:43:36,321 the most-closely related of all the surviving lemurs 511 00:43:36,401 --> 00:43:38,481 to their common ancestor. 512 00:43:38,561 --> 00:43:40,881 (INDISTINCTI CHATTER) 513 00:43:41,321 --> 00:43:43,281 MAN: Right there. 514 00:43:53,961 --> 00:43:56,681 -(WHISPERING) Oh, yeah, yeah. -MAN: Yeah, yeah. 515 00:43:58,121 --> 00:43:59,401 COX: Oh, yeah. 516 00:44:05,361 --> 00:44:08,161 I just shone the light up and saw these absolutely... 517 00:44:08,241 --> 00:44:12,321 two bright, bright red eyes shining out. 518 00:44:13,521 --> 00:44:16,001 She's very high up in her own little nest. 519 00:44:19,801 --> 00:44:21,561 I don't want to lose sight of her in this forest, 520 00:44:21,641 --> 00:44:23,561 which is very dark and dense. 521 00:44:26,321 --> 00:44:29,921 The team have located a female aye-aye and her son. 522 00:44:31,681 --> 00:44:34,801 They want to attach radio collars to track their movements 523 00:44:35,081 --> 00:44:39,081 and better understand how far they range through these forests. 524 00:44:40,481 --> 00:44:43,561 But first they must sedate them with a dart. 525 00:44:43,641 --> 00:44:45,881 (MAN SPEAKING NATIVE DIALECT) 526 00:44:47,041 --> 00:44:49,761 He's waiting for it to come down low enough to get that clean shot. 527 00:44:49,841 --> 00:44:51,841 I mean, how you get a clean shot... 528 00:44:53,001 --> 00:44:55,121 in this, I have no idea. 529 00:44:58,801 --> 00:45:00,721 (INDISTINCTI CHATTER) 530 00:45:00,801 --> 00:45:04,761 After two hours of traipsing through the treacherous forest, 531 00:45:04,841 --> 00:45:07,041 the aye-ayes remain at large. 532 00:45:15,801 --> 00:45:17,961 (OVERLAPPING CHATTER, LAUGHTER) 533 00:45:19,481 --> 00:45:20,921 MAN: Oh, yeah! 534 00:45:32,561 --> 00:45:36,001 Well, here is the aye-aye that was tranguilised last night. 535 00:45:36,081 --> 00:45:39,561 They finally got her about half an hour after we left. 536 00:45:39,641 --> 00:45:41,961 Ithink it was probably because we were disturbing her. 537 00:45:42,041 --> 00:45:44,841 Apparently, as soon as we'd gone, she came down the tree 538 00:45:44,921 --> 00:45:46,001 and she was tranguilised. 539 00:45:46,081 --> 00:45:50,001 And, as you can see, she's pretty well sedated now, 540 00:45:50,081 --> 00:45:54,321 which is fortunate for me because she has certain adaptations 541 00:45:54,401 --> 00:45:57,121 that I wouldn't like to be deployed. 542 00:45:57,201 --> 00:45:59,881 You can see there... her teeth. 543 00:46:00,801 --> 00:46:03,761 Her teeth are very unusual for a primate. 544 00:46:03,841 --> 00:46:07,081 In fact, unigue, because they carry on growing. 545 00:46:07,161 --> 00:46:09,641 So she's much more like a rodent in that respect. 546 00:46:09,721 --> 00:46:12,601 And that's so she can gnaw into wood. 547 00:46:12,681 --> 00:46:16,801 You see, aye-ayes have filled a unigue niche on Madagascar. 548 00:46:16,881 --> 00:46:18,761 İt's a niche that's filled by woodpeckers 549 00:46:18,841 --> 00:46:20,201 in many other areas of the world. 550 00:46:20,281 --> 00:46:25,001 What she does is she feeds on grubs and bugs inside trees. 551 00:46:25,081 --> 00:46:28,561 And to do that, she has several unigue adaptations, 552 00:46:28,641 --> 00:46:30,361 of which the teeth are one. 553 00:46:30,441 --> 00:46:32,161 The most startling 554 00:46:32,241 --> 00:46:36,321 is this central finger here. It's bizarre. 555 00:46:36,401 --> 00:46:40,281 İt's got a ball and socket joint, for a start, 556 00:46:40,361 --> 00:46:43,321 so İit has complete 360-degree movement. 557 00:46:43,401 --> 00:46:46,521 It feels to me almost as İf it's broken, butit isn't. 558 00:46:46,601 --> 00:46:49,441 İt's just, you can move İt around in any direction. 559 00:46:49,521 --> 00:46:54,321 And she uses that finger, initially, to tap on the trunk of the tree. 560 00:46:54,401 --> 00:46:57,601 And then listening to the echo from that tapping 561 00:46:57,681 --> 00:47:02,281 with these huge ears, she can detect where the grubs are. 562 00:47:02,641 --> 00:47:04,801 And then she gnaws through the wood 563 00:47:04,881 --> 00:47:07,001 with those rodent-like teeth. 564 00:47:07,081 --> 00:47:09,041 And then uses this finger again 565 00:47:09,121 --> 00:47:11,161 to reach inside the hole 566 00:47:11,241 --> 00:47:13,161 and get the bugs out. 567 00:47:13,601 --> 00:47:15,801 So the guestion is, why? 568 00:47:15,881 --> 00:47:20,521 How could an animal be so precisely adapted 569 00:47:20,601 --> 00:47:22,721 to a particular lifestyle? 570 00:47:23,521 --> 00:47:24,921 She's waking up now. 571 00:47:26,001 --> 00:47:27,601 And the answer is, 572 00:47:27,681 --> 00:47:29,241 natural selection. 573 00:47:29,321 --> 00:47:32,521 See, what must have happened is, way back, 574 00:47:32,601 --> 00:47:36,761 when the ancestors of the lemurs, the lemuriforms, arrived in Madagascar, 575 00:47:36,841 --> 00:47:39,361 there must have been a mutation that... 576 00:47:40,561 --> 00:47:45,001 lengthened the middle finger ever so slightly of one of those lemurs. 577 00:47:45,081 --> 00:47:47,561 And that must have given it an advantage. 578 00:47:47,641 --> 00:47:49,081 That must have allowed it, perhaps, 579 00:47:49,161 --> 00:47:51,561 to reach into little holes and search for grubs. 580 00:47:51,641 --> 00:47:54,681 There's some reason why that lengthened middle finger 581 00:47:54,761 --> 00:47:59,321 meant that that gene was more likely to be passed to the next generation 582 00:47:59,401 --> 00:48:01,241 and then down to the next generation. 583 00:48:01,321 --> 00:48:04,841 So that landscape of possibilities is narrowed. 584 00:48:04,921 --> 00:48:08,081 İt's narrowed because that gene persists. 585 00:48:08,161 --> 00:48:12,761 And it's persisted now for at least 40 million years, 586 00:48:12,841 --> 00:48:18,001 because this species has been on one branch of the tree of life now 587 00:48:18,081 --> 00:48:20,521 for over 40 million years. 588 00:48:20,601 --> 00:48:22,441 And so, over those years, 589 00:48:22,521 --> 00:48:25,001 that middle finger has got more and more speclalised. 590 00:48:27,281 --> 00:48:32,001 Natural selection has allowed the aye-aye's wonderfully mutated finger 591 00:48:32,081 --> 00:48:33,961 to spread through the population. 592 00:48:36,401 --> 00:48:39,241 And this same law applies to all life. 593 00:48:41,241 --> 00:48:44,521 If you have a mutation that helps you in the struggle to survive, 594 00:48:44,921 --> 00:48:47,801 you are more likely to leave more offspring. 595 00:48:48,321 --> 00:48:50,041 And, in the next generation, 596 00:48:50,121 --> 00:48:53,681 that mutation is more likely to survive. 597 00:48:57,241 --> 00:49:00,721 So this animal is a beautiful example, 598 00:49:01,241 --> 00:49:03,641 probably one of the best in the world, 599 00:49:03,721 --> 00:49:06,641 of how the sieve of natural selection 600 00:49:06,721 --> 00:49:10,001 produces animals that are perfectly adapted 601 00:49:10,081 --> 00:49:12,401 to live in their environment. 602 00:49:35,721 --> 00:49:38,201 Now, there are many reasons to study the aye-aye. 603 00:49:38,281 --> 00:49:40,441 But here's a good one. 604 00:49:40,521 --> 00:49:43,601 In the 1970s it was thought the aye-aye was extinct. 605 00:49:43,681 --> 00:49:46,681 Now we know there are several thousand 606 00:49:46,761 --> 00:49:49,681 in the forests of Madagascar - five, six, seven thousand. 607 00:49:49,761 --> 00:49:51,641 Certainly less than 10, 000. 608 00:49:51,721 --> 00:49:56,081 But over the last 50 years, 5096 of this forest has vanished. 609 00:50:10,281 --> 00:50:13,081 This is an animal that's been around as a species 610 00:50:13,161 --> 00:50:15,561 for over 40 million years. 611 00:50:15,641 --> 00:50:18,361 So, it's important to know 612 00:50:18,441 --> 00:50:19,961 how these animals are doing 613 00:50:20,041 --> 00:50:23,361 and how they're surviving in this diminishing habitat. 614 00:50:39,481 --> 00:50:43,161 Whilst natural selection explains how the aye-aye evolvedi, 615 00:50:43,681 --> 00:50:48,121 it alone can't explain how a small group of individuals 616 00:50:48,201 --> 00:50:50,481 over 60 million years ago 617 00:50:50,561 --> 00:50:54,601 gave rise to over 90 different species of lemur today. 618 00:50:58,521 --> 00:51:00,441 But there is another form of life 619 00:51:00,521 --> 00:51:02,241 that can offer us a clue. 620 00:51:04,841 --> 00:51:07,121 Up here in the high forest canopy, 621 00:51:07,201 --> 00:51:10,961 we're in a very different environment to the one down there 622 00:51:11,041 --> 00:51:12,401 on the forest floor. 623 00:51:12,481 --> 00:51:14,561 İt's a more arid environment, 624 00:51:14,641 --> 00:51:16,161 it's almost like a desert. 625 00:51:16,241 --> 00:51:19,561 İt's exposed to the sun, water is harder to come by. 626 00:51:19,641 --> 00:51:22,121 And so this is a sea 627 00:51:22,201 --> 00:51:24,201 of different niches 628 00:51:24,281 --> 00:51:26,921 that are able to be occupied and exploited 629 00:51:27,001 --> 00:51:28,441 by animals that are different 630 00:51:28,521 --> 00:51:30,881 to the ones you'll find down there on the floor. 631 00:51:30,961 --> 00:51:33,041 So, in a very real sense, 632 00:51:33,121 --> 00:51:36,761 this is an island, an island to be colonised. 633 00:51:38,081 --> 00:51:39,321 And sure enough, 634 00:51:39,401 --> 00:51:42,281 there are settlers to be found even here. 635 00:51:43,441 --> 00:51:47,641 You see that thing that looks like a muddy ball there on the branch? 636 00:51:48,121 --> 00:51:49,441 Well, that's an ant's nest. 637 00:51:49,521 --> 00:51:52,601 It's home to a species of Crematogaster ants, 638 00:51:52,681 --> 00:51:55,681 that are unigue, not only to Madagascar, 639 00:51:55,761 --> 00:51:58,001 but to the forest canopy. 640 00:51:58,201 --> 00:52:00,361 You see, what makes those ants unigue 641 00:52:00,441 --> 00:52:02,841 is that they can build their own nests. 642 00:52:02,921 --> 00:52:06,321 There are very few species of ants that can do that. 643 00:52:06,761 --> 00:52:08,761 So, that is an island, 644 00:52:08,841 --> 00:52:10,081 that is a niche, 645 00:52:10,161 --> 00:52:13,521 and it's allowed that species of ants to develop 646 00:52:13,601 --> 00:52:17,001 because they're isolated from the rest of the ecosystem. 647 00:52:18,081 --> 00:52:20,881 And, astonishingly, within this niche, 648 00:52:20,961 --> 00:52:24,481 another form of life, new to science, has been discovered. 649 00:52:27,081 --> 00:52:31,361 A beetle that manages to survive here unharmed by the ants. 650 00:52:32,961 --> 00:52:35,601 How it does it is a mystery. 651 00:52:36,721 --> 00:52:37,921 But what is known 652 00:52:38,001 --> 00:52:41,641 is that this particular species has only ever been found 653 00:52:41,761 --> 00:52:43,361 inside these nests. 654 00:52:45,201 --> 00:52:49,321 So, that really is its own mini ecosystem 655 00:52:49,401 --> 00:52:52,681 with species living in it that are unigue to that island. 656 00:53:05,121 --> 00:53:08,121 We live on an ever-shifting dynamic world 657 00:53:08,201 --> 00:53:11,721 that creates islands in abundance. 658 00:53:20,561 --> 00:53:22,841 Farth's mountain ranges, 659 00:53:22,921 --> 00:53:27,121 river valleys and canyons all create islands for life. 660 00:53:32,721 --> 00:53:34,641 And it's these islands 661 00:53:34,721 --> 00:53:38,961 that those ancestors of the lemurs found when they arrived in Madagascar. 662 00:53:46,081 --> 00:53:50,041 Empty niches, where populations became isolated. 663 00:53:50,561 --> 00:53:53,321 And, over great swathes of time, 664 00:53:53,401 --> 00:53:56,841 evolved into such wonderfully diverse forms. 665 00:54:05,841 --> 00:54:08,041 (CHİLDREN CHATTERIİNG) 666 00:54:18,201 --> 00:54:21,721 A hundred and fifty years on from the Origin of Species, 667 00:54:22,161 --> 00:54:25,401 the subtlety and beauty of Darwin's insight 668 00:54:25,481 --> 00:54:27,881 is still revealing itself to us. 669 00:54:30,961 --> 00:54:35,961 It describes how our beautiful complex tree of life has grown 670 00:54:36,041 --> 00:54:38,561 from a once-desolate universe. 671 00:54:40,521 --> 00:54:42,401 The chemistry of carbon 672 00:54:42,481 --> 00:54:46,481 allows for the existence of a molecule that is able to replicate itself 673 00:54:46,761 --> 00:54:50,121 and pass information on from generation to generation. 674 00:54:50,601 --> 00:54:54,481 There can be random changes in the structure of that molecule, 675 00:54:54,561 --> 00:54:55,841 mutations, 676 00:54:55,921 --> 00:54:58,241 and they're tested by their interaction 677 00:54:58,321 --> 00:55:00,721 with the environment and otherliving things. 678 00:55:00,801 --> 00:55:03,561 The ones that pass that test survive 679 00:55:03,641 --> 00:55:06,241 and the ones that fail that test are lost. 680 00:55:11,321 --> 00:55:15,241 The separation and isolation of living things onto islands, 681 00:55:15,321 --> 00:55:18,081 which may be physical like Madagascar, 682 00:55:18,161 --> 00:55:21,681 or just the single branch of a single tree, 683 00:55:21,761 --> 00:55:23,441 results in speciation, 684 00:55:23,521 --> 00:55:25,881 the explosion of living forms, 685 00:55:25,961 --> 00:55:29,641 highly specialised to occupy niches within niches. 686 00:55:30,041 --> 00:55:32,601 And this is the explanation 687 00:55:32,681 --> 00:55:35,041 for the diversity of life on Earth. 688 00:55:35,241 --> 00:55:39,241 There is grandeur in this view of life, as Darwin wrote, 689 00:55:39,321 --> 00:55:41,921 and understanding how it happened 690 00:55:42,001 --> 00:55:44,081 surely only adds to the wonder. 691 00:55:52,881 --> 00:55:56,321 As precise as Einstein's theorles of relativity, 692 00:55:56,401 --> 00:55:59,001 and as profound as thermodynamics, 693 00:56:00,841 --> 00:56:04,681 Darwin has given us another universal law - 694 00:56:08,321 --> 00:56:11,121 evolution by natural selection. 695 00:56:20,761 --> 00:56:23,921 And if evolution is the law on this island, 696 00:56:24,561 --> 00:56:27,761 then it will apply throughout the cosmos. 697 00:56:31,321 --> 00:56:33,281 Which begs a big guestion. 698 00:56:37,241 --> 00:56:40,841 Could there be other trees of life most beautiful 699 00:56:40,921 --> 00:56:42,641 amongst the stars? 700 00:56:50,881 --> 00:56:54,361 In 2011 we discovered a rocky planet 701 00:56:54,441 --> 00:56:57,801 orbiting around a distant star with daytime temperatures 702 00:56:57,881 --> 00:57:00,921 not too dissimilar to those found on Earth. 703 00:57:01,001 --> 00:57:03,521 Now, there must be millions, 704 00:57:03,601 --> 00:57:07,441 if not billions, of such planets out there in the universe. 705 00:57:07,521 --> 00:57:10,001 And it's inconcelivable to me 706 00:57:10,081 --> 00:57:12,641 that none of them will have trees of life 707 00:57:12,721 --> 00:57:16,321 as complex or even more complex than our own. 708 00:57:16,841 --> 00:57:20,961 But that doesn't devalue the existence of our tree, 709 00:57:21,041 --> 00:57:23,321 because our tree İs unigue. 710 00:57:23,401 --> 00:57:25,761 It consists of thousands of branches, 711 00:57:25,841 --> 00:57:28,681 all interdependent on thousands of others, 712 00:57:28,761 --> 00:57:32,081 and the precise structure depends on chance events, 713 00:57:32,161 --> 00:57:37,441 like the passage of the lemurs across the ocean 65 million years ago. 714 00:57:45,601 --> 00:57:47,241 So when you go outside tomorrow, 715 00:57:47,321 --> 00:57:50,161 just take a look at a little piece of your world, 716 00:57:50,241 --> 00:57:53,881 in a corner of your garden, or a park, 717 00:57:53,961 --> 00:57:58,281 or even the grass that's growing in a crack in the pavement, 718 00:57:58,401 --> 00:58:02,041 because there will be life there and it will be unigue. 719 00:58:02,361 --> 00:58:06,081 There will be nowhere like that anywhere else in the universe. 720 00:58:06,281 --> 00:58:07,721 And that makes our tree, 721 00:58:07,881 --> 00:58:11,441 from the sturdiest branch to the most fragile twig, 722 00:58:11,961 --> 00:58:13,961 indescribably valuable. 723 00:58:19,321 --> 00:58:21,841 (# ÜNDERNEATH THE STARS BY KATE RUSBY) 60270

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