All language subtitles for 00025.track_4608

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: The aim
of the Green Planet team

was to take the viewer
into the world of plants

so that it could be seen
from the plants' perspective,

in a way that
had not been possible till now.

That meant developing
an entirely new camera system.

And it started life
in the garage

of American ex-military
engineer Chris Field.

I'd seen quite a few of these

Planet Earth style
documentaries.

They always
absolutely blew my mind,

especially the botanic
timelapse really spoke to me.

(WHIRRING)

In his spare time,
Chris spent a decade

building elaborate
motion-controlled

timelapse camera rigs

and teaching himself
how to film plants.

Plants often behave
like animals

in so many ways,

and being able to see it
through timelapse is one thing,

but using the motion-control
brings you into that timescale.

It was a chance
internet encounter

with a Green Planet producer

that first brought Chris
to the attention of the team.

Apparently,
he stumbled on my website

and he saw this robot
that I'd built in my basement.

He was really interested
in how it worked

and what I was doing with it

because itjust looked
a little bit more advanced

than what a lot of other people
were playing with.

I was absolutely blown away
by the level of detail

and the kind of intricate
movements that Chris was doing,

and we could really see
the potential

in how we could use
this sort of movement

to bring plants alive

and film them in the same way
that we film animals.

You're good, buddy.

Soon, Chris joins the team

in a quiet corner
of the British countryside,

and the robot army begins
to take shape.

(WHIRRING)

After 40 years
of filming timelapse,

we realised these have got

so much more going for them
than we've ever had before.

Once you know the plant,
you can say, "Oh, yeah,

"it's going to head that way,"

and you can set the rig to move
in advance,

so you're keeping with it

and you're keeping the action
in the right bit of the frame.

It'll be going up and rotating
and zooming in

and tracking away,
backwards and forwards -

all those sort of things,
all going on at the same time.

So it'll be like
hovering around something

with a drone or a helicopter,
but in a timelapse speed.

So far, so good.

But the team now need
to find a way

to make the robots portable.

The holy grail for us

is being able
to take this technology

out into the wild,

try and get the same sorts
of dynamic moves

in some of the most extreme
environments in the world.

So what we needed to do

was to develop this technology
even further.

Six months later,

a new robotic camera system
is born

that the team
affectionately call

the Triffid.

Now it's time to put
this new member of the team

properly through its paces.

- (WHIRRING)
- The aim here

is for Oli to find a target,

aim for it and fly through it,

as if he is a tiny fly
going through a hole in a leaf.

Easier said than done.

- Oops!
- I'm trying to find a target.

Obviously,
when you're filming wildlife,

we go to really extreme
locations, really remote,

and there's a lot of challenges
when you're in the field.

So, whether the kit's going
to stand up to that sort of use

and the abuse that we throw
at most pieces of kit

has yet to be seen.

In the studio, it seems
to be working pretty well.

But this is only
a dress rehearsal.

It's time for the Triffid
to face the challenges

of the Costa Rican rainforest

and leafcutter ants.

We want to film their journey
all the way

down the trunk
and along this buttress root

and down to their nest.

The team and the Triffid
need several days

of dry weather,

but a storm can hit
at any moment...

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

...and rain is one thing
the Triffid does not like.

The conditions
that we're working in now

are a little bit more
challenging than the studio.

It's not just the weather

the team
have to keep an eye on.

The unfortunate thing
of having big human feet

is that we keep kicking leaves
onto the path by mistake,

so I'm just giving them
a little helping hand.

Ow!

That's better.

All the ground is really bumpy.

We've got loads of plants
in the way.

I know we're making
a series about plants,

but sometimes they're
a complete pain in the neck.

The Triffid needs
to be programmed

to capture images from 7,000
different camera positions

on the ants' trail.

We just need to put
a marker there

- that I can pivot around.
- Yeah.

Every single step
must be meticulously planned.

We've been programming the move
on the computer this morning,

and now we're just running
a test shot

to see how it looks.

Just one drop of rain
on the lens, or a wobble,

and the whole process
will have to start again.

And I think this is one

we're going to find out
if our ambition

outweighs our ability.

For the crew,
the ambition is certainly high.

(RUSTLING)

Fortunately, it's all down
to the Triffid now.

We've been filming the ants
with the Triffid

for eight days now,

and we're on our third set-up.
It's pretty slow going.

While the Triffid seems to be
handling the pressure well,

for the crew, trying to take
a tree's eye view of ants

is turning into
a bit of a nightmare.

Wake up, film ants,
go to sleep, dream of ants.

Wake up, film ants, sleep,
dream of ants.

Wake up, film ants,

go to sleep, dream of ants.

After two weeks in the jungle,

ambition and ability
finally come together...

...for the Triffid at least.

Thousands of individual images

creating a single
extraordinary timelapse. ..

...one that follows
a river of leaves

across the jungle floor
from a unique perspective.

For the Triffid,
this was just the beginning.

- Take a bow, Triffid.
- (WHIRRING)

The most remote shoot
for the Deserts team

is to the island
of San Pedro Mértir,

in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

They are to film
the giant cacti

that have found a unique way
to thrive here.

It takes 48 hours
to travel the 260 miles...

...over unpleasant/y
choppy seas.

It's not made some of us
feel very well.

I think one of us
is quite seasick.

There is nothing
but big blue out there,

and the island is somewhere
in that direction.

Can't see it yet.

As they draw close
to the island,

there's a spectacular reminder

of how rich life in the sea
is here.

Oh, look in front of us,
look at that for a pod!

Oh, they're everywhere.

Show us the way!

(LAUGHS)

Meeting them here is
desert scientist Ben Wilder.

It's through his research
that the team first heard

about the island's
peculiar residents.

I'll never forget
the first time I came

to actually exactly where
we're standing right now.

It was April of 2006,
and saw this view,

and it both settled in my heart
and captivated my mind.

And so that started a process
of trying to understand,

you know,
what can produce this?

The secret
is in the relationship

between the cactus

and a type of seabird
called a booby.

All the boobies
that we need to film

are right up there,
at the top of the island,

so it's going to be
a bit of a scramble.

The crew soon discover

how harsh
the conditions are here.

I'm pretty tired.
It's pretty hot.

But it's a great view.

There's very few places
on Earth

where you're going to see
this many cactus.

I mean,
it's absolutely amazing.

I would say
this is the only place

you're going to see this.

Well, there you go, then.

Ben's research is uncovering
the ingenious ways

the cacti have adapted
to the conditions here.

The waters just offshore here
are some of the most productive

marine waters in the world,

and so
it's kind of an ideal habitat

for seabirds to roost.

But when they do so,
they deposit tonnes of guano,

and so those nutrients,

really high in nitrogen
and phosphorus,

actually are toxic
to most plant species.

The cardones thrive

because they're uniquely able
to process the guano

and extract what they need
to fuel their growth.

One of the first shots
the crew need to get

is of the boobies
nesting under the cacti.

The lack of predators

means the birds
aren't afraid of people.

It should make filming them
up close a bit easier.

That's the theory.

OLI: So we've positioned
this camera here

to try and get
a good perspective

on the chick on the nest.

It's taken quite a liking
to our camera.

Just hope he doesn't break it.

Bull's-eye.

It's pooed right on the front
of the lens.

It's kind of a shot we need,
but unfortunately,

my camera wasn't rolling
at the time it did it,

so now
I've just got a dirty lens.

After a thorough lens clean,

Oli eventually gets the shot

to reveal the extraordinary
relationship

between bird and plant.

But it's not just
the bird guano that influence

how the cardones grow.

They're way shorter,
they're dwarfed here.

Throughout the rest
of their range,

they usually get
upwards of 50, 6O feet.

But here, on average,
they're 20, 24 feet in height.

They stop growing up
and they grow out.

Ben's research suggests
that they go wide here

as an adaptation
to the violent winds.

Too tall, and they'd blow over.

A gusting wind isn't helping
the drone crew, either.

We really need it
to calm down a bit,

otherwise it's going to
be impossible.

(DRONE WHIRS)

BEN: On the Sonoran mainland,

where the cardon is also found,
you have on average

between 5O to 150 plants
per hectare.

Here, on this island,

you have over 2,500 plants
per hectare.

A lull in the wind,

and the team get
a chance to reveal

the remarkably density
of the cacti -

almost 20 times greater
than anywhere else.

It appears that, here,
they're doing very well.

But even this island

isn't isolated from the effects
of a changing planet.

Every cactus you see there,

its body is filled
with nutrients from the sea.

Given that we know
that the cardons

are linked to the ocean,
what happens in the oceans

affects what happens
to the cardon.

So a concern we have right now

is that
there's a lot of overfishing,

and we know
there are less seabirds here

than there were 2O years ago,

and we have reason to believe

that that will ripple
and affect

the nutrients that fuel
the cardons as well.

This finely balanced
relationship is at risk...

...and knowing that
makes leaving the island

particularly thought-provoking
for the crew.

The cardons look beautiful.

I've never seen
so many cactus in my life.

It's absolutely amazing.

I'm just hoping that,
when we leave this place,

it stays as it is,

and things don't affect it
that are negative.

It's an absolutely
wonderful thing, and...

Yeah, and I don't want to go.
I want to stay. So...

This remote cactus forest
is a reminder

of the adaptability of plants,
that enables them

to establish green worlds
almost anywhere on Earth.

This vast wetland
is the Pantanal.

The Water World's team

are heading
to a plant battlefield...

...the home
of Brazil's giant water/fly.

This is like seeing
the end of a war -

there are leaves grown
on top of each other,

flowers going through leaves...

It's unbelievable.

To capture this story
in all its detail

would take over a year

and require a unique
Green Planet approach,

both filming here

and in a parallel
mini Pantanal...

...in deepest, darkest...

...Devon.

This is the unique world

of specialist timelapse
cameraman Tim Shepherd.

Tim has the reputation

of being able
to think like a plant.

It's absolutely crucial

that you get the plant
really happy.

And to make the giant lily
feel totally at home,

Tim must build a little piece
of Brazilian wetland.

First, a 10, OOO-Iitre tank.

Hundreds of bricks,

almost a thousand kilos of soil

and countless
cups of tea later,

the foundations are complete.

So far, so good.

Now time to prepare

for the new Green Planet
camera system.

That way.

We're trying to assemble
the main gantry framework

so that we can mount
the moving rig on top of it.

So it's a bit of a fiddle
to get all the screws

in all the right place,
basically.

After a few weeks,

the building works
are complete.

The flood can now begin.

Tim needs to be sure
everything in the room

is heated
to tropical temperatures...

Ah!

...before the star of the scene
can move in...

...carefully grown at the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew,

especially for us.

Everything depends
on this one plant.

There will be no time
for a second attempt.

And even more important
for Tim,

to keep his guest
happy and healthy.

This big monster
needs a lot of feeding.

We've found we need
about five sandbags

full of compost
every two or three weeks.

So we just sort of
lower them in

and stick them
down by the roots.

Whoa! There we go.

Whilst the Devon giant
settles in...

...the Pantanal crew

are continuing
to get their shots.

Time to see some
giant waterlilies underwater,

and I hope there's no anaconda.

Oof!

Mission accomplished.

The pressure is now on Tim.

After months of pampering,

the giant lily
is ready for action.

First thing to film
is a leaf spike rising up

from the depths.

Luckily,
there are no anacondas here.

This special camera
weighs over 40kg.

It's suddenly become
less heavy, which is good.

The new rig means
Tim will be able to follow

the emerging plant
in any direction.

(WHIRRING)

- Whoa! Fancy!
- (LAUGHS)

The technology is working well,

but nature is starting to
derail Tim's plans.

Getting really tangled up
with all these weeds!

What happens is,
we've got a bit

of an ecosystem
developing here.

Before you know it,
you get masses and masses

of algae growing
in amongst it all.

Eugh!

Gah!

I think I've just released
some anaerobic gases there.

No, not me, the...

...the algae.

State-of-the-an' tools
help keep the algae at bay.

Eugh!

Just in time
for Tim to film liftoff.

Well, that's quite nice,
coming out of the water.

Look at that!

Tim's focus can now shift

to the battle that's starting
to take place on the surface.

Well, I'm trying to film

this new bud
coming out on this lily leaf.

It'll take about three days
to grow from where it is now,

somewhere in this zone,
between these two other leaves.

I want that to last
about ten seconds.

Ten seconds
is about 250 frames.

That works out about
one frame every 2O minutes.

But plants don't read scripts.

It's nature -
it doesn't always do

what you think
it's going to do.

We have had
a few false starts,

where the leaf has swung out of
shot and gone somewhere else.

Or itjust grows a lot quicker
than you thought.

It's a challenge
to get things right,

but with the combination
of Tim's expertise

and the new camera system,

results are starting
to look good.

I think the difference now
with this series

is we can bring the plants
much more to life

as characters

and tell their story
in a much more dynamic way.

It's great to be able
to follow them around,

much more in the way
you'd film an animal behaving.

These rigs have given us

a whole new realm
of possibilities.

After over a year of filming
and recording

100, 000 separate images,

the secret life
of the giant waterlily

and the battle of the Pantanal
has been revealed.

During filming
The Green Planet,

it wasn't only the plants

that struggled to get
their timing right.

The increasing unpredictability
of the seasons made it

frustratingly difficult
for the crew to be

in the right place
at the right time.

Whether the height of summer...

We are in the middle
of a biblical rainstorm.

...or a quiet
autumnal afternoon...

JONNY: This is crazy!
Hurricanes are no joke.

...they were always
kept on their toes.

JONNY: That's really scary!

Ooh!

Sometimes very numb ones.

ROSIE: It's been the most snow
they've had for 38 years.

And I think this is now
our fifth filming trip

in a row where the seasons
haven't done

what they're predictably
meant to do every year.

And these challenges continue

in attempting to find and film
an elusive plant

with a remarkable
survival strategy...

...the fire lily.

Somewhere out there
is a tiny, tiny red plant.

In all of that.

Travelling to South Africa
at the height of summer...

...the crew witnessed
many extraordinary flowers

bursting into bloom.

But if they are to see
a fire lily, they need a fire.

None of the team
have filmed wildfire before -

not something
to be underestimated.

In most cases with wildfires
is that,

when they go wrong,
they go wrong radically.

And it's very unforgiving.

If you get caught
on the wrong side of a fire

because you want to get
that special shot,

there's a possibility
you can get killed,

that's really
what it comes down to.

And after some understandably
studious note-taking. ..

...it's time to put
their training to the test.

(HORN BEEPS)

(FIRE CRACKLES)

ALISTAIR: The fire's just
racing up a gully behind me.

The heat is intense.
You just...

You can't even stand to be,

like, five metres from it.
lfsinsane.

- (FIRE WHOOSHES)
- Whoo!

This is what any fire lilies
here should be waiting for.

(vvnuo ROARS)

Jeepers.

But fynbos wildfires
are starting to become

fiercer than in the past...

...something Fire Chief
Reinard Geldenhuys

knows first-hand.

Nowadays,

we're experiencing more
extreme temperature conditions

and more extreme
wind conditions,

which exacerbates
a fynbos fire.

A fynbos fire in full tilt
with a strong wind behind it

is an animal
that's just running wild.

It's a very frightening sight

if you're standing
in front of it.

Guided by the experience
of the fire crew,

the team are able to
safely capture

the full fury of the blaze.

It's given me a complete new
appreciation for fire,

how intensely it burns

and how quickly it roars
through this environment.

And the fact that any plants
can survive afterwards

is just... Yeah, it's crazy.

As destructive as it seems,

the fire has been part of
this ecosystem for millennia.

Fires should refresh
and regenerate the landscape.

Worryingly, however,
this fine balance

between plant and fire
is beginning to shift.

More extreme wildfires
may spell disaster.

If you disturb the soil
in a fynbos system,

you're going to lose
a lot of species.

Bigger, hotter fires
can burn the soil layer

and burn out all the seeds.

And for the species that have

these really intricate
strategies, like the fire lily,

it really is a difficult game.

Every year is getting hotter
and potentially drier,

so it's kind of becoming
Russian roulette

for a lot of the species here.

In the fire 's aftermath,

the crew must now try to find
a tiny flower.

But have any survived
the blaze?

It just looks completely dead.

The whole valley.

There's nothing for it
but to get their hands dirty.

Searching in the ash
is a grubby business.

(SIGHS)

lfeel...

...disgusting.

After scouring
this mountainside

just days after it burned,

they finally find the first
signs of regeneration.

Wow.
That's what it's all about!

That's the fire lily.

It's like a proper bright red
against all the black.

I mean, that's amazing.

There's another one over there,

and there's another one
behind those.

This place hasn't burned
for 15 years,

so they've been sat underground
waiting for this precise moment

for that entire time,
and then within two weeks,

they're up
and they're flowering.

It's incredible.

This time, the fire lilies here
succeeded in flowering.

But in the 15 years
since they last bloomed,

the Earth has experienced

ten of the warmest years
on record.

You know, there's huge debates
about climate change,

how real is it really
and so on.

Erm...

We experience it in the fire.

It's more intense,

it burns easier,
it burns longer.

In the past, we used to have
one big fire per season,

and we said,
"Yo, that was a big one."

Now we have five to six
big ones per season.

If we don't change our ways,
we are going to reach a point

where fires are burning
with such ferocity

that it will destroy
thelandscape.

And in recent times,
a rapidly changing climate

has led to some of the biggest
fires in living memory,

not just in South Africa,

but around the world.

The next five to ten years
are going to be pretty scary

to actually see what this
has done to the ecosystem.

Let's hope that the next time
this fire lily blooms,

it will find a world
in which it can still survive.

Throughout the Human episode,

the Green Planet crew sought
to capture the lives of plants

confronted with
the human world.

But they also heard the stories

of people deeply connected
to the plants around them...

...such as those
at the front line

of the battle to save Hawaii's

native endangered plants
from invasive species.

If we don't get a handle
on miconia,

we could lose everything

that makes Hawaii special
and unique.

But before
the Green Planet team

could start work,
they had to undertake

some rigorous preparation.

We're going into somewhere

that has very... It's a very
sensitive ecosystem,

they're trying to protect it
from invasives.

Filming in a place so ravaged
by invasive species

meant they had to be 100% sure
that they were not spreading

any non-native stowaways
themselves.

They had to scrub and disinfect
every item of equipment.

With kit clean, the team
first focus on filming

the rare holokea plant...

...accessible only on foot.

There are few pristine areas
like this left in Hawaii.

Only 40% of the land
still has native vegetation...

...most of it wiped out by
invasive species like miconia.

Next on the list

was to film the team
waging war on miconia,

known locally
as the purple plague.

For crewmember Aja,
the work is not just

a physical battle against
this invasive species -

it's deeply personal.

I've been to the pristine area,

so I know what it looks like
and feels like, you know,

to be in the presence

of all that mana
and spirituality.

Those aren't just plants.

Those are ancestors' spirits,
you know?

Controlling these invasive
plants is a relentless job,

and Aja is not just doing this
for native Hawaiian ecosystems,

but also to protect
her ancestral relationship

to this fragile landscape.

So going to do this, it feels
good just to hack 'em

and pull 'em out and be like,
"Yeah, OK, take that,"

you know?
We can sort of fight back.

Aja's fierce passion to protect
these native forests

is evident.

But the purple plague
has spread

to places Aja could never
reach on foot.

Taking to the sky
is the only way

to reach the front line
of this battleground.

With only enough fuel
to stay airborne for two hours,

the window for capturing
this aerial battle

is uncomfortably small.

We have one day of doing
the heli operations.

The weather could

completely mess us up
if we get a system

that comes in.

Heli-to-heli is always
dangerous and difficult.

This flight is not just tense
for Lis.

For plant sniper
Brooke Mahnken,

these short flights
represent his only opportunity

to hold back the invasion.

BROOKE: Miconia left unchecked
can be terribly damaging.

The potential
for one seeding plant,

if it were to get far away
from the population,

reach maturity
and put seeds out,

then it's starting
a whole new infestation,

and once it occupies
that entire area,

then it's completely
wiped it out.

The helicopter
is really important

because you can fly
in extreme terrain

with these, like, 1,000-foot
cliffs, and find miconia.

There would be no other way
to get to these plants.

The miconia team are used
to the aerial challenges

of this battle,
but for producer Lis,

the pre-flight talk
from the helicopter pilot

brings home the lengths
that this team go to

in order to complete
their work.

So you're just going to be
in the back here,

and it's a hurricane
in the back seat.

Literally a hurricane.

So nothing loose, you don't
want to put an arm, a head,

a leg or a hand out.

It's just going to blow
behind you.

And you don't want
to stick your head out

because if the headset
comes off,

then it's into the tail rotor
and then it's bye-bye, Maui.

Pre-flight checks completed,

the clock is now ticking
to get into the air.

LIS: This matters so much
to everyone here.

I definitely feel the pressure
to get this right.

The first thing I want to do is
get some close-ups of the HBT,

because that's going to be
the most challenging thing.

PILOT: Let's go find
some plants, please.

To get within shooting distance

of the plants,
the helicopter pilot

must carefully manoeuvre

into one of the area's
deepest canyons.

PILOT:
See this light-coloured rock?

- BROOKE: Yep.
- PILOT: Follow that up.

To the right. You'll see it.

The target is in sight.

BROOKE: Oh, yeah, there he is.

BROOKE: OK.
I'm live and ready.

With high winds gusting up
from the waterfall,

getting into position is tricky
enough in one helicopter,

let alone two.

To give Brooke the best chance
of hitting the miconia,

the pilot must get him
within 20 metres of the plant,

and ideally at eye level.

Any missed shot threatens
to become friendly fire,

harming the species
he aims to protect.

- Ready?
- Yes.

Here we go.

Brooke must strike
the stem of the plant

to have the best chance
of completely killing it.

- (CHEERING)
- Oh, my God! Nice one!

Yeah, it worked really,
really well. Thanks, guys.

This has been a successful
mission for both teams.

The pilot's skills
and Brooke's sharp-shooting

has saved another patch
of forest,

and Lis is relieved that
she has the shots she needs

to do the story justice.

It's over!

It's over.

Itjust looked amazing.

Lots of...

Yeah, it looks good.
It looks good.

For Brooke and Aja, however,
their work doesn't stop.

Just holding back the tide of
invasive species in Hawaii

is more than a lifetime's work.

But Aja believes that
her fight is worthwhile.

Everything we do
is for the next generation,

just like our ancestors
and kUpunas.

It wasn't for them,
it's for the next generation.

And just to have my kids
going to areas, like,

where they can see
there's still natives,

where we don't have
to go through

all this invasive vegetation.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)

You know, it's notjust
my responsibility,

it's everyone's responsibility.

You know,
the Earth takes care of us,

so we have to do the same.
We can't just...let it go by.

We've got to take care too.