All language subtitles for BBC.Hidden.Kingdoms.2of3.Secret.Forests.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Our planet is home to millions
of different species.

The big and the powerful
capture our attention.

But there is another story to tell.

Beneath our feet are hidden - almost
magical worlds teeming with

extraordinary little creatures.

BELLOWING

The world looks very
different to them.

A falling acorn becomes a meteor.

A tiny trickle, a tsunami.

And every enemy, is a giant.

Now, using the latest technology,

we can recreate the world
from their perspective -

to experience it as they do.

These are tales of life
from the tropical jungle,

and the northern forest

in the Hidden Kingdoms.

The ancient woods of North America.

Hundred-year-old oaks cast
their shadows over a hidden world.

It's autumn.

Time for the yearly fall of acorns.

It's what every chipmunk
in the forest has been waiting for.

This youngster is only
six weeks old,

but will soon face the most
important challenge of his life.

For the smallest animals
it's time to take cover.

For chipmunks,
it's time to get hoarding.

Winter is on its way.

A quick quality check,
and the first nut goes in the bag.

A chipmunk's tunnel may run
for more than ten metres

to keep its nuts safe.

And they need a hoard of more than
a hundred acorns to see them

through the long winter ahead.

For his first year,
this youngster's done well.

But a hoard is no use
unless it's well hidden.

He's being watched.

This is an older chipmunk
and sneakier too.

Chipmunks are notorious thieves.

After all, why work when you can
steal from someone else?

For the burglar it's a dash back to
his burrow to stock his own hoard.

Oblivious, the youngster gathers
a last few "honest" nuts.

The competition is about to get
a whole lot bigger.

A moose.

It's hungry for nuts too.

BELLOWING

SQUEAKING

This holdup is one he
can't afford, especially

when his store is being burgled.

The young chipmunk is still held up.

Every autumn a moose can eat enough
acorns to put on 100 kilograms.

Just what it needs to survive
the harsh winter ahead.

And that's the problem for small
animals, they just can't

store enough fat.

It's why a larder of nuts
is so important.

He's about get a nasty surprise.

His larder is now almost empty,

and things are about to get worse.

The burglar is back,
and he's a seasoned fighter.

An older, stronger chipmunk
can kill a youngster.

The youngster may have escaped,

but no chipmunk can survive
without a store of nuts.

How will he make it through
the coming winter?

On the other side of the world is
a forest where winter never comes.

The steamy jungles of Borneo -
a kingdom of perpetual heat.

Concealed in the undergrowth
are thousands of tiny creatures,

more than anywhere else on earth.

In this hidden kingdom
competition is intense.

So many different species
battle for survival here.

Each one must find its own place
within this crowded world.

Up in the canopy, lives one of the
most curious creatures of them all.

A tree shrew,

a tiny mammal whose ancestors
have lived in these jungles

for more than 10 million years.

BIRDS WHISTLE

Nearby is a giant mangosteen tree

that provides all the fruit
she needs.

Dinner is served,
but it's a long way down.

Luckily tree shrews are
born acrobats.

Tree shrews have the largest
brain for their body size

in the world
and rarely make a mistake.

They also have the most
demanding metabolism -

they need food every two hours.

Even if it means leaving the safety
of the treetops to find it.

There's no one else around and
she has the fruit all to herself.

For now.

Darkness brings
a change to the forest.

Only the toughest
creatures venture out,

with their very effective weapons.

Thousands of vicious quills
on a porcupine's back means he'll

be left to eat in peace.

At night, the best place for a
tree shrew is safe up in the nest.

Until now the forest has
provided well.

But she's yet to learn how fickle
the rainforest can be.

Morning, and like every tree shrew
she wakes up hungry.

Someone's up before her.

And they're heading right for the
great tree.

Orang-utans are 500 times her size.

They are fruit-eating machines and
can strip a tree bare in no time.

They're not the only ones attracted
to fruit-bearing trees.

The hungry will come from far
and wide.

GRUNTING

If she's going to get her breakfast
she'd better hurry.

Forest giants have got there first.

Weighing more than a man,

these bearded pigs are as aggressive
as they are greedy.

Unluckily for the shrew,

pigs have the most sensitive
noses in the forest.

Nothing escapes their attention.

GRUNTING AND SNORTING

SNORTING ECHOES

Breakfast is disappearing.

To eat again means finding another
fruiting tree and fast.

But in the rainforest,

trees in fruit are actually few
and far between.

This young tree shrew
must leave her home

and search deep into the jungle.

She will need all her wits
to survive.

In the hidden kingdom of
the northern woods, it's leaves,

not acorns, that are falling now.

Winter is just a breath away.

Small animals are already
hunkering down for winter.

A wood frog buries itself, soon
to become a living block of ice.

Once the freeze sets in,

this chipmunk won't last long
without a store of nuts.

Facing an empty larder this late
in the season means a chipmunk

is forced to forage in enemy
territory.

Spotted.

No neighbour will tolerate
an intruder.

Not where nuts are concerned.

CHIPMUNKS CHITTER

THUD OF ACORN

THUDDING

That sound is irresistible.

There's a reason why chipmunks don't
gather nuts from here.

This is the home of a silent killer.

A horned owl.

Owls sleep during the day,
so he might just get away with it.

So far, so good,
but he still needs lots more nuts.

The days are getting shorter
and once it's dark,

it's a very different proposition.

CHIPMUNK SQUEAKS

OWL HOOTS

Owls have extremely
sensitive hearing.

Time to go.

SQUEAKING

Speed may have saved him,
but his larder is still half empty.

And even worse, the first
frost of winter is upon him.

Chipmunks can't survive
outside in the cold.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Back in the rainforest,

the tree-shrew's supply
of fruit has run dry.

She needs an alternative
source of food...

THUNDER CLAP

And there's the daily shower
to contend with.

When you're this small,
raindrops are like water bombs.

BIRDS TWEET

She must make up for lost time.

Down on the forest floor,

dangers lurk around every corner.

Fire ants.

They sting with acid.

Not to be disturbed,
unless you're armour plated.

A pangolin has claws as strong as a
bear's and eats fire ants for lunch.

She's drawn by the scent
of something tasty.

Pitcher plants are carnivorous,

known for luring insects to
a watery grave.

This one lures hungry tree shrews.

The inside of the lid is
covered in a sweet secretion.

STOMACH RUMBLES

But the liquid is a laxative,

and a fast acting one.

The pitcher was after nutrients
in the tree shrew's dung.

It means she is now
running on empty.

And worse, she's not alone.

A reticulated python.

Instinct sends her up to the canopy.

No snake can climb as fast as this.

But nightfall is approaching.

Night is no time for a tree shrew
to be up and about.

You never know who you
might bump into.

Twice her size, flying foxes
are the largest bats in the world.

They're able to fly from one
fruit tree to another.

More than half the creatures of
the jungle are nocturnal,

but for a daytime creature, night in
the rainforest is an alien world.

Strange fungi light the way.

Why they glow is
one of nature's mysteries.

Their light doesn't travel far.

It's almost pitch dark.

CHIRRUPING

These tarsiers are
only ten centimetres tall.

They're hunting.

Nothing escapes their huge eyes
and acute hearing.

Not even the stealthiest predator
in the forest.

This python is also
an expert night hunter.

It has heat-sensing pits on the side
of its face and can follow

the heat trail of a warm blooded
mammal, even in the dark.

In the wild woods, dawn
melts away the first ground frost.

But it was a warning.

Finding his stolen nuts
and getting them back

is now the youngster's only chance.

The nut thief is going out.

The youngster will have to be quick.

Caught in the act.

It's flight or fight.

He chooses fight

SQUEAKING

CHIPMUNK CHITTERS

The youngster's won.

He can reclaim his stolen nuts,

while the thief
nurses his wounded pride.

The youngster had better hurry,
winter is here.

Back in the jungle, the young tree
shrew is weak with hunger,

and is being pursued by the most
relentless predator in the forest.

She's driven higher.

Another snake.

Cornered.

There's only one way out...

But it's further than she's
ever jumped before.

SNAKE HISSES

Speed, distance, and timing must be
judged to perfection.

Safe.

And, at last, a fruiting tree.

For today, the adventure is over.

But soon,
her search will begin again.

With each day that passes, this
clever little creature will grow a

little wiser and better able to cope
with the danger that comes her way.

In the Hidden Kingdom,
life never slows down.

Except perhaps in the temperate
forest, when the big freeze sets in.

Although for many animals this is
a time of hardship,

for a chipmunk, it's a chance to
take a well-deserved rest.

The start of six months of
peaceful sleep.

And when he gets hungry he'll wake,
briefly and his nuts will be there.

They'll last him
all the way until spring,

when he'll re-emerge,
ready to begin again.

Few little creatures
survive their first months,

but for those that do, what they
have learned should make life become

just that little bit easier, in the
hidden kingdoms of the forests.

Traditional natural history is

filmed from a distance
behind a telephoto lens.

Hidden Kingdom is different.

One of the biggest challenges
filming Hidden Kingdom

is trying to
get down to the animal's eyeline and

really portray the world that they
see and the world that they live in.

To see the world through the eyes of
our tiny creatures

meant getting our lenses
as low to the ground as possible.

Getting a camera to
sit right on the forest floor

at this sort of height is
really tricky.

Oops!

HE LAUGHS

It's amazing what
difference an inch makes.

We headed to Quebec in Canada
to film an animal

that would hopefully allow us
into its world.

At a unique animal research station,

chipmunks have been closely
observed for over 20 years.

Come on. You coming?

Zoologist, Alessia Kockel, has a
detailed knowledge of these animals.

My favourite chip is
this one, this is Beach Boy.

Chipmunks can be
nervous but Alessia is with them

every day and knows which chip might
best tolerate the filming.

This a lot to ask
for a chipmunk to put up with.

After all, film crews aren't known
for travelling light.

OK, down.

So the trick is to be set
up and ready

before the chippies get out of bed.

Luckily for us,
they're late starters.

They choose to camp outside the
burrow of a chipmunk called Simon.

And they begin to wait...

And wait.

The second part
of our film is set in the jungles

of Borneo and involved filming
a host of small animals.

Getting up close
and personal here would bring

very different challenges.

The jungle's most
notorious creatures

are easiest
to find to find at night.

I mean, really, they will
kill anything that can't get away.

Fire ants.

Yeah, they're in here and here. The
line is still going this way.

They're right in here as well.

SHE YELPS

Just over a centimetre long,
to do them justice, we would

either have to shrink down
our film crew...

Or build some tiny lenses.

These lenses
are powerful enough to take us

straight into the ants' world.

Just let it go.

All we had to do
now was avoid the stings.

SHE YELPS IN PAIN

Back in Canada, Simon the chipmunk
is getting used to the crew

and gaining in confidence.

Well. Hello, there he is.
So this is Simon.

Oh! This is Simon and he is
so beautiful.

Soon he is so focused on his nuts,
he stops noticing us at all.

It's time to get ambitious.

We wanted to track
along-side a running chipmunk

and that meant a bit
of make-shift engineering.

Well, we've just set
up this long track on quite

uneven ground
and we've got this broken tree

that our chipmunks are running
up and down.

So we're setting up for a
tracking shot.

If they behave.

OK, running, running, we're running.

Oh!

It's all happening now.

Cut. Well done.

Just as chipmunks and crew are
getting the hang of it,

the weather takes
a turn for the worse.

The storm has brought down trees all
around the chipmunks' burrows,

and, worryingly,
there's no sign of Simon.

In Borneo, the team
is getting grips with the jungle.

And cameraman
Mat Thompson is about to take on

another notorious rainforest
creature, but this time a giant.

Bearded pigs are dangerous,

they are huge and
have sharp 15 centimetre tusks.

Unfortunately for Mat, to
reveal what a pig looks like when

you're only ten centimetres tall,
means getting the camera very close.

So it makes sense to start
with the piglets.

You really have to start
thinking like the animal that

you're filming, more so than usual.

Almost to the point where you have to
start acting like the animal.

But piglets would never
be a threat to a tree shrew,

for that we need a big,
dribbling tusker.

We know there's one
around here, he's been seen.

He's big, he's orc-ish, you know,
he really, he slathers.

That's the character we're after.

Mat has found just the pig.

But the adults don't like
the limelight.

Whoa.

PIG SQUEALS

That's what happens
when you get too close.

OK. More than a lens cloth to
clean that one, I think.

Keeping a wary eye out, Mat manages
to get the shots he needs.

Go on. Look, there's more.

We got some lovely shots,
big, teeth, beard, dribbly,

the perfect orc for Hidden Kingdoms.

Back in the chipmunk's forest,
the crew assess the damage.

That is destruction.

Our best talent, Simon the chipmunk,

this tree has just missed his hole
by, literally, a couple of feet.

Luckily, it hasn't
put him off his nut-collecting.

Or his inclination to become
more territorial.

You tell, you know, he's just got
so much attitude, this is his manor

and anyone who comes near him,
chased off, it's unbelievable.

We have another chipmunk.

We could see this
was building to a big fight.

But knowing how
fast chipmunks can move

we'd need a very special
camera to film it.

OK, this could be it,
this could be the moment.

One that records at
40 times normal speed.

Arm me up as soon as you can. Yep.

It's over in a flash.

Do you want to look?

Only when they play it back can
they see what really happens.

Whoa! Ow, he did it. Oh, my God!

Whoa! That is amazing.

Witnessing
the extraordinary challenges

chipmunks face to prepare
for the winter could only bring

admiration for these tiny heroes.

With filming over, there
was just one thing left to do.

Hey, Simon, so we're done now.

Here's a little something
so see you through the winter.

See you, mate.

In the next episode, we enter the
hidden kingdoms of the urban jungle.

Experience the
colour and the commotion of Rio.

And the futuristic
metropolis of Tokyo.

How will our little heroes survive
the hazards of city life?