Original subtitles

WATER SPLASHES I've just caught a baby crocodile.

CROCODILE SQUEAKS Well, I never expected to see

such a thing in my life.

I've always loved the natural world.

I'm constantly planting trees in my garden.

And recently, I adopted three orphan orangutans in Borneo.

So when the opportunity came along to combine my passions,

I leapt at the chance.

WOMAN CHUCKLES

Now I'm going on a jungle adventure to Borneo,

to one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world...

It is spectacular.

..to explore the astonishing wildlife

that flourishes in this unique environment...

and along its coastline.

From the tallest tropical trees in the world

to life in the undergrowth...

Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be dung beetle.

..and everything in between.

I'll meet the orangutans I love in their jungle home

and in a centre that cares for orphans.

Aww. Please hold my hand.

From the most extraordinary creatures...

No, you can't have the whole wrist.

..to the smallest and deadliest. Ooh, ooh!

MAN: Hold, he's going for your jugular, let me get him.

Oh. MAN CHUCKLES

There. From the scariest...

CROCODILE GROWLS

..to the most spectacular...

GASPS WHISPERS: Look at that bat.

..I'll discover how each of them

has a key role to play in this wonderful place.

And I'll meet the people fighting to restore the forest...

from the damage that's being done.

People call me Papa Bear.

I raise bear cubs, you know. Is it true? Papa Bear?

I'll help to reintroduce orphans back into the wild.

All these creatures are doing extraordinary things for us.

This orangutan up here could be affecting global climate.

You're great, my girl. Aww.

It's all happening in my Wild Borneo Adventure.

I've travelled 7,000 miles to Borneo,

the world's third largest island,

to explore this unique and diverse environment.

My jumping off point for my Wild Borneo Adventure is

Kota Kinabalu on the West Coast.

It's the gateway to

one of the last remaining untouched rainforests in the world.

It is home to a host of wildlife and insects

and it's one of the two places on the planet

where the orangutan lives.

I love these great apes and I can't wait to see one in the wild.

I'm here with my chap, conservationist David Mills.

I heard not very long ago about the age of the rainforests here.

I mean, they are millions and millions of years old.

That'll be thrilling

and also, I saw a programme about the destruction of the rainforests,

but there is another side to it,

the people who are actually conserving it.

I long to hear about that.

And animals. Lots of animals. The animals?

Orangutan. We're going to see orangutans.

Don't forget the hornbills.

I like a slow loris myself. And sun bears.

We're going to see the sun bears. SHE GASPS

It doesn't get much better than this. Wildlife and champagne.

Cheers. HE CHUCKLES

That good? A good couple of these

and I'll be anyhow. HE LAUGHS

Two more, please, barman. LAUGHTER

I'm told that the best way of

experiencing the rainforest for the first time is to see it from above.

Can't quite believe we're here.

And what we're going to see, what we are going to find out.

What we're going to discover.

The taxi's here. We have to go.

My guide is ecologist Dr Glenn Reynolds.

He's been working here for more than 20 years.

We're travelling 125 miles from the coast to the heart of the forest.

At first, the landscape is filled with

logged forest and palm oil plantations.

Look at this road. So close to us.

But after 45 minutes flying... we come to a ridge.

GASPS

And the landscape is transformed.

It's the start of the jungle and leads to our destination,

Danum Valley.

Danum Valley is the finest lowland rainforest

that there is left standing in Southeast Asia.

Not only has never been logged, it's not hunted.

There's no settlements anywhere near Danum Valley,

which is very, very unusual now.

I've heard these forests are old, but I want to know exactly how old.

These forests are amongst

the oldest tropical rainforests anywhere on the planet

so they're well over 100 million years old.

That's astonishing.

Well, it must mean there were dinosaurs here at one time.

The very oldest tree's

probably around about 1,000 years old, perhaps.

But its great age isn't the only thing that's impressing me.

I've arrived when the forest is putting on

a particularly impressive show.

These trees that you see

that are slightly paler in colour... Yes.

..with sort of a white-ish blush... Yes.

..these are flowering trees. Look at that!

These flowering events only occur every ten or more years.

It is spectacular.

I never imagined that it's quite so overpowering to look at.

It is like flying over broccoli.

It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

After three quarters of an hour, we reach our destination,

the Danum Valley Lodge, our home for the next few days.

And from here, we're going to learn about several research projects.

I'm hoping to see the creatures

that are unique to this part of the forest.

It's so unexplored, that every year new species are being discovered.

I know it's going to be tough, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees,

and with humidity approaching 90%,

but surrounded by exotic animals and wonderful trees,

I can't wait to get started.

GIBBONS HOOT

It's dawn...

and the song of the gibbons echoes through the forest.

Zoologist Jedediah Brodie

is one of the many scientists I'll be working with,

who are experts in their field

and he is my guide as we search for the orangutan.

WHISPERS: What? Erm... If you look up this way,

and the top of this tree, there's a big fern right here,

up on the top of that is a big male orangutan.

SHE GASPS

Orangutan translates as

person of the forest, and I can see why.

These gentle giants actually share 97% of their DNA with us.

Their numbers have halved recently,

they could be extinct by the end of the century.

They're very solitary, but they do some really interesting sounds,

and I've actually got

some recordings here... Oh!

..if you want to hear it. WHISPERS: I'd love it.

This is this fellow.

Oh, and his relation. Yes.

OK, tell me what you think this one's doing.

ORANGUTAN HUMS, JUDI COPIES, AND JEDEDIAH LAUGHS

Hey, that was a good impression. HUMMING CONTINUES

SHE COPIES AND HE LAUGHS

Might he answer? You're very good,

you're clearly trained in this. So this is called their long call

and it's what the big mature males do,

and it's to warn other males,

"I'm going that way,

you guys get out of the way." Move to one side.

And also, if there are females that are receptive, "Come this way."

How fantastic!

Yeah.

David is joining us to discover

how these magnificent creatures are helping to save the planet.

You recognise this?

I would have said that was a fig, but it's not, is it?

It's not a fig. Inside...

..is the white flesh. Ah!

People call this the Queen of fruits, it's just delicious,

so would you like to try some?

Okey dokey.

Ooh. Mmm.

How wise. Good.

JEDEDIAH CHUCKLES Mmm.

How incredible.

And then you've got the seed,

which then is dispersed

by their... Exactly.

Scientists believe that by spreading seeds,

it plays a vital part in the growth of these large trees.

These trees absorb harmful carbon from the atmosphere.

And if the orangutans went, then so would the trees.

It would be the equivalent of 600 million passenger vehicles

putting carbon into the atmosphere. So it's potentially a huge effect.

So, you know, just this, this orangutan up here,

sitting in the tree, munching on fruits and pooping them out

could be affecting global climate.

He's so relaxed, isn't he?

Takes your breath away.

I'll see more of the orangutans later.

After such a wonderful encounter,

I'm discovering that the rainforest is a constant surprise.

And I'm not alone.

My old friend Tony Kirkham, Head of Trees at Kew Gardens,

is also here in Borneo.

Like me, he's discovering that every part of the day is special

and dusk is no exception.

BIRDS CHIRPING

At 6 o'clock sharp, the 6 o'clock cicada starts up.

CICADA SIREN

You could set your watch by them.

But it's only the start of a symphony.

I meet Tony just as the orchestra warms up.

What do you think that is?

Well...

It's a funny noise. It's like a trumpet, isn't it?

I've heard it a lot. Yeah.

CICADA SIREN There it is.

That cannot be somebody rubbing their legs together.

If it is, I want to meet them.

Yeah, see, it's coming from over there now.

And that was just the overture.

SQUAWKING What the hell is that? What's that?

Hornbill? Eh?

Oh! Oh, there! Look at that!

Marvellous.

Fantastic.

As night falls, the natural symphony builds to a wonderful crescendo,

played by a host of insects.

Nail cicadas... HIGH-PITCH CRYING

..grasshoppers... SQUEAKING

..and crickets. CHIRPING

This is an extraordinary time, when the forest really comes alive.

And that's what I've been waiting for.

I've already been amazed by the rainforest,

but seeing it in daylight is only half the story.

The other half doesn't even come out until night time.

So I've travelled to a research station

to see the nocturnal creatures in action.

Some of its smallest inhabitants are amongst the most important.

But to get up close and personal with these elusive creatures

is almost impossible.

According to naturalist Chien Lee, the only way is to set up a trap.

Isn't that amazing?

But in this one, nobody gets hurt, just a bit dazzled.

It's thought there are about 80,000 different types of insect in Borneo.

About one tenth of the amount on the rest of the planet.

Look at this one right here, this is a, a hawk moth.

And one of the main predators of

all the moths here are bats. Yes.

The hawk moths most ingeniously are actually able to produce ultrasound,

which interferes with the echo location of the calls of the bats.

So that the bats actually lose track of where the moth is.

One of the most impressive creatures in Chien's trap

is the Atlas Beetle.

Oh! SHE GASPS

Oh. He's just clawing on. He clings on.

Yeah, they have these grappling hook-like claws.

Stick. You see that?

Oh, he's beautiful. Careful, they have very sharp claws.

His claws are impressive,

but it's his horns that really steal the show.

They have these long horns to have combat with other males

so they can compete for the female.

And you see that this one,

he's able to scoop up the other male and throw him off of a branch.

Very beautiful thing.

Gosh, very, very beautiful. Yeah.

I've heard the 6 o'clock cicadas, but Chien wants to show me

one of its even noisier cousins.

This is a cicada. Is it?

Oh, we have many, many different kinds of cicadas.

It's only the males that make the noise.

Yes. Listen to this one.

MAKES A BUZZING NOISE Oh!

No. HE LAUGHS

What's he making that sound with?

Two plates right here on the underside

and they actually have muscles to snap these,

like flipping a piece of plastic backwards and forwards.

So cicadas feed on the, the sap of trees

and they suck out all the juices that come out.

But to get rid of the excess fluid, they squirt it out their rear end.

So sometimes if you're standing under a tree with a lot of cicadas,

it feels like it's raining because all that water just comes down.

Oh, I think it's beautiful.

I think it's beautiful. Mm.

CICADA MAKES BUZZING NOISE AGAIN AND HE LAUGHS

He's happy right here.

Another jungle musician

is a super-sized relative of the grasshopper.

The giant katydid.

So they make their sounds by rubbing the top of their wings together

and you can see it happen right here. Oh.

KATYDID MAKES CLICKING SOUND, JUDI GASPS

Oh, he's got me. Spines, yeah. It's OK.

This is a praying mantis. Oh, is he?

Oh. Oh, hello.

Oh, he likes you.

I'm fond of insects, but there is a limit.

All right, he's going for your jugular.

HE LAUGHS

We are rightly worried about losing the orangutans from the rainforest,

but the insects are just as important.

Look at that.

That's translucent, isn't it?

If insects were suddenly wiped out,

the whole ecosystem of the forest would just collapse.

Yeah, they're essential to the rainforest.

I... am completely... at a loss for words.

David and I are keeping a diary of our amazing experiences in Borneo.

But there are so many that it's hard to keep up.

We haven't written today's yet

and so what's today? Sunday.

Sunday, right.

You have to keep asking

what day of the week it is. I have no idea.

No idea. I think it's Sunday.

The noise of the insects...

The 6 o'clock cicada. Yeah, on the dot.

On the dot. But also, you said, "That's our fan making that noise."

I did. And it wasn't.

It was... It was that very, very...

So loud. ..unbelievably loud cicada.

Yeah. With a trumpet under his arm,

I think (!) It was, yeah.

I'll never forget it.

BIRD CHIRPS

I've seen the orangutans and the insects,

but none of them would be here without the trees.

Borneo is home to the largest tropical trees on the planet.

The world's tallest was recently discovered here.

It's more than 330ft tall.

That's nearly twice the height of Nelson's Column.

In order to get close to one of these trees,

I'm travelling deeper into the jungle.

I'm keen for Glenn Reynolds to introduce me to

one of these magnificent specimens.

It's a dipterocarp. A tree with a two-winged seed.

This tree is probably 500 years old.

That is an amazing height. It's tremendous, isn't it?

These buttress roots are characteristic

of, er, of tropical trees.

What you do get in these forests

are these tremendous downdraughts of wind,

these gusts of wind that, er,

that can knock even the largest trees over.

So the rainforest species develop these enormous buttress roots,

which, er, keep the tree upright, so buttress it like a giant cathedral.

Beautiful.

Everything about these trees seems to be gigantic.

These are some dipterocarp seeds.

SHE GASPS Oh, what a beautiful colour!

Aren't they just? So you can see why they're called dipteroarps,

so two, two-winged seed.

HE CHUCKLES So...

Isn't that beautiful? Yeah, isn't it lovely?

So it's a bit like a, sort of a sycamore on acid,

if you like. Yes.

When you thrust these things up in the air,

see if we can get it to do it.

Oh. Down they come with a twirl.

Oh, how amazing!

Glenn tells me these trees contain a treasure

that was once the most-prized resource in Borneo.

One of the other major export crops was this, which is resin.

Resin is a protective liquid that seals trees' wounds

by seeping from the bark and eventually fossilises,

to form a kind of amber.

Resin is used for fillings of teeth, would you believe?

So we've all got a bit of Borneo in us,

if you have got root canal feelings. I have not got quite enough.

HE LAUGHS Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Very unpleasant.

Perhaps you can do a quick... Yeah, I'll try (!) Open up (!)

LAUGHTER This particular species

has a lovely smell.

Oh, I can smell it now. Yeah.

Oh, that's lovely. That's a lovely smell.

Yeah, so you, erm, yeah, so it's used in incense as well.

I was going to say that actually is like incense.

It's rather lovely stuff.

All of a sudden, we're joined by a cheeky fellow

who doesn't seem to be bothered by us at all.

This little chap here is an agamid lizard,

who is sitting there very obligingly.

Doesn't mind, does he? He's obviously in acting.

He's totally unfazed by us, isn't he?

Yeah. He is. Or she.

Many of the animals here see the trees as high-rise apartment blocks

and live on different floors.

These very large trees are incredibly important.

They support a whole range of different species.

What, they're actually living there? Living there.

So ants, termites, earthworms, a range of other invertebrates.

The canopy is very poorly studied

because it's so difficult to get up there.

Erm, but we think that

somewhere between 25 and 30% of the total biodiversity in a rainforest

is up there, so it's incredibly important.

So perhaps later, you might like to have a bit of a closer, closer look.

I'd love to. You mean up there?

Up there. Ooh!

Yes, I would. Super.

Just listen. And just look. It's the straightness of all of them.

All of the trees. And of course, the height.

But it's... simply... well, it takes your breath away.

It's not like anything... I've ever experienced before.

I'm told the tropical rainforest in Borneo

is home to 288 types of mammal,

more than 300 types of bird, and thousands of insects.

It's thought to have more plants and creatures per square mile

than any other place on the planet.

So who clears up after them all?

To find out, I have come to see scientist Eleanor Slade.

So, someone told me this morning

that there was an orangutan somewhere around here.

We're on the trail of the creatures

that are the janitors of the rainforest,

the eccentric dung beetle.

Ah, here we go.

Yeah. There we are.

So these are the rolling dung beetles.

So here you can see him rolling his dung using the back legs.

I know, upside down? Yep.

Facing the wrong way.

Incredible! So whenever they find a dung pile,

like this pile of orangutan dung,

then they fly down and locate it with their antennae,

and then roll their dung ball off. Yes, of course,

you forget that they can fly. Yes.

You think they're just walking all of the time backwards.

They, erm, cut out the ball with their back legs

and shape it into a ball shape.

It's quite... I think they're very, very skilled.

I mean, they're unbelievably strong, aren't they?

Yeah, they're incredibly strong.

So they can move up to 1,000 times their own body weight.

SHE GASPS So that's the equivalent of

six double-decker buses, like if you were,

imagine pushing six double decker buses up a hill,

that's what these guys are doing.

Back at the lodge, Eleanor wants to introduce me

to some more of my new-found friends,

to explain why they bury poo.

This is the biggest dung beetle that we have in Borneo.

Do you want to hold him? Can I?

Yeah. He's, erm, he's quite strong.

Oh, he's very strong. Yeah, he won't hurt you,

he's just trying to bury down. Well, of course he's strong.

These delightful dung beetles aren't just hypomanic cleaners,

there's method in their madness.

So they spend most of their time

actually, erm, underground in the soil, burying their dung balls,

feeding off the dung, and laying their eggs in the dung.

I thought it was always getting rid of something,

I didn't realise it was where he lived.

Yeah, yeah. Or where they lay their eggs.

One of the characteristics of male dung beetles is their horns,

some more ornate than others.

This is my favourite dung beetle here, I think.

Could you pick him out in a crowd, you mean?

Yes. Not this particular one.

This particular one, yes, he's my favourite, he's called Bob.

Yes, of course.

So this one doesn't occur anywhere else in the world.

He's good, Bob, isn't he? I can see why he's your favourite.

Would you like to keep him? I can see,

I can see exactly why he's your favourite.

He seems to really like you. And me, him.

Yes, you can see, once you've seen them,

then they're incredibly charismatic,

and they're kind of cute as well

with their little antennae and their big horns,

but they're also, of course, very, very important for the ecosystems.

By removing the dung, they help increase the nutrients in the soil.

And that means... And they bury it.

Yeah, and then bury it

so the microbes that produce methane can't be active.

So they might actually help with, erm,

with sort of global warming and things.

Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be

a dung beetle. LAUGHTER

Oh, I like him very, very much. Oh!

Oh, he's gone! He's gone!

ELEANOR CHUCKLES

Is that all right? Yeah, yeah, that's fine.

Will he come back? He might come and visit you.

Bob and his friends are the ultimate rainforest cleaners.

They even make life better for all of us.

Without them, we'd literally be knee-deep in poo.

Well, it's just as well...

they're around. Yeah, it is.

Good heavens.

This jungle is already beyond my wildest dreams.

Around every corner there's always an extraordinary creature.

ELEPHANT BLOWS ITS TRUMPET

But I never guessed what I was going to do next.

Today's the big day. I'm about to ascend into the jungle canopy

with my friend Tony Kirkham.

There are 2km of ropes

in this tree at present. Really?

So they're gonna pull us up. Yeah.

Together, we're going to discover

what goes on in the upper storeys of this multi-layered Eden.

Tony's climbed a lot of trees, but for me, it's a first.

We're being helped by one of the best rope-rigging teams

in southeast Asia.

I know how a Shire horse feels. THEY LAUGH

It's getting pretty exciting.

I'm about to be hauled up a tree that's over 250ft tall...

Are you ready? Here we go. Yeah.

Have fun up there. BOTH: Thank you.

..that's actually taller than Nelson's Column.

This is where it all goes on. It certainly is. Look at it.

Isn't it amazing? Just look at it.

I haven't even got there yet

and I feel as if I'm entering another world.

Waiting for us in the canopy is scientist Tom Fale.

Right, we're just going to go through some fronds.

Judi... OK. Yes.

Look who's here. I haven't seen anyone for a bit.

Hello. Oh, hi, Tom.

Welcome to the rainforest canopy. TOM LAUGHS

This is amazing, Judi, isn't it... It is beautiful, this.

..what we're looking at here?

That's right. Incredible.

These ferns are home to most of the animals that live in the canopy.

Beautiful fronds.

The shine on them. And full of bits of... dead foliage.

That's right. This is really valuable habitat

for animals to come and live in. Yeah.

In one single fern, you can have

up to 40,000 individual insects. SHE GASPS

Suddenly now we're getting an entirely different perspective

by coming up from the bottom.

But it's not only insects that live up here.

This is an amazing habitat for lots of different animals.

Looks like the kind of right level... Mm.

..for the orangutans... Yes.

..to sit up there and eat... Yes, yes, of course.

Animals that live up in the canopy

can move around between the different trees. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

One of the most unexpected animals is a frog.

The Harlequin Tree Frog spends most of its life above the forest floor.

It has webbed feet that allow it to parachute from tree to tree.

The Draco Lizard rarely reaches the ground.

When it's hunted by a tree snake,

the flaps of skin on its body allow it to glide out of danger.

But perhaps the weirdest of all is the kubong.

It's a gliding mammal that has an enormous blanket of furry skin

that extends like a wing suit.

It can travel 100 yards in one leap.

I feel incredibly privileged.

I feel I know the rainforest quite well now.

TONY AND TOM LAUGH

I'm living up there now. MAN LAUGHS

Spectacular.

Tom wants to show me one of the most surprising creatures

that lives up this tree, but because it's a potential killer,

he's going to show me on the ground.

I want you to take a grip a bit further back

because we don't want her running up my arm.

No. Not your arm.

This centipede injects poison into its victims.

Only a few inches long, it's been known to kill a human being.

No wonder Tom's a bit nervous.

Yes. Ooh, ooh! There you go.

If the centipede is the super villain of the tree fern,

Tom has found an ant that has superhero powers.

What we could call a Spiderman ant

is squirting foam. Oh, yes!

This is to stop other insects from attacking them,

say, another ant colony tries to invade their colony,

they spray them like this and it'll stop them from,

it'll get them all gummed up, stop them from being able to attack.

And that must be highly effective.

Yes, it can completely glue up

any other insect that tries to attack these ants.

All these weird and wonderful animals thrive

in this magical, mysterious forest, but how secure is their future?

Tonight David and I are meeting scientist Greg Asner.

We're at the pictures. Yeah, we're gonna see movie tonight.

He uses planes, packed with the latest technology,

to scan the forest of north Borneo

and reveal it in a completely new way.

This image shows 150 square miles of jungle.

He uses a new kind of high-tech scanner

to reveal just how rich the rainforest is.

Each shade of colour is a different species of tree.

Amazingly, there are 3,000 tree types in Borneo.

Even though tropical rainforests cover only 5% of the planet,

they contain nearly half of all tree species.

It's mind-blowing because we get to see just how diverse this forest is.

Here in Danum Valley, in this area,

we can have 300 species in a single hectare.

SHE GASPS Really?

And to give you an idea, there are about 30 tree species in the UK.

It's... No comparison.

No comparison at all.

But Greg's work also reveals the threat we all face

if we lose the jungle.

Tropical rainforests hoover up harmful carbon

that contributes to global warming.

But these lungs of the world are under increasing pressure

from our insatiable appetite for palm oil,

used in everything from ice cream to toothpaste.

These are areas that have been planted for oil palm,

like you saw from the helicopter. Yes.

His aerial cameras reveal something surprising

about how much carbon these massive palm oil plantations retain.

You'll see that the oil palm, this blue colouring,

there is a low amount of carbon, they just don't hold much.

Greg then, through his scanners,

from the plantations over untouched forest...

Red colours tell us that this forest is stocked with carbon.

Just as it should be.

We want the carbon stored in these forests,

rather than sitting up in the atmosphere,

causing that warming effect.

You can be told as many times as you like,

can't you, when you read it?

But if you actually see evidence of it, it makes a very powerful impact.

Such incontrovertible proof of the importance of the rainforest

is causing governments to rethink.

We're working with the government to increase the amount of forest

protected from its current 25% to 30%.

So that 5% increase represents

an area about three times the size of London.

All in forest... Really?

..with trees, and animals, and all the wildlife that lives within.

And those wins are what we're after,

step-by-step. Of course.

There is hope. We've seen hope all over the planet.

Very, very good news.

It has given me an amazing insight

into the importance of the rainforests for all of us.

More forest means more homes for wildlife,

so I'm going to join a project about to introduce

three bears to the woods for the very first time.

So far, I've ranged deep into the forest.

I've seen an orangutan in the wild for the first time,

and some other wonderful creatures.

I've learned how they're all under threat

and that the forest is being lost at a frightening rate.

But I've also found there's hope for the rainforest and its animals.

So to see that hope in action,

I'm travelling 60 miles to Sepilok on the edge of the forest.

I've come to the Orphanage for the Borneon Sun Bears.

Dr Wong Siew Te runs the centre.

For the past 30 years,

Wong has devoted his career to the Borneon Sun Bears.

This bear is native to Borneo.

It's also the smallest bear in the world, about the size of a Labrador.

They might look adorable, but they can be ferocious.

The centre is currently home to 46, all of them orphans.

Have you any idea, any kind of estimate about how many Sun Bears?

In the wild, we do not know. Yeah.

But one thing for sure, their density in the forest

is much lower than the orangutan.

Only a few thousand left.

And they're hunted, of course, aren't they?

Yeah, they are. Bears in Asia have been poached,

have been used as a traditional medicine for a long, long time.

Yes, yes. And you think gradually,

people are changing their mind about this?

I hope so, I really hope so.

For me, I think the next ten years will be a very crucial time period.

If we fail, they'll be gone.

Have you seen really young bears here?

Yes, we do, when the bears turn up at our centre,

often, unfortunately, mother has been killed.

I personally have nursed several of them.

That's why people call me Papa Bear. I raise bear cubs, you know.

Is that true? Papa Bear? Yeah.

And, er, take the role as the surrogate mother.

Just like humans, they are mammals,

they're dependent on their mother to raise them up, to give them food.

Teach them everything. Teach them everything. Yes. Protect them.

Yes. I see you have a big family. I do have a big family.

There's a bear down there.

Who is he? Foo-long.

You know him? Yes, I know,

I raise him up, he's my little baby.

I raise him up, I'm his papa. Yes, of course you are!

What do you like most about the sun bear?

The thing that I like most is their climbing ability.

It's amazing. They are like primates.

They can climb the tree all the way to the treetop,

30 or 40m above the ground.

And they sleep there. Sometimes they make nests.

They are the only bears that can climb so high up there.

And you do release these sun bears? Yes, we do release the sun bears.

Would you like to join us for our bear release tomorrow?

Yes, yes! Wonderful. Wonderful.

Beautiful. Mm-hm.

Beautiful. Yeah.

One of the bears that will be introduced to the wild is

four-year-old Tan-Tan.

She has been sedated, to prepare her for her journey to freedom.

Tan-Tan was rescued when she was four months old

after her mother had been killed.

She was about to be sold for body parts used in traditional medicine.

She's very hot right now.

So we have to cool her down

with running water.

It looks distressing, but this thorough checkup is essential

before the bears are set free.

We have already taken her blood, to do a health check, measurements,

and all the things we already have,

so today we're going to do a final check-up, check on the colours...

And she's tagged? Yes. She has a collar.

She has a collar. She has a collar.

The collar will track Tan-Tan's movements for a year

and then drop off.

This will be the last time that we are going to do this to her.

Mm-hm. And tomorrow she'll be free.

OK, one, two, three.

WONG GRUNTS

THEY SPEAK THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE

Who else is going? Tan-Tan... Tan-Tan...

Yes? And then Boboi.

Yes. And Kitud.

And Kitud. Good journey, it's going to be.

Yeah. Exciting.

So yeah, tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day.

Having travelled overnight,

the three bears are ready for the last part of their journey.

This is literally the final length

from 30 minutes to an hour from now, they are...

Yeah, they'll be free. They are quite calm.

They are quite calm right now.

You know, we try to keep them cool

as much as possible. Cool and calm.

Well, this is wonderful.

It's a day of celebration. Yes, it is.

WONG LAUGHS

They're going to an area far from human habitation

and only accessible by helicopter.

Bears brought up by humans

sometimes find it difficult to adapt to life in the wild.

So releases like this are extremely rare.

It's only the fifth Wong has attempted in a 30 year career.

ONE OF THE BEARS GROWLS

Oh. BEARS GROWLS AGAIN

I know. Hush, hush. Hush, hush, hush.

It's all right.

What an emotional moment. It is. It is.

Really extraordinary. Happy and sad.

Yes. Wonderful that they've got this life.

Mm-hm. But...

having been with them for so long... Yes. Yeah. It's like...

Knowing them so well.

Hm, and knowing that you are not going to see them again.

I know. I know.

I really hope that they can make it. And make this forest home.

And I wish that they never, ever encounter any humans again.

I quite agree. Yes.

I quite agree. Or any threat.

Yes, or any threat. I know.

It does give me incredible hope for the future that this is being done.

BEAR GROWLS

The moment has come for the bears to be freed.

PEOPLE YELLING INDISTINCTLY

Tan-Tan and Boboi make their escape, but Kitud is not so sure.

Finally, she makes her break too.

Oh, well done, Wong. Thank you.

Wonderful. Exactly.

Wonderful. Yeah.

It's so great these wonderful bears are back in the forest

because I'm told they control termites that kill trees...

they spread seeds, and keep the soil healthy.

Like all the animals I've met,

they play a crucial role in the forest's survival.

And the healthier the forest, the better for all of us.

Next time, I'll continue my journey

down one of Borneo's mightiest rivers...

..all the way to the sea...

and its own forest of coral.

And I'll witness an amazing display.

SHE GASPS Look at that bat!

And discover some of the more unusual jungle characters...

Oh, good boy.

The animals are I encounter are truly remarkable...

Please hold my hand.

..and a little bit terrifying.

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