Original subtitles

Viewers like you make this program possible

Support your local PBS station.

There's a story unfolding on the west coast of Costa Rica --

a story both ancient and new...

a tale of two creatures from opposite worlds,

each on a comeback from their own devastating declines.

One is the sea turtle,

the global ocean traveler.

The other, a magnificent cat --

the top predators in Central America.

The return of an endangered forest

will bring them together

in an uncommon clash of land and sea --

a surprising encounter of a rare predator

and a most unusual prey.

How will their fates play out

when they finally meet on one special crescent of sand...

called Jaguar Beach?

Off the shore of Central America,

in the shallows of the Pacific, an ancient ritual is underway.

After more than a decade at sea,

an olive ridley sea turtle nears the end of her long migration.

Guided by the Earth's magnetic field,

she has navigated thousands of kilometers,

seeking out the very beach where she was born.

This secluded crescent of sand

has long provided a refuge

for one of the world's most beloved creatures...

and is home to a wild coastal community.

Shorebirds flock to its shallows to feed...

under the pterodactyl silhouettes

of magnificent frigatebirds.

American crocodiles slip out of their swampy lagoons

for an occasional saltwater splash.

Rising up from the beach is one of the last habitats

of its kind on Earth --

a tropical forest that's dry for half the year.

Restored as a national park

after it had been clearcut for agriculture,

its tangled woodlands sprawl

nearly 500 square kilometers

across Costa Rica's mountainous west.

The forest stretches all the way to the ocean's edge,

where its mangrove tendrils filter freshwater from salt.

The hardy trees provide a home for over 250 species of birds.

Yellow-naped parrots nest in the heights.

Orange-fronted parakeets feast on its floral buffet.

They share the canopy with gymnastic spider monkeys...

...and howlers.

And in the understory,

lumbering Baird's tapirs forage for fallen fruit.

The unusual forest opens onto a pristine strip of sand --

one of only a few in the world

where olive ridley sea turtles nest en masse.

For nearly two decades, biologist Luis Fonseca

has been trekking to this remote alcove

to monitor nesting sea turtles.

But after five years on the beach,

he arrived one morning to a shock --

signs in the sand that he and the turtles were not alone.

The first tracks were no aberration.

He soon saw more evidence

that one of the most formidable predators in the Americas

was making a comeback in the dry forest.

The return of an apex predator

was bound to send ripples through the ecosystem...

...so Luis decided to expand his research to include the jaguars.

Hoping to learn what impact they would have on the turtles,

he set up hundreds of camera traps

to capture their movements and behavior.

And then he waited...

for the turtles to emerge from the sea.

For years at a time, olive ridley sea turtles

live a solitary, nomadic life at sea.

Their world is one of mighty behemoths

and lively schools of dolphins.

Then, every year or two,

a primeval instinct draws them home to these shores.

Male turtles -- identifiable by their longer tails --

rarely return to land after hatching.

But during nesting season,

these ancient mariners patrol the shallows looking for mates.

Seduction begins with a tender but clunky embrace.

The male uses long claws on his front flippers

to hook onto the female's shell.

The courtship is quick,

but the coupling can last for several hours.

The female does most of the work,

constantly pushing to the surface

so they both can breathe.

For these two ocean wanderers and their species,

it's a fleeting but critical connection.

Weeks later, the female drags herself

from the comfort of her weightless, watery world.

With her 50-kilogram frame and short flippers,

she's far more graceful at sea than ashore.

But she's determined to find a good spot for her nest.

Then, she starts to carve out a deep, protective cavity.

As she digs,

another mother-to-be emerges from the surf,

carrying her own precious cargo.

In a few months,

this sliver of beach will draw thousands of sea turtles

for a mass nesting event.

But for now,

she and the other female seem to have it all to themselves.

Within the forest, the area's dominant male jaguar --

named Alonzo by Luis --

sets off on a midnight hunt.

On the beach, the first female turtle

puts the final touches on her nest.

Her eggs are now hidden, but she is still very much exposed.

No stalking, no pouncing.

Just a quick and easy bite to the back of the head.

Back in the mangroves, Alonzo settles down to his meal.

His powerful jaws make quick work of the turtle's hard shell.

The jaguar has the most powerful bite of any big cat.

His jaws work just as well on the shell

as they do on other animals' skulls.

His tongue isn't just for tasting.

It's lined with back-facing barbs

that may aid with stripping flesh from bone.

With Alonzo otherwise occupied,

the other nesting female is still hard at work.

Around a hundred eggs tumble into the nest.

Soft, leathery shells cushion their fall.

In her final maternal act, she carefully conceals them.

Then, she returns to her ocean world,

never to know what becomes of her clutch.

Her eggs must now survive the next 45 days --

hidden in the sand on a beach

where everyone is looking for their next meal.

Back in the mangroves,

the turtle will feed Alonzo for two days.

For now, he has eaten his fill.

But he's not the only one dining tonight.

As he takes a break,

hungry scavengers move in from the shadows.

The scent penetrates the forest.

A resourceful opossum is in luck.

He's so taken by his windfall,

he fails to notice that someone has come back for seconds.

The jaguar's leftovers will nourish

a whole forest community.

But Luis is concerned for the turtles,

because olive ridleys are in decline around the world.

How will the growing jaguar population affect

the vulnerable turtles staging their own comeback

here on this critical beach?

Luis hopes his camera traps can offer some clues.

The cameras reveal a secret no one expected --

constant traffic of jaguars

moving between the dry forest and the beach.

What was once a sanctuary for Luis's nesting sea turtles

has become a favorite hunting ground for a forest predator.

It's an amazing comeback story for the big cats.

During the 1950s and '60s,

Costa Rica's northwestern coast was stripped of its trees --

replaced by a patchwork of cattle ranches.

Jaguars and other forest animals all but disappeared.

Then, in 1971,

Costa Rica created Santa Rosa National Park

and let nature rebuild the forest.

New growth stretched across the province,

eventually connecting the coast to an inland jaguar habitat.

One by one,

the cats followed the lure of the resurrected forest.

They found their way deeper into the park,

expanding their territory...

all the way to the beach.

To monitor the effects of this surge of predators,

Luis assembled a small team with a passion for jaguars...

and the patience and fortitude to work in extreme isolation.

These elusive animals are what drew Carolina Perez

from her home in Italy to this rugged coastal outpost,

several hours' drive

and a mountain hike from the nearest town.

With only a flashlight and a bag of batteries,

she monitors the project's cameras.

They have captured some fascinating consequences

of the jaguars' return.

Even pumas -- top predators themselves --

have altered their behavior.

They've become more active during the day

to avoid the new rulers of the night.

And they're not above jaguar leftovers

if it means a free meal.

The team's cameras are offering other revelations as well.

Normally, a single male jaguar

needs 130 square kilometers of territory to himself.

Here, an abundance of turtles keeps competition for food low,

and these intensely solitary cats live

in much closer proximity.

This gives Luis's cameras an unprecedented view

into their social lives.

Luis has recorded jaguars mating...

wrestling...

and even carting off an ill-fated dolphin.

The project identifies the individual cats

by their rosettes -- the spots on their fur.

Each jaguar's pattern is as unique as a human fingerprint.

In the last 10 years, Luis's team has documented

and named around 40 individual jaguars.

And they're capturing not just behaviors, but personalities.

Alonzo, the 12-year-old dominant male,

asserts his right to any female --

or food -- on the beach.

Amanda, highly territorial, she seems to be the dominant female.

And Jorge, a young tough on the cusp of adulthood.

He's been gravitating towards the females in heat.

Tonight, Jorge is on the prowl...

heading to the beach in search of an easy meal.

And he's well-equipped to spot one.

His eyes are backed with a mirror-like tissue

that reflects light into his retinas

and gives all cats their famous night vision.

Tonight, he finds no turtles,

but something for other appetites.

It's Amanda, enjoying her own turtle catch.

Jorge is eager to put his adolescent prowess to the test.

In this rare peek into jaguar courtship,

Jorge and Amanda take playful breaks between couplings.

But the interlude is cut short when Alonzo arrives.

Jorge beats a hasty retreat.

Still outranked by Alonzo,

he'll have to settle for a fleeting tryst.

For now, he heads back to the forest to wait out the heat.

Early April.

At the peak of dry season, the sun bakes the canopy.

As streams dry up, tensions rise.

A trip to one of the few remaining watering holes

now means risking a run-in with a thirsty predator.

A family of white-faced capuchin monkeys shelters

high in the canopy.

But the heat is unrelenting, and while mom naps,

a young capuchin takes his brother on a daring mission...

...to drink from a small seep in the ground.

Bees have beaten them to it.

He endures the thirsty swarm for a few precious drops.

His brother isn't quite convinced it's worth it.

The sun beats down across the park.

From the forest to the beach, life slows to a crawl.

Even offshore, the coastal breeze offers

little relief to a colony of magnificent frigate birds.

A young mom-to-be languishes in the heat,

shielding her single egg from the relentless sun.

She'll remain on the nest for the next eight weeks,

leaving only for brief spells to find food and water.

Inside the forest, Amanda is also looking for water.

But Luis's cameras catch someone else on the hunt.

Jorge is more interested in a private moment than a drink.

Amanda puts on a half-hearted show of resistance.

The coupling takes less than a minute.

Fast work, but jaguars can mate dozens of times a day.

In between mating, the couple takes a stroll.

Using scent glands in his cheeks,

Jorge lays his claim to this swath of forest.

It seems the young upstart has stepped out of Alonzo's shadow.

Late May --

the beginning of the wet season in the dry forest.

A meter of rain falls in just the first three weeks.

The forest springs to life.

In the next five months,

over 90% of the year's rain will fall.

Long-dry riverbeds begin to flow --

a wave of relief for the parched forest.

A slow greening spreads across the hills,

transforming Santa Rosa into a coastal oasis.

Capuchins feast on nuts and ripe berries.

A woodpecker chick gets her food delivered

right to the nest.

And as the forest begins to stir,

the promise of new life also arrives by sea.

Late summer.

August winds bring an air of anticipation.

Beyond the break,

female olive ridley sea turtles begin to assemble.

They're one of only two turtle species

that gather in a synchronized mass nesting event --

an arribada -- Spanish for "arrival."

The first few females converge offshore.

Soon, hundreds arrive.

The shallows fill with a constellation of turtles.

They're all waiting for a mysterious signal

humans have yet to decipher...

...a cue that the time is right to head ashore.

Over the next few months,

thousands will pour forth from the ocean --

an armada of mothers, bringing the next generation to the sand.

It's one of the natural world's

timeless and spectacular sights...

a ritual of renewal

that may date back to the age of the dinosaurs.

The beach becomes a sea of churning sand.

In a single season,

this small crescent -- just over a kilometer long --

will be filled with up to seven million eggs.

But on Jaguar Beach,

a successful hatch is far from guaranteed.

As the arribada subsides, Carolina gets to work.

These 45 days mark a dangerous period for the baby turtles.

As they incubate in the sand,

relentless predators stalk them from above.

On most nesting beaches,

wild dogs, foxes and coyotes --

so-called mesopredators --

plunder nests for the protein-packed eggs.

Using the tools of shoestring science,

Carolina is trying to track

how many of these nests will be raided.

The bottles make it easy to see if a nest has been disturbed.

During recent arribadas,

the bottles have helped them document an encouraging trend

that they believe is tied to the return of the jaguars.

It seems the jaguars are keeping

smaller predators off the beach --

inadvertently protecting the turtles' eggs.

As Carolina works,

she's constantly aware of the jaguars' presence in the dark.

Carolina isn't the only one patrolling the night.

Amanda has caught wind of a late-night snack.

It's easy pickings on Jaguar Beach...

...and from the size of her belly,

it looks like Amanda is eating for two.

But Amanda won't be the only mom

whose success is tied to the turtles.

About a kilometer offshore,

the frigatebird colony is noisier than usual.

Across their island outpost,

hundreds of downy hatchlings begin to stir.

The first-time mother awakens to her hungry and persistent chick.

For their first five months,

frigatebird chicks depend entirely

on their mothers for food.

Chicks that don't get fed... don't last long.

Mom has to hunt...

and fast.

But she knows exactly where to go.

The last month and a half have been quiet on the beach --

since the end of the arribada.

But today, something is different.

The sand begins to shift.

The beach erupts with new life.

For the hatchlings,

digging their way to the surface is just the beginning.

It's a long way to the water...

and there's a gauntlet to be run.

For a creature only five centimeters long,

almost everything is an obstacle.

A fallen branch blocks the path.

At last, she's on the open beach.

But here, the dangers multiply.

The young frigatebird mother swoops in right on time.

One by one, hatchlings are carried off into the sky.

A spiny-tailed iguana launches an aggressive ground attack.

Even the crustaceans close in.

Ghost crabs are surprisingly strong.

Another hatchling looks destined for a similar fate.

With a survivor's determination, she fends off the attack.

She races for the ocean.

One final close call...

...and then...

the finish line.

She plunges into a salty marine world,

where she'll spend years before returning to this beach.

She'll swim out past the rocky retreat,

where the frigatebird mom can now feed her chick

a magnificent meal.

Only one in a thousand of these baby turtles

will survive to adulthood.

But Luis believes these hatchlings got

some surprising help

from the forest predator that takes their mothers

but safeguards their nests.

Luis's team has found that jaguars kill less than 1%

of the beach's nesting mothers.

And by warding off threats to the eggs,

the predator has become the protector.

On the island,

the frigatebird chicks continue to gorge

on the hatchling bounty...

...and in the forest,

Amanda is caught on camera doing something strange.

She tears off bite-sized portions

from her latest turtle catch.

A few days later, Luis's cameras provide an adorable explanation.

Amanda with her curious new cubs.

For the next two years,

Amanda will teach her cubs how to survive...

...and guide them through the dry forest

that helped bring her species back to this special beach.

The rebirth of Santa Rosa's forest

and the resurrection of its magnificent top predator

has restored an ancient relationship.

The renewed partnership has healed the connection

between vastly different worlds...

...from the forest...

to the air...

to the deep ocean...

...to the beach where the lives of all their inhabitants

intertwine...

...where two creatures reunite

as they were for thousands of years...

predator, prey --

unlikely allies in each other's survival...