All language subtitles for 11B7E5A9F946D6F2787076FE04A210F0_eng

In the heart of Africa, a giant moves
through the mist.

These are not the great
icons of the savannah,

but elusive creatures
few have ever seen.

For millions of years,
they have hidden away

in the second largest
rainforest on the planet.

Everything about African forest elephants.

Their bodies.

Their families.

How they live.

Is shaped by their rainforest home.

The Congo Basin.

An impenetrable wilderness.

Larger than Alaska, it stretches across
six Central African countries.

Criss-crossed by tens of thousands of
miles of waterways.

It is home to one of the least understood
animals on Earth.

It's always been my dream to see African
forest elephants.

Dr. Paula Kahungu has come to Odalakokwa
National Park with one aim.

To track down the elusive African forest
elephant.

She's a renowned expert on the savannah
elephant.

Having spent 30 years immersed in their
world.

I know a lot about their behavior,
their social lives, their communication.

But forest elephants are a completely
different species.

They separated from savannah elephants at
least three and a half million years ago.

I wonder how different they are.

How living here has shaped them and their
behavior.

But first, I've got to find them.

The vegetation is so dark, it's just a
wall of green.

Where are they?

I imagine that these elephants have
already seen me.

They're probably peering back at me from
in there.

Oh my God.

My first forest elephant.

They don't seem to know that I'm here.

So I'm keeping my distance.

Seeing them in the flesh is so clear to me
they are a different species.

These ellies are the same color as
savannah elephants.

But they're much smaller.

And their ears are round like Mickey
Mouse.

They're very cute.

Some of them have these pale yellow eyes.

And their tusks are totally different.

They're darker and much straighter.

Probably an adaptation to allow them to
push through the undergrowth.

Oh, another one is coming.

Oh, two.

Two more are coming out of the forest.

You know...

If these were savannah elephants, I'd
be able to hear rumbling and trumpeting.

But these guys, they're just so quiet.

They'd be so easy to miss.

If I hadn't come up here, I wouldn't have
seen any of them.

And then, like ghosts...

they're gone.

I'm so used to savannah elephants.

They are impossible to ignore.

But these elephants are almost silent.

I didn't even hear the babies crying to
their mothers.

Most times, the moment they see people...

they run away.

You don't see these behaviors in savannah
elephants...

except in populations that have been
heavily endangered.

They're suddenly heavily poached.

Oh, it just left so suddenly.

They're clearly terrified of humans.

It feels really quite tragic.

These elephants' fear of humans is
justified.

Their tusks, which can grow up to five
feet long...

are denser than those of savannah
elephants.

Making their ivory highly prized.

For this, forest elephants have paid a
heavy price.

In just three decades, their population
has plummeted...

by 85%.

Yet, there are places, like Odsalakokua
National Park...

where elephant numbers are holding
steady... or even beginning to rise.

Thanks, in part, to how well these
animals... have adapted to their home.

Like other tropical rainforests...
the Congo straddles the equator.

This means intense
sunlight... and high rainfall...

and an abundance of plant life.

Which should be a good thing...
for this female forest elephant.

As she has hungry mouths to feed.

Unlike her savannah cousins... who
live in large families to share childcare.

She raises her two teenage daughters...

and her young son...

on her own.

The plants around them...
look like tasty elephant food.

But the leaves...

contain something dangerous.

That's meant to keep them away.

Poison.

Eat too much...

and they could die.

This clever mom,
however... has a solution.

Their Congo home... is
unlike any other rainforest.

Broken up... by islands
of marsh... and grassland.

It's a patchwork landscape...

with thousands of plants on offer.

So... mom takes
her family on a tour...

of the Rainforest Buffet.

Showing them... that they must only eat...
a little of this... and a little of that.

So that they never eat...
a dangerous amount...

of anything.

She teaches her children...
exactly as her mother taught her.

Preparing them for life... in
this remarkable ecosystem.

Is her job...

and hers alone.

Life... is very
different... for Bulls.

Having left his mother's
care... in his early teens...

this male now leads a bachelor's life.

Spending most of his time...
searching for his favorite food.

Something seasonal...
that can be hard to find.

Fortunately for him...

he has twice as many
smell receptors... as a dog.

So he can sniff out...
calorie-rich ripe fruit...

from miles away.

Only needing... two
hours of sleep each day.

He follows his
nose... into the night.

While we can only follow him...

with infrared.

The fruit...

of these riverside palm trees...

hang 50 feet above ground.

Well out of his 20-foot reach.

So...

he employs... another tactic.

Making use... of
his three... tons...

of body weight.

No joy at this tree...

but... he knows the odds...

so he perseveres.

Jackpot!

His trunk... is covered...
in small sensory hairs...

that help him...
find his reward.

Forest elephants... eat... at
least 100... varieties... of fruit.

All ripening... at
different times... of year.

So they keep... a mental list... to
know when... and where... to find fruit...

that's ready... to eat.

Still...

there is one
ingredient... missing...

from the diets...
of forest elephants.

Something... that
fruit... and vegetation...

can't provide.

Calves... receive all they
need... from their mother's milk.

But for adults...

it is something...
that must be found.

Living in the far west...
of the Congo basin...

this special group...

of forest elephants...

makes an
extraordinary... journey...

across land...

Some make this
pilgrimage... alone.

Others... prefer company.

All...

have the same... destination.

Where the Congo basin...

meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The missing ingredient... vital for
brain... nerve and muscle function...

can be found here...
in abundance...

Salt.

Plants coated by sea spray provide all that
the mother needs for herself and her baby.

But it turns out these
elephants might be

getting something that's
not strictly essential.

This is iboga.

Long valued by local people for its
hallucinogenic effects.

What these elephants experience,
we can only guess.

But what we know is that for generation
after generation, salt-encrusted iboga

will keep drawing this group of forest
elephants back to this beach.

Most of the Congo's
elephants live too far

inland to travel to
the beach for their salt.

Swampy forest clearings, like this one,
are found throughout the Congo basin.

In the local language, they are known as
bais.

Free from the shade of
the canopy, smaller plants

flourish, creating vital pit
stops for grazing animals.

But bais are more than just forest
clearings.

They are places where salt and other
minerals are hidden in the ground.

Many elephants are nervous being out in
the open.

Due to poaching.

Only under the cover
of darkness, does this

bull step out of the
shadows and into the bai.

Filmed here for the first time using only
moonlight.

He knows exactly where to go.

The salt and minerals he needs are buried
in the riverbed.

And he has the perfect multi-tool to mine
for them.

Blowing jets of air, he breaks up the
sediments, creating a rich, salty soup.

His trunk acts as a jackhammer,
cup and straw.

He barely spills a drop.

The sound of the bull mining
is a beacon, signaling to the

more cautious forest residents
that tonight, this bai is safe.

There is a strict hierarchy.

Who gets the best spots, and for how long.

But

not everyone follows the rules.

Mining provides these landlocked elephants
with all the salt and minerals they need.

It's a vital life skill.

One that's not inherited, but learned.

Trunks move in synchrony.

A dance performed under the stars.

It's by mirroring their mothers and
siblings that youngsters learn to

coordinate the 40,000 muscles in their
trunks.

Only by perfecting
their technique will they

be able to get the salt
they need on their own.

And finally, leave their mother's care.

As

dawn breaks, the lessons end.

It's remarkable how
these elephants disappear

so quickly and so
quietly into the forest.

Paula wants to understand
how such large animals

move through the dense
forest with such ease.

But for her, getting lost is a real
possibility.

So she is guided by eco-guard Prosper
Ballot.

Today, this is where they passed.

Wow.

From the outside, the rainforest looks
impenetrable.

And mostly it is.

Yet here, we can walk straight through it.

This path hasn't been cleared by humans.

It's made by elephants.

One elephant pushes through the forest.

The next follows the same route as it's
easier.

Like walking through snow.

With each elephant that passes through,
the path gets wider and wider and wider.

All these elephant footsteps trample new
growth, keeping the pathways open.

The savannah elephants that I study follow
in each other's footsteps too.

But here, in this dense forest,
the effect is striking.

For the canopy to have opened
up like this, elephants have

probably been using this
pathway for hundreds of years.

You can see they've cleared it all the way
out.

This seems to be the major highway through
the forest.

There are all these other junctions coming
from other parts of the forest.

You can see one here.

There is another trail going through
there.

Huge footprints.

Once you start looking, you see these
pathways everywhere.

It's like a forest transit
system that takes

the elephants directly
to everything they need.

So instead of having to
find new sources of food and

salt, all they need is to
know where each path leads.

Knowledge that helps them to survive in
this forest.

To humans, the true extent of this maze of
pathways may never be known.

But what we do know is that all roads
ultimately lead here.

The downtown of the Congo Basin.

Isangabai.

A place not just for elephants,
but for every resident of the forest.

It's a melting pot.

Where the elephants feel safe enough to be
noisy.

While most come for the much needed salt,
they stay for the other amenities.

But most importantly, after months alone
in the forest, it's a chance to reconnect

with family and friends.

Over 200 forest elephants can gather each
day at Isangabai.

It's the perfect place for introductions.

This baby was born deep in the forest.

And is only one week old.

Her mom is the only elephant she has ever
seen or heard.

These calls are so loud.

She can feel the vibrations through her
feet.

But it's just her grandma saying hello.

For

a 200-pound newbie, it's overwhelming.

Being social is something you have to
learn.

She's taken aside by her mom for a moment
of calm.

Nursing is soothing.

So when the next time group of relatives
turns up,

she's more confident.

She's well on her way to mastering forest
elephant social etiquette.

It's been a successful debut for the
littlest elephant in the Bai.

For all the young elephants
who are lucky enough to visit,

Dzanga Bai is both a playground
and an elementary school.

It's important for young bulls as family
life in the forest is female-led.

But at the Bai, there are plenty of older
males to learn from.

Like human arm wrestling, sparring matches
are how bulls test each other's strength.

And most importantly, establish their
status.

It is such a critical skill to master.

Copycat matches break out all around the
Bai.

The size of 20 football fields, Dzanga
Bai has space and opponents for everyone.

And you're never too young to start
practicing.

Especially when you've got such a long way
to go.

But if there's one thing that's sure to
dampen an outdoor party,

this is the rainforest after all.

In the Congo Basin, three inches of rain
can fall in one day.

A challenge for the elephants,
as the one thing they hate to be is clean.

And

as each storm passes, the elephant's top
priority is to get dirty again.

Thanks to the weather, reapplying their
mud coat can be a daily chore.

Despite their skin being an inch thick,
it's sensitive.

And a well-applied mud coat protects from
biting insects.

Which is especially important for newborn
skin.

And at Zangabai, the mineral-rich mud
means catwalk looks for everyone.

The importance of Zangabai for elephants
is clear to see.

But, as Paula knows,
understanding their relationship to

their forest home can take
a little more detective work.

Within the forest, it's hard to observe
the elephants directly.

They smell and hear you coming before you
can even get close.

This is why the clues they leave behind
are so important.

This is an amazing fig tree.

It's clearly very popular with the
elephants.

You can see that they've been picking at
it with their tusks and digging and

gouging it and chewing on the bark.

I don't think that they are eating it
because the sap of these fig trees is

actually not very nice and you can see it
when you damage the tree a little bit.

It's full of nasty tasting chemicals that
the elephants don't like.

So maybe they're just doing it to

in doing so they've created an amazing
network of holes and little nooks and

crannies where other animals live and
other plants can also get purchased.

But it's not just
with their tusks that

elephants create
habitats for other species.

All along their pathways you find dung.

And growing from it are baby fruit trees.

Elephants eat so much fruit and walk so
many miles each day that they are more

effective at dispersing seeds than any
other animal.

Elephants don't just live in this forest.

They plant it.

And that is why they're known as the
gardeners of the rainforest.

The impact forest elephants have on the
Congo Basin is bigger than we could have

ever imagined.

In their endless quest for the fruit,
vegetation and salt that they need.

Generations of elephants with stomping
feet, tusks and trunks have engineered an

ecosystem unlike any in the Hundreds of
bais, oases of light and life,

connected by countless miles of elephant
pathways.

This isn't just a rainforest, it's an
elephant metropolis that's become a

natural As elephants build this world,
they thin out the undergrowth,

allowing the trees to grow taller and
store even more carbon than those of the

Amazon, making the Congo Basin one of the
most important lungs of the Earth.

The survival of this planet-sustaining
rainforest

is intimately tied to that of the
elephants.

Given space and protection, this calf
could live to be 70 years old,

a

grandmother, and a true guardian of this
great rainforest.