All language subtitles for BBC.Mexico.Earths.Festival.of.Life.S01E01.Mountain.Worlds.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.en

In the heart of the Americas,

where continents collide,

there's a land full of natural
riches.

BEAR GRUNTS

BIRDS CALL

HOWLING

A land of towering giants...

..scorching sands...

..and secret rivers...

..where great civilisations rose...

..and fell.

MAN WHOOPS, HORSE WHINNIES

To succeed here takes passion and
spirit.

This is a country rich in colour and
culture.

A festival of life.

This is Mexico.

BIRD CALLS

BIRD CRY ECHOES

In the far north-east of Mexico is
an ancient mountain world...

Serranias del Burro.

It's home to an abundance of
creatures.

And its most surprising resident

is the black bear.

This mother has three young cubs,
just eight months old.

BEAR GRUNTS SOFTLY

It's autumn and the family needs to
fatten up

before the winter hibernation.

This year, the oak trees are laden
with acorns -

an important source of fat.

The bears have plenty to eat,

but their challenge here is finding
enough to drink.

CATTLE LOWING ECHOES

The limestone mountains soak up the
rain,

so there are no permanent streams.

Fortunately for the bears, there is
another source of water.

CATTLE LOW

Serranias del Burro is prime cattle
country and the ranchers provide

year-round water for their herds by
tapping into underground springs.

The water tanks are a magnet for
all.

Mother bear, with her young cubs,
must approach with caution.

CATTLE LOWING ECHOES

Bears occasionally kill cows,

so the ranchers let their cows'
horns grow long

as a natural bear deterrent.

The family gets the message -

loud and clear.

The cattle have had their fill, now
it's the family's chance.

BIRDS CALL

But someone else has got his eye on
the tank.

BEAR GROWLS

A big male.

He's best avoided.

CUBS CALL OUT

This male wants more than a drink,

he wants to cool off in his tub.

At last...

Mexico's black bears were once on
the brink of extinction,

but they clung on in mountain
hideaways like Serranias del Burro.

The ranchers here don't just
tolerate the bears,

they help them out, even providing a
leg up for the cubs.

The population is flourishing,

making this mountain world an
important stronghold for bears in

North America.

Mexico is a vast country, around
2,000 miles long...

..dominated by a great range of
mountains, the Sierra Madre...

..stretching all the way from the
country's northern border

with the United States, down to its
southern border with Guatemala.

Travel down Mexico's rocky spine -

and there are many more diverse
mountain worlds.

The grandest of them all is found in
the north-west of the country,

in a region known as Copper Canyon,

covering 25,000 square miles.

A maze of gorges,

some even deeper than the
Grand Canyon.

In the 16th century, Spanish
conquistadors came here,

hunting for gold and silver.

But they weren't the first to
arrive.

The Raramuri have lived in these
mountains for over 2,000 years.

To escape slavery in Spanish mines,

many sought refuge in the most
inaccessible places.

To navigate the canyon's vast
terrain quickly,

the Raramuri became skilled
long-distance runners...

..able to cover 200 miles without
stopping.

Centuries of running at high
altitude has made them

unrivalled endurance athletes.

THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH

Today, the Raramuri still live in
remote regions of the Copper Canyon

and running remains an important
part of their culture.

Sisters Carmen, Mequejilda and
Elida

are from a proud family of runners.

Their brother, Santos, is already a
champion, winning several marathons.

But today, it's his sisters' turn.

Their traditional running sandals
called huaraches,

once fashioned from animal hide, are
now made from old car tyres.

Wearing them from childhood

strengthens the foot muscles

and stiffens the arches of the feet.

Preparing this new generation of
Raramuri for a life on the move.

They are heading to the nearest town
for a race.

Here in the town of Porochi,

a race day is a chance for distant
neighbours to catch up.

BUZZ OF CHATTER

The girls' race is the first of the
day.

HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

They will be competing over three
miles.

Uno, dos, tres...

fuera!

In this traditional team event,

the girls toss a hoop, called an
arihueta, for the first lap.

One lap down, one to go.

Sister Elida now takes the arihueta.

THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT

The first hoop to cross the
finishing line wins.

At last, the home straight.

MEN SHOUT

Elida is first to cross the finish
line...

CROWD APPLAUDS

..upholding her family's winning
record.

THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH

The races continue long into the
night.

Mexico has one of the largest
indigenous populations in
Latin America.

More than 25 million people and
68 different languages.

Living in the Copper Canyon has
moulded the Raramuri's whole way of
life.

All of Mexico's mountain worlds

shape life in profoundly different
ways.

Nowhere is this more apparent than
among a very unusual group of
mountains...

1,000 miles to the south,

where ancient tectonic events have
crumpled the land...

The Sierra Gorda, or
opulent mountains.

Here, the temperate and tropical
collide,

creating a mosaic of different
habitats.

BIRDS CALL

In this one region, there are more
than 2,000 different types of
plant...

..over 340 bird species...

BIRDS CALL

..and 800 kinds of butterfly.

Fairy tale oak forests are a secret
garden

for more colourful tropical
species.

The most bewitching of all,

orchids.

Over millions of years,

these flowers have developed an
unusual relationship

with a very colourful
character...

..the orchid bee.

For just a few months each year,
when the orchids are in bloom,

the orchid bees visit them in
droves.

Not to sip their nectar -

but to sweep up fragrant oils using
brushes on their front feet.

They scrape the oils into a special
pouch on their hind legs.

BEE BUZZES

These orchid bees are mixing
their own cologne...

..made from up to 80 different
scents collected from the forest.

This complex fragrance helps the
males attract the females.

BEES BUZZ

The most fragrant oils are produced
by one very special kind of
orchid...

..Stanhopea.

This orchid blooms for
just one day each year.

In this crucial 24 hours, it must
spread its pollen far and wide.

As soon as it opens,

the flower emits a hypnotic
perfume...

..that smells like freshly ground
cinnamon...

..sending the orchid bees into
delirium.

BEES BUZZ INTENSELY

But Stanhopea's sweet smell belies a
cunning purpose.

Its petals are covered in slippery
oil droplets.

And their intricate shape forces the
bee to walk backwards.

The bee slips

and the orchid sticks a packet of
pollen onto its back...

..which it will unwittingly carry to
other Stanhopea flowers.

With its pollen distributed in just
a single day,

the flowers' job is done.

As the sun sets,

the petals wilt and die.

BIRD CALL ECHOES

Travel further south down Mexico's
spine and ancient peaks give way to

younger mountains
in the fertile heart of the country.

Much of this land is over 6,000ft
above sea-level.

A landscape of extensive farmland
and pine oak forest.

The soils here are especially rich
because this is the home

of restless giants.

Popocatepetl is Mexico's
second-highest peak...

..over three miles above sea-level -
and still growing.

It's the country's most active
volcano.

LOW RUMBLING

Mexico is one of the most
volcanically active places on earth

because it lies at the collision
point of three tectonic plates,

producing a great chain of mountains
that stretch right across central

Mexico, known as the
Transvolcanic Belt,

with more than 20 active volcanoes.

They can cause death and destruction

but they're also givers of life.

Their volcanic ash enriches the
soil,

making this a highly productive
region of Mexico...

..and the most inhabited.

The country's capital, Mexico City,

lies on a high plateau in the shadow
of volcanoes.

People first settled here almost
10,000 years ago.

DISTANT DOGS BARK

It's a riot of colour...

CAR HORNS BEEP

..noise...

and culture.

CROWD CHEERS

This sprawling mega-city is home to
over 20 million people

and 80% of all the food consumed
here comes from a single place...

..the largest wholesale food market
in the world...

..La Central de Abasto.

30,000 tonnes of produce changes
hands every day...

..much of it grown on Mexico's
volcanic belt.

NOISY CHATTER

The country's most iconic foods,
chillies, maize and avocados,

all originate in Mexico's Highlands.

Many are exported worldwide

and there's one product that's
earned a formidable reputation.

BELL TOLLS

TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH:

16-year-old Martin is a sometime
bull rider but a full-time jimador,

a farmer who harvests the blue agave
plant...

..the essential ingredient of
tequila.

Agave plants can take a decade to
mature before the plant is cut down.

DOGS BARK

By slicing away the spiky leaves,
the jimadores expose what they're
after,

the sugar rich heart, the pina.

Martin toils in the shadow of
Volcan de Tequila,

which last erupted 220,000 years
ago...

..its ancient ash fertilising the
rich red soils.

This one region of Mexico, Jalisco,
produces 80% of the country's
tequila,

crafted in special distilleries.

The pinas are first roasted and then
crushed, squeezing out the
sugar-rich juices.

These are then fermented.

Yeast turns the sugar into alcohol.

Finally, it's distilled...

producing the highest grade
tequila.

MEN SPEAK IN SPANISH

To improve the quality of their
crops,

some farmers are trying something
new.

For the first time in 200 years,

they are letting a proportion of
their agave go into flower.

The plants funnel all their sugars
into towering blooms...

..rendering them useless for
tequila

but offering a lifeline for a
threatened species.

Thousands of female lesser
long-nosed bats migrate along

Mexico's mountains to reach their
breeding caves in the north.

They can fly over 60 miles a night
and need frequent sips of sugar-rich
nectar.

The agave provides them with a
critical source of food.

The bats also benefit the farmers by
pollinating their crop.

MEN CHAT IN SPANISH

If their agave is exposed to a
greater mix of pollens,

the plants will be stronger and more
resilient to disease.

THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH

THEY LAUGH

By helping the bats, the agave
farmers are safeguarding their own
future...

..and ensuring the continued legacy
of Mexico's most iconic drink.

Central Mexico's mountains have
attracted people for millennia.

Immense empires grew in this
volcanic heartland...

..and the remnants of some of their
cities still stand.

1,500 years ago, Teotihuacan was a
thriving metropolis,

home to over 100,000 people.

But perhaps the most famous ancient
empire here

was the Aztecs.

They dominated central Mexico in the
15th and 16th centuries.

Aztecs believed mountains connected
Earth to the heavens

and the underworld.

50 miles south of Mexico City is the
Temple of Tepozteco.

This shrine was abandoned long ago

but a very resourceful animal has
since made it home...

SOFT GRUNTING

..coatis.

They are the most social of the
raccoon family...

..forming bands up to 30 strong.

They normally live in tropical
woodlands and open forest.

COATIS SNUFFLE AND SQUEAL

Coatis are omnivores.

They can eat pretty much anything.

Here at Tepozteco, there are plenty
of options.

This important archaeological site
attracts many visitors,

and tourists bring opportunities.

This is no ordinary coati clan.

These adaptable animals have become
artful thieves.

The coatis are thriving thanks to
teamwork

and a shameless streak.

COATIS SQUEAK

Below the volcanic heartland,

Mexico's Sierra Madre stretches on
south towards the tropics.

At its southernmost tip,

where it meets the Pacific Ocean,

the mountains catch the moisture
from clouds rolling in off the sea.

10% of all of Mexico's rain is
captured here,

helping to create a lush cloud
forest known as El Triunfo.

The combination of humidity,

altitude and warmth makes the
perfect conditions for life to
flourish.

BIRDS CALL, INSECTS BUZZ

This secret mountain world is home
to an abundance of rare creatures,

many found nowhere else on earth.

High in the canopy,

100ft off the ground, lives the
alligator tree lizard...

GUAN MAKES DEEP-THROATED CALL

The last survivor of an ancient bird
family,

it's been evolving independently for
more than 30 million years.

BIRDS CALL VOCALLY

In forest clearings, male
long-tailed manakins dance to entice
females,

a ritual that may take a decade to
perfect.

Travel deeper into the heart of this
cloud forest,

and you might discover the true
spirit of El Triunfo...

..a mythical creature rarely seen.

Sacred to the ancient Aztecs,

who treasured its feathers more than
gold.

It's considered the most beautiful
bird in the Americas...

BIRDS CALL

..the aptly named
resplendent quetzal.

It's the mating season and these
males' three-foot-long tail feathers

have helped him successfully attract
a mate.

Now he has a young family to feed.

He works tirelessly for a month to
satisfy his brood's voracious
appetite.

His lush Mexican home is brimming
with fruit and insects.

At the end of the mating season,

he will drop his spectacular tail
feathers,

but the quetzal grows a new train
every year.

Only in such a rich mountain habitat
can animals afford to devote so much

energy to looking this good.

From north to south, all of Mexico's
mountain worlds are unique.

And some are so inviting,

they compel creatures to journey
vast distances to reach them.

Every winter, one creature travels
nearly 3,000 miles

from as far as Canada,

to this special place, high in the
mountains of central Mexico.

The trees seem to be draped in
leaves, but in fact,

they are coated in millions of
delicate creatures.

Silent, unmoving...

..monarch butterflies.

In their hundreds of millions.

These oyamel fir forests are their
perfect winter sanctuary.

The low temperatures slow their
metabolism,

putting the butterflies in a trance
for five long months.

Mountain mists prevent them from
drying out.

And the towering firs help protect
them from winter storms...

..ensuring they don't freeze.

For thousands of years,

these monarchs have had a special
significance for the people of
Mexico's mountains,

who believe the butterflies to be
the spirits of the dead,

returning to Earth from the heavens.

And their arrival in winter
coincides with one of the most

important events in the Mexican
calendar.

MAN SINGS IN SPANISH

Dia de Los Muertos -
The Day of the Dead.

CHIMES TINKLE

SHE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

In villages across the Sierra Madre,

families like Catalina's
are remembering those who have
passed on.

TRANSLATED FROM
SPANISH:

THEY SPEAK IN SPANISH

Catalina and her family gather
around her husband's grave.

THEY CHAT AND LAUGH

The family keep their candles
burning until first light.

But they are not alone.

Tonight, millions of candles are lit
throughout Mexico...

..helping to guide the spirits of
loved ones back home.

The party for the dead has only just
begun.

FIREWORKS WHISTLE

WHOOPING AND CHEERING

Many Mexicans do not believe death
is an ending.

They embrace it as an essential part
of a natural cycle.

The people here have been
celebrating the Day of the Dead

for more than 3,000 years.

Generation after generation.

But the spirits of the dead cannot
stay for long.

Just as the spirits must return to
the heavens...

..the butterflies will also leave.

This is Mexico's greatest natural
spectacle,

up to a billion butterflies take to
the wind.

These monarchs will never return to
Mexico.

Their short time on this earth is
almost over.

But they will lay their eggs on the
journey north.

And next year their descendants
will continue this ancient ritual...

..by making the same epic pilgrimage
along Mexico's rocky spine,

back to this unique mountain world.

It's no coincidence that Sierra
Madre means Mother Mountains.

Her great ranges nurture an
incredible diversity of life...

..and helped give birth to some of
the greatest civilisations on earth.

The Aztecs believed mountains
brought you closer to the heavens.

In Mexico's Mother Mountains,

you can see why.

Of all the animals the mountains
team wanted to feature,

one creature was top of the list.

Rarely seen, little-known,
hardly ever filmed.

Mexico's black bear.

Filming them would be
a great achievement.

To stand any chance
of even finding them,

the team relied on Mexico's
foremost bear scientist,

Diana Doan-Crider,

a Mexican American who has been
studying and protecting these bears

for 25 years.

My mother's Mexican
and my father's American.

When I was a kid, my grandfather,
he would tell me stories of seeing
bears.

As I grew up, I knew I wanted
to study wildlife in Mexico.

Since the 1980s,

Diana's extensive research
in the Serranias del Burro

has shown that these mountains
are an essential stronghold

for black bears.

She has worked closely with ranchers
and landowners to help protect

this important habitat.

But five years ago, disaster struck.

Five years ago, it quit
raining for eight months.

So it dried up all of that fuel.

And then, in March, while I was
here, a fire started.

That fire didn't stop until May.

And it burned 350,000 acres.

I will be honest, I was traumatised
by what I saw because...

I'm sorry.

We saw a lot of dead bears.

I think a lot of us were, like,
"Man, this is it. It's over."

The fires also ravaged
the oak forests,

whose acorns are a critical source
of food for the bears.

This is Diana's first time back
to find the bears since the fire,

so the shoot takes on
extra significance.

After decades of
conservation effort,

she is desperate to see if
they have managed to survive,

and whether this fragile
ecosystem has fully recovered.

This is my first time back, and this
place here was completely devoid

of vegetation.

So this was a dead tree.

And what's really great is that
we have acorn production now.

And that's what we were most
concerned with,

was how long was it going to
take for these patches,

especially severely burnt patches,
to start producing acorns.

The mountains team have
timed their visit carefully.

It's autumn, and the bears
should be around,

fattening up on the flush of food.

Diana takes the team,
along with landowner David,

to look for signs
of bear activity.

What we have is branch
breakage by the bears.

They climb up in here and they pack
it down and then they sit up there

and feed. And this is
a really good example.

There is further evidence,
if a bit unsavoury.

How old would that be?

This is probably just a couple
of days old because it has been

very hot and it is still
moist on the inside.

I'd have to taste it to be sure.

LAUGHTER

Great news - proof that
the bears are around.

But this is a vast landscape,

more than 1,000 square miles
of wilderness.

The team need to know where
they should focus their effort.

And Diana knows
the right people to ask.

Ranchers. They know this land
like the back of their hands...

..and the bears better than anyone.

I came in kind of with an attitude
of telling them what I was going to
do,

what I was going to learn about
bears and, you know,

give them all the answers
that they needed.

I remember the first meeting I had
with them, and it was a group

of ranchers, and they sat down
and they gave me a list.

And they told me, "This is what
the bears do in the spring,

"this is what the bears do in the
fall, this is how many cubs they
have.

"This is what they eat."

And I can tell you this, every one
of those things on that list were
true.

There have been
recent bear sightings.

And ahead of the shoot the ranchers
set up some camera traps for

the team, hoping to find out
where the bears are most active.

Oh, man. I can't believe it.

Look what he did.

A bear just came and
knocked over the whole rock.

There's two down.

LAUGHTER

Look here. He made a hole.

This isn't exactly
what they were hoping for.

These animals, they can't,
like, not totally trash it.

Bears four, me zero.

We'll see if we have anything
that's useful on these cameras.

I guess it's the best way we can
work out where to concentrate our

efforts, as long as it
hasn't been eaten up.

Can you see anything?

For the first time in five years,
Diana sees her bears again.

What are they doing?
They are just goofing around.

And they both have chest blazes
which makes me think that they

are siblings. Siblings.

These two show up and
they start romping around,

playing with each other. It would be
great if we could film them because

they are very playful.

What's interesting about this
is you see the truck go by.

And not even four minutes
later the bear comes back.

At least now we know which are the
most active pools to concentrate on.

I'll be honest with you, I never
knew this number of animals were

visiting these water sources.

With this information
from the camera traps,

the team now concentrate
on a few key water tanks.

It's really good cos we've
just seen our first bear.

There is a mother bear and a baby
there just feeding on some acorns.

For the first time since the fire,
this is a bumper year for cubs.

That's a wonderful jump.
Oh, my gosh.

This is so amazing.

That's great stuff.

Today has been great. The dam broke,
we've got some great play behaviour.

I mean, as good as
I've filmed anywhere,

Canada or North America.

So it has been great.

Diana has been an absolute
godsend to the shoot.

Having her wisdom and her 25 years'
experience and her relationship

with the ranchers, she has opened
the door to us, to tell, I think,

the most magical black bear story.

I quit coming for a long time and
now I've come back, five years
later,

and I'm actually floored
over the recovery of the ecosystem.

And not just that, but the
recovery of this bear population.

This place demonstrates how
people can coexist with wildlife.

It's a really unique relationship.

The ranchers have learned
to coexist with the bears.

The bears have learned
to coexist with the cattle.

I love that.
That's Mexico's heritage -

us living on the land.

Next time, we travel
to Mexico's southeast,

and a unique peninsula.

The Yucatan,

the birthplace of the
once-mighty Maya civilisation...

..where mysterious forests
hide a secret underworld.