All language subtitles for Primates.S01E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10.en

A gibbon.

Acrobatic.

Graceful.

Social.

Just one in a remarkable animal family.

Countless faces.

Monkeys.

Apes.

Lemurs.

They've conquered the world
working together.

Every triumph is shared.

And every drama, too.

Family is everything...

...for the primates.

The forests of Southeast Asia...

...are home
to world-class animal acrobats.

These are lar gibbons.

Each small family
defends a huge territory.

They must cover
big distances quickly.

So gibbons move
like nothing else on Earth.

They brachiate,

swinging from branch to branch,

and it's this technique
that gives them their speed.

A gibbon's arms
are twice as long as their legs.

So their body acts as a pendulum,

with enough momentum
to clear a gap of ten metres.

But with a 30-metre drop below,

every leap takes nerve.

Confidence like this must be learned.

This youngster is just ten months old -

by gibbon standards, a toddler.

She was born with all the tools
she needs for the high life.

But learning how to use them...

...takes practice.

(WARBLING)

Trial and error like this is risky.

Few gibbons escape
without broken bones.

But lessons are shared.

Gibbons, like all primates,

learn from one another.

From family,

friends,

playmates.

Play is the best form of practice...

...and the more they play...

...the faster their skills develop.

Young primates stand the best chance
in life in the security of a family.

Across the world...

...family power has been the key
to primate success.

From snow-capped mountains...

...to dusty backstreets.

Uncharted jungles...

...and the open savanna.

Social living
has been the making of primates.

But it's not to say that family life
is without its challenges.

Exhausting, even.

(SNORING)

(SNORES)

In Malaysia,
these dozing dusky leaf monkeys

are a close-knit family group.

One dominant male
oversees eight females...

...and their young.

Lots of them.

(SQUEAKING)

But one female
is keeping her distance.

She's just given birth...

...to a rather lurid infant.

Mum must never lose sight of baby,

and that's why he's been born
in a kind of high-vis jacket.

And there are others
who find his bright-orange fur

equally eye-catching.

His aunts and cousins.

They all want a cuddle
with the newborn.

Here, the baby-sitting
becomes strangely competitive.

It might seem a bit rough on the baby,

but his mother is tolerant.

It all helps to establish
the troop's bond with the newborn,

making it all the more likely
they'll protect him.

Just as well, because in the jungle,
you're never far from danger.

(SCREECHES)

An alarm call.

It's a python.

Mum quickly locates her orange infant...

...and he's soon safe in her arms.

But the troop aren't finished.

As long as the snake remains
in their territory, it's a threat,

especially to the youngest.

That's one snake that won't stick around.

Putting up with your family
takes patience,

but you can rely upon them
when it really matters.

Dawn in the Amazon basin.

These white-cheeked spider monkeys...

...are equipped for life in the treetops.

Spider monkeys have an extra limb -

their tail...

...which allows them to go
where others monkeys can't...

...and reach opportunities
no other primate can.

This female's tail
is strong and dextrous -

it's as good as any arm.

And it holds the key

when she ventures
to the most perilous places.

This tributary of the Amazon is in flood,

bursting at its seams.

The currents are strong enough
to uproot trees...

...and wash away any who stray too close.

But they also bring opportunity.

Aquatic plants, a feast quite unlike
anything to be found in the canopy.

Now her tail is a safety rope.

It's flexible
and can support all her weight.

It even seems to have a mind of its own.

And it has a pattern of grooves for grip,

like the palm of a hand.

It's thought the extra nutrients
in these plants make it worth the risk.

And this elder female has led the way.

Her troop have followed.

Soon everyone is tucking in.

Here, family knowledge is shared...

...remembered

and even passed on between generations.

Primate groups come
in all shapes and sizes...

...and for all sorts of reasons.

Here, on Ethiopia's open highlands,

geladas form herds,
the biggest groups of all.

Because where there's nowhere to hide,

there's safety in numbers.

On the edge
of the world's hottest desert...

(SCREECHING)

(BARKING)

...hamadryas baboons band together...

...to defend scant resources from rivals.

(SCREECHING)

When two groups clash,

it pays to have numbers on your side.

It's much more peaceful
and the groups are much smaller

in the Dry Chaco forest of Argentina.

Here, owl monkeys live
in small nuclear families -

just parents and their young ones.

Mum and Dad
are one of the most devoted pairs

in the natural world...

...because they only have each other
to rely on.

(YAWNS)

Despite the benefits of social living,

there are a few primates

who prefer to go it alone.

As night falls in Sri Lanka,

a solitary, rarely seen creature
is stirring.

This pint-sized primate...

...is a gray slender loris.

Active only at night,
a loris is wide-eyed and stealthy...

...even when she's just hunting fruit.

A solitary life should mean
she doesn't have to share.

But there are challenges, too.

This loris is a single mother.

She has twins who, unfortunately,
are just too big to bring along.

So the youngsters are parked
in dense vegetation,

where they're expected to sit tight
and wait for her to return.

But tonight, one of the infants
is not where she left him.

This little loris has slipped
from his roost,

and now he's in trouble.

(SQUEAKS)

At only five weeks old,

he's little bigger than a golf ball.

But already, he's well equipped.

(SQUEAKS)

He's one of few primates
with night vision,

thanks to a special reflective layer
of cells, the tapetum,

in his oversized eyes.

Whilst most young primates
take months, or even years,

to fully find their feet,

this baby loris
already climbs with confidence.

And he was born with a vice-like grip.

(SQUEAKS)

His mother can hear him.

(SQUEAKING CONTINUES)

(SQUEAKS)

Reunited at last.

A loris must grow up fast.

Their infancy
is one of the shortest of any primate.

In less than four months' time,

he and his twin will strike out alone.

But even then,
their mother won't abandon them.

She'll let them share her territory,

ensuring that they have what they need
in the early days of independence.

In this cabruca forest, towering trees
crawl with microscopic life.

And this miniature world

has its very own miniature
squirrel-sized monkey.

A golden-headed lion tamarin.

He's a dad,

with a small but demanding family.

He's being tracked using a radio collar,

so scientists know one thing for sure -

he is devoted.

Despite that,

today it seems he's forgotten something.

(SCREECHES)

- His daughter.
- (SCREECHES)

(SCREECHES)

For a tiny tamarin mother,

pregnancy and birth takes a huge toll.

So the lion's share of childcare
falls to her partner.

He leads everyone
to the day's first stop...

...breakfast!

A tamarin day is a fast and furious

and often rather destructive
hunt for food.

These bromeliads
are full of bite-size morsels.

They'll stay just long enough
for everyone to get their fill...

...because tamarins are bite size, too,

and it's dangerous
to stay in one place too long.

(SQUEAKING)

Time to move.

Everyone follows.

Well, almost everyone.

(SQUEAKS)

(SQUEAKS)

This is how a tamarin dad
is destined to spend his days.

Whether the family are eating...

...grooming...

...or just playing...

...it's he who shoulders the burden
of responsibility.

(SHRILL CALLING)

In truth, his daughter
is plenty big enough

to keep up with the family...

...but she'd much rather hitch a ride
from her long-suffering dad.

Amongst the ring-tailed lemurs
of Madagascar,

females rule.

These leaders juggle childcare
with territorial warfare.

If needs must,

they'll go into battle with baby on board.

In primate life,

those at the top stand out...

...even in the deep shade
of the West African jungle,

where the only thing more colourful

than a dominant male mandrill's
backside...

...is his face.

Mandrills' bright colours
signify health and dominance.

(BARKING)

(YELPING)

From the extraordinary nose
of Borneo's proboscis monkey...

...to the oversized canines of a drill...

...or the huge cheeks
of a dominant male orangutan...

...these physical features
mark out those at the top...

...but also expose them
to politics and backstabbing.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

In India's desert state of Rajasthan...

...a single battle-scarred male
Hanuman langur

watches over his troop...

...50 females and youngsters

who rely upon him
to keep the peace and rivals at bay.

(SQUEALING)

His offspring are growing up
in the safety of his protection.

(FLY BUZZES)

But these bachelors have banded together

in the hope of deposing him
and taking the troop by force.

(GROWLS)

If they succeed,

they will kill his infants.

(GRUNTING)

(GRUNTING)

(RAPID CLICKING)

Teeth grinding is a display of defiance.

(CLICKING)

(BARKS)

He's not going down without a fight.

(CLICKING)

Challenge accepted.

(CLICKING CONTINUES)

(SQUEALING)

Attack is the best form of defence.

(SCREECHING)

(GRUNTS)

He's seen off his rivals by intimidation.

(GRUNTS)

And his offspring are safe...

...for the time being, at least.

A leader's dominance
is under constant threat.

Eventually, everyone must step aside.

In Morocco's cedar forests,
winter brings short days...

...for the world's most isolated monkey.

Barbary macaques' morning commute

is short...

...but steep.

(SQUEALING)

Playtime is not wasted.

These antics mask political jostling.

The playmates are testing one another...

establishing status...

...and forging alliances -

that secret weapon in primate society.

But one macaque
watches from the sidelines.

He's a male in his final years...

...known here by researchers
for his battle-scarred nose

and by the fact he's usually alone.

His status and importance has waned.

But he was once second in command
of this troop of 40.

To climb the ranks, he was ruthless.

In his youth,
he too jostled for position...

...made allies...

...and enemies, too,

to secure his role
in the top ranks of this group.

But those days...

...are behind him now.

These Barbary macaques are marooned

2,000 metres up
in Morocco's Atlas Mountains

where they endure

some of the biggest climactic extremes

of any primate.

In just hours,

the temperature can fall
by 30 degrees centigrade.

The lives of the young and the old
are at risk.

At dusk,
the group start to form huddles,

teaming up to fend off the cold.

They provide warmth to each other,

helping them all to survive until morning.

The old male, however, is alone...

...until...

...he's joined by some unlikely friends.

He's found a new role in the group...

...caring for young who are not his own,
and it's paid off.

Male Barbary macaques form
lasting grandfather-like relationships

with youngsters.

(TEETH CHATTER)

And now, together,

they all stand a better chance
of surviving the night.

They can endure the extremes
of the mountain winter

thanks to cooperation.

Working together is at the heart
of the success...

...of this entire animal family...

...a family whose story has a new chapter.

In 1997,

scientists embarked upon an expedition
to a lost world...

...a remote plateau in Northern Sumatra.

1,000 metres above sea level...

...this is Batang Toru.

After weeks of searching,

they caught a glimpse...

...of this.

A new species of primate.

A great ape.

The Tapanuli orangutan.

(GRUNTS SOFTLY)

They are smaller,

have paler, thicker fur
than their lowland cousins.

Scientists believe these are adaptations
for living at altitude.

But like all orangutans...

...the bond between an infant
and its mother

is one of the strongest and longest
in the natural world.

At this high elevation,

it seems these orangutans

need a greater variety
of plant foods to survive.

All of which this infant has to learn.

It will take five years
before she's ready to head off alone.

But her world is changing...and fast.

When the Tapanuli orangutan
was named in 2017,

it became the newest,

and in the same moment,
the most endangered great ape on Earth.

There are only 800 individuals.

Their lost world is no longer a secret.

In fact, it's under immediate threat

from logging, mining
and hydropower projects.

The Tapanuli orangutan was isolated,

hidden,

for nearly 700,000 years.

It's now thought

that within a generation

they could be gone.

And across the world,

this is becoming a familiar story.

95% of Madagascar's lemurs
are endangered.

The Barbary macaques' home
is shrinking fast

in the face of rapid climate change.

India's lion-tailed macaques' forests
are now adrift in a sea of agriculture.

Today, over half of all primate species
are under threat.

And the future of them all...

...is in the hands of one primate.

Us.

The Primates team embarked
on almost 30 filming expeditions

across the world,

climbing trees, scaling mountains

and weathering storms
to film primates at home in the wild.

But at a secret location in Malaysia,

one shoot was a little different.

These lar gibbons have been rescued
from the pet trade

and are being prepared for release
back into the wild

by Malaysian gibbon guardian Bam.

Here we do the rehabilitation project
for gibbons.

We expose them to the wild
as much as possible.

We introduce them with other gibbons
so they can learn their own language.

We encourage them to climb higher.

We help them to harness the skills
to make them wild again.

Like all primates, young gibbons
should grow up as part of a family.

But in this case, that family is Bam.

We give them love, motivation and support.

Bam's dedication

offers the chance to reveal
the lives of gibbons as never before.

Having the chance to film gibbons

which are halfway through
the process of being rehabilitated

is a real treat.

They're showing
very, very natural behaviour,

but they're not completely freaked out
by my presence,

which is really, really good.

And with Bam's expert help,

the team can try
a completely new approach.

The way that gibbons move,

they live in a 3D world. You know?

They're up, down, left, right, diagonal,

backwards, forwards...

They're everywhere.

The crew decide to experiment
with filming in all directions at once

with a 360-degree camera.

We can really spin around

and show their world
from their point of view.

But before they can begin,

the crew need Bam's help
to introduce themselves -

and their unusual equipment -

to the gibbons.

When we first got the camera out,

it was a completely alien sight
to the gibbons.

I think they were a little bit scared
of it and very cautious.

Bam is just getting up to the camera

and interacting with it
and just showing that it's safe.

It's just a little bit of an introduction
to the camera system.

Then they got curious about it.

They were testing -
hands all over the lenses

and coming up and licking the lenses
and then trying to bite on the cables.

Over the week,
they've got more comfortable with it

and then they were starting to ignore it

and act a little bit more naturally,

which was exactly what we were after.

With everything in place
and the gibbons reassured,

the crew are finally ready to film.

But there's a problem.

We tried to film the adults
for the first time,

and the adults have learnt
how to be gibbons,

so they go high in the trees, usually.

It was quite frustrating
cos James was 60 foot up in that tree,

looking across - it looked great -

but the gibbons were on the floor.

But for Bam,
this is a familiar problem,

and she knows exactly what to do.

JAMES: I used a catapult
to fire a light-weight line up

over one of the top branches,

and then we used that line
to pull up a blue plastic bucket

that was basically full of treats -

oranges, bits of papaya, bananas,
all the things that gibbons really love.

And as soon as they saw that bucket,

from a distance,
they knew that it was worth investigating,

and then we could then get the shots
of them moving in.

Bam does whatever it takes

to ready her gibbons
for a life in the wild.

It's all part of the rehab process,
which is very, very convenient for us.

This morning, the gibbons climbed
right up into the tree,

and we were able to get
some really nice shots of both of them

doing what gibbons do best -
up high, incredible acrobatics,

big, break-neck jumps going across,

death-defying stunts -
really, really good.

And the 360 camera captured

a never-seen-before angle

of the gibbons' canopy world.

The most important thing is
that they...they get back to the wild,

and actually I hope what we've been doing
is enriching their lives,

helping with their play,
getting them better at climbing.

Today, I saw Betsy and Lola
playing on that tree.

They don't really go there.

And then, after the training,
they start playing on that tree.

It's the highest tree here,
in the centre,

so they climbed really high.

It's good. They are more confident.

The filming also gives Bam
a new perspective -

a gibbon's perspective, high in the trees.

Wow, I didn't know

- that it's so high.
- Yeah.

And she sees something
she's never seen before.

- They're really high.
- Higher than this one.

JAMES: I know.

BAM: Aw!

Wow.

It's a backflip!

- What, up there?
- Yeah.

Oh, my God!

I know!

It's mad, isn't it?

(BOTH LAUGH)

Thank you for showing me.

Oh, it's an absolute pleasure.

No, it's been absolutely just wonderful
filming them.

But some of Bam's gibbons
still have a way to go.

STEVE:
We fell in love with them instantly.

JAMES: The infants are just crazy.

It's hard not to be
really sucked into their world

and to be really quite captivated by them.

STEVE: They're such adorable animals

that it's really easy to see

why people want to keep them as pets.

Infant gibbons
bond closely with their carers,

and that makes them vulnerable.

Bam is leading the charge

against the biggest threat

faced by gibbons in Malaysia -

the trade in infants.

And it's not just gibbons.

Primates of all kinds are sold,
most often via social media,

for photo opportunities on the street

or as exotic pets.

These infants have been rescued
from a life

for which they are completely unsuited.

Gibbons are so cute when they're small,

but once they reach one years old,

they start to become destructive,
they need more space.

JAMES: They're wild animals.

They haven't evolved to be kept as pets.

And as they grow up,
they become demanding,

they become very physical.

Oops!

(MIC SCRATCHES)

It's not the cute cuddly little thing
it used to be,

so out it goes.

But it's not
just the individual gibbons that suffer.

BAM: To get one baby,
it is estimated around 10 or 11 die

during the process.

The capture of infant gibbons

is decimating the wild population
in Malaysia.

Bam campaigns to raise awareness
and convict traders.

But at least for the gibbons in her care,

there are positive signs - and sounds -
that they're on the right track.

It's a classic early morning sound
of the Southeast Asian rainforest.

It's a beautiful dawn chorus.

Gibbons are the only primates
that can sing -

to mark their territory, to find mate,
to communicate.

(CALLS)

JAMES: And it's fantastic,
listening to these guys,

because obviously
they're rehabilitated animals...

(CALLING)

...and they're calling now,
in the distance.

It's a great sound.

When gibbons sing,

it's an indication
that the rehabilitation is working

and that they're one step closer
to the wild.

BAM: The gibbons give melody
to the jungle.

No gibbons means no melody.

So I hope the forests will sing again.

Over half of the primate species
are in need of help.

Primate champions like Bam
are working to turn the tide,

and there's hope
that these gibbons, at least,

can look forward to a life in the wild.

Next time, meet the people
making ground-breaking discoveries...

Right there.

...revealing the secret lives...

Wow!

(RADIO CHATTER)

...and safeguarding our closest relatives.

Our number one objective
is zero extinctions.