Original subtitles

(Narrator): Brilliant flocks of birds,

sleek jaguars,

and playful otters are the attention getters

in one of the world's largest tropical wetlands.

♪♪♪

But herds of peccaries are its eco-engineers.

♪♪♪

They're not the most beautiful residents,

yet if it wasn't for them,

the punch bowl would be empty, at this Pantanal party.

(grunts)

♪♪♪

The Pantanal.

♪♪♪

One of the most diverse tropical wetlands on planet Earth.

♪♪♪

(bird chirping)

Rare and exotic birds. (bird chirping)

Extraordinary looking mammals...

And some that look a little more familiar...

♪♪♪

Although they look like pigs or boars, they're not.

They're white-lipped peccaries.

♪♪♪

The stripes of white hair underneath their chin give them

their distinctive appearance and name.

♪♪♪

They're a noisy bunch when they get together.

(grunts)

They're a favorite meal

for the jaguar.

♪♪♪

Like the jaguar,

they prefer areas with next to zero human footprint.

(slight grunts)

So where there are peccaries,

there's a good chance you'll spot jaguars too.

♪♪♪

Peccaries eat so much and travel so far,

scientists study them to take the pulse

of the Pantanal's overall health.

(Alexine): White-lipped peccaries have all these multiple ecological roles;

they're ecosystem engineers.

They require a huge area.

So they make the perfect indicator to define

areas of preservation for all wildlife.

(Narrator): The Pantanal wetlands sprawl over about

55-thousand square miles,

more than 10 times the size of the Florida Everglades.

♪♪♪

From a bird's eye view,

it looks like one giant swamp...

♪♪♪

But researchers have discovered a diverse and complex mosaic of habitats.

♪♪♪

Alexine Keuroghlian has been studying Brazil's peccaries

for over 20 years.

With her team and the support

of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

She's tracking a very large herd in the heart of the Pantanal.

(birds chirping)

They're on the trail of a peccary named Trina.

She's one of 3 females they've outfitted with a GPS collar.

♪♪♪

It emits a radio signal that leads Alexine to the herd.

(beeps)

Trina's herd is made-up of 70 individuals.

♪♪♪

At times, herds will merge, creating a super herd

of 300 animals.

One huge family,

Four generations, from babies

to great grandparents.

(Alexine): I call them the hippies of the Pantanal because

it's just so awesome how they're all related?

And it's like one happy Greek family, or Italian,

or even Armenian, for that case.

But that is very unusual, that social

tightness that exists in a herd.

♪♪♪

You know, they just love each other...

And they're always together, always watching out for each other,

You know, babies are complaining.

So, you know, you just look at them, and, like, yeah,

you know, what a great family. (laughs)

♪♪♪

(Narrator): White-lipped peccaries will eat just about anything

that's a veggie.

(grunts)

But what they really,

really like are fruits and nuts.

They're a breeze to chew

and they provide lots of calories

for a minimal amount of work.

♪♪♪

The peccaries have hit the jackpot at this pit stop.

(bird's song)

The palm trees are loaded with clusters of fruits.

♪♪♪

Many have fallen to the ground

and are easy pickings.

♪♪♪

The peccaries suck on the pulp,

and spit out the seeds.

♪♪♪

They churn up the soil,

bury the seeds and create the perfect conditions

for new plants to grow.

♪♪♪

And as they move from one feeding spot to the next,

they spread the seeds throughout the ecosystem.

♪♪♪

(Alexine): They're always moving; they're quite active.

I mean, you have to think there are 75-80 individuals

that need to be fed.

They weigh about 30 to 40 kilos

and they need to look for fruits that fall in abundance,

like mass-fruiting species.

So, they go after these fruits and in order to achieve,

a diet for 75 individuals you need to get a lot of that.

(Narrator): That's why the peccaries are useful

for assessing the health of the Pantanal.

They need to eat so much food

that their home ranges are as large as 30 square miles.

♪♪♪

The slightest change to their habitat will cause them

to modify their behavior and their foraging routes.

(Alexine): We can see how they change

and how they'll leave the area

and move to more pristine areas

where the habitat quality is better.

So that's why they are such important indicators.

As it's changing, they keep redefining

and looking for pristine habitat.

♪♪♪

(Narrator): Trina's herd is on the move.

♪♪♪

And Alexine is on their trail.

(engine revs)

♪♪♪

Male and female peccaries are the same size

and even look the same, at a distance.

♪♪♪

This lack of sexual dimorphism is very unusual for ungulates.

♪♪♪

But with little competition between male peccaries,

there's no evolutionary pressure to grow bigger and stronger.

(Alexine): You know, a lot of people will say,

"Oh, the males are the ones that lead the groups"

or, "The males will mate with all the females",

but that doesn't exist, so that's why I say they're hippies.

White-lipped peccaries are promiscuous

in their mating system, so you know,

there'll be several males and several females mating,

they kind of go off in the corner, not too discretely,

they're quite open about it.

And so, it's just, like, you know, living in a hippy colony...

Without drugs. (laughs)

(Narrator): Both male and female are on equal footing.

♪♪♪

But it's the elders who know the routes

to the good fruit patches.

They pass this crucial knowledge on to the young

as they lead the way along the trails.

The herd makes a beeline for the trees.

♪♪♪

It's a shortcut.

♪♪♪

It doesn't take long for the herd to disappear.

♪♪♪

(beeps)

The signal from Trina's GPS collar is coming in loud and clear.

(beeps)

So it shouldn't be a problem to track the herd.

(beeps)

But in the Pantanal wilderness,

there's always the unexpected.

(engine revs)

It looks like it will be a while before

Alexine and her team will get around this.

(shock of the blade)

And they'll be playing catch up

once they do.

(shock of the blade)

Because in these parts,

Nature rules.

(engine revs)

Ask Fernando Marin.

He's lived here for 25 years,

and he knows that Mother Nature always has her way.

♪♪♪

It's late September so there're still dry roads,

albeit bumpy ones, to drive on.

♪♪♪

The rainy season, and the relief it brings,

is still a couple of months away.

♪♪♪

Now it's the harsh sun and high temperatures

that all the inhabitants of this region have to contend with.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

These drastic seasonal changes create the productive habitat

that make this place a hot spot for biodiversity.

♪♪♪

This area, known as the Nhecolandia region,

is nestled in the heart of the wetlands.

♪♪♪

It's so remote that the wildlife hardly knows any threats,

♪♪♪

and it's largely untouched by humans.

♪♪♪

Tens of thousands of lakes

and large patches of wooded savannah, called Cerrado,

dot the landscape...

♪♪♪

While ranches and farms have staked a claim to much of the Pantanal,

their impact is still limited.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

(Narrator): Saltwater lakes are found only in this part of the Pantanal.

Their presence is still a mystery.

They have a very high sodium carbonate content

and to the local wildlife, the minerals are like candy.

(Narrator): This is a pregnant feral pig...

not a peccary.

They first invaded the Pantanal over 200 years ago.

They're domestic pigs gone wild.

The extreme conditions of these unique lakes also attract native species.

(hum of insects)

Throughout the year, blooms of blue-green algae,

called cyanobacteria,

support millions of aquatic insects.

(hum of insects)

Hordes of brine flies congregate

on the floating algae mats to feed.

(Narrator): Birds are also very fond of the saltwater lakes.

They're here for the insects,

like water boatmen and water scavenger beetles.

♪♪♪

(Narrator): Black-necked stilts carefully pick

their way through the green slime.

♪♪♪

These greater yellowlegs are seasonal migrants

from Canada and the United States.

♪♪♪

Their sensitive bills allow them to find tiny insects

and larvae buried in the mud and sand.

♪♪♪

(skimmers squawk)

Saltwater lakes are still a bit of an enigma

♪♪♪

In this area, a saltwater lake can be found

just a few hundred yards from a freshwater lake.

♪♪♪

And this still puzzles scientists.

♪♪♪

It was once thought that these salty lakes were remnants

of an ancient saltpan,

created over 2 million years ago.

However, recent studies show that the freshwater

and the saltwater lakes come from the same water table.

♪♪♪

How does one body of water turn salty and alkaline,

while another lake, just a few yards away, remains fresh?

♪♪♪

Scientists discovered that there is

an impermeable soil layer around the salt lakes

that isolates them from the fresh water.

This results in long periods of evaporation and concentrates

the dissolved salts in the water,

which, after decades creates the salty

alkaline conditions typical of these unique lakes.

♪♪♪

Why some lakes have an impermeable soil layer

and others don't is still a mystery.

♪♪♪

One fact remains.

The richness of the algae they provide is a big draw

for the local wildlife and migratory wading birds.

Deep in the adjacent forest,

(hissing of movements)

Alexine and her team are still battling a roadblock.

(engine revs)

There's no way through it.

(engine revs)

So they're going around it.

(engine revs)

- Whoa! Wouh!

(Narrator): It takes some muscle,

(shock of the blade)

but they manage to clear a path through the forest.

(engine revs)

After a few tries,

and some tight maneuvers,

they're back on the road chasing Trina

and the rest of the white-lipped peccary herd.

♪♪♪

Trina is way up ahead.

♪♪♪

Peccaries travel up to 6 miles a day

to find good foraging sites.

♪♪♪

And Trina's herd has just found its next pit stop...

♪♪♪

A place where fruit trees flourish

and palm trees are abundant.

There are many species of palm trees in the Pantanal.

♪♪♪

The three most common species spell A, B, C.

♪♪♪

A is for the acuri palm ♪♪♪

which produces fruits that grow in large bunches.

They're a favorite of the hyacinth macaws.

♪♪♪

If they're not plucked off the bunch,

they'll ripen and fall to the ground,

a treat for the peccaries.

♪♪♪

B is for the bocaiuva palm.

They grow up to 50 feet tall

and also produce fruit in clusters.

♪♪♪

The ripe fruits that land on the forest floor have a brittle shell

that contains an edible kernel

underneath a thick layer of soft pulp.

It's another peccary delicacy,

which humans also use to make flour and sweets.

♪♪♪

C is for the caranda palm.

They also produce edible fruits and seeds.

♪♪♪

And they're well adapted to cope with the extreme droughts

and floods that besiege the Pantanal every year.

♪♪♪

Peccaries are constantly on the move in search of their next meal.

For now, it's time to fuel up

before the next calorie burning trek.

Every adult member of the herd keeps an eye out...

especially for jaguars.

(clacking teeth)

(bird chirping)

This crab-eating fox is not a threat to the peccaries.

(bird chirping)

But they'll raise the bristles along their backs to increase

their apparent size whenever they sense danger.

They'll also alert the rest of the group by clacking their teeth.

(clacking teeth)

(grunts)

(clacking teeth)

Peccaries don't see very well, so they rely on their hearing

and sense of smell to detect predators.

(clacking teeth)

They'll charge if they feel threatened,

but their best defense is to scatter into the trees.

(clacking teeth)

(bird chirping)

They don't have to bother this time.

The fox is just passing by,

looking for his mate.

♪♪♪

Alexine and her team lost precious time finding a way

past the fallen tree blocking the road.

♪♪♪

Now they're back on Trina's trail

and they're trying to lock in on her GPS signal.

♪♪♪

So far, just noise.

They try their luck with a more powerful hand-held directional antenna.

(sizzle)

Their study area is a typical Pantanal cattle ranch,

over 22 thousand acres.

♪♪♪

Finding a radio signal in such a vast territory

takes a lot of patience, and resolve.

Over the years, Alexine discovered

that the herds are not well defined.

(Alexine): Right now, I am tracking three sub-herds.

Each one of those sub-herds contains about 75 individuals.

But we know from animals that are chipped

and recaptures, and from our genetic work,

that there is fusion and fission between these sub-herds.

♪♪♪

And basically, what we're talking about is a herd

of, let's say, 300 individuals

dividing up into sub-herds,

and they're all related.

(Narrator): Trina travels with one of the sub-herds.

(sizzle)

They can't find her.

But then...

(beeps)

Another signal breaks through.

It's Nanda,

she and Canela are also wearing GPS collars.

(Alexine): The white-lipped peccary here is Nanda.

She's probably resting because it's so hot...

(Narrator): It would be impossible to find

foraging spots large enough to accommodate

the voracious appetite of all 300 peccaries.

That's why this extended and sizable family divides

into smaller groups.

(Alexine): I'm going to check to see if Trina is with her...

She's another number,

she's 620. (sizzle)

(Narrator): The signal for each sub-herd has it's own frequency.

(sizzle)

(Alexine): She's not here.

She's probably in another area.

(sizzle)

(Narrator): Alexine keeps tabs on all three.

(Alexine): White lipped peccary Canela.

600... She's not here either.

Only Nanda's here.

(sizzle)

So there's definitely 3 distinct sub-herds.

(sizzle)

♪♪♪

(Narrator): Nanda and her group have taken shelter

from the harsh midday sun.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

But even in the shade of the forest,

they struggle to cool off.

♪♪♪

While she rests,

Nanda covers her belly with sand.

♪♪♪

It's an old habit.

That's how peccaries clean themselves.

♪♪♪

The impact of the soaring temperatures

and severe drought is evident along the banks

of the main river that flows through the area.

♪♪♪

The Rio Negro, the Black River.

♪♪♪

It flows southwards,

carrying with it a thick soup

of sediments and nutrients that replenish the soil.

♪♪♪

It hasn't rained here for about 5 months.

♪♪♪

And as temperatures reach 105 degrees Fahrenheit, soon after sunrise,

the river is drying up.

♪♪♪

(bird chirping)

There are 5 species of kingfishers in the Pantanal.

The ringed kingfisher

is the largest and most abundant.

The green kingfisher is harder to spot.

But, with water levels so low,

even the shy ones come out of the shade to hunt for fish.

♪♪♪

It's a little past noon,

and apart from Fernando and his boat,

there's little activity on the river.

Like most animals, the long-nosed bats are resting.

♪♪♪

The bats are a lot busier during the night,

feeding on mosquitoes and midges.

Jaguars are extremely elusive cats.

Fernando has seen so many this year,

because the region has been hit with a record-breaking heat wave.

All the animals are forced out of hiding

if they want to find water,

including the bigger guys.

♪♪♪

Tapirs are one of the larger mammals of the Pantanal.

Tapirs can be three feet tall and can weigh 800 pounds!

♪♪♪

They're odd-toed ungulates.

They support their weight on 3 toes,

♪♪♪

unlike peccaries which are even-toed ungulates

and support their weight on 2 toes.

♪♪♪

They like fruits

but often prefer to browse leaves.

♪♪♪

They eat a lot and digest their food slowly over several days.

♪♪♪

Unlike peccaries,

tapirs are loners and only look for company

when it's time to mate.

♪♪♪

The river provides welcome relief from the heat of the day.

But for some,

the dry season has its perks.

For the elegant black skimmers,

there's new nesting real estate.

(shouts of the skimmer)

Sandbars exposed by the receding river

that are the perfect spot to raise a family.

(The skimmers squawk.)

They like to nest in the open, close to the water.

(The skimmers squawk.)

They also like company and they're loud.

(The skimmers squawk.)

The chicks in this family are about 20 days old.

(The skimmers squawk.)

They're already as big as the adults

but their pale plumage has yet to take on

the classic black skimmer tuxedo look.

(The skimmers squawk.)

♪♪♪

The sandbars attract other residents...

♪♪♪

Like the large billed terns.

They count on each other to protect the nesting colony.

(The skimmers squawk.)

The young black skimmers won't be able to fly for another

2 to 3 weeks

and they still don't have the necessary skills

to fend for themselves.

(The skimmers squawk.)

Like your typical teenagers,

they're always hungry and are always begging for more food.

♪♪♪

So the parents are off, gone fishing.

♪♪♪

For the black skimmers,

a fishing expedition looks like a graceful choreography.

♪♪♪

Skimmers usually feed in large flocks.

♪♪♪

(The skimmers squawk.)

When the winds are low and the water is calm...

♪♪♪

They fly over it,

"skimming" the surface with their huge lower bill.

♪♪♪

When it feels a prey,

a small fish, insect or a crustacean,

the skimmer bows its head down and closes its bill.

♪♪♪

They can swallow their catch while flying.

♪♪♪

And then, if their chick is lucky,

they'll regurgitate it,

but not this time!

♪♪♪

A few miles away,

(engine revs)

Alexine and her team are still trying to find Trina.

They make a short detour to check some camera traps.

♪♪♪

(Alexine): We put a camera trap under

this tree that we call the monkey ear tree.

♪♪♪

You can see it looks like a monkey ear.

It's a delicious fruit and it falls very quickly.

♪♪♪

And all wildlife enjoys eating it

and white-lipped peccaries do as well.

♪♪♪

(Narrator): These monkey ear trees are at the end of their fruiting cycle.

♪♪♪

It's a bonanza for the peccaries,

and they take full advantage of it.

(Alexine): They were visiting it every day for at least a week,

and they're still coming to eat it.

♪♪♪

All 3 groups could come to this spot and eat it

because there's that overlap between the sub-herds.

So this could be 3, 4 different groups coming here.

(Narrator): The images captured by the camera give

Alexine a few precious insights into the herd's behavior.

♪♪♪

They can't specifically identify the animals

or which sub-herd they belong to,

but they can establish the group's feeding patterns:

when and what they prefer to eat, and how often.

Time to get back on the road.

♪♪♪

They decide to head towards the Rio Negro,

it's the closest body of water.

♪♪♪

And it's a pretty sure bet

that's where most animals are in this heat.

♪♪♪

The birds are already here.

Roseate spoonbills swing their strange-looking spoon-shaped

beaks through the muddy water,

looking for shrimps and other crustaceans,

aquatic insects, frogs and tadpoles.

Their specialized bills have sensitive nerve endings

that help them feel their prey when they brush against it.

Their pink color comes from some of the crustaceans they eat,

which themselves feed on pink algae.

While they look almost entirely pink,

the adults have no feathers on their bald pale green heads.

In the breeding season,

their heads will turn a buffed gold.

♪♪♪

Another wader...

The whistling heron's fishing technique is a lot more focused.

♪♪♪

He's a slow, but cunning predator.

This heron isn't after insects or crustaceans,

he's looking for something meatier.

♪♪♪

He can stay immobile

or walk slowly for long periods.

The frog doesn't go down without a struggle.

It's a tasty meal for the heron

who's taking its time

and even drinking a little water

to help the frog slide down smoothly.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

A little further up the river,

a family of capybaras is grazing

on aquatic plants and grasses.

They're the world largest rodents

and could normally do this all day long.

Now it's just too darn hot.

Best to stay still and cool off.

They look well suited to land...

But capybaras are also excellent swimmers.

Their ears, eyes and nostrils are on the top of their heads,

leaving most of their bodies underwater.

These rodents live in groups of up to 30 animals

and are highly social.

(grunts)

They are led by a dominant male.

On the other side of the river,

there's one group that doesn't seem capable of standing still.

A family of giant otters.

The adults are almost 6 feet long.

Parents and their offspring from previous years live together.

(splash)

Something seems to have caught the giant otters' attention.

♪♪♪

They bob their heads in and out of the water,

spy hopping to take a peek.

♪♪♪

It's a lone caiman... (squeaks)

entering giant otter territory.

♪♪♪

The subordinate male capybaras have also spotted the intruder

and give a warning call.

(shouts)

The females don't like the look of the situation either

and gather the youngsters together to make a quiet exit...

♪♪♪

While the large dominant male protects the rear.

The caiman has spotted a large fish.

♪♪♪

He nabs it and quickly leaves.

The giant otter can only take a quick nip,

and vocalize her discontent. (scream)

The caiman hangs on to its catch.

And then makes its way into the brush

to hide from other caimans, and eat in peace.

♪♪♪

Alexine and her team have finally found Trina.

She's the one on the right, with the collar.

Trina's group is using a large lake to cool off and forage.

As the dry season peaks and fruits become scarce,

these lakes and the aquatic plants they offer

ensure the peccaries' survival year round.

♪♪♪

And that's why this region is so special

and so important to preserve.

(Alexine): We're studying the species and I can tell:

"Oh, I love white-lipped peccaries; they do all these wonderful things".

But that's not the case; I love all wildlife;

I want to see them all well.

Because like jaguars depend on peccaries,

and we know cases

where the white-lipped peccaries were hunted

until they became locally extinct

and the jaguars will disappear.

(Narrator): And that's why white-lipped peccary research is so important.

When Alexine tracks peccary herds,

she's not only gathering information about their behavior,

she's also learning about what it takes

to keep a population of 300 mammals healthy and thriving.

If she can do that,

she'll help preserve all the wildlife in the Pantanal.

(Alexine): And with this data, we can define

ecological corridors throughout the Pantanal

because if the future is more deforestation,

we want to be ready for that; we want to be able to propose:

"Look it, these are important ecological corridors."

You know we have to tell the landowner:

"This needs to stay and be maintained."

So, white-lipped peccaries will help me define these corridors

to maintain healthy populations of wildlife.

♪♪♪

(Narrator): They aren't cute or cuddly,

they're messy and they stink...

Yet the white-lipped peccaries are the unlikely

and unsung conservation heroes of the Pantanal.

♪♪♪

And, as long as they roam,

the more glamorous animals of this amazing region, will too.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪