All language subtitles for Worlds Greatest Animal Encounters Series 1 2of6 Wetland Animals 1080p

(THEME MUSIC)

(GENTLE MUSIC)

NARRATOR: During the wet season,

most of northern Australia becomes
a tropical seasonal wetland.

These vast swamps support

the world's largest breeding colony
of magpie geese.

They also provide a habitat
for the Top End's top predator -

the prehistoric saltwater crocodile.

If you think
this well-armoured warrior is big,

just give him a few more decades
to pump himself up

and rise through the ranks.

By the time he's the boss croc around
here, he'll be well over 5m long.

Saltwater crocodiles,

or salties as they're
affectionately known in Australia,

are the world's
largest living reptiles.

The biggest in captivity today
is over 6m...

and weighs just over a tonne.

Saltwater crocodiles
never actually stop growing

and they can live for 70 years.

Once hunted for their skin and meat,
they are now protected in Australia,

and populations throughout the north
are healthy, to say the least.

In the Northern Territory alone,

there are estimated to be
at least 100,000 salties

lurking just beneath the surface,
ever ready to take down prey.

It's almost impossible not to fear
these prehensile creatures.

But they command in equal measure
our respect.

Millions of years of evolution

have finetuned them
into the ultimate wetland predator.

The forward orientation of their eyes

allows them to expertly judge
the distance of unsuspecting prey.

And a third transparent eyelid means

they can see as well underwater
as above.

They can slow their heartrate down
to a couple of beats per minute...

a very Zen-like skill that helps them
to hold their breath underwater

for up to an hour.

(TENSE MUSIC)

A saltie's jaws contain
64-68 dagger-like teeth...

with a bite force to rival that
of a great white shark.

Their jaws contain
an additional joint

that helps to spread the full force
of their powerful bites

so they don't lose their grip
in the middle of an attack.

Crocodiles cannot chew,
but will manipulate their prey

to move it closer to the back
of their throats before swallowing.

The safest way to encounter saltwater
crocodiles is from a distance.

Wildlife guides are experienced

in knowing exactly when it's
appropriate to move in for a close-up

and when it's better
to slowly back away.

(JAZZY MUSIC)

For a closer encounter still,

consider swimming
with these notorious maneaters.

But make sure you're well protected
by a cage such as this,

or you'll risk being eaten alive.

Salties are the largest reptilian
predators on the planet.

But even they lack
the size and strength

to take down this gargantuan beast.

Water buffalos grow
to 1.8m at the shoulder,

and have lethal horns up to 2m wide.

A young one would be fair game
for a croc,

but once they reach their adult size,
they are pretty much invincible.

Water buffalo
are not native to Australia.

They were introduced from Asia
by settlers in the 1800s...

who brought them here to ensure
they had a reliable source of meat.

Then, slowly but surely,
they took over the seasonal wetland,

and the entire character
of this landscape was altered.

They trampled vegetation,
eroded the soils...

created deep channels and interfered
with the quality of the water.

Their habit of wallowing
muddied the water,

making it difficult for certain
aquatic plants and fish to survive.

As they degraded the habitat,

they disrupted the nesting activity
of magpie geese and crocodiles.

So even these normally
prolific species were compromised.

At the height of their domination,

some 350,000 buffalos roamed
the nation's Top End,

but culling has now reduced
their population considerably.

Here in Kakadu National Park,
they number in the low hundreds.

It's ironic

that these impressive animals need
to be kept in check in Australia...

for in their native homelands across
Asia they are a species at risk.

Without the protection afforded by
nature reserves and national parks

in India, Nepal and Thailand...

their survival in the wild
would be completely compromised.

And with access to some form of boat
or land-based hide...

birdwatchers can have a field day

adding sightings of various species
of herons and cranes

to their endless checklists.

All wading birds have long thin legs

that help them to forage
in deep water.

And long agile toes
that aid their balance

when the ground beneath them
is unstable.

Many wading birds have long bills,

shaped according to how they hunt
and what they eat.

One special place
tailor made for waders

is the Birds of Eden sanctuary
in South Africa.

A huge dome covering several hectares

affords the birds here
a measure of protection

and yet the freedom to fly.

A walkway through the enclosure

makes it easy to view some of
Africa's most iconic wading birds.

Including these magnificent
and aptly named spoonbills.

One of the more spectacular species
visitors can encounter here

is the scarlet ibis, whose native
habitat is half a world away.

To see these beautiful birds
in the wild

you'll need to head to Los Llanos,
in Venezuela.

A vast landscape of plains, rivers
and swamps

stretching from the Andean mountains
to the Caribbean Sea...

Los Llanos provides sanctuary
to a strange collection of animals.

Primeval birds
with claws on their wings.

Rodents the size of sheep.

And snakes the length of five people.

In total, Los Llanos covers
over 500,000 square kilometres.

For more than half the year,

these plains receive
almost no rainfall at all

and sizzle under drought conditions.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

But when the rains fall,
they totally transform the landscape.

(JAZZY MUSIC)

The grassy plains - where the local
cowboys, or Llaneros, hold court,

rounding up their cattle
on horseback -

become inundated with water.

Los Llanos becomes
a wetland wonderland.

It's Venezuela's greatest treasury
of wildlife,

and its animals
are some of nature's crown jewels.

Believe it or not, this capybara
is a kind of guinea pig...

but it towers over
every other rodent on the planet.

Despite their fearsome size,
capybaras are gentle creatures,

spending most of their time grazing
or napping.

They're well adapted
to living in water.

In fact, they even have webbed feet,

and their eyes, ears and nostrils
are all near the top of their heads

so they can hide their bulk
underwater.

Apparently,
capybara meat tastes delicious.

So much so, the Spanish colonialists
who arrived here in 1500s

appealed to the Catholic Church

to have the capybara
classified as a fish

so they could eat it on Fridays

and other occasions when religious
fasting needed to be observed.

Despite the fact that
capybaras are quite clearly mammals,

the Church conceded to the argument

that an animal with webbed feet
that lives mostly in the water

could be called a fish.

Another oversized animal

that frequents the swampy backwaters
of Los Llanos

is the giant green anaconda,
the largest snake in the world.

Just seeing one of
these huge reptiles up close

gets the adrenaline going.

So spare a thought
for these scientists

charged with extracting boas
from the field

in order to study them more closely.

Despite their intimidating looks,
these snakes are not venomous.

They hunt by coiling themselves
around prey

and squeezing until it's asphyxiated.

The largest anaconda ever measured

was just over 8.5m long
with a 1m girth.

This one is considerably smaller,

but still a handful
for these scientists to contend with,

as they attempt to collect and record

data that will help them to determine
its growth rate and overall health.

(MAGICAL MUSIC)

Another extraordinary place

to encounter the best
of South America's wetland animals

is the Pantanal.

Indeed, it's the largest tropical
wetland in the world...

awash with lakes, waterfalls
and crystal-clear rivers.

Covering a daunting
181,000 square kilometres...

it contains one of the highest
concentrations of wildlife

on the continent.

The jaguar's share of this UNESCO
World Heritage site is in Brazil.

And a key access point for exploring
some of its amazing biodiversity

is Bonito.

A short trek leads animal lovers
through the jungle

that lines the Rio da Prata.

It's possible
to encounter capybaras here.

And if you're really lucky,
armadillos and tapirs.

Despite their pig-like looks...

tapirs are closely related
to horses and rhinos.

Jaguars sit
at the top of the food chain here...

and despite the fact
that they are excellent swimmers,

there's no need to fear
an unexpected encounter here.

The water is so clear,
you'd see them coming for miles.

What you will see below
the surface of the water, however,

will completely blow you away.

A swirl of orange-tipped fish.

(MAGICAL MUSIC)

The whole experience
is quite surreal.

And it's heartening to know

that a place this pristine
still exists in the wild.

NARRATOR: The Pantanal
is truly a remarkable wetland,

but it's far from the most well-known
eco region in this part of the world.

That honour belongs to the Amazon,
South America's most iconic river.

Nearly 6,500km long, it snakes
its way across seven countries.

The rainforests
on either side of the Amazon...

hold a greater diversity of life
than any other place on Earth.

20% of the world's oxygen
is made by the plants of the Amazon.

And the number of different animals
here is simply phenomenal.

Hundreds of mammals...

thousands of birds and fish...

and millions
of creepy-crawly insects.

During the wet season,
the Amazon floods

and the width of the river expands.

In some places,
it can be over 190km wide.

One of the most amazing creatures
of the Amazon

spends its life underwater.

And thanks to Hollywood's
horror movie heavyweights,

its reputation is unfairly tarnished.

Scientists dispute
the whole Hollywood myth

that a school of piranha can devour
a person in a matter of seconds.

They believe it would take
300-500 of the tiny fish

a good five minutes
to consume a fully grown human.

So really, why all the fuss?

Lurking beneath the water hyacinths,
growing to nearly 3m long...

the manatee is
one of the Amazon's largest animals.

Notoriously shy,

even expert guides would count
themselves lucky to see one.

Fortunately for animal lovers
the world over,

there's a rescue centre in Peru

where sightings of these curious
creatures are 100% guaranteed.

The Amazonian manatee is one of only
four manatee species in the world.

It's slightly slimmer
than the other manatees,

and unlike its Caribbean and African
cousins,

has no nails on its flippers.

Sometimes called sea cows,
manatees are gentle creatures.

They are herbivores that only eat
two types of plant in the wild -

water lettuce and hyacinth.

With each 300-plus kilo animal

needing to consume
8% of its body weight every day,

they sure put a dent
in the salad bar.

To help them contend
with all that chewing,

manatees have quite unique teeth.

They're the only mammals

that constantly replace
their worn-out molars

with new teeth that grow
at the back of their jaw,

moving forward when needed.

Manatees once lived
throughout the Amazon basin...

but thanks to high demand
for their meat and oil,

these lovely creatures
are in serious decline.

But with careful human intervention,

the Amazonian manatee population
is slowly recovering.

North America's wetland is
a complete contrast to the Amazon.

It has very few trees

and is dominated
by one slow-flowing river...

nearly 80km wide.

They call it the Everglades,

and it takes up most of the southern
tip of Florida, in the USA.

It's easy to see why

this unique combination
of shallow water and prairie

is often called a river of grass.

It too is home to a manatee,
the West Indian species,

a larger relative
of the Amazonian one.

It's not only possible to encounter
Florida's manatees underwater -

here in the Kings Bay Wildlife
Refuge, it's actively encouraged.

These gentle giants
are mesmerising to watch...

curious and comfortable
in the presence of humans.

There are more manatees here
in the Crystal River during winter,

as most migrate in the summer,

travelling as far as Mexico
or Massachusetts.

Not far from the city of New Orleans,
on the southern coast of America,

are the swamplands of Louisiana...

a wetland brimming with opportunities

to encounter the state's top
predator, the American alligator.

Alligators are not as big
as saltwater crocodiles

but they're still a lot of
primeval reptile to contend with,

growing up to 4m long.

Needless to say,

everyone in Louisiana treats them
with a healthy respect.

Alligators are
well-armed apex predators,

with a preference for eating
fish, snakes and small mammals.

An opportunist, an adult gator
will also go for carrion,

the occasional pet dog and
sometimes their two-legged masters.

By the mid 1900s, they'd been
hunted to the brink of extinction.

But effective protection,
coupled with habitat preservation,

and a reduced demand
for alligator products,

have allowed the species to recover.

The wild alligator population

is now estimated to be
over a million and growing.

The Great Rift Valley,
a series of cracks in the earth,

threatening, in time,
to pull the continent apart,

is best known as the place where
mankind was thought to have evolved.

But we humans are just one species
to have made a home for ourselves

in this magnificent
part of the world

awash with the wonder of wetlands.

Many of the Rift's great trenches
now contain lakes,

and these lakes are a haven

for an astonishing concentration
of wildlife.

Lake Naivasha, in Kenya,
is one of the easiest to get to,

a mere 100km from the capital,
Nairobi.

The animals you're most likely
to encounter here

are impressive to say the least.

This giant resident needs
both water and grass to survive,

so it's settled in well to Naivasha.

The hippopotamus can eat 1.5 times
its body weight in a single day.

And when you consider

that a full-grown male weighs
around 3.5 tonnes,

that's clearly a lot of food.

The hippos around Lake Naivasha

feast mainly on the papyrus grasses
fringing the swamps.

They have to spend at least five
hours a day eating just to survive.

But they generally do this at night.

By day, hippos tend to while away the
hours cooling off in the water...

or resting in the shade,
trying to keep out of the sun.

Hippos do not have sweat glands,
so they can overheat quite quickly.

Their thick skin can crack if
it's exposed to the air for too long.

Fortunately, however,
they secrete a special oil

to protect themselves
from the sun's harmful rays.

Despite its alarming red colour,
it doesn't contain any blood.

It forms a kind of varnish
that keeps the hippos' skin moist.

It also acts as an antibiotic,
and heals infections effectively.

The hippos' proportions are daunting,

but it's hard to get past
that remarkable jaw-dropping mouth.

Tusks in a male can get to 50cm long.

And while they do wear down,
they never actually stop growing.

Male hippos fight terrible battles

when it comes
to winning the right to mate.

Females will fiercely protect
their young.

And males are very territorial,

so any encounter
needs to be from a safe distance.

Hippos cause
the most human fatalities

of all the animals in Africa,

so visitors to Lake Naivasha
need to remain vigilant at all times.

Despite their land-loving ways,

a hippo's closest living relatives
are whales.

Their ears and nostrils close
completely when they're submerged,

and they have a strange way
of hearing underwater

that's similar to that of a dolphin.

They use their lower jaws
to pick up sounds,

which are then transmitted
to their ears via fatty tissue.

As wild habitats throughout the Great
Rift Valley continue to diminish,

hippo numbers continue to fall.

But for the time being, at least,
protection appears to be working

for those lucky enough to have chosen
Naivasha as their home.

(INTRIGUING MUSIC)

Two hours' drive from Lake Naivasha

is one of the most hostile wetlands
on earth...

Lake Nakuru.

The water here is so caustic
it could burn human skin.

The soda lake contains
so many salts and minerals

it repels most of Africa's animals.

But one creature
positively thrives here.

Over 1.5 million flamingos
live in and around Lake Nakuru.

They're perfectly adapted

to survive conditions
that would prove fatal to most.

Tough scaly skin on their legs
prevents them from burning.

They have special glands
in their heads

to remove salt from the water
when they're drinking,

which then drains out
through their nasal cavities.

They eat cyanobacteria, an organism
that grows here in vast pink drifts.

It's a highly toxic creature

that would destroy the liver and
nervous systems of lesser animals.

But the flamingo
can eat it with gusto.

The only visible effect
it seems to have on the flamingos

is evident in their feathers.

All that pink algae is the cause
of their scintillating colour.

Flamingos feed by sweeping their bill
upside down through the water.

Filters within catch the microscopic
algae floating in the water and mud.

Flamingos can fly fast
and travel far...

up to 1,500km.

So one wonders

why they would've chosen
such a hostile niche for themselves

in the first place.

Certainly flamingos
in other parts of the world

have settled into less extreme places

and adapted well
to less challenging lifestyles.

But in adapting to
this particularly toxic environment,

Africa's flamingos find themselves
with very little competition

and a measure of protection
from predators.

When hyenas, jackals or eagles
attempt an attack,

all a flamingo need do is wade
into the caustic water to stay safe.

NARRATOR:
Africa's most famous wetland

lies in the middle of the desert...

and it floods just as the land
around it begins to dry up.

This is the Okavango Delta...

a massive body of water
in northern Botswana.

The water that fills it each year

comes from seasonal rains
in the highlands of Angola,

ultimately flooding
15,000 square kilometres of land.

Seeing this landscape and all
the animals drawn to it from the air

is an unforgettable experience.

The delta is a lifesaver
for animals from far and wide...

a seasonal home
to over 500 different bird species...

300 mammals and reptiles
and countless insects.

But the most impressive
to see on the move

are those that have come to
this wetland oasis from the plains...

great herds of zebra and impala,
giraffes and elephants.

This is a dynamic environment.

Every year, the layout of the wetland
is different,

thanks to a range of pressures.

Sediment and vegetation
block certain channels,

while seismic activity
and movements of hippos

open up completely new ones.

Eventually the Okavango Delta
peters out,

with the water evaporating
into the tropical air

or sinking into
the thirsty desert sands.

(MAJESTIC MUSIC)

The Okavango is not the only wetland
in Botswana

where water-loving animals
congregate.

This remarkable country

has 17% of its land devoted
to wildlife protection.

But its very first national park
was Chobe.

The land around the Chobe River,
in north-eastern Botswana,

has been a haven for wildlife
since 1968.

Decades of tireless conservation

have allowed Chobe to build a
veritable menagerie of wild animals -

including the largest elephant
population in Africa, 120,000 strong.

Getting close
to these remarkable animals

is a powerful, life-affirming
experience...

especially during the dry season,
between April and October,

when they tend to congregate
along the Chobe River.

African elephants are
the largest land animals on earth.

A full-grown bull can be 4m tall
at the shoulder and weigh 6 tonnes.

Bull elephants tend to lead
semi-solitary lives,

wandering alone
or in loose-knit bachelor herds.

If you encounter a large herd of
elephants of all ages and sizes,

they're probably all females
and their young.

Female elephants will spend their
entire lives in herds such as these,

living as one big extended family -

mothers, grandmothers,
aunts and sisters

plus an assortment
of their offspring.

When a baby is born,

every member of a herd will help
to raise the young elephant.

Female elephants will only carry
one calf at a time,

and since each pregnancy
lasts for nearly two years,

they will likely only calve
four times in their lives.

Young calves
are not fully independent

until they are
around 13 or 14 years old,

and reach their full size around 20.

Both males and females have tusks,

a major tool
in their quest for survival.

Each tusk is an overgrown incisor...

but unlike human teeth,
they never stop growing.

Another standout feature
of African elephants is their trunks.

They contain 100,000 muscles and
tendons, and can stretch out to 3m.

The finger-like tip of the trunk
can perform delicate tasks

like picking a berry
or selecting a single juicy leaf.

These massive animals are herbivores,

so they have no interest in attacking
humans unless they feel threatened.

Grass and leaves do not contain
a huge amount of nutrition...

so an elephant needs to eat
over 100 kilos a day to stay alive.

They also need to drink
up to 200 litres of water.

Despite their bulk,
elephants are able to swim.

They can also walk on river bottoms
using their trunks as snorkels.

Those enormous ears also have
a range of uses beyond hearing.

They are excellent cooling devices...

and an important
means of communication.

Flapping ears are known
to signify aggression or joy,

depending on the circumstances.

Elephants have amazing hearing.

They can pick up sounds
from 10km away.

With a brain three or four times
bigger than a human,

elephants are capable
of intelligent communication,

and are known to have
exceptional memories.

They also show
a complex range of emotions,

expressing compassion,
joy and grief.

The elephant's capacity for sadness
is well documented.

They are known to mourn the loss of
a loved one in a very human-like way.

(POIGNANT MUSIC)

Small wonder we find these huge
animals so fascinating and endearing.

NARRATOR: Australia's largest lake
usually contains no water at all.

Most of the time,

it's just a shimmering saltpan
stretching as far as the eye can see.

When water does trickle into
Lake Eyre,

or Kati Thanda as it's known
to the local aboriginal people,

it comes from the rivers
of Australia's central deserts.

It only rains sufficiently here
to fill the lake occasionally,

perhaps once every eight years.

Even when it buckets down, the
water behaves somewhat erratically.

The channels feeding into
the Kati Thanda basin

decrease their flow
as they move downstream.

The flat nature of the land
and the hot air that passes above it

conspire to force the flow
to either spread out or evaporate.

Any water that actually reaches
the lake tends to be very salty.

The lake bed is the lowest point
in Australia, 15m below sea level.

So when rain falls,
Kati Thanda is totally transformed.

Central Australia's vast floodplains
turn into wetlands,

brimming with life.

News travels fast
in the natural world,

especially when there's food around.

Birds normally found
living by the seaside

suddenly descend
on central Australia.

Pelicans arrive
in their tens of thousands.

The Australian pelican
has a wingspan of nearly 3.5m.

And as you might expect,
they're impressive travellers.

They can soar
thousands of metres into the sky

and stay airborne for 24 hours.

Between 30 and 50,000 pairs

will arrive to take advantage
of this instant inland bounty.

Many will have flown
halfway across Australia,

so there's no doubting
they're hungry.

Pelicans can fit 13 litres of water
in their bills,

but here,
they're more interested in fish,

supplemented
by the odd turtle or frog.

They're big birds with big appetites.

And once they're refuelled,

it's on to the important business
of mating and nesting.

Incredibly, scientists now believe

that pelican chicks communicate with
their parents from inside the egg...

indicating when they're too hot
or too cold...

which in this harsh landscape could
be crucial to surviving incubation.

The chicks in their eggs
have also been listening to

the unique sound
emitted by their parents.

When they emerge,
they recognise them straight away,

despite their uniform appearance.

Hatching happens after 35 days,

and both parents
take care of their young.

The entire pelican community

contributes
to the wellbeing of the chicks,

corralling them
into boisterous creches.

Parents can leave to find food

knowing their offspring
are well taken care of.

Chicks need to grow fast.

They need to start
their flying lessons

when they're only three months old.

Kati Thanda will not remain a lake
for long,

and when it dries out,

the young pelicans must be ready
to make the 1,500km journey

back to the coast.

Nestled in
the southeast of Australia,

the Great Otways National Park

is a diamond of land wedged
between the mountains and the sea

200km west of Melbourne.

It provides a haven for some of
Australia's strangest animals.

A carnivorous beast with
a fierce nature and striking spots.

A spiky ant-eating ball of weirdness

with a tongue
half as long as its body.

And this strange creature
patrolling the main waterways.

A shy, secretive animal
with venomous spurs on its heels,

a bill like a duck, and a fur coat
that's thicker than an otter's.

It owes its existence to the
evolution of mammals and birds

as they began to diverge
280 million years ago.

But of the many species
of egg-laying mammals, or monotremes,

that developed at that time,

only two now remain in Australia -
the echidna and the platypus.

They use their bizarre bills
to dig for food underwater,

scooping up shellfish and worms,
mud and gravel from the riverbed.

They store everything
in special cheek pouches

until they return to the surface
to eat.

Without the benefit of teeth,

a platypus makes good use
of the gravel it's collected

to help grind the food it has found.

It is becoming increasingly difficult

to encounter shy animals,
such as the platypus, in the wild.

River otters are faring
a little better in North America.

But the Asian small-clawed otter

is now locally extinct
in many areas of its range.

Fortuitously, these aquatic mammals
breed well in captivity,

where encounters
are actively encouraged.

(MYSTICAL MUSIC)

While zoos all over the world

do their best to provide
enriching visitor experiences...

by far the most satisfying way
to observe any wetland animal

is in its natural habitat...

living as nature intended...

in some of the most remarkable places
on earth.

Lying between dry land
and deep water...

the profusion of plant life
that continues to thrive,

where conservation is valued
and protection has been assured...

will continue to support and shelter

a watery ark
of truly extraordinary animals.

Captioned by Ai-Media
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