1 00:00:02,335 --> 00:00:05,827 The rainforest canopy floating a hundred feet above us 2 00:00:06,206 --> 00:00:09,232 has been an unKnown world - until now 3 00:00:19,819 --> 00:00:20,251 "Yes!" 4 00:01:31,091 --> 00:01:33,582 A new breed of explorer is now venturing 5 00:01:34,094 --> 00:01:35,061 onto the green roof of the world 6 00:01:39,265 --> 00:01:41,392 going where no one has gone before. 7 00:01:42,202 --> 00:01:43,669 We join the adventures 8 00:01:43,803 --> 00:01:46,966 of these Heroes of the High Frontier 9 00:02:36,823 --> 00:02:40,520 In the darkest depths of the darkest forest, the crew assembles. 10 00:02:46,499 --> 00:02:49,161 The pioneering spirit harnesses modern technology 11 00:02:49,302 --> 00:02:53,068 as a courageous band sets off on a voyage of discovery. 12 00:02:58,978 --> 00:03:02,004 A flame ignites a quest to a place of our world, 13 00:03:02,849 --> 00:03:07,582 but, until now, always just above our reach... the rainforest canopy. 14 00:03:34,681 --> 00:03:37,445 Almost a century ago explorer William Bebe wrote: 15 00:03:37,817 --> 00:03:40,786 Yet another continent of life remains to be discovered, 16 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,412 not upon the earth, but one or two hundred feet above it. 17 00:03:45,258 --> 00:03:46,190 There awaits a rich harvest 18 00:03:46,326 --> 00:03:49,591 for the naturalist who overcomes the obstacles and mounts 19 00:03:49,729 --> 00:03:51,822 to the summits of the jungle trees. 20 00:04:18,224 --> 00:04:21,284 The rainforest canopy is home to more living creatures 21 00:04:21,427 --> 00:04:23,793 than anywhere else on the face of the earth. 22 00:04:25,064 --> 00:04:27,123 Many are born here and will die here, too, 23 00:04:27,634 --> 00:04:30,125 rarely, if ever, touching the earth. 24 00:04:33,940 --> 00:04:38,274 Their lives, their whole world has been a mystery. 25 00:04:41,414 --> 00:04:44,383 The canopy is the last biological frontier on earth. 26 00:04:51,457 --> 00:04:55,826 Biologist Terry Erwin began exploring this world just 16 years ago. 27 00:04:56,529 --> 00:05:00,488 Since he had no way to reach the canopy, 28 00:05:00,633 --> 00:05:02,100 he brought it down to earth. 29 00:05:03,069 --> 00:05:04,730 Clouds of insecticide welled up - 30 00:05:04,871 --> 00:05:09,035 and a rain of entirely new and unKnown creatures came down. 31 00:05:11,811 --> 00:05:13,711 So many creatures of so many kinds, 32 00:05:14,314 --> 00:05:17,306 it seemed there were 20 times as many species 33 00:05:17,450 --> 00:05:18,781 on this planet as we had thought. 34 00:05:19,919 --> 00:05:22,319 The canopy was a hot-bed of evolution. 35 00:05:23,156 --> 00:05:24,487 Just what was going on up there? 36 00:05:25,458 --> 00:05:26,755 There was only one way to find out. 37 00:05:30,830 --> 00:05:35,290 A combination sling-shot, fishing pole is Nalini Nadkarni's own invention 38 00:05:35,435 --> 00:05:37,300 for shooting a line a hundred feet up. 39 00:05:40,707 --> 00:05:44,268 "Yes!" "Oh, my God." 40 00:05:46,079 --> 00:05:47,171 Accuracy is essential. 41 00:05:47,313 --> 00:05:49,873 To get that all important first line up over a limb, 42 00:05:51,217 --> 00:05:54,846 a climbing rope is hauled up to which she attaches her Jumar ascenders. 43 00:05:55,822 --> 00:05:59,189 Ever since her first climb, for 19 years, 44 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,692 "I realized, at that moment, that first rope climb, 45 00:06:03,162 --> 00:06:05,153 I Knew where I was going for the rest of my life, 46 00:06:05,298 --> 00:06:06,526 I was going up in the canopy." 47 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,687 It takes hard work and courage to conquer this new world 48 00:07:07,593 --> 00:07:11,256 - but when they climb, Nalini and the other canopy researchers 49 00:07:11,397 --> 00:07:13,194 are also returning to a very old world. 50 00:07:18,070 --> 00:07:19,628 Our ancestors lived in trees. 51 00:07:21,441 --> 00:07:26,140 Perhaps, we are returning to a place buried deep in our primal memory. 52 00:07:38,391 --> 00:07:40,052 A place of primal fears. 53 00:07:54,474 --> 00:07:56,032 Braving these dizzying heights 54 00:07:56,309 --> 00:07:59,972 the first canopy researchers discovered a complex web of life. 55 00:08:06,853 --> 00:08:08,184 "We really felt like pioneers, 56 00:08:08,321 --> 00:08:10,585 we felt like we were frontiersmen, going to where 57 00:08:10,723 --> 00:08:13,749 no human had ever gone before and, and everything we picked up 58 00:08:13,893 --> 00:08:15,656 was something new and something different 59 00:08:15,795 --> 00:08:16,989 - new species, new interactions." 60 00:08:17,697 --> 00:08:20,222 Nalini learned that giant forest trees 61 00:08:20,366 --> 00:08:23,494 actually sprouted roots from their uppermost branches. 62 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:29,066 Jay Malcolm found that animals believed to be extremely rare, 63 00:08:29,575 --> 00:08:33,011 were actually common creatures if you Knew where to look for them. 64 00:08:35,348 --> 00:08:37,612 Meg Lowman investigated the chemical warfare 65 00:08:37,750 --> 00:08:39,377 between animals and plants, 66 00:08:40,419 --> 00:08:43,286 a source of the canopy's bewildering diversity. 67 00:08:44,357 --> 00:08:46,188 And Neil Rettig spent months up a tree, 68 00:08:46,325 --> 00:08:50,318 unveiling the life of one of the world's most magnificent eagles. 69 00:08:52,665 --> 00:08:54,565 Working in the canopy has taught them 70 00:08:54,700 --> 00:08:56,600 that this is where the rainforest lives... 71 00:08:57,270 --> 00:08:59,636 ...where light is turned into life. 72 00:09:01,908 --> 00:09:04,399 The canopy is a powerhouse of the forest. 73 00:09:04,544 --> 00:09:07,206 It's where sunlight changes into stored energy. 74 00:09:07,346 --> 00:09:11,009 It's where trees reproduce, where the flowers and the fruits are, 75 00:09:11,150 --> 00:09:13,482 where pollination takes place, where fruit dispersal takes place 76 00:09:13,619 --> 00:09:16,782 so I think it's really where everything's happening in the forest. 77 00:09:17,490 --> 00:09:18,718 This is where the birds feed. 78 00:09:19,025 --> 00:09:22,222 You can see where, where all the, the bark and the, um, eh, 79 00:09:22,361 --> 00:09:24,192 the epiphytes have been sort of Knocked off 80 00:09:24,330 --> 00:09:26,491 because this is where the birds themselves 81 00:09:26,632 --> 00:09:29,795 and the monkeys come and feed on these big fruits. 82 00:09:30,369 --> 00:09:31,336 I can't believe I'm in top of this tree... 83 00:09:31,470 --> 00:09:33,700 "Today I got up much higher than I ever had before, 84 00:09:33,839 --> 00:09:34,771 I was able to shift the ropes around 85 00:09:34,907 --> 00:09:38,240 and I was actually able to get to the very top of this tree. 86 00:09:39,078 --> 00:09:39,772 "God! Wow!" 87 00:09:41,147 --> 00:09:42,842 "I can see forever!" 88 00:09:55,061 --> 00:09:56,221 Just 25 years ago, 89 00:09:56,562 --> 00:09:59,690 up the rivers of Surinam and Guyana, came an expedition 90 00:09:59,832 --> 00:10:02,198 in search of one of the canopies greatest predators. 91 00:10:03,636 --> 00:10:06,935 It was the personal quest of a 23-year-old Neil Rettig. 92 00:10:07,707 --> 00:10:12,474 He and two friends sought to witness and film the life of the Harpy eagle. 93 00:10:14,981 --> 00:10:18,041 The Harpy's life in the wild was practically unKnown 94 00:10:18,317 --> 00:10:21,753 until Neil strapped on spikes like telephone repairmen use 95 00:10:22,321 --> 00:10:24,221 and jury-rigged a reinforced cable 96 00:10:24,357 --> 00:10:27,588 big enough to wrap around the huge girth of a rainforest giant. 97 00:10:33,633 --> 00:10:37,467 Somehow, they scaled one hundred and fifty feet to reach the nest. 98 00:10:38,604 --> 00:10:39,901 "When I think of the crazy things 99 00:10:40,039 --> 00:10:44,373 that all three of us did (Wolfgang, myself, and Allen), it's unbelievable. 100 00:10:44,844 --> 00:10:46,675 I mean, we're lucky we're still here." 101 00:10:47,513 --> 00:10:49,879 They built a blind from which they could watch the nest. 102 00:10:50,983 --> 00:10:52,348 They used a ladder to climb 103 00:10:52,485 --> 00:10:55,613 from the crown of one tree up into the nest tree itself. 104 00:11:00,059 --> 00:11:03,358 While exposed outside the blind, they were under constant scrutiny 105 00:11:03,496 --> 00:11:05,589 and frequent attack by the most powerful eagle in the world. 106 00:11:08,834 --> 00:11:11,894 When the blind was complete, Neil looked through his lens 107 00:11:12,071 --> 00:11:15,040 to meet the fierce gaze of the Harpy for the first time. 108 00:11:19,311 --> 00:11:22,144 "The harpy eagle will, will always be my favorite bird of prey. 109 00:11:22,448 --> 00:11:25,940 I feel like I'm part of it or it's part of me." 110 00:11:29,622 --> 00:11:30,884 After a month of observation, 111 00:11:31,090 --> 00:11:34,753 a tiny ball of fluff appeared between the mother's powerful talons. 112 00:11:36,095 --> 00:11:39,531 Neil was the first to ever glimpse, not to mention film, 113 00:11:39,665 --> 00:11:41,724 a newly hatched Harpy chick in the wild. 114 00:11:42,635 --> 00:11:44,762 But his exhilaration almost proved fatal. 115 00:11:45,671 --> 00:11:48,071 "I had just finished spending three days in the blind 116 00:11:48,207 --> 00:11:49,265 watching the chick hatch 117 00:11:49,575 --> 00:11:52,442 and I was completely overwhelmed with, with excitement; 118 00:11:53,345 --> 00:11:57,076 and I started climbing down, using the belts and the climbing spikes, 119 00:11:57,450 --> 00:11:59,475 and I was just thinking about other things, 120 00:11:59,618 --> 00:12:00,516 I was daydreaming, 121 00:12:00,653 --> 00:12:02,917 I was so excited that the chick had actually hatched and I filmed, 122 00:12:03,489 --> 00:12:06,322 in the early morning when the chick was a tiny little baby, 123 00:12:07,159 --> 00:12:09,320 and I just, I remember leaning backward 124 00:12:10,396 --> 00:12:13,593 and just falling into space - and it was like slow motion. 125 00:12:14,133 --> 00:12:17,466 I remember falling down and trying to grab a hold of the, a palm tree, 126 00:12:18,437 --> 00:12:20,598 crashing through the vegetation and landing on my back 127 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:22,264 and then, then I couldn't breathe. 128 00:12:23,743 --> 00:12:25,267 And I looked up and, uh, Wolfgang, 129 00:12:25,411 --> 00:12:27,902 my, uh, associate was coming out of the blind 130 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,605 and the eagle came and ripped off a piece of his pants 131 00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:31,682 and flew away with it 132 00:12:31,817 --> 00:12:34,308 - he shot back up in the blind and he said he'd come down in the dark 133 00:12:35,321 --> 00:12:37,221 Well, finally, they, they, he climbed down 134 00:12:37,356 --> 00:12:39,153 and they carried me out in the stretcher and, 135 00:12:39,291 --> 00:12:42,419 one week later, I was, I was climbing again, that's how crazy I was." 136 00:12:44,864 --> 00:12:46,798 Protected by luck and a motorcycle helmet, 137 00:12:47,199 --> 00:12:50,498 Neil suffered only a few broken ribs from his 55 foot fall. 138 00:12:52,671 --> 00:12:55,435 He continued to film, capturing the parents hunting 139 00:12:55,574 --> 00:12:58,407 like sharks among the green billows of the canopy. 140 00:13:02,481 --> 00:13:05,109 Sloths are a favorite prey of the Harpy. 141 00:13:27,673 --> 00:13:30,801 Usually, they eat part of the carcass before bringing it to the nest 142 00:13:32,077 --> 00:13:34,545 - but, this time, dinner is delivered alive. 143 00:13:39,185 --> 00:13:44,145 Neil, who had survived a fall from five stories, 144 00:13:44,523 --> 00:13:46,388 was felled by a tiny insect bite. 145 00:13:47,159 --> 00:13:49,855 Infected by a parasite, he was forced to leave. 146 00:13:51,130 --> 00:13:54,531 I Knew someday I had to go back and complete the entire study 147 00:13:54,667 --> 00:13:56,157 and actually document what happens 148 00:13:56,302 --> 00:13:58,770 when that young Harpy makes its first flight. 149 00:14:09,215 --> 00:14:11,809 Neil was one of the first to venture up into this high flung new frontier 150 00:14:11,951 --> 00:14:16,012 but he and other pioneers will soon climb into canopy's 151 00:14:16,088 --> 00:14:17,487 all over the world. 152 00:14:20,426 --> 00:14:22,894 The rainforest canopy is like an eighth continent, 153 00:14:23,629 --> 00:14:25,460 an archipelago of floating islands 154 00:14:25,598 --> 00:14:28,431 that encircles the globe in a belt above the equator. 155 00:14:29,802 --> 00:14:32,669 Originally, it covered 12% of the planet's land area, 156 00:14:33,172 --> 00:14:36,266 but more than half of it has been destroyed by logging and agriculture. 157 00:14:37,443 --> 00:14:40,674 Yet, it remains home to more than half of all the animals 158 00:14:40,813 --> 00:14:42,041 and plants living on earth. 159 00:14:46,118 --> 00:14:49,281 Canopy explorers are discovering that each island of rainforest 160 00:14:49,421 --> 00:14:50,854 has a nature all its own. 161 00:14:56,795 --> 00:14:58,786 Malaysia's canopy is one of the highest 162 00:14:59,098 --> 00:15:00,998 and most unattainable in the world. 163 00:15:14,046 --> 00:15:17,345 Like giant lollipops, trees rise a hundred feet 164 00:15:17,650 --> 00:15:20,050 before spreading their crowns into the clouds. 165 00:15:30,129 --> 00:15:33,656 From miles around, animals are gathering here for a great event, 166 00:15:33,799 --> 00:15:36,029 unique to Southeast Asia's rainforests. 167 00:15:39,138 --> 00:15:40,264 They are coming for a feast. 168 00:15:43,142 --> 00:15:44,632 In the course of a just a few weeks, 169 00:15:44,777 --> 00:15:46,404 most of the trees here will bear fruit, 170 00:15:47,079 --> 00:15:49,411 laying out a banquet in the sky. 171 00:15:55,988 --> 00:15:57,717 The seeds of the tallest trees... 172 00:15:57,856 --> 00:16:00,882 ...helicopter down a hundred feet into the canopy below. 173 00:16:02,161 --> 00:16:06,097 >From there, it's another hundred feet down into the dark 174 00:16:35,794 --> 00:16:37,785 orangutans make an endless pilgrimage 175 00:16:37,930 --> 00:16:40,023 through these tree tops in search of food. 176 00:16:40,566 --> 00:16:43,330 They travel alone except for females and their young. 177 00:16:44,970 --> 00:16:48,736 They maintain detailed mental maps of huge tracks of forest, 178 00:16:49,074 --> 00:16:51,542 memorizing the location of each favorite fruit tree 179 00:16:51,944 --> 00:16:53,309 and the shortest routes between them. 180 00:16:54,346 --> 00:16:56,075 While still a baby at mother's breast, 181 00:16:56,582 --> 00:16:58,413 an orang begins a lifetime of learning 182 00:16:58,550 --> 00:17:00,814 just where and when to find ripe fruit. 183 00:17:12,498 --> 00:17:14,625 When a wave of mass fruiting hits a valley, 184 00:17:15,034 --> 00:17:17,730 it gives the orangs something even more precious than food 185 00:17:19,338 --> 00:17:21,238 - a chance to socialize with their own kind. 186 00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:26,003 Infants get a rare chance to play with other youngsters their own age. 187 00:17:33,485 --> 00:17:35,112 Long thought to be loners by nature, 188 00:17:35,587 --> 00:17:37,817 we now Know that orangs enjoy each other's company 189 00:17:38,891 --> 00:17:40,483 - when there's enough food to go around. 190 00:17:42,494 --> 00:17:44,860 Even the big males are welcome to join the party. 191 00:17:53,806 --> 00:17:56,240 Gibbons, too, relish the sweet, abundant fruit. 192 00:17:59,445 --> 00:18:02,312 Orangs would usually threaten a gibbon who dared to eat 193 00:18:02,448 --> 00:18:03,176 in the same fruiting tree, 194 00:18:03,682 --> 00:18:04,740 but with plenty of food of around, 195 00:18:05,184 --> 00:18:06,845 the little ape can eat his fill in peace. 196 00:18:19,431 --> 00:18:21,729 Then he swings away with effortless grace, 197 00:18:21,867 --> 00:18:23,232 hundreds of feet above the ground. 198 00:19:08,046 --> 00:19:09,809 Orangs are too heavy for such acrobatics. 199 00:19:10,782 --> 00:19:12,773 Instead, they descend to the under story, 200 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:14,710 where they put their weight to good use. 201 00:19:20,159 --> 00:19:22,457 Still 50 feet above the forest floor, 202 00:19:22,594 --> 00:19:25,324 they sway back and forth on the pliable saplings, 203 00:19:25,697 --> 00:19:27,995 working their way between the taller fruiting trees. 204 00:19:38,677 --> 00:19:40,008 Moving among the trees 205 00:19:40,245 --> 00:19:43,078 presents special challenges for all canopy creatures... 206 00:19:43,749 --> 00:19:45,614 ...especially those without limbs. 207 00:19:50,055 --> 00:19:52,888 A snake requires exquisite balance. 208 00:20:02,367 --> 00:20:05,666 This one is quite comfortable with life out on a limb. 209 00:20:15,981 --> 00:20:19,109 The flying snake glides from tree to tree. 210 00:20:23,021 --> 00:20:27,014 It flattens its body into a ribbon- shape, swimming through the air. 211 00:20:34,266 --> 00:20:36,962 It's not easy to escape such a talented predator. 212 00:20:47,179 --> 00:20:50,171 Ribs raise wings, as a warning at first. 213 00:21:16,074 --> 00:21:19,908 Flying dragons soar through the open colonades of a Malaysian forest, 214 00:21:20,279 --> 00:21:22,474 just one leap ahead of their predators. 215 00:21:27,719 --> 00:21:30,449 These are the gothic cathedrals of the canopy, 216 00:21:32,524 --> 00:21:36,688 but there are places that resemble the tangled webs ofjungle lore 217 00:21:37,729 --> 00:21:39,458 - the lush forests of Costa Rica. 218 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,963 Here, epiphytes, the plants growing on the trees, 219 00:21:45,103 --> 00:21:48,664 may weigh more than the foliage of the trees themselves. 220 00:21:49,908 --> 00:21:53,605 Woody vines called lianas Knit the canopy together 221 00:21:53,745 --> 00:21:56,475 providing by-ways for all sorts of creatures 222 00:21:56,615 --> 00:22:00,142 and making a prehensile tail a useful and common adaptation. 223 00:22:09,061 --> 00:22:11,393 The booming calls of howler monkeys 224 00:22:11,530 --> 00:22:13,794 attract the attention of a passing jaguar. 225 00:22:19,838 --> 00:22:20,896 For canopy animals, 226 00:22:21,073 --> 00:22:22,904 it is the forest floor that is a dangerous place. 227 00:22:24,076 --> 00:22:26,044 Ajaguar would love to snatch a howler, 228 00:22:26,345 --> 00:22:28,905 if only it could reach their treetop refuge. 229 00:22:37,422 --> 00:22:38,821 The close-Knit canopy... 230 00:22:38,957 --> 00:22:41,050 ...is a green roof shading the forest floor. 231 00:22:42,227 --> 00:22:45,219 A dark netherworld populated by the undead. 232 00:22:58,377 --> 00:23:02,211 Most seedlings that sprout here slowly starve in the endless gloom. 233 00:23:02,914 --> 00:23:05,474 But vines make their own luck, 234 00:23:05,617 --> 00:23:09,383 they flail about following every sunbeam to its source. 235 00:23:12,257 --> 00:23:15,192 Some climb using tendrils that coil tightly, 236 00:23:15,327 --> 00:23:17,056 pulling the plant skyward. 237 00:23:27,406 --> 00:23:28,873 Others take a more direct approach, 238 00:23:29,141 --> 00:23:32,372 wrapping their stems around any support that leads up to the light. 239 00:23:47,526 --> 00:23:49,960 When they finally break out into the tropical sunshine, 240 00:23:50,295 --> 00:23:53,594 they turn the power of the sun into the stuff of life. 241 00:24:13,585 --> 00:24:17,077 No sooner is light turned into substance than it is consumed - 242 00:24:17,222 --> 00:24:19,816 transforming the sun's energy yet again. 243 00:24:29,868 --> 00:24:32,462 Orchids don't have to fight for their place in the sun, 244 00:24:32,604 --> 00:24:34,435 they start life up here already. 245 00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:38,138 They are epiphytes, so-called air plants, 246 00:24:38,276 --> 00:24:40,767 which thrive without any connection to the earth below. 247 00:24:44,449 --> 00:24:48,044 But one infamous plant makes the most of both worlds. 248 00:24:49,754 --> 00:24:52,086 The tiny seedling sends down roots. 249 00:24:52,424 --> 00:24:54,392 Just thin strands at first, 250 00:24:54,726 --> 00:24:57,251 heading a hundred feet to the forest floor below. 251 00:25:05,804 --> 00:25:08,329 Once it connects with the earth, it gains new power. 252 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,736 Its leaves compete for light with the host tree, 253 00:25:11,877 --> 00:25:15,244 while its roots multiply and merge into misshapen limbs. 254 00:25:19,084 --> 00:25:22,542 They wrap around the trunk of the host in a deadly embrace, 255 00:25:23,555 --> 00:25:28,219 constricted and starved of life, the host usually dies and rots away, 256 00:25:30,095 --> 00:25:33,895 while the roots solidify into the trunk of a forest giant 257 00:25:35,300 --> 00:25:36,358 with an empty heart. 258 00:25:46,144 --> 00:25:48,078 The strangler fig may be a killer, 259 00:25:48,213 --> 00:25:51,046 but it also provides food for countless animals 260 00:25:51,182 --> 00:25:55,551 and support the thousands of epiphytes in lush hanging gardens. 261 00:25:56,087 --> 00:25:59,420 Epiphytes are the particular passion of Nalini Nadkarni. 262 00:26:01,192 --> 00:26:03,319 She practically lives up here when she's working. 263 00:26:04,596 --> 00:26:05,995 She studied the cloud forest 264 00:26:06,131 --> 00:26:09,032 and each day is reminded of how it got its name. 265 00:26:11,670 --> 00:26:16,073 "I think one of the most amazing feelings of working in the canopy 266 00:26:16,207 --> 00:26:22,077 is when the mist and fog and cloud roll up the mountainside 267 00:26:22,714 --> 00:26:27,276 and it hits the forest, it hits the tree in front of you, 268 00:26:27,419 --> 00:26:29,819 and you suddenly realize you are being enveloped in a cloud." 269 00:26:30,956 --> 00:26:34,255 This daily misting provides just what epiphytes need. 270 00:26:35,193 --> 00:26:37,457 Mosses catch droplets drifting past. 271 00:26:38,196 --> 00:26:40,221 With each drop, they gather a bit of dust, 272 00:26:40,832 --> 00:26:43,357 some from as far away as the Sahara Desert. 273 00:26:46,705 --> 00:26:47,672 Soil builds up 274 00:26:47,973 --> 00:26:52,933 and the hanging gardens grow in size and diversity, building more soil. 275 00:26:55,614 --> 00:27:00,108 A kiss from a desert wind, blown wet and warm feeds the forest. 276 00:27:01,686 --> 00:27:04,416 "I suddenly feel like this is what an epiphyte feels like, 277 00:27:04,556 --> 00:27:06,751 this is the nourishing mist and fog that's coming through. 278 00:27:06,891 --> 00:27:09,291 So I feel it on my face, feel it on my hands 279 00:27:10,128 --> 00:27:12,392 and I understand better what an epiphyte is." 280 00:27:13,231 --> 00:27:15,165 Nalini has discovered that the moss mats, 281 00:27:15,500 --> 00:27:18,628 that blanket the oldest branches, play a vital role. 282 00:27:21,039 --> 00:27:25,032 "These mats are just full of roots, they sort of Knit the soil together... 283 00:27:27,379 --> 00:27:28,903 I'll just finish clipping these last roots, 284 00:27:30,649 --> 00:27:32,617 and then the moment of peeling them away. 285 00:27:33,618 --> 00:27:33,845 Watch this. 286 00:27:36,054 --> 00:27:39,751 And what you see is this soil and it's just riddled with roots. 287 00:27:41,259 --> 00:27:42,021 It smells great, 288 00:27:42,293 --> 00:27:43,555 it's like this very earthy smell, 289 00:27:44,095 --> 00:27:46,222 which is kind of funny when you think of where, where we are, 290 00:27:47,065 --> 00:27:50,557 but you can see that the branch is actually not all that thick 291 00:27:50,935 --> 00:27:53,028 Um, the branches always look a lot more thick 292 00:27:53,104 --> 00:27:54,230 when they have their moss mats on them. 293 00:27:54,873 --> 00:27:58,104 So there are lots of invertebrates, insects, earthworms 294 00:27:58,476 --> 00:28:01,309 that live in this material high, high above the forest floor, 295 00:28:01,780 --> 00:28:02,974 you have to get up here, 296 00:28:03,281 --> 00:28:04,373 you have to look in these plants, 297 00:28:04,783 --> 00:28:07,843 you have to look in this soil to figure out, really, what's happening, 298 00:28:08,019 --> 00:28:08,883 what's going on up here." 299 00:28:11,222 --> 00:28:15,716 Nalini's perseverance and her daring led her to a remarkable discovery. 300 00:28:17,028 --> 00:28:19,690 "A really amazing thing about these moss mats are that 301 00:28:19,831 --> 00:28:23,528 they can actually nourish the tree itself, they can feed the tree. 302 00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:27,061 Some species of trees can put out roots from their own branches 303 00:28:27,205 --> 00:28:31,073 and trunks that go into this soil and take in food and water. 304 00:28:31,643 --> 00:28:34,441 And, so, the epiphytes are getting support, 305 00:28:34,579 --> 00:28:35,807 they're getting their place in the sun, 306 00:28:36,347 --> 00:28:39,316 but the tree is getting nutrients and water from the mats 307 00:28:39,684 --> 00:28:40,673 that the epiphytes make. 308 00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:44,279 So, it's kind of like the epiphytes are paying rent to a landlord 309 00:28:44,723 --> 00:28:46,691 and it's just a really amazing situation." 310 00:28:49,427 --> 00:28:51,395 Suspended in three dimensional space, 311 00:28:52,063 --> 00:28:55,226 these hanging gardens are like coral reefs in the sky 312 00:28:55,967 --> 00:28:58,731 - creating opportunities for a whole community of life. 313 00:29:03,041 --> 00:29:04,975 They provide good pickings for a Kuati. 314 00:29:06,244 --> 00:29:08,542 Flowers are nectar, even ants for protein, 315 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:10,648 even ants for a protein snack - with a bite. 316 00:29:13,518 --> 00:29:14,985 But ants are just the appetizer. 317 00:29:16,888 --> 00:29:18,253 Fruit is the main course. 318 00:29:24,229 --> 00:29:28,256 Following its nose, the Kuati is led to the very summit of a great tree. 319 00:29:30,235 --> 00:29:33,830 Monkeys with prehensile tails are better equipped to feed up here. 320 00:29:34,606 --> 00:29:37,074 Though the Kuati is no canopy specialist, 321 00:29:37,208 --> 00:29:38,368 he is not to be denied. 322 00:29:45,049 --> 00:29:46,641 He searches for the ripest fruit. 323 00:29:52,357 --> 00:29:55,258 His cast offs feed a band of Kuati females and their young 324 00:29:55,393 --> 00:29:56,155 on the forest floor. 325 00:29:57,595 --> 00:30:00,496 The seeds would never survive beneath their parent tree anyway, 326 00:30:01,132 --> 00:30:04,158 where specialized fungi and insects wait to prey upon them. 327 00:30:06,871 --> 00:30:10,568 Animals connect the sun lit canopy with the earth below in many ways. 328 00:30:11,643 --> 00:30:13,907 Flowers are designed to attract animals, 329 00:30:14,045 --> 00:30:16,741 but leaf-cutter ants are not invited guests. 330 00:30:21,786 --> 00:30:23,811 They strip palatable blooms en masse. 331 00:30:24,823 --> 00:30:28,520 Millions of ants working together collecting the bounty of the canopy 332 00:30:28,660 --> 00:30:31,254 and sucking it down into the earth below. 333 00:31:23,081 --> 00:31:24,912 Whether it's carried or just float down, 334 00:31:25,550 --> 00:31:29,816 it is rapidly recycled back into living matter. 335 00:31:35,326 --> 00:31:38,295 Fingers of slime mold spread over the leaf litter, 336 00:31:38,429 --> 00:31:40,090 breaking it down into plant food. 337 00:31:53,378 --> 00:31:56,142 The gossamer threads of fungi help the roots of trees 338 00:31:56,281 --> 00:31:58,579 absorb 95% of the nutrients - 339 00:31:59,150 --> 00:32:02,415 building forest giants that rise up into the light. 340 00:32:07,058 --> 00:32:09,117 The leaf litter hides many miracles. 341 00:32:10,528 --> 00:32:12,758 A strawberry frog guards its eggs 342 00:32:13,164 --> 00:32:15,257 which develop in a puddle of rainwater. 343 00:32:16,067 --> 00:32:17,932 As soon as the tadpole hatches, 344 00:32:18,069 --> 00:32:20,060 she moves it to a more secure nursery, 345 00:32:20,438 --> 00:32:22,668 encouraging it to wriggle up onto her back 346 00:32:29,347 --> 00:32:30,473 No bigger than a thumbnail, 347 00:32:31,449 --> 00:32:34,850 she undertakes a phenomenal commute, heading straight up. 348 00:32:40,491 --> 00:32:45,053 She climbs in search of a bromeliad - an epiphyte with a rosette of leaves 349 00:32:45,196 --> 00:32:48,063 that channel rain and mist into a central reservoir. 350 00:32:51,836 --> 00:32:56,398 This tiny ocean in the sky comes complete with miniature sea monsters 351 00:32:57,408 --> 00:33:00,104 - mosquito larvae, feeding on rotting debris. 352 00:33:00,511 --> 00:33:02,741 This debris also acts as fertilizer for the plant. 353 00:33:11,255 --> 00:33:14,918 She drops her tadpole off in the first empty reservoir she finds. 354 00:33:20,064 --> 00:33:21,258 But her work is not yet done. 355 00:33:22,333 --> 00:33:25,166 She has other tadpoles stashed in other bromeliads, 356 00:33:25,636 --> 00:33:27,570 and every two days she makes the rounds. 357 00:33:29,307 --> 00:33:33,141 Her offspring's telltale vibrations signal her to lay another egg - 358 00:33:33,678 --> 00:33:41,642 but this egg isn't fertile, it's dinner - it's her tadpole's only food - 359 00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:44,217 a brilliant strategy for survival 360 00:33:44,822 --> 00:33:47,120 until a thirsty coati happens by. 361 00:33:48,192 --> 00:33:51,923 It takes researchers years to discover such elaborate strategies 362 00:33:52,363 --> 00:33:55,355 and just seconds for a coati to send them astray. 363 00:34:01,773 --> 00:34:04,333 The sky-high world of epiphytes is made up 364 00:34:04,475 --> 00:34:06,705 of millions of such little life and death dramas. 365 00:34:07,678 --> 00:34:08,645 "I love epiphytes. 366 00:34:08,780 --> 00:34:09,439 I don't Know why I do. 367 00:34:09,580 --> 00:34:12,310 I think it's something about they live in the treetop, 368 00:34:12,450 --> 00:34:15,078 and ever since I was a little kid, I like climbing trees... 369 00:34:15,453 --> 00:34:17,819 it was a world I could escape to, no grown-ups, 370 00:34:18,089 --> 00:34:20,421 no grown-ups climb trees so it was just my little world 371 00:34:20,558 --> 00:34:21,786 where I could go up and read 372 00:34:22,260 --> 00:34:23,557 and... It's been 17 years 373 00:34:23,694 --> 00:34:26,663 and every time I put on my Jumars and go up a rope, 374 00:34:27,065 --> 00:34:29,465 it's that same feeling of exhilaration, 375 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,795 of what will I find today, what will I learn today... 376 00:34:37,508 --> 00:34:39,601 The rain forest canopy yields its secrets 377 00:34:39,744 --> 00:34:41,473 to only the most determined explorers. 378 00:34:42,313 --> 00:34:45,077 It took Neil Rettig fourteen years to return to Guyana 379 00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:47,650 and his work with the Harpy eagle. 380 00:34:50,221 --> 00:34:53,384 "I think what's at the center of the connection with the canopy is, 381 00:34:53,524 --> 00:34:55,287 for me, a link back to my youth, 382 00:34:55,426 --> 00:34:58,395 when I was a 23-year-old wild adventurer. 383 00:34:58,963 --> 00:35:02,990 Just the odors of the flowers and bird calls open up all these memory banks 384 00:35:03,367 --> 00:35:07,201 that had been shut down for all those years - it was unbelievable. 385 00:35:07,505 --> 00:35:08,733 It was just like I had never left." 386 00:35:12,810 --> 00:35:15,278 A Harpy's calls help lead Neil to its nest 387 00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:18,078 just a few miles from his old study site. 388 00:35:26,057 --> 00:35:29,220 Neil was now one of the world's best wildlife cinematographers 389 00:35:30,061 --> 00:35:33,792 but he was as thrilled as ever to set his eyes on a Harpy chick 390 00:35:39,237 --> 00:35:42,172 "It was like having a reunion with an old friend." 391 00:35:44,142 --> 00:35:48,909 "Possibly, one of the new adults was the baby from 1975." 392 00:36:00,725 --> 00:36:03,023 For six months, Neil kept his vigil. 393 00:36:04,162 --> 00:36:05,493 As he watched the chick grow, 394 00:36:05,897 --> 00:36:07,592 he wondered if he would finally capture 395 00:36:07,732 --> 00:36:09,723 the maiden flight of a harpy on film. 396 00:36:17,375 --> 00:36:21,209 Every day brought Neil and the chick closer to their goal. 397 00:36:28,753 --> 00:36:31,221 While Neil watched the chick prepared, 398 00:36:31,589 --> 00:36:33,750 exercising and testing its wings. 399 00:36:44,802 --> 00:36:48,636 Then one day, Neil turned the camera on just in time. 400 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,250 A long awaited milestone for the chick, its mother, 401 00:37:08,793 --> 00:37:11,284 and perhaps most of all - for Neil. 402 00:37:20,271 --> 00:37:23,763 Such long term dedication has coaxed a few of its secrets 403 00:37:23,908 --> 00:37:25,341 from the canopy, 404 00:37:25,910 --> 00:37:27,275 but as the light of a day fades, 405 00:37:28,212 --> 00:37:29,702 a cloak of mystery descends. 406 00:37:53,204 --> 00:37:55,263 The next frontier in canopy exploration 407 00:37:55,406 --> 00:37:58,034 beckons out of the gathering dark 408 00:38:06,217 --> 00:38:08,242 Few have dared to climb into this high flung wilderness at night, 409 00:38:08,386 --> 00:38:12,015 when it comes alive with a whole different community of animals. 410 00:38:14,025 --> 00:38:17,586 They come out to reap the bounty the canopy built by day. 411 00:38:29,340 --> 00:38:31,900 Bats are the unsung heroes of the rainforest. 412 00:38:41,385 --> 00:38:44,047 They hover over the branches, sniffing out the ripest fruit. 413 00:39:06,110 --> 00:39:07,873 Only just able to carry its prize, 414 00:39:08,245 --> 00:39:10,543 it flies to a roost where it can feed in safety. 415 00:39:20,024 --> 00:39:23,516 Bats play vital roles in pollination, insect control 416 00:39:24,028 --> 00:39:25,359 and the reproduction of trees. 417 00:39:27,031 --> 00:39:30,228 The bat eats the sweet flesh of the fruit but discards the seeds. 418 00:39:31,102 --> 00:39:33,502 They fall far from their parent tree's shadow, 419 00:39:33,637 --> 00:39:35,628 where they have a better chance of surviving. 420 00:39:40,845 --> 00:39:43,336 Animals help many canopy plants reproduce. 421 00:39:44,582 --> 00:39:47,016 Epiphytes face unique challenges 422 00:39:47,151 --> 00:39:49,244 spreading their seeds around the hanging gardens. 423 00:39:50,788 --> 00:39:54,019 One solution, a sticky coating that keeps the seeds 424 00:39:54,158 --> 00:39:56,217 from falling to the forest floor 425 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,028 and attracts a particular species of ant. 426 00:40:04,568 --> 00:40:07,537 These ants are strong enough to win the tug of war with the plant. 427 00:40:16,514 --> 00:40:17,674 They carry them to their nest 428 00:40:18,015 --> 00:40:21,644 but they eat the nutritious coating leaving the seeds to sprout. 429 00:40:23,421 --> 00:40:26,356 The seedlings grow turning the nest into a garden 430 00:40:26,490 --> 00:40:29,288 overflowing with the ants favorite food plants, 431 00:40:30,027 --> 00:40:32,291 some of which are never found anywhere else. 432 00:40:39,770 --> 00:40:43,069 A canopy mouse quenches its thirst in a mouse size bromeliad. 433 00:40:44,775 --> 00:40:51,305 Mice eat epiphyte seeds and are, in turn, eaten themselves... by Boas. 434 00:41:06,864 --> 00:41:09,458 It's flicking tongue tastes the victim's presence 435 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,125 as it follows it out onto the thinnest vine. 436 00:41:24,582 --> 00:41:27,779 Sometimes, there's no where to go, but down. 437 00:41:41,232 --> 00:41:42,790 It spreads its limbs like a parachute. 438 00:41:43,567 --> 00:41:46,764 The mouse crashes through foliage hurtling six stories down. 439 00:41:52,843 --> 00:41:56,745 It weighs so little - air resistance slowed its fall enough 440 00:41:56,881 --> 00:41:57,939 so that it landed safely, 441 00:41:58,816 --> 00:42:01,808 one of the benefits of being a small creature in the canopy. 442 00:42:04,154 --> 00:42:07,590 Small animals thrive in rainforest canopies the world over. 443 00:42:10,594 --> 00:42:12,357 In the Great Amazon Basin, 444 00:42:12,730 --> 00:42:16,564 they could travel from treetop to treetop for thousands of miles. 445 00:42:19,837 --> 00:42:21,566 The woolly opossum was thought 446 00:42:21,705 --> 00:42:23,764 to be one of the rarest of the Amazon's creatures. 447 00:42:24,575 --> 00:42:27,669 Its prehensile tail is naked at the tip to give it a strong grip. 448 00:42:34,084 --> 00:42:35,608 They are built like little wrestlers. 449 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:38,620 Babies cling tightly to their mothers, 450 00:42:38,756 --> 00:42:41,247 who grasp the thinnest of lianas with powerful feet. 451 00:42:58,642 --> 00:43:02,009 Those without a family in tow have more freedom of movement. 452 00:43:10,154 --> 00:43:11,621 They are all searching for sweets. 453 00:43:12,756 --> 00:43:14,189 They drink nectar and eat fruit. 454 00:43:22,533 --> 00:43:24,296 The mother must seek her dinner elsewhere. 455 00:43:25,336 --> 00:43:29,067 Using aerial roots as a ladder she follows another sweet scent. 456 00:43:32,910 --> 00:43:37,006 So sweet is this perfume it distracts the opossum from its meal. 457 00:43:45,656 --> 00:43:48,784 The aroma of ripe banana proves irresistible. 458 00:44:05,776 --> 00:44:08,210 Mother and offspring are lucky to have missed this treat. 459 00:44:28,932 --> 00:44:31,924 The wooly opossum finds the morning light unnerving. 460 00:44:32,870 --> 00:44:35,771 By now, it should be hidden in the darKness of its lair. 461 00:44:43,714 --> 00:44:44,908 But it has no need to fear, 462 00:44:45,916 --> 00:44:48,407 the trap was set by biologist Jay Malcolm 463 00:44:49,019 --> 00:44:51,078 who is exploring the night-world of the canopy 464 00:44:51,955 --> 00:44:53,547 with some startling results. 465 00:44:54,558 --> 00:44:58,153 "These wooly opossums are the single most abundant mammal 466 00:44:58,295 --> 00:44:59,159 in this forest, 467 00:44:59,296 --> 00:45:01,161 more abundant than any other kind of rodent, 468 00:45:01,298 --> 00:45:02,663 more abundant than any kind of monkey, 469 00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:05,667 or any other kind of mammal and that was a total surprise. 470 00:45:05,969 --> 00:45:07,334 People Knew that there were things up there, 471 00:45:07,504 --> 00:45:09,028 we just didn't Know how many or where, 472 00:45:09,173 --> 00:45:10,299 so, when we started doing this, 473 00:45:10,507 --> 00:45:12,270 everything we found out was brand new. 474 00:45:13,677 --> 00:45:16,646 Gaining access to the canopy and putting traps up in the canopy 475 00:45:16,780 --> 00:45:19,271 has really allowed us to enter a new world, 476 00:45:19,416 --> 00:45:21,213 a new realm of, of research. 477 00:45:21,351 --> 00:45:22,716 And, we, uh, Know almost nothing, 478 00:45:22,853 --> 00:45:24,286 there's new species of small mammals, 479 00:45:24,421 --> 00:45:27,015 so, there promises to be a lot more surprises." 480 00:45:29,259 --> 00:45:29,884 "Off you go." 481 00:45:34,531 --> 00:45:37,022 >From museum rarity to common critter - 482 00:45:37,167 --> 00:45:39,260 they just had to look for it in the right place. 483 00:45:44,575 --> 00:45:46,372 To service as many traps each day 484 00:45:46,777 --> 00:45:49,109 Jay learned an ancient technique of tree climbing. 485 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,280 "This is called the picoino or foot-belt, 486 00:45:52,416 --> 00:45:55,749 it's the same method that the Amerindians have always used 487 00:45:55,886 --> 00:45:57,012 to climb up palm trees. 488 00:45:57,421 --> 00:45:59,412 The way it works is what you're really doing, 489 00:45:59,490 --> 00:46:01,253 you're sort of pushing out against your heels, 490 00:46:01,859 --> 00:46:04,350 so you're really sort of turning your feet into a pair of pliers." 491 00:46:11,034 --> 00:46:13,298 To climb seven stories in a manner of seconds, 492 00:46:13,637 --> 00:46:16,663 a feat that requires incredible strength and stamina. 493 00:46:30,854 --> 00:46:33,254 Should he lose his grip, even for an instant, 494 00:46:34,124 --> 00:46:35,614 he would crash to the ground below. 495 00:46:42,232 --> 00:46:43,756 Having attached a small pulley, 496 00:46:44,368 --> 00:46:47,360 he raises a simple and ingenious frame for his trap. 497 00:46:53,076 --> 00:46:53,974 Once it is in place, 498 00:46:54,111 --> 00:46:57,979 he slides down like a fireman on a very long and rough pole. 499 00:47:12,396 --> 00:47:14,523 Then he simply raises his trap into position 500 00:47:15,165 --> 00:47:16,598 where it will await an overnight guest. 501 00:47:22,206 --> 00:47:26,472 Jay finds that he captures opossums only within the undisturbed canopy. 502 00:47:32,716 --> 00:47:34,343 Canopy animals are stopped short 503 00:47:34,651 --> 00:47:37,677 where the fabric of the forest is slashed by a clear-cut. 504 00:47:42,526 --> 00:47:44,926 Thirteen years after the chain saws stopped, 505 00:47:45,863 --> 00:47:49,526 this place is still a no-man's land, a desert. 506 00:47:50,367 --> 00:47:52,494 "An area that's been cut over and used, 507 00:47:52,569 --> 00:47:55,037 and you Know what it's like walking down there, 508 00:47:55,172 --> 00:47:57,834 it's hot, full of all sorts of burrs and messy stuff, 509 00:47:58,275 --> 00:48:01,267 from a life standpoint it has been, basically, trashed 510 00:48:01,945 --> 00:48:03,207 - there's not much left there, 511 00:48:03,347 --> 00:48:04,837 it's just a, a tragedy." 512 00:48:08,852 --> 00:48:09,819 Despite efforts to save it, 513 00:48:11,021 --> 00:48:14,047 the rainforest is being consumed at an unprecedented rate, 514 00:48:14,625 --> 00:48:17,492 lending an air of urgency to canopy exploration. 515 00:48:25,369 --> 00:48:27,166 But in the face of such a huge problem, 516 00:48:28,505 --> 00:48:30,473 you have to dream larger still. 517 00:48:35,579 --> 00:48:38,139 A lighter than air arc ascends with the dawn. 518 00:48:42,119 --> 00:48:44,815 Suspended beneath is the canopy luge, 519 00:48:45,522 --> 00:48:49,014 a sled bearing excited researchers on the trip of their lives. 520 00:48:50,193 --> 00:48:52,127 Among them, is one of the founders of the field, 521 00:48:52,596 --> 00:48:55,861 Meg Lowman, who has explored canopies the world over, 522 00:48:57,701 --> 00:49:01,501 but, today, she goes where no one has gone before. 523 00:49:07,511 --> 00:49:10,844 Their mission - to trawl the green sea of the canopy 524 00:49:11,248 --> 00:49:13,648 and to get some inkling of the biological richness it contains. 525 00:49:14,017 --> 00:49:15,814 Right or left... exactament... 526 00:49:22,025 --> 00:49:24,016 The blimp maneuvers the luge carefully. 527 00:49:24,528 --> 00:49:28,225 Sidling up to a tree crown a hundred and fifty feet in the air. 528 00:49:30,667 --> 00:49:32,259 As soon as they are close enough to reach, 529 00:49:32,636 --> 00:49:34,126 nets are wielded frantically. 530 00:49:37,741 --> 00:49:38,469 ...encore 531 00:49:38,575 --> 00:49:41,066 They scoop up insects and collect whole branches in an all out effort 532 00:49:41,211 --> 00:49:44,874 to gather as many samples of canopy life as quickly as they can. 533 00:49:47,684 --> 00:49:50,517 It would have taken weeks of difficult and dangerous 534 00:49:50,654 --> 00:49:52,519 climbing to get the samples they amass 535 00:49:52,656 --> 00:49:53,953 in just one morning on the luge. 536 00:50:03,767 --> 00:50:06,668 The luge is part of operation Canopy, 537 00:50:06,803 --> 00:50:10,102 which invites the best researchers, the world over, to join its venture. 538 00:50:12,709 --> 00:50:14,677 They also use the canopy raft, 539 00:50:15,345 --> 00:50:18,974 a web-like platform dropped over the crowns of several trees. 540 00:50:20,851 --> 00:50:24,651 Walking atop the swaying trees is like walking on the face of the sea. 541 00:50:25,455 --> 00:50:28,447 "I guess I feel really special walking on the tops of trees 542 00:50:28,592 --> 00:50:30,253 and I really tiptoe all the time 543 00:50:30,594 --> 00:50:33,324 because I'm frightened of disturbing these poor little buds 544 00:50:33,463 --> 00:50:34,452 or snapping a branch, 545 00:50:34,765 --> 00:50:38,929 but, in actual fact, with the raft and its wonderful mesh floor, 546 00:50:39,369 --> 00:50:41,564 our weight is dispersed really nicely" 547 00:50:43,407 --> 00:50:46,706 Meg's work in the treetops has shown that over millions of years 548 00:50:46,843 --> 00:50:50,210 plants evolved poisons to defend themselves from being eaten, 549 00:50:50,647 --> 00:50:53,480 while insects evolved ways to overcome these toxins. 550 00:50:54,785 --> 00:50:58,448 Rain forest plants and insects are waging a bio chemical war. 551 00:51:31,721 --> 00:51:35,157 The arsenal of poisons and antidotes created by canopy plants 552 00:51:35,292 --> 00:51:37,658 and animals are a pharmaceutical gold mine. 553 00:51:38,195 --> 00:51:40,823 They are the stuff that medicines are made out of. 554 00:51:42,699 --> 00:51:45,930 Who Knows what cures to what dread diseases may be hidden 555 00:51:46,069 --> 00:51:49,561 among the samples collected by the crew of operation Canopy? 556 00:51:56,413 --> 00:51:58,847 Each evening the best canopy scientists in the world... 557 00:51:59,116 --> 00:52:03,610 ...share a meal along with their ideas by swapping techniques, 558 00:52:03,753 --> 00:52:07,712 samples and data they are beginning a new era in canopy research. 559 00:52:08,525 --> 00:52:11,756 They have blazed a trail into the last biological frontier 560 00:52:11,895 --> 00:52:14,090 - opening this eighth continent to exploration. 561 00:52:16,299 --> 00:52:19,735 Upon their shoulders the next generation can scale new heights. 562 00:52:24,941 --> 00:52:29,401 Today, canopy tours offer a thrilling new perspective on life. 563 00:52:33,016 --> 00:52:37,214 But the greatest thrill is realizing we are part of this beautiful world 564 00:52:37,354 --> 00:52:40,949 floating above our own, for good or ill. 565 00:52:43,660 --> 00:52:46,754 The same pioneering spirit that brought up into the canopy 566 00:52:46,897 --> 00:52:49,229 has given us the power to destroy it. 567 00:53:00,110 --> 00:53:01,805 The first canopy explorers have given us a unique opportunity 568 00:53:02,279 --> 00:53:04,304 to save this amazing world. 569 00:53:06,650 --> 00:53:12,589 We have a choice. It is up to us which path we take.