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For years Susan Middleton
photographed objects.

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"I took pictures of rare artifacts
in museums

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...none of if was alive.

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But the I began to want to show
living things."

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"There, that's beautiful, great."

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At the same time,

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David Littschwager worked as
a commercial photographer.

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"Smile with your eyes."

9
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"It was, you Know, a glamorous life
a New York City fashion photographer.

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But, I always wanted to make pictures
that the world had use for."

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"Chin up just a little bit."

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"Chin up, chin up."

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One day, in 1986,

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Susan and David took a photograph of
an endangered creature.

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It was the beginning of an obsession.

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"Excuse me."

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Ever since,

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the two photographers have taken
portraits of animals and plants

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on the brink of extinction.

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"These creatures are Known as
statistics by most people.

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But we're treating them as
individuals, trying to capture

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their personalities."

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"We want to see them face to face,
eye to eyemake them unavoidable."

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"Oooh! Ah!"

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This series now their mission in life
their calling, and their passion.

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"Oh, beautiful!"

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"We fall in love with these creatures.

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What 2042X we're trying to show is
some of that wonder

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that we experience."

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"That's pretty funny..."

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"I don't want him down here."

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David and Susan's portraits
have gazed at us from books,

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magazine covers, museum exhibits.
But does the popularity of their work

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mean that these creatures will survive?

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For the two photographers, it's an
endless odyssey across America:

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To show the faces of creatures
we may never see again.

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"These creatures are in danger.
They're slipping away, but if

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people can see them, maybe we can
make the effort to keep

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them with us here on earth."

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"Okay, beak here."

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"Great, great."

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The first Europeans on this continent
had a common enemy to conquer;

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it was called... nature.

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America seemed to be an endless
expanse of hostile wilderness.

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Bison wandered along the potomac,

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grizzly bears strolled
the beaches of California.

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Human beings did not even Know it was
possible for a species to go extinct...

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but we learned.

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Hundreds of creatures
slipped into extinction.

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Even our National symbol was
disappearing before our eyes.

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But then America did something
no other country had ever done.

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In 1973, we passed a law
to save our wild creatures.

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The Endangered Species Act protects
the lives and habitats of

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plants and animals
in immediate danger of extinction.

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Today, there are over
a thousand species on the list.

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David and Susan's quest to photograph
the endangered species of America

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has taken them over
hundreds of thousands of miles

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through all 50 states and
every conceivable American landscape.

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"We drive because we have thousands
of pounds of equipment to take with us

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and we can't plan too far ahead

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because we have to adapt ourselves to
nature's timing,

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so we have to be in Texas when
a plant blossoms or in California

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when a butterfly emerges from its
chrysalis and that means we drive."

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This time, they're driving toward
Laramie, Wyoming

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and the prairies of the West.

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Once the great plains were a song about freedom.

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Ffalo roamed, prairie dogs ranged everywhere, but they

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ngerous habit, they ate grass and so did a new animal

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the prairie.

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Cattle ranchers went to war in the end, the ranchers w

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But it was another creature that suffered most. The

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black footed ferret has a monotonous
diet prairie dogs, and little else.

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"It was an accident. People weren't
trying to harm the ferret,

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but when you kill off one creature,
you turn around

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and something else is gone."

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The ferret disappeared from the
prairie. We thought it was extinct,

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until a tiny group suddenly turned up.

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In 1987, all the black footed ferrets
in the world,

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just 18 animals, were brought to live
in a single building.

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Most biologists thought the animal
was doomed:

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Ferrets are highly susceptible to
infectious diseases.

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"Everything that goes in that
possible will come in contact

83
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with an animal or even in close
proximity to the animals' cages

84
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has to be wiped down. Um, so we could
get you showered through and, uh,

85
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then take a look at the equipment."

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"We've never been in a situation
where an animal was so

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tightly quarantined and, of course,
that's why we had to go through

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the showering process and
putting on the scrubs and then

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all of our equipment had to be
sterilized before we went in."

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"It feels like we're in some kind of
intensive care unit

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devoted only to ferrets."

92
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"We'll just need to rinse the bottoms
of our shoes with a virucide.

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Okay, now we can get you guys some
surgical masks,

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where anytime you're in contact
or in a room

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that has a black footed ferret in it.

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You can just close that first set
of doors there."

97
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"It's not unlike the way you feel
when you go into a hospital

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and see a loved one all hooked up
to life support system."

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"This is the young of the year."

100
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"Their very survival is so precarious
hanging on by a thread."

101
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"She's pretty inquisitive."

102
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"If it weren't for a very rigorous
captive breeding program,

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there would no longer be any
black footed ferrets in the world.

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You Know it's a ferret "factory".

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The point is production
make more ferrets."

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"This is the perfect time
during the breeding season

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because we have almost
every possible thing going on.

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We have animals that have
just been paired.

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There's the male grabbing
the female into the breeding box."

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"Oh, yeah. Oh my God."

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"If she's not interested
she'll fight back,

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they'll start hissing and chattering."

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"What does the sound like"?

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"It sound like a...
And the then we Know,

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like, they're fightin'
and stuff... yeah."

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"So it feels kinds of voyeuristic."

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"It's little voyeuristic."

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In the past ten years,

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over a thousand ferrets
have been born here.

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"You'd think that an animal
that slept for 20 hours a day

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might be easy to photograph,
but they never stop moving."

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"You really need everything to be
just right for about two minutes,

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but two minutes is a long time
to ask a ferret to stand still."

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"Wow. So, there's no such thing as
like calming down after a while."

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"No."

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"Yeah, Ah! Ah..."

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"He's okay,
Can you just take it on the floor."

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"Do you want to try
another older animal."

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"Yeah, we'll start Gypsy."

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"Let's try gypsy."

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"Come out, Gypsy."

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"Um, beautiful."

133
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"Yeah. When she has her head up
like that,

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I think that's her best look"

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In 1991, the first captive bread
ferret was released;

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the black footed ferret
was a wild animal again.

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But many of the released ferrets
have died and there is

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no way of Knowing whether
the animals born in the factory

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for ferrets will ultimately die out
or live on to play in the

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freedom of the wild.

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"When you're driving across America,
you understand why

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so many plants and animals
are endangered.

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They're losing their homes.

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We're building a human world
and losing a wild one."

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>From Wyoming the road goes East...
to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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But they're not going to find
an endangered creature,

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they're meeting one of the greatest
experts on why species go extinct

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distinguished scientist,
Edward o. Wilson.

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"It's a sobering fact there is
an extinction crisis.

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They're have always been species
going extinct, from time to time...

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but now human activity's pushing it
up a hundred to a thousand times,

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we're in the midst of
a biological catastrophe

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that's the greatest since
the end of the age of dinosaurs,

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65 million years ago.

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"What I hope you'll succeed in doing
is to make endangered species

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a vivid presence in the lives
of people.

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Make it clear to them that every
endangered species has a name,

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has a billion year history,
has a place in the world.

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Bring us face to face with
each one of those species.

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Make us Know that they're
our companions in the biosphere.

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They're not just something out there
you look at once in a while,

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but they're part of our existence,
they're part of us.

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Fifty million years ago an animal,
related to the elephant,

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crawled back into the sea.
It was huge and gentle.

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It had no enemies, so it had no fear.
Now, after eons of tranquility,

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the manatees of Florida
should fear one creature.

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Every year speedboats kill
scores of manatees.

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Over 90% of all manatees bear
scars from propellers.

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"What we're looking at right here
is actually a, a huge wound

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from a propeller that just gashed
the whole side of Synco, here."

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Biologist Ed Gerstein is working
to find out why the collisions happen.

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"And after they've been hit once
or twice or three times,

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why don't they learn to
get out of the way?"

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"Why don't they... yeah..."
the subjects of Ed's research are

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two captive born manatees
Stormy and Dundee.

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"The common perception was that
these animals are dumb

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and they're slow, but actually
we've proven that the animals

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are very intelligent."

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"Hand signal given."

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"Okay, this is run number six,
series 99."

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Ed's coworker is his wife, Laura.

182
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"Run number six is
a tone at negative..."

183
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"Each animal has an individual
personality and, with Stormy,

184
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he's so crafty, he just is
interested in entertaining himself

185
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and then when he decides to work,
he'll work when he's ready."

186
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"Stormy had been trained to leave
the hoop

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after he sees the strobe light
and go make a selection.

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If he doesn't hear a sound he'll
go over

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and push the solid white panel.

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If he hears it,
he'll push the striped panel."

191
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"Touch. That's correct."

192
00:14:27,533 --> 00:14:30,934
"These animals have very good
high frequency hearing.

193
00:14:31,070 --> 00:14:35,336
The problem is boats put out
low frequencies.

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So, we hope, from our research,
to come up with a device

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to put on a boat to make boats
audible to manatees so that

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they can get out of the way."

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Stormy and Dundee
quiet in their quiet world

198
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just do what they've always done,
graze peacefully

199
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and almost constantly.

200
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"They eat 30, or I forget how many
heads of romaine lettuce a day,

201
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and how can these animals get so big
like that eating a completely fat

202
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free diet lettuce?
I mean, I can't imagine it."

203
00:15:16,982 --> 00:15:20,383
"Stormy likes to play tricks.

204
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If he were a human he'd be
a juvenile delinquent."

205
00:15:31,630 --> 00:15:35,293
"There's no feeling quite like
being gummed by a manatee."

206
00:15:39,004 --> 00:15:40,096
"Here we go."

207
00:15:40,239 --> 00:15:41,206
"Great."

208
00:15:50,149 --> 00:15:53,607
"Wow! A little too close."

209
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"They're very curious animals
and whenever anything enters the water

210
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they come over to inspect."

211
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"Stormy come back oh, beautiful!"

212
00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:11,167
"There's so much feeling behind
what they do.

213
00:16:11,303 --> 00:16:14,670
You can just see it
and the playfulness that they have."

214
00:16:15,074 --> 00:16:21,206
"Oh, no. Way too close. Ah!"

215
00:16:23,115 --> 00:16:24,582
"The more you're around them,

216
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eh, it's almost like you can
hear them think"

217
00:16:30,189 --> 00:16:31,281
"Somebody get it."

218
00:16:31,423 --> 00:16:32,117
"You can get it."

219
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"Looks like a big smile."

220
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"Go for it."

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All told, 415 manatees died in 1996.
Today, some 24 hundred remain.

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00:16:51,243 --> 00:16:55,270
"When you look at the world, eh,
you Know, the manatee's just a speck

223
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It's just one other thing
that's going

224
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and so many things are going and the,
the beauty of a manatee,

225
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you Know, it'll be a shame."

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Three thousand miles later,
they're going to

227
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the Sacramento River Delta
to photograph an endangered insect.

228
00:17:28,147 --> 00:17:32,174
But the Delta green ground beetle
is almost invisible.

229
00:17:39,291 --> 00:17:42,886
"Four times before we've gone out
looking for this beetle,

230
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never finding this thing."

231
00:17:45,697 --> 00:17:47,858
"They have big eyes, they're
sensitive to movement,

232
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they're day active, so this is
the time they would be active."

233
00:17:50,936 --> 00:17:55,305
"Well, this time we are meeting
five of the leading experts

234
00:17:55,641 --> 00:17:58,542
and, uh, it's like bringing in the big guns.

235
00:18:01,780 --> 00:18:05,045
"The best way to spot them is
to sit in one place and become

236
00:18:05,184 --> 00:18:08,119
very quiet and them just gaze."

237
00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:11,283
"You look straight at it,
you can't see it, she,

238
00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:14,324
it's like it blends in so perfectly."

239
00:18:15,894 --> 00:18:18,294
"I could see if David and I weren't
able to find it, but when you go out

240
00:18:18,430 --> 00:18:22,890
with experts and they can't find it,
then you begin to wonder."

241
00:18:26,538 --> 00:18:27,232
"Eureka."

242
00:18:27,372 --> 00:18:27,861
"Wow."

243
00:18:28,006 --> 00:18:28,995
"You can see it?"

244
00:18:29,241 --> 00:18:31,801
"It's at four o'clock from... eh,
see it?"

245
00:18:31,944 --> 00:18:35,345
"Even when she was pointing it out,
I still couldn't see it."

246
00:18:35,581 --> 00:18:37,276
"How do you Know it's real?"

247
00:18:39,551 --> 00:18:41,178
"Fifth try is a charm."

248
00:18:42,721 --> 00:18:45,315
"Uh, toward his legs. Yep."

249
00:18:51,296 --> 00:18:54,163
"Every color of the rainbow is
in this beetle, but you have to

250
00:18:54,299 --> 00:18:59,396
have a microscope to see it.
And you stop and ask yourself,

251
00:18:59,538 --> 00:19:01,403
"Why did nature do that?"

252
00:19:04,476 --> 00:19:10,244
"It's very easy to dismiss the bugs
and the weeds of the world,

253
00:19:10,382 --> 00:19:15,786
but science is revealing, every year,
just how important are

254
00:19:15,921 --> 00:19:21,689
these little things on which we and
other larger organisms depend.

255
00:19:22,761 --> 00:19:32,136
They cleanse the water, they create
the soil, they generate

256
00:19:32,271 --> 00:19:34,933
the very air we breathe."

257
00:19:44,183 --> 00:19:47,641
Ten thousand years ago,
the last glacier raked over

258
00:19:47,786 --> 00:19:53,156
the mountainsof California.
When it receded it left one kind of

259
00:19:53,292 --> 00:19:57,558
gold in splendid isolation
high in the Sierras.

260
00:19:57,863 --> 00:20:03,324
For over 30 years, this gold has been
the object of one man's dreams.

261
00:20:05,470 --> 00:20:08,837
David and Susan are headed for
the Little Kern River Valley

262
00:20:08,974 --> 00:20:13,070
the only place on earth where
the gold can be found.

263
00:20:13,378 --> 00:20:15,608
"Dan Christensen, here,
pleased to meet you."

264
00:20:15,747 --> 00:20:20,047
Dan Christensen is the man who
saved a species.

265
00:20:22,554 --> 00:20:26,217
"It was 1949. I was still
in high school.

266
00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:31,292
My brother and I would go up to
the mountains and go fishing.

267
00:20:33,298 --> 00:20:38,133
It was an incredible experience.
We just feel in love with the place...

268
00:20:38,837 --> 00:20:43,501
and with those beautiful fish
the golden trout of the High Sierra.

269
00:20:49,047 --> 00:20:50,776
Fifteen years later I started
working for

270
00:20:50,916 --> 00:20:53,908
the Department of Fish and Game
and I came across old reports

271
00:20:54,052 --> 00:20:55,781
buried in the files.

272
00:20:56,521 --> 00:21:00,924
They said the golden trout in the
Little Kern River might be extinct

273
00:21:01,426 --> 00:21:06,125
so I had to go out and find 'em
if there were any left alive."

274
00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:10,765
Fishermen caused the problem.

275
00:21:11,370 --> 00:21:15,306
They introduced other species of
trout to improve the fishing.

276
00:21:15,574 --> 00:21:19,908
Golden trout were soon overwhelmed
by the aggressive newcomers.

277
00:21:20,412 --> 00:21:23,745
"It was only a matter of five or
six years before the golden trout

278
00:21:23,882 --> 00:21:27,340
were gonethe just wiped 'em out."

279
00:21:27,552 --> 00:21:29,645
"So what did it actually feel like
when you discovered

280
00:21:29,788 --> 00:21:31,551
a Little Kern golden trout
still alive?

281
00:21:31,690 --> 00:21:33,749
"Well, it, it felt like finding gold...

282
00:21:33,892 --> 00:21:34,688
"pretty exciting?"

283
00:21:34,826 --> 00:21:36,088
"Actually. Yeah,
it was very exciting."

284
00:21:38,730 --> 00:21:43,224
Dan spent many years removing all the
non native fish from the streams.

285
00:21:43,802 --> 00:21:48,398
Only then, could he restore the
golden trout to their ancient habitat.

286
00:21:50,609 --> 00:21:52,406
"We're almost to the creek
so you want to be lookin' for a

287
00:21:52,544 --> 00:21:54,239
spot that you can work

288
00:21:55,781 --> 00:21:57,510
We'll go ahead and start collecting
while you guys set up."

289
00:21:57,649 --> 00:21:58,980
"And then we'll set up our aquarium."

290
00:21:59,117 --> 00:22:00,084
"Great."

291
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,712
"David has to build an aquarium,
it has to be custom built.

292
00:22:05,157 --> 00:22:07,887
We have to worry about reflections,
we have to worry about bubbles,

293
00:22:08,026 --> 00:22:10,460
we have to worry about keeping
the fish happy.

294
00:22:11,463 --> 00:22:14,626
So it's really a kind of stage."

295
00:22:18,270 --> 00:22:23,003
To find trout Dan goes
electrofishing. Any fish in the area

296
00:22:23,141 --> 00:22:25,769
will be stunned by electricity.

297
00:22:26,111 --> 00:22:29,171
"There we go, oh, there he is,
there he is, here it comes. Oop.

298
00:22:29,314 --> 00:22:30,576
Got him. There you go.

299
00:22:33,218 --> 00:22:34,378
Okay.

300
00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:36,510
"Ready for fish, huh?"

301
00:22:36,655 --> 00:22:43,254
"Yeah, I guess I could just
put this down in there. Okay."

302
00:22:43,562 --> 00:22:47,293
"Perfect, he looks really nice."

303
00:22:47,532 --> 00:22:50,524
"Okay, stir 'em up and then
I'll get out of your way."

304
00:22:50,669 --> 00:22:54,196
"For me, the thrill of seeing these
golden trout has never faded."

305
00:22:54,506 --> 00:22:56,872
"Come on now, come on guys."

306
00:23:00,979 --> 00:23:02,913
"These fish are special.

307
00:23:04,049 --> 00:23:07,712
This is the only place
in the world that they exist."

308
00:23:15,961 --> 00:23:20,398
Dan's labors have brought success.
The Little Kern Golden Trout

309
00:23:20,532 --> 00:23:23,763
is about to be taken off
the endangered species list.

310
00:23:26,905 --> 00:23:30,739
"I'm happy I could bring these fish
back-back to their past

311
00:23:30,876 --> 00:23:35,836
in the Little Kern River and
they've brought my past back to me."

312
00:23:36,448 --> 00:23:40,714
"Okay, here we go. Brand new home,
all to yourselves.

313
00:23:43,088 --> 00:23:45,716
"The golden trout
is going to be with us.

314
00:23:48,660 --> 00:23:50,218
"There you go fella.

315
00:23:54,633 --> 00:23:57,158
"Maybe some high school kid'll
go upthere to the Sierras

316
00:23:57,302 --> 00:24:00,738
and find these beautiful golden fish
and they'll never forget

317
00:24:00,872 --> 00:24:03,340
if for the rest of his life."

318
00:24:12,250 --> 00:24:18,189
"Ah! Road burn. You Know, to motels,
least expensive motel we can find.

319
00:24:21,059 --> 00:24:25,519
Sometimes we just get really tired
and then we go home.

320
00:24:29,668 --> 00:24:36,506
It's a grind... and you never Know
what the good restaurant is."

321
00:24:36,708 --> 00:24:38,471
"The special today is chili.

322
00:24:38,710 --> 00:24:41,907
"But, uh, I have done a lot of
other things to make a living

323
00:24:42,047 --> 00:24:43,912
and this is worth continuing."

324
00:24:46,051 --> 00:24:47,177
"I want to stop."

325
00:24:47,319 --> 00:24:48,343
"We're not going to get there
on time."

326
00:24:48,487 --> 00:24:50,682
"I Know, but why drive
all night long."

327
00:24:53,158 --> 00:24:56,525
"What is the situation from Flagstaff
north to you?"

328
00:24:56,828 --> 00:24:58,989
"Dave, ask them about the weather,
if it's safe to get there."

329
00:24:59,130 --> 00:25:00,927
"Ah, eh, he's not going to Know that."

330
00:25:01,066 --> 00:25:01,794
"Yes, he is."

331
00:25:01,933 --> 00:25:03,628
"Ah, we're already... heh..."

332
00:25:03,768 --> 00:25:04,132
"Let me ask him."

333
00:25:04,269 --> 00:25:05,361
"Let's find out from here."

334
00:25:07,138 --> 00:25:11,074
"This is a big country and, eh,
you Know, some days you don't notice

335
00:25:11,209 --> 00:25:14,940
that it's beautiful.
You just get to the next place."

336
00:25:17,048 --> 00:25:20,211
The next place is
costal North Carolina.

337
00:25:30,462 --> 00:25:35,092
In those days we had never heard of
passing up a chance to kill a wolf.

338
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,626
In a second, we were pumping
lead into the pack

339
00:25:38,770 --> 00:25:43,036
The old wolf was down. We reached
the wolf in time to watch a fierce,

340
00:25:43,174 --> 00:25:48,134
green fire dying in her eyes.
Aldo Leopold.

341
00:25:50,382 --> 00:25:52,714
The fire nearly died.

342
00:25:53,251 --> 00:25:58,951
Only 17 true red wolves stood
between the species and extinction.

343
00:25:59,190 --> 00:26:02,159
But then, it was the first animal
we attempted to save

344
00:26:02,294 --> 00:26:04,353
with a recovery program.

345
00:26:08,199 --> 00:26:11,100
Jennifer Gilbreath has worked
with red wolves at the

346
00:26:11,236 --> 00:26:15,900
Alligator River National Wildlife
Refuge for six years.

347
00:26:16,875 --> 00:26:22,313
"We don't really see the wolves
...all that terribly often, but,

348
00:26:22,447 --> 00:26:26,508
we Know where most of the wolves are
because of their radio collars.

349
00:26:28,653 --> 00:26:34,717
"We can learn a lot by tracking
the wolves and, as long as

350
00:26:34,859 --> 00:26:40,229
the wolves have a place to live
and are left alone, they can be fine."

351
00:26:42,067 --> 00:26:46,595
When landowners allow it, wolves are
often released onto private property,

352
00:26:46,938 --> 00:26:49,566
but wolves don't Know about
boundaries

353
00:26:49,708 --> 00:26:52,871
where they're supposed to be
...and where they're not.

354
00:26:55,647 --> 00:27:00,778
"It's just as much, if not more,
about people than it is about wolves."

355
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,919
"The wolf was actually stalking our,
our rams that were out in this pasture

356
00:27:05,056 --> 00:27:07,320
because we keep the ewes
tied up in the building."

357
00:27:07,459 --> 00:27:09,825
"Our neighbor took a shot at him
and he was moving on

358
00:27:09,961 --> 00:27:11,792
down the field right that,
at that time."

359
00:27:11,930 --> 00:27:14,262
"But he was thinking about lamb chops
this morning, that's what he was

360
00:27:14,399 --> 00:27:18,392
thinking of. This would be a good
little appetizer for him.

361
00:27:18,536 --> 00:27:19,195
"It really would."

362
00:27:19,337 --> 00:27:22,204
"And we've got nine of these
on the ground right now and I

363
00:27:22,340 --> 00:27:24,171
don't want them being hurt."

364
00:27:24,376 --> 00:27:27,539
"Most people feel very strongly
about the creature.

365
00:27:27,846 --> 00:27:31,839
A lot of people don't pay any
attention really to the facts."

366
00:27:32,350 --> 00:27:34,648
"Well, I heard that you'd seen
some wolves in the area."

367
00:27:34,786 --> 00:27:39,849
"Yeah. See 'em, hear tell of 'em,
and, uh, so far, they're not

368
00:27:39,991 --> 00:27:45,657
bothering me, but they get off of
their land and they come on my land,

369
00:27:45,964 --> 00:27:48,990
and they start damaging my property,
then I ain't got but one resort

370
00:27:49,134 --> 00:27:50,123
now you Know what that is..."

371
00:27:50,268 --> 00:27:50,859
"That's right."

372
00:27:51,002 --> 00:27:53,835
"...we talked about that earlier.
I don't like 'em. I ain't never

373
00:27:53,972 --> 00:27:56,532
liked them.
I ain't gonna lie about it."

374
00:27:59,210 --> 00:28:03,374
"The wolf embodies the concept of
wild nature.

375
00:28:04,215 --> 00:28:07,742
All of us grew up with stories like
"Little Red Riding Hood" and

376
00:28:07,886 --> 00:28:13,347
"Three Little pigs" and it goes back
into literally ancient times

377
00:28:13,491 --> 00:28:17,052
when wolves represented Satan
or the devil,

378
00:28:17,195 --> 00:28:22,064
so, because of the myths,
some people are afraid."

379
00:28:28,673 --> 00:28:31,301
"The wolf is more frightened
than I am, which is not

380
00:28:31,443 --> 00:28:33,570
what I expected at all."

381
00:28:35,947 --> 00:28:38,245
"And you can feel their fear."

382
00:28:40,418 --> 00:28:41,976
"I'm just going to roll it out."

383
00:28:42,854 --> 00:28:43,980
"Two frames."

384
00:28:45,223 --> 00:28:49,489
"Is there a chance that the wolf
could freak out and attack us?"

385
00:28:49,627 --> 00:28:53,791
"We've never had that happen.
We have never had it happen."

386
00:28:57,235 --> 00:29:03,299
"The big bad wolf, just terrified,
cowering in the corner."

387
00:29:18,556 --> 00:29:22,117
For the wolves the news has been good.

388
00:29:23,495 --> 00:29:27,488
"They've survived, they've bred,
in the wild, and reared young

389
00:29:27,632 --> 00:29:29,122
two or three generations."

390
00:29:29,267 --> 00:29:30,598
"Come around this way."

391
00:29:30,735 --> 00:29:33,898
"It's very near the breeding season
so we hope that they'll stay together

392
00:29:34,038 --> 00:29:37,997
and form a pair bond and do,
do the right thing."

393
00:29:38,476 --> 00:29:39,500
"Ready?"

394
00:29:53,091 --> 00:29:58,620
"You wonder: Why are we doing this?
Why make problems for ourselves

395
00:29:58,763 --> 00:30:01,231
by putting wolves back in the world?

396
00:30:02,634 --> 00:30:06,400
The answer is that we don't want
our world to be just malls with trees

397
00:30:06,538 --> 00:30:08,233
in neat little rows.

398
00:30:11,743 --> 00:30:13,870
"We want wildness out there

399
00:30:14,579 --> 00:30:17,571
becauseit puts the wonder
of the world in you."

400
00:30:24,656 --> 00:30:26,783
"We're going to be late
to meet these guys."

401
00:30:26,925 --> 00:30:28,483
"I, th, you Know, I think we must
have past it or something.

402
00:30:28,626 --> 00:30:29,217
It's not just...

403
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,295
"It's not fitting with
what they were describing at all."

404
00:30:32,864 --> 00:30:36,459
"Excuse me, can you tell me
which way is to the Natches Trace?"

405
00:30:36,601 --> 00:30:40,799
"Go back to the end of this road
to the four way stop, turn left

406
00:30:40,939 --> 00:30:44,841
and it'd be about seven miles,
the three way stop will be right..."

407
00:30:44,976 --> 00:30:47,740
"Get the, they call it
the "Yellow Store" but it's

408
00:30:47,879 --> 00:30:50,780
not yellow anymore, it used to be
really yellow years ago,

409
00:30:50,915 --> 00:30:54,351
but it's gray now, I think..."

410
00:30:54,853 --> 00:30:57,378
"And you make a left... no,
you make a right."

411
00:30:57,622 --> 00:30:58,646
"Go to the stoplight."

412
00:30:58,790 --> 00:30:59,654
"Huh, huh."

413
00:30:59,958 --> 00:31:01,084
"And take your first left."

414
00:31:01,226 --> 00:31:02,454
"But we want to be right there."

415
00:31:02,594 --> 00:31:03,993
"And we turned off here
and we missed it."

416
00:31:04,128 --> 00:31:06,392
"Well, maybe you took the wrong,
the wrong, left. If you

417
00:31:06,531 --> 00:31:09,830
took the first left the first time,
try the second left this time."

418
00:31:10,068 --> 00:31:12,161
"You turn at the 'Yellow Store'
if you don't see a store

419
00:31:12,303 --> 00:31:16,239
that's yellow, just turn left
at the Fat Woman, you'll find it,

420
00:31:16,374 --> 00:31:18,103
it won't be any problem."

421
00:31:22,347 --> 00:31:28,115
Eventually, Susan and David reach
Central Florida and 5,000 acres of

422
00:31:28,253 --> 00:31:32,622
deep sand and scrub,
called Archbold Biological Station.

423
00:31:33,691 --> 00:31:38,560
"It doesn't look like much at first
because the predominant plants is

424
00:31:38,696 --> 00:31:45,295
kind of shrubby looking oak,
but it was a, a kind of

425
00:31:45,436 --> 00:31:49,600
magic garden we had no idea
we were entering.

426
00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:56,437
"Great, great"

427
00:31:56,848 --> 00:32:00,978
"We've never been in a place
that had so many endangered species.

428
00:32:01,119 --> 00:32:05,852
All these unique creatures tangled
together in web of life."

429
00:32:07,492 --> 00:32:08,618
"There you go."

430
00:32:08,993 --> 00:32:10,927
Eastern indigo snake.

431
00:32:12,030 --> 00:32:13,463
Florida mouse

432
00:32:14,365 --> 00:32:15,923
Tequesta grasshopper

433
00:32:17,335 --> 00:32:18,825
Scrub mint

434
00:32:19,570 --> 00:32:21,663
Blue tailed mole skink

435
00:32:22,774 --> 00:32:24,605
Florida scrub jay

436
00:32:24,943 --> 00:32:26,467
Gopher tortoise

437
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,573
"Somebody tell me where to stop."

438
00:32:31,883 --> 00:32:35,580
But of all the unusual creatures
in the scrub, David and Susan

439
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,553
soon discover
one of the most intriguing.

440
00:32:38,690 --> 00:32:43,024
"Two takes 20,000;
third take 30,000."

441
00:32:43,928 --> 00:32:47,989
When off his bike, Tom Eisner is
a distinguished scientist.

442
00:32:48,333 --> 00:32:52,736
The pioneer of a technique he calls chemical prospecting

443
00:32:53,638 --> 00:32:57,165
He searches for chemicals
in wild plants and animals.

444
00:32:57,308 --> 00:33:00,334
He's found nerve drugs in millipedes,
insect repellents in a

445
00:33:00,478 --> 00:33:05,848
tiny mint plant, compounds for
the human heart in fireflies.

446
00:33:08,586 --> 00:33:12,716
"There's hidden value to nature.
Nearly half the medicines

447
00:33:12,857 --> 00:33:16,850
that we take are derived from nature.
They're chemicals that are used

448
00:33:16,995 --> 00:33:21,398
by plants, animals and microorganisms
for their own survival.

449
00:33:21,666 --> 00:33:25,329
This is unbelievably important.
To lose that informations is as if

450
00:33:25,470 --> 00:33:29,873
it were burning every book
on our library shelves.

451
00:33:32,744 --> 00:33:36,942
"What you want to be alert to
is shining things in the dark"

452
00:33:37,215 --> 00:33:41,015
often, Tom finds chemicals in nature
by using the life...

453
00:33:41,152 --> 00:33:44,519
and death of animals as his tool.

454
00:33:44,956 --> 00:33:49,484
"Right there. That's at about
20 feet, there's a tiny little

455
00:33:49,627 --> 00:33:53,688
spider there which I could spot
just from the eye shine.

456
00:33:54,298 --> 00:34:03,969
There it is. It's hungry.
And I'm going to feed it a moth.

457
00:34:06,144 --> 00:34:13,607
Okay, typical strike and rejection.
You notice she backed away.

458
00:34:15,219 --> 00:34:17,517
I mean, you can literally enlist
the help of these spiders

459
00:34:17,655 --> 00:34:20,556
in helping you do research.
You can ask these spiders

460
00:34:20,691 --> 00:34:22,158
a simple question
what do you like?

461
00:34:22,293 --> 00:34:23,317
What don't you like?

462
00:34:23,461 --> 00:34:26,726
And now let's see if she's ready
to take something edible.

463
00:34:30,668 --> 00:34:31,692
"Oh, wow."

464
00:34:32,003 --> 00:34:32,731
"Action."

465
00:34:33,204 --> 00:34:34,967
"It eats some, it rejects others
and the question is

466
00:34:35,106 --> 00:34:39,475
why does it reject some? And the
answer is because the defensive

467
00:34:39,610 --> 00:34:42,408
chemicals in those items that
are rejected, those chemicals

468
00:34:42,547 --> 00:34:48,417
that protect an insect, could be
chemicals that have medical uses.

469
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:56,219
So the spider becomes your partner
and it does this free of charge.

470
00:34:59,630 --> 00:35:05,000
"Tom, I'm just completely amazed at
what we've seen here. I mean,

471
00:35:05,136 --> 00:35:06,933
David and I have just been
traveling around photographing

472
00:35:07,071 --> 00:35:10,905
endangered species isolated from
each other and here is the first place

473
00:35:11,042 --> 00:35:13,806
where we've been in a habitat that's
still intact.

474
00:35:13,945 --> 00:35:18,575
"Well, in nature itself everything
is connected, every species is

475
00:35:18,716 --> 00:35:23,551
in some way dependent on others.
So you have this fabric of life and,

476
00:35:23,688 --> 00:35:29,024
to me, an endangered species is like
a critical stitch in that fabric.

477
00:35:29,894 --> 00:35:32,761
"The longer you study any one area,
the more you realize that

478
00:35:32,897 --> 00:35:38,062
if any one item becomes extinct,
the whole fabric falls apart.

479
00:35:39,570 --> 00:35:42,471
Everything depends on
everything else."

480
00:35:51,949 --> 00:35:55,510
Sixty years earlier,
another scientist went in search of an

481
00:35:55,653 --> 00:36:00,522
endangered species. Deep into
the Louisiana swamps, trying to find

482
00:36:00,658 --> 00:36:06,927
one of the rarest birds in America.
He found it and he filmed it.

483
00:36:08,533 --> 00:36:13,061
It was the first time anyone had ever
filmed the ivory billed woodpecker...

484
00:36:14,071 --> 00:36:15,663
and the last.

485
00:36:20,044 --> 00:36:25,107
"The ivory billed has always had
a special mystique. You hear rumors

486
00:36:25,249 --> 00:36:28,184
that it's still alive, that it's
been heard

487
00:36:28,319 --> 00:36:31,311
in some deep dark part
of the swamp."

488
00:36:42,333 --> 00:36:45,359
"We're finally getting to photograph
the ivory billed woodpecker

489
00:36:46,938 --> 00:36:49,304
but it's not the way we had hoped."

490
00:36:52,476 --> 00:36:57,880
The birds' habitat was decimated
by development. In 1996,

491
00:36:58,015 --> 00:37:02,850
the ivory billed woodpecker
was finally declared extinct.

492
00:37:04,822 --> 00:37:08,758
"It was rare and then
it slipped away. The preserved

493
00:37:08,893 --> 00:37:11,225
specimen is all that's left."

494
00:37:21,105 --> 00:37:27,510
"Species do not die of old age,
species are killed off and

495
00:37:27,645 --> 00:37:35,711
when a species dies, with it dies
this genetic history that can never

496
00:37:35,853 --> 00:37:40,153
be recreated. Scientists even begun
to think of how they might be

497
00:37:40,291 --> 00:37:47,527
able to reassemble a species
and the loss is permanent."

498
00:37:56,207 --> 00:37:59,768
There's only one place in the wild
where a certain endangered species

499
00:37:59,910 --> 00:38:06,406
can live. A windy, foggy microclimate
in the middle of San Francisco.

500
00:38:09,387 --> 00:38:13,050
"There's endangered species
in our backyard and just a few blocks

501
00:38:13,190 --> 00:38:17,320
from where we work is this plant,
the presidio manzanita."

502
00:38:19,063 --> 00:38:23,898
"The manzanita so rare that its exact
location has to be kept a secret,

503
00:38:24,035 --> 00:38:25,798
for its own protection."

504
00:38:26,437 --> 00:38:26,926
"Good morning."

505
00:38:27,071 --> 00:38:27,662
"Good morning."

506
00:38:27,805 --> 00:38:28,203
"Hi."

507
00:38:28,339 --> 00:38:28,998
"Hi."

508
00:38:29,273 --> 00:38:29,739
"I'm, David."

509
00:38:29,874 --> 00:38:30,340
"Mark"

510
00:38:30,474 --> 00:38:34,274
Biologist Mark Albert will take them
to the plant's hiding place.

511
00:38:34,578 --> 00:38:37,138
"Because it is the last
wild individual of this species,

512
00:38:37,281 --> 00:38:39,977
it's very, very important that
we use extreme caution

513
00:38:40,117 --> 00:38:43,575
when we're walking around the plant.
So I'd like to ask you if you could

514
00:38:43,721 --> 00:38:48,249
very carefully watch where I walk
and even how I walk,

515
00:38:48,392 --> 00:38:51,793
just so that we're not disturbing
anything that shouldn't be disturbed.

516
00:38:52,029 --> 00:38:55,294
Just follow my footsteps
very carefully here.

517
00:38:55,433 --> 00:38:58,664
So you want to walk right along
the edge of this plant here."

518
00:39:00,871 --> 00:39:03,635
"The pressure of our feet
and our equipment really endangers

519
00:39:03,774 --> 00:39:05,969
the actual plant itself."

520
00:39:08,679 --> 00:39:11,648
"So there's some rocks here that we
should step on when we're near

521
00:39:11,782 --> 00:39:13,181
the plant because there are
no roots growing under..."

522
00:39:13,317 --> 00:39:13,715
"Is this one okay?"

523
00:39:13,851 --> 00:39:14,647
"Yep."

524
00:39:16,454 --> 00:39:19,082
"I mean, is this like the only place
we can stand?"

525
00:39:19,223 --> 00:39:21,487
"Uh, for any length of time, yes."

526
00:39:23,027 --> 00:39:24,460
"There it is right there."

527
00:39:24,595 --> 00:39:28,224
"So this whole green expanse
that we're seeing is it."

528
00:39:28,432 --> 00:39:29,057
"This is it."

529
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:29,598
"Oh, my God."

530
00:39:29,734 --> 00:39:33,261
"This is the only wild individual
that we Know exists at this point."

531
00:39:34,271 --> 00:39:35,829
"I'd like to get a, eh,
a good look at it.

532
00:39:35,973 --> 00:39:37,440
Can I just walk in, or..."

533
00:39:37,575 --> 00:39:40,806
"If you have to step off the rock
a little bit just don't, you Know,

534
00:39:40,945 --> 00:39:43,379
try to keep your foot
planted in one spot."

535
00:39:45,449 --> 00:39:53,413
"I mean, it's just not, you Know,
initially, that spectacular."

536
00:39:53,691 --> 00:39:57,354
"It looks like ground cover,
it just doesn't look like anything

537
00:39:57,495 --> 00:40:01,056
you could make of photograph of that
anyone would want to look at."

538
00:40:01,198 --> 00:40:03,223
"I don't Know how we're going
to pull this off."

539
00:40:03,367 --> 00:40:06,097
"Be careful with your left hand,
David, on the foliage."

540
00:40:06,237 --> 00:40:08,603
"But we're not choosing our subjects
based on what they look like,

541
00:40:08,739 --> 00:40:11,333
we're choosing them because they're
threatened with extinction."

542
00:40:11,475 --> 00:40:13,306
"Do you think we could do this
with one leaf?"

543
00:40:13,444 --> 00:40:18,381
"Sure. In the small scale,
it's actually really extraordinary."

544
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,356
"All living things are amazingly
complex and beautiful if you can

545
00:40:26,490 --> 00:40:28,617
figure out a way to reveal it."

546
00:40:36,901 --> 00:40:41,338
This plant can't reproduce by itself,
but it's the last one left

547
00:40:41,472 --> 00:40:47,172
in the wild, so the manzanita is what
some call the "living dead."

548
00:40:51,682 --> 00:40:56,085
"Plants get ignored. Almost
two thirds of the species

549
00:40:56,220 --> 00:41:01,123
on the endangered list are plants.
They're not big and flashy like the

550
00:41:01,258 --> 00:41:04,819
giant panda or the rhino, but
they're equally as important in

551
00:41:04,962 --> 00:41:10,264
how life works. Without plants
the animals wouldn't be here;

552
00:41:10,401 --> 00:41:12,096
we wouldn't be here."

553
00:41:24,748 --> 00:41:30,983
"Americans are increasingly absorbed
with the artificial, the plastic,

554
00:41:31,856 --> 00:41:38,785
with the world of virtual reality.
But we're going to come to realize

555
00:41:38,929 --> 00:41:44,993
that the real eagle and the rest
of nature are vastly more interesting

556
00:41:45,135 --> 00:41:51,597
and satisfying than the artificial
replicasthat there's a sense of

557
00:41:51,742 --> 00:41:56,736
the touch and smell and sight and
hearing and experience that

558
00:41:56,881 --> 00:42:01,818
the real world of nature can never
be duplicated.

559
00:42:03,354 --> 00:42:07,313
"As nature slips away we will
have created a world in which

560
00:42:07,458 --> 00:42:10,256
we will be deprived and lonely."

561
00:42:22,740 --> 00:42:26,198
Arthur Bonner is from
South Central Los Angeles.

562
00:42:27,211 --> 00:42:30,942
"We don't have trees, we don't have
flowers, we don't have

563
00:42:31,081 --> 00:42:33,208
insects, butterflies, spiders.

564
00:42:33,350 --> 00:42:36,217
The only thing we have growing
is buildings."

565
00:42:37,454 --> 00:42:41,356
What did thrive in South Central
was gangs.

566
00:42:42,192 --> 00:42:44,251
"It was full of violence.

567
00:42:44,795 --> 00:42:48,253
We would beat people with bats,
hit 'em in the head with bottles."

568
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:54,931
When he was 18 Arthur shot a man
in the face. He spent over seven years

569
00:42:55,072 --> 00:42:57,540
in juvenile detention and jail.

570
00:42:58,108 --> 00:42:59,166
"Good morning."

571
00:42:59,310 --> 00:42:59,867
"Good morning."

572
00:43:00,010 --> 00:43:05,175
"My name is, uh, Arthur and, uh,
you guys are out here to help us out

573
00:43:05,316 --> 00:43:09,047
to save an endangered species.
It's called the palos Verdes blue..."

574
00:43:09,186 --> 00:43:13,486
When Arthur got out ofjail,
he joined the L.A. Conservation Corps

575
00:43:13,824 --> 00:43:18,693
his life was soon turned around by
a tiny six legged companion, called

576
00:43:18,829 --> 00:43:21,559
the palos Verdes blue butterfly.

577
00:43:22,933 --> 00:43:27,666
"It's only, little small,
300 acres lift for these butterflies."

578
00:43:28,272 --> 00:43:29,239
"Go ahead."

579
00:43:29,373 --> 00:43:35,369
"So we all needs to help maintain it.
Nature deserves to be everywhere."

580
00:43:35,813 --> 00:43:38,338
"It's a catapillar. It won't
bite you,

581
00:43:38,482 --> 00:43:40,313
it won't even hard you, you could
hold it with your bare hand,

582
00:43:40,451 --> 00:43:42,078
it wouldn't do anything to you."

583
00:43:42,386 --> 00:43:44,047
"Does it turn into
a butterfly or a moth."

584
00:43:44,188 --> 00:43:44,677
"A moth."

585
00:43:45,122 --> 00:43:45,816
"Yeah."

586
00:43:46,423 --> 00:43:48,914
"When they come out here and they see
the stuff, they find the insects,

587
00:43:49,059 --> 00:43:52,790
the butterflies, the lizards,
you Know, all of it, it's something

588
00:43:52,930 --> 00:43:55,091
that they put in their head
and they take it back to the city and

589
00:43:55,232 --> 00:43:59,430
they tell their friends, 'Well,
home, we was at a habitat today."'

590
00:44:00,804 --> 00:44:02,431
"Take him out gently."

591
00:44:09,980 --> 00:44:12,847
Arthur is one ofjust three people
who are permitted to gather

592
00:44:12,983 --> 00:44:14,780
the butterflies.

593
00:44:15,185 --> 00:44:19,713
"I'm very dedicated to coming down
here. I love to do what I'm doing.

594
00:44:20,124 --> 00:44:21,751
I love my work

595
00:44:26,096 --> 00:44:31,295
He uses all his powers of persuasion
to help his captives reproduce.

596
00:44:31,602 --> 00:44:36,130
"Okay girls, which one of you
laid some eggs for me today?"

597
00:44:36,774 --> 00:44:40,141
"The, uh, five females that's
actually collected out in the wild,

598
00:44:40,277 --> 00:44:44,145
you Know, I bring them in,
I have to watch 'em lay their eggs."

599
00:44:44,515 --> 00:44:47,040
"There you go, you gave me one."

600
00:44:47,284 --> 00:44:51,983
"The butterfly only has a five day
life span and it's up to me

601
00:44:52,122 --> 00:44:54,352
to keep her baby alive."

602
00:44:54,692 --> 00:44:57,217
"You're not hungry right now, huh?"

603
00:44:57,695 --> 00:45:00,061
"But they don't have to go up
and get their food, they have somebody

604
00:45:00,197 --> 00:45:02,165
to bring it to 'em, I bring it
to 'em, you Know, they get their food

605
00:45:02,299 --> 00:45:05,200
in bed, you Know everybody loves
to get breakfast in bed."

606
00:45:06,003 --> 00:45:10,167
"Doesn't want to eat it. That's okay,
you're going to eat it

607
00:45:10,307 --> 00:45:12,241
before the day is over with."

608
00:45:13,977 --> 00:45:17,708
Like all creatures, the butterfly
needs a place to live.

609
00:45:17,848 --> 00:45:23,309
If its habitat goes, it goes and
the palos Verdes Blue Butterfly has

610
00:45:23,454 --> 00:45:29,415
a precarious homea postage stamp
habitat surrounded by oil refineries.

611
00:45:29,793 --> 00:45:31,260
"So that's the one that you think
is probably going to go first?"

612
00:45:31,395 --> 00:45:33,590
"And this is going to be the one
that's gonna actually hatch

613
00:45:33,731 --> 00:45:36,564
due to the fact that it has a,
a better wing formation than

614
00:45:36,700 --> 00:45:42,036
any of the, uh, other pupas that you
actually see on the, um, format here."

615
00:45:42,172 --> 00:45:45,505
"It's been an egg, it's been
a catapillar, and it's been a pupa

616
00:45:45,642 --> 00:45:47,269
for a whole year."

617
00:45:52,249 --> 00:45:56,015
"It emerges in this one inch
butterfly; this bright jewel comes

618
00:45:56,153 --> 00:45:58,917
out of a little tiny brown package."

619
00:46:11,268 --> 00:46:14,760
"It comes out; it exists in the world
as a butterfly for five days,

620
00:46:14,905 --> 00:46:19,865
it finds another of its kind;
they made, the female lays the eggs

621
00:46:20,010 --> 00:46:22,308
and the whole process
starts over again."

622
00:46:24,414 --> 00:46:26,245
"Now, do you think she's going to
open her wings soon?"

623
00:46:26,383 --> 00:46:29,079
"Yes, she will.
She's gonna open 'em up."

624
00:46:29,653 --> 00:46:30,449
"Oop, look at that."

625
00:46:30,587 --> 00:46:32,851
"Yeah, see, their wings are dried now.
The wings are actually dried now."

626
00:46:32,990 --> 00:46:35,356
"Look at that.
It's taking a little walk"

627
00:46:35,659 --> 00:46:38,150
"If you'd been in pupation for
over a year, it's going to take

628
00:46:38,295 --> 00:46:42,459
a little time for you to actually,
um, get out and fly away."

629
00:46:42,733 --> 00:46:44,223
"Oh, there we go, there we go."

630
00:46:44,368 --> 00:46:47,030
"Ah see, what it is, she Knows,
everybody's watching."

631
00:46:49,673 --> 00:46:53,200
For ten years, the palos Verdes
blue butterfly was thought

632
00:46:53,343 --> 00:46:58,212
to be extinct. It is still considered
one of the rarest butterflies

633
00:46:58,348 --> 00:46:59,576
in the world.

634
00:47:01,985 --> 00:47:04,044
"Come here, come here."

635
00:47:04,188 --> 00:47:10,320
"Those are my girls. I love 'em all.
They actually kept me from

636
00:47:10,460 --> 00:47:14,453
being extinct just as much
I'm, I'm saving them from being extinct.

637
00:47:14,698 --> 00:47:17,189
They're saving me
and I'm saving them."

638
00:47:24,808 --> 00:47:28,767
Less than 30 miles away from
Arthur's quiet butterflies,

639
00:47:28,912 --> 00:47:32,109
a more prominent air borne creature
is at risk

640
00:47:33,116 --> 00:47:38,713
Catalina Island, just west of
Los Angeles, is home to 12 bald eagles.

641
00:47:39,857 --> 00:47:45,261
But the eagles have an unseen enemy
DDT. The pesticide,

642
00:47:45,395 --> 00:47:48,796
long outlawed, still lingers
in the surrounding water,

643
00:47:48,932 --> 00:47:51,560
drastically weakening
the eagles' eggs.

644
00:47:54,304 --> 00:47:58,400
Dave Garcelon has come to Catalina
to fool eagles.

645
00:47:58,542 --> 00:48:01,033
The eggs in his box are dummies.

646
00:48:04,681 --> 00:48:06,012
Dave's mission is to switch

647
00:48:06,149 --> 00:48:09,482
the contaminated eggs
with the fake ones.

648
00:48:13,123 --> 00:48:16,422
Human beings are now
the indispensable caretakers for

649
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,187
our national symbol.

650
00:48:18,395 --> 00:48:22,627
The creature that is supposed to
stand for strength and independence.

651
00:48:28,939 --> 00:48:33,035
The egg's new home is the
San Francisco Zoo, where John Aiken

652
00:48:33,176 --> 00:48:36,077
runs the Avian Conservation Center.

653
00:48:36,647 --> 00:48:40,139
"These eggs that come from
Catalina Island are in bad shape.

654
00:48:40,284 --> 00:48:44,050
We've got to help them every step
of the way. We check them for cracks

655
00:48:44,187 --> 00:48:47,918
and repair those and then put them
in very humid incubators.

656
00:48:48,792 --> 00:48:51,454
Unfortunately, most of the eggs die."

657
00:48:51,828 --> 00:48:56,026
"And, you, you are actually going to
make it out of there, look at this."

658
00:49:00,404 --> 00:49:03,669
"All right.
Gotta get ya out of there."

659
00:49:08,478 --> 00:49:12,414
"This is the first egg in five years
from Catalina that's hatched."

660
00:49:13,150 --> 00:49:16,677
"Yes, look at that,
you are a healthy little chick"

661
00:49:19,923 --> 00:49:26,021
Twelve days later, the eaglet
is on her way home. In a few hours,

662
00:49:26,163 --> 00:49:29,997
she'll be placed in her nest again.
The question is:

663
00:49:30,133 --> 00:49:34,467
Will her parents except her
...or leave her to die.

664
00:49:36,139 --> 00:49:38,266
"I'm really happy we've gotten
this far.

665
00:49:38,408 --> 00:49:42,003
The eaglet's odds were not good.
She was a contaminated egg.

666
00:49:42,145 --> 00:49:44,670
She definitely would have died if
we'd left her in the nest,

667
00:49:44,815 --> 00:49:47,841
But she survived and she seems like
a survivor and we just hope

668
00:49:47,985 --> 00:49:49,748
she's going to make it from here."

669
00:49:54,358 --> 00:49:55,620
"You look great."

670
00:49:56,994 --> 00:49:58,484
"Is that your mark"

671
00:49:58,762 --> 00:49:59,285
"oh, very nice."

672
00:49:59,429 --> 00:50:00,123
"Beautiful, wonderful!"

673
00:50:00,263 --> 00:50:00,820
"That's great."

674
00:50:00,964 --> 00:50:01,862
"Oh, that's ideal."

675
00:50:04,634 --> 00:50:07,330
"We don't Know if this is
the beginning or the end

676
00:50:07,471 --> 00:50:10,872
for this little eaglet.
We don't Know if her parents will come

677
00:50:11,008 --> 00:50:13,101
and feed her and take care of her."

678
00:50:16,580 --> 00:50:17,672
"Beak up."

679
00:50:18,081 --> 00:50:19,412
"Hey, you."

680
00:50:39,803 --> 00:50:45,264
"It's tough to, to watch 'em go.
You Know, it's like sending your kids

681
00:50:45,409 --> 00:50:48,867
away to college or something,
you Know.

682
00:50:51,014 --> 00:50:53,278
"People ask, 'Why do you take
your precious babies back to

683
00:50:53,417 --> 00:50:58,650
a contaminated environment?"
The answer, to me, is simple.

684
00:50:58,789 --> 00:51:01,986
The eagles belong here and maybe
in 20 years they'll be able

685
00:51:02,125 --> 00:51:06,391
to breed without us, but, for now,
they can't do it unless we help them."

686
00:51:10,300 --> 00:51:13,736
"We've led to the decline
and extinction of a lot of species

687
00:51:13,870 --> 00:51:15,701
and now we Know better.

688
00:51:18,075 --> 00:51:21,943
"We're the only ones that can make
a difference because all these animals

689
00:51:22,079 --> 00:51:24,479
and plants can't do it on their own."

690
00:51:28,418 --> 00:51:32,411
The biologists end the last leg of
the human part of the effort.

691
00:51:33,056 --> 00:51:35,991
Now, it's up to the eagles.

692
00:51:38,095 --> 00:51:41,462
"Seeing that little eagle on that
giant cliff face, it seemed

693
00:51:41,598 --> 00:51:46,399
so fragile, eh, and our hope is that
this eagle and all endangered species

694
00:51:46,536 --> 00:51:50,336
that they survive and we carry them
with us into the future."

695
00:52:10,227 --> 00:52:14,561
An hour after the climbers have left,
the mother accepts the chick

696
00:52:16,633 --> 00:52:20,729
"It's really a symbol of hope to see
this little eaglet put back

697
00:52:20,871 --> 00:52:24,363
into the nest and the parents
coming back to nurture it."

698
00:52:25,208 --> 00:52:27,676
"It's a gesture of hope for
not only the eagle,

699
00:52:27,811 --> 00:52:30,473
but for the human species, too."

700
00:52:43,593 --> 00:52:48,621
"Human beings are the masters of
this world now. We can take these animals

701
00:52:48,765 --> 00:52:51,893
and plants with us
as we travel into the future

702
00:52:52,802 --> 00:52:56,829
or we can say goodbye
and send them into the night.

703
00:52:58,074 --> 00:53:02,238
But whether we realize it or not,
we depend utterly on other creatures

704
00:53:02,379 --> 00:53:07,612
for our very survival.
They are part of our existence

705
00:53:08,285 --> 00:53:11,015
they are part of us."