01x03 - Episode 3

[bunniefuu]

All around the planet,

billions of animals are

on the move

making incredible journeys.

The most amazing

of these are the smallest.

This series uses

the latest camera technology

to follow six tiny animals

on the biggest adventures

of their lives

as they travel through

extraordinary landscapes

where every little step counts.

In this episode,

a Madagascan chameleon makes the

journey of her lifetime.

And a Scottish water vole faces

Highland Giants to find a new home.

The greatest adventures

are the smallest.

Kirindy Forest, Madagascar.

This tiny chameleon is

a few minutes old.

Half the size of a matchstick,

she has spent seven months

underground,

developing inside her egg.

And now her own eggs are already

growing inside her.

She's starting a journey

to find a male.

These chameleons only live

for a matter of months.

Her instincts drive her to climb.

Built for the ascent,

her feet can swivel

helping her cling to cracks.

She heaves her way upwards.

The climb is 150 times her body

length,

like a human scaling

the Empire State Building.

Five metres up,

she's in a very different world.

A dense network of branches

that give shade

and create aerial highways.

She's hungry.

She has never eaten before,

but knows food when she sees it.

Flies.

They have split-second reflexes

but she's born with the skills

of an assassin.

Her eyes search almost 360 degrees.

A target.

Both eyes lock on

with binocular vision.

And she fires her lightning-fast tongue.

It's twice the length of her body

and as sticky as honey.

She catches up to 100 flies a day.

It takes two weeks

to double in size.

The fading light

and decreasing accuracy

is her cue to get some sleep.

Being light, she can reach places

where most predators can't.

The thinnest branches

are the safest.

Her pincer-like feet clamp

onto the branch.

It's like sleeping on a tightrope.

A cat-eyed tree snake.

A metre long.

Over ten times bigger than she is.

It's still light enough

to reach her.

Deep in slumber,

the chameleon is

at her most vulnerable.

The snake's approach causes

tiny vibrations along the branch,

that the chameleon can sense

even when asleep.

And when the snake is too close

they wake her up.

All she can do

Is let go.

Her radical move is a deliberate

escape strategy.

But it has put her right back

on the dangerous forest floor

in the middle of the night.

6,000 miles away

the Cairngorms of Scotland.

Home to one of Britain's

shyest animals

a water vole.

This female is three months old

and small enough to fit

in the palm of a human hand.

She is busy preparing her small

territory by digging burrows,

ready to raise a family.

She must eat two thirds of

her body weight every day

to stay in prime condition.

There's just a few weeks

left to mate and raise pups

before the first signs of winter.

To attract a suitor,

she strategically leaves

droppings around her territory.

Today, they've got some attention.

A vole's worst nightmare.

An invasive American mink.

Its ultrasonic hearing can detect

the slightest squeak.

To a water vole,

its odour is a trigger to run.

Just one mink could wipe out

every vole in this glen

in just a few weeks.

She's lost her riverbank home.

She must now travel into

the unknown to find a new territory

in which to have her first pups.

Two miles into the glen

she's alone, homeless

and exhausted.

She needs a place to rest.

A burrow.

She could make it her new home.

It's occupied.

A pregnant water vole.

This is her burrow.

And she will fight to the death

to defend it.

Being less experienced,

the best option is to flee.

But the path ahead

is blocked.

In Madagascar,

with her biological clock rapidly

ticking away,

the chameleon is searching for

a way into the trees.

She's unaware of the predators

that lurk in the dark.

A way back up.

Things are not as they seem.

As she travels,

her cover disappears.

She's on a dirt track,

cut through the forest by humans.

Drawn towards a tree trunk,

she hauls herself upwards with

every ounce of energy she has left.

Finally, she can get back to sleep.

Dawn reveals a harsh reality.

Once there were trees

all the way to the horizon.

Now there is nothing.

It's a long way back.

Finally in the safety of a tree.

But she's facing another problem.

Being shaken off

is the last thing she needs.

Red-fronted lemurs.

Feeding on the fruit

in this neem tree,

they've created a sticky mess.

A magnet for flies.

A chance to get her energy back

before she continues her journey

to find a mate.

The vole's search for a new home

has taken her three miles

into a glen.

Ahead of her lies water.

She's spent her entire life

around streams.

But with poor eyesight,

she has misjudged how far it is

to the other side.

This loch

is vast.

In the cold waters beneath her

monsters lurk.

Giant pike,

four times her size,

could swallow her whole

if she doesn't drown first.

She's never swum more than

a few metres from land before.

The further she swims from shore,

the more likely

she will be detected.

Once a pike senses ripples

most prey don't stand a chance.

But this water vole

has made it to the other side.

For now, she's safe.

Running water.

It's the sound of home.

If she follows it, she might find

the habitat that she's looking for.

The higher she climbs,

the rockier it becomes.

200 metres up,

there's trouble.

A golden eagle.

30 times bigger than a water vole.

With vision five times

more powerful than a human,

it could spot a vole

from over a mile away.

She will have to sleep here tonight.

In Madagascar,

four months have passed,

and the chameleon has reached

a pivotal moment in her short life.

She has undergone the most

extraordinary transformation.

She has become an adult.

Now as long as a human finger,

her skin is a kaleidoscope

of colour

Created by special

light-reflecting nanocrystals

in her skin cells.

A chameleon's colour is primarily

used for communication,

and it changes with her mood.

Her most important signal

is a crimson spot

Indicating that she is ready

to mate.

Her eggs are fully grown

and visible through her skin.

Now she needs to find a male

to fertilise them.

She needs to secure an area

to show off her colours.

But every female of her species

is on the same biological clock

all vying for the attention

of a male.

Already, she has competition.

Females can't risk damage

to their delicate eggs.

They rarely make contact.

Instead they rely on

elaborate warning displays.

She attacks from below.

Having forced her rival away

she's claimed this area

as her own.

She can now dazzle her colours.

She's attracted a male.

There's two.

They must prove their worth.

They are twice the size of her.

Built for combat.

The bigger the nose horn,

the more attractive the male.

And the taller the head crest,

the more powerful the bite.

These two gladiators

are evenly matched.

She monitors every movement

from a safe distance.

The most dominant male

will pass on the strongest genes.

They must fight it out

to win her favour.

Unlike females,

they don't hold back.

This could be the last battle

of their lives before they die.

It will only end

when one backs down

and falls.

She allows the victor to approach.

After mating, they will never

see each other again.

With her eggs fertilised,

there is only one more stage

of her journey to complete.

To find a safe place to lay them

before her life comes to an end.

The water vole is five miles

from her old riverbank home.

Her search has taken her

to altitude.

She's in alien territory

but keeps climbing.

She's 700 metres up.

Before her lies a new frontier.

With the threat of the eagle,

she must move on quickly.

She's lost a lot of weight

and is depleted of minerals.

She'll need more than just grass

to get her strength back.

Red deer.

They may provide

just what she needs.

An old stag's antler,

packed with minerals.

100 times more calcium than milk.

A few nibbles is all she needs.

This is prime water vole habitat.

Further into the glen,

there's a burrow.

There is something here.

It's just a harmless toad

taking shelter.

With no sign of

a resident water vole,

she's found a new home.

If she can find a mate,

she will still have time

to raise a family.

With darkness falling,

she can rest.

The chameleon is five months old

and has reached old age.

Nearing the end of her journey,

she must find the perfect spot

to lay her eggs.

She has no time to waste

on an approaching male.

He's too late.

Puffing up her body

and expanding her skin cells,

she turns from green to black.

A clear signal to back off.

Instinct drives her towards

the forest floor.

Now a beacon of colour,

she stands out

amongst the leaf litter

and is slower,

weighed down by eight eggs,

a third of her body weight.

She needs to head away

from tree roots

to a place where she can dig

and with just the right amount

of sunlight to incubate her eggs.

With every step,

she could be spotted.

A giant hoghose snake,

almost two metres long.

Her only defence

is to rock gently

to try to look like

a leaf in the breeze.

This snake is an egg-eater.

The chameleon needs to wait

for the coast to be clear

before she can start laying.

She's found the perfect spot.

Her whole short life has been about

getting to this moment

and her time has almost run out.

With her last ounce of energy,

she covers her eggs.

Her life's journey is now complete.

In her last moments,

her skin erupts with colour

as if uttering her last words.

She's not the only one to have made

such an incredible journey.

Every chameleon of her species

is now dead.

All that remains

are thousands of eggs

buried beneath the soil

of Kirindy Forest.

Time capsules,

evolved to survive

the deadly dry season

until they hatch en masse

when the wetter weather returns

in seven months' time.

Having found perfect habitat,

the water vole is scent marking

the boundaries of her new territory.

But she needs to mate

within the next few days

to ensure any pups

survive the winter.

100 metres from the burrow,

she sniffs a distinctive odour.

A latrine.

There's a well-trodden path

and the chopped up

leftovers of a meal.

At last - a male.

The voles here have

lighter coloured fur.

A sign that they have

different ancestors.

But attractiveness has little

to do with fur colour.

The most important thing

to her is his fithess.

Crucial if her offspring are

to inherit genes

essential for survival

in the Highlands.

A game of chase is

a good test of his stamina.

She leads him to her new burrow.

Her journey is complete.

She's found a mate and a new life

eight miles from where she was born.

Three weeks later

and a new journey begins.

Motherhood.

Filming six little animals required

a collaboration between TV crews

and scientists around the world.

- Wow.

- Oh, wow.

Look at that.

Over two years, the team

filmed on five continents

in order to follow these journeys.

The most remote location was western

Madagascar's Kirindy Forest,

the home of one of the most

extraordinary journeys of all.

Travelling in the cyclone season,

the first challenge was

getting to the forest.

But the team's journey comes

to a halt when a fallen tree

blocks their only way in.

It's a long way back for help.

At least someone brought an axe.

Yeah, it looks like pretty tough

going, so could be here a while.

Four hours later,

progress is slow.

With the tree finally

chopped into pieces,

they must still drag it out the way.

There are several miles to go yet.

We've just arrived after

13 hours of driving.

I'm amazed that the car's actually

made it through the amount of water.

We've no electricity

and it's absolutely torrential rain.

With a break in the rain,

the team can finally start

searching for the chameleons.

One of the scientists studying

the forest's chameleons

is Ludo Raoelina.

During the day,

it's so difficult to find them.

It's better to search at night.

Finding a reptile no bigger

than a human finger is challenging.

Luckily, chameleons turn pale

at night and sleep

at the end of branches, making them

easier to find by spotlighting.

Cameras at the ready,

things finally seem to be

going well for the team.

Whoa!

Did you see that?

We were just about to start

filming and just, yeah.

Just torrential.

Just so wet.

You could literally wring me out.

Literally wring me out.

Filming has to stop.

After several days,

the storm passes,

but the fleeting life cycle

of the Kirindy chameleons

is moving fast.

Ludo is joined by

Christopher Raxworthy,

who has been studying chameleons

in Kirindy for decades.

I have been fascinated

with chameleons

since I was a young boy and

Madagascar was always

a special place.

If you want to see these chameleons,

Kirindy is the place to come to.

Kirindy isn't just a

haven for chameleons.

This forest is incredible.

Loving all of the amazing animals

that we're finding in the forest.

We've seen sifakas and brown lemurs

and loads of beautiful birds,

beautiful butterflies.

Some of the wildlife has taken

a shine to one member of the team.

So, Owen and I are currently

in a tornado of flies.

You having fun, Owen?

- No.

Why are you not having fun?

Cos the flies like me too much.

Despite the challenges,

the team are able to document

every element

of this extraordinary life cycle

for the very first time.

But they may also be filming

this for the very last time.

These chameleons hatch, grow up,

and die during one season.

This unique life cycle has left

them very vulnerable.

It seems like a very risky strategy

to actually put literally

all your eggs in one basket.

You could imagine

if the eggs didn't hatch,

then there's no backup generations

to keep the population going.

With their lives so intimately

in sync with the seasons,

a shift in the climate

could be devastating.

The rainy season now starts in

Madagascar perhaps as late as

two months later than when I first

started working in Madagascar.

And it's not just the

climate that is changing.

The environmental pressures

on Kirindy have increased

over the last 20 or 30 years.

And so the great news is we have

a lot more forest now

which is protected with inside

reserves, but we also can tell

from satellite images and from

personal experience that we can

still see ongoing declines in

terms of the total forest area.

Over the last 70 years,

half of Madagascar's forests have

been destroyed, putting much

of its unique wildlife,

including the chameleons,

at risk of extinction.

Sadly, I have seen forests

that I worked in and love

being degraded and cleared,

and so that's a very painful

experience to sometimes see

that kind of biodiversity loss.

Ludo and many other local

scientists are determined

to preserve the remaining wildlife.

The work of dedicated

conservationists around the world

is helping the tiny animals

featured in this series

to continue their journeys for

many generations to come.