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60 million years ago, on the
shores of this tropical island,

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an extraordinary story began.

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The waves brought ashore
an odd band of survivors...

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a few ancient creatures
that had been...

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accidentally swept across hundreds
of miles of ocean from a distant land.

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They found themselves here,
in a place unlike any other.

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Totally cut off from
the rest of the world...

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...these castaways made
this island their own...

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...gradually evolving into
a collection of wildlife...

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...that's strange, rare
and utterly unique.

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So rare that more than 80% of the
species are found nowhere else on earth.

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The island was Madagascar.

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This is the story of what happens
when a set of animals and plants

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are cast away on an island
for millions of years.

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This is how this curious
wonderland came into being.

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It had all begun
millions of years earlier

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...when a great slab
of land broke apart...

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...to form the continents
as we know them today.

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Africa went one way,
and India went the other,...

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...and an orphaned chip
of land was cast adrift,

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and ended up hundreds of miles
from the nearest land.

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Its unusual geological history,
its isolation,...

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...and its resting place
in the tropics,

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were to shape Madagascar's
fortunes.

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It's the world's
oldest island...

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...and it's had time to develop an
astonishing range of landscapes.

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It's split in two by a spine
of mountains

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that runs its entire length, and
each side has its own character.

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On the western side lie huge forests
populated with strange, bulging trees.

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Further south, an alien world...
a parched and sandy wilderness,

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with an immense lake of salt, and
gnarled and twisted spiny woodlands.

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And on the eastern side,
lush jungle drenched in rain.

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It's this combination of long
isolation and varied landscapes

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...that's created the eccentric
diversity of wildlife...

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...which makes
this island so special.

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These rainforests are unlike
any other rainforest on earth,

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and they are home to Madagascar's
most successful inhabitants.

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They are lemurs.

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There are 80 different types, from
nocturnal, mouse-sized creatures

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to this, the biggest,
the size of a child. It's an indri.

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They are direct descendents
of those first primitive mammals

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that had washed in from Africa by
chance, and now they live nowhere else.

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They have almost dog-like faces.

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But they are primates,
related to us.

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And when you watch them,
you can see it.

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They are highly social.

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At two years old this young
male is an adolescent,...

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...but he's still
close to his mother.

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His little sister
is just six months old.

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This family group will stay together
for several more years.

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Lemurs also have the grasping
hands and feet of all primates.

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It's fundamental
for a life in the trees...

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as well as an effective way to put
a stranglehold on an older brother.

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For an indri, childhood is long.

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It's nine years before
they are fully adult.

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There's plenty of
time for play,...

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...and perfecting their
impressive jumping skills.

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And perhaps even a spot
of showing off.

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Everywhere you look, Madagascar
has echoes of elsewhere...

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at first glance similar,
but with different origins.

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On the rainforest floor...

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...an animal emerges that might
be mistaken for a hedgehog.

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But she's only the most distant
relation. She's a tenrec,

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another of Madagascar's
own inventions.

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And these are her youngsters.

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Dozens of them.

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Tenrecs have the distinction of
giving birth to more babies...

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...than any other mammal
on earth - as many as 32.

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Her babies are stripy, the better to hide
in the shadows of the rainforest floor.

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Their ancestors too had washed
in from Africa and, like the lemurs,

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they have diversified
into many different species.

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As well as being Madagascar's
equivalent of hedgehogs, tenrecs

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also take the place that moles
and shrews would occupy

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anywhere else in the world.

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Madagascar's rich forests
have been isolated...

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...from outside influence
for so long,

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...they have become an
evolutionary cauldron...

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...producing increasingly
extreme forms of life.

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And none are stranger than this.

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It's a giraffe-necked weevil,

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and this is a male.

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And this is the reason
for his extra long neck.

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He uses it for fighting.

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Meanwhile a female weevil,
who's not quite as long-necked...

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...is beginning an ambitious
construction project.

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She's snipping through the leaf's
veins, and making little creases in it.

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She also appears
to referee the fight.

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She finally mates with the winner.

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Then, using her powerful legs, the
female starts to fold the leaf in half.

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She then curls up the end,

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and inside the curl,
she lays a single egg.

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All around the
rainforest edge...

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...females are busy rolling
and curling their leaf nests.

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Each seems to have her own design.

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Only in these particular
rainforests...

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...and only on this one
particular type of soft leaf,

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are conditions right
for her to make her nest.

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It's an astonishingly
specific behaviour.

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The expectant fathers are
apparently just getting in the way.

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But they may be guarding
against tiny insects...

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...that would parasitise
the newly laid egg.

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The female has bitten tiny
notches along the leaf's ribs,

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to form a kind of Velcro strip
to help all it stick together.

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A few final folds,

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and the nest is complete.

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When she finally snips
the leaf roll off,

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it falls to the forest floor
to hatch.

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All that effort for just one egg.

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Madagascar has had a turbulent past.

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At its birth it was ripped
from India and Africa,...

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...and the geological upheavals
have continued since.

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The north of the island is speckled
with slumbering volcanoes.

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On the forested slopes lives
another Madagascar speciality.

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A chameleon!

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Chameleons weren't amongst those
pioneering castaways.

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Theirs is a different story.

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It's thought that they evolved
here in Madagascar itself.

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They are wonderfully adapted
to a life in the trees.

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Their toes are fused,
so their feet grip like tongs,

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and the arrangement of their
legs is unusual for a reptile...

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they're beneath their body.

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This allows them to walk on branches
thinner than their body.

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A male panther chameleon,

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one of the biggest.

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A second male is in his tree.

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He won't like that.

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If the intruder doesn't back down,
there will be trouble.

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They are evenly matched -
it's neck and neck.

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HISSING

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The territory holder wins, and the
loser takes the quickest way out.

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In these isolated forests, chameleons
have taken a variety of paths,

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and have diversified
to an astonishing degree.

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Some are miniatures, and have the
rich forest floors to themselves.

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A pygmy chameleon,
the world's tiniest reptile,

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tiptoes through the leaf litter
on the steep volcanic slopes.

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She's so tiny,
she's scarcely bigger than an ant.

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And over here, in a forest
of toadstools, a male.

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He's looking for her.

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He's even smaller than she is.

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Finding a mate in a giant world
is challenging.

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And it's somewhat hazardous, when
you could get run over by a millipede.

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It takes a while, but when he finally
reaches her, he has a special tactic.

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He's not going to let go.

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They're not mating,

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simply riding around
until the time is right.

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He barely touches her... just
an occasional gentle little sway.

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They can go round like this
for days.

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But at least they won't
lose each other

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in their big volcanic forest.

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The heart of Madagascar still
rumbles with geological activity.

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The centre of the island
is a wide plateau of uplifted rock.

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Here there are still
thousands of earthquakes every year.

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Over aeons of time,

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millions of these tiny earthquakes
have torn a vast hole

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right in these central uplands, forming
this, Madagascar's biggest lake...

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Lac Alaotra.

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Around the edges of this massive
body of water, there are reed beds.

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But the vegetation is not fixed.

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It floats in great mats
in water three metres deep.

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It's tricky and inaccessible
to most.

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But one creature has adapted
to live here, and only here.

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This is the Lac Alaotra reed lemur.

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Not only is it small enough
to climb the thinnest reeds...

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...it can also survive
on a diet of tough grass.

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Unusually for a primate,
it lives its whole life over water.

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And it only lives on this one lake.

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This family group
has a patch of reeds to themselves.

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But they have a problem -

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to find enough to eat, you have
to move from reed bed to reed bed,

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and that takes skill and practice.

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These lemurs can swim,
but they prefer not to.

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So they have developed a special
technique for crossing the reed beds

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without ending up
in the water below.

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Their mother is an old hand.

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Even with a baby on her back,
she is surefooted,...

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00:20:52,596 --> 00:20:55,473
...and her older children
are getting the hang of it.

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These lemurs are so specialised

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that they would struggle
to live anywhere else.

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While Madagascar's centre
was shaped by volcanic fire,

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the western side of the island
has an entirely different story.

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For millions of years, this
landscape was drowned,...

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...and layers of limestone
formed underwater.

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00:22:46,828 --> 00:22:50,840
When the ocean finally retreated,
this is what was left.

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It's a gigantic, ancient reef.

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The seabed was pushed up,
creating a great block of limestone.

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00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,520
Over time, it's been carved by water
into forests of giant pinnacles.

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This is the Tsingy - one of
Madagascar's strangest landscapes.

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00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:19,880
Underneath, it's riddled with caves,
dissolved away by underground rivers.

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00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:30,045
In places the limestone has
collapsed, creating deep canyons,

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00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:35,200
and in among them have grown little
oases of forest, filled with oddities.

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00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,360
The isolated forests
are rich sources of food,

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00:23:52,395 --> 00:23:55,268
but not easy for outsiders to reach.

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00:23:55,303 --> 00:23:58,443
The great walls of rock make
moving between them,...

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00:23:58,444 --> 00:24:03,014
...across razor sharp blades of
stone, seem impossible.

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00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,845
Not so.
This too is the haunt of lemurs.

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00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,030
This most diverse
group of primates...

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00:24:14,031 --> 00:24:17,825
...has adapted to thrive all
over the island, even here.

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00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,760
These are crowned lemurs.

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00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,880
They don't live up here,
but they must cross the peaks

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to find fruiting trees
in the forest pockets.

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00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,280
Exposed to the tropical sun,
it's devilishly hot.

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00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:37,200
The group seeks shelter
and a brief respite.

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00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,360
The lemurs are vulnerable here,

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00:25:49,395 --> 00:25:52,440
and need to get a move on.

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00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,920
There's still a way to go
before they reach the forest.

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00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:30,805
They get to what looks like the
most daunting part of the journey -

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00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:36,520
a 30-metre drop where the limestone
has fallen away to create sheer cliffs.

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00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:44,880
But crowned lemurs are as good at rock
climbing as they are at tree climbing.

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00:27:00,165 --> 00:27:04,320
Once down, they'll find shelter
from the heat and plenty to eat.

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00:27:04,355 --> 00:27:06,800
But they must be on their guard.

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00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,640
There is one danger that
every lemur on the island fears,

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00:27:16,675 --> 00:27:20,360
a hunter that climbs
as well as they can -

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00:27:20,395 --> 00:27:21,800
the fossa!

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00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,820
No big African predators
made it to Madagascar.

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00:27:27,855 --> 00:27:31,005
There are no lions,
no leopards, no wild dogs.

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00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:36,840
Instead the island's top predator
is a giant mongoose.

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00:27:36,875 --> 00:27:39,520
And it eats lemurs.

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00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,965
But it has more curious habits.

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It's the mating season,...

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00:27:51,052 --> 00:27:55,225
...and this female has stationed
herself 15 metres up a tree.

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00:27:55,260 --> 00:27:58,906
She's chosen a branch that will just
support her own weight,

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...plus that of a male.

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00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:10,525
A male approaches. If she approves
of him, she'll allow him to mate.

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00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,631
If she doesn't, she'll back
away to a thinner branch,...

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00:28:13,632 --> 00:28:16,273
...and he won't be
able to get to her.

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00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,965
She's only fertile
for a few days a year,

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00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,921
so setting herself up
in this tall tree...

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00:28:26,922 --> 00:28:31,187
...is a good way of advertising
her availability to suitors.

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00:28:31,555 --> 00:28:37,080
And it seems to work. This is the
sixth male she's entertained today.

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00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:53,605
The great diversity of Madagascar's
wildlife is driven

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00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,440
not only by the variation in
landscape but also by the climate.

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00:29:01,213 --> 00:29:04,199
The spine of mountains running
the length of the island...

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00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,259
...blocks the rain blowing
in from the east.

235
00:29:07,294 --> 00:29:09,939
While the east coast is
drenched year-round...

236
00:29:09,940 --> 00:29:12,601
...the west lies
in a rain shadow.

237
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:20,925
The plants that have evolved here
have had to adapt to an arid world.

238
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,908
Some places get less than
a tenth of the rain...

239
00:29:23,909 --> 00:29:26,785
...that falls in the
rainforests of the east.

240
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,725
This is the land of the baobab.

241
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:37,560
These bizarrely shaped trees evolved
to store water in their trunks.

242
00:29:37,595 --> 00:29:41,817
They are tough
and can live to a great age.

243
00:29:41,852 --> 00:29:46,040
This baobab may be
over 1,000 years old.

244
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,900
In these desiccated landscapes,
many plants have evolved

245
00:29:52,935 --> 00:29:56,920
these bloated trunks to store water
for the driest times.

246
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,858
The west of the island
is dotted with these fat oddities.

247
00:30:04,893 --> 00:30:10,000
Many survive by just clinging with
long roots to cracks on bare rock.

248
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:25,045
Like most plants here, this
uncarina stores water in its stem.

249
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,943
And it is also economical
with its flowers,...

250
00:30:27,944 --> 00:30:31,500
...putting out a few a day,
over several months.

251
00:30:32,365 --> 00:30:37,720
This gives maximum opportunity
for pollinators to visit.

252
00:30:37,755 --> 00:30:41,680
But this is not
what the uncarina needs,

253
00:30:41,715 --> 00:30:45,325
a sunbird has become a nectar thief.

254
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:50,200
Piercing the base of the flower
it by-passes the pollen entirely.

255
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,560
But the sunbird is not alone.

256
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,685
Unfortunately for the shrub,
it's another flower bandit.

257
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,960
In a place as tough as this,
a flower is well worth the effort.

258
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:12,045
Madagascar is 1,000 miles
from end to end.

259
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,454
The variation from north
to south is extreme,...

260
00:32:15,455 --> 00:32:19,518
...and the further south
you go, the drier it gets.

261
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,280
Most of the time, the rivers
here are barely ankle deep.

262
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,800
But there's just enough
water and nutrients

263
00:32:32,835 --> 00:32:34,925
for a fringe of forest
to take hold.

264
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,640
And in Madagascar, where
there's forest, there are lemurs.

265
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,205
These are sifakas.

266
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:48,240
They are superb acrobats, adapted
to leaping from trunk to trunk.

267
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:56,600
But where the gap is too great or in
more open stretches of river bank,

268
00:32:56,635 --> 00:33:01,000
they abandon the trees
and do something extraordinary.

269
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,740
Their hind legs are too long
to walk on all fours,...

270
00:33:12,741 --> 00:33:15,897
...so they stay upright,
and gallop.

271
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:25,605
These river forests are an oasis
in this dry landscape.

272
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,680
That can lead to some spectacular
competition for territory.

273
00:33:30,601 --> 00:33:35,800
A female paradise flycatcher
is busy building a nest.

274
00:33:35,835 --> 00:33:38,877
Both male and female
have red feathers,

275
00:33:38,912 --> 00:33:41,885
but the males
are particularly striking,

276
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,720
with long tail plumes and bright
blue rings round their eyes.

277
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:54,052
Curiously, although all males
start out with red feathers,...

278
00:33:54,053 --> 00:33:55,053
...some males turn
completely white.

279
00:33:55,915 --> 00:34:01,080
No-one knows why, but it's something
that's exceedingly rare in birds.

280
00:34:01,115 --> 00:34:03,120
Another Madagascar oddity.

281
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:10,920
The red female and her white partner
construct the nest between them.

282
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:22,085
It's a delicate affair,
built of leaves and grasses

283
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:26,440
woven together with cobwebs,
and it takes days of careful work.

284
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,565
A red male watches nearby,

285
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:46,600
breeding territory is
particularly jealously guarded.

286
00:34:46,635 --> 00:34:48,880
The white male must see him off.

287
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,400
Danger averted,
the couple return to work.

288
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:19,480
But there's worse to come...

289
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,040
..a drongo!

290
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,840
For some reason it sets about
destroying the carefully-made nest.

291
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,960
There is nothing the flycatcher
couple can do about it.

292
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:51,085
SQUAWKING

293
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,965
The drongo isn't even
stealing the material,

294
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,040
just chasing the flycatchers
from their territory.

295
00:35:58,075 --> 00:36:02,480
Competition for space
is that fierce.

296
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,045
The female gives up and leaves.

297
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,640
Maybe she'll look
for a more assertive male.

298
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,760
Go far enough south
and the island changes once more,

299
00:37:02,795 --> 00:37:06,240
into a landscape
of scrub and spines.

300
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,320
This place
may go years without rain.

301
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:15,760
Strangely, there is water here.

302
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:23,240
This vast lake is ten-miles long,
and just two-metres deep.

303
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,520
But it's not what it seems.

304
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:37,040
Greater flamingos fly 250 miles
from Africa to breed here.

305
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,840
But they pretty much have it
to themselves,

306
00:37:41,875 --> 00:37:44,080
because this is not fresh water,

307
00:37:44,115 --> 00:37:45,325
it's a salt lake,

308
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,920
gradually evaporating
in the heat and drought,

309
00:37:48,955 --> 00:37:51,120
and it's hostile to life.

310
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:13,405
This whole area has been getting
drier for the last 40,000 years.

311
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:18,440
But the plants and animals here are
uniquely adapted to extreme aridity.

312
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,885
Mornings are surprisingly chilly.

313
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,400
A rare Verreaux's coua,
found only round this lake,

314
00:38:31,435 --> 00:38:34,760
puffs itself up
until it's almost spherical.

315
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,645
Ring-tailed lemurs sunbathe too.

316
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,200
The most adaptable
of all the lemurs,

317
00:38:50,235 --> 00:38:53,005
they can cope with the dryness,

318
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,000
but they can't go
without water entirely.

319
00:39:10,144 --> 00:39:14,125
A giant fig, surprisingly and
persistently green,...

320
00:39:14,126 --> 00:39:17,511
...wafts its thirsty roots
across the ground.

321
00:39:17,546 --> 00:39:19,240
There's water here somewhere,

322
00:39:19,275 --> 00:39:20,240
but it's hidden.

323
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:34,400
It's part of a southern river system
that flows underground here,

324
00:39:34,435 --> 00:39:38,160
carving holes into the limestone
like a Swiss cheese.

325
00:39:38,195 --> 00:39:40,600
But it can only be reached
in a few places.

326
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:12,640
For the ringtails, it's a life-line,
and they visit every day.

327
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,000
In the water, too,
there are curiosities...

328
00:41:06,035 --> 00:41:07,845
strange white fish,

329
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,725
found only in these caverns.

330
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:14,240
They have been trapped in these
underground rivers for millennia,

331
00:41:14,275 --> 00:41:16,640
and they too
have gone their own way.

332
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:24,160
They have not only lost
all their pigment,

333
00:41:24,195 --> 00:41:26,520
they've lost their eyes too.

334
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,525
They also swim upside down.

335
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:38,165
This may be to help them
feed on the surface,

336
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:43,080
but in a dark world,
it barely matters which way is up.

337
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,615
Here in the far
south of the island...

338
00:42:14,616 --> 00:42:19,223
...the extreme conditions make
this a land of rare specialists.

339
00:42:19,675 --> 00:42:22,880
There is wildlife that's found
nowhere else in Madagascar.

340
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,720
A little nocturnal mammal,
whistling in the dark.

341
00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:36,800
It's Grandidier's vontsira, one
of the world's rarest carnivores.

342
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:41,725
They survive on a diet of
almost nothing but insects.

343
00:42:43,690 --> 00:42:48,360
As the climate here dried, only the
toughest and most adaptable stayed on.

344
00:42:49,111 --> 00:42:54,960
Grandidier's vontsira, able to survive
on such a diet, was able to hang on.

345
00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:17,485
They're sociable, and playful.

346
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:21,360
But their lives remain
largely a mystery.

347
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,979
The intense dryness of
this end of the island...

348
00:43:28,980 --> 00:43:31,980
...has demanded some
ingenious behaviour.

349
00:43:32,015 --> 00:43:34,169
In this desert scrubland,...

350
00:43:34,170 --> 00:43:38,756
...desiccation is just as problematic
for a spider as for a mammal.

351
00:43:38,791 --> 00:43:42,800
An empty snail shell would make
a perfect refuge from the heat.

352
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,560
But it's not safe lying on sand.

353
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,805
So this spider begins
an astonishing process.

354
00:43:54,840 --> 00:44:00,080
It attaches silk to the shell,
and starts to haul it into a bush.

355
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,005
This is the first time
this has been filmed,

356
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,080
and may be the first time it's
even been observed in the wild.

357
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,480
Each new strand
is shorter than the last,

358
00:44:32,515 --> 00:44:35,520
so the shell gradually
gets pulled up.

359
00:44:35,555 --> 00:44:36,845
Technique is key.

360
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:40,880
It's important that the shell
is secured from several angles,

361
00:44:40,915 --> 00:44:42,840
for maximum stability.

362
00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:51,845
This spider has got it wrong.

363
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:56,080
And when the wind springs up,
it totally loses control.

364
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,960
This one shows
how it should be done.

365
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:09,700
This is the farthest southerly point
of Madagascar.

366
00:46:09,735 --> 00:46:14,520
Beyond this is nothing
until you reach Antarctica.

367
00:46:25,438 --> 00:46:31,184
This is the oldest, most arid
and most remote landscape of all.

368
00:46:31,475 --> 00:46:36,120
The spiny trees are dwarves,
bent by the wind.

369
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:42,080
And on these windswept cliffs
there are radiated tortoises,

370
00:46:42,115 --> 00:46:45,085
one of the world's most
beautiful species.

371
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:48,120
They're only found in
these southern scrublands.

372
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,960
A male sets off in pursuit
of a female.

373
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:31,920
He'd be able to mate with her if
only he can get her to stand still.

374
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:40,600
He uses the front of his shell to
lift her back legs off the ground.

375
00:47:40,635 --> 00:47:42,400
She seems less than willing.

376
00:47:46,408 --> 00:47:52,284
It's a slow process, but radiated
tortoises don't do anything very quickly.

377
00:47:52,319 --> 00:47:57,840
They don't become parents until the
age of 20, and they may live to be 130.

378
00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:03,445
One legendary individual
was claimed to be 188,

379
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:07,360
which would make him
the longest-living animal on earth.

380
00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:13,765
It's also one
of the most endangered.

381
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:17,935
It's hunted, and its unique spiny
habitat is being destroyed,...

382
00:48:17,936 --> 00:48:20,829
...bit by bit,
cut down for firewood.

383
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:32,925
It was once abundant on Madagascar.

384
00:48:32,960 --> 00:48:38,517
Now it could well be extinct in
the wild within the next 20 years.

385
00:48:46,838 --> 00:48:52,838
On this same windswept beach lie
thousands of fragments of egg shells.

386
00:48:53,515 --> 00:48:57,840
These are the ancient nest sites
of an astonishing creature...

387
00:48:57,875 --> 00:49:00,165
the biggest bird that ever lived.

388
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:04,765
The elephant bird stood
more than three meters tall,

389
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:10,770
and a thousand years ago it would
have roamed these spiny scrublands.

390
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:18,845
In the warm sand it laid its huge
eggs... bigger than dinosaur eggs.

391
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:22,786
This astonishing bird only
lived in Madagascar,...

392
00:49:22,787 --> 00:49:25,912
...and it was extraordinarily
successful.

393
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,845
But then, it totally disappeared.

394
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,063
These egg fragments
and bits of bone...

395
00:49:34,064 --> 00:49:37,864
...are all that remains
to show it was here at all.

396
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:45,580
Two thousand years ago,
humans first came to Madagascar,

397
00:49:45,615 --> 00:49:49,920
and it seems the elephant bird
started to vanish soon after.

398
00:49:49,955 --> 00:49:52,165
It's a story that's continued.

399
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:54,976
Many of Madagascar's
wild landscapes...

400
00:49:54,977 --> 00:49:58,298
...and species are under
threat of disappearing forever,

401
00:49:58,535 --> 00:50:00,523
...just as we are
beginning to discover...

402
00:50:00,524 --> 00:50:05,150
...and understand the
extraordinary diversity of life here.

403
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:11,124
It's only during the
last few decades...

404
00:50:11,125 --> 00:50:15,046
...that we've really started
to appreciate this curious land.

405
00:50:15,155 --> 00:50:17,960
Let's hope it's not too late.

406
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,959
Much of Madagascar's
wildlife is secretive...

407
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,140
...and a challenge
to find, let alone film.

408
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:46,397
The team were keen to tell
the story of a little lemur...

409
00:50:46,398 --> 00:50:49,438
...that only lives on
this one remote lake.

410
00:50:49,473 --> 00:50:52,520
There are very few of them left,
because they've long been hunted,

411
00:50:52,555 --> 00:50:55,480
and the reed beds where they
live are being cut down.

412
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:03,220
But in one village on Lac Alaotra,
the local people have made strenuous

413
00:51:03,255 --> 00:51:07,445
efforts to save the reed lemurs, and
they knew where they might be found.

414
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:09,800
Field assistant
Jonathan Fiely...

415
00:51:09,801 --> 00:51:15,021
...and cameraman Gavin Thurston set out
with localfisherman and wildlife guide...

416
00:51:15,056 --> 00:51:19,047
...Ndrina Rajohonson, who has spent
many months following the lemurs.

417
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:24,813
The team wanted to film
its specialised way of...

418
00:51:24,814 --> 00:51:27,592
...moving through these
floating beds of reeds.

419
00:51:27,627 --> 00:51:29,125
Easy for the lemurs...

420
00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:31,720
not so easy for a film crew.

421
00:51:37,282 --> 00:51:40,497
In fact, in the
tangled reed beds...

422
00:51:40,498 --> 00:51:43,208
...it seemed almost impossible
even to see them at all.

423
00:51:43,243 --> 00:51:46,680
They are so nimble, they simply
melt away into the reeds.

424
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:55,160
The team negotiated the channels
in an attempt to track them down.

425
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,005
The trouble was,
there's no dry land here.

426
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:07,085
Gavin would have to try
and film them from a canoe.

427
00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:11,920
Following a cyclone, the lake was
deep and the water particularly choppy.

428
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,485
We're going to need a bigger boat!

429
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:25,965
It's way too rocky, and the
boat's going all over the shop.

430
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,945
We've got a few toys
up our sleeves.

431
00:52:28,946 --> 00:52:32,350
We've got a big stick,
to help stabilise the canoe.

432
00:52:32,385 --> 00:52:34,965
This must look like
sort of Amateurville,

433
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,960
and it is quite precarious... you
know, we've got sort of £40,000-worth

434
00:52:38,995 --> 00:52:41,085
of camera balanced in a rocky canoe,

435
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:45,040
which looks like we've just hired
it from the local boating lake.

436
00:52:45,075 --> 00:52:47,725
But I'm feeling positive.

437
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,405
It was back to base for Plan B.

438
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,561
Gavin and Ndrina decided to
build a platform.

439
00:52:54,562 --> 00:52:57,783
But it would have to be
very carefully designed.

440
00:52:58,275 --> 00:53:00,680
It turned into quite an undertaking.

441
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:17,525
We're trying
to adapt this construction,

442
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:21,400
so that when we get out to the reeds
we don't need to use any nails at all.

443
00:53:21,435 --> 00:53:23,885
I'm just worried that if they start
banging the nails

444
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,645
it's going to drive these animals
even deeper into the reeds,

445
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:30,231
so we're making this precarious
4 metre high platform above the water...

446
00:53:30,232 --> 00:53:33,084
...without any nails.

447
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:39,530
At dawn the next day...

448
00:53:39,531 --> 00:53:42,758
...the platforms were loaded up
to be taken out to the reed beds.

449
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:53,040
Getting the canoes through the
tangled vegetation was hard enough.

450
00:53:53,075 --> 00:53:57,360
Moving through with the
platforms was a different matter.

451
00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:06,744
And the whole operation had to be
completed as quietly as possible...

452
00:54:06,779 --> 00:54:09,037
...for fear of scaring the lemurs.

453
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:15,960
One false move and the whole team
would end up in the water.

454
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:28,000
At last, a clear and stable
view through the reed bed.

455
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:38,600
Gavin got himself settled
and started filming.

456
00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:43,445
But it wasn't easy.

457
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:47,813
The very thing he wanted to film,
the lemurs on the move,

458
00:54:47,848 --> 00:54:50,904
was limited by the fact that
when they moved off,...

459
00:54:50,905 --> 00:54:53,488
...Gavin could only wait
for them to return.

460
00:54:53,523 --> 00:54:56,125
It is quite frustrating really...

461
00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:57,784
because it doesn't matter
how much experience...

462
00:54:57,785 --> 00:54:59,593
...you've got, with
something like this...

463
00:55:00,595 --> 00:55:03,937
filming from the boat was too wobbly,
and working off the platform you're

464
00:55:03,972 --> 00:55:07,206
literally stuck in one place in the
hope that they'll come within sight.

465
00:55:07,241 --> 00:55:10,440
I think we'll get it, in-between that
and this sort of cyclonic weather.

466
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:16,725
Just as they'd got set up,
a storm was rolling in.

467
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:21,965
The last place you want to be is on
a lake, in a canoe, in a thunderstorm,

468
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,059
...so they paddled back
as quickly as they could...

469
00:55:25,060 --> 00:55:28,289
...and then could only
wait for the storm to pass.

470
00:55:29,195 --> 00:55:30,760
That took three days.

471
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:39,280
Finally, it dawned clear and calm.

472
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:45,200
Things were looking more promising.

473
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:55,600
Gavin's just inside the reed-bed
right over there.

474
00:55:55,635 --> 00:56:00,045
We set him up
about 5.20 this morning.

475
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:01,745
The team were in luck.

476
00:56:01,746 --> 00:56:05,299
The lemurs were feeding right
next to where Gavin was stationed.

477
00:56:05,395 --> 00:56:10,385
With Ndrina's careful guidance, they
were in the right place at the right time.

478
00:56:10,420 --> 00:56:12,946
It might look a bit
Heath-Robinson...

479
00:56:12,947 --> 00:56:17,277
...but at last Gavin was getting shots
of one of the world's rarest lemurs,

480
00:56:17,595 --> 00:56:22,960
moving and feeding in the reeds, and for
the first time, a mother and her baby.

481
00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:33,360
But even after ten days,
they were still unpredictable.

482
00:56:34,720 --> 00:56:37,200
It's 7 o'clock in the morning...

483
00:56:37,235 --> 00:56:39,645
and they've gone to sleep!

484
00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:42,600
They're just tucked
down in here asleep.

485
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:48,365
I've really quite
grown to like them...

486
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,645
it's just quite sad that they
are critically endangered.

487
00:56:51,680 --> 00:56:55,925
They only live in the reeds around this
one lake, and there's very few small

488
00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,932
...areas of reeds left, and
if those reeds do disappear...

489
00:56:58,933 --> 00:57:00,900
...then the lemurs are going to
disappear with them.

490
00:57:00,935 --> 00:57:02,868
And I think it would be really
sad to lose such a...

491
00:57:02,869 --> 00:57:05,572
...cute cuddly little
lemur like that.

492
00:57:06,715 --> 00:57:10,037
These little lemurs have been
pushed to the brink of extinction

493
00:57:10,072 --> 00:57:13,325
by hunting, and the gradual
destruction of their reed beds.

494
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,340
But the quiet determination
of people like Ndrina...

495
00:57:16,341 --> 00:57:19,578
...mean that local attitudes
are beginning to change.

496
00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:45,685
Madagascar is one of the
poorest countries in the world.

497
00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:51,120
It's as much as most people can do
to earn a basic living from the land.

498
00:57:51,155 --> 00:57:54,445
And yet it may be the passion
and involvement of local people

499
00:57:54,480 --> 00:58:00,400
that is key to preserving its unique,
and increasingly fragile, wild treasures.

500
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:12,920
In the next episode we travel into
Madagascar's most luxuriant landscape.

501
00:58:12,955 --> 00:58:17,680
Between the wild peaks of the eastern
mountains and the tropical shore

502
00:58:17,715 --> 00:58:21,120
lies a magical world of rainforest
where nature has run riot.

503
00:58:21,155 --> 00:58:25,440
It's the jewel
in Madagascar's crown.

504
00:58:26,305 --> 00:58:32,230
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