七个世界,一个星球纪录片英文解说词

01- Antarctica

200 million years ago, our planet looked very different from what it does today. It was

entirely covered by sea, which surrounded one single super-continent, we call Pangea.

And then Pangea began to break up, life was cast adrift on fragments of land. And these

fragments eventually became our seven continents.

We will see how life developed on each continent, giving rise to the extraordinary and

wonderful diversity that we see today.

We will venture to the frozen wilderness of Antarctica, where life thrives against the

odds. And to the riches of South America, full of the unexpected. From the wilds of

Africa, to the vast expanses of North America and the searing heat of Australia. We’ll

explore the remote reaches of Asia, home to rarely seen creatures. And to Europe, a

world transformed by humanity.

And we’ll discover how this may be the most critical moment for life on earth since the

continents formed. We are changing the world so rapidly that wild life is now facing

some of its greatest challenges yet. Never has it been a more important time to reveal

the precious diversity of life on our seven continents.

This is seven worlds, one all the continents, one was first sighted by humans

just 200 years ago. And only now are we beginning to understand what it takes to sur-vive here. It is the most hostile of them all, Antarctica.

98% of mainland Antarctic, an area one and a half times the size of the United Statas is

covered in ice, on which virtually nothing can live. So, life is depended on the ocean

that surrounds it. But even the ocean freezes, only one mammal can live this far south,

the weddell seal. She has to keep her breathing hole open by grinding back the ice with

her teeth. Out here on the sea ice, all these seals are far from the predators of the open

sea. So this is the safest place for her to give birth. Leaving the warmth of the womb

and landing on ice is the sharpest drop in temperature any animal ever faces. But her

pup can’t swim for the first 10 days of its life. It’s trapped here, out on the ice. She

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shields her pup from the wind. Although its spring, temperature can drop to minus 40

degrees Celsius, and blizzards can rage for days. 3 days on, and the storm is still raging.

She now faces the hardest of decisions. Does she stay with her pup or shelter in the

water? Now her pup’s best chance to survival is for the storm to pass quickly. Some

pups didn’t make it. An answer. If this pup now joins its mother in the water, it will be

safe from any future storm. It is minus two degree Celsius. But being in the water is

warmer than lying on the ice in the howling wind. Its chances of surviving here are now

extremely good. Only a few hardy animals can live all year round as far south as this.

Further from the pole, on the fringes of the continent, lies islands that are free of sea

ice. Here, there are other challenges. St Andrews bay, on South Georgia, is packed with

half a million king penguins. In spring the chicks are left for days, whilst their parents

are away collecting food for them. There is a simple arrangement the chicks must stay

exactly where their parents left them to be sure of being found again. But this chick has

decided to look around. There is a lot to be investigated. But it must not stray too far

from its meeting place. This parent has returned with food in its crop, but its chick isn’t

where it left it. It’s hard to stay put when there is so much to play with. Elephant seals

are here too, very mysterious! Founding it in the crowd of youngsters is not going to

easy. They must recognize each other by their calls. But to hear these in such a noisy

colony, they must be within 15 metres of each other. Reunited.

St Andrew’s beach is one of the most crowed on the planet, so holding a territory here

is constant battle. This bull elephant seal holds the mating rights to 60 females. For two

months, he’s guarded this stretch of beach. Unable to feed, he’s losing ten kilos a day

and he’s exhausted. But other bulls are lying around waiting their chance. Blubber 15

centimetres thick is protection against the cold, but not from the impact of a four-tonne

opponent. He holds his ground and forces the intruder back out to sea.

Life in the Antarctica is harsh indeed, but all these creatures come here, because the

southern ocean is one of the richest on earth. When 30 million years ago, the continent

broke away from South America and drifted， south currents began to swirl right

around it. They are now the strongest of any currents on the planet. They sweep up

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nutrients from the depths, and so create one of the richest feeding grounds in all the

world’s oceans. And some of the creatures that come here to feast do so in a most so-phisticated way.

Humpback whales. It’s summer and they’re come here for a banquet. The cold waters

contain great shoals of krill. It is estimated that there are 400 trillion of them. And that

their combined weight is greater than that of any other animal species on the planet. To

collect them the humpbacks blow curtains of bubbles which the krill won’t cross. The

whales then rise spiraling inwards to concentrate the swarm. Summer in Antarctica is a

time of plenty when most humpback are able to put on the reserves they need for the

whole year.

But wildlife in these waters faces an uncertain future. The southern ocean is warming.

90% of the world’s ice lies in Antarctica, and in some parts the rate at which it’s melting

is doubling every decade. Sea levels are rising. But there is a more immediate threat.

The warming of the coldest region on earth is having a profound effect on the global

weather patterns. And this change in the climate is already being felt right here.

This grey-headed albatross chick is four weeks old. So far, it has been sheltered from

the gales by its parents who take turns to collect food for it out at sea. It is the only chick

that they will have in two years. A delicate touching of breaks strengthens their bond.

But these tender moments cannot last forever. As chick grows so does its appetite, so

one parent has to leave find food before the other returns. Parting is a big step and they

take time over it. For the first time in its life, this chick is alone.

The Antarctica is the windiest continent, and in recent years climate change has brought

storms that more frequent and even more powerful. Winds now regularly reach over a

hundred kilometres per hour. But the albatross chicks must try to stay on their nests.

Surviving the storm is one thing, but now off the nest in these freezing temperatures,

this chick has just hours to live. The brutal conditions have taken their toll. Some

chicks have already succumbed to exposure. The bond is so strong, it can be hard for

father to let go. The albatross population here has more than halved in the last fifteen

years. These albatross are facing extinction. They simply cannot keep pace with the

changes affecting their world. More parents are returning to the colony. Something is

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not right, the nest should not be empty. The chick is actually right below its parent. But

because it’s not on the nest, the parent doesn’t recognize it and doesn’t help it. Strangely

perhaps, these albatross do not recognize their chicks by sight, sound or smell. They

identify them by finding them on the nest. So these violent storms have created a prob-lem that the albatross are not equipped to solve. If it is to survive, the chick will have

to get back on the nest by itself. The chick has made it. The bond is re-established

immediately, and its parent once again provides the warmth that the chick so desperately

needs. It’s safe for now.

Nowhere in Antarctica is survival easy. Gentoo penguins travel up to 80 kilometres

every day to find food. And they are now returning to their chicks. They are the fastest

penguin in the sea, and they can swim at 35 kilometres per hour. But other animals can

swim faster, orca. This penguin must rely on its agility. With 4 orcas chasing it, the

penguin stood little chance. Most Gentoo parents do make back to the colony. Today,

it’s been a good hunt for krill, perhaps too good. The chicks grow and it seems that the

Mohawk style is back in fashion. It’s just a phase, he will go out of it. He’ll soon lose

these remaining down feathers and ready to leave the colony and collect food for him-self. But doing so is becoming harder because of climate change.

Glaciers in the region are now carving faster than they have done since records began.

And this brash ice now fills the bays. It’s autumn. The chicks have lost their down

feathers and they are hungry. They must go to the sea for the first time. But now, there’s

a risk of being crushed between blocks of ice. They have to get to the distant icebergs

and so reach the open ocean that lies beyond. But that is easier said than done. A leopard

seal, their main predator. It’s a giant, 3 meters long. These icy condition help it to hunt.

The penguins can neither walk nor swim. They have no way to telling where the seal

will strike. These are easy pickings. For some, it’s time to retreat. But now it’s back to

square one. There’s no alternative, but to run to the gauntlet once again. This seal seems

to be toying with this penguin. The safety is in sight. The ice floe is near the open ocean,

but this penguin is exhausted. Perhaps it’s not worth it after all.

Winter is coming. Antarctica now undergoes a major transformation. Every day, a hun-dred thousand more square kilometres of sea freeze over. By the end of the winter, the

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continent has doubled in size. This is by far the largest desert in the world. But the

frozen surface of the sea hides a great secret.

It may be hostile above the ice, but below it conditions are so stable. The life over

millennia has had time to diversify. Creatures here grow to a great size.

These predatory nematine worms are 3 metres long. They are only just beginning to

discover the details of the lives of these strange creatures. Nudibranchs are hermaphro-dite. Each individual possesses both male and female reproductive organs. So to mate,

one nudibranch just needs to find another nudibranch, and anyone will do. But none-theless this is a challenge when their tiny eyes can barely see. Some do get lucky.

They’re fertilising each other, and both can produce young. When it’s hard to find part-ner, it pays not to have to worry about your gender.

Sea anemones may look like plants, but actually are animals, and feed by catching edi-ble particles that drift within reach of their tentacles. But being rooted to the sea floor

makes them vulnerable to predators. An ocean-going jellyfish, a metre or so across

searching for food. The jellyfish senses prey. But it’s the sea anemones that have made

the catch and they’ve grabbed a monster. A rare feast for these stationary predators.

They devour their catch over the next 4 days.

Life here under the ice has remained unchanged for millennia. But in the last 200 years,

much of Antarctica’s wildlife has to face new predators, human beings. We devised new

hunting techniques and use them so mercilessly that we almost exterminated the great

whales. These whaling stations on South Georgia were at the center of this industry.

More than one and a half million whales were slaughtered in Antarctic waters. The

blubber was stripped from their massive bodies and boiled down in vats to make mar-garine and soap. And the largest animal ever recorded, a 33 metres blue whale perhaps

over a hundred years old was butchered on this ramp in just two hours. This reckless

slaughter marked a new low in our relationship with the natural world.

Southern right whales were hit the hardest. They were so trusting and inquisitive that

they swam right up to the whaler’s boats. And the whalers called them “right whales”

because they were the right whales to hunt. Mothers with calves were targeted first. To

give birth, females came to the same sheltered bays and would not leave their calves

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alone at the surface. In just decades, a population of 35 thousand was so reduced and

only 35 of the females survived. But times have changed, a ban on the commercial

hunting of whales introduced in 1986 has stopped all but Japan, Norway and Iceland.

Our relationship to these remarkable creatures has undergone a huge shift. Scientists

are now learning a great deal about these whales. But we still don’t know how long they

live. It’s thought that some individuals alive today were around at the time of the mass

slaughter. Yet these 60 tonne whales remain gentle and inquisitive around humans. By

putting a stop to commercial hunting, this population of whales has now grown to over

2000. The recovery of life in Antarctic waters may have a significant that extends far

beyond the reaches of the continent and will affect us all.

Just off the coast of elephant island, we have recently witnessed what might be the

greatest feeding spectacle on earth. On the horizon, over a hundred and fifty whales

have gathered to feast on krill. This is the largest congregation of great whales ever

filmed. These are mostly fin whales up to 26 metres long. Humpback whales are

dwarfed in comparison. Thousands of animals from all over Antarctic waters are mak-ing their way here. These seas are once again beginning to brim with life. And scientists

have discovered that the southern ocean and the life within it soaks up more than twice

as much carbon from the atmosphere as the Amazon rainforest. By protecting Antarc-tica, we don’t just protect the life here. We’re hoping to restore the natural balance of

the entire planet.

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02-Asia

Asia, the largest of all the earth’s continents. It stretches from the equator, to beyond

the Arctic Circle. This is a continent of extremes. Here temperatures can drop to below

minus sixty degree Celsius. On land, survival is almost impossible. But for a few weeks

in summer, the ice melts, and the coast is transformed. This is one of the biggest gath-erings of mammals to be found anywhere on earth. ASIA.

These are Pacific Walrus. For most of the year they feed in the Arctic Ocean emerging

to rest on the sea ice. But now climate change has melted the ice here and the only place

within reach of their feeding grounds where they can rest are few beaches, such as this

one. A hundred thousand of them almost the entire world population are here. They are

gigantic, a male can weight over tonne, and many die in the scrum. On a beach, four

hundred and fifty miles to the west, there is a further danger, Polar bears. They too have

been forced to spend more time ashore by the dwinding ice. And now, they are very

hungry. But adult walrus are tough, wellarmed, and agile in water, and could fatally

injure the bear. He's failed.

The narrow beaches here are backed by cliffs. And some walrus scramble up them es-caping the crowed. At the top, they are 80 metres above the beach. But this is not the

place where a walrus should be. Now are they the only ones to have found it, the bears

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have got up here too. The walrus’s instinct is to find safety in the water. They can still

smell the sea, and they can hear it. Just the polar bear presence is enough to spool the

walrus. Many walrus that climb the cliffs never make it back to the ocean. Even once

the polar bears have moved on, the walrus need to return to the sea, and some take the

nearest way to do so. As one crashes on the rocks, these on the beach stampede and

more lives are lost. In the course of just a few days, over 200 walrus die. Now the polar

bears can feed on the carcasses. These events only occur once every few years, but as

the world warms, and the ice retreats still further, they may become more frequent.

Inland, the ground is gripped by winter for 6 months of the year. Five million square

kilomiles of northern Russia, are locked beneath the ice. But even so, some creatures

have managed to make their homes here. They leave evidence of their presence in the

snow. These tracks all lead in one direction.

Kamchatka has the highest density of active volcanoes on the planet. Temperature under

the ground reach 250 degrees Celsius, pushing up cauldrons of boiling mud and clouds

of steam. But in spite of dangers, some creatures travel long distances to visit the area.

A Kamchatka brown bear. He spends the long winter sleeping in a den below ground

and now he is extremely hungry. But finding food means getting dangerously close to

the scalding foundations. This is the only place for many miles around that a bear can

reach grass that is snowfree thanks to the hot earth. Putting a foot wrong here could lead

to real trouble and bodies have been found of bears that stumbled into the pools that

were scalded to death. And this bear is not alone. Brown bears, by and large, are solitary

creature and this I one of the few times of the year when they tolerate the presence of

others. And now, they are so wellfed and relaxed and they even have time to play. This

volcanic spot has become a warm oasis in Asia’s frigid north.

Away from Arctic Russia, Asia has the hottest deserts, highest mountains and tallest

jungles on our planet. This is a continent of incredible variety. But it was not always so.

Some 8900 years ago, India was an island, lying away to the south. But it drifted north-wards, putting up the sediments between it and mainland Asia. Over millions of years,

the sediments lying between crumpled up and rose to form the Himalayas. Now, these

are the tallest mountains on the planet. They reach 8900 kilometres high. India is still

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moving northwards and these mountains are still rising. Asia’s mountains stretch all the

way from Afghanistan, across Northern India to here in center of China.

These are the mountains of Shennongjia among China’s highest. The forests here were,

until comparatively recently, the least known in the world. Few outsiders had any idea

of what animals might be living in them. There were stories of humanlike monsters,

yetis. Abominable Snowmen who left strange footprints in the snow, but little else.

And indeed there are monkeys living in these snowy forests. And they are strange. Meet

the bluefaced, goldencoated, snubnosed, snow monkey. They are among the heftiest of

moneys. Big animals keep warm more easily than small ones, and they survive in colder

conditions than any other monkeys on earth. They all have snubnoses, perhaps promi-nent ones would only too easily get frostbitten. The whole group huddles together and

slightest opportunity to keep warm. And who wouldn’t. Even adults, if they get sepa-rated from the group can freeze to death. Now, in the depth of winter, food is desperately

hard to find. The head of the family leads them to the edge of their territory in search

of something to eat. The only food here is wretchedly unnourishing, bark, moss and

lichen. They are hardly enough to sustain one monkey, let alone a family. But they

share it, peaceably. Survival depends on the group keep together. In these mountains,

any food is precious. Rivals, they too are searching for food. The two males go head to

head. Now the females join the fray. Outnumbered, the intruders retreat. Their leader is

the last to go. The fight was over the smallest of meals, but it was ferocious nonetheless

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and the family is now scattered. But they must stay together. The youngest are already

badly chilled. She can see her father, but has she the strength to reach him. Back to

safety and warmth. The huddle is the only source of warmth in these bleak frozen forests.

To the west of the Himalayas in Iran, lie some of the hottest deserts on earth. This is the

Lut Desert and here temperature can reach 70 degrees Celsius. The blisteringly hot

rocks and baking sands of Iran’s deserts may appear totally lifeless. But a few trees

manage to grow in the shade of the canyon walls. And here at least, migrating birds

passing through, can stop for a little rest. A flycatcher. With luck, there might be a meal

of some kind here. There are spiders in the crevices. Not much but worth having. And

there is something moving up there. The bird was mistaken. It was a viper with a lethal

bite. This species has only recently been discovered, and so far, it has been found no-where else but here. Its camouflage is so effective that it is almost impossible to see it

on these rocks. And on its tail, moveable scales have been modified to look like a spi-der’s legs. And its tip, like an abdomen. Migrating birds only appear in this barren desert

during a few weeks of the year. This is the snake’s only chance to eat for months! A

shrike. It was flown here from Africa and hasn’t fed for days. Better luck next time.

Conditions are almost as harsh on the dry plains of Northern India. A male Sarada Liz-ard does his best to get himself noticed. It is breeding time. The wideopen spaces are

good place to be seen. He is only 7 centimetres tall, but a rock will help to make him

conspicuous. And he has already been noticed by one female. It’s time for him to show

off. The more healthy and virile he is, the brighter his colours are. And females like

bright, flashy coloues. But he, it seems, is not as conspicuous as he might be. In the

neighbor territory, there is another male who has found an even bigger rock. So the

newcomer is not making quite such a good impression. The one on the big rock is at-tracting all the females. A newcomer will need a higher platform if he is to been seen

by a female and he had better do something about it. He only lives for a year. This is

his one chance. He will have to fight if necessary. His rival isn’t backing down. Sarada

males can fight to the death. The newcomer has won. Now he can claim the high plat-form and the best territory. And the females will choose him for a partner as long as he

can fight off the other claimants.

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As the Himalayas rose over millions of years they eventually formed a gigantic barrier

that prevented rain clouds from the south travelling further north. And a completely

new weather system developed in southern Asia. The monsoon.

These drenching annual rains transformed southern Asia. Dense rainforests formed in

which plants and animals of all kinds were able to proliferate and evolve. Some of the

tallest jungles grow in Indonesia. The home of the largest of all treeliving animals of

any kind, the orangutan. There is multitude of things to eat here, but you have to know

where to find them. Young orangs stay with their mother for years learning how to do

that. This youngster has only just started. Termites, an important source of protein. But

perhaps they are an acquired taste. He’s off to search for something he might prefer. It’s

hard to know where to look. Or where is safe to clamber. Different levels in the forest

contain different foods. And some of them the most delicious are in the highest parts of

the canopy. 50 metres above the ground. He is a couple of years old, and he is already

getting adventurous. His mother could climb right to the top in ten minutes or so if she

wants to. But she lingers to keep an eye on him. A fall from this height could be fatal.

Where the gaps between the branches are too wide for him, his mother lets him use her

body as a bridge. Only 10 metres to go before the top. But it’s hard for a small hands.

He’s had enough. Time for a rest with mother. And this is his reward, ripe mangos sweet

and juicy. There is so much he must learn. He will depend entirely on his mother until

he is seven. It is the longest of all childhoods except ours.

In these dense forests, it is not easy for animals to see one another at any distance. But

songs carry well through the jungle. This is the characteristic sound that echoes through

the Sumatran forest at every dawn. But what can this be? Of all the sounds in the Indo-nesian forests, this is one of the strangest to our ears. It can be heard nowhere else on

earth. And this is the singer. A Sumatran rhinoceros.

She is tiny, only a fifth of the size of her more Africa relatives. Her head could rest

comfortable on your knee. She is the gardener of this Eden. She doesn’t just live in it,

she helps to create and sustain it. She eats fruits and then sheds the seeds in her drop-pings and so spread the foods she prefers through the forests. In this dense jungle, she

uses sound to locate a possible mate. But her calls are unanswered. She is living behind

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a fence for her own protection. In the past, Sumatran rhinos were widespread through

Southern Asia. Today, there are fewer than 70. It may well be that as she approaches the

end of her natural life, she will have become one of the last of her species. Because in

the last 40 years, one third of the forests of Southeast Asia has been destroyed in order

to sell timber and food products around the world. The forests of Borneo and Sumatra

home to the orangutan and rhinos and thousands of other species that have evolved here

over millions of years are now in real danger of being lost forever. It seems that the

animal whose home this once was are worth to us than the land they lived on.

Viewed from space, the scale of destruction is only too obvious. Asia has undergone a

faster change in the last 100 years than at any time in its history. Its forests are being

annihilated. Its cities are expanding and as the human population approaches 4.6 billion,

the largest of all continent is no longer able it seems to allow space for its wildlife.

The ocean around Southern Asia are also feeling this pressure. These seas feed billions

of people around the world. For many fishermen here, their catch is the only source of

livelihood. And there is one fish here that they prize above all others. The whale shark.

It swims slowly, gently harvesting the plankton. It is almost 20 metres long, the largest

fish in the world. They are also under the threat. Like many shark species in Asia, pop-ulations have declined by more than half in recent years. They are an easy and valuable

catch. But here, there is a respect for the seas and their inhabitants. Whale shark hunting

has now been banned across Indonesia waters. This whale shark plays a different part

in the lives of these fishermen. They feed him, and relationship seems to bring joy to

both parties. And with this new protection has come something truly remarkable. Whale

sharks from far away are seeking out these fishermen. And in these safe waters, there

is a chance for their numbers to increase. And may be one day, other sharks species will

be protected too. The people here have made a simple and extraordinary choice, fishing

in a way that is sustainable for themselves and the animals. Caring for wildlife is surely

our shared responsibility. Across this vast continent and across the world, it is decisions

like these that are key to protecting the planet’s most precious diversity.

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03-South America

At the southern tip of South America, the Andes Mountains rise almost vertically. Their

very height affects life throughout the continent. The barren slopes look inhospitable.

But like all parts of South America, they’re actually rich with wildlife.

A family of puma. They live further south than any kind of cat on earth. These cubs are

only 6 months old entirely dependent on their mother for food. She knows how to ex-ploit this rugged landscape to her advantage. And she has to do so if she is to catch the

continent’s most challenging prey. South America.

Guanaco, a relative of the camel. Two metres tall and over three times the weight of a

puma. The mother’s only hope is to go for the throat and try to suffocate her prey. Her

cubs try to help But they themselves don’t yet have the skills or the weight to bring

down such large prey. And the mother is now badly injured.

Her wounds are severe and will take weeks to heal properly. But without food, her cubs

won’t survive for long. The weather in the Andes is harsh and unpredictable. The snow

makes the camouflage on which she relies much less effective. But she must have food.

The guanaco have left her normal hunting ground. And now in the territory of a much

larger male puma. He is just made a kill. But he isn’t about to share it with her. To hunt

here, she needs to leave her cubs behind in the safety of their home territory. Almost

invisible in the shadows, she is nearly within pouncing distance. Another failure. She’s

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got her speed back. Now she must hold on. But she is in the male’s territory, so her prize

isn’t safe. And her hungry cubs are over a mile away. In her weaken state, she will need

all her reserves of energy to drag it back onto her territory. Only her determination to

feed her young keeps her going. Nearly there. This one meal will barely last the whole

family for more a few days. Then their mother somehow will have to summon the

strength to hunt again. Life for the hunter in this land is as hard as it gets.

The Andes themselves were built by forces deep in the earth’s crust. In this part of the

Pacific, the ocean floor has been moving eastwards for millions of years. Where the

sediments meet the edge of continents, they’re pushed together and forced upwards.

This pressure creates fractures up with molten rock rises and then spewed out as ash

and lava from great volcanoes. Nearly 200 of them stretch in a line along the length of

the continent. Some erupt with the force of an atomic bomb every 10 seconds. As the

collision continues, the sea floor is dragged downwards, creating deep trench just off-shore. Rich cold waters rise up from it. And this upwelling creatures an abundance of

life.

Here on the coast of Peru, there are so many sear-birds fishing in the offshore waters

that the cliffs are covered in droppings over a metre thick. Humboldt penguins regard

the soft guano as a good material in which to dig their nest-holes. But it’s a messy

business. It’s the breeding season, and more hopeful nesters arrive spotless swimming

in the sea. Time for the residents to get cleaned up and catch some fish for themselves

and their chicks. To get to the sea, they cross the remains of an old nesting ground. Only

100 metres to go. But the beach is already crowded with sea lions. They too have come

ashore to raise their young, and they don’t like being disturbed. To get through such a

minefield needs a bold and courageous leader. A brave start. A dead end. Now he is in

trouble. This is going to be a bit of crowd-surfing. But now all the sea-lions are roused.

Getting through them will be tricky. A cleansing bathe in the ocean well worth the effort.

The animals living along the Pacific coast are cut-off from the rest of South America

by the Andes. They form a gigantic barrier stretching over 6000 kilometres from Pata-gonia in the south to Venezuela in the north. This is the world’s longest mountain range.

Some peaks are over seven kilometres. They are so tall they catch the clouds and so

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create an environment unlike any other on the continent. The cloud forest. Every high

valley has its own unique plants and animals. One of them is the aptly nicknamed Pi-nocchio lizard. It was first recorded here 50 years ago and then lost. It’s only recently

been re-discovered.

Up here, lives a creature so rare that it is seldom seen even by the scientists who have

come here to study it. The Andean bear. Only a few thousand remain. They eat mostly

leaves and fruit often clambering up to the very top of the canopy to do so. He is looking

for type of miniature avocado. 30 metres up. The only fruit to remain here is out on the

thinnest branches, too thin to support the weight of a bear. A more experienced bear has

turned up and wants a go. Time for young ones to watch and learn how to do it. The

trick is to bite the branch just enough to make it swing down and bring the fruit within

reach. Whoops! Now there’s a race to be first on the ground to claim it.

The moisture needed to create a cloud forest only occurs above a certain altitude. So

each peak may now have its own species. In Venezuela, there are similar small worlds

created not by rain but by rock. A great layer of sandstone once covered this entire area,

but rivers cut through it. As the valleys widened, the tablelands became first huge

plateaus, then isolated flat-topped mountains. And eventually, towers and spires. On the

top of the bigger ones, animals and plants have become so different that they can be

counted as new species.

There is no higher waterfall in the world than this one. Angel Falls. Almost a kilometer

from top to bottom. The vertical cliffs surrounding many of these mountains have kept

them largely free from human exploitation. No such barriers have protected the low-lands, but few patches of forests still remain.

One in Colombia is the home of one of the world’s rarest monkeys. Cotton-topped tam-arins（棉冠