"Transcripted by Nguyen Van Dat, Collection 2008." "This is the Caribbean's more mysterious side" "It's wild western shore." "The coast line of central America." "It runs more than 1700 miles all the way from Panama to Mexico." "It has thousands of islands and reefs on a massive scale." "All, bursting with life." "This is a journey along the world's one of the most surprising coast lines." "Through the remote beaches, jungle hideaways and secluded waters of the Caribbean's secret shores." "This long strip of coast line forms the western border of the Caribbean sea." "It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific occean, except at its narrowest point, where the single thread of water links between." "The Panama canal." "One of the busiest water ways in the world." "Just 47 miles long, it carries 14000 ships each year." "Built almost a century ago, it is still one of the greatest ever fits of civil engineering." "a highway carved right through the rainforest." "Passengers get a bird's eyeview of the canal wild life along the way." "If they're lucky, they may spot a family of cruising capybaras." "or, a spectacle cayman." "This is just a tantalizing glimse of what life is in the jungle beyond." "These forests support more than 600 bird species, and almost 150 different mammals." "The full diversity of rainforest life." "The forests are big enough for large animals like spider monkeys." "They're one of the most agile monkeys, thanks to that grasping prehandside tail which is like as its fifth limb." "At five months old, this baby is just getting a ....." "Spider monkeys have to be fast and agile because they're fruit eaters, and need to search far and wide for enough fruits in trees." "This lifestyle means they need large areas of healthy forest to survive." "It is not just animals that depend on this forest." "So does the canal." "The rainforest around the Panama canal extends for more than 500 square miles." "When rain falls in the forest, rivers feed its downstream into the canal." "More than 5 trillion litters of water every year." "The canal is over 25 meters above sea level." "So it relies on water from the rainforest to top it up." "The trees prevent soil erosion too, which stop its silting up." "Without the healthy forest, the canal could not exist." "So most of the surrounding rainforest is protected." "The canal is world famous but just a few miles off the Caribbean coast of Panama, there is a much less familiar world." "Bocastel Todol, an archipelago of islands as beautiful as any in the Caribbean." "Less than 10 miles off the mainland.... and enchanting mix of rocky islands, forests, and coral quays." "Bocastel also has hundreds of tiny mangrove islands." "On a larger island, mangroves are a heaven for a shy, slow moving animal not normally associated with the Caribbean." "A three-toed sloth." "Ussually found in mainland forests of central and southern America." "This is the only place where it is adapted to eat toxic fibrous mangrove leaves." "These huge claws act like grabbing hooks whether it is hanging on to trees or the mother." "These island's sloths tend to be smaller than their cousins on the mainland." "Probably because their diet is more limited." "But since they don't burn up much energy, they can survive." "Sloths are good swimmers, but this is the only place they know to swim in salt water from trees to trees." "Their stomach, full of gas from digesting mangrove leaves, gives them extra bouyancy." "Despite having thick fur, it doesn't take them long to dry off." "Their hair grows differently to other mammals, from their front, round to their back." "So it drains quicker on their up side down." "Sloths move so slowly, and also well camouflaged." "often you hardly know their hair at all." "But they can't be set about one of their neighbors." "These are Mantle Hauler monkeys, more castaway from the mainland." "This morning wake-up cough marks their territory." "After that, they'll spend a few hours travelling from trees to trees to find the tastiest new leaves." "Since leaves are easier to find than fruit, unlike the spider monkeys, they don't need to go far, which means they're better suitable to small island." "But downside is the leaves that are not very nutritious, so they need to eat a lot." "They can take away a human equivalent of 30 ..... a day." "The other problem of leaves is they're loaded with toxin and fibre, so, like sloths, haulers have a large stomach and special ... bacteria to cope." "It takes a long time to digest so many greens." "So in the midday heat, the only sensible solution is to chill." "These island forests are full of mainland animals, because Bocastel Todel was part of the mainland." "When sea level rose up at the last Ice Age, the islands and their wild life were cut off." "And in the isolation, animals began to evolve in their own distinctive way." "This poisoned dart frog is found only in the island of Bastil Mentals." "It is so specific to this place." "It has a beach named after it - Red Frog Beach." "On other islands, poinsoned dart frogs coming different colors." "The warning message to keep predators at bay is still the same." "But each one has evolved a dramatically different shade." "Scientists believe these frogs may end up a completely different species." "Each flying the color of its island home." "If this is evolution and action, the islands of Brocastel Todel are a living laboratory." "which is why the nick name:" "the Calapecas of the Caribbean." "The calm, shallow coast lines of Brocastel Todel are ideal for mangroves to grow." "Tangle mangroves conceal a hidden world." "above and beneath the surface of the swamp." "These murky shallows shelter a wealth of life almost as much as a coral reef." "It is a safe place because the water is too shallow and bracket from all predators." "Many fish spend their whole lilfe here including bottom feeders like the peak-hock flounder and the sting ray." "But 80% of fish that live in the mangrove use it as a nursery." "It is a great place to start their life, the one that big enough, most of these fish would trike out to the reef or open sea." "It is not just fish that make up the mangrove community." "The root makes ideal anchor points for sponges, fan worms, and molluscs." "A place to hide from shrimps and crabs." "Even coral can take whole among the roots." "Apart from offering safety the mangroves are awash with nutrion, including particles brought in by sea currents and coastal rivers." "That's what makes that mangroves such a hot bed of life." "They're full of food." "For one animal, all this food is not enough" "Cassiopeas, or up-side-down jellyfish" "They cover the mangrove floor, catching drifting plankton." "But inside their tentacles, they also grow their own food." "These colors are algae, microscopic plants" "Since algae needs sunlight to grow, the jellyfish like up-side-down they expore their tentacles." "Sugars made by the algae, make up 90% of Cassiopeas food." "And in return, these tiny storeaways get protection from stinging cells in the tentacles." "A perfect partnership." "As well as Broscastel Todel, Panama has Central America's largest archipelago " "Sun-glass, made up of more than 300 islands." "Most are uninhabited, but the larger islands are home to a unique community." "The Cooner Indians are originated in the farthest of Columbia." "But today, almost half their 70,000 strong population live here." "In their own territory within Panama, called the Cooner Yahlla." "They are true people of the sea." "Some Cooner fishmen dive on a single breathe to more than 30 meters." "And stay down for 2 minutes at a time." "To protect the reef, scooper gear is banned." "But their skin diving skill brings rich rewards." "Lobsters." "Most of their protein comes from the sea, but the Cooner also make the most of their land, which is communally owned." "Many of the smallers are tended and havested for coconuts, a valuable commodity." "Most of the population live in villages on the larger islands." "They're proud of their independence, and maintain much of their rich culture and traditional dress, which they wear every day." "The Cooner treat their island as a treasure resort, and keep the sand pristine by sweeping it every morning." "They believe they have responsibility to protect the earth, which they say is the body of one of their Deities, the Great Mother." "They tend tidy gardens around their homes." "And instead of field for raising livestock, they have the beach." "Cooner children learn about their customs and heritage through stories, music and dance." "The Cooner island lifestyle is a wealth away from the vast open spaces of the mainland coast." "North of Panama, deserted beaches run for miles, fringed by forests, full of life." "The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica has a rich forest community, including Capuchin monkeys." "Capuchins are among the most intellegent of all monkeys, which is just as well as babies like these, have a lot to learn." "Living in these beach-side forests they got access to a huge variety of food and these, resorts for monkeys make the most of it." "# Capuchins keep moving Capuchin monkeys moving,#" "#Capuchins keep moving..." "Monkeys moving#" "In these forests there is no shortage of food and nuts." "But Capuchins keep a sharp eye for other opportunities, too." "Their hands are almost as desperate as ours." "From insects to bird's eggs, they eat just about anything they can find" "After the main course, there's even a sweet honey desert." "As well as the forest buffet, there's a swamp behind the beach where there's always something here to be found." "like this frog." "and to wash it all down, a drink from a fresh water stream." "There is a special delicacy, if you know where and when to look." "The clever Capuchin have learnt to visit the swamp at low tide" "for clans." "Finding them is easy, opening them takes .... as well as brain." "But eventually, they cracked it for a nutritious seafood treat." "To the north of Costa Rica, the beach is front yet another Caribbean landscape." "From Nicaragua, running for hundreds of miles north of Honduras, like the mosquito coast." "Here, it's what behind the beach, that makes this region unique." "Giant lagoons are separated from the Caribbean sea by dunes and spits." "This is where fresh water mix the sea." "This giant maze of rivers and lagoons extends for more than 9000 square miles making this the largest area of wetland in the Caribbean." "It is a .... for thousands of water birds." "As the seasonal flood water ....., they expose huge number of crabs and other crustaceans." "A feast for winter migrants waders like these sandpipers which fly in from north America to feed." "White ...." "live here all year around." "and follow the changing water levels to find food." "The big surprise of the mosquito coast is that it named not for host of insects, but after the people who live here." "The Mosquitio Indians." "This region inaccessibility" " Amon Tmozi helped them to repel Spanish Conquesterdor" "Until these days, it helps them keep their cultural identity intact." "Water determines every aspect of their life" "It is where they hunt, wash, live and play." "This rich wetland isn't the only water world in Honduras." "There is another out to see." "30 miles or so off the coast lie the bay islands of Utila, Roatan, and Guanaja." "They're fragments of a mountain chain cut off for around 6000 years ago, by rising sea levels at the end of the Ice Age." "Separation from the mainland has left you some unique evolutionary quirks." "The Utila spiny-tailed iguana is found on this one island and no where else." "It is the only iguana in the world that lives exclusively in mangrove swamps." "Locals call it "the swamper"." "It eats mangrove leaves and flowers and something, a little hard to spot and even tricky to catch." "Fillet crabs - the swamper's favorite food." "Like the Capuchin's clams, this meal is only on the menu at low tide." "and it is a popular dish." "It gotta get it quick before it runs out." "The bay island's greatest variety of wild life is found in the surrounding seas." "The waters off-shore are among the deepest in the Caribbean." "and their rich supply of food attracts a crowd of visitors or the summer season." "Fimbo jellyfish are blown in by the wind on surface currents." "Numbers bloom between April and May." "Deeper upwhirlings carry plankton from the depth and trigger an entire food chain attracting open water fish like Jacks." "These in turn, ...." "larger visitors like rare foskiller whales." "Occasionally, the real thing turns up too." "A part of killer whales or Orca." "Although Killer whales are found through out the world they're rarely seen here in the Caribbean." "But even killer whales are overshadowed by the larger visitors of all, the world biggest fish" "the whale shark." "A twelve meter giant weighing 15 tons." "They cruise this coast line all year around, but number increase from February to May." "as they are attracted to abundant seasonal food." "They skim the surface of the water with the mouth up to 2 meters wide, and all fill vast amount of phankton." "All this food is shipped to giant gills." "But the whale shark faces a competition." "B... fish congregate to take advantage of the plankton too." "And hold on their tail are .... tuna." "They begin to herd the base fish to the surface where they can be trapped and eaten." "But the whale shark doesn't bow out." "Now these plankton eaters join the action in the most surprising way." "They ...." "By sucking in mouthfull of water, they can guzzle hundreds of the tiny fish." "Shark gulping fish and water like this has rarely been seen before but seem to be the speciality of the Base island whale shark." "This surface feeding frenzy which whale sharks and tuna gorging side by side can last for several minutes at a time." "Eventually, the shark decends back to the deep." "When they live here, noone is sure exactly where they go." "It's just one of the many secrets of the Caribbean shore." "In northern part of the central America coast line, in Beli and Mexico, hides secrets of another kind." "This is the Yucatan- a flat limestone plateau." "It's home to a ruin city that ...." "about a thousand years ago." "but a centre of the ancient Mayan world." "Despite this area barren exterior, the Mayan could survive because of these giant reserves of ground water." "The Yucatan is .... with these strange pools, known as Cenotes." "More than five thousand of them." "Beneath the surface, you enter an eerie and mysterious world." "A flooded labyrinth of caves, hidden worlds are dawn with stalactites and stalagmiles formed thousands of years ago when the cavern was dry." "Today, you need special skills and equipment to enter this drown world." "Ghostly creatures live here in absolute darkness." "Originally from the sea, they lost their eyes and pigmentation as they adapted to the caves." "This premitive crustacean is a remipede." "And these are......" "More than half of cenotes remain unexplored." "And since many of these strange creatures have evolved in just one cave they could be many more ...." "like this ...fish yet to be discovered." "There are no surface rivers here, the limestone access the water filter and so the underground rivers that flow into the Caribbean sea are crystal clear." "This clear water helps sustain perhaps the most spectacular sight in the whole Caribbean." "The barrier reef of the Americas." "It runs for more than 180 miles from the Base Islands to Yukatan." "The second largest coral system in the world, only Australia's great barrier reef is bigger." "This vast system sits on a limestone shell with strange geological formation like the Blue Hole." "Created when a huge cave collapsed, it's more than 120 meters deep." "But it's in the shallow, sunlit water up above that coral flourishes." "The barrier reef is home to over 200 kinds of coral, almost as many as entire Caribbean sea." "And this complex community thousands of species may rely for food and shelter on a single stretch of reef." "More than 400 kinds of fish live on this reef system alone." "A collided scope of colors, shapes and sizes." "From the bottom of the food chain to the top." "Further out into the Caribbean sea, beyond the Barrier Reef, are huge coral atolls." "Each centered around the lagoon, with remote islands of their own." "This is Turnif atoll." "30 miles off the coast of Belies" "Its isolated mangroves are a sanctuary for one creature that was hunted almost to extinction throughout the Caribbean." "These are crocodile hatchlings, just a few days old." "The undisturbed mangroves of these remote atolls are a good place to grow up." "The youngsters keep quite and hide among the roots for protection." "Each baby has a ..... in its stomach, emergency.... for the first two weeks." "Once.....runs out, they have to live up to their adult habitation fast." "One day, they'll be a top predator with upto 5 meters long." "But now, they're just 25 centimeters." "They're potential prey." "A great egret can swallow a baby croc whole." "Instinctively, the babies duck and dive or freeze among the roots." "It doesn't ......, but this is still one of the safest places for a baby croc to grow up." "Crocs are the only creature that prefer to net in isolated areas." "This is a colony of 4000 red-footed boobies." "They live here all year around, but January to April is the peak season to breed." "But keeping this chicks satisfied is a challenge" "As they grow, so does their appetite." "Both parents work the fishing rotor, spending upto 90% of the time in their air looking for squid and flying fish." "Fishing is easy in these rich seas, the problem for the boobies is keeping their catch." "They have neighbors from hell." "Magnificient frigate birds, the true pirates of the Caribbean." "They let the boobies do the hard work, and they try to steal their catch." "One booby is no match for the whole raiding party." "Eventually, all the boobies can do is ditch." "This is what the frigates want, the boobies' fish" "They force them to .... their load." "Every day, the boobies run the gauntlet, trying to get back to feed their chicks." "Most are sucessful in the end but it can't take several attempts." "This time, the booby chick goes hungry." "But nearby, another chick is geting fed." "The frigates, too, have hungry mouths to feed." "Despite the problem of neighbors, this is still such a good place to net that every year boobies successfully raise hundreds of chicks." "It's not just the remoteness of these atolls that make them a good wildlife refuse." "It's their size." "This entire stretch of coast line is the Caribbean on a breath-taking scale." "It has the longest beaches and the biggest reef." "It's an island .... paradise." "and home to people with unique cultures." "It's also an incredible variety of wildlife." "With big surprises, all the way along the Caribbean's secret shores."