"ATTENBOROUGH:" "Trees, surely among the most magnificent of all living things." "Some of the largest organisms on Earth, dwarfing all others and these are the tallest of them all." "The deciduous and coniferous woodlands that grow in the seasonal parts of our planet are the most extensive forests on Earth." "Their sheer extent stuns the imagination." "The barren snows of the Arctic." "A thousand miles from the North Pole and heading south." "This is the very first place that trees can grow." "To begin with, the conifers are sparse but soon they dominate the land." "This is the taiga forest." "There are as many trees here as in all the world's rainforests combined." "The taiga circles the globe and contains a third of all the trees on Earth." "It produces so much oxygen that it refreshes the atmosphere of the entire planet." "At the taiga's northern extent, the growing season can last for just one month a year." "It can take 50 years for a tree to get bigger than a seedling." "It's a silent world where little stirs." "But there are occasional signs of life, stories written in the snow." "The prints of an Arctic fox and the hare it might have been stalking." "A female polar bear and her two cubs." "Some animals are so difficult to glimpse that they're like spirits." "One could live a lifetime in these woods and never see a lynx." "The cat must roam hundreds of miles in search of prey and may never visit the same patch of forest twice." "It's the very essence of wilderness." "With so few prey animals here, life for a hunter is particularly hard." "Creatures are scarce because few can eat conifer needles." "The moose is an exception." "Growth is so difficult that conifers protect their precious leaves by filling them with resin." "That reduces water loss, but it also make them very distasteful." "At least the conifer's seeds are edible." "But they're protected within armor-plated cones and it takes a specialist to reach them." "The crossbill's extraordinary beak can prise apart the scales so that its tongue can extract the seeds." "Birds are fortunate." "When the seasonal crop is gathered, they can fly south." "But one animal is so expert at survival in this frozen forest that it stays here and is active all year long." "In local folklore, the wolverine is a link to the spirit world and a cross between a bear and a wolf." "In reality, it's a huge weasel." "Its bulk helps to conserve body heat and also broadens its menu." "It's so big and powerful, it can even bring down an adult caribou." "For its size, it's said that the animal can eat more in one sitting than any other." "Which is why it's also known as the glutton." "Being gluttonous here is a very effective strategy." "It's wise to eat all you can when you can." "And when even a glutton can't eat more, it stores what's left for later in the surrounding deep freeze." "Spring in the ice forest." "The capercaillie can also digest conifer needles." "But feeding is not its priority at the moment." "Like gladiators, the males square up for a battle." "Each may have just a single chance to impress a female." "Neither can afford a lapse in concentration." "The injured loser may not survive." "The inhabitants of this great wilderness may live and die without ever having contact with humanity." "Long may it be that way." "The northern forests may be the largest on Earth, but to see coniferous trees that have reached their full potential you must travel 1,000 miles south of here." "The Pacific coast of North America." "The land of hemlock, Douglas fir and giant redwood." "Here water is never locked up in ice." "And even if rains fail, the needles can extract moisture from the fogs that roll in from the sea." "The sun's energy powers these forests, not for one month as it does in the taiga, but for half the year." "These conifers grow at ten times the rate of those near the Arctic and they live for thousands of years." "One grove of redwoods in California contains three of the tallest trees on Earth." "This one is over 1 00 meters high, the size of a 30-story building." "These forests were growing here long before humans walked the Earth." "They were in their prime 20 million years ago and existed before the Swiss Alps or the Rocky Mountains were even raised." "There is more living matter in a forest of giant conifers than in any tropical rainforest." "But it's all contained within the trees." "These are as inedible as those in the taiga." "So animals are still scarce, but they are present." "A pine marten." "It's spring, the best time of year for a marten to find food." "Birds' eggs are a seasonal snack and for a short time there's plenty of them." "Sometimes perhaps too many." "But to live here permanently, the marten needs a more reliable food source." "Squirrels fit the bill." "They thrive here on the pine cones and although these are also seasonal, they can be stored and eaten throughout the year." "The squirrels are busy mating." "Good news for the hunter." "A distracted squirrel is a vulnerable squirrel." "But this time the amorous couple are safe." "There is a loner stocking his larder who will be the easier target." "Early summer and great gray owl chicks are fledging." "Adults can only raise young here in years when the seasonal vole crop is big enough to support them." "The moment has arrived for their first flight." "Leaping from the world's tallest trees is not for the faint-hearted." "If you're going to fall here, it's quite a good idea to do it in stages." "The ground is no place for an owl." "If he's to climb to the top of his class, he'll need to persevere." "So now, let's have another go." "The American conifer forests may not be the richest in animal life but their trees are extraordinary." "This giant sequoia, a relative of the redwood, is the largest living thing on Earth." "Known as General Sherman, it's the weight of ten blue whales." "Higher up in the nearby mountains, bristlecone pines." "The oldest organisms on the planet." "Some have been here for 5,000 years." "They were alive before the pyramids were built and were already 3,000 years old when Christ was born." "Across the equator in the southern hemisphere, there are forests that mirror those of the north." "Here in South America, araucaria trees, or monkey puzzles, are like the conifers of the taiga." "They have waterproof scales instead of needles and their cones look a little different, but the principles are the same." "Slender-billed parakeets rather than crossbills extract their seeds." "Where the growing season is longer, there are alerce trees, the redwoods of the south." "As in the frozen north, the Valdivian forests of Chile support very few animals." "But that is the end of the similarity." "This is a bizarre world of miniature creatures." "The pudu, the world's smallest deer, feeds on the giant leaves of the gunnera plant." "The female is just 30 centimeters high at the shoulder and her infants are hardly bigger than kittens." "The male must stay alert." "There are hunters here who would snatch his young." "Another miniature, the kodkod cat." "It's the smallest cat in all the Americas and a young pudu would be a feast for it." "But with the male on guard, the kodkod must lower his sights." "Moths are hatching." "They're the last of the summer." "The tiny cat should be able to score with these." "No one knows why the creatures here are so small, but at least they can survive on meager rations." "You might call this a game of cat and moth." "As winter approaches in Chile, spring is arriving in the northern hemisphere." "These are the deciduous forests of home." "Dormant throughout the winter, they now undergo one of the most magical transformations in the natural world." "By late spring, the landscape is wrapped in a vibrant fresh green." "Here, instead of conifers, there are broad-leaved trees and that makes the character of this forest entirely different." "Being broad, these leaves trap much more light than needles." "But they're also thin, soft and edible." "And others can eat the leaf-eaters." "It's spring in the great broad-leaved forests of Eastern Rurope and Asiatic Russia." "(DUCKS QUACKING)" "The mandarin ducks are calling." "The female mandarin nests in a tree hole." "And when it's time for everyone to leave, she leads the way." "The ducklings are only 24 hours old." "It's a long drop and a few calls of encouragement are required." "(SQUAWKING)" "Two down, seven to go." "There are still two missing." "All present and correct." "But they won't be safe until they reach water." "And the forest pool is almost a mile away." "By June, the days are at their longest and all across the northern hemisphere the broadleaves are hard at work." "On the east coast of North America, it seems like any other summer's evening." "But tonight is special." "After 1 7 years underground, creatures are stirring." "The nymphs of the periodical cicada have been biding their time." "Now they march like zombies towards the nearest tree and start to climb." "At first there are merely thousands." "But soon more than a billion swarm all over the forest." "The biggest insect emergence on the planet is underway." "They invade the upper branches where they climb out of their external skeletons and assume their adult winged form." "At first, they're white and soft." "But they have until dawn to complete their transformation." "After an absence of 1 7 years, the forest is now overrun by cicadas." "The adults are clumsy and very edible." "For turtles and other inhabitants of the forest, this is a feast they're lucky to see once in their lifetime and they gorge themselves while they can." "Times have never been so good." "The cicadas have no defenses and virtually offer themselves to their attackers." "The stream of insects is so relentless that soon all the predators are full to the point of bursting." "And still the cicadas come." "With the predators overwhelmed, the survivors can achieve their purpose." "After mating, the adults lay their eggs and then their job is done." "In just a few days they will all die and the forest will fall silent." "The cicadas here will not be heard again for another 1 7 years." "Having fed the predators, the cicadas leave one final gift for the forest itself." "The nutrients in a generation of cicadas are returned to the soil all at once." "And the trees enjoy a marked spurt in growth." "This may be the single largest dose of fertilizer in the natural world." "In the great broadleaf forests of Eastern Europe, the days are beginning to shorten and a primeval sound heralds the onset of autumn." "(DRRR BELLOWING)" "Male red deer are starting their rut." "The air is heavy with the scent of females." "The rules are simple, winner takes all." "Across the northern hemisphere, the deciduous forests are changing." "Leaves that have provided food and shelter since the spring, are now shed." "In the broadleaf forests of Russia, winter is particularly severe." "But there will always be some who benefit from hardship." "Black vultures scavenge from the carcass of a seka deer that has died of cold or starvation." "These endangered birds are visitors, they've come down from the north to escape the even colder conditions in Siberia." "An Amur leopard, the rarest cat on Earth." "Winter is a difficult time for this hunter." "There are no leaves for cover and no young prey animals." "This female has the added pressure of having to provide for her one-year-old cub." "It will be another 1 2 months before he'll be able to fend for himself." "The bickering vultures have abandoned the carcass." "It's a valuable discovery for the leopards." "But the cub doesn't share its mother's sense of urgency." "The vultures have left behind plenty of good meat, but it's stiff with frost." "The mother works to open the hide and make feeding a little easier for her cub." "There are only 40 Amur leopards left in the wild and that number is still falling." "The harshness of the winter here, hinders their increase in numbers." "It takes one of these females longer to raise her young to independence than it does a leopard in Africa." "If the mother can sustain her cub for a few more weeks, spring will bring an increase in prey and her task will lighten." "For all the inhabitants of this seasonal forest, the long, cold wait is nearly over." "Spring in a deciduous woodland is special." "With no leaves overhead, the rays of the sun strike the forest floor directly and their warmth rouses plants from their winter sleep." "(BIRDS CHIRPING)" "The ground-living plants are in a hurry." "Before long, the trees above will come into leaf and steal their light." "Their flowers decorate the forest floor as they advertise their sweet nectar to the newly emerged insects." "The spring blooms of the deciduous woodlands have no equivalent in either the great conifer forests or the tropical jungles." "Within a matter of weeks, the canopy has closed and only a few wheeling shafts of light penetrate the woodland." "In the tree tops, the broad leaves rapidly expand to their full size to make the most of summer while it lasts." "Then, after a few months, the days begin to shorten again and the trees must shut down and shed their leaves in preparation for the cold, dark time ahead." "Great tracts of North America flush red as the season progresses." "The effect is so spectacular and so extensive that it can be seen from space." "The threat of winter frost is not the only reason for trees to shed leaves." "These forests stand in the tropics." "Here, day length never changes." "But the dry season is so severe that the trees can't afford to lose the amount of water that would evaporate from their broad leaves, so the leaves must be shed." "The forest resembles a European woodland in midwinter but the heat is overpowering and its inhabitants unfamiliar." "For the creatures of India's teak forests these are desperate times." "But salvation is at hand." "The mahua tree is about to bloom." "Its flowers are full of liquid, making them irresistible." "The mahua is an oasis in a hot, dry desert." "Those that fly or climb are not the only ones to get a share." "Chital deer follow the Langur monkeys, collecting the flowers that fall." "The monkeys welcome the deer, for deer are unrivalled at spotting predators." "If they are relaxed, it must be safe to come down to the ground and gather the food that lies there." "But it's not wise to travel far from the sentinels." "Tropical Madagascar, the wet season." "It's now that the baobab trees re-grow their leaves and collect water to store in their huge trunks ready for the dry season ahead." "(THUNDER RUMBLING)" "The prehistoric shape of these trees is rightly famous but few have ever witnessed the baobab's real magic." "For that happens at night and high in the tree tops." "Flush with water, the baobab prepares itself for an unforgettable display." "Once started, the foot-long flowers can open fully in less than a minute." "As the flowers open, the creatures of the forest wake." "The mouse lemurs have been hibernating throughout the dry season." "With the return of rains, it's time to get busy." "A dozen share this tree-hole, but there's plenty of room." "The world's smallest primate is no bigger than your hand." "High in the branches above, the baobab's nectar is starting to flow." "A drink of this sugary, energy-packed liquid is an ideal way for the lemurs to start their day." "Liquid oozes from the flower's center and trickles down the petals." "But the nectar is not intended for lemurs." "These giant hawk moths are the drinkers the tree needs to attract." "As they sip, moving from tree to tree, so they transfer pollen and fertilize the flowers." "Nectar was an excellent first course for lemurs, but moths are the main dish." "The moths are very important to the lemurs for they will replenish the fat reserves that the lemurs need to survive the barren dry season." "The lemurs might seem to be a pest for the baobab, they kill its pollinators and rob it of its nectar but they do give something in return." "For as they wrestle with the moths, their fur inevitably becomes dusted with pollen." "So they too become pollinators." "As the alternation of wet and dry seasons brings change to some tropical forests, so the progression of summer to winter dictates life in more temperate regions." "Whether trees have needles or broad leaves, it is their ability to survive annual change that has enabled them to cover such vast areas of the Earth and made the seasonal forests the greatest forests of all." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "One of the biggest challenges facing the forest team was how to bring a static tree to life on screen." "The solution is usually to move the camera." "But how did they do it?" "." "The team's favorite tool was the cinebulle or film balloon." "Here being readied by pilot and inventor, Dany Cleyet-Marrel." "Yes, the cinebulle is the first flying machine specifically designed for filming, yes." "Flying is my passion, sure, and particularly in this kind of place." "In Africa or in the north or in South America, everywhere around the world, yes." "It's my passion." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "With Dany, Planet Earth took the cinebulle to all corners of the globe." "But it was the trip to film baobab trees in Madagascar, with cameraman Warwick Sloss, that was to prove the most memorable." "I've never ever, ever been in anything like this before and I'm slightly nervous of it." "Partly 'cause it's basically a deck chair with a balloon on top and partly because I can see where my head's gonna be." "It's gonna be incredibly close to that burner." "I do have a fear of heights." "I mostly have a fear of falling through them onto the ground." "But I think I'm happy with this." "It's got a little seatbelt and everything." "And the BBC health and safety is always very good, all the boxes are ticked, all signed off, all the proper forms and everything." "So I'm sure this will be fine." "Puzzled locals take the ring-side seats." "And Warwick takes the seat no one else wants." "Set for takeoff." "(SPEAKING IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)" "Oh, my giddy aunt!" "Oh, finally they're off." "At last we've got the cinebulle here and we've got fuel and as long as the wind stays good and they don't land in Mozambique, we should absolutely be fine." "LINFIELD:" "There's some shots we were looking for, shots that really rotate around baobab trees and show their three dimensional structure and Warwick and Dany will need to communicate together really closely to pull off shots like that." "Which will be interesting 'cause you can hardly hear over the fan and Dany's English isn't that amazing." "So, yeah, I think they'll have some interesting times up there." "How much control do we have?" "." "What?" "." "How much control do we have at the moment?" "." "Not very much." "Not much." "LINFIELD:" "Dany's quite a flamboyant Frenchman and Warwick's reserved, sarcastic, rather English." "They're either gonna get on really well or it's gonna be a disaster." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Buoyed by assurances of Dany's exemplary safety record," "Warwick frames up on his first baobab." "Oh!" "Oh!" "(BLEEP)" "(BLEEPING)" "(BLEEPING)" "I go down, sorry." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Luckily, neither the tree nor the crew seem too damaged." "Oh, stupid." "I'm stupid." "You okay?" "." "Yeah, just." "Yeah, I think so." "Okay?" "." "Just minor flesh wounds." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Miraculously everything still works, another takeoff is immanent." "We're just deciding which tree to try and crash land into." "Preferably the hardest, spikiest one that's nearby." "That one looks quite good." "There's some nice, sort of, sticking out thorns on it." "To go into the shins and the hands and the face and the lens." "Stupidity." "One of those things." "It's my fault." "It's the excitement of ballooning." "Yes." "No, I don't like that." "Very pioneering." "Yeah." "How's the adrenaline level, Warwick?" "." "Oh, it's pretty high at the moment." "Could have been the coffee this morning." "No problem, it's okay?" "." "Go?" "." "Yeah, might as well." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "After a moments put down, they're off again." "This time if we try and go around them a bit." "What?" "." "This time we'll try and go around the trees." "LINFIELD:" "That was one of the most heart-stopping moments I can ever remember." "I was so scared when I saw Warwick hit that tree and Dany go, "Oh, la, la, la!"" "I thought, "Oh, this is it."" "But they're okay, all we suffered is a damaged propeller." "As long as the wind doesn't get up, because now they've lost most of their steering ability, we should be fine." "Anyway, fingers crossed." "(MACHINE GROWLING)" "That doesn't sound good." "Oh, God." "(GRUNTING)" "What's happened?" "." "I think it's the exhaust." "That's all right, then." "Can we carry on, or do we need to..." "I am not happy today." "Okay." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Worried, Dany decides to land again, quickly." "Oh, today..." "Oh, well, never mind." "So stupid..." "Oh, don't worry, mate." "Everyone makes mistakes." "I'm just pleased to be alive." "Yes." "I thought I was gonna die." "I'm sorry I was rude to you." "LINFIELD:" "Here they come." "Whoa!" "Oh, God." "Oh, God." "You okay?" "." "Yeah, I'm okay." "Are you okay?" "." "Oh, Lord." "Seem to be heading towards the lake." "Is that normal?" "." "Probably is." "It is for today." "Yes!" "Oh, so stupid this morning." "I don't like that." "LINFIELD:" "Exciting." "Oh, yes, for you..." "That was astonishing." "LINFIELD:" "It was great." "It's great that you're okay." "I'm in a much better mood now that I'm down and not in a tree." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The postmortem confirms Dany's fears." "DANY:" "Problem is the exhaust, it is broken." "The exhaust is broken?" "." "Yes." "This is why I say this is not my morning." "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "DANY:" "Oh!" "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The cinebulle is in need of a major overhaul." "The repair is worryingly inexpensive." "One half of the propeller was snapped in the crash." "By shortening the other half, Dany hopes to restore balance." "It takes all night." "We're going the wrong way." "Sure." "The problem is that my propeller is shorter." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "With half a propeller and a jerry-rigged exhaust, the cinebulle is harder to steer." "This is a good area." "We're going straight though there?" "." "Yes." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Undeterred, the pair hit their stride." "WARWICK:" "That's nice." "That's great." "That's good, that's a nice constant speed." "Lovely." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Many of Planet Earth's finest images would have been impossible without passionate and devoted specialists like Dany." "May they always be out there." "Here we go again." "(SHOUTING)" "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Away from all land... the ocean." "It covers more than half the surface of our planet and yet, for the most part, it is beyond our reach." "Much of it is virtually empty, a watery desert." "All life that is here is locked in a constant search to find food." "A struggle to conserve precious energy in the open ocean." "The biggest of all fish." "30 tons in weight, 1 2 meters long, a whale shark." "Its huge bulk is sustained by near microscopic creatures of the sea, plankton." "Whale sharks cruise on regular, habitual routes between the best feeding grounds." "In February, that takes them to the surface waters far from the coast of Venezuela." "Others are already here." "Bait fish have come for the same reason, to feed on the plankton." "The whale shark has timed its arrival exactly right." "Oddly, the tiny fish swarm around it." "They're using it as a shield." "Other predatory fish are lurking nearby." "Yellowfin tuna, they seem wary of the giant." "The shark dives, as if to escape from such overcrowding." "Now the tuna have a chance to attack the unprotected bait fish." "But then back comes the giant!" "It has taken a vast mouthful of the bait fish itself." "Plankton, it seems, is not the only food for a whale shark." "Both shark and tuna feast together." "But the tuna must beware." "Even they can end up in the whale shark's stomach." "Predators here must grab what they can, when they can, for such events do not last long." "The dense shoals on which so many depend gather only when water conditions are perfect." "Many predators spend much of their time cruising the open ocean, endlessly searching." "Plankton-feeding rays do so, gliding with minimum effort." "The Oceanic whitetip shark, another energy-efficient traveler." "It specializes in locating prey in the emptiest areas of the open ocean, patrolling the top 1 00 meters of water." "Taste in water is the equivalent of smell in the air." "An Oceanic whitetip is able to detect even the faintest trace." "Small pilot fish swim with it." "The shark can find prey far more easily than they can and they'll be able to collect the scraps from its meals." "Its long, fixed pectoral fins enable it to soar through the water with the least expenditure of energy." "This shark has found a school of rainbow runners." "It would eat one, given the chance." "But rainbow runners are swift and agile and not easily caught." "So, it bides its time." "There's a chance that, eventually, it may spot a weakened fish that's catchable." "The hunter, endlessly waiting." "Excitement far from land." "A school of dolphin, 500 strong!" "They've sensed there's food around and they're racing to catch up with it." "The news has spread." "Now a number of schools are on their way." "They're heading towards the Azores, volcanic islands 1,000 miles west of Portugal." "The dolphins scan the water ahead with their sonar." "They're close to their target." "(DOLPHINS CLICKING)" "This is it, scad mackerel." "It's difficult for a single dolphin to catch the fish." "To avoid wasting energy, they work as a group." "(DOLPHINS CALLING)" "They drive the fish upwards, trapping them against the surface." "And there, other predators await them." "Cory shearwaters." "They're waiting for the dolphin to drive the prey closer to the surface." "Now the shearwaters can dive down on them, descending to 20 meters or more." "And the dolphins block the bait ball's retreat." "The dolphins leave as soon as they've had their fill." "And, at last, the mackerel sink below the diving range of the birds." "(DOLPHINS CLICKING)" "As the sun disappears, a profound change takes place in the ocean." "Deepwater plankton start to rise from the depths and another hungry army prepares to receive it." "Every night, wherever conditions are right, countless millions of creatures from the deep migrate to the surface seeking food." "A baby sailfish, 1 5 centimeters long, snaps up everything in its path." "In three years' time, it will be one of the ocean's most formidable hunters, weighing 60 kilos." "Just now, however, it's very vulnerable." "These manta rays are giants." "Right meters across and weighing over two tons." "The blade-like projections on either side of the head help to steer plankton into the manta's mouth." "Dawn returns and the plankton sinks back into the depths." "If we are to follow, we must use a submarine." "As we descend into the darkness, the pressure builds, the temperature falls." "Below 500 meters, new mysterious animals appear." "Their bizarre shapes help them to remain suspended in the dark space." "Some resemble creatures familiar from shallower waters." "Others defy classification." "All around, organic particles drift downwards." "Marine snow, detritus from the creatures swarming in the sunlit waters above." "The snow is food for many animals here," "like the sea spider, a small relative of shrimps and crabs." "Those strange leg-like appendages are feathered to stop it from sinking." "They can also enmesh marine snow, which it wipes carefully into its jaws." "A sawtooth eel hangs upright and motionless." "Gazing ever upwards, it watches for prey silhouetted against the faint glimmerings of light from the surface." "Days may pass before prey swims close enough for it to strike." "Farther down still, the blackness is complete." "No vestige of sunlight can penetrate as far as this." "Food is very scarce and nothing can afford to waste any energy." "A dumbo octopus simply flaps a fin." "No need for the jet propulsion used by its shallow water relatives above." "The weirdest in this world of the strange," "Vampyroteuthis, the vampire squid from hell." "Disturb it and it only retreats a little distance." "Go after it and it has a special defense." "To see what it does, you must switch off the lights." "The vampire squid has lights of its own." "Bioluminescent bacteria shine from pockets on its arms to confuse its predators." "Are those eyes?" "." "In fact, they're spots at the end of its mantle." "A bite there would leave the head unscathed." "The threat diminishes and Vampyroteuthis disappears into the blackness." "At last, the sea floor." "Over two miles down, the pressure here is 300 times that at the surface." "It takes several months for marine snow to drift down as far as this." "As you travel away from the rocky margins of the continents, an immense plain stretches ahead." "It extends for thousands of miles, gradually sinking downwards." "There are faint trails in the ooze, signs that even here, there is life." "These are what made some of them." "Sea urchins sifting the accumulating drifts." "Shrimps, standing on elegant tiptoe, fastidiously select the particles that appeal to them." "But in the deep sea, as everywhere else, if there are grazers, there are hunters." "A monkfish, almost indistinguishable from the sand on which it lies." "Why waste energy chasing around if you can attract prey towards you with a lure?" "." "Maybe that one was a bit big." "The monkfish can wait for days, if necessary, until the right-sized meal turns up." "Scavengers, on the other hand, have to move around to find their food." "Crabs can detect the faintest of tastes in the water and that helps them locate the latest body to drift down from above." "Eels are already feeding on the corpse." "Isopods, like giant marine woodlice a third of a meter long, are ripping into the rotting flesh." "Over the next few hours, there'll be frenzied competition between scavengers of all kinds to grab a share." "Just occasionally, there is a gigantic bonanza." "The remains of a sperm whale." "It died five months or so ago." "There is little left but fatty blubber clinging to its bones." "Its flesh has nourished life for miles around, but now, the feast is almost over." "Spider crabs, a meter across, still pick at the last putrid remains." "A few weeks more and nothing will be left but bare bones." "The crabs will have to fast until the next carcass drifts down." "But not all food comes from the sunlit world above." "The floor of the Atlantic Ocean is split in two by an immense volcanic mountain chain that winds unbroken for 45,000 miles around the globe." "In places it's riven by great fissures from which superheated water," "loaded with dissolved minerals, blasts into the icy depths." "Clouds of sulfides solidify into towering chimneys as tall as a three-story house." "At 400 degrees, this scalding cocktail of chemicals would be lethally toxic to most forms of life." "But, astoundingly, a particular kind of bacteria thrives here." "And feeding on the bacteria, vast numbers of shrimps." "So, beyond the farthest reach of the sun's power, a rich independent community exists that draws all its energy directly from the earth's molten core." "On the other side of the planet, in the western Pacific bordering Japan, the dragon chimneys." "Another series of hot vents erupting in the darkness." "Here, more, but different, bacteria thrive in a similar way." "And here, too, more crustaceans, but quite different species from those around the hot vents in the Atlantic." "These are squat lobsters clad in furry armor, jostling with one another beside the jets of superheated water for the best places from which to graze on bacteria." "These vents, too, like those in the Atlantic, are isolated oases, so widely separated, that each community is unique." "Cross to the other side of the Pacific, to the deep near the Galapagos Islands, and there are yet other fissures venting superheated water." "One and a half miles down, at a site known as Nine North, towering chimneys support a spectacular display of giant tubeworms." "These vents give off so much energy that some of the worms reach three meters in length." "They're the fastest-growing marine invertebrates known." "All told, over 50 different species have so far been found living here." "The inhabitants of these bustling communities may grow at speed, but their existence can also be short, for the vents do not erupt indefinitely." "Suddenly, unpredictably, they may become inactive." "Nine months have passed at Nine North." "What were only recently chimneys teeming with life have turned into cold, sterile, mineral monuments." "Some eddy, deep in the earth's crust, diverted the volcanic energy elsewhere and an entire micro-world was extinguished." "In places, volcanoes have erupted to build great submarine mountains." "There are thought to be around 30,000 such volcanoes." "Some measured from the sea floor are taller than Everest." "Sheer cliffs soaring to drowned volcanic peaks." "Powerful currents sweep up the mountain's flanks, transporting nutrients from deep water towards the summits." "The hard rock provides excellent anchorage for communities of great variety and stunning color." "Soft corals, several meters across, collect the marine snow as it drifts past." "Whip corals stretch out into the current." "Giant sponges filter nourishment from the cold water." "A richly varied community flourishes here, sustained by the nutrients and detritus in the icy currents that flow around the peak." "Yet, it is all blossoming on an extinct volcano a mile below the reach of the sun." "A nautilus." "It spends its days hiding 400 meters down, but as night falls, it ascends up to the reefs to look for food." "Its graceful shell contains gas-filled floatation chambers that control its depth." "It's powered by a jet of water squirting from a siphon." "But it travels shell-first, so it can't see exactly where it's going." "Its nearest living relatives are squid and octopus which, over evolutionary time, have both lost their shells." "And the octopus has become one of the nautilus's major predators." "It's a master of disguise." "The nautilus keeps well clear of them." "Its small tentacles carry highly-developed chemical sensors which can detect traces of both predators and prey." "It uses its water jet to dig in the sand." "Because it devotes so little energy to swimming, it only needs a meal once a month." "Got something, and just as well." "Dawn is approaching and it has to puff its way back to deeper waters." "Thirty miles away, shoals of squid are jetting upwards towards the surface." "By night, they seek small fish among the plankton, but they're cautious." "(DOLPHIN CALLING)" "Pacific spotted dolphin." "They're guided by their sonar." "The dolphin, as so often, are working as a team, synchronizing their attacks to confuse their prey." "(CLICKING)" "As dawn approaches, squid and fish and plankton retreat downwards to shelter in the darkness." "Some of these isolated volcanoes rise as much as 9,000 meters from the sea floor, reaching close to the surface." "Around these peaks, invigorated by daily sunshine, marine life flourishes in spectacular abundance." "Fish crowd here because the volcano forces nutrients to the surface, encouraging the plankton to bloom." "An oceanic wanderer, a Mola mola, stops by to be cleaned by reef fish at the seamount edge." "Butterfly fish pluck string-like parasites from its flanks." "The huge fish lives on jellyfish over 1,000 meters down, where the water is 20 degrees colder." "So, a brush-up near the surface allows it to warm up before making more deep-water forays." "The summit of this volcanic mountain rises above the surface of the sea." "It's Ascension Island, 800 miles from any other land." "A welcome, vital haven for long-distance travelers." "Frigate birds spend months continuously airborne at sea, but at nesting time, they come to Ascension from all over the ocean." "The island's barren slopes of volcanic ash and lava might seem to offer perfectly good sites for a nest," "but the frigates choose an even more isolated site." "Boatswainbird Island, a lonely pillar just off Ascension's coast." "Frigates are the world's lightest bird relative to their wingspan and they can soar for weeks on end with minimal effort." "They seem much more at home in the skies than in a crowded colony on land." "But nest they must." "They come from all over the Atlantic to this, their only colony." "There are boobies here, too." "To raise their young, seabirds worldwide seek such remote islands." "Swimmers also come to Ascension to breed." "A female green turtle approaches the coast." "She has not eaten once in two months." "She may have traveled 1,000 miles from her feeding grounds." "The greatest journey of her kind." "Many others are here, too, resting on the sandy sea floor awaiting the darkness of night when it will be safer to visit the beaches." "Eggs that were laid a few weeks ago at the start of the season are beginning to hatch." "Most hatchings happen at night." "Now, in the light of day, the young are extremely vulnerable." "They must get to the sea as soon as possible." "But their trials have only just begun." "Many will drown in the pounding waves." "During the next 20 years, the vast majority will inevitably die." "But those that survive will, eventually, as their mothers did before them, return to the very same beach where they were hatched." "How they find their way back, across thousands of miles of open ocean, we still have no idea." "A frigate soars." "Somewhere beneath the surface below there is the food it must have." "But where?" "." "Those that fly above the ocean must be able to read the signs of fresh supplies or perish." "A hundred miles from the Mexican coast and keen eyes have spotted movement." "Sailfish, three meters long, are closing in on prey." "They will only use just enough energy to make their kill, never wasting a fin stroke." "Nearly a hundred sailfish have surrounded a single school of bait fish." "It's very rare to see so many of these hunters in one place." "To herd their prey, the predators raise their huge dorsal fins." "A mistimed strike by one sailfish could fatally damage another." "But each continually changes its color from blue, to striped, to black." "That warns its companions of its intentions and also confuses the prey." "As the shoal is driven nearer the surface, it comes within the range of the seabirds." "Out here in the open ocean, there is nowhere for the bait fish to hide." "Sailfish live a high-octane life." "To survive, they must find prey daily." "So their entire existence will be spent on the move." "Over 90% of the living space for life on our planet is in the oceans." "Home to the biggest animal that exists or has ever existed." "The blue whale." "Some weigh nearly 200 tons, twice the size of the largest dinosaur." "Despite their great size, we still have little idea of where they travel in the vast oceans and none at all of where they go to breed." "The largest animal on Earth feeds almost exclusively on one of the smallest, krill, shrimp-like crustaceans." "They take many tons of water into their ballooning throats in a single gulp and sieve out what it contains." "Every day, each one swallows some four million krill." "Such gargantuan harvests depend on the continuing fertility of the oceans." "But global changes now threaten the great blooms of plankton on which the whales depend." "Once, and not so long ago, 300,000 blue whales roamed the oceans." "Now, less than 3% of that number remains." "Our planet is still full of wonders." "As we explore them, so we gain not only understanding, but power." "It's not just the future of the whale that today lies in our hands." "It's the survival of the natural world in all parts of the living planet." "We can now destroy or we can cherish." "The choice is ours." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "For the Planet Earth team, just finding their subjects in the vast empty spaces of the open ocean was often difficult enough." "But one of their greatest challenges was to find the increasingly rare Oceanic whitetip shark and film this fearsome predator in blue water without the safety of a shark cage." "The Bahamas in winter, and the underwater team prepares to film rare, close-up images of Oceanic whitetips in their natural surroundings." "Cameraman Rick Rosenthal has been working in the open ocean for over 30 years and has filmed these sharks before." "It came up, roaring right up to the Zodiac, and I was..." "The mouth was full open." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "To help him, he's trusting his life to the latest in wetsuit camouflage." "The new Rick Rosenthal." "I'm going the pelagic jellyfish look, how to get lost in the big world out there." "Whatever we can do to get an edge." "Anything to get close to the animals." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Also on board is cameraman Doug Anderson." "He's never encountered an Oceanic whitetip before, but he does have a view on what they'll be like." "I roughly think of them like little dogs, you know." "And some little dogs are nice little dogs, and some little dogs are nasty little dogs." "You know, when you're in the water, you've just got to make your presence felt and try and judge the situation to the best of your ability." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Unlike the more familiar reef sharks," "Oceanic whitetips are true ocean wanderers." "Once they were abundant, but fishing for shark fins has devastated their numbers, making them far more difficult to find." "As they prepared to dive, they had no way of knowing what lay in wait below." "It was soon clear that regardless of being nice or nasty," "Doug's little dogs were also somewhat camera-shy." "Nothing." "It's fishless." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "As with most dives in the open ocean, seeing nothing is normal." "So, Rick and Doug persisted in their search." "Brief sharks and no shots." "MAN:" "You okay?" "." "One big old shark hanging down there." "Deep." "It's underneath, just deep, deep, deep." "Wouldn't come up." "We may have to reconsider other ways of getting these, uh, these little Oceanics to pose for us." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "With the sharks refusing to appear, the team was forced to resort to the tried and tested technique of chumming." "It was time to give the little dogs a bone." "What we've done is we've set up a chum line, which is basically a case of hanging..." "Like an onion bag full of the most disgusting offal that you can think of." "The stuff that they couldn't even face putting into Turkey Twizzlers." "And waiting for some sharks to turn up." "There's really not much science in it apart from making sure that there's a slick of smell and stuff that's going to attract the sharks and hopefully goes in the right direction." "And the right direction for here is not over the reef, but over the blue water, 'cause that's where the Oceanics live." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The irresistible smell of rotting fish worked its magic and soon the first shark appeared." "There was no knowing how long it would hang around, so the divers needed to get into the water fast." "The team could at last get to work." "MAN 1 :" "Rick, right behind you!" "MAN 2:" "Shark!" "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The Oceanic whitetip is a known man-eater." "A reputation it gained from attacking sailors forced to abandon ship during the Second World War." "Yet this shark seemed almost nervous, wary of the two strange objects that had entered its world." "This was Doug's first chance to get a good look at his little dog." "Amazing." "Truly amazing." "You god-damned doubting Thomas." "Think we're out here screwing around?" "." "MAN:" "Door." "Door, door, door." "So beautiful." "I mean..." "Just real Oceanic wanderers." "Those big pectorals." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "On the next dive, the smell of chum attracted two sharks looking for an easy meal." "How did Rick feel about getting in with them?" "." "Is it a smart idea to stick fish guts and chum and when you put a diver in..." "Hell, no!" "'Cause we become part of the chum." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Diving with known man-eaters is potentially dangerous, especially when they arrive expecting food." "The secret to staying safe is to watch their every move and to know when to leave the water." "These sharks appear to be relaxed, allowing Rick and Doug to get rare pictures of one of the ocean's top predators." "But whitetips are very unpredictable." "So while the sharks were being nice, the team took full advantage to get some of the close-up shots they needed." "But they were always looking for tell-tale signs that things were about to get nasty, and, if in doubt, there was only one option." "That was exciting." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The final day saw the arrival of three sharks." "MAN:" "Whoa!" "He's huge!" "Look at the size of him." "This is kind of crazy out here now." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "Now the team began to notice a change." "The whitetips were becoming bolder and more aggressive." "Their courage seemed to be buoyed by the presence of the other sharks." "Worse still, it was becoming impossible to keep track of all three sharks at once and soon the whitetips began to show more than just curiosity towards the divers." "Some sharks investigate potential prey by bumping it before they attack." "Rick recognized the signs." "It was time to leave." "He was surrounded and knew the boat had to get to him fast." "That was too intense." "One took..." "One had my fin." "It was..." "One had my fin." "It was hitting it." "I was filming one, the other would just..." "Oh, excuse me." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "It was down to Doug to get the final shots and get out before his nice little dogs turned really nasty." "That's enough for me." "I'm getting out while the getting's good." "That shark is getting very electric and hot." "RICK:" "I tell you, he's got a mouth like that." "It could take your leg off." "Fabulous animal, but it's into its feeding mode now and wants to eat." "And I don't want to be part of it." "For Doug, there was always just one more shot to get." "But concentrating on what was in front of him meant he couldn't see what was creeping up behind." "And when one of the cruising sharks changed to attack speed... it was definitely time to get out and join Rick in the safety of the boat before it was too late." "That was very exciting." "It was great." "They seemed a lot more interested in Rick." "I think it's his suit." "Let's go find a bottle of rum, huh?" "." "ATTENBOROUGH:" "The Oceanic whitetips had allowed the Planet Earth team a rare insight into their world." "Now it was time to leave these magnificent animals in peace."