Life in Colour (2021) s01e01 Episode Script

1
SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH:
The natural world is full of colours.
Colours that attract attention.
Colours that blend beautifully
with their background.
And colours that create
extraordinary displays.
MACAWS SCREECH
There are few animals
more brilliantly coloured
than these scarlet macaws.
Animals can use colour
for all kinds of different reasons,
and some have colours
that we ourselves can't even see.
But with new cameras
some developed
especially for this series
we can reveal a world that has
long been hidden from our eyes.
A world of colours
that only some animals can see.
Secret communication channels
for the most private of messages,
and colours so bold and brilliant,
they dazzle our senses.
Whether to win a mate
..or beat a rival
..to warn off an enemy
..or to hide from one.
We will reveal extraordinary stories
about life in colour.
MACAWS SCREECH
The rocky hills of southern India.
PEAFOWL SQUAWK
The stage is set for a performance
of one of the most spectacular
dances in the natural world.
PEAFOWL SQUAWK
Peacocks are gathering.
This surely is one of the most
glamorous of all sights in nature.
150 shimmering eyespots,
carried on tail feathers
that are two metres long.
So, how did such glories evolve?
It seems it's all down
to the female.
The brighter a male's colours
and the greater the number
of his feathery eyespots,
the more attractive
she will find him.
But colours and plumes like these
come at a cost.
The immense tail
makes flying difficult.
The males are literally weighed down
by their feathers.
Yet the colours they carry
are clearly very important to them.
So, why and how has colour
taken on such value?
To understand that, we have to think
back to when it all began.
700 million years ago,
our planet was far less colourful.
But the first animals, it seems,
had eyes that were unable
to distinguish colours anyway.
Gradually, however, this changed.
I am in Costa Rica.
A good place to see
how valuable colour can be.
This toucan likes fruit,
and its ability to choose ripe fruit
from unripe depends on colour,
because the ripe ones are black.
And this capacity —
choosing between different colours
was a very important stage
in the evolution of colour vision.
Birds, close relatives of dinosaurs,
appeared before mammals.
The first mammals,
as far as we can tell,
were mostly nocturnal.
Colours are not easily
distinguishable at night,
so why evolve the ability
to detect them?
So it seems that the first mammals
themselves were not very colourful.
And this is still
largely true today.
Most are shades
of black and white
..or brown.
But there are exceptions.
And one of the most dramatic
lives in the forests of Gabon,
in West Africa.
These monkeys are mandrills,
a kind of baboon.
They live in large troops.
Most are females and youngsters,
both of which are brown.
But the males are different.
They, when they're young, have
very plain faces with naked muzzles.
FLIES BUZZ
As they grow,
their faces begin to change.
Testosterone begins to flow
through their veins.
THEY GRUN
When they're about six years old,
they leave the troop
and start to fend for themselves.
As they become sexually mature,
colour appears in their faces.
And what colour!
Mandrill males are the biggest
of all monkeys
..weighing over 30 kilos,
enormously, frighteningly powerful.
And their colours say so.
SCREECHING
It is not only his face
which is coloured.
So is his rump.
Both are fearless declarations
of his health and strength.
And this male is more than happy
to prove just how strong he is
should any male
dare to challenge him.
Not surprisingly, mandrill eyes are
particularly sensitive to colour.
And it's the brightness of their
colours which signals their status.
SCREECHING
There are four males in this troop,
and they're constantly flexing their
muscles and displaying their colours
to establish who is the strongest.
And not all disputes
are settled peacefully.
They emphasise their ferocity
by gestures,
such as grinding their teeth.
TEETH CLICK TOGETHER LOUDLY
If that doesn't work,
the highest—ranking male will fight.
THEY GRUN
And the others know it.
It's better to let colour
do the talking.
HE GRUNTS
Mandrills see the world
much as we do
and have three kinds
of colour—sensitive cells.
But another group of animals
has colour vision
that's far superior
to that of any mammal
birds.
BIRDS SQUAWK
Their ability varies
from group to group,
but you can judge how good they are
from the colours they use
to signal to one another.
Hummingbirds have excellent
colour vision,
because that enables them
to spot brightly coloured flowers,
which contains the nectar
on which they feed.
WINGS HUM
So, this artificial feeder
is a big success.
Brightly coloured down here
and containing sugar solution —
artificial nectar — up there.
But hummingbirds also use
their ability to see colour
in a different way —
to attract a mate.
Most species live in South America,
where there are flowers of some sort
all year round.
A few, however,
have spread northwards
into the deserts
of the American Southwest.
In this vastness,
it's hard to get noticed.
Especially if you are a small
hummingbird looking for a mate.
But this male Costa's hummingbird
uses his colours
to send a secret message.
Out in the open, flashy colours
can attract unwanted attention,
so he keeps them hidden
most of the time.
A slight turn of the head, however,
provides a tantalising glimpse
of what he has to offer.
He's spotted a female.
She's feeding.
Hummingbirds live fast lives
and need plenty of fuel.
So if he is to attract
her attention,
he needs something eye—catching.
Time to reveal his colours.
WINGS HUM
Erecting the iridescent feathers
on his neck,
he positions himself
to catch the sunlight.
Seen at just the right angle,
his colours are dazzling.
Aerobatics like these
take a lot of energy,
so his performance can give her
clues about his health and fitness.
Every second she takes to decide
burns up his energy reserves.
So he can only hover for so long.
At last, his colours
have persuaded her.
Displaying your colours is easy
out in the open.
Birds which live
in dark forests, however,
have to work harder to get noticed.
The rainforests of New Guinea.
Here, the trees stand 30 metres tall,
with their crowns forming
a near continuous canopy.
But here and there,
there's a small gap
through which a shaft of light
illuminates a patch
on the forest floor.
A stage for one of
the most versatile dancers
in the natural world.
A bird of paradise.
There are over 30 different species.
This one — understandably —
is called
the magnificent bird of paradise.
A male.
Before starting his show,
he clears his stage.
The bare brown earth will make
his colours stand out better.
He takes particular care
to remove anything green.
That colour will be the main feature
of his display
and he doesn't want any competition.
Satisfied at last.
A sapling in the centre will serve
as his dancing pole.
His costume must be immaculate.
Plumes like these
need careful attention.
Time to summon the audience.
HE CHIRPS
CHIRPING CONTINUES
The first to appear
are all young males.
They won't develop their colours
until they're seven years old.
They have come
to watch and to learn.
HE CHIRPS
At last, a female.
She looks much like a young male
to our eyes
..but he can clearly
tell the difference.
She will judge him
by his performance
and the brightness of his feathers.
She does that
from directly above him.
He puffs up his feathers
and swings round
to show her his colours.
For years, naturalists only watched
his performance from ground level.
But the female does so from above.
And from there, his brilliant
green colours stand out vividly
against the brown of the ground.
A pair of bare, quivering quills
sprouting from his tail
add to the excitement.
This is one of the most complex
of all courtship dances,
and we're still unaware
of the details
that she may regard as critical.
The prize—giving, however,
is unmistakable.
The colour vision of birds
is mostly excellent.
But that of many insects
is almost as good.
BIRDS CHIRP AND CHATTER
Butterflies.
They too have evolved an astonishing
variety of colours and patterns.
The wings are covered by tiny
scales, like tiles on a roof,
and it's they that produce
some of the colours.
Some have pigments.
Others reflect light to produce
a shimmering iridescence,
with colours that change
according to the angle
from which they're viewed.
But some butterflies use colours
that are invisible to our eyes.
BUMBLEBEES BUZZ
The glorious colours
of an English meadow in bloom
is a delight
to the eyes of many of us.
But their purpose is not
to appeal to US,
it's to attract insects
such as butterflies and bees.
Most of these plants depend
on insects to pollinate them,
and they use their bright colours
in order to attract insects.
But to understand
what an insect sees,
we have to be able to see it
through their eyes
and from their perspective.
And, happily, we've got a camera
that enables us to do just that.
This camera set—up lets us look at
that flower in two different ways.
This camera is
an ultraviolet camera,
because it has a filter there
that only lets through
ultraviolet light.
But at the same time, this filter
also reflects normal light,
and that comes into this camera,
and that shows what we can see.
So I can compare the two
very easily.
That's what we can see
..and that's what the insect sees.
Flowers have evolved
these ultraviolet markings
for the benefit of insects
such as butterflies.
This particular one lives in the
rainforests of eastern Australia.
It's a blue moon butterfly — a male.
You might not think that it's
the most colourful you've ever seen,
but with our ultraviolet camera,
his wings take on a magical look.
The brighter his patches, the more
attractive he is to females.
But ultraviolet markings like these
can also be seen
by the blue moon's main predators.
Birds can see them just as clearly.
So flying around with a bright
signal like that on your wings
could be dangerous.
For a male, however,
it's worth living dangerously.
If he can mate with one or two
females in his short lifetime,
his colours will have been
a success.
But he has competition.
He will have to defend his territory
if he is to secure a mate.
Butterfly wings are fragile,
so physical combat is to be avoided.
Disputes instead are settled
with aerial displays.
A female has been watching
from the sidelines.
Time to show her his colours.
In her eyes, he's simply dazzling.
MOORHENS PIPE
Ultraviolet colours are
part of the spectrum
that insects can see and we cannot.
Recent discoveries have revealed
that some animals can also see
a characteristic of light
that we cannot detect.
Sunlight contains rays that vibrate
in many different planes.
In polarised light,
they vibrate in only one.
Light may become polarised
when reflected off a shiny surface
such as water.
Unlike us, some animals
can see polarised light,
and they can exploit it
in many ways.
One creature that does so
lives on these vast mudflats
in northern Australia.
These eyes, on stalks,
belong to a male fiddler crab.
And they can see
in a way that we cannot.
As the tide goes out,
the crabs emerge from their burrows.
His giant claw is too large
to be used in feeding.
Instead, he uses it to attract
the attention of females
by waving it with vigour.
The crabs can see objects that are
close to them reasonably well.
But their long—distance eyesight
is not so good.
Polarised light can help
solve the problem.
Viewed with a new specialist camera,
the mudflats, which reflect
polarised light, are bright
..while the unpolarised crabs appear
darker against their background.
This striking contrast also makes
the large claw more obvious.
The big claw is also used
by the male to defend his burrow.
Not everyone heeds the warning.
Battle over.
But there are more dangerous enemies
to face
aerial predators.
The quicker they can spot them,
the better.
And once again,
polarised light helps them to do so.
TERNS CHATTER
With the coast clear,
a male re—emerges from his burrow.
At last, a female.
With the tide on the turn,
he must work fast to win her over.
And close up,
his colours come into play.
The brightness of his blue back
could be the deciding factor.
She may not look willing,
but the pushing and shoving
are all part of the mating ritual.
One last shove and she's in.
Just in time.
On land, colour is used
in a multitude of different ways.
The same is true in the sea,
but there, colour works
in a very different way.
This is Australia's
Great Barrier Reef,
and its shallow waters
are full of vivid colour.
The inhabitants of the reef
exploit it to the full,
with unparalleled
and dazzling effect.
The orange—red stripes
of the harlequin tuskfish
make it very conspicuous.
But as light filters down
through the water,
more and more of its wavelengths
are absorbed,
and red is the first to disappear.
So, as the harlequin
swims downwards,
his brilliantly coloured red body
looks duller and duller.
Different colours are absorbed
at different rates in the sea,
but some can still be seen
at greater depths.
Yellow and blue travel farthest,
so it's these
that many fish down here use
to signal their identity.
Most fish near the surface
have good colour vision,
but some of the smaller species
can also see ultraviolet colours.
To us, these yellow damselfish
all look very similar.
But using our ultraviolet camera,
here in controlled conditions,
we can see that many fish
have different patterns
that are normally invisible
to our eyes.
And suddenly, it becomes clear
that these two individuals
are in fact different species.
This lemon damselfish
has distinctive spots
on its gill covers.
And this, an Ambon damsel,
has bright reflecting ultraviolet
patches all across the body.
It's a code invisible to us
that allows these fish
to recognise each other
..without attracting the attention
of large predators,
which can't see
in the ultraviolet range.
And it's on the seabed
that you can find
one of the most colourful
sea creatures of all.
The peacock mantis shrimp.
This strange—looking creature's
ancestry
can be traced back
400 million years.
And it has one of the most
versatile kinds of eyes
in the whole of the animal kingdom.
It can rotate its two huge eyes
independently of each other
and in almost any direction.
We have three kinds
of colour receptors,
but the mantis shrimp has 12, each
with a direct link to the brain,
so it can perceive colour
faster than any other animal.
And it can also detect
the difference
between polarised
and unpolarised light.
But, unlike fiddler crabs,
part of its body,
like these paddle—shaped scales,
reflect polarised light
and may be used
to signal to potential mates.
The tail is also highly polarised
and used to plug its burrow
and send a message
to warn off potential rivals.
And by combining
all its visual abilities,
the mantis shrimp has become one of
the most skilful of all predators.
It also packs a powerful punch
from club—like mouthparts
..which it uses with great accuracy.
These clubs deliver the fastest
punch in the animal kingdom,
which we recorded slowed down
and under controlled conditions.
Whether underwater or on land,
colour can be extremely useful.
And the colours an animal develops
can sometimes be influenced
by where it lives and what it eats.
The Atacama Desert in South America.
There are six different species
of flamingos in the world,
and they all prefer to breed
in those most hostile
of environments
salt flats and soda lakes.
We think of flamingos as being
characteristically pink,
but their feathers when they
first appear are in fact white.
FLAMINGOS WARBLE
Their colour comes from their food.
The salty waters in which they feed
are rich in algae and shrimps,
both of which contain red pigments
called carotenoids.
These, over time,
accumulate in their feathers
and give them their bright colour.
FLAMINGOS WARBLE
These youngsters were born
last year.
They still have their first
greyish—white plumage.
It takes time before
the pigments become visible.
Five years will pass before they
become as pink as their parents.
But it's not only the juveniles
which are white.
This adult female raised a chick
last year,
and the effort of doing so
has drained her of colour.
She put all her surplus
food and energy
into producing an egg
and then feeding her chick.
So she will need time to build up
the body reserves needed
to regrow pink feathers and breed.
For those that are old enough
and physically fit,
it's time to find a mate.
Only the pink birds take part
in these courtship dances.
Their colour is an indication
that they're fit and strong.
As they march through the water,
each bird tries to stand out
from the crowd,
and the brightest will be the first
to secure a partner.
The white female can play no part
in this year's display.
She will need to eat
as much as she can
if she is to restore her colour.
Maybe next year she will be able
to rejoin the dance.
Flamingos depend on
their pink colour
to attract a partner and breed.
But there is one tiny animal
in the Central American rainforests
that uses colour not only to attract
but to repel.
This little frog uses colour
as a warning.
Its skin is full of glands
which produce a deadly poison.
So its colour is
a very clear message
"Eat me and you'll regret it!"
You need a vivid message like this
if you are a small, soft—skinned,
bite—sized mouthful
living in a dark, dense forest.
BIRDS SQUAWK
OMINOUS MUSIC
The rainforest can be a scary place.
There are hungry animals everywhere.
For many, it's best
to keep a low profile.
But this little frog doesn't.
It's a strawberry poison—dart frog,
and it's not much bigger
than your fingernail.
And yet he is one of
the deadliest creatures here.
His bright skin secretes a toxin.
In the mouth of a predator,
it can cause respiratory failure,
convulsions and death.
Predators recognise his colour
as a sign of danger and avoid him.
Such frogs also live on a group
of islands just off Panama
called Bocas del Toro.
Living in isolation,
frogs on each island evolved
their own distinctive colours.
There is a different one
on each island
..and yet they're all
the same species.
They're different because
the diet on some islands
makes some more poisonous
than others,
and the more poison a frog has,
the more brightly coloured it is.
On Solarte Island,
a red male is busy calling.
HE CLICKS
This is his patch
and he's looking for a female.
He should be popular
females prefer bright, shiny skin,
which is a sign of fitness.
His colour is also an indication
to other males of his strength.
He spots an intruder.
He's about the same size,
but he's a paler colour.
And he doesn't challenge
the brighter frog.
But this one is a different matter.
MEXICAN STANDOFF—STYLE MUSIC
He IS a contender.
Nothing for it but to fight it out.
That did it.
He won't be back for a while.
And the reward — a new mate.
For these tiny frogs,
colour is central
to all aspects of their lives
for protection, to dominate rivals,
and to find a partner.
For them, life is colour.
When I started working in television
in the 1950s,
all broadcasts were
in black and white,
and conveying animal colour
took a leap of the imagination
on the viewer's part.
Well, those are only some of the
birds of paradise we brought back,
but there's one more
I'd like to show you
the king bird of paradise.
Its feathers are brilliant red
except for its white underparts.
When colour TV arrived
almost 20 years later,
we were suddenly able to show
some of the wonderful colours
of the natural world.
Since then,
electronic cameras have made
extraordinary technical advances
into high definition
and even ultra high definition.
But we've always known that
there's another world of colour,
one that only some animals can see.
In these programs,
new camera technology
has provided a window into
these hitherto invisible worlds.
And one of these is
that revealed by polarised light.
It plays a crucial role
in the lives of many animals,
including these small fiddler crabs
in Darwin, Australia.
We worked with a team of scientists
to develop a unique and pioneering
camera system
to reveal this hidden world.
100% here. Alright
SIR DAVID: The camera detects
areas of polarisation,
such as the light that passes
through polarising sunglasses.
Put it to 100% here
SIR DAVID: It then combines vertical
and horizontal polarisation
to show the contrast between
polarised and unpolarised light.
With this new camera,
the team hoped to find out
how fiddler crabs use polarised
light to signal to each other.
But this camera had been developed
in sterile, controlled conditions,
and these fiddler crabs live
in one of the least sterile
environments on earth
Australia's tropical mudflats.
Quite a challenge
for the cameraman, Mark Lamble.
That mudflat, it's just a really
extreme environment to work
blazing sun overhead,
really high humidity
and almost no airflow.
SIR DAVID: The camera needed
to be half buried in mud
to get a fiddler crab's eye view.
Whether the camera would work here,
no—one could be sure.
I'm slightly worried.
Hopefully we're not going to miss
that special moment
as the camera is not going to work.
But I think we will be OK.
Good luck.
—Thank you.
SIR DAVID: Once in position,
Mark settled down for an uncomfortable wait.
If the crabs detect
the slightest movement,
they disappear into their burrows.
Again
..and again.
I have to be really still,
or they will not come out at all.
I'd love to be able to have
an umbrella over me.
So, anything higher than me is just
not tolerated by the fiddler crabs.
They just won't come up.
SIR DAVID:
But amazingly,
the camera survived the heat,
the humidity and the caustic brine,
and eventually Mark was able
to capture for the first time
a fiddler crab's world
in polarised light.
Light reflected from
the crabs' bodies is unpolarised,
so they look dark.
This makes them stand out
against the mudflats,
from which the reflected light
is polarised.
They can see things
that we can only imagine.
When you look up
and you see a bird fly over,
it's a white bird
against a white sky,
whereas when they look up,
it's just this total silhouette
with the polarisation
and they can see birds coming
from miles away.
And often I'm filming and they'll
all bolt down their holes,
and I'll wonder why they've done it,
and it's just because
they've spotted a bird
way earlier than I would have
been able to see it.
SIR DAVID:
So, polarised light helps the crabs
pick out distant potential mates,
rivals and predators more quickly
against their bright
polarised background.
And for Viktor,
it was the first time
he had seen the camera
he had developed in the lab
revealing the world in the way
these tiny creatures see it.
It's an amazing footage
you've captured, Mark. It's really amazing.
You really put the system
to its limits today.
SIR DAVID: But there was one even bigger
challenge for the camera
one that lay farther out to sea.
Underwater, only crustaceans,
cephalopods and a few fish
are known to be able to see
and react to polarised light.
But there is one animal here
that exploits this ability
in a really complex way.
The peacock mantis shrimp.
It's not only able
to detect polarisation,
but has patches on its body that
reflect light in a polarised form,
and it uses them to signal
to others of their own kind
in ways that we cannot normally see.
Professor Justin Marshall
of Queensland University
has adapted the polarising camera
to work underwater.
So, here we go, Rory.
This is the camera that's
going to show us polarisation.
SIR DAVID: Rory McGuiness,
the team's underwater cameraman,
arrives to see the latest version
of the camera.
So, you've obviously done
a lot of work to get this
into an underwater housing.
—Yep, that's right.
So, you can see in here there's
a computer that runs the camera.
There's quite a lot of engineering
going on in there.
SIR DAVID: Taking the camera for its first
test underwater was a tense moment.
Computers and salt water
don't usually mix well.
Having found a suitable spot,
it was time for the camera's
first critical test.
A leak could be disastrous.
But all is well.
Now they need a mantis shrimp.
OVER RADIO: Looks like
a promising area, Justin.
OVER RADIO:
It looks perfect, Rory.
So, we're looking for a hole
with coral around it.
Hey, look!
Is that a mantis shrimp hole?
SIR DAVID:
The hole's resident soon appeared.
It was time for the camera
to show what it could do.
As the shrimp turns,
the polarised camera shows that
its tail has a shimmering fringe,
invisible in normal light.
JUSTIN:
Look at that. That's extraordinary!
Life in polarised light.
And this is the first time
..we've been able to do this
with this very special camera.
SIR DAVID: The light on the ocean floor
is unpolarised.
So, in complete reverse
to the fiddler crabs,
the mantis shrimps use polarisation
to stand out against
the unpolarised background.
Special pigments polarise the light
reflected from parts of their body,
allowing them to signal to deter
intruders and attract mates.
This camera has revealed to us a
first glimpse into a world of light
that we're only beginning to be
aware of, let alone understand.
In the next episode, the story
of Life In Colour continues
where the stakes are even higher
and colour is the key to survival.
We discover how animals use colour
to hide from predators
and from their prey.
MONKEY BELLOWS