Our Living World (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

[faint, indistinct chatter]
[crickets chirping]
[electricity crackling]
[rhino grunts]
[snorts]
[motorcycle rumbles, horn honks]
[Cate Blanchett] Rush hour.
[motorcycles revving]
It's the same all over.
You gotta get where you're going
the fastest way you can.
In our busy world,
nature has been banished to the shadows.
But here, in Nepal,
the backstreets will only get you so far.
[rhino grunts]
So when you're forced
to hit the main drag,
you can either get snarled up in traffic
[horn honking]
or create your own lane.
["Mundian to Bach Ke"
by Panjabi MC playing]
[growls]
This defiant commuter is doing
what his kind have always done
making the nightly migration
between feeding grounds.
[snorts]
And if today
the savanna has become a suburb,
well, that's not gonna stop him.
["Mundian to Bach Ke"
by Panjabi MC continues]
[rhino grunting]
Faced with our crazy world,
nature strives to find a way through.
[dog barking in distance]
And by doing so,
each of these determined rhinos
weaves its own tiny thread
into a vast web of life.
[majestic music playing]
A living network
that spans our entire world.
It connects every living being.
And now, for the first time,
we're gonna reveal how.
From the densest forests
to the deepest oceans.
[thunder rumbling]
The fiercest skies
to the hottest deserts.
This hidden network
links the wonders of life
to the great forces of our planet
keeping our whole world alive.
[whale spouting]
[squeaking]
And even when we disrupt
these vital connections
[rumbling]
nature fights on.
[growls]
This is the wondrous untold story
of the most powerful force on Earth.
[majestic music rising]
Life itself.
Unlock its secrets,
and we'll discover how there could be
a brighter future for us all
on our interconnected living world.
[soft wind gusts]
You can pick up a thread
of nature's network
anywhere you care to look,
even in the wilds of the frozen north.
[snorting]
She may not know it,
but this newborn reindeer
has a vital role ahead of her.
[gentle music playing]
[snorts]
She just has to survive long enough
to play her part.
The strongest possible bond
with her mother will help.
But first, she will need to master
her most important survival tool.
[calf bleats]
Her legs.
[grunts]
[gentle music playing]
She is a natural-born athlete.
Speed, endurance, she's got it all.
Or she will have when she finds her feet.
[gentle music continues]
Until then, the safest place
for a sprinter-in-training
is literally under her mother's feet.
Because eagle eyes are watching
[chirps]
waiting for her to stray.
[foreboding music playing]
[bleats]
[squawking]
Mom has her back this time.
But the sooner
she can get those legs working,
the better her chances.
The calf will find safety
joining the herd.
[rousing music playing]
And it's together
that these animals make an impact
that's felt far beyond the Arctic.
But only if they're kept on their toes.
[snorting]
Wolves.
[panting]
[tense music playing]
Out on the plains,
this herd can spot danger approaching
and can do what they were born to do.
[growls]
[suspenseful music playing]
[panting]
In the open, they can hit top speed.
But among the trees,
deep snow bogs them down.
[suspenseful music rising]
Lucky for them,
it's even harder work for shorter legs.
Breaking for open ground
means better footing.
And the skittish herd can once again
keep a watchful eye on their pursuers.
[howling]
The Arctic is a tough place to survive,
even for a world-class runner.
But this never-ending dance
of predator and prey
ultimately connects to us all.
[tranquil music playing]
As the calf and her herd graze
on the grass and scrub
they trim it back,
which allows snow to settle unbroken.
While the predators
keep the herds on the move,
spreading their grazing work far and wide.
Together they help create
uninterrupted blankets of snow,
turning these white plains
into a vast cosmic mirror
which can reflect up to 85%
of the Sun's heat back into space.
We need the Arctic to stay frozen
to help stabilize our climate,
making the entire planet
more habitable for us all.
And this astonishing cooling system
helps set off
another physical chain of events
that plunges to the depths of our oceans.
Because just off the coast,
the sea is freezing.
[ice crystals crackling]
Ice crystals rise to the surface
forcing denser seawater
to plummet to the seabed
and warmer surface waters
to flood in to replace it.
It's the start
of a gigantic circulatory system.
A pump that drives sea currents
on a thousand-year round trip
connecting every ocean on Earth.
[majestic music playing]
Where there are currents
there's life.
[squeaks]
Nowhere more so
than on a tropical coral reef.
[gentle music playing]
A quarter of all known marine species
live on reefs like these.
And a billion of us humans
depend on them for our food,
livelihoods, and protection.
Even here in the currents around the reef,
the same rules apply
for the hunters and the hunted.
The trick is to stay ahead
of the competition
any way you can.
[calm music playing]
These cuttlefish eggs were hidden
in the rocks by their mother.
The trouble is,
they soon turn see-through.
So the tiny embryos
must stay stock-still to avoid being
[quirky music playing]
Oh. There's always one.
No bigger than a peanut,
this precocious youngster
is already enthralled
by the reef around him.
[light music playing]
He'll only live for a year,
so he seems determined
to learn as much as he can,
as fast as he can.
But his exuberance
is attracting attention.
[ominous music playing]
A hungry mantis shrimp
with the sharpest eyes on the reef.
[mechanical whirring]
He likes his eggs soft in the middle.
But junior is already one step ahead.
Now you see me
now you don't.
[quirky music playing]
But not everyone
is gonna fall for that ruse.
[foreboding music playing]
Epaulette sharks can sense
the electrical current
given off by their next meal.
[heartbeat blaring]
And the baby's heartbeat
is blaring out like a car alarm.
[blaring continues]
At the last second, he somehow knows
[blaring stops]
to kill the switch.
Holding his breath
and slowing down his three hearts
to disappear once more.
[light playful music playing]
All this eager student needs now
is a grown-up to teach him
how to catch his dinner.
It's enough to make
a wannabe hunter burst.
Graduating from egg school
gives him the best start in life.
He will now feast
on whatever opportunities
the currents bring.
Tiny critters riding
the watery superhighway
from reef to distant reef.
Spreading new life and new hope
for the future
of these underwater wonders.
[wind gusting]
[grunts]
From a baby reindeer
who helps power the ocean's heartbeat
via a tropical reef,
the network of ocean currents
connects both poles
as it continues all the way to Antarctica.
Freezing temperatures
supercharge the ocean's pulse
[squawking]
pumping seawater northwards once more
where the most powerful currents
rejuvenate life
in places you'd least expect.
[insects chittering]
During the dry season
in Africa's Kalahari Desert,
everyone is struggling to beat the heat.
[grunting]
Yet, even here,
nature's network has a way of providing
exactly what life needs to flourish.
All because, hundreds of miles away,
an icy Atlantic current
meets hot desert air.
Thick fog blows inland.
[thunder rumbling]
Thunderclouds billow up over the highlands
where they perform nature's own alchemy.
[thunder cracking]
Each bolt of lightning is so powerful
it splits molecules in the air
creating nitrates,
a liquid fertilizer essential
for the growth of every plant on Earth.
[dramatic music playing]
These nutrients rain down
and cascade south
crossing hundreds of miles
of Southern Africa
until they pour into the Okavango Delta
transforming the parched Kalahari
into one of nature's greatest oases
triggering an explosion of new growth
in the once barren desert.
[snorts, munches]
[screeching]
But while a connection
to a distant ocean provides the waters
[trumpets]
it is down to the locals to create
a neighborhood where everyone can benefit.
Heavyweight engineers bulldoze their way
through the vegetation
[trumpeting]
creating networks of flowing channels
that connect pools and watering holes
allowing the rich waters
to spread further afield.
[chirping]
Meaning, no one misses out.
And for this family
of leisure-loving hippos
it's pool party season.
[quirky music playing]
They've got first dibs
on the best bathing spot in the area.
[croaking]
[honking]
But Dad can't kick back completely.
Keeping hold of this pool
and his harem of breeding females
is not gonna be easy.
Both are hot property for young bulls
looking to start their own family.
For the father,
this interloper is about as welcome
as a Band-Aid in a hot tub.
[tense music playing]
[growling]
Dad warns him to back off.
[bellowing]
Fighting a two-ton rival
would be exhausting.
It could also be deadly.
But if the rogue male steps into his pool,
Dad has a simple choice.
Lose his family
or fight.
[bellowing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[roaring]
Dad may have to see off
many more challengers
before the season is over.
[quirky music playing]
But for now,
victory deserves a lap of celebration.
Yeah. Still got it.
All this frolicking and fighting
helps to prolong the party season.
It stirs the waters and stops the pools
from stagnating.
So even as the flood begins to subside,
their fellow landscape engineers
can be sure that hippo-flavored water
is safe to drink.
[tense music playing]
Just a few months on
the riches of the flood disappear.
And the bulldozers bring
what food is left
[branches cracking]
down to earth.
But even this demolition dinner
sets off a chain reaction
that sends ripples far beyond the desert
by paving the way
for another natural phenomenon.
[crackling]
Fire.
[tense music playing]
Dead wood fuels seasonal bushfires
that rejuvenate the savanna.
[chirping]
And in these flames, a new thread
in the vast web of life begins
with a link that connects continents.
As the brush and soil burn,
microscopic nutrients are released
from their earthbound existence.
[majestic music playing]
They rise up with the smoke
to meet the clouds.
High in the atmosphere,
plumes of phosphorus speed their way
through wind currents and weather systems.
Fertilizers carried all the way
across the Atlantic
to the skies of South America
where their magic rains down
over the mighty Amazon rainforest.
Remarkably, half of the phosphorus
that finds its way here
originates from African fires
providing an intercontinental lifeline
for the three million species
that call this place home.
[chirps]
We used to think
the incredible diversity of life here
evolved through the pressures
of competition.
[squawking]
[screeching]
But there is also a more subtle
and equally powerful force at play.
[serene music playing]
Collaboration.
Rising above it all
is an elegant Brazil nut tree.
She has been growing here
for over a century.
At nearly 150 feet tall,
she is a pillar of high society.
She has risen to the top
by being the ultimate forest networker,
and she has faith that her contacts
will provide everything she needs.
[birds chirping, squawking]
Bright yellow flowers brimming with nectar
announce that she is ready to reproduce.
But she's a little bit picky.
She only wants to admit VIPs.
Very important pollinators who might have
visited another Brazil nut tree.
[insect chittering]
[buzzing]
So her flowers have a protective hood.
It will take someone with a bit more heft
to deadlift this doorway.
Astonishingly,
this tree is so well-connected
that she can outsource the hard work
of finding such an exclusive creature
to a personal assistant.
A neighboring orchid
looking to lure in
a pollinator of its own.
Its captivating aroma is irresistible
to a connoisseur of scents.
[dreamy music playing]
This orchid bee is a master perfumier.
Working on his own signature cologne,
he simply must add
this divine fragrance to his mix.
He gently gathers
the finest aromatic oils with his brushes
and deftly blends them together
in his pouches.
The perfect concoction will make him
more desirable to any admirer.
So it must be just right.
Maybe a dab more.
But it's not this perfumed perfectionist
who will help the Brazil nut tree.
It's who he attracts.
[buzzing]
With the forest air now heady
with seductive scents,
bigger, stronger female bees
start buzzing about.
And it is these heavyweights
who the Brazil nut tree
has been waiting to entertain.
Female bees have the power
to prise open the hood
and deliver the pollen
the tree needs to reproduce.
The tree's mastery
of the forest network has paid off.
[animals calling]
But by next year, her exclusive flowers
have turned into a fruit
that is even harder to get into.
Not even a 100-foot drop
[loud thud]
can spring its seeds
from their rock-hard shell.
Only a safecracker
could bust into this strongbox.
But this noble tree even has contacts
in the forest underworld.
Suspect number one,
the light-fingered agouti.
[sniffing]
This toothy rodent
is the only creature with the right tools
to jimmy open the case.
And when it comes to the nuts inside,
he's just gotta have them all.
If there's any leftovers, he stashes them
in little caches throughout the forest.
[whimsical music playing]
So he can enjoy them later.
But this forest filcher
has so many hidden away,
he can't possibly remember
where they all are.
And it's his lost seeds
that the Brazil nut has been counting on.
[wondrous music playing]
Placing her precious legacy in the hands
of such a motley crew might seem reckless.
But that's the wonder of nature's network.
These fantastical collaborations
really do work.
And they're so reliable
that every single Brazil nut
is created in this extraordinary way.
They are a crop that can only come
from a healthy, intact rainforest.
[birds chirping, warbling]
And there's one animal in particular
who is crucial to keeping
this whole forest healthy.
A creature who rules his kingdom
with an iron fist of fear.
[squeaking]
[mewls]
[tense music playing]
Well, at least he will
when he gets out of bed.
[snoring]
[funky music playing]
A typical teenager.
This young jaguar spends his days sleeping
and occasionally getting up
to raid the pantry.
[tense music playing]
His snacks range
from the tops of the trees
right down to beneath the waterline.
But his boundless appetite
means that everywhere he treads,
he breathes not death but life.
Without big cats like him,
this place could look very different.
[suspenseful music playing]
Fewer hunters would mean a boom of grazers
devouring saplings
before they reach maturity.
As older trees die off,
fewer young ones replace them.
[shrill chirping]
Sunlight streams in through gaps
in the canopy.
The damp understory dries out,
and those that rely on moist conditions
disappear.
Flowers wilt.
Hummingbirds starve.
Where no large predators roam
leafcutter ant numbers
explode a hundredfold,
ready to strip away the forest
one leaf at a time.
Just one missing link,
and the whole network
begins to fall apart.
But where jaguars still hunt,
they are the glue that binds together
the complex web of the rainforest.
And this voracious teenager,
will even attempt something
few other hunters would dare
taking on another top predator.
A caiman
waiting to ambush her own prey.
A naive jaguar
would be well within her power.
It's all about who gets the jump on whom.
[tense music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[jaguar growls]
He has landed a meal worthy
of even the heartiest teenage appetite.
And one that will have
profound knock-on effects.
Because his leftovers
are about to start their own journey
that will reveal the mind-blowing secret
of how forests
all over the world really work.
The rotting carcass releases
a lifetime's worth of nutrients
that seep into the forest floor.
And underground,
something is waiting to receive them.
A microscopic thread absorbs the nutrients
and transports them
beneath the trees above.
It is just one filament
in a vast living network.
The mycelial tissue from colonies of fungi
that spread beneath
this entire rainforest.
Their tiny terminals connect to tree roots
trading captured nutrients
in return for a share
of the tree's own food.
But this is more than
just a business transaction.
In some forests,
underground networks unite their trees
into a single wood wide web.
A smart system that allows
a mutual flow of food and water
from the strongest to the weakest.
Even between species.
A sapling starved of sunlight
can be nursed to full strength
by her taller neighbors.
The trees might even use their network
to communicate with each other.
A hivemind warning others
of disease or attack,
so they can prepare for tough times ahead.
The scale of the planet's fungal networks
is staggering.
Laid end to end,
they would spread beyond our solar system,
extending more than halfway
across our galaxy.
But here on Earth,
they work with their trees
to lock away three-quarters
of all our terrestrial carbon
safely beneath the soil.
[animals calling]
This fig tree is hundreds of years old.
A mother tree.
Many saplings have grown up in her shadow.
But now her life is coming to an end.
[tranquil music playing]
The fungal network may allow her
one final act of selflessness.
To gift the last of her precious nutrients
to her community.
A grandmother's dying wish to provide
the best chance for her forest family.
[bird chirping]
Another tree will grow to take her place
and continue her enduring role.
Thanks to the wonders
of the wood wide web.
[birdsong]
Some scientists today
are increasingly seeing forests
as a single interconnected entity
where plants, animals,
and fungi all work together
as a collaborating,
self-supporting community.
The epitome of nature's amazing network.
[wondrous music playing]
In the light of these recent discoveries,
it's not too great a leap
to see the whole planet
functioning in the same way.
Every life connected.
From a speedy reindeer
to a triumphant hippo.
Every action with its consequence.
From an ocean heartbeat
to a fertile rainstorm.
One way or another,
all of nature connects to all our lives.
Even if it's not walking down our street.
Life's connections stretch
to every corner of the Earth.
[intriguing music playing]
But nature's network
must be constantly on the move,
dancing to the rhythms
of our living planet
and reacting
to the passage of time itself.
In a world that is ever-changing,
opportunity is always there
for the taking.
But timing is everything.
[closing theme music playing]