Amazon Abyss (2005) s01e02 Episode Script

The Amazon, the world's mightiest river.
What lives within its hundred meters depths is one of Earth's greastest mysteries.
Now, an international team of divers and scientists are seeking life where no human has ever ventured before.
To the very bottom of the Amazon.
The expedition has already found extraordinary creatures, but they've only begun to explore what lies within this alien world.
For 3 days, the team have been searching for the giant Jau catfish but this monster of the deep has eluded them.
The diving is proving far more difficult then they imagined and they're behind schedule.
A decision is made to split into 2 teams.
In the first, veteran diver and wildlife cameraman Mike DeGruy joins brazilian professor Mario de Pinna on a mission to find creatures never filmed before.
Fish that talk, animals that hunt using electricity, but their ultimate goal, to discover species completely new to science.
In the second team, Kate Humble head deep into the jungle Her mission : to track down two of the Amazon's most elusive animals.
The rare giant otter, and a strange pink river dolphin, the Boto.
On their quest for new species, Mike and Mario have to cross one of the world's great natural spectacles The meeting of the waters.
Here the black waters of the Rio Negro joins the milky waters of the river Amazon.
Now, how long will the very, very definite line of demarkation It takes several kilometers , because the two water types are so different, but they're actualy not mix for quite some time.
There they are, getting close.
Astonishing.
We're now leaving one river, entering another.
Leaving the Rio Negro, they enter the silk-laden Amazon.
Rich in minerals swept from the Andes, this river contains more types of fresh water fish, than anywhere else on Earth.
An ideal hunting ground for new species.
Many people make a living from the river, but all are weary of the creatures lurking in these murky waters.
Mike is searching for one of the most feared of all, it's just 5 centimeters long, the candiru.
The candiru has a nasty reputation, a reputation nastier than pretty much any fish I've ever met in my entire life.
Candiru are vampires, parasites of other fish.
They enter their host's body through their gills, and gourge on their blood.
But in the turbulent waters of the Amazon, they sometimes enter humans, by mistake.
There was a medical record of the guy that had the unfortunate experience of the candiru swiming up his penis.
So now everything I've been taught not to do : go into the water, it's a little fish, that has a nasty habit, of swiming up your urethra.
That's right, that's what we're about to do.
The candiru is more common on this beach, than anywhere else on the Amazon.
But there's only one way to find them : you have to get in the water.
I think we'll be safe.
Or at least I hope we'll be.
100 kilometers away, Kate's team is searching for aquatic giants, somewhere in the world's biggest reservoirs.
When it was damed in 1987, it drown half a million trees, creating a lake larger than Luxembourg.
It's extraordinay.
it has a kinda ghostly beauty about it.
This area, now, partly because it's so protected, has become home not just for a huge diverse population of fish, including the black piranha, wich is the most fearsome of them all, but also to turles, and to giant otters.
Very, very exciting.
If Kate and her team can film the giant otters, it will also help local scientists identify family members, a useful tool for their protection.
But finding the otters in this vast area won't be easy, only 3000 remain in the whole of South America.
After 6 hours of looking , Kate hasn't seen a trace of an otter, but this remote reservoir has become home to a huge variety of wildlife.
There's so much to look at.
Mike's team are having no more luck in their search for the candiru.
But they have met a trawl of bizzare little aliens, whose ancestors came from the ocean, 1000 miles away.
Look at those teeth The needle-fish.
Have a marine version of this, and looks exacly like this actually.
Snappy little fellow, too.
Thisis everybody's favorite It's a puffle-fish.
When a predator takes them, it puffs up, and they can't get them down, should have let them go.
Or it can go into a crack or crevice, and puff up and it can't be extracted.
I need to get them back in the water pretty quicly, tho.
No sign of candiru, yet, but , instead, a fish that wards off predators by talking.
Armored catfish.
Mix these songs, trying to get rid of you.
Go ahead, bring it up, here we go.
Come on, say hi.
He's saying : please let me go.
See ya.
Kate's found another distraction, on her search for giant otters.
A skimmer, plucking fish from the surface of the water.
I suppose this is the beauty of being in a closed reserve The animals had absolutely no human contact, so they're not scared of it.
I want to go into the water.
We are absolutely surronded by botos.
Boto, a pink, fresh water dolphin.
Well, the 6 hour journey is now extended to I think about 8 hours.
It's entirely my fault.
There's so much to look at.
We have to make camp before it gets dark.
We're here for 2 days, I'm sorry.
Mike and his team have been in the water 2 hours.
If a candiru enters their body, they'll need emergency surgery to cut it out, but at last, he catches one.
Fortunately, in the net.
These fish have modified teeth outside of the mouth, so these are not real spines, they are actually teeth.
That what all the fuss is about.
Candiru, the famous and infamous.
Now, when they're full of blood, this will be a little larger in diameter, and red.
They are about twice the size.
I can feel those spines and teeth.
So now we can see how it actually moves, when it's trying to get in something.
They move on to their ultimate goal: To discover species completely new to science.
The team are going to try a new tactic.
To dive in the dead of night.
They use the daylight for preparing their gear.
Underwater cameraman Mike Pitts makes his final equipment check.
9 tenths of any job underwater is up here.
Simply you make it up here, it's so much easyer when you're down there.
The camera system is ready to go.
It's time to test their theory.
Absorbant time-remaining OK ? Yeah.
Computer electronics turned on.
Yeah.
Oxygen tank on.
Yeah.
Diving at night is more dangerous.
It's all too easy to get lost in the darkness.
If anything goes wrong, they're totally on their own.
The nearest hospital is 3 days away.
They're all in, I'm getting happier by the minute, and they're all going for it.
At first, this alien world seems empty.
But an hour into their dive, and 30 meters deep, strange creatures start to appear.
The blind tube-snout.
One meter long, but only a centimeter thick, it uses its dark pink electric organ to communicate and find food in the gloom.
But when the fish come out, so did the predators.
Somewhere in the darkness, a Boto dolphin is searching for prey with sonar.
The Panaque, the only fish on Earth that eats wood.
Their huge gut holds unique bacteria to digest the dense hardwoods of the Amazon.
Suddenly there's a problem.
Mike Pitts's air supply has malfunctioned.
He's 20 meters below the surface, and in danger of loosing consciousness.
Despite the urgency, it's crucial they ascend slowly.
Coming up too fast can cause serious medical injuries.
The guys were just over an hour into their dive, and they had a rebreather problem, not entirely sure what it was, sounds like some electronics had gone down, and they had to climb manually.
You're taking first aid precautions.
The last little bit of their ascent was quit rapid, and it's the last little bit.
that is important.
We've put them on pure oxygen, as a precaution.
I half considered dropping the camerahalf considered it.
And then I thought I can't control it properly.
You feeling alright , fellows ? Just give me a thumbs up.
The incident drives home just how alone they really are.
Next morning, Kate is been joined by Fernando Costus , who's spent 4 years studying giant otters.
He knows, that to have any chance of filming them, they must start the search at dawn.
It's just gone 5 in the morning and Fernando and I are on a quest to see if the giant otters are having more of a lie in than us.
Fernando often goes days without seeing an otter and he's developed some unconventional techniques to find them.
This is the den, underneath the vegetation.
The entrance of the den, here.
I'm also collecting some thesis to know what they're eating here, in the lake.
Because we know giant otters, they eat mainly fish like piranhas.
And what type of piranhas are in this lake ? Mainly black.
Big onesthey can reach up to 2 kilos.
They are big animans And very agresive.
This lake is teeming with black piranhas.
It should be perfect otter territory, but as each hour passes, their chance of finding the otters seems more remote.
Mike and Mario are still on the search for new species.
It's going to take them to places far too shallow for the main boat.
The Amazon's small streams are crystal clear, because it hasn't rained for weeks.
This might be their best chance to find new life.
But nothing's that simple in the Amazon.
This rain is gonna wash down the exposed clay and mud, and it's gonna turn it into muck.
It seems their best hope for finding animals new to science is being washed away in the mud.
Finally we find a place where we think we can work, and this is what happends.
That's typical, isn't it ? Back at the reservoir, the sun is shining on Kate and Fernando.
But that means the otters may have left the dens for today.
The opportunity to film them may already have been lost.
They are there, they are leaving the den.
Hello guys.
What was that call ? A warning call, or is it a sort of They are relaxed, they are not alert, they are not in danger Here at least, they are safe.
Creating a unique opportunity for the biologists to find more about their way of life.
This one's got a fish there.
Big fish.
Just getting a better grip.
Because the feet are totally webbed, they could almost be flippers.
So, do you think this might be the alpha male and female ? The team's footage will help Fernando to identify family members.
An important step in the protection of these incredible animals.
I can see why you came back.
Year after year, after year I just don't see this working Mike's having no luck at all.
The rain has spoiled his chances of finding new species.
This is going to be muddy for the rest of the day.
Hey, Mario ! This just isn't gonna work, I can't see anything.
I think we catch them, put them in the aquarium Filming animals in ankle-deep mud is impossible.
Mike and biologist Mario decide to catch and film fish in the tank , instead.
Here, we have several representatives of the Is this common here ? on scoop, and you get a dozen fish ? Yeah, yeah A lot of life It's amazin how little water can hold so much life It's fantastic.
In the net, Mario spots something that looks different.
These people live beside a small stream that has as many types of fish, as all the rivers in Britain combined.
The team set up a portable jungle studio, to film the unusual fish.
At last, they found what they've been looking for.
A new species.
This is perfectthis is ichtiological history.
Just fantastic.
Hold that down That's no doubt that that's blood.
This is a new species that does really weird, like sucks blood, in addition to all that, it has become really small, so it can actually use the fish in these little creeks.
It's a new species of blood-sucking catfish.
It maybe small, but it's an important scientific discovery.
Animal vampires often posses chemicals that thin the blood of their victims.
It's possible thier discovery could lead to better treatments for heart disease.
Well done, Mario.
After Kate's success with the otters, she's determined to find the Boto dolphins.
She's had a tip-off It seems the best place to find wild Boto is the local beach resort.
This small town has become quite famous for this little restaurant, because the daugthers of the owners of this restaurant have been feeding the dolphins and, maybe, but not only can i feed them, but I can get into water with them.
Kate lures the Boto, so that the sound recorders can try and make a rare , underwater recording of their calls.
Even they're coming right up here, you still, can't really get an idea of what look like, because it's so dark down there.
I want to see your face.
It's one right here.
Unbelivable.
They got long rows of teeth on either side.
Totally twisted beak Oh, it's a big one here.
Got these really big kind of bulging foreheads, wich is the sonar wich they definately need in water this dark.
Constant clicking.
Have you noticed that when they come out and take fish, does the sound change ? Now, that Kate attracted the Botos, the camera team can get in the water.
But they've no idea how these dolphins will react.
The dolphins show no fear of the cameraman, as they swim through their strange world, stained deep red from the rainforest's leaves.
It likes you a bit better.
This is fantastic.
Kate's team are achieving their goal, by capturing remarkable underwater images of these amazing animals.
They're also discovering that wild Botos can be surprisingly gentil.
There this there are various stories legends about Boto that they take human form, and they whisk away the prettiest girls in the village and it's very strange, looking at them under water, they do look curiously human, as their skin is same color as ours, and yeah, they have this sort of quite human looking form underwater.
Well, I think they are officialy full.
This one, just down here, tickling my feet.
That's itno more fish What an amazing , amazing experience.
Tomorrow the expedition heads further upriver, and has a close encounter with a giant anaconda.