BBC Asia (2024) s01e06 Episode Script

1
In the heart of Asia
lie vast arid lands.
They stretch from Arabia in the west
to eastern China.
These deserts
and dry grasslands are so hostile,
they push life to the limit.
The Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
A punishing land.
Half a million square
miles of emptiness.
Yet it is home to one of the rarest
animals on Earth
..the Gobi Bear.
Fewer than 40 are known to exist.
They are so rarely seen,
they were thought to be a myth.
Life here, in the arid
heart of Asia
..has turned them into one of the
toughest animals on Earth.
This is one of the last
remaining Gobi Bears
..fewer than ten of which
are female.
They are clinging to existence.
In Mongolian, Gobi means
"waterless place".
And therein lies the bear's
greatest challenge.
Sources of water may be
100 miles apart.
They face a gruelling
trek across the desert.
Theirs is a solitary life.
But there is a place where
they go to connect with each other.
These are ancient poplar trees.
They use their extremely long
roots to collect
water from beneath the desert floor.
There is nothing
here for the bears to drink.
But these trees are still
important to them.
As they rub,
they leave behind a unique scent
..a message to other bears,
to say they've been here.
But with so few left, it may be
months before somebody comes by.
This could be the closest they ever
come to meeting another bear.
In the search for water,
the bears follow well-trodden
paths across this vast desert.
And this is why.
An oasis
..a freshwater spring
fed from deep underground.
At last, a drink
..and a refreshing dip.
The oases are a lifeline
for the bears
..particularly for those
that are extremely precious.
A Gobi Bear cub.
The future of these bears
rests on just a few individuals.
But this young one is
a symbol of hope for the Gobi Bear.
To escape the heat of the day, most
animals in the Gobi emerge at night.
But they don't all go on long treks
across the desert to find water.
In fact, some don't drink at all.
A Long-Eared Jerboa.
This curious creature looks
like a mixture of other species.
It has a tail
shaped like that of a lion
..ears like those of a rabbit
..the snout of a pig
..and the legs of a kangaroo.
But those are features that makes
it the Gobi's most deadly hunter.
A beetle
..with a subtle scent.
It's a good start,
but it will need more,
not to satisfy its hunger,
but its thirst.
That is because Long-Eared Jerboas
get all the water
they need from what they eat.
A juicy grasshopper.
To track it down,
it uses another sense.
No other animal has longer ears
relative to its body length.
With hearing so acute,
even the slightest twitch will give
the grasshopper away.
Don't move now.
For a little jerboa,
all this action is tiring.
But it's summer
and the nights are short.
Jerboas must work fast to get
all the food they need.
A moth.
Catching it in near total darkness
will require
all the jerboa's skills.
Nearly!
One last big jump should do it.
That's plenty to eat and drink.
Jerboas must get back
to their burrows before dawn brings
the scorching heat of the day.
The Gobi Desert is one of the most
oppressive places on our planet.
And west of here, in China,
lies the Taklamakan
..so hostile it's been called
"The Sea of Death".
But on the southern
edge of Asia's arid heart
lies a desert that is full of life.
The Thar, in India
..the most densely populated
desert on Earth
..home to 20 million people.
Surprisingly, it is
also filled with wildlife.
Demoiselle Cranes.
They have migrated
thousands of miles to get here,
from their breeding
grounds in the north.
In the village of Khichan,
the local Jain community have a
spiritual connection with animals.
Jainism teaches that the path
to enlightenment is through
caring for all living things
..so they welcome the cranes
with open arms.
Every day, the local people
put out one ton of grain.
This act of kindness has created
one of the greatest
bird spectacles on Earth.
30,000 cranes fill this
little desert settlement with life.
The villagers of Khichan have
become their guardians.
This was once no more than
a stopover
on the cranes' migratory route.
Now, they spend their entire
winter here.
These deserts offer little for
the people live in them
..so for them to give so much to the
cranes is astonishingly generous.
On the edge of the Thar Desert lies
a parched scrub forest.
It provides quiet sanctuary,
away from the hustle
and bustle that surrounds it.
This is the last refuge of a very
special big cat
..the Asiatic Lion.
They were once found from here
to the Middle East
..but now this small corner of India
is the last place on Earth
where they exist.
Like their African cousins,
they live in prides
..though theirs are
somewhat smaller.
The cubs have a lot to learn
if they are to survive here.
They still rely on their mother's
milk, but it is drying up.
And the adults haven't made
a kill for over a week.
The baking heat has stripped
the trees of their cover
..making hunting particularly tough.
A chital deer would make
a valuable meal.
It's time for the cubs
to learn how to hunt.
With the forest so dry, she can't
afford to put a foot wrong.
Just a bit too keen.
The next lesson for the cubs is to
always keep your eyes and ears open.
The calls of a hungry
crow are worth tracing.
A leopard is no
match for a pride of hungry lions.
With her milk flowing once again,
the cubs can now suckle.
These lions are clever opportunists,
a way of life the cubs need
to quickly learn.
To the west of India lie
some of the most inhospitable
deserts on the planet.
The Lut Desert, in Iran
..the hottest place on
the Earth's surface
..a blistering 80 degrees Celsius.
Sustaining life in this otherworldly
place is all but impossible.
South of Iran, in Arabia,
lies a vast sea of dunes
..the Rub Al Khali,
or Empty Quarter.
This is the largest expanse of sand
in the world, extending over
an area greater than
the size of France.
This desolate land is entirely
shaped by wind.
But the shifting sands help
to create
life beyond the borders
of this desert.
Sand from the Rub Al Khali
is blown into the shallow
seas of the Persian Gulf
..where it creates desert islands.
Seemingly lifeless,
this island is host
to an extraordinary gathering
..60,000 Socotra Cormorants.
They have come here
to raise a family
out of the reach of predators.
Just over a week old,
this chick is constantly hungry.
Both parents take turns
to fetch food for it.
The Persian Gulf is fertilised
by nutrients that accompany
the wind-blown sand
..and turns its waters into a rich
fishing ground.
But raising chicks in the desert
is not easy.
They must be protected
from the searing heat.
Yet the desert
isn't their biggest threat.
There is danger within
..gangs of juveniles.
Cormorants feed their young
as frequently as possible,
until they reach adult weight,
and then abandon them.
This creates mobs of starving
juveniles.
Their parents return with
fish for their chicks.
But the juveniles have other ideas.
They mug the adults for their catch.
When parents are unable to get
back to the nest with food,
their partners face a dilemma.
Stay, and their chicks may starve,
or go to find food
and leave them exposed to danger.
The gang is still ravenous.
Their hunger drives them
to become
..cannibals.
Without food,
chicks get weaker and weaker.
Parents have no choice but to leave.
All alone, but calling for its
parents may be a very bad idea.
Saved just in the nick of time.
And food finally arrives.
As the chicks grow,
they will eventually be
abandoned by their parents.
So they, too, may have
no choice but to become cannibals.
Many of Asia's deserts have
existed for millions of years.
But here also lies the youngest
desert on Earth.
On the border of Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan lies the Aralkum.
Shipwrecks in the desert are
evidence of what this used to be.
Until recently, the Aralkum
was the Aral Sea,
the fourth largest
lake in the world.
But in the 1960s, the river that
fed this inland sea was dammed
upstream to irrigate cotton fields.
Sand that once lay on the sea floor
now gets whipped up to form
towering sandstorms.
These storms can travel
eastwards across Asia.
Each spring,
they overwhelm whole cities
..covering them
in a choking blanket of dust.
In China, these devastating
storms are known as Yellow Dragons.
As the world warms,
so Asia's deserts are expanding.
They are spreading into another
great arid land
..the Eurasian Steppe,
the largest grassland on Earth.
It stretches from Hungary
in the west
..to China in the east
..one-fifth of the way
around the world.
The Steppe is semi-arid, getting
just enough rainfall for short
grass to grow, but not enough to
sustain tall grass or trees.
So, here on the plains of Mongolia,
there are very few hiding places
..a problem this hungry
Pallas's Cat needs to solve.
There are plenty of tiny
rodents here.
The problem is getting close
enough to catch them.
No easy task on an open plain.
But she has a way of dealing
with that.
Time for a game of
Grandmother's Footsteps.
When her prey looks up
..she freezes.
When it looks away,
she sneaks closer.
Once within striking distance
..she performs her greatest trick.
Her waggling tail seems
to mesmerise her prey.
It doesn't come without a fight.
She will need to do this
dozens of times a day
..because she has five
kittens to care for.
They're barely two months old
and have boundless energy.
With a meal delivered,
she tries to get some rest.
But it's not long before
she's off hunting again.
A mother's work is never done.
The arrival of winter
transforms the steppe.
Temperatures fall to minus 40
and it's now stripped of grass.
Mongolian Gazelles are the great
nomads of these plains.
Their ancient annual migration
takes them south in search of food.
Most of these hardy creatures
will survive the winter
..as long as their migration
isn't stopped.
This train is part
of the Trans-Siberian Railway
..an immense line, over
1,000 miles long
..connecting Russia to China
..splitting this great
grassland in two.
The railway is fenced on both
sides by razor-sharp barbed wire.
It's there to keep
livestock off the tracks.
But to keep moving south,
gazelles must risk their lives
and get through these fences.
Many gazelles don't make it.
For those caught between the two
fences, there is yet more danger.
A feral dog patrolling
the tracks in search of prey.
The fence seals the gazelle's fate.
For those which escape,
the migration continues.
But for many others, it ends here.
Of all the large animals that
live in this arid grassland,
perhaps the most well
adapted are the horses.
In the 13th Century, Genghis Khan
conquered most of Asia on horseback.
But there is one kind of horse
he never tamed.
These are Takhi
..the last truly wild horses
on Earth.
They live in small family groups.
It's springtime here in Mongolia
and there are new foals to care for.
Grooming reinforces their family
bonds
..and they will come to
rely on the strength of these
bonds for their survival.
As the sun begins to set,
the atmosphere changes.
The horses are on high alert.
Wolves roam these wild lands.
In the blackness of night,
a wolf has the upper hand.
The mares keep their precious
foals close.
It's they that the wolf is after.
With the element of surprise gone,
a lone wolf will not be able
to make a kill
..so it summons reinforcements.
The pack aims to cause panic
and grab a foal in the confusion.
The wolves close in
..but the horses fight back.
The foal is safe,
for tonight.
By sticking together,
these horses deal with the many
challenges of the steppe.
Life in the arid heart of Asia
demands extraordinary resilience.
And the animals that live here
are among Asia's great survivors.
The Asia team are heading
to one of the remotest
places on the planet to film
the world's rarest bear.
Helping in their search is
Gobi Bear specialist
Dr Odko Tumendemberel.
I'm a biologist, and I have been
working on Gobi Bear over 15 years.
I love Gobi Bears because
they are very unique animals.
It's just amazing that they can live
here, surviving in this desert.
Odko's knowledge and experience will
be vital if the crew are to succeed.
Three days and 1,000
miles of driving later,
they arrive at base camp.
To stand any chance of filming
one of the most elusive animals on
Earth, cameraman Joe Riis needs to
set up remotely triggered cameras.
Mongolian biologist Nassa helps
him find the right spots.
Looks like a bear print right there.
With positive signs of bears,
Joe can get to work setting
up the cameras.
Beautiful, beautiful!
Whilst Joe and Nassa are out
rigging the cameras,
Odko is busy with her work.
She wants to understand how the bear
population has changed
since it was last measured in 2017.
The last estimate was
32 individuals.
Since it's a very small population,
we need to find a way to increase
population size.
Whether Odko discovers an increase
or decrease in bear numbers
will help decide
the conservation strategy.
We need to understand how many
there are,
and then find a way to
protect these few bears.
To determine the size of the bear
population, Odko needs their DNA.
She gets it at these feeders.
To help the bears survive
the leaner months,
the national park puts out
extra food.
When the bears visit,
they inevitably leave
a hair sample behind.
Using this method, Odko has "met"
virtually every surviving
Gobi Bear through their DNA.
With the last camera trap in place,
it's now a waiting game for Joe.
Looks nice.
Not just a few weeks, but months.
When Joe returns, he has no idea
if a bear has been filmed.
No bears.
Nothing.
No bears. The lack of bears
is concerning for Joe,
but also for those, like Odko,
who are trying to save them.
I am worried -
we may not have enough time,
but we can try our best to conserve
what we have here now.
And today, the need to protect the
bears has never been more critical.
Even here in this remote part
of the planet, there are threats.
In the last 70 years,
average temperatures in Mongolia
have increased by more than
two degrees Celsius,
leading to severe droughts.
And vast mineral wealth under
the Gobi leads to mining
..which is a real threat
to an animal
that relies on space and solitude.
Knowing the threats
facing the bears,
the team decide to leave the area
undisturbed for longer.
Oh, look, the camera's been moved,
it messed with that camera too
and that one, all three of them.
There's definitely a bear here.
That's Gobi Bear hair right there,
and this, is from its teeth.
Come, check this out.
Not quite the footage Joe's after,
but at least he's getting closer.
I was hoping for a nice couple
shots of Gobi Bears,
what we got is messed-up
cameras instead.
He keeps checking the cameras in the
hope the bears have left some alone.
Here comes a bear!
Yes!
Success, at last.
The bear comes in the water
pool right here.
It's amazing!
It's three years of work for me.
Right here.
And the news just
keeps on getting better.
Joe can't wait to share the most
exciting piece of footage
with the team.
Aah!
So, when was the last time
you saw a cub?
In 2015.
Wow, seven years!
It's a long time.
The team's success is
reflected in Odko's study.
Early indications suggest the
bear population is stable.
But with numbers
still in the 30s,
the survival of the Gobi Bear
is resting on a knife edge.
It's very hard to achieve
the successful recovery,
but we have to keep going
and I truly hope that we can
increase the Gobi Bear population.
The cub filmed by the team
is a glimmer of hope.
And Odko's research will bring some
much-needed attention to the
plight of the world's rarest bear.
Next time
..meet extraordinary people
..battling against the odds to find
ways to save Asia's wildlife
..for future generations.
Get ready. Go!