# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
♪♪♪ BENSON: Dropped into one of the wildest places on the planet... [ Chirping ] ...I'm going to run a unique experiment.

♪♪♪ Using a network of remotely operated cameras... [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ ...I want to explore [ Purring ] every level of this incredible jungle, in real time, for a month... ♪♪♪ ...a wildlife filmmaking first.

[whispering] See if we can get a wide shot of this, as well.

The multiple live feeds will allow us to experience the behaviors of the animals here, as the action unfolds.

Filming 24/7... [ Thunder crashing ] ...and suffering challenging conditions... Agh!

MELVILLE: Oh! Oh!

BENSON: ...we'll to try to capture the lives of remarkable creatures... MELVILLE: [gasp, whispering] What's that in the trees?

BENSON: ...and experience life in this incredible green realm in a whole new way. [ Rumbling ] [whispering] That is remarkable.

♪♪♪ [ Outro plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Insects chirping, creatures whistling ] [ Creature caws ] [ Insects buzzing ] [ Whirring ] [ Creatures calling ] [ Suspenseful music plays ] BENSON: I'm Will Benson, a naturalist and filmmaker.

♪♪♪ COX: [ Speaking indistinctly ] BENSON: And, with my team, it's taken us a week to rig a remarkable patch of Amazon rain forest with remote-controlled cameras to covertly watch the lives of the animals here.

♪♪♪ In my hunt for this incredible location, I surveyed maps and satellite images and, in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, I found a region of unmatched biodiversity.

♪♪♪ It took us four days to get here and can only be accessed by boat.

♪♪♪ Parts of this jungle have been visited by humans.

It doesn't get any wilder than this.

[ Monkey calling ] A troop of very noisy woolly monkeys just climbing above us right now.

A single hectare here contains more tree species than the entire of the U.S. and Canada combined, and over 100,000 species of insect.

It's a living, breathing, green metropolis of life... [ Suspenseful chord strikes ] ...and I can't wait to meet its billions of inhabitants.

[ Purring ] [ Insects chirping, money chattering ] Across this patch of jungle, our cameras will allow us to see it all, from 3 feet below the ground to 300 feet above it.

♪♪♪ We've bugged an area of tangled vines inhabited by a colony of palm-sized monkeys; rigged a muddy wallow visited by mammals and exotic birds; trained our cameras on fruiting trees up in the emergent layer, that will attract hungry primates; lined the riverbank with cameras to capture the Amazon's aquatic critters; and rigged nesting sites and animal trails.

♪♪♪ The live feeds from the cameras are wired back to our remote monitoring stations... MEYRICK: Look at the size of that.

MELVILLE: Oh, that's huge.

BENSON: ...from where we'll follow the action across multiple areas of the rain forest as it unfolds.

♪♪♪ The network of cameras have been rolling, day and night, for a week, now, and we're getting into the swing of spying on the daily lives of the inhabitants of this jungle metropolis.

[ Whirring ] [ Tweeting ] The sac-winged bats blissfully fill their days alternating between sunbathing and sleeping... [ Monkey hooting ] ...while this family of saki monkeys... [ Hooting ] ...are still trying to make sense of our cameras.

MELVILLE: They look a bit bemused.

[ Laughs ] -BENSON: Yeah.

I think you would be, if a strange camera suddenly appeared in your living room one day.

[ Hooting continues ] [ Screech ] [ Hooting continues, insects chirping ] Almost nothing is known about these rare primates who live hidden among the top layer of this city of green... ...so, being able to meet their inquisitive gaze through our spy rig is an incredible moment.

[whispering] Fantastic.

[ Hooting ] Appearing somewhat overdressed in their coat of coarse fur, they use their strong hind legs to propel themselves through the branches.

[ Insects chirping ] [ Screech ] [ Hooting continues ] Getting to see these elusive sakis so early on is a great sign and we're now itching to meet the nine other species of monkey that share this tree-top neighborhood.

[ Creatures chirping ] [ Sinister music plays ] But then?

Rain.

♪♪♪ [ Thunder crashing ] ♪♪♪ The downpours here can last anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks... ...and the bad weather is threatening to bring our whole project to a soggy standstill.

♪♪♪ It's now rained every day for the last eight days and, um, we're waterproofed and our kits are waterproof, but the wildlife has pretty much gone to ground.

We've had minimal activity at most of our camera sites.

Um, because wildlife doesn't like getting wet and it hunkers down, waits for a bit of a sunny window to come out and forage and hunt for food.

But, you know, this is all part of the experiment, um, all part of the challenge, uh, and keep our fingers crossed that it stops raining soon, we can dry our boots out and film some wildlife.

[ Thunder rumbling ] All we can do is sit it out.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪♪ And after the tenth day of rain, the clouds finally clear... ♪♪♪ ...and I'm thrilled when the wildlife begins to return to our cameras.

[ Whirring ] [ Creature cawing ] [ Peccary snorting ] These bristly pig-like animals are collared peccaries.

[ Snorting ] [chuckling] And it seems the alert adults have sensed they're being watched.

MELVILLE: [whispering] They're properly looking at the cameras.

BENSON: They're so aware of them, aren't they?

But, they soon realize we pose no threat and return to their daily business.

[ Lapping ] This muddy wallow is clearly irresistible to peccaries and our cameras are revealing why.

It's the ideal place for a refreshing drink and somewhere to cool off in the midday heat.

MELVILLE: Oh, look, there are some little, tiny ones.

Little babies.

BENSON: Fantastic.

[ Snorting ] Squabbling between the peccaries seems to be a regular affair... [ Squeaks ] ...but it rarely lasts long.

Day after day, we watch as the herd returns to this wallow.

[ Snuffling ] [whispering] Their really sensitive noses are great for finding seeds and... tasty morsels to eat here.

[ Rumble ] And this relentless snuffling and plodding stops trees and plants from growing in the wet soil, so it seems they've tailor-made this mucky meeting place to suit their needs just perfectly.

MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, he's got that again.

BENSON: Okay.

[ Insects chirping ] Trail cameras on this forest floor capture incredible predators, [ Rumbling ] like puma, a notoriously elusive jaguar.

[ Purring ] [ Chirping ] [ Whistle ] With hungry mouths patrolling down here, life in the trees is a far safer option for many.

[ Whirring ] And, 10 feet up, our cameras spy one of the most vulnerable animals of all.

[ Chirp ] It's a pygmy marmoset.

[ Chirping ] Weighing less than an apple, pygmy marmosets are the smallest monkey in the world.

MELVILLE: Look at their little faces.

Just gorgeous.

BENSON: Stunning.

[ Whirring ] Their needle-sharp fingernails enable them to scamper up and down tree trunks and vines... ...leaping over 30 times their body length from tree to tree.

[ Creature croaks ] They can swivel their heads backwards to spot any potential predators.

[ Hiss-squeaking ] And it seems something has caught the eye of one of the marmosets, prompting a loud warning call.

MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, look, he's really nervous.

He's looking around.

BENSON: There's some movement over there.

MELVILLE: Yeah.

BENSON: The technology we're using here means we have an eye at all levels of this jungle.

Zoom in there.

[ Whirring ] From one of our canopy cameras, we can zoom in and see what's triggered this alarm... [ Hiss-squeaking ] ...a great black hawk, stealthily eyeing them up.

[ Hiss-squeaking ] A very real threat for one of these snack-sized monkeys.

[ Hiss-squeaking ] The shrill call lets the hawk know he's been spotted.

[ Hiss-squeaking ] And it has the desired effect.

[ Hiss-squeaking ] His cover has been blown and he's lost the element of surprise... [ Hiss-squeak ] [ Wings fluttering ] ...allowing the rest of the marmosets to return to their playful ways.

For now.

From the moment we entered this jungle, we've been surrounded by a more dizzying array of life than anywhere I've ever experienced... [ Insects chirping ] But to see some of the more unusual creatures here, we need a few extra tricks up our sleeve.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] I think we want to make sure we've got as much coverage in this clearing as possible.

MEYRICK: Heading this way? -BENSON: Yeah.

♪♪♪ We obviously know there's big populations of things like jaguar and, uh, puma here, and also scavengers, but, it's a huge area.

I think we can use a -- a cow's head as bait and we can hopefully bring some of those really cool animals towards where we've got some of our cameras set up and see some of the action for ourselves.

MEYRICK: How long do you reckon it'll take for animals to actually smell this thing and start coming in?

BENSON: I reckon things like vultures, they've got an amazing sense of smell.

Possibly, in the first day, we're gonna see animals start coming in.

And, thanks to a remarkable insect, we have the perfect setting for our experiment.

It's actually, is one species of ant that creates these clearings -MEYRICK: Yeah.

BENSON: and that has a symbiotic relationship with these trees, which are the same trees in this whole area and the ants live inside these branches.

You can see there are little in and out holes and these swellings are their nest, uh, nodule.

The ant releases a -- an acid into the soil which no other tree species tolerate, so, those trees can't grow here.

This tree tolerates it and, as a result, gets precedence to grow here.

And the common name for this species of ant is the lemon ant.

MEYRICK: Right. -BENSON: Because, if you eat it, it tastes like lemon.

It's like the world's smallest lemon sherbet.

MEYRICK: [Chuckle] -BENSON: Give it a go.

MEYRICK: More like lime.

[ Laughter ] BENSON: With insects eaten and the lure set, everything is in place to monitor this area over the coming days, to see who arrives.

[ Insects buzzing ] [ Creature whistling ] Each evening, we spy on the animals as they hunker down among the three-dimensional tangle of branches.

[ Whimsical tune plays ] And, while this baby woolly monkey is snuggling up with Mum, there's no rest for our team.

♪♪♪ As the Sun dips below the canopy,... [ Whistling ] ...the jungle's night shift begins to stir.

♪♪♪ To see in this nighttime world, we've rigged the jungle with infrared lights.

[ Suspenseful lullaby plays ] ♪♪♪ But wildlife has no need for technology to operate in the Amazon's twilight zone.

♪♪♪ This brocket deer has a layer of ultra light-sensitive cells at the back of its eyes, allowing it to see using the faintest twinkle of starlight.

And keep watch for nighttime hunters.

MEYRICK: Oh, number one.

Is that something that's moving in the bushes? -MELVILLE: Oh, wow!

BENSON: Like this solitary puma.

Twenty feet above the forest floor, our cameras spy a family of curious night monkeys, stirring.

MELVILLE: Oh, they're quite cute-looking.

MEYRICK: Quite cute, yeah. -MELVILLE: [Laughing] [ Chattering ] [ Rumbling faintly ] MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, look at the little baby ones.

MEYRICK: Incredible.

[ Chirping ] [ Chattering ] BENSON: These are the only nocturnal monkeys on the planet.

By day, they sleep in this hollowed-out tree.

But under the cover of darkness, they emerge... MEYRICK: Oh, he's coming out.

MELVILLE: Off he goes.

BENSON: ...to hunt for insects and ripe fruit in the surrounding canopy.

MELVILLE: We've got the infrared lights and we can see pretty [laughing] well, -MEYRICK: Yeah.

MELVILLE: that, actually, down there, it is pitch-black. -MEYRICK: Yeah.

We -- Yeah, if we went out there, we'd be just completely blind.

[ Insects chirping ] BENSON: As the weeks roll on, one of the toughest parts of this filming experiment is keeping our network of cameras rolling 24/7 and, with a small team, that means working in shifts.

[ Alarm beeping ] Two of us will wake up in the middle of the night... ♪♪♪ ...pack all our food, water, and batteries for the next 12-hour shift, and make the exhausting hour-long hike through the dark to switch out with the other half of the team.

♪♪♪ But operating the cameras in the day can be just as demanding.

[ Whimsical tune plays ] Wildlife rarely appears on demand and, even with multiple cameras placed across the jungle, we can sometimes wait for activity, [ Monkeys screeching ] [chuckle] even when their calls are tantalizingly close.

[whispering] You can hear them.

MELVILLE: [chuckling, whispering] Yeah.

BENSON: They're still around.

[ Caw ] ♪♪♪ MEYRICK: Very quiet today.

There's plenty of wildlife in here, like this one.

[ Clap ] ♪♪♪ BENSON: Fortunately, as the Sun rises on a new day, the wildlife activity around our cameras picks up again.

[ Suspenseful country music plays ] ♪♪♪ Yellow-spotted turtles are regular visitors to our riverbank cameras... ♪♪♪ ...and this one is looking for a place to haul out.

♪♪♪ Easier said than done when you're wearing a heavy shell.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ When the Sun's out, these turtles in the heat.

♪♪♪ It warms their cold-blooded bodies, while the UV rays kill parasites and algae growing on their shell.

♪♪♪ A blissful moment of alone time.

♪♪♪ On these blistering days, our monitors are busy with activity.

♪♪♪ The peccaries are joined by animals from across the forest... [ Whimsical-suspenseful tune plays ] ♪♪♪ ...from piping guans... ♪♪♪ ...to inquisitive curassows.

♪♪♪ And twist-neck turtles join in on the action.

[ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Even the nervous brocket deer has returned, braving a quick drink in the safety of the clearing.

♪♪♪ What appeared, at first, to be a humble muddy pool is, in fact, a hidden haven for the animals here, all thanks to the curious peccaries, who fortify this wallow with their daily visits.

♪♪♪ [ Whistling ] [ Chirping ] At midday, the fierce equatorial Sun bakes the canopy.

Moisture is sucked from the treetops like a giant sauna.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] [ Creature cawing ] As the mercury creeps close to 100°, it's hot work, for both the animals and for us.

♪♪♪ [ Woodpecking ] [ Leaves rustling ] MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, wow, look, quickly.

♪♪♪ Spider monkeys!

BENSON: Wow.

♪♪♪ I've never seen these guys coming down out of the trees before, ever. -MELVILLE: No.

BENSON: Spider monkeys almost never leave the safety of the treetops.

Jaguar and puma roam the forest floor and would seize any opportunity to prey on these large primates.

♪♪♪ It's a risky maneuver.

There he is.

He's coming to drink.

[ Woodpecking ] ♪♪♪ In the searing heat, this male's need for a drink has become too great.

♪♪♪ [ Gulping ] [ Screeching ] While the young seem oblivious to the danger afoot... [ Continues screeching ] ...the female waits nervously.

♪♪♪ He's dangerously exposed.

[ Lapping ] Ordinarily, spider monkeys get their water from tree holes or moisture gathered on leaves.

♪♪♪ Could something else be drawing them to this mud wallow?

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Oh, yeah, look, there he goes.

BENSON: Wonderful.

♪♪♪ Really rare to be able to see this sort of behavior.

♪♪♪ [ Cawing ] We don't have to wait long before our cameras capture another piece of the puzzle.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, I think it's a howler monkey.

BENSON: [whispering] Yeah, it's a howler monkey.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Oh, I hope they come down.

BENSON: Yeah. Following in the spider monkey's footsteps, the howler monkey wastes no time heading down to the muddy bank.

But it's not a drink of water he's after.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ [ Chewing ] ♪♪♪ Yeah, they're not drinking.

They're just eating MELVILLE: Yeah. -BENSON: whole clumps of clay.

♪♪♪ Amazing.

MELVILLE: Like whole mouthfuls of the stuff.

♪♪♪ Oh, look there's two; there's two!

♪♪♪ BENSON: Howler monkeys are known to sometimes eat clay that's rich in minerals to help neutralize toxins from their leafy diet.

[ Gulp ] ♪♪♪ Their mucky meal is evidence that this watering hole contains more than meets the eye, and sheds light on why the monkeys risk life and limb to come and feed here.

♪♪♪ That's amazing to see.

♪♪♪ [ Chattering ] Despite the rewards of filming in a pristine rain forest, Agh! the conditions are far from easy.

MEYRICK: We've been setting up remote cameras in really hard to get to places.

It's obviously muddy and slippery and we've gotta get cameras and cables and feed them back to our tent.

BENSON: Just getting power to our camera rig in a place this remote is a huge logistical challenge.

♪♪♪ So, the, uh, the batteries that we're using to power our remote rig are these kind of 20-kilo, 12-volt batteries, and we've got three of them that we're having to carry to and from base every day, so, the walk, alone, with this weight is killing us and, uh, it's an enterprise unto itself, and that's before you've even pressed record on the cameras.

COX: I've worked in the Serengeti, in the Arctic, in every sort of environment, up mountains, and there's nowhere quite like the jungle.

It's so difficult, in so many ways, to try and film wildlife.

The wildlife is spread between 100 meters up and a meter down in the ground and you can quite easily walk for 20 minutes here and see nothing, yet I know the facts are that I've probably passed thousands of species in that time.

♪♪♪ BENSON: While the Amazon's wildlife are experts at keeping themselves hidden... ♪♪♪ ...trail cameras reveal that powerful predators [ Rumbling ] do use this area.

♪♪♪ Hoping to film the behaviors of one of these apex predators, we decide to rig a location close to where the trail cameras were last triggered.

♪♪♪ I think this site's perfect.

I could imagine, you know, something like a jaguar could be up there, puma, lying in wait.

Amazing ambush predators, as we know, they'll potentially sit and watch things going into this cave and then, you know, you could have a -- a deer come through here.

It would have no idea it's being watched and that jaguar would be on its back before it knows about it.

So, um, it's a long shot, but I think, if we have our cameras here, we're likely to see some really exciting behavior.

As well as rigging cameras the cave, we install a camera as well, to see what animals use it.

COX: So, I think we're gonna have to run the cable -- BENSON: We have no idea what could be lurking deeper inside, so we've got to be extremely cautious.

We can have some infrared lights in there, so we can have a bit of illumination.

♪♪♪ Getting the infrared lights in place means crawling for 40 feet through thick mud into the furthest reaches of the cave.

♪♪♪ Some bats flying around in there.

[ Wings fluttering ] Clearly an active spot.

♪♪♪ Not only is this cave the perfect home for a whole manner of jungle predators, bats are known to carry some of the deadliest diseases known to humans, so this somewhere I want to hang around.

♪♪♪ And, with the lights installed, I make a hasty exit.

♪♪♪ [ Insects chirping ] [ Creature whistling ] For a zoologist, like me, there are few places more exhilarating than a rain forest after dark and the nighttime world of the Amazon quite literally pulses with life.

[ Hooting ] Our microphones across the jungle capture a chorus of nocturnal animals echoing through the understory.

[ Insects chirping ] [ Whooping ] The camera we installed in the cave is already paying off, revealing a lively colony of round-eared bats.

♪♪♪ And, in infrared, [ Twittering ] we can see their invisible world.

♪♪♪ These bats can't support their body weight standing upright, so, instead, they hang from the roof.

♪♪♪ Special tendons in their feet allow them to dangle with zero effort, so they can focus on more important tasks, like grooming.

♪♪♪ But getting up there takes a feat of precision aerobatics.

♪♪♪ They have to flip 180° midair and reverse into position.

MELVILLE: I guess you always see bats either flying or hanging [laughing] upside-down, backwards.

I never really thought about how they get from one to the other.

MEYRICK: How they get into that position, yeah.

MELVILLE: Bit like parallel parking.

MEYRICK: Yeah.

MELVILLE: They just slot right in.

♪♪♪ [ Twittering ] At the back of the cave, it looks like all the adults are in one spot and then, the young are sort of [laughing] off to the side.

MEYRICK: Yeah.

Yeah, they're really separated, aren't they?

MELVILLE: Yeah.

♪♪♪ BENSON: Their bizarre leaf-shaped nose focuses and amplifies their chirping echolocation calls into a narrow beam.

♪♪♪ It's a super-sense allowing them to navigate in the dark and locate any potential dangers.

♪♪♪ And we soon discover what these bats need to be wary of.

MEYRICK: Oh.

There's something on three.

Snake.

MELVILLE: Oh, wow! -MEYRICK: There it is.

That is a big snake. -MELVILLE: [Scoff] Look at the way it moves MEYRICK: Oh, yeah. -MELVILLE: its head, like kind of almost sniffing through the air.

♪♪♪ MEYRICK: Well, it looks like he's hunting.

BENSON: Using heat-sensitive receptors on its head, the snake probes the air for any bat within striking range.

♪♪♪ MEYRICK: Being at the cave entrance, probably not a bad place, just waiting for a bat to fly past.

♪♪♪ BENSON: But this bat appears too busy cleaning its wings to have noticed.

MELVILLE: I mean, I've seen a couple of snakes around camp, but, I haven't seen one this big.

MEYRICK: No, that is a sizable snake.

He's gotta be, uh, six-foot-long maybe?

BENSON: Big enough to make this bat pay attention.

MELVILLE: He's disappeared. Well, it's quite creepy to think, when we were setting up the [laughing] camera in the cave, it could've been in there the whole time.

[ Cawing ] [ Insects chirping ] BENSON: As the snake slinks into the undergrowth... [ Wings fluttering ] ...the colony are left in peace.

Every sunrise in the Amazon feels magical... [ Hooting ] ...a billion jungle inhabitants awakening for a new day.

♪♪♪ The air in this jungle is a living mist of moisture, microbes, and invisible spores, slowly decaying everything it touches.

I think I've got two belts that I've gone through here.

Both of them have been consumed by mold.

They just...don't dry.

And while our cameras are designed for these rain forest conditions, it's beginning to take its toll on them, too.

MEYRICK: The biggest challenge with the cameras and all the equipment we have here is the humidity and that affects cables; it affects cameras and you can have a camera working just fine, one moment, and then, all of a sudden, it reaches a point where it no longer works.

♪♪♪ BENSON: It becomes a constant struggle for us to keep the cameras and monitors running 24/7.

COX: It's already full of water.

MELVILLE: MEYRICK: Some camera's gone down and we've had to swap it out for a new one and that will last fine for a few days and then, that will go down, so that's a constant challenge, is to keep repairing and keeping on top of all the kit.

COX: We just brought these back from one of our positions and there's water kind of dripping out of various bits of it.

Actually, that is soaking wet in there.

[ Blows ] They are waterproof, but it's -- when it's been raining here, it's been literally a power shower, um, it's been a jet wash.

MEYRICK: When it's this wet everywhere, um, cameras just don't survive.

BENSON: With only have a tight window to get the footage we need here... MELVILLE: No!

BENSON: ...we've to keep the rig running and not let the conditions get to us.

♪♪♪ [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ For now, the cameras are back in action and we can press on with our filming experiment.

MELVILLE: [gasp] What's that in the trees?

There's something moving there.

♪♪♪ BENSON: It's a troop of woolly monkeys.

MELVILLE: Very exciting.

BENSON: Yeah.

MELVILLE: [whispering] God, there's loads of them.

♪♪♪ [ Leaves rustling ] BENSON: Their muscular bodies enable them to move with ease among the three-dimensional layers of the canopy... ♪♪♪ ...and make death-defying leaps from branch to branch.

♪♪♪ [whispering] Very, very agile, like an acrobat.

♪♪♪ Our cameras are revealing that they have a secret weapon for success among these treetops.

MELVILLE: Oh, look, look how he's -- he's holding himself with that branch.

♪♪♪ BENSON: [whispering] He has a kind of thick pad on the inside of the top of the tail, which they can use to -- to grab onto things, but it is like another hand.

They're pretty much dangling from their tails.

It's like 'Mission: Impossible.' -MELVILLE: [Chuckle] BENSON: Their tail can support their body weight, freeing up their hands to search for food.

♪♪♪ Each morning, like clockwork, we watch as the troop heads out.

♪♪♪ Let's see if we can follow him.

MELVILLE: Yeah.

[ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ BENSON: Can you move that camera one?

Let's see if there's something coming through there.

[ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ Led by the imposing alpha male, they travel through the canopy's interconnected sea of green and our cameras capture glimpses of their two-mile foraging mission.

♪♪♪ 150 feet above the forest floor... ♪♪♪ ...we see that the foods they're after are young leaves and fresh shoots.

♪♪♪ But climbing higher, still, there's an even tastier reward... [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ ...soft, ripe fruit.

♪♪♪ Their sensitive hands allow them to feel for those which are just right for picking.

♪♪♪ That thick fur is amazing.

MELVILLE: Yeah. I wonder if it's to keep the bugs away.

♪♪♪ BENSON: But woolly monkeys appear to be picky eaters, consuming just the juiciest and sweetest part of the fruit and discarding the rest.

♪♪♪ As they feast their way through the treetops, their castoffs shower the forest floor below... ♪♪♪ [ Crack ] where the seeds can germinate.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Oh, privileged view. -BENSON: Yeah.

So, it seems their picky table manners actually help to plant more fruit trees here, meaning the next generation of ravenous woollies will have plenty to feast on.

♪♪♪ [ Whimsical tune plays ] It's been three weeks since we begun our filming experiment and our remote cameras have discovered creatures of all shapes and sizes.

[ Whimsical tune plays ] But there's one group of animals that reigns supreme... [ Buzzing ] ...insects.

[ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ Over two and a half inhabit every inch of the Amazon jungle and each day is a battle against this relentless army of bugs.

MEYRICK: We're absolutely covered in them.

BENSON: Sometimes they're after our equipment.

This is what's happening to our bags.

They're everywhere.

MELVILLE: Oh! Oh!

BENSON: Most of the time, they just want [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Everything wants to lay its eggs in you or bite you [laughing] or sting you.

COX: I've just been pursued by a fly, just literally.

I went up there, came back, went up there, came back, and he just followed me the whole way.

♪♪♪ BENSON: It seems the wildlife, too, isn't exempt from this barrage of bugs.

♪♪♪ [ Buzzing ] MEYRICK: I liken it to imagining you're in a sauna and you're doing a full-body workout.

MELVILLE: [Scoffs] -MEYRICK: Every five minutes, someone pokes you with a really sharp stick.

♪♪♪ BENSON: For most of the inhabitants here, bugs mean food, and, for this oropendola, a juicy caterpillar is the perfect way to start the day.

Several floors below, in the tangled understory, our cameras spot that the pygmy marmosets are also working up quite an appetite.

[whispering] Let's go wider on one of these other angles.

The whole gang are out in force.

MELVILLE: [whispering] Oh, wow!

There's lots of them.

[ Ethereal-suspenseful music plays ] BENSON: Using their needle-sharp teeth, they nibble holes in the tree.

MELVILLE: Oh, wow!

♪♪♪ BENSON: Our close-up camera reveals that it's not the bark they're eating... [ Lapping ] ...but the sticky sap underneath... ♪♪♪ ...a high-energy superfood for these marmosets.

♪♪♪ It pools into the perfectly excavated holes, ready to be slurped up.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: [chuckle] They're lapping it up.

♪♪♪ BENSON: Draining all the sap from one part of the tree could harm it, so the marmosets create a network of holes and just eat a little from each.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ This industrious colony can create up to 1,300 holes on a single tree, so getting to the sap before it drips away is busy business.

♪♪♪ Our cameras are revealing that the pygmy marmosets are essentially farming this delicious gum up in the canopy, a smart strategy that saves these vulnerable monkeys from making dangerous trips into the jungle to find food.

♪♪♪ [whispering] This is what's amazing about using a rig of cameras like this, that you can film unnoticed -MELVILLE: Yeah.

BENSON: and the wildlife will continue as if you're not there.

♪♪♪ [ Scampering ] [ Suspenseful music plays ] Our cameras have stealthily watched the bait for many days, now, and, after the long wait, our patience is finally rewarded.

[ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ [ Chirp ] [ Ethereal suspenseful music plays ] It's one of the rain forest's most infamous undertakers: a yellow-headed vulture.

Unlike most birds, they have an incredible sense of smell, allowing them to zero in on a potential meal in thick jungle from up to two miles away.

♪♪♪ Their entire diet consists of dead meat... [ Insects buzzing ] ...and their bald head and legs are perfectly adapted to stay clean as they pick their way through a messy carcass.

♪♪♪ Other species of vultures have a poor sense of smell, but the sight of the yellow-headed vultures circling has alerted them to the feast below.

♪♪♪ The first to join are the giants of the vulture world... [ Suspenseful music climbs ] ...king vultures.

With a seven-foot wingspan, they are top of the pecking order here.

[ Wings fluttering ] MEYRICK: Oh, what was that?

Something landed in the tree, quite big.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Must be the king vulture.

MEYRICK: That must be a king, yeah.

BENSON: With their piercing eyes and flame-red face, it's easy to see why ancient Mayans believed king vultures to be messengers for the gods.

[ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ Despite their foreboding appearance, vultures are incredibly cautious and a gathering like this would be impossible to film up close.

[ Buzzing ] [ Hiss ] -[Whistle] -[Hiss] Ordinarily, the domineering kings would muscle the smaller vultures off a carcass, but, today, something is holding them back.

[ Whimsical-suspenseful tune plays ] It's not quite the predatory leopard we were hoping for.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: It's a tortoise!

MEYRICK: That is a tortoise. -MELVILLE: [Laughs] MEYRICK: I wonder what he's doin' here.

♪♪♪ BENSON: The vultures seem as surprised as we are by this unlikely arrival at the banquet.

♪♪♪ MELVILLE: Maybe it's just his route through MEYRICK: Could be. Let's see. -MELVILLE: on his morning walk.

♪♪♪ BENSON: Yellow-footed tortoises are a well-known resident of the forest floor.

♪♪♪ MEYRICK: Yeah, he's on a mission. Look at him.

He's heading straight for it.

BENSON: They're known to feast on leaves and fruit.

♪♪♪ [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ MEYRICK: He's puttin' his nose right in there.

MELVILLE: Yeah.

♪♪♪ BENSON: This rarely seen behavior, of a tortoise scavenging meat, is how they supplement their diet with a bit of extra protein.

[ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ And, now it's had its fill, it returns to its fruit-eating ways.

MELVILLE: It's such a cute animal, I'm almost disappointed in the tortoise.

[ Laughter ] ♪♪♪ [ Buzzing ] [ Chirping ] BENSON: It's a glorious afternoon and, at the river, the yellow-spotted turtles are, again, soaking up some rays in quiet tranquillity.

But not for long.

[ Whimsical-suspenseful tune plays ] This, however, is no chance encounter.

♪♪♪ This butterfly has come here looking for a meal.

Unlike carnivores, that get sodium from their diet, herbivorous butterflies need to get creative about how get it.

♪♪♪ Further along the riverbank... ♪♪♪ ...our cameras have discovered numbers of colorful butterflies flocking to patches of exposed clay.

♪♪♪ [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ They use their long proboscises to lick the mud and extract any sodium from the moist soil.

♪♪♪ It's a beautifully organized affair, with each species color-coding themselves to feed in their own patch.

But some butterflies seek a more intense sodium hit... ♪♪♪ [ Chorale joins ] ♪♪♪ ...and, unfortunately for turtles, their tears are the ultimate source.

[ Whimsical chord strikes ] [ Whirring ] [ Chirping ] The salty moisture around their eyes and nose is irresistible.

The boldest butterflies don't even wait for the turtles to be fully out of the water.

But, they appear remarkably accepting of their fluttering companions.

Perhaps their probing proboscises clean the turtle's hard to reach places.

[ Chirping ] But even the most obliging turtles have a limit... ...compelling them to return, once more... ...to the solitude of the water.

As the nights tick by, our cameras across the forest [ Whirring ] are finding creatures that only emerge under the cover of darkness.

[ Whirring ] From the charming... -MEYRICK: It's moving MELVILLE: Oh, wow. -MEYRICK: in the bushes.

MELVILLE: It's a porcupine! -MEYRICK: Is it?

MELVILLE: [chuckling] Oh, look, he just fell over.

Oh, that's really sweet.

BENSON: ...to the unexpected.

MEYRICK: A crab, look. -MELVILLE: Oh, wow, there is actually a crab. -MEYRICK: Yeah.

How weird, to see a crab in the middle of the jungle.

BENSON: With infrared cameras, we're able to see the invisible.

[ Ethereal-suspenseful music plays ] And, along the banks of the river... ♪♪♪ ...they're revealing a colossal cloud of insects... [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ ...gathering over the water.

And it's not long before this buzz of activity attracts some familiar faces.

♪♪♪ So is where the bats come when they leave their cave.

♪♪♪ They fire high-pitched chirps across the water... ♪♪♪ ...and, by listening to the echoes that bounce back... ♪♪♪ ...they can zero in on a single insect and make their strike.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Even large prey items, like this huge moth, can be dispatched on the wing.

♪♪♪ Each bat can eat up to 3,000 insects per night and our infrared cameras are revealing the scale of this feeding frenzy.

♪♪♪ I, for one, appreciate their part in helping to keep the army of biting insects here in check.

[ Chirping ] [ Chirping ] [ Whooshing ] [ Whistling ] [ Poignant tune plays ] After four incredible weeks, our time here is almost at an end.

Filming 'Undercover in the Jungle' has allowed us to experience the lives of the animals here in a whole new way.

That is fantastic, an animal's-eye view of this amazing forest clearing.

And, as a zoologist, it's allowed me to witness things that I never imagined possible.

[whispering] You'd never be able to get this sort of footage.

Even sitting in a hide with a long lens, you'd have to be super lucky.

MELVILLE: Yeah.

[ Thunder crashing ] ♪♪♪ BENSON: But it's been a humbling experience.

MELVILLE: This has definitely been one of the most mentally challenging projects I've ever done.

BENSON: The extreme conditions pushed our equipment and our bodies to their very limit... [ Buzzing ] ♪♪♪ ...giving us a profound understanding of what the animals must overcome to survive here.

♪♪♪ [ Rumbling ] ♪♪♪ [ Chirping ] We've had just glimpses of some creatures... ♪♪♪ ...and have become well-acquainted with others.

♪♪♪ Yet, this is just a snapshot of the magnitude of life that exists here... [ Twitter ] [whispering] What a remarkable moment to have captured.

[ Cawing ] ...and a reminder of how much there is still to learn about this magical Eden.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Undercover in the Jungle ~ About | Nature | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
♪♪♪ BENSON: Dropped into one of the wildest places on the planet... [ Chirping ] ...I'm going to run a unique experiment. ♪♪♪ Using a network of remotely operated cameras... [ Whirring ] ♪♪♪ ...I want to explore [ Purring ] every level of this incredible jungle, in real time, for a month...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NARRATOR
CAMPBELL SCOTT

PRODUCERS
DAVID ALLEN
GABY BASTYRA

DIRECTOR
NICOLAS BROWN

EDIT DIRECTOR
ALEX WEST

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
DAVID GUY ELISCO
JARED LIPWORTH

STORY PRODUCERS
CATHERINE WATLING
JOE LONCRAINE
DAVID JOHN

LINE PRODUCERS
CHRISTIAN HOLLAND
HEATHER FORBES

EDITOR
BENEDICT JACKSON

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
TIM CRAGG

MUSIC COMPOSER
TY UNWIN

RESEARCHER
JUDY PAXMAN

ARCHIVE AND EDIT COORDINATOR
CHRISTOPHER GENT

COLOR GRADER
VICKI MATICH

ONLINE EDITOR
ADAM GRANT

DUBBING MIXER
TOM O'PRAY

VISUAL EFFECTS
DINNOCK & HOWELLS

STOCK FOOTAGE AND ARCHIVE
ALAMY
AP ARCHIVE
BBC MOTION GALLERY/GETTY IMAGES
BRETT KUXHAUSEN FOR GORONGOSA MEDIA
CHRIS HELZER
CRISTIAN DIMITRIUS
DAN LEBBIN
DAWSON DUNNING
DAY'S EDGE PRODUCTIONS
DOCLIGHTS GMBH
ERNIE KOVACS
FLORIAN GRANER/SEALIFE PRODUCTIONS
FRESHWATER ILLUSTRATED
GOOGLE
GRIZZLY CREEK FILMS
KEN FEELEY
LAURIE CAMPBELL
LUKE PAINTER
MICHAEL DALTON-SMITH
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
NATUREFOOTAGE
OKAPIA KG MICHAEL GRZIMEK & CO
ORF ENTERPRISE
PETER KRAGH
RICHARD KEIGHLEY
RIVERS FOR CHANGE
SHANE MOORE
SHAWN HEINREICHS
SHUTTERSTOCK

CAST
BOB PAINE - MATTHIESON MCCRAE
JIM ESTES - JAIME EXCELL
JOHN TERBORGH - JOHNATHAN NEWPORT
MARY POWER (AGE 8) - ASHLYN LOPEZ
MARY POWER (AGE 33) - SAMANTHA NUGENT
TONY SINCLAIR - GREG KRIEK

SPECIAL THANKS
CARLA REBAI
CESAR FLORES NEGRÓN
DOUGLAS RASHER
EMILIANO DONADIO
ESTACIÓN BIOLÓGICA COCHA CASHU
GREG CARR
JAMES BYRNE
KEITH GIDO
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
MONTANA FILM OFFICE
OKLAHOMA FILM AND MUSIC OFFICE
PARQUE NACIONAL DEL MANU
PERU - SERVICIO NACIONAL DE ÁREAS-NATURALES PROTEGIDAS POR EL ESTADO
ROBERT FYUMAGWA
ROXANA ARAUCO ALIAGA
SAN DIEGO ZOO GLOBAL
SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY
SEA EAGLE BOATS INC.
THEO POTGIETER
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LIBRARIES
VERONICA CHAVEZ ORTÍZ
WALT SHUBIN
WILLIAM J. MATTHEWS
WILLIAM J. MCSHEA

FOR HHMI TANGLED BANK STUDIOS

RESEARCHERS
BRIDGET CONNEELY
AILEEN O'HEARN

POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
INDY MITRA

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
LORI BEANE

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
TARYN WHITE

DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST
ALEX DUCKLES

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
ANNA IRWIN

MANAGING DIRECTOR
ANNE TARRANT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SEAN B. CARROLL

HHMI TANGLED BANK STUDIOS IS AN INITIATIVE OF AND FUNDED BY THE HHMI DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION. ITS OBJECTIVE IS TO ADVANCE HHMI'S MISSION OF FOSTERING UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE
FOR NATURE
SERIES EDITOR
JANET HESS

SENIOR PRODUCER
LAURA METZGER LYNCH

COORDINATING PRODUCER
JAYNE JUN

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
JAMES F. BURKE

LEGAL COUNSEL
BLANCHE ROBERTSON

SENIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER
HEATHER TONER

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
KAREN HO

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
CHELSEY SAATKAMP

BUDGET CONTROLLER
JAYNE LISI

ONLINE EDITORS
STACEY DOUGLASS MOVERLEY
CHRIS GUIDO

RE-RECORDING MIXERS
JON BERMAN
ED CAMPBELL

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION FUNDING PROVIDED IN PART BY
THE ARNHOLD FAMILY
SUE AND EDGAR WACHENHEIM III
THE FAIRWEATHER FOUNDATION
KATE W. CASSIDY FOUNDATION
KATHY CHIAO AND KEN HAO
LILLIAN GOLDMAN CHARITABLE TRUST
FILOMEN M. D'AGOSTINO FOUNDATION
ROSALIND P. WALTER
SANDRA ATLAS BASS
DORIS R. AND ROBERT J. THOMAS
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

SERIES PRODUCER
BILL MURPHY

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
FRED KAUFMAN

A PRODUCTION OF HHMI TANGLED BANK STUDIOS AND PASSION PLANET IN ASSOCIATION WITH SANDBOX FILMS, THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC AND WNET
© 2019 TANGLED BANK STUDIOS, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Serengeti Rules | About | Nature | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NARRATOR CAMPBELL SCOTT PRODUCERS DAVID ALLEN GABY BASTYRA DIRECTOR NICOLAS BROWN EDIT DIRECTOR ALEX WEST EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS DAVID GUY ELISCO JARED LIPWORTH STORY PRODUCERS CATHERINE WATLING JOE LONCRAINE DAVID JOHN LINE PRODUCERS CHRISTIAN HOLLAND HEATHER FORBES EDITOR BENEDICT JACKSON DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY TIM CRAGG MUSIC COMPOSER TY UNWIN RESEARCHER JUDY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your Inner Fish
Our primate progenitors had bodies a lot like those of modern monkeys and spent tens of millions of years living in trees. From them we inherited our versatile hands, amazing vision and capable brains - but also some less beneficial traits, including our bad backs and terrible sense of smell.

Aired: 04/23/14

Expires: 12/31/22

Rating: NR

Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem |

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your Inner Fish | Your Inner Monkey | Episode 3 | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Your Inner Fish Our primate progenitors had bodies a lot like those of modern monkeys and spent tens of millions of years living in trees. From them we inherited our versatile hands, amazing vision and capable brains - but also some less beneficial traits, including our bad backs and terrible sense of smell.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your Inner Fish
A key moment in our evolutionary saga occurred 200 million years ago, when the ferocious reptile-like animals that roamed the Earth were in the process of evolving into shrew-like mammals. But our reptilian ancestors left their mark on many parts of the human body, including our skin, teeth and ears.

Aired: 04/16/14

Expires: 12/31/22

Rating: NR

Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem |

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your Inner Fish | Your Inner Reptile | Episode 2 | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Your Inner Fish A key moment in our evolutionary saga occurred 200 million years ago, when the ferocious reptile-like animals that roamed the Earth were in the process of evolving into shrew-like mammals. But our reptilian ancestors left their mark on many parts of the human body, including our skin, teeth and ears.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Your Inner Fish
Our arms, legs, necks and lungs were bequeathed to us by a fish that lumbered onto land some 375 million years ago. The genetic legacy of this creature can be seen today in our own DNA, including the genes used to build our hands and limbs.

Aired: 04/09/14

Expires: 12/31/22

Rating: NR

Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem |

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Your Inner Fish Our arms, legs, necks and lungs were bequeathed to us by a fish that lumbered onto land some 375 million years ago. The genetic legacy of this creature can be seen today in our own DNA, including the genes used to build our hands and limbs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask
Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have an enormous, dedicated following, as do his deeply researched answers to his fans' strangest questions.

The queries he receives range from merely odd to downright diabolical:

* What if I took a swim in a spent-nuclear-fuel pool?

* Could you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?

* What if a Richter 15 earthquake hit New York City?

* Are fire tornadoes possible?

His responses are masterpieces of clarity and wit, gleefully and accurately explaining everything from the relativistic effects of a baseball pitched at near the speed of light to the many horrible ways you could die while building a periodic table out of all the actual elements.

The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? is an informative feast for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to askMillions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
'A brilliant, authoritative, surprising, captivating introduction to human genetics. You'll be spellbound' Brian Cox

This is a story about you.

It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in every one of our genomes we each carry the history of our species - births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration and a lot of sex.

In this captivating journey through the expanding landscape of genetics, Adam Rutherford reveals what our genes now tell us about human history, and what history can now tell us about our genes. From Neanderthals to murder, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics, this is a demystifying and illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be.

***

'A thoroughly entertaining history of Homo sapiens and its DNA in a manner that displays popular science writing at its best' Observer

'Magisterial, informative and delightful' Peter Frankopan

'An extraordinary adventure...From the Neanderthals to the Vikings, from the Queen of Sheba to Richard III, Rutherford goes in search of our ancestors, tracing the genetic clues deep into the past' Alice Roberts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Brief History of Everyone who Ever Lived

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'A brilliant, authoritative, surprising, captivating introduction to human genetics. You'll be spellbound' Brian Cox This is a story about you. It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Life is all around us, abundant and diverse, it is extraordinary. But what does it actually mean to be alive? Nobel prize-winner Paul Nurse has spent his career revealing how living cells work. In this book, he takes up the challenge of defining life in a way that every reader can understand. It is a shared journey of discovery; step by step he illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology. He traces the roots of his own curiosity and knowledge to reveal how science works, both now and in the past. Using his personal experiences, in and out of the lab, he shares with us the challenges, the lucky breaks, and the thrilling eureka moments of discovery.

To survive the challenges that face the human race today - from climate change, to pandemics, loss of biodiversity and food security - it is vital that we all understand what life is.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Life is all around us, abundant and diverse, it is extraordinary. But what does it actually mean to be alive? Nobel prize-winner Paul Nurse has spent his career revealing how living cells work. In this book, he takes up the challenge of defining life in a way that every reader can understand.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By WILFREDO LEE, Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) - Scientists and students from the University of Miami dove into the dark waters a few miles off the shores of Miami this week as part of an effort to develop hybrid reefs.

The team from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science was on a mission to collect eggs and sperm from spawning staghorn coral, which they hope to use to fertilize other strains of staghorn corals in a lab.

It's all part of a $7.5 million federal grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to help address security threats to the military and civilian infrastructure along vulnerable coastal regions in Florida and the Caribbean.

The Miami-based project seeks to protect coastal bases from damaging hurricane storm surge using hybrid reefs.

Political Cartoons

"Our mission is to develop hybrid reefs that combine the wave-protection benefits of artificial structures with the ecological benefits of coral reefs," said Andrew Baker, a professor and director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab at the Rosenstiel School. "We will be working on next generation structural designs and concrete materials, and integrating them with novel ecological engineering approaches to help foster the growth of corals on these structures."

They will also be testing new adaptive biology approaches to produce corals that are faster-growing and more resilient to a warming climate, he said.

Coral spawns just a few nights every year, depending on water temperature and lunar cycle, coral colonies simultaneously release their eggs and sperm into the water column, which fertilize one another to create baby coral.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Scientists Seek to Develop Hybrid Coral Reef off of Miami

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By WILFREDO LEE, Associated Press MIAMI (AP) - Scientists and students from the University of Miami dove into the dark waters a few miles off the shores of Miami this week as part of an effort to develop hybrid reefs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whales are, by weight, the largest animals to exist in the history of life on Earth. They can weigh up to twice that of the largest dinosaurs with blue whales weighing in around 150 tonnes. Up to now, we didn't know exactly how much food a whale was eating but new research published in Nature found that whales are eating up to three times more than we first thought.

A team of researchers from Stanford University investigated the feeding habits of 321 whales over seven different species using state-of-the-art technology. Previous methods involved crude metabolic modeling and experiments at whaling stations weighing the insides of a whale's stomach. Lead author Matthew Savoca explained, ''we hadn't measured on a living whale how much food it was eating".

To measure how much food a living whale eats, the team counted the number of gulps taken by a whale during feeding using a suction cup tag the size of a rugby ball that is able to sense when water is taken in. The tags work in a similar manner to sensors in our smartphones, and are able to detect motion with very high resolution. Researchers assessed the size of the gulp through analysing aerial images obtained by drones. Finally, the team probed the density of prey in the water using an echo-sounder which works analogously to how dolphins and bats assess their prey using reflected sound waves. Combining the number of gulps, size of gulps and density of prey allows for an estimate as to how much food these whales are eating. The answer turns out to be around 10-20 % of their body weight on feeding days, which is far higher than initial estimates.

The significance of these results lies in the key role whale poop plays in ocean ecosystems. Whale poop is critical for nutrient recycling, returning components such as iron to the water for smaller creatures like plankton and phytoplankton to feed on. More poop means more plankton leading to more krill and more fish in our oceans. "Ecosystems with whales are more productive than ecosystems without" says Savoca. Not only do these findings expand our understanding of whale ecology but also in our understanding of their role in marine ecosystems.

Savoca comments on the team's findings, "we need a world with whales and this work helps expand our understanding of why that is so."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Whales eat (and poop) more than we thought

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whales are, by weight, the largest animals to exist in the history of life on Earth. They can weigh up to twice that of the largest dinosaurs with blue whales weighing in around 150 tonnes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Naked Scientists flagship weekly science show. Science news stories, scientific breakthroughs and interviews with leading scientists

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Antimicrobial resistance is a global health concern. Bacteria are rapidly developing means to overcome current drugs through genetic changes, while a dwindling number of novel antibiotics are being developed. Worringly, researchers have found recently that plastic waste can exacerbate this issue by allowing these germs to congregate and swap antimicrobial resistant traits, thus further increasing the spread of antimicrobial resistant bacteria.

A team from New Jersey Institute of Technology in the USA found that tiny fragments of plastics - termed microplastics- can attract and proliferate antibiotic resistant bugs. The researchers grew bacteria from wastewater on two kinds of microplastics and compared it to those grown on sand. They found that significantly more harmful bacteria were drawn to the microplastics.

Other scientists in Northern Ireland saw similar results when they examined microplastics arising from food packaging. Here they found that up to 98% of bacteria growing on these plastic remnants were resistant to antibiotics, and that many of these germs are also known to infect humans. This is an unsettling revelation, that our own plastic waste can now be a source of serious diseases.

Scientists have long been wary of microplastics, but have yet to determine how precisely they may affect our health. The plastic particles considered in the above studies arise from everyday items that have broken down into tiny pieces, smaller than a grain of rice. Such miniscule pieces have been found almost everywhere on Earth, including in our food and water. While scientists are still trying to understand the impacts of ingested microplastics, this new finding that they can heighten antibiotic resistance emphasizes the need for responsible plastic use and disposal.

Antibiotics were first widely used following the Second World War to treat infected soldiers. Undoubtedly, these drugs have saved hundreds of millions of lives worldwide and are critical for the progress of modern medicine. Indeed, maintaining the high success rate of common procedures such as caesarean sections or life-saving chemotherapy depend on effective antibiotics. However, the increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria compromise these life-saving drugs.

Resistance to antibiotics occurs when bacteria change features targeted by these treatments. These features are altered by mutations in bacterial genes. Moreover, antibiotics quickly become ineffective across many kinds of bacteria as genes are shared through the population. And sadly, the over-use of these drugs has hastened the frequency of mutations driving resistant traits.

Unfortunately, very few novel antibiotics have been developed after the 1950's, commonly referred to as the "golden-age of discovery". Tackling antibiotic resistant bacteria has been prioritised worldwide, with many governments and private sector bodies pledging to support the development of new antibiotics and to protect current ones.

These recent publications highlighting microplastics as a source of antibiotic resistant bacteria has given us another opportunity to help protect antibiotics, by reducing our use of plastics, when we can, and disposing of used plastics properly.

Thankfully, researchers continue to investigate innovative ways to replace plastic and reduce plastic waste. Although the work of cleaning up our environment seems daunting, most would agree that that it is well worth the effort, no matter how small.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Plastic waste a breeding ground for germs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Microplastics can attract drug-resistant bacteria that capable of causing diseases...Antimicrobial resistance is a global health concern. Bacteria are rapidly developing means to overcome current drugs through genetic changes, while a dwindling number of novel antibiotics are being developed. Worringly, researchers have found recently that plastic waste can exacerbate this

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why do some people stay sharp as a whip as they get older, while others have trouble recalling names, dates, and even conversations?

New research from Harvard University suggests age may not be the culprit.

And one Boston medical doctor now says memory problems are often caused by the foods you're eating - or NOT eating.

Dr. George Karanastasis, MD says: "Your brain is like a luxury car. It requires premium fuel to create new brain cells, recall memories, and focus on tasks. And where does it get that fuel? From the foods you eat."

However, Dr. K says most people eat far too many foods that harm our brains - like foods containing sugar and trans fats - and not enough good foods that help our brains.

He says: "The science is clear: foods high in refined sugar and trans fats can harm your memory. And considering that sugar is found in nearly 75% of foods on supermarket shelves, it's no wonder why so many people suffer from memory issues."

Fortunately, Dr. K developed a simple protocol that can help fight memory loss without making any major dietary changes. It just requires adding these 3 foods back into your diet.

"These 3 foods are like jet fuel for your brain. They protect your brain while delivering your brain the nutrients it needs to stay firing-on-all-cylinders," he remarked.

Dr. K just released a video revealing these foods. And since the video was released, it's gone viral, racking up more than 1 million views. And people around the country are singing the praises of this life-saving protocol.

"People keep telling me: 'Dr. K, I feel so much sharper and smarter. Even my family noticed.' It's wonderful to hear how many lives this protocol has changed," Dr. K says.

Now, what about you? Are you concerned about your memory? How would you like to take back control of your life?

If so, watch the video at the link below and try this protocol for yourself. You'll discover which foods can help make sure your brain lasts as long as your body.

References:

¹ Sun FW, Stepanovic MR, Andreano J, Barrett LF, Touroutoglou A, Dickerson BC. Youthful Brains in Older Adults: Preserved Neuroanatomy in the Default Mode and Salience Networks Contributes to Youthful Memory in Superaging. J Neurosci. 2016 Sep 14;36(37):9659-68.

² Jacka FN, Cherbuin N, Anstey KJ, Sachdev P, Butterworth P. Western diet is associated with a smaller hippocampus: a longitudinal investigation. BMC Med. 2015; 13(1): 215.

³ McDaniel MA, Maier SF, Einstein GO. "Brain-specific" nutrients: a memory cure? Nutrition. 2003 Nov-Dec;19(11-12):957-75.

⁴ Spiers PA, Myers D, Hochanadel GS, Lieberman HR, Wurtman RJ. Arch Neurol. C. improves verbal memory in aging. 1996 May;53(5):441-8. C. improves verbal memory in aging.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New research from Harvard University suggests age may not be the culprit. And one Boston medical doctor now says memory problems are often caused by the foods you're eating - or NOT eating. Dr. George Karanastasis, MD says: "Your brain is like a luxury car.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The TurtleHyb project uses DNA analysis to understand the curious case of interspecies mating in sea turtles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Neanderthals have long been portrayed as our dim-witted, thuggish cousins. Now groundbreaking research has - while not confirmed the stereotype - revealed striking differences in the brain development of modern humans and Neanderthals.

The study involved inserting a Neanderthal brain gene into mice, ferrets and "mini brain" structures called organoids, grown in the lab from human stem cells. The experiments revealed that the Neanderthal version of the gene was linked to slower creation of neurons in the brain's cortex during development, which scientists said could explain superior cognitive abilities in modern humans.

"Making more neurons sets the basis for higher cognitive function," said Wieland Huttner, who led the work at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. "We think this is the first compelling evidence that modern humans were cognitively better than Neanderthals."

Modern humans and Neanderthals split into separate lineages about 400,000 years ago, with our ancestors remaining in Africa and the Neanderthals moving north into Europe. About 60,000 years ago, a mass migration of modern humans out of Africa brought the two species face-to-face once more and they interbred - people alive today of non-African heritage carry 1-4% of Neanderthal DNA. By 30,000 years ago, though, our ancient cousins had vanished as a distinct species and the question of how we out-competed Neanderthals has remained a mystery.

"One concrete fact is that wherever homo sapiens went they would basically out-compete other species there. It's a bit weird," said Prof Laurent Nguyen, of the University of Liège, who was not involved in the latest research. "These guys [Neanderthals] were in Europe a long time before us and would have been adapted to their environment including pathogens. The big question is why we would be able to out-compete them."

Some argue that our ancestors had an intellectual edge, but until recently there has been no way to scientifically test the hypothesis. This changed in the last decade when scientists successfully sequenced Neanderthal DNA from a fossilised toe fragment found in a Siberian cave, paving the way for new insights into how Neanderthal biology differed from our own.

The latest experiments focus on a gene, called TKTL1, involved in neuronal production in the developing brain. The Neanderthal version of the gene differs by one letter from the human version. When inserted into mice, scientists found that the Neanderthal variant led to the production of fewer neurons, particularly in the frontal lobe of the brain, where most cognitive functions reside. The scientists also tested the influence of the gene in ferrets and blobs of lab-grown tissue, called organoids, that replicate the basic structures of the developing brain.

"This shows us that even though we do not know how many neurons the Neanderthal brain had, we can assume that modern humans have more neurons in the frontal lobe of the brain, where [the gene's] activity is highest, than Neanderthals," said Anneline Pinson, first author of the study.

Chris Stringer, head of human origins research at the Natural History Museum in London, described the work as "pioneering", saying that it started to address one of the central puzzles of human evolution - why, with all the past diversity of humans, we are now the only ones left.

"Ideas have come and gone - better tools, better weapons, proper language, art and symbolism, better brains," Stringer said. "At last, this provides a clue as to why our brains might have outperformed those of Neanderthals."

More neurons does not automatically equate to a smarter type of human, although it does dictate the brain's basic computing capacity. Human brains contain about twice the number of neurons as the brains of chimpanzees and bonobos.

Nguyen said the latest work is far from definitive proof of modern humans' superior intellect, but demonstrates that Neanderthals had meaningful differences in brain development. "This is an exciting story," he added.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Study reveals striking differences in brains of modern humans and Neanderthals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Neanderthals have long been portrayed as our dim-witted, thuggish cousins. Now groundbreaking research has - while not confirmed the stereotype - revealed striking differences in the brain development of modern humans and Neanderthals. The study involved inserting a Neanderthal brain gene into mice, ferrets and "mini brain" structures called organoids, grown in the lab from human stem cells.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Discovered in the deep: the sea cucumber that lives a jellyfish life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Pelagothuria natatrix is an extremely rare species of sea cucumber – with a gelatinous body, it spends most of its time swimming

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
See How a Parasite Travels from Tiny Crustacean to Fish to Bird

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A tiny bug manipulates the behavior of its hosts to ensure its unlikely life cycle

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
Even the most devoted cat owners wonder at some point, perhaps waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, whether their cat really loves them. Dog people like to smugly point out dogs' long history as humankind's best friend.

But research shows cats' reputation as a cold and aloof pet is undeserved.

Because of their evolutionary ancestry, domestic cats are, by their nature, more independent than dogs. The wild ancestors of our cats didn't live in social groups as canines do. However, during the process of domestication, cats developed the ability to form social relationships not just with other cats, but also with people.

While they may not rely upon people to feel safe as dogs do, many cats show affection towards their guardians and seem to highly value the company of their human companions. Their attachment to humans is partly influenced by their experiences of being handled by people as a kitten.

Cats behave towards humans in the same way that they respond to their feline friends, so the secret of whether your cat feels bonded to you lies in their behaviour.

1. Look out for scenting

The ability to communicate with other cats over long distances and when no longer physically present was an advantage to their wild ancestors. Our pet cats have retained this "supersense" and rely heavily on this form of communication .

In particular, cats use scent to identify members of their social group or family, by sharing a group scent profile. Cats have scent glands on their flanks, head and around their ears, and often rub their heads against people and objects that are familiar and comforting.

Does your cat rub its head or side against your legs? The soft sensation you feel against your calves is actually your cat identifying you as a friend and is a huge compliment.

2. Watch how they greet you

One of the most obvious signs that your beloved pet is fond of you, is the way that your cat greets you. When cats greet members of their social group they show signals to indicate friendship and a desire to move closer. Cats also show these signals to humans.

A tail held in the upright flagpole position shows a friendly intention (the feline equivalent of a wave), indicating familiarity, trust, and affection. Some cats also use an upright question mark shaped tail to greet someone they like, or to motion that they want to play.

Cats sometimes intertwine their tails as a sign of friendship and the human equivalent of this is to wrap their tail around your calf.

Rolling over and exposing their vulnerable under belly is another gesture that a cat has ultimate trust in you. However cats prefer to be petted on the head and neck area, so this is not usually a request for a belly rub.

Attempts to stroke a cat's belly will often result in a hasty retreat, or even claws. The chirrup or trill greeting is a melodious sound that cats make when saying hello to preferred individuals. So if your cat sings to you in this way, be assured they are pleased to see you.

That familiar feeling when your cat hits the back of your knee can also be a sign that they feel an extremely close bond to you. The feline version of a high-five, the head bump is usually saved for a cat's closest feline friends and most trusted humans.

3. Look for blinks

Your cat might also be secretly signalling their affection in the way they look at you. When cats encounter strange humans or other cats they don't know, they usually greet them with an unblinking stare. But they are more likely to slowly blink at cats they have a good relationship with.

Research suggests slow blinks are associated with a positive emotional state and can be a sign of trust, contentment and affection, similar to a human smile. If you wish to return the compliment, blink and your cat might blink back. This is nice a way to bond with your cat if they aren't keen on being touched.

4. They get up close

Cats are very protective of their personal space and don't like unwelcome guests to invade it. If a cat allows you to get close to them, that suggests a close bond, particularly where the contact is frequent or long lasting.

Curling up on your lap for a nap is a sign of deep trust. Grooming only happens between cats with a warm relationship, so licking your hand or face can be a show of endearment, even though those barbed tongues may not feel all that gentle.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Tell if Your Cat Loves You, According to Science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Even the most devoted cat owners wonder at some point, perhaps waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, whether their cat really loves them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

Some things are SO adorable, we say they're cute as a bug's ear. Of course, bugs don't have ears. But a new study shows that orb-weaving spiders can use their webs to detect sounds. The findings are unfurled in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Ron Hoy: Any animal that makes sounds is likely to have an ear.

Hopkin: Ron Hoy studies neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University in Ithaca.

Hoy: ...ranging all the way from tiny crickets, and flies that are even smaller than crickets, all the way through to humans of course.

Ron Miles: It's also pretty interesting that a great many animals don't have eardrums. But they still hear.

Hopkin: That's Ron Miles.

Miles: The two Rons, here.

Hopkin: Ron Miles, who's been collaborating with Ron Hoy for 30 years, is an engineer at Binghamton University...

Miles: ...an hour's drive away from Cornell.

Hopkin: Critters lacking eardrums receive audio input very fine hairs.

Miles: If you look at spiders and insects, they're covered with hairs.

Hopkin: Because these whispy little filaments can float freely in the breeze, they're great at sensing the air currents that comprise sound waves.

Miles: Since we knew that so many animals like small insects and spiders have hairs that can sense sound, ... we were kind of wondering how would you make something that could sense sound the way that some of these small animals do.

Hopkin: A possibility appeared during an afternoon stroll.

Miles: My graduate student, Jian Zhou, was walking in our campus nature preserve one day and he noticed when the wind blew, if you look at a spider web, it moves with the wind. And he thought maybe a fine spider web or spider silk could act as a sound sensor.

Hopkin: To find out, the researchers coaxed a spider into giving them a bit of silk...

Miles: ... and we played sound at a little strand of spider silk and found that when the silk is very thin, it moves with the air in a sound field amazingly well... over a wide range of frequencies, from 1 hz to 50 khz. So we knew then that the spider silk was sort of an ideal, perfect sound sensor.

Hopkin: That was eye-opening for the researchers...but is it ear-tickling for the spiders?

Miles: So we set out to try to figure out if the spiders were actually able to hear sound using their web. And this was a hard question to answer.

Hopkin: For one thing, they had to find a way to get a whole web into the special soundproof chamber in the basement of the lab building.

Miles: You know, spider webs are very delicate. You can't go out in the woods and find a spider web and grab it and take it home. It's attached to things. And it's not easy to get it intact.

Hopkin: Especially those made by the industrious orb-weavers...spiders like the title character in Charlotte's Web.

Hoy: We're talking about quite a spectacular web. It's this wheel-shaped web that is around upstate New York...if you walk through any field, you've either gonna walk through one or you're gonna see it and avoid it because they're big. It can get as big as a yard or a meter across.

Hopkin: So Jian Zhou and fellow student Junpeng Lai came up with a way to get custom-made webs custom to go.

Miles: What they did is make a little wooden frame... kind of the size of a decent sized picture frame...and they placed this frame on the windows of our building.

Hopkin: The lights in the building attracted bugs...and the bugs attracted spiders.

Miles: So...the spiders built their webs on the frames. Then in the morning, my students would go and collect the frames and basically hijack the spiders and take them over and put the frame in the...chamber intact.

Hopkin: Now, how can you tell whether a web functions as an arachnid hearing aid? One way is to keep an eye on the spider's brain.

Hoy: My lab, the neurophysiologists, made some recordings from the nervous system sensory system that showed that indeed you get an acoustic response in the nerves to sound...coming from a speaker a little more than a meter away.

Hopkin: But even more revealing was how the spiders acted.

Hoy: To very loud sounds, you could get a strong response...the spider would either flatten out or it might actually crouch. But it's really hunkering down. That is indicative [to a biologist] of an alarm response.

Hopkin: And when serenaded with sounds that are maybe 10 decibels or 100 times softer...

Hoy: Without changing its body posture or making any other movements, it might simply raise its front two legs off of the web.

Hopkin: That leg lift, says Hoy...

Hoy: ...is a spider's way of maybe putting two more sensors out there to see what's coming. We don't know that yet. But that response to a very soft stimulus might be simply the spider's reaction to, "I know something's out there, I heard it, but I need more information." So...that's essentially the demonstration that was needed to show that spiders can hear sound.

Hopkin: This filamentous approach to acoustics could someday change the way we make microphones...and take webcasting to a whole new level.

For Scientific American's 60 Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkin.
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
These Spiders Use Their Webs like Huge, Silky Ears

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. Some things are SO adorable, we say they're cute as a bug's ear. Of course, bugs don't have ears. But a new study shows that orb-weaving spiders can use their webs to detect sounds.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Douglas H. Smith,Jeffrey M. Rodgers,Jean-Pierre Dollé,Mathew J. Wedel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Giraffes vs. Blue Whales vs. Dinosaurs: Which One Builds Its Nervous System Fastest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One megafauna extends its nerve fibers at an astonishing rate of five centimeters per day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Biomineral armor in leaf-cutter ants - Nature Communications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Biomineral armour is known in a number of diverse creatures but has not previously been observed in insects. Here, the authors report on the discovery and characterization of high-magnesium calcite armour which overlays the exoskeletons of leaf-cutter ants.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BiomeViewer | This interactive module explores biomes, climate, biodiversity, and human impacts around the globe and at different times.