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S38 Ep3

Undercover in the Jungle

Premiere: 10/16/2019 | 00:00:35 |

Go undercover with a film crew in the untouched wilderness of biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest. Meet some of the most incredible creatures, from pygmy marmosets to pumas, as the wild secrets of the jungle are revealed.

About the Episode

In Ecuador’s Amazon basin lies a special patch of jungle that is a living, breathing, green metropolis of life. It is an untouched, secluded wilderness teeming with biodiversity, only accessible by boat. Follow a team of naturalists and filmmakers on a mission to capture the intimate behaviors of the wildlife who dwell here by installing a network of more than 50 remotely operated cameras and mini-cams, from the dark rainforest floor right up to a tangled canopy 300 feet in the air. By filming 24/7 for an entire month, the camera crew captures the lives of exotic creatures and discovers the incredible tricks these animals use to survive in the extreme jungle climate. From agile pygmy marmosets and boisterous howler monkeys, to solitary pumas and mesmerizing leaf-cutter ants, meet a cast of remarkable animal characters carving out a living in this tropical world.

Noteworthy Facts:

  • A single hectare (about 2.5 acres) in the Amazon jungle contains more tree species than the entire United States and Canada combined, as well as more than 100,000 species of insect.
  • Peccaries are the surprising source of life for many species in the jungle. The mud wallows they create when they feed on the jungle floor become a source of nutrients for a variety of wildlife, including guans, curassow, turtles and deer.
  • Infrared cameras show how round-eared bats flip 180 degrees mid-air and reverse into position in order to dangle on the roof of their jungle cave. Their bizarre leaf-shaped noses focus and amplify their chirping echolocation calls, which work like sonar technology, into a narrow beam. This super-sense allows them to navigate in the dark and locate potential dangers.

Buzzworthy Moments:

  • Writer/director Will Benson and his filmmaking team journey for four days to get to the heart of the rainforest, bringing more than 50 cameras that take a week to rig throughout the jungle. The crew’s endurance is pushed to the limit during the month they are filming, whether through extreme weather, pestering insects or long shifts to keep the cameras running 24/7.
  • The Amazon basin hosts nine unusual species of monkeys. Witness the antics of a pygmy marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world that can leap over 30 times its body length from tree to tree. Nocturnal night monkeys are captured by the cameras’ infrared lights as they hunt for insects and fruit. Saki monkeys hide out at the top layer of treetops while Spider monkeys leave the safety of the trees to drink from the forest floor’s mud wallows. Howler monkeys consume whole clumps of clay to sustain their diet, and muscular Woolly monkeys are seen using their tails to help make death-defying leaps from branch to branch in search of the juiciest fruits.
  • See butterflies feast on the tears of an ever-patient turtle. These animals have a surprising symbiotic relationship. The salty moisture around a turtle’s eyes and nose contains a large amount of sodium that butterflies crave.
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PRODUCTION CREDITS

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY
WILL BENSON

PRODUCER
ANTHONY GEFFEN

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
ROBIN COX

EDITED BY
SARJIT BAINS

ASSISTANT PRODUCER
MARY MELVILLE

ASSISTANT CAMERA & DRONE OP
SAM MEYRICK
LOCAL FIXERS
YOYA LANDÁZURI CRISTY LANDÁZURI

EDIT ASSISTANT
SOLOMON HEALE

MUSIC
AUDIO NETWORKS LTD CADENCE

FOLEY
VAUDEVILLE SOUND

AUDIO MIX
ROSS MILLERSHIP

ONLINE EDITOR
JEAN-PAUL VIAL

VISUAL EFFECTS
ZOO VFX LTD

FINAL POST PRODUCTION
THE FINISH LINE

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
REBECCA LAWRENCE

PRODUCTION MANAGER
TAMMY CANNON

ARCHIVE
DIEGO MOSQUERA
GETTY IMAGES
SHUTTERSTOCK

WILDLIFE PERMIT PROVIDED BY
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT ECUADOR

SPECIAL THANKS
YASUNI NATIONAL PARK ECUADOR
TIPUTINI BIODIVERSITY STATION

FOR ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS
MIMI GILLIGAN
VINCENT PRETORIUS
CLAUDIA PERKINS

HEAD OF PRODUCTION
IAN SYDER

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 EDITOR
CHRIS GUIDO

RE-RECORDING MIXER
JON BERMAN

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
The Hite Foundation
Bradley L. Goldberg Family Foundation
Corporation for Public Broadcasting

SERIES PRODUCER
BILL MURPHY

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
FRED KAUFMAN

A PRODUCTION OF ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS LIMITED AND THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC FOR WNET AND FREMANTLE MEDIA LIMITED
THIS PROGRAM WAS PRODUCED BY THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC, WHICH IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS CONTENT

© 2019 ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS LIMITED AND THIRTEEN PRODUCTION LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TRANSCRIPT

- [Narrator] The Amazon, humans have never set eyes on parts of this jungle, until now.

A team of naturalists and filmmakers are going to wire this wilderness top to bottom.

(tribal percussion music) Remotely operated cameras will record everything, 24/7.

It's a wildlife, filmmaking first.

- That is remarkable.

(tribal percussion music)

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