Land of the Tiger (1997–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Unknown Seas - full transcript

Mysterious and unexplored

the seas that lap the shores of India
hide many a natural treasure

The boatyard at Veraval,
a piece of living history

This is a timeless scene

boats have been made here
on the northwest coast of India

for thousands of years
using the same methods

Seafaring is in the very blood
of these people

2000 years ago,
this area was already famous

as traders came in from the west
to buy gold and spices,

ivory and jewels, apes and peacocks

and even the occasional tiger



Wind and current carry those early
navigators down the Malabar coast

and round the southern tip of India

then north and east
to the Bay of Bengal and
the isles of the Andaman Sea

Let's follow in their paths

and ride the ocean currents
to these unknown seas

Early explorers came home
with fanciful tales of sea monsters

But giants of the deep still swim
in the waters of the Arabian Sea

This is the largest fish in the world

It can grow to 15 m
and weigh more than 18 tons,

that's as much as 6 elephants

Its mouth is wide enough
to swallow a man whole

but it actually feeds on some of
the tiniest creatures in the sea

The whale shark is a plankton-eater

As it cruises slowly below the surface



hundreds of gallons of water
pass into its mouth

and out through its gills

Every gulp sucks in
countless minute plants and animals

The whale shark grows huge
on this thin planktonic soup

From Veraval,
ocean currents sweeping south

bring us to the first
of our island landfalls, Lakshadweep

A chain of three dozen coral islands,

Lakshadweep lies some 300 km
off the coast of India

Most are so small,

you can walk around them
in less than an hour

Many of the islands are uninhabited

with their coral reefs
and turquoise lagoons,

their white sands
and palm fringed beaches

They look like classic treasure islands

But if you did bury treasure here

and try to find it some years later,

it would be nearly impossible

And you can see what is happening

the waves are washing the sand
on this part of the island

even the coconut palms
are toppling over

The ground has been washed away
from their roots

But on the other part of the island,
the sand has been piled up,

so the whole island
is gradually moving along
by over a meter a year

These are wandering islands,

some have moved so far
that ships wrecked on one side

have been buried and emerged
years later on the other side

But there is treasure here,

it's not gold and silver
but living jewels

and it's not on these islands
but in these sparkling waters

The coral reefs on the islands
are a treasure chest of vivid color

The corals that build these reefs
are living organisms

Like many of the creatures they shelter,

they rely on the currents
to bring them their food

The bright colors of coral reef fish
have a purpose

These powder blue surgeonfish
graze on algae

and they are highly territorial

Each pair has its own patch

Their body is a banner
that signals: Keep Out

This parrotfish hasn't got the message

On its own, it makes little impact
on the surgeonfish's algal garden

But there's another grazer
that can wreak havoc

A gang of Convict Tangs
invade the powder blue's territory

The powder blues dash back and forth
in an effort to drive them off

But the prison stripe marauders
overwhelm them by sheer weight of numbers

Within seconds the Tang strip the algae
from the powder blue's territory

Like a plague of locusts they move on,

to devastate someone else's garden

Where there are grazers,
you find hunters

For predators like bluefin jacks,

the reef is a paradise
of bite sized delights

With it,
shoals of hunters and hunted,

a coral reef is like
an underwater Serengeti

And even hunters can find themselves
on someone else's menu

White tipped reef sharks
are the cheetahs of these waters

We often think of sharks
as voracious killers,

but they can go for days
without eating

This one is just cruising,
not hunting

It glides through the water
like an aircraft

It can dive, climb,
bank and turn,

as well as any fighter plane

As we sink down the face of the reef
towards the deep

the scenery changes
to a forest of delicate sea fans

30 m down, the seabed levels out,

this is the realm of another hunter,

the sting ray,

it's well named.

A poisonous spine on its tail
can paralyse or even kill an enemy

but it doesn't use it for hunting

It digs up mollusks and crustaceans
and crushes them with its powerful jaws

And the bluefin jacks are back
shadowing the ray,

ready to pounce on
any shrimp or small fish
that it flushes out

Garden eels dance and sway
to the rhythm of the ocean current

With tails anchored,

they can vanish into the sand
if danger threatens

And danger forges strange alliances

These prawns share a home with gobies

The prawns are always shoveling sand

the gobies take advantage
of any food the prawns unearth

In return, the fish keep lookout

The prawns are almost blind,

but they keep in touch
with long antennae

Without their guardians,
they would be helpless

Garden eels feed on
tiny particles of plankton
carried in the current

Only the risk of
becoming someone else's dinner
will interrupt this sinuous dance

As the ray glides over the sand,
everything in her path
beats a hasty retreat

The danger passed,
the eels resume feeding

But the ray hasn't gone,
she seems to be waiting in ambush

Then something frightens her off

A reef shark

So long as it's resting here,
no other predator will come near

Lakshadweep islands
are islands of coconuts

For a few months a year,
people set up temporary camps
to harvest them

The palms provide food and drink,
even matting to build homes

The history of the people
is written in their faces

Arab and Indian features reflect
the homelands of the early adventurers,

who first arrived
on these islands of coral and coconut

There have been people here
for over a thousand years

But the islands
have more ancient inhabitants

Land crabs,
these specialized hermit crabs

are one of the few creatures
that have a home
on these wandering islands

The crabs are the island's
cleaning service

Towards evening, they head for the beach
to see what the tides have washed up

There's no knowing
what the sea will bring

a good meal like this,
may have to be fought for

Land crabs scavenge almost anything,
from dead fish to coconuts

The crabs' claws may seem ungainly

but they can eat
with surprising delicacy

Though they are well adapted
to life on land,

these crabs haven't quite broken
their link with the sea

They have to return
to the water to breed

As evening falls, and the light fades

fish that are active during the day
seek shelter among the corals

At night,
the reef is far more dangerous

Turtle and stingray take a final snack

But for the sharks,
the best is yet to come

As fish move, their muscles generate
tiny bursts of electricity

Incredibly,
sharks have a sixth electrical sense

For them,
the dark of the reef is dotted
with telltale pulses of energy

Moray eels are hunters too

During the day
they lurk in rocky crevices,

but at night, they slink out
to search the reef

Eel and shark
seem to tolerate one another
with barely controlled aggression

Another nightmare
for little fish, a grouper

It hunts by stealth
and swallows its prey whole

By sunrise,
fishermen are out on the lagoon,

For them,
this is the start of a long day

They are fishing for tuna,

but before they can catch them,
they must first catch something else

They find a shoal of fusiliers

Now the divers spread out a fine net

and with the help of weights,
they sink it to the seabed

They use fish paste to attract
these little fish into the net

With the baitfish onboard,

the boats leave lagoon
and head for the open sea

The fish are kept alive
in fresh and flooded compartments

Finding tuna can take days

but the signs are there
if you know what to look for

The plunging seabirds
are taking fish scared to
the surface by a shoal of tuna

Once the men have found a shoal,

they hurl the baitfish back
into the sea to attract the tuna

In the frenzy of feeding,

the tuna grab anything
whether it's baitfish or bare hook

As each tuna is heaved into the air,
it slips off the hook

Avoiding tangles
takes split second timing
and a lifetime's experience

In four and a half minutes,
they've caught 91 fish

South of Lakshadweep,
the ocean currents run fast

and they bring a feast of plankton

The reef's resident fish

are joined by more exotic visitors
from the open sea

Manta rays can grow huge
up to 6.5 m across the wings

To the seaman of old,
they were devil fish

monsters that leapt on boats
enfold sailors in their wings

and drag them down to a watery grave

But in fact,
they are harmless plankton eaters
like the whale shark

Mantas are usually solitary,

but exceptionally,
when ocean currents mix
to yield a glut of food,

they congregate in numbers

The currents that help
to bring the food for the mantas

carried early adventurers
round the southern tip of India

2000 years ago,

the Romans established trading posts
near present day Madras

The Romans are long gone,

but other visitors still flock
to this coast,

this is one of the few unspoiled
stretches on the east coast of India

The shallow waters of Pulicat
still attract birds of many kinds

Painted storks, egrets, ducks,
flamingos and pelicans

all flock here to feast
on the rich seafood cocktail

The pelicans aren't just here
to fish for themselves

When they are fully laden,

they take off and fly inland
for some 40 km

This is Nelapattu,
the largest pelicanry in southern Asia

Every year,

nearly 1500 pelicans arrive to breed
in this noisy, crowded colony

When the chicks are young,

their parents simply regurgitate
the fish they have brought

but the youngsters' beaks and appetites
grow at an enormous rate

Within weeks, the business becomes
a stomach churning battle

as the chicks dig even deeper
to get it for food

The chicks grow fast

After two months
they are fully feathered

Soon they will fly the nest
and the colony will fall silent

until the cycle begins all over again

On the next leg of our voyage,

we leave the pelicans and sail east

towards the sunrise
and the last of our island landfalls

This is a land
that time has passed by

Even today,

some of its people still resist contact
with the 20th century

1200 km from the east of mainland India
and far out into the Bay of Bengal

lie a mysterious chain
of over 300 islands

These are the tips
of a submerged mountain range

They are the Andamans and Nicobar

Some of these islands
are virtually unexplored

but the waters in between
are a sea of surprises

In mid afternoon,
the elephants take to the ocean

Mahouts guide them through the water
by pressing a foot behind the ears

These are working elephants,

sometimes they swim a km or more
between islands

This is a family group

If the youngster gets tired,

its mother and aunt
will be there to support it

The islands are still heavily forested

elephants are used to haul timber
which is ruthlessly exploited

Despite these alarming pressures,

the islands still embrace
some of the most pristine expanses
of rainforest in India

The islands were once
a part of southeast Asia

but they've been isolated
for 60 million years

During that time,

creatures have evolved here that
are found nowhere else in the world

Like the one that
made this great mound of sand

the Nicobar megapode

This extraordinary bird
incubates its eggs
in a most remarkable way

It buries them
in this gigantic compost heap

The heat of the sand
and the rotting vegetation

are sufficient to hatch them

and the bird can regulate the temperature
by adding or removing material

But the megapodes
are not alone in the forest

If they leave their mound unguarded,
the monitor lizard will move in

The monitor make short work
of the megapode's clutch

but that's not the end of the story

The lizard has one more trick
up its scaly sleeve

Cuckoo-like, it lays its own eggs
inside the mound

When the birds return,

they continue regulating
the temperature of the mound

But down below, it's not their eggs
that are incubating

The eggs hatch, into lizards

The scaly interlopers
dig their way out of the mound

much to the confusion of the birds

From the lush green
of these island forests,

we return to the unknown seas

The tropical waters of the Andaman sea
are perfect for coral growth

These must be among the most
colorful reefs in the world

Within this dazzling array of life,

there's constant competition
to populate every available space

All over the reef,
eggs are being laid and cared for

A triggerfish stands guard
over her eggs

fanning them to ensure a constant flow
of oxygenated water

A clown fish has eggs too

but in this case,
it's the male that cares for them

Every possible surface
seems smothered,

a twig of coral is coated
with damselfish eggs

This fish is also a male

He guards the eggs against predators

A pair of cuttlefish
perform a stately dance

The female is looking for
suitable crevices to lay her eggs

Her mate shadows her every move

If another male appears,
he chases it off

He must ensure that
only he fertilizes the eggs

The female forms her tentacles
into a tube

and inserts the eggs deep into the reef

She lays about 300 all together

The eggs have been carefully cemented
onto the walls of the crevice

They'll be safe in here
until they hatch

Out in the open sea,
turtles are courting too

There are stiff competition
between the males

Even when they are joined together,

other males may try to prize them apart

Turtles can hold their breath
for 5 hours,

but mating can go on for as long as 6,

so they have to come up for air

For 20 years or more,

these turtles will have roamed
the oceans of the world

Only now after mating,

will the female come ashore
for the first time in her adult life

With unerring accuracy,

she heads for the beach
where she was born all those years ago

a tiny spit of land
on the shores of the Bay of Bengal

This empty beach
on the east coast of India

is home to one of the most extraordinary
natural history events in the world

Seven weeks ago,
under the cover of darkness,

tens of thousands of female
olive ridley turtles

came ashore to lay their eggs

Some years,
over 600,000 emerge from the sea

to nest in this narrow stretch
of coastline

Now 50 days later,

under a full moon,
and half a metre under the ground,

the eggs hatch

Over the next few nights,

millions of baby turtles
will scamper out
and hurtle towards the sea

On some nights,

the flood of infant turtles
rushing seawards,

meets a new wave of adults,

lumbering up the beach
to lay their eggs

The new generation
are dwarfed by their elders

For some, this is a lethal encounter

But for every one
that's crushed or buried,

countless thousands survive

Heading for the gleam of moonlight
on the surf

the hatchlings march down the beach

When they reach the sea,

the infant turtles vanish into the waves

By morning, the beach is nearly empty,

a new generation of baby turtles

have started their great journey
into the unknown seas of India

They will voyage for 20 years
over thousands and thousands of km

before returning as adults
to nest once more at this very site

Whilst our journey has ended,

another great voyage is about to begin