Nature (1982–…): Season 39, Episode 5 - Primates: Protecting Primates - full transcript

Primates.

Countless faces...

...one extraordinary family.

Right now, remarkable new
discoveries are being made...

Right there.

about primates

all over the planet.
- Wow!

Today, over half
of the world's primates

are under threat.

are launching
in about 30 seconds.

Our number-one
objective is zero extinctions.



Only by truly
understanding their lives

can we safeguard the future...

of the primates.

Primates
are the ultimate social animal.

Living in groups, they need
to communicate constantly.

None more so than chimpanzees.

Now, ground-breaking research

is revealing that chimps
have a secret language!

Cat Hobaiter has spent 13 years
studying chimps

in Budongo Forest, Uganda.

We know that
chimpanzees are really vocal.

They're vocalizing all the time,

but what I'm really
interested in

is a whole other system
of communication they have,



which is their gestures.

Gestures are a vital
part of human communication...

we make them all the time.

But Cat is the first person

to study how
wild chimpanzees use them...

and what they might mean.

It's essentially
like trying to decode

almost alien communication

'cause you're really
starting from scratch.

She worked out a
wayto decipher this alien language.

The trick is to spot what stops
a chimp from gesturing.

If I desperately
needa coffee, as I do most mornings,

then if I'd asked you
to pass it to me

and you passed me
a cup of water,

then I would probably
ask for coffee again.

If you passed me the decaf,

I would definitely ask
for the coffee again,

and the one thing
that will stop me

from asking you for coffee

is when you pass me the coffee.

So that, ultimately,
gets us at what I meant,

what I was trying
to communicate to you,

and we do exactly
the same with the chimps.

So, by looking
at what happens

before and after each gesture,

Cat can interpret their meaning.

This is Melissa, who's
one of our female chimpanzees,

and her little boy is currently
up at the top of this tree,

and then she gives this
very obvious little hand raise.

Now, if that was a human...
We do that all the time, right?

Get some attention in class.

But, for the chimps, it actually
means something very different.

So, chimpanzees
give an arm raise

when they want somebody else
to move themselves,

and, in this case,
what she wants

is her little boy
to come down the tree

so that they can move off

and find a new feeding patch
together.

It can take Cat hours and hours

of watching the footage
to spot and decode a gesture.

We've got Jennie
and her two young children,

so James and Janet.

Jennie walks in front of James,

and she looks back at him,

and then, right there...

she just kind of shows
the heel of her foot

and kind of gives it
a little wiggle,

and this foot present gesture...

it's not a very obvious one,
right?

Once we'd seen it a few times,

we actually worked out that
what it means is,

"Jump onboard, so that we can
travel off together"...

sort of a piggyback gesture.

Cat soon discovered
gestures are used

in almost every aspect
of chimpanzee life.

We've got a big group
of males on the ground here,

and Mussa is gonna grab a couple
of leaves off the nearest tree,

pops them in his mouth,
and he starts to tear them...

...and you can hear this
very distinctive sort of

"tsk, tsk, tsk" kind of noise
when they do this.

It's called a leaf clip gesture.

This is chimpanzee flirtation.

There is a female chimpwho's
just up the tree from him,

and this is all about
getting the girls' attention.

This is kind of
a chimpanzee pickup line,

basically.

Starts to climb down,

and, yep, that seems
to have done the trick.

A little bit of chimpanzee
action going on.

So, just as humans do
with language,

there are words
that you don't use every day,

so there are words
that you might want to use

on a special occasion

or when you're meeting somebody
for the first time,

so we're still picking up

these kind of new occasional
really special gesture types.

So far,

Cat has decoded
more than 80 distinct

gestures.

But some remain a mystery.

Now Cat's research extends
beyond the forests of Uganda.

And she's discovering
there is even more

to chimpanzee gestures.

We're looking at
gestural communication

in chimpanzees
right across Africa.

What we're starting to see

is that the different groups
of chimpanzees

seem to share most
of the same gestures,

but there are subtle differences
in how often they do it

or quite how they do it.

It's more like having
a different accent

or a different dialect.

This is a crucial discovery.

It supports the idea

that different chimpanzee groups
have distinct cultures.

I am in a race against time

to try and find out
about these different cultures

and the communication

because we're losing
so many different groups

and populations of chimpanzees
every day.

When we're talking about
conservation,

it's not just about numbers...

It's about losing the characters

and the cultures
and the individuals.

If you lose a whole community,

that's a whole culture
you'll never get back.

Imagining the forest
without them, it wouldn't be...

it wouldn't be this forest.

Um, yeah.

It would be... It would be
incredibly sad to lose them.

Primates are not just
one of the most social animals,

they're also some of the most
accomplished tool-users.

This is Koram Island,
off Thailand's east coast...

home to beach-combing
long-tailed macaques.

They've mastered the art
ofa particular type of tool use...

using rocks
to crack open shellfish.

Amanda Tan has been observing
this unusual behavior

for 7 years.

The tool use
inmacaques is really, really rare.

You find macaques all over
Southeast Asia,

but it's really only
a few populations

living out on islands
that we see tool-use behaviors.

It is just a culture
that's really unique

only to some groups of macaques.

Amanda discovered
these monkeys use tools

in two distinct ways.

So,
the monkey in front of me here

is doing what we call
axe hammering.

That's when they use
the sharp point of the tool

to crack open oysters
that are stuck on rocks.

They also crack open sea snails
and clams

and take a pound hammer
to smash that open.

The choice of hammer
and the ability to use it

have to be learned.

The young ones
will learn to use tools

by staying really close
to the tool-users,

so, when they are really little,
like that one,

they stay really close
to their mom,

then that's when they get
their first taste of seafood.

The beach monkeys

seemed like
such exceptional tool-users,

Amanda wondered
if their skills were unique...

...or if they were shared
by neighboring troops.

So she decided to carry out
an experiment.

Just inland, there's another
group of macaques

that also have access
to a seafood-lined shore.

And so what I'm trying to do

is just to put some blocksof
oysters down with some stones

that I have
collected from the island

and see if these monkeys know
what to do with it.

Amanda wants to test for herself

if these monkeys know
how to use the stones as tools.

It's not looking hopeful.

He seemed to pick up
the stone and just sniff it

and not know what to do with it
and walk off.

Despite having
shellfish nearby,

they don't seem to know
they can use stones as tools

to get to the food.

It doesn't mean they can't
eventually work it out

for themselves.

But what would that take?

It's a bit of luck
and then a bit of learning.

You need one of the monkeys
to be an innovator,

and this behavior will slowly
spread throughout the group

so they learn from each other.

It's sort of a tradition
or a culture.

So once one monkey
learns how to use a tool,

they'll all pick up the skill.

For this troop, it looks like
learning to use tools

could take some time.

For the macaque groups
that can use tools,

life is easier...

...but there's a twist
to this tale.

On Koram Island,
Amanda has discovered

that
their highly developed skills

are having some
surprising consequences.

By using tools, these macaques
are able to target

the largest, juiciest oysters.

And they can devour
as many as 40 a day.

We do see evidence

that they are depleting
the shellfish on the island.

So when we compare
the shellfish here

versus an island
just next to us,

we see that the shellfish here
are less abundant

and they're also
smaller in size.

This is the first
reported case

of a tool-using animal...
Other than ourselves...

Overexploiting
a natural resource.

We know for sure

that humans are depleting
thenatural resources on the planet,

and we never really thought
that any other animal

was doing it, as well.

If these monkeys continue

to overharvest
their environment,

the shellfish could disappear.

Ironically, this extraordinary
tool-using behavior

would then also disappear.

When it comes to surprising
new discoveries,

secret language
and skilled tool use

are just the tip of the iceberg.

In Brazil,

researchers captured female
bearded capuchins flirting...

...by throwing stones.

After weeks of pursuing
the alpha male,

females catapult rocks at him

in a bizarre last attempt
to win him over.

In central Africa,

remote cameras
filmed the first-ever shots

of chimps pond-dipping...

For algae.

During the harsh dry season,

algae becomes a precious
and succulent source of food.

And in 2017, Chinese scientists
discovered a brand-new primate,

the Skywalker Hoolock gibbon...

...already one of the world's
most endangered species.

This vast and complex network
of reed beds

surrounds Madagascar's
largest lake.

Lac Alaotra spans an area larger
than Los Angeles...

...and is home to a shy
and elusive creature.

The Lac Alaotra Gentle lemur
is the only primate

to live its entire life
over water.

This marshland is the only place
it can survive.

Malagasy conservationist
Heri Andrianandrasana

has dedicated his life

to protecting
these vulnerable lemurs.

But, out here, his problem
is actually finding them.

We have 23,000 hectares

of reed beds here,

so most of them
are not accessible,

and that is a challenge.

The reed beds
might be huge...

but they were once much bigger.

They are being cleared
for fishing and rice farming

on a massive scale.

Heri wants to know
how many lemurs are left

and exactly where they are...

so they can concentrate
conservation efforts.

But in a canoe,
it's a near impossible task,

which is why he's enlisted
the help

of some cutting-edge technology.

It's being pioneered
by Serge Wich,

a conservationist with
a fascination for drones.

Drones can show us
a visual image

that is usually very strong

and that helps to
facilitate conservation.

With him is a group
of engineers,

astrophysicists,
and computer scientists...

All world experts
in drone technology.

They've used drones
for everything

from mapping
archaeological sites

to finding dolphins
in the Amazon.

Now they've come to Madagascar
to see

whether their custom-made drone
can spot the lemurs.

To have the best chance of
detecting the secretive lemurs,

they're using
a powerful thermal camera.

It's very sensitive
to body heat.

But the lemurs are so small,

no one knows if the camera
will be able to spot them

in such a vast marshland.

They need to do a test.

Heri, I copy. Over.

Hello, Serge. I copy you.

Heri guides the drone
to where he knows

there are definitely lemurs.

We are launching
in about 30 seconds. Over.

Heri, we're almost there.
I'm sure you hear it by now.

Over.

Serge is flying blind

and has no idea
what the camera can see.

Heri uses a handheld camera

to capture a reference of
the lemur's thermal fingerprint

so they can compare.

We are on our way back home.

Over.

It's only now
that Serge will find out

if the drone camera
has really worked.

You can quite clearly see
three individuals,

so three in a very tiny spot.

These minuscule dots
don't look like much,

until they're matched
with the images from the canoe.

Even though it's quite small,

you see it fairly clearly...

you even see its tail
a little bit,

so we are sure it's a lemur.

To finally see results
is incredible.

That's very helpful for us to
develop a system in the future

that will hopefully be able
to detect the lemurs

while we fly over them.

If the drone
can survey the entire lake,

Heri can focus efforts
where the lemurs need it most.

There's still a long way to go,

but Serge and Heri
have taken an important step

to safeguard the futureof
the Lac Alaotra Gentle lemur.

♪ ♪

For some, a passion for primates
knows no bounds.

And world-renowned
primate conservationist

Russell Mittermeier is obsessed.

Now he's in Tanzania
on a mission.

After 50 years' experience,

Russ has a unique perspective
on primate conservation.

And he's witnessed their numbers
decline firsthand.

Primates
are in a pretty dire situation

worldwide.

More than 60% of all primates
are considered

either critically endangered,
endangered, or vulnerable.

But Russ believes
there is at least one solution.

To me,

ecotourism is perhaps
the best tool that we have

for ensuring
the long-term survival

of these animals
in their natural habitats.

When tourists visit
wilderness areas

in search of primates,

they generate income

that's put back into protecting
the animals and their forests.

Now in his 70th year,

Russ wants to become
the first person

to see every kind of primate
in the wild...

inspiring others to follow
in his footsteps.

My main
objective here in Tanzania

is to see the last

of the 79 different types
of primates

that exist on the planet.

I'm here to see the kipunji,

which is this
very unusual monkey,

and it was not described
by science until 2005,

so that's really
quite remarkable.

Scientists divide primates

into 79 different categories
known as "genera."

The kipunji is in a genera
all of its own.

Restricted to just a few forest
patches in Southern Tanzania,

it is now considered to be

one of the most endangered
primates on earth.

For Russ to find
his final primate,

he'll need local expertise.

Noah Mpunga and Tim Davenport

are from the
Wildlife Conservation Society.

They were first to report
the existence of the kipunji

and now protect them
and their forest home.

Hoody, hoody.

Welcome to the camp.
- Welcome.

Thank you.

Finally, we're going to get
to see kipunji, I hope.

Yeah, exactly.

The weather's
got to cooperate a little...

But shortly after
arriving at their forest camp,

things take a turn
for the worse.

Severe and unseasonal rains

soon make conditions
in the forest treacherous

and the kipunji much harder
to find.

I'm very
anxious to get out tomorrow.

I don't care if it's raining.
I don't care if it's muddy.

Hopefully, conditions
will improve by morning.

Dawn, and it's not really
much better,

but Russ decides to risk it
and get going...

before the monkeys do.

To help them, local ranger Atu
has been trying

to keep track of the kipunji.

ATU:

- She saw them yesterday.
- Okay.

It's like
2 kilometers from here.

2 kilometers. Okay.

So, presumably,
they're still there

'cause it's still raining?
- Yeah, could be.

- Hopefully.
- We will see.

Russ has been waiting
for this morning for years...

...but no sighting
is guaranteed.

2.29 kilometers so far,

but it's up and down,
up and down.

I can smell them.

While the kipunji
can move quickly

through the open canopy,

for Russ, the dense undergrowth

is nearly impossible
to navigate.

Like most African monkeys,

they're very good at hiding.

Oh, wow!

Whoa! Cool.

Wow!

Yes.

Number 79... good spot.

Been working on that
for 49 years.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Look at him. Wow!

Funny face...

funny-looking monkey.

This feels great.

I mean, this morning,
I had just about given up

with all the rain.

But we got them.

These trackers are amazing.
Really good.

This woman is fantastic.

This is a really special animal.

DAVENPORT:

Russ is the first person

to see every type of primate,

but he hopes
he won't be the last.

I like stimulating people

to go to remote placesand
engage with the communities,

benefit the local economies...

that's what it's all about.

Ecotourism and primate watching

can provide a new income
for local communities

and an incentive to protect
primates and their homes.

It's clearly demonstrating

to local communities

the importance
of these intact forests

and the key species
that occur within them.

Our number-one objective is to
maintain the current diversity

of the order of primates...
Zero extinctions.

If we can replicate models
like this across the world,

we can save these species
from extinction.

Across the planet,

dedicated people
are going to great lengths

to save the world's
most endangered primates.

This orphan chimpanzee's family
was killed by poachers.

Now he's being evacuated by
Virunga's anti-poaching unit...

and transferred 400 miles to
aprimate rehabilitation center...

a safe haven,

where he'll be cared for
alongside other orphans.

In Guatemala,
rescued spider monkeys

are on their way
back into the wild.

Many
were originally kept as pets,

requiring 5 years
in rehabilitation.

They're being released together,

a whole new troop
to boost the wild population.

In Brazil, cocoa plantations
are providing a new home

for endangered
golden-headed lion tamarins.

Much of their natural forest is
now gone, but they thrive here.

Locals benefit
from the new income...

and help save tamarins, too.

All over the world,

the future of primates
is increasingly in our hands...

Including
these charismatic residents

of Malaysia's Penang
peninsula...

Dusky langurs.

Their once pristine forests
are now bisected by busy roads.

To move through their territory,

they must risk crossing
dangerous traffic every day.

Local researcher Jo Leen Yap
has seen them

run this gauntlet many times.

It's very risky,
and you feel very heartache

because the infants
or the juveniles...

they will try to cross the road,

and you can see that
they are really struggling.

The langurs have found
what might appear

to be a good solution...

but these are power cables.

They pose a real risk
of electrocution...

and they're too thin for
the monkeys to balance safely.

Many struggle
to make it across...

especially mothers and babies.

When the mum and the infant

try to cross
along the cable wire,

they can't really balance
themselves well.

Jo Leen felt she had to act.

After so many months and years

of looking at them
walking along the cable wire,

the thing is in my heart

is trying and help them
to cross safely.

Jo Leen knows
the monkeys prefer

crossing overhead,

so she's decided to install
a monkey bridge.

So, today is the day...
We are going to build

the first bridge
in Peninsular Malaysia

to assist langurs
to cross the road.

They are using
upcycled old fire hoses,

much thicker and easier to cross
than electric wires...

YAP:

and hopefully allowing

monkeys and other wildlife

to cross between forest
fragments much more safely.

As the bridge nears completion,
it seems the monkeys

are already keen
to check out their new walkway.

Stay here, stay here,
stay here, stay here.

So, it might take days
or even weeks and months

for them to get used to
the fire hoses bridge.

So we just have to hope
for the best.

Elsewhere, primate walkways

have already been
a great success.

In India, fire-hose ladders
have been installed

for lion-tailed macaques.

And in Thailand, gibbons take
to new crossings with ease.

Given time, it's hoped that
these dusky langurs

will soon be
crossing safely, too.

The passion people feel
for primates

is now perhaps
their best hope for survival...

...especially for the world's
last remaining

mountain gorillas.

Their stronghold is
the Virunga mountains.

Innocent Mburanumwe grew up here

in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.

He's now the deputy chief ranger
of Virunga National Park,

and he has a special bond
with its gorillas.

MBURANUMWE:

I love to spend time
with gorillas...

you know, we consider them
like our second families.

This is Nyakamwe, a silverback.

He's playing with his son,
Balingene.

Innocent has dedicated
his life to these primates...

his fascination started
at a young age.

The first time I saw
the gorillas, I was about 11.

What inspired me
to become a ranger

is because my father
was a ranger,

my brother and my uncle.

Now, Innocent
is a world-leading authority

on these gorillas

and knows their lives
intimately.

He's just come to smell me.

Once he touch me, he just put
his hand on his nose to smell.

These precious moments
may seem idyllic...

but in reality, being a ranger
in the Virunga National Park

is one of the most
dangerous jobs in conservation.

The park is in one of the most
politically unstable places

on the planet.

4 million people
have been uprooted...

after village destroyed by fighting...

It's a battle for survival.

In the last 20 years,

conflict, militias, genocide,
and Ebola

have plagued the region.

For those protecting the park,
the conflict is a direct threat.

war and poaching have become

the deadliest threats
to the mountain gorillas.

In 2007, seven
gorillas were gunned down.

It was a hard time

to see gorillas being killed
by people, like a sabotage.

And it's not just the gorillas

that Innocent has had taken
from him.

Innocent's brother
is one of more than 180 rangers

who have been killed
protecting the gorillas

and Virunga Park itself.

The Virunga Park
was founded primarily

to protect mountain gorillas.

But it has a role in bringing
stability to the region.

In recent years,
tourists have returned,

raising precious funds...

allowing the park
to create opportunities

for local communities

and to oversee the building
of schools and clinics.

And all of this helps to ensure

the gorillas
remain protected, too.

In the 1980s, there were as few
as 250 mountain gorillas

in the Virunga region.

After years of efforts
to protect them,

their numbers have climbed
to about 880.

But for Innocent and his team,
the battle continues.

I don't want to lose
any gorillas.

I have to focus on my protecting
these mountain gorillas

because I love them.

The gorillas
will need protecting

for generations to come.

I have one
sonwho want to be a ranger like me.

The remarkable
recovery of mountain gorillas

is thanks to those

who are willing to go
to great lengths

to protect primates.

The conservation
of the world's primates

is a long-term commitment...

in part because they live
such long lives.

The rainforests of Indonesia
are home...

to orangutans.

An infant orang can grow up
to live for 50 years or more.

They stay with their mothers
up to the age of 9...

...learning all they need
to survive.

Today, all orangutans face
an uncertain future.

Since 2001, Indonesia has lost

35 thousand square miles
of primary forest.

Much went to satisfy the demands

for timber, mining,
and palm oil.

The equivalent
of 1,000 football fields

are cleared every single day.

This destruction means
that orangs

are in serious need of help.

Signe Preuschoft felt
she had to help save them.

These young orangs
are orphans...

being prepared for a life
back in the wild.

So, in this...
In this Forest School program,

we have a total at the moment
of eight orangutans.

Each vulnerable youngster

has gone through the trauma
of losing his or her mother.

And this one here, Gerhana...

that's the youngest.

In Gerhana's case, it was just
amazing that he would live.

He was so starved,
he looked like a stick insect.

So it was really touch and go
whether he would make it.

Since coming into
the Forest School program,

Gerhana, like the other
rescued orphans here,

has made a remarkable recovery.

Each is cared for by a dedicated
human surrogate parent.

The long-term goal is to release
them into protected forests

and boost wild populations.

But rehabilitation
can often fail.

Many orangs
do not survive in the wild

after release.

They often lack vital skills

they would have learned
from their mothers,

high in the treetops.

The canopy is where orangs
find food, shelter,

and safety from predators,

and that's part of the problem.

There
is always a big attraction

for the orphans
to come down to the ground.

So, as long as we have
many caretakers on the ground,

it's almost impossible
to get the orangutans

all up in the trees.

In the wild,

orangutans rarely if ever
come to the ground.

Signe had an idea...

Their caregivers
would have to lead the way...

into the trees.

James Reed is
a highly experienced

professional tree climber.

Okay, so, this is called
the throw line,

and this is called
the throw pouch.

Throw, lampah, throw.

The idea...
If the carers can climb,

then their orangs should follow.

Once it starts swinging,
lower it down.

There you go.

But some humans
find it easier than others.

I have too much rope now.

No, it's okay.

Yeah. Too much is better
than not enough.

That's it.

Long training hours
are needed

to become certified climbers.

But the real test will come...

when boisterous young orangs
are added to the mix.

Good.

Here.

When the caregivers
take to the ropes,

even Gerhana,
with a little encouragement,

discovers he's a natural.

Up here, they can really
strengthen their skills...

...explore new heights...

...and discover new foods...

...with the safety
of their caretaker nearby.

Signe started seeing
a promising change

in the orphans right away.

When we first
climbed with Gerhana,

I had never seen Gerhana
climb so high as on that day.

This is a positivefirst
step towards these infants

becoming truly at home
in the canopy.

As soon as they don't need us,

we just let them go
as much as they want

and give them
the self-confidence...

"Okay, I can handle that."

Signe hopes
she's giving these orangs

the tools they need
to survive...

And that she can release them
one day where they belong...

in the wild.

Primates...

are our closest relatives.

They need us now more than ever.

It's only by understanding them

that we can safeguard
their future.

Across the world, people
are dedicating their lives

to finding the answers.

...and making sure the future
always has a place...

...for the primates.