The Mating Game (2021): Season 1, Episode 3 - Jungles: In the thick of it - full transcript

This display
of raw power and aggression...

...Is the way by which
a male chimpanzee

proclaims his high status.

He is willing to fight anyone...

if necessary.

Male chimpanzees may become dominant
in their 20s.

And high rank brings great privileges,

such as the right to mate.

But not every male chimp
ls in the same position.

Damien, so named by the researchers
observing him,

ls 14 years of age,



and not yet old enough to be dominant.

Adolescence is a testing time
in a chimp's life.

This is when he must decide

it and how, he will stand out
from other young males.

The chimpanzees of Ngogo, in Uganda,

live in the largest chimp society
known to science.

And thanks to the year-round
abundance of food,

there are nearly always females
ready to mate.

Some years, more than 20 babies
are born here.

But the majority of them are fathered
by the most dominant males.

The females usually have little say
in the matter.

Coercion is common.

In time, Damien may become dominant

and then he, too, may use
his rank and strength



to gain access to females.

For now, though, he is always respectful
to his superiors,

and shows that by taking his turn
to groom them.

He lacks the physical strength
of the dominant males,

but he is old enough to mate.

So, he's found a different way
of getting close to a female.

This is Penelope.

She ls a friend of Damien's.

And he is regularly beside her,

when she needs a scratch.

This is Say-bin.

She, too, is a friend of Damien's.

Then there's Maya,

and Anna.

Damien, may not be the biggest
or the strongest,

but he is a popular chimp.

And it's not just the grooming service
he offers.

As any mother of two will tell you,

offering to play with the kids
while she has a break,

ls a sure-fire way
of ingratiating yourself.

These are not his offspring,

but Damien often spends time
with Anna and her infants,

on hand for spot of childcare.

And that has led to the two of them
having a special bond.

But now Anna has come into oestrus,
her most fertile time.

And an older male knows that she has.

Damien gives him a wide berth.

For now, all he can do
ls to watch from the sidelines.

A female who's already proved herself
to be a capable mother

is always in high demand
when she becomes ready to mate again.

Shaking branches signals
the older male's desire to mate.

She is clearly nervous.

And, before he gets a chance
to get really close,

her calls alert
the other heavyweight males.

They will be prepared to fight

for a chance to mate.

Damien knows he would stand no chance
against them.

Despite their bravado,

in the chaos, none of them succeeds
in mating with Anna.

After, the males are keen
to repair their friendships.

And Anna slips away.

With the threat of violence
gone for the moment,

and being slightly away
from the dominant group,

Damien finally gets close to Anna

while she's still fertile.

It's not uncommon for males to develop
close friendships with females

in order to mate.

And Damien has clearly got a talent
for doing just that

because two years ago,

he became the youngest father

in the history of the Ngogo group.

Which proves that a little charm
can go a long way.

Jungles cover just 2% of the planet,

but they are home to 80%
of all land-living animal species.

To win the mating game
in these dense forests,

you need to find a way to stand out

and some male animals
spend their entire lives

honing their seduction techniques.

In the remote valleys of New Guinea,

there are...

...strange sounds.

And the most curious constructions

that mystified
the first European explorers.

Some believe these structures
have been made by the local people

in their tribal rituals.

They are ringed with moss,

and littered with seeds.

Strange decorations hang
from the branches nearby.

But in fact
this 60-centimetre-tall construction

has been built by a bird

no bigger than a thrush,

a male MacGregor's Bowerbird.

He has built this tower
with hundreds of sticks,

and he maintains it year after year.

It has one purpose,
and one purpose only,

to impress females.

It requires constant maintenance.

What's that stick doing there?

That won't do.

But now, this.

Perfect.

This construction, his bower,
dominates his life.

With maintenance done for the day,

it's time to renew the decorations,

rotting berries...

and...

caterpillar droppings.

Delightful.

A female assesses his construction.

And now he sings to her.

As a younger bird,
before he started gathering sticks,

he collected sounds.

And now, to entice her closer,

he reproduces some of them.

Some are songs he has heard elsewhere
in the forest...

...the calls of other kinds of birds.

Others are harder to identify.

Chopping wood perhaps?

A barking dog.

Even the sound of children playing.

And their frustrated parents.

The range of his mimicry,
it seems, like his bower,

is also a way of impressing her.

She seems to be listening attentively.

Now, they begin to dance
around their maypole.

He's careful
not to completely reveal himself.

Excitement mounts.

And now...

he goes for it.

Was it too soon?

She's back.

Still interested.

Their union is brief.

She will now return to her nest,

lay her eggs, and raise her young.

While he stays beside his maypole,

keeping it in good repair,

ready for more females.

On Kenya's forested mountain slopes,

another male will also have to seek
the approval of a female

if they are to mate.

A Jackson's Chameleon.

He lives high in the trees
camouflaged among the foliage.

A loner, he rarely ventures
to lower levels.

One thing, however,
will entice him down.

Females usually stay at lower levels
in the vegetation.

But, despite his panoramic vision,

looking for a partner can be tricky

when your potential mate

matches her surroundings so closely.

Leaf...

or partner?

To him, it seems, she is perfect.

And from now on,
he's only got eyes for her.

She ls less interested.

But she is keeping an eye on him.

He could be a mate.

He's able to change the spacing
between pigment cells in his skin,

and so emphasise different colours.

And this is how they communicate...

and how he hopes to court her.

His opening gambit
is to turn bright green...

and then to flare his neck
to signal his desire.

Next, his signature move,

a sort of staccato quickstep.

It's got her interested.

Then a bit of side-stepping.

And, lastly, a brandish
of his magnificent trio of horns.

She casts a critical eye over him.

If she then turns bright green herself,

he's probably onto a winner.

Dear.

She is going darker.

Just so she makes herself clear,

it's a definite no.

What now?

If he stays around,

she may be more receptive
in a few days' time.

But he's not the only male
on the lookout for a female.

This new male,

displaying his bright green,
isn't flirting.

Bold colours shown to the same sex

are a sign of aggression.

And showing his flank

means that this is only going one way.

His aim is to unbalance his opponent

until he concedes defeat
by going darker.

And that's what's happened.

It's all over.

And now that his competitor
has been seen off.

Perhaps she's had a change of heart...

and colour.

Alas,

it's still clearly...

a no.

Change in colour among chameleons

brings a swift end to conflict.

And, when mating competition
could be really violent,

colour can help to reduce the chance
of coming to blows.

The jungles of Gabon in West Africa

are home to the most brightly coloured
of all mammals.

Mandrills.

The males are also the heaviest monkeys
in the world,

over three times heavier
than the females.

This alpha male's brilliant patches
of skin colour

helps him to stand out from the crowd.

Whether he's advancing...

or walking away.

The intensity of the colour

ls an indication of the levels
of testosterone in his body.

And that is both a come on to females,

and a warning to males.

Only the brightest get to mate...

...and he has been dominant all year.

But challengers have arrived,

also hoping that their colours
will impress the females.

The alpha male
will have his work cut out

to deal with these newcomers.

He keeps as close as he can
to the fertile females.

But a rival...

ls never far away.

The alpha assesses his opponents
by their colour.

Only if a rival is really bright,
will he be considered a threat.

But this one...

Is just that.

The alpha proclaims his authority
with a head jerk.

Grinding his teeth shows
Just how tense and stressed he is.

With his opponent refusing to back down,

it will take more than body language

to decide who has
this year's mating rights.

In just a matter of seconds,
the alpha has lost his crown

and been badly wounded.

His reign is over.

The victor will have a rush
of testosterone,

making his future bright.

The deposed alpha's colour,
however, will fade

and, with it his chance of mating again.

Rivalry is often dangerous

but in some cases,

it's the potential mate herself
who is the real threat.

If a male Australian tree running mantis
Is to stand any chance of mating,

he must approach the female from behind,

and he must do so cautiously.

Something she appears keen to prevent.

And that leads to a lot of false starts,

and a lot of running around trees.

A whole new approach

to speed dating.

So close...

and yet so far.

Giving him the run around

tests his fitness.

A stealthy approach will show
whether he is a capable hunter,

an important skill to pass on
to her offspring.

Or he could just be a cautious male,

who knows that it's best
not to approach any predator head-on.

The thing about trying to get cosy
with killers...

Is that it's often best to do it
when they have their hands full.

Even then,

it's prudent to approach from the rear.

But not all male praying mantis

appear to take the same approach.

A male false garden mantis

has also detected the scent of a female.

She ls close.

She is attracting him
with her seductive pheromones.

She's also much larger,

and heavily armed.

But to him,

she smells so good.

To her, though,

he looks good enough to eat.

The female of this species

consumes her partner's head first.

His struggles are not an attempt
to flee.

He's just trying
to position himself properly.

He has lost his head,

but he hasn't given up on mating.

Amazingly, his body, though headless,

ls able to find and latch on
to the female.

His abdomen

will continue mating with her
for several hours,

before all signs of life disappear.

The strategy may seem macabre,

but it gives the female
a large quantity of protein

with which she can produce
even more eggs.

So, in spite of losing his head,

this male fathers

posthumous offspring.

When a potential mate really is deadly,

it's best to keep a low profile.

But if that's not an option,

expect to get eaten.

For others, the mating game

appears to be more romantic.

Once the sun sets
in the coastal forests of Malaysia,

one of nature's
most magical spectacles begins.

The fading light rouses a male beetle.

For this tiny creature,
Just five millimetres long,

successful courtship
depends on cooperation

with literally thousands of others.

It's time...

to get lit up.

His bioluminescent flash
carries a simple message...

"I am here and ready to mate."”

But he's not alone.

More fireflies begin to show
their lights.

And before long

their entire tree is illuminated.

And, then,

patterns in the flashing
begin to emerge.

The fireflies are synchronising
their display.

One moment, the light show appears
as a repeated, simultaneous flash

and, the next

waves of light
ripple along the riverbank.

By the time the night is at its darkest,

the forest edge is throbbing
with living light.

Alone, an individual male's flash
would not travel very far.

But by flashing at the same time
as other males,

his light is that much brighter...

carrying his signal
to females far and wide.

It's believed the gaps
in the synchronous flashing

provide moments in which the females
can respond with flashes of their own.

It's all the encouragement he needs.

But her continual movement as he mounts

suggests that she is
yet to be convinced.

He isn't attempting to mate yet.

He is contorting his body
so that his lantern is over her face,

dazzling her.

It may be that he's trying
to prevent her from seeing other males.

He doesn't want her catching a flash
from someone brighter.

Most species of fireflies
stop displaying

once they've attracted a female.

But he continues.

It seems his cooperation
has become a con.

His continual flashes trick his rivals
into believing he's still on the lookout

with the rest of them.

She has now accepted him,

while his former collaborators
flash away, none the wiser.

But the fact is
that many jungle courtship rituals

are still not properly understood.

The rain forests of Southeast Asia,
are the home of a bird

that produces one of the most dramatic

and barely studied
of all courtship displays.

Even many local people
only know of its existence...

...from the loud calls
that sometimes echo through the forest.

The great argue pheasant.

A male is calling to attract a female.

He's created a wide clearing
in the forest...

to serve as the arena
in which he will dance.

He keeps it immaculately tidy,

though why he should choose
to remove one leaf rather than another

ls often not clear.

It's a time-consuming job.

But he also has a special technique

for removing leaves wholesale.

Who needs a leaf blower when you have
a wingspan of more than a metre?

Sticks, however, still have
to be removed one by one.

He must also, it seems,
loosen up his feathers

and extend his gigantic wings
before a female arrives.

Now, he chooses a particular stick...

as the focus for a full workout.

He hopes to use the pattern
on his splayed wings

to beguile a female.

They transform him.

It's the sound of something approaching.

Dear. A monkey...

not who he was waiting for.

And, now, there's a wild pig.

With all these interruptions,
it's just as well

he's left plenty of time for rehearsals.

And there she is.

Now, time for action.

One or two preliminary skirmishes.

And then

a spectacle that has never been filmed
in the wild before.

The full display!

The lines of eye spots
along each of his wing feathers

astounded Charles Darwin.

"Why should they be so detailed,

"that they have
a three-dimensional appearance?”

He could only conclude
that it particularly pleases females.

But not...

apparently, this one.

And now the pigs are back.

Even the most spectacular displays...

don't always do the trick.

On the Caribbean island of Dominica,

another bird has found it takes
more than just pretty plumes

to win over some females.

The male purple-throated carib
ls a hungry humming bird.

Beating his wings
around 20 times a second,

he burns energy at a phenomenal rate.

The sweet nectar produced
by these flowering heliconias

is the energy-rich food he must have
to keep him flying.

His species evolved in parallel
with his source of food,

the heliconia's flowers,
which he pollinates

as he moves from bloom to bloom.

And now, as a result the heliconias
produce their flowers

at exactly the same time
as the birds begin to mate.

While he's busy fuelling up,

the female is also making
her preparations.

She is collecting spider silk.

She uses it as an adhesive
in making her tiny nest.

And now all she needs is a mate.

The male needs a way to ensure
he is the one for her.

His way of doing so is simple.

Within his territory, he has five times
more nectar-producing flowers

than he himself needs.

But those he doesn't drink
from himself will attract females.

His problem is that it's not only
hummingbirds that have a taste

for the sweet stuff.

So have bananaquits.

And there's a flock of them.

He has a constant battle,

trying to prevent them
drinking his flowers dry.

The sheer size of his territory,

and the large number
of flowers it contains,

makes his job never ending.

During a rare respite
in his guard duties,

the female arrives to see
what he has on offer.

Not so fast.

He's no pushover.

He's not going to let any bird
drink his nectar.

Chasing her away, however,
is part of his strategy.

He does so repeatedly

until he's certain that she
really wants to be in his territory.

And only then

does he allow her to feed.

As she flits from flower to flower,

he shows her his true colours.

He's given her flowers,

and impressed her with his aerobatics.

They are, now, a pair.

Food is available
the year round in jungles,

and this enables many species
to have mating seasons

that last for months.

Some, however, must wait all year
for one special night.

Some frogs in French Guiana

need more water in which to breed

than even the humid rain forest air
can provide.

But at the very wettest time of year,

pools appear on the forest floor.

Horned frogs spend
much of their time hidden.

But the moment for action...

...has arrived.

The rain has stopped.

But this is the calm before the storm.

A pair of tree frogs

in the foliage above the pool.

They need to find a leaf
in a particular position.

And this will do nicely.

They lay their eggs
in a sticky jelly on a leaf

above the newly formed pool.

Below, the horned frog
takes a more direct route.

He heads straight in.

Other males
have already started calling.

And, before long,

several species up in the tree tops
are also doing so.

All of them need pools
as nurseries for their tadpoles.

Frogs that, for most of the year,
are rarely seen,

come down from the tree canopy.

Golden-eyed tree frogs take
the shortcut down.

The three sacs that bulge out
on either side of their head,

amplify their calls.

Different species of males
Jostle for position in the water.

Thousands of frogs are now
calling as loudly

and as frequently as they can.

But what makes this place
unlike anywhere else in the world

Is that as many as 10 different species
are trying to mate simultaneously.

As each male endeavours to call
louder than his rivals,

the chorus becomes almost deafening.

Things are becoming chaotic.

Some males, in the confusion,

are attempting to mate
with the females of a different species.

The winner is the one
with the tightest grip,

and the strongest kick.

The strategy is simple.

Find a female quickly,

and cling on tight.

But make sure she's your type.

And, in less than 12 hours...

...it's all over.

Left behind, a soup of mixed spawn,

a future for at least
10 different species of frog.

And it's time for those
dangling tadpoles

to join the crowds below.

Millions of frogs, some of which
will be back next year,

doing their best, once again,
to contribute to the next generation.

It is exactly because jungles
are so crowded with life,

that animals have to have so many
complex strategies,

if they are all to win the mating game.

To film courting animals
in jungles around the world

took determination...

Into the forest again.

...grit...

and a sense of humour.

It's definitely going to be a nightmare.

Argh!

You can't leave me now.

We're in this together.

A minute ago we had too much water.

Now, it's too much mud.

Wow, you're
well and truly stuck there, aren't you?

Sorry.

But there was one story, in particular,

which posed a unique challenge.

Filming explosive breeding
in rain forest frogs in French Guiana.

Walter Hodl, the team"s guide,
is a herpetologist

who's spent over 25 years
studying frogs in French Guiana.

Explosive breeding
Is a fascinating thing.

On one single day in the year,
thousands of frogs

homing in on a little pond,

and they're coming from the canopy
where you never have access to,

or they're coming from the leaf litter.

You never look under the leaf litter.

And there they live,

all year!

And only on one or two days
you see them out there,

in the pond, breeding.

And that's what we call
the "explosive breeding event.”

The phenomenon
the crew were hoping to film

happens on just one night

between November and February.

The team have chosen a four-week period
over Christmas and New Year.

Cameramen Philipp Klein and Jack Hynes

wait for a temporary pond to form,

without which, the frogs won't breed.

The heavy rain begins.

It's raining!

It's raining.

We've been waiting two weeks
for this rain and, hopefully,

it's gonna stay and, you know,
properly flood the forest.

Well, this is definitely good news!

But it has to keep on going.

The rain has just started now,
a few minutes ago,

and it should rain for hours.

This is what the frogs and we like.

In the previously dry area of forest,

a new pond has formed.

An excellent frog nursery.

Now we can go on in

and stay there.

Things are looking good.

When we came here this afternoon,
this was completely dry,

and it's rained all afternoon
and all night.

And now we've got our pool of water!

Despite a
promising start, the heavy rains stop.

And the frogs have yet
to make an appearance.

But Christmas provides
a welcome distraction.

It's Christmas Eve today
and we've got a lot of new visitors

coming to celebrate Christmas with us.

And even
Father Christmas makes it to the jungle.

Rosy nights in French Guiana.

We were just, getting settled in
for the night.

They're cooking a big,
nice Christmas dinner,

and then it just started
heavily raining so

we've come out to see how the ponds
are looking,

and it would be a bit
of a Christmas miracle

if it happened this evening.

My God.

And this is gonna be full,
full of frogs!

What's happening, Jack?

It's Christmas day
and we have just found out

that the frogs have started
to explosively breed. So...

it's all systems go!

Well, I think this is a good
Christmas present.

There are hundreds of frogs there.

So it will be a fantastic night tonight.

-You ready?
-I'm ready.

Let's go!

Thousands
of frogs from several different species,

descend upon the pond.

It's impossible to be near the pond
without wearing earplugs.

The noise of the frogs' calling
is deafening.

Crazy!

Crazy!

Can you hear the noise?
I mean, you can hear it!

It's quite a sound back there.

And we're still about 50 metres
away from the real site.

-How's it looking, Jack?
-It's looking crazy out there!

It's so unbelievably noisy.

7 mean, this is really
the explosive breeding at its best.

And, especially, also from
the acoustic point of view.

It sounds like fighter planes coming!

It's a roaring sound in the background,

you have high-pitched frogs
calling the little ones,

and you have also the frog.

So, you do have a great mix
and you can hear it.

It's unbelievable what's happening
here in this forest.

The crew
film continuously for over 10 hours.

It's a new dawn!

It's a new day!

-We missed Christmas!
-We missed Christmas!

Maybe they left us some dinner.

Hopefully.

But I realise we didn't eat.

It is almost spooky.

There's nothing.

You don't see a frog.

It is silent.

It's unbelievable!

But that's what it is.

That's what explosive breeding
is all about.

It happens, and then it's gone.

Throughout production of The Mating Game

the team were reliant on expert help

to be in the right place
at the right time.

Thanks to Walter's knowledge
and a bit of luck,

the crew timed it right
for the best Christmas present

they could have hoped for.