Wild Congo (2014): Season 1, Episode 2 - King Kong's Lair - full transcript

- (insects buzzing)
- (birds chirping)

MAN NARRATING: The Congo River:
a pounding pulse across Africa.

The deepest river in the world,
home to untold, untamed creatures.

(squawking)

(bellowing)

(trumpeting)

NARRATOR: The tracks are fresh.

A leopard is close by,

a real danger for young gorillas.

(gorilla shrieks)

(gibbering)



(beating on chest)

But no leopard wants to face him:
the 450-pound silverback.

(beating on chest)

Yet this western lowland gorilla
is no thug.

Makumba is a devoted family man,

doting over three adult females,
five youngsters and a baby.

Silverback Makumba
is the undisputed boss of his clan.

The ten of them roam a woodland region
one-third the size of Manhattan,

looking for food and finding adventure.

Today, Makumba takes his family
to the riverside,

where the trees hang heavy with fruit.

The baby loves to play in the water.

And that's okay, as long as
the little ones stick to the shallows.

The water's dangerous.



Gorillas can't swim.

That's why western lowland gorillas live
only north of the Congo River.

They can't make it across
to the south bank.

The gorillas never go in past their waist.

They have no fear of heights though.

While the females look for food,
Makumba babysits.

(branches snapping)

Above him, his youngest mate
finds some fruit...

and the older one
wants a piece of the action.

(gibbering)

But the younger one insists
it's strictly finders keepers.

The situation starts to turn ugly.

(gibbering)

That's Makumba's cue to step in
and break it up.

(gibbering)

(yelping)

Playing referee to multiple mates
can't be easy.

But the chief rules with a gentle hand,
and he knows how to treat a lady...

especially when he realizes she's fertile.

If he were oblivious,
the female could also make the first move.

Either way, nature takes its course.

(low grunting)

It's good to be king.

The missus, meanwhile,
has another hankering...

for termites.

The post-coital confection
really hits the spot.

Her daughter comes to see what's up.

She's never seen a snack that walks.

Now she can play with her food.

Gorillas rely on their agile fingers.
They don't use tools.

And termites are about
the biggest game gorillas hunt.

They mainly eat leaves, fruit and seeds.

Makumba heads out in search of his supper.

Sometimes the best dining spot
lies outside the neighborhood.

Today he finds a small clearing...

with a big obstacle...

forest elephants.

Makumba has reservations.

(low growl)

Elephants can charge
if they feel threatened,

and he takes no chances with his family.

Now the family can enjoy their salad...

(rustling)

(rustling continues)

...until a sudden sound
disrupts the picnic.

It might be the leopard.

The little ones grab their moms.

(beating on chest)

Another silverback!

This could mean all-out war.

Makumba has to make a tough decision.

If he faces-off against his opponent
and wins,

he can claim the loser's mates
and expand his harem.

But if he loses, he loses everything.

He weighs his options...

before calling his clan back.

(grunting)

Turns out King Kong is a lover,
not a fighter.

Western lowland gorillas
live in the very heart of Africa,

including
the Democratic Republic of Congo,

named for the Congo River,

which cuts through it
on its way to the Atlantic.

The Congo's second-largest tributary,
the Ubangi,

flows from the north, and here...

the Congo spreads up to ten miles wide.

It acts like a giant moat,

blocking all but the strongest fliers
and swimmers

from crossing Central Africa.

And because of that,
the Congo River is a game-changer

in the evolution of the great apes.

When the river formed
millions of years ago,

it pushed our closest living relatives
to the north side.

(distant howling)

(gibbering)

(shrieking)

Chimps.

Like us, they use their smarts
to solve all sorts of problems.

Chimps also use tools.

A little ingenuity gives them access
to almost any food source.

But there's one food they go bananas for.

(twig snaps)

Fresh monkey meat.

- (grunting)
- (shrieking)

Chimps vigorously hunt
red colobus monkeys.

(leaves rustling)

They monitor every monkey jump,
a high-wire act without a net.

One wrong move, and dinner is served.

Chimps live by a strict code,
an organized jungle-land gang,

smarter and often meaner
than anyone else around.

Lanjo, the dominant male,
gets to eat first.

As long as everyone keeps
to his or her place, life is grand.

But this mother chimp
dares to scoop the rest of her clan

on these fresh blossoms.

(grunting)

Lanjo is one peeved primate.

(shrieking)

(grunting)

He won't tolerate such disobedience,
especially from a female.

She forgot her place
in the rigid chimp family hierarchy,

which is run like an old boys' club.

The head of the clan
leads a troop of lower adult males.

Females of any age and
males younger than 15 rank lowest of all.

Among the males, politics rules the day.

They form alliances with one another
to stay in favor,

rise in the ranks,
or even grab control of the clan.

They strengthen bonds
by picking off dead skin and parasites,

the chimp version of golf.

Someday, when the alpha male
grows too old and weak to lead,

one of these males will leverage
his alliances to take his place.

These two, left out of the group,
have no future in chimp politics.

Still, they have it better
than the females.

For them, it's every girl for herself
against the aggressive males.

This mother hides in the forest
with her baby

to avoid them hassling her.

All she wants is peace and quiet,
though here's the dilemma...

Her absence might anger Lanjo.

But it's too late.

The leader, secure in his alliances,

is itching to dominate
the wandering female.

His male subordinates' grooming session
gets interrupted by a subtle noise.

(scratching)

Scratching is their secret signal.

Lanjo calls his posse.

The search is on.

(thunderclap)

(thunder rumbling)

A storm blows in, complicating the patrol

by masking the sound
of anything moving through the forest.

The female hunkers down,
shielding her baby with her body.

(thunderclap)

Hours later, the storm has passed
and the males head back on her trail.

They spot her.

A henchman sneaks up
under the watchful eye of the leader.

By the time the mother sees him,
it's too late.

(shrieking)

The baby is lost, but it can save itself.

Lanjo goes after the female.

She'll get her punishment.

(shrieking)

When a male chimp is about 15 years old,

he'll start a lifetime
of bossing and brutalizing females.

The only other species
to act so violently against its own...

is humans.

Chimps, like gorillas and other
non-human great apes, can't swim.

Here, the Congo's deep rivers
and fast-flowing streams fence them in...

just as land hems in
the aquatic residents of these waters.

The creatures living here
have adapted ingenious ways to thrive

in the river's blinding, silty soup.

In these waters,
one of the most peculiar creatures is...

the elephant fish.

(clicking)

It uses its trunk-like snout
to probe for small worms,

rummaging through the sediment
like a vacuum cleaner.

But that's not what makes this fish
unique among all fish.

This vacuum comes loaded
with special features.

To navigate in the murky water,

it sends out electric pulses
from an organ in its tail.

(electricity pulsating)

Electroreceptors in its body
sense nearby prey

without seeing or touching it.

This fish's hideout was washed away
in the last flood.

Now he's looking for a new lair
with another elephant fish.

It circles the root several times,

creating an entire 360-degree picture
in its head,

similar to a bat's echolocation.

This is the only fish in the world

whose brain compares proportionally
to a human's.

It takes a big brain
to process so much data,

and if the elephant fish were man-size,

its brain would be
about the same size as ours,

a first among fish.

We continue down the Congo,
almost as far as Kinshasa.

The shape-shifting river
takes a wild ride,

plunging to the deepest point
of any river in the world.

But first, the python-like Congo
slides over a rock barrier,

into Malebo Pool,

and swallows an area
one-third larger than Chicago.

And then...

This is no storm on the Atlantic.

This is still the Congo.

Here, the wide, silent river
unleashes its pent-up rage

at the world's most extensive rapids:
Livingstone Falls.

The fierce current,
five times the volume of the Mississippi,

defies anything to live here.

And yet animals manage,
at least in the shallows near the shore.

In a shoebox-size alcove
beside the deadly Congo whirlpool...

the ultra-slender lionhead cichlid
refuses to go with the flow.

This member of the tilapia family
has a flattened body

with very low resistance
to the rushing water.

Still, there's only so much pummeling
this battered fish can take,

so he hides from the current in a cranny.

But now he faces
another kind of resistance.

He won't relinquish his precious home
without a fight...

even facing tough competition.

The battle's won.

He gets to stay... for now.

Except for members of his own species,

the ultra-slender lionhead cichlid
has no other rivals for food or shelter.

He's super-specialized
for this tiny, turbulent location.

The Congo is peppered
with these micro-environments,

each little niche hosting
its own specialized fish to exploit it.

The churning water
is a crucible of evolution.

This one 200-mile stretch
from Malebo Pool to the Atlantic

contains over half as many fish species
as in all the waters of Europe.

About 90 miles west of Kinshasa,

the turbulent water gushes
at 30 miles per hour

into the world's deepest river canyon.

A silent, lightless world.

Nothing lives down here...

almost.

The water exerts a crushing pressure
20 times higher than on land,

and that's at more than 600 feet
below the surface.

The water down here looks almost viscous.

Even here, there is life,
perfectly at home in the abyss.

Where it's too dark to see or be seen,

the blind spiny eel has no need
for color or sharp vision.

Scientists are pretty much in the dark
about what it eats or how it lives.

Just as oceans define continents,
the Congo River divides Central Africa,

chopping it up
into smaller, separate domains.

Its haphazard currents and depth
spur evolution and defy exploration.

(insects chirping)

Today the land south of the river remains

one of the least-studied regions
on our planet.

As late as 1933, the same year
the film King Kong came out,

scientists named a new
and distinct species of great ape here.

But most of us
have still never heard of it.

(insects chirping)

The world's most recently discovered
great ape is no King Kong.

In fact, it's smaller than a chimpanzee.

It's a bonobo.

While chimps hang out
strictly north of the Congo River,

bonobos only swing in the south,
and they couldn't be more different.

(distant shrieking)

(shrieks)

Bonobos take orders
from a loose sisterhood.

Girl power!

The alpha female looks after
her five-year-old son, her young prince.

He's mostly independent, which is good,
because he's about to be displaced.

His newborn little sister will win
most of mom's attention.

Some members of the group
enjoy the sweetest fruit on the tree...

putting the others in a sour mood.

So far, all's calm...

(shrieking)

...until another hungry group
of bonobos approaches.

If this were the chimp side of the river,
that would mean war.

But bonobos don't settle differences
by fighting.

(shrieking)

The way to make peace is simple:
make love.

Bonobos are one of the few animals
who use sex for more than baby-making.

Right now, it's soothing social conflicts.

Anyone can participate,
young or old, male or female,

in almost every combination.

Jungle love does the trick.

Everyone mellows out,

and even the newcomers
get to enjoy some fruit.

Bonobos rarely resort to violence,

but the males have a shorter fuse
than the females,

who form a friendly sorority.

The females use sex
not only to keep the peace,

but also to win popularity contests
among the other girls.

The prince will come to realize
he doesn't have much of a say

in this girls' world.

This assertive male already understands
he has no status.

(branch snaps)

The young prince outranks him.

But the older fellow has ambition.

Besides, he's bigger.

Refusing to settle,
sensing an opportunity,

he makes a bold grab for power.

(shrieking)

The uppity ape
won't stop bullying the young prince.

The leader frowns on the power play,
but chooses to wait and see.

(shrieking)

When the commotion spreads to the group,

she's forced to act,
calming the younger ones, bonobo style.

(shrieking)

But it doesn't work. The young male flees.

(shrieking)

The leader pursues, not to punish him,

but to settle the dispute
the only way she knows how.

Her gentle dedication to keeping order
is the secret to her success.

And it rubs off on the rest of her group.

Then, something extraordinary happens.

Unlike gorillas, bonobos like meat, a lot.

A rabbit-sized antelope
would hit the spot.

A female sneaks up on it.

(shrieking)

(antelope cries)

(antelope wails)

Surprisingly, the peaceful bonobos hunt,
as chimps do.

Hardly anyone's filmed it before.

Bonobos divvy up their kill.

No one goes hungry
or has to fight for a share.

Bonobo females rely on cooperation,
not competition,

to keep the family fit and healthy.

If chimps are the warriors,
then bonobos are the hippies.

Their location along the Congo
over the last million years

might explain why they're so laid-back.

The rain forest south of the Congo
provides bonobos

with all the food they could want,
and no gorillas to share it with.

When the pickings are easy,
there's no need to compete.

Beyond Kinshasa, the Congo
squeezes through narrow gorges,

until it finally reaches the Atlantic
after a 3,000-mile odyssey.

But remarkably,
even against the wide Atlantic,

the mighty Congo holds its own,

sending a surface plume of fresh water
up to 500 miles into the sea.

The sediment it carries
spreads 12 miles into the ocean.

The Congo rain forest meets the sea
at Pongara National Park.

(thunder rumbling)

It's February,
the start of the rainy season...

and also an earthshaking event.

The time of the turtles.

This one's overslept.

Most of her siblings
have hatched and gone off.

But she is in good company
with the other stragglers.

At night, the young turtles
orient themselves by the moonlight.

Now it's confoundingly bright everywhere.

Besides navigating by the light,

turtles rely
on the Earth's magnetic field,

and probably other methods
we don't even know about.

As they scuttle the few yards
to the ocean,

their internal compasses
align to the north.

(insects buzzing)

The shortest distance between two points
isn't necessarily a straight line.

But the compass doesn't know that.

This young female has worn herself out.

But most of the others
are on the right track.

At last, the young female manages
to negotiate the tree trunk.

Using all she has left,
she pushes herself forward...

and into danger.

She faces one more turtle hurdle.

Crabs!

They can gang up and attack her.

Not today.

There's no stopping her now.

Slow and steady may win the race,

but only one out of a thousand
leatherback sea turtles

will survive their first few years.

If she makes it, in about a decade,
she'll return to this exact spot,

sexually mature and ready to lay her eggs.

And when her hatchlings
head into the ocean,

the Congo will flow right alongside.

Captions by Pixelogic Media