The Rainforest | Wild LATAM 8/10 | Go Wild

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:23]Rainforest, the term given to a large portion of the jungle that covers Central and South America.

[00:00:40]In this warm, humid environment, life flourishes, bursting forth everywhere you turn.

[00:01:11]>> [music] [music] >> The storms that batter the rainforest are powerful but generous.

[00:02:16]It rains here more than 300 days a year.

[00:02:33]In every stratum of this forest, in each square meter, hundreds of fascinating species live.

[00:03:03]That makes this rainforest one of the richest ecosystems in the New World.

[00:03:16]Howler monkeys shout so loud that their calls might be mistaken for the thunder of the approaching torment.

[00:03:27]One way or another, they are a form of warning.

[00:03:41]A jaguar patrols the depths of the jungle.

[00:03:47]The jaguar does its best to go unnoticed, its mottled fur serving as camouflage.

[00:03:56]But these golden-mantled howler monkeys have seen the big cat, and their screams announce its presence to the four winds.

[00:04:08]>> [music] [music] >> Hunting in these conditions is not easy.

[00:04:42]>> [music] [music] >> Giant iguanas are alarmed by the monkeys' screaming.

[00:05:11]Despite their own fearsome appearance, their scaly, pointed armor, they are in fact absolutely harmless.

[00:05:23]Their survival technique is based on flight.

[00:05:31]>> [music] [music] >> Some jump into the water and dive.

[00:06:18]>> [music] >> Others ascend into the canopy at full speed to get out of the way.

[00:06:28]Their tasty flesh is a permanent temptation for the jaguar.

[00:06:44]As the jaguar passes by, all fauna disappears. [music] Deer hide in the undergrowth.

[00:06:53]Iguanas are at the top of the foliage.

[00:06:56]Squirrels climb as fast as they can.

[00:07:00]The trees serve as a welcome emergency exit.

[00:07:07]Even the weakest, the sick, will try to climb the highest branches.

[00:07:15]But the jaguar does not give up. Given the smallest opportunity, it will not hesitate to seize it.

[00:07:36]>> [music] [music] >> Its agility and strength allows it to [music] climb the trees as well as anyone.

[00:08:34]No one is safe here, especially anyone [music] not in top shape.

[00:08:52]The kill is consumed.

[00:08:54]It's the law of the jungle. Weak or sick individuals pay the ultimate price, thus allowing the healthiest of the species to survive.

[00:09:15]Within a matter of minutes, the slate is wiped clean.

[00:09:19]A storm resets the whole forest.

[00:09:36]As if nothing had happened, the troop of howler monkeys goes back to looking for food among the branches.

[00:09:57]Once both storm and jaguar have passed, the huge iguanas return to the ground to collect ripe, freshly fallen fruit.

[00:10:31]The largest males may reach lengths of over 2 m, but they have many enemies.

[00:10:44]One of them emerges from the earth after the storm.

[00:10:58]The iguanas cannot let their guard down for a moment.

[00:11:01]A bush dog emerging from its den to begin its rounds.

[00:11:07]Bush dog and iguana may weigh about the same, but the canid is a fierce and dangerous hunter.

[00:11:18]The iguanas have to flee once more.

[00:11:34]The bush dog is one of the rarest and strangest canids in the world.

[00:11:39]Its body is flat and elongated, allowing it to disappear in the densest vegetation and to sniff around the most inaccessible corners of the jungle.

[00:12:11]After the storm, it's a good time to reestablish its territory.

[00:12:37]By sniffing the wet leaves, it confirms that its scent markings have been washed away by the rain.

[00:12:57]And now, it's found something interesting.

[00:13:21]This old log looks like it might be hiding a delicious snack.

[00:13:36]The rainforest is a strange place.

[00:13:39]Everyone must play hide and seek here.

[00:13:50]Some of the most striking animals almost always go unnoticed.

[00:13:56]Up in the highest branches of [music] the jungle, the king vulture, the most beautiful and rare scavenger on the planet, takes up residence.

[00:14:06]Just like their black cousins, king vultures like to spread their wings to bask in the sun for long periods of time.

[00:14:15]This helps dry their plumage, which often gets soaked by the rains.

[00:14:23]The strong light of the sun's warm rays also [music] disinfects their feathers.

[00:14:34]There, at the top of the canopy, hidden from unwelcome observers, they watch over and smell the jungle.

[00:14:49]A colossus prowls down below.

[00:14:57]The Central American or Baird's tapir is the undisputed giant of this jungle.

[00:15:04]The largest and heaviest animal in America.

[00:15:10]It's a powerful mammal capable of traversing the densest jungles.

[00:15:16]The combination of size and robustness allow it to clear a way through the foliage in search of food and water.

[00:15:24]And yet, despite its size, it's a naturally shy creature and prefers to hide.

[00:15:32]Its steps are always [music] stealthy and its movements cautious.

[00:15:40]As it tours the jungle, it sniffs at all it comes across in the humid environment.

[00:15:46]Its trunk serves to help choose each mouthful. This is the [music] gourmet of the jungle, looking for the tenderest leaves and shoots for a tasty jungle salad.

[00:16:03]Its long snout acts like a vacuum cleaner, picking up the aromas of the most delicious plants.

[00:16:12]But its keen nose also informs of the proximity of predators.

[00:16:18]The tapir may have few enemies, but they are a serious threat.

[00:16:24]The jaguar and the puma.

[00:16:30]The tapir's [music] hooves sink into the mud, its steps becoming a little more fearful.

[00:16:37]Someone else is on [music] patrol nearby.

[00:17:00]False alarm.

[00:17:02]This time, it's just a friendly neighboring deer.

[00:17:12]White-tailed deer are very shy, even more so than tapirs.

[00:17:21]And they're more vulnerable than their larger neighbors as they form part of the diet of many more hunters, from bush dogs to mighty jaguars.

[00:17:39]And so, they must move with even greater stealth.

[00:17:46]Their huge eyes and disproportionately long ears are always on alert for any noise, any movement.

[00:18:23]They can even sense the approach of another storm well in advance of its breaking.

[00:18:58]The storms come and go over the jungle.

[00:19:01]The jungle creates them and the jungle receives their punishment.

[00:19:09]The skies open once more above the jungle dwellers who have no other choice but to stoically endure the endless downpour from above.

[00:19:36]For a while, the jungle is brought to a standstill by the deluge.

[00:19:47]And the storm also causes tragedies.

[00:19:51]No amount of caution can prevent lightning from striking a young female deer.

[00:20:04]However, in nature there is a fundamental rule.

[00:20:08]Every cloud has a silver lining.

[00:20:12]Which translates as nothing is wasted.

[00:20:16]Someone always benefits from the misfortune of others.

[00:20:21]The stoicism with which the American black vultures endure the rain has its reward.

[00:20:30]The storm has provided them with a stricken deer. A good lunch to replenish some energy.

[00:20:42]But the banquet can't really start until the last guest arrives.

[00:21:11]The king vulture is the most powerful of the American jungle's vultures.

[00:21:17]>> [snorts] >> Its role in the jungle is to finish off the work that predators have begun and eliminate the remains of hunts or corpses.

[00:21:56]These are the undertakers of the rainforest.

[00:22:01]Their powerful beak allows them to slice through their food.

[00:22:09]The presence of so many black vultures makes their royal cousins uncomfortable.

[00:22:14]So they are dismissed with little regard for ceremony.

[00:22:24]It's the king vultures who are responsible for opening up the corpse, a treasure coveted by all.

[00:22:46]Without their offices, the black vultures would have no means of accessing the interior of the deer.

[00:22:59]But they must wait for the mighty kings to fill their stomachs and vacate the banquet table.

[00:23:24]What's left of the deer's cadaver [music] will soon disappear, transformed into a king vulture flying over the jungle or among the clouds which will bring new storms to the rainforest.

[00:23:48]The Neotropical rainforest stretches across the narrow isthmus of Central America and south into the north of the southern cone until it reaches the Amazon basin.

[00:24:05]>> [music] [music] >> These warm humid forests occupy a territory as large as Spain.

[00:24:19]Their impenetrable interiors house the greatest biodiversity in the world.

[00:24:29]The rainforest is fertile, moist, and succulent. It is the very [music] definition of a jungle.

[00:24:40]Its inhabitants are accustomed to a life governed by the comings and goings of tropical storms.

[00:24:49]Clouds fill the skies, themselves filled with water which will soon fall on all below.

[00:25:07]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> The jungle is a chiaroscuro of shadow and light.

[00:25:51]Unlike the original paradise of Eden, these jungles have their serpent.

[00:25:56]Or rather many different species of snake that take advantage of the variety of niches that the jungle offers them.

[00:26:06]So snakes are found in every part of this jungle.

[00:26:10]Some never leave the relative safety of the undergrowth.

[00:26:22]Others are expert climbers and easily reach the [music] topmost branches of the canopy.

[00:26:34]Wherever they may be, all snakes are hunters [music] and so their presence generates a certain amount of concern among the other inhabitants of the forest.

[00:26:49]>> [music] [music] >> The slenderest, most lightweight snakes move among the branches [music] of trees and bushes until they find a kind of tropical caviar.

[00:27:15]The crystalline [music] eggs of tree frogs.

[00:27:25]Many tropical frogs [music] take advantage of the moisture caused by the rains and rather than deposit their spawn in puddles and rivers, they do so on leaves away from the aquatic predators that abound.

[00:27:42]But some species, such as vine snakes, have specialized in finding and greedily devouring the spawn.

[00:28:16]These delicate looking rainforest snakes are not poisonous.

[00:28:20]Others with deadly bites hide on the jungle floor.

[00:28:26]Although they're not all equally as imposing.

[00:28:42]The road guarder snake is the least venomous and the least dangerous of the snakes of this jungle.

[00:28:49]Even so, its venom is enough to immobilize its favorite prey.

[00:29:19]Some frogs, however, don't give up without a fight.

[00:29:28]Luckily for the snake, the rainforest is replete with potential prey.

[00:29:33]Although it's not always to one's liking.

[00:29:40]Sometimes it's better to keep looking.

[00:29:45]The road guarder seems to have found a suitable target.

[00:29:50]>> [music] >> It escapes. A determined brave frog can resist the attack of a snake, but the snake is not going to let it get away so easily.

[00:30:10]The surreptitious snake remains imperceptible until the last moment.

[00:30:16]By which time it's too late for the little amphibian.

[00:30:27]>> [music] >> The road guarder has been successful this time, but it will have to be patient until its venom takes [music] effect.

[00:31:14]The huge diversity of snakes in these tropical rain forests is a perfect symbol of the richness that thrives here.

[00:31:22]And whatever animal you might be in the jungle, there's a snake with your name on it.

[00:31:28]Even the birds of the jungle are victims of snakes.

[00:31:42]The puffing or bird snake can reach 3 m in length and [music] is an expert hunter among the highest branches.

[00:31:52]It moves sinuously through the foliage.

[00:31:56]It can slip from branch to branch and even from tree to tree thanks to its extreme ability.

[00:32:06]Like a trapeze artist, the bird snake silently glides in search of birds or their nests.

[00:32:17]This turtle dove held fast until the last moment, but finally fleeing in flight, it has given the snake a vital clue to where its nest is.

[00:32:31]The turtle dove has saved its own life, but its solitary egg will suffer a worse fate.

[00:32:53]The bird snake is capable of unhooking its lower jaw in order to swallow the egg whole.

[00:33:07]Once swallowed, pressure from its digestive tract breaks it without difficulty.

[00:33:18]Today, [music] a breakfast of freshly scrambled egg.

[00:33:29]The bird snake shares its tropical American rain forest habitat with hundreds of thousands of different creatures.

[00:33:56]Ever active and industrious leafcutter ants are some of its most impressive neighbors.

[00:34:05]Their efficient defoliation work sometimes even helps the bird snake.

[00:34:10]By stripping the foliage from trees, they reveal otherwise carefully hidden nests.

[00:34:19]The leafcutters take their job very seriously.

[00:34:22]Squadrons of workers trim every leaf and every branch nonstop.

[00:34:28]A large tree can be denuded in less than 24 hours.

[00:34:39]Piece by tiny piece, every day they carry tons of vegetable matter to their nest.

[00:34:49]These fresh and lush leaves are the substrate that the leafcutters need to grow the fungus they feed on.

[00:35:02]There is evidence of the leafcutters work everywhere.

[00:35:25]Montezuma oropendulas are not inconvenienced in establishing their colonies in a gigantic tree that has been left with very few leaves by hordes of insects. [music] In fact, it's just the reverse.

[00:35:46]For the oropendulas, the absence of foliage has its advantages.

[00:35:51]Firstly, males like to survey the surroundings for enemies from high lookout posts, and the lack of vegetation eliminates blind spots.

[00:36:01]What's more, the male's showy courtship displays are more visible and effective with nothing hidden from admiring onlooking females.

[00:36:11]Every so often, whilst performing a particularly exaggerated pirouette on his branch, a male may seem to fall.

[00:36:19]In fact, this comic somersault is his battle cry, serving to cement possession of his territory and attract a mate.

[00:36:29]He even gives her gifts.

[00:36:44]The males continue their showy dance to a backtrack of thunder mixed with their calls, resulting in a strange cacophony.

[00:36:55]It seems that another storm is closing in.

[00:37:12]The abundance of water in the rain forest swells the water courses and produces flooded habitats, which white-tailed deer like to visit.

[00:37:25]Here, food is plentiful and fresh, but the water in the jungle is dangerous.

[00:37:35]Maybe that's why the deer seem to walk on tiptoe with extreme caution.

[00:37:43]They have good reason to move so cautiously.

[00:37:50]Some of the fiercest [music] and deadliest predators in America live in the rivers and wetlands of the rain forest.

[00:37:58]As the [music] deer dip their hooves in the shallow water, the relatively dry land nearby convulses as if in [music] a paroxysm.

[00:38:15]From beneath a small span of earth, tiny and ferocious beings are about to emerge and see the light for the first time.

[00:38:27]These baby crocodiles have just hatched, and for the first few minutes of their lives are utterly defenseless. [music] They waste no time in getting to the water where they can hide among the vegetation.

[00:39:30]For a few years, small crocodiles only pose a threat to [music] insects, amphibians, and small fish.

[00:39:54]>> But over time, they will grow to become the most powerful carnivores on the entire continent.

[00:40:06]Any animal that dives into these waters may end up on its menu.

[00:40:11]From gigantic tapirs to ever vigilant deer.

[00:40:44]A thirsty deer ends up paying dearly for a brief moment of recklessness.

[00:40:56]>> [laughter] [bell] >> But it's too large for the individual who caught it.

[00:41:25]A crocodile's victim becomes property of the community for practical reasons.

[00:41:38]>> [music] >> When a corpse is bulky, the hunter is unable to swallow it whole or even bite off pieces that it can swallow.

[00:41:52]Only with the concerted help of other crocodiles will the deer be torn up into pieces that are small enough to eat.

[00:42:16]>> [music] >> In the end, everyone gets their share.

[00:42:54]>> [music] >> The feast of the crocodiles is prudently observed by spider monkeys from the heights.

[00:43:22]Spider monkeys have little cause to be afraid.

[00:43:27]They're extremely agile and have an exclusively [music] herbivorous diet, which supplies them with enough liquids for them not to have to go down to the crocodiles river to drink.

[00:43:41]These are among the largest monkeys in the New World.

[00:43:45]Their bodies are slender and their [music] limbs long and muscular.

[00:43:52]That streamlined body is an ideal evolutionary design, [music] allowing them to move between the highest branches of the rain forest.

[00:44:01]Their front paws have no thumb, which helps when swinging at high speed and jumping off branches, as rather than gripping, they use their hands like strong hooks.

[00:44:14]Spider monkeys live throughout the jungle, >> [music] >> continually on the move around their territories in search of the very diverse food the woodland offers.

[00:44:23]Because of this non-seasonal migration, these monkeys have an important role to play as dispersers of the seeds [music] of the plant species they feed on.

[00:44:38]Thus, spider monkeys help maintain the diversity of the trees and other plants in the [music] Central American rain forest.

[00:44:57]But they are not the only animals to participate in this complex ecological cycle.

[00:45:05]>> [music] >> Perhaps surprisingly, the rain itself is also on the side of the seeds.

[00:45:14]At some point during most days and with varying degrees of intensity, leaves, flowers, and mosses are watered [music] from above, and this obviously contributes to their germinating.

[00:45:29]After a mild storm, a slow and silent animal ascends the heights of the jungle.

[00:45:45]>> [music] >> Its eyes seem to suggest that this ever humid jungle is the best place on the planet.

[00:45:58]A sloth.

[00:46:00]Its strategy for surviving in [music] the rain forest is its slowness and powers of endurance.

[00:46:08]>> [laughter] >> Unlike the immense majority of jungle creatures whose behavior generally tends to the quick, the sloth has a different take on life, one of irritating parsimony.

[00:46:20]Even the rain means little to it, and its dense coat retains so much moisture that algae grow in its fur, which explains why sloths make it appear that the foliage is making its way through itself, a slow-moving bush among the branches.

[00:46:38]The shaggy green weeds that the sloths wear are yet another consequence of the persistent tropical rains.

[00:46:48]The rainwater really is the source of life [music] in this jungle.

[00:46:56]It allows seeds to grow.

[00:46:58]It waters, indeed blesses, every corner of the forest it gives its name to.

[00:47:08]It lends color to the sloth's fur and keeps the tree frog's [music] eggs moist.

[00:47:22]>> [singing] >> In these mythical American landscapes, the sky is like a great curtain, constantly open [music] and close and open again on an equally great drama, while in the background, the unceasing rhythmical percussive music of the storms.

[00:47:54]>> [music] [music] [music]