An eastern sun rises on a world of magic
Like restless spirits
flying foxes return with the dawn
to their roost in Indonesian forest
Dense tropical jungle covers more than half
this land of 17,000 islands
a land where elemental forces are still at work
For millions of years
this has been a turbulent corner of the planet
New islands rise from the seabed
Older islands are worn down and destroyed
by water and by fire
This is the most volcanic region in the world
Indonesia has 155 active volcanos
But when the volcanos sleep
conditions are ideal for the growth of forest
Here on the equator
high rainfall, tropical heat and fertile soil
nurture a jungle unrivaled in its luxuries
There are literally thousands of different kinds of tree here
and they support a variety of animal life to match
Indonesia has a greater range of animal species
than any other country in the world
Most of them live here
in the tropical rainforest
It's not just variety that makes the jungles of Indonesia so exceptional
There's an extraordinary mix of plants and animals
some are Asian, others would look more at home in Australia
That's because the island chain links the 2 continents
like a line of stepping stones that runs all the way from northern Australia to Asia
At the western end of the chain
the giant islands of Sumatra and Borneo
carry much of Indonesia's forest
It's a forest that's home to giants
Amorphophallus, the titan arum
Its erect flower spike can rise to the height of 2 men
It's the tallest flower in the world
It stinks of rotting meat
a feature that it shares with another giant flower - the rafflesia
Both are pollinated by flies
Rafflesia flowers can be 1m across
This extraordinary plant has no leaves, stem or root
It lives as a parasite on lianas
and flowers just once in its life
Some of the world's tallest trees are here
the dipterocarpus, named after their 2-winged seeds
They can grow to 60m
This forest of giants has gigantic animals too,
elephants
There's even a rhinoceros
The hairy Sumatra rhino
is the smallest of the world's 5 kinds
but it still weighs a ton
Animals like rhinos and elephants came here from Asia
Many times in the past
the sea level was much lower than it is today
So islands that are now surrounded by shallow sea
were linked to the mainland
The Sumatran rhino is one of the world's rarest animals
fewer than 1000 survive
Like all rhinos, it's persecuted for its horn
Along with undisturbed forest
rhinos need mineral salt licks
and also mud
Wallowing keeps their skin in good condition
and brings relief from biting insects
The Asian elephant is endangered too
Sumatra has 3/4000
and Borneo barely 1000
They used to live on Java as well, the next island to the east
but rising human populations
and intensive agriculture
leave no room for giants like this
Giants they may be
but these elephants are actually smaller than their mainland relatives
The same is true of many other island animals
but no one knows why
A herd of elephants needs a lot of forest to support it
Each adult can eat 150k of greenery a day
The age-old drama of hunted and hunter
still plays on this jungle stage
Sumatra's forest still has tigers
Like elephants and rhinos
they came from mainland Asia during the Ice Ages when the sea levels were lower
A litter of cubs like this is a rare and privileged sight
Fewer than 500 Sumatran tigers still survive
The Sumatran is the smallest of the 5 surviving races of tiger
and the darkest in color
Perhaps that makes it better suited to life
in the dense tropical rainforest
As a top predator, the tiger needs a large area to feed itself
especially in forest
where prey like deer and pig seldom live in great numbers
Java and Bali once had tigers
but they were killed off by a rising tide of people
As populations grow and the forest shrinks
Sumatra's tigers also face an uncertain future
Even at their peak
tigers never spread far along the island chain
Deep channels between the islands were always a barrier
At the eastern end of archipelago
on the giant island of New Guinea
their place is taken by a very different hunter
This is New Guinea's nearest rival to the tiger
the quoll
It's the island's largest predatory mammal
but it's no bigger than a domestic cat
It hunts insects, lizards, rats and mice
and it raids birds' nests
The quoll is marsupial, a mammal with a pouch like the kangaroo
and that's a clue to its origins
Its ancestors came from Australia
The forest of the quoll is a world away from the jungles of Sumatra
with their tigers, rhinos and elephants
As little as 10,000 years ago
New Guinea was part of Australia
its wildlife reflects that link
The quoll is not the only marsupial here
Sugar gliders
They spend the day huddled in their nest high in a hollow tree
emerging only at night
Perhaps because of their secretive nature
they are regarded with great suspicion by some of New Guinea's tribes
People believe they are sorcerers
assuming animal form so they can spy on their victims
In fact, the sugar glider's nocturnal habits have a simpler explanation
They eat sap and insects and nectar from flower in forest trees
so they often have to climb right up to the ends of the branches
If they were out on a limb during the day, they'll be very exposed to predators like hawks and eagles
Under cover of darkness, the risks are less
And they reduce them even more by never going down to the ground
Using folds of skin between their limbs
they glide from tree to tree
New Guinea is a very rugged island
well into the 20th century, much of the interior was still unexplored
The mountain forests were slow to give up their secrets
Among them is one of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet
The long-beaked echidna
This remarkable animal is a mammal but a very primitive kind
It's warm-blooded and feeds its young with milk
but it lays eggs like a bird or a reptile
It's another relic from New Guinea's past
Its only living relatives are in Australia
The echidna eats earthworms
electrical sensors in its snout may help it sniff them out
Its tongue is armed with horny spikes that impale the worms and transfer them to its toothless mouth
The long-beaked echidna
lives only in New Guinea's high cool mountain forests
as well as worms, it eats termites
hence its other name - the giant spiny ant eater
The female lays just one egg a year
When the infant hatches, she carries it in a pouch like a kangaroo
until it gets too spiky for comfort
The mountains of New Guinea's central spine rise to more than 5000m
They are a barrier to the movement of both animals and people
Even on the equator, their summits are crowned with perpetual ice and snow
There's nothing higher between here and the Himalayas
To the south of the mountains the land falls steeply
Below lies a tract of swampy lowland forest
so poor and hostile that people call it - the death zone
The ground is flooded for much of the year,
little lives here but fish and frogs
and remarkably - people
The Korowai tribe had learnt
how to rest a living from these unpromising surroundings
To catch fish, they seal off a section of stream with dams
Then they scoop out the water with paddles
made from part of a local palm tree
This is very much a team effort
Every ablebodied member of the group takes their share of the work
both men and women
When the water is drained
the stranded fish can be picked out of the mud
but they're a meager reward for all that effort
With food so hard to come by
it's no surprise that this forest supports so few people
If the Korowai's fishing methods are unusual
their houses are even more so
These must be the ultimate in tree houses
some are 15m above the ground
The Korowai say that living in the trees
they can see the birds in the mountains
and it's harder for demons and sorcerers to climb their stairs
It also keeps them safe from floods
and there're fewer mosquitoes
and it's a defense against people too
Until very recently, blood feuds and head hunting raids were part of everyday life here
With their intimate knowledge of the forest
the Korowai can live in a land where most people would starve
Sago from the pith of a palm tree is their stable diet
along with lizards and insects, fish and frogs
and the occasional - pig
Well into the 1970s, war between neighboring tribes
was a way of life in New Guinea
Few people could travel far beyond their tribal boundaries
Isolated by strife and rugged terrain
each tribe develops its own culture
New Guinea has more than 1000 languages
Half of them spoken by less than 1000 people
The people of New Guinea's interior seem lost in time
Only in the last few decades, has contact with the outside world
brought the beginnings of change
In much the same way, New Guinea's mammals are locked in a time warp
isolated from other kinds, the marsupials flourished
In New Guinea, even the kangaroos climb trees
though not very well
Tree kangaroos are sluggish animals
Perhaps because their diet of leaves
is low in nutrients and high in poisonous toxins
They have an extremely slow metabolism
and that is reflected in their movements
There are several kinds of tree kangaroo
like the ones that live on the ground
they carry their young in a pouch
but they are very different in other ways
Their fore and hide limbs are of equal length
to make it easier to climb
Their wide paws have roughened pads to stop them slipping
and their feet have powerful claws to grasp the branches
The many kinds of tree kangaroo
make a good living in the forest canopy
But none of them look as if they are entirely at home in the trees
Climbers like these couldn't compete
against more agile tree livers
Like the ones at the western end of the archipelago
In the forests of Borneo and Sumatra
monkeys and apes take the place of tree kangaroos
Gibbons,
fueled by a diet of fruit, these little apes are the supreme arboreal athletes
They live in small families
and every morning, male and female
mark their territory by singing a swinging duet
Up in the tree tops, nothing can match the grace of a gibbon in full flight
only the birds move faster
Gibbons spend their whole life up in the tree tops
They never come down to the ground
as the forest canopy provides all their needs
It's a world all of its own
Monkeys and apes are the defining elements of these magical forests
Indonesia has a greater variety
than any other Asian country
The orangutan
the 'man of the forest'
This great ape lives only in Borneo
and here in Sumatra
20,000 years ago, it was found on the mainland too
but now these islands are its last refuge
Orangutans are fruit eaters
but prolific fruiting trees like figs are widely scattered
so they have to cover a lot of forest to find enough food
Few trees have enough fruit to feed
more than one or two animals as big as these so these apes can't live in large groups
Young animals stay with their mothers for several years
but full-grown males are solitary
Despite their weight
orangutans in Sumatra spend most of their time up in the trees
They travel on the ground only when there's no alternative
and this is one reason why
Sumatra still has tigers
A tiger could kill an orangutan
especial a young one
500km across the sea
on the neighboring island of Borneo
it's a different story
Here, there are no tigers
so the orangs are safer on the ground
Bornean orangutans are much heavier than their Sumatra cousins
Some of the males are so huge that the trees can scarcely bear their weight
Males grow twice the size of females
A full-grown male can weigh 100k,
so swinging through the forest canopy is hardly an option
It's easier to walk
With their greater size
males have to wander much more widely than females
in their search for fruit
But that search is far from random
It seems they can remember the location of fruiting trees from year to year
and arrive just as the fruit is ripening
Although fruit is their staple diet
they are not averse to a snack of animal protein if the opportunity arises
Termites inside a decaying tree trunk
now the male's colossal strength comes in handy
Few other apes and monkeys have males
so much larger than the females
perhaps male competition for mates is more intense
or perhaps for female orangutans, size matters
Several times a day, these bigger males declare their presence from the tree tops
Their calls can be heard from a great distance
lesser males keep out of the way
The calls of monkeys and apes
are the signature tune of these western forests
Far to the east
in New Guinea, the orchestra
has very different players
No primates sing in this dawn chorus
This is a land of birds
The most spectacular of New Guinea's birds
are the birds of paradise
There are 38 different kinds here
The ones in this tree are red birds of paradise
They are found only in a few small islands off the coast of New Guinea
Males flaunt their flamboyant plumes
to attract the more drably colored females
Several males perform together
competing for the attention of prospective mates
They make their dance easier to see by stripping leaves from the branches
These colorful displays can be seen from a great distance
They attract females from far and wide
Red birds of paradise always display up in the tree tops
Deep within the forest, visibility is much poorer
so birds that live in the undergrowth must adopt a different strategy
The Wilson's bird of paradise
uses its penetrating calls to attract females
Each adult male has its own display ground
and its plumage is intricate rather than flamboyant
designed to be admired up-close
in a dance of courtship
but that bird beside him is a younger male
the dance has to be learnt
Young males acquire the skill by watching an older male
and copying his every move
He tolerates them because they look just like females
Learning the dance can take 7 years
The novice's disguise is so effective
that an adult male can be deceived
into courting the wrong sex
That's not a female at the top of the twig
but another young male
When the eager male discovers his terrible mistake
all hell breaks loose
The undergrowth of the forest floor
hides one of New Guinea's most feared creatures
one that can kill
The cassowary
this flightless giant is New Guinea's largest bird
It can grow to the height of a man
Even these brown youngsters are no chickens
Like so many of New Guinea's animals
the cassowary has Australian affinities
Being flightless here is no disadvantage
New Guinea has no tigers only the palm-sized quoll
and a cassowary is far from defenseless
its powerful feet are armed with a lethal claw
it can disembowel with a single kick
Unusually among birds
it's the male that looks after the young
After mating, the female lays her eggs and disappears
leaving her partner to incubate them and care for the chicks
Cassowaries spend most of their time searching for food
on the forest floor
They eat seeds, insects
and especially fruit
These enormous birds consume a huge amount of fruit every day
Surprisingly, enough has dropped by other birds feeding up in the trees
to give them all their need
Cassowaries help to spread the seeds of many forest trees
By the time they've passed through the bird's gut
they can be well away from their parent tree
Local people in New Guinea hunt cassowaries for their meat
and sometimes keep young ones in captivity to fatten them up
There has been a trade in these birds for hundreds of years
A cassowary can be exchanged for 8 pigs or even a wife
New Guinea at the eastern end of the island chain
has very different animals to Borneo and Sumatra in the west
Although this forest ride across the archipelago
very few creatures have made it from one end to the other
Deep channels between the islands limit their spread
But some animals have made their journey
They're found at the full-length of the 5000km of Indonesia's island chain
Bats
These are fruit bats, flying foxes
with a wingspan of 1.5m they're the largest bats in the world
and they are great flyers
They can travel 60km in a night searching for food
so to them, island hopping is no problem
At dawn they return to a communal roost
that during the breeding season can number hundreds of thousands
This female already has a youngster
She'll carry it with her for the first month, but as it gets heavier she will leave it behind at the roost when she goes foraging
Mature male fruit bats have territories in their roosting trees
Branches that they mark with scent and defend against other males
The females decide where to roost and who to mate with
The males are remarkably well endowed
Each morning the male checks out all the females roosting on his branch
Courtship can be lengthy and intense
20 minutes of deep grooming
licking the female's nether parts with a long rough tongue, perhaps to arouse her
or perhaps to remove any rival male's sperm
Mating is vigorous, noisy and repetitive
Bat male looked violent
but the female can always let go of the branch
and fly off when she's had enough
Fruit bats are among the most successful of Indonesia's creatures
and the most widespread
Right across the country, sunsets are patterned with silhouettes of their departing hoards
as they leave their roosts on their nightly search for food
Fruit bats are found throughout the archipelago
wherever there is forest
But what is most striking about Indonesia is its variety
Its 17000 islands separate 2 oceans
and unite 2 continents
They're set in some of the richest seas in the world
That natural variety is matched by a human diversity
This is a meeting point for cultures - old and new
Over the centuries, Indonesia's peoples
have developed their own unique ways of life
In much the same way, many of the animals here are unique
Isolated on remote islands
the castaways of two continents
went their own way to become creatures found nowhere else on earth
Throughout the natural history of Indonesia
the only certainty has been change
Over millions of years, volcanos built new islands in what was once open ocean
islands of opportunity for new life to conquer
The story of wild Indonesia has been written in fire
and that fire still burns today
Transcription by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org