SBS - Wildest Latin America (2013) Part 2 Amazon One Forest Many Worlds. 28/03/2013 18:51:01

Wildest Latin America

Through beautiful photography and the extraordinary stories of the animals and people that live there, this series celebrates Latin America’s most iconic and dramatic locations. It’s taken millions of years for animals to adapt to places as different as the high Andes and the sweltering Amazon; the windblown Patagonian steppe and the swamps of Venezuela. The result is an incredible diversity of species – from army ants to armadillos, jaguars to giant otters. Each has developed a unique way to stay alive; yet each must fit in to a complex jigsaw of life. We reveal the extraordinary behaviors and adaptations that are key to survival and success. People have had far less time to carve out a living, yet with ingenuity and determination, they too have found ways to make the most of what the continent has to offer. Incredible lifestyles continue to this day. We follow individual hunters and fishermen as they demonstrate the skills of their people. And we unveil the strange, sometimes painful rituals that determine the identity of Latin America’s diverse people. Each program ties together the latest revelations about life in this continent of extremes. These stories combine to give a fascinating, exciting and in-depth understanding of Latin America’s most spectacular places.

Part 2: Amazon One Forest Many Worlds

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, and the richest ecosystem on earth. Spanning nine countries it covers eight million square kilometres of South America. It’s so huge, that if it were a country it would be the seventh largest in the world. This episode uncovers what makes the Amazon such a powerhouse of evolution; how it has come to home a third of all species on the planet. The Amazon is a jigsaw of many different worlds. High in the canopy monkeys reign supreme, leaping and swinging through the treetops, ever mindful of attack from harpy eagles – the deadliest aerial predator in the jungle. Far below, on the forest floor, the unchanging environment has led to an explosion of life. People are also part of this formidable wilderness. The modern city of Manaus thrives in the heart of a rainforest that is still home to ancient cultures and witness to terrifying initiation ceremonies.

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