Peruvian Rainforest Canopy

Season 1Episode 4750 minFeb. 13, 2007

Tambopata, Peru Two hundred feet high in the canopy of Peruvian rainforest, a pink and distant light encroaches. The dense forest holds the dawn air. Birds sing alone, together - a purple-throated cotinga, then a distant flycatcher. Butterflies gather nectar. The high canopy teems with insects - oblivious as the sun ascends. Rosy light splashes the sky. The sun pushes its way into the forest. A blue-headed parrot busies herself collecting twigs for her nest. A cobalt-winged parakeet pulls at the white seed masses of a kapok tree - feeding and pollinating at the same time. As the sun rises overhead, we slowly descend into the tangled under story. Orchids and epiphytes bob in the moist air. Complex partnerships between insects, birds and plants play out amongst an eden of species. Aricaris - brown mandibled and curl-crested toucans - chase insects. Descending farther, we land on the forest floor amongst broad-leaved plants and a nation of insects - lines of foraging ants, wandering ground beetles, a jumping spider. The fervent life of the rainforest is revealed in a slow drift downwards to the forest floor.

Peruvian Rainforest Canopy has aired on Feb. 13, 2007

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