Jungles: Survival of the Fittest (Full Episode) | Hostile Planet

Alone, inexperienced, life has never been tougher for this young orang. She will have to go to extraordinary lengths to find enough food. A third of her kind will fall and break bones, or worse. In this hostile world, only the strongest make it to the top. Torrential rain, tropical heat, and the relentless assault of insects. If you're not prepared, the jungle will eat you alive. But these conditions have created a home for more species than anywhere else on the planet. You might think it's an animal Eden, but it's more like a wildlife war zone. Now that the rains, the lifeblood of these extraordinary worlds, are becoming more unpredictable, the battle for survival has never been fiercer. Even rainforests have dry seasons. Rivers become the focus of jungle life. A jaguar, South America's apex predator. Jaguars will hunt anything, from a vulture to an anaconda. But nothing's guaranteed. It's been days since she's eaten. Jaguars are the most aquatic of all big cats. She'll have more success in the water. Capybara, a big opportunity. There are other options. But there's also competition. A male. He's hunted here for over a decade, taking on dangerous prey and other jaguars. Life here isn't getting any easier. As dry seasons become more extreme, competition for prey increases. Better for her to hunt in less contested waters, where prehistoric killers lurk, waiting to drag their victims under. With each step, a trap could snap shut. But this caiman is much more than a mouthful. A kill this big has rarely been recorded. It will feed her for days. For other animals, finding food at the height of the dry season is much more of a struggle. Fruit makes up around 60% of this young orang's diet. To survive, she must form a complex mental map of where and when to find it. This takes years. Up here, there's nothing but leaves. Rainfall has dropped by a third, and droughts are more frequent. How can she predict where to find food when the world around her keeps changing? The more she searches, the more she risks. Far below, on the forest floor, only 2% of sunlight penetrates. It's not water that limits life. It's light. For every 100,000 seeds, only one will survive. Fewer still will ever reach the canopy. They have to fight for their place in the sun. Just half an inch can mean the difference between life and death. Each plant has its own strategy to get ahead. This struggle makes the jungle one of the most competitive environments on Earth. A war in which every leaf matters. In the dry season, there's not much else to eat. Plants fight back with spikes and poison, loading their leaves with toxins. With each bite, their victims become sicker and sicker. There is an antidote. But to reach it, they must face the jungle's most dangerous predators. Poisoned by the plants they eat, these animals must reach the antidote. But it's a dangerous mission. Ocelot, jaguars, and puma are waiting. A deadly game of hide and seek. And at its heart, a most unlikely cure. Clay. It's rich in the minerals and salts needed to neutralize the toxins. But the longer the dry season, the more they must visit the clay link. With so much danger on the forest floor, it pays to keep off the ground. This orang spends 90% of her time in the trees. As the heaviest arboreal species in the world, orangs let their weight do the work. Tree swaying saves half the energy she would normally use to climb. A shortage of food in the dry season forces her to rest more. Each afternoon, she makes her bed. Weaving branches into a nest that will keep her safe through the night. And these trees provide more than food and shelter. Remarkably, they also help create...