Rascals of Rio Naomi's Nightmares of Nature

Welcome to my Nightmares Of Nature!

I'm Naomi Wilkinson...

Oh, my goodness!

..and I'm coming face-to-face with

the nightmares of the animal world.

Oh!

The ones that make your spine tingle...

Argh!

..your heart beat faster...

There it is, there it is!

..and your blood run cold.

Are they truly terrifying?

Or is there a twist in the tail?

Come with me as I shine a light on wildlife's deepest, darkest secrets.

And see if you can guess which will be my Worst Nightmare.

It's party time!

Because we are in...Rio de Janeiro!

One of the biggest...

..busiest...

..boldest cities

IN THE WORLD!

But don't be fooled, because, believe it or not,

we are also in the jungle.

No, not the urban jungle.

The actual jungle!

Look!

Tucked into Brazil's south-east coast,

Rio is surrounded,

on one side by the sea

and on the other side by the rainforest.

So, as the boundaries blur between jungle and city,

the six million people that live here

have learned to share their mighty metropolis

with some cheeky,

snappy,

nibbly

nightmares of nature.

It seems nightmare encounters start in this city before your feet

even touch the ground.

There's a big brute that is scaring pilots around here.

Well, it's happening up there in the sky,

hence my binoculars.

I haven't become a secret avid plane spotter.

No, today I am a loud, proud bird spotter,

because our culprit is a bird.

A big, black beast of a bird.

The American black vulture.

Sounds like a nightmare!

These greedy guzzlers flock to the airport to feed on the soup

of floating rubbish that surrounds it.

But I'm not here because of their questionable eating habits.

They're a nightmare

because they often collide in mid-air with planes.

It's called bird strike,

and it doesn't end well for bird or plane.

If the plane crashes, these strikes can be fatal to passengers.

But fear not, nervous flyers,

we all landed here just fine, because the airports have employed

some very special staff to tackle this big bird bother.

Meet Rio airport's anti-vulture dog squad.

Athus! Athus is a bit naughty.

Athus just keeps running away. Come on, Athus!

Right, this is Athus and this is Othus.

Can you believe I've come halfway around the world to Brazil

and the airport staff are from my homeland?

English pointers!

At least you will understand me, eh?

Hello.

Ready? Ready to go, boys?

I think they said,

"Yes, we're ready for a productive day, Naomi, let's do this!"

Taking me through their paces today is Milena.

Athus and Othus' job is to stop vultures entering the airport.

They've got their work cut out!

Everywhere and you look around here there are vultures.

They're flying, sitting on lampposts - they are everywhere!

-How many are there here?

-Too many!

-Yes!

The dogs don't harm the vultures, they're simply sniffing out

anything that could attract them to the airport -

animal carcasses or nests of live birds, because, yes,

vultures eat chicks too.

So where do the birds go from the birds' nests that they find?

We send them to a park.

-You release them somewhere else?

-Yes.

-Out of the way of aeroplanes?

-Yes.

Have you found anything yet?

If they find a nest, what will they do?

-How will they show you that they found something?

-They point.

-They point? Like that?

-They point like that!

What, they pull a face? A dog point!

-Just there.

-Yes.

I am determined to see these dogs in action,

so I'm going to set them a little test.

Here I have a sock full of bird feathers.

I'm going to hide it in the long grass

and we'll see if they can sniff it out and point to it.

I've got the thumbs up.

Here come the dogs.

Where is my sock full of feathers?

It's coming straight over here.

Where is it? Where is it? Find it!

Oh, yeah, heading straight to the spot.

He's done it!

Well done, well done!

You did it, you did it! Fantastic.

Just imagine how many more vultures would be circling

if this duo weren't around to stop them.

Hang on a minute!

Excuse me, where did you get this from?

I know where you got this from. Yes, I do.

Thank you very much.

"Can you spot your food from the air?"

Now, as we know, there are two sides to every story.

True, vultures can be lethal to planes,

but when things like this happen,

it's certain death for the bird.

But if they don't risk their lives in this deadly airspace,

they will starve.

Vultures have to brave Rio's dangerous skies

to spot their grub from the air.

And now, so do I.

Somewhere beneath that fog, the crew have hidden a picnic.

My mission is to fly like a vulture and locate my lunch.

Thankfully, I've got a flying companion,

hang-glider Ruy.

Oh, why's it raining and foggy?

It's probably better when you can't see!

Eventually, the weather clears just enough for us to...

run into the sky!

-Are we going now?

-Yes. Look to the island. Don't jump.

One, two, three, run! Fast! Go, go!

Here we go, here we go!

Ah! Wow! oh, my goodness.

-How was it?

-It was amazing!

What a view!

'Don't get distracted, Naomi, remember why you're here.'

Right, I've got to search for my food.

It's so high!

I'm going to have trouble spotting a bus from up here,

let alone a sandwich!

-Do you see vultures up here?

-Sometimes, yes.

They are good friends.

-Look, look!

-There is one!

Look, one way below us, flapping its wings.

It's holding its wings out horizontally in flight.

Right behind us, can you see the vulture?

This speciation doesn't have a very good sense of smell,

which is unusual for vultures.

The crafty carnivores will keep their eyes peeled

for other vultures, ones that do have a better sense of smell,

and follow them down to the grub.

The trouble is, there are no other species around to help me.

'With my stomach rumbling and my eyes fixed firmly on the ground,

'I'm starting to see how these brave birds

'might miss a looming aircraft.'

I wouldn't want to come face-to-face with the plane right now.

Right, looking for my food, where is that picnic?

-I think it's there.

-Is it down there?

'Thankfully, Ruy has the eyes of a vulture.'

We might be able to see our crew and the sandwich!

Ha-ha!

Whoo!

'Unlike many vultures, I've made it to the ground in one piece.'

-Yeah!

-Ha-ha!

I'm shaking like a leaf!

After that massive surge of adrenaline,

I've worked up an appetite.

I have more than earned this picnic!

Ha-ha! Grub is up. I'm starving!

-Where's the food? ALL:

-Sorry.

Oh, what?!

Well, this sums it up, doesn't it?

Vultures risking collisions with aircraft

just to land to horrible scraps of leftovers.

Being a vulture is definitely a nightmare,

but so is being a pilot, having to fly alongside them.

This double-barrel business means that the American black vulture

could easily scavenge the title of Rio's right royal nightmare.

To get to my next nightmare, we thought we'd travel

like the locals - you know, avoid the traffic,

make the most of the glorious Brazilian summer!

BELL DINGS

"Bring the sun cream," they said. "It's always sunny in Rio."

'Anyway...'

I'm hoping to find some famous local residents that apparently have

a huge appetite. I've been told to hold tight to my food

in this city, otherwise it might get nicked.

I've already gone hungry once today. I'm not doing that again.

I don't know about you, but I think we should ditch the bike, eh?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Yeah.

Oh.

'Back on two feet, it doesn't take us long for us to track down

'the food thieves.'

They're all on the roof.

Suddenly feeling very aware that I have bananas in my pocket.

As this vast city sprawled into the surrounding rainforest,

these marmoset and capuchin monkeys stood their ground.

Monkeys are renowned for causing mischief...

SHE SQUEALS

..boldly stealing from unsuspecting victims.

In the wild, they'll eat fruit, insects and small reptiles.

In the city, these jungle jokers will have anything going.

They've got that perfect curl in their tail,

just like in the children's picture books.

A very useful tail that they use as an extra limb,

help them with all their balancing and swinging.

'But these suburban swingers

'don't seem to be causing too much bother.'

They look quite sweet - quite fun having monkeys in your garden.

CLATTERING

'OK, I take that back.'

(What did they do?)

'Hmm. Not impressed.

'Um, anyone got the number of a good tiler in Rio?'

CLATTERING

'And it seems they're up to no good next door, too!'

Look at them all over the side of this building.

I can see them scheming, calculating, seeing if

they can figure out how to get in.

There's like a whole family of them all together...

..just creating havoc!

SHE GASPS

I'm getting out of here. They're throwing things at me!

SHE GASPS

See?!

They're throwing the fruit from the trees at us...

with force, saying, "Go away."

Cheeky monkeys.

'OK, OK, we get the message.

'We're off to see what the neighbours make of them.

'Right behind these houses is the jungle -

'the monkeys' natural home.

'So local residents, like Lucas, have had to get used to

'brazen break-ins.'

They've actually been in your apartment?

Yes. Once.

-We left that small window...

-Uh-oh.

-..open.

-Uh-oh.

My wife was working and when she got in at the end of the day,

she saw all the papayas, bananas, spread around here.

'He's also caught them in the act of raiding his neighbour's house.'

-Has it just come out the house with a banana?

-Exactly.

-SHE GASPS

-See how big he is.

Even the bars across the window don't stop them.

-Smart, aren't they?

-They are.

Next door lives Cecilia. As the building's manager,

she gets to hear all the stories.

But to understand them, I'm going to need some help

from our top-notch translator, Roberta.

OK, so what is the best story you've heard?

SHE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

THEY LAUGH

I didn't understand a word of that, but that was

the best story I've ever heard.

So she said she had a very little dog

and her main nightmare was that they would enter

-and then just grab the dog...

-Take the dog.

-..and take the dog away.

And all the windows she would look at, there were monkeys around.

She's like, "What's going on? What's going on?"

So she shouted to one of them, "You're not coming in!"

And she left. When she came back, there was poo all over the place.

-Poo?

-All over her clothes and...

So they're quite aggressive?

So does she think they are a nightmare, or does she love them?

SHE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

She thinks they're a very serious problem.

As do many people.

Cheeky monkeys!

They're on the bed. This is serious business.

Monkeys in your kitchen sounds quite funny at first,

but after everything I've just heard, I would not

fancy coming home to primate pandemonium every day.

I think if they could get their hands on it,

these mischievous monkeys would probably steal

my Worst Nightmare trophy.

I know Rio is technically in the jungle,

but it's also a city, isn't it? And what I love about being in the city

is you don't have to deal with all that hardcore jungle stuff.

You know, worrying about stepping on a snake,

big spider falling on your head from the canopy,

big old insects... VOICE SPEEDS UP: ..buzzing around

your head all the time mosquito flying up your nose,

leeches landing on your leg, anything could be under

the toilet seat, it's always dark and there could be a snake...

I mean, it's not like you're going to get eaten by a crocodile

in the middle of the city.

What are you looking at?

Steve? Woohoo!

What are you looking at?

SHE GASPS

'So it turns out that this densely populated neighbourhood

'is home to 6,000 wild caiman.

'They can grow to twice as long as I am tall,

'track down their prey with super sharp senses

'and their jaws are crammed full of over 70 razor-sharp fangs.

'In other words, they're definitely capable of doing damage

'to Rio's residents.

'Nightmare!'

They're everywhere.

Roberta, what are they doing here?

Well, they actually live here and they were here much before

all these people came to live here.

So that's actually their natural habitat.

Basically what happens here is that people feed them with bread.

-That's a bit different to feeding the ducks, isn't it?

-Yes!

Add a little bit of tension to your Sunday afternoon walk.

'Not that I'd choose to stroll round this lagoon.'

-It absolutely stinks on this bridge, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It's quite overwhelming.

-It's sewage.

-It's sewage, is it?

-It's sewage.

And they're living in it.

Sewage and caiman. Double nightmare.

'I'm out of here!

'I've heard that occasionally these lagoon lovelies

'go a wandering around town.

'Once captured, they're brought to this local park.

'Denise has offered to introduce me to some residents,

'starting with the teenagers.'

I can already see about five faces looking eagerly at us.

NAOMI SQUEAKS

Oh, my goodness, please stay still.

-You can go.

-Yep.

NAOMI GASPS

That made us jump!

That's the thing that frightens me about crocodiles in general,

is that they can stay very still and then, all of a sudden,

out of nowhere, they spring into action.

DENISE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

The animals, they stay alert, checking out what's going on.

They do get scared, that's why they move fast.

'Scared of me? I'm scared of them!

'But I've heard that the park has a new arrival

'and, apparently, it's cute.'

Here to greet him are Helena

and a welcoming party of local kids.

Where's this one come from?

-It came from a building.

-A building?

-Yes.

This was in someone's house?

Where else have they been found?

SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

OK, I think she said schools, swimming pools and shops.

-Is that what she said?

-And car parks.

And car parks?!

My goodness me, that must be a bit of

a shock if you go to pick up your car from the car park

and encounter a caiman.

Even a small one like this.

He is going to be a new resident of the park.

He is not big enough to be released.

I will invite you to name him.

-Is it a male or female?

-Male.

What do we think, team?

-John?

-You think John? Just John? John the caiman!

LAUGHTER

-I bet you're the first caiman ever...

-Hi, John!

..to be called John.

New resident settled in, the kids have invited me to join their

caiman awareness class with these lively eight-month-old specimens.

Ooh!

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, my goodness!

CAIMAN GRUNTS

SPEAKS PORTUGUESE What's that sound they are making?

SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

-TRANSLATION:

-Even when they are inside the eggs,

they call their mothers like that, to let them know they are ready.

In the wild, babies like this could get gobbled up

by lizards and adult caiman.

But that doesn't make them any less terrifying.

Oh, my goodness. No, thanks.

Even that small, that is quite a feisty little animal, isn't it?

My classmates are clearly braver than me.

'Time to get hands-on...'

We'll do it together. One, two, three...

'..and see if these little residents have grown.'

34.5.

In three years, these tiny terrors will be full size.

But Helena's main lesson today is environmental.

We are the invaders.

The growing town is encroaching on their territory,

which is why they are turning up in parking lots and houses.

And the pollution in the stinky lagoon means the city snappers

could soon be extinct.

Your first instincts, when you hear of wild city crocs is,

how can that possibly not be a nightmare?

But when you find out about the spread of the city squeezing them

out of their homes, you do feel pretty sorry for them.

So will caiman munch their way to the top of my nightmare list?

YOU probably won't.

But your big brother still might.

My final contender is a gnawing nightmare that can be found

in any city and in any weather.

Rodents.

Famous for having sharp teeth and spreading disease.

As far as I'm concerned,

any size of rodent could be considered a nightmare.

But Rio's rodents come in an assortment of different sizes.

Size small.

Like any city, Rio has its fair share of fat rats.

Vermin that live in the sewers, feeding on our waste and

transmitting parasites to the city's unsuspecting occupants.

For most cities, it ends there.

But here, apparently, they come in sizes medium and large, too.

So large, in fact, that somewhere roaming Rio is nothing less

than the world's biggest rodent.

So, naturally, I'm going to go and try and find it!

Does anybody know where we are going?

Hello.

Do you know where a very large, ugly rat lives?

I don't speak English.

You don't speak English? Oh, no worries. Thank you.

Hmm... I think I'm going to have to perfect my Portuguese.

SPEAKS ALONG WITH RECORDING: Rato grande feio.

Rato grande feio.

Nailed it. Like a Brazilian!

Rato muito grande?

Onde?

Don't know?

HE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE Obrigado!

Yes.

This is embarrassing.

THEY SPEAK PORTUGUESE

Rato grande feio.

Onde?

HE SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

Oh, I know where that is.

-Follow me.

-Yes!

Obrigado!

Thank you, Roberta.

And here they are.

Hmm. Not yet the biggest rat in Rio.

These are the ones in the middle.

Size medium.

Otherwise known as agoutis.

Benjamin gives these ones food twice a day

and I'm going to give him a hand.

Grub's up!

Come on, little ratties. TAPS BOWL

Come and get it!

Come on!

It's totally opposite to what you do at home,

putting out food to attract rodents!

So, these wild animals?

SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

No, they are not wild, but they also

cannot be considered like sweet animals.

If you try to touch them, they are definitely going to bite.

They would definitely bite me?

Their teeth are razor sharp.

Here, they may be chomping on vegetables...

..but in the wild, these rodent rascals will gnaw their way

through tough-shelled nuts like coconuts and brazil nuts,

which, actually, is quite handy, because we've been trying and

failing to open some Brazil nuts ever since we got here!

There we go.

Do you think the agouti could demonstrate

how to get into one of these?

SPEAKS PORTUGUESE

You think yes? Shall we try?

Oh, yes, yes. He's taken it.

We need someone to stick around and demonstrate. You?

How sweet. That looks like a squirrel.

You can hear it, actually.

MAKES CRACKING NOISE

Aw...

Perfect illustration of how to open a Brazil nut.

Thank you very much, agouti.

Size medium, check.

But what about size large?

-TRANSLATION:

-The largest ones in Brazil,

you're going to find around the lagoons,

in places where there is water about.

I know where that is.

Thank you.

Stinky, sewage-filled water.

I might have guessed that is where a big, fat rat would hang out.

That's what we are looking for.

There it is.

There it is.

Right down there

we have the largest rodent in the world.

The capybara.

Can you believe that is a rodent?

They can grow over one metre long and weigh more than me!

They are distantly related to guinea pigs and you can see

the family resemblance.

Doesn't look very scary, does it?

Look at the teeth!

Just changed my mind.

Capybara have lovely eating habits.

They regurgitate their food, so they bring it back up

after swallowing and eat it for a second time.

And then once they poo out that food, they eat their own faeces.

It sounds disgusting,

but it means they get the maximum nutrients out of their grub.

Probably need a breath freshener, though!

SHE MAKES RETCHING SOUND

Their webbed front toes make them excellent swimmers.

You can see its ears, eyes and nose are all positioned on the top

of its head, so when it's in the water,

it can still breathe while it keeps a constant lookout for predators.

I've actually grown quite fond of this giant rat.

When I set out to find Rio's really big rodents,

I didn't expect to find them cute.

So, a nightmare?

Well, if you can excuse the terrifyingly tough teeth and

the quite frankly disgusting eating habits, I think they are more

chubby chompers than vicious vermin, don't you?

My whistle-stop tour of the highlights of Rio's townie terrors

is over, so I've got to pick out my Worst Nightmare.

Can I say the weather?

-Why? Why not?

-Because it's the rules!

All right, well we had Rio's rodent rascals.

You liked them, didn't you, Steve?

The monkeys were just little minxes, once they?

The caiman were probably more sweet than snappy.

So that leaves the vultures.

A nightmare for frequent flyers and they are having to risk their lives

in deadly airspace just to pick out the leftovers from our rubbish.

Surely, that has got to be Rio's Worst Nightmare.

Groovy Gary and his groovy moves.

Shimmy, Gary!

HE LAUGHS