0:00:04 > 0:00:08The ancient rainforest of Borneo, inspiration for many an explorer.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13And I'm here to tell the story of one in particular.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19I'm travelling in the footsteps of one of the great forgotten heroes
0:00:19 > 0:00:21of natural history - Alfred Russel Wallace.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Wallace's journey will take me on an exotic expedition.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Whoa, look at that!
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Full of magical encounters.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33This is an extraordinary moment.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34I first heard about Wallace
0:00:34 > 0:00:37when I was trekking through the jungles of Indonesia 15 years ago,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41and I've been fascinated by him ever since.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45This geeky Victorian collector changed our understanding
0:00:45 > 0:00:47of life on earth.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Along with Charles Darwin,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53he came up with one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55the theory of evolution by natural selection.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00These two men came from two very different worlds
0:01:00 > 0:01:02that were destined to collide
0:01:02 > 0:01:05as they independently came up with this explosive theory.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10But now, 100 years on, Wallace has been forgotten.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I guess you could say he's the missing link
0:01:13 > 0:01:15in the story of evolution.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Only by entering Wallace's world can I hope to understand
0:01:21 > 0:01:26this obsessive maverick, who risked his life on his relentless quest
0:01:26 > 0:01:29to crack the origin of species.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33And I'm on a mission to get Wallace the recognition he deserves.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Wallace's brilliance comes from his insatiable curiosity
0:01:54 > 0:01:58for the natural world, and I suppose that's a passion that we share.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01I chased butterflies as a kid... And I trapped them as well.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03I didn't just chase them for no reason,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05that'd be weird, wouldn't it? Pointless.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Look, look at my bandy legs. Oh!
0:02:08 > 0:02:09PARROT WOLF WHISTLES
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Oh, thanks, Merle.
0:02:11 > 0:02:12SQUAWKS GENTLY
0:02:12 > 0:02:17I've gone on now to bigger things, parrots, chameleons, snakes.
0:02:17 > 0:02:18But for Wallace,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22uncovering the mysteries of the natural world became an obsession,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and it took him to the remotest corners of the world,
0:02:25 > 0:02:26even to the brink of death.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29He's an unlikely hero.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34He came from humble origins. He had a fractured childhood.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38A feckless father who was financially hopeless,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41squandered most of the family's money, which meant
0:02:41 > 0:02:45that at the age of 14, Wallace had to leave school and earn a living.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Wallace yearned to see the world and discover its secrets.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55But people from his social class weren't supposed to go
0:02:55 > 0:02:57on grand scientific expeditions.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02That was exclusively the preserve of the Victorian scientific elite.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04And that's what I admire so much about Wallace,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07he overcame these obstacles.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11He defied what would have been a humdrum destiny.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15He carved out his own wilder, more adventurous path
0:03:15 > 0:03:18and became the greatest naturalist of his era.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Tracing Wallace's extraordinary story
0:03:24 > 0:03:26will take me to the other side of the globe.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30But first, I want to see if there's any sign of him
0:03:30 > 0:03:34in the one place you'd expect, London's Natural History Museum.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40And sure enough, pride of place, Charles Darwin, but where's Wallace?
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Wallace should be up here alongside Darwin because, after all,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47when the theory of evolution by natural selection
0:03:47 > 0:03:49was first announced to the world,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53it was the Darwin-Wallace Theory, two names tied together as equals,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57and in fact it was known as a joint theory for decades.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Wallace's name has been lost from history.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05But he hasn't completely disappeared from here.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Venture behind the scenes, and his legacy is everywhere,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13revealing how an outsider without wealth or connections
0:04:13 > 0:04:15became a globe-trotting naturalist.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21HE CHUCKLES
0:04:21 > 0:04:22Wow, look at this!
0:04:23 > 0:04:29This puts my ironically moth-eaten cabbage whites into perspective.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35In these cases are just a fraction of the tens of thousands
0:04:35 > 0:04:38of specimens that Wallace collected.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43These specimens were his pay packet.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Freelance collecting was how Wallace funded his far-flung expeditions.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51But it was a precarious career,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54dependent on the fashions of the time.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00The sheer scale of this collection is just staggering.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Wallace discovered about 5,000 new species,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06of which 200 still bear his name.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Like these, Wallace's rose chafer beetles,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and these are Wallace's long horns.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18There's something magical about being able to get quite so close
0:05:18 > 0:05:21to these birds, for example. I mean, look at this.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23This is the King Bird-of-paradise.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Wallace described this as having "the gloss as of spun glass,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31"and these tail feathers as elegant glittering buttons."
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The sheer abundance of species captivated Wallace.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Why were there so many?
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Where had they come from?
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The Victorian explanation - that God created everything -
0:05:46 > 0:05:49seemed stretched to absurdity.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51And he was not alone.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Others, including Charles Darwin, were desperately trying to unlock
0:05:55 > 0:05:57the mystery of the origin of species.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00The species question, as they called it,
0:06:00 > 0:06:05was obsessing all naturalists at the time. Why were there so many species?
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Other people, of course, had the idea that the whole of life was connected
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and every animal was related to everything else,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15but nobody had worked out the mechanism, that was the great thing.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I just find it's extraordinary that Wallace got there
0:06:18 > 0:06:21through his own devices, you know.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Darwin had a much... Far different life, far different background,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27he was connected with the world of science
0:06:27 > 0:06:29and Wallace was pretty much operating on his own.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Yes, Darwin went to university, after all, and Darwin's father
0:06:32 > 0:06:38was a wealthy man, and Darwin was landed gentry, and Wallace,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43as you said, left school when he was 14, earned his living as a surveyor.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47But he was, I mean, he was a dedicated constant,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49unceasing scientist, wasn't he?
0:06:49 > 0:06:53I mean, he just looked and thought and labelled
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and accumulated evidence.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00I think he was one of the most admirable human beings going around.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04So it's time to leave London and head east,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07just as Wallace did in 1854.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I'm following his ground-breaking expedition
0:07:12 > 0:07:16to the region which is now Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20But Wallace knew it as the Malay Archipelago.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26And I want to understand what it was that he saw and experienced here
0:07:26 > 0:07:30that ultimately enabled him to make his great intellectual leap.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I'm picking up the trail in Jakarta, Indonesia.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Wallace was 31 and had gambled everything on the hope
0:07:42 > 0:07:46of profitable collecting in this mysterious, little-known region.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51This was exploration without a safety net,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and his adventure would last eight long years.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01TRAFFIC ROARS AND HORNS BEEP
0:08:10 > 0:08:13I was the farmer in Nanny McPhee, the sequel.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18That's probably where you know me from.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21For me, it's like coming home.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24I've been travelling here for 15 years,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and I love the chaos, the colour and the energy.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32But to Wallace this was all brand new and a much wilder place.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35He wrote, "There are always a few tigers roaming about,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37"and they kill on average a man every day."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43BIRDS CHIRP
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Visiting local markets gave Wallace a glimpse
0:08:51 > 0:08:53of the exotic creatures that lay in store.
0:08:56 > 0:08:57He knew they would fetch a good price
0:08:57 > 0:09:00with Victorian collectors back home.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Stuffed animals were the latest status symbols,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06the bling of their day.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Ah, yeah.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14From Kalimantan.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Kali... Borneo, yeah?
0:09:16 > 0:09:18- It's a macaque, yeah? - Yeah.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Oh, careful!
0:09:23 > 0:09:24I name Edgar.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Hey, Edgar. How'd you end up here, mate?
0:09:32 > 0:09:3650, 30 quid for a little baby macaque.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41MACAQUE SQUEAKS
0:09:43 > 0:09:44What?
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Thanks, Edgar.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51You know, you dread to think what the circumstances are
0:09:51 > 0:09:52that led them to be here.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56They're such social animals, and seeing them on their own
0:09:56 > 0:09:59is kind of heartbreaking really.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Particularly in a place like this
0:10:02 > 0:10:04where they're just... another commodity.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Wallace could have stocked up on such easy pickings,
0:10:10 > 0:10:15but for him animals were never just commodities for making money.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18He was driven by a desire to understand how nature worked,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and for that he had to head out into the wilderness,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25and the Malay Archipelago was brimming with opportunities.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33This great string of 17,000 islands stretches along the equator,
0:10:33 > 0:10:40from Sumatra in the west to the coast of New Guinea in the east.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44150 years ago, this area was a zoological black hole.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49People knew about the tigers of India
0:10:49 > 0:10:55and the kangaroos of Australia, but the archipelago was a mystery,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59a lost world in-between,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01a place of "here be dragons."
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Fearless, Wallace dived straight in.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10He set sail for Borneo, the third largest island on earth.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18In these jungles, his ideas about evolution began to take shape.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25He was a lone European setting out into the oldest rainforest
0:11:25 > 0:11:29in the world, where malaria and other tropical diseases were rife.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Animals which Wallace could only have seen as fanciful etchings
0:11:35 > 0:11:40or withered skins, he now had the chance to see in the flesh.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43BIRD CHIRPS
0:11:46 > 0:11:51It's just fantastic being this close
0:11:51 > 0:11:53to these wild macaques.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56We've just come across a little family group,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59they seem to be OK with us being this close.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Just paddling along this stretch of river...
0:12:13 > 0:12:17..you're struck by the sheer number of species that we're seeing.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Huge diversity of birds...
0:12:24 > 0:12:27primates.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34This is what Wallace would have encountered
0:12:34 > 0:12:37on his first foray into the jungle.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43To Wallace, each creature was another clue that might unlock
0:12:43 > 0:12:45the mystery of the origin of species.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50He wanted to explain what made each animal unique,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52how it fitted into the bigger picture.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04These are proboscis monkeys, and they're found only here on Borneo.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10And they're known locally as "monyet orang putih",
0:13:10 > 0:13:12which means "white man monkey".
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Which I have to say I'm slightly offended by.
0:13:17 > 0:13:23It's a rather less than flattering comparison, with their huge noses,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26gouty demeanours, pale faces
0:13:26 > 0:13:28and permanent state of arousal.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Rather like large sections of the English aristocracy.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Wallace was fascinated
0:13:38 > 0:13:42by the possibility that humans and monkeys could be related.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47And his belief was only reinforced when he came across
0:13:47 > 0:13:52the "Man of the Forest", the orang-utan.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58He spent weeks struggling to keep up with his tribal guides,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01waist deep in crocodile-infested, swampy jungle
0:14:01 > 0:14:03trying to get close to these great apes.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Luckily, my guide Eric has a good idea where we might spot one.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Ah, there. Bill, the orang-utan.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15Where?
0:14:15 > 0:14:17In those branches over there.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Right between that big tree... Just behind it.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Got it.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Oh! Fantastic!
0:14:25 > 0:14:26Look at that.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Good spot.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32That's got to be a big male.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I can just see a huge, hairy back.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39And he's just hanging out here waiting for the sun to come up.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43- HE SIGHS HAPPILY - Brilliant.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46That's my first sighting of a Bornean orang-utan.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51And he's got his back to me.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56HE SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Eric takes us in, to give me a chance to see him face-to-face.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21See, this is the sort of thing that I really admire about Wallace,
0:15:21 > 0:15:27is that he came through this jungle in the 1850s...
0:15:28 > 0:15:32..with all manner of Victorian paraphernalia -
0:15:32 > 0:15:34collecting jars around his neck,
0:15:34 > 0:15:40huge, heavy trunks and butterfly nets.
0:15:40 > 0:15:41He was...he was a tough cookie.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Trying to spot our orang from the forest floor isn't easy.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51You'd think something the size of a man couldn't just disappear,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53but it can.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- Where is he, Eric? - He's in there.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Yeah?
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Just here?
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Yeah. See the bunch of leaves, sitting on the branch here.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21Wow!
0:16:28 > 0:16:31That's absolutely huge.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42OK, now he's on the move, let's follow him round.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Got a fantastic view of it now, just up here.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07I just love the way that he just hangs out there.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14He's not really bothered with us, he's just taking his time eating.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18It's just amazing to see him in the wild.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21It's one of those things I've always wanted to do.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25This is an extraordinary moment.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32The thought of Wallace shooting these gentle giants
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I find deeply uncomfortable.
0:17:35 > 0:17:36That was the Victorian way.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40But unlike many of his contemporaries
0:17:40 > 0:17:44he also thought it important to observe them alive.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48He wrote the first ever account of the behaviour of these great apes.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Wallace noted how their long, powerful arms enable them
0:17:59 > 0:18:02to travel easily through the treetops.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07"He never jumps or springs, or even appears to hurry himself,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10"and yet manages to get along almost as quickly
0:18:10 > 0:18:12"as a person can run through the forest beneath."
0:18:14 > 0:18:18He described their dextrous hands used to pluck fruit.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Writing to his sister, he remarked on how an orphan orang seemed
0:18:23 > 0:18:27so like a human baby, and recognised their intelligence.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32"When it is very wet, the orang covers himself over with leaves,
0:18:32 > 0:18:37"which has perhaps led to the story of his making a hut in the trees."
0:18:43 > 0:18:47All that Wallace saw in Borneo reinforced his conviction
0:18:47 > 0:18:50that humans and orangs were related.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Yet this was an idea ridiculed by Victorian Society,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58and put him on a collision course with the Establishment.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Wallace was paddling against the current of popular belief.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06He was trying to challenge the accepted view
0:19:06 > 0:19:09of how the world was the way it was.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13And that view was summed up very simply, in two words,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Natural Theology, God did it.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19God created all living things and that was it.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Once he'd created them, they didn't change, they were fixed, immutable,
0:19:24 > 0:19:30and when species died out he just made new ones.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And that was the accepted belief of the Establishment,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37of the Church, of science.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Well, Wallace was on a very different path,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43a path which would ultimately lead him to deny God.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48So to take this path took tremendous bravery,
0:19:48 > 0:19:54it took physical toughness and great intellectual courage.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59But who was going to listen to such a radical idea
0:19:59 > 0:20:02from a self-taught beetle collector with no connections?
0:20:09 > 0:20:11It wasn't a challenge for the faint-hearted.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Even Cambridge-educated Charles Darwin,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18himself a pillar of the Establishment,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21knew he had to tread carefully.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Darwin had made his epic voyage via the Galapagos Islands,
0:20:24 > 0:20:2918 years before Wallace's arrival in Borneo, and had since developed
0:20:29 > 0:20:35his radical theory of evolution, but he'd told only a few close friends.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Darwin wanted incontrovertible proof before going public,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and had buried himself in a study of barnacles
0:20:42 > 0:20:44and then pigeons in his comfortable house in Kent.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Wallace, by contrast was in uncharted territory -
0:20:50 > 0:20:52no tea and scones out here!
0:20:54 > 0:20:59He was living in rough jungle camps, surviving pustulating ulcers
0:20:59 > 0:21:02that laid him up for weeks, and eating whatever came to hand.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Here we are, this is a durian fruit.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16And it's an extraordinary looking thing.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19It's covered in these vicious-looking spikes.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Orang-utans love this stuff, and so do tigers.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28Wallace was a huge fan of these things,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and he actually writes about it, where he says,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36"In Borneo I found a ripe fruit on the ground
0:21:36 > 0:21:39"and eating it out of doors,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41"I at once became a confirmed durian eater."
0:21:43 > 0:21:46And he makes the point about eating it out of doors
0:21:46 > 0:21:51because there's a kind of a whiff of something rotten coming off it,
0:21:51 > 0:21:57so what I'm going to do is I'm going to try and get into it and taste it.
0:22:02 > 0:22:10And already I can smell this extraordinary aroma coming off it.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12I'll have to give it a couple of decent whacks.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Ah, there we go.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19This is it, this is the stuff, the pulp.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27It just defies all your senses
0:22:27 > 0:22:32because your nose is telling you, "No!"
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Let's just remind ourselves what Wallace thought of it.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39He said, "The pulp," which is this, "is the eatable part.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41"Its consistence and flavour are indescribable."
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Well, he's right there.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47"A rich, butter-like custard, highly flavoured with almonds,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50"but intermingled with it come wafts of flavour that call to mind
0:22:50 > 0:22:56"cream cheese, onion sauce, brown sherry and other incongruities."
0:22:56 > 0:22:57Sounds like the old Christmas dinner's
0:22:57 > 0:23:00gone in the trifle there, big stir.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04He says, "In fact, to eat durians is a new sensation,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08"worth a voyage to the East to experience."
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Well, I'd better try it then after that build up.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Let's try some of this pulp.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Mmm. It has got the most amazing taste.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33It's like somebody's put a quiche in a car and left it for four days.
0:23:37 > 0:23:38It's delicious!
0:23:46 > 0:23:49Wallace survived where many explorers died.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Disease killed most,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55but being murdered by local tribes was an occupational hazard.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58While most Europeans saw them as primitive natives,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Wallace was ahead of his time.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03He learnt their language, respected their skills,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05even though they were head-hunters.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11The tradition of hunting heads has mercifully died out,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15though my guide, Eric, remembers his family's connection.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Your grandfather was one of the last of the head-hunters you say.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Wallace met a lot of head-hunters
0:24:24 > 0:24:28while he was travelling through Borneo and he talks
0:24:28 > 0:24:33about the perception of them would have been they were savages,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36you know, there were people just cutting people's heads off
0:24:36 > 0:24:38and sort of violent lives,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41but actually they had quite ordered societies.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58This is a sort of, a kind of a part of the culture then, really?
0:24:58 > 0:24:59It is.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Part of their religion almost.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02Their way of life.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Wallace wasn't a total convert to tribal life.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09He wrote of having to endure their music.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Perhaps this local instrument will give me a clue why.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14You play it like this or like this?
0:25:14 > 0:25:15Like this.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19HE BLOWS A FEW NOTES ON PIPES
0:25:23 > 0:25:27I like it. Light, portable,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31you could use it as a snorkel.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33THEY GIGGLE
0:25:37 > 0:25:39You sense Wallace was relaxed here.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43After one evening he remarked, "I slept very comfortably
0:25:43 > 0:25:47"with half a dozen smoked, dried human skulls
0:25:47 > 0:25:49"suspended over my head."
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Over the 15 months that Wallace was in Borneo,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04he relied on tribal people to help him push deeper into the interior.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Would these uncharted jungles reveal new evidence
0:26:12 > 0:26:14to support his radical ideas of evolution?
0:26:15 > 0:26:20Wallace turned his attention to the mind-boggling diversity of insects.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28"To study one group thoroughly would," in his opinion,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30"deliver some definite results."
0:26:30 > 0:26:34So he set himself a punishing schedule of bug collecting.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41I'm taking out my net, lashed to a bit of bamboo.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43It's heavy and a bit cumbersome
0:26:43 > 0:26:46but hopefully it'll bag me some butterflies.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Wallace did this for hours and hours, day after day.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58The trick is to keep your eye on the prize,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01but that's the problem, you can't see where you're stepping.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Then there's the humidity, the tropical heat,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07not to mention the blood-sucking leeches.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09This is not some prissy pastime.
0:27:10 > 0:27:11Oh!
0:27:11 > 0:27:13It's extreme.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17SIGHS EXASPERATEDLY
0:27:21 > 0:27:23On the floor, come here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30It's impossible!
0:27:33 > 0:27:36OK, time for a rethink.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38I'm going to channel the spirit of Wallace.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Stay calm, pick my spot, wait for them to come to me.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49LAUGHING OFF CAMERA
0:27:51 > 0:27:54HE GROANS
0:28:03 > 0:28:08Ha-ha-ha! Look at that - I've caught a frog.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Brilliant!
0:28:10 > 0:28:12HE CHUCKLES CONTENTEDLY
0:28:12 > 0:28:15It's not the intended quarry.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21The frog, thinking it was safe, was some way downstream, not realising
0:28:21 > 0:28:26this is actually the Hodgkiss 4000B with detachable frog catcher.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Thus surprising the frog.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I mean, look at it, it looks surprised.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35I did not expect that.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Right, on you go. Go on then, go on.
0:28:51 > 0:28:52Ho-ho!
0:28:52 > 0:28:54That's the way to catch 'em.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00This is actually a delicate, little wood nymph.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06It just takes me back to when I was about 10 years old,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09trying to catch Purple Emperors in the New Forest,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12and not succeeding, because they were all fluttering
0:29:12 > 0:29:16at the tops of the fir trees and you needed some special extendable net
0:29:16 > 0:29:20to get there, and I wasn't quite at that level of seriousness.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25But me and my cousin spent many summers chasing butterflies.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29It's quite a thrill when you get one in the net.
0:29:29 > 0:29:36This is a beautiful sort of lacy, translucent creature,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40and it just sort of flutters along gently in the forest.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Really, a lot of other butterflies
0:29:42 > 0:29:46are just hell for leather, like, running in fear of their lives,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48but this thing just seems to be taking its time.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53I think because it's highly toxic, its larva feeds on poisonous leaves,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57so it's sort of, I think it's maybe got a bit more swagger.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03"Yeah, eat me if you want, but you're going to pay!"
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Like any collector, if there's one thing that you really prize
0:30:10 > 0:30:13that you've been after for a long time and you finally get it,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18there's a sort of thrill of attainment
0:30:18 > 0:30:20and Wallace had that on many occasions.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24He would be after certain species of butterfly for months.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And of one specimen, he writes in a state of rapture,
0:30:28 > 0:30:33"On opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently,
0:30:33 > 0:30:37"the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting
0:30:37 > 0:30:41"than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death."
0:30:43 > 0:30:47Wallace's obsessive collecting didn't stop at butterflies.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Any insects caught his eye.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53And his perseverance was heroic.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56He climbed ridges, forged raging rivers
0:30:56 > 0:31:02and camped in caves, all for the chance of finding more specimens.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05On one day, tribesmen helped Wallace collect
0:31:05 > 0:31:0874 different species of beetles.
0:31:08 > 0:31:0934 were new to him.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15In three weeks he collected over a thousand distinct types,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17he was on a roll.
0:31:18 > 0:31:24He noted the intricate camouflage which makes some near invisible to their predators, and me.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Look at this katydid, it's absolutely huge,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37and yet it's perfectly camouflaged on this leaf.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42This exquisite detail on its wing, even has the veins of the leaf.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46Wallace would have had you, mate.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Day by day, his body of evidence grew.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05Each insect was a new piece of the jigsaw towards understanding
0:32:05 > 0:32:06why there were so many species.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16I mean, 80% of all known species are insects,
0:32:16 > 0:32:22around one million different types. Had God really designed every one?
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Perhaps they were just easier to make than, say,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27a giant panda or a warthog.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34I'd forgotten how fiddly this is.
0:32:34 > 0:32:35But it brings back memories.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41And actually, you can be quite firm with the top vein.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Here, you see,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45it's actually quite strong
0:32:45 > 0:32:48so you can gently tease it up.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Wallace reckoned insects held the key,
0:32:50 > 0:32:55and as he prepared each specimen, he got the chance to really study them.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Such amazing detail...
0:33:00 > 0:33:02in Wallace's drawings.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11And he was meticulous in noting down all the features
0:33:11 > 0:33:14of every single insect and specimen he collected.
0:33:14 > 0:33:21I mean, you have to really focus a forensic eye on these specimens
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and then they reveal their most intricate beauty.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Oh, look, our pill bug is waking up.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34I thought he was dead.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37He's been asleep for 24 hours.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42He's just now sort of decided the coast is clear.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45You need to be flipped over.
0:33:47 > 0:33:48There you go.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55What I love about Wallace's notebooks
0:33:55 > 0:33:58is they give you a window into his mind.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01You can see just how vigilant and nerdy he really was,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04but that made all the difference.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08To Wallace, Borneo wasn't just full of curiosities,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11the minute variations he saw meant more.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15They were powerful evidence towards evolution.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Imagine three beetles.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Natural Theology would say that each was clearly a separate species,
0:34:23 > 0:34:27designed by God in its own discrete box, if you like.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31But as Wallace collected more and more specimens,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36he saw subtle variations within each species, or box.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Some had longer legs, others slightly different markings.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51And crucially, there was no clear point where one species ended
0:34:51 > 0:34:53and the next began.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58To Wallace, there were no boxes.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Instead, what he saw was that the boundaries between species
0:35:01 > 0:35:04were blurred, suggesting species were related.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09This was a direct contradiction to Natural Theology.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18In this remote corner of Borneo, Wallace took his first step
0:35:18 > 0:35:21towards realising his dream of a new theory.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27He was not alone in having wild ideas,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30but to be taken seriously, he would ultimately have to publish.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Yet rushing into print was dangerous,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37it could make or break your reputation.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43Only ten years before, a controversial book about evolution,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46or "transmutation" as the Victorians called it,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48showed Wallace the pitfalls of publication
0:35:48 > 0:35:50without supporting evidence.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54The Vestiges Of The Natural History Of Creation.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57Robert Chambers was the author on this edition,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00but at the time, it was published anonymously
0:36:00 > 0:36:04and it caused a sensation.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09It was an enticing gumbo of fact and supposition,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12exotic tales of six-fingered persons,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15insects created by electricity,
0:36:15 > 0:36:17a platypus born of a goose.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Crucially, it suggested transmutation
0:36:21 > 0:36:23and it had fans far and wide.
0:36:23 > 0:36:29Queen Victoria herself liked Prince Albert to read her passages before retiring.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34"A platypus born of a goose, you say, Albert? One is intrigued!"
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Critically, it was shredded - too trashy for science,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40too radical for the Church,
0:36:40 > 0:36:41and anyone who put their name to it,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46their reputation would be in tatters. Darwin was very dismissive.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49But for Wallace, it was an inspiration.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53In fact, he wrote to his friend Henry Bates, "I need to study more."
0:36:53 > 0:37:00Principally, with the idea of the theory of the origin of species.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03He would get there eventually, but he still had a long way to go.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10And throughout his painstaking progress,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Wallace had to work hard to protect his valuable specimens.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21See, this is what Wallace was up against.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23No sooner had he collected something,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25the jungle tried to reclaim it.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30Without specimens to sell, he'd have to pack up and go home,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and give up on his intellectual dreams.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36It was a battle he couldn't afford to lose.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Ants especially would devour his hard-won treasures,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43and carry away his evidence.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Dogs dragged off a prized orang carcass,
0:37:46 > 0:37:48locals drank all his pickling alcohol,
0:37:48 > 0:37:49rats nicked his bird skins.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Every creature lost cost him money.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57But he had a few tricks up his sleeve.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01He set the legs of his desk in saucers.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Then poured in a little oil,
0:38:03 > 0:38:07"being the only barrier these terrible ants are not able to pass".
0:38:08 > 0:38:12When ants found his birds they would swarm over the suspended skins.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18But Wallace devised an ingenious bamboo cup which held oil
0:38:18 > 0:38:20to interrupt their route down the string.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25This was ingenuity born of commercial necessity.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Nightfall brought Wallace some respite.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49After each strenuous day he was in bed by eight,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51just as the dark jungle came alive.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01At one camp, villagers brought Wallace a nocturnal creature
0:39:01 > 0:39:05that seemed to defy another key rule of Victorian science,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07that God designed animals perfectly.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11And if we're lucky, I can find it.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15I'm looking for Wallace's flying frog, and it's not easy
0:39:15 > 0:39:18because it spends most of its time up there in the jungle canopy.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22About the only time it comes down to ground level is at night,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25to mate in a little pond. And I've found a pond over here
0:39:25 > 0:39:29and by the sound of it there's a lot of frog action going on.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30So I'm going to investigate.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Well, you're cute, but you're not Wallace's frog.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50He's there, look at that! Whoa! Look at that.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57This isn't a Wallace.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05He's got these wonderful Gollum-like,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08sticky pads on his toes.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11On you go. Ooop-la!
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Ah, but what's that? Look.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22Under here. I think I've got one.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29Look at that. This is Wallace's flying frog.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32It's the most amazing creature, look at it.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35And when it was discovered, this was the first time
0:40:35 > 0:40:38anyone had found anything so fantastical and strange.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Extraordinary creature.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42'His discovery was like science fiction,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45'a whole new concept of what a frog could be.'
0:40:46 > 0:40:49And it has these huge webbed feet.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54I think you can see that. There look, look at that.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Which allow it to actually glide through the forest.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08All right, we can do this. That's where you're headed, there's a leaf.
0:41:10 > 0:41:11OK, I'm going to let you go.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15Fly.
0:41:22 > 0:41:23Wow!
0:41:25 > 0:41:26Look at that.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Not bad for something trying to fly with its feet,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33but hardly a perfect design.
0:41:35 > 0:41:36Wallace looked at it and he thought,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40"Well, if it was meant to fly, why didn't God give it wings?"
0:41:41 > 0:41:45This looked like a creature that was adapting, a creature in transition.
0:41:45 > 0:41:51These amazing frogs were in-between swimmers and fliers.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Webbed feet, originally perfectly adapted to swimming,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58had morphed into imperfect parachutes,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01yet they allowed the frogs to glide around the high canopy
0:42:01 > 0:42:05and not waste effort climbing down to the forest floor and up again.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14Wallace's flying frog undermined another key concept of Natural Theology -
0:42:14 > 0:42:17the idea that species were fixed from their creation
0:42:17 > 0:42:19until their extinction.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Instead, the frog's intermediate form was provocative evidence
0:42:25 > 0:42:27that species could change.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52With the onset of the rainy season, storms kept Wallace inside for days.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56The forest turned into a quagmire and collecting was futile.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01At last, he was free to concentrate on the problem of evolution.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Wallace's mind wandered beyond Borneo,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08to consider the whole of life.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11He was looking for patterns in the natural world.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17He spent long hours consulting his impressive jungle library,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21convinced the answer was staring him in the face.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26"C. Pollase Vig. Nectem..." Open brackets.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28"C. Terrestris Gould Asiaticus."
0:43:28 > 0:43:31"SW Hydrobata Asiatica." Close brackets...
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Huh...
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Ah, it's not exactly easy reading.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38Wallace had a hunger for learning,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40he was always trying to increase his knowledge.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42And in his jungle library,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45he had extraordinary reference books like this,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48three volumes of Charles Lyell's Principles Of Geology.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50this extraordinary book,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54this is Bonaparte's Conspectus Generum Avium.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57This is every bird in the world in Latin.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03Now, to us, these seem dry and impenetrable,
0:44:03 > 0:44:07but to Wallace, he could see colours, plumage, feathers.
0:44:08 > 0:44:14All of this was just yet more tantalising parts of the puzzle.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18From his musty tomes, Wallace discovered
0:44:18 > 0:44:22that geography dictated where different animals were found.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26Patterns he'd seen in Borneo were repeated around the world.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Now he had enough to risk publication.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36He set out a rule that described
0:44:36 > 0:44:39how similar species related to each other
0:44:39 > 0:44:42through time and across space,
0:44:42 > 0:44:46and it would become known as his Sarawak Law.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49This wasn't the theory of evolution, he wasn't there yet,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52but it was a great stride forward.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56From thousands of his own observations and those of others,
0:44:56 > 0:44:58Wallace saw a very clear pattern.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02Similar species were clustered together in the same area.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05All the macaws were in tropical America,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09whereas all the cockatoos were in and around Australia.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12To Wallace, this was no coincidence.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17It implied these neighbouring species were related,
0:45:17 > 0:45:22and more than that, they shared ancestors in the distant past.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24He compared his idea to a tree.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29The gnarled old trunk represented extinct species
0:45:29 > 0:45:32giving rise to branches, twigs
0:45:32 > 0:45:36and finally the new leaves were the creatures he saw around him.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41But make no mistake,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45Wallace had not yet solved the mystery of the origin of species.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49He had no explanation for how a creature might change over time.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51But what he'd set out
0:45:51 > 0:45:54was the clearest and most dramatic explanation yet
0:45:54 > 0:45:56for life on Earth, with no need of God.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02By sending this audacious paper for publication,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06he was laying down a bold challenge to the scientific establishment.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09It was like a keen amateur astronomer writing
0:46:09 > 0:46:11to Stephen Hawking, saying,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14"Dear Stephen, I've worked out the theory of everything,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16"I await your prompt response."
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Wallace posted his Sarawak Law back to London,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27along with many thousands of beetles.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29He wasn't scared to publish. He took the gamble,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33hoping his paper would get him noticed by the scientific elite.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36It was exactly the opposite of Darwin's reaction,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38when he'd made his own breakthrough.
0:46:42 > 0:46:4617 years before Wallace had sent off the Sarawak Law,
0:46:46 > 0:46:51Darwin had already cracked the idea of natural selection,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53but he was tormented by it.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58He'd admitted to a friend, "It was like confessing to a murder,"
0:46:58 > 0:47:01since in effect the theory killed God.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06Darwin was fearful of his reputation so he didn't publish, he kept quiet.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Wallace, on the other hand, couldn't wait to tell everyone.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12He wanted to shout it from the treetops.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16That's what I love about Wallace, he had no hang-ups about reputation,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19he was driven on by the search for the empirical truth.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29His paper took months to travel back to England,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32and when it was published, in September 1855,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Wallace had been away for a year and a half.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38He was in Singapore to pick up money from the sale of his specimens,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41when he got a letter from his agent, Stevens.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45It was not good news.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Firstly, his precious specimens were not well received.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54"A rather poor lot," as his agent wrote.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Creatures that Wallace found fascinating were dismissed
0:47:58 > 0:48:01as too dark, too small and mostly beetles.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05What people wanted were huge colourful things, mainly birds.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Wallace despaired of the whims of London fashion.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13And the reaction to his ideas was pretty much equally dismissive.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17His agent reported that many in London scientific society
0:48:17 > 0:48:19were muttering that he should stop theorising,
0:48:19 > 0:48:24and stick to collecting, since what was needed was more facts.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26To Wallace, it seemed like the old world
0:48:26 > 0:48:29and the old order were closing in.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33London society was keen to put him back in his box,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37they were keen to pigeon-hole him as a mere collector.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45But there was one man who was intrigued by Wallace's work...
0:48:46 > 0:48:49..the eminent geologist Charles Lyell.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Instead of acknowledging Wallace, he wrote to his friend Darwin,
0:48:54 > 0:48:58urging him to quickly publish his own theory of evolution.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Even though Darwin didn't feel ready, he began to write.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07This was the first time Darwin became aware of Wallace
0:49:07 > 0:49:10as anything more than a jobbing collector,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13but he seems to have misread the Sarawak Law, commenting,
0:49:13 > 0:49:18"There is nothing new here." It would prove a significant oversight.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Despite the lack of interest in his ideas, Wallace didn't cave in.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31In fact, he was spurred on to find more powerful evidence
0:49:31 > 0:49:33to explain the origin of species.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37It wouldn't be easy, he was seriously broke.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40So to keep his quest alive he would collect
0:49:40 > 0:49:43the exotic birds London desired -
0:49:43 > 0:49:45the fabled birds of paradise.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50But they were only found 5,000 kilometres further East.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55He left Singapore on a slow boat.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58But there were a pair of islands on the way that would reveal
0:49:58 > 0:50:02an inconvenient truth about the animals of the Malay Archipelago.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07After three weeks, they stopped off in Bali for fresh supplies,
0:50:07 > 0:50:11and ever curious, Wallace grabbed two short days to explore.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19The animals Wallace saw here seemed to follow his Sarawak Law,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23being similar to those found on neighbouring islands further west.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26Bali had tigers and elephants,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29pied starlings...
0:50:29 > 0:50:30kites...
0:50:31 > 0:50:33..and streaked weaver birds.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36But there was still much to learn.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38Cultural novelties caught his eye.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41The impressive rice terracing,
0:50:41 > 0:50:45and a particularly Indonesian amuse bouche,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47involving dragonflies and sticky goo.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- Hiya. What are you doing? - Chari japung!
0:50:57 > 0:50:59Japung? OK.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03So how do you do this, sticky here? Ah, right.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07- So you just...tip it in, yeah? - Yeah.- Yeah, OK.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Let's see if we can find one. There's one.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15HE PURSES HIS LIPS AND WHISTLES
0:51:15 > 0:51:20Japung! Ja-pe-ja-pe-japung. Aw..
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Wallace often wrote about how delicious his specimens tasted.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29While he was here, he wrote about kids catching
0:51:29 > 0:51:33and roasting dragonflies, and it's still a favourite game today.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Oop, got him. There we go.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41Oh, yes, a fine catch.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45No match for me. Top of the food chain, mate.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47In the time it takes me to catch a couple,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50my friends have gathered a veritable dragonfly kebab.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52Look at that.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55That's a good haul, isn't it?
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Right let's go and eat them, come on gang, makan.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Their auntie, Sumadi, sets up a mini insect barbecue.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12- It's really hot, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14I've eaten some strange things in my time,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16but I don't think I've ever eaten dragonfly.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20I've eaten sago grubs in the Eastern Moluccas,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23I've eaten locusts in Thailand, but dragonfly's a first.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27OK. Right, is this one ready?
0:52:27 > 0:52:29- This is one ready. - OK, here we go.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37- Mmm.- Tastes like what?
0:52:37 > 0:52:38It's crispy.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40Tasty.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46Tastes a little bit nutty flavour, from the texture of the wings,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49unusual, but cheeky.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54- Crispy.- Nice.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59After his brief stay, Wallace rejoined the ship
0:52:59 > 0:53:04as it continued east, to the next island in the Archipelago, Lombok.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Though he didn't know it, he was on the verge of an enormous discovery,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12which would completely reshape his thinking on evolution.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20The channel dividing Bali and Lombok is only 32 kilometres wide,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22but these are treacherous waters.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Wallace was sailing into the abyss.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Here, the sea floor drops away to 300 metres.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Worse still, this is a bottleneck
0:53:33 > 0:53:35where two great oceans crash together,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38where the mighty Pacific surges into the Indian Ocean.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47The crossing made a deep impression on Wallace.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49"Ripples are very violent in the straits.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53"The sea appears to boil and foam like rapids.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55"The natives say their sea is always hungry,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58"and eats up everything it can catch."
0:54:03 > 0:54:06Even when Wallace came within reach of Lombok,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09there was still the challenge of the monstrous surf.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25When Wallace arrived in Lombok,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29he spoke of being grateful for having survived the devouring surf.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33Well, I have to say, Alfred, you're not wrong.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Almost immediately, Lombok started to puzzle him.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Animals he expected to see weren't here.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46There were no more tigers, no more elephants,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49but it was the birds that really threw him.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57To anyone else, Lombok would have seemed like just another island.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01A little bit dryer maybe, less lush, but not another planet.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03But to Wallace, with his forensic eye for detail,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05something was very strange.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08The animals here were wrong, there were honey eaters
0:55:08 > 0:55:11and these guys, sulphur-crested cockatoos.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14These were Australian birds, it was just wrong.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18It was more than wrong, it was utterly surreal for Wallace.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21It was like seeing a zebra trotting down Pall Mall,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24or finding a sloth in a gooseberry patch on the Welsh borders.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28They shouldn't be there, but there they were, it was a conundrum
0:55:28 > 0:55:30and Wallace wouldn't let it lie.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36What were these birds doing 1,500 kilometres from Australia?
0:55:39 > 0:55:42The zoological black hole that Wallace had entered when he chose
0:55:42 > 0:55:47to explore the Malay Archipelago had just revealed its greatest secret.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54How could islands so close together feel like two different worlds?
0:55:54 > 0:55:57His short, treacherous crossing held the key.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04Wallace instinctively knew his discovery was hugely important.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09This great string of islands, this vast Archipelago,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13had a profound natural barrier which no-one had noticed until then.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16Wallace drew a line on the map between Bali and Lombok.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20Looking back to the west, to Asia,
0:56:20 > 0:56:24Wallace recalled lands of tigers, elephants, orang-utans,
0:56:24 > 0:56:26and looking to the east,
0:56:26 > 0:56:32the islands would reveal cockatoos, kangaroos and strange marsupials.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36He offered an explanation, that this dividing line was in fact
0:56:36 > 0:56:39a meeting point of two great animal families,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42the wildlife of Asia and Australia.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45And to this day, the Wallace Line
0:56:45 > 0:56:49is the most significant dividing line of animals on the planet.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53To Wallace, this was a fascinating paradox,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55baffling, yet thrilling at the same time.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57It seemed to defy all his assumptions.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01It even contradicted his own Sarawak Paper, because here were
0:57:01 > 0:57:05species that were very different, but geographically close.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07But far from being disheartened,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10it provoked Wallace to ask deeper, more fundamental questions.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12How could this happen?
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Initially, it seemed like it destroyed his ideas,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19but in fact it would give him the greatest ammunition yet
0:57:19 > 0:57:21to challenge centuries of thought,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and turn the existing world view on its head.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30So, after two years of hard graft, Wallace's ideas were in disarray.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32He would have to go back to the drawing board,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36and piece together what the Wallace Line meant for evolution.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42He was confident the answers to this puzzle lay further east.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Each new island he explored would deliver extraordinary creatures.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48Hah, that was amazing!
0:57:48 > 0:57:50It came flying over my shoulder like a little gremlin
0:57:50 > 0:57:51shot out of a cannon.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56Fresh evidence, curious behaviours and inspiration.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58I feel now accepted.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01His tenacity would put him on a dramatic collision course
0:58:01 > 0:58:03with Charles Darwin.
0:58:03 > 0:58:04For Darwin, the race was on.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07A race that Wallace didn't even know he was in!
0:58:07 > 0:58:11But he would never give up his quest for the holy grail,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14to unlock the mystery of the origin of species.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17And I need to deliver on my promise
0:58:17 > 0:58:20to get him the recognition he deserves.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23Tonight, the great and the good are gathered here,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25so this is the perfect opportunity to put Wallace
0:58:25 > 0:58:30back in the spotlight, so, no pressure!
0:58:51 > 0:58:55Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd