0:00:16 > 0:00:20The Himalayas appear like a frozen fortress,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24giving nothing,
0:00:24 > 0:00:25not even enough air.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Yet there are animals here...
0:00:36 > 0:00:40..miraculous and extraordinary,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45nurtured by the mountains.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52For people, too, the mountains shape their world.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01The animals of the Himalayas teach us about the beauty and fragility of life,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04and the power of the most inhospitable mountains on Earth.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18The highest mountain range in the world forms
0:01:18 > 0:01:21a two thousand-mile scar across Asia,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25separating India from the Tibetan Plateau.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33Our journey is from west to east, through the seasons.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38We start in Pakistan in winter.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52The Karakoram Range, at the western end of the Himalayas, is a world of
0:01:52 > 0:01:58golden eagles, snow leopards, markhors, bears, jackals, and wolves.
0:02:09 > 0:02:16The snow leopard stalks markhors, the wild mountain goats, using the falling snow as cover.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42At this altitude, and in winter, nothing is easy.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Yet despite the cold and the thin air, there is more life within the Himalayas
0:02:47 > 0:02:49than any other mountain range on Earth.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01The snow leopard has a fully grown cub.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Families will stay together longer than any other cat.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09It's tough up here to make it alone.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18The difficulties of mountain life encourage companionship.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23The wolves work together, searching for frozen bodies under the snow.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32Himalayan wolves are from an old bloodline, relics of an early ancestor.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Maybe this was the wolf's first home.
0:03:38 > 0:03:45The bonds within the pack, and the mountain toughness, perhaps, helped them to spread over half the world.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55Domestic dogs came from Asian wolves, so perhaps they, too, are a gift from the Himalayas.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04Is our companion on the hearthrug with us a consequence of an ancient lesson learnt in these mountains?
0:04:14 > 0:04:19It's winter, and the higher villages and farms are deserted.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25Life follows the seasons up and down the mountains.
0:04:32 > 0:04:39Until recently, our presence hardly registered at all on the biggest scar on the planet's surface.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47These mountains arose some 40 million years ago, when India,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51pushing from the south, hit the rest of Asia.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58The land had nowhere to go but up, and folds reached over five miles high.
0:05:00 > 0:05:07The Himalayas are a massive crumple zone, reaching out of the air, towards space.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17In winter, most life retreats to below the snowline.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25They're relics of an ancient ancestor.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29A snow leopard's nearest relatives could be lions, or even jaguars.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37The family follow the antics of the markhors.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48The markhors breed in winter. Males try to throw their rivals off cliffs.
0:05:52 > 0:05:59As well as fighting, the dominant buck follows the girls around, with his tongue hanging out.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It's a distracting time for the does.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Perfect for the snow leopard.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10The markhor disappears around the corner.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15The snow leopard seems more puzzled than anything else.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41If there were one place on Earth where we can see the power of raw nature,
0:07:41 > 0:07:47and the fragility of life, it must be here.
0:08:24 > 0:08:31Later, at night, the snow leopard revisits the place where the markhor leaped for freedom.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36It's as if the mountains have taken back her prize,
0:08:36 > 0:08:37perhaps saved the markhor's life,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and she needs to understand what happened.
0:09:09 > 0:09:17In the bleak landscape we find curiosity, caring families, companionship, and hope.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40The snow leopards and markhors will disappear higher into the mountains.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49We, too, must look beyond the valleys to understand the extraordinary forces that rule the Himalayas.
0:09:54 > 0:10:01This is the largest deposit of accumulated ice and compacted snow outside the poles.
0:10:01 > 0:10:09Thousands of cubic miles of ice slide very slowly down the mountains, as glaciers.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22The glaciers feed many of the greatest rivers in Asia.
0:10:22 > 0:10:29Tiny changes up here can affect parts of India and China, thousands of miles away.
0:10:32 > 0:10:39We are moving east, along Karakoram Range, over the border between Pakistan and India.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45These peaks were carved during ice ages.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48It's about time for another ice age, but instead,
0:10:48 > 0:10:53the Himalayas are melting faster than seems possible naturally.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Nature appears disturbed, shifting angrily,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00as though a delicate balance was being lost.
0:11:09 > 0:11:16As the glaciers descend and melt, water pours into crevasses, and carves tunnels inside the ice.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31We are now in India, at Gaumukh,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33"the cow's mouth",
0:11:33 > 0:11:36one of the several holy sources of the Ganges.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Pilgrims take a ritual bath in its freezing milky waters.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51The river, "Mother Ganges", is revered as a goddess, influencing millions of lives.
0:11:55 > 0:12:02During March and April, temples shed their winter isolation, and villagers and farmers return.
0:12:02 > 0:12:09Images of animals are everywhere, emerging from an isolated frozen winter, into spring.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21The mountains themselves are sacred.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27There's a legend of a holy peak, a perfect four-sided pyramid.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32From each face, according to the stories, a great river flows.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37Each river carries life to the four corners of the Earth.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41The mythical mountain is the axis mundi, the centre of the world.
0:12:44 > 0:12:50As we journey east along the Himalayas, we find a mountain to match the myth.
0:12:53 > 0:13:00Its meltwater flows to the Indus in Pakistan, and south into the Ganges.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Streams form the Yarlung and head to Bangladesh.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09Three of Asia's greatest rivers can trace their source to this one mountain.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16It's Mount Kailash, which means "crystal mountain".
0:13:16 > 0:13:22Buddhists, Hindus and Jains make pilgrimages here.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28Priests, monks, musicians and holy men all compete in a riot of religious cultures.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31HORNS BLARE
0:13:31 > 0:13:36Giant prayer poles are raised, also reaching up to heaven.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42Paper prayers called wind horses flutter up towards the peak,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46where the gods of different faiths are believed to reside.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49The summit is so sacred, it has never been climbed.
0:13:58 > 0:14:05Our path continues east, from the Karakorams in Pakistan, into India and towards Nepal.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Spring is climbing the mountain, and upland forests are returning to life.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43It's a surprise to find monkey mountaineers, but the Himalayas have many.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50In April, flowers and buds feed langur monkeys.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56They winter in the valleys, and follow the snowline up the mountains in spring.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01There is something about mountain life,
0:15:01 > 0:15:08the hardship, perhaps, the fragility, that actually changes the character of the animals that live here.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Himalayan langurs are distinct from their lowland cousins.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Up here is a more friendly society.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Further down the mountain, the males fight for the control of a harem.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23But here, they all live together in one group.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Warm clouds work their way up alpine valleys.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46The snow leopards go deeper into the mountains, impossible to follow.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51The Himalayas are still largely inaccessible and unexplored.
0:15:59 > 0:16:06By May, bees have come out of hibernation, or joined others coming up from the valleys below.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Giant cliff bees build three-foot combs that are a rippling wall of bodies.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24Waving their abdomens in unison is a defensive warning to keep clear.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38The bees' efforts are in vain.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Human honey-hunters scale the cliffs.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51The bees are the biggest in the world and amongst the most dangerous.
0:16:54 > 0:17:02They cut out the honey storage cells with 15-foot poles, into a relay of baskets.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09Even the best protective clothes, and a screen of smoke, is not enough,
0:17:09 > 0:17:16and the honey-hunter retreats to savour perhaps the most delicious and dangerous honey in the world.
0:17:19 > 0:17:26People have searched for magical ingredients here for thousands of years, and discovered
0:17:26 > 0:17:29a powerful human aphrodisiac.
0:17:29 > 0:17:36A little solitary deer produces a musky resin from a small gland on its stomach.
0:17:36 > 0:17:42The musk deer has influenced love and fashion across the world.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The most famous perfumes are based on his scent.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52From Cleopatra onwards, kings and queens wooed with musk.
0:17:52 > 0:17:58Muslims maintain it is the smell of heaven, and they added it to the mortar of the mosques,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01so that the temples smelt of paradise.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Affecting religion and history,
0:18:06 > 0:18:12or giving us Chanel and Dior, is not the musk deer's intention.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16All he wants is to be noticed by a female musk deer.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22While we may want to smell like Himalayan animals,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26wanting to look like them is rarer, but it does happen.
0:18:27 > 0:18:33The monal pheasant, high above India and Pakistan, is all flash, all show.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Males compete in a dance of crests and colours.
0:18:59 > 0:19:05Curiously, in the shadow of the mountains, the guards on the India and Pakistan border
0:19:05 > 0:19:07do an irresistibly similar dance.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42The crest, even the posturing walk, perhaps, echo the bird display,
0:19:42 > 0:19:48but the contest of thumbs seems more like the markhor stag, all horns and tongues.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55India and Pakistan are feuding neighbours.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59How much better if all conflicts could be fought out in this way?
0:20:05 > 0:20:11Below mountain borders, following glacial meltwater in streams and rivers,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14is a watery plain, the Ganges basin.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Here, cranes have their own dances.
0:20:17 > 0:20:24This is the lowest we go. From here, we will return to the highest peaks.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Many birds are hemmed in by the Himalayas, like these sarus cranes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39But to bar-headed geese, the mountains are no obstacle.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52From the base of the Himalayas in India, we head to Nepal and Bhutan,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55mountain kingdoms on the top of the world.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17The Himalayas are made of range upon range of mountains, building height.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20The air becomes dangerously thin.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28Bar-headed geese are the highest flying birds in the world.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31The higher they go, the faster the jet-stream.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37A 100 mile-an-hour tailwind catapults them over the Himalayas.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Bar-headed geese fly higher than Everest.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Their blood is different, with special haemoglobin,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00and they can breathe faster and deeper, many gulps for each wing beat.
0:22:00 > 0:22:08They suffer severe hypoxia, way beyond any human athlete, pushing the boundaries of pain.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30Bar-headed geese are not alone.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36Some cranes, less well adapted, gawky compared to the geese, attempt the journey.
0:22:36 > 0:22:43Demoiselle cranes find ways through high mountain passes, mothers leading their young.
0:22:54 > 0:23:00The cranes use rising currents of air to gain height, to battle over ridges,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04then descend into valleys to recover.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11There, waiting for them, are golden eagles.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21The eagles try to separate young cranes from the flock.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28The predators hunt cooperatively, like so many others here.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44The young crane escapes one, and is caught by another.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55There is nothing the rest of the flock can do.
0:24:07 > 0:24:13The demoiselle cranes battle on, but ahead are the largest obstacles in the world.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And the biggest of all, Everest.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29One animal has learnt to survive, briefly, at the top.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34We don't need to conquer these mountains,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38there's no breeding site to get to, and no adaptation to help us.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Yet every year, hundreds of people push their physiology
0:24:41 > 0:24:46for medical research, or more often, for themselves.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14The top is called the "death zone",
0:25:14 > 0:25:19a combination of the best view in the world
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and being in no state to enjoy it.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Winds average hurricane force, temperatures 50 below zero,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35and a calm day can quickly change.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55Over 200 people have died here, many abandoned on the mountain.
0:25:57 > 0:26:05About 10% of climbers attempting the summit lose their lives, and many more are injured.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17In this harsh world of rock, ice and courage, lives a little spider.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Its Latin name means "standing above everything",
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and it's been found at 22,000 feet.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It's supposedly the highest living animal in the world.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40But it can't be the only one up here,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43since spiders need other insects to feed on.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48Sure enough, tiny flies and springtails also manage at amazing altitudes.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51But it's got another trick.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52It's a jumping spider.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Like all good mountaineers, it will secure a line.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Springtails are primitive insects that feed on anything
0:27:10 > 0:27:12blown up from lower altitudes.
0:27:12 > 0:27:18This community of plants and animals depend on airborne sustenance.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Hence the name
0:27:20 > 0:27:22an Aeolian Biome,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25life brought on the wind.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Very occasionally, snow leopards are seen at high altitudes,
0:27:41 > 0:27:47following goats, or maybe scavenging our rubbish ever higher.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Wolves, too, are being seen up here,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56in this case filmed close to Everest base camp.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00It's not clear if climate change is opening up new areas for them
0:28:00 > 0:28:02or if there's some other reason.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09Scientists say it's warming and melting here
0:28:09 > 0:28:13faster than anywhere else outside the poles.
0:28:23 > 0:28:30Beyond Nepal and Bhutan, following the cranes and geese over the Himalayas, instead of finding
0:28:30 > 0:28:35lush plains at sea level, we discover a high, cold, dry plateau,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38hardly lower than the peaks themselves.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40It is Tibet.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Glacial rivers thread through a desiccated landscape the size of France,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57but higher than anything in the Alps or the Rockies.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07The Himalayan peaks are just the jagged edge, the ramparts of a wall
0:29:07 > 0:29:10with the Tibetan Plateau hidden behind.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25The animals cope with extreme altitude, thin air and a tough life.
0:29:28 > 0:29:34The snow leopards look the same, but there are also new characters.
0:29:37 > 0:29:43This is a brown bear, a grizzly in all but name and tufted ears.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47He's rare, timid and hardly ever filmed.
0:29:49 > 0:29:55The Tibetan fox hunts a rodent called a pika.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00Pikas live in dens, like ground squirrels or rabbits, and eat the tough grass.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04Pikas are the staple food of any predator.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12He's the most wonderful-looking fox.
0:30:12 > 0:30:18Square-jawed, eyes of cunning, and a twisted, knowing smile.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26The fox and the bear go around as a team.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30More high altitude cooperation, perhaps, or maybe the wily fox
0:30:30 > 0:30:37just follows the bear around, hoping to nab a pika from under the bear's nose.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41It's mid-summer now, but the ground is usually frozen,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44and only the bear has the strength to dig out the pikas.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59If the bear is digging up one end of a burrow,
0:30:59 > 0:31:05the fox is ready for the pikas to emerge at the other end in a panic.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08PIKAS CALL
0:31:35 > 0:31:41The bear missed out. The fox eats some and buries the rest.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44The deep permafrost will help keep it fresh.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58The Tibetan Plateau is so high that despite being the same latitude
0:31:58 > 0:32:02as North Africa, even in late spring, the temperature is icy.
0:32:04 > 0:32:10At 15,000 feet live chiru, Tibetan antelopes.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16The chiru puff like steam engines in the cold, thin air.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28A male guards his harem, breathing clouds of misty condensation.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40There are other males eyeing up his females.
0:32:45 > 0:32:52A neighbour might come charging in to kidnap one for his own.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32In these arctic conditions it's very surprising to find...
0:33:32 > 0:33:34a small snake.
0:33:38 > 0:33:46In places, hot springs are a sign of volcanic activity below.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48The snake survived its home being pushed
0:33:48 > 0:33:53almost three miles straight up, by holding out in this natural sauna.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00The hot spring snake is a lost relic.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Their nearest cousins are across the world in America.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10The streams flow into lakes,
0:34:10 > 0:34:16now home to the bar-headed geese after their epic journey over the Himalayas.
0:34:25 > 0:34:33One of the prettiest birds chooses the roof of the world to have up to ten beautiful goslings.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41The goslings have to feed themselves right from the start.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Bar-headed geese always nest by water, for food,
0:34:45 > 0:34:50but also to escape the hardy Tibetan wolf.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05HORNS PLAYING
0:35:26 > 0:35:31Novice monks are practising their Tibetan horns.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38Buddhism was born on the other side of the Himalayas, overlooking India,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42but its mountain philosophy soon spread to Tibet.
0:35:42 > 0:35:48A love of nature and animals is one of its teachings.
0:35:48 > 0:35:54Cranes are symbols of a long life and a faithful partnership.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57CRANES CALL
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Buddhists believe in reincarnation
0:36:02 > 0:36:06and that every animal has a spirit that one day will become a person
0:36:06 > 0:36:09and that every person has lived as an animal.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11So wildlife is looked after carefully,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13and, like this crane with a wounded wing,
0:36:13 > 0:36:17fed and nursed back to health.
0:36:21 > 0:36:27It's another example of how the Himalayas affect people and animals alike
0:36:27 > 0:36:31and increase sensitivity and co-operation.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50For those who live in the shadow of the Himalayas, a little can be given back
0:36:50 > 0:36:54in the most extraordinary and extreme way possible.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03A sky burial is the ultimate homage to the mountain.
0:37:12 > 0:37:19After you die, you are taken up a revered peak and left to feed the vultures.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Buddhists believe that all life is connected,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32each animal depends on another, even BECOMES another.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38It's an idea born in these mountains
0:37:38 > 0:37:43from an understanding of the power of nature and the complexity of life.
0:37:48 > 0:37:56The Buddhists look to the mountains particularly for reliable water in calm streams.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01But flowing east are massive and changeable rivers -
0:38:01 > 0:38:04the lifeblood of a billion people.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07The Yangtze, the Yellow River,
0:38:07 > 0:38:13the Yarlung and the Mekong are all are born here on the Tibetan Plateau.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17To the north runs the Yellow River, so-called because of the huge amount
0:38:17 > 0:38:20of glacial soil it brings to China.
0:38:20 > 0:38:26They call the Yellow River the mother of Chinese civilization.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30It has another name too - China's Sorrow.
0:38:30 > 0:38:35The floods have killed millions of people down the generations.
0:38:36 > 0:38:44As the climate changes, the river will change and China's Sorrow may take on a new meaning.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Thousands of dams battle
0:38:50 > 0:38:54to harness and control the gifts of the Himalayas for ourselves.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09Another of Tibet's massive rivers continues our journey east.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14Then it turns south and cuts straight through the Himalayas.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21The Yarlung Brahmaputra, from Mount Kailash, and the Nujiang,
0:39:21 > 0:39:28the Yangtze and the giant Mekong all slice through the mountains, creating the most extraordinary place yet.
0:39:33 > 0:39:40Some of the gorges are double the depth of the Grand Canyon - the rivers, the wildest in the world.
0:39:42 > 0:39:48It makes getting around difficult, and tests the ingenuity of the Yunnan people.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05Cable crossings of rattan rope had been in use for hundreds of years
0:40:05 > 0:40:09before steel was introduced.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11This is the main route to market.
0:40:31 > 0:40:39Getting around may be harder, but these deep fissures draw warm wet air in from the tropics.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45The valleys act like the pipes of a central heating system and create tropical paradises
0:40:45 > 0:40:50high in the mountains, like the mythical Shangri-La.
0:40:59 > 0:41:05To the Chinese particularly, this is heaven, hidden beyond the clouds.
0:41:11 > 0:41:18Tropical monkeys like bear macaques live on rainforest fruit at 8,000 feet.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Each Garden of Eden has unique animals and plants,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31walled in by mountains, pockets of exceptional biodiversity.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41The mountain chains running into China are a sanctuary from the plains below.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46Elephants and leopards are fleeing from farmers and loggers.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01These high tropical forests are a miraculous paradise.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Sunbirds drink nectar from epiphytes,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08musk deer provide the fragrance of heaven.
0:42:08 > 0:42:14While in a private corner is another love story.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20A pheasant plays peek-a-boo with a prospective mate.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32The Temminck's tragopan hopes his bright wattle
0:42:32 > 0:42:37and dance will show he'll be a worthwhile husband.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46She seems less than convinced, and moves away.
0:42:46 > 0:42:52He follows, displaying on the move, ever hopeful.
0:42:55 > 0:43:01But by midsummer, it's too late, and he tucks his wattle away for another year.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Above the warmer valleys, another world...
0:43:17 > 0:43:20..steep woods filled with lichen.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36The Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys feed almost entirely on the lichen,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40and so are trapped at the high altitude that it grows.
0:43:40 > 0:43:46At 14,000 feet, they are the highest primates in the world, except for a few of us.
0:43:49 > 0:43:57Large troops are formed of many families, each with a Buddha-like male and several wives.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Last year's young help with the babies.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12They are curious looking, some like little elves
0:44:12 > 0:44:16and some like plastic surgery gone too far.
0:44:24 > 0:44:30At the height of summer, a strange cooling brings snow to the mountains.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45The snub-nosed monkeys feel the change in the weather.
0:45:13 > 0:45:19Each July, the snow comes in and the monkeys shiver.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22The monsoon has begun.
0:45:29 > 0:45:36The cold mountains draw tropical air from the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away.
0:45:36 > 0:45:43Clouds pile up, and from July to September deliver most of the annual snow and rain.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51Without the Himalayas driving the monsoon, Southern Asia would be a desert.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Soil and mud, ground up by glaciers,
0:46:03 > 0:46:05pour off the mountains.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15The monsoon can bring life
0:46:15 > 0:46:19or destruction and sorrow.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28Life depends on the mountains, the character of which is unpredictable.
0:46:28 > 0:46:33It's not just a religious belief, but a scientific fact as well.
0:46:44 > 0:46:51In places, we shape the mountain to our will to provide more food.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56Rice paddies are some of the oldest human structures on Earth.
0:47:30 > 0:47:36The cultures that understand the Himalayas say we must give something back.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40They say all life is connected,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43and each animal depends on another,
0:47:43 > 0:47:45even BECOMES another.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58It is as if the mountains are trying to teach us something else, too,
0:47:58 > 0:48:04a very old lesson about the power of nature
0:48:04 > 0:48:07and the fragility of our lives.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33It's not just the animals that makes the Himalayas so extraordinary.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35It's also the plants.
0:48:35 > 0:48:44In fact, the floral wealth of this region has had an enormous impact on the lives of all of us.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50It all began in the early 19th century,
0:48:50 > 0:48:56when a new wave of adventurers risked their lives to collect exotic plants from across the world.
0:48:58 > 0:49:04The Himalayas was one of the most promising and tempting regions of all.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08This rugged land was still largely unknown to the outside world.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16Here, surely, there were new plant species to be found.
0:49:18 > 0:49:25That quest led to a special connection with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Well, in the 19th century in particular,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31there was a lot of collecting of plants throughout the world,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35particularly well-to-do people liked to build up collections of specimens
0:49:35 > 0:49:39just as they liked to collect stuffed animals and this type of thing.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Joseph Dalton Hooker was one such well-to-do explorer
0:49:43 > 0:49:48and lucky for him, his father was Director of Kew.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52As Western high society became gripped by a gardening craze,
0:49:52 > 0:49:58William Hooker sent his son in search of new plants.
0:49:58 > 0:50:04In 1847, Joseph set off on a three-year expedition into the Himalayas.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11Single-minded and determined, he endured great hardships.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16He suffered with altitude sickness,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18his journey was sabotaged by local people,
0:50:18 > 0:50:20he was even imprisoned.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Nevertheless, he walked for eight hours a day,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31collecting plants and documenting every detail of his travels.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37He was the first European to collect in the region
0:50:37 > 0:50:45and his discoveries made him one of the greatest botanists of the 19th century, a key scientist of his age.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50He returned from the Himalayas with a wealth of new flowers,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53including 28 new species of rhododendron.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57We've got some examples here of specimens that were collected by Hooker.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03One example here is Rhododendron arborium, which in fact is the national flower of Nepal.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07But there are a large number of these specimens collected by Hooker
0:51:07 > 0:51:13of this species from Nepal, and we do have specimens that have got
0:51:13 > 0:51:19Hooker's name on them, so here we've got a specimen that was collected in 1848.
0:51:19 > 0:51:25Simply by bringing these new species back, it would have had a great impact, because lots of these things
0:51:25 > 0:51:30would never have been seen before, so a lot of new things introduced into cultivation.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35So these plants would have had the real sort of wow factor for gardeners at the time.
0:51:35 > 0:51:41Gardeners across the nation competed for the boldest and brightest specimens,
0:51:41 > 0:51:47bringing a little bit of the Himalayas into everyone's garden.
0:51:47 > 0:51:53In fact, a quarter of the plants in our gardens today came originally from the Himalayas...
0:51:53 > 0:51:56from azaleas to euphorbias,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58gentians to irises...
0:51:58 > 0:52:01and peonies to primulas.
0:52:03 > 0:52:09But Joseph Hooker also recognised the value of plants to science and medicine.
0:52:09 > 0:52:15Today, the Herbarium makes Kew one of the most important botanical institutions in the world.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20It's a vast database housing over seven million specimens
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and representing 98% of the world's plant species.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28Succeeding his father as Director, Joseph also opened the Jodrell Laboratory
0:52:28 > 0:52:33and firmly established Kew as a scientific institution.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39This laboratory does a lot of work
0:52:39 > 0:52:41on the biological activity of plants.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44We have an emphasis on looking for medicinal uses of plants,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47and that could be what we term
0:52:47 > 0:52:52over-the-counter medicines - things like coughs and colds - but also looking for drugs
0:52:52 > 0:52:56that could be used to treat things like Alzheimer's, TB and cancer.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03The Himalayan region is estimated to have about
0:53:03 > 0:53:07between 18,000 and maybe 20,000, 21,000 different species of plants,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11and of those, there's documentary evidence
0:53:11 > 0:53:14on uses of about 2,000 of those for medicinal uses.
0:53:16 > 0:53:23So one of the things that we are doing at Kew is partly capturing the traditional uses,
0:53:23 > 0:53:31but also looking at the traits that plants have in different areas that they have evolved
0:53:31 > 0:53:39to protect themselves, that can help us design drugs for the future.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41People living in the remote valleys of the Himalayas
0:53:41 > 0:53:46have always relied on plants for their medical remedies, but so do we.
0:53:46 > 0:53:52Around a quarter of all our pharmaceuticals contain substances derived from plants.
0:53:52 > 0:53:58Plants that we may take for granted in our gardens could be miniature medicine chests.
0:53:58 > 0:54:04Some of the plants that we've been working on, some of them are quite famous to the areas,
0:54:04 > 0:54:08because they're not only medicinal plants, but they're in the culture of the people,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and that would be rhododendrons.
0:54:11 > 0:54:17Every bit of the rhododendron plant has a traditional use,
0:54:17 > 0:54:24from the flowers to the leaves, to the bark, to the roots is used.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27Now, the other plant is peony.
0:54:27 > 0:54:33Now, we know it for its beautiful flowers, but within the Himalayas
0:54:33 > 0:54:37it's often the root bark that is used as a medicine, and I've had
0:54:37 > 0:54:45quite a few trips actually looking for samples of this because it is a plant that has been over-exploited.
0:54:47 > 0:54:55But in the Himalayas there is a real issue with the continuing growth and over-exploitation by man.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02And therefore we could be losing things that we haven't yet studied.
0:55:02 > 0:55:08At the start of the 19th century, almost nothing was known about Himalayan plants.
0:55:08 > 0:55:14Now, we are methodically examining them all to see how they might be of use to us.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17As so few people live up here, it was once thought
0:55:17 > 0:55:22that the high altitude plants were safe from exploitation.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26But today, there is a much greater threat.
0:55:28 > 0:55:35As the climate warms, glaciers are receding and the land no longer suits the plants that evolved here.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39But there is nowhere else for them to grow.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46With climatic changes threatening thousands of plant species worldwide,
0:55:46 > 0:55:52Kew has embarked on the most ambitious of all plant conservation projects.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place,
0:55:54 > 0:55:59Kew's base in West Sussex, holds more than a million seeds.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01We know, as seed bank people,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04that you don't have to lose plants, you don't have to lose them.
0:56:04 > 0:56:05We can use seed banks
0:56:05 > 0:56:08to make sure that these plants don't go extinct.
0:56:09 > 0:56:15Here, seeds arrive from plant-hunters working all around the world, to be catalogued and bar-coded.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21Each batch is carefully sifted and cleaned.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27Then they are X-rayed to ensure that there's no contamination by insects that might harm them.
0:56:29 > 0:56:34Only after everything has been checked are they banked for the future.
0:56:34 > 0:56:40In an underground vault, they are kept dormant at minus 20 degrees.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Essentially what seeds are, are they're little time capsules.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49Plants can survive for centuries using their seed
0:56:49 > 0:56:53and we accentuate that ability
0:56:53 > 0:56:57and we've learnt a lot about seeds such that we can actually spin that process out.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01We know that we can keep seeds alive for 1,000 years.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07The Millennium Seed Bank has already ensured that 54,000 species of plants
0:57:07 > 0:57:11are safe from extinction.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14'The seed bank is just the first step, because we have to make sure
0:57:14 > 0:57:16'that we can turn them back into plants.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20'There's no good having 1.6 billion seeds sitting in a fridge downstairs,'
0:57:20 > 0:57:25but it's our first stepping stone to them turning those species back into real plants.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Each seed is valuable.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33As plants continue to provide food, fresh air, habitat stability,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36even medicines,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39we know we need them for our future.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44Their time capsules may even hold the key to problems that we have yet to face.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:57 > 0:58:00E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk