At the onset of a new day,
fog creeps in over a primordial forest
like a hazy apparition with chilled teeth.
Awe-inspiring giants,
more than a thousand years old,
stand rooted to the coastal mountains of Chile
like ghosts from the past.
Offering a glimpse back in time
to prehistoric Earth.
These are Araucaria Araucana...
Monkey puzzle trees.
Living fossils, whose lineage stretches back
for millions of years.
Like age-old lovers,
two trees, a male and a female,
have formed an ancient liaison.
Both with each other,
and with those that rely on them.
Vivid green parakeets
lend a helping hand pollinating the monkey puzzles' cones.
While a tiny forager acts as an important seed disperser.
Without these animals,
the endangered monkey puzzle's future is uncertain.
Their numbers are dwindling.
This is their last stand.
Can Chile's most revered trees persist against the odds,
when time has turned against them?
[birds chirping]
It's August, the peak of the wet season
in central Chile.
Glacial winds blow in from the Pacific,
bringing dense clouds on the verge of rupture.
It's the end of winter,
and dawn's icy breath smothers the coastal mountains
in a thick, roving fog.
[wind whistling]
The morning is especially cold.
A frosty 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
[wind whipping]
This is Nahuelbuta National Park,
a reserve dedicated to the protection
of the endangered monkey puzzle trees.
[wind whipping]
Monkey puzzles have evolved to stand
the test of time.
Some are up to 2,000 years old.
Here, in Nahuelbuta,
this ancient tree took root nearly 16 hundred years ago.
An imposing male, 130 feet tall.
Conifers, like the monkey puzzle,
evolved millions of years before flowering plants
first appeared on the planet.
Each tree is either male or female,
and produces different cones according to its sex.
The cones on this primeval patriarch
produce pollen.
They've been slowly developing since autumn,
but have another four months to go
until they release their fertile dust.
[bird calling]
As the sun's rays pierce the clouds,
a melody of birdsong returns to the mountain.
[birds chirping]
[woodpecker tapping]
And with it, an incessant tap, tap, tapping
resonates throughout the forest.
[woodpecker tapping]
It's coming from high
in the male monkey puzzle's canopy.
[woodpecker tapping]
Making most of the warming weather,
a male Magellanic woodpecker and his mate
frantically hammer at the tree's branches,
in search of a tasty tidbit.
[birds chirping]
As he drums,
the male listens for the hollow sound
of a cavity that betrays where a larva hides.
He drills deep into its core,
gulping down tree sap as he goes.
For the grub, there's no escaping
the woodpecker's four inch harpoon tipped tongue,
coated with bristles and sticky saliva.
A woodpecker knocks on wood
up to 12,000 times a day, looking for grubs...
Leaving the trees riddled with holes.
[bird calling]
Not far from the male tree,
another araucana towers over a rocky outcrop...
A female.
At 120 feet tall,
she's not as imposing as her male counterpart,
but she's still a staggering 1500 years old.
For millennia, these two have stood the test of time.
Their lives intertwined through a long-distance liaison.
Her round cones will be the vessel
for his pollen.
Once fertilized, they produce seeds.
Known locally as piños,
these take almost two years to mature.
So, as this year's new crop develops,
she already flaunts cones that are about a year old.
Her young piños wait for the male's pollen,
which he will release at the end of spring.
[birds chirping]
Like ancient wrinkles,
centuries of wear and tear
have molded the matriarch's flaky skin
into a rumpled crust.
The winter sun beguiles a tiny resident
from under her bark.
[birds chirping]
A male jewel lizard,
bedecked in sapphire and emerald.
Charged with enough solar warmth,
he sets off in search of food.
At last, spring's warmth begins to
drive off winter's chill.
[birds calling]
By September, the heat in the air is palpable.
A sweltering shimmer distorts the land.
[birds chirping]
As the world thaws,
ice slips from the female monkey puzzle's grasp.
[bird calling]
The snow recoils from the sun's radiance,
shrinking back into the soil.
The mountain begins to smolder,
steam rising from the earth.
The warming weather inspires new growth
on the trees' limbs.
The rigid leaves spiral around its branches,
resembling the tough scales of an archaic reptile.
Each blade armed with a hazardous tip.
This armor evolved to
defend the tree against dinosaurs.
Even today, few herbivores have the stomach for them.
They're so hardy,
a single leaf can live up to 24 years.
With spines like these,
the tree would be a challenging puzzle
for a monkey to climb.
Hence its name, the monkey puzzle tree.
The araucana is so revered in Chile,
that it's the country's national tree.
Logging is forbidden,
but manmade fires remain their biggest threat.
Their forests are now fragmented.
This is one of
the endangered tree's last stands.
[birds chirping]
[Narrator] As night douses dusk's smoldering remains...
[crickets chirping]
A million glowing pinpricks
pierce the sky over Nahuelbuta National Park.
[crickets chirping]
The half moon casts its silvery limelight
on the female monkey puzzle tree...
Exalting her from the darkness.
Spring's first warm night entices
a primitive arachnid from beneath the tree's scaly skin.
This is a female Chilean sadocus harvestman,
a distant relative to modern spiders.
Now that the snow has melted,
she's able to scavenge for food on the ground.
She skewers tiny particles of waste
with sharp claws next to her mouth.
Anything from bird droppings to dead plant and animal matter.
When she's done feeding,
she returns to the female monkey puzzle,
to look for prospects of another kind...
[crickets chirping]
A mate.
[crickets chirping]
But this male has a rival
also vying for the female's affection.
Both males are well-equipped to fight for her,
with sharp spines on their back legs.
Tonight, however, all it takes is a race.
The first male scrambles past
the slower interloper, and claims his prize.
As breakup day approaches,
the two retreat back into the tree's belly
to consummate their union.
At the base of the female tree,
a stealthy forager creeps from between her roots.
An Andean long-clawed mouse
is looking for something to ea.
But at this time of the year,
the araucana seeds aren't ripe, yet.
So it digs for worms and tidbits on the forest floor.
[owl calling]
A bone-chilling cackle
stops the tiny rodent in its tracks.
It's a rufous-legged owl,
a species endemic to Chile and Argentina.
It's time for the mouse to skedaddle,
before the black-eyed hunter spots it.
[owl calling]
It's now October, the height of spring.
As a white-hot sun peers over the horizon,
it floods the female monkey puzzle
in a toasty tinge of orange brilliance.
At her base,
the sun's warmth rouses a sleepy stowaway
in a lily-of-the-Incas.
Yesterday, this ruderal bumblebee
got caught outside the nest while foraging,
and had to tuck into the flower for the night
to stay warm.
[birds chirping]
She washes her face and feet...
Gives the haunches a good scrub...
And after stretching her cold, stiff muscles...
She's off to gather some pollen and nectar
to take back to the nest.
All over the mountains,
an array of multicolored flowers enriches the land.
By midday,
the sun's radiance turns the boulders
in front of the female monkey puzzle
into a sizzling hotplate.
The warm stone draws a cold blooded resident
from its winter slumber.
[bird calling]
The culebra de la corta,
or short-tailed snake,
is one of only two species of snake found in Chile.
Months of being inactive leaves this hunter hungry.
As good fortune would have it,
an alluring aroma beguiles the slithering stalker
in the direction of the female monkey puzzle tree.
It's smelling a painted tree iguana.
But how to get to this scrumptious snack?
The snake slowly works its way up the grooves,
between the tree's flaking bar.
But soon, these become
too difficult to mount.
[bird calling]
The iguana chose its home well.
It's unreachable.
The snake abandons its quest,
and laboriously slides down the tree's stem
the same way it came.
It settles into a small hollow
at the base of the tree.
This hunt is far from over.
In November,
a late spring dryness settles over the forest.
It's time for the male and female monkey puzzles
to once again renew their bond.
[birds calling]
His cones have grown into fat, six inch, prickly fingers
tinged with a reddish-brown blush.
They're ready to spill their precious cargo.
The wind carries the pollen away from
the male tree...
And some drifts towards its mate.
But being fairly heavy,
the fertile dust doesn't travel far.
So, the duo needs the help of allies.
[birds chirping]
[Narrator] The male monkey puzzle's
protein rich pollen
attracts a flock of austral parakeets.
It's a much-needed nutrient
before the start of their breeding season.
[parakeets chirping]
As they feed, they're bathed in pollen grain.
When the birds move on,
they perch on the female monkey puzzle's limbs,
and inadvertently pollinate her young piños.
[parakeets chirping]
But it will be another year and a half
before these newly fertilized cones release their seeds.
[parakeets chirping]
Last year's cones, however,
will be ready this autumn.
[birds chirping]
Two young parakeets separate from the flock,
and seek some privacy in the forest.
The budding Don Juan
serenades her with a chirpy ballad...
And she moves in to inspect the goods.
[parakeets chirping]
If he wins her over, they'll become inseparable.
His charm pays off,
and she takes her place by his side.
They will remain faithful to each other
for the rest of their lives.
[music]
December is the dawn of summer's reign.
Yet, the season's temperatures
seldom exceed 62 degrees Fahrenheit.
The sun's opulent flair
floods the mountain in golden tones.
In the warm, dry months,
sparkling silver strands
bedazzle the female tree's bark and branches.
She's covered in silk.
This shimmering veil is spun by a clutter of itsy-bitsy spider,
almost invisible to the eye.
[birds chirping]
Over on the male monkey puzzle tree,
a white-throated treerunner eagerly pecks for insects.
This tiny songbird lives only in the forests along
the southwestern tip of South America...
Seeking out the largest and oldest trees,
in which to nest.
But frantically probing for insects
requires a lot of energy.
To boost his calories,
the treerunner's developed a sweet tooth.
The little bird flies to a nearby lenga,
or southern beech tree, to get a sugar fix.
This tree's prone to damage,
and often bleeds sap.
A swarm of wasps, beetles, and ants,
all yearning for something sweet,
crowd an oozing gash.
But the prevailing sap suckers
are German yellowjacket wasps.
In Chile, this invasive pest
competes with local species for food.
[wasps buzzing]
They greedily lap up the sap
from the lenga's bark, not wasting a single drop.
Notoriously aggressive
with immensely painful stings,
there are few creatures willing to take on
a swarm of these invaders.
But the treerunner's unfazed.
Cool as a cucumber,
he meticulously flicks away the aggressive wasps
to get to the tree's sap.
The tiny bird drinks its fill...
Gets rid of a few more attackers...
And is off to hunt more insect.
Leaving the wasps to feed their insatiable appetite.
By the end of December,
the female monkey puzzle's trunk has become terribly crowded
with a lounge of lazy lizards.
It's prime property, offering safety from predators.
To escape the horde,
the tiny male jewel lizard
relocates to an old stump close to the tree.
It's a first rate bachelor pad!
And he curiously explores every inch of his new home.
[birds calling]
Licking at the surfaces
tells him if it's already occupied.
Satisfied that no one's around,
he stretches out on a notch to catch some rays.
[bird calling]
But just as he's about to drift off...
A trespasser ruffles his scale.
It's a second male, also looking for more space.
But he's not giving up his castle so easily.
A couple of confident push-ups to show his mettle
should drive off his rival.
[bird calling]
His message is clear:
"This is my turf, buddy! Move off!"
[bird calling]
That showed him.
[birds chirping]
[Narrator] By the beginning of January,
the male monkey puzzle's cones are spent.
[bird calling]
Devoid of pollen,
they've turned brown, and have begun to disintegrate.
But the husks aren't lifeless.
An array of minuscule beetles, larvae, and spiders
lives and feeds within the decaying cones.
Gravity begins to claim the male tree's leftover.
[birds calling]
With no more monkey puzzle pollen to eat,
the austral parakeets move on to green lenga nuts.
They're building up reserves before they can start nesting.
The noisy acrobats perform daring stunts
to reach the immature fruit.
An eagle-eyed hunter keeps it's gaze fixed
on the distracted diners.
[parakeets chirping]
A rufous-tailed hawk
can snatch a parakeet from the air.
[parakeets chirping]
But a warning from a watchful lookout
makes the flock fly the coop.
Safety in numbers pays off.
The young Don Juan and his mate retreat to their new home,
in a nearby lenga's trunk...
An old woodpecker nest.
Maybe those few extra lenga nuts
weren't such a good idea!
This cavity seems to be made for a skinnier bird.
He gets to work modifying the entrance,
so the female would fit comfortably.
It's her job to incubate their eggs
for the next three weeks,
while the male tends to her needs.
Autumn slays summer with a golden touch.
It's March, fall in the southern hemisphere.
The lenga trees in the monkey puzzle forest
are transforming.
Adding vibrant hues of red, orange, and yellow
to their complexion.
The evergreen araucanas stand unwavering
in this time of flux.
Their deep green armor adds to the richness
of Nahuelbuta's autumn palette.
By now, the colony of yellowjackets
has grown to more than 8,000 wasps.
Luckily, in fall, these invasive intruders
begin to die off.
But this is also when
the next generation of queens are born,
up to 300 of them.
If they survive winter,
each one is likely to start her own colony.
Which means the population of these pests
increases year after year.
As the autumn days grow colder,
a familiar face appears
at the foot of the female monkey puzzle tree.
It's far warmer underneath her bark than out in the open.
But something stands between him and the tree.
A Chilean ocelot tarantula.
This fierce looking hunter
prefers devouring insects,
and usually doesn't eat lizards...
But that doesn't mean it won't try.
The spider heads straight for the araucana.
With its orange hair and reddish tuft,
it's considered the most beautiful tarantula in Chile.
Which makes it a sought-after species
in the exotic pet trade.
So much so, that it's now endangered.
The spider scales
the monkey puzzle's rough bark with ease.
Best take another route.
But someone else has the jewel lizard
in its sites.
The short-tailed snake strikes.
The plucky lizard fights back,
biting his attacker's neck.
The snake lacks conventional venom...
But glands behind its eyes release a secretion
that has a calming affect on the lizard.
It flows down grooved fangs and into the subdued victim,
who lets go.
Now, the snake can inch its mouth
around the immobilized lizard's head.
It will swallow him whole...
While he's still alive.
With winter only a few months away,
this is a welcomed feast that will last several days.
Now, for a well-deserved nap.
[Narrator] By April, last year's crop of piños
has begun to try on the female monkey puzzle's branches.
The seeds nestled inside are finally mature.
They are the male and female trees' offspring,
ready to be sown.
But before she can drop a single seed,
the austral parakeets swoop in.
[parakeets chirping]
They tear apart the cones
to expose their treasures.
[parakeets chirping]
Dexterous claws and sharp beaks
carefully peel the fleshy seed, known as piñones.
But the parakeets are messy eaters.
A flurry of seeds spills to the forest floor,
allowing others to enjoy these nutritious nuggets.
But the gray fox isn't interested in seeds.
[birds calling]
It's not just wildlife that appreciates
these delicacies.
The almond sized piñones taste similar to pine nuts.
They're a staple food for the local people, too.
[parakeets chirping]
At this time of year,
the araucanas aren't the only trees
feeding the forest.
The lenga tree's nuts are also ripe.
The parakeets gorge on the dried nuts
to fatten up for winter.
Both the lenga nuts and the monkey puzzle's seeds
are high in carbohydrates,
which will sustain the flock through the lean times ahead.
[parakeets] chirping]
The Maqui, or Chilean wineberry,
is another ancient tree species whose fruit provides
a much-loved feast for the rowdy birds.
During this time of plenty,
great flocks of parakeets gather to feed as a group.
Some consisting of more than a hundred birds.
The young parakeet couple's chick has fledged.
[parakeets chirping]
From time to time,
Mom still treats the pleading youngster
with a bite to eat.
She regurgitates seeds and berries into its mouth,
passing on the monkey puzzle's nourishment.
The little one will pester its parents like this
for a few more weeks,
before seizing its independence
and beginning its own quest for a mate.
For eons, the moon has cast
its glowing gaze over these forests.
As the eye of the night
climbs the dimming sky,
its shimmering radiance floods Nahuelbuta.
In the pale moonlight,
the archaic forms of a thousand living fossils
seem to belong in one of those faraway galaxies.
[owl calling]
Tonight, one of the monkey puzzle's
most important seed dispersers
is out for his nightly treasure hunt.
The long-clawed mouse.
It's loot literally falls from the sky.
But the little critter
isn't as adept at peeling the seeds
as his feathered friends.
To gnaw through this tough skin
is a test of its endurance.
But it's well worth it.
The mouse depends on the tree's highly nutritious seeds
for its winter survival.
And with so many now scattered on the forest floor,
it buries some of its treasure for later.
But it doesn't always retrieve its stash.
The forgotten seeds take root where they're hidden.
In this way, the tiny mouse helps
this ancient and endangered tree to sow her seeds,
and gives her saplings a better chance to survive.
May is the dawn of the cold, wet months.
Brilliant white billows
churn over Nahuelbuta's darkening forests.
[thunder cracking]
Until finally,
the clouds let go of their stormy burden.
The age-old pair stand resolute against the elements.
Winter's fast approaching.
The rain spurs the male into action,
and he sprouts fresh, green cones.
The female monkey puzzle's branches
bear the scars of a seasonal harvest.
The parakeets have left her piños in tatters.
But amongst the half-eaten fodder,
she still flaunts this year's fertilized cones.
And tucked between the boulders,
in front of the matriarch,
the female ocelot tarantula has constructed a nest.
New life is emerging.
Inside are her hundreds of furry offspring.
The tiny spiderlings have already molted
for the first time,
their exoskeletons littering the burrow floor.
They'll have to grow and molt a few more times
before they can leave the nest.
The Magellanic woodpeckers
also have a new addition to the family...
A male.
Junior doesn't yet have
a striking red head like his father,
but he's already mastering the art of finding larvae.
When Dad calls, he still comes fluttering.
They'll treat him to the odd grub from time to time
until he's ready to go it alone.
But this can take up to four years.
For now, the doting parents rely on the monkey puzzle forest
to raise their chick.
These ancient araucana trees have stood the test of time.
A home for countless species
that nestle in their bark...
Hide among their spines...
And feed high in their canopy.
Today, Chile honors and protects them.
This might be their last stand,
but their story is not yet over.