SURVIVING THE AMAZON – JUNGLE KILLERS

In the vast stretches of the Amazon Rainforest thousands of species are pitted against each other – engineered by evolution with ingenious weapons and defenses: speed, stealth, poison, cunning, jaws and ferocious claws - who will be victorious? A female jaguar stalks the riverbank. Jaguars are the largest terrestrial carnivore in the Amazon. Queen of the jungle, with her immense size and power she can take down other large predators like giant river otters, caiman and even anacondas. A green female spectacled caiman basks in the morning sun. Caiman have been stalking the Amazon for thirty million years. Cold-blooded, she lies motionless, waiting for the perfect moment to lunge at an unsuspecting passing victim. She’s a poker-faced killer. The jungle floor teems with killers. Venomous snakes are on the move. A fer-de-lance is looking for prey. With lethal venom and an enormous stretchable jaw, it will poison its victim then swallow it whole. A boa constrictor has a troop of squirrel monkeys in its sights. The monkeys flee to the upper canopy but up here the raptors rule - the fearsome harpy eagle is on the hunt and these plucky little primates are one of their favorite carry out meals. As darkness descends – it’s time for the night stalkers to emerge. A Colombian brown tarantula waits patiently to ambush unsuspecting prey. The size of a newborn puppy, this spider is too big to hang on delicately spun webs, she’ll launch her ambush on the ground. She’ll bite, then pump toxins through her fangs into her victim. Another arachnoid, the Brazilian Wandering Spider is on the hunt. She’s about the size of a mouse, she’s aggressive and armed with poison twice as potent as the infamous Black Widow’s. Her bite delivers powerful neurotoxins causing pain, paralysis and ultimately suffocation. The Amazon is vast - the largest rainforest on earth, covering more than five and a half million square kilometres – and the struggle for survival goes on in every inch. On the wing, in the water, wandering the land wielding venom or pure power these jungle killers do battle as they have since time immemorial… and survive, against the odds.