Nature "Deep Jungle"

Jungle expeditions were never like this. When NATURE "Deep Jungle" premieres this spring, viewers will see a world that Tarzan never could have imagined.

The three-hour miniseries, airing on PBS Sundays April 17-24 and May 1, 2005, will reveal how technology is changing the nature of jungle exploration, providing intrepid scientists with the means to unlock secrets that vastly enlarge our understanding of rainforests and the role they play in planetary ecology.

"What we're learning today about jungles and how we're learning it are almost equally fascinating," says executive producer Fred Kaufman. "These three films reveal as much about the boundless quality of human ingenuity as they do about the living components of the jungle itself."

Filmed in the rainforests of Borneo, Peru, Cambodia, the Central African Republic and elsewhere, "Deep Jungle" follows researchers as they climb nearly 200-foot-high jungle canopies, confront unknown species, unravel mysteries of animal behavior and explore hidden archeological sites that harbor clues about lost civilizations.

"It's all accomplished with a remarkable element of fearlessness and the inventive use of cutting-edge technology," says Kaufman.

The miniseries contains an array of unforgettable moments, several of the most striking of which involve jungle primates. In Brazil, for example, capuchin monkeys are seen hoisting small boulders above their heads and crashing them down upon nuts that would not otherwise open. This is the first time such tool usage has been captured on film.

Perhaps equally "chilling" are scenes in which a chimpanzee assails a smaller primate in a breathless pursuit high in the trees, and a group of chimps form an organized mob to ruthlessly persecute one of their own kind who has run afoul of the social structure.

Among the many scientists whose work is depicted in the mini-series are

-The real "spiderman," renowned arachnologist Martin Nicholas who, from a breathtakingly close range, confronts a previously un-catalogued species more than 10 inches in diameter;

-Chloe Cipolletta, whose ability to win the trust of lowland gorillas has expanded human insights into these primates and helped slow rainforest logging; and

-Biologist Roman Dial, an ecologist with superb athletic abilities that have enabled him to prowl the jungle "rooftop" to map its vast expanse and learn its relationship to the animals who live within its shelter.

-Ornithologist Kimberly Bostwick, whose groundbreaking study of the tiny and frenetic manakins of the Costa Rican rainforest revealed the eye-opening secret behind their unique courtship ritual.

These researchers are among more than a dozen scientists whose ingenious, and often dangerous, jungle projects are rapidly expanding humanity's understanding of the natural world and the indispensable role of the rainforests.

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