Cuba: Life Shelter | Go Wild

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] ER Planet the stability of the environmental conditions in the tropical regions makes them unique places for thousands of plant and animal species same time it turns them into the regions with the greatest biodiversity and productivity on Earth they are a true Garden of Eden [Music] in Central America in the Antilles Cuba is the largest of the islands that close off the Caribbean Sea its tropical climate in addition to its being an island adds an even more extraordinary aspect to its flora and fauna [Applause] thank you species the fruit of its geology and of its isolation speak to us at the time when the dinosaurs [Music] its unequaled state of conservation in the Caribbean invites us to dive into its surprising wildlife [Music] [Music] [Applause] the Republic of Cuba is an archipelago that covers a surface area of more than 110 000 square kilometers it is formed by the island of Cuba and almost 4 200 smaller islands and keys in this respect it is unique among all the countries on the Caribbean its extraordinary geology is what is molded the universe of the living beings that inhabited when observing any of the organisms that populate the island there is a high probability that it is unique in the world an exclusive product of Cuban nature even today no one knows the exact number of species that inhabit the island nor how many of them are exclusive to Cuba [Music] foreign it's practically untouched coral reefs in crystalline Waters and tropical rainforests make cube a habitat for Unique animal and plant species [Music] their preservation is a great challenge not only for the Cuban people but for all of us who inhabit this planet [Music] thank you [Music] in Cuba we can see two extraordinarily well-preserved ecosystems that are typical of shallow tropical waters on the one hand mangrove swamps and on the other coral reefs along the center of the Island's southern coast flourishes one of the best preserved Coral formations in the Caribbean Los jardines De La Reina Gardens of the queen the natural reserve of Los jardines De La Reina spreads from the Gulf of guacanayabo to the Bay of casilda it lies off the coast of the provinces of Sierra the Avila in gamakue and is made up of more than 600 keys [Music] [Laughter] coral reefs are one of the most spectacular ecosystems on the planet they are the most diverse productive and vulnerable Marine ecosystem [Music] [Music] underneath the surface of the sea they form imposing barriers dominated by hard and soft corals and by countless species that find Safe Haven and food in these formations [Music] [Laughter] foreign nutrients sheltered by the corals life multiplies in an explosion of biodiversity [Music] coral reefs are composed of millions of tiny Coral polyps which are tiny animals equipped with a central mouth and tentacles to trap food they are able to turn the sun's energy and the water scant nutrients into organic matter that is then available to the rest of the organisms in the coral reef community beginning with the corals the chain gradually becomes more and more complex with the development of thousands of different life forms from the vulnerable invertebrates to most evolved and complex fish [Laughter] [Music] foreign the tiny Coral polyps live in association with microscopic photosynthetic algae housed in the Coral's own tissues these vlg called symbiodinium allow the corals to create their external skeletons of calcium carbonate when the polyps die their skeletons endure and millions of new polyps establish themselves on top of them creating a reef after thousands of generations [Music] in this calcareous world each organism occupies a specific Niche and its role affects the rest of the community it's not easy to find food in the coral reef world and one has to specialize if one wants to have a chance to survive for these little rasses the solution involved becoming the cleaners of other fish in spite of their small size the rashes aren't afraid of any fish on the reef [Music] they all need to be free to the bothersome parasites and impurities on their skin so the various cleaner asses have permission to approach and treat everybody's body [Music] but the king of the reef the one who is above all others on the food chain is the shark Los jardines team with various species of shark [Music] earliest historical descriptions of coral reefs like those of Captain Cook in the late 18th century described an enormous abundance of sharks and of other large fish the latest scientific studies of coral reefs have determined that overall on well-preserved reefs 85 percent of the biomass in these ecosystems is higher Predators a situation that is the reverse of what today we would consider normal in any of the world Seas [Music] thank you the gigantic Coral structures that form the barrier that the reef represents also serve in an extremely valuable way to protect the coast of the island like a natural Dyke the coral skeletons reduce the impact of the Sea by restraining the waves creating a strip of calm Waters that stretch to the coast [Music] but after this first barrier a second one awaits the sea ready to absorb its Force before it reaches dry land The Mangrove swamp this is another the ecosystems that is characteristic of shallow tropical waters Cuba is home to one of the best places on the Caribbean to appreciate this ecosystem with a high degree of conservation it's called La cienegade Zapata or Zapata swamp the Zapata Peninsula is found just 160 kilometers south of Havana on the south central coast of Cuba and within it lies Zapata swamp which was declared a biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO and a ramsar wetland as well as a Cuban national park with a surface area of more than 4 500 square kilometers it is comparable in size to the Everglades in Florida in tropical estuaries the job of retaining the mud created by the mixing of the sediments borne by the rivers and the salts dissolved in the sea water is carried out by the plants called mangroves there are many species of Mangrove ranging from bushes to large trees ear among flooded soil Tangled vegetation and labyrinthine channels the wild inhabitants of Zapata have found refuge for centuries allowing plants and animals that live nowhere else or that are disappearing in the rest of Cuba or in the Antilles to maintain stable populations in the sapata swamp lands the success of mangrove trees in colonizing new areas is due to their extraordinary adaptation to their environment on the one hand they can grow in an acidic salt water habitat and on the other they have developed a singular method of reproduction when mangroves reproduce they grow one of Nature's Most curious means to transmit genetic material unique settlers that are prepared to travel long distances their seeds the seeds of mangrove trees germinate when they are still on the branches of the parent tree their spear-like shape is their first colonizing advantage when they have developed enough they fall from the tree and their pointed end often drills into the mud thus a new tree is planted and begins to grow now Roots emerge from the lower end while the stock and leaves grow from the upper end little by little the mangroves grow gaining Land from the sea and populating what they have already conquered foreign but the true reaches of the mangrove swamp are underwater the blend of fresh water from the Inland rivers with salt water from the sea produces an increase in the nutrients and consequently thousands of fish and invertebrates concentrate in those shallows foreign [Music] foreign [Music] countless species of fish find shelter and food and it is where we can discover when greatest Rarities the Cuban gar its origin dates all the way back to the Carboniferous period of the Paleozoic Era when the first reptiles appeared the Cuban gar is one of the most primitive fish and one of the first vertebrates to emerge on the planet consider an inhabitant of rivers and swamps the Cuban gar has a unique characteristic which is that it can get oxygen not only from its gills but also from its swim bladder this organ is full of blood vessels that are able to get oxygen from the air here in general this ancient fish is practically unchanged from its ancestors that lived millions of years ago [Music] they feed on other fish insects and the small shrimp that abound in these Waters the Cuban gar is an evolutionary success that has remained unaltered for millions of years [Music] but another Zoological treasure is found in the estuaries and Bays of Zapata and this one can measure up to four meters long and weigh close to 600 kilos the manatee this aquatic mammal is an endemic subspecies that is also known popularly as the sea cow the serenians which include the manatee are the only plant-eating marine mammals they number fewer than 150 000 in the whole world they are the most threatened marine mammals and the need for measures to protect them is a very pressing problem [Applause] their diet consists of a wide variety of aquatic plants spiced up with a few invertebrates which provides them with a significant amount of protein they consume 50 to 70 kilos of plant matter a day which means that manatees make a crucial contribution to controlling the amount of aquatic vegetation thanks to the manatees the channels don't get clogged up with plants although mangrove swamps are botanically poor ecosystems they are the perfect refuge for many birds looking for a place to breed that is hard to get to and yet has plentiful food birds that feed on fish like Pelicans cormorants spoonbills and ivises among others find an unequaled Safe Haven here so many of them establish permanent colonies an example of this is the flamingo which lives throughout the Caribbean Sea and is found in many places along the Cuban Coast unlike other birds that build their nests in the tops of trees the flamingo builds its circular Nest at ground level raising a little Hill some 25 centimeters high where the female lays one or two eggs this characteristic makes them especially vulnerable to damage to their environment the importance of the Zapata Peninsula as a wetland has been recognized by the convention on Wetlands of international importance especially as waterfowl habitat known as the ramsar convention which establishes its limits and regulates its use in conservation but the king of this watery Labyrinth is the Cuban crocodile known by the scientific name of crocodilus rhombopher it can be easily distinguished from other species of crocodile by two small protuberances on its head and the yellowish color of its Valley today it only survives in two very specific areas the Zapata swamp and Lanier swamp it is the crocodile with the most restricted habitat in the world and the most singular crocodilian species in the Americas its body is stockier than that of other species and its skull is noticeably shorter it is the largest endemic animal on Cuban soil centuries ago there were individuals that measured up to five meters long but today the largest Cuban crocodiles reach barely three and a half meters [Music] the Cuban crocodile's agility on land is surprising it's believed to be the result of the evolutionary adaptations of its ancestors when they hunted the giant sloths that once lived on the island they are the surviving members of a group that spread throughout the planet after the extinction of the dinosaurs and they have barely changed in 200 million years [Music] all right this swampy world is where they have found a perfect habitat that has enabled them to endure for millennia [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] another characteristic Cuban animal thrives on the Zapata Peninsula the hudia the hutia is a rodent that feeds on leaves tree bark and fruit they show great dexterity when they seize their food with their front paws which end in four well-developed fingers and a primitive thumb they inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems including forests Wetlands Rocky areas and mangrove swamps they're principal predators are the Cuban crocodile and the Cuban boa the most abundant and best-studied hutia is the desmerest tudya desmer estudia is usually found living in the hollows and labyrinths among the tree roots and in the crevices in rocks it reproduces at all times of the year but especially in the month of June the period of the greatest abundance of food when it suckles its young desmerest tutia is able to stay on the alert thanks to the positioning of its nipples on the sides in the mangrove swamp lowering one guards for just an instant can mean death the males mate with several females while the younger males that haven't formed families tend to move around alone until they find young females with whom to form a new family group [Applause] but in the Zapata swamp walking around by yourself while searching for a maid can be more deceived [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] in Zapata when The Mating Season arrives the adult crocodiles come together establishing the dominant hierarchy with Tales raised and mouths open in a display of force [Applause] the order and right to mate is decided here and none of the males is willing to give in easily this concentration of animals at the same Pond brings with it Greater aggressiveness and more conflict among them the menacing poses of The Mating Season rarely go beyond threats but if one of the crocodiles manages to catch a prey the tension of the courting rituals is augmented by the predatory aggressiveness and that can lead to all-out war [Music] [Applause] good although the combat looks impressive it's rare for them to produce significant humans after a few sporadic clashes it becomes clear who is the dominant male now the pond has a king and he imposes his rules [Applause] thank you foreign the winning male approaches a receptive female who appeases his aggressiveness by raising her snout in a sign of submission but until she manages to calm him down the excited male May attack her too when the male and female have accepted each other they begin a courting ritual with gentle movements almost as if they were dancing then the female submerges into the water expelling air through her nose and mouth and the male Mouser in a long compulation that can last up to 15 minutes [Applause] foreign than the Zapata swamp but of equal worth as regards its wealth of wildlife is the low jungle close to 80 percent of Cuba's endemic Birds depend on these dry semi-deciduous forests [Applause] the Cuban Trojan the Cuban Toady woodpeckers the Cuban parakeet and many others of the endemic species that are in clear Retreat on the rest of the island maintain stable populations here [ __ ] [Applause] in all it could be said that the sapata peninsula is the biggest bird refuge on the island the place where they find food and shelter [Music] the geology and hydrology of Zapata are as complex as the community of animals living there the sinkholes flooded caverns and superficial Rivers perforate the bed of limestone on which most of the peninsula's vegetation grows many of these sinkholes are filled with salt water and are home to species of reef fish some of them Reach depths of up to 50 meters [Music] the natural river system that links the various areas and blends its currents with the tides makes water one of the main elements in the swamp [Music] foreign is the longest and most complex Limestone Estuary in Cuba [Music] foreign Del Rio to come away must have been underwater during the upper Jurassic Period and it wasn't until the quaternary period when as the sea level Rose and fell during a series of glaciations the shape of the island was defined and it finally emerged with its current form in the westernmost part of the island the mountains of the Sierra de los organos are composed of very old blue Limestone which has given rise to a characteristic feature of the Cuban landscape Los movotes landslides down the sides of the hills have created this rare topographical shape which is only found in Cuba and on the melee peninsula the country's other large mountain range is found at the Southeastern end of the island and is called the Sierra Maestra this mountain range stretches over 250 kilometers from Cabo Cruz to the western edge of Guantanamo Bay [Music] this is the region where we can best contemplate the coastal pleistocene Terraces that border much of Cuba's Shoreline [Music] the geological history of the Caribbean is a history of tremendous twisting fracturing and friction such that it doesn't seem like there is any geological disturbance that hasn't taken place in this region of the planet the Cuban microplate belong to the Caribbean tectonic plate until about 40 million years ago when it broke away at the spot we know today as the Cayman trough this trough has the structure of a trench and is a transformed fault linked to an area forming the oceanic crust is at the extreme Southeastern end of Cuba at Guantanamo and stretches to the Cayman Islands In The West scientists from the University of Southampton and the United Kingdom's National oceanography Center have found the deepest and hottest underwater hydrothermal vents discovered on Earth at five thousand meters this was achieved using a remotely operated vehicle the Isis a submarine robot operated by the national oceanography Center the research was funded by the UK's natural environment research Council here at a depth of five kilometers and under tons of pressure emerge the hydrothermal vents related to the deepest submarine volcanoes found to date these volcanic sea vents register temperatures of over 400 degrees Celsius and until recently scientists thought that it was impossible for life to exist there but in fact they are full of unicellular organisms called archaea which are even more primitive than bacteria archaea don't depend on sunlight to get energy but rather they get it from the decomposition of the sulfur compounds pumped up through the sea bottom in turn the archaea are the first link in the food chain for many of the surrounding deep sea organisms foreign [Music] other forms of life that scientists have yet to classify remind us that even today in the 21st century we are deeply ignorant of what is at the bottom of the world's oceans foreign [Music] the oldest Geographic strata found in Cuba so far date back to the Jurassic period and are found in the Island's western region in this part of the island in vinales the plant that the Cubans call the palmacorcho is evidence that a part of Cuba's territory already existed in that remote time when flowering plants hadn't yet appeared on the planet and the Dinosaurs Ruled the globe the microcycus calacoma is one of the last cycads an order of plants which had tens of thousands of species back in the Mesozoic Era 200 million years ago this species which has no common name in English is a plant with distinct male and female trees whose reproductive organs take the shape of cones cycads grow slowly with trunks that may grow only one meter in 500 years their anatomical and physiological characteristics which are unique or rare in today's plant kingdom make the microcycus calicoma the jewel in the crown of Cuba's Flora on the Eastern end of the island at barakoa and maisi in Guantanamo Province we find another Cuban Rarity one of the world's most spectacular land snails both for its diversity and for its endemism these gastropod mollusks produce shells with extraordinary Hues that have won them Fame as the most beautifully colored snail on Earth they live in trees of many different kinds they feed exclusively on the fungi and lichens that fasten themselves to the leaves and bark of trees their sensitivity to changes in the humidity light temperature and salinity of their environment is the reason why they have been unable to adapt to other territories they are considered the symbol of Barako as fauna Cuba like the rest of the Antilles is a land where lizards rule Among The Roots stalks and Treetops thousands of them divide up the territory marking it and defending it with a sign's characteristic of each species each individual has its own territory and each tree it's lowered and master the anolis are the genus of lizards that is the most widespread and has the greatest number of species most of the species mimic the surface that they are on this camouflage is essential to their survival the anolest that live on the ground imitate the color of the dry leaves and grasses on the ground the ones that live on the branches and Trunks of trees are brownish Gray those that inhabit the leaves in the Treetops tend to be green in the forest going unseen can mean the difference between life and death the Cuban boa is the lizard's natural predator although they also hunt small mammals like bats and rodents none of the more than 20 species of snakes that live in Cuba is poisonous but the Cuban boa is the strongest and most feared in the Inland mountain ranges on the slopes that are moistened every day by the water droplets in the clouds that collide with the mountains at that height we find the clearest examples of tropical rainforests the raining humidity and temperature conditions in this habitat which are stable throughout the year favor the growth of exuberant jungles that include a great variety of species and where the upper reaches of the trees with their persistent leaves are clearly the dominant habitat here among tree Ferns and thanks to the constant blooming of thousands of flowers in the forest many of them endemic we find an exceptional bird that lives all over Cuba the Cuban Emerald oh these highly evolved nectarivores depend almost completely on the nectar secreted by flowers they get it by using their tongues and long specialized beaks these little hummingbirds are extremely quick and have an incredibly fast metabolism they're able to hover in place in the air because they beat their wings in a figure eight the smallest Cuban emeralds weigh less than three grams if necessary they can keep flying for four hours without perching even once which means that they can beat their wings more than a million times without resting they spend the greatest amount of energy per gram of body weight of all the warm-blooded animals they complement their basic diet of nectar with insects to obtain the proteins they need to breed all year round they tend to lay two eggs at a time which the female incubates for 15 or 16 days when the rainy season arrives the water is a curtain that is always closed the precipitation reaches an average of 1 liter 375 millimeters a year hurricanes cold fronts and southerly winds are frequent weather phenomena at this time of year and they affect the Western half of the country the most often water is an essential part of the Cuban environment no other element shapes Stone like water and water has drilled through Cuba to the Core water filters through the Cuban Limestone opening sinkholes Subterranean channels and caverns that endow Cuba's regions with the singular appearance of karstic landscapes from east to west to speak of Cuba is to speak of caves games [Music] on the rough walls of this shadowy and apparently still world with its multiple openings to the exterior through which air and life enter you find the Island's most abundant mammals bats bats form the largest group of mammals on the island not only as regards to the number of species but also in terms of the total size of their population but these Caverns are also inhabited by another animal the Cuban boa which spends the greater part of its early life in caves feeding on bats that fall to the ground accidentally or because they're sick snakes are prolific in Cuba and of all of them epicrates angulopher is the largest a Cuban boa can reach a length of more than three meters [Music] outside the caves they feed on lizards gutias and sometimes on birds and domestic fowl [Music] [Music] inside these caverns in the pools that the light can't reach lives one of the most fascinating and little-known creatures in Cuba the Blind Fish of the Lucifer genus very little is known about these fish known as blind brochulas or Cuban cuscules as scientists haven't been able to discover their deepest secrets yet the descendants of a nocturnal marine fish the various endemic Cuban cuscules were able to overcome the difficulties of living in increasingly fresh water and adapt to their new conditions this left some senses useless and required Nu senses in their place as the Cuban blind brochures live in absolute Darkness [Music] they gradually lost their coloring and their eyesight over the course of thousands and thousands of years in a universe filled with vibrations [Music] The Singularity of the blind brochures and of all the species and ecosystems found in Cuba is directly proportional to their fragility all have evolved in isolation without competition nor predators and for that reason at this moment in which economic growth is essential for the Cuban people it is necessary for this development to take place with caution and respect keeping in mind that what we are enjoying at this moment in time is the result of millions of years of evolution sustainable and environmentally friendly development will mankind find its place in the world which we seem determined to lose in the last century in that effort we are gambling our own future as a species [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Go Wild

Views: 152,779

Keywords: orf universum, documentary, blue chip, natural history, secrets of nature, planet earth, wildlife, free documentary, watch full documentary, nature films, wildlife films, go wild, nature, natura

Id: 8WKjKKLX2C4

Length: 52min 4sec (3124 seconds)

Published: Mon May 01 2023