Yahoo News Mammals shows brave howler monkeys risking death on power lines
Sir David Attenborough's new documentary series Mammals concluded with a trip to Costa Rica, showing monkeys in grave danger.
What did you miss?
The final episode of Mammals saw Sir David Attenborough and his team focus on the forests of the world and the creatures that live in them. But, of course, humanity reared its ugly head — particularly in the case of the howler monkeys of Costa Rica.
These primates live in increasingly close proximity to humans. But, as a result, they come into contact with all of the things that make cities so dangerous, such as overhead power lines crackling with potentially deadly electric charge.
Who, what and why?
In his narration Attenborough explained that howler monkeys are increasingly required to encroach on human areas in order to find food. Given how rarely they leave their treetop homes and go to ground, they're naturally inclined to travel on power lines.
"Their grasping tails are now particularly valuable and reach cables above them. But if they touch more than one uninsulated electric cable, the shock will kill them," said Attenborough. "In the past three years, nearly 1,000 monkeys have been electrocuted here."
In tense footage, viewers saw a family of howlers make the perilous crossing safely. Writing for the BBC website, primatologist and researcher Inés Azofeifa Rojas explained how tough it has been for her to witness this decline in a species with a vital role in pollinating the forests.
She said: "As a researcher, I went from seeing howler monkeys in their natural environment, fulfilling their ecological role, to seeing them injured with severe burns from electrocution, to seeing them dying. Losing those forest spirits led me to work tirelessly to solve this problem."
Rojas chose to work with the Mammals team to help capture this footage of howlers and viewers also saw how she has helped with initiatives to build canopy bridges, enabling passage across roads away from the charged cables.
She said: "For me, this opportunity has been to be able to give a voice to the howlers about what is happening in their habitat, how they are losing individuals every day in electrocutions and how we must act now to not lose the howl of the forest."
Speaking tearfully at the end of the episode, she said: "When humans change the use of land, we forget that all of this land we are using is the habitat of many other species."
What else happened on Mammals?
Elsewhere on the forest-based episode of Mammals, the truly adorable Siberian squirrel became a real star with its flying exploits. Viewers also saw tigers and lions hunting in unusual ways as the climate of their forest homes has changed.
There was also first time ever footage of a forest bobcat in North America hunting massive salmon by patiently waiting at the side of the water. And there was also the usual dose of horror, with chimpanzees this time tearing apart smaller monkeys for their dinner. Wholesome evening viewing from the animal kingdom, as always.
Every episode of Mammals is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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