The Future is Wild

Prairies of Amazonia (1x4)

Air date: Apr 23, 2002

Prairies of Amazonia is set in South America where the Amazon used to stand in 5,000,000 years time. It features three species:- Carakiller - a descendant of the caracara which has evolved to replace land predators. Babookari - a descendant of the uakari which lives like baboons and has discovered how to catch fish. Rattleback - a descendant of the agouti or paca which has developed tough armour and can live through quickly-passing grass fires. This episode shows that due to the cooling of the planet, the Amazon rainforest has vanished and has been replaced by grassland. Most primates have died out but the Babookari has evolved to live on the plains. They have also become much cleverer and can now make nets out of twigs to catch fish. There is also the Rattleback, a heavily defended rodent which is somewhat fireproof and birdproof and lives on a diet of Carakiller eggs.