Madagascar — S01E01 — Island of Marvels

00:00:12 DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: 60 million years ago,

00:02:18 Its unusual geological history,

00:04:20 that had washed in from Africa by chance.

00:06:48 She's a tenrec, another of Madagascar's own inventions.

00:09:41 is beginning an ambitious construction project.

00:12:07 it falls to the forest floor to hatch.

00:15:15 chameleons have taken a variety of paths

00:18:18 Here, there are still thousands of earthquakes every year.

00:20:48 Their mother is an old hand.

00:23:59 across razor sharp blades of stone, seem impossible.

00:27:28 There are no lions, no leopards, no wild dogs.

00:29:10 the west lies in a rain shadow.

00:32:13 The variation from north to south is extreme.

00:34:20 It's a delicate affair built of leaves and grasses

00:37:40 But they pretty much have it to themselves,

00:41:15 and they, too, have gone their own way.

00:43:56 It attaches silk to the shell and starts to haul it into a bush.

00:47:48 but radiated tortoises don't do anything very quickly.

00:49:42 Two thousand years ago, humans first came to Madagascar,

00:51:22 The team wanted to film its specialized way

00:53:16 We're trying to adapt this construction

00:55:04 in the hope that they'll come within sight.

00:56:39 They've gone to sleep.

00:58:23 It's the jewel in Madagascar's crown.