Aired (November 17, 2024): In celebration of the Born to be Wild's 17th anniversary, Doc Nielsen Donato journeys to the Turtle Island in Sulu, where he witnesses monitor lizards preying on sea turtle eggs.
Meanwhile, Doc Ferds Recio travels to Basilan to investigate the troubling rise of fox deaths in the area.
Watch this video!
Meanwhile, Doc Ferds Recio travels to Basilan to investigate the troubling rise of fox deaths in the area.
Watch this video!
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00:00There is a battle going on inside the sugar factory.
00:30They were expecting them to give more, and when that stopped, they were the ones who
00:43gave up.
00:44They were looking for food inside the house.
00:45Underwater.
00:46We are checking if there is more inside because most of the nests here seem to have been predated.
00:47Stealing territory.
00:48If it's like that, he knows that he has no chance.
00:49He is not that aggressive anymore.
01:19He is still there.
01:20She is still there.
01:21One of them is not giving up.
01:22It's huge!
01:23It's bigger than my palm.
01:24But they have a bigger enemy, us humans.
01:25For the longest time I have been diving, I have never seen anything like this underwater.
01:26It's only here in Mindanao that you find a lot of places where you can't see anything.
01:27That's why we are going to look for it.
01:28There are two tunnels.
01:29One is here.
01:30We are going to look for it.
01:31We are going to look for it.
01:32It's there.
01:33It's there!
01:34I'm going to look for it!
01:35I'm going to look for it!
01:36I'm going to look for it!
01:37It's there!
01:38I'm going to look for it!
01:39It's there!
01:40I'm going to look for it!
01:41I've been diving for a long time, but I've never seen this under the sea.
01:46It's only here in Mindanao that you can see a lot of them.
01:58This is what a panique looks like when it's hit by 12,000 volts of electricity.
02:06This place is said to be the habitat of a huge elephant that was eaten by a goat.
02:17It's not all over yet.
02:24We still have a lot to do.
02:26This basin, for more than 50 years, was under a lot of conflict and insurgencies.
02:36It's only now that they're finally coming back to life.
02:42Born to be Wild is giving it a try this November.
02:45My home is a mountain, a sea, and a valley.
02:51For the first time, the hidden beauty of Mitsulu and Basilan will be revealed.
02:57I choose freedom.
03:06To the rising world of man and life.
03:19Who is the real enemy?
03:25And who will remain strong?
03:36From Zamboanga City, our team will travel to the island of Mitsulu.
03:55Our mission is to witness a strange time in the life of the Mapawekans.
04:06Their adventure.
04:26We will visit a place known as Turtle Island.
04:36This island is not yet a common nesting site for the Mapawekans.
04:42Most of the time, in windy areas, they lay eggs.
04:49This is what they call the Turtle Sanctuary of Mitsulu.
04:55And this is where they lay their eggs.
04:57All the way to the end, this is where the Mapawekans lay their eggs.
05:03Before we witness the nesting season, we waited until nightfall.
05:09Where did this come from?
05:11It looks like an oil spill.
05:13It looks like it came from the Mapawekans.
05:23Is there any?
05:24No sir.
05:25No sir.
05:26No sir.
05:27No sir.
05:28No sir.
05:29No sir.
05:30No sir.
05:31No sir.
05:32No sir.
05:33No sir.
05:34No sir.
05:35No sir.
05:36No sir.
05:37No sir.
05:38Where?
05:39Where?
05:42It looks like they are laying eggs.
05:45We are going to patrol the shoreline.
05:55There.
05:56It's big.
05:59It went through there.
06:01We are going to dim our lights.
06:09The Mapawekans lay their eggs.
06:19When they leave the shoreline,
06:24they have to face a huge rock.
06:28They just need to find a place to lay their eggs.
06:39It's clear to this green sea turtle,
06:43that it's going to have a hard time.
07:01Even though it's hard,
07:09it doesn't stop.
07:21When the storm comes,
07:23it can't lay its eggs yet.
07:30Because it needs to clean its roots and leaves.
07:39Until,
07:42it started to dig its roots.
07:53Finally,
07:55it's able to lay its eggs.
08:08Now,
08:09it's going to leave its eggs.
08:15It's so big.
08:16It's so big.
08:18It's even bigger than my palm.
08:21Okay, bye bye.
08:25With the hope that they will be saved from the storm,
08:29the Mapawekans leave their eggs.
08:32Here, here, here.
08:35With the hope that they will be saved from the storm,
08:39and will be able to return to the sea when the time is right.
08:53The night is still long.
08:55A lot more can happen.
08:57One day,
09:00a Mapawekans mother stole our attention.
09:06She wanted to return to the sea.
09:09But,
09:10she was trapped in the rocks.
09:13Look at the struggle.
09:15The struggle that it takes to get out of the shore
09:20because this shore is rocky.
09:28We need to help her.
09:33I didn't expect the next thing to happen.
09:36Where did this come from?
09:37It looks like an oil spill.
09:39Do you have one too?
09:45It looks like it came from the Mapawekans.
09:49The body of the Mapawekans is covered with oil.
09:52According to our companions,
09:54it is possible that the oil came from machines
09:58that were thrown into the sea.
10:02Look at that.
10:04That's oil.
10:06It's a pity that we don't know what the effect is
10:09because they sometimes breathe in the shell.
10:12But if it is sealed with oil,
10:15it can affect them.
10:18We let her return to the sea.
10:21Especially that it was just a small storm.
10:24It was just a small storm.
10:36We rented the so-called Turtle Island
10:38in the province of Sulu.
10:43The sea turtle is not the only resident of the island.
10:49It is called Bibang here.
10:55He needs to look for breakfast.
11:03Until...
11:06He followed the sea turtle that he saw in the sand.
11:14He found food,
11:16sea turtles' skin.
11:24Sea Turtle
11:31On this island,
11:33I first noticed the findings.
11:39According to the residents,
11:41this is done by sea turtles.
11:47Sea turtles are eating
11:50the eggs of the sea turtles.
11:52Even though the eggs were not all in this shell,
11:57others were left behind.
12:03It is said that it is difficult and good to hide the eggs here.
12:07Until...
12:23When I caught it in the sea,
12:27I was surprised because
12:31it can swim like a turtle.
12:36It uses its tail as a propeller when swimming.
12:40When swimming,
12:51I caught the sea turtle to examine it.
13:06Sea turtles are predators.
13:08It is natural for them to catch and eat other animals.
13:13At this point,
13:15the sea turtles were chosen as their prey.
13:22This is not a fight that we should care about
13:26because the more dangerous
13:29are us humans.
13:32In the Hulusulu Wet Market,
13:35sea turtles' eggs are sold at a high price.
13:42In addition to eggs,
13:44adult sea turtles are also targeted.
13:48Because last year,
13:51in Haji Panglima Tahil,
13:5415 sea turtles died
13:58by the Philippine National Police Maritime.
14:04Sea turtles are the last ones to die.
14:08According to the Philippine National Police Maritime,
14:10the sea turtles were from other places
14:12and were caught by the Philippine National Police Maritime
14:15to be sold in neighboring countries.
14:19Sea turtles' life is like a war.
14:24Out of 1,000 hatchlings or new sea turtles,
14:27only one survives or becomes an adult.
14:35If they are lucky enough to reach the adult stage,
14:40they will face the many threats
14:44that we humans bring.
14:47There is illegal poaching.
14:50There are also many victims of propellers.
14:56While thousands die due to severe pollution in the sea.
15:02If we don't do anything now,
15:05the day will come when they will be gone forever.
15:18Flying Fox or Kabug is very close to his mother.
15:23While Panicky is saving his energy,
15:26he is very close to his mother.
15:31But this is the last time that his mother will hug his son.
15:40Because of the low electricity,
15:43many sea turtles can't go back to their home.
15:48The weather in Pasilan is clear and beautiful.
15:57That's why this group of flying foxes
16:01is quiet and resting on the trees.
16:07They are strong,
16:09but they are not afraid of anything.
16:12They are not afraid of anything.
16:15Their number one weapon
16:18is their strong legs
16:21to find food.
16:37Others,
16:39even on sunny days,
16:40never stop flying on the trees.
16:55You can hear the sounds of bats in this place.
17:00Usually, you can hear the sounds of birds in places like this.
17:05It's quiet because it's a marsh.
17:07It's a marsh.
17:10It's wide.
17:12Now, I can see this extensive
17:16roosting area of flying foxes.
17:27Flying foxes are not ordinary.
17:30They are the largest species.
17:32That's why they can't be easily defeated by their predators.
17:42But when they fly in the air,
17:45one thing is hard for them to avoid.
17:50The electricity wires.
17:56Two of their companions
17:58were killed by us.
18:00A flying fox was burned and almost unrecognizable.
18:06They were electrocuted
18:08by the wires of the electricity wires in the post office.
18:11This is what a panicked person looks like
18:14when he is hit by almost 12,000 volts of electricity.
18:19His skin is gone.
18:23It's really burned.
18:26Their death was caused by a wide brownout in the marsh.
18:32The wires are always connected to each other.
18:37Because if there is a blackout in Isabela,
18:39we will be affected.
18:46The bats have nothing to do with this place.
18:49They are just here.
18:50They don't step on the wires of the electricity.
18:56They are just here in the marsh.
19:00According to the leadership of Baselco,
19:03since 2010, there has been a lot of brownouts in the area.
19:07In 2017, they saw the panicked people
19:10hanging on the wires of the electricity.
19:13What we do is,
19:15the insulator that we use is small.
19:18So we replace it with a bigger one.
19:21The shortage is not rare.
19:24We showed the expert the picture of the flying foxes we caught.
19:29We were surprised by his revelation.
19:32It's possible that this is a new species of flying fox.
19:36I think it's the Theropus pisciosus.
19:39It's found in Southeast Asia,
19:41but it's unique in the Philippines
19:43because it's only in the Basilan area.
19:45It's only in the Basilan-Tawitawi group of islands.
19:49We also suspect that probably it's not Theropus pisciosus that we know.
19:54And the problem is that the species is understudied.
20:04There's still a lot of research to be done
20:07to confirm Sir Aloy's revelation.
20:09But regardless of the species,
20:11it's important to protect their species here in Basilan.
20:15Especially if they have a strong enemy.
20:21The battle between man and beast in Basilan
20:25is coming to an end
20:27because they are choosing this as their ally.
20:42Thank you so much for watching Born to be Wild
20:45For more stories about our planet,
20:48subscribe to the GME Public Affairs YouTube channel.