‘One Wild Day’ Recap – ‘Episode Three: Jungles’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Three of ‘One Wild Day’.
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It is definitely safe to say that the BBC America series, One Wild Day, has done a phenomenal job of teaching us a great deal about how nature truly interacts in the wild. For we now know that organized chaos is the name of the game and that creatures big and small use the sun to dictate the path of their day. But while it has been quite amazing to see the creatures of the desert and the grasslands follow the sun’s lead to an absolute tee, one does have to wonder… how that process works when sunlight isn’t always bearing down on the landscape and thankfully, the next episode in this dynamic series took the time to explore just that.

For ‘Episode Three: Jungles’, took us into several jungles around the world, where the lush leaves and thick canopies tend to block out some of the light our sun sends our way and well, as it turns out… not having it consistently shine bright does indeed change a few things about how wildlife goes about its day. For example, the instant daylight peeks over the horizon, a great deal of the animals in these lush places kick into overdrive and waste zero time in getting to their early meals. To the point where even the groggy tend to shake off the cold of the night quickly. Such as hummingbirds for instance. For they flap their wings and push themselves hard to be ready and raring to go within a half an hour of awakening from their incredibly deep slumber, so they can get right to feeding since the competition for a meal at this time of day is as fierce as it gets, since so many work to eat before any heat bears down upon them.

But some however, are eager to find that warmth. For the lizards of this world know they need to find a good spot quickly to sunbathe before the light fades, in order to warm their veins, so they too jockey about to get a shot at enjoying some rays. But while this rush makes it appear as though it’s bedlam and panic in the jungle every single day, other creatures of this lush place… take their time in going about their day. For example, white faced capuchin monkeys wait a little while and let the heat help them find food, since it evaporates water from the pools beneath them, allowing for them to leisurely feast upon some jungle clams and then of course, there’s the three-toed sloth. An animal that waits until the mid-morning and early afternoon before it starts moving about, so that its body is properly warmed and ready to search for food. 

Yet what’s truly fascinating about how a day goes in the jungle, is that the animals here must put up with inclement weather on a regular basis. Since all the moisture in this lush environment, combined with the heat, allows for torrential rains to pop up often in the afternoon, forcing everyone to deal with the misery of warm rain and the bugs that follow that downpour. But even that, is a cue for a great many species, since they feast on those bugs and of course, once the sun goes down, predators use the cover of night to go about their business. In fact, the tarsier in southeast Asia, is built for the night. Since it boasts eyes as big as its brain and they use those eyes to hunt with ease while other species sleep and they’re not the only ones who enjoy the cover of night. Since the red-eyed tree frog of South America, loves to roam about until the sun comes up.

If anything, this truly was quite the fascinating episode when all is said and done. Simply because it gave us incredible insight into the functionality of a world where sunlight is both plentiful and non-existent and it was just incredible to know… that nature is keenly aware that a hint of light means the sun is out and warming our world, and that they need to get about their business and that heat tends to be a big clue for a lot of species in this environment in regard to how to handle their daily routine. Making their understanding of the sun and how it works, a touch more unique than the rest of the animals around the globe, and well… now that our journey through the tropics has come to an end, it will be quite interesting to see if this series is going to show us other parts of our world, where more animals exhibit a unique understanding of their relationship with the sun. Until next time. 

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