(dramatic music) - [Jane] Imagine the power of still photographic images.

Moments frozen in time that can change the way we perceive our place in the world.

(dramatic music) (inspiring music) "To The Ends of the Earth" isn't a new concept, it began when people first starting looking beyond the next ridge, the next valley, to the lands beyond the mountains.

They searched for the unknown, the unexpected, the surprising.

To map, catalog, and show to others.

Each explorer searched in their own way to push boundaries, expanding and sharing knowledge of what existed in the great beyond.

Here you will see through our photograph vision a story, "To The Ends of the Earth", photographed by Todd Gustafson, a lifelong personal search for the dramatic and the unexpected.

Traveling the world for decades capturing intimate natural history moments and dramatic wildlife action, Todd has brought to the viewer images from East Africa, Brazil, Namibia, Patagonia, Rwanda, the Galapagos Islands, India, Costa Rica, Madagascar, and the ocean realm, revealing common threads that exist between humanity and the natural world that forever bind our fates together.

Ancient map makers could only present what they knew.

Beyond the edge of the map was the unknown, inhabited by monsters and dragons.

Todd still pursues dragons in his personal search for the ends of the Earth.

(dramatic music) Through Todd's lens, we see a vanishing natural world.

We can see a world we have the power to protect.

We have a collective voice that can change the course of destruction to one of stability and rebirth.

"To The Ends of the Earth" is more than a magnificent collection of wildlife photos.

Todd's photographs allow us to experience vicariously the very behaviors people most want to see.

(dramatic music) - [Carl] For centuries, humankind has struggled mightily to distance our species from the natural world.

Here with, by the keen light of Todd Gustafson's eyes, the natural world.

Long ago, before the tongue had any word for beauty, we felt our response.

Images can evoke our feeling before we can come up with the words.

And these images are so evocative because they perceive deeply.

I have another name for the natural world.

I call it the real world.

For essentially all of Earth's history, all the living world's history, and virtually all of human history, there was no "natural" world.

The world was natural.

It was not a category, it was simply what was.

These images reflect and celebrate the living world.

But they imply a kind of heartbreak, for a living world so vitally unaware of how in peril it is.

(dramatic music) Can we not take a lesson from indigenous people who continue to live not as the Earth's stewards, but as part of a world that is natural.

Here, we will explore what it means to push boundaries as we travel from the roof of the world, the Himalayas, to the driest deserts on the planet like the great Namib.

And continue pushing boundaries in our exploration to the world's wettest rainforest of Madagascar and Costa Rica, all the while carrying the longest telephoto lenses, allowing us to maintain a photographing distance that helps prevent our presence from disturbing wildlife's natural behavior.

You will see how using the widest view fisheye lenses can capture panoramic vistas and create an unparalleled scene, and macro lenses that give the closest, most intimate view of the tiny creatures with whom we share this delicate planet.

- [Todd] Our goal is to capture, through still photographs and film, wildlife's intriguing behaviors and adaptations that tell stories of evolution, adaptation, and change in these animals who have pushed boundaries for millennia to possess unique characteristics that set them apart from all others.

(dramatic music) Nowhere is the need for the longest telephoto lens more apparent than in the Himalayas on a quest for the snow leopard.

Boundaries are certainly pushed at 14,000 feet, so when a mother and two cubs revealed themselves, it was a both a challenge and a joy to use 1,200 millimeters of telephoto lens to photograph them.

(dramatic music) In East Africa, wide open savannas allow photography from great distances.

It's a perfect location to use super telephoto lenses.

In rainforests, they give us intimate views into the lives of wary subjects high in the jungle canopy.

Super telephoto lenses give a compressed feel to distant subjects.

On the coast of Namibia, these Cape fur seals look like they'll be buried by an incoming wave.

These three week old lion cubs illustrate the importance of staying far enough away so as not to disturb their nursing.

(dramatic music) We've had some good long lens photography in the forest, but what I'd like to do now is look through the forest floor, bromeliads and buttress roots, and some of the really large tropical trees, and get a flavor for what it really feels like to be in a rainforest.

I'm gonna take this off of the big lens, and I'm gonna put a 10.5 millimeter wide angle lens on.

The complete opposite view of our super telephoto, and go on into the deep forest.

(shutter snaps) (lighthearted music) Now try it with a flash.

(shutter snaps) The idea here is to take these wide angle pictures and stitch them together to form our concept of what the feel of this forest really is.

Not the reality of it, because these trees aren't every two feet.

But the perception is that this is the rainforest.

(lighthearted music) The same multi-framed super panoramic technique can be used in the desert.

At a watering hole.

Anywhere.

(dramatic music) It's macro photograph at its best, right there is our subject.

A low subject that we can easily work with.

And we've got our macro setup.

A twin light flash, a 105 macro lens that allows us to focus really close on a subject.

- [Carl] Glass frogs make a dramatic macro subject.

Eggs are laid on leaves that overhang rainforest pools and streams, so hatching tadpoles drop to safety.

Male glass frogs stay with several different egg masses to protect them from predators.

You can see the back has markings that look like eggs.

When lit from below, it's easy to see why it's called a glass frog.

Perhaps nothing illustrates pushing boundaries in the natural world more than the seemingly infinite strategies animals employ to eat.

Lots of species eat in similar ways.

Whether on Himalayan cliffs or the tundra of Iceland, ungulates tend to be grazers and browsers, eating what is available in their diverse habitats.

The species that are most photogenic and add spice to the story are those whose habitats are uniquely theirs.

Physiological developments have evolved over a millennia to fit each specific feeding need.

A prime example of physical adaptation and specialization are the chameleons.

More than 90 species of chameleons are endemic to the island of Madagascar, where pushing the boundaries of evolution is the norm.

Chameleons can change colors to fit their environment or mood.

Their unique halting walk confuses prey.

Their eyes operate independently of each other, but most amazing of all is the hunting strategy where their tongues have evolved to lengths of up to 1 and a half times their body length.

The tongue extends to the prey in about 130,000th of a second.

Once the tip sticks to its prey, it is drawn quickly back into the mouth where the chameleon's strong jaws crush and eat it.

Also endemic to Madagascar are 104 species of lemurs, primates who live nowhere else in the world.

Lemurs are intriguing animals with each species being distinct from all others.

Some are fiercely territorial, while other species live in groups of 10 or more.

(dramatic music) Most of their time is spent in the trees eating fruit, leaves, bark, buds, insects, and seeds, but diet varies among different species.

Some, for example, are mainly insectivorous, whereas others feed almost exclusively on foliage and fruit.

(dramatic music) The enigmatic, rarely seen aye-aye is a long fingered lemur with rodent like teeth that perpetually grow, and especially adapted long, thin middle finger.

It is the world's largest nocturnal primate and is characterized by its unusual method of eating coconuts.

Although omnivorous, they are perfectly adapted to bite through the coconut husk using their forward slanting incisors to create a small hole in which they insert their narrow middle finger to pull out the coconut meat.

Humans are most closely related to the great apes of the family Hominidae.

That includes orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos.

Of the great apes, humans and gorillas share 98.4% of their DNA.

Mountain gorillas have carefully practiced techniques for eating vegetation.

There is an abundance of nutrient rich, water filled thistles that gorillas have learned to eat by pointing the sharp leaf ends down when they feed.

Mountain gorillas don't drink water, and get 100% of their moisture from plants that grow in the high volcanic mountain forests.

It's fascinating to watch the seemingly casual way they pick and eat the most succulent of all the plants that surround them.

A plant called gallium is a favorite food of gorillas for its flavor and texture.

(dramatic music) There are over 47 species of leafcutter ants.

The species of tropical, fungus growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America.

Leafcutter ants can carry 20 times their body weight as they cut and process leaves, flowers, and grasses to serve as the nutritional substrate for underground fungal growth, which they cultivate.

Their societies are based on what's called an ant-fungus mutualism.

Different species of ants grow different species of fungus.

The ants actively cultivate their underground fungus, feeding it with freshly cut plant material, and keeping it free from pests and molds.

The fungus cultivated by the adults is used to feed the ant larvae, while the adult ants feed on leaf sap.

The fungus needs the ants to stay alive, and the larvae need the fungus to stay alive, so not only does it benefit both, but each could not survive without the other.

When the ants are out collecting leaves, they can be attacked by phorid flies, a parasite that will lay eggs into the crevices of the worker ants heads.

Often a protector ant will sit on a leaf and ward off possible attacks.

Every 5 to 6 years, the colony's queen dies.

The workers drop their leaves and migrate to a new nesting area.

At these times, it is possible to see the massive fungus growing from cuttings left above the ground.

(unnerving music) (tropical music) A unique adaptation is the shape and use of macaw beaks.

One of their favorite foods is palm nuts.

In central Brazil, hyacinth macaws feast on groves of palm nut trees by selecting the ripest of the fruits.

Their beaks are perfectly adapted to the palm nut's shape, and with help from their dexterous claws, they make quick work of the tough husks.

The next challenge is the hard interior nut shell.

It's no match for the macaw's sharp, powerful, perfectly shaped beak.

(lighthearted music) Speaking of beaks and bills, birds of the world have pushed boundaries since the age of dinosaurs and have developed countless variations of beak sizes, shapes, and purposes.

(lighthearted music) Let's explore some of the more dramatic results of that evolution.

These roseate spoonbills filter the water of shallow lagoons for small fish and crustaceans.

(lighthearted music) Pelicans scoop up fish.

The aptly named flowerpiercer doesn't drink nectar from flowers like most birds.

They go right to the source and pierce the base of the flower to drink with their specially adapted beak.

(lighthearted music) Aracaris are members of the toucanet family.

Their wonderful colors and handsome beaks make them a prized photo subject.

However, they are voracious eaters and use their specialized beaks to reach into and rob other birds' nests.

In South America, the diminutive hornero builds an oven like nest of mud with a curved entry like a horn to thwart the aracaris.

Sloths are the very embodiment of adaptation.

They have been around for millions of years.

Giant sloths the size of elephants roamed North America grazing on cenozoic trees.

We can still see the effects on their foraging by looking at the protective bark that trees evolved as a defense.

Today, the closest living relatives to sloths are armadillos, tamandua, and giant anteaters.

(dramatic music) Just look at the front claws of the giant anteater.

They're specially adapted to dig for ants, but they are reminiscent of sloth claws.

(dramatic music) The tamandua does the same, but can also use their claws to climb trees.

The sloth species most likely to be seen in Central America are the two-toed... And the smaller, slower three-toed sloths.

They aren't closely related.

In fact, they aren't even in the same family, but have evolved similar characteristics and habits through convergent evolution.

Two-toed sloths are omnivores who eat leaves, fruit, insects, and even small lizards.

Three-toed sloths eat mostly cecropia leaves.

They live almost exclusively in trees, having sets of three curved claws perfectly suited to grip tree branches.

Their incredibly slow metabolism goes hand in hand with their slow movements, which may also help camouflage and protect them from predators.

Their diet consists only of fresh cecropia leaves.

Babies have a close relationship with their mothers for the first six months, after which they move to a nearby tree and still communicate with soft calls.

Living most of their life upside down have caused the hair on sloths' legs to grow towards the body instead of away, to help shed rain water.

One of the sloth's most intriguing features is the symbiotic relationship with over 80 species of algae and fungi that live in the sloth's hair, giving it a multi-hued green color.

(dramatic music) - [Todd] As sloths tend to eat one plant species, so do Madagascar's tiny giraffe beetles.

First discovered in the 1860s, this rarely seen insect's entire life is lived in a forest habitat of less than a few square miles in eastern Madagascar.

Within this small area grows the anecdotally named giraffe beetle tree, on which the giraffe beetles eat, live, mate, and reproduce.

(dramatic music) Females have short necks, while the male's long, articulated neck is used in nest building and fighting.

They're one of my favorite macro photo subjects.

If you wanted to be able to eat the tastiest bugs that lived on the edges of rivers and ponds, I suppose the best way to do that would be to develop long, widespread feet half the length of your body.

That's exactly what jacanas have done.

Their elongated toes and nails allow them to walk on top of floating aquatic vegetation.

From a photographer's point of view, I love to catch the moment when their feet are showing.

The moment that defines what makes them unique.

(lighthearted music) 3 of the 8 jacana species are the African jacana, northern jacana, and the wattled jacana.

When they fly from lily pad to lily pad, their amazing feet dangle behind.

And just as they land, there's a momentary wing stretch that's a challenge to capture.

- [Carl] Our journey of discovery takes us to deserts.

A desert must have an evaporation rate 10 times higher than its annual rainfall.

Here in the great Namib Desert, evaporation is 300 times rainfall.

That weather feature would seem to make this habitat devoid of life.

However, these trails and tracks tell a different story.

(dramatic music) Even in this most inhospitable land, life will find a way.

(dramatic music) Look at this beautiful shovel-snouted lizard.

Reptiles have adapted to temperature extremes by burying themselves in the sand during the heat of the day, and hunting when the temperatures drop.

Palmatogecko is one of the spectacular creatures who have adapted to this desert world.

Dancing white lady spider, (dramatic music) sand diving lizard, and sidewinder have all pushed boundaries to survive in this harshest of environments.

(dramatic music) 1,500 year old Welwitschia plants have adapted to desert conditions.

Nara plants are crucial to the formation of desert landscapes.

Their specialized roots can grow longer and longer as the dune grows taller.

Here are seemingly dry gasses whose patterns follow an underground water source.

900 year old fossilized acacia trees stand where there was once a reliable oasis.

(dramatic music) (water running) Water is life.

Understanding this simple concept can put a photographer in position to capture some of the dramatic struggle for survival that centers around a life giving water source.

Here we can see life pushing boundaries as animals use adaptations to sustain life at rivers, streams, ponds, water holes, or even a flower's petal.

(lighthearted music) - [Todd] Anytime a photographer is near still water, reflections can become a part of the photographic story.

The success or failure of the photograph is reliant on the success on finding dramatic scenes or wildlife to include in the reflections.

(whimsical music) A classic photographic location is the African watering hole.

Herds and individual animals travel great distances in their daily routine to visit their favorites.

The approach can vary from a patient, unrelenting walk, to a joyous, leaping run to water.

Some carefully walk to the edge and sip, while others go in up into their chests to guzzle as much as they can.

(dramatic music) - [Carl] Here's a story told in film and stills.

It tells of a single afternoon at a desert watering hole and the competition for access to this precious life-giving liquid.

The cast of characters includes hyde crow, kori bustard, black-backed jackal, springbok, oryx, honey badger, and lions.

(dramatic music) As water is life to these wild creatures, light is life to a photographer.

The word photography has its roots in ancient Greek, literally "painting with light".

(lighthearted music) - For a photographer who has traveled to the ends of the Earth to photograph the natural world, the color, amount, quality, and direction of light is crucial to the look and feel of the photograph.

Direct front light.

Clouded light.

Back light.

Overexposure and underexposure.

As well as slow shutter speeds all have their place in a photographer's technique.

Dramatic photos can be made with sunlight pointed right at the main subject.

I think that works with golden early morning, or even clouded light.

Carefully chosen back lit subjects can capture a viewer's imagination by highlighting dust or a rim light around the subject.

I typically underexposure the shot to add contrast to the image.

If I include dry grass in a back lit scene, I'll overexpose to give the animal detail while making the grass take on a golden glow.

(dramatic music) On a bright, sunny day where colors are washed out, I'll sometimes heavily overexpose a shot to the point where only black and white exist.

Just look at these three views of the same location.

One is pre-dawn light, the next is full sun, and the third is the magical half hour in between.

It's hard to find the exact right time and place for this, but an interesting technique is to use a slow exposure on a still subject with surrounding subjects in motion.

They create a wash of blurred activity around the static main subject.

Boy, this is nice.

It's a well defined line of wildebeest.

They're doing an in the crater migration.

So the herds will head from one end of the crater to the other, depending on whether there's been some fresh rains and new grass.

This line goes from there to there.

Really nice.

The trick here is to find one still animal with animals moving around him.

That's pretty cool.

Okay, again, I like that.

And a longer exposure making more motion.

(dramatic music) - [Carl] What separates a bad photo situation or even a good one, from a great one?

- If I see a subject, the first inclination is to say there's a bird, click.

What's it sitting on?

Is it sitting on a fence post, or is it sitting on a beautiful vine covered branch, or a dramatic nest?

So, that's part of the story you can tell easily.

This morning there was a rufous-tailed hummingbird.

He was in a bush.

If you took the picture from your first vantage point, there were sticks and leaves and all kinds of clutter behind it.

If you went three meters to the right, you still had that bird, but it was a soft green background.

If you moved six inches more, you could see the tail, and you could tell the story that this was a rufous-tailed hummingbird, it's not just a bird.

It's a hummingbird, and it's a rufous-tailed hummingbird because you can see it.

So, I much prefer that as the picture.

I continually ask myself if I'm taking a picture of a subject, here a stack of Pantanal caiman, or a situation, also a Pantanal caiman, but this time in a much more interesting way.

Floating past this magnificent tiger heron gave us the perfect chance to analyze the background, the bird's posture, to choose the best moment for a photo.

This Verreaux's dancing sifaka gave us everything.

Perfect light, approach angle, nice background, but he had thistle stuck in his fur.

The very next sifaka did the same, but just look at his fluffy, white coat.

This guy chose a lovely shaded area to dance, but the background is less than ideal.

Now we have a sifaka with fluffy fur and a dark background, and his back is to us.

And finally, everything is just right, and he's facing us.

Our work here is done.

(whimsical music) - [Carl] Mountain gorillas live in some of the toughest shooting locations in the world.

The volcanic landscape has different vegetation that can make or break a photoshoot.

- [Todd] Bamboo is the worst, as it creates stripey lines of dark and light that makes getting a good look at the gorilla's dark fur impossible.

Bright sunlight can ruin a scene as well.

My favorite situation for these dramatic subjects is clouded light with open forest green around them.

Here's the same subject and light in two situations, moments apart.

One on the road, the other in golden grass.

(lighthearted music) Picture traveling to the ends of the Earth to Brazil's Pantanal, and you've just spotted the elusive jaguar.

There she is.

Shoot, shoot!

Or do you wait and hope that she comes out, a good shot in its own right.

Do you then wait 'til she walks onto a sandy beach along the river?

Or do you wait for the hunt to take her up on one of the massive root systems?

Knowing what the situational possibilities are will help you photograph your subject in more powerful situations.

The point here is to get the best of what a situation offers, but be open to new situations that are better.

If you're taking time on a sub-par situation, you are, by definition, not actively looking for a better one.

- [Carl] Ears are fascinating.

Every animal has different ears that serve each of them in different ways.

The caracal's tufted ears are built to listen for birds.

(lighthearted music) They patrol the savanna and lock onto prey.

This chital fawn listens for the sounds of a predator.

Bat-eared foxes are insectivores who live in colonies of up to 16 individuals.

They use their highly developed ears to listen for the sound of insects that live on the plains.

Here they have found a colony of termites, and feast on the migrating insects.

(dramatic music) - [Todd] As one who enjoys theme based photography, I love ears.

(lighthearted music) Staying with themes, why not explore the details of fur texture and design.

Not only species differences, but variations within each species.

(lighthearted music) Zebra stripes are often compared to fingerprints, as each individual has its own stripe pattern.

(lighthearted music) And how about eyes.

Every lemur species has a distinctive eye color.

- [Carl] Here's our chance to enjoy some of the heroes of the natural world.

(dramatic music) Howler monkeys communicate over huge distances to let others know where they are.

(monkeys screeching) Skimmers have a beautiful way of communicating during courtship.

A couple chooses a nesting site.

They defend it against all others.

The female completes the nest while the male skims for a fish.

(birds chirping) The fish is offered to the female.

(lighthearted music) And once the transfer is complete, the beautiful flurry of wings signals the mating.

(lighthearted music) (birds chirping) In the forests of Madagascar live the endangered black indri.

These lemurs call to family members to keep track of each other while feeding.

The haunting calls are reminiscent of whale's song.

(lemurs calling) - [Todd] Photographers who can learn the way wildlife communicates can prepare for and photograph the most dramatic events without feeling of "Oh, I missed the shot of a lifetime."

Or "I got a miracle shot!"

(lemurs calling) (birds calling) - [Carl] In the deserts of western Namibia, pairs of Rüppell's korhaan feed in the sand and sparse vegetation.

They are monogamous, and use their funny frog-like voices in duet to keep in contact with each other.

(birds calling) Tink frogs join the light chorus to attract mates.

(frogs beeping) (bird calling) East Africa's rattling cisticola sings for the same reason.

(bird calling) (lighthearted music) (cockroaches hissing) Madagascar's hissing cockroaches have different hissing sounds for different reasons, like alarm, aggression, or as in this case, courtship.

Here is a different communication altogether.

Meerkats have sentries who warn the community of imminent danger.

It's the same with gazelles, impala, or springbok.

The entire herd is aware of an approaching predator.

Nowhere is listening to wildlife for alerts to danger more important than in India.

Tigers roam these forests, and all the animals are aware of an approaching predator.

Their communication is vital to their survival and crucial to a photographer.

Monkeys, peacocks, barking deer, spotted deer, and sambar all have distinct alarm calls that inform us where to be when the tigers reveal themselves.

(monkeys screeching) Can we as a species reconnect with the natural world?

Can we raise our awareness, listen to the alarm calls, and remember our place in a world in which we have become such a major influence?

In this documentary and through the beauty of these images, the toucans, the jaguars, the elephants and chameleons, we join them as the living links in the incomprehensibly great chain of being.

They represent the deep sweep of time.

They represent where life has brought us.

They are who is with us still now.

- [Jane] And think how these wild creatures have so much in common with each other, and with us.

Through Todd's lens, we see a vanishing natural world.

We can see a world we have the power to protect.

If we of all creatures can best understand consequences and plan far ahead, then let us do so.

- [Todd] I choose to use my photography to stand with nature, our delicate planet, and the wildlife shown in this documentary.

- [Jane] "To the Ends of the Earth" is sharing the Earth's beauty to illustrate exactly what is at stake.

Imagine a world without elephants, lions, giraffes, and those are just the obvious animals at risk.

Collectively, these images explore different aspects of the animals' behavior, a visual commentary on what it means to be born free into the last wild places.

(dramatic music) (intense music)