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Tale of the Tides - script 00.28 In Africa there is a fable that explains the creation of the tides. 00.35 There was a time when all the animals gathered to feast on the shore. 00.44 They came from the sea and the from the bush and got on well - until the day, one of them announced that, as she was the hungriest, she wanted the shore for herself. 01.01 It was the hyaena, whose demand upset the little mud skipper, who was equally hungry and resented being bullied - so he declared the shore his. 01.23 The two decided to settle the dispute with a drinking contest - the winner would rule the shore. 01:35 Their selfish behaviour angered the god, Mungu, who wanted all the animals to share the shore 01:43 - so as they drank he tilted the world and the sea flowed inland. 01.56 No-one could win then, and to stop any animal claiming the shore, Mungu left the world gently rocking - so the sea would flood in and out twice a day. 02.11 In this way he created the tides - so that all could visit to feed, but none could stay very long. 02.29 Today, the north Kenyan coast is one of the few places where East Africas’ land animals can still come down to the shore. 02.37 It is a tidal no-mans land - a mosaic of sand dunes and mangrove forest - carved up by channels, forced through by the tides. 02.50 Where hills of sand blow through to the mangroves, the two shores are locked like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle - a place where all the animals now tune their activities to the tides. 03.08 A striped hyaena sets off in search of food - as now the tide is going out. 03.26 The next few hours will reveal more of the shore for the tides have expanded it to create the richest of feeding grounds. 03.38 A porcupine will soon retire to a sea-cave to sleep. It has been up beach-combing most of the night, in search of sea-nuts, that have been stranded by the tide. 03.52 The nuts’ fatty flesh is a favourite food. 04.15 The porcupine cannot fire its quills, but they come out very easily, so if it stops suddenly or jumps quickly sideways it can still score a hit. 04.38 The quill is a modified hair with tiny barbs that make it difficult to pull out. 04.51 It might not look edible but, like all hair, it is made of protein - and for a hungry hyaena, even a quill can be breakfast. 05.11 Almost every creature here is an opportunist and what was a meagre start to the day for a hyaena, promises to be a feast for a ghost crab. 05.38 In the days of slave-trading on the Swahili coast, cowrie shells were used as money. 05.49 Today, the natural currency here ......is crabs. 05.57 Of all the animals that once visited the shore it is crabs that have made the most of this new-found land. They come in all shapes and sizes - and as the tide falls out they come.... 06.18 They have spent high tide cramped under-ground so they stretch and flex before starting their chores. 06.31 Crabs have to clear out after every high tide, but it is not the highest price they will pay for living on the shore. 06.42 Although crabs are now the dominant life form, Mungu has ensured that they do not dominate the shore for, if you are not a crab here, the chances are that you eat them. 07.08 With a frog’s head and a scaly tail, a mud skipper might appear an amphibian mermaid, but it is really a fish that can live out of water. 07.23 Ten centimetres of crab-catcher with a spring loaded tail. 07.53 Mudskippers are territorial and, provided they can keep their skins moist, will not move far from shelter. 08.03 With the tide falling, they prefer to stay up in the mangroves - in an extraordinary forest that grows between the tides. The trees stand on prop roots, so it looks like a land forest without any topsoil. 08.20 There is surprisingly little leaf litter - for as soon as a leaf falls, it triggers an accelerated feeding frenzy. 08.42 Mangrove whelks are efficient recyclers - from whole leaf to compost in less than twenty four hours. 09.02 Creating a new mangrove is just as efficient. 09.07 A seed germinates while attached to the tree, to produce a green spike, heavy with nutrients. 09.19 Set like a hair trigger, it then breaks at a fracture point - and is instantly planted. 09.35 A seedling will be safe, once it shoots, for few animals eat the mangroves’ green leaves - but until then, it is vulnerable.... 09.51 The nutritious green spears are a favourite with vervet monkeys and porcupines. 10.10 Neither animal likes to venture in soft mud, so most of the seedings will survive, waiting for that time when a clearing in the forest will allow them to race towards the light. 10.28 A chameleon, in search of insects, sees the pods as a short cut to the tree. 11.22 For those creatures living on the forest floor, every ripe mangrove pod becomes a Damocles sword.... 12.01 Fiddler crabs must keep on their toes for if one fails to react - it can be a fatal mistake. A crab plover is a specialist, and although it can catch fish, that heavy black beak is best for one thing..... 12.48 A fiddlers’ large claw contains the most meat , but a plover rarely eats it. 12.58 It knows that, even unattached, a crabs’ claw can still trap the unwary. 13.20 With such rich pickings on the shore, a troop of vervet monkeys from inland, will spend low tide feeding in the mangroves. 13.31 They post look-outs as they go for moving down through dense bush is always a dangerous time. 13.43 A caracal is the African lynx. 13.52 Coloured like a lion, it can climb like a leopard and it has muscle to spare. 14.03 Pound for pound, it is one of the most powerful predators in Africa. But now it has been seen, it must try and force a mistake. 14.45 The vervets’ agility gives it the advantage in the outer branches. Now that the caracal can’t take it by surprise, the monkey will shadow the cat, and broadcast its position to the rest of the troop. 15.24 As the water level falls , the vervets will forage along the shore - gleaning small morsels provided by the tide. 15.48 Like the crab plover, a vervet monkey knows exactly how to deal with a crab. 15.57 The technique is brutally effective - grasping the legs from behind, to keep the claws clear, before prising off the shell - like opening a bottle. 16.23 Crab-catching is a skill that is handed down from mother to infant. 16.34 Like any skill, it takes practice. 16.51 To distract an attacker, a crab can cast off a limb; so the skill, like the crab, can be acquired bit by bit. 17.06 With a troop of vervets feeding, a rain of crab pieces is enough to tempt fish from the sea. 17.47 The plug has been pulled on the mangroves now and the water is disappearing fast. At the channel mouth, it is all draining out to the Indian ocean. 18.06 The hyaena patrols the waters’ edge to be the first to find something edible uncovered by the tide. 18.19 Ghost crabs are snack-sized competitors which only a hungry hyaena will attempt to catch - for while the striped hyaena combines a powerful neck with bone-cracking jaws, it has a delicate muzzle. 19.01 This time to distract an attacker, a ghost crab forfeits a claw - but as a crabs’ limbs can grow back, it will not be disarmed for long 19.21 Low tide might not seem a safe time for a crab to be out, but high tide would be worse - for a crab has even more enemies underwater. One of which, breaks all the rules..... 19.41 Incredibly, an octopus deliberately strands itself to catch crabs. It must subdue its prey and eat quickly, for it’s in a race against time - such a shallow pool will quickly get too hot for it, and the oxygen it contains will soon be used up.... 20.13 It will be hours before the tide comes back in - but the octopus knows this, and it knows how to crawl. 20.55 The octopus’s ability to move means that it can keep ahead of the receding tide - not so these anemones, which are in danger of drying out. 21.08 Clown fish shelter in their tentacles for protection against predators, like this grouper. 21.19 It is a close relationship, but with the water-level falling, the strength of the little fish’s allegiance is about to be put to the test. 21.30 Normally, the anemones never dry out - but a combination of equinox spring tide and high pressure is combining to produce the lowest tide here for many years. 21.53 Remarkably, a clownfish stays where it has always felt safe - but its’ cloak of protective tentacles, now risks becoming a shroud. As long as the fish are not spotted by a predator, they should survive - to be released by the tide. 22.27 Out at the mouth of the channel, the sea’s predators are gathering - waiting for the flood tide that will take them up into the mangroves. 22.51 Even a giant whale shark ventures close to shore, for the feeding is rich at the mouth of the channel. 23.03 The sharks’ lazy movement is mimicked by a shoal of young porcupine fish, swimming like some huge sea-creature fashioned from clock-work parts. Until now, they have lived far out at sea in the safety of the shoal. That lifestyle is over: on the rising tide the shoal will fragment, and each little porcupine fish will take up life in a mangrove channel . Part 2 23.51 In this remote corner of northern Kenya, the one force that cannot be denied is the tide. 24.01 Twenty years ago, elephants braved the currents to swim across these channels. 24.07 They were some of the last to be poached. 24.14 Today, only a skull remains - to remind us that they once cast shadows on the shore. 24.23 There is still a presence in the skull - for it is now home to a nodding blenny. 24.39 A tiny wrasse uses it to advertise its cleaning service for the skull acts as a billboard in an otherwise featureless landscape. 24.50 A porcupine fishs’ spines rarely fall out, but they do get damaged - so this adult stops by for a manicure. 24.59 The wrasse pares away damaged tissue and so helps wounds to heal; but whether its fussy ministrations hurt or simply tickle, they seem to bother the porcupine fish. 25.18 It will move on up towards the flooding forest, now that the tide has turned........ 25.41 In the wake of the tide the seas’ predators will follow. 25.47 For the smaller creatures the option is to come up... or get down. No-one wants to be caught out underwater. 25.59 A fiddler crab will plug up its hole, to protect it from predators and seal in the air. For these creatures that came from the sea would now drown if they stayed underwater- it is just one of the sacrifices they have made for their place on the shore. 26.31 Batfish are poor swimmers. Now that the tide is picking up, they lean over to stay close to the seabed, where the current is less strong. 26.50 Mangrove snails will spend high tide in the trees. 26.59 Their thin shells will protect them against drying out - but they are no defence against the jaws of a porcupine fish. 27.08 The porcupine fish is attended by a tiny remora, which will steal scraps if it can. Remoras prefer to ride on sharks but, like any youngster with their first set of wheels, a baby remora can’t afford to be choosy. It will move up to something faster when it can. 27.30 Although snails flee from the threat below - it is no safer up above. 27.52 In the flooding forest the predators are changing shifts, as it is about to become a nursery for a whole menu of fish. 28.13 Mangrove snappers are powerful hunters that have come up on the tide. 28.23 They hang about, apparently uninterested in the gathering sardines - waiting for the shoal to reach a critical mass. 28.34 Then their tactics are like those of the caracal - to apply pressure from below and try and force a mistake. 29.08 As the water-level rises, the first of the young porcupine fish enter the mangroves. The rest will follow, but first they must run a gauntlet of snappers and grouper. 29.33 The little fish’s spiky defence relies on it being able to drink its own weight in water in less than a second. But if that is not enough the skin is toxic, so each time a predator bites, it gets its mouth pricked with poison. 30.05 Any little fish must be wary now. 30.12 But while a mud skipper can hide up a tree, a close relative must hide down a hole. This goby has teamed up with a prawn that behaves like a mechanical shovel. 30.27 The digger is almost blind, but its feelers keep it in contact with the lookout. If the goby senses danger, then its’ movements alert the prawn. 30.46 To prevent themselves being eaten, prawns and their relatives form alliances with some unlikely partners. 31.03 Crayfish regularly move in with moray eels. 31.13 It is a true partnership: first rate protection in return for acting as bait - for the crayfish’s pursuer is a moray eels’ favourite food. 31.36 The octopus is rarely killed in such an encounter, but if it hunts where morays are common, the loss of a limb is an occupational hazard. 32.01 Some prawns prefer an ally with chemical weapons. 32.08 This prawns’ partner is a Spanish Dancer - a flamboyant sea-slug whose colour advertises its foul taste for it is full of noxious chemicals. 32.21 If the prawns can hang on, then together they can flamenco through the forest without being disturbed. 32.50 To move around safely now, you either have to flaunt it or hide it. 32.58 This mangrove leaf look alike is a young tripletail fish. By floating on its side, it avoids detection - and maintains a lookout both above - and below. 33.42 A baby batfish’s strategy is to flop from side to side like a water-logged leaf. In this way it rides up the shore with the tide and gets the first chance at any choice titbit overlooked by the crabs. 33.57 Most other fish here would be eaten immediately 34.15 The baby batfish plays a dangerous game, but it only behaves like this on an incoming tide. 34.30 The little fish is easily washed up, but a rising tide ensures that it will soon be refloated. 34.45 It will be the same for a dead shark that the hyaena has discovered washed up on a sandbank. 35.06 Potentially it is an enormous meal, but a sharks’ skin is tough and the hyaena won’t have long to feed - as the tide will soon claim the carcass. 35.39 In the flooding forest, the water flushes insects up towards the tree-tops. 35.55 It is what the chameleon came for. There is no need to stalk, merely to wait.... But soon a sticky tongue is replaced by sticky tentacles - as squid come to ambush their prey in the forest. 36.38 If the vervets do not want to swim to shore, they must leave the mangroves now. 36.50 It is what the caracal has waited for. Like all the animals here, it uses the tides to its’ advantage. 37.33 In dense bush the monkeys can’t keep track of the threat - and now that extra muscle gives the caracal the advantage. 38.12 The hyaena has still not made much impression on the carcass, and now faces the prospect of losing its’ prize back to the sea. 38.32 The longer it lingers, the greater the danger - for the tide can be forgotten, but it will not be forsaken. Part 3 39.10 Hyaenas regularly wallow in pools, but they are hardly aquatic mammals. However, being cut off by a rising tide is a powerful incentive to learn how to swim. 39.46 It is now almost high tide and a leviathan from the ocean risks stranding to join in the rich feeding. 39.59 To us, it is whale shark, but to the remoras that cluster beneath it.....this is a stretch limousine - 7 metres of stream-lined comfort, and what every tiny remora aspires to. 40.28 The crab plovers’ feeding grounds have been denied them by the tide so they gather in large flocks to roost on what little shore remains. 40.47 High water is normally a lean time for the land animals, but over in the dunes a prospecting monitor has struck gold - in a nest of turtle eggs. 41.15 The monitor makes the mistake of trying to escape with an egg and only succeeds in attracting more attention. 41.32 In the open the lizard is vulnerable 41.41 Its’ main defence is to flail with its tail. 42.16 Gaining the high ground gives the monitor the advantage - and as there is an easier meal waiting at the nest, the hyaena narrowly avoids losing face to a lizard. 42.51 Twice a day the tides of the Indian ocean wash over this shore and flood through the mangroves. 43.05 Most of the sea creatures simply go with the flow, or let it flow over them. 43.13 They remain largely oblivious to what is going on above. 43.20 However, for a day or two each year, there is an event that touches the lives of all the animals. 43.34 Every year these hills of sand advance a few metres inland as cyclones in the south send their shock waves up the coast. 43.51 Even the turret eyes of the chameleon are sensitive to sand blasting. 44.02 It must get to shelter as quickly as it can. 44.14 But sometimes, a solution that presents itself too neatly is not the opportunity it seems - and in a rush of enthusiasm, it is all too easy to get carried away 44.53 The prospect of a storm attracts the opportunists. Ghost crabs emerge in their thousands - an army of tiny wreckers all hoping for the worst. 45.07 With the wind up there is a nervous energy in all the animals. 45.40 Washed up on this shore of ancient memories, the skull of the elephant testifies to the time when all the animals came here. Then, when Mungu worked his magic on the shore, nobody else noticed a tiny creature that scuttled from the waves. It came, not to claim the shore - but to make the shore its’ home. 46.09 In granting crabs that privilege, Mungu decreed that every few years they should provide a feast for all the other animals. This they still do - for in the aftermath of the storm, a flotilla of swimming crabs is wrecked. 46.27 These crabs normally spend their entire lives at sea - but, blown in, they have been stranded by the tide. They will be sacrificed, as they can’t live out of water and their swimming legs won’t support them on land. 46.52 The crabs are a banquet and, as in the past, all the animals will come to feast on the shore. 47.10 In the shallows, swimming crabs eat their own dead. The smell of their remains acts as bait for others, so the octopus does not need to move from its den. 47.32 The groupers’ giant capacity now serves it well - and over the next tide or two, everyone will feast. 48.01 But there comes a time when no-one can eat any more. 48.14 Then, not even a crab plover can live up to its name. 48.23 And still, the crabs keep coming..... 48.31 The grouper is quite literally stuffed to the gills, but for a fish that has been called the ‘stomach of the sea’, it just seems to add to the challenge. 48.48 As at any party, there is clearing up to do afterwards. 49.01 The thin shells will not be litter for long - for these days, it is the tide and wind that work magic on the shore. 49.14 Since the tides were created, the mudskipper has rarely gone hungry and, every once in a while, even its old adversary eats its fill - and then visits the crabs for their perfume. 49.32 In time, the crabs’ shells will wear away to become sand grains on the shore. Then Mungus’ price will have been paid in full - witnessed by the wind and provided by the tide. |