Nature

NARRATOR

In the heart of Brazil lives an animal so elusive that until recently, nothing was known of its life in the wild. The giant armadillo. But now its life has been caught on camera...

DESBIEZ

Nobody gets to see this.

Gasps

DESBIEZ

There's the baby.

NARRATOR

...and unique, intimate behavior revealed. Even their burrows have become an attraction of their own.

DESBIEZ

This is it. This is it. This is what we're looking for.

NARRATOR

They're in high demand as exclusive hotels, where peculiar guests check in and out at all hours of the day and night. The giant armadillo, always digging, is busy making room for a forgotten world all across Brazil's Pantanal. Major funding for "Nature" is provided by... Brazil's Pantanal is a place unlike any other. Covering more than 80,000 square miles, this is the largest tropical wetland in the world.

Animals squeaking

NARRATOR

Unlike the lands around the Amazon, which are covered by high forest, the Pantanal consists of vast expanses of flooded grassland, with only here and there a patch of dry savanna or a stretch of trees. Prone to intense drought and severe floods, this is a landscape of extremes. A huge diversity of species lives here......including one of the most secretive -- the giant armadillo.

Giant armadillo sniffing

NARRATOR

Solitary, nocturnal, and extremely rare, it digs huge underground burrows up to 20 feet deep and spends three-quarters of its life in them underground. Until recently, we knew virtually nothing of their lives in the wild. But Arnaud Desbiez, the founder of the Giant Armadillo Project, has changed that.

DESBIEZ

When I started the Giant Armadillo Project, I had already been working and living in the Pantanal for eight years. But during those eight years, I had never seen a giant armadillo. It was a species I really wanted to see.

NARRATOR

Even finding signs of giant armadillos is extremely difficult. But gradually, Arnaud started to build up a picture of their hidden world.

DESBIEZ

We couldn't leave any stone unturned. And little by little, yes, we did start finding evidence. And it was so exciting when we got our first picture. That was an indescribable moment because there it was. The species we were working so hard to find -- we couldn't believe it. It's so hard to believe that this magnificent giant is living right beside us. It's right there. But you don't see it.

NARRATOR

It's May -- the start of Arnaud's research year. But this season's expedition could be different. He has used camera traps before, but they have only given him brief glimpses of the animal in which he is so interested. Now Arnaud has newly developed gear that could give him more continuous pictures from above and below ground. The team has found the burrow of a female that they've named Tracy, in honor of the first giant armadillo researcher, Tracy Carter. The new camera rig can record pictures by day and by night. It is switched on by the tiniest movements, and the team are hoping that the animals themselves will trigger recordings that will reveal new things about them. There are good reasons why giant armadillos are so rarely seen. Their senses of smell and hearing are acute, and they are exceptionally wary of people and cameras. The locals still consider these animals to be supernatural beings -- monsters that come up from deep within the earth.

Insects chirping

NARRATOR

The cameras are rigged, but will Tracy appear and switch them on?

DESBIEZ

Okay, okay. Tracy is coming out. Ah, this is beautiful.

NARRATOR

Armadillos are one of the most ancient of living mammals and first appeared some 50 million years ago. The giant species is still found in many parts of South America, but there are so few of them that images like these are truly rare. It's a major achievement for Arnaud and his team.

DESBIEZ

So, Tracy is investigating her surroundings. Scent is the key sense for giant armadillos. So she's sniffing the air around her.

Tracy sniffing

DESBIEZ

The burrow is her safety net, so if anything goes wrong, if she smells anything out of place, if she has any concern, she can just run back. Just to be able to see this right now is just amazing. Wow.

NARRATOR

Arnaud's research is starting to suggest something quite unexpected. He has discovered that the huge holes they dig are quickly taken over by other creatures living in the neighborhood, so they could be critical to the survival of the whole Pantanal ecosystem. The giants dig a new burrow about every two days and so provide ready-made hotels for dozens of other creatures. And now, as Tracy checks out to spend the night feeding, a whole army of guests are ready to check in. The team has now recorded 77 different species visiting Hotel Armadillo. Small rodents are almost always the first to turn up. It's not only the quality of the accommodation that attracts the lodgers. The food is good, too, for the newly-excavated earth is rich with insects and roots. Lowland tapirs are too big to get into an armadillo burrow, but that is not a problem for small anteaters called tamanduas. They visit the vacant burrows more frequently than any other animal. Tamanduas spend most of their time up in the trees, but they use giant armadillo burrows as nurseries -- safe, cool places where they can leave a baby. For them, a family room in Hotel Armadillo is perfect accommodation. The Giant Armadillo Project is supported by more than 40 zoos and aquariums worldwide, but it has its base at the Baia das Pedras Ranch in the heart of the Pantanal. Here, Arnaud's team works out how best to track the armadillos and log the great range of other animals that make use of the hotels they create. The project currently has four individual animals under surveillance. Each has been fitted with a tiny transmitter that allows Arnaud and his team to find and then track them. An individual can have a home range of over six square miles. And in a single year, it may excavate more than 150 burrows. Sometimes, old burrows can produce a surprise.

DESBIEZ

Did you hear that? There's an animal inside.

Snaps fingers

DESBIEZ

It's a six-banded armadillo using the giant armadillo burrow. That's why we call armadillos ecosystem engineers. So when we say giant armadillos provide homes for other species, this is it. Look. Here he is.

NARRATOR

But it's giant armadillos the team are searching for, and soon, they pick up a signal from a female they've named Isabelle.

DESBIEZ

Isabelle is really an armadillo that introduced us to the giant armadillo world. Things that we now sometimes take for granted, things that we know about giant armadillos, we learned from Isabelle.

NARRATOR

Isabelle's offspring, Alex, became the first baby giant armadillo ever studied scientifically. The team followed his story for almost two years.

DESBIEZ

Through Alex, we learned a lot about giant armadillo parental care, so lots of discoveries were made. We had no idea that giant armadillos and the females were such dedicated mothers.

NARRATOR

But then, when Alex was still less than 2 years old, he was killed by a hungry puma.

DESBIEZ

So we all felt devastated by Alex's loss. The whole team was very, very sad. And on a scientific point of view, for the project, it was a huge loss because there was lots of data we still wanted to collect. There was still lots of questions we had.

NARRATOR

The team is desperately hoping that Isabelle will produce another baby so that they can continue their research. But the battery of Isabelle's transmitter is running low, so the time they have to study her at close hand is running out. She's been tracked to a fresh burrow. Once she emerges after dark, she'll be held in a mesh tube While an alarm signal alerts the waiting team. At giant armadillo Tracy's old burrow, it's an hour before dawn. Deep in the basement suite, the tamanduas are still in residence. Upstairs in the lobby, a visitor is passing through. It's a Brazilian porcupine -- a guest never recorded before and one that brings the list of different species to 78. Another indication of the Pantanal's amazing biodiversity.

Pantanal sniffing

Sniffing continues

NARRATOR

As dawn breaks, the female tamandua heads out to feed. Ants and termites make up more than 90% of their diet. And an adult needs to consume thousands of them every day.

Animals chattering

NARRATOR

But while the mother feeds, the baby is vulnerable.

Pantanal sniffing

NARRATOR

A pair of tayras have picked up the scent of the youngster.

Tayra snorts

Animals chattering

NARRATOR

Baby tamanduas are sometimes killed by these three-feet-long relatives of the weasel. But these tayras have come to Hotel Armadillo for a different reason. The open ground and the soft earth makes this an ideal spot for mating.

Leaves rustling

NARRATOR

The tayras move on, and mother tamandua returns. But the infant seems to have been alarmed by the scent of the predators...

Tamandua hissing

NARRATOR

...and it's behaving aggressively.

Hissing continues

Hissing, growling

NARRATOR

Not the warmest of "Welcome homes." But the powerful defensive display has shown that the youngster is able to fend for itself and is now ready to leave the safety of Hotel Armadillo.

Animals chattering

Device beeping

NARRATOR

The alarm is sounding. Isabelle is in the trap. Once dawn breaks, she's transferred to a large box and taken to a clearing. The Giant Armadillo Project employs two vets who have developed specialized knowledge of this rare creature.

DESBIEZ

Camila just applied the aesthetic, and now we have to wait.

NARRATOR

Arnaud has worked out that a giant armadillo's gestation period is five months. But he has no way of telling whether or not Isabelle is expecting a baby.

Indistinct chatter

DESBIEZ

Perfect. However, he takes the chance to check her general health and collect samples of her hair and blood and other tissues. A Giant armadillo can weigh an astonishing 110 pounds. Its armor-plated skin is made of a combination of horn and bone. Flexible and strong, it makes an adult giant armadillo almost predator-proof.

Speaking foreign language

MAN

NARRATOR

Isabelle measures about 4 feet 8 inches long, and she's superbly equipped for digging. Giant armadillo front claws can be more than 7 inches long. They give Isabelle the ability to rip open termite mounds and excavate burrows in really hard ground. She is a living bulldozer. Her back feet are shovel shaped and so efficient that, big though she is, she can disappear below ground in less than 20 minutes. Every single part of a giant armadillo is fascinating for Arnaud.

DESBIEZ

I'm collecting hair off a giant armadillo. They have tiny, little hairs between the scales.

NARRATOR

Yet still, so little is known about these remarkable creatures that every piece of data is precious. As Alex's mother, Isabelle helped Arnaud discover a great deal about her secret world.

DESBIEZ

I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but we learned so much with her and spent so much time with her. She holds a really special place in my heart.

NARRATOR

As the final samples are collected, Isabelle starts to recover. The armadillos are always released into the same burrows where they were caught.

DESBIEZ

Because this is an animal we've been monitoring already for a while, the transmitter is gonna stop working soon. She's losing her batteries. So we're a little bit sad and a little bit emotional because I think this is probably the last time we see her physically or get a chance to put our hands on her. So it's kind of like saying goodbye to her now.

Isabelle sniffing

NARRATOR

She's still a little unsteady from the anesthetic. But she'll have plenty of time to sleep it off once she's back underground.

Animals chattering

Isabelle sniffing

DESBIEZ

Beautiful.

NARRATOR

The team may never see Isabelle face to face again. But with luck, the new camera traps will enable them to monitor her progress in detail. One day, she may even be seen with a new baby, and then the work they started with Alex can continue. But that remains a dream for the team -- one that sometimes seems almost impossible. The Pantanal may be rich with wildlife, but this place is also home to people. The traditional way of cattle ranching here, however, gives wildlife plenty of room to thrive.

Cattle lowing

NARRATOR

Throughout the seasons, cowboys move the herds around the Pantanal from pasture to pasture. It's a system that has been used here for over 250 years. The edges of the pastures are dotted with the termite mounds that are crucial food stores for the giant armadillos.

Cattle lowing

NARRATOR

Arnaud is also rigging these with cameras. The team is hoping the footage will confirm their suspicion that the armadillos are providing something more than accommodation in their hotels. Could it be that they're also in the restaurant business?

Animals chattering

It's 11

00 a.m. The hottest part of the day is approaching.

Birds squawking

It's 11

Soon, temperatures will soar to more than 100 degrees. But deep underground in the basement of Hotel Armadillo, the baby tamandua is enjoying a comfortable 75 degrees. Having been alone now for more than 12 hours, it's very hungry.

Tamandua sniffing

Birds squawking

It's 11

It's not the only animal that needs a meal. On the pasture near the burrow, a family party of coatis are looking for food. These close relatives of the raccoon are also occasional visitors to Hotel Armadillo. As the sun reaches its highest point, they head towards the burrow and the shady forest. They're followed closely by a group of peccaries.

Peccaries snorting, grunting

It's 11

Peccaries often follow coatis to collect the fruit that the coatis knock from the trees. But today, the choicest morsels available are the exposed roots and shoots around the burrow entrance. A 65-pound peccary is capable of causing a lot of damage to the hotel. A collapsed roof would be a disaster for any resident.

Peccary grunting

It's 11

Once they've gone, the baby tamandua makes its move.

Birds squawking

It's 11

It's now out on its own. Hotel Armadillo has vacancies.

Insects chirping

It's 11

Back at the termite mound, Arnaud is eager to check the camera trap for visitors. Right on cue,

at half past 7

00, it's a big male giant armadillo.

Giant armadillo sniffing

DESBIEZ

That's crazy. The strength of these animals is absolutely insane.

NARRATOR

Termite mounds are almost as hard as cement, and the giant armadillo is one of the few animals able to tear into them like this. But once it has collected enough termites with its long, sticky tongue, it will move on. Their powerful claws open up big holes in the mound, which means other animals can benefit from the efforts of the ecosystem's chief digger.

DESBIEZ

And here, half an hour after, a giant anteater comes. This is fantastic. It's perfect. It just illustrates, you know, how both these two giants of the Pantanal feed on the same resources.

Insects chirping, animals chattering

NARRATOR

The relationship between giant anteaters and giant armadillos has become increasingly interesting to the team. Both animals exploit the same food sources. So how do these two giants co-exist? The team is planning to catch and radio-tag an anteater so that its movements can be plotted alongside that of the tagged armadillos. But first, you need to catch your animal, and that's best done at dusk.

DESBIEZ

It's getting a little too dark, so we probably have maybe five more minutes of light where we can actually see what we're doing. And after that, we have to call it a day.

Birds squawking

NARRATOR

The light has almost gone, but vet Danilo suddenly spots an anteater in the shadows.

Man whistles

Breathing heavily

NARRATOR

One Giant anteater successfully in the bag.

DESBIEZ

That was quite a run.

Indistinct chatter

NARRATOR

They have just one hour in which to fit the anteater with the special collar.

Indistinct conversation in foreign language

Speaking foreign language

NARRATOR

Once on, it will give the team a GPS reading every 20 minutes.

DESBIEZ

Okay.

NARRATOR

The data will then reveal exactly how this other giant fits into the armadillo's world. Perhaps this season, giant anteaters will appear for the first time at a Hotel Armadillo. Just three miles away, there's a freshly dug burrow. Beneath the surface, giant armadillo Tracy is stirring. Soon, she'll head off to feed, leaving behind another vacant accommodation. A single giant armadillo creating 15 new hotels every month must have a major effect on the housing market in the Pantanal and benefit hundreds of other animals. Tracy will be vacating a pristine, luxury establishment with only one previous owner. But after the damage done by the peccaries, her older burrow now has something of a budget-hotel atmosphere. But that hasn't reduced its popularity with visitors. Over the last three days, the guestbook has recorded agouti... lowland tapir......brocket deer......bare-faced curassow... and the giant's pint-sized cousin, the six-banded armadillo. It's now also an important hiding place for lizards and snakes. And they, in turn, attract a specialized hunter. Red-legged seriemas eat reptiles. And now, Hotel Armadillo has transformed into Tracy's Diner. The total number of different species recorded at burrows now stands at 79. Whether you're a crab-eating fox or an ocelot, Hotel Armadillo has something for everyone. With so many creatures relying on the giant armadillo, it's not surprising that Arnaud and his team consider the animal to be an ambassador for biodiversity. But astonishingly, many of the local people don't even realize the animals exist. So getting the message out there in the community is a critical part of the Giant Armadillo Project.

DESBIEZ

How can you care about a species you don't even know you have?

Indistinct chatter

DESBIEZ

My kids at school have projects on arctic mammals, on the African savanna. Somehow, we forget to celebrate the amazing animals and plants in our own backyard. We're worried about what is going to be left for our children. And most importantly, will they care? That's what's really scary.

Speaking foreign language to students

DESBIEZ

We need to show them the incredible role this species plays in the ecosystem.

Speaking foreign language

Students speaking foreign language

DESBIEZ

I love seeing the faces of kids when they see their first picture of a giant armadillo.

Continues speaking in foreign language

DESBIEZ

We need these kids to grow up and care for biodiversity, for nature. And the giant armadillo's future ultimately depends on them caring.

NARRATOR

There's intriguing news from the field. While Arnaud was visiting the school, project biologist Gabriel has made a remarkable discovery. A freshly dug armadillo burrow with the entrance firmly sealed up. It was close to the spot where the team released Isabelle, the female who lost her baby, Alex. Hotel Armadillo would only close like this for one sort of guest -- a baby giant armadillo. Gabriel was able to set up cameras, but frustratingly, he had to leave the area before he could check for images.

DESBIEZ

Seeing Isabelle with another baby is very important to the project. I want to pick up where we left off with Alex. There are so many questions we still have.

NARRATOR

Arnaud and the team are back in their Pantanal headquarters within 24 hours.

DESBIEZ

We just arrived last night. And we're gonna go straight to Isabelle's territory. It's almost too good to be true, It's hard to believe, so I want to see it with my own eyes.

Hyacinth macaws squawking

NARRATOR

The burrow is quickly located and the recording played back. It is definitely Isabelle. But where's the baby?

DESBIEZ

Okay,

that night at 6

00 p.m., she leaves on the 31st. And nothing has come into the burrow. Nothing has happened. 2nd of September -- this is where it should happen now. She opens the burrow. We could not see any image of a baby. We both checked together, Danilo and I. We looked at the camera several times. The images show nothing. There was no baby giant armadillo.

NARRATOR

Even more frustratingly, she's moved to a new burrow. And with her transmitter now completely dead, it's not possible to follow her by radio.

DESBIEZ

I think one of the biggest challenges to this project is the species itself. Giant armadillos occur at such low densities and are so hard to find.

Animals chattering

DESBIEZ

The secret, I think, is persistence -- never giving up -- and being in this for the long run.

NARRATOR

It may be a lean period for Arnaud and the team, but back at Hotel Armadillo, business is booming by day and night. Since the team first located Tracy in May, she's excavated more than 50 new burrows. Recent visitors caught on camera include crab-eating fox... ocelot... and exactly what the team was hoping for -- a Giant anteater.

Anteater sniffing

NARRATOR

That brings the guest list up to 80 species. Baby Giant anteaters are now appearing in the Pantanal, clinging tightly to their mothers' backs. They're relatively easy to see, making the search for the baby giant armadillo even more frustrating. The team has traveled almost 60 miles in the last few days. But they didn't find a tell-tale closed burrow. And even more worryingly, part of Isabelle's territory is in flames.

Fire crackling

NARRATOR

Fire is a natural part of life in the Pantanal. It's used by the ranchers to encourage new growth when the rains arrive. But with the growing intensity of ranching, the frequency of fires has increased. And they may now burn out of control, destroying giant armadillo habitat, and therefore undermining the part the species plays in maintaining the wonderful diversity of this place.

DESBIEZ

At a local level and sometimes international level, it really feels like biodiversity does not stand a chance. And we see this with our own eyes all around us. The changes, impacts, and cascading effects of our actions are becoming bigger and bigger. And seeing these vast expanses of cash crops, where you cannot even hear a single bird sing...

Wind whistling

DESBIEZ

...when you see the number of animals killed on our roads, you sometimes feel like a fool for thinking you're gonna make a difference. You feel powerless. It feels impossible. I think what keeps us going is that we love what we do. I love the life I lead. I love what I do.

NARRATOR

Sheer persistence has led Arnaud to a burrow deep in the forest.

Leaves crunching

Birds chirping

DESBIEZ

This is it. This is it. This is what we're looking for.

Whistles softly

NARRATOR

The burrow entrance is firmly earthed up. It must be Isabelle.

DESBIEZ

This is definitely the burrow with the baby. What's typical of it is this sand that's on top of the burrow and that's because she closes the burrow -- something she never does unless she's protecting her baby. So she left to go forage, and she leaves the baby in here.

NARRATOR

Now it should be a simple case of setting up the remote cameras around the sealed burrow to capture pictures of Isabelle's return. But they'll have to wait until dawn to see the results.

Animals chattering

Insects chirping

Birds squawking, animals chattering

DESBIEZ

Yeah, so we're very curious to see. We just saw footprints of Isabelle going to the burrow, so we believe that she's inside. And let's just make sure that she hasn't taken the baby out. So we're gonna go check it out. Here. She's coming out. She carefully builds a ramp. If there was a baby, this is when it would happen here.

Button clicking

DESBIEZ

No, no, I don't have the baby.

Button clicks

Gasps

DESBIEZ

There's the baby. I have the baby.

MAN

Do you?

DESBIEZ

Yeah.

Isabelle sniffing

DESBIEZ

Oh, this is amazing. Wow. Yeah, she's leaving. She's taking the baby out. She took him out right here. There are their tracks.

NARRATOR

The team's discovery of Isabelle's baby confirms that giant armadillos only produce a single infant once every three years. So each new birth is even more precious than anyone realized -- not just for Giant armadillos, but for the whole ecosystem. The more Arnaud and his team discover about this extraordinary creature, the better they will be able to protect it, and the more homes there will be for all the other creatures that come to stay in the accommodations they create. And the team's commitment to this cause remains unwavering.

DESBIEZ

The battle to save the giant armadillo is the battle to save biodiversity. It's all the same. It's all together. We have a pact with giant armadillos, and we are in this for the long run. And I really feel that we can make a difference. I don't think that you could ask for much more than that.

Chuckles

DESBIEZ

To learn more about what you've seen on this "Nature" program, visit pbs.org.