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S38E2: The Serengeti Rules | Clip

Scientist Profile – John Terborgh

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John Terborgh has spent a lifetime studying the Amazon rainforest. He is a world authority on tropical ecology.

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TRANSCRIPT

♪ (water rippling) (birds squawking) JOHN: I wanted to be outdoors.

That's what I wanted to do.

I just wanted to be out in nature.

Now, I've found a way to do that and make a living at it.

So that is why I went to the Amazon.

It's real nature that nobody has tinkered with.

(birds squawking) (water splashes) We got a lot of company in this lake when we go swimming.

I'm sure there are 10,000 piranhas in here and that's probably a low number.

Then we counted 'em last night.

There are at least 200 caiman.

Also, there are lots of stingrays.

It could be a lively time out here.

♪ I've lived 50 years in the Amazon forest where there are jaguars and pumas and big things.

Where I work, jaguars don't attack humans.

They could, they could overpower us with one paw!

But if you are quiet and calm, they just go on about their business.

Manu has extraordinary biodiversity.

It touches your psyche at a deep level.

I love it just as much now as I ever did.

♪