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[Tom Hiddleston] The night.

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A shadowy world that hides more than half the animals on our planet.

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Until now, cameras only offered a glimpse into their lives.

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But with next-generation technology,

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we can see the night as clear as day.

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With cameras a hundred times more sensitive than the human eye...

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we can now capture the beauty of night...

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in color.

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Alien landscapes.

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Strange creatures brought to life by the darkness.

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Unseen behaviors.

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Now we can follow the lives of animals

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in Earth's last true wilderness.

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The night.

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Sunset over the jungles of Southeast Asia.

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And one of the oldest rain forests on the planet

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is about to undergo an extraordinary transformation.

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[jungle sounds]

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As dusk draws in...

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the day shift comes to an end.

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[bird chirping]

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But here in the tropics, more animals have turned to the night...

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than anywhere else on Earth.

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Their stories and the secrets of this ghostly world have been a mystery...

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until now.

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Deep in the twisted roots of a giant strangler fig tree...

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[creaking]

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...hidden from view...

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lives, perhaps, the most bizarre nighttime creature of all.

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The spectral tarsier.

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Tiny primates barely larger than a tennis ball.

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This close-knit family is three generations together.

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The grandparents...

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their grown-up kids...

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and two tiny new arrivals.

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The youngest, a timid two-week-old...

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still feeding on his mother's milk.

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And his older cousin, a toddler.

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Five weeks old, just finding his feet.

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Eager to discover exactly how tarsier life works.

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[tarsier squeaks]

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Just keeping these two youngsters safe through the long night ahead...

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will be a daunting challenge.

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[squeaks]

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[thuds on ground]

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The family have definitely got their work cut out.

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-[bird chirps] -[fluttering]

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Each night, the tarsiers' first task...

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is a bit of unusual personal grooming.

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Ear tugging.

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It looks painful, but this is important preparation for hunting...

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priming their ears to maximize their sensitive hearing.

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Each family member has its own unique way of doing it.

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Some more thorough than others.

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Next... it's time to hunt.

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Tarsier night vision is a hundred times better than ours.

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But now, low-light cameras...

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can see their nocturnal world...

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as clearly as they do.

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Each night, tarsiers must eat a tenth of their body weight in insects.

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One-third again if they're feeding a little one.

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From the safety of his home tree,

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the five-week-old watches on as the adults hunt.

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In just a few weeks' time, he'll need to do it all for himself.

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There's lots to learn.

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He must master his satellite-dish ears,

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moving each one independently to pick up tiny sounds in the dark.

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Next, his huge light-bucket eyes.

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Once fully grown, each eye is bigger than a tarsier's brain.

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He must learn to tilt his head to judge distance.

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For the adults, this helps them pounce with pinpoint accuracy.

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And there's one final lesson.

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At family mealtimes...

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it's first come...

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first served.

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It's time for the family to venture deeper into the forest.

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The little ones are too small to travel far.

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So they rely on their mothers to carry them...

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in their mouths.

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No easy task.

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One in five tarsier babies are lost in their first month.

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So for the tiny two-week-old...

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leaving the safety of the family tree...

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is a giant step.

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Filming the family deeper in the forest than ever before...

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we can now see the secret way tarsiers keep their young safe through the night.

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Not just one...

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but two tarsier babies...

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left hidden in the same tree.

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A tiny tarsier nursery, never filmed before.

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Two cousins watching each other's backs...

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leaving the adults free to hunt.

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But tarsiers aren't the only hungry predators to emerge after dark.

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For a Minahassa masked owl, a baby tarsier would make a tasty meal.

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It's going to be a long night ahead.

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[bird chirps]

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[bird chirps]

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In the first hours of darkness...

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[bird chirps]

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...not everything is hiding in the shadows.

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Along the waterways...

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the trees come alive with one of the night's greatest wonders.

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Fireflies.

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The brightest flashes are males looking for love.

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At first, they seem random.

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Each working to their own beat.

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But slowly, they synchronize.

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Flashing in unison, each tree becomes a beacon in the darkness.

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Drawing in females with this hypnotic display.

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As a female approaches, the males' flashing intensifies.

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Captured in astonishing detail...

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We can see the chemical reaction that creates this magical bioluminescence.

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As a full moon rises, light floods the forest.

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And this dazzling display comes to an end.

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For the tarsiers, the full moon spells danger.

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[squeaks]

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The extra light allows them to venture deeper into the forest

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than at any other time.

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But the further they go,

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the more likely they are to run into predators.

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Taking a chance...

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[squeaks]

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...these tree-climbing specialists...

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do something unexpected.

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They drop from the safety of the branches...

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to ambush creatures on the ground.

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[buzzing]

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For these tiny primates,

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the forest floor is packed with treats.

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High above, hidden in the branches...

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the two tarsier babies watch their family foraging below.

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The five-week-old...

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is almost ready to start hunting for himself.

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[squeaks]

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He's still mastering how to move through the forest.

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But he is old enough to recognize a tasty snack when he sees one.

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A rich feast...

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too tempting for a hungry youngster.

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[buzzing]

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But at night...

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you've got to be quick to catch your prey.

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A giant Sulawesi tarantula takes this meal.

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In a forest full of dangers...

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it's time for the youngster to make one of his very first leaps...

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back to the protection of mum.

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[squeaks]

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[water splashing]

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Tarsiers aren't the only animals taking advantage of the full moon.

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At a jungle waterfall...

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two rivals are sizing each other up.

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A black-spotted rock frog has secured a prime feeding position.

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But a gang of bigger Sabah splash frogs are after his spot.

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Normally, a sharp call would tell them to back off.

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[chirps]

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[chirps]

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But next to a waterfall...

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it's hard to make yourself heard.

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So they use a secret sign language.

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[chirps]

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-They wave at each other. -[chirps]

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[chirps]

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The white skin between their toes...

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glinting in the moonlight, is a warning.

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But the bigger splash frog has a special move.

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The double-legger.

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The rock frog stands his ground.

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And when neither of them back down...

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there's only one way to settle things.

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[chirps]

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[splash]

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This time, there is no winner.

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The night is almost over.

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High in the canopy,

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the tiny two-week-old waits for his mother to return from hunting.

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Being all alone in the forest...

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-[bird chirps] -[squeaks]

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...is a scary business.

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A reticulated python.

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An adult snake would be too heavy to climb high into the canopy.

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But this is a juvenile...

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an excellent climber.

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With the same muscles it would use to strangle its prey...

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the snake can ascend the thinnest of branches.

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Any unsuspecting tarsier would make the perfect meal.

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But these social primates have a clever way to keep their family safe.

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The moment they spot an intruder, they sound an alarm.

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[squeaks]

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-[squeaking] -Three rapid squeaks...

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[squeaking]

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...the call for the highest level of danger.

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[squeaking]

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The alarm brings the adults together to mob the snake.

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[squeaks]

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[squeaking]

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[squeaks]

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[squeaking]

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[squeaks]

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[squeaking]

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Leaping from branch to branch,

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they create the illusion of more attackers.

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[squeaking]

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[squeaking]

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-[squeaks] -It may be risky...

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[squeaking]

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[squeaking]

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...but tonight...

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it works.

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Only once the danger has been seen off...

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do the adults return to collect their youngsters.

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As dawn approaches,

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the family returns to the safety of the home tree.

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Six adults...

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a mischievous five-week-old who tried hunting for the first time...

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and a tiny two-week-old...

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who survived one of his very first nights out...

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deep in the jungle.

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[Tom Hiddleston] To film the nocturnal lives of tarsiers...

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the Earth at Night team traveled deep into the forests of Southeast Asia.

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While one crew followed the tarsier family on the ground...

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specialist climber Tim Fogg was tasked with filming in the canopy at night.

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Ten stories up.

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[Fogg] It's all-- It's all very well doing this sort of thing in daylight,

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when you can see everything that's going on,

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but we're trying to take it on at night

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and that adds layers and layers of problems.

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You obviously look down. You can't see what's happening.

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[man on radio] You're holding it down on nothing.

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[Tom Hiddleston] To get the opening shots of the strangler fig tree,

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the team had to balance a low-light camera on a stabilized pulley system.

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[Fogg] That's still too heavy. Take some out.

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Whoa! Steady! Careful! Okay, that's it!

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[Tom Hiddleston] With the rig ready to go...

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Tim had to wait for the moon to rise to give enough light to film.

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[bird chirps]

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[bird chirps]

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On the ground,

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cameraman Mark Payne-Gill prepared to film the tarsiers

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with a specially adapted lens, built for a very different purpose.

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The great thing about this lens is that it's designed

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for astronomers to film or photograph very faint objects in the night sky.

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All right.

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This will be the first time I've ever had to run around a lens of this kind

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on any shoot, to be honest.

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[Tom Hiddleston] The crew's aim,

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to capture the moment when a tarsier baby is left alone in the jungle.

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Having hauled the heavy kit many kilometers through the forest,

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they finally discovered a hiding place.

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[Payne-Gill] Okay, I got it. This is nice.

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Yeah. It's great.

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Wow.

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Hard to believe this little thing just stays there all night on its own

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with nothing to defend it.

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And just wait for its mum to come back in the morning.

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[Tom Hiddleston] Fifty meters up, the night skies eventually cleared,

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revealing a full moon.

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[Fogg] Okay, here we go.

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[Tom Hiddleston] And the crew got to work.

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[man on radio] Uh, yeah, that looks amazing. Thanks, Tim.

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[Tom Hiddleston] From the canopy to the forest floor...

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the team was able to document the secret lives...

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of one of the jungle's strangest nocturnal creatures.