Original air date: 16 February 1984
A more detailed timeline is below
Usually Attenborough ends an episode introducing the following one. This one is different. Here he emphasises how the jungle re-generates itself with a few final words. When one gigantic tree falls to the ground smaller ones race for the sunlight at the top (51’45-53’50):
“A giant kapok has fallen. Maybe it had lost one of its huge branches from decay and was already badly out of balance before the storm. The great weight of water hanging on its foliage was finally more than it could carry. The death of this old tree was the starting gun for a feverish race. … The huge rent in the canopy above is both the prize and the finishing post of the race. Those seedlings that can grow fast and get up there quickest will get their place in the sun, spread their branches, flower and set seed, but the rest will have no chance. The process is extraordinarily swift. To begin with, shrubs appear which specialise in open sites like these. They flower quickly and disperse their seeds to other temporary clearings, but in a year or so the sapling trees have over-topped them. … As they grow higher, some begin to flag. Only one or two complete the course to sunlight, where they will spread their branches. So the jungle floor once more becomes darkened by shadow and the green canopy is again complete.”