Return to the Tepuis

“Science is important,” says Bruce Means, whose investigative work into a species of tiny toads in remotest Guyana, South America, is featured in this engaging short. Science is also, by the look of it, exotic, exciting and not without a hint of danger. His work is about understanding biodiversity in order to help conserve it and to do so, he has to reach the toad’s habitat. In his second foray to the ancient and lost world of the Tepuis, he is joined by National Geographic photographer Joe Riis and professional climber Mark Synnott. The two men help Means, who has 45 years of experience in field ecology and almost none in climbing, descend — and ascend — a sheer, multi-pitch face, making this fun and worthwhile short as much about adventure as science.