Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:01,070 --> 00:00:03,244
Viewers like you make
this program possible.
2
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,350
Support your local PBS station.
3
00:00:11,425 --> 00:00:13,910
♪
4
00:00:13,944 --> 00:00:16,188
SCOTT BURNETT: It might
look dull and smell disgusting,
5
00:00:16,223 --> 00:00:18,880
but when you know how to read it,
6
00:00:18,915 --> 00:00:20,468
poop is the oracle of knowledge.
7
00:00:20,503 --> 00:00:24,610
Ecologists like me call it scat,
and we're passionate about it.
8
00:00:24,645 --> 00:00:28,028
Just imagine the size of the bum
that this dropped out of.
9
00:00:29,684 --> 00:00:33,309
The world is full of fabulous
feces stories,
10
00:00:33,343 --> 00:00:35,069
like the mystery of the Australian wombat
11
00:00:35,104 --> 00:00:36,898
and its cube-shaped poop.
12
00:00:38,141 --> 00:00:39,625
PATRICIA YANG:
How would a square come out of
13
00:00:39,660 --> 00:00:42,076
a round hole?
That's the big question.
14
00:00:42,111 --> 00:00:43,560
[whale moans]
15
00:00:43,595 --> 00:00:45,459
BURNETT:
Or the tale told by DNA
16
00:00:45,493 --> 00:00:47,875
in blue whale scat.
17
00:00:47,909 --> 00:00:51,258
And what's really cool is,
we've kind of figured that out
18
00:00:51,292 --> 00:00:52,604
by digging through their poop.
19
00:00:52,638 --> 00:00:54,916
BURNETT:
Even in tiny krill,
20
00:00:54,951 --> 00:00:57,091
we're discovering the real power of poop.
21
00:00:57,126 --> 00:00:59,335
SO KAWAGUCHI:
For me, it's the most important
22
00:00:59,369 --> 00:01:01,061
animal on the planet.
23
00:01:02,993 --> 00:01:05,927
BURNETT: There's always
a new mystery to be solved.
24
00:01:05,962 --> 00:01:07,791
"Secrets in the Scat."
25
00:01:07,826 --> 00:01:09,793
Right now, on "NOVA."
26
00:01:09,828 --> 00:01:11,830
♪
27
00:01:17,698 --> 00:01:22,254
♪
28
00:01:24,981 --> 00:01:27,294
BURNETT:
My name is Scott Burnett.
29
00:01:27,328 --> 00:01:29,123
They call me Scat Man.
30
00:01:29,158 --> 00:01:31,470
When I was young, I wanted to be
a wildlife tracker,
31
00:01:31,505 --> 00:01:34,749
looking for secret traces
that would lead me
32
00:01:34,784 --> 00:01:37,718
to extraordinary creatures
in the vast Australian bush.
33
00:01:37,752 --> 00:01:41,515
My dream came true:
today, I'm an ecologist.
34
00:01:41,549 --> 00:01:43,827
And I use scats to tell
the stories of species.
35
00:01:43,862 --> 00:01:45,967
I look for clues in poos,
36
00:01:46,002 --> 00:01:47,521
facts in feces.
37
00:01:47,555 --> 00:01:49,764
I know my shit.
38
00:01:49,799 --> 00:01:52,836
♪
39
00:01:52,871 --> 00:01:56,012
Scat is a gold mine of information.
40
00:01:56,046 --> 00:02:00,844
It illuminates the role of poop
in the health of ecosystems
41
00:02:00,879 --> 00:02:03,502
and how animals communicate.
42
00:02:05,125 --> 00:02:07,023
It holds the secrets of wildlife behavior
43
00:02:07,057 --> 00:02:11,614
and can even help to save
species from extinction.
44
00:02:11,648 --> 00:02:15,204
All of this we can learn
without invading their privacy.
45
00:02:15,238 --> 00:02:19,104
That's why scat science is real science.
46
00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:22,314
♪
47
00:02:22,349 --> 00:02:26,180
Join me on a journey where few
people have dared to tread,
48
00:02:26,215 --> 00:02:29,252
looking for scats,
unraveling their secrets,
49
00:02:29,287 --> 00:02:32,980
and meeting other scientists
with a passion for poop.
50
00:02:33,014 --> 00:02:37,950
♪
51
00:02:45,061 --> 00:02:51,032
♪
52
00:02:51,067 --> 00:02:54,208
This scat tale begins in one of
the oldest rain forests
53
00:02:54,243 --> 00:02:55,796
in the world.
54
00:02:55,830 --> 00:02:59,351
I'm here to investigate
a spectacular dropping.
55
00:02:59,386 --> 00:03:01,940
It may hold clues to why these forests
56
00:03:01,974 --> 00:03:04,632
remain so diverse and resilient over time.
57
00:03:04,667 --> 00:03:08,602
It comes from the bottom
of an imposing bird.
58
00:03:12,502 --> 00:03:15,574
The southern cassowary.
59
00:03:15,609 --> 00:03:18,267
♪
60
00:03:18,301 --> 00:03:24,411
The cassowary is flightless,
like the emu and the ostrich.
61
00:03:24,445 --> 00:03:27,483
Its wings may be useless for liftoff,
62
00:03:27,517 --> 00:03:30,762
but powerful legs can propel
the bird into the air
63
00:03:30,796 --> 00:03:33,420
to reach overhead fruit.
64
00:03:33,454 --> 00:03:36,423
This taste for the bounty of the
rain forest is the beginning
65
00:03:36,457 --> 00:03:38,114
of a beautiful story.
66
00:03:43,395 --> 00:03:47,157
A story that can only
be revealed if we stop
67
00:03:47,192 --> 00:03:52,232
and take the time to read its scat.
68
00:03:52,266 --> 00:03:53,923
Well, thanks so much.
Yeah. Good luck, all right?
69
00:03:53,957 --> 00:03:56,443
Cheers. Ta.
70
00:03:56,477 --> 00:04:00,274
♪
71
00:04:05,762 --> 00:04:08,282
[voiceover]:
You can sometimes hear and feel
72
00:04:08,317 --> 00:04:12,252
the cassowary's deep, booming
call before you see one.
73
00:04:12,286 --> 00:04:15,669
[cassowary rumbling]
74
00:04:15,703 --> 00:04:17,602
The low frequency may help them
communicate
75
00:04:17,636 --> 00:04:21,571
through these dense tropical forests.
76
00:04:21,606 --> 00:04:26,093
♪
77
00:04:28,854 --> 00:04:30,270
[grunts]
78
00:04:30,304 --> 00:04:36,483
You have to be careful; you have
to really respect these birds.
79
00:04:36,517 --> 00:04:38,450
You never know when you're going
to run into one
80
00:04:38,485 --> 00:04:40,935
when you're following their tracks.
81
00:04:40,970 --> 00:04:44,042
They do have the potential to
inflict considerable harm.
82
00:04:46,527 --> 00:04:50,082
Ah, here's his trail here.
83
00:04:50,117 --> 00:04:51,739
Whoa.
84
00:04:54,501 --> 00:04:56,710
You can see the cassowary's come through
85
00:04:56,744 --> 00:04:58,988
the creek here, and there
are these beautiful footprints
86
00:04:59,022 --> 00:05:00,023
in the soft mud.
87
00:05:00,058 --> 00:05:03,199
It's quite slippery.
88
00:05:03,233 --> 00:05:04,234
And he's come through...
89
00:05:04,269 --> 00:05:06,547
This one, they look just like
90
00:05:06,582 --> 00:05:09,378
little dinosaur footprints, don't they?
91
00:05:09,412 --> 00:05:11,932
♪
92
00:05:11,966 --> 00:05:14,762
[voiceover]: The tracks
should lead me to fresh scat.
93
00:05:14,797 --> 00:05:19,180
But first, they deliver a rare encounter.
94
00:05:19,215 --> 00:05:23,944
♪
95
00:05:29,984 --> 00:05:33,574
The first time you come across a
cassowary in the forest on foot
96
00:05:33,609 --> 00:05:36,784
is a really intimidating experience.
97
00:05:36,819 --> 00:05:40,823
This animal is virtually looking
at you eye-to-eye.
98
00:05:40,857 --> 00:05:43,619
And it has these massive talons
which it uses in defense.
99
00:05:45,275 --> 00:05:48,002
Looking at a cassowary,
you can see straight back
100
00:05:48,037 --> 00:05:51,627
into the dinosaur heritage
of all our birds.
101
00:05:51,661 --> 00:05:54,423
It's very hard to escape the
feeling that you're interacting
102
00:05:54,457 --> 00:05:59,566
with something not too far
removed from a velociraptor.
103
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:04,087
♪
104
00:06:15,996 --> 00:06:17,618
So that male cassowary
105
00:06:17,653 --> 00:06:21,898
just dropped this scat
before my eyes moments ago, so
106
00:06:21,933 --> 00:06:25,592
you can still feel the warmth
coming off that,
107
00:06:25,626 --> 00:06:29,181
and it's chockers full of
rain forest fruits.
108
00:06:29,216 --> 00:06:33,531
And there's this beautiful
big cassowary plum seed,
109
00:06:33,565 --> 00:06:36,154
and this is really significant.
110
00:06:36,188 --> 00:06:39,778
[voiceover]: Because
cassowaries and cassowary plums
111
00:06:39,813 --> 00:06:41,746
have a mutually beneficial relationship.
112
00:06:41,780 --> 00:06:44,473
The fruit is large and poisonous,
113
00:06:44,507 --> 00:06:46,371
which limits the number of species
114
00:06:46,406 --> 00:06:48,235
that can disperse its seeds.
115
00:06:51,618 --> 00:06:53,240
The cassowary is the only animal
in these forests
116
00:06:53,274 --> 00:06:56,623
that can swallow this fruit whole.
117
00:07:02,214 --> 00:07:05,528
The fruit passes through
the cassowary's gut so fast
118
00:07:05,563 --> 00:07:09,152
that only a small portion
of the toxins are absorbed.
119
00:07:09,187 --> 00:07:11,465
And when the intact seed
comes out the other end,
120
00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:15,020
it will sprout in a matrix
of ready-made fertilizer
121
00:07:15,055 --> 00:07:18,679
at a distance from the parent tree.
122
00:07:18,714 --> 00:07:21,751
The plant gets its seeds dispersed
123
00:07:21,786 --> 00:07:22,925
and the cassowary gets to eat...
124
00:07:22,959 --> 00:07:27,757
a fruitful relationship if ever
there was one.
125
00:07:27,792 --> 00:07:33,694
The cassowary disperses
the seeds of around 238 plants.
126
00:07:33,729 --> 00:07:35,109
But just how effective
127
00:07:35,144 --> 00:07:39,286
is the big bird to the health
of these precious forests?
128
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,151
♪
129
00:07:42,185 --> 00:07:46,396
After the rainy season,
I'll return to the Wet Tropics
130
00:07:46,431 --> 00:07:50,539
to take part in an experiment
designed to find out.
131
00:07:50,573 --> 00:07:53,783
It involves a much closer look
at cassowary scat,
132
00:07:53,818 --> 00:07:57,407
which is right up my alley.
133
00:07:57,442 --> 00:08:00,307
♪
134
00:08:03,793 --> 00:08:06,969
Scats are splendid things,
135
00:08:07,003 --> 00:08:08,798
filled with fabulous facts.
136
00:08:10,835 --> 00:08:13,009
From them, we can identify species...
137
00:08:13,044 --> 00:08:15,011
[animal shrieking]
138
00:08:15,046 --> 00:08:17,151
...and their most recent meals.
139
00:08:19,119 --> 00:08:22,640
And once in a while,
a scat comes along that elevates
140
00:08:22,674 --> 00:08:25,297
poop science to another level.
141
00:08:25,332 --> 00:08:28,508
Introducing the cube,
142
00:08:28,542 --> 00:08:30,302
the only six-sided scat in nature,
143
00:08:30,337 --> 00:08:33,409
an exceptional excrement,
144
00:08:33,443 --> 00:08:37,447
direct from the bottom
of the common wombat.
145
00:08:37,482 --> 00:08:41,244
Wombats are Australian marsupials.
146
00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:43,350
They graze continuously.
147
00:08:43,384 --> 00:08:46,836
It can take up to two weeks
for them to digest their food.
148
00:08:46,871 --> 00:08:50,771
The process squeezes out
every last drop of water,
149
00:08:50,806 --> 00:08:54,119
a good strategy in Australia's
harsh climate.
150
00:08:54,154 --> 00:09:00,401
But that doesn't explain how, or
why, the end result is a cube.
151
00:09:00,436 --> 00:09:04,682
♪
152
00:09:04,716 --> 00:09:07,719
The first serious research into
this mysterious scat
153
00:09:07,754 --> 00:09:11,516
happened independently
in the U.S. and here in Tasmania
154
00:09:11,551 --> 00:09:13,656
around the same time.
155
00:09:13,691 --> 00:09:18,661
It seemed the scats had aligned.
156
00:09:18,696 --> 00:09:22,354
I'm here to see the result
of that research.
157
00:09:22,389 --> 00:09:25,944
My scat investigations usually
begin once the
158
00:09:25,979 --> 00:09:28,602
shit hits the ground.
159
00:09:28,637 --> 00:09:32,399
♪
160
00:09:32,433 --> 00:09:36,230
In this case, I need to know
what goes on behind the scenes.
161
00:09:36,265 --> 00:09:40,994
♪
162
00:09:41,028 --> 00:09:42,927
Like many scientific breakthroughs,
163
00:09:42,961 --> 00:09:48,035
the investigation into this
mystery started accidentally,
164
00:09:48,070 --> 00:09:50,624
here, inside the laboratory
of Scott Carver.
165
00:09:50,659 --> 00:09:52,626
G'day, Scott, how ya goin'? G'day.
166
00:09:52,661 --> 00:09:57,148
Good to see ya, come on in.
167
00:09:57,182 --> 00:09:58,908
BURNETT:
There she is.
168
00:09:58,943 --> 00:10:00,496
CARVER:
Yeah, she is.
169
00:10:00,530 --> 00:10:01,635
Oh, look at her.
170
00:10:01,670 --> 00:10:03,154
Yeah, she's a female adult,
171
00:10:03,188 --> 00:10:05,259
would have been hit by a car.
172
00:10:05,294 --> 00:10:06,951
Just pop her down here.
173
00:10:06,985 --> 00:10:09,954
CARVER [voiceover]: I study
infectious diseases of wildlife,
174
00:10:09,988 --> 00:10:12,439
and as part of that work, we've
been dissecting some wombats
175
00:10:12,473 --> 00:10:15,545
that are either, had disease and died
176
00:10:15,580 --> 00:10:17,582
or had been hit by a car and died.
177
00:10:17,617 --> 00:10:20,343
And we were doing some of these
dissections.
178
00:10:20,378 --> 00:10:21,931
And to our surprise,
179
00:10:21,966 --> 00:10:24,382
for the first time, we actually
discovered that they have these
180
00:10:24,416 --> 00:10:27,178
cubes formed inside of their body.
181
00:10:27,212 --> 00:10:29,076
CARVER: So it was just a situation
just like this,
182
00:10:29,111 --> 00:10:32,528
where we discovered that the
feces were formed into cubes in
183
00:10:32,562 --> 00:10:33,563
the last part of the intestine.
184
00:10:33,598 --> 00:10:37,222
And so before your work on this topic,
185
00:10:37,257 --> 00:10:39,466
there were a few competing
hypotheses about where that
186
00:10:39,500 --> 00:10:42,262
cubed shape of the wombat scats
comes from.
187
00:10:42,296 --> 00:10:45,921
Yeah, one of them was that they
had a square-shaped anus.
188
00:10:45,955 --> 00:10:51,512
So that bum doesn't look too
square-shaped, does it?
189
00:10:51,547 --> 00:10:53,618
No, it's not square-shapedat all.
190
00:10:55,758 --> 00:10:57,795
BURNETT [voiceover]: Further
confirmation came when they performed
191
00:10:57,829 --> 00:11:00,763
the first ever CT scan on a live wombat.
192
00:11:04,042 --> 00:11:06,182
That's not a square.
193
00:11:08,737 --> 00:11:10,152
CARVER:
So we're just gonna start here
194
00:11:10,186 --> 00:11:11,705
below the rib cage
195
00:11:11,740 --> 00:11:13,327
and just cut a line down
196
00:11:13,362 --> 00:11:18,436
and finish straight down here
and reveal the intestines.
197
00:11:18,470 --> 00:11:20,334
Now if you peel this back here a
little bit, we can actually see
198
00:11:20,369 --> 00:11:22,647
some of these cubes starting to form.
199
00:11:22,682 --> 00:11:25,443
Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, it certainly is.
200
00:11:25,477 --> 00:11:28,826
Yeah, you can really see the cubes here.
201
00:11:28,860 --> 00:11:30,724
Mm, they're really well-defined,
aren't they?
202
00:11:30,759 --> 00:11:32,174
Yeah, really clearlydefined.
203
00:11:32,208 --> 00:11:34,348
Really sharp edges along those corners...
204
00:11:34,383 --> 00:11:36,799
♪
205
00:11:36,834 --> 00:11:38,559
CARVER [voiceover]: So we
started collecting some of the tissues
206
00:11:38,594 --> 00:11:41,839
from these intestines
to look at the thickness.
207
00:11:41,873 --> 00:11:43,012
At the same time,
208
00:11:43,047 --> 00:11:46,119
we had some colleagues in the
U.S. contact us,
209
00:11:46,153 --> 00:11:49,260
and they study the fluid
mechanics of many things,
210
00:11:49,294 --> 00:11:51,331
including how feces are formed.
211
00:11:51,365 --> 00:11:53,264
And, and they were interested in this
212
00:11:53,298 --> 00:11:56,785
when somebody pointed out that
wombats can produce cubes
213
00:11:56,819 --> 00:11:57,751
during a conference.
214
00:11:59,442 --> 00:12:01,721
BURNETT: One of the scientists
on the U.S. team was Patricia Yang,
215
00:12:01,755 --> 00:12:07,554
based at Georgia Tech, an expert
on the physics of feces.
216
00:12:07,588 --> 00:12:10,522
She thought she knew everything
about poop,
217
00:12:10,557 --> 00:12:13,698
until she was faced with the cube.
218
00:12:13,733 --> 00:12:17,909
So I did some online search,
and a lot of images or photos
219
00:12:17,944 --> 00:12:20,222
come up, and those are...
220
00:12:20,256 --> 00:12:24,985
For, for my eyes,
it looks very artificial.
221
00:12:25,020 --> 00:12:28,057
And that increased the doubt
even more, like,
222
00:12:28,092 --> 00:12:31,785
is that even a real thing
comes out from animal body?
223
00:12:31,820 --> 00:12:33,442
But I just couldn't believe it,
224
00:12:33,476 --> 00:12:37,722
because that is way too weird
from my knowledge of feces.
225
00:12:37,757 --> 00:12:40,760
And that triggered my curiosity.
226
00:12:42,692 --> 00:12:48,112
I was thinking, if, for normal
defecation process
227
00:12:48,146 --> 00:12:50,804
for most mammals, including humans,
228
00:12:50,839 --> 00:12:53,565
the feces come out like
a toothpaste coming out.
229
00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,809
So when you squeeze it,
230
00:12:55,844 --> 00:12:58,329
the shape of feces is the same
as the, the orifice,
231
00:12:58,363 --> 00:13:01,781
and this sort of soft matter
comes out slowly
232
00:13:01,815 --> 00:13:05,577
but smoothly, as a sausage.
233
00:13:05,612 --> 00:13:09,064
But how would wombat have this
cubicle shape?
234
00:13:09,098 --> 00:13:11,169
♪
235
00:13:11,204 --> 00:13:13,793
Our hypothesis is that
it must be the intestine
236
00:13:13,827 --> 00:13:16,174
that molded this shape.
237
00:13:16,209 --> 00:13:17,969
There might be something that's critical
238
00:13:18,004 --> 00:13:21,076
but invisible to our eyes, and
we're going to figure this out.
239
00:13:21,110 --> 00:13:25,805
CARVER: The logical next
thing to do for us was to examine
240
00:13:25,839 --> 00:13:29,670
microscopically what the tissues
looked like.
241
00:13:29,705 --> 00:13:31,914
We found thicker and thinner muscle
242
00:13:31,949 --> 00:13:34,537
around that circumference,
243
00:13:34,572 --> 00:13:37,230
and along the length of the intestine,
244
00:13:37,264 --> 00:13:40,785
these sort of thicker and
thinner regions formed bands.
245
00:13:43,512 --> 00:13:46,101
YANG: So we have never seen
this before in any kind of animals.
246
00:13:46,135 --> 00:13:47,412
We are wondering
247
00:13:47,447 --> 00:13:50,070
if different thickness,
the thicker and thinner bands,
248
00:13:50,105 --> 00:13:52,314
how would that affect the stretchiness
249
00:13:52,348 --> 00:13:54,247
of the wombat intestine?
250
00:13:54,281 --> 00:13:58,009
So we put a wombat intestine
251
00:13:58,044 --> 00:14:01,806
into this tensile test.
252
00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:05,154
Tensile test is the way to test
how stretchy this material is.
253
00:14:05,189 --> 00:14:09,814
♪
254
00:14:09,849 --> 00:14:13,714
And we discovered that the
wombat intestines stretch,
255
00:14:13,749 --> 00:14:15,993
but they are not stretched in even way.
256
00:14:16,027 --> 00:14:20,825
For the thicker part, they
stretch less than the soft part.
257
00:14:20,860 --> 00:14:22,758
We were surprised that the
stretchiness were four times
258
00:14:22,792 --> 00:14:24,622
different among these two bands.
259
00:14:26,141 --> 00:14:29,213
With this measurement,
we fitted this information
260
00:14:29,247 --> 00:14:32,078
to a mathematical model,
and that it contracts.
261
00:14:32,112 --> 00:14:34,874
And over several cycles' contraction,
262
00:14:34,908 --> 00:14:38,670
we see a shape with four corners.
263
00:14:38,705 --> 00:14:42,329
CARVER: I've got a really
simple way of showing pretty much
264
00:14:42,364 --> 00:14:45,505
how they form these cubes
using this rubber band here.
265
00:14:45,539 --> 00:14:48,301
And so we can just kind of pinch
the sides of the rubber band
266
00:14:48,335 --> 00:14:52,857
and kind of simulate those,
those more stiff regions
267
00:14:52,892 --> 00:14:54,238
of the intestine.
268
00:14:54,272 --> 00:14:56,412
And if you just hold it like
this, you can just go like that,
269
00:14:56,447 --> 00:14:58,449
and it begins to form a cube.
270
00:14:58,483 --> 00:15:01,555
So when the contractions happen,
it is basically squeezing
271
00:15:01,590 --> 00:15:03,109
the feces into this shape,
272
00:15:03,143 --> 00:15:05,249
and it does this rhythmically over time,
273
00:15:05,283 --> 00:15:08,804
and so they eventually get
molded into that.
274
00:15:08,838 --> 00:15:10,461
And as the moisture is absorbed
275
00:15:10,495 --> 00:15:13,360
out of the feces, it starts to
fragment along its length
276
00:15:13,395 --> 00:15:16,708
and form the distinctive actual
cubes that come out at the end.
277
00:15:16,743 --> 00:15:21,679
♪
278
00:15:21,713 --> 00:15:24,854
So after three years of
collaborating and work
279
00:15:24,889 --> 00:15:26,649
with a big team,
280
00:15:26,684 --> 00:15:30,757
we finally figured out why
wombat cube have six faces.
281
00:15:30,791 --> 00:15:33,933
[audience cheering and applauding]
282
00:15:33,967 --> 00:15:35,348
BURNETT: For their
discovery, the international team
283
00:15:35,382 --> 00:15:38,178
won a coveted Ig Nobel Prize
284
00:15:38,213 --> 00:15:41,837
for science that makes you laugh
and then think.
285
00:15:43,666 --> 00:15:45,254
Thank you.
286
00:15:45,289 --> 00:15:47,705
Wombats are solitary
herbivorous marsupials.
287
00:15:47,739 --> 00:15:50,190
They produce cube-shaped scats.
288
00:15:50,225 --> 00:15:54,884
When feces dry, it contracts
and forms cracks.
289
00:15:54,919 --> 00:15:58,233
Wombats are scientific proof
that you can squeeze
290
00:15:58,267 --> 00:16:01,443
a square peg into a round hole.
291
00:16:01,477 --> 00:16:03,859
[audience laughing, applauding]
292
00:16:03,893 --> 00:16:06,137
BURNETT: The time we were
able to spend in the lab gave me
293
00:16:06,172 --> 00:16:10,555
a really great understanding
of how wombat scats get formed.
294
00:16:10,590 --> 00:16:11,971
But the question still remains:
295
00:16:12,005 --> 00:16:15,457
what role does it serve
in the wombat's ecology?
296
00:16:15,491 --> 00:16:20,013
♪
297
00:16:26,088 --> 00:16:29,022
The most popular theory about
why wombat scat is cubed
298
00:16:29,057 --> 00:16:31,783
is that the shape makes
communication easier.
299
00:16:31,818 --> 00:16:33,095
But first we have to ask
300
00:16:33,130 --> 00:16:36,271
if wombats even use their poop
to message one another,
301
00:16:36,305 --> 00:16:38,411
whatever its shape.
302
00:16:38,445 --> 00:16:39,757
In the next two days,
303
00:16:39,791 --> 00:16:42,346
we'll conduct a pilot experiment
to help find out.
304
00:16:42,380 --> 00:16:44,693
♪
305
00:16:44,727 --> 00:16:45,797
Maria Island in Tasmania
306
00:16:45,832 --> 00:16:49,008
is the perfect natural laboratory.
307
00:16:49,042 --> 00:16:52,977
There are between 2,000
and 3,000 wombats here.
308
00:16:53,012 --> 00:16:56,015
♪
309
00:16:56,049 --> 00:17:00,674
Wombat scats are not all
obviously cube-shaped
310
00:17:00,709 --> 00:17:02,849
like we saw in the lab.
311
00:17:02,883 --> 00:17:05,403
Variations in physiology, diet,
and moisture
312
00:17:05,438 --> 00:17:07,336
cause shape changes.
313
00:17:07,371 --> 00:17:10,822
It can even depend on
how you look at them.
314
00:17:10,857 --> 00:17:13,756
But they do all have six sides,
315
00:17:13,791 --> 00:17:15,689
which is what makes them special.
316
00:17:15,724 --> 00:17:17,070
Wash your hands.
317
00:17:19,797 --> 00:17:22,144
There are thousands of wombat scats
318
00:17:22,179 --> 00:17:24,733
aggregated in clusters across the island.
319
00:17:24,767 --> 00:17:27,149
These are latrine sites.
320
00:17:27,184 --> 00:17:31,912
Many animals use latrines
for social communication.
321
00:17:31,947 --> 00:17:34,294
They sniff out the scent of who's around
322
00:17:34,329 --> 00:17:36,262
and leave their own scat messages.
323
00:17:36,296 --> 00:17:39,989
But are wombats using their
latrines for this purpose?
324
00:17:40,024 --> 00:17:42,820
It's never been directly
investigated, until now.
325
00:17:45,443 --> 00:17:47,652
Our pilot experiment is simple.
326
00:17:47,687 --> 00:17:50,552
We'll drop the poop of a
stranger wombat into a latrine
327
00:17:50,586 --> 00:17:53,382
and watch what happens.
328
00:17:53,417 --> 00:17:56,144
If the wombats are communicating
with their scat,
329
00:17:56,178 --> 00:18:00,458
they should react to the new poop.
330
00:18:00,493 --> 00:18:05,463
The home ranges of wombats
overlap and vary in size.
331
00:18:05,498 --> 00:18:07,707
To ensure the poop is foreign,
332
00:18:07,741 --> 00:18:10,192
I pick fresh scat
from one side of the island
333
00:18:10,227 --> 00:18:11,814
and take it to the other,
334
00:18:11,849 --> 00:18:14,817
where I've found a very
impressive latrine.
335
00:18:19,719 --> 00:18:21,686
That's a lotta shit.
336
00:18:27,244 --> 00:18:30,385
And here's a selection
of fresh, fresh pellets.
337
00:18:33,181 --> 00:18:35,631
[voiceover]:
If these latrines are being used
338
00:18:35,666 --> 00:18:38,151
for social communication,
you'd expect that where we
339
00:18:38,186 --> 00:18:41,223
dropped foreign wombat pellets
in, there'd be some sort of
340
00:18:41,258 --> 00:18:45,676
response from the resident wombats.
341
00:18:45,710 --> 00:18:49,507
I set up camera traps on
ten latrines across the island.
342
00:18:49,542 --> 00:18:53,960
I add stranger poop to five of the sites
343
00:18:53,994 --> 00:18:56,687
and leave the other five unchanged.
344
00:19:00,035 --> 00:19:02,037
These are our control sites.
345
00:19:02,071 --> 00:19:04,902
We'll use them to gauge
what normally goes on
346
00:19:04,936 --> 00:19:07,698
around wombat latrines
so we can quantify any effects
347
00:19:07,732 --> 00:19:09,665
from adding scats.
348
00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:13,462
I'll return to check
the camera traps in 24 hours.
349
00:19:13,497 --> 00:19:19,365
♪
350
00:19:19,399 --> 00:19:23,196
Scott Carver has left the lab
to join me on Maria Island.
351
00:19:23,231 --> 00:19:27,338
He's going to perform an elegant
experiment designed to test
352
00:19:27,373 --> 00:19:32,585
another element of the wombat
communication theory:
353
00:19:32,619 --> 00:19:34,966
that the cubes give the wombat
an evolutionary advantage.
354
00:19:35,001 --> 00:19:38,694
♪
355
00:19:38,729 --> 00:19:40,144
Here's the thing:
356
00:19:40,179 --> 00:19:43,768
wombats have bad eyesight, but
they have a keen sense of smell.
357
00:19:43,803 --> 00:19:47,289
If they are communicating
through their scat,
358
00:19:47,324 --> 00:19:49,326
they're well equipped to sniff it out.
359
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,777
So it shouldn't be surprising
to discover that the process
360
00:19:52,812 --> 00:19:55,539
of evolution has found a way
to amplify the scent
361
00:19:55,573 --> 00:19:56,988
of wombat scat.
362
00:19:57,023 --> 00:20:00,820
There's a little wombat
poo tower over here.
363
00:20:02,511 --> 00:20:04,893
[voiceover]:
Meet the wombat scat stack.
364
00:20:06,791 --> 00:20:08,310
Does the unique shape
365
00:20:08,345 --> 00:20:11,486
of wombat scat have any bearing
on poop stacking?
366
00:20:13,246 --> 00:20:16,042
Tonight, we're going to find out.
367
00:20:16,076 --> 00:20:18,562
But first, we need some essential data.
368
00:20:18,596 --> 00:20:23,532
♪
369
00:20:23,567 --> 00:20:25,707
CARVER: So I reckon we might be
able to get a measurement on how high
370
00:20:25,741 --> 00:20:27,916
the, the bum is from the ground
here, Scott.
371
00:20:27,950 --> 00:20:29,987
This one seems pretty habituated.
372
00:20:32,231 --> 00:20:35,303
Yep, looks like about 15 centimeters.
373
00:20:37,408 --> 00:20:39,548
BURNETT [voiceover]:
This is science.
374
00:20:39,583 --> 00:20:43,414
This is what we do.
375
00:20:46,245 --> 00:20:49,248
What would happen if a wombat
had round-shaped scat?
376
00:20:49,282 --> 00:20:51,180
Would it stack?
377
00:20:51,215 --> 00:20:54,977
We've made cubes and spheres
out of modeling dough.
378
00:20:55,012 --> 00:20:57,911
We'll drop them from the height
of a wombat's bottom
379
00:20:57,946 --> 00:20:59,706
and compare how they land.
380
00:20:59,741 --> 00:21:02,295
The hypothesis is that the cubes
will aggregate
381
00:21:02,330 --> 00:21:05,298
and the round ones will roll away.
382
00:21:05,333 --> 00:21:09,095
So it's super-simple little experiment.
383
00:21:09,129 --> 00:21:11,511
Wombats often drop them on a rock or a log
384
00:21:11,546 --> 00:21:13,479
that's at a similar angleto this.
385
00:21:13,513 --> 00:21:15,964
And here we can just test
with the circular ones
386
00:21:15,998 --> 00:21:19,485
how well they go relative
to the cube-shaped ones.
387
00:21:24,766 --> 00:21:26,561
If the hypothesis is correct,
388
00:21:26,595 --> 00:21:30,875
the cube-shaped poo, the yellow ones,
389
00:21:30,910 --> 00:21:34,223
shouldn't spread out as far as
the pink ones, correct?
390
00:21:34,258 --> 00:21:35,811
Yeah, they shouldn't, they should end up
391
00:21:35,846 --> 00:21:37,330
a little bit more closer together and...
392
00:21:37,365 --> 00:21:39,539
It's looking good so far, looks right...
393
00:21:39,574 --> 00:21:41,196
It's off the table! Hey!
394
00:21:41,230 --> 00:21:43,060
Pretty striking, eh?
395
00:21:43,094 --> 00:21:45,338
[laughs] You, you couldn't hope for
a better result.
396
00:21:45,373 --> 00:21:48,790
That might be our best trial so far. Yeah.
397
00:21:48,824 --> 00:21:51,965
So, not surprisingly,
balls roll further than boxes.
398
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,487
But, as scientists, we have to
actually do the experiment, hey?
399
00:21:56,522 --> 00:22:01,147
BURNETT [voiceover]: We have so
much fun that we replicate the experiment
400
00:22:01,181 --> 00:22:03,943
into the wee hours of the morning.
401
00:22:03,977 --> 00:22:07,187
Time and again, the cubed shapes aggregate
402
00:22:07,222 --> 00:22:10,156
and the sphere shapes dissipate.
403
00:22:10,190 --> 00:22:11,330
It looks like pooping cubes
404
00:22:11,364 --> 00:22:13,124
would have an evolutionary advantage
405
00:22:13,159 --> 00:22:14,954
for a near-sighted wombat
406
00:22:14,988 --> 00:22:17,094
that needs to sniff out a latrine.
407
00:22:17,128 --> 00:22:18,198
It's a fine theory,
408
00:22:18,233 --> 00:22:21,547
but we still have no scientific proof that
409
00:22:21,581 --> 00:22:24,619
they do communicate through their scat.
410
00:22:24,653 --> 00:22:28,036
Scott Carver's on his way back to the lab,
411
00:22:28,070 --> 00:22:30,866
and I'm about to find out
what's happened overnight
412
00:22:30,901 --> 00:22:33,559
at our pilot communication experiment.
413
00:22:37,839 --> 00:22:39,081
This is really exciting.
414
00:22:39,116 --> 00:22:41,394
There's a new pile
of fresh scats right here
415
00:22:41,429 --> 00:22:47,262
beside the stranger's scats I
dropped in yesterday afternoon.
416
00:22:47,296 --> 00:22:48,919
So a wombat's definitely been here,
417
00:22:48,953 --> 00:22:52,440
and, you know, pooed overnight.
418
00:22:52,474 --> 00:22:55,270
Let's have a look at the camera
and see if we can see any
419
00:22:55,304 --> 00:22:58,066
sort of interaction with this
new pile that we've dropped in.
420
00:22:58,100 --> 00:22:59,136
That's very exciting.
421
00:23:01,449 --> 00:23:02,553
[inhales]
422
00:23:02,588 --> 00:23:04,383
[exhaling]:
Let's see.
423
00:23:06,626 --> 00:23:09,284
Ah, here comes a wombat.
424
00:23:09,318 --> 00:23:11,113
Ah, it's sniffing the new pile.
425
00:23:11,148 --> 00:23:12,563
Oh, my God.
426
00:23:12,598 --> 00:23:14,220
And then it's
427
00:23:14,254 --> 00:23:15,704
taking a poo
428
00:23:15,739 --> 00:23:17,913
right in front of the camera.
429
00:23:17,948 --> 00:23:20,019
[laughs]:
It's got its backside facing
430
00:23:20,053 --> 00:23:24,403
directly towards the trial camera.
431
00:23:24,437 --> 00:23:25,887
So there we go.
432
00:23:25,921 --> 00:23:29,028
That's our first bit of evidence
that these latrines do trigger
433
00:23:29,062 --> 00:23:30,961
some sort of scent-marking behavior,
434
00:23:30,995 --> 00:23:34,309
or that the strange scent here
has, has some influence
435
00:23:34,343 --> 00:23:36,415
on the behavior of these wombats.
436
00:23:39,038 --> 00:23:42,282
At the five control sites where
I didn't place scat,
437
00:23:42,317 --> 00:23:44,284
the wombats showed no reaction.
438
00:23:44,319 --> 00:23:46,942
But at three of the five
manipulated sites,
439
00:23:46,977 --> 00:23:49,876
wombats responded by sniffing
the foreign scat
440
00:23:49,911 --> 00:23:51,844
and then pooping.
441
00:23:55,399 --> 00:23:57,884
What could the wombats be talking about?
442
00:23:59,265 --> 00:24:01,578
Because they're mostly solitary animals,
443
00:24:01,612 --> 00:24:02,993
it would be really important
444
00:24:03,027 --> 00:24:05,271
to know reproductive status of females
445
00:24:05,305 --> 00:24:09,793
or to stay clear of dominant animals.
446
00:24:09,827 --> 00:24:11,795
That all still remains quite speculative,
447
00:24:11,829 --> 00:24:13,831
but I think at this point,
448
00:24:13,866 --> 00:24:16,109
we can say that the latrine sites are used
449
00:24:16,144 --> 00:24:19,906
in some sort of social communication way.
450
00:24:19,941 --> 00:24:23,013
♪
451
00:24:23,047 --> 00:24:25,705
While we need a lot more
information before we can say
452
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,052
for certain what's going on here,
453
00:24:28,087 --> 00:24:31,918
the latrines of some mammals
have been well researched,
454
00:24:31,953 --> 00:24:36,129
including one animal under
constant threat from poachers.
455
00:24:37,821 --> 00:24:40,271
Across the ocean, the wondrous latrines
456
00:24:40,306 --> 00:24:43,240
of Rhinoceros unicornis await me.
457
00:24:43,274 --> 00:24:44,448
They may hold the key
458
00:24:44,483 --> 00:24:47,796
to survival for this vulnerable species.
459
00:24:50,765 --> 00:24:55,563
♪
460
00:25:02,397 --> 00:25:04,330
The greater one-horned rhinoceros
461
00:25:04,364 --> 00:25:06,953
is best viewed from a distance.
462
00:25:06,988 --> 00:25:09,715
It's the second-largest
of all rhinoceros species,
463
00:25:09,749 --> 00:25:11,993
as heavy as an S.U.V.
464
00:25:12,027 --> 00:25:14,271
and able to charge at the speed
of a galloping horse.
465
00:25:14,305 --> 00:25:17,757
The beauty of scat science is,
466
00:25:17,792 --> 00:25:22,521
we don't have to catch one
to learn about its life.
467
00:25:22,555 --> 00:25:24,108
So this is an amazing spot here.
468
00:25:24,143 --> 00:25:27,111
We've got rhinos grazing out on this side,
469
00:25:27,146 --> 00:25:29,597
maybe a couple of hundred meters,
470
00:25:29,631 --> 00:25:31,219
and on the other side,
471
00:25:31,253 --> 00:25:34,084
rice paddies and villages.
472
00:25:35,982 --> 00:25:37,432
There's just over 100 rhinos
473
00:25:37,466 --> 00:25:41,022
in this area of just under
40 square kilometers.
474
00:25:41,056 --> 00:25:43,507
♪
475
00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:45,716
[voiceover]: Which makes
the Pobitora area a great place
476
00:25:45,751 --> 00:25:47,787
to find a rhinoceros latrine.
477
00:25:47,822 --> 00:25:52,033
♪
478
00:26:02,906 --> 00:26:04,839
Look at the size of this scat.
479
00:26:04,873 --> 00:26:07,980
This is one that was dropped last night.
480
00:26:08,014 --> 00:26:10,810
It's really fresh,
sort of beautiful stuff.
481
00:26:10,845 --> 00:26:13,019
If this had come out of
the bottom of my compost heap
482
00:26:13,054 --> 00:26:16,333
at home, I'd be really pleased
with how well it's gone.
483
00:26:16,367 --> 00:26:17,610
There's all these
484
00:26:17,645 --> 00:26:22,304
really finely masticated
and digested plant material.
485
00:26:22,339 --> 00:26:24,617
And just by coincidence, there's a cowpat
486
00:26:24,652 --> 00:26:29,864
here in front of the rhino heap.
487
00:26:29,898 --> 00:26:32,867
So you can really get a sense of
how massive these animals are,
488
00:26:32,901 --> 00:26:35,317
and they're just roaming in and out of
489
00:26:35,352 --> 00:26:39,736
the village here, and everyone
seems to be getting along.
490
00:26:39,770 --> 00:26:43,947
Just imagine the size of the bum
that this dropped out of.
491
00:26:43,981 --> 00:26:46,743
♪
492
00:26:46,777 --> 00:26:49,573
[voiceover]:
These are just single scats.
493
00:26:49,608 --> 00:26:52,403
I'm after the motherlode.
494
00:26:54,820 --> 00:26:57,961
I've made a pair of tongs out of bamboo
495
00:26:57,995 --> 00:26:59,825
to handle the scat hygienically.
496
00:26:59,859 --> 00:27:02,655
And there we go.
497
00:27:05,244 --> 00:27:07,971
[voiceover]: Coming
across fresh scat in the wild
498
00:27:08,005 --> 00:27:12,320
is a golden opportunity
for a scatologist like me,
499
00:27:12,354 --> 00:27:14,667
even if it's not for my research.
500
00:27:14,702 --> 00:27:16,565
Collecting samples for other scientists
501
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,983
can help their studies.
502
00:27:20,017 --> 00:27:22,468
Some of this rhino poo
may even be used to help save
503
00:27:22,502 --> 00:27:24,850
the greater one-horned rhinoceros.
504
00:27:24,884 --> 00:27:29,475
So this large pile of scat here
505
00:27:29,509 --> 00:27:31,442
is a latrine site
used by a few different rhinos.
506
00:27:31,477 --> 00:27:34,722
They communicate to
507
00:27:34,756 --> 00:27:36,206
the other animals in their population
508
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,484
via the chemicals in their scats.
509
00:27:38,518 --> 00:27:42,212
They communicate social status
and reproductive status
510
00:27:42,246 --> 00:27:46,250
and who's in the neighborhood.
511
00:27:46,285 --> 00:27:50,807
It's like a Fecesbook for rhinos.
512
00:27:50,841 --> 00:27:53,775
♪
513
00:27:53,810 --> 00:27:58,746
[voiceover]: But this social
platform also attracts ruthless killers.
514
00:27:58,780 --> 00:28:00,955
A fresh poop pile is a message to poachers
515
00:28:00,989 --> 00:28:03,992
that rhinos visit here.
516
00:28:04,027 --> 00:28:06,615
They're killed for their horns,
517
00:28:06,650 --> 00:28:09,239
which are smuggled out of the country
518
00:28:09,273 --> 00:28:10,481
and used for luxury goods
519
00:28:10,516 --> 00:28:13,346
or in traditional medicine
in parts of Asia.
520
00:28:13,381 --> 00:28:16,902
[people talking indistinctly]
521
00:28:16,936 --> 00:28:19,525
Scientists have figured out
a way to protect the rhinos
522
00:28:19,559 --> 00:28:21,872
by using their scat for forensics.
523
00:28:21,907 --> 00:28:25,531
They collect scat in the wild
and extract DNA,
524
00:28:25,565 --> 00:28:27,671
which goes into a database.
525
00:28:27,706 --> 00:28:30,501
When a dead rhino is found
526
00:28:30,536 --> 00:28:33,850
or a rhino horn
confiscated from criminals,
527
00:28:33,884 --> 00:28:37,474
authorities can match its
DNA with DNA in the database
528
00:28:37,508 --> 00:28:39,372
to locate where it came from.
529
00:28:39,407 --> 00:28:44,032
The DNA evidence
can be used to convict poachers
530
00:28:44,067 --> 00:28:46,725
and to know where
to concentrate police efforts.
531
00:28:52,144 --> 00:28:55,975
In the 1900s, they faced extinction.
532
00:28:56,010 --> 00:29:00,600
Now there are over 2,600 greater
one-horned rhinoceros in Assam.
533
00:29:00,635 --> 00:29:03,949
Perhaps this scat
will go towards saving one more.
534
00:29:07,711 --> 00:29:09,471
Just using my GPS here
535
00:29:09,506 --> 00:29:11,819
to get a geolocation for this sample.
536
00:29:11,853 --> 00:29:16,064
[voiceover]: Latrines
helps rhinos communicate,
537
00:29:16,099 --> 00:29:17,410
and now they may also protect
538
00:29:17,445 --> 00:29:20,724
these superb pachyderms from extinction.
539
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:23,727
That's a good poop story.
540
00:29:23,762 --> 00:29:26,868
♪
541
00:29:30,699 --> 00:29:33,702
Rhinoceros scat is easy to collect.
542
00:29:33,737 --> 00:29:36,360
But some scat is more elusive,
543
00:29:36,395 --> 00:29:40,399
especially that of the most
prodigious pooper on the planet.
544
00:29:43,333 --> 00:29:49,235
♪
545
00:29:56,415 --> 00:30:00,005
I am about to leave my comfort zone,
546
00:30:00,039 --> 00:30:03,008
turn my back on the terrestrial realm...
547
00:30:03,042 --> 00:30:05,148
where animals leave their scats
in forests and fields...
548
00:30:05,182 --> 00:30:07,357
and head to sea with a whale biologist
549
00:30:07,391 --> 00:30:12,189
who shares my passion for poop.
550
00:30:12,224 --> 00:30:13,846
I'm known as the whale poo girl,
551
00:30:13,881 --> 00:30:16,055
which I embrace wholeheartedly,
552
00:30:16,090 --> 00:30:18,023
and it goes back to where
553
00:30:18,057 --> 00:30:19,887
this whole blue whale project
in Sri Lanka began.
554
00:30:19,921 --> 00:30:23,338
WOMAN:
Blow!
555
00:30:23,373 --> 00:30:25,202
DE VOS: I was off the
southeast coast of Sri Lanka
556
00:30:25,237 --> 00:30:27,101
doing some research on sperm whales
557
00:30:27,135 --> 00:30:28,481
on a whale research vessel,
558
00:30:28,516 --> 00:30:31,139
and had this amazing encounter
559
00:30:31,174 --> 00:30:32,554
with an aggregation of blue whales
560
00:30:32,589 --> 00:30:35,316
and a floating pile of whale poop.
561
00:30:37,007 --> 00:30:38,837
Everything that I had been taught
562
00:30:38,871 --> 00:30:41,805
in my undergrad and in school
about blue whales
563
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,496
was that they did these
long-range migrations
564
00:30:43,531 --> 00:30:47,846
between cold feeding areas and
warm breeding and calving areas.
565
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,918
BURNETT: Asha de Vos discovered
that the blue whales in these waters
566
00:30:50,952 --> 00:30:53,852
have a different lifestyle
from most others.
567
00:30:53,886 --> 00:30:59,271
They don't migrate and
they have some unique behavior.
568
00:30:59,305 --> 00:31:01,790
♪
569
00:31:01,825 --> 00:31:02,895
What was going on?
570
00:31:02,930 --> 00:31:06,140
Turns out the answer
could be in their scat,
571
00:31:06,174 --> 00:31:09,315
and today, I hope to see some of it
572
00:31:09,350 --> 00:31:11,731
while Asha continues her research.
573
00:31:11,766 --> 00:31:12,905
Hi, Scott, good morning.
574
00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:13,906
Hey, Asha.
575
00:31:13,941 --> 00:31:15,114
Welcome.
Come on board.
576
00:31:15,149 --> 00:31:16,115
It's good to see you. Great to meet you.
577
00:31:16,150 --> 00:31:18,152
Come on in. Thank you.
578
00:31:19,947 --> 00:31:23,882
♪
579
00:31:23,916 --> 00:31:25,366
DE VOS:
As soon as you see a blow...
580
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,714
so it's a very tall, powerful spout
581
00:31:28,748 --> 00:31:29,957
that you'll see in the distance...
582
00:31:29,991 --> 00:31:31,337
do shout it out.
583
00:31:31,372 --> 00:31:32,891
We've got the team ready to
take down the data.
584
00:31:32,925 --> 00:31:34,478
Yep. You'll keep your hand out
585
00:31:34,513 --> 00:31:36,791
so that we can make sure
we don't lose the animal.
586
00:31:36,825 --> 00:31:39,449
We'll try to get a distance
and sort of a bearing
587
00:31:39,483 --> 00:31:41,589
to the animal and start to approach to,
588
00:31:41,623 --> 00:31:44,454
within a reasonable distance
so that we can start to get
589
00:31:44,488 --> 00:31:46,042
all the other information that we need.
590
00:31:46,076 --> 00:31:47,077
So, do you think you're
ready for the task?
591
00:31:47,112 --> 00:31:48,078
Cool, let's go do it.
592
00:31:48,113 --> 00:31:49,079
All right, let's go.
593
00:31:49,114 --> 00:31:53,394
♪
594
00:32:00,988 --> 00:32:03,818
BURNETT [voiceover]: We're waiting
for a whale to come up to breathe and,
595
00:32:03,852 --> 00:32:05,371
hopefully, to leave a gift...
596
00:32:05,406 --> 00:32:08,478
one of the largest scats in the world.
597
00:32:08,512 --> 00:32:11,170
♪
598
00:32:11,205 --> 00:32:13,759
We don't know where, when,
599
00:32:13,793 --> 00:32:16,106
or even if a whale will appear.
600
00:32:16,141 --> 00:32:18,522
Neither do the hundreds of whale watchers
601
00:32:18,557 --> 00:32:20,731
that are out on the water today.
602
00:32:20,766 --> 00:32:21,767
But I... and they just...
Yeah, and these whales
603
00:32:21,801 --> 00:32:23,251
were here just waiting.
604
00:32:23,286 --> 00:32:24,528
These whales have been here for centuries.
605
00:32:24,563 --> 00:32:25,702
Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing.
606
00:32:25,736 --> 00:32:26,945
And most people in Sri Lanka
didn't even know
607
00:32:26,979 --> 00:32:28,360
these whales were in our waters.
608
00:32:28,394 --> 00:32:31,742
And then I started getting,
like, mail from people saying,
609
00:32:31,777 --> 00:32:32,951
"We didn't know there were
whales in our waters."
610
00:32:32,985 --> 00:32:35,160
So is this when the tourism industry
611
00:32:35,194 --> 00:32:36,506
all sprung up, too?
612
00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:37,507
Just in the last decade?
WOMAN: Blow!
613
00:32:37,541 --> 00:32:39,578
Yeah... sorry. [people exclaiming]
614
00:32:39,612 --> 00:32:41,718
[people speaking non-English language]
615
00:32:41,752 --> 00:32:44,479
[people calling out]:
Blow! [camera clicking]
616
00:32:44,514 --> 00:32:49,105
[De Vos speaking non-English language]
617
00:32:49,139 --> 00:32:50,106
Blow!
618
00:32:50,140 --> 00:32:51,245
DE VOS:
Hurry up.
619
00:32:51,279 --> 00:32:53,178
[camera clicking] WOMAN:
Blow!
620
00:32:53,212 --> 00:32:56,008
BURNETT [voiceover]:
The encounter only lasts a few minutes.
621
00:32:56,043 --> 00:32:58,424
BURNETT: Blow. [people exclaiming]
622
00:32:58,459 --> 00:33:01,117
Blow.
623
00:33:01,151 --> 00:33:02,463
BURNETT [voiceover]:
We can follow their breaths,
624
00:33:02,497 --> 00:33:04,775
but we can't follow them down.
625
00:33:04,810 --> 00:33:06,018
DE VOS: It's gonna go,
it's gonna go, it's gonna go,
626
00:33:06,053 --> 00:33:07,295
it's gonna go, it's gonna go.
627
00:33:07,330 --> 00:33:10,264
WOMAN:
Whoo! [people talking in background]
628
00:33:10,298 --> 00:33:13,232
Dive angle?
629
00:33:13,267 --> 00:33:15,062
Dive angle 110.
630
00:33:15,096 --> 00:33:16,995
WOMAN: One-one-zero
[inaudible].
631
00:33:17,029 --> 00:33:19,031
Time: 10:07.
632
00:33:19,066 --> 00:33:21,965
DE VOS: And you were so excited
when you saw the blue whale,
633
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:23,242
and then when you saw, you know,
634
00:33:23,277 --> 00:33:25,106
it skimming under the surface, and you saw
635
00:33:25,141 --> 00:33:26,694
that beautiful, um... That blue color.
636
00:33:26,728 --> 00:33:27,695
..blue color. Turquoise, mm-hmm.
637
00:33:27,729 --> 00:33:29,007
But wait till you seethe poo.
638
00:33:29,041 --> 00:33:30,974
I cannot wait
to see your face, I bet you. Mm.
639
00:33:31,009 --> 00:33:33,494
[people talking in background]
640
00:33:33,528 --> 00:33:36,359
BURNETT [voiceover]: We get a
distant glimpse of surface feeding.
641
00:33:36,393 --> 00:33:38,809
There's a wealth of marine resources
642
00:33:38,844 --> 00:33:42,054
in these warm waters for the whales.
643
00:33:42,089 --> 00:33:44,160
MAN:
Whoo!
644
00:33:44,194 --> 00:33:47,301
DE VOS: We've been seeing
more feeding this year
645
00:33:47,335 --> 00:33:49,199
than any other year, really. Mm.
646
00:33:49,234 --> 00:33:50,959
Which is fantastic. Mm.
647
00:33:50,994 --> 00:33:54,342
But the real mystery is,
where is all that feeding going?
648
00:33:54,377 --> 00:33:55,481
What happens to it?
649
00:33:55,516 --> 00:33:56,482
Why is it not coming out of the back?
650
00:33:56,517 --> 00:33:57,483
Mm. Where's our poo?
651
00:33:57,518 --> 00:33:58,484
Right? [chuckling]
652
00:33:58,519 --> 00:34:03,627
♪
653
00:34:03,662 --> 00:34:06,596
BURNETT [voiceover]:
The whale leaves no trace.
654
00:34:06,630 --> 00:34:08,287
But Asha doesn't disappoint.
655
00:34:08,322 --> 00:34:11,670
She's defrosted samples
no longer needed for research.
656
00:34:11,704 --> 00:34:15,708
Not only will I get
a chance to see it up close,
657
00:34:15,743 --> 00:34:18,021
but to experience just how difficult
658
00:34:18,056 --> 00:34:19,988
this scat is to collect.
659
00:34:33,036 --> 00:34:34,106
DE VOS:
You have to be pretty much
660
00:34:34,141 --> 00:34:35,590
there when it happens. BURNETT:
Mm.
661
00:34:35,625 --> 00:34:38,593
Quickly get the net out,
grab as much as we can.
662
00:34:38,628 --> 00:34:40,285
Um...
663
00:34:40,319 --> 00:34:41,872
BURNETT: It doesn't last long
in the water.
664
00:34:41,907 --> 00:34:43,288
It really is red gold,
665
00:34:43,322 --> 00:34:45,083
isn't it?
666
00:34:45,117 --> 00:34:46,325
Gold of the ocean. [De Vos murmuring]
667
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,087
I'm complete as a scatologist.
668
00:34:53,021 --> 00:34:56,577
♪
669
00:34:59,476 --> 00:35:01,271
DE VOS: This is where the science happens,
670
00:35:01,306 --> 00:35:03,653
because when we start
trudging through the data,
671
00:35:03,687 --> 00:35:06,000
that's when we start to see the trends,
672
00:35:06,034 --> 00:35:07,795
that's when we start to
recognize individuals,
673
00:35:07,829 --> 00:35:09,486
and that's when we
start to build the stories
674
00:35:09,521 --> 00:35:11,005
around these animals.
675
00:35:12,248 --> 00:35:13,352
In Sri Lanka,
676
00:35:13,387 --> 00:35:16,976
our blue whales
fluke up before a deep dive
677
00:35:17,011 --> 00:35:19,047
more often than anywhere else
in the world,
678
00:35:19,082 --> 00:35:20,808
maybe, like, 60% of the time.
679
00:35:20,842 --> 00:35:22,430
So this is lifting their flukes
680
00:35:22,465 --> 00:35:23,431
out of the water..Exactly.
681
00:35:23,466 --> 00:35:26,158
DE VOS:
And for a long time,
682
00:35:26,193 --> 00:35:27,539
we tried to figure out what that was,
683
00:35:27,573 --> 00:35:29,161
what was the reason.
684
00:35:29,196 --> 00:35:30,990
And what's really cool is,
685
00:35:31,025 --> 00:35:32,958
we've kind of figured that out by
686
00:35:32,992 --> 00:35:34,546
digging through their poop.
687
00:35:34,580 --> 00:35:37,894
♪
688
00:35:37,928 --> 00:35:39,240
BURNETT [voiceover]:
A piece of prey DNA
689
00:35:39,275 --> 00:35:41,656
from a scat sample was analyzed.
690
00:35:43,934 --> 00:35:46,144
What they found showed just how unusual
691
00:35:46,178 --> 00:35:48,767
the Sri Lankan blue whales really are.
692
00:35:53,634 --> 00:35:54,635
Everywhere else in the world,
693
00:35:54,669 --> 00:35:56,568
blue whales
would feed on krill. Mm.
694
00:35:56,602 --> 00:35:58,501
Here, they're feeding on a
particular kind of shrimp
695
00:35:58,535 --> 00:36:01,124
that is actually deeper
in the water column.
696
00:36:01,159 --> 00:36:02,712
And so they do have to get deeper.
697
00:36:02,746 --> 00:36:05,197
It makes a lot of sense
that you want to make yourself,
698
00:36:05,232 --> 00:36:06,716
turn yourself into a kind of
a torpedo to descend.
699
00:36:10,513 --> 00:36:12,998
[whale calling]
700
00:36:13,032 --> 00:36:14,655
And so, you know, the poo's sort of been
701
00:36:14,689 --> 00:36:15,932
this really big clue into
702
00:36:15,966 --> 00:36:18,210
not just understanding, you know,
703
00:36:18,245 --> 00:36:19,936
what are they feeding on,
704
00:36:19,970 --> 00:36:22,110
but how does that impact their life cycle,
705
00:36:22,145 --> 00:36:24,320
and their life history
and their behaviors,
706
00:36:24,354 --> 00:36:25,562
which I think is really neat.
707
00:36:25,597 --> 00:36:31,603
♪
708
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,234
BURNETT: After three
days on the boat with Asha,
709
00:36:42,269 --> 00:36:44,512
I have my sea legs.
710
00:36:44,547 --> 00:36:47,205
Now biologist and underwater cameraman
711
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,034
Simon Enderby
712
00:36:49,068 --> 00:36:52,520
has invited me to see
a blue whale beneath the water.
713
00:36:52,555 --> 00:36:54,384
He won't be letting us jump in
714
00:36:54,419 --> 00:36:58,077
unless it's completely safe
for the whale and for me.
715
00:37:01,115 --> 00:37:03,911
But our encounter today is with
716
00:37:03,945 --> 00:37:05,913
something much bigger than a whale.
717
00:37:07,190 --> 00:37:11,608
[ship horn blaring]
718
00:37:11,643 --> 00:37:14,162
There's been a flotilla
of whale watching boats
719
00:37:14,197 --> 00:37:17,373
following this whale
and her calf all morning
720
00:37:17,407 --> 00:37:19,789
this morning, really harassing it,
721
00:37:19,823 --> 00:37:22,654
and they've chased her out
into the shipping lane,
722
00:37:22,688 --> 00:37:23,862
which is where we're sitting now.
723
00:37:25,415 --> 00:37:27,486
It's dangerous out here for them.
724
00:37:27,521 --> 00:37:31,594
Strikes from propellers of these
big cargo ships kill whales.
725
00:37:31,628 --> 00:37:34,148
I had hoped to get into the water,
726
00:37:34,182 --> 00:37:35,736
you know, sensitively,
727
00:37:35,770 --> 00:37:38,221
ahead of the whale,
and let her swim past me,
728
00:37:38,256 --> 00:37:40,637
but I'm feeling quite distressed at
729
00:37:40,672 --> 00:37:42,984
what I've witnessed here this morning,
730
00:37:43,019 --> 00:37:45,780
and I don't really feel like
adding to any of the stress
731
00:37:45,815 --> 00:37:47,817
that these whales are obviously feeling.
732
00:37:47,851 --> 00:37:51,407
This reminds me, it really drives home
733
00:37:51,441 --> 00:37:53,374
why it's so useful and so,
734
00:37:53,409 --> 00:37:55,169
such a powerful tool to use scats
735
00:37:55,203 --> 00:37:57,447
to understand the ecology of animals...
736
00:37:57,482 --> 00:37:59,691
whales or animals on the land.
737
00:37:59,725 --> 00:38:01,934
It allows us to get into their lives
738
00:38:01,969 --> 00:38:03,419
without being in their faces
739
00:38:03,453 --> 00:38:08,320
or invading their personal space.
740
00:38:08,355 --> 00:38:11,219
[voiceover]: Scat helps
us to understand whales,
741
00:38:11,254 --> 00:38:14,395
and it may also help fertilize the oceans.
742
00:38:14,430 --> 00:38:16,949
Here's how we think it works.
743
00:38:16,984 --> 00:38:20,781
Migrating blue whales
head to Antarctica in summer
744
00:38:20,815 --> 00:38:24,060
to feast on iron-rich Antarctic krill,
745
00:38:24,094 --> 00:38:25,855
then they poop.
746
00:38:25,889 --> 00:38:29,548
The iron in their poop may
feed microscopic phytoplankton,
747
00:38:29,583 --> 00:38:31,378
which generates a large percentage
748
00:38:31,412 --> 00:38:34,173
of the planet's oxygen.
749
00:38:34,208 --> 00:38:36,797
Phytoplankton are
the favorite food of krill,
750
00:38:36,831 --> 00:38:38,626
which in turn are eaten by whales.
751
00:38:38,661 --> 00:38:43,321
And on it goes.
752
00:38:43,355 --> 00:38:45,875
It's unlikely that whale scat
alone is sufficient
753
00:38:45,909 --> 00:38:48,636
to feed the world's phytoplankton.
754
00:38:48,671 --> 00:38:52,468
But there's another, not so
obvious poop in the loop:
755
00:38:52,502 --> 00:38:55,988
the scat of the Antarctic krill itself.
756
00:38:56,023 --> 00:38:59,267
Could it be providing the iron
that phytoplankton need?
757
00:38:59,302 --> 00:39:05,204
♪
758
00:39:11,176 --> 00:39:14,282
Unfortunately, that's not me on deck.
759
00:39:17,734 --> 00:39:21,117
Scientists from the
Australian Antarctic Division
760
00:39:21,151 --> 00:39:23,464
are investigating the biology of krill.
761
00:39:24,707 --> 00:39:26,985
Doing research in the Southern Ocean
762
00:39:27,019 --> 00:39:28,642
is an enormous challenge,
763
00:39:28,676 --> 00:39:30,609
so they've figured out how to breed
764
00:39:30,644 --> 00:39:32,577
this little crustacean in captivity.
765
00:39:34,302 --> 00:39:36,788
Krill ecologist So Kawaguchi
766
00:39:36,822 --> 00:39:39,342
has helped develop a world-class aquarium
767
00:39:39,377 --> 00:39:41,482
dedicated to krill research.
768
00:39:44,658 --> 00:39:46,487
Today, he's invited me
769
00:39:46,522 --> 00:39:49,317
to watch the pooping of the krill.
770
00:39:49,352 --> 00:39:51,319
They look like giant icy poles,
771
00:39:51,354 --> 00:39:52,838
don't they, in those plastic bags?
772
00:39:52,873 --> 00:39:53,977
[laughing]:
Yes.
773
00:39:54,012 --> 00:39:56,290
So these are the phytoplankton
774
00:39:56,324 --> 00:39:59,983
isolated from Antarctic Ocean,
775
00:40:00,018 --> 00:40:03,193
so we culture these for,
as a food for krill.
776
00:40:03,228 --> 00:40:05,437
Are we going to have a chance
to feed some krill here today?
777
00:40:05,472 --> 00:40:06,473
Yeah, of course.
778
00:40:06,507 --> 00:40:08,095
I'm looking forward to that.
779
00:40:08,129 --> 00:40:09,821
I'm imagining sort of the water boiling
780
00:40:09,855 --> 00:40:11,823
like a pool full of piranhas.
[Kawaguchi laughs]
781
00:40:11,857 --> 00:40:13,997
KAWAGUCHI:
You don't really want to
782
00:40:14,032 --> 00:40:16,483
pour it, you know, from the, the pot.
783
00:40:16,517 --> 00:40:18,623
You just gently, you know, submerge it
784
00:40:18,657 --> 00:40:20,797
and then release it
into the, the water. Okay.
785
00:40:20,832 --> 00:40:23,662
Yeah, that's it.
786
00:40:23,697 --> 00:40:25,388
Oh, they're very reactive, aren't they?
787
00:40:25,423 --> 00:40:27,010
Yes. They're straightaway...
they're even
788
00:40:27,045 --> 00:40:29,496
going into the bucket.
789
00:40:29,530 --> 00:40:32,878
This is exciting. Yes.
790
00:40:32,913 --> 00:40:34,121
They're beautiful little animals,
791
00:40:34,155 --> 00:40:35,812
although not even that little.
792
00:40:35,847 --> 00:40:36,813
I mean, they're...
I'm surprised
793
00:40:36,848 --> 00:40:38,366
at the size of them.
794
00:40:38,401 --> 00:40:40,955
KAWAGUCHI: They're really
cute when they, you know,
795
00:40:40,990 --> 00:40:43,026
come up and see you,
796
00:40:43,061 --> 00:40:45,132
because they have really big black eyes,
797
00:40:45,166 --> 00:40:46,547
you know? BURNETT:
Mm.
798
00:40:46,582 --> 00:40:49,861
And yeah, it's just really nice to watch.
799
00:40:49,895 --> 00:40:51,034
Mm. Yeah, you know.
800
00:40:51,069 --> 00:40:52,760
♪
801
00:40:52,795 --> 00:40:56,177
KAWAGUCHI: For me, it's the
most important animal on the planet.
802
00:40:56,212 --> 00:40:58,386
Because, you know, the amount of krill
803
00:40:58,421 --> 00:41:00,699
that we have on the planet is enormous.
804
00:41:00,734 --> 00:41:03,495
Like, it weighs almost equivalent to
805
00:41:03,530 --> 00:41:05,980
the total weight of
the human being on the planet.
806
00:41:06,015 --> 00:41:09,397
♪
807
00:41:09,432 --> 00:41:12,780
You know, when they poo, they poo a lot.
808
00:41:12,815 --> 00:41:15,576
BURNETT:
Researchers estimate there are
809
00:41:15,611 --> 00:41:19,304
over 400 million tons of Antarctic krill.
810
00:41:19,338 --> 00:41:21,133
The Australian Antarctic Division
811
00:41:21,168 --> 00:41:23,032
recently recorded a super-swarm
812
00:41:23,066 --> 00:41:26,414
made up of hundreds of millions of them.
813
00:41:26,449 --> 00:41:27,899
There are records of super-swarms
814
00:41:27,933 --> 00:41:31,523
several kilometers long.
815
00:41:31,558 --> 00:41:34,353
Imagine all that scat!
816
00:41:39,255 --> 00:41:43,777
30 minutes after feeding,
So's krill begin to poop.
817
00:41:43,811 --> 00:41:47,505
The delicate scat threads
are easily fragmented by
818
00:41:47,539 --> 00:41:50,404
the constant motion of their tiny legs.
819
00:41:50,438 --> 00:41:53,856
At a microscopic level,
when the pellets break up,
820
00:41:53,890 --> 00:41:57,584
a cloud of nutrients
is thought to be released.
821
00:41:57,618 --> 00:41:58,792
What the nutrients are
822
00:41:58,826 --> 00:42:01,553
and how they are used are questions that
823
00:42:01,588 --> 00:42:04,625
researcher Abigail Smith wants to answer.
824
00:42:06,834 --> 00:42:08,456
My field is trace metal chemistry,
825
00:42:08,491 --> 00:42:09,906
and that's a really important field
826
00:42:09,941 --> 00:42:11,183
in the Southern Ocean,
827
00:42:11,218 --> 00:42:14,117
where we have such
low concentrations of iron.
828
00:42:14,152 --> 00:42:16,948
So we're talking, like, nanomolar level.
829
00:42:16,982 --> 00:42:18,605
Really, really low.
830
00:42:18,639 --> 00:42:20,572
Sources of iron down there
831
00:42:20,607 --> 00:42:22,609
often come from things like
melting sea ice.
832
00:42:22,643 --> 00:42:24,645
When ice is melting in spring,
833
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:26,198
you get this sudden input of iron,
834
00:42:26,233 --> 00:42:30,478
which stimulates this big
phytoplankton bloom.
835
00:42:30,513 --> 00:42:34,103
But once those sources have
pretty much been exhausted,
836
00:42:34,137 --> 00:42:36,933
we need something that recycles
and maintains the iron supply.
837
00:42:36,968 --> 00:42:39,660
And that's where krill come in,
and we believe that
838
00:42:39,695 --> 00:42:42,214
through their excretion
and their defecation,
839
00:42:42,249 --> 00:42:45,563
they're actually putting iron
back into the water.
840
00:42:47,288 --> 00:42:49,808
BURNETT: And that iron
may be fertilizing phytoplankton
841
00:42:49,843 --> 00:42:53,087
in a continuous cycle.
842
00:42:53,122 --> 00:42:55,987
Krill ingest iron
when they eat phytoplankton;
843
00:42:56,021 --> 00:42:58,714
it's then excreted in their scat.
844
00:42:58,748 --> 00:43:02,441
Bacteria break down the scat,
liberating the iron
845
00:43:02,476 --> 00:43:05,893
in a form that
the phytoplankton can absorb.
846
00:43:05,928 --> 00:43:07,308
But it's difficult to know
847
00:43:07,343 --> 00:43:11,071
how much iron is involved in the process.
848
00:43:11,105 --> 00:43:13,073
SMITH: It's not something
that we can measure
849
00:43:13,107 --> 00:43:14,453
very easily in the field,
850
00:43:14,488 --> 00:43:15,765
you know, going down to Antarctica.
851
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,111
You can try and measure the iron,
852
00:43:17,146 --> 00:43:19,769
but the iron's taken up so rapidly that,
853
00:43:19,804 --> 00:43:20,805
you know, you really
have to be there on the spot
854
00:43:20,839 --> 00:43:24,843
to measure any influence.
855
00:43:24,878 --> 00:43:27,605
BURNETT: As a step to finding
out how much iron is available
856
00:43:27,639 --> 00:43:29,883
for the phytoplankton to take up,
857
00:43:29,917 --> 00:43:33,231
Abigail conducts a controlled
experiment in So's lab.
858
00:43:33,265 --> 00:43:37,028
She'll measure the time
it takes a scat to travel
859
00:43:37,062 --> 00:43:39,513
from krill bottom to ocean bottom.
860
00:43:39,547 --> 00:43:40,652
[inaudible]
861
00:43:40,687 --> 00:43:44,449
So you can see it coming down there now.
862
00:43:46,485 --> 00:43:49,385
SMITH: The speed that it's
dropping is gonna be really important
863
00:43:49,419 --> 00:43:50,489
for how much of the nutrients
864
00:43:50,524 --> 00:43:52,008
are able to leach out of the fecal pellet.
865
00:43:52,043 --> 00:43:53,631
Mm-hmm. As soon as it drops
866
00:43:53,665 --> 00:43:56,910
out of the upper ocean,
it's sort of exported to depth
867
00:43:56,944 --> 00:43:59,844
where phytoplankton can't access it.
868
00:43:59,878 --> 00:44:02,709
BURNETT [voiceover]: After
over 50 of these experiments,
869
00:44:02,743 --> 00:44:06,747
Abigail found
the sinking rates are variable.
870
00:44:06,782 --> 00:44:10,095
Some scats stay around, others sink fast.
871
00:44:10,130 --> 00:44:13,478
Our pellet was one of the latter.
872
00:44:13,512 --> 00:44:15,100
The bacteria and phytoplankton
873
00:44:15,135 --> 00:44:18,241
would need to act fast
to take up the iron.
874
00:44:18,276 --> 00:44:20,485
But all is not lost,
875
00:44:20,519 --> 00:44:22,418
because even a fast-sinking scat
876
00:44:22,452 --> 00:44:25,455
has a gift for the planet.
877
00:44:25,490 --> 00:44:28,976
It can remove carbon from the atmosphere.
878
00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,532
Krill ingest carbon from phytoplankton
879
00:44:33,567 --> 00:44:35,949
and excrete it in their scat.
880
00:44:35,983 --> 00:44:37,640
The sinking scat transports
881
00:44:37,675 --> 00:44:40,332
millions of tons of carbon a year
882
00:44:40,367 --> 00:44:42,438
to the depths.
883
00:44:42,472 --> 00:44:45,786
The Southern Ocean
is critical for controlling
884
00:44:45,821 --> 00:44:48,720
how much CO2 is in the atmosphere.
885
00:44:48,755 --> 00:44:50,998
The scat of this
unassuming little crustacean
886
00:44:51,033 --> 00:44:53,898
may be one reason why.
887
00:44:55,762 --> 00:44:58,281
Right now, below the surface,
888
00:44:58,316 --> 00:45:00,732
hundreds of millions of tons of krill
889
00:45:00,767 --> 00:45:04,874
are pooping out torrents of
iron- and carbon-rich pellets.
890
00:45:04,909 --> 00:45:07,428
That's the real power of poop.
891
00:45:07,463 --> 00:45:12,571
♪
892
00:45:12,606 --> 00:45:14,781
My journey has come full circle,
893
00:45:14,815 --> 00:45:17,784
back to the ancient rain forests
of the Wet Tropics,
894
00:45:17,818 --> 00:45:19,682
home to the southern cassowary.
895
00:45:19,717 --> 00:45:22,064
We want to find out
896
00:45:22,098 --> 00:45:25,343
how important the big bird's scat is
897
00:45:25,377 --> 00:45:27,034
to the future of those forests.
898
00:45:27,069 --> 00:45:29,071
It will require patience.
899
00:45:29,105 --> 00:45:32,764
We must wait for a cassowary
to answer the call of nature.
900
00:45:32,799 --> 00:45:35,836
♪
901
00:45:37,631 --> 00:45:39,460
[birds chittering]
902
00:45:39,495 --> 00:45:42,498
I'm going to perform
a cassowary pooping experiment
903
00:45:42,532 --> 00:45:44,707
with colleague Andrew Dennis.
904
00:45:44,742 --> 00:45:47,814
To stay safe and let the bird
get on with its business,
905
00:45:47,848 --> 00:45:50,886
we'll remain a captive audience
for as long as it takes.
906
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,267
There's a lovely bowl of fruit
there for you to eat. Come on...
907
00:45:53,302 --> 00:45:54,821
BURNETT [voiceover]:
This is just one experiment
908
00:45:54,855 --> 00:45:56,892
Andrew performed for a comprehensive
909
00:45:56,926 --> 00:45:58,859
seed dispersal survey.
910
00:45:58,894 --> 00:46:01,586
[murmuring]
911
00:46:01,620 --> 00:46:04,589
DENNIS [voiceover]: We've
done a large project over six years
912
00:46:04,623 --> 00:46:07,178
looking at the entire process.
913
00:46:07,212 --> 00:46:11,665
We looked at 65 different
vertebrate animal types
914
00:46:11,699 --> 00:46:13,046
and about one-and-a-half thousand plants
915
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,117
that have fleshy fruit
916
00:46:15,151 --> 00:46:17,464
that are moved by those animals.
917
00:46:17,498 --> 00:46:21,399
It became very clear that cassowaries
918
00:46:21,433 --> 00:46:23,228
provided a very unique service
919
00:46:23,263 --> 00:46:26,128
within the rain forest.
920
00:46:26,162 --> 00:46:30,580
BURNETT: We want to find
out how efficient the cassowary is
921
00:46:30,615 --> 00:46:32,030
at dispersing seeds.
922
00:46:32,065 --> 00:46:35,068
To do that, we'll time how long it takes
923
00:46:35,102 --> 00:46:38,278
for a seed to travel from mouth to bottom.
924
00:46:38,312 --> 00:46:39,658
We offer a selection of fruits,
925
00:46:39,693 --> 00:46:44,387
including the cassowary plum
and the blue quandong.
926
00:46:44,422 --> 00:46:47,045
[birds chittering]
927
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:49,910
♪
928
00:46:49,945 --> 00:46:52,533
BURNETT:
Four, five. DENNIS: Yes.
929
00:46:52,568 --> 00:46:54,501
Eight.
930
00:46:54,535 --> 00:46:55,813
Nine.
931
00:46:56,883 --> 00:46:57,987
A good feeding day. Yeah, yeah.
932
00:46:59,471 --> 00:47:00,887
[birds chittering]
933
00:47:00,921 --> 00:47:02,543
BURNETT: Yep, 14.
934
00:47:02,578 --> 00:47:04,407
DENNIS:
14, yep.
935
00:47:04,442 --> 00:47:06,547
♪
936
00:47:06,582 --> 00:47:10,724
BURNETT [voiceover]: We expect the
digestion process to be relatively swift,
937
00:47:10,758 --> 00:47:13,900
because this giant bird has
a very simple gastric system.
938
00:47:15,902 --> 00:47:17,731
It has short intestines,
939
00:47:17,765 --> 00:47:21,286
a stomach that gently massages
the pulp from the fruit,
940
00:47:21,321 --> 00:47:23,530
and a unique combination of enzymes
941
00:47:23,564 --> 00:47:25,394
that allow it to digest the fruit
942
00:47:25,428 --> 00:47:27,706
while leaving the seed intact.
943
00:47:27,741 --> 00:47:29,950
[plopping]
944
00:47:33,540 --> 00:47:37,026
♪
945
00:47:43,999 --> 00:47:47,002
[birds squawking in distance]
946
00:47:49,936 --> 00:47:51,144
[plopping]
947
00:47:51,178 --> 00:47:52,145
Ooh. Oh, cool.
948
00:47:52,179 --> 00:47:53,180
There's one.
949
00:47:53,215 --> 00:47:54,354
Yep, I got that. Time?
950
00:47:54,388 --> 00:47:55,596
Yep.
951
00:47:55,631 --> 00:47:56,804
It's, uh...
952
00:47:56,839 --> 00:47:58,220
Ten to 10:00.
953
00:47:58,254 --> 00:48:00,222
BURNETT:
Ten to 9:00, I mean. DENNIS: 51.
954
00:48:00,256 --> 00:48:01,671
Yep. All right, well,
955
00:48:01,706 --> 00:48:03,259
looks like Airlie's done his job.
956
00:48:03,294 --> 00:48:05,641
Time to get him back into his pen.
957
00:48:08,747 --> 00:48:10,888
BURNETT:
Mm, looks like...
958
00:48:10,922 --> 00:48:12,648
I'll get these two scats.
959
00:48:19,482 --> 00:48:21,277
Yes, I had 14.
960
00:48:21,312 --> 00:48:23,245
Yep, and I got 18,
961
00:48:23,279 --> 00:48:25,385
so we got 32.
962
00:48:25,419 --> 00:48:28,664
So three-and-a-half hours ago,
that bird ate
963
00:48:28,698 --> 00:48:30,873
73 quandongs.
964
00:48:30,908 --> 00:48:32,771
Often, in three-and-a-half
hours, cassowaries will move
965
00:48:32,806 --> 00:48:34,704
between one and two kilometers.
966
00:48:34,739 --> 00:48:36,016
Mm, so it seems
967
00:48:36,051 --> 00:48:37,707
quite a quick passage rate... So...
968
00:48:37,742 --> 00:48:39,744
...but still, just
the mobility of those birds
969
00:48:39,778 --> 00:48:42,091
means that these seeds
are getting... Can go quite a long way.
970
00:48:42,126 --> 00:48:44,128
...kilometers away
from the parent tree. Yep.
971
00:48:46,509 --> 00:48:49,374
BURNETT: The distance the
cassowary travels is important.
972
00:48:49,409 --> 00:48:51,411
Seeds have a better chance of survival
973
00:48:51,445 --> 00:48:53,378
when they're transported away from
974
00:48:53,413 --> 00:48:55,104
the parent tree.
975
00:48:55,139 --> 00:48:57,969
If the fruits stay where they drop,
976
00:48:58,004 --> 00:48:59,005
they're often eaten by seed predators
977
00:48:59,039 --> 00:49:00,316
or infected by fungi.
978
00:49:01,662 --> 00:49:02,801
Andrew's study found
979
00:49:02,836 --> 00:49:05,632
there are many successful seed dispersers
980
00:49:05,666 --> 00:49:07,116
in these forests,
981
00:49:07,151 --> 00:49:08,462
but no other animal
982
00:49:08,497 --> 00:49:11,569
can transport large seeds great distances.
983
00:49:11,603 --> 00:49:13,502
♪
984
00:49:13,536 --> 00:49:16,712
Thanks to the cassowary,
hundreds of species of plants
985
00:49:16,746 --> 00:49:22,166
in these ancient rain forests
remain diverse and abundant.
986
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:25,790
This marvelous scat grows forests.
987
00:49:28,103 --> 00:49:30,381
Given the area of habitat
that's available,
988
00:49:30,415 --> 00:49:32,038
the cassowary population is stable,
989
00:49:32,072 --> 00:49:35,800
but threats remain...
990
00:49:35,834 --> 00:49:38,216
like the effects of climate change.
991
00:49:39,942 --> 00:49:41,668
DENNIS:
Cassowaries prefer
992
00:49:41,702 --> 00:49:44,429
lowland coastal rain forests.
993
00:49:44,464 --> 00:49:46,155
There's modeling now that shows
994
00:49:46,190 --> 00:49:49,331
how much of that rain forest
is going to be inundated
995
00:49:49,365 --> 00:49:54,439
by storm surges from cyclones
or just plain sea level rise.
996
00:49:54,474 --> 00:49:57,097
So what we're now expecting
is that cassowaries
997
00:49:57,132 --> 00:49:59,168
will have to start finding new areas
998
00:49:59,203 --> 00:50:01,619
to live and disperse seeds.
999
00:50:01,653 --> 00:50:02,758
The trouble they're facing
1000
00:50:02,792 --> 00:50:05,519
is that the lowland areas in Australia
1001
00:50:05,554 --> 00:50:07,280
have been fragmented.
1002
00:50:07,314 --> 00:50:10,076
A lot of the forest has been
cleared for agriculture,
1003
00:50:10,110 --> 00:50:12,181
and cassowaries can't move through.
1004
00:50:12,216 --> 00:50:17,290
♪
1005
00:50:17,324 --> 00:50:20,879
BURNETT: The only way
cassowaries will have enough habitat
1006
00:50:20,914 --> 00:50:22,433
is if we plant corridors of trees
1007
00:50:22,467 --> 00:50:24,711
that connect with larger tracts
of inland forest
1008
00:50:24,745 --> 00:50:27,162
where they can find food.
1009
00:50:27,196 --> 00:50:28,956
[Dennis murmurs]
1010
00:50:28,991 --> 00:50:33,030
BURNETT [voiceover]: Now we
are becoming the forest gardeners.
1011
00:50:34,721 --> 00:50:37,689
-These are a massive bird shit, aren't they?
-[chuckling]: Yeah.
1012
00:50:37,724 --> 00:50:42,556
♪
1013
00:50:44,282 --> 00:50:46,698
BURNETT [voiceover]:
Volunteers have raised
1014
00:50:46,733 --> 00:50:48,217
over 100,000 trees
1015
00:50:48,252 --> 00:50:51,462
from the seeds in cassowary scat
1016
00:50:51,496 --> 00:50:55,086
and planted them to
create cassowary corridors.
1017
00:50:55,121 --> 00:50:57,916
♪
1018
00:51:06,580 --> 00:51:09,583
This seedling came from a cassowary scat.
1019
00:51:09,618 --> 00:51:11,965
We've taken their trees.
1020
00:51:11,999 --> 00:51:13,415
Now we're trying to give them back,
1021
00:51:13,449 --> 00:51:14,588
hopefully in time
1022
00:51:14,623 --> 00:51:17,522
to make a difference
to all of our futures.
1023
00:51:17,557 --> 00:51:22,148
♪
1024
00:51:25,254 --> 00:51:28,119
Scat just keeps on giving.
1025
00:51:28,154 --> 00:51:30,777
♪
1026
00:51:30,811 --> 00:51:33,297
This is fun science,
1027
00:51:33,331 --> 00:51:35,609
but that's not the main reason we do it.
1028
00:51:35,644 --> 00:51:38,819
Scats really do make the world go round.
1029
00:51:38,854 --> 00:51:41,132
And they unite the world, as well.
1030
00:51:41,167 --> 00:51:42,823
They unite us through our,
1031
00:51:42,858 --> 00:51:45,067
our natural inquisitiveness
1032
00:51:45,102 --> 00:51:47,932
and the sense of wonder
that we have at nature
1033
00:51:47,966 --> 00:51:51,142
and the natural processes
that sustain this planet.
1034
00:51:51,177 --> 00:51:52,902
♪
1035
00:51:54,732 --> 00:51:55,698
[engine starting]
78635
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.