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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:42,808 --> 00:00:48,041 In the seas around Australia, cataclysmic forces have formed thousands of islands - 2 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:50,004 of all shapes and sizes, 3 00:00:50,449 --> 00:00:55,512 from tiny tropical ones to giants with huge snow capped peaks. 4 00:00:58,724 --> 00:01:01,284 They stretch from Australia in a great arc, 5 00:01:01,627 --> 00:01:04,653 from New Guinea in the north, right out into the Pacific 6 00:01:05,030 --> 00:01:07,260 and down to New Zealand. 7 00:01:10,035 --> 00:01:12,196 If Australia itself seems strange, 8 00:01:12,438 --> 00:01:16,875 its island relatives and their unique creatures are stranger still. 9 00:01:23,949 --> 00:01:25,576 No other continent has given birth 10 00:01:25,751 --> 00:01:31,553 to such an explosion of fabulous island landscapes and their weird wildlife. 11 00:01:42,034 --> 00:01:44,764 So how did the dry, old giant, Australia, 12 00:01:45,004 --> 00:01:50,408 end up surrounded by such a glittering necklace of wild ocean jewels? 13 00:02:01,253 --> 00:02:04,552 Just a few thousand years ago, the tip of Northern Australia 14 00:02:04,723 --> 00:02:09,990 oozed out into a vast swampy plain that stretched all the way to New Guinea. 15 00:02:18,470 --> 00:02:20,370 Today, in Australia's Top End, 16 00:02:20,739 --> 00:02:23,367 you can still get an idea of that great swamp 17 00:02:23,542 --> 00:02:27,137 in a watery landscape called Kakadu. 18 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,315 It's an oasis for water birds, including huge flocks of magpie geese. 19 00:02:41,627 --> 00:02:45,427 Kakadu's swamps are created every year by monsoon floods. 20 00:02:45,831 --> 00:02:48,698 They transform the parched landscape into a rich, 21 00:02:48,867 --> 00:02:52,894 living broth and millions of water birds find it irresistible. 22 00:02:53,605 --> 00:02:56,472 And something else finds them irresistible too... 23 00:02:59,178 --> 00:03:01,203 ...the salt-water crocodile. 24 00:03:22,301 --> 00:03:25,793 Muddy water provides the perfect camouflage for these huge, 25 00:03:25,971 --> 00:03:28,201 six metre long reptiles. 26 00:03:59,104 --> 00:04:02,198 A magpie goose makes a nice bite-sized snack. 27 00:04:02,641 --> 00:04:04,438 It will probably last him a week. 28 00:04:17,022 --> 00:04:18,990 Kakadu may be full of life, 29 00:04:19,358 --> 00:04:21,223 but it can give us only a tiny glimpse of 30 00:04:21,393 --> 00:04:25,625 what those enormous swamps of thousands of years ago must have been like. 31 00:04:31,570 --> 00:04:34,164 In those days, sea levels were much lower. 32 00:04:35,841 --> 00:04:39,470 But about 10,000 years ago, world sea levels rose 33 00:04:39,812 --> 00:04:41,712 and the swamp was drowned by the ocean, 34 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,043 completely cutting off New Guinea from Australia. 35 00:04:53,292 --> 00:04:55,886 The tops of a few hills survived the flooding, 36 00:04:57,663 --> 00:04:59,824 and today, like stepping stones, 37 00:05:00,065 --> 00:05:04,559 they lead a path from Australia to the giant new island of New Guinea. 38 00:05:07,873 --> 00:05:10,637 It was connected to the mainland for millions of years - 39 00:05:11,310 --> 00:05:14,370 but now, it couldn't look more different. 40 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:20,516 While much of Australia is dusty and dry, 41 00:05:20,819 --> 00:05:24,915 most of New Guinea is covered in lush tropical rainforest. 42 00:05:25,557 --> 00:05:27,548 The landscape may look very different, 43 00:05:27,826 --> 00:05:28,952 but the wildlife still has 44 00:05:29,128 --> 00:05:34,065 that eccentric Australian blend of the improbable and the ingenious... 45 00:05:41,073 --> 00:05:43,007 This is the long beaked echidna. 46 00:05:43,275 --> 00:05:46,108 It's about twice the size of its Australian cousin. 47 00:05:49,548 --> 00:05:53,917 It's also called the giant spiny anteater, but it doesn't eat ants. 48 00:05:57,856 --> 00:06:00,984 Instead, it uses its long nose to probe for worms, 49 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,254 sniffing for them as it wanders through the forest. 50 00:06:11,436 --> 00:06:15,736 When it catches the merest whiff of a worm, it uses its nose like a dibber, 51 00:06:15,908 --> 00:06:19,275 poking it in and out of the ground until it finds a snack. 52 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,356 To haul the worm in, it spears it on a special barbed tongue... 53 00:06:37,663 --> 00:06:40,689 ...then up it goes, like a piece of spaghetti. 54 00:06:50,209 --> 00:06:53,235 Because New Guinea was connected to Australia for so long, 55 00:06:53,512 --> 00:06:55,480 it has a lot of familiar Australian animals, 56 00:06:55,647 --> 00:06:57,342 like kangaroos. 57 00:06:58,483 --> 00:07:02,681 But these are not your typical roos - they live up in the forest canopy. 58 00:07:10,229 --> 00:07:12,663 Although they spend most of their time in trees, 59 00:07:13,098 --> 00:07:15,464 they don't look very sure-footed. 60 00:07:23,542 --> 00:07:25,032 But it's worth the effort. 61 00:07:25,277 --> 00:07:27,802 There are no monkeys or squirrels to compete with here, 62 00:07:27,980 --> 00:07:29,607 so if the kangaroos can reach it, 63 00:07:29,781 --> 00:07:33,239 the entire canopy of leaves is there for the taking. 64 00:07:44,596 --> 00:07:47,690 This baby will learn from its mother about which leaves to eat... 65 00:07:49,101 --> 00:07:52,070 ...and which fruit or lichen to round off the meal. 66 00:08:07,886 --> 00:08:10,855 It's not an easy world for Joeys to learn to move about in 67 00:08:11,223 --> 00:08:13,453 and they'll stick by their mothers for up to two years 68 00:08:13,625 --> 00:08:15,855 before they're ready to live on their own. 69 00:08:26,138 --> 00:08:29,596 New Guinea is covered in dramatic mountains and it has Australia, 70 00:08:29,775 --> 00:08:32,642 one of the flattest continents on earth, to thank. 71 00:08:32,878 --> 00:08:35,813 Over millions of years, Australia has been drifting northwards 72 00:08:36,081 --> 00:08:39,016 and New Guinea has buckled up under the pressure. 73 00:08:45,257 --> 00:08:50,490 Some of these rise as high as 5000 metres, into peaks of ice and snow. 74 00:08:59,738 --> 00:09:01,467 These huge mountains have divided 75 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,768 the island into hundreds of ridges and valleys. 76 00:09:08,447 --> 00:09:12,508 Within these, an endless variety of different landscapes have been created, 77 00:09:12,884 --> 00:09:17,844 many with isolated pockets of extraordinary and unique wildlife. 78 00:09:20,258 --> 00:09:24,251 And you don't get much more extraordinary than the birds of paradise. 79 00:09:33,372 --> 00:09:35,363 Like animated neon signs, 80 00:09:35,540 --> 00:09:38,475 these fabulously adorned males advertise to females 81 00:09:38,844 --> 00:09:41,278 in an explosion of colour and sound. 82 00:09:43,448 --> 00:09:47,111 And in case this isn't eye catching enough, they dance as well. 83 00:09:51,556 --> 00:09:57,324 38 of the world's 42 species of bird of paradise live only here. 84 00:10:03,135 --> 00:10:07,572 Of all of these, the Raggiana must be amongst the most dazzling. 85 00:10:13,211 --> 00:10:16,237 Males dance together on a specially prepared stage, 86 00:10:16,448 --> 00:10:18,848 which they've completely cleared of leaves. 87 00:10:19,684 --> 00:10:22,653 And this is who they're desperate to please. 88 00:10:23,054 --> 00:10:27,582 When these drab females arrive, the males give it everything they've got. 89 00:10:31,263 --> 00:10:33,231 Females are hard to satisfy 90 00:10:33,565 --> 00:10:36,898 and they'll only mate with the male who impresses them the most. 91 00:10:47,012 --> 00:10:52,245 When a female flies in for a closer look, it sends the males into a frenzy. 92 00:11:03,361 --> 00:11:07,457 And when she finally makes her choice - he's unstoppable. 93 00:11:26,151 --> 00:11:27,778 He's laying it on a bit thick here... 94 00:11:30,956 --> 00:11:32,685 ...but she seems to like it. 95 00:11:47,339 --> 00:11:48,499 These beautiful feathers 96 00:11:48,673 --> 00:11:51,972 also make fabulous costumes for the people of New Guinea. 97 00:11:53,478 --> 00:11:56,811 Each year, tribes from all over the highlands gather in displays 98 00:11:56,982 --> 00:12:00,884 that almost outdo the showmanship of the birds themselves. 99 00:12:18,303 --> 00:12:20,999 Hundreds of isolated cultures have evolved here, 100 00:12:21,273 --> 00:12:22,865 with as many different languages - 101 00:12:23,575 --> 00:12:25,805 more than any other place on earth. 102 00:12:34,586 --> 00:12:38,989 The dry landscape of Australia couldn't support great numbers of Aborigines, 103 00:12:39,391 --> 00:12:41,359 but the fertile mountains of New Guinea 104 00:12:41,526 --> 00:12:43,926 allowed the development of settled agriculture 105 00:12:44,095 --> 00:12:47,258 and a huge explosion of peoples and cultures. 106 00:12:47,732 --> 00:12:48,960 On this one island, 107 00:12:49,267 --> 00:12:54,637 there are as many different ways of life as there are valleys and mountainsides. 108 00:13:14,426 --> 00:13:16,587 Many of these tribes were so isolated, 109 00:13:16,761 --> 00:13:20,527 they weren't discovered by Europeans until the middle of the 20th century. 110 00:13:36,414 --> 00:13:39,713 While Australia was a harsh, unpredictable place to survive in, 111 00:13:40,051 --> 00:13:42,747 these mountain slopes could not be more hospitable. 112 00:13:43,321 --> 00:13:46,848 Over 9,000 years ago, people started gardens here. 113 00:13:48,026 --> 00:13:50,324 From plots like this, of sweet potato, 114 00:13:50,562 --> 00:13:55,556 they've now manicured entire hillsides into a patchwork of allotments. 115 00:13:59,104 --> 00:14:02,767 Even so, large parts of the island are too steep to cultivate. 116 00:14:03,141 --> 00:14:07,373 Rugged cliffs and a lot of rain keep these areas thick with forest. 117 00:14:10,281 --> 00:14:15,241 Where there are gaps, waterfalls plummet down to join streams below. 118 00:14:16,154 --> 00:14:20,887 With so much rainfall, these streams very quickly swell into rivers. 119 00:14:46,851 --> 00:14:52,812 It's such a wet place; the rivers are huge, twisting across vast floodplains. 120 00:14:53,124 --> 00:14:53,647 The largest of them 121 00:14:53,825 --> 00:14:58,194 has more water in it than all the rivers in Australia put together. 122 00:15:11,509 --> 00:15:16,071 Eventually, they flow through extensive deltas until they meet the ocean. 123 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,352 In these seas around New Guinea, hundreds of smaller island stretch out - 124 00:15:26,991 --> 00:15:32,224 to the west, towards Indonesia, and eastwards, into the Pacific. 125 00:15:35,433 --> 00:15:38,493 Almost all of them are highly volcanic. 126 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:53,049 Violent eruptions literally blasted new islands out of the sea. 127 00:16:08,266 --> 00:16:11,565 These are some of the most volcanically active islands on earth - 128 00:16:12,003 --> 00:16:16,565 Vanuatu, the Solomons, New Ireland and New Britain. 129 00:16:27,886 --> 00:16:30,980 The volcanoes are on a sort of geological conveyor belt - 130 00:16:31,890 --> 00:16:35,382 new ones are continually being born, and then worn away - 131 00:16:35,794 --> 00:16:40,288 creating thousands of miles of coastline for coral to grow on. 132 00:16:54,145 --> 00:16:57,740 And as these islands begin to die and sink back beneath the waves, 133 00:16:58,016 --> 00:17:02,385 the tips of extinct volcanoes form more coral reefs. 134 00:17:05,824 --> 00:17:08,725 In just a single bay on any of these reefs, 135 00:17:09,027 --> 00:17:12,360 you could find as many coral species and different kinds of fish 136 00:17:12,664 --> 00:17:16,100 as there are on the whole of the Great Barrier Reef. 137 00:17:21,072 --> 00:17:25,839 It's a kaleidoscope of life and colour, with layer upon layer of species, 138 00:17:26,244 --> 00:17:29,407 like an intricately constructed Russian doll. 139 00:17:30,648 --> 00:17:32,980 Barrel sponges live on the corals... 140 00:17:34,018 --> 00:17:36,714 ...feather stars live on the barrel sponges... 141 00:17:37,088 --> 00:17:40,216 ...and tiny fish live on the feather stars. 142 00:17:50,835 --> 00:17:56,296 Anemones here have anemone fish and tiny little transparent shrimps. 143 00:18:01,346 --> 00:18:05,112 And on some parts of the reef, creatures move about in costume. 144 00:18:05,583 --> 00:18:08,347 This little prawn masquerades as a sea whip. 145 00:18:10,154 --> 00:18:14,818 This tadpole sized pygmy sea horse is disguised as a piece of coral. 146 00:18:25,103 --> 00:18:28,300 From a distance, it's virtually invisible. 147 00:18:31,743 --> 00:18:34,644 Some animals take this deception even further. 148 00:18:35,013 --> 00:18:39,416 These razor fish already wear beautiful striped costumes to look like sea whips, 149 00:18:39,884 --> 00:18:42,478 but they add to the disguise by swimming vertically, 150 00:18:42,987 --> 00:18:45,751 like a weird piece of performance art. 151 00:18:53,364 --> 00:18:58,165 They only swim horizontally to dash from one group of whips, to another. 152 00:19:01,673 --> 00:19:04,073 It's safer to move about in disguise, 153 00:19:04,375 --> 00:19:07,708 because this busy neighbourhood attracts plenty of predators - 154 00:19:08,046 --> 00:19:10,276 like these jacks. 155 00:19:13,284 --> 00:19:17,084 They work the reef in gangs, trying to flush out smaller fry. 156 00:19:17,755 --> 00:19:22,488 But as they muscle in on a patch, the neighbourhood dives for cover. 157 00:19:35,873 --> 00:19:39,741 One bully heads underneath, scaring all the fish out through the top, 158 00:19:39,911 --> 00:19:43,904 while the other members of the gang wait above... mouths open. 159 00:19:51,122 --> 00:19:52,987 The gang does well with these tactics, 160 00:19:53,157 --> 00:19:55,523 but they're just a bunch of small time thugs - 161 00:19:55,994 --> 00:19:59,486 not even in the same league as some of the predators here... 162 00:20:03,501 --> 00:20:06,902 Huge saltwater crocodiles roam these seas. 163 00:20:10,308 --> 00:20:13,903 They are capable of swimming great distances to find new territories - 164 00:20:14,345 --> 00:20:18,145 large ones have been seen several hundred kilometres out to sea. 165 00:20:22,620 --> 00:20:23,746 With this sort of range, 166 00:20:23,921 --> 00:20:28,654 it's been easy for them to colonise many of the volcanic islands of the pacific. 167 00:20:50,348 --> 00:20:53,476 But while these islands have attracted all sorts of marine life, 168 00:20:53,718 --> 00:20:54,878 including crocodiles, 169 00:20:55,286 --> 00:20:59,313 land creatures like mammals have found it harder to get here. 170 00:21:05,596 --> 00:21:07,723 Unless they can raft across or swim, 171 00:21:07,899 --> 00:21:09,628 they're too far out. 172 00:21:12,737 --> 00:21:14,796 But there has been one exception... 173 00:21:16,774 --> 00:21:19,072 An invasion by air. 174 00:21:19,710 --> 00:21:23,578 Squadrons of bats, especially the larger fruit bats. 175 00:21:27,185 --> 00:21:28,550 In fact, New Guinea and the islands 176 00:21:28,719 --> 00:21:32,450 that surround it are probably the fruit bat capital of the world. 177 00:21:32,924 --> 00:21:35,984 There are more species here than anywhere else on earth. 178 00:21:38,529 --> 00:21:41,020 These large fruit bats are strong travellers - 179 00:21:41,399 --> 00:21:44,926 they can fly fifty kilometres in an evening in search of food. 180 00:21:46,637 --> 00:21:50,198 Island hopping across the pacific is all in a night's work. 181 00:21:52,643 --> 00:21:54,167 It's well worth the journey 182 00:21:54,378 --> 00:21:58,178 because the island forests are full of all sorts of fruit. 183 00:22:11,028 --> 00:22:15,294 With such a wide selection, there's room for lots of different fruit specialists - 184 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,026 this tube nosed bat is a professional fig eater. 185 00:22:24,175 --> 00:22:26,541 As these bats move about from island to island, 186 00:22:26,811 --> 00:22:29,371 they can also act as seed couriers. 187 00:22:34,685 --> 00:22:36,812 They make unorthodox postmen though, 188 00:22:37,088 --> 00:22:38,919 opening their parcels with strong teeth 189 00:22:39,090 --> 00:22:40,455 and either dropping their contents 190 00:22:40,625 --> 00:22:43,822 where they eat, or swallowing and depositing them, 191 00:22:44,061 --> 00:22:46,222 perhaps on another island. 192 00:22:58,276 --> 00:23:02,474 Beyond this chain of islands, the explosive activity begins to die away. 193 00:23:02,947 --> 00:23:07,281 And further out in the Pacific, there's a graveyard of extinct volcanoes. 194 00:23:09,787 --> 00:23:11,778 One of these is Lord Howe Island. 195 00:23:12,023 --> 00:23:16,756 It retired from life as an active volcano about 6 million years ago. 196 00:23:19,897 --> 00:23:22,593 A small speck in a vast expanse of ocean, 197 00:23:22,934 --> 00:23:26,870 it's become a valuable service station for thousands of sea birds. 198 00:23:35,379 --> 00:23:38,746 Each Spring, it transforms into seabird city. 199 00:23:39,116 --> 00:23:42,210 Fourteen different species stop here to nest and breed, 200 00:23:43,020 --> 00:23:44,612 like this booby... 201 00:23:47,592 --> 00:23:49,787 ...and noddy terns too. 202 00:23:55,233 --> 00:23:58,600 Above them, the skies are filled with acrobatic tumblers, 203 00:23:58,803 --> 00:24:00,998 Tropic birds in full display. 204 00:24:01,372 --> 00:24:04,466 The males are busy trying to impress a mate and outdo each other, 205 00:24:04,842 --> 00:24:08,175 by performing a series of extraordinary backward loops. 206 00:24:38,242 --> 00:24:40,107 The sooty tern is more graceful. 207 00:24:48,486 --> 00:24:52,149 They arrive in their thousands, to breed and bring up their chicks. 208 00:24:55,426 --> 00:24:57,485 But with so many crammed onto this island, 209 00:24:57,828 --> 00:25:01,389 how on earth does a parent find the right mouth to feed? 210 00:25:03,534 --> 00:25:07,026 And how does this chick make sure it doesn't miss out on a meal? 211 00:25:14,211 --> 00:25:16,042 That one's getting pilchard... 212 00:25:21,485 --> 00:25:23,715 And another's got a lump of squid... 213 00:25:24,655 --> 00:25:26,816 This is getting difficult to watch... 214 00:25:30,428 --> 00:25:32,555 He's got squid as well. 215 00:25:38,302 --> 00:25:41,169 At last, the hungry chick calls out for room service, 216 00:25:41,572 --> 00:25:44,132 and he's located by one of his parents. 217 00:25:48,612 --> 00:25:53,140 The response is instant, and at last he gets a lump of his own to choke on. 218 00:26:01,125 --> 00:26:05,562 Australia has island relatives further out, even than Lord Howe. 219 00:26:09,100 --> 00:26:12,228 This is New Caledonia - Captain Cook called it 220 00:26:12,403 --> 00:26:14,894 that because it reminded him of Scotland. 221 00:26:15,539 --> 00:26:18,508 Jurassic Park might be more appropriate. 222 00:26:19,176 --> 00:26:23,078 New Caledonia didn't erupt from the seabed, like the other islands. 223 00:26:24,048 --> 00:26:26,448 It's an ancient chunk of eastern Australia, 224 00:26:26,684 --> 00:26:29,084 that broke off about 80 million years ago - 225 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,255 a lost world, so old and strange, 226 00:26:32,556 --> 00:26:36,424 you could almost believe that dinosaurs still live here. 227 00:26:41,165 --> 00:26:43,258 In fact, at the time it broke away, 228 00:26:43,501 --> 00:26:46,664 many of these plants would have been eaten by dinosaurs. 229 00:26:59,150 --> 00:27:03,177 But this island is so remote, there are no land mammals here. 230 00:27:03,721 --> 00:27:05,746 After 80 million years of isolation, 231 00:27:05,923 --> 00:27:10,724 New Caledonia is still ruled by reptiles. 232 00:27:14,432 --> 00:27:18,459 Its modern masters are lizards, geckos and skinks. 233 00:27:22,473 --> 00:27:24,498 New Caledonia has more species of lizard 234 00:27:24,675 --> 00:27:28,372 for its size than probably anywhere else on earth. 235 00:27:37,021 --> 00:27:41,458 And New Caledonia has its own monster - the giant gecko. 236 00:27:41,625 --> 00:27:44,822 It's as big as a rat, the largest gecko in the world, 237 00:27:45,062 --> 00:27:47,690 with a ferocious reputation to match. 238 00:27:53,270 --> 00:27:55,636 This really is the land of the lizard. 239 00:27:55,806 --> 00:27:59,139 Over 80 per cent of the species here are unique. 240 00:28:14,024 --> 00:28:16,652 At the same time that New Caledonia broke away, 241 00:28:16,894 --> 00:28:18,589 an even larger chunk of Australia 242 00:28:18,762 --> 00:28:22,425 drifted off and floated right down towards the southern ocean. 243 00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:26,463 It eventually became New Zealand. 244 00:28:31,942 --> 00:28:34,877 It lies on the edge of the Australian continental plate, 245 00:28:36,347 --> 00:28:40,215 which drops away into the really deep water of the Pacific Ocean proper - 246 00:28:41,218 --> 00:28:45,655 so deep that sperm whales come to feed right on its doorstep. 247 00:28:53,697 --> 00:28:57,360 And because New Zealand sits at a crossroads of cold and warm currents, 248 00:28:57,635 --> 00:29:00,263 it's a magnet for all sorts of marine life. 249 00:29:05,109 --> 00:29:09,978 Dusky dolphins are one of many species of dolphin that play in these deep waters. 250 00:29:26,597 --> 00:29:29,157 They are some of the most acrobatic of all dolphins - 251 00:29:29,533 --> 00:29:32,331 if one starts to somersault and spin out of the water, 252 00:29:32,536 --> 00:29:34,504 the whole group joins in. 253 00:30:02,032 --> 00:30:05,729 Although New Zealand broke off from Australia about eighty million years ago, 254 00:30:05,970 --> 00:30:10,839 it's still drifting across the ocean creating huge geological forces. 255 00:30:14,411 --> 00:30:17,346 It's a highly active piece of the earth's crust. 256 00:30:18,549 --> 00:30:21,643 Fire and steam seep to the surface from volcanoes, 257 00:30:21,919 --> 00:30:25,320 mud pools and explosive geysers. 258 00:30:40,571 --> 00:30:43,335 This long history of violent geology has contorted 259 00:30:43,507 --> 00:30:47,204 the islands into a spectacular variety of landscapes. 260 00:31:03,827 --> 00:31:08,196 These Southern Alps are 4000 metres high and still rising. 261 00:31:36,694 --> 00:31:40,255 It's as if this part of New Zealand never escaped the Ice Age. 262 00:31:48,472 --> 00:31:51,134 It could not be more inhospitable here. 263 00:31:55,179 --> 00:31:56,476 And yet... 264 00:31:57,081 --> 00:31:59,015 ...It's a mountain parrot. 265 00:31:59,183 --> 00:32:03,017 The only alpine parrot in the world to live right up in the snow. 266 00:32:04,755 --> 00:32:06,484 And they seem to enjoy it. 267 00:32:08,892 --> 00:32:13,158 They're called Keas and to survive up here, these birds aren't just hardy. 268 00:32:13,497 --> 00:32:16,762 They need to be sharp operators to live on these harsh mountains. 269 00:32:25,509 --> 00:32:27,409 To learn all the tricks they'll need to survive, 270 00:32:27,578 --> 00:32:31,674 they have extended childhoods and live for up to 20 years. 271 00:32:32,049 --> 00:32:34,517 So there's plenty of time to play. 272 00:32:42,493 --> 00:32:44,518 Monkeying around on the slopes like this, 273 00:32:44,762 --> 00:32:47,390 they seem more like primates than parrots. 274 00:33:04,448 --> 00:33:07,246 These alpine Keas are unique to New Zealand... 275 00:33:07,618 --> 00:33:09,950 In fact, after such long isolation, 276 00:33:10,254 --> 00:33:13,815 most of New Zealand's wildlife and plants are unique. 277 00:33:15,425 --> 00:33:19,259 This is a place that does weird wildlife better than anywhere else... 278 00:33:19,830 --> 00:33:24,631 and one of the strangest creatures of all, hunts in the forest, at night. 279 00:33:30,340 --> 00:33:34,436 It has fur-like feathers and it sniffs out its food like a mammal. 280 00:33:34,845 --> 00:33:38,178 It even keeps its body temperature at the level of a mammal. 281 00:33:38,448 --> 00:33:40,643 But it's a flightless bird. 282 00:33:42,386 --> 00:33:45,651 New Zealand seems to excel in these oddball birds - 283 00:33:46,023 --> 00:33:50,983 and the Kiwi has to be one of the oddest balls of fluff on the forest floor. 284 00:33:54,932 --> 00:33:56,923 There are no ground living mammals here, 285 00:33:57,167 --> 00:34:00,364 so when the Kiwi auditioned for the part of hedgehog or badger, 286 00:34:00,537 --> 00:34:05,668 it got the job - sniffing out grubs and worms, just like they would. 287 00:34:08,579 --> 00:34:12,276 Sometimes it goes fishing for shrimp in the forest streams. 288 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,085 It even has whiskers, like a cat. 289 00:34:35,172 --> 00:34:36,366 And like many mammals, 290 00:34:36,607 --> 00:34:39,974 the males hold territories, and defend them by calling. 291 00:34:56,426 --> 00:34:58,223 But when it comes to looking after the eggs, 292 00:34:58,395 --> 00:35:01,364 male Kiwis are different from most animals. 293 00:35:01,665 --> 00:35:04,657 The males take on the job of incubating them, all alone. 294 00:35:04,835 --> 00:35:07,599 And they do this in underground burrows. 295 00:35:13,110 --> 00:35:15,340 This father has a newly hatched youngster 296 00:35:15,612 --> 00:35:18,274 and an egg that still needs incubating. 297 00:35:20,984 --> 00:35:22,884 Kiwis lay enormous eggs - 298 00:35:23,153 --> 00:35:26,020 the largest of any bird, relative to its size - 299 00:35:26,323 --> 00:35:28,518 and they take ten weeks to hatch. 300 00:35:29,593 --> 00:35:31,424 It's not always easy to sit still, 301 00:35:31,595 --> 00:35:34,564 with a toddler constantly messing up the nursery. 302 00:35:45,142 --> 00:35:47,337 This chick is probably pestering for food - 303 00:35:47,844 --> 00:35:49,903 and if it is, it'll be disappointed. 304 00:35:50,180 --> 00:35:54,879 Male kiwis are dedicated incubators, but meals are not included. 305 00:35:59,756 --> 00:36:03,317 Eventually, this youngster will become hungry enough to leave the nest 306 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,721 and look for food itself. 307 00:36:20,110 --> 00:36:24,376 Some of New Zealand's strangest creatures live down here on the forest floor. 308 00:36:25,182 --> 00:36:27,878 The Weta - the world's largest cricket. 309 00:36:34,324 --> 00:36:36,884 Just as the Kiwi fills the role of a hedgehog, 310 00:36:37,227 --> 00:36:39,991 the Weta is New Zealand's answer to a mouse. 311 00:36:40,731 --> 00:36:44,667 And just like a mouse, it forages around amongst the leaf litter. 312 00:36:52,676 --> 00:36:54,166 But whatever role it fills, 313 00:36:54,344 --> 00:36:58,872 it still looks like a big juicy insect and it had better watch out. 314 00:36:59,216 --> 00:37:03,152 In this strange forest, even the bats do things differently. 315 00:37:08,959 --> 00:37:13,089 These short-tailed bats are beginning to spend less and less time in the air, 316 00:37:13,296 --> 00:37:18,324 and more and more time on the ground - doing their impression of a mole. 317 00:37:21,338 --> 00:37:24,603 Just like some of the birds, they seem to be becoming flightless 318 00:37:24,841 --> 00:37:28,709 and prefer burrowing under the leaf litter for grubs and insects. 319 00:37:38,555 --> 00:37:40,819 These bats are hardly bigger than the wetas, 320 00:37:41,058 --> 00:37:45,222 but a jumbo-sized snack like this is too good to miss. 321 00:37:57,407 --> 00:38:02,276 The weta puts up quite a fight, but eventually the bat gets its meal. 322 00:38:12,255 --> 00:38:14,280 New Zealand's strangeness has a lot to do 323 00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:17,621 with its long isolation from the rest of the world. 324 00:38:18,095 --> 00:38:21,963 And that's also why it took so long to be discovered by people. 325 00:38:29,306 --> 00:38:31,035 It was only a thousand years ago 326 00:38:31,308 --> 00:38:36,302 that the first Polynesians paddled their way from Hawaii and settled here. 327 00:38:46,156 --> 00:38:48,750 They began to make changes to the landscape 328 00:38:49,226 --> 00:38:52,161 but nothing like what was to come later on... 329 00:38:58,902 --> 00:39:02,030 Europeans arrived here only 200 years ago, 330 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,969 but in that time, they have transformed it. 331 00:39:05,175 --> 00:39:10,078 Forests have been replaced by fields and roads, towns and modern cities. 332 00:39:16,052 --> 00:39:18,179 Almost every corner of New Zealand 333 00:39:18,488 --> 00:39:21,013 now has felt the influence of the modern world - 334 00:39:21,558 --> 00:39:25,858 even the remote southern alps are now buzzing with skiers. 335 00:39:33,336 --> 00:39:38,239 And the wildlife, once so isolated, has had to adapt. 336 00:39:46,850 --> 00:39:49,580 For the Keas, at least, this has not been difficult. 337 00:39:49,853 --> 00:39:54,347 An invasion of brightly coloured human beings is like a dream come true. 338 00:39:54,858 --> 00:39:59,022 The arrival of crowds like these just widens their scope for fun. 339 00:40:06,236 --> 00:40:08,170 And always on the lookout for something to eat 340 00:40:08,538 --> 00:40:10,904 they've learnt some new tricks as well. 341 00:40:40,870 --> 00:40:44,397 Younger keas roam about like gangs of delinquent teenagers. 342 00:40:44,774 --> 00:40:46,765 And of course, as any teenager will tell you, 343 00:40:47,077 --> 00:40:49,807 the place to hang out is the car park. 344 00:40:57,887 --> 00:41:00,014 There are plenty of things to dismantle here - 345 00:41:00,457 --> 00:41:01,788 rubber trim is easy... 346 00:41:03,927 --> 00:41:06,794 ...but these ski racks are more difficult. 347 00:41:14,471 --> 00:41:16,462 They're just doing what comes naturally - 348 00:41:16,740 --> 00:41:20,540 making a detailed investigation of the world around them. 349 00:41:33,189 --> 00:41:34,884 But even though they enjoy the party, 350 00:41:35,058 --> 00:41:38,755 New Zealand is becoming too crowded, even for Keas. 351 00:41:47,637 --> 00:41:52,665 For many of the rest of New Zealand's birds, man's arrival has been devastating. 352 00:41:56,012 --> 00:41:59,743 Even though humans rarely visit valleys and forests like these, 353 00:41:59,949 --> 00:42:03,578 the cats, stoats and rats they brought with them have all 354 00:42:03,753 --> 00:42:06,847 but massacred the local bird population. 355 00:42:08,024 --> 00:42:11,425 And another animal has invaded forests throughout New Zealand... 356 00:42:19,369 --> 00:42:22,236 ...the Australian Brush-tailed possum. 357 00:42:22,405 --> 00:42:23,736 It may look cuddly - 358 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,567 but when 90 million of them bulldoze their way through every forest, 359 00:42:27,744 --> 00:42:32,044 eating eggs and chicks, they cause complete havoc. 360 00:42:35,585 --> 00:42:37,109 None of these animals belong here 361 00:42:37,454 --> 00:42:40,719 and all of them have had a devastating effect on the wildlife, 362 00:42:40,890 --> 00:42:43,256 especially on the unique birds. 363 00:42:46,963 --> 00:42:49,193 When explorers first came to New Zealand, 364 00:42:49,466 --> 00:42:51,900 they described the dawn chorus as deafening - 365 00:42:52,335 --> 00:42:56,396 now, these same forests are almost silent. 366 00:43:03,913 --> 00:43:08,350 But New Zealand has 700 smaller islands scattered around its coastline. 367 00:43:08,985 --> 00:43:11,317 Many of these are rarely visited by people, 368 00:43:11,688 --> 00:43:14,851 and on some the cats, stoats, possums and rats 369 00:43:15,024 --> 00:43:18,255 that have exterminated so much wildlife everywhere else, 370 00:43:18,561 --> 00:43:20,426 have been kept way. 371 00:43:21,698 --> 00:43:26,965 These islands are now the last refuge for some of New Zealand's rarest birds. 372 00:43:28,471 --> 00:43:32,805 This is the Kakapo and it has every reason to look depressed. 373 00:43:33,243 --> 00:43:35,404 It's a flightless relative of the Kea, 374 00:43:35,712 --> 00:43:37,873 and although it's the world's largest parrot, 375 00:43:38,114 --> 00:43:41,015 it's also the world's slowest breeding bird. 376 00:43:41,484 --> 00:43:45,682 It may raise a chick successfully only once every ten years. 377 00:43:51,661 --> 00:43:55,028 Today, it survives on just a couple of offshore islands, 378 00:43:55,331 --> 00:43:59,165 and only because of a huge conservation campaign to keep it alive. 379 00:44:00,570 --> 00:44:02,800 Biologists feed the adults... 380 00:44:03,773 --> 00:44:06,640 ...and monitor their chicks round the clock. 381 00:44:11,948 --> 00:44:16,715 In fact, they keep the entire population of kakapos in intensive care. 382 00:44:20,824 --> 00:44:26,387 Every nest has its own 24-hour security, complete with CCTV. 383 00:44:27,964 --> 00:44:31,593 Miniature cameras inside the nest record every last move. 384 00:44:31,768 --> 00:44:34,862 Each bird gets its own personal diary. 385 00:44:39,576 --> 00:44:42,568 This military style campaign is beginning to work. 386 00:44:42,812 --> 00:44:44,279 By giving them this backup, 387 00:44:44,514 --> 00:44:46,209 the kakapo population has increased 388 00:44:46,382 --> 00:44:51,843 from just a handful of birds to over 100 in just a few years. 389 00:45:02,298 --> 00:45:07,326 These offshore islands are also vital for many more of New Zealand's unique birds. 390 00:45:10,206 --> 00:45:12,003 This is a kokako... 391 00:45:20,416 --> 00:45:23,044 ...and this is a nectar eating Tui. 392 00:45:31,794 --> 00:45:34,092 And here's yet another relative of the Kea - 393 00:45:34,397 --> 00:45:35,864 a Kaka. 394 00:45:36,099 --> 00:45:40,092 It's a forest parrot, and it lives nowhere else but New Zealand. 395 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,633 In these island forests there are even penguins amongst the trees. 396 00:45:55,852 --> 00:45:58,616 The New Zealand that so excited early explorers, 397 00:45:58,888 --> 00:46:01,550 with its bustling variety and deafening choruses, 398 00:46:01,858 --> 00:46:05,726 seems to have found a last sanctuary on these smaller offshore islands. 399 00:46:12,535 --> 00:46:15,368 This is what much of New Zealand might have been like 400 00:46:15,538 --> 00:46:17,563 before the invaders arrived. 401 00:46:17,740 --> 00:46:20,004 Even ground nesting birds, like penguins, 402 00:46:20,176 --> 00:46:22,201 can relax as they used to. 403 00:46:30,086 --> 00:46:33,055 They can raise their chicks here in relative peace. 404 00:46:43,666 --> 00:46:46,794 Some of these islands seem almost overloaded with birds - 405 00:46:48,204 --> 00:46:52,504 here the bushes bubble with thousand upon thousand of shearwaters. 406 00:46:56,512 --> 00:46:59,675 They still live in massive colonies. 407 00:47:07,190 --> 00:47:11,593 New Zealand's offshore islands are bursting with unique wildlife. 408 00:47:12,362 --> 00:47:14,922 They're like a microcosm of the whole extraordinary island 409 00:47:15,098 --> 00:47:16,998 chain around Australia. 410 00:47:31,447 --> 00:47:36,441 Strung out across the sea, from the cold southern ocean almost to the equator, 411 00:47:37,153 --> 00:47:38,677 nowhere else in the world can you see 412 00:47:38,855 --> 00:47:41,585 such a variety of different kinds of islands. 413 00:47:53,036 --> 00:47:55,834 Lost worlds, full of ancient treasures. 414 00:47:59,642 --> 00:48:02,076 Every one of them a unique gem - 415 00:48:02,745 --> 00:48:05,578 the island jewels of Australia. 37541

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