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Australia, a huge island that has
drifted by itself for 45 million years,
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is a strange assortment of landscapes.
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Until just a few generations ago,
they were lightly trodden by people.
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00:00:58,924 --> 00:01:04,692
This land, with all its curious wildlife,
was utterly unknown to western eyes.
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But a little over two hundred years ago,
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the British came to
this island continent...
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and declared it theirs.
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At first
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it was just a place to dump criminals,
16,000 kilometres from home.
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But this distant British outpost
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would soon become a land of
opportunity for those that followed.
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Now there's a population
of twenty million,
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00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,877
living in some of the most modern,
desirable cities in the world.
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A whole nation has grown up fast
in a land of sun and space.
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00:02:19,805 --> 00:02:24,401
But how has the big old landscape
coped with this rapid transformation?
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00:02:27,246 --> 00:02:31,512
And now there are so many people here,
what has happened to the wildlife?
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00:02:44,029 --> 00:02:47,931
Australia's most famous animals have
had to come to terms with changes.
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A koala is a creature of habit
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00:02:51,003 --> 00:02:54,837
and will doggedly follow the route
it knows between favourite feeding trees.
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If there is a road in the way,
it will simply stroll across.
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00:03:00,612 --> 00:03:02,045
Koalas are good climbers,
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00:03:02,381 --> 00:03:05,077
so even if there's a fence
between it and a good feed,
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it needn't be an obstacle.
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If a koala knows there's something
to eat on the other side,
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it will just clamber across
until it gets there.
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It's slow, but you have to
give it full marks for style.
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That's all very well in quiet areas.
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But in Australia, wildlife and humans
often want the same real estate.
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When cities grow too fast,
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and trees disappear under
the spread of suburbia,
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koalas don't change their habits.
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They hang on in there,
still following their familiar routes.
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As long as there are
just enough trees left,
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00:04:12,084 --> 00:04:15,383
koalas will stay around
the most unlikely places.
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00:04:23,762 --> 00:04:25,787
Every time a koala comes to the ground,
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it has to take its chances against
the hazards of urban living.
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00:04:30,536 --> 00:04:33,528
But Australian animals have evolved
for millions of years in a tricky,
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00:04:33,705 --> 00:04:34,933
changeable environment,
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00:04:35,374 --> 00:04:39,367
and even in the face of city sprawl,
the toughest survive.
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00:04:43,115 --> 00:04:47,211
Australia's native wildlife has suddenly
been faced with a whole new world.
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00:04:48,287 --> 00:04:50,983
But sometimes it's
the animals that benefit.
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00:05:07,806 --> 00:05:11,207
Kangaroos eat grass -
and in this town near Melbourne,
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where a golf course has been built
alongside patches of natural bushland,
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00:05:15,581 --> 00:05:18,209
the local grey kangaroos
have hit the jackpot.
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In a dry old country like Australia,
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all this fresh, green, well-watered grass
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is like a banquet for these lucky roos.
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00:05:28,527 --> 00:05:30,995
It's a vast improvement on
what they'd usually get.
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00:05:41,573 --> 00:05:44,337
These are shy animals normally -
but not here.
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00:05:44,877 --> 00:05:46,936
There may be five hundred kangaroos here,
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00:05:47,179 --> 00:05:50,239
and some have lived all their lives
on the greens among the golfers -
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eating grass, raising their families,
relaxing in the shade of the trees,
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00:05:54,386 --> 00:05:57,355
and generally behaving exactly
as they would in the bush.
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In fact, it's the golfers
who have to play around them.
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00:06:19,978 --> 00:06:23,971
And an audience of kangaroos is enough
to put anyone off their stroke.
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00:06:33,825 --> 00:06:37,158
A rubbish dump might seem
a less salubrious place to dine out,
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00:06:37,529 --> 00:06:39,724
but this one, a few miles from Brisbane,
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00:06:39,998 --> 00:06:42,967
has become a fast food
stop for sacred ibises,
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00:06:43,435 --> 00:06:45,835
and they thrive in great
numbers as a result.
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00:06:46,438 --> 00:06:47,996
They travel in from nearby swamps,
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00:06:48,173 --> 00:06:51,939
where they roost, arriving bang
on time when the dumpsters unload.
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00:07:11,763 --> 00:07:13,128
It's a reliable meal -
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00:07:13,532 --> 00:07:16,558
while they would naturally dig
about for crayfish and mussels,
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00:07:16,768 --> 00:07:19,362
here they can take their
pick of gourmet throwouts.
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00:07:19,905 --> 00:07:23,341
Urban living has its advantages,
if you've got the nerve.
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00:07:40,692 --> 00:07:42,956
And the minute the dump closes
at the end of the day,
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00:07:43,262 --> 00:07:47,631
the birds all disappear, regular as
clockwork, back to their swamp.
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00:07:56,875 --> 00:08:00,504
More than three-quarters of Australia's
population lives on the coast,
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00:08:00,779 --> 00:08:02,144
and so that's where the relationship
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00:08:02,314 --> 00:08:04,578
between people and
wildlife is most obvious.
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00:08:05,050 --> 00:08:07,883
But the human effect hasn't
confined itself to the cities.
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00:08:10,689 --> 00:08:12,782
Beyond the coast is a whole new world,
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00:08:13,191 --> 00:08:15,489
and within fifty years
of British settlement,
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00:08:15,661 --> 00:08:18,630
some brave souls had taken on
the challenge of living inland.
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00:08:22,668 --> 00:08:26,866
The contrast between city and
outback living couldn't be stronger.
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00:08:42,020 --> 00:08:45,046
This is the most unpredictable
desert in the world.
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00:08:45,557 --> 00:08:46,922
In Australia's interior,
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00:08:47,092 --> 00:08:51,495
the temperature can swing from
46 degrees Centigrade to minus 8.
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00:08:51,930 --> 00:08:55,798
Some years 20cm of rain
may fall in a single day,
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00:08:56,335 --> 00:08:59,862
and in other years, there may hardly
be enough to wet the ground.
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00:09:09,781 --> 00:09:11,976
Australia's soils are
dry and impoverished -
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00:09:12,150 --> 00:09:14,675
on average the poorest in the world.
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00:09:15,153 --> 00:09:16,586
It's a hard place to farm,
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00:09:16,888 --> 00:09:20,881
and yet now there are 18 million
sheep here, and 30 million cows -
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00:09:21,093 --> 00:09:22,617
more than there are people.
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00:09:27,065 --> 00:09:29,226
One of the toughest challenges
was the lack of water.
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00:09:29,601 --> 00:09:31,899
But people discovered that
there was water here -
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gigantic pools, millions of years old,
deep underground.
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00:09:36,942 --> 00:09:39,740
Pioneering farmers struggled
to bring it to the surface,
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00:09:40,178 --> 00:09:43,739
so that their sheep and cattle would
never be far from a reliable supply.
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00:09:46,785 --> 00:09:51,688
And for the native wildlife, these
man-made oases became very attractive.
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00:09:53,425 --> 00:09:57,657
These animals have had millions of years
to adapt to the times when no rain falls.
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00:09:57,929 --> 00:10:00,625
And suddenly, here was plenty of water.
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00:10:04,035 --> 00:10:06,902
In the old days, emus and
kangaroos would have stayed
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00:10:07,072 --> 00:10:11,270
close to whatever natural water
they could find in this arid landscape.
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00:10:15,414 --> 00:10:18,008
When droughts were long,
many would have died.
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00:10:19,718 --> 00:10:21,811
But nowadays, with all this water on tap,
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00:10:21,987 --> 00:10:25,252
no animal need be more than
10 kilometres away from a drink.
99
00:10:25,590 --> 00:10:30,027
And alongside the cattle,
the natives have thrived as never before.
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00:10:36,168 --> 00:10:40,127
Now, there may be 10 million red kangaroos
in Australia's arid lands.
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00:11:04,262 --> 00:11:05,957
It seems that wherever
people have struggled
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to wrestle a living from the land,
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the native wildlife is ready
to help itself to the proceeds.
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00:11:15,907 --> 00:11:18,740
For native birds that have
evolved on a diet of seeds,
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00:11:18,910 --> 00:11:21,708
what better place to feed
than a wheat store?
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00:11:25,784 --> 00:11:29,914
Little corellas flock to storage
bunkers in gangs thousands strong,
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00:11:30,222 --> 00:11:33,487
turning up in greatest numbers just
when the harvest is brought in.
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00:11:38,363 --> 00:11:41,093
They're not put off at all by
the heavy tarpaulin covers -
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00:11:41,333 --> 00:11:44,166
these parrots simply rip
through them and eat their fill.
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00:11:46,004 --> 00:11:47,403
Their beaks never stop growing
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00:11:47,572 --> 00:11:50,541
and these intelligent birds
use them like tin openers.
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00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,538
And being highly sociable,
they go around in big numbers.
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00:12:13,899 --> 00:12:16,697
It's pretty hard to stop
this avian smash-and-grab.
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00:12:21,506 --> 00:12:23,974
Farmers try to scare them
off by firing shots...
115
00:12:28,813 --> 00:12:31,577
...but all they do is fly
round and land again.
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00:12:38,223 --> 00:12:41,021
They will finally disappear
en masse to their roosts -
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00:12:41,293 --> 00:12:43,056
but they'll be back again tomorrow.
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00:12:44,663 --> 00:12:46,563
Parrots have been up
to tricks like these ever
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00:12:46,731 --> 00:12:49,165
since the first settlers
began growing crops,
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00:12:49,401 --> 00:12:50,629
two centuries ago.
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00:12:51,169 --> 00:12:54,468
But not all Australia's native
wildlife is quite so resilient.
122
00:12:59,911 --> 00:13:03,540
There have been many changes since
the British first planted their flag here,
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00:13:04,049 --> 00:13:08,008
and some have had an impact that those
early colonists could not have foreseen.
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00:13:16,027 --> 00:13:18,518
At first, the land they found
had seemed like Eden.
125
00:13:20,231 --> 00:13:23,598
But viewed through homesick eyes,
it needed a few changes.
126
00:13:23,969 --> 00:13:26,233
The countryside needed taming.
127
00:13:26,705 --> 00:13:30,402
All those messy trees needed clearing,
to make room for farms.
128
00:13:30,909 --> 00:13:34,743
And the place would surely benefit
from some superior animals.
129
00:13:38,383 --> 00:13:43,343
And so those early colonists set about
turning Australia into a little England.
130
00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:51,896
Bit by bit, here was Surrey
on the other side of the world -
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00:13:52,263 --> 00:13:55,494
faintly familiar, but not quite the same.
132
00:14:00,839 --> 00:14:05,503
And the native animals were coming
face to face with strangers.
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00:14:11,483 --> 00:14:12,507
For fifty million years
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00:14:12,684 --> 00:14:15,812
this continent had nurtured
its own private set of wildlife -
135
00:14:16,488 --> 00:14:19,286
and now it was beginning to fill up
with a parade of animals
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00:14:19,457 --> 00:14:21,152
that didn't belong here at all.
137
00:14:25,897 --> 00:14:29,628
And some foreign invaders began
to cause serious problems.
138
00:14:31,336 --> 00:14:33,429
When the earliest
British colonists arrived,
139
00:14:33,672 --> 00:14:35,936
they brought with them
domestic animals from home,
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00:14:36,174 --> 00:14:37,641
but they didn't keep them fenced.
141
00:14:37,976 --> 00:14:40,911
Plenty wandered off,
and the toughest prospered.
142
00:14:44,182 --> 00:14:47,674
Nowadays, wild pigs,
descendants from those early porkers,
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00:14:47,886 --> 00:14:51,549
are rampaging through some of
Australia's most pristine landscapes.
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00:15:00,965 --> 00:15:02,694
Pigs need water to keep cool,
145
00:15:03,168 --> 00:15:05,659
and wetlands are where
they do their worst damage.
146
00:15:06,237 --> 00:15:08,762
With their sharp feet
and incessant wallowing,
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00:15:09,074 --> 00:15:10,336
they destroy vegetation and
148
00:15:10,508 --> 00:15:14,035
damage waterholes far better
suited to more delicate feet.
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00:15:30,895 --> 00:15:32,362
They will eat virtually anything,
150
00:15:32,597 --> 00:15:36,260
and are especially partial to the eggs
of native waterbirds and reptiles.
151
00:15:36,768 --> 00:15:38,292
They spread nasty diseases,
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00:15:38,470 --> 00:15:40,802
and with a population
that can double in a year,
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there are now millions of them.
154
00:15:48,246 --> 00:15:50,111
But pigs were just the beginning.
155
00:15:50,482 --> 00:15:52,973
And some incomers have a shameful history.
156
00:15:58,189 --> 00:16:01,158
1858 - rabbits are brought from England
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00:16:01,326 --> 00:16:03,419
to give the colonists
something to shoot at.
158
00:16:03,795 --> 00:16:06,025
They begin to multiply alarmingly fast -
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00:16:06,197 --> 00:16:09,633
one farmer has 36 million
on his property alone.
160
00:16:10,068 --> 00:16:13,868
They eat all the grass, and push small
native animals out of their homes.
161
00:16:14,072 --> 00:16:16,063
And they're still not under control.
162
00:16:19,310 --> 00:16:23,110
1840 - camels are brought
from Asia as beasts of burden,
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00:16:23,314 --> 00:16:25,441
but later abandoned in favour of lorries.
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00:16:26,985 --> 00:16:29,681
Half a million descendants
now roam the outback,
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00:16:29,921 --> 00:16:32,583
too many for
a drought-prone land to support.
166
00:16:35,093 --> 00:16:38,756
1935 - the South American cane toad,
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00:16:38,930 --> 00:16:42,457
poisonous species,
is brought in to eat pest beetles.
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00:16:42,767 --> 00:16:47,170
The plan fails, but the toads
themselves thrive out of control,
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00:16:47,572 --> 00:16:49,904
poisoning native animals
that try to eat them.
170
00:16:54,445 --> 00:16:57,380
Even the most innocent seeming
foreigners can be trouble.
171
00:17:01,653 --> 00:17:05,714
In 1822, settlers brought their
European honeybees to Australia,
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00:17:06,090 --> 00:17:08,251
and put their hives
where the most flowers grew.
173
00:17:09,060 --> 00:17:10,789
They could then produce abundant honey.
174
00:17:11,196 --> 00:17:14,324
But it was bad news for the bees
that lived there already.
175
00:17:17,001 --> 00:17:19,162
In the tropical
rainforest of the northeast,
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00:17:19,470 --> 00:17:21,802
the native bees feed on pollen and nectar,
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00:17:21,973 --> 00:17:26,205
and some of the flowers need to be
vibrated, to release their pollen reward.
178
00:17:26,744 --> 00:17:30,043
It's a relationship that has
grown up over millions of years.
179
00:17:34,686 --> 00:17:38,281
But European honeybees
can't do this buzz pollination -
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00:17:38,523 --> 00:17:40,889
they just can't shake
their bodies in the right way.
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00:17:41,459 --> 00:17:43,654
Their method is to steal the pollen
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00:17:43,828 --> 00:17:46,194
that the native bees have
just set on the flowers.
183
00:17:51,703 --> 00:17:54,171
And they have even
more aggressive tactics.
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00:18:00,778 --> 00:18:04,441
They beat up the native bees,
stealing the pollen from their backs,
185
00:18:04,616 --> 00:18:06,709
and driving them away from the flowers.
186
00:18:19,297 --> 00:18:20,662
Without proper pollination,
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00:18:20,832 --> 00:18:24,666
the flowers, and the native animals
that rely on them, are at risk.
188
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,538
But of all the invaders that
came from the Old Country,
189
00:18:31,809 --> 00:18:34,437
there is one that
has really outdone the rest.
190
00:18:57,035 --> 00:18:59,663
Foxes were deliberately brought
to Australia from England
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00:18:59,837 --> 00:19:01,737
a hundred and fifty years ago,
192
00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,340
so that homesick British gentlemen
could hunt, just as they'd always done.
193
00:19:16,754 --> 00:19:20,155
But those foxes that didn't get caught,
started to thrive.
194
00:19:25,897 --> 00:19:27,728
From an original few dozen released,
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00:19:28,032 --> 00:19:30,432
there are now millions
of foxes in Australia.
196
00:19:30,835 --> 00:19:35,636
Superbly adaptable, they have spread
almost everywhere, even in deserts.
197
00:19:38,076 --> 00:19:41,603
Two hundred years ago, Australia
was full of strange little animals,
198
00:19:42,013 --> 00:19:45,449
all flourishing in a landscape
where there were few big predators.
199
00:19:50,755 --> 00:19:53,952
But now they all became the perfect,
fox-sized meal.
200
00:20:21,786 --> 00:20:24,380
They had no idea how to react
to this new enemy.
201
00:20:24,956 --> 00:20:26,947
And suddenly they began to vanish.
202
00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:34,254
A disaster had begun.
203
00:20:34,632 --> 00:20:37,999
Australia's native animals
were being hit from all sides.
204
00:20:38,770 --> 00:20:40,829
They were being devoured by new predators.
205
00:20:41,039 --> 00:20:44,167
Their food was being eaten by
foreigners with bigger appetites.
206
00:20:44,609 --> 00:20:49,239
And their habitat was being taken from
them, so that the land could be farmed.
207
00:20:52,917 --> 00:20:56,318
Many native animals,
once numerous, quietly disappeared.
208
00:20:56,988 --> 00:20:58,353
And they're still going now.
209
00:21:01,826 --> 00:21:03,157
Since the British arrived,
210
00:21:03,361 --> 00:21:07,127
54 species of mammals,
birds and frogs have gone.
211
00:21:07,498 --> 00:21:12,094
In the desert, almost half of all the
mammal species have become extinct.
212
00:21:12,603 --> 00:21:15,936
This shocking decline has no parallel
anywhere else in the world.
213
00:21:19,510 --> 00:21:21,740
Australia's most famous extinct animal
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00:21:21,913 --> 00:21:24,245
managed to hang on
for a while in Tasmania.
215
00:21:24,715 --> 00:21:28,674
The Tasmanian tiger was one of
Australia's few big carnivores,
216
00:21:29,387 --> 00:21:31,878
but it had been driven from
the mainland by dingoes,
217
00:21:32,056 --> 00:21:35,924
and the remainder killed by farmers
who accused it of taking sheep.
218
00:21:37,829 --> 00:21:39,421
In 1936,
219
00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:42,290
the year it was finally
given official protection,
220
00:21:42,567 --> 00:21:45,695
the last one died in a Tasmanian Zoo.
221
00:21:57,782 --> 00:21:59,409
But although the picture looks grim,
222
00:21:59,684 --> 00:22:01,481
things are not always what they seem.
223
00:22:02,186 --> 00:22:05,246
In the far southwest corner of
Australia there once lived a small,
224
00:22:05,423 --> 00:22:08,187
pointy-nosed marsupial
called Gilbert's potoroo.
225
00:22:08,659 --> 00:22:10,593
It hadn't been seen for
over a hundred years,
226
00:22:10,761 --> 00:22:14,925
and was presumed to be long extinct,
the victim of the usual troubles.
227
00:22:19,470 --> 00:22:22,371
Then, in 1994, one was spotted.
228
00:22:30,114 --> 00:22:32,981
It wasn't lost after all - only hiding.
229
00:22:35,453 --> 00:22:38,820
Although it's the size of a rabbit,
it eats almost nothing but fungi,
230
00:22:38,990 --> 00:22:40,855
which it digs for in deep undergrowth.
231
00:22:41,592 --> 00:22:45,460
And it only comes out at night.
No wonder it was hard to spot.
232
00:23:00,912 --> 00:23:04,040
There may be fewer than forty of them
left in the whole of Australia -
233
00:23:04,482 --> 00:23:07,315
in fact it may be
Australia's rarest mammal,
234
00:23:07,618 --> 00:23:09,449
and it needs intensive protection.
235
00:23:11,956 --> 00:23:13,218
But it's not extinct.
236
00:23:13,558 --> 00:23:14,388
And it goes to show
237
00:23:14,559 --> 00:23:18,120
that Australian wildlife is easy
to lose in such a big place.
238
00:23:27,538 --> 00:23:30,405
What else might there be
hiding out there in the vastness?
239
00:23:32,410 --> 00:23:33,741
There's a search going on to find
240
00:23:33,911 --> 00:23:36,505
Australia's most legendary
and obscure bird -
241
00:23:36,948 --> 00:23:39,781
a little green parrot that
looks like a fat budgie.
242
00:23:43,921 --> 00:23:47,618
It was named the night parrot,
because it's probably nocturnal.
243
00:23:47,825 --> 00:23:52,421
It's said to run around the spinifex
grassland of Australia's dry interior,
244
00:23:52,663 --> 00:23:55,291
but it hadn't been seen for eighty years.
245
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,897
Everyone assumed the night parrot
was just another museum piece.
246
00:24:12,583 --> 00:24:14,244
But then, in 1990,
247
00:24:14,485 --> 00:24:17,886
one was found in Queensland,
squashed at the side of the road.
248
00:24:18,422 --> 00:24:21,186
Here was evidence that there might
still be night parrots running
249
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,328
about out there,
somewhere in the darkness.
250
00:24:26,664 --> 00:24:29,997
There were campaigns to make sure that
anyone who spotted one in the vast,
251
00:24:30,167 --> 00:24:32,692
lonely landscape would know what it was.
252
00:24:34,272 --> 00:24:38,641
Long-distance road-train drivers were even
shown pictures of what to look out for.
253
00:24:45,683 --> 00:24:50,120
And then came a report that a live one
had been seen in a remote cattle station,
254
00:24:50,288 --> 00:24:53,689
called Newhaven,
right in the centre of Australia.
255
00:24:58,963 --> 00:25:02,797
The farm owner, Alex Coppock,
is convinced of what he saw.
256
00:25:03,868 --> 00:25:07,395
Around his cattle trough,
drinking with the other thirsty birds,
257
00:25:07,571 --> 00:25:10,870
were two unfamiliar birds
he'd never seen before.
258
00:25:14,879 --> 00:25:16,403
They were definitely parrots,
259
00:25:16,681 --> 00:25:18,308
but not the usual ones.
260
00:25:27,024 --> 00:25:29,686
Alex has lived and
farmed here for 40 years,
261
00:25:29,994 --> 00:25:32,428
and he knows the birds
of the outback pretty well.
262
00:25:33,331 --> 00:25:36,425
These strangers certainly
weren't budgies, or ringnecks.
263
00:25:37,335 --> 00:25:40,463
They were little fat birds,
and had very short tails,
264
00:25:40,638 --> 00:25:42,765
and oddly marked green feathers.
265
00:25:43,808 --> 00:25:46,436
Checking what he'd seen
against old illustrations,
266
00:25:46,811 --> 00:25:48,278
Alex was sure that the birds
267
00:25:48,446 --> 00:25:51,279
at his trough really were night parrots.
268
00:25:56,153 --> 00:25:58,018
If the night parrot does still exist,
269
00:25:58,189 --> 00:26:00,214
this is the kind of place
where it would live,
270
00:26:00,591 --> 00:26:04,527
with spinifex clumps to hide it
during the day, and plenty of water.
271
00:26:10,601 --> 00:26:15,971
It's the Holy Grail for ornithologists,
none more devoted than Richard Jordan.
272
00:26:18,909 --> 00:26:19,841
He looks in the places
273
00:26:20,010 --> 00:26:21,443
that seem most promising,
274
00:26:21,612 --> 00:26:23,842
in the hopes of flushing
the secretive little birds
275
00:26:24,014 --> 00:26:25,413
from their hiding place.
276
00:26:28,052 --> 00:26:29,610
But there's not a glimpse.
277
00:26:40,097 --> 00:26:42,258
It may be Australia's least known bird,
278
00:26:42,733 --> 00:26:45,759
but it seems that it was a sitting
target for foreign predators,
279
00:26:46,270 --> 00:26:48,966
and it couldn't cope with
changes brought by farming.
280
00:26:58,282 --> 00:26:59,613
The search goes on.
281
00:27:00,151 --> 00:27:02,415
Even old bird's nests are checked,
282
00:27:02,586 --> 00:27:05,919
in case a fragment of night parrot
feather has been woven in.
283
00:27:06,724 --> 00:27:08,214
Even this would be evidence.
284
00:27:09,393 --> 00:27:13,489
But in 13 years of searching
Richard has found nothing.
285
00:27:15,266 --> 00:27:17,257
Nightfall is the time to watch.
286
00:27:18,702 --> 00:27:21,398
This is when these secretive
birds would come to drink,
287
00:27:21,639 --> 00:27:22,537
with all the other birds
288
00:27:22,706 --> 00:27:25,971
that rely on these remote waterholes
in the middle of the desert.
289
00:27:27,011 --> 00:27:29,445
But it is, to say the least, unlikely.
290
00:27:30,748 --> 00:27:32,978
Many people claim to
have seen the night parrot,
291
00:27:33,150 --> 00:27:35,118
but so far, none can prove it.
292
00:27:35,753 --> 00:27:37,778
The only solid evidence there's been,
293
00:27:37,955 --> 00:27:42,688
was that one squashed bird found in
Queensland, and the search goes on.
294
00:27:52,236 --> 00:27:53,635
This is a huge country,
295
00:27:54,171 --> 00:27:57,038
and the most vulnerable animals
tend to be the most cryptic.
296
00:27:57,641 --> 00:28:00,405
So how do you find out
if they even still exist,
297
00:28:00,978 --> 00:28:02,878
let alone help them survive?
298
00:28:04,248 --> 00:28:06,842
Ask the people who know
the land better than anyone.
299
00:28:07,218 --> 00:28:10,745
Australia has been inhabited
for 60,000 years.
300
00:28:14,291 --> 00:28:15,519
Until the British landed,
301
00:28:15,793 --> 00:28:17,954
there were maybe half a million people,
302
00:28:18,195 --> 00:28:20,459
in a place three-quarters
the size of Europe.
303
00:28:21,365 --> 00:28:23,390
But they lived across the whole continent,
304
00:28:23,634 --> 00:28:25,761
and they knew the wildlife intimately.
305
00:28:27,705 --> 00:28:30,105
Aborigines had long been
managing the landscape.
306
00:28:30,274 --> 00:28:32,902
They regularly burned it,
to clear the way for hunting,
307
00:28:33,077 --> 00:28:35,011
and to encourage fresh plants to grow.
308
00:28:35,546 --> 00:28:38,982
The native wildlife had become
tuned in to this new regime.
309
00:28:41,852 --> 00:28:46,050
When white people came, the Aboriginal
population dwindled to barely a quarter.
310
00:28:46,390 --> 00:28:48,585
But their skills didn't vanish entirely.
311
00:28:51,862 --> 00:28:53,523
And now, all over Australia,
312
00:28:53,797 --> 00:28:56,459
they are helping with
the rediscovery of lost animals.
313
00:29:05,509 --> 00:29:08,774
A lizard called the great desert skink
had been missing for decades.
314
00:29:09,146 --> 00:29:12,604
Western scientists had only found
twenty in almost a century.
315
00:29:13,417 --> 00:29:15,977
But when Aboriginal landowners
helped the search,
316
00:29:16,220 --> 00:29:20,316
the skinks began to reappear,
always on Aboriginal land.
317
00:29:20,925 --> 00:29:24,053
In Uluru, the locals called it tjakura
318
00:29:36,373 --> 00:29:39,501
Now traditional owners,
like Norman Jackeleri and scientists,
319
00:29:39,677 --> 00:29:41,338
like Steve McAlpin,
320
00:29:41,612 --> 00:29:44,206
pool their skills
in the continuing search.
321
00:29:57,995 --> 00:30:01,396
Norman knows this area intimately,
it's his home.
322
00:30:03,467 --> 00:30:06,163
As a young child he was
taught to recognise signs
323
00:30:06,337 --> 00:30:08,862
and follow animal tracks
by his grandparents.
324
00:30:15,446 --> 00:30:18,882
As a scientist, Steve relies on
Norman's special knowledge,
325
00:30:19,116 --> 00:30:21,880
that has only come from
a lifetime spent in the bush.
326
00:30:25,189 --> 00:30:28,124
But now, they are teaching each
other the skills needed to find
327
00:30:28,292 --> 00:30:30,260
and study these elusive animals.
328
00:30:40,838 --> 00:30:41,634
What's that one?
329
00:30:41,839 --> 00:30:42,362
Fox
330
00:30:42,539 --> 00:30:44,097
So, there's a fox come through here,
331
00:30:44,274 --> 00:30:46,139
so they're probably hunting
for that tjakura, I reckon.
332
00:30:48,746 --> 00:30:52,273
There are predators here,
foxes are a problem,
333
00:30:53,384 --> 00:30:55,682
but this was definitely skink country.
334
00:30:56,186 --> 00:30:59,644
It seemed that western science had
been looking in the wrong places,
335
00:30:59,890 --> 00:31:00,982
all those years.
336
00:31:14,138 --> 00:31:15,230
Tjakura.
337
00:31:15,406 --> 00:31:17,101
Oh yeah, a beauty.
338
00:31:22,646 --> 00:31:23,772
It's a beauty, isn't it?
339
00:31:27,718 --> 00:31:30,243
...lt's an animal that
Norman is quite familiar with.
340
00:31:32,256 --> 00:31:33,917
190...
341
00:31:55,746 --> 00:31:58,237
So the skinks had always
been here after all,
342
00:31:58,515 --> 00:32:00,608
and the local people
knew their behaviour well.
343
00:32:02,619 --> 00:32:06,214
They knew that they came out at night
from their big family burrows in the sand
344
00:32:06,490 --> 00:32:08,981
to feed on desert plants
and hunt for insects,
345
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,289
leaving their distinctive tracks.
346
00:32:34,985 --> 00:32:36,850
But something else became apparent.
347
00:32:37,454 --> 00:32:39,445
In order for the lizards to thrive,
348
00:32:39,757 --> 00:32:42,351
the land must be burned
in the traditional way.
349
00:32:44,828 --> 00:32:48,958
It may seem drastic, but this has been
going on here for thousands of years.
350
00:32:49,333 --> 00:32:51,426
The skinks need habitat like this,
351
00:32:51,602 --> 00:32:54,503
selectively burned to provide
just the right amount of cover
352
00:32:54,671 --> 00:32:56,832
and fresh new growth on which they feed.
353
00:33:00,277 --> 00:33:02,142
But even with such intensive care,
354
00:33:02,312 --> 00:33:04,940
while all those foreign
predators roam at large,
355
00:33:05,115 --> 00:33:07,208
the mainland is still a dangerous place
356
00:33:07,384 --> 00:33:09,181
for much of Australia's wildlife.
357
00:33:17,795 --> 00:33:22,129
It seems unfair,
but the only safe place is on an island.
358
00:33:28,238 --> 00:33:32,572
Luckily Australia is surrounded with
thousands of islands, large and small.
359
00:33:32,943 --> 00:33:34,570
Without these natural refuges,
360
00:33:34,745 --> 00:33:39,808
a further nine mammal species would be
extinct in the jaws of mainland predators.
361
00:33:46,690 --> 00:33:50,353
Barrow Island, 80 km off
the northwest coast of Australia,
362
00:33:50,527 --> 00:33:53,690
has been separated from
the mainland for 7000 years.
363
00:33:54,097 --> 00:33:57,294
No introduced animals have had a chance
to get here and trash the place,
364
00:33:57,467 --> 00:34:00,163
and the difference it makes is enormous.
365
00:34:08,178 --> 00:34:10,408
Here the natives can really relax.
366
00:34:11,014 --> 00:34:13,278
There is such a wealth
of wildlife on Barrow,
367
00:34:13,517 --> 00:34:16,418
that it was made a nature
reserve a hundred years ago.
368
00:34:24,061 --> 00:34:26,154
But there's a further twist to the tale.
369
00:34:30,534 --> 00:34:32,866
Oil was found here in 1954,
370
00:34:33,036 --> 00:34:35,231
in amounts too valuable to ignore.
371
00:34:35,672 --> 00:34:39,403
This top class nature reserve
became a major oilfield.
372
00:34:39,776 --> 00:34:42,506
Five hundred wells
sprang up across the island.
373
00:34:43,146 --> 00:34:45,080
What would become of all the wildlife?
374
00:34:57,828 --> 00:34:59,489
It seems they're doing pretty well!
375
00:35:01,431 --> 00:35:03,763
The kangaroos that
live here are called euros,
376
00:35:04,001 --> 00:35:06,765
and they thrive in the spinifex
among the pipework.
377
00:35:07,738 --> 00:35:08,966
They're not at all shy,
378
00:35:09,206 --> 00:35:11,003
and they'll even use
the mechanical structures
379
00:35:11,174 --> 00:35:14,007
as shelter from the blistering
heat of the summer sun.
380
00:35:27,324 --> 00:35:28,723
In this extraordinary place,
381
00:35:28,892 --> 00:35:31,827
giants cruise around
the oil tanks quite unfazed.
382
00:35:33,997 --> 00:35:38,798
Perenties are Australia's biggest lizards,
and this perentie is after something.
383
00:35:54,851 --> 00:35:58,150
On this desert island,
where fresh water is in short supply,
384
00:35:58,322 --> 00:36:00,688
a dripping air conditioner is a luxury.
385
00:36:03,293 --> 00:36:05,318
It's not easy to get a drink round here.
386
00:36:14,171 --> 00:36:17,265
Rules are strict about how
the wildlife is treated on Barrow -
387
00:36:17,908 --> 00:36:21,537
no animals can be brought to the island,
and nothing can be taken away.
388
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,116
And some are doing even better here
than they would on the mainland.
389
00:36:30,887 --> 00:36:33,014
At night,
when the oilmen have their supper,
390
00:36:33,190 --> 00:36:37,650
strange nocturnal creatures emerge,
lured out by the smell of the barbie.
391
00:36:41,732 --> 00:36:43,495
This is a golden bandicoot.
392
00:36:43,967 --> 00:36:45,628
It used to be common on the mainland,
393
00:36:45,902 --> 00:36:48,735
but introduced predators
virtually wiped it out.
394
00:36:53,877 --> 00:36:56,243
Nowadays it's almost
only found on islands,
395
00:36:56,613 --> 00:37:00,709
but there may be fifty thousand of them
living it up on Barrow alone.
396
00:37:10,994 --> 00:37:12,825
And this is a burrowing bettong,
397
00:37:13,163 --> 00:37:15,927
a tiny kangaroo that
spends its days underground.
398
00:37:20,203 --> 00:37:22,865
In fact, it's the world's
only burrowing kangaroo,
399
00:37:23,106 --> 00:37:24,971
and it comes out at night to feed.
400
00:37:27,644 --> 00:37:32,377
It too hangs by a thread on the mainland,
but here it's safe.
401
00:37:33,583 --> 00:37:35,881
To watch these animals
fearlessly looking for scraps,
402
00:37:36,053 --> 00:37:39,716
it's easy to see how effortlessly
a predator could pick them off.
403
00:37:41,491 --> 00:37:42,515
But not here.
404
00:37:52,335 --> 00:37:57,398
Australia's largest, most famous island
is also a wonderland of lost wildlife.
405
00:37:58,708 --> 00:38:01,700
Tasmania too has long been
free of dingoes and foxes,
406
00:38:02,012 --> 00:38:04,776
and it's a last sanctuary for
some remarkable animals.
407
00:38:18,061 --> 00:38:22,225
This is the only place in the world
where Tasmanian devils still live wild.
408
00:38:22,532 --> 00:38:24,523
They've long been gone from the mainland,
409
00:38:24,768 --> 00:38:27,669
but here they thrive as
they've always done,
410
00:38:27,904 --> 00:38:32,273
living in tangled forests and screaming
at each other over scraps of carrion.
411
00:39:00,737 --> 00:39:02,728
There are other oddities in the darkness -
412
00:39:02,939 --> 00:39:06,705
strange spotted cat-like animals,
called tiger quolls.
413
00:39:07,244 --> 00:39:09,144
They too are rare elsewhere.
414
00:39:12,949 --> 00:39:15,645
But Tasmania is no remote wilderness.
415
00:39:16,119 --> 00:39:17,211
It's full of people,
416
00:39:17,454 --> 00:39:22,653
and the wildlife has to take its chances
alongside towns, roads, and farms.
417
00:39:27,264 --> 00:39:31,462
This is a busy sheep farm,
but it too has some surprises.
418
00:39:32,002 --> 00:39:34,630
At night,
when all the farm workers have gone home,
419
00:39:34,971 --> 00:39:37,496
strange things start
happening in the shed.
420
00:39:54,858 --> 00:39:58,123
A Tasmanian devil has been
sheltering under the floorboards.
421
00:40:13,410 --> 00:40:16,402
And a tiger quoll has made
her home in the roof.
422
00:40:26,156 --> 00:40:28,181
The quoll is raising her babies here,
423
00:40:28,458 --> 00:40:32,189
and leaves them up in the rafters while
she comes down to find something to eat.
424
00:40:35,265 --> 00:40:37,631
She and the devils wander
round the shed at night,
425
00:40:37,901 --> 00:40:40,028
looking for food left by the farm workers.
426
00:40:41,938 --> 00:40:43,235
Quolls are carnivores,
427
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:46,633
and she'd kill live prey with a bite
to the back of the neck.
428
00:40:47,210 --> 00:40:50,236
But sometimes it's easier
to break into a lunch box.
429
00:41:05,495 --> 00:41:10,091
Tasmanian devils too like to scavenge,
but it's not always quite that easy.
430
00:41:33,323 --> 00:41:34,620
Devils will be devils,
431
00:41:34,791 --> 00:41:37,692
and always ready for a bit of
a punch-up over a scrap.
432
00:41:38,094 --> 00:41:40,153
But mostly it's just a lot of noise.
433
00:41:54,811 --> 00:41:57,939
People and wildlife have become
entangled with each other.
434
00:41:58,615 --> 00:42:02,449
Even in the heart of the busiest cities,
they are forced to live together.
435
00:42:30,814 --> 00:42:35,274
The night sky of Melbourne is filled every
night with thousands of enormous bats.
436
00:42:36,019 --> 00:42:40,149
Grey-headed flying foxes, native
Australians, are struggling in the wild,
437
00:42:40,623 --> 00:42:43,786
because so much of their natural
forest habitat is being cleared.
438
00:42:44,227 --> 00:42:47,355
Here in town,
they find everything they need.
439
00:42:52,802 --> 00:42:55,635
Just a flight away,
there are orchards full of fruit,
440
00:42:55,872 --> 00:42:58,466
exactly what these fruit bats love best.
441
00:43:01,578 --> 00:43:03,375
And they have some exasperating habits.
442
00:43:03,580 --> 00:43:06,981
The bats may take just one bite,
and then sample the next,
443
00:43:07,150 --> 00:43:10,711
like a picky child,
leaving a trail of half-eaten fruit
444
00:43:10,887 --> 00:43:12,878
and some very annoyed farmers.
445
00:43:31,674 --> 00:43:35,041
At dawn they fly the 40 kilometres
or so back to town,
446
00:43:35,345 --> 00:43:37,711
following the course of
the river and the roads.
447
00:43:38,114 --> 00:43:40,048
They're heading back to roost for the day.
448
00:43:52,595 --> 00:43:54,187
And this is where they chose.
449
00:43:54,564 --> 00:43:59,399
Nearly 30 thousands bats took up residence
in a piece of imitation rainforest,
450
00:43:59,736 --> 00:44:02,227
in Melbourne's elegant Botanic Gardens.
451
00:44:14,584 --> 00:44:18,020
Here in the garden it's a few degrees
warmer than the surrounding area,
452
00:44:18,254 --> 00:44:21,519
and with so much food nearby
it suits them very nicely.
453
00:44:30,133 --> 00:44:33,034
But this number of bats has
become too much for the trees.
454
00:44:33,770 --> 00:44:36,364
Many of the plants here
are rare and fragile,
455
00:44:36,539 --> 00:44:39,940
and none of them can stand the wear
and tear of so many hefty animals,
456
00:44:40,210 --> 00:44:41,973
some of which can weigh a kilogram.
457
00:44:54,958 --> 00:44:56,118
So here's a dilemma -
458
00:44:56,359 --> 00:44:59,328
a Botanic garden that wants
to preserve its precious trees,
459
00:44:59,562 --> 00:45:01,996
and a native bat that's
on the endangered list.
460
00:45:02,866 --> 00:45:05,266
There are ongoing efforts
to persuade the bats to leave
461
00:45:05,435 --> 00:45:08,836
and settle somewhere else,
where they'll cause less havoc.
462
00:45:24,254 --> 00:45:28,953
There's a strange love-hate relationship
between Australia's wildlife and people.
463
00:45:29,325 --> 00:45:31,987
Australian animals are
diverse and peculiar,
464
00:45:32,362 --> 00:45:35,024
and while some have declined
in the face of human changes,
465
00:45:35,431 --> 00:45:38,594
others have thrived and
are doing better than ever.
466
00:45:45,341 --> 00:45:46,672
But for better or for worse,
467
00:45:46,910 --> 00:45:49,743
there are few places in the world
where they are quite so familiar.
468
00:46:02,792 --> 00:46:06,193
And in spite of the sophistication
of the Australian way of life,
469
00:46:06,496 --> 00:46:09,431
people still yearn to have
contact with wildlife.
470
00:46:10,066 --> 00:46:12,728
In a land where almost
everyone lives in towns,
471
00:46:13,036 --> 00:46:16,369
thousands of visitors pay to
watch a spectacle like this.
472
00:46:18,441 --> 00:46:20,909
Every day, hundreds of rainbow lorikeets
473
00:46:21,077 --> 00:46:23,011
fly in over the suburbs near Brisbane
474
00:46:23,179 --> 00:46:24,441
to one particular park.
475
00:46:30,386 --> 00:46:32,149
These are completely wild birds,
476
00:46:32,455 --> 00:46:34,582
only visiting to take
advantage of the fact
477
00:46:34,757 --> 00:46:36,281
that people want to see them up close.
478
00:47:10,326 --> 00:47:12,988
When they've finished their
free meal of artificial nectar,
479
00:47:13,162 --> 00:47:15,596
the parrots will disappear
again to their roosts.
480
00:47:16,265 --> 00:47:18,256
No-one is quite sure where they all go.
481
00:47:18,635 --> 00:47:22,935
Humans encourage them,
and they're exploiting human generosity.
482
00:47:25,375 --> 00:47:29,778
The first European settlers had such
little regard for the native wildlife
483
00:47:30,079 --> 00:47:32,570
that they brought blackbirds
and nightingales from England,
484
00:47:32,749 --> 00:47:34,580
to make the place feel more like home.
485
00:47:35,485 --> 00:47:37,214
Now, two hundred years later,
486
00:47:37,387 --> 00:47:39,855
there's a growing appreciation
for the remarkable
487
00:47:40,023 --> 00:47:42,821
nature of the landscape and its animals.
488
00:47:46,262 --> 00:47:49,561
Australia's people and
native wildlife are bound together,
489
00:47:49,932 --> 00:47:51,229
and there's no going back.
490
00:47:51,901 --> 00:47:54,665
In some places the land has
changed beyond recognition,
491
00:47:55,004 --> 00:47:58,167
and dozens of unique animal
species will never be seen again.
492
00:47:58,908 --> 00:47:59,966
But despite everything,
493
00:48:00,343 --> 00:48:04,040
an incredible wealth of strange,
tenacious animals is still here.
494
00:48:07,517 --> 00:48:08,779
Wildlife remains,
495
00:48:08,985 --> 00:48:10,509
even in the heart of cities,
496
00:48:10,820 --> 00:48:12,947
and wilderness is never far away.
497
00:48:13,723 --> 00:48:18,023
Modern Australia is still
a wild and special place.
44393
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