All language subtitles for Lost Land Of The Volcano BBC 2009 720p EN sub 1of3

On the far side of the world
is an island carved by waterfalls

and forged by volcanoes.

Look at that! It's being
thrown a kilometre into the air.

New Guinea,
home to ancient cultures,

the last great frontier of
jungle exploration in the world.

For a nine-month period, a team of
scientists, film-makers and cavers

have been exploring the most remote
parts of this island.

The terrain looks a total nightmare!

This is what we do
expeditions for, places like this.

Unimaginably beautiful and
totally unexplored.

They've witnessed
the birth of new mountains

and explored ancient craters.

To find something that's never
before been seen by science,

this has got to be one of the
most incredible moments of my life.

That is just fantastic.

They've discovered animals
found nowhere else.

Wow wow wow! Jeepers.

Look at that.

Their aim? To search for species new
to science and find the evidence to
help preserve these forests forever.

We can't save everything, but we
have to save the richest places,

and the richest places on Earth
are forests like this.

New Guinea.

A huge tropical island on the edge
of the South Pacific Ocean.

This rugged jungle hides a
network of deep, isolated valleys.

They're the most promising places
in the world to find rare animals.

The creatures that have
evolved here are truly strange.

Kangaroos that live in trees,

exotic birds of paradise...

..giant cassowaries with
their armoured crests,

and the shy and secretive cuscus.

At the heart of the island is Mount
Bosavi, a giant volcano long since

extinct, and the team's home
for this phase of the expedition.

On their way in is a team of experts
on the animals of New Guinea.

But for wildlife cameraman Gordon
Buchanan, it's his first time here.

This is a very, very
difficult terrain.

You've got these
steep gulleys, riverine valleys and
very, very thick forest.

Very much the unknown and somewhere
that I'm really quite nervous about.

They're heading for a base camp
in the foothills of Mount Bosavi.

George McGavin is head
of the science team.

He's already in camp, with some of
the tribe who own this ancient land.

They'll be working with
the scientists and filmmakers
to find the forest creatures.

The heart of this camp
is the jungle lab.

We have assembled a team of
specialists, world experts

in their groups - birds, reptiles,
amphibians, bats, insects - and
they're going to be working in here.

That helicopter
kicks up quite a blast, but
that's all the scientists coming in.

Hi, there's lots
of work for you here!

Each expert has their own special
skill for finding rare animals.

They'll be exploring for new species
in a forgotten corner of our planet.

It's a task more vital today
than ever, as this ancient forest
has an uncertain future.

Steve Backshall is
the last member to arrive.

How we're going to move around in
here and go about actually trying
to find wildlife,

I have no idea.

It's the third time that
Gordon, George and Steve have been
on jungle expeditions together.

George is the scientist.
He'll go anywhere in his
search for strange insects.

Gordon is the wildlife cameraman.

Nothing will stop him
getting the perfect picture.

Steve is the adventurer and climber.

Whether it's up mountains
or down waterfalls,

the bigger the challenge,

the better it is.

Day one in the New Guinea
base camp.

As they prepare the gear,
something bizarre arrives in camp.

George, you come here.
I've got one thing for you.

It's been caught by
boatsman Nick Awaiyo

and expedition photographer
Ulla Lohmann.

There's no rest in this place.

Oh, my God, that is absolutely
incredible.

A thing that folks don't often think
is that stick insects can fly.

I can just take it
off the camera lens.

The front wings are quite short,

little tiny...little winglets there,

but the hind wings
are just beautifully fan-like,

like a big pleat.

That is the biggest stick insect
I have ever seen in the wild.

Working with a team of
skilled boatmen, Steve
is keen to head downstream.

He'll be exploring
the fast-flowing rivers that
pour down these mountains.

It really is spectacular, if a little
bit up and down. There's an awful
lot of water flowing through here.

It's a fantastic opportunity
for us to get somewhere that
is just almost totally unknown.

These rivers are the roads of
the rainforest, eventually taking
Steve into uncharted territory.

In New Guinea, the rivers roar
not just over the ground,

but also underground,
through caves deep within
these limestone mountains.

Steve's journey will
ultimately lead him to follow
a river deep into this underworld.

He'll be exploring where no human
has ever been, living and sleeping
under a million tonnes of rock.

Back in base camp, Gordon's
preparing to trek into the forest.

He'll be working with a team of
trackers to capture on camera the
secretive animals of this jungle.

There's no point of reference
in Papua New Guinea.

There are no cats,
there are no rhinos, there are no
elephants, there are no monkeys.

There is nothing familiar about the
creatures that live in this forest.

So in some ways, I feel as
if I'm starting from scratch.

It's quite daunting, the prospect
of going into this forest and
starting to look for things.

But New Guinea does have
the most spectacular and strange
birds in the world.

From now on, Gordon will
be out searching for them.

Hornbills.

You never,
ever see them from the ground.

One of the largest birds of
New Guinea, the hornbill.

But he soon finds signs
of a real giant of a bird.

Ooh! There's something there,
hang on.

This is the first thing that I've
found. It's a cassowary footprint.

And this is an enormous bird.

That footprint
is the size of my hand,

so we're talking about a bird that's
about kind of four, five feet tall.

I'd love to be able
to find one of them.

In the jungle lab, the experts
sort their equipment, before
starting their hunt for animals.

The team has come from all over
the world and is working with some
of New Guinea's leading scientists.

They're led by Dr George McGavin,
a specialist in insects
from Oxford University.

He's set an ambitious target.

This whole area is completely
unexplored and as head of
the scientist team,

I want to find at least
30 new species right here.

This goal isn't just
for the sake of science.

Proving this forest is rich can be
a powerful reason to protect it.

Just 20 miles south,
the jungle is disappearing.

If we're to have any
chance of saving it,

we have to be able to tell everybody
this is a very rich area.

Hopefully, we'll find some new
species to keep people aware of

the fact that these habitats
still exist and are worth saving.

If the forests go, we will lose the
majority of species on Earth without
even knowing they were there.

Steve and the river team
are five miles downstream.

Around them, waterfalls
pour down from Mount Bosavi.

Oh, wow,

this is a monster!

These tracks here...

..are croc tracks.

This is quite clearly
the hind foot of a croc.

It's been coming
in from this direction.

It's come up to check something out.

The tracks lead
back into the forest.

Crocodile nest!

But it's been...
You can see it's been dug up.

This one's still got
amniotic fluid inside it, look.

This has happened very recently,
possibly last night.

Well, this isn't the hatchlings
breaking out of their own accord.

They have an egg tooth, which is on
the end of their nose, which they
use to break out of the egg

and they make a very clean departure,
whereas this has just been shredded.

And I am 99% sure these have
been taken by a monitor lizard.

That's one of the biggest
predators of nests like this.

What a shame. This forest
does feel prehistoric to me.

It feels like a place where you could
see a dinosaur around every corner.

And crocodiles have been around since
the time of the dinosaurs and this is

exactly the way that a Velociraptor,
or a T Rex, would have laid its eggs,
buried in the vegetation.

There's an art to
finding the creatures that
hide in these forests.

Scientists put up survey nets
to find birds and bats,

fishing nets are
placed in the creeks...

..and George walks quietly
searching for insects.

Deep in the forest,

Gordon's found a tiny nest.

It looks like it belongs
to a curiosity of nature,

the smallest parrot in the world.

Oh, wow - here, right here.

As you can imagine,
a pygmy parrot is pretty small,
that's how it got its name.

They're tiny,
they're only about...not much
bigger than my thumb.

It's actually quite a big hole for a
small bird and what they do on these
rock-solid termite mounds,

they'll dig in - probably using
their beaks and their claws -

and burrow down into it
and lay their eggs there.

But this is all quite,
all fresh stuff, it's just been
excavating this morning.

I'm kind of concerned that
it might not come back,

but it's definitely worth setting up
the hide and just waiting it out.

To have any chance of
filming these tiny birds,
he must blend into the background

and settle down for a long wait.

George is taking a more active
approach to finding his insects.

Wood like this is an incredibly
useful food material for
loads of insects.

I mean, it's eaten by beetles
and termites and lots of stuff.

There isn't anything wasted
in the jungle, it's all recycled.

There's over one million species
of insects known to be
living in jungles,

and scientists estimate there's
another five million waiting
to be discovered,

if you know where to look.

Ooh, there's a nice beetle! I've got
to work very carefully now, cos...

I don't want to hurt them.
There we are, look at that.

There she is. A bess beetle.

They are fantastic.

That's a reward and a half.

She's got fantastic little red
hairs all round the thorax here.

What a find.

His first discovery
is from a group of obscure and
odd animals - talking beetles.

They live in groups
with their young ones and
they call to each other as well.

They make squeaks.

If you can get the boom down,
I'll just try to make it squeak.

BEETLE CHIRRUPS

I can hear it from here.

In the dark, in logs,
you can't see each other, but
if you can make squeaking noises,

then you know where each other are.

An extraordinary find.

New Guinea is THE place
for the weird and wonderful.

These forests are the most
diverse and complex habitats
that have ever evolved on Earth.

There's a huge store of species here
about which we know nothing at all.

If you lose these forests, from
being a very rich planet, we would
instantly become a very poor one.

So that is absolutely...gorgeous,
absolutely gorgeous.

Steve's on the river survey
with fish expert Phil Willink.

They're trying to get to a jungle
creek to check the nets.

In just the wrong place,
the engine fails.

You OK? Yeah.

Don't think we want to go in that.

They're caught in a whirlpool.

Why is this...not...starting?

Whoa!

It's chucked us out. Hang on.

The whirlpool throws them free, but
then they're trapped in a vicious
current and the engine's dead.

Here, you want to paddle?
Switch it off.

I'm not sure we're gonna make it.

Gordon's still patiently watching
the nest of the pygmy parrot.

There's simply no way round this.

If you want to film animals in
the wild, most of the time,

you've got to do a stakeout.

Sit tucked away in a hide
and just sit and wait.

You can't really switch
off in a hide,

you can't read a book or pick your
toenails, you've got to stay alert

and try and tune in to the sounds
and the changes in the sounds

and anticipate the arrival of
the animal that you're after.

After a struggle with the current,
Steve and Phil make it to the bank.

Well, that's our first warning
of what this river can do.

This river's a beast.

It just creates incredible currents.

And you saw the boat there
just being span round in a whirlpool.

It's very difficult to do
anything about it really.

MOTOR STARTS

With the boat bailed out and the
engine sorted, they're off again.

That's the creek
mouth straight ahead.

There's a rock right here, go left.

Whoa, cut the engine.

SPLASHING

Ooh,
I heard something splosh up ahead.

Ooh! That's a venomous catfish.

No way! Yeah.
Let's be a little careful here.

It's probably best to grab it
from the head. If I get whacked,
how bad a day will I have?

It's basically the same as
getting hit by a stingray spider.

What an extraordinary looking fish!
That is a true alien mouth, isn't it?

Look at that. They're covered with
taste buds, it's actually tasting
its environment all the time.

Its eyes are not particularly large,
so it has to use other senses

to find things, particularly
in these muddy rivers here.

Look at the dorsal spine coming
erect there, and at the end of it,
you can see the sharp tip to it.

And, you know, it's living in the
same river with giant crocodiles,
so it needs a defence.

These spines also can go up
and then lock into place,

so if a crocodile tried to grab it,

it would go through
the roof of its mouth.

It's amazing to think that a fish
like this can actually defend itself

against a three,
four-metre long crocodile.

If it's going to hurt one
of those, it's sure as heck
going to hurt one of us.

Oh, yeah, so you've got
to be really careful.

Gordon is still crouched in
his hide, and he's found
absolutely nothing.

The heat I can contend with,

but the heat combined
with the kind of infestation

of bees and mosquitoes,

that's when it gets very unpleasant.

George is finding it a lot easier
to uncover his creatures.

This place is full of surprises.

Millipedes are normally
quite tough animals,

but this one is incredibly tough.
Very, very armoured.

It has these little spines
that point backwards

all the way along it,

which must help it as it drives
under logs and soil and stuff,

cos that's where it lives.

It's absolutely weird.

Very strange-looking animal.

And there's an even more
bizarre find.

These ants have been infected by
the spores of some fungal disease.

And the fungus infects them in such
a bizarre way that it causes them

to crawl upwards,
and it glues them onto a leaf.

As the fungus eventually breaks out
through the shell at the end,

it grows this little stalk here,

and there's some little balls
there which contain spores.

From those balls will erupt
the spores, which will blow as far

as they can and infect
a whole new group of ants.

So it's a really smart trick.
And underneath every leaf here

are those ants just pinned
onto the leaf,

dead husks, sucked dry by the fungal
disease which has infected them.

Absolutely amazing.

At last, Gordon gets his reward.

The pygmy parrots
have returned to their nest.

Look, there they are.

They're on the nest. Oh, my word,

they are tiny.

Oh, wow! That is the weirdest thing.

We've got a parrot here
that is significantly smaller

than many of the insects
that live in this forest.

And they're very much a parrot.

His feet are true parrot feet,

two toes facing forward,
two facing back.

They seem very affectionate
with each other,

which is quite typical of parrots.

Parrots have a strong bond
between male and female,

sidling up to each other,
beak-rubbing

and constantly reinforcing
their relationship.

They move so fast, it's very
jerky, it looks as if
it's almost speeded up.

You shouldn't say that animals are
adorable in the wild, but they are
simply adorable.

Stop.

Pretty pleased with that.

Back at camp, it's been
a good day for the scientists.

Already, it seems this forest
is incredibly rich.

Jack Dumbacher is searching
for the birds of the jungle,

and investigating
the diseases they carry.

One of the things that's very
interesting to me here is that we
have a very pristine environment,

and birds and other wildlife
carry natural diseases,

and so understanding these diseases,
how they're spread, how they're
moved around by birds and humans,

is very, very important,
for conservation as well
as for basic biology.

The birds are recorded by
the expedition photographer.

And then they can fly home.

Alan Allison is passionate
about frogs.

He's been studying them in
New Guinea for over 30 years,
but he's never seen this one before.

Interestingly enough,
they call when it first gets dark -

just about seven o'clock -
and they call for about an hour.

Seven o'clock frog.

You can tell the time by it.
It's a different species here
than elsewhere.

That's added one new species to our
vertebrate list. That's right.

To be finding new species already
bodes very well for the expedition.

For the moment, the scientists
are hidden in the foothills
of Mount Bosavi.

But in a few weeks, the team
will head higher up the steep
mountain slopes

and down into the heart
of this extinct volcano.

This giant crater
is trapped from the outside world
by walls half a mile high.

They will be the first scientists
ever to travel into this lost world.

They believe it could hide
truly spectacular new creatures.

Mount Bosavi is a huge mountain -
large enough to generate
its own weather system.

And mostly, that means rain.

I do love it when it's like this,
when the rain really comes down.

That's the real force and
power of this place.
It's what makes everything work.

If there wasn't this amount
of rain, you wouldn't have
this amount of life.

Ugh! Very refreshing.

Jack has been collecting birds
away from the rest of the team,

and has a surprise for Gordon.

What have you got, Jack?
You'll never believe it.

Oh, wow! This is your little
buff-faced pygmy parrot.

Oh, goodness me!

So if you can just hold your fingers
as close as you can to his body...

Let me grab his legs again...
Ow! That's a parrot's beak.

Yeah, it's pointy...

He can't do that much damage.

Oh, man!

That is just the cutest thing.

So now you can really see how tiny
he is, like, compared to your thumb.

Yeah. He is just a parrot
in miniature. Yup.

You cannot believe that a parrot
can be this small.

This tiny bird weighs
less than half an ounce.

Oh, my word.

In the forest, actually,
the feather... Ow!

Oh, sh...!

And actually, one of the things
I wanted to do was get
a little bit of DNA.

I wasn't gonna take blood from him,
cos he's a little bit too small.

So we did get one feather
he left us, so we can use that.

That evening, the pygmy parrot
is the butt of all the jokes.

You can guarantee that somewhere
in these forests, there'll be
a tiny little pirate.

Just the way that nature works.

"Who's a tiny boy, then?"
"Pieces of two!"

There's a fully grown larva there.
The jungle lab is filling with
new and curious creatures.

I'll bet you any money, that wasp
right there, that's walking along
that leaf, is a new species.

I'll bet you any money.

42mm long.

Alanna Maltby is a bat expert from
the Zoological Society of London.

Oh, he's tiny!

Yeah, he's really small
and really cute.

What is it? It's a bent-winged bat.
And I'll show you why.

Most bats, they just have
their fingers,

and when they fold their wings,
they just fold them straight up.

But this one folds them doubly...

Oh, right!
..because they're really long.

But I can't figure out
which bent-winged bat it is.

It doesn't quite match
with any of the descriptions.

Which means? Which means
it could be a new species.

A new species of furry animal.
A mammal! Absolutely brilliant!

Which is quite rare, to find a new
species of mammal. Yeah, it is,
very rare.

A small creature,
but a big discovery.

No-one expected this success
so soon.

Rainforests come alive at night.

Gordon treks out to find
what's hiding there.

Rainforests are very difficult
places to work at the best of times.

But this forest in particular
is extra tough, because the animals

that live here are very secretive
and they're incredibly well hidden.

He has an infrared camera
for filming in the dark.

There's something moving
in the undergrowth.

Wow!

It's pretty big. It's about
a metre and a half, maybe.

And really, I daren't go
any closer than I am to it.

I think it's a small-eyed snake.

These things lurk about in the leaf
litter, and they...they kill people.

Very, very, very dangerous snake.

It would be very bad news if you
were to stand on one of these.

Oh...

He's just opened his mouth right up.

That's a sinister-looking snake.

It really does freak me out,

seeing something as dangerous
as this in the forest
at night time.

It'd be so easy to stand
on a snake like this.

They need a positive identification.
Steve is the team's
snake specialist.

He thinks it might be one of
the most venomous snakes round here.

Hello, guys.

Oh, wow! Look at that! Gordy...

Is that a small-eyed snake?
It looks almost definitely like one.

The only way you can really tell
is to get up close and look at
the amount of scales around the eye.

The snake's obviously hunting. Ooh!

Striking quite vigorously.

Ooh!

Where's the head?

Need to pin the head
to get control of the snake.

So, now that I've got it up close,
you can see although it does have

that tiny, beady, black,
recessed eye that you'd expect

from the small-eyed snake,
it also has a couple of extra scales
between the eye and the nostril.

It's a ground snake,
not venomous, but very aggressive
and always ready to strike.

So, Gordy. Fantastic, mate!

So it's not a small-eyed snake?

It's not a small-eyed snake.

And it'll eat rodents, frogs,
lizards, sort of...? Yeah.

All the things you're trying to film.

And he's off.
None the worse for wear.

This phase of the work is based
in the foothills of Mount Bosavi.

But there's a series of trips
in this expedition.

Steve's embarking on another quest.

He's heading east, to an island
off the coast of New Guinea
called New Britain.

The forests here on New Britain are
some of the most spectacular I've
ever seen anywhere in the world.

We're flying through a very deep,
steep-sided gorge,

with a whitewater river flowing
right down through the middle of it.

He's on his way to join a world
class team of adventure cavers.

These limestone hills are hollow.

Under here is a honeycomb of
caves which may stretch for miles.

Their job is to explore them.

There's just one problem -

this is the only way
into the caves.

A whitewater river thunders
from the entrance.

And it's halfway up a jungle cliff.

Oh, my life! Look at this!

This must be it,
this must be Mageni Cave.

That's where we're going.

The local village
have turned out to meet Steve.

Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hee!

This is the village of Ora,
which is as close as we can get
in the helicopter to the caves.

So I guess we're gonna try and rouse
some support here,

try and get a few people
to help us carry our stuff in,
cos we've got an awful lot of it.

We'd like to meet the head man,

and get permission
to be wandering around on what
essentially is their land.

Every piece of forest in
New Guinea belongs to a local tribe.

Steve can't go anywhere without the
consent of the chief. Hello, hello.

Have you ever been
to the cave, Mageni Cave?

Yes. And what do you think
is inside the cave?

HE SPEAKS IN LOCAL DIALECT

It seems that there's a feeling,
perhaps even a local myth,

that there's a huge snake
inside these caves.

It would be very nice
if it wasn't a local myth!

If it was true, that would be great!

One week in, and everyone at base
camp has settled into a routine.

But there's nothing regular
about the animals coming in.

It's a blue-tongued skink.
He's beautiful.

Every animal they find is recorded.

Some of them are bright and
beautiful. Some shy and camouflaged.

What do you think it is?

Little striped thrush.

Little striped thrush.

They've catalogued
hundreds of animals.

And at least seven of them
are brand new species.

Gordon has a new goal. Together with
Muse Opiang, he'll be searching for
the secretive mammals of the forest.

To give us an overall view of the
animals that live in this forest,

we can't just use legwork, we have
to put these traps out and find out
what's living here.

And we've got some kind
of forest rat in here.

I'll get him out and Muse can
tell me exactly what it is.
Do you like all the rats?

I like them. Do you think they're
ugly? No, no, they're not ugly.

Muse knows where to set the traps.

And Gordon uses his tracking skills
to search for signs.

There's quite a kind of
musky smell around here.

Some big holes down there.

I'm just gonna check it out.
You're not only using your eyes
and your ears to find animals,

and quite often some animals give
themselves away by their smell.

There's definitely something
around here or something
that's been here.

Have a look at this.

Whooo!

Spooky!

It's almost a cave.

Erm, there's a bit of a jump down.

Luke, you might want to hand me
the camera.

Got it.

He's found the entrance to a tunnel.

Yeah. Cos they're a long way...

Here, there's animal tracks.

And see this muddy area?
It's all smoothed down.

You look around other areas, it
doesn't have any of this surface
mud that's just been smoothed over.

Oh, there's a nut,
kind of chewed fruit in there.

This is a really good place
to set up a little camera trap.

Because without a doubt, there are
animals coming and going from here.

Muse helps to train a remote camera
on the tunnel.

That's the right height. OK.

You think that's good here? Yes.

Switch it on.
OK, arming it in ten seconds.

OK, I think we should just get out.
It's running.

Throughout the forest,
remote cameras are placed to catch
any mammals passing by.

It's vital they find
what lives here.

They're surrounded by
pristine forest,

but the front line
is getting closer.

Just 20 miles south,
the loggers have moved in.

Every day, more trees disappear.

George is pulling together all
the evidence from the scientists.

This report will be sent
to government officials here,

in the hope that it'll add into
a plan for conserving
the wildlife here.

This is a critical issue now.

This whole area in the foothills of
Bosavi is a very special forest.

The evidence is beginning to confirm
that these forests are unique.

And not only above the ground.

To the east, the preparations
for the underground exploration
are well underway.

Steve sets out on his trek to the
cave entrance, with a little help
from the villagers.

They're heading to meet the team
at their camp above the waterfall.

The rest of the cavers have been
there for a couple of days,
preparing the gear.

They've brought state-of-the-art
equipment to map the river
that flows through these caves.

..more cave out there?
Exactly, it gives you an idea
of what we're up against.

As the only naturalist on the team,
Steve's job is to search for
any animals in the caves.

We've got a remarkably
strong team here.

We have three members of the
original expedition that came here
just a couple of years ago.

What's clear is that this
is a gigantic cave system.

This is a cave that goes on
for a lot further than
they managed to explore.

That's our real aim,
to push on into areas

where they thought there might be
the chance of something special,
and try and find what's there.

It's supposed to be the dry season.
Heavy rains will flood the caves.

This is really bad at the moment.
The whole reason we planned
to do this trip now

is because the rains aren't due
for at least another month.

And if this carries on,
it's gonna be more of a discomfort.

There'll be no way we would get
down the caves. And if we do,
it would be very, very dangerous.

At the moment, the worst thing
we have to worry about is mud.

The fact that all
the kit is gonna die.

Back at base camp,
an injured bat's been brought in.

Alanna's nursing it back to health.

This is a common blossom bat.

And it eats nectar
with a very long tongue.

And because it eats sugar,
it needs sugar every 24 hours.

Will you do the honours?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think if we can get a
good meal into her now,

and release her before it gets
too warm, then she'll be fine.

This bat is specially
adapted to feeding on flowers.

This fantastic tongue...

Look at that! ..is rolled up inside
its mouth and then it sticks it out

down between the petals of a flower
so that it can get to the nectar.

Which is exactly
what it's doing here,

it's going straight
down the syringe tip. Yup.

Look at that.

It's just gone from being
nearly unconscious to really perky.

That is... That is really nice.

There we go, some strength back.

We should release it
as soon as possible,

and then it won't be too hot for
it to fly back to its day roost.

It's day nine, and already the
scientists have found ten species
that are completely new to them.

They're kept busy, day and night.

Muse and Gordon have found a
creature in one of their traps.

It's a striped possum.

Striped possum.

They're famously feisty creatures,
that are more than a
match for bigger foe.

Oh, wow! He's a beauty!

They're marsupials,
raising their babies in a pouch.

And for defence,
can let out very strong smells.

He's black and white like a skunk,
and he actually smells like a skunk
- very strong, musty odour.

You can see that finger,
it's quite extraordinary.

There are few animals in the world
that have that kind of adaptation.

The long finger is for
winkling grubs out of holes.

We'll weigh him, measure
him and then take him back
to exactly where we found him.

Let's measure the tail first.

330.

For the base, left to the tip.

With the vital statistics taken,
it's time to release him.

Right, this is the tricky part.

You can see how sharp his teeth are.

I really want to
avoid getting bitten.

Owww!

Oh!

That's a bit of a nip. OK, can I
nick that other glove just in case?!

This glove is made from the same
material that bullet-proof vests
and stab jackets are made from.

And he's actually
causing quite a bit of pain so I'm
gonna take him out and release him.

OK, I reckon as soon as his
feet touch, he's gonna be off.

OK, pal. There you go.

Oh, look at that!

Yeah, that's good.
He's much happier now.

700 miles to the east,
Steve and the team are abseiling
down to the mouth of the cave.

We've seen the cave from the air.

But to stand here and for the
first time really be able to hear

the sound of it
raging beneath us is something else.

It's an 80-metre drop
to the entrance.

Oh, wow!

It's not a very usual view,
hanging above a waterfall.

And below it there's
just this majestic drop
down to the pool beneath.

I'm not liking where these
ropes are bringing me down though.

I'm gonna be right in the waterfall.

Whoa!

Just hope I can find somewhere

to get my footing on here.

Ho-ho!

I just do not wanna slip now.

Out there,
everything's green and magical.

In there, it's all frankly a little
bit frightening.

In the lab,
George has been distracted from his
job of writing the report.

Somebody brought me back
these in a little bag.

I'm not sure what they are...
Oh, wow. Look!

Long-horned beetles.

And they're mating!

Oh, my God!
That's the male and the female.

Alanna? Have you seen these? Yeah?

I found them for you, George.
It was you who found them?

Oh, thank you very much.
They're absolutely gorgeous.

Actually, I should be slightly
anxious about this, because they
have got very, very sharp jaws

and if it happens to sink
it into my earlobe,

you will hear...

Ooh, squeaking.

Oh, they're squeaking.

This being the land
of squeaking beetles.

BEETLES SQUEAK QUIETLY

The cavers are pushing their
way up the white-water river.

The current is strong.

They can't afford
to put a foot wrong.

Oh, this is unbelievable!

They're now half a mile into
the cave and face a huge obstacle,
a waterfall swollen by heavy rains.

This is the largest waterfall
that we know of in the whole
of the Mageni cave river system.

The entire volume of the river
is flowing over this waterfall, and
it's a real crux point in the cave.

If you can't get beyond this,
then you really have been stymied,
you know, you can't get any further.

Back at camp, Gordon starts to sort
through the thousands of pictures

captured by the remote cameras.

The thing about this system
is you can't review it in the field,
so it's quite exciting.

There's a Christmas
morning moment. You come back
with this little memory card,

put it in the computer and then you
find out exactly what you've got.

Sometimes it's a pair of socks
and sometimes it's a Scalextric.

Hmm.

At first it looks like socks.

Any movement triggers the camera.

One of the curiosities of New Guinea
is there are hardly any large
mammals living on the jungle floor.

A rat.

You've got giant rats here.

Rats that are bigger
than domestic cats.

The last camera trap to check
is from the tunnel entrance.

Another rat.
I think that's a different species.

Hmm.

Then something very special,

one of the most secretive creatures
in New Guinea.

Look!

That is a cuscus.

I knew it! Look, look, look.
I do not believe that.

He's just having
a good old root around.

These images were taken
at five in the morning.

Cuscus are only active at night.

This one's returning to the cave,
where it must spend the day.

Oh, goodness me. I would
have absolutely have loved
to have been there.

It's an important find for the team.

Cuscus are so shy
they're rarely seen.

At dusk, Gordon heads out to
try and capture one on camera.

During the day, they'll either
be asleep in the trees,

and more often than not they'll
be in a hole, whether that's
a hole in a tree,

a hole in the ground or
underneath these big boulders.

I've got lots of different camera
systems that we can pretty much

check out every option at night time
and try and get some shots of them.

At the waterfall, Steve's putting
his skills as a climber to good use.

He's leading the way up.

An old rope has been left
by the previous expedition.

It feels pretty good.

But it's been battered by the
waterfall for the last two years

so I can't really afford
to risk my life on it.

A camera is attached
to Steve's helmet.

All I can see is spray.

Can't see anything. Rocks.

Yeah! That's it!

Lots of loose rock.

Whoa!

I have a feeling this
is going to be the crux.

That overhanging right
in the waterfall.

It's now pitch black and Gordon
is pushing into unknown territory.

To find and film the elusive cuscus
he'll use only infra-red light.

Got lots of noise up
in the top of this tree.

Not the cuscus,
but giant fruit bats.

We've got
these fruit bats feeding on figs.

It's a long way up.

You can see the way
that they're using their wings,

their claws, to clamber
about in the tree tops.

Because he's using infrared light,
the bats are completely undisturbed.

Oh, look at them squabbling!

Oh, oh! Fight, fight!
There's two fighting there.

It's amazing that there's actually
fisticuffs up there, you'd think
there'd be enough to go round,

but evidentially not.

Everyone's just defending
their little patch of figs.

Oh, look, he's just testing with
his mouth to see how ripe that is.

But what these bats have that
I haven't seen on other fruit bats

is this enormous thumb, this big
hook, and they're using those hooks

to clamber about in the tree tops.
Incredibly agile.

These are key animals in the
ecology of the rainforest,

feeding on fruit and dispersing
the seeds up to 30 miles away.

It does mean filming
them has its down sides.

I was thinking that a fig
on the head was the worst thing
that we could get,

but probably bat pee is a bit worse.

Oh! There you... Ugh! Ugh!

Seems that figs have the same effect
on fruit bats as they do on humans.

At last Steve has made it up
the jagged rocks of the waterfall.

That's more like it!

The water-sodden team
haul themselves up.

At the top of the falls
they start the painstaking work of
mapping the underground river.

Lasers measure to a millimetre
the size of the ancient chamber.

How's that? Yeah.

Then it's on again.

They must find a place to sleep
before they get exhausted.

Oh, it's cold!

It's now very late,
and Gordon's pushing deeper into the
jungle on the track of the cuscus.

There's something in the trees.

I just got some eye shine
directly above me.

I think it's round about here.

Power on. Oh, there you go,
right in the middle there.

At last, Gordon's found his animal.

You little beauty!

It's a cuscus.

And there he is just happily sitting
on the branches a long, long way up.

The size of a domestic cat,
cuscus are nocturnal,

moving high in the canopy with their
babies secure in their pouches.

And you get ground cuscus
and its hands are less
well developed for climbing,

but this one is very,
very comfortable in the trees.

It's such an unusual animal. It
doesn't really bear any resemblance

to any animals that
we would commonly know.

You can see he's got this
big, long tail.

It not only helps him balance
as he moves through the trees,

but it's a prehensile tail,
he can use that as an extra limb.

And you can just make out that the
end of his tail is naked, so he can

wrap that tail around branches
and use it as a fifth arm.

They're quite a bit like
teddy bears with a big long tail.

They're quite beautiful.
They're really nice animals.

A first small glimpse of the cuscus,
but a great success for Gordon.

Oh, there he goes! Then it's off,
disappearing into the forest.

All right, Steve?

The cavers are now
two miles into the mountain, under
a hundred million tonnes of rock.

It's like being inside the home
of some massive alien,

the walls all dripping with slime.

And they're not alone.

Look at that.

It's a very bizarre little crab.

It's evolved in
isolation here in this cave.

These are the kind of creatures that
turn out to be absolutely
new to science.

The eyes have faded away
to almost nothing.

They're of no use whatsoever
in a place like this.

In fact,
this will be the first light that
this crab will ever have experienced.

I really wasn't expecting to find
any life much past the first
hundred metres of the cave.

So this is... This is quite a find.

They can't stop for long.

Although they're now very tired
they must push further into the cave
to find a dry spot to make camp.

Getting anywhere is tough.

In the calm of the jungle lab,
George tallies up the remarkable
discoveries they've made.

We're a third of the way into
the trip and so far

we've got one new species of bat,

we've got certainly
two new species of frog and two more
that are potentially new species.

We've got three species of fish new,
insects and spiders,
five to eight, possibly ten.

A lot more to come.

The list expands
quicker than he expects.

Hi, Alan. What are you doing?

Alan's come across something
just a stone's throw from the lab.

Well, I just caught
a very pretty gecko.

Oh, that's gorgeous! Is that the
first one you've got of those here?

Now, I've got to ask you this,
have you seen that before here?

We have not.
Have you seen it anywhere?

No, I'm almost certain
this is a new species.

Not only that, but it's a girl.

How do you know?
Well, you can see the eggs.

That's the eggs, is it? Yeah, you
can see them right through the body.

Transparent?
That is absolutely gorgeous!

Oh, my goodness. That's amazing.

Feels absolutely lovely, doesn't it?

It's like velvet.

The tail is quite strikingly banded
and you can see
how well they blend in.

Alan's gecko is like icing
on the cake for the team.

Two weeks in and the expedition's
exceeded all expectations.

For the cavers,
there's no celebrations.

They're now deep
in the bowels of the mountain
and there's no place to stop.

The river is as strong as ever,
sapping their energy.

Exhausted, they struggle on
into the darkness.

Later in the expedition, the team
enlists the help of a local tribe

in the search for exotic
birds of paradise...

Jeez, there's two of them!
There's two of them. Wow!

They witness an exploding volcano...
Grief!

Enter the lost world
of the jungle crater...

Oh, soaking!

And Steve discovers
a new flooded cave in
the depths of the underworld.

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