All language subtitles for Tasmania Weird and Wonderful BBC Natural World (2014) 1080p EN SUB_Subtitles01.ENG

At the southern tip
of the Australian continent

lies a remote island.

An immense wilderness...

..divided by mountains.

It's a world of ancient forests...

..of pristine rivers...

..and a coastline...

..that's both wild and beautiful.

Its animal inhabitants
are as extraordinary

as they are bizarre.

This is a land of black devils...

..and white wallabies...

..where lights dance
in the southern sky

and trees tower to 100 metres.

This is Tasmania -

the weird and wonderful isle
at the bottom of the world.

Tasmania is full of surprises.

Australia, yes, but with a twist.

It was once connected to the dry
Australian mainland.

Today, along with its plants and
animals, it's physically cut off.

Though it lies just to the south,

Tasmania is a world apart.

Its isolation and cooler climate

has created a sanctuary

unlike any other part of Australia.

And a strong seasonal cycle makes
life here very different indeed.

Winter means a struggle
for survival.

In Tasmania's mountains
there are meagre pickings on offer.

This is the last landfall heading
south before Antarctica.

Cold air from further south brings
snowfall and freezing temperatures

throughout these winter months.

Many animals, like this female
wombat, are Australian species,

but their habits and lifestyles
are most definitely Tasmanian.

Mainland wombats
are largely nocturnal...

..but here she feeds
at any time of the day,

kept warm by her
thicker coat of fur.

She must take every opportunity
to find food.

Winter is felt right across
this island wilderness.

Even lower down
in Tasmania's forests

temperatures can fall
below freezing.

The first Europeans
to explore these forests

claimed they heard devils
screaming in the night...

EERIE CRIES

..and so Tasmania's most famous
animal got its name.

The Tasmanian Devil.

AGGRESSIVE RASPING CRIES

Primarily scavengers,

they can smell a carcass
from half a mile away...

..and relative to body size
they have the most powerful bite

in the natural world.

They can easily crunch through bone.

Devils once lived
throughout Australia

but vanished as the continent
dried out and humans arrived.

Today, this is their
last stronghold.

Like most Australian mammals,
they're marsupials.

While they may appear dog-like,

devils are more closely related
to kangaroos than canines...

..and being marsupial they rear
their young in a pouch.

A few weeks ago this female
gave birth to 40 young...

..each the size of a grain of rice.

Inside her pouch
she has just four teats,

so only four young will survive.

A devil's race for
survival begins early.

It's a tough start but this mum
will dedicate most of her year

to looking after the four
babies who survive.

She overcame extraordinary
odds to reach adulthood.

Now, it's her turn to raise
the next generation.

Marsupials like the devils live
here because Tasmania was once

connected to mainland Australia.

The island and its inhabitants
became isolated some 12,000 years

ago when sea levels rose
following the last Ice Age.

But Tasmania is a window
on a far more ancient past.

Some of these forests have barely
changed since dinosaurs

walked the Earth,

when the southern continents were a
single landmass called Gondwana.

There is still a creature
here whose ancestors roamed

that ancient supercontinent.

It lives in Tasmania's rivers

and is one of the island's
longest lived survivors...

The Tasmanian giant lobster.

Weighing up to five kilos
and a metre long,

they're the biggest freshwater
invertebrates on our planet,

taking some 40 years
to reach full size.

Tasmania's isolation, together
with the lack of sizeable predators,

may be one reason
why they grow so massive...

..but they're not entirely
free from threat.

Tasmanian platypuses are enormous...

As much as three times heavier
than their mainland counterparts.

It's an adaptation to
the cooler southern climate.

This male is after tiny
invertebrates found on the river bed

including young lobsters...

..and to stay warm in winter
he must find a lot.

He needs to keep moving.

With no large predators to worry
them, platypuses here

get about in an unusual way.

Only in Tasmania does the platypus
walk between rivers

in broad daylight.

Out of water, it's easy to see why
the platypus was once dismissed

as a fraud, the work of a hoaxer.

But down here he is in his element.

His strange assemblage of body parts
soon begins to make sense.

Webbed feet help him move...

..while his otter-like fur
keeps him warm.

His beaver-like tail stores fat.

But the platypus is best known
for its duck-like bill..

..which it uses to find food.

Underwater, he's completely blind.

Not ideal for avoiding rocks.

But some 40,000 receptors in the
bill detect electrical signals

given off by the muscles
of prey animals.

With the need to eat a lot
just to keep warm,

a platypus can stay on the hunt
for some 12 hours a day.

Though also found on the mainland,

Tasmania's platypuses are by far
the biggest and boldest.

They, like others,

are adapted to the island's
isolation and cooler climate.

Lying 150 miles south
of Australia...

..Tasmania is surrounded by
a vast expanse of open ocean.

To the west, the next landfall
is South America...

..thousands of miles away.

To the south, lies the great
Antarctic continent.

And as winter comes to an end,

new arrivals come ashore to breed...

Penguins.

Hidden among the rocks,

this female has two newly
hatched chicks...

..but nothing to feed them.

Her partner left
some 14 hours ago

and is yet to return.

He's out fishing,

but quite unlike any other penguin,

he must wait for nightfall
to leave the water.

Gulls and birds of prey
patrol the coast by day,

it's only safe to return
after sunset.

That is because these are
little penguins.

At only 30 centimetres tall,

they're the smallest penguins
in the world.

And with nests several
hundred metres inland...

..the only safe way to get
there is to make a dash

in the darkness.

There's safety in numbers.

MULTIPLE PENGUINS CALL

With hundreds of nests in the
colony, the night soon fills with

the calls of returning adults...

The sound of early
spring on Tasmania's coast.

CRIES AND CALLS

This will be a welcome meal

for the newly hatched chicks.

The little penguins' presence
is a reminder

of Antarctica's proximity.

But while early spring
brings them ashore to breed,

it also brings wild
and unpredictable weather.

Prevailing winds carry most
of the bad weather from the west...

THUNDER

LOUD CLAP OF THUNDER

And Tasmania's mountains cause
much of the rain to fall

on the western half of the island.

The result divides Tasmania in two,

with a wet western side

and a dry eastern side.

Some western areas are among
the wettest in all of Australia.

It rains here nearly every day...

..and all the water supports
a surprising spectacle.

Caught in a bizarre trap,

these insects are doomed.

How they got stuck only becomes
apparent as night falls.

These strange lights belong

to the larvae of a type of gnat.

The light is formed by a chemical
reaction in the larva's abdomen

and can be turned
on and off at will.

The sticky threads hang
from its silk and mucus laden nest.

Insects drawn to the light
are ensnared, then devoured.

Each glow-worm's thread is made
up almost entirely of water,

so the high rainfall in Tasmania's
wet west provides ideal conditions.

And the rain that supports
these tiny glow-worms

also sustains one of the largest
organisms on the planet...

Mountain ash.

They are a type of eucalyptus,

fast growing trees that evolved
on the dry Australian mainland.

In Tasmania they've become giants.

Strangely, for trees living in a wet
forest they need fire to reproduce.

ANIMAL SQUEAKS

The mountain ash stores
its seeds in small pods...

..which are released
as the pods burn.

Beneath the ash, the seeds live on,

quickly germinating without
competition from other plants.

This makes sense in a dry
habitat with regular fire...

..but not in Tasmania's wet forests.

Young mountain ash can grow
at a rate of several metres a year.

All that holds them back is

the next fire or a lack of water.

And that is the secret
behind their staggering height.

In Tasmania's damp west,
fire is so infrequent

these trees keep growing
for centuries.

Those standing in this valley
all germinated following the same

devastating fire 400 years ago.

Today, they reach almost
100 metres into the sky.

They may have evolved on the dry
Australian mainland,

but it's Tasmania's wet forests
that have turned mountain ash trees

into the tallest flowering
plants on Earth.

The moisture laden air that blows
in from Tasmania's west

brings several metres
of rainfall each year.

Although it can rain most days,

winter and spring
are the wettest times,

and seasonal waterfalls
burst into life.

All who live here must adapt
to the regular downpours

and cooler temperatures...

..and like so many of
Tasmania's species

their adaptations
set them apart.

It may not look like it

but this is the closest living
relative of the platypus.

The echidna, Australia's most
widespread native mammal.

But while mainland echidnas are all
spines, this Tasmanian one

is mostly covered in hair
to help keep him warm.

The milder spring months

mean an abundance
of his favourite food...

..ants.

But when you're this hairy,
your food gets stuck everywhere

which is a pain when
it can bite back.

Time to move on.

As spring turns to summer,

Tasmania's inhabitants get
some relief from the wild

and cool weather.

BIRD CRIES

It's now that the young devils
are ready to leave the den.

They've been out of their mother's
pouch for a while,

but have remained
safely hidden away.

Fully weaned,

this is the start
of their independence.

This young female will have to learn
to survive and find food

all by herself.

What's more, she and her sibling
are much smaller than an adult.

They could easily be killed.

This will be her way out of danger.

Heavier adults can't climb,

so there are some benefits
to being small.

Over the next few months she'll also
find much of the food she needs

up here in the treetops.

But grubs and birds' eggs alone

won't be enough to sustain
her as she grows.

RASPING CRIES

If she's to make it to adulthood,

she needs to find
more substantial meals...

..and that brings her into direct
competition with dangerous

and more powerful adult devils.

The scent and sound of crunching
bones draw her in...

..but she needs to be careful.

Less than half of all newly weaned
youngsters make it to adulthood.

If she is to survive
she needs to earn her place.

There's no telling
how this adult might react.

Confronting a stranger
at a carcass is a gamble...

..but one she needs to take.

AGGRESSIVE CRIES

Spurred on by hunger,
she seems to have the upper hand.

It looks as though her gamble
has paid off,

but her competitor won't let
the carcass go that easily.

The adult could kill her
with a single bite...

..but that's not how
devil society works.

Despite living most of their lives
alone, devils can and do share.

They defend only the amount
of meat they can eat

rather than the whole carcass.

The pecking order has less to do
with size and strength

and more to do with
whoever wants it most.

As this youngster is learning,

it's all about who can
shout the loudest.

Devils may have
a fearsome reputation

but the reality is quite different.

Summer brings warmer temperatures
across Tasmania.

While in the west
it still rains frequently...

..summer is most apparent in the dry
eastern half of the island.

The driest areas of Tasmania receive

80% less rainfall than the wettest.

Here, the landscape
is more reminiscent of parts

of the Australian mainland.

For marsupials that graze
the open grasslands,

there's a bounty of fresh shoots
in these warm summer months.

And although life here may appear
more typically Australian,

the effect of Tasmania's isolation
is felt just as strongly in this dry

half of the island.

It's given this group of wallabies
something of a Tasmanian twist...

They've turned white.

About 100 of them live
within this population.

They're so poorly camouflaged

that anywhere else
they'd be easily killed.

On Tasmania, however, there aren't
any predators big enough to kill

a wallaby, so many live
full adult lives...

..and without the normal controls,
their numbers are growing.

But although this may appear
a predator-free paradise,

there are killers here.

One of Tasmania's deadliest animals

lives in these dry forests.

It's a species of ant
known as the jack jumper.

Jack jumpers evolved on the ancient
Gondwanan supercontinent.

Workers hunt alone,

a very primitive behaviour among
ants which are mainly social.

And instead of using scent to hunt

they rely on acute vision.

They sting their victims to death
with a venom that can kill humans...

Making these one of the deadliest
animals in all of Australia.

Jack jumper ants are particularly
abundant in this dry half

of Tasmania.

Their nests are small mounds within
which their larvae are raised.

Workers cover the nest with dark
materials to help absorb warmth

in the cooler southern climate.

In midsummer, however,
temperatures soar...

..and the nest risks overheating.

with the intense sunlight.

On hotter days
they switch building materials.

Now, the workers cover the nest
in white stones.

These reflect the sun's energy,

keeping the young cool inside.

It's an inventive solution
to Tasmania's changing seasons.

The dry eastern forests
can be a challenging place

in the heat of midsummer...

..but one of Tasmania's few
marsupial predators avoids the worst

of this heat by hunting at night.

It's the eastern quoll,

a close relative
of the Tasmanian devil.

They're very rare,

but summer sees an increase
in numbers as juveniles

leave the den.

Quolls are solitary hunters...

..and in summer are drawn
to these dry pasture lands.

There's a rich bounty of moths
and grubs at this time of year.

But with lots of youngsters around
competition can be intense.

It's every quoll for itself.

SHARP SHRIEKS

Like Tasmanian devils,

Eastern quolls were once found
on the Australian mainland.

Today, this dry eastern half of the
island is their last refuge...

..and with an abundance
of summer insects

they have every chance of thriving.

Summer is almost over...

..and as autumn arrives the stage

is set for a bizarre ritual.

TASMANIAN DEVILS CRY OUT

Familiar screams fill the forest.

It may not look like it but these
devils are becoming amorous.

An eligible male clings on as a
female guides him back to the den.

Female devils are receptive three
times over a short period

during the breeding season.

To ensure the fittest offspring,

she'll try to mate with as many
big males as she can.

And to increase
his chances of fatherhood,

he must keep her in here
for as long as possible.

Inside the den, he moves her
around in an effort to mate.

To protect her from his biting grip,

the skin around her neck has
thickened over the last few weeks.

Though it may appear aggressive,

this is part of a bizarre
and complicated breeding system.

They'll remain in here, mating
regularly, for several days.

In spite of that fearsome scream,

there is a sensitive side
to these much maligned creatures.

Far from devilish, they are simply
very determined survivors.

The devil mating season marks
autumn's arrival.

GEESE HONK

Each evening, flocks of Cape Barren
geese return to their roost.

Their silhouettes in the sunset
a sign that the year is ending.

Back on the coast, the longer
nights bring with them

a stunning spectacle.

The southern lights,

a reminder that the next stop
from here is Antarctica.

For Tasmania's little penguins
the breeding season has finished.

Only adults remain at the colony.

They've spent the last few weeks
fattening up at sea,

almost doubling their weight.

The efforts of raising chicks
have left them in need

of a new set of feathers.

Little penguins go through what's
known as catastrophic moult...

..shedding some 10,000
feathers all at once.

Because their feathers
keep them warm and waterproof,

they can't return to sea
until they've grown new ones.

For three long weeks they're stuck
on dry land, unable to feed.

It's a long wait
for a little penguin.

The year is almost over...

..and high in the mountains
there's time for one last surprise.

These are southern beech trees.

Unique to Tasmania.

Their change in colour makes
for an autumn unlike anywhere else

in Australia.

These are the only trees on the
continent to drop their leaves

during the cooler months.

The southern beech trees' closest
living relatives are found thousands

of miles away in South America.

This rare splash of autumnal
colour lasts just a few weeks

as across the whole of Tasmania
temperatures begin to drop.

June marks the start
of the winter season,

and for the devils
the beginning of new life.

With young already inside her pouch,

she will provide milk for them
through the harshest months.

Her life and theirs tied
to Tasmania's seasonal cycle.

Just 12,000 years ago, Tasmania
separated from its mainland parent.

The island is young,

yet rich in life,

and with a long and ancient past.

Now, Tasmania, and the animals it
supports, are on a different course

to the rest of Australia.

It is, as a result, home to a cast
as weird as they are wonderful.

Indeed, there's nowhere on Earth

quite like Tasmania.

Tasmania is roughly the size
of Ireland, but with a population

of just half a million people,
it's home to some of the greatest

expanse of wilderness
left on our planet.

Despite all this room for nature,

some of Tasmania's most well-known
animals face an uncertain future.

Tasmanian devils are endangered -

disease and historical persecution

have caused their
numbers to plummet.

Right from birth, reaching
adulthood is challenge enough.

But the devils' vicious
reputation has made life

even more difficult for them.

One man, however,

has spent years helping to change
people's perceptions.

Cameraman and ecologist Simon
Plowright moved to Tasmania in 1981.

I'd been brought up as a nature
lover back in Wales and to come

to this incredibly exotic
place, it was very exciting.

Since then, Tasmanian devils have
become very close to Simon's heart.

When I first came to Tasmania I
heard devils in the forest at night.

SHARP RASPING CRIES

The screaming noises,
the unusual calls the devils make

when they're having a bit of a tiff,

seemed really, really strange
to a person from Wales.

Of course, you're intrigued
and want to go and find out

what this animal is.

One of my first experiences
of being close to these animals

was going out with an old guy,
he'd lived there all his life,

he knew the area like
the back of his hand.

He still occasionally caught
the odd wallaby to eat

because he'd been brought
up on that sort of thing.

I went out with him,
and he had a couple of spots

where he'd trapped a wallaby,

and the wallabies
had been stolen by devils,

and that, to me, was fascinating.

Buoyed by tales of wallaby-stealing
beasts that lurked in the night,

Simon was desperate
to find out more.

He set out to try
and observe wild devils.

The first time that I actually
sat out with devils,

I was obviously a bit wary
and, you know,

do these things attack people?

Are they going to start eating me?

Cos, you know, I had heard tales of
devils eating people, dead people,

and all this sort of stuff and,
"Oh, will they go for a live one?"

You know, I'm new to this country,

so I wasn't completely sure,
but very soon I realised

that they're not the slightest
bit interested in me.

Coming from the UK where foxes
and badgers and all these things

are pretty scared of people,

I was amazed with how they didn't
seem to care about me being there.

Simon quickly came to realise

that these weren't the terrifying
monsters people thought they were.

He began to learn all about the
Tasmanian devils' complex life cycle

and social structure.

AGGRESSIVE CRIES

The sounds that you hear
around a carcass,

you'd think they were killing each
other but they're actually not

harming each other at all.

All the noise, really,
is just bluff.

Since then, Simon has used
all he's learnt to raise

awareness of devils.

I've taken many, many people
from all around the world out

to see devils and people
who have been to all the continents

on Earth and have seen some of the
most amazing wildlife spectacles,

have one and all said to me, this is
as good as anything I've seen

on the planet.

Changing public perception
has been an important step

in devil conservation.

Indeed, right here in Tasmania
there's a stark example of where

persecution can lead.

Only a relatively short time
ago it drove another top carnivore

to extinction.

A predatory marsupial called
the thylacine once lived here.

This was the last known
captive individual.

Filmed in Hobart Zoo,

this is the only footage
of these extinct predators.

Nicknamed the Tasmanian tiger,

this island was the
thylacines' final refuge.

But when Europeans arrived
in Tasmania they saw the thylacine

as a threat to livestock.

It was soon hunted to extinction.

This individual died in 1936.

It's an important reminder of what's
at stake for Tasmania's wild devils.

Today, however, despite a shift in
public perception of these animals,

the last decades have seen the
emergence of an even greater threat

to devil populations.

In recent times, the Tasmanian
devil has been put on the endangered

species list because, er, of...

..the facial tumour disease.

Facial tumour disease is
a transmissible disease

that causes cancerous growths.

It's devastated devil populations.

The horrible thing about it
is there's no cure.

So, when an animal becomes
infected, it will die.

In places where the disease
has gone through the landscape,

the numbers have been reduced
by 80% and 90%.

Where there are low numbers
on the landscape it's not possible

to sit and watch wild devils
any more.

That's really, really a sad thing.

And each time now,

when I pack up to leave a
wild devil viewing session

I think, well,
this could easily be the last time.

And...

Er.... Yeah.

Hm.

But there is hope...

A vaccine has been created and some
devils seem to be evolving

resistance to the disease.

It is heartening, though,
that this disease, having started

at this spot 20 years ago,
there are still animals there.

It gives you an indication of how
tough these little creatures are

and how they will hang
on in the landscape.

As a safeguard, Simon also breeds
devils as part of a wider human

effort to protect the species
from extinction.

Tasmanian devils are only
found in Tasmania.

They became extinct on mainland
Australia a long time ago.

One of the worst things that could
ever happen, I guess,

is the Tasmanian devil ends
up like the Tasmanian tiger.

It's so vital that these animals
are protected.

Let's hope for the future that the
devils, with the help from us,

can once again be free in the wild

and beat this disease.

Tasmania is a refuge to some unusual
species, many of which are long

extinct on the Australian mainland.

This island may be a vast wilderness

but even here the influence
of our human world is felt,

and a great deal of hard work
and dedication is still required

to ensure the survival
of its wild residents.