All language subtitles for Australia.S01E01.Risky.Waters.720p.NF.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.x264

[narrator] Australia is
the world's largest island.

Geographic separation
over thousands of years

resulted in 90% of the species
found in Australia

being endemic
to this vast land.

And for the locals,
living here means living

amongst some of the world's
most dangerous animals.

Some of these animals
can kill instantly,

others leave lasting injuries

and some can just inflict
a nasty bite.

In all, 72 animals
can cause us damage,

but which one tops the list
of most dangerous?

Taking first spot in the arena

is a creature who is silent,
prehistoric and deadly.

Once a favorite
swimming spot.

Now a place full
of horrific memories.

When it hit me, I don't know,
it was just sharp pricks

and it was hard.

Something had hit me real bad.

Initially Mark thought
he'd been hit

by the force
of a boat propeller.

He was only 25m
from shore,

splashing around
with family and friends

in a spot they'd been coming
to for more than 20 years.

But five minutes
into his swim,

in the middle
of a backward roll,

the wind was
knocked out of him,

he was struggling to breathe.

Halfway through the roll

and this thing hit me
from under water.

Lake Argyle is about
a half-hour drive

from Kununurra in the north
of Western Australia

and is a must-see
on the tourist list.

But visitors be warned -

freshwater crocodiles also
frequent this destination.

Known as
the Johnston's crocodile,

this reptile is widespread

across the northern regions
of Australia.

They prefer to live in
the inland river systems

and are thus known
as the 'freshie',

although they can tolerate
quite high levels of salinity.

They don't need a great deal
of food to survive.

Roughly one fish a week
is enough.

But if food is on offer,
they'll take it.

They're experts at building up
their condition,

storing around 70%
of their food,

which allows them to go
through the dry season

without actually
eating anything.

They're an ambush predator,
so beware,

they'll be lurking -

not wanting to attack,
but ready if confronted.

Yeah, I didn't know which way
was up, which way was down.

Up or down, confused,

the crocodile
had spun Mark around.

He needed to escape the depths
of the water.

It was dark
and there were no clues

of how to get to the surface.

He was on his own.

The pressure was increasing
in his ears.

He needed to get air.
Time was running out.

He was wounded, bleeding,

the realization sinking in
as to what had happened.

I just remember the things

going into my arm
and the side of my chest

and then the swish of the
water coming around me,

which I later learnt
was the tail

as it went
in the other direction.

For Mark, he was
living a nightmare,

trying to get away
from any further danger.

For the freshwater crocodile,
it wasn't much different.

The only reason it's biting
you is to defend itself.

It's not a food response,

it's not an act of aggression
towards you.

Nuala is part
of a team of rangers

at Billabong Sanctuary
in Queensland

that present
a freshwater crocodile show

on a daily basis for tourists.

Safety is paramount
to the show.

Knowing crocodile behavior
is the key to their safety.

Whoa!

That crocodile's not gonna
try take you away.

It's gonna bite you
and then hope

that you're gonna run
in the opposite direction.

For Mark, swimming in
the opposite direction

was his plan.

But he was losing blood,
he was disoriented,

he only had use of one arm.

Saving himself
was his only thought,

but panic had set in.

Mark was trying to swim
as well as he could,

struggling against
his injuries,

struggling to find
the right direction.

Well, I started swimming
towards the middle of the lake

where you can't even see land.

His confusion led him back

to the spot where
he'd been attacked.

Survival.

I needed to get back to shore.

And I'm ready for this thing
to come a second time.

I'm ready for it
the next time.

He had to find the courage

to swim over the top of where
he'd last seen the crocodile.

I suppose like they do
in the war when you get shot,

you run towards the enemy
without thinking.

By now,
time was critical for Mark.

He was still a long way
from the shore

and miles from
the closest town.

And of course,
he was still losing blood.

I had to go back and by then
I didn't have any air left,

I was gasping for air

and I was trying to warn
the other people

that I'd been bitten

'cause I'd sort of
worked out that time

that my arm...
blood was coming out of it

and it wasn't functioning.

[Nuala] The bite itself will
be many lacerations,

in the sense that the teeth
are very sharp

and they're likely
to pull at you.

And so it would
split your skin.

You probably wouldn't
be able to stitch that wound.

Mark's friends were quick
to get him to safety,

applying pressure bandages

in an attempt
to stop the bleeding.

Keeping Mark still

during the 25-minute drive
to the hospital

was paramount to his survival.

His wounds were numerous,
horrific

and almost cost him his life.

[Nuala] They can hold their
breath for several hours.

What they do is they actually
slow their heart rate down.

OK? So they reduce
the amount of oxygen

that they need to
flow around their body,

which enables them to stay
submerged for longer periods.

OK, so they swim
using their tails -

that is the engine
of a crocodile.

When they're under the water,
they will actually walk

along the bottom of the river
to save energy.

But it's got numerous
sharp teeth there.

You can just see
his nostril on the top.

Just here are his ears.

And these are his eyes.

Profiling the characteristics
of the crocodile,

it's hard to believe it's not
considered to be aggressive.

I had my arms above my head,
up here,

and the crocodile
come down there

and down there and there.

Feet were over here.

Mark was covered
in cut marks -

marks from the teeth
of the crocodile,

as well as cuts
caused by the feet

scratching across his body.

I tell you, there was a lot
of blood coming out there.

And the pressure bandages
on there and there,

I think, really stopped me
from losing the blood.

There's no doubt Mark's
injuries were gruesome.

It was very much a case
of being in the wrong spot

at the wrong time.

The action of his friends
saved his life,

but there was one confronting
fact yet to be revealed.

Well, the doctor was, um...
she was quite graphic,

she liked me to see
what was going on,

so she showed me the skin
she was cutting off

'cause it wasn't gonna
stitch up properly

and then she put
her finger in there,

which went right up past the
second knuckle, you know,

and she's flicking out
this artery and she's saying:

"See that artery, Mark,
if that was broken,

you wouldn't be here
to tell the story.

You would've lost
all your blood."

And she's just holding it.

92 stitches,
a long course of antibiotics

and many scars have led to
a new-found respect

for this incredible animal.

[Nuala] They can move
very quickly

and they can also jump
reasonable heights,

so you have to have
your wits about you.

In the wild,

freshwater crocodiles will
actually shy away from people.

So if I was out
with my fishing rod

heading down to the
water's edge, making noise,

talking to you guys,

these guys in the wild
would shoot off.

They would realize that
something big is coming

and they don't want to
interact with it.

The fact that these guys
live in captivity,

they understand
that us rangers

coming into the enclosure
means that food is on, OK?

Or potentially. So that is
why they approach us.

Crocodiles have
great camouflage ability.

They range in color
from browns

through to greens and yellows,

enabling them
to be well hidden

in river systems
and billabongs.

This gives them that element
of surprise over their prey

and when they feel threatened.

[Nuala] I've not had
any close calls yet.

We do work
in a controlled situation

so we try and minimize
the risk

and if we feel there is
gonna be an issue,

we won't even go in.

Working with crocodiles
and freshwater crocodiles

brings an excitement
that cannot be compared

with any other job, OK?

Your heart races,
you have to think quickly.

It's an exciting job
and I love it.

Animals are competitive
by nature.

They need to be to survive.

So in keeping with the action,
we're gonna rank them

according to just how
dangerous they can be.

We'll scrutinize each one,

highlighting how
they can affect your life,

quite literally,

allowing you to decide
if you're game enough

to get as close
as some of our experts.

The Johnston's crocodile
is more likely to run away

than harm you.

However, it's taken
its toll on many

and will therefore rank high
on our list.

It's our first animal
on the show,

so right now it sits
at number one.

The question is,
will our next featured beast

slither its way
higher up the ladder?

A caravan camping holiday

on the magnificent southern
coast of Western Australia

turned from a relaxing break
to drama

in just four short hours.

We'd started a fire

but we weren't
particularly successful

because the wood
was quite wet.

Fortunately, a friend
was bringing dry firewood

from the farm.

Phil went to get the dry wood
from the back of the truck.

It was dark. He put his hand
into the stacked wood.

I felt a sharp pain
on my left index finger.

Only recently bitten
by his son's pet snake,

Phil knew it was probably
a snakebite.

He knew what
the feeling was like,

but he had no idea
what snake had attacked.

Generally, a snake
will give you warning

and it'll try and run away.

However, if the snake
is cornered,

it's naturally going to
defend itself.

Gary Davies has worked
with snakes all his life,

removing and relocating

countless numbers
of venomous snakes

as well as educating children
and adults

about safety around snakes.

Brown snake venom
is one of the most potent,

so it doesn't rely on
lots of volume,

it's just very toxic.

In this part of Australia,
the dugite reigns

and is one of
the many brown snakes

that live all over
this vast country.

Dugites vary in color from
light straw to dark chocolate,

but what is typical

is that they have
irregular black scales

that look like freckles.

Average adult size for
a dugite would be 1.2m-1.5m.

But then you will get
the occasional thumpers

that get up around 2m,

and that's a big snake
for a dugite.

They're an elapid snake,

which means they have
fixed, hollow fangs

at the front of the mouth

through which
the venom is injected.

The pain of the snakebite

was like being injected with
a hypodermic needle.

Phil's friends wrapped his arm

in makeshift bandages
ripped from a pillowcase.

A call was made
to the local nursing post,

but they were advised not to
wait for an ambulance -

just go straight to
the nearest hospital,

40 minutes away.

Arriving at the hospital,

I was immediately laid down
upon a gurney

and told not to move.

The makeshift bandages
were replaced

with more
compression bandages,

starting at the lower limb and
moving tightly up Phil's arm

towards his heart.

An intravenous drip was then
hooked up to the same arm.

Venom itself doesn't
travel through the veins.

It's actually... it's
distributed through the body

through the lymphatic system

which is only
just under the skin.

So if we compress
the lymphatic system,

we stop the flow of venom

but we still allow
blood flow to the limb.

And that way, you don't
have to take the bandage off,

you can leave it on
for 24 hours.

Longer, if you have to.

One of the biggest
misconceptions

about snake envenomation
is that people think

you have to identify
the snake that gets you.

But you don't have to catch
or kill the snake to survive.

Your biggest concern
is to get to hospital in time.

Generally,
a doctor doesn't know

how to identify
snakes himself.

He's gonna ask you what the
hell you brought that in for.

You carry all the evidence
they need in your body.

To determine
the type of snake,

the medical team will carry
out blood tests, urine tests

and take swabs
around the bite site.

The information
will then be processed

in a venom detection kit.

Because I wasn't
feeling unwell,

I actually asked the doctor
if it would be OK

if I went back to my caravan.

Unfortunately the news
for Phil wasn't good.

He may have been
feeling well -

often there is no pain
from a snakebite -

but the risk was high

and the doctors
were taking no chances.

Phil was about to fly out

on the Royal Flying
Doctor Service

to a larger regional hospital
with both a doctor and a nurse

monitoring his blood pressure
and heart rate all the way.

In the emergency department,

blood tests were taken
every four hours.

Venom had been detected
in his blood

as well as a slight amount
of muscle wastage.

My anxiety levels did rise
quite sharply

because I realized
that I was possibly

in a very dangerous situation.

Snakes are dangerous
from the beginning.

There is no parental care,
so as soon as the eggs hatch,

the babies are out
looking after themselves.

They have to feed, so they're
born ready with venom -

much less in volume than an
adult snake but still toxic.

[Gary] Dugites aren't fussy.

As long as there's
a food source

and good places to hide,
they don't care.

They go right through
banksia scrub,

all the way through
the coastal dunes,

around swampy areas

and right in the middle of
suburbs, amongst humans.

They're really not fussy.

Dugites are one of
the few species

that have increased in numbers
around human habitation.

With settlement
comes many places to hide.

Plus their favorite food is
the introduced house mouse,

so wherever there are humans,
there are usually mice,

thus an environment
where dugites thrive.

[Gary] You're never
gonna have a problem

with a snake that's just
lurking in the backyard.

And, quite frankly,
there's probably

lots of snakes
lurking in your backyards

that you don't know
about already

and as long as you
leave them alone,

they'll leave you alone.

For Phil,
the venom load was light

and the compression bandages
prevented any danger

to his health.

However, there was
still care to be taken

when the bandages
were finally released.

Six medical staff were on
board, ready for an emergency.

Apparently,
that's a very dangerous time

because if there's any venom

that has been captured
by the compression bandages

and hasn't been dealt with
by your body,

it can rush through
to your heart

and that's when
it can cause some damage.

People have died in Australia
from dugite bites.

But through education,

the scientific development
of antivenin

and good hospital systems,
it's no longer to be feared.

There's no reason to die
in this country of snakebite

as long as you
do the right thing,

put a bandage on
and go to hospital.

The dugite can be deadly

and if you don't get treatment
quick, it could end badly.

And even though in Australia

fatal snakebites
are few and far between,

its bite still outranks
the ferocity

of the Johnston's crocodile.

The freshie moves to number
two and the dugite reigns.

But our next animal
could see them both slide.

This is a story of history
repeating itself.

An event long forgotten
on a popular beach

a couple of hours
north of Sydney.

80 years later,
another tragic day.

I've surfed at Redhead
for 35 years

and never seen a shark

and this day
was like no other day.

The decision
to go for a surf or not,

despite a few mates saying
the conditions weren't great,

changed Glen's life forever.

I paddled out
and I was getting good waves.

After everyone had said
there was no good waves,

I managed to find a spot
by myself.

At first, a spot by himself
seemed ideal.

But being further out
and alone

may have been Glen's downfall.

He was thinking
about coming in

when the decision
was rapidly made for him

when he realized
he wasn't on his own.

I was facing east,
and from the south

was just this almighty hit,

like a rubbery boat
that felt like sandpaper

and just
a massive weight behind it.

The massive weight was
about 350 kilos of bull shark,

roughly about 10ft long,
aggressive

and keen to make his mark.

They hit you with an impact
to disable you

and then they finish you off.

Bull sharks are the master
of low-visibility water

and they're specialists at
working those inshore waters

where it can be murky,
hard to see, camouflaged.

The inshore waters cover
a range of environments

from estuaries and rivers
to coastal waters,

highlighting
the bull shark's ability

to live in both fresh
and salt water.

They have
triangular, serrated teeth

on the upper jaw

and generally feed on fish
and other smaller sharks.

They are known for a
bite-shake-and-release attack,

aiming to grab their prey
and kill it straightaway.

There's probably more attacks
by bull sharks on people

than any other species.

Richard Fitzpatrick
is a marine biologist

who has dedicated
much of his time

to researching sharks.

They're very attuned to, you
know, vibrations in the water,

sound in the water
and odor in the water

and using their
electrical sense to feed.

It's basically
a shark that has to work

in a zero-visibility
environment 24/7,

so they're
a pretty amazing animal.

For Glen, amazing is
an understatement.

This animal is extremely
powerful, hostile

and armed for assault.

I knew just instinctively
that I was in deep.

You know, I was probably
not gonna get out of it.

You know, sort of, really...

yeah, I was in a spot,
for sure.

Yeah.

A spot a surfer
doesn't want to be in at all.

The worst position
a surfer can be in, really.

In a state of shock, Glen was
losing awareness of time.

His senses were on overtime.

Confused, not thinking, not
knowing what was going on,

his body was in
a massive state of alarm.

It knocked me out
when it hit me.

I came up drowning

and the shark was laying
end to end in front of me

with the dorsal fin 2ft high
in front of my face.

Instinct took over,
decisions were reactions,

no time to think
about his next move,

miraculously,
Glen's surfboard -

now with a chunk missing -
was still attached to his leg.

He put it between himself
and the shark

as a shield of defense.

Get on the surfboard.

This is your only shot.
You've only got one chance.

Focusing on survival,

Glen paddled his board
toward the beach,

gently at first,

as though trying
to sneak away unnoticed.

But he was already
leaving a trail of blood.

Reality was kicking in.
He had to go for it.

It all happened so fast.

I got on the board
and I was moving

because I knew
there was no time

to, you know, have
a discussion with the fish.

You know, it was hungry,
I was its dinner

and it's not the way
I wanted to die, you know,

getting eaten alive, you know.

The attack happened
about 60m from the beach.

Glen paddled half the distance
back to shore still in shock.

He thought he was going
to pass out and drown.

I didn't know that my leg
was damaged

until I looked over my
shoulder, my left shoulder,

to see where the shark was.

And he was about 10ft
behind me in my blood trail.

And that's when I knew that
I'd been attacked by a shark.

That confirmed my worst fear.

That's what generally happens
with bull shark attacks.

You find these
really nasty injuries

on the lower parts
of the torsos.

If someone's thrashing around
next to it,

it'll strike out at it

and have an accidental bite
on a person.

The shark didn't
waste any time.

He was on Glen's tail,
getting closer by the second,

hungry for more,
wanting another bite.

Glen was racing to escape,
full of fear,

knowing the gap was closing,
paddling for life,

when, at that critical moment,

an unexpected act of bravery
turned everything around.

There was one person
that just stood out

and put his life on the line.

It was another surfer
who had stepped into the ring.

While many were
scrambling to safety,

Nathan Visscher
had sprint-paddled

into the bloodied water

to help swim Glen back
to the beach.

It was like my last moments.
That's what it was like.

It was like my last moments.

But it all turned around
when Nathan arrived.

I could not believe a person

had stepped into this crazy
situation to help, you know.

I still can't believe it.

But I remember his right hand

slapping me on
the left shoulder here

and I just
went around like this,

thinking it was you know who,

and it wasn't
you know who with the teeth.

It was Nathan
who'd come to help me.

And he said my face was grey
from blood loss and shock

and my eyeballs
were like golf balls he said,

they were bulging
out of my head,

and I guess
that was from fear.

The shark was now outnumbered

and, for whatever reason,
it seemed that retreat

was the best option -
the best option for the shark

and for Glen,
the best option of all.

[Glen] But if he
didn't intervene,

the shark probably
would've got me

because I think
the shark felt outweighed

by the presence
of these two big things -

myself and Nathan.

When I looked, it was at 10ft,

I was just
beside myself with fear,

and Nathan intervened
at that time,

which was at the critical
moment, really, you know.

Oh...

Nathan Visscher was awarded
the Australian Bravery Medal

for his selfless determination
to rescue Glen.

But a bravery award
wasn't even on his radar

back on that ill-fated day.

He had a job to do

and he needed to stay alert,
his wits about him.

Be ready, if need be,
to encounter the shark.

Nathan had Glen
safely to shore,

lifeguards were waiting,
the tourniquet was secured,

the paramedics arrived, oxygen
was keeping Glen stable.

I saw this big hole in the leg

and went:
"Oh, don't look at that,

that's not good,
that'll just make it worse."

Glen knew there was something
wrong with his leg.

There was only dull pain
for such a traumatic injury

but the blood was pouring out.

There was blood in the water,
it was on the beach,

there was a trail
marking his tracks.

I think the fear,

you could probably
call that a pain in a way,

the fear itself.

The fear of being chased.

The physical side of it
is not, you know,

as relevant to me

as that fear when it chased me
to the beach.

There was concern amongst
the medics on the beach

that Glen had damaged
his femoral artery.

But despite the shark ripping
and tearing

a large chunk of muscle
and flesh from his leg,

the artery was intact.

But three different muscles
had been severed

and a major tendon was missing
from the pelvis to the knee.

The bite itself was just a
huge pressure kind of feeling,

and I realize
that that pressure feeling

came from the massive clamping
of the jaws

and him grinding away at me,
was that pressure.

He spent a fair bit of time

grinding away at me
by the looks of it -

there's marks left
on the femur bone,

there's teeth marks
on the femur.

Teeth marks on the femur

presented a new set of
confronting issues.

Whilst the bite of the shark
was devastating,

the bacteria in its mouth
is an additional killer.

Any slight piercing
of the bone

and the infection
could be fatal.

Glen had two, possibly three,
teeth marks

that needed to be examined.

I was lucky
that those teeth marks

didn't penetrate the bone.

If they penetrated the bone,
those teeth,

the leg would've
been taken straight off.

Bull sharks have very sharp,
serrated, triangular teeth

that are located in rows
inside the jaw.

The first two rows
are used to attack their prey.

The other rows are on stand-by
to rotate in, as needed,

replacing worn-down, broken
or lost teeth.

This endless supply of teeth
produce a dirty bite.

They are full of germs and can
cause massive infection.

It's just too risky
to have shark teeth

penetrating a human bone.

It's just too many
germs involved

for them to roll the dice.

Four weeks in hospital,
six surgeries in two years

and a constant need to
understand what happened,

why it happened,

leading him to a greater
understanding of sharks

and what it really means
to be a survivor.

It doesn't know
what it's doing.

I was a mistake,
I was just a shadow to it.

It's got eyes out here
on the side of its head.

It can't see anything.

[Richard] All sharks
have the six senses -

have our five senses
plus its electrical sense.

But what sort of defines them

is, you know, the tiger shark
does the tropics,

the bull shark does
the inshore coastal waters

and the great white
does the cooler waters.

So those three species

have all our marine
environments covered.

Research is showing that bull
sharks travel great distances

and have been found to return
to the same spot each year.

During the warmer months,

they are able to go further
down the Australian coast

looking for prey
when you least expect it.

Just look for the signs
in the water

and look for the lifeguards,
swim in the patrolled areas.

If there's signs there
of baitfish and birds,

ask the lifeguards.

If you're worried,
ask the lifeguards.

Just surf at
a patrolled beach.

You can't avoid it, really.

If it's gonna happen,
it's gonna happen.

But I think you can
lessen your chances.

I'm more acutely aware
of life's short.

You know, it really is.

It can be just gone
in a blink, you know.

And I don't miss out
on stuff anymore.

Straight to the top.

The bull shark is one brute
no-one wants to encounter.

There are survivors.
There are victims.

This hungry beast
is aggressive

and knows no boundaries.

Down goes the dugite
to number two

and the Johnston's crocodile
falls to third.

But will they
keep their spots?

Up next,
a seemingly innocent fellow

that packs a big punch.

But will it be strong enough
to hop to the top?

Australians love
to hate cane toads.

They've invaded a large region
of the country

and are marching defiantly
into new territory.

Harmless if left alone,

but the poison could trigger
the end of your life.

They've got this incredible
chemical arsenal

that's capable of killing
a large human.

There's a lot of poison
in an adult cane toad.

The shoulder glands
on these little guys

actually contain
easily enough poison

to kill an adult human being
and to kill them very quickly.

Cane toads are among

the biggest frog species
in the world

with the female toads

being significantly larger
than the males.

The females have
quite smooth skin,

whereas the males
are warty and rough

and have a couple of pads
on their toes

to attach to the females
during mating.

Another distinction

is that if you happen
to pick up a male toad,

he'll sound out a special call
that the female cannot make.

In reproduction, the females
usually lay one clutch a year

that typically contains
more than 30,000 eggs.

At every stage
of their development -

eggs through to adults -
the toads are poisonous.

When a predator takes the bold
move to attack a cane toad,

the toads will
blow themselves up with air

to make themselves look larger

and more of a target
to be left alone.

But if the predator
then seizes the toad,

the poison in their shoulder
glands will be pushed out.

But do not believe you'll
be safe from the poison

if you do not
squeeze the toad.

The toad can actually push it
out itself, can squirt it out,

and that poison
is desperately painful

if it hits you in the eyes
or in a cut on the skin,

and it can cause
a heart attack if it's eaten.

It's a very fortunate thing
that toads are reluctant

to use this arsenal that
they carry around with them

because they really are a very
potently poisonous animal.

There's a story that's been
told over the years

of a first-year
medical student

on the east coast of Australia

who was in a lab class
with his fellow students

taking on a project
to dissect a cane toad.

The toad he was
working on was female,

and his classmates
took advantage of this

and dared him
to eat the toad caviar.

He challenged his friends
to pay a dollar each

for him to accept the dare.

They were quickly on board.

20 minutes
after consuming the eggs,

he had his first
of three cardiac arrests.

He was rushed to the hospital

and treated to intensive care
for just over a month.

[Rick] You could be killed
very quickly.

Essentially it interferes with
very basic chemical processes

in the cells,

and even quite
large predators,

like the big freshwater
crocodiles, die very fast.

The good news to this story

is that cane toads really
don't want to harm you

unless they're forced into it.

This is the classic example
of a dangerous animal

because when you try to kill
it, it will defend itself.

Prior to 1935,

no-one in Australia needed
to fear a cane toad.

But in that year, 102 toads
were introduced to Cairns

from the Americas

with the hope they would
control the beetles

destroying
the local sugarcane crops.

The plan was a flop,

but the survival of the toads
is a monumental success.

[Rick] We've now got
a couple hundred million toads

right across
tropical Australia.

So even though
they came from the rainforest,

they've managed to invade
the driest continent on Earth.

They've evolved
to travel faster and faster.

In the early years,
the toads were expanding

at about 10km a year.

Now it's about 60km a year.

They've evolved longer legs,
they're more active.

They're a remarkable example
of rapid evolutionary change.

If you do encounter
one of these beasts

travelling across Australia,
leave them alone.

The consequences
could end your journey.

[Rick] If you were unlucky
enough or foolish enough

to get cane toad poison
into your eyes,

you'd really want to get it
out as soon as you can

using fresh water and
as much of it as you can get.

But you might want to
start thinking about

heading off
to the nearest hospital

because this
really is deadly stuff.

It's no match for the strength
of the bull shark

or the supremacy
of the dugite,

and alongside
the Johnston's crocodile,

despite being known
to kill one or two,

the toad is way less
of a threat to humans.

But get ready -
about to take center stage

is the secret weapon
of our tropical waters.

Small,
almost impossible to see

and ready to infiltrate
the enemy.

It began as
a wonderful family holiday,

enjoying the pristine beauty
of Fraser Island

off the Queensland coast
of Australia,

and quickly turned into
a nightmare

of unknown proportions.

Haley was straight into
the water,

we had a little paddle
up to the knees

and splashed around.

It was crystal clear,
the water.

Beautiful hot day.

But 20 minutes later,

the dangers that lurked
in the idyllic conditions

made their presence known.

Haley came running up the
beach holding her arms,

screaming, saying:

"I've been stung, Mummy,
I've been stung."

And then started going
quite crimson-y red.

She says:
"I can't breathe, Mummy."

And, well, then
I just panicked.

Small in size but with
a massive punch of pain,

Haley had encountered
one of the most feared animals

of Australia's
tropical waters.

I often refer to them
as designed by the devil.

They're an animal that you
never see, you get nailed

and you don't know about it
till 20 minutes down the track

and then your whole world
goes to hell in a bathtub.

It's just an awesomely
badly designed animal

from a human perspective.

While Julie was trying to keep
the situation calm,

Haley's father Matt was
contacting emergency services,

desperately trying to
get help for his daughter.

40 minutes later,
what seemed like an eternity,

the rescue chopper carefully
lowered onto the beach.

They had mentioned
the word 'irukandji',

and, I mean, I'd never heard
of what an irukandji was.

Extremely venomous,

the irukandji was identified
by Jack Barnes in 1964.

In his experiment

to accurately classify
this animal,

he allowed the tiny jellyfish
to sting himself

as well as his son
and a local lifesaver.

All three
ended up in hospital.

To the uninitiated,
the spell of the irukandji

is a sensation
of unexpected magnitude.

When you're stung
by an irukandji,

it's not that the animal
is hunting you -

it is an accident.

If it comes into contact with
you as a defense mechanism,

it will sting you.

To the initiated,
knowing you've been stung

is the beginning of hell.

I know exactly
what's gonna happen.

I've been there 11 times.

I know exactly
what's gonna happen.

It's a really interesting
syndrome

because what happens
when you're first stung,

it's a mild sting.

And you'll see it,
people get stung on the arm,

it'll be: "Oh, yeah,
something stung me."

And that's about
the extent of it.

I think we need to go, Teresa.

It stung across
the bottom of the lip.

[Teresa] Alright.

See animals about
2m or 3m down.

[Teresa] Yeah, yeah,
I saw a few.

Get out of here, I think.
Need some vinegar.

Want to throw me that...

But that's just the start.

About 15-20 minutes later,
the trouble begins.

Everything goes wrong.

Symptoms include
severe cramping, vomiting,

nausea, lower back pain -
your entire body is affected.

There is no escape.

And this feeling
of impending doom,

that something is
seriously going to go wrong.

Oh, dear.

So that comes in
and you get that under control

and all of a sudden
it ramps up a level.

And so you think:
"OK, it can't get any worse."

And then it ramps up
yet another level.

I've described it like
I've often had an elephant

sitting on my chest.

So you're sitting
in a hospital bed

with some emergency physicians

giving you large doses
of opiates,

things like morphine,
pethidine,

things of that nature.

It's just starting
to take the edge off it

and all of a sudden
it goes up a level.

I get severe pins and needles
through my joints,

of my knees, my ankles,
my elbows, my wrists.

You can't get comfortable.

My last trip,
I was still throwing up

18 hours down the track.

If someone had've given me
a gun, I was outta there.

I just wanted off the planet.

Associate Professor
Jamie Seymour

has spent many years
at the forefront of research

in marine biology.

He knows what to expect.

For Haley and her family,

it was an incredibly
mystifying experience.

By the time Haley reached
Hervey Bay Hospital,

her heart was beating
twice the normal pace,

her hands and toes were blue,

her lips were blue,
her face still crimson,

her eyes bloodshot.

Delirious,
she was sweating profusely

against the increasing pain.

I thought I was like gonna die

because I tried to keep
my eyes open

but I was sleepy.

Every time she tried to move
me, one of my body parts,

I felt pain.

If you swim anywhere in the
tropical waters of Australia,

the east coast,
the west coast,

across the top of the country,

you risk being stung
by an irukandji.

They are so small,
you won't even see it coming.

It was surreal in the fact

that you can't believe
this has happened.

You don't know
how it's happened.

It's not a dream.
It's a nightmare.

When they took us to one side,

it brought everything
to a standstill.

We thought we could possibly
lose Haley.

I just thought: "Is she having
a heart attack here?"

Because the reaction of that
is as if, to me,

it felt like these are the
last breaths she's gonna take.

If you look at irukandji, they
fall into what's referred to

as the little box jellyfish.

So a big animal is
probably about the size

of your thumbnail.

Distinctly different
from big box jellyfish,

they've only got one tentacle

off the corner of the body,
or the bell.

Now those tentacles
certainly can be upwards

of three-quarters
of a meter long,

but they're about the
thickness of your hair.

So you think of this animal

that's about the size
of your thumbnail,

completely transparent,

with four tentacles
that are about that long

that are as thin as your hair,
that you can't see.

They have stinging organelles
on their tentacles

but they also have it
on the bell

of the body of the animal.

So any contact at all
with this animal

is going to result
in your being stung,

and any sting
from this animal at all

is going to result
in you being at hospital.

After three days of treatment,

Julie and Matt
waiting anxiously,

agonizing over the outcome,
a breakthrough.

I thought: "Her hair's dry."

It's strange,
it was the first sign

that I thought:
"She's not sweating."

And I thought: "We're on
the road to recovery here."

She survived it, yeah.

There's only been two deaths
that we know of

from irukandji syndrome,

and they've both occurred
in Australia.

The overwhelming
characteristic for victims

is intense pain
throughout the body,

and there's very little
that can be done

to ease the suffering.

However, about 10%-15%
of people

will develop cardiac problems,

so going to the hospital
is vital.

Research shows that
it doesn't seem to matter

if it's a child or an adult
that's stung.

It's a venom load
from the jellyfish

that causes the problems.

[Jamie] The syndrome,
it's interesting,

can range from simply being
feeling unwell

through to death
and anything in between.

The biggest problem with
trying to treat these people

is we're never too sure

where you're going to be
on that spectrum.

We've had two people in
the water at the same time

stung by the same jellyfish.

One person really had
a little bit of pain,

there was no problems at all.

The other person spent
four days in intensive care.

The irukandji is not an animal
to be taken lightly.

Whilst it's not
going to attack you,

if you get in its way,

your pain threshold
will blow every limit.

It's transparent, the size of
your thumbnail and dangerous.

Australian beaches are
signposted with warnings

for good reason.

Whatever beach that has
jellyfish, I won't swim in.

Certainly able
to take you by surprise,

the irukandji is nasty.

It's going to slide its way
up to number four,

knocking the cane toad
down to five.

It's very unlikely
to kill you,

but the excessive pain factor

gives this creature
its battle stripes.

Taking on the pack,
enter the next contestant

with its weapon drawn.

Probably the ultimate weapon

in terms of the marine
environment in Australia

is the sawfish.

It's a type of shark and
it's got this long rostrum,

big, long nose, and
it's got these wicked teeth,

big teeth, that go down
the whole side of the saw.

Sawfish are found
in the tropical waters

of northern Australia
in the murky inshore areas.

And if you're a keen
fisherman, watch out -

it's an encounter
you don't want to experience.

[Richard] People, when they've
caught them on fishing lines,

brought them in

and the sawfish, as soon
as it feels threatened,

will just start flicking
this blade around.

So a lot of people have been
impaled by these blades.

These animals can get
over 5m long.

That means the saw blade
is longer than me.

What's happened a lot in the
past is that the fishermen,

when they've caught them
in nets or even trawlers,

have shot the animal
to deal with it

and then have to hack it apart
to get it out of the net.

The sawfish is in a group

which is halfway
between sharks and rays.

Their gills
are on the underside,

so, technically,
they're a ray.

The tail is very shark-like,

but the front end of the body
is very much flattened out.

Sawfish live in both salt
and fresh water,

usually travelling upstream
to breed.

Juveniles are often
1.5ft long at birth

and as they grow older,
move downstream

and ultimately end up
out into the ocean.

They sit there on the bottom

and they just use this
as the ultimate blade,

so once a fish
comes too close to them,

they'll strike at it in just
a fraction of a second

and just hit it
and keep hitting it

and just massacre the fish,

you know, cutting it into
pieces and then feed upon it.

Their teeth are razor sharp
and are basically there

to puncture
and destroy their prey.

In defense, the saw
is a destructive weapon

in a world amongst bull sharks
and crocodiles.

[Richard] Because the sawfish

are living in the northern
tropical waters,

which are
really, really murky,

they're not relying
on their eyesight,

so they're sitting there

and they hold the blade
slightly up,

but the blade is covered
in the electrical receptors.

And so as soon
as the sawfish feels

the electric field
of a fish close enough to it,

it can actually tell the size
of the prey

by the size
of the field given off,

and then they'll strike at it.

It's not just one strike,
in the blink of an eye,

they'll hit it like
half a dozen times,

so it's like bang, bang,
bang, bang, bang.

The sawfish can swing
the whole blade

and they can pivot about
halfway down their body,

so they can strike at 90
degrees all around them

in the blink of an eye.

And when you think about
how fast that blade

is travelling through water,
which is very viscous,

that's a lot of pressure
and a lot of power.

The power of the sawfish

has been seen since
the days of the dinosaurs.

There's evidence of teeth
being embedded

in the skulls of the dinosaurs

that were specialist feeders
on the sawfish.

Today the sawfish
is critically endangered,

mainly due to
commercial fishing.

It's not because the fishers
are hunting the animals

but more the case
that the animals

get tangled in the nets
as bycatch.

In years gone by,
the rostrum was often cut off

and kept as a trophy -

a barbaric act of cruelty,

as the fish would no longer
have the ability

to defend itself
or catch its prey.

You often see the blades
in people's homes

in northern Queensland, where
it's being kept as a souvenir.

And I know of one case
where two young boys

were having a swordfight
with one,

and one brother
hit the other brother with it

and basically impaled him
on the blade.

So the sawfish had been dead
for many, many years

and still had its revenge.

The sawfish bumps the
cane toad down to number six,

but, despite its obvious
physical advantage,

will only go
as high as number five.

The irukandji holds
its position at number four,

as does the Johnston's
crocodile at number three.

Claiming second spot
is the dugite,

with a poison that if
left untreated will kill you.

But overwhelmingly
taking the top spot

of most dangerous animal
is the bull shark.

This is a monster that lurks
in murky waters

and will most likely attack
if you're nearby.

With all of
our Australian animals,

there is a fear factor.

But keep in mind
they're unlikely to harm you

unless you're unlucky enough
or foolish enough

to get in their way.

Some are more aggressive
than others,

some will take you
by surprise.

Most of them
will run from you,

but if cornered,
they'll strike.

Be cautious,
take note of the warnings

and show respect.

Admire these creatures
for their majesty,

their power
and their skills to survive

as we count down the list

of 72 Dangerous Animals
Australia.

Captions by CSI Australia