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01:06Isolated from the rest of life on land for millions of years, the animals cast away here are today like none elsewhere.
01:17This is a land of survivors.
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02:07The animals and plants here are armed, built to live alongside dinosaurs.
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02:45But the key to its success is not its stature.
02:52It's the male's abilities as a parent.
02:59This one's chicks are six weeks old,
03:03and he will raise them by himself.
03:05Every morsel of food is valuable if his chicks are to grow up tall and strong.
03:23But in this forest, most of the fruit is too big for the chicks.
03:27It must be cut up for them.
03:46There is food to be gathered throughout their territory.
03:51But it's not easy to find.
03:58He shows them how to cross water.
04:08But when your legs are only ten centimeters long,
04:11a stream like this is very deep.
04:20One takes the plunge.
04:24But for the other, this is too daunting.
04:27He turns and goes back the way he came.
04:38Out of sight and without his father's protection,
04:42he's vulnerable.
04:48Only half of cassowary chicks make it to adulthood.
04:52And for very good reason.
04:53Australia's prehistoric forests are still full of predators.
05:05Many managed to survive here by eating almost anything that's smaller than they are.
05:06Many managed to survive here by eating almost anything that's smaller than they are.
05:23He needs to find his father.
05:24And quickly.
05:25He needs to find his father.
05:26And quickly.
05:27The male hears his cries and answers.
05:28Using a special call that carries well through the thick forest.
05:30The male hears his cries and answers.
05:31Using a special call that carries well through the thick forest.
05:43And then a glimpse of some reassuring bright colors.
05:44And then a glimpse of some reassuring bright colors.
05:46The male hears his cries and answers.
05:47The male hears his cries and answers.
05:48Using a special call that carries well through the thick forest.
05:53Using a special call that carries well through the thick forest.
06:00And then a glimpse of some reassuring bright colors.
06:16And then a glimpse of some reassuring bright colors.
06:34Their bonds are stronger than their fears.
06:45The male will guide and protect his chicks for another eight months before he mates again.
07:02Australia was once part of the vast supercontinent of Gondwanaland,
07:08covered in forest and full of life.
07:12Dinosaurs dominated.
07:14Mammals had only just appeared.
07:18Then Australia began to break away.
07:23Cast adrift on this new island were reptiles, birds and early mammals
07:28that then evolved in isolation from the rest of the world.
07:33None could now leave this giant island, and very few could get here...
07:39...unless they could fly.
07:44A little red flying fox.
07:52Their ancestors flew here, traveling along the chain of volcanic islands that links Asia to Australia.
07:59But their huge winds, which stretch from their fingers to their toes,
08:07make it difficult for them to walk or take off from the ground.
08:13So when they want to rest, they hang upside down in trees.
08:17But the bats have to drink every day.
08:35And they do so on the wing.
08:37They swoop just low enough to wet their bellies,
08:39but the bats have to drink every day.
08:41They swoop just low enough to wet their bellies, and then back in their roosts, they will suck out the water.
08:59Each evening, 10,000 of them come here.
09:05Not all of them return.
09:07Not all of them return.
09:09Each evening, 10,000 of them come here.
09:33Not all of them return.
09:35Every two meters of river, there is a crocodile.
09:45They were here long before the bats.
09:52Survivors from Australia's prehistoric past.
09:56They were lost.
10:26These dramas have been taking place for millions of years.
10:40Aerial agility versus patience and deadly speed.
10:56Australia's forests are hostile places in which to make your home.
11:18As you move inland, the forest thins, the air cools, and the land, as it gets higher,
11:25changes dramatically.
11:38The great dividing range, 2,000 meters above the jungle.
11:46To survive here, you must be able to tolerate really harsh conditions.
11:55Kangaroos, like nearly all of the continent's native mammals, are marsupials.
12:14Mammals that rear their young usually in a pouch on the mother's belly.
12:18And the young up here certainly need such shelter.
12:37No kangaroos can survive for long higher than this.
12:41But there is an even tougher marsupial up here.
12:42But there is an even tougher marsupial up here.
12:47To survive.
12:48So you have to bomb as a leader.
12:49A modern magic, as it slips away from the old legend.
12:50To survive.
12:51To pass a father's body.
12:52Only can't survive for long.
12:53But there is an even tougher marsupial up here.
12:54Here's half of the old line.
12:55Granted brown, where we tap on the mountain.
12:56If you're going to get past the road to the earth, it's more likely to live here.
12:57Everything's still too much.
12:58But there is an even tougher marsupial up here.
13:00But there is an even tougher marsupial up here.
13:02an even tougher marsupial, up here.
13:19A wombat.
13:21She usually shelters underground in a burrow,
13:26but now that is under a meter of snow,
13:28together with all the grass on which she lives.
13:32She weighs as much as a big dog and has the legs of a small one.
13:38Not ideal for deep snow.
13:47Fragments of bark hardly count even as a snack.
13:52And she's hungry.
14:02She needs grass.
14:13But it's over a mile away, across a frozen river.
14:22Wombats might not be fast, but then they don't need to be up here.
14:26They can survive on next to nothing.
14:35A few mouthfuls will be enough food for over a week.
14:42And there's not much competition for it
14:44in this small corner of the continent.
14:47The snowy peaks are hardly typical of Australia.
14:59But the Great Dividing Range is a remnant of what were once
15:03some of the longest mountain chains on Earth.
15:10They connected Australia and Antarctica.
15:13But then, these sister continents broke apart.
15:19Antarctica, drifting southwards, became locked in ice.
15:24Australia drifted northwards towards the equator
15:28and became hotter and drier.
15:32Woodlands developed.
15:34And in places where rainfall was low,
15:37open grasslands.
15:39On these grassy plains, animals had the space to thrive.
15:53These are also eastern grey kangaroos.
15:56And this is their true home.
15:58Here, they are well-fed and powerful.
16:03Adults can stand over two metres tall
16:06and travel as fast as a racehorse.
16:09And on these open plains, you need speed.
16:22Because where there are large herds,
16:26there will be predators.
16:32Dingoes.
16:33Descendants of wolves that were brought here
16:37over 4,000 years ago by human visitors from Asia.
16:46This pack is led by a white female.
16:51And they are hunting.
16:52The creating panic tests the herd.
16:53Grrr.
16:54We are hunting.
16:54We are hunting.
16:55We are hunting.
16:55Nobody is hunting.
16:55I want to stand here.
16:56We are hunting.
16:57We are hunting.
16:57We are hunting.
17:15It will hunt for hunting.
17:16Creating panic tests the herd.
17:18of the herd.
17:19Mothers with young in their pouches.
17:49Pouches might be slower, but they can still outrun a dingo.
18:01Maybe an ambush will work.
18:12But even young, newly independent kangaroos seem uncatchable.
18:16Across these open, flat plains, the dingoes are just not fast enough.
18:34But what makes the white female their leader is her stamina and, particularly, her intelligence.
18:44She has run 18 miles today, but she still doesn't give up.
18:51A different group of kangaroos, this time on uneven ground.
18:59It's what she's been looking for.
19:00Driving them uphill, she's struggling to keep up with them.
19:12And as they hurtle down the other side, the kangaroos pick up speed.
19:28They will easily outpace her, if they stay in control.
19:41They will easily outpace her, if they stay in control.
20:01The white dingo has more than one reason to be so relentless.
20:23The white dingo has more than one reason to be so relentless.
20:30She's a mother.
20:36F
20:49This is a rare sight.
20:52Dingo pups are hardly ever seen.
21:01These are gum trees.
21:05They have leaves that are poisonous to most animals.
21:10But not the koala.
21:12They eat almost nothing else.
21:18There are echidnas in these forests, too.
21:21Mammals that don't even have pouches, but lay eggs like reptiles.
21:30And there is an assassin here that has only recently been discovered.
21:43A Jotus jumping spider.
21:48She's only five millimeters long,
21:50but nonetheless, she's a stealthy and ferocious hunter.
21:56She searches for prey among the grass stems.
22:00She's single-minded, and focused on hunting.
22:20She's single-minded, and focused on hunting.
22:30But today, might be different.
22:38This is something new.
22:41Something fast.
22:46And a little trickier.
22:48But what is it?
22:56Is it food?
22:57It's a male, Jotus.
23:03Looking for a mate.
23:17It's a male, Jotus.
23:20Looking for a mate.
23:21He needs to catch her attention.
23:31But female Jotus only mate once.
23:35If she's mated before, she might kill him.
23:41He will need to seduce her with care.
23:44Waving his arms makes his intentions clear.
23:52He's a friend, not food.
23:58No sign of an attack yet.
24:00But she doesn't seem particularly impressed.
24:16Time to try his best move.
24:19The double paddle.
24:21That surely will do the trick.
24:23One final wave.
24:43And he's tamed her.
24:55She stays still for just long enough.
24:57And then, he retreats quickly, before she has second thoughts.
25:18And then, he retreats quickly, before she has second thoughts.
25:27If you travel still further towards the center of Australia,
25:41the landscape changes yet again.
25:44Trees and grass disappear.
25:50The continent throughout prehistory continued to drift north.
25:54And, as it entered the tropics, it got hotter and hotter.
26:00Over thousands of years, the grasslands of the center dried,
26:04and lakes and rivers turned to dust.
26:09The rocks have been reduced to sand by the hot, blasting winds.
26:16Now, Australia's center is one vast desert.
26:20It's immensity is almost impossible to comprehend.
26:35This trail, running north, is half a mile long.
26:42Traveling at nearly 50 miles an hour,
26:44it takes almost three days to get from one side to another.
26:50Australia, today, is the driest inhabited continent on Earth.
27:07Rain hardly ever falls in 70% of it.
27:10From space, the continent is seen to be stained red by iron oxide,
27:20rust from its disintegrating rocks.
27:27In the surface are lines carved by winds over millennia.
27:34The very bones of the continent are now stripped bare.
27:38The foundations of what once were mountains.
27:40The foundations of what once were mountains.
27:55At its heart, stands the great rock mountain of Uluru.
27:59Sacred to the first people to arrive here 60,000 years ago.
28:21There is almost no soil here.
28:37Few plants, few animals, and almost no permanent water.
28:43It's a place where only the toughest can survive.
28:51This is the land of reptiles.
28:56Australia has more species of them than any other continent.
29:02The Perenti, two meters long, is the biggest here.
29:07And he's thirsty.
29:15It only rains here once or twice a year.
29:19And when there isn't any rain, Perentis get their water from eating lizards.
29:31There are several kinds to choose from.
29:34Bearded dragons, blue-tongued skinks, and thorny devils.
29:51All are on the menu.
29:53The thorny devil also gets its water from its food.
30:05It's only the size of a mouse, but even so, it must eat hundreds of ants every day to get what it needs.
30:12Most storm clouds pass by without releasing any water.
30:25But just sometimes, there's a brief shower.
30:30But just sometimes, there's a brief shower.
30:34Everyone makes the most of the opportunity.
30:36Everyone makes the most of the opportunity.
30:53It's so hot, the droplets will disappear within minutes.
31:14But the thorny devil has a trick.
31:24He's found a tiny puddle only a few millimeters deep, and he dips his toe into it.
31:30His skin is like blotting paper.
31:51He collects moisture by capillary action, sucking it up along the interconnecting grooves until he glistens all over.
31:58When the water reaches his mouth, he can collect it, while still keeping his head up on the lookout for danger.
32:14The perantic is 200 times the size of a thorny devil.
32:19Tiny puddles and droplets are of no use to him.
32:22What he needs is a juicy lizard.
32:26What he needs is a juicy lizard.
32:29That was a bearded dragon that wasn't quite quick enough.
32:55Quite quick enough.
33:04Even the perenti sometimes gets a chance to quench his thirst.
33:08There is one species that has truly conquered the Australian desert.
33:24They don't wait for water to come to them.
33:26They sometimes travel over 300 miles in a single day to find it.
33:33Australia's hardiest animal.
33:36The wild budgery car.
33:45The most accomplished of all desert nomads.
33:49These have been traveling together for weeks.
33:51And that has evidently caused a few domestic arguments.
34:07This is truly an immense community.
34:11There are over 10,000 budgies in this flock.
34:14Every one of them is thirsty.
34:33But although they've found this billabong, they must be wary.
34:37A hawk.
34:38And one that eats budgies.
34:40As long as it remains on the ground, the budgies will risk taking a drink.
34:55Once it takes to the air, however, the budgies are in danger.
35:18And it's not the only bird of prey here.
35:29The budgies have a simple but very effective defense.
35:32They all take to the wing at once.
35:38An aerial hunter needs to lock on to a single target for a few seconds if it is to catch it.
35:44But in this swirl, that's very hard to do.
35:58Flying in a flock keeps the budgies safe.
36:01But they're still desperate to drink.
36:03As soon as a particularly brave one takes the plunge, they all do.
36:21But once on the water, they are easier to target.
36:24They must drink quickly and stick together.
36:33The last ones to leave will be the ones in most danger.
36:57Only one has been taken from a flock of 10,000.
37:25In a few days, they will leave the area on their never-ending search for the next brief opportunity to feed and drink.
37:44As the continent continued to drift north, it eventually entered warm tropical seas.
38:07And here, in the crystal clear sunlit water, just a metre or two beneath the surface, life proliferated.
38:23Coral grows into reefs in these shallow seas.
38:27This is Ninggaloo.
38:32Today, one of the richest anywhere in the world.
38:37In the world.
38:46Thousands of species of fish and all kinds of other organisms thrive in these coral cities.
38:55And they have attracted the most ancient of living predators.
38:59Sharks.
39:09They were around 200 million years before the dinosaurs.
39:18They're fast and agile.
39:20Well able to pick off the small reef fish.
39:23But they come here for bigger rewards.
39:35These are fish from the open ocean.
39:39And every so often, for some reason, they swim over the reef.
39:43The small fish swirl like the budges, and for the same reason.
39:58It makes it harder for a hunter to single out a particular target.
40:08But in fact, the sharks aren't trying to catch them individually.
40:11They're driving them closer to the shore, penning them against the beach.
40:28Slowly, the sharks drive each new wave of fish into shallow water.
40:33And the bait ball grows.
40:41More sharks arrive, some from many miles away.
40:44More sharks arrive, some from many miles away.
40:57And still, the sharks don't attack.
41:01They're waiting...
41:03...for the right moment.
41:05Millions of fish are now trapped in these shallow waters.
41:18It only happens like this once in every decade or so.
41:21Every decade or so.
41:30The time has come to strike.
41:32The time has come to strike.
41:44For the sharks, this is a bonanza.
41:49They work together.
41:53Each shark now fills its stomach.
41:55These shallow seas are exceptionally rich in sharks.
42:10There are more species here than anywhere else on Earth.
42:13Australia is not only fringed by rich reefs, but girdled with islands.
42:33Some big, some small.
42:35Off the south coast lies by far the biggest of them.
42:47Tasmania.
42:52And that has its own special marsupial.
42:57One that seldom appears until after dark.
43:00The Tasmanian Devil.
43:04The Tasmanian Devil.
43:12Many predators inhabit a territory packed with prey.
43:16But here, there's nothing like that for them.
43:18Not for them.
43:28Each may travel for miles, night after night.
43:32Prepared to eat anything it can find, dead or alive.
43:35The shoreline is a good place to search.
43:50There might be some small creatures to catch here.
43:53Or maybe something that the tide has brought in.
44:06The carcass of a wallaby has been washed ashore.
44:18Tasmanian Devils can eat 40% of their body weight in one session.
44:23And they have hugely powerful jaws.
44:25They tackle everything.
44:27Even bones.
44:29Back at the den, there are other hungry mouths.
44:44Her two youngsters are six months old.
44:47They still rely on their mother's milk.
44:51But they're feeling peckish.
44:54There must be something solid they could find for themselves while they're waiting for a drink.
45:12Is this food?
45:13That possum smells tasty.
45:26But it's a little high up.
45:31This looks more promising.
45:44At last!
45:45A giant stick!
45:49Not bad for a first go.
45:56Their mother will protect and feed these youngsters for another three months.
46:03Their survival is important to her, but also for us.
46:09Because these are one of the last devil families in the world.
46:20Tasmanian Devils are now endangered.
46:23Found in only a few places such as this remote islet off the coast of Tasmania.
46:29But they once lived across the whole of Australia.
46:42Evidence that this was so can be seen nearly two and a half thousand miles away from the Devils family den on Australia's northern coast.
47:00This great stretch of boulders is covered by the largest concentration of prehistoric images anywhere in the world.
47:16Over one million pictures of wildlife.
47:19And among them, a Tasmanian Devil.
47:32It was engraved on stone 60,000 years ago by some of the first human beings to reach the continent.
47:39Then, just 200 years ago, European settlers arrived with guns and dogs, foxes and cats.
47:52Together, they decimated Australia's unique wildlife.
47:57This was one of the continent's biggest animal predators, a marsupial wolf or thylacine.
48:12The last known remaining one was filmed in 1936 in a zoo just before it died.
48:19And so brought the final extinction of its species.
48:31These rocks are now its memorial.
48:39And they may become that for the Tasmanian Devil as well.
48:42Mammals in Australia are disappearing faster than anywhere else on Earth.
48:55They succeeded in adapting to life as their home changed around them.
49:00But now they face their greatest challenge.
49:05The change to their world brought by humanity.
49:11Which of its unique species will survive the coming decades now depends on us.
49:30The most ambitious shoot for the Australia team was filming the continent's top predator, the dingo, hunting.
49:42Elusive and shy, they're rarely seen.
49:50The crew journeyed to the high plains of Australia.
49:53Where park rangers had reported sightings of a white dingo and her pack.
50:04In their first week, the team confirmed the sightings.
50:07There she is.
50:09And begin to catch glimpses.
50:13But with the dingoes constantly on the move, keeping track of them is a challenge.
50:18They teleport around because you just lose them in the grass.
50:23It's madness.
50:25Each time the crew arrive to set up,
50:28they're too late.
50:31I couldn't believe how far she'd gone by the time we managed to drive over the brow of the hill.
50:48She was a kilometre away.
50:50If they lose them, it could take days to find them again.
50:55And searching in Outback Australia can be dangerous work.
51:03Look!
51:05It went up at me.
51:08I hate snakes.
51:10Brown snakes are one of the world's most venomous.
51:15And it's not only the snakes that have a nasty bite.
51:19Look at that.
51:20Man.
51:22Sorry.
51:28Turns out I just stood in an ant's nest.
51:34Over the coming weeks, the dingoes continue to give the crew the runaround.
51:40With such a large area to search, they enlist the help of two additional cameramen.
51:45Dan is a dingo expert and studied them for five years.
51:52And even he struggled to follow them.
51:55Dingoes are Australia's most heavily persecuted native animal.
52:00And that makes them so incredibly elusive and hard to film.
52:05They're very scared of humans.
52:06Dingoes have lived in Australia for over 4,000 years.
52:12But when Europeans arrived with livestock, they were seen as a threat.
52:17Today, they continue to be shot, poisoned and trapped, which explains why they avoid the crew.
52:24So Dan suggests a new approach.
52:33From the air, they have a better view.
52:36Now they can track the dingoes and follow their trails.
52:40And they notice the white dingo repeatedly returning to the same patch of forest.
52:49Then, the park ranger, goes to explore.
52:53Dog's had a scratch in here.
52:58A roo leg.
53:00And unearths a den site.
53:03Look at Caesar.
53:05Only a handful of wild dingo dens have ever been filmed.
53:09So the team set up a stakeout.
53:20And after a few days waiting...
53:29To the best of my knowledge, this is some of the first footage of wild dingo pups at the den.
53:35Being able to capture this really intimate, up-close footage is amazing.
53:40Really, really special.
53:44The den site is a major breakthrough.
53:50Now the team can find the white dingo each morning.
53:54Yeah, I've got her.
53:55And begin to understand her hunting patterns.
53:58At this point, she's just testing the water to see which ones are weaker, or if there are any joes around that she can hunt easily.
54:10But her chases cover such vast distances, that filming them from start to finish is impossible.
54:20Time for the final crew members.
54:23With the filming helicopter, the team can stay airborne for long enough to capture her marathon hunt.
54:36But to be successful, the ground and aerial team will need to work together.
54:43So we've got spotters all around the valley.
54:48And if anything happens, if anything moves, we can run to the helicopter and we can be up in the air in about three minutes and filming.
54:54We're just on standby all morning and all afternoon.
55:01With nine people monitoring the white dingoes every move, all they can do is wait.
55:09Until one morning...
55:10She really looks like she's eyeing up those roos over there. She's just stopped just looking at them.
55:26Yeah, she's definitely looking for some roos over there.
55:39With the dingo on the move, the hunt seems imminent.
55:46As the helicopter prepares to launch, the ground team keep track of her.
55:56Yeah, she's running, she's running, she's running.
56:15She looks good.
56:26Finally able to keep up, the team filmed these dingoes hunting kangaroos for the first time.
56:41Adding to the little we know about these remarkable predators.
56:49After five weeks following the white dingo, the team are left in awe of her.
56:54She's worked so hard catching roos and looking after her babies and it's been just amazing.
57:01I'll never forget it.
57:05Next time, a world transformed by mankind, where extraordinary animals are found in surprising places.
57:21Europe.
57:30For the natural wonders from every continent, the Seven Worlds One Planet BBC book is available now.
57:31I will take you out of this world with drama tonight on BBC One, his Dark Materials here at 8, after the Strictly results coming next.
57:44I will take you out of this world with drama tonight on BBC One.
57:47I will take you out of this world with drama tonight on BBC One, his Dark Materials here at 8, after the Strictly results coming next.
57:52I will take you out of this world with drama tonight on BBC One.
58:02You