- 9/19/2014
Documentary (1996) 46 minutes ~ Color
Meet Yindi. A baby koala who almost loses his mother in a car accident and in her absence must be raised in captivity. Follow his zany adventures as the curious young koala cub just acts like 'himself' but is surrounded by humans! When the mother and son are reunited months later, Yindi's mother begins to teach him to do things the "wild koala" way. Eventually the two are released back to the Australian Bush together, to live free as a koala family should.
Director: Greg Grainger
Writer: Greg Grainger
Meet Yindi. A baby koala who almost loses his mother in a car accident and in her absence must be raised in captivity. Follow his zany adventures as the curious young koala cub just acts like 'himself' but is surrounded by humans! When the mother and son are reunited months later, Yindi's mother begins to teach him to do things the "wild koala" way. Eventually the two are released back to the Australian Bush together, to live free as a koala family should.
Director: Greg Grainger
Writer: Greg Grainger
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The first light of a full moon stirs Yindi to life.
00:21Tonight, alert and hungry after a day spent sleeping, Yindi is feasting on his favourite,
00:29the succulent tips of a Sydney blue gum.
00:33It's a seemingly carefree existence, but as we're about to witness, Yindi's life to this
00:38point has been extraordinary.
00:41Furthermore, Yindi's future, and that of all koalas, is increasingly under a very real
00:47and serious threat.
00:59The vast eucalyptus forests that stretch inland along Australia's eastern seaboard are home
01:22to an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 koalas.
01:26And among them, Truganini, a healthy female who's roamed in the same territory since she
01:31was born two years ago.
01:36In that short time, Truganini has gone from childhood to motherhood, the miracle of her
01:41first born baby now alive and suckling deep inside her pouch.
01:50This amazing creature is Yindi.
01:53Just weeks old, he's completely hairless and with eyes still to open.
01:59His mouth is virtually welded to his mother's teat, a bonding and growing process that normally
02:05lasts for the next four months.
02:10At this fragile stage, Yindi is smaller than a matchbox, having been conceived just over
02:15one month before.
02:20But as Truganini nurtures her newborn creation, elsewhere around Australia, koalas are disappearing
02:26faster than they're being born.
02:30From the outright slaughter of almost three million for their skins earlier this century,
02:35koalas are these days disappearing from a whole host of killers, almost all of them
02:39related to man.
02:44Truganini is about to meet one of those killers.
02:47In search of fresh trees, she's wandered onto a country roadway.
02:52It's a scene repeated many, many times each day along eastern Australia.
02:56A car at speed, a near-sighted koala, a collision.
03:01In this case, Truganini is hit and injured, but not killed.
03:06It's a traumatic impact, one that sends Truganini scurrying for refuge.
03:14As rescuers are summoned, Truganini is found, so too is Yindi, but the crisis has caused
03:19mother and baby to separate.
03:23Truganini is apparently suffering internal bleeding.
03:25There's your baby there, look, we'll look after it for you.
03:31Yindi too is in urgent need of care.
03:37That help comes from Bev and Bob Birtles, devoted animal lovers who've dedicated their
03:42lives to treating injured wildlife.
03:57What you're witnessing is a very rare event.
04:00Seldom does a minute baby koala survive away from its mother, and yet here to defy the
04:05norm is Yindi.
04:19Yindi the survivor, now suckling the same formula used for premature babies instead
04:25of Truganini's teat.
04:28For four days, Yindi thrives in this foreign environment, giving us a unique opportunity
04:34to study his development.
04:37At 56 grams, he's now double the size he was when we first saw him in the pouch.
04:43Yindi is still completely bald, but those closed eyelids are set to open for the first
04:48time any day now.
04:56Truganini, meanwhile, has made a remarkable recovery, with vets deeming her healthy enough
05:01to have Yindi return to her pouch.
05:06Once that delicate reunion is judged successful, mother and child are released back into the
05:10wild.
05:14With Yindi well and truly secure in her pouch, Truganini heads high into the refuge of the
05:19eucalyptus forest to join other koalas in the ritual for which they've become famous,
05:24sleeping.
05:34For up to 19 hours each day, they remain in this comatose state, the result of the poor
05:39nutrition in the only leaves koalas will eat, those from just a few species of eucalyptus
05:45trees.
05:52Their waking hours are spent consuming around a kilogram of these leaves, a potent mix of
05:57eucalyptus oil and other chemicals that would kill almost all other animals.
06:04As Truganini eats, the male of her species is on the warpath.
06:11Come breeding time, these docile fellows become raging bulls, challenging any male
06:23koala that enters their territory.
06:31They're off to battle, the territory's dominant males going in for the attack.
06:46These are vicious encounters, sharp claws and teeth extracting brutal punishment.
06:53The fact that they're up to three meters above the ground doesn't appear to matter to these
06:57furry gladiators.
07:18Without disengaging for one second, these sparring males finally fall to the ground.
07:24Like two sumo wrestlers, they grapple one another, fur flying, teeth snapping into flesh.
07:31For 30 minutes they wear each other down, trying to get that perfect stranglehold.
08:02It's almost a fight to the death, the winner becoming the dominant male who can claim all
08:07females nearby as part of his harem.
08:17Some of those females are on heat. The bobbing, hiccuping movement displayed by this young
08:22lady shows that she's extremely oestrous.
08:32But not all female koalas are so keen. Truganini has just given birth to Yindi and is in no
08:38mood to mate. She fights with vigor to retain her honour.
08:47Undeterred the male fights back, biting her on the shoulder to bring her to submission.
08:55There follows a mating session that lasts no more than two minutes. It's an aggressive
09:00encounter, one that will ultimately prove fruitless. Truganini will not start her next
09:05breeding cycle until Yindi is weaned, a process that stretches 12 months from conception.
09:20It is indeed a slow moving partnership for Truganini and Yindi alike. For the six months
09:26after Yindi was born, he remains solidly inside the pouch, growing slowly as Truganini
09:32goes about her daily rituals.
09:43Only after six months does Yindi emerge and what a fine specimen he proves to be. Since
09:49we last saw him, he's grown plenty of fur.
10:01Over the next few months, Yindi makes stunning progress. As his weight increases, so too
10:06does his assertiveness. He's roaming more and more for mother, exploring large distances
10:14on open ground.
10:20These are days of increasing freedom, more and more time spent alone exploring. And at
10:30the end of these sessions, the security of mother. For both Yindi and Truganini, these
10:38are days of peace. Unknown to either of them, they're about to face a killer very few creatures
10:45survive.
11:08One of the hazards of life in the bush for all native animals is fire. It rages without
11:16conscience, killing, maiming and terrorising all in its path. For Truganini and Yindi,
11:28their first experience with fire is horrifying. Truganini retreats to the refuge of a tree
11:34surrounded by smoke and flames.
11:50Yindi is completely bewildered, at first running towards the advancing inferno. Then, as though
11:56possessing no fear of imminent death, he pauses to eat the grass. Only when the heat becomes
12:02unbearably intense does he retreat.
12:15For a seeming eternity, Truganini remains stationary in the tree. It's as if she's too
12:21petrified to make any move towards safety.
12:29Yindi finds temporary shelter in a small water hole. Never before has he had to swim, but
12:35confronted with catastrophe, he paddles successfully from one bank to the other.
12:43By now, a very distraught Truganini has retreated at full speed from the fire. As the fire advances
12:50westward, Truganini and Yindi are reunited, rescuers saving both them and this even younger
12:56mother and baby.
13:06All are rushed well away from the advancing inferno to be checked over for smoke inhalation
13:11and shock.
13:14For Truganini, emergency treatment comes at the fully equipped Kewala Hospital at Port
13:21Macquarie. She's revived with a saline mixture pumped through a face mask. The verdict? She
13:28will survive, but once again, she and Yindi are to be taken into home care to speed their
13:33recovery.
13:35Who better qualified for that task than Bob and Bev Bertels, the same couple who helped
13:40them so much many months before? The Bertels' rural Queensland home is a perfect sanctuary
13:47for many distressed animals. As Yindi clings to Bev through the most regular of chores,
13:52other orphaned Australian marsupials are standing by for their personal treatment.
14:01The mother was a redneck, but we're not quite sure exactly what she is. She has the face
14:07of a redneck, but she's got a very small body, so she's what you call a surprise packet.
14:12Until she gets a little bit bigger, we won't exactly know what type of wallaby she is.
14:18Apart from koalas, the Bertels care for a wide range of injured wildlife, from this
14:23newborn sugar glider, its mother was killed by dogs, through to orphaned kangaroos.
14:31But it's their newest and most playful refugee who's winning most of their affection.
14:43So who have we got here, Bev?
14:48This is Yindi. He's one of our little babies. He's roughly eight months old, and as I say,
14:54he's part of the family. He really is a character. He's a real little tomboy.
14:59He likes to play.
15:01Oh, he loves to play. But as he's getting bigger, he's getting a little bit rougher,
15:05of course.
15:07For hours at a time, Yindi bounces from one end of the Bertels' lounge to the other.
15:14As I discover, he loves to pull your hair and bite.
15:18I know he's playing, but he's got quite sharp teeth.
15:22For Yindi, this civilised human environment is strictly a temporary playground.
15:27The plan is to rear him until he's old enough to fend for himself, and then re-release him
15:32back into the wild.
15:35But for so many koalas along eastern Australia, the wild is no longer so wild.
15:46Land is moving in on koala habitat at an alarming rate, knocking down koala trees by the tens
15:51of thousands and erecting new housing developments.
16:00Koala housing giving way to human housing.
16:04With his home cut down, any wonder this poor koala is bewildered.
16:10So too is this sad creature, who's strayed onto a beach at Port Macquarie.
16:15She circles around and around and around in total confusion.
16:20Chances are that she'll become victim to another big koala killer, the pet dog.
16:26Dog barks.
16:28Dog barks.
16:30Dog barks.
16:32Dog barks.
16:34Dog barks.
16:36Dog barks.
16:38Dog barks.
16:40Dog barks.
16:42Dogs account for a staggering number of koala deaths every year, as many as one in every
16:4720 koalas dying this horrific way.
16:50Dog barks.
16:52Dog barks.
16:54Ruth Barrett is a koala carer in the northern New South Wales city of Lismore, where, she
16:59says, more than 40 koalas died from dog attacks alone last year.
17:03Unfortunately, the mother was killed by the family pet, and Sonny had to be surgically
17:09removed from the pouch, and then taken into care, and to red to this point.
17:15They're an animal that are not aggressive, and I don't think they understand aggression.
17:20And so they're easy prey to the dog.
17:26Virtually the only significant killer of koalas that isn't attributable to man or dogs is
17:31chlamydia.
17:32On Queensland's Sunshine Coast, vet Mark Powell recovers yet another koala who's almost
17:38been blinded by this widespread disease.
17:40He's virtually blind from having this condition long term.
17:46You can see his left eye is quite matted and pussy, and his right eye, he has, and
18:03his right eye is quite cloudy.
18:06If he wasn't caught as he was in the wild yesterday, if he wasn't caught, what would
18:10happen to him?
18:11He would starve to death, because he's now unable to see and unable to find food, unable
18:16to avoid predators.
18:18Please don't call me a koala bear, because I'm not a bear at all.
18:26Please don't call me a koala bear, it's driving me up the wall.
18:33With koalas facing so many threats, public concern is growing, particularly with the
18:39youngsters.
18:40Do you understand why I'm sick, sick, sick?
18:43I'm simply a koala, and I want the name to stick.
18:47At Budrum Mountain Primary School on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, students are meeting three-year-old
18:53Dave.
18:54I like koalas because they're cute and cuddly.
18:58I love koalas because they've got cute wet noses.
19:03I love koalas because I love everything about koalas.
19:08I like them because they're furry.
19:15It sort of sounds a little bit like a pig, doesn't it?
19:18As if to chorus his approval for his young fans, Dave starts bellowing, a noise he keeps
19:23up right throughout the speech by Ron Peterson, his Bunya Park keeper.
19:28What they actually do is koalas sleep for about 18 to 20 out of 24 hours, which is a
19:34lot more than we do.
19:36Just as sun sets.
19:39Are you all right, Dave?
19:41It's a star performance by Dave, one that will endear him to these children for a long
19:46time to come.
19:48Dave winked at me.
19:51Dave winked at you?
19:53Yeah.
19:55Back at the home of Bob and Bev Bertels, Yindi is slowly growing bigger and stronger.
20:07It's important that he acclimatises to the outside world and to that end, he begins spending
20:12increasing periods of time in a makeshift branch while Bob and Bev work their garden.
20:20As we're about to discover, Yindi is not the only koala being cared for in captivity.
20:26Beautiful boy.
20:28Yes, you are.
20:29You're beautiful.
20:30In a bid to save the koala, a network of devoted wildlife enthusiasts has grown throughout
20:36koala territory.
20:38Audrey Koosman was one of the first.
20:41She's cared for many sick and injured animals, but none has captivated her as much as Kenneth.
20:46He's beautiful, isn't he?
20:49He's gorgeous.
20:50Yeah, I certainly have.
20:51I've had him since he was a little tiny baby.
20:54He was 360 grams when I got him, and he's not been a very well little fella.
20:59He's been a very difficult animal to look after, but we're hoping we're going to get
21:05on top of this, aren't we?
21:07I certainly have lots of love for him.
21:09I'm sure he loves me too.
21:12He spent many hours in here.
21:14He's a babysitter.
21:15When he would go out, the babysitter would come and mind him, and this was his little
21:19room.
21:20This is my koala room, I call it.
21:22So spoiled is Kenneth that he was raised with this toy koala.
21:27Audrey often slept in the same room.
21:30These days, an increasingly sick Kenneth receives regular veterinary care.
21:34Okay, righto.
21:35Here he is, Mark.
21:36So what are we going to do to him today?
21:38You're going to do some...
21:39Just draw some blood out.
21:40Let's get some blood.
21:41Okay.
21:42Just before he gets too stressed.
21:43Okay.
21:44Sit down, my darling.
21:46We're very worried about Kenneth because we're concerned that he's got a disease called calcium
21:52oxalate nephrosis, which is a fancy name for his kidneys being a bit wonky.
21:59We're just having a feel there of his belly to see if we can feel the kidneys.
22:04Good boy.
22:05Righto.
22:06Such a good boy.
22:08That's it.
22:11When they're little, they just don't like to be left behind.
22:15You can't be running in and out, so I just used to take it and when I'd go out the front
22:19to work, I would just take the basket and hang it up in a tree.
22:23Another dedicated carer is June Welsh, her latest orphan, Gemma.
22:29Every afternoon she comes across for a little bit of a change.
22:33If it's not here, it's out the front and plenty of exercise.
22:40She doesn't think much of reading or television, so you've got to give her a ladder to play with.
22:46It's a wonderful form of exercise and they're easy to keep clean.
22:50One of the priorities of these carers is to make sure their koalas develop all of the
22:54skills they'll need back in the bush.
23:00That accounts for this ladder, installed on June's back veranda, which enables Gemma
23:05to perfect her climbing skills.
23:11Even on this unnatural surface, Gemma is agile, displaying all of the acrobatic techniques
23:17she'll need in the trees she'll be returned to later.
23:20And at the end of each workout, Gemma is rewarded the tender tips of a swamp mahogany.
23:35Acrobatic manoeuvres are also the specialty of Pride's Joy.
23:39This cheeky 11-month-old is exercising on the curtains at the home of John and Bev Deelman.
23:47She's the best one we've ever reared.
23:50Because of her mother not wanting her, you'd go in when she was in the hospital and she'd
23:56be up one end of the runner and the mother would be up the other end.
23:59As soon as she'd come near the mother, the mother would attack her and bite her and scratch her.
24:02So it's meant that she's so independent, and I feed her about half past ten of the night time,
24:09and she sleeps in the little room out the front.
24:13And she stays there all night long.
24:16And normally when you have them, they come in bed with you all night, they play with you all night.
24:21You just don't get any sleep because they're awake all night long.
24:26And this one, she's not.
24:34Pride's Joy has now adopted her own friends, like this toy koala which she plays with for hours.
24:42This strengthens the muscles.
24:44They're not allowed to go up the curtains or climb anything, they're just to get the muscles in the arms.
24:51At this age, life is one great adventure.
24:55She's going to fall again.
25:00You're injured, aren't you?
25:02You poor old bag.
25:04But of all the carers, this one, Jean's star, is most highly revered.
25:09Affectionately known as the mother of koala medicine,
25:12for her work in developing cures for koala diseases,
25:15Jean has rescued hundreds of injured koalas.
25:19This koala was picked up about eight o'clock last night,
25:22dragging its hindquarters, trying to pull itself by its front paws.
25:26We don't know exactly what's happened to it,
25:29we can almost assume that it's been hit by a car and just left.
25:32You look at the front, it's just such a beautiful animal,
25:34but the hindquarters are almost paralysed.
25:38It's very sad having so much of this hit run, and there's no excuse for it.
25:47One of Jean's greatest successes was to set up Australia's first koala hospital,
25:52the same one that Yindi's mother, Triganini, was admitted to at Port Macquarie.
26:00Here, volunteers care for many youngsters, often by dog attacks and car accidents.
26:09Formula, developed by Jean Starr, is fed twice a day to these younger inmates.
26:28Other hospital volunteers help with the koalas that have to be rescued
26:31from the middle of the town's housing estates.
26:38This one has another form of chlamydia, a urinary tract infection known as wet bottom,
26:43with volunteers Ron and Liz assigned to bring her in.
26:50The technique is to scare her down, using a toilet brush strapped to a pole.
26:56It's potentially dangerous work, with koalas angered by such disturbances
27:00known to inflict deep wounds from their powerful claws.
27:09Once caught, the sick koala is transported quickly to the hospital.
27:24Here, full-time nurse Robin Barsley instigates a thorough check.
27:28The new patient is weighed.
27:38Blood poisoning ticks removed.
27:42Soiled fur cut off.
27:51And antibiotics administered.
27:58Finally, she's tagged for instant identification if she's ever caught again.
28:03That ID is a microchip implanted into the back of a neck.
28:07A few days under supervision, and she'll be released again.
28:18Despite such rescues and treatment, Jean's staff fears that the day will come
28:22when koalas are wiped out around Port Macquarie.
28:25We're certainly losing numbers.
28:27The one thing that's happening here that really surprised me
28:30is the animals are still breeding very well.
28:32And every season there's still a lot of joeys,
28:34so generally the breeding's continuing,
28:36and that's replacing a lot of the animals that are lost on the roads and so forth.
28:41But I think we are losing, yes.
28:45I'd have to be honest about that.
28:47That sad prediction is one that's being echoed by all koala experts.
28:51A growing realisation that the koala may be lost forever
28:55around those areas where man lives.
28:58Certainly the burtles are only too aware of just how precious their yindi is.
29:11They lavish him with their very best care and affection,
29:14right down to this bath,
29:16which will help ensure yindi doesn't succumb quickly to chlamydia.
29:21You're biting a bit harder now, aren't you?
29:24Alright. Okay.
29:29Proof of his growth comes in the weekly weigh-in session.
29:33Proof of his growth comes in the weekly weigh-in session.
29:57It's clear that Yindi is rapidly becoming fully grown.
30:00Just a few more weeks of home care like this and he's set to be freed.
30:15The short boat ride across from mainland Australia to the Victorian retreat of French Island
30:21transports us to a fascinating aberration in koala numbers.
30:37Where elsewhere they're being wiped out, here there's too many of them, as ranger Alan Pullen
30:42explains.
30:43Now the koala was brought here to the island, it was introduced in the late 1800s or around
30:49about 1870, and that was from a local sealer who brought over six koalas for his girlfriend
30:55as a present.
30:56And so really the population of koalas on French Island have all stemmed from those
31:00six koalas.
31:01So what we're dealing with today are all generations down from those original six.
31:11That small koala population quickly exploded to 30,000 and with too many koalas, trees
31:18were stripped of leaves and left to die.
31:28The solution has been to relocate many of the koalas back to the mainland, a task assigned
31:34these days to a team of rangers led by Alan Pullen.
32:03A healthy male adult, one of the rangers abseils up the tree to get closer.
32:11Unlike the toilet brush technique of the Port Macquarie volunteers, this team uses a red
32:16flag to frighten the koala downwards.
32:18It can be a lengthy process, with koalas jumping from branch to branch.
32:28Once within reach, a rope noose is placed around his neck.
32:32Even then the koala can hang on tenaciously.
32:38It all appears very cruel, but the rangers assure us it isn't, that the koala would otherwise
32:43have perished.
32:50Finally brought to ground, one more indignity.
32:53A knee attack snapped on.
33:12Next for the catchers, a mother and back young baby.
33:15They too prove to be unwilling recruits.
33:23This time it's the youngster who escapes time and time again.
33:39Finally he too is brought down to earth, but this time in a fast slide downwards.
33:50The Victorian koalas are much bigger, much bigger.
33:52These ones, the male koalas can weigh 12 to 14 kilograms, whereas the male, the Queensland
33:59ones can only go to about 7 or 8 kilograms.
34:02There seems to be a thinner face.
34:03Yeah, much more of that pointier face, not as round like you say, and a lot more fur.
34:08One of these guys has a lot more fur and that's probably because of the climate.
34:11Make them look a lot healthier.
34:12Yeah, and a lot more cuter.
34:14I think the Victorian ones are a lot more cuter.
34:17And so it goes for the next two days.
34:19The koala are after koala captured, tagged and placed in a box.
34:34But just as the rangers prepare to ship their catch back to the mainland, one more assignment.
34:39This sad creature has become disorientated.
34:42He's fallen into the water and is now seeking refuge under the wharf.
34:46It's the last chore for Alan Pullen.
34:56For the captured koalas, there's a long and varied trip ahead.
35:17First off the island by naval patrol boat, then trailer through the heart of Melbourne.
35:25Their final release point is a forest near Ballarat.
35:33On hand to observe proceedings, the Australian Koala Foundation, its principal biologist, Steve Phillips.
35:43First to be freed, that mother and back young baby.
35:47Caged door wide open, the koalas are ready to be released into the wild.
35:51The koalas have been in the wild for a long time.
35:53They've been in the wild for a long time.
35:55They've been in the wild for a long time.
35:57They've been in the wild for a long time.
35:59First to be freed, that mother and back young baby.
36:01Caged door wide open, they're still reluctant to find freedom.
36:06There you go.
36:28One by one, the males too will let go.
36:30The process that appears to guarantee their safety.
36:34Up she goes, up he goes.
36:36This is a fairly traumatic exercise for koalas.
36:40They've probably got a 50-50% chance of survival and those females with the back young have got a significantly lesser chance of survival.
36:48They're in hostile territory.
36:50They do not know their food trees.
36:52There's a whole lot of unknown dangers here for them.
37:00Sobering sentiments.
37:02Ones that demonstrate just how contentious the whole politics of koala management can be.
37:16Certainly in their home far to the north, the burtos have only one issue on their minds.
37:22Fully preparing Yindi for release.
37:24There's vitamin pack formulas to be administered for the last time.
37:29And a small taste of freedom.
37:31First on level ground.
37:37Then a boost up a tree to sharpen his climbing skills.
37:45Finally he's left outside the house for increasing periods of time.
37:49Exposing him to as many different types of gum leaves as possible.
37:53All preparation for his release in a few days time.
37:59Music
38:07Just as Yindi is preparing for life back in the wild, so too is the baby sugar glider he's been growing up with.
38:14They've developed close bonds over the summer months and now interact without any fear of one another.
38:20While Yindi has developed into a superb young koala, there's increasing concern about the future of his species.
38:27From those who should know, the carers and keepers who work full time with koalas.
38:32We're certainly going to lose the koalas on the coast.
38:36The koala in the wild, mate, they've got all the odds going against them.
38:40They've got the cat, the dog, the fox, the human being, cars.
38:45The more development we get on the eastern coast of Australia, we are definitely pushing the koala out.
38:52The AKF truly believes that the impacts that have been made on koalas in the last 5 to 10 years
38:57are going to have like a 20 to 30 year significance.
39:00I don't really think we know what is going to happen to koalas for another 10 to 15 years.
39:05I think it's going to be dramatic and I think if we don't change our way now,
39:09I think koalas have got a very, very serious future in this country.
39:18So what is being done to save the koala?
39:21Sue Bart and her Koala Foundation are supervising the first koala-friendly housing project in Australia.
39:32Koala Beach on the NSW north coast is being built away from known koala trees.
39:37Dogs are banned, cars have to travel dead slow.
39:43At a government level, scientists like Dan Lunney are studying ways that man and koalas can live closely together.
39:50The koala is being taken by the fire.
39:55In the field, researchers like Ann Carey are radio tracking individual koalas,
39:59learning more about their habits and movements.
40:07In NSW, tourists are being banned from holding koalas.
40:12Koala sounds
40:16While in Queensland, scientists are beginning to save koala sperm,
40:21working towards an artificial insemination program
40:24that could reintroduce the species if it ever dies out in certain areas.
40:32In this fascinating experiment, staff from Queensland University interrupt a normal mating session
40:38by inserting an artificial vagina and collecting the sperm.
40:45It's all part of a growing realisation that radical steps have to be taken if the koala is to survive.
40:56As for Yindi, well he may not be quite the last koala, but he certainly is one of the last.
41:03Official estimates put their numbers as low as 40,000 and falling fast.
41:09Today is Yindi's day of freedom, with Bob and Bev Bertels to release him well away from human settlements.
41:23Well away from the dogs and cars and loss of trees that are killing so many of his kind.
41:29As we've followed his life from that minute, hairless creature in Truganini's pouch,
41:35we've observed an animal that is both lovable and tenacious, having survived car accidents and bushfires.
41:42Hello Yindi. It's been great having you, but it's your day now. Off you go.
42:00Freed from captivity for the last time, he's displaying plenty of fight,
42:05scrambling quickly away from the couple that have been his surrogate parents for the past year.
42:11Such spirit is a hopeful sign, one that he'll not only survive, but thrive in the wild.
42:18The larger hope is that the same will apply to all of his species.
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