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00:02Australia has been isolated from all other land masses for over 30 million years.
00:11Which has resulted in one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet.
00:18More than 80% of the animals in Australia are found nowhere else on Earth.
00:28It is home to some of the most dangerous, adorable and unusual creatures in the world.
00:43But as with all living things, the animals here have more to offer than their most obvious traits.
00:51Welcome to Australian Geographic's Extraordinary Animals.
01:00Curiosity. It may have killed the cat and opened Pandora's box.
01:07But curiosity doesn't always spell trouble.
01:11In fact, some researchers believe that curiosity drives evolution.
01:18Exploratory behaviour leads to new food sources, shelter and territories and can increase an animal's chances of survival.
01:26And not only that, it can also give rise to new species, which drives greater biodiversity.
01:35Let's meet some of Australia's most curious creatures.
01:49The Pearson Isles in the Great Australian Bight are often compared to the Galapagos Islands, thanks to their immense ecological
01:58value.
02:02One of the reasons they are so significant is because they provide a home to the Australian sea lion.
02:10One of the rarest marine mammals on Earth.
02:15Less than 12,000 individuals make up the population, the majority of which live along the coastline and offshore islands
02:26of South Australia in isolated colonies like this.
02:41Although they are considered rare, Australian sea lions are a familiar sight to local divers, playfully approaching them and imitating
02:50their bubbles.
02:53This behaviour is driven by a natural curiosity, born from their high level of intelligence and need to forage for
03:03food.
03:06Unlike most other marine predators that hunt in open water, Australian sea lions search for prey on the seabed.
03:17And it's their innate curiosity that helps them explore their environment to find a suitable meal.
03:31Sea lion pups rely on their mother's milk for the first 18 months of their lives.
03:40Then mum takes them on a dive to teach them how to find food.
03:47While she provides some guidance, each pup must ultimately learn through trial and error.
03:55Each sea lion becomes a specialist, meaning they have their own individual foraging strategy and prey preference.
04:07One might decide to chase their prey, actively pursuing an octopus along the sea floor,
04:12while another might adopt an ambush strategy, pouncing on a fish as it swims by.
04:20At a young age, sea lion pups develop a feeding strategy and stick with it.
04:26This individual specialisation allows many small colonies to co-exist across a narrow range,
04:34by reducing competition and stretching limited resources further.
04:42their curious natures give Australian sea lions intricate knowledge of their habitat,
04:48including the best food sources.
04:53and this curiosity is key to the continued survival of the species.
05:09Australia is lucky to have more than 50 parrot species distributed across the continent.
05:15The family includes cockatoos,
05:21corellas,
05:25lorikeets,
05:27and many more.
05:29So prolific is this noisy, gaudy group of birds that early Dutch explorers dubbed Australia
05:36Terra Citicorum,
05:38or
05:39Land of the Parrots.
05:45While parrots have a mischievous reputation,
05:48their behaviour stems from curiosity rather than sheer destructiveness.
05:55Their adaptability has been key,
05:58not just for surviving in a changing environment,
06:01but for thriving in it.
06:08When the British colonised Australia more than 200 years ago,
06:12they brought livestock and crops,
06:14which dramatically altered the ecosystem.
06:18While many native bird species suffered,
06:21a fortunate few found new opportunities.
06:26Parrots are quick to adjust to new situations.
06:31Today, thousands of corellas, cockatoos, and galahs fill their bellies on farms across the country.
06:43They eat the sprouting shoots of crops and gorge on stock feed and harvested grain.
06:51Heavy tarpaulin covers are no match for parrots.
06:54They use their sharp beaks like can openers, ripping them open to eat their fill.
07:00It's great for the birds,
07:03but not for the farmers.
07:05Every year, farms across Australia lose hundreds of millions of dollars due to crop damage,
07:10and scarecrows just don't cut it.
07:13Farmers do what they can to keep the parrots away,
07:16but with every new strategy they come up with,
07:19the parrots outsmart them.
07:23In their natural habitat,
07:25these birds face periods of abundance
07:28and scarcity.
07:33Australia's unpredictable climate means food availability changes from year to year.
07:40But farms provide a reliable supply of food and water year round.
07:47With the food laid on like this,
07:50immense flocks crowd the skies,
07:53filling the air with their raucous calls.
07:56It's unclear if their numbers have increased since the early days of European colonisation,
08:02but it does appear likely,
08:04thanks to the now abundant and readily accessible food sources.
08:10Now, thousands of opportunistic parrots sweep across the country in bold mobs,
08:16going almost everywhere,
08:18and eating nearly anything.
08:23Thanks to their adaptability,
08:25there's hardly a corner of Australia that these charismatic birds haven't claimed.
08:43The dryandra woodlands on Noongar country in southwest Western Australia
08:49provide a crucial habitat
08:54for numbats.
08:59Over the past two centuries,
09:01numbats have vanished from other parts of the country.
09:05But these stands of Wondu eucalypts are their stronghold.
09:12Numbats are remarkably curious animals.
09:16And this inherent curiosity is essential,
09:20driving them to find food and establish new territories.
09:27At a young age,
09:28numbats claim individual ranges,
09:31spanning up to 1.5 square kilometres,
09:34which they defend to safeguard their food supply.
09:41This adult female is currently on the hunt.
09:44At sunrise, she sets out, scratching at soil and rotting logs,
09:50searching for her prey.
09:53Termites.
09:54Numbats are unique among Australian mammals,
09:57being the only marsupials that are active exclusively during the day.
10:02Why?
10:03Because this is when the termites are active.
10:07A numbats diet consists solely of these insects.
10:12And to survive, she needs to eat 20,000 of them each day.
10:19Her sharp sense of smell, combined with her ability to detect tiny vibrations beneath her feet,
10:26helps her locate a meal.
10:29Using her specialised tongue, she gathers her food.
10:38The large quantity of termites that numbats consume daily is a strong motivator for establishing their own territories.
10:51Back in her den, four joeys have become strong and healthy, nourished by their mother's milk.
11:01But now, at eight months old, they're beginning to venture beyond the safety of their burrow.
11:08Young numbats are particularly curious about the world around them,
11:13driven to explore as they prepare to form their own home rangers.
11:18Although primarily ground dwellers, numbats have been spotted climbing trees and logs.
11:28Surveying from higher vantage points is thought to help them locate hiding places and foraging spots.
11:35Each day, their curiosity intensifies, pushing them further into the outside world.
11:43By the time they're a year old, these young numbats will have dispersed,
11:48each looking to carve out their own patch of turf.
11:54Innate curiosity is key to a numbats' survival.
11:58It guides them as they forage for food and establish their own domains,
12:03where they will one day start families of their own.
12:19Nearly 3,000 spider species are found in Australia.
12:25This great diversity means, of course, there's a curious spider.
12:33Enter the Porsche spider, found in northern Australia.
12:39It has a reputation for being the world's most intelligent arachnid,
12:44thanks to its extremely flexible hunting strategies.
12:48Porsche spiders use varied and adaptable techniques to capture their prey,
12:53which indicate that they're curious about the world around them,
12:57and have the ability to solve problems using their powerful skills of observation.
13:07Most spiders use a web to capture prey.
13:09But being a jumping spider, Porsche is built to roam around, actively looking for a meal.
13:19Specifically, other spiders.
13:23And their favourite prey are orb spiders, which can be twice their size.
13:30Web spiders have poor vision compared to jumping spiders.
13:35In fact, relative to their diminutive stature,
13:39jumping spiders possess the sharpest spatial resolution of all animals.
13:46They have multiple pairs of eyes, and the primary pair see all the shades of the rainbow,
13:51as well as some ultraviolet shades that we humans can't see.
13:56And they use this exceptional vision to study and track their prey.
14:04But it's not just their astonishing eyesight that makes them such expert hunters.
14:14It's the fact that they use this information to map their world in three dimensions,
14:19and formulate a plan of attack.
14:30They might abseil in,
14:34and then pounce.
14:37If that method doesn't work,
14:39they'll switch tactics.
14:43Perhaps plucking on a strand of the web,
14:46mimicking the desperate attempt of prey trying to free itself.
14:54If it gets no reaction,
14:56the Porsche spider will alter the type of vibrations it produces.
15:01Testing time after time,
15:04until the spider
15:07comes to investigate.
15:10Porsche attacks,
15:13grasping its victim
15:14and injecting an unusually powerful, paralyzing venom.
15:23The Porsche spider's sharp intelligence and natural curiosity
15:28enable it to learn and adapt its hunting strategies to different situations.
15:33making it one clever predator.
15:46As the moon rises above Naam, or Melbourne, Australia's second largest city,
15:53the resident brush-tailed possums wake up and start their day,
15:58with some breakfast.
16:02Once widely distributed across the country's forests and woodlands,
16:06there is now a greater density of possums in Melbourne City than there is in the wild.
16:11Brush-tailed possums have made themselves at home in our cities,
16:16thanks, in part, to their curious natures.
16:21But things have gotten a bit crowded.
16:24The trees in city parks can't support them all,
16:27so possums have learned new forms of food and accommodation.
16:34Brush-tailed possums are masters at breaking and entering.
16:49You might not realise that they've snuck into your house
16:52until you're awoken by a bump in the night.
17:03Or caught them red-handed, helping themselves to some leftovers.
17:10Their ability to thrive in urban environments stems from their endless curiosity.
17:17To a brush-tailed possum, anything can be food.
17:20And when it comes to shelter, every option is worth exploring.
17:25A backyard shed, for instance, might be the perfect city pad.
17:34Research shows that urban populations of brush-tailed possums
17:38tend to be more proactive than their rural counterparts.
17:42They're faster learners and better problem-solvers.
17:47If they're living in your shed, or sneaking into your kitchen for a midnight snack,
17:52you might see them as a nuisance.
17:58Still, you can't help but admire their resourcefulness.
18:03Their curious natures have transformed them into the ultimate city dwellers.
18:18Found in warm coastal waters worldwide, and prolific in the water around Australia,
18:25sea snakes evolved 15 million years ago, transitioning from land to a life at sea.
18:34But for most reptiles, the sea is an inhospitable environment.
18:40Why then did the ancestors of modern sea snakes take to the water?
18:47One theory suggests they began exploring marine habitats in search of food,
18:52while avoiding competition from other snakes.
18:58Curiosity-driven exploration ultimately led to the evolution of distinct habitat preferences,
19:04and some remarkable physiological changes.
19:10The origin of true sea snakes, species fully adapted to ocean life,
19:17can be traced back to Australia.
19:20Today, the country is a global hotspot for sea snakes,
19:25home to 30 of the 70 named species worldwide.
19:30Among these is the olive sea snake, famous for its inquisitive nature.
19:37It has become a tourist attraction in places like Shark Bay and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia,
19:45and the Keppel Islands on the Great Barrier Reef.
19:48Despite being highly venomous, these snakes are generally docile and pose little threat to humans.
19:58The adaptations that sea snakes underwent to adjust to life in the sea are relatively recent in evolutionary terms,
20:06and remarkable.
20:09The first challenge?
20:11Breathing underwater.
20:13Like all reptiles, sea snakes require oxygen, but they don't have gills like a fish.
20:19Instead, they take in air when they visit the surface, and have the capacity to absorb oxygen from the water
20:27through their skin.
20:29Their lungs span almost the entire length of their bodies, serving dual purposes,
20:35supplying oxygen when they are submerged, and acting as a buoyancy control mechanism,
20:40helping them move up and down in the water column with ease.
20:45Thanks to these attributes, some sea snakes can hunt for hours on a single breath.
20:53And what about all the salt?
20:56Since drinking seawater leads to dehydration, animals that live in or near the ocean have developed various adaptations to solve
21:05this challenge.
21:06Sea snakes have found a solution as well.
21:09They quench their thirst by drinking fresh water that collects on the surface of the ocean after it rains.
21:17And, with the help of specialized glands near their mouths, they can expel excess salt, preventing dehydration.
21:26While all snakes move using a wriggling motion, sea snakes have flattened tails like oars,
21:34which they use to push against the water to create extra thrust, helping them achieve greater propulsion and speed.
21:49Driven by curiosity and adapted for survival, sea snakes are masters of their environment,
21:57and true marvels of evolution.
22:10Curiosity is more than a fleeting impulse.
22:14It helps some animals to strategize and solve problems,
22:19to respond to competition and overcome changes in their environment.
22:24It can even help them conquer new worlds.
22:28In nature, curiosity is a powerful guiding force and a profound tool for survival.
23:05To be continued...
23:06To be continued...
23:12To be continued...
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