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This episode highlighs volcanic birth, growth, and death of South Pacific islands. It explores how these intense, fiery origins create unique habitats, from deep-sea eruptions to vibrant coral reefs and diverse marine life....
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AnimalsTranscript
00:08To be continued...
00:48This tiny South Pacific Island may not look like much,
00:55but it was once a mountain that towered above the waves.
01:02Now, it barely breaks the surface.
01:09Yet still, it attracts a spectacular array of wildlife.
01:20There are thousands of islands just like this scattered across the Pacific.
01:26And all are teeming with life.
01:36So what has reduced the mountains of the Pacific to this?
01:56Almost seven miles deep, the Pacific is the deepest body of water on the planet.
02:03But sometimes, the seabed shoots to the surface.
02:11Behold, one of nature's rarest sights.
02:19The creation of a new island.
02:25This is Kvatchi in the Solomon Islands, one of the most active undersea volcanoes in the world.
02:39The
02:40on the
03:13In the last hundred years,
03:14Kovachis emerged above the waves just a handful of times,
03:19but so far to no avail.
03:22Powerful waves keep sweeping its efforts away.
03:28This is a view of the Pacific as seen from space,
03:32a vast expanse of water that covers almost a third of the Earth's surface.
03:38Today, only 1% of this vast ocean is land,
03:42and much of it owes its existence to the explosive powers of volcanoes like Kovachis.
03:511,500 miles north of the equator,
03:56perhaps the most famous group of volcanic islands in the world, Hawaii.
04:04Still one of the most volcanically active areas on Earth.
04:16And this is Kilauea.
04:20Like all volcanoes, it's plumbed into the very heart of the Earth,
04:25home to a lot of hot, angry rock.
04:33Rising from 60 miles below the ocean's floor,
04:37this lava has flowed nonstop for 25 years.
04:51On the lower slopes, the lava travels at less than a hundred meters an hour,
04:56betraying little of its awesome power.
05:04nothing can survive this smoldering blanket.
05:16As the crust cools, it is lifted by the lava still flowing beneath it.
05:28The advance is relentless and unpredictable, changing direction without notice.
05:51roads here are regularly swept away,
05:54and some are now buried under 35 meters of rock.
06:16in the last 20 years, more than 200 homes have been destroyed by Kilauea's flow.
06:25And it doesn't stop here.
06:33Rivers of liquid rock plunge over the cliffs and into the water below.
06:42This is the front line in a battle between the elements.
06:59Most of the lava is swept away before it can settle.
07:09Most of the lava is swept away before it can settle.
07:19But inch by inch, the island grows.
07:28Below the waves, the battle rages on.
07:36As the lava hits the water, it's burning at over a thousand degrees Celsius.
07:48Cold currents from the deep send its temperature plummeting, releasing steam with explosive consequences.
08:08The lava fights on, but it's only a matter of time before its fire goes out.
08:32The commotion attracts attention, but it'll be some time before its safe to settle here.
08:44Pouring into the sea, Hawaii's lava has forged almost two and a half square kilometers of new land in less
08:51than 25 years.
08:54It's cold, hard rock, bleak, threatening, and barren.
09:00But there are some colonizers who just won't be put off.
09:06Ohia Lahua, a native plant and symbol of Hawaii, is among the first to flourish on this new land.
09:16This spindly bush will grow into a 30-meter tall tree.
09:21Its bright flowers food for a variety of birds, like these Hawaiian honeycreepers.
09:32But how on earth can a seed become a tree in a place where there is no soil and no
09:37sign of fresh water?
10:01The long, tenacious roots of the Ohia wend their way through the cracks and penetrate deep into the rock,
10:08in search of trapped water and nutrients.
10:14Their quest leads them to a remarkable subterranean world.
10:28Once a raging torrent of lava flowed right through here.
10:33When it stopped, this was all that remained.
10:38A lava tube.
10:46Pitch black, constantly damp, and very cold.
10:56Can anything survive in this harsh world?
11:01Amazingly, yes.
11:03Patches of bacteria line the walls, feeding on the minerals in the volcanic rock itself.
11:13But that's not all.
11:29This is the small-eyed, big-eyed hunting spider.
11:34A curious name for any spider, let alone one whose eyes barely function.
11:40But in total darkness, eyes are little use.
11:53Although he can't see it, the spider has company.
12:03Rare crickets scale the rocks.
12:17While translucent earwigs and milky millipedes forage for food.
12:24These are cave specialists, or troglobites.
12:28And they never leave the lava tube.
12:31Over time, most have lost their eyes and color.
12:35Like this plant hopper.
12:39Its tail has a curious function.
12:43Any predator biting it from behind will be left with nothing but a mouthful of irritating, waxy hair.
12:56This is a place of ghostly stillness.
13:00A definite advantage for the small-eyed, big-eyed hunting spider.
13:04With its super-sensitive leg hairs, it can pick up the slightest movement in the air.
13:13And it senses the cricket's presence long before it's close enough to ambush.
13:28As prey are few and far between, this may be its last meal for some time.
13:35With no light and little vegetation, only the specialists survive here.
13:42But that isn't the case for all lava tubes.
13:49Southeast of Hawaii, straddling the equator, lie the Galapagos Islands.
13:59As on Hawaii, some of the volcanoes here are still very active.
14:21The coastline of Isabella, the largest island, is covered in volcanic rock.
14:28Here, a very different kind of animal can be found in the rocky tubes.
14:39The chicks of Galapagos penguins.
14:47Without the lava tubes, they wouldn't survive.
14:52Cool and sheltered, the tubes are the perfect nursery, protecting the chicks from the unforgiving temperatures outside.
15:05Unforgiving, if you're a penguin, that is.
15:12Adult Galapagos penguins only cope by doing something the chicks can't yet do.
15:20They take a dip.
15:32The adults plunge into cool waters that have traveled all the way from the Antarctic.
15:46Who says penguins can't fly?
16:17The
16:18schools of fish are drawn to the shelter of these rocky volcanic shores
16:45but while the parents are out fishing their chicks are home alone
16:55back in the lava tube there's something creeping around
17:06a sally lightfoot crab has penguin on its mind
17:21it's dark so the crab can't be sure exactly what it's up against
17:41this time it's taken on more than it can handle
17:47had the encounter being just a few days earlier the outcome might have been very different crabs
17:53are major predators of baby penguins far to the west in the Solomon Islands lives an animal that
18:06depends on another characteristic of volcanoes for its survival heat
18:28meet the megapode also known as the incubator bird
18:40megapodes work hard to find the perfect spot to lay their egg
18:48and thanks to this island's volcanic springs that spot is just a foot or two below the sand where
18:54the temperature is an ideal 33 degrees but some megapodes don't seem as keen to dig as others
19:07and this can sometimes lead to fights
19:23with the dispute finally settled the victor lays an egg and covers it with sand
19:32parenting over the megapode leaves the time-consuming job of incubation to the volcano
19:44while the megapode thrives on a volcano's heat back in Hawaii there's a creature that thrives on the exact opposite
19:57this is mauna care a dormant volcano and Hawaii's tallest mountain
20:08incredibly for a tropical island its peak is covered with snow
20:14little can survive at such freezing heights
20:21bugs blown up here don't stand a chance
20:28stunned or trapped in snow they slowly die
20:41but not everything succumbs to the cold
20:48these tiny creatures are vécu bugs their cells are filled with a special kind of antifreeze that allows them to
20:56live around the snow line
20:58originally vécu bugs were seed-eating vegetarians but their descendants have adapted to this hostile environment
21:05now with a taste for blood they are the pacific's own vampire bugs
21:14needle-sharp mouthparts pierce their dead and dying victims
21:19before they suck out anything that's left inside
21:28measured from the sea floor the vécu's home is the tallest mountain in the world
21:35about a kilometer taller than Everest
21:40but it won't hold this record forever
21:45after millions of years of growth this mountain is slowly but surely losing height at a rate of 20 centimeters
21:54every hundred years
21:57in fact it's so massive that it's buckling the sea floor beneath it and sinking into the ocean
22:09Mauna Kea's future can be glimpsed in the society islands of French Polynesia
22:17the peaks of these islands once rose much higher than this from the ocean floor
22:28it's been almost two million years since their volcanoes first broke through the ocean
22:41but erosion is washing away their volcanic cores
22:54now the only growth occurs just below sea level on what was once the mountain's sloping flanks
23:09in the shallow waters around an island's base coral reefs rise towards the surface
23:25of all the formations in the Pacific
23:27of all the formations in the Pacific these reefs are by far the richest in life
23:36there are hundreds of different kinds of coral
23:39and all are made up of millions of tiny creatures called polyps each covered in a hard skeleton
23:50reefs are home to thousands of specialists like these razor fish that blend into the staghorn coral around them
24:04but not all animals here need to blend in
24:13grey reef sharks
24:21the reefs top predators these sharks patrol the waters on strong currents
24:45they may be idle right now but they won't remain this way for long
25:09as night falls it's feeding time
25:34needlefish stalk the coral shallows in search of food
25:38predators by day at night they become the prey
25:55speeding away at 20 miles an hour the needlefish give the chasing sharks a run for their money
26:02but it's hard to escape from so many
26:05the sea
26:06doesn't just take the vanished
26:08does not have much of the sea
26:11to the sea
26:13it's hard to escape from so many
26:15who are the continents
26:15and who are the mountains
26:16even if they're in the sky
26:17they are just to the sea
26:26and when the sea
26:27we have a lot of sea
26:27those they have a lot of sea
26:34and I will see
26:39Daylight reveals another reef predator.
26:54Crown of thorns starfish.
26:58Coral killers.
27:01Climbing over their prey, they secrete digestive changes
27:05and juices that turn the inside of the coral to liquid.
27:09Then they suck out the nutrients,
27:12leaving nothing behind but a ghostly skeleton.
27:20In only a few days, they can kill huge swathes of the reef.
27:35Fortunately, coral has an unlikely ally.
27:41The triton's trumpet.
27:54Believe it or not, this is a predator on the prowl.
28:07It's killer pounce revealed only when time is speeded up.
28:18An unlikely hero, perhaps,
28:21but the triton's trumpet is an invaluable control on these starfish.
28:28And the crown of thorns isn't the only coral killer on the reef.
28:35The razor-sharp beaks of bump-head parrotfish
28:38also put a dent in this living landscape.
28:49A single fish can chew its way through a staggering five tons of coral a year.
28:56A single fish can chew its way through a staggering five tons of coral a year.
29:15But they all give a little back as the ground-up coral comes out as sand.
29:27This is island-building of a different kind.
29:31So, some of the Pacific's most elegant beaches have sprung from a less than stylish berth.
29:44Above the water, time seems to stand still.
29:47But the Pacific islands are always changing, if slowly.
29:55This is Bora Bora.
30:00A volcano in what could be called late Middle Age.
30:04The sloping flanks have slipped further into the sea,
30:07pushing the reef away from the shore.
30:12A lagoon is formed.
30:15It's a patchwork of coral outcrops and sand.
30:24Protected from the powerful waves of the surrounding ocean,
30:28all kinds of animals take refuge in these calm, shallow waters.
30:47Some take comfort in their bold appearance.
30:53But others take shelter in the coral.
30:58Such as these sedentary and appropriately named Christmas tree worms.
31:04Filtering food from the gentle currents.
31:10For many, entire lives are played out within the clumps of coral.
31:20Mandarin fish.
31:22A dozen of them may inhabit one outcrop.
31:26Males are always on the hunt for a mate.
31:28And competition is fierce.
31:32Disputes start with a polite warning.
31:35The rising dorsal fin is a clear signal to back off.
31:42But sometimes, going for the jugular is the only way.
32:10The fight over.
32:12It's time to get down to business.
32:17Spawning is a brief affair.
32:20Then the eggs are left to the mercy of the kind.
32:27Life in the lagoon depends on a daily flushing of water from the open ocean.
32:35This flows in through channels formed by natural gaps in the reef.
32:42With each changing tide, a soupy river of debris and nutrients flows out of the lagoon and into the blue.
32:54This attracts all sorts of life.
33:03One regular visitor to the channels is the gently gliding manta ray.
33:15It filters out minute creatures floating in the currents.
33:19It filters out minute creatures floating in the currents.
33:38But there's more than enough to go around.
34:05But there's more than enough to go around.
34:08One of the areas is the first place of the rock Hmong.
34:13While a wall of fusiliers mops up the remains.
34:26Once the wall of the metal of the$-
34:33Pah, ho, pa, lena, ko
34:41Pa, lena, si, pa, ke, ke, le
34:48Pa, lena, si, pa, lena, ke
35:07across the South Pacific time continues to work its magic on rock millions of
35:16years of erosion and sinking have reduced the volcanic mount of Maupiti
35:21to little more than a hill eventually this hill will disappear too and when it
35:32does it will look like this Mata Eva a coral atoll
35:43rising above the waves a coral atolls reef surrounds a shallow lagoon
35:52where there was once a mighty peak now there is only water
36:05there are thousands of atolls like Mata Eva dotted around the South Pacific their size and shape determined
36:13by the original volcano
36:31some atolls are round their rings unbroken
36:37while others have been bent out of shape by ocean currents and earthquakes
36:52and a few span huge distances a testament to volcanoes whose size and power were once truly colossal
37:07in the south pacific
37:08Rangiroa in French Polynesia
37:11over 30 miles wide
37:13its lagoon is so large that if you were floating in its center you wouldn't see land
37:18in any direction
37:25the story of land building in the south pacific may start with volcanic eruptions
37:31but it doesn't end there
37:33a volcano once formed an island here but it sank back below the surface
37:39now it's on the rise again
37:49this is the extraordinary Kingman reef
38:05over 3000 miles from the nearest continent
38:09it is one of the last pristine coral reefs left in the world
38:18as tourism and fishing are banned here the reef is about as close as you'll get to the pacific as
38:24it used to be
38:25before humans arrived
38:42part of what makes Kingman extraordinary is the 200 types of coral found here
38:51part of what makes Kingman extraordinary is the 200 types of coral found here
38:59giant clams
39:01everywhere
39:05more than you'll see on any other reef in the world
39:25when giant clams spawn they expel millions of eggs into the water
39:33and when one starts all the others quickly follow
39:39the sea soon turns cloudy with life
45:31with food.
45:38Now, each day, the jellyfish migrate across the lake,
45:42following the arc of the sun.
45:52They're only obstacle the occasional anemone that tries to catch them
45:56as they float past.
46:03And sometimes fails.
46:13So, with little danger and a never-ending supply of food,
46:18the jellyfish have multiplied.
46:26And multiplied.
46:36And multiplied.
46:56It's strange to think that Palau was once just a piece of endless ocean.
47:04But nothing lasts forever.
47:12The never-ending rise and fall of land in the Pacific will continue to produce strange and wonderful worlds like
47:20these.
47:32At the start of it all will always be the incredible natural force that created land here in the first
47:39place.
47:41The ocean volcano.
48:07During the making of this series,
48:09the team filmed in many remote locations across the South Pacific.
48:15These isolated islands are home to some truly unique wildlife.
48:19many of them found nowhere else on Earth.
48:35But life on remote islands comes at a price.
48:38Any change can be disastrous.
48:48And this is what the team came face to face with on the Galapagos Islands.
48:58The Galapagos are very special.
49:01It was of course these volcanic islands that inspired Darwin.
49:05And here, there are an astounding number of creatures that exist nowhere else in the world.
49:18One of these unique animals is the Galapagos penguin.
49:22And this is what the team wanted to film.
49:28Recently, their survival has become increasingly uncertain.
49:32And the crew knew this could make filming very difficult.
49:36Fortunately, the cameraman had close ties with the Galapagos.
49:42Richard Wallacombe worked as a wildlife guide on Galapagos for several years.
49:52He was aware of the penguins' problems,
49:55so this filming trip was a chance to find out more.
50:00Ironically, it's the people's love of the islands,
50:02which actually have caused some of the problems, major problems there,
50:06because the big increase in the amount of tourists going to Galapagos
50:08and this has meant that the service industry that supply those tourists
50:11have increased the amount of products going to the islands,
50:14and those products have contained very damaging species,
50:17the insular species, which have huge detrimental impacts on the native fauna.
50:24Richard hoped to film inside the nests of Galapagos penguins.
50:28How easy this was going to be, nobody knew.
50:37Today's penguin population stands at less than 2,000,
50:41dramatically less than it was 25 years ago.
50:46Now introduced species are adding extra pressure to the lives of the penguins.
50:55When Richard arrived, the Galapagos authorities were tightening their regulations,
50:59and the final filming permission was down to a meeting with the National Park in person.
51:06They've decided to collaborate with our filming,
51:09and they're really excited we're doing the filming,
51:11because they can collaborate with us with some scientific investigations.
51:16Few observations had ever been made inside a penguin's nest,
51:20so filming might reveal some interesting behaviour.
51:23I'm really fascinated, because I've never seen it on television,
51:25I've never seen it on any video, so it's a first.
51:30However, filming couldn't start immediately.
51:34First, Richard's equipment had to be fumigated and placed in a freezer
51:38to kill off anything living, plant or animal, that was carried in on the plane.
51:47It's so amazing to see the level of dedication that's going on here in this job.
51:53They're going through our equipment with a fine tooth comb,
51:56taking absolutely everything apart, and looking at the finest details.
52:02The National Park had cause to be concerned.
52:06Disaster had nearly struck Isabella Island,
52:09the very place Richard hoped to film the penguins.
52:12Just a few introduced goats multiplied to a staggering 100,000.
52:18Their indiscriminate grazing devastated the landscape,
52:22destroying the shade and food of the unique giant tortoises.
52:26Something had to be done.
52:29The government of Ecuador took on the battle,
52:32and against all odds managed to eradicate every goat.
52:54The shepherd's field was caught, and against all the bats levels were vivo,
52:58One of theất big
53:00societies resuscitation.
53:08The goat invasion did not affect the penguins.
53:12But the penguins have other pressures, and not all man-made.
53:20Galapagos penguins are the most northerly penguins in the world.
53:25And they can only live here because of the cold, nutrient-rich current
53:29flowing all the way from the Antarctic.
53:32Which supports huge shoals of fish, penguin food.
53:51But just a small change in water temperature can dramatically alter this food source.
53:57And that is exactly what happened.
54:05In 1982, the strongest ever recorded El Niño hit the islands.
54:11El Niño, a natural phenomenon, brings warm waters which destroys the huge shoals of fish.
54:19As a result, penguin breeding failed, and their population crashed by almost 70%.
54:33After 72 hours in the freezer, Richard's film equipment had passed inspection,
54:38and he was ready to set off.
54:40He was joined by Carolina Larea Angamea, a local scientist who had agreed to take Richard
54:45to a location where she knew penguins regularly nested.
54:49Okay.
54:50It would take 16 hours to reach Isabella Island.
54:54There, they hoped to find the chicks hidden in rocky crevices near the shoreline.
55:03But the search didn't start well.
55:11What's that?
55:12A dead penguin.
55:13Oh my gosh.
55:13I saw two more over there.
55:15You think it's a cat?
55:16Probably.
55:17I'm not sure because it's not very recently, so you cannot really see much of it.
55:22There's the wing there.
55:23Yeah.
55:24It's the wing there, but the rest of the body then, you cannot really tell if it was hidden.
55:29Man.
55:29Can you believe that?
55:31Yeah.
55:31It's pretty depressing if it was a cat.
55:34This is one of the troubles here in Galapagos, is that we have introduced mammals that these
55:40animals have not evolved to compete with.
55:43The search continued, but they didn't find any penguin nests at all.
55:48We still have to check a number of other nests, but I don't think we're going to get
55:51a chance to see penguin chicks here.
55:54Carolina set up mosquito traps, as there were also fears that avian malaria may have
55:59reached the islands.
56:00Well, we might have a bit of a dilemma, because what we were actually expecting to find was
56:04life, not death.
56:06We were expecting to find the new generation of penguins in their nests, being tended by
56:11their parents, and it was a really big disappointment to find just dead penguins everywhere.
56:20Tourism is growing by 10% a year in the Galapagos, and with people come invading species.
56:25It's impossible to apply the strict fumigation regulations the filming kit was subject to on
56:32the importers and traders.
56:34Other South Pacific islands, like Hawaii, are fighting the same battle.
56:38There, an estimated 30 new species arrive every year.
56:49For several days, Richard and Carolina traveled around the island searching for penguin nests.
56:54And at last, good news.
56:57We have got two little baby, two week old chicks, about this big, sitting abandoned on a nest.
57:04Both parents are out feeding right now, to try and ensure their survival.
57:07I'm so happy!
57:17Richard worked quickly to get the camera in place, and all his efforts were rewarded.
57:23A great view of an adult feeding the chicks.
57:30And to top that, an unexpected visitor to the nest.
57:37The chicks didn't like the crab at all.
57:39Suffice it to say, there was a constant tip for tap going on in the nest.
57:44The crab would go forward, and the penguins would bite it, and then the crab would recede
57:48into the shadows.
57:50It was really interesting for a while there.
57:52It looked quite ominous.
57:53And nice.
57:54Quite unusual, I think.
57:55I don't think that's...
57:56Certainly, no one in Galapagos has seen what goes on in the nests at night time.
58:02So, this is all very novel, very new, and very, very exciting.
58:29Oohh...
58:38Uhhh...
58:40Oohh...
58:41Oohh...
58:41Oohh-oohh...
58:43Oohh...
58:45Oohh...
58:54Transcription by CastingWords
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