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The island is characterized by an incredibly diverse ecosystem, extreme geographic features, and a wealth of natural resources....
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00:08On the far side of the world is an island carved by waterfalls, forged by volcanoes.
00:16Look at that! It's been thrown a kilometer into the air.
00:23New Guinea, home to ancient cultures, and the last great frontier of jungle exploration.
00:30In the world.
00:33For a nine-month period, a team of scientists, filmmakers and cavers have been exploring the most remote parts of
00:40this island.
00:41The terrain looks a total nightmare.
00:44This is what we do expeditions for, places like this. Unimaginably beautiful and totally unexplored.
00:54They've witnessed the birth of new mountains and explore ancient craters.
01:00To find something that's never before been seen by science, this has got to be one of the most incredible
01:05moments of my life.
01:06That is just fantastic!
01:09They've discovered animals found nowhere else.
01:12Whoa, whoa, whoa!
01:14Look at that!
01:17Their aim? To search for species new to science, and find the evidence to help preserve these forests forever.
01:25We can't save everything, but we have to save the richest places, and the richest places on Earth are forests
01:32like this.
02:00New Guinea.
02:01a huge tropical island on the edge of the South Pacific Ocean this rugged
02:10jungle hides a network of deep isolated valleys they're the most promising
02:16places in the world to find rare animals the creatures that have evolved here are
02:22truly strange kangaroos that live in trees exotic birds of paradise giant cassowaries
02:34with their armored crests and the shine secretive couscous at the heart of the island is Mount
02:46busavi a giant volcano long since extinct and the team's home for this phase of the expedition
03:04on their way in is a team of experts on the animals of New Guinea but for wildlife cameraman Gordon
03:12Buchanan it's his first time here this is a very very difficult terrain you've got these steep gullies
03:20riverine valleys and very very thick forest very much the unknown and somewhere I'm really quite
03:28nervous about they're heading for a base camp in the foothills of Mount busavi George McGavin is head
03:38of the science team he's already in camp with some of the tribe who own this ancient land they'll be
03:44working with the scientists and filmmakers to find the forest creatures the heart of this camp is the
03:51jungle lab we have assembled a team of specialists world experts and their groups birds reptiles and
03:58amphibians bats insects and they're going to be working in here
04:23the helicopter kicks off quite a blast but that's all the scientists coming in
04:44they'll be exploring for new species in a forgotten corner of our planet it's a task more vital today than
04:52ever as this ancient forest has an uncertain future
05:04steve backshall is the last member to arrive
05:07how are we going to move around in here and go about actually trying to find wildlife
05:12i have no idea
05:15it's the third time that gordon george and steve have been on jungle expeditions together
05:22george is the scientist he'll go anywhere in his search for strange insects gordon is the wildlife
05:29cameraman nothing will stop from getting the perfect picture steve is the adventurer and climber
05:37whether it's up mountains or down waterfalls the bigger the challenge the better it is
05:44day one in the new guinea base camp as they prepare the gear something bizarre arrives in camp
05:50just you come here i got one thing for you it's been caught by boatsman nick awayo
05:55oh my god that is absolutely incredible
06:08a thing that folks don't often think is that the stick insects can fly i can just take it off
06:15the camera
06:16lens the front wings are quite short little tiny little winglets there but the hind wings are just
06:25beautifully fan like like this big pleat that is the biggest stick insect i have ever seen in the wild
06:38working with a team of skilled boatmen steve is keen to head downstream
06:46he'll be exploring the fast-flowing rivers that pour down these mountains
06:50mountains
06:57it really is spectacular a little bit up and down there's an awful lot of water flowing through here
07:04it's a fantastic opportunity for us all to get somewhere that is just almost totally unknown
07:18these rivers are the roads of the rainforest eventually taking steve into uncharted territory
07:25in new guinea the rivers roar not just over the ground but also underground through caves deep within
07:32these limestone mountains steve's journey will ultimately lead him to follow a river deep into this
07:38underworld he'll be exploring where no human has ever been living and sleeping under a million tons of rock
07:49back in base camp gordon's preparing to trek into the forest
07:55he'll be working with a team of trackers to capture on camera the secretive animals of this jungle
08:01there's no point of reference in papua new guinea there are no cats there are no rhinos there are no
08:07elephants there are no monkeys there is nothing familiar about the creatures that live in this
08:12forest so in some ways i feel as if i'm starting from scratch it's quite daunting um the prospect of
08:17going into this forest and starting to look for things
08:22but new guinea does have the most spectacular and strange birds in the world
08:28from now on gordon will be out searching for them
08:38the hornbills you never ever see them from the ground one of the largest birds of new guinea the hornbill
08:49but he soon finds signs of a real giant of a bird
08:54oh something there hang on okay this is the first thing that i found it's a cassowary footprint and this
09:01is an enormous bird that footprint is the size of my hand so we're talking of a bird that's about
09:07kind of four or five feet tall i'd love to be able to find one of them
09:15in the jungle lab the experts sought their equipment before starting their hunt for animals
09:22the team has come from all over the world and is working with some of new guinea's leading scientists
09:30they're led by dr george mcgavin a specialist in insects from oxford university
09:37he set an ambitious target this whole area is completely unexplored and as head of the scientist
09:43team i want to find at least 30 new species right here
09:51this goal isn't just for the sake of science
09:55proving this forest is rich can be a powerful reason to protect it
10:00just 20 miles south the jungle is disappearing
10:11if we have any chance of saving it we have to be able to tell everybody this is a very
10:19rich area
10:20hopefully we'll find some new species to keep people aware of the fact that these habitats
10:26still exist and are worth saving if the forests go we will lose the majority of species on earth
10:33without even knowing they were there
10:42steve and the river team are five miles downstream
10:50around them waterfalls pour down from mount bossado oh wow this is a monster
11:01these tracks here
11:04croc tracks this is quite clearly the hind foot of the croc it's been coming in from this direction it's
11:14come up to check something out the tracks lead back into the forest
11:22crocodile nest
11:26but it's been you can see it's been dug up this one's still got
11:30amniotic fluid inside it look this has happened very recently possibly last night
11:37well this isn't the hatchlings breaking out of their own accord
11:42they have a an egg tooth which is on the end of their nose which knows which they use to
11:47break out
11:47the egg and they make a very clean departure whereas this has just been shredded and i am 99
11:54percent sure these have been taken by a monitor lizard that's one of the biggest predators of nests like
12:06this
12:06what a shame this forest does feel prehistoric to me it feels like the kind of place where you
12:12could see a dinosaur around every corner and crocodiles have been around since the time of
12:16the dinosaurs and this is exactly the way that a velociraptor or a t-rex would have laid its eggs
12:22buried them in vegetation
12:30there's an art to finding the creatures that hide in these forests scientists put up survey nets to
12:35find birds and bats fishing nets are placed in the creeks
12:43and george walks quietly searching for insects
12:55deep in the forest
12:58gordon's found a tiny nest
13:00it looks like it belongs to a curiosity of nature
13:04one of the smallest parrots in the world oh wow yeah right here
13:10as you can imagine a pygmy parrot is pretty small that's how it got its name and they're tiny
13:16they're only about actually not much bigger than my thumb it's actually quite a big hole for a small bird
13:23and what they do on these sort of rock solid termite mountains they'll dig in probably using their
13:28beaks and their claws and burrow in down into it and lay their eggs there but this is all quite
13:33it's all fresh stuff that it's just just been excavating this morning i'm kind of concerned that
13:40might not come come back but i think it's definitely worth setting up the hide and just waiting it out
13:52to have any chance of filming these tiny birds he must blend into the background
13:58and settle down for a long wait
14:05george is taking a more active approach to finding his insects
14:11wood like this is an incredibly useful food material for for loads of insects i mean
14:16it's eaten by beetles and termites and lots of stuff there isn't anything wasted in the jungle it's all recycled
14:25there's over one million species of insects known to be living in jungles
14:30and scientists estimate there's another five million waiting to be discovered
14:34if you know where to look
14:38oh that's a nice beetle i gotta work very carefully now because i don't want to hurt them
14:44there we are look at that there she is a best beetle they are fantastic that's a reward and a
14:56half
14:56she's got fantastic little red hairs all around the thorax here what a find his first discovery is
15:03from a group of obscure and odd animals talking beetles they live in groups with their young ones and
15:11they call to each other as well they make squeaks if you can get the boom down i'll just try
15:18and make it squeak
15:23i can hear it from here
15:26in the dark in logs you can't see each other but if you can make squeaky noises then you know
15:31where each
15:31other are
15:34an extraordinary find new guinea is the place for the weird and wonderful
15:40these forests are the most diverse and complex habitats that have ever evolved on earth there's a
15:48huge store of species here about which we know nothing at all if you lose these forests from being a
15:56very
15:56rich planet we would instantly become a very poor one so that is absolutely gorgeous absolutely gorgeous
16:08gordon's still patiently watching the nest of the pygmy parrot
16:14there's simply no way around this if you want to film animals in the wild most of the time you've
16:21got to
16:21do a stakeout sit tucked away and hide and just sit and wait you can't really switch off an eye
16:30you can't
16:31read a book or pick your toenail you've got to stay alert and try and tune in to the sounds
16:37and the changes
16:38in sounds and sort of anticipate the arrival of the animal you're after
16:46steve's on the river survey with fish expert phil willink they're trying to get to a jungle creek
16:51to check the nets there's a rock right here go left
16:56Oh, cut the engine.
17:01Oh, I heard something splosh up ahead.
17:04Oh, that's a venomous catfish.
17:06No way!
17:07Let's be a little careful here.
17:09It's probably best to grab it from the head.
17:11If I do get whacked, how bad a day am I going to have?
17:13It's basically the same as getting hit by a stingray spine.
17:16What an extraordinary looking fish.
17:18That is a true alien mouth, isn't it? Look at that.
17:22They're covered with taste buds.
17:23Because it's actually tasting its environment all the time.
17:25Its eyes are not particularly large.
17:28So it has to use other senses to find things, particularly in these muddy rivers here.
17:32Look at the dorsal spine coming erect there.
17:35And at the end of it, you can see the sharp tip to it.
17:38And, you know, it's living in the same river with giant crocodiles.
17:41Yeah.
17:42So it needs a defense.
17:43These spines also can go up and then lock into place.
17:46So if a crocodile came along and tried to grab it, it would go right straight through the roof of
17:49its mouth.
17:49So it's amazing to think that a fish like this can actually defend itself against a three, four-meter-long
17:56crocodile.
17:56Well, yeah, it will.
17:57And if it's going to hurt one of those, it's sure as heck going to hurt one of us.
18:00Oh, yeah, yeah. So you've got to be really careful.
18:06George is deep in the forest searching for creatures.
18:11This place is full of surprises.
18:14Millipedes are normally quite tough animals, but this one is incredibly tough.
18:19It's very, very armoured.
18:20It has these little spines that point backwards all the way along it,
18:24which must help it as it drives, you know, under logs and soil and stuff,
18:28because that's where it lives.
18:30And it is absolutely weird.
18:33Very strange-looking animal.
18:37At last, Gordon gets his reward.
18:39The pygmy parrots have returned to their nest.
18:42Oh, there they are.
18:44They're on the nest.
18:46Oh, my God.
18:49They are tiny.
18:52Oh, wow.
18:54That is the weirdest thing.
18:58We've got a parrot here that is significantly smaller than many of the insects that live in this forest.
19:07And they're very much a parrot.
19:10They seem very affectionate with each other, which is quite typical of parrots.
19:16Parrots have a strong bond between male and female, sidling up to each other, beak rubbing, and constantly reinforcing their
19:28relationship.
19:30They move so fast, it's very jerky.
19:33It looks as if it's almost speeded up.
19:38You shouldn't say that animals are adorable in the wild, but they are simply adorable.
19:50Stop.
19:52I'm pretty pleased with that.
19:55Back at camp, it's been a good day for the scientists.
19:59Already, it seems this forest is incredibly rich.
20:05Jack Dombach is searching for the birds of the jungle and investigating the diseases they carry.
20:11One of the things that's very interesting to me here is that we have a very pristine environment,
20:16and birds and other wildlife carry natural diseases.
20:19And so understanding these diseases, how they're spread, how they're moved around by birds and by humans,
20:25is very, very important for conservation as well as for basic biology.
20:30The birds are recorded by the expedition photographer.
20:35Perfect close for the camera.
20:41And then they can fly home.
20:47To be finding new species already, bodes very well for the expedition.
20:53For the moment, the scientists are hidden in the foothills of Mount Bosavi.
21:01But in a few weeks, the team will head higher, up the steep mountain slopes and down into the heart
21:06of this extinct volcano.
21:10This giant crater is trapped from the outside world by walls half a mile high.
21:18They will be the first scientists ever to travel into this lost world.
21:23They believe it could hide truly spectacular new creatures.
21:32Mount Bosavi is a huge mountain, large enough to generate its own weather system.
21:37And mostly, that means rain.
21:40I do love it when it's like this actually, when the rain really comes down.
21:44That's the real force and power of this place, isn't it?
21:48And it's what makes everything work, you know?
21:49If there wasn't this amount of rain, you wouldn't have this amount of life.
21:57It's very refreshing.
22:00Jack has been collecting birds away from the rest of the team.
22:04And as a surprise for Gordon.
22:07What have you got, Jack?
22:09You'll never believe it.
22:10This is your little pygmy parrot.
22:14Oh, my goodness me.
22:16So if you can just hold your fingers as close as you can to his body.
22:22Let me grab his legs again.
22:23Ow!
22:24Yeah, it's pointy, but he doesn't...
22:25It's a parrot's beak.
22:27He can't do that much damage, though.
22:30Oh, man.
22:32That is just the cutest thing.
22:34So now you can really see how tiny he is, like, compared to your thumb.
22:38He is just a parrot in miniature.
22:39Yep.
22:41You cannot believe that a parrot can be this small.
22:48This tiny bird weighs less than half an ounce.
22:51Oh, my word.
22:54In the forest, actually, the feather...
22:57Ow.
23:00Oh, sh...
23:04Oh, no, I'm sorry.
23:06And actually, one of the things I wanted to do is get a little bit of DNA.
23:09Oh, God, sorry.
23:10And I wasn't gonna take blood from him, because he's a little bit too small.
23:12So we did get one feather he left us, so we can use that.
23:21There's a fully grown larva there.
23:23The jungle lab is filling with new and curious creatures.
23:30I'll bet you any money that wasp right there that's walking along that leaf is a new species.
23:35I'll bet you any money.
23:46Alana Maltby is a bat expert from the Zoological Society of London.
23:50Oh, he's tiny.
23:52Yeah, he's really, really small and really cute.
23:54It's a bent-winged bat.
23:56All right.
23:56And I'll show you why.
23:58Most bats, they just have their fingers, and when they fold their wings, they just fold them straight up.
24:02Right.
24:02But this one folds them doubly.
24:05Oh, right.
24:06Because they're really long.
24:07But the thing is, I can't figure out which bent-winged bat it is.
24:10It doesn't quite match with any of the descriptions.
24:13Which means...
24:14Which means it could be a new species.
24:16A new species of furry animal.
24:19Yeah.
24:20A new species of animal, which is quite rare to find a new species of animal.
24:23It is very rare.
24:26A small creature, but a big discovery.
24:29No one expected this success so soon.
24:41Rainforests come alive at night.
24:43Gordon treks out to find what's hiding there.
24:49Rainforests are very difficult places to work at the best of times.
24:53But this forest, in particular, is extra tough.
24:57Because the animals that live here are very secretive, and they're incredibly well hidden.
25:05He has an infrared camera for filming in the darkness.
25:09There's something moving in the undergrowth.
25:14Wow!
25:19It's pretty big.
25:20It's about a meter and a half, maybe.
25:22And I really, I don't go any closer than I am to it.
25:28I think it's a small-eyed snake.
25:30These things lurk about to stand on one of these.
25:34Oh, oh.
25:38That's a sinister-looking snake.
25:41It really does freak me out, seeing something as dangerous as this in the forest at night time.
25:49They need a positive identification.
25:51Steve is the team's snake specialist.
25:56He thinks it might be one of the most venomous snakes around here.
26:03Hi, guys.
26:06Oh, wow.
26:08Look at that.
26:09Gordy.
26:10It looks almost definitely like one.
26:13The only way you can really tell, though, is to get up close and look at the amount of scales
26:17around the eye.
26:22The snake's obviously hunting.
26:25Ooh.
26:34Striking quite vigorously.
26:37Ooh.
26:39There's the head.
26:42I need to pin the head to get control of the snake.
26:48So, now that I've got it up close, you can see, although it does have that tiny, beady, black, recessed
26:56eye that you'd expect from the small-eyed snake, it also has a couple of extra scales between the eye
27:02and the nostril.
27:04It's a ground snake.
27:06Not venomous, but very aggressive and always ready to strike.
27:09So, Gordy.
27:12Fantastic, mate.
27:14So it's not a small-eyed snake?
27:15It's not a small-eyed snake.
27:17And at least rodents, frogs, lizards...
27:19Yeah.
27:20...sort of eggs?
27:20All the things you're trying to film.
27:22Yeah.
27:28And he's off.
27:30None the worse for wear.
27:38This phase of the work is based in the foothills of Mount Bosavi.
27:42But there's a series of trips in this expedition.
27:47Steve's embarking on another quest.
27:53He's heading east, to an island off the coast of New Guinea, called New Britain.
28:01The forests here in New Britain are some of the most spectacular I've ever seen anywhere in the world.
28:06We're flying through a very deep, steep-sided gorge, with a whitewater river flowing right down through the middle of
28:13it.
28:14He's on his way to join a world-class team of adventure cavers.
28:20These limestone hills are hollow.
28:23Under here is a honeycomb of caves which may stretch for miles.
28:26And their job is to explore them.
28:30There's just one problem.
28:32This is the only way into the caves.
28:37The whitewater river thunders from the entrance.
28:40And it's halfway up a jungle cliff.
28:42Oh, my life! Look at this!
28:45This must be it! This must be Begani cave!
28:48That's where we're going!
28:53The local village have turned out to meet Steve.
28:57Hello?
28:58Hello?
28:59Hello?
29:01Hello?
29:03This is the village of Ora, which is as close as we can get in the helicopter to the caves.
29:09So, I guess we're going to try and rouse some support here, try and get a few people to help
29:12us carry all our stuff in,
29:14because we've got an awful lot of it.
29:15We'd like to meet the head man and get his permission to be wandering around on what essentially is their
29:20land.
29:21Every piece of forest in New Guinea belongs to a local tribe.
29:27Steve can't go anywhere without the consent of the chief.
29:29Hey! Hello, hello.
29:33Have you ever been to the cave, Begani cave?
29:37Yes.
29:38And what do you think is inside the cave?
29:45It seems that there's a feeling, perhaps even a local myth, that there's a huge snake inside these caves.
29:52It would be very nice if it wasn't a local myth. If it was true, that would be great!
30:01One week in, everyone at base camp has settled into a routine.
30:06But there's nothing regular about the animals coming in.
30:11It's a blue-tongued skink. He's beautiful.
30:17Every animal they find is recorded. Some of them are bright and beautiful, some shy and camouflaged.
30:25What do you think it is?
30:27Little striped thrust.
30:28Little striped thrust.
30:30They've catalogued hundreds of animals, and at least seven of them are brand new species.
30:36Down there.
30:38Gordon has a new goal. Together with Musée Opiang, he'll be searching for the secretive mammals of the forest.
30:43To give us an overall view of the animals that live in this forest, we can't just use legwork.
30:49We have to put these traps out and find out what's living here.
30:52And we've got some kind of forest rat in here.
30:55I'll get them out and Musée can tell me exactly what it is.
30:58Do you like all the rats?
30:59I like them.
31:00Do you think they're ugly?
31:01No, no.
31:04Musée knows where to set the traps.
31:07And Gordon uses his tracking skills to search for science.
31:13It's got a kind of musky smell around here.
31:16Some big holes down there.
31:18Just got to check it out.
31:20You're not only using your eyes and your ears to find animals,
31:23and quite often some animals get themselves away by their smell.
31:26There's definitely something around here or something that's been here.
31:30Have a look at this.
31:32Ooh.
31:35Spooky.
31:36It's almost a cave.
31:40There's a bit of a jump down.
31:41Look, you might want to hand me the camera.
31:45Got it.
31:52He's found the entrance to a tunnel.
31:55Yeah, because in a long way...
31:57Actually, here, there's animal tracks.
31:59And see this muddy area?
32:01It's all smoothed down.
32:03You look around other areas, it doesn't have any of the surface mud,
32:06but it's just been smoothed over.
32:08Oh, there's a nut, kind of chewed fruit in there.
32:12This is a really good place to set up a little camera trap,
32:17because, without the doubt, there are animals coming and going from here.
32:21Musee helps to train a remote camera on the tunnel.
32:24Yeah, at least the right height.
32:26OK.
32:27You think that's good here?
32:28Yes.
32:30Just need to switch it on.
32:33OK.
32:33Arming in ten seconds.
32:38OK, I think we should just get out. It's running.
32:45Throughout the forest, remote cameras are placed to catch any mammals passing by.
32:51It's vital they find what lives here.
32:54Surrounded by pristine forest.
32:57But the frontline is getting closer.
33:05Just 20 miles south, the loggers have moved in.
33:11Every day, more trees disappear.
33:18George is pulling together all the evidence from the scientists.
33:22This report will be sent to government officials here,
33:26in the hope that it'll add into a plan for conserving the wildlife here.
33:33This is a critical issue now.
33:36This whole area in the fruit hills of Basavi is a very special forest.
33:43The evidence is beginning to confirm that these forests are unique.
33:48And not only above the ground.
33:51To the east, the preparations for the underground exploration are well underway.
33:57Steve sets out on his trek to the cave entrance,
34:00with a little help from the villagers.
34:03They're heading to meet the team at their camp above the waterfall.
34:09The rest of the cavers have been there for a couple of days preparing the gear.
34:17They've brought state-of-the-art equipment to map the river that flows through these caves.
34:22There's an awful lot more cave out there to be.
34:23Yeah, exactly. It just gives you an idea of what we're actually up against.
34:27As the only naturalist on the team, Steve's job is to search for any animals in the caves.
34:33We've got a remarkably strong team here.
34:36We have three members of the original expedition that came here just a couple of years ago.
34:41What's clear is that this is a gigantic cave system.
34:43This is a cave that goes on for a lot, lot further than they managed to explore.
34:47And that's our real aim, is to push on into areas where they thought there might be the chance of
34:51something special,
34:52and try and find what's there.
34:55It's supposed to be the dry season. Heavy rains will flood the caves.
34:59This is all bad at the moment.
35:02The whole reason we planned to do this trip now was because the rains aren't due for at least another
35:07month.
35:09And if this carries on, it's going to be more than discomfort.
35:12But we know where we'll get down the caves, and if we do, it'll be very, very dangerous.
35:15But at the moment, the worst thing we have to worry about is mud, and just the fact that all
35:20kit's going to die.
35:24Back at base camp, an injured bat's been brought in.
35:28Alana's nursing it back to health.
35:33This is a common blossom bat, and it eats nectar with a very long tongue.
35:39And because it eats sugar, it needs sugar every 24 hours.
35:43Will you be honest?
35:44Yeah, absolutely.
35:47I think if we can get a good meal into her now, and release her before it gets too warm,
35:52then she'll be fine.
35:55This bat is specially adapted to feeding on flowers.
35:58The whole thing.
36:00This fantastic tongue...
36:01Look at that.
36:03...is rolled up inside its mouth, and then it sticks it out down between the petals of a flower, so
36:08that it can get to the nectar.
36:10Which is exactly what it's doing here. It's going straight down the syringe tip.
36:14Yeah.
36:15It's just gone from being nearly unconscious to really perky.
36:21That is, that is really nice.
36:25Well, there we go, some strength back.
36:27We should release it as soon as possible, and then it won't be too hot for it to fly back
36:31to its day roost.
36:39It's day nine, and already the scientists have found ten species that are completely new to them.
36:44They kept busy, day and night.
36:50Musa and Gordon have found a creature in one of their traps.
36:56It's a striped possum.
36:58Striped possum.
36:59They're famously feisty creatures that are more than a match for bigger fun.
37:03Oh, wow. He's a beauty.
37:05They're marsupials, raising their babies in a pouch, and for defence, can let out very strong smells.
37:14He's black and white like a skunk, and he actually smells like a skunk. Very strong, musty odour.
37:19If you just see that finger, it's just quite extraordinary. There are few animals in the world that have that
37:24kind of adaptation.
37:26The long finger is for winkling grubs out of holes.
37:33We'll weigh him, measure him, and then take him back to exactly where we found him.
37:37Let's measure the tail first.
37:423.30.
37:45For the base?
37:46Right here. To the tip, yes.
37:49With the vital statistics taken, it's time to release him.
37:52This is the tricky part. You can see how sharp his feet are.
37:57We want to avoid getting bitten.
38:00Ow!
38:03Oh!
38:04That's a bit of a nip.
38:05OK, can I nick that other glove? Just in case.
38:08This glove is made from the same material that bulletproof vests and stab jackets are made from.
38:13And he's actually causing quite a bit of pain, so I'm going to take him out and release him.
38:18OK. And I reckon as soon as his feet touch, he's going to be off.
38:22OK, pal. There you go.
38:24Oh, look at that.
38:26Yeah, that's good. There's much happening there.
38:36700 miles to the east, Steve and the team are abseiling down to the mouth of the cave.
38:42We've seen the cave from the air, but to stand here and for the first time really be able to
38:47hear the sound of it raging beneath us is something else.
38:55It's an 80-meter drop to the entrance.
38:59Oh, wow.
39:13It's not a very usual view hanging above a waterfall.
39:19And below it there's just this majestic drop down to the pool beneath.
39:26I'm not liking where these ropes are bringing me down, though.
39:29It's going to be right in the waterfall.
39:34Whoa.
39:36Just hope I can find somewhere to get my footing on here.
39:46Just do not want to slip now.
40:00Out there, everything's green and magical. In there it's all, frankly, a little bit frightening.
40:11The cavers push their way up the white water river.
40:18The current is strong.
40:21They can't afford to put a foot on.
40:31Oh, this is unbelievable.
40:34Wow.
40:35They're now half a mile into the cave and face a huge obstacle.
40:39The waterfall swollen by heavy rains.
40:42This is the largest waterfall that we know of in the whole of the Ganey Cave River system.
40:47The entire volume of the river is flowing over this waterfall.
40:51And it's a real crux point of the cave.
40:53If you can't get beyond this, then you really have been stymied.
40:56You know, you can't get any further.
40:57Look at that.
41:01Back at camp, Gordon starts to sort through the thousands of pictures captured by the remote cameras.
41:09The thing about this system is you can't review it in the field, so it's quite exciting.
41:14There's a kind of Christmas morning moment.
41:15You come back with this little memory card, put it in the computer, and then you find out exactly what
41:20you've got.
41:21At first, absolutely nothing.
41:25Any movement triggers the camera.
41:31One of the curiosities of New Guinea is there are hardly any large mammals living on the jungle floor.
41:38Rat.
41:39You've got giant rats here. Rats that are bigger than domestic cats.
41:45The last camera trap to check is from the tunnel entrance.
41:51Another rat. I think that's a different species.
41:58Hmm.
42:01Then, something very special.
42:04One of the most secretive creatures in New Guinea.
42:07Look.
42:09Look.
42:09That is a couscous.
42:11I knew it. Look, look, look.
42:12I do not believe that.
42:14He's just having a good old route around.
42:18These images were taken at five in the morning.
42:21Couscous are only active at night.
42:23This one's returning to the cave where it must spend the day.
42:26Oh, goodness me.
42:28I would absolutely have loved to have been there.
42:34It's an important find for the team.
42:37Couscous are so shy they're rarely seen.
42:40At dusk, Gordon heads out to try and capture one on camera.
42:44During the day, they'll either be asleep in the trees,
42:47and more often than not, they'll be in a hole.
42:50So whether that's a hole in a tree, a hole in the ground,
42:52or underneath these big boulders,
42:53I've got lots of different camera systems
42:55that we can pretty much check out every option at night time
42:58and try and get some shots of them.
43:03At the waterfall,
43:04Steve's putting his skills as a climber to good use.
43:07He's leading the way up.
43:09An old rope has been left by the previous expedition.
43:13It feels pretty good.
43:15But it's been battered by the waterfall for the last two years,
43:20so I can't really afford to risk my life on it.
43:24The camera is attached to Steve's helmet.
43:28All I can see is straight!
44:05Yeah!
44:07That's it!
44:09Lots of loose rock!
44:14Whoa!
44:17I have a feeling this is gonna be the crux.
44:22Gun overhanging!
44:24Right in the waterfall!
44:29It's now pitch black,
44:31and Gordon is pushing into unknown territory
44:34to find and film the elusive couscous
44:36we use on the infrared light.
44:39There's lots of noise up at the top of this tree.
44:43Not the couscous,
44:46but giant fruit bats.
44:47We've got these fruit bats feeding on figs.
44:52Because he's using infrared light,
44:55the bats are completely undisturbed.
44:56Oh, look at the squabbling.
45:03Oh, oh!
45:05Fight, fight!
45:06There's two fighting there.
45:08Everyone's just defending their little patch of figs.
45:15Oh, look!
45:17He's just testing with his mouth to see how right that is.
45:23These are key animals in the ecology of the rainforest.
45:26Feeding on fruit and dispersing the seeds up to 30 miles away.
45:30It does mean filming them has its downsides.
45:34I was thinking that a fig on the head was the worst thing we could get,
45:37but I think probably bat pee is a bit worse.
45:45It seems that figs have the same effect on fruit bats as they do in humans.
45:56At last, Steve has made it up the jagged rocks of the waterfall.
46:01That's more like this.
46:04Water sodden team haul themselves up.
46:09At the top of the falls, they start the painstaking work
46:13of mapping the underground river.
46:15Lasers measure to a millimetre the size of the ancient chamber.
46:19Okay, base!
46:21Yeah!
46:23That's it?
46:25Yeah!
46:28Then it's on again.
46:30They must find a place to sleep before they get exhausted.
46:33Oh, it's cold!
46:40It's now very late.
46:42Gordon's pushing deeper into the jungle on the track of the couscous.
46:46There's something in the trees.
46:48I've just got some eye shine directly above me.
46:52I think it's round about here.
46:56Power on.
46:58Oh, there you go, right in the middle there.
47:00At last, Gordon's found his animal.
47:03You little beauty.
47:05It's a couscous.
47:07And there he is, just happily sitting on the branches a long, long way up.
47:11The size of a domestic cat.
47:13Couscous are nocturnal, moving high in the canopy with their babies secure in their pouches.
47:18And you get ground couscous and its hands are less well developed for climbing.
47:24But this one is very, very comfortable in the trees.
47:30It's such an unusual animal.
47:32It doesn't really bear any resemblance to any animals that we would commonly know.
47:40You can see he's got this big, long tail.
47:44It not only helps him balance as he moves through the trees, but it's a prehensile tail.
47:49He can use that as an extra limb.
47:51And you can just make out that the end of his tail is naked.
47:56So he can wrap that tail around branches and use it as a fifth arm.
48:04They're quite a bit like teddy bears with a big, long tail.
48:09They're quite beautiful.
48:11They're really nice animals.
48:13The first small glimpse of the couscous, but a great success for Gordon.
48:21Oh, there he goes.
48:22Then it's off, disappearing into the forest.
48:29All right, Steve.
48:33The cavers are now two miles into the mountain, under a hundred million tons of rock.
48:38It's like being inside the home of some massive alien.
48:44The walls are all dripping with slime.
48:47And they're not alone.
48:53Look at that.
48:57It's a very bizarre little crab that's involved in isolation here in this cave.
49:06And these are the kind of creatures that turn out to be absolutely new to science.
49:13The eyes have faded away to almost nothing.
49:17They're of no use whatsoever in a place like this.
49:20In fact, this would be the first light that this crab will ever have experienced.
49:24I really wasn't expecting to find any life much past the first hundred meters of the cave.
49:30So this is quite a find.
49:34They can't stop for long.
49:38Although they're now very tired, they must push further into the cave to find a dry spot to make camp.
49:47But getting anywhere is tough.
49:56In the calm of the jungle lab, George tallies up the remarkable discoveries they've made.
50:04We're a third of the way into the trip, and so far we've got one new species of bat,
50:09we've got certainly two new species of frog, and two more that are potentially new species.
50:14We've got three species of fish new, insects and spiders, five to eight, possibly ten.
50:20A lot more to come.
50:25The cavers are now deep in the bowels of the mountain.
50:28And there's no place to stop.
50:33The river is as strong as ever, sapping their energy.
50:38Exhausted, they struggle off into the darkness.
50:53Later in the expedition, the team enlists the help of a local tribe
50:57in the search for exotic birds of paradise.
50:59Oh, Jesus, build them, just build them.
51:02Wow!
51:03They witness an exploding volcano.
51:06Great!
51:08Enter the lost world of the jungle crater.
51:13Oh, soaking!
51:15And Steve discovers a new flooded cave in the depths of the underworld.
51:20We'll see you next time.
51:37They might have a little bit of poison in the neighborhood.
51:37It's been a big star, and very clever.
51:37They're going to be the pit of the mountain.
51:38They're going to be the most out of the mountain.
51:38But we've got to be the most out of the mountain now.
51:38Yeah, it's been a big star.