- 1 day ago
David Attenborough reveals that the animal inhabitants of this vast wilderness are every bit as extraordinary as they are bizarre. Unearthly calls of the notorious Tasmanian devil echo through the land, but following them over the course of a year reveals a surprisingly gentle side. In the dry east, rare white wallabies graze on the plains, and jack jumper ants build huge nests, these venomous ants are amongst the most dangerous on earth.....
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AnimalsTranscript
00:14At the southern tip of the Australian continent
00:17lies a remote island.
00:23An immense wilderness
00:28divided by mountains.
00:34It's a world of ancient forests,
00:39of pristine rivers,
00:42and a coastline
00:46that's both wild and beautiful.
00:56Its animal inhabitants are as extraordinary as they are bizarre.
01:07This is a land of black devils
01:12and white wallabies.
01:17Where lights dance in the southern sky
01:19and trees tower to 100 meters.
01:29This is Tasmania.
01:31The weird and wonderful isle at the bottom of the world.
01:59Tasmania is full of surprises.
02:04Australia, yes, but with a twist.
02:12It was once connected to the dry Australian mainland.
02:17Today, along with its plants and animals,
02:20it's physically cut off.
02:25Though it lies just to the south,
02:28Tasmania is a world apart.
02:32Its isolation and cooler climate
02:34has created a sanctuary
02:36unlike any other part of Australia.
02:44And a strong seasonal cycle
02:47makes life here very different indeed.
02:57winter means a struggle for survival.
03:05In Tasmania's mountains,
03:08there are meagre pickings on offer.
03:21This is the last landfall heading south
03:25before Antarctica.
03:30Cold air from further south
03:32brings snowfall and freezing temperatures
03:35throughout these winter months.
03:43Many animals, like this female wombat,
03:46are Australian species.
03:49But their habits and lifestyles
03:51are most definitely Tasmanian.
03:58Mainland wombats are largely nocturnal.
04:02But here she feeds at any time of the day,
04:05kept warm by her thicker coat of fur.
04:12She must take every opportunity to find food.
04:22winter is felt right across this island wilderness.
04:31Even lower down in Tasmania's forests,
04:35temperatures can fall below freezing.
04:49The first Europeans to explore these forests
04:52claimed they heard devils screaming in the night.
05:10And so Tasmania's most famous animal got its name.
05:20The Tasmanian Devil.
05:36primarily scavengers, they can smell a carcass from half a mile away.
05:42And relative to body size,
05:44they have the most powerful bite in the natural world.
05:49They can easily crunch through bone.
06:06devils once lived throughout Australia,
06:09but vanished as the continent dried out,
06:12and humans arrived.
06:16Today, this is their last stronghold.
06:24Like most Australian mammals,
06:27they're marsupials.
06:30While they may appear dog-like,
06:33devils are more closely related to kangaroos than canines.
06:37And being marsupial,
06:39they rear their young in a pouch.
06:44A few weeks ago,
06:46this female gave birth to 40 young.
06:50Each the size of a grain of rice.
06:58Inside her pouch,
06:59she has just four teats.
07:02So only four young will survive.
07:12A devil's race for survival begins early.
07:21It's a tough start,
07:23but this mum will dedicate most of her year
07:26to looking after the four babies who survive.
07:31She overcame extraordinary odds to reach adulthood.
07:36Now, it's her turn to raise the next generation.
07:47Marsupials like the devils live here
07:49because Tasmania was once connected to mainland Australia.
07:55The island and its inhabitants
07:58became isolated some 12,000 years ago
08:01when sea levels rose following the last ice age.
08:08But Tasmania is a window
08:10on a far more ancient past.
08:15Some of these forests
08:17have barely changed since dinosaurs walked the earth.
08:20when the southern continents
08:22were a single landmass called Gondwana.
08:28There is still a creature here
08:30whose ancestors roamed that ancient supercontinent.
08:47It lives in Tasmania's rivers
08:50and is one of the island's longest-lived survivors.
08:56The Tasmanian giant lobster.
09:05Weighing up to five kilos and a metre long,
09:09they're the biggest freshwater invertebrates
09:12on our planet,
09:13taking some 40 years to reach full size.
09:19Tasmania's isolation,
09:21together with the lack of sizeable predators,
09:23may be one reason why they grow so massive.
09:30But they're not entirely free from threat.
09:38Tasmanian platypuses are enormous.
09:44As much as three times heavier
09:46than their mainland counterparts.
09:51It's an adaptation to the cooler southern climate.
10:02This male is after tiny invertebrates
10:05found on the riverbed,
10:07including young lobsters.
10:13And to stay warm in winter,
10:16he must find a lot.
10:21He needs to keep moving.
10:25With no large predators to worry them,
10:28platypuses here get about
10:30in an unusual way.
10:35Only in Tasmania does the platypus
10:37walk between rivers in broad daylight.
10:52Out of water,
10:54it's easy to see why the platypus
10:56was once dismissed as a fraud,
10:58the work of a hoaxer.
11:10But down here,
11:11he's in his element.
11:16His strange assemblage of body parts
11:18soon begins to make sense.
11:23Webbed feet help him move,
11:27while his otter-like fur keeps him warm.
11:33His beaver-like tail stores fat.
11:38But the platypus is best known
11:40for its duck-like bill.
11:44Which it uses to find food.
11:50Underwater, he's completely blind.
11:57Not ideal for avoiding rocks.
12:04But some 40,000 receptors in the bill
12:07detect electrical signals
12:09given off by the muscles
12:10of prey animals.
12:17With the need to eat a lot
12:19just to keep warm,
12:21a platypus can stay on the hunt
12:22for some 12 hours a day.
12:33They're also found on the mainland,
12:36Tasmania's platypuses
12:38are by far the biggest
12:40and boldest.
12:47They, like others,
12:49are adapted to the island's isolation
12:51and cooler climate.
12:58Lying 150 miles south of Australia,
13:04Tasmania is surrounded by
13:06a vast expanse of open ocean.
13:28To the west, the next landfall is South America,
13:33thousands of miles away.
13:40To the south lies the great Antarctic continent.
13:48And as winter comes to an end,
13:51new arrivals come ashore to breed.
14:00Penguins.
14:02Hidden among the rocks,
14:04this female has two newly hatched chicks.
14:09But nothing to feed them.
14:13Her partner left some 14 hours ago
14:17and is yet to return.
14:21He's out fishing.
14:24But quite unlike any other penguin,
14:26he must wait for nightfall to leave the water.
14:35Gulls and birds of prey patrol the coast by day.
14:39It's only safe to return after sunset.
14:48That is because these are little penguins.
14:56At only 30 centimeters tall,
14:58they're the smallest penguins in the world.
15:04And with nests several hundred meters inland,
15:09the only safe way to get there
15:12is to make a dash in the darkness.
15:21There's safety in numbers.
15:42There's safety in numbers.
15:45With hundreds of nests in the colony,
15:48the night soon fills with the calls of returning adults.
15:54The sound of early spring on Tasmania's coast.
15:58then as a pet bee's kingdom they are gated.
16:03a bullair
16:22that huge is when you prepare for the mingle craters.
16:24The most ПЕЗом 땅
16:25And this will be a welcome meal for the newly hatched chicks.
16:34The little penguin's presence is a reminder of Antarctica's proximity.
16:43But while early spring brings them ashore to breed,
16:47it also brings wild and unpredictable weather.
16:54Prevailing winds carry most of the bad weather from the west.
17:21And Tasmania's mountains cause much of the rain to fall on the western half of the island.
17:31The result divides Tasmania in two, with a wet western side and a dry eastern side.
17:49Some western areas are among the wettest in all of Australia.
17:56It rains here nearly every day.
18:04And all the water supports a surprising spectacle.
18:21Caught in a bizarre trap, these insects are doomed.
18:34How they got stuck only becomes apparent as night falls.
18:49These strange lights belong to the larvae of a type of gnat.
18:57The light is formed by a chemical reaction in the larva's abdomen and can be turned on and off at
19:05will.
19:08Sticky threads hang from its silk and mucus-laden nest.
19:15Insects drawn to the light are ensnared, then devoured.
19:28Each glowworm's thread is made up almost entirely of water.
19:33So the high rainfall in Tasmania's wet west provides ideal conditions.
19:49And the rain that supports these tiny glowworms also sustains one of the largest organisms on the planet.
20:02Mountain ash.
20:06They are a type of eucalyptus.
20:10Fast growing trees that evolved on the dry Australian mainland.
20:16In Tasmania, they've become giants.
20:24Strangely, for trees living in a wet forest, they need fire to reproduce.
20:44The mountain ash stores its seeds in small pods.
20:50Which are released as the pods burn.
20:59Beneath the ash, the seeds live on.
21:03Quickly germinating without competition from other plants.
21:09This makes sense in a dry habitat with regular fire.
21:18But not in Tasmania's wet forests.
21:30Young mountain ash can grow at a rate of several metres a year.
21:48All that holds them back is the next fire or a lack of water.
21:57And that is the secret behind their staggering height.
22:09In Tasmania's damp west, fire is so infrequent these trees keep growing for centuries.
22:25Those standing in this valley all germinated following the same devastating fire 400 years ago.
22:36Today, they reach almost 100 metres into the sky.
22:56They may have evolved on the dry Australian mainland.
23:00But it's Tasmania's wet forests that have turned mountain ash trees into the tallest flowering plants on earth.
23:20The moisture-laden air that blows in from Tasmania's west brings several metres of rainfall each year.
23:33Although it can rain most days, winter and spring are the wettest times.
23:39And seasonal waterfalls burst into life.
23:50All who live here must adapt to the regular downpours and cooler temperatures.
24:00And like so many of Tasmania's species, their adaptations set them apart.
24:18It may not look like it, but this is the closest living relative of the platypus.
24:27The echidna, Australia's most widespread native mammal.
24:37But while mainland echidnas are all spines, this Tasmanian one is mostly covered in hair to help keep him warm.
24:52The milder spring months mean an abundance of his favourite food, ants.
25:03But when you're this hairy, your food gets stuck everywhere.
25:08It is a pain when it can bite back.
25:18Time to move on.
25:29As spring turns to summer, Tasmania's inhabitants get some relief from the wild and cool weather.
25:51It's now that the young devils are ready to leave the den.
25:58They've been out of their mother's pouch for a while, but have remained safely hidden away.
26:08Fully weaned, this is the start of their independence.
26:24This young female will have to learn to survive and find food all by herself.
26:33What's more, she and her siblings are much smaller than an adult.
26:40They could easily be killed.
26:44This will be her way out of danger.
26:53Heavier adults can't climb, so there are some benefits to being small.
27:09Over the next few months, she'll also find much of the food she needs up here in the treetops.
27:27But grubs and birds' eggs alone won't be enough to sustain her as she crows.
27:42If she's to make it to adulthood, she needs to find more substantial meals.
27:50And that brings her into direct competition with dangerous and more powerful adult devils.
28:03The scent and sound of crunching bones draw her in.
28:11But she needs to be careful.
28:21Less than half of all newly weaned youngsters make it to adulthood.
28:30If she is to survive, she needs to earn her place.
28:36There's no telling how this adult might react.
28:45Confronting a stranger at a carcass is a gamble.
28:53But one she needs to take.
29:02But one she needs to take.
29:33Spurred on by hunger, she hid the
29:34She seems to have the upper hand.
30:07It looks as though her gamble has paid off, but her competitor won't let the carcass go that easily.
30:25The adult could kill her with a single bite, but that's not how devil society works.
30:39Despite living most of their lives alone, devils can and do share.
30:46They defend only the amount of meat they can eat rather than the whole carcass.
30:54The pecking order has less to do with size and strength and more to do with whoever wants it most.
31:02As this youngster is learning, it's all about who can shout the loudest.
31:10Devils may have a fearsome reputation, but the reality is quite different.
31:27Summer brings warmer temperatures across Tasmania.
31:37While in the west it still rains frequently,
31:43summer is most apparent in the dry eastern half of the island.
31:53The driest areas of Tasmania receive 80% less rainfall than the wettest.
32:06Here the landscape is more reminiscent of parts of the Australian mainland.
32:19For marsupials that graze the open grasslands,
32:23there's a bounty of fresh shoots in these warm summer months.
32:33And although life here may appear more typically Australian,
32:37the effect of Tasmania's isolation is felt just as strongly in this dry half of the island.
32:49It's given this group of wallabies something of a Tasmanian twist.
32:58They've turned white.
33:12About 100 of them live within this population.
33:21They're so poorly camouflaged that anywhere else they'd be easily killed.
33:28On Tasmania, however, there aren't any predators big enough to kill a wallaby.
33:33So many live full adult lives.
33:41And without the normal controls, their numbers are growing.
33:55But although this may appear a predator-free paradise,
34:00there are killers here.
34:05One of Tasmania's deadliest animals lives in these dry forests.
34:17It's a species of ant known as the jack-jumper.
34:41Jack-jumper has evolved on the ancient Gondwanan supercontinent.
34:46Jack-jumper has evolved on the ancient Gondwanan supercontinent.
34:50workers hunt alone
34:53a very primitive behaviour among ants
34:56which are mainly social
35:00and instead of using scent to hunt
35:03they rely on acute vision
35:10they sting their victims to death
35:12with a venom that can kill humans
35:16making these one of the deadliest animals
35:19in all of Australia
35:40Jackjumper ants are particularly abundant
35:43in this dry half of Tasmania
35:49their nests are small mounds
35:52within which their larvae are raised
35:58workers cover the nest with dark materials
36:01to help absorb warmth
36:04in the cooler southern climate
36:10in midsummer however temperatures soar
36:17and the nest risks overheating
36:30but Jackjumper's have a surprising way
36:33of coping with the intense sunlight
36:44on hotter days they switch building materials
36:51now the workers cover the nest in white stones
37:03these reflect the sun's energy
37:05keeping the young cool inside
37:13it's an inventive solution to Tasmania's changing seasons
37:26the dry eastern forests can be a challenging place
37:30in the heat of midsummer
37:43but one of Tasmania's few marsupial predators
37:47avoids the worst of this heat
37:49by hunting at night
37:54it's the eastern quoll
37:57a close relative of the Tasmanian devil
38:05they're very rare
38:06but summer sees an increase in numbers
38:09as juveniles leave the den
38:18quolls are solitary hunters
38:23and in summer are drawn to these dry pasture lands
38:32there's a rich bounty of moths and grubs
38:35at this time of year
38:42but with lots of youngsters around
38:45competition can be intense
39:04it's every call for it
39:29like Tasmanian devils
39:32eastern quolls were once found
39:34on the Australian mainland
39:38today this dry eastern half of the island
39:41is their last refuge
39:46and with an abundance of summer insects
39:49they have every chance of thriving
40:07summer is almost over
40:12and as autumn arrives
40:15the stage is set for a bizarre ritual
40:33familiar screams fill the forest
40:48it may not look like it
40:50but these devils are becoming amorous
40:58an eligible male clings on
41:01as a female devils are receptive to the den
41:11female devils are receptive three times
41:14over a short period during the breeding season
41:18to ensure the fittest offspring
41:21she'll try to mate with as many big males as she can
41:26and to increase his chances of fatherhood
41:29he must keep her in here for as long as possible
41:39inside the den he moves her around in an effort to mate
41:45to protect her from his biting grip
41:47the skin around her neck has thickened over the last few weeks
41:57though it may appear aggressive
42:00this is part of a bizarre and complicated breeding system
42:19they'll remain in here
42:21mating regularly for several days
42:41in spite of that fearsome scream
42:44there is a sensitive side to these much maligned creatures
42:50far from devilish
42:52they are simply very determined survivors
43:01the devil mating season marks autumn's arrival
43:19each evening
43:20flocks of Cape Barren geese
43:23return to their roost
43:35their silhouettes in the sunset
43:37a sign that the year is ending
44:03back on the coast
44:04the longer nights
44:06bring with them
44:07a stunning spectacle
44:23the southern lights
44:25a reminder that the next stop from here
44:28is Antarctica
44:51for Tasmania's little penguins
44:54the breeding season has finished
44:58only adults remain at the colony
45:03they've spent the last few weeks fattening up at sea
45:06almost doubling their weight
45:17the efforts of raising chicks
45:20the efforts of raising chicks have left them in need of a new set of feathers
45:28little penguins
45:30little penguins go through what's known as catastrophic molt
45:36shedding some 10,000 feathers all at once
45:47because their feathers keep them warm and waterproof
45:50because their feathers keep them warm and waterproof
45:51they can't return to sea until they've grown new ones
46:04for three long weeks
46:06for three long weeks they're stuck on dry land
46:08unable to feed
46:21it's a long wait for a little penguin
46:37the year is almost over
46:41and high in the mountains
46:43there's time for one last surprise
46:55these are southern beech trees
47:01unique to Tasmania
47:07their changing colour makes for an autumn
47:11unlike anywhere else in Australia
47:16these are the only trees on the continent
47:19to drop their leaves during the cooler months
47:27the southern beech trees closest living relatives
47:31are found thousands of miles away in South America
47:46this rare splash of autumnal colour
47:49lasts just a few weeks
47:51as across the whole of Tasmania
47:53temperatures begin to drop
48:02June marks the start of the winter season
48:05and for the devils
48:07the beginning of new life
48:09with young already inside her pouch
48:12she will provide milk for them
48:14through the harshest months
48:16her life and theirs
48:19tied to Tasmania's seasonal cycle
48:30just 12,000 years ago
48:32Tasmania separated from its mainland parent
48:42the island is young
48:44the island is young
48:45yet rich in life
48:46and with a long and ancient past
48:53now Tasmania
48:54and the animals it supports
48:56are on a different course
48:58to the rest of Australia
49:08it is as a result
49:10home to a caste
49:12as weird
49:13as they are wonderful
49:22indeed
49:23there's nowhere on earth
49:24quite like Tasmania
49:42Tasmania is roughly the size of Ireland
49:44but with a population of just half a million people
49:48it's home to some of the greatest expanse of wilderness left on our planet
49:55despite all this room for nature
49:57some of Tasmania's most well-known animals
50:00face an uncertain future
50:05Tasmanian devils are endangered
50:07disease and historical persecution
50:10have caused their numbers to plummet
50:14right from birth reaching adulthood
50:17is challenge enough
50:23but the devil's vicious reputation
50:26has made life even more difficult for them
50:32one man however
50:33has spent years
50:34helping to change people's perceptions
50:39cameraman and ecologist
50:41Simon Plowright
50:42moved to Tasmania
50:43in 1981
50:45I'd been brought up as a nature lover
50:47back in Wales
50:48and to come to this
50:50incredibly exotic place
50:51it was very exciting
50:54since then
50:55Tasmanian devils have become
50:56very close to Simon's heart
51:01when I first came to Tasmania
51:03I heard devils in the forest at night
51:08the screaming noises
51:09the unusual calls
51:11that devils make
51:12when they're having a bit of a tiff
51:14seemed really really strange
51:16to a person from Wales
51:17of course
51:18you're intrigued
51:19and want to go and find out
51:20what this animal is
51:23one of my first experiences
51:25of being close to these animals
51:27was going out with an old guy
51:28he'd lived there all his life
51:29he knew the area like the back of his hand
51:32he still occasionally caught
51:34the odd wallaby to eat
51:35because he'd been brought up
51:36on that sort of thing
51:37and so I went out with him
51:38and he had a couple of spots
51:40where he'd trapped a wallaby
51:41and the wallabies had been stolen
51:44by devils
51:44and that to me was fascinating
51:49buoyed by tales of wallaby stealing beasts
51:52that lurked in the night
51:53Simon was desperate to find out more
51:56he set out to try and observe wild devils
52:01well the first time that I actually sat out with devils
52:04I was obviously a bit weary
52:06and you know
52:07do these things attack people?
52:09are they going to start eating me?
52:11because you know
52:11I had heard tales of devils eating people
52:14dead people
52:15and all this sort of stuff
52:16and oh well will they go for a live one
52:18you know
52:18I'm new to this country
52:20so I wasn't completely
52:22completely sure
52:22but very soon I realised that
52:25they're not the slightest bit interested in me
52:28coming from the UK
52:29where foxes and badgers
52:30and all these things
52:31are pretty scared of people
52:32I was amazed with how
52:34they didn't seem to care about me being there
52:40Simon quickly came to realise
52:42that these weren't the terrifying monsters
52:44people thought they were
52:53he began to learn all about
52:55the Tasmanian devil's complex life cycle
52:58and social structure
53:01the sounds that you hear around the carcass
53:04you'd think they were killing each other
53:06but they're actually not harming each other at all
53:08because all the noise really is just blood
53:11oh no
53:15since then
53:16Simon has used all he's learnt
53:19to raise awareness of devils
53:23I've taken many many people from all around the world
53:26out to see devils
53:26and people who have been to all the continents on earth
53:30and have seen some of the most amazing wildlife spectacles
53:33have one and all said to me
53:35this is as good as anything I've seen on the planet
53:39changing public perception
53:41has been an important step in devil conservation
53:44indeed
53:46right here in Tasmania
53:47there's a stark example of where persecution can lead
53:52only a relatively short time ago
53:55it drove another top carnivore to extinction
53:59a predatory marsupial called the thylacine
54:03once lived here
54:05this was the last known captive individual
54:10filmed in Hobart Zoo
54:12this is the only footage of these extinct predators
54:17nicknamed the Tasmanian tiger
54:19this island was the thylacine's final refuge
54:26but when Europeans arrived in Tasmania
54:29they saw the thylacine as a threat to livestock
54:34it was soon hunted to extinction
54:39this individual died in 1936
54:45it's an important reminder of what's at stake for Tasmania's wild devils
54:52today however, despite a shift in public perception of these animals
54:56the last decades have seen the emergence of an even greater threat to devil populations
55:03in recent times the Tasmanian devil's been put on the endangered species list
55:08because of the facial tumor disease
55:12facial tumor disease is a transmissible disease that causes cancerous growths
55:19it's devastated devil populations
55:23the horrible thing about it is there's no, there's no cure
55:26so, when an animal becomes infected, it will die
55:30in places where the disease has gone through the landscape
55:33the numbers have been reduced by 80 and 90 percent
55:45where there are low numbers on the landscape
55:48it's not possible to sit and watch wild devils anymore
55:55it's really, really a sad thing
55:57and each time now, when I pack up to leave
56:01a devil viewing, wild devil viewing session
56:04I think, well, this could easily be the last time
56:06and, er, yeah
56:28but there is hope
56:30a vaccine has been created
56:33and some devils seem to be evolving resistance to the disease
56:38it is heartening, though
56:40that this disease, having started at this spot 20 years ago
56:43there are still animals there
56:45it gives you an indication of how tough these little creatures are
56:48and how they will hang on in the landscape
56:53as a safeguard, Simon also breeds devils
56:57as part of a wider human effort
56:59to protect the species from extinction
57:09Tasmanian devils
57:10Tasmanian devils are only found in Tasmania
57:13they became extinct on mainland Australia a long time ago
57:18one of the worst things that could ever happen, I guess
57:21is the Tasmanian devil ends up like the Tasmanian tiger
57:25it's so vital that these animals are protected
57:28let's hope for the future that the devils
57:31with the help from us
57:33can once again be free in the wild
57:37and beat this disease
57:42Tasmania is refuge to some unusual species
57:46many of which are long extinct on the Australian mainland
57:50this island may be a vast wilderness
57:53but even here the influence of our human world is felt
57:58and a great deal of hard work and dedication
58:01is still required to ensure the survival of its wild residents
58:15next Sunday at nine we are in Florida
58:18to visit America's animal paradise
58:20over on the BBC iPlayer
58:22there's more exploration
58:23as we go under the sea in Blue Planet Live
58:26available now
58:27next here on BBC 2 this evening
58:29the misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan
58:32find him in Albania on Wolf Patrol
58:34and he's a hero
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