All language subtitles for Magical Land Of Oz S01 E02_track3_[eng]

BARRY HUMPHRIES: As the dawn breaks
across Australia,

the marsupials go to bed.

Except for the ones that don't,

because there are exceptions

to every rule
in this land of wonders.

And magic does not have rules.

It has dragons...

saltwater monsters...

and miniature dancers.

What are the extraordinary tricks
these animals have

in response to their world?

To endure Australia's frozen peaks...

and thrive on its harsh savannas.

To compete in its
tropical rainforests.

Travelling into their worlds

we begin to understand
how truly unique life is

in the Magical Land of Oz.

On Australia's highest peaks,
the Snowy Mountains,

winter temperatures
reach well below zero.

This true alpine wilderness

can spend half the year
beneath a blanket of snow.

Very few creatures can withstand
a winter on Australia's peaks,

where food is scarce.

But some tough it out.

This echidna has hibernated
on and off

during the coldest months,

emerging, at the tail end of winter,
very hungry.

An insect eater,

it's slim pickings while
the snow encases his food source.

But as one of the most energy
efficient mammals on the planet -

with a body temperature that can
drop below 5 degrees Celsius -

this echidna can survive
long periods in the bitter cold.

His shovel-like claws
work like snowshoes.

It's a lonely march
on an empty stomach.

As the days get longer and warmer,

high-country rivers carry the now
liquid winter down the mountain.

Spring's arrival also means
at last the echidna can feast

after months of winter's famine.

But one obstacle still stands
in the way of a full belly -

a fast-flowing one.

Using his long beak as a snorkel
and large feet as paddles,

he's perfectly capable
of a river crossing.

He may not look like
an all-terrain vehicle,

but the echidna inhabits
more Australian landscapes

than any other native animal.

He will now spend 18 hours a day
foraging for insects,

turning over soil
and gardening the forests.

The echidna is named
after the Greek goddess Echidna,

who was half woman and half reptile.

Its closest relative,
the world's only other monotreme,

also has a curious blend
of characteristics.

With splayed limbs, on land,
the platypus shuffles like a lizard.

But in the water,
she glides like an otter.

Egg-laying and beaked like a duck,

she's the ultimate mash-up.

But the combination works.

The platypus has remained unchanged
in Australia

for 25 million years.

These elegant underwater hunters

are the oldest lineage of mammals
alive on earth today,

living only here on the rivers
of Eastern Australia.

Later on the evolutionary tree,

but in the same surrounding
grasslands and forests

of modern Australia,

are the marsupials.

And the most familiar of them all
is the eastern grey kangaroo.

The weight of an adult human,
but head and shoulders taller,

this male is demonstrating
his potency to the mob.

A thick sticky secretion
from glands on his chest,

in a cocktail of fresh urine,

says, "This is my patch."

Just in case
anyone doubts his authority.

He has a harem
of nine breeding females

all with at least one joey.

Despite the male's posturing,

he's not the powerhouse of this
extraordinarily successful species.

It's the female
with her magic pouch.

So while this 10-month-old joey

is starting to explore
the outside world,

another tiny baby is already
developing in the pouch.

It's only the size of a jellybean.

The older joey is now being forced

to spend more hours
outside the pouch

to give his mum
and new sibling a break.

Like all young ones,

he knows to keep pestering,
until she gives in.

With only two joeys on the go,

she is now ready
to fall pregnant again...

..a fact not lost
on the dominant male.

He will pursue her for days.

But rival males
are a constant threat.

Maintaining his status
as top roo is so taxing

that he may only keep
the dominant male crown for a year

before he is toppled.

Being a kangaroo is much more
complicated than it appears.

But the energy expended
on reproduction is working for them.

Exploiting the farmlands, which have
spread across the continent,

there are millions of eastern grey
kangaroos in Australia today.

Large kangaroos are amongst
the very few native animals

to benefit from land clearing

and the decline of Australia's
apex predators.

So many species are gone now.

The continent's top carnivore,
the Tasmanian tiger,

was hunted into extinction
by the 1930s.

And the grand hunter from the skies,

Australia's own eagle,

has come perilously close
to being lost.

This country's wedge-tailed eagle
is one of the world's largest.

For years, it was mercilessly shot,

mistakenly portrayed as
a prolific killer of lambs.

In the mid 1900s,
there was a bounty on its head,

with up to 30,000 eagles
killed in a single year,

their great bodies
strung up on fences.

Eagles are now protected

and most farmers accept that they
are no threat to their livestock.

Now affectionately
known as "wedgies",

their calls again echo
across the farmland.

Australia's biggest bird of prey
has a chance of a comeback,

thanks, in part, to another mistake
of European settlers.

Fluffy eagle fodder,

brought here over 200 years ago,

now in plague proportions.

The wedge-tail is
a stunning avian predator.

For such a large bird,

her movements are deft and light.

With a 2.5-metre wingspan,

her precision, at speed,
is breathtaking.

She can soar up to 2,000 metres high

and carry half her own body weight
in her huge talons.

But as she surveys the landscape,

those eagle eyes pick up something
curious and worth investigating.

An eastern long-necked tortoise.

Although the tortoise has
an almost impenetrable shell,

he's not taking his chances.

Time to retreat.

She's sure that rock was moving.

Baffling really.

It's an old trick but a good one.

The eagle resumes her search
for an easier target.

This time, it's more familiar.

In some parts of the country,

rabbits make up 90%
of the eagle's diet.

The tortoise, zero.

Yet again, the tortoise
beats the hare.

And eagles now
are the farmer's friend,

helping to keep
the rabbit population down.

Before rabbits were introduced
to Australia

and so much native bushland
was removed,

it was the small native animals
which had the run of the land.

In the south-west of the country
lie the Dryandra Woodlands.

This stand of wandoo eucalypts

is one of the last strongholds
for a native mammal

which once roamed
the entire continent.

As the sun hits the carpet
of wildflowers

and insects begin
massing on the forest floor,

a small marsupial is making
its first move.

The numbat...

..closest living relative
to the extinct thylacine,

or Tasmanian tiger,

is on a termite hunt.

It will take 20,000 termites
to fill her belly.

Back in her den are four rapidly
growing numbat pups,

which she has fed through the night.

The young are eight months old

and only just getting curious
about life beyond the burrow.

One of them, the smallest
and boldest, is the leader.

She's begun to explore
the tree stump fortress

protecting the burrow exit.

Her siblings follow,
trembling as the air hits their fur.

Each day our leader has inched
closer to the fortress walls.

From here she gets a first glimpse
at the world beyond.

But with every sound a warning,

the pups retreat, more than advance.

They'll do well to be cautious.

Hundreds of thousands of numbats
once ranged across Australia.

Today, there are less of them

than the more famously endangered
snow leopard or giant panda.

Just like the panda,
numbats are specialist feeders,

needing something that's now
in very short supply,

undisturbed woodland
with logs for termites.

This female can smell
a termite's gallery

and even feels their tiny
vibrations beneath her feet.

Using her worm-like tongue,

she extracts them
from tricky crevices.

Each day she swallows 10%
of her own body weight.

Her young are getting braver
and revelling in the sun.

The rounded snouts
which have suited milk feeding

are getting more elongated
by the day.

Within a month, they too
will be reliant on termites.

So, the job of working out
what is food and what is not

is the lesson of the day.

Except for one of them.

Our little explorer
is determined to experience

what lies beyond the wall...

..while her siblings stay
cautiously close to the burrow.

She takes off.

She will keep wandering further
from the burrow

until one day she leaves her mother's
territory and finds her own...

..crossing paths
with other young numbats

also emerging from hollows
in this forest.

Each one of them will need
to venture and breed

in order to keep this species viable.

Over the past two centuries,

almost all of the numbat's habitat
has been destroyed...

..apart from these last stands
of wandoo forest.

And less than 1,000 tiny numbats
are left surviving in the wild.

Where Australia's ecosystems
are left intact, animals thrive.

It's as simple as that.

In far northern Queensland,

the rainforests of the wet tropics

appear as a thin ribbon of green
along the coast.

These rainforests
have been around longer

than any other on the planet...

..an estimated 180 million years,

far outdating the Amazon.

Australia's most secretive
and unique creatures

have made the forests their home.

And everyone here
is competing for spoils.

Even on the forest floor.

Thousands of species of fungi
battle to dominate the leaf litter.

Despite their myriad forms,

the fungi are all engaged
in similar mycological magic.

They break down wood and leaf litter

and return their nutrients
to the soil...

..while slime moulds
hunt down the fungi

and turn them into nutrients too.

Things live fast and die young

on this forest floor.

The pioneers of recycling,
you might say,

assuming every imaginable shape.

They feed the hungry forest,

turning it into one of
the earth's evolutionary hotspots.

For it was here, in the cradle
of the Gondwana Rainforests,

that Australia's mammals
first emerged.

As the land became more arid,

many moved out to the grasslands.

But there is one kangaroo

which has never left
its rainforest home.

A shy creature rarely seen
on the forest floor.

That's because its home
is in the trees.

This young male tree kangaroo
has evolved for a life in the canopy,

with large strong arms,
big curved claws

and a pendulous tail.

But even 20 metres up,
he's still clearly a kangaroo.

The monkey of the kangaroo world,

just a little less sure footed.

At almost two years old,

he has only recently left his mum
to find his own territory.

Unlike his relatives at ground level,

he will live a solitary life,

only seeking out a female
when it's time to mate.

But he's having trouble
cutting the umbilical cord.

He can hear his mum
in one of her favourite trees

and he crosses the canopy roof
to reach her.

But it's not a tender welcome.

His mother doesn't want him near her.

They move to opposite ends
of the tree.

Her tough love suddenly makes sense.

At eight months, the newest joey
has begun leaving the pouch

and exploring her high-wire world.

Though she's wobbly enough,

a teenage sibling
might topple her altogether.

For her brother,

being solitary requires
its own process of evolution.

At least up in this rainforest,

he's never really lonely.

Above and below him,

over half of Australia's
bird species

are in a springtime
nest-building frenzy.

The sunbird uses bark and seeds
to build its hanging nest.

And the fawn-breasted bowerbird
makes final artistic touches

to its elaborate construction.

Most cockatoos and parrots
rely on hollows.

It would seem an easier option
than DIY.

But relying on hollows has left
the parrot world out on a limb.

This female eclectus parrot
has guarded her hollow

well before she was ready to lay.

Her green mate delivers food to her

so she can stay on sentry duty.

Hollows form slowly in old trees

so there's never enough
to go around.

Unlike so many in this forest,

this one is too high to flood

and it's safe from predators.

It should be a textbook incubation.

[COCKATOOS SQUAWK]

But the neighbours nobody wants

are looking to move
into this leafy suburb.

It's the sulphur-crested cockatoo.

[SQUAWKS]

Famously loud, assertive
and ready to lay,

this pair want the hollow
for themselves.

They begin a game of intimidation.

Unlike the cockatoos,
who can breed three times a year,

the eclectus parrot is doing well
to raise one chick annually.

[SQUAWKS]

But as the day heats up,

temperatures inside the nest
hit over 30 degrees Celsius.

Her own body heat is raising
temperatures even further.

Her eggs will cook in this oven.

With the coast clear
of sulphur-crested cockatoos,

she leaves to let the nest cool down.

But they see an opportunity too.

If the cockatoos get inside,
they will smash the eggs.

The cockatoos get more confident
with every passing moment.

[PARROT SQUAWKS]

The female will fight to the death
to protect her eggs.

Her siren colour is enough
to ward off these intruders.

But colour is only one
of the many ways

birds in this forest communicate.

It's only recently been discovered
that 24 million years ago,

birdsong evolved in this forest.

It is the home of nature's
great vocalists.

[TRILLS]

[SQUAWKS]

[HONKS]

[TWEETS]

It's also where one cockatoo
has developed a sound so unique,

it wasn't thought possible
for a bird.

The continent's largest cockatoo,

the palm cockatoo or "palmy".

It's the most intelligent
of Australia's,

and possibly the world's,
bird species.

Its brain is comparable,
in brain-to-body ratio,

to that of a dolphin or great ape.

But it's also a parrot,

and like its relatives,

the palmy nests in tree hollows.

This proud pair have secured
a beautiful bough.

And for their entire lifespans,
around 60 years,

they will share the parenting.

They pass the baton with a kiss...

..before taking turns to forage.

These birds and this forest
have evolved together.

With one of the world's
largest beaks,

they are amongst the few creatures
able to break into the hard fruits

of the native nonda plum.

As the female returns to the nest,
she offers a distinct knock...

[KNOCKS]

..to say, "Yoo-hoo! It's me."

But it is her mate who works harder
still to message his partner...

..communicating in a way no bird -
indeed, no other animal on earth -

has accomplished.

This male palmy has a talent long
thought exclusively a human skill.

He fashions a drumstick

and very deliberately makes music!

Each male produces regular beats
to his own particular rhythm.

[SQUAWKS]

Why he does this is still unclear.

Is it a show of strength
to ward off competitors?

[SQUAWKS]

Or a message to his partner
that she needs to look no further?

He and his nest are best.

A feature of Australia's tropical
rainforests is their stability.

But the monsoon region to the west
is volatile and unpredictable.

Here, the land seesaws
between two extremes -

the floods
of the summer's wet season...

..and the raging fires
which can take hold,

burning for months
through the region's parched winters.

But it's these extremes

which have helped sculpt some of
the world's most dramatic landscapes.

One of the largest savannas on earth,

sweeping across
one quarter of the continent,

intersected by
permanent tidal rivers.

[BIRDS AND INSECTS CALL AND CHIRRUP]

The hunting ground
of the saltwater croc.

This male, known to the river guides
as Casanova,

has been top croc on this river
for decades,

with over 60 pointed teeth.

And while now in his late 50s
he might be considered an old croc,

he has learnt a new trick.

Casanova has adapted to the presence
of humans in an unexpected way.

He associates the rumble of a boat
crammed with tourists

with dinner.

MAN: Life jackets.

They're situated just up there.

I'm not even going to show you
how to put one on.

Does anyone know why?

Crocodiles are attracted
to bright colours, OK?

And splashing.

So, um... And there's about
5,000 crocodiles in this river.

If you end up in the water,
you won't have time to drown anyway.

Yeah? So, number one,
avoid going in the water.

But, um, if we do,
life jackets are useless.

When not chasing the female crocs,

Casanova puts his natural abilities
to good use

and thrills the tourists.

A wavelike thrust created by
hundreds of muscles working in tandem

propels two thirds of his body
clear from the surface...

..finishing the leap with a bite -

the strongest down force
of any animal.

Although it looks unnatural,

crocs will leap for animals
on overhanging trees.

He's ready to go now. Look at this.

No mucking around.

Here we go. Here we go. Oh!

Alright.

(TOURISTS GASP)
There we go.

Only here in Australia have Casanova
and his saltie rivermates

learned to jump for rewards
offered up by humans.

To avoid a crocodile attack
is very easy.

You stay back six metres
from the water's edge

and you never enter the water.

Those two simple things -
never get attacked by a crocodile.

Although that is a very complex
thing to comprehend for some people.

On this river, human and reptile
have found a way to coexist.

Not that life is now easy
for the continent's apex predator.

He is relentlessly hunted...

..by the march fly.

Not just here to hitchhike...

..the fly seeks out divots
in the croc's armour plating.

Weakness found.

It bores its drill-like proboscis
into the soft area of skin below.

A modified form of saliva prevents
the croc's blood from clotting.

And then the fly mops up the blood
with its fleshy mouthparts,

filling to bursting point
on its victim's rich, cold blood.

The delicate three-layered eyelid

is particularly susceptible
to attack.

Nostrils are targeted too.

And from this perspective,
the menacing croc

is reduced to no more than
an involuntary blood donor.

Although he does have
one pest control strategy - mud.

Australia's all-natural
fly repellent.

Not only a barrier to flies but also
a salve to soothe irritating bites.

At least for a moment.

It's not fatal,
but it feels like torture.

And despite
its ancient evolutionary line,

the croc still has
a distinct design fault -

legs so short that there's an itch
that can't be scratched.

While the croc
is at war with its flies,

the rest of the creatures

who call Australia's
northern monsoon region home

battle the extreme variations
in climate.

Birds migrate

to cope with the dramatic pulses
of the wet and the dry.

Other creatures
do not have this luxury.

Unable to move with the seasons,
they must stay and face the elements.

On these floodplains
in the far north of Arnhem Land,

a creature has evolved
a unique coping mechanism

to survive this seasonal change.

The children of Maningrida,

whose playground
spans these northern floodplains,

have discovered an extraordinary
web of life beneath their feet.

In this one small area,
they have helped scientists identify

an astonishing new species
of tarantula, or Kidjikarrabba.

Like most spiders, they have
eight eyes and eight legs

but what sets these tarantulas apart
is their dashing red coat.

And fangs long enough
to dig deep into flesh.

The floodplain is pockmarked
by thousands of spider burrows -

a megacluster of ambush hunters.

The female will spend hours
waiting motionless

for the perfect dinner guest.

She has laid silk out
around her burrow entrance.

It's a carpet of trip wires.

Once in the tarantula's vicelike
grip, there's no hope of escape.

She deals a final blow,
injecting it with toxic venom.

The grasshopper is paralysed.

Her last catch for the dry season.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

Rumbles outside suggest
her world is about to be inundated.

The monsoon has arrived.

Thunderheads
reach over 12,000 metres high.

Electric charges
begin to spark and fire.

A thunderstorm producing the
equivalent energy of an atomic bomb.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

A flood makes its way
towards the plain.

For a creature
that lives underground,

this can only spell danger.

But she is no ordinary tarantula.

She won't flee her burrow
as the watertable rises.

She has her own
silvery life support system.

Her hairy coat traps air bubbles.

Keeping movement to a minimum,

she can survive
on these tiny air pockets.

Like an astronaut in space,
she has created her own atmosphere.

Known only as the diving tarantula,
their discovery is so recent,

they are yet to be officially named
by science.

By the peak of the wet season,

this area will be
under half a metre of water

and, with nowhere to go,

it's assumed she'll remain submerged
for the next four months.

Scientists estimate there are
25,000 diving tarantulas

on this floodplain -

the highest concentration
of tarantulas anywhere in the world.

Most certainly this is no place
for an arachnophobe,

or even a family holiday.

As the wet season
departs the Top End,

it leaves behind a vivid savanna,
plumped by the rain.

Now it will be the dry season's turn
to repaint the landscape.

But before the greens turn brown,
they will be dressed in black.

200km south of Maningrida,

the Indigenous rangers
of Central Arnhem Land

are setting the ground alight.

They burn now

to prevent uncontrollable wildfires
later in the season.

The crisp grass ignites quickly.

The flames move on,
leaving the trees intact.

And as the smoke builds,
the rangers know to look skyward.

They will almost always see
a black kite overhead.

As the grass burns,

a mass exodus of creatures
is forced to flee the heat.

So the black kite,
precision instrument that she is,

can swoop on parbaked bugs.

But the kite
doesn't feast alone for long.

As the smoke builds, so do the kites,
arriving from kilometres around -

hundreds of them.

All are competing now for the spoils.

Squabbles break out. Talons clash.

The traditional owners know
what this bird might do next.

For thousands of years,
Dreaming stories have been told

of a bird that makes its own fires.

The clever Firebird, or Karrkkanj.

The only creature other than humans

known to harness fire
for personal gain.

The kite has been witnessed building
new fires to flush out more insects,

creating new hunting opportunities.

And despite being
the world's most common raptor,

it is only Australia's kites
which do this.

Rangers are left to deal with
extra fires

while those guilty
of fueling the flames fly free

and are very likely to reoffend.

For tens of thousands of years,

Indigenous people
have been telling the stories

of this ancient land
and its creatures...

..and yet there is so much
about Australia's wildlife

that remains unknown
to the world beyond.

About the intelligence...

..the resilience...

..and the perseverance of these
unique and irreplaceable creatures.

Some are thriving...

..while others are on the edge.

Australia may be an ancient land

whose creatures
have grown over millennia

from her rock, soil and flora...

..but human change
is shifting everything.

What this means for the future
of Australia's animals

is another story again.