1
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:07,560
'20 years ago, my good friend Douglas Adams spent a year tracking

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,400
'down endangered animals, together with the zoologist Mark Carwardine.

3
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,840
'Now, it's my turn. Mark and I are heading off to find out

4
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,680
'exactly what happened to those species that he'd seen

5
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,600
'dangling on the edge of extinction two decades ago.

6
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,600
'It promises to be exhausting...

7
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,920
'Exhilarating...' Unbelievable.

8
00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:29,720
'Exasperating...

9
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,560
'But I wouldn't miss it for the world.'

10
00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,360
You seem to have brought me to some kind of paradise, Mark.

11
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,080
Isn't it wonderful?There's clear water, there's beautiful white sand.

12
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,400
What are we after?I thought you wouldn't complain.

13
00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,320
Our main objective is to get to Komodo and look for the Komodo

14
00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,080
dragon, which is one of the most impressive animals on the planet.

15
00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,400
The biggest lizard in the world,

16
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,480
very dangerous and endangered, so that's what we're aiming for.

17
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,040
But rather than go straight there, which I thought would be too easy,

18
00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,480
I thought we'd go and explore a bit of the Malay Archipelago and look

19
00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,920
at some of the other reptiles and the other wildlife along the way.

20
00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,320
We're actually heading for Snake Island.

21
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,440
"Snake Island"?

22
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,600
Right. Welcome to Snake Island, Mr Bond.

23
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,600
Yeah, that's a worrying title,

24
00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,320
and what sort of snakes do we find there?

25
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,280
This is home to an animal called the yellow-lipped sea krait,

26
00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:37,200
which is a kind of sea snake.

27
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,680
It spends half its life in the water and half its life on shore.

28
00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,800
It actually comes out onto the shore to rest and to lay eggs.

29
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,000
Are they venomous? I thought you'd ask that!

30
00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:50,320
It's actually the second most venomous snake in the world.

31
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:52,760
10 times more venomous than a rattle snake,

32
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:54,880
more venomous than a king cobra.

33
00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:56,560
I've got open-toe sandals on.

34
00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,440
I forgot to mention that, yeah, you should have worn...

35
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,320
Great(!) No, I'm kidding, they're fine.

36
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,640
The sea kraits are just one of the many creatures that thrive in the marginal world that

37
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:27,840
exists between sea and land which is so widespread throughout the islands

38
00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,520
that make up Malaysia and Indonesia.

39
00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,360
Oh, did you see?

40
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,240
Oh, there's a little lizard.

41
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:39,760
Quite a big lizard.

42
00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:41,840
What kind?That was a water monitor.

43
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,400
Water monitor, that sounds like a job at school.

44
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,120
It does, actually. Today, you'll be water monitor.

45
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,680
That was quite big.It's a slightly weaker version of a milk monitor.

46
00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,280
Oh, careful, careful.Oh, my God!

47
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,480
Oh, my... That's a sea snake?

48
00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,240
Look at that, that's a good size one, isn't it?

49
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,160
Yep.You're not going to handle it?

50
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,720
Oh, my God, you are.

51
00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:05,320
Careful.

52
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:08,080
Oh, my goodness!

53
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,680
You are very brave!

54
00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:16,240
Mark told me this is possibly the second most venomous snake in the world.Yep.

55
00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,320
God, look at that. Gorgeous markings. I was just going to say.

56
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,960
Because it's also called the banded sea krait, you can see why -

57
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,960
all those dark bands across the body.

58
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,480
What's amazing about it is that it spends most of its time out at sea, out in the ocean.

59
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,840
It can dive and hold its breath for up to 2 hours.

60
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,320
Yes.Good Lord.They'll come on land for mating also.

61
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,000
And lays the eggs. Is this a female, this one?

62
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,000
Yeah. Normally the female is bigger than the male.Right.

63
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,080
OK, so I'm going to release it.

64
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,720
We should release it. Where are we going to do that?

65
00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:53,480
Just going to release it here.

66
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,160
Back to the same spot we found it.

67
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,880
It is a big one, isn't it?Beautiful.

68
00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,440
It's a good four feet.

69
00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,800
I didn't think snakes had feet!Hmm?

70
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,240
Nothing, I didn't speak. Je despair!

71
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,520
'On our journey through the archipelago, we'll be

72
00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:17,720
'discovering more fascinating species

73
00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,600
'who've adapted to this marine and terrestrial existence, but whose

74
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,880
'habitat is under increasing threat from human activity.'

75
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,040
From Snake Island, off the coast of Sabah in north east Borneo,

76
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,560
we'll be travelling south east, to the islands around Flores

77
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:40,080
in Indonesia, where that mighty, ugly, salivating giant lizard known as the Komodo

78
00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:45,200
dragon awaits our arrival with its foul and stinky breath.

79
00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,800
After the fleeting glimpse of the water monitor, Mark is keen to show

80
00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:07,120
me more of these reptiles who so closely resemble the Komodos.

81
00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,680
They are much smaller than the dragons and, unlike the Komodos,

82
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,680
extremely successful, having colonised practically every island

83
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,480
of the archipelago.

84
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:20,520
Got to take pictures of it.

85
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,640
Extraordinary, they're obviously flesh eating - they seem to be tearing at something.

86
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,360
They eat absolutely anything, from small insects to small deer.

87
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,320
They'll eat one another, they eat human faeces, they eat

88
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,400
dead bodies, they eat absolutely anything - amazing animals.

89
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,520
Look at that tongue smelling.

90
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,920
Is that what it does? It's a blue tongue.Just like a snake, yeah.

91
00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,280
This is exactly how I was picturing a Komodo dragon to look, but...

92
00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:55,080
It's hard to believe, but these are tiddlers compared to the dragons

93
00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,560
I'm hoping we're going to see.

94
00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,760
Hello!Smaller guys have to watch out, cos they'll get eaten by some of the bigger adults.

95
00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,960
Good gracious. Are they aggressive?

96
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,840
No, you'll be fine.

97
00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:10,520
And they're being hunted.

98
00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,600
Big numbers, hundred of thousands of them, are killed for their skin.

99
00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,560
And the skin is imported to Europe and Japan

100
00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:19,800
and the States to make handbags.

101
00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:23,800
So many of them are being killed, they're obviously at risk.

102
00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:25,640
It's very humid.

103
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,720
And there is something bubbling.

104
00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:29,360
Wow, that looks fantastic!

105
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,680
'The whole of this region is on a major fault line,

106
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,480
'and has the most active volcanoes anywhere in the world.

107
00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,320
'Eruptions are frequent,

108
00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,040
'albeit rarely as violent as the infamous Krakatoa,

109
00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,400
'but even on this small island,

110
00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,640
'there are some ominous evidences of all that subterranean activity.'

111
00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,360
I'm going to take off my clothes. You devil.

112
00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:58,360
I'm going to go butt naked... but with trunks.

113
00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:01,480
Oh, my God,

114
00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,120
it's weird, look at that.

115
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,480
Oh, it is warm. Oh!

116
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:09,240
That's fantastic.

117
00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:10,960
You actually can't get down.

118
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,960
You can feel it sort of pulling all around you, that's so amazing!

119
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,680
Oh, it's great.You also feel slightly like

120
00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,080
one of those Pompeii figures, caught in an attitude of...

121
00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,200
Here comes the volcano.Actually, it's like being weightless.

122
00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,200
Like being an astronaut. Can you swim?

123
00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,480
No, if I do a one-legged side...

124
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:53,800
Oh, I feel very slippery.

125
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,200
My goodness, they pull your trunks down...

126
00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:57,720
This weight of mud.

127
00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:07,680
'Muddy, but oh-so-thoroughly cleansed after our ad-hoc spa treatment,

128
00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:09,160
'we head to the beach.

129
00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:11,960
'But at the liminal zone between the sea and land,

130
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:17,640
'we find a curious species which has cunningly adapted to this habitat.'

131
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:19,440
Look, more mud.

132
00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,040
Little creatures on it.Look at these, these are mudskippers -

133
00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:28,000
they're fish, can you believe?What?! They actually come out of the water,

134
00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,280
and they've got fins like other fish, but they use their tails.

135
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,920
They curl their tails around and use them like springs and then leap.

136
00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:39,920
Why? Is it food up here, or mating, or what do they do?

137
00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,880
They spend most of their time out of the water, actually.

138
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,080
They breed in the water, they have little tunnels they make

139
00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,240
out of mud that are underwater, and they do all of their social

140
00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,480
activities on the mud. So in the breeding season, the males

141
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:57,200
will suddenly leap up in the air and do back flips and try and impress the

142
00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,440
females, and if the female likes the look of the male, he'll then

143
00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:03,480
get her into his little tunnel

144
00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,760
and she'll lay eggs and he'll fertilise the eggs.

145
00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:11,480
So would it be fanciful to regard these as a sort of missing link -

146
00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,440
is this how the first land animals moved from the sea

147
00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,320
to the land and became reptiles?

148
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,760
Well, it's interesting to look at them and learn bit about how it might have happened.

149
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:25,880
They're not actually related any more than any other fish to the original animals that came out.

150
00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:30,480
That happened 365 million years ago when fish started walking on land,

151
00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,360
and these are doing the same thing.

152
00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,600
So they're interesting from that point of view. Look at that one.

153
00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:37,640
Did you see that one leap?

154
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:40,440
Fantastic.We should get into the water and wash off.

155
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,120
I think, frankly, let's... there's the sea.

156
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,880
'It's hard to exaggerate the devastation that man has wrought

157
00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:52,800
'on these seemingly pristine beaches

158
00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,560
'and the wildlife that depend on them.

159
00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,760
'One particular family of reptiles has suffered more than most -

160
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:01,760
'the sea turtles.

161
00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,440
'For millions of years all over South East Asia,

162
00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,280
'vast numbers of turtles

163
00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,400
'came ashore on beaches like these to lay their eggs...But no more.

164
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:12,680
'Most of the beaches are now empty.'

165
00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,640
'However, a few hundred miles to the east, on Pulau Selingan,

166
00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,760
'evidence of the turtles' nests pock mark the beach.

167
00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,280
'Remarkably, 20 years after being born here,

168
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,760
'the female turtles return to exactly the same beach,

169
00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:34,600
'to lay their eggs.'

170
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,560
The eggs are down there somewhere, and they're probably a good

171
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,760
half a metre to 80cm underneath your feet.

172
00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:46,400
'Dr Nick Pilcher has spent his career studying the turtles around these shores

173
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,640
'and has been actively involved, alongside Sabah National Parks,

174
00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:53,600
'with a major conservation program here.

175
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:57,280
'Egg poaching, hunting for their meat and shells and

176
00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,920
'drowning in fishing nets has led to a dramatic collapse in their numbers

177
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,240
'in spite of their protected status.

178
00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,480
'To increase the remaining hatchlings' survival rate,

179
00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,920
'which at best is less than 1% in the wild,

180
00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,160
'Nick and the park rangers patrol the beaches

181
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,200
'and collect the eggs to put into a hatchery.

182
00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,760
'Every night in the nesting season, up to a score of turtles

183
00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,800
will come ashore here to lay between 70 and 120 eggs each.'

184
00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,880
Oh, look, you can see them, they just come one after the other!

185
00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,880
They look like table tennis balls, don't they?

186
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:32,640
Oh, look, there they are...

187
00:11:32,680 --> 00:11:36,680
Actually the ranger has to get the rest of the eggs out of this nest,

188
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:37,720
there he comes.

189
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,600
It's extraordinary, isn't it?

190
00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,760
It's another example of how the act of conservation

191
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,760
is almost exactly the same as the act of poaching.

192
00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,440
That what we're doing here for good

193
00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:57,440
used to be done by people to take the eggs to steal them for food.Absolutely.

194
00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,880
Do you want to try and reach in and grab some?

195
00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:01,520
So what do I do, just lean?

196
00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,840
Just put one hand down behind her flipper there.

197
00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,800
Now you can reach in - try not to touch her tail.

198
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:11,520
Oops, got one.

199
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,680
Try and grab them all out before she finishes laying, so...

200
00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:19,720
There's another one there. It's hard.

201
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,120
Can I feel it?Yeah, look at that.

202
00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,240
Oh, it's warm and heavy.

203
00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,520
What's interesting is that you can make a

204
00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:32,080
little dimple in it - it's a little bit flexible,

205
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,400
and that gives it a little bit of play when it falls into the nest.

206
00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:41,600
I can't see anything through the light, I can't see a shape.

207
00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,040
You don't get any fresher than these.

208
00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:46,360
How many was that?95 total.

209
00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,640
That's a good number. She's starting to cover it up.

210
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,440
She thinks the eggs are still there, so

211
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,520
she's going to cover this up just like it was any other nest.

212
00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:59,000
She's being extremely careful about how she puts her weight down.

213
00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,080
All the eggs are being kept in a sort of inner dome as it were,

214
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:04,240
and then the looser sand will get...

215
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:07,040
It is more sophisticated than just filling the hole.

216
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,320
It is, she's building a whole shape around it.

217
00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:13,000
The other thing that's interesting is she's using her front flippers,

218
00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,280
throwing sand to backfill.

219
00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,440
Oh, we're getting showered in sand, straight in your face.

220
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,880
Yes, it was. Extraordinary - there's a lot of power in those flippers.

221
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,080
I'm gradually disappearing.

222
00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:26,680
There you go!

223
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:29,680
Look at you.

224
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,040
So when she starts heading towards the sea,

225
00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,760
is she going towards the sound of the sea or the lights?

226
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:37,640
She's actually going to follow

227
00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:41,640
the slope of the beach, possibly somewhat the sound of the waves.

228
00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:43,400
She's going really quickly now.

229
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,480
Look at the speed!She can smell it.

230
00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:48,800
She's so happy to be back.

231
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,120
Well done, mother.

232
00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:57,040
Good job done.Well done.

233
00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:58,360
CLAPPING

234
00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,120
Some of the great scenes in nature - the power of maternity and the power

235
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,240
of instinct and the fitness for purpose,

236
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,400
all come together in the turtle - almost like no other animal.

237
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:14,160
That fitness of purpose, hundreds of millions of years.

238
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:15,920
Are there still lots of mysteries

239
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,400
surrounding sea turtles, still a lot of unanswered questions?

240
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,040
Absolutely. We know what happens to them when they go into the sea,

241
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,840
we understand a lot about this magnetic orientation and...

242
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,200
But how do they make it back?

243
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,920
You stop and think about that and you go,

244
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,560
"Well, who told them they should come back here?"

245
00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,680
Sure, it's natural and there's a homing instinct...

246
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,680
How is that homing instict derived, how do they even do it?

247
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:45,160
That was fantastic.

248
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,360
That was one of the great evenings of my life.

249
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,320
I get to do this on a daily basis!

250
00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:59,320
'The hatchery is half in shade, half in sun,

251
00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,400
'as the slight temperature difference determines the sex

252
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:07,240
'of the animal. 2 degrees is all it takes to change a male to a female.

253
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,680
'If only our lives were that easy!'

254
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,760
Actually, if the nest is quite warm, you'll get a greater number of females.

255
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,680
So have you got one that's due?

256
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:17,920
Well, if we just wander up and down here

257
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,600
and just see what there is, there could be some.

258
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,640
This one looks... That one looks like it came out.

259
00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:25,680
Look - here you go. Look at this.

260
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,360
Do they climb out...

261
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,600
There's one hatching.

262
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,240
They're just about to come out.

263
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,600
Here you go. Look at this.

264
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,720
Can I hold him?Yeah.

265
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,200
Oh, that's the most fantastic animal, isn't it?

266
00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,720
Literally just been born -

267
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,760
effectively, its first sight of the world, isn't it?

268
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,800
They're perfect.One of the things you'll find with these animals...

269
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,280
When they're walking down the beach

270
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,760
and they can feel something underneath them,

271
00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:56,880
then they've got an alternating gait.

272
00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:58,960
Just on land, to run along the sand.

273
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,920
But the minute they go weightless - so the minute they're in the water -

274
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,320
they'll start to swim. Oh, wow, that's fantastic.

275
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,240
So he's swimming along as if he was in the water, and notice also that

276
00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,080
the head comes up for a breath, just like it would...

277
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:15,720
Look at that, see? The head is coming up for a breath

278
00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,040
as if it were in the water.

279
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:21,240
Oh, there are more down there. Oh, they're all coming out now.

280
00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,640
Once some of them start to move, that's the message for the ones

281
00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:28,800
underneath - "C'mon, guys, let's come out and go and see the beach."

282
00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,040
Swarm of them - does it say how many eggs?

283
00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:35,120
Well, there were 81 eggs. That's very healthy, extremely healthy.

284
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,440
Let's get these guys out to the ocean rather than keep them waiting around.

285
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:41,120
Yes, please.This is excellent.

286
00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,400
Evening time, when hatchlings would typically be coming out.

287
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,240
So they'd come out just before the sun drops down, would they?Yep.

288
00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:52,840
I think this is a good enough spot to let them go.

289
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,760
The idea is, in nature they would actually come out and

290
00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:00,600
run down the beach, and as they're running down, they're picking up on magnetic fields.

291
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,560
So they need a bit of a run-in, just to orient themselves. To get their bearings.

292
00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:09,520
Exactly. Once they go through here, they'll have a much better idea of where they're headed.

293
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:11,680
So that's why we release them up here.

294
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,880
And we can just gently release this.

295
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,440
How extraordinary.Here they go!

296
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,200
And notice one thing -

297
00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,040
they're headed straight towards the brightest spot.

298
00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:24,720
They are - straight for the sun.

299
00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,240
That is the most incredible sight. Fantastic.

300
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:32,000
Look at them!

301
00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,200
Look at him! They're desperate!

302
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,680
There's no hanging around, they're not nervous about it -

303
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:50,920
straight in the sea.

304
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:56,560
Notice as soon as they float, they change their swimming pattern.

305
00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:58,640
Just like a clockwork toy.

306
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,280
Look, there's one last one up here - look, Stephen.

307
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:02,960
Oh, yes. Come on.

308
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,800
Come on, you.

309
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,840
Oh, no, the crab grabbed it as it went over the hole.

310
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:17,440
Rescue it!

311
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,600
I know you're not supposed to intervene, but hey!

312
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,040
That's it, go for it. Good luck!

313
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:32,720
Yeah!

314
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,480
Made for the water. Oh, that's fantastic.

315
00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,040
I've never seen anything quite so magical in all my life.

316
00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,880
That's one of the best wildlife things I've seen.

317
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,400
20-25 years from now,

318
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:47,200
hopefully she'll be back laying eggs if she's a girl.

319
00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,560
That was fantastic.

320
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,160
A great sight.

321
00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:01,920
200 miles to the south on the border with Indonesia and the Philippines,

322
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,800
we are to get a chance to see the adult turtles in their natural habitat.

323
00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:07,640
See you in there.

324
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:27,840
Mark tells me these are some of the best coral reefs in the world,

325
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,920
but their health is as much at risk as the turtles.

326
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:34,440
Dynamite and cyanide fishing, the pet trade and global warming

327
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:38,480
are such serious threats to the reefs and all that are dependent on them,

328
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,040
it's feared they may be extinct within 50 years.

329
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,080
But it's hard to imagine that now, as I gaze in wonder at the grace

330
00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:50,320
and beauty of the turtles in their weightless world.

331
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:31,480
Wow, that was amazing!

332
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,920
Extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it in all my life.

333
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,400
Two turtles I saw, at least.

334
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,680
So graceful and beautiful,

335
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,200
those easy strokes of those amazing flippers.

336
00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:48,120
I was watching them go off over the abyss, they go over the edge of the reef out to the open ocean.

337
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,400
We're staying on the island of Mabul,

338
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,400
which is home to many different nationalities.

339
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,400
There are the Bugis, the sea gypsies that roam these waters,

340
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,840
Malays, Filipinos, Indonesians from various ethnic groups,

341
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:09,440
and all of them struggling to make a living on this crowded coral island.

342
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:13,320
Hello.

343
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,160
Sprite? Sprite.

344
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:26,760
Dua.

345
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,680
Terima Kasih.

346
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:32,640
Thank you.There you go.

347
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,080
'For these islanders, shark fishing is a major resource,

348
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,960
'but one which itself is threatened with extinction.'

349
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,840
I don't know what species of shark it is - good size one.

350
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,000
Look at all the rows of teeth.

351
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,120
Oh, my goodness...

352
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,000
One, two, three, four, five, six...

353
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,680
You can't even count, they go right down...There's at least eight.

354
00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:01,360
It's a conveyor belt, so these front teeth are in use and as they break

355
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:05,720
off, which they do often, literally, the next one just pops up like that,

356
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,800
and that works, and then there's another one ready to go,

357
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,840
and there are others developing further back so they never run out of teeth.

358
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,040
Extraordinary. Presumably it was killed for shark fin soup,

359
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:17,680
is that one of the big problems?

360
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:22,320
That's the big threat. Sharks the world over are being killed by the million.

361
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,800
They reckon 150 million sharks are killed every year - every year -

362
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:28,520
just for shark fin soup.

363
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,280
Things like this are a by-product. Most of them just get caught and the

364
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,320
fins get cut off, and they get thrown overboard, often alive,

365
00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:38,240
so most of the shark is wasted,

366
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,680
and in these cases they just take the jaws, which they sell to tourists.

367
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:44,960
And there are so many of them.

368
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,800
'There are other endangered species nearby.

369
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:02,000
'In amongst the sea gypsy villages that flourish in these margins

370
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:06,240
of sea and land trots one of the most endearing animals of all.

371
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:14,080
Ouch. Good - that's the first stage complete, up to the knees.

372
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:17,960
The reason I'm wearing these today, which I didn't yesterday,

373
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,280
is cos I've got really bad - it's quite red here -

374
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,240
really bad sunburn from the snorkelling.

375
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,800
Just from lying, you know...

376
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,720
Weird.Stephen, are you coming?

377
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,120
Yes, sorry, just chatting to the ladies and gentlemen.

378
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,960
Ah... Oh, dear...

379
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,360
Hello.

380
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,400
It'll be dark soon.

381
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,520
Oi, less of it. Ouch. Oh, I see.

382
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,840
Oh, dear, excuse me. Ow!

383
00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:53,320
For goodness' sake, it's impossible.

384
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:54,960
Yeah, exactly!

385
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,160
Ow! Have mercy on my poor flesh.

386
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:02,800
Say if it starts to hurt.Oh, yeah, that's usually what I mean by "ow"!

387
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,960
That was lovely, really good. We were lucky to see one,

388
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,320
cos they're so well camouflaged, aren't they?They really are,

389
00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:30,640
especially when they stretch themselves out - they become like a caterpillar.

390
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,800
They do. I always think they look like bits of other animals.

391
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:39,240
They've got a monkey's tail, that prehensile tail that wraps around the...Grasps the end of the blade.

392
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,280
Then they've got a horses head, obviously, and chameleon eyes,

393
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,240
cos the eyes can...Swivel. In different directions.

394
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,840
Then the most amazing thing is they've got like a kangaroo pouch.

395
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,640
The males have got what's called a brood pouch

396
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,240
and they are the ones that get pregnant. It's very unusual -

397
00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,080
the male gives birth to the young and...To live young?

398
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,760
Yeah, it's an extremely unusual way of reproducing.

399
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:06,560
So are seahorses in danger?

400
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:11,920
Yeah, of course, there's all sorts of threats. The main threat is traditional medicine in China.

401
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,240
They get dried and ground up and

402
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:19,920
used as everything for medicine, from asthma to an aphrodisiac.

403
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,080
Thank you.

404
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,200
These little spratty things.

405
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,120
'In the markets of the archipelago,

406
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,840
'it's hard to persuade artisanal fishermen to limit what they catch.

407
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,160
'Such a seeming abundance and diversity of sea life to be eaten,

408
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,360
'or sold to the Chinese, belies the problem -

409
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,520
'a real threat to a whole range of vulnerable species.'

410
00:26:54,560 --> 00:27:00,160
There's some sharks there.Oh, yeah. That's sad, that's the fin gone.

411
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,320
And they sell the rest of it, but the fin is the valuable part?

412
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,920
That's right, the fin is what goes to make shark fin soup.

413
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,480
A very young one. That's the trouble these days - most of the sharks being

414
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,200
brought up are small, which is a sign that the big ones are already gone.

415
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:15,960
Yeah.

416
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,760
A sleepy time of the afternoon, isn't it?

417
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:33,280
'The trade in shark fins, seahorses and other unappetising sea creatures

418
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:38,000
'is thriving, in spite of the evidence that they're fast disappearing.'

419
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:43,400
Goodness me.What an extraordinary collection of stuff.Oh, are those...

420
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,400
Those are sea cucumbers, which they use in a soup.

421
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,840
Literally, millions of sea cucumbers are collected from the wild around the world.

422
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,600
They look like sort of ossified turds, to be honest.

423
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:59,680
Shark fins, they're all dried, ready to go. Look, there's sea horses.

424
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,320
Goodness.Look at that.

425
00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:04,160
They're perfectly dried.

426
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,480
What they do with these is they put them in a cooking pot and boil

427
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:13,200
them in water for 3-4 hours and then they drink the water.

428
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:19,560
Very, very popular, and millions of sea horses are traded around the world just for that.

429
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,440
That's a tonic, but there are several dozen different

430
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,280
animal products that are being traded for Chinese medicine.

431
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,840
Things like tiger penises, rhino horns and it's such a huge volume.

432
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:32,800
When you think of 1.5 billion people

433
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,080
believing in this kind of medicine, demanding the products.

434
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:40,680
One of the key goals for conservation in years

435
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,840
to come is to educate people in the far east not to buy these products.

436
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:46,600
If you can get rid of that demand

437
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,720
then you'll start to solve the problem on the ground.

438
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,120
And it's not only the sea creatures that are under threat

439
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,240
from the demands of Chinese traditional medicine.

440
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,520
The pangolin, or scaly anteater,

441
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,480
that lives in the forests of South East Asia

442
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,600
is highly sought after for its reputed health giving properties.

443
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,720
Many are caught, but this one is lucky.

444
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,640
It's going to be released by a park ranger into a protected reserve.

445
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,520
Can we just chat about it a little bit?

446
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,920
I know a little cos funnily enough, we did the pangolin on QI.

447
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:34,600
It's a mammal, isn't it?

448
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,320
People often think, "Gosh, that must be a reptile,"

449
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:40,600
cos I think it's the only mammal covered in scales, isn't it?

450
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,200
Large scales.

451
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:46,440
These are made out of keratin like our fingernails, like rhino horns.

452
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,280
People call them sometimes walking pine cones,

453
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,240
which I think is a great description.That's very good.

454
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,440
And unfortunately, it's rather delicious flesh, isn't it?

455
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,080
Isn't there an issue with them being stolen from the wild for

456
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,960
the plates of Chinese restaurants and other places around the world?

457
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,920
Yes, one of the delicacies.And they're expensive and highly rated.

458
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:15,080
People drink the blood as well, and they reckon these keratin scales are good

459
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:19,760
for things like blood circulation and swellings, and then they boil them to

460
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:21,960
get the scales off and eat the meat.

461
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,080
He's taken his whole face out of his...

462
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,520
Isn't that fantastic?

463
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,720
And how endangered is the pangolin? Vulnerable?

464
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,280
Well, they are a protected species. They are a protected species.

465
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:35,880
Well, we should let him go.

466
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,080
What are you going to do, just put him on the ground?

467
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,840
Just put him on the ground here and then we will...

468
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,520
I think he's going to make a dash for it, wouldn't blame him.

469
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,400
Can't believe his luck.

470
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,000
OK, he's just smelling...

471
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,080
Oh, he's going the wrong way now.

472
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,120
There he goes.

473
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:58,880
There he goes!

474
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,760
They find it hard to walk because of those big claws - of course they have

475
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,520
to walk with the claws curled... Oh, look at that.

476
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,600
That's where the claws come in handy as well. Oops.

477
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,200
Reasonably in handy!

478
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:14,880
That's better.

479
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,160
Got the hang of it now. That's fantastic.

480
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,800
Splendid.

481
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,560
Well done.

482
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,840
Well, that was a great success.

483
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,360
Yeah.

484
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,840
The pangolin faces an even greater threat than poaching.

485
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,200
Like so many other animals here, it's fast losing its habitat.

486
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:44,280
The main cause - the dramatic increase in palm oil plantations.

487
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,240
Rows and rows and rows of these palm trees.

488
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,720
I know. It's scary, isn't it? It's literally as far as the eye can see.

489
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,440
Look, over that hill and beyond.

490
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,360
And these are all over South East Asia, aren't they?

491
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,840
Yes, it's one of the big conservation issues in the world,

492
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:03,600
let alone just in South East Asia,

493
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,240
because what's happening is vast areas of tropical rainforests are

494
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:12,720
being cleared and replaced with palm oil plantations like this.

495
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:18,160
And we in Europe are partly to blame because we're among the consumers.

496
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:19,720
Is it a foodstuff oil?

497
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:26,040
Yeah, the palm oil is used in foodstuffs, food processing, and also in cosmetics.

498
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:32,080
And the latest thing, which is very ironic, is in bio fuels - environmentally friendly fuels.

499
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,200
So-called environmentally friendly.

500
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,640
Well, of course, the fuel itself is environmentally friendly,

501
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,760
but the production not only destroys the rainforest,

502
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,240
which destroys all the wildlife and so on,

503
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,960
it also, by destroying the rainforest, releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

504
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,560
than you save by using the bio fuels, so it's a bad thing all round.

505
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:56,840
Most of the wildlife in the forest that would have been here has gone.

506
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:07,320
'Palm oil has caused the destruction of much of Borneo's rainforest,

507
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:08,920
'but it's also the mangroves,

508
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,440
'those amazing trees that spend half their life in the sea,

509
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,640
'that are equally at risk, along with the species they nurture.

510
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:21,280
'One of the most endangered is also one of the most ridiculous looking -

511
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,000
'the aptly-named proboscis monkey.

512
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,600
'In Labuk Bay, a small area of 400 acres has been saved

513
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,480
'from the encroaching palm oil plantation

514
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,680
'by its owner Ambrose, who is dedicated to preserving

515
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,920
'the unique wildlife of these tidal swamp lands.'

516
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,560
What happens when we are here, looking at the monkeys all around,

517
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:47,360
we feel that it's unfair to destroy their habitat.No, quite.

518
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,760
I mean, sometimes we're thinking about this,

519
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,720
studying all the pros and cons - in the end, we have to protect them.

520
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,160
So it's one little island though, with all around is palm,

521
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:02,640
palm, palm, and this one part - because you have it, it's private land.

522
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,760
Yes.So you can do what you like with it.Yes, it's all private property.

523
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,720
Right. And you've turned it into a sanctuary for all, I mean, not just

524
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,960
the monkeys, the proboscis and the...

525
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,600
Yes, and also we also want to protect the mangrove.

526
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,320
Knowing well that we need to help the mangrove.

527
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:23,000
And from this sanctuary, I think we are the leaders,

528
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,280
we make the first move, you see?

529
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,400
So hopefully the rest of all these big players

530
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:31,480
in the plantation also follow suit.

531
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,840
Seeing them in profile there, you know the Indonesians used to call

532
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:42,600
them "Dutch monkeys" because that was a bit of a dig at the Dutch settlers

533
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,920
because of their big pot bellies, and of course, their big red noses.

534
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,200
You can see it, can't you?

535
00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:53,520
You can. Also, there's something about the noise they make...

536
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:57,600
Reminds me of lunchtime at the Garrick Club.

537
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:02,400
"Oh, they've given him a peerage, what has he ever done? Ridiculous!"

538
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,240
"Oh, I see from my paper that you're dead."

539
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:07,760
"Urgh, argh."

540
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,600
It's rather nice in this world,

541
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,520
where most tropical fruit is available in the local British supermarket,

542
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:27,160
to see things that aren't,

543
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,160
and this is something I've long wanted to try.

544
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,520
This is the famous durian fruit, isn't it?

545
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,600
I know, the smelly fruit that lots of airlines have banned.

546
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:40,120
Yes, you're not allowed to have it in Singapore in public transport,

547
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:44,200
and in hotels there are signs with cigarettes crossed out

548
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,240
and durian fruit crossed out.

549
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:47,760
Shall we get one, try one?

550
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,280
I think so.

551
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,080
Oh, it's like an embryo. Hideous. Feels disgusting.

552
00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,080
Oh, it's so unctuous and slippery.

553
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,200
Are you ready?Argh!

554
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:07,360
I wish I could describe to you how disgusting that smells.

555
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,960
It's hot from Satan's anal ring.

556
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,720
Not quite that bad!

557
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,680
You know, do you?!

558
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:18,480
Tastes delicious, really sweet and...

559
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:27,000
Not bad at all. As you say, the texture is not appealing particularly.

560
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:30,800
But...oops. The taste is lovely.

561
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,360
I'll have another piece.Mmm.

562
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:38,360
Terima Kasih.

563
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:48,320
As there are no direct flights from Borneo to our next destination,

564
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,040
the Komodo islands, we need to do a spot of island hopping.

565
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:55,240
Our first waypoint is the island of Bali.

566
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,480
Unlike neighbouring Borneo, Bali destroyed its rainforests

567
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,920
centuries ago, when the Hindus settled on this small island

568
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,560
to escape the advance of Islam.

569
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,920
Every available piece of land was harnessed to feed the growing

570
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,680
population, to the detriment of the forest fauna and flora.

571
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,680
The Balinese have remained resolutely Hindu

572
00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:25,520
in spite of the overwhelming dominance of Islam amongst

573
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:27,840
Indonesia's 230 million people.

574
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,280
The mix of local deities, animism and Hindu mythology

575
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,560
has created a dynamic ritual life

576
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,400
for the Balinese that is seen everywhere on the island.

577
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,920
Though there is great respect for nature,

578
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:46,480
ironically, animal, and specifically turtle sacrifices, have been a major ingredient in the ceremonies.

579
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:52,080
You can see everywhere in Bali how important Hinduism is, with all the offerings.

580
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:57,000
Everywhere you walk there are little offerings to different deities.

581
00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:03,320
It shows just how hard it is to change traditions like sacrificing sea turtles.

582
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,200
It's been happening for time immemorial,

583
00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:09,640
and to actually make that change involves a lot of effort.

584
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,480
So instead of sacrificing turtles, what do they do?

585
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:16,560
Well, some places are now using drawings or paintings of turtles.

586
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,560
Mock turtles?

587
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,880
Yes!Why didn't I see that coming?

588
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,200
No, they're using things like drawings and paintings and

589
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:30,600
rice cakes in the shape of turtles - anything that represents a turtle.

590
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:34,400
Well, in a lot of religions, their history is a move from

591
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,440
the actual to the symbolic, isn't it?Of course, yeah.

592
00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:45,360
MEN SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

593
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:55,000
'The evening entertainment in the temple grounds is the traditional

594
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,400
'shadow play, with a plot involving gods, demons, and fallible humans,

595
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,960
'as well as a fleeting glimpse of of a Komodo dragon.'

596
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,680
'I wish we could have stayed longer,

597
00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:15,960
'but our destiny lies to the east, where the real dragons await us.

598
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:29,400
Labuan Bajo is the main port on the island of Flores,

599
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,280
and where we'll find our boat to the islands where the dragons live.

600
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:39,360
In the 20 years since Mark and Douglas came here, the five islands that make up the main Komodo habitat

601
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:40,880
have become a National Park,

602
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,840
and a popular destination for the intrepid traveller.

603
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,880
It's a rather nice town. Has it changed much since you were here with Douglas?

604
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,120
Oh, God, yes, so different - can't believe it's the same place.

605
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,680
But the islands are marvellous to see, aren't they?

606
00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:58,200
They've got that South East Asian sort of humpiness that's just very characteristic.

607
00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:00,520
They're different from islands anywhere in the world.

608
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,360
That one there is just fantastic.

609
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:07,040
Mark... "Man killed by Komodo dragons."

610
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:08,880
I'm not making it up - look.

611
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,240
My goodness!"Two Komodo dragons mauled a fruit picker to death

612
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,840
"in eastern Indonesia," police and witnesses said, yesterday.

613
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:21,040
"The latest in a string of attack on humans by the world's largest lizard species."!

614
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:24,400
That's not good. Well, they are incredibly dangerous animals.

615
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:29,280
I think the most scary thing is they have this amazing saliva, the saliva is dripping from

616
00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:33,240
their mouths they have so much of it, it's like a witch's brew of bacteria.

617
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:38,000
And what they do is, they don't like tackling the big animals and actually bringing

618
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:42,040
them down, so they'll lie in ambush, and they'll leap out and bite a water

619
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:46,000
buffalo, or a deer, or a horse or some huge prey animal,

620
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,080
and then just wait for it to gradually lose strength

621
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:51,200
and get weaker and weaker or die,

622
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:55,520
and then it'll go and - maybe a week later - will go in for the kill.

623
00:40:55,560 --> 00:41:00,480
That's the creepiest way for an animal to earn a living that I've ever heard of!

624
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,280
That's revolting - that's lower than a dung beetle.

625
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,040
It's lower than an estate agent or a banker!

626
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:09,120
How creepy is that?

627
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,800
'We hear that one of the Komodo park rangers, a man called Pak Main, was

628
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,600
'attacked last month while sitting

629
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,880
'at his desk in the rangers' office on the island of Rinca.

630
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:25,480
'He's still recuperating at home.'

631
00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:30,080
I hear you had a fight with a Komodo dragon - what happened?

632
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,280
The dragon bit my foot, the left.

633
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:37,800
After a bite here, still in my foot his mouth,

634
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:44,160
so I had to step and take the right of my foot put in the body.

635
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:47,200
To stamp on him, yes. I would like to make a break

636
00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:55,760
of the leg of the dragon, but he more strong and I cannot

637
00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,040
hold him. So the dragon, throw down on the floor,

638
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:02,400
try to bite anotheron the hand.

639
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:06,880
Oh, my goodness.You have many more scars here and your hand is swollen.

640
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:10,040
And then I make like this.

641
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:11,960
I'm calling my friend.

642
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,280
Right, so you're shouting with blood coming out of you.

643
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,000
Help me, help me.

644
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,880
Well, this is a warning to us to be careful.Yes.

645
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,960
We're off!Yes, this is what we've come here for.

646
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,000
'The wind is fair and all is shipshape aboard the good ship Felicia,

647
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:50,880
'as we set sail for our encounter with the decidedly deadly dragons.'

648
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:12,320
'Our first stop will be at Rinca, the second largest of the islands

649
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:14,600
'within the Komodo National Park,

650
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,360
'which in 1991 was designated a World Heritage Site.

651
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:23,560
'The result is that not only are the dragons protected, but so crucially,

652
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,680
'are the animals they feed on.'

653
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:31,840
We seem to be approaching land.

654
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,040
Yeah, so this is Rinca.

655
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:38,040
Rinca. Seems quite a bare sort of landscape.

656
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:39,840
Rather Welsh or Scottish almost -

657
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,800
not many trees, and scrubby grass and rocky outcrops.

658
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,680
What sort of animals and things does the Komodo dragon live on?

659
00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:50,120
Here, they're living on animals introduced by people, actually,

660
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:57,160
the big things like water buffalo, horses, pigs, deer...big things.

661
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:02,920
For the past six years,

662
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:06,680
zoologist Pak Deni has been studying the dragons,

663
00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:08,400
monitoring their movements,

664
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,960
and examining their mating and hunting habits.

665
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,720
The most recent research indicates that the dragons are

666
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,600
in fact highly venomous, so it now seems it's not just the toxic brew

667
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:19,680
of bacteria in their saliva,

668
00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:22,960
but also the anti-coagulants in their venom

669
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:24,960
which disable their prey.

670
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:28,840
So this makes them the largest venomous animal in the world.

671
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,160
And I'm about to meet them. Great(!)

672
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:32,800
Oh, my goodness!

673
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:34,760
Look at this. It's not, is it?

674
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:42,840
They're huge! That's a really big one, isn't it?

675
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:44,360
My goodness me.

676
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,080
How big would you say that is?

677
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:50,200
This one, probably 80kg.

678
00:44:50,240 --> 00:44:55,520
Are they aggressive to you?They keep an eye on us. We have to be careful.

679
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,240
But this is where you live - the rangers live here.

680
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:02,560
And this is the office where - we were talking to Main yesterday -

681
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:04,200
that's where he was attacked.

682
00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:09,400
Yes, there's still blood remaining on the windows.Oh, dear!

683
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:11,240
And they can climb up these steps?

684
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:16,840
Of course, that's why we have to be careful.God, I thought I was ugly.

685
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,600
They really are not the most attractive animals,

686
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,480
there's nothing about them that endears us as mammals

687
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:26,600
to them, but I daresay they love each other in their own way.

688
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:35,960
They're so well armed - you've got those amazing claws,

689
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,680
like tiger talons, and a really powerful tail they can

690
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:44,200
knock an animal as big as a horse and a water buffalo over with,

691
00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:46,200
and the shark-like teeth.

692
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:49,560
He's nuzzling.

693
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,240
We could get some gay action going on.

694
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:56,240
How long have you studied and worked with Komodo dragons?Since 2002.

695
00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:01,840
Do you - this is a strange question - do you like them?

696
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:07,200
The first time, I have to be honest, it is a dangerous species and I have

697
00:46:07,240 --> 00:46:11,240
to be careful and I was a little bit worried, but after one year,

698
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:13,760
two years, I try to love my job.

699
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,040
And do you now?Yes.

700
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:20,000
You do.This is the only dragons

701
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,480
that live in Indonesia which is my country.

702
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,120
I'm proud of it and it's kind of my pride.

703
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:30,960
You see all the folds of skin, that's what fascinates me.

704
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,480
That's partly so they can expand when they eat,

705
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:35,600
cos they eat huge amounts, don't they?

706
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:39,640
In one sitting they can eat almost sort of 80% of their

707
00:46:39,680 --> 00:46:41,720
own weight in one sitting.

708
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:45,640
They get really big, obviously, so all those extra bits of skin

709
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:49,360
will stretch out like a big bag. Do they use the tongue to smell?

710
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:53,280
Yeah, it's an incredibly clever system cos it's the forked tongue

711
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,960
and they can tell which direction the smell is coming from.In stereo!

712
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:00,280
It is, smell in stereo.Left channel, right channel - brilliant.

713
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:01,840
It's so powerful they reckon...

714
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:06,480
I don't know what the latest theory is, but many kilometres away.More than 4km.

715
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:10,080
They are as ugly as sin, but, like all animals,

716
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,200
I suppose they're very good at being themselves.

717
00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:16,120
You've got to respect that Komodo dragonness of them,

718
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:17,640
it's so complete, isn't it?

719
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:21,840
When their tongues come out, you can see where the Chinese dragon myth came from,

720
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:25,800
cos the tongue is like fire coming out, and a couple of thousand

721
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:30,880
years ago there were Chinese traders stopping off here, and that's where the "here be dragons"

722
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:35,480
was written on the maps, warning people in this area that these animals were here.

723
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:40,360
There's one there looking straight at me,

724
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,760
and it's one of the most malevolent expressions I've ever seen on any living thing.

725
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:59,440
The dragons live cheek by jowl with the rangers, but they

726
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:04,400
also wander throughout the various villages or kampungs on the islands,

727
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,680
whose inhabitants now number some 4,000.

728
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:15,280
Be interesting to know what the villagers think of living as it were in the shadow of the dragon.

729
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,720
Wouldn't it? We need to try and find a head man, or mayor,

730
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:23,280
I don't know what you'd call the person in charge of the village here.

731
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,520
The kampung commandant.

732
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:27,040
Do you think?Yeah.

733
00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:37,600
A local legend recounts how once upon a time,

734
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,240
the Komodo was a human's twin,

735
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:43,800
which may explain something of their mutual tolerance.

736
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:46,520
Goodness me, lovely, aren't they?

737
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:49,360
But last year, on the largest kampung on Komodo,

738
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:51,080
a child was eaten by a dragon,

739
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:57,440
so we want to find out how the villagers' attitude to these dangerous predators has changed.

740
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:04,800
Could you ask him if the villagers are always aware, always conscious

741
00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:08,840
of the fact that they have these dangerous dragons close to them?

742
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:10,280
HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE

743
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:21,560
Before the kids died, it just live in harmony.

744
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:27,960
But right after the kids die one year ago, the peoples here a little

745
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:33,800
bit careful, they teach the little ones not enter the forest again.

746
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:37,840
And do they like the fact that tourists come to see the dragon,

747
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,400
is that a good thing, are they welcomed here?

748
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:42,920
HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE

749
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:53,240
Oh, it's happy, they're happy with the tourists, they get incomes from the tourists.

750
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:56,400
'I detect a certain insouciance towards the dragons,

751
00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:59,760
'but maybe it's because there's simply no alternative.

752
00:49:59,800 --> 00:50:04,240
'And maybe to them, killing the dragon would be tantamount to fratricide.

753
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:11,160
'We leave the village to sail to the far side of Rinca,

754
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:14,840
'where Deni has a research project to continue.

755
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:18,120
'As we pass the mangrove forests that adorn the islands like

756
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:25,000
'emerald necklaces, Mark is keen to show me how crucial they are to the health of the entire archipelago.'

757
00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:02,560
Wow, isn't that incredible?!

758
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:04,240
Fantastic, isn't it? I mean,

759
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:08,320
it sounds a silly thing to say,but this is trees growing in the sea!

760
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:11,960
I know, I always think of them as botanical amphibians.

761
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:15,200
They've sort of got one foot on the land and one foot in the sea -

762
00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:17,280
it's the most extraordinary habitat.

763
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:21,120
Aside from everything else it's just so beautiful, this kind of wonderful

764
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:23,600
bushy margin to the islands. Oh, I love it, it's great.

765
00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:28,240
They're marvellous and they're multifunctional - are they in any way endangered?

766
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:30,680
Of course, as most things are.

767
00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:35,640
No, they are, there's coastal developments of all sorts from golf courses to hotels.

768
00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:38,760
They're destroying mangroves and reclaiming the land.

769
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,960
Shrimp farming is one of the main threats, and the other problem is

770
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:46,280
once you've destroyed a habitat, all the other wildlife goes and,

771
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:49,200
you know, we've just seen not just the fish, there are

772
00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:53,440
barnacles and oysters and crabs and there are snakes living in here and

773
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:55,560
all sort of birds, so they'd go as well.

774
00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:57,640
Snakes. Thanks for telling me!

775
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:06,720
As the fruit bats leave these floating forests,

776
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:11,080
I marvel at the extraordinary and complex evolutionary forces

777
00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:15,200
that have made these island habitats so utterly bewitching.

778
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:41,160
Next morning, the Rinca dragons are blithely unaware of Deni

779
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,240
and the rangers' plan.

780
00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:46,520
The idea is to trap some of the dragons and tag them with

781
00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:50,680
a radio collar so their movements can be tracked over the islands.

782
00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:53,600
By doing this, they will have for the first time an

783
00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:57,600
accurate census, which will be vital in monitoring their survival.

784
00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:02,640
But snagging a drooling, venomous lizard is no easy matter...

785
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:04,160
Or is it?

786
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:18,880
So have we got one?

787
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:21,160
We've got one, it's pretty big.

788
00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:24,800
Wow, that's a big trap. Oh, there he is.

789
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:27,920
Gosh, he's a big one. Good grief.

790
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,280
So what's the plan then, what do we do?

791
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:36,200
We will try to measure them, we will tie them up and then...

792
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:41,880
So you kind of hog-tie them and then attach some device...

793
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:43,760
A GPS device?

794
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,120
Radio telemetry. Right, radio telemetry.

795
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:48,080
Shall we try?You can try.

796
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,840
You can feel it, can't you?

797
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,840
It's being hog-tied. It's like a chicken when you...

798
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:07,840
Measurement's beginning now.

799
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:12,440
Head width 14.5.

800
00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:19,200
Follow the line of the tail.

801
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:25,040
Two and 2/3 metres - wow! What's the next stage?

802
00:54:25,080 --> 00:54:27,920
The next stage is to attach the transmitter.

803
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,520
We'll see, it's probably thick enough.

804
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:39,520
That's working.

805
00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:42,200
So this is fine tune.

806
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:51,280
OK, keep the leg like this, even though it's already released.

807
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:54,040
It's a tough animal.

808
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:56,800
And then we release them in the three count like that.

809
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,720
One, two, three and then everybody just go!

810
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:01,240
Right, OK, ready.

811
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,520
Wait a second, we've just got rope on the...

812
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,720
Just undoing the tape around the... Just undoing the tape on the snout.

813
00:55:14,720 --> 00:55:17,120
Got it. Unwind.

814
00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:20,720
OK. I count one, two, three.

815
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:31,440
So we can start to track them.

816
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:40,240
You don't really need the radio ID when you can see it, but nonetheless.

817
00:55:40,280 --> 00:55:43,840
No, we're checking it's working!No, I know, exactly.

818
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:45,760
RADIO BEEPS

819
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:47,560
All good, yeah, great.

820
00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:50,120
Well, he looks none the worse for wear, does he?

821
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:54,400
No, he's still interested in staying around here, I thought he'd want to vamoose.

822
00:55:54,440 --> 00:55:57,080
They look so lethargic, and you do have to remember

823
00:55:57,120 --> 00:55:58,920
they can whip around in a split second.

824
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:12,800
Oh, my goodness, we're sort of surrounded, aren't we?

825
00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:16,600
Yeah, there's that one we've just released. One, two...

826
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:18,440
Another one there.

827
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:27,960
This might be an appropriate moment to adjourn our little

828
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:30,680
dragon meeting. What do you think?

829
00:56:30,720 --> 00:56:35,400
Another way of putting it is shall we get the arse out of here?

830
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:47,360
'We sneak off the island to the safety of our boat and leave

831
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:50,160
'Deni and the rangers to continue their work.

832
00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:53,240
'Deni estimates that the dragon population has remained

833
00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:56,760
'pretty level over the past 20 years but, worryingly, some

834
00:56:56,800 --> 00:57:00,240
'estimates suggest there may be very few breeding females.

835
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:03,720
'However, the Komodos have a little trick up their tail.'

836
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:07,400
What's interesting is, if this was a female and she was out at sea and got

837
00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:10,080
washed by currents or riptides or something

838
00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:13,000
and landed on another island, she could actually

839
00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:17,680
develop eggs and give birth to young Komodo dragons without a male being anywhere near.

840
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:22,480
They don't have to have the eggs fertilised, it's called parthenogenesis.

841
00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:24,720
Virgin birth in Greek.

842
00:57:24,760 --> 00:57:29,960
So they could in theory colonise another island with just one female.

843
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:39,480
For the foreseeable future, the Komodos shouldn't need to use their virgin birthing.

844
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:41,560
The creation of the National Park

845
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:45,720
has certainly protected them and their habitat and in the process

846
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:47,680
all the other species, especially

847
00:57:47,720 --> 00:57:53,040
those denizens that straddle thesea and land they have also been helped.

848
00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:57,200
Barring some catastrophe - be it fire, flood or plague - with vigilant monitoring,

849
00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:00,440
the dragons should survive for years to come

850
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:05,000
in their own small corner of this beautiful archipelago.

851
00:58:12,240 --> 00:58:15,880
'Never let it be said that I'm less than willing to seek out endangered

852
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:19,080
'species, but when Mark said that he wanted me to travel with him

853
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:22,800
'to the other side of the world in search of a fat, flightless parrot,

854
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:27,280
'I knew I was with a man pursuing a very personal and peculiar passion.'

855
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:51,920
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd