In the Wild (1992) s01e10 Episode Script

Australia is the home of thousands of unique wildflowers - strange, bizarre, really strange.
This one is just a common old eggs and bacon, and you'd think, "What's it got to do with conservation?" But this plant, this flower, is responsible for the saving of a whole range of unique Australian animals.
This rather attractive eggs-and-bacon plant, has special significance.
It's saved this whole forest.
It's a poison plant - gastrolobium - and it kills stock.
Therefore, when the first settlers came to this area, this easy-to-clear wandoo forest was unavailable to them, because the problem of grubbing out the poison plants was too much.
It's got some special relationships for other wildlife too.
These rather nondescript flowers produce little black seeds.
And the bronzewing pigeon eats the seeds.
The poison is treated within the bronzewing and stored in the bone marrow.
And so things like foxes and cats that eat bronzewings take in the poison and they die in turn.
Quite a turn-up that a hated poison plant, almost a noxious weed, is responsible in this area for saving a whole range of native animals that live in this country.
Wandoo forest is found on the dry edge of the winter rainfall area of south-western Australia.
It forms a superb open forest.
The timber is very dense and hard and has a lot of commercial value.
But mixed with the open forest are a number of other sub-storeys, or independent habitats, like mallee, mallet, which is used for tanning, gastrolobium - the poison bush, carpets of wildflowers, open grassland, something like 4,000 different species of plants here.
And then, of course, there are the black boy areas.
That's got to be about the biggest one I've seen of its sort.
It's a black boy, one of the most graceful, beautiful plants in this part of the forest.
It's called reflexa because of the way the skirt turns down suddenly.
Let's see - there's 60 years.
120 years.
Perhaps 150 years old.
150 years ago, the first settlers came here.
So this old grandad was just a boy then.
They do have a bit of a disadvantage in that these spines are very sharp and when you're walking through the bush, at eye level it can be quite dangerous.
This turned-down skirt is all dead leaves.
Underneath there - all sorts of animals find their homes.
And when the bushfires come through, they burn, the whole trunk burns off and chars and forms a beautiful insulated mat.
But eventually they die, like all things die.
And it's those dead black boys that have the beautiful home for animals.
They've got the insulated outside, they've got a nice, soft core inside, which has been eaten out by grubs, and that's where many animals go to live.
This is a very good one.
Just about the right height.
Old enough to be split a little so that there's room for animals to get in, and there's fairly fresh scratching and digging down at the bottom.
It's also clear around, so it's if there is anything there, if it starts to run, I can see it.
This is what makes them such good homes.
These are really the base of the leaves, the long fronds on the black boy.
And as they're burnt off, just the actual bases are left behind.
Beautiful colour and shape.
And very good insulation.
Now, let's see what else we've got here.
Yes.
There's something been in there.
Ah, yes.
Look at this.
Come on.
Come on.
Just the two.
M they're bats called wattled bats, Gould's wattled bats.
Don't like the sunlight.
Eyes closed tight.
Big mouths open.
Defensive, teeth showing.
Ow, ow! Of course, they don't hurt.
They're insect-eating teeth.
Well, if they're living in there, we'd better put them back in there.
Come on, in you go.
In you go.
Getting all stroppy.
Back you go.
That's it.
Always, always put things back.
Because that's what it's all about.
If you find an animal anywhere, look at it and enjoy it and then put it back where it belongs.
Keep going.
Unlike humans, most Australian animals work at night.
They're nocturnal.
And spotlighting is a recognised technique for animal observation.
A bright light shines, and their eyes reflect.
And so you can identify the various animals moving about.
And you never know what might turn up next.
Rev your motor.
Now, there's something.
Look at him swell up.
Oh, did you ever see such a fat frog? That's the spotted burrowing frog.
And he's come out because of the moths and insects that are around tonight.
It's a bit warm and humid tonight.
Ooh.
This swelling up is a protective device.
If a predator comes along and grabs him, he immediately puffs himself up with air till he's twice the size he was.
He's very hard to get down.
Then on the back too, after a while, he squirts out a sort of a fluid.
You can just see it shining through there.
It's a um, burning poison.
And the old story that frogs give you warts comes from this.
I said he's a burrowing frog.
He's got the most remarkable back feet.
Enormous shovels built on them.
(FROG SQUEAKS) Oh, alright.
Just talking about you.
Behave.
(FROG SQUEAKS) Oh, yes.
You see these great shovels.
And on the front feet is a lovely claw.
Great big eyes, which, of course were picked up by the spotlight beam and reflect back towards things.
And the whole frog, or toad, I suppose, you might call him, is very sluggish and slow.
Most things could catch him, but because of that poison, he's pretty safe.
There's a possum now.
But he's too high.
There's another one.
Right.
Yeah.
A real old man possum.
(POSSUM HISSES) Very upset at being disturbed too.
(HISSES) Bit disgruntled with the rain and the spotlight.
(HISSES) Alright.
(HISSES) That's the distress call of a possum.
He's telling the possum world that he's in trouble.
You see that red patch on his throat? (HISSES) Oh, come on.
Be nice.
That's the scent gland.
He puts his male scent on the tree.
So he marks his territory.
You can see too the very fine hairs on his wrists, the very fine whiskers.
(HISSES) Alright.
That's how he finds his way in the dark, as well as by vision and hearing.
They're very sensitive.
And he feels his way as he goes.
(HISSES) (SQUAWKS URGENTLY) It's all bluff.
A big, solid bite.
Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp.
But that's for eating insects and things like that.
It's not for eating people.
(SQUAWKS) Alright! Yes! This tawny frogmouth, poor fellow, he's having a nice, quiet look around the country, thinking, "Mmm, something to eat.
" And, bang, a naturalist's hand comes out with a nice, long grab.
(SQUAWKS IRRITATEDLY) Ooh, I see.
It's like that, is it? A beautiful animal.
This is one of the nightjars, or rollers.
Peculiar feet, specially made for walking on the ground and perching on branches.
(SQUAWKS) Ooh.
Nonsense.
Long tail.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
There, there, there.
You have a bite.
Ooh, look at the blood.
Dear, dear, dear.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This little tuft of feathers in the front of the head breaks up his outline in the day, and when he closes his eye, you can't really see him.
He just looks like a piece of tree.
Be nice.
There, there.
He just looks like a tree stump.
That helps to break up his outline.
Beautiful bird.
Lovely, soft grey.
The tawny frogmouth.
Let's have a look at your eye.
There.
It's really got a big, yellow eye.
(CAR STARTS) Well, we've had a look at him.
We'll let him go.
Come on, off you go.
One of the best times to be out in this country is just after rain.
Even the rainbird's calling.
Hear him? (BIRD FALLS SILENT) That's a pallid cuckoo, really.
And I head always for these granite sheets, these granite outcrops.
They're really ancient.
And they feel ancient.
It's like primeval stuff - the beginning of life, where the rock faces are turning back into soil.
And there's some scientists say that these actual rocks are 700 million years old, as old as the earth itself - the real bones of the earth.
And they're being broken down and changed into soil and there's water run-off from them.
And around the edge you get these magnificent stands of she-oak which likes the extra bit of water and the extra sandy soil.
That's got a special habitat too, but what I've come for is the way the rock breaks up.
In the hot southern summers the rock heats up and then the rain falls or night-times get cold, the rock cracks off in big, flaky sheets, like this.
And that's why I come here, because these sheets make magnificent homes for animals.
All across the rock there are raised domes like this one.
(CHUCKLES) There you are - point in case.
A couple of skink lizards quietly living - they're very sluggish today.
It's just been raining.
And they're just starting to warm up again after the rain.
Gone under my boot.
Come out of here, fella.
That's an Egernia, a very pleasant skink that is a carnivore - runs around the rock faces, and around dead trees and black boys, eating things like cockroaches and things like that.
Off you go.
Look at that.
It's straight in.
Now, you can pick any of these rocks - that one there, that one over there, that one right up - any of them at all will have something living under them.
Because this has got everything - food, shelter, and, of course, the original cave.
Here's a likely looking one.
Let's check that.
You see the hole? Obviously, something uses this one, and it's pretty big, whatever it is.
So's the rock.
(GRUNTS) (CHUCKLES) Look at that.
There's a redback spider, some cockroaches a little spider, and, of course, the owners of the hole, a couple of bobtails, a male and a female.
Small head, male, big-headed female.
Long tail on the male, short tail on the female.
Skinny tail on the male, fat tail on the female.
People have a lot of nonsensical ideas about them.
I'll just put that - oh! - back for a minute.
People have a lot of nonsensical ideas about these.
They say their bite is poisonous.
Well, there's one having a good bite.
I'm not going to die.
His teeth are so short, all that happens is they just leave a mark on the skin.
Yes.
This is relative of the blue-tongue, another skink lizard.
Oh, well, off we go, come one, toot-toot-toot.
That's it.
(CHUCKLES) Beauty and the beast.
Dragon's off.
But this is up here hunting for the lizards.
It's a carpet snake, a beautiful animal.
Come on, little man.
Cold? Yes, I know.
Horribly cold, isn't it? You're very, very wet.
Really sluggish.
See how slow his tongue's moving? Beautiful animals, these carpet snakes.
All snakes are beautiful, but some are more beautiful than others and these are just so placid and so wonderful that you can really fall in love and have a love affair with a python.
(LAUGHS) They're typical pythons.
They've got this very ornate pattern of lovely, small scales and, of course, that's where they get their name, carpet snake.
The old-fashioned Brussels carpet pattern on them.
They've got fairly long, stout bodies, big heads and small necks.
They're not poisonous, of course.
And one of the interesting things about them is their back legs.
Yeah, that's right - back legs.
Come on, we won't hurt, just let's have a look now.
Somewhere here.
There, can you see it? Little tiny back leg there.
It's all that's left.
It's the remnants of what used to be a leg because these were walking animals.
Look at that lovely movement across my hand.
Look.
Just watch that.
I won't help him at all.
Beautiful.
It's it's like silk flowing over you.
Look.
They're not cold.
They're not slimy.
Beautiful animals.
You want to go back, do you? Alright, then.
There's your hole.
You don't wanna go in your hole now.
You wanna go walkabout.
Well, we'll let you go walkabout, then.
Having a feel around.
Rain's just stopped again.
So there's a fair chance now that he'll go hunting.
On a dull day like this, he'll probably go over into those trees, those she-oaks and do a little hunting, see what he can find.
A lizard under bark, perhaps a nestling bird, something like that.
A honeyeater nest.
You can tell it's a honeyeater by that delightful nest.
Beautifully woven and put together spider webs and bits and pieces.
Doesn't take long, does it? Look.
Ah, yes.
You beautiful thing.
That's a tawny-crowned honeyeater.
There he goes.
Still pretty shy.
One of the really nice things about being a naturalist is you get to sit down in the shade and relax and enjoy things like birdwatching.
A very pleasant occupation.
All around this area are other birds, like this shrike-thrush.
Here's a young treecreeper, preening, waiting to be fed.
"Ah, food!" There's a crested bellbird - a dry-area species.
And a bronzewing pigeon having a quiet little doze up in a tree.
Dusky woodswallows are pretty active in the area too.
But that's not a bird, even though it does lay eggs.
(CHUCKLES) Ah, that's something really special.
Probably the most primitive mammal in the world - except for platypus.
See if I can bring him out so he can meet the people.
Come on.
Oh, goodness me.
He doesn't wanna come out.
Very strong animals.
(GRUNTS) And straight into his defensive position, but (CHUCKLES) poor fellow's got one problem.
His hind claws are so well developed for digging, that one has to stick out, so if you touch one, the other one pokes out, and then you can get a grip on him.
It's his one weakness, because he has to be protected against foxes and dingoes and all those sort of things.
There.
Come out.
Let's have a look at you.
How much of him can we see? Lovely, long nose, and in there's seven inches of tongue.
This fellow's out hunting for termites.
Now, I did say that mammals come out at night.
But this is one of the few fellows that comes out in the daytime.
He comes out around about now, in the afternoon, and goes termite hunting - scurrying around in little bushes like this.
There's some sorts of termites run along under the surface.
And he digs in with those incredibly powerful claws.
And then (SLURPS) seven inches of instant death goes up the tunnel, and zap! And it's full of termites.
He eats about three or four thousand a day.
Very strong front claws.
And very strong back claws.
Very long, for obvious reasons.
With all those prickles, if you ever get an itch, how do you scratch yourself? So that very long claw is for getting in among the spines and having a good old scratch, because he gets ticks and lice the same as other things do in the bush.
Little, ridiculous, tiny stump of a tail.
And tiny eyes - oh, he's very worried, this bloke.
He's threatened by one of our introduced animals, the fox, who's learned a way to handle echidnas.
Fox comes along and sees the echidna, the echidna rolls up in a tight ball, and if he's close enough, the fox will roll him with his nose till he reaches a pool of water.
Rolls him into the water.
As soon as he gets in the water, the echidna opens out and starts swimming - zap! Because underneath, the belly is completely soft and unprotected, no spines.
You can't curl up on spines.
The animals of this forest rely for their very survival on the management of the forest area - the control of burning, the retention of the ground litter, the entire ecosystem is interdependent and only management can save it all.
This is what habitat management is all about.
Just a minute.
(SCRATCHING) Oh.
That's the sort of animal that this whole thing is about.
It's the symbol of the wildlife people of Western Australia, and it's the symbol of the conservationists in their fight to preserve these vanishing animals - the numbat.
One of his relatives has vanished already from the desert country, the rusty numbat, who must've looked very much like this one.
This is an old male.
And he's got the good, red colour, the really rusty colour.
Beautiful banding on his body.
His great bottlebrush tail.
A remarkable thing about this animal - it's related to the native cats.
It's got more teeth than any other marsupial in Australia, something like 54 teeth.
And yet, they never bite, and when you catch them like this one, they're completely quiet and passive and they're quite magnificent.
And it's animals like this that the whole conservation movement is about.
People really like animals.
They and their kids want to see them.
And so the best thing we can do is preserve their habitat, and then we preserve the animal.