Australia Deadly 60

My name's Steve Backshall.

You can call me Steve.

I'm on a mission to find the Deadly 60,

60 deadly creatures.

I'm travelling all over the world.

And you're coming with me every step of the way.

-HISSES

-Shark!

We're in Australia's Northern Territories.

About here.

There's so many possible animals here

for the Deadly 60, I don't know where to start!

This freshwater pool is one of the few places around here

where I won't run into our first contender for the Deadly 60.

And it's a good job too, because have a look at this!

The saltwater crocodile.

The locals call them "salties".

Now, I'm going to hold my hand up here

and say that these things genuinely scare me.

GROWLS

They're the world's largest crocodilian,

growing to more than six metres and weighing over a ton.

They live in rivers, lakes, and even the sea.

It's one of the few animals in the world that can, on occasion,

hunt, kill and eat a human being.

And if they attack people, they rarely leave survivors.

This is the skull of an average-sized salty,

not huge by any standards.

It's such a hefty mass of bone

that it takes two hands just to lift it,

and if I raise the upper jaw,

and just rest it on my arm using nothing but gravity alone,

it's thoroughly uncomfortable

and already putting some pretty nasty dents in my arm.

The muscles, though, that drive this jaw are so strong

that they can exert over a ton of pressure

even for a croc of this size.

So if my arm was in here,

it would be as if you had the Deadly 60 truck parked on top of it.

To get close to one, I've come to visit croc guru Dr Adam Britton.

He loves them so much that he's got one in his back garden.

He's been studying them for years and has a specially constructed pool

so you can study and film their behaviour underwater

safely, inside a cage.

And night-time is the time to do it.

Saltwater crocodiles do the majority of their hunting at night

so it should be the absolute worst time

to be going anywhere near them.

Unless, of course, you want to see them feeding.

In which case, it's the perfect time.

'I have to say, I'd rather get in the water with a great white shark

'than a saltwater crocodile,

'so I'm very glad that this wire

'is going to be between me and the croc.'

I really want more than anything to see it having its dinner,

so Adam is going to give it a dead chicken right in front of me.

Oh! That was... That was unbelievable!

That was one of the most awe-inspiring,

terrifying things I've ever seen.

Just out of nowhere,

kind of green murky water,

and then just BAM!

It hit the chicken just like a dinosaur coming out of the dark.

It was like something out of Jaws.

Oof.

Did you all hear me scream underwater? From up here?

I was just going "Aaaah!"

Just the size and the power

and the strength and the speed that that animal moved,

for a creature that size...

That is quite something.

I think we'd better go and try and find one in the wild, boys. Ha!

So, can wild salties really be deadly?

This isn't a good sign.

Crocodiles today, is it?

In the Northern Territories the rivers are full of big crocodiles.

The people have learned how to deal with it so it's rarely a problem.

Every once in a while, though,

a crocodile starts to associate people with food

and then that is a problem and it needs to be moved.

I'm here with local rangers to help them out and also

to get as close as you can in the wild to a saltwater crocodile.

'Tonight, we're hunting a particular croc

'that the rangers know has been taking a bit too much of an interest

'in some fishermen on the riverbank.

'But first, a quick lesson in how to catch a crocodile.'

OK, the snout rope goes through the top jaw.

Basically, use the end of the...

The pole, just get it on there,

and then just nice and firm over the top of the jaw.

Then we can cut the harpoon line and pull it in with the snout rope.

Sounds simple in theory, doesn't it?

We have to find this crocodile,

because if he's hanging around people for whatever reason,

there can be no second chances. If he goes for someone,

it'll be too late.

Jonathan's going to be in charge of getting hold of the croc

once we get close, using these prongs,

which are going to go into the really hard scales

at the back of the neck of the crocodile.

That might seem a little bit cruel, but to be honest,

these creatures are so strong, so hardy,

that's going to be little more than a pinprick would be to us.

But it should be enough to draw the croc in close to the boat.

So we've got one now about 20m across to our left.

Just there, look.

Wow.

And under.

Not our croc, for sure.

'After several hours of searching,

'one of the rangers thinks he's spotted our croc.'

OK, up here, look. Just go to your right.

-He's mid-stream there.

-Yeah.

Can just see him there.

OK, we'll go back up, mid-stream.

I think we've got him! I think the harpoon's in.

He certainly was very close to the boat

and the line's run out. Yeah.

He's been snagged.

-There's line here.

-Yeah, careful.

Someone grab me a hook down there - Steve?

Thank you.

Now the prongs are in the croc

it's a case of reeling him in almost like he's a big fish.

Er...try and get him as close as possible.

Unfortunately there's lots of submerged logs and things here,

and it looks like he's wrapped the line round one of them.

So getting him out is going to be tricky.

OK, Charlie, come up with the light?

What I'm thinking is that maybe James, our director, should get in

and unravel the rope from the branch underwater.

HE LAUGHS

OK, left a bit.

'Now, at this point, I have to be honest,

'I didn't really think this was a very big crocodile.

'The eyes that I'd seen seemed to be quite close together.

'But as we brought it in closer,

'we found out we'd caught our monster.'

Whoa, he's a good size!

Bigger than I thought.

OK, you got a snout rope there?

Starting to roll...here he comes!

The croc's rolling.

This is, er... part of the way it feeds.

Using...clamping down those massive jaws

and using its bulk to tear its prey apart,

but it's also using that now to try and escape the noose.

You can feel the power of it, it's lifting the boat up and down.

He's underneath us. He's underneath the boat.

As if to prove a point, he tries to eat the boat!

Watch what you're doing with the camera.

Do you want to get the snout rope on?

OK, Charlie. Yep.

-Good job.

-That's it.

-He's got two on him.

-OK, pull him up.

GROWLS

'Trust me, the croc will be absolutely fine tied up here,

'although he is a bit cross.

'The important thing is that with his mouth taped up,

'he can't bite anyone.'

So this is the problem croc we were hoping to find.

They've actually been calling him Mr Stinky because you can smell him.

He's not in amazingly good condition,

and he has been hanging out in an area with a lot of people

and picking up scraps,

and a croc this size could do an awful lot of damage.

This croc's probably too big to get on to the boat,

so I think they'll drag him back to the ramp and get him on to dry land,

and suss out his condition, then work out a plan

about what we're going to do with this monster.

'A crocodile that's playing dead takes quite some shifting.'

Right. So now that he's out of the water,

even though he has had his major weapon, his jaws,

taken out of the equation with that hard sticky tape,

you can really appreciate what it is

that makes this such an incredibly powerful animal.

Look at the size of the tail down there!

Next to Mark the cameraman.

I mean, that is just packed with muscle,

and all the way up here there's nothing spare,

even though this animal really isn't in the best of condition.

It really is a terrifying-looking creature.

He's absolutely magnificent.

As close to a living dragon as you'll ever get.

When you've got the animal here you can see why it is

that this croc could become a potential danger.

I mean, he's been in a fair few fights

with some other, larger crocs.

Some of his feet are a bit mangled, he's got some nasty scarring,

and he's looking a bit thin.

Obviously not a croc in absolute peak condition,

and that's why he's turned from his usual prey,

fish which swim quite fast,

to picking up scraps and getting too close to people.

And it's not that much of a leap from where he is now

to actually taking a person.

So he's going to be taken now

and probably live out the rest of his days very happy in captivity.

But...the size, the strength of this animal here

is just the tip of the iceberg

and that's why the saltwater croc has to go on the Deadly 60.

It does pong as well.

You might debate some of my choices for the list

but NOT this one - the salty!

It has power, speed

and a bite like a dinosaur.

An awesome predator and one that can hunt humans.

Say no more.

Australia is a HUGE place so to find the wildlife I'll hit the road.

My next encounter took me completely by surprise.

I just... I cannot see where I'm going at all.

You may not expect to find birds of prey attracted to a bushfire

but that's exactly what was happening in front of our eyes.

I was going to have to take a closer look at this.

BUSHFIRE CRACKLES

Magnificent.

WOW!

Check out all these birds!

INDISTINCT RESPONSE

That is full on!

Now don't try this at home.

One of the most lethal forces in nature is fire.

Here in the Northern Territories

where the ground is so dry and all the trees are so dry,

a wildfire can sweep through an area

and kill just about everything in its path.

The air though around here is thick with birds of prey.

Wow, look at this going up.

FIRE CRACKLES

There's... kites and other birds of prey

swooping around here hoping to find small mammals,

lizards and insects that have been flushed out by the flames.

Bushfires have two sides to them, they destroy

but they also provide an opportunity to daredevil predators -

in this case whistling kites.

Insects fleeing the inferno

were flying straight into the sights

of these magnificent birds right in front of us.

There's an even stranger predator that can benefit from bushfires.

These are frilled lizards -

dragon-like reptiles that are actually attracted to the aftermath

of a fire front.

As the fire cuts through the plants,

it also cuts through hiding places for the insects.

And that's what the frilled lizards are here for.

Right, enough playing with fire - it's time to get back on the road.

Before my night-time appointment with my next deadly animal

there's something I want to show you.

This part of Northern Australia

has some of the most extraordinary scenery of anywhere in the world.

And in some places

it's a bit like wandering through a natural cemetery.

All these tombstones are not actually rock...

they have been created by a very remarkable insect.

This is the work of the magnetic termite.

There's hundreds of thousands, possible even millions of them

inside this structure

and it's been created basically as a way of keeping their colony

at constant temperatures.

And if you look this way, along the lines of the termites,

they're all aligned north to south.

I'll prove that to you because I've got a compass on my watch.

And...

if you look at that -

that's the line of the termite mound...

and that is perfectly north to south.

And what that means is that

this face of the termite mound is east facing.

When the sun comes up in the morning

and when it comes down in the afternoon

there's not much heat here - it's warming up the mound.

But when it's directly overhead,

it's looking straight down on the top of the blade of the mound

which means that none of the searing heat of midday

gets into the colony

and all the insects inside are kept at a nice warm, constant temperature

throughout the day.

And all of that is done by an insect

with a brain the size of a pinprick.

Mind-blowing!

The sun's just gone down

and the creatures of the night are out to hunt.

And I'm sat outside an old abandoned gold mine

cos tonight we're on a ghost hunt.

SCREAMING

THUNDERCLAP

The ghost I've come here to find

makes calls and sounds that are way too high for the human ear to hear.

CLICKING

This piece of ghost-busting technology

can actually hear the ultrasonic frequencies they make.

So, hopefully, I should be able to hear them before I can see them.

CLICKING CONTINUES

GRATING CLICKS

That's their noise. The first ones are just about to come out now.

GRATING SQUEAKING CLICKS

Woah!

That was our first ghost.

They're ghost bats...

one of the most astounding bat predators in the whole world.

Woah!

They're starting to come out in larger numbers now.

Oh, here they go. Oh... Woah!

I'm not just here because...

ghost bats look like little spirits in the torchlight -

these are truly terrifying hunters.

These are some of the largest carnivorous bats in the world

but they don't just eat insects.

Using their fearsome incisor teeth

they'll bite down through the head and the neck

of birds, other bats, reptiles, frogs.

This really is one of the most awesome predators of all bats

but to see them at their best

I'm going to have to come back here tomorrow when they're fast asleep.

Ghost bats hunt at night. It's hard to get close when they're flying.

Your best chance is during the day when they are resting.

And Damian here...

..has assured me there's a colony of ghost bats inside this disused mine.

I have got a camera which is going to be following me all the way.

Where the big camera can't go, you will be able to see what I'm doing.

-Shall we head in, Damian?

-Yep.

I am a little bit scared of the dark. Sssh!

This is an abandoned goldmine

and as if the bats themselves weren't spooky enough.

This place is just...well, freaky.

Oh, yuk!

Oh, this is hideous and it smells horrendous.

Oh, I hate cockroaches.

They are here because of the bats.

They will be feeding on bat droppings

which already is starting to make up a good proportion of the floor.

Steve, you can hear the bats down the mine shaft they are flying around.

So from this point on, we'll have absolute quiet.

If we must speak, we'll just have an absolute whisper.

OK, fine but Mark is a bit loud!

(He's got very big feet!)

THEY WHISPER

We have just turned our lights out for a second.

Let the bats settle down so they're not freaked out.

I'm a bit less worried about them being freaked out than me.

This place is "Spook Central"!

When you are ready, shine your light up there.

We have just come into a small chamber and

the smell of bat is very strong in here.

Now, we really don't want to disturb this colony too much.

So we are just going to turn the lights on for a short time

-and get our first proper glimpse of the ghost bat. Are you ready?

-Yeah.

Whoa!

Whoa! Through there.

Here they come.

'It's impossible to keep your nerve

'when you're being dive-bombed by bats.'

(They are absolutely huge!)

When they hit the torchlight, you can see where they get their name.

The membrane of the wings is really thin. It's almost transparent.

The body is very light - almost white on the underside.

They really do look like your idea of a vampire bat.

Oh, wow!

'I really want to get a close look at one.

'Damian, takes us to a spot in the cave where the tunnel narrows

'and I may have a chance to net one.

'The crew aren't so keen though.'

(Out of all the places Steve has brought us to, this is the scariest

(I have ever been. I don't like bats!)

SHOUTING AND GROANING

Ah!

-What happened there?

-A bat flew straight into us.

Down this way here is a huge hole in the floor beneath us,

so we have to be careful walking over this bit here.

It's really dangerous.

Here they come!

-Got it! Got one.

-Got one?

-Yeah, I got one.

Oh, no.

That is THE most remarkable-looking bat I have ever seen.

We are going to get bombarded by his cousins while we are doing this.

I just need to unpick him from the net very carefully.

The membranes of the wings can be quite fragile.

I mean, quite a lot of bats

of this size, I'd expect to be trying to eat through my arm.

The first thing I have to say is that I have a unique opportunity to

get this close to a ghost bat.

This isn't something anyone should go around doing.

When you are up close to it, you can see where it gets its name from.

He does look like a little phantom.

That abnormally pale grey, almost white fur there on the body is

what makes him appear so ghost-like.

Look at that, it's incredibly thin, isn't it?

Almost like some kind of weird skin kite.

That is another thing which lends to his ghostly image is

the fact that that membrane just looks like a ghostly cloak.

And these - the struts in between the membrane,

those are fingers and hand bones.

I want to show you these teeth because they are really mean.

Look at those incisors there!

If I can show you the bottom jaw as well, look at those.

-I can't believe you're not getting bitten when you do that.

-I know.

That is a set of gnashers!

Teeth like that are what allow this remarkable creature to feed

not only on insects but on lizards, frogs, other bats,

birds, small mammals.

He really is a flying nightmare.

And that is why the ghost bat is going on my Deadly 60.

Ghost bats - they hunt with the stealth of ghosts

and kill like storybook vampires.

If you are a mouse, a frog or a lizard or another bat,

they are a living nightmare.

-There he goes.

-Great stuff.

-Can we get out of here now, please?

-Yes, definitely.

Whoa-hoo-ho!

-GROWLING

-I'm glad I'm not in there.

'Join me next time, as I continue my search for the Deadly 60.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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