Australia: Coast Naomi's Nightmares of Nature


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Welcome to my Nightmares Of Nature.

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I'm Naomi Wilkinson, and I'm coming face to face

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with the nightmares of the animal world.

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The ones that make your spine tingle...

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..your heart beat faster...

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..and your blood run cold!

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What's that noise?

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Are they truly terrifying, or is there a twist in the tale?

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Ooh!

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Come with me, as I shine a light on wildlife's deepest, darkest secrets.

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Ooh!

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And see if you can guess which will be my worst nightmare.

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This time, my search for nature's nightmares has brought me

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to the tropical coastline of Australia.

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There's sand, sea, sun!

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It's the perfect place for a little rest and relaxation.

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In fact, it's hard to imagine that anything around here could be a nightmare of nature!

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My wet and wonderful Aussie outing will take me from the waterways

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of the far north, across to the coast of Queensland and beyond.

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Along the way, I'll be paddling with a very prickly customer...

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-Is that him, that brown?

-Yeah.

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-That's going to kill.

-That could definitely kill you, yeah.

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Hitting the beach in search of some muddy monsters...

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Get him, get him, get him!

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And plunging into the big blue on the trail of a creeping menace.

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But I'm starting with a spot of sightseeing.

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We're in Kakadu National Park right at the northern tip of Australia,

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and if I'm looking a little edgy it's because we're on a search

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for one of the scariest animals on the planet.

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Saltwater crocodiles have a fearsome reputation, and it's well-deserved.

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These giant predatory reptiles can grow to over six metres in length.

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Their massive jaws deliver the most powerful bite force ever recorded

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and they are masters of the ambush attack.

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But can I learn to love these cold-blooded killers,

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or are they just a total nightmare?

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My guide today is croc expert Adam Britton.

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I've never been searching for crocodiles before.

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Can you give me some spotting tips?

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You've come to the best place to start with.

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There's plenty of crocodiles here.

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Because it's getting really hot, they'll sit in the water,

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so keep your eyes on the water itself.

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Sometimes you'll see two little bumps -

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the first bump is their nostrils and the one behind it is the eyes.

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OK.

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Look at him. Look at him!

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Straight up ahead?

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-What have you seen?

-In the water.

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Whoa! Do we need to be quiet?

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No, no - he's good.

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I never thought I was going to get this close in the boat.

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Oh! This one is enormous! What prey do they go after?

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Most of the things these crocs eat are small.

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They eat lots and lots of small things.

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Occasionally, they get lucky,

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and they'll be in just the right place when something like a wallaby

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will come down to the water, then they'll get a lot more food.

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They've got these incredibly powerful jaws, as we all know,

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and the reason they've got these powerful jaws is so they can

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clamp on to something, and then they use the rest of their body,

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which is basically pure muscle, to then rip it apart.

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One of the things that crocs do, which is really cool,

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is they can jump out of the water.

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So for example, if you happened to be a bird sitting in that branch,

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the crocodile will come underneath, and he'll tilt his tail down

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and then swim upwards and his tail is so powerful,

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he can push all that body weight up out of the water

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to get his jaws around the bird.

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A lot of people get grabbed with their back to crocodiles.

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Oh! I'll just ask you all the questions like this!

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It's hard to imagine what it would feel like to be in the water

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and see an animal this big

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and this ferocious lunging at you out of the darkness.

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Unfortunately, I don't have to imagine, because I'm going to do it.

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I'm going to get into the water with a fully-grown, hungry, saltwater crocodile.

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Gulp! Nightmare!

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Obviously it's not a great idea to just jump into the water

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and go for a swim with a saltie!

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But Adam reckons he knows a way

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I can enter the watery world of the crocodile without being eaten.

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On this side of the fence, there's a 4.8 metre croc called Smaug.

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And on this side of the fence, we have an underwater viewing platform,

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and that's where I'm going - in there.

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Adam is going to lure Smaug in with a meaty morsel.

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I'm about to go face to face with a predator the size of a small car.

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My heart is racing.

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Oh! I don't like underwater stuff.

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-He's actually looking at you.

-He is. He's looking straight at me, I can see his teeth from up here.

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Right, Naomi, deep breath. One, two, three.

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Flipping heck! This is taking every bit of courage I have got.

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Oh. He's really intimidating.

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So intimidating.

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I wish I could put into words how small I feel next to him!

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Just as I'm getting used to the idea of being in the water with such a massive predator,

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Adam drops in a little surprise!

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Whoa!

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I didn't realise that was going to happen and all of a sudden,

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he just opened his mouth and whooo!

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You know what, I think the scariest thing about a crocodile is that they are motionless,

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and as if they're just a statue, and then from nowhere,

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lightning reaction kicks in, reflexes and...

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Good grief! I am going to take a lot of persuading

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that this is not a total nightmare of nature!

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I'm not done with crocs yet - I'll be back later

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for a spooky encounter with a true monster of the night.

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You can feel the power of this animal.

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The whole boat is just being pulled around.

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But first, I'm heading over to the Queensland coast

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in search of some more nightmare contenders.

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Imagine a hidden horror, one that lies in plain sight,

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but you can't see it.

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One that delivers a toxin so powerful

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it will kill you within hours.

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A terror that lurks even in the heart of a busy resort like this.

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Well, the nightmare of nature I'm on the trail of now

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is all of those things!

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The seldom-seen stonefish is a hide-and-seek champion.

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Disguising itself as a harmless lump of rock,

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it waits on the seabed and snaps up unsuspecting prey

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with rapid-fire strikes - almost too fast for the human eye to see.

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But it's defence, not attack, that makes this fish a nightmare to us.

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For protection, stonefish are armed with a set of hidden toxic spines

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that inject a painful, potentially lethal venom

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into anyone unlucky enough to stand on one.

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To find out more about these super-stealthy stingers,

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I've come to meet marine biologist Jenna.

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Jenna, how can we see a stonefish?

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Well, stonefish are very, very difficult to find in the wild.

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I've spent a lot of hours looking for stonefish underwater

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to no avail, so what I've done today is borrow one from a local aquarium

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and I've brought him here to the beach today.

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-Where is it?

-Well, we're going to have some fun actually.

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I have hidden him somewhere in the ocean around us,

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and your challenge is going to be to uncover him.

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-Right. But you're not going let me tread on him though, are you?

-No. I'll look after you!

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The problem is, there are lots of rocks here.

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-You can see him now?

-I can see him right now.

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He's in this vicinity here, if that helps.

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I don't want to move anywhere!

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Warmer.

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Is that him? That brown, the dark brown?

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Yep, that is him. That big thing right there.

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-It's really big!

-Huge, isn't he?

-He looks just like a rock!

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If I was paddling along here, there is no way I would see him.

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So what does happen when you stand on one?

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OK, so if you look closely you can see here

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the spines along the back - there's 13 spines.

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If we went a bit closer, or he was threatened, he'd erect those spines

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and they'd stand up really high and straight, and each spine

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works like a syringe, so it pumps the venom up and into the needle.

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It's very interesting because the amount of poison that goes in

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is actually directly related to the amount of pressure

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that's put on the fish. So it's not like the fish really attacks you,

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it's like the victim stumbles into the fish.

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If you were to have a terrible incident and stand on all 13 spines,

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with full force, that's going to kill?

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That could definitely kill you.

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Mostly, it's just an extremely painful experience.

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I've heard the pain is so bad, people beg to have their limb amputated!

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No way!

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-So we probably don't want to get much closer!

-Let's leave him alone!

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The thought of accidentally treading on a practically invisible fish

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with a back bristling with poisonous spines

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is certainly enough to make me think twice about going for a paddle.

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The stonefish is definitely a strong contender for my worst nightmare.

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My next nightmare of nature is a little bit different.

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It's not a ferocious predator, it's not a venomous insect.

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It's not even an animal. It's this stuff!

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Mud.

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I'm in the mangroves, where the sea meets the land.

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It's hot, humid, filled with mosquitoes,

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and there's plenty of thick, sticky mud.

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To me, it sounds like a nightmarish place to set up home,

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but I'm off to find lots of animals that love to live in it.

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Spotting anything in all this muck won't be easy.

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Luckily, local guide Linc is on hand to assist.

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So what's the best way to walk around on all this sludgy mud?

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No shoes out here - get your shoes off.

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If you wear shoes, sometimes you'll sink down and lose your shoes

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You won't get them back. So we leave them on the beach.

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It's a bit creepy. The minute you have bare feet,

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you feel like things are starting to move round your toes

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and nibble your feet.

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I won't tell you what's in the mud until we get back on the beach!

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-Then I'll let you know what's down there.

-OK!

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These mangroves provide a haven for all sorts of mud-lovers.

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Periwinkles - edible snails.

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Wow!

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That's one of the mud whelks.

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That's a little fiddler crab.

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Aw, I like him.

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But there's one animal leaping around in all these muddy forests

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that has to be seen to be believed -

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and that's because it's a fish!

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Mudskippers are a mini marvel of the mangroves.

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They love the mud so much that when the tide goes out,

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they simply stay put, burrowing, hunting, and even climbing trees

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right here in the mangroves.

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But to get a really good look at this fish out of water,

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we've got to catch one!

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-Oh, oh, oh!

-You see him jumping?

-I saw something jumping over here.

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-Just in there.

-That's the one.

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Now, how to catch him in amongst all these roots?

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-Oh, he's fast!

-Never going to be able to catch you.

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Ridiculously fast!

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Mudskippers are quick for a reason.

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They're on the menu for birds, lizards and even crocodiles.

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Get him, get him, get him - come back!

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I don't really like it!

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Oh, they even sense my shadow!

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I don't think humans are cut out to spend their time in mangroves.

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Oh! Argh!

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If you can't catch them by hand, use a net.

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Come here, mudskippers!

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Going to get the whole crew looking.

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Hooray! We have one in the net.

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-You can come over to it.

-I'll just come over there to show you.

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Just give me half an hour!

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Oh, he's so sweet!

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As you can see, the mudskipper is a fish that is as happy

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out of the water as in the water.

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In fact, they can stay out of the water for a few days.

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The way they do that is to store a supply of water

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in a special chamber inside their bodies,

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much the same way as a scuba diver would store air in a tank.

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Those two bulging, protruding eyes stick upwards above the mud or water

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so it can look out for prey or predators.

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Then when the tide comes in,

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he'll just disappear, burrowing down into the mud.

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Oh! Where's he gone?

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So the mudskipper can breathe both in and out of the water,

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has high-speed evasion techniques,

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and is fitted with bulging eyes

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for a panoramic view.

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All making it perfectly adapted for mucking around in the mud!

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It's been a real surprise to discover just how many creatures

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are living in this,

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but I don't think I'd fancy spending all my time

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up to my eyeballs in mud.

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So this really could be my worst nightmare.

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The coast of Queensland is home to one of our planet's greatest wonders.

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It's one of the largest,

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most impressive spectacles found anywhere in the natural world.

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And one of the best ways to appreciate its sheer scale

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is to view it from the air!

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Ah! Look at the view!

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What a sensational view!

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It's beautiful down there, isn't it?

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What you can see down there is the Great Barrier Reef.

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It stretches over 1,000 miles along the Australian coast.

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In fact, it's so big, it can be seen from space.

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The reef itself is actually alive,

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because it's made up of billions upon billions of tiny organisms

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called coral polyps.

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The polyps' hard exoskeletons create the beautiful shapes

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and colours of the reef, and the vast communities they form

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provide shelter and food sources for all the other life around them,

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from tiny crustaceans

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to giant manta rays.

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You beauty! That's magic.

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I can't get over how far it goes on!

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Just as far as your eye can see.

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Now you might think anything this size would be impervious to attack,

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but there is a hostile takeover underway down there of nightmarish proportions.

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So I need to go in for a closer look.

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The coral is under attack from a creeping terror -

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the crown-of-thorns starfish.

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These multi-pronged monsters make their home on the reef,

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but in recent years their numbers have swelled,

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creating an army of starfish so big,

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they are destroying huge portions of this natural wonder.

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I'm heading offshore with marine biologist Chris.

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He's going to introduce me to this marauding menace.

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So here we have the culprit.

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-Indeed we do.

-You can see why it's called the crown-of-thorns.

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But it's not the spikes that do the damage to the reef?

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No, this guy is eating the reef. It's eating coral. It is a corallivore.

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How is it doing it?

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This particular guy can invert his stomach.

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-Oh!

-Yes!

-So he turns himself inside out?

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He turns himself inside out and envelops his prey, the coral,

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with his stomach...

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..sucks the animal out of its skeleton,

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and withdraws its stomach back into its body,

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marches off, and does that again.

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Ugh! But how much damage can starfish really cause to the reef?

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It's really a numbers game.

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If you're talking about millions upon millions of these guys

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eating coral, they can quickly eat themselves out of house and home.

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I want to see this damage for myself,

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so it's time to take the plunge.

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At first, we're surrounded by vibrant, healthy coral.

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So beautiful!

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Stunning!

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Absolutely stunning how much life there is. It's so busy.

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It's like the most fantastic tropical fish tank ever!

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But it's not long before we come across the trail of destruction

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left by our marauding starfish army.

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It just looks like a ghost town, doesn't it?

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-Yeah.

-Like a spooky ghost town.

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And everywhere you look,

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in the healthy coral it's like a really busy city,

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all the fish just going about their business,

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but then you get to the dead coral, and it's just...

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-There's no life around it, is there?

-It's truly lifeless.

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It's really sad to see, actually.

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-Look what's right in the middle of us, right down in front of us.

-Yeah.

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-A massive one.

-A huge crown-of-thorns.

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It's so evident where you've just got those white patches

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right next to a crown-of-thorns starfish -

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you can see it's exactly where it's just been.

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You can see the pattern quite clearly.

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And as the population increases, as it is on the Great Barrier Reef,

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it is a true nightmare.

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The reason for the huge rise in crown-of-thorns numbers

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is linked to nutrients being washed into the sea by deforestation

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and development along the coast.

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These nutrients create food for infant crown-of-thorns,

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meaning more and more are surviving to adulthood

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and a life of coral chomping.

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Chris and others are working hard to tackle these problems,

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but for now, the future of the reef remains in doubt.

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An animal that can eject its guts out of its mouth

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and slowly digest you is surely enough to turn anyone's stomach,

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but for me, the potential damage and destruction

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of these beautiful, stunning coral reefs

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has got to be the real nightmare of nature.

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My Australian adventure is almost over, but before I head for home,

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I have some unfinished business with the saltwater crocodile.

0:22:400:22:45

Expert Adam is trying to convince me that these ravenous reptiles

0:22:450:22:49

aren't a total nightmare. He's even had me in the water with one!

0:22:490:22:53

And now he's aiming to get me close enough

0:22:550:22:59

to actually touch a wild croc!

0:22:590:23:00

We're launching our boat out onto the river

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because we're heading out on a night-time nightmare mission.

0:23:030:23:06

We're going to try and find, catch and tag a saltwater crocodile.

0:23:060:23:11

If there's one thing scarier than trying to catch a crocodile,

0:23:110:23:14

it is trying to catch a crocodile in the dark!

0:23:140:23:17

Thank you.

0:23:170:23:19

In order to learn more about the local crocodile population,

0:23:190:23:22

Adam has been fitting them with satellite tags,

0:23:220:23:25

which allow him to track their movements.

0:23:250:23:28

But attaching anything to a predator several metres long

0:23:280:23:31

is always a risky business.

0:23:310:23:33

Thankfully we have a team of park rangers with us

0:23:330:23:36

who are crocodile-catching experts.

0:23:360:23:38

Whoa! He's a big one!

0:23:410:23:44

We seem to have gone for one of the biggest crocodiles

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in the whole of Australia tonight!

0:23:580:24:00

Stay well out of the way!

0:24:020:24:05

All this thrashing will help to tire out the croc,

0:24:100:24:13

making it easier to work with.

0:24:130:24:15

You can feel the power of this animal, though.

0:24:150:24:18

The whole boat is just being pulled around.

0:24:180:24:21

But it's not until the croc is fully out of the water

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that I can appreciate the terrifying scale of this living dinosaur!

0:24:250:24:29

Once the exhausted croc is properly secured, it's finally safe

0:24:380:24:41

for me to touch my first-ever wild crocodile.

0:24:410:24:46

-I'm OK to touch him?

-You're perfectly OK to touch him.

0:24:460:24:49

Oh! So soft!

0:24:490:24:52

But feel that.

0:24:520:24:53

-And that is like rock.

-Yeah.

0:24:540:24:57

I thought he was going to be really hard! He's really squidgy!

0:24:570:25:01

-It's a big one.

-3.85 metres.

0:25:040:25:06

Nearly 3.9 metres.

0:25:060:25:08

Cor!

0:25:080:25:09

While the park rangers take measurements, Adam gets on with fitting the tag.

0:25:090:25:14

The data it provides will help to ensure that crocs and people don't come into conflict.

0:25:140:25:20

We'll be able to tell so much about what this crocodile is doing,

0:25:200:25:24

it will give us a huge amount of really useful information,

0:25:240:25:27

so he's a really good ambassador.

0:25:270:25:29

Naomi, we're going to call him Naomi!

0:25:290:25:31

-Are you really?

-Yeah. That's what he's called.

-Aw! I feel honoured.

0:25:310:25:35

Do you think crocodiles and people can live safely together?

0:25:350:25:40

Given the number of crocodiles here and the number of people,

0:25:400:25:43

and the number of people who go out on the water fishing

0:25:430:25:45

and recreating around the water,

0:25:450:25:48

on average you get one person a year who gets killed by a crocodile.

0:25:480:25:54

-That's so few really, isn't it?

-It's a pretty good statistic.

-Yeah.

0:25:540:25:57

The fact is, we have this amazing creature here, which is a huge asset.

0:25:570:26:01

I think it's much better to have this animal here,

0:26:010:26:04

with the tiny risk that someone is going to get attacked.

0:26:040:26:07

It's just incredibly important.

0:26:070:26:10

Just cutting loose that duct tape around his mouth.

0:26:140:26:18

When everybody's ready, they'll release it,

0:26:180:26:20

and, hopefully, he'll head straight for the water

0:26:200:26:23

and not back towards us!

0:26:230:26:24

And off he goes.

0:26:330:26:35

I've got to say, getting that close to a saltwater crocodile

0:26:350:26:39

has got to rank up there as one of the scariest,

0:26:390:26:41

but most exhilarating animal encounters of my life.

0:26:410:26:45

The more you get to know about them, the more you have to respect them -

0:26:450:26:48

the power, the size, how well they are adapted for life in the water.

0:26:480:26:52

Am I really getting to like crocodiles,

0:26:520:26:54

or are they still the stuff of nightmares?

0:26:540:26:57

So it turns out the Australian coast isn't quite

0:26:590:27:01

the perfect paradise I thought it was.

0:27:010:27:04

Yes, it has the sun, it has the beautiful beaches,

0:27:040:27:06

but it also has some surprisingly scary wildlife!

0:27:060:27:09

But which is my worst nightmare here?

0:27:090:27:12

Was it the stomach-ejecting, coral-chomping crown-of-thorns?

0:27:120:27:15

The muddy mangroves - hot, humid and plenty of thick, sticky mud?

0:27:190:27:23

Or the camouflaged toxic terror, the stonefish?

0:27:250:27:29

But because of its size, power and ferocity,

0:27:300:27:34

the coastal crown for my worst nightmare here

0:27:340:27:37

is going to go to the giant prehistoric monster, the saltwater crocodile!

0:27:370:27:41

Second time lucky!

0:27:510:27:53

Thank you! Oh, dear.

0:28:000:28:02

Very gracefully done!

0:28:040:28:06

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