0:00:34 > 0:00:40Australia, a huge island that has drifted by itself for 45 million years,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43is a strange assortment of landscapes.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50Until just a few generations ago, they were lightly trodden by people.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02This land, with all its curious wildlife,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05was utterly unknown to Western eyes.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23But a little over 200 years ago,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27the British came to this island continent...
0:01:27 > 0:01:30and declared it theirs.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39At first, it was just a place to dump criminals,
0:01:39 > 0:01:4216,000 kilometres from home.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44But this distant British outpost
0:01:44 > 0:01:49would soon become a land of opportunity for those that followed.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53Now there's a population of 20 million,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58living in some of the most modern, desirable cities in the world.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02A whole nation has grown up fast in a land of sun and space.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19But how has the big old landscape
0:02:19 > 0:02:23coped with this rapid transformation?
0:02:26 > 0:02:29And now there are so many people here,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32what has happened to the wildlife?
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Australia's most famous animals have had to come to terms with changes.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51A koala is a creature of habit and will doggedly follow the route it knows
0:02:51 > 0:02:54between favourite feeding trees.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57If there is a road in the way, it will simply stroll across.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Koalas are good climbers,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06so even if there's a fence between it and a good feed,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08it needn't be an obstacle.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16If a koala knows there's something to eat on the other side,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19it will just clamber across until it gets there.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24It's slow, but you have to give it full marks for style.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39That's all very well in quiet areas.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43But wildlife and humans often want the same real estate.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45When cities grow too fast
0:03:45 > 0:03:49and trees disappear under the spread of suburbia,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51koalas don't change their habits.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03They hang on in there, still following their familiar routes.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10As long as there are just enough trees left,
0:04:10 > 0:04:14koalas will stay around the most unlikely places.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Every time a koala comes to the ground,
0:04:24 > 0:04:29it has to take its chances against the hazards of urban living.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35But Australian animals have evolved for millions of years in a tricky, changeable environment
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and even in the face of city sprawl, the toughest survive.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Australia's native wildlife has been faced with a whole new world.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50But sometimes the animals benefit.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Kangaroos eat grass, and in this town near Melbourne,
0:05:07 > 0:05:12where a golf course has been built beside patches of natural bushland,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16the local grey kangaroos have hit the jackpot.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25In a dry old country like Australia, all this fresh, green, well-watered grass
0:05:25 > 0:05:31is like a banquet for these lucky roos - a vast improvement on what they usually get.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43These are shy animals normally, but not here.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46There may be 500 kangaroos here,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51and some have lived all their lives on the greens among the golfers -
0:05:51 > 0:05:53eating grass, raising families,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58relaxing in the shade of the trees, exactly as they would in the bush.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19In fact, it's the golfers who have to play around THEM.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24An audience of kangaroos is enough to put anyone off their stroke.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36A rubbish dump might seem a less salubrious place to dine out,
0:06:36 > 0:06:41but this one near Brisbane is a fast-food stop for sacred ibises.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44They thrive in great numbers as a result.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48They travel from nearby swamps where they roost,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52arriving bang on time when the dumpsters unload.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09It's a reliable meal.
0:07:09 > 0:07:15While they would naturally dig about for crayfish and mussels,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18here they take their pick of gourmet throw-outs.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23Urban living has its advantages, if you've got the nerve.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42And the minute the dump closes at the end of the day,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46the birds all disappear, regular as clockwork, back to their swamp.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Over three-quarters of Australia's population lives on the coast,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04so the relationship between people and wildlife is most obvious there.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08But the human effect hasn't confined itself to the cities.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Beyond the coast is a whole new world.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Within 50 years of British settlement,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19some brave souls had taken on the challenge of living inland.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25The contrast between city and outback living couldn't be stronger.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44This is the most unpredictable desert in the world.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50In Australia's interior, the temperature can swing from 46 degrees centigrade to minus 8.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Some years, 20cm of rain may fall in a single day.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56In other years,
0:08:56 > 0:09:01there may hardly be enough to wet the ground.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Australia's soils are dry and impoverished -
0:09:10 > 0:09:14on average the poorest in the world.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16It's a hard place to farm,
0:09:16 > 0:09:21yet now there are 18 million sheep here and 30 million cows -
0:09:21 > 0:09:24more than there are people.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29One of the toughest challenges was the lack of water.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33But people discovered that there was water here -
0:09:33 > 0:09:36gigantic pools, millions of years old, deep underground.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Pioneering farmers struggled to bring it to the surface
0:09:41 > 0:09:45so sheep and cattle would have a reliable supply.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50For the native wildlife, these man-made oases were very attractive.
0:09:50 > 0:09:56These animals have had millions of years to adapt to the times when no rain falls.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Suddenly, here was plenty of water.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05In the old days, emus and kangaroos would have stayed close
0:10:05 > 0:10:10to whatever natural water they could find in this arid landscape.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17When droughts were long, many would have died.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20But now, with all this water on tap,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24no animal need be more than 10km away from a drink.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30Alongside the cattle, the natives have thrived as never before.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38Now there may be ten million red kangaroos in Australia's arid lands.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Wherever people have struggled to wrestle a living from the land,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11the native wildlife seems ready to help itself to the proceeds.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21For native birds that have evolved on a diet of seeds, what better place to feed than a wheat store?
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Little corellas flock to storage bunkers in gangs thousands strong,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32turning up in greatest numbers just when the harvest is brought in.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40They're not put off at all by the heavy tarpaulin covers.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45These parrots simply rip through them and eat their fill.
0:11:45 > 0:11:52Their beaks never stop growing and these intelligent birds use them like tin openers.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Being highly sociable, they go around in big numbers.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16It's pretty hard to stop this avian smash and grab.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Farmers try to scare them off by firing shots.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30But all they do is fly round and land again.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38They'll finally disappear en masse to their roosts,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41but they'll be back again tomorrow.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Parrots have been up to tricks like these
0:12:44 > 0:12:49ever since the first settlers began growing crops two centuries ago.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54But not all Australia's native wildlife is quite so resilient.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03There have been many changes since the British planted their flag here.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Some have had an impact those early colonists could not have foreseen.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18At first, the land they found had seemed like Eden.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23But viewed through homesick eyes, it needed a few changes.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25The countryside needed taming.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30All those messy trees needed clearing to make room for farms.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And the place would surely benefit from some superior animals.
0:13:35 > 0:13:42And so those early colonists set about turning Australia into a little England.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Bit by bit, here was Surrey on the other side of the world -
0:13:51 > 0:13:54faintly familiar, but not quite the same.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04And the native animals were coming face to face with strangers.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11For 50 million years,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15this continent had nurtured its own private set of wildlife.
0:14:15 > 0:14:22Now it was beginning to fill up with a parade of animals that didn't belong here at all.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29And some foreign invaders began to cause serious problems.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33The earliest British colonists brought domestic animals from home,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36but they didn't keep them fenced.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Plenty wandered off, and the toughest prospered.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45Nowadays, wild pigs, descendants from those early porkers,
0:14:45 > 0:14:50rampage through some of Australia's most pristine landscapes.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Pigs need water to keep cool,
0:14:59 > 0:15:05and wetlands are where they do their worst damage.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10With their sharp feet and incessant wallowing, they destroy vegetation
0:15:10 > 0:15:15and damage waterholes far better suited to more delicate feet.
0:15:29 > 0:15:36They eat virtually anything and are especially partial to the eggs of native water birds and reptiles.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42They spread nasty diseases and, with a population that can double in a year, there are millions of them.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51But pigs were just the beginning. And some incomers have a shameful history.
0:15:55 > 0:16:021858 - rabbits are brought from England to give the colonists something to shoot at.
0:16:02 > 0:16:09They begin to multiply alarmingly fast. One farmer has 36 million on his property alone.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15They eat all the grass, push small native animals from their homes and they're still not under control.
0:16:18 > 0:16:221840 - camels are brought from Asia as beasts of burden,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25but later abandoned in favour of lorries.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Half a million descendants now roam the outback -
0:16:29 > 0:16:32too many for a drought-prone land to support.
0:16:32 > 0:16:371935 - the South American cane toad, a poisonous species,
0:16:37 > 0:16:43is brought in to eat pest beetles. The plan fails,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46but the toads themselves thrive out of control,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50poisoning native animals that try to eat them.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56Even the most innocent-seeming foreigners can be trouble.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05In 1822, settlers brought their European honeybees to Australia
0:17:05 > 0:17:09and put their hives where the most flowers grew -
0:17:09 > 0:17:13bad news for the bees that lived there already.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16In the northeast tropical rainforest,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20the native bees feed on pollen and nectar.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25Some of the flowers need to be vibrated to release their pollen.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29It's a relationship that grew up over millions of years.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37But European honeybees can't do this buzz pollination.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40They can't shake their bodies in the right way.
0:17:40 > 0:17:46So they steal the pollen the native bees have just set on the flowers.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52And they have even more aggressive tactics.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02They beat up the native bees,
0:18:02 > 0:18:07steal the pollen from their backs and drive them from the flowers.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Without proper pollination, the flowers,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and the native animals that rely on them, are at risk.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29But of all the invaders that came from the Old Country,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33there is one that has really outdone the rest.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00Foxes were deliberately brought to Australia from England 150 years ago
0:19:00 > 0:19:05so homesick British gentlemen could hunt, just as they'd always done.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19But those foxes that didn't get caught started to thrive.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28From an original few dozen, there are now millions.
0:19:28 > 0:19:34Superbly adaptable, they have spread almost everywhere, even in deserts.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41200 years ago, Australia was full of strange little animals,
0:19:41 > 0:19:46all flourishing in a landscape where there were few big predators.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53But now they all became the perfect, fox-sized meal.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23They had no idea how to react to this new enemy
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and, suddenly, they began to vanish.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32A disaster had begun.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Australia's native animals were being hit from all sides.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40They were being devoured by new predators.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Their food was being eaten by foreigners with bigger appetites
0:20:44 > 0:20:49and their habitat was being taken so that the land could be farmed.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Many native animals, once numerous, quietly disappeared.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57And they're still going now.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Since the British arrived,
0:21:01 > 0:21:0554 species of mammals, birds and frogs have gone.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11In the desert, almost half of all mammal species have become extinct.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16This shocking decline has no parallel anywhere else in the world.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Australia's most famous extinct animal
0:21:19 > 0:21:23managed to hang on for a while in Tasmania.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27The Tasmanian tiger was one of Australia's few big carnivores,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31but it had been driven from the mainland by dingoes
0:21:31 > 0:21:36and the remainder killed by farmers who accused it of taking sheep.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41In 1936, the year it was finally given official protection,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45the last one died in a Tasmanian zoo.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01But although the picture looks grim, things aren't always what they seem.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05In the far southwest corner of Australia, there once lived
0:22:05 > 0:22:09a small, pointy-nosed marsupial called Gilbert's potoroo.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13It hadn't been seen for over 100 years and was thought to be extinct.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Then, in 1994, one was spotted.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It wasn't lost after all, only hiding.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Although it's the size of a rabbit, it eats almost nothing but fungi,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41which it digs for in deep undergrowth,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45and it only comes out at night. No wonder it was hard to spot.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03There may be fewer than 40 of them left in the whole of Australia,
0:23:03 > 0:23:09it may be Australia's rarest mammal and need intensive protection,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11but it's not extinct
0:23:11 > 0:23:17and shows that Australian wildlife is easy to lose in such a big place.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30What else might there be hiding out there in the vastness?
0:23:30 > 0:23:35A search is going on to find Australia's most legendary, obscure bird -
0:23:35 > 0:23:39a little green parrot that looks like a fat budgie.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46It was named the night parrot because it's probably nocturnal.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51Said to run around the grasslands of Australia's dry interior,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54it hadn't been seen for 80 years.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59Everyone assumed the night parrot was just another museum piece.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13But then, in 1990,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17one was found in Queensland, squashed at the side of the road -
0:24:17 > 0:24:24evidence that there might still be night parrots running about out there, somewhere in the darkness.
0:24:25 > 0:24:32There were campaigns to ensure that anyone who spotted one in the vast landscape would know what it was.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39Long-distance road-train drivers were even shown pictures of what to look out for.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47And then came a report that a live one had been seen
0:24:47 > 0:24:52in a remote cattle station right in the centre of Australia.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00The farm owner, Alex Coppock, is convinced of what he saw.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06I came over and there was a lot of birds sitting around in the trough.
0:25:06 > 0:25:12There was these two unusual birds that I'd never seen before.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15They were pale green, they were...a parrot,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19and for me, quite obviously, it must have been a night parrot.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Alex has lived here for 40 years
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and he knows the birds of the outback pretty well.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38It didn't look like the birds we knew, it wasn't a budgie.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43It had a very short tail for a parrot, it was yellowish green
0:25:43 > 0:25:50and had brownish oblong markings on his chest and the front of his wings. It was a night parrot.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Couldn't have been anything else.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59If the night parrot does exist, this is the kind of place it would live,
0:25:59 > 0:26:05with spinifex clumps to hide in during the day and plenty of water.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11It's the holy grail for ornithologists - none more devoted than Richard Jordan.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Parrot, parrot, parrot, parrot!
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Parrot, parrot, parrot, parrot!
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Well, this is as good a place as any.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32It's a small chance, but, er, it's...it's promising.
0:26:33 > 0:26:39They're mainly active at night but, in the day, they'll be hiding probably in these clumps.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Parrot, parrot!
0:26:42 > 0:26:45It may be Australia's least-known bird,
0:26:45 > 0:26:51but it seems that it was a sitting target for foreign predators
0:26:51 > 0:26:54and couldn't cope with changes brought by farming.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57The search goes on.
0:26:57 > 0:27:04Even old birds' nests are checked in case a fragment of night-parrot feather has been woven in.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Even this would be evidence. But in 13 years of searching,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Richard has found nothing. Nightfall is the time to watch.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17This is when these secretive birds would come to drink,
0:27:17 > 0:27:23with all the other birds that rely on these remote waterholes.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27But it is, to say the least, unlikely.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33Quite a few people have said they've seen night parrots,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37but it can't be authenticated without that physical evidence.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42And there hasn't been any other apart from that one dead bird.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52This is a huge country,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56and the most vulnerable animals tend to be the most cryptic.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00So how do you find out if they even still exist,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03let alone help them survive?
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Ask the people who know the land better than anyone.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Australia has been inhabited for 60,000 years.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17Until the British landed, there were maybe half a million people
0:28:17 > 0:28:20in a place three-quarters the size of Europe.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24They lived over the whole continent and knew the wildlife intimately.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Aborigines had long been managing the landscape.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30They regularly burned it
0:28:30 > 0:28:35to clear the way for hunting and to encourage fresh plants to grow.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40The native wildlife had become tuned in to this new regime.
0:28:40 > 0:28:46When white people came, the Aboriginal population dwindled to barely a quarter.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49But their skills didn't disappear.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55Now, all over Australia, they are helping rediscover lost animals.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08A lizard called the great desert skink had been missing for decades.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12Western scientists had only found 20 in almost a century.
0:29:12 > 0:29:19When Aboriginal landowners helped the search, the skinks began to reappear, always on Aboriginal land.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24In Uluru, the locals called it tjakura.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Now traditional owners, like Norman Jackeleri,
0:29:27 > 0:29:32and scientists, like Steve McAlpin, pool their skills in the search.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38The footmarks?
0:29:38 > 0:29:41Oh, yes, that's its tail mark and...
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Beautiful.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50We should set some traps here. This is a really good burrow.
0:30:10 > 0:30:17When he was a young guy, he grew up walking round in the desert, not knowing that white people existed.
0:30:17 > 0:30:24His schooling was basically the schooling of following tracks, learning about animals.
0:30:24 > 0:30:32Norman, despite his age, can see much better than me, he can point things out that I can barely see.
0:30:32 > 0:30:39You can't develop the incredible range of skills they have from spending their life in the bush.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42- What's that one?- Fox. - A fox has come through here,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46probably hunting for that tjakura.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Catch him, eat him.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Finished up, yeah.
0:30:52 > 0:30:59It seemed that Western science had been looking in the wrong place all those years.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- Tjakura.- Oh, yeah, a beauty.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23It's a beauty, isn't it?
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Nice big, fat one.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33190...
0:31:54 > 0:31:57So the skinks had always been here after all,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01and the local people knew their behaviour well.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06They knew they came out at night from big family burrows in the sand
0:32:06 > 0:32:10to feed on desert plants and hunt for insects,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12leaving their distinctive tracks.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36But something else became apparent.
0:32:36 > 0:32:42In order for the lizards to thrive, the land must be burned in the traditional way.
0:32:42 > 0:32:47It may seem drastic, but this has been going on for thousands of years.
0:32:47 > 0:32:53The skinks need habitat like this, selectively burned to provide just the right amount of cover
0:32:53 > 0:32:57and fresh new growth on which they feed.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00But even with such intensive care,
0:33:00 > 0:33:04while all those foreign predators roam at large,
0:33:04 > 0:33:10the mainland is still a dangerous place for much of Australia's wildlife.
0:33:15 > 0:33:21It seems unfair, but the only safe place is on an island.
0:33:26 > 0:33:32Luckily, Australia is surrounded with thousands of islands, large and small.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Without these natural refuges,
0:33:34 > 0:33:40a further nine mammal species would be extinct in the jaws of mainland predators.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49Barrow Island, 80km off the northwest coast of Australia,
0:33:49 > 0:33:54has been separated from the mainland for 7,000 years.
0:33:54 > 0:34:00No introduced animals have been able to get here and trash the place. The difference it makes is enormous.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Here, the natives can really relax.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13There is such a wealth of wildlife on Barrow
0:34:13 > 0:34:18that it was made a nature reserve 100 years ago.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26But there's a further twist to the tale.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34Oil was found here in 1954 in amounts too valuable to ignore.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38This top-class nature reserve became a major oilfield.
0:34:38 > 0:34:44500 wells sprang up across the island. What would become of all the wildlife?
0:34:55 > 0:34:58It seems they're doing pretty well!
0:34:58 > 0:35:05The kangaroos that live here are called euros and they thrive in the spinifex among the pipe work.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08They're not at all shy
0:35:08 > 0:35:12and will even use the mechanical structures as shelter from the heat.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26In this extraordinary place,
0:35:26 > 0:35:31giants cruise around the oil tanks quite unfazed.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Perenties are Australia's biggest lizards, and this one's after something.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57On this desert island, where fresh water is in short supply,
0:35:57 > 0:36:01a dripping air conditioner is a luxury.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05It's not easy to get a drink round here.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Rules are strict about how wildlife is treated on Barrow.
0:36:14 > 0:36:20No animals can be brought to the island and nothing can be taken away.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26Some animals do even better here than they would on the mainland.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30At night, when the oilmen have their supper,
0:36:30 > 0:36:36strange nocturnal creatures emerge, lured out by the smell of a barbie.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44This is a golden bandicoot. It used to be common on the mainland,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48but introduced predators virtually wiped it out.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Nowadays, it's almost only found on islands,
0:36:54 > 0:37:00but there may be 50,000 of them living it up on Barrow alone.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13And this is a burrowing bettong, a tiny kangaroo
0:37:13 > 0:37:16that spends its days underground.
0:37:19 > 0:37:25It's the world's only burrowing kangaroo, and it comes out at night to feed.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30It too hangs by a thread on the mainland, but here it's safe.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35To watch these animals fearlessly looking for scraps,
0:37:35 > 0:37:41it's easy to see how effortlessly a predator could pick them off.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44But not here.
0:37:49 > 0:37:56Australia's largest, most famous island is also a wonderland of lost wildlife.
0:37:56 > 0:38:03Tasmania has long been free of dingoes and foxes and is a sanctuary for some remarkable animals.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12MEWLING AND SQUEALING
0:38:15 > 0:38:19This is the only place in the world
0:38:19 > 0:38:22where Tasmanian devils still live wild.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28They've long been gone from the mainland but, here, they thrive as they've always done,
0:38:28 > 0:38:33living in tangled forests and screaming over scraps of carrion.
0:38:59 > 0:39:06There are other oddities in the darkness - strange spotted cat-like animals called tiger quolls.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08They too are rare elsewhere.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14But Tasmania is no remote wilderness.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19It's full of people, and the wildlife has to take its chances
0:39:19 > 0:39:22alongside towns, roads and farms.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29This is a busy sheep farm but it, too, has some surprises.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34At night, when all the farm workers have gone home,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38strange things start happening in the shed.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41RUSTLING AND KNOCKING
0:39:52 > 0:39:57A Tasmanian devil has been sheltering under the floorboards.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15And a tiger quoll has made her home in the roof.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28The quoll is raising her babies here and leaves them in the rafters
0:40:28 > 0:40:32while she comes down to find something to eat.
0:40:32 > 0:40:39She and the devils wander round the shed at night, looking for food left by the farm workers.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Quolls are carnivores
0:40:41 > 0:40:46and she'd kill live prey with a bite to the back of the neck.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50But it's easier to break into a lunch box.
0:41:03 > 0:41:09Tasmanian devils, too, like to scavenge, but it's not always quite that easy.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25GROWLING
0:41:30 > 0:41:35Devils will be devils, always ready for a punch-up over a scrap.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39But mostly, it's just a lot of noise.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Go on, get out!
0:41:52 > 0:41:56People and wildlife have become entangled with each other.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Even in the busiest cities, they are forced to live together.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Melbourne's night sky is filled with thousands of enormous bats.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38Grey-headed flying foxes - native Australians - are struggling in the wild
0:42:38 > 0:42:43because so much of their natural forest habitat is being cleared.
0:42:43 > 0:42:48Here in town, they find everything they need.
0:42:48 > 0:42:53Just a flight away, there are orchards full of fruit,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57exactly what these fruit bats love best.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03And they have some exasperating habits.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08The bats may take one bite, then sample the next, like a picky child,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12leaving a trail of half-eaten fruit and some very annoyed farmers.
0:43:30 > 0:43:38At dawn, they fly the 40km or so back to town, following the course of the river and the roads.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42They're heading back to roost for the day.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52And this is where they chose.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59Nearly 30,000 bats took up residence in a piece of imitation rainforest
0:43:59 > 0:44:03in Melbourne's elegant Botanic Gardens.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17In the garden, it's a few degrees warmer than the surrounding area
0:44:17 > 0:44:22and, with so much food nearby, it suits them very nicely.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32But this number of bats has become too much for the trees.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Many of the plants here are rare and fragile,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40and can't stand the wear and tear of so many hefty animals.
0:44:52 > 0:44:59So here's a dilemma - a botanic garden that wants to preserve its precious trees,
0:44:59 > 0:45:04and a native bat that's on the endangered list.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09There are ongoing efforts to persuade the bats to settle somewhere else.
0:45:21 > 0:45:28There's a strange, love-hate relationship between Australia's wildlife and people.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33Australian animals are diverse and peculiar.
0:45:33 > 0:45:40Some have declined in the face of human changes, others have thrived and are doing better than ever.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48There are few places in the world where they are quite so familiar.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05And in spite of the sophistication of the Australian way of life,
0:46:05 > 0:46:09people still yearn to have contact with wildlife.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12In a land where almost everyone lives in towns,
0:46:12 > 0:46:17thousands of visitors pay to watch a spectacle like this.
0:46:17 > 0:46:24Every day, hundreds of rainbow lorikeets fly in over the Brisbane suburbs to one particular park.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31These are completely wild birds,
0:46:31 > 0:46:35taking advantage of the fact that people want to see them up close.
0:47:07 > 0:47:15When they've finished their free meal of artificial nectar, the parrots disappear to their roosts.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18No-one is quite sure where they all go.
0:47:18 > 0:47:24Humans encourage them, and they're exploiting human generosity.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28The first European settlers had so little regard for native wildlife
0:47:28 > 0:47:33that they brought blackbirds and nightingales from England.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37Now, 200 years later, there's a growing appreciation
0:47:37 > 0:47:42for the remarkable nature of the landscape and its animals.
0:47:42 > 0:47:49Australia's people and native wildlife are bound together, and there's no going back.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53In some places, the land has changed beyond recognition
0:47:53 > 0:47:57and dozens of unique animal species will never be seen again.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02But an incredible wealth of strange, tenacious animals is still here.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12Wildlife remains, even in the heart of cities, and wilderness is never far away.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17Modern Australia is still a wild and special place.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Subtitles by Mary Easton BBC Broadcast - 2003
0:48:52 > 0:48:55E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk