Attenborough's Ark: Natural World Special Natural World

London's Natural History Museum has over 70 million animal specimens.

The weird and wonderful from every corner of the planet.

There are also some of the many spectacular animals

that are no longer with us.

This is a dodo. At least, it's not. It's the model of a dodo.

No museum in the world has a complete specimen of this species

because human beings exterminated it in the middle of the 17th century.

And there are a lot of animals today that face the same fate as the dodo.

I've been asked to pick ten that I might take with me

on my own personal ark.

What an impossible task that sounds.

What to choose to represent the marvellous ingenuity of nature?

I could choose those that grab the headlines,

the majestic tiger.

The spectacular polar bear.

The beautiful snow leopard.

Or the magnificent mountain gorilla.

They're all animals that I wouldn't want to lose.

But there are many other extraordinary creatures out there,

not in the limelight, which you may not have heard of.

'I'm going to pick ten of them,

'which I find particularly fascinating.

'And I'm going to show you some of the surprising

'and wonderful work being done to protect them.'

You'll be surprised what you'll find on Attenborough's Ark.

My first choice will be a monkey.

One of my favourite kinds of animal.

And I'm particularly fond of these marvellous miniature monkeys.

These tamarins are normally at home in Latin America,

but many are now bred here at Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey.

There's the rather regal-looking emperor tamarin,

with its long moustaches.

The cheeky-looking pied tamarin.

And the spectacular golden lion tamarin.

But if I had to choose one, it would be this one.

And this is the black lion tamarin.

I think the tamarins are just about as unlike monkeys as you can get.

You can see that they are monkeys from their faces

and their two eyes, which give them the forward vision of all primates,

all monkeys, but look at their hands.

They are different from mine or any other primate's, because

tamarins have not nails on the end of the long fingers, but long claws.

And he will come and take from my hand, and you can see now - ow! -

how long that claw is.

They live on insects, they love these grubs,

and they also eat fruit and tree sap,

and it's said that they particularly like fruit with quite large stones,

because as the large stones go through their tiny little guts,

they scrape off internal parasites. Now there's a thought.

The black lion tamarin is in serious trouble,

with only around 1,000 animals left in the world.

And there's is a remarkable story, truly back from the brink.

And with a clever plan to secure their survival

in the forests of Brazil.

Black lion tamarins were once thought to be extinct, but were then

rediscovered in 1970 in just one tiny area of forest near Sao Paulo.

Here, the tamarins live in tree holes,

often the former homes of woodpeckers.

But only 3% of their original habitat remains.

Once, they could roam large distances,

but now they're marooned in small fragments of forest.

What was once continuous forest has been torn up

to make way for sugar cane plantations.

And for years, the people have cut down trees for farmland

with devastating consequences for the tamarins.

But now, there's a project with a smart approach to reversing

this wave of destruction.

Nurseries have been set up where local people are paid to plant

and grow trees rather than cut them down.

Replanting the whole forest would be an impossible task,

so, cleverly, these trees will be used to create corridors,

linking up the precious fragments of remaining forest.

The project will give this rare and beautiful tamarins

the space they need to survive in the long term.

If, on my ark,

I'm going to have space for the creatures that really need

a berth to survive,

the black lion tamarin is a very strong candidate.

You've got a ticket.

My next animal is a rather larger beast, and with an ancient history.

Rhinos have walked the earth for over 50 million years, and today

they can be found from the savannas of Africa to the forests of Asia.

There are five species of rhinoceros in the world today,

and they're all endangered.

Of those five, this is probably the most troubled.

This is the Sumatran rhino,

and there are only about 200 individuals left.

So building up their numbers is of extreme importance,

if necessary, by captive breeding.

But rhinoceroses are independent kinds of animals,

and getting male and female together is not easy.

Andalas is a very special male rhino.

His tale is one of long-distance love.

Like all Sumatran rhinos, he has a hairy back, but he also has

a twinkle in his eye, because, just maybe, he might soon become a dad.

Today, Andalas lives semi-wild in the beautiful forests of Sumatra,

but he was born far away, in America.

His birth, at Cincinnati Zoo,

was a real breakthrough for breeding captive Sumatran rhinos.

But to really save his species,

Andalas will have to return to his ancestral homeland.

Once old enough, he made the extraordinary journey for a rhino,

back to Sumatra, 10,000 miles away on the other side of the world.

Andalas came here,

to the rhino sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park.

His job was to mount a new offensive in the local breeding programme,

which for many years had drawn a blank.

They did have another male in residence, but he had failed

to seduce any females, so Andalas was brought in as the new stud.

Dedi Kandra is a vet here, and it didn't take long for him

and his team to grow quite attached to the young American import.

Andalas is very healthy, he has sperm,

and that is the important thing for the breeding success.

But finding true love for Andalas wasn't an easy task.

This is Ratu.

She is a local girl, born wild and found wandering in the village.

She was rescued and then the matchmaking could begin.

Female rhinos only have a small window of opportunity within

their cycle when they can get pregnant, and of course,

they also need to be in the right mood.

Introduce the lovers at the wrong time,

and there's no guarantee that they'll get on.

It's a delicate matter.

There's a fine line for these sensitive beasts

between attraction and antagonism.

But eventually, Ratu succumbed to Andalas's American charm.

Today, the fruits of Andalas's efforts are evident.

Ratu is pregnant.

Rhinos can't sweat, so wallowing in cool mud is her way of keeping cool.

Essential when you're carrying your baby.

And this is no ordinary pregnancy.

If the birth is successful, Ratu's baby will be

the first ever Sumatran rhino born in captivity in Sumatra.

It will be a remarkable triumph for Dedi and his team,

as well as for Andalas and Ratu.

We are very happy.

We have been waiting a long, long time for this moment.

This is a very exciting time for all of us at the sanctuary,

?not only for us, maybe for all the people in the national park, all the

people in Indonesia, and probably all the people in the world also.

Rhino pregnancies take 16 long months.

Now Ratu only has a few weeks to go.

But pregnancies have gone wrong for her in the past,

and for the team, it's been a long and tense wait.

I think waiting for Sumatran rhino babies is similar

to be waiting for our wives' babies also.

We worry with danger, we're excited, we're happy.

It's very emotional waiting for this moment.

Finally, it's in the middle of the night that Ratu gives birth

to her baby.

And it's a boy.

Successfully breeding these rhinos here in Sumatra will be vital

to saving the species.

They give him a name similar to his father's.

Andatu, which means a gift from God.

For Dedi, he certainly is a gift,

and he's quite overwhelmed.

Wow, this is wonderful. This healthy baby, healthy mother.

This is an important moment for us.

This is the first time to see directly the Sumatran rhino baby.

A small but wonderful step in the survival of this remarkable animal.

TYRANNOSAURUS REX ROARS

My next creature has been around even longer than the rhino.

Surely one of the ultimate survivors.

This is one of the most popular exhibits in any museum

that happens to have one.

It's Tyrannosaurus rex.

The giant, flesh-eating dinosaur that ruled the world

over 65 million years ago.

But in the undergrowth around its gigantic legs there was another,

very different creature,

quite different from any dinosaur or any reptile.

It had fur, warm blood.

It didn't lay eggs, it produced live young,

and it nourished them on milk.

It was the first of the mammals.

Their descendants now have taken the place of the reptiles

and rule the earth.

But amazingly,

some have descended from that little creature virtually unchanged.

They're called solenodons.

These little characters are incredibly elusive.

They can be found in a remote corner of the Dominican Republic

in the Caribbean.

Thousands of tourists have their holidays here each year.

Yet, whilst they're enjoying the sun and the sand,

most are oblivious to the prehistoric creature lurking inland.

Away from the hubbub, solenodons have their underground homes.

When the sunseekers head to the bars and their beds,

these reclusive chaps come out for a nose about.

Very little is known about the solenodon,

so a team of researchers has come to find out more about them.

They've chosen to spend their evening scrambling around in the

undergrowth in the hope of catching one of these elusive creatures.

Infrared lights are needed in the pitch dark,

and it's a tricky job, but here's one.

It's a good job solenodons can't run too fast.

Picking them up by their thick tails doesn't hurt them,

and this one is swiftly bagged.

Now we can put the lights on.

Joe Nunez-Mino leads this group of researchers.

So this remarkable animal is the solenodon.

They're really chilled out mammals to be around.

As long as you're quiet around them,

they can quite happily sit in your hand for a little while.

Solenodons are only one of a handful of mammals in the world

that have a venomous bite, which, it is thought, could be

a leftover characteristic from their ancient reptilian relatives.

And they also have a rather interesting nose.

Solenodons have a unique ball and socket joint

that attaches their really long nose to their skull,

and that enables them to move it around really flexibly.

When you see that nose, you can't help but smile about it.

SOLENODON SQUEALS

This little chap is less chilled out while the radio collar's fitted,

so the team work fast to minimise any distress.

These tracking devices will allow them to follow

and better understand the solenodon's way of life.

Its temporary captivity over,

it's free to amble away its evening in peace.

Its kind have survived largely unchanged for 65 million years,

but today its numbers are rapidly declining.

Camera traps have revealed that one of the big problems

for the solenodon are cats and dogs, introduced to the island by humans.

Joe hopes that with new controls on domestic animals,

and with their continued research, they'll be able to help this

amazing little creature that's been around since the dinosaurs.

I think what makes me love them more than anything else

is the fact that they're great survivors.

They've been around for a long time, and with a little bit of help,

I think we can help them to be around for a lot longer.

Solenodons are unique.

If we lost these little creatures,

we wouldn't see anything quite like them on earth.

Reason enough to have them on board my ark.

Many animals have, like the solenodon,

evolved highly specialised bodies

and behaviours to suit their environment,

and this specialists include some of the most extraordinary animals.

The giraffe, with its hugely long neck

to pick succulent leaves from the tallest trees.

Or the giant panda, which can eat tough, indigestible bamboo,

but little else.

And the next animal for my ark is one of the ultimate specialists.

Here in the basement of the Natural History Museum in London, there

are tens of thousands of animals reserved in tanks and bottles.

And this is one of the most interesting.

It's a kind of amphibian called an olm.

It has very, very tiny legs and an extremely elongated body,

and its ancestry stretches back 190 million years.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about it

is that it lives for up to 100 years.

It seems this curious creature

has discovered the secret of a long life.

It can be found within limestone caves across

central and south-eastern Europe in countries like Croatia.

For millions of years it lived quietly, far below these mountains,

in huge networks of hidden caves, underground rivers and lakes.

If there is a heavy downpour,

it can be flushed out into rivers at the surface.

In Croatia, it was once believed that these olms were baby dragons.

This intrepid team of olm researchers are heading

deep into the dragon's lair.

They're trying to discover more about this bizarre creature

living in this extreme environment.

Its population is shrinking, and as with any endangered animal,

the team need to understand it in order to save it.

So, fingers crossed for the olm.

But this isn't a job for the faint-hearted.

The divers have two swim from one lake to another through

narrow tunnels, with no possibility of coming up for air.

It's highly dangerous, but for Dusan Jelic,

the leader of the team, that is part of the thrill.

I think we are working on the edge of the world where actually no-one

has ever been, and see some of the things that nobody else can see.

Despite the things that make it hard, it's actually just a great job.

It takes Dusan several dives before he finally locates the elusive olm.

It's certainly an odd-looking creature.

It has adapted to the complete darkness of the caves

and lost its sense of sight.

But it has a powerful sense of smell.

It also has a bizarre sixth sense.

It detects electric fields in a similar way to sharks.

This is one of its many mysterious abilities.

How olms catch their prey, we actually don't know.

They have, probably, very sensitive skin, which has cells that can

register small movements in water, but it can also be possible

they just run into something and they just eat it.

But if it doesn't run into food, then the olm has a remarkable trick.

It can go into starvation mode,

surviving up to ten years without eating.

The olm lives life in the slow lane,

which seems to be its secret for living a long life.

Perhaps a lesson for us all.

As a specialist, the olm is reliant on clean, pure water,

and water pollution is one of its main threats.

Dusan feels a close connection to the olm,

and he hopes his work will build a clear picture of what this

remarkable but mysterious creature needs to survive.

Even though you cannot see something, you still, underneath this,

have a really amazing world, which is just hidden

and we still need to conserve it.

Yes, the olm has a berth in my ark.

Maybe it can reveal its secrets of long life.

Of course, I'll have to have a bird on this ark, but which to choose?

I first became aware of how breathtakingly beautiful

exotic birds could be when, as a boy,

I was allowed to leaf through one of these 19th-century bird books.

The man who published this glorious ornithological volumes was called

John Gould, and he was particularly fascinated by hummingbirds,

many of which he identified and named for the first time.

One of the most spectacular is this,

and he called it the Marvellous Spatuletail.

When I first saw it, I thought, "He must have made that up."

How could a bird, any bird, fly with its head pointing downwards

and then these two pennant quills crossed over its tail?

Well, in spite of the fact that Gould never saw the living bird,

this is correct, and it was only proved to be so

when this display flight was filmed a few years ago.

The home of this hummingbird is in the foothills of the Andes

in a remote corner of Peru.

The male spatuletail hummingbird's two super-long quills

end in these rather cumbersome discs.

These might seem rather inconvenient and unnecessary,

but their purpose becomes apparent when a female appears.

She is rather plainer in appearance, but that's OK.

She doesn't need to make an effort. It's his job to win over her.

The male begins his courtship ritual by waving his tail feathers

back and forth.

This takes a lot of effort, even from the comfort of his perch.

But to be accepted as her mate, he needs to take to the air.

Watch this.

She seems quite impressed.

As she looks on, he begins an airborne dance, dipping his head

and crossing his tail feathers, just as Gould captured in his painting.

But this is exhausting work.

It's so demanding he can only stay airborne for a matter of seconds

before he needs a rest.

He doesn't seem to be winning, but he decides to make one final effort.

It's no good. She's seen enough. In a flash, she's gone.

He'll just have to try even harder next time.

But with this incredible mating ritual over for the time being,

this little chap has indeed lived up to his name.

I'd certainly give the Marvellous Spatuletail a berth in my ark.

There are more than 5,000 species of frogs and toads in the world,

including many rare and quite unusual ones.

But the one I'm going to choose is Darwin's Frog.

Darwin's Frogs vary in colour,

and can expertly blend into their surroundings.

But there's another reason I find them fascinating.

Charles Darwin discovered the frog that now carries his name when

he landed in Chile in 1834 on his way around the world in HMS Beagle.

This is the field notebook he had at the time,

and he has actually sketched in it this particular frog.

Just there.

It's a very small drawing, but then the frog itself is pretty small.

This is about as big as it gets,

and this is the actual specimen that was collected by Darwin.

But it's a very remarkable frog,

because the male gives birth to the young, and does so out of his mouth.

Like most frogs,

this male Darwin Frog inflates his vocal sac to attract a female.

But in this frog, it also doubles as a nursery.

After the female has laid the eggs, he takes them into his mouth,

where they lie in his vocal sac, and there develop into baby frogs.

The actual birth is exceedingly quick,

and has hardly ever been filmed.

Blink and you'll miss it.

Here it is again.

Darwin's Frog lives in southern Chile,

and whilst many of the animals in my ark face a threat from humans,

it faces a challenge from Mother Nature herself.

It lives in what is usually a lush, moist forest,

but recently, one of the few remaining populations

has come under threat from a natural disaster.

Since June 2011, a huge volcanic eruption at Mount Puyehue has been

showering hundreds of square miles of the surrounding area with ash.

The layer of fallen ash is drying out and killing

much of the vegetation that is vital to the frog's survival.

It's pushing Darwin's Frog to the edge of extinction.

Luckily, there's a scientist who is devoted to these tiny creatures.

Claudio Soto-Azat has spent several years studying

these unusual and rare frogs.

He's been carefully monitoring the effect of the ash.

You can see no ash now,

because there was a lot of rain in a few days, but if you

move the leaves, you can see that there is a thick layer of ash.

Logs like this one are normally covered by moss and fern,

but this fern, as you see here, just died because of all the ash.

The volcano is still active, and a small change in the direction

of the wind could bring the ash cloud back over this area.

The risk to these rare animals is too great.

Claudio has come to find and rescue as many frogs as possible.

On a previous visit, he was only able

to find four frogs in this forest.

FROG CALLS

Do you hear that? So that's a male Darwin's Frog that just called now.

They're masters of disguise, and their colour varies,

but always blends perfectly with their surroundings.

You normally don't see the actual frog, but you see a jump.

Oh, OK!

Wonderful.

So, let's have a look.

Wow!

Wonderful.

So this is a male Darwin's Frog,

pregnant with maybe five or six tadpoles, and that means they

have been the surviving the volcano, but they also have been breeding.

I've got one. Yeah, good.

There are more frogs here than Claudio was expecting,

but with the forest so dry and the volcano still venting ash,

he will stick to his plan to remove them and breed them

in captivity until the threat from the volcano has diminished.

At the University of Concepcion, the frogs are given a safe haven.

They will hopefully breed a robust population, which can one day

be returned to the forest.

For Claudio, it's another small step towards saving this unique species.

So here we have four Darwin's Frogs that were first

captured from the volcano, and now we were able to get ten more,

which is a good number to have a captive breeding population,

so this has been a very successful trip.

I'd certainly be very sad to lose such a unique animal.

There is still room on my ark, so hop on board.

The next creature for my ark is one of the most endearing animals

I've met - the pangolin.

The only truly scaly mammal in the world.

I've come across it and number of times in my career.

Here, for example, in a film I made in 1973.

But many years before that film, I almost had to adopt one.

It was back in 1956, and we were making a film in Bali,

and also collecting animals for the London Zoo,

and one day, a man came to us with a pangolin in a sack.

I didn't really want a pangolin,

because they have a very specialised diet, so they don't live well.

So I asked the man what he would do if we didn't buy it,

and he said, "Oh, well, we'd eat it."

And the scales, he said, were very good for medicine.

So I said how much did he want for it,

and he said, I think it was about five shillings.

So I said, "OK, I'll buy it."

And we headed for a couple of days or so, travelling about,

eating termites, and a very engaging little creature it was, too.

And then, after a couple of days, one night we let it go.

I hope he survived.

This is Lucky.

He was called Lucky because, just like the one I came across

all those years ago, he, too, was rescued from certain death.

He lives here at a rescue centre in Vietnam.

Lucky, like all sunda pangolins, is rather shy.

He prefers to come out at night,

and can only easily be filmed with special infrared cameras.

Pangolins are similar to anteaters, but uniquely, they have

hard scales made of keratin,

the same substance as our nails are made of.

They rely on their claws being as sharp as possible,

so they walk on their knuckles to protect them.

They use those claws to tear open the nests of ants and termites,

scooping up their prey with their long, sticky tongue.

They have a special talent for climbing, and are immensely strong,

a core strength that any Pilates teacher would die for.

Sadly, these gymnasts face many threats.

Sunda pangolins are found across Southeast Asia.

In Vietnam, it's illegal to hunt or sell them.

But that doesn't stop a thriving black market

in cities such as Hanoi.

Here, their meat is considered a delicacy,

and their scales are used in traditional Asian medicine.

In the streets of Hanoi, there is a legitimate trade for medicine,

which includes the sale of various animal parts, insects and plants.

But pangolin scales can also be found.

Dan Challender, from the University of Kent,

is investigating the illegal trade of pangolins,

and it doesn't take him long to find some for sale.

These are scales of pangolins.

These are now a valuable commodity.

In the last few years, they've increased dramatically in price

and can fetch about 500 a kilo.

I've just seen three, four, five animals-worth of scales

down there in a bag, and what's going to happen to them now

is that they're going to be ground down and used in medicines

to treat a range of ailments from asthma, psoriasis or even cancer.

And that's tragic, because there is no evidence to suggest that

pangolin scales are effective in traditional Asian medicine.

And when darkness comes in the evening,

the illegal trade continues.

Pangolin meat is highly-prized as a status symbol

amongst Vietnam's business elite.

They will pay top prices for a variety of wild meats,

including pangolin.

Pangolin is offered in various forms.

Either grilled, fried, steamed or cooked with bamboo shoots.

Here's a picture of a foetus of a pangolin

that's served in a dish of soup.

And pangolins are not only popular in Vietnam.

Huge numbers of them are illegally exported, mainly to China.

It's thought that in the last 15 years

over half the population of Sunda pangolins has disappeared.

But for any that are rescued, there is a ray of hope.

In the highly-secure pangolin conservation project at Cuc Phuong,

the animals are coaxed back to health.

Dan has come to the centre to see his old friend Lucky.

Lucky has been undergoing rehabilitation

since his rescue, and today there is some good news Dan wasn't expecting.

I've just found out that Lucky may be released into a national park.

It's actually quite a surprise for me, because I actually

thought he'd probably be at the centre for quite a while.

I like this animal, so I've actually got mixed feelings,

but if he is released, then I wish him well.

It would seem Lucky is not particularly keen to leave here

for a life in the wild.

Well, I'd certainly be happy to spend a few days again

with a friendly pangolin.

I think the only truly scaly mammal in the world

certainly deserves a berth.

Around 80% of the Earth's animal species are insects.

They play a vital role in the food chain,

essential to many birds, fish and many other animals.

They fertilise and aerate the soil, and, of course, they pollinate.

Without them, life as we know it would cease to exist.

So with only three places left on my ark,

it would seem wrong not to include at least one.

'Butterflies lift the heart.'

There are thousands to choose from,

but this butterfly house has one of my favourites.

'I selected it for its exquisite beauty.'

This is a Priam's Birdwing butterfly.

It lives in Western New Guinea and to the islands both east

and west, and also down into the northern part of Australia.

Birdwings have some of the largest of insect wings,

and are very sought after by collectors.

The name comes from their rather bird-like forewings.

The male Priam Birdwing has a striking pattern of vibrant

green and black.

The females are larger and less colourful, but just as delightful.

These butterflies are able to fly long distances

high above the forest canopy.

But these beautiful insects only live for about ten days

as fully-formed adult butterflies.

If I take him on board my ark, I'm not going to have him for long.

But in the ten days of his short life,

he'll bring such joy that I'm delighted to have him on board.

Oh, doesn't want to leave. Off you go.

Off you go.

OK, stay on board.

Australia is a fascinating place for any naturalist.

It's a land full of astonishing creatures.

From kangaroos,

to echidnas,

to the duck-billed platypus.

It really is a place like no other on earth.

However, many of these remarkable animals are also amongst

the most threatened on the planet.

So people here have had to come up with some extraordinary ways

to protect them.

And there is one story that particularly interests me -

that of the quoll.

They're just a fantastic animal. Look at that. Very cute.

Want a few more?

There you go.

As you'd expect, the northern quoll can be found

in the Northern Territories of Australia.

It looks rather mouse-like, but during breeding, it develops

a small pouch for its young, and it is, in fact, a marsupial.

And this marsupial is a meat-eater.

But that fact could be its downfall.

In recent years, it's been bumping into a new kid on the block -

the cane toad.

The cane toad is originally from South America,

but since being introduced to Australia,

it's been devastating the wildlife across that continent.

It's a classic case of an invasive species.

The problem for the hungry quoll is that this toad is also poisonous.

The glands on its back release a lethal venom.

The cane toad population has spread so quickly across Australia

that the unsuspecting quolls have been poisoned in their thousands.

Here, at Territory Wildlife Park near Darwin, quolls are brought

to live in captivity as a safeguard against extinction.

An animal behaviour expert, Jonathan Webb,

has a radical idea to teach these quolls that cane toads

are off the menu, and stop them eating themselves to extinction.

When I came up with this idea, people said,

"You're crazy, it's never going to work.

"You can't train quolls to avoid eating cane toads."

So to prove their point, they set up an anti-cane toad boot camp.

At the centre of this unconventional aversion therapy is a new recipe.

Cane toad sausages.

First, they cut up dead cane toads and skin the legs.

The poisonous parts of the toad are discarded.

Then, a sickness-inducing drug is mixed with a juicy piece

of cane toad meat and stuffed into the toad's leg skin,

before being tied to create a sausage.

Jonathan's theory is that when the quolls eat these cane toad sausages,

they will feel mildly sick from the odourless, flavourless drug.

He hopes that they will now associate that sick feeling

with the taste of cane toads, and will avoid live toads in the future.

The bowls are placed in the quoll enclosures,

and as night falls, the quolls are out, looking for food.

Next morning, the bowls are all empty,

and the quolls are feeling the effect of that

chemical in the sausages, and are looking rather sorry for themselves.

But the sick feeling only last a few hours,

and soon the quolls are back on form, catching crickets.

It's time for a second helping of the specially-prepared

toad sausages.

Jonathan will be preparing for a rather different result

when he checks the quoll's bowls in the morning.

We've got six animals to check today.

They've all eaten the bait once and become ill,

and we've offered them the bait the second time,

and we're hoping that they'll all have rejected the toad bait.

Oh, excellent. It hasn't been touched. Fantastic.

I'd say that one's toad-trained.

She hasn't touched this one.

Excellent. Hasn't been touched.

But it's not all good news,

as some of the quolls would appear to have flunked the test.

Ah!

Well, this one's taken the bait, which is disappointing.

So this little fellow will have to resit.

More cane toad sausages for him.

But for the graduates of Jonathan's programme,

it's back to life in the wild at nearby Kakadu National Park.

This area has been invaded by cane toads,

but with their new training,

these quolls should stand a fighting chance.

Then it's time to check the traps they left the day before.

Hey, we've got a quoll!

In this cane toad-infested area,

it's always encouraging to find a live quoll.

It's often an animal they've already trained.

But this time, when they scan to see if the quoll has been

previously micro-chipped, the news is particularly welcome.

Wow, that's fantastic.

So this is the daughter of one of the females that we

reintroduced to the site in February 2010.

This important development means that this quoll

has most likely been brought up by its mother to avoid cane toads.

Fantastic.

For Jonathan,

it means that he only needs to train one generation of quolls

and the quolls will pass down the knowledge to their offspring.

It's just one of those Eureka moments, where you think,

"Wow, this technique could actually help save this species."

It's a remarkable example of ingenuity and innovation saving

a species, and that's why I'll welcome the quoll aboard my ark.

I very much doubt you'll be able to guess my final selection.

It can be found at the bottom of the sea.

The ocean depths are full of rare, beautiful and often bizarre animals.

Many we know very little about,

and there must be thousands awaiting discovery.

The creature I'm interested in clings to the ocean floor.

They may look like plants,

but sponges are one of the simplest of all living animals.

Yet in their own way, they're amazing.

They can be put through a mincer, reduced to a mush of cells,

yet still reorganise themselves and reform into a sponge.

There is one small but very special family of sponges

known as the glass sponges.

Like these.

This particular species is called Venus' Flower Basket.

And they're called glass sponges because they strengthen their body

with microscopic needles of silica, the same substance that makes glass.

Their needles join together in three,

so they have six-pointed stars,

and these tiny little elements are then deposited by the sponge

to form this extraordinarily complex, beautiful structure.

This complex glass structure is a marvel of design.

The same kind of construction is used to build skyscrapers.

But what is amazing is that the sponge grows its lattice, and

doesn't require the kind of red-hot furnace that human glassmakers need.

The Venus' Flower Basket can be found

at great depths of up to 1,000 metres.

Down there, you need a special submarine,

because the water pressure is so great.

Only creatures that have adapted to this extreme environment

can survive down here.

The Venus' Flower Basket feeds on the tiny particles

of organic matter that fall from the more habitable water above.

It creates a current to draw water in the bottom,

and after absorbing what it needs, it expels the waste at the top.

How such a simple creature as this could have

constructed as complex a skeleton as that, no-one can say.

But for me, these are some of the most beautiful

and some of the most remarkable living organisms,

and I'll be delighted to have one on my ark.

So, there we have it. My ark is full.

There is such a huge variety of life on Earth that I could have chosen

any one of thousands of different species.

But these few give a glimpse of the astounding diversity of nature.

Wow! So this is a pregnant male.

Their stories also show us some of the dedicated people,

trying to protect these animals.

This is a living fossil.

The innovative techniques that researchers have devised.

I'd say that one's toad-trained.

The extreme lengths that conservationists will go to

in the struggle to save a species.

And ultimately, the reward such painstaking work can bring.

Wow! This is fantastic and wonderful.

Those are some of the animals that intrigue and fascinate me.

And I won't forget Venus' Flower Basket either, as a reminder

of how much we still have to learn about the natural world.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd