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'20 years ago, my good friend Douglas Adams spent a year tracking

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'down endangered animals, together with the zoologist Mark Carwardine.

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'Now, it's my turn.

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'Mark and I are heading off to find out exactly what happened to those species that he'd seen

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'dangling on the edge of extinction two decades ago.

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'It promises to be exhausting...

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'Exhilarating...' Unbelievable.

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'Exasperating...

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'But I wouldn't miss it for the world.'

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You seem to have brought me to some kind of paradise, Mark.

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Isn't it wonderful? There's clear water, there's beautiful white sand.

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What are we after? I thought you wouldn't complain.

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Our main objective is to get to Komodo and look for the Komodo

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dragon, which is one of the most impressive animals on the planet.

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The biggest lizard in the world,

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very dangerous and endangered, so that's what we're aiming for.

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But rather than go straight there, which I thought would be too easy,

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I thought we'd go and explore a bit of the Malay Archipelago and look

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at some of the other reptiles and the other wildlife along the way.

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We're actually heading for Snake Island.

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"Snake Island"?

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Right. Welcome to Snake Island, Mr Bond.

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Yeah, that's a worrying title,

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and what sort of snakes do we find there?

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This is home to an animal called the yellow-lipped sea krait,

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which is a kind of sea snake.

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It spends half its life in the water and half its life on shore.

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It actually comes out onto the shore to rest and to lay eggs.

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Are they venomous? I thought you'd ask that!

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It's actually the second most venomous snake in the world.

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10 times more venomous than a rattle snake,

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more venomous than a king cobra.

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I've got open-toe sandals on.

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I forgot to mention that, yeah, you should have worn...

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Great(!) No, I'm kidding, they're fine.

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The sea kraits are just one of the many creatures that thrive in the marginal world that

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exists between sea and land which is so widespread throughout the islands

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that make up Malaysia and Indonesia.

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Oh, did you see?

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Oh, there's a little lizard.

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Quite a big lizard.

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What kind? That was a water monitor.

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Water monitor, that sounds like a job at school.

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It does, actually. Today, you'll be water monitor.

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That was quite big. It's a slightly weaker version of a milk monitor.

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Oh, careful, careful. Oh, my God!

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Oh, my... That's a sea snake?

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Look at that, that's a good size one, isn't it?

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Yep. You're not going to handle it?

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Oh, my God, you are.

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Careful.

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Oh, my goodness!

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You are very brave!

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Mark told me this is possibly the second most venomous snake in the world. Yep.

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God, look at that. Gorgeous markings. I was just going to say.

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Because it's also called the banded sea krait, you can see why -

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all those dark bands across the body.

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What's amazing about it is that it spends most of its time out at sea, out in the ocean.

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It can dive and hold its breath for up to 2 hours.

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Yes. Good Lord. They'll come on land for mating also.

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And lays the eggs. Is this a female, this one?

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Yeah. Normally the female is bigger than the male. Right.

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OK, so I'm going to release it.

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We should release it. Where are we going to do that?

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Just going to release it here.

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Back to the same spot we found it.

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It is a big one, isn't it? Beautiful.

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It's a good four feet.

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I didn't think snakes had feet! Hmm?

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Nothing, I didn't speak. Je despair!

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'On our journey through the archipelago, we'll be

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'discovering more fascinating species

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'who've adapted to this marine and terrestrial existence, but whose

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'habitat is under increasing threat from human activity.'

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From Snake Island, off the coast of Sabah in north east Borneo,

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we'll be travelling south east, to the islands around Flores

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in Indonesia, where that mighty, ugly, salivating giant lizard known as the Komodo

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dragon awaits our arrival with its foul and stinky breath.

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After the fleeting glimpse of the water monitor, Mark is keen to show

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me more of these reptiles who so closely resemble the Komodos.

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They are much smaller than the dragons and, unlike the Komodos,

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extremely successful, having colonised practically every island

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of the archipelago.

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Got to take pictures of it.

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Extraordinary, they're obviously flesh eating - they seem to be tearing at something.

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They eat absolutely anything, from small insects to small deer.

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They'll eat one another, they eat human faeces, they eat

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dead bodies, they eat absolutely anything - amazing animals.

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Look at that tongue smelling.

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Is that what it does? It's a blue tongue. Just like a snake, yeah.

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This is exactly how I was picturing a Komodo dragon to look, but...

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It's hard to believe, but these are tiddlers compared to the dragons

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I'm hoping we're going to see.

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Hello! Smaller guys have to watch out, cos they'll get eaten by some of the bigger adults.

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Good gracious. Are they aggressive?

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No, you'll be fine.

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And they're being hunted.

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Big numbers, hundred of thousands of them, are killed for their skin.

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And the skin is imported to Europe and Japan

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and the States to make handbags.

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So many of them are being killed, they're obviously at risk.

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It's very humid.

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And there is something bubbling.

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Wow, that looks fantastic!

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'The whole of this region is on a major fault line,

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'and has the most active volcanoes anywhere in the world.

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'Eruptions are frequent,

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'albeit rarely as violent as the infamous Krakatoa,

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'but even on this small island,

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'there are some ominous evidences of all that subterranean activity.'

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I'm going to take off my clothes. You devil.

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I'm going to go butt naked... but with trunks.

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Oh, my God,

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it's weird, look at that.

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Oh, it is warm. Oh!

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That's fantastic.

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You actually can't get down.

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You can feel it sort of pulling all around you, that's so amazing!

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Oh, it's great. You also feel slightly like

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one of those Pompeii figures, caught in an attitude of...

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Here comes the volcano. Actually, it's like being weightless.

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Like being an astronaut. Can you swim?

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No, if I do a one-legged side...

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Oh, I feel very slippery.

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My goodness, they pull your trunks down...

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This weight of mud.

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'Muddy, but oh-so-thoroughly cleansed after our ad-hoc spa treatment,

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'we head to the beach.

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'But at the liminal zone between the sea and land,

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'we find a curious species which has cunningly adapted to this habitat.'

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Look, more mud.

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Little creatures on it. Look at these, these are mudskippers -

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they're fish, can you believe? What?! They actually come out of the water,

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and they've got fins like other fish, but they use their tails.

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They curl their tails around and use them like springs and then leap.

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Why? Is it food up here, or mating, or what do they do?

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They spend most of their time out of the water, actually.

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They breed in the water, they have little tunnels they make

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out of mud that are underwater, and they do all of their social

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activities on the mud. So in the breeding season, the males

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will suddenly leap up in the air and do back flips and try and impress the

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females, and if the female likes the look of the male, he'll then

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get her into his little tunnel

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and she'll lay eggs and he'll fertilise the eggs.

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So would it be fanciful to regard these as a sort of missing link -

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is this how the first land animals moved from the sea

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to the land and became reptiles?

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Well, it's interesting to look at them and learn bit about how it might have happened.

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They're not actually related any more than any other fish to the original animals that came out.

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That happened 365 million years ago when fish started walking on land,

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and these are doing the same thing.

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So they're interesting from that point of view. Look at that one.

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Did you see that one leap?

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Fantastic. We should get into the water and wash off.

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I think, frankly, let's... there's the sea.

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'It's hard to exaggerate the devastation that man has wrought

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'on these seemingly pristine beaches

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'and the wildlife that depend on them.

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'One particular family of reptiles has suffered more than most -

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'the sea turtles.

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'For millions of years all over South East Asia,

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'vast numbers of turtles

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'came ashore on beaches like these to lay their eggs... But no more.

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'Most of the beaches are now empty.'

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'However, a few hundred miles to the east, on Pulau Selingan,

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'evidence of the turtles' nests pock mark the beach.

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'Remarkably, 20 years after being born here,

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'the female turtles return to exactly the same beach,

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'to lay their eggs.'

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The eggs are down there somewhere, and they're probably a good

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half a metre to 80cm underneath your feet.

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'Dr Nick Pilcher has spent his career studying the turtles around these shores

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'and has been actively involved, alongside Sabah National Parks,

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'with a major conservation program here.

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'Egg poaching, hunting for their meat and shells and

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'drowning in fishing nets has led to a dramatic collapse in their numbers

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'in spite of their protected status.

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'To increase the remaining hatchlings' survival rate,

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'which at best is less than 1% in the wild,

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'Nick and the park rangers patrol the beaches

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'and collect the eggs to put into a hatchery.

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'Every night in the nesting season, up to a score of turtles

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will come ashore here to lay between 70 and 120 eggs each.'

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Oh, look, you can see them, they just come one after the other!

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They look like table tennis balls, don't they?

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Oh, look, there they are...

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Actually the ranger has to get the rest of the eggs out of this nest,

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there he comes.

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It's extraordinary, isn't it?

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It's another example of how the act of conservation

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is almost exactly the same as the act of poaching.

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That what we're doing here for good

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used to be done by people to take the eggs to steal them for food. Absolutely.

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Do you want to try and reach in and grab some?

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So what do I do, just lean?

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Just put one hand down behind her flipper there.

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Now you can reach in - try not to touch her tail.

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Oops, got one.

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Try and grab them all out before she finishes laying, so...

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There's another one there. It's hard.

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Can I feel it? Yeah, look at that.

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Oh, it's warm and heavy.

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What's interesting is that you can make a

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little dimple in it - it's a little bit flexible,

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and that gives it a little bit of play when it falls into the nest.

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I can't see anything through the light, I can't see a shape.

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You don't get any fresher than these.

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How many was that? 95 total.

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That's a good number. She's starting to cover it up.

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She thinks the eggs are still there, so

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she's going to cover this up just like it was any other nest.

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She's being extremely careful about how she puts her weight down.

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All the eggs are being kept in a sort of inner dome as it were,

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and then the looser sand will get...

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It is more sophisticated than just filling the hole.

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It is, she's building a whole shape around it.

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The other thing that's interesting is she's using her front flippers,

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throwing sand to backfill.

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Oh, we're getting showered in sand, straight in your face.

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Yes, it was. Extraordinary - there's a lot of power in those flippers.

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I'm gradually disappearing.

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There you go!

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Look at you.

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So when she starts heading towards the sea,

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is she going towards the sound of the sea or the lights?

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She's actually going to follow

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the slope of the beach, possibly somewhat the sound of the waves.

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She's going really quickly now.

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Look at the speed! She can smell it.

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She's so happy to be back.

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Well done, mother.

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Good job done. Well done.

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CLAPPING

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Some of the great scenes in nature - the power of maternity and the power

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of instinct and the fitness for purpose,

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all come together in the turtle - almost like no other animal.

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That fitness of purpose, hundreds of millions of years.

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Are there still lots of mysteries

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surrounding sea turtles, still a lot of unanswered questions?

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Absolutely. We know what happens to them when they go into the sea,

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we understand a lot about this magnetic orientation and...

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But how do they make it back?

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You stop and think about that and you go,

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"Well, who told them they should come back here?"

245
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:41,000
Sure, it's natural and there's a homing instinct...

246
00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,000
How is that homing instict derived, how do they even do it?

247
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:47,480
That was fantastic.

248
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,680
That was one of the great evenings of my life.

249
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:52,640
I get to do this on a daily basis!

250
00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,640
'The hatchery is half in shade, half in sun,

251
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,720
'as the slight temperature difference determines the sex

252
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:09,560
'of the animal. 2 degrees is all it takes to change a male to a female.

253
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,000
'If only our lives were that easy!'

254
00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,080
Actually, if the nest is quite warm, you'll get a greater number of females.

255
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,000
So have you got one that's due?

256
00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,240
Well, if we just wander up and down here

257
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,920
and just see what there is, there could be some.

258
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,960
This one looks... That one looks like it came out.

259
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Look - here you go. Look at this.

260
00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:29,680
Do they climb out...

261
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:31,920
There's one hatching.

262
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,560
They're just about to come out.

263
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:35,920
Here you go. Look at this.

264
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,040
Can I hold him? Yeah.

265
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,520
Oh, that's the most fantastic animal, isn't it?

266
00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:43,040
Literally just been born -

267
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,080
effectively, its first sight of the world, isn't it?

268
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:51,120
They're perfect. One of the things you'll find with these animals...

269
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,600
When they're walking down the beach

270
00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,080
and they can feel something underneath them,

271
00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,200
then they've got an alternating gait.

272
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,280
Just on land, to run along the sand.

273
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,240
But the minute they go weightless - so the minute they're in the water -

274
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,640
they'll start to swim. Oh, wow, that's fantastic.

275
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,560
So he's swimming along as if he was in the water, and notice also that

276
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,400
the head comes up for a breath, just like it would...

277
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,040
Look at that, see? The head is coming up for a breath

278
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:19,360
as if it were in the water.

279
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:23,560
Oh, there are more down there. Oh, they're all coming out now.

280
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,960
Once some of them start to move, that's the message for the ones

281
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,120
underneath - "C'mon, guys, let's come out and go and see the beach."

282
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,360
Swarm of them - does it say how many eggs?

283
00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,440
Well, there were 81 eggs. That's very healthy, extremely healthy.

284
00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,760
Let's get these guys out to the ocean rather than keep them waiting around.

285
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:43,440
Yes, please. This is excellent.

286
00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,720
Evening time, when hatchlings would typically be coming out.

287
00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,560
So they'd come out just before the sun drops down, would they? Yep.

288
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,160
I think this is a good enough spot to let them go.

289
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,080
The idea is, in nature they would actually come out and

290
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:02,920
run down the beach, and as they're running down, they're picking up on magnetic fields.

291
00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,880
So they need a bit of a run-in, just to orient themselves. To get their bearings.

292
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,840
Exactly. Once they go through here, they'll have a much better idea of where they're headed.

293
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:14,000
So that's why we release them up here.

294
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,200
And we can just gently release this.

295
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,760
How extraordinary. Here they go!

296
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,520
And notice one thing -

297
00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:25,360
they're headed straight towards the brightest spot.

298
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,040
They are - straight for the sun.

299
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:29,560
That is the most incredible sight. Fantastic.

300
00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:34,320
Look at them!

301
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,520
Look at him! They're desperate!

302
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,000
There's no hanging around, they're not nervous about it -

303
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:53,240
straight in the sea.

304
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:58,880
Notice as soon as they float, they change their swimming pattern.

305
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:00,960
Just like a clockwork toy.

306
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,600
Look, there's one last one up here - look, Stephen.

307
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,280
Oh, yes. Come on.

308
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:10,120
Come on, you.

309
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,160
Oh, no, the crab grabbed it as it went over the hole.

310
00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:19,760
Rescue it!

311
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:21,920
I know you're not supposed to intervene, but hey!

312
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,360
That's it, go for it. Good luck!

313
00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,040
Yeah!

314
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,800
Made for the water. Oh, that's fantastic.

315
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,360
I've never seen anything quite so magical in all my life.

316
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,200
That's one of the best wildlife things I've seen.

317
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:45,720
20-25 years from now,

318
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,520
hopefully she'll be back laying eggs if she's a girl.

319
00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:52,880
That was fantastic.

320
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:56,480
A great sight.

321
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:04,240
200 miles to the south on the border with Indonesia and the Philippines,

322
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:08,120
we are to get a chance to see the adult turtles in their natural habitat.

323
00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:09,960
See you in there.

324
00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,160
Mark tells me these are some of the best coral reefs in the world,

325
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,240
but their health is as much at risk as the turtles.

326
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,760
Dynamite and cyanide fishing, the pet trade and global warming

327
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,800
are such serious threats to the reefs and all that are dependent on them,

328
00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,360
it's feared they may be extinct within 50 years.

329
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,400
But it's hard to imagine that now, as I gaze in wonder at the grace

330
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,640
and beauty of the turtles in their weightless world.

331
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:33,800
Wow, that was amazing!

332
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,240
Extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it in all my life.

333
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,720
Two turtles I saw, at least.

334
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,000
So graceful and beautiful,

335
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,520
those easy strokes of those amazing flippers.

336
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:50,440
I was watching them go off over the abyss, they go over the edge of the reef out to the open ocean.

337
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,720
We're staying on the island of Mabul,

338
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,720
which is home to many different nationalities.

339
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,720
There are the Bugis, the sea gypsies that roam these waters,

340
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,160
Malays, Filipinos, Indonesians from various ethnic groups,

341
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:11,760
and all of them struggling to make a living on this crowded coral island.

342
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:15,640
Hello.

343
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:24,480
Sprite? Sprite.

344
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,080
Dua.

345
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:32,000
Terima Kasih.

346
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:34,960
Thank you. There you go.

347
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,400
'For these islanders, shark fishing is a major resource,

348
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,280
'but one which itself is threatened with extinction.'

349
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,160
I don't know what species of shark it is - good size one.

350
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,320
Look at all the rows of teeth.

351
00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,440
Oh, my goodness...

352
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,320
One, two, three, four, five, six...

353
00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:59,000
You can't even count, they go right down... There's at least eight.

354
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:03,680
It's a conveyor belt, so these front teeth are in use and as they break

355
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:08,040
off, which they do often, literally, the next one just pops up like that,

356
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,120
and that works, and then there's another one ready to go,

357
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,160
and there are others developing further back so they never run out of teeth.

358
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,360
Extraordinary. Presumably it was killed for shark fin soup,

359
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,000
is that one of the big problems?

360
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,640
That's the big threat. Sharks the world over are being killed by the million.

361
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:29,120
They reckon 150 million sharks are killed every year - every year -

362
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:30,840
just for shark fin soup.

363
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,600
Things like this are a by-product. Most of them just get caught and the

364
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,640
fins get cut off, and they get thrown overboard, often alive,

365
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,560
so most of the shark is wasted,

366
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,000
and in these cases they just take the jaws, which they sell to tourists.

367
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,280
And there are so many of them.

368
00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,120
'There are other endangered species nearby.

369
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:04,320
'In amongst the sea gypsy villages that flourish in these margins

370
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:08,560
of sea and land trots one of the most endearing animals of all.

371
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,400
Ouch. Good - that's the first stage complete, up to the knees.

372
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:20,280
The reason I'm wearing these today, which I didn't yesterday,

373
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,600
is cos I've got really bad - it's quite red here -

374
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,560
really bad sunburn from the snorkelling.

375
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,120
Just from lying, you know...

376
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,040
Weird. Stephen, are you coming?

377
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,440
Yes, sorry, just chatting to the ladies and gentlemen.

378
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,280
Ah... Oh, dear...

379
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:39,680
Hello.

380
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,720
It'll be dark soon.

381
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,840
Oi, less of it. Ouch. Oh, I see.

382
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,160
Oh, dear, excuse me. Ow!

383
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,640
For goodness' sake, it's impossible.

384
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,280
Yeah, exactly!

385
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,480
Ow! Have mercy on my poor flesh.

386
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:05,120
Say if it starts to hurt. Oh, yeah, that's usually what I mean by "ow"!

387
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,280
That was lovely, really good. We were lucky to see one,

388
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,640
cos they're so well camouflaged, aren't they? They really are,

389
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,960
especially when they stretch themselves out - they become like a caterpillar.

390
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,120
They do. I always think they look like bits of other animals.

391
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:41,560
They've got a monkey's tail, that prehensile tail that wraps around the... Grasps the end of the blade.

392
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,600
Then they've got a horses head, obviously, and chameleon eyes,

393
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,560
cos the eyes can... Swivel. In different directions.

394
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,160
Then the most amazing thing is they've got like a kangaroo pouch.

395
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,960
The males have got what's called a brood pouch

396
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,560
and they are the ones that get pregnant. It's very unusual -

397
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,400
the male gives birth to the young and... To live young?

398
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:07,080
Yeah, it's an extremely unusual way of reproducing.

399
00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:08,880
So are seahorses in danger?

400
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:14,240
Yeah, of course, there's all sorts of threats. The main threat is traditional medicine in China.

401
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,560
They get dried and ground up and

402
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:22,240
used as everything for medicine, from asthma to an aphrodisiac.

403
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:30,400
Thank you.

404
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,520
These little spratty things.

405
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:41,440
'In the markets of the archipelago,

406
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,160
'it's hard to persuade artisanal fishermen to limit what they catch.

407
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,480
'Such a seeming abundance and diversity of sea life to be eaten,

408
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,680
'or sold to the Chinese, belies the problem -

409
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,840
'a real threat to a whole range of vulnerable species.'

410
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:02,480
There's some sharks there. Oh, yeah. That's sad, that's the fin gone.

411
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,640
And they sell the rest of it, but the fin is the valuable part?

412
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:09,240
That's right, the fin is what goes to make shark fin soup.

413
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,800
A very young one. That's the trouble these days - most of the sharks being

414
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,520
brought up are small, which is a sign that the big ones are already gone.

415
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,280
Yeah.

416
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,080
A sleepy time of the afternoon, isn't it?

417
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,600
'The trade in shark fins, seahorses and other unappetising sea creatures

418
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:40,320
'is thriving, in spite of the evidence that they're fast disappearing.'

419
00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:45,720
Goodness me. What an extraordinary collection of stuff. Oh, are those...

420
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,720
Those are sea cucumbers, which they use in a soup.

421
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:54,160
Literally, millions of sea cucumbers are collected from the wild around the world.

422
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,920
They look like sort of ossified turds, to be honest.

423
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:02,000
Shark fins, they're all dried, ready to go. Look, there's sea horses.

424
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,640
Goodness. Look at that.

425
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,480
They're perfectly dried.

426
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,800
What they do with these is they put them in a cooking pot and boil

427
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:15,520
them in water for 3-4 hours and then they drink the water.

428
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:21,880
Very, very popular, and millions of sea horses are traded around the world just for that.

429
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,760
That's a tonic, but there are several dozen different

430
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,600
animal products that are being traded for Chinese medicine.

431
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:33,160
Things like tiger penises, rhino horns and it's such a huge volume.

432
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,120
When you think of 1.5 billion people

433
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,400
believing in this kind of medicine, demanding the products.

434
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:43,000
One of the key goals for conservation in years

435
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,160
to come is to educate people in the far east not to buy these products.

436
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:48,920
If you can get rid of that demand

437
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,040
then you'll start to solve the problem on the ground.

438
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,440
And it's not only the sea creatures that are under threat

439
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,560
from the demands of Chinese traditional medicine.

440
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,840
The pangolin, or scaly anteater,

441
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,800
that lives in the forests of South East Asia

442
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,920
is highly sought after for its reputed health giving properties.

443
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,040
Many are caught, but this one is lucky.

444
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,960
It's going to be released by a park ranger into a protected reserve.

445
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:30,840
Can we just chat about it a little bit?

446
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:35,240
I know a little cos funnily enough, we did the pangolin on QI.

447
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:36,920
It's a mammal, isn't it?

448
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,640
People often think, "Gosh, that must be a reptile,"

449
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,920
cos I think it's the only mammal covered in scales, isn't it?

450
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:44,520
Large scales.

451
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,760
These are made out of keratin like our fingernails, like rhino horns.

452
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,600
People call them sometimes walking pine cones,

453
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,560
which I think is a great description. That's very good.

454
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,760
And unfortunately, it's rather delicious flesh, isn't it?

455
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,400
Isn't there an issue with them being stolen from the wild for

456
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,280
the plates of Chinese restaurants and other places around the world?

457
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:11,240
Yes, one of the delicacies. And they're expensive and highly rated.

458
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:17,400
People drink the blood as well, and they reckon these keratin scales are good

459
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:22,080
for things like blood circulation and swellings, and then they boil them to

460
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,280
get the scales off and eat the meat.

461
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,400
He's taken his whole face out of his...

462
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,840
Isn't that fantastic?

463
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:33,040
And how endangered is the pangolin? Vulnerable?

464
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,600
Well, they are a protected species. They are a protected species.

465
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:38,200
Well, we should let him go.

466
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,400
What are you going to do, just put him on the ground?

467
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,160
Just put him on the ground here and then we will...

468
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,840
I think he's going to make a dash for it, wouldn't blame him.

469
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:49,720
Can't believe his luck.

470
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,320
OK, he's just smelling...

471
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,400
Oh, he's going the wrong way now.

472
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:58,440
There he goes.

473
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:01,200
There he goes!

474
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,080
They find it hard to walk because of those big claws - of course they have

475
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,840
to walk with the claws curled... Oh, look at that.

476
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,920
That's where the claws come in handy as well. Oops.

477
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,520
Reasonably in handy!

478
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:17,200
That's better.

479
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,480
Got the hang of it now. That's fantastic.

480
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,120
Splendid.

481
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:24,880
Well done.

482
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,160
Well, that was a great success.

483
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:28,680
Yeah.

484
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,160
The pangolin faces an even greater threat than poaching.

485
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:41,520
Like so many other animals here, it's fast losing its habitat.

486
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:46,600
The main cause - the dramatic increase in palm oil plantations.

487
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,560
Rows and rows and rows of these palm trees.

488
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:56,040
I know. It's scary, isn't it? It's literally as far as the eye can see.

489
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:57,760
Look, over that hill and beyond.

490
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,680
And these are all over South East Asia, aren't they?

491
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,160
Yes, it's one of the big conservation issues in the world,

492
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:05,920
let alone just in South East Asia,

493
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,560
because what's happening is vast areas of tropical rainforests are

494
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:15,040
being cleared and replaced with palm oil plantations like this.

495
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:20,480
And we in Europe are partly to blame because we're among the consumers.

496
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:22,040
Is it a foodstuff oil?

497
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:28,360
Yeah, the palm oil is used in foodstuffs, food processing, and also in cosmetics.

498
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:34,400
And the latest thing, which is very ironic, is in bio fuels - environmentally friendly fuels.

499
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:36,520
So-called environmentally friendly.

500
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,960
Well, of course, the fuel itself is environmentally friendly,

501
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,080
but the production not only destroys the rainforest,

502
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,560
which destroys all the wildlife and so on,

503
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:50,280
it also, by destroying the rainforest, releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

504
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,880
than you save by using the bio fuels, so it's a bad thing all round.

505
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:59,160
Most of the wildlife in the forest that would have been here has gone.

506
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:09,640
'Palm oil has caused the destruction of much of Borneo's rainforest,

507
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,240
'but it's also the mangroves,

508
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,760
'those amazing trees that spend half their life in the sea,

509
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,960
'that are equally at risk, along with the species they nurture.

510
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:23,600
'One of the most endangered is also one of the most ridiculous looking -

511
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,320
'the aptly-named proboscis monkey.

512
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,920
'In Labuk Bay, a small area of 400 acres has been saved

513
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,800
'from the encroaching palm oil plantation

514
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:38,000
'by its owner Ambrose, who is dedicated to preserving

515
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,240
'the unique wildlife of these tidal swamp lands.'

516
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,880
What happens when we are here, looking at the monkeys all around,

517
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,680
we feel that it's unfair to destroy their habitat. No, quite.

518
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,080
I mean, sometimes we're thinking about this,

519
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,040
studying all the pros and cons - in the end, we have to protect them.

520
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,480
So it's one little island though, with all around is palm,

521
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,960
palm, palm, and this one part - because you have it, it's private land.

522
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,080
Yes. So you can do what you like with it. Yes, it's all private property.

523
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,040
Right. And you've turned it into a sanctuary for all, I mean, not just

524
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:15,280
the monkeys, the proboscis and the...

525
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,920
Yes, and also we also want to protect the mangrove.

526
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,640
Knowing well that we need to help the mangrove.

527
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,320
And from this sanctuary, I think we are the leaders,

528
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,600
we make the first move, you see?

529
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,720
So hopefully the rest of all these big players

530
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,800
in the plantation also follow suit.

531
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:41,160
Seeing them in profile there, you know the Indonesians used to call

532
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,920
them "Dutch monkeys" because that was a bit of a dig at the Dutch settlers

533
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:49,240
because of their big pot bellies, and of course, their big red noses.

534
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,520
You can see it, can't you?

535
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,840
You can. Also, there's something about the noise they make...

536
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,920
Reminds me of lunchtime at the Garrick Club.

537
00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:04,720
"Oh, they've given him a peerage, what has he ever done? Ridiculous!"

538
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,560
"Oh, I see from my paper that you're dead."

539
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,080
"Urgh, argh."

540
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,920
It's rather nice in this world,

541
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,840
where most tropical fruit is available in the local British supermarket,

542
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:29,480
to see things that aren't,

543
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,480
and this is something I've long wanted to try.

544
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,840
This is the famous durian fruit, isn't it?

545
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,920
I know, the smelly fruit that lots of airlines have banned.

546
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:42,440
Yes, you're not allowed to have it in Singapore in public transport,

547
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:46,520
and in hotels there are signs with cigarettes crossed out

548
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,560
and durian fruit crossed out.

549
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,080
Shall we get one, try one?

550
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:51,600
I think so.

551
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,400
Oh, it's like an embryo. Hideous. Feels disgusting.

552
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:01,400
Oh, it's so unctuous and slippery.

553
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,520
Are you ready? Argh!

554
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,680
I wish I could describe to you how disgusting that smells.

555
00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:13,280
It's hot from Satan's anal ring.

556
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,040
Not quite that bad!

557
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,000
You know, do you?!

558
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,800
Tastes delicious, really sweet and...

559
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:29,320
Not bad at all. As you say, the texture is not appealing particularly.

560
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,120
But... oops. The taste is lovely.

561
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,680
I'll have another piece. Mmm.

562
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:40,680
Terima Kasih.

563
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:50,640
As there are no direct flights from Borneo to our next destination,

564
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:54,360
the Komodo islands, we need to do a spot of island hopping.

565
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,560
Our first waypoint is the island of Bali.

566
00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:05,800
Unlike neighbouring Borneo, Bali destroyed its rainforests

567
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:10,240
centuries ago, when the Hindus settled on this small island

568
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:11,880
to escape the advance of Islam.

569
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,240
Every available piece of land was harnessed to feed the growing

570
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,000
population, to the detriment of the forest fauna and flora.

571
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,000
The Balinese have remained resolutely Hindu

572
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,840
in spite of the overwhelming dominance of Islam amongst

573
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:30,160
Indonesia's 230 million people.

574
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,600
The mix of local deities, animism and Hindu mythology

575
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,880
has created a dynamic ritual life

576
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,720
for the Balinese that is seen everywhere on the island.

577
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,240
Though there is great respect for nature,

578
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:48,800
ironically, animal, and specifically turtle sacrifices, have been a major ingredient in the ceremonies.

579
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,400
You can see everywhere in Bali how important Hinduism is, with all the offerings.

580
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:59,320
Everywhere you walk there are little offerings to different deities.

581
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:05,640
It shows just how hard it is to change traditions like sacrificing sea turtles.

582
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,520
It's been happening for time immemorial,

583
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,960
and to actually make that change involves a lot of effort.

584
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,800
So instead of sacrificing turtles, what do they do?

585
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,880
Well, some places are now using drawings or paintings of turtles.

586
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:20,880
Mock turtles?

587
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:23,200
Yes! Why didn't I see that coming?

588
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,520
No, they're using things like drawings and paintings and

589
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:32,920
rice cakes in the shape of turtles - anything that represents a turtle.

590
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,720
Well, in a lot of religions, their history is a move from

591
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,760
the actual to the symbolic, isn't it? Of course, yeah.

592
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,680
MEN SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

593
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:57,320
'The evening entertainment in the temple grounds is the traditional

594
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,720
'shadow play, with a plot involving gods, demons, and fallible humans,

595
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,280
'as well as a fleeting glimpse of of a Komodo dragon.'

596
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,000
'I wish we could have stayed longer,

597
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:18,280
'but our destiny lies to the east, where the real dragons await us.

598
00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:31,720
Labuan Bajo is the main port on the island of Flores,

599
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,600
and where we'll find our boat to the islands where the dragons live.

600
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:41,680
In the 20 years since Mark and Douglas came here, the five islands that make up the main Komodo habitat

601
00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:43,200
have become a National Park,

602
00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,160
and a popular destination for the intrepid traveller.

603
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:50,200
It's a rather nice town. Has it changed much since you were here with Douglas?

604
00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:53,440
Oh, God, yes, so different - can't believe it's the same place.

605
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,000
But the islands are marvellous to see, aren't they?

606
00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:00,520
They've got that South East Asian sort of humpiness that's just very characteristic.

607
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,840
They're different from islands anywhere in the world.

608
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:04,680
That one there is just fantastic.

609
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:09,360
Mark... "Man killed by Komodo dragons."

610
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:11,200
I'm not making it up - look.

611
00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:14,560
My goodness! "Two Komodo dragons mauled a fruit picker to death

612
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:18,160
"in eastern Indonesia," police and witnesses said, yesterday.

613
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:23,360
"The latest in a string of attack on humans by the world's largest lizard species."!

614
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,720
That's not good. Well, they are incredibly dangerous animals.

615
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:31,600
I think the most scary thing is they have this amazing saliva, the saliva is dripping from

616
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,560
their mouths they have so much of it, it's like a witch's brew of bacteria.

617
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:40,320
And what they do is, they don't like tackling the big animals and actually bringing

618
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,360
them down, so they'll lie in ambush, and they'll leap out and bite a water

619
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,320
buffalo, or a deer, or a horse or some huge prey animal,

620
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,400
and then just wait for it to gradually lose strength

621
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:53,520
and get weaker and weaker or die,

622
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,840
and then it'll go and - maybe a week later - will go in for the kill.

623
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,800
That's the creepiest way for an animal to earn a living that I've ever heard of!

624
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:05,600
That's revolting - that's lower than a dung beetle.

625
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,360
It's lower than an estate agent or a banker!

626
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,440
How creepy is that?

627
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:19,120
'We hear that one of the Komodo park rangers, a man called Pak Main, was

628
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,920
'attacked last month while sitting

629
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:25,200
'at his desk in the rangers' office on the island of Rinca.

630
00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:27,800
'He's still recuperating at home.'

631
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:32,400
I hear you had a fight with a Komodo dragon - what happened?

632
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,600
The dragon bit my foot, the left.

633
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:40,120
After a bite here, still in my foot his mouth,

634
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:46,480
so I had to step and take the right of my foot put in the body.

635
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,520
To stamp on him, yes. I would like to make a break

636
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:58,080
of the leg of the dragon, but he more strong and I cannot

637
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,360
hold him. So the dragon, throw down on the floor,

638
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,720
try to bite anotheron the hand.

639
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:09,200
Oh, my goodness. You have many more scars here and your hand is swollen.

640
00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:12,360
And then I make like this.

641
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,280
I'm calling my friend.

642
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,600
Right, so you're shouting with blood coming out of you.

643
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:19,320
Help me, help me.

644
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:23,200
Well, this is a warning to us to be careful. Yes.

645
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,280
We're off! Yes, this is what we've come here for.

646
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:47,320
'The wind is fair and all is shipshape aboard the good ship Felicia,

647
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:53,200
'as we set sail for our encounter with the decidedly deadly dragons.'

648
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,640
'Our first stop will be at Rinca, the second largest of the islands

649
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:16,920
'within the Komodo National Park,

650
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,680
'which in 1991 was designated a World Heritage Site.

651
00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:25,880
'The result is that not only are the dragons protected, but so crucially,

652
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,000
'are the animals they feed on.'

653
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,160
We seem to be approaching land.

654
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:36,360
Yeah, so this is Rinca.

655
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:40,360
Rinca. Seems quite a bare sort of landscape.

656
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,160
Rather Welsh or Scottish almost -

657
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,120
not many trees, and scrubby grass and rocky outcrops.

658
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:49,000
What sort of animals and things does the Komodo dragon live on?

659
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,440
Here, they're living on animals introduced by people, actually,

660
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:59,480
the big things like water buffalo, horses, pigs, deer... big things.

661
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:05,240
For the past six years,

662
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:09,000
zoologist Pak Deni has been studying the dragons,

663
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:10,720
monitoring their movements,

664
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,280
and examining their mating and hunting habits.

665
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,040
The most recent research indicates that the dragons are

666
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:19,920
in fact highly venomous, so it now seems it's not just the toxic brew

667
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,000
of bacteria in their saliva,

668
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,280
but also the anti-coagulants in their venom

669
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,280
which disable their prey.

670
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:31,160
So this makes them the largest venomous animal in the world.

671
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,480
And I'm about to meet them. Great(!)

672
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:35,120
Oh, my goodness!

673
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,080
Look at this. It's not, is it?

674
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:45,160
They're huge! That's a really big one, isn't it?

675
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:46,680
My goodness me.

676
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:48,400
How big would you say that is?

677
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:52,520
This one, probably 80kg.

678
00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:57,840
Are they aggressive to you? They keep an eye on us. We have to be careful.

679
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:01,560
But this is where you live - the rangers live here.

680
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,880
And this is the office where - we were talking to Main yesterday -

681
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:06,520
that's where he was attacked.

682
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:11,720
Yes, there's still blood remaining on the windows. Oh, dear!

683
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:13,560
And they can climb up these steps?

684
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:19,160
Of course, that's why we have to be careful. God, I thought I was ugly.

685
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:21,920
They really are not the most attractive animals,

686
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,800
there's nothing about them that endears us as mammals

687
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:28,920
to them, but I daresay they love each other in their own way.

688
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:38,280
They're so well armed - you've got those amazing claws,

689
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,000
like tiger talons, and a really powerful tail they can

690
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:46,520
knock an animal as big as a horse and a water buffalo over with,

691
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,520
and the shark-like teeth.

692
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:51,880
He's nuzzling.

693
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:54,560
We could get some gay action going on.

694
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:58,560
How long have you studied and worked with Komodo dragons? Since 2002.

695
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:04,160
Do you - this is a strange question - do you like them?

696
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:09,520
The first time, I have to be honest, it is a dangerous species and I have

697
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:13,560
to be careful and I was a little bit worried, but after one year,

698
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:16,080
two years, I try to love my job.

699
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:18,360
And do you now? Yes.

700
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:22,320
You do. This is the only dragons

701
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:25,800
that live in Indonesia which is my country.

702
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:29,440
I'm proud of it and it's kind of my pride.

703
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:33,280
You see all the folds of skin, that's what fascinates me.

704
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:35,800
That's partly so they can expand when they eat,

705
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:37,920
cos they eat huge amounts, don't they?

706
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,960
In one sitting they can eat almost sort of 80% of their

707
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,040
own weight in one sitting.

708
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:47,960
They get really big, obviously, so all those extra bits of skin

709
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,680
will stretch out like a big bag. Do they use the tongue to smell?

710
00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:55,600
Yeah, it's an incredibly clever system cos it's the forked tongue

711
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,280
and they can tell which direction the smell is coming from. In stereo!

712
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:02,600
It is, smell in stereo. Left channel, right channel - brilliant.

713
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:04,160
It's so powerful they reckon...

714
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:08,800
I don't know what the latest theory is, but many kilometres away. More than 4km.

715
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,400
They are as ugly as sin, but, like all animals,

716
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,520
I suppose they're very good at being themselves.

717
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:18,440
You've got to respect that Komodo dragonness of them,

718
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:19,960
it's so complete, isn't it?

719
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:24,160
When their tongues come out, you can see where the Chinese dragon myth came from,

720
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:28,120
cos the tongue is like fire coming out, and a couple of thousand

721
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:33,200
years ago there were Chinese traders stopping off here, and that's where the "here be dragons"

722
00:47:33,240 --> 00:47:37,800
was written on the maps, warning people in this area that these animals were here.

723
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:42,680
There's one there looking straight at me,

724
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:47,080
and it's one of the most malevolent expressions I've ever seen on any living thing.

725
00:47:58,240 --> 00:48:01,760
The dragons live cheek by jowl with the rangers, but they

726
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:06,720
also wander throughout the various villages or kampungs on the islands,

727
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,000
whose inhabitants now number some 4,000.

728
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:17,600
Be interesting to know what the villagers think of living as it were in the shadow of the dragon.

729
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:21,040
Wouldn't it? We need to try and find a head man, or mayor,

730
00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:25,600
I don't know what you'd call the person in charge of the village here.

731
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,840
The kampung commandant.

732
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:29,360
Do you think? Yeah.

733
00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:39,920
A local legend recounts how once upon a time,

734
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:42,560
the Komodo was a human's twin,

735
00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:46,120
which may explain something of their mutual tolerance.

736
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:48,840
Goodness me, lovely, aren't they?

737
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:51,680
But last year, on the largest kampung on Komodo,

738
00:48:51,720 --> 00:48:53,400
a child was eaten by a dragon,

739
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:59,760
so we want to find out how the villagers' attitude to these dangerous predators has changed.

740
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:07,120
Could you ask him if the villagers are always aware, always conscious

741
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:11,160
of the fact that they have these dangerous dragons close to them?

742
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:12,600
HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE

743
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:23,880
Before the kids died, it just live in harmony.

744
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:30,280
But right after the kids die one year ago, the peoples here a little

745
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:36,120
bit careful, they teach the little ones not enter the forest again.

746
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:40,160
And do they like the fact that tourists come to see the dragon,

747
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:43,720
is that a good thing, are they welcomed here?

748
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:45,240
HE SPEAKS NATIVE TONGUE

749
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:55,560
Oh, it's happy, they're happy with the tourists, they get incomes from the tourists.

750
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:58,720
'I detect a certain insouciance towards the dragons,

751
00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:02,080
'but maybe it's because there's simply no alternative.

752
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:06,560
'And maybe to them, killing the dragon would be tantamount to fratricide.

753
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:13,480
'We leave the village to sail to the far side of Rinca,

754
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:17,160
'where Deni has a research project to continue.

755
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:20,440
'As we pass the mangrove forests that adorn the islands like

756
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:27,320
'emerald necklaces, Mark is keen to show me how crucial they are to the health of the entire archipelago.'

757
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,880
Wow, isn't that incredible?!

758
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:06,560
Fantastic, isn't it? I mean,

759
00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:10,640
it sounds a silly thing to say,but this is trees growing in the sea!

760
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,280
I know, I always think of them as botanical amphibians.

761
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,520
They've sort of got one foot on the land and one foot in the sea -

762
00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:19,600
it's the most extraordinary habitat.

763
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:23,440
Aside from everything else it's just so beautiful, this kind of wonderful

764
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,920
bushy margin to the islands. Oh, I love it, it's great.

765
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:30,560
They're marvellous and they're multifunctional - are they in any way endangered?

766
00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:33,000
Of course, as most things are.

767
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:37,960
No, they are, there's coastal developments of all sorts from golf courses to hotels.

768
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:41,080
They're destroying mangroves and reclaiming the land.

769
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:44,280
Shrimp farming is one of the main threats, and the other problem is

770
00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:48,600
once you've destroyed a habitat, all the other wildlife goes and,

771
00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:51,520
you know, we've just seen not just the fish, there are

772
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:55,760
barnacles and oysters and crabs and there are snakes living in here and

773
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:57,880
all sort of birds, so they'd go as well.

774
00:51:57,920 --> 00:51:59,960
Snakes. Thanks for telling me!

775
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:09,040
As the fruit bats leave these floating forests,

776
00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:13,400
I marvel at the extraordinary and complex evolutionary forces

777
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:17,520
that have made these island habitats so utterly bewitching.

778
00:52:39,240 --> 00:52:43,480
Next morning, the Rinca dragons are blithely unaware of Deni

779
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:45,560
and the rangers' plan.

780
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,840
The idea is to trap some of the dragons and tag them with

781
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:53,000
a radio collar so their movements can be tracked over the islands.

782
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:55,920
By doing this, they will have for the first time an

783
00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,920
accurate census, which will be vital in monitoring their survival.

784
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:04,960
But snagging a drooling, venomous lizard is no easy matter...

785
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,480
Or is it?

786
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:21,200
So have we got one?

787
00:53:21,240 --> 00:53:23,480
We've got one, it's pretty big.

788
00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:27,120
Wow, that's a big trap. Oh, there he is.

789
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:30,240
Gosh, he's a big one. Good grief.

790
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:32,600
So what's the plan then, what do we do?

791
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:38,520
We will try to measure them, we will tie them up and then...

792
00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:44,200
So you kind of hog-tie them and then attach some device...

793
00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:46,080
A GPS device?

794
00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:48,440
Radio telemetry. Right, radio telemetry.

795
00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:50,400
Shall we try? You can try.

796
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:58,160
You can feel it, can't you?

797
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:03,160
It's being hog-tied. It's like a chicken when you...

798
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:10,160
Measurement's beginning now.

799
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,760
Head width 14.5.

800
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:21,520
Follow the line of the tail.

801
00:54:23,160 --> 00:54:27,360
Two and 2/3 metres - wow! What's the next stage?

802
00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:30,240
The next stage is to attach the transmitter.

803
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,840
We'll see, it's probably thick enough.

804
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:41,840
That's working.

805
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:44,520
So this is fine tune.

806
00:54:48,760 --> 00:54:53,600
OK, keep the leg like this, even though it's already released.

807
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,360
It's a tough animal.

808
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,120
And then we release them in the three count like that.

809
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:02,040
One, two, three and then everybody just go!

810
00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:03,560
Right, OK, ready.

811
00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:09,840
Wait a second, we've just got rope on the...

812
00:55:11,240 --> 00:55:15,040
Just undoing the tape around the... Just undoing the tape on the snout.

813
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:19,440
Got it. Unwind.

814
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,040
OK. I count one, two, three.

815
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:33,760
So we can start to track them.

816
00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:42,560
You don't really need the radio ID when you can see it, but nonetheless.

817
00:55:42,600 --> 00:55:46,160
No, we're checking it's working! No, I know, exactly.

818
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:48,080
RADIO BEEPS

819
00:55:48,120 --> 00:55:49,880
All good, yeah, great.

820
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:52,440
Well, he looks none the worse for wear, does he?

821
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:56,720
No, he's still interested in staying around here, I thought he'd want to vamoose.

822
00:55:56,760 --> 00:55:59,400
They look so lethargic, and you do have to remember

823
00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:01,240
they can whip around in a split second.

824
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:15,120
Oh, my goodness, we're sort of surrounded, aren't we?

825
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:18,920
Yeah, there's that one we've just released. One, two...

826
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:20,760
Another one there.

827
00:56:27,240 --> 00:56:30,280
This might be an appropriate moment to adjourn our little

828
00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:33,000
dragon meeting. What do you think?

829
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:37,720
Another way of putting it is shall we get the arse out of here?

830
00:56:46,160 --> 00:56:49,680
'We sneak off the island to the safety of our boat and leave

831
00:56:49,720 --> 00:56:52,480
'Deni and the rangers to continue their work.

832
00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:55,560
'Deni estimates that the dragon population has remained

833
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:59,080
'pretty level over the past 20 years but, worryingly, some

834
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:02,560
'estimates suggest there may be very few breeding females.

835
00:57:02,600 --> 00:57:06,040
'However, the Komodos have a little trick up their tail.'

836
00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:09,720
What's interesting is, if this was a female and she was out at sea and got

837
00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:12,400
washed by currents or riptides or something

838
00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:15,320
and landed on another island, she could actually

839
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:20,000
develop eggs and give birth to young Komodo dragons without a male being anywhere near.

840
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:24,800
They don't have to have the eggs fertilised, it's called parthenogenesis.

841
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:27,040
Virgin birth in Greek.

842
00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:32,280
So they could in theory colonise another island with just one female.

843
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:41,800
For the foreseeable future, the Komodos shouldn't need to use their virgin birthing.

844
00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:43,880
The creation of the National Park

845
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:48,040
has certainly protected them and their habitat and in the process

846
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:50,000
all the other species, especially

847
00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:55,360
those denizens that straddle thesea and land they have also been helped.

848
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:59,520
Barring some catastrophe - be it fire, flood or plague - with vigilant monitoring,

849
00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:02,760
the dragons should survive for years to come

850
00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:07,320
in their own small corner of this beautiful archipelago.

851
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:18,200
'Never let it be said that I'm less than willing to seek out endangered

852
00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:21,400
'species, but when Mark said that he wanted me to travel with him

853
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:25,120
'to the other side of the world in search of a fat, flightless parrot,

854
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:29,600
'I knew I was with a man pursuing a very personal and peculiar passion.'

855
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:54,240
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