the Waters of Northeastern Australia home to the greatest concentration of Life found anywhere on Earth [Music] a green turtle she has not eaten for weeks and has traveled more than a thousand kilometers from her feeding grounds others are here [Music] too awaiting the safety of Nightfall when they will come sure to [Music] Nest Queensland is Australia's Northeastern State Beyond her famous Reef lie immense and diverse landscapes a world of hidden wonders and vast expanses where modernday dinosaurs roam and predators lurk in the shadows a place unlike anywhere else join us on a journey of Discovery
as we uncover Queensland Australia's wild Northeast the D Tree the oldest living rainforest on Earth isolated between rugged mountains and the vast ocean it has remained virtually unchanged for millions of years and within its depths lives a mysterious inhabitant standing as tall as a man armed with dagger-like claws a direct descendant from the Aven Dinosaurs the southern CA crowned with a horn like Cask a unique feature used to dissipate body heat essential for survival in humid rainforests normally shy and solitary adult casaes only come together to mate once the female lays her eggs she departs
leaving the male responsible for incubation and rearing of the young this juvenile is around 1y old its Brown plumage is beginning to turn black and its distinctive head Cask beginning to take shape recently abandoned by its father it must now navigate the forest alone learning to survive in its quest for territory and sustenance [Music] casaes are vital to the rainforest ecosystem as voracious consumers of rainforest fruits and berries they serve as primary seed disperses for some rainforest plants their role is indispensable as they rely on Passage through a caw's digestive system for [Music] germination once
plentiful in the rainforests of Northeastern Queensland today only a few thousand remain in the wild [Music] land clearing attacks from domestic animals and The Perils of roadkill have all impacted greatly on their number as we journey deeper into the heart of the dangry we enter the domain of a formidable [Music] Predator the saltwater crocodile the largest reptiles on the planet the biggest ever recorded measured 6.2 m me from nose to tail relatively unchanged since the evolution 200 million years ago they outlived the dinosaurs emerging as the most advanced and successful of All Reptiles to fuel
their bodies crocodiles harness the power of the sun b ing in its warmth osteoderms along their back act as natural solar panels absorbing energy channeling it to their vital systems a crocodile's teeth are surprisingly blunt their function is to seize and hold prey crocodiles do not chew but swallow their prey whole to consume large victims they dislodge mouthfuls by Rolling and flipping their [Music] bodies despite their size crocodiles require surprisingly little food with their metabolisms fueled by the Sun a crocodile can survive on a single meal for months the coast of central Queensland our Green
Turtle has emerged from the ocean returning to the same Beach where she hatched more than 30 years ago since then she has lived only in the ocean driven by unwavering Instinct she pulls herself High into the sand dunes and carefully digs a chamber here she will lay more than a 100 eggs life outside the ocean is foreign to her without the buoyancy of the water it is difficult for her to breathe so she must rest often once her clutch is laid she carefully covers the eggs with sand and now late in the night it's time
for her to return to the Sea she will never see her Offspring upon hatching they will make their way to the water relying solely on instincts and and luck to survive south of the daintry on top of the Great Dividing Range is Aon table land a landscape shaped by ancient volcanic activity 10,000 years ago magma deep underground triggered a giant explosion the resulting crater filled with water forming this [Music] Lake today it's become a home for many aquatic species Beyond its banks fertile soil has given rise to tropical [Music] rainforests and here high in the
canopy lives a remarkable marsupial a kangaroo that has evolved for life in the trees the lumholtz tree kangaroo found only in the forests of Far North Queensland tree kangaroos differ from their terrestrial cousins they have larger forearms with curved claws for gripping and climbing unlike any other macropod they can move their hind legs one at a time their pendulous tail the longest of any in the kangaroo family helps them to balance in the Treetops like all marsupials early development of the young is in a pouch this young mother is feeding for two moving about can
be difficult with an inquisitive passenger on [Music] board mother mothers and juveniles stay together for up to 3 years one of the longest developmental periods of any marup on reaching maturity they will live a mostly solitary Life coming together only to mate [Music] beneath the Lush canopy lies a network of streams the lifeblood of the rainforest and home to an enigmatic and very peculiar creature the Platypus along with the idna it belongs to a small group of egg laying mammals called monotes its most distinctive feature is its Bill sometimes referred to as being duck-like but
a platypus's bill is nothing like a Ducks it is soft and flexible and covered with highly sensitive receptors beneath the water platypuses are completely blind relying only on their bills to hunt using a sweeping motion it detects aquatic insects worms and shrimp captured prey are held between its cheeks before surfacing to grind and swallow platypuses are skilled swimmers front feet are used for propulsion its tail and back feet for steering by day they live in an underground burrow emerging at dusk they will feed throughout the night but rainforests cover only a fraction of Queensland as
we journey West over the Great Dividing Range we enter a very different world a land of vast Open Spaces harsh climates and resilient Wildlife the gulf Savannah here remarkable formations emerge from the flat and arid Plains these are limestone casts the remnance of coral reefs from a shallow sea that existed here more than 400 million years ago but beneath the surface lies a hidden Wonder a Labyrinth of twisting caverns and tunnels slowly dissolved Away by the action of water with redeposited minerals creating extraordinary [Music] formations the caves are home to several species of microbats roosting
high in the darkness by day emerging at night to hunt for insects as we travel further west we encounter an elusive creature that also emerges at night the greater Bilby with poor eyesight they rely on hearing and smells of forage feeding on insects seeds and Bulbs buried in the desert [Music] sands their most distinctive feature is their long hairless ears these serve multiple purposes in addition to enhanced hearing they are used to disperse excess body heat [Music] biles are powerful diggers by day they live underground in spiral-shaped Burrows that can extend to 3 m deep
prior to European colonization they were found across much of Western Queensland but predation from foxes and feral cats has decimated their numbers today only small populations live in Australia's most arid regions [Music] in the far west of Queensland we reach the Simpson desert a place where rain seldom Falls the first Australians named this land Monga meaning Sand Hill Country it's June Fields run in parallel formation for hundreds of kilometers but despite the harsh conditions some creatures have adapted to life here a western brown snake fast moving and with excellent eyesight this species is highly venomous
by day it hunts for Desert rodents and small reptiles using its flickering tongue it tracks down unsuspecting prey with lethal Precision despite its toxic bite this species will often hold on to a captured victim Sometimes using constriction to secure its prey until the Venom takes effect but this deadly predator is not without its adversaries the Skies of the Outback are ruled by the wedg tailed eagle with a wingspan exceeding 2 m they are Australia's largest bird of prey and one of the world's most powerful Aven predators equipped with exceptional eyesight wedg Tails can spot prey
from more than one kilm away their diet primarily consists of small mammals but they are also scavengers feeding on the carcasses of dead animals their long hooked beak finally adapted for tearing meat from a carcass leaving behind the Arid Plains we travel east arriving at an island originally known as yanban Europeans would later name it magnetic Island and amidst its tranquil Beauty an Australian icon has made its home the koala on the mainland they are now endangered habitat loss and the impacts of urbanization have placed their population in serious [Music] decline koalas feed on the
leaves of eucalyptus trees highly fibrous and low in nutrients they are toxic to just about all other [Music] animals koalas have specialized digestive systems enabling them to gain sustenance from their unique diet a process that requires considerable energy to cope koalas have developed a clever strategy they cons serve energy by sleeping for up to 20 hours a day [Music] a mother and her Joey this Joey is around 10 months old it will remain with her for another few months occasionally feeding but now it's time to move on the mother leads the way and with a
soft call summons the youngster [Music] among the Island's Boulder piles another Marill has made its home the Allied Rock [Music] wabby evolving from common wbes they've uniquely adapted to Landscapes overlooked by their grazing [Music] counterparts with smaller feet and softer foot pads they have Superior agility over uneven terrain unlike the koalas Allied Rock wbes live in social groups when conditions are right Colony sizes can grow into the hundreds [Music] by day they seek refuge in the [Music] shade emerging in the late afternoon they feed on a diet of chots and leaves [Music] in the far
north of Queensland rising from the tropical Savannah is an imposing presence Black Mountain the disintegrated remains of an ancient Granite intrusion a landscape that appears to be from another world yet one little creature has made this mountain its home a very rare and endangered lizard the Black Mountain sking found nowhere else on Earth but here transparent eyelids Shield its eyes from the intense glare with elongated legs this skink moves with remarkable speed essential for capturing small [Music] insects subtle head bobbing a signal to others this Boulder is taken its entire species is confined to 6
Square kilm on this mountain one of the most restricted habitat ranges of any Australian animal [Music] Southeast queensland's border ranges 20 million years ago a colossal shield volcano erupted shaping the landscape we see [Music] today its fertile soil has given rise to subtropical rainforests [Music] within its elevated streams lives the lamington spiny crayfish a Survivor from ancient times when the continent was wetter and [Music] cooler as Australia gradually dried they retreated to the confines of the cooler mountain regions today they are restricted to a few mountaintops around queensland's Southeastern [Music] border feeding on decaying organic
matter spiny crayfish play an important role in recycling nutrients maintaining the health of these freshwater streams during rainy spells they Venture onto the rainforest floor to forage and are known to travel great distances between water sources their greatest threat is from Human poaches illegally trapped and removed for aquariums or dinner plates today this protected species is classified as vulnerable to Extinction also confined to these mountain ranges is another enduring symbol of Australia's ancient [Music] past the Antarctic Beach fossil records date their existence back over a 100 million years when Australia was connected to the supercontinent
gondwana land this tree sprouted from a seed that fell here more than 2,000 years ago its multiple trunks come from a process known as cassing enabling the tree to regenerate without relying on seeds today Antarctic Beach exists only on the highest mountaintops protected from fire where the climate has been cooler and more stable but as the global climate continues to warm their habitat is shrinking a fight echoed by many of queensland's natural inhabitants isolated in small pockets of wilderness surrounded by our expanding civilization there is nowhere left for them to [Music] go if we are
to ensure their future we must protect the important habitats that remain and find find the solutions that preserve both our way of life and these remarkable wonders of the natural world [Music] [Music]
