[water dripping]
[seagulls coo]
[buzzing]
♪ I'm a proud Black Yolngu boy With the killer flow ♪
♪ Listen to the yidaki Listen to it blow ♪
[Zac] We're back.
Really?
[Zac] Get ready for all-new adventures.
We will only have a couple of chances for this.
[Zac] It's been a crazy few years, so let me get you up to speed.
Darin's house burned down in the Malibu fires,
but he's building a new eco-friendly dream home from the ground up.
I'm gonna let the land speak to me.
As crazy as that may sound, and then create the best place ever.
[Zac] And in the meantime,
that's his yurt.
♪ ...with the killer flow ♪
♪ Listen to the yidaki Listen to it blow ♪
[Zac] In early 2020, I left the US to visit some friends for a couple of weeks.
Relax, get in some surfing.
And then, boom!
They said I would be extending my vacation for a few more weeks.
And that turned into a few months.
And what started as me being stuck here
has turned into me falling in love with this country,
and wanting my friends and family to experience the beauty
that I've been enjoying ever since.
[folk music playing]
[Zac] On this continent, it's been a little different.
It's an island.
They took an aggressive approach with lockdowns, restrictions, and masking.
Hey.
[whimpers]
Settle down.
[Zac] Which all resulted in relatively low infection rates and deaths.
So at the time of filming,
it seemed the safest thing to do was have everyone come to me.
And so they did.
It's day nine of my hotel quarantine.
It's like Groundhog Day.
[spitting]
I ate some of that.
[Zac] This time,
we're taking a deep dive into the sixth largest country in the world...
with a unique variety of biomes, climates, and organisms.
Jeez!
[laughing]
[Zac] We're covering as much territory as we can, from mountaintops...
I like your office.
[Zac] ...to barrier reefs, all while trying some of the best local foods...
Oh, my gosh.
...as close to their sources as we can get.
[man] Here's to good water.
[Zac] We'll visit some of the top innovators...
And it will collect and aggregate,
desegregate and redistribute to all the parts of the biosphere.
[Zac] ...all seeking to find cleaner, better,
and more sustainable ways of living.
And using the lessons learned on this continent
to serve as the microcosm for the entire planet.
Our focus on this episode is habitat conservation.
You're so tiny!
We'll meet Australia's leading eco-warriors...
[man] This is our Jurassic Park.
[Zac] ...to watch how they work protecting everything from animals to agriculture.
- Your last... little bumpy road. - Hey, buddy.
[Zac] And see how it all connects directly back to us
because we all have to share this habitat.
See that? That's Earth. We all live there.
♪ I'm a proud Black Yolngu boy With the killer flow ♪
♪ Listen to the yidaki Listen to it blow ♪
[vocalizing]
[man] Speed.
Speed.
AV marker.
[Zac] It's reunion time!
Two weeks have passed, and everyone is out of quarantine.
Yeah!
[Zac] The Down to Earth family's back.
Yo! Hey, what's up, man? How are you?
- Good to see you. Yeah. - Good to see you too.
I'm stoked man. Let's get out there, turn it up a notch.
What's up, guys? I saw you over the camera.
Good to see you, buddy.
- How you doing? - Long time, no see.
- Still got hair under there? - Of course.
[Darin] Yeah! [laughs]
[Zac] Quick history lesson here.
The culture of Aboriginal people in Australia
dates back around 60,000 years,
and today's generations continue the customs and rituals
handed down through time to honor and maintain their history.
There are about 500 different Aboriginal groups in this country,
each with their own language and customs,
but one tradition most have is a welcome ceremony.
As the custom goes, before you go forth on a community's land,
you first introduce yourself, state your purpose,
and ask for permission, all as a sign of respect.
Prior to British colonization,
Australia was once composed of 100% various indigenous nations, or mobs,
as the different Aboriginal communities call themselves.
These people are of the Darug nation,
tracing their roots to the very beginnings of this continent.
We do this now to acknowledge their country
and recognize them as the First People of this land.
[honks]
[grunts]
Welcome to the circle, brothers.
- Thank you. - [Darin] Thank you.
When you come into my camp, you're under my protection.
Once you cross that border,
then you go through the smoke,
you're one of us.
Can I please ask for you to introduce yourself to the uncles
and also share with us why are you here.
My name is Zac. I was born in San Luis Obispo County, California.
- Yep. - I guess the reason that I'm here
is to learn, and to gain perspective and insight into your culture,
into your people, and to become present and one with it all.
Beautiful. Thank you, brother. [trilling]
[chanting]
My name is Olien. First name's Darin.
I was born in Minnesota, United States.
Super honored to be here.
I can feel the elements here are really strong,
and super humbled by the presence here and grateful to be here.
[trilling, chanting]
[Zac] This ritual is connected to the original ceremonies,
where those from neighboring tribes would pass through other camps.
The fire is spiritual, and the smoke is cleansing.
Any bad spirits the visitors may be carrying
are wafted away by the smoke.
The travelers are left clean and welcome to go along their journey.
[Jie] Cleanse your connections, Darin and Zac, to Father Sky.
So, we put the smoke over our heads.
We cleanse our connections to Mother Earth, so we cleanse our feet.
We cleanse all the parts on our bodies
where we feel like it is time for a new beginning.
The smoke only goes to where it needs to go.
I'd like to offer you a piece of material which is a ceremonial head tie.
The color is orange, symbolizing that blood is from the country,
and Grandfather Sun is our almighty grandfather,
to bring everyone together,
and I'd like to protect you while you're here now.
Zac and Darin, if you'd like to just stand up.
[somber music playing]
So, the ceremony head tie is an offering from us to you welcoming you to us,
and you to the country where we walk.
This is ochre. It's going to protect harm from you.
In my language, we say Warami. That's "Welcome."
[Zac] The elders have given us all their blessing,
and some words of advice to consider as we start our adventure.
I want to put my most valuablest organ next to yours,
which is my heart to yours.
Love that.
- [Jie] I want to say welcome, brother. - Thank you, brother.
- Thank you. - [Jie] Welcome, brother.
And to you, Zac, same thing, brother.
- I put my heart to yours. - Thank you.
[Jie] Leading with love, that's where we rise above.
I know.
- [Jie] Welcome to me, brother. - Thanks.
We're welcome. We are all welcome.
Our entire crew went through the ceremony, and everyone felt moved.
And here's another fresh start.
In an effort to improve our carbon footprint
during the production of this series,
and to do our part in habitat conservation of this planet,
we're switching things up a bit.
That's fully electric, huh?
It is?
That's amazing.
[Zac] New wheels.
For some trips and terrains, we'll have to use hybrid vehicles,
but this new toy is sure to put a charge in our Aussie travels.
Crispy. This is sick, dude.
[Darin] Amazing. You're gonna drive us?
Oh, yeah.
Oh!
We just run over Mitch?
[Zac chuckles] No, we're not gonna run over Mitch.
AV marker.
We ready to roll there, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah?
[Zac] Just remember to stay on the right side of the road,
or in this case, I mean the left side of... You know what I mean.
- This thing's amazing. - [Darin] You can drive and I can sleep.
[Zac] Sleep tight, buddy.
As we embark on this journey of habitat conservation,
we want to first appreciate more pristine parts of the Earth
as nature intended.
Just 100 kilometers west of Sydney
lies a World Heritage protected area known as the Greater Blue Mountain.
Aside from the majestic beauty,
it's home to a vast number of rare and threatened species.
Wow. Look at that.
[Darin] Look at this place. This is great.
[Zac] And there's an area reserved as a protected park,
available for camping, hiking, and other tourism.
[Darin] The Ioniq got us to the Blue Mountains.
[Zac] And if you're really adventurous like we are,
you can meet up with Dan for an experience you'll never forget.
- Zac. Nice to meet you, man. - Dan.
- Hey, Dan. I like your office. - [Dan] Yeah, it's pretty nice.
[Zac] This is beyond hiking. It's canyoning.
Feels like an absolute privilege to live and work here in the Blue Mountains.
This is the Jamison Valley below us here.
Um, and, yeah, just like to say, Warami mittigar.
"Welcome, friends" in the language of the Darug people,
Traditional Owners of this part of the Blue Mountains.
- [Darin] This is... really incredible. - [Zac] These cliff faces are unreal.
We're gonna go do Empress Canyon.
It's one of the best canyons in the Blue Mountains.
We've got hundreds of beautiful slot canyons,
very narrow crack through these massive sandstone cliffs.
Got water rushing through it.
We're gonna put on wet suits, helmets, and harnesses
and drag some big, heavy ropes in there.
We're gonna be jumping off rocks. We're gonna be swimming.
And then, the grand finale, we gotta abseil,
or rappel as you guys call it, down a 30-meter waterfall.
[Zac] Sure. Sounds simple enough. Let's hit it.
- Let's do it. Right on. - Cool.
[Zac] Wow. This is great.
[soft music playing]
Fellas, one of the reasons why the Blue Mountains got World Heritage status
is because of the diversity of life we've got here.
And in particular, Australia's most iconic tree, the eucalypt, yeah?
We've got about 100 species of eucalypt here in the Blue Mountains,
which is an astonishing variety for a relatively small part of Australia.
- So, yeah, pretty cool tree. - Unreal.
Is there a good amount of natural springs around the area?
[Dan] In the Blue Mountains, we have things called hanging swamps
which can even occur on sheer vertical cliffs.
These things are a massive water storage area, and they filter the water.
I don't know if you've drunk tap water in Sydney,
but it has some of the sweetest drinking water you'll find in the world,
and that's 'cause it all comes from right here.
[Zac] This is a different type of habitat conservation,
a protected area preserved for generations to appreciate
by simply walking through the beauty of it all.
Most countries have some sort of national park system,
and as of now, about 15% of the Earth
is set aside and safeguarded from being developed in any way.
So, fellas, before, we were up there in that beautiful, dry eucalypt forest,
but you can feel now we're in a... and see that we're in a totally different place.
Now, we're in temperate rain forest.
It's still cool and wet like ancient Gondwana used to be,
and so the ancient Gondwana vegetation hangs on here,
the coachwoods, the ferns, the sassafras.
This is our Jurassic Park.
This is the Australia dinosaurs roamed through.
We've only dropped a few hundred meters but gone back 100 million years in time.
[Zac] He had me at Jurassic Park. "We've spared no expense."
To go canyoning is the best way to explore that story.
- Get right in it. - Yeah.
[Dan] I reckon we should go up, pull up a flat bit of ground here.
And this is where we're gonna get our wet suits and helmets and harnesses on.
[Zac] Dan gave us a long safety meeting
and ran through how to properly use all of the equipment.
Trust me, don't do something like this without a professional.
Canyoning can be incredibly dangerous,
or even deadly, if you don't know what you're doing.
I'm not saying we know exactly what we're doing either,
but, hey, at least Dan does.
Okay, guys, you gotta be 100% committed to it.
- Gotta be full doing it, okay? - [Darin] Yeah.
[Dan] One, two, three!
[Zac] This is like one of those team building activities
where you build trust by falling back and letting people catch you.
But there's no people to catch you.
It seems like a bad idea.
Anyway, here goes nothing.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dan] Go slow.
[cheers]
[Zac] Yoo!
All right, head count.
Yep. We're all here.
[Darin] That's what the cup's for.
[Zac] And I'm happy to report that no one was lost or injured.
Man, thank you. Great.
We celebrate surviving all of that with a toast of warm tea
and prepare for the grand finale,
abseiling down this
100-foot waterfall?
Yikes.
[soft guitar playing]
[Dan] Hoist yourself down now. Feet first.
That's it. Away we go.
♪ Come home ♪
♪ Shine a light ♪
♪ Lose control in your emotion tonight ♪
♪ This is how you see ♪
♪ Not how you feel ♪
♪ Watching the world turn again ♪
- [Dan] Are we ready to go? - [Zac] Yep.
Okay.
[Dan] All right, Zac, I want you to start slowly walking backwards.
And I want you to sit back in that harness now, okay?
[Zac] Okay.
Okay, feet nice and wide. Okay. There you go.
[Zac] It's right here I wonder
what terrible decisions in life got me to this point.
Whatever they were, there's no turning back now.
[Dan] Right! Down you go!
♪ Spin with the world ♪
♪ And let your conscience release ♪
♪ How do you feel ♪
♪ When direction is lost? ♪
♪ Tell me what do you see ♪
♪ Where do you go ♪
♪ When you've lost your control? ♪
♪ What do you feel? ♪
- [Dan] Good going. Great! - Whoo!
Oh my God. I did it.
We all did it!
Great job, team.
Most countries have protected areas
designed to keep a good percentage of land undeveloped
and clean for all to enjoy, yet still available
to be explored and appreciated in one way or another.
But there are plenty who would like to change that.
Commercial developers, fossil fuel industries, and others
are always looking for areas holding untapped resources.
National parks all over the world can be protected by donating time or money.
And, of course, make sure to visit them when you can.
The experience you have will last a lifetime.
We drive an hour and a half, circumventing the mountains,
to reach another protected park.
There are a few animals synonymous with Australia,
starting with the koala.
Inappropriately called "koala bears" at times,
they aren't really bears,
but they certainly look like cute cuddly toys.
Even before losing so many to the recent wildfires,
the species has been listed as vulnerable.
- Hey, guys. - [woman] Hi.
- How's it going? - Good, thanks.
[Zac] Here to help monitor the koala population
and hopefully bring the numbers up
are these incredible conservationists from the nonprofit Science For Wildlife.
- Smudge. - [Zac] Smudge? Hi, Smudge.
- [Darin] Hey, there. - Nice to meet you.
Oh, hi, Smudge!
The Smudginator.
[Zac] I should explain upfront. Smudge is a very good boy.
But due to some possible poisons in the area,
he's wearing this Hannibal Lecter muzzle for his own protection, not ours.
So, Smudge has some ability?
He does, yes. So, his ability is finding the koala poops.
[Zac] Wow.
That's right. Smudge's superpower is being able to sniff out koala poops.
Because where there's koala poops, there's koalas.
And that's what we're looking for.
What are you finding? Has there been a lot of displacement?
Eighty per cent of the World Heritage area was hit by fire,
so we were worried we'd lost all of them.
I think because it's so hilly and steep,
the fire trickled through some of the areas
and didn't always burn the canopy.
It can be hard to see them, so the trees at this particular site, not too bad,
and habitat that's got the most poop in it is something the koalas prefer.
[Zac] By finding the highest concentrations of koala scat,
they're able to study what habitats the koalas prefer.
Ultimately, they hope to create
more koala-friendly habitats based on their findings.
We're gonna do the survey by going this way,
so it's a one-hectare area that he searches in like 15 minutes.
He does it very quickly.
- So, that's 2.5. acres in 15 minutes? - Yeah.
- Wow.
Way to go, Smudge.
Part of what we're doing is measuring if koalas in this landscape survived, why?
What is it about the terrain, habitat, and conditions?
Then try and protect some of those areas so that they can bounce back after fires.
It's a fragment of what there used to be.
Coming to places like this, we have hope.
Hope is a driver, and we need more of it. For sure.
- And this guy's ready to drive. - [Victoria] He is, isn't he?
[Kim] Ready? Okay, work!
[Zac] It's time for Smudge to do his stuff by sniffing out the koalas'... stuff.
[barks]
- [Kim] You got one? Good boy! - [Darin chuckles]
- No way! What? - [Victoria] He was on that already.
[Darin] What?
[Zac] That was fast.
- [barks] - Gosh, you... Yah! Yeah.
- [Victoria] Good boy, Smudge! - [Kim] That's a big one, yeah.
- Oh, yes. - [Victoria] There it is.
- [Darin chuckles] - Nice one, Smudge. Good boy!
- Good boy! Good boy. - Whoa! So good!
What?
- That's amazing! - Not even a full one.
- [Kellie] Just a fragment. - [Darin] No way humans are gonna see that.
[Kellie] No.
- That was so cool. - [all laugh]
[Victoria] Makes our job a lot easier. It's not a very strong one.
Yeah, it's a bit washed out.
- [Victoria] Should we keep going? - See what we can find.
- Buddy. Smudge. - Okay.
That's amazing.
So, it's a bit of an older... piece. Smudge can do better.
[Smudge barks]
- [Kim] You got another one? Good job. - [Darin] Found one.
- It's actually quite a strange one. - [Kellie] A skinny one.
Yeah. But the inside's right, and it's got good smell.
One of the ways to tell it from possum, if you smell a possum poop,
you go, "Oh my God."
Whereas, koala poop... [sniffs] ...it's sort of musty eucalypts.
So, what can you tell about the actual koala from this one?
It's a smaller koala, so probably a youngster.
Just by the size of it.
[Zac] Man, these ladies really know their... [bleep].
- Didn't think I'd be smelling poop today. - [Zac] Neither did I, buddy.
- [Darin] It's cool. - [Kim] All right.
A little bit with the little poop.
- [Kellie] Slightly musty, no? - A poop tent.
Smells different than eucalyptus. This smells like [bleep].
- [all laugh] - It doesn't!
Come on.
We should find you a possum.
- Let's find a possum. - [Victoria] Do a comparison.
Here you go. Camera guy. Smell?
[sniffs]
[Darin] Oh, you didn't commit!
- [Zac] He didn't commit! - Oh yeah.
[Zac] With confirmation that koalas are inhabiting the area,
it's time for a more high-tech approach to zeroing in on some actual koalas.
[Kellie] Hey, guys.
- Hi! - Hi!
How's it going? You found any Teds for us?
Yeah, it looks like we have a koala whose triangulation is in this direction.
Wow. How do you discern the direction on that?
[Lacey] So, you see here, it's like a digital indicator.
Where it's actually detecting the koala via its VHF frequency.
[Zac] Okay, so it's climbing to 98.
- That means our koala's in that direction. - Yeah.
What's on the koala that's sending back the signal?
It has a collar, and it's just like a VHF.
Oh wow. So they're all properly collared?
Yeah.
[Zac] I get it. It's pretty much exactly like the tracking device in Robocop.
- Should we head in? - Wanna walk in?
- [Darin] It's super exciting. - [Kellie] We're gonna find actual koala.
They'll be out on really fine branches where you think it won't support them,
and they just go out there eating.
Stand here and you should be able to see her.
[squeaking]
[Zac] Oh, there it is.
[all chuckle]
- [Lacey] Got her? - [Zac] Wow.
Oh my gosh. There he is. No wonder they're hard to spot.
[Kellie] Up this tree, straight up in the middle.
- She's over there. - Your lens protector's on.
- [Lacey laughs] - Oh gosh. I don't see anything.
[Zac] For the most part, koalas do very little
but eat eucalyptus leaves and sleep for about 20 hours a day.
[Darin] Aww! She's looking right at us.
[Zac] So, if nothing else, you have to really appreciate their ability to chill.
It's so neat to see 'em in the wild.
[Darin] Yeah. See ya, buddy.
Thanks for hanging out with us.
[Zac] Ensuring koalas have a better future
in the wake of wildfires and climate change is no easy task.
Thank you so much.
- [Darin] This was amazing. - Our pleasure.
[Zac] But thanks to generous donations
and the hard work of conservationists like these, it's possible.
Cool. Awesome, guys.
And Smudge. Smudge is a big help too.
- [Smudge barks] - [Zac] Who's a good boy?
The conservation of cultures
is just as important as the conservation of habitats.
In fact, here, they go hand-in-hand.
We're headed to Bargo, New South Wales for lunch,
and we're gonna have to work for it.
A little. You'll see.
Yerrabingin is an Aboriginal-owned company
dedicated to conserving the land and passing on the knowledge
of the original people to a younger generation,
so they too can become guardians of the Earth.
While they also do an Aboriginal-influence landscape design,
we're here to visit the Yerrabingin farm for a tour with the founder and owner.
[man] Hey, brother. Welcome to Yerrabingin Farm.
- Thank you. - You found us okay?
Yeah, we did. Great to be here.
[Zac] In his ancestors' language, the word yerrabingin means "we walk together."
We're walking with Christian now
to learn more about the history of farming on this land.
[Christian] You'll see this entire paddock is all full of native grasses.
I'm not sure why it's called kangaroo grass.
Some English botanist probably saw a kangaroo amongst it
and thought, "It's kangaroo grass." I haven't seen kangaroos eat it.
It doesn't look like a kangaroo, so it's not that.
This is essentially an ancient grain?
[Christian] Yes, yeah.
[Zac] Indigenous grains are incredibly undemanding plants,
meaning they are drought-tolerant
and grow easily, without fertilizers or even much water.
And for our mob, we use seed in particular for making our own bread.
Didn't they realize too, like, the Aboriginals have been farming
a lot longer than what they originally thought?
That's what they didn't understand. They went, "Nothing here. It's barren."
In many cases, early colonists starved right next to heaps of food.
- 'Cause it was foreign to what they knew. - [Christian] Yeah, exactly.
[Zac] While the original colonists mistook this area for an overgrown field of weeds,
what's actually growing is a natural and abundant crop of kangaroo grass,
which is great for making flour.
Part of conserving the land means utilizing it to its fullest potential,
and the potential here is that kangaroo grass
can be a sustainable food source that grows easily in this region.
Our mate came up with a thing called the Grass Grabber.
Often what would happen is we'd collect all this kangaroo grass by hand,
and then this way, what we can do is we can actually go and collect seed
around a lot of the other species without impacting them.
Nothing gets wasted.
It's really just a very high, very delicate... lawnmower.
And yet, it sure beats pulling up all this kangaroo grass by hand.
So... it's cool.
[engine running]
- Wanna have a go? - Yeah.
Whoo!
And cue funny music.
[funny music playing]
[Zac laughs]
As far as I'm concerned, this could be the rest of the show right here.
He's in his element right now. Look at him.
Dylan and I watching Darin push a lawnmower.
- Two hours later. - Yeah.
[Zac] Look at him. He's in his happy place.
- Hey. - [Christian] That's cool.
- Gonna have a look inside. - [Darin] Logging out.
Oh wow!
- [Darin] You gotta check on your bread. - Look at that.
[Christian] The green stuff's paspalum, but you've got the stuff underneath it.
This guy's stoked, man. This thing works great.
[Christian] These are a couple of... Five little ones are test ones here.
[Zac] They're experimenting with other indigenous food sources as well.
[Christian] Like a pine needle. That real sort of lemongrass...
- Wow! That's fantastic. - [Christian] Yeah. They're amazing.
It's like tom yum soup.
[Christian] We can smell something good.
Good thing about having a farm is there's always something to eat.
- Sweet! - Nice.
- [Zac] Lunchtime! - What do you got?
[Simon] We've got some little damper breads
that we're gonna have a little cook with.
[Zac] The fruits of our labor. Mostly Darin's labor.
- Cheers, guys. - Cheers.
[Zac] This bread is made from kangaroo grass seeds.
Wow. I can't believe that.
All the grain in there too, eh?
Mmm.
- Wow. That's delicious. - [Christian] Oh yeah.
[Zac] Also, that's fresh pumpkin.
I've had this pumpkin on with some wattleseed, cooking since this morning.
So, we've also got some more barramundi fillets here.
Pop these fillets right on top of that.
It's similar to using banana leaves in Asian cuisine, where...
[Darin] Yeah.
This is so crazy. It's neat to see it cooked over a flame like this.
But that's not the main course.
[Simon] We got Moreton Bay bugs.
- [Darin] Oh cool. - Mixed with lemon myrtle leaves.
[Zac] Wow. Bugs are one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
"Bugs." That's the slang name for this flat crustacean
that's part lobster and part science fiction monster.
[Christian] Oh my God. I'm so hungry.
- [Zac] What a weird... - [Christian] Careful, it's hot.
It's like where Alien was inspired from.
- Yeah. - Have you got anything else?
Like a big prawn.
[Zac] One of the best ways to connect with culture is through the food.
[sighs] Oh my gosh.
This is the best bug I've ever had, for sure.
And Yerrabingin Farms offers a completely immersive experience.
Want to dig in? Who's hungry?
Not only with the land and the food that it provides,
but the culturally significant history that holds it all together.
It's so sweet.
[Zac] Who knew conservation could taste so good?
This has been unbelievable. Thanks for showing us around. Thanks for the feed.
Good luck with everything, guys.
We've saved the most Australian conservation activity possible
for the end.
We're headed a little over 200 miles north of Sydney
to see one of the most iconic creatures that comes to mind
when most people think of Australia.
No, it's not the kangaroo.
What was it? Roadrunner? A little Tasmanian Devil and Roadrunner?
[Zac] No, Darin, it's not a roadrunner.
The old cartoon?
- That was Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. - [Darin] Was it?
The tornado guy? I can't remember. I think he was his own thing, wasn't he?
No. He was a part of Yosemite Sam.
- Yosemite S... Remember Yosemite Sam? - Mm-hmm.
Saturday morning cartoons, man. I would race down.
Oh, me too.
Okay, admittedly, most of what Darin and I know about Tasmanian devils
is based solely off cartoons.
[laughing]
[Zac] What I can tell you is this,
there are only about 25,000 of the creatures left on Tasmania,
and a private conversation group called Aussie Ark
is here to save the species from total extinction
and reintroduce them to the mainland.
Aussie Ark was founded to protect the Tasmanian devil population,
but they also work to conserve any and all endangered animals in the area,
because if just one species vanishes,
it could have a drastic effect on the entire surrounding ecosystem.
Welcome to the Ark.
- Hey, man. - Hey.
[Zac] This is the founder, Tim Faulkner.
- Welcome. - [Darin] Hey.
- [Zac] That is not a Tasmanian devil. - Welcome. This is Charlie.
- [Darin] Hey, Charlie. Hi. - [Zac] That's a koala.
Hi.
[Tim] Here, actually, grab those here.
- [Zac] What is that? - Two endangered squirrel gliders.
- Marsupials. - Oh, what the hell.
[Zac] And another little random animal in his pocket. Okay. No big deal.
- You got pockets... - That's little Petey.
What's in your pants pockets?
Yeah, I know. This is his sister Gumnut.
- [Zac] Hi, Gumnut. - [Darin] Hi, boo-boo.
Wow. You're so tiny.
You're a good boy.
- How many animals do you have? - You're leaking.
[Darin] He's peeing.
Oh, yeah! That's a good... [laughs]
First for everything. Wow.
[Darin] "I just gotta pee."
Can I give you Charlie?
[chuckling]
This is their little artificial pouch.
We might give you a little wipe up.
- He's taking off. - Pop 'em inside.
Oh, wow. You know you're home.
- Yeah, they do. - There you go.
That's what they'd be living in with mom. A lot of leaves.
Let's jump in anyway. You got everything?
Ooh! They'll be all right.
- [Darin] They gonna get dirty? - [Tim] Just...
It's the bite I worry about, not the dirt. But you'll be all right.
- Jump on in. - The Tazzy devils bite?
They do. Very hard.
[Zac] Yoo! [grunts]
- Sweet! - [engine starts]
- I'm so stoked. - [Tim] Good.
[Darin] How many do you have?
There's about 200 here now,
and, you know, we've bred over 450, but they only live for six years.
What?
Lifespan for devils is...
born, mature by two, they can breed at two, three, four,
but they're dead by six.
Aussie Ark was originally Devil Ark,
and on its success, we expanded from devils to 15 other species
and entire habitats and ecosystems.
- But the devils got a disease in 1996. - Wow.
And it annihilated them. 90% of devils are now gone from Tasmania.
So, we intervened.
If extinction happens in the wild, we're the backup.
[Zac] An important part of habitat conservation is the protection of wildlife
especially endangered species.
Why protect endangered species?
To begin with, most are endangered due to human activity,
like hunting, deforestation, climate change, pollution, or other causes.
But regardless of how they became threatened,
it just makes good ecological sense to help save endangered species. [yelps]
[growling]
G'day, mate!
Ah, hey, buddy. Take this Tasmanian devil here.
From creatures like him to the koala and the giant panda,
we need to protect endangered species to maintain biodiversity.
Thanks. It's not always the case,
but in some areas, by removing just one critter,
it could have a domino effect on the rest and undermine the entire ecosystem.
[Zac] With greater biodiversity,
we maintain a healthier balance in our air, water, and soil,
thus protecting our entire planet.
So for those that need a little help, we get it.
Through legislation, providing protected reserves,
conservation breeding programs...
[giggles]
...and a variety of other methods,
all to help increase the populations back to normal levels.
- Ah, thanks, buddy. - Yeah!
- Jump on out. - All right.
[Tim] Zac, can you grab that bucket on the back, please?
Whoa! Jeez!
- Mm-mm. A bucket of old meat. - Oh, yeah.
[Zac] Darin Special. Look.
- [Tim] This is... - That was that smell.
I was sitting back there going, "What is that smell?"
This is who we're gonna head in with. Let me give you the Devil 101.
[Zac] Important safety tips coming up.
Uh, so, when we go in, fingers do not go near their mouths.
If they come close, just be aware of it, just put your foot up a little bit.
If it comes closer, move your foot, or it's gonna grab it.
We're talking about the third strongest jaw pressure on Earth, pound for pound.
- We don't want things in their mouths. - Third strongest?
Correct. Yep, they're bone crushers. And so...
[Zac] So why are we going in here?
This is called a social feed.
If they've got a carcass in the wild or like this, we mimic the wild.
One devil shakes it, nothing happens.
When two devils shake it, bits start to come off.
We're gonna have 10 or 12 devils shaking it.
So, to get it in, you've got to stick that through
and let probably three or four devils grab it.
We'll keep eyes and ears out for you.
[Zac] Wait. Why am I the one doing this?
- Um... - You got the meat, dude.
Watch your feet.
When you get in, walk backwards and lure them with you.
Okay.
Are we ready?
[Zac] Ready to be mauled by a pack of Tasmanian devils?
No, not at all. Not really... No.
Come take this.
- See the little metal stake in the ground? - [Zac] Yeah.
- You've gotta get that over it. - [Zac] Wait, wait...
- Let it hang? - [Tim] Yeah.
[Zac] This smells delicious.
[Tim] One tick, in his mouth. Watch your feet.
Let him grab on.
Okay, now back up. We're all right. Come in. Slow.
Slow, slow. Turn around.
One sec. Okay, mate, slowly take 'em over. Just slow. That's it.
Ahh!
Slow up. And when you put your hand down, be careful, all right?
[Darin] So you put it over it?
Yep. Slow, slow. Try and keep 'em on it.
- That's intense, man. - Yep.
Nice and slow.
Watch this back one doesn't have a go for your hand.
Oh! [bleep]
[Tim] That's okay. Let 'em pull it a bit. Yep. Get it on.
- Yay, well done! - [Darin] Watch behind you.
Whoa!
Yeah... just like the cartoon.
[Tim] This is why you don't want to have a drunken sleep under a tree in Tasmania.
[laughing]
Think about the effectiveness of these as bush garbage cleaners.
[Darin] My God.
Anything that died of age, disease... Poof! It's gone, and it's clean.
- [Darin] You can hear that. - Come on in, have a look.
Come and have a look.
This scene, it's been playing out in Australia since,
you know, for all of history.
And it's at risk right now of being lost forever.
Right.
[Zac] Feel like I'm at risk now of being lost forever.
[Tim] Not only here do we prevent extinction
by keeping an insurance population of the species,
- but we can improve our overall ecology. - [Darin] Heads up.
[Tim] Come on, you lot. Play nice.
[Zac] Right. Play nice.
[Tim] He's trying to run off with it, or get a bit.
[Zac] That's Ned Flanders.
- Are you ready to do some work? - [Zac] That wasn't work?
[Darin] Yeah.
[Darin] Dude, you are brave, man.
[Tim] Kell.
- Hey. - [Darin] How are you?
- Zac, Darin. - [Darin] Kell, how are you?
- Kell's one of the supervisors. - Nice to meet you.
[Zac] This is the breeding area, where all the magic happens.
[Tim] To start with, grab all the traps.
[Zac] They have traps set to humanely capture the devils in the area.
Oh yeah. I got one. A live one. [chuckles] Yeah.
All have RFID tags to monitor the animals
for health, breeding success, and to track the birth date.
So, in here, please.
[Zac] I should note the name Tasmanian devil
was given to this animal by early European settlers
because of the horrific screams and howls they make.
[Tasmanian devil howls]
[Zac] As they're handled, they might seem annoyed,
but they aren't in pain or being harmed in any way, so keep that in mind.
This is all being done to save the species.
- [Tim] I got another one here. - [Zac] He's pissed off.
If it's a female that has joeys, we don't give that.
Yep.
- We have to find that out first. - [Tim] Correct.
Okay, what do you reckon? Male or female?
- Bit of attitude. - Female.
[howling]
Female.
- [Tim] Okay. Same again. - Wow.
[Tim] So, Zac, can you please hop on the back there?
- You'll have to lift that up for us. - [Zac] Oh God.
Well, you can't get this from a book anyway.
[Tasmanian devil howls]
[Tim] Got it. Last four digits?
"4223."
Crookshanks.
- [Tim] Male or female? - Female.
Yeah, her head and skull is very strong,
so put a bit of pressure on and try not to let her move.
Replace my hands. Come and have a look at this, Darin.
[Darin] That's a face.
[Tim] That's good, mate. So hold.
- [Darin] Got it, Zac? - I do.
[Tim] Hold her, mate. You got probably another minute or two, and you'll be...
[howls]
You're not going anywhere.
[howling]
[Tim] One second. Let her go for a sec.
[grunts]
- [Tasmanian devil howls] - [Tim] Okay. Plan B.
So, see here? When we lift this, what I want you to do is pinch that lip.
She's still got another estrus to go.
Um, but she's good.
- Yeah. - [Zac] Wow.
So no joeys. That's okay.
Would be pretty obvious if there was a joey.
Yes, you'd have a joey. It'd look like a little pink peanut.
[Zac] All right, we have one for release.
[Tim] Yeah.
- Next one. - [Darin] One for relocation.
[Zac] That's a male.
[Tim] It looks like it.
So, we can actually see with him too,
that his condition is not as good as the girls.
So, a male has to show his strength over a female, and she will fight.
He's gotta bite her on the back of the neck.
Show her how strong and dominant he is.
Drag her to a den, and he stays there, doesn't eat for 10 days and guards her.
Fights off every male. So, to see him...
He looks great physically, but he's a bit light on.
That says he's had a great breeding season.
- [Darin] Nice. - That's good.
[Zac] Not a lot of romance in this species.
- Settle... How old is he, Kell? Five? - [howling]
Hey, settle. Settle.
[Kelly] Yeah, five.
He's gotta come with us as well. Wow, that's fantastic.
[howls]
[Tim] Get out of there.
[Tasmanian devil howls aggressively]
[Zac] This one seems... extra devil-y.
No joes. Um, Sorry, sweetie. [groans]
I'm not gonna lift her up. One of you lot give it a go. Please.
Grab down low. That's it, nice and low.
[Zac] This female is not pregnant, but she shows great fertility promise,
and so we release her back into the breeding area
and wish her luck in her future endeavors.
- [howls fiercely] - [Darin laughs]
She did a little check.
[Zac] Oh my God! I'm so happy to still be alive after this.
What started as 44 Tasmanian devils
has turned into 390 successful births,
and the very first to be born on mainland Australia in 3,000 years.
Once ready, the devils and other animals bred here
are eventually re-wilded,
sent off to live completely free in the 1,000-acre sanctuary.
[Tim] Every animal that has thus far been released in here is on that wall.
[Zac] With another two from today added to the board.
Congratulations, devils.
It's your last... little bumpy road.
You can have a peek in there, just to see what he's doing.
- Hey, there he goes. - [Darin] Hey, bud.
Look at that.
- Here he comes. - Aw! Hey, buddy.
[Tim] He's heading home.
- [Zac] He's going back. - [Darin] He's taking off.
[Tim] Yep.
- [Darin] Holy cow. - [Zac] That's pretty awesome.
The work you've done, it's just so special.
We're a small nation,
but with some incredibly unique animals, and they need help.
- Thanks. Really appreciate it. - Thank you.
- That was an amazing day. Thank you. - Well done.
- [Darin] Right on, bud. - Makes my day having you here, you know?
It's good to share it.
[Zac] Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
It's good to be back with family and friends
in a place I call my new habitat, Australia.
And the lessons we've learned about conserving various species, biomes,
cultures, those are all universal ideas.
As the poem says, "No man is an island."
No island is an island because it's all connected.
We are all connected. There's a balance.
The land we walk on, the water we drink, the air we breathe,
it's all one big habitat, and we're here to conserve it.
Enjoy it to its fullest, of course, but responsibly,
leaving it as good or better than how we found it
for the next generation and the next.
Hey, we're just getting started here.
So strap in and join us.
It's gonna be a fun trip.
[Darin] Whoa! [laughs]
[soft guitar playing]
[man whistling tunes of "How You See the World"]