Wild Australia with Ray Mears (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Reef - full transcript
Ray journeys to the Great Barrier Reef where he finds a humpback whale calf learning how to swim.
[Ray Mears] I love Australia.
It's one of my favorite places.
You know, sometimes it just feels amazing
to be alive in a wild place like this.
In this series, I'll be exploring six
of Australia's unique landscapes.
Join me as I travel through
spectacular tracts of wilderness,
from the red sands of the desert
to the tropical waters
of the Great Barrier Reef.
From the wetland flood plains...
He's big. Dangerous.
...to the dark heart of the rainforest...
It makes you feel very small
and insignificant
when you're standing
next to a buttress root like this.
...on the trail of the weird
and wonderful animals
found here and nowhere else...
That's a great breach.
Wasn't that beautiful?
For a naturalist, this is one
this is one of the most
inspirational places
to visit on our entire planet.
...as I set out on an epic adventure
into wild Australia.
Whoo-hoo!
[laughs]
[birds chirping]
In search of some of
the most unique animals in the world,
I'm flying over 9,000 miles to the
remote wilderness regions of Australia.
For anyone interested in nature,
stepping onto Australian soil
is like stepping into the shoes
of an 18th century naturalist.
Everything here is strange and different
and that's because this continent
has largely evolved in isolation.
And what a vast
and varied landscape it is too.
My first stop is at
the north-eastern edge of Queensland...
Where I'll be delving
into the coastal waters
that are home
to the largest living structure on earth...
The Great Barrier Reef.
It's a marine adventure that promises
humpback whales,
giant turtles and an abundance
of exotic fish and birds.
I'm starting on the mainland
in Hervey Bay.
It may look like a grey day in Cromer,
but the climate here
is warm all year round,
never dropping below
22 degrees Celsius.
I'm really looking forward to today.
We're heading out into Hervey Bay.
That's the harbor entrance here.
Up north of me
stretches the Great Barrier Reef
and over to my east,
that's Fraser Island.
That's the largest sand island
on the planet.
Fascinating place and that
actually provides protection to the bay
from the southern part
of the Pacific Ocean.
And as a consequence,
this sheltered area
is an extremely good place
to look for wildlife.
So it should be an exciting day.
♪♪
This is one of the best places
in the world to find humpback whales.
Every year these humpbacks make
an extraordinary 5,000-kilometer migration
from their tropical breeding area
north of here
to the feeding grounds in Antarctica.
It's the longest migration
made by any animal.
On this arduous journey,
the whales make just one stop
and that's here in Hervey Bay.
With me is whale expert Wally Franklin
who's been studying the whales
arriving here for over 25 years.
With whales, it became an interest,
turned into a passion
and became an obsession.
[both chuckle]
Well, I'm really glad that it has
because these animals need champions
because they can't speak for themselves.
Absolutely.
With Wally's expert knowledge
of these waters,
we don't have to wait long
for our first sighting.
[Ray]
Here we go, here we go.
[Ray]
And again. [Chuckles]
We've spotted a mother whale
with a very young calf...
Just three months old.
[Wally]
That's Mum.
That's Mum, yeah.
What a lovely sight.
Humpbacks get their name
from the raised hump of the dorsal fin
and because they arch their backs
when they dive.
[chuckles]
That's amazing.
So tell me what's special
about Hervey Bay.
Well, Hervey Bay is an absolutely unique
location for humpback whales.
Mature females discovered this area
and realized it was a perfect location to
bring their slightly older calves, right?
But when they start traveling
is when they begin coming in here.
This sheltered bay makes
the perfect location for swimming lessons.
What a privileged view we've got.
Humpbacks are the show-offs
of the whale kingdom.
Oh, she's really playful.
Look at that.
The clowns who love messing around
at the surface of the water.
This young female calf
is enjoying practicing important skills
like breaching, tail lobbing
and pectoral slapping...
Which she'll need on her long journey
to Antarctica.
[Wally]
That's very typical calf play, this.
[Ray]
That's amazing.
♪♪
She's on her back doing this.
[imitating water splashing]
You can clearly see the lumps,
the tubercles
on the leading edge there
of the pectoral fins.
Amazing.
Very distinctive, aren't they?
Easy to identify because
of the length of the pectoral fins.
[Wally] They are the only whale
with pectoral fins
that are relatively the same length
of our arms to our bodies.
All the other whales and dolphins
have pectoral fins
- that are only about elbow length.
- Short, yes.
Why do they pectoral slap like that,
Wally? Are they using it to communicate?
There's a belief that the pec slapping
has a communication function.
Uh, there's a view that the pec slapping
gives other whales
an indication of their presence.
May be a way for a female
to call in males, they say.
But with the mums and calves...
Very likely she's in the process
of training the calf how to do it.
Remember, the calves
have got to learn everything,
all the moves, all the whale moves
come from working with Mum.
So what happens is...
Whoa. That's nice.
[Ray] That's a great breach.
Wasn't that beautiful?
[Wally] It's all about this young whale
getting full control of its body...
Coordination of its movements
and also learning the moves.
I mean, that breach
could save its life one day.
This calf will be extremely vulnerable
on her very first migration.
She could fall prey to sharks
or killer whales,
or even die of exhaustion.
These lessons are vital to her survival.
[Wally] This is the kindergarten,
the junior school
and the high school
of humpback whales.
Now when they leave here, they have
to make their first trip to Antarctica
and get safely back
and that's university.
So by the end of their first year,
these young whales
have done all the study they need to do
to live safely
for the rest of their lives
as a humpback whale.
[Ray]
That's a really nice way of putting it.
[Wally]
That looks like another fluke up dive.
[Ray]
Hey! [Laughs]
That's great.
[Ray]
You love them, don't you?
[Wally] We absolutely love these whales
and I can see we'll be devoting
the rest of our lives to continuing
to study them
and to be a voice on their behalf
as best we can.
[laughs]
That's great.
Watching such a young calf
master her whale moves
has been a unique experience for me.
It's like seeing a toddler
take its first steps
and that's a very special moment
to witness.
- Welcome aboard, Ray.
- Thank you.
It's been an inspiring day,
but my journey has only just begun
as I head out
to the Great Barrier Reef itself.
The Great Barrier Reef
is actually a long string of islands
and submerged reefs
stretching for nearly 2,500 kilometers.
I'm on my way to Lady Elliot Island,
a typical coral cay island
at the southernmost tip of the reef.
[Ray]
What an incredible view.
Well, I hope your brakes work
because otherwise
we'll run off that runway
into the sea.
[pilot laughs]
Lady Elliot first appeared
above sea level 3,500 years ago.
Like all coral cay islands,
it's made out of dead coral, shingle
and sand that's built up very slowly
on the reef below.
And I can't wait to get underwater
to see the marine life that thrives here.
The dive team have brought me out to one
of the main dive sites close to the shore.
So here goes.
♪♪
The Great Barrier Reef
is one of the most complex
and diverse ecosystems on the planet.
It's like an underwater city
that never sleeps-
with over 12,000 species of marine life
coming and going.
Like this green turtle.
These giant creatures can weigh
as much as 380 kilograms...
That's heavier than
a Harley Davidson motorbike...
Yet they're so graceful in the water
and can swim up to 20 miles per hour.
They have a large shell called a carapace
and a beak-like mouth
with which they crush their food...
Although they mainly eat
sea grass and algae.
The corals beneath me
are living creatures...
Part of the jelly fish family...
And they've attached themselves
to submerged rocks
around the perimeter of the island.
There are more than 350 known species
of corals on the Great Barrier Reef.
These are beautiful staghorn corals.
You can tell them
by their tree-like branches.
And these are big-eyed trevally fish.
There must be over 1,500
in this slow-moving school.
But there's one fish that I really want
to see... the manta ray...
One of the largest
and most beautiful of all
and Lady Elliot is one of the best places
in the world to see them.
And there it is.
What an elegant swimmer...
As it glides away from me.
Amazing.
That is such a healthy reef.
There's so much more life
in those coral heads; it's incredible.
You know, so much of the world today,
you get the effects of El Niño,
dynamite fishing, pollution
and even of over-diving.
To go down on a reef
with the coral heads
in such pristine condition,
it reminds me of diving 20 years ago
when you used to see these coral heads
full of baby fish.
It's exactly how a reef should look.
It's wonderful.
There are turtles and manta rays...
It's astonishing.
Brilliant. It's an amazing way
to see to the marine world.
Oh, that was incredible.
But that brief glimpse of a manta ray
has made me eager for a closer look.
♪♪
We get word on the radio
that a large number of manta rays
are feeding
offshore from the lighthouse,
so we speed over.
Yeah, there's like five over here,
right here.
Perfect.
The great thing
about exploring marine wildlife
is it's very unpredictable.
You never know what
you're going to bump into.
So far I've only glimpsed a manta ray
on one of the dives,
but now they're feeding near the surface
so there's a great opportunity
to snorkel with them
and when you're snorkeling,
you're not producing bubbles.
That makes you less scary
to the mantas
and gives us much better opportunity
to get close.
So fingers crossed.
Marine biologist Maggie McNeil
is going to be snorkeling with me.
They're just in front of you there.
Chase them.
Manta rays
are the gentle giants of the reef.
They're not aggressive
and don't have a stinging barb.
They also have the largest
brain-to-body size of any living fish.
I can't believe how close I'm able to get
and as a manta ray dives underneath me,
I follow it down.
I have to go back to the surface
to breathe,
but this manta ray seems curious
and comes back to have a look at me.
Manta rays are known to be inquisitive
and often interact with divers.
These huge fish have a wingspan
from tip to tip of up to seven meters,
but they're feeding on
the ocean's smallest creatures;
microscopic zooplankton.
I'm in the middle of a feeding frenzy
as large numbers of manta rays
have gathered here to feast.
They hold their giant mouths open
and use their front lobes
to funnel the plankton inside.
This is known as ram feeding
when the manta swims against the current
with an open mouth.
It's an extraordinary sight.
[boat crew talking indistinctly]
[man] Yeah, well, if Maggie goes one way
and I go the other...
I'll just stay on this side.
[Ray] Well, Maggie, that was amazing.
What an incredible snorkel that was.
[Maggie]
Absolutely amazing, wasn't it?
It is quite unique to see them
in big groups like that
but if there's lots of food around,
you will see that happening.
It was amazing because at one point
I went down and followed one
and as I came up,
I was surrounded by manta rays.
[Maggie] Yeah, everywhere you look,
they're all around you.
[Ray]
There's a real sense of an intelligence,
that there's a brain functioning.
How large is their brain?
[Maggie] Their brain is comparable
to a marine mammal in its size
so incredibly intelligent animals
and you will see them interact
with snorkelers and divers.
We've had ones which have come in
which have had a hook
or a bit of line attached to them
and they'll hang around the diver
and they'll actually let the diver
remove all that line
and that hook from their body
and then they seem to hang around
as if to show thanks.
- [Ray] That's amazing.
- [Maggie] Yeah.
I mean, it really is one
of those moments when you feel like
you're meeting
another sentient being of the sea.
[Maggie]
Yep. You can really connect with them.
You can see them looking at you,
and they're really really intelligent.
[Ray] Amazing.
They're beautiful creatures.
But it's not just the marine life
that depends on the reef.
This island really belongs to the birds.
They're everywhere.
[squawking]
The noise is deafening.
[squawking]
Isolated islands like Lady Elliot
make the perfect nesting ground
for seabirds.
Over 200 species of birds
are found on the Great Barrier Reef
and many of them nest here, like this
chick of the rare red-tailed tropicbird.
And these bridled terns
and sooty oyster catchers.
Birds play a major role
in the development
of a coral cay island like this one.
In fact, you could say
that their droppings or guano
is the most valuable commodity
on the island.
You can see here that the island
is comprised of dead coral
and that is a very unpromising ground
for plants to take hold in.
It takes real specialists
to take a toehold here.
Plants like this,
this is the Octopus bush.
It gets its name from
that strange-shaped flower stalk there.
Now, Octopus bushes can cope not only
with the difficult soil conditions
but also with the salt atmosphere here
and that also provides a habitat for birds
and the guano from those birds combined
with the leaf mold from these bushes
is the beginnings of a soil
that other plants will exploit later on.
[squawking]
[laughs]
Shh, shh, shh.
This is a black noddy
and you can see the nest
is literally just leaves glued together
with guano.
Precarious.
Noddies are so named because they nod
their heads repeatedly while courting.
Seeing so many trees, it's hard
to believe that in the 19th century
this island's vegetation
was virtually destroyed
by miners digging for bird droppings
or guano
which was prized as a fertilizer
and used in gunpowder.
Over the last ten years,
a team of passionate conservationists
have been restoring the island's trees.
I'm playing a small part in the work
by helping my dive buddy...
Marine biologist Maggie McNeil...
Plant a Pisonia tree.
And this is one of the worst soils
I've ever dug up. It's like concrete.
So all of these trees you're planting
come from cuttings
from your own nursery, don't they?
[Maggie]
Exactly, yes.
So they come from the original trees
that were here
and weren't removed from the island.
When the guano mining took place,
they took like two meters of soil off,
didn't they?
Yeah, almost two meters.
Now we're just
dealing with a lot of rock.
- Quite a challenge, isn't it?
- It is. It's not an easy job.
What is astonishing is how fast the trees
have started to regenerate.
Yeah, most definitely.
[Ray] And of course,
the trees create habitat for the birds
and the birds
bring their guano with them.
Exactly, so it all needs to work together
to make this unique place
that we have here.
And as you can see,
the noddies all around us are loving it.
I reckon we're almost there, Ray.
Hey, we're putting up
some more habitat for you.
[Maggie laughs]
[Ray]
I think they're supervising.
So this is a Pisonia.
Yeah. Tell me about the tree.
Why is it important on the island?
All those white cap noddies
really rely on trees to nest in
but also the leaf litter
is their favorite nesting material.
And then in return, they're spreading
the seeds that these trees produce.
So these ones here as they develop,
they actually become
really dark and sticky.
So with the birds
all nesting in through the trees,
they're gonna get
these seeds stuck to them.
They can transport them around the place,
but then also you might have seen
the birds doing a sunbathing behavior,
when they've got
their wings crossed over.
Because they're so sticky,
their wings do get stuck together
and what happens is that bird
can't fly, it can't feed.
And that's like
a little blood-and-bone packet
for that tree to then grow, so...
So because the sticky seeds glue
the bird's wings together, it dies.
Then its corpse provides all the
nutrients the Pisonia need to grow.
Nature does have a dark side sometimes.
It does, doesn't it?
[Maggie] It's one of those natural
processes that does need to happen.
One happy tree.
That's great. Twenty years' time...
- You'll be back?
- That'll be a tall tree.
- Yeah, it feels good, doesn't it?
- It does.
To do something like that.
[Maggie] Twenty years' time,
you'll be having
a whole heap of birds in it as well.
[Ray]
It's amazing.
[squawking]
The huge numbers of birds
already nesting on the island
stand in testimony to the success
of the conservation efforts
being made here.
The Great Barrier Reef is one
of the largest assemblies of wildlife
to be found on our planet.
It truly is one of the great
natural wonders of the world.
I'm encouraged by the care
being shown for this unique environment.
It gives me hope that the reef
will be preserved and protected
for future generations.
♪♪
It's one of my favorite places.
You know, sometimes it just feels amazing
to be alive in a wild place like this.
In this series, I'll be exploring six
of Australia's unique landscapes.
Join me as I travel through
spectacular tracts of wilderness,
from the red sands of the desert
to the tropical waters
of the Great Barrier Reef.
From the wetland flood plains...
He's big. Dangerous.
...to the dark heart of the rainforest...
It makes you feel very small
and insignificant
when you're standing
next to a buttress root like this.
...on the trail of the weird
and wonderful animals
found here and nowhere else...
That's a great breach.
Wasn't that beautiful?
For a naturalist, this is one
this is one of the most
inspirational places
to visit on our entire planet.
...as I set out on an epic adventure
into wild Australia.
Whoo-hoo!
[laughs]
[birds chirping]
In search of some of
the most unique animals in the world,
I'm flying over 9,000 miles to the
remote wilderness regions of Australia.
For anyone interested in nature,
stepping onto Australian soil
is like stepping into the shoes
of an 18th century naturalist.
Everything here is strange and different
and that's because this continent
has largely evolved in isolation.
And what a vast
and varied landscape it is too.
My first stop is at
the north-eastern edge of Queensland...
Where I'll be delving
into the coastal waters
that are home
to the largest living structure on earth...
The Great Barrier Reef.
It's a marine adventure that promises
humpback whales,
giant turtles and an abundance
of exotic fish and birds.
I'm starting on the mainland
in Hervey Bay.
It may look like a grey day in Cromer,
but the climate here
is warm all year round,
never dropping below
22 degrees Celsius.
I'm really looking forward to today.
We're heading out into Hervey Bay.
That's the harbor entrance here.
Up north of me
stretches the Great Barrier Reef
and over to my east,
that's Fraser Island.
That's the largest sand island
on the planet.
Fascinating place and that
actually provides protection to the bay
from the southern part
of the Pacific Ocean.
And as a consequence,
this sheltered area
is an extremely good place
to look for wildlife.
So it should be an exciting day.
♪♪
This is one of the best places
in the world to find humpback whales.
Every year these humpbacks make
an extraordinary 5,000-kilometer migration
from their tropical breeding area
north of here
to the feeding grounds in Antarctica.
It's the longest migration
made by any animal.
On this arduous journey,
the whales make just one stop
and that's here in Hervey Bay.
With me is whale expert Wally Franklin
who's been studying the whales
arriving here for over 25 years.
With whales, it became an interest,
turned into a passion
and became an obsession.
[both chuckle]
Well, I'm really glad that it has
because these animals need champions
because they can't speak for themselves.
Absolutely.
With Wally's expert knowledge
of these waters,
we don't have to wait long
for our first sighting.
[Ray]
Here we go, here we go.
[Ray]
And again. [Chuckles]
We've spotted a mother whale
with a very young calf...
Just three months old.
[Wally]
That's Mum.
That's Mum, yeah.
What a lovely sight.
Humpbacks get their name
from the raised hump of the dorsal fin
and because they arch their backs
when they dive.
[chuckles]
That's amazing.
So tell me what's special
about Hervey Bay.
Well, Hervey Bay is an absolutely unique
location for humpback whales.
Mature females discovered this area
and realized it was a perfect location to
bring their slightly older calves, right?
But when they start traveling
is when they begin coming in here.
This sheltered bay makes
the perfect location for swimming lessons.
What a privileged view we've got.
Humpbacks are the show-offs
of the whale kingdom.
Oh, she's really playful.
Look at that.
The clowns who love messing around
at the surface of the water.
This young female calf
is enjoying practicing important skills
like breaching, tail lobbing
and pectoral slapping...
Which she'll need on her long journey
to Antarctica.
[Wally]
That's very typical calf play, this.
[Ray]
That's amazing.
♪♪
She's on her back doing this.
[imitating water splashing]
You can clearly see the lumps,
the tubercles
on the leading edge there
of the pectoral fins.
Amazing.
Very distinctive, aren't they?
Easy to identify because
of the length of the pectoral fins.
[Wally] They are the only whale
with pectoral fins
that are relatively the same length
of our arms to our bodies.
All the other whales and dolphins
have pectoral fins
- that are only about elbow length.
- Short, yes.
Why do they pectoral slap like that,
Wally? Are they using it to communicate?
There's a belief that the pec slapping
has a communication function.
Uh, there's a view that the pec slapping
gives other whales
an indication of their presence.
May be a way for a female
to call in males, they say.
But with the mums and calves...
Very likely she's in the process
of training the calf how to do it.
Remember, the calves
have got to learn everything,
all the moves, all the whale moves
come from working with Mum.
So what happens is...
Whoa. That's nice.
[Ray] That's a great breach.
Wasn't that beautiful?
[Wally] It's all about this young whale
getting full control of its body...
Coordination of its movements
and also learning the moves.
I mean, that breach
could save its life one day.
This calf will be extremely vulnerable
on her very first migration.
She could fall prey to sharks
or killer whales,
or even die of exhaustion.
These lessons are vital to her survival.
[Wally] This is the kindergarten,
the junior school
and the high school
of humpback whales.
Now when they leave here, they have
to make their first trip to Antarctica
and get safely back
and that's university.
So by the end of their first year,
these young whales
have done all the study they need to do
to live safely
for the rest of their lives
as a humpback whale.
[Ray]
That's a really nice way of putting it.
[Wally]
That looks like another fluke up dive.
[Ray]
Hey! [Laughs]
That's great.
[Ray]
You love them, don't you?
[Wally] We absolutely love these whales
and I can see we'll be devoting
the rest of our lives to continuing
to study them
and to be a voice on their behalf
as best we can.
[laughs]
That's great.
Watching such a young calf
master her whale moves
has been a unique experience for me.
It's like seeing a toddler
take its first steps
and that's a very special moment
to witness.
- Welcome aboard, Ray.
- Thank you.
It's been an inspiring day,
but my journey has only just begun
as I head out
to the Great Barrier Reef itself.
The Great Barrier Reef
is actually a long string of islands
and submerged reefs
stretching for nearly 2,500 kilometers.
I'm on my way to Lady Elliot Island,
a typical coral cay island
at the southernmost tip of the reef.
[Ray]
What an incredible view.
Well, I hope your brakes work
because otherwise
we'll run off that runway
into the sea.
[pilot laughs]
Lady Elliot first appeared
above sea level 3,500 years ago.
Like all coral cay islands,
it's made out of dead coral, shingle
and sand that's built up very slowly
on the reef below.
And I can't wait to get underwater
to see the marine life that thrives here.
The dive team have brought me out to one
of the main dive sites close to the shore.
So here goes.
♪♪
The Great Barrier Reef
is one of the most complex
and diverse ecosystems on the planet.
It's like an underwater city
that never sleeps-
with over 12,000 species of marine life
coming and going.
Like this green turtle.
These giant creatures can weigh
as much as 380 kilograms...
That's heavier than
a Harley Davidson motorbike...
Yet they're so graceful in the water
and can swim up to 20 miles per hour.
They have a large shell called a carapace
and a beak-like mouth
with which they crush their food...
Although they mainly eat
sea grass and algae.
The corals beneath me
are living creatures...
Part of the jelly fish family...
And they've attached themselves
to submerged rocks
around the perimeter of the island.
There are more than 350 known species
of corals on the Great Barrier Reef.
These are beautiful staghorn corals.
You can tell them
by their tree-like branches.
And these are big-eyed trevally fish.
There must be over 1,500
in this slow-moving school.
But there's one fish that I really want
to see... the manta ray...
One of the largest
and most beautiful of all
and Lady Elliot is one of the best places
in the world to see them.
And there it is.
What an elegant swimmer...
As it glides away from me.
Amazing.
That is such a healthy reef.
There's so much more life
in those coral heads; it's incredible.
You know, so much of the world today,
you get the effects of El Niño,
dynamite fishing, pollution
and even of over-diving.
To go down on a reef
with the coral heads
in such pristine condition,
it reminds me of diving 20 years ago
when you used to see these coral heads
full of baby fish.
It's exactly how a reef should look.
It's wonderful.
There are turtles and manta rays...
It's astonishing.
Brilliant. It's an amazing way
to see to the marine world.
Oh, that was incredible.
But that brief glimpse of a manta ray
has made me eager for a closer look.
♪♪
We get word on the radio
that a large number of manta rays
are feeding
offshore from the lighthouse,
so we speed over.
Yeah, there's like five over here,
right here.
Perfect.
The great thing
about exploring marine wildlife
is it's very unpredictable.
You never know what
you're going to bump into.
So far I've only glimpsed a manta ray
on one of the dives,
but now they're feeding near the surface
so there's a great opportunity
to snorkel with them
and when you're snorkeling,
you're not producing bubbles.
That makes you less scary
to the mantas
and gives us much better opportunity
to get close.
So fingers crossed.
Marine biologist Maggie McNeil
is going to be snorkeling with me.
They're just in front of you there.
Chase them.
Manta rays
are the gentle giants of the reef.
They're not aggressive
and don't have a stinging barb.
They also have the largest
brain-to-body size of any living fish.
I can't believe how close I'm able to get
and as a manta ray dives underneath me,
I follow it down.
I have to go back to the surface
to breathe,
but this manta ray seems curious
and comes back to have a look at me.
Manta rays are known to be inquisitive
and often interact with divers.
These huge fish have a wingspan
from tip to tip of up to seven meters,
but they're feeding on
the ocean's smallest creatures;
microscopic zooplankton.
I'm in the middle of a feeding frenzy
as large numbers of manta rays
have gathered here to feast.
They hold their giant mouths open
and use their front lobes
to funnel the plankton inside.
This is known as ram feeding
when the manta swims against the current
with an open mouth.
It's an extraordinary sight.
[boat crew talking indistinctly]
[man] Yeah, well, if Maggie goes one way
and I go the other...
I'll just stay on this side.
[Ray] Well, Maggie, that was amazing.
What an incredible snorkel that was.
[Maggie]
Absolutely amazing, wasn't it?
It is quite unique to see them
in big groups like that
but if there's lots of food around,
you will see that happening.
It was amazing because at one point
I went down and followed one
and as I came up,
I was surrounded by manta rays.
[Maggie] Yeah, everywhere you look,
they're all around you.
[Ray]
There's a real sense of an intelligence,
that there's a brain functioning.
How large is their brain?
[Maggie] Their brain is comparable
to a marine mammal in its size
so incredibly intelligent animals
and you will see them interact
with snorkelers and divers.
We've had ones which have come in
which have had a hook
or a bit of line attached to them
and they'll hang around the diver
and they'll actually let the diver
remove all that line
and that hook from their body
and then they seem to hang around
as if to show thanks.
- [Ray] That's amazing.
- [Maggie] Yeah.
I mean, it really is one
of those moments when you feel like
you're meeting
another sentient being of the sea.
[Maggie]
Yep. You can really connect with them.
You can see them looking at you,
and they're really really intelligent.
[Ray] Amazing.
They're beautiful creatures.
But it's not just the marine life
that depends on the reef.
This island really belongs to the birds.
They're everywhere.
[squawking]
The noise is deafening.
[squawking]
Isolated islands like Lady Elliot
make the perfect nesting ground
for seabirds.
Over 200 species of birds
are found on the Great Barrier Reef
and many of them nest here, like this
chick of the rare red-tailed tropicbird.
And these bridled terns
and sooty oyster catchers.
Birds play a major role
in the development
of a coral cay island like this one.
In fact, you could say
that their droppings or guano
is the most valuable commodity
on the island.
You can see here that the island
is comprised of dead coral
and that is a very unpromising ground
for plants to take hold in.
It takes real specialists
to take a toehold here.
Plants like this,
this is the Octopus bush.
It gets its name from
that strange-shaped flower stalk there.
Now, Octopus bushes can cope not only
with the difficult soil conditions
but also with the salt atmosphere here
and that also provides a habitat for birds
and the guano from those birds combined
with the leaf mold from these bushes
is the beginnings of a soil
that other plants will exploit later on.
[squawking]
[laughs]
Shh, shh, shh.
This is a black noddy
and you can see the nest
is literally just leaves glued together
with guano.
Precarious.
Noddies are so named because they nod
their heads repeatedly while courting.
Seeing so many trees, it's hard
to believe that in the 19th century
this island's vegetation
was virtually destroyed
by miners digging for bird droppings
or guano
which was prized as a fertilizer
and used in gunpowder.
Over the last ten years,
a team of passionate conservationists
have been restoring the island's trees.
I'm playing a small part in the work
by helping my dive buddy...
Marine biologist Maggie McNeil...
Plant a Pisonia tree.
And this is one of the worst soils
I've ever dug up. It's like concrete.
So all of these trees you're planting
come from cuttings
from your own nursery, don't they?
[Maggie]
Exactly, yes.
So they come from the original trees
that were here
and weren't removed from the island.
When the guano mining took place,
they took like two meters of soil off,
didn't they?
Yeah, almost two meters.
Now we're just
dealing with a lot of rock.
- Quite a challenge, isn't it?
- It is. It's not an easy job.
What is astonishing is how fast the trees
have started to regenerate.
Yeah, most definitely.
[Ray] And of course,
the trees create habitat for the birds
and the birds
bring their guano with them.
Exactly, so it all needs to work together
to make this unique place
that we have here.
And as you can see,
the noddies all around us are loving it.
I reckon we're almost there, Ray.
Hey, we're putting up
some more habitat for you.
[Maggie laughs]
[Ray]
I think they're supervising.
So this is a Pisonia.
Yeah. Tell me about the tree.
Why is it important on the island?
All those white cap noddies
really rely on trees to nest in
but also the leaf litter
is their favorite nesting material.
And then in return, they're spreading
the seeds that these trees produce.
So these ones here as they develop,
they actually become
really dark and sticky.
So with the birds
all nesting in through the trees,
they're gonna get
these seeds stuck to them.
They can transport them around the place,
but then also you might have seen
the birds doing a sunbathing behavior,
when they've got
their wings crossed over.
Because they're so sticky,
their wings do get stuck together
and what happens is that bird
can't fly, it can't feed.
And that's like
a little blood-and-bone packet
for that tree to then grow, so...
So because the sticky seeds glue
the bird's wings together, it dies.
Then its corpse provides all the
nutrients the Pisonia need to grow.
Nature does have a dark side sometimes.
It does, doesn't it?
[Maggie] It's one of those natural
processes that does need to happen.
One happy tree.
That's great. Twenty years' time...
- You'll be back?
- That'll be a tall tree.
- Yeah, it feels good, doesn't it?
- It does.
To do something like that.
[Maggie] Twenty years' time,
you'll be having
a whole heap of birds in it as well.
[Ray]
It's amazing.
[squawking]
The huge numbers of birds
already nesting on the island
stand in testimony to the success
of the conservation efforts
being made here.
The Great Barrier Reef is one
of the largest assemblies of wildlife
to be found on our planet.
It truly is one of the great
natural wonders of the world.
I'm encouraged by the care
being shown for this unique environment.
It gives me hope that the reef
will be preserved and protected
for future generations.
♪♪