1
00:00:01,100 --> 00:00:04,366
♪ ♪

2
00:00:05,533 --> 00:00:07,909
{\an8}♪ ♪

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00:00:07,933 --> 00:00:10,209
{\an8}SCOTT BURNETT:
It might look dull
and smell disgusting,

4
00:00:10,233 --> 00:00:13,009
{\an1}but when you know how
to read it,

5
00:00:13,033 --> 00:00:14,576
{\an7}poop is the oracle of knowledge.

6
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,676
{\an7}Ecologists like me call it scat,
and we're passionate about it.

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00:00:18,700 --> 00:00:22,366
{\an1}Just imagine the size of the bum
that this dropped out of.

8
00:00:23,766 --> 00:00:27,376
{\an7}The world is full of fabulous
feces stories,

9
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,142
{\an1}like the mystery of the
Australian wombat

10
00:00:29,166 --> 00:00:31,200
{\an1}and its cube-shaped poop.

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PATRICIA YANG:
How would a square come out of

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00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:36,176
a round hole?
That's the big question.

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00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,642
(whale moans)

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BURNETT:
Or the tale told by DNA

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00:00:39,566 --> 00:00:41,942
in blue whale scat.

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{\an1}And what's really cool is,
we've kind of figured that out

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00:00:45,366 --> 00:00:46,642
{\an1}by digging through their poop.

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BURNETT:
Even in tiny krill,

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we're discovering
the real power of poop.

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00:00:51,166 --> 00:00:53,442
SO KAWAGUCHI:
For me, it's the most important

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{\an1}animal on the planet.

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BURNETT:
There's always a new mystery
to be solved.

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{\an1}"Secrets in the Scat."

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00:01:01,900 --> 00:01:03,876
{\an1}Right now, on "NOVA."

25
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♪ ♪

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00:01:25,766 --> 00:01:30,566
♪ ♪

27
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BURNETT:
My name is Scott Burnett.

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{\an1}They call me Scat Man.

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{\an1}When I was young, I wanted to be
a wildlife tracker,

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{\an1}looking for secret traces
that would lead me

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{\an1}to extraordinary creatures
in the vast Australian bush.

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00:01:45,733 --> 00:01:49,542
My dream came true:
today, I'm an ecologist.

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{\an1}And I use scats to tell
the stories of species.

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{\an1}I look for clues in poos,

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facts in feces.

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00:01:55,566 --> 00:01:57,809
I know my (bleep).

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{\an8}♪ ♪

38
00:02:00,933 --> 00:02:04,042
{\an7}Scat is a gold mine of
information.

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{\an1}It illuminates the role of poop
in the health of ecosystems

40
00:02:08,933 --> 00:02:11,800
{\an1}and how animals communicate.

41
00:02:13,100 --> 00:02:15,076
It holds the secrets
of wildlife behavior

42
00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:19,709
{\an1}and can even help to save
species from extinction.

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00:02:19,733 --> 00:02:23,376
{\an1}All of this we can learn
without invading their privacy.

44
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{\an7}That's why scat science
is real science.

45
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♪ ♪

46
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{\an1}Join me on a journey where few
people have dared to tread,

47
00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,309
looking for scats,
unraveling their secrets,

48
00:02:37,333 --> 00:02:40,976
{\an7}and meeting other scientists
with a passion for poop.

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♪ ♪

50
00:02:53,100 --> 00:02:59,042
{\an8}♪ ♪

51
00:02:59,066 --> 00:03:02,309
{\an1}This scat tale begins in one of
the oldest rain forests

52
00:03:02,333 --> 00:03:03,876
in the world.

53
00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:07,376
{\an1}I'm here to investigate
a spectacular dropping.

54
00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,976
It may hold clues
to why these forests

55
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,676
{\an1}remain so diverse and resilient
over time.

56
00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:16,900
{\an1}It comes from the bottom
of an imposing bird.

57
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{\an1}The southern cassowary.

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♪ ♪

59
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{\an1}The cassowary is flightless,
like the emu and the ostrich.

60
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{\an7}Its wings may be useless
for liftoff,

61
00:03:35,533 --> 00:03:38,809
{\an1}but powerful legs can propel
the bird into the air

62
00:03:38,833 --> 00:03:41,409
{\an1}to reach overhead fruit.

63
00:03:41,433 --> 00:03:44,442
{\an1}This taste for the bounty of the
rain forest is the beginning

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{\an1}of a beautiful story.

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00:03:51,333 --> 00:03:55,076
{\an1}A story that can only
be revealed if we stop

66
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{\an1}and take the time to read
its scat.

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00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:02,042
{\an1}Well, thanks so much.
Yeah. Good luck, all right?

68
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{\an1}Cheers. Ta.

69
00:04:04,566 --> 00:04:08,600
♪ ♪

70
00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,342
(voiceover):
You can sometimes hear and feel

71
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{\an1}the cassowary's deep, booming
call before you see one.

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00:04:20,333 --> 00:04:23,709
(cassowary rumbling)

73
00:04:23,733 --> 00:04:25,609
{\an1}The low frequency may help them
communicate

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00:04:25,633 --> 00:04:29,642
through these dense
tropical forests.

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00:04:29,666 --> 00:04:34,400
♪ ♪

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00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:38,276
(grunts)

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00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:44,509
{\an1}You have to be careful; you have
to really respect these birds.

78
00:04:44,533 --> 00:04:46,409
{\an1}You never know when you're going
to run into one

79
00:04:46,433 --> 00:04:48,876
{\an1}when you're following
their tracks.

80
00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:52,266
{\an1}They do have the potential to
inflict considerable harm.

81
00:04:54,566 --> 00:04:58,109
{\an1}Ah, here's his trail here.

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00:04:58,133 --> 00:04:59,966
{\an1}Whoa.

83
00:05:02,633 --> 00:05:04,842
{\an7}You can see the cassowary's
come through

84
00:05:04,866 --> 00:05:07,109
{\an7}the creek here, and there
are these beautiful footprints

85
00:05:07,133 --> 00:05:08,176
{\an7}in the soft mud.

86
00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,342
{\an7}It's quite slippery.

87
00:05:11,366 --> 00:05:12,376
{\an7}And he's come through...

88
00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:14,709
{\an7}This one, they look just like

89
00:05:14,733 --> 00:05:17,476
{\an7}little dinosaur footprints,
don't they?

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00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:19,876
♪ ♪

91
00:05:19,900 --> 00:05:22,809
(voiceover):
The tracks should lead me
to fresh scat.

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{\an1}But first, they deliver
a rare encounter.

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00:05:27,266 --> 00:05:32,233
♪ ♪

94
00:05:37,966 --> 00:05:41,542
{\an1}The first time you come across a
cassowary in the forest on foot

95
00:05:41,566 --> 00:05:44,842
{\an1}is a really intimidating
experience.

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00:05:44,866 --> 00:05:48,876
{\an7}This animal is virtually looking
at you eye-to-eye.

97
00:05:48,900 --> 00:05:51,866
{\an7}And it has these massive talons
which it uses in defense.

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00:05:53,300 --> 00:05:56,009
{\an7}Looking at a cassowary,
you can see straight back

99
00:05:56,033 --> 00:05:59,676
{\an7}into the dinosaur heritage
of all our birds.

100
00:05:59,700 --> 00:06:02,509
{\an7}It's very hard to escape the
feeling that you're interacting

101
00:06:02,533 --> 00:06:07,676
{\an7}with something not too far
removed from a velociraptor.

102
00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:12,366
{\an8}♪ ♪

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00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:25,709
{\an8}So that male cassowary

104
00:06:25,733 --> 00:06:30,009
{\an8}just dropped this scat
before my eyes moments ago, so

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00:06:30,033 --> 00:06:33,676
{\an7}you can still feel the warmth
coming off that,

106
00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:37,209
{\an7}and it's chockers full of
rain forest fruits.

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{\an7}And there's this beautiful
big cassowary plum seed,

108
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{\an7}and this is really significant.

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00:06:44,100 --> 00:06:47,842
{\an8}(voiceover):
Because cassowaries
and cassowary plums

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{\an8}have a mutually
beneficial relationship.

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{\an8}The fruit is large
and poisonous,

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00:06:52,566 --> 00:06:54,409
{\an7}which limits the number
of species

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00:06:54,433 --> 00:06:56,466
{\an7}that can disperse its seeds.

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{\an1}The cassowary is the only animal
in these forests

115
00:07:01,266 --> 00:07:04,933
{\an1}that can swallow this fruit
whole.

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00:07:10,233 --> 00:07:13,542
{\an1}The fruit passes through
the cassowary's gut so fast

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00:07:13,566 --> 00:07:17,209
{\an1}that only a small portion
of the toxins are absorbed.

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00:07:17,233 --> 00:07:19,542
{\an1}And when the intact seed
comes out the other end,

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{\an7}it will sprout in a matrix
of ready-made fertilizer

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{\an7}at a distance from the
parent tree.

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{\an1}The plant gets its seeds
dispersed

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{\an1}and the cassowary gets to eat...

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00:07:31,033 --> 00:07:35,842
{\an1}a fruitful relationship if ever
there was one.

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{\an1}The cassowary disperses
the seeds of around 238 plants.

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00:07:41,733 --> 00:07:43,076
{\an1}But just how effective

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{\an1}is the big bird to the health
of these precious forests?

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♪ ♪

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00:07:50,133 --> 00:07:54,309
{\an1}After the rainy season,
I'll return to the Wet Tropics

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00:07:54,333 --> 00:07:58,476
{\an1}to take part in an experiment
designed to find out.

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00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:01,876
{\an1}It involves a much closer look
at cassowary scat,

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00:08:01,900 --> 00:08:05,476
{\an1}which is right up my alley.

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00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:08,600
♪ ♪

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{\an7}Scats are splendid things,

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{\an1}filled with fabulous facts.

135
00:08:18,833 --> 00:08:21,076
{\an1}From them, we can identify
species...

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00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:23,109
(animal shrieking)

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00:08:23,133 --> 00:08:25,433
{\an1}...and their most recent meals.

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00:08:27,133 --> 00:08:30,709
And once in a while,
a scat comes along that elevates

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00:08:30,733 --> 00:08:33,342
{\an1}poop science to another level.

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00:08:33,366 --> 00:08:36,476
{\an1}Introducing the cube,

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00:08:36,500 --> 00:08:38,309
{\an1}the only six-sided scat
in nature,

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{\an1}an exceptional excrement,

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{\an1}direct from the bottom
of the common wombat.

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00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,276
{\an1}Wombats are Australian
marsupials.

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{\an1}They graze continuously.

146
00:08:51,300 --> 00:08:54,809
{\an1}It can take up to two weeks
for them to digest their food.

147
00:08:54,833 --> 00:08:58,709
{\an1}The process squeezes out
every last drop of water,

148
00:08:58,733 --> 00:09:02,142
{\an1}a good strategy in Australia's
harsh climate.

149
00:09:02,166 --> 00:09:08,442
{\an1}But that doesn't explain how, or
why, the end result is a cube.

150
00:09:08,466 --> 00:09:12,742
♪ ♪

151
00:09:12,766 --> 00:09:15,776
{\an1}The first serious research into
this mysterious scat

152
00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,576
{\an1}happened independently
in the U.S. and here in Tasmania

153
00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,809
{\an1}around the same time.

154
00:09:21,833 --> 00:09:26,676
{\an7}It seemed the scats had aligned.

155
00:09:26,700 --> 00:09:30,342
{\an1}I'm here to see the result
of that research.

156
00:09:30,366 --> 00:09:34,042
{\an1}My scat investigations usually
begin once the

157
00:09:34,066 --> 00:09:36,642
{\an1}(bleep) hits the ground.

158
00:09:36,666 --> 00:09:40,409
♪ ♪

159
00:09:40,433 --> 00:09:44,309
{\an1}In this case, I need to know
what goes on behind the scenes.

160
00:09:44,333 --> 00:09:49,009
♪ ♪

161
00:09:49,033 --> 00:09:50,942
Like many scientific
breakthroughs,

162
00:09:50,966 --> 00:09:56,076
{\an1}the investigation into this
mystery started accidentally,

163
00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:58,642
{\an1}here, inside the laboratory
of Scott Carver.

164
00:09:58,666 --> 00:10:00,642
{\an1}G'day, Scott, how ya goin'?
G'day.

165
00:10:00,666 --> 00:10:05,209
Good to see ya, come on in.

166
00:10:05,233 --> 00:10:06,942
{\an1}BURNETT:
There she is.

167
00:10:06,966 --> 00:10:08,576
CARVER:
Yeah, she is.

168
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:09,676
{\an1}Oh, look at her.

169
00:10:09,700 --> 00:10:11,209
{\an1}Yeah, she's a female adult,

170
00:10:11,233 --> 00:10:13,309
{\an1}would have been hit by a car.

171
00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:14,876
Just pop her down here.

172
00:10:14,900 --> 00:10:18,042
CARVER (voiceover):
I study infectious diseases
of wildlife,

173
00:10:18,066 --> 00:10:20,542
{\an7}and as part of that work, we've
been dissecting some wombats

174
00:10:20,566 --> 00:10:23,642
{\an8}that are either,
had disease and died

175
00:10:23,666 --> 00:10:25,676
{\an7}or had been hit by a car
and died.

176
00:10:25,700 --> 00:10:28,442
{\an7}And we were doing some of these
dissections.

177
00:10:28,466 --> 00:10:30,009
{\an8}And to our surprise,

178
00:10:30,033 --> 00:10:32,376
{\an1}for the first time, we actually
discovered that they have these

179
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,109
{\an1}cubes formed inside of
their body.

180
00:10:35,133 --> 00:10:37,042
CARVER:
So it was just a situation
just like this,

181
00:10:37,066 --> 00:10:40,442
{\an1}where we discovered that the
feces were formed into cubes in

182
00:10:40,466 --> 00:10:41,542
the last part of the intestine.

183
00:10:41,566 --> 00:10:45,142
{\an1}And so before your work
on this topic,

184
00:10:45,166 --> 00:10:47,409
{\an1}there were a few competing
hypotheses about where that

185
00:10:47,433 --> 00:10:50,209
{\an1}cubed shape of the wombat scats
comes from.

186
00:10:50,233 --> 00:10:54,009
{\an1}Yeah, one of them was that they
had a square-shaped anus.

187
00:10:54,033 --> 00:10:59,509
{\an7}So that bum doesn't look too
square-shaped, does it?

188
00:10:59,533 --> 00:11:01,900
{\an8}No, it's not square-shaped
at all.

189
00:11:03,700 --> 00:11:05,809
BURNETT (voiceover):
Further confirmation came
when they performed

190
00:11:05,833 --> 00:11:09,066
{\an1}the first ever CT scan
on a live wombat.

191
00:11:12,100 --> 00:11:14,466
That's not a square.

192
00:11:16,766 --> 00:11:18,209
CARVER:
So we're just gonna start here

193
00:11:18,233 --> 00:11:19,776
below the rib cage

194
00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:21,376
and just cut a line down

195
00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:26,542
{\an7}and finish straight down here
and reveal the intestines.

196
00:11:26,566 --> 00:11:28,409
{\an7}Now if you peel this back here a
little bit, we can actually see

197
00:11:28,433 --> 00:11:30,709
{\an8}some of these cubes
starting to form.

198
00:11:30,733 --> 00:11:33,542
{\an7}Yeah, it's amazing.
Yeah, it certainly is.

199
00:11:33,566 --> 00:11:36,809
{\an8}Yeah, you can really see
the cubes here.

200
00:11:36,833 --> 00:11:38,709
{\an1}Mm, they're really well-defined,
aren't they?

201
00:11:38,733 --> 00:11:40,176
Yeah, really clearly defined.

202
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,342
{\an1}Really sharp edges
along those corners...

203
00:11:42,366 --> 00:11:44,709
♪ ♪

204
00:11:44,733 --> 00:11:46,476
CARVER (voiceover):
So we started collecting
some of the tissues

205
00:11:46,500 --> 00:11:49,842
{\an1}from these intestines
to look at the thickness.

206
00:11:49,866 --> 00:11:51,009
At the same time,

207
00:11:51,033 --> 00:11:54,076
{\an1}we had some colleagues in the
U.S. contact us,

208
00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:57,276
{\an1}and they study the fluid
mechanics of many things,

209
00:11:57,300 --> 00:11:59,276
{\an1}including how feces are formed.

210
00:11:59,300 --> 00:12:01,242
{\an1}And, and they were interested in
this

211
00:12:01,266 --> 00:12:04,876
{\an1}when somebody pointed out that
wombats can produce cubes

212
00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:06,066
during a conference.

213
00:12:07,466 --> 00:12:09,776
BURNETT:
One of the scientists on the
U.S. team was Patricia Yang,

214
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:15,576
{\an1}based at Georgia Tech, an expert
on the physics of feces.

215
00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,509
{\an1}She thought she knew everything
about poop,

216
00:12:18,533 --> 00:12:21,742
until she was faced
with the cube.

217
00:12:21,766 --> 00:12:26,009
{\an7}So I did some online search,
and a lot of images or photos

218
00:12:26,033 --> 00:12:28,276
{\an7}come up, and those are...

219
00:12:28,300 --> 00:12:33,009
{\an8}For, for my eyes,
it looks very artificial.

220
00:12:33,033 --> 00:12:36,042
{\an1}And that increased the doubt
even more, like,

221
00:12:36,066 --> 00:12:39,842
{\an1}is that even a real thing
comes out from animal body?

222
00:12:39,866 --> 00:12:41,376
{\an1}But I just couldn't believe it,

223
00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,742
{\an1}because that is way too weird
from my knowledge of feces.

224
00:12:45,766 --> 00:12:48,966
{\an1}And that triggered my curiosity.

225
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:56,042
{\an1}I was thinking, if, for normal
defecation process

226
00:12:56,066 --> 00:12:58,876
for most mammals,
including humans,

227
00:12:58,900 --> 00:13:01,676
{\an7}the feces come out like
a toothpaste coming out.

228
00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:03,842
{\an7}So when you squeeze it,

229
00:13:03,866 --> 00:13:06,409
{\an7}the shape of feces is the same
as the, the orifice,

230
00:13:06,433 --> 00:13:09,842
{\an7}and this sort of soft matter
comes out slowly

231
00:13:09,866 --> 00:13:13,642
{\an7}but smoothly, as a sausage.

232
00:13:13,666 --> 00:13:17,142
{\an7}But how would wombat have this
cubicle shape?

233
00:13:17,166 --> 00:13:19,209
♪ ♪

234
00:13:19,233 --> 00:13:21,876
{\an1}Our hypothesis is that
it must be the intestine

235
00:13:21,900 --> 00:13:24,242
{\an1}that molded this shape.

236
00:13:24,266 --> 00:13:26,009
{\an1}There might be something
that's critical

237
00:13:26,033 --> 00:13:29,042
{\an1}but invisible to our eyes, and
we're going to figure this out.

238
00:13:29,066 --> 00:13:33,809
CARVER:
The logical next thing to do
for us was to examine

239
00:13:33,833 --> 00:13:37,576
{\an1}microscopically what the tissues
looked like.

240
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,909
{\an1}We found thicker and thinner
muscle

241
00:13:39,933 --> 00:13:42,442
{\an1}around that circumference,

242
00:13:42,466 --> 00:13:45,142
and along the length
of the intestine,

243
00:13:45,166 --> 00:13:49,000
{\an1}these sort of thicker and
thinner regions formed bands.

244
00:13:51,366 --> 00:13:54,142
YANG:
So we have never seen this
before in any kind of animals.

245
00:13:54,166 --> 00:13:55,409
We are wondering

246
00:13:55,433 --> 00:13:58,042
{\an1}if different thickness,
the thicker and thinner bands,

247
00:13:58,066 --> 00:14:00,409
{\an1}how would that affect
the stretchiness

248
00:14:00,433 --> 00:14:02,309
{\an1}of the wombat intestine?

249
00:14:02,333 --> 00:14:06,142
{\an1}So we put a wombat intestine

250
00:14:06,166 --> 00:14:09,876
{\an7}into this tensile test.

251
00:14:09,900 --> 00:14:13,242
{\an7}Tensile test is the way to test
how stretchy this material is.

252
00:14:13,266 --> 00:14:17,776
{\an8}♪ ♪

253
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,709
{\an1}And we discovered that the
wombat intestines stretch,

254
00:14:21,733 --> 00:14:24,042
{\an1}but they are not stretched
in even way.

255
00:14:24,066 --> 00:14:28,809
{\an1}For the thicker part, they
stretch less than the soft part.

256
00:14:28,833 --> 00:14:30,842
{\an1}We were surprised that the
stretchiness were four times

257
00:14:30,866 --> 00:14:32,900
{\an1}different among these two bands.

258
00:14:34,133 --> 00:14:37,176
{\an1}With this measurement,
we fitted this information

259
00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,042
{\an1}to a mathematical model,
and that it contracts.

260
00:14:40,066 --> 00:14:42,776
{\an1}And over several cycles'
contraction,

261
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,542
we see a shape with
four corners.

262
00:14:46,566 --> 00:14:50,242
CARVER:
I've got a really simple way
of showing pretty much

263
00:14:50,266 --> 00:14:53,442
{\an1}how they form these cubes
using this rubber band here.

264
00:14:53,466 --> 00:14:56,276
{\an1}And so we can just kind of pinch
the sides of the rubber band

265
00:14:56,300 --> 00:15:00,909
{\an1}and kind of simulate those,
those more stiff regions

266
00:15:00,933 --> 00:15:02,309
of the intestine.

267
00:15:02,333 --> 00:15:04,476
{\an1}And if you just hold it like
this, you can just go like that,

268
00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:06,476
{\an1}and it begins to form a cube.

269
00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:09,609
{\an1}So when the contractions happen,
it is basically squeezing

270
00:15:09,633 --> 00:15:11,109
{\an1}the feces into this shape,

271
00:15:11,133 --> 00:15:13,242
{\an1}and it does this rhythmically
over time,

272
00:15:13,266 --> 00:15:16,876
{\an1}and so they eventually get
molded into that.

273
00:15:16,900 --> 00:15:18,442
{\an1}And as the moisture is absorbed

274
00:15:18,466 --> 00:15:21,409
{\an1}out of the feces, it starts to
fragment along its length

275
00:15:21,433 --> 00:15:24,742
{\an1}and form the distinctive actual
cubes that come out at the end.

276
00:15:24,766 --> 00:15:29,709
♪ ♪

277
00:15:29,733 --> 00:15:32,942
{\an1}So after three years of
collaborating and work

278
00:15:32,966 --> 00:15:34,642
with a big team,

279
00:15:34,666 --> 00:15:38,709
{\an1}we finally figured out why
wombat cube have six faces.

280
00:15:38,733 --> 00:15:41,809
(audience cheering
and applauding)

281
00:15:41,833 --> 00:15:43,342
BURNETT:
For their discovery,
the international team

282
00:15:43,366 --> 00:15:46,176
{\an1}won a coveted Ig Nobel Prize

283
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,033
{\an1}for science that makes you laugh
and then think.

284
00:15:51,633 --> 00:15:53,209
Thank you.

285
00:15:53,233 --> 00:15:55,709
Wombats are solitary
herbivorous marsupials.

286
00:15:55,733 --> 00:15:58,109
{\an1}They produce cube-shaped scats.

287
00:15:58,133 --> 00:16:02,842
{\an1}When feces dry, it contracts
and forms cracks.

288
00:16:02,866 --> 00:16:06,342
{\an1}Wombats are scientific proof
that you can squeeze

289
00:16:06,366 --> 00:16:09,442
{\an1}a square peg into a round hole.

290
00:16:09,466 --> 00:16:11,876
(audience laughing, applauding)

291
00:16:11,900 --> 00:16:14,242
{\an8}BURNETT:
The time we were able to spend
in the lab gave me

292
00:16:14,266 --> 00:16:18,642
{\an7}a really great understanding
of how wombat scats get formed.

293
00:16:18,666 --> 00:16:20,009
{\an1}But the question still remains:

294
00:16:20,033 --> 00:16:23,542
{\an1}what role does it serve
in the wombat's ecology?

295
00:16:23,566 --> 00:16:28,300
{\an8}♪ ♪

296
00:16:34,100 --> 00:16:36,942
{\an1}The most popular theory about
why wombat scat is cubed

297
00:16:36,966 --> 00:16:39,809
{\an1}is that the shape makes
communication easier.

298
00:16:39,833 --> 00:16:41,142
{\an1}But first we have to ask

299
00:16:41,166 --> 00:16:44,309
{\an7}if wombats even use their poop
to message one another,

300
00:16:44,333 --> 00:16:46,442
{\an8}whatever its shape.

301
00:16:46,466 --> 00:16:47,776
{\an7}In the next two days,

302
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,376
{\an7}we'll conduct a pilot experiment
to help find out.

303
00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,742
{\an8}♪ ♪

304
00:16:52,766 --> 00:16:53,776
{\an7}Maria Island in Tasmania

305
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,042
{\an7}is the perfect natural
laboratory.

306
00:16:57,066 --> 00:17:01,009
{\an7}There are between 2,000
and 3,000 wombats here.

307
00:17:01,033 --> 00:17:04,009
♪ ♪

308
00:17:04,033 --> 00:17:08,742
{\an1}Wombat scats are not all
obviously cube-shaped

309
00:17:08,766 --> 00:17:10,842
{\an1}like we saw in the lab.

310
00:17:10,866 --> 00:17:13,476
{\an1}Variations in physiology, diet,
and moisture

311
00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:15,342
cause shape changes.

312
00:17:15,366 --> 00:17:18,909
{\an1}It can even depend on
how you look at them.

313
00:17:18,933 --> 00:17:21,809
{\an1}But they do all have six sides,

314
00:17:21,833 --> 00:17:23,776
{\an1}which is what makes them
special.

315
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,366
Wash your hands.

316
00:17:27,766 --> 00:17:30,142
{\an1}There are thousands of
wombat scats

317
00:17:30,166 --> 00:17:32,809
{\an1}aggregated in clusters
across the island.

318
00:17:32,833 --> 00:17:35,142
{\an1}These are latrine sites.

319
00:17:35,166 --> 00:17:39,876
{\an1}Many animals use latrines
for social communication.

320
00:17:39,900 --> 00:17:42,242
{\an1}They sniff out the scent
of who's around

321
00:17:42,266 --> 00:17:44,176
{\an1}and leave their own scat
messages.

322
00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,976
{\an1}But are wombats using their
latrines for this purpose?

323
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,033
{\an1}It's never been directly
investigated, until now.

324
00:17:53,466 --> 00:17:55,609
{\an1}Our pilot experiment is simple.

325
00:17:55,633 --> 00:17:58,576
{\an1}We'll drop the poop of a
stranger wombat into a latrine

326
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,442
{\an1}and watch what happens.

327
00:18:01,466 --> 00:18:04,176
{\an1}If the wombats are communicating
with their scat,

328
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:08,442
they should react
to the new poop.

329
00:18:08,466 --> 00:18:13,509
{\an1}The home ranges of wombats
overlap and vary in size.

330
00:18:13,533 --> 00:18:15,676
{\an1}To ensure the poop is foreign,

331
00:18:15,700 --> 00:18:18,242
I pick fresh scat
from one side of the island

332
00:18:18,266 --> 00:18:19,809
{\an1}and take it to the other,

333
00:18:19,833 --> 00:18:23,100
{\an1}where I've found a very
impressive latrine.

334
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,966
{\an1}That's a lotta (bleep).

335
00:18:35,333 --> 00:18:38,600
{\an7}And here's a selection
of fresh, fresh pellets.

336
00:18:41,133 --> 00:18:43,542
(voiceover):
If these latrines are being used

337
00:18:43,566 --> 00:18:46,042
{\an1}for social communication,
you'd expect that where we

338
00:18:46,066 --> 00:18:49,176
{\an1}dropped foreign wombat pellets
in, there'd be some sort of

339
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,642
{\an1}response from the resident
wombats.

340
00:18:53,666 --> 00:18:57,442
{\an1}I set up camera traps on
ten latrines across the island.

341
00:18:57,466 --> 00:19:01,976
I add stranger poop
to five of the sites

342
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,966
{\an1}and leave the other five
unchanged.

343
00:19:08,066 --> 00:19:10,042
{\an1}These are our control sites.

344
00:19:10,066 --> 00:19:12,876
{\an1}We'll use them to gauge
what normally goes on

345
00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:15,742
{\an1}around wombat latrines
so we can quantify any effects

346
00:19:15,766 --> 00:19:17,642
from adding scats.

347
00:19:17,666 --> 00:19:21,509
I'll return to check
the camera traps in 24 hours.

348
00:19:21,533 --> 00:19:27,342
♪ ♪

349
00:19:27,366 --> 00:19:31,242
{\an1}Scott Carver has left the lab
to join me on Maria Island.

350
00:19:31,266 --> 00:19:35,342
{\an1}He's going to perform an elegant
experiment designed to test

351
00:19:35,366 --> 00:19:40,576
{\an1}another element of the wombat
communication theory:

352
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,009
{\an1}that the cubes give the wombat
an evolutionary advantage.

353
00:19:43,033 --> 00:19:46,742
♪ ♪

354
00:19:46,766 --> 00:19:48,176
Here's the thing:

355
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,742
{\an1}wombats have bad eyesight, but
they have a keen sense of smell.

356
00:19:51,766 --> 00:19:55,309
{\an1}If they are communicating
through their scat,

357
00:19:55,333 --> 00:19:57,309
{\an1}they're well equipped
to sniff it out.

358
00:19:57,333 --> 00:20:00,742
{\an1}So it shouldn't be surprising
to discover that the process

359
00:20:00,766 --> 00:20:03,609
{\an1}of evolution has found a way
to amplify the scent

360
00:20:03,633 --> 00:20:05,076
of wombat scat.

361
00:20:05,100 --> 00:20:09,100
{\an7}There's a little wombat
poo tower over here.

362
00:20:10,500 --> 00:20:13,166
(voiceover):
Meet the wombat scat stack.

363
00:20:14,833 --> 00:20:16,342
{\an1}Does the unique shape

364
00:20:16,366 --> 00:20:19,766
{\an1}of wombat scat have any bearing
on poop stacking?

365
00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:24,076
{\an7}Tonight, we're going to
find out.

366
00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:26,609
{\an8}But first, we need
some essential data.

367
00:20:26,633 --> 00:20:31,509
♪ ♪

368
00:20:31,533 --> 00:20:33,709
CARVER:
So I reckon we might be able to
get a measurement on how high

369
00:20:33,733 --> 00:20:35,942
{\an1}the, the bum is from the ground
here, Scott.

370
00:20:35,966 --> 00:20:38,166
{\an1}This one seems
pretty habituated.

371
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,533
{\an1}Yep, looks like about
15 centimeters.

372
00:20:45,366 --> 00:20:47,542
BURNETT (voiceover):
This is science.

373
00:20:47,566 --> 00:20:51,633
This is what we do.

374
00:20:54,133 --> 00:20:57,242
{\an1}What would happen if a wombat
had round-shaped scat?

375
00:20:57,266 --> 00:20:59,076
Would it stack?

376
00:20:59,100 --> 00:21:02,976
{\an1}We've made cubes and spheres
out of modeling dough.

377
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,942
{\an1}We'll drop them from the height
of a wombat's bottom

378
00:21:05,966 --> 00:21:07,709
{\an1}and compare how they land.

379
00:21:07,733 --> 00:21:10,309
{\an1}The hypothesis is that the cubes
will aggregate

380
00:21:10,333 --> 00:21:13,376
and the round ones
will roll away.

381
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,142
{\an8}So it's super-simple
little experiment.

382
00:21:17,166 --> 00:21:19,609
{\an8}Wombats often drop them
on a rock or a log

383
00:21:19,633 --> 00:21:21,542
{\an8}that's at a similar angle
to this.

384
00:21:21,566 --> 00:21:24,042
{\an8}And here we can just test
with the circular ones

385
00:21:24,066 --> 00:21:27,766
{\an8}how well they go relative
to the cube-shaped ones.

386
00:21:32,866 --> 00:21:34,676
{\an7}If the hypothesis is correct,

387
00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:38,909
{\an7}the cube-shaped poo,
the yellow ones,

388
00:21:38,933 --> 00:21:42,176
{\an7}shouldn't spread out as far as
the pink ones, correct?

389
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:43,809
{\an8}Yeah, they shouldn't,
they should end up

390
00:21:43,833 --> 00:21:45,376
{\an8}a little bit
more closer together and...

391
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:47,509
{\an7}It's looking good so far,
looks right...

392
00:21:47,533 --> 00:21:49,242
{\an8}It's off the table!
Hey!

393
00:21:49,266 --> 00:21:51,042
{\an7}Pretty striking, eh?

394
00:21:51,066 --> 00:21:53,309
{\an8}(laughs)
You, you couldn't hope for
a better result.

395
00:21:53,333 --> 00:21:56,776
{\an8}That might be our
best trial so far.
Yeah.

396
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,942
{\an1}So, not surprisingly,
balls roll further than boxes.

397
00:21:59,966 --> 00:22:04,442
{\an1}But, as scientists, we have to
actually do the experiment, hey?

398
00:22:04,466 --> 00:22:09,142
BURNETT (voiceover):
We have so much fun that we
replicate the experiment

399
00:22:09,166 --> 00:22:11,942
into the wee hours
of the morning.

400
00:22:11,966 --> 00:22:15,242
Time and again,
the cubed shapes aggregate

401
00:22:15,266 --> 00:22:18,176
{\an1}and the sphere shapes dissipate.

402
00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,276
{\an1}It looks like pooping cubes

403
00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:21,142
{\an1}would have an evolutionary
advantage

404
00:22:21,166 --> 00:22:22,942
{\an1}for a near-sighted wombat

405
00:22:22,966 --> 00:22:25,142
{\an1}that needs to sniff out
a latrine.

406
00:22:25,166 --> 00:22:26,276
It's a fine theory,

407
00:22:26,300 --> 00:22:29,609
{\an8}but we still have
no scientific proof that

408
00:22:29,633 --> 00:22:32,609
{\an7}they do communicate through
their scat.

409
00:22:32,633 --> 00:22:36,009
{\an1}Scott Carver's on his way back
to the lab,

410
00:22:36,033 --> 00:22:38,776
{\an1}and I'm about to find out
what's happened overnight

411
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,766
at our pilot
communication experiment.

412
00:22:45,833 --> 00:22:46,976
{\an1}This is really exciting.

413
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,409
There's a new pile
of fresh scats right here

414
00:22:49,433 --> 00:22:55,176
{\an7}beside the stranger's scats I
dropped in yesterday afternoon.

415
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,842
{\an1}So a wombat's definitely
been here,

416
00:22:56,866 --> 00:23:00,476
and, you know, pooed overnight.

417
00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:03,309
{\an1}Let's have a look at the camera
and see if we can see any

418
00:23:03,333 --> 00:23:06,142
{\an1}sort of interaction with this
new pile that we've dropped in.

419
00:23:06,166 --> 00:23:07,400
{\an1}That's very exciting.

420
00:23:09,466 --> 00:23:10,542
(inhales)

421
00:23:10,566 --> 00:23:12,666
(exhaling):
Let's see.

422
00:23:14,700 --> 00:23:17,342
{\an1}Ah, here comes a wombat.

423
00:23:17,366 --> 00:23:19,142
{\an1}Ah, it's sniffing the new pile.

424
00:23:19,166 --> 00:23:20,609
Oh, my God.

425
00:23:20,633 --> 00:23:22,242
And then it's

426
00:23:22,266 --> 00:23:23,776
taking a poo

427
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,942
{\an7}right in front of the camera.

428
00:23:25,966 --> 00:23:28,076
{\an8}(laughs):
It's got its backside facing

429
00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:32,442
{\an8}directly towards
the trial camera.

430
00:23:32,466 --> 00:23:33,909
So there we go.

431
00:23:33,933 --> 00:23:36,942
{\an1}That's our first bit of evidence
that these latrines do trigger

432
00:23:36,966 --> 00:23:38,909
{\an1}some sort of scent-marking
behavior,

433
00:23:38,933 --> 00:23:42,242
{\an1}or that the strange scent here
has, has some influence

434
00:23:42,266 --> 00:23:44,633
on the behavior
of these wombats.

435
00:23:46,966 --> 00:23:50,176
{\an1}At the five control sites where
I didn't place scat,

436
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,209
the wombats showed no reaction.

437
00:23:52,233 --> 00:23:54,876
{\an1}But at three of the five
manipulated sites,

438
00:23:54,900 --> 00:23:57,842
{\an1}wombats responded by sniffing
the foreign scat

439
00:23:57,866 --> 00:24:00,100
and then pooping.

440
00:24:03,333 --> 00:24:06,133
{\an1}What could the wombats
be talking about?

441
00:24:07,300 --> 00:24:09,642
{\an1}Because they're mostly solitary
animals,

442
00:24:09,666 --> 00:24:10,976
{\an1}it would be really important

443
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,276
{\an1}to know reproductive status
of females

444
00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:17,842
or to stay clear
of dominant animals.

445
00:24:17,866 --> 00:24:19,876
{\an7}That all still remains
quite speculative,

446
00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:21,809
{\an7}but I think at this point,

447
00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:24,076
{\an1}we can say that the latrine
sites are used

448
00:24:24,100 --> 00:24:27,942
{\an1}in some sort of social
communication way.

449
00:24:27,966 --> 00:24:31,009
♪ ♪

450
00:24:31,033 --> 00:24:33,676
{\an1}While we need a lot more
information before we can say

451
00:24:33,700 --> 00:24:36,009
{\an1}for certain what's going on
here,

452
00:24:36,033 --> 00:24:39,876
{\an1}the latrines of some mammals
have been well researched,

453
00:24:39,900 --> 00:24:44,333
{\an7}including one animal under
constant threat from poachers.

454
00:24:45,733 --> 00:24:48,209
Across the ocean,
the wondrous latrines

455
00:24:48,233 --> 00:24:51,209
{\an1}of Rhinoceros unicornis
await me.

456
00:24:51,233 --> 00:24:52,342
{\an1}They may hold the key

457
00:24:52,366 --> 00:24:56,000
to survival for this
vulnerable species.

458
00:24:58,733 --> 00:25:03,833
♪ ♪

459
00:25:10,333 --> 00:25:12,376
{\an1}The greater one-horned
rhinoceros

460
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:14,942
{\an1}is best viewed from a distance.

461
00:25:14,966 --> 00:25:17,776
{\an1}It's the second-largest
of all rhinoceros species,

462
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,009
{\an1}as heavy as an S.U.V.

463
00:25:20,033 --> 00:25:22,309
{\an1}and able to charge at the speed
of a galloping horse.

464
00:25:22,333 --> 00:25:25,776
{\an1}The beauty of scat science is,

465
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,576
{\an1}we don't have to catch one
to learn about its life.

466
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,076
{\an1}So this is an amazing spot here.

467
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:35,109
{\an1}We've got rhinos grazing out
on this side,

468
00:25:35,133 --> 00:25:37,576
maybe a couple of
hundred meters,

469
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,176
{\an1}and on the other side,

470
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,266
{\an1}rice paddies and villages.

471
00:25:43,933 --> 00:25:45,309
{\an1}There's just over 100 rhinos

472
00:25:45,333 --> 00:25:48,976
{\an1}in this area of just under
40 square kilometers.

473
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,342
♪ ♪

474
00:25:51,366 --> 00:25:53,709
(voiceover):
Which makes the Pobitora area
a great place

475
00:25:53,733 --> 00:25:55,776
{\an1}to find a rhinoceros latrine.

476
00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,300
♪ ♪

477
00:26:10,900 --> 00:26:12,842
Look at the size of this scat.

478
00:26:12,866 --> 00:26:15,976
{\an1}This is one that was dropped
last night.

479
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,809
It's really fresh,
sort of beautiful stuff.

480
00:26:18,833 --> 00:26:21,009
{\an1}If this had come out of
the bottom of my compost heap

481
00:26:21,033 --> 00:26:24,342
{\an1}at home, I'd be really pleased
with how well it's gone.

482
00:26:24,366 --> 00:26:25,709
There's all these

483
00:26:25,733 --> 00:26:30,409
{\an7}really finely masticated
and digested plant material.

484
00:26:30,433 --> 00:26:32,742
{\an7}And just by coincidence,
there's a cowpat

485
00:26:32,766 --> 00:26:37,809
{\an8}here in front of the rhino heap.

486
00:26:37,833 --> 00:26:40,809
{\an1}So you can really get a sense of
how massive these animals are,

487
00:26:40,833 --> 00:26:43,209
{\an1}and they're just roaming
in and out of

488
00:26:43,233 --> 00:26:47,676
{\an1}the village here, and everyone
seems to be getting along.

489
00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:51,942
{\an1}Just imagine the size of the bum
that this dropped out of.

490
00:26:51,966 --> 00:26:54,709
{\an8}♪ ♪

491
00:26:54,733 --> 00:26:57,542
{\an8}(voiceover):
These are just single scats.

492
00:26:57,566 --> 00:27:00,666
{\an7}I'm after the motherlode.

493
00:27:02,866 --> 00:27:06,009
{\an7}I've made a pair of tongs
out of bamboo

494
00:27:06,033 --> 00:27:07,942
{\an8}to handle the scat hygienically.

495
00:27:07,966 --> 00:27:10,933
{\an8}And there we go.

496
00:27:13,233 --> 00:27:16,042
{\an8}(voiceover):
Coming across fresh scat
in the wild

497
00:27:16,066 --> 00:27:20,342
{\an7}is a golden opportunity
for a scatologist like me,

498
00:27:20,366 --> 00:27:22,709
{\an8}even if it's
not for my research.

499
00:27:22,733 --> 00:27:24,609
{\an8}Collecting samples
for other scientists

500
00:27:24,633 --> 00:27:27,942
{\an1}can help their studies.

501
00:27:27,966 --> 00:27:30,409
{\an1}Some of this rhino poo
may even be used to help save

502
00:27:30,433 --> 00:27:32,909
the greater
one-horned rhinoceros.

503
00:27:32,933 --> 00:27:37,409
{\an1}So this large pile of scat here

504
00:27:37,433 --> 00:27:39,409
is a latrine site
used by a few different rhinos.

505
00:27:39,433 --> 00:27:42,642
They communicate to

506
00:27:42,666 --> 00:27:44,142
the other animals
in their population

507
00:27:44,166 --> 00:27:46,409
via the chemicals
in their scats.

508
00:27:46,433 --> 00:27:50,176
{\an1}They communicate social status
and reproductive status

509
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,142
{\an1}and who's in the neighborhood.

510
00:27:54,166 --> 00:27:58,776
It's like a
Fecesbook for rhinos.

511
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,742
♪ ♪

512
00:28:01,766 --> 00:28:06,742
(voiceover):
But this social platform
also attracts ruthless killers.

513
00:28:06,766 --> 00:28:09,009
A fresh poop pile
is a message to poachers

514
00:28:09,033 --> 00:28:12,109
{\an1}that rhinos visit here.

515
00:28:12,133 --> 00:28:14,642
{\an7}They're killed for their horns,

516
00:28:14,666 --> 00:28:17,309
{\an8}which are
smuggled out of the country

517
00:28:17,333 --> 00:28:18,509
{\an7}and used for luxury goods

518
00:28:18,533 --> 00:28:21,376
{\an7}or in traditional medicine
in parts of Asia.

519
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,942
{\an1}(people talking indistinctly)

520
00:28:24,966 --> 00:28:27,542
{\an7}Scientists have figured out
a way to protect the rhinos

521
00:28:27,566 --> 00:28:29,942
{\an8}by using their scat
for forensics.

522
00:28:29,966 --> 00:28:33,576
{\an7}They collect scat in the wild
and extract DNA,

523
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:35,709
{\an7}which goes into a database.

524
00:28:35,733 --> 00:28:38,476
{\an7}When a dead rhino is found

525
00:28:38,500 --> 00:28:41,809
{\an8}or a rhino horn
confiscated from criminals,

526
00:28:41,833 --> 00:28:45,442
{\an7}authorities can match its
DNA with DNA in the database

527
00:28:45,466 --> 00:28:47,342
{\an1}to locate where it came from.

528
00:28:47,366 --> 00:28:51,942
The DNA evidence
can be used to convict poachers

529
00:28:51,966 --> 00:28:54,933
and to know where
to concentrate police efforts.

530
00:29:00,033 --> 00:29:04,009
In the 1900s,
they faced extinction.

531
00:29:04,033 --> 00:29:08,576
{\an1}Now there are over 2,600 greater
one-horned rhinoceros in Assam.

532
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,200
Perhaps this scat
will go towards saving one more.

533
00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:17,442
{\an1}Just using my GPS here

534
00:29:17,466 --> 00:29:19,742
to get a geolocation
for this sample.

535
00:29:19,766 --> 00:29:24,109
(voiceover):
Latrines helps rhinos
communicate,

536
00:29:24,133 --> 00:29:25,442
{\an1}and now they may also protect

537
00:29:25,466 --> 00:29:28,742
{\an1}these superb pachyderms
from extinction.

538
00:29:28,766 --> 00:29:31,742
{\an1}That's a good poop story.

539
00:29:31,766 --> 00:29:35,133
♪ ♪

540
00:29:38,666 --> 00:29:41,709
Rhinoceros scat
is easy to collect.

541
00:29:41,733 --> 00:29:44,342
{\an1}But some scat is more elusive,

542
00:29:44,366 --> 00:29:48,633
{\an1}especially that of the most
prodigious pooper on the planet.

543
00:29:51,366 --> 00:29:57,500
{\an8}♪ ♪

544
00:30:04,366 --> 00:30:08,042
I am about to
leave my comfort zone,

545
00:30:08,066 --> 00:30:11,042
turn my back on
the terrestrial realm...

546
00:30:11,066 --> 00:30:13,142
{\an1}where animals leave their scats
in forests and fields...

547
00:30:13,166 --> 00:30:15,309
And head to sea
with a whale biologist

548
00:30:15,333 --> 00:30:20,209
{\an1}who shares my passion for poop.

549
00:30:20,233 --> 00:30:21,942
{\an8}I'm known as the whale poo girl,

550
00:30:21,966 --> 00:30:24,109
{\an7}which I embrace wholeheartedly,

551
00:30:24,133 --> 00:30:26,042
{\an7}and it goes back to where

552
00:30:26,066 --> 00:30:27,876
{\an7}this whole blue whale project
in Sri Lanka began.

553
00:30:27,900 --> 00:30:31,309
WOMAN:
Blow!

554
00:30:31,333 --> 00:30:33,176
DE VOS:
I was off the southeast
coast of Sri Lanka

555
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,142
{\an1}doing some research on
sperm whales

556
00:30:35,166 --> 00:30:36,442
{\an1}on a whale research vessel,

557
00:30:36,466 --> 00:30:39,042
{\an1}and had this amazing encounter

558
00:30:39,066 --> 00:30:40,442
{\an1}with an aggregation of
blue whales

559
00:30:40,466 --> 00:30:43,500
and a floating pile
of whale poop.

560
00:30:44,900 --> 00:30:46,709
Everything
that I had been taught

561
00:30:46,733 --> 00:30:49,709
{\an1}in my undergrad and in school
about blue whales

562
00:30:49,733 --> 00:30:51,409
{\an1}was that they did these
long-range migrations

563
00:30:51,433 --> 00:30:55,709
{\an1}between cold feeding areas and
warm breeding and calving areas.

564
00:30:55,733 --> 00:30:58,809
BURNETT:
Asha de Vos discovered that
the blue whales in these waters

565
00:30:58,833 --> 00:31:01,842
{\an1}have a different lifestyle
from most others.

566
00:31:01,866 --> 00:31:07,309
{\an1}They don't migrate and
they have some unique behavior.

567
00:31:07,333 --> 00:31:09,809
♪ ♪

568
00:31:09,833 --> 00:31:10,942
What was going on?

569
00:31:10,966 --> 00:31:14,142
Turns out the answer
could be in their scat,

570
00:31:14,166 --> 00:31:17,309
and today,
I hope to see some of it

571
00:31:17,333 --> 00:31:19,742
while Asha
continues her research.

572
00:31:19,766 --> 00:31:20,942
{\an1}Hi, Scott, good morning.

573
00:31:20,966 --> 00:31:21,943
Hey, Asha.

574
00:31:21,967 --> 00:31:23,109
{\an1}Welcome.
Come on board.

575
00:31:23,133 --> 00:31:24,110
{\an1}It's good to see you.
Great to meet you.

576
00:31:24,134 --> 00:31:26,400
{\an1}Come on in.
Thank you.

577
00:31:27,966 --> 00:31:31,842
♪ ♪

578
00:31:31,866 --> 00:31:33,342
DE VOS:
As soon as you see a blow...

579
00:31:33,366 --> 00:31:36,609
So it's a very tall,
powerful spout

580
00:31:36,633 --> 00:31:37,976
that you'll see
in the distance...

581
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:39,242
Do shout it out.

582
00:31:39,266 --> 00:31:40,776
{\an1}We've got the team ready to
take down the data.

583
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:42,409
{\an1}Yep.
You'll keep your hand out

584
00:31:42,433 --> 00:31:44,676
so that we can make sure
we don't lose the animal.

585
00:31:44,700 --> 00:31:47,342
{\an1}We'll try to get a distance
and sort of a bearing

586
00:31:47,366 --> 00:31:49,509
to the animal
and start to approach to,

587
00:31:49,533 --> 00:31:52,342
{\an1}within a reasonable distance
so that we can start to get

588
00:31:52,366 --> 00:31:53,942
all the other information
that we need.

589
00:31:53,966 --> 00:31:55,076
So, do you think you're
ready for the task?

590
00:31:55,100 --> 00:31:56,076
{\an1}Cool, let's go do it.

591
00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:57,043
All right, let's go.

592
00:31:57,067 --> 00:32:01,633
♪ ♪

593
00:32:08,833 --> 00:32:11,842
BURNETT (voiceover):
We're waiting for a whale
to come up to breathe and,

594
00:32:11,866 --> 00:32:13,376
{\an1}hopefully, to leave a gift...

595
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,509
{\an1}one of the largest scats
in the world.

596
00:32:16,533 --> 00:32:19,209
♪ ♪

597
00:32:19,233 --> 00:32:21,809
{\an1}We don't know where, when,

598
00:32:21,833 --> 00:32:24,076
{\an1}or even if a whale will appear.

599
00:32:24,100 --> 00:32:26,576
Neither do
the hundreds of whale watchers

600
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,709
{\an1}that are out on the water today.

601
00:32:28,733 --> 00:32:29,809
But I... and they just...
Yeah, and these whales

602
00:32:29,833 --> 00:32:31,209
{\an1}were here just waiting.

603
00:32:31,233 --> 00:32:32,509
{\an1}These whales have been here
for centuries.

604
00:32:32,533 --> 00:32:33,709
{\an1}Yeah, yeah.
And that's the thing.

605
00:32:33,733 --> 00:32:34,909
{\an1}And most people in Sri Lanka
didn't even know

606
00:32:34,933 --> 00:32:36,342
these whales were in our waters.

607
00:32:36,366 --> 00:32:39,609
{\an1}And then I started getting,
like, mail from people saying,

608
00:32:39,633 --> 00:32:40,876
"We didn't know there were
whales in our waters."

609
00:32:40,900 --> 00:32:43,142
{\an1}So is this when
the tourism industry

610
00:32:43,166 --> 00:32:44,342
{\an1}all sprung up, too?

611
00:32:44,366 --> 00:32:45,442
{\an4}Just in the last decade?
WOMAN:
Blow!

612
00:32:45,466 --> 00:32:47,509
Yeah... sorry.
(people exclaiming)

613
00:32:47,533 --> 00:32:49,542
(people speaking
non-English language)

614
00:32:49,566 --> 00:32:52,409
{\an4}(people calling out):
Blow!
(camera clicking)

615
00:32:52,433 --> 00:32:57,076
(De Vos speaking
non-English language)

616
00:32:57,100 --> 00:32:58,043
Blow!

617
00:32:58,067 --> 00:32:59,076
DE VOS:
Hurry up.

618
00:32:59,100 --> 00:33:01,109
{\an5}(camera clicking)
WOMAN:
Blow!

619
00:33:01,133 --> 00:33:03,909
BURNETT (voiceover):
The encounter only lasts
a few minutes.

620
00:33:03,933 --> 00:33:06,442
{\an5}BURNETT:
Blow.
(people exclaiming)

621
00:33:06,466 --> 00:33:09,076
Blow.

622
00:33:09,100 --> 00:33:10,509
BURNETT (voiceover):
We can follow their breaths,

623
00:33:10,533 --> 00:33:12,676
{\an1}but we can't follow them down.

624
00:33:12,700 --> 00:33:14,009
DE VOS:
It's gonna go, it's gonna go,
it's gonna go,

625
00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:15,209
{\an1}it's gonna go, it's gonna go.

626
00:33:15,233 --> 00:33:18,276
{\an5}WOMAN:
Whoo!
(people talking in background)

627
00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:21,309
Dive angle?

628
00:33:21,333 --> 00:33:23,042
Dive angle 110.

629
00:33:23,066 --> 00:33:25,042
WOMAN:
One-one-zero
(inaudible).

630
00:33:25,066 --> 00:33:26,976
Time: 10:07.

631
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,909
DE VOS:
And you were so excited
when you saw the blue whale,

632
00:33:29,933 --> 00:33:31,209
{\an1}and then when you saw, you know,

633
00:33:31,233 --> 00:33:33,109
{\an1}it skimming under the surface,
and you saw

634
00:33:33,133 --> 00:33:34,676
that beautiful, um...
That blue color.

635
00:33:34,700 --> 00:33:35,677
..blue color.
Turquoise, mm-hmm.

636
00:33:35,701 --> 00:33:36,909
But wait till you see the poo.

637
00:33:36,933 --> 00:33:38,942
{\an5}I cannot wait
to see your face, I bet you.
Mm.

638
00:33:38,966 --> 00:33:41,409
{\an7}(people talking in background)

639
00:33:41,433 --> 00:33:44,342
{\an8}BURNETT (voiceover):
We get a distant glimpse of
surface feeding.

640
00:33:44,366 --> 00:33:46,776
{\an8}There's a wealth
of marine resources

641
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,976
{\an8}in these warm waters
for the whales.

642
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,976
{\an8}MAN:
Whoo!

643
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,276
DE VOS:
We've been seeing
more feeding this year

644
00:33:55,300 --> 00:33:57,142
{\an1}than any other year, really.
Mm.

645
00:33:57,166 --> 00:33:58,909
Which is fantastic.
Mm.

646
00:33:58,933 --> 00:34:02,376
But the real mystery is,
where is all that feeding going?

647
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:03,442
What happens to it?

648
00:34:03,466 --> 00:34:04,476
Why is it not
coming out of the back?

649
00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:05,477
{\an1}Mm.
Where's our poo?

650
00:34:05,501 --> 00:34:06,542
Right?
(chuckling)

651
00:34:06,566 --> 00:34:11,642
{\an8}♪ ♪

652
00:34:11,666 --> 00:34:14,609
{\an8}BURNETT (voiceover):
The whale leaves no trace.

653
00:34:14,633 --> 00:34:16,276
{\an1}But Asha doesn't disappoint.

654
00:34:16,300 --> 00:34:19,609
{\an1}She's defrosted samples
no longer needed for research.

655
00:34:19,633 --> 00:34:23,642
Not only will I get
a chance to see it up close,

656
00:34:23,666 --> 00:34:26,042
but to experience
just how difficult

657
00:34:26,066 --> 00:34:28,200
{\an1}this scat is to collect.

658
00:34:40,900 --> 00:34:41,976
DE VOS:
You have to be pretty much

659
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,542
{\an5}there when it happens.
BURNETT:
Mm.

660
00:34:43,566 --> 00:34:46,542
{\an1}Quickly get the net out,
grab as much as we can.

661
00:34:46,566 --> 00:34:48,176
{\an3}Um...

662
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:49,809
BURNETT:
It doesn't last long
in the water.

663
00:34:49,833 --> 00:34:51,242
It really is red gold,

664
00:34:51,266 --> 00:34:52,976
isn't it?

665
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,242
Gold of the ocean.
(De Vos murmuring)

666
00:34:54,266 --> 00:34:57,266
I'm complete as a scatologist.

667
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,833
♪ ♪

668
00:35:07,433 --> 00:35:09,242
DE VOS:
This is where the science
happens,

669
00:35:09,266 --> 00:35:11,609
{\an1}because when we start
trudging through the data,

670
00:35:11,633 --> 00:35:13,976
{\an1}that's when we start to see
the trends,

671
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:15,742
{\an1}that's when we start to
recognize individuals,

672
00:35:15,766 --> 00:35:17,509
and that's when we
start to build the stories

673
00:35:17,533 --> 00:35:19,233
{\an1}around these animals.

674
00:35:20,266 --> 00:35:21,376
In Sri Lanka,

675
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,976
{\an1}our blue whales
fluke up before a deep dive

676
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,042
{\an1}more often than anywhere else
in the world,

677
00:35:27,066 --> 00:35:28,776
{\an1}maybe, like, 60% of the time.

678
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,409
So this is lifting their flukes

679
00:35:30,433 --> 00:35:31,410
out of the water..
Exactly.

680
00:35:31,434 --> 00:35:34,076
DE VOS:
And for a long time,

681
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:35,542
{\an1}we tried to figure out
what that was,

682
00:35:35,566 --> 00:35:37,109
{\an1}what was the reason.

683
00:35:37,133 --> 00:35:38,942
{\an1}And what's really cool is,

684
00:35:38,966 --> 00:35:40,909
{\an1}we've kind of
figured that out by

685
00:35:40,933 --> 00:35:42,509
{\an1}digging through their poop.

686
00:35:42,533 --> 00:35:45,776
♪ ♪

687
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:47,142
BURNETT (voiceover):
A piece of prey DNA

688
00:35:47,166 --> 00:35:49,833
from a scat sample was analyzed.

689
00:35:51,866 --> 00:35:54,009
What they found
showed just how unusual

690
00:35:54,033 --> 00:35:56,933
{\an1}the Sri Lankan blue whales
really are.

691
00:36:01,633 --> 00:36:02,610
{\an1}Everywhere else in the world,

692
00:36:02,634 --> 00:36:04,576
{\an4}blue whales
would feed on krill.
Mm.

693
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,509
{\an1}Here, they're feeding on a
particular kind of shrimp

694
00:36:06,533 --> 00:36:09,109
{\an1}that is actually deeper
in the water column.

695
00:36:09,133 --> 00:36:10,709
{\an1}And so they
do have to get deeper.

696
00:36:10,733 --> 00:36:13,209
{\an1}It makes a lot of sense
that you want to make yourself,

697
00:36:13,233 --> 00:36:15,193
{\an1}turn yourself into a kind of
a torpedo to descend.

698
00:36:18,566 --> 00:36:21,009
(whale calling)

699
00:36:21,033 --> 00:36:22,709
{\an1}And so, you know,
the poo's sort of been

700
00:36:22,733 --> 00:36:23,942
{\an1}this really big clue into

701
00:36:23,966 --> 00:36:26,276
{\an1}not just understanding,
you know,

702
00:36:26,300 --> 00:36:27,942
{\an1}what are they feeding on,

703
00:36:27,966 --> 00:36:30,109
{\an1}but how does that impact
their life cycle,

704
00:36:30,133 --> 00:36:32,376
{\an1}and their life history
and their behaviors,

705
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:33,576
{\an1}which I think is really neat.

706
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:39,766
♪ ♪

707
00:36:47,533 --> 00:36:50,209
BURNETT:
After three days on the boat
with Asha,

708
00:36:50,233 --> 00:36:52,442
I have my sea legs.

709
00:36:52,466 --> 00:36:55,142
Now biologist
and underwater cameraman

710
00:36:55,166 --> 00:36:56,942
Simon Enderby

711
00:36:56,966 --> 00:37:00,542
{\an1}has invited me to see
a blue whale beneath the water.

712
00:37:00,566 --> 00:37:02,342
{\an1}He won't be letting us jump in

713
00:37:02,366 --> 00:37:06,300
{\an1}unless it's completely safe
for the whale and for me.

714
00:37:09,166 --> 00:37:11,909
{\an7}But our encounter today is with

715
00:37:11,933 --> 00:37:14,133
{\an7}something much bigger
than a whale.

716
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:19,676
{\an8}(ship horn blaring)

717
00:37:19,700 --> 00:37:22,209
{\an7}There's been a flotilla
of whale watching boats

718
00:37:22,233 --> 00:37:25,409
{\an8}following this whale
and her calf all morning

719
00:37:25,433 --> 00:37:27,776
{\an8}this morning,
really harassing it,

720
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,609
{\an1}and they've chased her out
into the shipping lane,

721
00:37:30,633 --> 00:37:32,100
which is where we're
sitting now.

722
00:37:33,366 --> 00:37:35,476
It's dangerous
out here for them.

723
00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:39,476
{\an1}Strikes from propellers of these
big cargo ships kill whales.

724
00:37:39,500 --> 00:37:42,009
I had hoped
to get into the water,

725
00:37:42,033 --> 00:37:43,609
you know, sensitively,

726
00:37:43,633 --> 00:37:46,109
ahead of the whale,
and let her swim past me,

727
00:37:46,133 --> 00:37:48,542
but I'm feeling
quite distressed at

728
00:37:48,566 --> 00:37:50,842
{\an1}what I've witnessed here
this morning,

729
00:37:50,866 --> 00:37:53,642
{\an1}and I don't really feel like
adding to any of the stress

730
00:37:53,666 --> 00:37:55,709
that these whales
are obviously feeling.

731
00:37:55,733 --> 00:37:59,342
This reminds me,
it really drives home

732
00:37:59,366 --> 00:38:01,342
why it's so useful and so,

733
00:38:01,366 --> 00:38:03,109
such a powerful tool
to use scats

734
00:38:03,133 --> 00:38:05,442
{\an1}to understand the ecology of
animals...

735
00:38:05,466 --> 00:38:07,676
Whales or animals on the land.

736
00:38:07,700 --> 00:38:09,942
It allows us
to get into their lives

737
00:38:09,966 --> 00:38:11,376
{\an1}without being in their faces

738
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:16,209
or invading
their personal space.

739
00:38:16,233 --> 00:38:19,176
(voiceover):
Scat helps us to understand
whales,

740
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,409
and it may also
help fertilize the oceans.

741
00:38:22,433 --> 00:38:24,876
{\an1}Here's how we think it works.

742
00:38:24,900 --> 00:38:28,709
{\an1}Migrating blue whales
head to Antarctica in summer

743
00:38:28,733 --> 00:38:32,109
to feast on
iron-rich Antarctic krill,

744
00:38:32,133 --> 00:38:33,842
then they poop.

745
00:38:33,866 --> 00:38:37,476
{\an1}The iron in their poop may
feed microscopic phytoplankton,

746
00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:39,376
which generates
a large percentage

747
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,042
{\an1}of the planet's oxygen.

748
00:38:42,066 --> 00:38:44,676
Phytoplankton are
the favorite food of krill,

749
00:38:44,700 --> 00:38:46,609
which in turn
are eaten by whales.

750
00:38:46,633 --> 00:38:51,176
And on it goes.

751
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,742
{\an1}It's unlikely that whale scat
alone is sufficient

752
00:38:53,766 --> 00:38:56,509
to feed the world's
phytoplankton.

753
00:38:56,533 --> 00:39:00,409
{\an1}But there's another, not so
obvious poop in the loop:

754
00:39:00,433 --> 00:39:03,942
the scat of
the Antarctic krill itself.

755
00:39:03,966 --> 00:39:07,276
{\an1}Could it be providing the iron
that phytoplankton need?

756
00:39:07,300 --> 00:39:13,433
♪ ♪

757
00:39:19,100 --> 00:39:22,500
Unfortunately,
that's not me on deck.

758
00:39:25,666 --> 00:39:29,042
Scientists from the
Australian Antarctic Division

759
00:39:29,066 --> 00:39:31,700
are investigating
the biology of krill.

760
00:39:32,633 --> 00:39:34,976
Doing research
in the Southern Ocean

761
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:36,576
{\an1}is an enormous challenge,

762
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,542
{\an1}so they've figured out
how to breed

763
00:39:38,566 --> 00:39:40,833
{\an1}this little crustacean
in captivity.

764
00:39:42,266 --> 00:39:44,742
Krill ecologist So Kawaguchi

765
00:39:44,766 --> 00:39:47,376
has helped develop
a world-class aquarium

766
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,733
{\an7}dedicated to krill research.

767
00:39:52,666 --> 00:39:54,476
{\an1}Today, he's invited me

768
00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:57,276
to watch
the pooping of the krill.

769
00:39:57,300 --> 00:39:59,242
They look like giant icy poles,

770
00:39:59,266 --> 00:40:00,776
don't they,
in those plastic bags?

771
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:02,009
(laughing):
Yes.

772
00:40:02,033 --> 00:40:04,309
{\an8}So these are the phytoplankton

773
00:40:04,333 --> 00:40:07,976
{\an8}isolated from Antarctic Ocean,

774
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,176
{\an1}so we culture these for,
as a food for krill.

775
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,476
{\an1}Are we going to have a chance
to feed some krill here today?

776
00:40:13,500 --> 00:40:14,477
Yeah, of course.

777
00:40:14,501 --> 00:40:16,109
{\an1}I'm looking forward to that.

778
00:40:16,133 --> 00:40:17,776
{\an1}I'm imagining sort of
the water boiling

779
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:19,809
{\an1}like a pool full of piranhas.
(Kawaguchi laughs)

780
00:40:19,833 --> 00:40:21,942
KAWAGUCHI:
You don't really want to

781
00:40:21,966 --> 00:40:24,442
pour it, you know,
from the, the pot.

782
00:40:24,466 --> 00:40:26,576
You just gently, you know,
submerge it

783
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:28,809
{\an5}and then release it
into the, the water.
Okay.

784
00:40:28,833 --> 00:40:31,676
Yeah, that's it.

785
00:40:31,700 --> 00:40:33,342
{\an1}Oh, they're very reactive,
aren't they?

786
00:40:33,366 --> 00:40:35,042
{\an6}Yes.
They're straightaway...
they're even

787
00:40:35,066 --> 00:40:37,442
{\an1}going into the bucket.

788
00:40:37,466 --> 00:40:40,809
{\an1}This is exciting.
Yes.

789
00:40:40,833 --> 00:40:42,042
{\an1}They're beautiful
little animals,

790
00:40:42,066 --> 00:40:43,742
{\an1}although not even that little.

791
00:40:43,766 --> 00:40:44,776
{\an1}I mean, they're...
I'm surprised

792
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:46,142
{\an1}at the size of them.

793
00:40:46,166 --> 00:40:48,876
KAWAGUCHI:
They're really cute when they,
you know,

794
00:40:48,900 --> 00:40:50,909
come up and see you,

795
00:40:50,933 --> 00:40:52,976
because they have
really big black eyes,

796
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:54,442
{\an5}you know?
BURNETT:
Mm.

797
00:40:54,466 --> 00:40:57,776
And yeah,
it's just really nice to watch.

798
00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:58,976
{\an1}Mm.
Yeah, you know.

799
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,676
♪ ♪

800
00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:04,176
KAWAGUCHI:
For me, it's the most important
animal on the planet.

801
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,376
{\an8}Because, you know,
the amount of krill

802
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,742
{\an7}that we have on the planet
is enormous.

803
00:41:08,766 --> 00:41:11,442
{\an8}Like, it weighs
almost equivalent to

804
00:41:11,466 --> 00:41:13,976
the total weight of
the human being on the planet.

805
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,376
♪ ♪

806
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:20,742
{\an1}You know, when they poo,
they poo a lot.

807
00:41:20,766 --> 00:41:23,576
BURNETT:
Researchers estimate there are

808
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:27,242
{\an1}over 400 million tons of
Antarctic krill.

809
00:41:27,266 --> 00:41:29,176
The Australian
Antarctic Division

810
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:30,976
{\an1}recently recorded a super-swarm

811
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,376
made up of
hundreds of millions of them.

812
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:35,942
There are
records of super-swarms

813
00:41:35,966 --> 00:41:39,476
{\an1}several kilometers long.

814
00:41:39,500 --> 00:41:42,500
{\an1}Imagine all that scat!

815
00:41:47,100 --> 00:41:51,676
{\an1}30 minutes after feeding,
So's krill begin to poop.

816
00:41:51,700 --> 00:41:55,376
{\an1}The delicate scat threads
are easily fragmented by

817
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,309
{\an1}the constant motion of
their tiny legs.

818
00:41:58,333 --> 00:42:01,809
{\an1}At a microscopic level,
when the pellets break up,

819
00:42:01,833 --> 00:42:05,609
a cloud of nutrients
is thought to be released.

820
00:42:05,633 --> 00:42:06,742
{\an1}What the nutrients are

821
00:42:06,766 --> 00:42:09,542
{\an1}and how they are used
are questions that

822
00:42:09,566 --> 00:42:12,866
{\an1}researcher Abigail Smith
wants to answer.

823
00:42:14,766 --> 00:42:16,409
My field is
trace metal chemistry,

824
00:42:16,433 --> 00:42:17,909
and that's
a really important field

825
00:42:17,933 --> 00:42:19,109
{\an1}in the Southern Ocean,

826
00:42:19,133 --> 00:42:22,109
where we have such
low concentrations of iron.

827
00:42:22,133 --> 00:42:24,942
{\an1}So we're talking, like,
nanomolar level.

828
00:42:24,966 --> 00:42:26,609
Really, really low.

829
00:42:26,633 --> 00:42:28,542
{\an1}Sources of iron down there

830
00:42:28,566 --> 00:42:30,642
{\an1}often come from things like
melting sea ice.

831
00:42:30,666 --> 00:42:32,642
{\an7}When ice is melting in spring,

832
00:42:32,666 --> 00:42:34,209
{\an8}you get this sudden
input of iron,

833
00:42:34,233 --> 00:42:38,342
{\an7}which stimulates this big
phytoplankton bloom.

834
00:42:38,366 --> 00:42:42,009
{\an1}But once those sources have
pretty much been exhausted,

835
00:42:42,033 --> 00:42:44,842
{\an1}we need something that recycles
and maintains the iron supply.

836
00:42:44,866 --> 00:42:47,576
{\an1}And that's where krill come in,
and we believe that

837
00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:50,076
{\an1}through their excretion
and their defecation,

838
00:42:50,100 --> 00:42:53,733
{\an1}they're actually putting iron
back into the water.

839
00:42:55,100 --> 00:42:57,742
BURNETT:
And that iron may be
fertilizing phytoplankton

840
00:42:57,766 --> 00:43:01,009
{\an1}in a continuous cycle.

841
00:43:01,033 --> 00:43:03,909
Krill ingest iron
when they eat phytoplankton;

842
00:43:03,933 --> 00:43:06,642
it's then excreted
in their scat.

843
00:43:06,666 --> 00:43:10,376
{\an1}Bacteria break down the scat,
liberating the iron

844
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,909
in a form that
the phytoplankton can absorb.

845
00:43:13,933 --> 00:43:15,309
{\an1}But it's difficult to know

846
00:43:15,333 --> 00:43:18,976
how much iron is
involved in the process.

847
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,076
SMITH:
It's not something that
we can measure

848
00:43:21,100 --> 00:43:22,409
{\an1}very easily in the field,

849
00:43:22,433 --> 00:43:23,742
{\an1}you know, going down to
Antarctica.

850
00:43:23,766 --> 00:43:25,109
You can try and
measure the iron,

851
00:43:25,133 --> 00:43:27,709
{\an1}but the iron's taken up
so rapidly that,

852
00:43:27,733 --> 00:43:28,809
you know, you really
have to be there on the spot

853
00:43:28,833 --> 00:43:32,776
{\an1}to measure any influence.

854
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,509
BURNETT:
As a step to finding out
how much iron is available

855
00:43:35,533 --> 00:43:37,776
{\an1}for the phytoplankton
to take up,

856
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,109
{\an1}Abigail conducts a controlled
experiment in So's lab.

857
00:43:41,133 --> 00:43:44,909
{\an1}She'll measure the time
it takes a scat to travel

858
00:43:44,933 --> 00:43:47,442
from krill bottom to
ocean bottom.

859
00:43:47,466 --> 00:43:48,542
(inaudible)

860
00:43:48,566 --> 00:43:52,600
So you can see it
coming down there now.

861
00:43:54,266 --> 00:43:57,309
SMITH:
The speed that it's dropping
is gonna be really important

862
00:43:57,333 --> 00:43:58,409
{\an1}for how much of the nutrients

863
00:43:58,433 --> 00:43:59,909
{\an1}are able to leach out of
the fecal pellet.

864
00:43:59,933 --> 00:44:01,576
{\an1}Mm-hmm.
As soon as it drops

865
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,876
{\an1}out of the upper ocean,
it's sort of exported to depth

866
00:44:04,900 --> 00:44:07,709
where phytoplankton
can't access it.

867
00:44:07,733 --> 00:44:10,676
BURNETT (voiceover):
After over 50 of these
experiments,

868
00:44:10,700 --> 00:44:14,709
Abigail found
the sinking rates are variable.

869
00:44:14,733 --> 00:44:18,042
{\an1}Some scats stay around,
others sink fast.

870
00:44:18,066 --> 00:44:21,476
Our pellet was
one of the latter.

871
00:44:21,500 --> 00:44:23,076
{\an1}The bacteria and phytoplankton

872
00:44:23,100 --> 00:44:26,276
{\an1}would need to act fast
to take up the iron.

873
00:44:26,300 --> 00:44:28,476
{\an8}But all is not lost,

874
00:44:28,500 --> 00:44:30,442
{\an8}because even a fast-sinking scat

875
00:44:30,466 --> 00:44:33,442
{\an7}has a gift for the planet.

876
00:44:33,466 --> 00:44:37,133
{\an8}It can remove carbon
from the atmosphere.

877
00:44:38,700 --> 00:44:41,442
Krill ingest
carbon from phytoplankton

878
00:44:41,466 --> 00:44:43,876
{\an1}and excrete it in their scat.

879
00:44:43,900 --> 00:44:45,476
{\an1}The sinking scat transports

880
00:44:45,500 --> 00:44:48,242
{\an1}millions of tons of carbon
a year

881
00:44:48,266 --> 00:44:50,276
to the depths.

882
00:44:50,300 --> 00:44:53,709
The Southern Ocean
is critical for controlling

883
00:44:53,733 --> 00:44:56,609
how much CO2 is in
the atmosphere.

884
00:44:56,633 --> 00:44:58,942
The scat of this
unassuming little crustacean

885
00:44:58,966 --> 00:45:02,133
{\an1}may be one reason why.

886
00:45:03,766 --> 00:45:06,242
{\an1}Right now, below the surface,

887
00:45:06,266 --> 00:45:08,642
hundreds of millions
of tons of krill

888
00:45:08,666 --> 00:45:12,876
{\an1}are pooping out torrents of
iron- and carbon-rich pellets.

889
00:45:12,900 --> 00:45:15,409
{\an1}That's the real power of poop.

890
00:45:15,433 --> 00:45:20,476
♪ ♪

891
00:45:20,500 --> 00:45:22,742
My journey has come full circle,

892
00:45:22,766 --> 00:45:25,842
{\an1}back to the ancient rain forests
of the Wet Tropics,

893
00:45:25,866 --> 00:45:27,676
{\an1}home to the southern cassowary.

894
00:45:27,700 --> 00:45:30,009
We want to find out

895
00:45:30,033 --> 00:45:33,376
how important
the big bird's scat is

896
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,042
{\an1}to the future of those forests.

897
00:45:35,066 --> 00:45:36,942
{\an1}It will require patience.

898
00:45:36,966 --> 00:45:40,709
{\an1}We must wait for a cassowary
to answer the call of nature.

899
00:45:40,733 --> 00:45:44,000
♪ ♪

900
00:45:45,533 --> 00:45:47,309
(birds chittering)

901
00:45:47,333 --> 00:45:50,409
I'm going to perform
a cassowary pooping experiment

902
00:45:50,433 --> 00:45:52,609
{\an1}with colleague Andrew Dennis.

903
00:45:52,633 --> 00:45:55,809
{\an7}To stay safe and let the bird
get on with its business,

904
00:45:55,833 --> 00:45:58,809
{\an7}we'll remain a captive audience
for as long as it takes.

905
00:45:58,833 --> 00:46:01,209
{\an7}There's a lovely bowl of fruit
there for you to eat.
Come on...

906
00:46:01,233 --> 00:46:02,809
BURNETT (voiceover):
This is just one experiment

907
00:46:02,833 --> 00:46:04,909
Andrew performed for
a comprehensive

908
00:46:04,933 --> 00:46:06,876
{\an1}seed dispersal survey.

909
00:46:06,900 --> 00:46:09,442
(murmuring)

910
00:46:09,466 --> 00:46:12,576
DENNIS (voiceover):
We've done a large project
over six years

911
00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,209
{\an1}looking at the entire process.

912
00:46:15,233 --> 00:46:19,709
{\an7}We looked at 65 different
vertebrate animal types

913
00:46:19,733 --> 00:46:21,076
{\an7}and about one-and-a-half
thousand plants

914
00:46:21,100 --> 00:46:23,176
{\an7}that have fleshy fruit

915
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,376
{\an7}that are moved by those animals.

916
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:29,342
{\an1}It became very clear that
cassowaries

917
00:46:29,366 --> 00:46:31,242
provided a very unique service

918
00:46:31,266 --> 00:46:34,009
{\an1}within the rain forest.

919
00:46:34,033 --> 00:46:38,509
BURNETT:
We want to find out
how efficient the cassowary is

920
00:46:38,533 --> 00:46:39,909
{\an1}at dispersing seeds.

921
00:46:39,933 --> 00:46:42,942
To do that,
we'll time how long it takes

922
00:46:42,966 --> 00:46:46,242
for a seed to travel
from mouth to bottom.

923
00:46:46,266 --> 00:46:47,509
{\an1}We offer a selection of fruits,

924
00:46:47,533 --> 00:46:52,309
{\an1}including the cassowary plum
and the blue quandong.

925
00:46:52,333 --> 00:46:55,200
(birds chittering)

926
00:46:56,733 --> 00:46:57,776
♪ ♪

927
00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:00,509
{\an5}BURNETT:
Four, five.
DENNIS: Yes.

928
00:47:00,533 --> 00:47:02,509
Eight.

929
00:47:02,533 --> 00:47:04,000
{\an1}Nine.

930
00:47:04,833 --> 00:47:06,200
A good feeding day.
Yeah, yeah.

931
00:47:07,433 --> 00:47:08,876
(birds chittering)

932
00:47:08,900 --> 00:47:10,542
BURNETT:
Yep, 14.

933
00:47:10,566 --> 00:47:12,409
{\an1}DENNIS:
14, yep.

934
00:47:12,433 --> 00:47:14,476
♪ ♪

935
00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:18,642
BURNETT (voiceover):
We expect the digestion process
to be relatively swift,

936
00:47:18,666 --> 00:47:22,133
{\an1}because this giant bird has
a very simple gastric system.

937
00:47:23,900 --> 00:47:25,676
{\an1}It has short intestines,

938
00:47:25,700 --> 00:47:29,242
{\an1}a stomach that gently massages
the pulp from the fruit,

939
00:47:29,266 --> 00:47:31,509
{\an1}and a unique combination
of enzymes

940
00:47:31,533 --> 00:47:33,376
that allow it to
digest the fruit

941
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,676
{\an1}while leaving the seed intact.

942
00:47:35,700 --> 00:47:38,100
(plopping)

943
00:47:41,466 --> 00:47:45,200
{\an8}♪ ♪

944
00:47:51,933 --> 00:47:55,166
{\an1}(birds squawking in distance)

945
00:47:57,866 --> 00:47:59,042
{\an8}(plopping)

946
00:47:59,066 --> 00:48:00,176
{\an8}Ooh.
Oh, cool.

947
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:01,143
{\an8}There's one.

948
00:48:01,167 --> 00:48:02,342
Yep, I got that.
Time?

949
00:48:02,366 --> 00:48:03,609
Yep.

950
00:48:03,633 --> 00:48:04,809
{\an1}It's, uh...

951
00:48:04,833 --> 00:48:06,176
{\an1}Ten to 10:00.

952
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,209
{\an5}BURNETT:
Ten to 9:00, I mean.
DENNIS: 51.

953
00:48:08,233 --> 00:48:09,642
{\an3}Yep.
All right, well,

954
00:48:09,666 --> 00:48:11,242
{\an1}looks like Airlie's
done his job.

955
00:48:11,266 --> 00:48:13,833
{\an1}Time to get him
back into his pen.

956
00:48:16,633 --> 00:48:18,876
BURNETT:
Mm, looks like...

957
00:48:18,900 --> 00:48:20,866
I'll get these two scats.

958
00:48:27,533 --> 00:48:29,309
{\an7}Yes, I had 14.

959
00:48:29,333 --> 00:48:31,209
{\an8}Yep, and I got 18,

960
00:48:31,233 --> 00:48:33,309
so we got 32.
32.

961
00:48:33,333 --> 00:48:36,576
{\an1}So three-and-a-half hours ago,
that bird ate

962
00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:38,742
73 quandongs.

963
00:48:38,766 --> 00:48:40,609
Often, in three-and-a-half
hours, cassowaries will move

964
00:48:40,633 --> 00:48:42,676
between one and two kilometers.

965
00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:43,942
{\an7}Mm, so it seems

966
00:48:43,966 --> 00:48:45,676
{\an7}quite a quick passage rate...
So...

967
00:48:45,700 --> 00:48:47,676
{\an7}...but still, just
the mobility of those birds

968
00:48:47,700 --> 00:48:50,042
{\an7}means that these seeds
are getting...
Can go quite a long way.

969
00:48:50,066 --> 00:48:52,266
{\an7}...kilometers away
from the parent tree.
Yep.

970
00:48:54,333 --> 00:48:57,242
BURNETT:
The distance the cassowary
travels is important.

971
00:48:57,266 --> 00:48:59,276
Seeds have
a better chance of survival

972
00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:01,409
when they're
transported away from

973
00:49:01,433 --> 00:49:03,042
the parent tree.

974
00:49:03,066 --> 00:49:05,876
If the fruits
stay where they drop,

975
00:49:05,900 --> 00:49:07,009
they're often eaten
by seed predators

976
00:49:07,033 --> 00:49:08,533
{\an1}or infected by fungi.

977
00:49:09,633 --> 00:49:10,709
Andrew's study found

978
00:49:10,733 --> 00:49:13,609
there are many
successful seed dispersers

979
00:49:13,633 --> 00:49:15,109
in these forests,

980
00:49:15,133 --> 00:49:16,409
but no other animal

981
00:49:16,433 --> 00:49:19,542
{\an1}can transport large seeds
great distances.

982
00:49:19,566 --> 00:49:21,442
♪ ♪

983
00:49:21,466 --> 00:49:24,609
{\an1}Thanks to the cassowary,
hundreds of species of plants

984
00:49:24,633 --> 00:49:30,109
{\an1}in these ancient rain forests
remain diverse and abundant.

985
00:49:30,133 --> 00:49:34,000
This marvelous scat
grows forests.

986
00:49:36,033 --> 00:49:38,342
{\an1}Given the area of habitat
that's available,

987
00:49:38,366 --> 00:49:40,042
{\an1}the cassowary population
is stable,

988
00:49:40,066 --> 00:49:43,742
but threats remain...

989
00:49:43,766 --> 00:49:46,433
Like the effects of
climate change.

990
00:49:47,866 --> 00:49:49,642
DENNIS:
Cassowaries prefer

991
00:49:49,666 --> 00:49:52,442
{\an1}lowland coastal rain forests.

992
00:49:52,466 --> 00:49:54,109
{\an1}There's modeling now that shows

993
00:49:54,133 --> 00:49:57,242
{\an1}how much of that rain forest
is going to be inundated

994
00:49:57,266 --> 00:50:02,376
{\an1}by storm surges from cyclones
or just plain sea level rise.

995
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:05,142
{\an1}So what we're now expecting
is that cassowaries

996
00:50:05,166 --> 00:50:07,209
{\an8}will have to
start finding new areas

997
00:50:07,233 --> 00:50:09,642
{\an7}to live and disperse seeds.

998
00:50:09,666 --> 00:50:10,709
{\an7}The trouble they're facing

999
00:50:10,733 --> 00:50:13,509
{\an1}is that the lowland areas
in Australia

1000
00:50:13,533 --> 00:50:15,242
{\an1}have been fragmented.

1001
00:50:15,266 --> 00:50:18,042
{\an1}A lot of the forest has been
cleared for agriculture,

1002
00:50:18,066 --> 00:50:20,176
and cassowaries
can't move through.

1003
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:25,242
♪ ♪

1004
00:50:25,266 --> 00:50:28,776
BURNETT:
The only way cassowaries
will have enough habitat

1005
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,409
is if we plant
corridors of trees

1006
00:50:30,433 --> 00:50:32,709
{\an1}that connect with larger tracts
of inland forest

1007
00:50:32,733 --> 00:50:35,176
{\an7}where they can find food.

1008
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:36,809
(Dennis murmurs)

1009
00:50:36,833 --> 00:50:41,166
BURNETT (voiceover):
Now we are becoming
the forest gardeners.

1010
00:50:42,566 --> 00:50:45,642
{\an4}These are a massive
bird (bleep), aren't they?
(chuckling): Yeah.

1011
00:50:45,666 --> 00:50:50,700
{\an8}♪ ♪

1012
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:54,609
{\an8}BURNETT (voiceover):
Volunteers have raised

1013
00:50:54,633 --> 00:50:56,076
over 100,000 trees

1014
00:50:56,100 --> 00:50:59,309
from the seeds in cassowary scat

1015
00:50:59,333 --> 00:51:03,042
and planted them to
create cassowary corridors.

1016
00:51:03,066 --> 00:51:06,100
♪ ♪

1017
00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,642
{\an7}This seedling came from
a cassowary scat.

1018
00:51:17,666 --> 00:51:19,976
{\an7}We've taken their trees.

1019
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:21,442
{\an8}Now we're trying
to give them back,

1020
00:51:21,466 --> 00:51:22,576
{\an8}hopefully in time

1021
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:25,542
{\an8}to make a difference
to all of our futures.

1022
00:51:25,566 --> 00:51:30,366
{\an8}♪ ♪

1023
00:51:33,233 --> 00:51:36,042
{\an1}Scat just keeps on giving.

1024
00:51:36,066 --> 00:51:38,676
♪ ♪

1025
00:51:38,700 --> 00:51:41,142
This is fun science,

1026
00:51:41,166 --> 00:51:43,509
but that's not
the main reason we do it.

1027
00:51:43,533 --> 00:51:46,676
Scats really do
make the world go round.

1028
00:51:46,700 --> 00:51:49,076
And they unite
the world, as well.

1029
00:51:49,100 --> 00:51:50,742
{\an1}They unite us through our,

1030
00:51:50,766 --> 00:51:52,942
{\an1}our natural inquisitiveness

1031
00:51:52,966 --> 00:51:55,776
{\an1}and the sense of wonder
that we have at nature

1032
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,076
{\an1}and the natural processes
that sustain this planet.

1033
00:51:59,100 --> 00:52:01,100
♪ ♪

1034
00:52:02,700 --> 00:52:03,900
(engine starting)

1035
00:52:32,866 --> 00:52:37,533
{\an8}♪ ♪

1036
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:52,509
{\an8}ANNOUNCER:
To order this program on DVD,
visit ShopPBS

1037
00:52:52,533 --> 00:52:55,609
{\an7}or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

1038
00:52:55,633 --> 00:52:58,576
{\an7}Episodes of "NOVA" are available
with Passport.

1039
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:02,576
{\an7}"NOVA" is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

1040
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:08,733
{\an8}♪ ♪

1041
00:53:19,566 --> 00:53:25,700
{\an8}♪ ♪