The Guardians of Endangered Wildlife

Preserving endagered species
is no easy task.

And sometimes it takes
a bit of creativity

to get the job done.

Come and take a closer look at wild life

and their most dedicated guardians
with these five stories.

This fuzzy little creature is a Quokka.

And these guys live here
off the West Coast of Australia:

on Rottnest Island.

Quokkas are not only cute,

they're camera-ready
and they are taking the Internet by storm.

So, let's start from the beginning.

What is a Quokka?

A Quokka is a small Wallaby,

it comes
from the same family as a Kangaroo

and physically they got thick brown fur,

they've got long tails
and they hop around.

Quokkas thrive on Rottnest Island

because they don't have any predators
over here, so there's no foxes.

We have the largest viable population
of about 10.000.

Oh sorry, and you are...

My name is Cassyanna Gray

and I'm a conservation officer
on Rottnest Island.

In my role, I'm responsible for
managing the conservation programs.

And there's one online trend
that has really helped this animals:

A Quokka Selfie,
but make sure you're getting it right.

How to take a Quokka Selfie:

Step 1: A camera

Step 2: A Quokka

But don't touch the Quokkas

Ah, nope

Or feed them, it's 150 dollar fine.

These guys don't need the food,

they naturally graze their way
through the islands vegetation.

And I also really love the saving

that we plan
as part of our re-vegetation projects

that we have implemented
by our environments technician.

Sorry about that guys,
thanks for your hard work.

And what makes these guys
so great for taking selfies?

Around the settlement area
the Quokkas are a lot friendlier,

they've become used to people
so they natural behaviour has changed

but out in the reserve,

where they're actually still
exhibiting their natural behaviour

they will a lot more wary of people.

We have to know,
are they actually smiling in photos?

Yeah,
they're not actually smiling in photos

it's just a natural shape of their mouth
which come up at the side

which made them look like they're smiling.

The popularity of the Quokkas Selfie
has given us the opportunity

to raise awareness about the Quokkas

particularly on the mainland
that are under threat,

so we've used that
as a platform to educate the public,

and also educate them about
appropriate interaction with wildlife.

So, finally, a good cause for selfies.

This is Aya and Sagu,
two aodrable clouded leopard cubs.

Don't be fooled by the youthful spirit,
clouded leopards are some of the most shy,

mysterious, and elusive cats.

Besides their shy nature,
they have a steadily declining population

making it even harder
to spot them in the wild.

As far as big cats go,
clouded leopards are the smallest.

These two little girls will top out
at around 3 feet when fully grown.

Native throughout Asia,
they live in diverse habitats:

from the rain forests of Indonesia
to the foothills of the Himalayas,

they pack a powerful bite too,

as they have the largest canine teeth
relative to body size of any wild cat,

they have short powerful legs and ankles

that convert height backwards
making them elite climbers.

Beyond a quickly shrinking habitat
perching remains a huge problem

as their skin, claws, teeth, burns
and meat are all sold the black market.

This is the clouded leopard.

We look at every subject
that we want to film and then we say well

what is the best way
to get into their world?

It's an amazing moment
when you realized

that you're actually seeing some stuff
for the first time.

My name is John Downer,

and these are
my incredible team of spy creatures.

Well, I suppose it all started
when I started making wildlife films

and I wanted to have that kind of intimate
perspective to get into the animal world

and actually know
what it's like to be an animal,

over the years I used technology

to get more and more
inside to the animal word.

And those things have progressed,

we would move from just using
remote cameras disguises rock

to where we are today,
which is having, you know,

these incredible spy creatures,
which are able to do filming,

cameras in their eyes
really look like the animals

and the animals will interact with them.

The whole idea of, you know,
using the robots that came about

when we made a film about penguins.

For the first time we thought:
"Well, what if we made a penguin cam"