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 wildlife

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, no!

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 behavior has changed,

but out in the reserve,
where they're actually

still exhibiting their natural behavior,
they will a lot more wary of people.

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

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 be able
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 adorable 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

a living moving camera
that looked like a penguin

that was able to go into the colony,

and start to count on
these incredible shots.

You can't explain it
because it's a dream come true.

I think part of the whole technique is
to try and get inside the animals minds,

you know, understanding animal behavior
is key to it already.

We lost on spy pup to a wolf,

by tortoise
it was squashed by an elephant,

and I think it's something about the fact
that they look living makes them think

before they actually do anything

and if it's not a threat
then they kind of, they quite like it.

The challenges are innumerable
because everything is a challenge

from the beginning to the point
you get the film.

The animals once you get there
and once you're actually with them,

they tend to be
the least of all the problems.

They usually do deliver
because they do amazing things

and if you've got the technology
to get the film close to them

and in their word, you know
you're going to get something remarkable.

Hi guys, it's finished up.
Bear then, this guy hasn't been named yet.

Growing up in Montana I feel like
I had this kind of special opportunity

just to be outside a lot.

That's kind of where
a love of wildlife started for me

that dies out on a lot of kids,
and for me it just continued.

My name is Wesley Larson
and I'm a Master's student

working in wildlife conservation

and then some circles
I'm known as Triscuit.

When I first started deciding
that I should get into a wildlife field,

I found dr. Tom Smith at BYU.

I started by working with polar
on Alaska's North Slope

and then that kind of transitioned

into some black bear work
down here in Utah, in Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon,
like other national parks

that do have bears,

they've have a kind of history
with visitor conflict and with bears

that maybe are getting into campsite.

So, what we're doing is
we're tracking the bears to learn

what habitats they're using,
just to see what park could to better

to make it easier
for visitors to avoid bears.

What we're doing is
we're fitting black bears with GPS collars

and then I'll go into the den

with the bear
to inject it with some drugs,

the bear then falls asleep,
I can pull it out

and you know,
just give it a full check up.

It's probably the most scary thing we do
just because bears wake

sometimes
they're really unhappy to see us.

Stay, stay, stay! Get back!

Hey, stay!

I have had to crawl up trees after bears,
it's an interesting job for sure.

People do have this knee-jerk reaction
to see an animal that's sedated

or an animal that's wearing a collar
and think that, you know,

it might be being hurt
and the thing that they don't realize is

that we really care about these animals
probably more than just about anyone.

Getting out into the wilderness
and having these kind of experience,

this helps you understand

that we depend on wildlife
and wildlife depends on us.

And that's really
what conservation is all about:

giving the space and the respect
to these animals that they deserve

and really learning
as much about them as we can.