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.

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

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So let's start at the beginning:
what is a quokka?

A quokka is a small wallaby.

It comes from the same family
as the kangaroo,

and physically,
they've 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 conservation programs.

And there's one online trend
that has really helped these 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 island's vegetation.

And they also really love
the seedlings that we plant

as part of our re-vegetation projects

that we have implemented
by our environments technicians.

Sorry about that guys.
Thanks for all your hard work.

And what makes these guys
so great for taking selfies?

Around the settlement área,
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?

Yeah they're not actually
smiling in the photos.

It's just a natural shape of their mouth,
which comes up at the side

which makes them look
like they're smiling.

The popularity of the quokka 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.

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This is Aiya and Shigu,
two adorable clouded leopard cubs.

Don't be fooled by their 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 rainforests 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 can rotate backwards,
making them elite climbers.

♪ (gentle music) ♪

Beyond a quickly shrinking habitat,

poaching remains a huge problema,

as their skin, claws,
teeth, bones, and meat

are all sold on the black market.

♪ (gentle music) ♪

This is the clouded leopard.

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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 realize

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

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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.

So over the years,used technology

to get more and more
inside the animal world.

And as things have progressed,

we would move from just using
remote cameras disguised as rocks

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,

it 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.

(penguin squawk)

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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 all, really.

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We lost one spy pup to a wolf.

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Our tortoise,
it was squashed by an elephant.

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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.

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The challenges are--

they're 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 be able to film close to them

and in their world,

you know you're going to get
something remarkable.

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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.