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.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

(rustling of the forest floor)

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.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

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 the 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 use that
as a platform to educate the public

and also educate them about
appropriate interaction with wildlife.

So finally, a good cause for selfies.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

♪ (gentle music) ♪

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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♪ (cheerful music) ♪

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.

My name is John Downer, and these--

are my incredible team of spy creatures.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

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,

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

cameras in their eyes,
but they look like the animals,

and the animals will interact with them.

The whole idea of 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 get
these incredible shots?"

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

(penguin squawk)

♪ (gentle music) ♪

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 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.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

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.

♪ (gentle music) ♪

♪ (music) ♪

(vehicle starting)

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

(vehicle accelerating)

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

Early morning in Kenya,
in the wildlife conservation areas,

they are quiet.

♪ (funk music) ♪

This all changes when the pone rings.

The team can be contacted at all times.

We are the first mobile security patrol

veterinary team in this part of Kenya.

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

Typically, an animal
is trapped in a poaching snare,

but it can be anything.

A lion which needs to be translocated

or a sick zebra,
but usually it's a snare issue.

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

Our kits include:

gloves, first-aid kit, medical supplies

blindfold, rope and darting rifle.

The team consists of a driver,

(car starting)

one head vet,

and two rangers.

Once we have assembled everything,

we are ready to go and save the animals.

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

The roads are not usually paved.

Most of the time,
we drive through the bush.

We are going to see where he is.
where he is. Where is he?

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

When we reach the animal,

we have to keep the animal safe
and ourselves safe.

♪ (dramatic music) ♪

It has become debilitated
because of the snare.

It's not eating.

We only have a few minutes
once the animal has been tranqulized.

And it can be very dramatic.

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♪ (dramatic music) ♪

Complete.

Back in the compound,
we are a bigger team.

Joseph, our animal keeper,
takes care of the orphans.

Our lab technician
takes care of the blood work.

Our co-owner manages our online presence.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

This job is important
because there is a lot of conflict

between human beings and wildlife.

And therefore,
intervention to save wildlife

from becoming extinct is very crucial.

I love so much to save lives
and see animals are well.

And that is our calling.
That's why I do the job.

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

Alright guys, let's finish up.

Bear then, this little guy
hasn't been named yet.

Growing up in Montana, I feel like
I had kind of a 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,
I'm a master's student

working in wildlife conservation

and in some circles,
I'm known as Griz Kid.

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

I found Dr. Tom Smith at BYU.

I started by working with polar bears
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 had kind of a history
with visitor conflict

and with bears
that maybe are getting into campsites.

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 the bears wake up,

sometimes
they're really unhappy to see us.

Stay, stay, stay! Get back.

(rustling)

Hey, stay!

♪ (cheerful music) ♪

Get him!

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 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 experiences,

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.

♪ (gente music) ♪