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00:00Hawksville Heights, Hawksville Heights, do you copy?
00:05We copy.
00:06Hatchlings are emerging now.
00:09We'll be right there.
00:11Thank you, yeah, but you're us, we will definitely get lost.
00:15So, the crew has radioed saying that there is baby turtles this way.
00:25Looks like they're just resting at the surface with their little heads poking out,
00:29but if they all decide to go, it could be within five to ten minutes that they're all in the water.
00:34I've never seen this before.
00:36I mean, you see it on the telly, don't you?
00:39Not in real life.
00:45They're flatbacks, they're flatbacks for sure.
00:50Look at all the little heads poking out.
00:54What's really special about this moment is these species only nest in Australia.
00:58So nowhere else in the world.
01:00So we have everything they need for their entire life cycle.
01:04Marine scientist Sarah MacDonald and I are watching tiny flatback turtles struggle through the first hurdle of their secretive life.
01:13Getting from the buried egg to the open air can take over a week of digging.
01:18Getting to the surface from the bottom of the nest is one challenge and the next is getting to the water.
01:23Well, I can literally hear a predator.
01:28I can hear a silver gull just behind us.
01:33When you see them at this size and especially knowing that their shell is still soft,
01:39it really drives home how vulnerable they are.
01:43I think I can see maybe five in front of me right now.
01:45The likelihood is that they won't survive to adulthood.
01:51But the cover of darkness offers some protection, especially for the visual predators.
01:55So it's a good time to go.
02:00Suddenly, the hatchlings make a break for it.
02:02Look, they're going like the clappers.
02:07Oh my goodness, look at these little flippers.
02:12Did you see it go through the footprint?
02:15That's how small they are.
02:18Oh, they're going so fast on this wet sand.
02:22It looks like a wind-up toy, but it's going to the open ocean.
02:28These are the very first steps in an unusually perilous journey to adulthood.
02:34Oh my God, there's a big crab!
02:36As few as one in 10,000 of these hatchlings will survive.
02:43I just feel like I need to walk in between that little baby and that crab.
02:46Oh, it's almost there, it's almost there!
02:56That one made it!
03:01Incredible!
03:02But of course, that's just the first hurdle for these little turtles.
03:05They've got to grow up big.
03:07And actually, they're just about to go into a period that we know basically nothing about.
03:10Good luck!
03:22As a nature journalist, I spend a lot of my time observing wildlife from behind my binoculars.
03:29But not this time.
03:31That's the head!
03:32He's huge!
03:34In this series, I'm getting up close and personal.
03:37Oh my God!
03:41No matter how deadly the animal.
03:43Oh!
03:44That's going to be your only chance.
03:45Get it on!
03:47And it's not just for fun.
03:50Seeing animals like this is absolutely incredible.
03:54I'll be joining scientists on location as they try to gain a deeper understanding of animals.
04:00Brilliant.
04:01That's fantastic.
04:02We all think we know.
04:04He's trying to bite.
04:05And this time, it's turtles.
04:10They are the quirky characters of the sea that have outlived the dinosaurs.
04:15But their story is far more complex and precarious than meets the eye.
04:20Yep.
04:21Three, two, one.
04:23And today, research is revealing fresh insights into their extraordinary and mysterious lives.
04:30This is like her last act of maternal care.
04:35I'm Dr. Anne Jones and things are about to get wild.
04:40Sometimes I think that the end of the earth is a phrase that gets overused, but I truly feel like I have just dropped off the edge of Australia.
04:53I'm on my way to Rosemary Island, part of the Dampier Archipelago off the coast of Western Australia, one of the world's most significant breeding sanctuaries for sea turtles.
05:06They're extremely secretive creatures.
05:07They're extremely secretive creatures.
05:21They spend most of their time underwater, and when they're doing that, we almost have no idea where they're going.
05:32They are the epitome of an animal with a secret life far away from humans.
05:37For three days, I'll be joining a team of scientists and volunteers to get hands-on tagging and studying different species of turtle.
05:54Our main mission is to examine the nests of the critically endangered hawksbill turtle to better understand what threats they might face in the future.
06:03I can see the shipping container.
06:12Welcome to Anna's Bay.
06:14To Anna's Bay.
06:16We were told to only bring the essentials.
06:21I'm pretty sure these are filled with all the hairdryers for the film crew.
06:24Oh, it's soft underfoot.
06:34Oh, that water's nicely.
06:36This is so we build empathy with the turtles.
06:39Something like that, yeah.
06:41These turtle nests.
06:43Yes, this is the moon craters.
06:44Right here.
06:45So all of these holes are the enderman-esque.
06:48So the eggs aren't in the holes, they're in the mounds around there, but this is beautiful Rosemary Beach 6.
06:54Well, that was steeper than I expected.
06:57If I fall into one of these turtle craters and die, tell my mother I loved her.
07:01Do science, they say.
07:08With the kit finally unloaded, marine biologist Kat Bates shows me around the campsite.
07:20I'm getting the toilet to her.
07:21We even have a toilet roll holder.
07:27Ta-da!
07:29I could get used to this.
07:30Helpy.
07:36This is what it's like trying to wrestle a squid, these things.
07:42Need some help?
07:44Yeah, before I die.
07:45You did pretty well.
07:46You're halfway.
07:48But as much as I love camping, I am getting hot and bothered.
07:52It's currently 40 degrees in the first week of January.
07:56Whose idea was this?
07:58So why exactly are we here in the peak of summer?
08:01Like, couldn't I have come in the peak of winter?
08:04You absolutely could have, but you wouldn't see any turtles.
08:07Right, so what do we expect the turtles will be doing?
08:10So we're at a kind of overlap period at the moment.
08:12The hawksbill turtles, which is why we're here, they lay usually around October,
08:15but we're still going to get a few now and we're going to get the hatchlings now.
08:19But now is mainly the prime season for flatbacks and green sea turtles.
08:22Oh.
08:23So different species have different times.
08:25Six of the world's seven species of sea turtle live around Australia.
08:30I can see turtle tracks.
08:32And half of those species nest on these beaches.
08:36So we'll start down this end and then we'll just basically walk along there.
08:40Our first research task is to prepare for the turtles evening commute.
08:47I have to say, wasn't expecting having to drag a picket along.
08:52So what are we actually doing?
08:54We are dragging a line across the sand.
08:57So in the morning when we do our track counts, we can see if any new tracks have crossed the line.
09:01And that means a new turtle has come up that night.
09:04Get a lot of data from a very simple thing.
09:09Over a two week period at peak season, the team can record over 1,000 tracks the turtles have made as they come up on the beach to dig their nests.
09:20And the nest digging is a way more complicated process than you might expect.
09:25So they're going to use their front flippers and their back flippers and dig a really big hole.
09:31After that, she's going to use her back flippers to what we call chamber.
09:34And that's where she literally scoops out, very dexterous, and she scoops out her egg chamber.
09:39Then she'll cover them up again with her back flippers.
09:41She'll pat them down.
09:43Once she's finished doing that, then she'll start misting.
09:45And then it's pretty funny.
09:46They just get all their flippers and they're throwing sand and they're covering the nest to try and camouflage it basically so predators can't find it.
09:52It's so cool so they'll cover their tracks or as much as they can.
09:56Absolutely.
10:01Most sea turtles lay a clutch of 80 to 180 eggs per nest and they do that at least twice a season.
10:09I just hope that tonight is one of those nights that we get to see big live adult turtles up at their nests.
10:24Before the sun has even set, it seems our first commuter is getting a head start on the evening rush.
10:30What's happening?
10:32It's a flatback. A mum, she's come up onto the beach, her nest.
10:37Look, that's her up there.
10:41Right near the vegetation.
10:44Unlike other species, flatbacks don't migrate long distances, nesting only on home turf in Australia.
10:52It's important not to disturb her, so Kat creeps up to assess what stage she might be at.
11:05The sprays of sand go like at least two and a half metres.
11:11Like, she gets a really good flipper full of sand and piffs it.
11:20She's just a tad in my face.
11:24What do you think's happening?
11:26I think she might still be body pitting.
11:28So, when you say body pitting, she's like digging a little test.
11:36That's right, yeah. So, she's flicking some sand to see if it's a suitable area to lay her eggs.
11:43I, like, am unexpectedly extremely emotional.
11:47Oh, good! You might get to see her lay some babies.
11:50She's just so pretty.
11:52Flatbacks are a very pretty species.
11:55She's doing an amazing job.
11:58It can take over an hour to pick the best spot.
12:06This is like her last act of maternal care is selecting the best spot that she possibly can to put her eggs in.
12:16So, I want to give her air space so she can make the best choice.
12:19So, we've been a bit sneaky and we've got the drone up so that we can look right down at what she's doing and she's definitely making progress.
12:32She looks like a very oddly shaped rhythmic gymnast. You know, like the arcs of sand are just glorious coming out from her flippers.
12:43So, we might be able to see her laying some eggs a little bit later tonight.
12:54Under the cover of darkness, her mammoth efforts pay off.
12:59It's joyful to see it.
13:09It's the start of a whole new clutch, a whole new journey.
13:12The nutrient rich reefs here in the Dampia Peninsula offer the perfect environment for juvenile turtles to grow.
13:34That is, if they can avoid the predators.
13:49But it's not the sharks that pose the greatest threat.
14:00Alongside poaching and plastic pollution, it's the warming climate.
14:08Temperature is the key to the turtle life cycle.
14:12It influences everything they do, from migration to nesting and more.
14:20And to investigate the impact rising temperatures might be having on the turtles and their eggs.
14:29I'll get you digging in and you can pass me up the eggs.
14:33The team are digging up the old nests of their key research subjects, the critically endangered hawksbill turtles.
14:42So, we're doing essentially a nest post-mortem.
14:45Yeah.
14:46We're seeing how many survived.
14:48These are our empty eggshells.
14:50These are the ones that have hatched.
14:52And then we have to open up all the rotting ones and find out what stage of development they're at.
14:56I'm glad we've got gloves on.
14:58Yes.
15:00Our forensic examination uncovers everything from half-formed embryos to full-term hatchlings that never made it out of the nest.
15:10But it's risky work.
15:11That's a rotten egg.
15:12I just got the director.
15:22I'm glad I'm not the only one getting covered in goop for science.
15:28The average hatching rate for a nest is 52%, but that is the average.
15:35Sometimes it can be significantly lower.
15:38What are the factors that go into having a really successful nest?
15:43So, the position where the nest is placed, if it's below the high water line, it's probably going to get inundated with water a lot more.
15:49But things like temperature, if it's too hot, they'll all die, and if it's too cold, they won't make it either.
15:56The team measure the temperature of the sand.
15:59Even the slightest change could have surprising consequences for the hatchlings.
16:07Is male and female not defined by the parents?
16:11No, it's definitely done by temperature.
16:14Warmer temperatures are going to produce females, and cooler temperatures will produce males.
16:19And what can happen in the one clutch, the top half, which is warmer from the sunlight, they're going to be the females,
16:25and then the bottom of the clutch, which is deeper, they don't have access to as much warmth,
16:29that's just only going to be a degree or a little bit cooler, they'll be your males at the bottom.
16:34For hawksbills, around 30 degrees is the perfect recipe, producing a 50-50 ratio of females to males in the nest.
16:4493 plus 2 plus 1.
16:46But as little as 3 degrees more could devastate the population.
16:51So, if the world does continue to get hotter, what does it mean for these turtles?
16:57We could potentially see more females being born, or potentially whole clutches being wiped out.
17:01That's really worrying, because if the whole season gets wiped out, there are no mature turtles.
17:10That's right. So that's why these long-term monitoring programs are so important,
17:14because like you just said, they don't reach sexual maturity to 15, 20 years old.
17:18So, what we're seeing today, we won't actually see the impacts of that for another 20 years to come.
17:22The hatchlings that didn't make it epitomise how delicate and dangerous a sea turtle's life is.
17:32But as we reach the end of this clutch...
17:34Ooh!
17:36Ooh, what happened?
17:38And I think it's alive.
17:41It's alive.
17:43Oh, it's moving.
17:45So he's tried really hard to make it out of the clutch.
17:47Maybe it was too damp and had some pretty big rainfall the last couple of weeks, so he must be pretty exhausted.
17:54Look at that.
17:56Ooh, he's got a bit of...
17:58Oh, it's good!
17:59This little one?
18:00Hello.
18:01So this is a hawk's bill?
18:02It is a hawk's bill.
18:03I can see it's a little...snubby...
18:05You can see his little hawk, can you?
18:06Well, you can see a little snubby...
18:07Little bill?
18:08Yeah.
18:09Little mate.
18:10I think they look like little prehistoric dinosaurs, compared to the other species.
18:14They absolutely do, and it's got the little ridges.
18:17Yeah.
18:18It gives it that impression.
18:19It does, yeah.
18:21Hatchlings need to dig their way up out of almost half a metre of sand.
18:27And this little one has been down there longer than most.
18:31So, to give it a fighting chance, Kat suggests that, on this occasion, we take it towards the shoreline for release.
18:40So this is probably some of the most precious cargo in Australia, because it is a critically endangered turtle.
18:47It's thought that there's less than 10,000 adult breeding females.
18:52So, if this one can survive to adulthood, it could be critical to the survival of the species.
18:59So we'll just put them down here.
19:01They need to break their way to the water themselves.
19:03It stretches out their lungs and clears all the mucus from it.
19:06And it also helps them home in on this is their home.
19:09There you go.
19:10Good turtle.
19:11Yes.
19:12I feel like a proud mother.
19:13So adorable.
19:14Isn't it so cool.
19:15Like it literally was buried minutes ago.
19:17Yes, I feel like a proud mother.
19:28So adorable.
19:39Isn't that so cool?
19:41Like it literally was buried minutes ago.
19:43That is just wild.
19:54Hatchlings can detect the Earth's magnetic field
19:57and use it to create a GPS-like map
20:00that they can follow home when they're ready to nest.
20:03But it can take up to 15 years for a turtle to mature.
20:13So if scientists are to determine whether they survive to breeding age,
20:20their research must span decades.
20:26And this requires the work of some very dedicated volunteers.
20:30Oh, my God!
20:32I know.
20:33There's half a cow in there.
20:34There is half a cow in there.
20:36And I think we've got sausages.
20:39Yeah, there's sausages too.
20:41How many are we feeding here?
20:44It's my last night on the island
20:46and I'm on dinner duty with Anna Wittenbergs.
20:51At 77, she's the fairy godmother of turtles
20:55and has been tagging them out here for over 40 years.
20:59So tell me, how long have you been coming to Rosemary Island?
21:04Since the 80s, Anne.
21:06You know, you come the end of October and you're absolutely pooped.
21:09And you think, oh, that's it.
21:10I'm not going to come out here again.
21:11But come July, you think, oh, it wasn't so bad after all.
21:15I might just give it another go.
21:18And there you go.
21:19But it gets you in.
21:21As I said, the more you know, the more you realise you don't know
21:24and the more you want to know about turtles.
21:26So what was it like here?
21:29I didn't have the hut here.
21:30There wasn't anything here at all.
21:33And you'd bring a little tent or...?
21:35No.
21:36A bit of canvas and a sleeping bag.
21:39I had two flares with me and that was it.
21:44Did you take any safety measures?
21:47No.
21:48When you're young like that, you're invincible, aren't you?
21:51No.
21:52You know, one of the most exciting things for me is to see turtles that have got old tags on them.
22:02And you can look up the database and see when the turtles was tagged, what year and who by.
22:08So, like old friends, ones that you've tagged...
22:11Yes.
22:12..come back around?
22:13I know, and the taggers this time...
22:15They said to me, Annie, you know those turtles you've tagged so many years ago?
22:19Yes.
22:20Well, the hatchlings would have hatched by now.
22:23Yeah.
22:24And what you're seeing is them coming back again.
22:27It's incredible.
22:28Yes, I know.
22:29I think, oh, gosh.
22:30They chose my age.
22:32But not everything on the island has stayed the same.
22:35And on a dark night, it was dark.
22:38You couldn't see a thing.
22:39Mm.
22:40Um, but that's increased over the years with industry.
22:43Yeah.
22:44And then, of course, with the shipping out here as well.
22:47Shipping in the port of Dampier has more than tripled since the 1980s.
22:53It's thought the artificial light can disorientate hatchlings, prolonging their already hazardous
23:01journey to sea.
23:04But it's hard to say yet what effect this might have on this population.
23:10Yay!
23:11Good job, guys.
23:13That was delicious.
23:14There you go, radio.
23:16I have just woken up for the day.
23:44And literally outside my swag is a huge green turtle.
23:54I'd happily just watch her head back out to sea that Cat arrives and wants to tag this
24:00turtle for their ongoing studies.
24:02Well, good morning.
24:03Morning.
24:04Does that mean we've got to catch it before it goes in the water?
24:06That's okay.
24:07She's slow.
24:08She's taking her time.
24:09And I'm going to help.
24:10Or at least try to.
24:11So we'll just sneak up behind her and set our stuff down and get things ready.
24:14The team have tagged over 5,700 female turtles like this since the program began almost
24:21four decades ago.
24:22Three, three, two, three, zero.
24:24The data shows that 60% of them have returned at least once to lay their eggs.
24:30The more you touch her, the more she's going to move.
24:33And their whole shell is sensitive as well.
24:35So every time you touch the shell, she feels it.
24:37It's not just an outer layer.
24:39Like, that is her.
24:40The skeleton is her.
24:45Endangered green turtles are the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world.
24:51So you're going to go behind her.
24:52You're going to slide your foot like under her flipper, so it's kind of keep it out.
24:58This female likely weighs over 150 kilograms.
25:04Placing a tag in the armpit of a moving flipper is clearly a skill I am struggling to master.
25:27Count it down.
25:28Can you do it?
25:29Okay.
25:30Three, two, one.
25:31You're all good.
25:32Yep.
25:33Let's go.
25:34Nice.
25:35Well done.
25:36As a backup, we place a second tag on her right flipper.
25:41Perfect.
25:42Right.
25:43Stay with her.
25:44How about you?
25:45Stay with her?
25:46Like I can.
25:47You're all right, lady.
25:48She's incredibly strong.
25:49That's a wrestler.
25:50You're all right, lady.
25:53She's incredibly strong.
25:55That's a wrestler.
25:56That's like a sumo wrestler, isn't it?
25:58She's strong.
25:59The greens are the strongest.
26:01Big mama.
26:02We take a biopsy for genetic analysis.
26:0590 degree angle straight.
26:07Yeah.
26:08Got some.
26:09Perfect.
26:10Oh my God.
26:11Which enables scientists to map the distribution of the turtle population.
26:17And to manage their habitats.
26:20Measuring tape.
26:22Just one last measurement before she heads off, taking Kat with her.
26:29So just here.
26:30That little part there.
26:31Yep.
26:32And all the way across the top of the carapace to the very tip.
26:35Yeah.
26:36Love the green.
26:37952.
26:38Perfect.
26:39All right.
26:40That's it.
26:41All done.
26:42Say goodbye to your first green.
26:43See you later, little one.
26:45See the long line.
26:47Science is stressful.
26:54That was wild.
26:59That was wild.
27:01I'm not normally an outwardly anxious person.
27:08But yeah, I think you could probably see me shaking.
27:11And it's out of concern for the turtle.
27:14Knowing that I have to do everything quite quickly and efficiently so that she doesn't get stressed.
27:19Makes me into a klutz.
27:21It's been a very hot, very sandy few days on Rosemary Island getting hands on with sea turtles.
27:36And I've learned a lot.
27:41Turtles are physically way stronger than they look.
27:45But their very existence hangs in a tenuous balance.
27:50The future of sea turtles pivots on just a few degrees centigrade.
27:56And how that impacts these turtles is still something that we're unpacking as we go.
28:03Long term data is like the road map of how these turtles are doing.
28:10And people like Anna are the cartographers that have mapped the landscape.
28:16Yep.
28:17Next time, it's Dewgongs.
28:32Okay, this is a big thing now.
28:35Bye.
28:36Bye.
28:37Bye.
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