| [00:00.1] |
Almost all animal castaways would have died of exposure, hunger or thirst |
| [00:06.13] |
long before reaching French Polynesia in the eastern Pacific |
| [00:09.95] |
Reaching land here was a matter of extraordinary luck |
| [00:14.26] |
Unlike Fiji, |
| [00:14.91] |
there are no bats in French Polynesia,no frogs and only a handful of lizards |
| [00:20.71] |
The most successful travellers were the long-haul fliers - sooty terns |
| [00:26.14] |
Incredibly, |
| [00:26.67] |
they can stay in the air for four years without landing |
| [00:30.45] |
But to breed, they must return to nesting sites on remote islands |
| [00:34.63] |
And when they do, |
| [00:35.58] |
they introduce new life |
| [00:38.16] |
Sticky or barbed seeds fasten on to their feathers |
| [00:40.84] |
and hitch rides across oceans |
| [00:43.5] |
On some islands, 75% of plants arrived with the birds |
| [00:47.70] |
Seeds are even carried in the stomachs of some birds |
| [00:50.99] |
As if getting a lift wasn't enough for these seeds, |
| [00:53.05] |
seabirds also provide them with something else |
| [00:56.13] |
The seafood these birds bring back to the islands |
| [00:59.31] |
is turned into nutrient-rich guano - plant fertiliser |
| [01:03.21] |
And there's enough of it to transform barren coral atolls into fertile groves |
