| [00:00.94] |
As pioneers, |
| [00:02.57] |
they took everything they would need to start their lives afresh |
| [00:05.72] |
Livestock,plants for cultivation,even the coconut |
| [00:09.61] |
But they would also have taken a long list of stowaways, |
| [00:13.19] |
like the mourning gecko |
| [00:15.22] |
This lizard was just one castaway |
| [00:17.13] |
which no longer had to rely on its stamina and luck to reach new lands |
| [00:22.75] |
It could now hitch a free ride |
| [00:24.7] |
In a series of epic voyages, |
| [00:27.0] |
the descendants of the Lapita, |
| [00:28.38] |
the people we now call the Polynesians, |
| [00:30.52] |
succeeded in colonising the far corners of the South Pacific - |
| [00:34.94] |
from Hawaii to New Zealand,—— |
| [00:37.44] |
even to Easter Island,nearly 7,000 miles east of New Guinea |
| [00:42.64] |
In doing so, animal castaways now reached new islands at a rate never seen before, |
| [00:48.73] |
changing the nature of the South Pacific forever |
