Australia: Land Beyond Time

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One of nature's masterworks

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the ultimate long-distance athlete

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At full speed it uses less energy

than any animal its size

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The Kangaroo is shaped

by the land in which it lives

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one of the most

challenging places on earth

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Australia is a vast

ancient weathered land

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isolated from all others for

40 million years

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lt is a place of extremes

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more like another planet

than another continent

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Travelling over Australia's

3 million square miles

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is like crossing an ocean of dry land

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Primeval landscapes belie its rich

resourceful life

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Australia is almost equal in size

to the continental United States

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lt is the driest

vegetated continent on Earth

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Surrounded by three oceans

it is the world's largest island

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lt shares no border with any other country

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Here some of the Earth's oldest rocks

hold fossils from the dawn of life

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ln its heartland are mountain ranges

that once rivalled Everest

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built up and worn down over time

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and remnants of a once vast inland sea

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Most of Australia's native animals

are unique

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Their journey on this continental raft

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has taken them through cool forests

and fiery deserts

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and changed them forever

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The survivors have been refined by

poverty and uncertainty

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Some have climbed up out of adversity

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Some have outrun all their predators

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Most have adapted to hard

fickle conditions

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A few are unchanged

since the days of the dinosaurs

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Now sheer diversity of species

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spreads the risk

that life is required to bear

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The story starts millions of years ago

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when Gondwana the great super continent

began to break apart

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Africa South America

and lndia were formed

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but Australia and Antarctica

were still joined as one last giant land

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forested and lush

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By 50 million years ago

the breakup was complete

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when Australia parted from Antarctica

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A massive ocean current

began to flow around the South Pole

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and Antarctica's life perished

under a blanket of ice and snow

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Australia pushed northwards

from the freezing latitudes

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and remained isolated

for the next 30 million years

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lt became an ark of survival

for its cargo of ancient life

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Searing winds began to dry the land

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