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