[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