[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