Nature's microworlds. Australia's red centre. Series 1, Episode 12

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Australia Red Centre is one of the most inhospitable environments on Earth yet it teems with an extraordinary array of wildlife most of which is found nowhere else. Steve Backsall shows how the secret to Australia's diversity and peculiarity is its rainforest past, long isolation and the influence of El Nino. A small pocket of palm trees found right in the very heart of the continent are testimony to a time when Australia Red Centre was completely covered in a vast rainforest. As the continent drifted and dried out, the rainforest disappeared and the animals have slowly adapted and radiated to fill every niche in the desert. An array of desert birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians have evolved as a result. Australia Red Centre is party of the BBC documentary series Nature's Microworlds which explores the way that animals and plants have evolved to enable them to inhabit even the harshest environments.