export_ofoct.com (40)

[00:01.38] Aimee: So Paul, what’s the most memorable job experience that you have?

[00:06.88] Paul: Hmm, well, I think the most memorable one is the volunteering time that I spent in Australia.

[00:19.63] And I was up in the northeastern corner where there’s a relatively small rainforest.

[00:29.38] And I was helping with a research station that’s located in the rainforest.

[00:37.63] So we do a range of different things, going from trying to control coconuts—coconut trees.

[00:51.38] Aimee: Control?

[00:52.13] Paul: Yeah, because, like, believe it or not, you imagine this kind of tropical paradise to have coconut trees but they’re actually very invasive and they’re not native to that area.

[01:05.13] And basically, if you let a population of coconut trees to go out of control, nothing else can grow.

[01:16.38] Aimee: Oh.

[01:17.38] They drop their fronds, and they drop, obviously the coconuts, and nothing else can grow.

[01:25.38] So you basically lose a lot of the native species there.

[01:30.38] So we’re trying to keep them under control. There was also caring for bats that had been orphaned.

[01:41.88] Sometimes they’re born with physical disabilities that mean they can’t survive in the wild.

[01:50.88] Aimee: Like a sanctuary then?

[01:55.38] Paul: Yes. Just like a sanctuary, yeah. So they take care of—

[01:57.63] Aimee: What size of bats, like any other—

[01:58.63] Paul: Fruit bats.

[01:59.88] Aimee: What size are they?

[02:00.63] Paul: They’re pretty, like, once they spread—they’re like little monkeys with big wings.

[02:05.63] Aimee: Yeah. So what’s their wingspan then? About?

[02:08.38] Paul: Let’s say, maybe, I guess up to probably 4 feet. Does that sound too much?

[02:18.63] Aimee: So about a meter?

[02:19.88] Paul: Yeah. Some of the big dudes, they got huge wingspan.

[02:27.13] Aimee: Oh, the only bats I’ve seen in real life are really tiny. They’re just like mice.

[02:30.63] Paul: Oh, the micro-bats.

[02:31.38] Aimee: They’re like little birds, you know. You see them flying around and you think, “Oh that’s birds.” No, they’re bats. So these guys sound pretty big.

[02:37.38] Paul: Hmm, but they’re completely like omnivorous. They only eat fruit, so like, they really—

[02:46.63] Aimee: Do they eat the coconuts?

[02:48.38] Paul: Well, the coconuts are kind of tough for them to get into. You need to be able to make a hole, I suppose, to get that.

[02:57.38] Aimee: Of course, yeah.

[02:58.13] Paul: But they eat all, mostly like fleshy fruits; apples or whatever they can get really—berries.

[03:07.63] They’re really important for spreading—because obviously, they eat the flesh of the fruit but they don’t eat the seeds.

[03:14.13] So they just kind of pass through them and they’re really useful for dispersing seeds.

[03:21.38] So rainforest regeneration, they’re very important animals.

[03:29.88] Aimee: So they’re like the big bumblebees of the rainforest, then.

[03:33.88] Paul: Yeah. I guess you could look at it like that, yeah.

[03:37.13] So yeah, that was an interesting volunteering kind of odd job that I had, I suppose.

[03:46.63] Aimee: Yeah. Essentially yet really cool.

[03:47.63] Paul: I really like to go back there someday.