Deadly Australia

The poster boys for Australia's deadly reputation are, of course, its big predators. Yet even these killing machines, which have evolved their skills over millions of years, may hold the key to medical breakthroughs. In this episode Kelly swims with great white sharks, milks a funnel web spiders and goes snorkelling with some bizarre underwater predators, famed for their deadly venom.

Kelly visits David Flaey National Park to get up close to Wally the Platypus, whose poisonous spur could teach us about pain relief. She also visits a Bat Hospital and feeds the crocs at Hartley's Crocodile Farm in outback Queensland. We find out that the most interesting thing about flying foxes and crocodiles might be their immune systems and how they can help us prevent disease in humans.

In the final episode Kelly gets a crash course in snake handling and grapples with three deadly serpents, including the most venomous snake on Earth, the Inland Taipan. Kelly also examines the untapped potential of tree ants in solving complex logistical problems and goes hunting for scorpions to show us their usefulness in surgery.