Original subtitles

BOONE SMITH: Big cats--

magnificent hunters and ferocious predators,

now about to face the ultimate test.

I'm Boone Smith. I've spent my whole life

learning everything there is to know about big cats.

Each of them is an incredible animal with its own special skills.

What I want to know is how those skills match up,

and I've got a crazy idea to find out.

We've designed a series of events to challenge three big cat species:

the cheetah, the tiger and the lion.

Over the next hour, I'm going to test their big cat weapons to the max,

and crown one of them the winner of our Big Cat Games.

In the wild, big cats' survival skills are the difference between life and death.

But I want to put these skills to the test.

So I'm at Busch Gardens in Florida

setting up some extreme challenges for these three big cats.

These events will be conducted in a controlled environment.

That means these cats are not tamed, they are not trained.

They have natural instincts that will come into play.

And I know from experience how those instincts play out in the wild.

Our first competitor is the African lion, the laid-back killer of the cat world.

Stalk and ambush predators,

they're so strong they'll attack prey twice as large as they are.

A lioness can reach speeds approaching 40 miles per hour

but only over a very short distance,

so they calculate how to get as close as possible before they strike.

Tigers, our second contenders, are the heavyweights.

They can weigh over 550 pounds

and eat over 60 pounds in a single sitting.

They're undercover killers.

Their striped fur is perfect camouflage.

And their sophisticated senses help them hunt prey in the undergrowth.

Last but not least, the cheetah, the fastest thing on four legs.

From high ground, they target prey on the open African plain,

then track and attack their target.

At less than 150 pounds, they lack the assault power of the other big cats.

They often trip their prey on the run to bring it down.

Now we've designed a series of specific trials.

It means as we contrast the different cats,

we have different hunting strategies, different techniques, different skills.

We're literally putting those different skills and strategies against one another.

In each event, I'm testing a key aspect of these big cats' abilities

in a feline face-off.

The Hunt: to test big cat basic killer instinct.

The Jump: a test of agility and determination.

The Search: it's brains, not brawn, for this event.

And the Catch tests deadly accuracy in the killer bite.

Over these four events,

big cat natural instincts will be pushed to the limit.

They can be the key to survival in the wild.

Here, it's all about points.

It's ten points for a win, five for second and three for third.

And after four events, we'll crown our big cat champion.

Now let's meet our big cat sporting stars.

Team Lion.

Representing the pride of Africa, Simon, Rose and Iris.

Team Captain is Simon.

At 400 pounds, nine-year-old Simon is the biggest cat in the competition.

He's just over eight feet nose to tail.

And next up: Team Tiger.

Asia's jungle giants, Zahra and younger brother Bhutan.

Leading Team Tiger is Bhutan, a hefty 356-pound Bengal tiger.

This eight-year-old is his mama's favorite and he's more assertive than his teammate.

With two-inch canines to back him up, why wouldn't he be?

Team Cheetah.

They live for speed. Nave, Qi and Tiree, led by Team Captain Jenna.

She's a sprightly 84 pounds,

a laid-back five-year-old and a natural athlete.

She's been clocked racing at speeds of 62 miles per hour.

My first challenge for our big cat teams is, naturally, the Hunt.

Wild big cats kill without hesitation.

It's a basic survival skill, hunt or die.

With this event, we want to see

how quickly an animal can enter the habitat,

identify a prey item, make that approach, and make contact with it.

And we'll be keeping tab on the watch.

In our game, the winner will be

the fastest to make contact with their prey.

In the wild, even supreme predators may be cautious of their surroundings.

In areas with little cover,

a lion's sneaky approach avoids panicking the prey too soon.

Once a zebra runs,

they only have around six seconds to bring it down before being outpaced.

Tigers are stealth assassins.

They creep close in their camouflage

but they can accelerate to over 30 miles per hour once they break cover,

and their paws pack a 500-pound punch.

Cheetahs chase down their prey on the run.

Roughly 50% of cheetah hunts end in success.

But as the smallest of our big cats, will they be too cautious?

In the first event, I have to ignite my big cats' killer instincts.

Survival is instinctive,

but all wild big cats also learn hunting skills from their moms

practicing on live prey.

Before these big cats go up against the clock,

they need to learn to recognize prey.

I'm using mock-ups laced with meat.

Lion and tiger are learning fast,

but one set of cats just hasn't got the message.

So far, the cheetahs find my cameras fascinating.

The prey? Not so much.

Mostly for these guys, it's just curiosity at this point.

They're kind of like, "Hey, what's kind of new out here?"

If this event's gonna happen at all,

I've gotta come up with something to get these speedsters in the game.

(tapping)

We're gonna change things up.

This zebra's gonna have a little rope attached to it

so we can get a little movement.

The idea behind this is to stimulate that curiosity,

keep them engaged in what's going on.

We'll see how fast they come into this.

Our athletes are in their blocks.

Let the games begin.

Rose is steady and dogged. She's got her game face on.

Zahra is immediately in the zone.

Even the cheetahs are showing interest from the start.

This is anybody's game.

I'm realizing my dream:

three big cat species, four challenges, head-to-head.

Whoever comes out on top will be my Big Cat Champion.

The first event tests hunting skills against the clock.

I want to see how quickly each cat locates and closes in on prey,

and what that reveals about instinctive big cat behavior.

Three, two, one.

(air horn blows)

Here come the cheetahs.

Head hung low, Qi's stalking the moving target.

There's menace in those eyes.

This could be a good time if she closes in for the kill.

You actually almost see a little hiss.

She's spooked.

It's Jenna following behind who touches Qi's tail and makes her jump.

These cats are instinctively cautious.

Ninety-five percent of wild cheetahs die before reaching adulthood--

the majority killed by other predators.

For all she knows, this prey could be dangerous.

Jenna's braver.

That's classic wild cheetah-- a trip and a bite to bring down the prey.

From the time they actually walked out of the gate

to when they actually made physical contact: 42 seconds.

So, for the fastest animal on land, not super-fast coming in.

The winner's ten points are up for grabs.

So, we're putting the tiger on the clock. Team Tiger, here we go in three, two, one.

(air horn blows)

Zahra picks up a scent and quickly picks out her prey.

But she's distracted.

A wild tiger has to stay focused.

In dense undergrowth, prey can disappear in a split second.

Zara loses concentration and takes her eye off the prize,

but she's quickly back in the zone, closing in at speed.

Contact.

Fifteen seconds from the time it came out the gate

to the time it hit the prey item.

So, tigers, very, very successful, very fast in that event.

Could it be our winner?

Lions coming out in three, two, one.

(air horn blows)

Lions may hunt together in groups, or as individuals.

Rose goes it alone.

The zebra may be twice her size, but she's fearless.

That scent of raw meat pushes her buttons.

This is pure instinct.

Just like a wild lion, her eyes stay locked in on her target.

She is every inch a cool and calculating killer.

From the time she came out

to the time she actually made contact with the zebra

was just over ten seconds.

It's a winning time and technique for Rose and she's tearing that prey apart.

Rose is definitely switched on to wild hunt mode.

Fully focused all the time.

All her claws are retractable,

but she has them fully extended, ready for the kill.

She has five one-inch-long prey-gripping claws on each front paw.

In the wild, the curves would hook in to the flesh

allowing her 273 pounds to bring down large prey.

And she packs an almighty punch.

With powerful deltoid muscles in the shoulders

and paws four inches across,

she can deliver a skull-crushing blow equivalent to the weight of three men.

But just how close did our cats come to wild big cat behavior?

The cheetahs' caution cost them valuable time,

but once they did close in, it was a classic cheetah kill.

They trip an animal, they knock it down,

and then the first thing they go for is a choke hold.

They don't have big powerful jaws to sever spinal cords or puncture skulls,

and it's funny how even though our zebra's maybe not totally made to scale,

that our cheetah instantly goes for the head and the neck area.

Zara latches onto the prey just as she would in the wild:

picking up speed to zone in and go for the kill.

She notices those little minute details, especially in a close proximity

that within moments of coming out,

it had the prey item pegged and it was on its way.

But the tiger made one mistake:

she was distracted and looked up just for a few moments.

Those vital seconds cost her the game,

but in the wild, it could have cost her a meal.

Rose is all about energy conservation.

She makes a measured approach, and crucially, she never once loses focus.

Her technique is typical of her wild cousins.

It is kind of cool to notice how she does approach it

just like a lion would in the wild.

They're coming from the back side and it's that jump up onto the back.

Rose's victim can't put up a fight,

but it's textbook technique from this big cat.

Rose's time and technique put Team Lion at the top of the leaderboard

with one event played.

Our cheetahs have been slow off the mark, but I've got a plan to get them flying.

Three big cat species are in a head-to-head battle for supremacy.

In the Hunt challenge,

Rose for Team Lion edged it over Team Tiger's Zahra by just five seconds.

But the cheetahs were left trailing,

taking 42 seconds before they finally took down their prey.

After one event, Team Lion tops the board.

Team Cheetah's hunt may have been an epic fail,

but with the right stimulation, can I get these big cats to burn up the track?

Cheetahs are built for speed,

and here in the habitat, they have a race track,

and this is essentially their place to work out.

With all these skills to make them so fast,

they've got to go up and down every day to exercise, to keep those skills honed.

There's a lot of things that make cheetahs so amazingly fast,

and that evolution that's happened there.

They've got lightweight skeletons,

they've got big nostrils to bring air in really fast,

and oversized lungs to get that oxygen out to their muscles quickly.

They've got a long tail that helps them rudder and keep their balance as they go,

and semi-retractable claws that act as cleats

so they can really get some bite while they're chasing down their prey.

Here, the cheetahs are kept fit and stimulated

in a specially-designed exercise.

A lure is placed on a twine pull system the length of the course,

then set off at speed and the cheetahs give chase.

Now, it's 220 feet long,

so for me to do this would take me maybe ten seconds.

The fastest sprinters in the world, maybe seven or eight.

So how fast can a cheetah do it?

Time to find out.

And the speedster for the cheetahs is Nave.

To your marks, get set, go.

Nave is the fastest cheetah in the park.

On this course, she reaches a top speed of 64 miles per hour.

The acceleration is what's so amazing.

So fast. Like, three strikes, boom, full speed.

Let's take a close-up look at how these incredible athletes do it.

At speeds approaching 65 miles per hour,

you can clearly see they have ultra-flexible spines,

flexing like a spring in a burst of power to give maximum reach.

They contract and then stretch on each stride.

The speed is amazing,

but it's the acceleration from zero to 60 is what's so impressive.

Pound for pound, they accelerate four times faster than Usain Bolt,

and at speed, they have a massive stride.

All their paws leave the ground

and they can cover 23 feet in a single pace.

To keep them fueled with oxygen, they have expanded nasal cavities.

During a sprint,

the number of breaths per minute booms from 60 to 150.

And at speeds approaching 65 miles per hour,

you need some serious braking power.

Most big cats have soft pads for stealth,

but cheetahs' pads are hard with ridges, helping them withstand the heavy braking.

But does supreme speed come at a cost?

Maybe the cheetah only has this one strength.

We'll soon find out.

The next event should take them way out of their comfort zone.

In the Jump, our big cats get stretched to the limit,

and the question is simple: how high can they go?

We know they've got some jump in them, we know they're big powerful animals,

but we've never really tested them a lot for that straight vertical up.

It's usually with some horizontal speed.

Tigers and lions will jump to gain ground and to take down prey.

Both can leap over 30 feet horizontally.

Cheetahs don't jump to hunt,

but at speed they can cover 23 feet in a single stride.

But the task of jumping straight up is a tougher challenge for all our cats,

and a real test of big cat character.

It's gonna be cool.

I'm testing out the most tempting baits and best heights

to get our big cats airborne.

Bhutan the tiger and Simon the lion work best with raw meat.

The lionesses like the look of the meat containers.

And as for the cheetahs-- big cats can't taste sweet things,

but the eccentric cheetahs are obsessed with...

a watermelon?

They're going to use that in the main event

because I think the cheetahs are going to need all the help they can get.

Unlike lions and tigers that jump on top of their prey and take them down,

cheetahs are tripping them up from behind, swiping at those back legs.

So, the evolution of speed to go horizontally fast

doesn't necessary convert into the vertical.

So we're gonna move this up and see just how high they can go.

As each cat has a different body length, to make this a fair contest,

the winner won't be the one who reaches furthest,

but the one who gets his feet highest off the ground.

We've placed the baits just beyond the reach of all our big cats.

The question is, how high will they fly to bring down their target?

So, lion's coming out in three, two, one.

(air horn blows)

Simon's quick to locate his meat target, but hesitates.

He's up on the tree.

Not quite willing to make that jump.

This is a little bit maybe out of his comfort zone right here.

It looks like Simon's not going to make the jump.

Time to change tactics. Change the lures and bring on the girls.

Rose makes her approach.

That's a surprisingly good jump. It certainly surprised Iris.

Measured at six inches, Team Lion has set down a marker.

Bhutan for Team Tiger has his favorite, chicken.

He finds it irresistible.

He should have this in the bag.

Bhutan sniffs the air, he sees the target bird.

He scores.

The results are in. Four inches.

Not enough to overtake Team Lion,

but with just the cheetahs to come, it should nail second place.

This is the event climax.

These cats are the underdogs.

But as we're about to find out, cheetahs are also more ingenious.

The Big Cat Games are revealing the truth about big cats' behavior.

We've seen just how fast they can move, and how killer instincts kick in.

The Jump tests agility and sheer determination.

A standing vertical jump is not a typical move for any of these cats...

least of all the cheetahs.

But now it's down to Qi to upset the competition

and make her mark on these games.

Qi eyes the prize.

No hesitation. That's the highest so far.

But she's still looking. I don't think she's finished yet.

This cheetah just loves getting airborne.

Instead of actually jumping up and grabbing it,

she's now climbed the tree, gone up above it,

almost, like, checking it out, and come back out.

I'm giving that one to Team Cheetah, for height and ingenuity.

People claim cheetahs can't climb trees.

That myth's just been busted with a jump over two feet straight into the branches.

How did she do it?

Big cats effectively walk on their toes.

Most of their foot is raised off the ground.

Their rear feet are around twice as long as their front feet,

and the cats push them flat on the ground for the jump.

The main extensor muscles in the rear legs prepare to fire the cat upwards...

and the length of the feet helps provide leverage at the ankle joint

to propel the big cats into the air.

Qi is less than one third the weight of her opponents

with much less upper body bulk to lift.

Maybe that gives her the edge.

That result's a game-changer.

The winning ten points put the cheetahs in second overall,

with five for the lions in second keeping them on top,

while just three points for the tigers sees them third at the midway stage.

But if this had been a water jump-- different story.

Another myth's about to get busted.

Some people claim that cats don't like water.

Tell that to the tiger.

They take to water to cool down in tropical temperatures,

and they'll even go hunting in it.

They can swim rivers over four miles across,

and might swim as much as 18 miles in a day.

Their style is doggy paddle and the paddles are huge.

Tigers have the biggest paws of all the big cats,

with a span of more than six inches

and a total surface area of 38 square inches.

That's about the same as a table tennis racket.

Tigers aren't the only cats that like water,

but they're certainly the biggest.

Our big cats have competed in tests of instinct and agility.

Now I want to compare how fast they find food

in a time-trialed search.

This challenge is a test of big cat senses and intelligence.

I'm going inside each habitat to hide a fresh food treat,

starting with the tigers.

For this event, we have four different palm fronds throughout the habitat.

Under one of them we're gonna put a food reward

and see how quick the tigers, when they enter the habitat, can find it.

I'm doing exactly the same thing for the lions and for the cheetahs.

All three cats should see the palm fronds,

but that alone isn't enough to tell them there's a treat hidden behind one of them.

In this test, we want to see how well those secondary senses,

along with intelligence play into the whole picture.

So, to win this test,

our big cats will be relying on their sense of smell and brain power,

decoding incoming signals and working out what to do with them.

Big cats rely on their sense of sight and hearing to detect moving prey.

Their sense of smell is valuable for communicating with potential mates

or territorial rivals.

But big cats aren't only hunters, they're also scavengers.

They won't turn their noses up at the chance of some effortless eating.

Lions can detect the smell of rotting meat from 25 feet.

Which of our big cats will be the fastest to find a free meal?

So, here we go. Cheetahs out in three, two, one.

(air horn blows)

Team Cheetah are in this together.

They're looking alert and interested. It's a good start.

But conditions are against them.

There's a lot of things that come into play on this one.

It's not just walk out and you smell it and you go.

If the breeze is the wrong way, they don't pick up that scent.

For Team Lion, Simon's taking a typically conservative approach,

but has he picked up the scent?

Now he's in a position where he can see the palm frond,

so something that's different, new in his habitat,

and we're hoping he'll cue in on those.

He's on course for a great target time.

Team Lion could be the main contender here.

Can Team Tiger challenge?

Zahra is on the case.

Her senses are 100% tuned in the direction of the bait.

She can smell the meat.

She can't see it, but she can see something new

in the direction that smell is coming from.

Two and two together makes food.

That's an awesome time.

So, with a time of under 30 seconds,

at this point, it's Team Tiger leading the seek-out event.

Now, can Simon beat that?

He's actually at the palm frond that we've hidden the food reward.

That's his first hit,

but until he actually finds it, the clock keeps running.

After two events, my Big Cat Games are at a crucial stage.

My animal athletes have hit sporting highs and lows,

but whoever wins this event will have one paw on the title.

Zahra for Team Tiger was totally in tune with her senses,

finding the hidden meat treat in just 28 seconds.

But Simon for Team Lion could have victory at his claw tips.

He's literally standing over the meat with seconds in hand.

He can smell it but he hasn't found it yet.

What's he doing?

Seems Simon's losing interest.

Meanwhile, Team Cheetah have lost the scent and lost the plot.

Their attention is again torn between the palm fronds and our micro cameras.

And for the moment, the GoPro is winning.

Five minutes ago, victory was at Simon's feet, and he missed it.

Finally, he's closing in again.

So, he's back at the palm frond.

Definitely can smell there's something there.

The difference on this is he's going to have to use a little intelligence

and get underneath it. There he goes.

And that's our time.

So, lions finished the seek-out event with a time of six minutes.

That's a poor show for Team Lion.

He traced the smell,

but the fact the food was hidden threw him off the scent.

Back at Team Cheetah, they're still completely unaware

of the tasty treat that's right beneath their noses.

Yeah, we'll give 'em a couple more minutes here.

So, I think this is a time-out and we're gonna call it for the cheetahs.

Seven minutes, no find.

A big cat's sense of smell is ten times more powerful than a human's.

But big cats' smell isn't just about food, or their noses.

They have a special scent-analyzer, the Jacobson's organ,

located in the roof of the mouth behind the teeth.

It can pick up pheromones

and send signals to the brain about potential mates.

But in our event, it was Zahra's intelligence,

linking the changes in her habitat with the smell of food that won the game.

Simon may not be the smartest big cat player, but he looks impressive,

and in the wild, his appearance can be vital.

Lions are the only big cat species with a mane.

Darker-maned lions are prime candidates to lead a pride.

They have better nutrition and higher testosterone.

They're more likely to survive wounds and much more attractive to females.

Simon is healthy, dominant and sexy. He's got it made.

But has he got what it takes to win our last event?

Ten points for winning the Search

puts Team Tiger right on the heels of Team Lion on our leaderboard.

But with only four points separating first and last,

whoever wins the final event will be our Big Cat Champions.

I've tested big cats' instincts, agility, and senses.

Now for my final challenge...

and the key ingredient is meatballs.

This event, it's a little bit of an abnormal one,

but it's to test some different skills for these animals,

kinda look at some of those reaction skills,

how quick, how well it can focus in or out.

In the wild, our cats use their jaws to grip and kill their prey.

They latch on to the neck or throat, clamp down, and suffocate them.

If this was a test of sheer bite force, Team Tiger would come out on top.

Tigers have the strongest bite force of all the big cats.

It's over 1,000 pounds per square inch,

generated by three and a half pounds of jaw muscles.

But an accurate bite is key to the kill.

I want to test our big cats' biting instinct.

How accurate will they be honing in and biting down on small flying objects?

Each cat will get ten tries.

The team that catches the most meat will win.

After a handful of warm-up throws, Team Tiger select Bhutan to go it alone.

Team Cheetah is going with Qi, the hero of the high jump.

But the lions are in this together.

Lions are pride animals. They hunt in a group.

So, we've got the whole team out here.

We're gonna let them do it as a group, as a team.

The cats are all lined up and ready to go.

And now it's game on. All these catches count.

The lions are off to a great start.

Ooh! That was a good catch.

They're showing phenomenal form.

Two for two right off the bat.

Three for three. Right down there, there's one, two, three,

all three of them perfect catches.

Could any other big cats possibly match that perfect score?

My Big Cat Games are reaching their climax.

The fourth and final event is underway. It's the Catch...

and Team Lion are on fire.

Whoever takes this will take the championship.

But the lions aren't the only ones showing great early form.

You can see he's just got that really good focus,

and he's able to track it as it comes his way.

As for the cheetahs, not for the first time, the underdogs.

Qi's happy to take the meat, but only after it's landed.

The cheetahs aren't the greatest catchers in the world.

You can see they really key in when Becky starts to throw,

but they're not making that leap that you would maybe see of a dog,

or something else that would jump up and grab it.

And after just a handful of throws,

our cheetahs typically lose interest and leave.

Their games are over.

But the lions and tigers are both scoring well.

Either side could land this, and the championship.

And Bhutan is showing us exactly what he's made of.

That was nothing but the back of the tongue.

Tiger and lions are in a dead heat with four-all,

and both sides have three catches left.

Everything depends on what happens next.

Team Lion up first.

Clean as a whistle. Great catch from Iris.

Bhutan takes it with style. One down, two to go.

Rose--

total disaster.

She's gone from biting to swatting.

That could be crucial.

Bhutan!

SMITH: Bhutan steps up to pile the pressure on.

It's in, but, oh, it's out again for Team Tiger.

Close counts for nothing.

It's all down to the last throw.

Rose keeps her eye on the prize.

A picture of concentration.

This lion gets ready...

to fumble.

Now it's all or nothing for Bhutan.

This to win the Big Cat Games.

Straight down the middle. Bhutan bags the big one for Team Tiger.

Culminating in the Catch, the tigers have been our most versatile competitors.

It is such an adaptable predator.

It lives in a variety of habitats, and in doing so,

it has to have very diverse hunting strategies,

and I think this is a great example of how adaptable these big cats are.

The numbers on the board do not lie.

We have our Big Cat Champions: Team Tiger.

Brother and sister act Bhutan and Zahra stole the show,

with two firsts, a solid second, and only one third,

putting Team Tiger firmly at the top.

They fully deserve the title of Big Cat Games Champions.

All the big cats have completed the events and the results are in,

and it's given us some interesting insights

to their strengths and their weaknesses.

The tigers, for example, our most consistent competitor,

and this is a direct reflection of their natural environment,

so diverse, so challenging.

They have to have a wide array of skills in order to survive.

The lions also performed very well,

but their tactics reflected their strategy in the savanna.

They came at things slow, cautious.

They took their time, they conserved energy.

The cheetahs, the exact opposite, our speedsters.

But all that speed comes at a cost,

and as a result, they didn't perform as well in some of the challenges.

Overall, the games have given us some fantastic insight

into what makes these big cats nature's ultimate predators.

And the best big cat of all,

I present the winner of the Big Cat Games: the tigers.

Captions by Pixelogic Media