Original subtitles

Narrator: Why is this crow snowboarding down a rooftop?

This is not an accident.

Narrator: You may not like the answer.

Riskin: I don't know how smart your dog is,

But I guarantee that a crow is smarter.

Narrator: A live moose is trapped in a tree.

How'd it get here?

And how will the moose get loose?

Was it drunk?

Narrator: And what's causing yellowstone's geysers

To go into overdrive?

That thing ever goes off, we are done.

Narrator: Nature is awe-inspiring.

But sometimes it just doesn't make sense.

Man: I have never seen anything like this.

Our team of experts investigate the weirdest animal behavior...

That's amazing.

...And the most unexpected events...

What is causing that?

...Ever caught on camera.

My god!

These are...

January 9, 2012.

Yekaterinburg, russia.

A family spots a crow displaying some unusual behavior.

So it's got a lid, and it's on a roof.

And it is riding the lid down the snow like a snowboard.

So you probably think, "okay, well, that's just a funny video.

It's an accidental thing that just happened."

No, it gets off the jar lid.

It goes back to the top, and then it doesn't again.

That's crazy.

Narrator: This is no accident.

It looks like the crow is snowboarding.

The big question is, why on earth does it do this?

Narrator: Could the crow be scavenging for food?

Riskin: Crows are sort of like raccoons and rats

And have figured out how to get the food that we don't finish.

And so if there's any kind of food

Attached to the inside of that lid,

A crow is gonna be able to find out how to get it out.

And so maybe this has something to do with that.

Narrator: But some of our other experts are skeptical.

So, it does appear to be pecking at some food

Before it slides down.

But it repeats this snowboarding several times.

And if it just wants to get some food,

Then it would just carry the lid off to a flat piece of ground

And peck away at it there.

So that can't be the solution.

Narrator: What else could prompt these crazy crow antics?

Cooke: Could it be some sort of mating display?

Birds are very well known to have extravagant

And extraordinary means of attracting a mate.

♪

[ honks ]

♪

[ warbling ]

Riskin: Male birds showing off to female birds --

That is what makes birds birds.

Narrator: But do birds pull off athletic stunts to woo a female?

Yes.

The widowbird, found on the african continent,

Jumps to great heights to get the attention of the ladies.

♪

And there are other birds who, like the snowboarding crow,

Will happily use props to get the opposite sex to take notice.

Cooke: Bowerbirds will create intricate castles out of twigs

That they then decorate

With bits of brightly colored plastic.

Schreiber: There are very, very bizarre rituals in nature

That birds like to do to attract a mate.

So maybe the crow is doing something similar.

Narrator: But with this theory, the timing is off.

Riskin: Mating -- it's a good theory,

But I don't think that's what's happening here.

First thing is, it's winter. There's snow.

The middle of winter is not when you want to be showing off to females

'cause there ain't no mating happening then.

So could it be that this crow

Is using the lid as some sort of tool?

We know that new caledonian crows

Are essentially the brainboxes of the bird world,

And they'll use all manner of tools.

Narrator: This crow uses a stick to skewer a snack.

But their huge bird brains

Can make even the stick trick seem simple.

Schreiber: They can do incredible things,

Like let's say there's a tube full of water

And the water's way too low for them to reach into and get to.

They'll then pick up stones and drop the stones into the tube...

...Bringing the water up...

...Until they can reach this reward.

That's an amazing use of tools.

I don't know how smart your dog is,

But I guarantee that a crow is smarter.

Narrator: However, this use of a tool

Is something no one has seen before.

Cooke: In all the examples that we know of,

Crows are using tools in order to access food.

In this case, there doesn't seem to be any food as a reward.

Narrator: So why is the crow snowboarding down the rooftop?

The more you sort of look at all the different possibilities,

The more you're left with the first thing you thought.

It just looks fun. Maybe it's fun.

Narrator: Fun.

Despite all the evidence,

The idea that animals have fun used to be a controversial one.

40 years ago, it was this absolute rule

That as a biologist, you weren't allowed to ever admit

That an animal was having fun.

And now fun is everywhere.

Narrator: And crows aren't the only birds

Who know a good time when they see it.

Riskin: It seems like any organism that gets smart enough

Uses that intelligence to have fun.

[ drumming ]

And if crows are anything, it's smart.

[ cawing ]

Schreiber: They have been spotted flipping a ball up

Between their beak and their feet,

And they've been sliding on their bellies.

They've been playing tug-of-war.

Narrator: But why do crows play like we do?

Schreiber: Play is actually very key to their social development.

They get the endorphin release in their brain that we get.

Narrator: Endorphins are chemicals

Which make us feel pleasure.

Play also produces the chemical dopamine,

Which gives the sensation of being motivated and rewarded,

As well as encouraging learning.

So although this crow is by itself,

It's still getting that dopamine hit by having fun,

Which is why it keeps doing it again...

And again.

It's having a great time.

Riskin: This is kind of one of those times

When the answer is staring you right in the face.

This snowboarding crow is snowboarding

For the same reason that people snowboard -- 'cause it's fun.

[ crowd shouting, cheering ]

Narrator: June 4, 2018.

A crowd is captivated...

...As steamboat geyser in yellowstone national park

Blasts water to a height of 15 stories.

[ shouting, cheering continue ]

It's the eighth time she's gone off in the last three months.

Before this run,

She'd only erupted twice in the last decade.

So it's not unusual to see a geyser in yellowstone,

But this is weird.

Steamboat geyser is erupting and now has erupted multiple times

Just in the past year.

Narrator: The last time steamboat was this active

Was 35 years ago.

The question now is, what has supercharged steamboat

And propelled her into spouting overdrive?

Narrator: Yellowstone national park, 2018.

Steamboat geyser has erupted

A record-breaking eight times already this year

After almost four years of silence.

And she's not messing around.

Steamboat geyser's capable of having eruptions

That force water 300 feet into the air,

Which makes it the biggest geyser on earth.

Narrator: The mystery is, what's causing steamboat

To erupt almost 100 times more frequently than usual?

Could the answer lie below yellowstone?

Yellowstone isn't just a place full of volcanoes.

It's a supervolcano, which means it is super dangerous.

What's under the surface is massive --

Tons and tons and tons of magma pushing up against the surface.

Moser: This underground volcanic activity provides the heat

That drives the hot springs and these geyser eruptions.

Narrator: Yellowstone national park

Is actually situated on top of a volcanic caldera.

And it's huge.

The ultimate source of heat is the magma chamber

That sits beneath the ground.

It's about five kilometers, or three miles, deep.

It's possible that a change in volcanic activity

Is causing these changes

To yellowstone's hydrothermal system.

Narrator: If increased volcanic activity

Is stimulating steamboat,

The outlook is ominous indeed.

The yellowstone supervolcano

Erupts every 600,000 to 700,000 years.

The last time was more than 640,000 years ago.

So the next eruption is overdue.

If that thing ever goes off, we are done.

Poland: It would certainly devastate the area

For several hundred miles,

And then that ash cloud could become a problem

For the entire planet.

Narrator: So, are steamboat's super spouts a sign

That the yellowstone supervolcano is about to blow?

Well, maybe.

We would expect that before a super eruption from yellowstone

That we would see some sort of change

In how the park is behaving.

Poland: But we haven't seen anything to indicate

That there's any likelihood of an eruption,

Whether a lava flow or an explosion,

Anytime in the near future.

Narrator: That's a relief.

It seems the monster volcano slumbers on for now, but...

Volcanoes change. Sometimes they're dormant.

Sometimes they're active.

But I got to say, the stakes are high enough on this

That I'd be paying pretty close attention to what's happening.

Narrator: If steamboat's surge of activity

Isn't the result of the supervolcano stirring,

Could it have been boosted

By something else going on underground?

Steamboat sits in a geyser basin

Straddling three tectonic fault lines.

As a result, the area is frequently struck

By earthquakes.

Could they be souping up steamboat?

Farrell: Hydrothermal systems are very influenced by earthquakes,

Either earthquakes that are right by them

Or earthquakes even from around the world.

Narrator: And quakes have shaken up

Even the most consistent geysers in the past.

The largest earthquake to strike the yellowstone region

Occurred in 1959,

And that was the hebgen lake earthquake,

Which was just west of the national park.

[ rumbling ]

It was a very big earthquake, magnitude 7.3.

In particular, it caused a big rockslide in the madison canyon.

Narrator: The most famous and regular

Of all geysers in yellowstone

Is old faithful.

She always erupted like clockwork

Until the hebgen quake struck.

Farrell: Old faithful, for a long time,

Erupted every about 60 minutes.

And after the hebgen lake earthquake,

It's kind of slowed down to about every 90 minutes.

Narrator: So an earthquake

Changed old faithful's frequency.

Could a similar quake have caused

Steamboat's recent surge in activity?

Narrator: Yellowstone's steamboat geyser

Is erupting 100 times more frequently than usual.

The area experiences up to 3,000 earthquakes a year.

Could they be responsible for steamboat's spouting?

Earthquakes have caused new water features

To form in and around yellowstone before.

That could be what's going on this time around.

Large earthquakes cause both new features to pop up,

Features that weren't known before,

Or they cause features to change their behaviors.

Narrator: The reason earthquakes can change geysers

Lies with something else fundamental to their jetting --

Water.

Farrell: They need fluids. They need lots of water.

And water goes in the ground, gets heated, comes back up.

But these are very mineral-heavy fluids.

So they have a lot of stuff in them,

And then when they cool off, they precipitate stuff

And they clog their own channels up.

Narrator: Earthquakes can change geysers

By unblocking their pipes,

Like a plumber unblocking your kitchen sink,

Allowing water to flow freely again.

All of that shaking causes the plumbing systems

Of geysers and hot springs to change.

Narrator: So has steamboat been unblocked

Thanks to an earthquake?

It's unlikely.

The 1959 hebgen lake quake that altered old faithful's eruptions

Was 15,000 times bigger

And released almost 2 million times more energy

Than any of yellowstone's 2018 quakes.

Poland: There's no evidence that there's been any earthquake activity

That's triggered that like we've seen in years past.

Narrator: Earthquakes are not enough to supercharge a geyser.

To increase steamboat's eruptions a hundredfold

And send jets 300 feet high,

It's also going to need water -- a lot of water.

Poland: We just came off two very wet years --

A lot of snow and lot of rain.

So the hydrothermal system is really charged,

And all of that water

Might make the hydrothermal features more active.

That's one possibility that we've seen, for example,

More eruptions of steamboat this year.

And if you have more water,

It makes sense that more water would come out of your geysers.

Narrator: Solution found.

It's all down to water.

Well, almost.

Riskin: If it was as simple as just how much water you add,

Then you would expect geysers to increase every time it rained,

And you don't see that at all.

Water is only half of the equation.

Narrator: So what is it that has triggered steamboat's spouting?

To find out, we have to take a step back

To see the bigger picture.

Geyser basins need three things to come into existence.

One, they need heat,

Which the volcano is providing in yellowstone.

Narrator: What else?

They need a pathway for fluid to flow through.

And that's why earthquakes are so important,

'cause they fracture the ground.

They create pathways. Narrator: And then?

And they need fluids. They need lots of water.

Narrator: So a geyser needs a precise recipe.

Change any ingredient, and the results can be dramatic.

By nature of how these things work, they're very dynamic,

And they can change based on how much water is available,

How much heat is available,

And what the fluid pathways are in the ground.

Narrator: So cracks plus heat plus water equals geysers.

As steamboat's spouting spree shows,

Subtle changes below the surface of the earth

Can have explosive effects above ground.

♪

September 2011.

Saro on the coast of sweden.

When he gets home from work,

Per johansson finds himself face-to-face

With an unexpected guest.

So a moose is found stuck in the middle of this tree

In this orchard looking absolutely drunk.

Narrator: The question is...

How did this forlorn-looking moose end up in an apple tree?

Narrator: September 2011, saro, sweden.

A moose is found stuck in a tree.

Could this otherwise normal moose have been drunk?

Well, the moose was found in an orchard,

And there was rotting fruit on the ground,

And yeast will turn the naturally occurring sugars

In the apples into alcohol.

Narrator: But is it even possible

For a wild animal like a moose to get drunk, slip,

And fall into a tree?

There's a huge amount of anecdotal evidence

Of animals getting drunk in the wild,

In particular birds.

There was a group of californian scientists

Who performed postmortems on birds

And found they did have traces of alcohol in them,

So maybe they were drunk.

Narrator: Bob sallinger is conservation director

At the audubon society,

America's number-one bird protection group.

Every year, he comes across surprising numbers of birds

Who seem sozzled.

One of the things we see periodically

Are birds that come in that appear to be intoxicated,

And in particular, robins and cedar waxwings

Come in in the fall and winter showing signs of uncoordination,

Falling over, unable to fly.

What we'll do is give them a warm, quiet place to recover.

We will make sure that they are hydrated,

And oftentimes they'll come out of their intoxication

In a matter of hours or a day or so and be perfectly healthy.

Narrator: So birds eating their fill of fermented fruit

Can become inebriated in the process.

But what about our moose, who is much larger?

Cooke: There's plenty of anecdotal evidence

Of animals a lot bigger than birds

Seemingly getting drunk on fermented fruit.

Bears and elephants, as well,

Anecdotally people think they've seen that happen.

Narrator: Elephants seemingly get a little boozy

After gorging on the fermented fruit of the marula tree.

But at a hundred times heavier than the average human,

Even if elephants filled up on fermented fruit,

It's unlikely to be enough

To get the largest land mammal drunk.

But what about our moose?

Cooke: Think about it.

Fruit doesn't produce a whole lot of alcohol.

It might be enough to intoxicate something as small as a bird.

But if you're a huge elephant or a moose,

You're going to need to consume

An enormous amount of fermented fruit

In order to feel its intoxicating effects.

Narrator: So it seems like the moose wasn't drunk at all.

In which case the question remains,

How did it end up tangled in this tree?

Cooke it's not the alcohol in the fruit.

It's the sugars that are contained in the fruit,

Because ruminants, cows, moose, of which are the same group,

They're very attracted to sugar-rich foods.

They're delicious, so they're going to gorge themselves

On loads of apples if they're available,

But they can't really process those sugars.

Narrator: And it's those sugars

That could be causing the problem,

Because as they're digested in the four stomachs of the moose,

The sugar turns to acid.

Schreiber: They suffer from acidosis.

Acidosis is when you've taken in too much acid in your body.

Cooke: This acidosis is actually

Incredibly painful for the animals

And causes them to behave in a strange way.

They might be lethargic. They might stagger about.

Vets deal with it a lot in agriculture.

Narrator: So acidosis seemingly set in

After the moose gorged on one too many apples.

This would have made it dozy,

And it probably slipped while reaching for one last bite

And fell into the tree.

Fortunately, acidosis doesn't last forever.

Within a few hours, it got up and it was recovered.

Happy ending for the moose.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications