All language subtitles for Life.2009.S01E07.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG

A'i'i'en borough: Life is at
its most intense

during the struggles
between predator and prey.

Each side, to survive,

must outwit and outmanoeuvre the other.

The prize for the hunter, a meal.

For the prey,
the chance to live another day.

Three male cheetahs.

These brothers are very special.

They hunt prey
few other cheetahs would dare to tackle.

To succeed,
they must first select a victim,

and then work together to overpower it.

It's dangerous work.

An adult zebra is potentially lethal.

The outcome is by no means certain.

The first cheetah is driven off.

And his brothers
have already made a critical mistake.

They were not close enough
to take over the attack.

Each is chasing a different target,

making it easy for the zebra
to defend their young.

A quarter-ton stallion finally
puts paid their chances.

Chasing different zebra
was bound to lead to failure.

Perhaps their enthusiasm
got the better of them.

They must try again.

In the shadow of mount I(En ya,
the brothers regroup.

Their mistake with the zebra

was to hunt as ordinary as cheetahs do,
as individuals.

To catch such prey,
they must hunt like no other cheetahs.

That means acting together, as one.

They start again.

An ostrich outweighs and outguns
a single cheetah.

This time there's only one target.

And all three cheetahs are onto it.

The third brother starts to throttle
the ostrich.

Even off its feet, it's still dangerous.

The brothers have found a unique way
of catching their prey.

The ability to invent such novel
hunting tactics

is one thing
that really sets mammals apart.

But mammals themselves
can also be targets for predators,

and the hunted also need to devise
special tactics.

The desert shores of the dead sea.

Living here is difficult indeed.

It's march.

And high on these cathedral cliffs,

ibex have given birth.

For the first few days,
the kids were kept safe,

isolated on the clifftops.

But now the ibex have a problem.

The only food and water is far below,
at the bottom of the gorge,

and that is where predators lurk.

If they are to feed
it's a risk they will have to take.

The adults lead the way.

They know the safest routes,

Though ”safe” here is a relative term.

The kids have no choice but to keep up.

One slip could be the last.

Their only assets are do ven hooves
that spread under load,

astonishing balance

and the most uncanny agility.

Barely a week old,
they are utterly fearless.

Learning to negotiate these cliffs
is central to their survival.

But now the family must be on guard
against predators.

Or grab a chance to browse.

Trailing behind, the last youngster
is almost down.

And runs right into trouble.

A fox.

It's been waiting for a straggler.

The kid has never seen a fox before,
but knows it's in real peril.

It appears to be running into more
trouble as it heads back up the cliff.

The fox tries to gain the higher ground.

But the kid has found safety
on a face so steep

that only an ibex could stand there.

The lessons learnt on this morning's
descent has sa ved its life.

Finally, the fox gives it up
as a bad job,

perhaps suddenly aware
it's standing on a precipice.

Despite its tender age,
the ibex has outwitted

one of the canniest of predators.

The fox's failure
epitomises a predator's plight.

Most hunts fail,

so hunters are continually devising
new tactics.

The rainforests of Belize
in Central America.

And as evening falls
and the shower comes to an end,

a predator begins to hunt.

The greater bulldog bat.

A flying mammal

and a fisherman.

A fish swimming just below the surface
creates telltale ripples.

And that is all a bat needs
to detect them.

With a little more than a fin
to aim for,

and whilst flying at 40 miles an hour,

the bat takes the fish
completely una wares.

If the shoal scatters,

the bat tra wls the surface,

Raking the water, trying to snag a fish.

He won't have the best fishing spot
to himself for long

and soon, other bats arrive.

Oncoming traffic would make
grabbing a fish almost impossible.

So the bats avoid collisions
by honking,

dropping their calls an octave, to say,
”look out! Here I come! ”

Soon, the shoal has either been captured
or has fled

and the bats move on.

Skills like this take practice.

And for some mammals,
that practice begins in infancy.

A young stoat.

And it's not alone.

These wild games are too much to resist.

Stalking, chasing and ambushing,
all practised in play.

Soon, the young stoats
must hunt for themselves,

and then these athletic skills
will be crucial.

It's September
in the English countryside.

This stoat is about to take on
an adversary 70 times its size.

It's too dangerous to rush straight in.

Instead, the stoat's aim
is to wear the rabbit down.

The rabbit is flagging
and the stoat's stamina

is starting to make a difference.

But stamina alone is not enough.
The rabbit must still be overpowered.

A bite to the back of the neck,
and a kill.

The incredible agility of the stoat,
practised since it was a kit,

was just enough to swing the balance.

There are times
when mere physical powers are not enough

to give the hunter an edge.

Then, mammals must deploy their most
sophisticated weapon, their brains.

Strange patterns are visible
in the mud of Florida bay,

a faint hint of a unique hunting tactic.

The perpetrators,

bottlenose dolphins.

And the y're on a mission,
a mission to catch fish.

The fish here
are very difficult to catch,

and in such shallow water
they ought to be safe.

Yet the dolphins have a plan.

They have learnt to corral the fish
by working as a team.

The lead dolphin beats its tail
on the sea bed,

stirring up a ring of mud.

Trapped inside,
the fish take their only way out.

But the y're leaping out
of the frying pan and into the fire.

Once the mud ring loses its shape,
the fish scatter.

The dolphins move on
and repeat the process.

Brain power combined with teamwork,
it's a winning formula.

This behaviour is unique
to the dolphins of Florida bay.

Successive generations have learnt it
from their parents

and in turn, they will teach it
to their own young.

The ability to pass on
such complex behaviours

is one of the mammals' greatest talents.

It enables them to survive
where others would perish.

As winter approaches in Alaska,

food gets progressively harder to find.

To live here is to walk a tightrope.

Yet every year, this coast attracts
North America's most impressive hunter.

A brown bear.

Here, they grow larger
than anywhere in the world.

Other bears have also gathered
at the edge of the surf.

They've come here to fatten up
for the winter.

They're waiting for an event
that happens just once a year,

the salmon run.

Others will tackle the fish upriver
but here in the sea,

these bears have the first chance.

Each bear's survival depends on
this run of fish staying strong.

There are years when their gamble fails
and the fish hardly show.

Then the bears face starvation.

This year promises to be a bumper one

and the bears will be able to
pile on the pounds ahead of winter.

Mammals are supreme in their ability
to exploit such fleeting opportunities.

Chances come and go
with the passing of the seasons.

But for some predators, conditions
are tough whatever the time of year.

A t first glance, these mountains
seem barren and empty of life.

Like islands thrust up into the sky,

they tower above the surrounding plains.

Yet far from being deserted,
they are a refuge.

Isolated here, on the roof of a frica,

is one of the rarest hunters
in the world,

the Ethiopian wolf

the only wolf in the whole of Africa.

Despite being close to the equator,
these peaks are so cold at night

that the wolves
face a frost-co vered dawn.

Each pack is centred around
a single dominant female.

Normally, it is only she who breeds.

This year, she has produced six pups.

But if she is to raise them all
in this barren land,

she will need the help
of the entire pack.

Every morning the pack sets off to hunt,

leaving her back among the rocks
with the pups.

The pack's hunting ground is about
five square miles of mountaintop.

They guard it seriously,

patrolling its frontiers every day.

Wolves elsewhere collaborate
and use their united power

to pull down big prey.

But there are no caribou or moose
to be found up here.

The pack splits up.

Each member is going to hunt alone.

One of them spots something.

It's a rat.

But catching rats is not easy,
no matter how carefully you stalk them.

Another hunter has
a more proactive technique.

And that works.

It's a lot of work for
a relatively small reward

and demands its own
particular style of hunting.

A hunter returns.

Mother demands food
and the successful hunter delivers it.

So rearing a single litter here

takes the combined labour
of a dozen or so adults

and the Ethiopian wolves have
adjusted their beha viour accordingly.

That adaptability
is the mammals' great strength,

enabling them to survive
in some very unlikely habitats.

A star-nosed mole,

possessor of perhaps the most
extraordinary nose on the planet.

Its nostrils are surrounded
by 22 fingers,

fingers that allow the mole to sense
the world around it

by touch alone.

It enables it to detect food
with astonishing speed.

It can also swim.

And once underwater, its nose helps it
in a most extraordinary way.

It blows out a bubble
and breathes it back in,

detecting in a millisecond
if there's prey close by.

This bubble-blowing allows it
to sniff out its food underwater.

But unfortunately, that means
it soon runs out of breath.

So it's just as well that it can hunt
as fast down here as on the surface.

Few creatures can hunt
equally successfully

underground and underwater.

Bandha vgarh, India,

at the height of the dry season.

A chital deer.

They must live their lives with
all their senses at a high pitch.

The faintest smell,

the slightest sound

the briefest glimpse

could give warning of an attack.

The chital must detect their enemy

before it takes them by surprise.

And they have allies.

Langur monkeys.

I(een eyesight and a perch
high in the trees

means they can scan the forest.

T he jungle is full of distraction.

Senses are strained
trying to detect approaching danger.

Yet the chital still need to feed.

And the hunter must get
within striking distance.

There's a hint of danger
carried on the wind.

The herd shares a nervousness.

You should never run
from what you can't see.

You might just run straight into danger.

The tiger is nearly close enough
to launch her attack.

She must wait.

The chital need to come
just a little closer.

If she moves now,
the langurs will see her.

The deer had a moment's head start,
and escape.

The langurs' vigilance saved the chital.

And the tiger goes hungry.

For some mammals,
attack is the best form of defence.

This squirrel is arming herself.

It's a California ground squirrel
and she's found a snake skin.

She's chewing it into a paste
which she then rubs into her fur,

especially her tail.

She now stinks of snake.

She lives in a colony that extends
across a wide expanse of prairie.

There is one downside
to this neighbourhood,

it's in the middle of
rattlesnake country,

not good when you have young to raise.

Her neighbour has sensed something.

A rattlesnake hidden
right next to their burrow.

They both investigate,
but what can they do?

I(icking stones only provokes the snake.

Rattlesnakes sense prey
by the heat they give off

and the squirrel is able
to take advantage of this.

She heats up her tail with warm blood,

waving it at the snake as a threat.

It makes her look
much larger than she is.

And the scent of rattler
on her fluffed tail

intimidates the snake.

It decides to retreat.

The mother decides that this part
of the neighbourhood is too dangerous

and moves her young to new quarters.

With luck, this may be a safer place
to raise a family.

Both predator and prey must endlessly
refine their strategies.

Just occasionally, an individual
makes a unique breakthrough

and learns to do something
completely new.

It's December, and a storm rages
around the Falkland Islands.

Gentoo penguins face
blizzards of blowing sand.

Young elephant seals risk
being dragged off the rocks

by the surging waves
and swept out into open water.

Orca, the largest and most predatory
of the dolphin family.

I(iller whales.

This pod of nine can only survive here
by being opportunists.

Normally, young elephant seals
are not on the menu.

They stay close to the shore, safe in
the shallows of their nursery pool.

The pool is almost entirely cut off
from the sea.

A narrow, shallow channel
is the only access to the open water.

But this pod of killer whales

contains a very special female.

She's easily identified by her calf
which is always close by.

Every year she comes to the pool
at the same time,

when the seals first swim
in the shallows.

She knows how to get them.

Negotiating the channel
is her first challenge.

The water near the mouth of the pool
is slightly deeper.

Here she sets her ambush,

waiting for the seal
to stray out of the shallows.

For mother and calf
this is an extremely risky ploy.

She must continuously assess
how big the waves are,

how deep the water is
and what the tide is doing.

One bad decision will see
both mother and calf stranded.

The seals lie in the shallows,
just out of reach

and unaware of her presence.

But she is more than aware
of the dropping tide.

The floundering seal
catches her attention.

And with her calf
she slowly moves towards it.

The seal is lying right on
the edge of a rocky ledge,

oblivious to the danger.

The projecting ledge keeps the seal
just out of reach.

Yet she has a plan.

Rocking back and forth,
she's making a wave,

trying to wash the seal off the ledge.

But it is securely surrounded by kelp.

A splash alerts her
to a better opportunity.

Another seal has started to
swim into the pool.

This is her chance.

Edging further into the shallows than
ever before, she is risking everything.

Half-beached and with
a struggling seal in her mouth,

it takes all her strength
to drag it out of the pool.

She is the only killer whale
on the planet

that knows how to hunt
these seals in this way.

And crucially, she's now passing on
that skill to her own calf.

Extraordinary strategies like these

lie at the heart of the struggle
between predator and prey.

They're born of a conflict that is
relentless and unforgiving,

a conflict that eternally binds
the hunter and the hunted.

This is looking very promising.

Ati'en borough: The life team
had set themselves a tough challenge

in trying to film exceptional
hunting sequences.

But our teams were lucky enough

to observe some of the world's
most charisma tic predators.

Look. Look.

It was the killer whales
of the falklands, though,

that brought the team closest
to the action.

Every year off sea lion island,

killer whales snatch young
elephant seals from their nursery pool.

Filming most hunting sequences

involves a great deal of waiting
and a slice of luck,

but here things were a little different.

Cameraman Mike pitts and producer
Adam Chapman travel to the falklands,

having heard that for
two weeks each year

killer whales focus
on one particular spot.

Pilot: We're a long ways out...

The killer whales have learnt to target
elephant seal pups

as they first venture into the water,

and this gives the team
their best chance of filming a hunt.

The first task facing the team
is to familiarise themselves

not only with a new location,

but also with the animals
they will be working around.

And the team soon realise
that they and their equipment

are a great novelty to the seal pups.

I daren't look through the camera

because I'm more worried about
the tripod being knocked over.

So, we've got a little friend here.

So I'm going to report him
for interfering with the film crew.

Ati'en Bo roug h: The pups' fascination
with the team is rather unexpected.

Man: You've got a great way
with wildlife, Michael.

At one with nature.

Um... it's quite difficult out here,
there's so many of them.

A'i'i'en borough:
The large number of youngsters

bodes well for the killer whales

but the longer the team
spend with the pups,

the more they warm to them.

Pi'i'i's: When you
look at these little pups,

you can't fail to be captivated by them.

Especially when you gaze into
those eyes,

it really pulls at your heartstrings.

But to an orca, of course,

it's 120 kilos of pure protein.

So that's why they're hunted.

Ati'en borough: As the days go by,

the team continue to get a feel
for the location,

when suddenly, the killer whales arrive.

The pod of nine is clearly
interested in the pool

and one female is
particularly confident.

She's coming in.

Ati'en borough: The female and her calf
start to come into the pool regularly,

but there never seems to be a pup
within reach.

The team have come to the falklands
prepared to film underwater.

Now the time has come to see
if this is a realistic ambition.

With lookouts posted
and the whales far away,

Mike is able to get in.

Even so,

who can blame him for being jumpy?

Whoo!

Ati'en borough: The pups'playfulness
is becoming an issue.

The last thing the team want

is to have any influence
on the events the y're here to film.

There's also the question
of how the killer whales might react

to a person in the water.

It's quite intimidating in there.

It shelves up,
in the centre of the channel

it just goes down to, I don't know,
maybe eight feet, I think,

couple of metres.

But the visibility's really stirred up.

How they find their way in that channel
I just don't know.

What I'm worried about is
if I do go in the water with the orca,

which I'm slightly concerned about,
I have to say,

she's in a hunting mode. She's not here
just to pass the time of day.

- She's out there to kill something.
- Yeah.

You know, I just don't want to be
that personal seal,

whatever she thinks of me.

She'd probably realise once she's
bitten me that she's made a mistake.

- I don't know, is it worth the gamble?
- Right.

Ati'en Bo roug h: With a week already gone,

the killer whales have not yet made
a full-blown attack.

And then the weather changes.

Well, hopefully it'll blow itself out,

but I think in the pool, it's gonna be
a couple of days before that calms down.

Ati'en borough: The storm rages
for two more days,

but on the eleventh day
the good weather returns.

Mike knows that time is running out.

Well, the orcas are out there.
Still quite a way off.

Ati'en borough: The team decides
a camera on the end of a pole

might be the way to reveal
the underwater action.

After that storm
it's all been so stirred up.

And just bring it
slightly out of the water,

Adam, so, can you draw it
back towards you? And stop.

Ah, it's dark green, basically.
Very dark green.

- There's still a lot of...
- Suspension, yeah.

Ati'en borough: The storm
had stirred up the pool,

making it hard to see anything.
But the team remained in good spirits.

- Does my bum look big in this?
- Massive.

Ati'en borough: As the seal pups
are nearly ready to go to sea,

the whales' opportunity
to hunt this year will soon pass

and the team know
this could be their last chance.

Chapman: Look at the size of that fin.

Okay, Mike, she's coming in.
Coming in, Mike.

- Coming in?
- Just here.

Mike?

One second, mate.

I can talk to you gently here now,

and I can also see
where you're pointing.

Chapman: She's here.

Pi'i'i's: Recording.
Hold it steady. Hold it steady.

Got it.

She's gone past, Mike.
She's in the pool.

Pi'i'i's: Okay, I'll go in there.

Good god. It got one. Definitely.
Can't mistake it.

- Bringing it out now.
- Taking it further. Come on, go.

Pulling it out.

Taking it out to sea.

Chapman: Yeah, there it goes.
Taking it under.

Pi'i'i's: God, hejust got hammered.

Part of me is elated that I've got it,
but part of me is sort of sad, really,

'cause I've watched these
little characters, these pups

grow in the last few weeks,

and the orcas, too,
they've got to survive

and they've made a successful hunt,

and they're now continuing
on theirjourney, so what can you say?

A'i'i'e n Bo ro u g h:
Witnessing such e vents

often results in
such a conflict of emotions.

The two-week window is over
and the killer whales move on.

It'll be a whole year
before this exceptional female

returns here to hunt again.