All language subtitles for ABE25DC9288E508293EAD6AF22DA6BE4_eng

Rich Kisseloff loves spending
a day in the woods with his friends…

…on a two-wheeled adrenaline-fueled ride.

Let's go, guys. Let's go.

Supercharged by a breed of dog
called a Greyster.

Greysters have been around
for maybe 50 years or so.

And what they are is a…
a pinch of greyhound

mixed in with a German
short-haired pointer, an English pointer,

and a couple other breeds as well.

These animals were born to run.

Come on!

When I break the harnesses out,
they just start going crazy.

The easy bit
is attaching them to the scooter.

The tricky bit is holding on.

Dog scootering is a competitive sport
involving one or more dogs in a team.

Going through the trails,
it's just an awesome feeling,

being at one with your dog,
and they love it.

Greysters are
a naturally-athletic breed

that can run at 20 miles per hour
for five miles.

No other animal can run at this speed,
exerting this power,

and expending this energy for so long.

So what's their secret?

It starts with their skeleton.

Dogs don't have collar bones
connecting their shoulders to their ribs,

so they can stretch their front legs
further to maximize their stride length.

And for the long-legged Greysters,
that can be a staggering 16 feet.

You will see big legs,
big hind quarters,

big chest, big muscled dogs.

They love running in general.
It's bred into them.

There's nothing more
that they wanna be doing.

We typically train dogs starting
at the age of about nine months to a year.

Training 'em with directions, commands,

making sure your dog passes
another dog without initiating a fight,

or tangle, or something like that.

Gee! Gee! Gee!

Typically, we say "gee," right,
"haw," left.

Basically, the commands that they used
to use in the old days

when handling carriages and stuff
like that. And so it… it's connection

between you and your dog,
'cause you're working as a team.

You're on a clock, so you're trying
to navigate the course as fast as you can.

It's a little bit of excitement
and danger all in the same time.

Rich's most
experienced teammate is Guinness.

Guinness is a special dog
ever since he was a puppy.

Nothing fazes him.

Other dogs don't faze him.

He just… He just runs and runs and runs.
He's a special dog.

Greysters are super efficient
at absorbing and using oxygen.

This is measured as VO2 max.

And Guinness' is the envy
of human athletes.

The VO2 max of Greysters is in
the elite level of VO2 max for dogs,

and that's anywhere
in the 200 range, I believe,

versus a human, who's in the 70's or 80's
for an elite athlete.

This huge difference between us
and dogs is due to their mitochondria.

These are the powerhouses
of every cell in our body,

converting the oxygen we breathe
and the food we eat into energy.

Compared to humans,
Guinness has nearly twice as many

of these cellular batteries.

Good boy. Aw.

Yes.

So impressive
is this canine endurance,

that the U.S. military is funding research
into replicating it in frontline soldiers.

While the Pentagon looks into the science,
Rich and Guinness are simply loving life.

Scootering is something
anybody can do.

You can do it with any dog. You don't
have to race or anything like that.

You can just take your dog out
and get exercise.

And you get exercise as well.

And it's a great thing
to get out on the trails

and enjoy life with your dog.

Good boy, Guinness.

Good girl.

All of our pets survived
for thousands of years in the wild…

…without any help from us.

And this has led them to develop
astonishing athletic abilities…

…which we sometimes take for granted.

Meet Cam, a much loved
one year old golden hamster.

But don't be fooled
by the chubby body and tiny legs.

Cam is one of the supreme
endurance athletes of the animal world.

Every day of his life,
he pursues an insatiable instinct

because this little chap
is an ultra long-distance runner.

At his top speed of four miles per hour,

he's making 600 strides a minute.

That's four times more
than the fastest racehorse.

And he can keep this up in fits and starts
for up to an hour each day.

To understand
his extraordinary athleticism,

we need to take Cam back
to his ancestral homeland.

Golden hamsters originate
from the dry and rocky Syrian steppe,

a harsh environment where food is scarce.

But hamsters have fast metabolisms

and need to eat twice
their body weight in food every day.

Which means almost constant foraging.

Hamsters like Cam will clock up an average

of five miles every 24 hours.

This wild instinct to keep moving
has been retained.

If Cam's wheel was super-sized
up to the scale of the London Eye,

he'd make it fully turn 19 times a day.

So make sure
you keep your hamster's wheel well oiled…

…or you'll never hear the end of it.

When it comes to peak performance,

speed isn't necessarily of the essence.

In Tokyo, this longevity dwells
on the mind of Mitani-san.

He's the proud owner of Bonchan,
a sulcata tortoise,

his companion for 25 years.

When he arrived he was tiny
and could sit in my hand.

But things have changed.

Bonchan is now a whopping 154 pounds.

Originating from the deserts of Africa,

sulcatas are amongst
the largest tortoises on earth.

And this one means the world
to Mitani-san.

Bonchan likes to walk.

When it gets to three or four o'clock,
he tells me he wants to get out.

While most pet tortoises
live in gardens,

Central Tokyo isn't blessed
with green spaces.

So Mitani-san has found another way
to exercise Bonchan.

Being inside
can be stressful even for humans.

That's why I decided to take him out.

When I walk with Bonchan,
I don't have to think about anything,

and I feel very peaceful.

He lives at his own pace.

I've learned from Bonchan
to relax and be laid-back.

In the desert,
sulcata tortoises will walk

five miles a day

and dig shelters 25 feet deep.

All that with a heart rarely beating
over six beats per minute.

Let's face it,
the tortoise's ticker is the envy

of ultramarathon runners everywhere.

But while Bonchan can easily cope

with a quarter of a mile stroll
around the block,

the only things slowing him down
are his many admirers.

Because I walk him so often,

the neighbors are used to him,

but when people see him
for the first time, they are surprised.

Bonchan will live long

because he has less stress,

and I try to remove any of his worries.

Bonchan's pampered life
and low heart rate

aren't the only secrets to his longevity.

Recent research has shown
that giant tortoises rarely get cancer.

Incredibly, when their cells get damaged,
they self-destruct.

This bodes well for Bonchan,
who could live to be over a hundred.

But it leaves Mitani-san with a problem.

I know
I won't live longer than him.

So I am looking for someone
to look after him.

If I pass away,

I want someone to love Bonchan
even more than I do.

Tortoises' powers of endurance
aren't just great for surviving on Earth.

At the height of the space race,

the Russians blasted two tortoises
to the moon.

They accomplished one orbit
before crash-landing in the Indian Ocean.

Remarkably, they survived unscathed,

making them the first creature
to travel to another world.

More impressively, on their journey,

they reached speeds of up to Mach 33,

making them
the fastest tortoises in history.

We've already met
the masters of endurance.

And these guys can certainly endure

a few hours of doing nothing.

However in California, a couple
and their cat buck that trend.

Meet Mav, not your average cat.

He's a three year old Bengal
belonging to Nick and Kayla.

They're very comfortable
in the water, and they are focused,

so if it's something
they're trying to run after or go for,

they're, like, laser beam focused.

And I think that's why he likes some
of the fun things that we do together.

He… He likes these challenges.

When they realized
Mav liked water,

they were keen to share
their love of the beach.

When he was a little kitten,
I just thought, "Oh, put the board

in the swimming pool.
It would be funny if he jumps on."

I didn't think he would,
but I put the food on, and he jumped on.

But what happened after that was,
we were in the middle of the lake,

and then out of the blue,
he jumped out of Kayla's kayak

and swam over to my paddleboard.

And we were like, "What?"

Mav soon came to share Kayla
and Nick's love of water sports.

So ex-pro wakeboarder Nick
decided to up the adrenaline.

He likes to conquer his fear,
and then he wants to do something bigger.

I thought, "Why don't we
catch some waves? And he's…"

"He's already comfortable on the board."

Um. And that's when I got into putting
the whole deck on the surfboard

where he could grip.

If he ran up to the front,
he could hold tight.

And it gave him a lot of confidence.

Bengals love
a challenge, it seems.

And Mav was soon mastering the moves.

When we catch the wave,
the board is more on an… on a decline.

And you'll see Mav,
and he'll push his arms out,

and he'll, you know, he's sort of bracing
as we start to take off on the wave.

But there's a couple of times
I've been surfing where I've had the board

almost doing a wheelie,

and he'll climb right up to the nose
and, like, stand up above it.

The first time he did it,
I thought it was crazy.

But he's using his balance,
I suppose. He's very agile.

When the board's,
like, wobbling or tilting,

they're able to adjust quick,
and it's just natural for them.

So cats are super agile,
but how do they compare to dogs?

To find out, we've laid out
100 dominoes in a corridor

and invited cats and dogs
to walk over them.

First up, Team Cat,

represented by Orlando
and his two friends,

Moscow and Windsor.

Orlando's up first,
taking the right hand side.

Oh, there's one down
and a second, oh dear.

What about Windsor?

A confident start.

Oh, no, three down right at the end.

Moscow makes a strategic approach.
He's looking good.

But a slight lapse in concentration,
and it's one down for him.

All in all, a great effort.
Team Cat topple just six.

Next up, Team Dog, represented by Strike,

Dickens, and a rather nervous Shadow.

What's their game plan?

With seemingly no strategy whatsoever,
it's all over in a matter of seconds.

Team Dog knock over 35 dominoes.

So this test
was right up Team Cat's alley.

But what's the secret of their success?

Slow motion cameras reveal that cats walk
with their leg muscles permanently flexed.

This means that they can control
the placement

of each foot with total precision.

Rather handy when sneaking up on prey.

Dogs don't flex their muscles
in the same way.

Instead, large, springy tendons
in their legs

enable them to bounce with each stride.

It's more efficient but harder
to control the placement of each foot.

As for Titus the tortoise,

he's less nimble-footed agility specialist
and more bulldozer.

Cats and dogs aren't the only speed
and agility specialists.

Our very own Gus and Stanley
are also fast and nimble.

Picture them living
in separate New York apartments.

Stanley's apartment is laden
with everything a playful rat needs.

Gus' pad is across the street.

Luckily, there's a rope linking the two.

So Gus can pay Stanley a visit…

using it to bridge the gap.

Most animals would feel jittery
crossing the street

on a rope six stories high,

but Gus' body has a built-in balance bar.

His extraordinary long prehensile tail.

Compared to other rodents,
rats have one of the longest tails

relative to their body size.

And Gus uses his to maintain
the perfect center of balance.

It's a lifesaving counterweight

as long as you can keep your feet
on the rope.

It's hard to watch.

Even if things go wrong,
his strong flexible tail can be relied on

to get him out of trouble.

It can even act like a hook,

enabling Gus to get back on top.

What a recovery.

Friends reunited.

Our next pet
takes athletic ability to new heights.

Fred here is a golden macaw.

One of the world's largest parrots
and a native of South America.

His strength comes
from muscles and tendons so big,

they account for around a third
of his body weight.

His pectoral muscles are worthy
of the most dedicated bodybuilder…

converging on a huge breastbone.

Working together,
they create a powerful downstroke.

His upstroke is generated by a pair
of giant tendons that act as pulleys.

Driven by this muscular powerhouse
and a wingspan of more than three feet,

macaws can reach speeds
of 35 miles per hour.

And if you're able to tap
into this remarkable athletic ability,

the results can be astonishing.

Klono is a military macaw,

resident at an animal sanctuary in Texas.

Nick Phomkasornsri runs the sanctuary.

And wherever he goes, Klono follows.

Klono is very, very special.

I mean, I love all my birds,

but the fact that he just wants to always
follow, and that he's always trusting me,

it's something that I never
experienced before,

and it's very, very special.

Klono's favorite part of any trip
is the return home,

when he can show off his flying prowess.

When I get to a point where I can see
that there's no traffic coming

all the way down to the street I turn on,
that's when I stick my arm out the window

and let him fly all the way home.

They go, they go so fast.

Um. Usually, he's just kinda flying
at, like, a leisurely speed,

but when he wants to go, it's impressive.
They're very athletic.

Klono has no problem
keeping up with Nick's car

traveling at 40 miles per hour.

As the air flows over his wings,
it creates lift.

If we slow everything down, we can see

that he constantly
adjusts his wings and tail,

keeping his body perfectly aerodynamic.

He adapts his flying style
to conserve energy.

By angling his wings
and tail feathers down,

he can also go into a high-speed glide,

utilizing the air flow from Nick's truck.

He flies so much that I think
he's built up a lot of muscle,

and he can fly for a really,
really long time. His stamina is amazing.

In the wild,
military macaws have been known to fly

at these speeds for up
to 15 miles a day in search of food.

But for Klono, it's just about relishing
the total freedom Nick provides.

He loves it. He loves it.

One thing that's really important
to know is that these birds,

I have spent a lot of time training them
and conditioning them for free flight.

So, you can't just take your bird

and release it and think
that it's gonna come back,

because it's… it's not
gonna end well, most likely.

Our pets
are all built differently

and their need for speed deployed
in a wide variety of situations.

Looking at Michelangelo,
you wouldn't think he was a speed demon.

He can hold the same position for hours.

But when he's hungry,

he unleashes one of the fastest weapons
in the animal kingdom.

Michelangelo's ballistic tongue
is like a coiled spring.

It accelerates from naught
to 60 miles per hour

in one hundredth of a second.

Impressive.

But our next pet unleashes
the same forces to propel its entire body.

Cat owners know just how fast
their pets can pounce.

You're witnessing one of nature's
greatest ambush predators…

born with an instinct to hunt.

Slow motion reveals their back legs
are the source of their power.

Cats have more weight here
than most mammals.

It's because they're full
of fast twitch muscles.

Producing maximum power on demand…

enabling Ponzo to accelerate
from naught to 30 miles per hour

in under three seconds,

jumping six times his height.

And thanks to an inbuilt righting reflex,

they always land on their feet.

Well, nearly always.

The pet most famous for a good set
of hind legs is the rabbit.

And harnessing those hamstrings
has become a competitive sport.

Deep in the Danish countryside…

competitors gather.

These rabbits are elite show jumpers.

Part of a growing sport originating
in neighboring Sweden.

Aase Bjerner is the organizer
of Horsens monthly competition.

The hopper is a handler,
and then we have the rabbit.

And you get a very special bond
to your rabbit when you hop with it.

It's not just a rabbit sitting in a hutch.

Today, I have my rabbit Mandel,
and she's five years old now.

She was a little wild when she was a kid,

but by training her, she's got more calm.

And, uh, she's enjoying hopping.

Competing alongside Aase
and Mandel is 17-year-old Alison

and her bunny Falke.

My rabbit is two and a half years old.

I have been training
for about two years with him.

I hope it will go well
because he have a good height

over the jumpings.

Today, Mandel and Falke
have entered the elite competition.

Rabbits are notoriously timid animals,

but their natural behavior can be
advantageous when it comes to training.

There are two rounds of 12 jumps.

Each jump is just under two foot high,

while the longest is over two foot long.

And yes, there is a water jump.

We all try to complete the course
under two minutes,

because at two minutes,
uh, we get a time fault,

and one more for every 15 seconds,

up to three minutes
when we get disqualified.

When you're hopping, and you can see
your rabbit won't take the jump,

you can take it a little back
to let it, uh, look at the jump once more.

The golden rule,
always stay behind your rabbit.

I walk behind him.

If I go in front of him, he will stop,
'cause they don't… they don't like that.

So always stay behind,
and then he's not so much afraid.

The best jumpers
are large legged Holland Lops.

But these champions are born, not made.

At the moment now,
in many other rabbits

have the hopping rabbits
in ten generations back, and it counts.

If you go out to an animal shop
and buy a new rabbit,

it… it might not be good.

Sometimes, you'll get a rabbit
and it just won't hop.

The competition includes
25 rabbits from all over Denmark,

and standards are sky high.

I'm really proud of him.
It went better than I thought.

He just made one mistake,
and it was so little.

I'm so proud of him.

She was very fast,
so she might be the best with one fault.

I'm not sure
but we have to wait till the prize giving.

And first place
is Maya and Tjafel.

The results are in.
In first place is Tjafel…

trained and owned by Maya.

I'm very proud of him
because he only needed

two more certificates to be
a champion and now he's a champion.

I think it's good to go
to rabbit jump because your rabbits

come out and have fun jumping
and they like it.

If they want to start training at home,
they can start walking around,

and they will see the rabbit like it.

And they can go out, have fun,
and meet new people,

and get new, well, friends. Yeah.

Our pets' wild past
has given them some extraordinary

and unexpected athletic abilities.

By celebrating, nurturing,
and unleashing them,

we can bring joy and fun into their lives

as well as our own.