Original subtitles

Life is at its most intense during the struggles between predator and prey.

Each side to survive must outwit and outmaneuver 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 aren't 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 Kenya, the brothers regroup.

Their mistake with the zebra was to hunt as ordinary cheetahs do.

As individuals.

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

That means acting like a boss.

And 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

are the perfect place for them to live.

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're 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 cloven hooves that spread under load.

Astonishing balance...

and the most uncanny agility.

Barely a week old, they are utterly silent.

And 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 have saved 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 epitomizes 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 the 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 a fish completely unawares.

If the shoal scatters...

the bat trawls 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 practiced 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 ten 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, practiced 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 they'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 learned 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 they'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.

Rain power combined with teamwork.

It's a winning formula.

This behavior is unique to the dolphins of Florida Bay.

Successive generations have learned it from their parents

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

The ability to pass on such complex behaviors

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 their turn.

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.

At 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 Africa, 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-covered dawn.

Each pack is centered 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 mountain top.

They guard it seriously, patrolling its frontiers every day.

Wolves elsewhere cooperate 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 relatively small rewards.

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 behaviour accordingly.

That adaptability is the mammal's 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.

It's 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 even eat food.

And also swim.

And once under water, 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 under water.

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.

Bandhavgarh, India.

At the height of the dry season.

A Chittal 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 Chittal must detect their enemy before it takes them by surprise.

And they have allies.

Langur monkeys.

Keen eyesight and a perch high in the trees means they can scan the forest.

The jungle is full of distraction.

Senses are strained trying to detect approaching danger.

Yet the Chittals 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 Chittal 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 Langur's vigilance saved the Chittal.

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 excels in hunting.

It 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 sent something.

A rattlesnake, hidden right next to their burrow.

They both investigate.

But what can they do?

Kicking 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 is 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 on.

Aan the Faulkland Islands.

Gen two penguins faced blizzards of blown sand.

Young elephant seals risk being dragged off the rocks

by the surging waves and swept out into open water.

Video 뒤 The

largest and most predatory of the dolphin family.

Killer 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 covered in water.

Barely 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 a seal to stray out of the shallows.

For mother and calf, this is an extreme challenge.

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 would 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.

A 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.

The projecting ledge keeps the seal just out of reach.

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, and ever before, she's 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 strategy.

And all these advantages, 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.

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 charismatic predators.

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 traveled to the Falklands,

having heard that for two weeks each year, killer whales focus on one particular spot.

The killer whales have learned 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 familiarize themselves not only with a new

location, but also with the animals they will be working around.

And the team soon realized that they and their

equipment are a great novelty to the seal pups.

I didn't look through the camera because I'm worried about the...

being knocked over, so I've got a little friend here, so

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

The pups' fascination with the team is rather unexpected.

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

At one with nature.

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

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.

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 an orca, of course, it's 120 kilos of pure protein.

So that's why they're hunted.

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.

It's coming in.

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.

It's time to see if the pups are going to be able to get in.

With lookouts posted and the whales far away, Mike is able to get in.

Even so...

who can blame him for being jumpy?

The pups' playfulness is becoming an issue.

The last thing the team want is to have any

influence on the events they're here to film.

There's also the question of how the pups are going to be able to get in.

And how the killer whales might react to a person in the water.

It's quite intimidating in there.

The shell's up, so in the center of the channel, it just goes down to,

I don't know, maybe eight feet, I think.

A couple of meters.

But the visibility's really stirred up.

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

And what I'm worried about is if I do get 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 for half the time of day.

She's out there to kill something.

And I just don't want to be that personal seal, whatever she thinks of me.

She'll probably realize once she's bitten me that she's made a mistake.

And I don't know, is it worth the gamble?

No.

With a week already gone, the killer whales have not yet made a full-blown attack.

And then the weather changes.

I don't know if it's going to be a good thing.

Well, hopefully it'll blow itself out, but I think the pool, it's going to be a

couple of days, I think before that calms down.

The storm rages for two more days, but on the 11th day, the good weather returns.

Mike knows that time is running out.

Well, the orcas are out there.

Still quite a way off.

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 been so stirred up.

And just bring it slightly out of the water,

Adam, so draw it back towards you and stop.

And that's dark green, basically.

Very dark green.

There's still a lot of...

Suspension, yeah.

The storm had stirred up the pool, making it hard to see anything,

but the team remain in good spirits.

Does my bum look big in this?

Massive.

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.

What size is that fin?

OK, Mike, she's coming in.

Coming in, Mike.

Coming in?

Just here.

Mike?

One second, mate.

One second, mate.

I can talk to you gently here now.

And I can also see where you're pointing.

She's in.

Recording.

Hold it steady.

Hold it steady.

Got it.

She's gone past, Mike.

She's in the pool.

Can I get in there?

Can't be mistaken.

We're bringing it out now.

We're taking it straight out.

Come on.

Go.

We're pulling it out.

And you have to see...

God, he just got hammered.

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

really, because 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 their journey, so, um, what can you say?

Witnessing such events 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.