All language subtitles for FB6435FB107F6D0CB9B69840E113CEE7_eng

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.