All language subtitles for Natures Misfits BBC Natural World (2014) 1080p HDTV EN SUB_Subtitles01.ENG

Life on Earth.

Stunning...

..spectacular...

..and diverse.

LEMUR HOWLS

Endless forms,
startling and beautiful.

Some animals amaze us
with their speed...

..their strength...

GORILLA GROWLS

..or their intelligence.

Whilst others fascinate us
by, well, being a bit odd.

Creatures that don't normally
grab the limelight.

Unconventional

and unusual.

Not the big stars,
more the character actors.

Let me introduce you
to nature's misfits.

I want to show you the extraordinary
and rarely seen lives

of these evolutionary oddballs.

Their strange habits,
their astounding forms

and the hurdles

they have to overcome.

It's time nature's misfits
got the credit they're due.

Before we get going, let's be clear
on what makes an animal a misfit.

For some it's because they appear
ill-suited to their habitat.

Others have become so highly
specialised in one way

that they seem disadvantaged
in others.

But first we'll meet the misfits
that stand out

because they're different from
the rest of their animal family.

So how do these oddities
manage to survive?

Could it be that being different
can actually give you an edge?

Changqing in China.

In these snowy hills
lives a confused creature.

RUSTLING

A giant panda.

Pandas are bears.

Close relatives of grizzlies
and polar bears.

And, of course, bears
are ferocious carnivores.

But not the panda.

They have turned their back
on their meat-eating past...

..and gone veggie.

99% of their diet comes from
a single plant.

Bamboo.

Making them a non-meat-eating
carnivore.

A true misfit.

In the depths of winter, most bears
would be tucked up hibernating...

..but not the panda.

The problem is bamboo contains
so little energy that pandas

simply can't build up the fat
reserves required to hibernate.

Instead, they endure
the long freezing winters...

..forcing down bamboo
even when it's frozen stiff.

That's what all the nose twirling
is about.

They're breaking up the ice.

A panda must eat up to 18 kilograms
of bamboo a day...

..requiring them to feed
continuously for 16 hours.

This colossal consumption does
have an inevitable consequence.

Pandas have to answer the call
of nature 40 times a day.

Giant pandas are so dependent
on bamboo

that it affects every
aspect of their lives.

It even helps explain their
relaxed attitude to reproduction.

Spring.

Mating season for pandas.

This female is on heat...

..which has aroused the interest
of a male.

She's only fertile for a few days
and just once a year...

..so she needs to get on
with things.

PANDA GROWLS

That wasn't the response
she was hoping for.

She decides to give it another go

PANDA GROWLS

Things aren't going well.

They both know why they're here

but just can't seem to settle
their differences.

Now he gingerly approaches her.

Finally it happens.

It's little wonder pandas
have acquired

such a dubious track record
for procreation.

But there is purpose to all this.

Pandas are so reliant on bamboo

that if their numbers were ever
to dramatically increase

there might not be enough food
to go round.

Being slow breeders means they can
survive

whilst relying on
just one food source.

It all comes back to their veggie
and very un-bear like diet.

For our next misfit, it's not
their diet that marks them out

as different but their size
that makes them stand out

from the rest of their kind.

Vivid colours,

incredible eyes...

..and a lethal weapon of a tongue.

You've got to love chameleons.

But there's one chameleon
that is distinctly different.

It's down there, bang in the middle
of that big leaf.

Meet the minute leaf chameleon...

..one of the smallest reptiles
on the planet.

Found only on one island
off the coast of Madagascar,

it's a lizard the size of an ant.

Being this small is tough.

The world's a very dangerous place

when you can be mowed down
by a millipede.

When it comes to finding a mate,

being a miniature misfit
can make things rather complicated.

This is a male
minute leaf chameleon.

He's constantly keeping an eye out
for a partner

but, being so small, he rarely
bumps into any others of his kind.

Should he find a potential mate,
he has to make the most of it.

A female.

It's an opportunity
he can't let slip away...

..so he makes his move.

This might not look very fast...

..but in chameleon terms
this is a sprint -

a reckless headlong dash.

And it nearly ends in disaster.

It'll take more than that
to put him off his stride.

He's back on track.

Finally, he catches up
with the larger female.

Gently, he climbs aboard.

And here he'll stay.

Leaf chameleon lovers
have to stick together

as they so rarely meet one another.

Being miniature means leaf
chameleons can specialise

at feeding on all the tiny insects
in the leaf litter -

food which is out of reach
for other chameleons.

They're not the only misfits that
benefit by doing things differently

from the rest of their kind.

Purple frogs from India
are one of just a handful of frogs

that live and feed underground,
a bit like moles.

They only ever pop up to the surface
for two weeks a year to find a mate.

So there has to be some
frog speed dating.

Flying lemurs have independently
evolved wings.

Technically they're gliding,
not flying.

And while they're certainly
not lemurs...

..it's still one hell of a trick.

Flying fish are definitely fish.

They take to the air
to avoid underwater predators...

..gliding up to 400 metres.

Sometimes, being a bit different
works brilliantly.

Other times, it can be risky.

High in the Bale Mountains
of Ethiopia,

lives an unlikely looking creature

which seems to have lost all sense
of self preservation.

This is the only place in the world
where you find big-headed mole rats.

They've not got high opinions
of themselves...

..just very large heads.

It's the big-headed mole rat's
lifestyle

that qualifies them as a misfit.

There are 36 different species
of mole rats...

..all specially adapted
to live underground.

But the big-headed mole rat
is different.

They're the only one of their kind
that always feeds above ground.

But round here that's not
necessarily a great plan.

These mountain plateaus
are home to Ethiopian wolves.

Unusually for a wolf,
they rarely hunt in packs.

They're specialist rat catchers...

..and work best as solitary hunters.

Big-headed mole rat senses

are designed for their old
burrowing lifestyle.

Feeble eyesight...

..and poor hearing.

Above ground, they're sitting ducks.

A very close shave.

With the mole rat's determination
to forage above the ground,

they could really benefit from
having a sentry -

a look-out
to check the coast is clear.

And that's exactly what these are.

Moorland chats.

Expert foragers on these high
mountain plateaus.

They hang around the mole rats...

..feeding on any bugs and worms
dug up in their spoil heaps.

In return for this easy meal,

the chats keep an eye out
for troublesome wolves...

CHAT TWEETS

..alarm calling
if they come too close.

By choosing to feed above ground,

big-headed mole rats
have turned their backs

on millions of years of evolution.

For this misfit, being able to get
direct access to rich grass

must outweigh the risk
of being preyed on.

But sometimes there appears
little logic

as to why an animal has evolved
to be different

from the rest of its animal family.

The primeval forests of New Zealand.

Amongst the undergrowth,
something stirs.

A parrot,

but a parrot unlike any other.

This is the world's heaviest
and only flightless parrot.

But that's just the start
of its misfit credentials.

For this is a kakapo.

Kakapos can be surprisingly nimble
on the ground.

But that's no use to them when their
favourite food is up in the trees.

Reaching it isn't as easy
as it perhaps should be.

They awkwardly clamber around...

..relying on their bill
as an extra claw.

It's all a bit embarrassing
really...

..for a bird.

Kakapos evolved to be flightless

because there were no ground
predators on New Zealand.

When the first settlers
arrived on these islands,

their ships also contained cats,
weasels and rats.

When threatened, the kakapo's
principle defence mechanism

is to stand very, very still.

This strategy has not worked out
well for the kakapo.

Now there are only 125 left
in the wild,

which brings us to another
major issue.

Kakapos are one of the world's
slowest breeding birds

and have a delightfully eccentric
mating ritual.

Night.

This is when kakapos' minds
turn to finding a mate.

A male limbers up.

He plods along a well-worn path,
his personal stomping ground.

In a small hollow
that he's carefully excavated,

he settles down
and calls out for a mate.

KAKAPO BOOMS

The deep, low tone
drifts across the valleys.

It can be heard
up to three miles away.

He'll do this for up to eight hours
every night for three months.

As is often the case, it's the
females that are the picky ones.

They're only interested in breeding
once every five years.

Despite his best efforts,
it's not going to happen tonight...

..or any time soon
by the looks of it.

With no natural predators to keep
a check on their population,

kakapos evolved to be slow breeders.

Happily, now their numbers
are increasing again,

just very slowly.

Being the world's most peculiar,
ill-equipped and unlikely parrot

more than qualifies the kakapo
to join the misfit gang.

Which brings us to our next set
of non-conformists.

Animals that all appear
hopelessly ill-suited

to the environment
in which they live.

Where better to start than
a muddy shoreline in Japan?

Mudskippers look like creatures
that began to evolve,

then got stuck halfway.

A fish that can live out of water.

Although hauling themselves along
on their fins

doesn't make it look like
they've really cracked it yet.

Survival is tough enough as it is

so there must be a good reason to
add that extra level of difficulty.

Well, it's all about the mud.

It may not look appetising

but mudskippers eat
and thrive on mud.

It's rich in tiny plants and animals
which they filter out.

And they've got a neat trick to stay
alive in this hostile environment.

To breathe on land, mudskippers
store water in their cheeks,

surrounding their gills...

..every now and then topping up
the oxygen levels in the water

with a big gulp of air.

They're not breathing the air
directly.

The air they're gulping in mixes
with the water around their gills,

allowing them to draw out
the oxygen.

And they're also able to breathe
directly through their skin.

But, being a fish,
and a tropical fish at that,

they are taking a big risk.

Drying out is their biggest danger.

Only when their skin's wet
can they breathe through it.

If it dries out,
they will quickly suffocate.

To avoid this, they're constantly
rolling around in the mud...

..in order to keep their skin moist.

Mudskippers do seem to be rather
disagreeable creatures.

But perhaps it's a result of
having to eat mud every day.

Our next metaphorical
fish out of water

is also a little ungainly
on the land.

Penguins - loved by all.

They're certainly endearing
creatures.

Of course, we're used to seeing them

in the frozen vastness
of Antarctica,

but there's one penguin
that has chosen a different path.

Yes, this is a penguin
taking a stroll in a forest.

It's a Fiordland crested penguin

and this is South Island,
New Zealand.

They're here to raise their chicks.

With no natural ground predators,
it's a very safe place to nest.

Like any self-respecting penguin,
they still love fish...

..which are understandably
in short supply in the forest.

Every day, the adults shuffle back
and forth to the sea to feed...

..using crystal-clear forest streams
as convenient highways.

The chicks are left to fend
for themselves

and, like many young birds,
they're rather clumsy on land.

It's often early in life that
animals seem most ill-suited

to their environment...

..and face their greatest threats.

A remote sandy spit
in the middle of the Pacific.

Black-footed albatross chicks.

They've been raised
on this tiny island

and are now ready
to take to the air.

These are mythical birds
of the open ocean,

completely at one
with their environment.

Surely an albatross
can't be a misfit.

Once airborne, they're fine.

It's that tricky learning process
that puts them in the misfit camp.

These ugly ducklings are cumbersome
and awkward on land.

And for a sea bird, they're pretty
inept in the water too.

Albatross are such huge birds
they simply can't take off

without a strong headwind...

..or a very long run up.

The chicks practice along the shore.

But eventually their maiden flight
will have to be over open water.

This is not the place to linger.

Tiger sharks.

A dozen of them are
drawn to the island,

purposely to prey on
the fledging chicks.

From the shore, others watch on...

..waiting for their moment.

One chick builds up courage
and sets off.

No sooner is it airborne,
the wind drops...

..it ditches.

Amazingly, it escapes.

Others also get away.

Once airborne,
they'll never look back...

..leaving their misfit phase
behind them.

Beneath the waves, deep down,

is a creature that can't escape
its misfit ways.

Simply getting around is enough
to give them a headache.

A nautilus is the creature
that time forgot -

a living fossil.

A primitive inhabitant
of the deep sea

which first evolved
400 million years ago.

Distantly related to octopuses
and squid,

they're the sole survivors of a once
abundant group of sea creatures.

Having pottered around underwater
for near on half a billion years,

you might expect them to be
perfectly adapted

to life in the ocean.

But, of course, we wouldn't be
talking about them

if that was the case.

Nautili move by forcing water out
of a specially adapted tentacle,

using the same principle
as a jet engine.

But with their jet propulsion
thrusting them shell first,

their eyes are effectively
pointing backwards...

..which makes them rather prone
to the odd collision.

With 400 million years of
not knowing what hazards

you're swimming into, it's amazing
they've survived at all.

They can't even avoid the relatives.

Nautili are able to
reverse directions.

By bending their tentacle
round under their shell,

they can gingerly move forward.

Although this doesn't appear to be
any improvement.

Nautili may struggle
with getting around

but having barely changed for
hundreds of millions of years,

it can't be doing them
too much harm.

At least their ocean home
is pretty constant.

Whereas our next misfit
has to deal with

some of the most extreme
seasonal changes on the planet.

The high Arctic.

A bleak and inhospitable place.

This is not where you'd expect
to find

a caterpillar.

It's the start of summer

and these Arctic
woolly bear caterpillars

are in a race against time.

They feast while they can...

..making the most
of long summer days.

Their goal is to reach
an optimum weight

to enable them to pupate into a
moth, completing their life cycle.

But this far north, summer is brief.

Soon the days begin to shorten.

Winter is coming.

This woolly bear has not managed to
eat enough to transform into a moth.

Time has run out.

As temperatures plummet, it settles
under a rock to await its fate.

Still alive,
its body starts to freeze.

Its heart stops beating...

..blood turned to ice.

The depths of winter.

For five months, temperatures
won't rise above -30.

Spring, and the thaw begins.

The caterpillar miraculously
rises from the dead...

..and begins to feed.

But no matter how fast
the woolly bears eat,

they won't be able to pupate
this year either.

The cold closes in once again.

The years pass,
the seasons come and go,

and still the caterpillars
feed while they can,

before being wrapped again
in an icy embrace.

By breaking down their cell
components

and flooding their bodies
with anti-freeze chemicals,

amazingly,
the caterpillars can survive...

..withstanding temperatures
as low as -70 degrees centigrade.

Eventually,
a very special summer arrives...

..as this will be its last.

Only now has it eaten enough

to make the transformation
into an adult.

It's seven years old.

The world's oldest caterpillar.

Days later, the adult moth emerges.

It must now find a partner and mate.

The woolly bears can only complete
their life cycle

because of their incredible
adaptation.

It's their extraordinary solution

to living in such a hostile
and marginal habitat.

Many animals have unique adaptations
that make them highly specialised.

Marine iguanas are the only lizards
on the planet that feed in the sea.

Grabbing mouthfuls of seaweed
whilst holding their breath.

With a sticky 60cm tongue

and some of the largest
claws of any mammal,

giant anteaters can devour
30,000 termites in a day.

Their bodies are
so highly specialised

they can now only ever
feed on these tiny insects.

Which isn't a bad thing -

by weight, termites are more protein
rich than any other food source.

Texas blind salamanders
spend their entire lives

in the pitch black of caves.

With zero light,
eyes would be utterly useless

- a drain on precious energy.

Now they sense their prey
with receptor cells

dotted along their bodies.

But being such a specialist animal
can also have its down sides.

Vanuatu, in the South Pacific.

On a pristine
tropical island like this

you might expect to find
all manner of exotic looking crabs.

But here there's a real oddity.

This mighty beast...

..is a coconut crab.

With a meter-wide leg span,
weighing up to 4kg...

..this is the world's
largest land invertebrate.

The crabs have evolved to be giants
to feast on a tropical delicacy.

The clue is in the name
but just to be clear,

coconut crabs do actually
eat coconuts.

They're one of the few animals

strong enough
to break the tough husk.

The whole process
can take several hours...

..but the reward is well worth it.

Coconut crabs' outlandish
size and strength

might be an advantage
when it comes to feeding...

..but it can be fatal
when it comes to reproducing.

Like all crabs, these giants have
to release their eggs in the sea.

But unlike most crabs
they can't breathe underwater.

And because they've grown so heavy,

if they're ever washed out of their
depth they'll never recover,

eventually drowning.

A female,
her belly bulging with eggs.

Carefully she edges towards
the pounding waves.

One missed step could mean disaster.

Clinging precariously to the edge,
she quickly releases her eggs.

Only when she reaches
the shoreline will she be safe.

Coconut crabs' incongruous size

has evolved so they
can feed on coconuts.

They're not the only misfits
whose very special diet

has resulted
in a very specialised body.

A ghoulish creature awakes.

Half bat, half monkey...

..and with a grotesquely
elongated finger.

The aye-aye is undoubtedly
very peculiar.

Like a cross between
ET and Nosferatu.

In fact it's a type
of lemur, a primate,

a misfit in our own animal family.

Their curious features allow
them to find their favourite food.

AYE-AYE TAPS RAPIDLY

That extraordinary finger taps at
the branch up to ten times a second.

AYE-AYE TAPS RAPIDLY

Ears pick up on the
unmistakable echo of a hollow.

Teeth gnaw a hole.

They're the only primates
whose teeth grow constantly

throughout their lives,
just like rodents.

Finally she hooks the prize
- an insect grub.

Aye-ayes feed almost exclusively
on these grubs,

fishing them out from rotten wood.

Normally birds like woodpeckers
would feed like this,

using their bills to break
through the wood.

But woodpeckers never reached the
aye-aye's island home of Madagascar.

Instead these
primitive primates have evolved

to fill the woodpecker's niche,

exploiting a resource
that no other animal can get to.

On first impressions,
other misfits' strange bodies

are much harder to explain.

On the forest floor in Malaysia...

..an alien creature emerges.

It's an insect, a type of fly,
and this is a male.

If you think he looks unearthly now,
just wait to see what happens next.

He starts by gulping in air,
forming clear bubbles in his head.

He forces these bubbles
into the stalks supporting his eyes.

Like blowing up a balloon,
the stalks stretch,

getting longer and longer.

A few final adjustments

and a couple of hours in the sun
to let its skin go hard,

and the look is complete.

Meet the stalk-eyed fly.

These bizarre stalks don't
help the fly see any better,

in fact, quite the opposite -

it's thought they reduce
the effectiveness of their eyesight.

So there must be another benefit
that's allowed these

implausible appendages to evolve.

In the evening
a group of males gather.

They size each other up...

..eyeball to eyeball.

There's some aggressive posturing...

..but a full-on fight
never breaks out.

The stalks are
sort of measuring sticks,

a way to gauge
how strong a rival is.

As they square up, the male
with the widest stalks wins.

Males with broad stalks are also
considered the more desirable

by the females and will therefore
produce the most offspring.

It's sexual selection,
rather than natural selection,

that has allowed the stalk-eyed
fly's unique appearance to evolve.

Our final misfit has to be
one of the most peculiar

yet most endearing animals
on the planet.

It's not often you see
a sloth in a rush.

This is a three-toed sloth...

..a female...

..and she's ravenously hungry.

It's the leaves that she's after.

However in order
to protect themselves,

rainforest leaves are often tough,
rubbery and full of toxins.

They're indigestible
and lacking in energy.

But that hasn't stopped the sloth.

With large, multi-chambered stomachs
containing a unique mix of bacteria,

they're able to deal
with the tough leaves.

But it's not a quick process.

Sloths have the slowest digestion
of any mammal.

It can take them two weeks
to process a single meal.

And it's a hopelessly
inefficient process.

Sloths had two options...

..either they had
to eat more or do less.

Sloths evolved to do less.

Their entire lifestyle
is all about expending

as little energy as possible.

The word sloth has come to mean
laziness but sloths aren't lazy,

they've just developed
a laid-back survival technique.

Although watching them
does make you feel like a nap.

But their legendary lethargic manner
does have a downside.

Harpy eagles...

JAGUAR ROARS
..and jaguars...

..both regularly hunt sloths.

Without speed as a defence, sloths
had to go down another route...

..camouflage.

They've become the world's only
vaguely green mammal.

Of course, there are
plenty of green bugs...

..green lizards...

..and green birds...

..but can you name
another green mammal?

There aren't any.

So how have they done it?

Their thick, coarse fur has evolved

to house entire communities
of algae, single celled plants.

It's the algae
that's turned them green,

the perfect way to
blend into the forest.

Sloths may come across
as comical and incongruous,

but they're actually highly evolved
and extremely well-adapted

at their chosen way of life.

In fact, all misfits prove

that being different
does give you an edge.

It can make you very successful.

The result is a group of wonderfully
eccentric creatures,

creatures we should be grateful
we share our planet with.

Yet now,
largely due to our influence,

over half of the animals in this
programme are endangered.

It's because these animals
are so specialised

they're often more prone to the
threats that face all wildlife.

That's why we should be looking
out for them more than ever before.

They deserve our admiration, these
misfits, these quirks of nature,

turning their oddness
into opportunity.

They might be a bit weird,

but they're equal to any
of the wonders of the planet,

in the glorious spectacle
that is life on Earth.