Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Snakes.

They inspire fear and loathing...

-l Hisses l -...fascination and awe.

To some cultures, they are pure evil.

Öthers worship them as gods.

The snake is a creature like no other --

a spellbinding seductress, a killing machine.

Now high-definition cameras

capture the breathtaking spectacle of snakes in action

like never before.

This is "The Beauty of Snakes."

Snakes are perhaps the most mesmerizing creatures on Earth.

Beneath a mosaic of shimmering scales,

their slim, supple bodies move with elegance.

They glide over the planet with speed and stealth.

Their sleek, powerful curves are dressed

in some of nature's most magnificent colors and patterns.

We will explore every aspect of their mysterious lives --

how they mate, give birth, hunt and feed,

move and sense the world around them --

all in startling detail.

Snakes live almost everywhere on the planet.

They thrive on land, in trees, and in water --

almost 3,000 different species.

And all of them natural-born killers.

( Hisses l

From a newly hatched garter snake just 6 inches long

to the 30-foot anaconda, they all must kill to survive.

Their hunger satisfied, most snakes prefer peace and solitude

until it's time to mate.

( Birds chirping l

Deep in the rainforest of Latin America,

the female rainbow boa is ready to breed.

But first, she needs to shed her skin.

Unlike most animals, snakes grow until they die.

Their skin does not grow with them.

Uncomfortable in a coat that has grown tight and dry,

the boa moves restlessiy, trying to release her old skin.

İf's a process she'll go through three or four times a year.

To ease shedding, snakes secrete a highiy scented oiİl

between the old skin and the new one.

Still moist, the boa's scales glimmer and shine.

Here the clarity of high-definition video

shows how the rainbow boa got its name.

Each scale acts like a prism,

refracting light in a colorful glow.

But it is the smell of her new skin,

rather than the color, that will attract a mate.

Aroused by her scent, the male boa

follows the female's trail in the night air.

When he finaliy reaches her,

he coils around her and begins his seduction.

( Birds chirping l

Garter snakes have one of the most dramatic mating rituals

in the world.

Iİn eastern Canada, the female red-sided garter

emerges from six months of winter hibernation.

Soon after leaving her den, she emits a scent through her skin.

This potent perfume attracts the attention

of male garters up to 20 miles away.

Öne by one, they come.

The larger female is soon inundated with suitors

driven to frenzy by her smell.

In an hour, she is lost beneath a tangle

of over 100 sguirming bodies known as a "mating ball."

Within the writhing mass, each of the males

pushes and shoves his rivals out of the way,

trying to be the first to mate with the female.

Önly one of them will succeed.

The struggle can go on for a week.

After mating, the victorious male

inserts a plug inside the female,

preventing other males from breeding with her.

Eventualiy, the exhausted males unscramble themselves

and go their separate ways.

Three months later, the female will be ready to give birth.

( Birds chirping l

This checkered garter snake is feeling restless,

and no wonder.

She is about to give birth to 30 wriggling babies.

Each tiny snake takes only seconds

to break through its transparent egg sac.

The babies must emerge guickliy in order to breathe.

The entire brood is born within half an hour.

Then, mothering duties over, the newborns are on their own.

Önly two of these babies will make it to maturity.

The rest will fall victim to predators,

starvation, and the elements.

To survive, they must hunt.

Tiny, curved teeth clamp onto prey like this earthworm

with a fierce grip.

Swallowed alive, the worm will die

from acids in the snake's stomach.

Barely 30 minutes old and already an instinctive killer.

Not all snakes have live births.

Most species lay eggs.

In the American Midwest,

the corn snake lives close to farmyards and crops,

where it feasts on a plentiful supply of rodents.

This female mated a week ago and has just laid eight eggs

in a nest of rotting leaves.

Parenting is now over.

She will not be back.

Three months later,

the unborn snakes twist and wriggle in their shells.

A tiny tooth on the end of their snouts

helps them slit an opening in the surface.

After breaking through, they often retreat

back into their shells for several hours' rest.

I£ may be two days before they leave the shell for good.

Slipping away from their nest,

the odds are stacked against the hatchlings.

Like all snakes, they will have to rely

on a powerful array of senses to survive.

Snakes sense the world differently from humans.

Eyes on either side of her head

gives this eyelash pit viper a wide field of vision.

Lashlike scales protect her eyes

from pointy branches in the dense rainforest.

Snakes have no eyelids.

Itf's impossible to know if they're sleeping

or just İying in wait.

The viper's unblinking stare may seem ominous,

but she has relatively poor vision.

Snakes are best at detecting motion.

They have difficulty focusing on still objects.

She can understand her world better by using her tongue.

Snakes use their tongues to smell.

When a snake wants to investigate its surroundings,

it flicks its tongue, collecting scent particles from the air.

This tiny instrument is 10,000 times more sensitive

than the human nose.

Forked tongues allow snakes to smell in stereo,

picking up different scents from different directions.

As this mouse moves,

it leaves behind a trail of scent particles.

As scent particles are collected,

the snake presses the tips of its tongue

into an organ in the roof of its mouth.

There particles are identified and analyzed,

translating the matrix of smells into a precise image.

This allows the snake to pinpoint the location

and size Of its prey, even in total darkness.

With such an extraordinary tracking device,

snakes rarely miss.

In the unforgiving desert of Arizona,

a Western diamondback rattlesnake

must use all his senses to survive.

This male has just emerged from winter hibernation

and has not eaten in five months.

But as a cold-blooded reptile, he needs to warm his body

in the sunshine before he'li have the energy to hunt.

A mouse would make a good meal.

The rattlesnake's hearing won't help him locate his target.

He has no external ear, nor any eardrums.

Like all snakes, he is deaf to airborne sounds.

But he can hear sounds that come through the ground.

His long, slack belly, in constant contact with the Earth,

picks up even the smallest vibrations.

When hunting, the snake adds this information

to the smellis gathered by his flickering tongue.

As the mouse comes closer,

yet another extraordinary sense comes into play.

Certain snakes, like this rattler,

have deep pits beneath their eyes.

These pits are lined with heat-sensitive cells

that can detect a temperature change

as little as 2/1,000 of a degree Fahrenheit.

This thermal image represents what the snake senses.

Warm-blooded creatures make easy targets,

even on the darkest of nights.

Keep his distance, and the unsuspecting mouse İs safe.

Step any closer,

and he'll be in striking range of a heat-seeking missile.

The strike is so guick that the mouse doesn't know what hit it.

Though the rattlesnake can draw on venom to kill 300 mice,

he injects just enough for a lethal dose.

Önce the mouse has stopped moving,

the rattlesnake slowiy swallows his meal.

İt will take 15 minutes for the mouse, still emitting heat,

to disappear into the cold body of the snake.

İt will take several days

for the snake to fully digest his meal.

Then he will be back on the move,

sliding over the rocky landscape with ease.

A snake in motion is a thing of wonder --

a limbless body surging with power and agility.

Without arms or legs,

snakes have adapted to a wider range of environments

than any other species on the planet.

The most common way for a snake to move

is the serpentine method,

in which the body follows a series of "S" curves.

The snake uses the lower back edges of its body

to push off against any roughness on the ground.

Viewed from beneath,

each beliy scale is seen moving and sliding.

With up to 500 vertebrae in their spines,

snakes are the most flexible creatures in the world.

There are few obstacles they can't navigate,

few hiding places they can't wriggle into.

A camera mounted on the back of a Cape cobra

shows how the snake undulates through its domain.

İf's a way of moving

that has taken millions of years to perfect.

Snakes are believed to have evolved from prehistoric lizards

at least 100 million years ago.

Theory has it that these ancient reptiles

sought safety by burrowing in the soll.

To move through the earth in a more streamlined fashion,

they gradually lost their limbs.

Their eyesight diminished

since İit served no purpose underground.

Önce they reemerged above the ground,

snakes developed different ways of moving over varying terrains.

The desert sands of Namibia are searing hot,

but this sidewinder has adapted to the harsh environment.

There are two parts to the sidewinding motion.

First, the snake lifts his head and front half of his body

off the ground and throws them sideways.

Then he repeats the motion with his back half.

Seen from underneath and in slow-motion,

his body makes a continuous series of thrusts.

Very little skin is left in contact

with the hot sand at any time.

This effective technigue allows sidewinders

to cover large distances and climb the world's

largest sand dunes -- 1,000 feet high.

( Wind howling l

Snakes move most elegantiy in water.

The Cape cobra, like many snakes,

flourishes near human beings.

In South Africa, they are often found in ponds and pools,

where they can show off their graceful swimming skills.

Using serpentine motion,

the cobra's body sweeps from side to side.

She slices through the swimming pool unnoticed.

Some species spend their whole lives in the water.

In the Amazon rainforest,

this green anaconda makes his home in river shallows.

He can remain completely submerged for 10 minutes.

Reaching weights of over 500 pounds,

anacondas are the heaviest snakes in the world.

They can grow up to 30 feet in length, 3 feet in girth.

Despite his bulk, the anaconda is an agile swimmer.

Buoyed by the water, he moves in a serpentine pattern.

On land, the anaconda and other big-bodied snakes,

like this puff adder, are too thick for serpentine curves.

Instead, they move in a straight path,

using their belliy scales like bulldozer treads.

Seen from underneath,

the belliy skin contacts the ground in waves,

inching the body forwards, much like a caterpillar.

A snake-mounted camera shows the puff adder's remarkable control.

And smooth pace.

The caterpillar motion helps the adder make a stealthy approach.

Before ambushing its prey.

This 12-foot bushmaster also uses the caterpillar motion

to slink through the South American jungle.

He is the deadliest snake on the continent.

Antidote to his venom is unreliable and hard to come by.

These caterpillar movers have a triangular-shaped body

with a wide, flat belly that hugs the ground.

When he has chosen the position for his ambush,

the bushmaster curls up at the base of a tree,

waiting for prey to pass.

Snakes are masters of the kill.

Victims rarely hear them coming.

Öne of the most feared and respected species

is Africa's black mamba.

Long and slender,

the black mamba is the fastest snake in the world.

İt is also one of the most aggressive.

When disturbed,

this short-tempered creature will often attack.

It can outrace a human in the bush,

striking swiftly and accurately in any direction,

even when moving at top speed.

I£t can launch itself from up to six feet away.

The mamba's venom almost always delivers a speedy death.

In short bursts, black mambas can reach 12 miles per hour,

nearly the speed of a cantering horse.

( Hisses l

(I Neighs l

As it gives chase, the black mamba holds

up to a third of its 12-foot body above the ground.

It likes to face its enemies eye to eye.

( Neighs, snorts l

( Hisses l

With its coffin-shaped head and jet-black mouth,

it's no wonder that Africans call this creature

"the shadow of death."

(I Neighs l

Unlike most snakes, it bites repeatediy.

Just two drops can kill a human within 20 minutes.

Deep in the Amazon River basin,

another notorious killer is on the hunt --

the anaconda.

He doesn't poison his victims.

He kills by constricting.

Unlike the impulsive black mamba,

the anaconda is a methodical and deliberate stalker.

He slips into the shallow water to hunt.

He surveys the surface for prey, then retreats underwater.

( Ducks guacking l

His principal weapon is surprise.

The ducks are unaware of what lies beneath.

( Guacking l

( Guacking l

The anaconda's powerful jaws snatch the duck,

dragging it underwater.

With each outward breath,

the duck is sgueezed just a little bit more.

Suffocation does not take long.

Like all snakes, anacondas unhinge their jaws

to swallow meals several times larger than their heads.

A big anaconda is capable of consuming a crocodile.

Legend has it, they can even kill and swallow a human.

( Singing in native language l

Where humans go, snakes follow.

Human food attracts rodents, which in turn attract snakes.

Farm animals are also a temptation.

In the late afternoon, this African village comes to life.

The cobra moves in unnoticed.

( Clucking l

A chicken would satisfy his hunger.

( Speaking native language l

He cautiousily makes his way deeper into the village.

( Laughter l

( Indistinct conversations l

But his sneak attack has been foiled.

( Dogs barking l

With sharp claws and powerful teeth,

the dogs are formidable enemies.

The snake spreads his hood

to look bigger and more intimidating.

( Dogs barking l

The dogs are undaunted.

But this cobra has a secret weapon.

As a last resort, he spits venom from his fangs

directiy into his enemy's eyes.

The pain is instant.

If not treated, blindness could follow.

The venom must be washed from the dog's eyes right away.

Iİn the ensuing panic, the snake slips away,

hungry but unscathed.

( Dog barks l

Snakes will always avoid humans, if possible.

But if confronted or accidentaliy stumbled upon,

they can be aggressive.

And in defense, they will always strike out.

In Central and South America, the fer-de-lance

kills more people than any other snake --

over 2,000 deaths a year.

Camouflaged in earthen-toned skin,

they lie across walking trails,

where they often catch people off guard.

They are also attracted to bulildings

where the sun has warmed the floor during the day.

( Bird caws l

( Dog barking l

If the mother or child puts a foot down now,

they could be dead within hours.

She has enough venom to kill both of them twice over.

She can sense the presence of warm-blooded creatures.

She knows they are much bigger than her.

( Bird cawing l

She flicks her tail -- a warning.

Rattlesnakes sound a more blatant alarm

when people get too close.

( Rattling l

The older the rattlesnake gets, the longer its rattle.

Each time the snake sheds, a small part of its skin

is left behind on the base of the tail,

hardening into a new band of the rattle.

( Rattling l

Another fierce snake intimidates its enemies

with a loud hiss of exhaled air.

This is how the puff adder got its name.

L Puff adder breathing heavily l

The saw-scaled viper rubs its scales together

in a dramatic warning.

( Scales scraping l

I Motorcycles pass l

Bright colors are a signal to stay away.

They also keep some species hidden from human eyes.

But sometimes the camouflage is too good.

( Bicycle bell rings l

Eyelash pit vipers have been known

to fall asleep in a banana tree,

oniy to wake up in a fruit stand halfway around the world.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Since snakes and humans

are the two most adaptable creatures on the planet,

they increasingliy come into contact.

The African house snake likes the food, shelter,

and comfort that a home can provide.

Humans are often unaware of their silent houseguests.

( Indistinct talking l

( Crickets chirping l

NARRATOR: As night falls and humans go to sleep,

the snake has the house to himself.

( Snake hisses l

He repays his hosts by ridding the home of unwanted pests.

But for the presence of snakes,

humankind would be overwhelmed by rats and mice.

I Sgueaking l

Rodents would wreak havoc on agğricultural land

and raid homes for food.

Soon, the whole world would be infested.

( Rattling l

Though snakes may inspire dread in many people,

the world cannot do without these magnificent creatures.

And from a safe distance, we can truly admire the elegance,

prowess, and mystigue that is the beauty of snakes.