All language subtitles for y06

[narrator] Scavengers.
Nature's clean-up crew.

They will just snap that bone
like it's no problem at all.

Their real preference is
things that are already dead.

[narrator] Some feast
on rotting remains.

Others, fresh droppings.

Their diet isn't always
the same,

but these scroungers
share one thing in common.

They come out hard,
they come out heavy.

It can get nasty and bloody.

[narrator] They fight
at the dinner table.

They will literally
draw blood.

[narrator] Attack for love...

They're making noise
to indicate,

"I'm getting my weapons
ready for you."

[narrator] And wrestle
like their lives depend on it.

And this is where they start
to fight dirty.

[narrator] Each fighter
has a unique battle plan.

And one apex alpha
shows no mercy.

When most predators finish
eating, there's a pile of bones.

When a hyena finishes eating,

there's just a stain
on the grass.

[narrator] Every day, everywhere,

our planet is a battleground.
[elephant trumpeting]

[horse neighing]
[growling]

Turf wars...

food fights...

and mating mayhem rage on

as animals outwit and
outmanoeuvre their own kind...

in Battle of the Alphas.

[roaring]

The Tasmanian devil.

A cuddly-looking little handful.

With a terrible reputation.

[screeching]

Thanks to the Looney Tunes,
Tasmanian devils have this

reputation of being this fierce
tornado of fur and teeth.

The name alone really
sets the stage.

They're insane.

They're chaotic, aggressive,

crazy animals the size
of a Boston Terrier.

[narrator] No taller
than 30 centimetres,

no heavier than 12 kilograms.

They may be small,
but they're the largest

carnivorous marsupials
in the world.

And they've got quite the voice.

[screeching]

When settlers first came
to Tasmania,

they heard these shrieks,
these screams,

these growls coming
from the woods all around them.

[screeching]

They thought
the only thing it must be

is the devil screaming at us
from the wilderness.

[shrieking]

And it turned out to be
this little tiny animal.

But nonetheless, the name stuck.

And so now
they're called devils.

[screeching]

[narrator] When it comes
to hunting,

"lazy devils"
is more like it.

They can kill their own dinner.

But they prefer scavenging.

So they like to eat carrion

and any carcasses
they find laying around.

Their real preference is
things that are already dead.

So if they find road kill
or if they find prey

that something else has taken
down, they'll go for that.

[narrator] They usually go
sniffing for a meal solo.

But often, multiple devils
wind up at the same restaurant.

Drawn in by their keen
sense of smell.

And so what you end up with
is this carcass

and a whole bunch of animals
fighting over it

and biting each other
and being aggressive

and just not sharing very well.

[narrator] To say they're
displeased with their dining
company is a bit of an understatement.

They're downright annoyed.

And they show it
in more ways than one.

One really cool thing
about Tasmanian devils

is that they can
communicate their mood

by changing the colour
on the inside of the ears.

So it's pink, normally.

But when the aggression starts

and the blood starts flowing, it
actually turns purple. And you
can see this when they're
pulling

on the same piece of meat
facing one another.

The ears will change colour
from pink to purple

as the Tasmanian devils
get into this conflict.

[narrator] And once those ears
are purple,

everyone is seeing red.

The fights are dramatic.

They're standing
on their hind legs,

they're using their front legs
to fight with each other,

they've got their mouths open,
they're trying to bite each
- other on the face.
- And maybe the
worst part is that once two of

anyone who's coming by is like,
"I got to get in on this.

I got to be part of this fight."

Because they just seem
to love fighting.

They're so fast.
They're so aggressive.

They can switch opponents
in the blink of a second,

you wouldn't even notice it.
It all happens so quick.

They are absolutely ferocious.

They're clawing, they're using
those super maneuverable bodies

to gain every position imaginable.

They're just trying
to overpower each other.

And this is when they're
at their most rowdy,

at the carcass table.
They're trying to consume

as much as they can.
They're fighting for this food.

They eat everything.
They would literally eat

bones, hair, feathers.

They're not bothered,
they eat it all.

[narrator] Their incredible jaws
allow them to completely clear
their dinner plates.

Their jaws are
at the extreme limit

of what mammalian jaws can do.

Thanks to these
oversized heads,

it means that their jaws
can open 80 degrees wide.

And this gives them
a tremendous biting force

that allows them to break
and bite through bone.

And not only bone, they can
also break through metal,

which is just insane.

And there's even been reports
of them breaking

into animal cages and getting
at the livestock inside.

If you take the force in
the jaw of a Tasmanian devil,

for its body size, it's more
force than a hyena.

And hyenas are famous for
being able to break bones.

[narrator] And they don't just
use those powerful jaws

in food fights.

As you might expect,
with a species

that's constantly fighting
when it comes to food,

when it comes to sex,
they're also fighting.

Males fight each other
for access to females.

Once a male and
a female pair up,

the male is very aggressive,

bites her neck
and drags her away.

That is when they are
most aggressive.

They will bite each other both
before and during copulation.

And when I say "bites",
I mean, really bite.

They will literally draw blood.

But then when they come out
of the burrow after mating,

guess who's got the most bites?
It's the male.

The female really takes it out
on him while they're having sex.

It's not easy being a male
because the number of wounds

you have on your body
is directly correlated

to how much energy
you put into mating.

So the more lucky you were
with the females,

the uglier you are
with scars as a result.

[narrator] The scars
may not be pretty,

but they show that a devil
is well fed...

and doing its part to make more
ferocious little scavengers!

[shrieking]

[***]

[growling]

From a marsupial
that dines on carcasses

to an insect that
prefers excrement...

The male dung beetle
has one mission in life:

find and secure
a fresh ball of poop.

It's a mission he's prepared
to fight for.

For dung beetles,
it's all about the excrement.

It needs to be nice
and recently laid.

Nice and wet
because it needs to suck out

those valuable nutrients.

Dung beetles are actually
somewhat picky

about the kind of poo
that they choose.

It has to be fresh,
so not just any poo will do.

To get to all that good,
juicy dung,

they have to get there quickly.

There's even been records
showing that,

when an elephant
has dropped its poo,

within about 15 minutes,
there's 4000 individual

dung beetles swarming around,

all taking their little
chunks of poo.

[narrator] There may be a crowd
of scavengers at a fresh site,

but they work alone.

Dwellers stay and eat
inside the pile.

Tunnellers bury their dung
directly underneath it.

And these guys, rollers,
they roll balls of dung away.

Once a dung beetle has found
a nice piece of lovely,

fresh, juicy dung.
- What he'll start to do

is break chunks off of it
and sculpt them into, well,
little dung balls.

And the ultimate goal is to woo
the affections of a female.

If the female is impressed,
she might even ride

on top of it,
kind of like a taxi.

While they ride it up
to 200 metres away.

For an animal
that's very small,

200 metres
is quite a distance.

And this is all whilst going
backwards and upside down.

She can use it to feed
on herself,

and she can also lay
her eggs inside it.

[narrator] And when
those eggs hatch,

there's a meal ready to go.

To me and you, a ball of dung
doesn't sound like very much.
But to them, you know, it's
their entire life.

[narrator] So prime poo is
to be prized and fought for.

[***]

Not all male dung beetles
create dung balls of their own.

There's a whole group
called "stealers"

that just wait around
for the hardworking males

to roll their dung balls.

This other guy's just
sitting on the sideline

waiting for him to finish,
and then he's going

to come in and steal it.

That's a pretty crappy
thing to do.

And this is where they start to
fight dirty. [narrator] Being
number one with number twos

makes you a target.

They have two front limbs
that are shaped to help them

dig and sculpt their dung balls.

They're quite advantageous
during a fight.

[narrator] So is the shape
of their head...

Its head is shaped
just like a trowel.

Essentially a built-in
pooper-scooper.

Most males have this raised,
really pronounced,

exaggerated brow that they can
use to flip over an opponent.

The object is to get
your head and your thorax

underneath your opponent
to be able to flip them

right off the dung ball.
- Because this is a very

vulnerable position
for him to be in,

his wings are going
to be exposed,

his legs are going
to be flailing about.

[narrator] Giving
the original owner

time to roll his ball away.

Dung beetles may be small.

Even the largest of the species

is under six-and-a-half
centimetres.

But they are mighty.
- Dung beetles are very strong.

They can roll balls
that are up to 50 times
their body weight.

[narrator] This Herculean beast
is the ultimate poop powerhouse.

But when your opponent is just
as strong, that's no help.

To prevent a smash and grab,

ball rollers need
the fastest escape route.

The best way to get out
of there quickly

is in a straight line.

[narrator] But how exactly does
a tiny beetle, rolling a giant
ball, stay in a straight line?

When they want to make a quick
getaway, they will stop,

they will climb on top of that
ball and start spinning around.

Now, he's not busting out
some moves.

What he's doing
is orienting himself

with the polarized light
coming from the sun

and using that to tell him
which direction to travel in.

[narrator] Their
incredible eyes process
that polarized light,

and when the sun goes down,
they don't quit.

Dung beetles
are the only known insect

using polarized light from
the moon to orient themselves.

And if there's no moon
that particular night,

then it gets
even more remarkable

because they can use the light
from the Milky Way, the galaxy.

And although this light
is only about one-millionth
the strength of sunlight,

it still allows them to walk
in that perfectly straight line.

It's another tool in their
arsenal for a quick getaway.

[narrator] But day or night,

sometimes a fast escape
isn't fast enough.

Flipped rivals will violently
squirm around,

trying to get back
on their feet to attack again.

Fighting tactics
are all about a flip.

Regardless of if
you've rolled the ball

or if you're trying
to steal the ball.

Eventually, either
the original creator

will keep possession of the ball

and get where
he needs to go, or...

The stealer manages to somehow
keep hold of the ball,

and he just takes it off
in his own direction,

to his own burrow,
and uses it for his own eggs.

[narrator] For dung beetles,
it's always a case

of waste not, want not.

When it comes to dung, they
really are the King of the Heap.

[screeching]

[growling]

There are scavengers
that brawl over food.

And others who put up
a fierce fight for love.

[squealing]

Wild boar are the fiercer,

wilder cousin of
our domesticated pigs.

They're a little bit leaner.

They have coarse hair
all over their body.

They are very fierce.

And I would much
rather encounter a wild bear

than a wild boar.
That's how scary they are.

[narrator] These formidable scavengers

live on every continent
except Antarctica.

Wild boar are so good
at making a living anywhere

in the world because they can
eat literally anything.

They'll eat berries.
They'll eat mushrooms, truffles,

root vegetables,
lizards, rodents, and roadkill.

That's the reason why
I'm afraid of them

because I know if they take me
down, they'll likely eat me.

Because boars are such
adaptable scavengers

and because they're so smart

and because they reproduce
so quickly, they've been able

to take over huge areas
that they didn't live in before.

[narrator] Females can give
birth to 10 piglets at a time

and have two litters per year.

So they're invasive in several
parts of North America,

where they're endangering whole
ecosystems and just thriving.

[narrator] They live in groups
called "sounders"

with up to 20 animals.

Females and their young will
stay in the sounders for life,

but young males will head off
to form small "bachelor groups".

Life in the bachelor pad
is harmonious,

until it's time
to find a mate.

Then it's every guy
for himself.

And buddy-bachelors
can become arch rivals.

They're after the exact same,

very limited precious resource:
sexually receptive females.

When male boars
are about to fight,

they just show off their size.

And there are a whole bunch of
different ways to do that. One
is to just have their hair stand up,

so it's a little bit bigger.
They have a big crest of fur

on the back,
that comes right up.

They stand up as high
as they can on their legs.

And they'll even arc their back
to put their sort of body

into almost a C-shape,
so they look as absolutely
huge as possible.

And this is all a way to
communicate to the other male,

"You don't want to fight
with me. I'm big.

I'm going to beat you up."

There's a lot of ceremony

that leads up to
the actual fisticuffs.

They're parading around
and swagging around

and showing off
and raising up those hairs.

And if that hasn't scared
an opponent off,

then it's time to face off.

[narrator] They move in,
shoulder to shoulder.

If one boar can overpower
the other by pushing,

there's no need
for a violent fight.

It's something they start
practicing young.

But true advantage
comes with age.

So when you see two big
male boars come at it,

for the most part, your money is
usually on the older of the two.

And that's because
they have experience.

They have knowledge.

[narrator] This battle
is an even match.

Neither piggy is a pushover,

and they're foaming
at the mouth for a good scrap.

All that adrenaline
is bopping in their body,
it's pumping them up.

So they're foaming
at the mouth,

like clashing their teeth, like
taking a knife and a forkand
they're like sharpening it up.

They're literally making noise
to indicate to their opponent,

"I'm getting my weapons
ready for you."

[narrator] All pumped up,
they'll slam their big heads

into their rival's shoulders,
slashing with their tusks.

They're trying to get
their tusk into the skin
of their opponent.

So they're trying
to jab into them,

and rip up and out
at the same time.

And what that is, is basically

like the equivalent
of a sword slash.

And if they do the move
just right,

they're going to be able
to slice the opponent

until they're bleeding
like crazy.

[narrator] It's a nasty move,
but they've got a unique form

of protection
to soften the blow.

Before each mating season,
the males develop

a kind of armour to protect
their vital organs
during fights.

A coating of thick tissue
from the base of the neck
to the rump.

It's literally called
the "shield" that gets thicker

during the breeding season.

That basically works
like a bulletproof vest.

And as they get slashed
and hit and pushed and even cut,

that shield protects
the underlying tissues.

And it gets thicker
over the years.

And as they win
more and more fights,

it just becomes more resilient
against the next one.

[narrator] Thanks
to the shield,

the battles are rarely deadly.

But they are vicious
and exhausting.

Boar are smart and
they're stubborn.

And so, the fight goes on
for a long time.

They won't stop until
this thing gets figured out.

I would say that
the wild boar

are like the MMA fighters
of the animal kingdom.

That's because they come out
hard, they come out heavy,

but they'll also take a break.

Like, literally in fights,

you'll see them rest
for a moment.

And once they recoup
some energy and strength,

they're at it again,
pushing and flexing

and trying to rip at each other.

[narrator] Eventually, one
opponent squeals and retreats.

The victor wins the duel, but
he too is often severely mauled.

Their fights can get really
nasty and bloody.

They can really cause a lot
of damage to one another.

[narrator] Success
comes at a cost.

But it's worth the price.

These scavengers may be relaxed
when it comes to a meal...

But for a lady, they pull out
all the stops.

[squealing]

All species fight
their own kind.

But for the top
of every food chain,

there is no contest.

This is an apex alpha.

Africa's sub-Sahara...

Home to some of the most famed
apex alphas on the planet.

Lions, leopards, cheetahs.

And Hyenas.

So this is the perfect
myth-busting opportunity.

Hyenas, they are not
just scavengers,

they are one of the most capable
apex predators.

[shrieking]

A hyena on its own
is a formidable hunter.

It can do quite well.
But when a group of hyenas
comes together,

that's when they can do
serious damage.

Because a group of hyenas
is basically unstoppable.

They can move into
a herd of animals

and just take what they want.

Hyenas do not have
any natural predators.

They only have
natural competitors.

Perhaps one of
the most surprising
is the African lions,

who really show a lot of,
I'll say, reluctant reverence

for these competitors.
[laughing]

[narrator] Occasionally,
they target the same meal.

And they're constantly clashing
over a fresh kill.

And the lions will often just
back off and let them have it.

Because they know really
the damage that a hyena
can inflict on them.

You'll also see, even when
it's not just with a kill,

hyenas will often go
and antagonize lone lions.

And this is because
it's kind of like

this ongoing rivalry
between hyenas and lions.

[narrator] The spotted hyena
is the largest

of the four hyena species,

tipping the scale at up to
70 kilograms.

It's well-known for its almost
maniacal giggle.

But these apex alphas
are not to be laughed at.

Everybody thinks
they're just scavengers

and they do scavenge a bit.
But for the most part,

they are absolutely
alpha hunters.

[narrator] And it's the females

that do the majority
of the hunting.

They are in charge.

There is a social
dominance hierarchy

and the females
are above the males.

In fact, even a newborn female

outranks adult males
in that hierarchy.

Part of the reason females
have success over males

in the hyena world
is that they work as a team.

Males tend to disperse
and become solo

early on in their lives,
whereas the females know
how to work together.

And so, even though a male
and a female might have
similar weaponry,

the female is always
going to dominate

because she has her girls
to back her up.

[narrator] They live in clans
of up to 80 individuals.

And hunt in smaller,
tactical packs.

They're generalists,
which means that they can
hunt anything, really.

[narrator] Birds...

Gazelle...

Zebra...

Nothing is off the table.

If they get hungry
and they see something

that's the most abundant,
then they can go after that.

[narrator] But,
if they want a big meal,

success depends on teamwork.

Unlike some apex predators,
that kind of, you know,

just do the stalking thing
or maybe do an ambush thing,

hyenas will do some
shopping first, I'll say.

[laughing]
Hyenas will go into a herd

and watch as
the animals disperse.

They'll watch the behaviour
and then they'll target.

They're looking to see who
looks weak, who looks young,

who's limping,
who am I going to pick?

And once they turn their
attention to that individual,
they're deadly.

That's why they're
so successful is because

they make sure the odds
are in their favour.

[narrator] Once a target
has been identified,

it's time for phase two
of the plan.

From there,
it's running down their prey

really until it runs out
of energy.

Hyenas are endurance hunters.

If a lion doesn't
catch its prey

in the first couple of seconds,
the prey gets away.

Hyenas work
the other way around.

They don't try to catch it
in the first couple of seconds.

They just run after it
and they keep running.

[narrator] Something their
bodies are well adapted for.

They have this really
large heart relative
to their body size.

So that ensures
that they keep their blood
pumping no matter what.

As far as they need to run,
that's what they're going to do.

[narrator] Hyenas can chase
their potential dinner

for up to five kilometres.

Once they've worn down their
prey sufficiently enough,

things will get
a little bit messy

when it comes to the hyenas
making their kill.

[narrator] Messy and loud.

People call them
laughing hyenas,

but they're not
really laughing.

They're communicating
with each other

to find out who gets to feed,

who gets to go in what order,
and those vocalizations help
them work all that stuff out.

And you'll see them
kind of taking turns

and making jabs at the animal,

biting ankles,
biting its bottom.

Hyenas aren't necessarily
concerned with, you know,

going straight for the jugular
and making that quick kill.

They're more concerned
with running it down

until it really
doesn't have any will

or energy to fight anymore.

And then you'll start seeing
them ripping it apart.

It's a terrible way to die.

But honestly, they don't have
necessarily the height

or really even the jumping power

to get at the jugular
like a big cat might.

They really have to work
with what they have.

[narrator] And a strong jaw
is one of their biggest assets.

The hyena's bite
is worse than its bark,
by a long shot.

They are really
one of the only known mammals

to just chew through
and digest bone.

That's really how intense
their bite force is.

They will just snap that bone
like it's no problem at all.

And the reason
it has that power

is because of the shape
of its skull.

There's this huge like, shark
fin down the middle of the skull
called the sagittal crest.

And that's where all
the muscles of the jaw attach.

And so because it's got
this prominent crest,

it's got much more attachment
surface for those muscles,

and that's how it produces
incredible forces.

[narrator] After the bone
is crushed and swallowed,

their highly-adapted
digestive system takes over.

It's hard for humans
to kind of fathom,

like when these species
eat crazy things like
straight-up bone.

But the reason that
they're able to do that

is because they have much
stronger acids

and higher concentrations
of acids in their stomachs
than we do.

So they can really break
these things down

much more efficiently
than we can.

When most predators finish
eating, there's a pile of bones.

When a hyena finishes eating,

there's just a stain
on the grass.

You can tell
they're apex predators

because they can do things that
no other predator can do. And
even when they've left and
there's nothing remaining except

you can tell they've been there
because their poop is white

from the calcium in those bones.

[narrator] Hyenas are often
portrayed as scavengers

and conniving thieves that
plunder hard-earned meals.

But that's a bad rap
they can laugh off.

These apex alphas are also
skilled pack hunters.

Perfectly adapted for life at
the top of the food chain.

[growling]

In battle, the best fighters
aren't always hunters...

Scavengers can be devilish,
they can roll with the punches.

And one thing is for certain,

their contests are
never "boaring".