All language subtitles for Gladiators 01

(ELEPHANTS HONK)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

NARRATOR: The great Savannah
of Southern Africa.

(EAGLE CAWS)

For eight months of the year,

these drying grasslands
see no rain.

Despite the burning heat,

one stubborn waterhole
refuses to yield.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

It becomes an irresistible draw
for animals of all kinds.

An oasis

not just in water,

but in the termite mounds,

trees and scrub that surround it.

In the dry season's final weeks,

the animals will
go to any lengths to reach it.

It becomes an arena
where great rivals do battle.

(SNAKE HISSES)

These animal gladiators
use guile, strength, and strategy

to compete for its riches.

The ultimate prize...

survival.

(CRICKETS CHIRP)

At this waterhole,

one mighty beast is already
staking her claim.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(ANIMALS CAWS)

Lioness.

Her vast home range extends across
nearly 100 square kilometres...

...and the waterhole is
the jewel in her territory's crown.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The water itself
isn't the main attraction.

It's the animals that come here.

Most keep their distance...

...until the thirst
is overwhelming.

But one opponent
is brave enough to take her on.

Cape Buffalo.

This is his patch too.

He never strays more than
a day's walk from water.

And he's not alone.

Buffaloes are some
of the most aggressive

and dangerous animals in Africa.

They have excellent memory
and are known to carry grudges,

remembering their opponents
by sight years after an attack.

They've even been known
to charge sleeping lions

to kill the cubs,

snuffing out any future threat.

One buffalo has become
separated from the herd,

and would make a substantial meal
for the pride.

To take him down,

Lioness must remain hidden
as long as possible.

Her plan, knock him off balance,

then take him out with an incisive
bite to the windpipe.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC RISES)

First strike, a tap tackle.

Lower risk than leaping
on his haunches.

Lioness is seven times lighter
than Buffalo,

but she strikes with twice the force
of a heavy-weight boxer.

Catch him sweetly

and his own body weight
will bring him down.

The element of surprise is lost.

Plan B... Wait for backup.

Her sister joins the fray.

She can strike from the other side.

A perfectly timed leap
will pull him off balance.

(LION ROARS)

But Buffalo is too quick.

His horn catches her
with a painful blow.

Owning the best territory
is no guarantee of success.

The victor has won the right
to drink his fill.

Lions suffer defeat in eight out
of ten battles with buffaloes.

But Lioness is lucky.

(LION ROARS)

Her wounds will heal.

She'll live to fight another day
and keep her family alive.

(LION BELLOWS)

Her cubs, just a few weeks old,

will rely on her entirely
for the next two years at least.

But if she doesn't make a kill
before the waterhole dries up,

her milk will run dry.

(ANIMALS SQUAWK IN THE DISTANCE)

(BIRDS CAW)

Among the trees and grasses
on the outskirts of the waterhole,

there are other animals
seeking opportunity.

Honey Badger is a fearless loner...

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

...here to claim his share
of the waterhole's riches.

And with a big brain,

he's compact, resourceful,

and has a notoriously high threshold
for pain.

Needle-sharp acacia thorns
just brush off him...

...deflected by
his loose-fitting skin,

thicker than a buffalo's hide.

His goal...

a hydrating drink of honey.

(BEES BUZZ)

The bees don't bother him,

he has a very special trick
to keep them at bay.

He omits a noxious odour,
like a skunk.

The stink paralyses the bees,

giving him free passage
to the treasure in their nest.

Refreshed and recharged,

Honey Badger is well set to take on
any challenges that get in his way.

As the dry season advances,

the more exposed grasslands
near the waterhole

are pounded
by soaring temperatures.

One animal has found
a clever solution

to dealing with the heat.

Air conditioning.

Termite mounds
are feats of engineering...

...some topping two-storeys tall.

As the sun moves across them,

the surfaces warm up
and then cool down.

The cycling temperature generates
a consistent, cooling breeze,

through a sophisticated network
of tunnels and galleries.

The interior remains
cool and damp, all year round.

By controlling their environment,

the termites are booming.

Half a million workers
never sleep.

They're constantly on the go.

They're nature's recyclers,
turning dead wood into food.

Their burrowing behaviour
enriches and aerates the soil,

benefiting the whole area.

Termites may be champions
of the environment...

but nearly everyone
wants to eat them.

So, to deter invaders,

one in ten termites are soldiers.

Their only job is to defend...

...at all costs.

Soldier is bigger and stronger
than his worker comrades,

and he's built for the fight.

He has an enlarged helmet-like head

and crushing jaws
so massive he can't eat for himself

and has to be fed by workers.

He's a selfless, walking weapon.

He's so dedicated that,
if a hole opens up in the mound,

he'll even try to plug it
with his head.

Ready, if necessary,

to make the ultimate sacrifice

to save his family.

This extreme dedication
is about to be put to task.

Termite's arch-foe is mobilizing.

Matabele Ant.

Named after a fierce warrior tribe

Matabele is a monster.

A full two centimetres
from jaws to sting.

She's on a scouting mission
to find food.

Her colony's diet is very limited.

They only eat termites.

And in the dry season heat,

juicy termites
provide vital moisture.

Matabele is a skilled navigator.

She uses the position of the sun
to guide her path.

And she'll travel a marathon
100 meters from home.

Matabele's mission
is a race against time.

If the sun gets too high,

she won't be able to use it
to find her way.

She'll be stranded.

Honey badger can't map read
with the sun.

He just follows his nose.

His acute sense of smell
is better than a bloodhound's.

And he's picked up on
the scent of something tasty.

Scorpion.

Her kind are older than
the dinosaurs.

She may be much smaller
than he is...

...but she's well equipped
to defend herself.

Her prehistoric stinger

has been nearly perfectly adapted

over hundreds of millions of years.

And it
delivers maximum pain in a flash.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

Scorpion's split-second tail strike
triggers the hypodermic stinger.

It penetrates deep.

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

But Badger
can handle the pain.

He's ready to go again.

A single bite will do it.

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

Scorpion's sting is so potent.

The deadly toxins
quickly hone in

on Honey Badger's
nervous system and heart.

The effect would
put a human in hospital.

Honey Badger isn't deterred,

but Scorpion's jabs
keep him at bay.

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

But even a tough nut like him
has his limits.

In the air surrounding
the termite mound...

...Matabele Ant can smell her quarry.

Termite can sense her approach.

He's too small to take her on
on his own.

Without reinforcements,
this will be a fight to the death.

And if Matabele
escapes back to her colony...

she'll bring an army.

Termite's only chance is to kill
her with a single, clean bite.

His monster jaws are laced with
a poison to make her bleed out.

Matabele strikes first,

but her bites are ineffective.

Termite's body
is armour-plated.

...reinforced with chitin,

an insect's version of Kevlar.

Matabele changes tack.

A powerful shot of venom
to the face.

Ten of these stings
will paralyze a human arm.

For Termite, a single dose
will prove fatal.

In Termite's dying moments,

he has one last task to perform.

With a series
of coded vibrations

and an airborne scent,

he sounds the alarm.

An ant army is surely coming.

Matabele
is already halfway home.

She leaves a breadcrumb trail
of invisible pheromones

for others to follow.

In under a minute,

she relays the details of her find

via the delicate dance
of her antennae.

In less than five minutes,

the ant army is mobilized.

Four hundred ants
stream towards the termites.

But the termite defence force
is waiting.

Hundreds of soldier
are ready to meet them.

But the soldiers aren't here
to defeat the ants.

They're a sacrifice.

One by one,

the soldiers succumb
to the invaders...

until there are so many
soldier bodies...

...the ants are overwhelmed.

They call in the retreat.

They have just what they need.

Each ant carries with it
up to seven soldier corpses.

Matabele has done her job,

providing food to secure
the survival of her colony.

And the soldier termites
have done theirs.

Because, inside their mound,

hundreds of thousands of workers
are safe.

At the waterhole,

Lioness and her pride
are playing a waiting game.

Sooner or later, thirsty animals
will risk taking a drink.

Lioness can keep herself hydrated.

But to maintain her milk,

she'll have to feed.

And in this arena,

things can change in an instant.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

A new arrival is here.

The world's largest land mammal...

African Elephant.

This super-herd
of more than 200 elephants

has been guided here
by their matriarch leader.

The female-dominated group
is made up of her sisters,

nieces,

aunts, and daughters...

...and a handful
of her younger male relatives.

The matriarch has found
the waterhole

using a memory map
passed down through generations.

She's led them 200 kilometres
to find it...

...just as she did last year.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

After their long journey...

the herd is ready to drink big.

(BIRD CAWS)

Just one elephant
swallows 200 litres of water

in under five minutes.

There are 200 in the super-herd,

all of them drinking their fill.

It's not good news
for the lions.

If the elephants
keep drinking at this rate,

the already evaporating waterhole
could dry up completely.

And the lions' prey would leave.

But there could be
a more immediate opportunity.

This young calf
is only ten months old.

He's immature, inquisitive,

and he's strayed from the herd.

(BABY ELEPHANT SQUEAKS)

(MOTHER ELEPHANT GROWLS)

Lioness's half-hearted attack
is ill-advised.

There's no way through
this 50-tonne barrier.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

As long as they stay together,

the super-herd's strength in numbers

is their most powerful defence.

(BIRDS CHIRP)

The elephants bed in
at the waterhole for days.

They spend their time resting...

...and consolidating
their community ties.

For the younger members of the herd,

it's an opportunity to take
their first tentative steps

towards adulthood.

Young bulls test their strength

and reassert their ranking.

(ELEPHANTS BELLOW)

When they're old enough,
and confident enough,

they'll strike out
on their own...

...to live a solitary life

roaming the Savannah
for food and mates.

One bull is getting restless.

At 13 years old,
he's not yet fully grown...

...but nearly old enough
to strike out on his own.

He dominates his peers
and is growing in confidence.

He's keen to prove his mettle
away from the herd.

And that hasn't gone unnoticed.

The elephants' arrival has changed
the dynamic of the waterhole.

With the lions distracted,

other animals have a chance
to sneak in for a drink.

Along the treeline,

one creature is staying hidden
from the commotion.

The mistress of disguise.

Puff Adder.

Her chevron markings blend seamlessly
with her surroundings.

Adder is constantly
on her guard.

She listens to faint vibrations
in the ground

...and tastes the air
for chemical clues.

Honey Badger's pungent odour
is unmistakable.

He's a dangerous foe,

blocking her route to the water.

Puff Adder's camouflage
works best when she's still.

And she has
the ability to slow her metabolism

into a kind of stasis.

Honey Badger is well equipped
to take her on.

His high pain threshold

means he's one of
the only mammals in Africa

that would dare to try.

With his excellent
sense of smell,

he should have picked up
that she's nearby.

But Puff Adder
is playing her trump card.

She can also mask her scent...

...with a chemical
cloak of invisibility.

She's completely safe.

Unless she moves.

But like everybody here,

Puff Adder is need of a drink.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Spotted.

Unless Puff Adder
can scare him away...

...she'll have to fight.

She sucks in so much air

her single left lung fills
the entire length of her body.

By exhaling with force,
her warning is unmistakable.

(SNAKE HISSES)

It's no bluff.

Puff Adder is ten times more venomous
than Scorpion.

(SNAKE HISSES)

(SNAKE HISSES)

She strikes.

(SNAKE HISSES)

But she doesn't make contact.

Another launch

in a quarter-second.

Badger can't react so fast.

Her long fangs
unfurl like a switchblade.

This time, she connects.

The venom is painful.

(CHITTERS IN PAIN)

Badger may be tough,

but the toxins overwhelm him.

Now Adder can finish her journey

to a pool
on the fringes of the grass.

Sweet relief.

But instinct tells her not to linger.

Honey Badger's body
can work miracles.

Powerful antibodies in his blood

break down the venom

and neutralize
its toxic effects.

Adder is long gone.

He'll have another go next time.

The dry season
is in its final days.

The waterhole is
just an expanse of thick mud.

And the elephants are on the move

as they leave in search of food.

It's good news for Lioness.

The odds are back in her favour.

The young bull,
itching to strike out on his own,

has become increasingly
detached from the herd.

And with most of the others
now some distance away...

...he's isolated.

Lions are the only animals
powerful enough to hunt elephants.

It's a rare behaviour

that's only been mastered
by a few select prides.

An older elephant
might know of the danger.

But this young bull
is inexperienced.

This is the moment
Lioness has been waiting for.

She has all her sisterhood
to help,

ready to work as a team
to a well-executed plan.

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)

Bull Elephant weighs six tonnes...

...more than the whole pride
put together.

He's deceptively agile.

But elephants easily tire.

With 18 hooked claws,

as strong as carbon fibre,

Lioness locks on.

The others position their bodies
to perfection.

He's off-balance.

But the fight's not over.

Lioness has no choice
but to let him go.

The wily teamwork of the pride...

...is no match for
the sheer might of the elephant herd.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(RAIN POURS)

With the arrival of the rains,

the animals once again
spread out across the Savannah.

No longer drawn
to the waterhole,

the area empties.

The elephants have resumed
their perennial migration

in search of food.

They've successfully avoided
succumbing to the lions.

But for one of the elders...

...this is
the natural end of the road.

Elephants live up to 70.

But when their teeth wear down,

they lose the ability to eat...

...and gradually fade away
from starvation.

For all her efforts in the hunt...

...Lioness has ridden her luck.

The elephant carcass
will feed the pride for days.

With her family's
immediate future safe,

Lioness can continue

to stamp her authority
on her territory...

...and live to fight another day.