Super/Natural (2022) s01e03 Episode Script

Enter a world just beyond your perception.
A world of extraordinary animals,
with hidden powers, and super senses.
If you think you know nature
think again.
It's the punch you don't see coming
that hits the hardest.
Coral reefs are swimming
with so many predators.
Sometimes, it pays
to hide in plain sight.
Blending into the background
comes naturally
to a stonefish.
Good looks
not so much.
No matter,
when things get ugly
on a coral reef,
skill beats beauty every time,
and the deceptive stonefish
has many hidden talents.
Thirteen spines on its dorsal fin,
loaded with the most deadly venom
of any fish,
protect it from attack.
But still,
it chooses to hide.
Burying itself into the sand,
in a disappearing act so effective,
it's scary.
The stonefish is almost impossible
to spot,
and to avoid.
One of the fastest moves
in the animal kingdom,
it creates an inescapable suction field,
gone
in 16 milliseconds.
Whether predator or prey,
when life hangs in the balance,
only the most potent superpowers
will save the day.
The hothouse conditions
of the Costa Rican rainforest,
fuel an intense evolutionary arms race
between hunter
and hunted.
As prey get better at escaping,
predators get ever more deadly.
Motmots have a taste for reptiles.
These visual hunters
scan for prey
with acute vision,
highly attuned to movement.
So this anole lizard
better tread carefully.
Whenever she freezes,
the motmot can't see her,
but she can see him.
Her sight has special properties, too.
Side-oriented eyes
give almost a 360 degree surveillance,
and they're sensitive
to the ultraviolet spectrum,
intensifying the contrast and color
of the motmot's plumage.
But she can't stand still forever.
She needs to eat, too.
So when the motmot looks away,
the lizard moves
just a little.
Nothing to see here.
It's like they're playing red light,
green light,
only this is no game.
One wrong step
could be fatal.
As the motmot closes in,
the lizard moves just out of range.
But now, there's nowhere left to run.
The motmot is a sit-and-wait predator.
Surely, there's only so long
that a lizard can stay underwater.
But this is clearly no ordinary lizard.
She has an unbelievable escape strategy
so recently discovered,
that it's never been filmed before now.
When submerged,
tiny bubbles
trapped between water-repellent scales
join up
and rise towards her head.
A secret scuba system,
allowing her to breathe
underwater.
This ingenious lizard can stay submerged
for over 18 minutes.
Long enough for even
the most patient motmot
to concede defeat.
And for the little lizard
to emerge victorious.
Most hunts aren't successful.
Even the most superpowered predators
struggle to make a catch.
Hyper carnivores have a diet
of 70% meat.
This one is the largest to walk the Earth.
And one of the very few animals
known to actively hunt humans.
But a polar bear's preferred prey
is seal.
To survive a life below zero,
she must eat more than 50 a year.
But catching them is tough,
even for such a specialized seal stalker.
Orienting tail to the wind,
a seal uses its sense of smell
to detect predators approaching
from behind
while keeping a lookout for any attack
from the front.
UV intensifying eyesight
helps see through
the bear's snow white disguise,
and a smart seal always keeps
an emergency exit close by.
Out here, it takes more
than brute strength to make a kill.
With fewer than two seals
every square mile,
tracking them down
is a challenge.
And now there's less sea ice
due to climate change.
Her search for food is even harder.
Thankfully, she has
an extraordinary super-sense on her side.
Her sense of smell,
the most powerful nose
in the animal kingdom.
She can even sniff out
a seal under the ice.
From over a mile away,
she picks up a scent carried on the wind.
Locked onto her target,
approaching from downwind,
she closes in.
Securing enough food just
to stay alive is hard enough.
Providing for a growing family,
even harder.
Only a third of cubs
reach their second year.
Raising the next generation of hunters
can be a relentless pursuit,
especially in extreme environments.
The eat-or-be-eaten world
of the Arizona desert.
This roadrunner dad
is run ragged,
providing food for three ravenous chicks.
One meal delivered,
and he's on to the next.
Racing around at 25 miles an hour,
hunting pretty much anything
he can get his beak on.
But each time Dad leaves,
the nest is exposed.
Seventy percent of chicks
get taken by predators.
A hognose snake detects scent molecules
on each tip of its forked tongue
sensing in stereo to determine
the exact direction of its prey.
Another meal secured,
Dad heads home
just in time.
With lightning reactions,
and a sharp two-inch beak
roadrunners are known
as "snake killers" for good reason.
Dad just turned danger
into dinner.
But now, this snake
doesn't smell so appetizing.
Roadrunners aren't picky eaters,
but when it comes to rotten flesh,
it's a pass.
At least his chicks are safe.
Or are they?
A zombie resurrection,
or just playing dead to save his skin?
The hognose snake can even emit a smell
like decomposing carrion,
faking his own death,
so he can live to die another day.
Some defense strategies
are so extraordinary,
they're phenomenal.
A murmuration of starlings,
moving as one mesmerizing super organism.
Exactly how and why they make
these mind-blowing patterns in the sky
has remained a mystery.
But recent discoveries reveal
that the motivation behind such beauty,
is destruction.
Local peregrine falcons know
that during the European winter,
starlings flock in their millions.
And in the open countryside,
they're vulnerable to attack.
So, at dusk,
they gather
for safety in numbers.
Flocking like this, helps them hide
in the crowd,
but it makes a tempting target.
Flying low to avoid detection,
the Peregrine makes its approach.
Then it climbs
high above the flock,
turns
and dives.
With near aerodynamic perfection,
it plummets at 250 miles an hour
making it the fastest animal
on the planet.
Starlings barely reach 50 miles an hour,
but they have a more subtle secret weapon.
A single magical number,
each bird tracks
its six closest neighbors.
Precision matching distance and speed.
As this rule of six multiplies
across the flock,
it creates a dazzling display.
Each twist and turn ripples
through the formation
at 65 feet per second.
Confusing to the eye, hard to predict,
almost impossible to penetrate.
The falcon struggles
to pick off an individual.
In horizontal flight,
its speed advantage is vastly diminished.
Starlings process visual cues
much quicker than humans
and counter a peregrine's agility
with their own aerobatics.
And thanks to incredible synchronicity,
even the planet's fastest predator
is outmaneuvered.
Eighty percent of the time,
the peregrine is unsuccessful.
All it can do is watch this spectacular
show of strength in numbers.
Ingenious examples
of how to avoid attack
can be found hiding everywhere,
even in an English country garden.
Look a little closer,
because plants have predators, too.
A death's-head Hawkmoth's favorite food
is nectar,
but her offspring emerge
as voracious tomato plant killers.
In just three weeks,
these very hungry caterpillars
grow 16 times bigger.
Now, finger length,
and armed with scissor-like mandibles,
one caterpillar can devour
an entire plant.
An army of them will decimate
the whole crop.
But tomato plants
have an invisible defense.
Injured leaves release
an airborne distress call.
Volatile chemicals
that warn neighboring plants
to prepare for war.
This call to arms rallies nearby leaves
to produce powerful toxins,
rendering them inedible.
And because these caterpillars
only feed on plants in the tomato family,
they begin to starve.
A recent discovery reveals this tale
has a sinister twist.
With nothing left to eat
they eat
each other.
Cannibal caterpillars,
a gruesome method of pest control.
When the killer tomatoes strike back.
In nature, who's most deadly
is all a matter of perspective.
Beneath a European Meadow
an Etruscan shrew
just waking,
but it's no slow start.
Her pulse rockets
to over a thousand beats per minute.
Time to get up, get out, and get hunting.
With the fastest metabolism
of any mammal,
this frenzied killer must consume
six times her body weight a day,
or she'll starve.
It's finding prey that's the trick.
Those big ears actually
don't hear so well,
and with pin-sized eyes,
she's almost hunting blind.
Thankfully, another sense
is superpowered.
Shrews feel their world with whiskers.
A quarter of the length of her body,
she uses them to scan her surroundings.
Her sense of touch is so acute,
the slightest vibration
triggers instant attack.
25 milliseconds,
12 times faster
than the blink of an eye.
And a little larva is just for starters,
as her killing spree begins.
Only the size of an almond,
she's the smallest mammal on Earth.
But not much is out of her reach.
Even a locust twice her size is fair game.
Feeding frenzy over,
it's time to retire
and recharge.
Just a quick seven-minute power nap
and this voracious little terror
is at large again.
Above the same European meadows,
another tiny predator is also on the hunt.
A mouse-eared bat
has such sensitive hearing,
it can eavesdrop on insects
from 130 feet away
to determine the direction, size,
and shape of a target.
When the bat is patrolling,
any insect that moves or makes a sound
is flirting with death.
But a conehead bush cricket
has other things on his tiny mind.
On Summer evenings,
the meadow is full of males,
all singing as loud as they can
to attract a mate.
And this male is determined
to be heard above the competition.
Bush crickets hear pretty well, too,
with ears on their legs.
So he knows the bat is above,
but still, he won't be silenced,
he blasts out his song as loud
as a power drill.
When the bat closes in,
rather than shut up, he cranks it up.
It sounds like the desire
to mate could be the death
of this little bush cricket.
But an astonishing new discovery
reveals his powers of attraction
also have the power to repel.
He sings so loudly,
it's painful to the bat's sensitive ears.
The bush cricket turns
the bat's superpower into a weakness,
creating a 3-foot, no-fly zone
all around him.
And as he's not the only one
singing for a mate,
the whole meadow is protected
by a deafening blanket of sound.
Turns out what drives bats away,
drives female coneheads wild.
The noisier, the better.
Often the best defense
is the best offense.
In the Caribbean, it helps one animal
snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Nightfall,
a dangerous time
to be a small fish on a big reef.
Only one inch long, this cardinal fish
needs to avoid becoming next
on the lion fish menu.
But he must to catch dinner, too.
Huge light-sensitive eyes
help pinpoint small prey in the dark.
Ostracods, crustaceans the size
of a grain of sand
should make a manageable meal.
But he's bitten off more
than he can chew.
Ostracods store a volatile cocktail
of chemicals inside their bodies.
If attacked t
the compounds mix,
igniting an explosion of bioluminescence
brighter than a flashlight
and leaving such a bad taste
that the cardinalfish
spits it out unharmed.
Ostracods store enough
of these chemicals
to detonate ten times in a row.
And this crustacean's escape plan
is even more brilliant.
The flash is so bright,
it not only blinds
it also betrays.
Leaving the poor cardinalfish
temporarily unable to see,
but easily seen.
In the ocean,
there's always a bigger fish.
The ultimate hunter,
the most widespread predator of all
in every corner of every ocean,
orca adapt their hunting technique
in extraordinary ways.
In arctic fjords,
they stun the fish with their fins
and pick them off their school.
In the open ocean,
they use combined force
to chase down blue whales,
the largest animal that's ever lived.
But the most impressive orca hunters
of all
are found here.
Patagonia's Peninsula Valdez
is patrolled by a pod
with a hunting technique so difficult,
so dangerous,
it takes years to learn how it's done.
It's the matriarchs job to pass
her secrets down the generations.
The rest of the family learn from
the four decades of hunting experience
of this seasoned pro.
Every spring, sea lions come
to breed on these Patagonian beaches.
And young pups learn to swim
in the shallows,
out of reach of the hunters.
Almost.
The matriarch is teaching
her family how to target them.
Following the same route almost everyday,
she guides her pod
on a coastline charting course.
With remarkable brain power
and communication skills,
she motions to her family
pointing out landmarks.
It helps youngster build a mental map
of the best hunting beaches.
Along the way, she also teaches them
how to push beyond their comfort zone.
Before an orca can begin
catching its prey,
they must first learn
how to operate
in shallow water.
But the risk of stranding is very real.
A six-ton orca will quickly crush itself
under its own weight,
but if they struggle to refloat
themselves,
the matriarch is by their side
to help them back to sea.
Even so,
an orca is only ready
to attempt hunting
for real after six long years.
The master at work.
Approaching the hunting beach,
the matriarch stops vocalizing.
She listens
She knows exactly when
and where to strike.
High tide,
a steep beach
and round pebbles
to help her roll back to sea
with plenty of unsuspecting prey.
She waits till the pups
are in prime position.
Right in the surf,
too shallow to swim to safety
too turbulent to see her coming.
These masterclasses
in predatory perfection
are vital to passing on her skills.
So when they're ready to hunt for real,
the next generation
is fully prepared
for the battle between predator and prey.
Life is a mission.
Survival.
Animals have evolved secret weapons
and hidden skills
to outsmart their enemies.
So in those life or death moments,
it takes the most extraordinary
super powers to prevail.
If you think you know nature,
think again.