Predators (2000) s01e06 Episode Script

Some predators are born knowing what to do They are pre-programmed for the kill but others take a lifetime to learn What does it take to become a predator? We uncover the critical events that shape the killer Tropical rainforest, Ivory Coast, West Africa A hunting party is on patrol Chimpanzees, five males in silence, they move on the forest floor, listening for their prey This is what they are after colobus monkeys, feeding in the canopy, 30m up To catch them, these chimps have learned to hunt in the most extraordinary way Stealthily, the chimps take up position underneath their quarry Colobus are light and agile so they can move in the thinnest of branches The heavy chimp hasn't a hope alone but this is a team and each has learned its own specific role The driver, the blockers and the most experienced hunter, the ambusher working together, they have a chance The driver makes the first move A young chimp, quite new to hunting His objective is simple, to climb up beneath the monkeys and flush them out The team watches from below, poised for action the hunter is on The chimps in the ground immediately run ahead of the colobus the blockers are first in place They anticipate where the colobus are heading and climb trees on either side Older, more experienced than the driver they must make themselves conspicuous ready to funnel the colobus between them Meanwhile back in the ground, the smartest chimp, the ambusher is on the move His objective: to get even further ahead He has seen the blockers go up and works out where the colobus will be funneled He picks a strategic tree He hides and waits The trap is now set The driver pushes the colobus on They begin to scatter, but three seem to be heading straight into the trap A gap in the canopy, the colobus are now getting away The heavy blockers can't leap across they must climb down in the last effort to reform the trap and back up again Now the blockers are back on course another leap right into the ambusher's tree, the trap is sprung The ambusher grabs, he misses, the colobus turns straight into the hands of a blocker It's over For the chimps, this is the triumph of generations of learning but you can't learn to hunt if it's not in your nature For all predators, the story starts with the same basic thing: instinct, killer instinct This ordinary garden wall is home to a predator whose life is ruled entirely by instinct Visitors to this wall must be careful, very careful This is Amaurobius thorax, a common garden spider and she lives inside the wall.
A month ago, she lays some eggs Now they're hatching right on schedule.
100 tiny spiderlings emerge from their egg cases.
In a week, her offspring will become predators.
But for now, they are too small to hunt for themselves.
They must rely on mother.
She lays a special sac of food eggs for them to eat, - the spider version of milk.
, high energy to last them exactly three days.
Then it's time for the next stage in the development.
Spiders have skeletons on the outside.
To grow, they must shed their skins, the spiderling's first moult.
The moult signals the last of the duties of the devoted mother Old skins discarded, her spiderlings are ready to grow some more, but again they need food, more than she can supply in eggs.
She waits for the tick of her genetic clock, set for precisely one day after the first moult.
Now she circles round the spiderlings, drumming on the web and spinning thread as she goes.
The spiderlings swarm together, their killing instincts are aroused.
Then a new behavior switches on, she presses herself down to her babies.
They climb onto her, slowly at first, but soon they swarm.
She has flicked their predatory switch and this is how she will feed them.
She will be their first prey.
With this moment, her spiderlings become predators As she succumbs to the venom, her life energy passes into her offspring.
They suck the fluid from her body and it can even be seen draining from her limbs the ultimate maternal sacrifice.
The spiderlings haven't had to learn a thing to become predators.
Just like their mother, their genes write the plot.
Now they have fed, they will face the outside world with instinct preprogrammed for the kill.
For others, becoming a predator takes more than just hardwired instinct In a summer meadow, an ordinary farm cat hunts.
The grass is long, so it indentifies its prey by sound and smell.
A vole somewhere in the grass.
If anything can get it, this cat can.
Even after thousands of years of domestication, its predatory genes still talk to it.
Like the spider this cat has the killer instinct.
Silent, alert, supremely poised.
The well-oiled creep of an ancestry of killers.
She coils the predatory spring.
The predator strikes.
But she hasn't always been so good These kittens are just a day old.
Without mother, they are useless.
They can't walk.
Their eyes aren't even open.
Just like the young spiderlings, they are too small to be predators Growth, however, is rapid from fluff ball to minipredator in just three weeks.
But this is where spiders and cats differ.
Though physically the cats are now quite developed.
Their predatory programming is incomplete.
Now, to start developing, the mind.
First their instinct makes them curious.
Instinct makes them play, play links body with mind.
They start to look like predators, focused, fast, alert.
But at this stage, the rules are simple: catch anything that moves.
After all, they could be anywhere and anything could be prey.
But a cat can't live on feathers and stones this simple instinct needs a focus, enter mother.
She now comes back from hunts with dead prey.
This is the new focus of the kitten's play.
The kittens get what she can catch, a sample of the world of prey outside.
She's programming the predatory machine preparing it for future hunting.
Sight, smell, feel, taste, this is what should be eaten.
For the next stage, live prey.
Now the mind is focused on specific prey a lesson in handling.
How fast does it? How does it move? How do you catch it? Without this training, kittens will never be good hunters This time the vole escapes.
Finally into the field to put trainning into practice.
They go into the outside world with skills that basic instinct can't provide alone.
They have the advantage of learning.
The predator hunts, fueled by instinct, fine tuned by learning.
But the world is full of surprises.
They can't be prepared for everything That is the beauty of learning.
It doesn't just stop with mother.
Next time, he will be ready.
In fact, as an adult, learning can seriously improve a predator's life.
This is a green heron and there's only one thing on its mind - fish.
It's a small bird and can't wade very deep.
But fish are loath to go to the shallows.
Just like a fisherman, it has to be stealthy to get what it wants.
Patience and speed finely balanced.
Fish are quick too.
If the heron could only shift its advantage a fraction of a second faster catch the fish off guard.
Luckily this heron is smart.
He has learned his own amazing trick Children come down to the pond to feed the ducks.
The heron watches.
Fish also eat bread and soon they move in close to the bank.
He makes the connection in his head, bread and fish.
Get bread catch fish.
The ducks are always a nuisance But the heron has done this many times before.
Nobody quite knows how but through years of trial and error, he's worked it all out and cracked the sequence in his head.
Incredibly he has learned the art of angling.
He casts his bait.
He watches for the rise too close, and it won't take the bait Too far, and the fish has the edge.
It casts again.
At last the prize of learning.
But sadly herons don't seem to learn form each other, so when this bird dies, his knowledge dies with him.
To get the best out of learning, knowledge must be passed on.
And there's on predator that can do just that the killer whale.
Incredibly, killer whales have learned to beach themselves for prey, a marine predator hunting on land.
Sea lions are the prey in open water where they feed they're fast and streamlined difficult to catch.
On land, where they breed they are out of reach, safe.
But where the land and the sea meet, the tables are turned.
And this thin strip of shore the whale gains its advantage.
For a sea lion, the surf zone is the danger zone.
As they move from sea to land, graceful swim turns to clumsy walk and they scrabble with the beach.
They're slowed for just a second.
This is the whale's moment.
6.
5 tons, 25 miles per hour, the whale surfs in its own bow wave.
Its advantage: momentum.
Now it turns and flexes edging itself from the beach.
It refloats its colossal fang.
The whale returns to its world.
But it's not as easy as it looks.
Killer whales aren't born to beach for prey.
It can take over 40 years to learn.
This 5-year old killer whale calf is in the first stages of learning to beach it gently rides a wave into the surf zone.
But unlike the heron, it doesn't have to work it all out for itself It has an advantage.
It has its mother.
She is experienced.
She strands herself alongside her calf, showing it what to do.
Beaching is dangerous, she knows there's a fine line between getting far enough and not getting stuck.
The calf is instinctively scared of the shallows.
So next, the mother positions herself behind it and nudges it up the beach.
Incredibly the mother seems to be actively teaching her calf And to reassure it, she swims around and helps it back off the beach.
The calf is learning to beach and unbeach.
Now it's ready for the next stage - to catch real prey.
In this unique footage, scientists have recorded the moment of the calf's very first kill.
Seen again as the calf goes for the grab its mother is right alongside.
She then helps push the calf and its prey back out into deeper water.
A mother passes down knowledge to another generation.
The calf has joined the beaching culture.
But there's more to hunt in the surf zone than just beaching for prey.
These sea lions in Argentina are protected from whale attack by offshore reefs.
There is a way in, a channel.
But only deep enough for whales at high tide.
Seen from above, the channel is a clear way through from the sea to the sea lions.
A pot of whales has known about this channel for generations.
They have learned how to exploit it.
Exactly two hours before high tide, the whales take up position outside the reef.
For the sea lions the protection is gone.
The whales make their move.
A mother and two teenagers now old enough for the final stage of training - hunting with the pot.
First, they drop down into the channel Killer whales have sonar to lock on to prey, but sea lions have very good hearing.
The whales switch to silent mode.
Now they're within striking distance of the beach, just 50 meters from the surf zone.
Here, they wait, visibility is poor, so they listen.
Sea lions are moving to the feeding grounds, the whales hear them in the surf zone They can tell the difference between an adult and a pup at 50 m Pups are careless a group moves down the beach.
The female makes the first move.
Her proteges are close by her side.
Hunting master class.
A formation attack, the sea lions hurtled down to the adult There is no escape.
They lock on to the prey in the surf zone.
As the young whales hunt with the female, they learn perfection.
40 years of hunting experience passes on.
This is the killer whale's advantage Like chimpanzees, they are born with the ability to learn new skills from each other When this whale dies, many lifetimes of knowledge live on and a new generation of natural born killers.