BBC Life (2009) s01e07 Episode Script

ATTENBOROUGH: Life is at its most intense during the struggles between predator and prey.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING) Each side, to survive, must outwit and outmanoeuvre the other.
The prize for the hunter, a meal.
For the prey, the chance to live another day.
Three male cheetahs.
These brothers are very special.
They hunt prey few other cheetahs would dare to tackle.
To succeed, they must first select a victim, and then work together to overpower it.
(ZEBRAS BRAYING) It's dangerous work.
(ZEBRAS SNORTING) An adult zebra is potentially lethal.
The outcome is by no means certain.
The first cheetah is driven off.
And his brothers have already made a critical mistake.
They were not close enough to take over the attack.
Each is chasing a different target, making it easy for the zebra to defend their young.
(CHEETAH GROWLING) (ZEBRA BRAYING) A quarter-ton stallion finally puts paid their chances.
Chasing different zebra was bound to lead to failure.
Perhaps their enthusiasm got the better of them.
They must try again.
(PANTING) In the shadow of Mount Kenya, the brothers regroup.
Their mistake with the zebra was to hunt as ordinary as cheetahs do, as individuals.
To catch such prey, they must hunt like no other cheetahs.
That means acting together, as one.
They start again.
An ostrich outweighs and outguns a single cheetah.
This time there's only one target.
And all three cheetahs are onto it.
(OSTRICH SHRIEKING) (THUDDING) The third brother starts to throttle the ostrich.
Even off its feet, it's still dangerous.
The brothers have found a unique way of catching their prey.
(CHEETAH GROWLING SOFTLY) The ability to invent such novel hunting tactics is one thing that really sets mammals apart.
But mammals themselves can also be targets for predators, and the hunted also need to devise special tactics.
The desert shores of the Dead Sea.
Living here is difficult indeed.
It's March.
And high on these cathedral cliffs, ibex have given birth.
For the first few days, the kids were kept safe, isolated on the clifftops.
But now the ibex have a problem.
The only food and water is far below, at the bottom of the gorge, and that is where predators lurk.
If they are to feed, it's a risk they will have to take.
The adults lead the way.
They know the safest routes, though "safe" here is a relative term.
The kids have no choice but to keep up.
One slip could be the last.
Their only assets are cloven hooves that spread under load, astonishing balance and the most uncanny agility.
Barely a week old, they are utterly fearless.
Learning to negotiate these cliffs is central to their survival.
But now the family must be on guard against predators.
Or grab a chance to browse.
Trailing behind, the last youngster is almost down.
And runs right into trouble.
A fox.
It's been waiting for a straggler.
The kid has never seen a fox before, but knows it's in real peril.
It appears to be running into more trouble as it heads back up the cliff.
The fox tries to gain the higher ground.
But the kid has found safety on a face so steep that only an ibex could stand there.
The lessons learnt on this morning's descent has saved its life.
Finally, the fox gives it up as a bad job, perhaps suddenly aware it's standing on a precipice.
Despite its tender age, the ibex has outwitted one of the canniest of predators.
The fox's failure epitomises a predator's plight.
Most hunts fail, so hunters are continually devising new tactics.
The rainforests of Belize in Central America.
And as evening falls and the shower comes to an end, a predator begins to hunt.
The greater bulldog bat.
A flying mammal and a fisherman.
A fish swimming just below the surface creates telltale ripples.
And that is all a bat needs to detect them.
With a little more than a fin to aim for, and whilst flying at 40 miles an hour, the bat takes the fish completely unawares.
If the shoal scatters, the bat trawls the surface, raking the water, trying to snag a fish.
He won't have the best fishing spot to himself for long and soon, other bats arrive.
Oncoming traffic would make grabbing a fish almost impossible.
So the bats avoid collisions by honking, dropping their calls an octave, to say, "Look out! Here I come!" Soon, the shoal has either been captured or has fled and the bats move on.
Skills like this take practice.
And for some mammals, that practice begins in infancy.
A young stoat.
And it's not alone.
These wild games are too much to resist.
(STOATS SQUEAKING) Stalking, chasing and ambushing, all practised in play.
Soon, the young stoats must hunt for themselves, and then these athletic skills will be crucial.
(SHEEP BLEATING) It's September in the English countryside.
This stoat is about to take on an adversary 10 times its size.
It's too dangerous to rush straight in.
Instead, the stoat's aim is to wear the rabbit down.
The rabbit is flagging and the stoat's stamina is starting to make a difference.
But stamina alone is not enough.
The rabbit must still be overpowered.
(SQUEALING) A bite to the back of the neck, and a kill.
The incredible agility of the stoat, practised since it was a kit, was just enough to swing the balance.
There are times when mere physical powers are not enough to give the hunter an edge.
Then, mammals must deploy their most sophisticated weapon, their brains.
Strange patterns are visible in the mud of Florida Bay, a faint hint of a unique hunting tactic.
The perpetrators, bottlenose dolphins.
And they're on a mission, a mission to catch fish.
The fish here are very difficult to catch, and in such shallow water they ought to be safe.
Yet the dolphins have a plan.
They have learnt to corral the fish by working as a team.
(DOLPHINS CLICKING) The lead dolphin beats its tail on the sea bed, stirring up a ring of mud.
Trapped inside, the fish take their only way out.
But they're leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Once the mud ring loses its shape, the fish scatter.
The dolphins move on and repeat the process.
Brain power combined with teamwork, it's a winning formula.
This behaviour is unique to the dolphins of Florida Bay.
Successive generations have learnt it from their parents and in turn, they will teach it to their own young.
The ability to pass on such complex behaviours is one of the mammals' greatest talents.
It enables them to survive where others would perish.
As winter approaches in Alaska, food gets progressively harder to find.
To live here is to walk a tightrope.
Yet every year, this coast attracts North America's most impressive hunter.
(WAVES CRASHING) A brown bear.
Here, they grow larger than anywhere in the world.
Other bears have also gathered at the edge of the surf.
They've come here to fatten up for the winter.
They're waiting for an event that happens just once a year, the salmon run.
Others will tackle the fish upriver but here in the sea, these bears have the first chance.
Each bear's survival depends on this run of fish staying strong.
There are years when their gamble fails and the fish hardly show.
Then the bears face starvation.
This year promises to be a bumper one and the bears will be able to pile on the pounds ahead of winter.
Mammals are supreme in their ability to exploit such fleeting opportunities.
(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING) (BEARS GROWLING) Chances come and go with the passing of the seasons.
But for some predators, conditions are tough whatever the time of year.
At first glance, these mountains seem barren and empty of life.
Like islands thrust up into the sky, they tower above the surrounding plains.
Yet far from being deserted, they are a refuge.
Isolated here, on the roof of Africa, is one of the rarest hunters in the world, the Ethiopian wolf, the only wolf in the whole of Africa.
(WOLVES HOWLING) (BARKING) (GROWLING) Despite being close to the equator, these peaks are so cold at night that the wolves face a frost-covered dawn.
(PUPS WHINING) Each pack is centred around a single dominant female.
Normally, it is only she who breeds.
This year, she has produced six pups.
But if she is to raise them all in this barren land, she will need the help of the entire pack.
Every morning the pack sets off to hunt, leaving her back among the rocks with the pups.
The pack's hunting ground is about five square miles of mountaintop.
They guard it seriously, patrolling its frontiers every day.
Wolves elsewhere collaborate and use their united power to pull down big prey.
But there are no caribou or moose to be found up here.
The pack splits up.
Each member is going to hunt alone.
One of them spots something.
It's a rat.
But catching rats is not easy, no matter how carefully you stalk them.
Another hunter has a more proactive technique.
(RAT SQUEAKING) And that works.
It's a lot of work for a relatively small reward and demands its own particular style of hunting.
(PUPS WHIMPERING) A hunter returns.
Mother demands food and the successful hunter delivers it.
So rearing a single litter here takes the combined labour of a dozen or so adults and the Ethiopian wolves have adjusted their behaviour accordingly.
That adaptability is the mammals' great strength, enabling them to survive in some very unlikely habitats.
A star-nosed mole, possessor of perhaps the most extraordinary nose on the planet.
Its nostrils are surrounded by 22 fingers, fingers that allow the mole to sense the world around it by touch alone.
It enables it to detect food with astonishing speed.
It can also swim.
And once underwater, its nose helps it in a most extraordinary way.
It blows out a bubble and breathes it back in, detecting in a millisecond if there's prey close by.
This bubble-blowing allows it to sniff out its food underwater.
But unfortunately, that means it soon runs out of breath.
So it's just as well that it can hunt as fast down here as on the surface.
Few creatures can hunt equally successfully underground and underwater.
Bandhavgarh, India, at the height of the dry season.
A chital deer.
They must live their lives with all their senses at a high pitch.
The faintest smell, the slightest sound, the briefest glimpse could give warning of an attack.
The chital must detect their enemy before it takes them by surprise.
And they have allies.
Langur monkeys.
Keen eyesight and a perch high in the trees means they can scan the forest.
(BIRD CALLING) The jungle is full of distraction.
(INSECT BUZZING) Senses are strained trying to detect approaching danger.
Yet the chital still need to feed.
And the hunter must get within striking distance.
There's a hint of danger carried on the wind.
The herd shares a nervousness.
You should never run from what you can't see.
You might just run straight into danger.
The tiger is nearly close enough to launch her attack.
She must wait.
The chital need to come just a little closer.
If she moves now, the langurs will see her.
The deer had a moment's head start, and escape.
The langurs' vigilance saved the chital.
And the tiger goes hungry.
For some mammals, attack is the best form of defence.
This squirrel is arming herself.
It's a California ground squirrel and she's found a snake skin.
She's chewing it into a paste which she then rubs into her fur, especially her tail.
She now stinks of snake.
She lives in a colony that extends across a wide expanse of prairie.
There is one downside to this neighbourhood, it's in the middle of rattlesnake country, not good when you have young to raise.
Her neighbour has sensed something.
A rattlesnake hidden right next to their burrow.
They both investigate, but what can they do? Kicking stones only provokes the snake.
(RATTLING) Rattlesnakes sense prey by the heat they give off, and the squirrel is able to take advantage of this.
(RATTLING) She heats up her tail with warm blood, waving it at the snake as a threat.
It makes her look much larger than she is.
(RATTLING) And the scent of rattler on her fluffed tail intimidates the snake.
It decides to retreat.
The mother decides that this part of the neighbourhood is too dangerous and moves her young to new quarters.
With luck, this may be a safer place to raise a family.
Both predator and prey must endlessly refine their strategies.
Just occasionally, an individual makes a unique breakthrough and learns to do something completely new.
It's December, and a storm rages around the Falkland Islands.
Gentoo penguins face blizzards of blowing sand.
Young elephant seals risk being dragged off the rocks by the surging waves and swept out into open water.
Orca, the largest and most predatory of the dolphin family.
Killer whales.
This pod of nine can only survive here by being opportunists.
Normally, young elephant seals are not on the menu.
They stay close to the shore, safe in the shallows of their nursery pool.
The pool is almost entirely cut off from the sea.
A narrow, shallow channel is the only access to the open water.
But this pod of killer whales contains a very special female.
She's easily identified by her calf, which is always close by.
Every year she comes to the pool at the same time, when the seals first swim in the shallows.
She knows how to get them.
(PUPS BARKING) Negotiating the channel is her first challenge.
The water near the mouth of the pool is slightly deeper.
Here she sets her ambush, waiting for the seal to stray out of the shallows.
For mother and calf, this is an extremely risky ploy.
She must continuously assess how big the waves are, how deep the water is and what the tide is doing.
One bad decision will see both mother and calf stranded.
The seals lie in the shallows, just out of reach and unaware of her presence.
But she is more than aware of the dropping tide.
The floundering seal catches her attention.
And with her calf, she slowly moves towards it.
The seal is lying right on the edge of a rocky ledge, oblivious to the danger.
The projecting ledge keeps the seal just out of reach.
Yet she has a plan.
Rocking back and forth, she's making a wave, trying to wash the seal off the ledge.
But it is securely surrounded by kelp.
A splash alerts her to a better opportunity.
Another seal has started to swim into the pool.
This is her chance.
Edging further into the shallows than ever before, she is risking everything.
Half-beached and with a struggling seal in her mouth, it takes all her strength to drag it out of the pool.
She is the only killer whale on the planet that knows how to hunt these seals in this way.
And crucially, she's now passing on that skill to her own calf.
Extraordinary strategies like these lie at the heart of the struggle between predator and prey.
They're born of a conflict that is relentless and unforgiving, a conflict that eternally binds the hunter and the hunted.
This is looking very promising.
ATTENBOROUGH: The Life team had set themselves a tough challenge in trying to film exceptional hunting sequences.
But our teams were lucky enough to observe some of the world's most charismatic predators.
Look.
Look.
It was the killer whales of the Falklands, though, that brought the team closest to the action.
Every year off Sea Lion Island, killer whales snatch young elephant seals from their nursery pool.
Filming most hunting sequences involves a great deal of waiting and a slice of luck, but here things were a little different.
Cameraman Mike Pitts and producer Adam Chapman travel to the Falklands, having heard that for two weeks each year killer whales focus on one particular spot.
PILOT: We're a long ways out The killer whales have learnt to target elephant seal pups as they first venture into the water, and this gives the team their best chance of filming a hunt.
The first task facing the team is to familiarise themselves not only with a new location, but also with the animals they will be working around.
And the team soon realise that they and their equipment are a great novelty to the seal pups.
I daren't look through the camera because I'm more worried about the tripod being knocked over.
So, we've got a little friend here.
So I'm going to report him for interfering with the film crew.
ATTENBOROUGH: The pups' fascination with the team is rather unexpected.
(SNORTING) MAN: You've got a great way with wildlife, Michael.
(LAUGHS) At one with nature.
Um It's quite difficult out here, there's so many of them.
ATTENBOROUGH: The large number of youngsters bodes well for the killer whales but the longer the team spend with the pups, the more they warm to them.
PITTS: When you look at these little pups, you can't fail to be captivated by them.
Especially when you gaze into those eyes, it really pulls at your heartstrings.
But to an orca, of course, it's 120 kilos of pure protein.
So that's why they're hunted.
ATTENBOROUGH: As the days go by, the team continue to get a feel for the location, when suddenly, the killer whales arrive.
The pod of nine is clearly interested in the pool and one female is particularly confident.
She's coming in.
ATTENBOROUGH: The female and her calf start to come into the pool regularly, but there never seems to be a pup within reach.
The team have come to the Falklands prepared to film underwater.
Now the time has come to see if this is a realistic ambition.
With lookouts posted and the whales far away, Mike is able to get in.
Even so, who can blame him for being jumpy? Whoo! ATTENBOROUGH: The pups' playfulness is becoming an issue.
The last thing the team want is to have any influence on the events they're here to film.
There's also the question of how the killer whales might react to a person in the water.
It's quite intimidating in there.
It shelves up, in the centre of the channel it just goes down to, I don't know, maybe eight feet, I think, couple of metres.
But the visibility's really stirred up.
How they find their way in that channel I just don't know.
What I'm worried about is if I do go in the water with the orca, which I'm slightly concerned about, I have to say, she's in a hunting mode.
She's not here just to pass the time of day.
- She's out there to kill something.
- Yeah.
You know, I just don't want to be that personal seal, whatever she thinks of me.
She'd probably realise once she's bitten me that she's made a mistake.
- I don't know, is it worth the gamble? - Right.
ATTENBOROUGH: With a week already gone, the killer whales have not yet made a full-blown attack.
And then the weather changes.
Well, hopefully it'll blow itself out, but I think in the pool, it's gonna be a couple of days before that calms down.
ATTENBOROUGH: The storm rages for two more days, but on the eleventh day the good weather returns.
Mike knows that time is running out.
Well, the orcas are out there.
Still quite a way off.
ATTENBOROUGH: The team decides a camera on the end of a pole might be the way to reveal the underwater action.
After that storm it's all been so stirred up.
And just bring it slightly out of the water, Adam, so, can you draw it back towards you? And stop.
Ah, it's dark green, basically.
Very dark green.
- There's still a lot of - Suspension, yeah.
ATTENBOROUGH: The storm had stirred up the pool, making it hard to see anything.
But the team remained in good spirits.
- Does my bum look big in this? - (CHUCKLES) Massive.
ATTENBOROUGH: As the seal pups are nearly ready to go to sea, the whales' opportunity to hunt this year will soon pass and the team know this could be their last chance.
CHAPMAN: Look at the size of that fin.
Okay, Mike, she's coming in.
Coming in, Mike.
- Coming in? - Just here.
Mike? One second, mate.
I can talk to you gently here now, and I can also see where you're pointing.
CHAPMAN: She's here.
PITTS: Recording.
Hold it steady.
Hold it steady.
Got it.
She's gone past, Mike.
She's in the pool.
PITTS: Okay, I'll go in there.
Good God.
It got one.
Definitely.
Can't mistake it.
- Bringing it out now.
- Taking it further.
Come on, go.
Pulling it out.
Taking it out to sea.
CHAPMAN: Yeah, there it goes.
Taking it under.
PITTS: God, he just got hammered.
Part of me is elated that I've got it, but part of me is sort of sad, really, 'cause I've watched these little characters, these pups grow in the last few weeks, and the orcas, too, they've got to survive and they've made a successful hunt, and they're now continuing on their journey, so what can you say? ATTENBOROUGH: Witnessing such events often results in such a conflict of emotions.
The two-week window is over and the killer whales move on.
It'll be a whole year before this exceptional female returns here to hunt again.