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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:02:34,158 --> 00:02:37,673 When things are scarce in this harsh world, 2 00:02:37,838 --> 00:02:41,274 you may have to fight to get your fair share of them. 3 00:02:41,438 --> 00:02:45,033 In this case, it's food, meat. 4 00:02:48,398 --> 00:02:53,108 But you may have to fight, too, to get the best available mate that's around 5 00:02:53,278 --> 00:02:57,396 or territory which will support you and your family. 6 00:02:57,558 --> 00:03:04,191 So the ability to fight is needed by animals of all kinds. 7 00:03:06,078 --> 00:03:09,275 Even sea anemones fight on occasion. 8 00:03:09,958 --> 00:03:15,954 This group, catching floating particles of food with their tentacles, is harmonious enough, 9 00:03:16,118 --> 00:03:20,509 for these individuals are all sisters, budded off one from the other 10 00:03:20,678 --> 00:03:23,238 and, therefore, genetically identical. 11 00:03:27,558 --> 00:03:30,356 This, however, is a stranger. 12 00:03:30,518 --> 00:03:35,672 The residents can detect chemically that these tentacles are no relations of theirs. 13 00:03:35,838 --> 00:03:40,434 Someone else is clambering onto their stone, seeking their feeding space. 14 00:03:41,118 --> 00:03:43,268 This is war. 15 00:03:44,318 --> 00:03:46,707 The battle is difficult for us to recognise, 16 00:03:46,878 --> 00:03:50,553 for anemones work on a rather slower time-scale than ourselves, 17 00:03:50,718 --> 00:03:54,472 but speed things up and the fight becomes obvious. 18 00:03:57,798 --> 00:04:01,268 The lashing tentacles are armed with stings. 19 00:04:15,238 --> 00:04:19,754 The resident anemones have had enough and off they go. 20 00:04:29,398 --> 00:04:32,993 Male strawberry frogs in the jungles of Costa Rica, 21 00:04:33,158 --> 00:04:36,355 when breeding time comes, fight over territory. 22 00:04:36,518 --> 00:04:38,509 They wrestle. 23 00:04:41,918 --> 00:04:45,433 (C0NSTANT CHIRPING CR0AKS) 24 00:04:55,398 --> 00:04:57,912 They call throughout the contest. 25 00:04:58,078 --> 00:05:01,514 If one stops, it's a sign that he's given in. 26 00:05:01,678 --> 00:05:04,715 If he continues to call, even if he's retreating, 27 00:05:04,878 --> 00:05:10,635 his opponent will continue to pursue him and take him on for another round. 28 00:05:13,958 --> 00:05:17,030 These bouts may go on for as long as half an hour. 29 00:05:17,198 --> 00:05:20,588 In fact, the result is pretty well a foregone conclusion. 30 00:05:20,758 --> 00:05:23,636 Unless the intruder is very much bigger, 31 00:05:23,798 --> 00:05:27,347 the resident, the one who was here first, nearly always wins. 32 00:05:27,518 --> 00:05:33,309 The loser will hop off to find an unoccupied square yard of forest floor, 33 00:05:33,478 --> 00:05:36,993 and no great damage has been done to either contestant. 34 00:05:37,998 --> 00:05:42,037 But many animals can injure one another only too easily. 35 00:05:42,198 --> 00:05:44,587 The hummingbird, like many other animals, 36 00:05:44,758 --> 00:05:49,036 feeds with a device that can also be used as a weapon. 37 00:05:50,878 --> 00:05:56,635 Here in Trinidad, hummingbirds defend patches of flowers full of nectar on which they feed. 38 00:05:56,798 --> 00:06:01,076 And an owner threatens an intruder by displaying brilliant colours. 39 00:06:01,238 --> 00:06:06,266 But make no mistake, these ritualised threats are backed up with real force. 40 00:06:06,438 --> 00:06:11,387 Watch what happens if an intruder appears in this defended patch 41 00:06:11,558 --> 00:06:17,190 and stays put, as this little stuffed hummingbird presumably will do. 42 00:06:30,798 --> 00:06:32,516 First, the threats. 43 00:06:32,678 --> 00:06:36,466 Spreading the tail and angling the brilliantly coloured reflective feathers 44 00:06:36,638 --> 00:06:40,187 on the throat and the head so that they catch the light. 45 00:06:40,358 --> 00:06:44,874 Usually, this is quite enough to frighten off a rival. 46 00:06:45,038 --> 00:06:47,427 But it's not working in this case. 47 00:06:47,598 --> 00:06:50,112 So now he decides to use force. 48 00:06:59,598 --> 00:07:02,066 And still his rival won't go. 49 00:07:02,238 --> 00:07:08,108 Maybe it's not a rival. Maybe it's a particularly stoical female eager to mate. 50 00:07:08,278 --> 00:07:10,269 So he tries that. 51 00:07:10,438 --> 00:07:15,876 But with such an unresponsive partner, it's difficult to find the right place to do so. 52 00:07:17,278 --> 00:07:21,908 Another hummingbird sees what's going on and interrupts him. 53 00:07:23,118 --> 00:07:25,837 So another intruder has to be seen off. 54 00:07:25,998 --> 00:07:28,796 Then he returns to his first problem. 55 00:07:28,958 --> 00:07:33,793 The needle-sharp beak, which he normally uses to thrust into a flower for nectar, 56 00:07:33,958 --> 00:07:36,631 he now wields like a murderous stiletto. 57 00:07:36,798 --> 00:07:40,029 It's an impressive demonstration of what can happen 58 00:07:40,198 --> 00:07:42,587 if an opponent doesn't give up. 59 00:07:53,878 --> 00:07:57,029 Egrets. Their beaks really are designed for killing. 60 00:07:57,838 --> 00:08:00,227 They're spears for stabbing. 61 00:08:03,398 --> 00:08:06,356 These quarrels are over roosting places. 62 00:08:06,518 --> 00:08:08,748 The birds have spent the day away feeding, 63 00:08:08,918 --> 00:08:12,593 but now they've returned to a tree where they can spend the night 64 00:08:12,758 --> 00:08:15,147 in the safety that comes from numbers. 65 00:08:15,318 --> 00:08:17,627 But some perches are better than others. 66 00:08:17,798 --> 00:08:23,714 No one wants the outside position where they are at greatest risk from predators. 67 00:08:23,878 --> 00:08:25,869 So again they squabble 68 00:08:26,038 --> 00:08:30,589 and again a tool for feeding has become a weapon for aggression, 69 00:08:30,758 --> 00:08:35,878 but in the event, in spite of all the noise and commotion, few pecks actually land. 70 00:08:44,598 --> 00:08:47,476 These, too, could give a nasty nip. 71 00:08:47,638 --> 00:08:50,232 The biting jaws of a rove beetle. 72 00:08:50,398 --> 00:08:53,117 It uses them to snatch flies. 73 00:09:02,598 --> 00:09:08,787 But the smell of the object that attracts those flies, monkey dung, also attracts rivals. 74 00:09:09,558 --> 00:09:12,550 And then those jaws have a different use. 75 00:09:19,918 --> 00:09:23,752 Before coming to blows, the beetles also threaten one another. 76 00:09:23,918 --> 00:09:27,706 Not with colour like hummingbirds, but by an aggressive smell 77 00:09:27,878 --> 00:09:30,392 which they discharge from their abdomen. 78 00:09:38,118 --> 00:09:41,713 And once again, threat is all that was necessary. 79 00:09:41,878 --> 00:09:46,474 Better to not risk injury from those powerful jaws if that can be avoided. 80 00:09:46,638 --> 00:09:49,152 There will be some more dung somewhere. 81 00:09:54,198 --> 00:09:59,909 This tiny pool in a tree stump in Panama is the nursery of another powerfully armed insect, 82 00:10:00,078 --> 00:10:02,228 a damselfly larva. 83 00:10:03,158 --> 00:10:07,037 Its weapons are jaws that shoot out from beneath the head. 84 00:10:08,278 --> 00:10:14,114 Its threats - distinctively patterned, leaf-shaped gills on the end of its abdomen. 85 00:10:14,278 --> 00:10:18,794 Its opponent - any other damselfly larva that comes near. 86 00:10:25,038 --> 00:10:28,826 There's not enough food in this part of the pool for two. 87 00:10:52,758 --> 00:10:56,717 If they come to blows, the loser will be killed and eaten. 88 00:10:56,878 --> 00:11:01,349 But there's enough room here for them to separate, and both survive. 89 00:11:03,798 --> 00:11:09,031 The Midas cichlid of Central America is not, in truth, well armed at all. 90 00:11:10,158 --> 00:11:13,867 It feeds by picking off bits and pieces here and there 91 00:11:14,038 --> 00:11:16,757 and it has no teeth to speak of. 92 00:11:16,918 --> 00:11:20,957 But its mouth can give it a hold for a trial of strength. 93 00:11:51,318 --> 00:11:54,469 As with frogs, if the pair are equally matched, 94 00:11:54,638 --> 00:11:58,790 and these are, it will be the territory owner who wins. 95 00:12:09,318 --> 00:12:13,914 Pincers - obviously useful for both feeding and fighting, 96 00:12:14,078 --> 00:12:17,275 but the pistol shrimp has one much larger than the other 97 00:12:17,438 --> 00:12:20,828 and it uses it in a particularly damaging way. 98 00:12:24,118 --> 00:12:28,396 The moveable side claw cracks down on the palm with such force 99 00:12:28,558 --> 00:12:32,471 that the noise can stun a passing fish or an opponent. 100 00:12:33,118 --> 00:12:35,188 (L0UD SNAP) 101 00:12:57,118 --> 00:12:59,586 The shock knocks him senseless. 102 00:13:00,398 --> 00:13:04,676 But one crustacean, however, is even more powerfully armed. 103 00:13:17,958 --> 00:13:20,836 The mantis shrimp lives in burrows. 104 00:13:22,358 --> 00:13:28,877 This female is guarding eggs and won't abandon them or her hole without a fight. 105 00:13:33,518 --> 00:13:36,476 0utside, a male looking for a home. 106 00:13:37,078 --> 00:13:40,070 Both animals can deliver a blow with their forelegs 107 00:13:40,238 --> 00:13:43,230 that can crack the shell of their prey or an opponent. 108 00:13:43,398 --> 00:13:46,356 If they're going to argue, they must be very careful. 109 00:13:56,478 --> 00:14:01,871 She threatens him by displaying the bold pattern on her forelegs. 110 00:14:02,718 --> 00:14:07,792 But he's not intimidated. He badly needs a hole to shelter from predators. 111 00:14:14,358 --> 00:14:19,671 He shields himself with his tail, which has specially thick armour. 112 00:14:30,438 --> 00:14:34,511 That foreleg, enlarged at its end into a fearsome club, 113 00:14:34,678 --> 00:14:37,590 is the weapon that does the damage. 114 00:14:51,358 --> 00:14:54,907 He's won. She's lost her eggs and her home. 115 00:14:55,078 --> 00:14:58,070 Considering the force of the blows they've exchanged, 116 00:14:58,238 --> 00:15:01,469 she's lucky not to have lost her life as well. 117 00:15:01,638 --> 00:15:06,996 But male and female must meet sometime, even among mantis shrimps, if they're to breed. 118 00:15:16,558 --> 00:15:20,437 0nce again, it's the female who is in possession of a burrow. 119 00:15:20,598 --> 00:15:25,114 And she is not going to surrender it willingly to anyone else. 120 00:15:38,718 --> 00:15:43,633 He has to convince her that he has something else in mind. 121 00:15:53,318 --> 00:15:57,072 She blocks the entrance with her armoured tail. 122 00:15:57,238 --> 00:16:01,356 He tickles it, reassuring her about his intentions. 123 00:16:02,238 --> 00:16:06,550 Wafting his scent into the hole also helps to convince her. 124 00:16:29,638 --> 00:16:32,994 A quick coupling, and it's all over. 125 00:16:33,158 --> 00:16:36,707 That, in mantis shrimp terms, was comparatively easy. 126 00:16:37,518 --> 00:16:41,670 This male, on the same mission, is rather more apprehensive. 127 00:16:48,358 --> 00:16:50,508 She is, after all, bigger than he is, 128 00:16:50,678 --> 00:16:53,670 and she could crack him open with a single punch. 129 00:16:53,838 --> 00:16:57,877 Understandably, he shields himself from such a disaster. 130 00:17:01,518 --> 00:17:04,874 But faint hearts never did win fair ladies. 131 00:17:07,718 --> 00:17:10,107 She has no use for him. 132 00:17:22,638 --> 00:17:25,596 She's not receiving visitors today. 133 00:17:37,638 --> 00:17:40,106 If food-gathering weapons are lethal, 134 00:17:40,278 --> 00:17:44,191 their use is usually prohibited in fights between rivals. 135 00:17:44,358 --> 00:17:47,589 These wasps have extremely powerful stings. 136 00:17:50,278 --> 00:17:54,749 They lay their eggs in burrows in the ground and stock them with caterpillars 137 00:17:54,918 --> 00:17:57,910 which will serve as food for their developing young. 138 00:17:58,078 --> 00:18:02,754 Having found one, a female wasp paralyses it with her sting. 139 00:18:11,918 --> 00:18:16,548 But caterpillars are in short supply and others have seen it. 140 00:18:23,678 --> 00:18:26,112 Yet no matter how vigorous the dispute, 141 00:18:26,278 --> 00:18:29,475 the wasps do not use their stings on one another. 142 00:18:29,638 --> 00:18:33,426 It's not worth risking death for one small caterpillar. 143 00:18:37,718 --> 00:18:40,186 The winner carries off her prize. 144 00:18:40,358 --> 00:18:43,555 A quick check below...and she's lost it. 145 00:18:45,838 --> 00:18:49,626 If rattlesnakes used their food-collecting weapons in their fights, 146 00:18:49,798 --> 00:18:54,508 they might kill one another, for they have one of the most lethal of all venoms. 147 00:18:54,678 --> 00:18:56,669 Yet they, too, have their rivalries. 148 00:18:56,838 --> 00:19:03,186 Males meeting in the autumn, at the start of the breeding season, have arguments to settle. 149 00:19:03,358 --> 00:19:05,747 But their fights have rules. 150 00:19:05,918 --> 00:19:10,912 The aim, it seems, is not to bite your opponent, but to slam him to the ground. 151 00:19:51,398 --> 00:19:55,676 Wolves, too, could kill one another just as they can kill a deer. 152 00:19:55,838 --> 00:20:00,514 But most of their disputes are settled by a complex series of gestures. 153 00:20:00,678 --> 00:20:05,274 Initial threats are made by lifting the lips to expose the weapons they could use: 154 00:20:05,438 --> 00:20:07,315 their teeth. 155 00:20:10,518 --> 00:20:13,828 Even when tempers flare, there is still restraint. 156 00:20:13,998 --> 00:20:17,035 Jaws may grip throats and heads, but they don't bite. 157 00:20:17,198 --> 00:20:20,508 Disputes among wolves, as among most dogs and cats, 158 00:20:20,678 --> 00:20:23,397 are largely a matter of threatening snarls. 159 00:20:35,118 --> 00:20:38,394 It's hardly surprising that meat eaters, 160 00:20:38,558 --> 00:20:41,834 which have, by their very nature, to be ferocious and aggressive, 161 00:20:41,998 --> 00:20:44,831 should also be a bit quarrelsome on occasion. 162 00:20:44,998 --> 00:20:49,230 But you might think that, by contrast, grass eaters, like these zebras, 163 00:20:49,398 --> 00:20:52,151 would be peaceable, gentle creatures. 164 00:20:52,318 --> 00:20:58,268 But, actually, the male stallion zebra, on occasions, has to fight his own kind. 165 00:20:58,438 --> 00:21:00,588 Look at this lot. 166 00:21:04,118 --> 00:21:06,313 These are young males. 167 00:21:06,478 --> 00:21:11,268 They're just sparring, practising for the crucial duels they'll have to fight as adults. 168 00:21:11,438 --> 00:21:15,113 Then their fights will determine their success as breeders. 169 00:21:15,278 --> 00:21:18,793 Now they're largely a matter of high spirits. 170 00:21:26,958 --> 00:21:30,155 Since zebras don't kill other animals for food, 171 00:21:30,318 --> 00:21:33,549 they don't have death-dealing stings and fangs. 172 00:21:33,718 --> 00:21:38,348 Their only weapons are their hooves and their relatively short, blunt teeth. 173 00:21:38,518 --> 00:21:41,510 So, paradoxically, their fights can be very vigorous 174 00:21:41,678 --> 00:21:45,193 and involve a great deal of barging and nipping. 175 00:22:38,358 --> 00:22:42,146 An adult breeding stallion fights in a much more determined way. 176 00:22:42,318 --> 00:22:47,312 He is constantly having to chase off other males who are seeking to mate with his mares. 177 00:22:47,478 --> 00:22:51,471 His short teeth can't give him a proper grip on an opponent's flank. 178 00:22:51,638 --> 00:22:55,631 The only place he can deliver a decent bite is on the neck or the legs. 179 00:22:55,798 --> 00:23:00,588 And the best way to protect your legs if things get rough is to sit on them. 180 00:23:53,878 --> 00:23:57,871 A retreating loser can still deliver a powerful kick in the face, 181 00:23:58,038 --> 00:24:00,506 so the chase isn't continued for long. 182 00:24:00,678 --> 00:24:04,671 And, in any case, the victor won't want to go too far from his mares 183 00:24:04,838 --> 00:24:07,830 in case another stallion gallops in while he's away. 184 00:24:23,558 --> 00:24:26,789 Giraffes have no teeth at all in the front of the upper jaw, 185 00:24:26,958 --> 00:24:30,587 so they could hardly give a devastating bite even if they wanted to. 186 00:24:30,758 --> 00:24:33,955 Instead, they fight with their necks. 187 00:24:45,958 --> 00:24:48,108 Even here there is restraint. 188 00:24:48,278 --> 00:24:51,554 A giraffe's kick can disembowel a lion. 189 00:24:51,718 --> 00:24:54,186 But rival giraffes never kick one another. 190 00:24:54,358 --> 00:24:57,156 They just use their heads like sledgehammers. 191 00:25:07,678 --> 00:25:12,468 Gorillas may look ferocious, but they're usually peaceable creatures. 192 00:25:17,718 --> 00:25:20,312 They, too, are entirely vegetarian 193 00:25:20,478 --> 00:25:24,756 and their teeth are hardly bigger than is necessary to rip bamboo apart. 194 00:25:26,038 --> 00:25:29,155 The babies spend most of their time not quarrelling, 195 00:25:29,318 --> 00:25:31,786 but playing amiably with one another. 196 00:25:54,598 --> 00:25:56,475 That, however, is a threat, 197 00:25:56,638 --> 00:26:01,234 a warning to a nearby group that this feeding ground is occupied. 198 00:26:02,038 --> 00:26:06,031 A frightening charge is usually enough to make any intruder retreat 199 00:26:06,198 --> 00:26:08,758 without the need for assault and battery. 200 00:26:10,198 --> 00:26:14,714 The young animals continue to play, even when they are almost fully grown. 201 00:26:40,278 --> 00:26:42,872 But when you are as big and as strong as this, 202 00:26:43,038 --> 00:26:48,066 even minor disagreements can become a bit rough and things may get out of hand. 203 00:26:48,238 --> 00:26:50,991 (L0UD SHRIEKS) 204 00:26:56,278 --> 00:26:59,270 And that's a sure sign of real fright. 205 00:27:12,558 --> 00:27:16,233 So best to back off showing your teeth 206 00:27:16,398 --> 00:27:20,516 in an attempt to retain what's left of your pride and status. 207 00:27:33,638 --> 00:27:37,392 Langurs, like gorillas, are also strict vegetarians, 208 00:27:37,558 --> 00:27:41,312 though you might not think so looking at these faces. 209 00:27:46,358 --> 00:27:52,115 After all, you don't need huge canine teeth to masticate leaves or munch fruit. 210 00:27:52,278 --> 00:27:54,667 These, however, are all males. 211 00:27:58,798 --> 00:28:03,314 The females are much smaller animals and have no such fearsome fangs. 212 00:28:04,798 --> 00:28:09,633 The enlarged teeth and greater body size of the males are clear indications 213 00:28:09,798 --> 00:28:13,711 that these animals are fighters and that they fight over females. 214 00:28:13,878 --> 00:28:17,757 Even so, their formidable teeth are used much more 215 00:28:17,918 --> 00:28:21,069 for making noisy, grinding threats than delivering bites. 216 00:28:28,078 --> 00:28:31,309 Langurs are not the only quarrelsome vegetarians 217 00:28:31,478 --> 00:28:34,276 to have developed their bodies in this way. 218 00:28:45,398 --> 00:28:49,835 Hippos gather their vegetation with their leathery lips 219 00:28:49,998 --> 00:28:53,991 and then grind it to pulp with huge molars at the back of the mouth. 220 00:28:54,158 --> 00:28:57,036 The tusk-like teeth in the front of the mouth, 221 00:28:57,198 --> 00:29:01,396 which this baby has yet to develop and which its mother already possesses, 222 00:29:01,558 --> 00:29:05,267 are used almost entirely in arguments between one another. 223 00:29:06,798 --> 00:29:09,790 The bulls have even more spectacular tusks. 224 00:29:09,958 --> 00:29:14,474 They yawn not because they're tired, but to display these weapons. 225 00:29:14,638 --> 00:29:18,711 And if rivals don't take proper notice, they'll use them. 226 00:29:41,878 --> 00:29:46,872 There's really little point in risking injury if the result of a fight is predictable, 227 00:29:47,038 --> 00:29:51,668 so assessing the strength of your rival brings benefit all round. 228 00:29:56,478 --> 00:30:00,073 These Malaysian flies, roosting on hanging rootlets, 229 00:30:00,238 --> 00:30:03,469 have developed a very precise way of doing that 230 00:30:03,638 --> 00:30:06,630 to within a fraction of a millimetre. 231 00:30:08,398 --> 00:30:13,472 Their eyes are at the end of stalks that stick out sideways from their heads. 232 00:30:13,638 --> 00:30:15,754 They threaten with their forelegs. 233 00:30:15,918 --> 00:30:21,231 But the crucial factor that decides whether they will fight is the distance apart of their eyes. 234 00:30:21,398 --> 00:30:24,947 Rival males square up head to head. 235 00:30:29,798 --> 00:30:34,235 A bigger eye span indicates a bigger body and, therefore, greater strength. 236 00:30:34,398 --> 00:30:38,391 If a fly discovers that it's outgunned, it will back away. 237 00:30:42,718 --> 00:30:45,915 These, however, have established that they are equally matched. 238 00:30:46,078 --> 00:30:49,912 Now there will have to be a joust to get a settlement. 239 00:30:54,598 --> 00:30:56,987 (HIGH-PITCHED CHIRPING) 240 00:30:57,158 --> 00:31:00,946 Field crickets make their judgments largely by sound. 241 00:31:10,598 --> 00:31:14,113 They call by rubbing their wing cases together. 242 00:31:34,598 --> 00:31:37,510 After arguing so loudly and so long, 243 00:31:37,678 --> 00:31:40,556 the briefest contact is enough to settle things. 244 00:31:50,318 --> 00:31:54,869 Size of claw is the criterion used by these little mud crabs. 245 00:32:05,158 --> 00:32:08,230 They quarrel over the ownership of a burrow. 246 00:32:32,758 --> 00:32:37,752 And when one is convinced that its rival is bigger, then that's that. 247 00:32:42,078 --> 00:32:45,150 The biggest weapons of all are developed by males 248 00:32:45,318 --> 00:32:50,438 who battle not over burrows, nor over food, but directly over females, 249 00:32:50,598 --> 00:32:53,066 as these bull elephants are doing. 250 00:32:53,238 --> 00:32:57,550 If success in such battles brings the ability to mate with many females, 251 00:32:57,718 --> 00:33:01,506 to the exclusion of all other males who are less well-armed, 252 00:33:01,678 --> 00:33:05,910 then male weapons, over many generations, will become enormous, 253 00:33:06,078 --> 00:33:10,310 and the battles in which they are used violent in the extreme. 254 00:33:32,878 --> 00:33:37,156 Exactly the same process that turned elephants' teeth into tusks 255 00:33:37,318 --> 00:33:41,027 has created the armaments of the stag beetle. 256 00:33:41,198 --> 00:33:45,589 Their mandibles are so large that they can no longer be used for feeding, 257 00:33:45,758 --> 00:33:48,147 only for fighting. 258 00:34:04,838 --> 00:34:08,831 Beetle fighting technique doesn't just involve charging or pushing. 259 00:34:08,998 --> 00:34:14,994 Instead, each tries to prise his opponent from his footholds and hurl him aside. 260 00:34:43,478 --> 00:34:47,471 The Hercules beetle is one of the biggest of all insects. 261 00:34:48,158 --> 00:34:52,674 It, too, aims to lift and throw, but its weapons are rather different. 262 00:34:53,318 --> 00:34:55,309 Instead of enlarging its mandibles, 263 00:34:55,478 --> 00:35:00,757 this beetle has grown a huge, forward-pointing horn on the back of its neck. 264 00:35:00,918 --> 00:35:05,912 This engages with another curving upwards from the front of the head which is moveable, 265 00:35:06,078 --> 00:35:08,956 so the two can be used as pincers. 266 00:35:09,118 --> 00:35:12,554 Few animals, in proportion to their body size, 267 00:35:12,718 --> 00:35:17,712 have more specialised and spectacular weapons than these five-inch monsters. 268 00:35:46,358 --> 00:35:48,826 That looks like the decisive throw. 269 00:35:50,478 --> 00:35:51,957 But no! 270 00:35:58,438 --> 00:36:01,953 Flies, too, develop grappling irons on their heads. 271 00:36:02,118 --> 00:36:04,791 These are antler flies from Australia. 272 00:36:04,958 --> 00:36:09,827 The rules of their fights demand that one tries to make the other topple. 273 00:36:42,758 --> 00:36:45,909 A female approaches. She has no horns. 274 00:36:59,678 --> 00:37:03,307 A rival male tries to intervene, but is chased off. 275 00:37:07,518 --> 00:37:11,636 Having won, he takes his reward and guards the female 276 00:37:11,798 --> 00:37:14,870 while she lays the eggs that he has fertilised. 277 00:37:25,638 --> 00:37:29,870 A male ibex is on watch in the deserts of the Middle East. 278 00:37:30,038 --> 00:37:33,269 It's the beginning of the breeding season. 279 00:37:41,238 --> 00:37:44,355 Groups of females are scouring the mountainside, 280 00:37:44,518 --> 00:37:47,112 searching for a few leaves to eat. 281 00:37:49,678 --> 00:37:52,875 The males, however, are seeking out one another. 282 00:37:53,038 --> 00:37:55,871 Who is going to rule in these mountains? 283 00:38:22,158 --> 00:38:25,070 First, a cautious assessment. 284 00:38:41,598 --> 00:38:46,547 This, impressive though it seems, is still merely a measurement of each other's strength. 285 00:38:46,718 --> 00:38:51,792 If one is less strong, there is still time for discretion to be the better part of valour. 286 00:38:51,958 --> 00:38:57,271 But if both decide they have a chance of winning, then battle begins. 287 00:39:48,118 --> 00:39:51,190 This is a dangerous country in which to fight. 288 00:39:51,358 --> 00:39:55,954 Sometimes a losing animal is killed by being forced over a cliff. 289 00:39:56,118 --> 00:39:59,906 A contestant may be so badly injured, he never recovers. 290 00:40:00,518 --> 00:40:06,434 But when the arms race between males has equipped rivals with weapons of this size, 291 00:40:06,598 --> 00:40:11,433 that is the risk you must take if you are to perpetuate your genes. 292 00:40:39,878 --> 00:40:43,587 This is the biggest of all these kinds of weapons. 293 00:40:43,758 --> 00:40:46,830 It's the antler of an Alaskan bull moose. 294 00:40:47,438 --> 00:40:52,876 Together with its partner, it can have a spread of seven feet and weigh seventy pounds. 295 00:40:53,038 --> 00:40:58,635 It's so heavy and cumbersome that after the battles are over, the bull moose sheds them. 296 00:40:58,798 --> 00:41:01,915 It's such an impressive demonstration of strength 297 00:41:02,078 --> 00:41:05,434 that its mere appearance can deter a young bull. 298 00:41:06,438 --> 00:41:10,875 If it comes to a fight, these forward-pointing spikes are used 299 00:41:11,038 --> 00:41:14,633 to blind an opponent or rip a wound in its flank, 300 00:41:14,798 --> 00:41:18,347 this broad palm to parry thrusts from an enemy 301 00:41:18,518 --> 00:41:22,716 and these spikes here to act as grappling irons, 302 00:41:22,878 --> 00:41:25,472 so that when the horns become interlocked, 303 00:41:25,638 --> 00:41:29,108 the contest becomes one of sheer physical strength. 304 00:41:29,278 --> 00:41:34,989 During these battles, the antlers are often damaged, as this one has been there and there, 305 00:41:35,158 --> 00:41:40,710 but that doesn't matter because next year new antlers are grown bigger than ever. 306 00:41:46,758 --> 00:41:51,036 This dominant bull has claimed half a dozen cows. 307 00:41:54,078 --> 00:41:57,070 A young, ambitious male approaches the harem. 308 00:42:01,518 --> 00:42:04,237 The resident bull keeps an eye on him. 309 00:42:25,118 --> 00:42:27,678 A short charge - a warning. 310 00:42:28,678 --> 00:42:31,146 It's enough to see him off for now, 311 00:42:31,318 --> 00:42:35,311 but the young stranger is persistent and continues to harass the females, 312 00:42:35,478 --> 00:42:38,038 attempting to isolate one. 313 00:42:53,918 --> 00:42:58,946 The lord of the harem thrashes the bushes, drawing attention to his huge antlers, 314 00:42:59,118 --> 00:43:03,111 warning the young bull not to mess with him or his females. 315 00:43:05,878 --> 00:43:10,633 This magnificent bull has got a radio collar on him, so we know a lot about him. 316 00:43:10,798 --> 00:43:13,517 The collar was put on just over three years ago 317 00:43:13,678 --> 00:43:18,069 and already, at that time, he was king of this part of the mountains 318 00:43:18,238 --> 00:43:21,548 with a group of about half a dozen females. 319 00:43:21,718 --> 00:43:26,314 He's kept that group with him for the past three years and been mating with them 320 00:43:26,478 --> 00:43:28,753 and this is his fourth season. 321 00:43:28,918 --> 00:43:32,706 Bulls stand little chance of becoming dominant until they're about eight 322 00:43:32,878 --> 00:43:35,392 and they seldom live for more than 12 or 13 years, 323 00:43:35,558 --> 00:43:39,995 so this almost certainly is his last year as king. 324 00:43:40,158 --> 00:43:45,312 If he wants to mate with those cows again this year, he's going to have to fight for them. 325 00:45:17,518 --> 00:45:22,194 The battle is over, but at great cost to both sides. 326 00:45:22,358 --> 00:45:24,872 The loser's antlers are badly damaged. 327 00:45:29,518 --> 00:45:32,988 The following day, the king himself has collapsed. 328 00:45:33,158 --> 00:45:35,626 Within a few hours, he will be dead. 329 00:45:36,438 --> 00:45:41,068 His victories live on in the multitude of foals he fathered during his reign 330 00:45:41,238 --> 00:45:44,753 and his sons may develop antlers as big or even bigger than his 331 00:45:44,918 --> 00:45:47,876 precisely because he was their father. 332 00:45:48,038 --> 00:45:52,554 But even when the genetic arms race leads to such an escalation of weaponry, 333 00:45:52,718 --> 00:45:55,835 most disputes may still be settled without violence. 334 00:46:01,078 --> 00:46:04,514 Gazelles also have formidable armaments. 335 00:46:04,678 --> 00:46:07,476 A stab from their horns could be lethal. 336 00:46:07,638 --> 00:46:11,392 Yet the mood among the bucks is very different from among the moose. 337 00:46:11,558 --> 00:46:14,550 Actual battles are relatively infrequent. 338 00:46:24,838 --> 00:46:29,832 Rival Grant's gazelles assess one another's strengths with such care and reserve 339 00:46:29,998 --> 00:46:34,310 that a casual eye might not even recognise that this graceful gavotte 340 00:46:34,478 --> 00:46:37,231 has anything to do with conflict. 341 00:46:39,558 --> 00:46:41,594 They turn... 342 00:46:41,758 --> 00:46:43,828 and nod. 343 00:46:50,558 --> 00:46:53,709 They resume their parallel walk. 344 00:46:57,398 --> 00:47:01,186 This elegant ritualised parade is enough to convince 345 00:47:01,358 --> 00:47:06,307 most of the bucks in most of their disputes which of them is the victor. 346 00:47:06,478 --> 00:47:09,515 No conflict could be more restrained. 347 00:47:09,678 --> 00:47:14,672 But even among those animals who roar and snarl and brandish their weapons, 348 00:47:14,838 --> 00:47:19,229 most confrontations are settled with a similar lack of violence. 349 00:47:19,398 --> 00:47:22,629 Risking injury is the final resort. 350 00:47:22,798 --> 00:47:25,631 Restraint generally pays. 32810

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