All language subtitles for y03

[narrator] Togetherness.
It has its benefits.

More eyes to scan.

[howling]
More help at mealtime.

But when it's alpha time,

socializing takes on
a whole new meaning.

It's a gang fight.

[narrator] Whether beneath
the waves...

They will fight over,
well, pretty much anything.

[narrator] ...under our feet...

Soon you have a whole bunch
of ants fighting.

[narrator] ...or an alpha
pack on the tundra...

You want to get your share
as soon as possible.

[narrator] Keep your friends close...

Those mandibles can be vicious.

[narrator] And your enemies closer.

Everyday, everywhere,
our planet is a battleground.

Turf wars,

food fights

and mating mayhem rage on

as animals outwit and
outmanoeuvre their own kind

in The Battle of the Alphas.

They smile.

They hug.

Adorable, right?

Well, not always.

It's bloody. It's brutal.

It's underwater.

It's Aquatic Fight Club.

[narrator] Dolphins live
in every ocean of the world.

They are very, very intelligent

and they're very long-lived.
They'll do 40 years or more.

And because of that,

they develop incredible social interactions.

[narrator] Of course, not
all socializing looks like this

When you take into account
that level of intelligence,

that level of interaction,

they then fall into the same category

as other intelligent creatures
like us.

It makes them susceptible
to being mean,

they're going to be horrible,
and they are,

they do terrible things.

[narrator] So, what makes a
friendly dolphin snap?- They
will fight over, well, pretty
much anything.

[narrator] Older dolphins
use aggression to discipline
younger ones.

Mothers get combative
when protecting their babies.

But there's one clash
in the dolphin world that's
nastier than the rest.

It's a gang fight

that's all in the name of
successful reproduction. - When
it comes to fighting over girls,

it's not just who has the car
with the loudest exhaust.

It actually gets bloody
and it gets nasty.

[narrator] These young male
bottlenose dolphins

are looking for a fight.
They're each other's back up

and wingmen, a bond that
started way back.

From a very young age, male
bottlenoses will form alliances

with one or two other males,

and they will stay with these
friendships or alliances

through the bulk
of their entire lives.

[narrator] They hunt together,
play together

and during mating season, they
work together to secure a mate.

Female dolphins don't pop out
babies on the regular.

They'll have just one calf
every four to five years.

And what this does is it makes
those eggs very, very expensive.

They're at a premium. Every male
would like to fertilize her egg,

but only one male is going
to be successful.

So when you do get a female
that is ready to breed,

there is a lot of pressure.

There's a lot of pressure
for you to be the male

that sires that calf.

[narrator] Because a fertile
female is so precious

she's often guarded by
a group of males.

If a rival group wants
to mate with her,

they've got to fight for it.

The idea is to get in there

and physically
steal the female away,

to get in there and
push her away. And it's brutal

Does the female have any say
in this whatsoever?

She really doesn't.

And this is a dark side of
dolphin biology

that many of us are not all that
familiar with.

[narrator] An incoming crew
will often bring extra muscle.

They will join forces with yet
another group

to make a bigger gang
to then harry the female away.

[narrator] It's a hostile
takeover that's been observed

in various species of dolphin.

Prior to the full on onslaught
of violence,

dolphins will also do
some posturing,

some sizing up of each other.

[narrator] Tail slapping.

Bared teeth.

Aggressive body posturing.

I mean, you see it across
the entire planet with males

is they make themselves
look big.

And that for the dolphin
is to kind of form into

this strange S shape.
It highlights their muscles.

It's basically saying,
"Look at me, I'm hard.

You don't want none of this,
sunshine."

[narrator] In this face-off,
neither group backs down.

They both want the female

and there's only one way
of getting her.

This is a serious beast, alright?

You've got a 600-kilo
battering ram.

And that's what they will do.
They will swim at each other

and they will headbutt
each other.

And these are just animals
of pure muscle.

Now, if that rough and tumble
isn't enough,

you've got up to
100 conical-shaped teeth.

So they're just like drill bits

and they will tear serious
chunks out of each other.

[narrator] Battle cries
ring out.

Distinct vocalizations

used during moments
of extreme aggression.

When it comes
to the intricate business

of trying to extract a female,
communication is vital.

They actually detect sound
with their lower jaw.

And through processes that we
really still don't understand,

they can then translate
those frequencies

and have this incredible image
of the world around them.

So the echolocation of dolphins
is, I mean, it's so good.

And it all comes down to their
unbelievable ability to hear

and to create sound
in this entirely unique way.

[narrator] Brains and brawn
determine victory.

The group with superior
communication and stamina

will successfully wrangle
the female away.

But that doesn't mean
the violence is over.

If the female tries to escape,
she's attacked.

They will bite her,
they will headbutt her,

they will harass her,
they'll keep her away from
the surface.

It's really, really nasty stuff.

[narrator] In many cases,

all the males will mate
with the female,

but they won't all become dads.

Now, Mother Nature, she always
levels the playing field.

So even though these males
have managed to get this female

and get her away,
she's not helpless.

She will submit because
she wants to survive.

They could have the physicality
to hurt her.

But she has got a very clever
secret weapon.

Female dolphins have
incredibly complex vaginas.

It's basically more twisted
and more spiralled

than a Guillermo Del Toro film.
Okay?

And so, when a male
actually comes in to mate
with her forcibly,

she has the ability to guide
his penis away into a cul-de-sac

into a dead end so that his
sperm can't get near her egg.

These evolutionary changes are
called cryptic female choice

and they happen quite frequently
as a means by which

females can take back some
of that power.

[narrator] It's not vindication
for what she's been through

but for this social animal,

she does get the final say
in who sires her offspring.

And that is a victory.

[♪]

Speaking of anti-social
behaviour.

Two ants from two different
ant colonies.

One unfortunate caterpillar.

Those conflicts might look
like just two ants fighting over
a caterpillar.

But the big picture is that
this is a massive battle

between two super organisms.

[narrator] It's a food fight
that will trigger something
much bigger.

So when you see two ants
having a battle,

you're missing so much when
you just look at it

because the smells of what
is going on are so important.

An ant that's in battle secretes
a whole bunch of scents

called pheromones.

[narrator] Once one soldier
tells another

the war council gathers.

Pretty soon you don't just
have two ants fighting,

you have a whole bunch of ants.

[narrator] It's a battle
for dominion.

Grappling.

Tugging.

Pushing.

Intimidating.

Now to you, all these
different ants might all
look the same,

and the fact is,
for a lot of ants,

the same is basically true.

Vision is not what
they're mainly using

to tell each other apart.

[narrator] Ant societies use
scent to distinguish

who belongs and who does not.

They've got those two long antennae

that have about 20 olfactory
receptors on them,

and they use these to pick up
the chemicals

and determine who's friend
and who's foe.

[narrator] An ant soldier's
scent is her uniform.

There are no spies.

There is no element of surprise

They're showing everything
to everyone all the time

so that that superorganism,
the colony,

knows exactly what's going on
at the global scale.

[narrator] The colonial army
has a prime directive.

It's all about protecting
the queen.

You might think
an ant's greatest enemy
would be predators,

so maybe something
like an anteater because
it's in the name,

but you'd be wrong because
an ant's greatest enemy

is actually other ants.

[narrator] And when one ant
colony begins to compete

with another for food,
war is inevitable.

The smallest incident
can ignite a massive conflict.

Scouts hurry back to
the colony,

releasing pheromones
and sounding the alarm.

News travels from antenna
to antenna.

So it's kind of like an S.O.S.
signal, a distress signal.

And what will happen is
all the other ants will come in

and swarm in and they will
provide backup.

[narrator] Soon the entire
colony is at DEFCON 1.

When the skirmish turns
to full-on battle,

it's all mandibles on deck.

They have weapons
that they actually use
to gouge and scratch,

and they will bite each other.

[narrator] In an ant battle,

size is not always
the determining factor.

So whoever has
the strongest venom,

whoever is able to clamp
their jaws shut

and keep them shut
even if they're smaller,

might be able to win.

[narrator] This black ant looks
like it's grooming itself.

In fact it has a smaller
attacking ant in its face.

These red ant soldiers
are fantastically strong.

They can lift like 100 times
their body weight.

So if I picked up an SUV
with one hand

and then picked up
an SUV with the other hand,

then I'm starting
to behave like an ant.

[narrator] Ants have a low
bite force.

So some species rely
on an atomic ingredient
in their mandibles.

They are essentially
bionic because they have
zinc inside them.

which allows them to not
only be super sharp,

but also, they're super light.

It's common to see limbs missing,

parts of their legs missing.

And it really is kind of like
a suicide mission

because obviously that big ant
has huge mandibles.

So if it managed to grasp on to
one of those smaller ants,

they're done for.

[narrator] Ants will fight
until the bitter end.

And even beyond the end.

Even when they've lost
their heads.

When a person fights,

let's say they're fighting
over a mate,

they need to survive well enough
that they can go and mate
afterwards. If they get totally
mangled in a fight, it wasn't

But for ants,
that's not the math.

For ants, they just have
to protect the queen.

It makes sense for that head
to keep fighting

as long as it possibly can.

And so ant heads, even though
they're severed off the body,

are still clamped on
and still doing their best
to win that fight.

[narrator] The colony survives
and thrives as a social group.

Because there is no 'I'
in ant.

From killer colonists
to primate paradise.

The highlands of Ethiopia.

It's the only place in the
world to find the gelada baboon.

Geladas are known as the most
terrestrial primate.

Geladas spend a lot of time
working on their complicated
social networks.

[narrator] The gelada live
in family groups.

There's an alpha male,

perhaps a subordinate male,

two to 10 females

and their dependent offspring.

These family units can come
together in bands,

and several of these bands
can then come together in an
even larger group.

There can be up to 1000 individuals,

all loosely grouped into
the same tribe.

Other than us humans, it's one
of the largest gatherings

of primates in the world.

[narrator] An abundance of
grass usually makes

for a peaceful vegetarian society.

Until all hell breaks loose.

[screaming]

As with all primates,

communication is vital
to the gelada's social order.

This troop's alpha is on alert.

He hears trouble brewing.

He sends out a warning.

Geladas can create over
30 different vocalizations,

and the status of any
one individual

will be reflected in the kinds
of vocalizations that they make.

[narrator] Warnings,
invitations

and sometimes ambivalence.

The alpha may just give
them a yawn.

[narrator] For a vegetarian,
the gelada is equipped

with a surprising set
of canines.

Even though the diet
of the gelada is entirely
made out of grass,

they still have these
very, very sharp canine teeth.

Not only are those teeth a
great display,

they're also great for defence.

And they can use them to inflict
some pretty serious damage

If a challenging male comes forward,

the existing alpha male's got a
couple of tricks up his sleeve.

He will bring his lips back,

exposing the massive
gum line and importantly,

the massive teeth hiding
behind there.

This is a way to basically say,

"Hey, this is what I got
for ya,

if you're going to keep
coming at me."

[narrator] If the alpha's
visual cues aren't persuasive.

It's time to fight.

The more dominant one will try
to stamp on the other one,

bite them, scratch them,
claw at them.

These big, beautiful
coats of fur

are getting pulled and yanked.

These are formidable-looking
creatures,

and when they fight,
all bets are off.

Individual geladas can go up
to 40 kilometres an hour.

These guys can run really,
really quickly

on top of all of the other scary
things they can do.

[narrator] But, in the gelada's
complex society,

the winner is not necessarily
the winner.

This troop's alpha
has a cheering section.

The females are not just bystanders.

They actually hold a lot
of power in the social dynamics
of the group.

With geladas, it's the females
that have the ultimate say

in which male will be the alpha.

[narrator] The bonds between
females are stronger

than the bond with the alpha.

It may not be the winner
of that fight between the two males,

but the females will make their decision,

and in this way, they decide
which alpha male

will be the one to father
all of their offspring.

They're kind of in control of
his reproductive success.

There really is strength
in numbers,

so they're literally driving
that male away from the group. -
What they decide is what happens
in the unit.

[narrator] But the interloper
still has a chance.

He tries another tactic:
a charm offensive.

They come in and start
to groom females,

winning over their favour.

In this way, when they come
subsequent to that,

to challenge the alpha male,

maybe the ladies will be
on his side.

All families fight and
all animals experience conflict,

but what's really remarkable
about these geladas

is that they're using their
intelligence to decide

who is fighting and when,
and that really sets them apart
from other primates.

[narrator] In the complex
social world of the gelada,

it takes a real alpha to
appreciate the art of the deal.

I scratch your back.

And you scratch mine.

[♪]

All species fight
their own kind.

[howling]
But for the top of every
food chain,

there is no contest

this is an apex alpha

Spring in the arctic.

The flowers are blooming.

And the alpha predators
are hungry.

So this is an animal that
lives and fights together

and survives together,

and that is the only way it can
manage in this tough,

inhospitable environment.

Without that pack,
they are nothing.

[narrator] The arctic wolf pack
is a tight

and highly social family unit.

It's just a family,
the leading two,

what you might think of
as alphas,

they're just the parents
of the group.

These are the two that reproduce.

These are the two that
lead the pack in finding
food and hunting.

And those offspring
often stick around to stay
with their family,

but also to take care
of the young.

[narrator] To feed this
extended family,

the adults combine their acute
sense of smell.

A wolf can detect odours over
1,5 kilometres away.

The advance team
sniffs an opportunity.

They are adept at picking up
on cues in the habitat

to follow and track down
these animals.

They are just so detailed
in the way that they communicate
with each other.

They have to know whether
they are resting

or whether they're actively
in a hunt.

They have to know
how each other is feeling

and what the other is doing
pretty much at all times.

[howling]

[narrator] An arctic wolf's
distinct howl

can be heard across
five kilometres.

Whether it be howling,
barking, yipping,

all of these different types of
really speaking to each other.

They might also communicate
their location
from long distances.

[narrator] Their location...

and the location of prey.

A herd of musk ox.

[Dilger] Wolves aren't just
going for the most abundant
species of animal.

They're very selective.

They don't work hard.
They work smart.

Part of what allows them to
take down such massive animals

is the size of their packs,

but also the way that
they tire it out.

They can run down an animal
for quite a distance.

[narrator] They separate
a mother and her calf from
the herd.

They have to work effectively
as a pack.

[narrator] Especially when
hunting an animal

up to 10 times larger
than themselves.

An arctic wolf weighs between
30 to 50 kilograms.

A muskox can weigh 350.

It's really important these
animals don't get injured

because if they're injured,

then they're no use
to the pack whatsoever.

So they will be biting the rear,

they'll be biting the flanks,
they'll be taking breaks.

If another one needs
to step out,

I need to tap out for a second,
then another one's going to come
in and grab a hold of that
animal and try to bring it down.

Other animals will come in

and eventually they will
wear down the muskox.

They'll grind it down.

[narrator] Other pack members
take down the calf.

Once their target is on
the ground,

it's officially a meal.

When the wolves close
in for the kill,

it can be quite brutal
to watch.

Sometimes it's best
for them to just start
eating straight away.

Once that animal is down,
some other wolves are going
to come in immediately

and just start eating.

You want to get your share
as soon as possible.

If they manage to pull down
a 900-pound ox

that will feed the pack
for days,

and that is the ultimate result.

[narrator] The alpha she-wolf
has dinner for her pups.

She brings food back
to the youngest members
of the pack,

too young to join the hunt.

This wolf pack, by weeding out
the younger,

the really old,
the frail members

of the muskox population,

they're leaving behind
more healthy,

more vigorous animals,
which is important

for the health of
the population themselves.

And you're reducing
that competition pressure

in these other species groups.

So even though it does look
brutal and it is unpleasant,

they are actually doing a huge
favour to the ecosystem

by being highly selective in
the animals that they prey upon.

[narrator] If they survive
through the coming winter,

these pups will be joining
the pack as hunters.

It's never too soon
to practice...

[howling]

...the call of the wild.

[♪]

It pays to be social.

[growling]
Whether on the attack...

Or defending the home front.

A successful alpha knows

there's strength in numbers.