All language subtitles for Natures.Strangest.Mysteries.Solved.Series.1.Part.19.Octopus.Throwdown.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

Narrator: Is this fur seal
using an octopus as a weapon?

Whoa. [ chuckles ]

Octopus to the face.

It's like a battle
of the beasts.

It's seal versus octopus...

Ah!
...Versus kayaker.

Narrator: Is something sinister
happening in the insect world?

Is the moth drinking
the bird's blood?

Narrator:
And why is this unusual creature

Leaping out of the irish sea?

Oh, okay. That is the first time
I've ever seen that.

♪

Narrator:
Nature is awe-inspiring,

But sometimes it just
doesn't make sense.

Man: I have never seen
anything like this.

Our team of experts investigates
the weirdest animal behavior...

That's amazing.

...And the most unexpected
events...

What is causing that?

...Ever caught on camera.

My god!

These are...

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

September 22, 2018,
kaikoura, new zealand.

Kayakers are enjoying
the calm waters of the pacific

When suddenly,
like a bolt from the blue,

A fur seal slaps one of them
in the face with an octopus.

Oh, smack.

Octopus to the face.

Oh!

[ chuckling ]
whoa. That's crazy.

It's an incredible
bit of footage.

I've never seen anything
like it.

Whoa!

What on earth is going on?

Narrator: To find out what
prompted this bizarre incident,

We need to know more
about this playful prankster.

♪

The new zealand fur seal,
like the 33 other seal species,

Is a very agile swimmer.

♪

It's also a social
and highly intelligent creature,

Which begs the question...

Why did this seal
throw an octopus

At this unsuspecting kayaker?

♪

Aryee: You could say that
this fur seal is playing.

It wouldn't be far-fetched
to suggest that at all,

And play, to me, is synonymous
with intelligence.

♪

Nosal:
Dolphins have also been observed

Throwing fish up into the air,

Which seems like they're
playing a game of catch.

Narrator: Just like us, dolphins
use play to hone their skills

And create bonds
with members of their group.

♪

Aryee:
Dolphins are highly intelligent.

They have complex social
interactions, and they do play.

Play is a method of learning,

Passing on information
from one dolphin to another.

♪

Narrator:
And seals are often seen

Exhibiting the same behavior.

Baker: So it is possible
that what you're seeing

Is an animal
playing with its food.

Narrator: But would a fur seal
make a toy out of an octopus?

It seems unlikely because
this sort of playing behavior

Has never
been documented before.

Seals have to hunt.

That takes a lot of energy,

And most likely,
they're hunting for a reason.

They have a plan
to consume their prey.

Narrator: It turns out mollusks,
like octopus,

Are a preferred prey
of fur seals

And account for around
a third of their diet,

But they do make
for a pretty difficult snack.

They are sticky things.

You know, they will grasp
and flail around,

And they can irritate.

Galante:
Could it be that in this case,

The seal is making
this octopus an example,

Using it as a teaching moment
for its offspring.

♪

Baker: If you're a predator,
it's quite a common thing

To show younger animals
the techniques

Required to dispatch
a tricky meal.

Narrator: Another mammal
who does just this

Is the mighty meerkat.

Unafraid of even
the most perilous prey,

They'll teach their young
using a step-by-step process.

Galante:
Baby meerkats will get presented

By their parents
with a dead scorpion.

As they become
a little bit older,

The parents will bring them

An injured scorpion
with no stinger,

And then
as they get older still,

The parents will bring them

An injured scorpion
with its stinger.

So finally, by the time
the meerkats reach adulthood,

They're ready to take on

Their very own wild,
fully formed scorpions.

Narrator: So could the fur seal
also be using nature's classroom

To give its young
hunting lessons?

That doesn't seem likely.
It's not teaching itself.

It's not teaching another seal.

It's not learning
from another seal

Because there's just one seal --
one seal, one octopus.

There's an octopus
on my boat.

So I think that there's
something else going on here.

Narrator: All the evidence
suggests the first seal

Is using the kayaker as a tool
to help it consume the octopus,

But it's not an easy task.

The first trick is finding them.

Octopus have extraordinary
camouflage abilities,

And they can hide
in the smallest of spaces.

Even after finding
and catching them,

There's still more work to do.

What you see this seal doing is
actually tenderizing his meal.

An octopus is basically
a giant muscle,

And it's tough as can be.

So in order to easily consume
such a thing,

It has to get softer.

Narrator: However,
it's not just the texture

Of the octopus
that's the problem.

It's worth bearing in mind
that octopus,

They are quite a dangerous meal.

After all,
this is a big mollusk.

Mollusks are
famously difficult to kill.

Galante:
If you're eating an octopus,

You have to be very careful.

Narrator:
That's because their limbs

Can make for a risky encounter.

Galante: They have eight arms
covered in suction cups

That can suffocate
or asphyxiate you.

Narrator: Worse still,
each arm has its own brain,

Which means each arm
can continue to fight back

For up to an hour
after being torn from the body.

Even when an octopus' arm
is severed,

It can continue
to move autonomously.

Nosal: Those suckers
can actually latch on

To the inside
of the digestive system

As the seal
is trying to swallow it,

And remember
that seals are like us.

They're breathing air
through their esophagus,

Through their nose,

And if that airway is clogged,
they could actually suffocate.

This octopus can potentially
kill this seal.

Narrator:
So the seal has to be certain

Every part of the octopus
is toast before eating it.

This is really important
if your potential prey

Has a really good
defense mechanism.

Narrator:
And prior to the face slap,

The seal had been spotted
wrestling with the octopus.

We could see a seal
continually bashing

And slapping this octopus
on the surface of the water.

Narrator: But it'll take more
than a few splashes to dispatch

This sticky customer.

So often with tricky prey items,

Watch a heron with an eel,
for example,

Or a kingfisher with
a particularly lively minnow,

You have to beat that thing
against a hard object.

Nosal: So these animals,
they know what they're doing.

They have realized that you need
to chuck around your food,

Make sure it's safe to eat.

Narrator: And in the case
of our fur seal...

[ camera shutter clicking ]

...It was looking for the means
of maximum impact.

If a rock was nearby,
it might have slammed it

Against the rock,
but it wasn't.

The kayaker was nearby.

The seal got him.

That kayak is a harder surface,

So it went to hit
that octopus on there.

Narrator: But instead,
it ended up tossing the octopus

Straight into
the kayaker's kisser.

I don't think it was
intentionally trying to slap

That man in the face
with an octopus.

Narrator: It was simply doing
whatever was necessary

To make the octopus lunch.

♪

November 2017, codajas, brazil.

Footage shot in the
amazon rainforest shows a bird

And a moth
engaged in a bizarre activity.

A moth hovers purposefully
behind the head of an antbird,

Pecking at its eye,
but what is it doing?

It seems a bit of a strange one.

So what on earth is going on?

♪

♪

Narrator:
In the amazon rainforest,

A moth
and an antbird are recorded

Engaging in a mysterious
interspecies activity.

The sight of a moth on the back
of an antbird

Pecking at the eyeball
of the bird

Seems a bit of a strange one.

So what on earth is going on?

♪

Greive: Are we witnessing
an example of mutualism

Where two species provide
services to help the other?

Narrator:
Mutualism is a phenomenon found

All over the animal kingdom

From little fish that clean
the parasites off big fish

To birds cleaning the parasites
off water buffalo.

Daly:
So one theory is that the moths

Could actually be cleaning
the ticks off the bird.

♪

Narrator: Antbirds get
their name from the fact

That they scavenge
from army ants.

Other birds, like this crow,

Will enlist ants for
an entirely different purpose.

Birds undertake a unusual
behavior called anting

Where they actually
lie on top of an ant nest

And/or run their wing feathers
over it

In order to attract attention
from the ants,

Sometimes even getting bitten.

Narrator: Formic acid that
the ants spray in defense

Acts as an antiparasite spray
on the birds' feathers.

The net result is
ant secretions force

Other parasites to leave
the birds' feathers.

Narrator: Could the antbird
also be enlisting

This species of moth,
gorgone macarea,

To help rid it of parasites?

In this case, it's very unlikely
as the moths

Don't secrete
any insect repellent.

Narrator:
With no shared benefit,

Mutualism is ruled out.

So could something more sinister
be going on?

There's also a somewhat
more macabre theory --

Is the moth drinking
the bird's blood?

Not an absurd theory.

A number of animals are known
to drink blood --

Ticks, mites, mosquitoes,

Even a species of bird
in the galapagos.

Narrator: The vampire finch
sucks the blood of other birds.

It has to tread fine line

Between breaking the skin
of its host to make it bleed

And not causing so much pain
that it flies away.

Of course, mosquitoes,
much like the one

Already feasting on the antbird
in this clip,

Are the most famous
bloodsucking insects,

And there is a very aptly named
moth species

Who is also on
a crimson crusade.

There are vampire moths.

There are sanguivorous moths

That will penetrate their prey
with its sharp proboscis

And suck on its blood
for up to an hour.

♪

Narrator:
But our moth is drinking

From the eye of the bird,
not from the skin.

Daly: In this case,
the moth looks like

It's drinking clear liquid
and not blood.

So what's going on?

Narrator: It turns out
that the moth is drinking

The bird's tears,
and for a very special reason.

What the moth really wants
is salt, specifically sodium.

Now, sodium is essential
to all living things.

Without it, we have no muscular
or nervous performance,

And moths specifically
need it to reproduce.

And when there is insufficient
sodium in their environment,

They have to get it
from other sources.

Narrator: Moths and butterflies
can find sodium

By mud puddling,

Where the insects
will alight on wet soil

Or dung to suck up
the salts they need.

♪

Yet the tears of other animals

Are often
more readily available.

It's not just moths that siphon
the tears from other animals.

Bees have been known
to drink crocodile tears,

And butterflies
actually have been known

To drink the tears of turtles.

♪

Narrator:
Bringing us the answer

To the mystery
of the bird-sucking moth.

Daly:
That's what you're seeing here.

The moths are actually drinking
the tears of the bird,

Which contain that sodium

And contain the nutrients
that they need for reproduction.

Narrator: As peculiar as
this seems, it turns out tears

Are the salty snack
of the animal kingdom.

♪

September 22, 2015,
malin head, donegal, ireland.

A normally sedate
but massive creature crashes

Through the surface
of the atlantic ocean.

Okay.

That is the first time
I've ever seen that.

This footage is
incredibly dramatic.

This is a very big animal that's
leaping clean out of the water.

Nelson: They almost look like
humpback whales coming out,

Breaching out of the water
and falling back.

Narrator:
But this is no whale.

That's a huge shark.

Narrator:
And not the kind of shark

You'd expect
to leap out of the water.

Burke: What gets
really interesting about it

Is when you identify
what species of shark this is.

Nelson: It kind of makes sense
for a great white,

But for a basking shark,
it makes no sense.

♪

♪

Narrator: September 22, 2015,
malin head, ireland.

Basking sharks
are seen repeatedly

Leaping out of the water,

A totally unexpected behavior
from a usually docile creature.

Nelson: For any animal
that's 6,000 pounds

To propel themselves
out of the water seems unusual.

Narrator: To get to the bottom
of this mystery,

We need to know more
about this fishy colossus.

♪

Basking sharks inhabit
many of the world's oceans.

♪

The basking shark is the second
biggest fish on the planet

Just after the whale shark,

And it's one of
the gentle giants of the ocean.

♪

26 feet long is not uncommon
for a basking shark.

That's big, but they're
slow-moving, generally.

Burke:
They usually just cruise around

At a gentle sort of
two miles per hour.

Narrator: And it's that gentle
nature that makes breaching,

The term for when animals
break the water's surface,

So surprising.

To see them moving
at these speeds

Is really quite extraordinary.

You have to ask, "why would
they expend that kind of energy

To breach?"

Nelson: I mean, they are called
basking sharks.

If this was something they
were seen all the time doing,

They might be called breaching
sharks, but they're not.

So why are they jumping out
of the water?

Narrator:
Could they have developed

Their breaching behavior
to find food?

If so, they're not alone.

The first predator that springs
to mind when you think

About breaching is, of course,
the great white shark.

♪

Now, the great white shark
can reach speeds

Of up to 40 miles an hour

And launch itself
10 feet up in the air.

♪

Breaching expends
a huge amount of energy

For great white sharks,
but it's needed.

It's important for them
to have a successful hunt

In catching their more agile
prey like seals and sea lions.

Nelson:
So it makes you wonder,

Maybe basking sharks
are doing something similar.

♪

Narrator: Except the diet of
basking sharks is very different

To that of the great white.

Nosal: Basking sharks have very,
very tiny teeth.

They are not hunting things
like seals or sea lions.

They're hunting little plankton,
copepods, fish eggs,

Maybe some
small fish in the water.

♪

There's no need to breach

When you're hunting
these sorts of things.

Narrator:
In which case,

Why are basking sharks
performing such airborne antics?

♪

Nosal: If they're not breaching
as a means of hunting,

It seems that
the most likely explanation

Is that they're breaching
to dislodge parasites.

Burke: Any surface of the skin
can get coated in anything

From sea lice to barnacles
and even other fish.

Narrator: The remora fish is
a particularly pesky freeloader.

Nosal: The remoras and various
shark species have co-evolved,

And what the remora has done

Is its head has adapted
into a suction cup

That can bound
into the bottom of a shark.

Any times there's bits of food
or scraps

That the shark may leave,

The remoras
take advantage of that,

But it adds a little bit
of weight to the shark,

And it's also going to reduce
their hydrodynamics

As they're trying to glide
through the water.

Narrator: An annoyance to
any animal, especially sharks.

Nosal:
You can imagine, like, a dog

Who has a tick or a flea,
what does it do?

It's going to bite at it.

It's going to use its leg
to scratch it.

The basking sharks
obviously can't do that.

Narrator:
Nonetheless, sharks will try

Whatever they can to rid
themselves of these moochers.

Daly: Sharks may roll around
in the surf

Or even scrape themselves
against rocks

In order to dislodge
these hangers-on.

But a basking shark is typically
found farther out to sea

Where it's not going to be near
any kind of rocks

Or the bottom to rub itself on,

So the best solution for them
might actually be to hit

The water with enough force
that it dislodges the parasite.

Narrator: Makes sense, but
dislodging parasites may not be

The only reason
basking sharks breach.

They seem to do this behavior
most often

When they're in a group,

Almost as if
they're only doing it

When there's somebody else
to impress.

♪

♪

Narrator: Basking sharks
off the coast of ireland

Are making a mockery
of their name

By leaping clear out
of the atlantic ocean.

If they are ridding themselves
of pesky parasites,

Why are they only doing it
in big groups?

Could it be some kind of
mating display?

Nosal:
In many animal species,

Males are often competing
for females' attention.

They want to mate with
as many females as they can.

Narrator: The ocean is full
of male show-offs.

Humpback whales sing
to their mates.

[ whale singing ]

Hooded seals
inflate their noses...

And mobula rays will splash
on the water's surface

As part of their
courtship behavior.

♪

Nelson: So this could be part
of a mating ritual

Where the males are attracting
females' attention.

So it makes sense that they're
trying to assert dominance

Over the other males
in the group.

They want to say,
"hey, I am the biggest,

Showiest, strongest male.
Breed with me."

Narrator:
However, there's a twist.

Female basking sharks
are breaching, too.

Burke: It appears that males
are able to assert

Their dominance over each other,
but the females breach, as well,

And it's thought
that they do this

To display
their readiness to mate.

Narrator: So its seems
the solution may be two-fold.

Basking sharks are breaching to
get clean and to find a mate.

Nosal: In the end, it's likely
a combination of factors

That's contributing

To the breaching behavior
in basking sharks.

They almost certainly do it
to dislodge parasites,

But it could also
have something to do

With the mating ritual, as well.

Nelson: You can only imagine
if you were a female,

You wouldn't want to mate with a
male that was full of parasites.

So it's kind of like
they're sprucing themselves up,

Getting ready for a big date.

So what's incredible about this
breaching behavior is it seems

That there's a lot
being communicated

In a simple leap out of the sea.

♪