All language subtitles for PBS.Nature.Super.Cats.Series.1.3of3.Science.and.Secrets.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

Big or small,

cats have conquered
the planet.

But as adaptable as they are,

we're encroaching
on their space.

Around the world cat numbers
are decreasing.

If we get complacent
we could see tigers go extinct.

I couldn't imagine a world
without tigers.

It's a critical time
for new research

and cat conservation.

Holy mackerel.

He's a loose cannon.

But there are
success stories to be told.

This is an age of
discovery that's revolutionizing

how we view
this amazing, super family.

Cheetahs are
the world's fastest land animal.

It's said they can accelerate
faster than a Ferrari.

But no one knows for sure
what they're really capable of.

Professor Alan Wilson has spent
the last five years

trying to find out.

Cheetahs are amazing,

they're so much faster
than anything else.

We've got an animal
that has got four times

the acceleration of Usain Bolt

and more than twice
the top speed,

how can they not
be fascinating to study.

Alan wants to find
the cheetah's top speed

when it really counts...

during a hunt.

He's developed high tech collars
to record the cheetah's speed,

position, and G force
while they're hunting.

The cheetahs soon disappear.

They cover hundreds of miles
in search of their prey.

That makes getting
any information back

from the collars
a real challenge.

Alan's solution?

He's built his own plane --

from scratch,

learned how to fly it,

and then filled it to the brim
with the latest technology.

We have a tracking
antenna on the wing.

We have a three-dimensional
laser scanner.

We have a video camera
on a gimbal.

That's a missile
guidance system.

Okay, let's go find
some cheetah.

Coming into the air is just
such a revolution

for wildlife research.

Okay, cheetahs on
the left wingtip.

The cheetahs' collars
record details

of their movements
300 times a second.

As the plane flies over,

it locks on to each collar
and downloads the data.

There we go, we're
downloading collar 7-5-0.

Each of those files
represents one hunt.

After recording
more than 500 hunts,

Alan clocked a cheetah's top
speed of 58 miles an hour.

Impressive.

But what surprised him was that
most hunts were much slower,

only half their
potential top speed.

It turns out,
for a cheetah,

hunting is not all about
the sprint.

So, what are they relying on
to catch their dinner?

To investigate, Alan has
enlisted three volunteers...

And a rag on a string.

These hand-reared cheetahs love
chasing a moving lure...

Replicating how cheetahs behave
when hunting.

Prey animals don't run in
a straight line for long.

To follow their prey,
cheetahs must also weave

and change direction.

This maneuvering inevitably
slows them down,

but it's also where
their real strength lies.

The accelerations
and decelerations,

the G forces they're pulling
in the turns are very high.

The force going
through their legs

would be enough
to break a human leg bone.

The lure's just taken
the corner

and the cheetah's banking

and see how it's using
its tail here,

which is helping control
the roll of its body

and helping stabilize it
and it slowed down to turn

then it's accelerating again
out of shot towards the lure.

Rather than speed,

the key to
the cheetahs' hunting success

is their agility.

We started believing
that cheetahs

are the elite sprinter

and that was
their main attribute.

What we've seen
is that they're gymnasts,

they can accelerate,
they can maneuver,

they can turn, and that is what
they're good at,

almost the speed is a by-product
of all that athleticism.

So they are remarkable athletes,
but we shouldn't think of them

as just a speed merchant,
there's much more

to their repertoire than that.

Even with
the most familiar cats

there's still so much
to discover.

Lions.

Supreme hunters.

The strongest cat.

Could they also be
the smartest big cat?

Dr. Natalia Borrego
certainly thinks so,

and is on a mission
to prove it...

Though it's not
the easiest thing to test

in any cat,
let alone a lion.

Her theory is based on the fact

that lions
live together in prides.

So cats are
all solitary

and effectively live
on their own, except for lions,

they live in prides
and are very social

and when we think of other
social species --

elephants, dolphins,
spotted hyenas,

chimpanzees -- they're all
very intelligent.

So in theory lions should be
the smartest of the cats.

The idea that social
animals are more intelligent

is well established,

but has never been
proved for lions.

Cats are notoriously
uncooperative.

What possible IQ test
could you give a lion?

Natalia's traveled to
South Africa for the chance

to test a slightly
unusual pride.

Kevin Richardson has
an unconventional approach

to working with lions.

For 10 years he's lived
alongside

these rescued animals,

becoming part of the pride.

Kevin can act as a go-between
to the lions,

giving Natalia
a unique opportunity

to run her experiments.

So, here looks good.

Natalia has designed
a puzzle for the cats to solve.

Mind your fingers.
Yeah.

The lion must work out
how to open a door,

then reach her head inside
to get to a reward.

Good.

There's nothing like
this in nature,

so to Ginny the lion,
it's a Rubik's cube.

And if the lions
come, you just pop it down.

I just pop it
back down.

Ginny.

Here.
Look here.

First, she must figure
out how to pull the door

with her paw.

Clever!

Aw, you're so clever.

You are so clever my sweetie,
oh, but it slams, eh?

What did it do?

I think she's more interested
in the box now than the food.

Here. Here.

Next she needs
to learn to stand back

and allow
the door to swing open.

Get your head
out the way.

Get your head out the way.
There we go.

Before, finally,
she can reach her head inside.

That's not bad.
No that's good.

Clever.
One more time?

Yeah.
Two more times?

I think a couple
more times.

Couple more times.

There, see, she got it.

It's taken Ginny
20 minutes to figure it out.

But now she's cracked it.
There we go.

Yeah, she's getting her
head out of the way now.

There we go.
One more time.

Okay, okay, cool.
Yeah, there you go.

Easy now
she's got it.

Well done.

That deserves
a round of applause.

Next comes
the crucial part of the test.

Kevin has brought the lions
into an enclosure

to allow pride mate, Libby,
to watch Ginny's efforts.

The ability to learn by
watching others

is considered a real sign
of intelligence.

It would put lions
in the company

of the brightest minds
in the natural world.

Good.
Yeah you slam that door.

That's it, stay open.
Good girl.

No there she goes.

She can see
what she's doing. Yeah.

Yeah, I think she's got
it

and it's time
to let Libby out.

If lions can learn
from each other,

Libby should solve
the puzzle in seconds.

If not...
See what she does

It's going to
take her another 20 minutes.

Now she goes
to the right side.

There, I think,
I don't think you can get

any clearer than that,
that was amazing.

Yeah, here we go
my girl, here here, here here.

Good job, Libby.

It's the very first
time anyone has shown

that lions learn
from each other.

She knows
that that's the one.

Natalia has tested
leopards and tigers --

lions outperform them both.

It looks like Natalia
is right...

Now she doesn't
even bother.

Lions are
the smartest big cat.

So the experiments
went really well,

much better than expected,
and it really did show

that lions can learn
socially from each other.

Their intelligence

and ability to learn from
each other

allows lions to hunt
like no other cat.

No cat is easy to study,

though at least lions
are relatively easy to find.

But most cats are so elusive...

secretive...

and well camouflaged...

that they're rarely seen,
let alone studied.

Learning more about these cats
takes people

whose dedication
knows no bounds.

Someone like
Dr. Andrew Hearn.

Deep in the forests of Borneo,

a chance encounter set him off
on his life's mission.

I was part of
an expedition team

to an uncharted area
of Indonesian Borneo.

One morning I went along a trail
just to go

and sit down and relax

and see what wildlife
I could see.

And I was sat there quietly,
and a small little red cat

walked out of the side
of the forest,

walked across the trail,

paused about 20 meters
in front of me.

I grabbed my notebook,
started to sketch it,

but I had no idea
what it was.

It was only when I returned back
to the camp later that day,

spoke to some of
the Indonesian staff and said,

"Do you know this --
do you know this cat?"

So it was only then that I
learned that this was this, um,

the Borneo Bay cat,
and it quickly became apparent

that nothing was known
about this animal.

The bay cat is one of
the world's least known cats...

And Andrew has devoted
every year since

to finding out
anything about them.

But the chance of him seeing
another one

would be like
winning the lottery twice.

So, how do you study
something you can't see?

Camera traps.

Combining a sensitive
motion sensor

with a high resolution camera,

Andrew and his team
deploy dozens of these

through the forest...

and spend months

trekking through
the jungle checking them.

Back at base there are
thousands of hours of footage

to plow through.

Most contain no cats whatsoever.

But eventually,
Andrew struck gold.

Almost.

So this is the first-ever
video of the bay cat

in the world.

It's not the finest video,
it's not the most exciting,

but to us
that was just spectacular.

We were absolutely blown away

when this thing appeared on
the camera traps in front of us.

This is the fruit
of 12 years' labor.

Yet to this day, only two
videos of wild bay cats exist:

Andrew's and this one,
more recently captured.

No wonder we know so little
about these cats,

and now,
it's a race against time.

Borneo has one of the highest
rates of deforestation

in the world.

To protect some space
for the bay cat,

Andrew wants to find out
what kind of forest they need.

He has managed to
capture photographs

which help shed some light.

In, what is it,
12 odd years

we've only got
something like 60 photos.

They're so rare,
they're so hard come by.

Each photograph of the bay cat
is worth its weight in gold.

It helps to piece together
the ecology

and the conservation needs
of these cats.

Much of
the deforestation in Borneo

is to make space for palm oil.

While some cats can make it
in these plantations,

bay cats disappear.

For the bay cat to survive,

some natural forest
must be protected.

Andrew's determined
to uncover

whatever else he can about
the mysterious bay cat,

even if it takes
another 12 years.

Camera traps are revolutionizing

our understanding
of the entire cat family.

Deploying them in the remotest
corners of the planet

for months at a time
is yielding unique insights

into these very private lives.

In China, two cats that
wouldn't normally cross paths,

a leopard and a snow leopard,
are filmed by the same camera

just days apart.

In Costa Rica, a margay argues
with an angry possum.

And in the dunes
of the Western Sahara,

camera traps record
the first ever shots

of wild sand cat kittens.

One pioneering study has taken
the use of camera traps

to another level.

Mountain lions, also known
as cougars or pumas.

Camera traps are now challenging
what we know

about this American icon.

She's here.

It all started
with Dr. Mark Elbroch's passion

for these charismatic cats.

Here she is,
running across.

Look at the size
of the footprint.

I live mountain lions.

I track them, I watch videos
of them, I go to sleep at night

and I dream
about mountain lions.

This guy's a,
he's a loose cannon.

This is the part where
you try not to get bit.

In the Teton Mountains

of Wyoming, Mark and his team

want to learn more
about mountain lion

hunting and feeding behavior.

Using GPS collars to track
the animals,

they identify cat hotspots.

...quite a bit,
which is good.

No, so we should get in there
and set some cameras

-Sounds good.

Mark expected
an insight

into the solitary life
of lone cats...

But the more he watched,

the more he began to realize
something else was going on.

Here comes the nine
year old resident female,

and she comes round
and she turns

and here comes
a six year old female.

She's doing mild hissing and in
the beginning we thought,

gosh, all that hissing,

it's the pre-runner to violence,

it's super aggressive.

No, hissing seems
pretty normal

now that we've seen it over
and over and over again.

So what happened next?

They spent two days together
and this is what they did.

They shared a meal.

It blew me away.

That wasn't his only
surprising discovery.

It's thought that males

are normally aggressive
towards females,

even capable of killing them.

But the cameras show
that's not true either.

Every time we've seen
a male approach

a female outside courtship

this is exactly what they do,
they slink in.

Notice how low he's holding
his body to the ground,

his ears are to the side
and almost sagging,

they minimize their profile,
they try to look smaller,

it is completely
non-aggressive,

he clearly just wants
to share a meal.

And you can see as he comes
in there's no hissing,

there's nothing,
she just watches.

And it's the kitten
that does all the hissing.

There they are,

massive resident adult male
feeding on the carcass,

three month old kitten
and mother

falling asleep
in the background.

Rather than always
being aggressive,

males become positively meek
when they want to share a meal.

After analyzing 13 years of data
and thousands of videos,

Mark has discovered these social
interactions follow a pattern.

Mountain lions
remember each other,

and they're much more
likely to share their dinner

with a cat that has been
generous with them in the past.

We're beginning
to describe a species

that has some sort of
social system,

that is interacting
with a frequency

that challenges this idea
that they are solitary animals

and it's just opening our eyes

and completely turning
everything on its head

on what we thought were the
social lives of mountain lions.

Cats never fail
to surprise us.

Covering more than
30 square miles

and employing 20,000 people...

Secunda CTL is the biggest
industrial complex in Africa.

An unlikely place for a cat...

But ecologist Daan Loock
made an amazing discovery here.

It all started with reports of

strange creatures
prowling the site after dark.

I just can't make out
what it is.

Hopefully it crosses here
but I don't think so,

there's a lot of thickets
just to our left hand side,

I think it will,
there it is just in front of us!

There it is!

Oh, that's very special.

The strange creature
is a serval.

There it goes.

I'm very excited, I must say.

Daan covered the site
in camera traps,

and to his surprise,
there were servals everywhere.

He worked out that
the population density

is six times higher than in
the most pristine wilderness.

Servals are not merely
surviving here...

This is the densest population
known.

Servals are found
across Africa

and specialize in hunting
rodents and small birds.

They have the biggest ears
of any cat,

to help pinpoint their prey.

And with spring-like legs,
they pounce over ten feet.

By fitting servals
with GPS radio collars,

Daan was able to answer
why there were so many on site.

Most importantly,
Daan's map reveals the servals

are concentrated
in particular areas --

around water.

Ponds and streams used to cool
the heavy industry

create the perfect habitat
for rodents...

abundant food for the servals.

With no other big predators,

there's no competition.

Servals have become
the apex predators...

and run riot.

Now, this site has the highest
concentration of servals

anywhere in the world.

All across the planet,

cats are adapting to
urban habitats.

In response,
people often need to learn

how to live alongside cats.

Mumbai, India.

One of the world's
largest cities,

home to over 20 million people.

Mumbai is also home
to the world's

highest known
density of leopards.

In the dead of night,
they creep into the city

from the surrounding forests.

Krishna Tiwari grew up
in Mumbai.

He's now dedicated his life

to studying the city's
urban leopards.

He saw a leopard
the day before yesterday

and when the leopard saw him
he just ran away

to the other side of the wall.

The story is the same
all across the city.

People encounter
leopards on a regular basis.

She came out
at around 8:30

to wash clothes here
and when she put up a torch

she saw a leopard
sitting on the rocks

and as soon as, you know,

there was light on the leopard
he just got up,

and she was so afraid
that you know she came back

to the house
and called her husband.

The outcome
of these encounters

isn't always so peaceful...

After all, the leopards are
coming into the city to hunt.

Livestock are abundant
and unprotected.

Stealth is the leopard's
most effective weapon.

Dogs often provide
an early warning...

But drawing attention from
a leopard isn't a good idea.

Dogs are also on the menu.

And sadly,
it doesn't stop there.

In the 23 years
from 1990 to 2013,

176 people were attacked
by leopards in Mumbai.

But in just one month
during 2004,

10 people were killed.

Something had to be done.

Krishna and the authorities
took a bold approach.

Pioneering an education program,
Krishna wanted to teach people

how to live safely
alongside leopards.

Simple measures like staying
in groups at night,

locking up livestock,

and not running
from leopards

has made a huge difference.

20,000 people
have attended the meetings.

The awareness program
has been a great success

as the last four years
have seen no leopard attacks

and I think it's a good
and long-term solution

to reduce the human/leopard
conflicts in Mumbai.

Unfortunately,
educating the local dogs

has proven trickier.

They provide a vital
early warning,

but are still being taken.

Raj has lost 3 dogs
to leopard attacks.

He then hit on an idea

which might help
protect his current pet.

He thinks that the dog,

the leopard will think
that it is also a leopard.

Even you know it's being
protected by other dogs

so I think it's a good idea.

The jury's still out
on whether this even works,

and anyway,
what self-respecting dog

wants to be dressed up
as a cat?

He's certainly not convinced.

Krishna's mission to spread
tolerance is working.

And Mumbai's leopard
population is thriving.

It's a rare example of people
accepting their presence

and making space for cats.

Elsewhere, it's a very
different story.

Nearly half of all wild cats

are threatened
with extinction.

As top predators they need
a lot of food and space...

And with an ever-growing
human population,

competition for that space
is rising.

In the last 20 years,
leopards have been wiped out

from 40% of their range.

Cheetahs have become extinct
in 25 countries.

Not even lions are spared.

Numbers have fallen by nearly
half in two decades.

The King of Beasts
could go extinct in the wild.

The driving passion people
feel for cats

is now their greatest
hope for survival.

Holy mackerel.

Especially
for the animal

that's long been the face
of cat conservation.

Dr. Krithi Karanth's love
of tigers

started at a very young age.

I first saw a tiger

when I was two years old
with my father

and my grandfather
in Nagarhole National Park.

I was amazed and in awe.

There is nothing like seeing
a tiger in the wild.

Years later,

and now a world-renowned
tiger conservationist,

Krithi remains enthralled.

There are no words
that can really capture

the emotion of seeing a tiger.

Every single time
I've seen a tiger in the wild

I've been either left speechless
or giggling silly or crying,

I mean it's a range of emotions,
but you never forget.

To me, tigers are truly one

of the most spectacular
cats on the planet.

But like so
many of the cats,

survival of the tiger
is on a knife edge.

We see images
and stories

about tigers all the time,

could give us the impression
that they're not endangered

but they absolutely are.

They're one of the most
threatened big cats

in the world today.

Over the last century,

95% of wild tigers
have vanished.

There are now more tigers
in captivity

in the United States alone

than in all the wild.

It is impossible for me

to imagine
a world without wild tigers.

But if we get complacent

we could see tigers go extinct.

Sorry.

I --
I couldn't,

I couldn't imagine a world
without tigers.

Krithi has spent
her life raising awareness

and funding to save the tiger.

She's set up a project that
helps villagers get compensation

when tigers
attack their livestock.

It's helping ease some of
the conflict with local people.

Here in India, the greatest
challenge is giving tigers

the space
they so desperately need.

One solution is
to help villagers

who currently live within
the National Parks to relocate.

Krithi is part of a team
that assists those

who choose to make a new home
beyond the park boundaries.

Once you move people out,

the vegetation comes back,
the prey numbers rebound,

and then tiger numbers
come back.

So, ecological recovery
takes time,

but I think nature knows
how to heal itself.

There's been
a lot of time,

money, and effort spent --

and the tide may be turning.

After a long time

we're seeing
wild tigers come back,

population stabilize and recover
in many tiger reserves.

It shows that we can
change the future for cats

if there is
the will to protect them.

One pioneering project is even
attempting to rescue a cat

from the very edge
of extinction.

Just a century ago,
thousands of Iberian lynx

roamed the ancient woodlands
of Spain and Portugal.

But a combination of
habitat loss, hunting,

and lack of prey caused
their numbers to collapse.

By 2002, fewer than
a hundred were left.

The Iberian lynx was declared
the rarest cat on the planet.

Today, an international team of
scientists and conservationists

are working to bring
these cats back from the brink.

The team has undertaken
an intensive breeding program

on a scale
never attempted before.

Vicky Ascensio is a vet
dedicated to the project.

She works at the newest
of the breeding centers.

Spread across Spain
and Portugal,

these multi-million
dollar facilities

are built to meet
a lynx's every need.

To ensure they can produce
as many cubs as possible

for release back into the wild.

It's also designed so Vicky
can keep a close eye on each

and every precious cub.

In total we have
116 cameras.

We try to see
the animals 24 hours.

This hands-off
approach is vital

so the cubs never meet a human.

They are all day
very quiet, very calm,

and they don't see that
we are always looking them.

It's very important for us
specially when we have cubs.

The Iberian lynx
has become a species

in intensive care.

The breeding centers are just
one piece of the puzzle.

The team is also working hard
to improve the natural habitat

so young lynx can be released
into ideal conditions.

Today Vicky is running
some crucial health checks.

One-year-old cubs Navio and Noa
are scheduled for release.

We are checking that
all the animal is healthy

and also we take some samples
to see that he has not

any infections or diseases
or something like that.

Our goal always is to release
the animals.

It's our most important goal.

The cubs are ready.

A release is
big news around here.

Crowds gather to catch a glimpse
of this iconic Spanish cat.

This is a very
special moment for me

because it's an animal
that was born in the center

and now you are
giving him the freedom.

It's very emotional for us.

Navio and Noa
are given their freedom,

running wild for the first time.

This ambitious project
has become

one of the most successful
reintroductions on the planet.

Nearly 500 cats once again roam
these ancient woodlands.

The more we learn about cats,

the more they surprise
and amaze us.

Only by understanding
their needs can we help

safeguard their future.

There's a lot of work
still to do,

but across the globe people
are putting heart and soul

into finding answers...

and making sure
the future always has a place

for cats --

big and small.

-This is an animal you should

never underestimate.

-Squirrels are one of the most
agile animals on Earth.

-From outwitting rattlesnakes

to surviving

sub-zero temperatures,

but ordinary.

squirrels are anything

Now, one orphaned red squirrel

and a cast of

cheeky characters

are going to reveal the secret

to squirrel success.