All language subtitles for Worlds Greatest Animal Encounters Series 1 6of6 Extreme Animals 1080p

(THEME MUSIC)

(ROARS)

NARRATOR: The Arctic Circle
is a truly remarkable place.

It encompasses parts of the US,
Russia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland,

Greenland and Norway.

But the ocean
is its most significant feature -

roughly 14 million square kilometres
of ice-laden sea.

Winter temperatures here can drop
below minus 50 degrees Celsius

and the wind can whip itself
into a frenzy -

double the speed of a hurricane.

Weighing in at around 680 kilos,

the top predator in this extreme
landscape is the polar bear.

They are renowned
for keeping to themselves

but in some places,
polar bears and people

have developed a mutually dependent
relationship.

Just on the outskirts
of the town of Churchill in Canada,

polar bears come to scavenge
for food.

Locals have taken advantage
of their presence

and made it possible
for animal lovers

to have a close and yet safe
encounter with this polar powerhouse.

Polar bears are perfectly
put together for a life on ice.

They have a layer of fat, or blubber,

that insulates their bodies
from the bitterly cold air and water.

That thick coat of fur
extends to the soles of their feet,

keeping out the cold
and aiding traction.

Each hair is translucent

but the polar bear's pelt
appears to be white

because it reflects light.

It's great for camouflage

but beneath all that fur,
the polar bear's skin is black,

allowing the animal to more
effectively absorb heat from the sun.

Polar bears are powerful swimmers.

One bear fitted
with a tracking device

was recorded swimming continuously
for over nine days

and in that time
covered nearly 700km.

Scientists studying polar bears

have figured out a way
to isolate their DNA

and that of their last meal

from the footprints they leave
in the snow.

Polar bears spend
around half their lives hunting

but before they're old enough
to fend for themselves,

male cubs appear to spend
a great deal of time play-wrestling.

Most polar bears are twins,
so most have a playmate from birth.

Through this instinctive behaviour,

they learn important skills
they will need later in life

when the time comes to compete
with other males

for the right to mate
with the females.

These fights can be aggressive,
lasting several hours

and invariably leave both challengers
scarred for life.

As adults, polar bears
are generally solitary creatures

but as cubs,
they tend to stick together,

even after they've left
their mother's side,

mock-fighting and hunting until
it's time to go their separate ways.

The polar bear is the largest
of all the Arctic animals on land.

Second in line is the musk ox,

a huge bovine beast
that is relatively easy to encounter

on the Arctic tundra.

They are well adapted

to withstanding the bitterly cold
winds and temperature,

with strong hooves
to dig through the snow for food

and not one but two coats
to keep them warm through the winter.

Their diet is strictly vegetarian -

mosses, roots and lichens
through the winter,

Arctic flowers and grasses
during summer.

Iceland is widely known
as 'the land of ice and fire'.

It is an extremely remote
yet inhabited part of the Arctic

that harbours huge glaciers
and active volcanoes

in equal measure.

There are crystal-clear rivers...

barren highlands...

soaring fjords...

and along the coastline,
precipitous cliffs

that provide an extreme home base

for two of the Arctic's
most interesting birds -

the rather comical-looking puffin
and its key predator, the skua.

Skuas can snatch puffins mid-flight

but they are much easier to catch
when they're stationary.

(CHIRPS)

Puffins spend most of their time
at sea resting on the waves

when they're not flying
or diving to catch fish.

But when it's time to breed,
they need to find land.

Cape Ingolfshofdi,

an isolated headland
on the south coast of Iceland,

is a favourite nesting site,
protected by a nature reserve

where bird enthusiasts are able to
encounter puffins at close range.

Males dig burrows into the cliffside
with their beaks.

Both parents take turns to incubate
the single egg the female lays

and will share the care
of their offspring once it hatches.

Easily identified
by their colourful beaks,

puffins are often referred to
as sea parrots...

and despite
their relatively small wings,

they are impressive in the air.

Flapping their wings
400 times a minute,

they can reach speeds
up to 88km per hour.

Most seabirds
can only catch one fish at a time

but puffins have lots of small spines
on their upper palates

that allow them to hold onto
as many as a dozen,

an efficient strategy
when parents need to bring food

back to their nests
to feed their pufflings.

Remarkably, every year,

the same couples return to nest
in the same location.

Scientists are still not certain

how they manage to find
their home ground so precisely

but some suggest they may be using
the earth's magnetic field

or even stars to navigate.

On the other side
of the Arctic Circle,

long before Europeans arrived
in North America,

wild dogs roamed through
this vast wilderness untethered.

To this day, they form the genetic
base for the modern Alaskan husky,

the tireless sled dogs
of the great north.

They are a domestic animal

but so integral to human survival
in this part of the world

it would be remiss not to
include them in the world's greatest.

Alaskan huskies were developed
by dogsled racers, or mushers,

from different bloodlines
of native Inuit dogs.

They love to run and they love haul -

two sought-after traits

that generations of breeding
have perfected.

(DOGS BARK)

The ultimate challenge for the dogs
and their mushers is the Iditarod,

a gruelling 1,500km race
from Anchorage to Nome.

(DOGS BARK)

Each competing team
has between 12 and 16 dogs

that are rotated throughout
the course to prevent fatigue.

Vets give the competing dogs
the once-over

at each and every checkpoint to
ensure they are up for the challenge.

The dogs are well cared for
by their mushers

and seeing the relationships
they've developed with their masters

is heartening.

(DOGS BARK)

Dogsledding is not only a great way

to connect
to these beautiful animals,

it's also a practical way
to get around the wilds of Alaska,

clearly a part of the US
blessed by Mother Nature.

At the opposite end
of the extreme landscape spectrum,

where the Pacific and Indian Oceans
converge,

bitter cold is traded
for relentless heat and humidity.

This is a landscape born of fire.

Home to more than
120 active volcanoes,

the Indonesian archipelago

is almost constantly threatened
by earthquakes and tsunamis.

Eruptions can be catastrophic

but they lay the foundations
for new life to take hold.

Beneath the sea,
where the world is perpetually dark,

hydrothermal vents
provide an extreme habitat

for a strange array of creatures...

shrimp and fish that appear to thrive
on the mineral-rich hot water

escaping from deep inside the earth.

Other animals living in the extreme
ocean depths here include crabs...

holothurians...

and the world's deepest living
super-predator, the bathysaurus,

or lizard fish.

In this dark and lonely world,

it has evolved an unusual
reproductive mechanism -

the ability to copulate
with any member of its own species,

for all are equipped
with both male and female sex organs.

A land-based animal here in Indonesia

with an equally unusual way
to reproduce is the komodo dragon.

Their hostile habitat

means that individual dragons
are extremely isolated,

so lone females have evolved
the ability to reproduce asexually.

Komodo dragons are the heaviest
monitor lizards in the world

and they have been around
for at least 4 million years.

Fossils suggest
they originally came from Australia

and moved westward
when sea levels were low.

Fully grown adults can be 3m long
and weigh over 150 kilos.

They use that forked tongue
just like a snake

to taste the promise of prey
in the air.

Dragons will often lie in wait
for their prey.

They have excellent camouflage
and a great deal of patience

but powered by their massive,
muscular tails and legs,

they can launch an attack
with surprising speed.

Sharp claws and teeth
make short work of prey.

If by some miracle
a dragon's intended meal escapes,

it won't be for long,

for the lower jaw
of this incredible killing machine

is packed with lethal venom

that finds its way into the dragon's
saliva and its victim's bloodstream.

These animals are extreme eaters.

One dragon can eat 80% of its
body weight in a single sitting.

Its jaws and throat can stretch to
accommodate enormous chunks of food.

Almost nothing goes to waste.

Bones, hides and even hooves will
disappear down that massive throat.

(INSECTS BUZZ)

Of the 69 species of monitor lizards
in the world,

Australia is home to 28.

The perentie
is the island continent's largest,

second only in size
to the komodo dragon.

They're 2.5m long, impressively fast
and show remarkable endurance.

They can run on their hind legs
and reach speeds of 40km per hour.

They live close to rocky hills
and outcrops,

using those sabre-like claws
to dig burrows in the hard earth.

Perenties and their close relatives,
the Rosenberg's goanna,

do not lay their eggs
in their burrows.

They prefer to take advantage
of these perfect incubation chambers

built by termites.

The vents and tunnels termites create

to keep the temperature and humidity
of their homes constant

provide the perfect conditions
for perentie eggs to incubate.

An added bonus -
when the young hatch,

there's a quick meal available
on the doorstep.

As adults, these enormous
monitor lizards have an extreme diet,

for they specialise in catching
and eating venomous snakes.

When the situation
calls for a showdown,

perenties can outpace and outsmart
a king brown,

one of the deadliest snakes
in Australia.

Another extreme Australian animal
with a deadly diet

is the Portia spider.

It preys on other spiders,
including the poisonous redback,

a close relative of the notorious
black widow spider in the US.

Despite its diminutive stature,

the Portia spider
is a ruthless assassin,

readily taking down prey
larger than itself.

Stealth is the name of the game
in this extreme arachnid's world...

and if it takes hours or even days
to sneak up on a potential meal,

so be it.

The Portia spider is said to be

the most intelligent spider
on the planet,

deliberately stalking and even
plotting how best to affect a kill.

And if that method doesn't work,

it will cleverly switch
to a different strategy.

In another hot, dry landscape
thousands of kilometres away,

there are yet more animals
appearing to defy the odds,

living in hostile terrain.

The Namib Desert Park in Namibia,
near the south-western tip of Africa,

occupies an area
larger than Switzerland.

And while it lacks the high mountains

that define the topography
of that particular nation,

it is home to some of the world's
highest sand dunes.

The tiny grains of sand
that make up the dunes

in the centre
of the world's oldest desert

are said to be
over 5 million years old.

For all its apparent hostility,
this otherworldly landscape...

surrounding the Sossusvlei
salt and claypan,

provides an unlikely habitat
for some truly resilient animals,

including ostrich and the superbly
adapted gemsbok, or oryx.

While they will drink water
if the opportunity presents itself,

they do not depend on it to survive.

They can go for months on end
without it.

The roots and tubers and wild melons
they eat when grass is sparse

provide all the water they require.

Their physiology and behaviour

is geared to minimise
the loss of body moisture.

They do not urinate very often

and when they do,
the flow is as thick as honey.

And as counterintuitive as it sounds,

they stop sweating
when desert temperatures soar.

In any lesser animal,
this would be lethal

but the gemsbok
copes with its body temperature

rising to a dangerous level
by panting rapidly,

cooling the blood in its nasal veins
before it reaches its brain.

Gemsbok live in herds
of between ten and 40 animals

and in Namibia, their population
is thought to be around 373,000.

In other arid parts of South Africa,

they are hunted
for their spectacular horns

but here in the Namib Desert Park,

the only humans seeking to fix them
in their sights are photographers.

(THUNDER CRACKS)

Extreme weather is almost
par for the course in Australia.

Heatwaves, cold snaps, dry spells
and floods ravage the landscape.

In the desert,

the temperature regularly soars
over 48 degrees Celsius...

and in the alps,

in the dead of winter,
it can drop to a numbing minus eight.

But one animal
thriving in both environments

is the wild horse, or brumby.

They are relatively recent arrivals
in Australia

but nonetheless have become integral
to the nation's cultural identity.

They descend from horses

that were shipped in
with the first European colonists

and carthorses used
during the gold rush.

Their ancestors were ridden
by bushrangers and troopers,

by stockmen, explorers and pioneers.

There is even one wild herd
of brumbies

whose forebears carried soldiers
gallantly through both World Wars.

Numbering close to a million,

these majestic steeds
provide an enduring tangible link

to the nation's wild colonial past.

For 150 years,

these brumbies have been roaming free
in the high country,

alternately surviving
the vagaries of summer bushfires

and winter's bitter blizzards.

They hold their own
in arid Australia too.

But the prize for enduring all that
harsh environment has to offer

goes to another non-native animal,
the camel.

Camels were introduced here
in the 1840s

from India, Arabia and Afghanistan

to assist the colonists in their
exploration of Australia's inland.

But when motorised transport
found its way into the outback

and the camels were no longer needed,

thousands were released
into the wild.

With no natural predators,
they flourished.

They now form the largest herd
of camels on Earth,

with their numbers nudging a million.

The dromedary, or one-humped camel,

is native to the Middle East
and Horn of Africa,

where it's been domesticated
for 3,500 years.

Bedouin tribes have traditionally
used camels for transport and trade.

The camel's ability to travel
hundreds of kilometres without water

is well documented.

Unlike most four-legged animals,

they move both legs on one side
of their body at the same time,

giving their gait a rolling motion
not dissimilar to that of a boat,

which is one reason
why they are often referred to

as 'the ships of the desert'.

Big, thick foot pads help them
withstand the hot, shifting sands

or rocky terrain typical in most of
the world's desert regions.

They have a third transparent eyelid

and two rows of eyelashes
to protect their eyes

and can close their nostrils
to stop sand from getting in

when the wind is whipping it
into a frenzy.

Their lips are big and tough and
impervious to the prickly vegetation

that typically grows in a desert.

And they don't need to sweat

until their body temperature reaches
41 degrees Celsius,

effectively conserving
any fluids they consume

for long periods of time.

When they do drink,
they do so with gusto,

soaking up water like a sponge,

downing 135 litres
in 13 minutes flat.

Contrary to an age-old belief,

camels do not store water
in their humps,

their reservoirs of fatty tissue

a source of water and energy
when these resources are scarce.

As that fat depletes, a camel's hump
can become quite floppy,

a sure sign it's losing condition.

Most animals living in the snow
have a tough time during winter,

enduring snowstorms
and a scarcity of nutritious food.

But the Japanese macaques
on the Shimokita Peninsula

on the island of Honshu

have learnt how to ride out
the winter in relative comfort.

It's a clear case
of monkey see, monkey do,

for the ancestors of these macaques

are thought to have mimicked
human behaviour

in taking to the hot springs

for a measure of respite
from the chills of winter.

The pool rules seem to vary from
day to day and from group to group.

Sometimes you'll see
a sedate gathering of monkeys

calmly taking to the water
like wise old monks.

And at other times, well, it's all
a little less ordered and serene.

Japanese macaques
need to have a broad taste in food

in order to survive here.

They will eat
almost anything they can find,

including over 200 different fruits
and seeds, insects

and even sometimes soil.

But it's their taste
in bathing activities

that sets them apart from all
the other extreme animals on Earth.

Animals can survive in all manner
of extreme environments -

in intense heat, in severe cold
and in complete darkness.

Caves all over the planet
harbour creatures

that have evolved to survive
in a lightless world.

Longfin eels rely
on their sense of smell to find food

and bats find their way in and out
of their cavernous daytime roosts

using echolocation.

It's a tough call, choosing
the world's most extreme animal

taking advantage of the protections
such subterranean habitats afford.

But as far as encounters go,
few hold a candle to the glow-worm.

These bizarre lifeforms
only exist in the Southern Hemisphere

and one of the most amazing places
to witness them in all their glory

is Waitomo Caves in the North Island
of New Zealand.

The ways into this exquisite cave
system are adventures in themselves,

floating through
some of the larger caverns

on an inflated car tyre inner tube

or employing
the more traditional techniques

used by professional cavers.

Either way, the glow-worm displays
are worth the effort.

When millions of these animals
get together,

the result is truly
out of this world -

an ethereal galaxy of glow-worms.

Glow-worms are not actually worms,
rather they are maggots,

the larval stage of a small fly.

The larvae live like this
for about six to nine months,

before transforming into adults
that, lacking mouths and stomachs,

will only live for three days.

Their sole purpose as adults
is to reproduce before they die.

The life of a young glow-worm,
however, is all about eating

and this is one big cooperative trap.

Each light is a single larva.

A chemical reaction in the larva's
faeces causes the bioluminescence.

The skin of the larva is translucent,

so the light shines through
from inside the animal's intestine.

Thousands of lights together
attract thousands of insects,

such as these cave-dwelling moths.

Each glow-worm dangles a long, sticky
thread that acts like a fishing line.

When insects are drawn to the lights,
they become entangled and trapped.

It's bad news for the bugs

but manna from heaven
for the glow-worm.

Good things are happening at Coles.

Outback Australia is a harsh
and unforgiving environment...

full of small creatures that have
adapted well to its alien vagaries...

to the spiky spinifex
and endless gibber plains

that don't exactly give off
a very welcoming vibe.

It's the driest inhabited continent
in the world,

with two-thirds of the mainland
classified as arid, or semi-arid.

And much of it is prime habitat
for the beady-eyed and scaly-skinned.

Australia harbours more reptiles
than any other country on Earth -

over 900 native species, including
many of the world's deadliest snakes.

This is the inland taipan,
the most potent snake in the world.

If it were to strike a rat,

it would inject a venom 40,000 times
more lethal than necessary -

the ultimate overkill.

The prey dies very quickly,
with little resistance,

so the risk of injury to the taipan
is minimised.

The taipan can live
where almost no other animals can,

hiding in cracks and crevices.

They can survive with no plant cover
whatsoever.

And they have
a clever desert adaptation.

They change colour
according to the season,

from a light cream to reflect heat
during the summer

to a dark brown for absorbing heat
in the winter.

The largest of all of Australia's
venomous snakes is the mulga snake,

or king brown.

King browns compete successfully
with other desert snakes

by choosing a different food source.

While most snakes prey
on small mammals,

king browns specialise in eating
other reptiles -

snakes, lizards
and even their own flesh and blood.

When attacking, they bite down hard,

chewing to inject
more and more venom.

The king brown
wins the international prize

for having the highest venom output
of any snake in the world.

While most snakes will escape
rather than risk an attack,

there's one species
that prefers to sit motionless

when it hears someone coming.

The death adder.

Like all snakes,
they're not interested in us as prey

but unwary bushwalkers may get bitten
by accidentally standing on one.

These snakes have the longest fangs
in the world.

They are ambush predators,
so their camouflage is excellent.

Death adders are easy to identify.

They are short and squat,

with striking markings
and a triangular head.

The end of their tail tapers quickly
and is a different colour,

which the death adder uses as a lure.

Mimicking the movement of a worm,
the adder attracts prey

by wriggling its tail until curiosity
draws potential prey close enough

to strike.

Despite its appearance, this is also
the fastest snake in Australia.

One of the most fearsome-looking

yet harmless reptiles
in the Australian desert

is the thorny devil.

It is small but extreme,

particularly when it comes to
what it eats and how it drinks.

Thorny devils
are only around 20cm long

and they dine exclusively on ants.

Their thorny skin is a deterrent
to many potential predators

but more incredibly,
helps a devil to drink.

They can stand in a puddle of water
and channel the liquid uphill

into their mouths
via the grooves between their scales.

This clever
gravity-defying adaptation

allows thorny devils to rehydrate

without taking their eyes
off the skies,

where aerial predators
are hunting for a meal.

Another tactic they use to avoid
being eaten is to look like a leaf,

rocking back and forth
as if it were blowing in the breeze.

The thorny devil also has
a bony mass, or false head,

on top of its real one.

If threatened, the devil
tucks its real head between its legs

so the fake head is exposed,

making the lizard look bigger
and thus more difficult to swallow.

In doing so, the clever thorny devil
has the chance to live another day

in this extremely hostile
environment,

keeping ant populations in check.

When it comes to aerial predation,

the Andean condor
is in a league of its own.

Nearly twice as deep
as the Grand Canyon,

Colca is in the heart of the Andes
in Peru.

Waters cascading down the mountains

have carved this incredible chasm
in the earth.

It is an extreme environment

and the domain
of one truly remarkable vulture.

Andean condors have a wingspan
that can reach 3m from tip to tip.

With a top weight of over 15 kilos,

this is the largest flying bird
in the world.

Despite their heavy bodies, condors
seem to fly almost without effort,

barely flapping their wings.

Each bird is being carried
by the strong air currents

generated by the deep canyon
and surrounding rocks.

Condors are gliders
rather than flyers.

They are expert at finding
rising columns of air

to carry them through the mountains.

Tiny movements
of their primary feathers

adjust the condor's climb
and direction.

Condors have excellent eyesight, ever
on the lookout for signs of a meal.

They're not well equipped
to do their own killing,

for they lack the lethal talons
of eagles and hawks

that can bring down prey
in a split second.

Instead, they must scavenge
for animals that are already dead.

Condors are very clean animals.

They're often preening
their feathers.

And that bald head has evolved
so they can dig deep into carcasses

without getting covered
in rotting meat.

The steep sides of Colca Canyon
are ideal nesting sites

and perfect launchpads
for these extremely oversized birds.

Despite their grace in the air,

condors find it very hard
to take off from the ground,

so this terrain
that seems so inhospitable to us

is the perfect home
for this truly awe-inspiring bird.

The Southern Ocean surrounds
the driest continent on the planet.

It's also the windiest.

Dense, freezing air
rolls down the mountains

at speeds of over 300km an hour.

Antarctica is a place
of immense beauty and mystery

that's almost completely blanketed
in permanent ice.

And some of this ice
is almost two miles thick

and, of course,
it's extraordinarily cold.

The lowest temperature ever recorded
on Earth was minus 89.2 degrees

at Vostok in the Australian
Antarctic Territory.

Even without the ice,
the continent of Antarctica is big,

much larger than Australia,
with mountains over 5,000m high.

Very few animals can survive here.

To do so, they have had to evolve

some extremely specialised
physiologies and behaviours.

Seals, whales and penguins
all have personal insulation

in the form of thick, fat layers
known as blubber.

The supreme example
of Antarctic adaptation

is a flightless bird
weighing 40 kilos -

the regal-looking emperor penguin.

This is the only land animal on Earth

that breeds
during the Antarctic winter.

It has special nasal chambers that
recover heat lost through breathing

and even its blood vessels
recycle heat

by aligning themselves
close together.

But the most amazing feature
of this stoic bird

is its wonderful social behaviour.

Emperor penguins are famous
for their enormous huddles,

sometimes as big as
200,000 individuals.

Amazingly, the temperature
close to the centre of these groups

can be a balmy 24 degrees Celsius.

Fortunately, for the penguins
on the outside,

the entire group
is constantly moving.

In this way,
every penguin enduring the icy winds

will eventually cycle
into the middle.

This behaviour
is made all the more remarkable

by the fact that each animal
is balancing an egg on its feet.

If the eggs make prolonged contact
with the ice,

the chick inside
will freeze to death.

There are six species of seal
living in these waters

and all of them are large carnivores.

The most feared
is designed for underwater speed

and has lethally long canine teeth -

the leopard seal.

These animals are huge,

with females reaching 3.5m in length
and weighing 500 kilos.

Leopard seals live and travel alone.

They eat penguins and other seals,
as well as fish and squid

and they've been known
to hunt humans.

Apart from the lethal cold,

the leopard seal
is the greatest danger to people

living or travelling
through Antarctica.

The Weddell seal is
almost the same size as the leopard

but it has a small head,
small mouth and a placid nature.

The biggest and most well-known
colonies of seals down here

are either elephant seals
or Antarctic fur seals.

Both societies
consist of a harem of females

and one very aggressive
dominant male.

Unlike Northern Hemisphere seals,

all Antarctic species
have no natural predators on land

and appear as curious about us
as we are of them.

Extreme animals
often live in extreme environments...

places that appear to be
anything but conducive to life.

Many of their behaviours
and adaptations defy belief...

and the way they cope
with living life on the edge

inspires our respect
and sense of wonder.

(HORSE NEIGHS)

Whether they live at the top
or the bottom of the world

or somewhere in between
those geographic extremes...

they have clearly earned their place

among the greatest animals
readily encountered in the world.

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