All language subtitles for 8 Amazing Animal Abilities

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Dogs that can detect
deadly diseases.

Birds that can escape disasters...

days before they occur.

And horses that
actually have the ability

to read our minds.

Are humans really

the kings of the animal kingdom?

We'd like to believe we are.

After all, we have language,

create art... music...

and have invented
incredible technologies.

But what about animals?

Some of them have abilities that make us

seem primitive by comparison.

And not only don't we
possess those abilities,

we don't even understand how they work.

Well, that is...

what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

For centuries,

mankind has had a unique
relationship with horses.

A horse and its rider can
often form a unique bond...

so strong that they eventually
become attuned

to each other's wants and needs.

And there are those, who like myself,

spend so much time around horses

that they start to ask themselves...

can this animal

actually read my mind?

From the famed Mongol riders
of Genghis Khan...

to the charging cavalries
of the American Civil War,

horses have long been
a powerful force in combat.

Horses have a unique combination

of strength and speed

that we don't see in other animals.

Their muscles are massive.

The bones of the spine, along the back,

the upper leg bones are fairly strong,

so their super structure
is pretty substantial.

And the horse's heart
and the horse's lungs

are relatively large

compared to other animals.

So they are doing things

that no other animal can do,

because no other animal is built

as big with such fine tolerance.

Horses, because they have these
precocious physical abilities,

become the central part of so many

different empires'
movement into history.

In modern times, horses are associated

with the Wild West frontier.

They're associated with
the indigenous peoples,

who were master horsemen.

And this is a good example of how

horses and humans bond endlessly.

SHATNER:
But as people who train

and ride horses will tell you,
it isn't only

the horse's strength and speed

that makes it so unique.

It is their incredible ability

to form an almost psychic connection...

with humans.

The United States Marines
unveil a statue

dedicated to a Korean War hero

who earned two Purple Hearts
for her service.

But this was no ordinary hero.

This hero...

-was a horse.
-(applause and cheering)

Sergeant Reckless was a Mongolian mare,

who in the Korean War, became a legend.

She would live in the infantry camp,

and they would let her run free,

and she would walk around.

But then she became most notable

because of the Battle of Outpost Vegas,

where she made 51 unaccompanied trips

to the front lines and back,

carrying ammunition,
carrying wounded soldiers back.

And not being led by people.

One of the special qualities
she had was to become close

to the men, and she took many chances

alone, without humans.

It's one of the finest examples
of the human-horse bond.

She was very bonded to the
individuals whom she was

working with and thus went
beyond the call of duty.

And that is what makes her
one of the great,

great horses in history.

SHATNER:
A horse courageously
charging into battle

carrying wounded men on her back...

by herself?

And without a rider?

Is it possible that Sergeant
Reckless knew what she was

needed to do because she
could read the soldiers' minds?

There are many horse owners
and trainers who believe

the notion is not
as far-fetched as it sounds.

A lot of people will say that
horses mirror the people

that they're with and I
think there is a lot to that.

Horses don't put themselves first.

They put themselves

as part of a group, as part of a...

a group of horses
or a group of horse riders.

If a horse has a bond to the human,

the horse is constantly getting
communication from the human,

whether it's our heartbeat racing,

whether it's our facial expressions,

whether it's our breath.

They're very sensitive to their
environment and to verbal cues.

And so that may be why people
thought it was telepathic

at that time because they weren't aware

of the sensitivity of a horse
to its environment.

And in the sensitivity
of a horse to pick up

on the cues that humans give off.

SHATNER:
Was Sergeant Reckless
guided by training?

Instinct?

Or some kind of strange telepathy?

In her case, we may never know,

as Reckless passed away in 1968.

And although urbanization has
made interaction between horses

and humans an increasingly
rare occurrence,

there is at least one area
where the unique bond

between the two species can
be more closely investigated...

JOAN BLANK:
That's really good.

SHATNER:
...equine therapy.

You're very thorough.

I love it.

(laughs)

I describe equine therapy as a way

to use horses to help people

that need physical

or emotional assistance.

There you go, perfect.

When a human adult, for example,
is in a stress situation,

horses know this.

Horses are excellent
at securing our trust.

And in a therapy situation,
that is ideal for letting

the human begin to express
himself or herself

-as much as possible.
-Now throw your leg over.

And like a cowboy, perfect!

SHATNER:
Today, 15% of United States
military veterans

return home with post-traumatic
stress disorder, known as PTSD.

Symptoms may include everything
from insomnia to psychosis.

Fortunately, organizations such
as Dream Catcher of Los Angeles

have proven effective
at using equine therapy

to ease a veteran's too often

difficult transition
back to normal life.

BLANK:
Bring your hands forward.

There you go.

-Walk on.
-BLANK: All right!

So Dream Catcher got started
about 11 years ago.

What I thought would be
maybe one or two horses

became ten and at one point 12,

and serving over 200 people a-a week.

And with veterans that come to us

with severe trauma, PTSD.

Walk, walk on.

BLANK:
There you go!

The horrors of war never leave you.

For me, it was a combat PTSD.

I used to have really vivid nightmares.

I had some substance abuses years ago.

I was lost.

ABBIE JOHNSON:
When I got out of the military,

Dream Catcher was the first place I saw,

and they welcomed me with open arms.

It was probably one of the first times

since I got out that I felt
like I could trust somebody,

even if it was a thousand-pound horse.

I started out with Tristan

and he just understood me.

We clicked.

I think he knew that I could

barely be outside by myself

without looking behind my back.

We started off brushing the
horses and cleaning them up and

I feel more pleased around the horses.

I feel like I can be
a little more relaxed,

'cause apparently when you're
a little stressed about it,

they tend to sense that
emotion and perhaps also be

just as tense, if not more.

Whoa!

I feel like we've created
some type of little bond.

Good job.

Good boy.

The thing about equine therapy horses

that makes them so good at it,

they're tremendous at picking up cues

that we're not even aware of.

Horses have a very wide range of vision,

so they can pick up

in a 270-degree field around them.

But they'll also note how
that being is approaching them.

If it's calm or if it's aggressive,

if it's moving quick.

They'll hear, they'll listen.

They'll turn their ears
towards whatever it is

to try to pick up sounds.

Thank you for letting me ride you.

I appreciate you.

Did you want to kiss me?

You want to get close?

PAGE:
We've been shot at, blown up,

screamed at.

Seen dying brothers and sisters.

I've seen horses take
chances on some veterans

that I knew were in some

very questionable
psychological states...

Josie, how you doing?

PAGE:
...so I have to say
that might be

God's divinity on how He allows

these animals to interact with us.

WALDAU:
They read our body language,

and often know what
we're feeling before we do.

They know when we're tense,
they know when we're relaxing,

they know when we're
breathing differently.

So in a colloquial sense we'd say,

"Yes, they can read our mind."

SHATNER:
Horses...

reading our minds?

Anticipating our needs
by sensing our emotions?

Could such a profound notion
even be possible?

Perhaps the answer can be found
in examining how one animal

in particular can possess

the ability to know when a human

is dangerously ill...

before they do.

SHATNER:
47-year-old Stephanie Herfel

experiences a sharp pain
in her lower abdomen.

She rushes to the hospital,

where doctors perform
a series of emergency tests.

A few anxious hours later,

Stephanie receives her diagnosis.

She has a cyst on her ovaries.

According to the doctors,
it is completely harmless.

She's sent home with a prescription

for pain medication and told to rest.

But unbeknownst to both
Stephanie and her doctors

is a disturbing fact:

her condition is far
more serious than anyone knows.

I thought, I'll be back to
normal, living my normal life,

and that just was not the case.

-(Sierra sniffing)
-My Siberian husky Sierra

put her nose on my belly very intently,

-and I scolded her.
-(Sierra whines)

And she went and hid in the back closet.

And just the expression on her
face really touched at my heart.

There was some sort of connection

between the two of us that was
happening in that moment.

And I thought,
"Well, maybe I need to follow up

with a doctor just to make sure
everything's okay with me."

SHATNER:
It was a decision that would
save Stephanie's life,

because after she underwent more tests,

it was determined
that what was originally thought

to be a benign cyst

was actually stage 3 ovarian cancer.

It was just a kind of
a numbing particular moment

in my life and very, very dark.

And I just kept thinking

about what Sierra had just done for me.

DAVID KUSHNER:
Unfortunately,
with ovarian cancer,

the symptoms are really subtle,
and they go on for months.

So, oftentimes, people will go
from doctor to doctor

to doctor and not get this diagnosed.

In her case, that was really
shortened by the fact

that her dog had noticed
something wrong.

SHATNER:
Stephanie immediately

began lifesaving treatment

that put her cancer into remission.

But how was it

that Sierra was able
to detect Stephanie's cancer

when experienced doctors
using sophisticated labs

and advanced equipment missed it?

Dogs have an incredible sense
of smell, far beyond the human.

They can detect down
to parts per trillion.

So what's parts per trillion?

If us humans can detect
a spoonful of sugar

in a cup of tea, a dog would be
able to detect the equivalent

in the volume of water held

in two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Over the last ten to 15 years,
we've understood more

and more about cancer,
and the fact that it has

its own unique smell of disease.

So what we believe and understand

is that dogs are finding

different volatile
organic compounds-- VOCs--

that are associated
with these disease changes.

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
Volatile organic compounds,

often called VOC-- V.O.C.--

are organic molecules that,
in a gaseous form, can make you

pass out or make you sick.

It could even be deadly,
depending on which VOC it is.

And a pet could certainly smell that.

SHATNER:
For Stephanie, it didn't matter

where Sierra's cancer-detecting
ability came from.

She was just grateful that it worked.

RUPERT SHELDRAKE:
It's hard to understand

how Sierra could have done this, because

you can train dogs to detect cancer,

but you have to tell them
what cancer smells like

in the first place.

And how Sierra could have known
that this

was cancer, compared
with all the other smells

that every human body emits
is very hard to know.

There's another level of things
we don't understand,

and I think that Sierra is
tapping into that.

-I love you.
-(whines)

I love you.

If it wasn't for what she did,
I wouldn't be here today.

SHATNER:
What allowed an untrained dog

like Sierra to detect
potentially fatal cancers?

Was it her sense of smell,
as many scientists believe?

Or could it have been
an even more powerful

and mysterious sixth sense,

something humans
don't currently understand?

Perhaps the answer can be found
in the extraordinary way

a dog remained psychically
connected to its owner

long after its owner's death.

SHATNER:
For the past six years,
John Gray has patrolled

the city's cold, lamplit streets
as a night watchman.

And every night, on his rounds,
he's been joined

by an extraordinarily faithful
companion:

-a Skye terrier named "Bobby."
-(barking)

TONY BROONFORD:
Round about 1856,

John Gray, or as he was
affectionally known in town,

"Auld Jock," uh,
must have got a little dog,

a Skye terrier which would
accompany him round about,

on his beat, so to speak,
as he walked about town.

ROGER EDWARDS:
And over the years,

they became inseparable companions,

devoted to each other.

After a few years, sadly,
John Gray died,

and he was buried
in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

BROONFORD:
Now Bobby was a very

loyal dog, and Bobby

decided to stay at his master's grave

here in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

The groundskeepers were
quite annoyed by this,

and they did try
to chase him away a few times.

However, he was a determined
little dog and stayed here.

Bobby became very famous in town.

People used to come
and try and watch him,

nicknaming him "Greyfriars Bobby,"

and Bobby stayed at his master's grave

for 14 years, until eventually,
he passed away,

and is now buried
in this very graveyard.

EDWARDS:
What was the bond

between John Gray and Bobby

that made this dog sit
on the grave for so long?

You would think that a dog

that lost its master might actually,

after a few days,
maybe after a few weeks,

run off and find somewhere else to live.

But something drew Bobby
back to his master's grave.

They always say that dogs
are incredibly perceptive,

and they can see and hear things
that humans can't.

I actually like to think
that Greyfriars Bobby,

when he sat on the grave,
could actually see

maybe the spiritual form of his master.

And that was what was keeping him there

on the grave for so many years.

CHARMAIN LEITCH:
When I first heard the story

of Greyfriars Bobby,
I was really touched by it.

I think I saw Greyfriars Bobby
as a member of the family.

It was quite a heartwarming story

that the dog was still loyal
to its owner

even though the owner had passed away.

SHATNER:
If dogs are able

to smell cancer and see the dead,

could they also have other senses

that we're only just beginning
to discover?

There are both dog owners
and scientists alike

who believe the answer is "yes."

And they also insist
that we are surrounded

by animals who possess abilities

that are even more incredible.

SHATNER:
Marine biologist Nan Hauser

is diving in an area

filled with migrating groups
of humpback whales.

-(whale vocalizes)
-She's in the middle

of collecting routine data
about these whales

when an enormous shape swims
toward her from the depths.

HAUSER:
It was just another day
out on the water.

I saw the two whales, and one of them,

I started to swim towards a little bit,

and he started to swim
towards me, which was fine.

I thought he was just going
to go past me.

But he didn't go past me.

He came right up against me.

Right up to the point
where I put my hand out,

not to touch him,

but to push myself away from him.

SHATNER:
The gigantic humpback--

estimated to be around 50 feet long--

began to nudge Hauser

with its nose.

It pushed her
with its enormous pectoral fins,

and even rolled her on its belly,

before finally turning over
to bring Hauser to the surface.

(Hauser laughs)

HAUSER:
Next thing I know,
I'm sitting on his head.

I'm thinking,
"Okay, what's he gonna do?"

If he goes like that, I'm dead.

If he takes his pec fin,
if he takes his tail fluke.

(water gurgling)

And you have to remember, we're talking

about an animal
that's the size of a school bus.

I sort of, just gently
tried to get away,

but he won't let me get away.

So I'm on his head,

and he flips over, and
at this point, I'm on his chin.

And, um, I'm thinking
I'm gonna get away, but he...

Nope, he turns right around,

and he keeps trying to tuck me
under his pectoral fin.

He had his eye next to me

over and over and over again.

That was the most intense part
of the entire encounter.

There's a word in the English

language called "opia,"

and it's when you stare
into someone's eye,

and you feel an emotion
that's very strong.

Well, this was an emotion

of curiosity and love, and...

it looked like he was trying
to tell me something.

SHATNER:
After about ten minutes,

the whale swam off, allowing
Hauser to return to her boat.

And that's when Hauser realized
why the humpback may have taken

such a strong interest in her.

WOMAN:
Well, come on the boat.

It never occurred to me
that he was pushing me away

from potential danger.

SHATNER:
Growing to nearly 20 feet

and weighing as much as a ton,

tiger sharks are one of the most
feared predators in the ocean,

and for good reason.

Since 2010,

experts believe tiger sharks
have been responsible

for nearly two dozen human attacks,

ten of which were fatal.

Is it possible
the presence of a tiger shark

motivated the whale's
interaction with Hauser?

Was it trying to save her life?

She was tail slapping,

and I looked, and it was undoubtedly

a big, fat tiger shark

coming right for me.

(excited chatter)

(laughter)

I'm sorry. I love you, too.

I love you, too. I do.

I love you.

Humpback whales have

a very strong antipredator response

in which they try to protect
their young from predators.

And there have been a number
of documented cases

all around the world

of humpbacks not only trying to protect

their own young

but actually protecting other species.

There's many cases
where whales and dolphins

will actually rescue humans
from shark attacks and drownings

and other things like that.

There's an interesting story
in New Zealand

where a group of lifeguards

were actually approached
by a great white shark.

And a pod of dolphins

came in and actually formed
a protective ring

around the lifeguards to protect them.

The question is why would they
be motivated to do this?

ABRAHMS
We don't know why
that behavior exists,

but there are a number
of different hypotheses.

One of those hypotheses
is that it's altruism.

SHATNER:
Altruism? Could that be

what compels whales,
dolphins and other sea creatures

to come to the aid of humans?

If true,

it almost sounds like
something a human would do.

This animal was telling me
by the look in his eye

to let him protect me.

This animal pushed me back to the boat

and made sure I was on board.

WHITEHEAD:
The interesting thing
about whales

is that they're highly intelligent,

and there's a lot of commonality

being demonstrated in modern research

between whales and humans.

Could it be
that we should start thinking

about these animals as a level

of personhood in a way
that could be given to them?

TOK THOMPSON:
If you do something nice,

it's a humane thing to do.

Uh, but what happens when
a dolphin does something nice?

Is it still a humane thing to do?

Is that a word we should use?

Or is it more of a dolphin thing to do?

ABRAHMS:
There was
a really interesting study

that was done a few years ago

that demonstrated that killer whales

learned to vocalize
with bottlenose dolphins

in order to interact with them,
which suggests that some animals

can learn to develop
the language of other species

in order to facilitate
social interactions.

THOMPSON:
The idea of learning
another species' language

is just cutting-edge
in academic thought.

And yet other species
have been doing this

for presumably millions of years.

Science is becoming aware

that animals are much more thoughtful,

inventive and have much more
of an inner life

than we ever gave them credit for.

SHATNER:
We humans have always
perceived ourselves

to be separate from the rest
of the animal kingdom.

We like to think we are intelligent,

noble, righteous and moral

in ways that animals are not.

(Hauser laughs)

And yet does the story
of Nan Hauser's encounter

with a humpback whale
indicate otherwise?

Perhaps a clue can be found
by examining an animal

that not only has
an incredible homing sense

but also has the ability
to anticipate disaster

before it happens.

In many cultures,

the appearance of a certain type of bird

at a specific time

can signify either good
or bad things to come.

And while this may seem like
a far-fetched noon

that belongs in the realm of folklore,

one group of scientists
recently discovered

that some birds
actually have the ability

to warn us of natural disasters
before they happen.

University of Toledo biologist
Dr. Henry Streby and his team

are studying a species of songbird

called golden-winged warblers.

It's well-known that the tiny birds,

small as your thumb,

migrate thousands of miles

to the Tennessee forests
every year to mate.

But no one could figure out
where they went afterward.

So the scientists devise a way

to track them.

STREBY:
We were trying to determine

why these birds had to move.

But when you have an animal
that's only nine grams,

a GPS unit is too heavy.

So we needed a very tiny tracking device

called a light-level geolocator

that these golden-winged warblers

can carry throughout
their entire migration

for a year.

All they are is a computer chip
and a battery and a light sensor

that can estimate approximately
where you are on the Earth.

SHATNER:
Dr. Streby and his team

started tracking the birds
when they arrived in Tennessee

at the beginning of their mating season,

which is supposed to last
for at least a month.

But when they analyzed
the birds' location data,

they realized that
something strange had happened.

STREBY:
These birds were settling

into their breeding season

for two weeks and then just left.

That was unheard of.

And then the question was why?

We noticed this pattern

where it seemed
as if they had backtracked

to the Gulf Coast and even on to Cuba.

And being good, skeptical scientists,

we thought,
"Okay, how did we mess up?"

So we started ruling out

all these possible errors
in our analysis.

We went through and meticulously checked

each data point,

and we couldn't find
anything that explained

why these birds seem to have moved.

SHATNER:
The warblers
had mysteriously interrupted

their mating season after only two weeks

to make a quick trip
almost a thousand miles south,

only to return five days later

as if nothing had happened.

Dr. Streby and his team
were dumbfounded.

Until they discovered

that the birds knew something
that they didn't.

We remembered that during that time,

roughly in the middle
of when the birds were gone,

a massive storm system

from off the coast of the Carolinas

blew through Central United States.

And that's when we realized,

aha, that's why they did this.

SHATNER:
On April 27,
a massive storm system

swept through Tennessee
and the surrounding states.

More than 80 tornadoes
touched down in the region,

killing 35 people and causing

$1 billion in damage.

But amazingly,

the golden warblers
were already on their way south,

having left two days before the storms

hit their mating area.

And, as if that
wasn't incredible enough,

when the warblers fled,

meteorologists
hadn't even identified yet

the oncoming storm.

Now, the storm system has yet to form.

The atmospheric pressure hasn't changed.

The temperature hasn't changed.

So what is occurring
that tells these birds

that they shouldn't be there?

We've done a lot of research,
but one thing we know for sure

is that there's far more
that we don't know

than there is that we do know.

Birds see in a much different
wavelength than we do.

They see all of our visual wavelengths,

and they also see
in a tetrahedral color space,

which is impossible to show a human,

but it's sort of
a fourth dimension of color.

Birds seem to have evolved
to see better than us

and hear better than us.

All of this adding up
to this incredible ability

to navigate the planet.

SHATNER:
As the storm started gathering

thousands of miles away,

according to one theory, the birds

may have literally been listening in

by detecting what is known

as infrasound.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
Infrasound is fairly simple
to understand.

It's just sound
that has a lower frequency

than we as humans can hear.

But there's no reason
to assume that birds

wouldn't be able to detect it
in various ways.

It's such a low vibration,
they might just simply detect it

literally in their body.

KIRSTEN FISHER:
Infrasound waves can travel

very far distances,

so the vortices of
strong tornadoes would generate

these very low frequency sound waves

that animals could detect
and potentially respond to.

TAYLOR:
We have instruments
that can detect infrasound,

and we haven't seen
this infrasound phenomena

two days before a tornado.

I think there's something else
at play here

that is, as of yet, unexplained.

SHATNER:
While it's possible
that infrasound

might have alerted the birds,

other scientists have suggested

that they were listening
to something else entirely:

nature itself.

FISHER:
Within the last
probably 20 years or so,

we've really opened up
a whole new understanding

of the way that plants communicate

with their neighbors.

So, a plant that's being eaten

by an herbivore-- say, a caterpillar--

will actually emit
chemical signals into the air

that warn other plants in the vicinity

to beef up their defenses.

And it also sends chemical signals

to wasps or other predators

to come and attack the caterpillars.

And presumably, those messages

might be propagated
across plants for some distance.

So there's a lot of intricate
communication webs going on.

STREBY:
It seems very unlikely

that it was just a coincidence,
and these birds

moved out of the way and got lucky.

So it isn't completely
impossible to think

the plants could be receiving
some signal from far away,

and their response to that is picked up

by the birds as kind of
a passive communication.

But until we can ask the birds
themselves,

parts of this are just going
to remain unexplained.

SHATNER:
If the golden-winged warblers

are any indication, perhaps
we should pay closer attention

when a flock of birds
is headed towards the horizon.

Or when encountering an animal
that most of us assume is just

a playful and cuddly feline,

but who some believe

is the most intelligent
and cunning of all.

SHATNER:
They lurk in the shadows,

waiting to strike.

(growling)

Creatures so mysterious,

they were once worshipped

as gods.

Across history, you can see
a certain series of patterns

with regard to human attitude
towards cats.

By far, the most distinctive
example is Ancient Egypt,

which started early and
continued for thousands of years

to foreground the importance of cats.

The initial push of cats
as domestic creatures did seem

to spread out of Egypt
and the Middle East.

And so, throughout the world today,

all cats, even if they have
different genetics

of wild cats
in different areas of the world,

they also share that genetic commonality

that traces right back
to ancient Egyptian cats

that were represented to the
Egyptians as the goddess Bastet.

WALDAU:
Bastet was an ancient god,

but as always happens
with images of God,

Bastet's image is going to change.

Bastet starts out as a fierce lioness,

later becomes the protector of the king,

later becomes the guide
in the afterlife.

Moving forward into the Middle Ages,

we shift that perspective

to now being more associated
perhaps with devils,

where there's an image more
of being a trickster,

or some might even call
sort of a shape-shifter.

Europe had associations of cats

with many different kinds
of negative powers.

(rain pouring)

They were known to be secretive,

or with people who had power thought

to be used in a negative way for humans.

So, for this reason,

there were times
where churches condemned cats.

There were times when people

rebelled against cats
and massacred them.

PACHEL:
When we see this attribution

of shape-shifting, or their ability

to be so incredibly secretive,

my brain goes back
to those inherent qualities

that allow cats to be successful
in their wild environment.

Cats are incredible predators.

The amount of muscle control
that they have

and their ability
to move through a variety

of environments with almost
a silence about them

really is about them being able
to sneak up

-in an undetected way.
-(pigeon coos)

Either getting close enough
to launch an attack

or to remain still enough

that they're undetected
prior to that attack.

(purring)

SHATNER:
Today, cats are thought of more

as pampered pets than as primal hunters.

Unlike dogs, they resist training,

and behave more
as if they are not your pet,

but that you are theirs.

Nevertheless, the bond between
cats and humans has proven

to be stronger and more astounding

-than previously thought.
-(mews)

Especially when examining
their eerie ability

to track down their human owners

across hundreds of miles.

LOYD AUERBACH:
There was this case in 1949.

The cat's name was
"Clementine Jones."

The family moved
from Western New York to Denver.

They couldn't take the cat with them.

They left the cat with some friends,

and they got a call a while later

that the cat had disappeared.

Four months later,

this cat showed up at their door.

It was their cat.

That's a 1,600-mile commute
for that cat.

SHATNER:
1,600 miles in four months?

It seems nothing short of miraculous.

And yet, there have long been stories

of cats traversing vast distances,

and we don't know how they do it.

PACHEL:
When I think of a story

where a cat has traveled
an incredible distance,

in order to go from point A to point B,

lots of questions come to mind
for me as a scientist.

Is there a scent trail, essentially,

that they're following that allows them

to navigate that space?

And do they have that ability

to create that mental map?

FISHER:
We know cats potentially

have other types
of navigational capacities, too,

that we don't even know about

that sort of hearken back
to their ancient ancestors who

maybe need to roam great distances

in order to hunt, for example,

and home their way back to their den.

DEBRA HORWITZ:
Some people posit

that cats are somehow attuned
into the electromagnetic

field of the Earth
that birds use for navigation.

(birds singing)

SHELDRAKE:
There are all sorts of theories.

The magnetism one's the most popular,

but that can't explain it.

If you were given a compass

and taken to a place
you'd never been before,

the compass would tell you
where north was,

but it wouldn't tell you where home was.

So, homing animals, including this cat,

require more
than a magnetical compass sense.

AUERBACH:
We think the animal
is using their ESP

to trail where the family
actually went to.

That's called "psi-trailing."

"Psi" is the catchall term we
use for any psychic experience.

Psi-trailing typically happens
where there's an animal

that has a real close connection
with the family,

and it's possible

that the animal saw the path
in front of her

and followed that path.

PACHEL:
There's a lot
of unknowns around cats.

Is there a psychic connection
that exists

between cats and their owners,

and there's a-a magnetism
that's there that's drawing

that cat in?

It's entirely possible.

SHATNER:
Until cats can talk
to us themselves,

we may never know exactly
what lies behind their eyes.

Perhaps it's time to rethink our place

in the natural order of things

and to look to animals as inspiration

for how we can evolve.

SHATNER:
Scientists at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's

Center for Bits and Atoms
announce the creation

of an innovative new device dubbed:

"the nano-nose."

It is touted as being able

to identify scents
millions of times fainter

than can be detected by humans.

And this extraordinary piece
of technology was invented

by reverse engineering
the inside of a dog's nose.

HOROWITZ:
Dogs are macrosmatic.

In other words, they can smell
bigger molecules than we can,

and their sense of smell
is probably about a thousand

to a hundred million times
more sensitive than ours.

GUEST:
So it's not impossible

that within the next ten years,
our phones may be able

to detect cancer in the way
that dogs can currently do.

SHATNER:
In other labs,

scientists are developing
next-generation robots

than can walk, jump and run just like

the fastest
and most agile animals on Earth.

The abilities of humans pale

in comparison to these
animal-emulating machines.

But even so,

these incredible inventions
can only scratch the surface

of what real animals can do.

Humans really are just animals, I think,

that have lost a lot
of their other sensory

abilities in favor of cognition
and higher thought.

I think we are totally out of tune

with a lot of the sensory information

that animals are able to tap into.

HOROWITZ:
I look forward to the future

as we learn more about how
they interact with us, and

I think there's a deeper connection

between us and animals

that we don't even really
understand yet.

THOMPSON:
We've been taught so long

that we are sort of the pinnacle
of evolution, as if

evolution was just for us.

And in fact, many of our mythologies

and creation stories
reinforce this vision

that the world is built for us.

And yet, are those stories true?

Now that we're becoming more and
more aware of how close we are

connected to all these other organisms

and how much of a part
we all are of each other,

it causes to reassess this notion

that we are somehow separate
from the rest of life.

Whether it's birds

fleeing an unseen danger,

or dogs sensing illness,
or aquatic animals

risking their lives to protect
humans from predators,

animals possess incredible abilities

that make us look like, uh,

well, animals.

So, what are we to make of it?

Perhaps animals are here
to keep us humble

by reminding us that there are
an amazing number of things

about them that will remain...

unexplained.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS