All language subtitles for Impossible.Animals.S01E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Sometimes in life, to make it to the
top, you need to bend the rules.

To survive in this competitive world
many animals

have pushed the boundaries
of possibility to the limit.

They seem to test the
very fabric of reality.

Compared to us, they can see sharper,

stretch their bodies further

and perform feats that are
just out of this world.

Rainforests, deserts,

coasts...

three hostile landscapes,
each forging

their own distinct mix of mavericks.

By capturing their lives
in spectacular detail,

we reveal the secrets
that allow these animals

to achieve the impossible.

Rainforests are the earth's oldest
living ecosystems.

And when it comes to biodiversity,
they are the richest on the planet.

They're lush, fertile
and they're teeming with life.

So naturally, you'd think they'd be
the best places to live.

But think again.

It's an impenetrable maze
of dense vegetation.

There's also more species here
per square kilometre

than anywhere else on Earth.

And in this bug-eat-bug world,

every individual has to push
themselves to the very limit.

And the first thing they have to
master is simply getting around.

Of all the animals here,

there's one that's evolved
the most astonishing way

of moving through the jungle.

A little bird with big ambitions.

The hummingbird.

These stunning iridescent creatures

have developed the most impressive
aerobatic skills

in the animal kingdom.

They have perfect wing control.

And are incredibly fast.

But that rocket-powered flight
comes at a cost.

They have the highest metabolism
of any warm-blooded animal.

And to fuel that, each hummingbird
must consume its own body weight

in nectar every single day.

That means zipping around
1,000 rainforest flowers.

There's no doubt that their
flying skills are first class

but crucially, they're extremely
efficient flyers, too.

The secret lies in the unique way
they move their wings.

You see, most birds generate lift
when they flap wings downwards

but the hummingbird likes to do
things a little differently.

It rotates its wings not up and down

but backwards and forwards,
in a figure of eight.

Like this...

Now, this unusual form
of flight produces lift

both on the backward
and forward stroke.

And it does this incredibly quickly.

In fact, in the time it takes me
to say "figure of eight",

a hummingbird would've beaten
its wings over 300 times.

It's an unbelievable ability

and it allows this tiny little bird
to fly backwards,

forwards, sideways
and hover in mid-air.

Flight is just one of the
hummingbird's impossible abilities.

When they reach a flower,

an even more remarkable part of their
anatomy takes centre stage.

While many birds suck nectar
out of flowers,

the hummingbird laps it up
with its forked tongue.

With 15 quick licks,

this speed demon can drain
a flower in just one second.

And whilst we're on the subject
of that tongue,

get this, it's so long that in order
to fully retract it into its body,

hummingbirds have to curl it up

and wrap it around
the inside of their skull.

That is what I call a tongue twister.

For the other nectar feeders
of the rainforest,

in their aerial battle
against the hummingbird...

..well, they don't stand a chance.

When it comes to getting around,

the rainforest is riddled
with challenges.

The lower understorey
is a dense labyrinth.

Higher up, the foliage opens out

but up here, the thinning branches
become a precarious high wire

that only a few can master.

These are the death-defying jumps
of the squirrel monkey.

Weighing less than a pineapple...

..they ping around the tree tops.

Their ridged fingers help secure
a firm grip on each branch.

Long lower-legs with short
powerful thighs

give them frog-like proportions
and an equally frog-like leap.

Although they stand at just
30 centimetres tall,

they can propel their little bodies

a full two metres in one giant jump.

Spider monkeys have found
their own solution

to the perils of canopy high life.

And evolved their
very own safety line.

The most developed prehensile
tail of any primate.

It can securely grip
the thinnest of branches.

And this tail also has a twist.

At the tip of the tail
is a bare patch of skin

just like the skin
on the palm of my hand.

Now this pad has four types of
hyper-sensitive touch receptors,

meaning even with its tail the spider
monkey can feel its way

along the thinnest of branches
with astonishing accuracy.

For the spider monkey, its tail has
practically become an extra limb.

And when you have a fifth hand

you can make even the trickiest high
canopy move look utterly effortless.

It takes astounding abilities
to get around this living labyrinth.

But imagine trying to hunt here.

Well, that pushes animals
to a whole new level.

Tropical rainforests
are packed with life.

Now, despite the fact that they cover
less than 4% of our planet's surface,

they are home to 50%
of all the world species.

But they're shrinking
at an alarming rate.

The size of 2,000 football fields
every hour,

and that makes life here
even more competitive.

Especially when it comes to hunting.

It's a jungle-wide contest
that's given rise

to some crafty predators
that are near impossible to beat.

OK, here's a question.
When is a flower not a flower?

When it is, in fact,
an orchid mantis.

It's a stealthy jungle assassin.

Whilst most hunters chase their prey,

the orchid mantis lures
its victims close

by disguising itself as the most
tempting flower in the rainforest.

Its evolved legs
that look like petals

and dark patches on its abdomen
that appear to be buds.

It even rocks back and forth like a
flower, swaying in the jungle breeze.

This mantis mimicry is so good

it attracts more insects
than the actual orchid itself.

Only this orchid has powerful front
legs and dagger-like spines.

But it also has brains, too.

The orchid mantis outwits its insect
victims like a true evil genius.

For us, with our big brains,

after a few seconds of scrutiny

we can tell that the orchid mantis
is no orchid flower.

For the tiny brained fly, buzzing
frantically from flower to flower,

it just doesn't have enough time
or the capacity

to make such an informed decision.

Now, the mantis, on the other hand,

has evolved to take advantage of its
victim's limited powers of deduction

in a technique called
sensory exploitation.

The fly sees the mantis
as the right sort of shape

and crucially, it appears
bigger and brighter

than the surrounding flowers.

And for the insect,
this is a fatal attraction.

Once the fly is within a few
centimetres, the mantis strikes.

Catching its prey in
as little as 60 milliseconds.

Faster than the blink of an eye.

Hunting in the dense rainforest

is difficult enough by day,

but by night,
things get even tougher.

The margay is one flawless feline.

This small South American cat
is perfectly adapted

for hunting at night.

Her large eyes give her supreme
long-range night vision.

And her whiskers are so sensitive
they pick up subtle vibrations

and tiny air flows, helping her build
a 3-D picture of the dark jungle.

But most remarkably, she's one
of only three types of cat

that can climb face-first
down a tree trunk.

Ideal when tracking
small rodent prey.

These skills make her perfectly
suited for a jungle ambush.

She clears four metres
in one extraordinary leap.

And with a single precise bite,

this rainforest hunter
delivers the killer blow.

Of all the jungle's predators,

there's one that's pushed nocturnal
hunting beyond any other.

Specialist night cameras
allow us to reveal

the weird world of the tarsier.

Each night, these tiny
carnivorous primates

hunt for their favourite food...

..crickets.

They may be small but tarsiers
can do this...

Leap 40 times their own
body length...

..with pinpoint accuracy.

To land these nocturnal acrobatics

takes some super-powered
night senses.

Their eyes are huge.

Each eyeball weighs the same
as the tarsier's brain...

..giving them eyesight three times
more sensitive than ours.

In fact, they're so big they're fixed
in a forward-facing position

and can't move in their sockets.

Luckily, with their incredibly
flexible necks,

they still manage a 360-degree view
of the jungle at night.

Tarsiers don't just have
impossible eyes,

they also have impossible ears.

They act kind of like
satellite dishes

and can move independently to detect
and pinpoint the faintest of sounds.

They can pick up sounds that are
completely imperceptible to us,

tuning into the highest frequencies
of any primate,

which means tarsiers
can hear ultrasound.

Whereas we humans can detect around
20,000 Hertz,

tarsiers' hearing goes up to 90,000.

We think they use this
ultrasonic hearing

to hunt by eavesdropping
on their insect prey.

So crickets, to them,
are like dinner bells on legs.

For creatures of the rainforest,
hunting is tough

but there's an even deeper
challenge to overcome.

Water.

Did you know that rainforest
vegetation is so dense,

so interwoven and so tightly packed

that for a single raindrop
to fall 60 metres

from the top of the tallest trees
to the forest floor

can take a full ten minutes.

Yeah, ten minutes.

But what the rain lacks in speed

it more than makes up for in volume.

Because the rainforest gets up to
10,000mm of water each year.

And for the animals that live here,

one of the pressing challenges
is simply staying afloat.

This is the basilisk lizard.

He lives amongst the pools
and waterways

of the Costa Rican rainforest.

And of all the jungle residents,

he's found the most impressive way
of dealing with a water hazard.

This astonishing reptile also
goes by another name -

the Jesus Christ lizard...

..because he can walk on water.

And the way they achieve their
remarkable sprint is miraculous.

The basilisk lizard is able to
perform this incredible feat

thanks to, well,
their incredible feet.

This lizard basically transforms

from a terrestrial quadruped
into an aquatic biped.

It does this by using its longer back
feet to slap down on the water.

Each powerful foot slap
creates air pockets

which surround the foot
and keep the lizard afloat.

But the other crucial element
of this slap dash is speed.

These young lizards, although only
20 centimetres long,

can cover one and a half metres
of water every second.

Now, if you or I were to try
and do the same thing

we'd need to run at 100 kilometres
an hour.

Now, I'm fast but I'm not that fast.

Research has shown it's the lighter,
younger lizards

that perform this unbelievable skill
the most frequently.

For the older, heavier-footed males,

their water dancing days
are well behind them.

In the South American rainforest,

the six-month wet season leaves the
forest floor pitted with pools.

Here, an extremely rare
jungle carnivore

has turned the submerged forest floor
into a hunting opportunity.

The bush dog.

Targeting rodents,
reptiles and birds,

these canines hunt in packs.

But these are no ordinary dogs.

They are aquatic specialists,
and even have webbed feet.

They're powerful swimmers
and unlike most dogs,

can fully submerge their heads
as they swim.

It's this that gives the bush dog
the edge over their prey.

Finally, their powerful
canine bite...

makes them formidable hunters
above and below the water.

The flooded rainforest floor.

Whatever the season,
conditions here

are hot, humid and very wet.

The red-eyed tree frog
is perfectly suited...

..and booted to stalk its prey
on the wet vegetation.

In one hop, it can clear 20 times
its own body length.

But that jump is only half the story.

These gravity-defying frogs
can stick to almost anything.

Now, for a long time, it was thought
they had suction cups

built into their feet. But we now
know that's not the case.

The tips of their fingers and toes
are covered in a layer

of tiny hexagonal cells and even
tinier structures called nanopillars.

And it's these that give
the frog friction in its grip.

Even on the most slipperiest
of jungle leaves.

This adhesion is strong enough to
hold 14 times the frog's weight.

So the little cold-blooded killer can
pick any spot to launch an attack.

But occasionally...

..even the best hunters...

..miss their target.

When it comes to water
in the rainforest,

there's one last source that has an
extreme impact on life...

..rivers.

These super highways transport vital
nutrients and seeds far and wide.

Providing a rare break in
the dense vegetation,

they're also the perfect spot
for animals to socialise.

Each evening, along the waterways
of Borneo,

proboscis monkeys gather
at riverside dating sites.

And what the females
are looking out for is this.

For a proboscis monkey,
this guy is irresistibly handsome.

A longer nose means a stronger,
fitter and more virile mate.

They gather in troops of up to 25,

where males vie for the best
positions to show off their wares.

But if they can't secure a good spot,
things get even stranger.

It's time for plan B,
the impossible honk.

So that big nose isn't just for show.

A long snout creates
an internal echo chamber,

reverberating and amplifying the
sound of the mating call.

Literally, the bigger the conk,
the louder the honk.

For the females, it's a beautiful
riverside serenade.

The biggest boys both look
and sound irresistible.

And for the smaller males, well,
they are left out on a limb.

Same time next week, fellas.

In the highly competitive
world of the rainforest...

..only the strongest succeed.

So when it comes to raising a family,

jungle parents will stop at nothing
to give their offspring the edge.

OK, so by now it's pretty clear
that rainforest life is tough.

Just surviving each day takes some
truly astonishing abilities.

So just imagine what it must be like
trying to raise a family here.

Well, welcome to the impossible world
of jungle parenting.

There's one mum found in the
rainforests of Central America

whose devotion to her young
is exhaustive.

This is a strawberry
poison dart frog.

This female first laid her eggs
on the forest floor.

But now, as tadpoles, she needs to
move them somewhere safer.

The dutiful mum gives each one
a piggy back

high into the trees to their
own private nursery pool.

Each of the trips can take
up to three hours to complete.

But that's just the start of it.

She then spends the next eight weeks
clocking up serious mileage,

going back and forth
to every tadpole.

She drops them generous food parcels
of her own unfertilised eggs.

Now that's dedication.

It's often said that parenting
is an impossibly thankless task

full of sacrifice. And that's most
definitely the case

for the caecilian.

These are worm-like amphibians

that live a largely subterranean life
in a rainforest.

And to give their young
the very best start in life

these mums provide them with
a truly home-made meal.

For starters, there's a tasty
secretion she produces from her tail.

But when they grow their first teeth,
they can move onto the main course.

And this mum does something totally
unique among vertebrates.

She lets her young gorge
on her fatty, nutrient-rich skin.

She'll live to have more broods,
but talk about a selfless act.

Many mothers have found
ingenious ways

to give their young the best chance
in life.

And in Madagascar,
there's one group of females

who've gone to extreme lengths...

..becoming a force
to be reckoned with.

This troop of ring-tailed lemur mums
are out on patrol.

To keep their youngsters safe, they
must secure the best feeding grounds.

They march with their half-metre
long tails held aloft.

Vital for keeping the 20-strong
group in formation.

Crucially, the tails act
as a warning to other gangs.

A battle flag.

When a rival troop is spotted, the
dominant female leads the charge...

..while carrying her baby
on her back.

Having their youngsters in tow
may look risky

but they're much safer in
the heat of the action

than they would be left
to fend for themselves.

But lemur parenting isn't just
about brute force.

Remarkably, these clever females have
synchronised their pregnancies

so that the babies are all born
at the same time of year,

when forest food is most plentiful.

An extraordinary feat
of family planning.

The only challenge left
for these little ones

is getting to the food
without falling off.

Luckily, Mum's always around
to keep an eye out.

Plus, she doubles up
as a nice soft landing pad.

Of all the animal families
in the rainforest,

there's one that faces the
ultimate parenting challenge.

Meet the gibbon.

These primates live in the jungles
of Southeast Asia

and raise their babies 60 metres
above the ground.

To ensure baby gibbons are ready
for the perils of jungle life,

they stay with their mothers
for up to four years,

learning everything
they need to survive.

From which fruits and leaves
are best to eat...

..to the subtleties of grooming
and social bonding.

But without doubt, the greatest
challenge up here

is learning to get about safely.

Because, for a mischievous novice,

moving around so high above the
ground is a dangerous business.

To move through the upper canopy,

every gibbon must learn how to swing

and the adults are only too happy
to demonstrate.

They can propel themselves
through the trees

at a breath-taking 60 kilometres
an hour.

That's as fast as
a galloping racehorse.

This audacious tree top manoeuvre
is known as brachiation.

If a youngster is to
become independent,

he'll need to master
this daunting task.

A tense moment for any mum.

This is a skill that takes
gibbons years to master.

That's why these hands-on parents
will stay on duty

until their babies
have got swinging sussed.

Because when it's a jungle out there,

it's good to know
someone's got your back.

Although raising a family in the
rainforest may seem impossible,

nature always finds a way.

The most impressive animals
beat the jungle conditions

to overcome the relentless threats
and constant competition.

And somehow, manage not just to
survive, but to genuinely thrive.

You could say they
achieve the impossible.

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