Original subtitles

(ELEPHANTS HONK)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

NARRATOR: The great Savannah of Southern Africa.

(EAGLE CAWS)

For eight months of the year,

these drying grasslands see no rain.

Despite the burning heat,

one stubborn waterhole refuses to yield.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

It becomes an irresistible draw for animals of all kinds.

An oasis

not just in water,

but in the termite mounds,

trees and scrub that surround it.

In the dry season's final weeks,

the animals will go to any lengths to reach it.

It becomes an arena where great rivals do battle.

(SNAKE HISSES)

These animal gladiators use guile, strength, and strategy

to compete for its riches.

The ultimate prize...

survival.

(CRICKETS CHIRP)

At this waterhole,

one mighty beast is already staking her claim.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(ANIMALS CAWS)

Lioness.

Her vast home range extends across nearly 100 square kilometres...

...and the waterhole is the jewel in her territory's crown.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The water itself isn't the main attraction.

It's the animals that come here.

Most keep their distance...

...until the thirst is overwhelming.

But one opponent is brave enough to take her on.

Cape Buffalo.

This is his patch too.

He never strays more than a day's walk from water.

And he's not alone.

Buffaloes are some of the most aggressive

and dangerous animals in Africa.

They have excellent memory and are known to carry grudges,

remembering their opponents by sight years after an attack.

They've even been known to charge sleeping lions

to kill the cubs,

snuffing out any future threat.

One buffalo has become separated from the herd,

and would make a substantial meal for the pride.

To take him down,

Lioness must remain hidden as long as possible.

Her plan, knock him off balance,

then take him out with an incisive bite to the windpipe.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC RISES)

First strike, a tap tackle.

Lower risk than leaping on his haunches.

Lioness is seven times lighter than Buffalo,

but she strikes with twice the force of a heavy-weight boxer.

Catch him sweetly

and his own body weight will bring him down.

The element of surprise is lost.

Plan B... Wait for backup.

Her sister joins the fray.

She can strike from the other side.

A perfectly timed leap will pull him off balance.

(LION ROARS)

But Buffalo is too quick.

His horn catches her with a painful blow.

Owning the best territory is no guarantee of success.

The victor has won the right to drink his fill.

Lions suffer defeat in eight out of ten battles with buffaloes.

But Lioness is lucky.

(LION ROARS)

Her wounds will heal.

She'll live to fight another day and keep her family alive.

(LION BELLOWS)

Her cubs, just a few weeks old,

will rely on her entirely for the next two years at least.

But if she doesn't make a kill before the waterhole dries up,

her milk will run dry.

(ANIMALS SQUAWK IN THE DISTANCE)

(BIRDS CAW)

Among the trees and grasses on the outskirts of the waterhole,

there are other animals seeking opportunity.

Honey Badger is a fearless loner...

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

...here to claim his share of the waterhole's riches.

And with a big brain,

he's compact, resourceful,

and has a notoriously high threshold for pain.

Needle-sharp acacia thorns just brush off him...

...deflected by his loose-fitting skin,

thicker than a buffalo's hide.

His goal...

a hydrating drink of honey.

(BEES BUZZ)

The bees don't bother him,

he has a very special trick to keep them at bay.

He omits a noxious odour, like a skunk.

The stink paralyses the bees,

giving him free passage to the treasure in their nest.

Refreshed and recharged,

Honey Badger is well set to take on any challenges that get in his way.

As the dry season advances,

the more exposed grasslands near the waterhole

are pounded by soaring temperatures.

One animal has found a clever solution

to dealing with the heat.

Air conditioning.

Termite mounds are feats of engineering...

...some topping two-storeys tall.

As the sun moves across them,

the surfaces warm up and then cool down.

The cycling temperature generates a consistent, cooling breeze,

through a sophisticated network of tunnels and galleries.

The interior remains cool and damp, all year round.

By controlling their environment,

the termites are booming.

Half a million workers never sleep.

They're constantly on the go.

They're nature's recyclers, turning dead wood into food.

Their burrowing behaviour enriches and aerates the soil,

benefiting the whole area.

Termites may be champions of the environment...

but nearly everyone wants to eat them.

So, to deter invaders,

one in ten termites are soldiers.

Their only job is to defend...

...at all costs.

Soldier is bigger and stronger than his worker comrades,

and he's built for the fight.

He has an enlarged helmet-like head

and crushing jaws so massive he can't eat for himself

and has to be fed by workers.

He's a selfless, walking weapon.

He's so dedicated that, if a hole opens up in the mound,

he'll even try to plug it with his head.

Ready, if necessary,

to make the ultimate sacrifice

to save his family.

This extreme dedication is about to be put to task.

Termite's arch-foe is mobilizing.

Matabele Ant.

Named after a fierce warrior tribe

Matabele is a monster.

A full two centimetres from jaws to sting.

She's on a scouting mission to find food.

Her colony's diet is very limited.

They only eat termites.

And in the dry season heat,

juicy termites provide vital moisture.

Matabele is a skilled navigator.

She uses the position of the sun to guide her path.

And she'll travel a marathon 100 meters from home.

Matabele's mission is a race against time.

If the sun gets too high,

she won't be able to use it to find her way.

She'll be stranded.

Honey badger can't map read with the sun.

He just follows his nose.

His acute sense of smell is better than a bloodhound's.

And he's picked up on the scent of something tasty.

Scorpion.

Her kind are older than the dinosaurs.

She may be much smaller than he is...

...but she's well equipped to defend herself.

Her prehistoric stinger

has been nearly perfectly adapted

over hundreds of millions of years.

And it delivers maximum pain in a flash.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

Scorpion's split-second tail strike triggers the hypodermic stinger.

It penetrates deep.

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

But Badger can handle the pain.

He's ready to go again.

A single bite will do it.

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

Scorpion's sting is so potent.

The deadly toxins quickly hone in

on Honey Badger's nervous system and heart.

The effect would put a human in hospital.

Honey Badger isn't deterred,

but Scorpion's jabs keep him at bay.

(HONEY BADGER HISSES)

(HONEY BADGER CHITTERS)

But even a tough nut like him has his limits.

In the air surrounding the termite mound...

...Matabele Ant can smell her quarry.

Termite can sense her approach.

He's too small to take her on on his own.

Without reinforcements, this will be a fight to the death.

And if Matabele escapes back to her colony...

she'll bring an army.

Termite's only chance is to kill her with a single, clean bite.

His monster jaws are laced with a poison to make her bleed out.

Matabele strikes first,

but her bites are ineffective.

Termite's body is armour-plated.

...reinforced with chitin,

an insect's version of Kevlar.

Matabele changes tack.

A powerful shot of venom to the face.

Ten of these stings will paralyze a human arm.

For Termite, a single dose will prove fatal.

In Termite's dying moments,

he has one last task to perform.

With a series of coded vibrations

and an airborne scent,

he sounds the alarm.

An ant army is surely coming.

Matabele is already halfway home.

She leaves a breadcrumb trail of invisible pheromones

for others to follow.

In under a minute,

she relays the details of her find

via the delicate dance of her antennae.

In less than five minutes,

the ant army is mobilized.

Four hundred ants stream towards the termites.

But the termite defence force is waiting.

Hundreds of soldier are ready to meet them.

But the soldiers aren't here to defeat the ants.

They're a sacrifice.

One by one,

the soldiers succumb to the invaders...

until there are so many soldier bodies...

...the ants are overwhelmed.

They call in the retreat.

They have just what they need.

Each ant carries with it up to seven soldier corpses.

Matabele has done her job,

providing food to secure the survival of her colony.

And the soldier termites have done theirs.

Because, inside their mound,

hundreds of thousands of workers are safe.

At the waterhole,

Lioness and her pride are playing a waiting game.

Sooner or later, thirsty animals will risk taking a drink.

Lioness can keep herself hydrated.

But to maintain her milk,

she'll have to feed.

And in this arena,

things can change in an instant.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

A new arrival is here.

The world's largest land mammal...

African Elephant.

This super-herd of more than 200 elephants

has been guided here by their matriarch leader.

The female-dominated group is made up of her sisters,

nieces,

aunts, and daughters...

...and a handful of her younger male relatives.

The matriarch has found the waterhole

using a memory map passed down through generations.

She's led them 200 kilometres to find it...

...just as she did last year.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

After their long journey...

the herd is ready to drink big.

(BIRD CAWS)

Just one elephant swallows 200 litres of water

in under five minutes.

There are 200 in the super-herd,

all of them drinking their fill.

It's not good news for the lions.

If the elephants keep drinking at this rate,

the already evaporating waterhole could dry up completely.

And the lions' prey would leave.

But there could be a more immediate opportunity.

This young calf is only ten months old.

He's immature, inquisitive,

and he's strayed from the herd.

(BABY ELEPHANT SQUEAKS)

(MOTHER ELEPHANT GROWLS)

Lioness's half-hearted attack is ill-advised.

There's no way through this 50-tonne barrier.

(ELEPHANT HONKS)

As long as they stay together,

the super-herd's strength in numbers

is their most powerful defence.

(BIRDS CHIRP)

The elephants bed in at the waterhole for days.

They spend their time resting...

...and consolidating their community ties.

For the younger members of the herd,

it's an opportunity to take their first tentative steps

towards adulthood.

Young bulls test their strength

and reassert their ranking.

(ELEPHANTS BELLOW)

When they're old enough, and confident enough,

they'll strike out on their own...

...to live a solitary life

roaming the Savannah for food and mates.

One bull is getting restless.

At 13 years old, he's not yet fully grown...

...but nearly old enough to strike out on his own.

He dominates his peers and is growing in confidence.

He's keen to prove his mettle away from the herd.

And that hasn't gone unnoticed.

The elephants' arrival has changed the dynamic of the waterhole.

With the lions distracted,

other animals have a chance to sneak in for a drink.

Along the treeline,

one creature is staying hidden from the commotion.

The mistress of disguise.

Puff Adder.

Her chevron markings blend seamlessly with her surroundings.

Adder is constantly on her guard.

She listens to faint vibrations in the ground

...and tastes the air for chemical clues.

Honey Badger's pungent odour is unmistakable.

He's a dangerous foe,

blocking her route to the water.

Puff Adder's camouflage works best when she's still.

And she has the ability to slow her metabolism

into a kind of stasis.

Honey Badger is well equipped to take her on.

His high pain threshold

means he's one of the only mammals in Africa

that would dare to try.

With his excellent sense of smell,

he should have picked up that she's nearby.

But Puff Adder is playing her trump card.

She can also mask her scent...

...with a chemical cloak of invisibility.

She's completely safe.

Unless she moves.

But like everybody here,

Puff Adder is need of a drink.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Spotted.

Unless Puff Adder can scare him away...

...she'll have to fight.

She sucks in so much air

her single left lung fills the entire length of her body.

By exhaling with force, her warning is unmistakable.

(SNAKE HISSES)

It's no bluff.

Puff Adder is ten times more venomous than Scorpion.

(SNAKE HISSES)

(SNAKE HISSES)

She strikes.

(SNAKE HISSES)

But she doesn't make contact.

Another launch

in a quarter-second.

Badger can't react so fast.

Her long fangs unfurl like a switchblade.

This time, she connects.

The venom is painful.

(CHITTERS IN PAIN)

Badger may be tough,

but the toxins overwhelm him.

Now Adder can finish her journey

to a pool on the fringes of the grass.

Sweet relief.

But instinct tells her not to linger.

Honey Badger's body can work miracles.

Powerful antibodies in his blood

break down the venom

and neutralize its toxic effects.

Adder is long gone.

He'll have another go next time.

The dry season is in its final days.

The waterhole is just an expanse of thick mud.

And the elephants are on the move

as they leave in search of food.

It's good news for Lioness.

The odds are back in her favour.

The young bull, itching to strike out on his own,

has become increasingly detached from the herd.

And with most of the others now some distance away...

...he's isolated.

Lions are the only animals powerful enough to hunt elephants.

It's a rare behaviour

that's only been mastered by a few select prides.

An older elephant might know of the danger.

But this young bull is inexperienced.

This is the moment Lioness has been waiting for.

She has all her sisterhood to help,

ready to work as a team to a well-executed plan.

(ELEPHANT BELLOWS)

Bull Elephant weighs six tonnes...

...more than the whole pride put together.

He's deceptively agile.

But elephants easily tire.

With 18 hooked claws,

as strong as carbon fibre,

Lioness locks on.

The others position their bodies to perfection.

He's off-balance.

But the fight's not over.

Lioness has no choice but to let him go.

The wily teamwork of the pride...

...is no match for the sheer might of the elephant herd.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(RAIN POURS)

With the arrival of the rains,

the animals once again spread out across the Savannah.

No longer drawn to the waterhole,

the area empties.

The elephants have resumed their perennial migration

in search of food.

They've successfully avoided succumbing to the lions.

But for one of the elders...

...this is the natural end of the road.

Elephants live up to 70.

But when their teeth wear down,

they lose the ability to eat...

...and gradually fade away from starvation.

For all her efforts in the hunt...

...Lioness has ridden her luck.

The elephant carcass will feed the pride for days.

With her family's immediate future safe,

Lioness can continue

to stamp her authority on her territory...

...and live to fight another day.