S3E1 Pack Hunters
World's Deadliest: Pack Hunters takes a deep dive into the world of group predation with a look at twelve different species who use teamwork to bring down their prey.
World's Deadliest: Pack Hunters takes a deep dive into the world of group predation with a look at twelve different species who use teamwork to bring down their prey.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00All the hunters you're about to meet have one thing in common.
00:08They all use teamwork.
00:13They communicate.
00:16They strategize.
00:19They ambush.
00:22All for the sake of the kill.
00:27These are the world's deadliest predators.
00:31And they gang up in packs and swarms.
00:57Of all the group hunters on Earth,
01:00these are among the biggest.
01:07In their African homeland,
01:10lions sit at the top of the food chain.
01:18Females do most of the hunting,
01:22while males rest and protect territory.
01:27To survive, lions rely on teamwork.
01:34A time-tested strategy will be used against the warthogs.
01:42One female will get as close as possible
01:46and then drive the prey to another, lurking in ambush.
02:47Lions have great vision.
02:50The brightest sunshine won't blind them,
02:53and in low light, they can see six times better than humans.
02:59They can hear prey from a mile away.
03:04And their sense of smell is so keen,
03:07they can tell how recently the prey passed.
03:11Lions will take on prey more than twice their size.
03:16A full-grown zebra can weigh nearly half a ton.
03:33One kick from those hooves can break a lion's jaw.
03:38Lions are sprinters, not marathoners.
03:43They can hit 35 miles an hour,
03:46but only for a few seconds.
03:57So they take their time.
04:01So they team up, approaching their prey from different angles.
04:07Zebras learn to keep their distance,
04:10but one zebra is about to violate the first rule of the safari.
04:17Always stay with the group.
04:22Always stay with the group.
04:42The lion will go for the typical death blow,
04:46crushing the windpipe.
04:52While the team keeps their prey from getting away.
05:05Of all the world's cats,
05:08lions are the only social animal,
05:11especially at dinnertime.
05:14After a kill is made, males always eat first.
05:19Then the females.
05:22What's left goes to the cubs.
05:27Often not enough.
05:30Most will not survive into adulthood.
05:34Lions need up to 15 pounds of food per day.
05:38So for the pride to endure,
05:41they have to keep on the hunt.
05:48But some prey calls for the whole team.
05:54Cape buffalo are truly big game.
05:59One lion can be outweighed five to one by a buffalo.
06:06To take it down, the lionesses need reinforcement.
06:11The pride's male could weigh twice as much as a female.
06:34There is no random game.
06:38There is no random game up.
06:41It's a two-pronged attack.
06:44Distract the buffalo,
06:46then go for the hindquarters to bring it down.
06:51But even Africa's biggest cats can't always eat in peace.
07:02Someone out there wants to mooch their meal.
07:06But the lionesses are not afraid.
07:09They're not afraid of the lion.
07:12They're not afraid of the lioness.
07:15They're not afraid of the lioness.
07:18Someone out there wants to mooch their meal.
07:23Few creatures would dare confront a proud lioness.
07:27But few creatures are as bold as a pack of hyenas.
07:36This kind of fight has rarely been filmed.
07:49Like a humble house cat, the lioness takes refuge in a tree.
07:55Proof that a whole pack trumps one queen.
08:13As tough as hyenas might be,
08:17their culture more closely resembles monkeys than lions.
08:25Hyenas live in clans that can reach as large as 80.
08:30Unlike lions, they have a matriarchal hierarchy.
08:34A female is always the chief.
08:40Below females are cubs.
08:44And at the bottom of the social order are adult males.
08:49Within each group, there are strict levels of rank.
08:54Not determined by size or strength,
08:57but by its mother's status.
09:02The most fortunate cub is born to the chief of the clan.
09:14Hyenas are notorious scavengers
09:17and will steal kill from bigger predators.
09:21Like this leopard.
09:31Vultures tip off the hyenas.
09:34There's fresh meat to be had.
09:37And the hyenas are not afraid.
09:43The hyenas grab it.
09:47Can the leopard recover its fumble?
10:13When a hunter gets its prize, it eats what it can.
10:20Until the clan starts to arrive.
10:28Then it gives up its spot
10:30and leaves higher ranking females to the choice cuts.
10:35Yes, they're good thieves.
10:38But also good hunters.
10:47Among the most prolific predators in Africa.
10:52Today, on the open plains of the Serengeti,
10:55their strategy is simple.
10:59Form a semicircle with the hyenas.
11:03Form a semicircle around this herd of wildebeest.
11:07And pick off stragglers.
11:33Lions kill their prey before consuming them.
11:36But hyenas eat their prey alive.
11:39Blessed with powerful jaws and a cast iron stomach,
11:43they can crush and digest bone.
11:46The calcium from within the bone
11:49turns the hyenas' feces white.
11:54The hyenas are not afraid.
11:57And they're the only carnivore that eats hides.
12:01Only hair and horns go to waste.
12:05It can eat up to one-fifth its weight in one sitting.
12:09And it can eat rotten flesh,
12:11so it buries leftovers for later.
12:18Out here, the hyenas are the only carnivores
12:21that eat their prey alive.
12:25Out here, hyenas are one mob
12:28that grazers don't want to run into.
12:34But if any predators deserve to be called a mob,
12:37it's the meerkats of South Africa.
12:41And that's just what they are called.
12:43A mob.
12:4520 is a typical size.
12:48But some mobs number more than 40.
12:52Meerkats aren't cats.
12:55These mammals belong to the mongoose family.
12:59They hunt as a pack.
13:03But before they can go on offense,
13:06they have to mount a defense.
13:11The reason is simple.
13:14At only about two pounds and just a foot long,
13:17meerkats are vulnerable to other predators.
13:27So for protection,
13:29one member finds a termite mound or shrub and keeps watch.
13:36If the sentry spots trouble, he'll bark.
13:40He'll be relieved in about an hour,
13:42so he too can forage.
13:45Meantime, he constantly gives the meerkat signal
13:48for all clear.
13:51With a lookout posted,
13:53the rest of the mob can come out of their burrow and hunt.
14:06They hunt small mammals like this squirrel.
14:10Not always with success.
14:14Insects and scorpions are dietary staples too.
14:22They'll team up to turn over rocks and help each other dig.
14:28Its fingers are tipped with curved claws nearly an inch long.
14:33The prize inside the box?
14:36Scorpion.
15:03The sting would kill a young human,
15:06but the tiny meerkat is immune.
15:12It bites off the scorpion's tail,
15:14leaving nothing else to waste.
15:26Like meerkats,
15:29these predators don't look like a menacing mob.
15:38Humpbacks are known as the ocean's gentle giants.
15:46Tell that to its prey.
15:51The humpbacks are setting the stage for a massacre.
16:00Humpbacks can look gentle,
16:03as watching a mother with calf proves.
16:11They feed mainly in summer
16:14and live off their fat in winter.
16:17Their commute to their feeding ground
16:20is the longest known migration.
16:23The meerkats are the only ones
16:26The meerkats are the only ones
16:29of any mammal.
16:32Up to 10,000 miles round trip.
16:38Humpbacks are generally loners,
16:41but they'll come together to hunt.
16:50Southeast Alaska.
16:57These humpbacks are about to net thousands of fish.
17:07They use two tactics that in the hands of a child
17:10would be harmless,
17:13singing and blowing bubbles.
17:16But with humpbacks, the combination is lethal.
17:22On one side of the shoal of fish
17:26one whale creates a wall of bubbles.
17:33On the opposite side of the shoal
17:36another whale sounds the battle cry.
17:39The famous song of the humpback.
17:43Except now, the song becomes a dirge.
17:48180 decibels, equal to a rocket launch
17:51and powerful enough to damage human ears.
17:55The fish flee from the uproar
17:58and collide with the wall of bubbles.
18:02They see the bubbles as a barrier.
18:05While they're blocked, the blower swims around them
18:08surrounding them in a bubbly prison.
18:11With no other way out,
18:14they head for the surface to escape.
18:17Right where the whale wants them.
18:47In this ring of death,
18:50dozens of humpbacks will feast.
18:54They have no teeth,
18:57so they swallow their prey whole.
19:02The whale is not afraid of death.
19:05It's not afraid of death.
19:08It's not afraid of death.
19:11It's not afraid of death.
19:14It's not afraid of death.
19:17But it's not afraid of death whole.
19:28And if any creature should be nicknamed Jaws,
19:31it's the humpback.
19:44and swallow hundreds of fish in one gulp.
19:48Its throat and chest are lined with 30 wide ventral grooves,
19:52allowing it to open its mouth as wide as possible
19:55to take in hundreds of gallons of water swimming with prey.
20:00♪♪
20:06They may eat like this twice a day
20:08during the feeding season.
20:10♪♪
20:20Humpbacks aren't the only horde with a famous call.
20:24♪♪
20:31The call of the wild can chill your bones.
20:36Especially if it's the last sound you'll ever hear.
20:40♪♪
21:05Their howl is an all-purpose telegraph.
21:09It summons members, marks borders, and sends warnings.
21:14But this coyote didn't get the message to keep out.
21:21Wolves don't like having their meals mooched.
21:26♪♪
21:36♪♪
21:46♪♪
21:56♪♪
22:07Like hyenas and lions,
22:09there is a strict hierarchy within each pack.
22:13However, with wolves,
22:15the highest-ranking status goes to a couple,
22:18the alpha male and female.
22:22They always eat first, and only they will bear young.
22:27The other members of the pack will help raise their cubs.
22:31♪♪
22:34After six weeks, pups need more than their mother's milk.
22:40They need meat to survive.
22:43Too young to join the hunt,
22:45the pup will stay behind in the den.
22:49If the adults are successful,
22:51they will regurgitate the kill for the young when they return.
22:56♪♪
22:59But getting that meat isn't always easy.
23:04A single wolf pack's territory averages 80 square miles in size.
23:09♪♪
23:12Wolves have scent glands in their toes,
23:14so as they track prey,
23:16they leave messages behind for fellow pack members.
23:20They have a highly developed sense of smell
23:22and, in the right conditions,
23:24can detect scents from almost two miles away.
23:27Prey might be tracked for hours or days
23:30before the pack starts its chase.
23:33♪♪
23:38The longest recorded pursuit stretched for 13 miles.
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23:46♪♪
23:52♪♪
23:56No wonder the deadly German subs of World War II
23:59were called wolf packs.
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24:10Legend tells of humans raised by wolves.
24:13♪♪
24:16But this pack hunter is your own next of kin.
24:22Chimpanzees.
24:25They share more than 98% of our DNA.
24:30That makes them our closest cousin.
24:36Chimps were once considered strict vegetarians.
24:43But not anymore.
24:46They're one of nature's most cunning killers.
24:50In some parts of Africa,
24:52a chimp will eat a ton of meat a year.
24:56Like us, they have complex sounds for communicating.
25:00♪♪
25:07This chimp gives the signal...
25:11that it's time to hunt.
25:15Hunting parties like this one may hold up to three dozen members,
25:20and their search could last up to four hours.
25:25They hunt 25 species,
25:28including small antelope and wild pigs,
25:31and they hunt for up to 10,000 animals a year.
25:35Hunting parties like this one may hold up to three dozen members,
25:39and their search could last up to four hours.
25:43They hunt 25 species,
25:46including small antelope and wild pigs,
25:51but they've found their favorite prey.
25:56Red colobus monkeys.
26:00Here's where brainpower pays off.
26:07They take positions in the treetops surrounding the monkeys.
26:22With the escape routes cut off,
26:25the real hunt is about to begin.
26:47Male monkeys will actually fight back,
26:50but it's David versus Goliath without the slingshot.
26:55The chimp outweighs it six to one.
26:59Youngsters and mothers are split up,
27:02leaving easy pickings.
27:12Chimps have sharp teeth, but to kill prey,
27:15chimps use gravity, hurling their prey with lethal force against a hard surface.
27:26Half a dozen monkeys might be killed in a single attack,
27:31but usually just one.
27:34Big males dominate the group,
27:37so they eat first, just like the lions.
27:41Unlike lions and like humans,
27:44males share their meal with family and allies.
27:56The next predator could hunt just fine on its own,
28:01but as a pack, it takes on prey ten times its size.
28:07South America has more than 20 species of piranha.
28:13The most notorious is the red-bellied piranha,
28:17and they're about to earn their reputation.
28:26In the rainy season, rivers crest their banks and flood the land.
28:32Piranha follow.
28:36The rain brings a bumper crop of prey,
28:40great white egrets,
28:43and a large number of other predators.
28:48The rain brings a bumper crop of prey,
28:52great white egrets,
28:55nesting in the only dry place left.
29:06Awkward young egrets aren't ready to fly,
29:09so if they lose their balance, they're goners.
29:17Like sharks, piranha have sensors
29:20to detect other creatures' movements.
29:29Once blood is shed,
29:31piranha can detect a drop from two miles away.
29:39Thrashing only draws more piranha.
29:48All that's left is pillow stuffing.
29:55Their name comes from two native words,
29:58pira, meaning fish, and ana, meaning teeth.
30:03And no wonder.
30:07Their teeth are triangular, interlocking, and dense,
30:12and so sharp they can cut a steel fishing line.
30:17But the fish with the monstrous reputation is actually small,
30:22on average about as long as a pencil.
30:26So piranha school for the same reason other fish do,
30:31safety in numbers.
30:35When rivers are high, food is plentiful,
30:38but beware the dry season.
30:42As the land dries out,
30:45rivers retreat into oxbows and ponds.
30:50Confined to a natural fish bowl,
30:53piranha will go after anything they can sink their teeth in.
31:01Injured piranha are quickly cannibalized.
31:09As for those legendary attacks on humans,
31:13rare, and no one has ever documented
31:17a human being killed by a piranha attack.
31:22From overhyped legend to undisputed fact,
31:31the fastest animal on land,
31:35the cheetah.
31:38Cheetahs hunt by vision, not by scent.
31:48Like commandos, they sport black marks
31:52on the inside corner of each eye,
31:55perhaps to cut the sun's glare.
32:00Everything about a cheetah is designed for the chase.
32:05It gains traction from claws that don't retract
32:09and paw pads with extra grip.
32:16It'll try to creep within 100 feet from its target
32:20before bursting into action.
32:25Clocked as fast as 71 miles per hour.
32:30At top speed, it takes about 3 1⁄2 strides every second
32:39and every minute up to 150 breaths.
32:44Its hind legs are so flexible,
32:47they can pass the front ones.
32:51And for almost half the time at full speed,
32:54the legs don't even touch earth.
33:11Female cheetahs hunt alone,
33:14but males hunt in packs.
33:22Males like these are usually brothers,
33:26and they usually bond for life.
33:31Working as a pack, they can tackle bigger prey,
33:35like these wildebeests.
33:40And when the brothers are hungry,
33:43not even a little bad weather will slow them down.
33:59The ferrari of animals,
34:02the cheetah,
34:06the ferrari of animals,
34:09able to accelerate from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds.
34:16But its temperature soars so high,
34:22if it doesn't stop after 300 yards,
34:25it could die.
34:29But that's why it's in a pack.
34:33Two more with fresh legs.
34:37The pack is ready to go.
35:01Once they bring the wildebeest down,
35:04the cheetahs choke it to death.
35:09A truly lethal band of brothers.
35:15Another predator keeps on the move
35:18in its constant search for food.
35:21Orcas.
35:25The killer whales.
35:35Every day,
35:38they eat up to 300 pounds of prey.
35:46And Peninsula Valdez in Argentina
35:49stocks a banquet.
35:54This is where the cheetahs come in.
35:58Peninsula Valdez in Argentina
36:01stocks a banquet.
36:07Seals.
36:29Deep water and steep beaches
36:32make an ideal hunting ground.
36:40To find prey,
36:43orcas use built-in sonar called echolocation.
36:49They send out clicks and whistles
36:52that bounce off the target.
36:56Because of the steep slope of this beach,
37:00an orca can swim under the cover of a wave
37:03all the way to shore.
37:27Mothers will take prey back to the open water
37:30and turn it loose
37:33so their offspring can learn to hunt.
37:47What looks like playing with their food
37:50is actually a seminar in predation.
37:56Orcas in the Pacific
38:00predate their own father whales.
38:04They teach the newborn
38:07to seek their prey
38:10close to shore.
38:13They train their prey
38:16so it's easy to hunt.
38:20Orcas in the Atlantic
38:23Orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family
38:31and an apex predator of the sea,
38:34hunted by no other creature.
38:38Orcas will team up to grab prey that seems out of reach,
38:44like an Arctic seal at rest.
38:46Working in tandem, the orcas cause a fatal dunking.
39:06They live in pods up to 40 strong,
39:12communicating through whistles and grunts
39:15unique to their pod.
39:23Warp speed is about 30 miles an hour.
39:28About every 30 seconds, they surface to breathe.
39:35The pod detects big game,
39:41gray whales,
39:43but it's the calf thereafter.
39:51They have a two-pronged strategy.
39:56First, force the gray whales to swim faster
39:59and tire the calf.
40:04Then separate calf from mother.
40:12The orcas will dunk the calf till it weakens and drowns.
40:18The orcas will dunk the calf till it weakens and drowns.
40:39This marathon of torment lasts almost six hours.
41:17Nature has given prey a host of defenses,
41:21from strength to speed to camouflage.
41:28But if there's one pack of predators
41:30who have managed to stack the deck in their favor,
41:34it's the hunters that live here.
41:40The painted dogs, named for their uniquely colored coats.
41:46No relation to the hyenas,
41:48these are the so-called wild dogs of Africa.
41:52Maybe the most successful hunters on earth.
41:55No relationship to the hyenas, these are the so-called
42:15Four out of five chases end in a kill.
42:25Their attack starts with a charge to stampede prey
42:31and reveal weaklings.
42:46For the takedown, they have no weapon except their teeth.
42:50But they have large premolars for crushing and eating bones.
42:56And their bite is among the strongest
42:58of any meat-eating mammal.
43:10They're not born as first-class hunters.
43:14Their skills are actually learned.
43:18Adults regurgitate meat for pups,
43:21but painted dogs are so social, they share food
43:24with the sick and the old.
43:31They seldomly show aggression to each other, rare behavior
43:37in the natural world.
43:43Painted dogs hunt across a spectrum of terrain,
43:48from savanna to bush to floodplain.
43:56When prey is trapped, the dogs enjoy the advantage
44:00of a 360-degree attack, a tactic that sooner or later wears
44:05down the defender.
44:08They've honed a technique to protect themselves
44:10from the lethal horns of African game.
44:13As one holds prey by the tail, another pins it by the mouth.
44:22The rest go for the guts and eat it alive.
44:27They have no choice.
44:28Lurking lions would steal their meal.
44:31So they wolf it down in minutes and in silence,
44:35unlike hyenas, who can't dine without raising a fight.
44:42But they're no less than drawing a crowd.
44:57The highest compliment to this pack
45:00comes from its very prey, the lekwe.
45:05Lekwe head for deep water when threatened.
45:13The lekwe are still in hot water.
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