Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
TV Hub
  • 5/31/2025

Category

📺
TV
Transcript
00:00The End
00:30Gentle hunter, his tail plays on the ground while he crushes the skull.
01:00Beautiful death, who puts on a spotted robe when he goes to his victim.
01:11Playful killer, whose loving embrace splits the antelope's heart.
01:27Many African cultures praise the courage and charisma of the leopard.
01:33They also fear his stealth and his cunning, because he can move and hunt in total darkness,
01:39whereas we, unable to see, can only hide away.
01:45Now, using a very special camera that can see in near total darkness,
01:50we can venture out into the night to find the truth behind those stories
01:55and take a very special look at the leopard, the true agent of darkness.
02:02The leopard is the least known of all Africa's big cats.
02:23Here in Zambia's South Rwangwa National Park, as elsewhere, it's often hard to even see them.
02:30And if the master of concealment is discovered, he's generally not doing very much at all.
02:41No one has ever been able to watch leopards closely at night, when they're most active, until now.
02:55We followed two leopards over three years, to reveal night-time secrets of the cat that walks on its own.
03:04As the daylight fades, most animals try to find somewhere safe to hide away from night hunters,
03:29just like this male leopard, one of the two stars of our story.
03:38Tension increases as the day dies.
03:51Baboons seek refuge in the tallest of trees.
03:59Baboons seek refuge in the sun and don't travel to the planet
04:10As our eyesight fails, we turn to a unique nature of our展 payment
04:15when we see Acting 이상 apostles' grande afterlife
04:20많 rules about the weather.
04:24As our eyesight fails, we turn to a unique video camera
04:30that can record full colour pictures with very little light.
04:46This is our second leading character,
04:50whom we can recognise by a scar on her side.
04:54She's 15, which is quite old for a leopard.
05:04Like all leopards, she hunts on her own.
05:13She's keen, but bright moonlight doesn't help
05:17because the impala can spot her movements from hundreds of metres away.
05:21A transformation comes as the night turns.
05:28With another camera, which is sensitive to infrared frequencies,
05:35we can see in near total darkness.
05:39It's a view that is ours alone,
05:41for although hunter and hunted can see something,
05:44their eyes aren't much use in the dark.
05:47Now, antelope depend on their ears.
05:57She doesn't have to hide,
05:59but she can't make one single sound.
06:02It's pitch dark.
06:17Only we can see her.
06:18Antelope strain every sense
06:33to try and detect the danger that might be out there.
06:37Even the rustle of a leaf would give the alarm.
06:45Is that the sound of a leaf would give her baby?
06:46Just to blink the méda.
06:48When the rustle of a leaf would give the airborne.
06:50Queer forward.
06:51sehr emoción.
06:51And then the rustle of a leaf.
06:52taraf terrorank a ver a little bit,
06:54known as was used in her eye.
06:57It's not only we can see her
07:13She must get nearer to strike, but when she's as close as this, even the sound of her breathing could give her away.
07:43Maybe her scent betrayed her.
07:55They still don't know exactly where she is until her footfalls give the game away.
08:03Her tail signals that she's given up, even though the antelope can barely see her.
08:18For the first time, the infrared camera has shown the true tension of a hunt at night.
08:23But elsewhere, the leopard secrets are being unraveled very differently.
08:33With the help of June Kwan Bushman, Philip Stander is piecing together the nocturnal behaviour of leopard in the semi-arid lands of northern Namibia.
08:51From the air, his radio tracking leads the bushman towards different radio-collared leopards in the study.
08:57As in Zambia, the leopards are so shy and secretive in the day that the bushman and Philip hardly ever see them.
09:06But for the June Kwan, this is no problem.
09:09They don't need to see leopards to discover their secrets.
09:12All they require are footprints.
09:17Tracking away from the leopard, they can follow and interpret even the faintest of marks to precisely reconstruct the leopard's actions.
09:25Here, prints have led them to a young Eland antelope, recently killed by one of their male leopards.
09:35Cachet follows the prints and shows exactly how careful the leopard was as he crept soundlessly through the sleeping herd.
09:43The male managed to get just four metres from the young Eland.
09:50He shuffled his back feet to get a grip in the loose sand and then passed.
09:54Their in-depth knowledge of nature is unmatched and the reconstructions are almost 100% accurate.
10:04It's the first scientific study to record in meticulous detail over a hundred night-time hunts.
10:17They've found that leopards have to stalk for as many as 30 metres before they can get close enough to spring.
10:23The team has confirmed that, as the African poem suggests, the solitary leopard is indeed a superlative hunter.
10:35In Zambia, the leopards have the choice of a wider variety of prey.
10:39In their treetop refuge, baboons are hard to catch.
10:44But sometimes, the male makes the attempt.
10:53This time, he doesn't have to be quiet.
10:57Instead, he employs psychological warfare.
11:00The noise of his advance creates great alarm because baboons have extremely poor night vision.
11:13He takes advantage of this by deliberately terrorising the troop, trying to force one of them up a branch of no return, or to lose its balance.
11:30If the moon stays out, there might be just enough light for the baboons to keep one step ahead.
11:50They can't see much, but they can clearly hear that somewhere close...
11:52there's a killer in their midst...
11:53They can't see much, but they can clearly hear that somewhere close, there's a killer in their midst.
12:23But they don't know exactly where he is.
12:53Once again, the darkness gave him a chance, which he was quick to exploit.
13:16Leopards are hard to see, but they're the most adaptable and certainly the most successful of Africa's big cats alive today.
13:34The boons, because of their poor night vision, are inevitably vulnerable to predators with better eyesight.
13:52Today, with the infrared camera, we're in a unique position to fully appreciate the leopard's abilities.
14:07In Zambia, the female is trying to catch puku fawns. Young, inexperienced puku could be easy prey.
14:18But the fawns tuck themselves away at a distance from the herd, and their bodies are almost scentless.
14:25In the blackness, she can't find them by sight, so she's trying to sniff one out.
14:34She's found one. And once again, she has to close the gap without rustling a single blade of grass.
14:58.
15:05.
15:18.
15:23All right.
15:53In the dead of night, the fawn can't see what we can.
16:23All right.
16:51Luck just wasn't on the leopard's side.
17:13All right.
17:14All right.
17:15All right.
17:16All right.
17:17All right.
17:18All right.
17:19All right.
17:20All right.
17:21All right.
17:22All right.
17:23All right.
17:24All right.
17:25All right.
17:26All right.
17:27All right.
17:28All right.
17:29All right.
17:30All right.
17:31All right.
17:32All right.
17:33All right.
17:34All right.
17:35All right.
17:36All right.
17:37All right.
17:38All right.
17:39All right.
17:40All right.
17:41All right.
17:42All right.
17:43All right.
17:44All right.
17:45All right.
17:47All right.
17:48All right.
17:49All right.
17:50All right.
17:51All right.
17:52All right.
17:53All right.
17:54All right.
17:55All right.
17:56All right.
17:57All right.
17:58All right.
17:59All right.
18:00All right.
18:01All right.
18:02All right.
18:03All right.
18:04All right.
18:05All right.
18:06All right.
18:07All right.
18:08All right.
18:09All right.
18:10All right.
18:11All right.
18:12All right.
18:13All right.
18:14All right.
18:15All right.
18:16All right.
18:17All right.
18:18All right.
18:19All right.
18:20All right.
18:21All right.
18:22All right.
18:23All right.
18:24All right.
18:25All right.
18:26All right.
18:27All right.
18:28All right.
18:29she wants to attract the male, because she's coming into season. She calls, using
18:36the ground as a sounding board, so her message travels as far as possible.
18:52A male, nearby, responds.
18:59As they approach one another, the female becomes very cautious.
19:20The male seems belligerent.
19:23In this dangerous liaison, she has to have very quick reactions.
19:29The male is bigger and much stronger than she is. So she has to be careful not to irritate him by her presence.
19:41The male is bigger and much stronger than she is. So she has to be careful not to irritate
19:55him by her presence.
19:57After many hours, she considers it safe for her to come closer.
20:48This is the only involvement that males have in family life.
20:51The male is bigger and less than she is, all she chooses.
20:53They are the family life.
20:54In this case, she turns into a woman a body or a woman.
20:55This film is not to be feminine.
20:57While she sings in the dark, she is not to beimizade.
20:58And what if we take a woman?
20:59A woman feels a lot more than she is, but she lacks a lot more than she is.
21:00So she remembers the male is Она.
21:02Thole is a woman's body, really alive.
21:03The male is a woman's body, little girl.
21:04I am not to be scared.
21:05And she is dressed up.
21:06And she is dressed up.
21:07And she is dressed up in life.
21:08And she is dressed up in the dark, she is dressed up.
21:09Meanwhile, in Namibia, Philip and the Bushmen have used bait to entice an 18-month-old female
21:36into a cage. She was radio-collared as a cunt, and now they need to widen the collar.
21:43The Jew-mois have adapted their bows and arrows to fire tranquilizing darts.
21:52This is almost the only time they ever see a leopard in the flesh, and the Bushmen fall into silence.
22:06Although the collar looks big, it's quite lightweight and won't impede her movements.
22:18Prey in Namibia, unlike in Zambia, is hard to find. It's mainly small, usually solitary antelope,
22:25so leopard home ranges are larger, with the study's record being one male who had a range
22:31of over 1,000 square kilometers. But Philip's radio tracking from the air gives the Bushmen
22:41a reasonable chance of meeting their study animals face to face.
22:47Philip and the Bushmen will probably never see her again, though from her tracks they'll
22:52be able to follow every detail of her life. She's in good condition now, but having just
22:58become independent, she's at a most critical stage. The majority of young leopards, when
23:05they start to fend for themselves, die of hunger.
23:28In our third year of filming, the female had a male cub. Since he's only nine months old,
23:55he's still got a few more months of security with his mother.
24:03The cub is the only survivor from her last litter.
24:13The scar on her flank is easy to see. It may be the result of a baboon bite five years ago,
24:19which has never completely healed, but it doesn't seem to cause her any problems.
24:23She has to catch much more than normal now, not only to feed him, but also to keep herself
24:46in top condition. This need leads her to hunt in the day, but she usually waits for the security
24:54of nightfall before she brings him to her kill.
24:56Although she's already eaten quite a lot, the impala weighs nearly as much as she does.
25:01Although she's already eaten quite a lot, the impala weighs nearly as much as she does.
25:08But even though she's old for a leopard, she's still strong enough to haul her kill up and put it out of the reach of others.
25:15But even though she's still strong enough, she's still strong enough to haul her kill up and put it out of the reach of others.
25:22But even though she's still strong enough, she's still strong enough to haul her kill up and put it out of the reach of others.
25:29But even though she's still strong enough, she's still strong enough to haul her kill up and put it out of the reach of others.
25:36But even though she's still strong enough, she's still strong enough to haul her kill up and put it out of the reach of others.
26:06But the cub is still an innocent in the arts of caution and concealment.
26:13He will learn from his mother, who, with 15 years of experience, is an expert in survival tactics.
26:31Leopards lead solitary secretive lives because it helps to avoid the potentially deadly necessity to defend their kills.
26:45For there are larger, more gregarious carnivores who are extremely keen on scavenging, and they're never far away.
27:01Without sing!
27:09Hyenas and crocodiles wrestle over the remains of a buffalo!
27:31Oh, my God.
28:01The moon has disappeared, and the hungry male is on the prowl.
28:13He has several advantages on his side.
28:16He knows every inch of the ground, and he's learned exactly where the impala liked to spend the night.
28:22But most importantly, there's no moonlight to betray him.
28:31He knows every inch of the ground.
29:01For the reappearance of the moon, we can change to the full-color video camera.
29:10The big impala is too heavy for him to even try and get it up a tree.
29:15Instead, he feeds fast, getting a meal at the same time as reducing the weight of the carcass.
29:22It's a race against time because the alarm calls are alerting others in the neighbourhood.
29:29Every night, hyenas haunt the leopard's favourite hunting grounds.
29:46There are so many leopards that the hyenas have learned to react quickly to any alarm calls.
29:52If they're fast, they stand a good chance of getting a relatively easy meal.
29:56When he's on the ground with his kill, the male is at his most vulnerable.
30:10He's nowhere near as powerful as the hyena, and a fight to save his prize would risk his life.
30:16He's nowhere near as powerful as a hyena, and a fight to save his doing.
30:38however the male like all leopards is good at waiting
31:08so
31:16so
31:18so
31:24so
31:38Even a small snack is worth having.
31:55Leopards have other serious competitors, as the team in Namibia discovered.
32:00The group goes in to investigate because, from the air,
32:04Philip has been monitoring a signal which shows one of their leopards
32:07hasn't moved for five days.
32:11There's the remains of the leopard's kill,
32:14with an unusual mixture of tracks.
32:23There are prints from leopard, antelope, hyena and lion.
32:28Then, old Ui finds the remains of a female leopard.
32:45Sadly, it's the mother of the adolescent female,
32:47whose radio collar was changed earlier.
32:49From the tracks, the bushman discover that two lionesses
32:59were attracted by the scent of the kill
33:01and surprised the leopard in the tree.
33:04Since it wasn't tall enough to keep her safe,
33:07she tried to escape,
33:08but the lionesses cornered and killed her on the ground.
33:13Later on, hyenas scavenge from her carcass.
33:16Ui accurately demonstrates the last, frantic moments of her life.
33:27Confrontation amongst big cats can be fatal,
33:29but leopards have a far more deadly competitor, us.
33:33From the earliest days, when our ancestors were victims,
33:36the tables have turned.
33:38Every year, people trap, poison, snare
33:41and shoot thousands of leopards
33:43because of fear,
33:45because they kill sheep and cattle,
33:47or because they want their skins.
33:55In Zambia, baboons, like us,
33:58tend to have the upper hand in the day.
34:00No longer handicapped by the dark,
34:09so with their sight unimpaired,
34:11a small troop discovers the male leopard.
34:18Baboons can kill leopards,
34:20but there may not be enough big males to corner him,
34:22so they just bark to harass him
34:24and warn the rest of the troop of his presence.
34:26Even under this pressure,
34:34the male is confident enough not to run,
34:36which would give the baboons a chance to attack,
34:39but he's wary and a little disturbed.
34:41He tries to tuck himself away out of their sight
35:00for a little bit of peace.
35:01The male is under and it's calledеп modality.
35:04The male is
35:26all Meterent.
35:28And there may be scenes not to do now,
35:29but the form would
35:29BIRDS CHIRP
35:59BIRDS CHIRP
36:29The moon sets, creating almost perfect darkness,
36:37the conditions in which, unlike us, the female and her cub feel most comfortable.
36:42BIRDS CHIRP
36:48BIRDS CHIRP
36:52BIRDS CHIRP
36:54BIRDS CHIRP
36:58BIRDS CHIRP
37:00BIRDS CHIRP
37:06BIRDS CHIRP
37:08BIRDS CHIRP
37:10BIRDS CHIRP
37:14BIRDS CHIRP
37:16BIRDS CHIRP
37:20BIRDS CHIRP
37:26BIRDS CHIRP
37:28the cub won't share the hair with his mother
37:34so having satisfied his appetite for a short while
37:38she leaves him alone once more
37:40while she tries to catch something bigger
37:42that will last both of them a few days
37:45the black knight promises her good chances
37:50this role may be playful
37:55or it might help hide her scent
37:57or it might help her
38:27or it might help her
38:28or it might help her
38:29or it might help her
38:30or it might help her
38:31or it might help her
38:32or it might help her
38:33or it might help her
38:34or it might help her
38:35or it might help her
38:36or it might help her
38:37or it might help her
39:08In their eagerness to snatch a kill, hyenas try to shadow hunting leopards, but with their clumsy attempts to find the leopard in the dark, they often interrupt and spoil a hunt.
39:38Hyenas will generally only attack leopards to steal their kill, so the female stays her ground.
39:56Hyenas dogging her footsteps, she lets time pass.
40:25To allow the antelope to settle down and the bored hyenas to depart.
40:30Good.
40:32Good.
40:33Hi.
40:34Meanwhile, the cub investigates
41:03a prickly problem.
41:08Armed with sharp quills and quick reflexes,
41:12porcupines are not the easiest at prey
41:14for the inexperienced.
41:33Wisely, the cub leaves it well alone.
41:45Meanwhile, since the woodland seems to be clear of hyenas,
42:00it's time for his mother to try hunting once again.
42:03She employs a new tactic,
42:15which appears to break all the rules.
42:22Contrary to everything we've seen before,
42:25she deliberately stamps her paw.
42:27This time, she wants the antelope to hear.
42:38And now she raises the pressure
42:40by continuing to use sound to cause confusion.
42:51Her strategy could only work in mere total darkness.
42:55The antelope can't see her,
43:01but every now and then, they can hear her.
43:08She's hoping one of them will panic,
43:10go the wrong way,
43:11and then she'll be ready,
43:12hidden in the ambush of darkness.
43:14The antelope.
43:33The antelope can't see her.
43:34The antelope can't see her PERD delifrente.
43:36And now she'll see herPNs
43:40in the absence of her norte-american
43:42Until now, no one had ever seen or even suspected
44:05that leopards used such remarkable manoeuvres.
44:09One thing, however, is certain.
44:12Just when you think you understand them, they do something utterly surprising.
44:37It's little wonder that the people who live alongside the leopard
44:41and who know it most intimately should admire it so much and praise it so greatly.
44:50The beautiful Death, who puts on a spotted robe when he goes to his victim.
44:56The playful killer, whose loving embrace splits the antelope's heart.
45:04All right.