Fish Eagle Deadly 60 Bites


Fish Eagle

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'On Deadly 60 I've had loads of incredible animal encounters.

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'Here's just one of my many favourites.

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'This is Deadly 60...Bites!'

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I'm here in South Africa.

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It's about there.

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I'm surrounded by the Kruger National Park,

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one of the largest in Africa,

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and it's full of animals that are fast and furious,

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and some of them are deadly.

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The deadly animal I'm here to find is the African fish eagle.

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They're master fishermen.

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When a fish eagle hunts, it uses all of its skill and precision

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to hit the water at just the right angle.

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Their excellent eyesight pinpoints their prey.

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Rather than diving straight down,

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they skim along the surface,

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staying out of the fishes' field of vision

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until the last possible moment.

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Then they strike with those lethal talons.

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When fish are scarce,

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they've been known to hunt birds even as big as flamingos,

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and will also take turtles, and even small crocodiles.

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In order to get really close to these incredible creatures,

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I've got a date with a very special fish eagle

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called Bono.

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Bono's story is that he was taken from the wild as a chick, illegally.

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But, luckily, he was rescued,

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and he spent his days very happily in a rescue centre near here.

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I can tell you that he is really quite heavy.

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It's quite a strain keeping him on my wrist.

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He's got gigantic breast muscles, like huge pecs,

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which drive those wings,

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and the main weapon is those talons, look at those,

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they are like razor blades.

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Actually, feeling that with my finger,

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I can tell you you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those.

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He's called Bono because of his wonderful singing voice.

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Let's see if we can get him to show it off. Bono...

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Whoo-whoo, whoo! Whoo!

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BONO SQUAWKS

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Look at that.

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The way he throws his head back at the end there

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is to extend the vocal chords, to make the sound even bigger.

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But I'm a little concerned, cos he's looking around...

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at a wild fish eagle, which is circling around us...

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..probably getting all territorial, cos Bono here is in his patch.

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FISH EAGLE SQUAWKING

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Can you hear that?

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This is unbelievable. There's one over there, a wild one...

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and they're having a wee chat.

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What do you reckon to that, Bono?

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Talk about eagle-eyed,

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Bono's not paying me any attention,

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he's just looking directly at the other eagle.

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The wild one in the tree is just watching us, very closely,

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from about a hundred metres away.

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African fish eagles have the most extraordinary way

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of fishing and hunting.

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As I've already said, it's so effective,

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they only need to do it for ten minutes a day.

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As Bono's kept in captivity,

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he doesn't get the chance to go out and fish in the wild.

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So they've had him on a bit of a diet for a few days,

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and we're hoping, fingers crossed,

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he'll show us quite what it is that makes this bird so special.

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Bono, hey!

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If you've got sharp eyesight,

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you might notice the guys are using a plastic fish to train Bono.

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The idea is, it mimics a fish hanging around near the surface,

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and also means that if Bono gets a hold of it, he won't eat it,

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get full and lose interest.

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With birds in captivity,

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it's a key part of their fitness and development

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to keep them flying and hunting like this.

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It helps build and tone those large muscles needed to fly,

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and literally gives them a chance to spread their wings.

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In the wild, they'd be hunting like this every day.

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For Bono, it's a relatively new experience,

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and he hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.

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While Bono gets his eye in, I have a cunning plan.

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To show you quite how hard that is,

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we've come up with a, well, a kind of scientific experiment.

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With the help of my glamorous assistant, James,

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and another plastic fish,

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I'm going to become a fish eagle for the afternoon.

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Aargh!

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All I have to do is copy the fish eagle's grace and coordination,

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its lethal precision timing and accuracy,

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and its awesome, aerodynamic skills.

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Well, as you can see,

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I'm about as far away from the grace and elegance of an eagle

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as it's possible to be.

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Let's see how the experts do it.

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Now Bono's had a few trial runs and got his eye in,

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let's see if he can get those lethal talons working.

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Hey!

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-Hey!

-Bono's looking interested now...

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Good boy.

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-Wow!

-Stop.

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That is unbelievable.

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He did it!

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And now he's just sat up here in a bush...

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tearing the plastic fish to bits.

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Stop it!

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I don't really envy Mark, now,

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having to convince this huge killing machine to give up its prey.

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Mark, that was really quite remarkable.

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He's eyeing up my toes, I don't like that.

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There's not enough meat on those.

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I'm going to try and get him back up on the glove.

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-Good boy.

-How about that?!

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-Well done!

-That's was awesome, eh?

-Wasn't it just? Third time lucky.

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Bono, you are an absolute superstar.

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And just to prove it wasn't a fluke...

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Oh! That is extraordinary!

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You can't tell me that's not worthy of getting on the Deadly 60.

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African fish eagles are fast, skilful,

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employing their deadly talons to maximum effect.

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This eagle is a fish's worst enemy,

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earning it a place on my Deadly 60 list.

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Chocks away!

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OK, it's got to be worth one last go.

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I got it!

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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E-mail [email protected]

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