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'On Deadly 60 I've had loads of incredible animal encounters. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
'Here's just one of my many favourites. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
'This is Deadly 60...Bites!' | 0:00:12 | 0:00:16 | |
I'm here in South Africa. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
It's about there. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
I'm surrounded by the Kruger National Park, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
one of the largest in Africa, | 0:00:24 | 0:00:25 | |
and it's full of animals that are fast and furious, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
and some of them are deadly. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
The deadly animal I'm here to find is the African fish eagle. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
They're master fishermen. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
When a fish eagle hunts, it uses all of its skill and precision | 0:00:38 | 0:00:42 | |
to hit the water at just the right angle. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
Their excellent eyesight pinpoints their prey. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
Rather than diving straight down, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
they skim along the surface, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:51 | |
staying out of the fishes' field of vision | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
until the last possible moment. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:55 | |
Then they strike with those lethal talons. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
When fish are scarce, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
they've been known to hunt birds even as big as flamingos, | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
and will also take turtles, and even small crocodiles. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
In order to get really close to these incredible creatures, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
I've got a date with a very special fish eagle | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
called Bono. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:14 | |
Bono's story is that he was taken from the wild as a chick, illegally. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
But, luckily, he was rescued, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
and he spent his days very happily in a rescue centre near here. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
I can tell you that he is really quite heavy. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
It's quite a strain keeping him on my wrist. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:30 | |
He's got gigantic breast muscles, like huge pecs, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
which drive those wings, | 0:01:33 | 0:01:34 | |
and the main weapon is those talons, look at those, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
they are like razor blades. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
Actually, feeling that with my finger, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
I can tell you you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
He's called Bono because of his wonderful singing voice. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
Let's see if we can get him to show it off. Bono... | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
Whoo-whoo, whoo! Whoo! | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
BONO SQUAWKS | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
Look at that. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
The way he throws his head back at the end there | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
is to extend the vocal chords, to make the sound even bigger. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
But I'm a little concerned, cos he's looking around... | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
at a wild fish eagle, which is circling around us... | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
..probably getting all territorial, cos Bono here is in his patch. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
FISH EAGLE SQUAWKING | 0:02:22 | 0:02:23 | |
Can you hear that? | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
This is unbelievable. There's one over there, a wild one... | 0:02:26 | 0:02:31 | |
and they're having a wee chat. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
What do you reckon to that, Bono? | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Talk about eagle-eyed, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
Bono's not paying me any attention, | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
he's just looking directly at the other eagle. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
The wild one in the tree is just watching us, very closely, | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
from about a hundred metres away. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
African fish eagles have the most extraordinary way | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
of fishing and hunting. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
As I've already said, it's so effective, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
they only need to do it for ten minutes a day. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
As Bono's kept in captivity, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
he doesn't get the chance to go out and fish in the wild. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
So they've had him on a bit of a diet for a few days, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
and we're hoping, fingers crossed, | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
he'll show us quite what it is that makes this bird so special. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
Bono, hey! | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
If you've got sharp eyesight, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
you might notice the guys are using a plastic fish to train Bono. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
The idea is, it mimics a fish hanging around near the surface, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
and also means that if Bono gets a hold of it, he won't eat it, | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
get full and lose interest. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
With birds in captivity, | 0:03:41 | 0:03:42 | |
it's a key part of their fitness and development | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
to keep them flying and hunting like this. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
It helps build and tone those large muscles needed to fly, | 0:03:47 | 0:03:51 | |
and literally gives them a chance to spread their wings. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
In the wild, they'd be hunting like this every day. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
For Bono, it's a relatively new experience, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
and he hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
While Bono gets his eye in, I have a cunning plan. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
To show you quite how hard that is, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
we've come up with a, well, a kind of scientific experiment. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
With the help of my glamorous assistant, James, | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
and another plastic fish, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:19 | |
I'm going to become a fish eagle for the afternoon. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
Aargh! | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
All I have to do is copy the fish eagle's grace and coordination, | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
its lethal precision timing and accuracy, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:34 | |
and its awesome, aerodynamic skills. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
Well, as you can see, | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
I'm about as far away from the grace and elegance of an eagle | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
as it's possible to be. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
Let's see how the experts do it. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
Now Bono's had a few trial runs and got his eye in, | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
let's see if he can get those lethal talons working. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
Hey! | 0:05:01 | 0:05:02 | |
-Hey! -Bono's looking interested now... | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
Good boy. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
-Wow! -Stop. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:13 | |
That is unbelievable. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
He did it! | 0:05:19 | 0:05:20 | |
And now he's just sat up here in a bush... | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
tearing the plastic fish to bits. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
Stop it! | 0:05:26 | 0:05:27 | |
I don't really envy Mark, now, | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
having to convince this huge killing machine to give up its prey. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
Mark, that was really quite remarkable. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
He's eyeing up my toes, I don't like that. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
There's not enough meat on those. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
I'm going to try and get him back up on the glove. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
-Good boy. -How about that?! | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
-Well done! -That's was awesome, eh? -Wasn't it just? Third time lucky. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
Bono, you are an absolute superstar. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:03 | |
And just to prove it wasn't a fluke... | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
Oh! That is extraordinary! | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
You can't tell me that's not worthy of getting on the Deadly 60. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
African fish eagles are fast, skilful, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
employing their deadly talons to maximum effect. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
This eagle is a fish's worst enemy, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
earning it a place on my Deadly 60 list. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
Chocks away! | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
OK, it's got to be worth one last go. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
I got it! | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 |