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My name's Steve Backshall. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
People call me Steve. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
I'm on a mission to find the Deadly 60. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:12 | |
That's 60 deadly creatures from around the world. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
And you're coming with me every step of the way. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
Ow! | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
Whoa! | 0:00:23 | 0:00:24 | |
We're in one of my favourite countries in the world, Brazil. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
It's about here. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
This is the Amazon rainforest. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:38 | |
It's by far the biggest jungle in the world, | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
and I think the most spectacular. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
Twice the size of Europe | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
and home to more species of animal than anywhere else on the planet, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
the Amazon is wildlife central. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
I'm going to be exploring it with my trusty team - | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
director James, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
cameraman Mark, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:10 | |
on sound, Rich, | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
researcher Charlie, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
and Dudu, our expert guide. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
The biggest rainforest on the planet, | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
this is home to some living giants. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
Huge snakes, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
enormous butterflies, | 0:01:32 | 0:01:35 | |
even giant otters as long as I am tall. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:40 | |
Spiders are the world's finest insect killers, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
but there are giant spiders here that can eat much larger animals. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:54 | |
They're mostly nocturnal, which means they're active at night, | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
so get your scaredy-cushions ready for a night-time adventure | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
through the biggest jungle on earth. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
And as the sun sets, Dudu finds our first giant creepy-crawly. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:10 | |
Ooh, well spotted, Dudu. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
If you were going to try and design a creature | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
that was really terrifying-looking and perfect for hunting at night, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
you'd probably come up with one of these. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
This is a whip spider. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
The front legs are super, super long. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:34 | |
They become like antennae, | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
tapping around in front of the whip spider, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
feeling his way and also feeling out for prey. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
See if I can get it onto my hand. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
See, they're very canny. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
Look at that! Those front legs just tapping around all over the place. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:53 | |
-HE CHUCKLES -Not havin' any of it! | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
-Uh! -Got him? | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
There he is. Uh! | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
Wahey! | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
Look at that. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
Claws spread out, just waiting to give something a nasty pinch. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:27 | |
Are you sure he's harmless? | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
They're not venomous. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
That's not the same thing. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
Well, I would imagine that those barbed claws | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
could give you a nasty pinch. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
Well, that's all right, then. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
But if you were a cricket or another insect | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
that was unlucky enough to be wandering around out here, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
then you would be mincemeat. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
These things are phenomenal predators. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
Ooh! | 0:04:02 | 0:04:03 | |
OK. Let's send him back. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
There are very few creatures on our list | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
that look as scary as the whip spider. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
But what I'm holding out for is the largest tree spider on earth. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
It's the creature of many people's nightmares. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
After searching for many hours, our patience is rewarded. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:28 | |
Steve! | 0:04:30 | 0:04:31 | |
Wow! Oh my goodness! | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
Great spot, Dudu! | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
That's the proper tarantula. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
It's a good size, actually. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
You're more like it. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
-It's flicking hairs at you, Steve. -Yeah, I know, I saw. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
'I just want to gently guide her down the tree towards us.' | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
Whoa! Right, OK. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
I don't know if you could see that from there, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
but that back leg going frantic, rubbing against his abdomen, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
is kicking off very, very fine hairs | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
which are designed to get into the mouth and the nose | 0:05:10 | 0:05:14 | |
and the eyes and irritate anything which is trying to attack him. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
It's a very, very effective deterrent for big spiders like this | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
and they actually use it more than they use their bite. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:27 | |
It's still there. Hasn't gone anywhere. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
Come on, fella. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
Look at that. Can you see that? | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
'Ideally, I'd like to get it in the hand, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
'but it's essential that we read the spider's body language.' | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
-Go steady, Steve. -Yeah. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
Almost. Almost. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
Ooh. He just struck at my snake stick. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
That's not a good sign. | 0:05:58 | 0:05:59 | |
There's several things that you need to read | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
when you're trying to handle a wild tarantula, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
as to whether you're going to get bitten or not | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
and he's giving me every single one of those bad signs. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
He's flicking hairs, striking at the stick, lifting his front legs up. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
If I try and get this spider into my hand, | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
I'm probably going to get bitten. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:17 | |
BUT spiders around here all have different personalities | 0:06:17 | 0:06:22 | |
and I'm guessing that we'll find one | 0:06:22 | 0:06:23 | |
that's much more accommodating than this lassie. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
So we need a spider with a calmer temperament that's even bigger. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
And round here, they get MUCH bigger. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
There are amazing animals everywhere here, | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
from baby caimans to glorious butterflies. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
Now, THAT is a big bush cricket. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
The antennae go on forever! | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
Look at them, just tapping away on my hand. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
Feeling me as he's wandering around. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
Look at those. That is crazy. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
'This really is a forest packed with monsters.' | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
But after all that searching, we still didn't find our spider, | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
so we're going to have another look in the morning. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
For now, it's back to our hammocks | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
and dreams of spiders. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
First light and an early start to our mission. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
I'm already up, raring to go, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
but the crew are going to need a little bit more encouragement. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
Come on, you lot, we've got a monster spider to find! | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
Tarantulas do most of their hunting in the security | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
of specially dug burrows. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:58 | |
The bigger the entrance, the bigger the spider. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
I've never seen a burrow this big before. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
HE GASPS | 0:08:04 | 0:08:05 | |
Oh, my life! | 0:08:07 | 0:08:08 | |
It's something really big. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
Here it comes. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
Absolutely dripping sweat here. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
Look at the size of those fangs! | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
I've never seen anything this big before | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
and I've been catching tarantulas for well over a decade. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:42 | |
This is the largest tarantula in the world - | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
the Goliath bird-eating spider. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
They're remarkably canny and cautious. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
Getting her our into the open takes infinite patience and care. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
Every member of the crew holds their breath. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:02 | |
Once she's out, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:09 | |
the machete provides a safe block | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
to keep her from disappearing into her burrow. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
Well done, mate. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:15 | |
The burrow can be many metres deep. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
If she ran now, we'd have to wait hours for another chance. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
I'm going to be very gentle with her, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
because this is a very old and very special spider. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
This is definitely a female | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
and the females of this particular spider | 0:09:33 | 0:09:38 | |
can get to be 25, even 30 years old. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
So she's ancient. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
Come on, old girl. There you are. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
Now we can get a sense of the size of you. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
This spider's venom wouldn't kill me, | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
but you really don't want to get bitten by those gigantic fangs. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
She does, however, have another form of defence | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
that I've got to be really careful of. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
That kicking her leg against her abdomen, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
sending hairs up into the air... | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
..if those get into your eyes or nose, the back of your throat, | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
it can be very irritating and itchy | 0:10:22 | 0:10:26 | |
and it's actually the spider's primary method | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
of getting rid of an attacker, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
despite the fact that it has gigantic fangs. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
She's got fangs that are about as long as a cheetah's claws | 0:10:40 | 0:10:46 | |
and a good deal sharper. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:48 | |
She could give me a really, really nasty bite, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
so I just want to be ever so careful. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:57 | |
This is the Goliath bird-eating spider. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:03 | |
Goliath was a giant in the Bible | 0:11:03 | 0:11:08 | |
and this is a giant among spiders. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
Now, although they certainly are capable of it, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
birds don't actually form a large part of their diet. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
Most of what they'll eat | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
are rats and mice, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:24 | |
lizards and crickets, invertebrates. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:29 | |
But really they will take almost anything | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
that's unlucky enough to wander past their burrow. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
Look at the size of her! | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
And I can feel those hairs that she kicked up into the air | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
in the back of my throat and I want to cough, | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
but it's not really a good time to cough | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
with THAT on your hands. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
As she relaxes, she decides to go for a wander, | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
and though it's still a little nervy, | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
I think I've earned this spider's trust. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
They really are very, very impressive. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
Look at that, as she comes over the top of my finger. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
It's something that never ceases to amaze me. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
This is an invertebrate - this animal doesn't have a backbone. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:23 | |
It's brain is absolutely tiny, | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
but every single one of these spiders has their own personality. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:30 | |
Some of them are incredibly easy to handle. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
Others will bite almost instantly. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
Some of them will wander over your hand quite happily. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:38 | |
Others of them, you really think that, you know, it's quite edgy, | 0:12:38 | 0:12:43 | |
and any second, they could sink their fangs into you. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:46 | |
This one here | 0:12:46 | 0:12:47 | |
is kind of in the middle. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
She's been kicking hairs quite frantically | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
and I don't know... | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
I think I'm probably quite close to getting a bite, | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
which is why I'm sweating so much. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:04 | |
The Goliath bird-eating spider, one of the true giants of the Amazon | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
and an absolute cert for the Deadly 60. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
The biggest spider in the world. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
A monster that doesn't only eat | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
crickets and cockroaches | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
but mice, frogs, lizards, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
and, yes, even birds. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
The Goliath bird-eating spider. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
This is a particularly spectacular piece of forest | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
with loads of cliff faces, waterfalls... | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
and caves. And the caves are the whole reason that we've come here. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:54 | |
We're heading into these deep, dark caves | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
because we're hoping to find a creature whose very name | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
is enough to send a shiver down your spine. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
The vampire bat. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
During the day, these true vampires hide from the light | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
in dark places like this, huddled together, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
waiting for the night, when they're unleashed to hunt. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
Caves like this one are full of harmful airborne diseases, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
which explains why we're wearing these masks. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
There's an awful lot of life in here. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
Whip spider here. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
Our first bat hangs alone on the cave wall. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
This is a long-nosed bat. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
Caves like this are a perfect place | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
for bats to spend the day. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:02 | |
The temperature in here is completely constant, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
they're quite safe from predators, | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
but this one is just a bit cute. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:11 | |
Not a vampire. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
But where there's one bat, there's sure to be many more. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
Our next animal encounter is one you might not expect in a cave. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:24 | |
Oh! Crab. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:25 | |
Look at that. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:28 | |
Ah! Come back. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
Really trying to get a piece of me. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
This is just a freshwater crab | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
that's been swept or moved into the cave. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
It's not actually a specialist cave crab. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
He'd give me quite a nasty pinch, actually. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
I don't want to seem a complete wuss, | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
but quite possibly draw blood | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
and the animal we're looking for in here does more than enough of that. | 0:15:55 | 0:16:01 | |
This is undoubtedly the most famous bat in the world. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:11 | |
This is the only one that will actually suck the blood of mammals. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:17 | |
However, how it does it is so grotesque that I can understand | 0:16:18 | 0:16:23 | |
all the amazing vampire myths. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
This creature, at night time, will fly out, through the forests | 0:16:28 | 0:16:33 | |
and try and find a warm-blooded animal that's sleeping. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
Vampire bats are found through much of Latin America | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
and are universally feared and hated | 0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | |
and this unfortunate seal is about to find out why. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:46 | |
It'll land nearby, crawl over on its elbows, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
which in itself is one of the most macabre things you've ever seen, | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
and then actually shave away a patch of fur or hair | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
of the animal it's going to feed on. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
It then uses those incredible long teeth, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
which are absolutely, disproportionately huge. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
It then takes a bite... | 0:17:07 | 0:17:08 | |
SEAL SQUEALS | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
..and starts to lap up the blood from their host animal. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
'As we continue deeper into the cave on our vampire search, | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
'it's worth noting that Rich, our sound man, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
-'is scared of the dark...' -I don't want to go up there. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:38 | |
'..hates small spaces and, like so many people, is terrified of bats. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:44 | |
'This place is his living nightmare.' | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
-Is there enough room for all of us up there? -No. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
Watch out, Rich! | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
Whoa! Woo-hoo! | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
It's happened to you again, mate. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
They know you're scared of them, that's why. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
They can smell your fear. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
'So while Rich shakes in terror, | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
'we might have accidentally found our first vampire bat. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
'And a few hundred metres down the cave, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
'we find signs that they're here in huge numbers.' | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
Look at this. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
Can you see loads of hopping, jumping insects? | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
That's because all this brown ground is droppings | 0:18:34 | 0:18:40 | |
from the bats, which are living up there. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:45 | |
'But are they the infamous vampire bat | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
'that we've come here to look for?' | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
Going to see if I can get one down and get you a closer look at one. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:56 | |
Got that net for me, Dudu? | 0:18:56 | 0:18:57 | |
On the wing, they're impossible to tell apart. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
I need to catch one. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
Well, he's spooky, but he's not our vampire. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
This is actually a leaf-nosed bat. Just check out those teeth! | 0:19:15 | 0:19:20 | |
You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a bite | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
from one of these bad boys. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
We keep on looking, but have no luck. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
So it's unfinished business as far as the vampire bat is concerned. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:41 | |
Feels nice to be outside after that horror. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
We're coming to the end of our time in the Amazon rainforest. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:59 | |
Give me a hand to get up, please. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
And so far, we've found 59 of our 60 animals. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
I'm leaving the last spot on the list open to chance. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
As dusk falls, we hear quacking tree frogs calling. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
There's one quacking right in here. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
One other group of Amazonian frog could easily make our list. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
They have the world's strongest natural poisons. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:33 | |
These beautiful, jewelled frogs | 0:20:33 | 0:20:35 | |
secrete the toxins on their skins to protect themselves. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
As you get close, they stop singing. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
The poison dart frogs never made an appearance. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
The Deadly 60 luck, though, is not done yet. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:56 | |
Oh, my goodness! That's amazing! | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
We so nearly walked straight past, but a closer look revealed | 0:21:02 | 0:21:07 | |
one of the world's most feared, most famous, most notorious insects. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
Army ants. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
Look at that. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:16 | |
Oh, my goodness! And they're carrying their larvae, look! | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
-Army ants. -You got to get out of there. They will eat you alive. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
Legend has it that army ants can strip a human to the bone | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
in less than an hour. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
This busy trail in front of me | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
is one of the genuine wonders of the rainforest. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
These are army ants, and absolutely nothing gets in their way. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:43 | |
At the moment, it looks like every single one of them | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
is carrying a little grain of rice, | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
but the extraordinary, mind-blowing thing about this is that, actually, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:53 | |
what they're carrying are basically their babies. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
Every single one of those little white lumps is an ant larva. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:04 | |
That is just remarkable. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
Army ants are always on the move. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
They actually construct bivouacs | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
made of their own bodies, clinging together using their legs. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:25 | |
When they transport themselves, they need to transport their young too, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
and that's what's going on in front of me on now. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
I just love the way that everyone here has a job. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
You have this continuously running river of workers | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
and then standing there, like doormen outside a nightclub, | 0:22:59 | 0:23:03 | |
you've got the huge, great, big, burly soldiers | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
just standing there with their jaws agape, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
just waiting for someone to cause trouble. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
These are one of the deadliest animals in these forests. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:18 | |
They will take anything they can overpower, absolutely anything, | 0:23:19 | 0:23:23 | |
from the smallest insect up to lizards, small mammals, even birds. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:29 | |
And they can just wipe an area of forest clean, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
so they have to continually keep on the move | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
to find a part of forest that has anything to feed them. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
And, in fact, if a column of army ants goes into a village round here, | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
the villagers just leave. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
They leave for a couple of days, let the ants go through | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
the walls, the roofs, the ceilings, | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
taking out all of the scorpions, the centipedes, the snakes | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
and eating them and leaving their village clean. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
THESE guys are absolute machines. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:58 | |
This place, all the ants have been walking up to here | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
in a file no more than three of four ants wide | 0:24:04 | 0:24:07 | |
and they're starting to cluster together | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
and they're actually starting to build their bivouac in front of me. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:14 | |
This is one of the spectacles of the natural world. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
The bivouac is made entirely of ants. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
Millions of legs with special hooks link together | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
to make paths, bridges and even the lifts within the nest. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
The bivouac functions like one enormous, living city | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
with one common goal - | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
providing shelter for hundreds of thousands of little ant cocoons. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
Their future. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:45 | |
The last time I tried to film army ants, | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
I was sat about a metre away from the colony and I was eaten alive. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:58 | |
The fact that none of us have been bitten now... | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
I've just got bitten! | 0:25:01 | 0:25:03 | |
You couldn't make it up. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:09 | |
And cue biting ant. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
Now, what I was going to say is that | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
the ants haven't bitten me this time because they're busy moving house. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:25 | |
If they were feeding, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near them. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
In terms of being able to take on prey | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
that's many, many times their own size | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
and being able to eat just about anything, there's probably nothing | 0:25:37 | 0:25:41 | |
on our list that compares to the army ant. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
They're absolutely unstoppable, | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
and I think they're a fitting end to the Deadly 60. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
Alone, an ant has super strength, a painful bite and a venomous sting. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:57 | |
But an army of them, | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
a column of soldiers that can really clean up, | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
army ants are unstoppable | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
and undoubtedly on the Deadly 60. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
That's it, we've done it. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
60 deadly animals from six continents. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
The adventure of a lifetime | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
and some of the most extraordinary creatures in the world. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
Magnificent. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
From tiny ticks to huge hippos, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:28 | |
from turbo-charged critters to lethal beauties. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
Every one of these animals... | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
..deserves its place on my Deadly 60 list. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
Ah! | 0:26:44 | 0:26:45 | |
Shark! Great white shark! | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
But that doesn't mean there aren't more animals out there left to find. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:52 | |
Aarrr! | 0:26:58 | 0:26:59 | |
Oh, my life! I don't believe it! | 0:27:03 | 0:27:07 | |
The redback spider. The alligator snapping turtle. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
The reticulated python. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:21 | |
Definitely going on my Deadly 60. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:26 | |
But do you know what? | 0:27:26 | 0:27:27 | |
We've not even scratched the surface. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
There are so many more wild wonders left to find. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
Join me next time for more deadly animal encounters. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 |