South America 1 Deadly 60

My name's Steve Backshall.

Whoo!

And this is my search... for the Deadly 60.

Not just animals that are deadly to me,

but animals that are deadly in their own world.

My crew and I are travelling the planet.

And you're coming with me! Every step of the way.

'Deadly!'

'Deadly is this time making its home in South America.

'Diverse, dramatic, dripping with wildlife

'and all with a distinctly Latin flavour.

'We'll journey up jungle river systems

'in search of the most notorious fish.'

Argh!

'And into the Brazilian highlands, where an unusual maned canine

'stalks the land by night.

'But we begin in Venezuela.'

The first animal I'm hoping to put on my Deadly 60

is a nocturnal hunter which haunts the waterways of Latin America.

It's a creepy customer, and I warn you now, hang on to your hats

because this animal is electric. Literally.

'Humans only learnt how to harness electricity a few hundred years ago,

'but nature got there first.

'A few aquatic creatures can generate electricity,

'but we're seeking the champion, a creature with the power to shock,

'to stun, even to stop a heart from beating.

'The deep pool beneath this bridge is a classic place

'to find them hunting.'

So here is our bridge.

Down there is where we're looking.

Yes! There you go. Our first one.

It's an electric eel.

And that is a spectacled caiman.

'And not just one.

'In fact, there are hundreds of these toothy crocodiles.

'This pool must be a prime feeding ground.

'Spectacled caiman have already claimed a place on the Deadly 60,

'but they're not usually aggressive to people.

'I'm fairly confident that when I wade in, they should move away.'

The electric eels are a different story.

They can generate enough power to knock me off my feet

and possibly even to kill me.

This is the most powerful electricity-producing animal.

'The electric eel is not a true eel, but a freshwater fish

'that has the extraordinary ability to make, store

'and discharge electricity.

'80% of its body is jam-packed with electric organs

'which function like batteries.

'It stores up power and can deliver a burst

'of up to 600 volts towards prey.

'Or even an intruder like me in the water.'

If I went in wearing the clothes I'm wearing now,

I could get hit with a shock that could literally stop my heart.

So the best way to deal with this is to get in there wearing waders

and long rubber gloves to insulate me from the electricity.

I need to catch one of these eels

because we've got an experiment to show you how lethal they can be.

So...the plan is to wade in there

and try and catch one with this fishing net.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, there's our first problem.

We've got a caiman sat exactly where I want to get into the water. Go on!

Oh, I can't tell you how spooky this is!

'Just metres away from me, sinister shadows

'lurk eerily beneath the surface.

'They're like something out of a horror movie.

'They constantly emit electrical pulses

'which they use like a radar to navigate their world.

'These eels will already know I'm here,

'but until they surface, I have no idea where they are.'

STEVE EXHALES

OK, this is good. They're starting to get used to me being here.

And they're popping up much more often.

Eels have gills like other fish,

but because the environments they live in are very low in oxygen,

they'll also come up to the surface and gulp air.

And that's the time I'm going to see one

and I stand most chance of catching them.

Could this get any creepier?

There's one. There.

Argh!

Oh, no!

So tense. He's right in front of me.

Yes! No!

I'm standing on the brink of the deep water right now

and I can't go any closer to them.

Three ugly, hulking shapes.

I just have to wait for them to come to me.

'We might have more success if I could encourage them to hunt me.'

So just making a noise with my hand of a struggling fish.

Hoping that might attract their attention.

Come on now.

Looks like it might work.

Oh, they're all coming in, look! It's definitely working!

Oh, this is horrible!

Yeah, there's one right in front of me.

-Got him!

-Yeah!

-Yes!

-CHEERING

We finally...got our stunner!

OK. Now, what I really want to do

is get this out of the water.

We've got a little tub up here where we can show you its true powers.

Because this is absolutely phenomenal.

I may seem to be being obsessively careful about this,

but water is fantastic at conducting electricity

and this animal has enough electrical power

to at least put me on my back

and possibly even to kill me.

So...all of this

is definitely not overkill.

Now, we do have a way of actually testing the electricity

that's coming out of this animal.

Here we have two electrodes...

which, when placed into the water,

should be able to sense electric currents

that are being given off

just even as this animal is completely static and not moving.

We should hear it through this loudspeaker.

So you can hear those popping sounds.

-RAPID POPPING

-Ooo!

That little trill there...

..that was a burst of power.

'Every pulse you can hear through the speaker

'is an electrical current being made and discharged by the eel.

'The more frequent the pulses, the more intense the charge.'

But this animal...

RAPID POPPING

..is a hyper-powered marvel. Listen to that!

RAPID POPPING

'Focus charge can be used to zap its prey.

'Stunned fish are then swallowed whole.

'Thinking the rubber gloves would keep me insulated,

'I decided to try to lift the electric eel up out of the water.'

Argh!

-Did it get you?

-Yes!

STEVE LAUGHS

It was like I grabbed an electric cow fence!

OK, I won't put both my hands in again.

The awe-inspiring electric eel,

with enough force to blow a horse off its feet

or to stun fish into submission.

This is one of the most extraordinary beasts

we'll ever have on the Deadly 60.

'A haunting addition to the murky waters of South America.

'And the most powerful electricity-producing animal.

'Stunning their prey before gulping it down whole.

'They're spooky, they're sinister and they're...'

'Deadly!'

'We're leaving Venezuela and travelling to its neighbour Brazil

'in search of more aquatic marvels.

'By night, the waters are ruled by nocturnal predators,

'but during the day, those animals lay low,

'allowing a whole new rota of hunters to clock on.

'The people who live here certainly have a lot to contend with.'

The Amazon River Basin has more predatory animals

than any other place I know of.

Some are very well-known. You could say they're notorious.

The next animal I'm looking for is one of those. It's a piranha.

But not just any piranha, the largest. The giant black piranha.

'Piranhas take no prisoners.

'Their interlocking teeth are as sharp as a surgical scalpel.

'We've filmed both red and yellow bellied piranha on Deadly 60.

'They hunt in shoals. When feeding, the water can seem to be boiling.

'There are as many as 60 species and they're all very different.

'The one I've always wanted on my list is the daddy of them all.'

The black piranha is such an iconic animal of this part of the world.

It has possibly the sharpest teeth of any animal.

A bright, burning red eye, and they are absolutely huge.

It's an animal that can take a human finger off with one single bite.

'As youngsters, they feed by biting chunks off other fishes fins,

'but as adults, they're much more commanding.'

This lagoon has an eerie quality about it.

At one stage, all of this was above the water and it's been flooded.

And the trees have just basically drowned.

Craggy silhouettes are sticking up out of the water.

It's like a ghost town.

'Our piranhas will be stalking

'amongst the tangled roots of the ghost trees.'

Now all we have to do is get the hook in and wait for action,

which would all be well and good,

except that I am a spectacularly useless fisherman.

Ooo, that was a good one!

STEVE LAUGHS

I reckon I've lost my bait.

This is always a tricky moment. You're thinking,

should I leave it there and find out or pull it up?

'There isn't much a black piranha wouldn't sink its teeth into.

'They eat their own kind, tear chunks off large animals

'struggling in the water or scavenge on carrion.'

Oh, no!

Well, part of it's gone.

Most of it's gone!

It's a start. They're here.

'The piranhas' teeth are so sharp,

'they've managed to shave off pieces of my bait and just leave my hook.'

I've caught a tree.

STEVE LAUGHS

I did say I wasn't very good at this.

How's that?

'The crew were starting to think I'd never catch one.

'I was determined to prove them wrong.'

Oh, I've got a fish!

It's a little piranha.

Good stuff! OK.

Well, it is only diddy, but it's very much a start.

This definitely isn't the piranha species we're looking for.

This is an absolutely tiny one by comparison.

But it still has the same basic body shape.

Look how undercut the jaw is.

It really sticks out...

from beyond the top of the upper jaw,

which makes it much more easy for this to get in

and take a chunk of flesh out of whatever it's feeding on.

'Some species of piranha feed only on fruit,

'but this one is definitely a carnivore.'

Let me just see if I can show you those teeth. Look at those.

Even on this little itty-bitty piranha,

it's still enough to give you quite a nasty bite.

OK. Catch number one.

But an absolute miniscule fish in comparison to the monster

that we're here trying to find.

'As our first spot hadn't been a success, we moved on down the river,

'trying out other likely-looking locations.

'To increase our chances, everyone got fishing.'

Something you always do when fishing for piranha is to agitate the water,

replicating the movements of a struggling animal.

Perhaps a struggling bird or fish.

The piranha are very likely to investigate.

So every once in a while...

..just that should be enough to excite their attention.

'Piranha zone in on movement, using an organ

'that runs down their body called the lateral line.

'It's laden with hair cells agitated by vibrations in the water.

'Add to that a honed sense of smell

'and they have the advantage over their prey,

'even in the murkiest of waters.'

Oh, no!

Oh! I had something big there and it's got away!

Argh!

I'm almost certain that was a black piranha.

Yargh! Close, but not close enough.

'But having everyone fishing has paid off.'

The guy in the next boat caught something and passed me his line.

OK. It's a black piranha.

It's not one of the real monsters.

In fact, it's quite average size.

Although you can see it still has quite a snap on it.

And a superlative set of gnashers.

Argh!

Argh!

Really mistimed that quite badly!

-Oh, ow!

-STEVE LAUGHS

Well, it was about time that happened.

I've been catching piranhas for a long time and I've not been bitten.

But that's my first piranha battle scar.

The black piranha is really very distinctive.

Very dark in colour, but it has these incredible red eyes.

It has a very, very stocky body. Look at it in cross-section,

if you look at it end on, it's almost bulldog-like in appearance.

Because it's not very long, it's very manoeuvrable.

It can move incredibly quickly.

Moving in towards food, taking a bite,

then instantly swimming away at great pace.

They don't actually hunt in packs, as is traditionally believed.

Actually, they tend to hunt on their own.

Looking at this one, you can see it's a little bit tatty

around the tail and around these fins.

The reason for that is other piranhas will actually come in

and take big chunks out of the fins.

They are cannibalistic

and they'll certainly waste no opportunity to munch down

big chunks of these fins, but leaving the fish alive.

Let me just see if I can show you these teeth.

Look at those. Absolutely fearsome.

The black piranha.

With its burning red eyes

and some of the sharpest teeth on earth,

it truly is one of the most fearsome hunters of the flooded forest.

And got to go on the Deadly 60.

'With some of the sharpest teeth in the whole animal kingdom

'and dramatically honed senses, they're cannibalistic carnivores

'and that burning red eye makes them look utterly evil.

'Black piranhas...'

'Deadly!'

'I'm not going to bear any grudges.

'This feisty fish has earned his freedom.'

'Leaving the Amazonian waterways behind us,

'we headed further south in Brazil and up into the highlands.

'And a new mission.

'This time, for a hot-blooded hunter.'

The animal we're looking for is called the maned wolf.

It's a highly unusual member of the dog family.

Any opportunity to see one of them out in the wild is a real treat.

We're going to go on a tour of the wolf's world.

'At almost a metre tall,

'the maned wolf is South America's largest wild dog

'and one of the most crazy-looking canines in the world.

'Their strange long legs

'are probably an adaptation to hunting in grasslands.

'Allowing them to look down on terrestrial prey,

'while keeping their eyes on the horizon.

'Their ears are perfect for pinpointing

'the exact location of even the most hidden prey.

'And with calculated precision, they pounce, claiming their victim.

'Maned wolves are endangered. They're also shy and solitary,

'so it's going to be no mean feat to find one.

'But we like a challenge on Deadly 60,

'and there's a good reason we've come here to track our wolves.'

These animals feed to a tremendous degree on fruit.

It's not just going out and catching live prey.

50% of their diet is made up

from the kind of fruit they find in forests.

So during the day, quite often, they take refuge in places like this.

'So I'm in tracking mode,

'on the search for any sign that wolves use these trails.'

Oh, now, there you go.

Now, that...is a definite...print.

Look at that.

Really, really good.

The thing that tells me this is a dog print rather than a cat print

is that very visible at the front of each toe is a claw mark.

The jaguars and mountain lions found in this part of the world

all have retractile claws which wouldn't be visible in a print.

So that's definitely from a member of the dog family.

It's quite splayed, quite open.

And domestic dog prints tend to be more compact than that.

I'm going to say I reckon that's a maned wolf right there.

That's good news. And it's fresh. Nice. And heading in that direction.

'These tracks are from several different animals

'and some are fresher than others.

'There's not just one lone wolf here, but a whole population.'

During the daytime, our chances of seeing them are very slim.

However, we do have a grand plan.

There's a place that they've been being fed for the last 15 years.

With a little luck, they'll come right to us.

'Well, as long as maned wolves don't mind a little rain.'

Out there in the gloom and the drizzle are the mountains,

forest and savannas where the maned wolves live.

And this wonderful building is the monastery, merganser.

Around about 15 years ago, the monks realised that something,

a large carnivore, was going through their rubbish.

And they worked out it was the maned wolves.

Ever since, they've been putting out food for them.

So we've got here a big pile of meat

and hopefully, pretty soon,

the maned wolves will start coming in for a free feed.

This could be the best place in the whole world to see them up close.

All we have to do now is wait and hope.

BELL TOLLS

I think that's the dinner bell.

Hopefully the wolves are listening.

THUNDERBOLT

That storm's getting closer.

You couldn't make it up. It's like something out of a Hollywood movie.

Sat in an electrical storm,

waiting for an endangered wolf to wander out of the darkness.

'Surely with lightning clattering around the sky,

'any self-respecting wolf will be curled up somewhere warm and dry.'

OK. Everyone keep very, very still.

Our first...canine shape...

..has just wandered out of the gloom.

And there it is.

My first ever maned wolf.

I have to say, I've seen the majority

of members of the dog family around the world,

and I've never seen one that has quite these proportions

and is quite such an odd-looking animal.

It kind of looks like someone's taken a red fox...

and just stretched it.

'The wolf's behaviour seems totally bizarre.

'Rather than keeping his eyes on us, he heads back to the steps

'and stares off into the darkness.

'But he's not just looking out for danger.'

His ears are twitching around like satellite dishes.

One ear is pointed forward, listening for sounds from in front,

the other ear is pointed backwards, channelling sounds from behind it.

Wow! That was extraordinary!

Absolutely extraordinary!

'The maned wolf does its hunting between sundown and midnight.

'And there isn't much they won't tuck into.

'From unattended eggs to insects and from fruit to small mammals.

'They also have no problem with eating carrion.

'And the free meat on offer is too much for our maned wolf to ignore.'

You can hear with the tougher bits of meat, the bone,

it's being transported to the back of the jaw

and crunched down using the cheek teeth, they're called carnassials.

As it's standing facing away from us right now,

you can see that mane that gives it its name.

It runs down the nape of the neck and across the shoulders.

It's a darker area of fur.

And it can be held erect

when this animal is feeling threatened or aggressive.

It's just a way of making the animal look larger

and more intimidating towards her foe,

which will almost always be another maned wolf.

'Wolves are usually thought of as being pack animals,

'but that's certainly not true of the maned wolf.

'They live alone and will defend territory of up to 10 square miles.'

(They're coming together. Great.)

'So this was staggering.'

'It would be easier to believe if this were a mating pair,

'but I was sure they were both males.

'Truly extraordinary.

'I can scarcely believe my eyes.

'Maned wolves rarely, if ever, feed together in the wild.

'To see just one is a privilege, but to have two

'feeding at the same time right in front of me, was breathtaking.'

'Opportunist, omnivore and long-legged loner of the savanna,

'the maned wolf is on the list.

'South America's largest wild dog.

'Pounces with precision to claim its prey.

'With enormous ears to pick up the smallest of sounds.

'Long legged and lethal.'

'Deadly!'

'Join me next time as I continue my search for the Deadly 60.'

Oy, oy, oy!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd