0:00:02 > 0:00:05My name's Steve Backshall.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07And this is my search...
0:00:07 > 0:00:10for the Deadly 60.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12That's not just animals that are deadly to me...
0:00:12 > 0:00:15but animals that are deadly in their own world.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20My crew and I are travelling the planet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21And you're coming with me!
0:00:21 > 0:00:22Every step of the way.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29(Deadly!)
0:00:32 > 0:00:35This Deadly 60 is all about animal superheroes,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38each with their own special powers.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Speed,
0:00:41 > 0:00:42vision,
0:00:42 > 0:00:44smell,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46hearing,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48touch
0:00:48 > 0:00:51and senses we humans don't even possess.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Highly honed super powers.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Imagine having hearing so acute you could hear the footsteps of a mouse
0:00:58 > 0:01:02or pinpoint a spider in its web or having such a highly developed nose
0:01:02 > 0:01:05you could smell your next meal from 40 miles away.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10But there's nothing mystical about these talents.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13They can all be explained through science, so we've come to
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Manchester Museum to put nature's miracles under the microscope.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23Museums are incredibly important places
0:01:23 > 0:01:26for the study of natural history.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Inside these cases are wonders and oddities from all over the world
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and I can do a complete tour of the planet in a matter of minutes here.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36I can see everything from the very smallest creatures that have
0:01:36 > 0:01:40ever lived to the largest, like this mighty sperm whale.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'We're here at the museum to get beneath the fur
0:01:43 > 0:01:46'and the feathers and find out the facts.'
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Below me is a labyrinth of passages,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54leading to endless hidden store rooms.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58There are tens of thousands of specimens here, endless rooms,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01boxes and drawers, filled with hidden wonders.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05This is the skeleton of a cheetah
0:02:05 > 0:02:09and obviously the cheetah's superpower is its incredible speed.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21The cheetah can run from 0-60 miles per hour
0:02:21 > 0:02:23in under 3 seconds,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29accelerating faster than a Ferrari.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30But how does it do this?
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Well, we can tell so much about the function of an animal
0:02:33 > 0:02:37from its skeleton and the fastest land animal has a bone structure
0:02:37 > 0:02:39built for a high-velocity life.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42I think the most interesting thing about it
0:02:42 > 0:02:45really is how lightweight the bones are.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49So lifting up this forelimb here, it almost feels
0:02:49 > 0:02:54more like the bones of a bird than a cat.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58They're incredibly lightweight, more lightweight for its size than
0:02:58 > 0:03:01any other species of cat and obviously that means that this
0:03:01 > 0:03:03animal has less weight to drag around with it.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06And less weight equals more speed.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10But that isn't the only secret to their superpower.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Lightness can certainly help with pace
0:03:12 > 0:03:16but that alone doesn't explain the cheetah's superlative swiftness.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22You can also see that this shoulder joint here is incredibly
0:03:22 > 0:03:26flexible and the flexibility in these limbs and also in the
0:03:26 > 0:03:30spine here means it can travel a huge distance with every step.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Flexibility at the hip and shoulder joints combine with a spine
0:03:36 > 0:03:41that flexes like a bow before springing back with elastic force.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45At full whack, the cheetah covers 7 metres with every bound.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Slow motion film footage has proved that a sprinting cheetah
0:03:48 > 0:03:52spends more than half their time fully airborne.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Now this also is very, very interesting, the skull,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and it's tiny,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04it's absolutely minute.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08It has a massive nasal cavity here for sucking in huge
0:04:08 > 0:04:12amounts of oxygen to help it keep running for longer.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15'In South Africa, I had the opportunity to get unusually close
0:04:15 > 0:04:17'to this fleet-footed feline
0:04:17 > 0:04:21'and see a little of what makes them the Prince of Pace.'
0:04:21 > 0:04:25You can see here the body shape of the cheetah.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Very small head, small ears, it's very, very aerodynamic.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34It's not like a lion that has a really, really heavy, hefty skull.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37The cheetah has to bring down quite small prey quickly
0:04:37 > 0:04:39and very efficiently.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45The cheetah's life is dominated by its high velocity
0:04:45 > 0:04:47hunting method.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Unlike other felines, their claws do not retract
0:04:49 > 0:04:51but are always extended for better grip.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55The tail functions like a counterweight,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58balancing them in tight turns.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03It's no wonder that the cheetah can count speed
0:05:03 > 0:05:04as its superpower.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11So not quite faster than a speeding bullet,
0:05:11 > 0:05:16but they certainly shift, which makes them true animal superheroes.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18For many other animals,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21their highly developed senses are taken to the status of a superpower.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Senses that enable them to discern their prey.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30One animal superpower that we as human beings are definitely
0:05:30 > 0:05:34lacking in is the sense of smell and perhaps the mammal that takes
0:05:34 > 0:05:37the sense of smell to the ultimate extreme is the bear.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41The bears are the largest land carnivores,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45with bags of brute force, bulk and brawn.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48But their superpower is surprisingly subtle.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53That nose is home to one of the most acute senses of smell on earth.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58With our puny sense of smell we wander around oblivious to the fact
0:05:58 > 0:06:03that the air we breathe is alive with microscopic molecules of scent.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05A bear, however, is hundreds,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08perhaps thousands of times more proficient with pong
0:06:08 > 0:06:12and is ceaselessly processing all these stinky signals.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14These grizzlies may look like they're
0:06:14 > 0:06:18ambling along aimlessly but as that nose drops to the snow,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21it's just found out all it needs to know, purely through smell.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24So these skulls here belong to a variety of different
0:06:24 > 0:06:25kinds of bears.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27We've got brown bear at the front,
0:06:27 > 0:06:33but this is a skull of the polar bear, the mightiest land carnivore.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Being such a huge mammal, the polar bear relies on big prey,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42fat-rich animals such as ringed and bearded seals
0:06:42 > 0:06:46and even whales, gorging vast amounts of meat at one sitting.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49The largest polar bear ever recorded weighed over
0:06:49 > 0:06:52a tonne, as heavy and as long as a compact car.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53Despite their size,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56they can outpace the world's fastest man with ease.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01But it's their sense of smell that's so special.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04They must perceive the world in a whole different way to us,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07like the air's painted with invisible scents and aromas,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12telling of food, potential mates or rivals to be avoided.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14The polar bear's skull is quite dog-like.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It has the same amount of teeth as you'll find
0:07:17 > 0:07:21in a dog's skull and it has an enormous amount of the skull
0:07:21 > 0:07:23given over to its sense of smell.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28So for comparison, this is a cast of a human skull.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32That little hole there is the nasal cavity.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Well, if I was to take a line down the centre of this skull here
0:07:39 > 0:07:42I'd get this.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46That's a cross-section of a polar bear's skull.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49This little hole here is where the brain sits
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and this massive area here is the nasal cavity.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Inside there is this twisted structure,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00those are called turbinates,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04and that increases the surface area of the inside of the nose.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09That massive, complex nasal system is linked to tangles of nerves,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11carrying back information to the brain.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16The part of the brain that processes these smells is also
0:08:16 > 0:08:19abnormally large and well-developed.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26A polar bear can detect a seal that's hidden a metre below the ice
0:08:26 > 0:08:27from over a mile away.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43So this animal is, more than any other, dominated by smells,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47so much so that polar bears have been seen walking 20,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50perhaps 40 miles in a dead straight line towards a seal carcass
0:08:50 > 0:08:53that there's no way they could have seen.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58The only way they could have known it was there was by smelling it
0:08:58 > 0:09:00from 20 or even 40 miles away.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03This is an animal that takes the sense of smell
0:09:03 > 0:09:07to the status of a superpower and certainly puts our own to shame.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Manchester Museum is home to 4.5 million objects.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18But it's not just about long-dead specimens.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23There are plenty of live animals here too and the next one
0:09:23 > 0:09:26will help me illustrate our next super sense - eyesight.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Vision is the most important sense for us human beings.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33But even our primary sense is pretty weak
0:09:33 > 0:09:37when compared with our animal counterparts.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Geckos have great night sight and may be able to perceive colour
0:09:41 > 0:09:43even when it gets dark.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Hippos can see even when they're swimming underwater,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50and birds of prey like buzzards can spot the tiniest of movements
0:09:50 > 0:09:52from a careless bunny from over a mile away.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56There are many groups of animals that have incredibly
0:09:56 > 0:09:59highly developed eyesight, but some of the most unusual,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02certainly the most charismatic, belong to the chameleons.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08These lizards are legendary for their colour-changing abilities
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and their blink-and-you'll-miss-it quick tongue.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15The tongue can be longer than its body, has a sticky tip
0:10:15 > 0:10:22that can envelop an insect, and it can fire out in 1/125th of a second.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Argh!
0:10:24 > 0:10:28But before that tongue can fire, the chameleon needs to locate a target.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32And it does that with bizarre but brilliant eyesight,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36so good it qualifies as a super sense.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38This is a panther chameleon from Madagascar
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and at the moment he's unusually mobile.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43For the majority of time these animals stand still,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47blending in with their background, waiting for prey to come close by.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51The only thing that's really moving are those eyes.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Because those eyes move independently of one another,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57one eye can look forwards while another eye looks backwards.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00It gives them an unprecedented field of vision.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Each eye can twist around to span 180 degrees.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12With each functioning independently,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15it gives the chameleon near 360 degrees of vision.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17It means the lizard can stand still
0:11:17 > 0:11:21and its eyes do all the work of finding its prey.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29To show you what it must be like to see like a chameleon,
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I've got a Deadly 60 camera trick.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Let's imagine for the purpose of this experiment
0:11:35 > 0:11:38that these two miniature cameras are eyes.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42For most animals, those are pretty well set.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45There's a certain amount of movement inside the socket
0:11:45 > 0:11:47but nothing like what you see on a chameleon.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51In a chameleon, I can have both eyes pointing forwards
0:11:51 > 0:11:56and then one eye can turn straight upwards and look at the ceiling.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03Perhaps go off to the side.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09I can even look directly behind me.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16And these eyes can be constantly scanning,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18on the lookout for a potential meal.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23There's my crew there in front of me
0:12:23 > 0:12:26while the other eye is looking way off to the side.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31But the crucial thing is
0:12:31 > 0:12:37when these two eyes come back together,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40because then they create an image
0:12:40 > 0:12:44that essentially overlaps and it's now in three dimensions.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46This is called binocular vision.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50In this sphere of vision there is greater perception of depth,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52greater perception of movement.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57This is the part of vision that's essential for any predator.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Before a chameleon hunts, you'll always see it
0:13:00 > 0:13:05bring both of its eyes together and focus directly on its prey.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Chameleons nail their victims nine times out of ten.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15It can choose between 360-degree field of view
0:13:15 > 0:13:18or highly focused binocular vision -
0:13:18 > 0:13:21finding its prey with wandering eyeballs then locking in on it,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26judging distance and movement - the perfect combination.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Once those two eyes are concentrated into the forward position
0:13:30 > 0:13:34and the chameleon is aligned, they rarely, if ever, miss.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40Bam! Absolutely sensational.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43He is one messy eater.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52So far, our animal superheroes have shown us
0:13:52 > 0:13:55supreme special powers, and all revealed by their biology -
0:13:55 > 0:14:02their skeletons, eyes and freakishly sensitive sense of smell.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06But even the most brutal of predators can have a tender side.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09In fact, many build up a picture of a hidden world
0:14:09 > 0:14:11using nothing other than touch.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16As human beings, we really feel the environment around us using touch,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21and we actually underestimate quite how potent that can be.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25I mean, you're always sensing the texture, the temperature,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27perhaps the sharpness of objects.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31We do that is by having hundreds or even thousands of nerve endings
0:14:31 > 0:14:35close to the surface of the skin in our most sensitive areas.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36That can be the soles of our feet,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39the palms of our hands, perhaps our upper lips.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42But some animals have actually done this to such a degree
0:14:42 > 0:14:46that it's become a super sense, by developing whiskers,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48like on this Californian sea lion.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Each whisker is connected to so many nerve endings
0:14:51 > 0:14:55that they're far more sensitive than any cat could ever dream for.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57The whiskers are connected to
0:14:57 > 0:15:00bundles of exquisitely responsive nerve endings.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02The tiniest movements excite them,
0:15:02 > 0:15:04sending messages pinging to the brain.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08This thermal image shows how hot they are,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11kept active with warm blood even in a world of ice.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Living in extreme environments, they need an extreme super sense.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19In fact, this can sense fish not just by actually touching
0:15:19 > 0:15:23the animal itself, but by actually feeling the turbulence
0:15:23 > 0:15:26or the wake that's left behind as a fish is swimming away.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31During studies in Germany, researchers fitted a seal
0:15:31 > 0:15:34with a mask and headphones to restrict its senses.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The aim was to find out what information it could pick up
0:15:38 > 0:15:39using only its whiskers.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44This superimposed white line shows the invisible wake
0:15:44 > 0:15:46left by a small submarine,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50much like the hidden trail left by a swimming fish.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Even with its other senses obscured, the seal followed the submarine
0:15:55 > 0:15:57from the tiny turbulence it left behind.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07Tracking down a long-gone fish by the mere memory of its movements -
0:16:07 > 0:16:11without doubt a seal's winning whiskers are super-powered.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16In the icy gloom of the Canadian seas,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21we knew that underwater visibility was going to be an issue.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24But not for the Stellar sea lions we were there to find.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27They knew exactly where we were
0:16:27 > 0:16:31and came thundering out of the pea-soup seas with genuine menace.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34Oh!
0:16:37 > 0:16:41He is gigantic! This is spectacular!
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Well, I'm going to sit here on the bottom.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Oh, that's a big male Stellar sea lion
0:16:50 > 0:16:56and a very frightening encounter as soon as we hit the bottom.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59'We human beings rely so much on sight
0:16:59 > 0:17:03'that when visibility's as bad as this, you instantly feel vulnerable.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06'The Stellar sea lions, though, could pick up everything
0:17:06 > 0:17:10'they needed to know about us purely through their whiskers.'
0:17:10 > 0:17:14It's thought that some seals can actually detect a swimming fish
0:17:14 > 0:17:16from as much as 100 metres away...
0:17:17 > 0:17:22..and sensing that fish up to 35 seconds after it's swum past.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Their super sense enables them to put their superior
0:17:27 > 0:17:31twisting, turning, swimming skills to ultimate lethal effect.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Our next superpower also involves sensing vibrations
0:17:41 > 0:17:43that are invisible to us.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It's hyper-powered hearing - the ability to perceive sound
0:17:46 > 0:17:49by detecting vibrations through the ears.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55There you go, there you go.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59Isn't that beautiful?
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Amongst the birds, the group that perhaps have
0:18:02 > 0:18:05the most highly defined superpowers are the owls.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07This is a great grey owl and it has
0:18:07 > 0:18:12some of the most extraordinary hearing found on any species.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14The reason for that is that the great grey owl
0:18:14 > 0:18:18lives in the northern hemisphere in places where there tends to be
0:18:18 > 0:18:21a lot of snow, and their prey is very often hidden completely
0:18:21 > 0:18:24by that boundary of white thick snow.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29So eyesight is of no use whatsoever. Instead, it needs to be able to
0:18:29 > 0:18:33pick up on the tiny scuttling sounds made as those animals scurry around.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40The thing that's most instantly evident is this
0:18:40 > 0:18:42extraordinary facial disc.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46It's the largest found on any owl and it's made up of
0:18:46 > 0:18:51very stiff feathers which divert sound back towards the ears,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54which are hidden here, beneath these softer feathers.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59The face of the great grey owl acts very much like a satellite dish,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03channelling even the faintest of sounds towards the owl's ears.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09This is enough for this animal to pinpoint anything scuttling around,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13even if it's totally hidden, even if it can't see it.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16As some of the animals they're hunting also hear pretty well,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19the owl has a special mechanism that means death comes from above,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21with no sound at all.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27So, these wings here have, along the leading edge,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31special feathers which baffle the movement of wind over the wings.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34The great grey owl flies in towards its prey
0:19:34 > 0:19:37in almost total silence, and then can punch down through snow
0:19:37 > 0:19:41that can be solid enough to hold a human being's weight,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and catch the vole that's moving around beneath it.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47Which means that a lemming
0:19:47 > 0:19:51scuttling around in a subterranean corridor of snow is still not safe.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57However, there's one animal that takes hearing to a whole new level.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03Even hyper-hearing owls are outdone by our next nocturnal beast.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07For starters they can fly which, for a mammal,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09is already pretty special.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11So the next group of creatures are airborne animals
0:20:11 > 0:20:14that do the majority of their hunting or foraging by night.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20But unlike the owls, they're not birds at all.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24In fact they're mammals, the only mammals that can truly fly -
0:20:24 > 0:20:26they're bats.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29And their primary superpower is called echo-location -
0:20:29 > 0:20:32locating objects using echoes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38And in the Gomantong caves in Borneo, we saw this first hand.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Living in this part of the world, you would not want to be an insect.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Every one of these bats is equipped with an echo-location system.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50It's very much like the sonar on a submarine,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52you've probably seen it in movies.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57You hear a sound - "bop" - which disappears off into the distance
0:20:57 > 0:21:01and it bounces back off objects that are in front of it.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04In a bat, that click can reverberate off the smallest of insects,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07even something as small as a midge.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12The sound pattern that comes back tells the bat
0:21:12 > 0:21:16exactly where it is and then, bam, the bat catches the insect.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23We human beings actually have the ability to perceive a certain amount
0:21:23 > 0:21:25of our environment using sound,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28it's just nothing like as highly developed
0:21:28 > 0:21:30as the sophisticated super sense of bats.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33As a way of figuring this out for yourself,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36try closing your eyes and bringing your hand towards you.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Keep on talking as you do so and you should be able to hear,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42from the change in tone as the sound bounces back to you,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44that you've got an object in front of you.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47That's kind of how the bat's echo-location works.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Any superhero would be proud with an ability so acute.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Bouncing invisible sound waves off the world around them,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00they can detect the presence of distant insects,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03as well as discerning their size, their speed,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05even predicting where they might move to.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13For a bat, it's all about constantly updating
0:22:13 > 0:22:17an image of the world around you, using those ultrasonic clicks.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Seeing with sound is a sonic superpower
0:22:23 > 0:22:26that means that bats can hunt in total darkness,
0:22:26 > 0:22:31munching perhaps 3,000 mosquitoes in one night,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34or snatching a spider clean off its web.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41So we humans are put to shame in terms of sight...
0:22:41 > 0:22:43sound...
0:22:44 > 0:22:45..and smell.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50But it gets worse because we're yet to deal with
0:22:50 > 0:22:55one of the groups of animals that have the most different superpowers.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58They've been around for an estimated 500 million years -
0:23:00 > 0:23:02..the sharks.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06With two-thirds of their brain dedicated to smell,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10sharks can detect one drop of blood in 1 million drops of water.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14They can hear seals from 250 metres away,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18and even see in the dark better than cats.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23So, far from a mindless killer, the shark is one of the most
0:23:23 > 0:23:26highly adapted and perceptive of all predators.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30But they possess one sixth sense superpower
0:23:30 > 0:23:33that I personally think is pretty much unbeatable.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38What that is is their ability to sense the weak electrical fields
0:23:38 > 0:23:40that are given off by their prey.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45This ability is called electro-reception.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49It's the shark's power to detect the electrical signals
0:23:49 > 0:23:51that are given off by every living creature.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59And you can see that most evidently in this animal.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01This is a baby hammerhead shark.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03All over the snout of sharks
0:24:03 > 0:24:08are little pores called ampullae of Lorenzini.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Those are filled with a special kind of jelly
0:24:11 > 0:24:13which picks up the tiniest electrical fields.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I've actually seen great hammerheads underwater
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and it was an awful lot bigger than this little one here.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Simon, Simon, Simon!
0:24:26 > 0:24:30This is one of the most awesome creatures in the sea.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I don't believe it. It's a great hammerhead.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37This is absolutely incredible.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42It's come right up to us, right up in front of the cameraman.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Oh, my god, I don't believe it! I do not believe it!
0:24:46 > 0:24:50That is out of this world!
0:24:50 > 0:24:54As that shark got in close to us and came right up to the camera,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58it actually shook its head towards the camera.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I don't know if that was a threat display of some kind
0:25:01 > 0:25:04or if it was trying to sort out what was going on
0:25:04 > 0:25:07with the electrical impulses coming from the camera itself,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11but there's no doubt hammerheads use that super sense to find their prey.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15It works in a very similar way to a metal detector.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Metal detectors can detect the very tiny electro-magnetic signals
0:25:19 > 0:25:21that are given off by conductive metals.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Somewhere in this sand is a coin and I'm going to try and find it
0:25:25 > 0:25:29in the same way that a hammerhead would try and find prey
0:25:29 > 0:25:31buried beneath the sand.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The hammerhead would move along the bottom...
0:25:36 > 0:25:38..doing circuits...
0:25:39 > 0:25:43..until it picks up a very weak field.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49The animals it's feeding on can't help but give off those fields,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51even if they're lying perfectly still.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56Just the beating of their heart is enough to create a field
0:25:56 > 0:25:58that the hammerhead can sense.
0:25:59 > 0:26:06When it does sense that, its senses will fire off,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09telling it to target in on its food.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15The hammerhead's electro-reception is so effective
0:26:15 > 0:26:17that it's comparable to us
0:26:17 > 0:26:20detecting a household battery from half a mile away.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25BEEPING
0:26:25 > 0:26:27It's right there. OK, I've got a beep.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Once the hammerhead has had one signal - there it is...
0:26:33 > 0:26:37..it'll usually circle around and around,
0:26:37 > 0:26:44using its flexible neck to find the epicentre of the signal.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45BEEPING
0:26:45 > 0:26:47It's right there.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49And then it'll go in for the kill.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56And there it is.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59In this case, a two pence piece.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02In the shark's case, lunch.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05A fish can hide itself completely.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09It can be still, silent, scentless, it doesn't matter.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12The shark's special superpower will still find it
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and when it does, there's only going to be one winner.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20We tend to think of ourselves
0:27:20 > 0:27:23as being the most highly-evolved species on earth.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27But, as we've clearly seen, we're surrounded by animal superheroes
0:27:27 > 0:27:30with special abilities beyond our wildest dreams.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Predators have superpowers and they always have.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Join me next time as I continue my search for the Deadly 60.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Yes, I see it, it's enormous!
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:07 > 0:28:09(Deadly!)