Self Defence Deadly 60

My name's Steve Backshall.

Woo!

And this is my search

for the Deadly 60.

That's 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!

Usually on Deadly 60,

we deal with predators,

animals who are going all-out in offence to attack their prey.

Today we're doing something different,

we're at the Bristol Boxing Gym, to find out about animal defence,

and as far as defence goes, I'm learning the hard way.

Got to keep my guard up!

Many forms of human defence

take their inspiration from the natural world.

From the sparing boxer crab...

..to the Kung Fu master, the praying mantis.

In this very special Deadly 60

we're going to see how defending yourself in the animal kingdom

isn't easy.

It can be a matter of life and death,

and the tactics can be even more complex

than any form of attack.

From brute force,

to strength in numbers,

to chemical warfare.

Each deadly defender has to fight to survive.

Defences in the natural world might sometimes appear crude

or brutal but that's not always the case,

they can be elegant, refined, even sophisticated.

So much so that perhaps the most ancient form of human defence,

Kung Fu, was created after studying the movements of animals,

animals like the monkey, crane, dragon and tiger.

Kung Fu Master Yan Xin takes defence inspiration from the natural world.

The tiger form uses the power and strength of a tiger

to fly through the air at their enemy.

The cobra form uses a hypnotic display,

moving his body just like a cobra

when it raises its hood before striking.

And finally, the praying mantis form.

He takes his inspiration from the praying mantis' lethal front legs

using his two fingers to pinpoint strike points on an assailant.

The praying mantis is exquisitely beautiful in how it moves

and certainly very precise,

but with other animals it's all about brute force and power.

HE SHOUTS

That was unbelievable!

Wow!

Master Yan Xin can create incredible explosive impact

but this is nothing compared to this lot.

These are the big hitters, the heavyweights of the natural world.

They use force and aggression to take down their enemies.

From bears that will do anything to defend their cubs

to elephants that will charge at any perceived threat.

Even me!

But this next African animal

takes brute force to another level.

Africa can be a very dangerous place

with some of the most fearsome animals wandering the plains.

Life for a herbivore like a gazelle

can consist of always being ready to run for it at any sign of danger.

But there's one herbivore that doesn't always choose to flee,

sometimes they'll stand their ground and fight.

It's one of the Big 5,

it's the Cape Buffalo, and it truly is a deadly defender.

The cape buffalo lives in huge herds on the plains of Southern Africa.

But they're at risk from one of the top predators of the African plains,

the lion.

They need some top tactics to help protect their family.

When the buffalo comes under attack

it uses its giant horns to fend off the lion,

their fiery nature means they won't give up without a fight.

In this Big 5 face-off

more often than not, the buffalo will win.

Facing injury from those mighty horns

the lion is forced into submission.

So animals like buffalo can be incredibly effective

even against the most potent predators on earth,

but defence isn't all about brute force and ignorance.

Master Yan Xin could make mincemeat of someone many times larger

because of his explosive power and his precision,

and there are some animals that are even more dynamic.

Like my next deadly defender.

It proves that size isn't everything.

It's the mantis shrimp and it can certainly pack a punch.

It's one of nature's top boxers with the fastest punch in the natural world.

Possibly as fast as a speeding bullet.

GUN SHOT

They need a knockout punch

to defend their home against rival mantis shrimps.

Their burrows are so vital to their survival

that they'll defend them with their life.

The way they do this is by using their specially adapted forelimbs.

These are better than any fist,

and they use them to strike the intruding mantis shrimp

with blinding speed.

The strikes are so fast

that they create a giant shockwave,

erupting with light, heat and sound.

So when they use their punches as a form of defence or attack

the victim isn't just hit once

but twice.

Even if the initial strike misses

the shockwave that follows can be enough to kill them.

Other species of mantis shrimp

have stabbing forelimbs that they use to snare their prey,

as I saw in Borneo.

Oh!

The mantis shrimp strikes!

And he's back in his hole!

It's a very different style to the boxing mantis shrimp,

but their cousins, the spearing mantis shrimps, move just as fast.

Blink and you'd miss it.

So fast!

I've heard it said the best strike

can be as fast and have as much power as a small calibre bullet.

Oh!

Elaborate skills and animal technology can be effective,

but perhaps the most simple form of defence is strength in numbers -

having many eyes, many ears, many jaws

and many stings all working together to defend the group.

And this strength in numbers is what makes these next animals

top defenders, but we had to find them in the dead of night.

Look at that!

Oh my goodness, and they're carrying their larvae, look!

By working as a team, they defend the colony

against predators many times their size.

This busy trail in front of me

is one of the genuine wonders of the rainforest.

These are army ants

and absolutely nothing gets in their way.

At the moment, it looks like every single one of them

is carrying a little grain of rice,

but the extraordinary mind-blowing thing about this

is that actually what they're carrying

are basically their babies.

Every single one of those little white lumps

is an ant larvae.

That is just remarkable.

These army ants are on the move,

relocating their colony to another part of the forest.

The well-organised trail of worker ants are transporting their young

to a new location, but when they do this, they become vulnerable

to predators.

It'd need to be a pretty bold predator

to take on a million marching ants.

Army ants will take on and overpower anything in their path.

When army ants are on the move, best get out of the way!

I just love the way that everyone here has a job.

You have this continuously running river of workers

and then standing there like doormen outside a nightclub,

you've got the huge great big burly soldiers,

just standing there with their jaws agape

just waiting for someone to cause trouble. The soldiers

are armed with vast mandibles and stings

and will give their lives to defend the group.

Last time I tried to film army ants

I was sat about a metre away from the column

and I was eaten alive.

The fact that none of us are being bitten now...

I just got bitten!

HE LAUGHS

You couldn't make it up!

HE LAUGHS

So, one single bite was pretty painful,

but when they're defending their home and family

they bite in their thousands.

Not many animals can survive this swarming strategy.

The next animal also defends with strength in numbers,

but these bring death from the skies.

Even their name spells killer.

There's about 80,000 of them

at the bottom of that cliff face

just down there.

When they attack, they attack in hundreds or even thousands.

They have a venom that's fierce and capable of killing a human.

They're African honeybees, sometimes known as killer bees.

The killer bee has to be a full-on deadly defender.

They guard one of the most prized substances in nature - honey.

In Africa, any unarmed hive would be eaten

and destroyed in minutes.

This would be a disaster as honey is crucial to their survival.

So, it's defended by a swarm of stinging sisters.

They'll attack any potential intruder using teamwork

and can theoretically kill a pride of lions,

or at least make them scarper with their tails between their legs.

This particular colony has picked a good safe spot to build their nest

away from predators, but they still need to be on guard.

So, to get closer, I'll need some protection.

If this all seems like overkill,

then it's worth remembering that one single bee sting

can and has killed a person.

A single sting is unlikely to kill an adult human

unless you're allergic to their venom,

but several hundred stings would be a very different story.

So, we're leaving nothing to chance.

With every possible attack point

taped up, ropes in place

and paramedics on standby,

it was time to drop in on the bees.

Good to go.

I'll go a lot slower than I normally would, abseiling down here.

Fast, sharp actions

are much more likely to annoy the bees.

As if 80,000 deadly defenders wasn't enough to deal with

I had a 50-metre void beneath me.

Hanging off a cliff

in a beekeeper suit.

This is madness!

But it wasn't long before our efforts paid off.

I see them.

They're just underneath this rocky overhang here.

They're about as far away as you can possibly get from any predators.

OK.

The hive's right in front of me.

I'm going to move as carefully and as slowly as I can now.

I really don't want to harm them in any way.

Obviously, if I annoy them, there is more chance that I'll get stung.

For me, African honeybees are one of the wonders of nature.

The fact that all these tiny insects, each one of them

with brains no bigger than a full stop,

can all act together to go out,

collect honey, build an amazing hive like this,

it's just extraordinary.

They all work together almost like one giant super organism.

Which is precisely why they're such deadly defenders.

When a bee stings, it releases a chemical into the air

called a pheromone, which switches all the bees into defence mode.

So, if you upset one killer bee,

you upset 80,000 others.

And in Africa, if you're on the receiving end, that is disastrous.

No matter how big you are.

The thing that makes African bees

more dangerous than honeybees, giving the reputation of killer bees

is not because they're any bigger

or because their venom is any stronger than European bees,

it's because they're aggressive.

They'll chase an attacker for as much as a mile away from their hive.

My presence so close to the hive

seemed to be making the bees feel threatened.

It was only a matter of time till the defence tactics kicked in.

Ow! Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow!

Oh! One stung me through the veil!

Right on the chin!

Oh, you forget how much they hurt!

Oh! Ow!

I think it's time to head down.

All right, Steve?

I look like Desperate Dan!

Let's get a side profile, hang on.

So far in this Deadly 60 special,

we've been exploring the world of animal self defence

and how human beings take our inspiration from them.

But our next group of animals

use chemical warfare to defend themselves.

These are poison dart frogs

and some species are THE most toxic creatures on the planet.

Now, these animals get their poisons by eating insects which themselves

have eaten toxic plants.

These bright colours

are used to advertise the fact that they're not good to eat.

In fact, eating one of these

could well be the last thing you would ever do.

And those poisons? They are solely for defence.

Due to their small size,

they can't use physical might to defend themselves.

Predators like snakes and birds would see them as a tasty meal,

so they use chemical warfare.

But despite being so colourful,

they're still really hard to find.

OK, so what we're listening for

is a sound which goes something like, "Psshh, psshh, psshh".

Go scrabble around in the leaves, see if you can find one.

Use a stick rather than your hands,

'Cause there are lots of snakes around.

There are about 100 different types of poison dart frog,

in a blaze of colours and with different levels of toxicity.

The most toxic is the golden dart frog

found in Colombia.

The poison it contains could potentially kill up to 10 people.

But in Costa Rica, we were looking for a red and blue one.

Well, some of us were.

Have they found one yet?

I'm just going to relax until they find one. They could be some time.

-It's hard work, isn't it, frog searching?

-Yeah.

Yeah, don't work too hard, boys!

I wouldn't want you getting all sweaty!

-WHISPERING:

-Stick near the expert, pretend you found it yourself...

Just in here, look. See in there.

OK. There's three, there's three in there.

Now, I've made sure that I've washed my hands, because

these frogs are very, very sensitive in the skin.

And you don't want any insect repellent or anything hurting them.

Most people are absolutely blown away

the first time they see a dart frog, about how small they are.

It's incredible to think that an animal this size

can be the most poisonous on the planet.

Those bright, bright colours

are part of the reason that this frog is found active during the day.

Every other frog here comes out at night,

it's deafening with the calls of frogs.

But these dart frogs can be active during the day

and they are brightly coloured because they know that predators

are going to see the colours and know it means one thing.

This is highly poisonous

and certainly not going to be good to eat.

The poisons that are created by this little frog,

originally they start off on the leaves of plants,

ants eat the leaves, frogs eat the ants

and then they almost sweat the poison out on their skin.

The poison is so potent

that indigenous people have learned to use it themselves.

This tiny little animal is a living chemical weapons factory.

Now, that's what I call a top deadly defender.

As far as natural toxins go,

they don't come any more potent than those of the poison dart frog,

but there are animals that deliver their toxins

in an even more impressive way.

The next chemical defender

is the bombardier beetle.

These tiny beetles are a favourite food for toads and spiders.

To defend themselves against these larger predators,

they've evolved a unique defensive tactic -

they're nature's most accomplished sharpshooters.

When under attack, they mix chemicals in their body,

firing boiling hot toxic fluids

from their bottoms.

By pulsing the jet 500 times a second,

it can keep its rear end cool enough that it doesn't scald itself,

but any predator is not so lucky.

I mean, I like hot food, but that's ridiculous!

But this next animal's chemical defence is even weirder.

This is the Texas horned lizard,

a predator that munches around 200 ants a day.

But this comes at a price.

It has to spend all day out in the open,

which puts it at risk from coyotes,

roadrunners and rattlesnakes.

So, it needs some deadly defence tactics.

Its body is covered in sharp spines,

which might be enough to deter a hungry snake.

They're also perfectly camouflaged

and could go almost unnoticed.

But, if this fails,

they bring out their ultimate tactic,

if you're a little squeamish, look away now.

This is NOT for the fainthearted.

Its blood pressure rises,

capillaries rupture in its eye

and it fires a jet of blood at the predator.

It can fire the blood up to a metre

and repeat up to 20 times

until the predator retreats.

This can consume up to a quarter of the lizard's blood,

so it's only used in a real emergency.

All the animals we've seen so far, are potent protectors.

But there is a deadly defender who has it all,

weapons, strength and intelligence.

It's the hippo.

It's the second largest land mammal

and can weigh up to 3½ tons.

Living in groups, there's a dominant male who will defend the herd.

So, in this defensive battle,

it's all about territory.

The males will fight to the death

using their phenomenal sabre-like teeth.

They're the perfect combat weapon.

The hippos also create a whopping gape

to dominate rival males. The bigger the mouth,

the more likely the other male will retreat.

When I first began my Deadly 60 mission

I ran into a hippo in a dark river as dusk approached,

when hippos are at their most twitchy.

Never underestimate the power of Africa's river horse.

That's our first hippo.

Just around this corner.

He's a big 'un and he's spotted us as well.

HIPPO GROWLS

Oh, I don't know if you heard that sound,

but that was a very audible threat to us.

I'd unwittingly infringed on the hippo's personal space.

And it wasn't happy.

He's gone down, he's gone under the water.

This is where we've got to be careful,

'Cause we don't know where he'll come up.

There he is. He's surfaced right in the middle.

Huge exhalation of air and water there.

OK, he's come back up again.

He's looking straight at me.

It was important to make sure the hippo didn't see me as a threat.

I don't really want to get any closer than this.

The thing is, despite him being an enormous bulk,

he could be anywhere here. He could pop up right next to me.

And, I would actually rather keep this

shallow bit of water between the two of us.

This is really quite nerve-wracking.

It may seem that he's the one that's nervous,

but actually there's no doubt who's more at home in this environment.

It's definitely him.

That huge breath of air, that's not just him emptying his lungs,

that was definitely meant to scare me.

It's starting to get dark now, they'll be getting active, and soon,

looking to come out of the water. This is THE most dangerous time.

I'm not hanging around an animal that could bite my boat in half.

That could be right underneath me.

Unable to see the hippo,

'I decided to move out of its territory.' Look, he's just there!

He's come past us! I don't believe it!

He has just sat in the river.

That's the other one.

Another hippo has appeared, blocking my exit.

When he dives, I can't see anything.

I'll need the eyes of the crew up on the bank.

-He's about 20 metres in front of you.

-20 metres?

Just in line with my arm.

He's right there.

SHOUTING

This has turned into a serious situation. I can't go upstream,

I can't go downstream and they'll have to try and find a way out.

Steve, turn around and come back!

Steve, go back the way you came!

-See the reeds here in front of you?

-Yeah.

Just follow my arm, he's just in the water.

-He is?

-Just here. Just here.

-So, you cannot come down here, OK?

-That's fine.

There he is!

Things were now looking dicey.

I needed to find a way out and fast!

They are so unpredictable, you have no idea what they're going to do.

I can't wait any longer. He's turned and he's coming for me.

I've seen a possible exit. It's a shallow stream.

and not somewhere I want to get stuck with an angry hippo.

You need to be quick.

Go, go, go, go! Into that tunnel!

He's heading towards you.

He's coming right for you!

I tell you what,

that just shows you, you can never be complacent with wild animals.

God, that was too close for comfort!

No matter how hard we work on our defensive abilities and techniques,

we're just simply never going to be the equal

of the animal deadly defenders.

But then again, their world is much harder than ours.

That was enough for me! Phew!

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

Oh, woo-hoo!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd