Unseen Deadly 60

My name's Steve Backshall...

Whoo!

..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.

WHISPER: Deadly!

This time on Deadly 60, we're in the Florida Keys

and we'll take you back through time.

Well, back through the last three series of Deadly 60, anyway.

We'll show you a whole bunch of stuff

that's never been seen before,

some outtakes that I'd rather were never seen by anyone, ever,

and we're also going to be getting in with these ravenous fish.

Quite big, aren't they?

Here we go!

'Over the past four years we've circumnavigated the globe

'in search of the finest wildlife wonders.

'We've filmed in the frozen wilderness,

'scorching deserts and just about everywhere in between,

'capturing thousands of spectacular predators on camera.

'But we always film more than we can fit on screen.'

Whoa!

'We can't squeeze it all in,

'so this is our chance to show you a few of those forgotten gems.

'This is Deadly Unseen.

'Probably the finest Deadly destination is Latin America,

'and a real highlight country was Venezuela,

'with coastlines and caves, swampland and forests.'

Whoa, that's fantastic!

'One of the creepiest encounters we filmed

'never made it on screen - until now.

'A tangle with the largest venomous centipede on the planet.'

We've just had a spot of real Deadly 60 luck.

We've just been told that some locals have actually found

a giant scolopendra in their back garden.

I'm going to have a look now.

Hola. Como estas?

-Puero bella.

-HE REPLIES IN SPANISH

Si.

No way!

No way, that's enormous!

Muchas gracias!

OK, I'd rather take this away from his family before I take it out,

because this is an animal that certainly could do a child

an enormous amount of damage.

So, just take it away from the house a little bit.

I have to admit I'm a little bit shaky about this.

I've handled scolopendra many, many times in the past,

but nothing of this kind of size.

This is absolutely formidable.

Look at the size of it.

That is just extraordinary.

It's incredibly strong, harder to handle certainly than any snake.

Look at that, look at the strength of it!

It's actually just sunk its claws right into the thumb of the glove,

and I'm very, very glad that these are really... Look at that!

It's almost puncturing the leather.

In fact, I'm not entirely sure that these gloves are strong enough!

Whoa!

That is a true living monster.

So this is scolopendra gigantea,

the largest species of centipede found on Earth.

Whoo-er!

It can get to be nearly 30 centimetres in length,

which is as long as my forearm.

And at the front of the head you can see those curved claws,

they're actually adapted legs, but they're linked to a venom gland,

which means that they can inject an absolutely ferocious toxin

and overpower even quite decent-sized mammals.

Look at the breadth of the body on this thing!

It's absolutely phenomenal!

I'm actually having to cling on with quite a lot of force

because if I didn't, well, it would be off.

There is no doubt that if this actually got to exposed skin,

it would definitely bite, and if it did, it probably wouldn't kill me,

but I really don't want to take that chance.

Wow!

You horrible thing!

You're horrible! I hate you!

Can I put it back in the bucket now, please?

Wugh-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Oh! Holy Moley!

'The crew admitted later,

'they'd been holding their breath in horror the entire time.

'If that gave you the creeps, bear with us,

'cos the next charmer really has the furry factor.

'Whilst in New Zealand filming sperm whales,

'we met a colony of marine mammals that were about as cute and cuddly

'as Deadly 60 ever gets.'

Surrounding me now are New Zealand fur seals.

In fact, there's one quite large male here,

who's taken an active interest in us.

You can instantly tell

the difference between the boys and the girls.

The males are so much bigger, so much bulkier.

And the reason for that is not in any way to help them with hunting

and it's not to get rid of predators.

In fact, it's for fighting with other males.

Confrontations between adult seals can be brutal.

The males have just one thing on their minds

and that's to gather as many females as possible

in what's known as a hareem.

From an early age, they face-off in ferocious fights with real bite.

This guy here is bearing a fair few battle scars,

where he's fought with other males.

'The wounds are worth it

'for the right to breed with the females

'and pass on his genes to the next generation.'

The young pups are impossibly inquisitive.

This one here's just made his way all the way up from the water line

to come and find out what we are.

It seems ridiculous to be thinking about putting

something so impossibly cute on the Deadly 60.

But seeing the animal up this close,

you can see a few of the features that make it a hunting machine.

Those great big, dark, soulful eyes

are very, very good at seeing fish in murky waters,

but even when the water's too murky to be able to see the fish,

it can sense them with these, the brisi, or whiskers,

and right now, I think he wants to sense Graham the cameraman!

I think he likes you, Gray!

How cute is that?

'Despite their pin-up pup good looks, when they grow into adults

'these seals are not to be messed with.

'And some of the macho males have decided

'we've been on their turf a bit too long.'

I'll tell you what, quite threatening, aren't they?

We're actually hemmed in now,

so I think it's maybe best that we move back.

OK, it's all right, I'm going, I'm going.

Wherever seals live, they need to be tough to survive

and especially in the waters off South Africa.

'Earlier in the series, we brought you some stunning images

'of Cape fur seals under attack

'from one of the world's most feared predators,

'the great white shark.'

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny!

Real predation going on!

Oh, it's a biggy, it's a biggy!

Holy Moley!

Let's get up the front of the boat, front of the boat!

Directly off... Oh, this is huge! Absolutely huge!

This is unbelievable!

The shark is coming fully out of the water.

This is one of the most extraordinary things I've seen,

I never thought for a second we'd actually see

a shark genuinely hunting a seal.

Oh!

The tail of the shark is just lashing around,

you can see the dorsal fin and the tail breaking the surface

and you can just see the seal leaping out of the water,

porpoising, trying to get away from the shark.

This tiny little seal is just battling for survival,

it's leaping clear out of the water, trying to evade the shark.

No way!

'But these dramatic scenes were only half the story.

'One remarkable unseen moment brought us closer

'to the age-old struggle between shark and seal,

'than we ever expected. After taking a hit from a great white,

'one small wounded seal pup took refuge

'in the only safe place he could find - our shark cage.'

This little seal here is exactly the size of the animals

that are being hunted by the great white sharks.

It's just old enough to have become independent,

to go out and start hunting for itself.

It's incredibly vulnerable out here.

If you look at the rear flipper

you can see the teeth marks of a shark attack.

Look at that.

Look you can see where the teeth

have sliced right through the outside skin.

And this beautiful creature is just taking refuge here,

because it knows that, out there, he's going to get hammered.

And there's a shark up behind the boat.

He looks really tired.

Because he's a mammal and he's got those big, dark, soulful eyes -

they're more closely related to us -

it's very hard not to feel your heartstrings being tugged.

You feel like you should come down on the side of the seal,

but this is just nature.

This is the battle between the predators and the smaller predators.

'It would have been just plain cruel

'to usher this pup out with sharks circling, scenting blood.

'But great whites won't swim into the beds of giant kelp seaweed

'that border the seal colony.

'If we could get the pup close, he should have a fighting chance.'

We're just backing up the boat, so that it's closer to the kelp

and closer to the rocky islands where the seal will be safe.

Hopefully, it'll make a beeline out of the cage

and, yeah, away from the sharks.

Ah, there he goes, there he goes!

Yes!

Oh, fantastic.

We're right by the kelp now and he's going to be safe.

Wow.

That was all a bit crazy for a while there.

'The pup lives to fight another day -

'traumatised, tender, but hopefully, a whole lot wiser.

'That a tiny seal could cheat the mightiest

'set of jaws on Earth is one of the great escape feats on the planet.

'This titanic battle plays out daily on these southern seas,

'and I got to see it first-hand.'

Ohhh!

'The shark's breathtaking breach attack is so dynamic

'that even a one-tonne shark

'follows through into open air above the waves.

'Imagine the force that must be behind that strike.

'Any seal that can evade a great white is worthy of huge respect.'

'We always aim to bring a new angle

'to the animals we add to the Deadly 60,

'and with the help of a special camera, that's what we did

'during this unseen night-time outing in the Komodo National Park.'

I've got here a thermal imaging camera, which picks up the heat

from the moving bodies of animals, particularly warm-blooded animals.

I can see that there's a couple of Timor deer feeding ahead of me.

Just see their white forms from the heat being given off

by their bodies. What else have we got out there?

'How's about a heat-seeking shot of Komodo's most famous animal?'

Wow.

OK, so I'm actually looking at a Komodo dragon.

Looking at these pictures,

the things that are showing up as blue or green, those are very cool.

Things that are yellow or red, they're quite warm,

and things that are white, they're actually very hot.

What's interesting is that these animals

are thought of as being cold-blooded,

but you can see the tongue is coming out as white, the belly is white,

which means it's very hot.

Even the skin is coming up much hotter

than the surrounding environment.

And the reason is that cold-blooded,

well, it's not a very apt name, really.

Actually reptiles can have blood that's much warmer than our own.

So during the daytime, he'll absorb as much heat as he can

from the surrounding environment

and he can keep that warmth and use it for energy.

Mind you, come back in the morning after a cool night,

and it'd be a very different story.

That's really cool.

'Perhaps the most adrenaline-charged encounter of all

'was in search of the largest reptile on Earth.

'In the Northern Territories of Australia,

'I was lowered into a croc's nest by helicopter.'

I can see the nest.

Whoa!

'We scientifically measured the most formidable bite force on Earth.'

Good Lord, the power of the animal is phenomenal.

'In fact, we had so much croc action that we didn't get a chance

'to show you another of the salties' sublime skills.

'For now, they're lurking invisible, but even a monster croc can leap.'

There, Gray, crocodile.

Do you see it?

'This river has one of the highest concentrations

'of salties in the world.'

'They know that food's on offer.'

That is just incredible.

The most extraordinary noise when those jaws just clatter shut.

It has such a heavy, bony skull and a fantastically-powerful bite

and that sound - just formidable.

'Saltwater crocs can be territorial and fight rivals for access to food.

'But we weren't expecting them to do it right in front of us.'

EXCITED CHATTER

Well, there you go.

That's pretty good evidence of quite how fearsome this animal is.

Two big males just had a complete fit over each other

and this one here never even saw it coming.

'Our bait is just an appetiser for these mammoth reptiles.

'A fully-grown adult can consume

'something as large as a water buffalo,

'but they'll make do with much smaller morsels,

'if that's all that's on offer.'

This leaping might seem like unnatural behaviour,

but they have been seen leaping clear out of the water

to snatch bats, as they roost at the waterside.

The way they do it is with that flat paddle-shaped tail,

large muscles behind the leg at the base of the tail,

which allow them to generate enormous dynamic forces,

driving themselves right up out of the water.

It's such an impressive animal.

'One group of animals featured more on the Deadly 60 than any other

'is the snakes.

'I have a soft spot for these reptilian delights.

'Any snake day is a good day by me.

'We've showed you hundreds of species of snake,

'but somehow this encounter in Argentina slipped through the net.'

Stop! Stop, stop, stop.

Not sure.

Snake. Oh, yes.

It's just come off the road, into this bush here.

Oh, wow, it's a beauty. Can you see that?

Right, this is a really good find.

It's a lancehead, a highly-venomous snake

and one of the most feared of this region.

Let's just see if I can lift it out.

Oh, look at that, vibrating of the tail on my hand.

You see that?

That's something this particular snake does to lure its rodent prey.

Oh, it's beautiful!

'Out here, so far from hospital, a bite would be a bad thing.'

This is an absolutely wonderful snake. The crossed lancehead.

Looking all the way down its back, its upper surface,

you can see these perfect brown crosses with the white background.

They're very, very beautiful.

Very distinctive, but also a highly important part of its camouflage.

This whole group of snakes is known as the lanceheads

and that is because of the shape of the head.

The head itself is shaped like an arrow or a spearhead.

It's incredibly useful for throwing the head out at great speed

when it's striking at its prey.

Isn't he wonderful?

The crossed lancehead mostly feeds on warm-blooded prey.

Around here, that's going to be rats, mice, guinea pig.

It can eat things that are much bigger than its own head.

His venom is really quite fiery

and I certainly wouldn't want to get bitten and, apart from that,

I want to let him go about his business and go off and hunt.

'I can't believe I didn't put that lethal lancehead on the list.

'Just goes to show how strong the other contenders were.'

'This series of Deadly introduced 60 more scintillating

'ninjas of the natural world.'

Wow!

'But this is an unseen special.

'So here's one more aquatic assassin haunting the Florida Keys.'

These are tarpon.

They're a predatory fish, very stout, thick bodied, fast,

and they've also got quite sharp teeth.

'They're impressive from the surface,

'but in their world, it'll be even better.

'While the crew keep their attention by feeding them from the jetty,

'I'm going to slip in.'

Here goes nothing!

Oh-ho-ho! That is just brilliant!

Almost a prehistoric mouth heading straight towards me,

snatching the fish and then swimming away.

You just get a flash of the silver side of the fish.

'Tarpon can grow to over two metres long and weigh twice as much as me.

'That is a big fish and the fish can accelerate surprisingly fast.

'They use that turn of speed

'and a decisive snap to monster down shrimp, crab and other fish.'

Wow! That is brilliant!

'The turn of pace of the tarpon,

'another tantalising hunter I can't quite believe didn't make the list.'

The Deadly 60 crew and I are true professionals.

We've been doing this for many, many years and we never, ever

make mistakes.

Ever.

Hello and welcome to Deadly 60.

This time on Deadly 60, we're in the Philippines. Wah! Ha-ha!

This time on Deadly 60, we're ooh! Ooh, ooh! Hoo-hoo!

Am I supposed to be looking cool when doing this?

But there are some deadly creatures...

Even a huge croc can hide...

That wasn't me. I didn't do that, nobody saw it.

And to get close to them, I'm taking to the...

..like paddles and it can. Argh! Who put that wall there?

But our next step...

THEY LAUGH

Try that again, shall we?

This is. Ooh! Crikey!

Mwah!

TINY BARK

This is the high savanna of Nummibbia. Nnummbbbmmm!

These are...

..that's packed with muscle.

This centipede in particular has much, much less than a...

TONGUE TIED

Deadly, debilly going on my deadliness.

This place may not look the best place

to look for wildlife, but as places go, it's a great place.

It's called the giant scolopendra.

It's the largest species of centipede

and I've got myself trapped in a tree.

SOUND OF BREAKING WIND

Did you hear that?

MORE BREAKING WIND

Honestly, Nick!

This is going to go on forever!

Whoa!

'So, we've shown you some memorable unseen moments.

'Plus a few that I'd really rather forget!

'But I'd like to finish with perhaps my most memorable Deadly encounter.'

Oh, crikey! 'And there are a lot to choose from.

'We've had close calls...'

Apparently, there is a danger that they might leap out. Ohhh! Arrrgh!

'..found rare and endangered species...'

They are majestic animals.

Stop, stop! There it is!

'..and succeeded against all the odds.'

I don't actually believe what I'm seeing.

We have, at the side of the road, the most venomous snake on Earth.

'I treasure each and every animal we film.

'They're masters of their environment,

'but some I will never forget.'

'In series one, a great hammerhead shark shocked us all

'when it swam out of the gloom.'

Oh Simon, Simon! I do not believe it! That is out of this world!

'And in series two, we saw orca hunting and playing.'

Whoa!

Oh, my goodness!

'But on series three, one encounter really stood out -

'a meeting with the animal record breaker.

'It was hard work, against all the odds

'and will always stay with me.'

This is one of the biggest challenges we've ever taken on.

We've got a small rib behind us, which is more manoeuvrable,

which will make it easier to get into a good position

and then Johnny the cameraman and I are just going to dive in

and swim like crazy.

But, if we pull it off, it'll be one of the greatest things

we've ever done on Deadly 60.

'We're about to try and swim with an animal I genuinely thought

'I would never even see.

'The largest creature that's ever known to have lived...'

You see it? Johnny's got a vision on it.

'..the blue whale.'

'We're trying to keep up with an animal the size of a passenger jet.

'I'm kicking as hard as I can. My heart is racing.'

'The whales gather here off the coast of Sri Lanka

'to feed on tiny crustaceans called krill,

'gulping down up to four tonnes-worth every day.

'Sadly, these gentle giants are endangered.

'To share the sea with them

'for precious seconds is one of the greatest moments of my life.'

Vast blue shapes in the crystal clear water,

they cruise by, barely seeming to move at all,

but no Olympic swimmer could ever hope to keep pace.

A truly humbling experience

and my favourite Deadly encounter, so far.

Whoo!

That was like nothing I have ever seen before.

Just a giant submarine cruising below us and totally at ease,

didn't seem to care at all that we were there in its world.

I have never felt so utterly dwarfed by a living creature in my life.

The largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale.

Definitely on my list.

Yes!!

This is my search for the Deadly 60.

'So far on Deadly 60,

'we've been to 28 countries on six different continents.'

No way!

'We've filmed thousands of the world's deadliest animals.'

Ooh. Argh. Oh, yeah!

'But I reckon we haven't even scratched the surface.'

Wow!

'There's still an infinite amount of wild wonders out there.

'Places to explore and adventures to be had.

'This is just the beginning.'

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

They are absolutely extraordinary snakes.

-Ah!

-CREW:

-He's lost his trunks!

This is not good!