Hawaii Carnivores Deadly Pole to Pole

My name's Steve Backshall.

And this is Deadly Pole To Pole.

Ohhh!

From the top of the world to the bottom.

Whoa! Ha-ha!

Deadly places, deadly adventures,

and deadly animals.

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

Arghhhh!

This is Hawaii, an isolated island chain, battered by Pacific waves

where even the land and the sea itself seem to be deadly!

Argh! No!

Oh, where did my sunglasses go?!

Hawaii is the most remote group of islands on Earth,

lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

'And that ocean is alive with aquatic assassins.'

'We brave the waves to find a lone shark...

'..and scour the forest for a surprisingly swift ambush killer...'

Yes!

Oh, wow!

'..before assessing the bite of a multi-jawed moray eel.'

It's pulling me right in to the coral! Arghhh!

'Over all my years of shark searching,

'one species has managed to elude me.

'A true open-sea wanderer, the oceanic white tip.

'Sharks are very rarely dangerous to humans,

'but the oceanic white tip is a confirmed man-eater

'and often the first on the scene of sinking ships.'

The oceanic white tip is a deep-sea shark.

It's what's known as a pelagic fish, one that sticks to the open ocean.

They're mostly solitary, so incredibly difficult to find.

'Over the next three days, we'll be all at sea,

'in the hope of a run-in with a remarkable rarity.

'But Hawaii has some of the biggest waves on Earth.

'So, it's sunscreen and sea-sickness tablets all round.

'And even if the weather and waves don't drown us,

'it'll be near impossible.'

It's a very, very big ocean.

Well, the Pacific's the largest ocean in the world,

and we're looking for one, just one, solitary shark.

This is going to be so hard.

'Their lifestyle and home doesn't just make them hard to find,

'it also makes them potentially dangerous.'

Over the years, I've dived with all different kinds of sharks

that are considered to be dangerous to human beings,

and I really believe that they are totally misunderstood.

Oceanic white tip sharks are a little bit different.

This is a shark that lives in the open ocean where there

isn't an enormous amount of food. They have to test out

every single thing that they see as a potential meal

to find out if it's good to eat.

'To find a shark, weirdly, first you have to find other predators.

'Like these pilot whales.'

Yes. Excellent stuff.

This is a really good size pod of pilot whales.

They're moving this direction and, if there is a shark,

it'll be behind them, tailing them over in that direction.

It'll be just hanging out, waiting for scraps,

possibly even waiting for pilot whale poo.

-Steve, go!

-Yeah, OK.

Pilot whales have a crazy method of catching their food.

Sprinting down to a kilometre depth on a single breath

to catch large squid.

Oceanic white tip sharks often tail pods of pilot whales,

hoping to pick up bits of squid the whales leave behind.

Diving in with the pilots is our best chance.

So we got our first glimpse of pilot whales.

They are absolutely gunning it, they're moving at tremendous speed.

We didn't see any sharks following them.

It's possible they're just moving too fast for the sharks.

'We can't keep up, and there are no sharks lurking behind.

'But my Deadly crew are a stubborn bunch. We'll be back tomorrow.'

We're just heading out of the harbour on day two

but it's still pretty lumpy.

I think we're in for a big, bumpy, heavy day.

'So, tactic number two is to dive in on a school of fish,

'hoping to find the sharks hunting.

'But how do we find one?'

We're coming up on a buoy floating on the surface of the sea.

In the open sea, there is so little shelter

that even something as small as this becomes a haven for small fish.

They'll be attracted from miles and miles around,

and just sit underneath it,

so large predators like the oceanic white tip take advantage of that

and quite often things like this buoy could be the perfect place

to find one.

'A short swim away and the ocean seems empty.

'But here in the shadow of the buoy there are thousands of fish,

'like these oceanic trigger fish.

'No wonder the white tips seek out shelters like this.

'Sadly, just not this one.

'But there's another, more shocking reason that these sharks

'are so hard to find.'

So, sharks all over the world are in trouble

but oceanic white tips are probably the species that's most vulnerable.

In this part of the ocean, as much as 70% of their numbers

have disappeared due entirely to human fishing and hunting.

So much sea to search, so few sharks,

and with weather like this and waves and wind,

really our chances are very, very slim.

'They're solitary, they live in the biggest habitat on Earth

'and they're critically endangered, facing extinction.

'Maybe this was a challenge too far.'

It's our final day and we've got our weather window.

The sea is much flatter, much more calm.

I think everyone's feeling very optimistic.

We're going to carry on going until either the sun goes down

or the boat runs out of fuel.

We are not giving up until we absolutely have to.

Fingers crossed!

Pilot whales, we have a pod of pilot whales.

'One last chance.

'Could they be being followed by a scavenging shark?'

We have what looks like a really good size pod of pilot whales

and they're big and moving slowly.

This is just the perfect opportunity for us.

There is a very good chance that this group could be being tailed

by our target animal.

Wow.

They're just cruising.

We do have to be very cautious.

If there are oceanic white tips here

then it is one of the only species of shark

that can be genuinely dangerous to human beings

and that's all down to their lifestyle.

This is a shark that lives in the open sea,

it's a place where there isn't much food available,

so the white tip has to take every chance that comes its way.

-CREW: Let's go.

-Yeah, OK.

'Nothing. And the last day's near done.

'We've failed.'

'But then suddenly, Simon the sound recordist sees something.'

Side, round the other side! On the other side!

Shark on the other side.

Well, I've spotted a shark, I think, but...

'It's a dark silhouette that isn't a pilot whale.

'Could it be our pelagic powerhouse?'

We have a shark!

Our first oceanic white tip!

'The crew are buzzing but we need to keep our cool.

'This is one of the only animals on Earth

'that would eat a person given a chance.

'The huge white-tipped pectoral fins are like wings,

'helping it fly through the water.'

Two! There's two of them!

'The pilot whales are long gone.

'They're now hanging around to see if we could be food.

'Oceanic white tips are considered to be one of the top five

'most dangerous sharks in the world.

'These sharks are cousins of the great white shark.

'In fact, they used to be known as the lesser white shark.

'They're smaller but much more inquisitive.

'We can't afford to take our eyes off them for even a second.'

You need to have eyes in the back of your head to do this!

'In the open ocean, food is scarce.

'These sharks may have to fast for many weeks.

'So whenever they find something that might be edible...

'..they're hard-wired to give it a try.'

She seems really interested in the cameras

and she's just testing them out, seeing if they might be good to eat.

If they want to test something, feel what it's like, they have to do it

with their teeth and with their snout.

'Sharks can also sense tiny electrical fields.

'I'm sure they're picking up signals from the cameras.

'They use this sense to detect the moving muscles of their prey,

'and that could be fish, turtles, even seabirds.

'The shark has taken time out of hunting to check us out,

'so I want to make sure it doesn't leave hungry.

'And those are some of the sharpest, serrated teeth

'in any shark's mighty mouth.

'Once all the crew are safe back on deck,

'only then will we relax enough to realise quite how special that was.'

This has been an absolutely extraordinary experience.

We really had to work for it.

This critically endangered, unbelievably beautiful animal

of the deep open sea is, without doubt, deadly.

With their sheer size, up to 4m in length,

inquisitive nature...

..and flesh-tearing bite..

..oceanic white tips are a true triumph.

It'd be very tempting for me to spend

all of my time in Hawaii out at sea

but there's one extraordinary inland predator that's so unique,

I simply couldn't miss it.

'After big waves and sharks,

'Hawaii's damp forests might look a little bit tame.'

But don't be fooled. There is a hidden killer lurking here.

But it's so fast and so good at not being seen,

that I probably won't even be able to see it with my naked eye,

and instead I'm going to need a little bit of Deadly technology.

'It's cryptic, camouflaged.

'I could be staring at one right now and not know it.'

I could be here for a while.

Right, come on, Backshall.

'I didn't think it would be this hard!

'There must be hundreds of them here.'

Every single place you look

starts to turn into what you're searching for.

'It completely messes with your mind.'

Yes!

Got one.

It's so brilliant.

Honestly, I could've been staring at this plant for ages and not seen it.

OK, now, I don't know if you'll be able to see this with the camera,

but lying along the edge of this leaf here,

lying perfectly flush with it and exactly the same colour

is a caterpillar.

And, believe it or not, this is what I'm considering as our next

Deadly contender.

But our normal camera I don't really think's going to cut it.

I think we're going to have to switch...to super-cam.

'Super-cam magnifies and slows action down.

'Without it, the split-second strike would be as good as invisible.

'This is the first caterpillar I've ever suggested

'could be deadly.

'Caterpillars are the young, larval stage of moths and butterflies,

'and feed on plants.

'Well, except this one.

'This is Eupithecia, and it's a spring-loaded meat-eater.

'It may be that because Hawaii is so isolated

'with so few ants and wasps, that this caterpillar has evolved

'to take their predatory place, evolved a taste for blood.'

'They don't eat plants at all - just insects -

'and that's what we want to try and film.'

Now, the way it catches its prey is very, very special indeed.

We could wait here for hours just hoping that a tiny little cricket

or something comes past. It's probably not going to happen,

so instead I've got this.

It's a little stick with an eyelash glued to the end of it.

And what I'm going to try and do is trigger the predatory response

of this caterpillar by just tickling it with this.

Hopefully, it will think that an item of prey has stumbled close by,

and strike out at it, and when that happens I have to press record here

and we should see the whole thing slowed down.

Wham! That was instantaneous.

'The camera can play the moment back eight times slower than real life.

'Step two is to see this mini-beast catching real food.'

Oh! It struck but it missed it.

STEVE LAUGHS

Next try.

Tiny little grasshopper.

Yes! That is just fabulous!

Ah!

Ohhhh!

-It's brutal.

-That is so quick.

-Yeah. It's like murder in miniature.

'These carnivorous caterpillars' strikes are triggered

'when their unsuspecting prey wander too close to their tail end.

'Their pincer-sharp legs raise into the air,

'forming a stabbing basket which envelops the bug

'in a deadly embrace.

'It's blisteringly quick, all over in a tenth of a second,

'faster than the blink of an eye.'

Well, I have to say it may be tiny, it may be almost invisible

but this carnivorous caterpillar is utterly unique,

and, without a doubt, deadly.

As good as invisible...

..spring-loaded speedy strike.

Hawaii's most unlikely predator.

Carnivorous caterpillars that munch other insects.

'In Hawaii, you're never far from the sea

'and never far from marine monsters.

'Up next, it's part-snake, part-fish,

'part-alien space demon.'

It has a face full of the most ridiculously sharp, pointed teeth,

and many divers are actually quite frightened of them.

What we really want to do, though, is to introduce some food

to draw them out into the open, because we're here

to try and see them bite.

So, the final checks are done. We're about ready to get in.

And we're now going to go in search of an elusive, reclusive hunter.

The sinister-looking moray eel.

'Morays are fish,

'but their elongated bodies are covered in mucus, not scales.

'It allows them to squeeze into tiny gaps in the reef by day,

'their pointy teeth an ambush trap for passing fish or squid.'

Look at that! Butterfly fish.

'There are thousands of colourful species on these reefs,

'and many of them could end up being munched by morays.'

Oh, wow.

Oh! That's beautiful!

We have an undulated moray,

which is known for the undulating pattern that runs down its body,

that's this one here.

I've got a little bit of squid on a stick.

Let's see the moray in action.

Oi!

Go away! That's not for you.

Oh, wow! That was quick.

It's almost like a dog, really.

Its whole world is driven by lovely, enticing smells.

Although it has got reasonable eyesight,

it's sensing where its prey is using two sets of nostrils,

one at the front of the snout, one behind them,

just in front of the eyes.

Oh... Whoa! That's very, very strong.

They're such an intimidating sight.

And they do actually have quite a bite,

so I don't really want to get nibbled!

A beautiful, beautiful creature.

And for its size, it has a formidable bite force.

What I'd really like to do next is to test quite how hard

the moray can bite.

'Which calls for a special pressure gauge

'designed to measure bite force.

'We've used them before...'

Ohh!

'..and got some spectacular results.' Whoa!

'So how is the moray eel going to match up?'

What happens is, the animal bites down on this section here

and then on this gauge, we'll register quite how powerful

their bite force is.

So, let me just try with my own bite and see what it registers.

'My bite force registers a mere 40lb per square inch.

'We need to get a moray to give it a nibble.'

What could possibly go wrong(?)

'On the way back down to lure out our undulated eel,

'we spot another moray species living next door.'

Look at this!

Now I've got two separate species of eels.

So we've got a white-mouthed eel, this one here.

Very, very beautiful, covered in blotches.

And we actually have a third species.

This one's a tiger moray.

And a fourth one as well, Simon! Look!

The white-mouthed moray is a very curious-looking moray eel.

Certainly seems quite friendly.

But I'm quite glad that I've got the mask protecting my face.

I really wouldn't want it nibbling on my nose.

It's usually lying with its mouth open

and the sharp teeth very, very obvious.

What's not so obvious is that at the back of the throat,

they have a second set of teeth called the pharyngeal jaws.

When this animal grabs a hold of food,

the second set of jaws snaps forward, engages, latches into it.

It has thin, pointed teeth,

which mean there's no way the animal's getting away.

'They've got two sets of jaws and teeth designed to puncture,

'pierce and restrain prey.

'But how much might is in a moray's bite?

'We decide to try out each different species in turn.

'First up, the undulated moray eel.'

OK, it's getting stuck in...

But it hasn't yet managed to land a substantial bite.

'The undulated just gave it a little nibble.

'What can our white-mouthed moray manage?

'He certainly seemed to have attitude.'

Go on, give it a proper bite!

Good force, very good force.

It measured about 50lb per square inch.

Which is more than I managed!

And for an animal of that size

whose head is probably no bigger than my fist,

that is phenomenal.

'This yellow margined moray is a muscle-bound horror show.'

Yes!

Go on, get stuck in!

Wow! It's really, really strong!

It's pulling me right into the coral.

I'm very glad that wasn't my hand.

'But that can't be right.

'The yellow-margined seemed to be the strongest

'and we're not getting a reading.'

No wonder it's not registering anything. It's punctured!

The teeth are so sharp and thin, they've gone right through it!

'Well, it's made a right mess of my gauge.

'Imagine what it could do to a luckless fish.'

'And that jaw strength is driving home a barbaric set of teeth.

'Each one is long, thin, wickedly sharp.

'Together they make a trap that every reef resident

'must surely fear.'

I have to say, I'm very glad

that it was getting stuck into the bite test gauge and not my fingers.

Beautiful creatures. Sinister, creepy-looking

and undeniably deadly.

With a bite force stronger than a human,

teeth so sharp they broke my bite gauge,

and a hidden second set of jaws.

Moray eels are the fish-snaring menace of the coral reef.

Join me next time, as I continue my journey.

Yes!