Unseen Naomi's Nightmares of Nature


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Welcome to my nightmares of nature.

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I'm Naomi Wilkinson

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and I'm coming face to face with the nightmares of the animal world.

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The ones that make your spine tingle,

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your heart beat faster...

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..and your blood run cold.

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Are they truly terrifying?

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Or is there a twist in the tale?

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Come with me as I shine a light on wildlife's

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deepest, darkest secrets.

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See if you can guess which will be my worst nightmare.

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The crew and I have been travelling all over the world for this

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series, and we've had some close encounters with some real

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nightmare contenders.

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I've been surprised...

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Scared...

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Shocked...

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Goodness me!

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..and shaken.

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Oh, my goodness!

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But the adventure isn't over yet!

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There's a whole host of animals we just couldn't cram in,

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so this programme is packed with our unseen nightmare encounters.

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This global adventure will take us from Alaska to Africa

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and through Central America where I'll be meeting

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a towering three-metre, man-eating, Alaskan predator...

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She's running right towards us.

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..a jungle dweller with a bit of bite...

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And a hungry, hungry hippo.

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But to kick off our unseen encounters,

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I'm in Africa, which certainly delivered

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with its nightmare nominees.

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We experienced a seriously snappy Nile Crocodile...

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Get us out of here!

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..a sea of smelly seals...

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Oof! Smelling a little bit ripe.

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..and got more than we bargained for with a pack of wily wild dogs.

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-They've got it.

-Have they? They've got it.

-They've taken it down.

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Yes, there it is over there.

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But, there was one animal I met while I was out there,

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that was head and shoulders above the rest!

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Standing at an incredible six metres tall,

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giraffes are the tallest animals in the world,

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towering over the savanna.

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Their long legs and elongated necks allow them exclusive access

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to the tastiest leaves at the very top of their favourite trees.

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But, rumour has it, these tall, gentle vegetarians,

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have a terrifying trait!

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Can that really be true?

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But before I come face to face with one in the wild, though,

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I want to learn a little bit more about them.

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-Naomi.

-I'm Derek.

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So, I've come to meet Derek,

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who's a vet here in Africa and right now, he has a rather gorgeous guest.

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-Oh.

-Hello, Adelaide.

-We can come in with her?

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Yes, come with me, come with me, please! Come with me.

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Isn't she just beautiful.

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-Oh, yes, do you want to touch her?

-And I can stroke her, as well?

-Yes.

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Hello, Adelaide.

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Oh, wow!

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Oh, she's coming to say hello to you, Graham, our cameraman.

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So, how old is she?

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She's about 15, maybe even 18 months old, we're not exactly sure.

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-So, just over a year? She's not that old.

-She's not old at all.

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But she's already so tall!

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Well, when they get born they're close to two metres already.

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-At birth, they'd be taller than me?

-Yes, that's correct.

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That's crazy. How does that work? Their poor mums.

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Well, the poor baby, can you imagine the drop when they get born?

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What, they deliver standing up, so they just fall on the floor?

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What a traumatic beginning to life for a baby giraffe!

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But that's very important.

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That's necessary for the baby to drop and get a fright

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and take its first breath into the real world.

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-That's cool nature at work.

-It's fantastic.

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Yeah, but you would have thought that would be a bit of a traumatic

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start to life, just landing in a heap with big long legs like that?

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Well, being born as a herbivore in the African wildlife is

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a scary scenario if you think of all the predators

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and the nasty things running around down there.

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-There's plenty after you, isn't there?

-Yes, yes.

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Their tongue is super long, isn't it?

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It's super long so they can get it around these soft leaves, avoid the

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thorns and, obviously, it also extends their reach

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for the higher ones so they can get those very, very high soft ones.

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-How long can they get?

-They can get up to 50cm.

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Wow! That's half a metre of tongue!

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-They could pick their own noses with that.

-In fact, they do!

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That's disgusting.

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She's so gentle, isn't she?

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She seems a really gentle creature.

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-They are very gentle creatures. They are the gentle giants.

-Yeah.

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I'm finding it really hard to believe that an animal this

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beautiful could possibly be a nightmare of nature!

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Hello. But that is the nature of my mission, so I'm going to head

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out into the wild to see if I can try and discover their darker side!

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You haven't got one, have you?

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I'm teaming up with Natasha, a wildlife researcher here at the

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Erindi Game Reserve in Namibia,

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who can get me close to some wild adults.

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-Are there any clues we can look out for to see them?

-Absolutely.

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The giraffes are all bigger than the row of trees that we can

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-see around us.

-Is that what we're looking for?

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Their heads peeping out over the tops of the trees?

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That's one of the best ways of spotting them, also because

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we've just had rain, we might see tracks,

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so if we do see tracks on the road it'll be fresh.

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Literally, in the last ten minutes.

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I keep seeing the very tall orange ant hills

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and thinking it's a giraffe.

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They do a good giraffe impression.

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Oh, there, there, there, there,

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two, yes, no, three!

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They've got such long legs, haven't they?

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Like super models or something.

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Do they do any damage to each other with those?

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Generally, they don't, or they don't do it on purpose,

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but they'll use those long legs as a defence mechanism,

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so they'll kick with the front and with the hind legs

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if they're attacked by predators, like a lion.

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And the power in those legs, because they're so long.

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it must inflict quite a lot of force.

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They can easily kill a big predator like a lion.

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Giraffes have a huge amount of power in their legs

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and can use these lethal weapons when under threat from predators

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like lions.

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One kick is enough to decapitate a big cat

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and a mother will protects her calf fiercely.

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-What are those two young ones doing?

-It looks like they're necking.

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You know that's another form of aggression.

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They swing those necks to hit each other

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and they hit each other unbelievably hard.

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Male giraffes like to rule their stretch of the savanna

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and if there's any doubt who's in charge,

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those long, elegant necks also turn into lethal weapons.

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This ritualised fighting is known as "necking".

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Deadly blows delivered to vulnerable areas of the body,

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until the weaker male is defeated, injured or even killed!

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But these battles rarely end in a neck-and-neck draw!

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Well, I never thought I'd be considering making the most

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elegant and graceful animal on the savanna one of my nightmares.

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But having been given an insight into the power of those legs

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and those brutal battles fought by these towering terrors,

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I'm going to stick my neck on the line

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and say that they could be in with a chance of being my worst nightmare!

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Although, it's a bit of a tall order!

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From the wilds of Africa to the Alaskan wilderness,

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which equally delivered on its nightmare candidates.

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From the mammoth moose... Look at the size of him.

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..to the beautiful bald eagle.

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And, of course, the chilling cold weather,

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which took the top spot of my worst Alaskan nightmare.

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But there is one animal that resides in this winter wonderland,

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that I really didn't want to miss!

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When it comes to predators, brown bears or grizzlies are definitely

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in the big league, weighing up to a colossal half a tonne!

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Standing up to three metres tall and with a power-packed body,

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they can unleash killer blows with one swipe of their giant claws,

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making them a must-see contender and surely, a nightmare of nature?

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I'm heading out at the beginning of winter and this is the time

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the bears start to go into hibernation.

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So, I'm teaming up with wildlife guide, Joe,

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to see if there are any last-minute diners.

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Am I right in thinking that any self-respecting bears will be

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tucked away in a nice warm cave by now and hibernating until spring?

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Well, you don't really hear reports of bears coming out

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-till about April.

-They'll be in hibernation until April,

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-and they won't eat anything during that time?

-Nope.

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-Nothing at all?

-Nope.

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But there might still be a few bears wandering around just topping

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-up their fat reserves...

-Exactly right.

-..if we're lucky.

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Here's some bear droppings right here. So, pull over here.

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-Oh, are we safe to get out of the car and have a look?

-I think so.

-OK.

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This looks pretty fresh to me,

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not that I know a lot about bear droppings...!

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Well, I would say they're still here,

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and, obviously, just within the last few days.

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Can we tell what it's been eating by looking at its poo?

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It really changes. Early in the year when they eat grass,

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that's mainly what they're eating.

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-People don't think of bears grazing like cows.

-They eat grass?

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In spring, when grass first comes up, it's very high in protein.

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Despite their frightening size, a large part of the grizzlies'

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diet is made up of grass, berries and fish.

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They need a lot of energy to last through their winter

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hibernation so they build up their bulk,

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feasting on anything they can lay their paws on.

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So, right here, we've got a very clear sign that bears

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-are still knocking around.

-That's right.

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-We have a chance of finding one.

-That's right.

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-Let's keep looking.

-Let's go.

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And Joe tells me the best place to look for a hungry bear

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who's stocking up for the winter, is down by the river,

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where there are plenty of succulent salmon.

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The only problem is, we're on foot.

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I do feel a little more vulnerable out of the car,

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knowing there could be a three-metre-tall bear in the woods.

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Just how big are they?

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-Imagine twice as tall, as you.

-As me?

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Yeah, up to twice as tall, can you imagine?

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Bent over and standing up, rearing up!

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Claws coming out like that. It's always important in nature to be...

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have your wits about you, pay attention,

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because there could be one feeding right up in there

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and you're just walking along not thinking...

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And never a truer word was spoken,

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as just moments later, we found clear signs

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there were bears in the area.

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-Look at these.

-Oh, yeah.

-These are so clear.

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You can see where each of the claws has been.

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So, how big would its whole foot be?

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Well, this would be the top, so, there'd be another part about here.

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-So, it would be two times the size of my hand?

-Yeah.

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You're talking about a big, big creature.

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That could just bat you out the way, couldn't it?

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-So, he's going in this direction?

-Yeah, we're getting closer.

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We're getting close.

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But this was as close as we were going to get today,

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out in the wild, at least.

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Luckily, my crew have arranged for me to meet an orphaned female bear

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who wouldn't have survived alone in the wild.

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And owner, Steve, has a very unusual way of calling her out.

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HE CALLS OUT

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And there she is. A grizzly bear.

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Alongside the polar bear, that is the world's largest

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land-based predator.

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Look how she moves, really slow, and you can see all the muscles

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and fat kind of moving after her.

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Here she come, she's coming down the hill.

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You can hear the ground rumble as she moves.

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She's running right towards us.

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It's been recommended that we don't look her

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straight in the eye because that could be seen as a challenge

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and if anything, I do not want to challenge a grizzly bear.

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My heart is thumping.

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I'd be amazed if you can't hear it on the microphone.

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Isn't it incredible to think that this mammoth mammal,

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a large part of their diet is berries and vegetation.

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She's just checking us out.

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What a beautiful creature, but I don't mind saying that

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even with this fence here, it's easy to feel very nervous

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and intimidated.

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And for very good reason, as this bear was about to show off her

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incredible power.

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Oh, look, look, look.

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It would probably take three or four people

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to move this tree trunk,

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but to this bear, it seems nothing more than a rolling pin.

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It's like a little toy, isn't it?

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Like she's playing with a football or something?

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But really, all she was interested in, were our cameras.

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She's got our camera in her teeth.

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We might have some good pictures of her tongue.

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Although I think the whole camera might be in pieces

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when we get it back.

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Oh, dear!

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That's such a lovely sight.

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Oh, doesn't she look lovely scratching her back?

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So soft and cuddly.

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Bagsy not going to give her a cuddle.

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It's hard to think of any animal doing this as a nightmare of nature.

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Of course, you should always be wary of a bear.

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Yes, they will take larger prey when they can, but on the whole,

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they'll avoid contact with humans.

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They don't see us as prey.

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So, whilst it might be going a bit far to label them as gentle giants,

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is it fair to call the grass grazing, berry-munching

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grizzly bear a nightmare of nature?

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For my next nightmare encounter, we're travelling from a chilly

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Alaska, to the blistering heat of the jungle.

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It was here in Belize that I chased down a super-speedy cockroach...

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confronted my fears by submerging myself into the watery world

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of sharks and stingrays...

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and listened to the haunting hollers of the howler monkey.

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But that wasn't all.

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There is an animal at large in the jungles of Central America

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that has some impressive nightmare qualities.

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They have the killer instinct of a born hunter,

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they're armed with giant sharpened teeth and massive claws.

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Even its name translates, as roughly "The beast that kills its prey

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"with one bound." Sounds terrifying!

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And, for some reason, I'm off to meet one.

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The jaguar is one of the most famous of all rainforest residents.

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They're the biggest cats in the Americas,

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with adult males sometimes growing as large as lions or tigers.

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But despite their size, few people have ever laid eyes on these

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giant felines, because these cats are supremely stealthy.

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In fact, it's said that, in the rainforest, you can pass

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within a few metres of this huge, powerful animal

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and never even though it was there!

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So, should we be afraid of the jungle jaguar?

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I've almost no chance of finding a jaguar in the wild,

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but luckily, at Belize Zoo, there's a unique opportunity to get

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really close to one of these carnivorous cats.

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Zoo director, Sharon, is going to make the introductions.

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The two rules are simple. Don't put your fingers in its mouth.

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-Rule number one, OK?

-I won't do that.

-OK, now rule number two.

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When I say, "Stand up," stand up slowly.

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He doesn't like fast movements.

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And I want to assure you that this cage,

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the integrity is checked every morning,

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it's part of our routine here, so it's as secure as a shark cage.

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-He's coming, he's coming.

-Junior.

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-Don't be to near the edge, will you?

-Here he comes.

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-He's absolutely gorgeous, isn't he?

-There you go. Here, sweetheart.

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Wow! It's a really wide head isn't it? Really broad.

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-Well, there's a big brain in there.

-And a big jaw, too!

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-Aren't you glad we're on this side of the fence?

-Yep.

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-Look at those teeth.

-Look at this.

-Look at those teeth!

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900lbs of force for one inch of tooth.

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It's the only cat that will kill its prey by crushing

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the skull of a prey and think how hard a brain case is.

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-Yeah.

-Do you want to give him a treat?

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Er, what do you want me to do?

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Hold it and just gently put it in his mouth.

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-He won't hurt you.

-Are you serious?

-He will not hurt you.

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There you go.

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That's quite an intimidating jaw.

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Please don't take my fingers with it. Got it? Yes!

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Good boy, Junior.

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His head is so broad, isn't it?

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-That's got a massive jaw, giant paws.

-Yes.

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A jaguar must be a formidable hunter.

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Oh, yeah, they're the top predators, as you can see.

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He's preying upon this camera.

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And after destroying one camera, he quickly moved on to another.

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It seemed Junior didn't particularly want to be on TV.

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He's absolutely beautiful, isn't he?

0:20:440:20:46

What's the purpose of those patterns on his coat?

0:20:460:20:49

Well, you know, it's called distractive camouflage.

0:20:490:20:53

You really wouldn't see this animal in the forest, just

0:20:530:20:56

because it just blends in.

0:20:560:20:59

They are beautifully made for jungle life.

0:20:590:21:02

A dappled lighting like this, you cannot see a jaguar coming and

0:21:020:21:07

they have these hugely padded paws, which means they can tread silently.

0:21:070:21:12

So, what would they eat?

0:21:180:21:20

Well, they eat deer, they certainly will eat turtles, they eat fish.

0:21:220:21:26

Jaguars are excellent swimmers. Basically, any small mammal,

0:21:260:21:31

but they'll also climb trees,

0:21:310:21:33

they're good tree climbers and go after birds.

0:21:330:21:35

I'm sorry, I'm so distracted cos listen to the crunching

0:21:350:21:38

that's happening right now with our camera.

0:21:380:21:41

So, that jaw has a really strong bite.

0:21:410:21:44

900lbs of force

0:21:460:21:48

for one inch of tooth.

0:21:480:21:53

Proving the fact beautifully for us.

0:21:530:21:55

Oh, he's ripping off the other one now. What about humans, Sharon?

0:21:570:22:02

Oh, they do not stalk people, they don't hunt people,

0:22:020:22:05

they stay away from people.

0:22:050:22:07

They prefer to be solitary on their own?

0:22:070:22:09

They definitely are solitary animals.

0:22:090:22:12

Although these cats tend to stay away from humans in the wild,

0:22:120:22:16

Junior seemed to have a taste for our cameraman.

0:22:160:22:19

-Oh, Junior, you lucky guy.

-He's licking our cameraman's head.

0:22:230:22:27

-Steve, how does that feel?

-Fantastic, it's the best body scrub.

0:22:270:22:31

Quite exfoliating.

0:22:320:22:35

I want to explain that the tongue is rough like that

0:22:350:22:38

because it pulls the meat off bones very quickly.

0:22:380:22:42

Even protected inside this cage, it's very,

0:22:420:22:45

very intimidating being this close to such a large predatory carnivore

0:22:450:22:49

capable of taking down prey my size with a single bite to the head!

0:22:490:22:52

Fortunately, it does sound like the jaguar would prefer to stay

0:22:520:22:56

hidden in the jungle well away from humans.

0:22:560:22:58

Nevertheless, in this race for the nightmare prize, is the predatory

0:22:580:23:02

pounce of the jungle jaguar enough to see it leap into the lead?

0:23:020:23:06

South Africa certainly delivered on its nightmares of nature.

0:23:120:23:15

And it was here that I crowned the humungous hippo my worst

0:23:160:23:20

nightmare of nature for being one of the most dangerous

0:23:200:23:24

animals in Africa.

0:23:240:23:27

And having met a pod of hippos in the wild,

0:23:270:23:30

as well as coming face to face with Jessica, a wild, rescued hippo,

0:23:300:23:34

I was certainly convinced it had earned its place.

0:23:340:23:37

But Jessica was no ordinary hippo, as her rescuer, Tonie showed me,

0:23:390:23:44

while I was there.

0:23:440:23:46

Does she spend most of her time in the water?

0:23:490:23:51

Jessica spends about 50% of her time in the water.

0:23:510:23:54

Where does she spend the rest of the time?

0:23:540:23:56

The rest of the time, she comes up into the garden.

0:23:560:24:00

She comes up into your garden?

0:24:000:24:02

Yes, as a matter of fact, when we get up here and walk that way,

0:24:020:24:06

-she'll follow us.

-Let's try it.

-Let's go and try it.

0:24:060:24:11

She's coming, oh, here she comes!

0:24:250:24:27

Just very conscious I've got a hippo following me.

0:24:320:24:34

Past the car.

0:24:420:24:44

And it wasn't just the garden that Jessica liked to explore.

0:24:530:24:56

She can open the door?

0:25:000:25:01

Well, this is the weirdest sight I've ever seen.

0:25:080:25:10

Follow me, here we are.

0:25:100:25:12

-We're going to feed her something in the kitchen now.

-Are we?

-Yes.

0:25:130:25:17

Between the two teeth.

0:25:170:25:18

This has got to be one of the most surreal things I have ever done.

0:25:250:25:28

Feeding a hippo in somebody's kitchen.

0:25:280:25:30

It's bonkers. Yes, I know you're hungry.

0:25:320:25:35

I've got lots, there you go.

0:25:350:25:38

She must eat you out of house and home.

0:25:380:25:41

She does eat us out of house and home. But what a pleasure!

0:25:410:25:45

You must have some real damage that she's caused in your house.

0:25:450:25:49

Since we've had her, she's broken five double beds.

0:25:490:25:51

And what's the future for Jessica?

0:25:530:25:55

Jessica's got a great future lying ahead for her

0:25:550:25:59

because she's not in captivity, she's free and she goes to the

0:25:590:26:01

wild hippos and the wild hippos come to her, she interacts with them.

0:26:010:26:06

So, she lives like a normal wild hippo, but what makes her special

0:26:060:26:10

is that she keeps on interacting with us with humans, as well.

0:26:100:26:15

You and me, we're friends now, Jessica.

0:26:150:26:19

Well, it has been an incredible experience to meet Jessica

0:26:190:26:22

and to be allowed to get this close to perhaps the most dangerous

0:26:220:26:26

animal in Africa.

0:26:260:26:28

What a privilege, but, um, I'm under no illusions,

0:26:280:26:32

I know that hippos are just that, dangerous wild animals and I think

0:26:320:26:35

Jessica here is the only exception to that rule.

0:26:350:26:37

So, for that reason,

0:26:370:26:39

I'm going to say that hippos could be my worst nightmare.

0:26:390:26:42

Sorry, Jessica.

0:26:420:26:44

So, that rounds up all of our unseen encounters

0:26:480:26:51

and all that's left for me to do, is choose my worst.

0:26:510:26:54

Will it be the giant grizzly with its sheer size

0:26:570:26:59

and strength... He's thumping.

0:26:590:27:01

Jessica Hippo with her rather random routine...

0:27:010:27:06

..or, the towering terrors that are the not-so-gentle giraffes?

0:27:060:27:10

They all have some serious nightmare potential,

0:27:100:27:14

but the one that has stolen the show for me,

0:27:140:27:17

is the elusive and silent stalker, with its giant jaws

0:27:170:27:21

and deadly bite.

0:27:210:27:22

My worst unseen nightmare is the jungle jaguar.

0:27:220:27:26

Some animals are scarier than others.

0:27:320:27:34

Snapping crocs or giant spiders always have plenty of fear-factor.

0:27:340:27:38

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