Bizarre Behaviour Wild & Weird

# Marauding mice and walls of ice and sharks on a golfing spree (Argh!)

# Cicada swarms and nasty storms and fish walking out of the sea (Really?)

# Elks in trees and foaming seas and giant mayfly moths (Huh?)

# Zombie snails and friendly whales and completely frozen frogs

# You what?

# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

# Really really wild and really really weird

# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

# They're really really wild

# They're really really wild and weird. #

Coming up on today's show, some bizarre behaviour.

Elk with anger management issues.

A fish on an afternoon stroll.

And a goat that likes to put its feet up.

Er, Tim?

-Yeah.

-Why are you behaving so bizarrely?

Well, earlier on this morning I had THE best bit of chocolate cake

I've ever eaten and I was thinking that

if I do the wobbly thing then I can go back in time and eat it all again.

Oh.

HARP PLAYS

OLD TIME MUSIC HALL TUNE PLAYS

HARP PLAYS

Hm. Do you mean like that?

That was my chocolate cake.

Oh, sorry.

-Shall we watch some clips now?

-Yeah.

I've got more bizarre behaviour to show you.

-Let's get under way in the US of A.

-Oh, very poetic.

-Thank you.

This is Estes Park in Colorado,

nestled amongst the stunning scenery of the Rocky Mountains.

A beautiful natural oasis where man and beast exist in peaceful harmony.

Peaceful, that is, until you switch to a heavy metal soundtrack.

HEAVY METAL MUSIC

-Uh-oh, uh-oh! No, no!

-'Whoa!'

Because every autumn the normally placid elk of Estes Park go on

the rampage, attacking anything that moves, including cars and trucks.

Talk about road rage.

'Back up, people. Back up.'

When their ears go back and their eyes get real big

and their head just out, then you're in trouble.

They will charge their reflection in windows.

People dive over fences. They run in the water. They climb trees.

Whatever they have to do to get out of the way.

Jane and Rick are part of the town's elk response team.

What's an elk response team?

It's a bit like the Fire Brigade

only less fires and more elk.

Oh.

Jane and Rick are responsible for making sure that elk don't

get themselves into too much trouble.

Every year we have elk with Christmas tree lights

on their antlers.

Tangled up in Christmas tree lights?

They're not very bright, are they, these elk?

I've taken a bicycle off of an elk.

Garbage can lids.

Every kind of fencing material you can imagine.

Er, Naomi,

would you, er...

So what have the people of Estes Park done

to deserve this British behaviour?

Is it time to call in an expert?

It most certainly is.

How about one leaning on a log?

No problem.

Wildlife consultant Chris Rowe has been studying

the elk of Estes Park.

The Estes Valley has probably some of the best elk habitat

that you can find anywhere.

And within this general area we have a population that's

several thousand elk that reside here throughout the entire year.

You've got the population of people

and you've got the population of elk.

For most of the year, it's a pretty peaceful coexistence.

There's only a couple of times during the year

where all of a sudden we have conflict.

Every autumn the elk take part in the annual rut.

It's the time of year when the males are trying to defend their patch

and attract the ladies.

What's that, Tim?

This is my new aftershave for attracting the ladies.

Eau de elk.

As we move into the month of September,

their aggression and their intensity level on protecting those cows

really, really ramps up.

They're not afraid to lock antlers and get physical.

Given the fact that Estes sits right smack dab in the middle

of some of the most perfect habitat,

all this occurs right in town, in and around the houses,

in and around the vehicles,

right in the middle of the street a lot of times.

During the autumn rut the males are so driven that they'll look upon

virtually everything as a threat to their dominance.

Anything that moves is fair game.

And even a few things that don't.

They will charge a tree. They will fight bushes.

They will attack swing sets.

They have volleyball nets.

So it's clear. For a male elk protecting his patch,

absolutely anything is on the hit list.

And if the idea of being chased down by a 300-kilo,

antler-wielding, angry animal isn't your idea of fun,

then you might want to avoid an autumn break to Estes Park.

-Not bad, Naomi.

-Thanks.

On the internationally recognised bizarre scale of 1 to 10,

I would award that story a lemon.

This story, on the other hand, is more of a meringue.

Join me in the quiet suburbs of Florida,

a place where you might expect to see the odd dog out for a walk.

But not this.

What in the world?

-How weird is that, huh?

-It is weird.

Hopping around in the yard?

My God. Where are they coming from?

'Gardens and homes are being overrun...'

I don't know. That's weird.

'..by a type of fish.'

-A fish?

-Mm. A fish.

-What, like a fishy fish?

-A fishy fish, yeah.

And it's not just this neighbourhood. It's happening all over Florida.

After a storm, these strange creatures appear

as if from nowhere to walk the land.

-There's one over there.

-Where?

-Over there.

-That is blowing my mind.

What could be behind this utterly bizarre behaviour?

-It's a mad scientist, isn't it?

-What do you mean?

A mad scientist who's crossed one species with another

and that's why it can walk and breathe on land.

Don't be ridiculous.

-What is it then?

-A catfish.

Ha! A cat and a fish.

No. Just a regular catfish.

The long feelers that look like whiskers give it away.

It's a species appropriately named the walking catfish.

Concocted in a secret laboratory by a crazed genius.

No, born in the water like every other fish.

But if it's a normal fish, why is it out of the water?

Well, let's ask scientist Bill Loftus.

-Oh, is he a mad scientist?

-No.

But he does know how catfish can breathe out of the water.

It does this by use of a specialised organ that lies behind

the gill chamber inside of its head

and it can take oxygen from the air through that organ

and put it into its bloodstream.

That's an amazing adaptation for this animal to allow it to get

out on land and to move around.

-But where are these fish out of water going?

-Erm? I don't know.

The chip shop?

Well, it turns out some were heading for Florida resident

Colin Calway's garden pond.

When you're looking at a pond every day you know the type of fish

you've got in there and there's a strange activity,

something's not right and you've got to find out what it is.

We've pumped the pond down and instead of approximately

10,000 rosy barbs,

we had what looked like 10,000 walking catfish in their place.

The catfish had eaten all of Colin's other fish.

Walking catfish are very broad feeders

so they will feed on fish, invertebrates, amphibians

and pretty much the whole gamut of aquatic insects.

So the catfish are taking to dry land in search of new feeding grounds.

And when they clean out one pond, they just walk off to find the next.

They'll wait for that night when a good thunderstorm comes,

or rain comes or a very heavy dew

and then they'll leave the pond in large numbers

and they'll keep moving up the ditches and through the grass

until they find another pond.

They'll clear that one, then move on again.

Wow. It is lucky that Colin is not a tropical fish farmer.

And that pretty well wiped us out as tropical fish farmers.

Oops.

So, if it's bizarre behaviour you're after

then you need look no further than the walking catfish

because it really is the original fish out of water.

A walking fish. How do you top that?

-With a goat.

-Goat?

You can't top a fish with a goat. You'd squash the fish.

Just watch this, Tim.

To finish our exploration of all things bizarre,

we're heading to Tennessee in the deep South of the USA.

These may look like perfectly normal, healthy goats

but some of them are acting very strangely indeed.

Ah! Did you see that?

Goat down.

And another. And another.

They're dropping like flies. Big goat-shaped flies. What's going on?

Well, let's ask local farmer Gene McNutt because he had a shock

when he and his family first arrived in the area.

We moved here to Tennessee in 1988.

My wife immediately wanted a new goat.

One of our neighbours was kind enough to bring her home

a 6- or 8-week-old goat.

That goat became the pet of the house.

The McNutts adored their new pet

but then one day Gene had a very unnerving experience.

One day, the goat falls down.

And it looks like it has gone stiff with rigor mortis.

And I said, "Oh, no, I've killed my wife's goat."

Ooh, I hate it when that happens.

What have I done? Has it had a heart attack?

And I'm standing there just in total amazement trying to figure out

what am I going to do.

So what on earth had Gene done to his wife's goat?

I know. He'd used his psychic powers on the goat.

-Look at that stare.

-Er, no.

Suddenly the goat wiggles a little bit, gets up and walks off

as if nothing had happened.

I decided to say nothing to my wife about it

since the goats appeared to be OK.

Never tell your wife about your psychic powers.

He's not a psychic, Tim.

TIM'S MIND: 'I wasn't talking about him.'

I asked a neighbour about the goat

because it was something that had never happened before

and he says, "Oh." He says, "Those are just old nervous goats."

He says, "They're from around here."

It seems Gene's experience wasn't a one-off.

All over the deep South,

goats were heading south only to rise again unharmed.

That's nothing unusual. I get that every time I think about...

So what was behind this bizarre behaviour?

Well, there could be a clue in what triggers their downfall.

It's all right, I'm back. I'm back.

I've just got to avoid thinking about...

Almost any noise that is unusual will cause the goat to stiffen

or fall over and it will stay in a fallen position

for 30, 45 seconds and sometimes even up to a couple of minutes.

Most animals are programmed with a fight or flight response

when threatened or surprised.

Their muscles suddenly tense up as they prepare to run away or attack.

It turns out that these goats in Tennessee have

a glitch in their system.

Instead of tensing up for a split second when they're startled,

they seize up completely.

It's all down to a genetic disorder called myotonia congenita

and it's unique to this particular breed called fainting goats.

Well, if you're going to call them that, what do you expect?

Of course, in the wild

this condition would prove fatal for a goat.

They'd fall off a mountain or be eaten by a predator

but because these are domestic goats, it seems they've simply

learnt to live with this peculiar condition.

When they're young, a lot of things will make them faint.

But as they get older, even though they'll stiffen up,

most of the time they'll find something to lean on

or they'll get their balance because they know, if they're off-balance,

then they're going to fall over.

Oh, that would be a right pain in the...

So, for the gates of Tennessee, it looks like this is

one type of bizarre behaviour that's here to stay.

I don't know about you, Naomi, but I could watch goats fainting all day.

For sure, but what about you, Tim?

What is this mysterious thing that, every time you think about it,

-it makes you faint?

-Do you really want to know?

-Yeah.

WHISPERING

# Wild and weird, wild and weird

# Really really wild and really really weird.

# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

# They're really really wild

# They're really really wild and weird

# Wild and weird. #