Super Senses Wolfblood Uncovered

How can wolfbloods run so fast and for so long?

Why are their senses so intense?

And why is family so important to them?

It all comes down to the extraordinary wild wolves

that they share so many qualities with.

In this series, we'll uncover the truth about wolves,

and reveal just why wolfbloods are the way that they are.

This is Wolfblood Uncovered.

In this episode, we'll discover

how wolves explore their environment

and find out how they sense the world

in a completely different way to people.

My character Rhydian

and his friend Maddy

are both wolfbloods,

so they're able to transform into wolves.

This means they have all the capabilities of wild wolves,

even in human form - something that really comes in handy for them

when negotiating teenage life is their incredible senses,

which they are not afraid to use

especially when it comes to helping their friends out.

For example, when Tom was almost caught in Mr Jeffries' office

trying to take a photo of their English test paper.

Rhydian's super sense of smell came to the rescue.

..for your foster parents.

They need to fill in one of these.

HE SNIFFS

Here we are. OK.

Right.

Just sign this

and we'll see about getting you assessed.

Yes, sir. Do you think you could show me where they should sign?

-It's...really confusing.

-Oh... Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

I could even mark it for you.

Doesn't mean you're off the hook though.

I'll be putting you in detention for setting that alarm off.

Yes, sir.

Not a lot slips passed me in this school, Rhydian!

Now, do yourself a favour, and concentrate on your education.

Will do, sir.

If Rhydian wasn't a wolfblood,

he would never have smelt Tom was hiding in here,

so wouldn't have known to distract Jefferies,

so Tom could make a swift getaway.

But because wolves rely heavily on their sense of smell,

it's far better than ours,

and that is down to their fabulous smelling apparatus.

They have long noses, and the area that's dedicated to smelling

is 14 times bigger than in humans.

Inside are more than 200 million scent receptors.

Researchers estimate that their sense of smell

could be 10,000 times more sensitive than ours.

But why does it need to be so good?

Well, it's all about finding food

and they're such sensitive smellers

that they can sniff out prey that's more than three miles away.

When they're hunting, they're constantly sniffing

and searching for tell-tale clues that their prey has left behind.

This moose is well concealed by trees,

but it's constantly leaving its mark.

From the tiniest smear of saliva on trees and shrubs

to the millions of skin and hair cells

that shower the ground as it walks.

Every step it takes creates a scent print from glands in its feet.

And even traces of gas can linger.

When the wolves pick up its scent

they take long deep sniffs to identify the smell,

then start following the trail.

Where the moose has rested, it's left even more hair and skin cells

so the wolves can get another blast of information about its health.

They inhale deep breaths up onto their millions of scent receptors,

then blow out onto the area to dislodge extra scent particles.

Lots of hair and skin can tell the wolves

that the moose is infested with ticks and might be weak.

On more concentrated areas like footprints,

they don't want to dilute the scent with their breath,

so they gently blow air out through slits in the side of their nose.

When they find a patch of urine,

they smell for hormones which will help them to age the animal.

Where they find saliva,

they sniff it to detect if the moose has rotten teeth.

So, not only can they find and follow their prey

using their fantastic sense of smell,

they can even detect if a prey animal is old, sick or injured.

That's pretty impressive stuff.

No wonder the wolfbloods have such a good sense of smell.

But what about their other senses?

Well, Maddy and Rhydian also have especially good hearing,

which has helped them get out of trouble more than once!

When Rhydian was accused of vandalising a school art exhibition,

Maddy was able to take advantage of his excellent hearing

to help him with an alibi.

'You were seen...

hanging around...

on Friday night.

I came... but then I changed my mind.

So, Mr and Mrs Vaughan, they drove you here and back?

I made my own way.

You walked?

From Stoneybridge?

Don't call me a liar!

-WHISPERS:

-Rhydian! Calm down.

Don't let on that you can hear me.

What happened on Friday night was a serious matter, Rhydian.

-A criminal matter.

-I didn't do it.

-Calm down!

-Shut up!

-I beg your pardon?!

-You can't just accuse me!

I'm simply asking you, young man,

to explain where you were and why.

I'm trying to help you, Rhydian!

Keep breathing. Stay calm.

DOOR CLOSES

Just think about lying in a green field in the sun.

What exactly is so funny? You are trying my patience!

Rhydian! Are you OK?

Last chance, Rhydian!

Where were you on Friday?

OK, what you need to say is...

I said, I came on my own.

Maddy's parents gave me a lift home.

Yeah. That's right.

Call them.

They'll back me up.

RINGING TONE

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Mr Jefferies. What's the matter?

Seems you were telling the truth.

You cut that a bit fine, young lady.

Yeah. Sorry, Mum.

Thanks.

Even though Maddy was outside the office, and the door was closed,

she could still hear everything that was being said inside,

and Rhydian could still hear her whispering.

And that's because, like wolves, their hearing is very sensitive.

WOLF HOWLS

Wolves communicate and defend their territory by howling

and it's thought that they can hear each other

as much as six miles away in the forest,

and ten miles away in open areas.

They can move their triangular-shaped ears independently

and in all directions -

back and forward and from side to side.

This helps them to pinpoint where the sound is coming from

and focus in on it.

They can also hear a huge range of sounds -

from ultra-high to super-low frequencies.

Picking up on sounds that we simply can't hear.

The low frequencies in howls can travel the furthest,

because they can penetrate obstacles

and reach other wolves from vast distances away.

HOWLING

And it's not just hearing and smell,

their eyesight is very good too.

They can recognise an individual wolf from 800m away

which is useful for a pack animal,

because it means that they can distinguish animals they know

from animals they don't.

Their peripheral vision and ability to detect moving objects

is also excellent.

Their night vision is much better than ours,

enabling them to hunt just as well by night as in the day.

Their eyes shine because a mirrored layer on the retina

reflects every bit of available light back into their eye

and the clear lens in the middle sharpens the image,

so a night-time scene like this...

..is perfectly clear to them.

So, extraordinary senses are invaluable to wolves

when it comes to finding food and communicating with each other,

and they're pretty useful to wolfbloods, too.

Whether it's listening in on conversations,

or tracking people down,

there's no doubt that having these supersenses gives wolfbloods

a clear advantage over their friends.

Look around.

Everything you thought made you a freak -

sight...

hearing...

speed...

sense of smell -

..they're all completely normal for a wolfblood.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd