Inside the Perfect Predator


Inside the Perfect Predator

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This is the inside story of four extraordinary predators.

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The peregrine falcon...

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the Nile crocodile...

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the cheetah...

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and the great white shark.

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With ground-breaking computer graphics...

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and incredible close-up photography...

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we reveal the inner alchemy that gives our hunters the edge.

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Reconstructing their intimate lives as they make their kills.

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But who is the planet's perfect predator?

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Living right above the heads of the people of London...

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..the fastest animal on the planet,

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the peregrine falcon.

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Man-made cliff tops offer sanctuary to the peregrines...

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..but they also present new dangers.

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With the arrival of spring come new demands

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on the peregrines' hunting skills.

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Demands that will stretch them to their limit.

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There are new mouths to feed.

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If these chicks are to survive long enough to fly the nest,

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their parents will have to catch two pigeons a day for the next month.

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This will be the greatest challenge of their mother's life.

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Her secret weapon is speed.

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But on the flat, a pigeon can out-fly a peregrine.

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She must use gravity to reach her maximum speed.

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For this, she rides the updraft.

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Half a mile above the city,

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she can now survey the whole of her territory.

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Of all the four predators,

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the peregrine falcon has the keenest eyesight.

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At the base of each retina,

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she has two concentrations of visual sensors,

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where humans have only one.

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This gives her incredible powers of triangulation.

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From two miles away, she locks on to her unsuspecting target.

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The hunt is on.

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While this peregrine falcon must kill every day,

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there's one predator that can survive without food for a year.

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It lives in the rivers of Africa.

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Even when they have run dry.

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Months ago a five-metre, half-ton Nile crocodile

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scraped out a burrow to escape the heat.

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Now he's in a state of suspended animation.

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His heart beats only twice a minute...

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..delivering just enough blood

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to keep his vital organs from shutting down completely.

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To survive, he draws on the fat reserves

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accumulated from last year's hunt.

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In this condition, he rides out the worst of the drought.

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THUNDER RUMBLES

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When the rains finally return...

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..the predator

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flickers to life.

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But before the cold-bloodied reptile can hunt, it must first power up.

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The ridges of scales along his back are more than just body armour.

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They act like solar panels, absorbing the heat.

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Just beneath the surface, a web of capillaries carries the warm blood

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to the crocodile's core...

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..activating his systems.

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His eyesight sharpens.

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His hearing tunes in to the world around him.

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BIRDS SCREECH

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For the next six months, he must make do with only fish to snack on.

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Then, it is the moment he's been waiting for.

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Inside his ears,

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minute hair-like structures detect a low-frequency sound

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well beyond human hearing.

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It's the rumble of a distant stampede.

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Hordes of wildebeest on their never-ending quest

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for fresh pastures.

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Finally, he has his quarry in his sight.

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The hunt is on.

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While the crocodile can wait for prey to come to him,

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another predator must make an epic journey to reach hers.

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Deep in the Indian Ocean,

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the world's largest predatory fish is heading to her feeding grounds.

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One ton and five metres long, this female great white shark

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left the coast of Australia over 100 days ago on a 7,000-mile journey.

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She cruises half a mile down, in a world of pitch black.

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Up above,

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fishing fleets are scooping out the last of the big shoals.

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Down below, the shark is burning the last of her fuel supply.

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She has almost exhausted the fatty oils in her liver.

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She must get to her feeding grounds soon.

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Highly sophisticated electro-sensors in her nose...

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..allow her to detect the Earth's magnetic grid...

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..and accurately compute her position.

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Occasionally, she returns to the surface,

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possibly to get her bearings from the stars.

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Finally, the near-starving shark reaches her destination,

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the coast of South Africa.

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It's early winter and she has timed her arrival to perfection.

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Thousands of six-month-old Cape fur seals are venturing

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into deep water for the first time.

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Thanks to their energy-rich blubber,

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these seals would make a perfect meal for most sharks.

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But most sharks can't cope with these cold temperatures.

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They're cold-blooded

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and lose body heat as their blood passes through their gills.

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The great white, however,

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uses a specialised network of blood vessels to reabsorb its body heat.

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Because of this, it can raise its body temperature

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14 degrees higher than other sharks,

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giving it superior strength, speed and brain power.

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She's crossed an ocean to be here.

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It's time to eat.

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From two miles away, she can smell the colony,

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able to detect one molecule of blood in a million of water.

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From 250 metres away,

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she can distinguish the sound of seals from the background surf.

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From 25 metres, she can make out surface objects

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only 15 centimetres across.

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The hunt is on!

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While the ultimate sea predator can go without a kill for weeks,

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the ultimate land predator must kill almost every day to survive.

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The fastest animal on land

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has had the run of the African plains for millennia.

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But sometimes speed isn't enough.

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The cheetah.

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So far, this mother has succeeded in keeping her three cubs alive...

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..when typically, only one would reach its first birthday.

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Hyenas.

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They will kill cheetah cubs.

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Not only do they have strength in numbers, they're also bigger,

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with bone-crushing jaws.

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To protect her young, the cheetah must act as a decoy.

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Inside, her body fires into action.

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Adrenalin is quickly flushed into the bloodstream.

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Her huge heart doubles its rate to 250 beats a minute...

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..sending extra oxygen and sugars directly

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to her enormous leg muscles.

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She is now ready to engage the enemy.

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This time, she has won.

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But her cubs are hungry.

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They need meat and milk every day.

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She too is weakening.

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To achieve her killer speed, she carries little fat

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and is constantly on the verge of starvation.

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She must eat.

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Cheetahs have enhanced vision in the horizontal plane...

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and can spot a moving gazelle from over a mile away.

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Approaching downwind, she creeps towards

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her 30-metre striking distance...

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..making the most of her camouflage.

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Once again, there's a chain reaction...

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as she prepares for the fastest chase on land.

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The hunt is on.

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All four predators are poised for the attack.

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Their insides a powder keg...

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just waiting to explode.

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But who will make the kill, and who will go hungry?

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Nature's top gun, the peregrine falcon.

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Desperate to feed her chicks...

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..she locks onto her target, a fast and agile pigeon.

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Time to turn on the speed.

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Tucking in her wings, she shoots towards Earth.

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Her teardrop-shaped body, the height of aerodynamic design.

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Within seconds, she has reached

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her terminal velocity of 200 miles per hour.

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The force of air would explode her lungs,

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if not for the baffles in her nostrils,

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a design so effective it is now used in jet engines.

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Nictating membranes wipe her eyes

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to clear them of debris and stop them drying out.

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She prepares for impact, a manoeuvre requiring split-second timing.

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But the pigeon spotted her...

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and she can't compete on the flat.

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Despite their speed, peregrine falcons have a poor strike rate,

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with only 20% of attacks ending in a kill.

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But her chicks must feed before the day is out.

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Back in Africa, hunger is also preying on the mind

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of the freshwater predator.

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So far, this Nile crocodile has survived on meagre pickings.

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Now is his chance for a proper meal.

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The crocodile is an ambush predator.

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But to succeed, he must get close.

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No more than three metres away.

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The wildebeest are wary of any movement.

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For his final approach, he must vanish completely.

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Although he can barely see, he uses his claws to feel his way forward.

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Pressure receptors studded along his jaws pick up vibrations

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in the water...

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..guiding him to his prey.

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A large crocodile can hide itself in 30 centimetres of water.

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Now, he must wait for them to come to him.

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By lowering his heart rate...

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..and slowing down his metabolism...

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..he can stay submerged for up to two hours.

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Finally, the temptation to drink is too much for the wildebeest.

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He swipes his muscular tail, half his body length.

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It launches him three metres out of the water.

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He shuts his eyes to protect them...

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..and snaps blindly, his jaws studded with five-centimetre fangs.

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He's missed.

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The Nile crocodile's hit rate of 30%

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may beat that of the peregrine falcon...

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..but the wildebeest are only fleeting visitors to his river.

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He must make a kill soon if he is to survive the lean times ahead.

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Drained after an epic voyage,

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the ultimate ocean predator is also ravenous.

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She's come all this way to feast on the thousands of young seals

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braving open water for the first time.

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25 metres down, she launches her lightning strike.

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Three-quarters of her bodyweight

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is muscle that powers her enormous tail.

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Thanks to her fortified scales, her streamlined body

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glides through the water with minimal friction.

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At 31 miles an hour, she's like a living torpedo.

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Moments before the strike, she rolls her eyes back to protect them.

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Steering blind, she now depends on her sixth sense.

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The electro-sensors on her snout detect the seal's electric field.

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Her jaws open almost a metre wide...

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..revealing row upon row of serrated daggers.

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With a 50% hit rate, she is the most efficient hunter so far.

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But she must consume more blubber

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if she's to make it back to peak condition.

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Back on the African plains,

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the fastest land animal is moving in for the kill.

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The survival of her cubs is at stake.

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From 0 to 60 in under three seconds, she outperforms a Porsche.

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Extra-wide airways and outsized lungs

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allow her to take in more oxygen.

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Loose hip and shoulder joints give her extended reach.

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Combined with an elastic spine...

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..that both arches up and curves down.

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This gives her a seven-metre stride.

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For more than half the time, she is airborne.

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Thrusting her forward are her huge leg muscles...

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..composed mainly of fast-twitch fibres

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that contract far quicker than normal muscles...

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..and that run on glycogen, nature's own rocket fuel.

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But there's a catch.

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Glycogen breaks down into lactic acid,

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the poison that causes muscle cramp.

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She has just 20 seconds to make her kill before her muscles burn out.

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Hurtling at 70 miles an hour, she risks everything on a trip.

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With a 50% strike rate,

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the cheetah matches the efficiency of the great white,

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but holding onto her kill will be another matter.

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By strike rate alone, the cheetah...

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..and great white are the top predators.

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Snapping at their heels is the Nile crocodile...

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with the peregrine falcon swooping into fourth.

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But there is more to survival than just hunting.

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The great white has made her first kill

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but she must make up for lost time.

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Kill number two.

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Her liver starts to store its fatty oils, but she still needs more.

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Over the short winter season,

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an experienced shark may catch up to three seals a day.

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Months later, however, the tide has turned.

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The seals are both stronger and cannier.

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While some are still being eaten...

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..most can now run rings around their enemy.

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The shark's incredible metabolism is both a strength and a weakness.

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Like the cheetah, her fast-twitch muscles

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are perfect for short bursts of speed but quickly burn out.

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The exhausted shark gives up.

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But she's done well.

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Her fatty liver has now doubled in size.

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With energy in reserve, she moves on to her next feeding ground...

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..one that may be hundreds of miles away.

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But avoiding the fishing fleets is becoming more difficult.

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Her luck has run out.

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This ruthlessly efficient predator

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has ruled the waves for millions of years,

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but now these waves are ruled by humans.

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So what does the future hold for the other top predators?

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On the African plains, the cheetah has made her kill.

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But the chase has attracted attention...

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..and taken its toll on her body.

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Struggling to recover, her lungs heave at 200 breaths per minute.

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Oxygen races to her aching muscles...

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..breaking down the cramping lactic acid.

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But time is running out.

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This time, the hyenas went for the easy meat.

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But it was meat that the cubs desperately needed.

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In the past, cheetahs could avoid their enemies.

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But now, their grasslands are shrinking

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and being replaced by farmland...

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..where the cheetahs are considered a threat to livestock...

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..and shot.

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She may have had the run of the plains for millennia,

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but in the next 30 years the cheetah may become extinct in the wild.

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Rapid change is sweeping across the African landscape.

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The crocodile's first ambush was a spectacular failure.

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To survive the dry season, he must catch a wildebeest

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in the few weeks they are passing through.

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This time, his jaws find their mark...

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..bringing two tons of pressure to bear on each square inch of flesh.

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At last, he has his prize.

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Rather than fend off the other crocodiles,

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he welcomes them to the feast, unable to dine alone.

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His teeth may be formidable but they are grippers, not carvers.

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Together they perform twisting death rolls

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to rip the flesh into bite-size chunks.

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A croc's stomach can hold over 25 kilos of meat.

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To help him digest the cache before it begins to rot,

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the crocodile has a unique adaptation.

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His heart.

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No other animal has two aortas.

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By closing his right aorta, the main blood supply to his body,

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and opening up his left aorta,

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he can divert the carbon dioxide-rich blood

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that he accumulated during his underwater stake-out

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straight to his stomach.

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The acidic blood produces ten times more stomach acid...

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..to help dissolve the huge chunks of meat.

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The potent solution is then converted to fat

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and stored for the lean times ahead.

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He's made his big kill just in time.

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His world is slowly turning to dust.

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The wildebeest are moving on.

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It's time to escape the furnace.

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He shuts down once more.

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He has only his new fat reserves to see him through to the next rains.

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Thanks to the crocodile's remarkable physiology,

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it has outlived the dinosaurs and survived the ice ages.

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Now, there is every chance it will weather the worsening droughts

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brought on by climate change, too.

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All the predators have challenges ahead.

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But some may fare better than others.

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Like the crocodile, the peregrine's first strike was a miss.

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As her chicks depend on a daily kill...

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..the stakes could not be higher.

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Moments before impact...

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..she unleashes her five-centimetre talons.

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The force of the blow snaps the pigeon's backbone.

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CHICKS CRY

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Today, the hungry chicks get to eat.

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But their parents will have to do this

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every day, twice a day, for a month, if all three chicks are to survive.

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Weeks later, these three rookie predators

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are testament to their parents' perseverance.

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Despite their challenges, and their low strike rate,

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urban peregrines are on the rise.

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Around 30 of the world's fastest animal now soar over London.

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All four predators have incredible inside stories.

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But the real perfect predator

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is the one that can best adapt to a rapidly changing world...

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..and learn to live alongside humankind.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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