Episode 2 Animals with Cameras


Episode 2

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Transcript


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As a wildlife cameraman, I have travelled the world,

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trying to capture life's most intimate and dramatic moments.

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But wouldn't it be incredible if we could see the world

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from an animal's point of view?

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Well, in this series, that is exactly what we're going to do,

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with the help of the animals themselves.

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They're going to be the ones that are doing the filming.

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They're going to take us to places that a cameraman like me

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simply cannot go,

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and reveal a side of their lives like we have never seen before.

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Working with scientists,

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we're designing cameras small enough to take us into their hidden world

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for the first time.

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-We're heading in.

-Wow. Barging past some pups.

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Our camera crew is one of the most diverse teams to ever film

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a wildlife series.

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From 30-centimetre tall meerkats...

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..to 60mph cheetahs.

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From free diving fur seals...

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..to nest-building chimps.

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Our unconventional film crew are revealing surprising behaviour

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and giving us new insights into how they live their lives.

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-Wow.

-That's really cool.

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Instantly, you get a real chimp point of view.

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This is their world, their footage.

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-Oh, yeah, look.

-Wow!

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Their story.

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And we're going to see it through their eyes.

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She's definitely got her game face on.

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In this programme, our cameras reveal the hidden lives

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of three very different families.

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In Australia's shark-infested waters,

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we discover how fur seals escape from the deadly jaws

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of one of the ocean's top predators.

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Oh, wow. Goodness me.

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In South Africa, we see the conflict between baboons and local farmers.

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With tensions mounting, could our cameras help find a solution?

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The cameras are basically my last hope.

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But my adventure begins in the wilds of Namibia.

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This is a stronghold for Africa's most endangered big cat,

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the cheetah.

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Famously, cheetahs are spectacular sprint predators,

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chasing down their prey over the open savannah.

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That's how I've seen them in the past.

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In the open grassland, it's easy to watch these incredible athletes.

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But, here in Namibia, they live in bushland,

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where they're much harder to see.

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We're hoping our cameras can help us

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follow the lives of three very special young cheetahs.

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Conservationist Marlice Van Vuuren adopted this trio

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when they were orphaned at just one day old.

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They still rely on Marlice for food,

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but she wants to find out if they can catch their own prey.

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Come.

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Come!

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Come.

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She's hoping our cameras could help her track their progress

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as they learn to hunt in this dense scrubland.

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Who are your friends?

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-This is Odyssey.

-You're beautiful.

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-Male?

-Yeah, he's a boy.

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-OK.

-He's a male.

-What about the other two?

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They're two females, Shiloh and Wonder.

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Odyssey and his sisters are now 18 months old.

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By now, most wild cheetahs would be making their own kills.

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But these orphans have had no-one to teach them.

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Can they work out how to hunt for themselves?

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So, going to show you what we've come up with.

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-This is the camera.

-Oh, OK.

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-Feel the... Feel the weight.

-Yeah.

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And this goes on the head?

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On the head. What do you think?

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I would love to see the footage out of this.

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And it's nice that it's nice and elastic,

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and it's not going to restrict them at all,

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so I think it will work.

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The cameras look good to us,

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but the youngsters will decide if they're happy to wear them.

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-Who is this? Is this Odyssey?

-This is Odyssey.

-OK.

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The one that sits down.

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Hey, Odyssey.

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Odyssey's sister, Wonder, is first up for a fitting.

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Camera's running.

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I keep one part of my shirt clean, so I can clean the lenses.

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OK. That's perfect.

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-Look at you.

-Look at you!

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Well, she's not upset,

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otherwise she would immediately start clawing and stop purring.

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She's happy.

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I'm their mum. To see what they actually do when I'm not there,

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it would make me very proud to know

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that they're actually doing very good.

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Huh? Hello.

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You want one? He's asking, "Where's mine?"

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It's all the latest thing amongst cheetahs in this part of the world.

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Don't worry, no stress.

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There we go. You are... There we go.

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-Quite a couple.

-Yeah. With new bling.

-You happy with that?

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They've got Bushveld bling.

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With two of the three cats wearing cameras,

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we watch them head into the bush.

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They're soon out of our sight,

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but the cameras are filming their every move.

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I don't know about you, but I'm very excited we're seeing this.

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OK, here we go.

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Wow.

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That's quite incredible.

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That's what it looks like to be a cheetah.

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-Oh, he's rolling around.

-That's fantastic.

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You can see, they're just kind of chilling out,

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enjoying being together.

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This is an intimate insight into the cheetahs' lives.

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Oh...

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Watch the camera.

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Head shake.

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While Odyssey takes a drink,

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Wonder finds a good scratching post.

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And it's not long before our playful young cheetahs

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decide to stretch their legs.

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And we're running with the fastest mammal on Earth.

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-Oh, wow.

-Yes, it's beautiful. Look at the tail.

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Wow. That is stunning.

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Absolutely incredible.

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Oh, look at that.

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It's an amazing insight into the youngsters' lives.

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But what we really want to know

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is whether they can hunt for themselves.

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Hopefully, the cameras will give us the answer.

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I'll also try to film them for as long as I can.

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Trying to spot the three cheetahs.

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They've gone into this very thick bush,

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and...

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I don't know where they are.

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None of them. Any of them.

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They're all gone.

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It's only when Odyssey emerges from the dense cover

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that I finally find him.

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Or, really, it's more a case of him finding me.

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Hey, beautiful.

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No, no, no, no. OK, I think you're going to jump up onto the car.

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To get a better view.

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OK, that's fine.

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With this gain in height,

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Odyssey can see so much more than he can see

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when he's down on the ground.

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So this isn't about a cheetah coming to say hello to us,

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it's about just kind of having a better field of view.

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Maybe saying hello as well.

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That's not what you're supposed to be doing.

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You going to go hunting?

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Where's your sisters?

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There's no room in the back, if that's what you're thinking.

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Odyssey's not showing much sign of independence just yet.

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But he does finally head off to rejoin his sisters.

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They've spotted a herd of gemsbok in a clearing.

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For young cheetahs, these are a very dangerous target.

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Three cats altogether.

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They look like a force to be reckoned with.

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I don't quite know how this is going to play out.

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I have seen cheetahs hunt before, but out in the open plains,

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and I'm not sure how it's going to change their behaviour,

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somewhere as thick as this. It's very, very scrubby and bushy.

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OK, cheetah there, moving in.

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Right.

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OK, one's running.

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Second one running.

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Towards the game.

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They don't yet know that the cheetahs are gaining on them.

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They're actually just...

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OK, full-on run from the front cheetah, a full-on run.

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No, they're just scattering the herd.

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The gemsbok panic.

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The cheetahs are after an easy target.

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OK. Oh!

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Confusion, confusion.

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It's very hard trying to keep track of three cheetahs.

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Wonder's camera captures what I can't see.

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She's chasing one animal away from the group.

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In amongst the bushes, Wonder's losing speed.

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Her sister Shiloh charges in on the left,

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but the gemsbok is now so far ahead, it's safe.

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The thick vegetation has scuppered our cheetahs' chances.

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Wonder skulks back to the clearing,

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where the tables have turned.

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Oh, just got charged by a big, big gemsbok there.

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They're now at risk of being skewered by this large male.

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The prey knows that the predator is around -

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the cheetah have lost their advantage.

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Ah!

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Now they're just getting chased away,

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they're being humiliated.

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Taking on such a large prey was a real rookie mistake.

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But will they learn from the experience?

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Over the next few days, the cameras keep rolling.

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The youngsters need to turn this scrubby terrain to their advantage.

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And soon, we see encouraging signs.

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The three cheetahs are following animal trails in the undergrowth.

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Shiloh appears to sniff the ground, to work out what prey is around.

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See, this is impossible.

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-There's absolutely no way we could see this any other way.

-Uh-huh.

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They're also using the thick bush as cover.

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The closer they can get to the prey,

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the more likely they are to make a kill.

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-They're trying to get eyes on.

-Hm.

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Odyssey creeps forward.

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He spots the target

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and freezes.

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So his sister's on his left, one of them.

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That's a clear sign that they're working together,

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because he sees the prey, stops, checks his sister's there.

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-And then he's looking back to the prey.

-Yeah.

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And there he goes.

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Oh, my God!

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Oh! It's a youngster.

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My God!

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One of his sisters is in front.

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It's a baby. It's a baby eland.

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Yeah.

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Look at that. Oh, my gosh.

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His sister, Shiloh, tries to trip the calf.

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Oh, so close.

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Oh, my goodness me.

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What on Earth?

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Odyssey is forced to swerve to avoid a thorn bush.

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Could you see the difficulties of negotiating those bushes?

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And now the mum's trying to keep them away.

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-There she goes.

-My heart is in my mouth.

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That is quite something.

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A cheetah can only sprint at top speed for ten seconds,

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so the eland and her calf manage to escape.

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I'm completely blown away by these images.

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-It's brilliant to follow them.

-Hm.

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What are they actually doing in the Veld?

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-Yeah.

-You know, and I'm proud as the mum of them.

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You know, they're actually working in a team

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and they... They have huge challenges, and they take it.

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They're not scared. So this is amazing, this is really a good idea.

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But Marlice has yet to see a successful hunt.

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We leave our cameras with her,

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to keep watch on the youngsters' progress.

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For our next mission, I'm travelling to the south coast of Australia,

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to the remote and rugged Kanowna Island.

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Few animals have what it takes to survive out here,

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but there's one hardy sea mammal that does.

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The island itself is more of a rocky outcrop.

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It's uninhabited but for the thousands of fur seals

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that call it home.

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On the island, the fur seals are safe.

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But the surrounding seas

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are deadly...

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Teeming with the ocean's most feared predator,

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the great white shark.

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I'm here to help scientists to discover

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how fur seals avoid the sharks

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and thrive in this unforgiving wilderness.

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We're hoping our cameras will help solve the puzzle.

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There it is.

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Home, sweet home.

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Leading the research team is Professor John Arnold.

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-Hello.

-Gordon.

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-Nice to meet you.

-What an amazing, amazing place.

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-Thank you.

-Good to meet you.

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For the next week, this windswept spot will be my home.

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Oh, perfect. Everything a man needs.

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John's team have been studying the seals for 20 years.

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But their lives out at sea are still shrouded in mystery.

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So what are the big questions you want to be answered

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by the seals taking cameras with them?

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They spend up to 80% of their lives at sea.

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Every time their mothers leave the colony,

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they have to run the gauntlet of any sharks that are out there.

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What are they doing?

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Just seeing them on shore gives us a very small view of their life.

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The big Holy Grail for us, is what are they seeing?

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What are they hunting?

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How successful they are at catching prey...

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It's a hard life for these seals.

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There are around 15,000 fur seals on Kanowna Island...

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..so it's no surprise that the island's a magnet for great whites.

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These giant sharks specialise in hunting marine mammals like seals.

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Our first challenge will be to test our cameras.

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John's been fitting seals with trackers for years.

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He operates with military precision.

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His tactic is to keep low...

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I'm going to sneak in, see what I can find.

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Okey-dokey. ..keep quiet...

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and bring a very large net.

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OK, we've got her.

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Let me know if there's anything I can do.

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Our mother seal gets a light anaesthetic to help keep her calm.

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-Wow.

-86.0, plus board, so she's 80 kilos.

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At such a healthy size,

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John's happy that she won't be hampered by a small camera.

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-OK.

-Well done.

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Go back.

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While our mum goes on her first filming trip...

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..I want to see what the seals get up to close to shore.

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The theory is that this spot is too shallow for sharks.

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It's the seal equivalent of a paddling pool,

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a safe and sheltered spot where pups can learn to swim.

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That is absolutely beautiful.

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It is probably one of the nicest things I've ever seen underwater.

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This cove is the only place

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I can observe these seals beneath the waves.

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But we want to understand their lives

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away from the sheltered shallows.

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And that's what the deployment of these cameras is all about.

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Our camera testing seal has also been taking a dip.

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Time to see what the footage reveals.

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Heading down to sea.

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See the way her shoulder blades are working.

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And she's about to jump into the water.

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There she goes. Into the...

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Wow. Oh, wow!

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Look at that!

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As soon as she dives, the camera captures unexpected behaviour.

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Oh, look at that. Look at that.

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She's rubbing against the rocks.

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Oh, yeah.

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On that green stuff.

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-They are rubbing...

-Wow, yeah, you can see it very clearly there.

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Yeah.

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And now she's rubbing the side of her face, her neck.

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The other animals around her are doing the same thing.

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-They're all doing it.

-Yeah.

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-And you've never seen this before?

-No, I wouldn't have known.

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I mean, you see them offshore at the surface, playing.

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This is brand-new stuff. I've never seen this before.

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Wow!

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John thinks the seals could be using the seaweed to clean their fur...

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..brushing up against it to remove parasites.

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Already, we've captured brand-new behaviour.

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We deploy more cameras.

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Hopefully, these seals will head further out to sea.

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We know from John's previous research that some seals will travel

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as far as Tasmania...

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..a 200-mile round trip.

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But they face the greatest danger

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from sharks within the first few miles of their journey.

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There she goes.

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Will our cameras finally reveal the seals' survival strategy?

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You see seals coming ashore with injuries from sharks.

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-They're the lucky ones that got away.

-Mm-hmm.

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As soon as our seal enters the danger zone,

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she heads straight down to the bottom.

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It's a deliberate tactic.

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Great whites prefer to ambush prey from below.

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She's trying to slip under the shark's radar.

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She can hold her breath for eight minutes...

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..but then she must come up for air,

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and this is when she's most vulnerable.

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Now, she starts to swim in a completely different way.

0:26:280:26:32

All the time when she's coming towards the surface,

0:26:320:26:36

she's looking around. A 360 view.

0:26:360:26:38

In these dangerous surface waters,

0:26:410:26:43

she's doing everything she can to avoid a surprise attack.

0:26:430:26:47

Rotating her head gives her an all-round view.

0:26:490:26:52

Just constantly barrelling and it's just twisting and turning,

0:26:540:26:57

it's incredible.

0:26:570:26:59

-You wouldn't know that unless you had a camera on an animal.

-Yeah.

0:26:590:27:03

As soon as she can, she returns to the safety of the sea bed.

0:27:070:27:11

This is the first time John has ever seen how seal mums

0:27:130:27:18

give sharks the slip.

0:27:180:27:20

Further out, she switches into hunting mode.

0:27:220:27:26

Skimming over the sea floor has another benefit.

0:27:280:27:31

She's onto something.

0:27:330:27:35

It's a cuttlefish.

0:27:350:27:36

Wow!

0:27:400:27:42

Look at that!

0:27:420:27:44

-That's a big one.

-Like a big plate of ink.

0:27:440:27:47

The cuttlefish squirts ink to try and confuse the seal...

0:27:490:27:54

Wow.

0:27:550:27:57

..but it's too late.

0:27:570:28:00

I don't know if we've seen cuttlefish in their diet before.

0:28:130:28:15

Really?

0:28:150:28:17

18 metres down, her super senses soon detect something else.

0:28:200:28:26

Oh, what's she chasing here?

0:28:300:28:32

Oh...

0:28:390:28:40

-It's big.

-Oh, yeah.

0:28:400:28:42

It's a big octopus.

0:28:420:28:43

See it, it's the tentacles.

0:28:430:28:45

-Yeah.

-I didn't even see her grab that.

0:28:450:28:48

A struggling octopus is hard to eat.

0:28:480:28:51

Our seal risks heading to the surface.

0:28:560:29:00

Up here, she kills her prey and bashes it into bite-sized chunks.

0:29:000:29:05

Wow.

0:29:090:29:11

At the same time she's doing that,

0:29:110:29:13

-she's having to keep an eye out for sharks.

-Yeah.

0:29:130:29:15

The cameras have revealed how mothers specialise in hunting

0:29:170:29:20

on the sea floor.

0:29:200:29:22

But when this seal comes up for air,

0:29:250:29:27

something else catches her attention.

0:29:270:29:31

Is that dolphins?

0:29:310:29:32

-Yeah.

-Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow!

0:29:320:29:35

Goodness me!

0:29:350:29:36

She's come across a bunch of dolphins feeding in the bay pool.

0:29:360:29:39

Oh, you can see her snatching them there.

0:29:390:29:41

Wow, that's incredible.

0:29:410:29:44

So, the presence of those dolphins is going to help her.

0:29:440:29:47

Well, I think she's just getting a free meal here.

0:29:470:29:49

The dolphins are rounding up the fish,

0:29:510:29:53

and the seal dives in for an easy meal.

0:29:530:29:56

-The...

-Oh, there's another one.

0:30:010:30:02

Wow, that's incredible!

0:30:020:30:04

Without the onboard cameras,

0:30:060:30:08

John would have no idea these seals take advantage of dolphins.

0:30:080:30:13

But once the dolphins leave, the fish spread out.

0:30:210:30:25

A lone seal can't keep them bunched together.

0:30:270:30:30

We see here that she's working really hard

0:30:350:30:37

and there's a huge school

0:30:370:30:38

of fish there, but she's getting very few of them.

0:30:380:30:41

With a belly full of food, she heads back to the sea floor.

0:30:430:30:48

These cameras have given us a remarkable insight into the lives

0:30:560:31:01

of these seals far out at sea.

0:31:010:31:04

For John, these insights have transformed his research.

0:31:080:31:13

You've learned more from, say, a two-hour video

0:31:140:31:18

of the animals underwater

0:31:180:31:20

than years and years of dive recorders and GPS

0:31:200:31:22

data logger tracking, because now you are seeing how they are behaving

0:31:220:31:26

underwater in response to what they're seeing.

0:31:260:31:28

Therefore, the cameras give us a brand-new view of their life.

0:31:280:31:32

Now we're facing a very different challenge.

0:31:420:31:46

On the other side of the world, there's trouble.

0:31:520:31:55

War is raging in the South African bush...

0:31:580:32:01

..between the local farmers and Chacma baboons.

0:32:040:32:08

The baboons' natural habitat is shrinking,

0:32:130:32:17

forcing them into farmland,

0:32:170:32:20

where they damage and eat the farmers' crops.

0:32:200:32:23

It's a battle that's threatening farmers' livelihoods.

0:32:280:32:31

Raino just harvested his butternut squash,

0:32:340:32:39

but half his crop was unsellable.

0:32:390:32:42

All of these butternuts, basically, in the field is all damaged

0:32:420:32:48

with bite marks, scratching marks.

0:32:480:32:51

That's the way they carry on, take a bite from each one.

0:32:510:32:54

Some farmers are already shooting baboons,

0:32:570:33:00

so a solution can't come soon enough.

0:33:000:33:03

Could cameras on the baboons reveal how to keep them off these crops?

0:33:060:33:11

Scientist Leah Findlay has spent the last five years

0:33:140:33:18

searching for answers.

0:33:180:33:20

So far, nothing has worked.

0:33:200:33:22

Baboons are very smart, they're very dexterous, agile.

0:33:240:33:28

It's basically like having a pack of ninjas on your farm.

0:33:280:33:32

Yeah, it's a pretty tricky problem to solve.

0:33:320:33:34

We try everything to stop the baboons.

0:33:370:33:39

In the beginning, we'd put branches, thorn trees around it.

0:33:390:33:43

It never stopped them.

0:33:430:33:44

We've tried rubber snakes, alarm systems.

0:33:440:33:48

We've made proper scarecrows that move like this.

0:33:480:33:52

Takes you about a week or so and then they're getting used to it.

0:33:520:33:56

We've tried electric fences, guards.

0:33:560:33:59

If the guards are walking on this side,

0:33:590:34:01

they will be on the other side of the field.

0:34:010:34:04

Then if she can run to that side,

0:34:050:34:06

then they will cross all the way backwards,

0:34:060:34:09

coming to this side again.

0:34:090:34:10

They are very clever.

0:34:100:34:11

These clever monkeys are not in the crop fields every day.

0:34:150:34:19

For the last week, the baboons haven't been raiding,

0:34:230:34:27

even though there are thousands of butternuts in the field.

0:34:270:34:30

If Leah can learn what is keeping them away now,

0:34:400:34:44

perhaps she can use it to keep them out permanently.

0:34:440:34:48

At this stage, I think the cameras are basically my last hope,

0:34:530:34:57

because I can't carry on like this.

0:34:570:34:59

Now, we just need to get our custom-built camera

0:34:590:35:06

onto a baboon.

0:35:060:35:08

I'm stuck!

0:35:080:35:09

Leah sets the trap, baited with the baboons' beloved butternut.

0:35:110:35:16

When something pushes down on the table,

0:35:170:35:20

it will pull the latch out and the door will slide shut.

0:35:200:35:23

As night falls, we have our first baboon.

0:35:300:35:34

A female. The vet anaesthetises her and fits the camera.

0:35:340:35:38

Over the coming days, Leah catches and puts cameras on more baboons.

0:35:440:35:49

There we go!

0:35:570:35:58

As the new day dawns,

0:36:050:36:07

we get our first glimpse into the lives of these secretive animals.

0:36:070:36:12

They slept in the trees for safety.

0:36:220:36:25

Now they're sunbathing to warm up.

0:36:270:36:30

That's beautiful footage here.

0:36:530:36:56

She's having a good look at it, isn't she?

0:36:590:37:01

So, this is basically our eyes now.

0:37:010:37:04

Whatever we see now, it's like through their eyes.

0:37:040:37:07

Yeah.

0:37:070:37:09

Considering this has only been on overnight,

0:37:090:37:11

-she's not bothered by it, is she?

-Nothing at all, not at all.

0:37:110:37:14

This one is grooming her.

0:37:160:37:18

Grooming is the way they socialise,

0:37:180:37:20

-so I think she might be a more dominant female.

-Hm.

0:37:200:37:24

It's wonderful to finally see the baboons' world.

0:37:280:37:32

But will this teach Leah and Raino how to keep them off the crops?

0:37:350:37:40

-Fence.

-Not even jumping over it, just going through it.

0:37:440:37:48

Yeah, just straight through, she pulled it down and she went through.

0:37:480:37:52

-It's like it's not even there.

-These fences, to be honest,

0:37:520:37:54

I don't think are going to stop them at all.

0:37:540:37:56

My opinion!

0:37:580:38:00

Does anything put the baboons off?

0:38:010:38:04

One of our cameras gives us a clue.

0:38:110:38:15

-And now they're running.

-Yeah.

0:38:180:38:20

-Because nice open area...

-Yeah.

0:38:200:38:23

Which suggests that they don't like being in it.

0:38:230:38:26

That's definitely something that we can think about

0:38:260:38:28

in terms of the crops.

0:38:280:38:30

Leah thinks an empty space around the crops

0:38:320:38:35

would be a better barrier than a fence.

0:38:350:38:38

And soon, we get more inside information.

0:38:400:38:43

The baboons are digging for water.

0:38:460:38:49

It's dry season, so the rivers have dried up.

0:38:510:38:54

But there is an easier way to get a drink.

0:38:560:38:59

Why bother digging when there's a water trough?

0:39:000:39:04

Has the camera gone under water?

0:39:060:39:08

Yeah.

0:39:080:39:10

Is it waterproof?!

0:39:100:39:11

Has to be.

0:39:110:39:13

It gives Leah another idea.

0:39:130:39:16

I'm just thinking about, you know,

0:39:160:39:18

keeping water points away from the crops,

0:39:180:39:20

because maybe having our water close to the crops is, you know,

0:39:200:39:24

drawing them in.

0:39:240:39:25

And finally, we learn why the baboons

0:39:280:39:31

aren't raiding at the moment.

0:39:310:39:33

This is the first ever glimpse

0:39:360:39:38

of what these baboons are eating in the wild.

0:39:380:39:41

And it goes like this,

0:39:430:39:45

it's basically every time they put a fruit in their mouth.

0:39:450:39:47

Yeah, yeah.

0:39:470:39:49

-At first...

-Just shovelling it in, yeah.

0:39:490:39:51

And it feels like she's going to feed you.

0:39:530:39:56

Yeah!

0:39:560:39:57

Same kind of fruit, that kind of roundish fruit tree.

0:40:020:40:05

Yeah, yeah.

0:40:050:40:07

This fruit could be the key.

0:40:070:40:09

It's from an alala palm.

0:40:090:40:11

They take up to four years to ripen and fall to the ground.

0:40:120:40:17

And when they do, there are thousands of them.

0:40:170:40:20

It's a feast.

0:40:230:40:25

The baboons are choosing this wild fruit over the butternuts.

0:40:250:40:29

When there's enough feeding and stuff,

0:40:340:40:36

they prefer to use their natural food.

0:40:360:40:39

-When there's plenty out there, they don't come in.

-Yeah.

0:40:390:40:43

You could plant more of these trees that have their natural food

0:40:500:40:54

that maybe they prefer. You know, that might be an option.

0:40:540:40:57

The peak time for crop raiding is the dry season,

0:41:000:41:04

when there is little other food around.

0:41:040:41:06

If Raino could plant bushes and trees that fruit in the dry season,

0:41:080:41:13

it might get the baboons through this hunger gap

0:41:130:41:16

and keep them off his fields.

0:41:160:41:18

Our cameras reveal a wide range

0:41:210:41:23

of the baboons' favourite fruit and berries,

0:41:230:41:26

showing Raino exactly what to plant.

0:41:260:41:29

I think we've definitely learned some new things.

0:41:310:41:33

We've learned a lot, yeah.

0:41:330:41:35

Does this make you feel any differently about the baboons?

0:41:410:41:44

Having a baboon's-eye view?

0:41:440:41:46

-Feeling more sorry for them, actually.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

0:41:460:41:48

-Why's that?

-It's their natural environment,

0:41:500:41:53

so there has to be space for everybody.

0:41:530:41:55

Leah has gained new insights into the feeding habits of the baboons.

0:41:580:42:03

These will be crucial to her effort to solve this tricky conflict,

0:42:030:42:09

finding a peaceful way for farmers

0:42:090:42:13

and baboons to coexist.

0:42:130:42:17

Back in Namibia, 700 miles away,

0:42:320:42:36

we've been putting our cameras on three orphaned cheetahs.

0:42:360:42:40

-OK.

-Fantastic, there we go.

0:42:400:42:42

Their surrogate mum, Marlice,

0:42:420:42:45

wants to know if they can hunt for themselves in the bush.

0:42:450:42:48

We've seen some encouraging signs...

0:42:500:42:53

Oh, she's seen something.

0:42:540:42:55

They're all up on their feet looking off in that direction.

0:42:550:42:58

I can't see what they can see.

0:42:580:42:59

..but until now, the cameras have captured near misses.

0:43:010:43:05

No successful hunts.

0:43:060:43:08

Several months on, Marlice is still using her cameras

0:43:200:43:24

to see how their hunting is coming on.

0:43:240:43:26

Odyssey flushes a warthog.

0:43:290:43:32

A warthog is one of the animals that they are most scared of.

0:43:340:43:37

The tusks on these powerful pigs can kill.

0:43:410:43:44

Just in time, he realises it's a mistake to follow a warthog

0:43:490:43:53

into the bush.

0:43:530:43:55

-SHE CHUCKLES

-He did give up.

0:43:570:43:59

A bat-eared fox...

0:44:020:44:03

It's just amazing that...

0:44:120:44:13

I mean, I didn't even know that they go for bat-eared foxes,

0:44:130:44:16

if it wasn't for the camera.

0:44:160:44:18

Shiloh and Wonder move in from each side...

0:44:210:44:25

..and the cameras capture their deadly strike.

0:44:260:44:29

With the cameras and with technology like this,

0:44:300:44:33

it just proves that actually without a mum,

0:44:330:44:37

without an adult showing them how to do it, and with opportunities,

0:44:370:44:40

they can actually learn.

0:44:400:44:42

By working together, they're becoming a formidable hunting trio.

0:44:440:44:48

And their choice of prey is getting better.

0:44:490:44:52

Springbok are one of the fastest of all African animals.

0:45:040:45:07

But up against cheetahs, this one has little chance of escape.

0:45:120:45:16

Success at last.

0:45:260:45:28

The right prey and the perfect technique.

0:45:280:45:31

I can see that they are ready.

0:45:330:45:34

They've learned a lot,

0:45:340:45:36

they are ready and they're working in coalition.

0:45:360:45:39

It's two females and a male together and making their hunt successful.

0:45:390:45:44

It helps me to kind of cut the umbilical cord and know

0:45:440:45:48

that they actually, really, they can go.

0:45:480:45:51

Yeah, it's really impressive to see and I'm so proud of them.

0:45:510:45:54

Our cameras have given us an insight

0:45:580:46:01

that otherwise would be impossible to see.

0:46:010:46:04

And it's the cheetahs themselves

0:46:040:46:06

that have given us their view of their world.

0:46:060:46:10

They have taken us with them deep into the African bush.

0:46:100:46:14

The cameras have shown Marlice that her three young cubs

0:46:150:46:19

can fend for themselves.

0:46:190:46:21

And our new insights into the lives of cheetahs

0:46:280:46:32

could help us to better protect these incredible big cats.

0:46:320:46:37

In this episode,

0:46:580:46:59

two very different African animals

0:46:590:47:01

presented us with two very different problems.

0:47:010:47:05

How to fit a camera onto the superfast cheetah...

0:47:060:47:10

..and the super-shy baboon.

0:47:120:47:14

It was up to mini camera expert Chris Watts to find the solutions.

0:47:170:47:22

When I first think about making a camera system for an animal,

0:47:220:47:26

a lot of it is kind of really studying how they move.

0:47:260:47:30

And with the cheetah, the first thing you notice

0:47:300:47:32

is that the head is so stable when they're moving and running,

0:47:320:47:35

the head is just completely locked.

0:47:350:47:37

And we all thought, how amazing would it be if we could actually get

0:47:380:47:41

the camera on the head?

0:47:410:47:42

But before the team could try this ambitious plan

0:47:440:47:47

on the three young orphans,

0:47:470:47:49

they needed to test their design on a captive cheetah

0:47:490:47:53

with an easy-going nature.

0:47:530:47:55

Enter Pride - possibly the most relaxed cheetah in Africa.

0:47:550:48:00

Her keeper, Derek Van Heerden,

0:48:030:48:05

didn't think she'd object to trialling our head camera.

0:48:050:48:08

Chris designed a 3-D printed harness

0:48:140:48:17

fit for the heat of the African bush.

0:48:170:48:19

Cooling is a massive issue.

0:48:210:48:22

We didn't want to put something on their head which was going to,

0:48:220:48:25

you know, make them overheat.

0:48:250:48:27

So we've tried to have vent holes

0:48:270:48:29

here so you get air underneath the head.

0:48:290:48:32

And the way we've attached it to the cheetah's head is just using

0:48:320:48:35

this flexible, breathable neoprene.

0:48:350:48:37

Chris's design needed to be quick to deploy,

0:48:390:48:41

but easy for the cheetah to pull off if she wasn't happy.

0:48:410:48:45

I'm really excited to see what we're going to get.

0:48:480:48:50

But no-one knew how Pride would react.

0:48:510:48:54

Do you reckon...? Do you reckon that's all right, isn't it?

0:48:590:49:02

Seems pretty good.

0:49:020:49:04

No problem.

0:49:040:49:05

Once Chris was happy with the fit...

0:49:120:49:14

..Derek and I kept a close eye on how Pride was doing.

0:49:200:49:23

The key thing, really, is for this camera to not interfere

0:49:250:49:28

with any of her senses.

0:49:280:49:30

Just a couple of minutes with the camera on her head

0:49:340:49:37

-and she's forgotten all about it.

-Yeah.

0:49:370:49:38

It was encouraging to see how comfortable she looked,

0:49:420:49:45

and how relaxed she was with other cheetahs in her enclosure.

0:49:450:49:48

Oh, goodness me!

0:49:510:49:53

She gets a bit of a face-lick.

0:49:550:49:56

Wow.

0:49:580:49:59

-Such an intimate moment.

-Beautiful.

0:50:000:50:02

Certainly is amazing.

0:50:020:50:04

-Ah, that's lovely, look at that.

-That really is.

0:50:050:50:08

We had to be sure that Pride

0:50:090:50:11

could reach top speed while wearing the camera.

0:50:110:50:14

It wasn't long before she was off.

0:50:140:50:17

-There she is.

-Oh, whoa!

0:50:190:50:21

Really fast, there we go.

0:50:210:50:22

-Unbelievable.

-That's an explosive speed.

0:50:220:50:24

That thing is moving.

0:50:240:50:25

Look at this.

0:50:270:50:28

The footage was proof

0:50:300:50:31

that our camera wouldn't put a cheetah off its stride.

0:50:310:50:35

That's amazing, it really is excellent footage.

0:50:370:50:40

We were now ready to join our three young orphan cheetahs

0:50:430:50:47

as they learn to hunt.

0:50:470:50:48

The next animal presented Chris with a very different set of problems.

0:50:510:50:56

The wild baboons we wanted to film in South Africa

0:50:580:51:01

were extremely scared of people.

0:51:010:51:03

A camera test with them was out of the question.

0:51:050:51:08

So once again, Chris needed a body double.

0:51:080:51:10

We chose a group of hand-reared baboons in a sanctuary in Namibia.

0:51:130:51:18

They weren't timid.

0:51:180:51:19

In fact, quite the opposite.

0:51:190:51:21

It is quite unusual working conditions.

0:51:230:51:25

Ooh, ooh!

0:51:250:51:27

Before making his prototype, Chris studied the way baboons move.

0:51:280:51:32

In contrast to cheetahs, baboons move their heads all the time.

0:51:330:51:38

For more stable shots,

0:51:380:51:40

the camera would have to be worn around the neck.

0:51:400:51:43

But this posed another problem

0:51:440:51:47

due to the baboons' distinctive facial features.

0:51:470:51:50

What I noticed is that their faces are very long.

0:51:520:51:54

I'm quite concerned that the chin might get in the shot.

0:51:550:51:58

But really, we've just got to try it now and see what we get.

0:51:590:52:01

Testing was easier said than done.

0:52:030:52:07

Are you going to wear a camera?

0:52:070:52:08

The baboons might be used to people...

0:52:090:52:11

Pff! OK.

0:52:110:52:14

Um, hmm...

0:52:140:52:16

..but they weren't used to wearing collars.

0:52:160:52:17

It's to sort of make it into a bit of a game.

0:52:190:52:21

Really don't want to annoy them or lose a finger.

0:52:210:52:24

Oh, no, he's got it!

0:52:260:52:27

Eventually, perseverance and patience paid off.

0:52:290:52:33

But, as Chris had feared,

0:52:370:52:40

the camera showed mostly chin.

0:52:400:52:42

Over the next few days, Chris experimented,

0:52:450:52:48

altering the position and angle of the camera to get the best results.

0:52:480:52:52

And finally...

0:52:570:52:59

..bingo!

0:52:590:53:01

You can see, you've got the bottom of the chin just here,

0:53:030:53:07

and the lens there.

0:53:070:53:09

So height-wise, it's kind of

0:53:090:53:11

just about there.

0:53:110:53:12

The prototype camera could deliver great footage.

0:53:140:53:17

But was it baboon-proof?

0:53:190:53:21

An adult male baboon can weigh 40 kilos...

0:53:230:53:28

and have canine teeth larger than a leopard's.

0:53:280:53:31

But there's no way that will be strong enough,

0:53:340:53:36

because a big wild male will just do that straight away.

0:53:360:53:38

The last step was to add serious reinforcement -

0:53:400:53:44

a stronger housing, and a thicker collar.

0:53:440:53:47

Feels pretty much perfect.

0:53:490:53:51

Now Chris's baboon cams had to work out in the wild.

0:53:510:53:55

Once in South Africa,

0:53:590:54:01

getting the cameras onto the baboons was fairly straightforward.

0:54:010:54:05

There we go!

0:54:070:54:09

Here, the biggest challenge...

0:54:090:54:11

..was getting the cameras back.

0:54:120:54:14

Each was set to drop off after two days filming.

0:54:190:54:22

In such dense scrub, Leah's only chance of finding the camera

0:54:220:54:26

was to track the baboon using the transmitter in its collar.

0:54:260:54:30

But baboons have no respect for human boundaries.

0:54:340:54:37

With its camera just about to drop off,

0:54:370:54:40

our baboon went trespassing on a neighbouring farm.

0:54:400:54:43

We saw the baboon with the collar on, with the camera,

0:54:450:54:47

crossing the road.

0:54:470:54:49

So she's just the other side of this fence now.

0:54:490:54:51

Without permission to enter,

0:54:540:54:55

Leah couldn't follow the baboon any further.

0:54:550:54:58

It's 4.55, so her collar

0:55:000:55:03

will be dropping off in five minutes.

0:55:030:55:06

Bang on time, the camera dropped off.

0:55:060:55:09

The battery in the tracking device would soon be dead.

0:55:130:55:16

Finally, Leah got the go-ahead to enter the farm.

0:55:180:55:22

It was now a race to find the camera

0:55:220:55:24

before the battery and the daylight ran out.

0:55:240:55:28

It's getting louder.

0:55:290:55:31

I think it's that way.

0:55:350:55:36

And just as night was closing in...

0:55:390:55:42

Oh, there it is!

0:55:420:55:43

Ah, yes.

0:55:450:55:47

Ah.

0:55:470:55:48

We've got the collar.

0:55:500:55:51

I'm so happy.

0:55:530:55:54

Next time...

0:56:000:56:01

We dive into the Atlantic Ocean

0:56:010:56:04

to reveal a secret gathering of giant devil rays.

0:56:040:56:08

These are unbelievably privileged views.

0:56:100:56:13

In the mountains of Turkey,

0:56:130:56:15

we are with brown bears, where tensions are running high.

0:56:150:56:18

-Ooh.

-Oh, wow!

0:56:190:56:21

And in France, we discover what happens

0:56:220:56:26

when dogs come face to face with wolves.

0:56:260:56:30

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