0:00:07 > 0:00:09Cats.
0:00:18 > 0:00:19One family...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23..40 different faces.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30They captivate us, like no other animal.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39But surprisingly little is known about these remarkable predators.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Right now, across the planet,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47passionate people are devoting themselves
0:00:47 > 0:00:49to learning more about cats...
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Oh, here we go, we're downloading collar 7-5-0.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58..going to extraordinary lengths to get closer than ever before...
0:00:58 > 0:00:59- Holy mackerel. - YOWLS
0:00:59 > 0:01:01He's a loose cannon.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03..making new discoveries...
0:01:03 > 0:01:05- There you go.- There we go. - Good job, Ginny.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10..that reveal the intimate secrets of their lives.
0:01:10 > 0:01:11There it is, just in front of us.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14- Oh, that's very special. - HE LAUGHS
0:01:17 > 0:01:21At a time when all cats face an uncertain future...
0:01:21 > 0:01:24If we get complacent, we could see tigers go extinct.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26YOWLS
0:01:26 > 0:01:30..this is an amazing age of discovery...
0:01:31 > 0:01:33..that's revolutionising...
0:01:33 > 0:01:36- There!- ..how we view the cats.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38GROWLS
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Cheetahs are the world's fastest land animal.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It's said they can accelerate faster than a Ferrari.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34But no-one knows for sure what they're really capable of.
0:02:40 > 0:02:46Professor Alan Wilson has spent the last five years trying to find out.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Cheetahs are amazing. They're so much faster than anything else.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56We've got an animal that has got four times the acceleration
0:02:56 > 0:02:59of Usain Bolt and more than twice the top speed.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01How can they not be fascinating to study?
0:03:04 > 0:03:09Alan wants to find the cheetahs' top speed when it really counts -
0:03:09 > 0:03:10during a hunt.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18He's developed hi-tech collars to record the cheetahs' speed, position
0:03:18 > 0:03:20and G-force while they're hunting.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28The cheetahs soon disappear -
0:03:28 > 0:03:31they cover hundreds of miles in search of their prey.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37That makes getting any information back from the collars a real challenge.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Alan's solution?
0:03:41 > 0:03:45He's built his own plane...from scratch...
0:03:46 > 0:03:48..learnt how to fly it
0:03:48 > 0:03:53and then filled it to the brim with the latest technology.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57We have a tracking antenna on the wing.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02We have a three-dimensional laser scanner. We have a video camera on a gimbal.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04That's a missile guidance system.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10OK, let's go find some cheetah.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Coming into the air is just such a revolution for wildlife research.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46OK, cheetahs on the left wing tip.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54The cheetahs' collars record details of their movements
0:04:54 > 0:04:57300 times a second.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06As the plane flies over, it locks on to each collar and downloads the data.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11There we go, we're downloading collar 7-5-0.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Each of those files represents one hunt.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20After recording over 500 hunts,
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Alan clocked a cheetah's top speed of 58mph.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Impressive.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36But what surprised him was that most hunts were much slower,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38only half their potential top speed.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46It turns out, for a cheetah, hunting is not all about the sprint.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58So what are they relying on to catch their dinner?
0:06:06 > 0:06:10To investigate, Alan has enlisted three volunteers...
0:06:14 > 0:06:17..and a rag on a string.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24These hand-reared cheetah love chasing a moving lure...
0:06:27 > 0:06:30..replicating how cheetahs behave when hunting.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Prey animals don't run in a straight line for long.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48To follow their prey, cheetahs must also weave and change direction.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54This manoeuvring inevitably slows them down...
0:06:56 > 0:06:59..but it's also where their real strength lies.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09The accelerations and decelerations,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13the G-forces they're pulling in the turns, are very high.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21The force going through their legs would be enough to break a human leg bone.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30The lure's just taken the corner and the cheetah's banking,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32and see how it's using its tail here,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34which is helping control the roll of its body
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and helping stabilise it, and it slowed down to turn,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40then it's accelerating again out of shot towards the lure.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Rather than speed,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48the key to the cheetahs' hunting success...
0:07:51 > 0:07:52..is their agility.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00We started believing that cheetahs are the elite sprinter
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and that was their main attribute.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05What we've seen is that they're gymnasts -
0:08:05 > 0:08:09they can accelerate, they can manoeuvre, they can turn. And that is
0:08:09 > 0:08:13what they're good at. Almost the speed is a by-product of all that athleticism.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17So they are remarkable athletes
0:08:17 > 0:08:19but we shouldn't think of them as just a speed merchant,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22there's much more to their repertoire than that.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Having challenged our idea of how cheetahs hunt,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Alan's now turning his attention to where they hunt.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44It's long been thought that open grassland is their prime habitat
0:08:44 > 0:08:47but even that may not be true.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53What we're seeing is they're actually even more successful in trees,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55in dense scrub and even in farmland.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59And this makes sense.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Extraordinary manoeuvrability offers a huge advantage when twisting and turning
0:09:03 > 0:09:06through a maze of trees and shrubs.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Here, cheetahs can more than match their prey.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Even with the most familiar cats...
0:09:55 > 0:09:57..there's still so much to discover.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18Lions.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19GROWLS
0:10:21 > 0:10:22Supreme hunters.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The strongest cat.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Could they also be the cleverest big cat?
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Dr Natalia Borrego certainly thinks so,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43and is on a mission to prove it...
0:10:45 > 0:10:49..although it's not the easiest thing to test in any cat,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51let alone a lion.
0:10:51 > 0:10:57Her theory is all down to the fact that lions live together in prides.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06So, cats are all solitary and effectively live on their own,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08except for lions - they live in prides
0:11:08 > 0:11:12and are very social. And we think of other social species -
0:11:12 > 0:11:15elephants, dolphins, spotted hyenas, chimpanzees -
0:11:15 > 0:11:17they're all very intelligent,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21so, in theory, lions should be the smartest of the cats.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26The idea that social animals are more intelligent is well established
0:11:26 > 0:11:29but has never been proved for lions.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Cats are notoriously uncooperative.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44What possible IQ test could you set a lion?
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Natalia's travelled to South Africa
0:11:49 > 0:11:53for the chance to test a slightly unusual pride.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Kevin Richardson has an unconventional approach to working with lions.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30For ten years, he's lived alongside these rescued animals...
0:12:32 > 0:12:34..becoming part of the pride.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Kevin can act as a go-between to the lions...
0:12:48 > 0:12:52..giving Natalia a unique chance to run her experiments.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58So here looks good.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Natalia has designed a puzzle for the cats to solve.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03- Mind your fingers.- Yeah.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06The lion must work out how to open a door,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09then reach its head inside to get a reward.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10Good.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12There's nothing like this in nature...
0:13:14 > 0:13:18..so to Ginny, the lion, it's a Rubik's cube.
0:13:18 > 0:13:19- And...- Yeah.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- If the lions come, you just pop it down.- I just pop it back down.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23Ginny.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25- HE WHISTLES - Here.
0:13:25 > 0:13:26Looka.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31First, she must figure out how to pull the door with her paw.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Clever!
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Aw, you're so clever.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46You are so clever, my silly. Oh, but it slams, eh?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49What did it do? I think she's more interested
0:13:49 > 0:13:51in the box now than the food.
0:13:51 > 0:13:52Here. Here.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Next, she needs to learn to stand back...
0:13:55 > 0:13:57- There you go.- ..and allow the door to swing open...
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Get your head out the way.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Get your head out the way.
0:14:01 > 0:14:02- There we go.- ..before, finally,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04- she can reach her head inside.- Well done.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06- That's not bad. I mean, that's...- No, that's good.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10- Clever.- One more time?
0:14:10 > 0:14:12- Yeah.- Two more times?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15- I think a couple more times. - Couple more times.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- There, see, she got it.- Ah.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20It's taken Ginny 20 minutes to figure out...
0:14:20 > 0:14:22- Good job, Ginny.- ..but now she's cracked it.- There we go.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Yeah, she's getting her head out of the way now.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28There we go. One more time. OK, OK, cool.
0:14:28 > 0:14:29- There you go.- Easy now she's got it.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32- Well done. - That deserves a round of applause.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38Next comes the crucial part of the test.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Kevin has brought the lions into an enclosure
0:14:42 > 0:14:45to allow pride mate Libby to watch Ginny's efforts.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51The ability to learn by watching others
0:14:51 > 0:14:53is considered a real sign of intelligence.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59It would put lions in the company of the brainboxes of the natural world.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Good. Yeah, you slam that door. That's it, stay open. Good girl.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06- No, there she goes. - She can see what she's doing.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10- Yeah.- Yeah, I think she's got it
0:15:10 > 0:15:12and it's time to let Libby out.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14If lions can learn from each other,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Libby should solve the puzzle in seconds.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19- If not...- Let's see what she does.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22..it's going to take her another 20 minutes.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Now she goes to the right side.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28THEY BOTH LAUGH
0:15:30 > 0:15:32- Oh, wow! - There, I think... I don't think
0:15:32 > 0:15:35- you can get any clearer than that. - No, that was very good.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36- That was amazing. - Yeah, here we go, my girl.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- Here, here, here, here. - Good job, Libby.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43It's the very first time anyone has shown that lions can learn from each other.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48She knows that that's the one there.
0:15:48 > 0:15:49- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Natalia has tested leopards and tigers.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Lions outperform them both.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02- It looks like Natalia's right... - Now she doesn't even bother.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05..lions are the smartest big cat.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08So the experiments went really well, much better
0:16:08 > 0:16:13than expected, and it really did show that lions can learn socially from each other.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Their intelligence and ability to learn from each other
0:16:19 > 0:16:24allows lions to hunt like no other cat.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59No cat is easy to study.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01GROWLS
0:17:01 > 0:17:04At least lions are relatively easy to find.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12But most cats are so elusive...
0:17:15 > 0:17:16..secretive...
0:17:20 > 0:17:22..and well camouflaged...
0:17:25 > 0:17:28..that they're rarely seen, let alone studied.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Learning more about these cats takes people whose dedication knows no bounds.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Someone like Dr Andrew Hearn.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Deep in the forests of Borneo,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59a chance encounter set him off on his life's mission.
0:18:02 > 0:18:08I was part of an expedition team to an uncharted area of Indonesian Borneo.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12One morning, I went along a trail just to go and sit down and relax
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and see what wildlife I could see.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19And I was sat there quietly
0:18:19 > 0:18:21and a small little red cat walked out of the side
0:18:21 > 0:18:24of the forest, walked across the trail,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27paused about 20 metres in front of me.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32I grabbed my notebook, started to sketch it, but I had no idea what it was.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35It was only when I returned back to the camp later that day,
0:18:35 > 0:18:36spoke to some of the Indonesian staff
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and said, "Do you know this... Do you know this cat?"
0:18:39 > 0:18:43So it was only then that I learned that this was this, um, the Borneo bay cat,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47and it quickly became apparent that nothing was known about this animal.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52The bay cat is one of the world's least known cats...
0:18:56 > 0:19:02..and Andrew has devoted every year since to finding out anything about them.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10But the chance of him seeing another one would be like winning the lottery, twice!
0:19:26 > 0:19:28So how do you study something you can't see?
0:19:33 > 0:19:35Camera traps.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40Combining a sensitive motion sensor with a high-resolution camera,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Andrew and his team deploy dozens of these through the forest...
0:19:48 > 0:19:53..and spend months trekking through the jungle checking them.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Back at base, there are thousands of hours of footage to plough through.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Most contain no cats whatsoever...
0:20:12 > 0:20:17..and, when cats do show up, they may not be a bay cat...
0:20:17 > 0:20:19but still.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Oh, clouded leopard. Fantastic.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Oh, look at that, having a little yawn, and you can see
0:20:26 > 0:20:30how exceptionally long canines these cats have.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35In proportion to their skull size, they're the largest of any other cat.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Ooh, so that is a marbled cat.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Now, these guys, I mean, we know nothing about these cats,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48other than they probably spend much of their time up in the trees.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51So as they walk along, they hold this exceptionally long tail
0:20:51 > 0:20:53almost horizontally
0:20:53 > 0:20:56and that probably gives them balance while moving through the canopy.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Ah, the leopard cat.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05So this is really quite rare for us to record this guy.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12After scrolling through countless videos, Andrew finally filmed a bay cat...
0:21:18 > 0:21:20..almost.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24So this is the first-ever video of the bay cat in the world.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30It's not the finest video, it's not the, er, the most exciting
0:21:30 > 0:21:33but to us that was just spectacular.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36We were absolutely blown away when this thing
0:21:36 > 0:21:38appeared on the camera traps in front of us.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41This is the fruit of 12 years' labour...
0:21:42 > 0:21:47..yet to this day only two videos of wild bay cats exist...
0:21:49 > 0:21:51..Andrew's,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and this one, more recently captured.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02No wonder we know so little about these cats...
0:22:05 > 0:22:07..and now it's a race against time.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Borneo has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18To protect some space for the bay cat,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Andrew wants to find out what kind of forest they need.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30He has managed to capture photographs which help shed some light.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41In - what is it? - 12-odd years, we've only got something like 60 photos.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45They're so rare, they're so hard to come by.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Each photograph of the bay cat is worth its weight in gold.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54It helps to piece together the ecology and the conservation needs of these cats.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Much of the forest clearance in Borneo is to make space for palm oil plantations.
0:23:02 > 0:23:08While some cats can survive in these plantations, bay cats disappear.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12When the forest changes to palm oil,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15they no longer seem to use those areas,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18so this shows us that palm oil really is one of the greatest threats
0:23:18 > 0:23:20to these cats on Borneo.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26For the bay cat to survive, some forest must be protected.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Andrew's determined to uncover whatever else he can
0:23:33 > 0:23:35about the mysterious bay cat...
0:23:36 > 0:23:39..even if it takes another 12 years.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Camera traps are revolutionising
0:23:45 > 0:23:48our understanding of the entire cat family.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59Deploying them in the remotest corners of the planet for months at a time
0:23:59 > 0:24:05allows a unique insight into the private life of cats.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18In China, two cats that wouldn't normally cross paths -
0:24:18 > 0:24:24a leopard and a snow leopard - are filmed on the same camera just days apart.
0:24:30 > 0:24:36In Costa Rica, a margay fights an angry possum.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51And in the dunes of the Western Sahara...
0:24:52 > 0:24:58..camera traps record the first-ever shots of wild sand cat kittens.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13One pioneering study has taken the use of camera traps to another level.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26Mountain lions, also known as cougars or pumas,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30famed for leading lonely, solitary lives.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41Camera traps are now challenging what we know about this American icon.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48She's here.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54It all started with Dr Mark Elbroch's passion for these charismatic cats.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01Here she is, running across. Look at the size of the footprint.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06I live mountain lions.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10I track them, I watch videos of them,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13I go to sleep at night and I dream about mountain lions.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16This guy's a... He's a loose cannon.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20This is the part where you try not to get bit.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25In the Teton mountains of Wyoming,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Mark and his team want to learn more about mountain lion hunting
0:26:28 > 0:26:29and feeding behaviour.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37Using GPS collars to track the animals, they identify cat hot spots.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39- ..Quite a bit, which is good.- Yeah.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41So we should get in there and set some cameras.
0:26:41 > 0:26:42Sounds good.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Mark expected an insight into the solitary life of lone cats...
0:27:13 > 0:27:15..but the more he watched,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18the more he began to realise something else was going on.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Here comes a nine-year-old resident female,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and she comes round and she turns
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and here comes a six-year-old female.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38She's doing mild hissing and, in the beginning we thought,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42"Gosh, all that hissing, it's the... the pre-runner to violence,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45"it's super aggressive."
0:27:45 > 0:27:46No, hissing seems pretty normal,
0:27:46 > 0:27:52now that we've seen it over and over and over again. So what happened next?
0:27:52 > 0:27:55They spent two days together and this is what they did.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58They shared a meal.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01It blew me away.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07That wasn't his only surprising discovery.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19It's thought that males are normally aggressive towards females,
0:28:19 > 0:28:25even capable of killing them, but the cameras show that's not true either.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35Every time we've seen a male approach a female, outside courtship,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38this is exactly what they do - they slink in.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Notice how low he's holding his body to the ground,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45his ears are to the side and almost sagging.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48They minimise their profile, they try to look smaller.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51It is completely non-aggressive.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53He clearly just wants to share a meal
0:28:53 > 0:28:57and you can see, as he comes in, there's no hissing, there's nothing.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01She just watches and it's the kitten that does all the hissing.
0:29:01 > 0:29:02HISSES
0:29:04 > 0:29:09There they are, massive resident adult male feeding on the carcass...
0:29:10 > 0:29:15..three-month-old kitten and mother falling asleep in the background.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Rather than always being aggressive,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24males become positively meek when they want to share a meal.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34After analysing 13 years of data and thousands of videos,
0:29:34 > 0:29:39Mark has discovered these social interactions follow a pattern.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Mountain lions remember each other
0:29:45 > 0:29:48and they're much more likely to share their dinner
0:29:48 > 0:29:51with a cat that has been generous with them in the past.
0:29:54 > 0:30:00We're beginning to describe a species that has some sort of social system,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04that is interacting with a frequency that challenges this idea
0:30:04 > 0:30:05that they are solitary animals,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08and it's just opening our eyes
0:30:08 > 0:30:10and completely turning everything on its head
0:30:10 > 0:30:13on what we thought were the social lives of mountain lions.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15GROWLS
0:30:15 > 0:30:16SNARLS SHARPLY
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Cats never fail to surprise us.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Covering 8,000 hectares...
0:30:38 > 0:30:41..and employing 20,000 people...
0:30:43 > 0:30:48..Secunda CTL is the biggest industrial complex in Africa.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58An unlikely place for a cat...
0:31:10 > 0:31:14..but ecologist Daan Loock made an amazing discovery here.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22It all started with reports of strange creatures prowling the site after dark.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28There's...there's some eyes there.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32I just can't make out what it is.
0:31:33 > 0:31:34Hopefully, it crosses here
0:31:34 > 0:31:36but I don't think so.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40There's a lot of thickets just to our left-hand side.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42I think it will... There it is!
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Just in front of us! There it is!
0:31:46 > 0:31:48- Oh, that's very special. - HE LAUGHS
0:31:51 > 0:31:53The strange creature is a serval.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57That's something you won't see every day.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01You know, these elusive cats are so difficult to see
0:32:01 > 0:32:04and we're so privileged to see this.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07There it goes. I'm very excited, I must say.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Having covered the site in camera traps,
0:32:15 > 0:32:20to Daan's surprise, these cats were popping up everywhere.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36The average serval population is 10 to 15 animals per 100 square kilometres.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40Our serval population is 76 animals per 100 square kilometres.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44That's phenomenal. It's very, very high.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51That's six times more than the most pristine wilderness.
0:32:56 > 0:33:02Servals are not merely surviving here - this is the densest population known.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Well, the next step after discovering this population
0:33:07 > 0:33:11was the need to understand what's so special about this place.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Why are there so many serval here?
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Servals are found across Africa
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and specialise in hunting rodents and small birds.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33They have the biggest ears of any cat to help pinpoint their prey.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35RUSTLES, BUZZING
0:33:40 > 0:33:45And with spring-like legs, they pounce over three metres.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55They're normally found in much lower numbers and need large territories.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00Daan set out to discover why there are so many here.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07A specialist team of vets carefully capture and anaesthetise a male.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15Ya, I must say it's very nice. You know, we've captured about 30, 30 to 40 animals
0:34:15 > 0:34:19and it's every time very exciting to see them up close.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24It's a unique opportunity to learn as much as possible about such a rarely seen cat.
0:34:28 > 0:34:29What's the weight here, Mike?
0:34:29 > 0:34:31- 13.88, so he's...- Spot-on.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34..he's about spot-on, yeah, for a big male.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Each serval is fitted with a collar, allowing Daan to track their movements.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46It's helping him build up a picture of the cats' lives.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54This map is a map of the total study area
0:34:54 > 0:34:56and each of these dots indicates a GPS position
0:34:56 > 0:34:59of some of the serval that's been collared in the past.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03This just goes to show how many serval are on site.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10Most importantly, Daan's map reveals the servals are concentrated
0:35:10 > 0:35:13in particular areas around water.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Ponds and streams used to cool the heavy industry
0:35:19 > 0:35:22create the perfect habitat for rodents...
0:35:27 > 0:35:30..abundant food for the servals.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Another reason for their success is the lack of other big predators here.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42You know, normally, the main causes of death of serval
0:35:42 > 0:35:47would be other predators like lion and hyena, perhaps some leopard also.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52On this site, there is no competition, they are the apex predators.
0:36:05 > 0:36:11As apex predators with no competition, the servals have run riot.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32All across the planet, cats are adapting to urban habitats.
0:36:38 > 0:36:45In response, people often need to learn how to live alongside cats.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Mumbai, India...
0:36:56 > 0:37:01..one of the world's largest cities, home to over 20 million people.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28Mumbai is also home...
0:37:29 > 0:37:33..to the world's highest density of leopards.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40In the dead of night, they creep into the city from the surrounding forests.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Krishna Tiwari grew up in Mumbai.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01He's now dedicated his life to studying the city's urban leopards.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03CONVERSATION IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:38:03 > 0:38:06He saw a leopard the day before yesterday
0:38:06 > 0:38:11and, when the leopard saw him, he just ran away to the other side of the wall.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18The story is the same all across the city.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22CONVERSATION IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:38:22 > 0:38:25People encounter leopards on a regular basis.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33She came out at around 8.30 to wash clothes here and, when she put up a torch,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36she saw a leopard sitting on the rocks and as soon as, you know,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39there was light on the leopard, he just got up, and she was so afraid
0:38:39 > 0:38:42that, you know, she came back to the house and called her husband.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47The outcome of these encounters isn't always so peaceful.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54After all, the leopards are coming into the city to hunt.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Livestock are abundant and unprotected.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Stealth is the leopard's most effective weapon.
0:39:37 > 0:39:38SQUEALING
0:39:39 > 0:39:40BARKING
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Dogs often provide an early warning...
0:39:45 > 0:39:47BARKING CONTINUES
0:39:52 > 0:39:56..but drawing attention from a leopard isn't a good idea.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Dogs are also on the menu.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07BARKING
0:40:09 > 0:40:10SQUEALING
0:40:28 > 0:40:29GRUNTS
0:40:32 > 0:40:36And, sadly, it doesn't stop there.
0:40:41 > 0:40:48From 1990 to 2013, 176 people were attacked by leopards in Mumbai.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57GROWLING, BARKING
0:41:00 > 0:41:05In just one month during 2004, ten people were killed.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Something had to be done.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Krishna and the authorities took a bold approach.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Pioneering an education programme,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32Krishna wanted to teach people how to live safely alongside leopards.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:41:40 > 0:41:46Simple measures like staying in groups at night, locking up livestock
0:41:46 > 0:41:48and not running from leopards
0:41:48 > 0:41:51made a huge difference.
0:41:51 > 0:41:5520,000 people have attended the meetings.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00The awareness programme has been a great success
0:42:00 > 0:42:03as the last four years have seen no leopard attacks
0:42:03 > 0:42:06and I think it's a good and long-term solution
0:42:06 > 0:42:08to reduce the human-leopard conflicts in Mumbai.
0:42:13 > 0:42:18Unfortunately, educating the local dogs has proved trickier.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26They provide a vital early warning but are still being taken.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Raj has lost three dogs to leopard attacks.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40He then hit on an idea which might help protect his current pet.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56He thinks that the dog, the leopard will think that it is also a leopard...
0:42:58 > 0:43:02..even, you know, it's being protected by other dogs, so I think it's a good idea.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07The jury's still out on whether this even works...
0:43:09 > 0:43:15..and, anyway, what self-respecting dog wants to be dressed up as a cat?
0:43:18 > 0:43:20WHIMPERS He's certainly not convinced.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Krishna's mission to spread tolerance is working...
0:43:37 > 0:43:41..and Mumbai's leopard population is thriving...
0:43:43 > 0:43:47..but it's a rare example of people accepting their presence
0:43:47 > 0:43:50and making space for cats.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Elsewhere, it's a very different story.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10Nearly half of all wild cats are threatened with extinction.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16As top predators, they need a lot of food and space...
0:44:21 > 0:44:24..and, with an ever-growing human population,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26competition for that space is rising.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38In the last 20 years, leopards have been wiped out from 40% of their range.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57Cheetahs have become extinct in 25 countries.
0:45:02 > 0:45:08Not even lions are spared. Numbers have fallen by nearly half in two decades.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12The king of beasts could go extinct in the wild.
0:45:32 > 0:45:38The driving passion people feel for cats is now their greatest hope for survival...
0:45:41 > 0:45:42- Holy mackerel. - YOWLS
0:45:50 > 0:45:54..especially for the animal that's long been the face of cat conservation.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Dr Krithi Karanth's love of tigers started at a very young age.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17I first saw a tiger when I was two years old
0:46:17 > 0:46:21with my father and my grandfather in Nagarhole National Park.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24I was amazed and in awe.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28There is nothing like seeing a tiger in the wild.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Years on, and now a world-renowned tiger conservationist,
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Krithi's just as enthralled.
0:46:46 > 0:46:52There are no words that can really capture the emotion of seeing a tiger.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Every single time I've seen a tiger in the wild,
0:46:55 > 0:47:00I've been either left speechless or giggling silly or crying.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04I mean, it's a range of emotions, but you never forget.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09To me, tigers are truly one of the most spectacular cats on the planet.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18But like so many of the cats, survival of the tiger is on a knife edge.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23We see images and stories about tigers all the time -
0:47:23 > 0:47:29could give us the impression that they're not endangered but they absolutely are.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33They're one of the most threatened big cats in the world today.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40Over the last century, 95% of wild tigers have vanished.
0:47:43 > 0:47:49There are now more tigers in captivity in the United States alone than in the wild.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04It is impossible for me to imagine a world without wild tigers...
0:48:07 > 0:48:11..but, if we get complacent, we could see tigers go extinct.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29- WHISPERS:- Sorry.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35I couldn't... I couldn't imagine a world without tigers.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Krithi's spent her life raising awareness and funding to save the tiger.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03She's set up a project that helps villagers get compensation
0:49:03 > 0:49:06when tigers attack their livestock.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10It's helping ease some of the conflict with local people.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18Here in India, the greatest challenge
0:49:18 > 0:49:21is giving tigers the space they so desperately need.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29One solution is to help villagers who currently live within the national parks
0:49:29 > 0:49:31to relocate.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Krithi is part of a team
0:49:41 > 0:49:46that assist those who choose to make a new home beyond the park boundaries.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Once you move people out, the vegetation comes back,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56the prey numbers rebound and then tiger numbers come back,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01so ecological recovery takes time but I think nature knows how to heal itself.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09There's been a lot of time, money and effort but the tide may be turning.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14After a long time, we're seeing wild tigers come back,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18populations stabilise and recover in many tiger reserves.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22It shows that we can change the future for cats
0:50:22 > 0:50:25if there is the will to protect them.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45Maasai warriors now study and conserve the lions they once hunted.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00Huge safe havens are being created for Scottish wildcats,
0:51:00 > 0:51:02the UK's only native cat.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Scientists brave freezing conditions...
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- STATIC CRACKLES - It's working.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16..to help the endangered Siberian tiger.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28And one pioneering project
0:51:28 > 0:51:33is attempting to rescue a cat from the very edge of extinction.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Just a century ago, thousands of Iberian lynx
0:51:48 > 0:51:52roamed the ancient woodlands of Spain and Portugal.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03A combination of habitat loss, hunting and lack of prey
0:52:03 > 0:52:05caused their numbers to collapse.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14By 2002, fewer than 100 were left.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23The Iberian lynx was declared the rarest cat on the planet.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Today, an international team of scientists and conservationists
0:52:37 > 0:52:40are working to bring these cats back from the brink.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51The team began an intensive breeding programme
0:52:51 > 0:52:55on a scale never attempted before.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02Vicky Ascensio is a vet dedicated to the project.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07She works at the newest of the breeding centres.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16Spread across Spain and Portugal, these multimillion-pound facilities
0:53:16 > 0:53:18are built to meet a lynx's every need...
0:53:22 > 0:53:26..to ensure they can produce as many cubs as possible
0:53:26 > 0:53:29for release back into the wild.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36It's also designed so Vicky can keep a close eye
0:53:36 > 0:53:39on each and every precious cub.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44In total, we have 116 cameras.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50We try to see the animals 24 hours.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55This hands-off approach is vital so the cubs never meet a human.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00They are all day very quiet, very calm
0:54:00 > 0:54:04and they don't see that we are always looking at them.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07It's very important for us, especially when we have cubs.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14The Iberian lynx has become a species in intensive care.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22The breeding centres are just one piece of the jigsaw.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27The team are also working hard to improve the natural habitat
0:54:27 > 0:54:32so young lynx can be released into ideal conditions.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Today, Vicky is running some crucial health checks.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50One-year-old cubs Navio and Noa are scheduled for release.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00We are checking that all the animal is healthy
0:55:00 > 0:55:02and also we take some samples
0:55:02 > 0:55:07to see that he has not any infectious diseases or something like that.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Our goal always is to release the animals.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14It's our most important goal.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18CONVERSATION IN SPANISH
0:55:22 > 0:55:24The cubs are ready.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31A release is big news around here.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35Crowds gather to catch a glimpse of this iconic Spanish cat.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44This is a very special moment for me because it's an animal
0:55:44 > 0:55:49that was born in the centre and now you are giving him the freedom.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53It's very emotional for us.
0:56:02 > 0:56:08Navio and Noa are given their freedom, running wild for the first time.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45INAUDIBLE
0:56:49 > 0:56:53This ambitious project has become one of the most successful reintroductions
0:56:53 > 0:56:59on the planet - nearly 500 cats once again roam these ancient woodlands.
0:57:11 > 0:57:17The more we learn about cats, the more they surprise and amaze us.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28Only by understanding their needs can we help safeguard their future.
0:57:28 > 0:57:29YOWLS
0:57:33 > 0:57:38There's a lot of work to do but across the globe
0:57:38 > 0:57:43people are putting their heart and soul into finding answers
0:57:43 > 0:57:47and making sure the future always has a place...
0:57:47 > 0:57:50MEWS ..for the cats...
0:57:51 > 0:57:52..big...
0:57:52 > 0:57:54..and small.