Africa 1 Deadly 60 on a Mission

My name's Steve Backshall...

Whoa!

..and this is Deadly 60 On A Mission.

My crew and I are travelling the planet

in search of its deadliest creatures.

It's not just animals that are deadly to me...

Oh!

..but animals that are deadly in their own world.

Only the most lethal will make my list.

And you're coming with me... every step of the way!

This time on Deadly 60 On A Mission,

we meet the fastest animal on the planet,

we analyse the powers of venomous serpents

and meet a lanky bird who's more than a match for any snake.

BIRD MAKES BELCHING NOISES

All this in South Africa, which has some of the grandest,

most epic landscapes imaginable.

Which is fitting, as our first animal

is one of the most epic on the planet.

The seas of Africa's southern coast are pretty daunting.

Firstly, the conditions here can be horrendous, but secondly,

if any seas around the world can be truly said to be shark-infested,

then these can. Their dangers to humans are massively exaggerated,

but that doesn't mean these animals aren't the perfect predators.

And one, in particular - the largest

purely predatory fish on the planet...

..and perhaps the most impressive animal on earth,

the great white shark.

These giants can get up to six metres long and weigh up to 3,000kg.

With hundreds of serrated teeth,

they launch vertical attacks on unsuspecting seals.

Their strike is so powerful that it drives them clear out of the water,

in what's known as breaching.

It's pretty early in the morning,

the colours in the sky are just glorious

and it looks like we're heading out into open ocean, but actually,

off in the distance are a couple of small, rocky islands

that are home to seals,

and those are the great white sharks' favourite food.

This whole set-up here is what makes this place

the best spot in the whole world to come and see this incredible animal.

And we barely had time to drop anchor

before they made an appearance.

Johnny! Johnny! Johnny!

Real predation going on!

Oh, it's a biggie, it's a biggie!

Holy moly! Let's get to the front of the boat. Front of the boat!

Directly off... Oh, this is huge!

Absolutely huge!

This is unbelievable.

The shark is coming fully out of the water!

This is one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen.

I never thought for a second that we'd actually see

a shark genuinely hunting a seal.

Oh-h! The tail of the shark is just lashing around.

You can see both the dorsal fin and the tail breaking the surface.

You can just see the seal leaping out of the water

purposely trying to get away from the shark.

The water is just churning.

The force of it, just lashing side to side, trying to find the seal.

This tiny little seal is just battling for survival,

just leaping clear out of the water, just trying to evade the shark.

No way!

'But this time the seal had a lucky escape.'

And then it all goes silent again

and you can see it's all about that one moment, it's all about hitting

them hard first time and if it doesn't work, they pretty much

give up, but if they get it right, then it is all over in a second.

'And it's this first moment of impact

'that we really want to catch on camera,

'but to do this we are going to need to be a bit resourceful.'

This is essentially a fake seal,

it's got polystyrene with wet-suit rubber over the top

and we're going to drag it behind the boat

and hopefully a great white shark will sense it

and come racing up from the depths and try and hit it.

That's the plan anyway.

'So, the decoy is in. Let's hope it attracts some action.'

As the decoy is moving across the surface of the water,

it's creating very much the same kinds of vibrations

as a real seal would if it was swimming

and the shark can detect those.

It has a special organ that runs down the length of its body

called the lateral line

and it can actually pick up the tiny vibrations in the water

but once it gets close,

it's going to switch to using its eyesight

and in the last few metres it will focus in on its target

and then hit it with incredible explosive power.

Well, that and 300 razor-sharp teeth.

Oh, my... No way! No way!

I don't believe it! We've only been towing for a few minutes

and already the great white just hit it, just one big smack!

And that's a huge shark.

'That was incredible, but it was all over in the blink of an eye,

'so we're going to need some Deadly technology to slow it down.

'Johnny's going to point this slow-motion camera at the decoy

'and when the shark breaches,

'I'll hit the trigger button to record it onto our laptop.

'Getting it all right is going to be a tall order, so, fingers crossed.'

Here we go!

Well... That was it.

That was almost a complete breach.

The tail was flung out of the water, it hit it

and we've just got to see what happened.

'Outstanding!

'Imagine the power it must take to fling a tonne of shark right

'out of the water and the spectacle had barely begun.

'We chart the phenomenal breach - bursting through the surface,

'this predatory performance makes you realise how precarious

'the life of the seal is, living in these waters, when at any moment

'they could be hit by one of the biggest sets of jaws on the planet.'

That is absolutely extraordinary! How about that?!

'But this is only half the story.

'We'll be back to film the other part of the puzzle later.

'The crew and I are journeying inland to a wildlife reserve.

'The animal we're going to be looking for

'is the natural world's speed demon.

'It's the fastest land animal - the cheetah.

'Accelerating as fast as a sports car,

'it reaches speeds of 60mph in under three seconds.

'Each stride is a massive leap covering seven metres at a time.

'Flat-out, they spend more than half of their time totally airborne.

'We'd love to see them hunt,

'but they can wait several days for the perfect opportunity.

'It's going to take patience,

'but at least we'll be following two radio-collared animals,

'so finding them is easier.'

Such a beautiful animal,

glorious amber eyes

and when you get a big yawn,

they show off those fearsome canine teeth.

How wonderful!

They're just walking in our direction at the moment.

You can really see why a spotted or rosetted coat

is so common amongst the cats,

because as light comes down through these trees, it creates

little pools of dark and of light

and it merges perfectly with their coat.

Look at that.

This is just purely inquisitive,

wandering out to come and have a look at us.

SHARP CALL

Those little calls, almost kitten-like,

of communication between the two....

..letting each other know where they are. Now they're coming together.

The way they move is almost lazy,

it's kind of keeping energy in reserve.

Just padding along, so that when they actually need to use

that incredible speed, they still have plenty of energy in store.

But I think there's something more here at the moment.

These two animals have quite a lot of purpose about how

they're moving and they look, to me, quite lean and hungry.

'Cheetah are unusual amongst cats in that they hunt in the daylight,

'however, in the hottest part of the day,

'they just make themselves comfortable in the shade.

'Sadly, we can't do the same.

'The location isn't ideal for a cheetah hunt.

'They prefer more open savannah for a flat-out pursuit

'but if something wanders close,

'they may well take their opportunity.

'Then something got their attention.'

WHISPERS: I can just make out through the trees behind us

are some impala, antelope.

They've come into the range of the cheetah and they've

all of a sudden just focused their attention in that direction.

OK, the cheetahs have just spotted the impala moving across this way

and they've gone into hunt mode.

For the first time in about three hours, they've moved.

'The impala are blissfully unaware

'that the cheetah are moving towards them...

'..but then the ears prick up and they scatter.'

Ah, they've just started running... but I think the impala have gone.

Unfortunately, they've been spooked

and the cheetah won't take up a hunt

if they know there's no chance of success

and while the impala are alert,

there's simply no way they'll be able to run them down.

'The light's fading and they're unlikely to hunt now,

'but this is what we missed.

'Cheetah approach to within 50 metres of their prey

'before exploding into action.

'With their curved dew claw hooking into tendons,

'just one swipe of a paw can knock a prey animal off-balance.

'A final bike to the throat finishes the job.

'Everything about their physiology is focused on speed.'

Well, we've been sat out here all day long

in the burning African sunshine and in total silence,

but we have been in the company of two extraordinarily beautiful cats.

We haven't got to see them hunt,

but there is no doubt that the fastest land mammal on Earth,

for its pace and its grace, has to go on the Deadly 60.

'Reaching speeds of 70mph, they're the fastest animal on land.

'They twist and turn as they sprint and swipe their prey to the ground.

'Camouflage, stealth and speed make them extraordinary hunters.

'For our next Deadly mission,

'I'm going to be analysing

'three very different African venomous snakes

'These have been caught in local back yards

'and will all be released into the wild once we're done.

'Using our slow-motion camera,

'we'll reveal one aspect of their serpent specialisation.

'At the end of this slow-mo snake-off,

'I'll choose one snake to go on my list.'

OK, the first snake I'm going to show you, hopefully,

even if you are someone who hates snakes,

this will change your mind,

because I believe this is one of the most beautiful snakes.

This is a boomslang.

'The boomslang is a highly-venomous back-fanged snake.

'They're arboreal, that is tree-dwelling,

'and hunt the canopy for chameleons, other lizards, frogs and birds.'

The boomslang is all about senses. Its eyes are absolutely enormous,

certainly, for its size, the largest of any snake on the planet.

Now most snakes' sight is based on movement,

so they're looking for prey that's moving around them,

but the boomslang is hunting up in the treetops

for very well-camouflaged animals that are standing perfectly still,

but with those enormous eyes which are slightly egg-shaped,

they have phenomenal depth perception.

That means they can still see animals

even when they're not moving at all

and they're exactly the same colour as their environment.

The other super sense they have for tracking their prey

is their tongue and that's what I'm hoping to show you in slow motion.

There it goes! There it goes!

Right, I'm really hoping Johnny managed to get that

because when you see it slowed down,

actually, it is extraordinary what that tongue is really doing.

So, the tongue comes out, it waves up and down,

you can see both sides of that forked tongue actually

trailing into the air and then dropping down onto the branch itself

and just trailing along the edge of the branch.

Now, what that's doing,

is it's actually working almost like a sponge picking up bits of scent,

bits of invisible scent, that are down on the wood itself

and then drawing them back into the mouth where they can be processed.

What this snake's doing is tasting its world.

Now if any lizard, a chameleon perhaps,

has been walking along this log,

it will have left an invisible trail behind it

and that's what this snake is trying to find.

For our next serpent superstar,

we're going to need a little bit of extra safety precautions.

You'll notice that Johnny the cameraman and Nick the soundman

have both got special goggles on and that's for a very good reason,

because under this little tepee here is a Mozambique spitting cobra

and it's its spitting defence I really want to show you.

Exposing snake.

Here.

The important thing to realise here is that this is

totally about defence.

The cobra will kill its prey exactly the same way as other snakes

by injecting venom,

but that is like a hosepipe

and you can see how accurate it is.

The fangs themselves have a slight twist to them on the inside.

It's almost like rifling in a gun,

which means that the spray is incredibly accurate

and it's actually just headed straight towards my eyes.

You can see him there, bringing his head back,

focusing and it's just peppering the whole of my glasses here.

'Just a drop of venom into an unprotected eye

'would mean excruciating pain, possibly blindness.'

This is a puff adder.

It's one of the most feared snakes in Africa,

but I think they are utterly fascinating.

It's the classic viper shape

and it has the classic viper-hunting method

and the most interesting thing, perhaps, is that its strike

can be over and done with in as much as a fifth of a second.

Now, I'm hoping to show you that

by getting it to strike at this water balloon.

'We're using the balloon to simulate a small mammal,

'so hopefully it will strike it in the same way.'

Oh!

That was glorious.

You can see the tongue flickering on the air, it's drawn back into

that classic S shape which gives it the possibility to extend to strike.

It's focused on the balloon.

Oh, wow!

That is absolutely unbelievable.

It's a very, very short strike, but you could see, as the mouth opened,

the sheath that covered the fangs being exposed.

They're are very, very long, those fangs,

and really act like tiny stiletto daggers

and they have just knifed into the balloon

and for a fraction of a second,

the water is just hanging there in one place.

If that was mammal prey, it would have carried it on,

be pumping the venom into its body and then it retreats, it lets it go.

This is really important to the puff adder because what it's doing

is it's making sure its prey can't do it any damage.

It's now retreated, it's back to its original position

and it's just going to wait for its prey to succumb to its venom.

Well, we've seen three rather wonderful snakes, but for my money

the gloriously camouflaged split-second-striking puff adder

has got it and is definitely going on the Deadly 60.

'Venom that targets the circulatory system, hinged hypodermic fangs

'and a lightning-fast strike which is over in a fifth of a second.

'So, Africa has a cornucopia of venomous snakes,

'heaven for a snake freak like me, but hell for everything else,

'or so you might think.

'Actually, there's a bird that feasts on venomous snakes.

'This falconry centre has one of these birds,

'found as an abandoned fledgling and hand-reared.'

OK, so this is my snake and this...

Come and say hello.

..this is our leggy bird.

It's a secretary bird and look at those great, long, stilt-like legs.

They may look a bit comical, but they have deadly potential

and that's what I'm hoping to show you in this experiment.

OK, so I've got my snake in position,

my secretary bird looking interested.

Let's give it a go. Look.

Back off a little bit, Johnny.

Oh-h! Did you see...?

Then again, look at that!

That is incredibly impressive.

I really wasn't expecting it to be that decisive.

Come on, give us one more, give us one more.

Wow!

My goodness!

It's all right. I think he's dead.

'But he wasn't taking any chances.

'They have the longest legs of any bird of prey

'and it's using them to top effect.'

Just when you think you can't be surprised by animals any more,

something like that happens.

This bird's been raised in captivity,

it's never seen its parents, it hasn't been taught this behaviour.

This is completely innate, this is something it's been born with -

the ability to head straight for the head of a venomous snake

and take it out.

It's like some kind of deadly avian boxer.

It's so impressive and just watching, actually,

as the bird's stamping,

it's the rear half of the foot that's hitting

and that thick, curved back talon,

so it truly is not just delivering a hammer blow downwards

with extreme force,

but also a stabbing killer blow with that back talon as well.

Even the most venomous snakes in Africa

simply wouldn't stand a chance.

As long as I keep the snake moving

and there's a possibility it's still alive, he'll keep stamping.

The second I stop,

he'll just keep on stamping.

HE LAUGHS

Of course, this is actually really sensible,

because there are many snakes around here

who, once they're attacked, will play dead,

but will still be plenty capable of delivering a bite,

so the secretary bird is just making sure that its prey is finished off.

I'm pretty sure it's dead now. Honestly, he's had it.

The snake-stomping secretary bird just has to go on the Deadly 60.

'They show no fear

'when taking on some of Africa's most venomous snakes.

'With the longest legs of any bird of prey and large strong toes,

'they stamp their prey to death with killer accuracy.

'At the top of the show,

'we showed you great whites in awe-inspiring breach attack.

'The next step is to see that lunge from beneath the waves.

'To keep me from getting munched, I have a sturdy metal shark cage,

'but it's already occupied.'

This little seal here is exactly the size of the animals

that are being hunted by the great white sharks

and this beautiful creature is just taking refuge here,

because it knows that out there, he's going to get hammered

and there's a shark up behind the boat.

He looks really tired.

'Normally, we'd not interfere with a natural process,

'but this is just not a fair fight.

'We decide to give the pup an easy escape route.'

We're just backing up the boat so it's closer to the kelp

and closer to the rocky islands where the seal will be safe.

Hopefully, it will make a beeline out of the cage and, er,

yeah, away from the sharks.

Ah, there he goes! There he goes! Yes!

Oh, fantastic!

We're right by the kelp now and he's going to be safe.

'Well, safe for a while. Who'd want to be a seal in these seas?

'And I'm about to get a look

'at quite how fearsome a foe they're facing.'

What the guys are doing here

is creating what's called a "chum slick".

It's fish blood and oil

and it's going to travel out behind the boat in a big broad area

and sharks have such keen olfactory senses,

that is their sense of smell is so keen, that they'll pick this up

and travel back to try and find the source of it,

which is going to be us,

so hopefully this is all we need to tempt the sharks in.

'Coupled with our bait line and decoy, it certainly does the trick.'

Now, the best way to get shots of these animals is for me

to get in the water with them and use this underwater camera.

We've got sharks, we've got visibility -

this is going to be out of this world.

Mind your head.

'At first glance, the coast is clear.

'Then, almost out of nowhere, the first shark appears...

'..closely followed by a second. Soon, it feels like I'm surrounded.'

HE EXHALES

This is unreal.

The water's like crystal, amazing visibility,

and there's two huge sharks

just circling around and around and around, making passes at the bait.

It's phenomenal - the size of them, the elegance of them,

but they are very, very sinister-looking animals.

'This is better than we could ever have hoped for.

'The great whites are truly displaying everything that

'makes them deadly.'

That's the difference!

That's when they come up almost vertically.

The shark went right down very, very low on the seabed

but all the time keeping its eyes on the bait

and then just came straight up vertically.

The speed was phenomenal. Wow! I've got to stop saying, "Wow!"

HE LAUGHS

Wow!

That is just extraordinary! You can see as the shark comes in...

..its eye rolls back in its socket to protect it, just in case there's

a tooth of a seal waiting to go for that eye that's really vulnerable.

The great white is one of the largest predators on Earth

but these are only about three metres long.

The biggest have been double this size, over six metres long.

I can't even conceive of a great white that big.

Some animals seem to just totally rule their environment.

They just have this aura of invincibility about them.

Oh-h!

That was extraordinary!

Almost completely left the water -

oh! - and bashed the cage on the way through as well!

That's not just one of the most ferocious animals on the planet now,

it's one of the most ferocious animals that's ever lived.

Oh-h!

'It's an animal that I've been fascinated by since my childhood

'and you have to respect its predatory prowess.'

Oh, my goodness!

What we haven't seen is a mindless killing machine.

You're seeing this incredibly highly-honed hunting strategy

from one of the most impressive predators on earth.

It has to go on the Deadly 60.

'They can breach their huge bodies completely clear of the water,

'with the exceptional ability to detect prey from up to 5km away

'and mouths that are lined with up to 300 razor-sharp teeth.'

'At the tip of the dark continent, South Africa is

'the land of the lethal with deadly icons at every turn.

'The fastest land animal, a scintillating strike

'and all topped off with a shiver of sharks - the great white -

'a true legend of lethal.

'Join me next time for more Deadly 60 On A Mission.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd