Episode 10 Curious Creatures

APPLAUSE

Hello, I'm Kate Humble and this is Curious Creatures, where two teams

of experts lock horns in a battle of natural history knowledge.

Joining renowned animal egghead Chris Packham

is top wildlife cameraman Vianet Djenguet.

APPLAUSE

And teaming up with zoologist and self-styled amphibian avenger

Lucy Cooke, it's all-round wildlife expert,

the extremely adventurous Steve Backshall.

APPLAUSE

Good luck.

So, every correct answer in today's show wins our teams part of what

we're calling a curious creature,

a bizarre but wondrous beast made up of the parts of various animals.

Each team will be building up their own curious creatures during the

game and the more parts they win,

the more points they can score at the end of the show.

So, we start with some testing teasers from the animal kingdom in

our opening round, Yay Or Neigh?

I will read each member of our teams a statement about an animal.

It may be true.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

That's a yay. Or false.

HORSE NEIGHING

A neigh. All they have to do

is to decide whether it is fact or fiction.

So, Chris, we will start with you.

Sheep can remember faces.

Vianet, what do you think?

LAUGHTER

I must say, I haven't spent much time in the British countryside,

so I'm not very familiar with sheep.

The thing is, they're social animals.

-Yep.

-And if you're a social animal,

knowing who the other members of your group are is enormously advantageous,

because you all know who's male and who's female,

who's your brother and your sister.

I think that sheep can remember faces, so I'm going to go yay.

-I'm going to go baa!

-ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

-Baa!

-And you would be baa-right. APPLAUSE

Well done. Well done. That was amazing.

Yes, a study has found that sheep could not only remember the faces of

other sheep, but also human faces, too.

So, that means, Vianet and Chris,

you have won your first part of your curious creature.

-Let's have a look and see what it is.

-Oh, wow. OK.

Fantastic creature, too!

I knew you'd be happy with that one.

-Lucy.

-Yes.

Honey bees cannot see the colour green.

-Hm.

-That's interesting because honey bees perceive particularly well into

the UV spectrum. There's been a lot of science done on looking at

flowers under different wavelengths of light,

and there are patterns in those flowers that we can't see,

but honey bees and other animals that go after nectar can see.

And that's further away from green light.

It's amazing, isn't it, when you see flowers and plants under UV light,

and you can suddenly... They are illuminated,

these sort of secret trails that actually guide the honey bee to the nectar.

And that's what we can't see, but they can see.

So, we see the green, but they see something...

We know that they're looking...

They do look in the ultraviolet spectrum. I wonder whether

this is one of those slightly trick questions where you'd think that

they could see green, but they can't.

So, I'm inclined to think that they can't see green.

Yeah. I think I'm going to agree.

-Yay.

-Yay.

-ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

-You're wrong.

-Oh!

-Darn it!

-They can see the colour green.

The colour they can't see is red.

-Ah.

-Or, at least, they can't distinguish it.

So, I am afraid, Steve and Lucy,

you don't get a part of your curious creature.

Vianet, your turn.

I put it to you that nine-banded armadillos

always give birth to twins

and always to one boy and one girl.

-Wow.

-Have you ever come across a nine-banded armadillo?

No. I must admit, no.

I've spent loads of my time in the rainforest, in the Congo,

so that's where, you know,

I've got myself a really good gig doing my Congo.

So, I'm slightly unfamiliar with...

-this species.

-Where would you find a nine-banded armadillo, Chris?

I'd think you'd find those from Texas South,

down to the isthmus. Isthmus, sorry. Shall we do that again?

LAUGHTER

-No, I think you should leave it at that!

-Let's not bother,

because I'm sure I can't say it right the second time!

That narrow bit that joins North and South American continents.

-The isthmus?

-Yes, that's the place.

Yeah, that sort of Panamanian area.

Let's get back to their birthing habits.

Firstly, could they control the number of young that they have?

-Many animals can do that.

-Especially mammals.

Yeah, especially mammals. The thing is, could they control the sex?

Sex determination. Can they separate the chromosomes, as it were,

so that they produce one with a double X and one with an X and Y

in terms of a male? That's the tricky bit, I think.

Let me just read the statement to you again.

Nine-banded armadillos always give birth to twins,

one boy and one girl. Are you going yay or are you going neigh?

-It's your call.

-I'll go for a yay.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

You're wrong.

In fact, they nearly always give birth to quads of the same sex.

And this is because only a single egg is fertilised,

and the fertilised egg then splits into four identical embryos.

So, a litter will consist of four same-sex,

genetically identical siblings.

We like to learn, don't we, Vianet? Yeah, we like to learn.

You've learned, but you haven't got a part of your curious creature.

That's the tragedy of this particular type of learning.

Now then, Steve.

Is this fact or fable?

Ostriches can cover as much as five metres or more in a single stride.

So, they can go at least 40mph

and they can keep that up for a protracted period of time,

longer than their predators, which is one of their big advantages

that enables them to stay ahead of a lion, for example,

-which will give up its chase far, far quicker than an ostrich ever would.

-Hm.

And they have those remarkable elongated legs, with that one just

incredibly raptorial toe.

If you look at an ostrich's legs, it looks like a dinosaur.

And it really gives you that sense of common ancestry,

particularly when you look at the toes.

I think that an adult male ostrich

going full pelt is going to be covering more than that.

-So, you're going yay?

-I'm going yay.

-ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

Yay! You're right. APPLAUSE

It is absolutely true. They can cover between 10 and 16 feet,

3 to 5 metres, in a single stride.

Steve's triumph means that you get your very first part of your curious

creature. There it is.

-Hm.

-AUDIENCE:

-Aww!

Hm.

So, well done to our teams.

We move on to round two, which today is What On Earth?

So, we've got one question for each team

and I am going to start with you, Chris and Vianet.

What on Earth does this particular bird do to attract a mate?

I can tell you, these birds are not found in the Congo.

Absolutely, I've never seen this before in my life.

-You've never seen one?

-No.

So, yes, it's a game bird that lives out on the prairie.

I think they call them prairie chickens, on that account.

But it's a thing called a sage grouse

and if you look at the head of the bird there,

you can see that it's got that fabulous ruff

around the sides of it.

And it's spanned its tail.

But that's not enough for this bird's flamboyant display,

and the males really like to show off.

So, what they do is, they inflate gular patches.

They swell up and go through the most preposterous display where they

look, in the end, hardly birdlike at all,

like a sort of bizarre hat invented by Salvador Dali.

And then, as a consequence of that, you know, intake of breath,

they also produce an extraordinary sound to go with it.

Basically, you're saying it inflates,

it looks like a hat created by Salvador Dali

and it makes extraordinary noises?

-Yes.

-Shall we see if you're right?

-Come on, turn it on.

-Let's have a look.

MAKES GULPING NOISE

You were absolutely right, Chris, it is indeed a sage grouse.

The female's not impressed.

She's not. She looks thoroughly unimpressed.

She's thinking, "What a fool. What on Earth's going on?"

Vianet was more impressed than that female.

I must say, Kate, I'm so grateful, because, you know,

having Chris on my team, it's like having an encyclopaedia.

Don't big him up too much! But you were absolutely right.

Which means that you get another part of your curious creature.

Let's see what you've added.

-What on...?

-Hm.

..Earth is that?!

Well, you... You've got the rest of the show to work that out.

Er, Lucy and Steve.

-Yes.

-Here is a little fluffy-faced beauty for you.

It's pretty nifty at moving through trees,

but what on Earth does it do to move across the ground?

-Ooh. OK. So, it's a sifaka, isn't it?

-Yes.

-From Madagascar.

These lemurs live in the Spiny Forest in Madagascar,

so called because it's a forest and it's spiny.

Gosh, you're good! LAUGHTER

And seeing them get around inside that forest is...

-It's incredible, isn't it?

-..just extraordinary.

Because they jump from one incredibly thorny branch to another

-and you think, "How can you do that?!"

-Yeah. And somehow,

they manage to do it without piercing their digits.

But they're obviously... They've evolved,

they've adapted for that particular environment.

And you see them on the ground, and it is a whole different ball game.

-It's like...

-Minister of silly walks, isn't it?

-Yes.

It kind of is, like a crazy, bouncing, bounding ballet.

-Hands held high.

-Yeah.

-Bouncing down.

-They do this amazing bound from one foot to another, like

-this.

-Can they possibly be right?

Perfect. You do get another part of your curious creature.

-Congratulations.

-Yeah.

And here it is.

Ooh!

Now it's time to play our regular mystery animal round,

Is It Bigger Than A Chicken?

We're going to focus on one particularly fascinating animal,

but first of all, our teams have to work out what it is.

They take turns to ask me questions to which I must be able to answer

only yes or no.

Each time they get a yes, a small part of the animal is revealed.

You are allowed to guess,

but if you get it wrong, you're out of the game, OK?

The very first question that the teams have to ask me is, audience?

-AUDIENCE:

-Is it bigger than a chicken?

Thank you very much. Vianet, what would you like to ask me?

Is it bigger than a chicken?

I can tell you that its weight

is more or less the same as a small chicken,

but its length is definitely bigger,

so I am going to give you your first visual clue.

Here it is.

-There it is.

-Looks to be a mammal.

-A mammal, that's right.

And it's got flecked fur, but that's such a close-up, Vianet,

that we can't gamble on that at this stage, can we?

Unless you're... What are you...?

-I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but...

-Do you, really?

-Honestly, I don't want to...

-No, no, hold on a moment.

I love a man who's sure

and we really need to score some points.

-Yes.

-Are you pretty certain you know what it is?

-Yeah.

-Hold that thought.

-Yes.

Let's just zoom it back so that you get an idea of where it would be

-in the animal.

-OK.

If you get it right, I shall salute you.

Definitely a mammal. I think it's a porcupine.

I'm afraid...

QUACKING ..you're wrong.

-Lucy and Steve.

-I'm not confident enough to go for a guess yet.

-OK.

-I have a couple of inklings,

but I'd want to kind of focus as to where it came from.

OK, let's do that, then. Yeah, yeah.

OK. Is it from the New World?

No.

Darn!

-Sorry, Lucy!

-I know what you were thinking!

Now then, Vianet, you can obviously help Chris,

but I'm afraid you won't be able to ask any more questions.

-Chris, what would you like to ask me?

-I'd like to ask...

is this animal a carnivore?

It's not. Lucy.

So, it's Old World.

Now, just... The Old World means Africa?

Only Africa? Or Africa and Europe, isn't it?

Africa, Asia, Australasia.

OK. Right, so...

it lives in Africa, Asia, Australasia.

I'm wondering whether it's some kind of marsupial creature.

Erm...is it a marsupial?

-No.

-Ooh!

It's not. Chris.

Wow. OK.

Does it live in sub-Saharan Africa?

Yes...

ish.

Oh.

So you get another little bit of our animal jigsaw.

Let's have a look.

-Wow.

-We're all stumped.

-This is quite something, isn't it?

-It is. This is a tricky one.

Let's zoom that back then, so we can see its placement.

Hmm.

-Pass it over.

-I'm going to come to you, Lucy and Steve.

There are some strange creatures in sub-Saharan Africa.

There's a group of creatures known as the tenrecs.

-Yeah.

-The tenrecs are exclusive to Madagascar, aren't they?

-Yeah.

OK. Shall we go with...? Because tenrecs are kind of weird

and fantastic, and Madagascar's wonderful, so let's ask that.

Is it from Madagascar?

-Yes.

-Very good.

-It is. APPLAUSE

So you get another clue.

-And here it is.

-Oh, it's an aye-aye!

-Oh, no, it's an aye-aye.

-It's an aye-aye.

Do you want to ask me whether it's that?

We both feel very strongly that that ear can only belong to one

completely fabulous lemur that is exclusive to the island of Madagascar

-and that is the aye-aye.

-Shall we see if you're right?

Let's have a look. ELEPHANT TRUMPETING

APPLAUSE

Very good. Well done.

You get a part of your curious creature.

Let's have a look.

-Ooh!

-Wave your hands in the air, like you just don't care.

LAUGHTER

Woohoo!

Chris and Vianet,

you do have a chance to win a part of your curious creature now,

and, Vianet, you are back in the game

if you can answer this question.

The aye-aye has a very distinctive middle finger.

What does it use it for?

-Picking its nose.

-LAUGHTER

-Vianet?

-Go on, Vianet, what do you think?

I've actually seen them using that very

extraordinary finger to get some insects from trees, etc.

-So, yeah.

-So they use the finger, they put it inside the tree

-to dig...

-To dig and, you know, grab the insect and then eat them.

You're absolutely right, Vianet.

APPLAUSE

Well done.

So you get another part of your curious creature.

Let's have a look.

The aye-aye is indeed an absolutely extraordinary animal.

Let's have a look at it in action.

They tap on the wood with that bony finger.

The resonance inside tells them if it's hollow and if there's a chamber

that contains a grub.

Effectively, they echo-locate using that bony finger.

That's what those big ears are used for,

for listening out for the sound of that middle finger tapping,

and then using that finger to extract the grub.

Well done, everybody.

We've now all got an A-level in aye-aye.

APPLAUSE

Now, I can barely contain my excitement

because it's time to play Whose Poo?

Yes, our teams will each have a sample to examine,

kindly provided by the National Poo Museum on the Isle of Wight.

All the teams have to do is to figure out which animal is responsible,

therefore showing they're no fools when it comes to stools.

Now, at this point, I must issue the usual health and safety notice.

Please do not try this at home.

All animal poo is potentially harmful and our expert teams are examining

their samples under strictly controlled conditions.

Chris and Vianet.

Your sample is here under the Dome of Delight.

-Are you ready, Vianet?

-Yes.

Ooh, it smells nice.

What do you think? It doesn't smell unpleasant, at all.

Not at all, no.

So, would that give you a hint as to what this animal eats?

I'd say it was eating something sweet and sugary.

Pass me the knife, Vianet.

Let's cut a piece in half and see what's on the inside of this poo.

That's interesting.

Yes, it's full of grass that it's eaten.

-So we know that it's a herbivorous animal.

-Yes.

Look, they almost fit together in a neat little chain.

Look at that!

The only thing I can think with poos slightly like this was the...

baby gorilla. Slightly bigger,

but they actually are quite linked together like this.

-Are they?

-Yes.

But I know it doesn't...

Size-wise, it doesn't look anywhere close to that.

But it depends on how big the gorilla was, if it was a baby.

I can give you a little bit of a clue here.

Go on, then. Give us a poo clue.

You might find it in the Congo.

No pressure, Vianet.

It's your manor.

What do you think?

It's... Look, it's a vegetarian animal that's producing pellets in the Congo.

I'm thinking that it looks more like ungulate than primate.

And if it's from that part of the world,

the only thing that I can think of that defines that part of the world

is the okapi.

We have nothing more to go on.

Given its geographical location

-and all of our rumination...

-Yeah.

-..we're going to go okapi.

Let's see if you're right.

-Oh!

-Give me a hug. You've got to give me a hug.

Congratulations. You got there in the end. You're absolutely right.

It is the poo of an okapi

and you win another part of your curious creature.

APPLAUSE

Lucy and Steve, what is under the shiny Dome of Doom?

LUCY LAUGHS

OK, are you ready?

Ooh, intriguing!

-Golly gosh. Whatever this animal is, it's been eating fish.

-It has.

So there are little chunks of fish vertebrae in here,

lots and lots of fish scales.

And the animal in question doesn't look like it's terribly good at

digestion, by my deduction, because this doesn't look like it's...

Scales and bones do tend... I mean, with the exception of things like

the crocodilians that have incredibly potent stomach acids that can break them down,

they do tend to represent in faeces very, very often

because they're not very digestible.

So, let's do our detective work.

What we've got so far is this has DEFINITELY eaten fish.

-Yes, it has.

-Because we can see... We've picked out...

And I think probably crustaceans as well.

-I'm thinking mustelid?

-Yes, exactly that.

You've got your badgers, your stoats, your weasels, your mink, your otter.

I was going to say, is this otter spraint, do you think?

It's got otter spraint kind of written all over it, to me.

There's a lot of it.

There's an awful lot of it for one otter,

so I'm wondering if maybe it's not our Eurasian otter.

-You're pretty confident this is otter, then?

-Yes, I would say so.

I agree with you. I think this is otter spraint.

We believe that this mystery poo was done by an otter.

Let's see if you're right.

-Yes!

-You absolutely were. APPLAUSE

It was the Asian short-claw otter.

Very well done. Which means that you have won

another part of your curious creature.

That is a part well earned, I can tell you!

APPLAUSE

So both teams have four parts of their curious creatures and we're

very nearly at the end of the show,

which means it's time to see how many bits of their curious creatures

our teams can identify.

So, Chris and Vianet, let's start with the head.

It's the fastest animal on the planet.

-Vianet, what do you think?

-Fastest is a peregrine falcon.

You're absolutely right, Vianet.

Two points. APPLAUSE

Now then, I know that this particular body part

has been foxing you somewhat. Any thoughts?

This is a really tricky one.

I think there should be two of these,

because I think this is a stalked eye of a ghost crab.

They have little hairs around their eyes,

so I think this is a ghost crab's eye.

-Totally wrong.

-Really?

-Yeah. It is the lure of an anglerfish.

-Oh!

OK, let's go for your body.

-What do you think?

-Well, that's...

To me, it looks slightly like a primate from Madagascar.

I would say it's a sifaka.

No, it's not.

-It's a tamandua, then.

-It's a gibbon...

-Oh, a gibbon.

..I'm afraid, so no points.

Here is your final part.

Are these the legs of a giant frog?

Yeah, you're right!

-No.

-They are the wings of a dragonfly,

perhaps even a four-spotted chaser, because it's got four spots on it,

although I don't recall them having

-a yellow base but they're dragonfly wings.

-They are.

And they are the wings of a four-spotted chaser,

and you get two points. APPLAUSE

So, you have four.

You can claw it up to five if you can identify the one part that you

didn't win, which is this part.

That's a very tatty animal, isn't it?

It could be bactrian camel in moult, couldn't it?

Yeah. Go on.

Bactrian camel in heavy moult.

You're right. One point.

So, you have five points.

Lucy and Steve, can you beat them?

I should jolly well hope so, with your first body part.

Who does that belong to?

It's a koala.

Two points.

How about this extraordinary body?

That's fabulous, isn't it?

-It is.

-That's also as distinctive as koala, in many ways, isn't it?

They are very, very small, though.

Not much bigger than a golf ball.

-And...

-Deadly.

Yes, lethal. We've filmed several different species of these.

They're the blue-ringed octopus

and those rings that you can see there,

when this animal is in any kind of distress, they flash neon blue.

It's one of the most incredible displays of colour you'll ever see

in the natural world. And they secrete from their beak,

which is the only hard part of their body, a poison called maculotoxin,

which is then bitten into their prey as a venom,

it's one of the strongest toxins known to science.

If these are kept in an aquarium with other fish, just that venom

dissipating off into the water will kill everything in the aquarium,

and they're the size of a golf ball. They could sit in your hand.

-They're absolutely exquisite.

-So you're saying it is...?

It better be right after saying all that!

It would be so awkward if you got it wrong, Steve!

The blue-ringed octopus.

You are right. It is two points.

Now, what about this next body part?

-If you get this right...

-Ooh!

..you will have more points than Packham.

-SHE GASPS

-OK. So, Steve?

Do you know what? I'm married to an Olympian who I thought was the most

competitive person in the whole world.

And I've just found out she's not even close.

-Chris Packham blows her out the water!

-Yeah. Yeah.

-So, let's back to these legs.

-OK.

Who might that belong to?

This is a bit harder, isn't it?

"Ta-da!"

I have to say, zoomed in like that,

-you can see what appear to be scales.

-Yes, it's a reptile.

Which would therefore rid you of the newts and the salamanders.

I wonder if it's crocodilian?

Listen, there's only 23 species of crocodiles.

There are several thousand lizards,

so we've got a much better chance if you go crocodilian than lizard.

Crocodile.

-You're right.

-Yay!

Well done, well done!

So, you have beaten Chris and Vianet's total of five,

but let's see how much further you can go.

Can you identify the wings?

I feel like doing a sifaka dance already, actually!

The wings, yeah, they're tricky, aren't they? I mean...

I'm just thinking about birds that do that a lot.

That is a good thought.

-That is a good thought.

-Because obviously a cormorant sort of flies

underwater in a way. Not in the same way as a penguin,

but it dives very deep, doesn't it, to catch its prey?

So the wings would go alongside, and then what they do

when they come out of the water is they hold the wings up like that

in order to dry them out, so that they can fly.

So you are saying that it is...?

Cormorant.

-You're right.

-Yes!

-Well done!

So, eight points and, just to complete the thrashing,

would you like to have a go at the one body part that you didn't manage

to collect, which is this?

Yeah, it's a...

-It's a pinniped.

-Actually...

Yeah, so it would depend whether you could see the flippers as to

whether it was an eared sea lion or fur seal,

or whether it was a true seal.

Do you know what? I'll go sea lion.

Perfect. Then I will give you a point.

Well done. Really good. Really impressed.

So, at the end of that,

it means that Lucy and Steve with nine points are absolutely,

unequivocally today's winners.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well done. Really good.

And thank you to all four of you glorious, curious creatures for

playing along and thank you, you brilliant beings at home

for watching. We'll see you next time. Goodbye.