01x05 - Finding Food

[bunniefuu]

[Bonneville] Experience a
world beyond imagination

where fish can fly...

lizards walk on water,

apes master tools

and frogs disappear
in plain sight.

Animals do the
smartest things...

through every stage
of their lives.

[meerkat barks]

From leaving home...

to raising a family.

From finding food...

to making friends.

[elephant trumpets]

They find ingenious
ways to survive

against all odds.

[bellows]

Welcome to The Secret
Lives of Animals.

[Bonneville] We can all be guilty
of taking a good meal for granted.

But in the animal kingdom,

finding enough food
is anything but easy.

This bottlenose dolphin

needs a whopping


As much as we eat in a week.

And in the vast, maze-like
marshlands of South Carolina,

that's tough.

The fish he hunts are fast.

They can easily give him the slip
in these deep, narrow channels.

And twice a day, when
the tide goes out...

hunting gets even tougher.

As the watery world shrinks,

razor-sharp oyster
beds are revealed.

They would shred his skin.

He can't get to the fish here.

It's a problem he
shares with his pod.

[clicking]

To get the food they need,

they must use the low
tide to their advantage.

They search for a
clear stretch of bank

away from the
dangerous oyster beds.

Once they've found
the perfect spot...

they begin to work together.

[clicking]

They stir the water...

to move the fish...

into the open.

And then...

surround them.

Driving the fish
towards the bank,

they whip up a curtain
of mud behind the shoal.

In a final move,

the pod charge as a
perfectly synchronized unit.

They force their prey
out of the water...

and follow them to hunt on land.

It's a huge risk for a
heavy aquatic mammal.

If they were beached, they
wouldn't survive for long.

But they have mastered
the art of strand feeding.

Only a fraction of bottlenose
dolphin pods worldwide

have learnt to use tidal
mudflats in this way.

And they'll do it until
they've had their fill.

[birds squawking]

Finding food is
a daily battle...

but overcome the challenge

and the world is your oyster.

[birds chirping]

In Malaysia...

[bee buzzing]

it's easy enough for a bee
to get an early morning meal.

[bees buzzing]

After all, there are thousands of
nectar-filled flowers on offer.

But all is not as it seems.

Tricked by an orchid mantis

no bigger than a sugar cube.

This sophisticated hunter

is one of the world's
best disguised predators.

With legs and an abdomen
that look like petals,

she's bigger and more beautiful

than the flowers
she hides amongst.

She's chosen her spot well.

The center of a bee highway.

Simply

irresistible.

[bees buzzing]

She strikes twice as
fast as you can blink.

But success blows her cover.

The diner could
become dinner herself.

But orchid mantises
have many talents.

Those petal-like legs
aren't just for show.

When she spreads them, she can glide
further than any wingless insect.

Safe.

But without any flowers,

there are no bees here either.

To eat, she'll have to
make the food come to her.

Like a flower, she releases
an intoxicating perfume.

An artful imitation of the chemicals
a bee uses to attract its hive mates.

It's so convincing,
as it fills the air...

it lures unsuspecting bees...

straight into her clutches.

Armed with so many
exceptional talents,

she can eat almost anywhere.

Knowing how to find food
comes naturally to some.

But for others, it's
a lifelong education.

[monkeys chattering]

This female red colobus monkey

lives on the lush tropical
island of Zanzibar.

Making sure her family eat
their greens is no problem.

Colobus are vegetarians.

And they like nothing
better than young leaves,

flowers...

and unripe fruit...

which they eat with gusto.

Getting all the vitamins
and carbs they need.

But for her family to
grow big and strong...

[chirping]

they also need protein.

And there's one tree
that has it in abundance.

The mango.

Its young leaves
are 20% protein.

But eating them...

comes at a cost.

They are laced with poison.

And cause severe bellyache.

Like all good mums, she
knows how to make it better.

[chatters]

But it means venturing into
someone else's territory.

[vehicles passing]

[horns honking]

It may not look like much...

but charcoal is an
inspired remedy.

Taken quickly after
eating toxins...

it absorbs and neutralizes them.

In human medicine, we use
charcoal to treat poisoning.

But colobus are the only
primates clever enough

to have figured this
out for themselves.

And they've unlocked
a protein-rich feast

that's off the menu for most.

Helping to sustain more of them
in this small corner of Zanzibar

than anywhere else on Earth.

We all know one of the secrets to
a healthy life is a balanced diet.

But to achieve that,
you have to plan ahead.

Meet Portia...

a jumping spider.

Only the size of a pea.

She lives in the forests
of Southeast Asia.

To survive, she has
to eat other spiders.

All armed and dangerous.

And some more than
double her size.

Portia is up to the challenge.

Her brain may be the
size of a pinhead,

but it's a powerhouse.

A golden orb spider,

waiting to catch prey in
a deadly, sticky trap.

Portia approaches
with extreme caution.

Careful to keep most of
her body off the web...

she plucks.

Orb weavers have poor vision,

and rely on their web
as their eyes and ears.

The vibrations
fool the orb weaver

into thinking there's a struggling
insect trapped in the web.

It's a stroke of genius.

Once it's in reach,
Portia pounces.

Her deadly venom
overpowers it in seconds.

But in the forest,

Portia needs a different
approach for different targets.

Her brilliance lies in her
ability to change her tactics.

A silver-faced spider,
high out of reach.

This web can't be plucked.

She needs a new strategy.

Assessing her surroundings...

Portia looks for
a vantage point.

Without even being able to
see her prey, she climbs.

Until...

she has the upper hand.

Most spiders use their
silk to make webs,

but Portia is no
ordinary spider.

She makes an anchor point...

to bungee undetected.

And this genius jumping
spider, feasts again.

Some are born with the skills
they need to get a meal.

For others, finding their favorite
food can be a harder nut to crack.

[crow cawing]

Autumn is the season of bounty.

And for this Japanese crow,

walnuts are the
pick of the crop.

Because they are amongst the most
nutritious things he'll eat all year.

This city slicker's problem
is getting into them.

To solve it, he needs to
think outside the box,

and take advantage
of his urban home.

Positioning is everything.

Oh! So close,

but not close enough.

There we go.

Using a car as an
oversized nutcracker

is nothing short of brilliant.

[horn honks]

But on the busy city
streets, it works too well.

[caws]

The nut quickly turns to dust.

And with it, his meal.

Most birds need
instant gratification,

or they simply just give up.

But what sets crows apart

is their ability to know
a better reward is coming

and to wait for it.

Perhaps somewhere
with reliable traffic

but fewer cars
will do the trick.

A driving school.

Could this be the answer?

Lessons run seven days a
week, every half hour...

like clockwork.

And this clever corvid...

- [crosswalk light chimes]
- [electronic voice speaking Japanese]

can set his watch by it.

He has a secret stash on site.

This time he puts his plan
into action with a flourish.

[vehicle approaching]

Cracked it.

With fewer cars, his meal
stays in bigger chunks

and he can eat in peace.

Intelligent planning means
this brainbox can enjoy a meal

that would otherwise
be impossible to crack.

We are all united by
our quest to find food.

It takes precision planning...

hard work...

and even a bit of trickery...

to get the ingredients
we need for life.

To film bottlenose
dolphins hunting on land,

the team ventured deep into the
coastal backwaters of South Carolina.

There are so many places
for these dolphins to hide.

These creeks just go
forever back in the marshes.

[Bonneville] To
locate the dolphins,

they enlist the help of marine
biologist Weatherly Meadors.

[Meadors] I grew
up on the water.

I've been working in these
creeks my whole life.

So I would say I know them
like the back of my hand.

This estuary is hugely dynamic.

Uh, the biggest thing to be aware
of is what the tide is doing.

The tides impact everything.

[Bonneville] Dolphins only strand
feed for a brief period at low tide.

The best way to track them
down is with an eye in the sky.

And it soon pays off.

[Baxley] All right, we got
some dolphins in the creek.

[Bonneville] Now all they have
to do is keep up with them.

But that's easier
said than done.

The water visibility back in
these creeks is just so muddy.

[Bawden] You really can't
see anything, can you?

- [Baxley] No.
- [Bawden] Geez.

[Bonneville] And to
make things even harder,

bottlenose dolphins can hold their
breath for up to ten minutes.

[Baxley] He just
gave us the slip.

[Bawden] I can't believe
we lost them again.

Just your classic wildlife.

You think you get
everything lined up

and then the animals have decided to
do whatever they wanna do instead.

[Bonneville] With low
tide quickly approaching,

Weatherly turns detective.

There's a couple of
splash marks on the beach

that looks like maybe
a dolphin came up here.

Looks like one, two and three.

Oh, maybe four.

[Bonneville] The splashes
suggest four dolphins

have been strand
feeding on this bank.

And Weatherly thinks
they might return.

[Baxley] Yeah, I got it.

[Bonneville] Hayes and the
team move into position.

So we're coming at
this, two approaches.

We've got Dawson on the beach.

We're on the gimbal.

Fingers crossed.

[Bonneville] But the dolphins
are nowhere to be seen.

With their window of opportunity
fading by the minute...

the crew are losing hope.

Then Weatherly spots something.

[Meadors] We got one
moving real quick.

[Bawden] Oh, my God.
There's four all together.

- Do you see that?
- [Baxley] Okay, we're getting it. Got it.

[Meadors] Okay, turning in.

He is coming up. We got beautiful
light and, uh, we're really hopeful.

Ooh, they're on the
circles back there.

[Bonneville] It's
the moment of truth.

Will Weatherly's
detective work pay off?

[Bawden] Here we go.
Right in front of us.

Whoa!

They're doing it.

We've been waiting
for a long time.

Oh, look at them go.

[Bonneville] At last, the
crew get the shots they need.

[Baxley] Dolphins hunting on land.
You don't see that every day.

[Bonneville] You
certainly don't.

Next time...

To survive, sometimes you
have to fake it to make it...

using dirty tricks

and devious scams.

To outsmart the competition...

[screeching]

you must learn the
art of deception.