01x06 - The Art of Deception

[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.

[animal chittering]

[Bonneville] On the
American prairies...

this burrowing owl chick
is just ten days old.

He and his brothers and
sisters are too young to fly.

[chirping]

To stay safe, they must stick
close to their underground nest.

But as they grow,

like all curious youngsters,
they begin to explore.

Out here, that can be risky.

A rattlesnake.

[rattling]

It sounds out its
infamous warning.

With exceptionally
sharp hearing,

the owlets get the
message loud and clear...

and keep their distance.

But on these plains,
danger is never far away.

[sniffs]

This American badger spots the
youngsters out in the open.

She would love to dine
on a chick or two.

Alert to the threat,
Mum sounds the alarm.

[squawking]

The owlets retreat to the
only safe place they know:

their burrow.

[sniffing]

But badgers are built to
shift mountains of soil.

[chirping]

Try as they might, the
adults can't see her off.

[chirping continues]

She's determined.

With their backs against
the wall, there's no escape.

But they have a trick up their sleeves
that might just save their lives.

[hissing]

A talent they were born with.

Master mimics.

They can perfectly impersonate a sound
the badger knows only too well...

[hissing continues]

the rattlesnake.

It's so convincing...

the badger backs off
to a safe distance.

A little white lie or
two never hurt anyone.

And in the animal kingdom,
mastering the art of deception

can be the difference
between life and death.

In the woodlands
of North America...

it's caterpillar season.

And with 75% destined to become
a meal for hungry birds...

their challenge is
staying off the menu.

This spicebush swallowtail
caterpillar needs to lay low.

With mottled colors,

he's disguised as something most
self-respecting birds won't eat...

their own droppings.

Going under the radar...

he can feast like a king.

Eating one and a half times
his own body weight daily,

he doubles in size every

two

days.

But now, he has a problem:

he's blown his cover.

No bird here makes
droppings this big.

So, he needs a new plan.

He begins to weave a
mat of sticky silk.

As the strands dry,

they tighten...

and lock him inside the leaf...

where he sheds his
skin in safety.

Emerging not as a butterfly,

but as a more
colorful caterpillar.

Now, rather than blending
in, he stands out.

And is already turning heads.

But there is method
to his madness.

Sporting huge eye-like
spots, he rears up,

impersonating something that strikes fear
into even the most persistent predators:

a snake.

But this alone is not enough to
convince a sharp-eyed starling.

So, the spicebush takes his
deception to the next level.

He flicks out a horn-like
organ called an osmeterium...

his very own imitation
forked tongue...

designed to disperse a
foul-smelling acid into the air.

It's a flawless performance...

fooling a predator


It can be hard to find
the perfect disguise.

But there's one animal that
prepares for a life of deception

before it's even born.

On this reef in Indonesia...

hidden in an old coconut...

is a nest of unearthly embryos.

And using color-changing
dots within their skin,

they are already learning
to control their appearance.

Something they will rely on...

to make it to adulthood.

A flamboyant cuttlefish,

only seconds old.

No bigger than a peanut,

out of the nest...

he's vulnerable.

Before he's even
got his bearings...

he's spotted by
a hairy frogfish.

His future depends
on what he does next.

Just like magic, he melts
into the background.

Leaving the frogfish confused...

and still hungry.

This trickery keeps him safe

and buys him the time he needs
to grow into his own skin.

After three months,

he's turned into the sophisticated
predator he was born to be.

He no longer needs to hide.

And while his prey can
easily see him coming...

he uses his dazzling
colors to his advantage.

With thousands of color-changing
cells in his body,

he can create a
display so mesmerizing,

it hypnotizes his target...

while he zeroes in for the k*ll.

Faced with this
masterful deception,

no shrimp stands a chance.

Catching prey is a delicate art.

But for some,

finding the right bait
can be even harder.

[birds chirping]

This young green-backed heron's
favorite food is fresh fish.

But on this lake in Japan,
catching them isn't easy.

The kingfisher, a
world-renowned fisherman,

shows him one way to do it.

A tall order for a heron.

But what's the harm in trying?

To catch a meal here, he needs
a more measured approach.

Even the slightest
movement gives him away.

And staying still
isn't working either.

If he can't get to the fish,

he'll have to get the
fish to come to him.

He knows they'll inspect anything on
the surface they think might be food.

So he tries something fewer than


He uses bait.

Perhaps a twig?

The idea is good.

But not as much as a nibble.

Maybe something smaller?

A leaf.

There's interest.

Still no bites though.

So he tries an
even smaller lure,

a fly-sized piece of moss.

The cast is perfect.

Closer.

Closer.

Bull's-eye.

Now he's got the hang
of it, he's unstoppable.

It takes persistence and
practice to fool prey.

But when you find
yourself on the menu,

deception must be taken
to a whole new level.

In the mountains of Italy,

this money spider is
just a few days old...

and smaller than
a grain of rice.

But she has a problem.

She's hatched into a
spider-eat-spider world,

and she's in danger.

If she doesn't tread carefully,
she'll be next on the menu.

To escape, she needs
a cunning plan.

First, she begins to climb...

higher and higher...

until she reaches
the end of the road.

Up here, she begins
to weave a spell.

Microscopic hairs on her legs

detect subtle electrical
changes in the atmosphere.

When the moment is just right,

she casts her silk into the sky.

As hungry mouths close in...

she pulls off one of
nature's greatest...

disappearing acts.

Leaving her pursuers

bewildered.

Using 20 feet of
silk like a kite,

she is carried by the wind.

Known as ballooning,

it's a spider's
great escape trick.

But now, she could be
swept 15,000 feet high...

and travel as far
as 2,000 miles.

Luckily, she can survive for a
month without eating or drinking.

And when she finally descends...

she lands with barely a bump.

Having left her rivals
many miles behind,

this tiny money
spider can now cash in

and enjoy life undisturbed.

Sometimes to survive,

you need to cheat and
outsmart your enemies.

Whether you pretend to be
something you're not...

[hissing]

or disappear in plain sight...

mastering the art of deception

might well be the best
move you ever make.

In the quest to reveal The
Secret Lives of Animals,

getting to remote locations
was the easy part.

Knowing how deceptive
animals can be,

the real challenge was
getting inside their heads.

And when you enter
their world...

[elephant trumpets]

you play by their rules.

[static]

I don't have a single
beep for monkeys anywhere.

Nothing at all.

[Bonneville] When it comes
to giving us the slip,

they use every
trick in the book.

[crew 1] Do you think that
they're outsmarting us?

[chuckles] They could
be. They're so clever.

Maybe they're fed up with
all the cameras already.

[static]

[Bonneville] With persistence, technology
reveals the vervet monkeys' hiding place.

- [vervet monkey chirps]
- Ah.

[Bonneville] In their territory,
the crew had to tread carefully

or risk losing them again.

[crew 2] I'm doing a slow
waltz with some vervets.

[Bonneville] But no matter
what steps you take,

some animals are camera-shy.

And that means a more
hands-off approach.

So, we've set all the traps, and
now it's a bit of a waiting game.

[Bonneville] And the
chimps soon grew curious.

[Miller] One of the
chimps has come around

with a ginormous log and
smacked the camera trap.

As if to add insult to injury,

they've left a little deposit
for us on the sensors.

The glamour, the glamour.

[Bonneville] When filming wildlife,
building trust takes time.

So, it's weeks of the chimps
constantly eluding us.

We've had lots of near misses.

So, it's really exciting to
finally start to see some faces.

[Bonneville] But to
reveal the secrets

of one of the most intelligent
animals in the world...

the crew had to
build a relationship.

[crew 3] She was initially
maybe a little bit hesitant.

We were like giants to her.

So, we started slowly.

[Bonneville] It can take weeks for
an animal to become truly comfortable

in the crew's presence.

[crew 3] I look at her,
and she's looking at me,

and there is such an
obvious intelligence there.

I'm really getting
to know this octopus.

It's such a privilege to spend five or
six hours a day with a single animal.

They're just an
absolute joy to film.

[Bonneville] Animals really
aren't so different to us.

The better your relationship,

the more secrets they're
willing to share.

Next time...

Making friends...

can be a tricky business.

But find the right ones,

and they'll provide
constant support

and protection.

Because in life,

it's not always the
fittest who survive.

Often, it's the friendliest.