BBC Earth 50 Top Natural History Moments | 50-41

this is the home of one forest creature that has lived here in the Congo for 44 million years big authorities these birds mate for life and the male reaffirms the bond by displaying to the female they're building a mud nest on the underside of the boulders overhang where it'll be protected from the rain the female takes the lead the mail doesn't seem quite so skillful oh dear luckily she can put things right [Music] now she's collecting the soft furnishings he's brought some too but Easton can't get it right [Music] in the end the female seems satisfied with the finish and just in time it might look as if he has been banished into the rain but in fact they're a great team they share the incubation 12 hours on 12 hours off for the next three weeks in due course there are mouths to feed and now the male must prove his worth [Laughter] worms are a good start and he's doing well but the chicks are insatiable fortunately other things are on the menu you might be a porn s builder but he is redeeming himself now if undisturbed wildebeest drink 8 liters in a single session as his confidence billings he is oblivious to what lurks beneath the surface [Applause] [Music] the herd is bewildered some have never seen a crocodile before even as the full horror unfurls there is great confusion about just what is going on and that was just the first attack 300 hungry crocodiles live in the Grumeti River wildebeest react differently to crocodiles and other predators even the adults seem unsure and just how much danger they're in the caster's are to quench his thirst overcomes any fear he may have the pocket aisles maneuver around them with surprising ease they are intelligent hunters plotting their attack with precision a strike can happen at any time [Applause] despite the carnage the mother and calf survived they Stampede back onto the plains for the baboon's it's more like a spectator sport they might as well settle down a single croc can take some time to overpower its victim but crocodiles are cooperative peoples they work together the death roll breaks the prey into bite-sized chunks but aggression can spill over by late summer the corral tanks contained the only standing water the kilometers around [Music] the canyons more mobile insects are drawn to this one last oasis for those able to travel this water is a lifesaver [Music] these and wasps can carry the water back to their distant nests but this tiny pool of water lives just beyond the boundary of the corral colonies territory but no end in sight such desperate times call for desperate measures as the search widens a small group of Corral workers head towards the trough this is unfamiliar ground for them they are heading toward disaster near the trough they stumble across other honey ants and then a nest entrance it's only 40 meters from the corral colony but that's been enough to keep these two nests in mutual ignorance for all these years these new honey ants are unlike any the Corral workers have encountered before they are big and aggressive instead of backing down they meet the challenge head-on and the encounter begins to escalate for the first time in its history the Corral colony may have met its match sensing the worst the Corral workers begin to fall back towards their own nest the trough workers go on the offensive the retreat quickly turns into a rout stragglers a picked off the flight is carried right to the entrance of the corral colony even here on their own doorstep they can't hold their ground the attacking trough workers drive on into the nest as news of the attack reaches the corral Queen she withdraws to the deepest chambers her entourage of nurses in tow carrying the valuable brood the battle spreads down into the tunnels slowly inexorably it spreads down through the shafts towards the deeper part of the nest [Music] the replete are slaughtered or tracked a way to be eaten later some dead workers are carried off for processing the invaders take everything from eggs to newborns [Music] many are eaten where they fall they empty chamber after chamber [Music] finally the invaders overcome the last resistance and break through into the Royal bunker the Corral Queen and her broods are trapped and completely helpless held by each leg the queen is on the rack [Music] first stretched then dismembered it is a gruesome and ignominious end for this once great ruler [Music] in just a few hours the corral colony has been annihilated the nest emptied too late for the corral colony the drought finally breaks markhor gather for their annual rut males must fight for the right to breed but on these sheer cliffs any slip by either animal could be fatal [Applause] a Snow Leopard the rarest of Himalayan animals it's a female returning to her lair [Music] these are the first intimate images of Snow Leopard ever filmed in the world [Music] she greets her one-year-old cop [Music] our den is well chosen it has exceptional views of the surrounding cliffs on these treacherous slopes no hunter other than a snow leopard would have a chance of catching such agile prey [Music] a female with young makes an easier target [Music] [Music] a large pores give an excellent grip and that long tail helps her balance [Music] silently she positions herself above her prey [Music] [Applause] the drongo is the kalahari the greatest trickster and these are his victims a family of meerkats desert specialists after warming up in the Morning Sun the meerkats begin their search for breakfast the drongo can now begin his tricks but he must first win the confidence of his victims [Music] he spot an eagle on the hunt and sounds a warning one that sends the meerkats gratefully scurrying to safety danger over and now he has their trust he sounds another one thank you very much the meerkats fell for it [Music] this all seems too easy and he tries to same trick again but the mishaps are stupid they'll only fall for it once the juicy scorpion won't be for him then suddenly the sound of a census warning no meerkat can ignore that census never lie but the scent you see is no danger [Music] guess who of course it's the drum girl he's learned to mimic the meerkats own warning call and now he can enjoy his prize a gang of meerkats outsmarted by a bird the father leads one team the mother intercepts a panicking elk [Music] they all share the spoils but all is not quite as collaborative as it seems this pack strategy works well for the Alfa couple but not quite so well for last year's offspring the youngsters could have their own pups but for the Alfa couple that would mean more mouths to feed and less for their litter so the Alfa couple will actively discourage last year's offspring from mating but one of their daughters has other ideas skulking behind the pack is a lone male wolf he has no territory of his own but follows the family scavenging leftovers and looking for opportunities he spotted one the young daughter the intruder could be in with a chance as long as he's not caught the path leader could kill him [Music] [Applause] [Music] while the pack is distracted by a bison the temptation for the young female is too great and she sneaks away to join the mysterious stranger it's risky but it could be her only chance to get close to a potential mate [Music] [Music] when mating rules lock together unable to separate for half an hour to ensure fertilization not so good if you are about to be caught by your dad the affair was always destined to be a short one [Music] after a painful separation her new mate is chased away with his tail between his legs Gulf grunion Scout the beach [Applause] then in their hundreds females surf in on the waves shadow by eager males they are here to spawn but it's not going to be easy each female tries to propel herself as high up the beach as she can to lay just beyond the reach of the waves [Music] drilling herself into the sand is the cue for the male grunion to move in they wrapped themselves around her jostling to fertilize the eggs [Music] [Music] in the frenzy many eggs are dislodged once flicked out of the sand they won't survive [Music] although these fish-out-of-water might seem vulnerable the mass of flickering bodies confuses predators [Music] the greatest danger comes as they wriggle back to see this is the moment the pelicans have been waiting for slightly deeper water means they can get their bills underneath to scoop out their victims [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this female runs the gauntlet and makes it through our eggs will develop quickly in the warm desert sand and be ready to hatch in two weeks on the next spring tide every lake and river has a resident population of hippos they too are social creatures but they are also territorial spy hippo is going where a few others dare to go he needs to be cautious [Music] his subjects are notoriously bad tempered and they could be anywhere [Music] it's never a good idea to get on their wrong side spy hip who has been given a warning he must avoid sudden movements as he gets closer you're wiggling shows confidence facing one of Africa's most dangerous animals spy hippo must hold his ground the pod is made up of females looked over by a single male fortunately females are less aggressive spy hippo is already capturing some of the closest views that have ever been seen but hippos spend much of their time below the surface as the hip who's died sue must spy happen he mimics their movements rather than swim hippos walk underwater [Music] through the mark spy hippo glimpses an extraordinary sight [Music] fish are shadowing the hippos every move these are Barb's they usually feed on the riverbed but when the hip was appear they shawl around them as spy HIPPA moves closer it's clear that their skin is a maze of cuts and scratches these fight marks easily become infected and parasites can also invade this is where the fish come in together they set up an underwater clinic with the hip who's as willing patients the barbs may be skin specialists but they'll try a bit of dental hygiene to [Music] [Music] after having a full-body treatment the hippos seemed to enter a trance [Music] a carcass will attract every big predator for miles around a Mayo majungasaurus attracted to the feast it is more than capable of challenging for the carcass [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] majungasaurus has short arms and can't grasp like Tyrannosaurus it's all about the bite [Music] the shape of majungasaurus skull and teeth suggests a very different biting style to the flesh tearing dinosaurs with a broad short and muscular skull it was a dino better adapted to biting and gripping rather than slashing its prey this fight is about more than just winning the feeding rights to a carcass [Music] when the bite marks on the mold when jeonga soros remains were studied more closely the marks on the bones were found to match the only large carnivore in the region there is no bigger killer in these lands and majungasaurus this is the first imputable evidence of dinosaur cannibalism it might seem shocking but it's a behavior that clearly shows the most successful killers will exploit any situation to their maximum advantage hunting on land Spinosaurus is also forced into direct competition with any large predators living in the same environment and here that can only mean one animal [Music] Carcharodontosaurus [Music] [Music] contests over carcasses are common but outcomes of such fights are far from guaranteed risk of injury of big animals is acute modern Komodo dragons are often killed in fights over carcasses more than three meters longer Spinosaurus has signs and power on its side [Music] Carcharodontosaurus have the morning fullback [Music] this time the spinosaurus triumphed but the balance of power between these two deadly killers is a precarious one [Music] in 2008 a spinosaurus vertebra was recovered part of the tall neural spine of the bone was broken off it appeared to have been written in half it's been suggested that the bite was inflicted by Carcharodontosaurus Spinosaurus was the last and the largest of the fish eating dinosaurs but ultimately these specialists were doomed something way beyond their control calls their downfall 94 million years ago the climate changed global sea levels began to rise the swamps and rivers that Spinosaurus thrived in gradually were lost with their loss Spinosaurus is specialism became a vulnerability [Music] and the biggest predator ever known to walk the earth disappeared [Music]

Channel: BBC Earth

Views: 4,522,417

Rating: 4.7977862 out of 5

Keywords: bbc documentary, bbc, bbcearth, bbc earth, top 50, bbc earth best videos, best natural history videos, BBC Earth's Top Natural History Moments, best of bbc earth, earth day, best animal videos, best wildlife videos, animal compilation, drongo tricks meerkats, hippo spa, spy in the wild, africa, planet dinosaur, crocodile attack wildebeest, Ants Rip Queen's Legs Off

Id: oP2oGREukAE

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 19 2020