This Family Can Kill a Crocodile and Even a Bear

when a meteorite wiped out all the dinosaurs the planet was left without fearsome Predators it wasn't until 20 million years later that they appeared animals that had no Rivals they became the apex predators of their time but what happened then these days these animals are known by other names the weasel the otter and of course the Wolverine they attacked bears kill crocodiles and their family is the largest and most dangerous in the world meet the muscle is oh if you've ever seen a weasel you know that this animal looks cute small fluffy with beady eyes it's simply adorable but trust me you don't want to get too close to these little animals because weasels aren't just cute they're truly bloodthirsty it's just who they are weasels have an ultra fast metabolism and need to kill and eat about half their body weight every day as a result they've also become formidable hunters and their killing methods are also scary the weasel Corners its prey wraps its muscular body around the animal to immobilize it and then delivers one killing bite to the back of the head penetrating the skull or spinal cord you know what other Predator kills like that the Jaguar but it's hard to compare the Jaguar with a cute little weasel this is what a death grip looks like the unfortunate prey doesn't stand a chance the weasel's bloodlust is innate and triggered by movement you know much like how a motion sensor that activates a light however in this case instead of Illuminating the room it leads to an immediate attack even when it's not hungry the weasel will attack anything that moves and looks like prey which could mean virtually everything there have been times when tiny weasels have been observed killing and carrying off prey that's twice four times or even 10 times their own size it'd seem that this hair is much larger than the weasel does that bother the weasel nope and if there's a lot of prey around the weasel will kill a lot more than it can actually eat but that's not a problem because the leftover food can be put aside for later yes weasels know how to preserve food weasels have evolved in cold climates and have learned to use that to their advantage they dig small underground caches near the entrance to the borough and store leftover food in them over time the supply increases when it's too cold outside to hunt a weasel might just walk over to the caches and pull out a mouse it's saved up but caches can sometimes get out of hand for example scientists found a weasel's cache in Greenland filled with the carcasses of nearly 150 lemmings since weasels are so voracious and always hungry people even tend to think that the little Predators kill just for fun and this point of view is understandable how else can you explain the behavior of the weasel which kills absolutely all the birds in the hen house although it can't possibly eat all of them and it doesn't even carry the prey away with it moreover it's believed that a weasel could even defeat a basilisk well let's just ignore the fact that the Basilisk is a fictional creature because that's not the point here few creatures have struck more fear in the hearts than the Basilisk a monster feared across Europe and North Africa for centuries like many ancient creatures created by human imagination it was a bizarre hybrid a crested snake hatched from an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad yeah it sounds like complete nonsense but there's no place for common sense when it comes to mythical animals forget the giant snake from the Harry Potter universe that's what people thought the Basilisk looked like that's how it's depicted in the medieval bestiary but check out the weasel gnawing on its breast only these animals were invulnerable to the monster's venom the Roman poet Lucan even claimed the Basilisk was so venomous that any birds flying over it would drop dead from the sky and if a man on Horseback stabbed a basilisk with a spear the Venom would flow up through the weapon and kill not only the rider but also the horse yeah back in that time people had no grasp on the laws of physics the only creature that according to Legend the Basilisk feared was the weasel which ate a shrub called Rue Rue gave the weasel plus 100 to resistance to basilisk Venom so the weasel chased and killed the monster right in its lair some researchers speculated that accounts and descriptions of cobras may have given rise to the legend of the Basilisk well the idea of a weasel is the only enemy of the Basilisk came about because people probably didn't know who mongooses were after all who could handle cobras better than these creatures however weasels are not the only members of the mustolids family that are ruthless mustelids include various carnivorous mammals including minks Badgers polecats otters Martens Wolverines it's the largest family in the caniformia suborder so we'll definitely have a lot to talk about today this Swan was found covered in blood after an alleged attack in Derbyshire the animal with multiple bites and lacerations to its head is believed to have been the victim of a mink attack luckily for the swan it was immediately taken to the vet because otherwise well minks know exactly what they're doing look it's the same bite on the head again and minks are really good at it not just when it comes to swans it's a really hard time and that's assuming that they're known for their vicious temper and aggression alas now the formidable Swans in the UK may be threatened by an overseas Invader with even more violent temperament in 2016 a number of mute Swans in the Thames declined as researchers suspected that Minx had opened up a hunt for young birds make attacks can result in significant injuries particularly for adults not to mention the vulnerability of younger individuals and Scotland at some point Minx went from being an annoying nuisance to a real issue in 2011 there were persistent reports of these small Predators attacking pets killing baby swans and even taking over floating homes see the mink is peeking out where it shouldn't be in the first place and it seems to be quite aware of it in one case a woman discovered that her boat on a canal had turned into a minx meat harvesting shop Pest Control Specialists found about 80 duck carcasses inside and it all started when the woman suddenly noticed that the ducks that used to Nest around her house had disappeared well at least she figured out what happened to him this photo was also taken in Scotland too close to people they could be a real issue because they kill for the sake of food and fun the expert said the incident on the boat showed just how violent minks are but what about more serious prey this is the python that swallowed the porcupine and didn't survive this meal next up is the lion who had an unfortunate encounter with the porcupine during a hunt it'll probably die soon from infections in its wounds now look at the animal that regularly eats porcupines and isn't bothered by that in the slightest yes that's another member of the mustolids family the fisher cat they don't care that the porcupine has thirty thousand quills that look like tiny harpoons they look like something you try to avoid and you certainly wouldn't want such a quill sticking to your skin but the Fisher cat's one of the few animals that regularly attack and eat porcupines to do this these Predators run around porcupines trying to wear them down here it is waiting for the right moment to avoid the most dangerous parts of a porcupine's body the neck back and tail the fisher cat literally dances around its prey each time the animal sees the porcupine's face in the right position it lunges forward and Strikes repeated bites to the face disorient the prey cause bleeding and eventually send it into shock enough bites to the face and the porcupine will eventually bleed to death of course this process is not quick the expert says that the lethal dance alone takes from 30 minutes to an hour often in the process the fisher cat would scalp the porcupine sometimes the porcupine gets beheaded and there's an explanation for that as well after the prey dies the fisher cat grasps the porcupine's face with its jaws and turns the prickly animal over to expose its belly that's the way to eat safely without risking getting quilled true fisher cats are sloppy so they do get injured but it doesn't seem to bother them this one has three quills sticking out of its face and that's just on one side yes Fisher Cats don't worry when quills get in their faces while they don't have superpowers that make them invulnerable to quills they do seem to be able to resist infections that would kill other animals an unpublished study examined a hundred fisher cat skulls collected by hunters the experts found that about 1 in 10 of the skulls had quills embedded in them meaning that these tough little creatures had survived at least one quilling the Canada Lynx so formidable Hunter roams freely and vast snowy Landscapes with no one to challenge it no one except for the fisher cat in addition to fearlessly hunting porcupines fisher cats can also Target lynxes predatory cats that are about twice the size of the average fisher cat National Geographic reports that researchers tracking lynxes with radio collars have sometimes found their subjects Dead with small bite marks on their necks and heads these are the kind of bites commonly inflicted by Fisher Cats fisher cats like their relatives I've already mentioned really have no limit on the size of the animal they're willing to attack judging by the tracks Fisher Cats often attack lynxes in the midst of a quick snowstorm which probably works to the advantage of these vicious little Predators Fisher Cats attack when lynxes are lying in their den to wait out the bad weather going right for their necks they just buckle on they have a pretty powerful grip and they know where to attack says the expert adding that the Fisher Cats finished links is off pretty quickly just a reminder we're not talking about small domestic cats we're talking about lynxes sure the lynx doesn't give up without a fight but it doesn't seem to last long after the lynx dies the fun just Begins for the fisher cats they pull the lynx carcass apart and hide the pieces in different places probably because they just can't eat that much meat at once and by hiding in different places I mean that a fisher cat might as well take a Linksys paw and drag it up a tree somewhere you think this Bear's climbing a tree for no reason nope he's not even trying to reach a Linksys paw he's trying to stay safe from a wolverine Wolverines are really scary normally this animal can weigh 33 pounds yes Wolverines are the size of an average dog although Wolverines are small in size their inherent rage compensates for it that's why when one of the Wolverines ended up near Yellowknife Middle School they put it on a lockdown that's the right decision to make actually we're all pretty lucky because Wolverines rarely attack people but it's not because they're afraid of us more likely they just don't want to waste their time on us because wolverines have better things to do like biting a bear in its face or chasing it into a tree it's no coincidence that in Latin The Wolverine is called gulogulo which can be translated as Glutton Glutton these animals will eat anything they've reportedly killed moose and devoured porcupines whole along with the quills you get it right whereas fisher cats have simply learned to avoid quills and tolerate injuries Wolverine simply devour those quills and no they really aren't afraid of bears I wouldn't be surprised if Wolverines ate bears for breakfast but we couldn't find any information on that though we do know that a wolverine once killed a polar bear in a zoo by latching at its throat and holding on until its foe died I'll repeat that and you just let that sink in an animal the size of a dog killed the largest land predator and it seems to have done so out of pure spite last year Rangers in a U.S national Park saw an amazing scene 13 Wolverines ran across a snowy field in pursuit of a mother grizzly bear and her three Cubs keep in mind that a grizzly bear especially with Cubs is one of the most dangerous creatures in the world but apparently even this Predator is afraid of a pack of wolverines but Wolverines are not afraid of grizzly bears and not only Grizzlies Tierra Wolverine is fending off wolves protecting itself and its cub Wolverines are also willing to fight to the death these are not the kind of creatures who will back down we've blurred the details but instead of the expected black fur the area where the back of the Wolverine's head should be reveals a pale gray flash better not imagine that this Wolverine clearly survived a brutal fight and is now eating its prey like nothing happened not bothered by losing its scalp moreover the wound looks dark that is it may not be fresh and perhaps it's already healing that's just how tough these animals are death by infection ha not when it comes to Wolverines Wolverines also have claws that can gut well pretty much anything in their way there are thought to be semi-retractable but they're actually fixed even that feature of the Wolverine is unique among other creatures however the biomechanics of the toe allows the animal to perform all necessary actions and still keep its claws sharp in addition their claws are also curved and therefore ideal for hooking and shredding shredding what you might wonder everything that moves Wolverines also live in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet wolverines have paws that are perfectly adapted for maneuvering through snowy terrain making it highly unlikely for you to outrun them escaping from them would be equally challenging look these footprints in the snow are not deep at all Wolverines can be found in the taiga and Tundra of North America Europe and Asia where it can be chilly even in the summer so no wonder that these animals have evolved specifically to handle the cold weather they have large Paws that spread when they hit the ground doubling their contact area and distributing their weight this helps Wolverines move through the snow at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour oh and don't forget the thick greasy fur which resists Frost Wolverine's teeth are also designed by Nature specifically to tear and gnaw even when dealing with the Frozen carcass these teeth are unique in their own way for example wolverines have a special molar that sits sideways at 90 degrees which is used to break bone and it's also very handy for tearing frozen meat in addition wolverines have powerful jaws and the combination of strong jaw muscles and special molars allows them to eat all parts of the animal including Hooves bones and teeth thank you now check out this story last year a biker was riding through an area in Idaho where wolverines live and suddenly the wild animal decided to move towards her on the one hand if I were the biker I'd get somewhere far away and as fast as possible on the other hand she filmed a unique video because the Wolverine was carrying something at first we thought it was a skunk or a possum or something nope take a closer look it's a goat head I have so many questions how did Wolverine get a goat head did it kill a goat chew on it for days and decide to take the head with it for dessert or was the head all the Wolverine got and someone else ate the rest of the goat so uh Steve is there anyone we haven't mentioned yet oh that's right ferrets the endangered black-footed ferret is going extinct because of the plague the disease as is usually the case is transmitted by fleas from rats that arrived in California in the 1800s both ferrets and prairie dogs the ferret's main prey are susceptible to the plague if prairie dogs become extinct it'll pose a significant threat to the survival of black-footed ferrets as well as several other animals like eagles owls and coyotes who depend on prairie dogs as a primary food this begs the question how would one protect them all for example you could spread the vaccine over a huge area not by hand but with a glorified gumball machine this device could be mounted on a drone which would use GPS to drop the vaccine every 29 feet we couldn't find a picture of this thing but we imagine it looks like this the Drone will also be able to shoot left and right meaning it'll drop three vaccine doses at the same time a human can only cover .008 square miles per hour but a drone can cover more than 0.3 square miles well the projectiles are ordinary M M's covered in peanut butter prairie dogs find these candies tasty and eat them with pleasure so it was decided to coat them with a vaccine and then to scatter them around who would refuse such a treat here they are looking like typical candy and then apparently the vaccinated prairie dog gets eaten by a ferret and everyone's happy well except for the prairie dog it's probably not thrilled about that and this is an alligator we all know what alligators look like it's a deadly predator just the look of one which can scare anyone and this is a river otter a small mammal that yes it's holding an alligator by its neck these photos were taken in Florida and the otter ended up tearing the young alligator apart in fact otters are voracious Predators close to the top of the food chain in most places they live so wherever they cross paths with alligators and caimans they quite often act this way this corner came and knows it's got problems it's truly a remarkable feat I mean this isn't a small alligator it's likely about three or four years old with onlookers estimating its length to be about five feet it takes a courageous creature to confront such a formidable alligator by the way why did the otter bite it said apparently this is a learned behavior the otter has already tried attacking smaller Gators and got bit several times before it realized which side of the alligator is less dangerous this otter one knows all too well that it's best to approach an alligator from behind also crocodiles and alligators swing their heads from side to side when they fight in order to stay safe from the reptile strike the otter needs to be completely out of its reach the best course of action is to clamp onto the alligator's neck with its teeth while holding onto its back alligator skin is incredibly tough making it difficult to bite through the armor on its back is specifically designed to withstand the bites of other alligators on the other hand otters possess greater endurance in contrast alligators have enough energy only for a short bursts of aggression therefore the best strategy is to wear your opponent down which actually takes only a few minutes pretty soon the alligator will get tired its muscles will fill with lactic acid and stop functioning at that point it's almost like it's intoxicated and the otter can then get it up on the shore eventually it's the lactic acid that'll cause the gator to die not the bites it would take a long time to kill a reptile this way a group of otters can swiftly overpower a Cayman measuring about five feet in length making quick work of their prey within just 45 minutes they consume the entire reptile including its skull and bones otters consume every part of their prey including the spine leaving nothing untouched does it mean that otters eat their prey while it's still alive yes as soon as the otter gets to shore it immediately starts tearing off pieces of the alligator's skin the otter has teeth sharp enough to get to the guts and meat many of the pieces end up scattered around some experts draw comparisons between otters and lions noting that lions are also sloppy eaters actually otters eat anything they can catch and take down here for example an otter calmly bites into a sharp toothed piranha all in all these are smart quick and strong predators they eat a lot of amphibians and fish but they also prey on large beavers raccoons Turtles snakes and small alligators of course alligators can also eat otters so here the fastest one wins but there are actually more formidable otters giant otters their Footprints are often bigger than a human hand these animals reach six feet in length and weigh 70 pounds after the Jaguar the giant otter is the largest and most formidable predator in South America but unlike the jaguar and all other otters this species lives and hunts in packs of up to nine individuals and that's a giant Advantage as giant as the otter itself a biologist once observed a family of otters hunting in Anaconda the Predators bit and held the snake in several places at once and then began to thrash the Anaconda against the trunk of a tree afterwards the Otters had a sort of tug of war game anyway the Anaconda didn't have any chance to live through this actually giant otters may not be the most courageous otters out there imagine the shock of the people who spotted a sea otter off the coast of California eating a shark or rather trying to eat it of course it was a small horn shark but still even the expert who was asked to comment on what happened admitted that this is the first recorded case of such a hunt I mean there are reports about sea otters preying on stingrays but taking on a shark actually the shark species lives on the sea floor and eats the same thing that sea otters do they also have a very strong bite yes the horned sharks aren't nearly as dangerous as great white sharks but they do have powerful jaws and teeth to crush shells of shellfish so it's by no means the easiest prey unfortunately we'll never know whether the shark captured through the photographer's lands managed to retaliate by biting the sea otter the people might have scared the sea otter off or the struggling prey put up too much resistance in any case the Sharks simply swam away nonetheless what the sea otter did was undeniably impressive and just when you're starting to think that otters are some unexpectedly violent creatures you read this in 2021 a pack of vicious river otters has been placed on Alaskan authorities Wanted list sure the local otters look incredibly cute but don't let their appearance fool you these wild animals have attacked dogs children and even adults three otter attacks were reported in Anchorage in September and officials asked residents to be alert around local lakes and rivers one of the victims even had to be taken to the ER two more attacks followed later that month both occurring on the same day in the first case an otter bit a woman who is rescuing her dog from a pack of otters and the second one recorded at the same Lake the Otters attacked another dog you see they even put up a warning sign this isn't the first time otters have attacked dogs in Anchorage in two separate incidents in 2019 two dogs a labradoodle and a husky mix were attacked by otters and dragged underwater while swimming in the legs the owners had to jump in after their pets to fight off the Otters both dogs survived but received bites and cuts that required several stitches although no one knows how many otters are really Behind These incidents it seems to be the same group of particularly aggressive animals it's like a river or a lake gang given the dogs were present in nearly all of the attacks they're most likely the ones the Otters are reacting to the expert noted that otters don't typically exhibit such a strong reaction towards dogs or people it's possible that a previous incident with a dog taught the Otters to be aggressive although it may seem like the Otters are going too far there's likely a reason in their past that we're unaware of but with all that said we're all pretty lucky that modern otters are not that big even the giant ones because the remains of an ancient otter found in Ethiopia show that the long extinct creature was the size of a modern lion an honor the size of a lion and it weighed 440 pounds thank goodness it went extinct two and a half million years ago the teeth found by researchers alone are an inch long here you can clearly see how big otters used to be compared to their descendants because of its enormous size this species said to have fed on both Aquatic and terrestrial prey also the ancient otter likely died when the human climate became drier plus the ancient hominids began to take over all in all things didn't work out in the Otter's favor and given all the things modern otters are capable of I think it's for the best see you later foreign

Channel: WATOP

Views: 175,185

Keywords: WATOP, Wa Top

Id: 32M1sA2AdLo

Length: 25min 7sec (1507 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 17 2023