Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 The riverbeds are battlefields where the vicious thrive.
00:05 The freshwater crocodile.
00:12 This smaller, slender cousin of the salty might not look dangerous, but don't be fooled.
00:21 This croc has speed and power.
00:26 [music]
00:36 But patience is its true virtue.
00:40 It favours the sit and wait method of hunting.
00:44 It allows its prey to come within range, moving with speed only when required.
00:54 The freshwater crocodile will eat just about anything it can find in the shallow waters of inland streams.
01:01 With a perfect hydrodynamic design, it propels itself through the water with a muscular tail, making up half its body length.
01:11 This crocodile knows that in this wetland there will soon be prey arriving from above.
01:22 Fruit bats, otherwise known as flying foxes.
01:26 These shady dealers prefer to do most of their business at night.
01:31 As the sun climbs higher in the sky, they compete for shade.
01:37 They're all at risk from the same danger.
01:42 Dehydration.
01:44 They need water.
01:47 [music]
01:52 They collect water by swooping low onto the surface, drenching their fur,
01:57 so they can lick off the moisture when they return to the roost.
02:02 Lurking below, a crocodile waits.
02:15 After a full day in the sun, it's charged up and hungry.
02:20 The crocodilian metabolism may lack stamina, but it still powers explosive bursts of speed.
02:32 Just missed.
02:36 [music]
02:49 This bat knows the croc is on the hunt, but desperate with thirst, it takes the risk.
02:56 It doesn't take long before other freshies join the feast.
03:05 [music]
03:11 As the darkness descends, the surviving fruit bats head out across the forests.
03:18 Australia's wetlands are truly deadly.
03:24 Fast swimmers over short distances, salties can reach 18 miles an hour.
03:33 They move upriver, each in search of a different meal.
03:37 Water buffalo wander across the wetlands.
03:45 Introduced from Western Asia, they now run wild.
03:49 They graze on aquatic grasses and other wetland plants.
03:56 The males can weigh up to one ton, eating up to 66 pounds of vegetation every day.
04:03 As the heat slowly rises, the buffalo move to the water to drink and cool down.
04:12 The female croc sees them.
04:16 She stays hidden, waiting for her moment.
04:24 Crocodiles haven't changed much since the time of the dinosaurs.
04:28 They're designed to ambush.
04:33 Only her eyes, ears and nostrils are exposed above the waterline.
04:41 But moving in for the kill, she disappears completely.
04:49 Muscles constrict her nostrils and her throat is closed off with a flap of skin,
04:54 preventing water from entering her lungs when she opens her mouth.
04:59 She targets one of the smaller buffalo that has wandered in too deep.
05:15 The notorious death roll finishes the job.
05:19 Meanwhile, the male has come across another thirsty local.
05:36 A wallaby, desperate for a midday drink.
05:43 The reptile's approach is silent.
05:47 The wallaby wanders into the boss croc's kill zone.
05:52 The beast hurtles from the water at 12 miles per hour.
06:02 He can't move his jaw from side to side and chew like a human.
06:10 The only way to break up his kill is to shake the carcass to shreds.
06:16 The crocs each return to their home among the mangroves to digest their meals.
06:33 Hey Love Nature fans! Be sure to like and subscribe to catch all our wild animal stories.
06:39 Get closer to nature, right here on YouTube.