Season 3 Ep3 - Monster Mayhem
Some of the world's biggest animals duke it out in spectacular landscapes all across the globe.
Animal Fight Night features battles amid the biggest, baddest and surprising fighters in the wild.
Some of the world's biggest animals duke it out in spectacular landscapes all across the globe.
Animal Fight Night features battles amid the biggest, baddest and surprising fighters in the wild.
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:01Earth's diverse continents.
00:05Home to millions of species of animals who clash in nature's savage battles of survival.
00:12But what happens when these terrestrial titans turn against each other?
00:17Animals fight tooth and claw to win food, territory, and rights to the bloodline.
00:32From the plains of Africa to the ice of the Arctic, there are no rules.
00:38This is Animal Fight Club.
00:47On the African savannah, the fight for life is brutal and relentless.
01:04In this blood-soaked arena, two gladiators stand out from the competition.
01:12In one corner, weighing in at around 550 pounds, the lion is pure swagger, with the chops to back it up.
01:25Running at up to 50 miles per hour, it uses brute force and a set of razor-sharp claws to take down any animal that whets its appetite.
01:37In the other corner, weighing up to a staggering 2,200 pounds, the Nile crocodile is a deadly armored assassin.
01:48A ruthless predator, who uses one of the most forceful bites on Earth to drag animals as big as a wildebeest to a grim underwater death.
01:58But when these two super predators face off, all bets are off.
02:07The banks of the Mara River, Kenya.
02:10A pack of crocs feast on a dead hippo.
02:13A pride of hungry lions approach.
02:17At 3,000 pounds, a hippo is a big prize.
02:27And this lion is determined to steal some.
02:32He swipes with his deadly claws and signals his intentions with an ear-shattering roar.
02:42The lion's larynx is set far back in his throat.
02:47Where most other animals have a bone, he has an elastic ligament that stretches to 8 inches, creating a wide air passage that amplifies his roar to 114 decibels.
03:01As loud as a jet engine taking off, it can be heard 5 miles away.
03:06It would scare off a lesser opponent.
03:14But it'll take more than that to impress a Nile crocodile.
03:18Because the Nile croc has a killer weapon.
03:21A powerful set of jaws.
03:26He has seven jaw muscles.
03:28Just one is for opening.
03:30The other six are dedicated to clamping shut.
03:33Creating a bite force of almost 3,000 pounds.
03:39You'd need a hydraulic press to pry them open.
03:45But the pride has a strategy.
03:50The male lions work as bodyguards while a lioness moves in to feed.
03:54She knows not to venture too close to the crocs.
04:03Instead, she stays shoreside and uses her sharp back teeth like scissors to shear flesh off the dead hippo's leg.
04:22But the male lions decide they want the whole feast.
04:28And the situation escalates.
04:30One and a half inch claws are as sharp as a knife.
04:35And can easily slice most animals' skin and muscle.
04:39But the croc has armor.
04:41A geometric arrangement of scales that allows him free movement and protection at the same time.
04:49The lioness puts it to the test.
04:53But his armor holds.
04:58He bites.
04:59But her reflexes are too fast.
05:04The crocs won't back down.
05:07But neither will the lions.
05:10So they both settle in for dinner.
05:27With a side dish of danger.
05:31Tooth versus claw is nothing compared to the biggest fight of all.
05:44With trunks, killer tusks, and ten tons of savanna combat.
05:50Standing up to 13 feet tall, elephants are the strongest animals to walk the earth.
05:59Easily pushing over anything that gets in their way.
06:04No other animal could dream of taking on a grown elephant.
06:09Apart from another elephant.
06:11These behemoths need to quench their thirst every three days.
06:24But out here in the Kalahari Desert, water is scarce.
06:28So when a precious life-giving pool is discovered, elephants from over a hundred miles around descend.
06:37Elephants are social animals.
06:39But their social hierarchy is in flux.
06:43The adult males must fight for dominance.
06:46And mating rights.
06:49Fights can be epic.
06:51Ending with one of the contenders dead.
06:56This is the big daddy.
06:59He's 27 years old.
07:01And used to getting his way.
07:04But his challenger is defiant.
07:06And itching for a fight.
07:09Big daddy is the first to attack.
07:16He tests the challenger's strength.
07:21The name of the game is to push your opponent over.
07:26Using one of the most formidable weapons in the animal kingdom.
07:29Big daddy's trunk is a fusion of his upper lip and nose.
07:39Containing around 100,000 different muscles.
07:42This makes it maneuverable and strong.
07:46A lethal combination like no other.
07:48The challenger uses his to try to force big daddy down.
07:58But here in the water, neither side can land a decisive blow.
08:03Time to take the fight onto solid ground.
08:06Time to take the fight onto solid ground.
08:18Big daddy tries to spear his opponent with his killer weapon.
08:21Tusks.
08:22His tusks are actually long teeth.
08:31Made from dentine.
08:32With an enamel coating.
08:34That makes them incredibly hard.
08:36They're so strong, they can pierce hide that's up to one inch thick.
08:46The challenger strikes back with his tusks.
08:49To force big daddy's head down.
08:51Just like humans are left or right handed.
08:54Elephants have a dominant tusk.
08:56He twists to take advantage of his.
09:01He tries to jump to get more height on big daddy.
09:06But the move backfires.
09:11Big daddy now has leverage under the challenger's trunk.
09:22His tusks are dangerously close to the challenger's underside.
09:28The challenger's chest and rib cage is where he's most vulnerable.
09:33If big daddy's tusk pierces here, it could hit the challenger's airways, lungs or heart.
09:38Leaving him mortally injured.
09:40The challenger knows he's in trouble and turns to disengage.
09:53But it's a critical error.
09:55And big daddy presses home his advantage.
09:59It's a winning move.
10:02The humiliated challenger flees.
10:04Leaving big daddy as king of the watering hole.
10:18When it comes to combat, big isn't always best.
10:25These creatures are so ferocious, they'll fight to the death.
10:30Battling on, even after they've been decapitated.
10:41In Africa, even the smallest animals have to fight for their right to survive.
10:47As ant colonies grow, they need more and more food.
10:53The fastest way to secure it is a violent takeover of their neighbor's land.
10:59With two armies, both more than 10,000 strong, this battle will have a high body count.
11:06Any ant warrior that takes the field may not make it home alive.
11:13The inch-long soldiers lead the attack.
11:19They send out pheromones for others to join them.
11:24African ants have a heart-shaped head equipped with their major weapon.
11:31The mandibles.
11:37Ant mandibles are curved, with a jagged edge like a saw.
11:42They're made of chitin, the same as their exoskeleton.
11:45But are reinforced with proteins that make them even stronger, to cut through the bodies of their enemies.
11:58Using their mandibles, the ants lock together with all their might.
12:02Their goal? Rip off their rival's limbs and target the vulnerable area between the head and chest.
12:12And they work together to take out their opposition.
12:17The ant on the right uses her mandibles to hold her opponent down, while the ant on the left tries to saw her head off.
12:27The ant on the right is the ant on the right.
12:37These are one of Animal Fight Club's ultimate contenders.
12:41Because even if they do succeed in severing a rival's body part, just like in a zombie movie, the incomplete body can keep on fighting.
12:50This ant is fighting against a head and an arm that has been severed from its body.
13:03Ants have a simple nervous system.
13:06Their basic movements are controlled by bundles of nerves called ganglia, spread out along their bodies.
13:12When an ant loses a head or other body part, the ganglia continue to generate movement.
13:17This disembodied head can fight on for hours, or until its body fluid runs out.
13:26The fight won't be over until every last ounce of energy has been spent.
13:34As the battlefield becomes littered with the dying body parts of the defenders,
13:41it becomes clear the invaders have won a grisly victory.
13:47Their territory and food supply has just gotten a whole lot bigger.
13:56You may sometimes think males have only one thing on their mind.
14:00And for red deer stags during the rut, or breeding season, you'd be absolutely right.
14:09Red deer stags spend so much energy chasing girls, that at the end of the rut, they can drop down dead with exhaustion.
14:19Most of that energy is used up fighting off the competition.
14:31This Casanova is seven years old.
14:35Four and a half feet tall, and weighing up to 418 pounds, he's at his peak reproductive fitness.
14:42Casanova's got himself a harem of female deer.
14:47Now, all he has to do is hold onto them.
14:51This is his love rival.
14:54Pumped full of testosterone, and ready to fight.
14:59He calls out a challenge.
15:02What a challenge.
15:04Casanova replies.
15:06He won't give up his females without a fight.
15:09The prize is the right to the bloodline.
15:12But stag fights can end in injury and death.
15:16So both fighters risk losing it all.
15:21Both warriors deploy their key offensive weapon.
15:26Their antlers.
15:27Driving them into their opponent, using all of their body weight.
15:33The strategy is lock, push, then twist.
15:38Trying to throw your opponent off balance, and turn his body so you can gore him with the sharp points.
15:46Antlers are made of bone.
15:48Stags strip the minerals from their own skeleton, so they can grow them up to 39 inches long.
15:53Flexible and tough, they can be used to inflict deep wounds, put out an eye, and even kill, by puncturing an opponent's skull.
16:04But they've got to get past their rival's antlers first.
16:13Shaped like a catcher's mitt, they're as good defensively as they are offensively.
16:18The challenger tries to get the advantage by twisting his antlers from below.
16:21The challenger tries to get the advantage by twisting his antlers from below.
16:25But he's thrown off balance.
16:28He rallies quickly enough to avoid being gored.
16:34And tries again.
16:36He drives Casanova back.
16:48The tips of his antlers are desperately close to Casanova's vulnerable eyes.
16:53And his skull.
16:56And his skull.
16:57Way too close for Casanova's liking.
17:03Keep fighting, and he risks death.
17:11So he chooses life.
17:13And his love rival claims his harem.
17:16At least until the next challenger stakes his claim.
17:26In the Arctic, the polar bear is the resident kingpin.
17:31He can walk for days in this snowbound wilderness without meeting another living being.
17:36Which suits him just fine.
17:40It's when he meets another polar bear that the problems start.
17:47With female polar bears only having cubs once every two or three years.
17:52There are many more males than available females.
18:08And the competition for the right to breed is cutthroat.
18:12So male polar bears have evolved to be warriors.
18:16Up to ten feet tall and weighing fifteen hundred pounds.
18:21They're double the size of the females.
18:23And have bigger weapons too.
18:26Fights often end in both animals being bloodied and maimed.
18:31So when two male polar bears meet, the results can be brutal.
18:43The frozen Arctic.
18:44Nature at its most beautiful.
18:48And its most merciless.
18:51Two of the largest land carnivores on earth clash over the rights to the bloodline.
18:57On the right, at ten years of age, this bear is older and battle scarred.
19:05But on the left, the eight year old junior has seen his share of fighting too.
19:09With the missing chunks of fur to prove it.
19:11Polar bears fight like sumo wrestlers, pushing their opponents to try to get them off balance and send them crashing to the ground.
19:22The older bear launches a volley of powerful attacks on his younger opponent.
19:28His forelimbs are designed for strength.
19:33The muscles attach to the bones further away from the pivoting joints than they do in other animals.
19:39Producing more leverage.
19:42Giving him a more powerful punch than a grizzly bear.
19:45The older bear uses his hind limb muscles to launch his entire fifteen hundred pound body down on his opponent.
19:56That's like having two vending machines dropped on your head.
20:00But the young challenger is tough.
20:09He battles to get his paws on top, to dominate his opponent.
20:14The challenger has five curved two inch claws on each paw.
20:30Sharp and strong enough to cut through ice, they can inflict serious damage on another bear.
20:35Then, Junior brings out his best weapon.
20:42His teeth.
20:45He aims for the older bear's exposed neck.
20:53The challenger has forty-two teeth, including four canines up to two inches long.
20:59Their length means he can sink them deep into his opponent, before clamping down with a force of almost five hundred pounds.
21:10But the veteran's got a deadly set of teeth, too.
21:14He bites back, getting a hold on the challenger's neck.
21:20And when his attacks become relentless, the challenger cuts his losses.
21:25He doesn't want any more chunks taken out of his neck today.
21:34When you think of animal action heroes, a gecko might not be the first thing that springs to mind.
21:44He may only be a few inches long.
21:47But he can scale a sheer rock face.
21:50Shed his skin to get out of a tight corner.
21:54And make himself almost totally invisible.
22:02This is a three-year-old Wahlberg's velvet gecko.
22:06He's locked in Mortal Kombat with a five-year-old Western Natal green snake.
22:11It grows up to fifty-one inches long.
22:16Eleven times the gecko's size.
22:20The snake wants to eat him.
22:25But this action hero's determined he won't be on the menu today.
22:30The gecko is a seasoned warrior.
22:36He's already lost his tail in a previous battle.
22:39In this fight, he has a bold but simple strategy.
22:43Bite and hold the snake's jaw.
22:47That way, his opponent can't eat it.
22:50It's a risky tactic.
22:51The snake's strategy is to bite the gecko repeatedly, delivering a venom that will cause the gecko to hemorrhage blood until he's so exhausted the snake can devour him whole.
23:06Although the gecko's hold prevents the snake eating him, he can still bite and deliver venom.
23:11But the gecko has a defense.
23:14He can close off the blood supply to his broken skin.
23:18And here on this log, he can bring another skill into play.
23:23Adhesive feet.
23:25Up to one hundred million grippers on each foot generate around four and a half pounds of sticking force.
23:32Meaning he can cling to the log even though the snake is pulling against him with all his power.
23:38But the gecko's jaw can't hold forever.
23:43He gets the upper hand again.
23:48But the snake bites have cut so deep, his constricting blood vessels are useless.
23:54The snake goes for the gecko's back and sides.
24:00But he can't get a hold.
24:02The gecko's strategy of biting and holding on for all he's worth is working again.
24:13And the snake's had enough.
24:18The gecko's put up too tough a fight.
24:22He enjoys victory and none too soon.
24:27When geckos fight, their oxygen needs far outstripped supply and lactic acid builds up in their bodies.
24:37This fight has been the equivalent of running a marathon.
24:41At least he's alive.
24:43But then, the snake changes his mind.
24:50Real life isn't like the movies.
25:05The hero doesn't always win.
25:07And the snake gets his reward.
25:11He devours his dinner whole.
25:20Life and death battles don't just happen on land.
25:24Down here, they involve teeth, venom, and one very big mouth.
25:31The Pacific Coast, California.
25:44A paradise of sun, sand, and surf.
25:49But beneath the waves, it's a battleground.
25:53Because this stretch of sunny California is home to the most argumentative fish in the sea.
25:59The sarcastic fringehead.
26:11A foot-long fish with attitude.
26:16Home can be anything from a crack in a rock to an old tin can.
26:21For this old man of the sea, it's an abandoned shell.
26:24A sarcastic fringehead's home is his castle.
26:30Become homeless, and he'll be vulnerable to predators and struggle to find food to eat.
26:36He'll defend it with all he's got.
26:38So when an octopus crosses his land looking for food, an underwater showdown is inevitable.
26:56The fringehead goes on the attack.
26:58His weapon, a mouth that flares wide to reveal 75 razor-sharp teeth.
27:14His goal, sink those deadly little knives into the octopus's soft flesh.
27:18But that won't be easy.
27:26This octopus is young, but already battle-scarred.
27:30With a short stump where one of his arms should be.
27:34Perhaps he's met a sarcastic fringehead before.
27:36His remaining arms are up to twice as long as his opponent.
27:43So he packs a serious punch.
27:45Each arm has two or three hundred suckers.
27:49If he catches the fish, he can use these to pull it to his sharp beak.
27:53Where he'll deliver a dose of poison so deadly, a single drop can paralyze a small fish.
27:58But the old man is agile.
28:12A flexible body and large bendy fins mean he's built for swimming in quick bursts.
28:19And can change direction in an instant.
28:23In this fight, speed and unpredictability are an advantage.
28:29The octopus lands a couple of punches.
28:31And while he's got some breathing room, takes the chance to escape.
28:36The old man gets in one last vicious attack as he retreats.
28:41Just to make sure the intruder never darkens his door again.
28:47The sarcastic fringehead gets his prize.
28:51Lunch.
28:53And a peaceful home.
28:58Across the world, animals fight to get enough food to survive.
29:03And on the African savannah, everybody else's lunch is fair game.
29:08Wild dogs weigh up to 79 pounds.
29:12And can reach a top speed of 37 miles per hour.
29:15At least 70% of their hunts end in a kill.
29:18And pound for pound, they eat more than any other carnivore.
29:22Weighing in at up to 176 pounds, a hyena can hear the sound of a kill up to six miles away.
29:25And smell it from two and a half.
29:26And smell it from two and a half.
29:27It will take on a pride of lions if it thinks there's food to be had.
29:29בכ Ones are wild dogs get lRRCK7
29:34and the wild dogs and molly running camera.
29:37And if you wanna drink this in a sound as a culprit,
29:40be able to discover the associated food to 90 miles.
29:54in Kruger National Park a pack of wild dogs devour an Impala at well over a
30:04hundred pounds it will keep the whole pack going for a day but sure enough
30:11it's not long before competition arrives two hyenas want a piece of the action
30:16but the dogs won't give up their kill without a fight and with both animals
30:23able to kill each other this fight could end with dead prey and predator Kruger
30:33National Park South Africa two hyenas fight with eight wild dogs over a dead
30:41Impala the hyenas are twice the dog size but the dogs work as a pack using a
30:48range of sounds including these Twitters to talk to each other they use their
30:56collective muscle to back their bigger opponents into a corner
31:05then spread out and surround them the hyenas lower their hindquarters to protect
31:13their most important assets their genitalia it's a defensive posture but
31:19they've got an offensive weapon that could be a game-changer a bite that's
31:25designed to crush bone this hyena has three sets of jaw muscles powering 34
31:33short broad teeth that are set far back to maximize their crushing power his bite
31:39can exert a pressure of over 21,000 pounds per square inch more than a leopard or brown bear
31:45and enough to kill a wild dog in a single bite without even breaking its skin but the dogs have a
31:54vicious bite too and the power of the pack working together they keep the hyenas contained their success
32:03the hyenas as hunters is because they cooperate like this deciding the hyenas are no
32:08longer a threat they retire for lunch
32:16but one of the hyenas just won't give up and the pack signal they're not going to
32:21let it go so round two is on
32:33the hyenas have a strong bite but pound for pound the wild dogs is even stronger
32:42and because hyenas are so reliant on their sense of smell to scavenge her nose is packed with millions of nerve endings
32:57so that bite has got to hurt writhing in pain she's now also vulnerable to the rest of the pack
33:05when she finally twists free she can't go on she limps away the dogs half her size get back to their
33:25well-earned feast
33:34wherever in the world there is overpopulation
33:37competition is ferocious
33:43and if you're a hanuman langur monkey
33:45you'll use jaws hands and gang muscle to win
33:50on the outskirts of jodhpur in rajasthan
33:57monkey troops live by scavenging food discarded by the local people
34:02but with numbers growing all the time rival gangs battle for control of the territory
34:08and its food
34:09these newcomers want to take this territory by force
34:14from the residents an alpha male and his troop of wives and babies
34:19lose this battle
34:21and the residents will struggle to find enough food to keep themselves
34:24and their babies alive
34:29so they have everything to fight for
34:34the battle starts with the newcomers provoking the residents in a deadly game of tag
34:39the
34:46then the invading alpha male takes to the field
34:51weighing up to forty pounds
34:54hanuman langur males are larger than females
34:57and their weapons are bigger too
35:00nearly one inch long canines can bite through an infant monkey skull
35:04the alpha male is claiming the land for the newcomers
35:11the females form the front line of the residents defense
35:14they have the home advantage
35:17the fight escalates into all-out warfare
35:21the newcomers attack
35:28but the residents know the terrain
35:30and are a finely tuned team
35:35they rush at the invaders
35:38their strategy is to cut off individuals and overwhelm them
35:43to feed their children
35:45they even have to take on the alpha male
35:47it's high risk
35:50but these mothers are on a life or death mission
35:53the alpha male may be bigger
35:56but he and his gang aren't fighting as a coordinated unit
36:00working together the residents break through enemy lines
36:04teamwork wins the day
36:13and they drive the newcomers off their turf
36:19but as the monkey populations grow
36:21the competition for food will only get more ruthless
36:29when terrible danger lurks in every shadow
36:32it takes speed
36:34agility
36:35and the fighting skills of a martial arts master
36:39just to make it through the night
36:44in the omani desert middle east
36:46temperatures can reach 120 degrees
36:49and food sources are few and far between
36:52the jerd calls this place home
36:57at nearly a foot long from nose to tail
37:01and weighing just two ounces
37:03he's well adapted to life in the hot spot
37:06his keen sense of smell and acute hearing
37:10means he can search for food in the cool of the night
37:17this jerd hunter has a family to feed
37:20more than four feet underground
37:22his mate is keeping watch over a sleeping brood of five babies
37:27it takes four weeks for them to be able to fend for themselves
37:31around a quarter of jerd babies don't make it
37:34this daddy must brave the dangers of the desert night
37:37to keep them alive
37:41and he'll take on anyone that stands in his way
37:44even a deadly horned viper
37:50he uses his speed and agility
37:52to twist himself free from the viper's venomous fangs
37:59but that's not the greatest threat the daddy faces tonight
38:02he's gathering seeds in the shadows
38:05when he senses danger lurking
38:07his opponent is another jerd
38:24come to steal food from the mouths of his children
38:28a wounded jerd could struggle to survive
38:31so both fighters give it their all
38:33the father uses the long bones and large muscles of his hind legs
38:39to get leverage under his rival
38:44the intruder bites the father's tail
38:48his sharp teeth could inflict so much damage
38:52it drops off
38:54but the escape artist strikes again
38:55like sholin fighters they clash in mid-air
39:03jerds can jump more than two and a half times their body length
39:07that's like a six foot man jumping fifteen feet from a standing start
39:11from a standing start
39:22a wushu style kick sends the father flying
39:26but this acrobat lands square on his feet
39:29a perfect ten
39:35he regroups
39:36and uses all his strength
39:39to pin the intruder down
39:41with a bone crunching pile driver
39:47his opponent knows when he's beaten
39:49he's had enough
39:51and cowers under a twig
39:55the acrobatic escape artist
39:57has put his rival in his place
39:59and kept food on his family's table
40:01yellowstone national park
40:08hunting ground for the baddest animal fighters in north america
40:19and arena for one of the bloodiest long-running battles on the continent
40:23the bison
40:33is the biggest mammal on american soil
40:36up to six feet tall
40:39weighing a cool one ton
40:41bison bulls are fierce warriors
40:44using violent showdowns to decide
40:47who has the right to breed
40:49but for the female of the species
40:51the fight to secure the bloodline
40:54is a matter of life or death
40:56bison calves
40:58have only a fifty fifty chance of surviving their first year
41:01their mothers will use any force necessary
41:04to keep them alive
41:08one of the bison's deadliest enemies
41:10is the gray wolf
41:14what the wolf lacks in size
41:16it makes up for in speed and strategy
41:18working together in packs
41:21to bring down opponents
41:23ten times its size
41:25so when a pack of wolves meets a lone mama bison and her calf
41:30lives are on the line
41:36the pursuit is on
41:38the bison's outnumbered six to one
41:42surrounded she keeps her calf underneath her
41:44using her vast size to protect it from the circling wolves
41:49the wolf's number one weapon is his teeth
41:53he has forty two cutting blades that can strip the flesh from a young bison calf in minutes
41:59and a bite pressure of fifteen hundred pounds per square inch
42:04enough to crush a bison calf's skull
42:06but mama bison has a mega weapon too
42:12legs that are built to kill
42:17her thigh muscles help power a kick of nearly four thousand pounds in force
42:25at the end of each leg
42:27she has a five inch wide hoof
42:29a toe covered with a hard layer of keratin
42:32these missiles are so deadly
42:35they can kill a wolf with a single blow
42:38but this wolf seems to have nine lives
42:42the wolves have numbers on their side
42:48their strategy is to try to distract the mother by harassing her
42:53leaving her calf vulnerable to being picked off by one or two hunters
42:59when the wolf grabs her baby
43:03it looks like all is lost for mom
43:06but with the cavalry here
43:10two lethal hind legs
43:13are now ten
43:15and for the wolves
43:19consummate players of the numbers game
43:21they know the balance of the fight has turned against them
43:24mom claims victory
43:36she's kept her baby alive
43:38for one more day
43:39one more day
43:40one more day
43:42one more day