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(light dramatic music)
(bugs chirping)

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Anyone fascinated by the natural world

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has probably wondered why some animals

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have such strange looking sense organs.

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The elephant with its huge ears,

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the antennae of a butterfly,

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which up close look like feathers,

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the snake with its split tongue.

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And what about less obvious enhancements

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like the sensory cells on a crocodile's skin?

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Surely these evolutionary traits aren't just for decoration.

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In fact, the size, shape and location

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of these animals sense organs is all for a purpose,

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and just like us, animals rely on their senses

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to communicate with each other,

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find their way around, stay safe,

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and most importantly, to find food.

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When you see how superior some animal senses

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are compared to those of humans,

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you might wonder how we ever managed to stay

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on top of the food chain.

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"Animal Super Senses", you won't believe what's possible.

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Throughout the natural world, individuals interact,

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and sending and receiving information is vital for survival.

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Animals use communication to attract mates,

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ward off predators, defend territory, or trick their prey.

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And of course, it's the senses that play the key role.

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Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing,

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are all employed to send signals to others

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in the hope actions speak louder than words.

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In this episode of "Animal Super Senses"

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we find out more about the sensory powers used

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by animals to make messages loud and clear.

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Sun-baked Africa.

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Many animals find sanctuary from

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the heat in rivers and lakes.

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To keep cool, hippos spend much

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of their day wallowing in water.

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Even with their bodies submerged,

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the hippo can still see, hear and smell

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what's going on around it.

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Their epidermis is thin, with no sweat glands,

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but they do secrete a red fluid,

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giving rise to the myth that hippos sweat blood.

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This secretion contains a sunscreen, an antiseptic,

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and moistens delicate skin.

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Large, slow and rotund, these amphibious giants

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seem gentle and rather sleepy.

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Yawning is major pastime.

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(hippo yawns)

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But looks are deceiving.

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A large hippo guards his harem of females from sneaky males.

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If provoked, he will show who is boss.

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At 2,700 kilos, with formidable canines,

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the alpha sends a clear message to would-be Romeos.

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That's no sleepy yawn, it's a threat posture.

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Their 50-centimeter long teeth can do some serious damage.

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Even with the hippo's poor eyesight,

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having a huge gap should get the point across.

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But just in case the visual threat is ignored,

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hippos send another warning.

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This time, scent is used in a rather unique way.

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Hippos have a great sense of smell,

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a fact not lost in domain disputes.

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As the hippo goes to the toilet,

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it vigorously wags its tail, spreading poop far and wide.

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Dung spraying is the hippo's way of marking its territory.

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Breeding males fling feces at the competition

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in hope that these smelly encounters will decide the winner

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without resorting to a fight.

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In the savanna of East Africa is another social species.

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Baboons live in troops of related females,

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offsprings of various ages, and several adult males.

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Each individual has a rank with a dominant in charge.

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They get the best resources first,

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including access to the ladies.

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(upbeat music)

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But life at the top for the troop leader

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is not all fun and games.

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Every day there are pretenders to the throne looking

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for mating rights.

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Young virile males transfer

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from other groups to find a mate.

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These yawning threat postures send a strong visual message,

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exaggerating the length of the canines.

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But there are less aggressive ways of keeping your rank.

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Grooming is used to make friends and influence others.

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It's a communication tool that builds relationships

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and maintains strong bonds.

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This social sense of touch helps keep harmony in the group.

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A world away, on a different continent,

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things are heating up on a California beach.

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These beach bums are northern elephant seals.

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It's late November, and the breeding season has started.

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Mature bulls have begun to arrive

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with one thing on their mind.

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(upbeat music)

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(bulls squawking)

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The males will fight to determine who will be dominant.

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The winner's prize is a harem of blubber babes.

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Rather ungainly on land, these tubs of fat

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with pendulous noses can still pack a punch.

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In the elephant seal world, size does matter.

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The nose of a bull elephant seal starts to grow

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at puberty and continues to grow with age.

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It can reach two feet in length.

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Fights between males can get bloody

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and be surprisingly energetic.

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A testosterone fueled fight has contenders rear up

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and slam their bodies against each other.

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The scars of past contests are clear to see on some bulls,

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but efforts are made to avoid armed combat.

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Throwing back their heads to show off

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their enormous proboscis, the message is clear.

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A visual signal to intimidate challengers.

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And the nose has another function

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to back up the menacing sight.

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It's a sound chamber to amplify bellows.

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The roar serves to identify individuals

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and assess their size.

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The bigger the nose, the bigger the bellow.

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The alpha male, also known as the beach master,

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roars his superiority.

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Mating season on the beach can be a noisy affair.

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Sight and sound are used to communicate dominance

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in the elephant seal's world.

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Thanks to the senses, conflicts are usually settled

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without a deadly conclusion.

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Another animal, where males flex their physical might

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to attract the opposite sex, lives down under.

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Twice the size of females, and with bulging biceps,

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males show off in a bushland gym.

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The gray kangaroo lives in semi-nomadic mobs.

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Ranging throughout Australia, they prefer open grassland

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with areas of bush for daytime shelter.

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At dawn and dusk they come out to feed,

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grazing on a wide variety of grasses.

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Powerful back legs help them to travel at speeds

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of up to 65 kilometers per hour with minimal effort.

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During breeding season, males compete for females.

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Young bucks test their strength with each other by sparring.

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This ritualized fighting prepares them for adult life.

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In fact, the social life of a mob

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is akin to a bar room brawl with constant pushing,

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grabbing and shoving, even while feeding.

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This tactile behavior serves to communicate

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their status in the mob.

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But the real action is reserved for the adults.

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It starts off with an aggressive grass pulling,

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followed by the agitator rubbing their chests on the ground.

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Kangaroos have an excellent sense of smell,

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spreading the testosterone laced odor

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is a way to threaten their rivals.

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Scent marking is an important form

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of communication in marsupials.

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Studies have shown that social status

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could affect odor composition and act

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as a chemical fingerprint.

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Muscle bound males enter wrestling and kickboxing contests.

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They lock arms and try to push each other over.

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The meter-long tail is used for support

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when the back legs are lifted off

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the ground to kick opponents.

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It is a dominant male that gets to mate the most.

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Physical displays matter in the kangaroo world,

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not just to intimidate opponents,

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but also to woo the ladies.

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Lounging males of breeding age have been found

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to strike a pose to show off their bulky biceps.

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It's thought to be an effective strategy.

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Research has shown that males with big muscles

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are sexually selected for...

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In other words, female kangaroos find

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the hunkiest males sexy.

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Koalas sleep. A lot.

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In fact, for 20 hours a day, that's all they do.

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Apart from the occasional itch that needs to be scratched,

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but even then they don't wake up.

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Their strict diet of eucalyptus provides little nourishment

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and they need to conserve energy.

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A very slow metabolic rate allows koalas to digest

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their food over a long period of time

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to make sure as much nutrition is extracted as possible.

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Waking hours are spent chewing the fibrous leaves,

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and getting enough nutrients is even more important

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if you're eating for two.

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Joeys are born after 35 days of gestation.

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The tiny baby looks like a jelly bean and only

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two centimeters long.

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It's hairless, blind and has no ears,

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but it makes its own way from the mother's

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birth canal to her pouch.

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Relying on its well-developed sense of smell and touch

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to navigate to a teat.

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The joey stays with its mom for a year

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during which mothers and babies make soft clicking noises

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and gentle humming sounds to one another.

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Sensory communication strengthens bonds

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between mother and young.

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A life of eating and sleeping sounds idyllic,

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and this tree-hugger seems gentle, placid,

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and for all the world, like a cuddly bear.

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But when the breeding season arrives in August

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there's another much more active

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and noisy side to koala life.

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The koala's keen sense of hearing is put

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to good use in the eucalypt forest.

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Males issue sounds with a mixture

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of grunting, burping bellows.

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The noise is 20 times lower in pitch

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than the koala should be able to produce.

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A fact that has baffled researchers.

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But recent studies have found the answer.

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Koalas have two sets of vocal chords,

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unlike any other land mammal.

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The deep resonating calls of male koalas

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can penetrate far across the forest,

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advertising his social and physical position to females.

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Koalas are mostly solitary and avoid

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interactions where possible.

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Male koalas have home ranges that stretch over four acres.

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Some of these territories may overlap.

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A mature male has a gland on his chest that secretes

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a dark sticky substance.

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He rubs the odor on trees in the overlapping areas.

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In this way, koalas use the sense of smell

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to communicate their presence to rival males

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by scent marking their boundaries.

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When it comes to mating rituals and courtship,

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birds can out do mammals by sheer showmanship.

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The avian world has all manner of visual and vocal displays

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to attract attention and impress.

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Lyrebirds shake their tail feathers

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like a Las Vegas showgirl.

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Mannikins moonwalk like Michael Jackson.

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Prairie chickens use big boom base that can be heard

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over a kilometer away.

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Brolga cranes jump, dance and pirouette

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like prima ballerinas.

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And Magellanic penguins bill tap and flipper pat

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like Bavarian slap dancers.

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The sooty tern is another avian groover.

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Noisy and gregarious at breeding sites,

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they form large communities on rocky islands.

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The incessant calls of the colony have given

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the bird its name; wide awake.

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Unlike most terns, they don't dive,

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but pluck fish from surface waters.

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At the onset of the breeding season,

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sooty terns congregate in dense arial swirls off shore

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gradually getting closer to the nesting ground.

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Courting pairs engage in high flights.

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They ascend to great heights,

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then glide rapidly down to sea level.

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Once the terns settle on the ground, they begin to display.

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With thousands of pairs in close proximity,

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the honeymoon couple need to stand out from the crowd

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to get to know their new partner and form a bond.

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Prior to mating, both mates circle around each other

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with dropped wings and heads tilted.

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Sooty terns are monogamous,

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and this visual display serves to form a strong relationship

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necessary to rear young over the coming weeks.

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Once the pair is formed and eggs are laid,

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both parents take turns incubating the eggs in shifts.

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When the chick hatches, forging duties are also shared

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and sound sense plays a part.

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Adults call from the air as they come back

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to feed their chicks.

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The chick recognizes its parents' voices and calls back.

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They continue calling until the chick walks out to meet them

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and the family share a fish supper.

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The satin bowerbird is not particularly flashy

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in the looks department.

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But it does have a unique way of getting attention.

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What it lacks in colorful plumage

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it makes up for by kleptomania,

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stealing objects that it considers to be beautiful

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and worthy of display.

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This bird weaves a bower with thin twigs

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in an area to present its treasure for public viewing.

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The bowerbird is hoping to catch the eye

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of a passing female.

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It's particularly fond of blue objects.

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Different species have different color preferences,

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and researchers are trying to find out why.

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One theory is that bowerbirds choose

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the pigment that best complements their own coloring.

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The hardworking house husband spends a great deal

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of time arranging and rearranging his collection.

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He's meticulous at maintaining his design.

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When a big bird, like a brush turkey, comes wandering in,

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trampling his interior decorating,

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the poor male has to start again.

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But finally, it seems a female has taken interest.

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She inspects the bower and its contents.

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The bower and the blue treasure are only

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an enticement to step into the male's bachelor pad.

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The next stage of the courtship is the dance.

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The male leaps into action with a ritualized display

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of strutting and quivering, all the while

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carrying one of the bower decorations in his bill.

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To add to the assault on the female's visual senses,

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the male accompanies his routine

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with a variety of mechanical sounding calls.

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If impressed, the female stays in the love shack for mating,

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then she will leave to begin nesting duties on her own

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while the male readies himself for courting new girlfriends.

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Communicating accurate information is important

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if you want to get the girl, but there are animals that send

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out messages which are far from the truth.

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Some predators deceive their prey to make capture easier.

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The alligator snapping turtle sits on the bottom

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of a pond waiting.

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He eats gambusia fish, which feed on mosquito larvae.

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Weighing up to 90 kilos, this reptile is one

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of the largest freshwater turtles in the world.

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The secretive sluggish creature spends most

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of the daylight hours hiding.

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Moving fast isn't in his repertoire.

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The turtle doesn't seem capable

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of catching swift moving fish like the gambusia,

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but it has a cunning strategy.

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It lies in wait with jaws wide open.

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On the bottom of the mouth is a worm-like lure

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which it wriggles to entice on where he prey.

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The powerful sharp edged jaws are capable of severing

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a finger, and the fish stands little chance of escaping.

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This is predator to prey communication

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and visual trickery is the name of the game.

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But the title of master trickster should go

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to this creature.

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Dangerous and cunning, the portia spider

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is a master of deception.

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Portias are a genus of jumping spider.

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Its favorite food is other arachnids,

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like this one, a green water spider called a hygropoda,

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which produces mat-like webs on leaf surfaces.

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The nonsticky silk doesn't snag prey as such,

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the web serves more as an arena

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for the fast acting hunter to capture its dinner.

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The slightest movement is a critical attack queue.

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With stabbing fangs, hygropoda is a lethal adversary

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for a predator, but the jumping spider is not deterred.

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Using a remarkable hunting tactic,

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it exploits the water spider's sensitive detectors.

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The hunter slowly approaches the web of its prey.

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Moving its legs along the web, the portia plucks

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the silken strands as it goes.

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It's not just testing for movement, but delicately

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strumming the threads to arouse the web owner's curiosity.

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With stealth as a weapon, the jumping spider

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is mimicking its victim's prey.

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This unique cryptic stalking is a remarkable strategy,

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but that's not all.

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Portia spiders are astounding scientists

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with their range of hunting behaviors.

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Their strategies alter depending on

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the species of prey in question.

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These red backed spiderlings are defenseless

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against the portia's cunning.

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They can improvise their tactics in unfamiliar situations

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and remember the technique.

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Researchers don't understand how a creature

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with such a small brain can seem so intelligent.

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But what is plain to see is the portia spider

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uses the sense of touch to deceive its prey.

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(light music)

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The senses are the stars on "Animal Super Senses".

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In this show we found they are vital

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to animal communication.

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Visual displays depend on sight,

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vocal performances rely on hearing,

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and scent trails trust in the sense of smell

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to deliver a message.

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Without senses, animals couldn't communicate.

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They would be isolated and struggle to survive.

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Senses truly are sensational, as we've seen.

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Find out more amazing powers of animal perception

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next time on "Animal Super Senses".

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{\an8}(light dramatic music)