1 00:00:32,046 --> 00:00:34,685 (DOG BARKS) 2 00:00:39,886 --> 00:00:42,878 (SHEEP BLEAT) 3 00:00:49,726 --> 00:00:55,835 Meat, mammals' muscles, is the most energy-packed food there is. 4 00:00:56,006 --> 00:01:00,397 Human beings have set aside great areas of the countryside 5 00:01:00,566 --> 00:01:05,765 just in order to produce it - in this case, mutton. 6 00:01:06,646 --> 00:01:09,843 There is other meat to be had here, too - 7 00:01:10,006 --> 00:01:12,395 rabbits. 8 00:01:15,326 --> 00:01:18,318 We sometimes eat these as well, 9 00:01:18,486 --> 00:01:22,764 but today rabbits are more in danger from another hunter... 10 00:01:23,966 --> 00:01:25,684 a stoat. 11 00:01:30,566 --> 00:01:33,478 It's tiny - less than a foot long. 12 00:01:35,206 --> 00:01:38,676 Nonetheless, it's a skilled and determined killer. 13 00:02:15,286 --> 00:02:20,440 Its fangs, stabbed into the rabbit's neck, have crushed its skull. 14 00:02:20,606 --> 00:02:23,962 The rabbit weighs ten times as much as the stoat, 15 00:02:24,126 --> 00:02:27,198 but the stoat prefers to eat in privacy. 16 00:02:42,886 --> 00:02:46,799 Those daggers at the front of the jaw killed the rabbit. 17 00:02:46,966 --> 00:02:50,276 Triangular blades further back, like secateurs, 18 00:02:50,446 --> 00:02:53,438 help the stoat cut meat from bone. 19 00:02:53,606 --> 00:02:57,838 Those two kinds of teeth are the hallmark of all meat-eaters, 20 00:02:58,006 --> 00:03:00,600 small and large. 21 00:03:02,886 --> 00:03:05,525 There are two great tribes of carnivores. 22 00:03:05,686 --> 00:03:08,359 There are the cats... 23 00:03:13,766 --> 00:03:16,678 and there are the dogs. 24 00:03:25,006 --> 00:03:28,237 Both are skilled in the art of stalking. 25 00:03:41,246 --> 00:03:44,204 And both have a lethal pounce. 26 00:03:55,766 --> 00:04:00,476 The serval is so athletic it can sometimes bring down birds. 27 00:04:04,286 --> 00:04:08,484 It's one of the smallest of the cats. And this is the biggest. 28 00:04:08,646 --> 00:04:13,003 The Siberian tiger - ten feet long from nose to tail. 29 00:04:18,086 --> 00:04:22,637 The earliest fossils of meat-eating mammals, about 50 million years old, 30 00:04:22,806 --> 00:04:25,274 have been found in North America. 31 00:04:25,446 --> 00:04:27,960 They lived in trees, hunting birds. 32 00:04:28,926 --> 00:04:32,202 One of their descendants, the marten, still does. 33 00:04:46,246 --> 00:04:51,400 Its claws are long, but they can be partly retracted, keeping them sharp, 34 00:04:51,566 --> 00:04:54,364 and they give it a superb grip. 35 00:05:17,326 --> 00:05:21,717 But other prey sometimes tempts it down from the trees. 36 00:05:27,286 --> 00:05:32,041 And it's on the ground that most meat-eaters today go hunting. 37 00:05:36,366 --> 00:05:41,759 Dogs, descendants of those tree dwellers, soon spread round the world, 38 00:05:41,926 --> 00:05:46,681 and as they did, so their bodies changed to suit their new homes. 39 00:05:47,766 --> 00:05:53,443 This is the Sahara. The dog that lives here is the smallest of the foxes - 40 00:05:53,606 --> 00:05:55,881 the fennec. 41 00:05:59,286 --> 00:06:02,278 Its huge ears help avoid overheating. 42 00:06:02,446 --> 00:06:07,520 Here, moisture is very precious. The fennec doesn't waste it on sweat. 43 00:06:07,686 --> 00:06:12,123 Instead, it cools its blood by circulating it through capillaries 44 00:06:12,286 --> 00:06:17,440 close to the surface of its immense ears, which act like car radiators. 45 00:06:19,286 --> 00:06:23,916 But its enormous ears also detect the tiniest sounds, 46 00:06:24,086 --> 00:06:27,078 even faint scrabblings in the sand. 47 00:06:35,286 --> 00:06:39,802 The larva of a beetle is full of juice, just what the fennec needs, 48 00:06:39,966 --> 00:06:42,719 for it's seldom able to drink. 49 00:06:54,006 --> 00:06:59,126 The desert viper is small, as snakes go, but it's bigger than the beetle. 50 00:07:02,686 --> 00:07:05,154 It's also much more dangerous. 51 00:07:13,286 --> 00:07:17,074 First, those poison fangs must be put out of action. 52 00:07:41,206 --> 00:07:45,085 The venom will only kill if it gets into the bloodstream. 53 00:07:45,246 --> 00:07:50,878 Providing the fennec has no cut in its mouth, the poison will do no harm. 54 00:07:54,286 --> 00:07:58,074 Dogs in a cold climate have a different shape. 55 00:07:58,246 --> 00:08:03,001 Long ears would get frostbitten, so the arctic fox has very short ones. 56 00:08:03,166 --> 00:08:09,116 Its fur is long. An underlayer keeps it warm even in the worst weather. 57 00:08:13,286 --> 00:08:16,278 It's also white - good camouflage. 58 00:08:23,286 --> 00:08:28,041 In summer, it changes its coat to a thinner, darker one. 59 00:08:29,806 --> 00:08:34,800 Summer is breeding time, and this pair's cubs are already half-grown. 60 00:08:41,286 --> 00:08:46,155 There's no shortage of food at this time of year. In fact, there's a glut. 61 00:08:46,326 --> 00:08:50,478 Seabirds are nesting on the cliffs in thousands. 62 00:09:00,326 --> 00:09:06,083 The guillemots, high up on their ledges, are mostly beyond the foxes' reach. 63 00:09:06,966 --> 00:09:11,562 But the foxes know the chicks can't stay perched up there for ever. 64 00:09:12,286 --> 00:09:15,278 They have to fly down to the sea. 65 00:09:18,326 --> 00:09:22,683 But this is their first flight, and the sea is a long way away. 66 00:09:27,886 --> 00:09:30,354 Some don't get that far. 67 00:09:47,606 --> 00:09:50,962 (CHICK SCREECHES) 68 00:09:53,246 --> 00:09:55,885 Food for the cubs. 69 00:10:15,246 --> 00:10:17,680 And still they come. 70 00:10:31,406 --> 00:10:35,115 There's far more food than the foxes can eat. 71 00:10:35,286 --> 00:10:39,325 There's sometimes even more than they can carry. 72 00:10:49,126 --> 00:10:52,436 But these good times won't last for ever. 73 00:10:52,606 --> 00:10:57,361 So now the arctic fox does what many dogs do, it buries the surplus. 74 00:10:57,526 --> 00:11:02,520 In this cold climate, the meat will stay tolerably fresh for months. 75 00:11:11,406 --> 00:11:16,196 Birds are not the only sea-going animals that come to land to breed 76 00:11:16,366 --> 00:11:18,596 and assemble in great numbers. 77 00:11:18,766 --> 00:11:22,156 On the south-western shores of Africa, in Namibia, 78 00:11:22,326 --> 00:11:25,602 are huge breeding colonies of sea mammals. 79 00:11:31,046 --> 00:11:33,765 (QUIETLY) You might think that these fur seals 80 00:11:33,926 --> 00:11:38,920 would be particularly sensitive to danger that comes from the sea. 81 00:11:39,646 --> 00:11:45,596 But in fact they're most easily alarmed if you approach from the land. 82 00:11:46,286 --> 00:11:51,155 And since I don't want to scare them, I have to move with great care. 83 00:11:55,846 --> 00:11:58,565 Their pups are just up here. 84 00:12:05,206 --> 00:12:08,039 And they still haven't seen me. 85 00:12:14,646 --> 00:12:20,357 These little pups are only a day or maybe two days old. 86 00:12:22,486 --> 00:12:26,365 It's so hot, their mothers have gone to sea to cool off, 87 00:12:26,526 --> 00:12:29,086 so their babies are now unprotected. 88 00:12:29,246 --> 00:12:34,001 But I'd better retreat before someone raises the alarm. 89 00:12:35,166 --> 00:12:41,514 From here, I've got a splendid view of almost the entire colony. 90 00:12:42,206 --> 00:12:47,405 So if attackers come from the land, they'll come down there. 91 00:12:48,326 --> 00:12:51,079 All I have to do now is wait. 92 00:13:12,926 --> 00:13:15,486 It's a brown hyena. 93 00:13:23,286 --> 00:13:26,642 Hyenas, most of the time, feed on carrion, 94 00:13:26,806 --> 00:13:30,594 but they will certainly take a defenceless seal pup. 95 00:13:55,526 --> 00:13:58,677 (PUP MEWS) 96 00:14:27,686 --> 00:14:31,565 The carcass will be shared with the family. 97 00:14:34,286 --> 00:14:40,077 All dogs communicate by smell, but none more eloquently than hyenas. 98 00:14:42,526 --> 00:14:45,882 Their scent comes from a pouch beneath the tail 99 00:14:46,046 --> 00:14:49,277 and proclaims who they are and how they are. 100 00:14:51,926 --> 00:14:55,919 They also use scent to post notices around their territory. 101 00:14:56,086 --> 00:15:00,443 An individual will put one up every quarter of a mile or so. 102 00:15:05,606 --> 00:15:08,598 This is one of their message posts. 103 00:15:09,846 --> 00:15:12,485 The smear at the top there 104 00:15:12,646 --> 00:15:17,595 comes from the anal gland of one of the hyena family. 105 00:15:17,766 --> 00:15:21,395 And that smell fades very rapidly. 106 00:15:21,566 --> 00:15:24,717 It's a message to other members of the group 107 00:15:24,886 --> 00:15:29,402 saying, ''I was here half an hour ago or quarter of an hour ago, 108 00:15:29,566 --> 00:15:32,922 ''so there's no point in searching this patch for food.'' 109 00:15:33,086 --> 00:15:35,839 But beneath it there's a second one, 110 00:15:36,006 --> 00:15:40,477 which was milky white when it was first pasted on. 111 00:15:40,646 --> 00:15:43,114 Its smell is long-lasting 112 00:15:43,286 --> 00:15:48,519 and is intended as a message to other clans of hyenas 113 00:15:48,686 --> 00:15:51,678 saying, ''Keep out. This land is ours.'' 114 00:15:55,206 --> 00:16:00,326 So their noses enable hyenas to divide up the desert between their clans 115 00:16:00,486 --> 00:16:04,035 and so ensure that no source of food is neglected. 116 00:16:07,446 --> 00:16:11,678 These dogs crop their territory in a very different way, 117 00:16:11,846 --> 00:16:14,360 racing along paths in the undergrowth. 118 00:16:15,046 --> 00:16:18,197 They live in the rain-drenched forests of the Amazon 119 00:16:18,366 --> 00:16:22,518 and run in strict order, the females in front, headed by the most senior, 120 00:16:22,686 --> 00:16:25,837 the males following obediently behind. 121 00:16:26,006 --> 00:16:30,238 They prefer wet country around the banks of the numerous rivers, 122 00:16:30,406 --> 00:16:33,159 but they're not common anywhere. 123 00:16:33,326 --> 00:16:37,478 These are the most mysterious, the least known of all dogs, 124 00:16:37,646 --> 00:16:40,638 the South-American bush dog. 125 00:16:43,086 --> 00:16:47,204 The leading females sprinkle their scent as high as they can. 126 00:16:58,926 --> 00:17:01,998 The males do no more than cock a leg. 127 00:17:03,046 --> 00:17:06,561 Their bodies are well adapted to their environment. 128 00:17:06,726 --> 00:17:10,878 Their short legs make it easy to run through the undergrowth, 129 00:17:11,046 --> 00:17:14,197 and skin between their toes helps them swim. 130 00:17:14,366 --> 00:17:17,802 They're the only dogs with webbed feet. 131 00:17:22,086 --> 00:17:26,921 The rodents whose paths through the bush they use are also their prey. 132 00:17:27,086 --> 00:17:32,080 But they'll pounce on water-living creatures as well if they find them. 133 00:17:35,246 --> 00:17:40,274 The trouble with that is that very few water-living animals have any scent. 134 00:17:41,286 --> 00:17:46,440 So when these dogs hunt, they have to use their eyes as much as their noses. 135 00:17:58,086 --> 00:18:03,797 If you want to look for things under water, you have to get your face wet. 136 00:18:19,406 --> 00:18:22,603 The pack may accept rules about their running order, 137 00:18:22,766 --> 00:18:25,485 but at meal times it's a free-for-all. 138 00:18:25,646 --> 00:18:28,843 (GROWLING AND YELPING) 139 00:18:34,806 --> 00:18:38,845 The Amazonian forest may appear full of food, 140 00:18:39,006 --> 00:18:41,839 but meat here is hard to come by. 141 00:18:43,366 --> 00:18:46,358 Not so on the open plains of Africa. 142 00:18:56,406 --> 00:19:00,194 Here, there is more meat than anywhere else in the world. 143 00:19:00,366 --> 00:19:03,722 Not surprisingly, there are dogs here, too - 144 00:19:03,886 --> 00:19:06,195 hunting dogs. 145 00:19:08,246 --> 00:19:10,965 But wildebeest are big animals. 146 00:19:11,126 --> 00:19:15,119 To bring one down, these dogs have to hunt together as a team, 147 00:19:15,286 --> 00:19:18,278 sometimes as many as 50 of them. 148 00:19:19,646 --> 00:19:22,718 They're the most successful of all hunters. 149 00:19:52,206 --> 00:19:57,200 Once they've selected a victim, they work together to bring it down. 150 00:20:11,846 --> 00:20:15,839 They have only their teeth to get a grip on their prey. 151 00:20:16,006 --> 00:20:19,999 They don't have swivelling wrists that give a sideways grip 152 00:20:20,166 --> 00:20:26,321 and their claws are not retractile, so they're blunted after running. 153 00:20:27,366 --> 00:20:29,357 They kill in silence. 154 00:20:29,526 --> 00:20:34,441 Too much noise would attract lions, who are big enough to drive them off. 155 00:20:36,286 --> 00:20:41,201 That's why they bolt down as much meat as they can, as quickly as possible. 156 00:20:47,886 --> 00:20:53,438 Bellies full, they return to the pups and females waiting at the dens, 157 00:20:53,606 --> 00:20:56,598 which may be several miles away. 158 00:21:03,966 --> 00:21:06,685 The pups can hardly wait. 159 00:21:20,766 --> 00:21:25,317 They beg for food by frantically licking the mouths of the adults. 160 00:21:25,486 --> 00:21:30,082 The pups are offspring of the senior pair, the alpha male and female. 161 00:21:30,246 --> 00:21:32,680 Normally, no others will breed, 162 00:21:32,846 --> 00:21:36,998 so the returning hunters are either the pups' uncles and aunts, 163 00:21:37,166 --> 00:21:39,316 or brothers or sisters. 164 00:21:41,446 --> 00:21:45,234 They squabble among themselves, as youngsters do. 165 00:21:49,486 --> 00:21:52,523 But they give food to one another, 166 00:21:52,686 --> 00:21:55,678 as they will throughout their lives. 167 00:22:01,766 --> 00:22:04,326 The adults share domestic duties, 168 00:22:04,486 --> 00:22:10,277 the young females helping their mother to look after her latest litter of pups. 169 00:22:39,606 --> 00:22:42,723 (DRIVER CALLS TO DOGS) 170 00:22:46,286 --> 00:22:50,484 So dogs, by and large, are sociable animals, 171 00:22:50,646 --> 00:22:55,162 a fact that people who live here in the north of North America 172 00:22:55,326 --> 00:22:58,762 have taken advantage of since early times, 173 00:22:58,926 --> 00:23:02,885 training them to pull their sledges as a team. 174 00:23:03,046 --> 00:23:08,166 And up here, too, lives the biggest of all the dog family, 175 00:23:08,326 --> 00:23:10,886 and it too lives in packs. 176 00:23:18,526 --> 00:23:20,994 If animals are to work in a team, 177 00:23:21,166 --> 00:23:24,715 they need to communicate with one another. 178 00:23:24,886 --> 00:23:29,596 Sometimes, it's possible for you to communicate with them. 179 00:23:31,846 --> 00:23:35,441 (HE HOWLS) 180 00:23:49,846 --> 00:23:53,361 (HE HOWLS) 181 00:23:54,846 --> 00:23:57,804 (WOLF HOWLS) 182 00:23:57,966 --> 00:24:01,322 (CHORUS OF HOWLING) 183 00:24:03,366 --> 00:24:07,598 (HOWLS ECHO) 184 00:24:20,886 --> 00:24:25,323 Wolves howl to warn neighbouring packs to keep their distance. 185 00:24:25,486 --> 00:24:29,081 But they also do so to reunite their own pack 186 00:24:29,246 --> 00:24:31,714 if it's scattered after a long hunt. 187 00:24:31,886 --> 00:24:36,880 As they assemble again, they visibly delight in one another's company. 188 00:24:47,326 --> 00:24:52,161 This pack, like the African hunting dogs, is ruled by an alpha pair, 189 00:24:52,326 --> 00:24:55,204 who are the only ones to breed. 190 00:24:55,366 --> 00:25:00,918 There's also a hierarchy among the rest, one for males, one for females. 191 00:25:01,086 --> 00:25:05,284 This is reinforced daily by mouth-licking, crawling and mounting. 192 00:25:05,446 --> 00:25:10,520 These rituals become particularly intense just before the pack hunts. 193 00:25:10,686 --> 00:25:15,601 It's a bonding session that reminds each hunter of its place in the team, 194 00:25:15,766 --> 00:25:18,758 invaluable in the struggle to come. 195 00:25:21,206 --> 00:25:23,720 And off they go. 196 00:25:30,286 --> 00:25:33,278 Those distant dots are their targets. 197 00:25:34,726 --> 00:25:38,958 Elk, the North American equivalent of the European red deer. 198 00:25:48,766 --> 00:25:51,917 Snowdrifts will make the chase difficult. 199 00:25:52,086 --> 00:25:54,281 A wolf's pads are particularly broad, 200 00:25:54,446 --> 00:25:58,803 but in really deep snow, the elks' long legs give them the advantage. 201 00:25:58,966 --> 00:26:03,118 In such country as this, there's little chance of surprising them, 202 00:26:03,286 --> 00:26:07,916 so the chase is likely to be a long and exhausting one. 203 00:26:20,006 --> 00:26:25,399 One of the stags is flagging and the pack have separated it from the herd. 204 00:26:25,566 --> 00:26:29,559 Another sprints past close by and confuses things. 205 00:26:34,846 --> 00:26:38,475 Most of the wolves stick to their original quarry. 206 00:26:38,646 --> 00:26:43,845 They have, after all, been harrying it for some time and it may be tiring. 207 00:26:44,006 --> 00:26:46,361 But it's got away. 208 00:26:50,246 --> 00:26:54,285 Another wolf is chasing the stag that ran by earlier. 209 00:27:03,046 --> 00:27:05,401 But that escapes too. 210 00:27:05,566 --> 00:27:09,161 Only one in ten wolf hunts is successful. 211 00:27:15,886 --> 00:27:17,842 The weather worsens. 212 00:27:18,006 --> 00:27:22,522 It's over a week since the wolves fed. They're getting desperate. 213 00:27:33,286 --> 00:27:38,076 They have no alternative but to continue to follow the herd. 214 00:27:49,326 --> 00:27:51,078 Now they have a real chance. 215 00:27:51,246 --> 00:27:56,240 A female has become isolated and is close to the end of her strength. 216 00:28:01,846 --> 00:28:04,121 She can go no further. 217 00:28:04,286 --> 00:28:08,564 Even now, two wolves are not strong enough to bring her down. 218 00:28:17,726 --> 00:28:22,561 But then the rest of the pack arrive. Now she has no chance. 219 00:28:32,366 --> 00:28:35,005 The herd moves on. 220 00:28:47,686 --> 00:28:52,123 The herds of North America are rivalled in size by those in Africa. 221 00:28:52,286 --> 00:28:57,235 It's in the old world that the other great group of hunters first appeared. 222 00:28:57,406 --> 00:29:00,398 This is the original home of the cats. 223 00:29:06,006 --> 00:29:11,126 There's no problem in finding who dominates these hunting grounds. 224 00:29:16,086 --> 00:29:17,678 Lions. 225 00:29:17,846 --> 00:29:23,364 With all this meat within a few hundred yards, they're taking no notice whatsoever. 226 00:29:23,526 --> 00:29:28,964 The fact of the matter is, most lions do most of their hunting at night. 227 00:29:29,126 --> 00:29:31,481 The daytime is a bad time. 228 00:29:31,646 --> 00:29:34,604 It's very hot. It's near midday 229 00:29:34,766 --> 00:29:38,839 and the lions have found a nice cool place to rest. 230 00:29:39,006 --> 00:29:43,841 And during the day, it's so bright that their prey sees them coming. 231 00:29:44,006 --> 00:29:46,122 Hunting is then very difficult. 232 00:29:46,286 --> 00:29:50,598 Much better to hunt during the darkness of the night. 233 00:29:53,846 --> 00:29:56,644 Their eyes are more sensitive than ours, 234 00:29:56,806 --> 00:30:00,003 but neither they nor I can see these lights. 235 00:30:00,166 --> 00:30:04,444 They're infrared and visible only to our special cameras. 236 00:30:04,606 --> 00:30:07,996 Lions hardly ever roar during the day. 237 00:30:08,166 --> 00:30:11,363 It's very much a night-time thing. 238 00:30:12,526 --> 00:30:18,442 And now, in the darkness, there are a number of them roaring just here. 239 00:30:19,206 --> 00:30:25,554 There are two, I know, within three or four yards of where I am now, 240 00:30:25,726 --> 00:30:31,596 and there's a third perhaps 20 yards over there, though it's difficult to tell 241 00:30:31,766 --> 00:30:36,396 because it's pitch black except for just a faint moonlight. 242 00:30:37,726 --> 00:30:42,356 The three belong to the same pride and they're communicating, 243 00:30:42,526 --> 00:30:44,881 telling one another where they are. 244 00:30:45,046 --> 00:30:48,038 (MUFFLED ROARS) 245 00:30:49,166 --> 00:30:52,920 (ROARING CONTINUES) 246 00:30:59,886 --> 00:31:02,878 Those are not aggressive roars. 247 00:31:03,046 --> 00:31:05,924 They are communication roars. 248 00:31:06,086 --> 00:31:09,556 But they're quite enough to chill the blood 249 00:31:09,726 --> 00:31:12,718 in the blackness of the night... 250 00:31:15,926 --> 00:31:21,205 especially when you know that the mouths making them are within yards 251 00:31:21,366 --> 00:31:23,926 but you can't see them! 252 00:31:25,286 --> 00:31:27,481 A hunt is beginning. 253 00:31:28,286 --> 00:31:31,756 The shine in their eyes comes from our infrared lights 254 00:31:31,926 --> 00:31:35,475 reflected by a membrane at the back of their eyes. 255 00:31:35,646 --> 00:31:39,002 That, and pupils that open far wider than ours, 256 00:31:39,166 --> 00:31:43,876 enables them to see eight times better at night than we can. 257 00:31:44,046 --> 00:31:46,276 The big male is going too. 258 00:31:53,486 --> 00:31:56,205 The cubs are bringing up the rear. 259 00:32:37,086 --> 00:32:40,761 The slightest noise could stampede the zebras. 260 00:33:04,166 --> 00:33:06,726 (ZEBRA BRAYS) 261 00:33:16,286 --> 00:33:21,280 The lioness's jaws are clamped in the zebra's throat, throttling it. 262 00:33:24,926 --> 00:33:30,159 Now there is food for all, so much that there is very little squabbling. 263 00:33:50,286 --> 00:33:55,360 Dawn, and the pride are still lounging around with full bellies. 264 00:34:05,246 --> 00:34:10,445 The zebra know that, for the moment at least, there's no danger. 265 00:34:14,246 --> 00:34:17,602 Considering how powerful and aggressive lions can be, 266 00:34:17,766 --> 00:34:22,442 life within the pride is remarkably peaceful and harmonious. 267 00:34:24,566 --> 00:34:29,515 Just as they hunt together, so they also help in bringing up the young. 268 00:34:30,366 --> 00:34:35,520 A nursing mother will allow cubs belonging to others to take her milk. 269 00:34:35,686 --> 00:34:38,962 The lionesses in a pride are nearly always sisters, 270 00:34:39,126 --> 00:34:43,085 but even so, such co-operation and tolerance is remarkable 271 00:34:43,246 --> 00:34:46,238 and very unusual indeed among cats. 272 00:34:55,926 --> 00:35:00,761 Most cats are solitaries, living and hunting by themselves. 273 00:35:00,966 --> 00:35:05,676 These are the cubs of a single mother, a cheetah. 274 00:35:07,286 --> 00:35:10,084 She has a heavy responsibility. 275 00:35:10,246 --> 00:35:14,683 Neither her sisters nor the cubs' father help in bringing them up. 276 00:35:15,366 --> 00:35:18,995 Finding food for them and for herself is not easy. 277 00:35:30,926 --> 00:35:33,076 She moves off. 278 00:35:33,966 --> 00:35:36,161 And they follow. 279 00:35:36,486 --> 00:35:40,798 But they're likely to be more of a hindrance than a help. 280 00:35:54,246 --> 00:35:56,714 Impala are grazing nearby. 281 00:35:56,886 --> 00:36:00,162 They move away as she approaches, but don't panic. 282 00:36:00,326 --> 00:36:04,478 Unless a cheetah is within 30 yards, they can outrun her. 283 00:36:04,646 --> 00:36:08,355 She knows that too, and won't waste her energy. 284 00:36:09,286 --> 00:36:13,074 She won't charge unless she gets really close. 285 00:36:14,486 --> 00:36:19,606 The cubs seem to realise an attack is imminent and settle down to watch. 286 00:36:19,766 --> 00:36:22,155 Is she close enough? 287 00:36:51,606 --> 00:36:53,995 They're beginning to drift away. 288 00:36:59,286 --> 00:37:01,675 She starts to sprint. 289 00:37:17,766 --> 00:37:19,996 Now she's running flat out, 290 00:37:20,166 --> 00:37:24,842 bounding so fast her feet are off the ground for almost half the time. 291 00:37:25,006 --> 00:37:27,315 She's almost flying. 292 00:37:36,246 --> 00:37:40,876 The race is over. The slowest will not compete again. 293 00:37:51,766 --> 00:37:56,760 Cheetahs are the fastest thing on four legs. Their backbones are so supple, 294 00:37:56,926 --> 00:38:01,317 their hind legs can reach forward on either side of the front. 295 00:38:02,766 --> 00:38:07,794 She's so slim and agile, she can rival a gazelle in dodging and swerving. 296 00:38:31,006 --> 00:38:34,396 Unusually, another has come to share her prize. 297 00:38:34,566 --> 00:38:39,560 It's probably from last year's litter. She wouldn't tolerate anyone else. 298 00:38:52,646 --> 00:38:55,922 Her slim, athletic build is now a liability. 299 00:38:56,086 --> 00:38:59,681 Heavier animals could push her off her kill, 300 00:38:59,846 --> 00:39:02,838 so she and her cubs eat fast. 301 00:39:03,566 --> 00:39:08,560 All big cats are widely distributed, but one is particularly adaptable. 302 00:39:08,726 --> 00:39:12,924 It lives in tropical rainforests from the Congo to Vietnam, 303 00:39:13,086 --> 00:39:17,921 in deserts from Algeria to Iran, and here in the rocky hills of northern India. 304 00:39:20,926 --> 00:39:26,205 Prey is scarce here. The most abundant are the domestic animals 305 00:39:26,406 --> 00:39:31,434 that those other great meat-eaters, human beings, keep to consume. 306 00:39:31,606 --> 00:39:35,394 (GOATS BLEAT) 307 00:39:59,326 --> 00:40:03,956 The villagers know that this cat usually hunts at night, 308 00:40:04,126 --> 00:40:09,246 so every evening, they drive the goats into this thorn-walled enclosure 309 00:40:09,406 --> 00:40:11,601 to keep them safe. 310 00:40:21,286 --> 00:40:24,915 Even a big cat won't be able to cross this. 311 00:40:32,726 --> 00:40:35,524 It's now absolutely dark 312 00:40:35,686 --> 00:40:38,758 and all I have to help me is a torch. 313 00:40:40,006 --> 00:40:43,635 Beyond its beam there is absolute blackness. 314 00:40:45,366 --> 00:40:48,085 So I feel pretty vulnerable, 315 00:40:48,246 --> 00:40:53,115 because this big cat can move at night in total darkness. 316 00:40:54,286 --> 00:41:00,441 It could be anywhere. But we do have infrared cameras in this village, 317 00:41:00,606 --> 00:41:03,837 so if it does come, we'll see it. 318 00:41:25,046 --> 00:41:30,074 And this thatched hut is our technical operations control centre! 319 00:41:34,006 --> 00:41:38,443 We have three cameras in the village, each with its own monitor, 320 00:41:38,606 --> 00:41:42,758 so whichever way the raider comes, we should see it. 321 00:41:49,766 --> 00:41:52,155 I can scan each of them. 322 00:41:56,406 --> 00:41:59,398 There it is, a silent, moving shadow. 323 00:42:05,926 --> 00:42:08,440 It's a leopard. 324 00:42:11,286 --> 00:42:15,404 A female, moving down the main path through the village. 325 00:42:45,006 --> 00:42:47,201 That's our hut. 326 00:42:49,326 --> 00:42:53,478 She's just beyond the curtain, within a few yards of me. 327 00:42:59,486 --> 00:43:02,717 But I'm not what she's looking for. 328 00:43:05,846 --> 00:43:10,601 She's leaving. The flock has survived without loss for another night. 329 00:43:26,686 --> 00:43:31,476 Of all the big cats, the leopard is perhaps the most accomplished stalker 330 00:43:31,646 --> 00:43:33,955 and the one least seen. 331 00:43:34,126 --> 00:43:36,799 In Africa, it hunts gazelles. 332 00:44:05,286 --> 00:44:08,835 Each paw is placed with the utmost care. 333 00:44:25,766 --> 00:44:28,155 (GAZELLE SQUEALS) 334 00:44:36,286 --> 00:44:40,802 No dog can equal the stealth with which cats can stalk, 335 00:44:40,966 --> 00:44:45,596 nor the swift efficiency with which they dispatch their victims. 336 00:45:11,286 --> 00:45:13,800 I'm in the frozen north, 337 00:45:13,966 --> 00:45:19,040 and this is the trail of the biggest of the cats, the tiger - 338 00:45:19,206 --> 00:45:24,121 and the biggest of the tigers, a Siberian tiger, 339 00:45:24,286 --> 00:45:27,835 surely the most formidable hunter of all. 340 00:46:04,966 --> 00:46:08,561 Until human beings devised weapons for themselves, 341 00:46:08,726 --> 00:46:13,242 this was the most powerful killer on Earth, the top predator. 342 00:46:16,006 --> 00:46:20,045 Few creatures could escape it. Nothing could threaten it. 343 00:46:20,206 --> 00:46:22,879 But that has now changed. 344 00:46:24,726 --> 00:46:27,843 Hunting animals need hunting grounds. 345 00:46:28,006 --> 00:46:32,761 That, inevitably, brings them in conflict with humanity. 346 00:46:32,926 --> 00:46:35,918 Once there were tigers all over Asia, 347 00:46:36,086 --> 00:46:40,443 from Sumatra and Bali in the south, India in the west, 348 00:46:40,606 --> 00:46:43,120 up to Siberia in the north. 349 00:46:43,286 --> 00:46:48,724 But, sadly, over much of those areas, the tiger has disappeared. 350 00:46:52,806 --> 00:46:56,560 And even this one is in captivity. 351 00:47:01,886 --> 00:47:06,437 Big cats like the same sort of meat as human beings, 352 00:47:06,606 --> 00:47:09,325 as well as eating human beings, 353 00:47:09,486 --> 00:47:14,435 so it's scarcely surprising the two don't co-exist very easily. 354 00:47:20,206 --> 00:47:26,042 But once these magnificent meat-eaters were the lords of the land... 355 00:47:32,846 --> 00:47:36,361 ..the ultimate in lethal grace and beauty.