Dangerous Animal Kingdom | When Predators Attack MEGA Episode | Nat Geo Animals

NARRATOR: We're on a collision course with the world's deadliest predators. (hiss) Do we stand a chance... (growling) ♪ ♪ ...when predators attack? Snakes and humans have a complicated relationship. In some parts of the world, they're revered for their strength and wisdom. In others, the serpent's role as the villain in the Garden of Eden story has made it much less popular. Snakes have the power to fascinate and repel us simultaneously. It's still a mystery exactly how they came into being some 20 million years ago, long after the dinosaurs had gone extinct. While some believe snakes evolved from water creatures, others suggest their closest ancestor was a reptile similar to a monitor lizard... with legs and feet. They lived underground, and natural selection favored those with the smallest limbs, for easier burrowing. Eventually, their legs and feet were eliminated altogether, while additional vertebrae were added. This length and flexibility allows snakes to navigate in a variety of environments-- on the ground, in the water, and up in the trees. Today there are more than 3,000 species of snakes on the planet... some more dangerous to man than others. (rattling) Every year, the rattlesnake bites more people in the United States than any other snake... ...thanks to its extensive range. It's found everywhere in the United States, but the greatest concentration is in the Southwest and northern Mexico. Rattlesnakes range in size from species to species, but share the same method of defense and attack. When threatened, this snake warns with a distinct rattle-- the sound of hollow scales knocking against each other in the end of its tail. Then its long moveable fangs snap out like switchblade knives. Its strike is lightning fast. All snakes have the ability to control their venom release. Sometimes a dry bite will suffice, by scaring off a challenger to avoid a fight. If not, a snake will go in for the kill, releasing its venom in the amount it sees fit. The majority of rattlers pump out hemotoxins that destroys blood cells and tissue, reducing the ability of the blood to clot. The result--hemorrhaging. This rare microscopic look shows a rattler's venom attacking healthy cells. (siren) Most bites are painful within five minutes and, if left untreated, fatal. November in the Florida panhandle. Herpetologist Bruce Means is studying rattlesnake mating habits. Today, he's looking for a female rattlesnake to feed a transmitter to so he can track her movements. BRUCE: There you are, you beautiful little creature. Now, let's see here. I had hoped to be the one herpetologist who in his career had never been bitten by a venomous snake. Well, unfortunately working with venomous snakes is a risky profession. NARRATOR: Bruce is about to get up close and personal with the world's largest rattlesnake. BRUCE: I really was euphoric, thinking what a wonderful day this was, not ever expecting that I was going to encounter an eastern diamondback Look at you. Well, I wanted a photograph, the light was right, and I had my camera with me. I took several photographs of the snake. You know, at that point, that should have been sufficient. And I'll never know why, I decided I had to pick the snake up. Nice snake. Hello! NARRATOR: Bruce finds a stick to pin the snake's head. But it's too short. BRUCE: Okay, baby. NARRATOR: The rattlesnake sounds off a warning. Then strikes. BRUCE: Mmm! Mmm! At first, the pain was nothing more than a pin prick. But the moment the venom enters Bruce's bloodstream, it attacks his tissues and cells, setting off a chain reaction that could paralyze his entire system. BRUCE: I began feeling symptoms right away with this snakebite. I felt tingling on the tops of both of my hands. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! I wanted to just panic. I mean, I already knew how dangerous it was to be envenomated... ...and here I was on an island, a long way away from any help. I had a long walk to go to get to the kayak, and then I had an even longer passage to make across the bay. NARRATOR: He needs to stay calm so he can paddle the mile back to the mainland. BRUCE: And as I was going, I was thinking to myself, "I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it." NARRATOR: It's been nearly 20 minutes since the bite, and Bruce knows this viper's venom can kill a man in as little as an hour. BRUCE: I said, "You've got to not panic." Don't think about how long a paddle it will be to get to shore. you're all alone. you could die. NARRATOR: The venom spreads throughout his body, soon blocking the nerve impulses to his lower limbs. BRUCE: When I got to shore, I couldn't get out of the kayak. Ugh! I was totally paralyzed from the legs down. You're trying to keep as low as you can, and you, you inch yourself along the ground, you know, you're wiggling your body back and forth and pulling with your arms. NARRATOR: Now, an hour since the bite, the venom is close to paralyzing one of his most critical organs-- his diaphragm-- which will stop his breathing. (breathing heavily) Bruce manages to drive his truck a mile down the road to find help. By the time he arrives at a hospital, he'll need 26 units of antivenom to save his life. Bruce is extremely lucky to be alive. BRUCE: The rattlesnake, it was absolutely no fault of its own, that it was protecting itself from this monster that was trying to jam its head in the sand with a stick. Despite his close call, Bruce still chases down and studies these deadly creatures. BRUCE: There is a bit of a danger, even now, for me working with these animals. I mean, I love them. I empathize with them. I understand them. And you know, familiarity, in this case, drops my guard. That's not good. I have to force myself now to remember that's a dangerous animal. Because of their large range and potent hemotoxic venom, rattlesnakes are responsible for the majority of snakebite fatalities in the US. Still, they're no match for this desert viper. NARRATOR: The saw-scaled viper is the world's deadliest snake. Extremely common, it kills hundreds of people every year. (hissing) It inhabits the deserts and rocky outcroppings from northern Africa and the Middle East through India, where it spends most of its day buried underneath the sand, removed from the blistering heat. Confronted, it offers its own distinct warning. (scratching) It rubs its serrated scales together to produce a rasping sound similar to a saw cutting wood. A warning well heeded. Like the rattlesnake, the saw-scaled viper injects its prey with hemotoxic venom... which destroys blood cells and tissues, causing burning, swelling, and hemorrhaging. Without antivenom, cardiovascular and renal failure may occur. Hemotoxic venom is found in the majority of the world's most dangerous snakes, from the forest floor to the tree tops. One canopy lover is found in Africa's arid forests south of the Sahara Desert, stretching to South Africa and the islands off Africa's southeast coast. It's called the boomslang, and it's perfectly camouflaged to hunt from above. Females are usually brown, blending into branches... while males are brighter colors like green, keeping them concealed among leaves. The coarse-edged scales on its stomach provide grip... allowing the boomslang to climb straight up... where it waits patiently for one of its favorite meals to come within reach. The boomslang strikes, gripping prey with rear-facing fangs. It chews until its hemotoxic venom takes effect and the prey hemorrhages to death. This ground hunter employs a different toxic cocktail to subdue its victims. The inland taipan roams in the sparsely populated area of southwestern Queensland and South Australia. A largely solitary hunter, it avoids human contact. But it preys on mice and rats, so it's often found in proximity to humans. And that's when the trouble begins. When threatened, the taipan raises its body in a tight S-shaped curve, then strikes... repeatedly. It floods its target with venom, withdraws to a safe distance, then injects another deadly dose. A taipan's bite paralyzes a prey's nervous system, resulting in respiratory failure and death. (squeaking) This highly potent venom is neurotoxic. Just one milligram--a drop about the size of a pinhead-- can kill a thousand mice. Neurotoxic venom can prove deadly on land and at sea. The banded sea krait roams from the Bay of Bengal across the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean. It's supremely equipped for aquatic life. Its right lung fills nearly the length of its body. So it can dive over 30 feet below the surface and stay submerged for at least half an hour. A stroke of its flattened, paddle-like tail propels it forward for the strike. Neurotoxins shut down this eel's nervous system, while myotoxins bind to muscle fibers, rapidly destroying them. Paralyzed, the eel dies of suffocation. Another type of venom has the power to dissolve a prey's tissues in one strike. Found from northeastern India, Bangladesh and Bhutan across southern China to northern Malaysia, the monocled cobra is known for its proud stance and distinct hood. It intimidates aggressors by standing tall, spreading its hood, and hissing loudly... ...before striking with a powerful mix of neurotoxic and cytotoxic venom. While neurotoxins attack its prey's nervous system, cytotoxins dissolve tissues and organs. After being bitten, a human victim may die in as little as 30 minutes. Despite the obvious danger, humans have long been fascinated by the cobra and the challenge to charm them. (pungi playing) In Punta Gorda, Florida, snake handler David Weathers spends hours each day honing his skills. His snakes are housed in a shed behind his home. He's preparing for a show the following day, stacking boxes of snakes to load into his truck. This monocled cobra is the last to load. His father and a friend record the process on videotape. This is the actual footage from that night. KEVIN: Absolutely had no idea that anything was going to happen. He had packed up everything else, this was either the last or next to last snake to go. I had no idea that anything was going to happen with this snake. DAVID: Not that short. KEVIN: Let's see. Oh, yeah. Just enough to get through your shirt. Good thing you had that shirt on. DAVID: Yeah, thick shirt on. Ow! (bleep) KEVIN: Oh, boy. (bleep) Snake wrangler David Weathers has been bitten by a deadly cobra. DAVID: I'm bit. We gotta go to the hospital. MAN: (bleep) Got venom in there? DAVID: Yeah, I squeezed a lot out. Damn it. Yeah, I got a severe pain in my stomach, because that's where I got bit, right in the stomach. NARRATOR: David's friend races him to the hospital. ALBERT: The panic had struck both of us, actually, because we both realized that we had no antivenom. I knew it was a race against time. DAVID: There's a scratch where he went for a second bite. There's a fang mark there and a scratch here. All that in there is localized venom that's starting to go through my system. (phone ringing) We get the-- I can't even talk. Sorry. Hello. Sorry, sweetie, listen, I'm on my way to the hospital. I just got bit by a cobra real bad. I'm having problems breathing. ALBERT: I was doing a good 95, 100 miles an hour through traffic lights. DAVID: Start honking your horn, just honk your horn, lay on your horn. ALBERT: I was thinking that it's a good possibility, by of his reactions, that he could actually die. DAVID: I feel worse, that I'm being stabbed in the stomach. (horn blaring) NARRATOR: The cobra venom attacks David's muscle tissue, and the debris from dead muscle cells begins to clog his kidneys. Soon they'll shut down, and he'll be in full renal failure. ALBERT: His wound was turning blacker and blacker, and it looked like it was just ready to explode any minute. Every second was critical. Every second that went by was a little bit closer to his death. NARRATOR: David finally arrives at the hospital in Fort Myers, just 20 minutes after the bite. WOMAN: How long ago? DAVID: 20 minutes ago, 20 minutes ago, tops. NARRATOR: But the hospital does not stock cobra antivenom. David must wait for it to arrive from a special poison unit, and the clock is ticking. DR. GREENE: People can go downhill very fast and die right in front of you even after they had been fine for 30 minutes. NARRATOR: Al Cruz of the medical unit Venom 1 is shocked when he finally arrives at the hospital with the antivenom. AL: David was there laying in bed telling me, "I feel fine." I said, "You've just been hit by one of the deadliest cobras in the world. You're far from fine?" NARRATOR: David is immediately given 5 vials of the antivenom. But it isn't working. AL: His bloodwork was so dangerously high, his kidneys were ready to shut down on him. NARRATOR: Despite the risk of an overdose, David is given 5 more vials. And finally...he pulls through. David spent weeks in recovery contemplating what happened. DAVID: I don't hold any grudges like against the animals, you know, he's doing his job. He's being a cobra, he did what he was supposed to do, and I just definitely wasn't doing what I was supposed to do. NARRATOR: Even an experienced snake handler can misread a moment. When we let our guard down, the result can be deadly. Los Angeles, California. 33-year-old Anita Finch lives alone in a trailer park with a variety of pet snakes. KARIN: She was always interested in creatures. She wasn't interested in dolls. So she didn't make friends very easily because of that. She was teased and bullied in school. She was ridiculed. NARRATOR: From a young age, Anita saw that few people understood her passion for reptiles. So she learned to hide it. Her trailer home is her safe haven-- a place she can live judgment-free with her collection of snakes. She's happy, but others are wary. CHARLENE: As a manager, I shouldn't have allowed it. And I mentioned it to her, I said because this is dangerous, and she says "Look, they are all in an aquarium with their names, they're never outside." I said okay, I don't want to know any more than that. NARRATOR: Anita is looking for the next species to add to her collection. Without the proper permits, she illegally acquires a deadly Gaboon viper. The Gaboon viper is armed with the longest fangs in the serpent kingdom. Its leaf-shaped head is almost the size of a human fist. With a stout body that stretches up to seven feet, it weighs as much as a medium-sized dog. It's a patient hunter. In the wild, it blends into forest floor and waits for prey for hours. When the moment's right, the Gaboon strikes. Hollow fangs inject hemotoxic venom directly into prey... ...causing uncontrolled internal bleeding and death. Fangs up to 2 inches long slowly walk the victim into the snake's mouth. With this new addition, Anita's collection is finally complete. KARIN: To get ahold of something like that, you know-- I mean, it was like the diamond, I think she thought it was just something so rare and beautiful. Anita likes to free-handle her venomous snakes and often lets them roam freely when she cleans the tanks. The Gaboon is no exception. CHARLENE: But I said any day you're playing so much with the danger. You don't understand what those animals can do. NARRATOR: December 15th. (knocking) MAN: Anita, you there? Anita! NARRATOR: It's been three days since Anita has last been seen. CHARLENE: I walked in her house, and what I saw was not something I wish on anybody. (sirens) NARRATOR: Police are called to a Los Angeles trailer home to to investigate what is reported as a possible homicide. LIEUTENANT SMITH: The first thing you notice when you walk in the house is the odor of reptiles. It's got a very unique smell, and it was very strong, which tells me that there was a lot of reptiles. (radio chatter) There was a lot of blood on the floor, there was also copious amounts in the toilet in the restroom, in the sink in the restroom as well as the floor of the restroom, and drops of blood leading down the hall. NARRATOR: They're horrified when they discover Anita Finch's lifeless body. SMITH: It kind of, to me, literally looked like somebody had just attacked her with a ball bat or something. I didn't fully realize it was indeed a snakebite until I actually got up and did the physical examination on the body. When I touched her hand, I had holes that were oozing fluid out of them. This is definitely a snakebite. NARRATOR: Police investigate the fangs of all her snakes. SMITH: There was the one, the Gaboon viper, that we were more interested in, and opening up its mouth, of all the snakes, that was the one that certainly lined up. NARRATOR: A story of what had happened begins to emerge. SMITH: It hit her twice on her hand. It's known to be fatal within 15 minutes, so I should imagine anything and everything that happened had to have happened very quick. (groaning) JOHN: In a sense there was no help. I don't think anybody could have gotten to her with antivenin quick enough or gotten her to a hospital that had the proper antivenin. Anita didn't call 911. But in her last moments she may have hoped someone would find her in time. She was found clutching a note with the name of the hospital she should be taken to. Each year, venomous snakes kill as many as 90,000 people worldwide. But not all snakes are venomous. The majority are constrictors-- monsters with massive jaws and super strength. The green anaconda kills with power, not potion. It's the world's heavyweight champion, reaching 30 feet in length-- nearly the size of a school bus-- and weighing more than three grown men. Its body can be over a foot in diameter. It thrives in the South American tropics, from Venezuela to the Amazon's southern edge-- anywhere there is water. Its forked tongue searches the air for scent trails left by prey. Then it waits in ambush... with only its head visible above the water line. Stealth gives way to raw power. The anaconda's teeth are arranged in a double row and point backward to catch and hold struggling prey. It wraps around its victim and begins the squeeze. Every time the prey exhales, the snake tightens its grip. Even a 300-pound black caiman can fall victim to an anaconda's crushing death coil. An anaconda can easily stretch its jaws wider than its own head, to a maximum gape of 180 degrees-- wide enough to swallow a man whole. Jose Damaso, a native of northern Peru, has seen these colossal serpents in the swamps around his home. (speaking Spanish) JOSE, TRANSLATED: There are some five swamps near the Hurán. Ever since I was 17, I've been going there. I went alone or with my father-in-law. We went all over the mountain to fish, everywhere. (growls) There are lots of animals there-- not just anaconda-- there are lots of animals. (birds chirping) Jose and his father-in-law trek to a familiar fishing spot. It's a place known to harbor green anacondas. JOSE: At any moment, if you go there, you might see it. It's there sunbathing, curled up. And it's listening, and it's watching. When you move, it sees you. NARRATOR: The men split up to find their own pools. As Jose focuses on his catch, a super serpent begins its stealth attack. The anaconda can hold its breath for up to 10 minutes. Fully concealed, it closes in. (screaming) NARRATOR: Razor-sharp teeth dig into Jose Damaso's thigh. If the anaconda succeeds in coiling, there will be no chance of escape. JOSE: I jumped to my feet. I grabbed its head and threw it off me. If I didn't, it would have dragged me away. NARRATOR: Jose's quick reaction may have saved his life. JOSE: When the snake let go, I shouted for my father-in-law and I took off running. NARRATOR: But he is left with a reminder of just how close he came to the unthinkable. JOSE: I lifted my leg like this, and three teeth came out. One more is still in there. Jose knows he took a risk entering the snake's domain. JOSE: It has grown up there-- that animal, that anaconda, since it was small, and it has grown into such a tremendous animal. Even now, it's still living there. NARRATOR: This constrictor's stealth attack came from below, but another killer snake hunts from above. (scream) The reticulated python is the world's longest snake... a monster that can grow up to 30 feet long... and weigh over 300 pounds-- the weight of two grown men. Like the anaconda, this super serpent doesn't need venom to kill its prey. Its 10,000 muscles squeeze its dinner to death. Reticulated pythons range from India to Indonesia... a region packed with hot, humid rainforests, rivers and dark caves. These places give the serpent the cover it needs to hide its massive body while it waits in ambush. This python blends into its surroundings with an intercrossed or "reticulated" pattern... while its elliptical cat-like pupils open wide to optimize night vision. Heat-sensing pit organs detect the body heat of passing prey. And chemical sensors on its tongue pick up odors from the air. In an instant, the snake traps its prey with sharp, backward-curving teeth... ...then begins the squeeze-- stopping the flow of blood and oxygen. The victim dies of suffocation. pythons swallow prey whole, using a unique lower jaw that detaches at the front. Its highly elastic skin stretches out as its jaws consume the meal. (footsteps) Plantation worker Ee Chung Huan walks on a forest path in rural Malaysia... ...when either his chemical scent, the vibrations of his footsteps, or the heat of his body catches the attention of a super snake. NARRATOR: A 22-foot reticulated python hits Huan at full force. Huan collapses, unable to move. And then the snake slips its coils around his chest and neck. Huan's struggle ends there, as he takes his last breath. The python releases Huan's leg and begins moving towards his head for the swallow. Police Sergeant Abu Samah took this photo. He was searching for Huan when he discovered the body. ABU, TRANSLATED: The snake was sucking the victim in. The sound was like a snoring sound. NARRATOR: The python tried to escape, but Samah shot it dead. Despite stories like these, pythons and other large constrictors are popular pets. Trendy, fashionable, hip. Hundreds of thousands of pet pythons are in the hands of responsible owners across the globe. But cohabitating with large reptiles has its risks. (struggling) A Las Vegas family has a new pet. All the Cyruses enjoy their python, especially nine-year-old Katherine. KATHERINE: I'm never really afraid of anything. She didn't really have a name before, so we named her Victoria. I thought of her as a pet, I mean, I liked her more than a dog. PHILLIP: I got her, she was probably about four foot. She was just somebody around the house. Just a pet...quiet... I mean, very clean. NARRATOR: But Victoria is growing up fast. In just four years she's almost quadrupled in size, fueled by her ceaseless appetite. August 2008. (heart beating) KATHERINE: I was sleeping... and I felt, you know, like something bit me. She's really strong, and every time you move, she tightens up more. I could hear popping. 'Cause every time I'd move, she would just get tighter and move up towards my chest. She squeezed on to my ribs. Victoria is set to feed... and Katherine is rapidly becoming her next meal. (whimpering) PHILLIP: You cannot even imagine how strong these snakes are. The strength is there, that snake is ready to eat, and it's eating time. I ran back down the hall into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife. NARRATOR: The only way to get the python to let up is complete decapitation. PHILLIP: I liked the snake. (laughs) I didn't hesitate when it come to my daughter. I mean, I didn't even think about it. KATHERINE: I think about if my dad wasn't there, where would I be? And when I do tell the story, some people don't even believe me. But I have scars. Two big scars where they pulled the teeth out of my leg. NARRATOR: Katherine is lucky, but her experience follows an unfortunate pattern. In the U.S., in the last decade alone, nearly ten people have been killed by their pet pythons. OPERATOR: What's the problem? Tell me exactly what happened. MAN: We have a Burmese python. She's about 12 foot long. She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death. (sobbing) OPERATOR: Stay on the line please. Okay, how old is the patient? MAN: She's only two years old. Oh, my God, I can't believe this. Poor baby. OPERATOR: Okay, sir, sir, are you still there? Sir, can you still hear me? MAN: Yes, ma'am. OPERATOR: Do you believe she's beyond any help? CALLER: She's gone... and I couldn't help her. How could we do this? NARRATOR: Snake-related incidents like these are on the rise. Many owners end up with a lot more snake than they can handle. Some get loose, and others are abandoned, left to roam freely in our neighborhoods and wreak havoc on the ecosystem. We put ourselves, each other, and the environment in danger because of our curiosity, adoration, and obsession. (car starts) We may take wild animals out of the wild, and we may think we know them. But snakes and their unique behaviors will always remain unpredictable and dangerous. with the world's deadliest predators. Do we stand a chance? When Predators Attack. Bears are iconic symbols of nature; a treasure to see in the wild, when kept at an appropriate distance. Some 30 million years ago, bears and dogs looked alike, having evolved from the same carnivorous ancestors. Over time they grew bigger and stronger... and split into the eight bear species we now know today. These bears all share a similar lethal package. (roar) Powerful jaws and killer claws. But each species has a unique set of skills that sets them apart from one another. In the protected wilderness of Yellowstone National Park, a herd of elk graze what they can before the snow blankets the ground. But they are not alone. They share the park with a surprisingly stealthy hunter. (roaring) The American black bear. It can stand up to 6 feet tall and weigh nearly 600 pounds... and yet goes unnoticed in its forest environment thanks to its dark, bristly fur. (growl) It hides, and stalks prey from above. Its short, sharp, curved claws make it an expert climber and acrobat. The black bear is armed with a keen sense of smell... several times greater than a bloodhound's, and excellent hearing, believed to be more than twice as sensitive as a human's. When it spots its prey, it runs up to 30 miles per hour, faster than an Olympic sprinter. And tears into its victim with teeth over an inch long. American Black bears roam from the easternmost part of North America, northern Mexico, up through the United States, including much of Canada, where two vacationers are about to encounter the unthinkable. (roar, screaming) Ontario's Lake Missinaibi Provincial Park. 130 miles of rugged coastline, the only access in is by boat. A young married couple is two days into an annual week-long camping trip. Jacqueline Perry and Mark Jordan are enjoying a relaxing break from their city life. Until a dark shape appears from behind the brush. MARK: Jac! Bear! NARRATOR: A black bear lunges at Jacqueline. Mark grabs the bear around the neck and tries to pry it off her. The bear bites Mark on the neck, then turns its attention back to Jacqueline. Mark grabs the only weapon at hand--his pocketknife-- and jumps between the bear and his wife. They battle for several minutes, Mark's knife finding the bear over and over. Until the bear backs off. Mark picks up his wife's limp body. With nowhere else to go, he takes to the lake. And just as Mark reaches the boats, the bear abruptly turns and walks back through the camp, disappearing into the bush from which it came. MARK: Help me! Help me! Help us, please! NARRATOR: But his echo is the only response. (crying) RYTIS: I hear like, screaming, you know, sort of like shouting, like, at first I didn't realize what it was, then I realized it's "Help!" VYTAS: And I said to my son, "Something is wrong. Go, go see what's happening." Father and son campers discover the battered couple. RYTIS: So I grabbed his boat, canoe, to pull it to the shore, and I look, "Oh, my God," and the canoe is like half filled with like red water, you know, blood, bloody water. NARRATOR: The men help Jacqueline and Mark onto their larger, faster boat. VYTAS: And when I was lifting her, there were wounds from bear claws like four, four deep wounds. He had a very bad wound, all this muscle was torn, you know, and it was bleeding, and he was totally white. He was, he lost a lot of blood. NARRATOR: The men speed to the mainland. When they finally reach shore, Mark gets the help he needs. But Jacqueline doesn't last through the trip. Black bears are normally shy and avoid humans altogether. But when on the brink of starvation, they may see people as prey. In the last 10 years, there have been around 25 fatal black bear incidents in North America. And in densely populated areas, black bears and humans are meeting each other more and more. Adapting their behavior in bold and unpredictable ways. New Jersey, USA. LISA: It was my daughter's second birthday, and I had gotten up early and made brownies to take to playgroup with us to celebrate her birthday. It was a school day for my son, so he gotten up and dressed and he was in the living room, eating a Pop-Tart, watching TV, and I was in my daughter's room getting her dressed. I heard a noise at the screen door, and I was about to call out to him. BOY: Ahh! Mom! Bear's coming in! Bear's coming in! LISA: I grabbed the kids, ran down the hall to my bedroom, we closed the door and called 911. Close the door! It was terrifying. I was scared for my children. There's a bear at the door, there's a bear at the front door of the house. Yes. (growling, scratching) Oh, my god! It's in the house! It's in the house! We just heard the noise, it's in the house! NARRATOR: The black bear breaks in looking for a meal. LISA: She opened a cabinet and ate Ovaltine and pastina and dry cereal and all kinds of stuff like that. NARRATOR: The bear ignored the humans cowering in the bedroom and no one was hurt. But the family learned of the danger in their backyard. And there are bigger bears out there. NARRATOR: The elk in Yellowstone work double time to protect their calves from hungry bears. It'll be weeks before this calf's legs are strong enough to outrun predators. Sensing danger, the mother moves away from the newborn so she doesn't reveal its location. A newborn's scent is so faint, few predators will even know it's there. But this grizzly is close and has one of the most sensitive noses in the Animal Kingdom. This mother and her two cubs are famished after six months of winter sleep. And hidden all around them is a feast. This baby elk is without defense. The grizzly. This brown bear is one of the largest land carnivores weighing up to half a ton and standing at 9 feet tall. And it's still fast. A full-size grizzly can gallop for 2 miles at speeds of 35 miles per hour. A grizzly's bite strength rivals that of carnivores like leopards. Its claws extend up to 4 inches long, four times the size of the black bear's. And the grizzly has an added weapon in its arsenal... the shoulder hump. A dense pack of muscle connected to a grizzly's shoulders and forearms. It delivers extra force that comes in handy when grizzlies dig deep in the earth for roots, fight over food or mates, and take down large prey. These massive mammals once roamed throughout the mountainous regions of the western continental US, Alaska and Canada. But human encroachment has drastically reduced the grizzly's domain and numbers. In the US, only about 1,000 grizzlies still roam, mostly in the country's popular national parks. August 2005. Johan Otter and his 18-year-old daughter, Jenna, are on an early-morning hike in Montana's Glacier National Park. The heart of grizzly country. JOHAN: When you're in Glacier, that part, you're in the middle of wilderness. There's no civilization; there's no help out there whatsoever. JENNA: We started on the trail. It was relatively quiet since it was about 7:30, 8:00 in the morning. We started walking, just talking loud. General precaution when you're in grizzly bear country is to make noise so that you alert whatever animals are around you of your presence. And it was about two hours into our hike when we came around a blind corner, and coming the opposite direction was a mother grizzly bear and two cubs. And we just kind of hit face-on at about six feet away. JOHAN: And she takes two steps back and says something like, "Oh, no," and suddenly I see this animal running at me. And it bites me in the back of my thigh. It starts moving around like you're a rag doll. Trapped between a raging bear and a 30-foot drop, Johan makes a life-and-death decision. JOHAN: I have to get into safety and I basically dive off the trail into some bushes about 20 feet below. Safe but badly battered, Johan calls for his daughter. JOHAN: Jenna, come down here, it's safe down here. I don't think Jenna ever heard me. NARRATOR: But the grizzly does. JOHAN: I remember still seeing the bear popping its head up, looking down at me, and just running down. And this animal has incredible speed. NARRATOR: Within seconds, the bear is back on top of Johan. JOHAN: The bear's on top of my backpack, pulling me, back and forth, back and forth, and it was digging on top of my skull as if, you know, a dog digging for a bone. I felt the paws on my neck at one point and a lot, a lot of pressure right here. And it basically cracked some of the vertebrae right there. I could feel that that was going. I knew that the bottom of my neck had been broken, 'cause the force of the bear on top of it, I kinda felt something crack. Desperate, Johan believes his only chance at survival is to fight back. JOHAN: I grabbed it by the throat, and I remember looking it straight in the eyes and it looked straight back at me, two amber brown eyes. I'll never forget that sight. Then it bit me in the skull, and then I could feel a tooth going into the back of my neck. And that's when I thought, that's just not good. I'm going to die. If I'm going to keep playing dead, I'm actually going to be dead. NARRATOR: Johan decides he must fall again and jumps an additional 30 feet. The mother grizzly lets Johan go, but turns her attention towards Jenna. JENNA: I waited in the bush; I don't know how long I waited. My instinct was to lie there in the bush and cover myself up. NARRATOR: Jenna Otter hides from the agitated mother bear that attacked her father. JENNA: I put myself in the fetal position and thought I was being quiet. The grizzly may not hear her, but it can smell her. JENNA: And I remember distinctly hearing sort of the under breath, sort of growls. From there, it just reached down, like bit me around the head, tore me to the side. At that point, my mouth was torn completely open. It bit me on the shoulder and tore me the other way. NARRATOR: Mother bears will react aggressively if they sense their vulnerable cubs are in danger. When the threat passes, they'll likely disappear back into the wild. So almost always, playing dead is the best response. JENNA: Kinda looked at me over, sort of saw that I was bloody and I wasn't moving, not a threat to its cubs, and just walked off. Yeah. Jenna and Johan estimate that their combined attacks lasted less than five minutes. Discovered by a passing hiker, the pair was airlifted to Seattle, Washington, for emergency medical attention. JENNA: I just couldn't move my arm. It was because the bite had gone down to the bone. And my head felt really bloody and caked with blood because there were some gashes in there from it biting around my face. And I was so lucky. But her father was not. JOHAN: They had to take care of approximately 28 wounds. I believe there was six different vertebras that were broken. Two ribs broken on one side and one rib on the other side. Also the bear's claws must've hit me in the eye. Also, the clawing of the bear on my head, it took off 60 to 80% of my scalp. I lost half my blood while I was on the mountain. Also, I broke something in here, broke my nose. (chuckles) NARRATOR: Four weeks and six surgeries later, Johan was finally released from the hospital. And with Johan and Jenna's scars comes a newfound respect for one of the world's deadliest species. JOHAN: It's just an amazing animal, just an amazing amount of muscle all in this one body. It's just one big piece of muscle, basically, just amazing. JENNA: I don't feel any ill will towards the grizzly bear, just grizzly bears in general or the particular grizzly bear that attacked us at all. It was doing what it naturally does. NARRATOR: Despite the sheer volume of hikers around the United States' national parks, the number of grizzly attack fatalities is low... under 50 since the year 1900. Larger populations of grizzlies live in Alaska and Canada, where encounters with humans are more common. British Columbia, Canada, August 1994. Deep in the forest, Louie van Grootel and Wade Sjodin are marking high-quality timber for logging. WADE: Just before 11 o'clock we heard something. You hear that? LOUIE: Yeah. WADE: We heard it was woofing and kind of a bark above us. And we could hear the sound getting closer. We had decided, yeah, it was a bear. NARRATOR: Wade races up a tree. But Louie isn't so fast. Suddenly, he's facing a grizzly. With one blow of its paw, the bear shatters his hand. Its teeth rip into his flesh, all the way to the bone. LOUIE: I grab the bear by the ears, try to reduce his leverage on me. He ended up picking me right up, it was effortless. NARRATOR: He weighs 200 pounds and is a former competitive wrestler, but against this grizzly, Louie has no chance. Wade watches from above as the bear tears his friend to shreds. WADE: I remember the teeth tearing the scalp off his head, a sound I'll never forget. Hey! Get out of here! Go! Get out of here! Hey! Wade yells at the bear hoping to distract it from mauling Louie. WADE: Hey! Get out of here! Hey! You know, I was, I feared for Louie obviously, and I thought briefly that I should jump down and... Then I thought there's no good that I could do to assist at this point, basically stay in the tree, try to coerce it, get it to come over to me, to, you know, leave him. NARRATOR: But he doesn't realize grizzlies can climb. WADE: To my horror, this bear grabbed on to the tree with both front feet and just proceeded to pull himself straight up. NARRATOR: Seconds later, the bear is 35 feet up the tree. WADE: Having just witnessed what happened to Louie, I mean, it was terror. Some 30 feet in the air, Wade Sjodin fights off the grizzly that battered his friend. The bear claws and pulls. But Wade has a plan. Before racing up the tree, Wade removed his vest. Inside was his only real defense: bear spray, like the potent mace used by policemen and the military. Wade drops from the tree... ...and runs to his vest. WADE: It laid at the bottom of the tree for I don't know how long, just in a big pile. I looked at it, and I went, god, I killed this thing. And then it did start to move and slowly kind of got up and was wheezing really bad and blowing like its nose, and it started to wander off in the direction from which it'd come. And if it hadn't been for the mace, I could almost guarantee you that neither one of us would have survived, so. NARRATOR: About an hour later, rescuers arrive. Louie is so badly injured that it takes two and a half years and 16 surgeries to repair his body. Most bear attacks happen when humans venture deep into the remote wilderness... like the Kodiak archipelago, home to the world's largest brown bear. The Kodiak bear is a giant grizzly. Males stand around 9 feet high and weigh some 700 pounds. Yet they can run covering 60 yards of wilderness in 6 seconds. Their paws are larger than a man's face, and their curved claws and spike-like teeth can shred an animal in an instant. These massive bears depend on an annual cycle of food sources to keep them alive. In the summer, Kodiaks crave an especially tiny but critical meal: wild berries. In the fall, they gather near streams waiting for fatty salmon to arrive back from their migration. But when climate change causes crops to fail and rivers to run dry... these hungry bears will pounce on whatever food they can find. (man yelling) November 1999. A party of seasoned hunters ventures into the wilderness to hunt deer. In the group is 68-year-old Gene Moe, his son Karl, and two friends-- Steve Fitzpatrick and Tom Frolich. TOM: It seemed like it started out like any normal day and, and everything was fine. Everybody seemed to be in good spirits. STEVE: Happy hunting. KARL: Typically you want to stay together, but things happen where you end up alone or your partner has gone a different direction. Or you just don't know where each other is at, and you can go by each other and not see each other sometimes. NARRATOR: The hunters know the woods well, and know they have entered a world where danger may lurk behind every tree. TOM: The thought of being attacked by a bear is in the back of our minds. But we try to shrug that off because you could just be wandering around completely paranoid if you kept thinking that all the time. But the thought's always there. That's probably the last thing you want to run into on a trail is a bear. He's gonna win. NARRATOR: By 2:30, the hunters have hiked a couple of miles into the forest. (gunshot) And 68-year-old Gene Moe has had some success. He's killed a deer. But with it comes the attention of a hungry predator. NARRATOR: Out of nowhere, a Kodiak bear slams into Gene Moe. The bear's teeth and claws rip into him. Gene manages to reach for his knife, and stabs the Kodiak at least three times in the head and neck. Finally, he gets a break, and struggles to his gun. The bear drops dead. Gene escaped the surprise attack. But he's not out of the woods just yet. Blood pours from deep wounds in his arm and leg. He needs help, fast. TOM: It was about 3:30, 4 o'clock. Hearing the breakers on the beach, just, you know, quiet. And I hear a noise, and didn't pay much mind, and then I heard it again. We looked down the end of the beach. MAN: There he is. TOM: And there was Gene. He was covered in blood, his clothes were all ripped to shreds. All the meat in his arm was hanging down below his hand. His leg was sliced open where you could see the pants and the blood and the muscles and everything. I had not seen anything like that at all. MAN: Wrap him up. NARRATOR: The wounded hunter has only one desire-- that his death be quick. TOM: The first thing Gene says, "Shoot me." And I said, "Gene, I can't do that, but if you ask me tomorrow, maybe I will." We jumped in the boat, we launched it off and took off. NARRATOR: They speed toward the nearest hunting lodge, 20 minutes away. From there, they can radio the Coast Guard for help. TOM: Sitting in the boat going back, you know, he starts to, to nod down and that, you wonder, is he, is he going to be okay or is he going to, or is he going to die? You know, it was hard to tell. NARRATOR: Gene is suffering massive trauma, blood loss, and shock. TOM: All he could say, as I recall, is he was so freezing, he was so cold. NARRATOR: The boat is traveling at 20 miles an hour. The air is 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Inside the boat, the temperature is near zero. But the extreme cold is actually buying him precious time by constricting his blood vessels, slowing the loss of blood. TOM: Next thing we know, here comes the helicopter. It was the Coast Guard out of Kodiak, and they landed out on a little peninsula that was there. NARRATOR: The chopper takes Gene to Kodiak Medical Center. After six hours of surgery and six weeks of recovery, Gene is able to reflect on his experience. GENE: A hundred things could have went wrong and I wouldn't have made it, but everything just fell into place, just clockwork, and I was so blessed with how everything came out. Gene doesn't blame the bear for what happened to him. GENE: The bear was starving and needed the meat from the deer, and if he would have left me, if he would have stopped, I would have walked away and he would have had that meat. It came right on me, so I had no chance but to defend myself. And so we had this fight, there was two of us trying to survive, and I was very fortunate I was the one that made it. Elsewhere in the world, the grizzly is outsized by a distant relative and the largest land carnivore The polar bear evolved from the brown bear some 150,000 years ago. This king of the Arctic is the world's largest bear. Adult males can weigh nearly a ton. And stand over 10 feet tall. Despite their size, they're still fast. A polar bear can sprint up to 25 miles per hour on land, and swim at 6 miles per hour underwater. A polar bear's teeth are closer in many ways to lions or tigers than to their grizzly cousins. Meat slicers, not plant grinders. And so are their claws. Sharp enough to keep other enormous animals from getting away and for getting a grip in a slippery world of ice. A polar bear can detect its prey from over 20 miles away. Its primary diet is fatty, sea-dependent seals. The bear uses its weight to bash in the roof of a hidden seal's den. Then finishes the job with its torpedo-shaped head... perfect for squeezing into small holes in the ice and dragging out the heaviest of meals. This Russian video shows a polar bear taking on a bull walrus-- evidence of a polar bear's true power. A bull walrus can have 3-foot tusks and weigh nearly two tons. But it's virtually helpless against a polar bear's merciless assault. Polar bears are found in pockets across the Arctic: Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. They depend on the sea ice to hunt for food rich enough in calories But as the planet warms because of rising CO2 emissions, ice melts earlier and takes longer to freeze. So bears are spending more time on land. Driven by starvation, they seek new prey wherever they can find it. ERIN: I definitely felt like I was being hunted. NARRATOR: Churchill, Canada. Every fall thousands of polar bears congregate here in anticipation of the first freeze... earning this small town the title of Polar Bear Capital of the World. ERIN: Part of Churchill's beauty is definitely the rawness of the environment. There's, there's one 4-way stop, you know, there's no traffic. It's just this sort of untouched area of the world. Montreal native Erin Greene first visited Churchill in 2012 to work as a waitress during polar bear season. ERIN: I liked it so much that I decided to come back the next year and experience the summer months as well as the winter months. I had seen my first bear in town the first year, um, just sort of on the other side of the railroad tracks from the town. To actually see a bear for the first time myself in town, I think that that was, um, quite an awakening for me. NARRATOR: On her second year, Erin got up close and personal with the town's famous predator while walking home from a Halloween party with her friends. ERIN: I left around 5 o'clock in the morning. I remember it being fairly cold that night. My house was approximately a block away from the house that the party was at. The walk should have taken less than 5 minutes. Then we left their house, took a couple of steps onto the street, and my friend Nikki happened to look over her right shoulder, and she said, "Oh, my god, guys. There's a bear." And then all of us kind of looked over and saw the bear just running towards us. NARRATOR: Without a weapon for protection, Erin and her friends act out of instinct. ERIN: Our first reaction was to run. But the bear was so fast. There was literally nothing that I could do. NARRATOR: The bear heads straight for Erin, and her friends run for help. ERIN: The bear grabbed me and bit onto the back of my head. And I just, I'd never felt anything that violent before. I tried to punch overhead and just try to get it in a sensitive area. But I was just being overpowered by the bear. NARRATOR: Erin's punches don't faze the giant polar bear. ERIN: At that point, he picked me up from the shoulders. I was a good 5 feet off the ground. It was a blur of paws. I was just like a rag doll and being tossed around. If I was going to get out of this situation, I would need somebody to come and help me. Erin's losing blood fast. Her world begins to fade. ERIN: When I looked around, I couldn't see anyone. It's me and the bear. And this isn't a fight that I'm going to win. At that point, I don't think I was screaming anymore. MAN: Hey! Hey! ERIN: All of a sudden, I start to hear a man's voice. MAN: Hey, get out of here! ERIN: The polar bear dropped me. And somebody was distracting the bear. This was my chance to get away. And so I remember looking up and seeing a bright light, which was the doorway of the man's house, and I thought, I have to get inside that house. And I ran for it. NARRATOR: Erin musters what little strength she has left and runs to safety. ERIN: And actually as I was running, I tripped. Because I didn't realize that the bear had ripped open my knee. But I just got right back up and just ran like hell. And I'm pressing my scalp into my head because I'm pretty sure that if I take my hand off that I'm either going to bleed to death or that part of my head is just going to fall off. NARRATOR: Erin hears screams behind her as she finally makes it to the open door. ERIN: I remember going up the stairs of the house, I remember the yellow glow of the light. My thoughts were I need to get to a phone immediately, and I need to call for more help. ERIN: As I'm inside, there's lots of gunshots going off. There's just people screaming, and this whole chaotic situation that was happening outside. This lady comes down the stairs in a bathrobe, and she sees me bleeding uncontrollably from my head. I tell her that I was just attacked by a polar bear. She says, "Okay, we need to get you into the bathroom." And then she tells me that she's a nurse and that I need to trust her. NARRATOR: The woman wraps a towel around Erin's head as they wait for an ambulance to arrive. Shortly after, the gunshots and screams cease from outside. ERIN: My scalp was partially removed, and the bear, polar bear had severed three arteries. He took a piece of my ear off. I had bruising pretty much all over my body. I had a concussion. I had puncture wounds in my shoulders, a little bit across my chest. The polar bear also scratched my belly. Um, and, uh, cut open my knee. Erin's injuries resulted in more than $13,000 in medical bills. But her love for bears and the city of Churchill remains the same. ERIN: One of the first questions was if the bear was okay. I later found out that not only the polar bear that attacked me died that night, but unfortunately they killed another bear as well that evening. We live in a town that there's the potential that polar bears can come into town. That's part of the charm that Churchill and people who live in Churchill have. We've created a system where we can both live in harmony. When you're dealing with the world's largest carnivore and a town of 800 people that basically is the migratory path of polar bears, then eventually something's gotta give. NARRATOR: The world's last surviving bears are on the fight of their lives, reacting to human threats to their species' survival. As our planet changes, the world's predators are fighting back, to take back what was and will always be wild.