Little Killers (Full Episode) | World's Deadliest | Nat Geo Animals

Narrator: Fuzzy mini mammals. Pretty little songbirds. An octopus that can fit in your hand. What do all of these tiny creatures have in common? They're all big time killers. These are the pint-sized predators that prove bigger isn't always better. These are the World's Deadliest: Little Killers! Southeast Asia. As a predator, your chances of success in the land of tigers and bears aren't very good if you're less than two feet high. But try telling that to the Asiatic wild dog or "dhole" and he'll laugh in your face. [howling]. Narrator: Along with five to twelve of his closest family members. What dholes lack in stature, they make up for in numbers. Effective numbers. The highly social animals have been known to form "super packs" of up to thirty or more. Then, using a series of clicks and screams not found anywhere else in candid kind. [dhole calls]. Narrator: They coordinate deadly attacks, taking down prey over ten times their size. Or the unfortunate little ones. But that's not their only hunting strategy. Packs of dholes will sometimes wear down their prey by chasing them to exhaustion. They also have no fear of water and will deliberately drive animals into lakes and rivers to slow them down. [deer screaming]. Narrator: Though they may not possess much in the way of height advantage, the thirty to forty pound dogs are able to jump over seven feet straight up, a skill that helps when spotting prey in tall grass and cornering it for the kill. With this many lethal skills at their disposal, it takes only two to three of the small German Shepherd sized dogs to kill 110 pound deer in less than two minutes. So fearsome are these little flash mobs, even tigers and giant elephants have been seen fleeing their collective jaws. [dhole call]. Narrator: Truly, the whole of this pack is greater than the sum of its tiny killing parts. Tarantulas. Nothing makes you wanna say. [sound of person screaming]. Narrator: More than these creepy monsters. Big and deadly, it's like they walked right out of a nightmare. But you know what scares them? This thing. It's a wasp known as a tarantula hawk, but as far as spiders are concerned, it's basically Jack the Ripper, Dracula and the "Saw" guy all wrapped in one. With a body less than two inches long, the female tarantula hawk out maneuvers its much larger adversary, even getting on its back to deliver a wrenching shot with its stinger! Humans rate this as one of the most painful stings in the insect world, and the wasp delivers it over and over again. So for this spider, it's gotta be the end, right? Not even close. The tarantula is still alive and permanently paralyzed. Now these winged terrors execute a grisly plan. They start by hauling their incapacitated bounty across the ground. A wasp will drag the spider over whatever obstacles are in its way, back to its burrow. There, the killer buries the paralyzed tarantula, lays an egg on its abdomen and seals it in the ground. Under the earth, a hungry spider wasp larvae hatches from the egg and as this one demonstrates, the still-living arachnid is a ready-made meal. The grub will eat for up to twenty days, saving the vital organs till the end, so its food is fresh-and alive-for as long as possible. The grub will eventually emerge as an adult and now, this small wasp can go be the big, bad terror of tarantulas it was born to be. Giant squid, killer whales, the great white shark. The ocean is filled with mammoth beasts that kill with brutal efficiency. But lurking just below the surface, in the shallow tide pools and coastal reefs across the Indo-Pacific, there is a much deadlier killer, one of the deadliest in all the seas. And this monster is barely bigger than a golf ball. Behold the dreaded blue ringed octopus. It gets its name from its fifty to sixty pulsating blue rings that small sea creatures and even humans really don't want to see, because once they start flashing, it means death is imminent. When aggressive or ready to strike, the blue ringed octopus triggers its warning by relaxing and flexing muscles that normally conceal its rings. You gotta be flashy when you're small enough to fit inside most fish mouths. What makes this bottom dweller such an efficient killer is a potent poison in its salivary glands called tetrodotoxin or TTX. It is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Each puny predator contains enough of the deadly stuff to kill 26 full grown men in minutes. Good thing it doesn't walk among us. If only this crab could say the same. A flash of blue rings and then. Eight sticky arms quickly envelope the crustacean. Hard exoskeleton? Snapping pinchers? Useless against the little monster's sharp beak, which it uses to inject its venom. Goodbye cruel world. For any unsuspecting human handling the underwater killer, similar horrors await. At first, you might not even feel the bite, as the animal's beak is almost imperceptibly small. But within minutes, the neuromuscular toxin races through your system, triggering total motor paralysis. Worse, the poison does nothing to affect the brain. So as you lay there, completely immobile, breathing muscles frozen, you're wide awake, unable to scream for help, locked in silent terror. No anti-venom exists, so your only chance of surviving a bite from this mini menace is to get immediate artificial respiration. Small enough to fit in your palm. But do so, and you're shaking hands with death. A full moon rises over the Sonoran Desert. A chilling howl is about to pierce the night. A high-pitched roar warning all others to beware, for this is the battle cry of. Narrator: A mouse. It's the grasshopper mouse to be exact. The only carnivorous mouse in North America to be even more exact. At up to five inches long, it would be easy to overlook this tiny meat-eating Mickey, but to do that would be to underestimate one of the most voracious predators in the animal kingdom. Nearly 90% of its diet is made up of animal matter. Scorpions, tarantulas, even giant venomous centipedes. What most people consider terrifying creatures of the night, the grasshopper mouse considers dinner. It hunts its prey like a lion, learning their movements. Then, just before it strikes, it lets out a howl like a wolf. [howl]. Narrator: A cute, tiny little wolf. After that, it's a flurry of killer cartwheels and piercing teeth. This dance of death almost always ends with the mouse on top. So good is the grasshopper mouse at killing, some farmers have even considered using them to keep pests at bay. Pests like other mice. That's right. The typically solitary grasshopper mouse is highly aggressive and territorial and is not above devouring its own kind. And all this from something no heavier than a hair brush. Unlike most bite-sized things in the animal kingdom, the grasshopper mouse has few predators. [hawk screech]. Narrator: In fact, only a handful of birds of prey even dare cross paths with this tiny killer, because it may be small in size, but for its victims, that tell-tale howl is as big as life itself. Narrator: Compared to the mighty lion or tiger, common housecats are small fry with a cush lives. After all, they've been domesticated at least since ancient Egypt. But, they do have a close cousin that, while also small in stature, is anything but a pet. The bobcat, feline predator of the North American wilderness. Just like its deadly big cat cousins, when hunting, a bobcat stalks its prey on silent paws. Even this large eared rabbit doesn't hear it coming. Until it's too late. The bobcat pursues its prey like a heat-seeking missile, armed with razor-sharp fangs and claws. For the 32 inch long bobcat, it's open season on prey of all sizes. In fact, these tiny terrors are capable of killing creatures up to eight times their own weight. Including deer. And when a bobcat's back is to the wall, watch out. It even makes this much larger Burmese python think twice about have a cat snack. The fierce felines also have been known to attack livestock. In 2004, they killed over 11,000 sheep in the U.S. alone. That's over three-quarters of a million dollars in sheep turned into kitty kibble. But would they be so bold as to attack humans? Just look at the terrifying statistics on rabid bobcats. July, 2000. A Minnesota woman is clawed in her front yard while gardening. December, 2007. Two Death Valley tourists are pounced upon by vicious beast. May 26th, 2010. Virginia man attacked inside his home. August 2012. North Carolina residents fight off bobcat in front yard. And in January 2013, Massachusetts man Roger Mundell Jr. was savagely attacked by a rabid bobcat while working in his own garage. So beware this pint-sized predator, for this is no lap cat. This is a wild little feline with one killer napoleon complex. You might not think of centipedes as a big deal. But there are a few that are truly fearsome. A few that get ominously named "giant centipedes!" Of course, at just 6 inches to a foot long, they're hardly true giants. But then, there's nothing small about their killing prowess. This intimidating beast is the Indian giant tiger centipede and it's a lethal predator. Giant centipedes compensate for their small size by being highly venomous and use front legs that have evolved into powerful fangs. This centipede moves with uncanny speed and when prey is near, it's an aggressive killer. Its column of legs wraps around its meal like a straight jacket. But the most impressively terrifying of them all is the Amazonian Giant Centipede. At night, this leggy monster stalks into a cave and slowly climbs the walls. It's target? Bats! It creeps across the ceiling, finds a low hanging perch and then, it's bye-bye batty. They may be giants among their kind, but this small predator's real size lies in its ability to kill. From Cain and Abel, to the Smothers Brothers, human history is full of legendary sibling rivalries and in some parts of the animal kingdom, "survival of the fittest" trumps "brotherly love." Like with these hyena cubs, who are born with a vicious streak and often kill their weaker siblings. But there are other pipsqueaks that are even more vicious. In a Florida swamp, a Darwinian battle is underway. High above the water, snowy egret chicks fight for their mother's attention. And what a fight it is. The stronger fledglings terrorize the runt, attempting to force it out of the nest. Getting rid of the sickly chick means more food for them. But they're not the only ones with an interest in who comes out on top, because waiting just below this genetic thunder dome are the open jaws of some very eager alligators. They will not go hungry today. The weak one gets evicted. Its siblings have done their job. It's brutal behavior for creatures so young. But there are some tiny killers who get started even earlier. Sand tiger sharks. By any measure, among the ocean's deadliest predators, they can devour anything. But it all starts when they're at their tiniest, in their mother's womb. Here, unborn tiger sharks are so voracious, they eat their own kin. It's called, "intrauterine cannibalism." The one strongest embryo takes over the womb by chomping its way through its weaker siblings. So what's the point? The sole survivor of this cannibalistic crucible is born battle-hardened and ready to take on anything in the great, wild ocean. Not all baby creatures are cute and cuddly, because when it comes to natural selection, a little killer can go a long way. Narrator: On an island to the south of Australia, ferocious noises echo through the forest at twilight. [loud growling sounds]. Narrator: The strange sounds come from a creature with big attitude and little stature. At less than two and a half feet long, the Tasmanian devil is roughly the size of a beagle. A tiny, mean, snarling, biting beagle. Packed with muscle, this carnivorous marsupial is notoriously tough. When it finds a bigger prey, it just means a bigger meal. With a jaw that swings open eighty degrees, the Tasmanian devil has one of the most crushing bites, pound for pound, of any land predator alive. It's a kiss of death that helps the devils devour their prey whole. Meat, fur, bones and all. And if you think how they eat is gruesome, you should see how they mate. [howling and growling]. Romantic, isn't it? A rowdy devil will even stand its ground against a larger adversary, like a certain bipedal primate. So word to the wise, stay clear of this little menace because while its bark is terrifying, that's nothing compared to its bite. It feels right at home among deadly three-inch thorns. It displays its kills like bloody trophies. Its Latin name, "lanius," means "butcher" and it's a title that couldn't be more fitting. It is the shrike, a pretty little songbird with one killer dark side. Unlike bigger birds of prey, the 8 to 10 inch long shrike doesn't have large talons to tear apart victims. That's where nature gets creative. Like some airborne "Vlad the Impaler," the shrike spears its victims on large pikes, both natural and manmade. Lizards? Shrike'd. Snakes? Even other birds. Anything the bird can get on its spike is fair game. And once its quarry is skewered into place, the shrike can tear away chunks of flesh at leisure. After all, these bodies aren't going anywhere. This ingenious, if gruesome adaptation comes in particularly handy when the shrike is hunting one of its favorite foods, the lubber grasshopper. This big, meaty insect would make a good meal. But the lubber grasshopper also happens to be highly toxic. A deadly problem. But the shrike has an even deadlier solution. After employing its signature move, it leaves the grasshopper to stew on the thorn for days, until decay breaks down the poison and the feast can commence. The piercing method is such an effective tool; some shrikes will even build up a surplus of kills, turning thorny plants into their own private pantries. With so much killing power packed into one bird, we should all be happy it's so small. Otherwise, our world might be a much more dangerous place. Above the brackish waters of this marsh, a grasshopper wisely keeps an eye out for aerial predators like the shrike. But as it watches the sky above, death comes from below. In an instant, the insect is fast food, victim of the little, but lethal, archerfish. As tiny as one inch long, this aquatic creature employs a clever long-range hunting technique. The archerfish presses its tongue against the roof of its mouth, forming a narrow channel. Then, it contracts its gill covers and forces powerful jets of water through the channel, unleashing liquid arrows at six feet per second! The bolts of water strike with incredible accuracy from up to three feet away. But it's not as simple as point and shoot. As an archerfish lurks it has to contend with the bending of light through the water. But like a high-tech targeting computer, its eyes and brain compensate for the refracted light. The fish adjusts aim and fires accordingly. Bull's-eye. The archerfish can blast up to seven times in succession, like a miniature submarine launching surface-to-air missiles. In fact, over the years, the U.S. Navy has named two of its sub fleet after the archerfish. That's a big legacy for such a tiny animal. But it's a fish that makes up for its small size with superior firepower. Narrator: The king cobra. One of the largest, most fearsome snakes in the world. They may look cute when they're fresh from the egg, but don't be fooled. While most newborns cry for mother's milk, baby cobras have a taste for blood. Why wait for the "terrible twos?" These toxic toddlers are born with fully potent venom, primed to kill at three hours old. This youngling is about eight inches long but it's got a whopper appetite. With flicking tongue, it takes a taste of its first potential meal. That's one lucky amphibian. But the second menu selection isn't so fortunate. The micro serpent sinks its baby fangs into the frog, injecting it with a killer cocktail of neuro and cardiotoxins. With its prey paralyzed, the snake does what most children would do, stuff its face! But unlike most children, this teeny terror can unhinge its jaw and swallow the frog whole. It's the first kill of many, which will include more amphibians, rodents and even other snakes. With ultra-keen eyesight, this baby king cobra targets its next meal, an olive keelback water snake. Sensing danger, the speedy serpent makes a break for it. But it can't outrun the king, even when he's still just a little prince. It's quite a mouthful, but it won't be long before this tiny killer grows into its massive appetite. But there is one animal not even the baby cobra can stomach. With vividly patterned skins, this family of tiny tropical tree frogs may resemble charming creatures from a video game. In reality, these candy-colored clowns are a rainbow of death. They're called "poison dart frogs." Most are under two inches long, some as small as a half an inch. But beware: they ooze a toxic slime that can kill you! Depending on the species, their poison can be so potent it can enter your bloodstream with just a touch of your hand. One tiny golden poison frog packs enough punch to wipe out 10 to 20 full-grown men or 10,000 mice. Take your pick. No wonder its Latin name is "P. terribilis." South America is like a crayon box of evil when it comes to these little demons. But in Colombia, one indigenous tribe has learned to harness their poison. The Embera Choco people rub the tips of their hunting darts in the frogs' toxic ooze, which they then use to take down prey. The poison dart frog may exist in a kaleidoscope of colors, but encountering one of these miniscule menaces could end in a fade to black. It floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. But this boxing decapod is far from being a heavyweight. In fact, at just one to twelve inches in length, it's a real shrimp, part of a group called the mantis shrimp. When it comes to killing, this small fry has a deadly array of tools, including the most complex eyes known to man. Each independently moving peeper has 16 color analyzing cells arranged in bands. The human eye only has three. The mantis shrimp uses these bands like crosshairs and once is in its sites, the shrimp's true power is revealed. Strong, calcified club-like arms strike out at 50 miles an hour, one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom. And it resembles the praying mantis, its land-loving namesake, in more ways than one. It's a gut-punch of death for this crab and a tasty meal for the shrimp. Incredibly, each knockout blow approaches the force of a .22 caliber bullet, all the better to bust open hard mussel shells for dinner. Even this octopus thinks twice when facing down the puny prawn. Maybe it knows the mantis shrimp also packs another hidden weapon: a spear like claw. Perfect for a lightning-fast stab-and-grab. In the blink of an eye, it can turn soft-bellied prey into sushi. Though the mantis shrimp may be a lightweight, this underwater pugilist brings the thunder like a heavyweight champ. But it shares a marine battleground with another tiny killer and before long; the two will fight to the death. Narrator: You've probably seen meerkats before, lounging around, snuggling up and goofing off. But the one thing they do even better than looking cute, is killing. Just two pounds and a foot tall each, the wee ones may not seem intimidating, but a mob of meerkats can dominate four square miles of desert in southern Africa. And they run it like the mafia. While one or two play lookout, the others aggressively go on the hunt. A dug-up beetle? Whacked! A gecko caught out in the open? Popped! And this millipede? On its way to sleeping with the fishes. Most predators avoid the millipede's noxious secretions, but meerkats just give the nasty bug a scrub in the sand, before digging in. The tiny meerkat will also go to great heights in order to spot its next mark, with varying degrees of success. Of course, this little predator needs to be much more fleet footed when hunting its favorite food, deadly scorpion. It's a tricky meal and requires lightning quick reflexes. It doesn't hurt that meerkats are immune to the scorpion's toxin. Once they bite off the tail, the rest is easy. The little wise guys have a reputation for putting up a fight, even with a cape cobra. A single bite from this snake injects enough venom to kill over six men. But the tiny thugs are fearless and ruthless. Meerkats are actually a kind of mongoose, an animal with a thirst for snake blood. So with these mobsters, the lesson is simple: you're either with 'em, or inside 'em. But there's a big time killer far tinier and deadlier than the meerkat. They're found worldwide and ounce for ounce, are among the most destructive forces in nature. They are ants. An estimated ten-thousand-trillion thrive across the planet. Army ants in the Amazon don't settle down in a nest. Instead, they create a living bivouac around a half million strong. And every day, that giant horde gets hungry. The ants march out in a massive raid. But they're not looking for food. They're sensing it. Each worker in this unstoppable eating machine is blind. But nothing in their path is safe. Massive mandibles and piercing stings allow the ants to overwhelm and dismember their targets. Even large animals. In one day, the horde can kill 30,000 prey. It's teamwork on a deadly scale. But in Australia, another ant colony relies on the sheer ferocity of its individuals. Bulldog ants. [dogs growling]. Narrator: There may be only a few hundred in their underground colonies, but when each ant can measure over an inch and a half long, you don't want to mess with them. Well-developed eyes help these monsters spot food from over three feet away and a lethal arsenal helps neutralize their target. The ants find weak spots in the beetle's shell, and with a stinger on their abdomen, viciously inject venom This big bulldog ant carries its prize back into the nest. After all, there are hungry mouths to feed at home. It's been said the bulldog ant is so fierce that if you cut it in half, the head and the tail will attack each other. Just one of many reasons it is considered the world's most aggressive ant. But there is another more invasive species that's every bit as deadly. The red imported fire ant. Originally from South America, the first arrived in the states on shipping boats in the 1930's. For them, it was like being delivered into the land of plenty. Few predators, tons to eat and lots of room to spread out. Famously aggressive, these tiny beasts strip flesh off carrion and have even been known to attack nesting birds. But what makes fire ants so dangerous is what they can do to people. Make the mistake of disturbing them and there will be hell to pay. The fire ant anchors its jaws into flesh and unloads a necrotoxic venom with its stinger. Five million people are stung every year in the South Eastern US and one percent of the victims have extreme, even life-threatening reactions. So don't underestimate ants. What these tiny killers lack in size, they make up for in numbers, power and pure hostility. Straight ahead, two little killers, one epic battle. It's a small scale fight to the death; to miss, next. Narrator: Those fuzzy little ears. That cute little nose. There are few faces in the animal kingdom as adorable as that of the tiny stoat. Except when that face is bathed in blood. Weighing in at less than a pound and stretching just 12 to 13 inches from tooth to tail, this unassuming killer is a real wolf in weasel's clothing. [rabbit screams]. Narrator: From the moment they're old enough to pounce, these miniature cousins of the wolverine are preparing for the hunt. What looks like harmless play between two adolescents is actually a master class in killing. After all, your skills need to be sharp when you're hunting prey up to ten times your size. The stoat will eat small rodents and lizards, but its preferred meal is the ever-multiplying rabbit. The second it decides to strike, its mind is set. It has only one purpose, kill the rabbit. The stoat is so zeroed in on the chase; it completely ignores all the other potential meals standing around. But that single minded focus pays off. The stoat wears the bounding hare down and digs into its back with its non-retractable claws. Bunny lovers, look away now. Because this kill is neither quick, nor merciful. Like the rest of it, the stoat's teeth are small. Too small to reach the rabbit's spinal column or major arteries. The method by which it kills? Fear. After several agonizing minutes, the rabbit finally dies, believe it or not, of shock. And the stoat wastes no time savoring its spoils. At the end of the day, with 25% of its body weight consumed, the voracious stoat heads for home. And where is home? The stolen burrows of their slaughtered prey. A fact all the more gruesome when you consider they insulate that nest with fur from previous conquests. So give pause the next time you spy those cute little whiskers twitching in the sun. That adorable exterior hides a wild animal with a thirst for blood, a carnivorous mammal with killing ability that far outweighs its small size. You've seen the pint-sized pugilist. The slugger from down under water. The mantis shrimp! You've also seen the toxic terror. The prince of paralysis. The blue ringed octopus! Now, it's the moment you've been waiting for. What happens when they meet? Researchers at Berkeley have put these rivals in the same tank to study how they would face off in a natural setting. Two deadly predators. Only one will survive. The shrimp comes out swinging and it's totally one sided. The shrimp moves so fast and furious, the octopus doesn't even have a chance to bite. Researchers are still trying to figure out how the champ consumes the toxin, but in this "thrilla of little killas" the mantis shrimp takes the title. [man laughs] Man: Yes, yes! [laughing] Give it to him, yeah! Yes, yes!