Unpredictable Animal Killers | World's Deadliest MEGA Episode | Nat Geo Animals

Narrator: The Secretary Bird. The Snapping Turtle. The Cone Snail. Three of the fastest killers on Earth! Wait, what? Oh, got it. These are the Animal Kingdom's swiftest assassins. The quickest bites. Lightning fast strikes. Now you see them, now you're dead. Blink and you'll miss the Worlds Deadliest. "Speed Kills" The African Savannah. For grass grazers, it's a place of constant danger. These Thomson's gazelles need to be on alert at all times, because there's a predator here that can strike in a flash! The cheetah. No list of "speed killers" would be complete without the fastest land animal in the world. And thanks to strategically well timed, surprise strikes, nearly half of their hunts are successful. Found in areas of Africa and a small portion of Iran, the cheetah is born for blindingly fast attacks. In fact, it can go from zero to sixty miles an hour in just three seconds. That's faster than a v-10 Lamborghini Gallardo. At less than 140 pounds, it's far more nimble than its larger cousins like lions. Though the cheetah still can't sprint for long. Usually less than a minute. But in that time it can hit such high speeds, its takedown technique is simple: knock the prey off balance. A bite to the throat finishes the job. Watching them in slow motion, it's easy to lose sight of how fast these cats can be, but here's what a cheetah hunt looks like in real time. It's clear the secret to the cheetah's success is speed, stealth, speed and more speed. Dateline: Oceans around the globe, where witnesses report small sea creatures vanishing in shallow waters. Here one moment, gone the next. The culprit? The notorious stargazer, a fish with a super fast death strike and a mug only Mother Nature could love. The stargazer's M.O. is simple, yet cunning. It buries the bulk of its body in the silt, where it waits to ambush prey. Only the stargazer's face remains visible and at a glance resembles rock or coral. A closer look reveals beady, top mounted eyes and an upward facing mouth. The better to see its victims with and suck them into instant oblivion. This stargazer was recorded at fifty frames per second. When slowed down, its entire strike takes just one, two, three frames. A blistering 60 milliseconds. Even if you're too large to eat, authorities advise caution, as each stargazer is armed with two spines that inject painful venom. And for some members of the species, those spines also deliver a 50 volt electric jolt, making these venomous villains literally as fast as lightning. Bottom dwellers beware. The shockingly fast stargazer is built to deliver pain and death in a flash. It has razor sharp talons, a six-foot wingspan and strikes like a thunderbolt. It's not what you may think. This bald-eagle lookalike rules the skies over sub-Saharan Africa. The African Fish Eagle, scourge of aquatic prey that can reach air speeds up to fifty miles an hour. Before a fish knows it, it's "fillet of fish." This fish eagle is on the hunt and finds a perch overlooking a lake. Its keen eyes scan the water until they finally lock on target. Then, the eagle swoops in and delivers death from above. The powerful bird can carry aloft prey weighing over eight pounds. In fact, it's such a proficient killer; it only needs to hunt for about ten minutes a day. Maybe because this apex predator doesn't only go after fish. Sometimes, it prefers a different kind of food. Food with feathers. Luckily, Africa has a bountiful supply of waterfowl. Lucky for the hunter anyway. For the flamingos, their distant cousin has become an angel of death. There's no outrunning it. Even when its prey manages to dodge one kill shot, the second comes fast and furious. And final. But there is one animal quick enough, and deadly enough to give the fish eagle a serious run for its money. It is the fastest land snake in the world. The black mamba, named for the ink-black color of its coffin shaped maw. At up to 18 feet per second, the black mamba can move faster than most people can run. And you'd better run, because the black mamba also has one of the fastest acting venoms in the snake world. This mouse tries to escape into its burrow, but the black mamba is perfectly capable of hunting in tight spaces. It makes killing all the quicker. Think you can hide in the trees? You may need a plan-b. The black mamba is not only an adept climber, its Latin name, Dendroaspsis, actually means "tree asp." This chameleon doesn't have anything to worry about, today. But these little fledglings never see it coming. Still, a black mamba is deadliest when cornered on land. This reptile senses something right outside its lair. Turns out, it's one of the deadliest predators in all the land, a lion. The small snake doesn't seem to stand a chance against the king of the jungle. But in this case, the mamba strikes first and fastest. Within a half-hour, the killer cat succumbs to the black mamba's deadly venom. Too bad it's too big to eat. Just ten to fifteen milligrams of mamba venom can kill a full-grown man in a half an hour and one bite can contain ten times that amount. That's called "overkill." Before an anti-venom was developed, the mortality rate from a black mamba bite was a staggering 100%. These days, just hopes there's a dose of anti-venom within minutes of you, because if not, this may be the last smile you ever see. Swift on land, split second strikes, fast acting venom. In the world of speedy killers, the African black mamba is a terrifying triple threat. But as fast as the mamba is, there's one animal that makes it look like it's moving in slow motion and it's ready to attack straight ahead. Narrator: Twitching antennae. Bulbous eyes. Deadly claws. They look like "creatures from another planet!" But praying mantises are very much of this planet, even though they kill with unearthly speed. They stalk prey in ultra slow motion, edging ever closer, and once in range, they deliver In 1/20th of a second, a mantis's spiked forelegs dart out and snatch its quarry. Before its target can process what's happening, the brain is being eaten. Mantises also aren't above taking a bite out of each other's head. And that's just the appetizer, because the praying mantis can eat every part of its kill, from head, to foot, to wing. Ambushing butterflies is one thing. But that super speed really comes in handy when attacking far deadlier insects. But it's not just bugs on the menu. This young mantis is about to be lunch for a much larger frog. So it's nice to have a mom who's bigger and faster than your foe. Frog legs anyone? Creatures of Earth beware: once the lightning fast praying mantis gets you in its clutches, you haven't got a prayer. As we've seen, the black mamba is fast. Anything that wants to take on one of these must either have a death wish, or be really, really fast. Enter the mongoose, a mammal from the family herpestidae. One that makes the mamba look like a chump. The darting mongoose dodges every one of the serpent's strikes And when the moment is perfect, it scores the kill in less than two seconds. Ranging from Africa to Southern Asia, mongooses will feed on just about any meat. But it's a keenness for snake that makes them notorious. A cobra nest. Delicious. Of course, the grownups are the ones that pose a challenge. India. Home of a dreaded killer. The spectacled cobra. They're highly venomous and blindingly quick. Just the way the Indian Grey Mongoose likes them. Cobra venom is ineffective on mongooses, but a bite could still create a lethal infection. Trapped, the snake goes on the offensive. The furry speed-demon has perfect reflexes, matching the hooded cobra's every move. Then, in an instant, the deadly dance is over. And just to make sure, dinner is served. In sub-tropical oceans, a submarine sonar operator has to sift through a cacophony of marine sounds. But a noise like distant cannon fire drowns out everything else. No, it's not from an enemy sub. It's from one of the loudest and fastest guns in the sea: the notorious pistol shrimp. Each inch-long crustacean comes equip with a specialized claw half its body length and it gives new meaning to the term "packing heat." In the underwater Wild West, a hungry pistol shrimp holes up in its burrow and waits for prey to wander in range. This time, it's an unsuspecting crab. The bandit edges out of his hideout, sneaking up from behind. It's over in 300 microseconds. The pistol shrimp's claw snaps shut at such high speed; it shoots a superheated bubble at over 60 miles an hour. It creates a similar shockwave to an actual pistol shot. But in this case, the bubble implodes, and for an instant, reaches a staggering 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit! Guess what else is that hot? The surface of the sun. The implosion registers an ear-splitting 218 decibels, as loud as the sonic boom of an F-18. With that much power locked and loaded into one appendage, small prey like this banded shrimp don't stand a chance. The resulting shockwave instantly neutralizes the target and it was never heard from again. But sometimes, pistol shrimp have even been known to turn on each other. It's high noon and these gunslingers are engaged in a marine mano-a-mano. They trade shots at point-blank range, blasting away for supremacy. But neither can get the upper claw and the duel ends in a stalemate. When it comes to underwater shootouts, nothing has a quicker and deadlier draw, than the dreaded pistol shrimp. Narrator: Imagine, diving in the deep, dark ocean, when suddenly thousands of sharp, toothy tentacles lash out at fifteen miles an hour! It may sound like the stuff of nightmares, but this is the very real death strike of the Humboldt Squid! This 6-foot long cephalopod's size is intimidating. But even scarier is its ability to attack at 22 feet per second, more than 3 times faster than the quickest Olympic swimmer. Its speedy secret is a siphon, which blasts seawater like a cannon, allowing the monster to turn on a dime and obliterate prey in a heartbeat. Special skin cells allow the jumbo squid, to flash red and white. It's because of this they earn the nickname "diablos rojos," or "red devils." And like a pack of wolves the frenzied red devils devour their victim in seconds. At least they only hunt fish and shrimp, right? Not so fast. Humboldt's are notorious for meeting unfamiliar objects with extreme aggression. Unfamiliar objects like cameras and divers. The Humboldt's are so vicious that they'll even turn on themselves, gruesomely cannibalizing each other for a free meal. All the more frightening, these speed demons are expanding their killing range. Historically found in subtropical waters, they've recently been spotted as far north as Alaska. Warming seas and fewer natural predators may be factors in their expansion. Whatever is causing it, one thing is for sure: when the Humboldt has you in its sites, it could be all over in a flash. Beetles. They've been crawling around the earth since the Jurassic period. Today, the order coleoptera accounts for a staggering 25% of all known life forms, minus one. What the heck was that? The beetle was ambushed by the fearsome Trapdoor Spider, an arachnid whose murderous cunning matches its incredible speed. With rake-like fangs, it digs a hole in the dirt. Then, it fabricates a camouflaged trap door out of the soil, using its own silk as a hinge. Trip wires of webbing stretch back to the burrow, where the sneaky spider waits like a bullet in a barrel. The second a hapless bug triggers one of the strands, death comes blazing! Like a demonic hand from hell, the trapdoor spider snatches its prey lickety-split, injecting it with a paralyzing venom. Then, it's time to dine in the dirt. Most of the trapdoor spider's victims face a swift and certain doom, though sometimes, even the trapdoor spider jumps the gun. Then again, when you're as fast as this arachnid, there's always a second chance. split second kills, nothing is faster than electricity. Electric eels aren't actually eels at all. They're relatives of the catfish and they can reach up to eight feet long. Packed with special battery-like cells called electrocytes, the fish produces two types of charges. It uses a low, ten-volt charge to sense its surroundings in murky water and a 600 volt shock to deliver death in an instant. It's enough juice to kill a horse. Unlike most fish, electric eels breath air, and at the surface, they often encounter another one of the Amazon's notorious carnivores: the caiman. Apparently, caiman aren't so bright. This time, the caiman lives, but it doesn't always work out that way. This fisherman in Brazil just caught an electric eel. It's not a prize he wants to eat, but something else does. The caiman sizes up the meal. Is it safe? Or is it dangerous? Wrong answer. As soon as the caiman bites, it's all over. The eel unloads for nearly forty seconds, until finally; the caiman pays the ultimate price for his taste in electric sushi. This fisherman knows, the electric eel is not the kind of fish you fry. It's the kind of fish that fries you. Narrator: In the swamps and rivers of the American south, there's a creature that sits very still, appearing to live its life at a very, very slow pace. But don't be fooled. When it's hungry, it's a speed-eater. The alligator snapping turtle has a taste for food so fresh, even the fish don't know they're dead yet. Growing up to a colossal 220 pounds, a snapper will spend almost its whole life underwater, surfacing only to breath every forty to fifty minutes. At night, it'll root around in the muck, searching for plants and carrion to gnaw on. But during the day, it's all about the ambush. Alligator snappers even have a built-in lure, a small bit of flesh that looks like a wiggling worm in its mouth. The fish, oblivious to the big, motionless monster, find the bait irresistible. And in an instant, hooked jaws either catch the prey whole, or skewer it. fish who need to worry about the massive bite. Anyone daring enough to tempt fate with this mouth is liable to lose a limb. [man screams in pain] So it's easy to see why researchers and fishermen have learned to respect these jaws. Because with a bite this fast, catching a meal is a snap. It has the fastest moving jaws on Earth, exerting a force hundreds of times its own body weight. No, not this guy. This guy. The aptly named trap-jaw ant. It's armed with super-sizes mandibles that lock in ready position at 180 degrees. The instant any of the sensory hairs are touched, remind you of anything? The jaws snap shut in 130 microseconds, at an insanely fast 140 miles an hour, the quickest predatory appendages in the Animal Kingdom. And they reach a peak force 300 times the ant's own body weight. Compare that to the relative bite force of a great white shark, which barely even approaches its own weight. What a wuss. The trap-jaw ant's amazing power and speed is ideal for dealing death quickly, be it to prey, or even other trap-jaw ants. Now imagine if they were as big as, them! Besides being oversized scissors on six legs, these ants have developed another ingenious use for their jaws. When a trap-jaw ant feels threatened, it can snap its mandibles on the ground or a nearby object and propel itself out of harm's way. It's like having an ejector seat built onto its face. One that can vault it vertically six times its body length. This trap-jaw ant is being bullied by two of its own kind. But thanks to its giant spring-loaded mandibles, escape is a snap. Five ants are bearing down on this lone wolf. But like a little Evel Knievel, it makes a jaw dropping backwards jump to freedom. Of course, it's also been known to backfire. This ant tries to take a chunk out of a grubworm, but accidentally launches itself out of biting range. Just a momentary inconvenience for the mighty trap-jaw ant. Speedy escapes and super quick kills. This is one hair trigger predator we can all be happy isn't nearly as big as its bite. Like some busy city freeway interchange, the warm sub-tropical waters around the globe are a virtual blur of fast moving life. It's a fish-eat-fish world and whether predator or prey, the key to success in this aquatic metropolis is almost always speed, almost. As it turns out, one of the most successful killer's in this underwater superhighway moves at a snail's pace. This is the cone snail and unlike most creatures of the reef, it doesn't race around in search of food or safety. It doesn't have to. When this menacing mollusk gets hungry, it simply burrows itself into the substrate and extends a long worm like organ called a proboscis. Inside hides a secret weapon: one that makes this Sunday driver of the sea one of the fastest killers in the world. Blink and you'll miss it. A small, hypodermic like barb the snail shoots into prey using quick muscular contractions. Just like that, instant fish-kabob. But then, it's not the skewering that does the most damage. It's what's contained within the barb, a potent cocktail of hundreds of different toxins, more than any other animal on Earth. Once injected, the fish is paralyzed almost instantly, at which point the snail can go back to taking its sweet time swallowing its frozen meal whole. It's a deadly shell game. But not just for small fish. Because of their colorful exteriors, unsuspecting divers looking for a souvenir may pluck the cone snail from its home. It can be a fatal mistake. With its wetsuit piercing harpoon, the six-inch long Conus geographus, is more than capable of delivering a lethal dose to even the biggest man. Here's more good news: there is no anti-venom. So don't be fooled by this tiny tank inching methodically along the sea floor. It may not move fast, but when it comes to delivering liquid death, is no slowpoke. Narrator: The world over, wild cats are proven killers and most use the same technique, go for the throat. It can be a slow and messy affair. Much too slow for one cat. The jaguar doesn't It goes for the brain, delivering instant death with just one bite. The secret to the jaguar's head-splitting talent is its massive canines, long and sharp enough to pierce the prey's brain case and turn out the lights Found silently stalking throughout Central and South America, Jaguars measure up to eight feet from nose to tail and weigh up to 250 pounds. They're fearless of water and powerful enough to crack a turtle shell. But despite their imposing bulk, they're masters of the stealthy speed kill. The jaguar's patterned coat blends in to the shadows of the jungle as it prepares to strike. Today, it eyes the thick skull of the peccary. Then, with a quick bite, it's goodnight. Their cousins in Africa and Asia may get all the fame, the art of the quick kill, jaguars are the real kings of the jungle. The black mamba may move fast, and possess one of the quickest killing venoms, but there is another snake, one so swift, it almost seems psychic. It is the tentacled snake, an underwater killer with the uncanny ability to sense where prey is going to be before it gets there. The secret to the tentacled snake's predictive strike is one part sensory and one part manipulation. First, it uses its tentacles to detect the slightest movement in the water. Even in complete darkness. Then, the snake forms an upside down "J" with its body. Otherwise known as the kill zone. Once a fish enters the "J," the snake twitches, forcing its prey to dart off. Or at least, try to. In the time it takes the fish to figure out where it's going, the snake is already there, just fifteen to twenty milliseconds, faster than a bolt of lightning. A recent Vanderbilt University study shows that the tentacled snake is so accurate in predicting where its prey will run; escaping fish often swim right into its open mouth. So fast, so cunning, so deadly. The tentacled snake, a predator with a strike so swift, running only makes its job easier. We've seen how quickly some members of the Animal Kingdom make their kills. But the Plant Kingdom has a fast-killing carnivore of its own. Enter the Venus flytrap. Actually, don't enter it, because you'll probably never get out. The Venus flytrap may seem like some unholy hybrid made in a mad scientist's laboratory, but it's actually an indigenous swamp monster of North America, where poor soil conditions have stirred its carnivorous cravings. When an insect triggers the tiny hairs in a flytrap's maw, it snaps shut in a startling tenth of a second. Struggling to escape only tightens the trap, where enzymes digest the imprisoned prey over the next ten days. And while bugs may be the usual quarry, Venus flytraps have been known to go for larger game. Usually, their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. But sometimes, the "eyes" have it. So watch out Animal Kingdom. split second killers, the high-velocity Venus flytrap is nipping at your heels. Narrator: One mighty stomp and it can all be over. It's got legs and it knows how to use them, to dance on your corpse. It's the legendary secretary bird. But don't let its odd name fool you. This fast-striking bird is the boss. Standing four feet tall, this predator is one of the few birds of prey that hunts on the ground. And why not? Its most effective weapon is a split-second, skull crushing kick. The leggy bird flushes prey out of hiding, then brings the blitz. Even venomous snakes can't fend off the boot to the head. Africans have nicknamed the secretary bird "the devil horse," though some might say "devil dinosaur." That's because scientists have compared it to "Titanus," a ten foot-tall prehistoric bird that once terrorized South America. Now, this distant cousin struts across the African Savannah like a deadly Broadway dancer, one built to crush its critics to death. So beware if you cross paths with the secretary bird, because it takes the term "stomping grounds," literally. You've seen some of the planet's speediest killers, but nothing like the deadly dynamo with the most explosively fast muscle power in the whole wide world. It's, a salamander? These amphibians aren't usually known as the most impressive killers, but the bugs they eat have hair-trigger reaction times. So over 150 million years of evolution later, a few salamanders have developed a high-speed weapon: a bombastic, ballistic, turbo-charged tongue. This marble salamander is no slouch. But among the fastest, is the hydromantes salamander in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You have to slow the action down by forty times to get a good look. For the cricket, it's lights out in an instant. The secret is two rows of muscles that squeeze, firing a bony tongue like crossbow. The hydromantes can launch its sticky licker up to 80% the length of its own body, longer than any other salamander. But the master of the projectile tonguing is the giant palm salamander of Central America. It's actually just four inches long, but its tongue muscles make it a titan. Just to see it, this film had to be shot at 1,000 frames per second. The termite goes from living to lunch in less than four milliseconds. The little salamander might not be the king of the jungle, but thanks to its tongue, it's the tsar of speed-eating. Man: Oh! [grunts] Man: Ah! Ah, you! Giant spiders. Voracious blobs. Swamp things. It's the stuff of horror movies. But these creepy killers are real. And sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. A good scary movie has an element of suspense. Or an awesome blood bath. Or strange creatures, like these. They rise from the deep a gelatinous mass without blood. Without bones. Without even a brain. Like the star of the horror movie 'The Blob.' Some jellyfish are as big as a human. Others are smaller but more deadly. They're some of the most poisonous creatures on earth. Humans can't escape their toxins. Hundreds have died from the sting of a particularly deadly species. The 'box jellyfish'. And it's watching you watch it. With 24 eyes. 24! Clustered around the four corners of their bell giving them 360 degree vision. And all those eyes face inward toward the stomach. It's hungry. And it doesn't need a brain to deploy its deadly weapons. Each of the flowing tentacles is lined with millions of spring loaded harpoons called nematocysts. These tiny barbs are unrivaled by almost anything else on the planet. When a creature brushes against them they fire like harpoons. Only an ultra high-speed camera under a microscope can capture these images. The lethal harpoons explode with the force of a bullet. In fact this is one of the fastest biological processes in nature. Blink and you miss it. The barbed harpoons lodge under the skin. By the millions they pump venom into this unfortunate fish. But the real horror is yet to come. The victim is paralyzed, but still alive. It's mouth open as in a silent scream of terror. Creepier still it's slowly digested to death in full view through the transparent blob that's eating it alive. Blobs without brains with whip fast harpoons and 24 eyeballs. So look out, 'The Blob' could be coming to a beach near you. Japan where creatures wriggle with hunger. They look like aliens from a distant planet or masterful special effects generated by a computer. But these guys are real the larvae of giant hornets. They signal their insatiable appetites by scratching on the walls of their cells. Creepy to humans grating on the adult hornets. It's up to them to feed the babies. And these babies eat flesh, ground into meatballs and delivered to their gaping mouths. It's time to hunt. A single scout takes wing searching for fresh meat for the ravenous youngsters. She finds the perfect restaurant a hive of European honeybees and marks it with her pheromones. The other hornets are close behind. And they really are giants nearly 8 centimeters long. Their sharp talons seize prey and powerful jaws rip limbs and tear flesh. European honeybees are small but they're prepared to fight to the death. Which is exactly what they're gonna get. They're not native to Japan and haven't evolved a fighting strategy, so they mass at the entrance of the hive. Where the slaughter begins. Giant hornets are five times the size of honeybees. Sure, a hornet or two will die in the battle. But the bees fall by the thousands decapitated, slashed, ripped to pieces. In only hours 20 to 3o hornets can wipe out a hive of 30 thousand bees. The ground is covered with a carpet of dying insects. The victors take their spoils. They can rob the fresh bee flesh at their leisure. For now, they gorge on honey even licking it from the carcasses. The unborn bee larvae are eaten and chewed to a paste. Yes, the babies of the bees are chewed up to feed to the babies of the hornets. Back at the hive they wait and scrape for the coming flesh. If you have a weakness for slasher films, then this 8 legged critter is for you. One of the deadliest in the world, the Sydney Funnel Web doesn't just kill insects. It can kill people. Before antivenin came along, hundreds died of spider bites. Fortunately, it terrorizes just a small corner of the world, around the Australian city of Sydney. They're tall, dark, and handsome, with glossy black heads and dark brown bodies. Their name comes from the funnel shape of their webs, built in dark cool spots. Silk lines run across the ground like hidden trip wires. A victim unwittingly triggers the alarm, and the Sydney Funnel Web comes scuttling. Prey is quickly pulled into a vortex of death, and there's rarely an escape. These incredibly toxic spiders usually go for insects and frogs. But males do like to wander, and don't seem to have qualms about sashaying up to humans. Leaf litter provides the perfect camouflage. But this leading male is unlike other typical spiders. He's not a biter, he's a slasher. Most spiders have fangs that act like pincers. But the fangs of the Funnel Web are hard and straight, like daggers. To strike, they raise up their bodies and stab down, again and again and again. With enough force to penetrate a toenail. Or tear through a garden glove. The agony is instant. Within a few minutes, the venom takes hold. Muscle spasms, sweating, stomach cramps. Signals to the brain go haywire. The heart races. Limbs twitch. Blood pressure skyrockets. Fluid fills the lungs, then the victim goes into cardiac arrest. Death can come within an hour without medical intevention. All because of this relatively small but effective spider. The Sydney Funnel Web: a real slasher, of the most toxic kind. Narrator: It's a face that looms out of the depths of a nightmare. But this isn't the silent scream. It's how eels breathe, pumping water through the mouth and over the gills. Some reach 12 feet, as long as a car. But they're supple enough to hide in crevices. Here, a moray waits and sniffs the water. it has two nostrils on each side of its head, like the villain in certain wizardly movies. The eel's prey have a bag of seemingly magical tricks to elude him: speed, camouflage, claws and spines. But morays have their own tactic, the element of surprise. This poor puffer's seen better days. And it's actually two bites in one. The eel has two sets of jaws. The first holds the squid, then a second emerges from the gullet to grab the food and pull it down its throat. Talk about overkill. This eel-that-will-not-be-named is a larger-than-life character in the magical world of coral reefs. On dry land another deadly drama plays out in Arizona. This is the kingdom of polyergus. There's a queen. Her warriors. unfortunates her slaves. The warriors are built to kill with perfect for ripping apart the enemy. But they're pretty much useless for anything else. That leaves the slaves to do all the work maintaining the colony. They're another species altogether called Formica. They serve their polyergus masters foraging for food and raising the royal young. But there's a problem. The slaves are getting old. It's time for the warriors to earn their keep to go out and capture young replacements. They take off in a roiling mass of red aggression. Up to 2 thousand ants on the march spoiling for battle. They stream into a nest of hapless formicas and unleash hell. They kill the smaller species of ants that get in their way because what they're really after are the babies. The warriors blow past the startled adults and grab as many un-hatched pupae as they can carry. In this single devastating attack polyergus raiders can carry off 500 to 800 new slaves. The raiders transport the defenseless kidnapped brood to their own nest. When the youngsters hatch they will learn to serve their new masters. At the wrecked Formica nest the queen roams amid the ruins. Her offspring abducted and enslaved. A true tale of terror. By the looks of it, dragons really do walk the earth. Massive lumbering; Komodos can reach 10 feet and 300 pounds bigger than a professional linebacker. And they're faster than a sprinter. They can move their bulk a surprising 11 miles an hour. But this dragon doesn't breathe fire it snorts a foul-smelling slime. The dripping goo is saliva. It's so riddled with bacteria, it can cause a very fast, very nasty case of blood poisoning. All it takes is one bite and the victim dies from infection within hours. The Komodo smells death with a forked tongue and moves in for a feast joined by his dragon friends. Or instead of infecting prey with blood poisoning a dragon can just snatch a likely victim and be done with it. Each leg is equipped with five sharp claws to latch into flesh. The mouth has 60 sharp teeth serrated like a knife. designed to chew but to slash and tear. Like a mythical dragon the Komodo swallows chunks of its victim whole bones, hooves, claws and all. Yum, yum. Komodos: The stuff myths are made of. [Narrator] This is one bug you don't want to step on. because it's probably bigger than your foot. The giant centipede is protected by a segmented shell, like a flexible suit of armor. And it's numerous legs make it extremely fast. But this is what makes it deadly. A set of hollow legs as razor sharp as fangs. They squeeze the victim while injecting venom. An effective way to kill quickly if not painlessly. It's unlikely you'll find one lurking in your kitchen. lives in humid environments in the forests of South America. Most of the time it scuttles along the forest floor like a flexible tank. It's an all-terrain transformer. Intrepid, it will go to any length to snag a meal. Oh well. Maybe it's better to stick with smaller creatures like insects and toads. For them this massive centipede really is a giant of epic proportions. Get ready for the attack of the killer snail. Okay, it may sound lame. But these creatures are really creepy. Conus geographus is the most deadly cone snail in the world. It lurks in the waters off Australia secure in its multi-colored funnel-shaped home. During the day it hides in the shallow water. But at night it comes out to hunt. Beneath its pretty exterior the cone snail hides a deadly weapon: a harpoon. It stabs prey and then injects a complex and deadly venom. Even creepier: the snail fires the harpoon through its nose. Actually, it just looks like a nose it's really a tongue. Then the mouth expands and the unfortunate victim is sucked in like a vacuum cleaner. A cone snail has an arsenal of nearly 20 harpoons in its mouth in various stages of development. Killer weapons help compensate for the fact that snails are well, notoriously slow. Cone snails can't run after victims, victims have to stumble upon them. And each one carries enough venom to kill 15 people although the harpoon delivers a smaller dose that's usually not lethal, it's incredibly painful and results in nausea and trembling. But that's hardly comparable to the fate of this She may seem like an evil princess ensnaring her victims with deadly charms. But the widow spider is perhaps just a misunderstood character in a complicated web of intrigue. The unwitting male can't seem to resist sex with such an alluring prospect. Pity. After all, this is how the 'widow' got her name. She's notoriously single. It's best not to tangle with this lady even if you're much larger. Oh a bite won't be fatal but you can expect about 48 hours of agony. Cramps. Spasms. Convulsions. Paralysis. You get the picture. But that's nothing compared to the agony suffered by those unlucky enough to be caught in her web. It's strong enough to catch a mouse although she usually picks up smaller visitors. victim is ensnared. Once inside, the widow injects her special pre-dinner cocktail of neurotoxic venom sort of like meat tenderizer. Now she can literally suck it dry, leaving nothing but a shell. Not all 'widows' are black. They come in a variety of sizes and colors. This little lady is constructing a complicated web of deceit. Its wispy thin vertical lines may look like nothing special to some unwary passerby. All it takes is for a single footfall to catch on something sticky. Before the beetle knows what's happening he's whisked into the abyss. And then events play out according to script. His insides are dissolving into a kind of soup. The 'widow' jabs in her hollow fangs and slurps as if through a straw. Probably not a pleasant way to meet your end but likely a satisfying meal for a lonely widow. Narrator: Snakes terrify a lot of people. They're swift, silent stalkers. So a really large snake can be really terrifying. The anaconda of the Amazon, as long as a school bus, as heavy as three grown men with a body over a foot in diameter. And in South Asia the deadly python. It hunts on land and in the water. Slow moving, patient. It hides beneath the surface waiting for prey to wander too close. On land it stalks its victims with a row of heat-sensing organs along its upper lip. It feels the heat of a body and pinpoints its attack. It may look slow but the giant snake strikes like lightning. Prey is gripped with razor sharp teeth that curve backwards. The more the rat struggles the deeper the teeth sink into its The python then coils its enormous body around its victim tighter and tighter. Life is literally squeezed away, death by asphyxiation. And then the final horror eaten whole. Attacks on humans are rare although the most giant of these snakes are thought capable of swallowing a human. The anaconda's jaw has an extra bone that swings the mouth open at two points allowing it to gape at 180 degrees. In the marshes of the Peruvian Amazon Jose Damaso sets out to go fishing with his father-in-law. The swamps teem with life, he sees animals everywhere. But no snakes. The men split up, each heading toward a different pool of water. Jose's so engrossed in his fishing; he fails to notice something sliding into the still water with barely a ripple. And it's hunting. An anaconda can hold its breath for up to ten minutes. Fully concealed it glides toward Jose for a surprise attack. Razor sharp teeth dig into his thigh; like the python's, they curve backwards to catch hold of struggling prey. Jose knows if the snake coils around him, there will be no escape. He could be eaten. Jose: I grabbed its head and threw it off me. If I didn't it would have dragged me away. Narrator: The snake leaves three teeth imbedded in his skin. But Jose lives to tell the tale. Just like in the movies these vampires come out at night. But they don't live in coffins. These blood guzzlers like caves or abandoned cold, dark places. Their colonies can number to a thousand. Their food sleeps nearby. Livestock and sometimes the livestock's owners. Stealth is critical. Landing directly on the victim would likely blow its cover. So the bat lands on the ground and creeps toward its target on tiny bat feet. No other bat walks up to its prey. The vampire is also the only mammal with heat seeking abilities. It searches for a warm blooded target and then scans the body for hotspots where blood flows closest to the surface. That makes for an easier bite. The bats climb over the sleeping pig and dig in. point outward to pierce the skin. They cut two tiny incisions each less than a quarter inch deep. But here's where myth differs from reality. Vampires don't suck blood they lick it. saliva contains an anti-coagulant that keeps blood flowing in a steady stream. They can keep at this for up to 30 minutes. All the while the victim sleeps peacefully unaware that a vampire really is feasting on its blood. Narrator: On its own a single red bellied piranha isn't so scary. It could fit in the palm of your hand. But together they morph into a fierce swarm that kills by overwhelming a victim. They travel in packs of 100 or more, hungry and looking for action. It's like 'Clockwork Red.' Each piranha comes equipped with a powerful jaw with interlocking teeth the shape of box-cutters. A frenzied swarm can strip a corpse to the bone in minutes. They terrorize animals and people alike here in the Amazon. Found throughout the entire region from Colombia to Argentina, red bellied piranhas are one of the Amazon's most plentiful species. And one of the most ferocious. A fledgling egret is having trouble keeping its footing. Piranhas hear the splash. And smell the blood. These teeth are sharp enough to leave a mark on steel. A baby bird doesn't stand a chance. Within minutes the only thing left a few feathers and a ripple of water. It's a frightening demonstration of the power of the pack. Some monsters are real. Like the Gila. And if it hisses back off! It's the sound they make before they strike. They rarely bite humans but when they do, the small amount of venom they release is enough to make you sick. Bleeding. Nausea. Severe vomiting. Not life-threatening pretty unpleasant. Fortunately these monsters pick on creatures their own size or smaller. Gila monsters don't have fangs like snakes. They latch onto prey and chew the venom into their victims. Just like this, the Gila: a real little monster. Ever heard of 'The Swarm'? This isn't a special effect it's for real. These are killer bees a rogue species imported from Africa and accidently unleashed in the America's. A stinger injects just a minute amount of poison. But multiplied by hundreds or thousands and it's fatal. Fatal for the bee too. It can't fly away without ripping off its torso. But when killer bees feel their hive is threatened they'll attack to the death. As many as 20 thousand can chase their victim for up to a quarter of a mile. And if he tries to escape under water they'll hover and wait for him to Agitated and angry. Beware the swarm. Here's a good title for a horror film: 'Death Stalker.' Scorpions earn their nicknames. If they look like a creature from another planet they sort of are. They're from an age before the dinosaurs when earth was raw and filled with bizarre forms of life. Scorpions survived perfecting their tactics and finessing their body armor. They're found in some of the most extreme climates on earth lurking in crevices and under debris. Pincers grab the struggling victim. The death blow comes from the other end the tail delivers a toxic sting. Captives are torn into chunks, sprayed with digestive juices and then slurped up at leisure. Unfortunately scorpions aren't shy about wandering into human territory. And they don't hesitate to lash out if someone gets in their face. Convulsions can start in just minutes followed by fever and soaring blood pressure. This is one prehistoric creature you don't want to mess with. 'Water monster'. That's what the word 'magar' means in Hindi, one of India's official languages. And likely how the mugger crocodile got its name. It waits near shore motionless. Sometimes for hours. Many escape death by leaping over the water monster's domain. This bandicoot is not so agile. It blunders right into danger. The mugger latches onto the struggling victim with vice-like jaws lined with nearly 70 spiked teeth. It's dragged under water to a horrible fate death by drowning while being chomped. The mugger is better designed than the bandicoot. A valve in its throat closes so only its prey drowns. To eat he surfaces. And there, he crunches and snarls just like the monsters of our imagination. It can be pretty unsettling to watch an invading hoard; ruthless troops on the move. More than a half a million army ants in a single swarming mass inflicting terror on anything unlucky enough to be caught in their path. Army ants live in the Amazon preferring the dark recesses of the rain forest. This army has marched all night carrying their young with them. Now it's time to build a fortress their own bodies. One ant hanging by its claws can support another hundred ants. It's the equivalent of a man holding up three tanks. A living, breathing structure. At dawn the bivouac stirs. Masses of legs and feelers twitch ready for action. They're hungry now and soon on the move. The ants branch into columns that become like a living, seething tide of death thousands of ants moving in a wave as wide as a super highway. The forest floor erupts as creatures flee for their lives. But some aren't so fast. Like all victims they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. A scout finds prey and sends a chemical signal to his comrades. They come running. Each sting weakens the doomed creature tissue dissolves and turns to mush. Now it's easy to rip it from limb to limb. The grizzly cargo of body parts is carried along on the march. Water is no obstacle. The ants simply form a bridge with their bodies. Across this living structure flows 30 thousand corpses in a single day. It's a slaughter like few others on this planet. A real epic with a cast of thousands. So be it giants or swamp things or dragons or invading hoards, the world is filled with enough real life-and-death drama to keep us all on the edge of our seats. NARRATOR: All the hunters you're about to meet have one thing in common. They all use teamwork. They communicate. They strategize. They ambush. All for the sake of the kill. These are the world's deadliest predators. And they gang up in packs and swarms. Of all the group hunters on Earth, these are among the biggest. In their African homeland... ...lions sit at the top of the food chain. Females do most of the hunting... ...while males rest and protect territory. To survive, lions rely on teamwork. A time-tested strategy will be used against the warthogs. One female will get as close as possible... ...and then drive the prey to another lurking in ambush. Lions have great vision. The brightest sunshine won't blind them. And in low light, they can see six times better than humans. They can hear prey from a mile away. And their sense of smell is so keen they can tell how recently the prey passed. Lions will take on prey more than twice their size. A full-grown zebra can weigh nearly half a ton. One kick from those hooves can break a lion's jaw. Lions are sprinters, not marathoners. They can hit 35 miles an hour, but only for a few seconds. So they team up...approaching their prey from different angles Zebras learn to keep their distance, but one zebra is about to violate the first rule of the safari: Always stay with the group. The lion will go for the typical deathblow:Crushing the wind pipe ...while the team keeps their prey from getting away. Of all the world's cats, lions are the only social animal...especially at dinnertime. After a kill is made, males always eat first, then the females. What's left goes to the cubs. Often not enough. Most will not survive into adulthood. Lions need up to 15 pounds of food per day, so for the pride to endure, they have to keep on the hunt. But some prey calls for the whole team. Cape buffalo are truly big game. One lion can be outweighed five to one by a buffalo. To take it down, the lionesses need reinforcement. The pride's male could weigh twice as much as a female. This is no random gang-up. It's a two-pronged attack: distract the buffalo-then go for the hindquarters to bring it down. But even Africa's biggest cats can't always eat in peace. Someone out there wants to mooch their meal. Few creatures would dare confront a proud lioness. But few creatures are as bold as a pack of hyenas. This kind of fight has rarely been filmed. Like a humble housecat, the lioness takes refuge in a tree-proof that a whole pack trumps one queen. As tough as hyenas might be, their culture more closely resembles monkeys' than lions'. Hyenas live in clans that can reach as large as 80. Unlike lions, they have a matriarchal hierarchy...a female is always the chief. Below females are cubs and at the bottom of the social order are adult males. Within each group there are strict levels of rank, not determined by size or strength, but by its mother's status. The most fortunate cub is born to the chief of the clan. Hyenas are notorious scavengers and will steal kill from bigger predators. Like this leopard. Vultures tip off the hyenas. There's fresh meat to be had-and the hyenas grab it. Can the leopard recover its fumble? NARRATOR: When a hunter gets its prize, it eats what it can, until the clan starts to arrive. Then it gives up its spot and leaves higher-ranking females to the choice cuts. Yes, they're good thieves, but also good hunters. Among the most prolific predators in Africa. Today, on the open plains of the Serengeti, their strategy is simple. Form a semi-circle around this herd of wildebeests and pick off stragglers. Lions kill their prey before consuming them, but hyenas eat their prey alive. Blessed with powerful jaws and a cast-iron stomach, they can crush and digest bone. The calcium from within the bone turns the hyena's feces white. And they're the only carnivore that eats hides. Only hair and horns go to waste. It can eat up to one fifth its weight in one sitting. And it can eat rotten flesh-so it buries leftovers for later. Out here, hyenas are one mob that grazers don't want to run into. But if any predators deserve to be called a mob, it's the meerkats of South Africa. And that's just what they are called: a mob. Twenty is a typical size, but some mobs number more than 40. Meerkats aren't cats. These mammals belong to the mongoose family. They hunt as a pack, but before they can go on offense, they have to mount a defense. The reason is simple: at only about two pounds and just a foot long, meerkats are vulnerable to other predators. So for protection, one member finds a termite mound or shrub and keeps watch. If the sentry spots trouble, he'll bark. He'll be relieved in about an hour so he too can forage. Meantime, he constantly gives the meerkat signal for "all clear." With the lookout posted, the rest of the mob can come out of their burrow and hunt. They hunt small mammals, like this squirrel, not always with success. Insects and scorpions are dietary staples, too. They'll team up to turn over rocks and help each other dig. Its fingers are tripped with curved claws, nearly an inch long. The prize inside the box: scorpion. The sting would kill a young human...but the tiny meerkat is immune. It bites off the scorpion's tail, leaving nothing else to waste. Like meerkats, these predators don't look like a menacing mob. Humpbacks are known as the ocean's gentle giants. Tell that to its prey. The humpbacks are setting the stage for a massacre. Humpbacks can look gentle-as watching a mother with calf proves. They feed mainly in summer and live off their fat in winter. Their commute to their feeding ground is the longest known migration of any mammal...up to 10,000 miles round trip. Humpbacks are generally loners. But they'll come together to hunt. Southeast Alaska. These humpbacks are about to net thousands of fish. They use two tactics that in the hands of a child would be harmless: singing and blowing bubbles. But with humpbacks, the combination is lethal. On one side of the shoal of fish, one whale creates a wall of bubbles. On the opposite side of the shoal, another whale sounds the battle cry. NARRATOR: The famous song of the humpback...except now, the song becomes a dirge. One hundred and eighty decibels...equal to a rocket launch and powerful enough to damage human ears. The fish flee from the uproar-and collide with the wall of bubbles. They see the bubbles as a barrier. While they're blocked, the blower swims around them...surrounding them in a bubbly prison. With no other way out, they head for the surface to escape... ...right where the whale wants them. In this ring of death, dozens of humpbacks will feast. They have no teeth-so they swallow their prey whole. And if any creature should be nicknamed "Jaws, " it's the humpback. It can spread its jaws more than 13 feet wide...and swallow hundreds of fish in one gulp. Its throat and chest are lined with 30 wide, ventral grooves-allowing it to open its mouth as wide as possible, to take in hundreds of gallons of water, swimming with prey. They may eat like this twice a day, during the feeding season. Humpbacks aren't the only horde with a famous call. The call of the wild can chill your bones... ...especially if it's the last sound you'll ever hear. Their howl is an all-purpose telegraph. It summons members, marks borders and sends warnings. But this coyote didn't get the message to keep out. Wolves don't like having their meals mooched. Like hyenas and lions, there is a strict hierarchy within each pack. However, with wolves, the highest ranking status goes to a couple: the alpha male and female. They always eat first and only they will bear young. The other members of the pack will help raise their cubs. After six weeks, pups need more than their mother's milk. They need meat to survive. Too young to join the hunt, the pup will stay behind in the den. If the adults are successful, they will regurgitate the kill for the young when they return. But getting that meat isn't always easy. A single wolf pack's territory averages 80 square miles in size Wolves have scent glands in their toes. So as they track prey, they leave messages behind for fellow pack members. They have a highly developed sense of smell and, in the right conditions, can detect scents from almost two miles away. Prey might be tracked for hours or days, before the pack starts its chase. The longest recorded pursuit stretched for 13 miles. No wonder the deadly German subs of World War II were called wolf packs. Legend tells of humans raised by wolves. But this pack hunter is your own next of kin. Chimpanzees. They share more than 98 percent of our DNA. That makes them our closest cousin. Chimps were once considered strict vegetarians. But not any more. They are one of nature's most cunning killers. In some parts of Africa, a chimp will eat a ton of meat a year. Like us, they have complex sounds for communicating. This chimp gives the signal...that it's time to hunt. NARRATOR: Hunting parties like this one may hold up to three dozen members...and their search could last up to four hours. They hunt 25 species-including small antelope and wild pigs. But they've found their favorite prey: Red colobus monkeys. Here's where brainpower pays off. They take positions in the treetops, surrounding the monkeys. With the escape routes cut off, the real hunt is about to begin. Male monkeys will actually fight back. But it's David versus Goliath, without the slingshot. The chimp outweighs it six to one. Youngsters and mothers are split up...leaving easy pickings. Chimps have sharp teeth. But to kill prey, chimps use gravity, hurling their prey with lethal force against a hard surface. Half a dozen monkeys might be killed in a single attack-but usually just one. Big males dominate the group, so they eat first ...just like the lions. Unlike lions-and like humans-males share their meal with family and allies. The next predator could hunt just fine on its own. But as a pack, it takes on prey 10 times its size. South America has more than 20 species of piranha. The most notorious is the red-bellied piranha... and they're about to earn their reputation. In the rainy season, rivers crest their banks and flood the land. Piranha follow. The rain brings a bumper crop of prey. Great white egrets...nesting in the only dry place left. Awkward young egrets aren't ready to fly...so if they lose their balance, they're goners. Like sharks, piranha have sensors to detect other creatures' movements. Once blood is shed, piranha can detect a drop from Thrashing only draws more piranha. All that's left is pillow stuffing. Their name comes from two native words: pira, meaning fish; and anha, meaning teeth...and no wonder. Their teeth are triangular, interlocking and dense. And so sharp, they can cut a steel fishing line. But the fish with the monstrous reputation is actually small: on average, about as long as a pencil. So piranha school for the same reason other fish do: safety in numbers. When rivers are high, food is plentiful... but beware the dry season. As the land dries out, rivers retreat into oxbows and ponds. Confined to a natural fishbowl, piranha will go after anything they can sink their teeth in. Injured piranha are quickly cannibalized. As for those legendary attacks on humans...rare. And no one has ever documented a human being killed by a piranha attack. From overhyped legend to undisputed fact... ...the fastest animal on land: The cheetah. Cheetahs hunt by vision, not by scent. Like commandos, they sport black marks on the inside corner of each eye, perhaps to cut the sun's glare. Everything about a cheetah is designed for the chase. It gains traction from claws that don't retract and paw pads with extra grip. It'll try to creep within 100 feet from its target before bursting into action. Clocked as fast as 71 miles per hour, at top speed, it takes about three and a half strides every second, and every minute, up to 150 breaths. Its hind legs are so flexible they can pass the front ones. And for almost half the time at full speed, the legs don't even touch earth. NARRATOR: Female cheetahs hunt alone, but males hunt in packs. Males like these are usually brothers and they usually bond for life. Working as a pack, they can tackle bigger prey, like these wildebeests. brothers are hungry, not even a little bad weather will slow them down. The Ferrari of animals, able to accelerate from zero to 60 in three seconds. But its temperature soars so high...if it doesn't stop after 300 yards, it could die. But that's why it's in a pack. Two more with fresh legs. Once they bring the wildebeest down, the cheetahs choke it to death. A truly lethal band of brothers. Another predator keeps on the move in its constant search for food. Orcas. The killer whales. Every day, they eat up to 300 pounds of prey. And Peninsula Valdés in Argentina stocks a banquet. Seals. Deep water and steep beaches make an ideal hunting ground. To find prey, orcas use built-in sonar called echolocation. They send out clicks and whistles that bounce off the target. And because of the steep slope at this beach, an orca can swim under the cover of a wave all the way to shore. Mothers will take prey back to the open water and turn it loose... ...so their offspring can learn to hunt. What looks like playing with their food is actually a seminar...in predation. Orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family...and an apex predator of the sea...hunted by no other creature. Orcas will team up to grab prey that seems out of reach. Like an Arctic seal at rest. Working in tandem, the orcas cause a fatal dunking. They live in pods up to 40 strong...communicating through whistles and grunts unique to their pod. Warp speed is about 30 miles an hour. About every 30 seconds, they surface to breathe. The pod detects big game. Gray whales. But it's the calf they're after. They have a two-pronged strategy: first, force the gray whales to swim faster-and tire the calf. Then separate calf from mother. The orcas will dunk the calf till it weakens and drowns. This marathon of torment lasts almost six hours. Nature has given prey a host of defenses...from strength, to speed, to camouflage. But if there's one pack of predators who have managed to stack the deck in their favor, it's the hunters that live here: The painted dogs, named for their uniquely colored coats. No relation to the hyenas, these are the so-called wild dogs of Africa. Maybe the most successful hunters on Earth. Four out of five chases...end in a kill. Their attack starts with a charge to stampede prey and reveal weaklings. For the takedown, they have no weapon except their teeth. But they have large premolars for crushing and eating bones. And their bite is among the strongest of any meat-eating mammal. They're not born as first-class hunters; their skills are actually learned. Adults regurgitate meat for pups, but painted dogs are so social, they share food with the sick and the old. They seldomly show aggression to each other...rare behavior in the natural world. Painted dogs hunt across a spectrum of terrain... from savannah, to bush, to flood plain. When prey is trapped, the dogs enjoy the advantage of a 360-degree attack, a tactic that sooner or later wears down the defender. They've honed a technique to protect themselves from the lethal horns of African game. As one holds prey by the tail, another pins it by the mouth. The rest go for the guts and eat it alive. They have no choice. Lurking lions would steal their meal, so they wolf it down in minutes and in silence, unlike hyenas, who can't dine without raising a fuss and drawing a crowd. The highest compliment to this pack comes from its very prey: the lechwe. Lechwe head for deep water when threatened. The lechwe are still in hot water. Once caught, few victims escape from these jaws. What a tribute to these predators...that their prey fears them more than they fear crocs. Strength in numbers. Nature's gift to a host of predators... ...who thrive by sticking together. For those who think a committee never gets anything done, just ask these guys.