Nature (1982–…): Season 37, Episode 2 - Super Cats: Cats in Every Corner - full transcript
In the wetlands of Asia, fishing cats have adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. High in the forest of Central America, a female margay leaps from tree to tree, slow-motion footage revealing her acrobatic skills.
♪♪
♪♪
ABRAHAM: From the iconic
big cats that enthrall us...
to the little-known small cats
that are just
coming into light...
these felines have
conquered the planet
and are leading
extraordinary lives.
They are acrobats
in the jungle...
opportunists on the beach.
There's even a semi-blind bobcat
who can pluck her
dinner from the air.
From the oldest
desert in Africa...
to the highest
mountain on Earth,
cats have adapted to the
challenges of every climate
and found a way to survive.
♪♪
♪♪
ABRAHAM: The monsoon
wetlands of South Asia.
♪♪
Home to an extraordinary cat.
One whose entire life
revolves around water.
♪♪
[Quacking]
This is a fishing cat.
♪♪
Their unique ability
to catch slippery fish
in these weed-filled ponds
has allowed them to
colonize these vast wetlands.
Beneath their long outer
coats, they have a shorter layer
of insulating fur that
acts like a wet suit,
and they have
partially webbed feet.
They're well adapted
to a life aquatic.
But even so, every fishing
cat still has to learn how to fish.
[Kittens mewling]
♪♪
This female has two kittens
just a couple of months old.
[Mewling]
♪♪
Up to now they've
been kept safely away
from the water's edge, but
that's all about to change.
♪♪
This is the first time
they've seen water.
It's natural to be nervous.
But these kittens
are born water babies.
It's time to show
them the real reason
they've been brought here.
♪♪
Long whiskers detect
vibrations from fish
moving in the shallows...
helping to gauge the
exact striking distance.
♪♪
Then it's the kittens' turn.
♪♪
For now, it's only water
plants that need to be afraid.
♪♪
This could take some time.
♪♪
♪♪
They'll be back tomorrow
for another lesson.
♪♪
♪♪
All over the globe,
cats of all shapes
and sizes have
adapted to the challenges
of the planet's most
extreme environments.
♪♪
This is the Namib,
Southern Africa.
The oldest desert on Earth.
♪♪
There's no surface water
for hundreds of miles.
♪♪
Despite this, these desert
lions thrive amongst the dunes.
[Lion growling softly]
♪♪
They live in small,
isolated prides,
relying on shared
knowledge and experience
to find food in this
hostile landscape.
♪♪
Emerging from the dunes,
3 sisters, recently orphaned,
barely a year old.
♪♪
They are alone...
the youngest, most
inexperienced pride in Africa.
♪♪
[Growls]
This is the hardest
time of the year
for the animals of the Namib.
The desert is at its
hottest and driest.
♪♪
Yet, it's this hostility
that offers the cubs
a chance to survive.
♪♪
It will mean searching,
day in, day out.
♪♪
They walk twice as far as lions
living on the savannas
of East Africa.
♪♪
But this harsh place
sometimes throws them a lifeline,
a victim of the extreme
heat, a dead oryx.
♪♪
These cubs don't have the
skills or the strength to hunt yet...
♪♪
But like all desert lions,
when times demand it,
they will scavenge,
even on rotting meat.
[Flies buzzing]
♪♪
With luck, this strategy
of scavenging victims
of the harsh desert
will keep the cubs
from starvation.
♪♪
A kudu, a huge antelope, and
one rarely seen in the desert.
♪♪
But this is no
victim of the heat.
This is a lion kill.
♪♪
[Growling]
A full-grown lioness
who's not going to share.
♪♪
A close call and a vital
lesson for the sisters.
In the desert, the biggest
danger facing young lions
comes from adult lions.
♪♪
The desert has provided just
enough for them to survive.
Very soon, they will be old
enough and strong enough
to hunt for themselves.
♪♪
♪♪
Cats have evolved to survive
in almost every
environment on Earth.
The thick fur and large
padded feet of Canada lynx
enable them to thrive in the
deep snow of the frozen north.
♪♪
In the forests of India,
wonderfully agile
clouded leopards
are at home amongst
tangled branches.
Large claws provide grip,
and a long tail
gives them balance.
♪♪
On the African
plains, caracal spring
almost effortlessly over
the tall savanna grass
using their long, powerful legs.
♪♪
While some cats are finely tuned
to live in just one environment,
others have a
different strategy.
They will go wherever
new opportunities appear.
♪♪
The Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Here, there's a cat that has
mastered life in the jungle
emerging to hunt
on a tropical beach.
♪♪
Thermal imaging
cameras reveal the nightlife
on this pacific
shore, and it's busy.
♪♪
A jaguar, the biggest and most
powerful cat in the Americas.
♪♪
They're built to
take on the biggest,
most dangerous
prey in the jungle...
but that task is even more
difficult for this female.
She's pregnant.
Right now she needs to
eat as much as possible
to provide nourishment
for her developing cub.
Tonight, this beach may provide
a very welcome
addition to her diet.
♪♪
A jaguar's eyes are 6 times more
sensitive to light than our own,
so even in the dark,
anything that moves
catches her attention.
♪♪
Around the time
of the full moon,
turtles come ashore
to lay their eggs.
♪♪
For protection, an
olive ridley turtle
wears armor one inch thick.
♪♪
But for its size,
a jaguar has the
strongest jaws of any cat.
♪♪
And a bite powerful
enough to crack open
this rich source of food.
♪♪
She is not the only
one that benefits.
Other animals
clean up the scraps.
♪♪
Her visit to the beach couldn't
have been timed any better.
♪♪
It's the beginning of a
seasonal gathering of turtles
known locally as the
arribada,the arrival.
♪♪
Over the next few nights,
30 thousand turtles will
come to this beach to nest.
♪♪
It's rare for a cat to have
food so readily available,
and this pregnant
mother isn't the only one
that will feed well tonight.
♪♪
As many as 14 jaguars
patrol this beach.
One of the densest
populations in the world.
♪♪
In fact, they won't eat many,
but the meat from
just a few turtles
will make all the difference.
Soon this opportunity
will be over,
and the jaguars will return
to hunting in the forest...
leaving the beach to the
thousands of hatchlings
that emerge and
instinctively head for the sea.
Two and a half
thousand miles north...
the cool and stormy
shores of California.
A very different coastline
where a very different cat
has found her own
way to make a living.
♪♪
At home in her den
close to the beach,
a remarkable bobcat.
Bobcats usually hunt
rabbits and small mammals,
but this female has
set her sights higher.
♪♪
Here, where a freshwater
stream meets the sea...
gulls flock to drink and
wash salt from their feathers.
It's what she's counting on.
♪♪
[Squawks]
But it's not going to be easy.
She'll just have to wait
for the gulls to come back.
To hunt like this
takes determination...
and an enterprising spirit.
Most end in failure.
But she returns day after day.
With every attempt,
she refines her technique.
♪♪
[Growling softly]
♪♪
At last!
But one gull won't
keep her fed for long.
♪♪
Fortunately, this beach
is never short of
chances to hunt.
♪♪
[Gull crying]
♪♪
There's no doubting her
persistence and skill...
even if the occasional
gull does slip her grip.
And like any cat, once a
bobcat has perfected the hunt...
they'll keep on killing...
ensuring that they
have enough food
just in case the supply
should suddenly run out.
And what makes this
hunter truly remarkable
is that she's blind in one eye!
♪♪
The Sundarbans of
India and Bangladesh
is the world's largest
mangrove swamp.
[Animal calling]
♪♪
Unexplored muddy islands
surrounded by the sea...
where a legendary big cat rules.
♪♪
Perhaps the most elusive
and least understood.
♪♪
The swamp tiger.
♪♪
[Animal calling]
♪♪
Only at low tide is it
possible to catch a glimpse
of what lies within these
mysterious mangroves.
♪♪
This is when animals come
down to the shore to feed...
♪♪
Both the hunted
and the hunter.
♪♪
Low tide also offers a
brief chance for this male
to patrol the
shoreline of his island.
Scent marking is a warning
to other tigers to keep out.
This is a place where a
cat must live his entire life
in tune with the tide.
♪♪
With the rising
water, life retreats,
back into the depths
of the mangroves...
and he must follow,
disappearing again
into these strange swamplands.
♪♪
We know almost
nothing about these tigers,
but researchers now believe
that as many as a hundred of them
make these remote
islands their home.
♪♪
The world's most celebrated
big cats continue to surprise us,
but the most
surprising cats of all...
are the little cats.
[Roars]
♪♪
Out of the 40 known species,
33 are what scientists
call the small cats.
♪♪
They are the most secretive
and least studied
members of the family.
♪♪
In the mountains
of Chile, a guiña,
the smallest cat
in all the Americas,
hunts moths amongst
the undergrowth.
♪♪
Ocelots are the most common
cat in the Costa Rican jungle,
yet they are rarely seen.
Their perfectly
camouflaged coats
help them to
disappear in an instant.
♪♪
African wildcats live
scattered all across Africa,
from Morocco to South Africa.
They're one of the most
widespread of all cats,
yet they, too, are
hardly ever seen.
♪♪
But now specialized
camera technology
is giving us a new insight
into the mysterious lives
of these small cats...
in some of the most
remote places on Earth.
♪♪
The Karoo Desert, South Africa.
A vast landscape dominated
by low desert scrub.
It provides the perfect
cover for Africa's smallest cat.
♪♪
[Cat howling]
♪♪
She waits for the cool of night
before heading out to hunt.
♪♪
A black-footed cat.
♪♪
This little female is known
to researchers as Gyra.
She's tiny, weighing
a mere two pounds,
200 times less than a lion.
[Mewls]
She'd be almost
impossible to find,
but she's being tracked
with a radio collar.
And using surveillance cameras
that rival a cat's night vision,
we can at last reveal
her nocturnal pursuits.
She can walk 20 miles
a night in search of food,
the farthest recorded
for any small cat.
♪♪
Guided by superb night vision,
and responding to
the smallest of sounds,
she finds almost anything
that moves is a potential meal.
She'll even eat locusts...
but she prefers gerbils.
♪♪
Or if that doesn't work...
birds.
♪♪
With a wiggle to
tuck her legs in,
she gets as low to
the ground as possible.
Primed like a spring, she
can deliver maximum power
to jump!
♪♪
She hits her target
60% of the time.
It's what makes
black-footed cats
the most lethal hunters
in the entire cat family.
And the reason for
Gyra's huge appetite
is that she's raising
her own little hunter.
♪♪
Even the deadliest cat
in Africa has a softer side.
♪♪
♪♪
Perhaps the most bizarre
small cat of all lives here...
in the heart of Mongolia...
one of the most remote and
least populated places on Earth.
♪♪
After decades of research,
we are now able to reveal
an insight into
their hidden lives.
♪♪
This is a Pallas's cat.
♪♪
She's cautious and
she has good reason.
Kittens.
4 of them.
2 months old and
just out of the den.
They're already
becoming a bit of a handful.
♪♪
They live in a world of
windswept grassland,
an area three times bigger
than the state of Texas.
But this outcrop of rocks is a
safe place to hide the family.
It's morning, and
the kittens are hungry,
but a mother can't hunt
with four excitable youngsters
tagging along.
Today, she will have to
leave her kittens home alone.
♪♪
Out here in the open,
there's nowhere to hide.
The only thing she can
do is try and blend in.
♪♪
Pallas's cats'
ears are positioned
unusually low on their heads,
and that helps them
to keep a low profile.
♪♪
What's more, these cats
can flatten their bodies
to look like a rock.
♪♪
She'll need to hunt all day
to provide enough
for her growing kittens,
who, meanwhile, are getting
up to all sorts of mischief.
Play will help them to
hone their own hunting skills.
♪♪
A silver vole finds itself
the center of the
kittens' attention.
♪♪
The key is a silent,
patient approach.
♪♪
Alas, on these rocks, a
vole has the upper hand.
♪♪
Fortunately, the kittens can
rely on their mother to provide.
♪♪
Pallas's cats actually
do very well here.
There could be as many as 10,000
living in these grasslands...
not that it makes
them any easier to see.
♪♪
In other places, small
cats are living secret lives
right under our noses.
[Thunder crashing]
East of Johannesburg, Africa's
biggest industrial complex.
♪♪
It's the size of a city.
♪♪
Behind the barbed wire,
surveillance cameras
detect intruders every night.
♪♪
A cat has taken over.
♪♪
The tierboskat, also
known as a serval.
♪♪
This restricted area is
now the home of around
a hundred of these
small spotted cats...
the densest population
anywhere in Africa.
♪♪
This strange industrial
wasteland is teeming with life.
♪♪
It's a place where
people rarely venture...
and the fences keep
out larger predators
that might be a
threat to the servals.
♪♪
What's more, the water
used to cool the heavy industry
has helped create lush
meadows around these pools,
and that, in turn, has led to
an explosion of rats and mice...
all a serval can eat.
They're not only
attracted by the food
but by the one thing
that all cats need...
Their own space
where they can
be left undisturbed.
This is a small cat paradise.
♪♪
Cats have conquered almost
every corner of the planet.
♪♪
But now, even in the
most remote places,
they are feeling the
impact of our way of life
as we encroach more
and more on their world.
♪♪
Around the planet, their
numbers are decreasing.
If cats are to survive
in our changing world,
we just need to leave
them some space.
♪♪
Next time...
The frontiers of discovery...
LOOCK: Just in front of
us. Ah, that's really special.
ELBROCH: Holy mackerel.
ABRAHAM: getting
closer than ever before...
BORREGO: There you go.
ABRAHAM: to the
secret lives of cats.
MAN: There.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
ABRAHAM: From the iconic
big cats that enthrall us...
to the little-known small cats
that are just
coming into light...
these felines have
conquered the planet
and are leading
extraordinary lives.
They are acrobats
in the jungle...
opportunists on the beach.
There's even a semi-blind bobcat
who can pluck her
dinner from the air.
From the oldest
desert in Africa...
to the highest
mountain on Earth,
cats have adapted to the
challenges of every climate
and found a way to survive.
♪♪
♪♪
ABRAHAM: The monsoon
wetlands of South Asia.
♪♪
Home to an extraordinary cat.
One whose entire life
revolves around water.
♪♪
[Quacking]
This is a fishing cat.
♪♪
Their unique ability
to catch slippery fish
in these weed-filled ponds
has allowed them to
colonize these vast wetlands.
Beneath their long outer
coats, they have a shorter layer
of insulating fur that
acts like a wet suit,
and they have
partially webbed feet.
They're well adapted
to a life aquatic.
But even so, every fishing
cat still has to learn how to fish.
[Kittens mewling]
♪♪
This female has two kittens
just a couple of months old.
[Mewling]
♪♪
Up to now they've
been kept safely away
from the water's edge, but
that's all about to change.
♪♪
This is the first time
they've seen water.
It's natural to be nervous.
But these kittens
are born water babies.
It's time to show
them the real reason
they've been brought here.
♪♪
Long whiskers detect
vibrations from fish
moving in the shallows...
helping to gauge the
exact striking distance.
♪♪
Then it's the kittens' turn.
♪♪
For now, it's only water
plants that need to be afraid.
♪♪
This could take some time.
♪♪
♪♪
They'll be back tomorrow
for another lesson.
♪♪
♪♪
All over the globe,
cats of all shapes
and sizes have
adapted to the challenges
of the planet's most
extreme environments.
♪♪
This is the Namib,
Southern Africa.
The oldest desert on Earth.
♪♪
There's no surface water
for hundreds of miles.
♪♪
Despite this, these desert
lions thrive amongst the dunes.
[Lion growling softly]
♪♪
They live in small,
isolated prides,
relying on shared
knowledge and experience
to find food in this
hostile landscape.
♪♪
Emerging from the dunes,
3 sisters, recently orphaned,
barely a year old.
♪♪
They are alone...
the youngest, most
inexperienced pride in Africa.
♪♪
[Growls]
This is the hardest
time of the year
for the animals of the Namib.
The desert is at its
hottest and driest.
♪♪
Yet, it's this hostility
that offers the cubs
a chance to survive.
♪♪
It will mean searching,
day in, day out.
♪♪
They walk twice as far as lions
living on the savannas
of East Africa.
♪♪
But this harsh place
sometimes throws them a lifeline,
a victim of the extreme
heat, a dead oryx.
♪♪
These cubs don't have the
skills or the strength to hunt yet...
♪♪
But like all desert lions,
when times demand it,
they will scavenge,
even on rotting meat.
[Flies buzzing]
♪♪
With luck, this strategy
of scavenging victims
of the harsh desert
will keep the cubs
from starvation.
♪♪
A kudu, a huge antelope, and
one rarely seen in the desert.
♪♪
But this is no
victim of the heat.
This is a lion kill.
♪♪
[Growling]
A full-grown lioness
who's not going to share.
♪♪
A close call and a vital
lesson for the sisters.
In the desert, the biggest
danger facing young lions
comes from adult lions.
♪♪
The desert has provided just
enough for them to survive.
Very soon, they will be old
enough and strong enough
to hunt for themselves.
♪♪
♪♪
Cats have evolved to survive
in almost every
environment on Earth.
The thick fur and large
padded feet of Canada lynx
enable them to thrive in the
deep snow of the frozen north.
♪♪
In the forests of India,
wonderfully agile
clouded leopards
are at home amongst
tangled branches.
Large claws provide grip,
and a long tail
gives them balance.
♪♪
On the African
plains, caracal spring
almost effortlessly over
the tall savanna grass
using their long, powerful legs.
♪♪
While some cats are finely tuned
to live in just one environment,
others have a
different strategy.
They will go wherever
new opportunities appear.
♪♪
The Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Here, there's a cat that has
mastered life in the jungle
emerging to hunt
on a tropical beach.
♪♪
Thermal imaging
cameras reveal the nightlife
on this pacific
shore, and it's busy.
♪♪
A jaguar, the biggest and most
powerful cat in the Americas.
♪♪
They're built to
take on the biggest,
most dangerous
prey in the jungle...
but that task is even more
difficult for this female.
She's pregnant.
Right now she needs to
eat as much as possible
to provide nourishment
for her developing cub.
Tonight, this beach may provide
a very welcome
addition to her diet.
♪♪
A jaguar's eyes are 6 times more
sensitive to light than our own,
so even in the dark,
anything that moves
catches her attention.
♪♪
Around the time
of the full moon,
turtles come ashore
to lay their eggs.
♪♪
For protection, an
olive ridley turtle
wears armor one inch thick.
♪♪
But for its size,
a jaguar has the
strongest jaws of any cat.
♪♪
And a bite powerful
enough to crack open
this rich source of food.
♪♪
She is not the only
one that benefits.
Other animals
clean up the scraps.
♪♪
Her visit to the beach couldn't
have been timed any better.
♪♪
It's the beginning of a
seasonal gathering of turtles
known locally as the
arribada,the arrival.
♪♪
Over the next few nights,
30 thousand turtles will
come to this beach to nest.
♪♪
It's rare for a cat to have
food so readily available,
and this pregnant
mother isn't the only one
that will feed well tonight.
♪♪
As many as 14 jaguars
patrol this beach.
One of the densest
populations in the world.
♪♪
In fact, they won't eat many,
but the meat from
just a few turtles
will make all the difference.
Soon this opportunity
will be over,
and the jaguars will return
to hunting in the forest...
leaving the beach to the
thousands of hatchlings
that emerge and
instinctively head for the sea.
Two and a half
thousand miles north...
the cool and stormy
shores of California.
A very different coastline
where a very different cat
has found her own
way to make a living.
♪♪
At home in her den
close to the beach,
a remarkable bobcat.
Bobcats usually hunt
rabbits and small mammals,
but this female has
set her sights higher.
♪♪
Here, where a freshwater
stream meets the sea...
gulls flock to drink and
wash salt from their feathers.
It's what she's counting on.
♪♪
[Squawks]
But it's not going to be easy.
She'll just have to wait
for the gulls to come back.
To hunt like this
takes determination...
and an enterprising spirit.
Most end in failure.
But she returns day after day.
With every attempt,
she refines her technique.
♪♪
[Growling softly]
♪♪
At last!
But one gull won't
keep her fed for long.
♪♪
Fortunately, this beach
is never short of
chances to hunt.
♪♪
[Gull crying]
♪♪
There's no doubting her
persistence and skill...
even if the occasional
gull does slip her grip.
And like any cat, once a
bobcat has perfected the hunt...
they'll keep on killing...
ensuring that they
have enough food
just in case the supply
should suddenly run out.
And what makes this
hunter truly remarkable
is that she's blind in one eye!
♪♪
The Sundarbans of
India and Bangladesh
is the world's largest
mangrove swamp.
[Animal calling]
♪♪
Unexplored muddy islands
surrounded by the sea...
where a legendary big cat rules.
♪♪
Perhaps the most elusive
and least understood.
♪♪
The swamp tiger.
♪♪
[Animal calling]
♪♪
Only at low tide is it
possible to catch a glimpse
of what lies within these
mysterious mangroves.
♪♪
This is when animals come
down to the shore to feed...
♪♪
Both the hunted
and the hunter.
♪♪
Low tide also offers a
brief chance for this male
to patrol the
shoreline of his island.
Scent marking is a warning
to other tigers to keep out.
This is a place where a
cat must live his entire life
in tune with the tide.
♪♪
With the rising
water, life retreats,
back into the depths
of the mangroves...
and he must follow,
disappearing again
into these strange swamplands.
♪♪
We know almost
nothing about these tigers,
but researchers now believe
that as many as a hundred of them
make these remote
islands their home.
♪♪
The world's most celebrated
big cats continue to surprise us,
but the most
surprising cats of all...
are the little cats.
[Roars]
♪♪
Out of the 40 known species,
33 are what scientists
call the small cats.
♪♪
They are the most secretive
and least studied
members of the family.
♪♪
In the mountains
of Chile, a guiña,
the smallest cat
in all the Americas,
hunts moths amongst
the undergrowth.
♪♪
Ocelots are the most common
cat in the Costa Rican jungle,
yet they are rarely seen.
Their perfectly
camouflaged coats
help them to
disappear in an instant.
♪♪
African wildcats live
scattered all across Africa,
from Morocco to South Africa.
They're one of the most
widespread of all cats,
yet they, too, are
hardly ever seen.
♪♪
But now specialized
camera technology
is giving us a new insight
into the mysterious lives
of these small cats...
in some of the most
remote places on Earth.
♪♪
The Karoo Desert, South Africa.
A vast landscape dominated
by low desert scrub.
It provides the perfect
cover for Africa's smallest cat.
♪♪
[Cat howling]
♪♪
She waits for the cool of night
before heading out to hunt.
♪♪
A black-footed cat.
♪♪
This little female is known
to researchers as Gyra.
She's tiny, weighing
a mere two pounds,
200 times less than a lion.
[Mewls]
She'd be almost
impossible to find,
but she's being tracked
with a radio collar.
And using surveillance cameras
that rival a cat's night vision,
we can at last reveal
her nocturnal pursuits.
She can walk 20 miles
a night in search of food,
the farthest recorded
for any small cat.
♪♪
Guided by superb night vision,
and responding to
the smallest of sounds,
she finds almost anything
that moves is a potential meal.
She'll even eat locusts...
but she prefers gerbils.
♪♪
Or if that doesn't work...
birds.
♪♪
With a wiggle to
tuck her legs in,
she gets as low to
the ground as possible.
Primed like a spring, she
can deliver maximum power
to jump!
♪♪
She hits her target
60% of the time.
It's what makes
black-footed cats
the most lethal hunters
in the entire cat family.
And the reason for
Gyra's huge appetite
is that she's raising
her own little hunter.
♪♪
Even the deadliest cat
in Africa has a softer side.
♪♪
♪♪
Perhaps the most bizarre
small cat of all lives here...
in the heart of Mongolia...
one of the most remote and
least populated places on Earth.
♪♪
After decades of research,
we are now able to reveal
an insight into
their hidden lives.
♪♪
This is a Pallas's cat.
♪♪
She's cautious and
she has good reason.
Kittens.
4 of them.
2 months old and
just out of the den.
They're already
becoming a bit of a handful.
♪♪
They live in a world of
windswept grassland,
an area three times bigger
than the state of Texas.
But this outcrop of rocks is a
safe place to hide the family.
It's morning, and
the kittens are hungry,
but a mother can't hunt
with four excitable youngsters
tagging along.
Today, she will have to
leave her kittens home alone.
♪♪
Out here in the open,
there's nowhere to hide.
The only thing she can
do is try and blend in.
♪♪
Pallas's cats'
ears are positioned
unusually low on their heads,
and that helps them
to keep a low profile.
♪♪
What's more, these cats
can flatten their bodies
to look like a rock.
♪♪
She'll need to hunt all day
to provide enough
for her growing kittens,
who, meanwhile, are getting
up to all sorts of mischief.
Play will help them to
hone their own hunting skills.
♪♪
A silver vole finds itself
the center of the
kittens' attention.
♪♪
The key is a silent,
patient approach.
♪♪
Alas, on these rocks, a
vole has the upper hand.
♪♪
Fortunately, the kittens can
rely on their mother to provide.
♪♪
Pallas's cats actually
do very well here.
There could be as many as 10,000
living in these grasslands...
not that it makes
them any easier to see.
♪♪
In other places, small
cats are living secret lives
right under our noses.
[Thunder crashing]
East of Johannesburg, Africa's
biggest industrial complex.
♪♪
It's the size of a city.
♪♪
Behind the barbed wire,
surveillance cameras
detect intruders every night.
♪♪
A cat has taken over.
♪♪
The tierboskat, also
known as a serval.
♪♪
This restricted area is
now the home of around
a hundred of these
small spotted cats...
the densest population
anywhere in Africa.
♪♪
This strange industrial
wasteland is teeming with life.
♪♪
It's a place where
people rarely venture...
and the fences keep
out larger predators
that might be a
threat to the servals.
♪♪
What's more, the water
used to cool the heavy industry
has helped create lush
meadows around these pools,
and that, in turn, has led to
an explosion of rats and mice...
all a serval can eat.
They're not only
attracted by the food
but by the one thing
that all cats need...
Their own space
where they can
be left undisturbed.
This is a small cat paradise.
♪♪
Cats have conquered almost
every corner of the planet.
♪♪
But now, even in the
most remote places,
they are feeling the
impact of our way of life
as we encroach more
and more on their world.
♪♪
Around the planet, their
numbers are decreasing.
If cats are to survive
in our changing world,
we just need to leave
them some space.
♪♪
Next time...
The frontiers of discovery...
LOOCK: Just in front of
us. Ah, that's really special.
ELBROCH: Holy mackerel.
ABRAHAM: getting
closer than ever before...
BORREGO: There you go.
ABRAHAM: to the
secret lives of cats.
MAN: There.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪