Nature's Strangest Mysteries: Solved (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 12 - Snowboarding Crow - full transcript

Narrator: Why is this crow
snowboarding down a rooftop?

This is not an accident.

Narrator:
You may not like the answer.

Riskin: I don't know how smart
your dog is,

But I guarantee
that a crow is smarter.

Narrator: A live moose
is trapped in a tree.

How'd it get here?

And how will the moose
get loose?

Was it drunk?

Narrator: And what's causing
yellowstone's geysers

To go into overdrive?



That thing ever goes off,
we are done.

Narrator:
Nature is awe-inspiring.

But sometimes it just
doesn't make sense.

Man: I have never seen
anything like this.

Our team of experts investigate
the weirdest animal behavior...

That's amazing.

...And the most unexpected
events...

What is causing that?

...Ever caught on camera.

My god!

These are...

January 9, 2012.

Yekaterinburg, russia.

A family spots a crow displaying
some unusual behavior.



So it's got a lid,
and it's on a roof.

And it is riding the lid down
the snow like a snowboard.

So you probably think, "okay,
well, that's just a funny video."

It's an accidental thing
that just happened."

No, it gets off the jar lid.

It goes back to the top,
and then it doesn't again.

That's crazy.

Narrator:
This is no accident.

It looks like the crow
is snowboarding.

The big question is,
why on earth does it do this?

Narrator: Could the crow
be scavenging for food?

Riskin: Crows are sort of like
raccoons and rats

And have figured out how to get
the food that we don't finish.

And so if there's
any kind of food

Attached to the inside
of that lid,

A crow is gonna be able
to find out how to get it out.

And so maybe this has
something to do with that.

Narrator: But some of our
other experts are skeptical.

So, it does appear to be
pecking at some food

Before it slides down.

But it repeats this snowboarding
several times.

And if it just wants
to get some food,

Then it would just carry the lid
off to a flat piece of ground

And peck away at it there.

So that can't be the solution.

Narrator: What else could prompt
these crazy crow antics?

Cooke: Could it be some sort
of mating display?

Birds are very well known
to have extravagant

And extraordinary means
of attracting a mate.

♪

[ Honks ]

♪

[ Warbling ]

Riskin: Male birds showing off
to female birds...

That is what makes birds birds.

Narrator: But do birds pull off
athletic stunts to woo a female?

Yes.

The widowbird,
found on the african continent,

Jumps to great heights to get
the attention of the ladies.

♪

And there are other birds who,
like the snowboarding crow,

Will happily use props to get
the opposite sex to take notice.

Cooke: Bowerbirds will create
intricate castles out of twigs

That they then decorate

With bits of
brightly colored plastic.

Schreiber: There are very,
very bizarre rituals in nature

That birds like to do
to attract a mate.

So maybe the crow
is doing something similar.

Narrator: But with this theory,
the timing is off.

Riskin: Mating...
It's a good theory,

But I don't think
that's what's happening here.

First thing is, it's winter.
There's snow.

The middle of winter is not when you
want to be showing off to females

'cause there ain't no mating
happening then.

So could it be that this crow

Is using the lid
as some sort of tool?

We know that
new caledonian crows

Are essentially the brainboxes
of the bird world,

And they'll use
all manner of tools.

Narrator: This crow uses a stick
to skewer a snack.

But their huge bird brains

Can make even the stick trick
seem simple.

Schreiber:
They can do incredible things,

Like let's say
there's a tube full of water

And the water's way too low for
them to reach into and get to.

They'll then pick up stones and
drop the stones into the tube...

...Bringing the water up...

...Until they can reach
this reward.

That's an amazing use of tools.

I don't know how smart
your dog is,

But I guarantee
that a crow is smarter.

Narrator:
However, this use of a tool

Is something no one
has seen before.

Cooke: In all the examples
that we know of,

Crows are using tools
in order to access food.

In this case, there doesn't seem
to be any food as a reward.

Narrator: So why is the crow
snowboarding down the rooftop?

The more you sort of look at
all the different possibilities,

The more you're left with
the first thing you thought.

It just looks fun.
Maybe it's fun.

Narrator: Fun.

Despite all the evidence,

The idea that animals have fun
used to be a controversial one.

40 years ago,
it was this absolute rule

That as a biologist, you weren't
allowed to ever admit

That an animal was having fun.

And now fun is everywhere.

Narrator:
And crows aren't the only birds

Who know a good time
when they see it.

Riskin: It seems like any
organism that gets smart enough

Uses that intelligence
to have fun.

[ Drumming ]

And if crows are anything,
it's smart.

[ Cawing ]

Schreiber: They have been
spotted flipping a ball up

Between their beak
and their feet,

And they've been sliding
on their bellies.

They've been playing tug-of-war.

Narrator: But why do crows play
like we do?

Schreiber: Play is actually very
key to their social development.

They get the endorphin release
in their brain that we get.

Narrator:
Endorphins are chemicals

Which make us feel pleasure.

Play also produces
the chemical dopamine,

Which gives the sensation
of being motivated and rewarded,

As well as encouraging learning.

So although this crow
is by itself,

It's still getting
that dopamine hit by having fun,

Which is why
it keeps doing it again...

And again.

It's having a great time.

Riskin: This is kind of
one of those times

When the answer is
staring you right in the face.

This snowboarding crow
is snowboarding

For the same reason that people
snowboard... 'cause it's fun.

[ Crowd shouting, cheering ]

Narrator: June 4, 2018.

A crowd is captivated...

...As steamboat geyser
in yellowstone national park

Blasts water
to a height of 15 stories.

[ Shouting, cheering continue ]

It's the eighth time she's gone
off in the last three months.

Before this run,

She'd only erupted twice
in the last decade.

So it's not unusual to see
a geyser in yellowstone,

But this is weird.

Steamboat geyser is erupting and
now has erupted multiple times

Just in the past year.

Narrator: The last time
steamboat was this active

Was 35 years ago.

The question now is,
what has supercharged steamboat

And propelled her
into spouting overdrive?

Narrator:
Yellowstone national park, 2018.

Steamboat geyser has erupted

A record-breaking eight times
already this year

After almost four years
of silence.

And she's not messing around.

Steamboat geyser's capable
of having eruptions

That force water
300 feet into the air,

Which makes it
the biggest geyser on earth.

Narrator: The mystery is,
what's causing steamboat

To erupt almost 100 times
more frequently than usual?

Could the answer
lie below yellowstone?

Yellowstone isn't just
a place full of volcanoes.

It's a supervolcano, which means
it is super dangerous.

What's under the surface
is massive...

Tons and tons and tons of magma
pushing up against the surface.

Moser: This underground volcanic
activity provides the heat

That drives the hot springs
and these geyser eruptions.

Narrator:
Yellowstone national park

Is actually situated on top
of a volcanic caldera.

And it's huge.

The ultimate source of heat
is the magma chamber

That sits beneath the ground.

It's about five kilometers,
or three miles, deep.

It's possible that a change
in volcanic activity

Is causing these changes

To yellowstone's
hydrothermal system.

Narrator:
If increased volcanic activity

Is stimulating steamboat,

The outlook is ominous indeed.

The yellowstone supervolcano

Erupts every 600,000
to 700,000 years.

The last time was more than
640,000 years ago.

So the next eruption is overdue.

If that thing ever goes off,
we are done.

Poland: It would certainly
devastate the area

For several hundred miles,

And then that ash cloud
could become a problem

For the entire planet.

Narrator: So, are steamboat's
super spouts a sign

That the yellowstone
supervolcano is about to blow?

Well, maybe.

We would expect that before a
super eruption from yellowstone

That we would see
some sort of change

In how the park is behaving.

Poland: But we haven't seen
anything to indicate

That there's any likelihood
of an eruption,

Whether a lava flow
or an explosion,

Anytime in the near future.

Narrator: That's a relief.

It seems the monster volcano
slumbers on for now, but...

Volcanoes change.
Sometimes they're dormant.

Sometimes they're active.

But I got to say, the stakes
are high enough on this

That I'd be paying pretty close
attention to what's happening.

Narrator: If steamboat's
surge of activity

Isn't the result
of the supervolcano stirring,

Could it have been boosted

By something else
going on underground?

Steamboat sits in a geyser basin

Straddling three
tectonic fault lines.

As a result, the area
is frequently struck

By earthquakes.

Could they be
souping up steamboat?

Farrell: Hydrothermal systems are
very influenced by earthquakes,

Either earthquakes
that are right by them

Or earthquakes even
from around the world.

Narrator:
And quakes have shaken up

Even the most consistent geysers
in the past.

The largest earthquake to strike
the yellowstone region

Occurred in 1959,

And that was
the hebgen lake earthquake,

Which was just west
of the national park.

[ Rumbling ]

It was a very big earthquake,
magnitude 7.3.

In particular, it caused a big
rockslide in the madison canyon.

Narrator:
The most famous and regular

Of all geysers in yellowstone

Is old faithful.

She always erupted
like clockwork

Until the hebgen quake struck.

Farrell: Old faithful,
for a long time,

Erupted every about 60 minutes.

And after the hebgen lake
earthquake,

It's kind of slowed down
to about every 90 minutes.

Narrator: So an earthquake

Changed
old faithful's frequency.

Could a similar quake
have caused

Steamboat's recent surge
in activity?

Narrator: Yellowstone's
steamboat geyser

Is erupting 100 times
more frequently than usual.

The area experiences
up to 3,000 earthquakes a year.

Could they be responsible
for steamboat's spouting?

Earthquakes have caused
new water features

To form in and around
yellowstone before.

That could be what's going on
this time around.

Large earthquakes cause
both new features to pop up,

Features that weren't
known before,

Or they cause features
to change their behaviors.

Narrator: The reason earthquakes
can change geysers

Lies with something else
fundamental to their jetting...

Water.

Farrell: They need fluids.
They need lots of water.

And water goes in the ground,
gets heated, comes back up.

But these are
very mineral-heavy fluids.

So they have a lot of stuff
in them,

And then when they cool off,
they precipitate stuff

And they clog
their own channels up.

Narrator:
Earthquakes can change geysers

By unblocking their pipes,

Like a plumber unblocking
your kitchen sink,

Allowing water
to flow freely again.

All of that shaking
causes the plumbing systems

Of geysers and hot springs
to change.

Narrator:
So has steamboat been unblocked

Thanks to an earthquake?

It's unlikely.

The 1959 hebgen lake quake that
altered old faithful's eruptions

Was 15,000 times bigger

And released almost
2 million times more energy

Than any of yellowstone's
2018 quakes.

Poland: There's no evidence that
there's been any earthquake activity

That's triggered that
like we've seen in years past.

Narrator: Earthquakes are not
enough to supercharge a geyser.

To increase steamboat's
eruptions a hundredfold

And send jets 300 feet high,

It's also going to need water...
A lot of water.

Poland: We just came off
two very wet years...

A lot of snow and lot of rain.

So the hydrothermal system
is really charged,

And all of that water

Might make the hydrothermal
features more active.

That's one possibility
that we've seen, for example,

More eruptions
of steamboat this year.

And if you have more water,

It makes sense that more water
would come out of your geysers.

Narrator: Solution found.

It's all down to water.

Well, almost.

Riskin: If it was as simple
as just how much water you add,

Then you would expect geysers to
increase every time it rained,

And you don't see that at all.

Water is only half
of the equation.

Narrator: So what is it that has
triggered steamboat's spouting?

To find out, we have to
take a step back

To see the bigger picture.

Geyser basins need three things
to come into existence.

One, they need heat,

Which the volcano is providing
in yellowstone.

Narrator: What else?

They need a pathway
for fluid to flow through.

And that's why earthquakes
are so important,

'cause they fracture the ground.

They create pathways.
Narrator: And then?

And they need fluids.
They need lots of water.

Narrator: So a geyser
needs a precise recipe.

Change any ingredient,
and the results can be dramatic.

By nature of how these things
work, they're very dynamic,

And they can change based on
how much water is available,

How much heat is available,

And what the fluid pathways are
in the ground.

Narrator: So cracks plus heat
plus water equals geysers.

As steamboat's spouting spree
shows,

Subtle changes
below the surface of the earth

Can have explosive effects
above ground.

♪

September 2011.

Saro on the coast of sweden.

When he gets home from work,

Per johansson
finds himself face-to-face

With an unexpected guest.

So a moose is found stuck
in the middle of this tree

In this orchard
looking absolutely drunk.

Narrator: The question is...

How did this forlorn-looking
moose end up in an apple tree?

Narrator: September 2011,
saro, sweden.

A moose is found
stuck in a tree.

Could this otherwise normal
moose have been drunk?

Well, the moose was found
in an orchard,

And there was rotting fruit
on the ground,

And yeast will turn
the naturally occurring sugars

In the apples into alcohol.

Narrator:
But is it even possible

For a wild animal like a moose
to get drunk, slip,

And fall into a tree?

There's a huge amount
of anecdotal evidence

Of animals getting drunk
in the wild,

In particular birds.

There was a group
of californian scientists

Who performed postmortems
on birds

And found they did have
traces of alcohol in them,

So maybe they were drunk.

Narrator: Bob sallinger
is conservation director

At the audubon society,

America's number-one
bird protection group.

Every year, he comes across
surprising numbers of birds

Who seem sozzled.

One of the things
we see periodically

Are birds that come in
that appear to be intoxicated,

And in particular,
robins and cedar waxwings

Come in in the fall and winter
showing signs of uncoordination,

Falling over, unable to fly.

What we'll do is give them
a warm, quiet place to recover.

We will make sure
that they are hydrated,

And oftentimes they'll come out
of their intoxication

In a matter of hours or a day
or so and be perfectly healthy.

Narrator: So birds eating
their fill of fermented fruit

Can become inebriated
in the process.

But what about our moose,
who is much larger?

Cooke: There's plenty
of anecdotal evidence

Of animals
a lot bigger than birds

Seemingly getting drunk
on fermented fruit.

Bears and elephants, as well,

Anecdotally people think
they've seen that happen.

Narrator: Elephants seemingly
get a little boozy

After gorging on the fermented
fruit of the marula tree.

But at a hundred times heavier
than the average human,

Even if elephants filled up
on fermented fruit,

It's unlikely to be enough

To get the largest
land mammal drunk.

But what about our moose?

Cooke: Think about it.

Fruit doesn't produce
a whole lot of alcohol.

It might be enough to intoxicate
something as small as a bird.

But if you're a huge elephant
or a moose,

You're going to need to consume

An enormous amount
of fermented fruit

In order to feel
its intoxicating effects.

Narrator: So it seems like
the moose wasn't drunk at all.

In which case
the question remains,

How did it end up
tangled in this tree?

Cooke it's not the alcohol
in the fruit.

It's the sugars
that are contained in the fruit,

Because ruminants, cows, moose,
of which are the same group,

They're very attracted
to sugar-rich foods.

They're delicious, so they're
going to gorge themselves

On loads of apples
if they're available,

But they can't really
process those sugars.

Narrator: And it's those sugars

That could be causing
the problem,

Because as they're digested in
the four stomachs of the moose,

The sugar turns to acid.

Schreiber:
They suffer from acidosis.

Acidosis is when you've taken in
too much acid in your body.

Cooke:
This acidosis is actually

Incredibly painful
for the animals

And causes them to behave
in a strange way.

They might be lethargic.
They might stagger about.

Vets deal with it a lot
in agriculture.

Narrator: So acidosis
seemingly set in

After the moose gorged
on one too many apples.

This would have made it dozy,

And it probably slipped
while reaching for one last bite

And fell into the tree.

Fortunately, acidosis
doesn't last forever.

Within a few hours, it got up
and it was recovered.

Happy ending for the moose.

Captions paid for by
discovery communications