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Big beasts have always captured the imagination, but being large comes with sizeable challenges. These are the epic survival stories of the world's largest ...
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00:05Creatures come both great and small, but it's the Goliaths that always capture our attention.
00:14They might be the biggest beast that ever lived, or simply the biggest of their kind.
00:22If they're not titans to everyone, they still manage to be their own brand of monster.
00:28And all these giants face enormous challenges to survive.
00:34Take the largest lizard on Earth.
00:37How can it feed its huge appetite when its bite is weaker than a house cat's?
00:43How does a giraffe, the world's tallest animal, not pass out when it stoops to drink?
00:51How does a megabat cool its bulky body in crock-infested waters?
01:00Turns out, nature's biggest beasts have come up with some fascinating ways to overcome life's biggest problems.
01:33From the behemoths of a bygone age…
01:37to the leviathans of our modern world.
01:41It's the biggest beasts that stand out from the crowd.
01:50But size is relative.
01:53And there were surprising giants lurking in places you might not expect.
02:02Animals whose claim to fame is simply being among the biggest of their kind.
02:12But whether they're a titan in a tiny world, or a giant among other giants,
02:18they all share the same basic challenges.
02:24Moving their massive bodies.
02:29Surviving extreme temperatures.
02:34Having huge babies.
02:40And not least, the need to eat.
02:43A lot.
03:00The biggest appetite on the planet undoubtedly belongs to this monster of the sea.
03:19Its heart is almost as big as a golf cart.
03:25Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant.
03:32Its major artery is as wide as a human head.
03:39This legendary record-breaker is quite simply the most enormous animal ever to have existed.
03:52It's the blue whale, of course.
03:55At 150 tons, it outdoes even the biggest dinosaurs for size.
04:14Their astonishing bulk is entirely sustained by this tiny crustacean.
04:24The secret to getting so big on something so small is eating four tons of them a day.
04:32It's something.
04:36The little bit more.
04:38The little bit more.
04:40Tony, thanks for sharing your ability.
04:40You decided to be until these peanuts are willing to eat four tons of them.oo!
04:58Thehrew!
04:59Thief!
05:05These floating vacuum cleaners can suck up half a million calories in a single gulp.
05:21That's just as well, because opening such a massive mouth takes a lot of energy.
05:26So the more it can eat in one go, the bigger it can get.
05:33And it's thought they're still growing.
05:39As long as the blue whale has enough food, this species may just keep on getting bigger.
06:05Back on dry land, Earth's tallest mammal has also had to adapt to get enough nutrients.
06:22The gigantic giraffe boasts some impressive stats.
06:34At up to 19 feet of mostly leg and neck, it towers to nearly three times the height of
06:43a professional basketball player.
06:45It's as heavy as a car.
06:50And it perches on feet the size of dinner plates.
06:58Being head and shoulders above the rest does have its perks.
07:04Seeing for miles around.
07:16Reaching 35 miles an hour with its ground-eating strides.
07:25And of course, with over seven feet of neck, and an extra foot and a half of tongue, it can
07:31reach
07:31the food its competitors can't.
07:35They need that advantage because a giraffe has a supersized appetite.
07:48Which it satisfies by eating foliage.
07:56To get enough nutrients from just a few leaves per bite, a large male must consume up to 145 pounds
08:04daily.
08:08To eat through that many leaves a day, can take up to 18 hours.
08:18But never mind feeding.
08:23In dry times, a giraffe can need up to seven or eight gallons of water every few days.
08:29But how to get it, when it's seemingly so hard to come by?
08:37Well, it has a neat trick.
08:40By eating at dawn, when condensation is high, it can absorb most of its moisture from leaves.
08:55It also wastes no water sweating or panting.
08:59Instead, its temperature fluctuates with the surrounding air.
09:12But when beaten by the heat, giraffes must join their fellow beasts at the watering hole.
09:21Being tall, it's tricky.
09:27In this pose, the pressure is, quite literally, on.
09:40Pumping blood all the way up to its head takes a powerful heart.
09:46It beats up to 170 times a minute.
09:49That's twice as fast as ours.
10:01This huge blood pressure, the highest of any mammal, should give a drinking giraffe a bad head rush.
10:12But instead, a clever system of valves regulates blood flow to the brain.
10:23The giraffe controls blood pressure so well that NASA has taken inspiration from these humble goliaths for the design of
10:31its space suits.
10:39It seems this big beast can even teach us a thing or two.
10:53The unique physical characteristics of a giraffe allow it to feed with relative ease.
11:01Many big beasts, though, have to fight for their food.
11:12This remote Indonesian island is home to an illustrious lizard.
11:27It owes its prehistoric good looks to its extraordinary age.
11:32It's one of the few living species to have been around for over three million years.
11:54Earth's largest lizard, big enough to hog a king-size bed.
12:01And then some.
12:15Despite their intimidating credentials, these dragons don't have it easy.
12:21Only around 6,000 remain, making them vulnerable to extinction.
12:34To add to their woes, these ferocious beasts have for their size a bite that is weaker than that of
12:41the average house cat.
12:48Their survival, though, relies on satisfying their beastly hunger.
13:01These dragons have set their sights on this buffalo.
13:12At ten times a dragon's size, it's a very dangerous dinner option.
13:22One well-aimed kick and a dragon could die hungry.
13:32So how does a Komodo, with its measly nip, take on such a formidable adversary?
13:39Its bite may be weak, but it's bolstered by around 60 backward-facing, serrated teeth.
13:46One well-aimed kick and a dragon could die.
13:53The grip and rip bite.
14:13On prey this size, it draws just a bit of blood.
14:18But it's more deadly than it looks.
14:29The bite has set the dragon's next weapon in motion.
14:35Tucked either side of this lizard's weak jaw are venom glands.
14:43A bite releases the poison, preventing the prey's blood from clotting.
14:56A bite leads the poison.
14:57Stage two takes days and days of patience.
15:13The buffalo's wound is not healing.
15:23The buffalo's wound is not healing.
15:26Three weeks later, it's finally time to eat.
15:38Now ravenous, these reptiles can polish off 80% of their body weight in a single sitting.
15:53No energy gets wasted on chewing either.
15:57A tube running from the base of the tongue to the lungs means a dragon can breathe while it swallows
16:03each mouthful in one.
16:15This combination of clever adaptations means this big beast can take down even bigger beasts to satisfy its need to
16:24eat and ensure its survival.
16:45Enormous appetites have led many sizable species to target prey that should be out of their league.
16:52And the big bugs of the undergrowth are no exception.
17:02Imagine an insect that's big enough to take on a bird.
17:11Meet the Kalahari's massive armored ground cricket.
17:18Protein is crucial for these goliaths to sustain their huge frames.
17:24So they must seize any opportunity to eat meat.
17:29Their unfortunate prey?
17:32Red-billed Quilia chicks.
17:39Reaching their meal means getting past the parents.
17:50They're not going to die.
17:50By firing blood from pores in its exoskeleton, the cricket temporarily blinds its assailant.
18:01With security out of the way, the meat feast is finally within reach.
18:13The leaf litter is rife with oversized invertebrates, with appetites to match.
18:23The Kinabalu giant red leech would span the whole length of a grown man's thigh.
18:30It maintains its full figure by eating its next-door neighbor.
18:37The Bornean blue earthworm.
18:41It's even bigger than the leech.
18:45Stretching to below a grown man's knee.
18:54In this battle of the titans, though, it's the smallest that wins.
19:03The leech's muscular mouth crushes the worm, taking the phrase down-and-one to the extreme.
19:14New Zealand's carnivorous powellifanta snail can grow to the size of a fist.
19:21And that is just the shell.
19:25They're the sumo wrestlers of the snail world.
19:33Their unfortunate prey is scraped into the gullet by a rasp-like structure embellished with 6,000 teeth.
19:49Japan's finger-length giant hornet is one of the largest, heaviest, and deadliest insects in the world.
19:59It feeds on the larvae of the humble honeybee.
20:06To get to its meal, it must fight its way into the hive.
20:17A team of 30 can decimate a beehive 30,000 strong in just a few hours.
20:31A team of 30 can decimate a beehive 30,000 strong in the chakra of the Kraut.
20:43These giants do have an Achilles heel.
20:44For all their killer credentials, though, these giants do have an Achilles heel.
20:52A size-related issue which can be used against them.
20:59And some bee colonies have wised up to this weakness.
21:09These bees seem to welcome their attacker into their hive.
21:17Sure enough, the hornet helps itself to a snack.
21:21But as its powerful mandibles chow down on the bee's body,
21:26an explosion of attack pheromones has released from the bee.
21:34Now, the tribe strikes.
21:41By vibrating their flight muscles, they generate heat.
21:50Bees with their tiny bodies can withstand
21:53up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
21:57But hornets overheat at four degrees less.
22:07The lone hornet scout's big body is both its weapon and its weakness.
22:13Thanks to its size, it's roasted alive.
22:34Overheating is a deadly problem faced by big beasts all across the world.
22:42Large bodies have comparatively small surface areas, making it hard for heat to escape.
22:52In Australia's Northern Territory, a famously sun-averse mammal is wrestling with the temperature.
23:06To stay cool, it must escape the jaws of death.
23:28To stay cool, it must escape the jaws of death.
23:32It's a species of megabat.
23:37With a body as big as a rat, and heavier, and a wingspan of three feet.
23:50If temperatures hit a tipping point of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, hundreds of these big bats can die.
24:04It's 100 degrees, dangerously near the death zone.
24:11300,000 bats are dehydrating.
24:16Their burly bodies are producing more heat than they can release.
24:22What they really need is water.
24:34Skimming the river's surface with their chests is refreshing.
24:38But more importantly, it collects water in the hares to lick off back at the roost and quench their thirst.
24:49But they're not the only ones making the most of the river.
25:00This is the Australian freshwater crocodile, or freshie to the locals.
25:11The sun makes these cold-blooded reptiles alert.
25:15And ready to hunt.
25:36This deadly game of tag is non-negotiable.
25:41If they don't risk becoming fodder for a freshie, they'll die in the heat.
26:01Fortune favors these brave bats.
26:06Most of the time.
26:22So being big is not so great when it's hot.
26:27But can a bulky frame help stave off the cold?
26:35Well, if you're warm-blooded, the answer is yes.
26:41Mammals tend to be beefier in cooler climes.
26:47Take the biggest bear on Earth.
26:50The polar bear.
26:52It's huge volume stores the heat and temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
27:01And their four-inch layer of blubber is such an effective insulator.
27:05These mighty mammals sometimes need a good rub in the snow to cool down.
27:19But if you're cold-blooded, you rely on a daily dose of sun to warm up your insides.
27:27So reptiles and insects generally fare better in the cold when they're small.
27:35Some species, though, just can't help but defy convention.
27:42Remember the gargantuan bird-eating cricket of the Kalahari?
27:47Well, it has a distant cousin that beats it hands down in the size stakes.
27:55This colossal beast is the mountain stone weta, an insect that's grown as big as a mouse for one simple
28:08reason.
28:12Weta has evolved back when there were no native mammals.
28:15So they took the ecological niche normally reserved for small rodents and matched them for size.
28:28Being a massive insect is fine when it's warm.
28:31But this monster species lives high in New Zealand's southern Alps.
28:49It had to evolve a way to survive being big in the cold.
28:55By doing something no other insect this large can.
29:03Even in the shelter of a cave, it can be below freezing.
29:09When ice sets in around it, this ingenious hulk of an insect does something very strange indeed.
29:18It freezes itself to death.
29:21Almost.
29:32This weta species actually encourages ice to form in its body.
29:40Ice crystals are sharp.
29:42If they form inside a cell, they tear through the membrane like razor blades in a balloon.
29:51So the key to survival is to ensure ice only forms outside its cells.
30:01First, the weta dehydrates the cells, drawing water out.
30:06There, the combination of water and special proteins trigger the formation of ice crystals.
30:24In this state of suspended animation, a mountain stone weta can survive temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
30:36An extraordinary 80% of its body can be frozen solid.
30:52When temperatures rise and the ice thawes, a weta can gradually re-enter the land of the living.
31:20Having gotten their temperature under control, our big beasts can go about their day.
31:25But the simple act of moving can be challenging in itself.
31:36Generally, the bigger the beast, the more it weighs.
31:42And the heavier the beast, the harder it finds lifting its weight against the downward pull of gravity.
31:56Take Earth's largest land animal, the six-and-a-half-ton African elephant.
32:06Tracking down food in the Namibian desert can mean lugging its eye-watering load for 25 miles a day.
32:20Two-thirds of an elephant's weight is channeled through its front legs.
32:31The solution? Fatty pads and its bucket-sized feet to absorb the shock.
32:42With each step, they spread the load, protecting their skeleton from the impact of their monumental weight.
32:55Though even with the help of ingenious evolutionary adaptations, the fact remains that gravity limits how big a land animal
33:03can get.
33:12So how do big beasts fare beneath the waves?
33:24The world's oceans are home to some of the most incredible heavyweights on Earth.
33:34The Great White Shark needs no introduction.
33:38Suffice to say, at 20 feet and up to 5,000 pounds, it's one of the most feared big beasts
33:48on the planet.
33:50It's outsized, though, by the world's largest dolphin, the 12,000-pound orca.
34:02The giant Pacific octopus has broken records at 30 feet across.
34:08It's powerful enough to attack and eat sharks.
34:19The six-foot Humboldt squid is as large as a man.
34:24These voracious hunters work in packs, devouring up to nine tons of fish a night.
34:30If food is scarce, they've been known to eat each other.
34:38The weightlessness of water allows underwater goliaths, even those as vast as the blue whale, to move with ease.
34:54Which is more that can be said for excessively heavy beasts that want to get airborne.
35:03Some birds have found benefits to growing big.
35:06But in the process, they've lost the ability to fly.
35:13Take the ostrich.
35:17It's the largest living bird, nine feet tall, with a vast six-and-a-half-foot wingspan that is useless
35:26for flying.
35:29Instead, it's perfected the art of running away from predators.
35:39With a top speed of over 40 miles per hour, it's the fastest two-legged animal on Earth.
35:46It could run a full marathon in 45 minutes.
36:01Being big, though, doesn't have to make air travel impossible.
36:08Over 65 million years ago, a beast far larger and heavier than an ostrich proudly displayed its aerial skills in
36:17the skies above what is now Europe.
36:26Hatsygopteryx may well be the largest flying animal ever known.
36:39If it were alive today, it'd be tall enough to peer into a second-floor window.
36:49And they could take off from a standing start owing to the sheer power of their wing muscles.
37:01Despite their impressive aerial antics, it seems they didn't hunt on the wing, but fed on the ground, supporting their
37:11great weight with extra feet on each wing.
37:31Back in the 21st century, the bird that comes closest to a Hadza is the albatross.
37:45At 11 feet, the wingspan of the wandering albatross is the longest of any bird alive today.
37:58And an albatross can do something a Hadza apparently couldn't – hunt from the air.
38:09These big birds spend most of their lives at sea, scouring the ocean's surface for food.
38:30They only come into land to breed.
38:39This royal albatross has made a pit stop on New Zealand's South Island, where her two-month-old chick is
38:46waiting for food.
38:59This big baby can polish off a pound of fish in a sitting.
39:10To find its next meal, mom will have to scour a mere 600 miles of ocean.
39:20So given she weighs as much as a small dog, how does she manage to fly?
39:29Her enormous wings get her big body airborne.
39:34The secret to the albatross staying up there, though, is in its nostrils.
39:44Special sensory organs measure the speed of the surrounding air.
39:50What they're searching for are changes in air speed.
39:56At the water's surface, the air is almost still, slowed as it hits the waves.
40:08Thirty feet up, it's windier.
40:13As an albatross climbs into the faster air, it gets free lift.
40:19Then turning sharply, it plunges down into the slower air.
40:26Gravity helps it accelerate to over 70 miles per hour.
40:47Downward momentum catapults it back up again, like a roller coaster into the lift of the faster air.
40:56It's called dynamic soaring.
41:00And crucially, it means they could fly without flapping their wings.
41:20By exploiting the energy of the wind, they expend almost none of their own.
41:32This aerial efficiency is what makes such a big body capable of flying nonstop for over 10,000 miles,
41:40without the need to set foot on dry land for years at a time.
41:54For a mother, though, it's straight back to the nest to satisfy the big appetite of her chunky chick.
42:13The demands of rearing massive offspring is something many a big beast can appreciate.
42:22The challenges often begin at birth.
42:35Because of her size, a hippo keeps cool in water.
42:42It's here that she'll usually deliver her 100-pound, three-foot baby.
42:51Which leaves her with a problem.
42:58Her little one can't breathe underwater, giving mom just 40 seconds to get her newborn to the surface for its
43:06first gulp of air.
43:24For some big beasts, though, securing the next generation means risking their own lives.
43:39The humble hermit crab. Harmless and traditionally small.
43:49Except for this member of the family.
43:56The coconut crab, or robber crab. The largest land crab on Earth.
44:07The South Pacific islands of Vanuatu are pretty hard to reach.
44:15So having the place mostly to themselves,
44:17it seems these critters have taken the opportunity to grow as big as medium-sized mammals.
44:25Their legs can span some three feet.
44:29And they're strong enough to lift the equivalent of ten house bricks.
44:37Being big has allowed them to cultivate some rare talents.
44:47True to their name, they can crack a coconut.
44:53And they've been known to kill and eat rats.
44:59But there's one thing these crabs simply can't do.
45:02And that is swim.
45:12This crab lives its adult life entirely on land.
45:15So you'd think this wouldn't be too much of a problem.
45:19And for most of their days, it isn't.
45:29But once a year, the females of these colossal crustaceans have no choice but to brave the waves in order
45:36to pass on their genes.
45:57Having mated a few weeks ago, this female has been nursing her fertilized eggs on her abdomen.
46:04But tonight's the night to release her precious cargo.
46:15And like all crabs, that's done in water.
46:26She must tread carefully.
46:28She's so well adapted to land that she's evolved a form of lung that can no longer breathe underwater.
46:38And her great weight means if she gets out of her depth, she'll sink and drown.
46:50Clinging on for life, she releases her eggs into the waves.
47:03They'll hatch into swimming larvae.
47:10But in a month's time, they'll be back on land.
47:17There, they too will grow into terrestrial giants.
47:38Across the coral sea from the coconut crab's paradise isle is an immense sea beast that also reproduces just once
47:46a year.
47:49When it does, it gets even bigger.
47:58This springtime full moon is the trigger for a submarine spectacular.
48:06When the perfect tide height, day length, and sea temperature all align, this happens.
48:22Some 400 species of coral across 3,000 reefs reproduce over a series of nights.
48:36Tucked inside their limestone armor, millions of coral polyps release their eggs and sperm simultaneously.
48:51You may be wondering what's big about these tiny floating jewels.
48:56Well together, they're responsible for growing the world's largest single living structure.
49:03The Great Barrier Reef.
49:15At 1,400 miles long, it's almost the vertical length of the United States.
49:23Making it the only living thing visible from space.
49:31Each time the reef reproduces, its gigantic scale increases.
49:42The resulting coral larvae travel back down to make their home on the reef.
49:54This monumental structure once grew by several inches each year.
50:07Of course, now there's a twist to this tale.
50:14In recent years, it's thought that half the coral in this big beast has died.
50:22It's believed rising sea temperatures are responsible for driving away the colorful algae that live inside coral.
50:31Without nutrients and its distinctive hues, it's left bleached white.
50:41It appears our modern world is taking its toll on this greatest of beasts.
50:55We may not be among nature's biggest beasts.
50:58But we do so often have the biggest impact on our planet and on the animals we share it with.
51:07Our fascination with the Goliaths of our world can prove catastrophic for them.
51:16Half the remarkable Titans featured here are threatened with extinction.
51:29When you consider the astonishing solutions nature's biggest beasts have come up with to life's big problems.
51:42Ingenious ways to find food, to keep warm or stay cool, to move around and to reproduce.
51:53We should not only celebrate their success, but also do what we can to ensure they stick around for generations
52:01to come.
52:14Not only one year,unozopata or the Sweetheart acaba.
52:15I will be amongst you all the mascots.
52:17Not only two kinds of mysteries we do.
52:21Not only one planet have lost one Awesome is whether
52:22Where are you the citizens and all bumping and all your Quem
52:22One day we spend a lot of am i Universal.
52:30We'll address the range of our worldräume teams.
52:31Please 스테� via foto.
52:42To learn more about what you've seen on this nature program, visit pbs.org.
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