Secret Life of Predators

There are still places on Earth where fields of grass stretch as far as the eye can see. In order to survive in these open spaces, predators must hide in plain sight. On the vast plains of the African savanna, banded mongooses rely on strength in numbers in order to succeed in a land of giants. Cheetahs and secretary birds must conquer extreme heat and elusive prey, risking their lives to feed their offspring. Mongolian wolves hunt for scarce food on the steppe.

Whether searching for prey in the tropical canopy or stalking a meal over a spongy moss carpet, forest predators rely on “stealth-like” skills to survive. Natural instincts kick in right from birth, and in one never-before-seen case, even before birth. For the first time captured on camera, watch glass frog embryos hatch early to escape a little-known but lethal wasp, while their father fiercely defends the babies with his martial arts moves.

When water meets land, landscapes clash and predators such as dolphins, lions, monitor lizards and baboons must master skills to hunt in both habitats. In the East African rift, where mountains and a dry lakeshore confine predators to a narrow strip of land, witness remarkable altruism among lions and see firsthand how ferocious a group of seemingly playful olive baboons can be.

The oceans of our planet are ruthless battlefields that constantly test even the deadliest carnivores. Dive beneath the icy waves of Alaska's Aleutian Islands to witness a hunting technique rarely, if ever, documented amongst killer whales. Orcas spend only moments feeding on a gray whale calf before dragging the carcass to the sea floor in order to store the meat for leaner times. Remarkably, small cameras mounted on the dead whale capture the entire process.