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When things are scarce in this harsh world,

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you may have to fight
to get your fair share of them.

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00:02:41,438 --> 00:02:45,033
In this case, it's food, meat.

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00:02:48,398 --> 00:02:53,108
But you may have to fight, too,
to get the best available mate that's around

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or territory which will support you and your family.

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So the ability to fight
is needed by animals of all kinds.

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Even sea anemones fight on occasion.

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This group, catching floating particles of food
with their tentacles, is harmonious enough,

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for these individuals are all sisters,
budded off one from the other

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and, therefore, genetically identical.

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This, however, is a stranger.

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The residents can detect chemically
that these tentacles are no relations of theirs.

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Someone else is clambering
onto their stone, seeking their feeding space.

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This is war.

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The battle is difficult for us to recognise,

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for anemones work on a rather
slower time-scale than ourselves,

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but speed things up
and the fight becomes obvious.

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The lashing tentacles are armed with stings.

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The resident anemones
have had enough and off they go.

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Male strawberry frogs
in the jungles of Costa Rica,

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when breeding time comes, fight over territory.

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They wrestle.

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(C0NSTANT CHIRPING CR0AKS)

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They call throughout the contest.

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If one stops, it's a sign that he's given in.

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If he continues to call, even if he's retreating,

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his opponent will continue to pursue him
and take him on for another round.

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These bouts may go on
for as long as half an hour.

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In fact, the result is pretty well
a foregone conclusion.

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Unless the intruder is very much bigger,

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the resident,
the one who was here first, nearly always wins.

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The loser will hop off to find
an unoccupied square yard of forest floor,

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and no great damage
has been done to either contestant.

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But many animals can injure
one another only too easily.

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The hummingbird, like many other animals,

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feeds with a device
that can also be used as a weapon.

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Here in Trinidad, hummingbirds defend patches
of flowers full of nectar on which they feed.

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And an owner threatens an intruder
by displaying brilliant colours.

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But make no mistake, these ritualised
threats are backed up with real force.

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Watch what happens if an intruder
appears in this defended patch

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and stays put, as this little stuffed
hummingbird presumably will do.

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First, the threats.

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Spreading the tail and angling
the brilliantly coloured reflective feathers

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on the throat and the head
so that they catch the light.

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Usually, this is quite enough to frighten off a rival.

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But it's not working in this case.

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So now he decides to use force.

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And still his rival won't go.

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Maybe it's not a rival. Maybe it's
a particularly stoical female eager to mate.

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So he tries that.

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But with such an unresponsive partner,
it's difficult to find the right place to do so.

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Another hummingbird sees
what's going on and interrupts him.

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So another intruder has to be seen off.

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Then he returns to his first problem.

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The needle-sharp beak, which he normally
uses to thrust into a flower for nectar,

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he now wields like a murderous stiletto.

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It's an impressive demonstration
of what can happen

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if an opponent doesn't give up.

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Egrets. Their beaks really are designed for killing.

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They're spears for stabbing.

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These quarrels are over roosting places.

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The birds have spent the day away feeding,

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but now they've returned to a tree
where they can spend the night

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in the safety that comes from numbers.

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But some perches are better than others.

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No one wants the outside position
where they are at greatest risk from predators.

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So again they squabble

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and again a tool for feeding
has become a weapon for aggression,

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but in the event, in spite of all the noise
and commotion, few pecks actually land.

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These, too, could give a nasty nip.

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The biting jaws of a rove beetle.

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It uses them to snatch flies.

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But the smell of the object that attracts
those flies, monkey dung, also attracts rivals.

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And then those jaws have a different use.

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Before coming to blows,
the beetles also threaten one another.

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Not with colour like hummingbirds,
but by an aggressive smell

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which they discharge from their abdomen.

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And once again,
threat is all that was necessary.

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Better to not risk injury
from those powerful jaws if that can be avoided.

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There will be some more dung somewhere.

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This tiny pool in a tree stump in Panama is
the nursery of another powerfully armed insect,

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a damselfly larva.

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Its weapons are jaws
that shoot out from beneath the head.

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Its threats - distinctively patterned,
leaf-shaped gills on the end of its abdomen.

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Its opponent - any other damselfly larva
that comes near.

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There's not enough food
in this part of the pool for two.

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If they come to blows,
the loser will be killed and eaten.

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But there's enough room here
for them to separate, and both survive.

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The Midas cichlid of Central America
is not, in truth, well armed at all.

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It feeds by picking off bits and pieces
here and there

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and it has no teeth to speak of.

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But its mouth can give it a hold
for a trial of strength.

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As with frogs, if the pair are equally matched,

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and these are,
it will be the territory owner who wins.

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Pincers - obviously useful
for both feeding and fighting,

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but the pistol shrimp has one
much larger than the other

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and it uses it in a particularly damaging way.

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The moveable side claw
cracks down on the palm with such force

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that the noise can stun
a passing fish or an opponent.

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(L0UD SNAP)

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The shock knocks him senseless.

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But one crustacean, however,
is even more powerfully armed.

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The mantis shrimp lives in burrows.

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This female is guarding eggs and won't
abandon them or her hole without a fight.

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0utside, a male looking for a home.

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Both animals can deliver
a blow with their forelegs

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that can crack
the shell of their prey or an opponent.

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If they're going to argue,
they must be very careful.

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She threatens him by displaying
the bold pattern on her forelegs.

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But he's not intimidated. He badly
needs a hole to shelter from predators.

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He shields himself with his tail,
which has specially thick armour.

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That foreleg,
enlarged at its end into a fearsome club,

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is the weapon that does the damage.

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He's won. She's lost her eggs and her home.

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Considering the force of the blows
they've exchanged,

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she's lucky not to have lost her life as well.

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But male and female must meet sometime,
even among mantis shrimps, if they're to breed.

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0nce again, it's the female
who is in possession of a burrow.

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And she is not going to surrender it
willingly to anyone else.

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He has to convince her
that he has something else in mind.

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She blocks the entrance with her armoured tail.

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He tickles it, reassuring her about his intentions.

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Wafting his scent into the hole
also helps to convince her.

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A quick coupling, and it's all over.

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That, in mantis shrimp terms,
was comparatively easy.

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This male, on the same mission,
is rather more apprehensive.

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She is, after all, bigger than he is,

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and she could crack him open with a single punch.

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Understandably, he shields himself
from such a disaster.

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But faint hearts never did win fair ladies.

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She has no use for him.

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She's not receiving visitors today.

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If food-gathering weapons are lethal,

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their use is usually prohibited
in fights between rivals.

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These wasps have extremely powerful stings.

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They lay their eggs in burrows in the ground
and stock them with caterpillars

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which will serve as food
for their developing young.

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Having found one,
a female wasp paralyses it with her sting.

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But caterpillars are in short supply
and others have seen it.

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Yet no matter how vigorous the dispute,

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the wasps do not use their stings on one another.

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It's not worth risking death
for one small caterpillar.

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The winner carries off her prize.

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A quick check below...and she's lost it.

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If rattlesnakes used
their food-collecting weapons in their fights,

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they might kill one another, for they have
one of the most lethal of all venoms.

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Yet they, too, have their rivalries.

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00:18:56,838 --> 00:19:03,186
Males meeting in the autumn, at the start of
the breeding season, have arguments to settle.

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But their fights have rules.

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The aim, it seems, is not to bite your opponent,
but to slam him to the ground.

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Wolves, too, could kill one another
just as they can kill a deer.

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But most of their disputes are settled
by a complex series of gestures.

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Initial threats are made by lifting the lips
to expose the weapons they could use:

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their teeth.

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Even when tempers flare, there is still restraint.

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Jaws may grip throats and heads,
but they don't bite.

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00:20:17,198 --> 00:20:20,508
Disputes among wolves,
as among most dogs and cats,

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are largely a matter of threatening snarls.

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It's hardly surprising that meat eaters,

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which have, by their very nature,
to be ferocious and aggressive,

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should also be a bit quarrelsome on occasion.

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But you might think that, by contrast,
grass eaters, like these zebras,

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would be peaceable, gentle creatures.

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But, actually, the male stallion zebra,
on occasions, has to fight his own kind.

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Look at this lot.

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These are young males.

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They're just sparring, practising for
the crucial duels they'll have to fight as adults.

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Then their fights will determine
their success as breeders.

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Now they're largely a matter of high spirits.

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Since zebras don't kill other animals for food,

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they don't have death-dealing stings and fangs.

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Their only weapons are their hooves
and their relatively short, blunt teeth.

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So, paradoxically,
their fights can be very vigorous

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and involve a great deal of barging and nipping.

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An adult breeding stallion fights
in a much more determined way.

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00:22:42,318 --> 00:22:47,312
He is constantly having to chase off other males
who are seeking to mate with his mares.

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00:22:47,478 --> 00:22:51,471
His short teeth can't give him a proper grip
on an opponent's flank.

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00:22:51,638 --> 00:22:55,631
The only place he can deliver a decent bite
is on the neck or the legs.

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00:22:55,798 --> 00:23:00,588
And the best way to protect your legs
if things get rough is to sit on them.

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00:23:53,878 --> 00:23:57,871
A retreating loser can still deliver
a powerful kick in the face,

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so the chase isn't continued for long.

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00:24:00,678 --> 00:24:04,671
And, in any case, the victor
won't want to go too far from his mares

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00:24:04,838 --> 00:24:07,830
in case another stallion gallops in
while he's away.

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00:24:23,558 --> 00:24:26,789
Giraffes have no teeth at all
in the front of the upper jaw,

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00:24:26,958 --> 00:24:30,587
so they could hardly give a devastating bite
even if they wanted to.

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00:24:30,758 --> 00:24:33,955
Instead, they fight with their necks.

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00:24:45,958 --> 00:24:48,108
Even here there is restraint.

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00:24:48,278 --> 00:24:51,554
A giraffe's kick can disembowel a lion.

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00:24:51,718 --> 00:24:54,186
But rival giraffes never kick one another.

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00:24:54,358 --> 00:24:57,156
They just use their heads like sledgehammers.

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00:25:07,678 --> 00:25:12,468
Gorillas may look ferocious,
but they're usually peaceable creatures.

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00:25:17,718 --> 00:25:20,312
They, too, are entirely vegetarian

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00:25:20,478 --> 00:25:24,756
and their teeth are hardly bigger
than is necessary to rip bamboo apart.

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00:25:26,038 --> 00:25:29,155
The babies spend most of their time
not quarrelling,

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00:25:29,318 --> 00:25:31,786
but playing amiably with one another.

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00:25:54,598 --> 00:25:56,475
That, however, is a threat,

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00:25:56,638 --> 00:26:01,234
a warning to a nearby group
that this feeding ground is occupied.

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00:26:02,038 --> 00:26:06,031
A frightening charge is usually enough
to make any intruder retreat

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00:26:06,198 --> 00:26:08,758
without the need for assault and battery.

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00:26:10,198 --> 00:26:14,714
The young animals continue to play,
even when they are almost fully grown.

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00:26:40,278 --> 00:26:42,872
But when you are as big and as strong as this,

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00:26:43,038 --> 00:26:48,066
even minor disagreements can become
a bit rough and things may get out of hand.

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00:26:48,238 --> 00:26:50,991
(L0UD SHRIEKS)

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00:26:56,278 --> 00:26:59,270
And that's a sure sign of real fright.

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00:27:12,558 --> 00:27:16,233
So best to back off showing your teeth

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00:27:16,398 --> 00:27:20,516
in an attempt to retain
what's left of your pride and status.

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00:27:33,638 --> 00:27:37,392
Langurs, like gorillas,
are also strict vegetarians,

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00:27:37,558 --> 00:27:41,312
though you might not think so
looking at these faces.

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00:27:46,358 --> 00:27:52,115
After all, you don't need huge canine teeth
to masticate leaves or munch fruit.

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00:27:52,278 --> 00:27:54,667
These, however, are all males.

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00:27:58,798 --> 00:28:03,314
The females are much smaller animals
and have no such fearsome fangs.

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00:28:04,798 --> 00:28:09,633
The enlarged teeth and greater body size
of the males are clear indications

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00:28:09,798 --> 00:28:13,711
that these animals are fighters
and that they fight over females.

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00:28:13,878 --> 00:28:17,757
Even so,
their formidable teeth are used much more

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00:28:17,918 --> 00:28:21,069
for making noisy, grinding threats
than delivering bites.

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00:28:28,078 --> 00:28:31,309
Langurs are not
the only quarrelsome vegetarians

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00:28:31,478 --> 00:28:34,276
to have developed their bodies in this way.

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00:28:45,398 --> 00:28:49,835
Hippos gather their vegetation
with their leathery lips

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00:28:49,998 --> 00:28:53,991
and then grind it to pulp
with huge molars at the back of the mouth.

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00:28:54,158 --> 00:28:57,036
The tusk-like teeth in the front of the mouth,

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00:28:57,198 --> 00:29:01,396
which this baby has yet to develop
and which its mother already possesses,

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00:29:01,558 --> 00:29:05,267
are used almost entirely
in arguments between one another.

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00:29:06,798 --> 00:29:09,790
The bulls have even more spectacular tusks.

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00:29:09,958 --> 00:29:14,474
They yawn not because they're tired,
but to display these weapons.

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00:29:14,638 --> 00:29:18,711
And if rivals don't take proper notice,
they'll use them.

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00:29:41,878 --> 00:29:46,872
There's really little point in risking injury
if the result of a fight is predictable,

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00:29:47,038 --> 00:29:51,668
so assessing the strength of your rival
brings benefit all round.

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00:29:56,478 --> 00:30:00,073
These Malaysian flies,
roosting on hanging rootlets,

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00:30:00,238 --> 00:30:03,469
have developed a very precise way of doing that

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00:30:03,638 --> 00:30:06,630
to within a fraction of a millimetre.

231
00:30:08,398 --> 00:30:13,472
Their eyes are at the end of stalks
that stick out sideways from their heads.

232
00:30:13,638 --> 00:30:15,754
They threaten with their forelegs.

233
00:30:15,918 --> 00:30:21,231
But the crucial factor that decides whether
they will fight is the distance apart of their eyes.

234
00:30:21,398 --> 00:30:24,947
Rival males square up head to head.

235
00:30:29,798 --> 00:30:34,235
A bigger eye span indicates a bigger body
and, therefore, greater strength.

236
00:30:34,398 --> 00:30:38,391
If a fly discovers that it's outgunned,
it will back away.

237
00:30:42,718 --> 00:30:45,915
These, however, have established
that they are equally matched.

238
00:30:46,078 --> 00:30:49,912
Now there will have to be a joust
to get a settlement.

239
00:30:54,598 --> 00:30:56,987
(HIGH-PITCHED CHIRPING)

240
00:30:57,158 --> 00:31:00,946
Field crickets make their judgments
largely by sound.

241
00:31:10,598 --> 00:31:14,113
They call by rubbing their wing cases together.

242
00:31:34,598 --> 00:31:37,510
After arguing so loudly and so long,

243
00:31:37,678 --> 00:31:40,556
the briefest contact is enough to settle things.

244
00:31:50,318 --> 00:31:54,869
Size of claw is the criterion used
by these little mud crabs.

245
00:32:05,158 --> 00:32:08,230
They quarrel over the ownership of a burrow.

246
00:32:32,758 --> 00:32:37,752
And when one is convinced
that its rival is bigger, then that's that.

247
00:32:42,078 --> 00:32:45,150
The biggest weapons of all
are developed by males

248
00:32:45,318 --> 00:32:50,438
who battle not over burrows,
nor over food, but directly over females,

249
00:32:50,598 --> 00:32:53,066
as these bull elephants are doing.

250
00:32:53,238 --> 00:32:57,550
If success in such battles brings
the ability to mate with many females,

251
00:32:57,718 --> 00:33:01,506
to the exclusion of all other males
who are less well-armed,

252
00:33:01,678 --> 00:33:05,910
then male weapons, over many
generations, will become enormous,

253
00:33:06,078 --> 00:33:10,310
and the battles in which they are used
violent in the extreme.

254
00:33:32,878 --> 00:33:37,156
Exactly the same process
that turned elephants' teeth into tusks

255
00:33:37,318 --> 00:33:41,027
has created the armaments of the stag beetle.

256
00:33:41,198 --> 00:33:45,589
Their mandibles are so large
that they can no longer be used for feeding,

257
00:33:45,758 --> 00:33:48,147
only for fighting.

258
00:34:04,838 --> 00:34:08,831
Beetle fighting technique
doesn't just involve charging or pushing.

259
00:34:08,998 --> 00:34:14,994
Instead, each tries to prise his opponent
from his footholds and hurl him aside.

260
00:34:43,478 --> 00:34:47,471
The Hercules beetle is one
of the biggest of all insects.

261
00:34:48,158 --> 00:34:52,674
It, too, aims to lift and throw,
but its weapons are rather different.

262
00:34:53,318 --> 00:34:55,309
Instead of enlarging its mandibles,

263
00:34:55,478 --> 00:35:00,757
this beetle has grown a huge,
forward-pointing horn on the back of its neck.

264
00:35:00,918 --> 00:35:05,912
This engages with another curving upwards
from the front of the head which is moveable,

265
00:35:06,078 --> 00:35:08,956
so the two can be used as pincers.

266
00:35:09,118 --> 00:35:12,554
Few animals, in proportion to their body size,

267
00:35:12,718 --> 00:35:17,712
have more specialised and spectacular weapons
than these five-inch monsters.

268
00:35:46,358 --> 00:35:48,826
That looks like the decisive throw.

269
00:35:50,478 --> 00:35:51,957
But no!

270
00:35:58,438 --> 00:36:01,953
Flies, too, develop grappling irons on their heads.

271
00:36:02,118 --> 00:36:04,791
These are antler flies from Australia.

272
00:36:04,958 --> 00:36:09,827
The rules of their fights demand
that one tries to make the other topple.

273
00:36:42,758 --> 00:36:45,909
A female approaches. She has no horns.

274
00:36:59,678 --> 00:37:03,307
A rival male tries to intervene, but is chased off.

275
00:37:07,518 --> 00:37:11,636
Having won,
he takes his reward and guards the female

276
00:37:11,798 --> 00:37:14,870
while she lays the eggs that he has fertilised.

277
00:37:25,638 --> 00:37:29,870
A male ibex is on watch in the deserts
of the Middle East.

278
00:37:30,038 --> 00:37:33,269
It's the beginning of the breeding season.

279
00:37:41,238 --> 00:37:44,355
Groups of females
are scouring the mountainside,

280
00:37:44,518 --> 00:37:47,112
searching for a few leaves to eat.

281
00:37:49,678 --> 00:37:52,875
The males, however,
are seeking out one another.

282
00:37:53,038 --> 00:37:55,871
Who is going to rule in these mountains?

283
00:38:22,158 --> 00:38:25,070
First, a cautious assessment.

284
00:38:41,598 --> 00:38:46,547
This, impressive though it seems, is still
merely a measurement of each other's strength.

285
00:38:46,718 --> 00:38:51,792
If one is less strong, there is still time
for discretion to be the better part of valour.

286
00:38:51,958 --> 00:38:57,271
But if both decide they have a chance
of winning, then battle begins.

287
00:39:48,118 --> 00:39:51,190
This is a dangerous country in which to fight.

288
00:39:51,358 --> 00:39:55,954
Sometimes a losing animal
is killed by being forced over a cliff.

289
00:39:56,118 --> 00:39:59,906
A contestant may be so badly injured,
he never recovers.

290
00:40:00,518 --> 00:40:06,434
But when the arms race between males
has equipped rivals with weapons of this size,

291
00:40:06,598 --> 00:40:11,433
that is the risk you must take
if you are to perpetuate your genes.

292
00:40:39,878 --> 00:40:43,587
This is the biggest
of all these kinds of weapons.

293
00:40:43,758 --> 00:40:46,830
It's the antler of an Alaskan bull moose.

294
00:40:47,438 --> 00:40:52,876
Together with its partner, it can have a spread
of seven feet and weigh seventy pounds.

295
00:40:53,038 --> 00:40:58,635
It's so heavy and cumbersome that after
the battles are over, the bull moose sheds them.

296
00:40:58,798 --> 00:41:01,915
It's such an impressive demonstration of strength

297
00:41:02,078 --> 00:41:05,434
that its mere appearance can deter a young bull.

298
00:41:06,438 --> 00:41:10,875
If it comes to a fight,
these forward-pointing spikes are used

299
00:41:11,038 --> 00:41:14,633
to blind an opponent or rip a wound in its flank,

300
00:41:14,798 --> 00:41:18,347
this broad palm to parry thrusts from an enemy

301
00:41:18,518 --> 00:41:22,716
and these spikes here to act as grappling irons,

302
00:41:22,878 --> 00:41:25,472
so that when the horns become interlocked,

303
00:41:25,638 --> 00:41:29,108
the contest becomes one
of sheer physical strength.

304
00:41:29,278 --> 00:41:34,989
During these battles, the antlers are often
damaged, as this one has been there and there,

305
00:41:35,158 --> 00:41:40,710
but that doesn't matter because next year
new antlers are grown bigger than ever.

306
00:41:46,758 --> 00:41:51,036
This dominant bull has claimed half a dozen cows.

307
00:41:54,078 --> 00:41:57,070
A young, ambitious male
approaches the harem.

308
00:42:01,518 --> 00:42:04,237
The resident bull keeps an eye on him.

309
00:42:25,118 --> 00:42:27,678
A short charge - a warning.

310
00:42:28,678 --> 00:42:31,146
It's enough to see him off for now,

311
00:42:31,318 --> 00:42:35,311
but the young stranger is persistent
and continues to harass the females,

312
00:42:35,478 --> 00:42:38,038
attempting to isolate one.

313
00:42:53,918 --> 00:42:58,946
The lord of the harem thrashes the bushes,
drawing attention to his huge antlers,

314
00:42:59,118 --> 00:43:03,111
warning the young bull
not to mess with him or his females.

315
00:43:05,878 --> 00:43:10,633
This magnificent bull has got a radio collar
on him, so we know a lot about him.

316
00:43:10,798 --> 00:43:13,517
The collar was put on just over three years ago

317
00:43:13,678 --> 00:43:18,069
and already, at that time,
he was king of this part of the mountains

318
00:43:18,238 --> 00:43:21,548
with a group of about half a dozen females.

319
00:43:21,718 --> 00:43:26,314
He's kept that group with him for the past
three years and been mating with them

320
00:43:26,478 --> 00:43:28,753
and this is his fourth season.

321
00:43:28,918 --> 00:43:32,706
Bulls stand little chance of becoming dominant
until they're about eight

322
00:43:32,878 --> 00:43:35,392
and they seldom live
for more than 12 or 13 years,

323
00:43:35,558 --> 00:43:39,995
so this almost certainly is his last year as king.

324
00:43:40,158 --> 00:43:45,312
If he wants to mate with those cows again
this year, he's going to have to fight for them.

325
00:45:17,518 --> 00:45:22,194
The battle is over,
but at great cost to both sides.

326
00:45:22,358 --> 00:45:24,872
The loser's antlers are badly damaged.

327
00:45:29,518 --> 00:45:32,988
The following day,
the king himself has collapsed.

328
00:45:33,158 --> 00:45:35,626
Within a few hours, he will be dead.

329
00:45:36,438 --> 00:45:41,068
His victories live on in the multitude of foals
he fathered during his reign

330
00:45:41,238 --> 00:45:44,753
and his sons may develop antlers
as big or even bigger than his

331
00:45:44,918 --> 00:45:47,876
precisely because he was their father.

332
00:45:48,038 --> 00:45:52,554
But even when the genetic arms race
leads to such an escalation of weaponry,

333
00:45:52,718 --> 00:45:55,835
most disputes
may still be settled without violence.

334
00:46:01,078 --> 00:46:04,514
Gazelles also have formidable armaments.

335
00:46:04,678 --> 00:46:07,476
A stab from their horns could be lethal.

336
00:46:07,638 --> 00:46:11,392
Yet the mood among the bucks
is very different from among the moose.

337
00:46:11,558 --> 00:46:14,550
Actual battles are relatively infrequent.

338
00:46:24,838 --> 00:46:29,832
Rival Grant's gazelles assess one another's
strengths with such care and reserve

339
00:46:29,998 --> 00:46:34,310
that a casual eye might not even
recognise that this graceful gavotte

340
00:46:34,478 --> 00:46:37,231
has anything to do with conflict.

341
00:46:39,558 --> 00:46:41,594
They turn...

342
00:46:41,758 --> 00:46:43,828
and nod.

343
00:46:50,558 --> 00:46:53,709
They resume their parallel walk.

344
00:46:57,398 --> 00:47:01,186
This elegant ritualised parade
is enough to convince

345
00:47:01,358 --> 00:47:06,307
most of the bucks in most of their disputes
which of them is the victor.

346
00:47:06,478 --> 00:47:09,515
No conflict could be more restrained.

347
00:47:09,678 --> 00:47:14,672
But even among those animals who roar
and snarl and brandish their weapons,

348
00:47:14,838 --> 00:47:19,229
most confrontations are settled
with a similar lack of violence.

349
00:47:19,398 --> 00:47:22,629
Risking injury is the final resort.

350
00:47:22,798 --> 00:47:25,631
Restraint generally pays.