Greatest Fights In The Animal Kingdom: Part 1 | BBC Earth

so many females gathered together on this cliff inevitably attract the attention of a rival adult male his aim is to defeat scarface and take over his females he leads a group of outcast bachelors into battle [Music] scarface spots them he has everything to lose because if the bachelors defeat him they won't just take his females they will kill his babies the bachelors try to reach the high ground to launch their attack [Music] scarface warns them to keep their distance but the bachelors continue their [Music] no no no no no advance no no no no no

no no scarface grinds his teeth to show him his business but the bachelor leader reaches the cliff top and grinds his teeth in response [Music] if scarface loses this battle he will lose his legacy [Music] um time to strike [Music] he targets the bachelor leader [Music] scarface has won [Music] and he returns to a hero's welcome [Music] the male's entire harem is now at stake one bachelor makes his move the female spits her disapproval the male leaps into action [Music] using razor-sharp teeth he aims for his challenger's testicles an emasculating bite [Music] [Music] necks are

protected by specially thickened skin these fights have no rules [Music] the battles are exhausting [Music] [Music] [Music] the challenger is driven off his masculinity intact the male enjoys the rewards whilst he can the lace monitor is an agile tree climber its long claws allow it to grip the smooth gumtree bark [Music] this particular tree has attracted the attention of a lace monitor because it's the home of a female possum with babies in her nest [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the possum's noisy defense forces the monitor to retreat [Music] but hunger drives the lizard to

make a second attempt [Music] [Music] lunging into the possum's nest looks suicidal yet the monitor seems hardly to notice the possum's bite [Music] it takes less than a minute for the lizard to devour the baby possums inside the nest [Music] for kangaroos the greatest challenges come from within their own society [Music] for a male there's only really one key lesson to learn in his life to get to the top he must become a fighter [Music] the battles are so brutal that males need years of training to prepare the effort is worth it because a champion

fighter wins privileged access to the females this meadow is a boot camp for aspiring boxers training starts as soon as a youngster is out of the pouch its mother is a handy opponent for a young joey learning the basics but he's soon off in search of more sparring partners the other grown-ups are not so tolerant of this lightweight [Music] [Music] this male alone rules the meadow [Music] he stands eight feet tall his muscles hardened by years of sparring today a challenger for his title has come forward full-blown fights are so dangerous they're not entered into

lightly but when two males square up it's time to clear the arena anything goes in these power struggles eye gouging is entirely within the rules so is kicking below the belt the dominant male skill is already telling [Music] the stakes are high they risk broken bones and internal injuries suddenly it's all over the champion has beaten off the challenger at least for now [Music] a time when both egg and the brooding parent are permanently at risk [Music] uh [Music] smaller oviraptors are no more than a nuisance larger predators are a different story unwilling to leave

the nest the adult protects its offspring first by hiding and if that fails it goes on the offensive so um um ah protecting the nest means gigantoraptors young are more likely to survive it now seems clear that the instinct to nurture and care for a nest of eggs had its origins with the dinosaurs it's a behavior that was so successful it's still widespread today with birds but the fossils show something else these animals all died sitting on their nests [Music] it seems that the threats don't always come from predators sometimes the real danger comes from

the most unlikely places these dinosaurs were all buried alive [Music] you