Some predators are born knowing what to do.

They are pre-programmed for the kill but others take a lifetime to learn. What does it take to become a predator?We uncover the critical events that shape the killer. Tropical rainforest, Ivory Coast, West Africa A hunting party is on patrol Chimpanzees, five males in silence, they move on the forest floor, listening for their prey. This is what they are after colobus monkeys, feeding in the canopy, 30m up To catch them, these chimps have learned to hunt in the most extraordinary way Stealthily, the chimps take up position underneath their quarry. Colobus are light and agile so they can move in the thinnest of branches. The heavy chimp hasn't a hope alone but this is a team and each has learned its own specific role The driver, the blockers and the most experienced hunter, the ambusher working together, they have a chance. The driver makes the first move A young chimp, quite new to hunting. His objective is simple, to climb up beneath the monkeys and flush them out The team watches from below, poised for action the hunter is on. The chimps in the ground immediately run ahead of the colobus the blockers are first in place. They anticipate where the colobus are heading and climb trees on either side. Older, more experienced than the driver , they must make themselves conspicuous ready to funnel the colobus between them Meanwhile back in the ground, the smartest chimp, the ambusher is on the move. His objective: to get even further ahead. He has seen the blockers go upand works out where the colobus will be funneled. He picks a strategic tree. He hides and waits. The trap is now set. The driver pushes the colobus on They begin to scatter, but three seem to be heading straight into the trap. A gap in the canopy, the colobus are now getting away. The heavy blockers can't leap across, they must climb down in the last effort to reform the trap and back up again. Now the blockers are back on course another leap right into the ambusher's tree, the trap is sprung The ambusher grabs, he misses, the colobus turns straight into the hands of a blocker. It's over. For the chimps, this is the triumph of generations of learning but you can't learn to hunt if it's not in your nature. For all predators, the story starts with the same basic thing: instinct, killer instinct This ordinary garden wall is home to a predator whose life is ruled entirely by instinct Visitors to this wall must be careful, very careful. This is Amaurobius thorax, a common garden spider and she lives inside the wall. A month ago, she lays some eggs. Now they're hatching right on schedule. 100 tiny spiderlings emerge from their egg cases. In a week, her offspring will become predators. But for now, they are too small to hunt for themselves. They must rely on mother. She lays a special sac of food eggs for them to eat - the spider version of milk., high energy to last them exactly three days. Then it's time for the next stage in the development. Spiders have skeletons on the outside. To grow, they must shed their skins, the spiderling's first moult. The moult signals the last of the duties

of the devoted mother. Old skins discarded, her spiderlings are ready to grow some more, but again they need food, more than she can supply in eggs. She waits for the tick of her genetic clock, set for precisely one day after the first moult. Now she circles round the spiderlings, drumming on the web and spinning thread as she goes. The spiderlings swarm together, their killing instincts are aroused. Then a new behavior switches on, she presses herself down to her babies. They climb onto her, slowly at first, but soon they swarm. She has flicked their predatory switch and this is how she will feed them.

95 00:08:30,700 --> 00:08:33,950 She will be their first prey.

96 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:41,550 With this moment, her spiderlings become predators

97 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,950 As she succumbs to the venom, her life energy passes into her offspring.

98 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,250 They suck the fluid from her body

99

00:08:51,700 --> 00:08:55,850 and it can even be seen draining from her limbs

100 00:08:57,900 --> 00:09:01,350 the ultimate maternal sacrifice.

101 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,250 The spiderlings haven't had to learn a thing to become predators.

102 00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:09,750 Just like their mother, their genes write the plot.

103 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:11,750 Now they have fed,

104 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,850 they will face the outside world with instinct

105 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:17,550 preprogrammed for the kill.

106 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:27,850 For others, becoming a predator takes more than just hardwired instinct

107 00:09:31,300 --> 00:09:35,450 In a summer meadow, an ordinary farm cat hunts.

108 00:09:37,300 --> 00:09:42,550 The grass is long, so it indentifies its prey by sound and smell.

109 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,650 A vole somewhere in the grass.

110 00:09:54,900 --> 00:09:58,550

If anything can get it, this cat can.

111 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,150 Even after thousands of years of domestication,

112 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,750 its predatory genes still talk to it.

113 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,250 Like the spider this cat has the killer instinct.

114 00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:22,350 Silent, alert, supremely poised.

115 00:10:23,500 --> 00:10:27,150 The well-oiled creep of an ancestry of killers.

116

00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,550 She coils the predatory spring.

117 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,750 The predator strikes.

118 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,950 But she hasn't always been so good

119 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,550 These kittens are just a day old.

120 00:11:09,900 --> 00:11:12,950 Without mother, they are useless.

121 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,250 They can't walk.

122 00:11:15,300 --> 00:11:17,750 Their eyes aren't even open.

123 00:11:18,900 --> 00:11:23,350 Just like the young spiderlings, they are too small to be predators

124 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,350 Growth, however, is rapid

125 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,350 from fluff ball to minipredator in just three weeks.

126 00:11:36,100 --> 00:11:39,050 But this is where spiders and cats differ.

127 00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:42,450 Though physically the cats are now quite developed.

128 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,750 Their predatory programming

is incomplete.

129 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:51,750 Now, to start developing, the mind.

130 00:11:53,500 --> 00:11:57,250 First their instinct makes them curious.

131 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,550 Instinct makes them play,

132 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,350 play links body with mind.

133 00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:17,250 They start to look like predators, focused, fast, alert.

134 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,050 But at this stage,

the rules are simple:

135 00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:23,450 catch anything that moves.

136 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,750 After all, they could be anywhere and anything could be prey.

137 00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:49,250 But a cat can't live on feathers and stones

138 00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:52,850 this simple instinct needs a focus,

139 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:55,850 enter mother.

140 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:59,350 She now comes back from hunts

with dead prey.

141 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,050 This is the new focus of the kitten's play.

142 00:13:13,900 --> 00:13:16,250 The kittens get what she can catch,

143 00:13:16,300 --> 00:13:19,650 a sample of the world of prey outside.

144 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:29,650 She's programming the predatory machine preparing it for future hunting.

145 00:13:30,700 --> 00:13:36,250 Sight, smell, feel, taste, this is what should be eaten.

146 00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:41,650

For the next stage, live prey.

147 00:13:44,300 --> 00:13:48,850 Now the mind is focused on specific prey a lesson in handling.

148 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:51,750 How fast does it?

149 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,350 How does it move? How do you catch it?

150 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,550 Without this training, kittens will never be good hunters

151 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,850 This time the vole escapes.

152

00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:11,750 Finally into the field to put trainning into practice.

153 00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:19,250 They go into the outside world with skills that basic instinct can't provide alone.

154 00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:24,150 They have the advantage of learning.

155 00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:39,050 The predator hunts,

156 00:14:39,100 --> 00:14:42,050 fueled by instinct,

157 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,650 fine tuned by learning.

158

00:15:11,100 --> 00:15:13,550 But the world is full of surprises.

159 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,350 They can't be prepared for everything

160 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,850 That is the beauty of learning.

161 00:15:20,900 --> 00:15:24,150 It doesn't just stop with mother.

162 00:15:33,500 --> 00:15:36,350 Next time, he will be ready.

163 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,650 In fact, as an adult,

164 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:44,550 learning can seriously improve a predator's life.

165 00:16:00,700 --> 00:16:02,950 This is a green heron

166 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,650 and there's only one thing on its mind

167 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,450 - fish.

168 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,550 It's a small bird and can't wade very deep.

169 00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:17,950 But fish are loath to go to the shallows.

170 00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:23,150 Just like a fisherman,

it has to be stealthy to get what it wants.

171 00:16:23,300 --> 00:16:27,150 Patience and speed finely balanced.

172 00:16:33,500 --> 00:16:35,650 Fish are quick too.

173 00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:39,450 If the heron could only shift its advantage

174 00:16:39,500 --> 00:16:43,550 a fraction of a second faster catch the fish off guard.

175 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,550 Luckily this heron is smart.

176 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,450

He has learned his own amazing trick

177 00:17:05,100 --> 00:17:08,950 Children come down to the pond to feed the ducks.

178 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,350 The heron watches.

179 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:26,150 Fish also eat bread and soon they move in close to the bank.

180 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,250 He makes the connection in his head,

181 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,550 bread and fish.

182 00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:50,350

Get bread catch fish.

183 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,250 The ducks are always a nuisance

184 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,250 But the heron has done this many times before.

185 00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:22,650 Nobody quite knows how but through years of trial and error,

186 00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:28,450 he's worked it all out and cracked the sequence in his head.

187 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:44,350 Incredibly he has learned the art of angling.

188

00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:47,150 He casts his bait.

189 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,650 He watches for the rise

190 00:18:57,700 --> 00:19:00,950 too close, and it won't take the bait

191 00:19:25,300 --> 00:19:29,150 Too far, and the fish has the edge.

192 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:39,450 It casts again.

193 00:19:55,100 --> 00:19:58,950 At last the prize of learning.

194 00:20:01,700 --> 00:20:05,550 But sadly herons don't seem to learn form each other,

195 00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:10,550 so when this bird dies, his knowledge dies with him.

196 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,550 To get the best out of learning, knowledge must be passed on.

197 00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:24,850 And there's on predator that can do just that

198 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,350 the killer whale.

199 00:20:49,100 --> 00:20:53,950 Incredibly, killer whales have learned to beach themselves for prey,

200 00:20:55,100 --> 00:20:58,750

a marine predator hunting on land.

201 00:21:08,300 --> 00:21:10,550 Sea lions are the prey

202 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:15,050 in open water where they feed they're fast and streamlined

203 00:21:16,100 --> 00:21:18,650 difficult to catch.

204 00:21:20,900 --> 00:21:25,950 On land, where they breed they are out of reach, safe.

205 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,250 But where the land and the sea meet, the tables are turned.

206 00:21:33,300 --> 00:21:38,450

And this thin strip of shore the whale gains its advantage.

207 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,350 For a sea lion, the surf zone is the danger zone.

208 00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:47,950 As they move from sea to land,

209 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:53,250 graceful swim turns to clumsy walk and they scrabble with the beach.

210 00:21:53,300 --> 00:21:56,550 They're slowed for just a second.

211 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,350 This is the whale's moment.

212 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,950

6.5 tons, 25 miles per hour,

213 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,150 the whale surfs in its own bow wave.

214 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,250 Its advantage: momentum.

215 00:22:15,900 --> 00:22:20,050 Now it turns and flexes edging itself from the beach.

216 00:22:20,100 --> 00:22:23,250 It refloats its colossal fang. The whale returns to its world. But it's not as easy as it looks. Killer whales aren't born to beach for prey. It can take over 40 years to learn. This 5-year old killer whale calf is in the first stages of learning to beach it gently rides a wave into the surf zone. But unlike the heron, it doesn't have to work it all out for itself It has an advantage. It has its mother.She is experienced. She strands herself alongside her calf, showing it what to do. Beaching is dangerous,she knows there's a fine line between getting far enough and not getting stuck. The calf is instinctively scared of the shallows. So next, the mother positions herself behind it and nudges it up the beach. Incredibly the mother seems to be actively teaching her calf And to reassure it, she swims around and helps it back off the beach. The calf is learning to beach and unbeach. Now it's ready for the next stage- to catch real prey.In this unique footage, scientists have recorded the moment of the calf's very first kill.

Seen again as the calf goes for the grab. its mother is right alongside. She then helps push the calf and its prey back out into deeper water. A mother passes down knowledge to another generation. The calf has joined the beaching culture. But there's more to hunt in the surf zone than just beaching for prey. These sea lions in Argentina are protected from whale attack by offshore reefs. There is a way in, a channel.But only deep enough for whales at high tide. Seen from above, the channel is a clear way through from the sea to the sea lions. A pot of whales has known about this channel for generations. They have learned how to exploit it. Exactly two hours before high tide, the whales take up position outside the reef. For the sea lions the protection is gone. he whales make their move. A mother and two teenagers now old enough for the final stage of training - hunting with the pot. First, they drop down into the channel. Killer whales have sonar to lock on to prey, but sea lions have very good hearing. The whales switch to silent mode. Now they're within striking distance of the beach, 50 meters from the surf zone. Here, they wait, visibility is poor, so they listen. Sea lions are moving to the feeding grounds, the whales hear them in the surf zone. They can tell the difference. between an adult and a pup at 50 m Pups are careless a group moves down the beach. The female makes the first move. Her proteges are close by her side. Hunting master class. A formation attack,the sea lions hurtled down to the adult. There is no escape. They lock on to the prey in the surf zone. As the young whales hunt with the female,they learn perfection. 40 years of hunting experience passes on. This is the killer whale's advantage. Like chimpanzees, they are born with the ability to learn new skills from each other. When this whale dies, many lifetimes of knowledge live on and a new generation of natural born killers.