Animal Face-Off

Off the coast of Australia, a female great white shark is roaming close to shore, looking for food; a male saltwater crocodile swims nearby, looking for a new territory. The shark hits the crocodile with an exploratory bump. Accustomed to defending himself against rivals, the crocodile bites the shark's tail, but cannot get a good grip. The shark swims off and makes a wide turn for a full-on assault; all of a sudden, the crocodile gets the first bite on her right pectoral fin, tearing it off. Despite her injury, the shark is still strong. Then, the shark and the crocodile collide head on; the crocodile grabs hold of the shark′s snout with his crushing bite. This time, the shark cannot fight back and they both sink. Running out of air, the crocodile lets go and heads straight to the surface, exposing his soft underbelly. The shark ambushes the crocodile and kills him with a powerful bite.

In the plains of Botswana, a male rhinoceros has left his mud hole and looks for somewhere to feed; a bull elephant in musth roams nearby, also seeking good grazing. The rhino begins grazing but suddenly feels the ground shaking, and turns to see the elephant. Due to his poor eyesight, the ill-tempered rhinoceros sees him as a potential threat and charges, but the much smarter elephant anticipates the attack by charging too and dodging. The rhinoceros returns and tries to stab the elephant's throat, but he is too tall. The rhinoceros then tries an agile head-butt, but the elephant proves better with his longer tusks. The elephant turns his rival around and stabs him with his tusks, breaking one in the process. The elephant then head-butts the rhinoceros before mounting his corpse and trumpeting in victory.

A male lion is wandering in an abandoned Indian temple when he suddenly spots a male tiger feeding close by. The lion roars at his larger, striped relative to back off, but the tiger ignores the warning. The lion then charges at the tiger, but trips on him upon impact, catching the tiger off-guard. The agile tiger quickly recovers and repeatedly attempts a fatal neck bite, but the lion's mane deflects his aim, allowing the lion to shake him off. Both cats roar, claw, and wrestle with one another, but neither lands a fatal blow. The tiger then charges at the lion, but the lion deflects the attack, catches the tiger off guard again and delivers a killing bite to the tiger's neck before roaring in victory.^[1]

An injured male hippopotamus is seen resting in his stretch of the Zambezi River, relaxing by the water′s edge, unaware that a male bull shark is roaming around, looking for food. The shark catches the smell of meat, but does not know where it is coming from. The shark starts the encounter with an exploratory bump. After confirming the hippo is indeed food, the shark bites him in several areas, but the massive girth combined with the enormous weight of the hippo is too much of a mouthful for the smaller shark. Soon, the enraged hippopotamus submerges and spots the deadly shark. The two come at each other head-on; the hippo opens his mouth, revealing his sharp canine teeth, but the bull shark keeps coming and is finally crushed and killed when the larger hippo closes his mouth on him.

In the Rocky Mountains, an alpha male wolf is eating the carcass of a large deer; from a great distance, a male cougar catches the smell of meat, and comes to investigate. The wolf notices the cougar and charges forward. He ferociously bites the cougar's hind leg, but backs off when the cougar pounces on him with his front legs and lethal claws. The wolf howls to his pack for backup. Realizing he is in grave danger, the cougar tries to retreat, but the wolf bites his paw. Furious, the cougar rolls onto his back, rakes the wolf with his claws and throws him off to the ground, killing the wolf at once. The cougar prepares to eat, but he then hears the wolf pack approaching. Left with no choice, he leaves the kill and flees straight to the forest.

A male walrus is relaxing by the water's edge. Suddenly, a hungry male polar bear comes by to attack the walrus. Startled and nervous, the walrus heads straight for the sea. The bear attempts to bite and scratch the walrus, but the pinniped's thick skin is too much. The walrus then tries to stab the bear with his tusks, but the agile predator anticipates this. The bear then tries several paw swipes to the head, but the walrus's skull is too thick to land a killing blow. As the walrus flees, the bear holds on and gets dragged into the ocean. In its element, the more maneuverable walrus gores the bear with his tusks. The bear, wounded and running out of air, heads straight back to the surface. But the walrus follows and stabs the carnivore's back, killing him. The dead bear sinks into the ocean.

In the Siberian woodlands in wintertime, a male Siberian tiger is feasting on his kill, and a large male brown bear is roaming around, looking for one more meal before going into hibernation. The tiger spots the bear and roars at him to back off, but the bear ignores the warning and continues to advance. The tiger tries a body blow, but the bear absorbs the impact without losing balance. The tiger then tries to land a killing blow on the bear's neck, but the bear pushes him down. The bear then approaches the kill, but the tiger recovers and pounces on the bear from behind, cutting him with his claws, but fails to disable him. The much stronger bear turns around and overpowers the tiger by pawing his face. The bear then breaks the tiger's spine and finishes him off with a neck bite.

A male lion is eating by the river's edge when a male crocodile emerges from the water, intent on stealing the meal. The lion roars at the crocodile to back off, but he does little than get a loud hiss from the crocodile. The lion attacks, but cannot land a deadly blow because of the crocodile's thick body armor. The lion tries to flip the crocodile to reach his unarmored belly, but a roll and tail swipe stops him from doing so. Determined to get rid of the lion, the crocodile disappears into the water. The lion stays close to the water's edge, looking for where the crocodile went. All of a sudden, the crocodile launches a surprise attack on the lion, grabbing his neck and dragging him to the water. The crocodile soon performs a death roll, which kills the lion at once.

A male anaconda is out hunting in the Amazon River. However, a male jaguar is stalking nearby. The big cat then enters the water, right in front of the giant snake. The jaguar then stops briefly, apparently sensing the reptile before being distracted by a bird calling in the distance. This lapse in attention gives the anaconda the perfect opportunity to strike. The snake coils around his victim and sends him into the water. The big cat furiously claws at the anaconda and bites his tail. The snake attempts to retreat, but begins to get dragged ashore by the jaguar. However, most of the giant snake's tail is free and coils around the jaguar, and the anaconda is able to turn back around and strike the felid. This time, the anaconda completely restrains the jaguar, who is too tired and wounded to struggle any further.

A silverback mountain gorilla has left his family in the trees, looking for a place to spend the night. Around the same time, a female leopard leaves her cubs to go hunting. The two animals cross paths, each interpreting the other as a threat. The gorilla tries to avoid a potential fight through intimidation, but the leopard does not flinch. The gorilla swings at the leopard, who soon leaps onto a cliff side. Afterwards, the leopard jumps onto the gorilla's back, biting his shoulder. However, the gorilla throws the leopard off. She leaps onto his back again but is once again thrown off. The leopard runs for her life, but the gorilla knocks her off balance and chomps down on her shoulder, though she gets free immediately afterwards. Desperate, the leopard makes a final lunge towards the gorilla, but he throws his powerful arm onto her spine, breaking it and killing the leopard.

On a hot day in the Everglades, a male black bear has gone into a lake to drink, not knowing that a male alligator is resting underneath. The alligator then ambushes the bear and bites his leg, but all he grabs is a mouthful of fur, fat and muscle. Hurt, but not fatally wounded, the bear fights back. The alligator then attempts a tail smack, but the much smarter bear anticipates this. Getting tired, the alligator tries to retreat, but the enraged bear lunges at him. The alligator tries to roll free of the bear's grab, but he exposes his soft underbelly which the bear slashes fatally into. The bear leaves the alligator's dead body to rot in the riverbank.

A bull sperm whale is diving into the deep abyss, while a female colossal squid rockets through the depths. Both combatants sense each other – the squid sees the whale, while the whale's echolocation reveals the squid's location. Upon seeing the whale as a potential predator, the squid releases a burst of ink as a warning, but she is ignored by the whale, which launches a slow attack on the huge squid. Just before she reaches the mouth, the squid latches onto the whale and rakes him with her hooked suction cups, wounding him in the process. By rising close to the surface, the squid is shaken off, but not before she scratches the whale further. Although wounded, the whale amplifies his sonar and stuns the squid. The paralyzed cephalopod is helpless – and thus eaten alive.