Hornbills Pluck Bats Mid-flight | Eden: Untamed Planet | BBC Earth

Hawk-eagles and hornbills play to their unique strengths as they pluck bats mid-flight.
Subscribe: bit.ly/BBCEarthSub
#Eden
Watch more:
Planet Earth bit.ly/PlanetEa...
Blue Planet bit.ly/BluePlan...
Planet Earth II bit.ly/PlanetEa...
Planet Dinosaur bit.ly/PlanetD...
Eden: Untamed Planet (2021)
From the Namib Desert to Patagonia, only a handful of places on Earth can claim to be largely unchanged. Isolated from the rest of the world, these places have been protected from the most damaging effects of human interference. Delicately balanced, species-rich, unique ecosystems. In these lands, life exists as nature intended. This series embarks on a breathtaking journey to Earth’s last Edens. It visits incredible landscapes and reveals thrilling new behaviour from the world’s most iconic animals. As the heavy tread of humans falls ever closer to these beautiful and fragile lands, now is the time to reveal their captivating stories.
Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of entertaining and thought-provoking natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.
Want to share your views with the team? Join our BBC Studios Voice: www.bbcstudios...
This is a commercial page from BBC Studios. Service information and feedback: bbcworldwide.co...

[@Vecio.Nandes]

2:25 "He gives the first catch to his partner" ❤️

[@PhyrexJ]

What a simp

[@vozamaraktv-art5595]

@@PhyrexJ 🤣 Men will be men

[@dannywildlife1930]

Awwww🥺🥺

[@MrsC1223]

That is so sweet. 💗

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@PhyrexJ Or he knows what's what. Loads of animals have to engage in endless battles to find a mate....usually unsuccessfully. This guy just hands over some food - he's got it knocked off.

[@henrylivingstone2971]

I love how the hornbill was like “yeah…I could do that too” then got frustrated and decided to just sit down and hunt 😂😂😂

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Everyone's cocky friend :P

[@Battle_Beard]

In fairness if you strapped a big rock to to top of that hawks head and cut off it’s talons it might do the same lol. Work smarter not harder, no?

[@g.c.5065]

No it was a female, she saw the catch, and knew she’s entitled to it.

[@ryanfranz6715]

Gotta love the narratives they give to spice up otherwise uninteresting and perfectly natural animal behavior… such as the bird just flying.

[@maxazzopardi7446]

Me too. The first thing I thought when watching that was "I love how hornbill was like 'sure'". I didn't think 'yeah'. You are my spirit animal and your body is a wonderland

[@gutemorcheln6134]

Amazing. I always thought hornbills were solely frugivorous. How wrong I was!

[@vicepresidentmikepence889]

Wow..someone went to college

[@eskanda3434]

@@vicepresidentmikepence889 all animals will eat other animals when given the chance as an easy source of energy. Even deer, cow and other ruminant stomach animals catch and eat birds, small rodents whenever they can. Look up the videos yourself my guy.

[@vicepresidentmikepence889]

@@eskanda3434 I would love to know why that reply given was to me????

[@vozamaraktv-art5595]

@@vicepresidentmikepence889 Probably because you're the Vice President.

[@Rexog90]

@SamIAm except for hoatzins, unless you count the insect they probably ingest while foraging for leaves

[@TheBigMan5991]

Didnt know they eat bats learn something today.

[@heatherwaldorf]

@Mr.Nimbus apparently, you don’t know either to punctuate. 💅🏻

[@eneskaradeniz4311]

@Mr.Nimbus who the hell gave you the right to call someone douche when you are making fun of peoples grammar in a comment section in an animal video…..go outside bruh

[@timothynguoi5762]

The hornbill is the state bird of where I'm from, only now I learn they actually eat bats

[@liberaldriller9884]

@ bored y : Your : belongs You're : You are FFS

[@maggiepatterson7949]

Love the face closeups, the eyelashes! WOW! he is SUPER FAST!

[@gogoi.p]

Genuinely cares for his partner. A beautiful gesture lacking in many human couples these days.

[@coomslayer6996]

Too true

[@zinknot]

Many birds naturally mate for life. Humans aren't monogamous by nature.

[@brodricksheffield]

Wow true love. He gave his catch to his partner.

[@jessepitt]

I have seen far more romance in nature than in society. Many species are monogamous.

[@michaelangelo5783]

I gave my partner crabs 🦀

[@jessepitt]

@@michaelangelo5783 🤣

[@Fallibleandflawed]

Not even. Survival instincts

[@JakeAtkinson43]

Same here g

[@mjkhan9664]

It's always fun to watch predatory birds just be the dinosaurs that they are

[@Baconbills]

the hawk is a beast

[@angelaschnelly]

I loved that close up shot looking into it's eye.

[@Leeyutube]

I love that shot too showing that the bird is thinking

[@javediqbal8645]

Hi

[@javediqbal8645]

Where are you from i like come in your country

[@afridi0182]

👌🥰🥰🥰🥰👍🙋🏾‍♀️

[@javediqbal8645]

@@afridi0182 thanks

[@part-timebrock1126]

Ok I thought I knew almost everything about Hornbills but now I'm surprised that they also eat bat. Gotta go to Wikipedia now ...

[@SweetChicagoGator]

Same here ! I have to go to Wikipedia as well. Nature never ceases to amaze me ! 🙂

[@wiggy2201]

If Part- time Frank Mir was here, he would break your arm for being a nerd

[@may-zy7ju]

same here!! i am doing that now too. lol

[@kalfunai]

WIKIPEDIA IS AWESOME.

[@vipahman]

They doing GoF research.

[@Natureindica]

Amazing videography. All videos give lot of knowledge about nature. Thanks BBC👍

[@galaxys3852]

Sir David Attenborough sounds so young in this video!

[@glenbomett3982]

😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@_graiderz2462]

Maybe abit too young..

[@FelixMomentvm]

He transitioned, now goes by Queen Elizabeth 'of Eden's Garden' Attenborough I. That was her talking

[@daveclark8337]

All I hear is Bellatrix Lestrange.

[@oakmaiden2133]

And feminine 😅

[@Decora_Shadowolf]

Really gives the feel of a dino. Seeing the hornbill in the air after the bats. Loved it!

[@nofeah89]

It really does

[@ebob4177]

Oh, so mine isn't the only mind to think "dinosaur" when I saw the bird. 😀

[@michaelmccarty1327]

He looks so sad when he misses the first few

[@savagesonic7330]

Yep

[@savagesonic7330]

@@JNL37Dyxce5 ???

[@S6Ryujin]

The bats look happy though lol

[@michaelmccarty1327]

@@savagesonic7330 It's generally good practice to ignore posts that are simply links without context. They are usually spam, and should probably be reported. If you notices in a comment section that the same few people keep posting the same links in different replies over and over, just report them.

[@Raison_d-etre]

Nah, his bill is curved that way.

[@exessex3522]

Wow! What a piece of filming! I've seen snakes and other birds (hawks, falcons, even gulls) catching flying bats before but seeing hornbills do it was a wow moment for me. Wildlife footage about hornbills often focuses on their unusual habit of incarcerating the nesting female in a hole in a tree with the male then responsible for all the feeding. The adults seem to eat mostly fruit but once the chicks hatch, the male brings in a lot of large insects and other invertebrates, like mantises. I've never seen one deliver a mammal before. Brilliant bit of photography - well done!

[@ausgepicht]

The maneuverability of both birds is absolutely incredible. The Hornbills are like VTOL jets when they want to be. Since they don't have those talons and speed that a hawk-eagle has, they just work smarter, not harder. Seems like a smarter way to conserve energy if you don't have to capabilities of the hawk-eagles.

[@thecrusader6401]

Such a gentleman. Gave the first catch to his lady❤

[@ma3stro681]

$imp-bill … 😂

[@JumpscareRodent]

wow this is amazing I didnt know these birds did this. Truly amazing to see

[@Hmongboi228]

It's April the 23rd, 2024 and in the end, "It's all just a numbers game..." The bats flying out of the cave, a bunch of them will be preyed upon, the others will survive these daily assaults and move into their next event that will put them in jeopardy. As too with humans, we experience the same fate. From a child to our teens and finally maturing to an adult, we deal with a "numbers game" throughout our lives whether we realize it or not. From random strokes of luck, to finding the right partner, competing for jobs, competing for resources that are deemed "scarce", financial stability and our health, they all have one thing in common, probability. Some of us will get everything we desire, some of us won't. Life is not fair and it was never meant to be but probability and numbers does indeed play a large role in our existence.. An amazing, beautifully captured clip displaying the hardships of life captured by the BBC that in deep thought, reflects our perils in life.....

[@AChi__]

@2:54 the black colored portion of its bill looks like a distinguished gentleman's moustache lol

[@vozamaraktv-art5595]

BBC Earth, the best nature videos ever!!!

[@kbernieshoW]

U crazy as hell PBS NATURE

[@taimerng8392]

If I were to search for this knowledge myself, it could take me a some of whole life and there's chance of missing. With BBC Earth, I could learn it within three minutes. Amazing!

[@tolula9927]

Amazing, but ultimately useless.

[@duncanwallace7760]

It reminds me of the chopsticks scene with the fly from Karate Kid.

[@SweetChicagoGator]

Do tell us the scene of the film because we are not all into pop culture? 🤓

[@FelixMomentvm]

@@SweetChicagoGator Miyagi sama was caught by Daniel trying to picking flies with choptick, but not to actually make it really but to learn patience fast forward Daniel tried and quite easily got actually a fly and Miyagi was "noobs luck"

[@leifvejby8023]

I'm still praticing

[@ocayaro]

They just reduced their cuteness factor by half, eating bats.

[@hydraxc2478]

I know Im thinking this bird eats fruit and nuts. But live bats. Blech

[@tolula9927]

They were never cute though.

[@RocLobo358]

They don't know about your standards nor do they have a concept of cute

[@mariejuana2993]

The narrator has such a captivating voice. Thanks again for the amazing footage BBC!

[@sayanmondal6366]

I wonder how beautiful this nature is , i really just love it and specially loved to see hornbill...

[@NaughtyJackal]

batman left the chat

[@Turtleback8024]

God’s creation is amazing!

[@mokarokas-1727]

@JONATHAN SUTCLIFFE - What the actual hell is going on with your comments?

[@mystiqueleague903]

Come to North East India.

[@cinema6444]

Nature never fails to amaze me. ☺️ So many secrets left to be uncovered. So many stories yet to be told.

[@SqnLdrVinutha]

Imagine if the food delivery guys came flying and you had to catch your food with precision

[@gentlemanhk]

you've a wide imagination xD

[@SqnLdrVinutha]

@@gentlemanhk 😁😁

[@dudekfox7685]

​@@gentlemanhkmay be a bit wild as well😂

[@gentlemanhk]

@@dudekfox7685 Jep!😌

[@fefek1]

These hawk eagles look exactly like a velociraptor with longer tail/arm feathers and a beak and I cant deal with it

[@eurynomei3753]

That's because birds are descendant of bipedal dinosaur (or more appropriately, birds are the only surviving dinosaurs and are particularly close to raptors).

[@fefek1]

@@eurynomei3753 I know, that's why I absolutely love when they look like Dinosaurs in my opinion even chickens (mainly Roosters) are just tiny velociraptors who actually use their claws/legs to attack things just like raptors

[@teeanahera8949]

Arm feathers? I think they’re called wings.

[@hussainkadri715]

Nature is beautiful and so is BBC Earth

[@gab882]

i find it so sweet the male spends the effort to give to his mate. lovely gesture.

[@JamesCraigWhoop]

-Remove any further donations to Save the Hornbill from Bruce Wayne charities -Right away sir

[@steztoyz]

🤣

[@stevebennett9839]

I like how he gives the first bat to his partner, chivilary is alive after all.

[@SweetChicagoGator]

Got to feed the wife and children first ! 🤗

[@MyPrincEmo]

I think this is what we call "work smarter not harder"

[@JuliusCeaser_]

Hornbill are quite the beauty

[@royslapped4463]

He sees the hawk and thinks.. hmm that looks easy. After getting trampled by bats he's thinking hell no. This sucks

[@Star-kp8oc]

i thought the same thing.

[@pohyixin]

Maybe, just wait for an easy meal to arrive ,I'm calling for delivery dear..

[@FelixMomentvm]

@@pohyixin -"did you ordered from Uber or DiDi, dear? I got coupons!" -"Don't worry bae, fresh batsy sushi roll just arrive, here, take the first bite honey!"

[@faithcastillo9597]

I never thought of bats as prey for other birds.

[@budle89]

The different coloration of their feather on their wings reminded me of Ho-Oh. Especially when they fly.

[@remingtonrojas]

especially at 1:00

[@jacobjochem]

The intelligence of these birds is incredible.

[@mirandakillgallen93]

This is cool. I thought they ate fruit and plants 🌱

[@I_Kan]

I know right!! We've both learnt something new 🙌🏽 I've always seen videos of hornbills eating berries. 😮 There's 54 species of hornbills 😮

[@chrisgoat3931]

Same here bro

[@AaronShenghao]

Deers will eat squirrels if given the chance…

[@MrJx4000]

I thought they ate fruit flies.

[@WaveyDeem95]

So they are omnivores?

[@wellingtonsboots4074]

Thank you enjoyed this. Hornbills look amazing and like a few others commenting, I like how he gave his first catch to his partner.

[@justayoutuber1906]

Wow! And that hawk was awesome too!

[@kevins9688]

Oriental pied has the most diverse diet. Why are we not surprised. 😂

[@willylao5430]

Covid-19 😂😂

[@WildSBlk]

What a Catch.... I knew Hornbill only ate fruit....

[@foodieanimal1066]

Just when you think you know everything, you learn something new... Gotta love it..

[@YaoEspirito]

Before this you thought you knew everything?

[@foodieanimal1066]

@@YaoEspirito I am a big fan of wildlife and knew a lot about hornbills, but not this... Hence the figure of speech..

[@YaoEspirito]

@@foodieanimal1066 I hear ya... "Everything about hornbills..."; different than "Everything..."

[@foodieanimal1066]

@@YaoEspirito hahahah, it sure does... thanks for pointing that out..

[@OpEditorial]

The bird version of grizzly bears catching wild salmon

[@WJen8]

He was like I can do this sitting down and proved it 😂

[@TheLateris]

Hornbill would be a great new villain for Batman

[@Chorkaloopa]

Dinosaurs don’t seem to have really died off. Just evolved. 🦖

[@andrewooi82]

I would rather sit and be served than fly around chasing my meal too. Impressive video by the way.

[@juggiebonebrain3383]

Birds eating mammals. Growing up, I never would have thought

[@wildlifeisthewealthofnatur5457]

Even huge predatory insects and arachnids like mantis, spiders, centipede, scorpion, waterbug, etc eat mammals, birds and reptiles. Nothing great in it. And it's surprising you didn't knew birds eat mammals. Eagle eating mice and rabbits is known by everyone.

[@nunyabiznes33]

Well, mantises eat mice.

[@ashutoshsingh7016]

Giant birds most definitely preyed upon human ancestors.

[@bosesebi6685]

@@ashutoshsingh7016 I still dont believe they flew.

[@ofmyownaccord]

Bruh, what did you think owls and hawks eat.....

[@TheTibetyak]

The hornbill thinks it's a vegetarian, because he thinks these are fruit bats.

[@QuantumPyrite_88.9]

Hornbills are awesome.

[@kevinrhodes79]

Her voice and the sound of it was hypnotize my grey matter, I love it ,I floated somewhere else ... Thank you

[@shronklescrimblo69]

If this was a bat documentary we will all be crying.

[@avocadomonkey4892]

Just amazed to see the hornbill snap out and catch a bat so precisely! And then to see its blood-stained beak ...! Thank you, BBC!

[@Rantsack]

I’m watching this with my nephew and my nephew said to me, “Auntie, aren’t the birds going to get Corona from eating bats!” Me: 👁️👁️ trying to hold in my laugh 🤣. I told him that birds cannot get Corona Virus from eating bats.

[@triumph.over.shipwreck]

Because birds aren't real

[@andremiller5552]

I don’t know if I’d be eating bats nowadays.

[@cordyceps7531]

2:31 that one scene from Jurassic Park 2 when 2 T-Rex’s eat one man but downsized.

[@lyesbessad4065]

the bird with a long beak is it carnivorous

[@zeph6439]

Wow...I have observed owls taking bats in mid-air but had no idea that hornbills were also capable of it.

[@ravifitrah7814]

so bats like fish in sky, Hornbil goes fishing😁

[@vebriyanpasha675]

Therapist : meat eating hornbill isn't real Oriental pied hornbill :

[@killingfame1562]

These things look super prehistoric. Very unique looking birdies for sure.

[@nvkotian7539]

I thought Hornbills eat nuts. But it's a surprise to me now. Thanks to BBC.

[@daveclark8337]

The male bats don't have BBCs but they have nuts.

[@violetbrown3817]

Hornbills have long eye lashes too.

[@cedeprudente]

Awesome! Great to be part of the shoot in Sabah, Malaysia.

[@HannahHäggAutisticTransWoman]

There are thounds of bats flying around trying to catch insects while some birds are trying catch and eat the bats mid flight.

[@BiG__Disgruntled]

Don't do it! Don't eat that bat! Oh God, here we go again!

[@afridi0182]

Hi🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

[@khing7237]

Lol I was thinking about the same thing 🤣

[@kanthaacharya8090]

Amazing Hornbills..!! Good to see In unique action.!!

[@walterwendler]

The spokes woman is wonderful 👍

[@runningthor1999]

0:55 me as the shark in “sharks and minnows” lol

[@mr.d.572]

Next video: *Hornbill sells bats to Wuhan lab.* 👨‍🏭🧪🔬🥽👩‍🏭

[@oljimeagle]

Ohhhkay... Didn't realize Toucan Sam was a savage.

[@edangulo1562]

Catch that Rona!

[@swedesam]

It's like the bats should slowly evolve to fly further and further away from trees at the launch. They should rather take a chance in the open air against the Hawk-eagles instead of the Hornbills who are barely expending energy camping in the trees.

[@jorgeplatero3748]

Eagles: math Hornbills: statistics

[@brodricksheffield]

I don’t get it. I thought it was more like Eagles: Athletics Hornbills: Theatre

[@FelixMomentvm]

@@brodricksheffield it has to do with the hornbill strategy: no matter how stupid of a hornbill could be, the chances are still is gonna get full belly every single day because the volume of chances is waaaay beyond failure. The eagle is just that mf hot popular dude that on top of that is goddamn good at math as well, born perfect basically; hornbill doesn't try that much, just enough to still making as much success as an eagle :)

[@zinknot]

They look so intelligent.

[@calvinfrees7371]

So this is how the bird flu started.... Interesting.

[@billpetersen298]

It started in China.

[@FelixMomentvm]

@@billpetersen298 with a Chinese eating a hornbill that breakfast that morning a couple Batsy Sandwich with chopticks

[@irfanananto6784]

What an awesome footage to show these lovely birds 🦅🦅

[@SweetChicagoGator]

Bigg birds don't all eat fruits & insects; they also eat bats !! Waha ! Wow ! 😃

[@timothywang4083]

They make it look easy cos it just is 😅 This is where the phrase "as blind as a bat" came from They're literally blind

[@lakshminarayanareddyaddula2779]

Salute to the photographer 👏

[@deathbunny1718]

Fun fact in most tropical environments bats do over 60% of the pollination

[@Simbosan]

Pluck bat is a very popular on game nowadays, anyone can do it.

[@sylvia106]

They are frugivorous!

[@codyrawrz7115]

Attenborough's sounding good these days

[@jeffreysokal7264]

WOW, that's really awesome. Thanks!

[@kylewarren5268]

I can hardly even see when bats fly past me and these things can snatch them right out of the air. Wow. Incredible

[@RedfishCarolina]

So, basically badass carnivore Toucans. Got it.

[@thedogman7846]

What beautiful dinosaurs

[@espoespo3557]

Earth is a wild and strange world.

[@MetalHendrix.]

Im in awe of this type of footage. But my mind always goes to imagining the same encounters but with Huge creatures falling from the sky taking down a two ton creature wile running knocking down huge trees. The colors, the sounds and massive sizes a million years ago.

[@saminsiddiquee2059]

Very good narration

[@kurtdewittphoto]

0:23 "Look at all of them Jerry!"

[@BlueToronto]

What pretty eyelashes. 1:30

[@chanito_nyc]

That’s the Mr Miyagi of the animal kingdom

[@rhsking05]

ok, that’s pretty cool. I had no idea that hornbills were raptors.

[@ChrisLaprise-p8n]

This was a cool educational video