Some animals can get stuck behind the eight ball
because trouble is never far away for the little rascals of the natural world
We're counting down the top ten most extreme troublemakers
in the animal kingdom
to find out just who causes the most damage when they get up to no good
lt'll be a real riot when troublemaking is taken to
The Most Extreme
Earth is a planet of extremes
Extreme places
And extreme animals
But some animals are more extreme than others
Join us as we countdown to find The Most unusual
The Most extraordinary
The Most Extreme
Number Ten
Sometimes the relationship between animals and humans can get bumpy
But then penguins
like the rest of the animals in the countdown are not looking for trouble
They're just doing what comes naturally
They only get into hot water when their paths cross with ours
So it's strange that our search to find the animal that
cos the most mayhem begins with a bird most people associate with Antarctica
However some penguins can be found much closer to home
They're coming they're coming
Alfred Hitchcock's the birds
These birds are blue penguins
They may be the smallest penguins in the world
but for some people they can be a big headache
Every year the blues come ashore
on the southern coasts of Australia and New Zealand to breed
They're driven to nest in exactly the same places generation after generation
even though once deserted coastlines have
been replaced by cities and busy roads
The blue penguins get into trouble
because they build their nests in the same places we do
Unlike animals coming up in the countdown
these nocturnal visitors don't cause damage to property but ear drums
That's because when they return after a hard day's fishing
everyone in the neighbourhood can hear a nesting couple
reinforce their pair bond by saying Hi honey l'm home!
Sometimes it's lucky that
these squawking squatters are protected by the Wildlife Act
But most homeowners are prepared to lose some sleep
simply because the penguins are so cute
Things are very different for the troublemakers coming up in the countdown
Their antics can cause millions of dollars worth of damage
and cause people to lose much more than just a little shut eye
Number Nine
There's something about a beach that seems to attract trouble makers
muscle beach party
Perhaps it's the combination of surf
sun and sex that makes some big boys want to throw their weight around
And the biggest muscle beach party in the world
can be found on the islands of the subantarctic
That's because the bull elephant seal has a nose for trouble
He can be over 6 metres long and weigh more than two thousand kilograms!
He needs all this muscle because if he wants to find a mate
he'll have to fight other males
By successfully defending a territory
the bull elephant seal will win breeding rights
to whatever females are on his stretch of beach
Usually these massive males are too busy fighting
amongst themselves to upset any humans
The trouble starts when they go on holiday
Subadult males sometimes travel far to the north
and stake out a territory on New Zealand beaches
And it doesn't matter if a few boats cars rubbish bins
or even power poles get in the way!
An elephant seal is the biggest and grumpiest harbour master in the world!
Nobody knows why these young males take up residence so far from home
Perhaps they've been unlucky in love
That might explain why one stray elephant seal called Humphrey
swam up an estuary and fell in love with a herd of cows
When Humphrey started treating the cows as if they were part of his harem
the farmer had to use electric fencing to protect his herd
lt was all a bit of a shock for Humphrey
Such was the strength of Humphrey's passion that
he kept returning each year for a decade!
Poor old Humphrey had the right moves but the wrong species
The elephant seal is number nine in the countdown
because it's hard to stop an animal the size of a volkswagon
lf a bull decided to lean against your car
the damage could keep a panel beater busy for days
But fortunately for the people of New Zealand
most elephant seals stay on their isolated island homes
where the trouble is confined to the seal colonies
But when it comes to making mayhem size isn't everything
There are smaller animals coming up in the countdown
that get into much bigger trouble!
So far we've seen elephant seals throwing their weight around
and penguins skating on thin ice
but just ahead could this be a car insurers' worst nightmare?
And we'll discover that it's not just Goldilocks that
gets into trouble with Mama Bear
That's next on
the Most Extreme
Number Eight
The Southern Alps of New Zealand are a strange place to find a parrot
The kea is the only mountain parrot in the world
To survive in this harsh alpine environment
it needs to be resourceful inquisitive and very smart
lt has to be able to remember where food can be found
and always be on the look out for new things to eat
Combine the parrot's curiosity with a beak like a Swiss Army knife
and you have a recipe for trouble
To show just how resourceful a kea can be
researchers devised a seven stage puzzle
as part of an international test of animal lQ
To get the food
the kea had to pull levers push buttons turn handles and pull out a wooden cart
The kea was the fastest animal tested
lt needed little more than a minute to win the food and the competition
Until recently few people ever encountered the super smart kea
But humans started using the kea's mountain home as an adventure playground
With people came all kinds of interesting
new things to taste and explore
lt's estimated that every year
the kea causes tens of thousands of dollars of damage to rental cars alone
lt's the avian equivalent of Dennis the Menace
The kea would have been the perfect accessory
for another group of notorious troublemakers
After all where would a pirate be without a parrot?
Just like in Treasure lsland
a pirate captain did sometimes have a pet parrot
although probably not on his shoulder
unless it was well toilet trained
lt's thought that the link between pirates and parrots was forged at a time
when there was a huge demand for these exotic animals as pets
Back then a pretty parrot was worth it's weight in gold
Today the kea can strike gold in the ski lodges
that have sprung up in its backyard
Sometimes it's lucky that the kea is a protected species
And that's why some ski fields have taken to humanely capturing
particularly pesky parrots
Serial troublemakers are tagged
and then released in places where they can't get into trouble
lt seems that this is one animal that's a little too clever for its own good
So far we've seen parrots play rough
and elephant seals hang tough
but coming up is another feathered mischief maker that's no dummy
And we'll meet a man who's walking into a world of trouble
That's coming up next on
The Most Extreme
Number Seven
This man is just looking for trouble
And outside a bar in Canada he found it
Troy Hurtibise of Ontario is testing an extraordinary suit of armour
He'll need all the protection he can get to survive an encounter
with our next contender
Troy's spent 20 years and thousands of dollars
developing a virtually indestructible suit of armour
lt's his dream to get up close and personal with the trouble maker
at number seven in the countdown
the bear!
So far Troy hasn't got near enough to a bear in the wild
to see if his suit can withstand the bear's terrifying weapons
After all a grizzly can kill an elk with a single blow
The bear's strength speed and size can be devastating
and they have a real appetite for trouble
ln the fall bears need to eat about 20 000 calories every day
to prepare for hibernation
So they're more than happy to take hand outs from humans
and this is what's got them into big trouble
Even something as small as a candy bar
can turn a car into the world's biggest bear vending machine
But there's no such thing as a free lunch for bears
ln one year at Yosemite National Park
bears broke into almost 1 000 cars
and caused more than half a million dollars worth of damage
in their search for snacks
But why go to all that trouble when you can get food delivered to your door?
Garbage dumps are magnets for urban
bears because the food we throw away
is loaded with far more calories than their natural food sources
ln the wild bears need to spend up to 20 hours a day foraging
building up fat layers to survive the winter
Urban bears can get the same number of calories
after spending only four hours dining at the dump
And when the bears are hooked on fast food the real trouble begins
They can lose their fear of humans
roam residential neighbourhoods
and break into homes in search of easy calories
But if you thought bears were bad news
you won't believe the trash
loving troublemaker coming up next in the countdown
Number Six
You wouldn't read about the mayhem caused by our next contender
The vulture hits the headlines for all the wrong reasons
That's because in parts of Florida
houses have replaced the trees that vultures roosted in for generations
Now the birds perch on people's roofs
and cause all kinds of trouble as Donna Acree explains
They run back and forth across the roof in the morning
they sound like elephants up there with hip boots on
And they have eaten my roof
They just destroyed it by picking and pulling and tearing on it
lt was a twentyfive year roof
and l had to replace it in twelve years
Someone suggested the way to keep them off
was to string monofilament line across the roof
And so my son did
and they just sat up there and plucked those monofilament lines like a banjo
and it was just like living inside of a great big old banjo in here
Someone else suggested putting an owl on the roof
because you know birds don't like owls
They ate it
So sometimes an extreme problem calls for an extreme solution
This may look like a dead ringer but it's actually an artificial vulture
No one knows why hanging an effigy near a roost site scares vultures
but it can clear a roost within days
ln some cases
even after the effigy has been removed
the birds have continued to avoid the area
lt's just one of the nonlethal control methods
being developed by the National Wildlife Research Centre in Gainesville Florida
to help keep vultures out of trouble
according to wildlife biologist Michael Avery
Our approach to managing a lot of this problems is focused on the roost
The roost is where the birds congregate in the evening and spend the night
Our thought was that
if we could disperse the birds from that roost move them out of the area
then they wouldn't be as likely to cause problems to the neighbourhoods
or to the farms where lifestock are being raised
The effigy technique has our best roost dispersal method
We've also investigated other techniques
for preventing birds perching on roofs or on buildings
and those include the coyote roller that
just aren't good for perching and the birds avoid those
They are very adaptable birds
Their numbers have increased
very dramatically in the last 15 or 20 years
and as a result they're becoming more and more into contact with people
They are just doing what they do
and this happens to conflict with what
people want to do so yeah they do cause trouble
lt's no wonder that people don't want vultures in their neighbourhood
And yet these birds are nature's undertakersfeeding on death and decay
Perhaps we'd all be in trouble
without vultures making our world a cleaner place
lf you thought our last two contenders were annoying
just wait till you see how much trouble an animal can get into
when it has a quick brain and very sticky fingers
And what mischief maker is really in the doghouse?
Find out next on
The Most Extreme
Number Five
The next contender in our countdown of extreme troublemakers proves that
even the most innocent faces can cause all kinds of chaos
Hi Doctor Fulton Hi
What did you say to Her?
Mrs Fulton he said hi
l heard what he said you peroxide kissing box
Edwina! She didn't do anything
l'll pull that blonde hair out by it's black roots
Edwina please come on stop it
come on come on you keep on the way
The best place to find some real monkey business is off the coast of Africa
on the island of Zanzibar:
because this forest is home to a gang of thieves
These red colobus monkeys may look innocent
but they're planning a raid
They need medicine
because the leaves that form a major part of their diet
are actually full of toxins
But the monkey's have discovered a remedy that's theirs for the taking
A look out takes up position above the target
The hut belongs to a charcoal burner
He hopes to sell his baskets of charcoal as fuel
but the monkeys have a very different use in mind
The rest of the gang wait for the signal
The monkeys have discovered that
eating charcoal is an effective antidote for the poisons in their diet
The charcoal absorbs the harmful chemicals and detoxifies the leaves
This means that no basket is safe from these cheeky monkeys
Stealing charcoal may get the monkeys into trouble
but it seems that if it cures a stomach ache
then it's definitely worth the risk
Of course monkeys are not the only ones with sticky fingers
they're out to get you
There are plenty of thieves in the urban jungle
SYNC Ralph Massey is a professional shoplifter
Last year he lifted over 100 000 dollars in merchandise
Like Ralph says
how can you beat making 30 000 bucks a year and not working
But that was last year
This year Ralph's not working either
With good behaviour he'll probably get off with 6 months
Today in the United States
almost 400 000 shoplifters are caught in the act every year
lt's estimated that shoplifters still make off
with more than 9 billion dollars worth of goods annually
But it's nothing compared to what the people behind the counters got away with
According to one study
employee theft accounted for a massive 15 billion dollars!
Some researchers suggest that in America
trying to rip off the company
is a full time job for one in every twentyeight employees!
Unlike humans monkeys have no problems with theft
They live by the laws of the jungle
so if they see something they want they take it
And each year
more monkeys are getting into trouble
as we spread further into their territories
ln some parts of Asia
it's estimated that almost 60 per cent of macaques now live in urban areas
A recent survey revealed that
95% of people interviewed had been harassed by these mischievous monkeys
But for the most extreme monkeys in the countdown
trouble making is no longer a hobby but a profession
ln lndia some humans have taken the monkey's natural talent for mischief
and taught them to steal for their trainers!
This may be daylight robbery
but monkeys are still not the top banana when it comes to making trouble
Number Four
Our next contender is without doubt the biggest troublemaker in the countdown
good morning Mr peacock good morning squizzy
And trouble on this scale is nothing to sneeze at
The forests of Sri Lanka
are the traditional feeding grounds of Asian elephants
But increased developmen has seen trees cleared
and turned into farms:
and so a war of wits has developed between hardworking farmers
and hungry elephants
Evening offers elephants the best opportunity to raid the fields
As they begin to assemble at the edge of the forest
the battle lines are drawn
The raids happen with almost military precision
As this battalion of burglars moves into position
farmers put lights outside their storehouses
and then set off for the fields
They'll man watch towers and light fires to protect their crops
from the jumbo sized marauders
But for an animal that can weigh more than four tons
an elephant can be surprisingly stealthy
Yet despite all the defences mounted against them
elephants are number four in the countdown
because they still cause millions of dollars of damage every year
Adult elephants can vacuum up around 180 kilograms of food every day
and they'll get it wherever they can
Houses have sometimes been almost completely demolished
by these super sized invaders
But there were fireworks of another kind in America in 1938
when people thought they were being invaded
not by elephants but by Martians!
Mass hysteria broke out
when millions of radio listeners mistook a radio drama
for a genuine news broadcast
Believing that small green men from mars were actually invading the country
people jammed the streets trying to escape
As the panic spread emergency switchboards were flooded with calls
Hundreds of people required medical treatment for shock and hysteria
and many more terrified listeners barricaded themselves into their homes!
An inquiry after the broadcast found
a young Orson Welles innocent of deliberately causing trouble
but found many radio listeners guilty of being really really gullible
America may be safe from attack by Martians
but Asia's still under threat from a giant troublemaker
These fluttering white flags may help to deter some elephants
but there's no truce in the battle
to keep the elephant's long nose out of trouble
Our last two contenders may have created jumbo sized problems
when they monkey around
but still to come is an animal that gets into trouble
when it bites off more than it can chew
And what trouble maker can really bring the house down?
Find out next on
The Most Extreme
Number Three
Our next trouble maker is found in 35% of homes in America
We like to think that dogs are man's best friend
but sometimes they can get in all kinds of trouble
it's Usually it's our fault because we forget that
just like their ancestor the wolf dogs are social animals
While humans have now become the dogs' pack
these are not animals that enjoy solitary confinement
When left alone in the house during the day
some dogs can create their own entertainment
Unfortunately furniture is not the only thing that dogs put the bite on
ln America someone is bitten by a dog every forty seconds
lt's no wonder that some dogs end up in the slammer
And while dogs do the time we helped in the crime
By not training dogs properly we've been asking for trouble
And just as our canine companions end up in the doghouse
the worst human troublemakers once spent time in Alcatraz
Welcome to the real Rock
Located in San Francisco Bay
just a 2 kilometres from Fisherman's Wharf
Alcatraz was home to some notorious troublemakers
Although not all of them stayed put
according to National Park Service Ranger John Cantwell
Probably One of the most famous escape attempts took place in 1962
Clint Eastwood did a movie about this breakout
and it involved four convicts
actually escaping out of their jail cells
and making it up onto the roof top
What they did is they went around the air vent with a home made drill
One of the guys worked in the barber shop and took some clippers
and turned that clipper into a drill and poked holes and pushed the vent in
They hacked away at the concrete
some say with spoons and made a hole large enough for them to climb through
They made fake heads of themselves out of the material of the wall
glued human hair onto the heads
painted faces onto the heads
they climbed through the back of their jail cell walls into a utility quarter
and they climbed up the pipes to the very top of the cell block
Above that cell block area was an air vent accessing the roof top
and what they did was they popped that air vent open
and climbed through that vent
and made it up to the roof then slid down the back wall
of the penitentiary they hopped a few fences
and scrambled down to this north end
where we are here and entered the water with their raft
They inflated their boat and took off
The next morning at roll call
the officers went into wake these men up still sleeping
and the heads rolled on the floor
They searched the waters of San Francisco Bay
they never found the bodies
they are technically still wanted and they would be in their mid seventies
Maybe they had a boat out there and picked them up
Maybe they made it to the mainland
There's a lot of maybe's in this story and maybe some day they'll show up
Locking up troublesome dogs
and throwing away the key is obviously not a good solution
Which is why some owners get their pesky pooches back
on the right track by taking them to places
like the Centre for Applied Animal Behaviour and Canine Training
lt seems that with training and positive reinforcement
it can be surprisingly easy to teach an old dog new tricks
that's ok Randy that's ok much better
that's just make her do just hang out good seat
that's good seat good girl try to stay again
lf only it was as easy to find a way to keep our next contender out of trouble
lt's another animal that
just pays lip service to human standards of good behaviour
Number Two
lt's springtime in Washington DC
The Tidal Basin is an explosion of
colour thanks to 1 600 cherry trees
a gift from the Japanese Emperor in 1912
The trees attract thousands of tourists each year
But in 1999 the trees were attacked!
vandals struck during the night
felling the ancient trees
and leaving no clues apart from a pile of shavings
National Park Service rangers discovered that
the trees had been cut not by human troublemakers
but by extreme bucktoothed bandits a pair of rogue beavers!
Washington's most wanted rodents were quickly rounded up and relocated
while this pair of furry chainsaws may be the most infamous beavers in the world
each year across America
beavers are estimated to cause more than 100 million dollars of damage
to human property
No tree is safe from a beaver
lts chisel like teeth can gnaw through a tree the size of a rolling pin
in an astonishing 15 seconds
During the course of a year
a pair of beavers may cut down as many as 400 trees
in the process of building their homes
But beavers aren't the only ones to have left their mark on public property
Ever since humans first began to build walls
people have been drawing on them
Graffiti is nothing new
lt's been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Rome
and today few urban areas are without it
But it's not all the work of troublesome teenagers
Because for people like graffiti archaeologist Cassidy Curtis
this is street art
l'm proud of San Francisco's graffiti
l'd say a lot of San Francisc's are proud of San Francisco graffiti
l know a lot of artists who are proud of the graffiti here
l don't know if the mayor is proud of the graffiti
l think its pretty vibrant part of art community here
ln places like San Francisco's Clarion Alley
the art of decorating walls has the approval and support of the community
According to one study
murals like these are rarely defaced by graffiti
But not all communities are lucky enough to have murals
Every year America spends around eight billion dollars cleaning up graffiti
Because graffiti is illegal
Yet despite the fact that
this form of selfexpression can get you arrested fined or even sent to jail
it still has its enthusiasts
Cities always have graffiti
they always have and they always will
l mean it's the skin of the city
its part of what it is to live in a city
art can't really be contained within a gallery by itself
artists tend to want to bust out a little bit
There was a writer in Detroit
who had been doing it for his whole life
and l think he had been working on the stock market as a trader or something
and he kept on doing it well into his thirties
he kids and a family and everything and he was eventually caught by the police
they found the paint cans in the trunk of his BMW
and it was just something that he couldn't give up
and he actually had to get arrested go through that whole process
last l heard he wasn't really sure
he was going to stop its just something its really hard to give up
once you start doing it
Beavers also find it hard top give up their troublesome habits
After all they just want to turn trees twigs and mud into dams
Unfortunately the beavers' homes transform valleys into lakes
lakes that can flood
And when people build their homes in the same areas that beavers do
the beaver gets into big trouble
But there is one animal that costs homeowners more
and it's up next in the countdown
We've seen the nine contenders
They're the worst of the worst
Only one animal is a more extreme trouble making machine
lt's number one and it's coming up next on
The Most Extreme
Number One
To sniff out the animal at number one in the countdown
you need to bring in the experts
This dog has been trained to detect the troublemaker that
could be chewing away right under your feet
The termite can literally eat you out of house and home
This silent invasion is often hard to detect
That's why it's estimated that
every year termites infest one in every 30 houses in America!
Termites are thought to cause more than 25 billion dollars
in damage to US homes each year
that's more than fire storms and earthquakes combined!
Just one colony has been shown to eat over 45 metres of wooden boards
in a year!
At that rate
ten colonies would completely demolish a house in about seven years!
ln a world full of troublemakers
it's no wonder that
some people need to let off a little steam
by taking out their frustration on inanimate objects
And in Japan you can even pay for the privilege
For some people the stresses of daily life are so great that
they have to go into a bar to get smashed literally
For 200 Japanese yen just under two dollars US
you can buy a plate write down the things that
are causing you the most stress
and then write it off in a special booth
And kids don't try this at home
For termites breaking up things up is all in a day's work
ln the wild they're nature's demolition crew
searching out dead and decaying trees and disposing of them
Termites only get into trouble
when they confuse the dead wood of the forest
with the dead wood we use to build with
The termite is without doubt
the most destructive of all the troublemakers in the countdown
but like all our other contenders it's just doing what comes naturally
even though the results can be shocking
And that's why when it comes to making trouble
the termite really is
The Most Extreme