The Most Extreme is a long-running documentary television series on the American cable television network, Animal Planet. It first aired on July 1, 2002. Each episode focuses on a specific animal feature, such as strength, speed, flirtation, appendages, diet, etc., and examines and ranks ten animals that portray extreme or unusual examples of that quality. The rankings are not arrived at by a scientifically rigorous process; they serve only to give a broad depiction.
Along with each animal on the countdown, the program presents a computer graphics segment which compares the animal's ability with something equivalent in humans by computer animation in green (in the short lived half hour mode, blue) also color of both logos, followed by an interview segment with people who share some common trait. For example, on the "Super Sharks" episode, the #1 animal was the Hammerhead shark, for its extreme senses of vision and smell, along with its ability to sense voltages as small as a half-billionth of a volt. This was then compared with a team of human hackers, including StankDawg, who were war-driving around a neighborhood and looking for faint wireless signals. Old, often public domain, cartoons, movie clips and trailers are often included.
The series is made in New Zealand by a small production team at NHNZ. As of March 2008, there have been 77 episodes. The termite has had the most #1 ratings but has only been in 15% of the top 10's.
The series airs in Australia on Channel Seven (first run) and on subscription channel Animal Planet (replays)
Episodes
Animals are listed in "countdown" rank, i.e. , in reverse of the order in which they are introduced in each episode.
Season 1
Episode 1: Moms
- Female Sea louse–While she gives birth, her offspring split her apart, and she dies.
- Female Octopus–She stays with 50,000 eggs for six weeks (incubation period), but when the eggs hatch, she is already dead from starvation or is too weak to fight off predators, so they kill her.
- Female Elephant Seal–She puts on an extra 600 pounds while being pregnant, and starves until the pups are born.
- Female Hornbill–She must stay in a little cave with rambunctious young for three months.
- Female Orangutan–She builds a bed every night for her and her youngster.
- Female Cheetah–She teaches her rambunctious young how to hunt. Deals with bad kids for two years.
- Female Polar Bear–She loses 30% of her bodyweight in hibernation.
- Female Alligator–She keeps her young in her mouth while going over rivers to protect them from potential predators.
- Female Koala–Feed its dung to young to keep them healthy.
- Female Elephant–She gives birth to a 300 lb (140 kg) baby after a 22-month pregnancy.
Episode 2: Dads
- Male Seahorse–The dad gives birth to the young.
- Male Emperor Penguin–The males spend 65 days in the cold Antarctic landscape with an egg balanced on his toes while waiting for the females to return with food.
- Male Darwin's Frog–Puts his young in its mouth to protect them from predators.
- Male Jacana–Has to keep taking care of eggs, because the female squashes them.
- Male Stickleback–Builds a house with kidney glue, and fans eggs with fins.
- Male Rhea–He spends 40 days and nights looking after his eggs, and after that, spends two years taking care of them.
- Male Giant Water Bug–Carries 700 young on its back.
- Male Golden Jackal–Only animal known to babysit regularly.
- Male Antechinus–The male dies right after mating.
- Male Lion–The male takes care of 20 cubs.Only #10 due to his laziness.
Episode 3: Venom
- Box jellyfish–The box jellyfish can kill you in less than ten minutes, and a drop of venom can kill 50 men.
- Sea Snake–One drop of venom can kill 200 men.
- Cone Snail–Paralyzes prey with venom. Fastest Killer in the world.
- Blue-ringed Octopus–One octopus can kill ten men.
- Stonefish–Has 12 to 14 poisonous dorsal spines, which can sometimes cause a coma. The most venomous fish in the world!
- Scorpion–Scorpions kill over 1,000 people a year from venom.
- Honey bee–300 bee stings can kill a human.
- Gila Monster–Its teeth contain venom; the more it pierces, the more venom it puts into you.
- Male Platypus–The male has a venomous spine.
- Stingray–Dangerous when the stinger pierces your skin.
Episode 17: Disguise
- Mimic Octopus–It can change the color, shape, and texture of its skin in less than a second! It can also mimic a flounder, a sea snake, and a lionfish!
- Stick Insect–It can transform into what appears to be three different animals.Ant then scorpion then a stick.
- Leafy Sea Dragon–Camouflages itself into the background of algae.
- Caterpillar–Some can disguise themselves as bird droppings.
- Hognose Snake–Tricks predators by playing dead and secreting a rancid smell that will even fool the hungriest flies.
- Spider crab–Its mobile home provides great camouflage. *Note that the crab actually shown is the decorator crab.
- Sea Snake–Creates an illusion to fool predators.
- Arctic Fox–It has great natural camouflage for both the summer and winter to escape predators such as polar bears.
- Superb Lyrebird–They use their calls to imitate over 20 bird calls.
- Snow Leopard–Their spots make them almost invisible in the Himalayan Mountains.
Episode 18: Swarms
- Argentine ant–Their empire stretches from Italy to Spain, containing millions of nests filled with billions of ants and they're all related.
- Krill–One swarm can cover 173 square miles.
- Locust–There can be up to 40 billion in a swarm.
- Monarch butterfly–20,000 butterflies can be on a leaf, 220 million can be in a swarm and they can migrate 150,000,000,000 body lengths.
- Jellyfish–Millions of Palau jellyfish can swarm across Jellyfish Lake.
- Red crab–There can be up to 120 million individuals in a swarm to party.
- Bat–20 million bats can hang on the ceiling.
- Caribou–There can be three million reindeer in a herd.
- Grunion–Thousands of them gather on beaches where their mating season occurs.
- Mouse–Fast breeders; there can be 16 mice in a litter, which makes a swarm.
Episode 19: Body Parts
- Giraffe–Giraffes have long necks, long legs, and long tongues.
- Asian Elephant–Elephants have long trunks, long tusks, and huge ears.
- Giant Squid–Its eyes are 20 inches in diameter, and help it to see in dark waters. In fact, the giant squid has the biggest eyes in the natural world.
- Anteater–Its tongue is 14 inches long, and is used for catching tasty insects, especially ants.
- Male Fiddler Crab–He has one big claw for fighting with, and one small claw for eating with.
- Jacana–They have huge feet, stopping them from sinking in the water.
- Aye-aye–The middle finger is bone-like, in getting their food from inside a tree limb.
- Babirusa–The male can have foot long canine teeth that can pierce into its skull.
- Platypus–It has the beak of a duck, the flippers of an otter, and the tail of a beaver.
- Fennec Fox–It has huge ears to help it keep cool.
Episode 20: Predators
- Shrew–Since they have such a huge metabolism, (their heart beats 600 times a minute), it's the busiest predator in the world and some species need to eat three times their own body weight in one day to survive.
- Orca–It can do something beyond the limits of other marine animals: it can land on a beach to catch a seal.
- Wolf–They use teamwork strategy to slay prey eight times bigger than they are.
- Great white shark–The most infamous predator in the sea.
- Electric eel–Without teeth, it uses electricity to paralyze their prey and swallow.
- Snake–It can sense prey using infrared.
- Spider–Its web says it all.
- Polar Bear–Its sensitive snout can catch the smell of a seal hiding under three feet of thick sea ice.Only #8 cause they mainly omnivores when it gets warmer.
- Archerfish–They spit water at their insect prey which can be eight feet high.
- Crocodile–The perfect predator. However, they are only #10 because they can wait a year to attack.
Episode 21: Stinkers
- Skunk–Smell can temporarily blind you for days even if it is 1.5 mi. away.
- Giant Petrel–Vomit smells horrible
- Millipede–One species smells so bad that it can kill a mouse.
- Male Elephant–The male's musk smells like 1,000 goats in a pen.
- Muskox–Its urine produces a smell so revolting it can water your eyes.
- Hyena–They turn their anal patches into hyena butter.
- Hooker's Sea Lion–Its breath smells horrible.
- Male Hippopotamus–Males fling dung.
- Vulture–They urinate on their feet to keep cool on summer days and to kill bacteria.
- Dog–They mark their territory by rolling in the mud.
Episode 22: Super Senses
- Shark–Sharks have a "sixth sense" like snakes: detecting electric fields.
- Mantis Shrimp–Their eyes can see stuff you can't even imagine.
- Snake–They have infrared imaging.
- Dolphin–They use s
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