The Way Down 📽 by @yycgardener This northern flicker is trying to protect its young from a ravenous bull snake. It should come as no surprise that snakes will seek out and eat newborn hatchlings or their eggs, as they are usually an easy meal to obtain. It might look like this mom is giving the snake hell, but the elapsed time between the snake entering the hole and exiting is considerably longer than the video lets on. While on the ground, I am told by the people who were there that the defensive bird was freed by the snake after about 20 minutes. This is just an assumption, but after gorging itself on northern flicker chicks, the snake had no room for the mother in its belly, so she was released. Taken at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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A Tool For Every Job 📽 by @scottvandijk Lions adapt their hunting strategies to match the prey du jour, with each pride member instinctively following a shared playbook. Unlike the classic throat strike used for smaller animals like gazelle, lions target the hindquarters of this 700kg buffalo, whose horns can impale and hooves can crush bones. This coordinated rear assault, seen in 62% of buffalo hunts according to a 2018 Kruger National Park study, hampers the buffalo’s ability to charge or kick with full force. A 2019 Okavango Delta study showed prides of six or more lions execute this tactic in 67% of cases, dividing roles to distract the buffalo’s front while others cripple its rear. A 2020 Serengeti study noted a 28% risk of a lion eating a kick here and there during this style of hunt, but this approach is still safer than taking on the buffalo’s lethal anterior, greatly reducing the chance of a more serious injury. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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bobcat is op please nerf 📽 by @trailcampro This young turkey hen just learned a hard lesson about the jumping ability of bobcats. These agile predators can leap up to 10-12 feet (3-3.7 meters) vertically, powered by strong hind legs and complimented by a lightweight frame of between 20-30 pounds(9-13.6 kilograms). A 2020 Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife source confirms bobcats can clear 6-foot (1.8-meter) fences and jump 12 feet (3.7 meters) straight up in pursuit of prey like birds or rabbits. Their explosive jumps stem from muscular legs built for stalking and pouncing in diverse habitats, from forests to suburbs. Wild turkeys, unlike their flightless domesticated relatives, can fly short bursts at 40-55 mph (64-88 km/h) to escape predators or roost in trees, reaching heights of 30-40 feet (9-12 meters). However, their 4 - 5 foot wingspan and heavy 8-15-pound (3.6-6.8-kilogram) bodies limit the total distance of these flights. I think it's safe to say this turkey is grounded for life. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Out On A High Note 📽 by @garrett.erc The sounds of the forest, like a stone dropped in a pond creates a ripple, begin when something moves and shakes the air: leaves rustling, a deer snapping a twig, or a predator catching a hard earned lunch. Whatever the cause, the subsequent vibrations caused by these actions push air molecules, creating waves that travel until they reach an ear. In the wilderness, most sounds are small, like tossing a pebble in the same pond, because survival often means making your way as quietly as possible. The louder ones, like the blood curdling death rattle of a fox’s kill, rarely exceed 50-60 decibels, fading within 10-20 meters. A 2019 study on forest acoustics showed trees, leaves, and soil absorb sound waves, especially high-pitched ones, dampening them quickly, unlike open fields where sound travels farther. Even something like the roar of a bear, peaking at around 90 decibels, can travel up to 100 meters, but dense vegetation scatters these waves, keeping most of the forest carnage silent to distant ears. This natural muffling means the everyday death and struggle of the wild stay hidden, their faint ripples rarely, if ever, reach us. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Asleep At The Wheel 📽 by @junglecrocodilesafari Crocodile takes advantage of a brown pelican who picked a terrible time to let its guard down American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) thrive as versatile predators, their menu shaped by coastal mangroves and rivers like the Tárcoles in Costa Rica. They mainly feed on fish like mullet, mammals that find themselves a little too close to the river’s edge and birds like this brown pelican. They shift to chasing different prey during different seasons - fish during the rainy months, carrion in dry spells - proving efficient without chasing everything with a pulse. In Costa Rica’s ecosystems, birds like herons or waterfowl make up about 10-15% of the crocodile’s diet, compared to fish at 50-60% and mammals like raccoons at 20-25%. From Florida to Peru, the American crocodile roams beyond Costa Rica. They dwell in Florida’s Everglades and Keys, with about 2,000 individuals, Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, thriving in coastal wetlands. In Central America, they occupy estuaries and rivers in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Southward, they live in Colombia, Venezuela, and northern Peru’s coastal lagoons, while Caribbean islands like Cuba and Jamaica host their own populations. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Cast A Wide Net 📽 by @matthew.vera & @prestonoutdoors Believe it or not, badgers hunting skunks is rare but not unheard of, especially in a place like Western North Dakota, where the winters are rough and both animals share overlapping habitats. The American badger is a fierce carnivore that primarily digs for rodents like ground squirrels and mice, but its diet also includes small mammals such as skunks.With their potent spray defense, fart squirrels are usually avoided by predators, but badgers, equipped with thick fur and a musky scent of their own, are less deterred by skunk spray than other predators might be. A 2019 study from Montana’s grasslands noted badgers might opportunistically prey on unusual targets like skunks during late fall or winter when their usual fare is scarce. The family of skunks crossing the highway likely drew the badger’s attention, prompting it to seize a vulnerable individual, such as a juvenile. This behavior reflects the badger’s adaptability in exploiting available prey in challenging environments. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Need 📽 by @stagrcast Anthropomorphism is the act of attributing human emotions and moral codes to non-human entities. This is considered an innate tendency of human psychology. Nature doesn't possess intention, ethics, or malice; it is a system of checks and balances, a complex web where life and death, predation and parasitism, symbiosis and competition are all interlinked. In evolutionary terms, what might appear as "cruel" is often a byproduct of strategies that have been successful for survival and reproduction. For example, why would a parasite evolve to be so detrimental to its host? The answer is often that doing so enhances the parasite's ability to spread or reproduce, even though this comes at the expense of the host organism. The same logic applies to predators, whose hunting techniques might seem gruesome but are the result of generations of natural selection optimizing for efficiency in capturing and consuming prey. Moreover, the "cruelty" we perceive may actually contribute to ecological balance. Predation often targets the sick, old, or weak, leading to stronger prey populations. Some "cruel" behaviors like infanticide in lions have evolved because it resets the reproductive cycle of the females in the pride, allowing the new male to sire offspring and thereby spread his genes. While individual events in nature can seem brutal or cruel when viewed in isolation, they often make sense within the broader context of ecological balance and evolutionary pressures. It's a system not of ethical considerations, but of biological imperatives. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Coastal carpet python pulling up on a brush tailed possum in the middle of the women’s toilets, at an undisclosed campground near Wivenhoe, QLD Australia. It's a good thing this was recorded during the day, because if this was at night you could probably convince the vatican to send an exorcist. The daylight exposes this for what it is, but more importantly for what it is not: a class 6 free floating apparition. This possum has some heft, but that might be because it's not alone: the carpet python killed a female with a (still living) joey. The fact that the snake dropped it gave the folks watching enough time to rescue the joey while still letting the carpet python keep its lunch. I’m not usually an advocate for human interference, but if there were a “right” way to do it, this would be it. The joey doesn’t go down with the ship and the snake doesn't go hungry. 📽 by @jkleidon_ & @kaitlinfrost_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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Down Goes Pumba 📽 by @safaris.juan A nile crocodile’s bite is optimized for annihilating flesh, bone, and sinew, pulverizing prey into submission with ruthless, primal force. At 5,000 psi (pounds per square inch), the bite force of one of these baddies is a staggering amount of pressure, capable of inflicting devastating damage on biological structures. To put it into perspective, imagine the entire weight of a small car, roughly 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, being compressed and concentrated onto the tiny, pinpoint contact areas where the crocodile’s sharp, conical teeth meet their target, delivering devastating pressure capable of crushing bone and any other organic material it so chooses to destroy In their habitat, this allows the crocodile to crush bones, skulls, and tear through the tough hides of prey like warthogs, zebras, or even buffalo, collapsing rib cages or shattering limbs with ease. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nature Is Metal is powered by you! Did you record a wild video that you would like to get featured here? natureismetal.com/submissions is the absolute best place to send it. Our team checks the submission page daily

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