Remarkable how he works his way, little by little, from gripping a hind leg in his beak, around the belly, to a foreleg, and eventually he has it by the neck. Rats are good at wriggling free and have a good bite, too- quite a feat. It was pretty well strangled at the end, had to go in head-first so the lay of its fur didn't impede progress down the gullet. A lot going on- thanks for the video.
Once every blue moon I get diverted to a video on TH-cam which makes trawling through all the other dross worthwhile. A fascinating video that showed me something in the world I would never otherwise have been able to witness. Really well filmed too. Many thanks Paul.
I have bad news for you. Rats are cannibalistic. If there's plenty of food to go around and the mothers are capable of raising all the babies they give birth to, rats will keep the cannibalism to a minimum-- at least among the living-- because there's no need for it, though they're not at all above eating any dead rats they happen upon, if that's the choicest bit of food they can find in the area. However, rats use cannibalism as a form of both population and resource control. If food starts running short in general, the biggest, fittest rats will start killing and eating the smaller ones, and if a mother rat doesn't think she can raise all her pups successfully, she eats the most expendable of her offspring until she has her litter pared down to a size she can successfully manage. That means a rat's diet often consists of rats, sooooo....
Lies Bus clearly by the time the rat was swallowed it was either dead or unconscious. If unconscious it will die quickly of asphyxiation within the bird’s gut. Maybe you need therapy.
@Lies Bus are you serious ? You've to be kidding, aren't you ? Mice are a worldwide plague, I virtually impossible of killing off, no matter how many of then you kill there will be always thousands more, birds however are endangered, why do mice exist if not for feeding others animals more importants....by the way the word " torture" is applicable only on humans, look for psychological help asap.
Lies Bus you've given me all the "data" I need to profile you boy. You may be able to hide from yourself, but you can't hide from me. I never said there was shame in empathy. However hiding behind narcissism and your weak-minded inability to acknowledge the reality of the planet on which you live is, in fact, shameful. Also, insulting others for your mental and physical shortcomings is sad and quite pathetic. "Civilization's" cracks open up and swallow idiots like you every day. I would feel bad for you, in particular, if you hadn't been so nasty and insulting to so many other people. Be as weak and scared as you want, but don't criticize others for your pathetic existence.
Actually no. Theropods had teeth and you know that. Besides they have fossil evidence of teeth marks on dinosaur herbivores such as hadrosaurs. More like bite, rip, and swallow whole.
I simultaneously admire and loathe the heron for being so efficient at hunting. It was literally impossible for the rat to even hurt the heron, much less save itself. It was completely 100% doomed.
"Ok ok! I saw miss heron in the pond last night. Nothing happened I swear!" "Thank you mr. Rat" for that information. See, that wasn't so hard now was it? Now, for my end of the bargain...." "Oh thank you, thank-----" NOMNOMNOMNOM!!!!!
@@Vasonviper I never said that’s not the case. I’m saying animals don’t reason like humans . They live off instincts alone. So if it’s not apart of their normal day to day instinct , they kill how them know best. Usually herons eat fish as their main meal . So they would never reason like a man or woman and say oooh this is a more efficient way if I drown it
@@MichaelWilson-ep8pc smooth brain take. The only significant difference between human brains and other animal brains is the capacity for language. There’s no reason a bird can’t understand drowning, it probably just used the method it knows best so it’s prey wouldn’t escape.
Another rat bites the dust, and another rat gone, another rat gone, another rat bites the dust! All jokes aside, great piece of filming and thanks for sharing it.
Dublin have much of a heroin use problem? If so, I'm guessing its largely teen and 20+ year olds from around the country who live homeless downtown.. likely clustered around welfare 'hubs' like needle exchange sites? Like I say, that is just a guess but one based on personal observation of metros in the United States and Canada, specifically Portland, Seattle & Vancouver. Interestingly enough, in my hometown city in Texas (approx. 100k people) heroin was virtually unheard of until a few years ago. Cartels sensed a business opportunity with the restricting of opiod availability that began 7 or 8 years ago and filled the 'need' of the suburban opiate addicts here. I'm not sure to what degree it is happening these days, as addicts there do not have the visible presence they do in a large metro.
The heron’s grasp on the rat was very clear at the end of the video but at the beginning of the video it was hard to tell how it had such a solid grasp on the rat.
Since herons eat a lot of fish and amphibians, I wouldn't bee too surprised to learn there were tiny little serrations along the edges of its beak, both top and bottom, to act like teeth. And if those serrations are backwards pointing, once the heron had got a grip on the rat, there really was only one way that rat was going... down!
Holy cow! Dinosaurs: 1, Mammals: 0. You can really see the adaptive advantage of that beak over a fleshy jaw given how the heron eats -- the rat can scratch and gnaw at it all it wants, but it's not going to do any good. I don't feel sorry for rats too often, but that did not look like a fun ordeal. Not an easy operation to go from "caught" to "swallowed" with this big struggling morsel. Given the heron's behavior of dipping its prey in the water to presumably make it go down more easily (?), you'd sort of think some of them would have accidentally discovered that you can drown land prey for easy swallowing if you dunk them for longer, and passed it down via instinct or culture. Anyhow, nice going capturing this! Out of interest, what software are you using for camera deshaking? It's interesting how it slo-mos the clip when it takes effect, and how it clips the borders in one step, rather than doing a zoom. I'm currently going back through all my old videos and remastering them with Gunnar Thalin's Deshaker plugin for VirtualDub. It can achieve pretty amazing and seamless results, but it generally requires a lot of handholding for each different clip (and you have to be careful about color space conversions).
It's not often that I read such an informed and interesting comment on YT. Your curiosity and level of knowledge (specifically, evolutionary biology) must be roughly comparable to mine* because I had much the same thought(s) while watching this video. I wouldn't be surprised if some heron (or heron population) somewhere hasn't figured out the drowning tactic and put it to regular use. Based on what I've seen in the literature and media, tool-use and 'culture' among primates & cetaceans appears to stay localized within groups or geographic populations, even when a species is global or regionally widespread. Makes me wonder to what degree diffusion of culture is restricted among intelligent species, and if complex language - or something else - is the adaptation that changes the paradigm for human, so to speak. As for that beak.. I winced everytime the rat bit it and kept wondering how long it would take for a rat that size to gnaw through at least some outer portion (the keratin layer?) and do some real damage to the heron. I never noticed any indication that the bird had sustained any injury or the rat had struck any vascularized-tissue. Amazing how tough keratin is... *likely a degree of magnitude greater than mine, if I'm being honest..
Sorry, 3 years later, but I believe some herons do drown prey. But this is their normal behaviour. They already do much by changing the menu since their natural prey are fish and amphibian. But that means they do not expect prey to drawn, like crocodiles do.
mike jones It's what I know. Birds are not just birds. All you have to do is look at the feet and legs of an eagle or any bird of prey to know that it's once belonged to the dinosaurs. Unless all these evolutionists and biologists like Attenborough and Hawkins are wrong! I've seen enough programs on wildlife to know I'm right.
😲 OH MY GOSH! Herons are tougher than I thought! And it only used just enough effort to disorient the rat and dunk it at the right time for the rat to die before it swallowed it! A master!
I remember seeing a comment on one of these heron years ago saying something along the lines of ‘the river is his dipping sauce’ and it’s stuck with me ever since 😂
I just love watching herons hunting and I especially liked watching our Nankeen night Herrons, in the evening standing statue still at the edge of the water and then the lightning fast strike on the quarry. The fact that they will eat anything that moves makes them extremely successful in any habitat. One thing I find strange, is the fact that they don’t seem to try and drown the wriggling prey and therefore make it easier to handle. Maybe they like the feeling of the animal kicking all the way down! 🤣👍👏👏
+SoWhat83 well herons are very patient and very skilled. catching a rat one be one of its easier targets. it didnt get lucky,they do this everyday of their lives. just didn't know if you were serious or not.
Not too intelligent though. It could have easily drown the rat in a minute or 2. Drowning it would have been faster, easier to eat and there would be zero chance of the rat ripping a hole in its stomach.
that large beak is such a hard counter to small rodents, i've thought it over and short of nawing its own arm or leg off that rat wasn't going to get away, larger prehistoric birds most have had a heyday during there prime.
taxiuniversum I am so glad that you told me that. Here in South Florida we have “Herons” that stand 14 (fourteen) feet tall. My neighbor's child was eaten by a heron. Or an alligator we’re not sure.
+Chad Hurley ---Herons normally feed on fish and crustaceans. Therefore, it doesn't occur to them to drown something they catch. Fish and crustaceans don't drown.
Mike Foley I think I was quoting whimsically about how superior humans are to birds. But it was just a stupid comment. But I still believe that a large heron ate my neighbors young son.
"Slowly I turn...inch by inch...step by step!" I think herons must like being on camera because every other predator seems to slip behind the bushes, but the heron is like "Hold my beer!"
You would have thought that the heron would have held the rat under & drowned it instead of dunkin' it like a Mcdonut. But who cares? I hate rats! You're my HERO(n)! Btw great video. Steady camera, sharp focus, & NO mindless inane "music". The sound of the brook was beautiful.
Poor Mr Rat, was on his way home after a long day at work... his wife n kids waiting for him. He doesn’t return. His wife is thinking he’s having an affair with some floozy, and she’s plotting what she’ll do to them when she finds out... little does she know, the poor guy spent the last few minutes struggling for his life, pleading with a monster, for he has a wife and kids... without success. His wife will be forever thinking he’s left her for someone else.... Poor Mr Rat 😢💐 RIP.
Hearons seem to be creatures that are so determined to eat the meal once they catch it. There's no. "Ok you put up a good struggle so I'll just let you go," or "oh you're still alive, so I can't swallow you just yet." There's none of that. Imagine something like that, but about nine feet tall. Humans would have no chance. Now thats a scary thought!! But it would certainly make life a bit interesting, wouldn't it? Like, oh f..k! R u n..! the herons are on a homo sapien hunt.🤔😖😖🦖🦖😂😂
Amazing how the heron’s intelligence works. At first he tried hitting the rat against the water to better bite it, then learns how the water alerted the rat and wouldn’t stop fighting for its life and eventually used that as a tool for him to get an idea of the rat’s vital energy.
Actually, herons dip their prey in water to make it easier to slide down the throat. A wet furry body is easier to swallow than a dry furry body. He was simply biding his time waiting for the rat's stamina to exhaust itself to the point where it could no longer harm the heron.
When I was a child I lived on a farm and we had a stream running through woodland. A Great Heron lived there and it used to terrify me. It would stand completely still for hours near the stream like an old man in a grey overcoat completely hidden and if we came across it by accident it would fly off with a great flapping of its enormous wings through the trees clattering the undergrowth and branches.
What a relaxing and pleasant sound from the water.
That's what you got out of this?
Apart from letting the nature doing what it has to do, I enjoy listening to rhythm
@@catfamily2980 i know, i was just messin with you bud, take care
👍🏼😊
Cheers
The rat 🐀 was relaxing and enjoying the sound prior being targeted by the sniper.
Remarkable how he works his way, little by little, from gripping a hind leg in his beak, around the belly, to a foreleg, and eventually he has it by the neck. Rats are good at wriggling free and have a good bite, too- quite a feat. It was pretty well strangled at the end, had to go in head-first so the lay of its fur didn't impede progress down the gullet. A lot going on- thanks for the video.
Well spotted, a very careful patient predator indeed
Ben Carter lol I can't even be bothered to wait until my food cools down to eat it.
@@GoldenGrenadier just keep it moving in your mouth, I do that with soup everytime.
I was curious if the heron would hold the rat underwater until it drowned. Would’ve been quicker and easier. XD
Clearly had a ton of experiences.
Once every blue moon I get diverted to a video on TH-cam which makes trawling through all the other dross worthwhile.
A fascinating video that showed me something in the world I would never otherwise have been able to witness. Really well filmed too. Many thanks Paul.
Itzdat Managgen omg please Fuck me
Ninja turtles doesnt exist poor master.
Thanks
Any animal who's diet consists of rats should automatically be protected!
I have bad news for you. Rats are cannibalistic.
If there's plenty of food to go around and the mothers are capable of raising all the babies they give birth to, rats will keep the cannibalism to a minimum-- at least among the living-- because there's no need for it, though they're not at all above eating any dead rats they happen upon, if that's the choicest bit of food they can find in the area.
However, rats use cannibalism as a form of both population and resource control. If food starts running short in general, the biggest, fittest rats will start killing and eating the smaller ones, and if a mother rat doesn't think she can raise all her pups successfully, she eats the most expendable of her offspring until she has her litter pared down to a size she can successfully manage.
That means a rat's diet often consists of rats, sooooo....
🥂 Here Here!!
I agree! I hare rats!
Hate. (& typos!)
@@AndiGravity 😱😵
I’ve been watching Discovery Channel and animal planet my whole life pretty much I’ve never seen footage like this incredible 😱😱😱🤯
Nicholas Pilto
That’s because Discovery Channel is PC, toned down for millennials & pussies.
Nicolas pito Why you ask? Its because they keep repeating same progams each fucking weeks. Even months....
Nicholas Pito😂
Yup
@@Samuelfish2k Probably yes.
This Heron is very hygienic. Cleans his food before eating.
Jener Sharma that's not why he does this
Dipping sauce
PRO/NRA Trump2020 most bland dipping sauce flavor ever...
Hunter Jenkins According yo who? You have no concept of the bird's taste.
They all seem to do it. I think it is to saturate the fur so it slides down easier. They seem to take time and prepare for swallowing
Wow, that's a horrifying way to die.
The footage is great, though.
@Lies Bus chill out, why you so angry?
Lies Bus clearly by the time the rat was swallowed it was either dead or unconscious. If unconscious it will die quickly of asphyxiation within the bird’s gut. Maybe you need therapy.
@Lies Bus are you serious ? You've to be kidding, aren't you ? Mice are a worldwide plague, I virtually impossible of killing off, no matter how many of then you kill there will be always thousands more, birds however are endangered, why do mice exist if not for feeding others animals more importants....by the way the word " torture" is applicable only on humans, look for psychological help asap.
Lies Bus you've given me all the "data" I need to profile you boy. You may be able to hide from yourself, but you can't hide from me. I never said there was shame in empathy. However hiding behind narcissism and your weak-minded inability to acknowledge the reality of the planet on which you live is, in fact, shameful. Also, insulting others for your mental and physical shortcomings is sad and quite pathetic. "Civilization's" cracks open up and swallow idiots like you every day. I would feel bad for you, in particular, if you hadn't been so nasty and insulting to so many other people. Be as weak and scared as you want, but don't criticize others for your pathetic existence.
Yt Yt bro the bullshit aside the lil fucker was still alive. Herons are known for swallowing things while they are still alive
This is what it's like to get eaten by a dinosaur.
That's crazy I was thinking the same thing
Actually no. Theropods had teeth and you know that. Besides they have fossil evidence of teeth marks on
dinosaur herbivores such as hadrosaurs. More like bite, rip, and swallow whole.
They call them dragons before we killed them all off
Or a heron!
Except dinosaurs have teeth
I simultaneously admire and loathe the heron for being so efficient at hunting. It was literally impossible for the rat to even hurt the heron, much less save itself. It was completely 100% doomed.
The rat can probably hurt the heron, but being at the end of a long beak there is nothing it could do.
much respect to my little mammal friend, he fought hard, totally outmatched, god bless.
What did that rat say to that heron after he got caught?
''You wouldn't shit me, would you?''
Heron is like "Go ahead and struggle, take your time. I'll wait."
I thought then Heron was trying to drown it
Stone cold killer!
Yeah, herons are surprisingly patient and methodical hunters. They don't need a hooked beak, sharp talons, or a strong bite force to kill their prey
Rat had some fight in him, was definitely biting back a few time
He Waterboarded that rat, Got the information he needed. Then ate him.
ha ha ha
😁
"Ok ok! I saw miss heron in the pond last night. Nothing happened I swear!"
"Thank you mr. Rat" for that information. See, that wasn't so hard now was it? Now, for my end of the bargain...."
"Oh thank you, thank-----"
NOMNOMNOMNOM!!!!!
😂😂😂
Very funny lol lol...
The Heron is like a T-Rex with wings
I was thinking more velociraptor
How about Archaeopteryx? (with his own wings).
Only Dinosaurs never existed! Sorry, but I wasn't the one that lied to you. There has never been a change in kind.
@@uppercut2246 yes they did
@@uppercut2246 only a religious idiot believes the lies that was told with no evidence
I was waiting for the Heron to realize it could eat the rat much quicker if it would drown it first.
Yeah me too! But I figured herons don't understand the concept of drowning since they usually eat fish!
@@samwh.9611 or maybe the fact that it’s not a human.
@@MichaelWilson-ep8pc lots of animals drown there prey
@@Vasonviper I never said that’s not the case. I’m saying animals don’t reason like humans . They live off instincts alone. So if it’s not apart of their normal day to day instinct , they kill how them know best. Usually herons eat fish as their main meal . So they would never reason like a man or woman and say oooh this is a more efficient way if I drown it
@@MichaelWilson-ep8pc smooth brain take. The only significant difference between human brains and other animal brains is the capacity for language. There’s no reason a bird can’t understand drowning, it probably just used the method it knows best so it’s prey wouldn’t escape.
Rat: "Halt stalwart stranger if you let me go I will grant you one wish"
Heron: "I wish for you to be my dinner"
Another rat bites the dust, and another rat gone, another rat gone, another rat bites the dust! All jokes aside, great piece of filming and thanks for sharing it.
Practically every predator, from the tiny least weasel to a crocodile, eats rats, yet rats are still everywhere.
Quality content
LMFAO
Now that's a civic-minded heron, helping to clean up the city of vermin
Maybe the city council can train them to get rid of the junkies (Am I right, Dubliners?)
Dublin have much of a heroin use problem?
If so, I'm guessing its largely teen and 20+ year olds from around the country who live homeless downtown.. likely clustered around welfare 'hubs' like needle exchange sites?
Like I say, that is just a guess but one based on personal observation of metros in the United States and Canada, specifically Portland, Seattle & Vancouver.
Interestingly enough, in my hometown city in Texas (approx. 100k people) heroin was virtually unheard of until a few years ago. Cartels sensed a business opportunity with the restricting of opiod availability that began 7 or 8 years ago and filled the 'need' of the suburban opiate addicts here. I'm not sure to what degree it is happening these days, as addicts there do not have the visible presence they do in a large metro.
btw, just assumed you meant heroin users by 'junkies' but its possible you were using the word in a more-encompassing manner, i.e. all drugs
HERON ARE THE VERMIN
@@jrodowens you're completely out of subject. Big facepalm...
I think asian ancestors learnt to use chopsticks by watching the heron.
Lol that's an interesting thought
Could very well be true
Nope not true. I'm part Asian. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE CHOPSTICKS!!!!!!
@@andrewwolflethecatfishmast790 are you an ancestor?
No. Growing up here with my family I never used chopsticks. My Dad is a American and my mom us Filipino. They met when my DAD was in the navy.
I never knew herons were so badass, eating their prey while its alive and kicking.
The bird sure gives the rat lots of time to think about all the mistakes he’s made.
They need to leave a few herons in New York's subway to clean up the rat population.
They are notorious where I live for stealing carp and finding ways around pond netting. Beautiful animals in person
zr de then the herons would be the problem
NY rats are to big for them to swallow...
I prefer the rats in New York to the people.
There Are some herons inside of parks in NYC we need some stoats
Moral of the story - before eating ur food wash it properly 😐
It wasn't washing it. The bird does this for lubrication...
@@gregpasq r/whoosh
Herons want it wet before eating lmao
Ninja turtles doesnt exist poor master.
In this case, lube it, it will slipping much better !
RIP ratty rat! He fought bravely to the very end.
She. And I do believe she was lactating.
+Aliandrin what's that mean?
It means she was a mommy rat. And that Heron just made some orphans.
Evan McCarvill where does she have kids? What gonna happen to them what's she doing in a tree?
I breed rats so i'm all like noooooooooooo but at the same time I know that heron had to eat.
WOW, That footage is amazing.... 😉 😌 😌
I love how it cleans its food
The heron’s grasp on the rat was very clear at the end of the video but at the beginning of the video it was hard to tell how it had such a solid grasp on the rat.
Since herons eat a lot of fish and amphibians, I wouldn't bee too surprised to learn there were tiny little serrations along the edges of its beak, both top and bottom, to act like teeth. And if those serrations are backwards pointing, once the heron had got a grip on the rat, there really was only one way that rat was going... down!
God's perfect engineering at work. Awesome beyond our comprehension.
@@patkaczmarek7362 mashaallah
We were fishing once and we spooked one of these out of a tree and it took a dump on my Dad
Lol
Rat's like..."This ain't gonna be good".
bill martin haha
Ain't?
bill martin ya
When he smelled fish breath!
Needs a beer to chase it down. LOL
We need more herons in this world.
1:34 Waterboarding! LOL
+alan30189 drain water would do this time :)
Lollollollollollollollollollollol
She uses the river as a dipping souse lol
Maybe to drown the rat so that it's dead when it is swallowed.
@E. Nonce wet , the feathers or fur stick to the body of the prey thus making it easier to swallow.
Our distant ancestors versus dinosaurs.
Absolutely fascinating how it uses speed, gravity and the resistance of water to its advantage.
Holy cow! Dinosaurs: 1, Mammals: 0. You can really see the adaptive advantage of that beak over a fleshy jaw given how the heron eats -- the rat can scratch and gnaw at it all it wants, but it's not going to do any good. I don't feel sorry for rats too often, but that did not look like a fun ordeal. Not an easy operation to go from "caught" to "swallowed" with this big struggling morsel. Given the heron's behavior of dipping its prey in the water to presumably make it go down more easily (?), you'd sort of think some of them would have accidentally discovered that you can drown land prey for easy swallowing if you dunk them for longer, and passed it down via instinct or culture.
Anyhow, nice going capturing this! Out of interest, what software are you using for camera deshaking? It's interesting how it slo-mos the clip when it takes effect, and how it clips the borders in one step, rather than doing a zoom. I'm currently going back through all my old videos and remastering them with Gunnar Thalin's Deshaker plugin for VirtualDub. It can achieve pretty amazing and seamless results, but it generally requires a lot of handholding for each different clip (and you have to be careful about color space conversions).
It's not often that I read such an informed and interesting comment on YT. Your curiosity and level of knowledge (specifically, evolutionary biology) must be roughly comparable to mine* because I had much the same thought(s) while watching this video.
I wouldn't be surprised if some heron (or heron population) somewhere hasn't figured out the drowning tactic and put it to regular use. Based on what I've seen in the literature and media, tool-use and 'culture' among primates & cetaceans appears to stay localized within groups or geographic populations, even when a species is global or regionally widespread. Makes me wonder to what degree diffusion of culture is restricted among intelligent species, and if complex language - or something else - is the adaptation that changes the paradigm for human, so to speak.
As for that beak..
I winced everytime the rat bit it and kept wondering how long it would take for a rat that size to gnaw through at least some outer portion (the keratin layer?) and do some real damage to the heron. I never noticed any indication that the bird had sustained any injury or the rat had struck any vascularized-tissue. Amazing how tough keratin is...
*likely a degree of magnitude greater than mine, if I'm being honest..
Sorry, 3 years later, but I believe some herons do drown prey. But this is their normal behaviour. They already do much by changing the menu since their natural prey are fish and amphibian. But that means they do not expect prey to drawn, like crocodiles do.
Life's struggles are for real, remember this when you think you are having a bad day
Scenes like this remind me that birds are basically feathered reptiles.
Sanghoon Lee
Birds are birds, not reptiles.
mike jones The birds closest living relative are crocodilians. They were once featherless and resembled two legged dinosaurs.
quacka 1003
Well, that's what you were probably taught but it's not true.
mike jones It's what I know. Birds are not just birds. All you have to do is look at the feet and legs of an eagle or any bird of prey to know that it's once belonged to the dinosaurs. Unless all these evolutionists and biologists like Attenborough and Hawkins are wrong! I've seen enough programs on wildlife to know I'm right.
mike jones And if you think I'm wrong, where do you think birds came from and how did they evolve? Or do you think the earth is flat?!
Wow, he got it! These birds eat anything, it doesn't matter how big it is. Cool! 😎
MASTER SPLINTER NOOOOO!!!!
#Done
X D
+DrCalviny Genius!
Calviny was waitin’ for Leo, Mike, Don & Ralph to come to the rescue...😐😑😏
Lol there is a reply for every year here (until my comment ruined it)
Ninja turtles doesnt exist poor master.
😲 OH MY GOSH!
Herons are tougher than I thought! And it only used just enough effort to disorient the rat and dunk it at the right time for the rat to die before it swallowed it! A master!
Herrons are tough? The rat is literally 1/100 of the herrons size pogchamp
Excellent..very rare video..how cunning the HERON IS...
That background music of water flowing..just amazing 👏👏
If that was a thinking rat, he would now be thinking ..’oh Sh*t... it’s a Heron, I’m done for... better say my prayers’...
Wow, amazing footage. That rat really struggled, but it didn't stand a chance.
The rat would never give in without a fight
And a pint of Guinness... err... stream water to wash it down!
Never thought of a Heron eating rats before but im glad they do
6:47 me thinking in a mobster accent “Is he just toying with this rat bastard?” 🤣😂
I remember seeing a comment on one of these heron years ago saying something along the lines of ‘the river is his dipping sauce’ and it’s stuck with me ever since 😂
Sir, this is one beautiful capture you made.
Did you just assume the gender of the uploader?
Fascinating footage. Thank you for sharing 👍🏼
That rat is not going to enjoy the rest of it's weekend, that's for sure.
I just love watching herons hunting and I especially liked watching our Nankeen night Herrons, in the evening standing statue still at the edge of the water and then the lightning fast strike on the quarry. The fact that they will eat anything that moves makes them extremely successful in any habitat. One thing I find strange, is the fact that they don’t seem to try and drown the wriggling prey and therefore make it easier to handle. Maybe they like the feeling of the animal kicking all the way down! 🤣👍👏👏
The water keeps flowing like: Just minding my own business.
sad to see, but the world is built on a sea of blood
Joseph Fox im glad it’s killing the rat.
Those animals carry diseases that can wipe humanity or destroys crops causing prices to go up.
@@californiabrotherhood8114 I also reply to comments from 4 years ago
That's the way of life. Everything gets eaten by something else... even we do at the end.
no diet coke with that?
Seven up is better.
سفن اب يمكن احسن هههههههههههههههه
الحيوان مثل الامير ابو منشار المجرم الهارب هههههههههههههههه
LMFAO
Nah nigga, a Corona is what's needed with it.
I was expecting the whole time for the heron to finish off the rat by impaling him with his beak.
Amazing footage - thought I was watching Countryfile for a second - I was mesmerized watching this. Nothing but thanks for sharing this.
Heron is awesome and has one heck of a hunting style
By just submerging the rat in the water for 30 seconds....the end would have been sooner.
yea that is kind of why they are extinct
Duh Bird Brain
Steven S rats can hold their breath for a Long time
Yeah I'll make sure to run that by the heron and see what he thinks. I'll let you know what he says
No sh1t Einstein 😂
At least it looks like the heron does not know, he could easily drown the rat in 2-3 minutes.
It's because he usually eats fish so he doesn't understand the concept of drowning!
Great video, I love to see a rat or mouse getting done in. I hate them both!! Good Job Heron!!
Rat is like "DON'T DUNK ME BRO!".
Great catch bird!
Great video Paul!
Thank you for sharing
What a fascinating video, good catch! Was it patience that got the shot, or luck?
*****
Great work!
what kind of question is that
+David Simmons what kind of a comment is that.
+SoWhat83 well herons are very patient and very skilled. catching a rat one be one of its easier targets. it didnt get lucky,they do this everyday of their lives. just didn't know if you were serious or not.
David Simmons
Learn to read.
"The heron is not known as a bird of prey, but it is a predatory hunting bird." EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE.
It means it doesn't get eaten by any other birds/animals mostly, it hunts and eats other animals, fish etc.,
@Terry Melvin , he is asking about the difference between predator and prey, Heron is not known as prey.
Herons are brutal predators. My favorite bird.
Not too intelligent though. It could have easily drown the rat in a minute or 2. Drowning it would have been faster, easier to eat and there would be zero chance of the rat ripping a hole in its stomach.
I like pelicans. I've seen them float at a standstill on a breeze, looking down at the river.
I've seen Heron and Egret eating fish before. They flip it around until the fins are facing up so they slide down easier. Amazing Birds
Rat: you're breaking my arm dude!
Heron: it gets far worse than that...
Brilliant footage....
The mice is getting smaller and smaller after each dipping into water
that large beak is such a hard counter to small rodents, i've thought it over and short of nawing its own arm or leg off that rat wasn't going to get away, larger prehistoric birds most have had a heyday during there prime.
Crimson King I enjoy your use of the term "hard counter" :)
I love the way herons keep their head perfectly still before lunging like a spear
Rat: *struggles*
Heron: are you hot? Have some water love
Heron dipping the rat in the water like it's sauce
Love happy endings 🖤
herons should eat more rats rather than ducklings :(
Oh, now you're favoring cute little ducklings over rats? Wow, you truly care about nature, little girl. :/
Ducklings are sooo cute, they dont deserve to die, but rats do.
*+Francisco Araújo* Were you being serious, or sarcastic?
Francisco Araújo you are an awful person
The rats like" I don't care if I get eaten but i hate baths".
Stop biting me or you're going in the water again.
Not as bad as seeing the baby duckling get eaten for some reason lol.
i enjoyed both.....good entertainment all round
🦆 are beautiful
never been so captivated with so little action...
HERONS are masters of torture...fascinating.
You're a psycopath.
@@profd65 😅No, i just hate rats.
They would be well used in nyc where they have way to much rats 😂
Love to play this during my morning routine or before bed- and my cats are living their best life listening to it all day while I'm gone!
That heron wasn't that hungry
The Rat almost got away. But like wrestling, one wrong move and dead.
A human being would have drowned the rat.
+Chad Hurley That might have taken longer, though. Apparently, rats can hold their breath for a very long time.
taxiuniversum I am so glad that you told me that. Here in South Florida we have “Herons” that stand 14 (fourteen) feet tall. My neighbor's child was eaten by a heron. Or an alligator we’re not sure.
+Chad Hurley ---Herons normally feed on fish and crustaceans. Therefore, it doesn't occur to them to drown something they catch. Fish and crustaceans don't drown.
Mike Foley I think I was quoting whimsically about how superior humans are to birds. But it was just a stupid comment.
But I still believe that a large heron ate my neighbors young son.
+Chad Hurley That's what I was thinking. Just drown it. I'm sure that it would have taken just a couple of minutes
I'd be more pissed off by the Heron dunking me in the water whenever it felt like it, than scared to death of the thing trying to consume me alive.
rats can swim so i guess it was a way to confuse him before killing it
No I think it's more for lubrication. To make the meal go down easier.
Inane.
I thoroughly enjoyed that. Never hit pause once.
"Slowly I turn...inch by inch...step by step!" I think herons must like being on camera because every other predator seems to slip behind the bushes, but the heron is like "Hold my beer!"
Rats are not predators.
+Cabhan Listis Oh yes they are Cahban! And effective ones at that with a wide range of prey.
kris2fari
I have no idea why I wrote that.
+kris2fari not really they can be carnivorous but they really prefer to eat grain have they had a choice
+kris2fari WP describes predators: "...The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population.".
+hardToSignUpHere Uhm, yes, exactly what rats are, lol.
SPLINTER NOOOOO!
shout up bitch
nno your mom
This is man's real best friend.
The soothing sounds of a babbling brook
You would have thought that the heron would have held the rat under & drowned it instead of dunkin' it like a Mcdonut. But who cares? I hate rats! You're my HERO(n)! Btw great video. Steady camera, sharp focus, & NO mindless inane "music". The sound of the brook was beautiful.
What a great piece of filming! Well done to the cameraman.
Poor Mr Rat, was on his way home after a long day at work... his wife n kids waiting for him. He doesn’t return. His wife is thinking he’s having an affair with some floozy, and she’s plotting what she’ll do to them when she finds out... little does she know, the poor guy spent the last few minutes struggling for his life, pleading with a monster, for he has a wife and kids... without success. His wife will be forever thinking he’s left her for someone else.... Poor Mr Rat 😢💐 RIP.
The rat: damn man... I gotta watch these birds to??🤔🙄
Hearons seem to be creatures that are so determined to eat the meal once they catch it. There's no. "Ok you put up a good struggle so I'll just let you go," or "oh you're still alive, so I can't swallow you just yet." There's none of that. Imagine something like that, but about nine feet tall. Humans would have no chance. Now thats a scary thought!! But it would certainly make life a bit interesting, wouldn't it? Like, oh f..k! R u n..! the herons are on a homo sapien hunt.🤔😖😖🦖🦖😂😂
he dipping that rat like theres ranch dressing in the river... LOL
What amazing footage. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Amazing how the heron’s intelligence works. At first he tried hitting the rat against the water to better bite it, then learns how the water alerted the rat and wouldn’t stop fighting for its life and eventually used that as a tool for him to get an idea of the rat’s vital energy.
Actually, herons dip their prey in water to make it easier to slide down the throat. A wet furry body is easier to swallow than a dry furry body. He was simply biding his time waiting for the rat's stamina to exhaust itself to the point where it could no longer harm the heron.
Rat likely thought he was starring in a Jurassic Park sequel !
When I was a child I lived on a farm and we had a stream running through woodland. A Great Heron lived there and it used to terrify me. It would stand completely still for hours near the stream like an old man in a grey overcoat completely hidden and if we came across it by accident it would fly off with a great flapping of its enormous wings through the trees clattering the undergrowth and branches.
Amazing! Looked like rat's neck and/or back was eventually broken from the rapid shaking allowing the heron to finish the job