Jun 17, 2026 · 14 min · 12 segments
Three seconds. That's all it takes. The cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world. But speed alone doesn't make a successful hunter—and certainly not a sure-footed survivor. This episode…
He stands in the water in the shallow shoreline area between reeds and grass.
He is a calm animal, actually very inconspicuous.
And perhaps you notice something.
Something that cannot be seen.
Take a deep breath.
Can you smell him? Waterbugs have skin glands that produce a musky secretion.
That is basically nothing unusual.
Many animals have that.
But with the male waterbug, it takes on a whole different dimension.
You can often smell an old territorial bull from several hundred meters away, provided the wind is right.
The closer you get, the stronger this heavy musky scent becomes.
And this secretion serves two functions.
First, it acts as a kind of waterproofing for his coat.
His coat becomes more water repellent and dries faster on land.
And secondly, the secretion also serves as a way to mark his territory.
so he doesn't use dung, urine or rub scent glands on trees or bushes.
That's what many other animals do.
He himself is the territorial marker.
You often read and hear that crocodiles and lions avoid waterbugs because of this smell, supposedly because their meat is inedible.
But that's not actually true.
Lions, leopards, wild dogs, hyenas and even crocodiles all like to hunt and eat waterbugs.
The smell is not a protection against attacks.
He stands in the water in the shallow shoreline area between reeds and grass.
He is a calm animal, actually very inconspicuous.
And perhaps you notice something.
Something that cannot be seen.
Take a deep breath.
Can you smell him? Waterbugs have skin glands that produce a musky secretion.
That is basically nothing unusual.
Many animals have that.
But with the male waterbug, it takes on a whole different dimension.
You can often smell an old territorial bull from several hundred meters away, provided the wind is right.
The closer you get, the stronger this heavy musky scent becomes.
And this secretion serves two functions.
First, it acts as a kind of waterproofing for his coat.
His coat becomes more water repellent and dries faster on land.
And secondly, the secretion also serves as a way to mark his territory.
so he doesn't use dung, urine or rub scent glands on trees or bushes.
That's what many other animals do.
He himself is the territorial marker.
You often read and hear that crocodiles and lions avoid waterbugs because of this smell, supposedly because their meat is inedible.
But that's not actually true.
Lions, leopards, wild dogs, hyenas and even crocodiles all like to hunt and eat waterbugs.
The smell is not a protection against attacks.
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