Big Five, Little Five

Big Five, Little Five is the series premiere of Kratts' Creatures. It teaches about the importance of learning about little creatures as well as the more popular big ones.

Summary
Allison is excited the Kratt brothers' adventure on the African Savannah. The brothers, exploring a city in South Africa, wonder what the "big five" is. They stop in an office to find out, as a tourist leaves, wanting to find the big five. After learning what the big five is, they think that this list of large creatures sounds like a good collection to start looking for. Ttark is surprised that no one has heard of the big five before, and challenges them to look for the little five too. Martin decides to search for the big five while Chris looks for the little five. Ttark does not believe the brothers will succeed, but Allison thinks they will.

The brothers set out on their quest to find the big and little five. Martin soon finds evidence of elephants, and finds a herd of them at a water-hole. He shows how elephants suck water into their trunks and blow it into their mouths; instead of just drinking through their trunks as is generally thought. He then explains elephant defensive behavior and has an elephant dung-ball fight with some local children. Meanwhile, Chris finds a rocky outcrop to search for elephant shrews. After finding some, he figures out that they were named for their nose. Allison searches for information on the buffalo-weaver, and Chris takes a helicopter to find some. Martin then encounters a pride of lions resting in the shade and remarks on their stink. Chris finds a nest of buffalo-weavers building. Ttark is still skeptical of the brothers’ ability to inish the list, and especially to find an ant-lion.

Chris stumbles upon some rhinoceroses, an animal that Martin was trying to find. He explains their love of mud-baths and their similarity to Triceratops. To match Chris, Martin finds a rhinoceros beetle, before getting into the middle of a stampede of African Buffalo, probably caused by a lion. After encountering a leopard tortoise and a leopard who almost attacks Martin, the brothers meet the tourist, excited to have found the big five. They encourage him to find the little five, but he mishears Chris and thinks he should look for the "buffalo-weasel." Having found nine out of ten creatures, the brothers and Allison wonder whether an ant-lion is an ant or a lion. Realizing that it could not be a lion, they look for ants, eventually finding some falling into pits. Within the pits, they find insects, which they realize are ant-lions. Everyone realizes that both big and little creatures are equally fascinating. The brothers exit arguing about who won the contest, before searching for fireflies, to the dismay of Allison.