Amphibians and reptiles are masters of survival because they've devised extraordinary tricks and strategies.

A pebble toad escapes a tarantula by curling into a ball and bouncing down a rock face; the basilisk lizard literally runs on water; and a highly venomous sea snake lays its eggs in a safe air-filled cavern underwater.

Extreme slow-motion photography reveals an astonishing image of a chameleon snatching insect prey with its extending, muscle-propelled tongue.

In a television first, the episode reveals the savage hunting techniques of the largest lizard on earth, the nine-foot Komodo dragon.

TELEVISION FIRSTS

• Komodo dragons hunt a water buffalo, ten times their size, biting it repeatedly with their toxic saliva and harassing it over two weeks until it dies.
• A Basilisk lizard walking on water.
• A pebble toad rolling down a mountain, bouncing like a rubber ball, to escape a tarantula.
• A horned lizard attacking the egg-eating patch-nosed snake -- and flipping onto its back to confuse a predatory coachwhip snake.