For salmon, the only way home is up. Leaping over waterfalls to reach the spawning grounds where they were born, salmon can put Olympic high jumpers to shame ... but they still have to get past the bears.
", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "World's Weirdest: Salmon Soar Without Wings", "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/fish-animals/bony-fish/weirdest-salmon/", "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [ { "url": "http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/sockeye-salmon/", "name": "Sockeye Salmon Profile" } ] }, "credit": "National Geographic", "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/weirdest-salmon.smil", "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/weirdest-salmon/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/core_media/ngphoto/image/60308_0_616x346.jpg", "transcript": "You may not always need wings to take to the air.
But fins aren't normally associated with flying.
Yet some fish spend a remarkable amount of time out of their native element.
Especially if they're driven by an incredibly strong homing instinct.
Most adult salmon spend their lives at sea.
But when it comes time to lay eggs, they head home, to the river they were born in, a journey that can take thousands of miles.
That's one heck of a class reunion.
Swimming as far as 50 miles a day upstream in a raging torrent isn't exactly easy.
If there's something in the way, there's only one option. Jump.
Legends once told that salmon hurled themselves over waterfalls by taking their tails in their mouths and flinging their bodies into the air, like a bow from an arrow.
Not exactly. Instead, it's all about timing.
The fish use strong upward currents created when falling water displaces the water beneath it.
The currents help propel them over waterfalls and rapids.
But they don't just depend on river conditions.
These fish have more moves than an Olympic high jumper-they can leap more than ten feet into the air.
But charging upstream and jumping waterfalls is much more than the fish equivalent of the decathlon.
It's a death wish.
When the salmon are running, even the laziest predators have easy pickings.
The fish have to just keep swimming and hope for the best.
But for their future babies, life will be even harder.
Less than 10 percent of fry will survive to make the same journey.
Given those odds, a bear's jaws start to look pretty good!
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