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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:01:25,246 --> 00:01:28,158 A forest on the lower slopes of the Andes. 2 00:01:28,326 --> 00:01:30,999 A spectacled bear is looking for a snack. 3 00:02:00,086 --> 00:02:03,920 0ne of the problems that faces us and all animals 4 00:02:04,086 --> 00:02:06,077 is finding enough to eat. 5 00:02:06,246 --> 00:02:10,603 Being animals and not plants, we only feed on other living organisms, 6 00:02:10,766 --> 00:02:14,759 and, by and large, other living organisms don't welcome that. 7 00:02:14,926 --> 00:02:17,520 Animals run away or defend themselves, 8 00:02:17,686 --> 00:02:23,761 and even plants have surprisingly effective ways of preventing anyone from stealing their leaves. 9 00:02:23,926 --> 00:02:26,963 I'm in the South American rainforest - 10 00:02:27,126 --> 00:02:29,924 the richest proliferation of life on Earth - 11 00:02:30,086 --> 00:02:34,557 so you might think that here I'd have no difficulty in finding food, 12 00:02:34,726 --> 00:02:37,479 particularly if I was prepared to be vegetarian. 13 00:02:37,646 --> 00:02:39,716 But it's not as simple as that. 14 00:02:42,166 --> 00:02:46,364 These woolly spider monkeys are taking their first meal of the day. 15 00:02:46,526 --> 00:02:49,598 It might seem to be a gentle, peaceful scene, 16 00:02:49,766 --> 00:02:51,757 but, in fact, it's a battleground. 17 00:02:51,926 --> 00:02:55,680 The tree defends itself by developing poison in its leaves, 18 00:02:55,846 --> 00:02:59,043 but when newly-sprouted, they're just edible, 19 00:02:59,206 --> 00:03:02,801 so the monkeys have to select which they eat with great care. 20 00:03:04,446 --> 00:03:08,485 Even with great discrimination, they will swallow a little poison, 21 00:03:08,646 --> 00:03:11,035 and now they've had as much as they can tolerate. 22 00:03:12,166 --> 00:03:15,363 They move off and find another kind of tree. 23 00:03:38,846 --> 00:03:43,522 This too has poison in its leaves, but it's a slightly different kind, 24 00:03:43,686 --> 00:03:46,803 so the monkeys can take a second course of their meal, 25 00:03:46,966 --> 00:03:49,605 providing they continue to be careful. 26 00:03:58,166 --> 00:04:02,444 Another drawback to eating leaves is that they're not very nutritious, 27 00:04:02,606 --> 00:04:06,201 and the monkey has to eat great quantities to sustain itself. 28 00:04:06,366 --> 00:04:09,358 Huge meals require huge stomachs to hold them, 29 00:04:09,526 --> 00:04:14,475 and that means that the monkeys are not the most nimble of movers 30 00:04:14,646 --> 00:04:16,637 up in the branches. 31 00:04:37,326 --> 00:04:39,442 After an hour or so of feeding, 32 00:04:39,606 --> 00:04:44,726 the need to digest their vast meals demands that they take time off 33 00:04:44,886 --> 00:04:46,558 and have a siesta. 34 00:04:47,686 --> 00:04:50,564 Eating leaves is not easy. 35 00:04:59,366 --> 00:05:01,482 The small red panda of the Himalayas 36 00:05:01,646 --> 00:05:05,798 is one of the few animals that has beaten the defences of the bamboo. 37 00:05:06,366 --> 00:05:10,996 Its leaves are not only very fibrous but armed with tiny blades of silica, 38 00:05:11,166 --> 00:05:13,634 so sharp that they can cut flesh. 39 00:05:13,806 --> 00:05:16,923 But the panda's digestion is able to cope with them 40 00:05:17,086 --> 00:05:20,522 and the reward is that it has all the bamboo it can eat, 41 00:05:20,686 --> 00:05:22,961 since so few other animals will touch it. 42 00:05:32,926 --> 00:05:35,440 Bamboo also grows in Madagascar, 43 00:05:35,606 --> 00:05:39,121 and here the rare golden bamboo lemur feeds on it. 44 00:05:39,286 --> 00:05:42,722 It scissors through the coarse outer leaves on the stem 45 00:05:42,886 --> 00:05:46,879 to reach the marginally softer and more succulent ones within. 46 00:05:50,846 --> 00:05:53,724 Its preferred choice is not so much the leaves 47 00:05:53,886 --> 00:05:57,401 as the new shoots that come up through the ground like spears. 48 00:05:57,566 --> 00:06:00,524 They, of course, are particularly important to the plant 49 00:06:00,686 --> 00:06:02,961 and it loads them with cyanide. 50 00:06:03,126 --> 00:06:06,641 Eating one of these uncooked could kill a man. 51 00:06:06,806 --> 00:06:11,118 The bamboo lemur can only eat them because its stomach produces special juices 52 00:06:11,286 --> 00:06:13,277 that neutralise the poison. 53 00:06:13,846 --> 00:06:16,485 But developing this ability has a price - 54 00:06:16,646 --> 00:06:19,319 the bamboo lemur now can't eat much else. 55 00:06:19,486 --> 00:06:22,922 So if the bamboo disappears, so does the lemur. 56 00:06:27,446 --> 00:06:31,359 The greatest plunderers of leaves, however, are insects. 57 00:06:31,526 --> 00:06:33,801 They're the most numerous creatures on Earth 58 00:06:33,966 --> 00:06:38,642 and a high proportion of them - as caterpillars or adults - eat leaves. 59 00:06:38,806 --> 00:06:41,115 The evidence is everywhere. 60 00:06:47,766 --> 00:06:50,155 Insects are also fussy feeders. 61 00:06:50,326 --> 00:06:54,956 A female lays her eggs on the kind of plant her caterpillar's digestion can cope with, 62 00:06:55,126 --> 00:06:59,517 so when they hatch, they find the food they need immediately in front of them. 63 00:06:59,686 --> 00:07:02,359 They are little more than eating machines - 64 00:07:02,526 --> 00:07:05,882 a pair of jaws attached to a bag-like gut. 65 00:07:06,046 --> 00:07:08,799 No complications with wings and sex organs. 66 00:07:08,966 --> 00:07:11,560 Those will come later when they turn into adults. 67 00:07:11,726 --> 00:07:15,321 Now it's just munch, munch, munch. 68 00:07:28,846 --> 00:07:33,362 Plague beetles have a special way of beating a plant's poison. 69 00:07:33,526 --> 00:07:35,084 Since it's costly to produce, 70 00:07:35,246 --> 00:07:37,362 many plants only keep small stocks 71 00:07:37,526 --> 00:07:41,485 and deter grazers by rapidly deploying it to the point of attack. 72 00:07:42,166 --> 00:07:45,283 But plague beetles descend on a plant in such numbers 73 00:07:45,446 --> 00:07:47,960 that its poison must be shared between many, 74 00:07:48,126 --> 00:07:52,119 and each beetle only gets a tiny and tolerable amount. 75 00:07:59,446 --> 00:08:02,438 It's true that each one only gets a small meal, 76 00:08:02,606 --> 00:08:05,359 but as soon as they've finished with this plant, 77 00:08:05,526 --> 00:08:07,517 they move on to another. 78 00:08:14,846 --> 00:08:18,634 The milkweed invests much more in its defences. 79 00:08:18,806 --> 00:08:22,082 Its abundant and very poisonous sap - latex - 80 00:08:22,246 --> 00:08:26,797 is piped along special veins and is immediately available everywhere. 81 00:08:28,446 --> 00:08:31,563 But this beetle has worked out how to deal with that. 82 00:08:32,686 --> 00:08:35,883 It punctures the pipeline running along the leaf rib, 83 00:08:36,046 --> 00:08:38,844 so that the milky latex leaks out. 84 00:08:47,366 --> 00:08:51,359 As a result, the poison never reaches the end of the leaf, 85 00:08:51,526 --> 00:08:54,484 and there the beetle can feed in safety. 86 00:08:57,166 --> 00:09:02,684 The latex also seals a plant's wounds, because it rapidly solidifies in air. 87 00:09:02,846 --> 00:09:04,723 But since it can't reach here, 88 00:09:04,886 --> 00:09:08,322 the beetle doesn't have any problem with gummed-up jaws. 89 00:09:11,446 --> 00:09:15,439 Marmosets also deliberately wound plants. 90 00:09:15,606 --> 00:09:21,397 They repeatedly gouge grooves in the trunks of trees that, when damaged, exude resin. 91 00:09:22,166 --> 00:09:26,444 Like the milkweed's latex, resin seals off the tree's injuries, 92 00:09:26,606 --> 00:09:30,155 preventing loss of sap and the entry of infections. 93 00:09:32,846 --> 00:09:35,758 But unlike latex, it's not poisonous. 94 00:09:35,926 --> 00:09:39,965 0n the contrary, it's full of sugars and rather good to eat. 95 00:09:43,046 --> 00:09:45,037 And the marmosets love it. 96 00:09:45,206 --> 00:09:51,475 So the tree's measures to defend itself have actually resulted in encouraging its injury. 97 00:10:13,086 --> 00:10:16,362 Not all plants are so uncooperative. 98 00:10:16,526 --> 00:10:20,280 Some actually encourage animals to come and feed from them, 99 00:10:20,446 --> 00:10:24,598 and advertise the fact they've got food with brilliant displays, 100 00:10:24,766 --> 00:10:26,438 as these poppies are doing. 101 00:10:26,606 --> 00:10:31,634 This is not, of course, generosity on their part, but self-interest. 102 00:10:31,806 --> 00:10:34,923 The food they have to offer is a bribe 103 00:10:35,086 --> 00:10:38,123 to persuade the animals to act as couriers. 104 00:10:39,926 --> 00:10:43,885 They need to have their pollen ferried across to other flowers. 105 00:10:44,046 --> 00:10:46,560 Pollen in itself is edible. 106 00:10:46,726 --> 00:10:49,365 Bumblebees have a great taste for it. 107 00:10:54,606 --> 00:10:58,758 Bees have a complex arrangement of cones and brushes on their hind legs 108 00:10:58,926 --> 00:11:00,518 with which they gather pollen 109 00:11:00,686 --> 00:11:02,961 and pack it into baskets on their thighs. 110 00:11:09,766 --> 00:11:12,041 As they move from flower to flower, 111 00:11:12,206 --> 00:11:16,119 the pollen that brushes onto their bodies on one flower 112 00:11:16,286 --> 00:11:20,438 brushes off on another, and the plant's purpose is accomplished. 113 00:11:27,846 --> 00:11:30,360 Pollen, packed with genetic material, 114 00:11:30,526 --> 00:11:32,756 is a complex and expensive commodity, 115 00:11:32,926 --> 00:11:35,520 and many flowers offer a cheaper bribe - 116 00:11:35,686 --> 00:11:38,246 nothing more than sweetened water. 117 00:11:39,366 --> 00:11:41,084 Nectar. 118 00:11:41,766 --> 00:11:46,203 The plant produces it from nectaries usually in the heart of the flower, 119 00:11:46,366 --> 00:11:48,755 so that thirsty insects, to reach it, 120 00:11:48,926 --> 00:11:53,204 have to brush past the stamens, collecting a dusting of pollen. 121 00:11:59,366 --> 00:12:02,039 In temperate lands, flowers can only be found 122 00:12:02,206 --> 00:12:04,561 in the spring and summer when there's no frost, 123 00:12:04,726 --> 00:12:07,559 so insects that shelter from the winter, in nests, 124 00:12:07,726 --> 00:12:10,240 have to build up stocks as quickly as they can. 125 00:12:10,406 --> 00:12:13,478 They have, in fact, to be as busy as bees. 126 00:12:18,246 --> 00:12:20,077 In the tropics, on the other hand, 127 00:12:20,246 --> 00:12:23,283 there are always plants of one kind or another in bloom, 128 00:12:23,446 --> 00:12:26,404 so it's possible to feed on nectar throughout the year, 129 00:12:26,566 --> 00:12:28,796 and many animals do. 130 00:12:30,006 --> 00:12:33,521 This vine, combretum, is particularly generous. 131 00:12:33,686 --> 00:12:37,156 Almost any animal that wants nectar can get it without difficulty 132 00:12:37,326 --> 00:12:39,123 when the plant is in flower. 133 00:12:39,286 --> 00:12:43,120 Many birds which feed on fruit, berries, or even insects, 134 00:12:43,286 --> 00:12:45,038 come to drink from it. 135 00:12:51,486 --> 00:12:53,124 And so do monkeys. 136 00:12:53,286 --> 00:12:56,801 The smaller kinds - squirrel monkeys, tamarins and marmosets - 137 00:12:56,966 --> 00:13:00,197 can clamber right out onto the thinner branches. 138 00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:23,158 Even the much bigger hefty capuchins, 139 00:13:23,326 --> 00:13:27,205 which feed on fruit, nestling birds, lizards and even, on occasion, 140 00:13:27,366 --> 00:13:30,358 small monkeys, enjoy a sweet drink. 141 00:13:49,846 --> 00:13:51,438 As all the monkeys feed, 142 00:13:51,606 --> 00:13:54,564 so the stamens brush the fur on their face, 143 00:13:54,726 --> 00:13:57,638 and the pollen is on its way to another flower. 144 00:14:03,366 --> 00:14:05,834 Nectar feeding has its problems. 145 00:14:06,006 --> 00:14:08,042 A heliconia flower, like this one, 146 00:14:08,206 --> 00:14:10,959 produces only a little nectar at a time. 147 00:14:11,126 --> 00:14:14,084 So if a hummingbird comes to feed from here, 148 00:14:14,246 --> 00:14:16,806 it has to go elsewhere to get more, 149 00:14:16,966 --> 00:14:20,800 so bringing about the heliconia's purpose of cross-pollination. 150 00:14:20,966 --> 00:14:25,278 And it takes a little time for the heliconia to produce more nectar, 151 00:14:25,446 --> 00:14:29,485 so if the hummingbird comes back too soon it's wasted its journey; 152 00:14:29,646 --> 00:14:34,003 too late, and another bird may have stolen the nectar. 153 00:14:34,166 --> 00:14:38,762 As a consequence, hummingbirds patrol a group of these plants, 154 00:14:38,926 --> 00:14:42,362 visiting each flower in strict rotation 155 00:14:42,526 --> 00:14:44,642 to an accurately timed schedule. 156 00:14:52,166 --> 00:14:54,361 And he was right on time. 157 00:15:05,606 --> 00:15:07,915 Hummingbirds are among the few animals 158 00:15:08,086 --> 00:15:12,284 that live almost entirely on nectar - they also eat small insects - 159 00:15:12,446 --> 00:15:15,438 and they've developed special equipment to collect it. 160 00:15:16,526 --> 00:15:20,565 The wings have joints that enable them to beat with a whirling motion, 161 00:15:20,726 --> 00:15:23,115 giving perfect control in the air. 162 00:15:24,246 --> 00:15:29,479 So it can hover in front of a flower and insert its beak with absolute precision. 163 00:15:35,366 --> 00:15:37,834 The tongue is long and thread-like 164 00:15:38,006 --> 00:15:40,884 and flicks in and out thirteen times a second. 165 00:15:50,606 --> 00:15:52,358 But this specialisation 166 00:15:52,526 --> 00:15:55,324 means that hummingbirds can feed on almost nothing else, 167 00:15:55,486 --> 00:15:57,875 and that puts them in the plant's power. 168 00:15:58,046 --> 00:16:02,915 It may seem that this hummingbird is deciding which flower to drink from, 169 00:16:03,086 --> 00:16:07,876 but you could argue that the plant, by controlling nectar production, 170 00:16:08,046 --> 00:16:10,401 is dictating the movements of the hummingbird. 171 00:16:14,086 --> 00:16:17,522 Many hummingbirds have a bill which, in its length and curvature, 172 00:16:17,686 --> 00:16:23,079 exactly matches the shape and dimensions of the particular flower on which they mostly feed. 173 00:16:23,246 --> 00:16:26,921 The violet sabre-wing's beak fits into the columnea flower 174 00:16:27,086 --> 00:16:30,601 as accurately as a dagger slipping into a scabbard. 175 00:16:34,686 --> 00:16:38,759 And the flower has stamens placed in precisely the position needed 176 00:16:38,926 --> 00:16:42,077 to put a dab of pollen on the bird's forehead. 177 00:16:46,646 --> 00:16:50,116 So the sabre-wing and columnea have become partners. 178 00:16:50,286 --> 00:16:53,039 This suits columnea because its pollen is not taken 179 00:16:53,206 --> 00:16:56,915 by hummingbirds feeding on other kinds of flowers, and so wasted. 180 00:16:57,086 --> 00:16:58,599 And it suits the sabre-wing 181 00:16:58,766 --> 00:17:01,838 because, since no other bird has this shape of bill, 182 00:17:02,006 --> 00:17:04,998 it has all the columnea nectar to itself. 183 00:17:11,246 --> 00:17:12,964 But not quite. 184 00:17:13,126 --> 00:17:16,038 The mountain gem hummer has other ideas. 185 00:17:16,206 --> 00:17:19,596 It's waiting for the flower's partner to leave. 186 00:17:25,526 --> 00:17:30,156 Its bill is too short to reach the nectar as the sabre-wing does. 187 00:17:30,326 --> 00:17:34,285 With a thrust from its wings, it tries to pierce the flower. 188 00:17:50,006 --> 00:17:53,203 This time, it holds the flower with its feet. 189 00:17:54,526 --> 00:17:58,041 It's broken in. Columnea has been burgled. 190 00:18:02,086 --> 00:18:06,045 Another thief, only too eager to take advantage of a flower. 191 00:18:08,166 --> 00:18:10,634 Indian langur monkeys. 192 00:18:12,926 --> 00:18:15,565 The flowers of the flame-of-the-forest 193 00:18:15,726 --> 00:18:19,878 are protected from raiders by being placed at the ends of long, thorny twigs, 194 00:18:20,046 --> 00:18:24,119 so they're reserved for their particular pollinators, birds. 195 00:18:26,446 --> 00:18:29,916 But langurs find them very tempting. 196 00:18:46,006 --> 00:18:48,884 This of course is disastrous for the tree. 197 00:18:49,046 --> 00:18:53,039 Its complex, subtle mechanisms for getting its seeds fertilised, 198 00:18:53,206 --> 00:18:57,165 evolved over millions of years, are being chewed to pieces. 199 00:19:07,246 --> 00:19:09,601 Even the remotest flowers aren't safe, 200 00:19:09,766 --> 00:19:12,155 for the young babies, braving the thorns, 201 00:19:12,326 --> 00:19:16,160 can clamber right out onto the thinnest branches without them breaking. 202 00:19:17,366 --> 00:19:20,438 In the continuous struggle between animals and plants, 203 00:19:20,606 --> 00:19:24,315 this round has certainly been lost by the plant. 204 00:19:33,926 --> 00:19:38,204 In the lush forests of the tropics, where flowers bloom all year, 205 00:19:38,366 --> 00:19:42,644 animals that feed on nectar can always find a drink somewhere. 206 00:19:42,806 --> 00:19:47,402 But in other parts of the world, where the winters are bitterly cold, 207 00:19:47,566 --> 00:19:49,841 or here in the deserts of Australia, 208 00:19:50,006 --> 00:19:52,839 where flowers only bloom after brief rains, 209 00:19:53,006 --> 00:19:57,204 animals that rely on nectar have to have some way of storing it 210 00:19:57,366 --> 00:19:59,926 to last them through the hard times. 211 00:20:00,086 --> 00:20:04,796 These mulga trees produce nectar on which ants feed, 212 00:20:04,966 --> 00:20:08,481 and they have the most extraordinary larders. 213 00:20:12,846 --> 00:20:18,204 The galleries of their nests lie four feet or so below the surface of the ground. 214 00:20:24,246 --> 00:20:27,522 These golden globes hanging from the roof 215 00:20:27,686 --> 00:20:30,723 are their storage pots, full of honey. 216 00:20:30,886 --> 00:20:32,444 Each one is alive - 217 00:20:32,606 --> 00:20:36,679 an ant with an abdomen expanded to the size of a grape. 218 00:20:37,366 --> 00:20:40,244 The small dark flecks are the hard plates 219 00:20:40,406 --> 00:20:43,045 which protect the body of a normal-sized ant. 220 00:20:43,206 --> 00:20:46,198 It's the membrane between them that has stretched. 221 00:20:48,166 --> 00:20:51,715 These bloated individuals are almost totally inactive, 222 00:20:51,886 --> 00:20:55,196 so they consume little of the honey that they hold. 223 00:20:55,366 --> 00:20:57,675 It is drunk by the busy workers 224 00:20:57,846 --> 00:21:00,485 who, when there's little food above ground, 225 00:21:00,646 --> 00:21:04,764 come down here and induce the honeypots to regurgitate it. 226 00:21:13,366 --> 00:21:16,563 The workers also tend the swollen bodies, 227 00:21:16,726 --> 00:21:19,240 keeping them well-groomed and clean. 228 00:21:22,526 --> 00:21:26,075 During good times, the workers collect all the nectar they can 229 00:21:26,246 --> 00:21:30,603 and take it down to the larders to top up the colony's storage jars 230 00:21:30,766 --> 00:21:33,644 by feeding it to them drop by drop. 231 00:21:53,926 --> 00:21:58,841 The people who have roamed these deserts for millennia - Aborigines - 232 00:21:59,006 --> 00:22:02,715 have always valued these ants as one of their few sources of sugar, 233 00:22:02,886 --> 00:22:05,798 and they eat them just as they are. 234 00:22:08,366 --> 00:22:10,084 Mmmm. 235 00:22:13,286 --> 00:22:15,197 Mmmm. 236 00:22:15,366 --> 00:22:20,235 It's liquid, warm, and marvellously sweet. 237 00:22:24,166 --> 00:22:25,838 A few weeks after flowering, 238 00:22:26,006 --> 00:22:29,681 many plants tempt animals with another food - fruit. 239 00:22:29,846 --> 00:22:31,837 They have another problem. 240 00:22:32,006 --> 00:22:34,884 Their seeds are formed and need to be distributed. 241 00:22:35,046 --> 00:22:37,560 By wrapping them in sweet edible pulp, 242 00:22:37,726 --> 00:22:40,240 they recruit lots of animals to do the job. 243 00:22:48,006 --> 00:22:52,761 The trees dissuade animals from collecting the fruit before the seeds are fully developed 244 00:22:52,926 --> 00:22:56,316 by not producing the sugars in it until the last moment. 245 00:22:56,486 --> 00:23:00,559 So unripe fruit tastes bitter and is really not worth picking. 246 00:23:08,686 --> 00:23:12,395 To indicate when it is, the fruit often changes colour. 247 00:23:14,326 --> 00:23:17,318 Squirrel monkeys are primarily fruit eaters. 248 00:23:17,486 --> 00:23:20,319 They move about in large groups of 40 or so, 249 00:23:20,486 --> 00:23:25,355 and must wander over a great area to find all the fruit they need. 250 00:23:27,206 --> 00:23:30,357 Capuchins, on the other hand, live in small families, 251 00:23:30,526 --> 00:23:33,677 each with its own patch of forest. 252 00:23:33,846 --> 00:23:35,438 They eat all kinds of things, 253 00:23:35,606 --> 00:23:39,201 but if there's fruit in their territory, they'll know about it. 254 00:23:42,526 --> 00:23:46,041 So although the squirrel monkeys are frightened of the bigger capuchins, 255 00:23:46,206 --> 00:23:48,800 they still follow them as they forage. 256 00:24:03,766 --> 00:24:08,635 There may be something for the capuchin - a lizard maybe - but no fruit. 257 00:24:09,926 --> 00:24:13,839 So the squirrel monkey is not interested and must wait. 258 00:24:20,526 --> 00:24:22,562 The capuchin moves on. 259 00:24:28,686 --> 00:24:31,439 And the squirrel monkeys follow. 260 00:24:36,766 --> 00:24:39,519 As the capuchins get near the fruiting tree, 261 00:24:39,686 --> 00:24:42,996 the squirrel monkeys, perhaps smelling the fruit, scamper ahead 262 00:24:43,166 --> 00:24:48,843 to try and get to it before the more powerful capuchins reach it and drive them off. 263 00:25:01,366 --> 00:25:05,359 Now they must grab as much as they can as quickly as they can. 264 00:25:20,246 --> 00:25:22,043 The capuchins arrive. 265 00:25:45,526 --> 00:25:47,994 It's time for the squirrel monkeys to go. 266 00:25:48,166 --> 00:25:52,000 They take with them, inside their stomachs, the tree's seeds. 267 00:25:52,166 --> 00:25:56,478 They pass through the monkeys and then, some distance away, 268 00:25:56,646 --> 00:26:00,116 they're deposited with a convenient dollop of fertiliser. 269 00:26:03,326 --> 00:26:06,557 Seeds themselves are packed with nourishment, 270 00:26:06,726 --> 00:26:08,717 so plants enclose them in shells 271 00:26:08,886 --> 00:26:11,605 which can be strong enough to defeat even a mangabey. 272 00:26:12,326 --> 00:26:14,317 Victory to the plant. 273 00:26:15,926 --> 00:26:19,043 But the chimp is so clever, it can crack them. 274 00:26:21,766 --> 00:26:24,041 Victory to the animal. 275 00:26:27,846 --> 00:26:33,045 Sharp teeth enable an agouti to chisel into the acorn of a tropical oak. 276 00:26:36,166 --> 00:26:38,157 In spite of the acorn's armour, 277 00:26:38,326 --> 00:26:41,602 it seems that the oak has lost this contest. 278 00:26:42,446 --> 00:26:43,925 But not totally. 279 00:26:44,086 --> 00:26:48,045 The oak produces more acorns than the agouti can eat immediately. 280 00:26:48,206 --> 00:26:52,245 Those that it can't, it carries away and buries for later. 281 00:27:01,926 --> 00:27:04,759 But an agouti's memory is not infallible. 282 00:27:04,926 --> 00:27:07,599 0ccasionally, it will forget about an acorn, 283 00:27:07,766 --> 00:27:10,644 which may germinate and grow into a new oak. 284 00:27:10,806 --> 00:27:13,320 That will be a victory for the plant. 285 00:27:16,646 --> 00:27:20,400 Perhaps the most extraordinary of all tools for nut eating 286 00:27:20,566 --> 00:27:25,003 is wielded by a strange Madagascan lemur, the aye-aye. 287 00:27:32,326 --> 00:27:37,958 First it gnaws a hole, then scoops out the contents with this long bony probe, 288 00:27:38,126 --> 00:27:42,881 which is, in fact, its finger, but one quite unlike its others. 289 00:27:46,766 --> 00:27:51,078 This curious digit serves just as well for eating a grub. 290 00:27:51,246 --> 00:27:54,841 The aye-aye uses it to mash up the body in its burrow, 291 00:27:55,006 --> 00:27:57,520 and then flicks out the pur�e. 292 00:28:02,846 --> 00:28:05,804 The spiny pocket mouse has a double problem. 293 00:28:05,966 --> 00:28:10,403 The seed it's gnawing is not only hard-shelled but packed with poison. 294 00:28:10,566 --> 00:28:14,275 The mouse does nothing more than puncture the shell. 295 00:28:14,446 --> 00:28:18,678 It then tucks it into its cheek and carries it back to its burrow. 296 00:28:20,086 --> 00:28:23,396 The hole in the shell stimulates the seed to germinate, 297 00:28:23,566 --> 00:28:26,717 and the tender white shoot that leaves the protection of the shell 298 00:28:26,886 --> 00:28:28,877 is poison-free. 299 00:28:38,686 --> 00:28:43,396 The macaw has, almost certainly, the most powerful nutcracker of all. 300 00:28:43,566 --> 00:28:47,161 It can demolish even the most resistant of nuts. 301 00:28:47,326 --> 00:28:51,365 Many of the seeds macaws eat are also filled with poison, 302 00:28:51,526 --> 00:28:54,199 yet this doesn't seem to upset them. 303 00:28:54,366 --> 00:28:56,357 How do they survive? 304 00:28:59,726 --> 00:29:03,002 Every day, they make long journeys through the forest 305 00:29:03,166 --> 00:29:06,158 to dose themselves with a special antidote. 306 00:29:15,846 --> 00:29:18,565 Macaws usually fly in pairs. 307 00:29:18,726 --> 00:29:22,685 0nly in such places as this do they assemble in flocks. 308 00:29:35,246 --> 00:29:38,124 They've come to collect their medicine. 309 00:29:38,286 --> 00:29:42,757 The regular presence of so many birds attracts eagles and other predators, 310 00:29:42,926 --> 00:29:45,918 so before the macaws come out of the trees, 311 00:29:46,086 --> 00:29:48,441 they want to be sure that it's safe to do so. 312 00:29:48,606 --> 00:29:53,521 They wait for one bird, braver than the rest, to make the first move. 313 00:29:55,326 --> 00:29:59,080 There it goes. And this is what they're after. 314 00:30:00,126 --> 00:30:01,525 Kaolin. 315 00:30:01,686 --> 00:30:04,041 The soil in this river bank is rich in it. 316 00:30:04,206 --> 00:30:08,961 Several kinds of parrots and macaws come here every day from miles around 317 00:30:09,126 --> 00:30:11,117 to take the treatment. 318 00:30:18,166 --> 00:30:20,999 Kaolin combats acidity in the stomach, 319 00:30:21,166 --> 00:30:23,760 absorbs and neutralises poisons. 320 00:30:23,926 --> 00:30:27,919 As a bonus, this clay is rich in calcium and sodium, 321 00:30:28,086 --> 00:30:31,442 which is lacking in diets that consist of fruit and nuts. 322 00:30:58,166 --> 00:31:02,921 So eating plants poses more problems than one might think. 323 00:31:03,086 --> 00:31:08,877 But eating other animals, even small defenceless ones, also has its difficulties. 324 00:31:10,446 --> 00:31:13,040 It's dawn on the east coast of England, 325 00:31:13,206 --> 00:31:17,165 the middle of winter and food is very scarce. 326 00:31:17,326 --> 00:31:22,195 But behind me is a huge and abundantly stocked larder. 327 00:31:22,366 --> 00:31:25,039 Its doors have been shut for the past three hours, 328 00:31:25,206 --> 00:31:29,563 but now the tide is on the turn, and for a horde of hungry animals, 329 00:31:29,726 --> 00:31:31,603 their waiting is almost over. 330 00:31:34,166 --> 00:31:38,159 Tens of thousands of knot and dunlin have assembled on a lagoon 331 00:31:38,326 --> 00:31:40,601 on the other side of the sand dunes. 332 00:32:04,246 --> 00:32:07,921 They've sensed that the tide has exposed a mudbank. 333 00:32:08,086 --> 00:32:10,361 Breakfast is served. 334 00:32:20,926 --> 00:32:25,477 Millions of tiny molluscs are buried just below the surface of this mud 335 00:32:25,646 --> 00:32:29,321 and the birds are feeling for them with their bills. 336 00:32:38,846 --> 00:32:41,155 Abundant though the food is out there, 337 00:32:41,326 --> 00:32:44,159 collecting it is a very dangerous business. 338 00:32:44,326 --> 00:32:46,521 It's very exposed on the mudflats - 339 00:32:46,686 --> 00:32:49,154 there's nowhere to hide, nothing to dodge behind, 340 00:32:49,326 --> 00:32:54,241 and the birds deal with that problem by sticking together in tight flocks. 341 00:32:54,406 --> 00:32:59,605 That way, each bird has a thousand eyes ready to spot danger. 342 00:33:11,526 --> 00:33:16,998 But if that is such a good idea, why is this redshank out on its own? 343 00:33:20,846 --> 00:33:24,122 It's hunting, not by touch, but by sight, 344 00:33:24,286 --> 00:33:28,677 and it's searching for its favourite food - small shrimp-like crustaceans. 345 00:33:28,846 --> 00:33:33,362 If they are alarmed by ripples or vibrations produced by many moving feet, 346 00:33:33,526 --> 00:33:37,155 they will disappear into the mud where the redshank can't see them, 347 00:33:37,326 --> 00:33:39,317 and so can't find them. 348 00:33:41,766 --> 00:33:45,645 So if a redshank wants to catch this more swiftly-moving food, 349 00:33:45,806 --> 00:33:49,481 it has to forage by itself, despite the risks. 350 00:33:54,326 --> 00:33:58,877 And if it does become a little alarmed, it just squats. 351 00:34:02,166 --> 00:34:06,364 Some waters are so rich in food, there's plenty for everybody. 352 00:34:06,526 --> 00:34:10,678 0n this Indian lagoon, there are storks, herons and egrets, 353 00:34:10,846 --> 00:34:13,155 openbills and spoonbills. 354 00:34:13,326 --> 00:34:16,159 Each has its own particular beak technique 355 00:34:16,326 --> 00:34:18,476 with which to catch its favoured prey - 356 00:34:18,646 --> 00:34:22,321 probing and sieving, scything and stabbing. 357 00:35:07,246 --> 00:35:10,955 Even parts of the open sea, like this bay in the West Indies, 358 00:35:11,126 --> 00:35:13,799 at certain times become so thick with fish 359 00:35:13,966 --> 00:35:17,117 that they can support great flocks of fishermen. 360 00:35:32,166 --> 00:35:35,556 Barracuda - among the most ferocious hunters in the sea. 361 00:35:35,726 --> 00:35:39,958 They regularly drive shoals of small fish into the bay. 362 00:35:50,566 --> 00:35:52,921 (SCREECHING) 363 00:36:16,766 --> 00:36:18,757 The pelicans can tackle the shoals 364 00:36:18,926 --> 00:36:21,804 even when they're a foot or two beneath the surface. 365 00:36:41,086 --> 00:36:45,477 But a pelican can only swallow the fish it's scooped up in its bill 366 00:36:45,646 --> 00:36:47,876 if it lets the water drain out first. 367 00:36:48,046 --> 00:36:51,118 To do that, it must open its beak slightly, 368 00:36:51,286 --> 00:36:54,164 and that is the moment the gulls are waiting for. 369 00:37:20,766 --> 00:37:24,918 Few places on land offer quite the density and richness of animal food 370 00:37:25,086 --> 00:37:28,044 that can be found in parts of the sea such as this. 371 00:37:28,206 --> 00:37:31,960 But one kind of land animal does swarm in vast numbers, 372 00:37:32,126 --> 00:37:36,563 and this little long-eared tenrec from Madagascar is in search of them. 373 00:37:44,366 --> 00:37:46,243 They can be sniffed for, 374 00:37:46,406 --> 00:37:49,478 but the tenrec's huge ears also help to locate them, 375 00:37:49,646 --> 00:37:53,924 for they make a faint rustling noise as they scurry along their pathways. 376 00:38:00,126 --> 00:38:01,445 Termites. 377 00:38:01,606 --> 00:38:05,394 The juicy, soft-bodied workers are largely defenceless. 378 00:38:06,366 --> 00:38:08,755 But with them come soldiers. 379 00:38:08,926 --> 00:38:13,636 This kind squirt noxious chemical sprays from nozzles on their heads. 380 00:38:29,766 --> 00:38:32,234 The tenrec, with its sensitive nose, 381 00:38:32,406 --> 00:38:35,000 can tolerate a certain amount of chemical spray, 382 00:38:35,166 --> 00:38:38,078 but after a while it just has to come up for air. 383 00:39:04,366 --> 00:39:07,438 Termites are hugely abundant in the tropics, 384 00:39:07,606 --> 00:39:11,235 and many different kinds of animals collect them when they get the chance. 385 00:39:18,606 --> 00:39:22,679 A small gecko in the deserts of Australia eats little else. 386 00:39:22,846 --> 00:39:24,996 The problem is those soldiers. 387 00:39:25,166 --> 00:39:27,521 But it is such a fastidious and accurate feeder, 388 00:39:27,686 --> 00:39:31,998 it can avoid them and pick out the defenceless workers one by one. 389 00:39:40,606 --> 00:39:43,074 0f all food-collecting devices, 390 00:39:43,246 --> 00:39:47,637 the most ingenious and elegant must be the webs of orb spiders. 391 00:39:47,806 --> 00:39:50,559 It's nearly always the females who build them. 392 00:39:52,766 --> 00:39:58,159 0ne starts by rigging filaments of silk across a flyway used by insects. 393 00:40:10,926 --> 00:40:14,157 Around the spokes, using silk of a different kind, 394 00:40:14,326 --> 00:40:17,079 she sets a spiral mesh. 395 00:40:18,366 --> 00:40:21,676 As she secures each section, she twangs it, 396 00:40:21,846 --> 00:40:23,677 so that the glue with which it's coated 397 00:40:23,846 --> 00:40:26,599 breaks up into a line of sticky beads. 398 00:40:34,006 --> 00:40:38,238 0ne of the biggest of these webs, which may be two yards across, 399 00:40:38,406 --> 00:40:41,443 is constructed by the nephila spider. 400 00:40:44,526 --> 00:40:46,118 She is huge. 401 00:40:46,286 --> 00:40:50,518 Her legs can span six inches and she's virtually blind. 402 00:40:52,006 --> 00:40:55,681 A fly blundering into her web is quickly seized. 403 00:40:58,006 --> 00:41:00,281 She rapidly injects it with a venom 404 00:41:00,446 --> 00:41:02,960 that will liquefy the contents of its body. 405 00:41:07,606 --> 00:41:09,801 She then wraps it up in silk 406 00:41:09,966 --> 00:41:13,754 and parks it on the web to allow the venom to take effect. 407 00:41:33,446 --> 00:41:36,643 But nephila is not alone on her web. 408 00:41:37,606 --> 00:41:41,758 Argyrodes is tiny, much smaller even than the fly. 409 00:41:41,926 --> 00:41:44,724 She could easily become a meal for nephila. 410 00:41:44,886 --> 00:41:49,721 She too is blind, but she's also felt the vibrations of the fly. 411 00:41:50,926 --> 00:41:53,838 With what seems like suicidal recklessness, 412 00:41:54,006 --> 00:41:57,442 she approaches nephila, still feasting on her prey. 413 00:42:04,926 --> 00:42:09,158 And she too begins to eat food that nephila not only caught, 414 00:42:09,326 --> 00:42:11,886 but has conveniently pre-digested. 415 00:42:14,246 --> 00:42:16,840 Another capture calls nephila away. 416 00:42:24,606 --> 00:42:27,996 0nce again, she stabs the fly, trusses it up 417 00:42:28,166 --> 00:42:30,999 and carries it away to hang on the side of the web. 418 00:42:31,166 --> 00:42:33,043 She'll eat that later. 419 00:42:38,006 --> 00:42:41,794 Argyrodes seems well aware of what's going on. 420 00:42:51,086 --> 00:42:54,396 As soon as nephila has hung up her latest catch, 421 00:42:54,566 --> 00:42:58,002 argyrodes starts trying to discover its position 422 00:42:58,166 --> 00:43:00,521 by pulling the web filaments. 423 00:43:15,366 --> 00:43:18,961 Nephila has returned to finish her first meal. 424 00:43:25,166 --> 00:43:29,603 Meanwhile, argyrodes has run a line from the top of the web to the fly, 425 00:43:29,766 --> 00:43:31,757 which she's now cutting loose. 426 00:43:53,846 --> 00:43:57,839 0nce the fly is free of the web, she lowers it down. 427 00:44:12,366 --> 00:44:15,915 The stolen fly is now hanging entirely free. 428 00:44:16,086 --> 00:44:18,725 Nephila won't be able to reclaim it now, 429 00:44:18,886 --> 00:44:25,200 but argyrodes must get it to a place where she can feed on it in safety. 430 00:44:25,606 --> 00:44:28,643 Step by step, she heaves it up. 431 00:44:28,806 --> 00:44:31,479 Her theft is complete. 432 00:44:36,846 --> 00:44:40,805 Tropic birds nest on this cliff in Tobago in the West Indies. 433 00:44:40,966 --> 00:44:42,763 They're magnificent fliers, 434 00:44:42,926 --> 00:44:47,636 able to exploit all the currents of the air with spectacular ease. 435 00:44:54,366 --> 00:44:55,958 They fish out at sea, 436 00:44:56,126 --> 00:44:59,835 and every day the hard-working parents return to their nests 437 00:45:00,006 --> 00:45:02,201 with crops full of food for the family. 438 00:45:16,006 --> 00:45:21,763 18th-century frigates were swift, heavily-armed warships which plundered merchantmen. 439 00:45:21,926 --> 00:45:23,803 These are frigate birds. 440 00:45:27,006 --> 00:45:29,759 The fishing fleet is returning. 441 00:46:25,606 --> 00:46:28,166 The frigate wasn't trying to kill the tropic bird, 442 00:46:28,326 --> 00:46:31,238 only to make it surrender its cargo of fish. 443 00:46:31,406 --> 00:46:34,478 But it'll have to find a less determined victim. 444 00:46:36,006 --> 00:46:40,238 The usual tactic is to come up astern of the chosen victim 445 00:46:40,406 --> 00:46:42,442 and grab its leg or tail. 446 00:46:51,846 --> 00:46:53,245 It surrenders. 447 00:46:53,406 --> 00:46:56,842 There goes the disgorged fish, and the frigate catches it. 448 00:47:44,366 --> 00:47:46,482 The frigates aren't always successful. 449 00:47:46,646 --> 00:47:49,444 Watching them, you can't help wondering 450 00:47:49,606 --> 00:47:52,723 if it wouldn't be easier to catch the fish themselves, 451 00:47:52,886 --> 00:47:54,763 and indeed they often do. 452 00:47:54,926 --> 00:47:58,555 But they seem positively to enjoy a life of piracy. 453 00:48:00,686 --> 00:48:03,564 As to the tropic birds, most of them escape, 454 00:48:03,726 --> 00:48:06,638 and those that are caught only lose a few fish. 455 00:48:06,806 --> 00:48:11,800 But it's only a short step between robbing your victim and killing him, 456 00:48:11,966 --> 00:48:15,356 for the pirate to become a hunter. 457 00:48:15,526 --> 00:48:18,324 And that raises a completely new set of problems. 458 00:48:18,486 --> 00:48:22,081 It's those that we'll be looking at in the next programme. 40433

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