Original subtitles

Each of these eggs holds the promise of an insect.

It's been this way for 400 million years.

These supreme survivors dominate the Earth.

Welcome to the world of bugs.

Insects are essential to life on our planet.

They pollinate plants and recycle waste.

By managing life and death,

they are the true caretakers of the natural world.

Three quarters of all insect species live here, in the rainforest.

Moving through the tangled web of vines, we journey into another world.

Our story unfolds in this ramshackle ruin,

abandoned by humans, in the heart of the jungle.

Imagine you're the size of your fingernail.

Imagine you're in a place where raindrops fall like cannonballs

and a blade of grass soars like a skyscraper.

Now, imagine you're a bug.

But beware:

in this hostile world,

danger lurks in every corner.

Meet Papilio.

Papilio is a caterpillar.

At least, for now.

A startling transformation lies ahead of her.

Papilio's egg case is filled with protein.

A great head start for her intrepid journey.

This is Hierodula.

He is a praying mantis.

Hierodula is part of a big family,

with as many as 200 brothers and sisters.

In the first minute of his life,

he slides down a thread

and climbs his way up into the world,

already a perfectly formed mini mantis.

Within a few days,

this tiny hunter will have caught his first meal:

a fruit fly, the size of a crumb.

This dragon head katydid is hungry.

He's prowling the green streets for food.

In the rainforest, you're on somebody's menu from the moment you hatch.

Papilio is safe, though.

Like her, the katydid is also a plant eater.

Like all mantids, Hierodula is a carnivore.

He eats meat.

He lives alone.

He hunts alone.

Right now, he's grooming.

Papilio's favourite food is citrus leaves from the tree where she hatched.

In just a few weeks, Papilio's weight will increase 100 times.

That's like you getting as heavy as a hippopotamus in a weekend.

As Papilio grows, fake eye spots appear.

These make her look like a snake, to help scare off attackers.

A few weeks have passed,

and Hierodula is now a practiced predator.

His weapons are the needle-sharp spikes that line his hunting legs.

To lock onto his target, Hierodula has special eyes.

Hundreds of separate lenses make each eye super-sensitive to the slightest movement.

With two eyes, distance can be judged with deadly accuracy.

He devours the head and flight muscles first.

These are the best bits, packed with protein.

Insects are eating machines.

Nothing is safe from their jaws.

A rotten banana.

Heaven to a weevil beetle.

These little suckers are aphids, dining on the juice of a rosebud.

Leafcutter ants work together, to bring home a bumper harvest.

Hierodula needs to make one kill a day.

Papilio must keep on munching.

There's no shortage of greenery here,

enough to satisfy even the hungriest caterpillar.

The tropical rainforests cover only 2% of the Earth's surface.

But they are home to most of the world's species of animals and plants.

And with good reason.

The jungle has a magic recipe.

Sun, steam, and lots of rain.

In this weather,

even bugs need umbrellas.

In her search for food, Papilio has strayed into a dangerous neighborhood.

Her simple eyes can only distinguish light from dark.

She hasn't spotted Hierodula...

...but he's already eaten, and pays no attention.

Like all insects, Hierodula wears his skeleton on the outside.

It's made of a strong and versatile substance called chitin.

On Hierodula, it's hard and protects him like a suit of armor.

A clash of chitin is beginning on the floor below.

The aim?

Flip your opponent.

The weapons?

Three vicious chitin spikes.

The prize?

A female.

The rules?

First one to hit the deck is the loser.

For their size,

these rhinoceros beetles are amongst the strongest creatures on Earth.

Both gladiators are battle-weary,

but the winner still has the strength to take a bow.

His prize is waiting.

The loser leaves town.

Papilio is not built for battle,

but she is a champion eater.

To accommodate her ever-expanding waistline,

she wears a soft coat of chitin.

It's their skill at getting around that makes bugs world-class travelers.

Back at the hut,

Hierodula has outgrown his armor and left it hanging on a branch.

After shedding his shell,

Hierodula is tired,

and vulnerable.

He must stay very still.

The tables have turned.

The hunter is now the hunted.

A lucky escape for Hierodula,

but not so for the cricket.

Papilio is beginning her extraordinary transformation.

She's spun a single, silken thread,

which suspends her from a stem.

Within hours, her caterpillar coat will split and peel away.

Beneath, she is sheltered inside a hard case.

Disguised as a leaf, she is safe from hungry eyes.

The forest is full of such deceptions.

A thorn bug is a thorn -

- until its neighbor moves.

In this forest, dead leaves walk.

The trilobite beetle's armor blends with the bark.

Who would bother with a ball of fluff?

It's a ladybird larva in disguise.

Here's another defense:

make a noise!

Or, look big and mean.

Though, show off too much, and the plan backfires.

To stay out of trouble,

it's best not to stick out.

Papilio is also still hidden.

Camouflaged as a leaf.

Inside, an astonishing transformation has begun.

Two weeks have passed.

It's the dawn of a new day.

For Papilio, it's a new beginning.

In the miracle of metamorphosis,

her caterpillar form has been liquified into a milky soup,

and reassembled as a butterfly.

Papilio's adult life lasts a mere few weeks.

Her new wings slowly fill with blood.

Her shimmering scales catch the warm sun.

Only now can she discover the freedom of flight.

No longer a flat-footed caterpillar.

Papilio has been quick to find a mate.

Reproduction is what bugs do best.

It's one of the reasons they dominate the planet.

There are, at least, a billion billion

insects on Earth.

Just one square mile can hold as many insects

as there are people on this planet.

But where there are bugs,

bug hunters will follow.

This colony of three million bats

will devour more than two and a half tons of

insects every night.

It's no safer on the ground.

While some hunters of the night will go out to dine,

others wait for home delivery.

After hours spent locked together, the pair will soon part.

Then Papilio will lay her eggs, one by one, on citrus leaves.

Hierodula is also courting.

The female charms him with a wiggle and a seductive scent.

She cannot be trusted.

For mantids, mating is a dangerous game,

in which females frequently bite the heads off their admirers.

Hierodula must advance with caution.

He strokes the female's back with his antennae.

His survival depends on a delicate touch.

One night like this,

and two hundred mini-mantids will follow.

Hierodula has played his part...

and kept his head.

Papilio has lost her appetite for leaves.

Now she drinks sweet nectar.

Hierodula starts the day with a wash.

Hierodula is hungry.

Papilio dips her proboscis like a straw,

deep into the flowers, and drinks.

As she moves from bloom to bloom, she carries pollen.

This service is crucial.

Without pollination,

flowers like these could not exist.

Papilio's life has run a natural course.

Against the odds,

she has completed one of the greatest journeys in nature,

from caterpillar to butterfly.

Though Papilio's life was brief,

it has not been wasted.

This wriggling, hungry bug is Papilio's offspring.

Just like its mother,

this tiny caterpillar is beginning its own intrepid journey.

Joining trillions of other insects,

the latest recruit into the extraordinary world of bugs.

♪ Once, a lonely caterpillar ♪ ♪ sat and cried ♪

♪ to a sympathetic beetle by his side, ♪

♪ "I've got nobody to hug, ♪

♪ I'm such an ugly bug." ♪

♪ Then a spider and a dragonfly replied, ♪

♪ "If you're serious and ♪ ♪ want to win a bride, ♪

♪ come along with us ♪ ♪ to the glorious annual ♪

♪ Ugly Bug Ball." ♪

♪ Come on, let's crawl, gotta crawl, ♪ ♪ gotta crawl to the Ugly Bug Ball ♪

♪ To the ball, to the ball, and a ♪ ♪ happy time we'll have there ♪

♪ One and all at the Ugly Bug Ball ♪

♪ Then our caterpillar saw a pretty queen ♪

♪ She was beautiful in yellow, ♪ ♪ black, and green ♪

♪ He said, "Would you care to dance?" ♪

♪ Their dancing led to romance ♪

♪ Then she sat upon his caterpillar knees ♪

♪ And he gave his caterpillar ♪ ♪ queen a squeeze ♪

♪ Soon they'll honeymoon, build a big ♪ ♪ cocoon, thanks to the Ugly Bug Ball ♪

♪ Come on, let's crawl, gotta crawl, ♪ ♪ gotta crawl to the Ugly Bug Ball ♪

♪ To the ball, to the ball, and a ♪ ♪ happy time we'll have there ♪

♪ One and all, at the Ugly Bug Ball! ♪