All language subtitles for B85BCC0481C91CED0AE033A27A761A24_eng

These touch-me-not balsam
have sprung up to cover the

woodland floor. Each night
the leaves go limp as the balsam

exudes any excess moisture.
In the waterlogged soils

of the Lake District this
is a handy adaptation.

Soon their blooms unfurl.

As the petals of these strange shaped
flowers drop off, seed pods begin to form.

These pods are the favorite food
of the netted carpet moth caterpillar.

Although it was once
thought to be extinct, the netted

carpet moth survives here
in the Lake District, its last

remaining stronghold.

Touch-me-not balsam is
their only source of food.

These plants have a surprise in
store. Their seed heads explode.

It's how they became known as touch-me-not.
But nobody told the caterpillars this.

The caterpillars have no warning
when these little bombs go off.

It's not just seeds that get
hurled across the forest floor.

The Namib Desert, one of the
most exposed places on earth.

As the sun climbs high, everybody
takes cover from the extreme heat.

Everybody except the hot rod ant.

As others take refuge,
their day is just beginning.

Cleaning out the nest.

The sand can reach a
scorching 70 centigrade. The ants'

long legs raise their bodies
above the surface where it's 10

degrees cooler.

But if they stand still, they will fry.

They must keep moving or
risk the same fate as their quarry,

the creatures that have
collapsed from heat stroke. Too

deeply buried, but a
good place to cool off.

Foraging decisions must be fast, too big,

perfect.

Back to the nest before they also die.

But they've strayed into a minefield.

Each of these strange
cone-shaped pits is a death trap.

With a brutal predator at
its center. Here lie antlion

larvae, tiny ambush predators
with venom-filled pincers.

Some ants manage to
escape, but the antlion has other

tricks. Flinging sand into the
air, it creates an avalanche.

In this cone of death,
the walls are so angled

that the sand slips
beneath the ants' feet.

As boulders rain from the sky,
escape seems almost impossible.

Phew.

An urps de beetle in
South Africa. He hunts ants.

Eating ants may give him
more than just nourishment. He

may get something else from
them that helps him fight his

enemies.

The ants launch a
counterattack and nip his

ankles, but he simply
kicks them out of the way.

The valiant ants drive him
off, straight into real danger.

A mongoose.

It's inquisitive, but it's
also wary of the uchpista. A

black and white pattern is
a warning signal. The beetle

takes aim and

fires formic acid straight at the
mongoose's eyes and mouth.

The beetle probably collected
this acid from the ants. It

certainly makes the beetle
itself very distasteful, and

that, in turn, makes it worth
mimicking. This defenseless

little lizard carries the
beetle's warning pattern. It also

imitates the way the beetle runs.

Not particularly well, it's
true, but well enough to fool

predators into thinking it
just might be an acid-firing

beetle.

All kinds of insects have
developed chemical weapons.

A pair of devil-rider stick insects.

They fire bitter-tasting oils, terpenes.

European wood ants under
attack from a hungry crow. They

fire the sort of acid that
gives nettles their sting, so

this is like one of us
falling into a nettle patch.

But the master of chemical
warfare is the bombardier beetle.

It can create a chemical
reaction within its body so violent

that boiling caustic liquid
explodes out of its abdomen.

By pulsing the jet 500
times a second, it keeps its

rear end just cool enough
to prevent it being cooked.

The tusked wetter is New
Zealand's equivalent of a mouse,

and a worthy snack for a foraging pig.

With pigs snuffling close
behind, there is only one

place to go, and it's the
last place you would expect.

This wetter is an escape artist.

The pigs can't see or smell
him when he's underwater.

He can stay under for
up to ten minutes. He can't

see or smell him when he's
underwater. And now the coast is

clear. Eighty million years of
isolation have endowed this

ancient creature with
extraordinary survival skills.

The army ant.

This may look like a ball
of a million individuals,

but make no mistake,
the colony acts as one.

A super organism with a
sensory system of two million

antennae. A skeleton made
from the living bodies of workers.

A defense system of soldier
ants, ready to act at any sign

of danger. A digestive system
processing piles of food deep

inside. Even a coordinated
system for dealing with all the waste.

These are insects that, by working
together, transcend individual size.

The colony can search the entire
jungle and flush out its wildlife.

Each day it sends out a silent
probe into the forest in quest of food.

It doesn't use scouts like other ants.

Instead, a vast search party
pushes into virgin territory.

Seeking out the signs of anything alive.

They spread out along a ten
meter front, sweeping across the

forest floor. To find prey,
the ants must first touch it.

The iron is that this, the
most successful hide and

seek player in the forest,
is almost completely blind.

It distinguishes the living
only by their movement.

As long as an animal
remains still, it is safe.

But the slightest twitch will give it away.

Within seconds, the prey is pinned down.

Within minutes, it's
torn apart at its joints.

The more the prey struggles,
the more the ants engage.

Right across the raid front, prey of all
sizes are driven from their hiding places.

Even wasps must abandon
their homes when the ants arrive.

Everything alive in the path of the
raiders, overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

To survive here, you have
to be prepared to die here.

But the sun can return as
quickly as the storm arrived. And

a rise of just a few degrees is
enough to spark a thaw, even

underground.

Frozen solid, a mountain
stone wetter. It has

the most extraordinary
survival technique of all.

The ability to come back from the dead.

Only in a specialized filming
chamber can we capture its

extraordinary talent. The
wetter has developed special

proteins which prevent ice
crystals from forming inside itself.

A remarkable trick for a
creature whose ancestors

once lived in prehistoric
warm, wet forests.

But when New Zealand's mountains
grew up beneath them around

five million years ago, they
were forced to come up with

this incredible ability to
survive near lethal temperatures.

Defrosting uses up a lot of energy.

So mountain snowberries
are a welcome sight.

The wetter needs to
stock up while it can. The

next Antarctic storm could
be the return of winter.

It can tolerate over 80% of
its body freezing solid, and

can do so day in and day
out, for weeks at a time. It can

tolerate over 80% of its
body freezing solid, and

can do so day in and day
out, for weeks at a time.

Nowhere else in New Zealand
does life go to such extremes

to survive. Back in the hive,
those bees too young to forage

are housekeeping.

Like the hornet queen, the
queen bee has the immeasurable

task of laying enough eggs
to ensure the health and future

of the colony.

The custom of keeping wild
Japanese bees is as old as

society itself, and Yamaguchi
has kept bees since boyhood.

Japanese bees are so sensitive
that it takes great patience

and skill to keep them. The
art of keeping them lies in

understanding their behaviour.
They make honey stores for

the winter, but they also
produce enough for Yamaguchi to

harvest.

Japanese bees may
produce less honey than

European bees, but
the taste is very special.

It's the smell of this growing
store of energy-rich honey

which could be their
downfall, if it draws in a hornet

scout.

But right now, the hornets
have other problems to contend

with. The nest is now monstrous.
The workers have excavated

over a tonne of earth.

There are so many bodies
living at close quarters that

the queen and her dynasty
are in danger of overheating.

So workers create air conditioning, keeping
a steady flow of fresh air circulating.

Being unable to cope with high temperatures
is a giant hornet's Achilles heel.

The warmth of the hornet's
nest belies the change in season.

Seasons change fast up here
in the mountains, and when

autumn arrives, there are
far fewer insects around.

This means my hives
are even more vulnerable

to attack. For me,
it's an anxious time.

In the search for autumnal food, a scout
hornet discovers Yamaguchi's wild bees.

The honeybees fan an alarm
pheromone through the air.

This alerts the whole hive
to the hornet's presence.

The scout smells the honey within. A
prize this rich is worth scent-marking.

But unlike the European
bees, these Japanese bees

do not attack. Instead,
they lure the scout inside.

Still, the bees hang fire.

Then, one is caught. It's the signal
the others have been waiting for.

Surrounded by vibrating
bodies, the hornet at the core

of the bee ball begins to
overheat. The bees have the

advantage, a heat tolerance
two degrees above that of their

enemy. At 46 degrees Celsius,
the aggression of the bees

increases. The aggressor is roasted alive.

The wild bees have spent
millions of years living with

the enemy. That's why they
alone have developed this

extraordinary survival strategy.

He starts his search.

A female is likely to be on a tree trunk.

But trees in this part
of the world are very tall.

His search could be a long one.

Unfortunately for him, she is 25
meters above him, near the top.

She has more normal-sized
jaws, but then she only needs them

for feeding. But he needs
immense jaws for fighting. Because

there are other males
around with the same mission.

Sheer strength is not enough
in these battles. The technique

is to reach over your opponent's
head and hook your jaws

under his wing covers. That's
why his jaws are so long and

have that odd shape. He's
got the grip. Now he has to lift.

And that needs strength.

Another lift is needed.

And that's that. Beetle armor
is strong, so he bounces. The

winner climbs on. There are
more males ready to fight him up

here.

And here she is at last.

But she doesn't seem to be in the mood.

So now he has to use his
great jaws as a restraining cage.

Success at last.

But the hurling habit dies hard.

Mantids will eat anything that moves,

including other mantids.

Time to leave.

This tiny insect is now open to attack
from predators lurking in the undergrowth.

Whether an individual
mantis survives or not is part

of the challenge. It's
mostly a matter of chance.

Whether it's spotted by a predator.

Whether it turns right or left.

So far, its luck has held. But this
hungry jumping spider is still in pursuit.

A mantis is born with exceptional
eyesight. But the spider's is even better.

Although this young
mantis can't yet fly, its long

four legs, evolved to
catch prey, give it reach.

There seems to be no escape.

But this mantis has a
surprising line in self-defense.

Kung Fu, praying mantis style.

Of course, it's all bluff. Trying to
look bigger and confuse its enemy.

But it's got a way with it.

And it's gone. Just staying
alive for its first few hours is

a significant accomplishment
for a newly hatched insect. But

there's still a long way to
go. With a bit of luck in two

months' time, it will be as
big and beautiful as this orchid

mantid.

Or maybe not. After all,
mantids are cannibals.

By pooling their resources,
the queens have survived their

first major challenge.
But this coalition can't last.

Tensions are already on
the rise as the queens jostle

for position within the royal
court. The weaker crouch

submissively before the more
dominant, including the founding queen.

So begins the delicate maneuvering that
will soon take on a deadly significance.

Those at the bottom
of the hierarchy have

little chance of surviving
the coming trials.

Another struggle for control is
also beginning above ground.

The corral nest is not the only
one in Horseshoe Canyon. The

desert floor is littered with
similar-sized colonies, and

there's not enough room for
all of them. Now the darker side

of the honey ants emerges.

It's time for the corral colony to mount a
preemptive strike on its nearest neighbors.

This killing spree continues
through the summer until the

corral colony has eliminated
all the other new nests in

their immediate neighborhood.

The foundations of the
empire have been laid.

Underground, too, events
have taken a darker turn. One of

the queens lies dead in the
royal chamber. It's not clear

why, but the workers have
started singling out the weaker

queens for special attention.
At first it's all very subtle.

One isn't fed so often
or cleaned as diligently.

But then the workers start bullying
and harassing their chosen victim.

Finally, it spills over
into direct attack, and

the workers tear the
chosen queen to pieces.

Nothing can go to waste,
even a royal carcass.

Workers carry hungry larvae
over to feast on the dead

queen. Including many that
must have been her own offspring.

As the weeks pass,
the revolution continues.

Only the most dominant royals
seem immune to attack. They

just watch and wait as the
workers go about their gruesome

business.

When the air itself
becomes saturated and the

temperature is just
right, rare giants emerge.

A Pawella Fanta snail. It can
grow to the size of a man's fist.

So rare, they can only be
filmed in captivity, where their

extraordinary behavior is
revealed. It's still a mystery as

to exactly how they track
down their food. But one thing is

for sure. This snail has
unusual tastes and revolting table

manners.

It's a very rare snail. It's a very
rare snail. It's a very rare snail.

It's a very rare snail.
It's a very rare snail.

It's a very rare snail. Its mouth
envelops and suffocates the earthworm.

Its mouth envelops and
suffocates the earthworm.

It's sucked down like spaghetti.

6,000 teeth ready to shred the next meal.

In this super saturated
environment, this specialized snail

is the ultimate predator.
The rains have arrived in the

mountains of East Africa.

One of the most organized
swarms on earth has appeared above

ground. They are driver
ants, an insect with a fearsome

reputation.

In the rainy season, they form
these extraordinary hunting trails.

Large soldier ants line the
trail, protecting the smaller

workers inside. Their massive
jaws create an impregnable

barricade.

The soldiers create these protective
tunnels whenever they cross open ground.

The trails radiate from the
nest in every direction. Some

stretch 100 meters. A worker
running at full pelt takes 45

minutes to run its length. The
soldiers protect the trail at any cost.

Although blind, they are
highly sensitive to vibrations

and air currents and become
instantly defensive when under

attack.

Stress pheromones put
the whole task force on alert.

They are ready to take on
anything, including people.

They are programmed to keep
the trail moving or die trying.

Driver ants are the stuff of
legend. It is said that they

kill everything that crosses
their path. It is said that no

animal is safe when they're
on the warpath. It is even said

that they will enter huts to
attack people or kill babies

left unattended in their cots.

The farmers' fields provide even
more opportunities for the attack force.

Pests disturbed by digging are soon
dispatched by hundreds of razor sharp jaws.

The ants make a clean sweep, capturing
up to 100,000 insects in a single raid.

Despite the ants'
formidable reputation, most

farmers value their
role as pest controllers.

In defense of the trail,
the ants take no prisoners,

but even an innocuous-looking
insect can be surprisingly

dangerous.

The soil millipede is killed
quickly, but the soldier's

highly sensitive antennae
immediately reveal that it's

poisonous. The message soon
reaches nearby ants. They know

exactly what to do. They
gather lumps of mud and bury the

problem.

With the millipede out of harm's way,
the trail can safely continue its journey.

But more dangers await the trailblazers.

A praying mantis plucks
unsuspecting ants from the column.

He seems to have the upper
hand, but the ants he kills

send out a dying message.
Reacting to this pheromone,

reinforcements arrive. The
mantis is a deadly predator,

but the ants know exactly
what they're dealing with.

One soldier grabs the mantis' jaws,
stopping it from doing any more damage.

Other ants swarm over the mantis,
butchering it with surgical precision.

The mantis' fate is sealed
by a clinical decapitation.

The eggs and pupae are
taken into the new nest.

Here, they're safe. The
millions of interlocking ants that

make up the nest's superstructure
create an impenetrable

barrier.

Only from the outside is it possible
to get an idea of the nest's huge scale.

Literally millions of
individuals form a nervous

network that communicates
using pheromones.

As ants pass messages to each other,
they effectively act like brain cells.

Through the millions of
interconnections, they arrive

at a decision that works
for the benefit of the colony.

Like human brain cells,
individual ants are not intelligent,

but the links between them
create a mind, an ant superbrain.

Deep inside is the queen.
Her role is to replenish

the colony by laying
two million eggs a month.

She is merely an egg-laying
machine under the collective

command of all the ants that
make up the mind of the hive.

The ants create a
different kind of intelligence,

a brain that exists
outside any single body.

There is no other species
on the planet that responds as

quickly and as dramatically
to the good times as the desert

locust. Eggs that have remained in
the ground for 20 years begin to hatch.

The young locusts are known
as hoppers, for at this stage,

they're flightless. They
find new feeding grounds by

following the smell of sprouting grass.

Normally, the young locusts
It takes four weeks for hoppers

to become adults, but when
the conditions are right, as now,

their development
switches to the fast track.

As the vegetation in one place
begins to run out, the winged

adults release pheromones,
scent messages, which tell others

in the group that they must move on.

And when groups merge, they form a swarm.

An adult locust eats its entire
body weight every day, and

a whole swarm can consume
literally hundreds of tons of

vegetation. They have to keep
on moving. The swarm travels

with the wind. It's the most
energy-saving way of flying.

Following the flow of wind
means that they're always heading

toward areas of low pressure,
places where wind meets rain

and vegetation starts to grow.
As they fly, swarms join up

with other swarms to form
gigantic plagues several billion

strong and as much as
40 miles wide. They will

consume every edible
thing that lies in their path.

This is one of planet Earth's
greatest spectacles. It's

rarely seen on this scale,
and it won't last long. Once the

food has gone, the steady
roar of a billion beating locust

wings will once again be
replaced by nothing more than the

sound of the desert wind.

We've seen how managing
woodland and farmland for

butterflies can preserve the
countryside we love, and also

how butterflies can inspire
the next generation to protect

it. But if you still have doubts
about whether butterflies

can make our countryside a
better place, then you need look

no further than the humble
caterpillar. Because if there's

one thing we've learned from
them, it's that change is possible.

This is a brimstone. It
emerged from an egg a

few weeks ago, but now
it's ready for a change.

First, it spins a silken pad, a place to
anchor hooks on the rear of its body.

In a move to rival a caterpillar,
the torsionist, it passes

strands of silk behind itself,
creating a girdle to support

it through the change to come.

With anchor and line secure,
the transformation can take place.

Caterpillars are little more
than stomachs on legs, but that

body has served its purpose
and can be discarded in favor of

another. The caterpillar's
head is about to split wide open,

and when it does, something
very different will emerge.

A chrysalis. The caterpillar
was an eating machine,

an identity rolled up like
a sock and discarded.

This body is for something
different, an agent of

near -miraculous change
and one responsible for making

butterflies powerful symbols
of hope and transformation.

This is a sign that something
beautiful is surely on its

way.

The chrysalis is one of the most
enduring symbols in the natural world.