All language subtitles for 00BF57009C82237ACE0041E6343691EE_eng

No other animal has such a grasp of
deceptive behaviour as this one.

Preying mantises,
wolves in sheep's clothing,

the most feared predators
in the insect world.

The Kaiserstuhl, quite literally a hotspot,
one of the warmest regions in Germany.

The sun-drenched slopes are the ideal
growing location for many a fine wine.

The Kaiserstuhl is
particularly well known

for its Grauburgunder
or Pinot Grigio grapes.

But lurking among these delightfully sweet
fruits is a perfidious predator.

Its deceptively devout
posture is the source

of its common name,
the preying mantis.

It spends hours cleaning its front legs.

These are its chief weapon.

Without them, the mantis would die of
starvation.

Its attack takes only a fraction of a
second.

Once caught, the victim has not the
slightest chance of escape.

The mantis will eat it alive.

This excruciating procedure can take
hours.

Finally, the deadly weapons are cleaned
again, ready for the next time.

The volcanic hills are
covered to a large extent with

a layer of Loess, a soft,
fertile sedimentary stone.

This is ideal for growing vines.

Over the centuries, the established access
routes have become sunken lanes.

Caves provide valuable shade for the vine
growers, since the temperatures on the

steep slopes often exceed 40 degrees
centigrade.

The rattle grasshopper, on the other hand,
finds the heat very pleasant.

This grasshopper is one of the locus family
and is a distant relative of the mantises.

As a vegetarian, it doesn't need raptorial
forelegs.

But instead, it has very powerful back
legs for jumping.

This attempt at courtship clearly went
amiss.

The female has already been mated and is
now laying her eggs.

Using its ovipositor, it places small
packages of eggs in a number of places.

This reduces the chance that a single
predator will find all the eggs.

But other insects' eggs are not good
enough for the praying mantis.

It's waiting for something more
substantial.

It often hangs head down for hours,
which makes it less noticeable.

But that doesn't stop the male detecting
this female.

He sneaks up on her very carefully,
from behind.

He doesn't want to become her lunch before
he has mated with her.

This is the first time the male has
detected this female.

The male is now waiting for her.

A great green bush cricket is attracting
the female's attention.

And that's to the male's advantage.

This allows him to complete mating,
which can take hours, without being

subject to his lady friend's fatal
embrace.

.

She only has eyes for the potential prey.

But the grasshopper, only slightly smaller
than its attacker, does not relent.

It may not have those powerful front legs,
but it has razor-like mandibles.

And it wastes no time.

Obviously, not all locusts are
vegetarians.

The kaiserstuhl attracts visitors whose
habitats are normally further south.

The European bee-eater.

At the beginning of the 21st century,
the bee-eater, that had died out in

Germany, began to frequent this area
again.

These exotic-looking birds are, as the
name suggests, skilled insect hunters.

They can detect a flying insect from up to
100 metres away.

They excavate their burrows
in colonies by using their

feet and beaks to tunnel
into the soft, loose soil.

A task that takes nearly three weeks.

Now it's time for a spring clean.

Because the birds return, year after year,
to the same colony.

Both partners take on the task together.

.

Now that the nursery is ready,
it's time to start raising a family.

This localised island of warmth in the
south-west of Germany attracts a number of

animals that are normally found in the
south.

The praying mantis is one of them.

It's more usually
found in Mediterranean

countries, in Africa,
and extensively in Asia.

In Germany, it's only
been able to settle in

the south-west and
around Berlin-Schöneberg.

But climate change is encouraging it to
spread.

In the Kaiserstuhl region,
the summer nights are so

warm that mantises can
also be active after sundown.

When the dew falls in
the early morning, this is a

sign that midsummer is
progressing into late summer.

.

The hunter now takes a little longer to
dry off and prepare for the day ahead.

.

.

.

.

Before he sets off on the hunt,
he has to clean his weapons, of course.

.

Long summers are ideal for
ripening the succulent fruit for

which the Kaiserstuhl is also
renowned, alongside its wines.

This fact is well known to the edible
Dormouse.

Here, it finds sufficient
old fruit trees where

it can make its dens for
sleeping and breeding.

Soon, it will withdraw
and enter a hibernation

period that will last a
good seven to eight months.

But beforehand, it has to build up a good
layer of fat.

.

While the Dormouse is
preparing for the winter,

the Mantises are
busy starting a family.

.

They're not fully grown and sexually
mature until the beginning of August.

Their colouring is not a matter of sex.

Both sexes may appear in shades of green
or brown.

.

For the males, mating is anything but
safer sex.

The male is frequently devoured by the
larger female, after mating.

Only a few days later, the female lays her
eggs, on plants or in an ootheca.

.

As many as 200 eggs can be concealed in
such a nest.

.

The female fashions it
from a frothy, protein-based

secretion produced
by the sexual vent.

.

.

.

.

.

Within a short time, this frothy secretion
becomes hard and protects the eggs.

After laying her eggs, the adult dies.

.

The eggs, on the other
hand, will survive the

autumn and winter
months in their frothy nest.

.

.

The young mantises emerge in the following
spring.

They look very similar to their parents
because, in contrast to beetles or

butterflies, they do not pass through a
caterpillar or pupil stage.

They do, however, frequently shed their
skin until they've reached their full size.

Today, the mantises
are well established in the

Kaiserstuhl region, but
they originated from Africa.

The Mare River The Mare
River that flows through

Kenya and Tanzania is
the lifeline of that region.

And nowhere else can lions choose from such
a well-stocked table and develop so well.

Lions are the only big cats that form a
pride and maintain close social contacts.

A pride of lions usually
consists of a number

of related females
and their offspring.

As a result, the young cubs will always
have playmates around, which allows them

to develop their muscles and fine-tune
their reactions.

In Africa's national
parks, lions are an

attraction for innumerable
visitors every year.

But those visitors are
likely to remain completely

unaware of another
equally fascinating predator.

Leaving aside a potential comparison of
size, who would suspect that hiding under

the guise of this dry
leaf, there is in fact

one of the most perfidious
predators in Africa?

The struggle between life
and death in Africa is not just

between the big cats and
their prey, like these impala.

It's also played out on a much smaller
scale, out of sight.

The ghost mantis gets ready...

and strikes.

The ghost mantis gets ready... But in
the savannah, it's not always successful.

Banded mongooses would no doubt be quite
happy to feast on a five-centimetre mantis.

But the mantis is to be found higher up in
bushes and shrubs.

It must, however, be careful not to be
swallowed up inadvertently by a giraffe.

This one can't flee at the moment.

It's just shedding its old skin.

Well, it managed that all right.

And soon after, the hunter is on the
lookout for its next victim.

Sometimes successful...

sometimes not.

But the next opportunity will no doubt
arise soon.

In the Mara region, flies are in plentiful
supply.

And they're the ghost mantis' favourite
meal.

The diversity of the fauna here,
with their parasites and dung,

ensures the existence of innumerable
flies.

In this way, the largest animals
and the smallest insects are

linked to each other in many
ways, in an intact ecosystem.

In the southern part
of the Sahara, Africa

presents itself in a
far less verdant mantle.

Few animals can survive the heat and
dryness of the stony desert.

One of them is the Egyptian pygmy mantis.

It may be only half the
size of the European praying

mantis, but its hunting
skills are just as formidable.

Mantises do not just suck the blood of
their victims, they slice them up one

piece at a time with their sharp
mandibles.

A mantis will live off a locus for several
days, even as much as a week.

Otherwise, it could not survive here in
the desert.

There are over 2,400
species of mantises, and

they have conquered
many different habitats.

Most of them are at home in the tropics
and subtropics.

Some of the most exotic ones
are to be found in the mangrove

forests of the Fanga National
Park, in the north of Thailand.

The wandering violin mantis.

It only takes a little imagination to see
the shape of a violin.

But nature, when designing this hunter,
was thinking of dry leaves.

And the mantis adds to the effect by
swaying like one.

Its raptorial forelegs have
as many as 30 barbs on

the inner side, more than
almost any other mantis.

And every single one of these is including
the original ones.

Items can get caught
up in those barbs very

easily, so they need
constant care and cleaning.

Is this the head?

Or is it here?

For hours, this living
leaf sways in the wind,

intent only on deceiving
the surrounding wildlife.

Its camouflage is
so realistic that its

prey settles here
completely unsuspectingly.

But the impression that
lunch is just flying straight

into the mantis' mouth is
actually more problematic.

Mantises can only hold on to their prey if
it does not come in too close.

If they can't extend their forelegs,
they have no chance.

Near misses are a feature of every
hunter's life.

This is how nature guarantees the
continued survival of the potential prey.

It's only rarely that
the catch is successful

without the mantis
unfolding its weapons.

This fly did indeed put itself in a highly
convenient position as a titbit.

The mantis' day is saved.

Fanger National Park is also famous for
its numerous orchids and they're felt to

be the most beautiful of all in the plant
kingdom.

But hiding among
them is potential death in

the shape of the Asian
jeweled flower mantis.

This too is an accomplished killer.

Well camouflaged, these
mantises hide in the blooms and

wait for visitors that are
looking to feast on the pollen.

Instead of a sweet meal, they're in for a
bitter end.

The eye markings on the wings are to
confuse predators.

The inevitable cleaning action after a
good meal is simplified by the mantis

being able to turn its head more flexibly
than almost any other insect.

This articulated neck
and the large stereoscopic

eyes afford it all-round
vision that misses nothing.

The Asian jungle is a home to many varied
hunters in all shapes and colours.

This is the largest and most feared of
all, the giant Asian mantis.

At seven centimetres, the male is quite an
impressive sight.

But the female manages as much as ten
centimetres.

Nothing is safe.

The male can't get away from this killer.

The male definitely can't afford to put a
foot wrong.

No escape.

The suitor is decapitated before he could
even fulfil his duty.

Due to their intricate
shape, orchid blossoms

are the ideal hide
for ambush predators.

It's hardly surprising
then that several mantis

species have chosen these
as their hunting ground.

This elfin creature is a mere three
centimetres long.

A male walking flower mantis.

This is one of the smallest mantis in the
world.

This is one of the smallest mantises,
and felt by many to be the most beautiful.

It not only imitates the
colours and shape of the orchid

blooms, it also mimics the
way they sway in the wind.

Since it's feather-light,
it can also catapult

itself into the air,
increasing its striking range.

Although this is not always as successful
as was hoped.

A short time later, it's back in position,
waiting.

Too short.

Sometimes one just has a bad day.

Its cleaning instinct is so powerful,
that it nearly misses the next opportunity.

A massive bluebottle for such a dainty
hunter.

But the power in its forelegs is
tremendous.

The Greek word on which its name is based
means a prophet, which is hardly

surprising when one considers the large
eyes and pious stance.

Mantises have often played mystical roles
in many cultures.

They appear to be invincible.

Their strategy appears to be one of the
most successful in the insect kingdom.

And yet, they too have their enemies.

Fire ants.

Their strength is their collective
strategy.

Although they are just
six millimetres long, they

can overpower animals
that are many times their size.

They send out scouts to locate a new
victim.

Relative to their body mass,
the biting power of these tiny

animals is among the most
impressive in the animal world.

And on top of that, there's the paralysing
venom.

And one fire ant is never alone.

Within minutes, the mantis is surrounded.

The giant mantis, that itself
is merciless in its attacks,

has no chance against the
overwhelming mass of ants.

Whole armies of ants
join the fray, attracted by

the chemical messengers
sent out by their fellows.

Reptiles like this dragon lizard also hunt
mantises.

But no opponent is as aggressive and
effective as the fire ants.

This army of attackers will measure itself
against almost any of the larger animals,

even mammals and reptiles.

This giant mantis has, until now,
avoided being detected by the army of ants.

But now it's faced with a completely
different problem.

Like most mantises, it can hardly fly.

Attack is the best form of defence.

The lizard freezes in shock.

The mantis takes full advantage.

It may not inject any venom like the ants,
but its jaws are fearsome weapons.

The lizard, stupefied with pain, believes
it can still shake off its attacker.

Now the giant mantis switches over from
being the hunted to the hunter.

Anything that moves is fair game.

It sets to work without a moment's delay.

In a few hours, the lizard will be a mere
skeleton.

The contrast could hardly be more extreme.

Deadly attacking force coupled with an
insatiable appetite.

Cloaked in deception.

The praying mantis.

Femme fatale of the insect world.