All language subtitles for Attack and Defend Series 1 3of6 Insect Eaters 1080p

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Insects are widely touted

as the food of the future
for humans.

But for many predators,
it's the food of right now.

This motley crew
all has one thing in common.

They're insect-eaters.

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It's Latin name is
Mantis Religiosa.

We know it
as the praying mantis.

Their front legs,

their grasp legs
are bent like this.

So it looks like they are
sitting in a praying position,

praying posture.

It might look like
it's deep in prayer,

but this insect is no choir boy.

It's one of the most
blood-thirsty

and devious predators
on the planet.

Praying mantises
are carnivorous insects

and so they're eating all sorts
of other insects

that are flying around

and found in the same habitat
as the praying mantis.

One thing that makes it
an exceptional bug-killer

is its state-of-the-art vision.

A praying mantis has
2 large eyes.

And these eyes allow the
praying mantis to see in stereo.

So they have a excellent sense
of depth perception,

which is important

because a praying mantis is
an ambush predator.

That incredible field of
vision

can detect movement
for more than 65 feet away.

And in addition to that,

their upper body parts
are completely articulated

so they can turn their neck
and look around at 180°

and they can turn
their upper body

that has all the legs
attached to it as well.

So they can look around
for their prey

and scan their environment
for a prey that's coming in,

without moving their body.

Which means,

this guy literally has eyes
at the back of his head.

As an ambush predator,
this praying mantis has learned

the ultimate trick
of deception.

Camouflage.

This African mantis has adapted
to blend into its environment.

So it might go unnoticed
by its prey.

And the master of this art
is the orchid mantis.

This mantis has not only learned
to conceal itself

through camouflage...

...it has actually
learned to use camouflage

to imitate a food source
to attract its prey,

an adaptation known as
aggressive mimicry.

So when a prey item
comes to a flower

to pollinate the flower
or to enjoy a nectar meal,

it's often caught unawares
by a praying mantis

that's sitting in wait
for a prey item to come by.

To complete its magic trick,

the orchid mantis has also
developed a black spot

on the back of its abdomen.

>>That looks like a fly,
and it allows--

it attracts small flies
to land on the praying mantis

as if it was a flower,

which gives the bigger flies
the confidence

that this is a safe place to go.

Once a prey gets close
enough,

this mantis is ready to
reel in its catch.

The praying mantis will
assess the distance to the

target and precompute
a strike strategy

and then at the last second,
pull the trigger.

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It attacks with
its large raptorial forelimbs

and attacks so lightening quick

that it's barely perceptible
with the naked eye.

If you take a close look
at the forelegs

of the praying mantises,

you'll see
that they're very long legs.

They can extend them far

and they are equipped with
long bristles and hooks.

And that's what they use
to capture their prey.

For the prey,
escape is futile.

The forelegs of a praying
mantis act like a pair of
scissors,

except it's a pair of scissors
with a large number of spines

that will prevent anything
from getting out

once it's been captured.

If the meal is still moving,
that's not a problem.

They like it fresh.

Praying mantises are very,
very ferocious predators.

They'll sit quietly
until something comes nearby.

Until they have a prey that's
big enough for their liking.

And they'll grasp it.

They'll clasp it
in their front legs.

And usually
they don't bother to kill it.

They'll start eating it alive.

If the prey struggles a lot,

they might actually,
very strategically,

cut the prey's head off first

to stop it
from wriggling too much.

Even at the nymph stage,

some praying mantis
like this one

are all about deception
and trickery.

And the little praying
mantises come out of the egg

and they're very tiny.

They look like ants

and that's how
they protect themselves.

And that's called ant mimicry.

It's a brilliant
survival strategy for some.

Since most predators
usually avoid eating ants,

this nymph has a better chance
than most

to make it to adulthood.

Deception starts early
with this creature.

As it grows into its skills
as an ambush artist,

it will transform into
a supreme hunter.

Its prey won't have a prayer.

Is there anything not
intimidating about scorpions?

The stinger.

The claws.

Just the way they move.

But if these ruthless predators
spook us,

imagine how their prey feels.

In our world, arthropods are
literally everywhere.

This enormous group
including all insects,

arachnids,
crustaceans and more

make up an astonishing
90% of the animal kingdom.

Whether they have 6,

8,

or a 100 legs,

many evolve to survive in
some of the harshest conditions.

And the scorpion is one of them.

Scorpions
first appeared on the planet

more than 400 million years ago.

It's a hard place to survive
and it's a hard place to thrive.

But scorpions do both well.

Being skilled hunters
doesn't hurt.

They are well-adapted not
only to living conditions,

but also because of
the broad range of prey

that they get from rodents
to lizards to snakes

and all these different things
that they would eat,

making them as a good predator.

Because they've got these good
pincers to grab a hold of it,

good ways of subduing
their prey.

So overall,
they're just a great predator.

These predators have mastered
the art of killing,

even though
they're nearly blind.

So they have up to 6 eyes,

But they don't really use
their vision as much

as they do sensory--

sensory hairs and chemicals,
air movement.

They feel vibrations.

So using that
in order to grab their prey

or find their prey rather than
the actually eyesight itself.

When they do sense a meal,
speed takes over.

Scorpions are extremely agile

and you often see them
scurrying around at night

over the forest floor,
over the leaf litter,

over rocks, over sand
and they'll just scurry across.

The scorpion's
first weapon of choice?

Their pincers.

These powerful claws are used to
capture and handle their prey.

So different type of
scorpions use the pincers

for different reason.

Some of the scorpion's
that you find,

have really large pincers.

Very, very strong pincers
that they'll use them

to physically crush
and hold their prey

and use that to kill it.

Other scorpions have
very, very small,

almost rudimentary pincers
with a very thick tail,

which are using their pincers

more to just grab
a hold of the prey with

and not strong enough
to psychically crush it.

Once they've snared their
prey,

the iconic stinger
finishes the job.

The tail injects
a dangerous cocktail of toxins.

So the venom from the
scorpion is used to kill

and immobilize its prey.

When it's injected,
it act as a-- it's a neurotoxin,

so it causes paralysis.

It helps to immobilize it.

But not only that,

it also helps to start to break
the prey down from the inside.

It liquefies the prey.

So it's a digestive protein
enzyme that helps to--

for the scorpions to actually
be able to eat its prey.

After the venom is injected
and the prey is liquefied,

the scorpion digs in.

The chelicerae of a scorpion
is all the mouthparts.

That's what they use
to take in the liquid

or hold on to their prey.

So they're independently movable

and that's to help
bring the food into the mouth.

They independently move from
each other left and right set

and then when you see them,
kind of, chewing

or looks like a chewing action,

where they're actually
pulling the prey or the food

into the mouth.

Scorpions may strike fear
into the hearts of humans,

but among the 1,500 to 2,000
species of scorpion,

fewer than 2 dozen
are toxic enough to harm us.

Feared predators...

...efficient killers...

...masters of survival.

Ounce for ounce,

scorpions are amongst the
toughest insect-eating predators

on the planet.

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At first glance, it looks like
just another pretty plant.

But make no mistake about it.

The Venus flytrap is
a cold-blooded killer.

It's quiet, sly and efficient.

And when the dirty deed is done,
it barely leaves a trace behind.

But it's why it kills that
makes it so unusual and clever.

As we know plants get
most of their food from the air

by taking in carbon dioxide

and combining it with energy
from the sun

and the process
known as photosynthesis.

But what's also known is that
plants need important nutrients

that they get from the soil
though their roots.

And that's a problem
for the Venus flytrap

because it usually grows
in bogs,

where the soil is extremely poor
in key nutrients

like phosphorus and nitrogen.

And when those nutrients are
limiting or absent in the soil,

they still need them.

They have to get them from
somewhere else

and one option is to get it
by eating animals.

For the Venus flytrap,

that means insects
and other small invertebrates,

mostly ants, spiders and flies.

Lots of flies.

Which is good,

because they need to order in
when they're hungry.

Being sedentary,
plants need to have means

by which they can
catch those animals.

They can't chase them down

and so the common way is
to set up traps.

And since a trap works best
with bait,

the Venus flytrap has evolved
some effective solutions.

These traps are also colored
brightly red,

which may in fact be a mimicry

where they are pretending
to be something

that's attractive to
invertebrates.

Be it something
that's looking like a flower

or could maybe
resemble something

like a piece of rotting tissue

that is so exciting
and attractive to invertebrates

such as beetles and flies.

But color isn't everything.

When it comes to drawing in
its prey,

the plant has another trick
up its sleeve.

They have these nectar glands

or glands that
secrete a sugary solution

around the margins of the trap.

And as we well know through
systems involving insects

such as pollination,

insects are very attracted to
nectar and flowers.

Scientists,
however, are still pondering

on how the plant closes its trap

without the benefit of nerves,
muscles or tendons.

One possibility is what you
would call a hairy situation.

On the surface of the pads
of this traps

are little plant hairs
known as trichomes,

and these trichomes
are very sensitive to touch.

And once they become stimulated,

it sends an impulse
down to the mid line

and this is what causes
the spring-loaded mechanism.

And an analogy might be
like Jack in the box.

Some scientists believe
that this process

is driven by some type of
fluid pressure.

That's activated by
an actual electrical current

that runs through each of its
2 leaves or lobes.

When those trichomes
are stimulated,

it sends a chemical message
to that hinge,

which will essentially cause
the massive migration of ions

and cytoplasmic-based water.

And the movement
at a very, very rapid scale

of the ions in the water,

create differences in inflation
of the cells

that are in that midline with
respect to those that are not,

causing that midline to collapse
on itself and close the trap.

Whatever the mechanism,
it works.

Once these hairs are triggered,

it only takes
a third of a second

for the lobes to close.

But not every visitor is doomed.

There need to be
at least 3 stimulated trichomes

before the trap will close.

And there is
a very clever reason for this.

And this makes sense,
evolutionarily speaking,

because it will prevent it from
false-alarm closing,

essentially, closing the trap
without a prey inside,

would mean that that trap goes
about 12 hours

before it can open again

and that's time that it does not
get to feed.

And that would be
a waste of energy.

With a fly caught in the trap
the truly gruesome work begins.

Once the Venus flytrap has
effectively closed an insect

into the trap,

specialized glands will secrete
digestive enzymes

into the inside of the trap

and slowly digest that prey
over the course of several days.

The entire digestive
process

can actually last
as many as 12 days.

And during that time,

to makes sure its prey
stays maximum fresh,

the plant's lobes manufacture
an antiseptic juice

that keeps the insect
from decaying.

In the world of a Venus flytrap,
nothing goes to waste.

Nutrients are just too precious.

When all is said and done,

this gritty survivor
from the bog stays alive

by shutting its trap.

To us, dragonflies seem
delicate and agile.

But to mosquitoes,
they are terrifying.

Luckily for us,

their favorite meal happens to
be one of our worst nemeses.

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It is seen as magical
and peaceful.

Floating through gardens.

But these delicate creatures
are veracious hunters.

They're kind of
the picture of serenity,

but little do you know

dragonflies are actually
amazing predators.

Predators is an
understatement.

These serene-looking insects
are built to kill.

If you were a fly,
they are weapons of destruction.

The dragonfly flies like
it's an F-18 fighter aircraft

in supersonic mode.

Most insects hunt their prey
by chasing them.

The dragonfly is no exception.

It's like a fighter jet

with a state-of-the-art
tracking system.

And when the dragonfly
sees a fly flying,

It's computing
not where the fly is,

but rather
where the fly is going to be

once the dragonfly
makes it there.

So the dragonfly strategy
for catching this flying fly

is to rather compute
an interception course

rather than
to track the prey item

and catch up to the prey item.

The dragonfly actually
anticipates

where the prey is gonna be
and intercepts it on route.

Their sophisticated
tracking system

is a product of their huge eyes.

Dragonflies have
some of the largest eyes

of all of the insects
in the world.

The head of a dragonfly
is almost entirely an eyeball.

And those are
superhero eyeballs.

There are more facets in them
than any other insect,

which means more pixels
and resolution.

They also have a 360° view,

which comes in handy when you're
trying to defend your territory

or track down dinner.

Once their eyes have mapped
a flight trajectory,

dragonflies honing on
their prey

using their
equally-sophisticated wings.

They have 4 wings
designed like window panes.

Each is connected to
its own muscle,

which allows the wings to beat
at different speeds

and even move independently.

As far as insects that
can fly go,

dragonflies are really
at the top of their game.

These are insects that
not only can fly fast,

but are also
exceptionally maneuverable.

Arguably, the most maneuverable
of all of the flying insects.

Dragonflies not only can
fly forwards,

they can also fly backwards

and they can fly side to side
as well

and not just change direction
and steer.

A transmission like a race
car

helps them hunt
mosquitoes and flies,

but the special adaptations
that make them supreme killers

don't end there.

Once an insect is caught,

the dragonfly uses its legs
like a shopping basket.

When a dragonfly captures a
fly,

it's not just using its wings
and its jaws to capture the fly,

it's also using its legs.

As the dragonfly
approaches the fly,

it approaches from below.

It then uses it forelegs
to snatch the fly

from underneath out of the air

and that's why we call it
a capture basket.

After the dragonflies have
captured their prey,

they will usually
perch somewhere

and then they will
chew on their prey.

So they have
really great mandibles

and they'll just chew along.

And thank goodness for us
they do chew so much

including annoying wasps.

And their hearty appetites

helps control
pesky mosquito populations.

A single dragonfly could eat

from 30 to 100
mosquitoes per day.

Dragonflies
are veracious predators.

You constantly see them eating,
foraging

and no-one really knows
how much they eat,

but it's estimated
they probably eat

anywhere from 20% to 50% of
their own bodyweight

because they expend
so much energy in flying

and so they need to constantly
feed themselves.

Everything about dragonflies
seems ruthless.

If their prey is too large,

they can neutralize it
by biting it on the face.

They have no problem
cannibalizing

other smaller dragonflies,

their powerful serrated jaws
mashing them into a pulp.

While they may seem beautiful
delicate creatures to us,

to the diminutive mosquito,
they are terrifying.

Every predator
needs a speciality,

and these tenacious
insect-eaters have a great one.

They evolved to hunt for a
virtually unlimited food source

and virtually flawless ways.

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