Original subtitles

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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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