The Tiny World Of Insects | BBC Earth

these touch me not Balsam have sprung up to cover the wood floor each night the leaves go limp as the balsom exudes any excess moisture in the water logged soils of the Lake District this is a handy adaptation [Music] soon their blooms unfurl as the Petals of these strange shaped flowers drop off seed pods begin to form [Music] these pods are the favorite food of the netted carpet moth [Music] 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 that their only source of food [Music] [Music] 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 [Music] the caterpillars have no warning when these little bombs go off it's not just seeds that get hurled across the forest [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] floor the H desert one of the most exposed places on [Music] Earth as the sun climbs High everybody takes cover from the extreme heat everybody except the hot rod [Music] ant as others take refuge their day is

just beginning cleaning out the [Music] nest the sand can reach a scorching 70 Cade the ants long legs raise their bodies above the surface where it's 10° 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 theyve strayed into a [Music] Minefield each of these strange cone-shaped pits is a death trap

with a brutal Predator at its Center here lie ant lion lari tiny Ambush Predators with Venom filled Pincers [Music] [Music] some ants managed to escape but the ant line 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 ant's feet as Boulders rain from the sky Escape seems almost [Music] impossible [Music] pH an O 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 amongus it's inquisitive but it's also wary of the Pista a black and white pattern is a warning signal the beetle takes aim and fares formic acid straight at the Mongo'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 Beatles 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 Turpin 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 [Music] patch but the master of chemical warfare is the Bombadier Beetle it can create a chemical reaction within

its body so violent that boiling quatic 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 weter is New Zealand's equivalent of a mouse and a worthy snack for a foraging Pig [Music] [Music] with pigs snuffling close behind there is only one place to go and it's the last place you would expect [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] this weter is an escape [Music] artist the pigs can't see or smell him when he's underwater [Music] [Music] he can

stay under for up to 10 minutes [Music] and now the coast is clear 80 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 [Music] one a super organism with a sensory system of 2 million and ten 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 [Music] size The Colony can search the entire jungle and flush out its [Music] Wildlife each day it sends out a silent probe into the forest in quest of food [Music] 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 10 m front sweeping across the forest [Music] floor to find prey the ants must first touch it the iron is that this the most successful hideand-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 [Music] joints the more the prey struggles the more the ants [Music] 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 [Music] everything alive in the path of the Raiders overwhelmed by sheer [Music] 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 Thor even Underground [Music] [Music] frozen solid a Mountain Stone wetter it has the most extraordinary survival technique of all the ability to come back from the [Music] dead only in a specialized filming chamber can we capture its extraordinary Talent the weter has developed special proteins which prevent ice crystals from forming inside [Music] itself a remarkable trick for a creature whose ancesters once

lived in prehistoric warm wet forests but when New Zealand's mountains grew up beneath them around 5 million years ago they were forced to come up with this incredible ability to survive near lethal temperatures defrosting uses up a lot of [Music] energy so Mountain snow berries are a welcome [Music] site the weter needs to stock up while it can the next Antarctic storm could be the return of wind [Music] winter it can tolerate over 80% of its body freezing solid and can do so day in and day out for weeks at a [Music] 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 behavior 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 ton of Earth there is 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 C 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 [Music] surrounded by vibrating bodies The Hornet at the core of the b ball begins to overheat the bees have the advantage a heat tolerance 2° above that of their enemy at 46° C the aggressor is roasted alive [Music] 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 is 25 m above him near the top she has more normal size 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 Shar 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 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and here she is at last but she doesn't seem to be in the mood [Music] so now he has to use his great Jaws as a restraining [Music] cage success at last [Music] 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 [Music] whether an individual mtis survives or not is partly a matter of chance whether it's spotted by a [Music] predator whether it turns right or left [Music] so far it's luck is held but this hungry jumping spider is still in Pursuit am mantis is born with exceptional eyesight but the spiders is even better [Music] although this young mantis can't yet fly its long four legs evolved to catch

prey give it reach [Music] [Music] there seems to be no [Music] Escape but this mantis has a surprising line in self-defense Kung Fu praying mantis Style [Music] of course it's all Bluff trying to look bigger and confuse its [Music] enemy but it's got away with [Music] it just staying alive for 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 [Music] maned or maybe not after all mantids

are cannibals by pulling 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 lari over to Feast on the dead Queen including many that must have been her own [Music] offspring as the weeks pass the revolution continues only the most dominant Royals seem immune to attack back 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 [Music] a pellanta snail it can grow to the size of a man's [Applause] [Music] 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 banners [Music] oh [Music] [Music] its mouth envelops and suffocates the [Music] earthworm it sucked down like spaghetti [Music] for anything bigger it's

got 6,000 teeth ready to shred the next meal in this super saturated environment this specialized smell is the ultimate Predator the Rines 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 tra [Music] 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 [Music] the trails radiate from the nest

in every direction some stretch 100 m 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 the kill everything that crosses their path it is said that no animal is

safe when they're on the war path it is even said that they will enter Huts to attack people or kill babies left unattended in their courts the truth is somewhat different although the bites are painful against people they are purely defensive the Jaws May slice through human flesh like butter but it's simply a war despite the myths driver ants are still ruthless Killers but in a way that often benefits the villagers dangerous pests like scorpions are quickly set upon by the ants even the Scorpion's deadly sting is powerless against this invincible Army both workers and

soldiers join the attack dividing up their r s according to their size as some look for a in its leg armor others priese open its body plates like a tin opener with its sting immobilized and faced by such overwhelming odds the Scorpion eventually gives up the fight the dismembered body is Hall back down the trail to feed the nest the farmer's 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 ant's 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 soldiers highly sensitive antenna 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 milliped out of Harm's Way the trail can safely continue its Journey but more dangers await the Trailblazers a preing 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's Jaws stopping it from doing any more damage other ants swarm over the Mantis butchering it with surgical precision the mantis's fate is sealed by a clinical [Music] decapitation the eggs and pupe are taken into the new Nest here they're safe the millions of interlocking ants that make up the nest super structure create create

an impenetrable [Music] barrier only from the outside is it possible to get an idea of the nest's huge scale [Music] literally millions of individuals form a nervous Network that communicates using pheromones as ants pass messages to each other they effectively act like brain [Music] cells through the millions of interconnections they arrive at a decision that works for the benefit of the colony [Music] like human brain cells individual ANS are not intelligent but the links between them create a mind an ant Super Brain deep inside is the queen her role is to replenish The Colony by

laying 2 million eggs a month she is merely an eggling 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 [Music] [Music] 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 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 Fones scent messages which tell others in the group that they must move on [Music] and when groups merge they form a [Music] 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 billions strong and as much as 40 m wide they will consume every edible thing that lies in their path [Music] 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 [Music] body in a move to rival a contortionist it passes strands of silk behind itself creating a girdle to support it through the change to C [Music] with anchor and line secure the transformation can take [Music] place caterpillars a 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