Original subtitles

In nature, villains are everywhere.

All this fly wants is sweet nectar.

But he's landed in the jaws of a predatory plant.

Just another wicked fiend with the weirdest of appetites.

The Creatures of Earth

are wilder than you could possibly imagine.

Among the fast and fearsome are the astoundingly crazy.

Strange behavior and outrageous fashion sense.

They're all in a competition to survive.

And weirdness always wins.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Welcome to the mind-bending world of fungi.

A fascinatingly weird kingdom of creatures that rule our planet.

More than one and a half million species.

Greater than all plants combined.

And they proudly let their freak flags fly.

♪ ♪

Fungi eat the dead to create new life.

Returning nutrients to the ground.

And feeding the soil on which all living things depend.

For all the benefits they bring, some fungi have a darker side.

Their urge to multiply has mushroomed like

a fiendish contagion.

Most fungi throw their spores to the wind, mingling with

the soil wherever they land.

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♪ ♪

But some have more ghoulish tastes.

As this ant forages, fungal spores contaminating the forest

floor have latched on and penetrated its exoskeleton.

The body snatcher is known as Cordyceps.

Days after contact, the spores have bypassed the

creature's brain, taking control of its movements.

The ant is now a walking time bomb.

The fungus drives its host towards the perfect destination

to complete its life cycle.

A place that's warm and humid.

The ant's nest.

Ants are usually good at spotting the sick and

forcing them from the colony.

But nobody detects the zombie in their midst.

The enslaved ant is now a Trojan horse, ready to burst forth.

The Cordyceps fungus eats it from the inside out.

Nourishment for its final act.

Spores erupt from the carcass, zombifying

one ant after another.

The ants that survive?

Cordyceps always need fresh hosts.

But these body snatchers don't limit themselves to ants.

There are more than 700 species of Cordyceps,

each infecting a different species of invertebrate.

Victims litter the forest floor.

Prey to a parasite that's neither plant nor animal,

but something in between.

♪ ♪

Imagine the world of a meerkat.

Sweethearts of the African savannah.

But surrounded by skilled killers.

Despite it all, they remain eccentric.

Funny.

And totally adorable.

♪ ♪

An easy mark for a clever manipulator.

The fork-tail Drongo is watching the meerkats closely.

She's one of nature's shrewdest con artists.

When meerkats forage for food, it's a family outing.

♪ ♪

It hunts scorpions and insects nine to five.

While the meerkats take care of business, crafty Drongos wait.

Oddly, meerkats trust the Drongos to help them.

From the bird's vantage point, it can see and hear

danger before anyone else.

A martial eagle, the meerkat's arch nemesis.

The Drongos sound their alarm call,

alerting the meerkats.

Crisis averted.

But the double-dealing Drongos can exploit a flaw

in this escape strategy.

When the meerkats catch their prey, they wait for

their pups to join in.

The juvenile meerkats handle their meal carelessly.

The Drongos take note.

Again, the bird sounds the Drongo alarm call.

But this time, there's no eagle.

In their haste, the meerkats abandon their food.

The Drongo swoops in to pick up the scraps.

The meerkat has no idea.

The Drongo's cunning use of mimicry is crooked genius.

Orcas stalk every ocean on the planet.

But each hunting ground sports unique prey.

Different families have a trusted method to capture

their favorite meal.

Putting the killer into killer whale.

It may not be summer, but school is out for these herring.

♪ ♪

As spring brings a touch of warmth to the frigid

northern oceans, this school of herring migrates south.

♪ ♪

Hoping to sow their wild oats with other graduates.

Incoming!

The Norwegian orca pod surrounds the school.

Herding the herring closer and closer together.

These orca are a tight-knit family of hunters.

Emitting a cacophony of calls to coordinate their attack.

They slap their tails, stunning some of the fish.

The rest of the herring form a defensive bait pool, exposing

the least of their numbers to the circle of predators.

♪ ♪

Finally, the leader dives below the mass of fish

and emits a fountain of bubbles.

Escaping the wall of air, the herring are

forced to the surface.

The scene is black and white, with red herrings all over.

In Alaskan waters, a transient pod have

developed a richer palate.

♪ ♪

This sea lion colony balloon during summer breeding.

The size of an orca pod is determined by

their preferred prey.

This is one large family.

They rush the frolicking sea lions, who make a quick escape.

One of the herd is injured in the chaos.

♪ ♪

But armed with large canines, he is far from an instant meal.

The pod keep their distance before launching their attack.

♪ ♪

They take turns ramming the sea lion.

♪ ♪

Finally, the matriarch delivers the death blow.

The feast will fuel the family as they search for

their next hunting ground.

♪ ♪

Killing comes easy to this spider.

Its cold, blooded eyes scan the jungle for movement.

It's picky.

Nothing too big to tackle.

The arachnid knows the right victim is out there.

The net-casting spider, AKA ogre-face, sees 2,000 times

better than a human in the dark.

One pair of specialized eyes track her prey.

While the other six scan for danger.

♪ ♪

She's got to be patient.

As the mark approaches, she prepares her secret weapon.

A net of webbing.

Accuracy is everything.

The white dot on the leaf below is a splat of her own poop.

A marker to help her aim.

Another one in the bag.

♪ ♪

Most spiders must wait for their prey to ensnare themselves.

But ogre-face strikes while the iron is hot.

Unlike ordinary spider silk, her woolly net is fine,

sticking to the cricket's waxy shell like velcro.

She turns the cricket into a bug burrito.

Now for the hot sauce.

Her neurotoxic venom paralyzes the cricket,

dissolving its tissues into gooey liquid.

So she can drink to her own success.

25 years ago, this female green sea turtle left the

island where she was born.

To build a life for herself in the wide open ocean.

Now it's time to return home and start a family.

To succeed, she'll need to get the shy turtle guys to

come out of their shells.

♪ ♪

But be careful what you wish for.

When female green sea turtles are ready to breed, they

instinctively migrate towards the beach where they hatched.

♪ ♪

After a quarter of a century at sea, the journey is epic.

This homecoming queen needs a king.

She releases a heady perfume of pheromones to

attract potential mates.

♪ ♪

Using special claws on his flippers,

the male clings to his date.

♪ ♪

But there are more suitors.

♪ ♪

By attracting multiple mates, the female ensures

her eventual mate is the strongest and fittest.

Two weeks later, she and others are ready to move

ashore and lay their eggs.

Hungry tiger sharks patrol the shallows.

♪ ♪

The reef will hide her for a while.

♪ ♪

Others forge ahead, driven by instinct.

Straight into the jaws of the waiting sharks.

♪ ♪

While the sharks are distracted, she makes a break for it.

♪ ♪

Exhausted, she lies on the very strip of beach where

generations of ancestors once returned to start a new family.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

She digs as deep as her flippers will reach.

Across the summer nesting season,

she'll lay hundreds of eggs.

♪ ♪

And then she's gone.

Two months later, her babies hatch.

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♪ ♪

Instinctively, they head straight for the sea.

But first, they must run the gauntlet of hungry

birds and fish, all waiting for turtle take away.

Just one out of a thousand will make it.

♪ ♪

On the far edges of the natural kingdom,

savage gardens of carnivorous plants thrive

on their powers of seduction.

♪ ♪

To survive, they must consume the flesh of the living.

In some small corners of the world,

there's a rogue's gallery of meat-eating villains.

♪ ♪

The round-leaved sundew beckons to its victims like an

all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.

The scent and taste of nectar makes promises

to hungry insects.

It's the original honey trap.

Just as alluring are the jaws of the Venus flytrap.

The plant secretes digestive enzymes,

killing the insect within and absorbing its life juices.

In just a few days, the trap opens again.

♪ ♪

Only an empty husk remains.

While some plants wield jaws of death,

in the nutrient-poor soils of Australian forests,

the pitcher plant works hard to feed its need

for essential nitrogen.

♪ ♪

Once their leaves have sprouted and their lids

been popped, pitcher plants are open for business.

Sugary syrup coats its rim, a one-stop shop for insects.

The sweet offerings draw hungry crowds of ants.

For the plant, it's a two-for-one deal.

The ants defend their supply of syrup, protecting the

plant from leaf-eating bugs.

♪ ♪

But these ants walk a tightrope.

It's difficult to keep a foothold on the waxy surface.

One wrong step on the pitcher's patio,

and the plant's defender becomes its dinner.

The viscous liquid within is like quicksand.

The more the ant struggles, the deeper it sinks.

The ant decomposes, and the pitcher has its

nitrogen fix for the day.

On first impression, these lesser flamingos

are delicate creatures.

But don't be fooled by their long necks and vibrant colours.

These birds are truly hardcore.

This is Africa's most toxic lake.

But for almost two million flamingos,

it's paradise on earth.

Tough, scale-like skin on their legs prevents caustic burns.

♪ ♪

They live on poisonous algae that grows in the lake,

with no ill effects.

But things aren't as rosy as they seem.

An intruder prowls the banks.

This hyena mother is extremely smart.

And opportunistic.

Her cubs haven't had anything to eat in two days.

Flamingos flock towards the edge of the lake,

drinking the fresh water that streams in during

the early morning.

They're nervous.

But there's safety in numbers.

Straying from the flock could be a deadly mistake.

Exactly what the hyena is waiting for.

But today, there are no chinks in the armour.

The hyena must improvise.

The birds scatter, but they know the hyena is

racing against the clock.

♪ ♪

Their determination quickly dissolves in the alkaline water.

Back on dry land, the hyena's paws are burning.

But the flamingos have someone else to worry about.

An olive baboon.

Fast and agile over short distances,

the monkey does what the hyena couldn't.

Baboons are usually vegetarian.

But when an opportunity calls, they eat it.

For the hyena, this baboon-shaped cloud has a

flamingo-coloured lining.

A young bird has hurt its leg in the fray.

Just the break the mother needs.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Success. Finally.

This time, she'll have more to show for her

efforts than burning paws.

♪ ♪

Yet facing toxic waters and plundering predators,

the flamingos of Africa stand tall, tough and brilliant.

On the banks of the Mangoro River in Madagascar,

a wave of break-ins are sweeping the neighbourhood.

♪ ♪

The meanest things on wings.

These wasps are in no mood for mercy.

Time for the locals to take cover.

This frog seeks refuge in its panic room.

But she's not the wasp's intended victim.

High above, a new brood of tadpoles,

encased in a mucus nest.

♪ ♪

Easy pickings for hungry wasps.

The green frog watches as her kids

are picked off one by one.

Wasp a frog gonna do?

♪ ♪

But when the going gets tough, the weird whip into action.

These younglings know their emergency evacuation routine.

♪ ♪

Sensing danger, frog babies can hatch days before they are due.

They escape into the waters below.

♪ ♪

It's sink or swim.

Hungry eyes are a constant threat.

♪ ♪

The premature tadpoles swim in schools to avoid predators.

Born early, they can't feed for a month while their teeth grow.

From an early start, less than one in a hundred

make it to adulthood.

These tadpole youngsters play the odds.

One percent survival beats one hundred percent chance

of being eaten by wasps.

♪ ♪

With bellies full, the wasps retire.

But soon they'll return in search of their next score.

Sharks.

One of evolution's greatest success stories.

♪ ♪

Over four hundred million years old, they predate the dinosaurs.

Surviving five mass extinctions.

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Today, the mac daddy of them all reigns supreme.

Armed with an array of freakish sensory abilities.

Nineteen and a half feet long, packed to the teeth with teeth.

Great white sharks love the taste of juvenile seals.

♪ ♪

Australia's Neptune Islands are home to the continent's largest

colony of long-nosed fall seals.

For months now, the white sharks have been dining on

seal pups learning to swim.

But the seals will soon leave the rocks to

hunt in the open ocean.

The hunter needs a new hunting ground.

More than five thousand miles to the west, South Africa's

young Cape fur seals are taking their first swimming lessons.

Attracted to the Cape Tide ranges,

underwater visibility and cooler water.

For great whites, South Africa is the perfect

place to hunt baby seals.

The shark embarks on an epic three-month journey.

To navigate the vast Indian Ocean.

Sharks have evolved a sense that still confounds science.

Electro-reception.

The same sensitivity that

helps them locate prey lets them read the Earth's magnetic

variations like a map.

Guiding them with accuracy across an ocean.

To hit land right where the fur seals are popping.

When hunting, special hormones darken their skin,

matching the surrounding water.

The baby seal is oblivious.

Until... It's too late.

400 million years of survival unleashed in seconds.

Proof that nature's designs can attain perfection.

In this ancient tropical forest, Borneo's dense

vegetation and stable climate form a high-speed production

line for new species.

Here, nature constantly tinkers with its prototypes,

refining them to deal with life's challenges.

Which explains how flat-pack office workers evolved into

a lone hunter that's both flamboyant and secretive.

The dead leaf mantis is the culmination of millions of

years of evolutionary testing.

Her camouflage mimics the immediate surroundings.

Dead vegetation.

♪ ♪

A cloak of invisibility and a killer look that rarely fails.

♪ ♪

This uptown katydid has travelled from the green,

green grass of home to a tough neighbourhood where

conspicuous can get you killed.

Bad timing.

The mantis is hidden on a dry branch.

♪ ♪

With her compound eyes, she gets a 245 degree

view of her surroundings.

Like a coiled spring, she waits.

♪ ♪

But the katydid has wings.

This calls for patience and stealth.

The mantis's forelimbs have interlocking spines,

making escape impossible.

The lesson?

When travelling abroad, blend in.

♪ ♪

On a weird planet full of villains, camouflage secures

a predatory edge.

And drawing attention can get

you whacked.

Like katydid.