All language subtitles for Life.2009.S01E06.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG

Ati'en borough: There are
more kinds of insects in the world

than all other kinds of animals
put together.

But because they are so small,

we rarely see
how extraordinary they are.

Occasionally they assemble
in astonishing numbers.

A billion monarch butterflies
hibernate in the forests of Mexico.

I/ast clouds of ma yflies
emerge all at once to mate.

Insects face endless challenges.

They can transform their bodies
to meet every purpose.

Eyes grow on stalks,
bodies become chemical guns.

To discover how and why
they do such things,

you have to enter their world.

Patagonia, Chile.

Home to one of
the most extraordinary of beetles.

There are many kinds of beetles
in the world,

but this one
has some of the biggest jaws of all.

He is Darwin's beetle.

He's on his way to the forest
to look for a mate.

Whether he gets one or not

will depend on his strength
and on the size of his jaws.

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
25 metres above him, near the top.

She has more normal-sizedja ws.

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.

Sheer 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 add shape.

He's got the grip, now he has to lift.

And that needs strength.

Another lift is needed.

And that's that.

Beetle armour is strong, so he bounces.

The winner climbs on.

There are more males
ready to fight him up here.

And here she is at last.

But she doesn't seem to be in the mood.

So now he has to use his great jaws
as a restraining cage.

Success at last.

But the hurling habit dies hard.

Insects' bodies have the capacity

to take on
an almost infinite variety of shapes.

This is one of
the keys to their success.

This male moth
doesn't go in search of females.

He inflates a pair of scented plumes

that protrude
from the end of his abdomen

and they come to him.

All insects have the same basic design,

six legs and an armour-co vered body.

But the different parts
can become exaggerated

to sol ve particular problems.

This beetle has a giraffe's neck
in order to fight.

A praying mantis is disguised
as a flower and waits in ambush.

Another is almost in visible
among dead Lea ves.

Insect armour can carry colours
that can camouflage or communicate.

But the armour
can also be converted into wings.

And that makes insects a global force,

enabling them to invade
almost every habitat on earth.

In southern France,

one insect is starting
on the most important day of its life.

Dawn,

and a newly-hatched damselfl y.

She needs to mate and lay her eggs
before sunset.

Her adult life is so short
she may not get another chance.

Her success will depend
on these fragile wings.

She faces many perils.

Few insects can escape
from a spider's web.

But her wings are more powerful
than they look.

She wants to mate
with the strongest male.

However, the stream where
she might find him is a battleground.

She watches while dark-winged males
compete for the best territories,

thrashing their wings
at each other in threat

or trying to force their opponents
into the water.

Fighting finished

the female uses her wings
to signal her presence to the winner.

She won't be rushed,

but if he doesn't grip her
with his tail, a rival might steal her.

As they mate, their linked bodies
form the shape of a heart.

But now, she has the problem
of laying her fertilised eggs

and that brings new hassles.

Like any athlete, she must warm
her muscles for optimum performance

and does so by using her wings
as solar-heating panels.

She must fly dangerously low if she
is to find the right place for her eggs.

Only the quickest damselflies escape.

Safely past the frogs,

this female has reached a suitable plant
on which to lay her eggs.

But she has to place them underwater
if they are to survive.

For the first time,
her wings seem to be a hindrance

but, in fact, they help her yet again

by trapping a silvery layer of air
which enables her to breathe.

She cuts into a plant stem
and deposits her eggs inside.

Now her wings
are going to be truly tested.

If she can't break through
the water surface, she will drown.

Her day has been a complete success.

Damselflies seldom venture
beyond their home stream.

But some insects fly huge distances.

September, on the shores of lake erie,
in southern Canada.

A monarch butterfly
is fuelling up on nectar.

A chill gust of northerly air.

It's time to leave.

The coming winter will be so cold
it would kill her.

She has never flown more than
a few hundred metres in her life.

But now
she is heading out over lake erie,

which is a hundred miles across.

This is just the first leg of one of
the world's greatest animal migrations.

She will continue south, using the sun
as a compass to cross america,

a journey of 2, 000 miles.

Her destination is Mexico

and one small and special group
of trees.

No one knows how she finds them
in these great mountain forests.

She joins other monarch butterflies

that have travelled here
from all over North America.

Countless butterflies
crowd these particular trees,

hanging from every branch.

They come here because although
winter brings a chill to the air,

there will not be a lethal freeze
as there will in Canada.

The conditions are perfect
for hibernation.

Hibernating butterflies
are vulnerable to predators.

But monarchs are poisonous.

However, a few birds have learned to rip
out the toxic parts and eat the rest.

They kill hundreds of thousands
of butterflies and dislodge many more.

Those that fall

must get back into the trees
before nightfall brings another killer.

They vibrate their wings
to warm their flight muscles,

but it's a race against time.

Night brings a lethal ground frost.

Those that do survive

sleep safely huddled together
in the trees for four months.

The warmth of spring
wakes them from their hibernation.

The majority of the butterflies that
flew here from Canada have survived.

They take their first drink
since their arrival last Autumn.

With increasing warmth,
more and more butterflies awake.

Soon they will all disperse northwards

and tranquillity
will return to this forest,

until the great-grandchildren
of these butterflies return

to escape the freezing northern winter.

Some insects, however,

have made a speciality of
living in the most adverse conditions.

Mono lake is known as
California's dead sea.

It's twice as salty as the ocean
and lethal to almost all life.

Alkali flies
are one of the few creatures

able to tolerate these conditions.

And since they have
virtually no competitors,

they swarm in their millions.

Flies are one of the most successful
of all insects.

There are 85, 000 different kinds

and among them,
a perfect fly for almost every habitat,

even this one.

The alkali fly has special abilities
that enable it to live on this lake.

It can walk underwater to eat algae.

Fine hairs trap air bubbles
that prevent it from drowning.

But most critically,

the fly has a physiology that can
neutralise the lethal levels of salt.

So the alkali fl y's dominance
of mono lake goes unchallenged,

except for a few weeks of the year.

A hundred thousand Wilson's phalarope
are migrating to South America.

Mono lake is their only stopover.

These alkali flies, for them,

are an in valuable
and irresistible feast.

A fly has no defence except to fly
and become lost in a vast swarm.

It needs considerable skill
to pluck an individual fly from the air.

There are gulls here, too.

Though their fl y-catching techniques
are not so refined.

In four weeks,
the phalaropes double their weight.

Then they set off again, heading south,
leaving the gulls behind.

The size of the fly population
has scarcely been affected.

For them, sheer abundance
is defence enough.

But for some insects, defence
is a much more complicated affair.

A oogpister 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 counter attack
and nip his ankles.

But he simply kicks them out of the way.

The Valiant ants drive him off
straight into real danger.

A mongoose.

It's inquisitive.

But it's also wary of the oogpister.

A black and white pattern
is a warning signal.

The beetle takes aim...

And fires formic acid straight at
the mongoose'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 defenceless little lizard
carries the beetle's 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, turpines.

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 patch.

But the master of chemical warfare
is the bombardier beetle.

It can create a chemical reaction
within its body so violent

that boiling caustic 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.

In the woodlands of Minnesota,

there is an insect
that has another chemical weapon.

But this one fights as an army,
and can stand up to almost any predator.

Bees collect nectar all day

and transform it within their stomachs
into one of nature's richest foods,

honey.

Hundreds of them
are bringing their precious loads

back to their colony in this hollow log.

The honey in their combs
provides food for their young,

and for the whole colony if the weather
turns cold or there's a drought.

But so much food attracts thieves.

A black bear cub has a sweet tooth.

But he's never come across bees before,

and he doesn't know that they will
defend their honey to the death.

Stinging is the ultimate self-sacrifice
for a bee,

because it can't
pull out its barbed sting...

So its body is torn apart.

The bees' attack
was far too much for the cub.

But a greater challenge is coming...

The cub's mother.

The bees fight so hard that she only
has time to steal a single comb.

While the family enjoy their honey
at a safe distance,

the bees appear to have been defeated.

Their home has been destroyed,

and their young will inevitably die
out in the open.

Yet the colony is not doomed,

because the workers are now rescuing
at least some of what really matters,

their honey.

Each survivor is able to eat
its own weight in honey,

storing it in its stomach.

They will have to abandon
their dying young,

but they will take
much of their precious honey with them

to sustain themselves
while they build a new colony.

Working together
in such an organised society

is the insects' great innovation.

So how did it begin?

It may have started
in a place like this,

the nest of the Japanese red bug.

Parent insects don't usually care
for their offspring,

but this bug is different.

The young feed on fallen fruit
from just one kind of rare tree.

They could never find it by themselves,
so their mother collects it for them.

She probes every fruit she finds
to test its ripeness,

and rejects one after another.

This can take hours.

At last, a perfect fruit.

A thief! It's easier to steal
than find fruit for yourself.

For both bugs,
the outcome of this dispute

will be life-changing.

As the mother struggles
to keep her prize,

her young, back in the nest,
are growing restless.

The thief has won.

The mother doesn't know that her
hungry young are leaving their nest

in search of a better provider.

She returns
to find that her nest is empty.

Her young find the nest of the thief
who is herself a mother.

She returns to find that she has twice
as many mouths to feed.

The laser has failed
at her only chance of parenthood.

For the thief
life has suddenly got much harder.

A fruit won't now
last as long as it did.

The young clamber over her,
demanding more.

She returns with another fruit,

but her enlarged and insatiable brood
want still more.

So she has to work nonstop,
day after day.

At last, the young become big enough
to fend for themselves.

But their success has come at a cost.

The mother has worked herself to death.

And now,
her body has become their last meal

before they leave home.

Looking after the young in such a way

is thought to be the first step
towards living in a community.

But, some insects benefit from doing
the opposite of collaborating.

They kill one another.

Dawson's bee is one of the largest
in the world.

It nests in the baked soil of the
Australian outback.

Flowers are rare in this desert
so colonies of these bees

are few and far between.

The bees excavate tunnels
for their young.

The community is so harmonious
that it's hard to believe

that this place is also the setting
for mass murder.

T empers do flare
when a bee gets confused

and goes down another's burrow,

but these are minor disagreements.

The colony is peaceful at the moment,

because every bee here is a female.

It's the males that are the killers
and they are all dead.

Their story began two months earlier,
before the appearance of the females.

Male Dawson's bees.

The females are only just emerging,

burrowing their way, one by one,
out of the tunnels where they hatched

and grew up.
And their scent inflames the males.

They are huge and built for fighting.

And each one wants to be in the best
position to mate with a female.

A female emerges and immediately
there's a brawl

as every male tries to reach her.

It's very rare for animals to kill
their own kind in combat.

But stinging and biting rivals to death
is usually the only way

these male bees get a female.

A winner manages to claim a female
and the pair race for cover.

Meanwhile, the female's lingering scent
drives one unsuccessful male

into a deadly frenzy.

Another female caught in the middle
of another brawl

becomes an accidental casualty.

By the time the last female has emerged,
every male is dead.

The battles have ensured that
the strongest males will have mated

with the most females.

Two months later
and it's an all-female world,

with the next generation
already developing underground.

Insects have evolved sophisticated
societies that in complexity

are the closest thing in nature
to our own cities.

The insects that built this structure
in Argentina

dominate the surrounding grasslands

thanks to skills that seem almost
more human than insect.

It's a Metropolis,
a home to millions of ants.

The colony needs a huge supply of food.

It's surrounded by grass.

But the ants themselves can't digest
a blade of it.

Nonetheless, they collect it.

Although they're all the same species,

they exist in different shapes
and sizes.

The heads of these
big-ja wed individuals

are not full of brain but brawn.

They give the species its name,
they are grass cutters.

They work all day, every day.

The small ants, down on the ground,
are porters,

with the job of carrying
the grass segments back to the colony.

They ha ve great strength.

Their main problem is balance.

Columns of them carry the grass
back to the nest,

along highways
as straight as Roman roads.

Different members of the colony
specialise in particular tasks,

in much the same way as people do.

But, as in human society,
there can be problems.

A hitchhiker makes one ant's job
much harder.

And this isn't even grass.

A single colony harvests half a ton
of grass a year,

more than any other animal
on these plains.

But since they themselves can't eat it,
why do they do so?

The answer lies underground.

They have one of the most extraordinary
survival strategies

in the insect world.

The ants have dug a network of tunnels
that extend downwards

for overseven metres.

At the heart of the colony lies the key
to their survival, a fungus.

But this isn't sloppy housekeeping,

this is a fungus that is found
nowhere else on earth.

And the ants cultivate it assiduously.

The big-jawed ants chop up the grass,
covering it with an antibiotic saliva

that kills every kind of fungus
except this one.

The ants are farmers.

They feed the grass to the fungus
and the fungus thrives.

The ants cultivate dozens of these
fungus gardens throughout the colony.

This is what they eat.

The system is so efficient

that a single colony
can have five million members.

But the fungus is also dangerous.

As it grows, it releases carbon dioxide
that could asphyxiate the entire colony.

The ants' way of dealing with this
danger is ingenious.

They construct their nest

so that it has an automatic
air-conditioning system.

The outer surface is so shaped
that the slightest breeze

sucks out stale air
through these central vents.

At the same time,
fresh air is drawn down

through the outer vents,
right into the heart of the nest.

Our own societies have existed
for thousands of years,

but insect societies ha ve lasted
for millions.

There may be 70 million different kinds
of insects.

And there are 200 million individuals
for every one of us.

The insects' flexible armour
and their adaptability

has made them the most abundant
and the most diverse animal group

in our planet's history.

The Sierra madre mountains in Mexico

are home to one of the greatest
natural wonders.

A billion bright orange butterflies

offered the life team
a wonderful filming challenge.

The colonies are only found
above 3, 000 metres

and the team trek there
slowly in the thin air.

The monarch phenomenon was only
discovered here around 30 years ago

and one man has been studying them
every year since,

professor Lincoln brower.

His knowledge will be essential
if the team are to achieve their goal

of flying a camera
among the butterflies.

It's amazing that the butterflies
only come to this area

that's about 30 by 60 miles in extent.

There are other areas
that have high forests

in different parts of Mexico,

to the west of here,
to the south of here.

But as far as we know,
this is the only place that monarchs

are able to spend the winter.

Ati'en Bo roug h: The butterflies
are in such numbers

that filming them the traditional way,
from a camera on a tripod,

is reasonably straightforward.

But to get a butterfly's viewpoint
by flying a camera amongst the swarms

is going to be altogether
more difficult.

First, the team need a spot where
butterflies gather in huge numbers.

Luckily, Lincoln knows a place where
thousands come down to drink every day.

The crew spend the next three days
preparing the equipment.

A remote-controlled camera,
a lot of cable, two bicycle wheels,

a bag of rocks and some muscle power.

Now all they need to do is wait until
the butterfly numbers

reach truly impressive proportions.

By midday, the butterflies are swarming

and it's time for the camera
to glide with them through the air.

Three and away.

This looks superb.

- Okay, let's just stop that.
- Perfect. Absolutely stunning.

We've got great numbers coming in,
so let's keep going.

- And then we'll do a turn-round.
- Sure.

Ati'en borough: A series of unique
shots, flying with the butterflies.

But that was the easy part.

Now it's time to get the camera
50 metres up into the treetops.

Filming the roosting butterflies
is not going to be simple.

The clusters are unstable.

There just aren't
as many butterflies.

Ati'en borough: And they can
suddenly disperse without warning,

what Lincoln calls an ”explosion

here's another explosion.
Wow, look at that.

And they're going right over our heads.

Ati'en borough: Spectacular, no doubt,

but a real problem
for the climbing team,

Jim spickler and Tim fogg.

Would it be better for us to start now?
We're going to be very careful

not to disturb them,
or limit our disturbance.

But if we do disturb them...

Right now, it seems that they're
warm enough that they could relocate

to a cluster right adjacent to them.
Do you think that's true? Or...

Well, if you disturb them,
they tend to fly away from the tree,

50 feet or so.

So, you'll lose those clusters, I think,
if you disturb them.

Fogg: Do you think
they'll cluster again?

- —Brower: No.
- No? Tomorrow night?

- I doubt it.
- Wouldn't they?

- Brower: I think they'lljust move down.
- Oh, yeah.

That's really hard stuff, you know.

Because I can't see how we can
get up the trees

and do what we have to up there,

close to any clusters,
without them flying.

I just don't know how I'm going to be
able to get an arrow into the tree.

I think if you picked your tree,
you could put the arrow in it now.

Ati'en borough: The prospect of
rigging cables high in the canopy

without disturbing the butterflies
is a daunting one.

They may only get one chance.

One false move and it'll all be gone.

And I sort of had the impression
that they might come back again,

but Lincoln says they just won't.
They'lljust move on to another tree.

So, we'll put all the rigging in,
disturb them and then...

That's it.

Ati'en borough: Choosing which trees
to rig is a critical decision.

Can you get right to tree number six,
do you think, or is that too far?

Ati'en borough: They begin by firing
a line over a suitably high branch.

That'll work.

Nobody, not even Lincoln,
knows how the butterflies will react.

Spickler: Yeah, that's going to work
perfect, I think.

Okay, great.

I've got to do a changeover here,
sojust give me a moment.

There's an explo... explosion!

Thankfully, it's not in the trees

that Jim and Tim are rigging
with such care.

I've got it too much. Can you just
push it towards me a bit?

- Fogg: You okay?
- Yeah.

Fogg: Okay, get your fingers out.
Okay, that's good.

Ati'en borough: It takes another three
days to get the aerial rig set up,

followed by many hours of fine tuning.

A bit dodgy.

Spickler: Can you just pan it so we
don't see it in the monitor, please?

Everything is finally set,
and the butterflies are still there.

Fogg: One, two, three.

Ati'en borough: Take one.

Ati'en borough: Too slow.

There was no load at the beginning
and suddenly it just completely stopped.

Spickler: Yeah.

Two, three.

Ati'en borough: Take six.

Start to slow now and keep going.

Start to slow. Slow and keep going.
Keep going, keep going.

Okay, Mike, hold it.

Ati'en borough: Not far enough.

We've not got enough weight here and...

Ati'en borough: Take nine.

Go on, Mike. Go on, Mike.

- Getting close, Mike, now start slowing.
- Okay. Slow.

A'i'i'en borough: It's still not right,
and now time is running out.

I think the light's going. These...

Fogg: Should we do one last take?

All right, 'cause these ones here,
they're losing the light on them.

Let me try and get a shot
that's going fast here, if it's smooth.

Fogg: One, two, three and we're away.

Atten borough: Take 77.

And it's looking good.

Fogg: Okay, start slowing, Mike.

Okay, keep it going, keep it going.

- —Ah!
- Can't see it.

Ati'en borough: Success at last.

With the technique now working,
the crew rig more and more shots

to give an aerial perspective
on the monarch phenomenon.

His work advising the crew over,

Lincoln continues the observations
he's been making

for over a quarter of a century.

Although the butterflies are still here
in immense numbers,

he's worried there is a threat
to their survival.

The big, huge influx maybe sometimes
as many as two billion butterflies

flying down into this tiny area
of 30 by 60 miles,

is thoroughly endangered
by illegal logging.

If the forest is not protected,
the phenomenon will be lost.

That'd be a disaster.

I mean, it would be like taking
the Mona Lisa

out of the parisian museum
and burning it up.