Original subtitles

These touch-me-not balsam have sprung up to cover the

woodland floor. Each night the leaves go limp as the balsam

exudes any excess moisture. In the waterlogged soils

of the Lake District this is a handy adaptation.

Soon their blooms unfurl.

As the petals of these strange shaped flowers drop off, seed pods begin to form.

These pods are the favorite food of the netted carpet moth 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 their only source of food.

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.

The caterpillars have no warning when these little bombs go off.

It's not just seeds that get hurled across the forest floor.

The Namib Desert, one of the most exposed places on earth.

As the sun climbs high, everybody takes cover from the extreme heat.

Everybody except the hot rod ant.

As others take refuge, their day is just beginning.

Cleaning out the nest.

The sand can reach a scorching 70 centigrade. The ants'

long legs raise their bodies above the surface where it's 10

degrees 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 they've strayed into a minefield.

Each of these strange cone-shaped pits is a death trap.

With a brutal predator at its center. Here lie antlion

larvae, tiny ambush predators with venom-filled pincers.

Some ants manage to escape, but the antlion 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 ants' feet.

As boulders rain from the sky, escape seems almost impossible.

Phew.

An urps de 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.

A mongoose.

It's inquisitive, but it's also wary of the uchpista. 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 defenseless

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, terpenes.

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.

The tusked wetter is New Zealand's equivalent of a mouse,

and a worthy snack for a foraging pig.

With pigs snuffling close behind, there is only one

place to go, and it's the last place you would expect.

This wetter is an escape artist.

The pigs can't see or smell him when he's underwater.

He can stay under for up to ten minutes. He can't

see or smell him when he's underwater. And now the coast is

clear. Eighty 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 one.

A super organism with a sensory system of two million

antennae. 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 size.

The colony can search the entire jungle and flush out its wildlife.

Each day it sends out a silent probe into the forest in quest of food.

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 ten meter front, sweeping across the

forest floor. To find prey, the ants must first touch it.

The iron is that this, the most successful hide and

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 joints.

The more the prey struggles, the more the ants 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.

Everything alive in the path of the raiders, overwhelmed by sheer 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 thaw, even

underground.

Frozen solid, a mountain stone wetter. It has

the most extraordinary survival technique of all.

The ability to come back from the dead.

Only in a specialized filming chamber can we capture its

extraordinary talent. The wetter has developed special

proteins which prevent ice crystals from forming inside itself.

A remarkable trick for a creature whose ancestors

once lived in prehistoric warm, wet forests.

But when New Zealand's mountains grew up beneath them around

five million years ago, they were forced to come up with

this incredible ability to survive near lethal temperatures.

Defrosting uses up a lot of energy.

So mountain snowberries are a welcome sight.

The wetter needs to stock up while it can. The

next Antarctic storm could be the return of winter.

It can tolerate over 80% of its body freezing solid, and

can do so day in and day out, for weeks at a time. It can

tolerate over 80% of its body freezing solid, and

can do so day in and day out, for weeks at a 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 behaviour. 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 tonne of earth.

There are 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 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.

Surrounded by vibrating bodies, the hornet at the core

of the bee ball begins to overheat. The bees have the

advantage, a heat tolerance two degrees above that of their

enemy. At 46 degrees Celsius, the aggression of the bees

increases. The aggressor is roasted alive.

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 25 meters above him, near the top.

She has more normal-sized 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Whether an individual mantis survives or not is part

of the challenge. It's mostly a matter of chance.

Whether it's spotted by a predator.

Whether it turns right or left.

So far, its luck has held. But this hungry jumping spider is still in pursuit.

A mantis is born with exceptional eyesight. But the spider's is even better.

Although this young mantis can't yet fly, its long

four legs, evolved to catch prey, give it reach.

There seems to be no escape.

But this mantis has a surprising line in self-defense.

Kung Fu, praying mantis style.

Of course, it's all bluff. Trying to look bigger and confuse its enemy.

But it's got a way with it.

And it's gone. Just staying alive for its 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

mantid.

Or maybe not. After all, mantids are cannibals.

By pooling 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 larvae over to feast on the dead

queen. Including many that must have been her own offspring.

As the weeks pass, the revolution continues.

Only the most dominant royals seem immune to attack. 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.

A Pawella Fanta snail. It can grow to the size of a man's 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

manners.

It's a very rare snail. It's a very rare snail. It's a very rare snail.

It's a very rare snail. It's a very rare snail.

It's a very rare snail. Its mouth envelops and suffocates the earthworm.

Its mouth envelops and suffocates the earthworm.

It's sucked down like spaghetti.

6,000 teeth ready to shred the next meal.

In this super saturated environment, this specialized snail

is the ultimate predator. The rains 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 trails.

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.

The trails radiate from the nest in every direction. Some

stretch 100 meters. 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 they

kill everything that crosses their path. It is said that no

animal is safe when they're on the warpath. It is even said

that they will enter huts to attack people or kill babies

left unattended in their cots.

The farmers' 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 ants' 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 soldier's

highly sensitive antennae 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 millipede out of harm's way, the trail can safely continue its journey.

But more dangers await the trailblazers.

A praying 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' jaws, stopping it from doing any more damage.

Other ants swarm over the mantis, butchering it with surgical precision.

The mantis' fate is sealed by a clinical decapitation.

The eggs and pupae are taken into the new nest.

Here, they're safe. The millions of interlocking ants that

make up the nest's superstructure create an impenetrable

barrier.

Only from the outside is it possible to get an idea of the nest's huge scale.

Literally millions of individuals form a nervous

network that communicates using pheromones.

As ants pass messages to each other, they effectively act like brain cells.

Through the millions of interconnections, they arrive

at a decision that works for the benefit of the colony.

Like human brain cells, individual ants are not intelligent,

but the links between them create a mind, an ant superbrain.

Deep inside is the queen. Her role is to replenish

the colony by laying two million eggs a month.

She is merely an egg-laying 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.

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, the young locusts 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 pheromones, scent messages, which tell others

in the group that they must move on.

And when groups merge, they form a 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 billion

strong and as much as 40 miles wide. They will

consume every edible thing that lies in their path.

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 body.

In a move to rival a caterpillar, the torsionist, it passes

strands of silk behind itself, creating a girdle to support

it through the change to come.

With anchor and line secure, the transformation can take place.

Caterpillars are 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.