Original subtitles

A tropical hill forest in east Africa

a place where animal communities coexist

a natural balance between predators and prey

It's always been this way

But in this part of the forest, things are about to change

An extraordinary predator is moving in

One that will ravage this forest

probably the most formidable killer on earth

It's not an individual but an entire army

an army of ants

This elite fighting force is a super organism

20 million sisters and a few males acting as one

the largest single family on the planet

The head of the family is a new queen

She'll produce the next generation and the army must keep her offspring alive

They must hunt successfully or the colony cannot grow

Our story is set in a parallel world to our own

a place where miniture monsters roam, vilence is the law

and the most numerous and powerful survive

This is the bug-eats-bug world of the dreaded Siafu,

the African driver ants

Driver ants don't have a permanent home

they are nomads

Every 23 days or so, they move from one part of the forest to another

and now they are here, somewhere

exploring new hunting grounds and searching for a temporary home

the neighbors from hell

Yet despite their huge numbers, you'd hardly notice they were here at all

They shun the light, operating down there

mainly amongst the dead leaves on the forest floor

They're swarm raiders, spreading through the forest

searching relentlessly for anything that moves

A super predator with a mother of all apetites

By hunting in such enormous group, the ants can bring down creatures much larger than themselves

When one ant finds prey, she releases a chemical alarm signal

and within seconds hundreds of ants join the attack

They vary considerably in size

The largest is a soldier, half an inch long

and like all the workers she has no eyes

She's totally blind

She finds her way about using her two antenae

each covered in millions of hairs and sensory pits

alive to smells, viberations and touch

Her brain is minute

Instead, her large head is packed with muscles that move her gigantic razor-sharp jaws

Her job is to protect the colony for even driver ants have enemies

And when heavy duty cutting is required

her powerful jaws can slice through a victim's skin like a knife through butter

Most of the attacking and butchering though is the job of the medium worker

She's about half the size of a soldier, also blind

and equipped with smaller but tooth-studded jaws

Between them, soldiers and medium workers can bring down almost anything

including creatures as large and powerful as a grasshopper

They rely on overwhelming numbers and sheer persistence to capture their prey

They also provide most of the transport

Skittering above their feet is one of the smaller workers

Blind like the others and just an 8th of an inch long

she's a general helper who can do any job from butchering to building, to cleaning

All 3 types cooperate to carry, push or pull their prey along the supply lines

from the swarm's raiding front to their next home

During day one in the new territory

the advance party has had some success

The ant army like any army marches on its stomach

And the first provisions have been stashed away ready for the arrival of the rest of the colony

Already the first wave of workers is moving into the forest

They follow chemical trails that last for about a day laid down by the ants ahead of them

Their new home is in a hollow at the base of a fallen tree

But the property is still only a building site

Construction workers enlarge the area while ground workers shift debris from the main chamber

These tiny creatures are strong

Each is carrying a load that in human terms would be more than enough for an Olympic weight-lifter

Together, they'll shift up to 80 pounds of soil in a couple of days

And they'll have to work fast

for the main colony is beginning to trickle in from the old nest site

When they enter the new chamber,

some of the workers link together to form long garlands of ants

that join floor to ceiling

They start to form a protective bivouac shaped like a large round basket inside the nest hollow

And the whole structure will be made entirely of living ants

All they're waiting for now is enough workers to fill the gaps

Between the old nest and the new,

road gangs prepare the route along which the rest of the colony will trek

They excavate

build embankments

and dig tunnels, always trying to keep themselves hidden from view

They clear the highway of large pieces of soil that might slow down the traffic

And a hungry workforce must eat

due to their enormous jaws the larger ones can't feed themselves

so smaller ants spoon-feed them

But first they must catch the food

The advance party has uncovered earthworms from under the leaf litter

The ants search for weak points between segaments

Their feelers constantly tasting and touching

When they've found the right spot, their jaws close with the equivalent force of a car crushing machine

and one worm becomes two

It's been divided into handy chunks

and then hauled back to camp

All the meat is fast track to the kitchen orderlies deep in the nest

Here, it's choped, chewed and distributed to the other ants

And while the advance party ensures the larder is full

the rest of the huge family prepares to leave the old nest site

It's day two and the massive excuation is underway

The ants march along well-worn tracks

originally the foraging trails between the old nest and the swarm front

but now the main roads along which queen and colony will pass

Their track is about the length of two football pitches laid end to end

And they're not travelling empty-handed

Each ant carries a lava or a pupa hung below her body

The equivalent of us running a marathon while carrying a sack of potatoes and not stopping for a rest

The entire emigration can take up to 3 days

It seems chaotic

but every ant in this extraordinary melee knows exactly what she's doing

Giant soldiers with their massive jaws line the route

so the workers with their precious cargo can travel safely along a living avenue

They're passing at a rate of 250,000 ants an hour

Some unwittingly carry infiltrators

Even tiny ants are host to even tinier mites

The invading army is building in numbers

Traveling with her subjects is the queen

At 2 inches long, she is the largest ant in the world

And she is a new queen

When her mother's colony grew too large and divided

half the workers switched their allegiance

and now accompany her on her first emigration

Her enormous bulk has been coaxed along the trail

and now she takes her place at the heart of the nest

The queen is in her palace

and what a palace it's become

It's a living bivouac

a nest made entirely of ants

All its internal walls are made of ants

all its corridors and chambers constructed of living bricks

And when they are all assembled in their new stronghold, they form one of the largest concentrations of ants on earth

Protected by these living walls are the nurseries where wave after wave of brood carriers deliver their load

By the end of day three, they're packed with larvae and pupae

In the royal chamber, the queen has yet to restart her normal duties

Before her journey, she stopped egg production in order to slim dow and make traveling easier

Now, like a virgin queen

she produces a special scent that attracts winged male ants who fly in from other nests

The male is also enormous, on a similar scale to the queen

The scents she produces are irrestable

Just a few molecules will grab a male's attention

He searches for a way into the nest

But a guard patrol has found him

and at first the other ants see him as food

He's actually in mortal danger

The army smothers him as if he were prey

but their attentions falter

He also produces scents to demonstrate his fitness to be consort

If he passes muster, he'll be accepted

and if he doesn't, he'll be for the chop

They try to clip his wings, so he'll fit through the nest entrance

but he cooperates

using spikes at the end of his abdomen, he pulls one off himself

Nothing is wasted

even a wing has some nutritional value

The rest of the workers take him into the nest

he has their support, at least for the time being

he's on probation

Until he actually mates with the queen, he could still be attacked

Another wing is removed

He'll soon be presentable for his audiance with the queen

It's day 5 in the new territory

There's no nuptial flight

instead the queen's new consort is guided directly to the royal chamber

He's not the first consort to the queen

and he probably won't be the last

Driver ant queens are, for ants, unusually promiscuous

he'll be one of many suitors she'll entertain during her lifetime

His job done, he retires from the royal chamber and dies

a short but productive life

for he'll father several million new ants with hungry mouths

The precious building for the colony to provide more and more food

The raiders head west

and they don't stay on the ground

There's plenty to eat up here in the trees

A male hornbill cements his family into a hole in a trunk

leaving a small gap through which he passes food

It will keep out tree snakes but not ants

Driver ants would strip the flesh from the female hornbill and her chicks in a matter of hours

He's understandably nervous

The ants are as adept at climbing as they're at running

As long as the forest is dark and humid

they seem as at home in the trees as they are on the ground

The army is close

but not close enough

If the ants climb too high and are too spread out

they'll be too few to overwhelm prey

This nest is out of reach

her family is safe

But there's plenty more prey up here

Slugs are fair game for dirver ants

they don't run away

The first ant makes contact

And then another

others come running

The slug tries to sit out the attack

There're so many ants

The victim uses the only escape route left to it

The ants fall too

they often use this unconventional way to get down from the trees

But the unforturnate slug has fallen from the frying pan into the fire

And aweful lot of ants are milling about down here

They smother their prey

But the slug has a trick up its sleeve

It may be slow, but it's well-protected

Its entire body is covered in a thick and noxious slime

It's so glutinous that's once their jaws are in, they can't get them out

Other ants seem to give a helping hand

But this one is firmly stuck

Try as she might, she just can't get away

For some, it's not just their jaws that are trapped

She's almost free

then something remarkable happens

Some of the workers begin to bring particles of soil

and place them on the slug

In this way, the slime is soaked up like ink on blotting paper

Gradually the slug disappears under a riving mass of earth and ants

With its protective coat neutralised, the ants attack the slug underneath

Slowly the victim is sliced up

Piece by piece, small chunks are pulled away

As the flesh is removed, the butchers switch roles and become transporters

They carry the food along the foraging trails back to camp

the larvae will be fed tonight

By day 10, the queen resumes her primary role as super mother

the ultimate egg-laying machine

Food is served to her at one end

and eggs appear at the other

She produces a staggering 2 million eggs a month

A palace of staff bustles around her

collecting packages of eggs grooming her constantly

She's the colony's most valueable asset

a link to the future

The ants around her are quite prepared to die for her

not because of any love for a mother

but simply because they're protecting the blueprints that makes them what they are and what they do

They pick up clumps of the precious eggs and gently carry them away to the nursery

The already huge ant population is increasing exponentially

and the demand for food is growing astronomically

There's a need for a greater than ever increasing rations

Having raided to the north and west and eliminated every living thing that slithers or crawls

the column heads south

The raid takes them into a wet and swampy area

This is no deterrent

diver ants are proficient at crossing difficult terrain

But a river is something even they can't manage

They've reached the southern edge of their territory

and water and ants don't mix

They head back inland

and straight into another barrier

But a shallow pond is no obstacle

In order to cross, the ants simply build a bridge

It's made out of leaves and the ants themselves

a living bridge

The swarm raiders stream across the pond but the raid is failing

They're carrying little food

the ants retreat

But fortunes change

the raiding party has flushed out what seems an unassailable quarry

Freshwater crabs are common in the forest,

but a surprising target for ants

At first, the raiders do what's natural

They swarm or over their intended victim

but there's no way their tiny jaws are going to pierce the crab's thick outer skeleton

Instinctively, they probe for its weak points

One group examines the legs and claws for a way in

It has its dangers

They search for the vulnerable joints and hack their way into the leg

using knife-like mandibles, they slice away the soft tissue

and as the joint is ripped and the tear widened

the smaller workers are able to climb right into the crab's legs to reach the muscles inside

Another group checks out the mouth

They seem to work together

The larger soldiers prise open the mouth parts,

so smaller workers can squeeze through and attack the soft tissues behind

The ants are dwarfed by the crab

Yet with so may attacking at one time, even a fully armoured crab doesn't stand a chance

Ants eat from inside out

By day 22, raiding parties have quartered almost every part of their territory

and down in the brood chambers, there are now 4 million more mouths to feed

The larvae are voracious

and the raiders barely keep pece with their demand for food

The family is at a crisis point

There's just one part of the forest left to explore

And here they stumble upon an unexpected prize

A mound made by forest termites

Termites have a permanent home

more a fortress than a nest

Inside live 2 million residents

now wing termites are leaving the safety of the mound

They're the future kings and queens

and they do go on a nuptial flight

Late in the day, they emerge from the nest

Just a few fail to fly very far

they'll be easy pickings

The reign is very short, as with its life

The ants swarm over any termite that fall short

The work detail tries to control and snip off the unmanageable wings

For a tiny ant, it's like wrestling with a gigantic sail

Others anchor down their victim by holding on to its legs

As the hauliers keep pulling and pushing, the buchters keep slicing

The raiding party heads home with an almost headless victim

But their haul of a few ditch termites is far less than the colony needs

As the evening draws in and the temperature drops the ants become lethargic

They head back to their nest for the night

but in returning home, they miss out on the biggest feast there's been in this part of the forest for a long time

The main exodus of wing termites is this night

tens of thousands emerge at the same time

This would be such a glut of ant food, it would satisfy the 20 million of them for several days

But the ants are not here

The termites are on the wing, the feast is flying away

and the ant brood is demanding increasingly more food

If none is forthcoming, the new generagtion could be put on hold

The next 24 hours are critical

A new day and for the ants a renewed challenge

This has been their home for 23 days

successful hunting means their forest larder is almost bare

The entire army is mobilizing

The raiding parties head out to the last place they'd found food

where they had pinned down the few wing termites

The bearing they've taken is leading them straight towards the termite mound itself

Ants and termites have been adversaries for over 100 million years

Now their armies of today are on a collision course

but without any physical contact, the blind army is as unaware of the termites ahead

as the termites are of the approaching ants

They begin to swarm over the outside of the termite towers

that for the moment, appear to them to be just mounds of dried mud

Guards are posted

while others explore every crevice for any sign of food

First contact, the ants know there's something here

and change direction towards the alarm signal

They mass around, the guards alert for any unpleasant surprises

This is unknown territory

anything could be Iying in wait down there

A worker gingerly explores the gapping hole

and a scouting party lays a scent trail for others to follow

Activity increases, an assault is on

Other ants have found the termites' foraging tunnels

and scramble inside

The tunnels are narrow and not at all like the open spaces driver ants prefer

Termite soldiers with enormous jaws and heads prepare to check the incursion

A soldier termite confronts the invadors with a threat display

but it's not going to impress a driver ant

The ants penetrate deep into the nest

and the residents intensify their warning

First blood is to the termites

but the tunnel guards are in danger of being overrun

The ants break through the first line of defence

Another wave of ants advances unchallenged

but the attack is not going to plan

In the tunnels, the ants become embroiled in one to one duels

The jaw to jaw combat is at a stalemate

ants and termites seem locked in a lethal embrace

The adversaries are well-matched

The ants are pulling out

Their army will have to look elsewhere

But not all are going home

Those who can move out do so

the termite mound has defeated them

They must find food in another part of the forest

For the ant army, a big change is inevitable

The queen makes ready for a journey

The lower ranks gather up all the larvae in the nursery and move them to the nest entrance

They've depleted the food supply in the vicinity of their nest and must leave

They've outstayed their welcome

Swarm raiding parties have located a concentration of food 200 yards further on

so the entire colony must relocate in order to exploit it

They've wreaked havoc here

so they're moving on to terrorise another part of the forest

Yet the ants are important to the forest's well-being

The wholesale culling of bugs and slugs ensures that no one species dominates

Driver ants help maintain the huge range of plants and animals

Despite all the killing, driver ants are an essential part of forest life

In many ways, the good guys after all

Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org