Original subtitles

After three months underground,

transforming from egg to adult,

this little beetle is stepping outside

for the very first time.

She's all alone.

And after months without food,

very, very hungry.

But that's the least of her problems.

Whoa!

Now she must brave a land full of giants.

The African savanna is home to more large animals

than anywhere else on Earth.

Which makes it super dangerous

if you're living under their feet.

She's on a mission to find food.

And to help her, she has these:

supersensitive antennae that can smell breakfast

over half a mile away.

Mmm, delicious.

Yep, she's a dung beetle.

But a half-mile trek on beetle legs

is equivalent to hiking from Manhattan to Connecticut.

Time to open her shiny case.

Okay.

So she's not an early morning kind of beetle.

And when it's cold...

...she struggles to get going.

But now those false starts have warmed her flight muscles

up to 95 degrees,

she's got this.

"Hey, how you doin'?"

"Looking good down there."

At 20 miles an hour,

she's off to a flying start.

"Behind ya!"

But when you live among ginormous animals,

it's sure to be a bumpy ride.

"Hope no one saw that."

Wherever giants roam,

bugs better be on guard.

Especially if you're one of the tiniest on the savanna.

Meet this elderly acacia ant.

She's three months old-- nearly 90 in human years.

But no chance of slowing down just yet.

She's working harder than ever,

as a super nanny to her baby sisters.

A hundred larvae and pupae

need cleaning, feeding and protecting...

now more than ever.

Her family's house, this swollen, hollow acacia thorn,

has cracked in the heat.

And the scorching sun will cook the babies alive.

But not on this babysitter's watch.

Time to move out.

Thankfully the 65 sisters she lives with

are all on hand to help.

And there's an empty house just down the branch.

One baby down, 99 more to go.

House move complete.

Nice work, ladies.

And still in the same friendly neighborhood.

All across this acacia tree,

living in hundreds of other thorns,

she has 10,000 sisters.

The tree not only houses everyone,

it provides them all with food.

Sweet, sugary nectar. Mmm-mm.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch.

In return for board and lodging,

this gentle nanny turns fearless security guard.

Fighting off any intruders that could harm the tree.

This tiny ant is brave enough

to take on bugs 50 times her size.

But now, heading her way, a much bigger threat.

An elephant, hungry for breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast,

after a bumpy start,

our dung beetle's getting closer.

"'Scuse me. Coming through."

Made it.

Just in time for a jumbo portion of the daily special.

She's starving, but she can't eat yet.

The brunch crowd's arriving.

In the next 15 minutes, 4,000 beetles could turn up.

She has some serious competition.

Better make that breakfast to-go.

Shape it into a ball, ready to roll away,

so she can enjoy her delicious poop in peace.

One beetle can only pack away so much dung.

But there are billions of them on the savanna,

and they have a huge impact.

In one park alone,

over 400 tons of dung can get dumped every day.

Dung happens.

Without these prolific poo-eaters,

the plains would be knee-deep in the stuff.

Plants would suffocate,

and animals would have nothing to eat.

She's an expert in waste management,

but there are other important jobs to do.

There are gardeners to cut the grass.

Recyclers to clear dead wood.

Pollinators to keep plants growing.

All-important pest control.

And everyone is someone else's dinner.

Forget the big guys,

it's the little guys that make this place go round.

Her first ball of dung.

She's on a roll.

Oh, crap.

Up against the largest land animal, no bug is safe.

The elephant is headed straight for our old timer's tree.

She's so short-sighted,

she can't see more than a few inches ahead.

But she can feel through her feet,

and she's picking up bad vibes.

Mammoth monster incoming.

Strange time to twerk.

But each booty shake sends out alarm pheromones

which basically tell everyone to... attack!

While she hurries back to the babies,

others rush to the front line.

These daring fighters will do anything for their family,

even enter the biggest nose on the planet.

Inside the trunk,

they make tiny cuts with their minuscule jaws.

And if that doesn't hurt, this will.

A squirt of burning toxins into the open wounds.

Ouch!

They're a courageous team,

but not invincible.

Fighting off the giant of all giants

comes at a massive cost.

The tough shell of the thorn saved her life.

But not all of her sisters were so lucky.

Some are too badly injured to save.

As always, her concern is the babies.

She prioritizes the oldest with the best chance of surviving.

Gently cradling it in her powerful jaws.

The longer the babies are exposed to the midday sun,

the worse their chances.

She's exhausted.

But she must get the brood back to their tree,

or they won't survive.

Yeah, you go, girl!

Well, being trotted on by an elephant

is one way to find out what you're made of.

The hard outer casing that protects her

and her delicate wings

has made beetles the most successful bugs on the planet.

One in every three insects is a beetle.

Go, beetles!

Take two.

Now to get away from the rowdy mob

and enjoy this culinary treat.

The quickest route out of here is in a straight line.

But when you're small,

the savanna's one big obstacle course.

Thankfully, this girl's not only tough,

she's super strong.

This is equivalent to a human pushing a pickup truck.

And she's upside down, going backwards!

She can push 50 times her body weight.

Elephants can only push twice theirs.

Just sayin'.

When she's thrown off track,

she does what we all do:

uses her GPS.

She takes a mental note of the sun's position,

compares it to the last time she looked.

And this way, she keeps going in the same direction.

Which right now, is straight towards trouble.

Bat-eared foxes on the hunt for bugs.

With ears that big, not much slips under their radar.

Lucky for her,

there are tastier termites to distract them.

At least for now.

By late afternoon, predators are getting hungry.

Not a great time to be an ant, exposed on the ground.

Vulturine guinea fowl.

Big, brash,

and extremely peckish.

Carrying extra weight slows our ant down.

But she would never abandon a baby.

Gotta keep going while she still can.

Ants need to be warm to stay active.

And it's getting colder by the minute.

As the temperature drops,

our beetle is running out of energy, too.

And now she has no sun to guide her.

Those bug-eating foxes are still lurking.

But there's a more immediate threat.

A dung ball thief.

Why make your own, when you can steal someone else's?

Take that.

She's not giving up her precious ball that easily.

But neither is her rival.

Our dung beetle is defeated.

All that effort, and nothing to show for it.

Maybe inexperience lost her her meal.

But it also saved her life.

Cold and tired,

all she can do is hunker down for the night

and try to stay safe.

As morning begins to warm up,

so does our ant.

At last, home is in sight.

Well, she can smell it at least.

But there's one more obstacle in her way.

No, not that one.

This.

A minefield of treacherous traps.

And the engineers of these death pits?

Ant lions.

Supervillains of the ant world.

Fall in, and it's almost impossible to get out.

Not only is it steep...

...but on loose sand, it's hard to get traction.

Especially when you're being pelted by your enemy.

Death is by lethal injection of venom.

Being sucked dry...

then tossed aside.

For our ant, with her precious cargo,

the chances are even worse.

Through extraordinary grit and determination,

she's made it.

Now, for the final push.

Get that baby home

before the day gets even hotter.

Almost there.

After all she and her sisters have been through,

there's no smell like home.

It's a warm welcome from her family.

But there's no time to socialize.

Finally, the babies are safely inside another new home.

This is her parting gift to her family.

Her three-month lifespan is reaching its end.

But thanks to her monumental efforts,

the next generation will still be here when she's gone.

As for her sisters, well, the day's not over yet.

When you live in a land of giants,

the work never stops.

Gotta keep fighting to protect the family tree.

Our beetle also survived the night.

But still has no dung ball to speak of.

Back to square one.

Or is she?

Mmm, something smells good,

and it's not just food.

This is no rival.

This is a male looking for love.

And, man, those pheromones are hard to resist.

Well, that, and the offer of dinner.

It's been a tough first day above ground,

but she's proven that if you're determined,

there is a way to thrive on the African savanna.

And if you're clever,

there's a way to get around without doing any work.

She won't go hungry anymore.

And once she's eaten her fill, what remains of this ball

will become a nursery for one precious egg.

She'll stick around to nurture her baby to adulthood,

when it, too, will be ready

to venture into this land of giants.

Giants that only survive

because of all the incredible bugs,

who together maintain this remarkable land

that all creatures, big and small, call home.

On second thoughts,

why settle down now?

This girl's adventure is only just beginning.