Original subtitles

♪ ♪

[Narrator] New York.

The ultimate concrete jungle.

It may not seem like a great home

from a bug's perspective.

But even in this towering megatropolis,

a lucky few are enjoying Uptown life.

If you're a bold jumping spider,

this is prime real estate.

A luxurious penthouse potted plant,

with everything a pea-sized spider needs.

It's the leafiest location on the block.

And each morning, breakfast gets served up on a plate.

Well, kinda.

It's not eggs he's after,

it's the flying side dishes.

[buzzing]

So many flies pass by, he's making a killing up here.

♪ ♪

[buzzing]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Even the luckiest little spider

has days that don't start so well.

And some get even worse.

♪ ♪

That starling could eat him for breakfast.

♪ ♪

But with his leafy retreat, he's all good.

♪ ♪

Oh, no! A larger male.

[knives sharpening]

And this plant is single occupancy only.

♪ ♪

Jumping spiders are fiercely territorial.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Let's face it, when two tiny spiders fight,

who the heck knows what's going on?

♪ ♪

But you can bet the bigger guy's gonna win.

Evicted, homeless, vulnerable.

♪ ♪

Oh, come on, man!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

All a jumping spider can do is...

...jump!

Being as light as a bug

makes for a softer landing.

But from here on,

the spider's day is only gonna get tougher.

[siren]

Finding food and shelter on the streets of New York,

the struggle's real, y'all.

[horns honking]

[rapping] ♪ We're going downtown ♪

♪ New York City going down ♪

♪ New York, New York, we're going downtown ♪

[Narrator] At street level, it's hectic, grimy,

and there's a lot more...

feet.

Only the most street-smart bugs can make a home here.

The cockroach is one of the fastest things on six legs.

On his scale,

he moves at the equivalent of 200 miles an hour,

to hustle a living beneath our feet.

And when morning rush hour hits,

he's already planned his getaway.

Later, suckers!

You gotta be clued in to know this hideout.

Squeezing through gaps a tenth of an inch wide,

he enters a hidden underworld.

The perfect place to keep a low profile

till the crowds clear.

Forget the subway.

Welcome to the bugway.

A vast network of pipes and tunnels

all sorts of creatures use to move around town.

And as a breeding ground.

When it comes to insects in the city,

roaches are rampant.

♪ ♪

There are thought to be 120 of them

for every human in New York.

And each female can produce 150 babies in her lifetime.

We're all cool with that, right?

But before you get too grossed out,

there are cuter critters living down here.

♪ ♪

Pavement ants thrive in New York,

thanks to their industrious nature.

♪ ♪

Even the queen of the colony works,

laying up to 40 eggs a day.

So it's up to her all-female team to tend the young

and keep the food coming in.

♪ ♪

But feeding the 5,000 takes a small miracle.

♪ ♪

This tiny scout ant, only a tenth of an inch,

has a huge challenge ahead:

to go find food,

out there, among the giants.

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

For a lost spider,

getting squished is a pressing problem.

Not easy to climb out of trouble here,

gotta find somewhere dark and shadowy.

[horn honks]

But this hideout isn't as secure as it looks.

[siren]

All he can do is keep searching.

[siren]

[honking]

You might think the streets look even more intimidating

from an ant's perspective,

but she's not scared.

She doesn't see so well.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Instead, she relies on her antennae.

They can pick up scent from 15 feet.

And nothing beats the smell of fast food.

Like us, pavement ants are addicted.

[squirt]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Problem is, to her,

that hot dog is a two-mile hike

with huge obstacles in the way.

But this scout knows how to turn being tiny

into an advantage.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Jackpot!

But it's way more than one ant can handle.

Time to call in the squad.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

On her way back to the colony, she lays a scent trail.

So her sisters can get straight onto the job.

♪ ♪

Each can carry around 50 times her own weight.

But even with their combined strength,

this could take a while.

♪ ♪

Through the day, the sun bakes the streets.

By afternoon, the city can be 20 degrees hotter

than the surrounding countryside.

But these hardy, heat-loving ants just keep chipping away.

No challenge is too big when you work as a team.

But when you're lost, hungry and alone,

life on the mean streets ain't easy.

At least the search for a safe place is looking up.

♪ ♪

Now that's a legit potted plant.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

So, it's an up-and-coming neighborhood.

He can live with a little trash.

It's the neighbor who's the problem.

Armed, deadly, and quick on the draw,

this mantis stalks the city, preying on smaller bugs.

Time for a fast exit,

head somewhere dark and shadowy again.

Later!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Hey, does this stroller go to Queens?

♪ ♪

Accidental hitchhiking is a very buggy way to travel.

And every day, we are unwittingly

carrying them around town.

But a freewheeling spider has no control

over where he's heading.

Of course, that's no problem if you can...

fly.

Now, this guy really knows how to get around town.

♪ ♪

Super sensitive antennae can sniff out food from 30 blocks.

[buzzing]

Though he rarely has to go that far.

♪ ♪

[sizzling]

Sometimes he gets delivery.

♪ ♪

[dogs whining]

[bark]

[squish]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

But why settle for recycled food,

when you can steal something fresher?

Small, fast and stealthy,

his crimes mostly go unnoticed.

We process 60 images a second;

for him, it's 250.

Like seeing in slooow mooootion.

He can pull off

the most audacious high-speed maneuvers.

♪ ♪

[crash]

And if things get really hairy,

he's got another trick up his sleeve.

♪ ♪

A pair of gyroscopic weights swing under his wings,

for Top Gun level aerobatics.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Anyway, back to the burger.

[buzzing]

Receptors on his feet taste the food,

then he spews out digestive enzymes to make a burger shake,

and sucks it up through his own built-in straw.

Transferring bacteria

from one source

to another.

[whimper]

[squish]

Flies are the masters of stealing

from right under our noses.

Infiltrating our world,

outsmarting us at every turn,

and getting away with it.

[Narrator] Heading even further downtown,

the spider's day is about to hit another bump in the road.

♪ ♪

Better hope the new hood brings better luck.

♪ ♪

But evening is approaching.

♪ ♪

As it gets colder, his energy runs low.

As it gets darker, he struggles to see.

♪ ♪

When the night shift begins,

it's time for those hustlers...

♪ ♪

...and stalkers

to come out and play.

♪ ♪

Gotta find a safe place to sleep.

Good thing he always carries a silk sleeping bag.

♪ ♪

Just find a place to sling it up.

♪ ♪

And he's snug as a bug in a...

[screech]

Oh, come on, man! Not him again!

♪ ♪

Praying mantises usually only hunt during the day.

But under street light,

they can keep killing through the night.

♪ ♪

[buzzing]

♪ ♪

Just stay hidden behind that silk screen,

and he should avoid any nightmares.

Good thing, too.

When jumping spiders sleep,

like us, they have bursts of brain activity.

So, if spiders can dream,

what on Earth do they dream about?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[buzzing]

For a cockroach,

the quiet of night is a much safer time to surface

and dine out on our leftovers.

♪ ♪

Cockroaches may seem disgusting,

but they're only here because of all the food we waste.

[Worker] Oi!

[Narrator] And you gotta admire their survival skills.

♪ ♪

Even in the pitch dark, they can detect tiny movements,

using hairs on tail-mounted sensors.

So they can react

10 times faster than we can.

And being crushed to a quarter of their height?

[squish]

No big deal.

♪ ♪

But some enemies are wise to their game.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Staying completely still

can fake out a cockroach's motion detectors.

♪ ♪

Mantises let their victims come to them.

♪ ♪

And eat their prey headfirst.

♪ ♪

Decapitated.

But not done yet.

Cockroaches don't need a mouth to breathe,

and they have backup brains in their bodies.

So this guy could keep crawling around for a week.

♪ ♪

[siren]

Just making it till morning is good enough for the spider.

He's survived the worst 24 hours of his life.

Head still attached, thank you very much.

[buzzing]

But hungrier than ever.

[buzzing]

[buzzing]

Miss this breakfast, and you might not live to see another.

Thankfully, jumping spiders have the best vision

and the best brains of all arachnids.

The fly, on the other hand, isn't looking so sharp.

Insects suffer from a kind of brain freeze.

♪ ♪

The colder a fly gets, the slower its reactions.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Got him!

Powerful legs and paralyzing venom

ensure this one doesn't get away.

♪ ♪

Maybe soon he'll have the energy to get off the streets.

[Narrator] Mid-morning, and the incredible tiny team

is still sweating it out.

Dismantling their massive meal, bit by bit.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Pavement ants are part of the city's invisible cleanup crew.

A 10 billion strong workforce

who can remove the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs a year.

♪ ♪

Just one could keep her colony fed for weeks.

If it sticks around that long.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

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Swept completely off course...

♪ ♪

...separated from her sisters,

far from home,

a lonely ant won't last long.

♪ ♪

All she can do is hope she picks up the scent trail soon.

But she risks stumbling into the wrong hood.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

If your pheromones don't match...

...ants from rival gangs will kill you.

♪ ♪

But this doesn't smell like foe.

♪ ♪

It smells like family!

♪ ♪

A sister!

And she knows the way home.

♪ ♪

No matter what big city life throws at them,

pavement ants rise to the challenge.

By working hard, working together,

and eating a lot of junk food,

they've become some of the most successful insects

in the world.

♪ ♪

Now that the spider's full of food and warmed by the sun,

he has a better chance of getting back to the high life.

[squawk]

Oh, you have got to be kidding me!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[screech]

[screech]

[screech]

♪ ♪

A lucky escape.

And finally, a chance to use those spidey skills.

♪ ♪

Scaling sheer walls?

No problem.

♪ ♪

Treacherous voids?

♪ ♪

Piece of cake!

♪ ♪

But a jump 20 times his body length?

That's right at this spider's limit.

Could this be the end of the road?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[rope stretching]

The smart spider always has a lifeline.

Hanging from silk stronger than steel,

he falls with style.

Take that, Peter Parker.

Now, the only way is up.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Wait, wait.

Is he dreaming again?

♪ ♪

No.

This is a vision of how good city life can be.

Plenty of space for all,

and plenty to eat.

A green oasis in the middle of an urban desert,

abuzz with life.

Forget his old penthouse; this place is paradise!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

When we give a helping hand

and let nature back into our world,

a greater diversity of bugs can go forth and multiply.

Females!

Well, hello, ladies.

This little spider's day just got a whole lot brighter.