This Documentary Will Blow Your Mind: Insect World (Full Documentary — HD)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We've all got bugbears about the insect world. They can be pretty annoying, buzzing, biting, and being creepy. But without our invertebrate neighbours, we'd be in serious trouble. They clean up the planet for us, pollinate the plants we depend on, and provide the bases of the food chain supporting all life, including ourselves. With millions of years of fine-tuning, they are miniature marvels that the world just can't live without. We humans like to think we rule the world, but look a little closer. We are outnumbered by creatures that could have come from another planet. Many monsters on a warpath. We don't know how many species of insects there are on Earth. Perhaps 10 million, which would make up 90% of all life forms. Like the plains of Africa, or the jungles of South America, endless wild battles play out. The stag beetles' mission leads him straight into a hornet's nest. Literally. Like miniature comic book superheroes, insects have bio-engineered body armour and built-in weapons. The hornet's deadly sting can't penetrate his tank-like body. But as their numbers grow, he needs to make a break for it. But he can't rest. He has a job to do. In the midst of the chaos, a female stag beetle, his coveted prize. Something he is willing to fight for. The stag's magnificent antlers are built for this. Like monster machines, they wrestle, trying to throw their opponent's balance. The skeleton of insects is on the outside. A chiton shell, lightweight and immensely strong. The victor, battered by the fight and punctured by his enemy's jaws, can claim his prize. Whatever their size, shape or lifespan, all insects devote their lives to this one moment. Leaving a legacy. A new population of bugs, to keep their dynasty alive. Soon after mating, the female will lay eggs into rotten wood. For the male, his mission is complete. Not all insects use violence to secure a mate. For the emperor moth, it's more about detective work. He has huge antennae, scanning the air for a chemical cue. Nearby, a larger female is releasing her scent into the air. The male follows the pheromones. The mothly perfume leads suitor to sauce. Only the males have chemical detection devices. The key to moth breeding success. Birds do it, bees do it, and so does all of insect kind. [00:05:15] Speaker ?: Dragonflies and damselflies were among the very first creatures to fly. [00:05:20] Speaker 1: Rising from prehistoric swamps some 325 million years ago. Some of those great granddaddies were the size of pigeons. And still carried on 4 fast and maneuverable wings. Though they have been scaled down, these descendants have hardly changed. And can sprint at 50 kilometers per hour. Their fast flight is for hunting on the wing. It also makes for a spectacular courtship dance. The male clasps the female's head with his tail, while she gathers sperm from his underside. He then carries her around the pond, as she deposits eggs below the water's surface. It's dangerous for the female to dip below. But it means she can reach the best laying spots. This way, she has the male to pull her out and prevent drowning. It loves a dangerous game. It's hard to believe this beetle can fly. But insects' wings can beat several times on a single nerve reflex. Even keeping this giant airborne. This heavyweight is lured to love by a rather different perfume. The sweet smell of dung. He's not the first to arrive at the buffet, making it a promising meeting place. This is a dung beetles wine bar. [00:07:06] Speaker ?: But there is no small talk here. [00:07:08] Speaker 1: They get straight to work. The female wants takeout and starts to roll a ball away. While she's busy, the male performs his duty. She'll bury the ball and lay eggs in it, creating an edible nursery for her young. But not all creatures of the forest floor are in a romantic mood. [00:07:32] Speaker ?: It ends up being a singles party. [00:07:33] Speaker 1: The emperor moth waits for the cover of darkness. Far fewer predators roam. She's vulnerable when laying her eggs, and needs to take her time to place them in the safest spot. The eggs are laid soft and sticky, but well hardened. It's insect superglue that will hold the eggs in place, hidden from the world until they are ready to hatch. We humans like to consider ourselves master builders, but right under our noses, skilled architects are at work. A hornet selects only the finest building materials for her craft. She'll chew the bark to make wood pulp, which combined with saliva, makes the perfect papier mache. She builds a hanging shell. A globe, which will house geometrically perfect chambers, in which her eggs and grubs can develop. In this way, she has founded the nucleus of a colony, that with care, can grow. There are many social insects, but few reach the levels of complexity as ants. The colony founder is the queen. Her daughters grow up to look after her in her role as a breeding machine, producing ever more eggs and babies to populate the nest. chemicals released by the queen ensure that from birth, each ant knows its designated role in life. They start out tending their huge mother, feeding and cleaning her, collecting the eggs she lays, and tending to them in the nursery. They graduate to collecting food for the colony, or guarding the other workers. This incredible infrastructure means the queen is free to keep on delivering her genetic legacy. She might live for 30 years, and deliver many millions of eggs. It takes only a few days for the emperor moth's eggs to hatch, but it's not little moths that emerge. Caterpillars eat their way from inside their eggs, and they start as they mean to continue, munching 24/7. Their sack-like bodies expand to accommodate their all-you-can-eat lifestyle. Periodically, the munching machines must do the equivalent of undoing their buttons at a buffet. Like slipping out of a sleeping bag, they shed their skins, revealing bolder colours, and a looser outfit with room to grow. Moths and butterflies have been producing caterpillars for nearly 60 million years. It's given them plenty of time to vary the design. Spring is the time of the grub, but the breeding of butterflies influences the breeding season for other creatures as well. Virtually every songbird in the world is raised on the caterpillar diet. The parent birds spend all day, every day, catching and ferrying caterpillars to hungry chicks. A brood might munch through dozens in a day, keeping the parents busy, and hammering the local supply of grubs. The emperor caterpillar munches on regardless. She is now 6 cm long, and covered in prickly guard hairs. And of course, even now, the eating doesn't stop. Insects were the first creatures on earth to eat plants. These original vegetarians shaped their evolution. To cope with the sudden attack of grazers, many plants retaliated with chemical warfare, releasing toxins into their leaves when they sensed an attack. But not to be defeated, the insects turned the counter-attack to their advantage. They used the toxins in their own bodies to ward off would-be attackers. The caterpillars' hairy bodies are irritating to the touch. The eating-on-the-go lifestyle can mean blundering into predators. But the bug barely looks up. Her itchy hairs reach the frog before she does. [00:13:49] Speaker ?: The tree frog gets the point. [00:13:56] Speaker 1: Soon the bloated mass has reached its full potential. Her body has expanded and shed several times, revealing even more dramatic patterns. For the first time in her life, she stops eating. Now she reveals a new skill. She spins silk. Quite the craftsman, she weaves it into a perfect cocoon, building herself inside it. Once sealed inside, she performs insect magic. Like something from a horror film, her body melts until it's just a goo-filled shell. And then, it slowly rebuilds body parts. She can stay inside her chrysalis all winter. But then, the miracle is complete. After her rebirth, she is barely recognizable. And so, she can join the majestic winged world of moths and butterflies. And so, when they're dented, adult butterflies have the diagnostic six legs of an insect. Now daintier eaters, they no longer have leaf-munching jaws, but long, delicate tongues, or proboscis, for licking up nectar. Sugary, high-energy food to power their flight. The stunning iridescence of their wings is not pigment. Instead, tiny overlapping scales reflect the light at different angles, radiating with the full spectrum of sunlight. As they sip the nectar, they are joined by a whole host of sugar-loving insects. The first insects were meat-eaters, like the dragonflies. But as they evolved to exploit plants, they were forever to shape the face of the world. From the day the first bugs sipped nectar, plants and insects have evolved together, literally shaping one another. As they started to use the visiting insects to ship their pollen from plant to plant, aiding their reproduction. They developed colorful and elaborate flowers to lure the insects, and a sweet nectar to reward their efforts. Insects see many parts of the ultraviolet color spectrum that we can't. And flowers use every color of the rainbow to advertise their presence. If it wasn't for insects, the world would be a much duller place. The colors and smells of the plant world that we all so enjoy are all courtesy of the incredible insects. Getting an insect to transport pollen to neighboring plants is a much more reliable method than simply releasing them into the wind and hoping for the best. So plants go to great lengths to hire their tiny couriers. Some plants use colors and sweet smells, but there are other tactics. Arum, a peculiar woodland plant, emerges in spring. Its phallic flowers have several ingenious tricks. Instead of smelling sweet, they produce the acrid smell of rotting flesh. And the cupped shape produces heat. The interior of the plant can be 15 degrees centigrade warmer than its surroundings. Like a vaporizer, it wafts the scent into the air. It's a magnet, especially for tiny moth flies. The flies are drawn in to investigate the smell, but a fine series of hairs trap them in the bulb at the base of the flower. It takes a while for the flies to figure out an exit route, long enough to coat themselves in pollen, ready to be lured in by warmth and rotten meat of another deceitful Arum. In the Amazon, a gigantic plant depends on a tiny helper. The giant water lily, this colossal plant, produces football-sized flowers, but unusually they don't open until after dark. They too produce an alluring warmth, and release a smell of butterscotch and pineapple. They are setting a trap. The night-foraging beetles are drawn to the white flowers, glowing in the moonlight. The warmth and smell are irresistible. They are counting on the beetles visiting multiple flowers to carry pollen. As the sun rises, the flower closes in, trapping its victim. As the beetle struggles to find a way out, it wipes off pollen from other plants and gathers some from this. [00:19:55] Speaker ?: By the evening, the deed is done. [00:19:59] Speaker 1: The plant has satisfied its needs. It begins an incredible transformation. Its virgin whites, now flushed with passionate purple, a sure sign that fertilization has taken place. And as it proclaims its success, the beetle can crawl to freedom. Its job done. Few creatures have played a bigger role in shaping the appearance of our planet than insects by influencing plants. And for plant-munching bugs, its a colourful cuisine, but its not always easy working on a small scale. The world can be a dangerous place. A small action can devastate a miniature landscape. A fallen leaf turns life for an entire community upside down. And in autumn, whole forests can turn into miniature war zones, under siege from shrapnel that rains from above. [00:21:40] Speaker ?: The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. The world can be a dangerous place. 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The equivalent of a human carrying a van home from the supermarket. It's an intimidating sight. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form the biggest, most complex societies. Up to 8 million ants live in a single giant colony. But once they get home, they don't eat the leaves. Inside, they culture fungi. Their miniature mushroom garden needs the leaves to feed on. Again, the power of society is revealed, all individuals working for the greater good of the community. The fungus turns tough leaves into easy-to-digest protein that the ants use to feed their offspring deep in the safe haven of home. Ants are masters of getting the job done. They might be small, but like Egyptians building the pyramids, they use muscle power, harnessing an enormous workforce. There is almost no limit to the scale of their constructions. The jay observes a wood ant colony, hard at work. It's a feathered fiend. But this time, it's not here for lunch. The wood ants are predatory and are not going to lie down and take an attack. They spray chemical weapons. But this is exactly what the bird wants. It's using the ants for a beauty treatment. The ants are coating its feathers in formic acid, which is a natural insecticide. It can kill fleas, mites, and even fungi and bacteria. Nicely spruced up, it takes off, barely leaving a tip. Of course, not all creepy crawlies are cooperative. Scorpions are arachnids, members of the spider family, armed with a lethal sting. Another predatory bug is on the prowl, this time an insect, the praying mantis. The mantis seems too distracted, cleaning its independent compound eyes. Danger looms. Master of ambush and with the moves of a martial arts expert, the scorpion didn't have the chance to react. It's amputated tail tries to find purchase, but can't penetrate the mantis's strong, waxy body armor. It's a bug-eat-bug world. Dramas that have played out since life first conquered the land. Three tiny eyes sit between the two huge compound eyes of the mantis. The arms are held in the praying position, to sheathe the needle-like spines that line them, and it can swing its head through 180 degrees on an unusually long neck. With great patience, it can stand for hours, bobbing gently like a branch, or edging forwards, unseen by potential prey. This is the tiger of the insect world, and every bit as deadly. Another mini-menace sets a trap. It creates the perfect pitfall. The ant-lion larva buries itself, jaws up, and lies in wait. One false move can trigger an avalanche. One false move can trigger an avalanche. Escape is futile. Insects can certainly live up to their nightmarish reputation. In the insect's world, small can be sinister. Since the time of the dinosaurs, bloodsuckers have plagued the world. During their breeding season, mosquitoes and midges gather in their millions. Only the females bite. They need a good meal of blood to nourish the eggs growing inside them. Particularly to creatures of the far north, they can make summers miserable. And this time, being big is no advantage. Everyone gets the itch. The biters can become so numerous that victims can die from blood loss. Weakened by the constant tapping, some animals might no longer have the body reserves they need to survive a long, cold winter. But it's not always bugs that come out on top. In the insect world, you must look before you leap. There are booby traps at every turn. Creepy crawly they might be, spiders are not insects. But they are perhaps insect enemy number one. Their silk is one of the strongest, stickiest substances known on earth. And it has one purpose: to destroy insects. There are more than 45,000 species and each uses a different deadly design. Skillfully, the snares are laid out. Now all the predator has to do is wait. Careless flies can find themselves in a sticky situation and will soon be injected with paralyzing venom, packed with enzymes that will turn their bodies to mush, ready to be slurped up by the spider. And it's not just creepy crawlies that insects need to watch out for. Field crickets invest a huge amount of time constructing burrows where they can sing and amplify their songs. These prime properties are worth defending, but it's risky to stand down the neighborhood watch. The 15 centimeter lizard is like a dinosaur from down here. But the sumo bugs are too engrossed to notice its approach. It may have been the rise of insects that facilitated the evolution of larger beings. The first reptiles appeared around 300 million years ago to take advantage of the growing swarms. And in an evolutionary arms race, insects developed some extraordinary escape tactics. The muscles in a grasshopper's legs are locked in tension to save up enough energy to catapult them from danger. If we had this power, we could jump football fields. As always, evolution is driven by survival of the fittest. The pinnacle of pest predation is the chameleon. His eyes can move independently. His skin can change its shade to blend in. With the stealth of a cat burglar, he closes in. His tongue is a missile, and it rarely misses its mark. The reign of reptiles was bad for bugs, but things were to get worse when 225 million years ago, the first mammals appeared on Earth. To begin with, they were all small and hedgehog-like, and all preyed upon insects. But unlike reptiles, these newcomers were warm-blooded, and needed to eat 10 times more to meet their energy demands. They were fast and intelligent. Bad news for bugs. But around the same time, another warm-blooded bug killer appeared. [00:35:59] Speaker ?: It's a bug blitz. [00:36:00] Speaker 1: Birds are perhaps the biggest drain-on-insect kind. They have become speedy, agile, aerial predators. It might even have been hunting insects that fueled their development of flight. Now, for the first time, there was a predator that could follow them into the air. The majority of the world's nearly 10,000 bird species are insectivores. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. Creepy crawlies influence bird behavior in more ways than just munching. There's no prizes for guessing where the bee-eater gets its name. It's a bug blitz. [00:36:42] Speaker ?: It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. [00:36:59] Speaker 1: It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. [00:37:05] Speaker ?: It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. [00:37:10] Speaker 1: It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. [00:37:15] Speaker ?: It's a bug blitz. It's a bug blitz. [00:37:18] Speaker 1: Bug after bug is brought as an offering. This is courtship, the bee-eater equivalent of giving a box of chocolates. It takes a few dinner dates. But eventually, the female is wooed. The male has proven his hunting abilities. Demonstrating how well he could care for their future offspring. Foraging insects must avoid spiders, reptiles, mammals and birds. But sometimes, even their habitat seems out to get them. Drosera, or sundews, are just one of several families of carnivorous plants that live in poor soil areas and so supplement their intake of nutrients through predation. Their leaves are covered in sticky tentacles that emit a sweet smell to lure curious insects. The insects are immediately glued to the plant, which slowly curls its leaf around its prey. The same sticky lures release enzymes that digest the bug, turning it into a smoothie that the plant can absorb. [00:39:18] Speaker ?: The next day, the bee-eater the bee. [00:39:22] Speaker 1: Though they seem to have the world against them, insects rise to the challenge. Mass spawning events create some of nature's greatest spectacles. So many insects, the predators barely dent their numbers. Mayfly are the masters of mass production. Mayfly are the masters of mass production. Most of these millions will live only for one day. [00:39:59] Speaker ?: Mayfly are the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:07] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:11] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:29] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:37] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:39] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:43] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:40:59] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:41:03] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only one day. [00:41:04] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. [00:41:14] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only one day. [00:41:15] Speaker 1: Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only one day. Mayfly is the only day. [00:41:19] Speaker ?: Mayfly is the only day. Mayfly is the only day. [00:41:21] Speaker 1: As darkness descends on the forest, a fairy tale world of magic is revealed. Fireflies, or glowworms, are beetles with inbuilt chemistry sets. By mixing chemicals in the abdomens, the females emit a greenish glow that males can spot from about 50 metres away. The males flash a duller light to signal their intent and fly in. The more light coming from a female, the bigger she'll be, and the more eggs she'll produce. So like moths to flame, he'll target the brightest light. Daylight brings other great communicators into play. When grasshoppers and crickets are looking for love, they sing. By rubbing their wing cases, they create the familiar music of summer. When you live in a dense jungle, or as we humans see it, a field of grass, it can be hard to find a mate. Sounds carry, and like a dating website, can help tell insects who's available in their home patch. The tiny field cricket is still hard at work. Being heard above the crowd is a challenge. So his cylindrical tunnel acts as a huge amp, cranking up the volume. The songs don't always attract females, they can attract rivals as well. You've got to be strong in the insect world, and as always, it's passion behind the act. Which brings us back to the stag beetles and their tiny, titanic battles. Millions of years of shaping have created the perfect mini-machines. Complex senses, built-in weapons, and body armor, all for the sole purpose of propagating the species. Battles like this have little changed for millennia, playing out long before dinosaurs got a foothold. A new legacy is left, another generation. But when insects are so successful, widespread, and tied to the evolution of the world, why do they create such problems for us? For one thing, the tiny terrors can be pretty annoying. Flies seek moisture and minerals from sweat and tears. Their persistence can ruin a summer's evening. It doesn't matter how big and scary you are, you can still be bugged by bugs. There are also a few of insect kind that directly attack us. Working in wet locations can be miserable, thanks to the vampire ways of the mosquito. But far worse than blood loss, the nasty gnats can spread terrible diseases, like malaria, that fuel our fear of creepy crawlies. The insect empire sometimes appears to be on a path of destruction. Small, innocuous looking beetles are like grim reapers to the forest itself. By chewing their way through the living tissues of trees, bark beetles can literally wipe out thousands of hectares of life. The beetles can play a beneficial role in thinning out forests to allow new growth. But left unchecked, with warmer winters and fewer predators, they can reach plague proportions and do unimaginable damage. But there is another side to the story. Imagine piles of carcasses. The only reason we are not up to our necks in death is because insects clear it away. They eat it, bury it and recycle nutrients. Everything, plant or animal, must die. And when it does, its remains need to be processed. And there is one other type of waste where we are lucky to get help. Everybody poops. Ever wondered why we are not all buried in the stuff? It's because insects, like the hard-working dung beetle, take care of it for us. Insects remove carrion, bury dung, control pests, aerate soil and feed wildlife. But there is another, even more important role that supports all of us. As pollinators, insects are responsible for feeding the world. Virtually everything we eat has at some stage in its production been pollinised by insects. Thanks to their unique relationships with plants, the world blooms. They work hard and we reap the rewards. It's hard to put a value on insects, but it's thought that their role in pollination is worth about 150 billion dollars per year to the global economy. Which pales in comparison with their value in recycling waste, a staggering 3 trillion dollars every year. It's much harder to put a value on the enjoyment we get from the sweet tastes, beautiful sights and exotic scents we enjoy thanks to insect kind. We have also brought that process one step closer to ourselves. We harness the power of bees. We can place their colonies in areas where we need our food plants fertilised and we take advantage of their food stores. While they are visiting the plants, they are converting nectar to honey. Honey is an incredible material. It never goes off. It has antibiotic properties and can be used to treat wounds. It contains all the vitamins and minerals we need. Boosts our immune systems. And of course, it tastes delicious. Insects are not creepy crawlies. They are veterans of life on Earth. They keep our environment in check and put food on our tables. Perhaps we should see them as tiny, fascinating guardians. Or possibly even friends. They seem set to rule the world long after we've gone. The ultimate success story. They add beauty to the world and inspire our lives. Where would we be without them? Insects are worth celebrating. [00:49:19] Speaker ?: Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Insects. Thank you.