1 00:00:39,567 --> 00:00:41,717 There's an insect in this garden 2 00:00:41,807 --> 00:00:44,640 that all gardeners loathe... 3 00:00:45,887 --> 00:00:47,036 aphids. 4 00:00:47,767 --> 00:00:49,837 They've made enemies of gardeners, 5 00:00:49,927 --> 00:00:52,441 but in the undergrowth they have friends... 6 00:00:52,887 --> 00:00:54,036 ants. 7 00:00:59,087 --> 00:01:03,603 Ants herd aphids to the best possible feeding places 8 00:01:03,687 --> 00:01:07,600 just as human shepherds will herd their sheep to the best pastures. 9 00:01:08,167 --> 00:01:11,637 And just as shepherds protect their flocks against wolves 10 00:01:11,727 --> 00:01:15,766 so ants protect the aphids against their insect enemies. 11 00:01:17,767 --> 00:01:22,682 Ladybirds are among the most dangerous. They, after all, eat aphids. 12 00:01:22,807 --> 00:01:24,843 So the ants must get rid of them. 13 00:01:24,927 --> 00:01:29,921 That's not easy. It's quite hard to get a grip on the polished shell of a ladybird. 14 00:01:35,167 --> 00:01:37,681 But eventually, success. 15 00:01:39,287 --> 00:01:42,836 Aphids excrete a liquid that ants relish, honeydew. 16 00:01:42,927 --> 00:01:44,838 That's why ants protect them. 17 00:01:44,927 --> 00:01:48,078 Such close relationships are frequent among insects, 18 00:01:48,167 --> 00:01:51,284 perhaps because they've had so long to develop them. 19 00:01:51,367 --> 00:01:53,164 They appeared on land, after all, 20 00:01:53,247 --> 00:01:56,557 about a hundred million years before any backboned animal. 21 00:01:57,247 --> 00:01:59,681 And they can also evolve much faster 22 00:01:59,767 --> 00:02:03,362 because they can produce several generations within a single year. 23 00:02:03,727 --> 00:02:05,922 So, perhaps it's not surprising 24 00:02:06,007 --> 00:02:09,397 that they have developed relationships between one another 25 00:02:09,487 --> 00:02:12,445 of a complexity that blows the mind. 26 00:02:23,087 --> 00:02:27,683 These associations extend not only to other insects but to plants. 27 00:02:27,767 --> 00:02:30,725 They were established at a very early period. 28 00:02:31,207 --> 00:02:33,437 Plants are the basis of all life. 29 00:02:33,527 --> 00:02:37,600 For only they can combine minerals in the ground with gases from the air 30 00:02:37,687 --> 00:02:39,803 and produce something worth eating. 31 00:02:40,087 --> 00:02:42,840 Insects, however, not only eat them 32 00:02:42,927 --> 00:02:46,886 they also exploit them in much more devious ways. 33 00:02:55,647 --> 00:03:01,756 Tropical rain forests are famous for being thick, tangled masses of vegetation. 34 00:03:02,207 --> 00:03:04,801 But in this one, in Peru, 35 00:03:04,887 --> 00:03:07,560 there are mysterious clearings 36 00:03:07,647 --> 00:03:12,277 where only one or, at the most, two kinds of trees will grow. 37 00:03:12,767 --> 00:03:17,887 The local people call such places as this Devil's Gardens 38 00:03:17,967 --> 00:03:21,755 and believe that spirits kill other kinds of trees. 39 00:03:22,527 --> 00:03:24,836 And the real killers of those trees? 40 00:03:25,287 --> 00:03:27,755 Well, they've only just been discovered. 41 00:03:29,127 --> 00:03:31,641 The leaves of the surviving trees 42 00:03:31,727 --> 00:03:35,515 all have these swellings on their stems. 43 00:03:36,207 --> 00:03:39,279 And going in and out are armies 44 00:03:39,847 --> 00:03:41,724 of tiny, tiny ants. 45 00:03:43,247 --> 00:03:45,602 The swellings are their homes. 46 00:03:45,687 --> 00:03:48,121 Specially developed for them by the tree. 47 00:03:48,287 --> 00:03:52,485 And in them, safe from predators, the ants keep their eggs and larvae. 48 00:03:52,567 --> 00:03:55,081 They even keep domestic livestock, 49 00:03:55,167 --> 00:04:00,116 white scale insects, which, like aphids, supply the ants with drinks of honeydew. 50 00:04:03,647 --> 00:04:07,083 Producing this accommodation also benefits the tree, 51 00:04:07,167 --> 00:04:10,398 for the ants provide their landlord with a valuable service. 52 00:04:10,487 --> 00:04:12,921 They guard it against its enemies. 53 00:04:16,527 --> 00:04:20,918 All kinds of insects will eat a plant's leaves given the chance. 54 00:04:22,047 --> 00:04:25,642 But they don't get a chance, not on this tree. 55 00:04:29,047 --> 00:04:31,925 So the caterpillar goes elsewhere. 56 00:04:34,887 --> 00:04:37,685 This is a more formidable leaf muncher, 57 00:04:37,767 --> 00:04:39,598 a kind of giant grasshopper, 58 00:04:39,687 --> 00:04:42,963 several thousand times bigger than any individual ant. 59 00:04:45,567 --> 00:04:48,035 That's not so easy to shift. 60 00:04:51,967 --> 00:04:54,356 But it does have a weak spot. 61 00:04:54,887 --> 00:04:57,924 If you can say that any insect has a heel, 62 00:04:58,007 --> 00:05:01,124 then this one has an Achilles heel. 63 00:05:06,527 --> 00:05:08,757 And the ants seem to know it. 64 00:05:16,807 --> 00:05:18,604 Enough is enough. 65 00:05:21,287 --> 00:05:25,075 The ants not only repel their host's animal enemies, 66 00:05:25,167 --> 00:05:30,161 they also, perhaps more remarkably, keep competing plants at bay. 67 00:05:31,967 --> 00:05:34,083 A squad of them leaves the barracks 68 00:05:34,167 --> 00:05:38,046 and sets out on one of their regular patrols of the neighbourhood. 69 00:05:42,847 --> 00:05:45,600 They've found a newly-sprouted sapling. 70 00:05:45,967 --> 00:05:50,916 Perhaps it's grown from one of their landlord's seeds. In which case, all well and good. 71 00:05:51,807 --> 00:05:54,446 But this one hasn't, it's an intruder. 72 00:05:56,047 --> 00:05:59,244 They go into action, biting its stems. 73 00:06:03,567 --> 00:06:05,398 Reinforcements arrive. 74 00:06:06,727 --> 00:06:10,242 Hundreds of tiny jaws cut into its stems. 75 00:06:10,327 --> 00:06:12,443 The sapling begins to wilt. 76 00:06:26,687 --> 00:06:30,965 But bites alone are not enough for the ants to achieve their ends. 77 00:06:31,047 --> 00:06:36,963 They lift their abdomens and inject formic acid into the crippled plant's wounds. 78 00:06:42,207 --> 00:06:46,678 The poison spreads through the plant's tissues hastening its death. 79 00:06:51,087 --> 00:06:55,239 And within a few days of being comprehensively stung, 80 00:06:55,807 --> 00:06:57,923 all these plants are dead. 81 00:06:58,607 --> 00:07:00,882 And the ants, or the "devils", 82 00:07:01,287 --> 00:07:04,165 have extended their garden still further. 83 00:07:06,207 --> 00:07:11,565 But the benefit of this drastic gardening, of course, is not restricted to the plants. 84 00:07:11,647 --> 00:07:14,002 The ants also profit. 85 00:07:14,087 --> 00:07:16,476 They have ensured that their plant landlord 86 00:07:16,567 --> 00:07:19,240 can extend its territory without competition. 87 00:07:19,647 --> 00:07:25,244 And that provides them with more homes, so they too can increase their numbers. 88 00:07:34,807 --> 00:07:40,086 It's one thing to provide food and shelter in return for protection, 89 00:07:40,167 --> 00:07:43,364 but it's quite another thing to be compelled to provide a home 90 00:07:43,447 --> 00:07:45,677 where before there was none. 91 00:07:45,767 --> 00:07:51,080 But some insects have the ability to force a plant to do just that. 92 00:07:51,167 --> 00:07:56,116 They're called gall-makers and this oak tree is infested with them. 93 00:07:56,887 --> 00:08:03,076 This odd wrinkled object at the base of an acorn, is known as a knopper gall. 94 00:08:03,727 --> 00:08:08,005 Inside there is the tiny grub of a minute wasp. 95 00:08:08,487 --> 00:08:12,685 To understand how it got there we have to go back to last spring. 96 00:08:19,367 --> 00:08:23,326 This tiny insect, scarcely bigger than a mosquito, 97 00:08:23,407 --> 00:08:25,716 is one of these gall wasps. 98 00:08:25,927 --> 00:08:28,885 There are lots of them flying around the oak flowers. 99 00:08:32,927 --> 00:08:37,796 Most of the flowers by now have been pollinated and are about to develop into acorns. 100 00:08:38,447 --> 00:08:40,563 The gall wasps too have mated 101 00:08:40,647 --> 00:08:44,117 and this female is looking for a place to lay her eggs. 102 00:08:46,407 --> 00:08:50,446 She thrusts her ovipositor into the base of the fertilised flower, 103 00:08:50,527 --> 00:08:52,404 and injects an egg. 104 00:08:53,767 --> 00:08:58,682 And that triggers a profound genetic change in the growing oak bud. 105 00:09:00,487 --> 00:09:06,084 It develops, not into an acorn but into something very different, a gall. 106 00:09:08,447 --> 00:09:12,440 Within, the tiny larva whose secretions have caused the change 107 00:09:12,527 --> 00:09:14,438 feeds on the oak tree's tissues. 108 00:09:15,887 --> 00:09:20,563 As summer proceeds, the galls become increasingly hard and woody. 109 00:09:28,847 --> 00:09:32,760 Autumn comes and the oak tree starts to shed its leaves. 110 00:09:32,847 --> 00:09:34,803 It's shutting down for the winter. 111 00:09:34,887 --> 00:09:38,800 And with its leaves go both acorns and galls. 112 00:09:57,047 --> 00:09:59,959 Plant and insect life is suspended. 113 00:10:03,007 --> 00:10:07,205 But unseen changes are nevertheless taking place. 114 00:10:09,727 --> 00:10:11,843 Spring comes at last. 115 00:10:19,647 --> 00:10:22,764 Inside the gall something starts moving. 116 00:10:24,927 --> 00:10:28,442 The larva has turned into an adult wasp. 117 00:10:33,967 --> 00:10:37,642 It has spent nine months within the oak tree's tissues. 118 00:10:37,727 --> 00:10:40,366 It has only a few weeks of its life left. 119 00:10:47,487 --> 00:10:52,720 Now as an adult it must look for another oak to inject with eggs. 120 00:11:00,487 --> 00:11:04,844 A single oak tree may be afflicted by 70 different kinds of gall, 121 00:11:04,927 --> 00:11:07,646 each produced by a different species of wasp, 122 00:11:07,727 --> 00:11:10,764 and each with its own particular contorted shape. 123 00:11:15,487 --> 00:11:20,277 These hard shells may seem to be effective defences for the little grub inside them, 124 00:11:20,687 --> 00:11:22,598 but not necessarily so. 125 00:11:25,527 --> 00:11:27,757 This is another kind of gall wasp 126 00:11:27,847 --> 00:11:31,726 and she's not a genetic engineer, she's a burglar. 127 00:11:31,807 --> 00:11:35,959 Behind her she trails her equipment for breaking and entering, a drill. 128 00:11:36,807 --> 00:11:41,323 She carefully selects a site for her operations and takes aim. 129 00:11:44,887 --> 00:11:48,800 She flicks away the drill's sheath and starts work. 130 00:11:49,727 --> 00:11:53,242 Her aim has to be very accurate if she's to strike her target, 131 00:11:53,327 --> 00:11:55,557 the larva at the gall centre. 132 00:11:58,167 --> 00:12:01,796 The tip of her drill has a sharp cutting edge of metallic zinc 133 00:12:01,887 --> 00:12:04,685 which pierces the gall tissues with ease. 134 00:12:05,847 --> 00:12:08,839 When she detects that she's reached the central chamber, 135 00:12:08,927 --> 00:12:14,001 a microscopic egg travels down the centre of the drill and into the larva. 136 00:12:16,927 --> 00:12:18,883 The operation is over. 137 00:12:18,967 --> 00:12:21,765 Her offspring will now hatch in the gall's centre, 138 00:12:21,847 --> 00:12:25,681 consume the flesh of the resident larva and take over the gall. 139 00:12:31,767 --> 00:12:33,564 Galls are worldwide. 140 00:12:33,647 --> 00:12:37,162 California, for example, has other species of oak tree 141 00:12:37,247 --> 00:12:38,919 and other kinds of gall. 142 00:12:41,087 --> 00:12:45,444 These particular ones are relatively tiny, the size of peppercorns. 143 00:12:45,567 --> 00:12:48,684 You'd hardly notice them except for one thing. 144 00:12:49,607 --> 00:12:50,756 They jump. 145 00:12:51,207 --> 00:12:55,837 And not only do they jump, they jump for three days. 146 00:12:57,287 --> 00:13:01,997 The tiny larvae within flip themselves about inside their minute chambers. 147 00:13:02,487 --> 00:13:04,603 Why they should do so is not clear. 148 00:13:04,967 --> 00:13:08,676 Perhaps it's a way of moving their homes into cracks and crevices 149 00:13:08,767 --> 00:13:11,520 where they're out of the reach of predators and parasites 150 00:13:11,607 --> 00:13:14,405 and shaded from the hot Californian sun. 151 00:13:15,887 --> 00:13:20,199 Another gall in Hungary protects itself in a more complex fashion. 152 00:13:20,647 --> 00:13:23,445 It recruits insect guardians. 153 00:13:24,647 --> 00:13:27,957 This gall is producing nectar. 154 00:13:30,727 --> 00:13:31,842 It's sweet. 155 00:13:32,567 --> 00:13:35,877 And it's producing it, not for the benefit of the oak tree, 156 00:13:36,567 --> 00:13:41,197 but for the benefit of the tiny grub that lies within the gall. 157 00:13:41,687 --> 00:13:44,997 Because the nectar attracts ants 158 00:13:45,087 --> 00:13:49,877 and ants serve as defenders against any other intruders. 159 00:13:49,967 --> 00:13:54,006 And if you want to see how valuable they are, let me remove some. 160 00:13:59,207 --> 00:14:03,120 Within a few minutes a different kind of gall wasp appears. 161 00:14:03,807 --> 00:14:07,197 It's another of those burglars looking for an existing gall 162 00:14:07,287 --> 00:14:09,403 into which it can inject its egg. 163 00:14:10,967 --> 00:14:15,518 But the ants have now returned and they attack the intruder. 164 00:14:20,287 --> 00:14:21,481 Away it goes. 165 00:14:23,087 --> 00:14:25,237 The ants, having driven off the wasp, 166 00:14:26,327 --> 00:14:28,158 take their reward of nectar. 167 00:14:31,727 --> 00:14:35,515 In the normal course of events, oak trees don't produce nectar, 168 00:14:35,607 --> 00:14:37,723 but many plants certainly do. 169 00:14:37,807 --> 00:14:39,684 It's a way of attracting insects 170 00:14:39,767 --> 00:14:43,043 that will transport their pollen from one plant to another. 171 00:14:43,127 --> 00:14:48,679 And the colourful flowers are advertisements proclaiming that nectar is there for the taking. 172 00:14:53,647 --> 00:14:57,117 But the plants must also ensure that visiting insects 173 00:14:57,207 --> 00:14:59,721 collect the pollen as well as nectar 174 00:14:59,807 --> 00:15:02,924 and that leads to all kinds of complexities. 175 00:15:07,767 --> 00:15:13,000 Like many plants, the pyramidal orchid has a way of ensuring that they do. 176 00:15:13,647 --> 00:15:17,162 The burnet moth probes into the orchid's nectar store 177 00:15:17,287 --> 00:15:20,882 and, as it does so, a horseshoe-shaped mass of pollen 178 00:15:20,967 --> 00:15:23,435 clips on to its long proboscis. 179 00:15:25,807 --> 00:15:30,278 Inconvenient it may be but the moth can't shift it. 180 00:15:33,887 --> 00:15:38,244 Away it goes to another flower, taking the pollen with it. 181 00:15:38,527 --> 00:15:41,360 And this time as it probes for a drink, 182 00:15:42,087 --> 00:15:46,524 a speck of pollen is transferred to the female part of the flower. 183 00:15:48,167 --> 00:15:49,486 The job is done. 184 00:15:52,807 --> 00:15:57,437 The traffic of insect pollinators to and from flowers is so heavy 185 00:15:57,527 --> 00:15:59,882 and, in particular, so predictable, 186 00:15:59,967 --> 00:16:05,325 that it's not surprising that some invertebrates have learnt to exploit it. 187 00:16:05,847 --> 00:16:12,116 A white crab spider sits almost invisible on a white flower, waiting in ambush. 188 00:16:13,487 --> 00:16:15,318 And it catches a bee. 189 00:16:20,367 --> 00:16:24,565 The spider is clearly taking advantage of the flower's advertising. 190 00:16:25,527 --> 00:16:28,246 It looks superbly camouflaged to our eyes, 191 00:16:28,327 --> 00:16:30,477 but insect eyes are different to ours 192 00:16:30,567 --> 00:16:33,798 and see parts of the light spectrum invisible to us. 193 00:16:34,767 --> 00:16:38,885 Under ultraviolet light we can get a better idea of how they see things, 194 00:16:39,247 --> 00:16:44,162 and most surprisingly the spider looks more obvious to them than it does to us. 195 00:16:44,887 --> 00:16:46,320 Why should that be? 196 00:16:46,927 --> 00:16:50,522 Perhaps it's because ultraviolet markings on some flowers 197 00:16:50,607 --> 00:16:53,041 serve to guide insects to nectar. 198 00:16:53,367 --> 00:16:58,316 So maybe the spider's colour is a positive attraction for bees. 199 00:17:01,527 --> 00:17:04,803 Certainly, honeybees seem more likely to visit flowers 200 00:17:04,887 --> 00:17:07,447 with crab spiders on them than those without, 201 00:17:07,527 --> 00:17:09,916 often with fatal consequences. 202 00:17:16,647 --> 00:17:19,844 The relationships between the animals that live in the undergrowth 203 00:17:19,927 --> 00:17:22,964 are full of such deceits and impostures. 204 00:17:23,207 --> 00:17:26,085 Here in Australia there's an intriguing example 205 00:17:26,207 --> 00:17:28,323 that has only just been discovered. 206 00:17:29,647 --> 00:17:30,636 This... 207 00:17:33,447 --> 00:17:36,120 is a feather-legged bug. 208 00:17:38,007 --> 00:17:41,556 It too manages to persuade prey to come close. 209 00:17:41,847 --> 00:17:45,840 But its invitations are aimed not at bees, but ants 210 00:17:45,927 --> 00:17:50,398 and what the ants get is a very nasty surprise. 211 00:17:52,367 --> 00:17:54,483 Like all members of the bug family, 212 00:17:54,567 --> 00:17:57,445 this one has a long tube for a mouth. 213 00:17:57,887 --> 00:18:01,038 Most stick it into plants to suck sap. 214 00:18:01,407 --> 00:18:04,524 Using it to eat an ant is more difficult. 215 00:18:05,887 --> 00:18:09,596 The bug starts by waving to passing ants. 216 00:18:10,167 --> 00:18:14,843 The feathery flanges on its legs are so large they can be seen from quite a distance. 217 00:18:20,847 --> 00:18:23,361 The ants are visibly intrigued, 218 00:18:23,447 --> 00:18:26,280 but they're not yet close enough for the bug to attack. 219 00:18:26,367 --> 00:18:29,040 So it reinforces its gestures 220 00:18:29,127 --> 00:18:33,359 by producing a chemical perfume that the ants find irresistible. 221 00:18:34,367 --> 00:18:36,005 They come closer still. 222 00:18:39,327 --> 00:18:40,806 They climb all over the bug, 223 00:18:40,887 --> 00:18:44,436 trying to find the source of this strange compulsive smell, 224 00:18:44,927 --> 00:18:47,521 and the bug does nothing to stop them. 225 00:18:59,007 --> 00:19:01,521 Where does that smell come from? 226 00:19:01,607 --> 00:19:03,404 Is it on the bug's legs? 227 00:19:14,327 --> 00:19:17,558 The bug now answers the ants' questions. 228 00:19:17,647 --> 00:19:21,925 It lifts itself up and reveals a gland on its underside. 229 00:19:22,007 --> 00:19:24,237 That's what's producing the smell. 230 00:19:27,807 --> 00:19:30,879 The ant presses its head against the bug's chest 231 00:19:30,967 --> 00:19:32,764 to actually taste the gland. 232 00:19:32,847 --> 00:19:36,237 It's the perfect position for its own execution. 233 00:19:38,567 --> 00:19:42,003 The bug stabs its mouth into the back of the ant's head. 234 00:19:48,047 --> 00:19:52,245 So a tube can be used to suck nourishment from an insect, 235 00:19:52,327 --> 00:19:54,079 as well as from a plant. 236 00:19:54,967 --> 00:19:58,403 This is the rogue of the bug family, a killer. 237 00:20:03,767 --> 00:20:06,679 Ants are among the most numerous, widespread 238 00:20:06,767 --> 00:20:09,884 and frequently exploited members of the undergrowth. 239 00:20:11,007 --> 00:20:15,319 These, in Australia, collect seeds and store them underground. 240 00:20:16,167 --> 00:20:18,158 Plants encourage them to do so 241 00:20:18,247 --> 00:20:21,045 by adding a tasty capsule to their seeds. 242 00:20:21,607 --> 00:20:26,123 That may seem odd, but these ants don't eat all the seeds they store. 243 00:20:26,207 --> 00:20:30,405 In fact, seeds are more likely to germinate below ground than above. 244 00:20:31,287 --> 00:20:35,246 But not everything on this forest floor is what it seems. 245 00:20:36,607 --> 00:20:40,646 When it comes to putting your eggs in a suitable place, 246 00:20:41,127 --> 00:20:45,996 some insects persuade other insects to do the job for them. 247 00:20:46,687 --> 00:20:49,565 This little object looks like a seed, 248 00:20:49,647 --> 00:20:52,286 and certainly, it's fallen from above, 249 00:20:52,367 --> 00:20:55,564 and that ant seems to think it's worth eating. 250 00:20:55,647 --> 00:21:00,926 But actually, it hasn't come from a plant, it's come from another insect. 251 00:21:03,247 --> 00:21:05,044 And this is it. 252 00:21:05,127 --> 00:21:10,440 It's rather difficult to see because it looks exactly like a dried leaf, 253 00:21:10,527 --> 00:21:12,563 but it's a stick insect. 254 00:21:12,647 --> 00:21:18,324 There's its head, antennae, and that's the tip of its abdomen. 255 00:21:19,287 --> 00:21:24,315 As an adult, like this, it spends all its time up in the trees eating leaves. 256 00:21:24,607 --> 00:21:28,566 And when the time comes to lay, and this one is doing so, 257 00:21:28,647 --> 00:21:33,721 all she does is simply to flick away the egg, and let it fall to the ground. 258 00:21:34,407 --> 00:21:37,956 But that's not quite as risky as you might think. 259 00:21:41,367 --> 00:21:46,964 Wherever you are, you can be pretty sure that some ants will turn up looking for food. 260 00:21:47,327 --> 00:21:50,717 And that is exactly what the stick insect's eggs look like. 261 00:21:50,807 --> 00:21:54,800 A nutritious seed, complete with that fatty capsule at the tip. 262 00:21:56,967 --> 00:21:59,925 So the ants start to haul them away. 263 00:22:16,407 --> 00:22:20,446 Although the ants certainly eat a great number of the seeds they store, 264 00:22:20,527 --> 00:22:23,803 stick insect eggs don't seem to be quite as tempting. 265 00:22:23,887 --> 00:22:26,355 At any rate, the ants, after all their labour, 266 00:22:26,447 --> 00:22:29,723 usually leave the stick insect eggs untouched. 267 00:22:34,287 --> 00:22:37,404 While the seasons pass, the eggs lie underground, 268 00:22:37,487 --> 00:22:40,877 hidden from birds and any other predators that might eat them. 269 00:22:40,967 --> 00:22:44,357 They may remain there, safe, for up to three years, 270 00:22:44,847 --> 00:22:47,042 but eventually they hatch. 271 00:22:53,007 --> 00:22:55,680 It's only at this early stage of its life 272 00:22:55,767 --> 00:22:58,406 that a stick insect actually runs. 273 00:23:01,007 --> 00:23:04,966 The youngsters positively scamper up into the tree branches. 274 00:23:11,007 --> 00:23:13,919 There they will take up their adult life of leisure, 275 00:23:14,007 --> 00:23:17,283 well-camouflaged, stolidly chewing leaves. 276 00:23:19,327 --> 00:23:22,876 Giving your offspring a good start in life can take a lot of effort. 277 00:23:22,967 --> 00:23:26,721 So some insects have evolved highly complex strategies 278 00:23:26,807 --> 00:23:31,085 to induce other species to become nursemaids on their behalf. 279 00:23:33,727 --> 00:23:38,755 This Californian desert hardly seems to be the best place to find nursemaids. 280 00:23:39,247 --> 00:23:43,399 But blister beetles have an amazing way of discovering them. 281 00:23:46,447 --> 00:23:49,757 It starts simply enough with the female beetle. 282 00:23:50,127 --> 00:23:53,563 She has dug a hole and is now laying her eggs in it. 283 00:23:58,407 --> 00:24:01,046 That done, she abandons them. 284 00:24:03,887 --> 00:24:08,244 A few centimetres below the surface of the sand conditions are good for eggs. 285 00:24:08,327 --> 00:24:12,115 Not too cold, neither too hot, even in the heat of the day. 286 00:24:14,847 --> 00:24:17,122 Six weeks later, they hatch. 287 00:24:18,127 --> 00:24:21,517 But these sands are very barren and scorching hot. 288 00:24:21,607 --> 00:24:25,077 Somehow the tiny larvae have got to find food 289 00:24:25,167 --> 00:24:27,362 and they won't find it here. 290 00:24:31,007 --> 00:24:34,079 Their survival depends on teamwork. 291 00:24:37,887 --> 00:24:41,243 Together, as a closely coordinated group, 292 00:24:41,327 --> 00:24:44,524 they climb up a stem of withered grass. 293 00:24:54,607 --> 00:24:57,963 When they get to the top, there's nowhere else to go. 294 00:24:58,047 --> 00:25:02,199 They look dangerously exposed to the sun and to other predators, 295 00:25:02,287 --> 00:25:05,882 but there they stay, in a tight squirming mass. 296 00:25:09,687 --> 00:25:11,678 For those that can get there, 297 00:25:11,767 --> 00:25:16,477 the top of this stem has become a stage for a remarkable piece of deception. 298 00:25:17,167 --> 00:25:20,921 What these larvae want is a lift, a ride. 299 00:25:21,007 --> 00:25:26,286 And they want it so badly that sometimes they'll even try and get it from a human finger. 300 00:25:27,567 --> 00:25:31,162 But what they're really searching for is not a human finger. 301 00:25:31,247 --> 00:25:33,886 They're searching for another insect. 302 00:25:35,527 --> 00:25:38,280 Here it comes. A female digger bee 303 00:25:38,367 --> 00:25:41,837 leaving a tunnel that she's just dug for her own young. 304 00:25:43,447 --> 00:25:45,517 She's off to gather pollen. 305 00:25:51,807 --> 00:25:55,083 She packs it into baskets on her back legs 306 00:25:55,167 --> 00:25:57,601 and takes it back to her burrow. 307 00:25:59,127 --> 00:26:03,803 It'll provide valuable food for her young when they eventually hatch. 308 00:26:08,367 --> 00:26:12,519 And here comes a male. He's on the lookout for a female. 309 00:26:17,647 --> 00:26:22,926 To him, the cluster not only looks like a female, it smells like a female. 310 00:26:23,007 --> 00:26:26,283 For the beetle larvae are producing a perfume, a pheromone, 311 00:26:26,367 --> 00:26:29,837 that is exactly like that emitted by a female bee. 312 00:26:30,687 --> 00:26:35,124 He alights in order to mate, and in seconds is covered by the larvae 313 00:26:35,207 --> 00:26:37,198 that swarm all over him. 314 00:26:39,527 --> 00:26:44,078 At first, he seems stunned by the shock of his sudden increase in weight. 315 00:26:45,687 --> 00:26:47,678 But then he's off again. 316 00:26:49,647 --> 00:26:53,640 Now his luck improves. This really is a female. 317 00:26:55,847 --> 00:26:59,442 And while he mates, his passengers jump ship. 318 00:27:17,807 --> 00:27:21,083 Now they're all on board a female bee. 319 00:27:28,007 --> 00:27:32,364 She, having mated, goes back to her nest to lay, 320 00:27:32,447 --> 00:27:34,597 taking the larvae with her. 321 00:27:37,167 --> 00:27:42,161 At last, the young beetle larvae have reached safety and food, 322 00:27:42,247 --> 00:27:46,320 the store of pollen that the female digger bee worked so hard to collect 323 00:27:46,407 --> 00:27:48,159 for her own young. 324 00:27:48,887 --> 00:27:52,038 So they hop off and tuck in. 325 00:27:57,887 --> 00:28:00,526 Not only do they consume the pollen, 326 00:28:00,607 --> 00:28:04,282 when that runs out, they'll eat the young bee larvae, too. 327 00:28:06,807 --> 00:28:11,961 Blister beetles are not alone in using couriers to take their offspring to food. 328 00:28:12,887 --> 00:28:15,879 The young of this botfly, here in Brazil, 329 00:28:15,967 --> 00:28:19,243 feed on the blood and tissues of living cows. 330 00:28:19,327 --> 00:28:21,921 But how is a female to get them there? 331 00:28:22,007 --> 00:28:26,956 She is a big insect. So big that cows would notice if she landed on them, 332 00:28:27,047 --> 00:28:29,277 and would probably flick her off. 333 00:28:29,367 --> 00:28:31,722 She needs a lightweight courier. 334 00:28:33,287 --> 00:28:37,360 A housefly, a fraction of her weight. That will do nicely. 335 00:28:39,087 --> 00:28:41,317 She drops down to stalk it. 336 00:28:47,567 --> 00:28:48,920 She's got it. 337 00:28:49,647 --> 00:28:53,526 She manipulates the housefly into the right position. 338 00:28:54,087 --> 00:28:59,241 And now, one by one, she glues her eggs onto the housefly's abdomen. 339 00:29:03,527 --> 00:29:05,085 Within a few seconds, 340 00:29:05,167 --> 00:29:09,319 the housefly has been coated by about 30 cream-coloured eggs. 341 00:29:11,967 --> 00:29:14,800 The botfly releases its hapless messenger. 342 00:29:17,007 --> 00:29:20,761 The housefly seems well aware that it's carrying an extra load 343 00:29:20,967 --> 00:29:22,719 but it can't get rid of it. 344 00:29:32,087 --> 00:29:35,124 So, it goes back to its normal business 345 00:29:35,447 --> 00:29:38,598 which includes visiting cows to drink their sweat. 346 00:29:41,647 --> 00:29:46,596 A small fly, unlike the lumbering botfly, is no real irritation 347 00:29:46,687 --> 00:29:49,042 and is able to feed largely unhindered. 348 00:29:54,807 --> 00:29:58,561 The fly mops up the sweat with its pad-shaped mouth parts. 349 00:29:58,767 --> 00:30:00,280 But as it feeds, 350 00:30:00,367 --> 00:30:04,963 so the warmth of the cow's body causes the botfly's eggs to hatch. 351 00:30:11,327 --> 00:30:14,444 The larvae are armed with tiny hooks 352 00:30:14,527 --> 00:30:18,520 which help them get a grip on a cow's skin and bore into it. 353 00:30:24,927 --> 00:30:29,842 So in a few minutes, a cow can acquire a dozen botfly larvae, 354 00:30:29,927 --> 00:30:32,361 feeding away beneath its skin. 355 00:30:33,127 --> 00:30:35,960 Licking won't get rid of them now. 356 00:30:37,687 --> 00:30:41,999 A couple of months later, the full-grown larvae emerge and drop to the ground. 357 00:30:44,487 --> 00:30:49,356 There they will burrow into the soil, pupate and turn into adults. 358 00:30:52,687 --> 00:30:55,599 All kinds of creatures, great and small, 359 00:30:55,687 --> 00:30:58,804 are exploited by insect parents in this kind of way. 360 00:30:59,247 --> 00:31:01,283 This is Costa Rica. 361 00:31:01,367 --> 00:31:04,279 And here lives a species of orchard spider. 362 00:31:04,927 --> 00:31:07,999 They construct horizontal orb-webs 363 00:31:08,087 --> 00:31:10,647 as lovely as those made by any spider. 364 00:31:11,887 --> 00:31:15,197 But one individual has a hanger-on. 365 00:31:15,767 --> 00:31:19,806 An anonymous looking grub is clinging to her abdomen. 366 00:31:25,807 --> 00:31:29,083 She seems little affected by having a passenger. 367 00:31:29,167 --> 00:31:33,922 And every day, as usual, she builds a new and perfect web. 368 00:31:36,487 --> 00:31:39,126 She is just as efficient a hunter as ever 369 00:31:39,207 --> 00:31:43,598 but every catch she makes, she shares, in effect, with her passenger. 370 00:31:44,207 --> 00:31:46,960 For the grub is sucking her juices. 371 00:32:00,247 --> 00:32:03,796 Her passenger stays with her for some two weeks, 372 00:32:03,887 --> 00:32:07,766 slowly growing in size, at her expense. 373 00:32:08,807 --> 00:32:12,402 And still, daily, she constructs a new web. 374 00:32:14,327 --> 00:32:17,683 Then, one evening when, as usual, as she starts to spin, 375 00:32:17,767 --> 00:32:20,679 something seems to have gone dramatically wrong. 376 00:32:26,567 --> 00:32:30,276 She seems incapable of making her normal, beautiful orb. 377 00:32:30,367 --> 00:32:35,487 What she produces has no shape, no radiating spokes, no sticky spiral. 378 00:32:35,567 --> 00:32:37,922 It's just an untidy tangle. 379 00:32:38,807 --> 00:32:40,604 The grub is responsible. 380 00:32:40,847 --> 00:32:43,122 It has injected her with a hormone 381 00:32:43,247 --> 00:32:46,876 that has spread to her brain and deranged her. 382 00:32:50,927 --> 00:32:53,395 She has only an hour or so to live. 383 00:32:53,487 --> 00:32:55,796 This is her last act. 384 00:32:56,207 --> 00:32:59,005 Small claspers inflate on the grub's back. 385 00:32:59,087 --> 00:33:01,999 With these it grasps the wreckage of the web 386 00:33:02,087 --> 00:33:05,477 so that it will not fall as the dying spider loses her grip. 387 00:33:09,847 --> 00:33:13,044 It sucks the remaining fluid from the spider's body. 388 00:33:18,247 --> 00:33:21,045 Slowly the liquid is withdrawn. 389 00:33:25,527 --> 00:33:28,200 Even the spider's legs are emptied 390 00:33:28,327 --> 00:33:31,000 until the corpse is no more than a husk. 391 00:33:34,407 --> 00:33:36,967 The grub has no further use for it. 392 00:33:39,327 --> 00:33:43,320 And now the grub, clinging to the spider's last tangled web, 393 00:33:43,407 --> 00:33:45,762 starts to spin for itself. 394 00:33:52,927 --> 00:33:56,636 It needs a shelter in which to reorganise its body. 395 00:33:57,047 --> 00:33:58,560 A cocoon. 396 00:34:02,367 --> 00:34:06,804 Inside the lacy walls its body is breaking down, 397 00:34:06,887 --> 00:34:10,357 for it has to be reassembled in a very different form. 398 00:34:15,927 --> 00:34:20,921 At last the killer is about to reveal its true identity. 399 00:34:32,167 --> 00:34:33,441 It's a wasp. 400 00:34:34,927 --> 00:34:37,521 Now it must fly off to find a mate, 401 00:34:37,687 --> 00:34:42,681 so that another wasp egg may be attached to another orchard spider. 402 00:34:51,247 --> 00:34:55,445 The opportunity to find creatures to parasitize in the undergrowth 403 00:34:55,527 --> 00:34:57,597 seem almost endless 404 00:34:57,687 --> 00:35:00,759 and yet, surprisingly, there are some parasitic wasps 405 00:35:00,847 --> 00:35:03,361 that find their victims in water, 406 00:35:03,447 --> 00:35:06,166 in lakes and ponds like this one. 407 00:35:06,567 --> 00:35:10,003 They're extremely small, about a quarter of a millimetre long, 408 00:35:10,087 --> 00:35:13,159 in fact, one of the smallest of all insects. 409 00:35:13,247 --> 00:35:15,715 And I've got some in this test tube. 410 00:35:16,007 --> 00:35:18,999 And to give you an idea of just how small they are, 411 00:35:19,087 --> 00:35:24,286 I'll drop this pin in alongside them to give a sense of scale. 412 00:35:25,487 --> 00:35:31,278 Yet, these tiny specks have eyes, legs, feelers just like any other insect. 413 00:35:40,647 --> 00:35:42,842 They're known as fairy wasps, 414 00:35:42,927 --> 00:35:45,725 and spend nearly all their lives underwater. 415 00:35:46,247 --> 00:35:50,718 They make a tiny water flea, itself only the size of a grain of sand, 416 00:35:50,807 --> 00:35:52,445 look like a giant. 417 00:35:52,847 --> 00:35:54,326 They're so minute 418 00:35:54,407 --> 00:35:57,922 they can lay their eggs inside the eggs of other insects. 419 00:35:58,207 --> 00:36:01,244 And they choose those laid by water beetles. 420 00:36:04,767 --> 00:36:08,885 Water beetles lay their eggs inside plant stems. 421 00:36:10,127 --> 00:36:13,199 A female fairy wasp, having located one, 422 00:36:13,607 --> 00:36:19,842 uses its microscopically-thin ovipositor to inject up to 100 or so eggs 423 00:36:19,927 --> 00:36:21,963 into just one of the beetle's. 424 00:36:30,447 --> 00:36:32,403 And here they hatch. 425 00:36:36,167 --> 00:36:39,125 The young wasps feed and grow, 426 00:36:39,207 --> 00:36:42,199 consuming the water beetle's undeveloped young. 427 00:36:45,727 --> 00:36:48,685 Not only that, they mate here. 428 00:36:57,527 --> 00:37:02,123 Then, at last, they leave the shell of the beetle's egg. 429 00:37:12,887 --> 00:37:14,878 The females must now lay. 430 00:37:14,967 --> 00:37:18,039 And some will be able to do so in other ponds, 431 00:37:18,127 --> 00:37:21,722 because, in spite of everything, they still have wings. 432 00:37:24,567 --> 00:37:28,879 Other bigger parasitic wasps have totally lost their wings. 433 00:37:29,367 --> 00:37:32,040 You can find them on many a British heath. 434 00:37:33,167 --> 00:37:36,443 This one, Methoca, looks rather like an ant, 435 00:37:37,007 --> 00:37:40,522 and insects that live by hunting ants easily mistake it for one. 436 00:37:41,927 --> 00:37:45,078 The tiger beetle is a very active ant hunter. 437 00:37:45,407 --> 00:37:47,477 It chases them and runs them down. 438 00:37:56,607 --> 00:37:58,882 And very successful it is. 439 00:38:02,127 --> 00:38:07,247 Earlier in its life, of course, as a larva a tiger beetle can't run around. 440 00:38:07,647 --> 00:38:11,276 Instead the larva catches ants by waiting in ambush. 441 00:38:12,847 --> 00:38:17,238 It plugs the entrance to its burrow with its armoured, plate-like head. 442 00:38:17,487 --> 00:38:20,797 If an ant touches that, it's as good as dead. 443 00:38:32,807 --> 00:38:34,479 It works every time. 444 00:38:46,087 --> 00:38:50,000 Methoca, however, is a more awkward customer. 445 00:38:57,327 --> 00:39:00,364 The beetle larva is waiting with jaws agape. 446 00:39:06,567 --> 00:39:09,923 But Methoca is more agile than the usual ant 447 00:39:10,007 --> 00:39:13,920 and it manages to slip out between the beetle larva's jaws. 448 00:39:17,487 --> 00:39:21,958 It grabs the larva's soft body and pulls. 449 00:39:27,367 --> 00:39:29,358 And now it stings it. 450 00:39:32,407 --> 00:39:37,003 Methoca climbs out of the tunnel waiting for the poison to take effect. 451 00:39:43,207 --> 00:39:46,085 The sting has only paralysed the larva 452 00:39:46,167 --> 00:39:50,479 and the wasp drags the helpless creature farther down its burrow. 453 00:39:52,647 --> 00:39:55,559 Now she lays her egg onto it. 454 00:40:03,207 --> 00:40:07,041 To prevent anything interfering with her grub while it stays underground 455 00:40:07,167 --> 00:40:09,556 feeding on the paralysed beetle larva, 456 00:40:09,647 --> 00:40:11,399 she blocks up the entrance. 457 00:40:28,207 --> 00:40:33,201 This is the longest and most laborious part of her motherly duties. 458 00:40:33,287 --> 00:40:36,006 But now, without any more work from her, 459 00:40:36,087 --> 00:40:40,285 her young will have all the food it needs to develop into an adult. 460 00:40:45,567 --> 00:40:50,766 Underground nests are certainly among the best protected of all insect nurseries 461 00:40:50,847 --> 00:40:54,806 and, indeed, they are very difficult for parasites to break into. 462 00:40:56,727 --> 00:41:02,518 Ants defend their colonies against intruders with great ferocity. 463 00:41:03,247 --> 00:41:06,284 And yet, here in this meadow in central Europe, 464 00:41:06,367 --> 00:41:10,519 there are ants' nests where intruders live undetected. 465 00:41:10,607 --> 00:41:12,518 And there's one right here. 466 00:41:20,807 --> 00:41:23,879 This is the caterpillar... 467 00:41:24,967 --> 00:41:26,719 of the blue butterfly 468 00:41:27,127 --> 00:41:30,915 and it's lived in this nest undetected 469 00:41:31,007 --> 00:41:35,956 and protected by the ants and fed by them for the last two years. 470 00:41:36,287 --> 00:41:40,439 Indeed, it's been so thoroughly accepted by the ants 471 00:41:40,527 --> 00:41:45,601 that they will try and rescue it in preference to the young of their own queen. 472 00:41:45,687 --> 00:41:48,121 As in fact they are doing right now. 473 00:41:52,847 --> 00:41:57,284 But how do these caterpillars get into the ants' nest in the first place? 474 00:42:04,207 --> 00:42:08,997 Alcon blue butterflies begin their courtship in June and July. 475 00:42:09,327 --> 00:42:12,876 They are surely one of the loveliest sights of a European summer 476 00:42:12,967 --> 00:42:16,403 as they flutter and flirt among the flowers of the meadow. 477 00:42:26,607 --> 00:42:28,916 Male and female meet... 478 00:42:29,007 --> 00:42:30,122 and join. 479 00:42:35,087 --> 00:42:36,645 Once they have mated 480 00:42:36,727 --> 00:42:41,164 the female Alcon blue must find a gentian plant. 481 00:42:48,807 --> 00:42:51,321 Here she lays her eggs. 482 00:43:04,447 --> 00:43:09,965 The caterpillars, when they hatch, stay feeding on the gentian for a couple of weeks. 483 00:43:11,327 --> 00:43:13,795 But eventually they fall to the ground. 484 00:43:16,247 --> 00:43:20,160 There are ants everywhere in a meadow like this, and they soon find it. 485 00:43:23,007 --> 00:43:25,521 It smells just like one of their own larvae 486 00:43:25,607 --> 00:43:29,725 and they start to haul it back to where one of their larvae should be, 487 00:43:29,807 --> 00:43:31,160 in their nest. 488 00:43:32,487 --> 00:43:36,036 Other foragers from the same nest have found another. 489 00:43:38,807 --> 00:43:43,403 During the next few weeks, as many as half a dozen may be taken back to the nest. 490 00:43:49,447 --> 00:43:52,837 Here they are hauled down to the nursery chambers 491 00:43:52,927 --> 00:43:55,521 and put with the ants' other eggs and larvae. 492 00:43:57,647 --> 00:44:00,798 And because the caterpillars continue to produce a pheromone 493 00:44:00,887 --> 00:44:04,323 exactly like that produced by the young ants themselves, 494 00:44:04,407 --> 00:44:06,841 they are treated as if they were young ants. 495 00:44:06,927 --> 00:44:09,316 Even though they are bigger and a different colour. 496 00:44:11,567 --> 00:44:15,003 The caterpillars even mimic the sound the ants make 497 00:44:15,087 --> 00:44:16,645 when they beg for food, 498 00:44:16,727 --> 00:44:19,844 so the workers dutifully feed and clean them. 499 00:44:25,647 --> 00:44:29,481 You might think that this caterpillar has protected itself very well 500 00:44:29,567 --> 00:44:31,717 by deceiving these ants. 501 00:44:31,807 --> 00:44:35,322 But life in the undergrowth is full of surprises. 502 00:44:39,007 --> 00:44:40,963 An ichneumon wasp. 503 00:44:41,047 --> 00:44:43,322 It too, like the blue butterfly, 504 00:44:43,447 --> 00:44:46,086 wants to get its young into an ants' nest. 505 00:44:46,167 --> 00:44:47,964 But not merely as lodgers. 506 00:44:48,047 --> 00:44:50,766 It has a more sinister intention. 507 00:44:51,647 --> 00:44:54,844 Somehow or other, in a meadow full of ants' nests, 508 00:44:54,927 --> 00:44:58,283 it can detect which one harbours a butterfly caterpillar, 509 00:44:58,367 --> 00:45:01,165 and this, it decides, is one of those. 510 00:45:02,487 --> 00:45:06,116 Once inside, the ants start to attack it, as you might expect. 511 00:45:06,207 --> 00:45:10,359 But then, the ants' behaviour changes. There is pandemonium. 512 00:45:10,447 --> 00:45:14,884 The wasp has released a pheromone that makes the ants attack one another. 513 00:45:23,207 --> 00:45:28,918 With the defenders fighting among themselves, the wasp is able to go deeper into the nest. 514 00:45:30,327 --> 00:45:33,763 It's reached the nursery and here lie the caterpillars. 515 00:45:33,847 --> 00:45:35,963 Now they are defenceless. 516 00:45:42,767 --> 00:45:46,919 The wasp sets about injecting each of them with an egg. 517 00:45:49,487 --> 00:45:52,604 A few ants do their best to prevent this. 518 00:45:52,687 --> 00:45:54,757 But there is no real opposition. 519 00:46:03,727 --> 00:46:06,764 While most of the ants continue to fight among themselves, 520 00:46:06,847 --> 00:46:09,441 the wasp finds a second caterpillar. 521 00:46:12,887 --> 00:46:14,878 Another egg is laid. 522 00:46:26,287 --> 00:46:28,005 The wasp leaves. 523 00:46:31,167 --> 00:46:35,365 With the wasp gone, the ant colony slowly returns to normal. 524 00:46:35,887 --> 00:46:39,402 The caterpillars are still there, alive and apparently well, 525 00:46:39,487 --> 00:46:41,717 and the ants continue to care for them. 526 00:46:43,047 --> 00:46:45,356 Once the caterpillars are fully grown, 527 00:46:45,447 --> 00:46:48,086 each starts to construct a chrysalis, 528 00:46:48,287 --> 00:46:52,997 which all butterflies need as a protection while they turn themselves into adults. 529 00:46:56,287 --> 00:46:59,882 Each chrysalis is cleaned and protected by the ants 530 00:46:59,967 --> 00:47:02,117 as if it were one of their own pupae. 531 00:47:05,607 --> 00:47:07,723 One begins to hatch. 532 00:47:19,207 --> 00:47:22,040 Out of it comes, yes... 533 00:47:22,127 --> 00:47:23,685 a blue butterfly. 534 00:47:27,287 --> 00:47:29,118 It leaves its foster home. 535 00:47:32,647 --> 00:47:36,640 Out in the open its limp wings can expand. 536 00:47:39,207 --> 00:47:44,327 And now it's ready to flutter and flirt just as its parents did. 537 00:47:45,727 --> 00:47:49,640 And the ants are still bewitched by the traces of pheromone 538 00:47:49,727 --> 00:47:53,003 clinging to the empty shell the butterfly leaves behind. 539 00:47:54,847 --> 00:47:58,601 But there are still others in the nest as yet unhatched. 540 00:48:05,967 --> 00:48:09,323 And out of this one comes, not a butterfly, 541 00:48:10,167 --> 00:48:11,646 but a wasp. 542 00:48:21,007 --> 00:48:25,444 Hardwired into the microscopic brain of this ordinary-looking insect 543 00:48:25,527 --> 00:48:29,884 are a whole series of skills, sensitivities and reactions 544 00:48:29,967 --> 00:48:32,117 that will enable it, in its turn, 545 00:48:32,247 --> 00:48:35,045 to give its own offspring a special start in life. 546 00:48:35,607 --> 00:48:39,520 It can detect what the ants themselves find undetectable. 547 00:48:40,167 --> 00:48:45,719 It can tell the difference between an ant larva and the butterfly larva. 548 00:48:46,007 --> 00:48:49,283 What is more, in a meadow of 100 ants' nests, 549 00:48:49,367 --> 00:48:54,236 it will be able to find the one that contains the butterfly caterpillar. 550 00:48:54,327 --> 00:48:57,046 How it does it, we have no idea. 551 00:48:57,127 --> 00:49:01,439 So it seems that among the animals of the undergrowth 552 00:49:01,527 --> 00:49:03,995 there are many beneficial partnerships. 553 00:49:04,327 --> 00:49:09,082 But exploitation and deception can work just as well.