the earth's equator are the tropics
dense hot rain drenched
more than half the world's plant and
animal species live in swamps and
jungles it's a vertical landscape that
pushes the very limits of animal
engineering and when animals so
brilliantly equipped come into contact
some of nature's most remarkable moments
unfold
snakes take flight
Tong's shoot with blinding speed
feet walk on water
Crocs turned into toothy torpedoes
and finally the ultimate moment by
Tigers unsurpassed strength and power
these are moments of wonder incredible
ingenious and entirely real often
they're too fast too small or too Hitman
to be understood
but if we can capture them what it takes
to survive in the jungle can finally be
revealed
in the tropical rainforests of Central
America rule morpho butterflies often
stay hidden in the shadows of the dark
understory occasionally they'll venture
into sunny clearings to forage on food
dropped from the canopy above but in the
jungle danger lies in wait
a hungry lizard has caught sight of the
Morpho shiny wings and the basilisk
lizard is uniquely equipped with the
most wondrous means for capturing its
game the lizard's water-walking seems to
override the very laws of physics a
moment so surprising to understand it we
need to unpack the critical steps that
get this predator to its prey it all
starts with the Morpho swing shimmer and
it's with these wings that the Blue
Morpho tries to mount a defense first
and foremost
make an escape by flying but they can
also stage a diversion using a flash of
their iridescent wings to startle a
predator in fact their wings aren't
really blue the flash is a light trick
overlapping scales with tiny ridges that
only reflect the color blue
what's more when the Morpho emerges from
its cocoon its comfort in markings
resembling eyes eye spots can make a
butterfly appear larger
as long as the Morpho is flying the
lizard is no threat but food at the
water's edge temps the Morpho surrounded
by water it should be safe for it to
stop and eat with the pond in the way
most lizards wouldn't stand a chance but
this is no ordinary lizard for years
cinematographers tried to capture its
steps with varying success witnessed at
normal speeds there fleet-footed water
dance leaves nothing but questions in
its wake
but slowing the action lets us see why
this animals become so famous as the
Jesus lizard
it starts with the unique biomechanics
within the lizard's legs and feet every
time it slaps it's wide webbed foot on
the water it turns something that's
fluid into firm footing
when their foot plunges down it creates
a pocket of air and force for support
that keeps the lizard from sinking
and there's another trick at work here
the sideways force each lizard leg is
pushing slightly outward so like riding
a bike
each tilt to one side is corrected and
counter balanced of course if you stop
pedaling you'll fall over if the lizard
stops running it will sink into the
water and have to swim the rest of the
way
at the moment of the basilisks approach
a final flashing of the MorphOS wings
but it's not enough
the lizard gets its meal just one small
act of survival but a hint of the
internal engineering that allows species
to tackle an environment and thrive
whereas much of the action on the
shadowy forest floor goes unseen up in
the trees the jungles miraculous
movement is a thing to behold fifty
percent of the world's animal species
live up here and it's led to some
remarkable motion specialists ones for
whom our rules for getting from here to
there just don't apply
the long-limbed SpiderMonkey is
perfectly suited for a life in the trees
at a hundred fifty feet up
this is a risky high wire act requiring
a body that's been customized turning a
monkey into an Olympian in the
rainforests of a new world spider
monkeys are a force to be reckoned with
they turn a network of branches and
vines into a jungle highway
it's called brachiating agile primates
like the spider monkey are capable of
moving arm over arm through the jungle
even hurling themselves over 30 feet
between trees what's normally a blur
is in fact a whole series of moments
moments we can now see each a
calibration of strength and timing
between body and branch the arms and
legs of monkeys are scaled differently
than ours forelimbs and hindlimbs
are equally long a dexterous tail works
like a fifth hand it's even tipped with
fingerprint like grooves shoulder joints
are rounded to allow maximum rotation
freewheeling wrists and hook-like hands
give them an acrobatic advantage for
swinging all this internal hardware
paves the way for a very
high-performance ride
like most primates they've reduced their
powers to detect smell to increase
stereoscopic vision essential for
navigating the branch scape and finding
their way to scattered sources of food
spider monkeys are known to cover more
than a mile in a day foraging for fruit
their astonishing powers of locomotion
help them deal with the challenges of
this high-rise habitat not every
creature living in the canopy has taken
up the Tarzan act but even if they don't
climb or leap or even walk very fast
they've got some surprising ways to
obtain life's essentials
the forests of tropical Madagascar are
home to about half the world's chameleon
species including the vibrantly coloured
panther with almost everything it does
this chameleon is the personification of
slow
their tongue like feet working like
pincers and grasping prehensile tails
keep them steady as they amble through
the trees they're in no hurry because
Nature has armed them in a different way
to compete for canopy insects and when
one of them gets in range
mr. slow turns out to have an
astonishing moment of speed and it's
fast telescoping tongue is matched by a
quick color-changing skin
contrary to popular belief
chameleons don't change colors to
camouflage their presence against the
surroundings it has more to do with
communication between very solitary
creatures a rare moment of contact and a
flash of emotion coloring reflects their
mood when sparring with other males or
when they're attracting the attention of
females adorned in a blender exterior
the mechanics of this color change take
place just below their transparent outer
skin
stretchable pigment cells called
chromatophores are ringed with muscle
fibers when the fibers contract they
pull on the pigment cells quickly
spreading their color the upper layer
handles red and yellow tints below
another layer of cells reflects blue
light while the chameleons skin show is
impressive it's their tongues capacity
to snatch a meal from a distance that
really defines the moment the unusual
attack begins with the chameleons eyes
the most distinctive of any reptile
each eye can rotate and focus separately
with but a pinhole in the center they
have a full 360 degree view to find prey
the slow-moving chameleon never chases
the koi only edges towards it he moves
his head bit by bit
now the eyes are locked in sync to judge
the distance then the tongue takes over
about 20 milliseconds that's all it
takes
but with high-speed cameras we can
observe the action as it catapults over
1,600 feet per second how it works is
another case of animal ingenuity the
tongue is sheathed on the tip of a bone
that helps support it a tightly coiled
spring of collagen and accelerator
muscles create a biological catapult
that propels the tongue tip as a bow
shoots an arrow
when extended the retractable tongue is
longer than the chameleons entire body
over millions of years nature has been
perfecting this design now we're getting
a view of just how amazing it is the
sticky tip gloves on like a baseball
glove skin flaps ensure the prey stays
put as it Jets back to the Panthers
hungry mouths
the forest canopy is almost a
self-contained world most of its
residents can find the food shelter and
mates they need without ever having to
leave but for others the trees are a
vantage point home base from mounting an
aerial assault into an entirely
different realm
a flash of feathers plunging 80 miles an
hour
then the dyes
the Osprey
nature combined an aerialist and an
Aquanaut with a body that moves
seamlessly between two earthly domains
air and water this powerful predatory
bird was born to fish it's spring in
Florida's Lake Country hatchlings are
still nests bombed but growing fast
they're hungry requiring as many as
seven fish a day as the day begins the
air is soon filled with the cries of
nest bound females encouraging male
offspring to fish it's a task for which
this imposing predator one of the
largest and most powerful Raptors is
well suited six-foot wingspan
binocular eyesight several times more
acute than humans sharp talents half as
long as a Grizzlies claws once an osprey
spots something swimming in the water
its most exquisite act begins
sometimes they fish along the surface
and it's all loafer in seconds like some
sudden smash-and-grab
but Osprey are best known for their
watery plunge
as it catches sight of a fish there's a
momentary hover their focus can adjust
for the refraction effects of the water
the dive is nearly vertical just before
hitting the water its legs are thrown
forward thrusting Talon tipped feet
through the water with a diet that's 99%
fish they've become well-suited to
getting wet their wings are the most
waterproof of any Raptor even more
extraordinary is how they manage to
helicopter back up into the air
key to this feat are the large flight
muscles centered in the chest and their
characteristic v-shaped wings bent at
the wrist joint even without a run-up or
a perch they can generate air flow
across their wings to create lift
spearing and holding on to a wriggling
fish isn't easy
these ports are equipped for this as
well
an osprey speed our scaling for extra
gripping power and unlike other birds of
prey the outer toe is reversible so they
can grab with two toes forward and two
toes back once the fish is firmly held
under wing the osprey heads to the nest
the biomechanics of flight are a hundred
million years in the making it's
generated an extraordinary range of wing
design some are so broad there's little
need for flapping all the energy is
tapped from air currents to sustain the
glide at the other extreme are the most
frenetic wings in the animal kingdom the
hummingbird generates 50 wing beats a
second so fast and so precise they can
hover in midair
perfect for extracting a meal of
high-calorie nectar
as our cameras have improved we're
finally getting to see what it means to
fly
ingenious body design split-second
timing
and a little life it all adds up to a
moment of impact
but perhaps the most fantastic feats by
jungle athletes are achieved by some of
its smallest they're performed daily but
often out of view on the forest floor in
the jungles of Venezuela the noise of
the canopy above is but a distant racket
the forest floor is quiet yet despite
the apparent calm
it's a torrent of activity the largest
group of animals living in the jungle is
busy insects the variety of their forms
is staggering their capabilities
astonishing these leafcutter ants are
showing off their super strength
transporting plant material ten times
their own weight
equivalent to humans carrying around
Volkswagens
it's always rush hour here a relentless
headlong push to bring plant fragments
to their underground fungus gardens all
this heavy lifting carried out by a
totally female work core comes down to a
pair of powerful muscles in the job
and just below the leafcutters is
another ant with superpowers the
carnivorous trap-jaw
they make their homes and leaf litter
and locks
unlike the leaf cutters these ants can't
dig their oversized jaws make that
impossible but these massive mandibles
open up other possibilities for the
longest time the true force of their
bite went unnoticed until scientists
realized that within this tiny ants jaw
is a bite force stronger than a shark's
accelerating a 2,300 times faster than
the blink of an eye
missed it
here it is again filmed at a thousand
frames a second a creature this small
isn't supposed to generate this kind of
force 300 times its own body weight but
it's an example of nature designing a
crossbow to amplify muscle power huge
contracting muscles in the head are held
with a biomechanical latch spring-loaded
and ready for a trigger
usually when sensory hairs on the
insides of the jaw are stimulated the
force of the jaw strike is so strong if
it strikes against the hard ground the
recoil can catapult the end into the air
in human terms it would be a leap of a
hundred and thirty feet scientists
aren't certain how the chance of these
ants got pushed to such extremes but
unlike many other ants that work in
groups trap jaws are solitary hunters
since they're on their own perhaps each
attack has to count decisively whether
it's defending the colony or
transporting food from any jungle ants
the business end of this endeavor is the
John's and from an ant Shaw measured in
millimeters we go to a set of choppers
that's one of the largest among
crocodiles Nature has created one with a
volatile mix of gymnastic ability
and aggression the real secret is how
they shoot from the water getting those
jaws delivered exactly where they need
to go it's thought that there may be as
many as six thousand crocodiles living
on the subtropical isle of you off the
coast of Cuba difficult country for
humans to maneuver but ideal for
Crocodylus romba fur the Cuban croc
since it is spring and breeding season
the Crocs are more visible and
aggressive backing up that aggression is
some bioengineering fit for at least up
to 15 feet in length and 300 pounds its
scaly skin is heavily armored a
thrashing muscular tail strong legs and
reduced foot webbing make it as agile on
land as it is in the water and under the
hood sixty-six bone crushing teeth
packed into a job built for chomping for
200 million years crocodilians around
the world have evolved tough muscular
bodies ascending to the top of the
pecking order as 8x carnivores mess with
almost any crocodile
hey a heavy price just how able-bodied
swift and powerful they can be is
surprising for the unsuspecting their
moves out of the blue of reaching speeds
of 25 miles per hour faster than a
charging horse
but the Cuban croc takes its body
skillset to an entirely different level
this Crocs attack isn't limited to the
water or the shoreline as it moves
through the water its eyes are focused
on the trees above the rumba fir has a
keen sense of smell and right now it's
picking up the scent of who Tia
in Cuba there's a tree dwelling rat that
grows as big as a house cat
but taking refuge in a tree doesn't
ensure the who Tia is safe not when a
Cuban croc is close and equipped with a
body engineered to jump the Crocs tail
accounts for 30% of its body mass
it begins to thrash when the strike
occurs it has all the muscle in the form
of an Olympic died
rocketing straight out of the water to
heights of six feet a crock can snatch
animals from trees
if they can get a push off with their
feet they use it but the real power
behind the leap is bioengineering in the
tail
the tail vertebrae are connected by
ball-and-socket joints permitting
maximum range of movement a system of
muscles running from the skull to the
tip of the tail creates a single drive
chain capable of tremendous coordinated
power it all works to turn this croc
into a toothy torpedo
in the swamps where they live the supply
of fish is unreliable
perhaps the Cuban crops propensity for
leaping and their adaptations for moving
with agility on land allowed them to
expand the many some of nature's most
arresting moments are caught up with the
hunt locate
launched capture but for most animals
further down the food chain the name of
the game is defense a whole host of
behaviors and body design has developed
to try to stay alive for all their
prowess as hunters jungle snakes have
enemies too so some of their weaponry is
defensive designed to ward off an attack
before it's too late
but sometimes the best way to fight is
flight one snake has become a consummate
escape artist the paradise tree snake
lives in Southeast Asian rainforests
among their adversaries is the
sharp-clawed yellow monitor lizard an
accomplished snake hunter while the tree
snake can miraculously scale even
vertical tree trunks it would be
hard-pressed to compete with the
monitors climbing agility
what's more the canopy isn't continuous
wide gaps between the trees prevent an
easy getaway
but paradise snakes have found a better
way when face to face at the moment of
danger tree snakes make use of a truly
remarkable defensive weapon worthy of
James Bond's ejector seat
the moment of danger has turned in to a
moment of flight to really understand
this pilots technique it's best to start
at the launch
tree snakes will move down a branch in
and beyond falling into a chain shaped
bed leaning into the incline as if
determining a destination but once it's
in the air how does an animal with an
inner-tube for a body transform itself
aerodynamically after launching it sucks
in its guts and flares its ribs to make
a u-shaped wing increasing its size adds
to air resistance but are these snakes
doing anything more than falling with
style
in super-slow-motion their flight is
even more spectacular than thought the
body flattens down to put a ribbon
and they appear to be assuming a degree
of control undulating as if swimming
holding the tail upwards and twisting
from side to side for balance
literally sneaking through the air may
help it achieve some steering and sail
distances of 300 feet
it may have to endure a hard landing but
at least its pursuer has been left on
the other side of the canopy sometimes
the best defense is the opposite of
escape staging in a laparis raid in
plain sight is a way of avoiding the
moment of impact nature has given the
red-eyed tree frog a number of
techniques to protect itself first its
vibrantly coloured to full predators
into thinking it's a poisonous frog it's
not highly toxic only mimicking the
markings of dangerous species like the
poison dart frog predators that have
learned to avoid the lethal frogs will
also bypass an impostor still this may
not deter a hungry snake if it is in
danger the tree frog changes strategy
by opening its bright red eyes and
showing it strike blue signs it can
confuse an adversary for a split second
just long enough for the Frog to try to
flee
and for a final trick a cloak of
invisibility with closed eyes and folded
legs a tree frog is comfortably
concealed in plain sight on a tropical
leaf
while jungle animals use visual displays
and camouflage to get by during daytime
hours when the night shift takes over
it's a whole different story
in the dark sound is the means by which
hunter and hunted compete and one
creature in Central American rainforests
takes sound to an entirely new level
bats are the only mammals with wings and
the capacity for true flight combine
that with an onboard sonar system and
the result a moment of aerial impact it
may seem bizarre but eating and sleeping
upside down works perfectly for bats
once their feet are locked
they don't need muscle power to hold on
to the roost at the onset of dusk a frog
eating bats long horn like ears are
poised and listening
but how do they detect locate and
capture a target lying low in a terrain
full of branches and vines that sent out
pulses of sound waves to echo against
the terrain a muscle in the middle ear
is synchronized to contract the eardrum
during each brief pulse so it only hears
the echo as the sound travels outward it
impacts objects and bounces back helping
the bat avoid collisions and locate prey
the sound of frogs fills the night
to attract a female the Mexican white
lipped frog makes a series of chirping
sounds it's risky behavior in
competition with other male frogs the
vocalizations increase making the frogs
more conspicuous not only to females but
to predators too the fringed lip bat has
evolved its hearing to specifically
tuned into the calls of the white lipped
frogs
it's locking on to an auditory target
and when bats want to fly they drop free
from the roost using gravity to assist
them
as it hunts it's broad but flexible
wings work like human arms and hands
almost swimming through the air the wing
membrane is actually skin extending from
the body it's thin but tough and
flexible and if torn feels fast when
bats are foraging frogs try to stay
hidden or reduce their calls to a brief
low-frequency Rumble but once it's
detected a target this graceful flier
can swoop low and even hover will its
sharp teeth spear the prey
after capturing a meal this big a bat
returns to a ruse to consume it at its
own pace
86,400 that's how many seconds there are
ticking away each day most pass
unexceptional e but every now and then
and there's a moment often the split
second between life and death
when creatures are tested to their very
core nature is always finding new ways
of adapting the equipment and we're
beginning to be able to keep up with
going inside the moment with these
creatures to finally see how it
THANKS FOR WATCHING
