Life in the Undergrowth
Life in the Undergrowth is a BBC documentary series presented by David Attenborough, exploring the diversity of terrestrial invertebrates, their evolution and their private lives. The series consists of five episodes that reveal the private life of invertebrates using stunning images which have been taken using high tech cameras like optical probes. The first episode "Invasion of the Land" gives a brief explanation of how invertebrates became the first creatures of any kind to colonise dry land. The second episode "Taking to the Air" explores flying insects. The third episode "The Silk Spinners" looks at the insects that produce silk, focusing on spiders. The fourth episode "Intimate Relations" focuses on the relationships between invertebrates and plants or other animals. And the fifth and final episode "Supersocieties" looks at the superorganisms formed by bees, ants and termites.
| Episode 1 - Invasion of the Land |
Episode 1 - Invasion of the Land
This episode gives a brief explanation of how invertebrates became the first creatures of any kind to colonise dry land. It features centipedes hunting bats, the bizarre mating ritual of leopard slugs, millipedes finding partners, and scorpions adapted to a desert habitat.
Episode 2 - Taking to the Air
This episode explores flying insects: mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies including cascade damsels and helicopter damsels, butterflies, moths, bumblebees, flies, titan beetles, and cicadas.
Episode 3 - The Silk Spinners
This episode looks at the insects that produce silk. It focuses on spiders; how they build their web; how they use their web for hunting prey and protecting their eggs.
Episode 4 - Intimate Relations
This episode focuses on the relationships between invertebrates and plants or other animals, which are symbiotic, parasitic and commensal.
Episode 5 - Supersocieties
This episode looks at the superorganisms formed by bees, ants and termites. It reveals how they form their society, how they build their nest, and their group behavior.
| Related Links |
| Life in the Undergrowth - wikipedia Life in the Undergrowth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 23 November 2005. |
| Life on Earth - The Swarming Hordes This episode details the relationship between flowers and insects. There are some one million classified species of insect, and two or three times as many that are yet to be labelled. |
| Life - Insects This episode deals with insects who have evolved diverse survival strategies and become the most abundant creatures on Earth. |
| The Life and Works of Jean Henri Fabre This is a collection of eBooks of Jean-Henri Fabre, a French entomologist and author known for the lively style of his popular books on the lives of insects such as Souvenirs Entomologiques. |
| Alien Empire: A Journey to the World of Insects This is a six-part documentary series hosted by John Shrapnel, taking us into the bizarre, fascinating world of insects with amazing graphics. |
| Understanding Ants This is a collection of documentary films that reveal the nature and the secret world of ants - social insects of the family Formicidae. |
| Micro Monsters This is a six-part nature documentary series presented by David Attenborough, exploring the strange, weird and wonderful world of bugs. |