Don't Get Close to a Dog with a Red Collar + 50 Animal Facts

Bright Side

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Transcript

00:00:00You walk in the park and stop because you come across the cutest puppy.

00:00:05While admiring it, you notice a red collar.

00:00:08And remember, red is the universal sign for stop.

00:00:12All over the world, you see it on stop signs and stoplights.

00:00:16This cute pup is one you shouldn't get too close to.

00:00:20A red collar on a dog signals that the animal is aggressive

00:00:24and should be given space by humans and other animals.

00:00:27These dogs may be more likely to snap, bite, or lunge at any passers-by.

00:00:32You may find this hard to believe

00:00:34given how happy the dog might look when you see it with its handler.

00:00:37You're right! It probably is delighted because it loves its owner

00:00:40and may also be super protective of them.

00:00:43It's also possible that the dog may be an assistance dog.

00:00:47However, these dogs should wear a vest with

00:00:50Emotional Support or Assistance Dog written on them.

00:00:53Oh, and please remember three important words.

00:00:56Do not pet.

00:00:58Not all dog owners opt to use color-coded language with their pets.

00:01:02It's often used more in professional environments.

00:01:05For example, if a dog and their sniffer are required for scent work,

00:01:09they probably have better things to do than getting belly rubs from strangers.

00:01:13The red collar might now serve as your fair warning.

00:01:17It's a fact that dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses.

00:01:23Humans have roughly 6 million.

00:01:25It means that their sense of smell is about 50 times better than ours.

00:01:29The part of a dog's brain devoted to analyzing smells is about 40 times greater than ours.

00:01:35Dogs are attracted to new odors.

00:01:37There's a good chance they'd prefer a sniffing session to your offer of a belly rub.

00:01:41It could just annoy them.

00:01:43Why don't we take a look at some other things that can irritate your dog?

00:01:47This first one might hurt your feelings and be hard to accept.

00:01:51Have you ever noticed your dog freezing in terror when you go to hug it?

00:01:54Have you ever wondered why?

00:01:56Dogs just don't like it when you hug them.

00:01:59Research has shown you should never constrain your dog,

00:02:01which is exactly what happens when you hug them.

00:02:04If your dog comes looking for it, then OK.

00:02:06But otherwise, a pat on the head will be enough.

00:02:10None of us like returning home to find our beautiful furniture chewed to pieces

00:02:14or discovering that our brand new shoes are ruined.

00:02:17But one thing you shouldn't do is yell at your dog,

00:02:20even if they chewed your favorite and most expensive shoes.

00:02:23Yelling just confuses the dog.

00:02:26Dogs may simply think you're barking at them

00:02:28and start wondering what's happened to its human.

00:02:31I know those puppy eyes are beautiful and hard to look away from,

00:02:34but try not to stare at them for too long.

00:02:36Prolonged eye contact can be another form of aggression to our loyal companions.

00:02:41This even applies to your own dog,

00:02:43who may get spooked by your serious demeanor.

00:02:46This is especially true with strange dogs

00:02:49who may be anxious or uneasy with your presence.

00:02:52Try to distract yourself from looking at them

00:02:54by simply focusing on stroking that warm, cuddly fur.

00:02:57What else annoys your dog?

00:02:59Whilst your furry friend may be perfectly OK with having extremely oversized nails,

00:03:03one thing they're often not OK with is their owners trying to clip them.

00:03:07Research suggests that dogs hate getting their nails clipped,

00:03:10ears checked, and mouth examined.

00:03:12However, these things have to happen,

00:03:14as overgrown nails could hurt your dog,

00:03:17and checking their ears could prevent nasty ear infections.

00:03:21It's good to get your dog comfortable with you touching their feet and ears

00:03:25before taking them to your local groomer or trying to cut nails yourself.

00:03:29Being a responsible dog owner is by making sure that they get enough exercise.

00:03:34And dogs always love a walk, right?

00:03:36Well, not always.

00:03:38Let's be practical about this.

00:03:40You're at the beach on a sunny day.

00:03:42You walk on the sand barefoot,

00:03:44and suddenly, you feel your feet burning.

00:03:47You quickly struggle back to your towel.

00:03:49See where I'm going with this?

00:03:51If it's too hot for your feet, it's probably too hot for your dog's paws.

00:03:55And it's not just burning feet you need to be worried about.

00:03:58The heat itself can harm your dog.

00:04:00Dogs can cool themselves by panting.

00:04:02However, this method is not too effective in hot weather.

00:04:06By moving your dog walking sessions to early mornings or late afternoons,

00:04:10you could be doing that puppy of yours a big favor.

00:04:15Variety is the spice of life,

00:04:17and don't think this doesn't apply to dogs,

00:04:19especially when it comes to the games you play with them.

00:04:22When we think of games to play with our dogs,

00:04:25the best most of us can come up with is fetch.

00:04:28We're not the ones that have to desperately chase after the ball,

00:04:31so this is quite convenient.

00:04:33Be more creative.

00:04:35Try some other games,

00:04:36one of which is tug-of-war,

00:04:38which involves equal effort from both dog and human.

00:04:41Dogs love this game, and contrary to popular belief,

00:04:44it has no connection to aggression.

00:04:47Especially if you alternate between who wins each round.

00:04:51This game will also teach your dog a vital skill in impulse control.

00:04:55Games that end early will teach your dog

00:04:57the difference between what's acceptable and what isn't.

00:05:00You can also play training games with your dog.

00:05:03Giving your dog a treat when they look at you without being asked to

00:05:06will enable you to have more control over them.

00:05:09Although they're animals,

00:05:10dogs do have some traits in common with humans.

00:05:13Example?

00:05:14They won't get along with everybody,

00:05:16so it's easy to force a dog into a friendship with another dog.

00:05:20Some dogs are shy,

00:05:21whilst others are social butterflies.

00:05:23Our job as responsible pet owners

00:05:25is to find out how we can make our dogs comfortable.

00:05:28Dogs have different levels of confidence.

00:05:31One dog may be fine with another dog,

00:05:34but become uncomfortable in a group bigger than two.

00:05:37It's sometimes best to create a small group of dog friends

00:05:40for your dog to play with,

00:05:41or just introduce them to new dogs one at a time.

00:05:45But forcing them into uncomfortable situations is a no-go.

00:05:50One thing we're all at sometimes reluctant towards is change.

00:05:53One thing that a dog loves to do is to make their owner happy.

00:05:57So if your dog's not listening to you,

00:05:59there's a good chance it's because your rules aren't consistent enough.

00:06:02Consistency is something that dogs love.

00:06:05It allows them to know how to behave in different situations.

00:06:08Telling them to lay down after previously using the word sit

00:06:12can cause major confusion.

00:06:14As a matter of fact,

00:06:15you should probably make a daily schedule for your dog.

00:06:18This will prevent your dog expecting a game of tug-of-war

00:06:21when you're trying to get ready for work.

00:06:25And one thing you need to put into the schedule

00:06:27is some time outside of the house.

00:06:29This will teach your dog how to behave in new environments.

00:06:32You can't just expect your dog to enter

00:06:34one of the many dog-friendly cafes that now exist

00:06:37and know how to be a good girl or boy.

00:06:40Take baby steps.

00:06:42If your dog becomes excited, you're moving too fast.

00:06:45Oh, and don't forget those yummy treats

00:06:47to reward your pooch for good behavior.

00:06:49With all of the attention our dogs pay to ourselves,

00:06:52it's only fair that we should try to do the very same with them.

00:06:55Not paying attention to your dog's body language isn't good.

00:06:58Just because they don't speak a language

00:07:00doesn't mean you can't tell what's going on inside their head.

00:07:03Research shows that dogs speak with their bodies.

00:07:06Although some behavior, like leaning in for more attention,

00:07:09are pretty universal,

00:07:10dogs have very different ways of showing their anxiety,

00:07:13from freezing in place to an odd tail wag.

00:07:16A dog's eyes, tail, and ears, and posture

00:07:20are key to understanding how your pet is feeling.

00:07:24Paying close attention to how your dog responds

00:07:26to different social settings will also allow you

00:07:28to prevent any uncomfortable situations moving forward.

00:07:32The most obvious thing your dog doesn't like?

00:07:34Being ignored.

00:07:36Neither dogs nor humans have the energy to play all day,

00:07:39but time does need to be carved out of your schedule

00:07:42for some one-on-one bonding.

00:07:44Food and shelter isn't the only thing these creatures need.

00:07:48This is especially true when adding a new dog to your home.

00:07:52Dogs may also feel left out.

00:07:54Please make sure the older dog doesn't feel unloved.

00:08:02Wait, don't tell me that life on Earth

00:08:04has bubbled for about 3.5 billion years

00:08:07and the biggest creature we got is the blue whale?

00:08:10I mean, not bad,

00:08:12but that doesn't sound nearly as fun

00:08:14as those cool giant creatures you get to see in movies.

00:08:17Yeah, you recognize the iconic roar here.

00:08:20It appeared on TV, in comic books, in video games, and in cinema.

00:08:25I mean, come on.

00:08:26It even got its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

00:08:29on its 50th birthday.

00:08:31So, what would it take to get good old Godzilla

00:08:34from the TV screen to our streets?

00:08:39And we're talking about the beast that's really gigantic.

00:08:42In the original film from 1954,

00:08:45Godzilla was thought to be 164 feet tall.

00:08:48This was the perfect height for the monster

00:08:51to just peer over the biggest buildings in Tokyo at the time.

00:08:54But as further movies came,

00:08:56Godzilla became bigger and bigger.

00:09:00In theory, this would be the biggest animal that could exist

00:09:04and not end up crushed by the gravitational field of our planet,

00:09:08even if we're talking about some tiny Godzilla

00:09:11of, let's say, 14,000 tons.

00:09:14To take the gravitational force of our planet

00:09:17and carry such weight,

00:09:19Godzilla must have some incredibly strong bones.

00:09:22And as an object gets bigger,

00:09:24its volume will actually increase faster than its surface area.

00:09:29OK, wait. Let's start small.

00:09:32So, cells are the building blocks of life,

00:09:35and they come in all shapes and sizes.

00:09:38But the thing is, cells have a problem when they try to grow too big.

00:09:42As they grow, their surface area, the outside,

00:09:45doesn't keep up with their volume,

00:09:48which means the inside.

00:09:50It's like having a big mouth but a tiny stomach.

00:09:53You can't digest all the food you want to eat.

00:09:56Why haven't I learned that already?

00:09:58Especially when I open my fridge for a midnight snack.

00:10:03So, if cells get too big,

00:10:05they can't get enough nutrients in and waste out fast enough.

00:10:09It would be like living in a very big house

00:10:12but with just one tiny door to go in and out.

00:10:15Plus, that's not their only problem.

00:10:18Cells also need to be able to divide and replicate.

00:10:21And this task gets tricky as they get bigger.

00:10:24They need this thing called microtubules for that.

00:10:27It's sort of like a skeleton that gives them structure.

00:10:33But don't worry. Evolution is a foxy little thing.

00:10:36There are some cells out there,

00:10:38like a specific type of invasive algae,

00:10:41that have found ways to break the rules and get really big.

00:10:44And they don't even need to divide to do that.

00:10:47This alga could pass as an aquatic fern

00:10:50that has fronds up to 31 inches long.

00:10:53But what you're looking at is just one big cell.

00:10:58It has multiple nuclei, though,

00:11:00which are like the control centers of cells.

00:11:03Plus, there are even some bacteria

00:11:06that are living in a symbiotic relationship with the organism,

00:11:09which means they help each other out when necessary.

00:11:12It's like having a bunch of different rooms inside one big house,

00:11:15with some roommates living there that help around from time to time.

00:11:20Then there's a monster alga known as the sailor's eyeball,

00:11:24which is like a giant ball of green slime.

00:11:27It can grow up to 2 inches in diameter,

00:11:30but is also considered to be just a single cell.

00:11:35My personal favorite would be this one.

00:11:38Again, we're talking about a single cell.

00:11:41But check out its stem and cap.

00:11:44It looks like a tiny little umbrella.

00:11:47It can grow up to 4 inches tall,

00:11:50which is definitely not bad for a single cell.

00:11:53Most cells are too small to see with the naked eye,

00:11:56but these fellas don't hesitate to break the rules.

00:12:01Now, when it comes to animals getting really big,

00:12:04there's a limit to their size.

00:12:06It's like trying to build a really tall tower.

00:12:09Eventually, it'll become too heavy,

00:12:11and the base won't be able to support the weight anymore.

00:12:14Similarly, when an animal gets really big,

00:12:17its bones and muscles have to evolve to support all that weight,

00:12:20and it becomes more and more difficult to do so.

00:12:23In one of the movies, Godzilla was 390 feet tall.

00:12:27At that size, it would be really difficult

00:12:30for its heart to pump blood to its brain.

00:12:34And if it was a reptile,

00:12:36Godzilla would need to spend all of its time lying in the sun to stay warm.

00:12:40So we'd have to hide in the shadows,

00:12:43hoping some bigger animals that live in warm areas could keep it full.

00:12:47If Godzilla was a mammal, though,

00:12:50it would generate too much body heat and end up cooking itself.

00:12:55The biggest land animals we know of were sauropods,

00:12:59a type of dinosaur with a really long neck and tail.

00:13:02They could grow up to 131 feet long

00:13:05and weigh up to 70 tons,

00:13:07which could be as heavy as 10 elephants.

00:13:10Evolution was pretty efficient when it had to come up with its body plan.

00:13:14Sauropods ate plants.

00:13:16They had a smart way of eating

00:13:18that allowed them to stay in one spot and still find enough food.

00:13:22They could move their long necks around to reach plants

00:13:25so they didn't have to walk around too much or waste too much energy.

00:13:29Yeah, my kind of folks.

00:13:33That's impressive, but let's get realistic.

00:13:36Not many giant animals are happy to eat salad for dinner.

00:13:40If you had a giant beast such as Godzilla,

00:13:43you can expect it to go after its prey.

00:13:46And that becomes too hard for its body to support all that weight

00:13:50and perform all the necessary activities.

00:13:54The largest meat-eating dinosaurs were still pretty big,

00:13:57but not as big as the sauropods.

00:14:00The biggest one we know of is a fella called Spinosaurus,

00:14:04which was about 50 feet long.

00:14:06It managed to survive by eating fish

00:14:08and some other creatures that lived in the water.

00:14:11It would be so cool to have Godzilla in real life,

00:14:14if you have some safe basement where it won't find you, of course.

00:14:18But it's not likely some animal could really get bigger

00:14:21than our beloved sauropod,

00:14:23at least not without running into some serious physical limitations.

00:14:28And have you ever wondered how big a plant could get?

00:14:32It turns out some trees have already reached amazing heights,

00:14:36such as the General Sherman,

00:14:38the largest living tree on the planet.

00:14:40It's more than 275 feet tall

00:14:43and has nearly 53,000 cubic feet of wood.

00:14:46It's gigantic,

00:14:48but still a little bit smaller than the Lindsay Creek French tree,

00:14:52the biggest tree ever recorded.

00:14:54It was a Coast Redwood 390 feet tall

00:14:58and had a volume of more than 90,000 cubic feet,

00:15:01which is as big as some skyscrapers.

00:15:05But it ain't easy for plants to get big either.

00:15:08When they're tall,

00:15:10it's tricky for them to get water from the roots to the leaves.

00:15:13Redwoods have a couple of tricks up their sleeves, though.

00:15:16For example, they absorb moisture from fog through their leaves.

00:15:20Plus, they have a wide base that gives them more support.

00:15:24If we want to build taller buildings,

00:15:26we also need to think about the challenges plants face,

00:15:29like how to build a good base that will support the structure

00:15:33and transport water and nutrients.

00:15:37If we're not just looking for height,

00:15:39we can take a peek at other massive organisms on our home planet,

00:15:43such as Pando.

00:15:45This is a male aspen forest in Utah

00:15:48that covers 107 acres

00:15:50and is basically one giant organism.

00:15:53It weighs almost 6,000 tons

00:15:55and is one of the biggest organisms on Earth.

00:15:58Perfect salad bowl for Godzilla.

00:16:02I mean, plants aren't the only organisms that can grow to massive sizes.

00:16:06There are fungi, like the honey mushroom,

00:16:09that can grow into a network of tiny threads called hyphae.

00:16:13They tend to spread out over big areas,

00:16:16and it's like a pretty big underground web,

00:16:19connecting everything together.

00:16:21One specimen in Michigan covers 90 acres

00:16:24and weighs about 400 tons.

00:16:26Now that's a lot of mushrooms!

00:16:28The sky suddenly turns orange.

00:16:31All you can see as you look up are millions of butterflies.

00:16:34You just got lucky to witness the spectacular natural show,

00:16:38the annual migration of monarch butterflies.

00:16:42Every fall, as the days get shorter

00:16:45and the temperatures go down in the northeastern US and Canada,

00:16:49these beautiful creatures leave their summer breeding grounds.

00:16:54They travel up to 3,000 miles to Mexico

00:16:58and never come back.

00:17:00Their perfect overwintering ground is high in the mountains.

00:17:04Millions of monarch butterflies are safe there

00:17:07in the canopy of oyamel fir trees.

00:17:10Once the winter is over, it's time for them to go back up north.

00:17:14They make a stopover around Texas

00:17:16to mate and lay eggs on milkweed plants.

00:17:20A few days later, these eggs turn into caterpillars

00:17:24that feed on the plant until they transform into grown-up butterflies.

00:17:28Now it's their turn to continue the journey up north

00:17:32until they find a new breeding ground.

00:17:34This way, generations keep changing en route

00:17:37and it may take up to five of them

00:17:39to get to the final destination back in Canada.

00:17:42It's a natural mystery how the butterflies traveling south

00:17:46live up to eight months traveling with the air currents.

00:17:49The same species going back completes its life cycle

00:17:53in five to seven weeks.

00:17:55Scientists still don't know why the monarchs migrate

00:17:59and how they find their way.

00:18:01It could be connected with the blooming of milkweed plants,

00:18:04their primary food source.

00:18:06They probably find their way around based on the position of the sun.

00:18:17Humpback whales are real champions

00:18:20when it comes to migration and size among mammals.

00:18:23They cover a distance of up to 5,000 miles following their lunch.

00:18:28In the summer, they move towards the poles to colder waters

00:18:32where there's plenty of krill and small fish.

00:18:36In the winter, they go south towards the equator's tropical waters.

00:18:41They also travel to mate.

00:18:43They have specific locations where they gather to do it.

00:18:46During the winter breeding season,

00:18:48you can hear male humpback whales sing,

00:18:51most likely to attract females or mark their territory.

00:18:55They produce a long series of calls

00:18:58and can repeat the same song for several hours.

00:19:01When the song changes,

00:19:03all singers that are currently migrating pick up the new tune.

00:19:06It's amazing how they do it

00:19:08when the distance between groups can be over 3,000 miles.

00:19:12Sea turtles migrate for more sentimental reasons.

00:19:20For hundreds of millions of years,

00:19:23these cute family guys return to the exact place

00:19:26where they were born to lay their eggs.

00:19:28They can cover up to thousands of miles

00:19:31mostly when the seasons change

00:19:33and the waters are of a comfortable temperature.

00:19:36It could take them years

00:19:39since some of them travel across the Pacific Ocean

00:19:42between Indonesia and the west coast of the United States and Canada,

00:19:46which is a total of 10,000 miles.

00:19:49But how do they find the exact spot they need

00:19:52if their parents can't just send them a geotag?

00:19:55Scientists have found out that they navigate

00:19:58using the invisible lines of the Earth's magnetic field.

00:20:01It turns out that each part of the coastline

00:20:04has its unique magnetic characteristics.

00:20:07The turtles remember theirs and travel using their internal compass.

00:20:11The magnetic field changes slowly but surely,

00:20:14so they have to shift their nesting sites accordingly.

00:20:19Salmon are born in freshwater streams

00:20:22and move to the ocean as juveniles.

00:20:24Atlantic salmon are brown and spotted

00:20:27as they cover hundreds of miles in freshwater

00:20:30and turn silvery in the ocean

00:20:32where they travel for up to 1,000 miles.

00:20:35Adult salmon stay in the ocean for 1 to 5 years,

00:20:38feeding mostly on zooplankton.

00:20:41Then it's time for them to go back to freshwater to spawn.

00:20:44On their way back to the breeding grounds,

00:20:47they have to ascend thousands of feet against the current in mountain streams.

00:20:51This challenging journey is called a salmon run.

00:20:55They set on this run because they know

00:20:58the stream they're headed to will be good for spawning

00:21:01and they'll meet the right species to mate with.

00:21:04Salmon remember the smell of their home stream

00:21:07and probably even take note of various points along the way to the ocean

00:21:10to find it again.

00:21:12Just like sea turtles,

00:21:14they use the Earth's magnetic field as a compass for their travels.

00:21:17Pacific salmon and most male Atlantic salmon

00:21:20only live for a few weeks after spawning,

00:21:23and some female Atlantic salmon survive and migrate back to the ocean.

00:21:30Caribou, better known as reindeer,

00:21:33are the champs when it comes to migration distance among land mammals.

00:21:37Every spring, they cover a distance of around 400 miles in Alaska,

00:21:42from their winter to their summer feeding grounds.

00:21:45Individuals cover up to 3,000 miles,

00:21:48but herd migration is way more spectacular.

00:21:51The largest herd has at least 260,000 members,

00:21:56and its migration territory covers an area larger than California.

00:22:01Scientists put radio tracker collars on some herd members

00:22:05and take thousands of photos to count them all.

00:22:08This census is organized every three years in good weather conditions

00:22:12to see if the population figures are rising or falling

00:22:15and track their migration patterns.

00:22:18Caribou grow through all this migration trouble

00:22:21to safely raise their newborn young.

00:22:23They reach remote grounds where golden eagles,

00:22:26wolves and grizzly bears won't bother the youngsters

00:22:29during their first, most vulnerable days.

00:22:32Another good excuse to hit the road up north for them

00:22:35is to save themselves from mosquitoes,

00:22:37which would be a huge problem in warmer months.

00:22:40Plus, they get fresh seasonal foods from the areas they stay in.

00:22:44Their migration helps fertilize the grounds they pass by,

00:22:47which means the tundra should thank them

00:22:49for regenerating and protecting its grasslands.

00:22:53Wildebeest, also known as news,

00:22:56are relatives of antelopes and gazelles.

00:22:59They spend most of their lives in the Serengeti Plains

00:23:03of southeastern Africa, grazing on the grassy savannas.

00:23:07Every year at the end of the rainy season,

00:23:10normally in May or June,

00:23:12millions of wildebeest head northwest in search of greener pastures,

00:23:16and then back again.

00:23:18This migration is so spectacular

00:23:20that it's considered one of the seven wonders of the natural world.

00:23:24Sadly, not all wildebeest make it to their final destination,

00:23:28as they have to cross rivers full of giant crocodiles

00:23:31and pass by hungry lions and other predators.

00:23:39If you look at dragonflies' migration routes,

00:23:42you can call them real globetrotters.

00:23:45Scientists discovered one such route

00:23:48that spanned from India to the Maldives, Seychelles,

00:23:51Mozambique, Uganda, and back again

00:23:54for at least 8,700 miles.

00:23:57It's the longest insect migration we know of so far.

00:24:00It looks like they set on this epic journey

00:24:03when the temperature reaches a certain mark

00:24:05and the days start to grow longer.

00:24:07They seem to be following the rains

00:24:09as they start during the monsoon season in India

00:24:12and arrive for the rainy season in eastern and southern Africa.

00:24:17One fragile insect cannot complete the whole trip,

00:24:20so it turns into a sort of relay race

00:24:22that includes four generations of dragonflies.

00:24:25Each generation plays its role in the journey.

00:24:28Scientists can't put radio trackers on dragonflies

00:24:31as they do with other animals

00:24:33because the insects are too small.

00:24:35So, to put together the migration route puzzle,

00:24:38they analyzed 21 years of data

00:24:40from volunteer citizen scientists

00:24:42and also wing samples from museums.

00:24:45Each of the samples had a chemical code

00:24:47that could roughly tell where the insect was from.

00:24:50This data helped the scientists understand

00:24:52how far this or that insect traveled as an adult.

00:25:00Elephants are known to have traveled across Africa

00:25:03for centuries.

00:25:05They rely on their herd leader's memory

00:25:07when it comes to recalling the tricky migratory routes.

00:25:10This big elephant boss leads everyone else

00:25:13to sources of ripe food and water

00:25:15when the seasons change.

00:25:17They also migrate to avoid danger,

00:25:19which is mostly represented by humans.

00:25:21Elephants have developed their own communication methods

00:25:24to pass on information about prospective danger.

00:25:27They use chemical secretions,

00:25:29vibrations, gestures, and touch.

00:25:32Recently, many African countries have restored

00:25:34some of the oldest elephant migration routes.

00:25:37These big-eared guys usually avoid dangerous areas

00:25:40for generations,

00:25:41but once they know the route is safe,

00:25:43they start using it again.

00:25:50Squirrels' teeth never stop growing,

00:25:53but the animals wear them down

00:25:55by gnawing on nuts and other hard foods.

00:25:57The front of the rodent's teeth is actually orange.

00:26:00It's because they're covered in special tough enamel.

00:26:03Bet you're glad you don't have that to deal with.

00:26:06Some bird species don't mind munching on chili peppers.

00:26:10That's because they can't feel the heat.

00:26:12Peppers burn your mouth because they contain

00:26:14a special chemical, capsaicin.

00:26:17But birds don't have the taste buds needed

00:26:19to feel its effects.

00:26:21The rhino's horn is made of hair,

00:26:23or at least the same protein

00:26:25that makes up your hair and nails.

00:26:27This protein is called keratin.

00:26:29Such a horn is kind of unique

00:26:31since other animals have horns with a bony center.

00:26:36The woodpecker can peck the wood 20 times per second.

00:26:39This pace is almost too high for the human eye to notice.

00:26:42How much wood would a woodpecker peck

00:26:44if a woodpecker could peck wood?

00:26:46The number of pecks often reaches

00:26:48a total of 8,000 to 12,000 a day.

00:26:52A starfish does have eyes,

00:26:54one on the end of each of its arms.

00:26:56These eyes are light-sensitive groups of cells.

00:27:00Frogs don't need to drink water.

00:27:02Instead, they have an area known as the drinking patch.

00:27:05It's on their bellies and thighs.

00:27:07They use it to absorb water

00:27:09directly through the skin.

00:27:11Well, that could save some time.

00:27:13Most caterpillar species

00:27:15have around 4,000 muscles in their body,

00:27:17and almost 250 of them

00:27:19are in the head alone.

00:27:21Christmas tree worms

00:27:23are much more beautiful than you can imagine.

00:27:25But even though the pines look awesome,

00:27:27two-thirds of the worm's body

00:27:29is hidden in a calcium carbonate tube.

00:27:32And the point of this is…

00:27:34I don't have one.

00:27:37Narwhal's famous tusks

00:27:39are actually their teeth

00:27:41that are kind of turned inside out.

00:27:43These unicorns of the sea

00:27:45have just two teeth,

00:27:47and in males, one of them grows

00:27:49right through their upper lip.

00:27:51Unlike your teeth,

00:27:53this one is tough inside

00:27:55and sensitive and soft on the outside.

00:27:57The anteater doesn't have teeth,

00:27:59but it's not a problem.

00:28:01This creature has a super long tongue.

00:28:03This tongue helps the animal

00:28:05to eat more than 35,000 termites

00:28:07and ants every day.

00:28:09That's one way to lick hunger.

00:28:11The flea can jump

00:28:13more than 200 times their body length.

00:28:15If humans had such an ability,

00:28:17they would jump as high

00:28:19as the Empire State Building.

00:28:21The red-eyed tree frog's

00:28:23eggs can hatch earlier

00:28:25if they sense their environment isn't safe.

00:28:27Small animals

00:28:29with fast metabolism

00:28:31see in slow-mo.

00:28:33This is how they escape larger creatures.

00:28:35Koalas' fingerprints

00:28:37are very, very similar to the human ones.

00:28:39Sometimes, these animals'

00:28:41fingerprints even get confused

00:28:43at crime scenes.

00:28:45Probably in Australia.

00:28:47The hippo's sweat is pink

00:28:49and not exactly sweat.

00:28:51It's a reddish, oily fluid.

00:28:53Its function is to not cool the body,

00:28:55but to moisturize the skin

00:28:57and protect it.

00:28:59This fluid also functions as an antibiotic.

00:29:01So, you get sunburned or cut,

00:29:03you can smear a hippo

00:29:05all over you.

00:29:07Polar bear's skin is black,

00:29:09and the hairs of their coat are hollow

00:29:11and almost see-through.

00:29:13These animals have fur growing even on the bottom

00:29:15of their paws.

00:29:17This gives them a better grip on ice

00:29:19and protects against cold.

00:29:21Some species of tarantulas,

00:29:23some of the largest spiders in the world,

00:29:25can live without food for more than

00:29:27two years.

00:29:29They're creepy.

00:29:31Platypuses close their eyes while kissing.

00:29:33I mean, swimming.

00:29:35They have special folds of skin covering

00:29:37their ears and eyes.

00:29:39They prevent water from getting inside.

00:29:41These animals' nostrils also have

00:29:43a watertight seal.

00:29:45Emus can't walk backwards,

00:29:47but scientists aren't sure why.

00:29:49These flightless birds are the only ones

00:29:51that have calf muscles.

00:29:53Emus can sprint really fast.

00:29:55They can also travel long distances.

00:29:57But they can't back up.

00:29:59Crocodiles can't move their tongue

00:30:01because it's attached to the mouth roof.

00:30:03It keeps the throat closed

00:30:05and protects the animal's airway.

00:30:07Water snakes, dolphins,

00:30:09whales, alligators, crocodiles,

00:30:11and turtles can drown.

00:30:13It'll happen if they stay

00:30:15underwater for too long.

00:30:17These animals can't breathe in the water.

00:30:19They can just hold their breath for a

00:30:21very long time.

00:30:23Only one species of birds

00:30:25can fly backwards.

00:30:27That's hummingbirds. Hey, go talk to the emu!

00:30:29These tiny birds can also

00:30:31beat their wings up to 80 times

00:30:33per second.

00:30:35Despite what elephant shrews look like,

00:30:37these small animals are more closely

00:30:39related to elephants than shrews.

00:30:41Maybe that's why they have

00:30:43their trademark trunk-like noses.

00:30:45Elephant shrews use them

00:30:47to munch on insects.

00:30:49Shrew enough!

00:30:51Cats, as well as other felines,

00:30:53taste sweet things.

00:30:55They don't have the taste buds needed for that.

00:30:57Too bad, more for me!

00:30:59Flamingos can only eat with their

00:31:01heads upside down.

00:31:03That's why their lower bill is massive

00:31:05and their upper bill isn't fixed.

00:31:07Such an arrangement is perfect

00:31:09for upside-down feeding.

00:31:11But it's the opposite of what other birds have.

00:31:13It's not easy being pink.

00:31:17Tiger skin is as striped

00:31:19as their fur.

00:31:21What can I say about that?

00:31:23When toucans sleep, they curl into

00:31:25pretty tight balls.

00:31:27These birds can turn their head

00:31:29so that their tail covers their head

00:31:31and the beak rests on the back.

00:31:33So yeah, they have a ball!

00:31:35The ostrich has some of the largest eyes

00:31:37in the animal kingdom.

00:31:39They're more massive than a bird's brain.

00:31:41Each eye is as big as a billiard ball.

00:31:45All clownfish get born male.

00:31:47But in some circumstances,

00:31:49they can turn into females.

00:31:51This change is irreversible.

00:31:53Unlike most fish,

00:31:55when seahorses mate,

00:31:57they do it for life.

00:31:59Even cuter, when the mates travel,

00:32:01they move side by side and often

00:32:03hold on to each other's tails.

00:32:05The male usually gets stuck schlepping the luggage.

00:32:07Termites never sleep.

00:32:09They don't need to recharge their batteries.

00:32:11But they can eat 24 hours a day,

00:32:137 days a week,

00:32:15on your house.

00:32:17The sloth needs up to 2 weeks

00:32:19to digest its food.

00:32:21Take your time, no hurry,

00:32:23nothing on the schedule.

00:32:25Dogs' nose prints can be used

00:32:27for their identification.

00:32:29They are similar to human fingerprints

00:32:31and unique for each animal.

00:32:33Owls don't have eyeballs.

00:32:35Instead, they have eye tubes

00:32:37that don't move in the eye sockets.

00:32:41Penguins don't have external ears,

00:32:43but their hearing is especially sharp.

00:32:45Especially when they're on the lookout

00:32:47for polar bears.

00:32:49Shh, let's not tell them.

00:32:51Jellyfish are up to 98% water.

00:32:53That's why when they get washed ashore,

00:32:55their bodies can evaporate

00:32:57into the air after just a few hours.

00:33:01If a traffic jam happens underwater,

00:33:03an alligator will always

00:33:05give way to a manatee.

00:33:07Nice manners!

00:33:09Grizzly bears have such

00:33:11a strong bite that they can

00:33:13crush a bowling ball.

00:33:15So, it's smart just to let them win.

00:33:19Giant pandas aren't picky about

00:33:21their sleeping spots.

00:33:23They usually fall asleep wherever they are.

00:33:25In most cases, right on the forest floor.

00:33:27The giant panda's

00:33:29newborn cubs are tiny.

00:33:31They weigh like a small cup of coffee

00:33:33and are smaller than a mouse.

00:33:35The red handfish

00:33:37can walk along the ocean floor

00:33:39with the help of its hands.

00:33:41But, of course,

00:33:43they are not hands, but evolved fins.

00:33:45Really.

00:33:47Cats don't usually meow at each other.

00:33:49A study has shown

00:33:51that felines use this way of communication

00:33:53mostly to get attention

00:33:55from us humans.

00:33:57And it works.

00:33:59Sloths can't shiver.

00:34:01It's not that they're too busy

00:34:03digesting that two-week-old meal.

00:34:05Their fur is sometimes covered with algae.

00:34:07And when they get too hot

00:34:09or too cold,

00:34:11their metabolism shuts down.

00:34:13During the hard times,

00:34:15immortal jellyfish transform themselves

00:34:17back into their younger state.

00:34:19Once they reach the stage

00:34:21when they're nothing but a blob of tissue,

00:34:23like me,

00:34:25these creatures start to grow again.

00:34:27And this process can apparently repeat

00:34:29again and again.

00:34:31The closest living relatives of the T. rex

00:34:33are chickens and ostriches.

00:34:35Don't turn your back.

00:34:37The moray eel has another

00:34:39set of jaws that can extend

00:34:41from his throat.

00:34:43First, the main jaws close around

00:34:45an unlucky sea creature.

00:34:47Then the additional set grabs the eel's

00:34:49future meal with backward-pointing

00:34:51razor-sharp teeth.

00:34:53And after that, the captured animal

00:34:55gets dragged back into the eel's throat.

00:34:57I just lost my appetite.

00:34:59Some species of snails

00:35:01have hairy shells.

00:35:03Thanks to these hairs,

00:35:05snails have better stick to wet surfaces.

00:35:07When humpback whales hunt,

00:35:09they often gather in a group

00:35:11and apply a bubble-net tactic

00:35:13to catch their food.

00:35:15The bubbles don't let the schools of fish

00:35:17get away.

00:35:19Snow leopards can't roar

00:35:21like other large felines.

00:35:23It has to do with their less-developed

00:35:25vocal cords.

00:35:27But these animals can meow,

00:35:29growl, hiss,

00:35:31and even purr.

00:35:33Not to drift away from their group

00:35:35while napping, sea otters

00:35:37hold hands.

00:35:39They can also entangle themselves in giant

00:35:41seaweed for the same purpose.

00:35:43Hey, it kelps!

00:35:45Lions are often called the king

00:35:47of the prairie.

00:35:49I thought it was the king of the jungle.

00:35:51And still, up to 90% of all the hunting

00:35:53in the pride is done by

00:35:55the females.

00:35:57The males are in charge of protecting the territory

00:35:59and the pride members.

00:36:01And they make the delicious potato salad

00:36:03known as Hakuna Matata.

00:36:05Cats are famous

00:36:07for their uncanny ability to move

00:36:09their ears. All because

00:36:11kitties have 32 muscles in each

00:36:13outer ear.

00:36:15Some shark species can glow in the dark.

00:36:17Unfortunately, only other

00:36:19sharks can see this greenish

00:36:21glimmer.

00:36:23You have up to 8,000 taste buds,

00:36:25but your pooch has just a bit over

00:36:271,500.

00:36:29Blue Jay can imitate other birds.

00:36:31Its favorite is a hawk's call.

00:36:33The Blue Jay

00:36:35uses it to scare away other birds

00:36:37from its territory.

00:36:39Slow lorries are insanely cute

00:36:41and just as treacherous.

00:36:43They're the only known venomous primates.

00:36:45They have a gland in the crook

00:36:47of their inner arm. It secretes

00:36:49toxins that can cause unpleasant

00:36:51consequences in people.

00:36:53The hartebeest has an amazing

00:36:55evasion tactic. To run away

00:36:57from other animals, they move in a

00:36:59zigzag pattern.

00:37:01Bottlenose dolphins have names

00:37:03for one another. Those are

00:37:05specific whistles. Hey Bob!

00:37:07Hey Charlie! Hey Dolly!

00:37:09Hey boys! And thanks for all the

00:37:11fish! Giraffes have

00:37:13long, and I mean it, black

00:37:15tongues. Scientists suppose

00:37:17this color might protect the tongue from

00:37:19getting sunburned. Well, that's all

00:37:21I got. See ya!

00:37:28The liger

00:37:30is probably the most popular

00:37:32hybrid animal, and an incredibly

00:37:34large cat. You won't see them

00:37:36in the wild. People most deliberately

00:37:38breed them. Lions and

00:37:40tigers don't even inhabit the same

00:37:42areas. So, a

00:37:44liger is a mix of a male lion

00:37:46and a female tiger, and they

00:37:48can grow to be very big in a pretty

00:37:50short period of time. They're actually

00:37:52the biggest cats in the world.

00:37:54Hercules, the largest recorded

00:37:56liger, is a real example of that.

00:37:58922 pounds,

00:38:00and 10.8 feet long.

00:38:02Imagine taking him for a

00:38:04walk. Ligers are mostly

00:38:06way bigger than either of their parents.

00:38:08In most cases, they behave

00:38:10and look more like lions than

00:38:12tigers. But, they have some

00:38:14tiger traits too. For example,

00:38:16striped backs, and

00:38:18they're crazy about swimming.

00:38:20The tigin

00:38:22Nobody could fault you for thinking the

00:38:24tigin and liger are basically the

00:38:26same animal. I mean, they're both

00:38:28a combination of tigers and lions.

00:38:30But a tigin comes from a

00:38:32crossbreeding of a male tiger

00:38:34and a female lion. They're

00:38:36usually smaller than their parents, and

00:38:38definitely much smaller than their giant

00:38:40could you call them siblings?

00:38:42In most cases, they

00:38:44inherit charming looks from their

00:38:46tiger fathers. But, they get some

00:38:48interesting traits from their mother's side too.

00:38:50For example, love for

00:38:52socialization and the ability to

00:38:54roar. Hands down, one of

00:38:56the rarest hybrid animals in the world

00:38:58are wolfins.

00:39:00These fellas are a mashup of a female

00:39:02bottlenose dolphin and a male

00:39:04false killer whale. Its name

00:39:06might make you think differently, but

00:39:08a false killer whale belongs to the

00:39:10dolphin family. They're not even

00:39:12related to killer whales.

00:39:14Wolfins are such an interesting

00:39:1650-50 mix and balance of their parents.

00:39:18They have dark gray skin,

00:39:20the perfect blend of a black

00:39:22false killer whale and light gray

00:39:24dolphin skin. Dolphins

00:39:26have anywhere between 80 and 100

00:39:28teeth. False killer whales have

00:39:3044, and their hybrid

00:39:32young is halfway, with 66

00:39:34teeth in total. What would

00:39:36it look like if algae and a slug

00:39:38paired? No need to imagine.

00:39:40You have a green sea slug

00:39:42to check the result. It lives in

00:39:44salt marshes in Canada and New England.

00:39:46And it's possibly the weirdest

00:39:48hybrid creature you'll see in this video,

00:39:50and in general. Part plant,

00:39:52part animal. So,

00:39:54some slugs seem to have

00:39:56been very sneaky while stealing

00:39:58the genes from innocent algae that

00:40:00they have eaten to enable them to look like

00:40:02this. Since they're partially

00:40:04a plant, they can produce the plant

00:40:06pigment called chlorophyll.

00:40:08That means these unusual slugs

00:40:10can even photosynthesize.

00:40:12That's the process plants use

00:40:14to turn sunlight into energy.

00:40:16So, they produce their own

00:40:18molecules that contain energy

00:40:20without having to eat anything at all.

00:40:22When scientists first discovered it,

00:40:24a green sea slug was the first

00:40:26case of a multicellular animal

00:40:28that's able to produce chlorophyll.

00:40:30What do you get when you mix

00:40:32a male leopard and a female lion?

00:40:34You get an interesting hybrid called

00:40:36a lepon. These

00:40:38animals grow to be almost as big as lions,

00:40:40but they still have shorter

00:40:42legs, similar to their father leopard.

00:40:44They inherit some of his other traits

00:40:46too, like a love for climbing

00:40:48and swimming. You can have

00:40:50a union with a male lion and a female

00:40:52leopard too, and the result is

00:40:54called a leopard.

00:40:56Male lions are usually around 10 feet long

00:40:58and weigh about 500 pounds.

00:41:00The female leopard is way smaller,

00:41:02only 5 feet long,

00:41:04with a weight of about 80 pounds.

00:41:06The difference in size here is too big,

00:41:08so this pairing really

00:41:10doesn't happen that often.

00:41:12Okay, how about a buffalo and a cow?

00:41:14When you were little, maybe you

00:41:16thought that they could be a good match,

00:41:18but in reality, the combination

00:41:20creates an unusual hybrid animal

00:41:22called a beefalo.

00:41:24Not many types of hybrid animals can

00:41:26reproduce on their own, but a beefalo

00:41:28can do it. When a grizzly

00:41:30and a polar bear get together,

00:41:32it results in a growler bear,

00:41:34or bizzly bear,

00:41:36or grizzlar, whichever you like

00:41:38the most. You can see them

00:41:40even in the wild. These two types

00:41:42of bears have a mutual contempt for

00:41:44one another. Yep, they're not good

00:41:46at living together in a mutual habitat,

00:41:48but even though it's rare,

00:41:50the love can still happen

00:41:52and result in these cute, caramel-colored

00:41:54hybrid growler bears.

00:41:56In most cases, they'll be

00:41:58a bit smaller than polar bears,

00:42:00on average 60 inches tall

00:42:02at the shoulder, and approximate weight

00:42:041,000 pounds, but

00:42:06they're well-equipped for surviving in warmer

00:42:08climates, thanks to the genes they got

00:42:10from their grizzly family side.

00:42:12Now let's get to one pretty tough

00:42:14fella, the jaglion.

00:42:16As its name implies,

00:42:18it's the hybrid of a jaguar and a lion.

00:42:20We don't know much about

00:42:22these intriguing big cats because

00:42:24only a few of them exist, but

00:42:26there was an unintentional mixing between

00:42:28a black jaguar and a lioness,

00:42:30which eventually resulted in

00:42:32two jaglion cubs.

00:42:34One had a dark gray coat with

00:42:36black spots, because of the dominant melanin

00:42:38gene black jaguars usually have.

00:42:40The other one had a lion

00:42:42color and the rosette pattern

00:42:44spots that remind you of a jaguar.

00:42:46Yep, you already know it,

00:42:48there are also liguars,

00:42:50a hybrid of a female jaguar and a male

00:42:52lion. That's some colorful family!

00:42:54Speaking of wild cats,

00:42:56have you ever heard of a savanna cat?

00:42:58Savanna cats are in

00:43:00both categories of house pets

00:43:02and exotic hybrids, since they're

00:43:04a mix of a domestic cat and a

00:43:06wild African serval hybrid animal.

00:43:08We're talking about striking

00:43:10animals, almost as big as a domestic

00:43:12cat, but what gives them their

00:43:14exotic look are their tall bodies,

00:43:16slender forms, and spotted

00:43:18coats. These cats are extremely

00:43:20loyal, intelligent, and loving

00:43:22creatures. Here's one

00:43:24unexpected mixture, a

00:43:26zebraoid. Technically, it's a

00:43:28name people use to describe a hybrid

00:43:30of a zebra and any

00:43:32equine species, but when you

00:43:34pair a zebra and a horse, their

00:43:36young is called a zorse.

00:43:38Zebra hybrids mostly

00:43:40look like whichever animals they've been crossbred

00:43:42with, but with the striped coat

00:43:44of a pure zebra. Most

00:43:46of these hybrid creatures don't even have

00:43:48fully striped coats. You can mostly

00:43:50see the stripes on non-white

00:43:52areas of their bodies and legs.

00:43:54Speaking of zebra hybrids,

00:43:56check out this adorable creature.

00:43:58It's called a zonkey, or

00:44:00zedonk, zebrass,

00:44:02zonkey. Eh, take your pick.

00:44:04They're mostly either tan, gray,

00:44:06or brown in color.

00:44:08You'll distinguish them by unique stripes

00:44:10that are darkest on their legs and belly.

00:44:12Unlike some hybrids, such

00:44:14as the liger, zonkeys can

00:44:16normally live in the wild. In fact,

00:44:18that's where you can find them,

00:44:20living life to the fullest across savannas

00:44:22and open woodland, mostly in Africa.

00:44:24Can you guess what

00:44:26a geep is? Yep,

00:44:28a combination of goat and sheep,

00:44:30and definitely one of the most adorable

00:44:32and cuddliest hybrid creatures

00:44:34in this video. Geeps are

00:44:36very rare. Some experts even

00:44:38believe it's possible that they're not true

00:44:40hybrids, but just sheep with

00:44:42certain genetic abnormalities.

00:44:44After all, sheep and goats do

00:44:46carry different numbers of chromosomes,

00:44:48which means cross-species mixes

00:44:50are almost impossible.

00:44:52When a camel and a llama get together,

00:44:54you get a cute little thing called

00:44:56a kama. Similar to

00:44:58beefalo, the kama also

00:45:00produces the best economic traits

00:45:02of both its parents. The first

00:45:04one was born in 1998.

00:45:06Kamas don't have camel

00:45:08humps. Their body is covered in soft

00:45:10fleecy fur, similar to

00:45:12their llama side of the family.

00:45:14They can drink big amounts of water at a time,

00:45:16so they can survive with almost

00:45:18no water at all for pretty long periods.

00:45:20The koi wolf

00:45:22is a hybrid where nothing looks

00:45:24that unusual to most people, since

00:45:26the coyote and the wolf are not

00:45:28that drastically different in their looks.

00:45:30After all, these two species

00:45:32only diverged around 200,000

00:45:34years ago. Now, they're still

00:45:36able to mate and bring koi wolf

00:45:38cubs to the world.

00:45:40People living in eastern Canada and the

00:45:42U.S. might be familiar with these smart

00:45:44adaptable animals that inhabit

00:45:46their forests, neighborhood parks, or

00:45:48sometimes even cities. These

00:45:50hybrids have emerged over the past century

00:45:52or so, and they've picked up

00:45:54the characteristics of both their parents.

00:45:56When a koi wolf is fully grown,

00:45:58it's somewhere in between

00:46:00the size of both parents.

00:46:02But it's also 55 pounds heavier

00:46:04than pure coyotes, and has a

00:46:06bigger jaw, longer legs, smaller

00:46:08ears, and a bushier tail.

00:46:10Check out the narluga,

00:46:12an extremely rare creature

00:46:14whose parents are a narwhal

00:46:16and a beluga whale. It's a

00:46:18pretty strange animal, but far from

00:46:20being lonely, they mostly live in the

00:46:22North Atlantic. Scientists had

00:46:24suspected their existence for decades.

00:46:26In 1990, they found an

00:46:28unusual-looking whale skull located

00:46:30in an Inuit hunter's tool shed

00:46:32in Greenland. People from that area

00:46:34said that there were other similar-looking

00:46:36animals, and they fit the description

00:46:38of neither a beluga whale nor a narwhal.

00:46:40People said they had gray

00:46:42skin, narwhal-like tails,

00:46:44and beluga-like flippers.

00:46:46Narwhals and beluga whales are

00:46:48similar in size, and they share a

00:46:50family, the Monodontidae family.

00:46:52So, it may not even be that

00:46:54surprising that they're able to successfully

00:46:56breed in the wild.

00:47:04So, it's a hot summer day, you're outdoors

00:47:06enjoying the weather.

00:47:08You want to lie on the cool grass somewhere

00:47:10in the shade just to relax, but

00:47:12eww, looks like someone spat

00:47:14there, but it's actually

00:47:16a spittlebug's house.

00:47:18These guys sip a lot of watery sap from

00:47:20the plants, and when they process it,

00:47:22it forms a lot of bubbles,

00:47:24not less than 150 times

00:47:26their body mass daily.

00:47:28All these bubbles form a cocoon

00:47:30where young insects can grow safely.

00:47:32No bird or animal wants to eat

00:47:34this cocoon because it tastes bitter,

00:47:36as if you licked a Nintendo cartridge.

00:47:38Not so fast, cheetah!

00:47:40Apparently, Dracula Ant

00:47:42is the world's fastest animal,

00:47:44and the vampires in the ant world.

00:47:46They'd definitely win any burger-eating

00:47:48contest since they're able to snap

00:47:50their jaws 5,000 times

00:47:52faster than your eye can blink.

00:47:54To understand how fast the Dracula

00:47:56Ant is, you gotta make a video

00:47:58of his jaws chomping at

00:48:00480,000 frames

00:48:02per second. At this speed,

00:48:04you'll see the ant slowly moving

00:48:06its mandibles.

00:48:08They don't run, but their mouths are rapid,

00:48:10and they move those jaws so

00:48:12fast, they even bend while

00:48:14snapping together. Now people can

00:48:16do that too, snapping our fingers

00:48:18so that they bend.

00:48:20The darkest animal out there

00:48:22is the I.M. Samani chicken.

00:48:24Not only these guys have black feathers,

00:48:26eyes, and claws, they also

00:48:28have black bones.

00:48:30The color is bluish black, and

00:48:32it is deep. If you ever try

00:48:34those chicken wings, they'll look as if

00:48:36someone had marinated them in blackberry

00:48:38juice or squid ink.

00:48:40They say Marco Polo was the

00:48:42first to have discovered these odd or

00:48:44charming roosters. Back in

00:48:461298, the explorer wrote about

00:48:48a breed of chickens that were as

00:48:50black as cats and laid the

00:48:52best eggs.

00:48:54This freshwater fish has been around

00:48:56since the beginning of the 20th century

00:48:58and probably remembers good old times

00:49:00with black and white and even

00:49:02silent movies. One big-mouth

00:49:04buffalo made it till

00:49:06112 years old. Still,

00:49:08the world's oldest creatures live in the sea.

00:49:10There are deep-sea sponges

00:49:12that are 11,000 years old,

00:49:14and they're safe and sound.

00:49:16This fish has incredible

00:49:18gills, which lets it hold

00:49:20its breath for over 4 minutes.

00:49:22Meet the coffin fish,

00:49:24a weird-looking but tough animal.

00:49:26They're also famous as sea

00:49:28toads. They actually look much more

00:49:30like toads, not classic fish

00:49:32with fins and scales.

00:49:34They can also inflate because of the

00:49:36seawater they gulp, so they expand

00:49:38just like a balloon. In fact,

00:49:40this super ability lets this

00:49:42fish hold its breath for several minutes

00:49:44because they actually get the oxygen

00:49:46from the water they keep inside.

00:49:48But the absolute champion

00:49:50is the human.

00:49:52The world's champion can survive holding

00:49:54the breath for over 20 minutes.

00:49:56There are some

00:49:58animals that make their own clothes.

00:50:00Sponge crabs make a sort of

00:50:02hat from sponges to protect them

00:50:04from underwater bad guys.

00:50:06To figure out how the crabs decided

00:50:08on their outfit, researchers

00:50:10gave them some foam sponges that

00:50:12were different in sizes. The bigger

00:50:14the crab is, the bigger the sponge

00:50:16it chooses. They use various

00:50:18techniques to get this perfect shape,

00:50:20starting from cutting out a small hole

00:50:22for the head, and then they see

00:50:24if the size fits them.

00:50:26If they're good to go, they continue to cut

00:50:28and dig into that sponge until

00:50:30it becomes a perfect hat.

00:50:32Recently, researchers have

00:50:34spotted a moth that would drink

00:50:36birds' tears while they sleep.

00:50:38So far, there were only 3 registered

00:50:40cases of animals feeding on

00:50:42other animals' tears.

00:50:44These were some Amazon butterflies,

00:50:46solitary bees, and moths.

00:50:48Their regular diet mostly

00:50:50includes nectar, but it does lack

00:50:52essential salts that aren't that easy

00:50:54to find elsewhere. Not only

00:50:56do they drink birds' tears,

00:50:58they also drink turtles' tears,

00:51:00crocodiles' tears, and those of many

00:51:02mammals found in the Amazon jungle.

00:51:04Really? Crocodile tears?

00:51:06Some sea dwellers can

00:51:08emit red light. For example,

00:51:10the stoplight loosejaw fish

00:51:12uses it to catch dinner.

00:51:14Shrimps don't see the red light,

00:51:16so the loosejaw fish can spot any

00:51:18red shrimp emitting pulses of

00:51:20red light and catches it without

00:51:22scaring the dinner away. Mammals

00:51:24can glow too. A flying squirrel

00:51:26glows under UV light,

00:51:28emitting pink light. It happens

00:51:30because they're able to absorb light

00:51:32and emit it back in another

00:51:34wavelength.

00:51:36The platypus may not have the largest

00:51:38cheek pouches, but they're definitely

00:51:40the weirdest. They keep gravel

00:51:42inside those pouches to help mash

00:51:44the food they normally eat.

00:51:46Worms, shellfish, snails.

00:51:48These guys are toothless,

00:51:50so gravel comes in handy when it

00:51:52comes to chewing the food. It works

00:51:54just like a blender. Makes you

00:51:56wonder what they use for the mouthwash,

00:51:58huh?

00:52:00If humans had the same incredible

00:52:02cheeks just like chipmunks have,

00:52:04we'd be able to transport our groceries

00:52:06right in our mouths. In fact,

00:52:08chipmunks can transport something

00:52:10as large as themselves in their

00:52:12oversized mouth luggage sections.

00:52:14Hamsters have the same superpower

00:52:16too, and can even carry their young

00:52:18in the mouth in case of the need

00:52:20to run away. A baby carrot,

00:52:22which seems tiny for a human,

00:52:24but significantly large for a hamster,

00:52:26can disappear without a trace

00:52:28in between those huge cheeks.

00:52:32The Mariana snailfish, which

00:52:34logically lives in the Mariana Trench,

00:52:36is relatively small.

00:52:38It's as large as two medium candy bars.

00:52:40Despite the size,

00:52:42they can easily withstand the pressure

00:52:44that equals 1,600

00:52:46elephants standing on it.

00:52:48This fish has a unique body structure.

00:52:50For example, it has some gaps

00:52:52in the skull. If their skull

00:52:54was uniform and had no holes,

00:52:56it would never withstand the pressure

00:52:58in the depths of the Mariana Trench.

00:53:00Plus, their cartilage skeleton is

00:53:02soft and flexible. They also

00:53:04have no actual eyes,

00:53:06but they really don't need them since they

00:53:08live in complete darkness in the world's

00:53:10deepest trench.

00:53:12Hey, meet the Pinocchio

00:53:14frog. Not hard to guess,

00:53:16their nose can grow in size

00:53:18in the blink of an eye in various situations.

00:53:20Whenever they feel danger

00:53:22coming, it gets larger.

00:53:24When these frogs are calm and feel safe,

00:53:26it goes back to normal.

00:53:28It may also elongate when they want to

00:53:30attract mates. And probably

00:53:32when they croak a lot. Haha, just kidding.

00:53:34Do you enjoy it

00:53:36when it rains?

00:53:38You probably grab a cup of hot chocolate,

00:53:40cover yourself up with a blanket,

00:53:42and sit on the windowsill,

00:53:44looking at the drops dripping down the window.

00:53:46If you like it, you're definitely

00:53:48not a Myanmar snub-nosed monkey

00:53:50that's been recently discovered,

00:53:52guess where, in Myanmar.

00:53:54Their nostrils are so upturned

00:53:56and exposed to the outer world that

00:53:58they sneeze every time it rains.

00:54:00But if you were in a choir,

00:54:02you have something in common. Snub-nosed

00:54:04monkeys like singing together.

00:54:08Amazon pink river

00:54:10dolphins aren't born pink.

00:54:12Their young are always gray, but the

00:54:14older they get, the pinker they turn.

00:54:16It's like people

00:54:18having wrinkles when they age,

00:54:20and these guys simply get a different color.

00:54:22Hey, I'd like to get a little

00:54:24pink instead of those smile lines.

00:54:26You'd certainly

00:54:28love to be a termite because of their

00:54:30crazy sleep schedule.

00:54:32They actually never sleep, and the only

00:54:34thing they do is nibble on the wooden

00:54:36pegs they see around them.

00:54:38Well, if you're afraid of gaining weight

00:54:40because of a cellulose-rich diet,

00:54:42you could probably turn into a snail.

00:54:44They get a power nap for some hours

00:54:46and then can run without sleep

00:54:48for as long as 30 hours

00:54:50in a row.

00:54:52No fish can survive for any significant

00:54:54period of time without water

00:54:56except this one.

00:54:58The African lungfish.

00:55:00When they feel something's wrong, they start

00:55:02secreting a mucus cocoon and

00:55:04go underground, give or take

00:55:069 inches under the soil.

00:55:08They have a built-in tube to breathe.

00:55:10Mountain stoneweed

00:55:12Stoneweed is native to New Zealand

00:55:14aren't afraid of drastic temperature changes.

00:55:16Their blood contains

00:55:18a special protein that doesn't let

00:55:20their blood crystallize in case of extreme

00:55:22temperatures. They tolerate

00:55:24any cold better than polar bears

00:55:26and even penguins, who live in the

00:55:28officially world's coldest place,

00:55:30Antarctica.

00:55:32Ring-tailed lemurs have one of the

00:55:34craziest ways of conflict resolution.

00:55:36They have stink fights.

00:55:38Taking into account the average

00:55:40number of lemurs in a group,

00:55:42about 20 or 30 animals,

00:55:44you'll see there's a lot of competition.

00:55:46Their scent glands are on their

00:55:48wrists and shoulders. Those on the

00:55:50wrists are harmless. The odor they

00:55:52produce is quite volatile.

00:55:54Those on the shoulders are nasty

00:55:56and produce brown, funky-smelling

00:55:58paste that would outlast any

00:56:00perfume. So, back off!

00:56:04Psst!

00:56:06Run! Really! It's not safe

00:56:08out there. There's a saber-toothed

00:56:10tiger lurking around. You better be careful.

00:56:12What are you doing? Don't peek!

00:56:14Okay, just one little peek.

00:56:16How's this possible, you ask?

00:56:18That's because you're in virtual

00:56:20reality, of course. These cool

00:56:22but very dangerous-looking big cats

00:56:24were alive during the last Ice Age.

00:56:26What if they decided to

00:56:28show up at your doorstep out of nowhere?

00:56:30Knock-knock! A saber-toothed

00:56:32tiger is waiting for you to buy its cookies!

00:56:34Meanwhile,

00:56:36the coelacanth,

00:56:38this massive-looking fish,

00:56:40comes from a lineage that's been around

00:56:42for over 300 million years.

00:56:44We thought they didn't exist anymore

00:56:46until 1938, that is,

00:56:48when a live coelacanth was found

00:56:50again. Since then, they've been

00:56:52roaming the waters of the east coast of

00:56:54Africa and the waters of Sulawesi,

00:56:56Indonesia. Man,

00:56:58I would want to go for a swim and meet

00:57:00one of these fellas face-to-face!

00:57:02Their jaw has an intercranial joint,

00:57:04which means their mouth opens

00:57:06up by a lot. This is so

00:57:08they can eat large prey, like

00:57:10me. Not good.

00:57:12They're huge, too. Imagine a

00:57:14fish that's as long as you're tall

00:57:16and weighing as much as an average human.

00:57:20The takahe, a flightless bird,

00:57:22was thought to be gone in the year

00:57:241898. They're very

00:57:26cute, small, and multicolored,

00:57:28usually not taller than your knee.

00:57:30But picture this. You're

00:57:32out for a hike in the Merkison Mountains.

00:57:34Looking around, you spot

00:57:36the bird you thought was extinct.

00:57:38But there they are, as happy

00:57:40as ever, surviving and

00:57:42chilling. A whole colonies of

00:57:44takahes was indeed found

00:57:46just 50 years after they were

00:57:48pronounced extinct. Good job,

00:57:50tiny little birds!

00:57:52A singing

00:57:54dog. Ever heard of those?

00:57:56Riley does sing sometimes when he's bored

00:57:58or hungry, but these are real

00:58:00performers. New Guinea

00:58:02singing dogs. They've been

00:58:04only recently discovered again in

00:58:06the wild for the first time in 50

00:58:08years. Still, they were never completely

00:58:10extinct to begin with.

00:58:12New Guineans made sure they were safe

00:58:14next to them. But in the wild?

00:58:16Very rare and hard

00:58:18to catch a sight of. Look, there

00:58:20goes one. The New Guinea singing

00:58:22dogs are called so because

00:58:24of their famous high-pitched singing.

00:58:26They sometimes sing together too.

00:58:28A dog choir of sorts, where they

00:58:30all howl together. I bet

00:58:32they sing better than I do in the shower.

00:58:36Not going far from this area,

00:58:38we have bats. But these ones

00:58:40are sort of different. You see, their

00:58:42ears are enormous. I

00:58:44guess that's why they're called the New Guinea

00:58:46big-eared bats. Clever.

00:58:48The species was found again

00:58:50when one of them was accidentally caught

00:58:52in a bat trap. Until then,

00:58:54I guess they were playing hide

00:58:56and seek with us. Because up till

00:58:581890, they had been thought

00:59:00to be gone. They're still

00:59:02not out of the danger zone because of

00:59:04habitat loss.

00:59:06Imagine

00:59:08you discover a fossil of a species

00:59:10you thought had been extinct for a long

00:59:12time. Yet, two years later,

00:59:14a whole living group of said

00:59:16species is found. Well,

00:59:18this is exactly what happened in

00:59:201977 with a Majorcan

00:59:22midwife toad. It's sort

00:59:24of brownish in color with darker

00:59:26brown that makes up its skin spots.

00:59:28Other than that, it's just a

00:59:30small toad with googly eyes.

00:59:32The group of live toads was

00:59:34found close to where the fossil was

00:59:36on the island of Majorca. There

00:59:38aren't many of them left. About 500

00:59:40in fact, and as of right

00:59:42now, they're declared vulnerable

00:59:44by the International Union for Conservation

00:59:46of Nature.

00:59:48Now, are you a

00:59:50fan of tortoises? You will be

00:59:52when you take a look at this huge beauty.

00:59:54It's called the Ferdinanda

00:59:56Island Galapagos tortoise.

00:59:58It hasn't been seen since 1906,

01:00:00but on February

01:00:0217, 2019,

01:00:04we were finally able to look at one of

01:00:06these beautiful creatures. It's

01:00:08probably out there with a few of its mates

01:00:10right now, but they also don't allow

01:00:12themselves to be seen. We only

01:00:14know they exist because there's a few

01:00:16tracks and scents.

01:00:18With

01:00:20yet another frog, we have the

01:00:22horned marsupial frog.

01:00:24They're out and about in Ecuador,

01:00:26in the Chocó forest to be more specific.

01:00:28They're called this way because

01:00:30of their distinctive horns directly

01:00:32on top of their eyes.

01:00:34You know the pouch kangaroos use to carry

01:00:36their offspring? Well, the female

01:00:38horned marsupial frog also

01:00:40has that, except it's on the

01:00:42back, so it acts as sort of

01:00:44a backpack. They develop their

01:00:46embryos there, and when they're ready

01:00:48to come out, they hatch as complete

01:00:50infants, unlike regular

01:00:52frogs where they start out as tadpoles.

01:00:56One more toad, the

01:00:58starry night toad, or harlequin

01:01:00toad. They're black and

01:01:02covered with loads of white spots all

01:01:04over them. Lost for 30

01:01:06years, it was discovered back in

01:01:082019. Picture them

01:01:10as big bodyguards, water

01:01:12bodyguards to be exact.

01:01:14That's a very big toad on your

01:01:16screen!

01:01:18Well, for the Arhuaco people,

01:01:20that's exactly what they are, guardians

01:01:22of water. They also have

01:01:24their own name for them, Guna.

01:01:26Sounds like a cheese.

01:01:28When scientists found them yet again,

01:01:30they came across 30 of these little

01:01:32creatures, but initially, they were

01:01:34expecting only one.

01:01:36What a nice surprise!

01:01:40Here's a tiger for you, although

01:01:42it doesn't quite look like your typical

01:01:44tiger. It's called the Tasmanian

01:01:46tiger, and it seemingly

01:01:48disappeared since 1936.

01:01:50But then, out of nowhere,

01:01:52people started seeing them out there in the

01:01:54wild just 5 years ago

01:01:56in 2016. They sort of

01:01:58resemble dogs more than tigers,

01:02:00or a fox maybe. Just take a look at

01:02:02its muzzle. Maybe even a

01:02:04mix of both! Then,

01:02:06a few others started popping up too.

01:02:08And if you happen to think you're seeing

01:02:10one right in front of you, but you're not

01:02:12quite sure, check if they've got

01:02:14stripes on their back. They're definitely

01:02:16out there, but still technically

01:02:18marked as extinct by the

01:02:20IUCN.

01:02:22Okay,

01:02:24picture a horse that looks straight out of a movie

01:02:26scene. Tiny, gorgeous

01:02:28fur, very well-behaved.

01:02:30It's tiny, but it's not a pony.

01:02:32It's a Caspian horse.

01:02:36They have an interesting backstory to

01:02:38them. They were discovered by Louise

01:02:40Leyland, who got married to an aristocrat

01:02:42in 1957.

01:02:44Having moved to Tehran, Iran,

01:02:46she didn't quite like how the horses

01:02:48behaved there, so she took

01:02:50matters into her own hands.

01:02:52She took a few people with her,

01:02:54and off they went to the Caspian Sea

01:02:56Mountain. And in there, they

01:02:58found 3 of these beautiful, tiny little

01:03:00horses. That's how the story

01:03:02goes.

01:03:04Coming up next,

01:03:06a possum that was found in an

01:03:08unexpected place. Guess where?

01:03:10You have 3 options

01:03:12to pick from. Hiding in a ski

01:03:14resort, in the Australian outback,

01:03:16or in someone's apartment in the

01:03:18bathroom. Which one do you choose?

01:03:20You have 3 seconds.

01:03:26The right answer is a ski resort.

01:03:30Yes, this possum is called

01:03:32the Mountain Pygmy Possum, and

01:03:34it's originating from Australia.

01:03:36So far, there are 3 different

01:03:38living populations of this tiny

01:03:40possum, but it was believed to be

01:03:42extinct until just 1966.

01:03:44There are fewer than

01:03:46100 of them, so the IUCN

01:03:48has marked them as critically

01:03:50endangered.

01:03:52Also from Australia

01:03:54is the Night Parrot.

01:03:56An absolute delight to birdwatchers.

01:03:58Very beautiful, yet mysterious.

01:04:00These little fellas live in

01:04:02very remote areas.

01:04:04You can probably count on the fingers of your hand

01:04:06how many times these birds have been

01:04:08seen since they were found again

01:04:10in 1979.

01:04:12That's how rare they are.

01:04:16Have you ever seen a pygmy

01:04:18tarsier? Neither have I.

01:04:20It was only in 2008 that 3 of them

01:04:22were caught. Scientists

01:04:24don't really want to lose track of their movements

01:04:26again, so what they did was

01:04:28gift them with tiny little collars.

01:04:30This way they can live their life

01:04:32as happy as ever, and we'll know

01:04:34they're safe.

01:04:36The last one

01:04:38I want to tell you about is the Tree

01:04:40Lobster, but as the name might

01:04:42mistakenly tell you, they're not

01:04:44really lobsters. They're just big

01:04:46black bugs with huge legs.

01:04:48Their extinction story is a sad

01:04:50one. In 1920,

01:04:52a cargo ship got stuck on

01:04:54Lord Howe Island, and it had

01:04:56rats aboard. These rats fled

01:04:58the ship and ran straight to land.

01:05:02Even though tree lobsters are

01:05:04bigger than most insects, they're still

01:05:06relatively small compared to rats.

01:05:08The poor things never stood a chance.

01:05:10Still, in 2004,

01:05:12life shone again for

01:05:14these distinct critters.

01:05:16A pair of Australian scientists were

01:05:18out and about on the island and came

01:05:20across 24 of them.

01:05:22All of them were living beneath one single

01:05:24shrub. Hey, if there's

01:05:26enough space for everyone, it's not

01:05:28small, it's cozy.

01:05:30Bottom line, it's better to be

01:05:32distinct than extinct.

01:05:34Don't you agree?

01:05:38Fail. Ah, what a waste

01:05:40of an hour running around with a rolled

01:05:42up newspaper trying to get that fly

01:05:44that keeps buzzing around your head.

01:05:46Well, three things. Why isn't it

01:05:48afraid of you? And why

01:05:50won't it just fly away?

01:05:52And how is it so incredibly fast?

01:05:54Flies actually have a pretty

01:05:56normal speed for their size.

01:05:58You're just a bit too slow.

01:06:00A tiny fly brain

01:06:02reacts several times faster than yours

01:06:04to what it sees. One second to

01:06:06the fly feels like five or six

01:06:08to you. When a fly

01:06:10looks at you, it sees you as if you're

01:06:12hanging out at the bottom of your local pool

01:06:14moving around really slowly.

01:06:16What if you dropped a balloon

01:06:18from your bedroom window and watched

01:06:20it fall to the ground?

01:06:22That's how slow a fly sees

01:06:24regular things fall. So it has

01:06:26ninja reaction speeds, but

01:06:28it also has special eyes.

01:06:30They're divided into thousands of

01:06:32receptors that capture light all

01:06:34at the same time. You use

01:06:36small muscles to turn your eyes and

01:06:38head around to look in different directions.

01:06:40Flies don't have these muscles.

01:06:42They don't need them. They can see in every

01:06:44direction at the same time almost.

01:06:46No matter what side

01:06:48you attack from, that fly's

01:06:50almost definitely gonna see it coming.

01:06:52You've probably seen

01:06:54supersonic planes in the movies

01:06:56turning and flipping around at warp

01:06:58speed. A fly's kinda like

01:07:00that, but with way cooler wings.

01:07:02It can change directions mid-flight,

01:07:04stop, and dodge any

01:07:06obstacles. It can even calculate

01:07:08a flight strategy before it takes

01:07:10off. Well, this time you're

01:07:12really gonna swap that fly.

01:07:14As you raise your rolled-up paper,

01:07:16the insect's brain calculates where

01:07:18it's gonna land. The fly immediately

01:07:20puts its body in the perfect position,

01:07:22ready to perform an evasive

01:07:24maneuver. If your hand moves

01:07:26in front of the insect, its legs

01:07:28immediately tilt backwards to

01:07:30help it fly off in the other direction.

01:07:32Wow, that fly would make a great

01:07:34boxer. Or soccer goalie.

01:07:36So why does that fly

01:07:38even bother sticking around?

01:07:40You're always trying to squish it.

01:07:42Well, because your body is a 5-star

01:07:44feast, and your skin is the buffet

01:07:46table with row upon row

01:07:48of tasty treats.

01:07:50As you move about your day,

01:07:52your skin releases sweat, proteins,

01:07:54carbs, salt,

01:07:56sugar, and all other chemicals that

01:07:58flies are crazy about.

01:08:00Imagine you're hungry and thirsty

01:08:02walking through a desert. You

01:08:04come over a tall sand dune and see it.

01:08:06Free food, tables

01:08:08of fruit, candy, sandwiches,

01:08:10and the world's biggest soda fountain.

01:08:12The bouncer looks big, tough,

01:08:14round. It's a giant

01:08:16slow turtle. Now you

01:08:18know why the fly sticks around.

01:08:20You're the turtle.

01:08:22You actually do have a chance to get that fly.

01:08:24But it's still going to

01:08:26get away 8 times out of 10.

01:08:28Say a fly is sitting on your kitchen

01:08:30table. Here's what you do.

01:08:32You need to aim a few inches in front

01:08:34of where you think it's going to fly to.

01:08:36The fly brain will think you're aiming right at it,

01:08:38so you can actually outwit

01:08:40the fly and take it by surprise.

01:08:42The problem? It's really hard

01:08:44to predict the fly's escape route.

01:08:46So, you're too slow.

01:08:48How about calling in some backup?

01:08:50Meet the tiger beetle.

01:08:52Speed, 8 feet per second.

01:08:54It can't fly, but that doesn't

01:08:56matter. This beetle runs so

01:08:58fast, it loses the ability to

01:09:00see while it's moving.

01:09:02It aims itself at a target

01:09:04and then runs. It's not a ninja

01:09:06like the fly, and it can't change

01:09:08directions mid-sprint. It has

01:09:10to stop before each run.

01:09:12You walk at around 4.5

01:09:14feet per second, so the beetle

01:09:16goes like twice your speed.

01:09:18But for its size, it's incredibly

01:09:20fast. It runs

01:09:22125 lengths of its body

01:09:24in one second. Now, say

01:09:26you're 6 feet tall. You have to run

01:09:28750 feet in one

01:09:30second. As long as it's

01:09:32on the same surface as that pesky fly,

01:09:34the fly doesn't stand a chance.

01:09:36Or, maybe it's

01:09:38time to call in air support.

01:09:40The dragonfly is the fastest

01:09:42flying insect in the world.

01:09:44This little creature can reach 35

01:09:46miles per hour. That's faster than

01:09:48you riding your bike down a steep hill.

01:09:50The dragonfly's wings

01:09:52also allow it to fly back,

01:09:54right, left, up, and

01:09:56down, just like a helicopter.

01:09:58Doesn't matter how fast the fly moves,

01:10:00it's pretty much game over.

01:10:02Flies,

01:10:04dragonflies, and tiger beetles are

01:10:06fast because they don't want to spend

01:10:08a lot of extra time out in the open.

01:10:10There are a lot of hungry creatures

01:10:12around. But there's one insect

01:10:14that runs fast because if it

01:10:16stopped, ouch!

01:10:18To meet a speedy silver ant,

01:10:20you need to go to the Sahara Desert.

01:10:22The sand here is so hot

01:10:24you could fry an egg on it.

01:10:26Mmm, sand egg.

01:10:28That's why the silver ant speeds at around

01:10:302.5 feet per second.

01:10:32It doesn't want to burn its feet.

01:10:34It also has triangle-shaped hair

01:10:36that reflects heat, helping the ant

01:10:38escape the scorching sun.

01:10:40If that ant were human-sized,

01:10:42it could run at 400

01:10:44miles per hour, faster than

01:10:46the fastest car in the world.

01:10:48There's another ant that holds a speed record.

01:10:50The Dracula ant can't run

01:10:52as fast as the silver ant, but

01:10:54it has the fastest mouth in the world

01:10:56um, other than me.

01:10:58It can open and close its jaws

01:11:005,000 times, all in the blink

01:11:02of an eye. Literally.

01:11:04How about another fast one, this time

01:11:06a bit closer to home, or in it?

01:11:08The American cockroach

01:11:10can hide in the walls, behind

01:11:12the stove, pretty much anywhere.

01:11:14It's almost impossible to catch.

01:11:16It can run 5 feet per second.

01:11:18That's because of its 6 legs.

01:11:20Each one has 3 knees.

01:11:22Its legs are covered with

01:11:24small hairs that sense any

01:11:26change in the air. That's why

01:11:28it reacts so fast when you walk into

01:11:30the kitchen and turn the light on.

01:11:32And the world record

01:11:34for fastest creature on land

01:11:36is the size of a sesame seed.

01:11:38It's a type of mite,

01:11:40and it can move at 322

01:11:42body lengths per second.

01:11:44If you zap the mite to turn

01:11:46it to human size, it could go

01:11:48almost two times faster than

01:11:50the speed of sound. The mite can

01:11:52even change direction while moving.

01:11:54That makes it the fastest, most

01:11:56elusive creature on the planet.

01:11:58But let's find some animals

01:12:00that actually make us feel good about ourselves.

01:12:02The garden snail.

01:12:04It belongs to the mollusk family,

01:12:06and it likes to take its sweet time.

01:12:08If you were moving at

01:12:10snail speed, you'd take two

01:12:12steps every two hours.

01:12:14But snails don't care.

01:12:16They've been around for hundreds

01:12:18of millions of years.

01:12:20Snails use their shell for protection,

01:12:22but they have other tricks too.

01:12:24Some snails give off a nasty smell

01:12:26so that no one bothers them.

01:12:28If it gets too hot

01:12:30and dry, snails hide in

01:12:32their shells and seal themselves in

01:12:34using that cool slime they make.

01:12:36That slime also helps

01:12:38them climb up trees.

01:12:40Sloths are the slowest mammals

01:12:42on the planet. Thanks to their slow

01:12:44metabolism, food can take

01:12:46up to 16 days to get digested.

01:12:48Wouldn't be that hard to

01:12:50catch up to one of them. But their slowness

01:12:52actually helps them.

01:12:54You know how in the movies they say,

01:12:56stop, don't make any sudden movements?

01:12:58Well, a sloth has that part down cold.

01:13:00Other animals simply don't

01:13:02notice them up there among the leaves.

01:13:04Manatees

01:13:06are one of the slowest sea creatures.

01:13:08But they're not too worried about

01:13:10anyone messing with them, except for humans

01:13:12in motorboats. They are huge

01:13:14and they have thick, thick skin.

01:13:16It's like a sea tank,

01:13:18but way cuter.

01:13:20Another slow swimmer is the Greenland

01:13:22shark. It swims at less

01:13:24than one mile per hour. Like the

01:13:26manatee, it's large and in

01:13:28charge. No one's likely to

01:13:30challenge it face to face. But this

01:13:32all leads to the most hilarious

01:13:34snacking technique ever.

01:13:36The Greenland shark is basically slower

01:13:38than every single fish in the water.

01:13:40The only chance it has

01:13:42is to wait for some of those fish to

01:13:44fall asleep. Then, it's

01:13:46snack time. The cool thing is

01:13:48that their easygoing lifestyle

01:13:50actually prolongs their life.

01:13:52The average lifespan of a Greenland

01:13:54shark is 300 to

01:13:56500 years. They live

01:13:58in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

01:14:00Imagine you're

01:14:02on a cruise and you see one of these

01:14:04slow-motion giants. It might

01:14:06be 400 years older than

01:14:08you.

01:14:10Alright,

01:14:12you're scuba diving in the ocean,

01:14:14watching corals

01:14:16and colorful fish flitting

01:14:18by. When suddenly,

01:14:20an enormous shadow appears above

01:14:22you. You look up and see

01:14:24a massive creature approaching you.

01:14:26Its mouth a gaping abyss.

01:14:28Relax, just stay

01:14:30still and you'll be fine.

01:14:32This leviathan is a basking shark,

01:14:34one of the scary sea monsters

01:14:36that isn't really capable

01:14:38of doing harm to anyone.

01:14:40Basking sharks are filter feeders,

01:14:42just like baleen whales. They open

01:14:44their large mouths to swallow plankton

01:14:46and don't even have teeth.

01:14:48It's late

01:14:50night in the Central American jungle.

01:14:52You're out in the wild to watch

01:14:54birds and you hear flapping of

01:14:56wings. Excited, you look

01:14:58intently into your night vision goggles

01:15:00only to see a face

01:15:02out of your worst nightmares.

01:15:04Don't scream, you'll scare

01:15:06it away. It's a perfectly

01:15:08harmless wrinkle-faced bat

01:15:10and it isn't interested in you.

01:15:12These are fruit bats and wrinkles

01:15:14on their faces allow them to

01:15:16collect fruit pieces and juice for

01:15:18later snacks. By the way,

01:15:20their Latin name, Centurocenex,

01:15:22was given to them for their

01:15:24semblance to 100-year-old humans.

01:15:26Walking around

01:15:28a Nepali national park

01:15:30and deciding to wash your face in the river

01:15:32nearby, you freeze in

01:15:34terror. A crocodile is looking

01:15:36straight at you from no more than

01:15:38a few feet's distance.

01:15:40Then, it raises its snout

01:15:42above the water and you exhale

01:15:44in relief. It's a

01:15:46gharial. These reptiles have long

01:15:48and narrow snouts that allow them

01:15:50to efficiently catch fish

01:15:52and, at the same time, prohibiting

01:15:54them from hunting any other prey.

01:15:56While still carnivores,

01:15:58gharials are pretty shy

01:16:00and will slither away at the sight of humans.

01:16:02Right now, there are no

01:16:04more than a thousand of these crocodilians

01:16:06in the whole world, so

01:16:08let it go. Especially

01:16:10if it's a girl gharial.

01:16:14You dig your garden in the backyard

01:16:16and notice something moving on your

01:16:18shovel. You take a closer look

01:16:20and drop the tool in horror.

01:16:22A small creature looking like a

01:16:24hostile alien is scurrying

01:16:26away into some burrow in the ground.

01:16:28Eh, no worries.

01:16:30It's just a star-nosed mole.

01:16:32These critters have peculiar

01:16:34snouts that look like they've been blown up

01:16:36from within. Their eyes are

01:16:38small and weak, so the star

01:16:40on their nose helps them a lot to

01:16:42move around and seek food.

01:16:44It's always on the move, touching

01:16:46everything it can reach as if the tendrils

01:16:48were tiny fingers.

01:16:50Oh, you're bathing in the ocean again.

01:16:52Well, look to your right.

01:16:54There's a real toothed shark going

01:16:56right at you. Nah,

01:16:58don't panic. It's just a sand

01:17:00tiger shark. Neither a sand

01:17:02nor a tiger one, it's a

01:17:04vulnerable fish-eating shark that

01:17:06slowly swims in the seas and

01:17:08chases its prey from time to time.

01:17:10There have been no reports of it

01:17:12ever attacking humans, but

01:17:14it still has rows of sharp teeth.

01:17:16So, don't try to touch it

01:17:18just in case. It may seem

01:17:20placid, but you don't want it to

01:17:22get a bite out of you, do you?

01:17:24Okay, from ocean

01:17:26to desert. You're in Australia

01:17:28and longing for some

01:17:30water. You see a likely

01:17:32spot and start digging the ground,

01:17:34only to stumble upon a creature

01:17:36straight from the depths of neither,

01:17:38all covered in thorns.

01:17:40It eyes you suspiciously

01:17:42and slinks away because it's

01:17:44just a thorny devil.

01:17:46Despite its ominous name,

01:17:48this lizard is harmless to humans.

01:17:50Horn-like bumps on its skin are

01:17:52for protection from predators and

01:17:54birds of prey. The thorns

01:17:56are hard, but as long as you don't touch

01:17:58them, you're fine.

01:18:00Now, if you have arachnophobia,

01:18:02it won't calm you down.

01:18:04But tailless whip scorpions you

01:18:06might meet in North and South America,

01:18:08as well as Asia and Africa,

01:18:10are more afraid of you than you

01:18:12are of them. Tell yourself that.

01:18:14These nightmarish creatures

01:18:16don't have stingers and won't

01:18:18even bite when threatened.

01:18:20The worst they could do, and only if you

01:18:22corner them, why would you do that,

01:18:24is prick you with their front legs,

01:18:26leaving tiny puncture marks on

01:18:28your finger. Many people even

01:18:30keep them as pets, and they're quite

01:18:32affectionate toward their owners.

01:18:34Yeah.

01:18:36If you ever stumble upon a burrow from

01:18:38which a hairless, big-toothed creature

01:18:40is peeking at you, just don't

01:18:42mind it and let it be.

01:18:44Naked mole rats are

01:18:46the sphinx cats among rodents.

01:18:48They're close relatives of mole rats,

01:18:50but, well, naked.

01:18:52And they're fascinating in their own

01:18:54right too, thanks to living entirely

01:18:56underground. They're

01:18:58almost totally cold-blooded, but can

01:19:00conform to any temperature outside.

01:19:02And their flappy, wrinkled

01:19:04skin doesn't feel any pain at all.

01:19:06So, pins and prickles,

01:19:08as well as sharp teeth, don't scare

01:19:10naked mole rats.

01:19:12You're once again lost in the

01:19:14jungle, this time on Madagascar.

01:19:16Poor you. The night

01:19:18has fallen, and you seek shelter.

01:19:20But when you think you've found a

01:19:22suitable tree to build a lean to,

01:19:24you freeze in terror.

01:19:26A black, long-fingered

01:19:28hand appears on a tree branch

01:19:30right above you, and two

01:19:32huge yellow eyes are staring

01:19:34you down. Then you

01:19:36see a shaggy face and realize

01:19:38it's just a lemur.

01:19:40An aye-aye, more precisely.

01:19:42This creature is native to Madagascar

01:19:44and only goes out at night.

01:19:46So, you're lucky to see it.

01:19:48It fulfills a role of a woodpecker

01:19:50in tropical forests. It knocks

01:19:52on tree trunks to find bugs and

01:19:54uses its long, wizened fingers

01:19:56to reach inside.

01:19:58Tired of being scared?

01:20:00You seek your way home, but your

01:20:02horrors aren't over yet.

01:20:04There's a big red and white snake

01:20:06across your path. It hisses

01:20:08and lies in wait for you to

01:20:10move. You know it's a

01:20:12coral snake, a really dangerous

01:20:14venomous kind. You stop

01:20:16in your tracks, and only when it

01:20:18finally slithers away, you

01:20:20realize it was actually a milk

01:20:22snake. They often mimic

01:20:24venomous ones, not only coral

01:20:26snakes, to protect themselves from

01:20:28predators. Still, if you're not

01:20:30a snake expert, it's always best

01:20:32to stay away.

01:20:34Okay, this creature will

01:20:36infest your darkest dreams.

01:20:38A giant African millipede.

01:20:40It's big, it's glossy

01:20:42black, and it has hundreds of

01:20:44tiny, crawly legs.

01:20:46And yet, if it had googly eyes,

01:20:48it could even be cute. Perhaps that's

01:20:50why so many people keep them as pets.

01:20:52That, and because they commonly

01:20:54live up to 10 years.

01:20:56Giant millipedes can't really bite.

01:20:58Their only defense is curling

01:21:00into a tight ball and

01:21:02secreting irritating liquid from the pores

01:21:04of its skin. If you dare

01:21:06touch it, don't rub your eyes or nose

01:21:08afterwards. It's quite

01:21:10unpleasant.

01:21:12Goliath birdeater is another

01:21:14popular pet creepy crawler.

01:21:16It isn't dangerous for humans,

01:21:18despite it looking like your worst nightmare.

01:21:20This is one of the largest

01:21:22spiders in the world, and

01:21:24as its name implies, it sometimes

01:21:26hunts small birds for food.

01:21:28But they aren't part of its regular

01:21:30diet. The spider prefers

01:21:32worms and amphibians.

01:21:34Make sure you don't frighten it, though.

01:21:36It can still bite or release hairs

01:21:38in self-defense. The bite is similar

01:21:40to a wasp sting, and hairs

01:21:42can cause severe irritation on your

01:21:44skin. But mostly,

01:21:46this gentle giant is just shy

01:21:48and will crawl away at the sight

01:21:50of you. Oh dear, there's

01:21:52another snake approaching you. And

01:21:54fast! You're about to turn and run

01:21:56when you see a hulking,

01:21:58eight-legged form cutting into the snake's

01:22:00path and leaping on it.

01:22:02It's another arachnid, and it

01:22:04looks even more terrifying than the snake.

01:22:06It's a camel spider.

01:22:08Not really a spider,

01:22:10nor a scorpion. These creatures

01:22:12belong to a separate family.

01:22:14They became the stuff of many urban

01:22:16legends, but in fact, they don't even

01:22:18have any venom. Sure,

01:22:20they can bite, and their jaws are pretty

01:22:22powerful, but camel spiders can't

01:22:24do much more to a human than just

01:22:26bite. They hide in the sand

01:22:28and burrow to leap on unsuspecting

01:22:30lizards, invertebrates,

01:22:32and yes, even snakes.

01:22:34And now, picture

01:22:36a pill bug.

01:22:38Not exactly a beauty, but since it's

01:22:40small, it's okay. But what

01:22:42if it were 10 times as large?

01:22:44No, definitely not

01:22:46okay. Still, such a creature

01:22:48exists, and it's a giant

01:22:50isopod. Thankfully,

01:22:52it lurks in deep, dark, and cold

01:22:54waters, so it won't ever

01:22:56come up in your backyard.

01:22:58Giant isopods grow to such

01:23:00enormous size because of something

01:23:02called deep-sea gigantism.

01:23:04Deep-dwelling creatures have to

01:23:06endure great pressure of water,

01:23:08extreme cold temperatures, and scarce

01:23:10food, so their metabolism

01:23:12slows down.

01:23:14Isopods don't move much, and

01:23:16more often than not, just lie in wait

01:23:18until some poor small bug

01:23:20or crustacean crawls within their

01:23:22reach and they can munch on it.

01:23:24And though it looks like a many-

01:23:26legged chaos from below,

01:23:28a giant isopod can hurt you

01:23:30even if it wanted to.

01:23:32Just pet it already!

01:23:36Well, the seahorse

01:23:38is an unusual fish.

01:23:40Normally, female animals carry a

01:23:42child, but seahorses do it the

01:23:44other way around. For 9 to

01:23:4645 days, the future father

01:23:48carries the eggs inside a special

01:23:50pouch until the birth process

01:23:52begins. Then, the male

01:23:54opens his brood pouch and squeezes

01:23:56out the children.

01:23:58The female

01:24:00anaconda finds the deepest puddle

01:24:02and spends her pregnancy in it.

01:24:04She will starve for about

01:24:067 months while pregnant.

01:24:08Then she will give birth to 40

01:24:10children that make up 30% of her

01:24:12body weight. Her babies are

01:24:14completely independent and will

01:24:16explore the world around them.

01:24:20The Suriname toad looks like a

01:24:22normal toad, but is totally

01:24:24flat. Unlike most animals,

01:24:26this one carries its future children

01:24:28not inside, but on its

01:24:30back. Female toads have

01:24:32special holes on their backs for

01:24:34eggs where the babies develop.

01:24:36After 3 to 4 months, the

01:24:38little Suriname toads wake up

01:24:40and crawl out of the pockets

01:24:42on mom's back.

01:24:46Kangaroos are born just one month

01:24:48after conception, but they're not yet

01:24:50ready for life in the outside world.

01:24:52Newborn kangaroos are smaller

01:24:54than an inch. These tiny

01:24:56creatures crawl into their mom's

01:24:58pouch using their front legs.

01:25:00After 195 days,

01:25:02the kangaroo grows big

01:25:04and strong enough to leave the pouch.

01:25:08Sea urchins lay more than

01:25:102 million eggs, but not all

01:25:12survive. Male and female

01:25:14urchins throw something like a cloud

01:25:16into the water, which contains

01:25:18the future offspring. In the next

01:25:20few hours, if the egg cloud is

01:25:22not eaten by other sea creatures,

01:25:24the eggs will turn into a ball with

01:25:26microscopic hairs and then

01:25:28form a skeleton. At this point,

01:25:30they're ready for their own reproduction.

01:25:34Most animals either lay

01:25:36eggs or have a live birth.

01:25:38But the Jackson's chameleon does

01:25:40both and gives birth up to

01:25:4230 young at a time.

01:25:44The female bears the eggs minus

01:25:46a shell right inside her body

01:25:48instead of laying them as many

01:25:50other chameleon species do.

01:25:54In the yellowhead jawfish

01:25:56family, a dadfish

01:25:58takes care of the future offspring.

01:26:00The male broods the eggs inside

01:26:02his mouth. After the birth,

01:26:04the male carries his babies

01:26:06in this safe place.

01:26:08The brooding method lets the father keep his

01:26:10children safe because he can swim

01:26:12away from danger with the babies in

01:26:14his mouth.

01:26:16Sloths spend

01:26:18most of their time on the treetops.

01:26:20Their birth process is extravagant.

01:26:22The female lets her hind

01:26:24legs dangle and clings to a

01:26:26branch only by her front ones

01:26:28and gives birth in this position.

01:26:30The baby sloth grabs

01:26:32the mother's fur right after birth

01:26:34and climbs to her chest.

01:26:38The velvet spider builds a special

01:26:40room for giving birth and child care.

01:26:42Just like weaving a spider web,

01:26:44she constructs a cocoon

01:26:46around it where she lays up to

01:26:4880 eggs. Then she makes

01:26:50a hole in the cocoon so that the

01:26:52offspring can escape.

01:26:54But this hole is too small for her,

01:26:56so she will never come out.

01:26:58For two weeks, she will feed the

01:27:00hatched spiders until they become

01:27:02independent.

01:27:04Whales,

01:27:06the biggest mammals in the animal kingdom,

01:27:08give birth underwater,

01:27:10so their babies have to rise all the way

01:27:12up to the surface to take their first breath.

01:27:14Mom whale will feed

01:27:16the baby with 54%

01:27:18fat milk for the next four months

01:27:20until it grows enough to eat on

01:27:22its own.

01:27:24Octopuses give birth

01:27:26only once in a lifetime.

01:27:28One of the arms of the male octopus

01:27:30is adapted to fertilize females.

01:27:32Some octopuses separate

01:27:34the arm from their body and give it to

01:27:36the female. After laying eggs,

01:27:38female octopuses circulate water

01:27:40currents over the eggs to clean them

01:27:42and protect them from predators.

01:27:46Now imagine giving birth

01:27:48to a baby the size of a 4-year-old.

01:27:50Poor mom!

01:27:52But that's what kiwi birds do.

01:27:54Their eggs can weigh up to a quarter

01:27:56of their body mass.

01:27:58To produce such a big egg,

01:28:00female kiwis have to eat three times

01:28:02more than usual.

01:28:04Shingleback lizards

01:28:06also have a difficult pregnancy.

01:28:08These animals normally

01:28:10have up to two babies,

01:28:12which doesn't seem so bad.

01:28:14But the babies can make up a third

01:28:16of the mother's weight.

01:28:18Giraffes are some

01:28:20of the tallest terrestrial animals,

01:28:22which has an effect on the birth process.

01:28:24In a giraffe birth,

01:28:26the baby first pokes out

01:28:28the front hooves, then the nose,

01:28:30and the entire head.

01:28:32Within an hour, the baby is born.

01:28:34Before taking the first breath,

01:28:36the baby giraffe falls from the height

01:28:38of 6.5 feet to the ground.

01:28:40Ow!

01:28:42Hammerhead sharks

01:28:44can give birth without mating

01:28:46with another shark.

01:28:48Basically, they're just

01:28:50making copies of themselves.

01:28:52This was first discovered in 1999

01:28:54in a Nebraska zoo.

01:28:56There are just a few other animal species,

01:28:58like some geckos and lizards,

01:29:00that can reproduce this way.

01:29:02Porcupines

01:29:04are known for their sharp quills.

01:29:06In the womb, these quills are soft,

01:29:08but right after birth,

01:29:10when coming in contact with air

01:29:12for the first time, they become hard

01:29:14and sharp.

01:29:16Naked mole rats

01:29:18are incredibly reproductive.

01:29:20They live in colonies and have a queen,

01:29:22who is the only female

01:29:24to give birth.

01:29:26First-time moms can have up to 15 babies,

01:29:28but every litter after,

01:29:30the number of babies grows.

01:29:32At her peak, a mole rat queen

01:29:34can have up to 33 babies,

01:29:36which is the largest litter size

01:29:38of any mammal on Earth.

01:29:40Hippopotamus

01:29:42pregnancies last about 8 months,

01:29:44despite the animal's big size.

01:29:46When ready to give birth,

01:29:48hippo moms leave the herd

01:29:50for two weeks to establish

01:29:52a strong connection with their babies.

01:29:54Hippo calves are born underwater,

01:29:56so they learn to swim

01:29:58from the very beginning.

01:30:00Zebras

01:30:02have a really hard time after birth,

01:30:04both for mom and the baby.

01:30:06Zebras are an animal who can see

01:30:08their unborn baby as a potential threat

01:30:10in the future.

01:30:12So when a baby zebra comes out,

01:30:14a male zebra can attack it immediately.

01:30:16The mother protects her offspring,

01:30:18often not having any time to rest.

01:30:22Elephants

01:30:24have the longest gestation period

01:30:26of all mammals,

01:30:28lasting more than 18 months.

01:30:30Though they live up to 70 years,

01:30:32most elephants won't have more than 4 babies.

01:30:34When the elephant mom is ready

01:30:36to give birth, other elephants from the herd

01:30:38form a protective circle around her

01:30:40until she delivers the baby.

01:30:42At birth, they can weigh

01:30:44up to 260 pounds.

01:30:46To protect them from predators,

01:30:48barnacle geese

01:30:50lay eggs on a cliff at 400 feet,

01:30:52which is the height of a 36-story building.

01:30:54When the eggs hatch,

01:30:56the little chicks face a problem.

01:30:58There's no food nearby

01:31:00because they're on a rock.

01:31:02So at just a few days old,

01:31:04they jump off the cliff

01:31:06and try to make a soft landing.

01:31:10Although marine iguanas don't have to leap off a cliff,

01:31:12they're also in a hurry

01:31:14soon after they're born.

01:31:16Female marine iguanas lay eggs

01:31:18in an underground cave that they dig.

01:31:20This is a safe place to hide from predators.

01:31:22But sooner or later,

01:31:24the baby iguanas come out of these caves

01:31:26to eat.

01:31:28And this is the moment when snakes start to hunt them.

01:31:30The fastest and strongest iguanas

01:31:32survive to enjoy the food.

01:31:36A sandwich before bedtime

01:31:38will lower the quality of your sleep.

01:31:40Any late-night meal increases metabolism

01:31:42and body temperature.

01:31:44It activates the activity of the brain.

01:31:46An active brain at night

01:31:48leads to a lot of nightmares.

01:31:50Technically,

01:31:52it's possible to say that there's still a lot of

01:31:54dinos on our planet.

01:31:56Birds are actually the only surviving dinosaurs.

01:31:58They evolved from theropods,

01:32:00the dinosaurs that ran

01:32:02on two legs.

01:32:04Yep, T. rex is a distant relative

01:32:06of chickens, ostriches, and even

01:32:08hummingbirds.

01:32:10A phone is 10 times dirtier

01:32:12than a toilet handle.

01:32:14Also, beware of office tables

01:32:16since they have hundreds of times more bacteria

01:32:18per square inch than office toilet seats.

01:32:20Yikes!

01:32:22Ants can actually

01:32:24take over the world.

01:32:26Argentinian ants have built colonies

01:32:28on every part of the planet except Antarctica.

01:32:30Insects from different colonies

01:32:32are on good terms

01:32:34and never have conflicts.

01:32:36In reality,

01:32:38flamingos are white.

01:32:40The bird turns pink due to beta-carotene.

01:32:42This pigment is found in the algae

01:32:44and the shrimp that it feeds on.

01:32:46You can change your skin color too.

01:32:48If you eat a lot of carrots,

01:32:50your skin will turn slightly orange.

01:32:52This will happen because of the high

01:32:54beta-carotene content in the vegetable.

01:32:56Hypothetically, you can see the past.

01:32:58When you look into the starry sky,

01:33:00you're looking into the past.

01:33:02When the sun disappears,

01:33:04we know about it only after 8 minutes.

01:33:06This is how long it takes

01:33:08the light to reach the Earth.

01:33:10Scientists from Japan played audio

01:33:12recordings for cats to prove

01:33:14they're truly dismissive.

01:33:16In those recordings, the owners of the cats

01:33:18called them by their names.

01:33:20Cats' pupils dilated.

01:33:22The animals moved their tails, legs, or ears.

01:33:24Cats heard people,

01:33:26but rarely responded.

01:33:28It's all about evolution.

01:33:30Cats came to people because they were

01:33:32attracted by mice that ate grains.

01:33:34They lived close to people,

01:33:36but were never tamed.

01:33:38Trees have their own underground

01:33:40sort of internet.

01:33:42The roots of 90% of trees are

01:33:44interconnected by mycelium filaments.

01:33:46Trees exchange information

01:33:48and nutrients through them.

01:33:50They warn each other about danger

01:33:52and bring parasites together.

01:33:54Trillions of microorganisms

01:33:56live inside you.

01:33:58They make up 3% of your body weight

01:34:00and weigh up to 6 pounds.

01:34:02Microorganisms play a very important role.

01:34:04They help with digestion,

01:34:06absorb nutrients,

01:34:08and do many other things we never notice.

01:34:10In comparison with microorganisms,

01:34:12there are really few people

01:34:14on our planet.

01:34:16A teaspoon of soil contains more living organisms

01:34:18than there are humans

01:34:20on planet Earth.

01:34:22Human memory has a limit.

01:34:24Scientists estimate that your brain

01:34:26can memorize 2.5 million gigabytes

01:34:28of data.

01:34:30To use up all the memory limits,

01:34:32you need to upload a 300-year-long

01:34:34high-quality video right into

01:34:36your memory.

01:34:38People have mined 200,000 tons

01:34:40of gold throughout history,

01:34:42of which about two-thirds have been

01:34:44mined since the 1950s.

01:34:46If we made a cube out of all this metal,

01:34:48it would be 70 feet high

01:34:50and wide.

01:34:52Recent data from scientists confirmed

01:34:54the myth that in the Earth's core,

01:34:56there are huge reserves of gold.

01:34:58The metal is enough to cover

01:35:00all the planet, and people might have

01:35:02gold up to their knees.

01:35:04The problem is, we just can't mine it

01:35:06from there.

01:35:08Scientists used to believe that

01:35:10there were 400 billion trees

01:35:12growing on Earth, but there are over

01:35:14300 trillion of them,

01:35:16or 420 trees per person.

01:35:18There are more

01:35:20trees on Earth than there are stars

01:35:22in the Milky Way galaxy.

01:35:24The desert and cold

01:35:26Wrangel Island was the last place

01:35:28where mammoths lived.

01:35:30These giant animals disappeared

01:35:32about 4,000 years ago.

01:35:34By this time, the Great Pyramid at Giza

01:35:36had been around for only 500 years.

01:35:38Archaeologists

01:35:40have found pots of honey

01:35:42that are 3,000 years old in Egypt.

01:35:44It didn't go off

01:35:46and turned out to be edible.

01:35:48It's possibly because of the chemical

01:35:50composition of honey.

01:35:52Bacteria and insects that can spoil

01:35:54honey can't live in it.

01:35:56You're actually drinking

01:35:58the water that dinosaurs drank.

01:36:00The water on our planet

01:36:02is the same as it was billions of years ago.

01:36:04Only a small portion of the

01:36:06liquid has evaporated.

01:36:08By the way, scientists still

01:36:10don't know exactly where the water came

01:36:12from. We have a detailed

01:36:14map of the Moon and Mars.

01:36:16Still, over 80%

01:36:18of the Earth's ocean is unmapped

01:36:20and unexplored. We can't

01:36:22study the oceans properly because

01:36:24of pressure, cold, and lack

01:36:26of light underneath billions of tons

01:36:28of water. The myth

01:36:30that you can't put hot food in the fridge

01:36:32is not true. There's only

01:36:34one rule to follow.

01:36:36Food should be divided into small portions

01:36:38and placed into separate containers,

01:36:40preferably shallow for quicker

01:36:42cooling in the refrigerator.

01:36:44This way, you'll preserve both your food

01:36:46and your fridge.

01:36:48On Earth, there are biologically

01:36:50immortal creatures. It's a transparent

01:36:52jellyfish called Turritopsis

01:36:54dornii. When it reaches maturity,

01:36:56it sinks to the bottom and turns

01:36:58into a polyp. From a polyp,

01:37:00the creature again turns into a jellyfish.

01:37:02The number of rebirths is

01:37:04unlimited.

01:37:06You can actually break a glass with your

01:37:08voice, but it's quite hard.

01:37:10The volume of your scream must

01:37:12be at least 105 decibels,

01:37:14and it must last about

01:37:162 to 3 seconds.

01:37:18The

01:37:20jackhammer works at a volume of

01:37:2290 decibels.

01:37:24Sailors

01:37:26from all over the world talked about

01:37:28the giant squid they met on their voyages.

01:37:30For many years, scientists

01:37:32considered monsters with long tentacles

01:37:34to be a myth. But

01:37:36in 2004,

01:37:38the first photo of a squid was taken.

01:37:40They actually exist.

01:37:42Scientists have registered an animal

01:37:44that has grown to 43 feet.

01:37:46Your nose

01:37:48and ears get bigger every year.

01:37:50This isn't due to an increase

01:37:52in size, but due to gravity.

01:37:54With age, the cartilage of the

01:37:56nose and ears weaken. Because

01:37:58of this, they sag and appear larger.

01:38:00The Kepler Space

01:38:02Telescope expedition confirmed

01:38:04that Earth isn't unique.

01:38:06Most likely, our world isn't

01:38:08the only place in the universe where there's life.

01:38:10The device size of a

01:38:12minibus flew through space for 9

01:38:14years. During this time,

01:38:16it confirmed the existence of

01:38:18300 million planets that are potentially

01:38:20habitable. They have a

01:38:22solid surface, liquid water,

01:38:24and nearby stars that look like our

01:38:26Sun.

01:38:28All plants, fungi, animals,

01:38:30and humans evolved from a

01:38:32single microbe. Scientists

01:38:34call it Leuca,

01:38:36last universal common ancestor.

01:38:38The microbe was discovered by

01:38:40comparing the genes of living beings

01:38:42and their descendants. Leuca

01:38:44lived 4.5 billion years

01:38:46ago. It lived in the craters

01:38:48of deep sea volcanoes among

01:38:50hot lava and water.

01:38:52Recent research by scientists

01:38:54has shown that Neanderthals

01:38:56could hibernate like bears.

01:38:58This is

01:39:00confirmed by the bones of

01:39:02ancient people from the Spanish cave

01:39:04Cima de los Huesos.

01:39:06Scientists have found signs

01:39:08of slow metabolism on the bones.

01:39:10It proves that Neanderthals

01:39:12slept for months and did not

01:39:14leave the cave.

01:39:16The myth

01:39:18that closed eyes improve memory

01:39:20is true. When your eyes are

01:39:22closed, you don't need to memorize information

01:39:24and the environment visually does

01:39:26not distract you. This frees up

01:39:28your brain's energy and makes the memory

01:39:30more efficient.

01:39:32The acidity levels of the human

01:39:34gastric juice and the acid from the car

01:39:36battery are almost identical.

01:39:38Plastic and even metal will

01:39:40dissolve in your stomach. If we drop

01:39:42a metal plate the size of a penny into

01:39:44gastric juice, there will only be about

01:39:4663% remaining of it within

01:39:4824 hours.

01:39:50Mosquitoes actually

01:39:52bite some people more than others.

01:39:54The most delicious humans are

01:39:56those with type O blood.

01:39:58Also, these insects have

01:40:00really good eyesight. They're attracted

01:40:02by green, black and red colors.

01:40:04So, check the color

01:40:06of your clothes before you go camping.

01:40:08Each human is

01:40:1099.9% empty

01:40:12space. Your body, like

01:40:14any other object in the universe,

01:40:16consists of atoms.

01:40:18At the center of atoms, there's a super

01:40:20small nucleus. If you zoom the

01:40:22atom up to the size of a basketball,

01:40:24you won't see the core. If it was

01:40:26possible to get all the empty space out

01:40:28of your body, you'd probably be as

01:40:30tiny as a grain of sand.

01:40:32You can actually put a shark

01:40:34in a trance for 15 minutes.

01:40:36To do this, you need to stroke the

01:40:38nose of the dangerous animal with your hand.

01:40:40This sort of hypnosis

01:40:42is called tonic immobility.

01:40:44That happens thanks to the receptors in the

01:40:46shark's nose. When stroked,

01:40:48the receptors send a lot of signals

01:40:50and the shark's brain is unable

01:40:52to process them all.

01:40:54Glass is an amorphous substance

01:40:56and it disobeys many laws

01:40:58of physics. It's solid, but

01:41:00it looks liquid if you look at it under a microscope.

01:41:02In reality, it's

01:41:04neither liquid nor solid.

01:41:06It happens because the heat needed to

01:41:08produce glass changes the way molecules

01:41:10behave. It's like when you

01:41:12iron your clothes and fibers change

01:41:14because of high temperatures.

01:41:16Don't worry if you

01:41:18notice a sort of a pocket your pooch

01:41:20has on their ear. It actually

01:41:22has a name, Henry's Pocket,

01:41:24or more scientifically, Cutaneous Marginal

01:41:26Pouch. It's a fold of skin

01:41:28forming an open pouch and you can

01:41:30see it on the lower posterior part of a

01:41:32dog's ear. No one knows

01:41:34exactly what it's for.

01:41:36Still, one hypothesis is

01:41:38that it helps detect high-pitched sounds.

01:41:40So, every

01:41:42evening, right before you're about to switch

01:41:44off the television and go to bed,

01:41:46your pooch enters the living room.

01:41:48It sprawls out on the floor

01:41:50and seems to be… watching TV?

01:41:52In 2012,

01:41:54in the UK, a company

01:41:56producing dog food created

01:41:58an unusual commercial. It was

01:42:00made to attract dogs' attention.

01:42:02The ad used special high-frequency

01:42:04sounds. They were inaudible

01:42:06to the human ear, but dogs could hear

01:42:08them very well. The idea

01:42:10was simple. A pooch gets so

01:42:12entranced by the commercial that owners

01:42:14can't but notice it. And the

01:42:16next dog food they buy is the

01:42:18advertised product. In theory,

01:42:20the idea sounded promising.

01:42:22In reality, most dogs showed

01:42:24no reaction whatsoever,

01:42:26meaning ads can't probably

01:42:28manipulate pets as well as they

01:42:30influence people. But even

01:42:32though this experiment was a failure,

01:42:34dogs still do find watching

01:42:36TV interesting. You may have

01:42:38noticed your fluffy companion react

01:42:40to animals, moving objects, and

01:42:42other images appearing on the screen.

01:42:44It's almost as if they see

01:42:46the same things you do.

01:42:48If we talk about colors,

01:42:50TV and reality don't look

01:42:52different to dogs. They see the

01:42:54world in shades of yellow and blue

01:42:56and can't pick out green and red

01:42:58hues. Plus, canine vision

01:43:00is somewhat blurred.

01:43:02Dogs process what's happening on the screen

01:43:04in a different way than you do.

01:43:06When you watch something, your brain

01:43:08needs 16 to 20 video frames

01:43:10per second to detect movement.

01:43:12For your pooch, this number must

01:43:14be more than 70 frames per second.

01:43:16Let's say your pet is seated

01:43:18in front of an old TV.

01:43:20In this case, what the animal sees

01:43:22looks like a flip book.

01:43:24If it's a modern television, your pup

01:43:26is likely to be much more interested

01:43:28because modern TV sets have

01:43:30a faster video frame rate.

01:43:32As for the content itself,

01:43:34dogs react to the same stuff that would

01:43:36attract their attention in real life.

01:43:38It can be squeaking toys, commands,

01:43:40and other dogs barking, growling,

01:43:42yipping, and whatnot.

01:43:44If the TV screen isn't

01:43:46showing anything related to dogs, though,

01:43:48your pet will probably remain

01:43:50completely uninterested.

01:43:52In a 2017

01:43:54experiment, dogs were offered

01:43:56to watch different activities happening

01:43:58on three screens.

01:44:00The animals didn't show any preferences

01:44:02for one screen over the others.

01:44:04In fact, they didn't look even a tiny

01:44:06bit curious or eager to spend

01:44:08some time in front of any of the TVs.

01:44:10It might be because

01:44:12dogs have a super short TV attention

01:44:14span. Usually, they only

01:44:16look at the screen for a couple of seconds

01:44:18at a time. On the other hand,

01:44:20hunting dogs, which are innately

01:44:22interested in moving objects, can get

01:44:24more captivated, while those

01:44:26canines that mostly rely on smell

01:44:28will get bored in no time.

01:44:30Other pets, like

01:44:32cats or parrots, also seem

01:44:34to enjoy an occasional TV show

01:44:36or two. Many parrot owners

01:44:38are sure their birds love watching

01:44:40TV. They get excited

01:44:42when a particular commercial is on.

01:44:44They can even start flapping their

01:44:46wings, dancing, or whistling.

01:44:48But what do they see on the

01:44:50screen? A parrot's vision is

01:44:52different from yours in several ways.

01:44:54For one thing, its eyes are on

01:44:56the sides of the head, not facing forward.

01:44:58It helps the bird to see a larger

01:45:00area and protect itself from enemies.

01:45:02But even though parrots

01:45:04have a broader vision, they can't

01:45:06perceive depth well enough.

01:45:08It means that images on a widescreen

01:45:10TV look much flatter to them than

01:45:12they do to you. When you're watching

01:45:14TV, you see one constant

01:45:16image. But for parrots, the

01:45:18screen is constantly flickering

01:45:20at a fast speed. And the

01:45:22coolest thing? These birds can see

01:45:24ultraviolet light, but the human eye

01:45:26can't detect it.

01:45:28And how about cats?

01:45:30These animals are natural hunters.

01:45:32That's why they most often react to

01:45:34the images of rodents and birds.

01:45:36In one study, more than

01:45:38100 cats watched TV

01:45:40for 3 hours a day.

01:45:42The felines were split into 5 focus

01:45:44groups. Each group had its own

01:45:46program to view, which ranged from

01:45:48the footage of people and animals moving

01:45:50to a blank screen.

01:45:52The average time the cats spent watching

01:45:54TV was a bit more than 6%.

01:45:56The most popular were the shows

01:45:58about animals.

01:46:00If your cat likes staring at the screen

01:46:02from time to time, try not to let it

01:46:04alone in front of the TV.

01:46:06The chances are your pet's hunting

01:46:08instincts will take over. And

01:46:10when it pounces to catch a bird flying

01:46:12on the screen, your television will

01:46:14end up on the floor.

01:46:16All in all, it might not

01:46:18be bad that our pets have such limited

01:46:20screen time. But this whole

01:46:22TV-watching situation makes me think

01:46:24how do different creatures see

01:46:26the world around them? Fish's

01:46:28eyes are not that different from ours,

01:46:30but they're covered with a protective film.

01:46:32Otherwise, fish wouldn't be able

01:46:34to see clearly underwater.

01:46:36Like in the human eye, there are rods

01:46:38for black and white vision and cones

01:46:40for color vision in the fish's eyes.

01:46:42Some fish species, like

01:46:44tank-dwelling goldfish, can also

01:46:46see ultraviolet. Fish's

01:46:48eyes are also designed in such a way

01:46:50that everything located nearby

01:46:52looks bigger than it really is.

01:46:54Snakes have

01:46:56rather poor vision. That's why

01:46:58they have to stick out their tongues to get

01:47:00an idea of what's going on around them.

01:47:02On the bright side,

01:47:04snakes can spot thermal

01:47:06radiation amazingly well.

01:47:08All living creatures emit this kind

01:47:10of radiation. At night,

01:47:12this natural ability is 10

01:47:14times more effective than any

01:47:16modern night vision device.

01:47:18But during the day, snakes can

01:47:20only react to movement.

01:47:22Rats and mice don't

01:47:24have perfect vision either. It's quite

01:47:26blurry, with bad depth perception.

01:47:28These rodents perceive colors

01:47:30a bit like people with red-green

01:47:32color blindness. Everything looks

01:47:34bluish, and the colors they do see

01:47:36are kind of faded.

01:47:38Also, rats and mice are likely

01:47:40to connect smells with what they see

01:47:42at the moment. They mostly perceive

01:47:44the world with the help of their whiskers

01:47:46through touch.

01:47:48Move over! Cows can

01:47:50see the world in much less vibrant

01:47:52colors than most people. Only a few

01:47:54hues look bright. The rest

01:47:56are faded. These animals

01:47:58also don't see things clearly

01:48:00enough. It's because they can't focus

01:48:02their eyes as fast as people do.

01:48:04Plus, cows need more

01:48:06time to process visual information.

01:48:08They have poor depth

01:48:10perception because of their limited vertical

01:48:12vision. It's 60 degrees

01:48:14versus 140 degrees

01:48:16in humans. You might have noticed

01:48:18cows stop before walking across

01:48:20shadows. That's because they

01:48:22can't tell whether it's a shadow or

01:48:24a ditch or a hole in the ground.

01:48:26Horses

01:48:28can see almost 360 degrees,

01:48:30but they have two blind

01:48:32spots, a small one directly in

01:48:34front of their noses and the other

01:48:36behind their tails. Horses don't

01:48:38see colors as bright as we do.

01:48:40Their color deficiency makes it

01:48:42hard for them to spot some objects.

01:48:44They also can't distinguish red

01:48:46colors.

01:48:48People can see more hues than bees,

01:48:50but bees have a broader range

01:48:52of color vision. You base

01:48:54your color combinations on blue,

01:48:56green, and red, and bees

01:48:58on blue, green, and ultraviolet.

01:49:00These insects don't

01:49:02have special photoreceptors to see

01:49:04the red color, but they can distinguish

01:49:06yellow, orange, and a unique

01:49:08color called bee's purple.

01:49:10That's a mixture of yellow and

01:49:12ultraviolet light. Bees

01:49:14see color five times faster than people.

01:49:16Their color vision is not only

01:49:18the speediest in the animal world,

01:49:20it also helps them find natural

01:49:22landing strips invisible to people.

01:49:24Flies' eyes

01:49:26don't move, but their spherical

01:49:28shape and the way they stick out of

01:49:30the bugs' heads gives flies

01:49:32an almost 360-degree vision.

01:49:34These insects can't

01:49:36focus and are short-sighted,

01:49:38just like some people I know.

01:49:40But the coolest thing about how they see

01:49:42the world? It resembles a mosaic.

01:49:44Thousands of teeny

01:49:46images that together create the

01:49:48whole picture. Flies are so

01:49:50jumpy for a reason. Even though

01:49:52these bugs don't see well, they're

01:49:54great at picking up movement. This

01:49:56ability helps them flee in the blink

01:49:58of an eye. Um, that's flee

01:50:00as in get away, not flee

01:50:02as in the bugs on your dog.

01:50:04Are we clear? Good.

01:50:06Moving on. Sharks

01:50:08see the world in monochrome.

01:50:10These creatures are a bit short-sighted,

01:50:12but sharks only need the

01:50:14sense of sight once they're closing

01:50:16in on their soon-to-be dinner.

01:50:18And in dim light, a

01:50:20shark can see almost 10 times

01:50:22better than you do.

01:50:24Garden snails' eyes don't focus

01:50:26or see colors, but these

01:50:28slow creatures can make out other

01:50:30living beings coming close.

01:50:32Snails also know how to navigate

01:50:34toward dark, safe places,

01:50:36all thanks to their ability

01:50:38to analyze the difference in light intensity.

01:50:40Adult

01:50:42giant clams don't move.

01:50:44They attach themselves to a rock

01:50:46or coral and watch the world

01:50:48through hundreds of tiny pinhole eyes.

01:50:50Those are situated along

01:50:52the edges of their soft bodies.

01:50:54Clams can distinguish three

01:50:56different colors, but unfortunately

01:50:58they can't combine the information

01:51:00they receive. That's why they

01:51:02see bright and colorful, but totally

01:51:04shapeless images.

01:51:06But that's no slam on the clam,

01:51:08and they're also delicious.

01:51:12So, you're at home,

01:51:14enjoying your evening tea under a

01:51:16warm blanket, when all of a

01:51:18sudden you see a huge, no,

01:51:20enormous mosquito.

01:51:22Its long and gangly legs have

01:51:24a span of your palm, and it clumsily

01:51:26bumps into all the obstacles it

01:51:28meets. Despite its awkward

01:51:30appearance, it's still terrifying.

01:51:32What if it carries malaria?

01:51:34What if it eats you alive in your sleep?

01:51:36Slowly, not to draw the

01:51:38monster's attention to yourself,

01:51:40you get out from your soft chair

01:51:42and run for it into the bathroom,

01:51:44lock yourself in there, and open the

01:51:46browser on your phone. After a

01:51:48few seconds, you draw a ragged

01:51:50breath of relief.

01:51:52Turns out it's just a crane

01:51:54fly, not a mosquito at all.

01:51:56It might look like a ferocious beast,

01:51:58but it's actually peaceful and

01:52:00even defenseless. Many crane

01:52:02flies don't even have mouths, so

01:52:04they don't eat at all, and those that

01:52:06have a mouthpiece will only munch on

01:52:08sweet flower nectar.

01:52:10Crane flies are really clumsy

01:52:12in the air. Their rather

01:52:14short wings are no match for their huge

01:52:16bodies and long legs, so

01:52:18they're slow and it's easy to catch

01:52:20them. Birds and frogs, as well

01:52:22as bats and cats love them as

01:52:24a treat. The only way they can avoid

01:52:26being eaten is by losing a limb.

01:52:28Their legs easily break off

01:52:30even when nothing touches them.

01:52:32And if you're

01:52:34still unconvinced not to scram

01:52:36and set your house on fire when you see one,

01:52:38consider this. Crane flies

01:52:40can tell you if the water pool

01:52:42you're about to swim in is of good quality.

01:52:44If you see these bugs on

01:52:46or above the water, you're good

01:52:48to go. Even more,

01:52:50fishers often make their bait look like

01:52:52the crane fly larva. Ah,

01:52:54this makes it more appetizing for the

01:52:56fish! But while

01:52:58Googling, you get engrossed with

01:53:00reading up on some other weird

01:53:02and crazy bugs. For example,

01:53:04here's the human-faced stink

01:53:06bug. Nah, they don't really stink,

01:53:08at least for humans. They give

01:53:10off pheromones that attract other stink

01:53:12bugs, letting them know there's

01:53:14food nearby. The most

01:53:16peculiar feature of it is in the name.

01:53:18A man-faced stink

01:53:20bug has a face on its back

01:53:22with three black dots drawn

01:53:24in red. The vibrant color

01:53:26of its back warns predators

01:53:28that the bug isn't tasty or

01:53:30even poisonous, while the black eyes

01:53:32draw attention from them to the

01:53:34vulnerable head.

01:53:36Saddleback caterpillar's name is also

01:53:38quite telling. It looks like

01:53:40some creature from another planet with

01:53:42a bright green saddle over its back.

01:53:44And the saddle is, sadly,

01:53:46the only safe part of the thing to

01:53:48touch. The spines you see

01:53:50all over the rest of its body are sharp

01:53:52and highly poisonous.

01:53:54If you want to give it a friendly tap on the

01:53:56back, make sure you don't touch

01:53:58anything else.

01:54:00Well, well, we have a titan

01:54:02beetle next. Meet the largest beetle

01:54:04in the whole world! It can grow

01:54:06as long as your entire palm, complete

01:54:08with fingers. Seeing one in

01:54:10the wild can be a shocking experience,

01:54:12especially if it flies right

01:54:14in your face. But don't fret,

01:54:16thankfully, this giant is

01:54:18placid and won't bite you

01:54:20if you don't mean it harm.

01:54:22Still, if you make it angry,

01:54:24never let its mandibles touch

01:54:26you. The bug will hiss

01:54:28and bite, and what such snap

01:54:30can crack a pencil in half?

01:54:32What's interesting, an adult

01:54:34titan beetle doesn't feed at all. It doesn't

01:54:36need food to survive. As a

01:54:38larva, it gets enough energy to keep

01:54:40it well-nourished even when grown up.

01:54:42Ooh, I'd love that ability!

01:54:44An even more menacing

01:54:46looking bug is a giant weeda.

01:54:48Living in New Zealand, these

01:54:50cricket-like creatures look like someone

01:54:52forgot to lock the portal to the infernal.

01:54:54A massive, beefy body

01:54:56with six thorny legs,

01:54:58long alien-looking antennae,

01:55:00and big mandibles that

01:55:02just might cut steel.

01:55:04Well, in fact, these giant

01:55:06insects are quite peaceful and

01:55:08won't bite unless provoked.

01:55:10And even if they do, it's

01:55:12not as bad as you might think.

01:55:14There are videos with weedas biting hands

01:55:16of people holding them and doing

01:55:18no harm at all. So don't

01:55:20let it scare you, even though such

01:55:22an insect might weigh more than a full-fledged

01:55:24sparrow.

01:55:26Atlas moths look like they have three

01:55:28heads, two of which are serpents.

01:55:30These pretty nocturnal

01:55:32fliers have strange shapes on the

01:55:34tips of their wings that look like snake heads.

01:55:36This seems to be their mode of defense

01:55:38from predators. And that's also

01:55:40why they're sometimes called cobra

01:55:42moths.

01:55:44In Southeast Asia and India,

01:55:46where they normally dwell, Atlas moths

01:55:48are often found on butterfly farms

01:55:50producing silk. And that's

01:55:52some sight. The wingspan of

01:55:54one such moth can reach 10 inches!

01:55:56That's larger than your hand!

01:55:58Peacock spiders

01:56:00are perhaps the cutest arachnids

01:56:02in the world, second maybe

01:56:04only to their jumping cousins.

01:56:06They're so tiny, you probably wouldn't even

01:56:08notice one scrambling through your kitchen.

01:56:10But if you get a chance to take

01:56:12a closer look, do it!

01:56:14Peacock spiders are

01:56:16beautiful. They have large, beady

01:56:18eyes, a shiny blue and red coat,

01:56:20and cute fuzz on their body

01:56:22and legs. And their mating dance

01:56:24is something else entirely. Too bad

01:56:26they only live in Australia.

01:56:28Another moth on the list,

01:56:30the hummingbird moth.

01:56:32Remember the Atlas one,

01:56:34how huge it was? Well, this

01:56:36one's as big as a hummingbird and

01:56:38holds much more resemblance to its namesake

01:56:40than that. The speed

01:56:42at which it flutters its wings,

01:56:44the long tongue to drink flower nectar,

01:56:46and even the sound it makes when

01:56:48flying – all of it makes you wonder

01:56:50if it's really a moth after all.

01:56:52Of course, the fuzzy critter

01:56:54is absolutely safe, and you should

01:56:56consider yourself lucky if you ever see one!

01:56:58Long-horned

01:57:00orb-weaver spider

01:57:02is one of the most unusual arachnids

01:57:04in the world. It's just

01:57:06your regular spider in all respects,

01:57:08but for some reason, it boasts

01:57:10two long, curved horns on

01:57:12its back. The back itself

01:57:14is bright orange to ward off predators

01:57:16– red means danger.

01:57:18But scientists are still unsure why

01:57:20this spider needs those prongs,

01:57:22so there's a web of

01:57:24mystery for you.

01:57:26The soft rustling of leaves

01:57:28underneath, a pile of them slightly

01:57:30moving, and a big, mighty

01:57:32horn shows up. It's the

01:57:34Hercules beetle, one of the largest

01:57:36beetles on the planet. Almost

01:57:38half of its size comes from that horn

01:57:40on its head. Thanks to this

01:57:42wonderful appendage, you know exactly

01:57:44it's a male. Females

01:57:46don't have it at all.

01:57:48Yet the name comes not only

01:57:50from the horn, but from the amazing

01:57:52ability of this giant to haul

01:57:54extremely heavy loads.

01:57:56Its strength is second only to dung beetles.

01:57:58A Hercules can carry as much

01:58:00as 850 times its own

01:58:02weight.

01:58:04If you ever see a bug with five

01:58:06heads wearing a pointy cap,

01:58:08no, you're not on another planet.

01:58:10It's a Brazilian treehopper.

01:58:12Straight from a sci-fi

01:58:14movie and onto your screens here,

01:58:16this insect is a real mystery.

01:58:18It's small and secretive,

01:58:20and much is still unknown about

01:58:22it. No one knows why

01:58:24exactly the treehoppers have these

01:58:26fuzzy balls on their heads. But

01:58:28they've only got one head, after all.

01:58:30That much is certain.

01:58:32Going for a swim in a freshwater

01:58:34pond somewhere in the African

01:58:36tropics. Watch your toes!

01:58:38You can get a giant waterbug

01:58:40hunting them. It's a predatory

01:58:42bug and the largest of its kind.

01:58:44With those huge pincers,

01:58:46it's no wonder it's commonly

01:58:48known as an alligator flea

01:58:50and a toe-biter.

01:58:52The bite of this water-dwelling monster

01:58:54is really quite powerful.

01:58:56It grabs its prey with the front legs

01:58:58and then slowly munches on it.

01:59:00And when I say it's a predator,

01:59:02I mean it. Giant waterbugs'

01:59:04favorite food is fish

01:59:06and amphibians.

01:59:08Despite their name,

01:59:10scorpionflies aren't related to scorpions.

01:59:12They get this moniker thanks to

01:59:14their tails, which look a lot like

01:59:16the notorious arachnids.

01:59:18Seeing a flying scorpion is a

01:59:20daunting sight at best, but

01:59:22fear not! These critters are small

01:59:24and gentle, and they can't even

01:59:26bite you. Only the males have

01:59:28such a tail, and they use it to

01:59:30attract females.

01:59:32What do you imagine

01:59:34when you hear the words

01:59:36walking stick? Certainly not a bug,

01:59:38but that's exactly what it is.

01:59:40Look at this twig and try to

01:59:42guess. Is there something alive

01:59:44on it or not? Yes

01:59:46and no. This twig is not a

01:59:48twig at all. It is a

01:59:50walking stick.

01:59:52These insects have developed a fascinating

01:59:54camouflage. They're long and

01:59:56unassuming, able to stay still

01:59:58for hours on end, which

02:00:00makes them look like dry twigs.

02:00:02But as soon as you touch one,

02:00:04it scrambles away on its gangly

02:00:06legs. Thanks to

02:00:08their appearance, predatory birds

02:00:10often miss walking sticks and the

02:00:12dense foliage. And their Australian

02:00:14kin give off a pleasant scent,

02:00:16something like peanut butter.

02:00:18Ooh, yum!

02:00:20Poor Pete.

02:00:22Pete is so scared of bugs, all

02:00:24he wants is to find a place on Earth

02:00:26where he can be safe from them.

02:00:28After years of research and

02:00:30traveling, he eventually finds

02:00:32the place to go. Antarctica!

02:00:34Pete makes it there, confident

02:00:36that bugs wouldn't survive in

02:00:38the cold. Little

02:00:40did he know that insects are on

02:00:42every continent of this planet.

02:00:44Well, not really.

02:00:46He was kind of right about

02:00:48Antarctica. It isn't home to a lot

02:00:50of bugs. In fact, there are

02:00:52only one true species of insect

02:00:54that calls this place home.

02:00:56It's a wingless midge called

02:00:58Belgica antartica. This

02:01:00fly is tiny, but it's still

02:01:02Antarctica's largest terrestrial

02:01:04bug.

02:01:06Okay, so we've established there's

02:01:08literally no place on Earth you can

02:01:10escape insects. Well, that's

02:01:12not really true either.

02:01:14You might need to learn to swim, though,

02:01:16as the only place that doesn't have any

02:01:18bugs living within is

02:01:20the Earth's surface covered by

02:01:22ocean. But why do insects

02:01:24hate it here so much? No one could

02:01:26really come up with a definitive

02:01:28explanation, but some think it's

02:01:30because the oceans lack the plants that

02:01:32insects use for food and shelter.

02:01:34They might as well be

02:01:36the largest network of secret agents

02:01:38on the planet, as insects

02:01:40have ears all over the place.

02:01:42Most of the time, though,

02:01:44these ears are not on their heads.

02:01:46Some have ears on their wings,

02:01:48some on their legs, and some

02:01:50even on their abdomens and necks.

02:01:52A lot of these bugs

02:01:54live pretty lonely lives, but

02:01:56there are some of them that actually have

02:01:58families, like the best

02:02:00beetles, for example.

02:02:02They can form family-like units

02:02:04in which both parents work

02:02:06to raise their young. They also have

02:02:08their own vocabulary and speak

02:02:10to each other by squeaking.

02:02:12Should an insect

02:02:14ever fall from a certain height,

02:02:16does it sustain any damage?

02:02:18Well, the subject is a bit more

02:02:20complex, but let's take ants,

02:02:22for example. They don't take any

02:02:24fall damage, and that's because

02:02:26they're so small. A lot of

02:02:28other bugs can technically fall from

02:02:30a height of miles and still be fine.

02:02:32The explanation has a

02:02:34lot to do with math and physics,

02:02:36which the bugs themselves have no time

02:02:38to study. But to put it simply,

02:02:40they're not nearly heavy enough

02:02:42to impact the surface they hit.

02:02:44As they fall, they don't actually

02:02:46gather speed, they slow down.

02:02:48An ant's relatively large

02:02:50surface area for that tiny weight

02:02:52creates a lot of drag as

02:02:54it moves through the air, so it ends

02:02:56up slowing down as it reaches the

02:02:58end of its flight.

02:03:00Speaking of ants, wasn't

02:03:02I doing that? There are about

02:03:041 quadrillion of them on the planet

02:03:06at any given moment.

02:03:08That's about 1.4 million

02:03:10ants per human, calculated

02:03:12for a world population of 7.3

02:03:14billion people.

02:03:16If we put it that way, it's their

02:03:18planet, right?

02:03:20It's hard to imagine a fruit fly

02:03:22with an astronaut helmet on,

02:03:24but they were indeed the first living

02:03:26creatures to be launched into space.

02:03:28That was back in 1947,

02:03:30when they waved goodbye to

02:03:32the Earth in a V2 rocket,

02:03:34reached an altitude of about 68

02:03:36miles in less than 200 seconds.

02:03:38They then returned to Earth

02:03:40by parachute.

02:03:42Not all insects are

02:03:44that lucky. For example,

02:03:46caterpillars have a total of 12

02:03:48eyes but are basically blind.

02:03:50Their simple little eyes can only

02:03:52distinguish between light and dark,

02:03:54so they can't actually see

02:03:56a clear picture of what's in front of them.

02:03:58And no, glasses won't help

02:04:00if that's what you're thinking.

02:04:02Some insects actually put a lot

02:04:04of work into their, uh, dating

02:04:06life. A good example is

02:04:08the stoneflies, which do

02:04:10push-ups to attract the ladies.

02:04:12Did you know butterflies

02:04:14taste the surroundings with their feet?

02:04:16Heard that right. That's

02:04:18because they have taste sensors on their

02:04:20feet that help them find food.

02:04:22So, they

02:04:24stand on a leaf and give it a taste.

02:04:26If they figure out the plant

02:04:28is something that their caterpillars can

02:04:30eat, they place their eggs in this

02:04:32spot. But how do they

02:04:34eat, since they can't bite

02:04:36or chew? Well, they

02:04:38use their long tongue, which

02:04:40looks more like a tube, called a

02:04:42proboscis. It's basically a

02:04:44straw that helps butterflies to

02:04:46slurp up liquids, like nectar, for

02:04:48example.

02:04:50The ancestors of this crafty creature

02:04:52had lived on this planet way

02:04:54before the dinosaurs themselves.

02:04:56Fossil records show that

02:04:58ancient grasshoppers first came

02:05:00up more than 300 million

02:05:02years ago.

02:05:04Ever heard of bugs that are fans of

02:05:06rock music? Well, in a way,

02:05:08termites do, sort of, prefer

02:05:10this sound. Termites

02:05:12chew away at wood to figure out what

02:05:14kind of wood they have lying around.

02:05:16They use vibrations. Why?

02:05:18Because it helps them find

02:05:20the best source of food.

02:05:22If there's heavy metal or rock music

02:05:24playing, they can chew through the wood

02:05:26faster than at their regular speed.

02:05:28Hmm, do they slow

02:05:30their chewing down with Brahms

02:05:32or Bach, or just go to sleep?

02:05:34This is one type

02:05:36of insect you'll surely find difficult

02:05:38to see. This

02:05:40master of disguise looks like a leaf.

02:05:42Throughout their existence,

02:05:44they managed to develop this type of

02:05:46camouflage so the predators

02:05:48miss them in plain sight.

02:05:50They can even rock back and forth

02:05:52to copy the movement made by leaves

02:05:54blown by the wind.

02:05:56Nature has its own weather

02:05:58forecasters, the mighty crickets.

02:06:00Well, they work more like a

02:06:02thermometer, if you like.

02:06:04Turns out you can manually calculate

02:06:06the temperature outside by counting

02:06:08the cricket chirps you hear in a minute

02:06:10and then divide it by 4.

02:06:12You should then add 40

02:06:14to that number you get, and there

02:06:16you have it, an estimated temperature

02:06:18number in Fahrenheit.

02:06:20Crickets even have their own unique

02:06:22song, which they use to attract

02:06:24mates and defend their territory.

02:06:26Yes, music that repels

02:06:28and attracts at the same time.

02:06:30You should consider

02:06:32ladybugs if you're interested in

02:06:34free gardening services.

02:06:36That's because they feed on other insects,

02:06:38some that can actually

02:06:40damage your plants. They can keep

02:06:42fruit flies and other mites at bay.

02:06:44A ladybug might end up

02:06:46eating more than 5,000 insects

02:06:48in its lifetime, which adds up to

02:06:50about a year.

02:06:52Let's get into some awesome data

02:06:54about the busy bees.

02:06:56Their wings can beat

02:06:58190 times per second.

02:07:00Now, I'll do the math for you.

02:07:02That's 11,400 times

02:07:04a minute. What a workout!

02:07:06Well, they do need that strength

02:07:08since a single honeybee colony

02:07:10can produce around 220

02:07:12pounds of honey each year.

02:07:14That's a staggering

02:07:16220 jars. Hmm,

02:07:18it's nature's equivalent of a factory.

02:07:20But you'd have to teach bees to make

02:07:22honey. It's not in their instinct to

02:07:24do so.

02:07:26Another fascinating aspect

02:07:28of bees' life is that the

02:07:30temperature inside any beehive

02:07:32is always around 93

02:07:34degrees, regardless of the outside

02:07:36weather. That's because

02:07:38they're really good at insulating their surroundings.

02:07:40Bees also have

02:07:42different stomachs for eating and

02:07:44for storing honey. It's the bees' equivalent

02:07:46of not doing business while

02:07:48you're eating.

02:07:50Okay, now don't jump out of your

02:07:52chair just yet, as you might actually

02:07:54enjoy some of these facts about

02:07:56spiders.

02:07:58They do help a lot with maintaining our

02:08:00crops free from other insects.

02:08:02So, if you think about it,

02:08:04we do have something to thank them for.

02:08:06Their eyesight

02:08:08is also incredible. They can see

02:08:10spectrums of light that we can't,

02:08:12like UVA and UVB

02:08:14light. And speaking

02:08:16of their superpowers, a strand

02:08:18of spider silk is 5

02:08:20times stronger than a strand of steel

02:08:22of the same thickness, of course.

02:08:24Some scientists believe that if

02:08:26spiders were as large as humans

02:08:28– certainly hope not – their web

02:08:30could stop objects as big as airplanes.

02:08:32And that spider silk?

02:08:34It's actually a liquid, but it does

02:08:36harden when exposed to air.

02:08:38They're also quite sneaky

02:08:40themselves and have evolved to

02:08:42look more like ants. Why?

02:08:44So they can better avoid

02:08:46other predators and hunt ants

02:08:48better. Spiders don't

02:08:50have wings, that's for sure, but

02:08:52the jumping ones can hop up to 50

02:08:54times their own length.

02:08:56Otherwise, I still get the heebie

02:08:58jeebies when I think about spiders.

02:09:00How about you?

02:09:02That's it for today! So, hey,

02:09:04if you pacified your curiosity,

02:09:06then give the video a like and share it with

02:09:08your friends. Or if you want more, just

02:09:10click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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