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Last broadcast on Friday, 01:00 on BBC One (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
There are 200 million insects for each of us. They are the most successful animal group ever. Their key is an armoured covering that takes on almost any shape.
Darwin's stag beetle fights in the tree tops with huge curved jaws. The camera flies with millions of monarch butterflies which migrate 2000 miles, navigating by the sun. Super slow motion shows a bombardier beetle firing boiling liquid at enemies through a rotating nozzle. A honey bee army stings a raiding bear into submission. Grass cutter ants march like a Roman army, harvesting grass they cannot actually eat. They cultivate a fungus that breaks the grass down for them. Their giant colony is the closest thing in nature to the complexity of a human city.
Clips (6)
Insects
The number of known insect species is estimated to be between 6 and 10 million and they exist in nearly every environment found on Earth.
Damselflies and dragonflies
Damselflies and dragonflies have truly mastered the art of flight by having two pairs of wings that move independently.
Ground beetles
Ground beetles are a large family of insects numbering over 40,000 species. Members of this family are able to secrete defensive toxins.
Wildlife Finder: discover more about these invertebrate predators
Amegilla bees
Amegilla bees are a genus of large bee that includes the Dawson's bee found in Australia. Male Dawson's bees fight to the death for the opportunity to mate.
Monarch butterfly
Monarch butterflies undergo spectacular long distance annual migrations. They are thought to navigate these huge migrations using the sun's position.
Wildlife Finder: discover more about monarch butterfly migration
European honey bee
European honey bees are vital to farmers in the UK as the major crop pollinators. Their declining numbers are therefore a great source of concern.
Botfly horror
Programme maker Chadden Hunter hacked through Amazonian swamp forest to film Life.
He entered heart of darkness territory when a botfly got under his skin.
Chapters
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Chapter 1
Opening Titles
(00.22) -
Chapter 2
Introduction to Insects
(01.16)A look ahead to see how different insects live, survive and transform.
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Chapter 3
Searching for a Mate
(13.32)A Darwin beetle begins his search for a mate, although he must use his jaw to take out the competition, and the damselfly must take many risks when searching for a place to lay her eggs.
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Chapter 4
Adverse Conditions
(10.31)The monarch fly migrates to Mexico to avoid a cold season in Canada, and the alkaline fly can live in a place which is lethal to most other life, except one of its predators.
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Chapter 5
Chemical Weapons
(07.43)Food is not the only think the oogpister beetle gets from his prey; it also gets an excellent chemical weapon. Also, bees work together to defend their hive from a bear attack.
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Chapter 6
Communal Living
(16.01)A Japanese bug must find food for her inpatient young, and male Dawson’s bees kill one another to get to the female. Also, a look at how a colony of grass cutter ants works towards the same goal.
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Chapter 7
A behind the scenes look at how the Life programme makers tried to capture the activities of monarch butterflies by flying a camera amongst them.
Credits
- Narrator
- David Attenborough
- Producer
- Rupert Barrington
- Executive Producer
- Michael Gunton
Broadcasts
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Mon 16 Nov 200921:00
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Mon 16 Nov 200921:00
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Mon 16 Nov 200922:35
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Tue 17 Nov 200920:00
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Sun 22 Nov 200918:00
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Sun 22 Nov 200918:00
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Fri 27 Nov 200901:00
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