01x07 - Making Friends

[bunniefuu]

[Bonneville] Experience a
world beyond imagination

where fish can fly...

lizards walk on water,

apes master tools

and frogs disappear
in plain sight.

Animals do the
smartest things...

through every stage
of their lives.

[meerkat barks]

From leaving home...

to raising a family.

From finding food...

to making friends.

[elephant trumpets]

They find ingenious
ways to survive

against all odds.

[bellows]

Welcome to The Secret
Lives of Animals.

[birds chirping]

[Bonneville] Our brothers and sisters
are often the first friends we make.

And here on the tropical
shores of Central America...

almost a hundred siblings
are getting acquainted.

[squeaking]

Calling from inside their eggs,
hatching their first plan.

An olive ridley sea turtle,
no bigger than your thumb,

faces a huge challenge
to make it to the ocean.

First, he must escape
his underground nest.

Alone, his chances of
getting out are slim.

But working together,

the turtle hatchlings tunnel
through over a foot of sand.

But they still have
a long way to go

and danger awaits.

Black vultures are gathering
and they're hungry.

Now, the genius of the turtle's
strategy becomes clear.

Across this beach, thousands
of nests have emerged.

Up to a million olive ridley
hatchlings can surface in a single day.

Some of the largest gatherings
of sea turtles on the planet.

By hatching together,

each turtle improves
their chances of survival.

And about 80% of hatchlings
make it to the ocean.

Working together, they've overcome
their first great challenge in life.

It just goes to show, it's not
only the fittest who survive.

It's often the friendliest.

[birds chirping]

[Bonneville] The hot, dry
forests of Costa Rica.

Summer temperatures here reach a
searing 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Life for this troop of
capuchin monkeys is tough.

They make it through these difficult
times with the support of friends.

But this youngster is new to the
group and doesn't have any yet.

He's desperately thirsty.

At this time of year,
water is scarce.

And the best drinking spot

is guarded by dominant
members of the troop.

[monkeys chattering]

But desperate times call
for desperate measures.

He tries his luck.

[chattering continues]

[squealing]

To get past the
dominant monkeys...

[growls]

and get a much-needed drink,

he must make a friend.

And capuchins do that in a way

unlike any other animal,

with an extraordinary
test of trust...

that involves a
sensitive nose...

and razor-sharp fingernails.

Capuchins really must
pick their friends wisely.

Not quite.

Another lone capuchin.

This might be an opportunity.

He reaches for a finger

and guides it up his nostril...

very carefully.

Now, vulnerable, he's showing
trust in the other capuchin.

And when they
return the gesture,

it's the start of a
beautiful friendship.

Together, they're ready
to take on the world.

First stop...

the water hole.

[chattering, growling]

It's still fiercely guarded.

The youngster's
stopped in his tracks.

But this time,
someone has his back.

[squealing]

Combining forces,

they confront the guard
using a distinctive tactic.

With double the teeth
and double the power...

they gain the upper hand.

For these monkeys, two heads
really are better than one.

And they both finally get the
drink they so desperately need.

Having even one friend
can be a lifesaver.

So imagine having
hundreds of thousands.

An army ant.

One of the rainforest's
smallest animals

but part of one of
its largest teams.

Up to a million strong,

this colony can't survive
long without eating.

So, every morning,

the best hunters leave
together with one mission.

To find food...

and lots of it.

They keep in constant communication
through smell and touch.

And spread out into a
column 20 meters wide

to flush prey out of hiding.

A bush cricket.

Too big for an ant
to tackle alone,

but she doesn't have to.

She sends out an airborne
chemical signal...

calling for reinforcements.

Her friends respond
without delay.

Working together, army
ants can take down animals

one and a half thousand
times their own weight.

It's a good start,

but they need thousands of
insects to keep the colony alive.

And finding food is
only half the battle.

They must now carry
it the ant-equivalent

of 22 miles back to
the growing nest.

But in a jungle full of
dead ends and detours,

that's a mammoth task.

With pinpoint precision,

these extraordinary creatures
create their very own highways.

Smaller obstacles
are no problem...

but to cross larger gaps,

they do something unrivaled
in the natural world.

The ants link legs...

and support each other to
engineer living bridges

ten times their body length.

These superstructures

allow them to carry up
to 30,000 items of prey

back to feed the colony
every single day.

They say a problem shared
is a problem halved.

And often the most unlikely alliances
turn out to be the most fruitful.

A three-toed sloth.

The slowest mammal on Earth.

And a prime target for the world's
most powerful bird of prey.

The harpy eagle.

Capable of flying at up
to 50 miles per hour.

And sloths are on their menu.

They can't run...

but a special relationship
might just help them hide.

Sloth moths.

Up to 120 of them live exclusively
amongst a sloth's coat.

They may not seem like
good friendship material...

but almost all sloths
have moths as housemates.

And they're welcome guests.

Scientists don't
know exactly why,

but the more moths
living on a sloth,

the more algae found in its fur.

It's thought moths provide nutrients
that help the algae flourish.

And algae turns their
coat forest green.

Helping these laid-back
leaf-eaters hide

in plain sight.

When life gets tough,

you need friends
that have your back.

But even the strongest
friendships are open to betrayal.

South Africa's Kalahari Desert.

[chittering]

Here, meerkats feed on grubs
and bugs hidden underground

for up to eight hours a day.

But with their heads
buried in the sand,

they're blind to danger.

To keep safe...

they rely on friends
in high places.

A fork-tailed drongo.

From her vantage point, she
can spot danger a mile off.

A tawny eagle.

A meerkat's worst nightmare.

[chirping]

The drongo sounds the alarm.

[chirping continues]

[chittering]

- [barks]
- A meerkat call confirms the danger.

Some friends you simply
can't live without...

but she's not as
selfless as it seems.

There's something in it for her.

A juicy grub...

abandoned by the meerkats.

Once she's finished...

[chirps]

she lets them know...

[chirps]

it's safe to go
back to foraging.

A scorpion.

A meerkat's favorite meal.

And so irresistible to a drongo,

she'll test their
friendship to get it.

[chirping]

She makes another alarm call.

This time, it's a trick.

There's no sign of danger,

and the meerkats aren't
so easily fooled.

So she tries something
even sneakier.

[chirping]

A call they can't ignore.

A faultless imitation of
a meerkat's own alarm.

Now the drongo gets
exactly what she wants.

Sometimes she's selfish.

But meerkats are smart

and they know they're
better off with her around.

No friend is perfect...

but there are times in life when
you simply can't afford to be picky.

The Peruvian jungle...

at night.

Here, danger lurks
around every corner.

Especially when you're
just the size of a grape.

Like this reticulated
humming frog.

The perfect meal...

for a banded cat-eyed snake.

Armed with excellent
night vision,

and an incredible
sense of smell...

he can run, but he can't hide.

If ever he needed
a friend, it's now.

A tarantula...

armed and dangerous.

But not to reticulated
humming frogs.

She provides them protection.

Capable of attacking snakes,

tarantulas are the jungle's
most unlikely heroes.

This is an
extraordinary friendship

that few people
have ever witnessed.

And like all the best relationships,
there's something in it for both of them.

This tarantula also
has a problem...

parasites she can't reach.

They could be irritating to her,

but these frogs
dine out on them.

It's a pairing so successful

that frogs and tarantulas
are found living together

in jungles across the world.

When life gets difficult,

there's nothing better than
having someone to lean on.

With friendship comes
great rewards...

security...

[chirps]

support...

even lifesaving protection.

It's no wonder, with
friends by our side,

we live longer,
healthier and happier.

[Bonneville] To film army
ants building bridges,

the team headed to Costa Rica.

Welcome to the jungle.

[Bonneville] In the
dense rainforest,

finding the ants is only possible
with a highly trained eye.

The challenging part
is that they're rare

and so you often have
to travel long distances

through the forest to find them.

[Bonneville] After several hours
of searching, Sean strikes gold.

[O'Donnell] Oh,
we've hit pay dirt.

There they are. We've found it.

Phew. [sighs]

[Bonneville] Now,
filming can begin.

The bridge is the thing that we
wanna get more than anything else.

It's the best example of teamwork,
probably, that we can see.

[Bonneville] But it's immediately
clear it will be a challenge.

They are fast, they're small,
and it's just really hard

to get the equipment
close up to them.

[Bonneville] And it's not just
their speed that's a problem.

[screams] Soldier ant!

[exclaims] It won't...

[groans]

It's like having a hot needle
stabbed into your skin.

[exclaiming] I've
got ants all over me.

Well, they're all
over the camera.

They've bitten us, stung
us, and we're out of here.

We're fleeing. [chuckles]

[Bonneville] To have any chance of
filming the ants' bridge-building,

they'll need to
rethink their strategy.

We're having to come up
with some ingenious methods

of stopping them
climbing up your Wellies.

So Mark has got gaffer tape
wrapped around his boots.

It's an amazing,
simple solution.

It's just really slippery.

Today, I haven't
been bothered at all.

[Bonneville] And that's not the
team's only stroke of genius.

Every time an ant, uh, gets on
a lens or a lead or a light,

we brush the ant off with
our, uh, ethical ant-remover.

[Bonneville] But as quickly as they
solve two problems, a bigger one emerges.

Well, I just did my morning check and,
uh... [clicks tongue, inhales sharply]

it's a little frustrating...
[sighs] 'cause the ants are gone.

So, uh, we have more
work ahead of us.

We're gonna have to
keep tracking the ants.

[Bonneville] There's only one
more day of filming to go...

and the team has no idea
where the colony has gone.

Feeling a bit worried.
A bit pressured.

[Bonneville] Just as
they're giving up hope...

[O'Donnell] Oh! There it is.

This is definitely
where they're building,

and hopefully they'll build
us some beautiful bridges.

[Bonneville] The team's
luck has changed.

Just below their feet,
construction has begun.

So, we're throwing everything at it, and
seeing if we can get some good shots.

Yeah. Learning from the ants.

Working together as a team

to try and make the most of this
one opportunity that we've got.

[Bonneville] But these master
builders don't stop at one bridge.

Oh, wow. That's beautiful.

You can see all their legs
silhouetted against the forest.

How they're all interlinked.
It's incredible.

I think this is one of the
greatest events in all of biology.

It all came down to the
wire on the last day,

but we did it.

[Bonneville] Next time...

Finding a partner
is a labor of love.

One mistake can
leave you lonely.

But if you show
off your best side

and make a good impression,

you might just meet
your perfect match.