HC - BBC - Insect Worlds (2013).

Insect Worlds

Steve Backshall explores the world of insects and their close relatives, the arachnids and crustaceans

Part 1: Them and Us

Steve Backshall explores the connections and relationship that we have with insects and other arthropods. In Kenya huge armies of driver ants give houses a five-star clean up and in China we discover how silkworm caterpillars have shaped our culture and distribution. While locusts devastate crops in Africa, bees and beetles across the world provide a key link in our food chains. Many of us perceive these animals merely as creepy crawlies and nothing more than a nuisance, but as Steve reveals, we couldn't live without them.

Ch2. Making Worlds

Steve Backshall explores the influence that insects and their close relatives, the arachnids and crustaceans, have on the planet's many ecosystems. He reveals how the landscape of South America's grasslands has been created almost solely by one team of bugs - grass-cutter ants - while in east Africa, the savannah would quickly become swamped in dung were it not for the activities of a particular beetle. He also contemplates the idea that without one tiny creature, the blue whale could not exist.

Ch3. The Secrets to Their Success

Steve Backshall explores why an estimated 10 million species of insects are so abundant, and examines the secrets of their success. In Yellowstone National Park, he reveals how teamwork enables a colony of bees to scare off a hungry bear, and he travels to the Swiss Alps to highlight the relationship between ants, wasps and butterflies.

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