Life in the Undergrowth

Episode 1: Invasion of the Land
The story of how animals first left the seas to colonize the land millions of years ago.

Prepare to march alongside millipedes, abseil with leopard slugs, squirm with giant two-meter-long worms and dance with creatures smaller than a full stop. Natural history legend David Attenborough reveals how animals first left the oceans to colonize the land over 400 million years ago. Why did this take place and how have these tiny creatures endured for so long?

Episode 2: Taking to the Air
David Attenborough tells the story of winged insects, the first to take to the air.

David Attenborough tells the story of the winged insects that were the first creatures to take to the air. Ultra-slow-motion cameras reveal incredible flight skills, such as dragonflies catching their prey and bluebottles flying upside down. From rare cascade damselflies to hovering hawkmoths, insects use these amazing powers of flight to find new territories, mates and food.

Episode 3: The Silk Spinners
David Attenborough investigates the power of silk, the secret weapon of the undergrowth.

David Attenborough looks at silk, the secret weapon of the undergrowth, with many insects using it in an amazing variety of ways. Spiders, the ultimate silk spinners, catch their prey by throwing silken nets and ‘bun gee jumping’ on ropes. Wolf spiders spin delicate capsules to carry their eggs, male spiders strum desperate serenades, and baby spiders float up into the air on strands of silk.

Episode 4: Intimate Relations
David Attenborough looks at the complex alliances and partnerships tiny creatures form.

Ever since they came onto land, the tiny creatures of the undergrowth have been forming alliances and partnerships with each other and with plants. And while some of these relationships clearly benefit both partners, others most certainly do not. David Attenborough reveals the story of the bot fly, who uses unwitting house flies to carry its eggs to cows where they bore into the animal’s flesh.

Episode 5: Supersocieties
How invertebrates overcome their tiny size by banding together in massive numbers.

It’s easy to be dismissive of invertebrates due to their small size. Yet some invertebrates have overcome this limitation by banding together in huge numbers. Many of these societies are so finely tuned in the way they operate that it is as if they were a single being. And, as David Attenborough reveals, by working together these tiny creatures can achieve great things.