LIFE IN THE UNDERGROWTH - Part2: Taking to the Air (2005)

Since I've given a minute introduction to this series in my previous post, I will straight away give a few snaps from this episode.

As the title shows, here we deal with the invertebrates in air such as butterflies, dragonflies, wasps and a lot lot more.

There are a lot of metamorphosis videos shown in this episode but the best of the lot is the following one of a dragonfly. You wouldn't believe that the initial monster looking creature has changed into such a beautiful one.

Hmmm... You know what's happening in the below snap. So the next time you are in a field & you see something like this, DON'T DISTURB THEM. Due to my childhood interventions, I can't even imagine how many of them have cursed me.

No wonder this is called a damselfly. Beautiful.

Everything isn't so beautiful here. Don't get charmed by the beauty of a dragonfly. Here's a dragonfly larva eating its own kind.

The 1st snap below has a wasp injecting it's eggs into a butterfly's caterpillar. At the time of injection nothing happens to the caterpillar. Once it grows, then the young wasp caterpillars come from inside it (2nd snap). Looks like that Alien movie, isn't it?

This may look like a monster from another galaxy but this is only a tiny beetle. By the way there are over 300000 species of beetles on our planet.

Talking to the Air is another wonderful episode from the series Life in the Undergrowth. Since they are dealing with the creatures which have an amazing wing flap speed, they have shot footage whereby they slowed the motion to 400th of a second. You should see the episode to really see the behavior of some of the invertebrates while they are flying.

See the unbelievable feeding habit of a lantern bug which you wouldn't witness otherwise.

The episode finishes with the breeding cycle of Cicadas which is special because it is once in a 17 year ritual. The series makers have done a superb job in capturing it. You should watch this episode for atleast this part if not for anything else.

What I've posted here is nothing compared to what is there in the actual episode.

You can watch the best bits from Life In The Undergrowth as chosen by the TV production team here.

Also some snaps/clips from episode 1 Invasion of the Land.

Few snaps/clips from episode 3 The Silk Spinners.
Some snaps/clips from episode 4 Intimate Relations.
Some snaps/clips from episode 5 Supersocities.