Original air date: 21 December 2005
Above is a graphical timeline representing what happens in the programme, below is a more detailed look at each part
Selected sequences
Waving a stick above a carpet of hornets make it react to the danger
Some ants live where there is danger of flooding. During floods they either have to dance (Attenborough’s own usage of the word) on the water’s surface or swim through it, depending on water tension.
On the left the ant (pointed at with the arrow) is using the water tension to ‘dance’ or walk on the water’s surface (25’26). On the right this is not possible, it has to swim (25’30).
Army ants move between temporary camps
The workers, after deciding on the new location, take everything with them – including a winged male (rarely seen, 32’54) circled in this snapshot but clearly seen in the original video.
Termites live in mounds where there are groups of thousands or millions of individuals. The air would get very stale if it wasn’t for their ingenious engineering system.
Fresh air is blown in and stale air is removed (41’56). A slightly more detailed look at the system is below; fresh air in (on the left, 41’40) and stale air removed (41’50).
