Animal Architects: Designing the Wild | Full Documentary

[Applause] [Music] from Master Builders to interior decorators bulldozers and giant excavators Wildlife are The Architects of engineering Marvels indeed what we call the Wilderness is the home of billions of Highly organized workers for far longer than humans and often on a much grander scale animals have transformed our [Music] world in this episode we see how animal Architects build for many reasons a home for protection and shelter an elaborate Folly to attract a mate or a cool chamber for a

living Larder some are squatters renovating existing shelters others seek safety and comfort in high-rise nests this is the story of Nature's Master Builders and how their Creations shape our [Music] world in Southeast Asia orangutan the people of the forest live their entire lives in the canopy of the trees [Music] the only great ape to live above the [Music] ground those trees provide them with everything they need for Life food throughout the [Music] year and the pathways to get to it and a h

ome for them and their offspring but while the Forest has been their home for millions of years orangutang have bent the trees to their [Music] will in the tropics rain is a constant and a leaking roof a nuisance breaking off leafy branches to make a rudimentary umbrella is one of the shelters that all urutan learn to make simple but [Music] effective during the daylight hours orangutan are always on the move eating leaves and searching out fruiting [Music] trees it is the female who teaches the

fundamental construction skills that every orang must possess to sleep safely in the high [Music] branches every night night she constructs a nest that will support their combined weight first the right tree must be chosen it must have sturdy branches that can be bent to make the platform but branches that won't fracture and break for this she needs a basic understanding of the loadbearing capacity that the branches will withstand she is precise and selective in choosing the first branches for

her nest the stronger branches are bent inwards toward a central point then Twisted so they locked [Music] together as she adds branches they're always in the same [Music] orientation the smaller branches make the [Music] mattress sometimes she uses her mouth to blunt the ends of twigs for a [Music] pillow and then she can relax safe in the trees for the [Music] night a simple Nest perhaps but every night the female uses the building materials to hand based on her knowledge of their structural [

Music] properties one mistake and she and her infant would plummet to the ground 20 M below [Music] there are countless species that depend upon the world's forests for their [Music] homes for some a simple leaf is the very Foundation of their [Music] future in Australia caterpillars of the gum moth are preparing for the most dramatic period of their lives when they transform from a chunky caterpillar to An Elegant moth that can [Music] breed but this metamorphosis can only happen within one of

Nature's most remarkable constructions the caterpillar anchors itself to a leaf the foundation then it starts to construct its shelter from its own [Music] silk only moth caterpillars use this construction method and there are some species that use over a th000 m of silk to weave a protective shelter [Music] a cocoon that hardens when exposed to the elements and protects the caterpillar inside from [Music] predators the caterpillars of butterflies do it differently they shed their outer skin so

that their body hardens into a chrysalis that becomes their Fortress in each case the outer shelter allows the caterpillar to safely move on to the next stage of its [Music] life [Music] for another tiny insect in Australia the eucalypt leaf is not only its foundation but also supplies it with building materials Leaf sucking insects are found around the world and often they are specific to a single plant species one of those is the selid an aphid likee insect that builds an elaborate structure c

alled a lurp as it feeds it converts the excess carbohydrates into a [Music] framework then the sugars and amino acids crystallize to create the lurp itself hidden and protected the insect continues to feed and [Music] develop but there is one fatal flaw in this construction it is made from a sweet honeydew that many birds find a tasty tidbit against a beak this house offers no [Music] protection the giant Asian honeybee is renowned for the defense of its home to start with they construct their

nest high up on trees making it very difficult for honey Seekers to get close and rather than Sheltering inside their hive they use their bodies to defend the nest they form a living and deadly wall each of the up to 100,000 worker bees is prepared to die in defense of their Queen and home hidden by their bodies is their made from wax Sheltering the Priceless honey that is the food source for the next [Music] generation an imperative for every home [Music] builder arid Australia and hardly a tre

e in sight everywhere there are ants always busy with workers coming and [Music] going but one species is specialized for life where Food Supplies can be limited 2 M below the surface these ants also rely on honey to feed the Next Generation and excavate Chambers to store [Music] it some of the workers are chosen to become living honeypots spending their entire life hanging from the ceiling in the cool of underground lers called repletes they are replenished by the workers who bring the nectar b

ack to their home and pass it to the living honey pots who store it until [Music] needed other workers approach the repletes and stimulate them to regurgitate the sweet liquid they then take it to feed the larv even though the underground Chambers are sometimes Rough and Ready not architectural masterpieces without them the living larders and the entire Colony could not survive these are ants that build with a sense of the future in the tropical North other ants are on the lookout for some Prime

real [Music] estate a branch of fresh green leaves is promising but there's already a housing estate [Music] here Weaver ants are highly Territorial and will aggressively ward off any [Music] competition even caterpillars many times their [Music] size with the site cleared it's now time to bring in the ground crew while the minor workers tend to their Queen's latest brood the major workers are sent to expand territory and build new nests they have used the same tried and tested construction met

hods for over 20 million years they begin by surveying the building potential of the leaves they test the edges with their strong [Music] Jaws this one is not up to [Music] standard and these are not quite fresh enough once the perfect construction site is discovered others soon join in the effort pulling and bending the edges [Music] together for trickier sections of the build several ants join themselves together forming living chains to ratchet their new walls into place everyone in the colon

y must carry their own weight often the weight of everyone else with the leaves in position it's time to coordinate the next phase of the build in a nearby Nest minder ants are tending to the larve but even the larvey have a job to do [Music] held securely within its mandibles this worker an gently Taps the head of the larv to encourage the excretion of a sticky [Music] silk the perfect glue which is then threaded in intricate detail to bind the structure together [Music] a large Nest can take l

ess than 24 hours to build a master construction ready for the Queen's next clutch of [Music] eggs the woven nest is one of the most complex that any ant builds but will only last for at longest a few months so these Master Builders are well [Music] practiced in southern Africa there are other [Music] Weavers birds called Village Weavers these birds construct small villages of thatched cottages sometimes as many as 100 nests in the same [Music] tree each Weaver likes its own private space in the

village so new pairs moving in build for [Music] themselves it's the male who does the building location is everything so first he looks for a vacant spot then he starts construction using strips of palm or long grasses he first weaves the exterior of his [Music] home before finishing off the interior inside there is a nesting chamber where his mate can safely lay her clunch of eggs and care for the young he's always flying out to bring back new construction [Music] materials but when building

he always keeps his feet in exactly the same position so that the Orient ation of his Cottage is [Music] perfect the entrance is always at the bottom hard for [Music] intruders once built the female lines her cozy nest with grass ready for her [Music] chicks another weaver bird in southern Africa goes about its Home Building in a different [Music] way these social Weavers build a communal Nest that is the largest structure built by any bird in the world their nest looks like a large hay stack bu

t it's a home for often over 100 pairs as well as their offspring these massive nests are honeycombed with entrances so each nesting pair can have their own private doorway The Nest is used by generations and some nests have been reported to have lasted for over 100 years constantly maintained and [Music] renovated these massive structures attract the eyes of predators snakes once they gain access can Devour the eggs from many of the nesting Chambers [Music] yet the numbers of social Weavers usi

ng their Village will always ensure the survival of the Next [Music] Generation all birds need a nest of some type for their eggs some build with sticks while budgies take over an existing Hollow and become squatters [Music] others build nests that cling to the branches Whitecap naughties and Magpie Lars construct cup-shaped masterpieces while a cabur simply takes over a nest that's been built by ants some birds just find any construction not worth the effort emuse scrap rpe a few feathers toget

her before the male becomes a living Nest while Pelicans just squabble and steal for most birds The Nest is a temporary structure in central Australia one bird builds for the generations the wedgetail eagle prefers renovation to [Music] construction these Eagles have a large home range that they Patrol thermals lift them high so their eagle eyes can seek out living prey or carrying a pair will stay in their home range for [Music] years always choosing a prominent tree for their nest that will gi

ve them a view of the surrounding [Music] Countryside their nest is an untidy jumble of dead sticks that is refurbished each [Music] year with sticks and branches piled ever higher and higher some nests become huge reaching over 1 and 1/2 M across and sometimes 3 m deep perched precariously in the open and constantly exposed they must be built strong enough to withstand the elements and high enough to be out of the reach of grass fires that come with the summer heat often two eggs are laid and h

atch a few days apart then the nest becomes a murder scene as the Elder siblings urge to survive ensures that the adults will only have one chick to [Music] feed Eagles come and go but their home of sticks remains through the [Music] years but for many species the Searing heat of Australia is too much for open nesting many insects have it sorted by using temperature controlled Mounds for themselves and their eggs in the hot and humid Tropics some birds do likewise for their eggs at [Music] least

a male scrub turkey hovers anxiously near a piled up mound of leaf litter Intruders no matter how small are worned away [Music] the male is an industrious Builder and while his prized establishment is far from being an architectural [Music] showpiece this mound is his castle often a meter High and 4 M wide [Music] upkeep is a full-time [Music] job only dominant males build Mounds once constructed he'll spend most of his day busily scratching at the leaf litter to make sure sure that the mound r

emains structurally intact he'll keep other males away and lives in the hope of attracting passing females in fact the mound is little more than a compost heap that maintains a constant temperature for the eggs that are incubating [Music] Within [Music] by adding Leaf litter or removing it the male maintains the inside at a constant temperature in the mid-30 C ideal for a [Music] nursery next door a male satin Bower bird watches the scrub turkey at [Music] work before he returns to his masterpie

ce not any piled up Mount of leaves but the work of a structural engineer two parallel walls made from sticks is carefully built and called a bower it's not to live in just to attract a mate Fe females choose the male of their desire firstly based on his ability to craft his building and then by the way he [Music] decorates blue that's the color of choice and he's not fussy about what he [Music] uses anything blue and the brighter the better drinking straws plastic picnic knives stolen from a Ca

mper's table the more blue the better finishing [Music] touches and she's [Music] impressed then the Romantic spell is broken attracted by the movements The Neighbor comes over to make certain that there is no threat to his Mound equally concerned about the value of his real estate the male satin Bower bird keeps a safe distance but a watchful eye he's looking for any worms or insects he can scratch up and not a care in the world for the innate display so important for the bower bird [Applause]

[Music] with the Intruder gone it's time to inspect the damage and Chase The Blues Away but red is what turns on this home builder living only in the remote Highland forests of Western New Guinea one of the least colorful of the bower bird family constructs a [Music] mansion Vogal cops bowerbird builds a cone-shaped structure that can be over 1 and 1/2 m in diameter with a roof as high as a meter and an entrance hall like a vestibule the male decorates the front lawn with colorful flowers anythi

ng to attract a female who be impressed enough to move in if only briefly after mating she [Music] leaves forests around the world are natural providers for homemakers whether they construct or simply use whatever is [Music] available small crevices in rocks or Fallen logs provide the ideal shelter for a [Music] killer who is also a devoted [Music] mother the redback is a native Australian closely related to the infamous black widow spider of North [Music] America the redb makes her home whereve

r there is Shelter From The Elements a tangled an untidy web spun from her silk in Spring she spins for a different [Music] reason and she spins a different silk one that is only used for home building resting in her web is a do-it-yourself kindergarten for the Next [Music] Generation as she spins she has special proteins that convert the liquids inside her body into solid fibers spider silk by weight is six times stronger than high-grade [Music] steel inside as many as 300 Young spiderlings hav

e safely haded [Music] now it's time to leave and find their way in the wide world [Music] outside but only a few will live long enough to become [Music] adults even though deadly the red back sometimes spins for [Music] Life while another spider uses her silk for death her home is a leaf where she can hide from her Predators while herself prepares to be one she is a net casting spider and the silk that many spiders use as a home base she uses for entrapment each night she spins and Spins and Sp

ins [Music] Home Building can become a deadly [Music] [Music] trap [Music] many large spiders don't spin webs instead making use of temporary homes that they find on the ground a small crevice provides the perfect shelter both to hide and to seek the trapdoor spider borrows into the ground and will stay in the same silk lined home for years she builds a hinge door manufactured from soil vegetation and silk a perfect fit but much of central Australia conspires against Builders there's a lack of r

esources and an unforgiving climate so some have become expert tunnelers with the cool of the night they emerge from borrows dug into the harder soil between the [Music] dunes The Bilby also called the rabbit eared Bandicoot is an expert desert Digger and another desert marsupio the mulgara knows this well and lets the billbe do the digging Bill bees excavate several Burrows some up to 2 m [Music] deep and move between them as they forage through the [Music] night underground it's a constant 23°

[Music] C air conditioned comfort that helps to avoid water loss spin effects hopping mice move in to lining their borrowed nests with grass a Home Comfort that biles don't bother with the diggings also help the land [Music] itself the disturbance mixes underground soils with the surface improving soil quality and trapping any water from the infrequent rainfall seeds are trapped and germinate helping plant distribution in the Arid fringes of the Australian [Music] deserts early settlers were al

so attracted to these deserts for the mineral riches beneath the surface although often the harsh conditions and isolation forc them to abandon what they had [Music] built even ruins have a use cavities left in the crumbling bricks and mortar make a short-term refuge for a stripe-faced dunard there is shade and Shelter From the heat for this marsupial carnivore but it will only be temporary darts have evolved with the Arid Australian climate and prefer their own diggings to the ruins Left [Music

] Behind animal architecture comes in all shapes and sizes and made from every possible building fabric but there are animal Architects that build using perhaps the most extraordinary components of all a protective home created from the living DNA of its host the shell it's an incredible evolutionary adaptation unlike most typical animal structures shells are not made up of living cells instead proteins are secreted from living tissue that is in direct contact with the shell the proteins act lik

e a steel Foundation while the minerals that allow the shell to grow is like pouring concrete over the [Music] structure hermit crabs don't have any protective skeleton that they can create so they have to improvise discarded seashells make a perfect [Music] home however the crab must move as he grows and find a larger shell to move into [Music] and perhaps the most remarkable shell to be found and possibly the oldest master builder in the world is the Nautilus an ancient mollusk that has hardly

changed in 500 million [Music] years it is the ultimate submarine [Music] the Nautilus is home is divided into chambers that give it buoyancy and movement drawing water in and out of its living chamber like jet [Music] propulsion the coloring is perfect [Music] camouflage from above the darker color and irregular Stripes help it blend Into the Dark Water Bel low while the underside is bright and merges with the [Music] surface each day as a minute layer of New Shell is laid down the mullus can

sense the patterns and replicate them incredibly the shell is a part of the Nautilus genetic memory [Music] as the Nautilus grows it creates a new and larger chamber then moves its body into the new structure leaving the old behind an adult can build as many as 30 Chambers most remarkably the shape of the shell and its composition of crystallized calcium carbonate allow it to withstand an almost incredible range of pressure es it will implode at a depth of 800 m a pressure that would crush most

submarines nature and evolution created a master builder with the perfect structure for moving from the depths to the surface and [Music] surviving Coral polyps are another master builder creating virtual cities from calcium carbonate that offer an almost unlimited range of homes for countless creatures living alone or together there's even place for an Odd Couple sharing the same [Music] home a small fish called a GOI and a shrimp lived together in a burrow that the shrimp builds and [Music] ma

intains but being almost blind the shrimp relies on the GOI to warn of predators both can Retreat into their simple home at the flick of a tail [Music] while oceans may have been a hot spot for biodiversity freshwater streams are also full of Master Builders catfly larvi are just one they build a portable home for protection a tubular structure made first from silk secreted from salivary glands and then reinforced with cladding that can come from a variety of building [Music] materials grains of

sand from the stream bed fragments of rock bark and small sticks are neatly arranged and attached to the outer [Music] surface it's a do-it-yourself renovator's dream as the larve grows more material is added and then trimmed to be streamlined against the [Music] current of all the Master Builders there is one single animal in North America that combines all the skills of a lumberjack a carpenter an architect a surveyor and a hydro engineer the beaver a member of the rodent family that feeds on

all kinds of vegetation but has developed a special taste for trees that grow alongside streams and rivers they prefer the inner bark of Aspen and Poler but will also fell and eat Birch Maple Willow as well as many others they will strategically fa large mature trees to form the basis of their Dam wall the first structure they build they're large in czer teeth are the perfect tools for the job in a constant state of growth not even this intensive woodwork can wear them down smaller trees and br

anches are gathered to booler the foundations and also serve as a handy food source any gaps in the walls are packed with a combination of weeds and mud these sturdy Dam walls are almost perfectly horizontal showing true building Mastery without the use of Plum lines or set squares the retained water that floods the surrounding Forest not only helps them to access their Woody food source but also creates the perfect environment to build a [Music] home a lodge for the whole family smaller trees a

nd branches are gathered and piled on top of one another in a sturdy Fortress they're as busy as beavers always [Music] are [Music] once a lodge is complete the only way in is through underwater [Music] tunnels an entrance hall provides an area for beavers to dry themselves for retreating to the dry living [Music] quarters here a family of beavers can insulate themselves against the cold of winter with a constant underwater store of bark Rich vegetation to feed on there's no need for them to hib

ernate beavers are Architects on a grand scale they build for the future their constructions withstand the tests of [Music] time they change the flow of rivers and alter the world around them wild workers come in all shapes and sizes and what they build Echoes their needs small or big but beavers are truly the Master Builders of the animal [Music] kingdom [Music]