Grafters Barney's Latin America

Hola, mis amigos!

Bienvenidos a Barney's America Latina!

Arriba, arriba, it's show time!

Let me introduce you to a crazy carnival of creatures,

from fabulous and freaky frogs to hollering howler monkeys

to manic meat-eating plants. Es magnifico!

What's more, they're all connected to each other

in this wonderful world of wildlife

by funny, fabulous and fantastic facts.

-Get on with it!

-Oh, sorry!

Tres, dos, uno! Es la hora de Barney's Latin America!

Er, Barney, what are you doing?

-Just getting ready for my new job, Gem.

-New job? Right!

Yes. Chief Executive Chief of Liquid and Solid Disposal Management.

You mean you've been given a job cleaning the toilets?

-SHE LAUGHS

-Yeah, pass us that mop, will you?

-Or you could stay here and help me with today's show.

-Deal!

Good. It's all about hard-working grafters, from cowboy spiders...

..to some bird super-spies, and some rather entertaining squid.

I'd better get ready.

Right, then. Let's start with our busy line-up.

Speaking of waste disposal,

first up, it's the dung beetle. Eugh!

All of the animals in the jungle have one thing in common -

they all produce poo.

PHRRT! PHRRT! PHRRT!

PHRRT! PHRR-RR-RRT!

Barney!

Sorry, Gem, but it's true.

The Amazon rainforest has a lot of animals living in it,

and they all produce a deluge of dung!

That is disgusting. Who's going to clear up all that mess?

Ah, that's where our next grafters come in - the dung beetle.

# Poo, glorious poo... #

Um, she seems to think she's a singer, not a cleaner.

No chance, Gem. Ah, here she goes.

Ah, that's more like it. She's rolling the dung into a big ball.

She's be great at making snowmen, wouldn't she?

Except she'll never see snow in the steamy Amazon. Moving on...

The ball gets bigger and bigger,

-until it's way bigger than she is.

-That's a lot of dung.

Gem, if you think that's a lot of dung...

imagine two whole bus-loads of the stuff,

because that's how much dung you'd have to bury

to match Mrs Dung Beetle's nightly quota.

So why has she got

an obsessive-compulsive dung-burying disorder?

Madame Dung Beetle lays her eggs in the dung ball underground,

and when her maggot babies hatch, they feed on the dung,

and there's enough for them to grow up into fine young dung beetles.

So her babies' nursery is a pile of poo?

I think I've seen enough. Next!

Looks like there's something fishy about our next grafters.

That's right, Barney. These guys are parrot fish

and they have a very important job in the construction industry.

Construction industry? But those guys work hard!

All these things do is swim around, opening and closing their mouths.

Oi!

Barney! You'll hurt their feelings!

Now, the reason parrot fish are called parrot fish

is because they have teeth which are shaped a bit like a beak.

Hello!

Ah, yes. They do look more like a bird than a fish.

That's because they have quite an unusual diet.

Oh, yeah? Bird seed?

Incoming!

Squawk, squawk, squawk!

Yeah, very funny, Barney!

All right! Sensitive, aren't they?

Parrot fish like nothing better than to nosh down on some tasty coral.

Tasty?! Looks more like a mouthful of rubble to me.

Well, that's true, but using their super-sharp beak,

they can bite off whole chunks of stony coral and eat them whole.

-That's got to be bad for your digestion.

-Not at all.

These fish grind up those coral chunks and then...

PHRRT!

-Oh, Gem! Did that fish just do what I think it did?

-Bombs away!

Oh, it's all gone in my mouth!

Sorry, Phil, but better out than in.

Yep - more poo.

The fact is that after a feast of crunchy coral,

the parrot fishes poo out the remains of their meal

in the form of white coral sand.

Ah, cool! So they poo out sand.

What's that got to do with construction?

Well, Barney, every single parrot fish is capable of pooing out

up to 90 kilograms of sand in a year.

And all that sand goes to form

some of the most beautiful white sandy beaches in the world.

Hang on a minute! Does that mean we're standing on parrot fish poo?

BOTH: Eugh! Yuck...!

-There's loads of it.

-Aagh!

So when you said the parrot fish were in the construction industry,

you meant that our fishes are builders who make beaches from poo?

Exactly. Without the hard work of the parrot fish,

it would be bye-bye beaches.

So what links the parrot fish to our first grafters, the dung beetles?

Well, the clue is in the poo.

Both the dung beetle and the parrot fish's jobs

involve working with a big pile of poo.

Ha-ha! That's nice!

Next up are some grafters who are experts in their trade -

the brown pelican.

They, er, don't look like they're up to much, Barney.

Are you sure those guys deserve to be in our line-up?

Yeah, they do, Gem, because these pelicans are expert fishermen...

well, fisher-birds.

At last, some action!

The pelicans fly out to sea to see if there are shoals of fish around.

-Stop following us! You're putting off the fish!

-Sorry!

Looks like they've spotted something.

Yep, and then it's bombs away!

They dive-bomb the shoals at the speed of a very fast diving thing.

They even have reinforced skulls

to absorb the impact of their heads on the water.

Whoa! So those skulls are a bit like built-in crash helmets?

Yeah! How cool is that?

But how do they catch the fish?

It's not like they've got a rod or a net like a fisherman would.

Well, what's the point of a net when you've got a super-sized beak

which has a pouch which can expand to swallow a feast of fishes?

Isn't that a bit greedy?

A lot of that monster mouthful is actually water,

so it's not actually swallowing as much as it seems.

-So it's time for another dive-bombing session.

-Yep.

It'll take a few more dives

until these grafters have worked their shift to earn their fill.

So, what connects the hard-working brown pelicans

to those poo-producing parrot fish?

Well, both the parrot fish and the pelican

have special mouths to do their jobs.

The parrot fish has a sharp beak for chomping coral.

And the pelican has that huge fish-chomping pouch.

SNORING Our next grafter takes time out

in the day to rest and get ready for the night shift.

All I can see is bird poo on a leaf.

Whee!

SQUELCH

I heard that!

Don't be rude, Barney. This is a bolas spider and his odd appearance

is actually very clever, because looking a bit like bird poo

is the perfect daytime disguise so he won't get eaten.

Well, it looks like it's getting dark, Gem.

Time for our spider to hit the night shift.

So what does this grafter do for a living?

Well, he's the closest thing to a cowboy you'll find in the bug world.

A cowboy?!

What are you talking about?

Our super spider has found a place under a leaf

and draws out a long thread of silk, then makes a sticky blob on the end.

-Well, if he is a cowboy, where are the cows?

-Be patient, Barney.

That's what our spider has to do - sit and wait.

Aha, here comes a moth. Has that got anything to do with all this?

It does. This clever spider releases a scent the moths can't resist.

Eau de moth?

You smell right gorgeous, you do!

Something like that!

So the moth flies in

and our cowboy spider gets to use his super silk lasso.

Ha-ha! That was cool!

He really would give a cowboy a run for his money!

Yee-haw!

Our bolas spider is a super lasso-slinging expert.

Time after time, he hits his mark and rounds up those moths.

-Amazing.

-Yee-haw!

Ha! Yee-haw, cow...cow-spider.

Anyway, what's the connection with our rootin', tootin' cowboy spider

and those fish-gobbling pelicans?

Both the pelican and the spider rely on pinpoint accuracy to do the job.

Our next guests literally hang out in caves throughout Latin America.

Ah, bats!

Yep, Gem - these are Mexican freetailed bats,

and apart from humans, they form the biggest colonies of mammals

-in the world.

-Wow!

-So each colony is like a big city?

-Yep, or even bigger.

Some colonies have over 20 million bats in them,

and that is around three times the population of London!

So what is so busy about these bats?

Well, these bats are experts in pest control,

because when they venture out at night in their millions,

they fly off to feed on insects.

What's that flapping noise?

So that must mean that any crops grown nearby

that have a problem with pests could be saved by our bats.

Exactly. They're a farmer's best friend, these bats.

-So our bats are pest controllers?

-But that's not all, Gem.

In the bat colony, the female bats are particularly hard workers,

-cos they also run a nursery for all the baby bats.

-Aw-w!

Have you got any milk?

How cute!

CHATTERING

Yeah, and they're hungry. So when Mum comes back from her night shift,

she finds her baby in the creche and gives it some milk.

-Give me the milk! Give me the milk!

-All right! Calm down! Calm down!

That's one happy baby bat.

Yeah, and a full one, too.

Each day, Mum feeds her baby around quarter of her body weight in milk.

That's like you drinking 19 litres of the stuff! So as you can see,

our bats are experts in pest control and also at running a nursery.

Give me the milk! Give me the milk! Mum, give me the milk!

So, these hard grafters are linked to the bolas spider

because they both work the night shift.

-Spot on, Gem.

-Thank you.

Our next grafters are the reef squid.

Wow! Look, there's a whole shoal of them.

Yep, and they're all gathered here to put on a remarkable performance,

-because they are actors, darling.

-Actors? Come off it, they're squid.

I'll have you know I've performed in front of royalty!

Yeah, a king crab, maybe!

Yes, splendid, splendid, very good.

Well done, well done.

Barney, don't be rude to the guests! If you give them a chance,

they might give you a sneak preview of their show.

Might be able to do something, for a small fee.

Oh, yeah? How much? Five squid(?)

Ha-ha! Five squid!

It's a five squid!

Do you get it?

Come on, squid! Show him what you're made of.

Using our remarkable chromatophores, we can...

Chromato-whats?

Chromatophores! Little cells in our skin

which change colour to express our mood.

-Now, isn't that amazing, Barney?

-I guess it means less costume changes.

As I was saying, using our chromatophores,

we squid are capable of expressing any mood we desire,

making our performances legendary.

We can do anger...

Crabs, feel the wrath of my many tentacles!

Oh, yes, that's very good. Very good, oh, very good.

Now get lost.

We can do fear.

Forsooth, 'tis a barracuda! I'm terrified! I'm so scared,

I'm, er...going to act like a piece of seaweed.

Yes, very good. I can see you, I'm just not hungry.

We can do swooning.

-Oh, I feel faint! Get me some water!

-You are in water, mate!

Yeah, that was a bit of a wet performance!

Actually, Barney, they're not great, are they?

Not great? Sorry, Gem, those squid were absolutely rubbish.

Our squid are connected to our freetailed bats,

because they're both grafters that like to work as a group.

So, so far our hard-working grafters have taken us

from the poo-rolling dung beetle...

Nice! ..to the fantastic "actors", the squid.

Just like the dung beetles,

our parrot fish use poo in their line of work.

And the parrot fish are linked to the brown pelicans,

because both of them have very special mouths to do their jobs.

And from one grafter that catches its dinner on the job

to another -

the bolas spider.

Like the freetailed bats, bolas spiders hang around on the job

and also work the night shift.

So our squid work in a squad, just like the bats, who work as a team

to get the job done.

So, time to meet another hard grafter.

Our next grafters really work hard to show off a talent

which takes some beating -

the manakins.

-Er, mana-what?

-Manakins.

They're birds, about the size of a sparrow but much more colourful.

Wow! They have some fab feathers, too.

In fact, they're just big show-offs,

especially the males.

Well, if you've got it, flaunt it!

Ah! Could all this showing off be to do with attracting a partner?

Yep, and the males have to work really hard at their dance moves,

otherwise there is no way he'll attract a female.

Looks like he's doing a pretty good job to me.

Time for a bit of moonwalking.

Ah, all these dance moves are finally paying off, cos he has an audience.

But she's not that impressed after all.

What's a bloke got to do?

Looks like he needs a bit more practice.

Yep, here he goes. And look...

it's paying off!

Aw! He's got his gal!

The manakins are connected to those super squid

by the fact they both rely on their appearance to get the job done.

Up next, some birds who are at home in the forests of South America.

Hang on a sec - they're penguins! What are they doing in a forest?

Well, whilst their cousins freeze their feathers off

in the snowy wastelands,

these guys have a cushy life

on the relatively tropical coast of Argentina.

It's not cushy wandering through the forest!

Ow!

Oh, sorry! So what profession are these guys in?

Well, our forest-dwelling penguins are expert impressionists!

Although they do get a bit touchy about it.

I don't know what you're talking about!

-You see, these are Magellanic penguins.

-Mage-what penguins?

Magellanic, named after the great explorer, Magellan,

who voyaged all the way around the world.

How far is that, then?

Um, about four miles...about?

OK, but isn't that a bit of a mouthful?

Yep, which is why these penguins

-go by their stage name.

-Which is?

Promise you won't laugh.

-Cross my heart.

-They're jackass penguins.

Sorry, but you can't be serious!

Hey, Gem, these guys are expert impersonators,

and the reason they are called jackass penguins

is because they do a top impression of a donkey.

THEY BRAY

That's amazing!

They do sound just like donkeys. But I've got to ask them -

guys, don't you mind it when Barney calls you jackass penguins?

Oh, no, Gem. Hee-haw, hee-haw, he always calls us that!

Ow!

And the connection between our amazing impressionist penguins

and the manakins

is that they could both appear on Birds Have Got Talent!

It's the whale shark.

Ah, great! I love whales.

Sorry, Barney, but the whale shark is actually a big fish.

Aw, I was looking forward to having a WHALE of a time!

I'm starting to feel very unappreciated here.

Whale sharks are global travellers that visit the coast of Latin America

-as they swim through tropical seas right around the planet.

-Cool.

So they must be super swimmers, then.

They're called whale sharks because of their size,

weighing in at a staggering 20 tonnes.

Wow! So the whale shark is a truly great guest to have.

But what qualifies him as a grafter?

Well, the whale shark has a massive mouth.

In fact, it's so massive, he could almost fit me in his chops sideways.

-I hope he's not hungry, then.

-Don't worry, Barney.

Even if he was, he wouldn't want to eat me or you.

He's far more interested in feeding on teeny tiny plankton.

Lucky plankton!

CHOMP!

-And little fishes.

-Oh!

So as sharks go, he's hardly jaws, then, is he?

I can get really nasty!

Using that gigantic gob, he sucks in huge amounts of water

which he then filters out using special plates in his mouth.

Ah, so that's how he traps all his food. Who needs teeth?

In just one day, the whale shark can filter an amazing 1.5 million litres

or 400,000 gallons of water.

That's about the same as 2,000 Olympic swimming pools.

That's insane! How can he possibly swallow so much water?

-He really is like a giant water filter, isn't he?

-Exactly.

And he has to work hard filtering water all day

to make sure he filters out enough plankton to feed on.

Gem, you'll never guess the link between penguins and whale sharks.

Go on, then, Barney. What's the connection?

Well, both the whale shark and the jackass penguins are grafters

with the names of other animals,

so we've got WHALE shark and JACKASS penguin.

Cool, eh?

Hmm. I guess I'll let you have that one.

The highest part of Latin America are the Andes,

and these spectacular peaks are home to our next grafter -

who works hard at being a super-spy,

always on the lookout for his next target.

The name's Condor - James Condor.

OK, but he doesn't exactly look suave and sophisticated.

Hey, what are you trying to say?

Gem, isn't that a bit rude? He's an expert in his field.

OK, so what makes Mr Condor so special?

Call me James.

Well, our condor... Sorry, I mean James,

is hugely talented at gliding at great heights.

So are geese! They can fly right over the Himalayas.

Yeah, whatever.

Ah, Gem, but geese don't have super-spy vision

which let them pick out targets at ridiculously distant distances.

Yeah. I'll believe it when I see it.

Agent Bond flying at approximately 2,000 metres.

Just so you realise how super our spy is, that is over a mile high.

Target acquired.

Ah, he's spotted something.

Yeah, a dead deer, and our James has spotted it from 2,000 metres.

That is the same distance as 20 football pitches end to end.

When I'm at a football match, I can hardly see the ref!

That's amazing eyesight.

Looks like it's dinner time!

And if this grafter wasn't such an expert in surveillance,

he would soon go hungry.

So, what links James Condor with the whale shark?

Well, just like the whale shark that glides through the sea as he works,

the condor glides through the air as he does his job.

So they are both gliding grafters.

Living in a forest which floods all the time,

you have to get used to moving house.

I've booked into a nice B&B. Just got to get there first.

But for some animals, they need to get the removal experts in.

These guys are fire ants.

What, fire ants?

Shall I get the extinguisher ready?

Barney, they don't MAKE fire!

They just have a very nasty sting that feels like burning.

Feels like burning? Right, I'll keep my distance over here, Gem.

I'll just watch from a safe distance.

-It's fine, Barney. They're far too busy to bother us.

-I can see that.

But what are they doing?

Well, when the Amazon floods, fire ants turn into removal experts

and make themselves busy building rafts to move house.

How clever is that?

They actually make a raft out of themselves? That's wicked!

Well, it's the only thing that ants can use, so once the raft is formed,

everyone piles on, ready for the house move.

And they're ready and they're off.

Here we go! Yay!

But this house move is harder than it seems,

and even these experts have problems on the job.

# Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream

# Merrily, merrily Merrily, merrily... # Aagh!

Uh-oh. Hungry fish alert.

Ah, but the fire ant removal firm has made sure that most of the nest

makes it to its new home.

Yeah, it looks like they've had enough of life on the waves.

Once they're all on dry land again, it's time to move into their new pad

-and get nest-building.

-So really, the fire ants did a pretty good job.

Exactly.

And the reason they're connected to the condor

is that they work as they travel.

So, both the fire ants and the condor are travelling grafters.

Time now to head out to sea to meet our next grafters -

the cleaner fish.

There's quite a few of them in the business, by the look of it.

Goby's Shell-Shining makes sure every client is perfectly polished.

-Ah! Isn't that a marine turtle?

-Certainly is, Gem.

And it looks like those cleaner fish are doing a cracking job.

But isn't that a bit lazy?

Why don't those turtles keep themselves clean?

You try scratching your back when all you have is flippers!

Marine turtles swim all around the world in warm, tropical waters,

which include the coasts of Latin America.

So there are plenty of new clients to keep our cleaner fish in business.

Oh, that's better! A little to the right.

Oh, yeah, that's it!

These cleaning stations are big business in the oceans.

Queuing clients can get a bit impatient waiting for a shell shine.

All right, mate, I'm next.

So the turtles lay there and get a free cleaning service from the fish?

What exactly do those cleaner fish get out of this arrangement?

Well, as the fish work away, removing parasites and hangers-on

from the turtles' shells, they're actually having a feast.

Technically, it's a free meal deal.

Very tasty it is, too! Mmm, barnacles for breakfast!

Yummy!

So, what connects our cleaner fish to those fire ants?

Well, both the fire ants and the cleaner fish work as a team

to get the job done.

Cool! And the cleaner fish link right back to our first grafters,

the dung beetles, because they're both in the hygiene industry.

What a spotless end to the show.

Whoo! What a hard-working line-up we've had today!

I know. I'm exhausted just watching them.

First up was a bug that has a ball with a bit of dung removal.

Jobs using jobbies are all the rage,

as this parrot fish proves with its beach-building bowels.

Fish with beaks and birds with pouches!

Those amazing mouths help to do the job for parrot fish and pelicans.

And our cowboy spider also catches his prey on the job. Yee-haw!

Next were our bats, which shared the night shift with the bolas spider.

And they worked in groups, just like the reef squid.

Although the squid weren't great at their job,

they certainly had the look, just like the amazing manakin.

And from one bird to another -

the super-talented impressionists,

the jackass penguins.

Which brings us to another animal with an odd name - the whale shark.

Gliding through the oceans as he works as a giant filter,

the whale shark is, like the condor,

-a grafter that glides.

-And working on the move

is exactly what our house-moving fire ants do.

Teamwork also does the job

-for our busily buffing cleaner fish.

-Which leads us right back

to our hygienic dung disposal experts, the dung beetles.

That was a hard show today, Gem.

Yeah, and not just for us, eh?

What's with the shirt and tie?

Oh, well, I went for another job interview, and I got the job.

Wow! Well done! What is it?

Well, I'm the industrial exterior designer of small fine particles.

What?

You're a sand sweeper? Good luck! You've got your work cut out.

Yeah, well, we don't call it that!

Industrial exterior designer.

It's an important job.

It's going to take a while.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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