0:00:02 > 0:00:04# Marauding mice and walls of ice
0:00:04 > 0:00:05# And sharks on a golfing spree... #
0:00:05 > 0:00:06Agh!
0:00:06 > 0:00:08# Cicada swarms and Martian storms
0:00:08 > 0:00:10# And fish walking out of the sea... #
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Really?
0:00:11 > 0:00:12# Elks in trees and foaming seas
0:00:12 > 0:00:14# And giant mayfly mobs... #
0:00:14 > 0:00:15Huh?
0:00:15 > 0:00:17# Zombie snails and friendly whales
0:00:17 > 0:00:18# And completely frozen frogs... #
0:00:18 > 0:00:19You what?
0:00:19 > 0:00:21# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:00:21 > 0:00:23# Really, really wild And really, really weird
0:00:23 > 0:00:26# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:00:26 > 0:00:28# They're really, really wild And really, really wild
0:00:28 > 0:00:30# And weird. #
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Coming up on today's show, some mysteries of nature...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37..trees covered in candyfloss?
0:00:37 > 0:00:39..Bees with an artistic streak...
0:00:39 > 0:00:42..and the golf course water hazard with serious bite.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52PINK PANTHER THEME
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Mm. Yes.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Ooh.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57Really?
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Hm...
0:00:59 > 0:01:01PINK PANTHER THEME CONTINUES
0:01:06 > 0:01:08What are you doing?
0:01:08 > 0:01:11I'm investigating a mysterious disappearance.
0:01:11 > 0:01:12Disappearance of what?
0:01:12 > 0:01:15The television remote control.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18- Oh, well, have you looked down the back of the sof...?- So far...
0:01:18 > 0:01:21my investigation points towards a team of highly trained monkeys
0:01:21 > 0:01:23that have crept in here and snatched it
0:01:23 > 0:01:26- under the instruction of a criminal mastermi...- Ooh, here it is!
0:01:26 > 0:01:28- TUNE STOPS ABRUPTLY - Oh, wicked!
0:01:28 > 0:01:30And if it is mysteries that you're after,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32look no further than the natural world.
0:01:32 > 0:01:33Ooh.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38'We're travelling to the heart of Pakistan where, in 2011,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42'heavy rains resulted in widespread flooding across the country.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Today brought new flood warnings in the southern Sindh province.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Thousands of square miles of land were submerged underwater.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54And from all the media reports came this set of mysterious photos.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58What is that?
0:01:58 > 0:01:59Is that candyfloss?
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Well, let's ask the man who took the photos.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Russell Watkins from the Department for International Development.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11He looks like a man who's really prepared for anything.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Nothing really prepared us for what we saw when we got there.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I really wasn't prepared for that.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20What we were confronted with was quite spectacular.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23It was very, very surreal.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Quite spooky, in a way.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28The trees just looked like they were wrapped in candyfloss.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Ha! I knew it.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31Oh! Candyfloss.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I love candyfloss.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35HE CHUCKLES
0:02:35 > 0:02:36Mm.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Every tree that you could see,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41every piece of vegetation that you could see for miles and miles on end
0:02:41 > 0:02:44was just cloaked in these enormous webs.
0:02:45 > 0:02:46Webs?
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Did he say webs?
0:02:48 > 0:02:49Yep.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Every tree was coated in a shroud of spooky silk,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58creating a weird, alien-like landscape of water and webs.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Erm...
0:03:00 > 0:03:02- this isn't about spiders, is it?- Why?
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- You're not scared of spiders, are you?- No.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07I was asking for a friend, actually.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Well, that's good, because there's one down there.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11Where?
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Oh! Look, is this about spiders or not?
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Maybe. Maybe not.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'Let's ask web specialist Chris Holland.'
0:03:21 > 0:03:23It's a spider!
0:03:23 > 0:03:24It might not be.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26He's got one in a jar!
0:03:26 > 0:03:27OK, it's spiders.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31Whilst these trees completely covered in silk
0:03:31 > 0:03:33may seem really unusual to the vast majority of us,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37there's actually a very simple natural process occurring here.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41The rising floodwater had made life at ground level impossible,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45so the local spider population needed a new home.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48It just happens to be that when you have flooding events,
0:03:48 > 0:03:49they have very few places to go.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51And they usually go for high ground and, in this case,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53it would be the trees.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55So the types of spiders that you see in these trees
0:03:55 > 0:03:57are most likely the sheet web-building spiders.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59I don't care what they are,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02as long as I don't get them in MY back garden.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05These are the spiders that you tend to find in the back of your garden,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08under your shed, or in your kitchen cupboards.
0:04:08 > 0:04:09You're making dinner.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14But why were there so many spiders?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18The answer lay in the very water that trapped them.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21A stagnant breeding ground for mosquitoes.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25So when you get a few spiders confined to this really small space,
0:04:25 > 0:04:27but a lot of food around,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29for example, mosquitoes from these floodwaters,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32you suddenly would generate a huge population explosion
0:04:32 > 0:04:35where all these spiders are having babies,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38these spiderlings are running amok around these trees,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40creating lots and lots of sheet webs,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43which creates these huge, beautiful coverings of silk,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45as we see in these photos.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48So the flood means more mosquitoes,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50which means more food for the spiders...
0:04:50 > 0:04:53which means more spiders survive
0:04:53 > 0:04:56and that means more webs covering the trees.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57Simple.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02And that concludes the mystery of the candyfloss trees.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06Are you sure you don't want the rest of this?
0:05:06 > 0:05:09No, you can keep your spiders webs. I'm going to have some honey.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12- Ooh! - Urgh! That's not honey.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- It's green!- Actually, it's another mystery.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Watch this.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23'This time we're in the village of Ri... Ribeauv... Ri...
0:05:23 > 0:05:27'We're in France, famed for both its beautiful scenery
0:05:27 > 0:05:29'and also for its beautiful honey,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32'but recently the local beekeepers had a shock.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36'When they opened their hives, they found something truly disturbing.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'The bees were making vivid, green honey.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42'In other hives, it was bright blue.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44'In fact, they were producing a full range
0:05:44 > 0:05:47'of mysterious, multicoloured honeys.'
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Are you sure it's not hair gel, or something?
0:05:50 > 0:05:54'The key ingredient in honey is a sugary substance called nectar,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57'which the bees collect from flowers.'
0:05:57 > 0:05:59No, it's not hair gel, is it?
0:05:59 > 0:06:01MUSIC: Sugar, Sugar by The Archies
0:06:01 > 0:06:03# Ah honey, honey. #
0:06:03 > 0:06:05'The bees take the nectar back to their hives
0:06:05 > 0:06:08'where the worker bees pass it around, chewing it.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11'They then place it in a cell of their honeycomb
0:06:11 > 0:06:14'and buzz their wings to evaporate the moisture
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'and the result is honey.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19'Different flowers produce slightly different nectar
0:06:19 > 0:06:21'and this affects the honey colour.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24'Normally, from pale gold to dark brown.'
0:06:24 > 0:06:26- OK, so if this is honey...- Yeah.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29..why are the bees making it green or blue or red?
0:06:30 > 0:06:32'Well, the answer to this mystery might lie
0:06:32 > 0:06:36'in one of the last places on Earth you'd expect to find a beehive -
0:06:36 > 0:06:39- BUZZING - 'The Big Apple.'
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Well, that's just ridiculous. How would a beekeeper get in there?
0:06:42 > 0:06:45No, Naomi. The Big Apple.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48New York City. You know?
0:06:48 > 0:06:50- Oh, yeah.- Yeah.- I knew that.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57'In New York City, beekeeping is a increasingly popular pastime.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00'Andrew Cote is head of the New York Beekeepers Association
0:07:00 > 0:07:04'and he's also seen some surprising shades of honey.'
0:07:04 > 0:07:07'Since I've been keeping bees in New York City, I've come across'
0:07:07 > 0:07:10bright red, green and blue honey.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14'City bees normally forage for nectar in parks and gardens,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18'but there are plenty of other places to get a quick sugar fix.'
0:07:18 > 0:07:19'In our takeaway, fast food world,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22'sugary snacks and drinks are everywhere.'
0:07:24 > 0:07:25'And, just like us,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29'it seems the bees can't resist these sweet treats.'
0:07:29 > 0:07:32A friend of mine found that her honey was bright red.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And another fella, he found that his honey was bright red
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and it turned out that in this little peninsular area of Brooklyn,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41called Red Hook, there is a cherry factory
0:07:41 > 0:07:43that's been there since the 1940s.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Turns out that the bees were...
0:07:47 > 0:07:51sipping up the run-off from that factory.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54So it was the brightly coloured cherry water
0:07:54 > 0:07:57that was responsible for the red honey.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Mm! Cherry honey?
0:07:59 > 0:08:00Ooh, that sounds lovely.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04When there's a concentrated sugary syrup
0:08:04 > 0:08:06that's just ready to be picked up,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09it's very hard for the bee to resist.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12And it turns out the bees in France were feeding on discarded sweets
0:08:12 > 0:08:17from a local processing plant, hence all the colours of the rainbow.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Cherry, sweets, fantastic.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23What's in this green one?
0:08:23 > 0:08:25I think it was probably antifreeze.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31I don't think it's necessarily a good idea
0:08:31 > 0:08:33to try an odd-coloured honey
0:08:33 > 0:08:35or drink a plutonium milkshake.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Oh, what?
0:08:39 > 0:08:42So, whilst the idea of a multicoloured sweet spread
0:08:42 > 0:08:45for your breakfast toast might sound very tempting,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49it's probably best to leave any funny honey off the menu.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55- Mystery solved.- Very good. I liked that one.- Yeah, me too.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59- Much better than the spiders one. - What, those spiders?
0:08:59 > 0:09:01- Ooh!- Ha-ha! Too easy!
0:09:01 > 0:09:04I've got one more natural mystery for you, if you're interested.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07- Hasn't got any spiders in it? - No.- Go on, then.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11We're off to the sun-kissed shores of Queensland in Australia.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15A lovely place for a relaxing round of golf.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Ah! I love golf.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20It's not a sport you would normally associate with danger.
0:09:20 > 0:09:21WHISTLING
0:09:21 > 0:09:22CRASHING
0:09:24 > 0:09:28But, for the members of Carbrook Golf Course in Brisbane...
0:09:28 > 0:09:29WHISTLING
0:09:29 > 0:09:30CRASHING
0:09:30 > 0:09:32..it seems their water hazard...
0:09:32 > 0:09:33WHISTLING
0:09:33 > 0:09:35WHISTLING FADES
0:09:37 > 0:09:40..might be a little more hazardous
0:09:40 > 0:09:42than they expected.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Standing on that green over there...
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and I was about to hit me ball,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48and I heard this big splash. So I look up like this.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Miss the putt by two foot.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Rumours were beginning to circulate amongst the members
0:09:54 > 0:09:57that something big was living in the lake.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03And those rumours soon reached course manager Scott Wagstaff.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Around '97, '98, we had one of our members come in and tell us
0:10:08 > 0:10:10that he'd seen a fin out on this lake.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Wait, wait, wait. Wait.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15A fin? Is this story about sharks?
0:10:15 > 0:10:16You're not scared of sharks, too, are you?
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Well, maybe just a little bit, yeah.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20Well, don't worry. Sharks live out in the sea.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23- This lake is surrounded by land. - Right.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26How would a shark get from the sea into a land-locked lake?
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Yeah. OK.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30So what was it then?
0:10:30 > 0:10:32'It was...a shark.'
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Naomi, you said that this wasn't about a shark!
0:10:35 > 0:10:37You said there was no way a shark could get into a landlocked lake!
0:10:37 > 0:10:41I know. It's a real mystery, isn't it?
0:10:41 > 0:10:44'And it wasn't just a single shark.'
0:10:45 > 0:10:47We threw some chicken in and two sharks,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51about eight to nine foot came up. It was just incredible to see.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Incredible? How about terrifying?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57In fact, it turned out that the lake contained
0:10:57 > 0:10:59more than ten bull sharks.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Bull sharks?
0:11:01 > 0:11:03They're the nice ones, right?
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Let's ask expert Dr Michael Heithaus.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Bull sharks have a reputation for being pretty darn aggressive.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14We don't really know why, but they can also be really unpredictable.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17They're big predators and one of the few species
0:11:17 > 0:11:20that'll attack prey almost as big as they are,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22so, yeah, they are dangerous predators
0:11:22 > 0:11:25that you need to give a healthy respect.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Don't worry, Tim.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32It's not like sharks can climb out of the water and walk on dry land.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36- Or can they? - You're loving this, aren't you?
0:11:38 > 0:11:40It turns out that bull sharks are one of the few fish
0:11:40 > 0:11:43that can live in both salt and fresh water.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46But I know what you're thinking, Tim.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Yeah, that we should stop talking about sharks.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50No. Why would a bull shark want to venture
0:11:50 > 0:11:52into fresh water in the first place?
0:11:52 > 0:11:55- I wasn't thinking that. - The real benefit for an adult
0:11:55 > 0:11:57to get into fresh water is probably to have their pups.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59It's a good place for them, cos there's plenty of food
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and there are no bigger sharks that would like to eat them.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05See? Even sharks are scared of being eaten by sharks
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and it still doesn't even explain
0:12:07 > 0:12:10how a shark got into a lake completely surrounded by land.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Well, our friend, Scott, has a theory.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17This area's part of the Logan River flood plain and in the mid-90s,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20the river which sits next to the golf course just burst its banks,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22flooded across the golf course
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and, as the water receded,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27there were some little surprises left in the lake.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29He's very cheerful for a man who's got
0:12:29 > 0:12:31a bunch of gigantic sharks in his lake.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Tim, you're just being silly. There's nothing to be scared of.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37- Sharks aren't interested in us at all.- Really?
0:12:37 > 0:12:39What are they eating then?
0:12:39 > 0:12:42The sharks are very self-sufficient
0:12:42 > 0:12:47and there's quite a lot of variety of fish for the sharks to feed off,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49so it's a bit of a smorgasbord, I guess, for them.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52And the golfers don't mind them being there at all.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Sharks aren't the worry, mate.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55It's the snakes around here you've got to worry about.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57What? Snakes?
0:12:57 > 0:12:58Let's not go there.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02So the solution to this riddle is our shark swam up a river
0:13:02 > 0:13:04to have pups, the river burst its banks
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and the floodwater carried them over into the lake.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Mystery solved.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Phew!
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Thank goodness for that.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21I was starting to think that sharks could walk on dry land.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22Right, Na...?
0:13:22 > 0:13:23Naomi?
0:13:23 > 0:13:25JAWS THEME
0:13:25 > 0:13:28- HE SCOFFS - Yeah. Nice one. Really funny.
0:13:28 > 0:13:29What's funny?
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Wh...?
0:13:31 > 0:13:33JAWS THEME
0:13:35 > 0:13:38# Wild and weird Wild and weird
0:13:38 > 0:13:40# Really, really wild And really, really weird
0:13:40 > 0:13:42# Wild and weird Wild and weird
0:13:42 > 0:13:44# Really, really wild And really, really wild
0:13:44 > 0:13:46# And weird. #
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Wild...and...weird!