0:00:02 > 0:00:06# Marauding mice and walls of ice and sharks on a golfing spree (Argh!)
0:00:06 > 0:00:10# Cicada swarms and nasty storms and fish walking out of the sea (Really?)
0:00:10 > 0:00:15# Elks in trees and foaming seas and giant mayfly moths (Huh?)
0:00:15 > 0:00:18# Zombie snails and friendly whales and completely frozen frogs
0:00:18 > 0:00:19# You what?
0:00:19 > 0:00:22# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:00:22 > 0:00:24# Really really wild And really really weird
0:00:24 > 0:00:26# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:00:26 > 0:00:27# They're really really wild
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# They're really really wild And weird. #
0:00:30 > 0:00:32It's all things freaky on today's show,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34as mysterious webs cover a street.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Foaming seas!
0:00:36 > 0:00:40- A disappearing playground! - And multicoloured lobsters.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43We got ourselves another crazy lobster down here.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Tim? The TV remote's not working. Can you come and have a look?
0:00:57 > 0:00:58What is it?
0:00:58 > 0:01:00I only put brand-new super-strong batteries in that this morning.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04- Have you pressed all the buttons? - Yep, everything except the blue one.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Blue one? I didn't even know we had a blue one.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09There you go, let's give it a go.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14- NAOMI'S VOICE:- Well, that didn't do anything. Ooh!
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I sound all high-pitched and squeaky, like you!
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Well, thank you very much(!) Oh! Ooh! I sound like a man!
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Quick, press the blue button again.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I daren't speak.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Oh, good, back to normal. What about you?
0:01:29 > 0:01:32He...llo. Yeah. I was getting worried then!
0:01:32 > 0:01:33Why are you wearing my clothes?
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Argh! Why are you in my clothes?
0:01:36 > 0:01:41Oh, no, I look and I smell like you, too.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45- Quick, get me out of these.- All right. It isn't comfy for me either.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Right, you ready?
0:01:51 > 0:01:54- We speak of this to no-one. Agree?- Agreed.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57What happens in the treehouse stays in the treehouse.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01- It was pretty freaky, though. - Yeah. Almost as freaky as this.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05We start our journey of all things freaky in the city
0:02:05 > 0:02:10of Rotterdam in Holland, when, in 2009, this happened.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14- No way!- Way!
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It was like something out of a Grimms' fairy tale.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Look at it. The poor owner of this car had something much worse than
0:02:21 > 0:02:24a parking ticket stuck to his motor.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27- That is horrendous. - I know, the webs.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Ooh, stuff of nightmares.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33No, owning a red car! Only weirdos own red cars!
0:02:33 > 0:02:35My car's red.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43And it didn't stop there. Everything was entangled in this mysterious web.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49A closer inspection revealed millions of the silk-spinning
0:02:49 > 0:02:52offspring of a species of ermine moth.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55So, what were so many caterpillars doing wriggling over
0:02:55 > 0:02:58the surface of this thick web?
0:02:58 > 0:03:00It's no good asking me. Ask him.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03That's Ray Barnett from the Bristol Museum.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07What he doesn't know about moths isn't worth knowing.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10- I bet he doesn't know all their names.- Shhh.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14The adult female, flying about at night, like most moths, would find
0:03:14 > 0:03:19the right food plant and then would lay a clump of about 50 eggs.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20Tiny little caterpillars hatch out,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24and then they will start to move about and find some food.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28And that's when they start to form webs.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31They spin the silk over the food that they're on
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and hide underneath it, and that just means the birds,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37which are the main visual predators of caterpillars,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40are unable to get at them easily.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45So why that street in particular?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Because it's lined with plenty of their favourite food,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51the leaves of the spindle tree.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Ohhh, fair enough.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56But that still doesn't explain why they coated the car,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59unless they were going to eat it.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01As they gradually exhausted the food supply,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05they continued to look for more by spinning more web and expanding out
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and perhaps leaving the tree that they were feeding on to try
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and locate more.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15If you imagine yourself as a poor little defenceless caterpillar...
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Hm! I'm there already.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21..you can't run across the road, because the birds will eat you,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25- so you have to keep your protection with you.- Good advice, Doc.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Safety doesn't take a day off.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29HE STRAINS
0:04:30 > 0:04:32- Do you want some help? - Yes, please. Would you mind?
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Thank you. Yeah.
0:04:34 > 0:04:35Ow.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38It's a bit tight.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42They have to keep spinning the web and moving underneath that web,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45so they're moving off the tree.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47They don't know where they're going, but they're
0:04:47 > 0:04:48trying to find more food plants
0:04:48 > 0:04:52and consequently they've ended up covering up all the bits and pieces
0:04:52 > 0:04:56around the tree, which happened to include in this case a car.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00So quite a remarkable incidence. But I don't think they were fooled.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02They didn't think this was something to eat,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06they were just on their way to try and find more to eat.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Finished!
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- Ooh! I like what you've done with the place.- Mm!
0:05:18 > 0:05:21So, the moral of that story is if you've got cherry trees
0:05:21 > 0:05:24of spindle trees in your garden, don't park your car underneath them.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Hey, freaky moth webs are one thing, but what about this?
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Would you, er...?
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Thanks.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Imagine sending your kids to school one day.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45There they all are, merrily playing at a well-earned breaktime.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Next day, this.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Check out that massive hole!
0:05:51 > 0:05:55That's what happened to a school playground in southern China.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57- Where were the kids?!- In the hole!
0:05:57 > 0:05:59- NAOMI GASPS - I'm joking. Of course they're not.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02No, nobody was hurt, but that hole was 80 metres wide
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and continued to grow for almost six months.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08And that is not the only incident.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09In June of 2010,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12a massive hole opened up in the middle of a suburban street,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14swallowing a three-storey building.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Terrified local residents had a lucky escape and were evacuated
0:06:18 > 0:06:23when the 60-metre-deep chasm appeared suddenly during the night.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26A little closer to home, and this time a small town in central
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Germany suffered a devastating collapse.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Houses nearby had to be evacuated, and two car owners, well,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35they were left with a bit of a conundrum.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Holes appearing in cities? What's going on?
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Well, I'm not going to lie to you, Naomi. I have no idea.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48I'm just reporting the news. Fear not, though. Help is at hand.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53British geologist Tony Cooper is an expert
0:06:53 > 0:06:55in these terrifying sinkholes.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01What has happened is that material has gradually washed away
0:07:01 > 0:07:05underground and the cavity's got very large at depth and then
0:07:05 > 0:07:09the material has continued to wash away and collapse over that cavity
0:07:09 > 0:07:13and that cavity's worked its way up to the surface.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15At the surface, especially in towns and suchlike,
0:07:15 > 0:07:20you will have things like roads and concrete structures and so on,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and these can actually bridge quite significant holes in the ground
0:07:24 > 0:07:27until it gets to a point where it is so large that nothing will
0:07:27 > 0:07:30bridge it, and then you'll get a catastrophic collapse.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33So in the case of the school playground,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37China has huge areas of limestone, and although no-one knew it,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41the school playground that collapsed was right on top of a massive cave.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Right, for our next freaky phenomena,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- we are heading down under.- Ooh!
0:07:52 > 0:07:58Australia, the epitome of beach culture - sand, sea, surf.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01But what happens when this...
0:08:01 > 0:08:03turns to this?
0:08:03 > 0:08:05# Twisting my melon, man!
0:08:05 > 0:08:08# You know, you talk so hip, man You're twisting my melon, man... #
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Overnight, the ocean had been whipped up into something
0:08:11 > 0:08:12quite extraordinary.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17When the waves would push in, they'd push the foam up real high.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19You know what I'm thinking?
0:08:20 > 0:08:23- BOTH:- Foam party!
0:08:23 > 0:08:24DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:30 > 0:08:31Meanwhile, back in Oz,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34the locals head to the beach to enjoy the spectacle.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Whoo-hoo-hoo! Foam par-tay!
0:08:41 > 0:08:44The waves were lifting the foam,
0:08:44 > 0:08:45but you couldn't actually see breaking waves.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49Whoo!
0:08:49 > 0:08:54We even had one member of my wife's family disappear in it,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and it took us quite a while to find him.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58DANCE MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY
0:08:58 > 0:09:01- Ooh!- Actually, it's not so funny, is it?
0:09:01 > 0:09:02No.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- SQUELCH - Oh, the sea's a dangerous place.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06Yeah.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10So go on, then, what's going on with this cappuccino coastline?
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Let's get some answers from this man.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20Dr Simon Boxall is a coastal expert at the National Oceanography Centre.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Over the last few years, we've seen some fantastic sea foam events.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26A lot of people assume it's caused by pollution.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30In actual fact, it's not, it's caused by these things.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Bottles of washing-up liquid. I bet it is washing-up liquid.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38This is caused by plankton, phytoplankton primarily.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Or plankton. That would have been my second guess.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43- Oh.- Remind me, what's plankton?
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Plankton are microscopic plants and animals that live in water.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49They're the bottom link in the food chain,
0:09:49 > 0:09:54feeding everything from tiny fish to the giants of the ocean.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56And plankton supports us, too.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Much of the earth's oxygen is produced by these tiny organisms.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06As the phytoplankton die, they release various compounds.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10When these things are agitated, they create sea foam.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11They act like surfactants,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14almost like washing-up liquid in some ways.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Ha! I was right! Plankton schmankton.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22This combination of strong blooms, strong wave activity produces
0:10:22 > 0:10:26the most spectacular sea foam shows on the planet.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Hey, Tim, do you want to see some freaky-looking lobsters?
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Er, hello, remember who you're asking.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41- Does that mean you want to see them? - Yeah, course I do, yeah.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Now, don't adjust your TV set, you are seeing this right.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Fishermen on the Atlantic coast of North America landed a lobster.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Bright blue lobster! Freaky!
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Just got this blue lobster.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58They're normally that colour, aren't they?
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Yep. And check out this one.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05We got ourselves another crazy lobster down here.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10- Pretty funky. Pretty cool. - Another was brilliant orange.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12That's the colour lobsters go when they're cooked.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17And just when they thought they'd seen it all,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19up from the depths came this...
0:11:22 > 0:11:26..an impossible-looking lobster with a colour split that was jaw-dropping.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Like I said, jaw-dropping.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37- Dana and Ryan Duhaime caught it. - I wonder which one will speak first.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Ah, decisions, decisions. I'm going for the guy in the red T-shirt.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43When we came on deck, I said, "What is this?"
0:11:43 > 0:11:46I couldn't believe we had a lobster that was orange on one side
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and black on the other, straight right down the middle.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52We couldn't wait to take it in and show these guys on the dock, y'know?
0:11:52 > 0:11:53"What do you think of this?"
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Tell you what I think. Doesn't look very appetising.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00So hang on, what's going on with all these colourful crustaceans?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Well, pretend you're a lobster.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08- Done.- As a lobster, you like eating other shellfish.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09Tasty!
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Well, inside the shellfish that the lobster eats is a red pigment.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16It's the same pigment
0:12:16 > 0:12:18that gives flamingos their characteristic colour,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22only in the lobster's world, that pigment moves around its body
0:12:22 > 0:12:25and changes colour again, this time to blue.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30But it changes again, this time to yellow.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36But for most lobsters, all the colours merge and you get this.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Down on the sea bed, where lobsters spend most of their lives,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43this layering of colours provides excellent camouflage.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45It keeps the young safely hidden
0:12:45 > 0:12:49and allows adults to stalk their prey unseen.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53So they're a mismatch of colours. But what about the two-tone lobster?
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Well, unlike us,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59each side of a lobster's body develops completely independently.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05So occasionally you get a split like this. And that's not all.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Most two-coloured lobsters are boys on one side and girls on the other.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- What are you laughing at?- Erm...
0:13:18 > 0:13:23- Have you been at the blue button again?- Who, me?- Yeah!- No.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27- Give it here.- No.- Please give it here.- See you next time.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29# Dude looks like a lady!... #
0:13:31 > 0:13:33# Wild and weird, wild and weird
0:13:33 > 0:13:35# Really really wild and really really weird
0:13:35 > 0:13:38# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:13:38 > 0:13:39# They're really really wild
0:13:39 > 0:13:44# They're really really wild and weird
0:13:45 > 0:13:48# Wild and weird. #