It's Life Tim, But Not As We Know It Wild & Weird

# Wormy fish killers Convoys of caterpillars

# Super-clever brainless slime

# Bunny rabbit swarms, raging storms

# And pigs that swim at dinner time

# Tornados of fire, starfish going haywire

# Algae balls from space

# Prairie dogs that chat

# Birds going splat and fish slapping in your face

# They're wild and weird Wild and weird

# Really, really wild and really, really weird

# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

# They're really, really wild and really, really wild and weird. #

Coming up on today's show, some otherworldly weirdness.

A worm with a wandering tongue.

Some unidentified floating objects.

And... I don't even know what that is, but it's coming up later.

-What are you doing?

-Shh.

Stay back!

I think I've discovered a new form of extraterrestrial life.

-Tim...

-I've searched all of the encyclopaedias,

the entire internet and I cannot find a species match.

-Tim...

-There's no real way of ascertaining

just how dangerous this is,

so I've called in the whole of Nasa to come and check it out.

It's marmalade. I spilt a bit earlier, sorry.

-It's marmalade.

-Don't worry,

there are still plenty of creepy alien life forms out there.

-Shall I show you?

-Yeah, go on!

Fire away. Nothing scares me.

This amazing footage from Thailand shows an unexpected catch

from a fisherman's net.

But it's what happens next that is truly unexpected.

Aah!

Cool, eh?

Tim, I thought you said you weren't scared of anything.

I dropped my pen.

What pen?

I dropped it again.

Let's take another look at that in slow-mo, shall we?

It really does look like a bizarre form of alien life.

Thank goodness there's only one of them!

Well, actually, these things have been cropping up all over the area.

Eurgh, it looks like a giant bogey with a tongue!

So where do these strange slimy monsters come from

and what are they up to?

HAMMERING

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they plan to enslave humanity.

We better start barricading ourselves in.

Don't worry, Tim, they're not really space-invading aliens.

Oh, no? What are they, then?

These peculiar animals are called ribbon worms.

There are over 1,000 different species,

but most of them live in the deep ocean,

so I'm afraid you're very unlikely to ever see one.

Trust me, Naomi, nobody wants to see one of those.

-Emma does.

-Who's Emma?

Emma Sherlock from the Natural History Museum.

She LOVES ribbon worms!

Ribbon worms are incredible animals.

Emma, over here! That's it.

They really are

a unique set of worms.

And it's pretty obvious what sets these worms apart.

Oh, my goodness!

That thing is called a proboscis and it has a slightly sinister purpose.

-It's going to go.

-Enslaving humanity!

No. But unlike the earth-eating worms

you might dig up in your garden,

ribbon worms have an appetite for something more substantial.

Ribbon worms are predators.

They are the carnivores around in the worm world.

She is WAY too excited about a flesh-eating worm.

And what they'll do is they'll send out this proboscis,

sense that it's something that they want to eat...

-And then...

-Goodnight, human race!

Tim, they are not going to enslave the human race!

Most ribbon worms are only 20 centimetres long.

Oh, phew.

Hang on, wait, what? What do you mean, "most"?

Well, there is one species that can grow up to 30 metres long.

But let's not worry about that.

So, how does it work?

Well, the proboscis usually stays in a sac on top of the worm's gut.

But once the worm senses prey approaching, its muscles contract,

forcing fluid into the sac

and shooting it out through a hole in the worm's head.

Worst dinner party guest ever.

Sometimes, these probosces have little stylets on,

so hooks that they stab into their prey.

Some will also produce mucus, which then can stun their prey.

And remember our little friend from earlier?

Oh, how could I forget?

It's one of only two species of ribbon worms

that have a spectacular branching proboscis.

It's absolutely fantastic and it's absolutely very weird.

-Neat, eh?

-Yeah, if gut-spewing, flesh-eating worms

is your sort of thing.

Personally, I prefer my weird alien life forms a little more docile.

-Like what?

-Like this.

Sydney, Australia, 2014.

The sun, sea, surf and something altogether more strange.

What? What is it?

Green balls.

No need to be rude. I was only asking.

No, that's what was strange.

The sands of Dee Why Beach were transformed

into something of a Martian landscape today,

covered in green alien balls.

They really ARE weird.

But they can't actually be aliens, can they?

Well, the Aussies are a smart bunch.

-Yeah.

-Let's ask the locals.

They could be anything. They could be aliens.

-Not much help.

-No, let's try someone else.

I'm not sure what they are.

I haven't heard anyone who does know

what they are, actually. They're crazy.

Er...

OK. Well, forget the locals, we'll try an expert.

How about Dr Mark Spencer?

He's got some balls in a jar.

So when these strange green furry balls washed up on the beach

in Australia, lots of people were really confused.

Yeah, we know.

These green balls are basically a type of algae.

-Algae?

-Yes, they're highly complex organisms of very little value.

Algae are very simple plants, but they're really important.

That's what I meant.

And they use sunlight energy, like land plants,

to photosynthesise to produce food.

But algae normally just grows on rocks.

Why are they transforming themselves into beach balls?

In this situation, they're doing something rather unusual.

Each little tiny colony, bit by bit,

is rolling around on the bottom of the sea

and as sunlight energy hits the top of the ball,

it grows a bit and then it rotates and then it grows a bit

and that means the growth is kept even

and slowly getting bigger and bigger as the seasons progress

until you get these wonderful green balls.

I know what you're thinking.

-Do you?

-You're thinking,

"I would really love one of those green slimy balls for myself."

-Um, actually...

-So here we go!

-Oh...

-Ha-ha-ha!

You are welcome!

What am I supposed to do with this?

Well, you can worship it or keep it as a pet.

Ha-ha-ha, very funny.

No, I'm not even joking.

In Lake Akan in Japan,

these furry wonders have been rolling around for years

and they are so revered by the indigenous Ainu people

that they hold a three-day festival in their honour every year.

And elsewhere in Japan,

people have taken to keeping these spherical sensations as pets.

There's even a cuddly toy!

TOY PLAYS RECORDED LAUGHTER

All of which goes to prove what a rich and colourful life

a simple green ball of algae can have.

You know, keeping one as a pet may not be as daft as it sounds.

-Why?

-Well, for starters, it can play fetch the ball all by itself.

-Look. Fetch!

-SPLAT!

-See?

-Hey, that was a gift!

Anyway, I've got another mysterious unidentified object

and this one you definitely wouldn't want as a pet.

The city of Raleigh in North Carolina, USA -

leafy, quiet, safe.

We're a mid-size government town, a lot of beige architecture,

don't get a lot of monsters.

Monsters?

This isn't another scary story, is it?

Depends on your definition of scary.

I mean, spare underpants on standby scary.

Oh, no!

Thanks, though. PFFRT!

Like every city, below the roads and pavements is a network of sewers.

What's a sewer for?

Oh! That's revolting!

Where did you think it all went?

I thought the Poo Fairy came and collected it all.

For a sewer system to carry away our toilet waste properly,

it needs constant maintenance.

We have to monitor the condition of the pipes on a frequent basis

because they can get blocked.

You'd never catch me doing that job.

Strange things you'll see are money,

there's jewellery.

On second thoughts, maybe I would.

Or snakes, and we certainly see our fair share of rats.

On third thoughts...

Actually, Tim, it's all done using robots.

But on April 27th 2009,

one of the robot cameras spotted something

the likes of which this city had never seen before.

Whoa!

A bizarre clump of pulsating slimy matter.

I was at a loss for an explanation.

It was really something that I'd seen out of a science fiction movie.

So what do you reckon, Tim?

A real-life town under attack from an alien life form?

HE CHUCKLES Hardly!

I'm sure the town wasn't in the least bit bothered.

It's not like Godzilla turned up, is it?

It was as though Godzilla had shown up.

Oh.

There was a clamour, a great alarm in the streets.

It really did seem as though Raleigh was starring

in its very own B movie.

There was a movie called The Blob

and so everyone was making a lot of Blob references,

people thought that it was radioactive.

Maybe it was an experiment gone wrong,

maybe something slithered out of a test tube

and into the sewer system.

There were...

People thought that it was pudding come to life.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!

Did he just say people thought it was pudding come to life?!

-I think so.

-What kind of people?

Don't know. Hungry ones?

But if it wasn't the Creature From The Black Forest Gateau Lagoon,

then what was this gruesome globule?

Could there really be a sensible scientific explanation?

Well, yes. Yes, there could.

Evolutionary biologist Dr Casey Dunn has the answers.

These are worms, annelid worms.

Actually close relatives of earthworms.

What is it with you and worms?

It's actually not quite known how many species,

but they're loosely called tubifex.

Tubifex worms live in the water,

anchoring themselves against the current

and grabbing food as it passes.

The prime real estate for something like a tubifex is somewhere

where you can attach to the bottom firmly and there's food going by.

Obviously, a sewer wouldn't be our first choice for a home,

but for a tubifex, it's absolutely perfect.

That many resources in one place,

you can get really dense clumps of them.

What does he mean by resources?

Wait, it EATS it?

Oh! What, the...? From the...?

Oh, that's disgusting!

So it turns out this sewage-eating monster isn't a single animal,

it's lots of different worms bonded together.

Each worm can sense movement around it and then it can also contract,

so that's almost like a chain of dominoes.

And as they are no danger to people,

the citizens of Raleigh can sleep safe at night,

even if the thought of a pulsing alien blob

under their streets is rather disconcerting.

I think people are genuinely weirded out by whatever lives in the sewer

and if it's a giant shiny, slimy pulsing ball of worms,

then I can understand why they'd be grossed out.

There you go, Tim. Another alien story debunked.

-What the...?

-PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-'Hi, Naomi, it's me.'

Tim, where are you?

-What's going on?

-'Don't worry about me, I'm safe.

'I'm at my nan's. I forgot to tell Nasa about the marmalade

'so they've quarantined the house for two weeks.'

Two weeks?!

'Yeah! Anyway, listen, got to go.

'Nan's cooking some pork chops.'

-DISCONNECTED TONE

-Wait, what do I...?

# They're wild and weird Wild and weird

# Really, really wild and really, really weird

# They're wild and weird Wild and weird

# They're really, really wild

# They're really, really wild and weird... #

Wild And Weird!