0:00:02 > 0:00:04# Wormy fish-killers Convoys of caterpillars
0:00:04 > 0:00:06- # Super-clever, brainless slime... # - Ugh!
0:00:06 > 0:00:08# Bunny rabbit swarms, raging storms
0:00:08 > 0:00:10# And pigs that swim at dinner time
0:00:10 > 0:00:13# Tornadoes of fire Starfish going haywire
0:00:13 > 0:00:15- # Algae balls from space! - What?!
0:00:15 > 0:00:17# Prairie dogs that chat Birds going splat
0:00:17 > 0:00:19# And fish slapping in your face
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 > 0:00:25# They're wild and weird Wild and weird
0:00:25 > 0:00:27# They're really, really wild
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# They're really, really wild and weird... #
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Coming up on today's show, some gruesome goings on.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36The super slime that's as slick as a city,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39a plant that smells like poop
0:00:39 > 0:00:41and the worst dinner guest ever.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43You're just overwhelmed with pain.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59Tim, you need to tidy your room.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02There are dirty clothes, crockery, takeaway cartons everywhere,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04it is like a rubbish dump.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06I tidied it in January.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Yeah, January last year.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09It's been so long,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12some of your socks have evolved into intelligent life.
0:01:12 > 0:01:13It's disgusting.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Naomi, I think you're overreacting a little bit.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18There's plenty of things in nature much more gruesome
0:01:18 > 0:01:20than a messy bedroom.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21Here, let me show you.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Ooh, onybitaball, hiiiiim.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33It's June 2013, and in Fountain Valley, California,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36there's something creepy going on in the garden.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Trip out on this. What is that? Crazy.
0:01:40 > 0:01:41And it's not just here.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Strange yellow blobs are emerging all over the country.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Uggghh, that looks disgusting.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50It's like a mushroom thing.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52And they're spreading fast.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54It grew in hours.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57This was like four little specks three hours ago
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and now you see how big it is.
0:02:00 > 0:02:01Is it an alien invasion?
0:02:01 > 0:02:05No, it's something much more down to earth.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07It's slime mould.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Ooh, slime and mould, two of my favourite things.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15- Really, are they?- No, of course not, I'm being sarcastic.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Can't you tell, Mr Smarty Pants?
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I haven't got Smarties in my pants.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24- Why would I do that? - CRUNCHING SOUNDS
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Slime mould is very weird indeed.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31It's a single cell organism that lies dormant until awakened
0:02:31 > 0:02:32by moisture in the air.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35And once it's up, it needs to eat.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39This speeded up footage captures its voracious search for food,
0:02:39 > 0:02:44moving at the breakneck pace of a few centimetres per hour.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Moving at a few centimetres per hour on a voracious search for food?
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Sounds a bit like you in the morning, Tim.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Only you're after the cornflakes and it's... Ooh, actually,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57what is it after?
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Well, let's ask biologist Dr Mark Fricker.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05So it's hungry and its food is bacteria, fungi,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07bits of decaying matter, but it has to find them.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10And it doesn't have a brain and it doesn't have any nerves and
0:03:10 > 0:03:12it can't see where it's going.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15So, it has to feel its environment.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18It sends out a series of tubes.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20The ones that don't find food fade away,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22but the ones that do are strengthened
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and send yummy fungal goodness back to the hub,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30creating a very simple, but very effective, transportation network -
0:03:30 > 0:03:32one to rival those of even the biggest cities.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36You say that, but seeking out a few mushrooms,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39it's not really the same as moving millions of people
0:03:39 > 0:03:41around a huge city like Tokyo, is it?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Well, let's find out as we play...
0:03:49 > 0:03:52..Slime versus City.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58The single-celled super organism known simply as slime mould.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Moving a Metro-wide population of 35 million people,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08it's the Tokyo rail network.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10So, Natalie.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12- It's Nao...- Who do you think's going to win
0:04:12 > 0:04:13this battle of transport efficiency?
0:04:13 > 0:04:16- Well...- I'm going to have to hurry you, I'm afraid.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18- Oh, it's probably...- Oh, what a shame, you're out of time.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20- What?!- Let's see what happens
0:04:20 > 0:04:23when we compare the slime mould's food-finding forays
0:04:23 > 0:04:26to one of the world's most complex rail networks.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Over to you, Mark.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31So this represents Tokyo, where the slime mould's growing out,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33and these are all the little oat flakes
0:04:33 > 0:04:36representing the cities around Tokyo.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38So, you can see the margin spreading, foraging,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39trying to find resources,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42but, just behind the margin, it leaves behind these tubes
0:04:42 > 0:04:44connecting it to the central resource.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49Not all of those tubes are going to remain, some of them will disappear.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51At the end, it's still going foraging there
0:04:51 > 0:04:54but it leaves behind a network that's reasonably stable.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58So, we can ask whether that network that the slime mould has produced
0:04:58 > 0:05:01resembles the Tokyo rail network designed by humans.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03And the answer is...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Yes! Yes, it does!
0:05:08 > 0:05:11CHEERING
0:05:15 > 0:05:16Are you finished?
0:05:18 > 0:05:19Yep.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24It turns out our biological wonder, the slime mould,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26is every bit as efficient
0:05:26 > 0:05:29at building transportation networks as us humans.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Not bad for an animal with no brain or nervous system.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Perhaps there really is beauty in simplicity after all.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41I'm not sure I'd use the term beauty when discussing slime mould.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44It looks like something that might be growing in your bedroom. Oof!
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Hey, my bedroom's not that messy.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Then why can I smell it from here?! Ooh.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53No, that's my flower collection.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Uh, Tim, flowers smell nice.
0:05:56 > 0:05:57Not all of them.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58Look at this.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Our planet is home to a bewildering array of unusual plant life.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08But whilst most compete to attract pollinators
0:06:08 > 0:06:11with beautiful blooms and fine fragrances,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16there is one species that has taken a somewhat alternative approach.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Meet the Titan arum.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Titan arum?! That's a silly name. Who came up with that?
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Uh, award-winning broadcaster, naturalist and all round legend...
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Sir David Attenborough.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Like I said, it's a great name.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39#Awks.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45This titanic plant reaches up to three metres in height,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47making it the largest flowering structure in the world,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and it blooms just once every ten years.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56But it's not just the look of this peculiar plant that's strange,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59it's also its smell.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Now, we appreciate that it is very difficult
0:07:03 > 0:07:06to do a story about smell on TV,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09which is why Naomi here went out of her way
0:07:09 > 0:07:11to send a scratch and sniff card
0:07:11 > 0:07:14to every single one of our Wild and Weird viewers.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18You did send them, didn't you?
0:07:18 > 0:07:20- Yeah, yeah, I did that. - Great stuff.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23So, kids, smell number one. Get scratching.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Most plants use the sweet smell of nectar
0:07:29 > 0:07:31to attract bees or butterflies,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36but our floral rebel is after a very different kind of pollinator -
0:07:36 > 0:07:37carrion beetles.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Ugh, Tim, that's disgusting.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I told you the natural world was gruesome.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46These ghoulish insects are attracted to the smell of dead animals,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49which is why the bloom of the Titan arum
0:07:49 > 0:07:51smells like rotting flesh.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56- Yuck.- It makes its shocking stench with a mix of chemical compounds,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59including dimethyl trisulfide,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02which is one of the principal ingredients
0:08:02 > 0:08:05in the smell of human faeces.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Yes, this plant literally smells of...
0:08:11 > 0:08:15This ominous odour is all part of a giant confidence trick,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18as botanist Professor Beverley Glover explains.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21If you imagine a plant flowering in a dense jungle environment,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23it's no good being brightly coloured or easy to see
0:08:23 > 0:08:26because you're in very dense vegetation.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28So, it's much better to attract pollinators
0:08:28 > 0:08:31by having a smell which disperses over quite a big distance.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35The Titan arum is effectively mimicking a piece of dead animal.
0:08:35 > 0:08:36It's got its colours.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39If you look at the deep red, it looks like blood.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41There's the yellowy textures in there.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43And then with that scent as well of rotting flesh,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47it's really doing a good job of pretending to be a dead animal.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50That's so crafty, what a fantastic flower.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52You wouldn't want to send a bunch of those to your girlfriend
0:08:52 > 0:08:54on Valentine's Day though, would you?
0:08:54 > 0:08:55No way.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57THEY CHUCKLE
0:09:00 > 0:09:02- VERY QUICKLY:- Florist-here. - Is that the florist?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- Something-the-matter? - Yes, I'd like to cancel an order.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06The first night that it's open,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09the flower heats itself up to about 40 degrees centigrade
0:09:09 > 0:09:10and that heating up allows
0:09:10 > 0:09:13the chemical compounds that are made to be released.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15So, for every ten degrees or so centigrade
0:09:15 > 0:09:17you increase temperature,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19you increase tenfold the distance
0:09:19 > 0:09:21that scent molecules will travel in the air.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25- So, the heat makes the reek go further.- Mm.- Ingenious.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28It wouldn't make a good underarm deodorant then, would it?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Is that the chemist?
0:09:34 > 0:09:37This super strong stench is the perfect thing
0:09:37 > 0:09:41to lure the carrion beetles, who wander around picking up pollen
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and then carry it on to the next Titan arum,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48ensuring these pongy plants will be around for generations to come.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53So, there you go.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55That funky aroma that you can smell
0:09:55 > 0:09:56is just my collection of Titan arum.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59It's definitely not the dead rodent in the bottom of my wardrobe.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Well, that's a relief... Wait, what?!
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Ooh, so, moving on, you'll like this one.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Here's another gruesome tale from the natural world.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Spiders and wasps are both thought of as fearsome animals but
0:10:10 > 0:10:13what happens when the two bump into each other on a garden path?
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Uh-oh, we might have a little war here.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Yep, that's the first time I've actually even seen this.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23This incredible footage was shot by a man in Texas, USA.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29But who will win this battle of the multi-legged monsters?
0:10:29 > 0:10:32That's easy, wasps are largely vegetarians,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34flitting delicately from flower to flower.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Tarantulas, on the other hand, are terrifying ambush predators
0:10:39 > 0:10:44armed with giant venomous fangs, so, they would definitely win.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Well, let's find out.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Ugh. Not again.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54I've told you to get the sleeves ready.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Live from Texas, welcome to...
0:11:04 > 0:11:07In the blue corner, the heavyweight horror,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11the terror of Texas, Mr Tarantula.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14You goin' down, puny wasp.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18And in the red corner, it floats like a butterfly and stings
0:11:18 > 0:11:24like a...like a wasp, the aerial assassin, Mr Tarantulaaaaaa!
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Don't you mean Mr Wasp?
0:11:28 > 0:11:31No, it's actually a tarantula hawk wasp.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34So, the wasp is named after the tarantula?
0:11:34 > 0:11:35And a hawk.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Oh, it's got three names like a donkey shark pig?
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Oh! Is that a real animal?
0:11:41 > 0:11:43- No!- Oh.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Shame, that.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Well, the tarantula hawk wasp is a real animal
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and it's an awe-inspiring insect.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53The largest wasp in the world,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57it's equipped with one of the most painful stings of any animal,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02as biologist Dr Justin Schmidt can testify.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05It just sends this electric shock just totally through your body,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07just paralyses you.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12You just sit there and scream, you're just overwhelmed with pain.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15If the sting can do that to a great big human,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19just imagine what it does to the poor old tarantula.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22One hit from the wasp and this wrestling match is over,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24leaving the victor the tricky task
0:12:24 > 0:12:28of dragging away its oversized opponent.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Wait a second, if wasps are largely vegetarian,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33what does it want with a whopping great big spider?
0:12:34 > 0:12:37- What's that for? - You'll see.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Because the tarantula isn't actually dead.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45She doesn't kill it, she just paralyses it,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49then puts it in a cell where she makes a little burrow,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52lays an egg on it, seals it up and goes away. Momma's job is done.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55She doesn't eat any of the tarantula,
0:12:55 > 0:12:56it's her baby that eats it.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Babies eat tarantulas.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04- Ugh, wait, so the wasp lays its egg on the tarantula.- Yeah.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Oh, and then the baby wasp hatches out and starts eating the spider?
0:13:07 > 0:13:09- Yeah. - While it's still alive?
0:13:09 > 0:13:11- That's right, yeah.- Euuurggh.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13They start on the non-essential organs
0:13:13 > 0:13:16so the muscle and the fat, then they slurp up the blood...
0:13:16 > 0:13:19- Hurrrghh.- ..chew down on the heart, before devouring the brain.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Bfff, blurrrghh.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24It's an ingenious piece of childcare,
0:13:24 > 0:13:25a living larder for her children,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29ensuring they have enough fresh food to see them through to adulthood.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31So, while it may be a tad unfortunate
0:13:31 > 0:13:33for the poor old tarantula,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36the hawk wasp is actually only being a good mum.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39There you go, I told you there was plenty of things
0:13:39 > 0:13:42more gruesome than my messy bedroom.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44You might still want to clean it though.
0:13:44 > 0:13:45Why?
0:13:45 > 0:13:46That bag had a hole in it
0:13:46 > 0:13:49and I didn't quite make it to the bathroom.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53# They're wild and weird, wild and weird
0:13:53 > 0:13:55# Really, really wild and really, really weird
0:13:55 > 0:13:57# They're wild and weird, wild and weird
0:13:57 > 0:13:59# They're really, really wild
0:13:59 > 0:14:04# They're really, really wild and weird...
0:14:04 > 0:14:07# Wild and weird. #