Wild City | Episode 5: Secret World | Free Documentary Nature

[Music] foreign the good [Music] the bad the kind and the menacing Meet The Neighbors who've carved out territories in our neighborhoods on the streets and in our nature spots [Music] Millions upon millions of point-sized organisms live side by side with the human residents of Singapore from the heartlands to the jungles these tiny residents live hectic lives that go almost entirely unnoticed but when life spans are measured in mere days and weeks that every action is urgent here in the wild cities secret world foreign breaks with the arrival of the Northeast Monsoon strong winds and heavy rain thrashed the city in the warm tropical air it's the setting for some common and not so common scenes feisty minor Birds rised up to these wet conditions a long time ago the heavy downpour has sent flying termites Crash Landing into puddles patrolling birds are [Music] at this development site in the center of the city a band of squatters are getting fired up by the downpour the ancestors of these banded bullfrogs traveled from Malaysia to Singapore a century and a half ago foreign they adapted to life in the city and have been here for so long they're considered locals [Music] the bullfrogs usually hide in the recesses and drains around the empty Apartments but the rain triggers a cacophony of croaks signaling that love is in the air the female bullfrogs are looking for the most attractive males to The Mating Partners so the boys need to croak to impress sadly for these suitors they're just not enough ladies to go around and the love Lagoon quickly descends into a watery fighting pit male frogs inflict their bodies the heads above water to make themselves appear bigger and more threatened but bulking up this way can make doing battle extremely difficult especially in the rain most of the blows don't quite land but the stakes are high and this will be a fight to the end [Music] it's looking like 2 says [Music] in the end the combatants with the most stamina prevails [Music] and the lady frog picks a winner After the Storm passes singaporeans break cover and get on with their business at this MRT Station an urgent mopping up operation is underway [Music] these paper wasps have been raising their young in a nest amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy street corner [Music] tiny larvae are cradled inside cells made of wood pulp but now the lives of the young paper wasps are in serious danger if the adults don't act fast foreign the rainstorm has flooded the nest [Music] and it's so heavy with rainwater it threatens to collapse from the extra weight [Music] Precious Cargo of baby wasps will be gone [Music] so all the adults are teaming up for this emergency exercise the Wasps suck the water from the nest to spit it out [Music] [Music] six adults work relentlessly for an hour until one last droplet is drawn and the nest is finally drained the crisis is averted left undisturbed the Wasps can get back to their helpful role of preying on insects that humans consider pests [Music] as the rain clouds give way to clear skies Shoppers dashed to the nearest or newest Mall [Music] the hunting ground of a fearsome predator [Music] praying mantids are the snipers of the insect world patiently waiting for their target to come into view foreign species only live six months as adults so this female needs to feed to build up the strength to breed [Music] [Applause] the praying mantis has three small eyes and two bigger ones giving it deadly accurate stereoscopic Vision similar to humans [Music] the Mantis is one of few insects that have this kind of vision which allow it to judge the distance between itself [Music] and its next meal [Music] mantids are such voracious predators that hungry females will even cannibalize the male manted during mating foreign by the bay the super trees are a draw for tourists but their encounters with some of the guns most beautiful inhabitants may be all too fleeting butterflies drink nectar from flowers in the lavish Gardens foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] once famous for its big cat this is the last of the Tigers the caterpillar of a plain tiger butterfly foreign [Music] over the next few days it will devout many times its body weight in leaf material [Music] the caterpillar will need every bit of sustenance it can get to accomplish an incredible physical transformation well that's if it doesn't become a juicy meal itself tiger caterpillar makes itself as unpalatable as possible to its predators cells are laced with toxic compounds its sources from eating milkweed it's tiger stripes aren't for camouflage either they worn off Predators Keen to avoid a foul-tasting meal so this fantail wisely goes looking for a more agreeable lunch caterpillar to keep piling on the weight ahead of its metamorphosis a new day is a buzz with commuters in the morning Rush Hour over the last two centuries Singapore has transformed forests and mangroves into a teeming Metropolis surprisingly Wildlife has continued to thrive in this Urban City [Music] a swarm of hungry dwarf honeybees are hard at work early in the morning they're building a new Hive under the window of a shop house right in the middle of Chinatown [Music] a scoutby has just returned from foraging and she has good news to share with the colony [Music] her dance signals she's found a source of nectar and the movements describe the distance and the direction to the food foreign becomes encoded in the tiny brains of the worker bees and they head off in search of the prize [Music] over 100 species of bees are competing for food in Singapore there's no chopping of flowers so the race is on foreign this time the Scout's directions was spot on and the Swarm Gorges on a feed of pollen and neck and neck some of the pollen attaches itself to hairs on the bees bodies when bees visit other plants pollen is passed onto the reproductive parts of flowers this will develop into seeds which spread and grow into new plants keeping Singapore green [Music] and so the bees food is payment for services rendered it's an ancient form of trade nurtured and developed over millions of years right here in Singapore [Music] bukit Brown cemetery is at first glance a peaceful contrast to the bustling Center It's the final resting place of almost a hundred thousand of the city's early pioneers the last burial here was almost 50 years ago and since then Nature has gradually returned to the grave sites it's become a vibrant habitat and today unsuspecting visitors share the grounds with an insect Menagerie assassin bugs and a multitude of cricket species are out in force the cemetery provides them with plentiful food and cover crickets have powerful jaws and will eat decaying plants grass fruits fungi seedlings and even meat from afar this patch of grass looks like a cricket Haven up close it's a minefield [Music] full of spiders the web of the lawn wolf spider is deceptively beautiful Bejeweled with raindrops this Garden ornament has been crafted with lethal intent the spider Waits and feels for disturbances on the web foreign Cricket has landed in a whole heap of trouble the case did is bigger than the spider and its powerful kick is enough to force a retreat but this is the spider's turf and as the katydid becomes more entangled the spider is emboldened to move in for the kill the wolf spider estrains the cater did with the help of long hairs on its legs then it paralyzes its victim with an injection of strong venom [Music] the spider Retreats with its prize [Music] cash like this will sustain it for weeks in the Unseen World of this wild City the cycle of life and death advances at a Relentless pace [Music] poetry is also a nursery for an incredible diversity of insect life including countless species poorly known to science these praying mantis nymphs just minutes old are from a species that has almost certainly never been filmed before fresh from hatching their bodies are still soft and the limbs weak making them vulnerable to predators they need time for their bodies to harden before they can Venture off [Music] so in the warm air [Music] they dance [Music] foreign to the human eye their movements are a hypnotic show but to a predator their swaying motion helps them disappear into the foliage as they shift in the breeze [Music] even so some of these manted babies will not see the end of the day danger lurks around every corner and they will need every trick they can muster if they are to survive in the forest [Music] thank you just like a new apartment Hunter seeking a high floor the praying mantids have eyes for the top [Music] from this Vantage Point those that make it to adulthood will become deadly hunters in Singapore's forests foreign [Music] at the other end of the day the city's residents head outdoors to unwind [Music] Ridge Park has many attractions for two and six-legged creatures [Music] and these stingless bees have set up camp in a tree trunk [Music] as the temperature cools worker bees are returning home from hazardous foraging trips Laden with precious nectar and pollen [Music] but their work is not done yet foreign there are over 60 species of stingless beet in Singapore compared to the orderly Honeycombs of common honeybees a stingless beehive is an utter alien world [Music] these spectacular structures are made from propolis a waxy substance the bees manufacture from the sap of trees foreign bee gives out instructions by Fanning has sent around the hive she is the mother to every one of the bees here halavi developed rapidly fed on a steady diet of pollen by the never resting worker bees foreign [Music] is stockpiled in Chambers for later use [Music] nectar is turned into honey in the bee stomachs storing large quantities of Honey is a safeguard for leaner times but make one wrong move and the bees can be trapped in their own sticky food Reserve [Music] [Music] this worker won't survive his dunking [Music] [Music] for bees the sacrifice is simply the price of ensuring that the next generation carry on the legacy of the hive [Music] at the iconic Gardens by the bay a steady stream of sightseers are missing out on one of Nature's greatest magic tricks within the foliage a plain tiger caterpillar is about to undergo an astonishing metamorphosis for over a week she's been binge eating and now the dramatic changes written into her DNA are being switched on [Music] she has secured herself beneath a leaf as the genetic instructions kick in foreign begins to pulse as a remarkable transformation gets underway [Music] over the last few weeks shed her skin five times now she's about to undergo her final malt [Music] what's underneath is no ordinary skin [Music] it's a shield against the outside world [Music] eat Christmas [Music] inside this capsule like Chrysalis caterpillar's body will virtually dissolve [Music] and transform as the final and Most Extreme Makeover occurs [Music] this town a Forest Reserve attracts nature-loving residents keen on some exercise laced with Adventure [Music] they'd have to get their noses to the ground though to notice a termite Army carrying out the forest's grunt work from their base in a fallen log the termites help break down rotten wood and turn over the soil [Music] this recycles nutrients through the ecosystem keeping the forests of Singapore Lush and healthy foreign few days a convoy must leave in search of fresh wood to feed the colony [Music] and unbeknownst to the Jungle Trekkers the termites have chosen a hazardous route that takes them directly across the cleared ground of the walking Track it's all the more dangerous because termites need moisture foreign but they must also isolate themselves from the elements to stay alive [Music] genius solution to cross this parched walking Track is to build a tunnel [Music] but the tunnel has been breached leaving them stranded outside their nest [Music] time is of the essence if the termites can't repair the damage quickly much of the colony could perish in the tropical heat it's a mighty task [Music] but these little guys and girls are Master Builders of the insect world mixing mud with saliva to cement their intricate structures makes their engineering prowess even more remarkable is that they are completely blind [Music] larger worker termites do the heavy lifting while smaller soldiers are on guard to defend the construction site from intruders they're armed with a potent insect repellent that sprays from the nozzles on their heads [Music] today the termites are blessed with good fortune they are barely touched by the scorching sun and cooler temperatures buys them the time they need to finish the job soon they can get back to their main mission of faring food to their fast-growing colony [Music] up in the forest canopy another bug is busy doing its best to convince everyone that it's not an insect at all [Music] it's possible this species of leaf insect is only found in Singapore [Music] by imitating tree leaves it's almost indistinguishable from the foliage it calls home [Music] this kind of deception is known as mimicry and it's Rife in Singapore's insect world [Music] but even a near perfect disguise can be undone by the most astute predators foreign builds are making a comeback in Singapore after Decades of absence these avian Predators have powerful binocular vision [Music] the home Bill scans the foliage looking for slight color aberrations [Music] foreign movement a leaf out of place one wrong move and the game is up [Music] [Music] and this time the leaf insect is on the losing side it's a battle of strategy and wits played out over millions of years [Music] on a lower Branch a jade tree snail is oblivious to the sacrifice of his insect friend like all snails its eyesight is poor it can only make out shady areas or detect an approaching large predator the jade tree snail is green by name and even Greener by Nature they help protect plants from Disease by consuming fungi from bark and leaves as the snail feeds it's wary of threats from above and below down in the leaf litter an army is approaching giant forest ants grow to almost three centimeters in length [Music] and are among the world's largest ants [Music] they live in huge colonies of up to 7 000 individuals they survive largely on honeydew secreted by aphids and scale insects stay in this militia they also need to feed on flesh today is a lucky day the ants come across a windfall a centipede has died Army immediately mobilizes to move the carcass using their powerful jaws the ants dissect the centipede limb by limb [Music] the dismembered carcass is carried piece by piece back to their nest nothing living or dead goes to waste in Singapore's secret world with the coming of night the denizens of the day rest and Singapore switches gear across the city 's down for their favorite meals [Music] Darkness loving insects begin to prowl out of sight a flat back millipede craves for a dinner of decaying leaves while spiders wait for a meal to come to them [Music] [Music] thank you they spin their webs in the early hours of the evening in preparation for a night's hunting the Saint Andrews cross spider can grow to over 10 centimeters long this smaller one hasn't fed for days a large Bush Cricket has become entangled in its web the spider must move with caution around such enormous prey as well over twice her size foreign [Music] struggles to free itself and the spider needs to make her move now before it gets away but the powerful Cricket is too large for the web to hold and the famish spider is Left To Rule The Feast but got away in the nearby bushes another Bush Cricket sheds its skin insects wear their Skeleton on the outside so as they grow they must periodically cast It Off [Music] to reveal a new coat of armor beneath [Music] as the old skin comes off it blocks its Airways it can't breathe until the process is complete finally it's free [Music] at this moment it is soft and vulnerable [Music] darkness is no guarantee of safety [Music] the bush Cricket slips into the undergrowth to evade detection Dawn will soon break and prompt a changing of the insect guard This spells bad news for the Saint Andrews cross spider facing another day of hunger suddenly a moth lands in the web this time the spider doesn't hesitate she wraps her prey in a cocoon of fine silk that will become a Death Shroud she airlifts it to a safe spot where she can settle down to feed at her a bright morning invites visitors into the forest and the daylight reveals that wild boar have left their calling card a pleasant surprise for this dung beetle [Music] with specialized antennae he can smell the droppings from far away [Music] dung beetles need to roll the droppings into manageable sized balls while it's still fresh [Music] his future Offspring will hatch inside and use it for food [Music] [Music] he uses his specially evolved hind legs to move the dung ball [Music] you can't muck around when your nest is on the wrong side of the road foreign in reverse the beetle gets up a surprising speed [Music] up when you can't see where you're going the trip is an accident waiting to happen across town Gardens by the bay inspires and educates people to appreciate Nature's wonders amongst the displays a chapter is being written in the insect secret world after weeks of development the plain Tigers Chrysalis has now lost all its color to reveal the fully formed butterfly Within [Music] foreign s need to expand and dry so she pumps liquid through the veins in her wings to shape them she tastes the air for the first time with her long proboscis [Music] like a delicate straw she'll use it to drink nectar from the city's flowers [Music] these new accoutrements are a spectacular last hurray for this playing tiger butterfly for her time in the city will soon end [Music] all goes well she will only live for close to two weeks just long enough to reproduce [Music] time is precious so she tries out her wings her wings have set firm and are ready for flight the plain tiger takes to the air across the city that birthed her completing another turn in the cycle that defines the secret world of wild City Singapore [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

Views: 51,313

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Documentary, Wildlife, Animal Documentary, Animals, Wild City, Singapore, Singapore Wildlife, Wildlife in Singapore, David Attenborough's Wild City, David Attenborough, David Attenborough Documentary, Sir David Attenborough, BBC Documentary, National Geographic

Id: 8BYzyJ1P6_8

Length: 45min 0sec (2700 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 11 2023