Narrator: The world of monster bugs
is a war zone.
There are no truces...
No cease-fires.
Only the fittest survive.
They literally run down their prey.
Narrator: And only the ruthless...
They can tear apart pretty much anything.
Narrator: ...live to eat another day.
ln the monster bug world,
there's nothing more unsettling...
...than silence.
Knowing that something unheard and unseen
is patiently awaiting its chance
to kill you.
What happens when an ogre-faced spider
sets a trap for an assassin bug?
lt's the skill of one forest ninja
versus the stealth of another.
ln mythology,
the ogre is a terrifying monster --
cruel...
brutal...
and hideous.
But in the bug world,
this monster is no myth.
Dr. Rayor: Ogre-faced spiders
are about as neat as spiders come.
Their middle posterior eyes --
so, their posterior median eyes -- are huge!
Narrator: Most spiders have eight eyes,
but poor vision.
The ogre-faced spider has military-grade optics
that turn night into day.
They're outstanding at collecting light at night
so that they see very, very well in darkness.
Their vision at night is far better than cats
and better than owls.
Narrator: That's extremely bad news for passing prey.
But even more astonishing
is the ogre face's weaponry.
Dr. Rayor: What these spiders do
that is absolutely unique in the animal kingdom
is they build a very, very specialized web.
Narrator: Hanging from a threadbare silk scaffold,
the ogre-faced spider starts weaving a weapon...
...an expandable net that traps the unsuspecting
in the blink of an eye.
lt flings it over its prey
like a gladiator
casting a deadly net.
When they actually attack something,
they're going down just incredibly fast
and then releasing the web, and it contracts.
lt is fascinating to watch.
Narrator: The ultrafine net
is created with the skill of an expert weaver.
Dr. Rayor: They make it in their back legs.
As you see them combing --
they've got a comb on their fourth leg,
and you see them combing out silk very fast.
l often think of it as hair that has been teased up,
and the silk looks something like that.
Narrator: Holding the tightly woven net
in its four front legs,
the ogre-faced spider
silently sets up a vigil for whatever flies by
or passes below.
Equally fascinating,
every bit as silent and deadly,
is the assassin bug.
Dr. Fry: Watching the assassin bug move
is like watching a Shaolin kung fu master
walking across rice paper -- gentle, silent, careful.
Not a single mark.
Not even the most minute noise.
No wonder it's called the assassin bug.
Narrator: lts weapon of choice
is part long, sucking mouth...
...part syringe for injecting venom.
Dr. Fry: The assassin bug stabs its prey
using this long, beaklike structure called a rostrum.
But with the rostrum it has additional microstructure.
lt's called stylets.
And what they do is they open up small tears inside the prey
which facilitates the venom flowing in.
Narrator: The assassin bug feeds on any insect it can catch.
lts even been known to skewer bats and humans.
But it doesn't rely just on its rostrum.
lt has antennae as long as its body
which gather intel
on the grasshopper it's silently stalking.
lt also plays smart.
lt imitates a wafting breeze.
The assassin bug is being very clever here.
As it gets quite close to the prey,
it makes its footsteps bouncy and irregular,
creating the kind of normal environmental background noise
produced by a breeze.
Narrator: The assassin bug's rostrum
spears the grasshopper's back.
Deadly venom floods its body.
Dr. Fry: The paralyzing action of the venom takes effect
in three to five seconds.
At this point in time, the limbs are unable to move.
After about 1 5 seconds, it is completely paralyzed,
even though it's still alive.
Prey is sitting there, immobilized.
Other chemicals that the assassin bug has pumped in
is now digesting it even while it's alive.
By the time the assassin bug is done,
40% to 60% will have been sucked out as a liquid lunch.
[ owl hooting ]
Narrator: As darkness descends,
a deadly net and a venomous spear
will soon become the weapons of choice
in a forest as black and as ominous as the grave.
[ owl hoots ]
Narrator: Two bug-world gladiators
are about to do battle --
one armed with a spear that pierces flesh with ease
and the other with a fast-release net
that can finish a fight before it begins.
As the spider hovers,
the assassin bug closes in,
moving ever so slowly...
...from leaf to branch.
The two deadly foes converge in the darkness.
The assassin bug needs to get past the net to strike a blow.
lt tugs on the web.
But her foot gets caught.
ln one swift movement,
the ogre face flings down the net
and scoops its victim into a treacherous tangle of silk.
Dr. Rayor: What it will do is it will grab it up,
wrap it up with more and more silk
so there's no chance that the assassin bug
is able to get its piercing mouth parts out.
There's nothing that the assassin bug can do
that's going to hurt the ogre-faced spider.
Narrator: The ogre wraps quickly
while keeping her distance.
The assassin bug stretches its legs
to break free of the death shroud.
lt's too late.
With the deadly rostrum safely encased in silk,
the ogre face moves in for the kill.
The would-be assassin...
Takes a hit of paralyzing venom.
Death is seconds away.
But the ogre-faced spider ignores the formalities.
lt's already feeding on the body fluids
of the vanquished.
ln the world of carnivorous bugs...
...murder is a way of life.
lf you want your meat fresh,
you're forced to kill.
But some bugs take hunting to new levels.
What happens when a bulldog raspy cricket
and a whistling tarantula come to blows?
There are no holds barred.
lf you're an insect,
you enter the grassy bushland
of the bulldog raspy cricket
at your peril.
lt's the stormtrooper of the bug world.
Compared to the raspy cricket,
other crickets are pushovers.
These guys are just nasty.
Bulldog raspy crickets are very fierce fighters.
They launch themselves at their prey
with the aim of just cutting it to pieces.
Narrator: The raspy cricket
is built to kill...
...two massive compound eyes,
heavily armored thorax,
front legs bristling with deadly spines,
and mandibles that cut through prey like a chainsaw.
The raspy cricket's mandibles are just plain deadly.
They can tear apart pretty much anything.
Snip -- off comes a leg.
Snip -- off comes the head.
Narrator: The bulldog raspy cricket
is the consummate killer.
But it doesn't have the killing fields to itself.
Nearby, there's a menacing murderess.
A tarantula --
not someone you'd choose for your babysitter.
Known as whistling tarantulas.
This is caused when they rub their mouth parts,
causing kind of a rattley, hissy sound
which makes them seem more frightening.
Narrator: The terrifying death rattle
is backed up by two monstrous fangs.
Dr. Rayor: Tarantulas have fangs that strike downward.
These fangs are really quite large --
as much as a third of an inch long,
which is on the order of a number of different snakes,
and so this is enough to do real damage.
Narrator: She's highly attuned to passing prey.
She doesn't hear them coming.
She doesn't have ears.
What she does have is hundreds of sensory hairs
that pick up vibrations in the air.
And the whistling tarantula
has another early warning system.
She lays a thick, bandage-like alarm bell
with two huge spinnerets
that act like web-weaving fingers...
...creating an elaborate first line of defense.
Dr. Rayor: She waits at the entrance of the burrow.
And one of the advantages of silk coming out from the burrow
is that it helps provide sensory information,
or vibratory information,
as prey walks by and touches the silk.
Narrator: This regular cricket was easy meat.
But what happens when the whistling tarantula
faces a much nastier bulldog raspy cricket?
A fight between these two could go either way.
l think the raspy cricket will try to use brute force
to overpower the tarantula and get in a damaging bite
before the tarantula can sink its fangs in
and deliver the venom.
Narrator: lt often holds true in the bug world
that attack is the best form of defense.
So, while the raspy cricket chows down on its latest kill,
the murderess launches a surprise attack.
The cricket lashes out with its spiked legs.
The tarantula retreats, with good reason.
She's missing a leg.
She heads for home
to lick her wounds and mend her web.
Dr. Rayor: She'll go into the burrow
and then cover up the entrance of the burrow and seal it up,
so, essentially, predators aren't able to get in
while she's in the burrow,
while she's relatively incapacitated.
Narrator: But the bulldog raspy cricket
has developed a taste for spider drumsticks.
lt's stalked its injured victim to her home.
But she's down, not out.
A massive body kick
sends the killer cricket reeling.
But the cricket is nobody's football.
Each combatant has scored a blow.
Now it's really on.
One of them is going to die.
lf that raspy cricket gets its strong jaws
onto the soft-bodied tarantula,
the tarantula is absolutely done for,
so it's really a battle of timing and speed here.
Narrator: The stormtrooper is back,
madder than ever.
lt flushes the tarantula from her burrow.
She makes a break for it.
But the raspy cricket's mandibles
shear through the tarantula...
Like colossal bolt cutters.
Dr. Fry: Once they start biting the prey,
they sit cross-legged with their arms locked together,
forming a spiked cage
that the prey has little chance of escaping from.
Narrator: The murderess has met her match.
She's not just eaten.
She's torn apart.
Few creatures leave such a bloody battleground.
The monster bug world is full of natural athletes.
Some are gymnasts,
others base jumpers.
Then there are kickbo xers
and trapeze artists.
But the gold-medal winners
are those who execute the snatch and bite.
When a house centipede and a swift tree mantid
meet to compete,
the loser will become the winner's trophy.
This is a house centipede...
...a lean, mean killer with just three speeds --
stopped...
fast...
and faster.
With 30 legs to propel itself,
it's the bug equivalent
of an Olympic track-and-field team rolled into one.
Dr. Rayor: The front legs are relatively short.
The hind legs are relatively long.
So the legs don't trip over one another
as they're running this fast.
Narrator: When the house centipede feels the need for speed,
it covers up to 1 61/2 inches of ground
every second.
That's like a human sprinting at 42 miles per hour.
[ engine roars ]
lt's a unique design
where even a couple of spare limbs
are put to good use.
The centipede has venom claws.
These are evolutionarily modified front legs
that are sickle-shaped organs that are extremely flexible
and are able to inject venom into the prey
plus help tear it apart.
Narrator: But deadly venom and lethal speed are useless
unless you can see where you're going.
Dr. Rayor: These centipedes have huge compound eyes.
lt's clear that they're using vision to track their prey,
and this might be related to the speed at which they're chasing.
Narrator: This cockroach would do well
to run for its life,
but you can't outrun a gold-medal sprinter.
House centipedes are incredibly voracious predators.
They literally run down their prey.
Narrator: But the house centipede...
...isn't the only speedy, sharp-eyed predator
patrolling the rainforest arena.
lt's also the domain of the swift tree mantid...
...an accomplished all-rounder at bloodsports.
Dr. Fry: These are a pretty small mantid --
only about an inch in length --
but they're just as capable as a larger mantid
and can punch well above their weight.
Narrator: lts opponents are hit
with a deadly combination --
powerhouse limbs...
mean mouth parts...
deadly spikes.
Dr. Fry: The swift tree mantid
is like the leopard of the bug world.
lt's really well camouflaged, it's fast,
and it tears its prey apart with savage bites.
Narrator: Thanks to its huge compound eyes,
it also has superb vision.
Dr. Fry: The swift tree mantid has enormous eyes
and incredible visual acuity.
Narrator: When the swift tree mantid...
...and the house centipede compete for gold...
...this is winner-takes-all.
Narrator: The swift tree mantid might be small,
but it's not intimidated.
The swift tree mantid is extremely alert and bold.
lt's seemingly unafraid of aggressors,
even ones much larger than itself.
When confronted, it'll stand its ground,
pull some intimidating-looking poses,
give a wicked stare.
Narrator: ls the mantid bold
or just plain foolish?
lts opponent, the house centipede,
isn't backing down, either.
The mantid strikes first.
lt catches the centipede off guard.
But the bigger centipede counters
and stabs the mantid with its venom claws...
...then starts ripping its victim apart
while it's still alive.
The mantid's insides
get sucked up like a sports drink.
ln the bug world, there's only room for one
on the winner's podium.
There are no silver medals.
When bugs go to war,
there are no rules,
no sense of fair play,
and no concept of picking on someone your own size.
When a marbled scorpion takes on a trap-jaw ant,
size will matter.
But will bigger be better?
This ancient rainforest is home
to one of the bug world's most durable survivors --
the marbled scorpion.
lts weapons might be primitive,
but they've been tested by time.
Scorpions have chased down their prey
for more than 300 million years.
They're really evolutionary survivors
in that they are effective predators
that know how to get the job done.
Narrator: The scorpion's tools of the trade
are an ostentatious display of murderous intent --
anything but concealed weapons.
Scorpions have two main weapons.
They have their pincers,
where they're able to grab prey, hold it, and tear it apart.
ln addition, they have the tail
with a venomous stinger at the end.
So they're able to grab prey, crush it, and sting.
Narrator: Scorpion venom can kill in an instant.
But its eyesight is weak.
lnstead,
the scorpion locates its prey with sensory organs
that look like high-tech antennae.
They've got something that are known as pectines
behind their fourth pair of legs on their belly.
They act like radar,
so they're very sensitive to chemical information,
to vibratory information on the ground below them.
Narrator: The marbled scorpion is also very wily.
This cockroach had no idea it was about to become lunch.
Grabbed and stung,
it's carried away to be ripped apart and devoured.
Like spiders,
scorpions prefer their food runny.
Draining the liquefied flesh of this cockroach
is like sipping a meat martini.
When a marbled scorpion goes hunting in the rainforest,
most small creatures give it a wide berth.
But not all are so easily intimidated.
Much smaller in stature
and just as determined
is the trap-jaw ant.
And like the scorpion,
it comes armed with two fearsome weapons --
one at the front...
One at the back.
The trap-jaw's sting is very potent.
And because they can use it over and over again,
they can come in for a first strike, back off,
and then just wait for the venom to start to take effect,
and then come in for another series of stings
to finish the prey off.
Narrator: But the front end
is also loaded with a hard-hitting weapon.
The trap-jaw mandibles open a full 1 80 degrees,
much like a crossbow,
and then it's set, all that force waiting.
The minute something touches
one of the delicate sensory hairs on the inside,
it snaps shut with incredible force.
Narrator: The peak force is equal to 300 times
the ant's bodyweight,
and the speed is astonishing...
...23,000 times faster than the blink of a human eye.
Dr. Fry: The force is so strong,
it can actually pop the prey open,
sort of like a melon being crushed
to expose the soft inside.
What a way to go.
Narrator: Trap-jaw ants aren't afraid of a battle.
Neither is the marbled scorpion.
And it won't be long
before their combat skills are put to the test.
Narrator: As darkness creeps over the rainforest,
the marbled scorpion goes looking for food.
Also out scouting for a meal --
a trap-jaw ant.
The ant forages,
unaware of the scorpion camouflaged on a rock.
Eventually it sees it...
And the ant has only one response --
attack.
The scorpion leads with its left,
but can't score a hit.
The ant counters with sharp jabs from its jaws.
Like a stun gun,
each blow sends shock waves through the scorpion's body.
lt's hurting badly.
The lone ant
calls for reinforcements.
These ants -- they're constantly in communication with each other
through touch, body movement, use of chemical signals.
Narrator: The call to arms is fast and effective.
Troops arrive in force.
This doesn't look good.
Scorpion should get out of there as quick as possible.
Narrator: The scorpion is totally outnumbered.
Stingers plunge into its body.
All over its limbs...
Multiple stings send deadly venom
coursing throughout the hapless scorpion's body cavity.
Totally paralyzed,
those once fearsome claws are useless.
The marbled scorpion is destined for a marble mausoleum.
A scorpion known for its venom
is being taken down by an ant that isn't known for its sting
but is absolutely known for its jaws.
Narrator: lt's the ultimate indignity.
A rainforest supremo
is dragged from its rocky pedestal
to be cut apart and fed to ant larvae.
ln the world of bugs, it's a jungle out there,
and there's only one law in this jungle.
lt's eat or be eaten.
When two bizarre spiders go into battle,
it'll be a bug fight with a difference.
One jumps, the other spits.
For all its benign natural beauty...
...the rainforest harbors some truly odd creatures.
The metallic green jumping spider
looks like an eight-legged disco dancer.
But it's an agile, spring-loaded killer.
Dr. Fry: Jumping spiders typically make the largest leaps
to get from one location to another.
When they're getting ready to attack,
they'll use much smaller leaps
so they can aim with absolute precision
and get the bite in that perfect spot.
Narrator: The jumping spider might be tiny --
from end to end, no more than a thumbnail.
What it lacks in size,
it makes up for with sheer athletic ability.
And it's got something else -- brains.
Dr. Fry: Jumping spiders display a level of awareness
that is remarkable --
far beyond most other spiders or bugs.
They're intelligent and inquisitive,
but most remarkably, they can adapt their hunting
as the situation changes.
Narrator: lt has all the animal cunning
of a jungle cat.
Dr. Fry: Jumping spiders are sometimes referred to
as eight-legged cats,
mostly because of their very large eyes.
But they're also very feline in their predatory behavior.
They'll stalk their prey. They'll circle it.
They'll leap onto it and then bring it down with their fangs.
Narrator: ln the human world,
stalking is a crime.
ln a bug's world,
it's a skill that puts food on the table.
But the jumping spider
isn't the only clever predator in this jungle.
There's a serious rival --
the only creature on planet Earth
that spits deadly silk from its fangs.
Dr. Rayor: The spitting spiders
are generally pretty small, shy spiders.
They've got six eyes,
which is relatively unusual,
and they've got an absolutely unique weapon,
and that's the ability to spit silk.
They rear up,
they start vibrating their fangs,
and then ejecting silk out of their fangs.
lt's really sticky.
lt contracts and effectively just pins an insect
or another spider down to the ground.
Narrator: Most spiders
have silk glands in their abdomens,
but the spitting spider comes with reinforcements --
two extra glands in its oversized head.
Dr. Rayor: The spitting spiders have modified their venom gland.
The front of the venom gland
produces venom the same way in other spiders,
but the back end is modified
so that it's producing a combination of glue and silk.
Narrator: The deadly concoction is about to be unleashed
on this unsuspecting cockroach...
So fast, the human eye can barely see it.
The sticky silk shoots out
and pins the cockroach to the bark.
Dr. Rayor: lt'll come in and sting the prey very rapidly
and then back off
and wait until the venom actually works on the roach.
Narrator: A cockroach isn't much of a foe.
For a spitting spider, it's just food.
But it's a different matter when the food can fight back.
Narrator: ln a bug-world jungle,
two pocket-sized predators are on the prowl --
one an expert stalker,
able to launch itself at an enemy like a jungle cat...
...the other armed with an assault weapon
straight from science fiction --
fangs that spit deadly silk
with pinpoint accuracy.
The spitting spider is able to shoot gluey spit
out of its fangs at incredible speeds
that rapidly pins down its prey.
Narrator: lt's just a matter of time
before the predators cross paths
and cross swords.
Like a leopard,
the jumping spider has stalked its victim,
silently, relentlessly.
lt leaps at the spitting spider.
But it's off the mark.
Dr. Rayor: The jumping spider has made a mistake here.
lt has lost that advantage of surprise.
The spitting spider has all of the advantage.
Narrator: The spitting spider takes a shot.
lt goes wide,
but some of the sticky silk clips the jumping spider's leg.
And the spitting spider fires off another round.
Only in slow motion
can the airborne mass of sticky silk be seen.
As the jumping spider is glued flat
in the fork of a branch,
the spitting spider comes in to administer the kill shot.
Dr. Fry: This just shows how important it is
to get it right the first time.
lf you don't, there's a really good chance
you won't be around to fight another day.
Narrator: The jumping spider will never jump again.
As its insides are sucked out,
all that remains is the solitary reminder
to look before you leap.
On the bug battlefield, there are no soft options.
Camouflage is no defense
against brute force.
Fearsome looks don't phase seasoned killers.
Awesome weaponry is worthless
when you can't land the strike.
And a lone fighter
has no answer for an overwhelming force.
On the monster bug battlefield,
the only decider is death.