In the far reaches of southern India,
the moonlight conjures up many wonders of the animal kingdom.
♪ ♪
Along with terrifying nightmares.
In this vast forest
cut by rivers like bleeding veins...
...deadly arenas fill with violent conflict.
(screeching)
In a single night,
the inhabitants of this mystical landscape
fight for their lives.
This is a wild side of India that few ever see.
A wild kind of magic permeates
one of the planet's largest biospheres.
An environment populated by the wizards and witches
of the animal kingdom.
This is the wilderness of southern India,
where there's always more to see than meets the eye.
♪ ♪
As the golden light of the fading sun
washes over the landscape,
the dark magic of the coming night disrupts the beauty,
cueing hunters to take to the skies, the water, and the land.
(distant screeching)
This sudden burst of evening activity
is a signal to many to seek shelter.
♪ ♪
(roar)
Because once night sets in,
their world violently transforms.
♪ ♪
Nowhere is the strange magic here more apparent
than up in the trees.
These towering citadels are home
to a variety of warring factions and lone wanderers.
And the most epic battles take place on a small stage,
one you can only see if you look closely.
When you're a tiny bug in a big tree,
you need unique skills to give you an edge.
♪ ♪
And few are more unique
than those possessed by a master of illusion.
♪ ♪
This bug hunter knows that the best way to trick his prey
is to blend in perfectly with his surroundings.
♪ ♪
This is the Indian stick mantis.
But looking like a twig isn't enough.
♪ ♪
He has to act like one, too.
So he barely moves,
waiting for his prey to come close.
♪ ♪
Lucky for the cockroach, he's not on tonight's menu.
The mantis has spotted something
a little more his size nearby.
Moving closer to his target is risky.
If the stick mantis breaks his spell,
he'll expose himself;
but some targets are worth it.
♪ ♪
He inches forward...
...and pays the ultimate price.
♪ ♪
This is the slender loris,
and he's a bug's worst nightmare.
♪ ♪
The nocturnal primate gets his name for his long, lean limbs,
and few things in the trees are beyond his reach.
♪ ♪
To stay hidden from his prey,
he uses a smelly camouflage,
masking his scent by bathing in his own urine.
He's a small hunter with a big appetite,
and he eats up to six prey items a minute.
(crunch)
But there's more than bugs on his menu.
He also enjoys reptiles.
♪ ♪
Young tree lizards wake up to the killing spree
unfolding in their tree home.
They need their rest because they've been up all day.
But sleep is impossible while the slender loris hunts nearby.
♪ ♪
The young lizards stick to the shadows.
♪ ♪
But the loris won't stop hunting till sunrise.
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And it's only a matter of time
before he sees one of these meatier reptilian options.
Unfortunately for the lizards, they can't hide forever.
♪ ♪
The loris spots the young reptiles,
who run for their lives.
♪ ♪
But in the trees, there's not many avenues of escape.
♪ ♪
And one of the baby tree lizards reaches a dead end.
♪ ♪
A young tree lizard awakens to a living nightmare,
as a slender loris hunts them through their tree.
♪ ♪
There is nowhere else to go.
♪ ♪
And the slender loris sends the young lizard to an early grave.
♪ ♪
But there are others in this tree
just as ravenous as the predatory primate.
♪ ♪
But he's not sticking around to meet this ghoulish being.
It grips the branches
with skeletal, clawed hands and feet.
♪ ♪
This is one of the largest bat species on the planet.
The Indian flying fox.
With a 4‐foot wingspan and sharp claws,
he looks ferocious.
But he spends his nights on the hunt
for a sweeter kind of flesh:
the flesh of fruit.
♪ ♪
His diet consists solely of it,
and these jackfruit trees are an easy target.
♪ ♪
But these huge orbs of pulpy fruit
are ground zero for violent confrontations.
Flying foxes can't resist jackfruit,
as evidenced by their many scars.
And territorial male bats fight each other
for the best perches.
This male scrambles towards his prize,
but he has to eat fast,
because at any moment his competition might swoop in
and challenge him for this food‐rich branch.
♪ ♪
The jackfruit makes a sacrificial offering,
transferring its offspring
to one of the best seed dispersers in the world
while it's eaten alive.
♪ ♪
But his feast is about to end.
(chirping)
As other bats approach,
ready to fight for their share of the bounty.
(screeching)
(wings fluttering)
(screeching)
The notoriously noisy bats battle each other upside down.
(screeching)
(wings fluttering)
(screeching)
And their fighting rocks the entire canopy.
(screeching)
♪ ♪
But this is a turf that's already claimed,
and they've awakened a horrifying threat.
A couple ants might not look like much,
but they're just a small part of a much larger army.
♪ ♪
And this army can devour just about anything in its path.
(chirping)
Hundreds of giant bats fight over a tree's bounty
in the canopy of southern India.
The mischievous flying foxes cause chaos wherever they go.
♪ ♪
This tree is home to a colony of weaver ants.
(screeching)
And the bats have drawn them out
from their fortress‐like nest.
Woven together with silk and leaves,
their nest can support an army of ants
nearly a half a million strong,
and these warriors will do anything to protect their own.
♪ ♪
With the troops alerted,
soldier ants flood onto the branches
to battle anything that's moving nearby.
♪ ♪
The bats leave other tree dwellers
who can't fly away
to deal with the mess they've created.
♪ ♪
Everyone from dragonflies to cockroaches
suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives.
♪ ♪
They seek islands of safety amongst swarming weaver ants,
but there are few places to hide.
♪ ♪
And the ants have long‐range weapons.
They spray missiles of caustic acid
which disorientates and weakens their targets.
♪ ♪
The slug might have escaped,
but there are plenty of other dinner options nearby.
♪ ♪
To take down prey many times their size,
the ants work together as one.
First, they pin down the katydid's feet
so he can't hop away.
♪ ♪
While some ants keep a tight grip on his legs,
others bombard him with their acid,
weakening their trophy catch
before the final phase of this coordinated assault,
when more ants move in to butcher him alive.
♪ ♪
It's a death by a thousand cuts.
The ants can carry items
more than 100 times their body weight.
Working together, hauling this catch back to the nest
is an easy task.
But the hunt's not over.
♪ ♪
A gecko's been spotted by forward scouts.
♪ ♪
Another gecko watches in horror
as the assembly line of death tears apart his relative.
It's time to get off the tree.
But there are few avenues of escape.
He's run out of options.
He has to jump.
The gecko lands safely, but he's still in danger,
because a forest floor can be even deadlier than the trees.
Creatures rivaling those from the darkest fantasies
roam this mysterious terrain.
And they're always hungry.
♪ ♪
A gecko escapes an army of death high in the branches,
only to land in a layer of nightmares
nestled into the base of a tree in southern India.
♪ ♪
The gecko's presence awakened the inhabitants
of this sinister place.
♪ ♪
This massive eight‐legged hunter
quietly maneuvers closer to its visitor.
♪ ♪
This is an Indian ornamental, a tarantula species
that can grow to be larger than a human hand.
♪ ♪
And she's more than happy to greet her guests.
The gecko freezes, but it's only a matter of time
before she makes her move.
♪ ♪
This is a threat the gecko can't escape.
♪ ♪
The tarantula injects him with her venom,
a paralyzing toxin that immobilizes her prey,
making it easier for her to dig in.
♪ ♪
(roar)
Sunrise is still two hours away,
and other nightmares lurk in the heart of the rotting tree.
One that beats to the rhythm of a busy colony.
This tribe isn't as ferocious as the weaver ants,
but they attract a killer that's even more terrifying,
including one who wears a disguise.
♪ ♪
This diabolical hunter wasn't born with his camouflage.
He made it with dirt and debris.
♪ ♪
He's an assassin bug.
But he has a way to go
before he's a master of his camouflage craft.
Unlike another of his kind nearby
who's taken their art of concealment
to a gruesome level.
This more experienced assassin bug
builds his disguise with the corpses of his victims.
♪ ♪
The rookie observes the master
whose cloak of rotting flesh also hides his scent.
♪ ♪
And he's looking for others to add to his twisted tapestry.
♪ ♪
He captures an ant
and injects it with enzymes that dissolves its organs.
♪ ♪
Once fed, the veteran adds another carcass
to his terrifying armor.
♪ ♪
The stench of death also shields him from predators.
Like the huntsman spider.
♪ ♪
The veteran's suit of the dead hides him.
But the rookie's exposed.
Because the huntsman spider isn't fooled
by just a little dirt.
♪ ♪
Membership in this league of assassins
doesn't mean a place at the top of the food chain.
And the huntsman devours the smaller killer.
♪ ♪
Every tree in the forest is a unique battleground.
But they're a part of a much larger landscape.
And the horrors of the forest floor have fewer boundaries.
♪ ♪
Scavenging under the moonlight is a double‐edged sword,
because while the darkness provides cover,
it also conceals one of the deadliest hunters
on the planet.
♪ ♪
Assassins and diabolical tricksters
hunt in the trees of southern India.
But the deadliest predators lurk below them
in the dark shadows of the forest floor.
♪ ♪
With an hour left till sunrise,
a bandicoot rat risks her life
to forage through this dangerous terrain.
She works hard all night
because she has other mouths to feed.
(squeaking)
(sniffing)
♪ ♪
It's tough being a single mother out here,
because she has to consume more than 5% of her body weight
to sustain herself while nursing her young.
The baby bandicoots are most vulnerable
while she's out scavenging.
♪ ♪
Even though she stays close to the entrance of their home,
there are hunters who can slip by undetected.
♪ ♪
The mother bandicoot continues her foraging
unaware of the deadly invader slithering nearby.
(sniffing)
♪ ♪
This venomous serpent can grow to be almost 7 feet long.
♪ ♪
And his scent receptors have picked up
on an irresistible aroma.
♪ ♪
The mother bandicoot spots the threat on her doorstep.
♪ ♪
The spectacled cobra.
The bandicoot is no match
for the most iconic snake on the planet.
♪ ♪
She leads him on a chase.
♪ ♪
But she can't run forever.
♪ ♪
She has to make a choice:
face the mysteries of the deep...
...or death by venom.
♪ ♪
Faced with certain death on shore,
the desperate mother takes her chances
in an Indian river,
a place of strange new dangers.
(squeak)
A mother bandicoot rat leaps into a dark abyss
to escape the strike of a spectacled cobra.
♪ ♪
But this snake can swim.
♪ ♪
The bandicoot rat climbs onto a life raft.
But it barely keeps her above the water.
(squeaking)
And monsters lurk below.
♪ ♪
The spectacled cobra senses their presence
and returns to shore,
leaving the bandicoot rat to deal with this new danger...
A school of African sharptooth catfish.
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
This invasive species can grow to be nearly 6 feet long,
and their whiskers are covered in tastebuds,
allowing them to sample their prey
before moving in for the kill.
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
The bandicoot rat clings to her precarious perch.
(squeaking)
And as long as she's above water, she has a chance.
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
But as the catfish investigate,
bubbles from their gills and the splashing of their fins
rock the branch.
And if the rat falls off, she's as good as dead.
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
But the catfish mysteriously descend;
a calm before a storm.
Because something else approaches.
(sniffing)
♪ ♪
(heavy breathing)
The mugger crocodile.
(squeaking)
These massive reptiles rule the river,
and they can't resist a school of catfish.
♪ ♪
The mother rat is caught in the middle.
♪ ♪
(hiss)
♪ ♪
(squeak)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
And she sees a narrow avenue of escape through the chaos.
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
♪ ♪
(growling)
Despite her valiant efforts,
the mother rat's luck finally wears out.
♪ ♪
The circle of life extracts a heavy toll,
as her death leaves her young orphaned
and doomed to starvation.
But the wild isn't without mercy,
and the spectacled cobra returns
to the unguarded burrow...
...to put these young bandicoot rats out of their misery.
♪ ♪
(squeaking)
Sunrise breaks the incantations of darkness.
And another night in the forests of southern India ends.
But in a magical world where few things are as they seem...
...danger forever lurks in the open
and in the shadows,
ready to cast its deadly spells.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services