"Chlamyphorus truncatus."
Greybeard, do you see anything?
We've been waiting forever, Jane, and still nothing.
That's not nothing.
Say hello to the Chlamyphorus truncatus.
Hello, Chlamyphorus "trun-cactusus."
Or hello, pink fairy armadillo.
More like goodbye, pink fairy armadillo!
There's a car heading straight for it!
Get out of the way!
That was close.
Too close.
Look, now the pink fairy armadillo is starting to dig underground.
Plotting intercept course.
I love our new underground digging machine.
Look at all these buttons.
Beep, beep, boop, boop, boop.
Beep, boop, bee-bee-- A dial.
Not the dial, David.
We've shrunk down to follow the Chlamyphorus truncatus.
We don't wanna accidentally go back to full size mid-mission.
Well, I hope the Chlamyphorus is ready for us.
Did you get that?
Yes.
Pink fairy armadillo is fast.
They don't really look like fairies.
More like hamsters with sushi on their backs.
That sushi is their shell, and they kind of do look like hamsters.
All armadillos have shells, but the pink fairy is the smallest one.
We don't know much about them.
They're very hard to find and spend most of their lives underground.
Then how come this one was up on the road?
Good question.
Maybe he couldn't dig through the concrete or maybe he was looking for food?
Do you know he's a he because boy armadillos are bigger than girls?
Another good question.
We don't know. That's how little we know.
The scanners told me he's a he.
Last question, what exactly is our mission today?
Our mission is to figure out what they eat.
Seems simple enough.
Nothing about these little friends are simple.
But if we can understand what they eat--
-Then we could help them? -Exactly.
-That little guy dug all of this? -I don't know.
Lots of animals burrow through the ground, making tunnels, like insects, frogs,
rabbits, owls, foxes, penguins, wom--
-Is this a really long list? -Wombats. And yes, it is.
There's a whole world underneath our feet
that most people don't ever even think about.
And there's part of that world.
Here he comes.
-And there he goes. -He's getting away.
David, we need to increase our boring speed.
Jane, I don't think being more boring will help us catch him.
Boring is a fancy way of saying "digging."
Like using animals' scientific names--
-What? -Nothing.
Increasing boring speed.
Incoming rock!
-Starting evasive maneuvers! -What?
Fancy way of saying "getting out of the way!"
There he is!
Another rock!
Getting out of the way in three, two, one!
He's too fast. If we can't see him, how are we gonna know what he eats?
It's a dead end!
Bad choice of words, Jane!
Bad choice of words!
We were so close.
So close to getting flattened like pancakes or mud pies.
Or those cartoons that get squished down super thin--
I get it.
How are we supposed to follow that speedy armadillo?
Or get around those rocks?
Let's head upstairs and rethink our plan.
Maybe next time Greybeard can be the one who almost gets squished?
Wait, what's that sound?
Greybeard, climb up!
What's going on?
Annisa.
Hey, Jane. Hey, David.
Why are all these workers here?
I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but the co-op's getting rid of the garden,
or at least what we called the garden.
-What? -I know.
I hate it too, but the building doesn't have the budget to pay for a gardener
and, well, look at it.
They're getting rid of the trees and everything?
They have to clear it all away
if we're gonna pave over the ground with those patio stones.
Pave over the ground? Cut down the trees?
-They can't. -Unfortunately, they can.
But what about all the squirrels and birds and raccoons that live in the trees?
And what about all the insects and animals that live underground?
This will trap them under the stones.
Instead of destroying the garden, we need to bring it back to life.
And that takes time, money and people who wanna do it.
I don't like this any more than you do.
But most of the co-op members voted to pave over the garden.
There's nothing we can do.
Sorry.
Nobody's gonna listen to us, Jane.
Then we're gonna have to make them listen.
I don't believe this!
Hello to you too.
Mom, I have terrible news.
Did you do something?
Not yet.
But we just found out that the building is destroying the garden.
And we still haven't figured out what the pink fairy armadillo eats.
Those are connected somehow?
In nature, everything is connected.
The pink fairy armadillo burrows and lives underground.
So, paving over the garden will hurt other insects
and animals that live underground.
-I see. Sort of. -I don't understand.
Who'd want to do something like this?
Jane.
What kind of person would want to destroy nature?
Jane.
I can't even imagine why someone would agree to cut down trees
and kill plants.
They're living things too.
Jane.
Mom, is there something you wanna say?
It takes money to fix up and maintain that old garden,
and there's only so much in the building's budget.
There are other places that money needs to go.
It's our responsibility to take care of nature.
It's also our responsibility to take care of the people who live in this building.
The roof is leaking. There are toilets that don't flush,
and the heat keeps quitting out for half of the building.
You voted to get rid of the garden?
I voted to make sure that we still have heat this winter.
Mom, gardens can't defend themselves.
Unless they're filled with those Venus flytrap plants that eat bugs.
But I don't think they grow in these parts, so…
Thank you, David.
I'm gonna go to the bathroom.
The people who voted to get rid of the garden
didn't do it because they hate nature.
They did it because they have to make hard choices.
We could have either taken small bits of money out of everything
or make one big choice.
Why do I think you're not listening to me anymore?
Small.
David, the pink fairy armadillo could get around the rocks underground
because it was smaller than a digging machine, right?
So?
So if we wanna keep up with the pink fairy and move around those rocks,
we'll have to get even smaller than we already are.
But what about saving the garden?
I don't know how to do that yet.
But if we can keep up with the pink fairy armadillo,
we can find out what he eats.
And maybe that will help us help the animals
that live underground in the garden.
What's that noise?
We don't have a second to waste.
We have to get around that huge rock.
On it. Get ready.
We're about to shrink down even smaller than the pink fairy.
It's a lot easier to get through the ground at this size.
I hope we find the pink fairy armadillo again soon.
We just lost all power to our main engines.
Is that a fancy way of saying "we're stuck"?
We're stuck.
Did you hear that?
That super scary, scratchy sound?
Yes, I do.
Do you think it's the pink fairy armadillo?
Time to press some buttons.
Beep, boop, beep, boop, beep--
David, look.
It's just an ant.
A really, really big ant.
But we can deal with just one ant. Right, Jane?
Where there's one ant, there's always more.
Maybe I shrunk us a bit too small?
-You okay? -I didn't know ants would be that strong.
Ants may be small, but they're super strong.
They can lift more than ten times their own body weight.
And when they work together, they're even stronger.
Tell me about it.
Since we didn't find the pink fairy armadillo yet,
I wonder if there's a way to save the garden by doing what ants do.
Bite the workers?
Not exactly. Come on. We've got to go back outside.
Hey, gonna try and replant some of these in my apartment.
Thanks. And I know you said a lot of people want to get rid of the garden,
but I bet there's a lot of people who don't.
Yeah, I don't.
Jane doesn't. Greybeard doesn't.
I wish that were enough.
And that votes from stuffies counted.
If the people who agreed to this knew what this was doing
to all the animals that live here, I know they'd change their minds.
Look.
"Nature can win if we give her a chance."
Jane Goodall said that.
Annisa, how do we give this garden a chance?
Yeah. There's gotta be something we can do.
I guess you could try a petition.
I knew it. A petition. Of course.
What's a petition?
It's a request to change something.
You ask people to sign it, and the more people you get to sign it,
the more power it has.
If you can get more than half of the co-op members
to sign a petition to save the garden,
-then I-- -You'd stop all this?
Yes, but it's not easy getting people to…
We'll get everyone.
…to change their minds.
Plus, we'd need people who are willing to help take care of the garden.
-We still don't have the money to do that. -We'll figure something out.
Quickly.
Hi, Mr. Jin.
Can we talk to you about our garden petition?
If we just put in a little hard work, we can save the garden.
No peeing on the garden, Pugsley.
So all those poor little animals, they'd be trapped?
Insects too.
Oh, well, I don't care too much for insects.
Mostly animals.
Well, if it's for the animals, of course. You bet.
Don't worry. We don't need you to sing.
We just need you to sign this, so we can save the garden.
And the pink fairy armadillos.
Think about it. You're hanging out underground,
minding your own business and, out of nowhere,
a construction team starts digging up your place and ruining everything.
"No! Help us!"
Nature can win if we give her a chance.
Wow. I wish I'd known about this before.
Sure. We'd love to help save the garden.
-Do you like gardening? -And volunteering?
-Sure. Yeah. -I like it. Yeah.
Hello, Ms…
-Garcia. -Ms. Garcia.
My name is Jane and I'm collecting signatures
to stop our garden from being destroyed.
Really? Do you have enough money to put in a new one and maintain it?
I'm glad you asked that. We're putting in a natural garden
that doesn't need a lot of work to take care of.
We can let the grass grow and we don't need to worry too much about weeds.
We even have a list of volunteers who are going to pitch in.
So, would you sign our petition, please?
I'd love to.
And volunteer?
Yeah, no.
But I have an incredible daughter who'd love to help out.
Wait! Stop!
Annisa, we've got it!
Got what?
-The signatures for the petition. -We all wanna keep the garden,
and garden volunteers will take care of it.
You still need one more signature.
There. Now you've got everyone.
We're keeping the garden.
No way.
You got Mr. Jin to sign?
He even said he'd help with the garden committee.
We'll take care of it, all of us.
I promise.
Nice work, kiddos.
You know, I never stopped to think about everything living under the ground.
I guess they need a home like us too, right?
That's what the pink fairy armadillo needs. A home.
One that's far away from roads and construction.
If we find it, maybe we can find out what he eats.
-It's time to get back to our mission. -Let's go.
If we're gonna get away from these ants and find the pink fairy armadillo,
we need to reroute power to the main engines.
Aye, aye, Captain.
Power to engines at 75%.
Eighty. One hundred percent. All right.
We're good. Punch it.
There's something coming up ahead, Jane.
Forward, full speed.
Back! Back, full speed.
-More ants. Way more ants. -We're in the middle of an ant colony.
Back up, back up!
There's another rock behind us.
And angry ants in front of us.
We're trapped.
The pink fairy armadillo.
He saved us, and he's an anteater.
Mission accomplished.
Do you know how rare it is to see something like this?
Almost as rare as seeing a real fairy?
Maybe not that rare.
Why did he stop?
Because he's home.
Listen, David.
No cars. No road. No construction.
Nothing.
But he is close to his food, ants.
Now that we know the pink fairy armadillos
live close to where they eat, we can learn more about them.
-And protect them. -Exactly.
We should let him sleep.
N-Night.
You know, I gotta say I really dig that we're all giving nature a chance.
I see what you did there.
What's wrong, Jane?
I'm happy we saved the garden,
but I'm worried about the pink fairy armadillo.
The-- What's a pink fairy armadillo? I've never heard of it.
Most people haven't.
It's a cool armadillo that looks like a hamster with pink sushi on its back.
It eats ants and makes burrows.
They're endangered.
Well, petitions are one way to start change,
but just talking to people can help too.
It's like with the insects and animals under the garden.
If people don't talk about them, then people won't know they need our help.
You're right, Annisa.
David, our pink fairy armadillo mission isn't over yet.
It isn't?
We'll be back to help with the garden, Annisa.
Come on.
Bye.
Bye!
Coming.
Have you ever heard that nature can win if we give her a chance?
Well, so can the pink fairy armadillo.
It's an endangered species that needs our help.
Well, how can I help?
Help save the armadillos.
Mom, can you let David in? He's late.
For what?
-Our call with Mariella Superina. -Who's that?
The pink fairy armadillo expert.
She lives in Argentina and she's calling us right now.
Okay, I'm hurrying.
Hi, Mariella.
Hi, Jane.
Where's David?
We just finished telling our neighbors about the pink fairy armadillo.
Sorry I'm late. We have a lot of neighbors.
We realized most people have never heard about pink fairy armadillos
when we did a mission tracking one underground.
Sounds like a big adventure. Did you find a pink fairy armadillo?
We did. It was adorable.
I mean, the ants he was eating didn't think so, but me and David did.
-So cute. -Did he look like this?
Exactly like that.
And why don't more people know about pink fairy armadillos?
Well, let me show you a map.
They only live in Argentina and they live underground,
so it's extremely difficult to find them and to study them.
How did pink fairy armadillos get their name?
Because, to be honest, they don't really look like fairies.
No wings.
Pink fairy comes from the word "fair," which means small or little,
and "pink" because of their shell.
Why are they pink?
The shell is a paler pink because they draw all the blood
into their body to keep it warm, and when it's very hot,
they just release the blood into the shell and then it's pinker.
That's so cool.
And sometimes hot.
Get it?
How do they get hot?
When they're digging, it stands on its hind legs
and uses the tip of the tail as a fifth leg,
so they can stand up and it can dig with more strength.
It's amazing that something so small can do that.
Well, even its bum plate has an important role when it is digging.
Let me show you.
See how it digs?
And it pushes the sand back with its bum plate.
And so it frees space in front of it.
Wow. I don't think my bum can do that.
Did you always like armadillos?
I was 18 when I saw my first armadillo
and I didn't even know that they existed.
Thirty years later, I'm still doing research on armadillos,
and I've dedicated my life to them.
That one's huge.
Armadillos are so cool.
Even the tiniest and oddest-looking animal
deserves to be studied.
They're just as important and need our help
with the things that are hurting them.
What's hurting the pink fairy armadillos?
First of all, people capture it and try to keep it as a pet.
But also climate change is another problem, and they're losing their habitat.
If it rains more, then their burrows get flooded.
What can we do to help them?
Think globally and act locally.
There are so many tiny creatures that live around you
that you may not even know about, so go outside, enjoy nature,
look for the tiny little creatures and just watch them and enjoy them.
Don't take them home.
Wild animals shouldn't be kept as pets.
We will definitely do all that.
Absolutely. I want them to live forever.
Thanks so much for talking to us about pink fairy armadillos, Mariella.
Thank you.
And remember, keep them in your heart and leave them in the wild.
-Bye-bye! -Bye, Mariella!
Wait, is that an ant?
They found us!
Quick. To the digging machine.